Saturday 31 December 2016

Zwoek ‎– "Zwoek" (Kaisettes ‎– Kaisettes 03) 1982

Interesting foggy and dark minimal electronic weirdness from some unknown Dutch geezers. Some parts are like a recording of an early Residents backing track from below in the basement. Other parts are like sitting in an East German car listening to a malfunctioning 8-track tape player, while it fills up with exhaust fumes in the rain. You get the picture, even if you are looking and listening through several layers of damp smog.
Just the music to play as you have an early night on New Years Eve to avoid all that enforced jollity. I don't see anything to celebrate. We should be wearing black arm bands in mourning the passing of another murderous year , another year with no steps forward and two steps backwards.
Enough pessimism; at least 2017 will bring us reality TV star, and three time bankrupt xeno-misogynist Donald Trump, as leader of the western world while it enters its death throes. The end of this toxic system may actually be something to celebrate? At least we may possibly extend the planets life span by a few decades if we drag China with us(they'll have no mugs to sell stuff to)?......Happy New Year!?

Tracklist:

A1 Untitled
A2 Untitled
A3 Untitled
A4 Untitled
A5 Untitled
B1 Untitled
B2 Untitled
B3 Untitled
B4 Untitled

Friday 30 December 2016

Nails Øv Christ ‎– "Punishment Is Correction" (Sound Of Pig ‎– SOP 58) 1987


Some more dark industrial ambient, with a healthy splash of power electronics, from Grey Wolves stalwarts Trevor Ward and David Padbury. 
Their second release on Al Margolis' prolific Sound Of Pig label.
Its standard Zoviet France/ Lustmord style Dark and fuzzy Ambient gloom, but naturally, not as good as either of those two originators of this brand of Industrial music.Its like being lost in the smog around the Industrial zone near where Mary's parents live in Eraserhead.

Tracklist:

1 Thou Art My God
2 Float Under Ice
3 Onward!
4 Slavery Once Again

Thursday 29 December 2016

Nails Øv Christ ‎– "Dark Night Of The Soul" (Sound Of Pig ‎– SOP 20) 1985


From the dark satanic mills of Amesbury in Wiltshire, who's principle point of interest is that its slap bang next to Stonehenge.
This rural idyll is hardly the place you'd expect a dark Industrial ambient recording artist to produce his work. With its rolling countryside, picturesque cottages, and ancient monuments. Should be called something like Agricultural Noir or Dark Rural; but, I suppose, going by the name of this project, the main emphasis is on the unknown,and imagined, forces of nature and the supernatural. What better place to be to tune into these ley lines of dark energy, than that amplified by the edifices of that Victorian creation, Stonehenge or,......i'm trying desperately not to make any Spinal Tap references here......Stone 'enge......(whoops!).
Trevor, makes much more power electronic flavoured stuff with The Grey Wolves, where standard Industrial subject matter forces its way back to the fore (eg Nazi's,Racism, Nazi's and more Nazi's).
Where the fingernails of Christ are dragged down a blackboard and amplified.
This dark Ambient side of the great Trevor is a much more interesting experience.

Track Listing:

Side A (15:31)
Side B (15:07)

DOWNLOAD christs' holy toenail clippings HERE!

Tuesday 27 December 2016

Con-Dom / Nails Of Christ With AMK ‎– "Have Faith" (Broken Flag ‎– BF 63) 1987


Con-Dom and friends (if he has any friends that is?) from The Grey Wolves, and American Industrialist AMK, with a shared outing on Broken Flag.
The Familiar themes of religious faith as a mental illness are explored here in extreme lo-fidelity.
The Con-Dom tracks are the vicious power electronic sensual assaults, and Grey Wolves main man Trevor ward (they have such ordinary names don't they?) as Nails Ov Christ, handles the more ambient Industrial side of this merry occasion.
An ideal tape to purge yourself of that awful Christmas and new year depression with a bit of aural violence,and the sound of someone having a crapper time than you did.

Tracklist:

1 –Introduction (0.52)

2 –Con-Dom -Kneel '87 (7:35)
3 –Con-Dom -Get Right With God I (9:16)
4 –Con-Dom -Get Right With God II (3:52)
5 –Con-Dom -Jesus Penis (10:55)
6 –Nails Ov Christ With AMK -Cross Cut (14:56)

7 -Nails Ov Christ with AMK - Cross Continents (10:28)
8 -Endpiece (2.21)

Sunday 25 December 2016

Die or DIY?'s "Festered Fifty - No's 26 to 01" (a DIE or DIY? mixtape No.10) 2016

I was intending to string this out a bit, to create a bit of mystery as to what was number one, like with the actual 'Festive Fifty's' themselves......but I couldn't be arsed.
So yes, obviously Sudden Sway's "Relationships" gets the number one spot,as could anything from their two sessions for the Peel Show. The closest attempt at originality to that was probably by Wire, and their "Crazy About Love" session (Which closed part one of this xmas feast).
The greatest sessions taken as a whole, in my humble opinion, were Sudden sway, The Diagram Brothers,The Prats, Jackdaw With Crowbar (a genuine 'What the Fuck Was That!?' moment), This Heat's first, Sonic Youth's superb Fall covers session, and the best of the lot must be The Slit's first session; recorded when they were still 'The Slits' and not some awful Reggae-lite session band.The Slits and The Prats, kinda sum up the John Peel show for me.Like field recordings of lost tribal music in the amazon rainforest;these feral and raw moments in nature preserved in analogue and digital formaldehyde for future generations to marvel at.When the age of the machine really comes into fruition, those cyborgs will mourn the day the smart phone started this slippery slope to eradicate the human factor; if not so much the actual Human beings.

