Saturday 23 November 2019

MuhMur Radio Broadcast 21 November 2019


The first 50 seconds or so of the broadcast are not part of the programme. Unfortunately there was a CD player malfunction, so please ignore the first 50 seconds or so ... Although playing back the recording it doesn't sound too noticeable.

The first track comes from the upcoming double CD from Metgumbnerbone called "Anthropological Field Recordings For The Dispossessed". I have a pre-release copy and I am uncertain to what (if any) label the release will be on. Metgumbnerbone were active in the mid 1980's morphing out of Funeral Danceparty comprising of New Blockaders Richard and Philip Rupenus alongside John Mylotte, Clive Powell, Mike Watson and Sean Breadin. Mike and Sean were also the sounds behind Masstishaddu. This album is built from the two albums released in 1983 "Legeliahorn" and "Druen", as well as previously unheard material.



November 23 is Howard Stelzer's birthday, so I thought I would play something from his latest release "Anathemization Of The World Is Not An Adequate Response To The World" a double CDR on UK's Chocolate Monk label.


I wrote a bit on Howard when I played his split 7" with Frans de Waard on the October 10 broadcast. Needless to say Howard is master of the tape loop and manipulation, organic soundscapes and cosmick noise. On the track here he collaborates with Peter Hope. Peter provides the voice on the piece. Peter used to be the vocalist in The Box the Sheffield based group that formed out of the ashes of Clock DVA in 1981. "Cage" by Clock DVA  originally appeared on the self-released cassette "Fragment" in 1979. The version here is from "Horology 1" a six LP box release from Vinyl On Demand. I am lead to believe that the whole Horology series by Clock DVA (there's 3 of them) will be re-issued next year on CD.

Last weekend I spent time in the Devon town of Plymouth buying records and seeing Drekka perform live. (Lifted from the Facebook biography) .... "Working under the name DREKKA since 1996, composer Michael Anderson has toured, travelled and collaborated extensively; all the while  collecting memories and building a very personal archive of sound that dates back to the end of the 1980's"

                                                Drekka live at Union Corner, Plymouth.

"DREKKA has released a large body of work on labels such as Dais, Auris, Apothecary, Morc, Silver and Anderson's own label Bluesanct. Anderson has also recorded and toured as a member of such projects as Turn Pale, Jessica Bailiff, In Gowan Ring, Stone Breath, Annelies Monseré, Rivulets and Dylan Ettinger. DREKKA owes something to the soundscapes and non-linear impressionism of Cindytalk or Coil, the industrial gravity of Einstürzende Neubaüten or Hafler Trio, and the cinematic collaborations of Edward Artimiev/Andrei Tarkovsky or Simon Fisher-Turner/Derek Jarman. But his work is very apparently unique and personal'.
"Throughout years of performing and recording, DREKKA has explored early industrial tape culture, fragile bedroom noise-folk and expressive cinematic textures. His work and performances touch on themes of silence, memory and forgetfulness, But rather than obscure himself, as is often the effect of experimental music, DREKKA functions as a direct line to Anderson's mind and his tenuous cache of memories. These personal aspects and this fragility are clearly on display rather than being obfuscated by poetic abstractions".
"While 'haunting' and 'hypnogogic' are words often used to describe experimental music and art, DREKKA unequivocally occupies and deals in those dark spaces which compromise the tenuous province of memory and dreams. These are the real ghosts of time and sound".
"But just as prominent, particularly in the live setting, is a sort of confrontation, a wrestling with frenetic energy that approaches mania and ecstasy. Just as DREKKA recordings serve not to obscure but to exhibit Michael Anderson's mind , his performances serve to exhibit his person, his body. DREKKA's audiences behold not an anonymous face in the glow of a laptop, but a man riding his flimsy card table strewn with tape players, bells, trinkets, metal and pedals. They behold a man's spirit riding him, contact microphone in mouth, hands, shifting cassettes collected over time and distance. DREKKA's audiences behold a confrontation of spirit, body, memory and sound".

                                           Drekka LP "No Tracks In The Snow" (Dais).

The DREKKA performance at the Union Corner was certainly one I will never forget, very much a personal banishing ritual, cassette loops, calling of spirits, spinning and spitting of stones and the sway of bells, it was truly an unforgettable and thought provoking experience.
I did manage to pick up a few items from the merch' stall including the triple cassette package "Held There, Beside The Signified" released by Idle Chatter and curated by Drekka. The release features Skrei, Drekka and Pillars And Tongues. The two tracks here are from one side of their cassette.

