A very cassettecentric (cassentric?) programme this month. Although the broadcast kicks off with a track from The Pop Group's seminal "For How Much Longer ... Do We Tolerate Mass Murder?" album which was released On This Day (March 16) in 1980.
Wolkokrots is the project comprising of Miguel A. Garcia and Ilia Belorukov. Earlier this year Steep Gloss released the cassette album "Nelinetrolls".
"Wolkokrots' "Nelinetrots" is the last album I did with Miguel. It started exactly the same way as it was when we worked on the very first album. In March 2020 Miguel sent me the files he found on his computer and said 'Let's do something with it?' We often worked over distance, sharing files and ideas, so I said 'Yes, Sure'. This time he sent me the music that he had made when he was a teenager with long hair (I can't even imagine Miguel with it!) Something that he described as his very first album. He mentioned it's "super gothic" and "really funny". ..... The music he sent was lo-fi and atmospheric, and I started to work on it, using it as a starting point to create something new. I decided to remix and rearrange original tracks and added my own sounds. I liked the idea of using some memories from my own childhood and teenage years. For example, there's a sample of a popular TV game I watched; or fragments of my piano playing, or field recordings I had made on a tape recorder. After my touch, Miguel began to deconstruct the material and, as always happened, it was something totally new and fresh. After several rounds we finished the album in 2023. Ilia Belorukov January 2025. The cassette is available from Steep Gloss at : https://steepgloss.bandcamp.com/music. As ever the d/load version is available at "Name Your Price".
Tod Dockstader is a fascinating artist. In the early 1960's he recorded the sound effects for Tom & Jerry cartoons before going to work in contemporary classical circles and musique-concret along with John Cage, Stockhausen and Edgar Varèse. The track "Song" is from the first album in the 'Ariel' trilogy. The latest offering from Mark Vernon is the cassette album "Unforced Errors" on the French label Vice De Forme. https://vicedeforme.bandcamp.com/album/unforced-errors.
The Dead Mauriacs return with the CD album "L'énigme Du Parc" on the I Shall Sing Until My Land Is Free label. The label supports Ukrainian resistance by donating profits to self-defence and humanitarian foundations. In the past they have released great albums by Edward Sol, Muslimgauze, Ilpo Väisänen, Merzbow and Kotra. Essential, please support. Visit : https://ishallsinguntilmylandisfree.com.
Last week I decided to play the albums in the "Myths" series released by Sub Rosa in the mid 1980s. Four albums and three 12" EPs. General Strike consisted of David Toop, Steve Beresford and David Cunningham. "Reach For N" was from the second album in the series with the sub title 'System Of Flux And Energies". The album also has tracks by Hula and SPK. Back in 2013 Mikko Aspa (aka Grunt) mailed me a CDR for broadcast as a "MuhMur Radio Session". A 23 minute piece called "Shovel Attack". A remastered version is now available on the CD "IOPS Soundtracks" on the Institute For Paraphilia Studies label. To grab a copy visit : http://freak-animal.net. I saw Grunt live a few times, I played with Grunt in Mäntsälä, Finland in 2000. Mikko organised the gig, also playing were Putrefier, Temple Of Tiermes, Cloama and STROM e.c. The evening was later released as a double CDR on the Kaos Kontrol label. Copies go for around a tenner on Discogs. Anyway ... I saw Cloama and Grunt live in Leeds (UK) in 2004. They were supporting Slogun at the legendary Fenton Arms. I am certain one of the members of Slogun that night was Chris Goudreau. Chances are Chris also performed as Sickness ... but my memory of this evening is very sketchy. The previous evening Dieter Müh had played in Manchester with Con-Dom & The Grey Wolves and we travelled to Leeds the next day ... Omei is the more 'ambient / experimental' sound of Chris Goudreau. 'I'm Sorry I Have Failed You' is from the double cassette "It Never Ends Well". It's a split release with Self. Self were a side project of Slogun mainman John Balisteri.
"Pppp" is the latest cassette from Modelbau. Three cassettes in a video case, A C14, a C18 and a C24. 'There music is mono and all about decay with tape loops falling apart'. Limited to 15 copies it's worth visiting Frans de Waard's site : https://modelbau.bandcamp.com for all Modelbau activity.
