Nadja – "Radiance Of Shadows" - (Alien8 Recordings – ALIENCD72) 2007

One day we will look back at the CD era with fond affection for the times we selected a CD from the endless racks in HMV or Virgin megastores ,endured the minuscule text,and proceeded to listen to an hour and twenty minutes of whomsoever the lucky band were,but pressing stop on the remote at around the  40 minutes mark whilst stifling yawns .....ironically, the length of two sides of a vinyl LP. A natural ending point for any album in the modern age of pop.

There was a compulsion for artists raised in the Vinyl era to put as much material as possible on this new extended format,even if it was the shite usually reserved for the 'Bonus Disc' of  an anniversary remaster.

So what we have here is an artist determined to fill up every nano-second of memory space provided by the aforementioned Digital Compact Disc format,rather than just satisfying the ever shortening Human attention span. Mine is currently about twenty minutes max of anything.A limit I have always adhered to in the live arena. Twenty minutes, then its off to the bar.

First wave Ambient Doom originators Nadja, are very typical of the CD age .Releasing a dumpster full of very similar sounding drone metal versions of wonky airport noises that very rarely clock in at less than twenty minutes a track,like a fuzzy Tangerine Dream fed through a cheap Flanger.

One of  those unfortunate groups who sadly fall between several stools of the 'Metal' category,so frequently get labeled as any one of the following: Doom Metal.,Ambient Metal,(my personal favourite) Dreamsludge (?), ambient-doom, and shoegaze-metal.

Sounding more like My Bloody Valentine rather than Sunn O))) , the Metal label is becoming a more and more tenuous a description for any experimental Rock band,but if it contains any hint of a 'Heavy' riff it's 'Metal',filtered through a barrage of pro-nouns ,prefix's and suffix's.

Topical Oppenheimer references aside, It has it's quiet moments,so Ambient Doom is arguably the most accurate sub-genre of the available choices? Not a large section in your resurgent vinyl store, but I'm sure it exists somewhere?

Am I getting too mainstream?

Tracklist:

1 Now I Am Become Death, The Destroyer Of Worlds (23:26)
2 I Have Tasted The Fire Inside Your Mouth (27:26)
3 Radiance Of Shadows (28:59)

DOWNLOAD and become not death metal but a destroyer of sub-genres HERE!

Ted Chippington – "Walking Down The Road (A History Of Ted Chippington)" (Big Print – WELLx3) 2007

"I was walking down the road the other day, mate of mine pulled up, in his car,and he said, "I'm in a dilemma mate" and I said, 'Aye, good motors, Dilemmas. I was thinking of buying one myself. A red one perhaps?"

A box set...you heard... A BOX SET!?.. of the Anti-Comedian's Anti-Comedian,Ted Chippington. Whose act consisted of but one joke,which invariably began with "I was walking down the Road...", a wanton act of minimalism intended to wind up the less savvy members of the audience, which for the most part were there mainly for whatever indie band he was usually supporting.He only had one joke, but a lot of the crowd never got it.Even realising that he was being deliberately Bad missed the point.The 'joke' was subtle in it's unsubtlety ,dare I say,even sophisticated?

Many were so offended by his inability to locate their funny bones that they threatened to break Chippington's. But for the cognoscenti who took him to their heart, that was precisely Chippington's appeal.
Word spread. The cult grew. Yet as fame, fortune and the big time beckoned, Chippington retreated from the stage.Especially after his notorious appearance on daytime TV,on the execrably awful Pebble Mill at One;which stands as a living example of why alternative culture should never be in the same room as the mainstream (I too flirted with an invitation to appear on Pebble Mill with my 'crazy' sculptures.....we turned it down...would have been on with Zola Budd,the bare footed athlete Lol!). He had, in his own words, become "too popular". Choosing, instead, to opt out;after the Vindaloo Records tour of the USA,he stayed and found work driving trucks along America's Pacific Highway, before returning to a life of peaceful, uneventful obscurity in the West Country.

Nowadays, he's back,and currently touring the UK as support for The Nightingales again!?

"I was walking down the road the other day, when this chap said to me.An Hippie chap like: "D'you want some LSD man?" I said: "No thanks mate, we've gone decimalised now. Pounds, shillings, pence - no use to me any more."