                                              "Held There, Beside The Signified" Tape.

Pillars And Tongues are a new name to me, although I haven't read it anywhere I have a feeling they are from Chicago. Pillars And Tongues are (on this release) a quartet featuring Ben Babbitt, Elizabeth Remfs, Evan Hydzik and Mark Trecka. Another pick up from the merch' stall is the Drekka / REMST 8 split 7", both artists mix each others source sounds, both sides are played here with Vir in between. It turns out (in conversation) that Michael Anderson along with Scott Cortez were Vir who produced one of the finest 7"s on Drone Records.
Listening to the excellent 'Institute Of Spectra-Sonic Sounds' radio broadcast the other week I heard AUME and became aware of the work of Scot Jenerik. I bought the F-Space album as it is a collaboration between Scot and Savage Republic member Ethan Port. Also involved is former Chrome drummer Aleph Kali.

                                                                        Ethan Port.
       
This programmes "On This Day" features The Diagram Brothers who released their one and only album "Some Marvels In Modern Science" on the New Hormones label ... on this day. The Diagram Brothers were based in Manchester, forming in 1979 at Manchester University - they were all studying science.



Another great Manchester band Tools You Can Trust follow with their second single "Show Your Teeth". Formed as a duo in Hulme in 1983 and named after an advertising catchphrase by Spear & Jackson. I was living in Hulme at the time of Tools You Can Trust ... they were what we called a "White Horse Band". That was the student pub in Charles Barry Crescent. Ben and Rob would always wear grey suits, red braces and red Doc Martens - they cut an impressive figure amongst the drug addled youth of Hulme. Last weekend I managed to find a copy of their second (and final) album "Again Again Again" at Really Good Records in Plymouth, it's not as immediate as their first couple of 7" singles but still a great listen. Everything they released was on their own Red Energy Dynamo label.


Bocksholm are also a duo, a supergroup if you like. Comprising of Peter Andersson of Deutsch Nepal and Peter Andersson of Raison D'etre. There name comes from the town in Sweden they are both from. Bocksholm is the old Swedish spelling of Boxholm. The track here is from the new compilation CD "Metalchemy" on Phage Tapes. The album also features Sudden Infant, The New Blockaders, Grunt and Das Synthetische Mischgewebe amongst others. The fact that it features a track by Putrefier made me contact Mark Durgan (Mr. Putrefier) and asked if he was resurrecting his old projects name to find out that the album project began when Putrefier were still active and was to be a double vinyl LP.

Please take a listen to the programme here :
https://www.mixcloud.com/muhsteve/muhmur-radio-broadcast-21-november-2019/

Playlist:
01: Metgumbnerbone : "Taghaim" (Not On Label) 2019.
02: Howard Stelzer : "Chaos Is Handsome And Attractive And More Durable Than Regret" (Chocolate Monk) 2019.
03: Clock DVA : "Cage" (Vinyl On Demand) 2012.
04: Envenomist : "Rising" (Bloodlust!) 2006.
05: Drekka : "We Who Are Not Lonely" (Dais Records) 2019.
06: Drekka : "Tracking Shot (Wide)" (Dais Records) 2019.
07: Swans : "Love Will Save You" (Young Gods Records) 1991.
08: Pillars And Tongues : "You/Attempted" (Idle Chatter) 2018.
09: Pillars And Tongues : "Painting Dust" (Idle Chatter) 2018.
10: REMST 8 : "Tarweststrasse 52 (V1.57)" (Red Frost Industries) 2018.
11: Vir : "Solaris" (Drone Records) 2000.
12: Drekka : "Lissajous (V2.13)" (Red Frost Industries) 2018.
13: F-Space : "Shining Light" (Mobilization Records) 2009.
14: The Diagram Brothers : "Put It In A Bigger Box" (New Hormones) 1981.
15: Tools You Can Trust : "Show Your Teeth" (Red Energy Dynamo) 1984.
16: Bocksholm : "Forging Hammers" (Phage Tapes) 2019.

It really was a wet and blustery night across the Bay and South Hams so it was great to have a visit from Alice Kemp. Alice has just returned from the Tochnit Aleph 25th Anniversary gig in Berlin as well as having new releases on the Tochnit Aleph label and Helen Scarsdale Agency label. Releases that I will attempt to play over the coming broadcasts ...

                                                                   Alice & Dave.

Next broadcast will be on December 5. It will be what has become known as the 'birthday broadcast'. A few ideas of what to do ... probably 57 songs in 120 minutes ... but then again, probably not!

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