Track Listing:

Peel Intro......
24. The Dodgems - "Lord Lucan Is Missing"(17/09/1979)
23. Elti-Fits - "Letter Box"(04/09/1979)
22. Gang Of Four - "I Found That Essence Rare"(18/01/1979)
21. King - "Baby Sign Here With Me"(11/07/1978)
20. X-Ray Spex - "Germ Free Adolescents"(06/11/1978)
19. Alternative TV - "The Good Missionary"(17/07/1978)
18. bIG fLAME - "Xpqwrtz (pronounced Tshh!)"(04/05/1986)
17. The Prefects - "Faults"(08/01/1979)
16. The Nightingales - "One Mistake"(06/07/1981)
15. Public Image Ltd. - "Poptones"(10/12/1979)
14. The Lurkers - "Be My Prisoner"(18/10/1977)
13. The Prats - "Poxy Pop Groups"(13/09/1979)
12. The Petticoats - "Paranoia"(15/10/1980)
Pirahnas Intro.......
11. The Pirahnas - "Boyfriend"(17/07/1979)
10. I'm So Hollow - "Dreams To Fill The Vacuum"(13/08/1980)
09. Diagram Brothers - "Bricks"(17/03/1980)
08. Altered Images - "Dead Pop Stars"(07/10/1980)
07. Jackdaw With Crowbar - "Sailor Sole Survivor"(04/10/1987)
06. This Heat - "Rimp Ramp Romp"(26/10/1977)
05. Young Marble Giants - "Final Day"(18/08/1980)
04. Swell Maps - "Harmony In Your Bathroom"(16/10/1978)
03. Sonic Youth - "Psycho Mafia" (11/10/1988)
02. The Slits - "Vindictive"(19/09/1977)
01. Sudden Sway - "Relationships"(16/11/1983)

DOWNLOAD with no christmas turkey's HERE!

Saturday 24 December 2016

Die or DIY?'s "Festered Fifty - No's 50 to 25" (a DIE or DIY? mixtape No.10) 2016


Late lamented disc jockey John Peel, may have boasted about having sex with underage girls in his biography,and frequently on air; but he was a figure who loomed large in many a young person's early exposure to the more obscure side of pop music.
Practically, the only place a DIY single could or would be broadcast, the show usually featured an exclusively recorded session from an invited artist from the pop hinterland.
Also there was the annual Christmas airing of the "Festive Fifty", made up of the listeners favourite records of 'All Time', which was later changed to the public's fav releases of the year, after "Anarchy in The UK" was perennially at number one every year after 1977 for some strange reason!?
So to revive that traditional show, Zchivago has selected his top fifty Peel Session tracks, and called it, rather wittily, "The Festered Fifty", for something to play while the Turkey is being carved.

(*)made a John Peel style cock up, as this XTC track was a Kid Jenson session,but its a classic so its staying)

Track Listing:

    [Intro by Andy Partidge]
50. XTC - "Making Plans For Nigel" (31/05/1979)*
49. Sham 69 - "What Have We Got?"(28/11/1977)
48. Basement 5 - "The Last White Christmas"(21/04/1980)
47. The Cravats - "Precinct" (09/08/1979)
46. Laibach - "Life is Life"(07/04/1987)
45. Slab! - "Bride of Sloth"(21/02/1988)
44. Josef K - "Heart Of Song"(15/06/1981)
43. Bardo Pond - "The Word" (25/03/2004)
42. The Models - "Brainwashed"(04/07/1977)
41. Delta 5 - "Make Up"(04/02/1980)
40. The Fall - " No Xmas For John Quays"(27/11/1978)
39. Fire Engines - "Fascist Groove Thing"(23/02/1981)
38. Bogshed - "Packed Lunch To School"(27/10/1985)
37. Desperate Bicycles - "Smokescreen"(04/071978)
36. Tanz Der Youth - "Delay"(02/08/1978)
35. Prag Vec - "Toast" (29/01/1979)
34. Joy Division - "The Sound Of Music"(26/11/1979)
33. Out On Blue Six - "Boys Will Be Boys"(17/06/1981)
32. Walking Seeds - "Transmaniacan MC"(22/09/1987)
31. Patrik Fitzgerald - "Suicidal Wreck"(10/04/1979)
30. Television Personalities - "Silly Girl"(20/08/1980)
29. Monochrome Set - "Noise"(14/02/1979)
28. Yeah Yeah Noh - "The Super Imposed man"(19/01/1986)
27. A Witness - "O'Grady's Dream"(15/12/1985)
26. Birthday Party - "Rowland Around In That Stuff"(21/04/1981)
25. Wire - "Crazy About Love"(11/09/1979)

DOWNLOAD the first half of the Festered Fifty HERE!