A.B.O. is 1990s project of Joachim Nordwall a.k.a. The iDEALIST. The track here is from an untitled 7". Definitely recorded in the 1990s but probably remastered in the last year or so. It's on the Belgian Meeuw Muzak label. http://www.meeuwmuzak.net. This year I have discovered the sound of David Wallraf. Hamburg based sound artist. I am slowly collecting his back catalogue, but some releases are ultra-limited. 5 or 6 copy editions etc. The first three tracks that end part one of the broadcast are from the 2022 cassette "NO WAR" on the UK based Brachliegen Tapes. The cassette is now sold out but a download version is available at : https://brachliegentapes.bandcamp.com/album/-. The later is piece is from David's latest release on the German Karls Records label. "Crudeltá Necessaria" is the follow up to last year's "The Commune Of Nightmares". It deals with the roles of cruelty in the works of Pier Paolo Pasolini by blending noise, raw electronics and field recordings into a detailed dystopian sonic picture. This cassette is limited to 100 copies, act fast at : https://karlrecords.bandcamp.com/album/crudelt-necessaria. By the time I have published this blog David has probably released another handful of tapes ....
DAVID WALLRAF.
One of my favourite sounds at the moment is the sound of Hauras. Hauras is the project of American sound artist Ryan Martin. I discovered Hauras through their early releases on the Helen Scarsdale Agency label. 'By Sheer Will' is from the latest cassette "Broken" on UK based Industrial Coast. 30 minutes of great experimental sounds.
https://industrialcoast.bandcamp.com/album/broken.
A friend mailed me half a dozen or so CDRs by Ian Middleton. Old review copies from Idwal Fisher. I had never come across Ian's work / sound and enjoyed a couple of afternoons bathed in his ambient dronescapes and electronic waves. Information on Ian is pretty slim and perhaps I'll have to dig through my old copies of Idwal to find out more .... or wait until the compendium of Idwal's back catalogue is published by Korm Plastics ... soon, it's coming soon! I do know that Ian previously went under the moniker of Remora and one of the CDRs features a collaboration with MuhMur Radio favourite Mark Vernon. I asked Mark about his involvement with Ian 'Essentially Volute Springs is a remix of sorts of one of Ian's tracks that was made predominantly using a KORG MS-10. He gave me the stems and I remixed it'. I have no contact for Ian but some of his vinyl output is available via Discogs.
Cassette Culture is a new podcast by Martin Franklin, coming out of Brisbane, Australia. Martin used to host a programme here on SoundArt Radio called 'Genepool' about 10 years ago. One of the episodes is themed around the output of ND. ND started out as a magazine and cassette label in the early 1980s before releasing CDs and vinyl in the 1990s. Operated by Dan Plunkett he explains the beginnings and thoughts behind ND.
https://www.cassetteculturepodcast.com/contact-exchange-document-the-story-of-nd/. The podcast features sounds from artists that appeared in the magazine and subsequent cassette releases, and I thought I would play my contribution to "ND7", Dan's first cassette release. 1985 - 1987 I was half of the project I.B.F. Tim Bayes was the other half. We put out a few cassettes, mainly on the Carnifex Organisation label and appeared on a few compilation releases. "Norkabal" was an improvised piece recorded in Lincoln in 1985. "ND7" also features Haupunkt Fix, Big City Orchestra, Die Form, Andre Stitt, Paul Hurst, If Bwana and The Haters amongst others. In 2008 Harbinger Sound released a 12"EP of IBF which includes a remastered version of "Norkabal".
Another prolific sound artist whose releases are essential is Takahiro Mukai. "Even Toned" is his latest on the French Astra Solaria label.
https://astrasolariarecordings.bandcamp.com. Also in the pile of sounds donated by Idwal was a mysterious 5" vinyl single by an unknown artist, or unknown artists. Back in the mid-60s (
yes I am that old) there used to be a telephone box in an amusement arcade in Mablethorpe. Inside the telephone box was a microphone where you could record your singing and moments later there was a 5" vinyl record of your recording. It was a common amusement arcade item back then. I think this is one of those artefacts - not from the mid 60s but I am guessing they can still be found in more ancient arcades in more ancient seaside towns.
I asked Sir Idwal about the record but he had no memory of it although did say that it may have come from the collection of Simon Morris, late vocalist with The Ceramic Hobs and member of Smell & Quim. It's only 44 seconds long, and is very good.
A few months ago I made a broadcast that was mainly built of 7" B-Sides from 1978-1982. Two songs I missed out on back then was "Jellyfish" and "Brainbomb" by Punishment Of Luxury. I mentioned the song "Jellyfish" in correspondence with David Warmbier from The Institute Of Spectra-Sonic Sounds radio programme and he didn't know the song, so I play it for David. Also recapping on a previous broadcast ... last month I played "Happy Birthday" by The Birthday Party in the 'On This Day' section but made a mistake so this time I play the A-Side of the single "Mr Clarinet". I don't have the 7", this track is from the 4AD Records compilation LP "Natures Mortes - Still Lives".