Tracklist:

Good Evening To All Mankind
1-1 Improvisation 0:06
1-2 Good Evening To All Mankind 18:21
1-3 Monthly Return To Cornwall 53:42

The Human Being Years
2-1 Salisbury 3:10
2-2 Southampton 12:30
2-3 London 5:43
2-4 Preston 6:33
2-5 Stonehenge 7:21
2-6 Non Stop Party Hits Of The 50's 60's & 70's Side 1 6:41
2-7 Non Stop Party Hits Of The 50's 60's & 70's Side 2 7:12
2-8 Liverpool 11:38

The Big Time
3-1 Man In A Suitcase Side 1 21:38
3-2 Man In A Suitcase Side 2 24:41
3-3 Times Gone By 3:59
3-4 Drivin' Down The Road 1:58
3-5 Remember It Well 12:34
3-6 Weirdness 5:58
The Real Truth About Trucking

4-1 Call Me Rockin' 1:28
4-2 The Real Truth About Trucking Sides 1 & 2 40:04
4-3 The Wanderer 2:45
4-4 The Xmas Hit/Tesco 19:50
4-5 Pull Up 5:14

I Was walking DOWN the LOAD HERE!

Preggy Peggy & The Lazy Babymakers ‎– "Duo Eureka" (Being Weird Isn't Enough Records) 2007

Peggy returns with 15 more of her children,all with the various congenital diseases,deformities,and learning difficulties that reflect the human race. You would have been burnt as witch in the fifties if you made music like this without having a degree in modern composition. John Cage was alright,he had one of those.

Nowadays, any dysfunctional lunatic can either become a Bhuddist or make experimental noise on their relatively inexpensive digital multitrack facility.

This was what we wanted wasn't it? Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it...and we have!

The sheer mass of DIY "Experimental" music available on the ethernet is mind boggling,impossible to listen more than once to anything. In olden days terms, that means that Matt Groening would have not elected himself Captain Beefheart's number one fan, and I wouldn't have discovered the shiny forbidden world of prog rock..

I suppose, getting to enjoy such dreadful rackets as Preggy Peggy, modern kids would have to start with the current Hipster's fav Throbbing Gristle and work upwards.....or downwards, depending on your perspective. Pop,or unPop, Music appreciation and History classes would be a valuable asset to stop these ignorant young fools from repeating the older generation's musical faux pas'.

Preggy Peg, can I call her that(?), is likely more accessable than most because its also.....'Funny'.

There's Noise, there's Plunderphonics, there's samplerdelica,there's gentle,but sinister, Pop,there's even some psych workouts? What more could a modern teenager who doesn't like Hip-Hop and its derivatives want? This could be chart music one day......featuring 50cent, or Stormzy. 

Tracklist:

1 Let Us Eat Cake 2:29
2 Flonkerende Ster 1:01
3 Gonna Get That Boy 2:45
4 The Group 1:28
5 Eureka Polka 0:39
6 Do The Ape 11:06
7 Swinging On Sunday 1:34
8 They're Just Like Us 2:41
9 Plastic Bag 7:41
10 Avondrood 0:54
11 The Group Revisited 0:30
12 I Can't Relalte 1:29
13 Where Flamingos Fly 4:11
14 The Light City 0:28
15 Diamonds 'N' Ducks 6:31

DOWNLOAD some aural contraception HERE!

Preggy Peggy & The Lazy Babymakers ‎– "The Gang Rape Of A Short-Bus Rider" (Chocolate Monk ‎– Choc. 160) 2007

List under "Experimental" is a tasty cop-out when trying to categorize the unfathomable. Preggy Peggy and her lazy Babymakers are more aligned with the 'Piss-Take Experimental' tranch of Noise than anything experimental, or even original;although ,granted, there ain't many recording Artistes who sound as truly Nuts as  this.

Naturally I know nothing about the persons coupable for this attack on aural decency,and I dunno if they have any connection with The Ceramic Hobs' harsh noise offshoot "Smell and Quim", whose style is uncannily similar,if slightly less daft.