Wednesday 21 December 2016

This Heat - " Live at the Clarendon Hotel London 01/08/1980" (Bootleg)


This Heat and Young Marble Giants for two quid!!?....and a late bar too!
Sadly, this is the last This Heat live boot I have. Its an audience recording of the first half of the set from that seething hotbed of avant garde rock, The Clarendon Hotel in London, from arguably Rocks' greatest year 1980?.....it says its from the Clarendon anyway, although I can hear only decidedly non-english voices chit-chatting in between the songs......but good stuff anyway, although a tad heavy on the 'Hiss';but alas..."you can't record Avant-Rock in Dobly" (David St. Hubbins' wife, Spinal Tap out-take 1982)

Track Listing:

1 Horizontal Hold
2 Paper hats
3 The Fall of Saigon
4 SPQR
5 Triumph
6 Improvisation

DOWNLOAD the last heat of the winter HERE!


Tuesday 20 December 2016

THis Heat - "Live at the Collegiate Theatre, London 30/06/1978" (Bootleg)


A rare glimpse at early This Heat captured in the raw acoustics of the Collegiate Theatre, supporting The Pop Group I gather.
Sounds like a very sparse audience hiding amongst the tape hiss, but you get a glimpse of the more experimental side of early This Heat, before the more song based material crept in. A very early flowering of the progressive side of the Post-Punk era.
While the record shop racks were full of lp's by The Vibrators, The Drones, and other similar second wave new wave punkers. The real new wave were surfacing in places like this; and they weren't playing Rock music either.

Track Listing:

1 Horizontal Hold
2 Twilight Furniture
3 Water/ Not waving
4 Improvisation
5 The Fall of Saigon
6 Music Like Escaping Gas

DOWNLOAD some proto-post punk in action HERE!

Monday 19 December 2016

This Heat - "Live at SO 36,Berlin, 26/04/1980" (Bootleg)


This Heat live in West Berlin, in a superb sound quality audience recording that's as good as a soundboard feed; all the classics are here,interspersed with a light dose of German chit chat............what more can one say???.....download and play it during your christmas dinner,wear your Paper Hat and bring some perspective on this shallow occasion.

Track Listing:

1 Horizontal Hold
2 Paper Hats
3 The Fall of Saigon
4 SPQR
5 Triumph
6 Improvisation
7 Makeshift Swahili
8 Music Like Escaping Gas/ A New Kind Of Water
9 Twilight Furniture
10 Health and Efficiency

DOWNLOAD a concert that's soooo 36 years old HERE!

Sunday 18 December 2016

This Heat - "Live at King's College, London 28th May 1982" (Bootleg)


What would you like for Christmas boys and girls?.......well, I know what I would like, MORE LIVE THIS HEAT! please Santa!?
So here we have a rather good quality soundboard recording from the final This Heat gig, at King's College London.(ps, that isn't the boys from the group on the cover by the way!)
This one ranks up with the best recordings of the many other live This Heat bootlegs we have on this blog......click HERE to find the other live recordings nestling among the studio albums.
Charles Hayward: "Always find this version of the band difficult to listen to, the quartet lost the thread, and we basically fell apart as soon as we started playing the month of gigs. Death in June were horrible but we didn’t know that until we played the gig."
I have ran out of superlatives on how fantastic This Heat were, and still are. The remaining members played a few shows as "This is Not This Heat" earlier this year,which I gather were rather well received.
For me the album "Deceit" is by far the greatest Cold War album ever made, and a great sing-a-long to boot.

Track Listing:

1 Greenfingers
2 SPQR
3 Working Night
4 Makeshift Swahili
5 Twilight Furniture
6 Cenotaph
7 Health and Efficiency
8 Music Like Escaping Gas/Improvisation

DOWNLOAD the king's of avant rock goes to college HERE! 

Saturday 17 December 2016

Throbbing Gristle ‎– "A Souvenir Of Camber Sands - Live December 3rd 2004" (Industrial Records ‎– TG CS 1) 2004

From Death Camps to Holiday Camps, is not a transition that is too common in the Industrial world;but TG can chalk up another first because that's what they did in 2004.
If this performance was "Live at Auschwitz" we'd have probably all yawned, but no, it was at the Camber Sands branch of the Pontins Holiday camp chain.
"Book Early" was Fred Pontin's catch phrase, delivered to camera with a thumbs up, like a drunk refugee from a carry-on movie. (Check the 1977 Pontins advert HERE).
The sexual abuse that invariably went on at these 'Holiday' camps in the 70's, would have sat well with TG's common themes. So, Pontins isn't too far removed from Auschwitz one supposes; maybe more a Belsen-on-sea type of place where they had Blue coats instead of Brown Shirts.At least Belsen had a swimming pool, and a hostage section for trade-offs with the allies. A bit like the Kids who went to these depressing places, after the Clowns and Blue-coats got their skin crawlingly creepy mitts on them.
So, all-in-all one has established that "All Tomorrows Parties Festival" at Camber Sands Holiday Camp was an ideal place for Throbbing Gristle to end their 23 year silence.
If Pontins had the line-up that ATP 2004 had for entertainment I would have definitely booked early every year.....but I may have had to go to the bar a lot during TG's lengthy set. popping back occasionally to see them do "Hamburger Lady", "Convincing People" and , their touching tribute to the recently dead John Balance, "What a Day". The newer stuff doesn't quite have the same impact, or, at the very least, doesn't have that nostaglic magick for us middle aged former misery laden adolescents.
I am being harsh of course.......there's nothing worse than constantly heaping praise on artists who have already proven that they are one of the greatest and most influential groups of all time. They could do a duet with Britney Spears and still wouldn't tarnish their long shadow of influence.
Actually, I really wouldn't mind hearing a TG and Spears collaboration; a bit like that classic 'Dorothy' single they released in 1980, which featured Max from Rema-Rema as Dorothy.
...anyway......
Here's another Pontins advert from 1979. I especially like the bit where they say "If you choose to leave the Kids, there's always someone to look after them"; then we see little Debbie in the clutches of a creepy clown with a pervy expression.....hilarious!....click HERE!