It is a story I often tell but back in the 1970s I was listening to and buying records by the likes of Fleetwood Mac, Judas Priest, Uriah Help, Emerson Lake & (indeed) Palmer. The typical collection of a teenager who bought albums from the "Rock Section" of Sanctuary Records in Lincoln. I had quite a collection, LPs were only about £3 back then and I had a two paper rounds and would do errands for money. Anyway, my older sister (Julie) was also 'into' music and used to borrow records from her friends and one day in early 1977 gave me a copy of The Damned's "New Rose" 7" single with the words 'I think you'll like this'. It was the day the world changed and more so when the LP "Damned Damned Damned" came out. That was the day I took my old records in to school and left them in a pile on a table in the school's common room with a note saying "Help Yourself". (30 or so years later I bumped in to an old school friend who remembered that day and still has my old copy of Zappa's 'Hot Rats' album). Hearing The Damned changed my life, changed my path. Likewise and ditto for John Peel and Throbbing Gristle. So, it was sad to hear of Brian James' passing. RIP Brian.
The archive on MixCloud is split in to two two hour sections for easier aural digestion.
Playlist :
01: The Pop Group : "Feed The Hungry" (Rough Trade Records) 1980.
02: Wolkokrots : "Guki" (Steep Gloss) 2025.
03: Tod Dockstader : "Song" (Sub Rosa) 2005.
04: Mark Vernon : "Pollen Nap" (Vice De Forme) 2025.
05: Mark Vernon : "Nexotic Dislocation" (Vice De Forme) 2025.
06: Grunt : "Shovel Attack" (Institute Of Paraphilia Studies) 2025.
07: Omei : "I'm Sorry I Failed You" (Circle Of Shit) 2015.
08: The Dead Mauriacs : "La Porte Mécanique" (I Shall SingUntil My Land Is Free) 2025.
09: General Strike : "Reach For N" (Sub Rosa) 1985.
10: Modelbau : Ppppp (Side C)" (Not On Label) 2025.
11: Wolf Vostell : "Radio Dé-Collage" (Tochnit Aleph) 2011.
12: A.B.O. : "Untitled" (Meeuw Muzak) 2024.
13: David Wallraf : "I Hate My Government And I Hate Your Government" (Brachliegen Tapes) 2022.
14: David Wallraf : "Congegement" (Brachliegen Tapes) 2022.
15: David Wallraf : "Everything Is Going To Plan" (Brachliegen Tapes) 2022.
16: Hauras : "By Sheer Will" (Industrial Coast) 2025.
17: Current 93 : "The Long Shadow Falls (7" Version)" (Dirter Promotions) 2024.
18: David Wallraf : "Petrolio" (Karls Records) 2025.
19: Ian Middleton & Mark Vernon : "Volute Springs" (Not On Label) 2020.
20: Miguel A. Garcia & Frans de Waard : "Interior Sounding #3" (Steep Gloss) 2020.
21: William A. Davison : "Random Loop" (Not On Label) 2025.
22: I.B.F. : "Norkabal" (ND) 1986.
23: The Pop Group : "Justice" (Rough Trade Records) 1980.
24: Takahiro Mukai : "#587" (Astra Solaria) 2025.
25: Takahiro Mukai : "#589" (Astra Solaria) 2025.
26: Unknown Artist : "Unknown Title (Not On Label).
27: Punishment Of Luxury : "Jellyfish" (United Artists Records) 1979.
28: Punishment Of Luxury : "Brainbomb" (United Artists Records) 1979.
29: The Birthday Party : "Mr Clarinet" (4AD Records) 1980.
30: Sexton Ming : "Old Bag Looking Good Part One" (Research Laboratories) 2014.
31: Africa Corps : "Kill The Fascists!" (Independent Project Records) 2022.
32: Africa Corps : "The Ivory Coast" (Independent Project Records) 2022.
33: The Damned : "New Rose" (Stiff Records) 1976.
34: The Damned : "You Know" (Stiff Records) 1977.
35: The Damned : "Neat Neat Neat" (Stiff Records) 1977.
The next MuhMur Radio will be on April 13, same time, same channel and hopefully a little more sober!
Thanks go to Chris and Tamsin, and of course, you.
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