I knew many a young lady who would have qualified to have been called Preggy Peggy in my youth in the post war concentration camps that circled UK cities called "Council Estates". Giving flesh to the old joke about most British cities;Them being like an evactuated Rugby players bath,nothing in the center with a ring of scum around the outside..HaHaHa....I nicked that one from Jeremy Clarkson....the only posh boy in Doncaster,so he knows, right?

The Estate was also full to the brim of Lazy Babymakers too,whom i had to avoid,as they took exception to me being the only weirdo in the village.....they were not wery nice to me...boo-hoo. Therefore, like most Grammer School boys (ps,I had to pass an exam to go there so shut it!), I hate both the 'Upper'and the 'Under'classes equally.I believe in equality when it comes to hate.

Interesting point of information about my childhood homeland,was that the estate was named after Lord Eyres Monsell,who, before he had to sell his inherited lands after a compulsory purchase order in the fifties, to the UK Govt, became chums with William S. Burroughs at Harvard in the thirties.

Here's a relevant extract from Burroughs' excellent Biography, "Literary Outlaw":

'Billy met some of the more outlandish characters then at Harvard,among them Graham Eyres-Monsell, an Upperclass Englishman Whose father was the First Lord of the Admiralty. Billy thought he was glamourous because he was a Lord and knew all sorts of people, but at heart he disliked him,recalling:

"Ears Monsell....sounds like a Brooklyn gangster.He hung out with the undergraduates because he was in the habit of being deferred to and did not want to be with his equals.Like Cato gave his senate laws, and sits attentive to his own applause. He was a Cat-hater, and said he'd trained a Dog to kill Cats He was the one who told me that Vitamin A in large doses kills colds. He was a Fascist minded elitest,and not nearly as intelligent as he thought he was.I'm an elitest myself, but wouldn't want to be in the same lifeboat as him."'

Not sure I approve of Billy taking the piss out of the name synonymous with my childhood torture.Its a kind of warped Stockholm syndrome that i'll stick up for the place for the most rediculous reasons.I can feel a spike of annoyance if anyone dis's Leicester for any reason, never mind Eyres Monsell Estate....even the great William S. Burroughs.

In fact he isn't alone among literary genius's, to slag off my home town,the Father of Satire himself....and incidently a blood relative to yours truly,Jonathan Swift labelled the place a "Special parcel of Fools"....can't disagree with that,even if it included me for several decades.

The literary connections continue,Sue Townshend wrote the appalling "Dairy Of Adrian Mole" there, and Joe Orton lived in the neighbouring,and even worse,Concentration camp of the "Saffron Lane Estate".They used to send posses of sexually abused head cases on raids into Eyres Monsell looking for blood and someone else's sister,or brother,or family pet, to penetrate for a change...i'm crying just thinking about the trouser wetting fear of being beaten by these ruthless new life-forms.Who were they?....well,in this case it's more of a 'What' rather than a 'Who'.

One can only imagine the joy that Lord Ears Monsell(1905-93) would have gained knowing that his former lands were populated by cap-doffing breeders,hardly worthy of attending the Primary school which bore his name, never mind bowing to his magnificence.

Tracklist:

1 I'm Glad My Dad Is Sad 2:09
2 A Man Walks Into A Duck With A Bar On His Head 3:14
3 Baby, It's Cold Inside 5:21
4 A Broken Vag Is Like A Broken Badge 5:35
5 Saran Wrap Man 2:05
6 C.E.L.E.B.R.A.T.E. 4:11
7 The Mysticism Of My Fucking Sound 5:03
8 When The World Isn't There 1:25
9 A Dyke, A Kike & A Ten Speed Bike 5:10
10 Just Don't Forget. Peggy Is The Boss 5:08

DOWNLOAD another noisy baby HERE!