Track Listing:

Disc 1: 
1. P-A D 
2. What A Day 
3. Greasy Spoon 
4. Live-Ray 
5. Hamburger Lady 
6. Almost Like This  
7. Splitting Sky 
8. Convincing People 
9. Fed Up / Wall Of Sound 


DOWNLOAD a souvenir of that horrific holiday at camber sands HERE!

Friday 16 December 2016

Throbbing Gristle ‎– "TG Now" (Industrial Records ‎– RETG1) 2004


Twenty three years after their original mission was terminated, TG returned after the untimely death of Coil frontman John Balance. And this comeback session sounds just like Coil, post-mortem.
Coil's music depended heavily on John Balance's human factor, especially latter-day Coil recordings.
Genesis P. Orridge is a poor substitute lyrically and vocally.
"TG Now", or TG then, as its over 12 years old at the time of writing; is an incredibly boring record. Like comparing reformed Roxy Music's "Manifesto" to Brian Eno's Roxy albums.
"Splitting sky" is OK, except for the silly 'gristlized' vocals, that blatantly strain to sound 'evil'; but its about 8 minutes too long.
Original TG was perfect in its imperfection. New TG is imperfect in its perfection.
Why do these groups do this?..........oh sorry, I forgot......cash.

Tracklist:
A1 X-Ray (Edit)
A2 Splitting Sky
B1 Almost Like This
B2 How Do You Deal? (Edit)

Thursday 15 December 2016

Throbbing Gristle ‎– "The Third Mind Movements"(Industrial Records ‎– IR 2009/4) 2009


I shuddered at the news that Throbbing Gristle were 'reforming' back in 2003!
The track record of such reformations is shaky to say the least.The worst being, obviously, The Sex Pistols. Which in one act of greed, marked as irrelevant, a whole swathe of modern pop culture.
'Please don't do this TG', I would have cried out if I gave a shit.
The reality of seeing a bunch of middle aged pre-op Transsexuals and bourgeois former hippies dressed like Chumbawumba  reviving themselves as "Wreckers of Civilisation"(or the wreckers of Industrial Culture?) was not quite as bad as the Pistols; because they had some new material that wasn't too bad......mainly because it sounded like Coil.
The influence of the late 'Sleazy' Christopherson is very evident, as he was the only TG member not to lose it artistically during the previous 25 years.
The little old lady of the group, no not Cosey, is the Gen-der reassigned Genesis P. Orridge. Who still manages to speak projecting an Oscar Wilde at customs-like impression, that we, and he/she, are listening to a undeniable genius.
The music of TG from 1975-1981 was as close as you can find to totally original and undeniable genius-like in its conception and delivery. A rare, and genuine reflection of the world in which we lived in; and bizarrely, is probably more relevant today that back in the day it was made.
In a way, the new(-ish) TG recordings are also a reflection of the sick abortion that is contemporary society. Represented here by the crystal clear digital blocks of over processed electronic sounds, almost devoid of Human Beings.
Yep, the music on this album is a very antiseptic version of Coil with Guests Genesis P., and Cosey Fanni Tutti on that fucking awful guitar she tends to muck about with every now and again.
I suppose it brings in a bit of cash, so why not?....but don't pretend its anything more than going to work at the office to bring home the bacon.
Industrial Records, aka Chris and Cosey, managed to write me a nasty legal e-mail once threatening legal action, or aktion(?).......an act up there with the Pistols' "Filthy Lucre" tour for making a previous career totally irrelevant. Did they ever listen to their records?

Tracklist:

1 The Man From Nowhere 7:20
2 PreMature 8:36
3 Secluded 7:08
4 Perception Is The Only Reality 9:51
5 Not That I Am 4:33
The Third Mind
6 First Movement 8:00
7 Second Movement 7:07
8 Third Movement 7:29


Wednesday 14 December 2016

Caroline K ‎– "Now Wait For Last Year" (Earthly Delights ‎– EARTH 001) 1987

The Sister-in-Law of the group for Nocturnal Emissions was Caroline K. Yes, she was Married to Nigel Ayers (Mr Nocturnal) brother. Whether this qualified her for the group, or she was already in before the nuptials is up for conjecture, but she did manage a solo album before her early death.
Don't expect an Industrial classic here, because she was obviously a German Kosmische fan.You know, those Electronic albums from the 1970's which basically involved huge banks of modular synthesisers, and a long haired West German to rest his hands on the keys and jiggle his chunky fingers about a bit.Taking note of this albums Phillip K. dick-ensian title;think Vangelis' Phillip K. Dick movie soundtrack and you ain't far off what we have served up here.Lots of reverb laden synth pads and slow chord changes, and a slow tempo drum box marking 4/4 time with a string of dull thuds.
It reminds me more of those post '77 German electronic albums, done when no-one was interested anymore, and synthesisers had been made more user friendly. She ain't no Cosey Fanni Tutti clone that's for sure.

Tracklist:
A The Happening World 20:18
B1 Animal Lattice 4:49
B2 Chearth 5:56
B3 Tracking With Close-Ups 4:39
B4 Leaving


Thursday 8 December 2016

Ramleh ‎– "Hole In The Heart" (Broken Flag ‎– BF 59) 1987


The first time I saw a 'Punk' was in that silly comic the 'Daily Mirror', and I thought they looked how I feel.Then I heard some Punk records, and it sounded just like a slightly faster Slade but with shouty vocals; though there still isn't a punk singer who could compete with Noddy Holder's noble lungs for sheer stone penetrating volume.
The 'Punks' banged on about 'No Future',and I thought, now we're getting somewhere. But they didn't mean it. No Future for them meant No Jobs,Nothing to do and No Money!?......so, I deduced, if these 'Punks' had a nice well paid job in a bank, and a discotheque to go to on Saturday night, everything would be hunky dory?........not!
Alas, Punk Rock was a gateway cult to more interesting and honest territories, like Industrial music.
Which offered No Hope instead of No Future. A job and money in the pocket wasn't the answer to modern 'civilisations' deep seated unhappiness. They presented the world/life as it is, pointless, cruel, ruthless ,tormented.....the list goes on.
To Quote from Genesis (p. Orridge, not the absurd opening book of the Bible), 1, "This is the music of Hopelessness", and 2. "Rock is for Arse Lickers".

As for this cassette from 1987 by Ramleh.
It's another field recording of modern living, in all its self-consuming stupidity.

Tracklist:

A1 Spear Flowers
A2 Hole In The Heart
B1 Product Of Fear
B2 Grazing On Fear2


Wednesday 7 December 2016

Ramleh ‎– "Onslaught" (Iphar ‎– 010) 1982


Ramleh bring you more soundtracks from a post apocalyptic Earth.The sound of radiation burns and cannibalism, in an ensuing nuclear winter of the near future.
One of the few descriptions of hell from that best selling guide to genocide, misogyny.homophobia, and gang rape; called the 'Bible.....,said, "A wailing and a gnashing of teeth"(?). This  inadequate image of eternal punishment(?),-punishment for what I don't know-, is fully fleshed out by listening to 'Onslaught' a few times. Except this 'Hell' isn't a mythical creation that served to control simpletons and frighten the shit out of children. Ramleh's 'Hell' is very much terrestrial, and we live in it everyday.

Tracklist:

A1 Emaciator
A2 Onslaught
A3 Insecticide
A4 Phenol
B1 Emaciator Mix
B2 Insecticide Mix
B3 Phenol Mix


Tuesday 6 December 2016

Ramleh ‎– "31/5/1962 - 1982" (Broken Flag ‎– BF1) 1982

Isn't that Adolf Eichmann, the epitome of 'The Banality of Evil'(H.Arendt 1963) on the cover? Oh the Banality of Nazi Imagery on Industrial Cassettes.
The title is a reference to the day the desk bound book-clerk of genocide was sentenced to hang. Which, in a very inefficient non-Eichmann way, is incorrect; because it was delayed long enough for the sentence to be carried out on the 1st of June instead.
Eichmann's defense was that he was just doing his job, and was only obeying the law of the sovereign state in which he worked.Which I suppose is quite true?
In fact ,it can be argued that he didn't even contravene any existing international law at the time of his actions.'Crimes against Humanity' and 'Genocide' were only crimes retroactively. 
Also, Adolf was diagnosed as being officially saner than you or me by a fleet of shrinks. What this episode in legal history tells us is that, Nazi's were all too Human, and the real Monsters on this planet are the Human race as a whole, with a small,silent, 'W' at the beginning. It clearly doesn't take much for any of us, despite what you may think of yourself, to implicate ourselves in the most monstrous crimes, no matter how much you can justify your blameless existence to yourself. Lord knows I have met endless numbers of Little Eichmann's in the offices and institutions of England and France over the years to know that this is true.
The best way to avoid being tried for war crimes in the future is Don't get an office job.Evil can really be that Banal!

Ramleh effortlessly capture the Banal horror of the hidden human animal in electronic circuit fried versions of scraping ones finger nails down a sonic blackboard; before having them pulled out by a balding ,bespectacled office clerk.