Von Südenfed ‎– "Tromatic Reflexxions" (Domino ‎– WIGCD190) 2007

Who's that on the right, adorning the cover of this electronic underground disco Band? None other than Mark E. Smith, he of The Fall.The other two are in Mouse On Mars apparently? 
Most of the young alt-clubbers who dance to this probably have no clue who the singer is,but thats all part of the fun innit?
Smith always had an interest in cheesy electronic disco,especially like Italian house stuff. I went to see the new, post-Brownies, Fall line up in 1998, and between the groups and before The Fall came on, Mark and his roadies all came out onstage to dance wildly to some cheesy Italo-disco,and seemed to have a wonderful time,as did we. 
He seemed to keep his sense of humour in most situations did our Mark,and i'm sure there's a small element of tongue firmly in cheek with this album too.It's rather good, and one thinks that it would have been better for Mark to have ditched the Guitars rather more often methinks.All those 21st century Fall albums blurred into an over-produced morass of sameness.Ooops,its october, time for another Fall album and tour......although how I wish there was another one coming out in 2020.Would love to hear Marks take on the Coronavirus crisis.
It reminds me of a more drunk and unsexy northern English working mens Gay club version of DAF.....which gives me an opportunity to segue into a Tribute to Gabi Delgado of DAF who died yesterday specifically to join Mark's new EBM band in music Valhalla.To be listened to with a pint of Newcastle Brown ale,or some of paradise brewed local Bitter.

Tracklist:

1 Fledermaus Can't Get It 3:56
2 The Rhinohead 4:16
3 Flooded 4:46
4 Family Feud 4:28
5 Serious Brainskin 3:51
6 Speech Contamination / German Fear Of Österreich 3:59
7 The Young The Faceless And The Codes 4:32
8 Duckrog 2:47
9 Chicken Yiamas 2:36
10 That Sound Wiped 6:05
11 Jbak Lois Lane 2:56
12 Dearest Friends 4:44

DOWNLOAD some flatcap and black pudding gay disco HERE!

Various ‎Artists – "I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore(1927-1948)" (Mississippi Records ‎– MR-014) 2007

Don't worry, i'm not gonna post dozens of Harry Smith type compilations,but the title and the miserable Hill billyess relation to Susan Boyle,'the Hairy Angel' on the cover, just demanded that I have this on my coffee table the night my artist chums come round for my Finnish smorgasbord soirée.
Since the advent of those music magazines that are concerned only with the past,a bit like this blog(?); endless compilations of lost 78's from between the wars,but before the wars that came afterwards, flooded the independant record stores of the day.
Anything seems to go with this one,there's Gospel, Blues, Calypso, Bluegrass and Cajun Folk.
Eclectic is a popular word for the record collections of the 21st century,and this certainly fits the bill.
If a bunch of pre-reggae West Indians singing about the Abdication Crisis of 1936 is right up your alley, then , I reckon you're gonna love this.
From a time when if you wanted entertainment you really had to do it yourself. It was either that or chew your own,or someone elses, leg off.....and many of them did.

Tracklist:

A1 –Marika Papagika - Zmirneikos Balos
A2 –Wilmoth Houdini - Blow Wind Blow
A3 –Cleoma Falcon - Prends Done Courage
A4 –Mme. Riviere's Hawaiians - E Mama Ea
A5 –The Caresser - Edward The VIII
A6 –Two Gospel Keys - I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore
A7 –Sexteto Bolona - Te Prohibido El Cabaret
B1 –Jacob Hoffman & Kandal's Orchestra - Diona & Hora
B2 –Blind Uncle Gaspard & Dela Lachney - Baoille
B3 –Mike Hanapi's Ilima Islanders - Hilo Hula
B4 –Lydia Mendoza - Palida Luna
B5 –Blue Sky Boys - Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone?
B6 –Unknown Artist - Sorban Palid
B7 –Big Boy Cleveland - Quill Blues

DOWNLOAD that homely feeling HERE!

Jandek ‎– "Brooklyn Wednesday" (Corwood Industries ‎– CORWOOD 0789) 2007

Boy, this is a long one! Four CD's of the representative sounding like his records, very early in his live career at the Issue Project Room, Brooklyn, NYC, September 7, 2005.

It could drive yer average guy on the street into an inexpicable rage, or make a grown feminist cry.This is the epitome of 'Wrong'......four CD's of 'wrong'.

This isn't the music you wanna be playing before you kick the stool away,because, as you dangle there, slowly asphyxiating, you really don't wanna hear Jandeks bleak world view echoing in that tunnel of white light as your Brain goes into anoxia mode, preparing the 'off' switch.

Maybe some Abba, or Classix Nouveaux....something to make you glad you're dying,rather than be in more emotional pain as you head for the last round-up.