Tracklist:

A1 Suction 3:03
A2 Throatsuck 5:39
A3 Deathtoll 4:08
B1 Ramleh 5:10
B2 May 31 9:38
B3 1962 8:54


Monday 5 December 2016

Ramleh ‎– "Pumping" (Broken Flag ‎– BF 70) 1987


Ramleh's foray into the sub-genre of Ambient Industrial Noise makes for an intriguing listening experience. The usual,(and incredibly boring and overused) themes of Nazi's, pervy Sex, murder, and Nazi's; are ,if not totally absent here, very very subtle. Being desensitized to harsh in yer face bowel scraping Noise, its a welcome relief to listen to the more ambient side of Power Electronics, if that's what this is? The Noise seems thankfully distant, as if the (alleged) gas chambers of Treblinka were chugging away at the end of a twenty kilometer tunnel. 
Holocaust Revisionists insist that the engine used at Treblinka to kill 800,000 Jews, was from a captured Soviet Tank,and wouldn't kill anyone because it ran on Diesel. This has been proven to be crap, especially if pumped into a confined space, check it out here.
So, imagine being in a gas chamber, with  hundreds of Homosexuals, Socialists,Illegal Immigrants and Atheists while Donald Trump, Marine Le Pen,Norbert Hoffer and Nigel Farage pump in the Diesel fumes, This is pretty much the soundtrack to that joyful experience. It'd probably be worth it to get away from that bunch of sickening populist cunts.They might not be the 'Enemies Of The People', as the Judges that ruled against the Govt in the UK recently were branded by the popular press(surprisingly similar to a headline in a German Nazi supporting newspaper from 1933, see that HERE!); but they certainly are Enemies of People.Stop these fuckers before its too late.
Ramleh make the folk music for today's fucked up planet.

Track Listing:

1 - Bite The Bolster (24:18)
2 - Fistfuck 2 (23:02)

DOWNLOAD a pumping classic HERE!

Sunday 4 December 2016

Kleistwahr ‎– "Do Not" (Broken Flag ‎– BF 52) 1986


This outing from Gary Mundy's (Ramleh) side project Kleistwahr, is a rather interesting Musique concrète noise fest that sounds, for the most part, like a needle stuck in the run-out groove of a German marching song LP. Probably inspired by some early Boyd Rice.
This repetitive lock groove onslaught is punctuated by the obligatory speech samples  and bursts of harsh, if not paint stripping, noise. The subtler and more experimental side of Mundy's projects; and one, which I may add, of the more preferable.

TRACK LISTING:

1. Do Not (Part 1) [18:14]
2. Do Not (Part 2) [18:50]

DOWNLOAD, or don't, HERE!

Saturday 3 December 2016

Con-Dom ‎– "All In Good Faith" (Control Domination) 1988



This tape, housed in a hollowed out copy of "Songs Of Praise" , brings together nicely Mike Dando's favourite themes/maladies of Racist Hate and Religious Faith.
On the surface, Con-Dom may seem like a bigoted arsehole, but when you dive deeper into Mike's work you will find that the "racist" aesthetic is more of a social commentary that provides a criticism of both the left and the right. Once you look past the shocking imagery, you will find that Con-Dom makes some of the most uncompromising Power Electronics around; with a diverse scope in sound ranging from a harsh wall of scraping noise to atmospheric industrial; all with Mike's trademark demented vocals that sound like a whacked out priest giving the final sermon of their life as judgement day reigns upon the world.A sonic re-enactment of Jonestown or Waco, or of countless other religious atrocities that have blighted our beautiful planet since our ancestors crawled out of the primeval soup.
That said,I find this stuff far less frightening than some of the actual preachers I have seen on the Christian channels on television;in fact its pretty mild in comparison.
I doubt that Fundamental Christians would, or could, see past the ironic nature of this recording; as it says in the sleeve notes:

Acknowledgement is due:–

To the 'Nihilistic Moral Majority' &
To the many spuls eaten by fear."


Tracklist:

A1 Klan
A2 Surrender '88
A3 Sir Nigger
A4 Master Speaks
B1 All In Good Faith
B2 Smile
B3 Christian Voice
B4 The Road To Total Freedom


Wednesday 30 November 2016

Prutsers - "Volume 3" - (Year Zero Records YEAR040) 2016


You want more hopelessly obscure Dutch DIY dabblings from the eighties do you?
Thankfully Year Zero Records has cobbled together a Third(?)  volume of lunacy from Rotterdam nutters The 'Prutsers'.
Jan and Henk engaging in some light reading before an evening in front of the Television
Henk, Jan and Robo, bring you the usual,and the very unusual, madness from the squatlands of Rotterdam in the early to mid 1980's.
Robot voices mix with accordions,toy instruments, cheap samplers, and pots and pans, as The Residents get blended with Danny and the Dressmakers in a broken sonic liquidizer, then poured slowly into your ear.

Jan and Henk relaxing at home
Just think with a moments horror, what would have happened to Prutsers if they were rich, had top of the range equipment; then got put into a recording studio with a top Producer......you'd end up with something like Westlife probably, instead of Pondlife.
For sheer inventiveness alone this is worth the price of a FREE download!....surely.....its funny as well!
Jan and Robo enjoying some spare time
Track Listing:

1 In Den Beginnen
2 Love is the Drug
3 Modern Ridderverhaal
4 Mijn Naam Is Hector de Computer
5 Als u Het Niet Aanzien Wil
6 Let's All Chant
7 Wouterje
8 Der Buurman
9 In Mijn Huis Woont een Spook
10 Ein Stuck Von Mir
11 Prutsers but made by ton van Hammond
12 Foggy Days Are Here Again
13 Ontevreden met het Heden
14 Hobabaloeka
15 Kleuter Medley
16 In Perfect Evenwicht
17 Paperclip Polka
18 Pecos Bill
19 Struisvogel ei
20 To The Point
21 Zware Kost
22 Heartbreak Hotel

DOWNLOAD a third volume of drug crazed dutch weirdness from the eighties HERE!

Tuesday 29 November 2016

Komovari64 - "Pana Pagan / Stop" (self released Cassingle / Privaat Band Een) 1982


Komovari64's 'hit' cassingle from 1982; a dark journey into the claustrophobic world of DIY electronica from a planet still shivering in the Cold War.
"Pana Pagan" sounds like malfunctioning Soviet technology serving the launch systems of a fleet of  Soviet Fusion weapon's ,the Tsar Bomba's. Waiting to vaporise your painful existence at the slightest crackling of an outdated valve.
Although, having Donald J. Trump and Mike Pence with their unstable pinkie's hovering over the nuclear button, makes Soviet Russia seem a reassuringly comforting memory.
Side B, is the best advice I could possibly give these idiotic masters of war......STOP!.....just STOP IT !!!!
Classic obscure almost computerless, handmade and handplayed, minimal electronics from a nearly forgotten age........check out his story,and find more tracks, on the previous post by clicking HERE!

DOWNLOAD don't stop HERE!

Monday 28 November 2016

Komovari64 - "Komonovari" (self-released cassette / Privaat Band Drie) 1982


Remember Komovari64?.....from Holland?.....No?....not surprising because literally only a handful of these cassettes were ever sold or given away.(see the full story below)
This is the kind of stuff that defines the beauty of the DIY heyday of Cassette Culture.Full of charm,devoid of commercial ambition,naive, amateurish,honest, everything that describes the the refreshing dilettantism of that golden epoch.
Everyone has 'something' to get out of themselves, just like there are plenty of people/artists who get far too much out of themselves.Generally an artist should only liberate one or two pieces, then retire; after that they only start to repeat themselves, and even worse, try to think! Persons such as Paul Werkman (Komovari64), used this liberating revolution in art to slap down his version of minimal electronica from some kind of unconscious need to express himself; but with no clue how to do it. A musical version of feeling the 'Force'.
This naturally leads to the creation of something pretty unique,free of rules except natural law.There's something incredibly personal about music like this.A privileged invitation in to someone's private world. 
If it was possible I would fill this Blog out exclusively with moments like this.(If you have anything impossibly obscure from your distant past, please send them to me and get it featured here....unless its some Heavy Metal shit or worse of course!)

For further insights into the story of Komovari64, i'll leave you in the hands of Paul Werkman himself to explain further:

"When I was 19 I was very much inspired by electronic music, which I read about in music papers, such as Muziekkrant Oor, things like Orchestral Manouvres In The Dark and Human League. I wasn't a very social person, so I never knew many people who are also interested in doing that kind of music, and I didn't like punk music very much. It seemed to me that this electronic music was something one could do on it's own. I got a pretty large inheritance from my grandfather who died, and it seemed to me great if I could have some equipment and see how it would be like an electronic musician. So I bought all of this stuff new, the Moog, Korg, a microphone, a small mixer, some sort of echo device and a reel-to-reel machine. The vari64 rhythm machine was second hand I think. I no longer know why I didn't buy something new for rhythm machine. I also had a guitar and a crackle box. I even paid something extra to have it all delivered by car to my home. I was living with my parents still, as I was at the university (studying political sciences) and that was close by. I remember unpacking all this stuff and putting it on a table, thinking it looked like a proper studio. I wish I had a picture of it, but sadly I don't. The first time I switched it all on, I was thrilled, but it was very hard to get a sound out of it. Maybe naively I thought machines like this would play by themselves? I think I listened to the rhythm machine for a long time, just by itself, going through the echo, which I thought sounded great. After a while I started to get sounds out of the other machines, but I soon realized I had no idea about making songs, or melodies, so mainly my 'songs' were rhythm and sounds, also because I played everything live, using 2 hands, which I though this was supposed to be. They did it like that on TV.
Of course I knew about the whole world of independent record labels, and even cassette labels, so I thought it would be good to do a 'label' myself. I ordered from Plurex the manual for independent labels, but the release of vinyl was a bit scary when I read all of this, so I took the two best songs I had, 'Pana Pagan' and 'Stop' and released a very short cassette, which was copied on sixty minute tapes, but cut them by hand. I did a really bad cover, not by accident, but I had no idea. I called the project Komovari64, after the three instruments I liked best; it sounds a bit like Minny Pops of course (also named after a drum machine), which I quite liked. I copied some, some of which I gave away to some fellow students. Some liked it, but most didn't understand this at all. I also put some in the local record store, 'Melody'. The cover is orange, as is the colour of the Dutch royal family, and I hoped that everyone thought that was really shocking, but nobody ever said something about it. I wrote them all by hand, since this seemed very arty at the time to do.
I struggled on and everytime I looked at that Plurex booklet, the whole idea of a real record seemed appealling and I did the 7". I recorded 5 songs, which were very smooth and I mailed my tape to a pressing plant. It was the wrong (slow) speed, but they made a test pressing anyway, correcting the speed for free, which I thought was very nice. I got about 10 copies of the testpressing or so, but then I got scared of actually a lot of people hearing this music, so I made this orange cover on xerox machine and put these 10 in the same record store for sale. I went in every week to see if they were sold, and after six months 4 were, and I found it embarrasing to ask all the time, so I didn't anymore. When the store disappeared I didn't go back to ask for the unsold copies.
By then I no longer lived at home, but in a squat, but also was diagnozed with schizoprenia. I heard voices and therefore I couldn't listen to my voice on tape. Slowly I had to sell the equipment, as I was not working and due to my state I also forgot to collect welfare money. First I sold the guitar as I had used this on only one song. I had a bunch of songs, no vocals, but in the same style, which all seemed to me the same at one point. I made a second cassette, but beyond making the master and the cover nothing happened; I think I made some copies (10 I think, mostly for friends), but not a lot, maybe with different covers, I am not sure now. This cassette is called 'Komonovari', since much of the music was in mono. I found too late to change the music, since I recorded only live and couldn't re-do the music.
In the end I even had to sell the rhythm machine, so I taped 5 minutes of different rhythms on a cassette with the microphone and did 3 small, 1 minute pieces, with a cut up of that 5 minute rhythm tape, and a manic 'text piece'. I remember I threw the microphone out of the window. I believe I sent these three pieces to a compilation label project in France, but I don't know if it was ever released. It is very likely but I didn't put a return address on it.
After that I lived on the streets for a while, dabbled in drugs, which wasn't a very good combination, but someone 'found' me, and helped me to work on all of this. I never told him I did music, as it was all behind me. A few years ago my mother died and I must have given her a box of cassettes and tapes with all that music on it, but I haven't heard any of it as i no longer have anything to play it with. It's not a lot of stuff in terms of 'finished' compositions (I always called them 'little pieces') or even 'unfinished' ones. These days I work for the city government (department of parking meters!), play tennis and sometimes listen to Coldplay and Muse."