Jandek's non-music is, I suppose, a kind of living death.Many allegedly 'great' artists have tried, and failed, to create such a feeling; but Sterling Smith from Houston,has the ability to do it effortlessly.....and, more importantly, without explaining himself, or 'it'.

Tracklist:

Set One
1-1 Put Me There 11:21
1-2 Destroy The Day 10:43
1-3 Obscure Physics 8:26
1-4 Structure Of Words 9:02
2-1 All I Want 5:11
2-2 Lonely World 8:32
2-3 Change My Brain 9:51
2-4 I'll Send A Thought Out Floating 5:09
2-5 I Love You 10:51

Set Two
3-1 How ’R You 13:31
3-2 City Pounding Down 12:12
3-3 Different Blues 9:21
3-4 My Necessity 8:21
4-1 Sea Of People 7:59
4-2 Sorry, Sorry 9:13
4-3 Tequila Girl 10:54
4-4 Just Enough 10:15

DOWNLOAD the last trees in brooklyn HERE!

Jandek ‎– "Manhattan Tuesday" (Corwood Industries ‎– CORWOOD 0788) 2007

Well, there's only six or so Jandek albums left to post, so fuck Jandek Monday, this is gonna be Jandek week. The day that Notre Dame in Paris lies smoldering, it seems fitting to mourn this classic of Gothic architecture with some classic Gothic outsider misery.
Lets face it, it was just a building, no-one died, but we're still gonna spend billions restoring it, with enough money to end child poverty in africa, or pay for enough subsidised solar panelling to make a large dent on greenhouse emissions.Normally frugal Billionaires have prized open their wallets to donate 100's of millions of Euro's, but remain unmoved when confronted by starving african kids, or even when made aware of the plight of my own personal pet project, Saving The Pangolin!(click here to donate a fiver).
Meanwhile,Grenfell Tower, a purposely sub-standard highrise block inconveniently housing ordinary people(scum) in an expensive part of London,which burned to the ground, with huge loss of life, is as nothing in real terms in comparison with that smoldering national symbol.The needle on the moral compass is spinning wildly,like the wheel of fortune,landing on 'Lose a Turn'for the poor, and 'Bankrupt' for Africa.
When Coventry Cathedral got destroyed by the Luftwaffe, they didn't rebuild it, they built a cost effective,and rather stylish, replacement, leaving the ruins next to it for posterity.They didn't do such a great job with the rest of Coventry sadly. Same thing happened to St Pauls in the 18th century. So should this be for Notre Dame. Nothing lasts forever, its time to move on. There's too much emphasis on 'Things' and not enough on people and suffering
This is why I wanna move on from Jandek Monday, and leave the ruins of Jandeks splintering personality on display, in full, here, for posterity. Alongside the majestic charred edifices of Our Lady in Paris, with this smoking appearence from our Corwood representative in New York.
This performance in Manhattan, at the Anthology Film Archives on sept 6th 2005, is enhanced by the inspiring fret work of Loren Mazzacane Connors on guitar, leaving the groaning and synth work to the Representative.
I know i say this a lot, but i think this is my favourite modern Jandek album;but then again maybe the best Jandek record is the last one you listened to? 

Tracklist:

Afternoon Of Insensitivity:
1-1 Part One 13:04
1-2 Part Two 20:44
1-3 Part Three 9:56
2-1 Part Four 11:24
2-2 Part Five 12:39
2-3 Part Six 7:06
2-4 Part Seven 18:25

DOWNLOAD with sensitivity in the afternoon HERE!

Various Artists ‎– "Messthetics #105, Scotland 1977-81" (Hyped To Death ‎– Messthetics #105) 2007

Sorry, No Deacon Blue here.
It's the Messthetics Scotland compilation innit?
Its got all the classics on here, The Fakes, The Exile,He's Dead Jim, Scrotum Poles,plus bonus tracks, plus many many more.
Not Avalable in shops.
File under UK DIY.