Saturday 26 November 2016

Man's Hate - "Raiders of the Stolen Hearts" (Man's Hate Productions) 1987




More Hate, this time it's Man's Hate, which seems to predominate over Women's Hate. Men are pre-programmed ,genetically, to Hate his enemies. Purely a Darwinian response, but a Response that fucks up life for everyone.
Now,.... 'Man's Hate' the DIY Punk  overcoat for Andy Xport from Peterborough, is largely concerned with animal rights and 'why don't we just all get on(?)' kind of politics that were particularly popular with the Anarcho-punk set in the mid-eighties.
Naturally, I agree with everything he says, because i'm about the same age, come from the East Midlands(UK), made the same kind of DIY tuneful Punk on a portastudio in the eighties, and apparently we were both at the Clash's 1978 'On Parole Tour' gig at Granby Halls in Leicester.
The tunes have that charming naivety of the young person trying to make 'proper music'. I fell into this trap too when i got my hands on a Tascam Porta studio.Instead of being inventive I ended up making proper songs, with amateurish melodies.....just like my fav New Wave bands. When all I had were two stereo cassette recorders and no instruments I made much better non-tunes indeed.(Check out the 'best' of my own decent into portastudio hell HERE!)
Instead of capturing the DIY sound of the pre-portastudio era, this stuff sounds almost listenable for the 'normals'. It sounds like he has 'Ambition'!!!!???......a filthy word in the DIY community.
It kinda reminds me of the tuneful end of Anarcho-Punk, like a less smart-arse 'Zounds' or 'The Mob ', who I have grown to like over the last thirty years, So i may grow to like this too, for it does have its undoubted charm, especially the direct injected lead guitar lines.
This is what happened to 'The Prats' after they grew up, a living embodiment of the Picasso quote about children trying to paint like adults, and ending up with something not as good as either.

Track Listing:



DOWNLOAD a male kind of hate HERE!

Thursday 24 November 2016

Scouts Of Uzbekistan - "Hate is Our religion" (Year Zero Records YEAR039) 2016


In keeping with the current theme of 'Hate', its only fitting that we feature the latest Scouts Of Uzbekistan album. A parable for these uncertain times.
At last, after 6 looooong years, we have the new album from Scouts of Uzbekistan!!!!?.....the long awaited follow up to "Fun Lovin' Muslims" (YEAR001).
The trademark Scouts sound of improvised drums and Bass, combined with speech samples and Noise is very much still their raison d'etre.A kind of Post-Post rock?
This time with an extended line-up.
Mark carolan drums and Guitar, J.Zchivago Bass, guitar, Noise and samples, Christophe Medina Drums and Percussion, and Nadine Aleman, Korg MS20.

Dedicated to Donald J. Trump.

Track Listing:

1 Nude tuesday (4:42)
2 E.T. Phone Homophobe (4:53)
3 The Perception Of Doors (12:11)
4 She Came From Lincoln (5:50)
5 Portable Slave Toilet 5:35)
6 Release the Kraken (8:56)
7 And So Cometh The Christ Android 6:00)
8 Five Reasons To Love Me 6:01)
9 Hansel and Zombie (4:38)
10 I Am The Alter-Destiny (5:54)

DOWNLOAD Hate as your religion HERE!