Tracklist:
1 –Scrotum Poles- Helicopter Honeymoon 1:42
2 –Fire Engines- New Thing In Cartons 3:39
3 –35mm Dreams- More Than This 2:15
4 –The Exile- Jubilee 77 3:03
5 –Commercials- Simon 2:18
6 –Fakes- Sylvia Clarke 2:37
7 –Metropak- You're A Rebel 3:33
8 –Tony Pilley- Waiting For The Man 2:29
9 –Visitors - Moth 2:22
10 –Article 58- Event To Come 2:41
11 –Radio Ghosts- Falling Into Darkness 2:40
12 –Rapid Dance- Hidden So Well 3:29
13 –Strutz- Break Point 4:09
14 –Metropak- Looking 3:24
15 –Vertical Smiles- New Clash Single 2:12
16 –Ettes- A Conversation 1:45
17 –Restricted Code- New Messiah 1:51
18 –Radio Ghosts- My Room 4:50
19 –Brills- Gang Of One 2:30
20 –Rhythm Method - Insight 2:20
21 –Dirty Reds- Bad Sex 2:53
22 –He's Dead Jim - Towel On The Radiator+Lampshade Lampshade 2:55
23 –Jazzateers- Blue Moon Over Hawaii 4:02
24 –Paul Reekie- Lovers 6:10
25 –35mm Dreams- Suburbia Sheikhs (First Demo) 3:11
26 –Commercials- Speeds The End (Demo) 3:16
27 –Friction - Mystery 3:59
28 –International Spys- Baby Don't Go (Demo) 2:21
29 –Restricted Code- Then There Was You (Demo) 2:00
30 –Article 58- Idol (Unreleased) 1:28
31 –Vertical Smiles- Carnal Knowledge (Radio Airthrey Demo) 3:05
32 –Cats Eyes - Guilt (Demo) 3:35
33 –Scrotum Poles- Put An End To It All (A Shot In The Dark Go Pop Session) 1:34

DOWNLOAD from the high road HERE!

The Pop Group ‎– "Idealists In Distress From Bristol" ( Vinyl Japan ‎– JASKCD195) 2007

Two whole compact disc's of vintage live performances by everyone's favourite Bristolian Punk Funk Dub combo, including several unreleased tunes, and a Capitol Radio session track from 1979; which was also included on "Cabinet Of Curiosities" and listed as being 'Live in Bristol 1978'????
The quality of the recordings are varied, as are the sources.Most are audience bootleg recordings, with only the Helsinki and Milan gigs being obviously soundboard feeds. Alas, its all very listenable, and captures the live energy and anger of this innovative,once legendary, and ironically named pop group.

Tracklist:

CD1:
Capitol Radio Session, April 5th 1979
1.1 Don't Sell Your Dreams 3:42

Locarno Ballroom, Portsmouth UK, March 8 1979
1.2 She Is Beyond Good And Evil 5:48
1.3 Don't Call Me Pain 7:33
1.4 Snow Girl 3:39
1.5 Don't Sell Your Dreams 3:39
1.6 The Boys From Brazil 4:55
1.7 We Are Time 5:41

Milan, Italy, 1980
1.8 Thief Of Fire 1:36
1.9 Forces Of Oppression 2:17

"Beat The Blues" Festival, Alexandra Palace, London, June 16 1980
1.10 Shake The Foundations 3:26
1.11 Forces Of Oppression 2:24
1.12 Feed The Hungry 4:08
1.13 Thief Of Fire 3:50
1.14 There Are No Spectators 5:08
1.15 God Problems Communism 2:47
1.16 For How Much Longer 4:26
1.17 Justice 3:44
1.18 We Are All Prostitutes 4:40
1.19 Shake The Foundations 3:40

CD2:

Koln, West Germany, February 5 1980
2.1 Shake The Foundations 1:47
2.2 Forces Of Oppression 3:21
2.3 Thief Of Fire 3:27
2.4 Feed The Hungry 3:39
2.5 There Are No Spectators 3:57
2.6 Crime Of The Evening 2:51
2.7 For How Much Longer 4:10
2.8 Where There's A Will 4:47
2.9 Justice 3:21
2.10 We Are All Prostitutes 6:46
2.11 Shake The Foundations 3:02

Helsinki, Finland, October 1980
2.12 Liberty City 9:50
2.13 Hotter Than 1000 Suns 5:58
2.14 Feed The Hungry 4:36
2.15 Entertain Your Life Away 4:54

DOWNLOAD disc one ideally HERE!

DOWNLOAD disc two to avoid distress HERE!