Friday 20 August 2021

MuhMur Radio Broadcast 19 August 2021.


 The programme starts with 4 pieces from Mark Dicker. All 4 pieces make up Side B of his new release "Flyalarm" on Brachliegen Tapes. Up until a few weeks ago Mark Dicker was completely unknown to me, but a recommendation from Thanasis at Electric Knife Records turned me on ... and now I am on the hunt for Mark Dicker releases. Research tells me that Mark begin this century playing keyboards and vocals for the Casio-Grindcore band Treacher before joining Doom Metal merchants Palehorse. Again, new names to me but I suppose Doom Metal and Grindcore aren't my 'sort of thing'. Mark also spent time in the Psychedelic Rock group Queen Of Swords (alongside John Macedo) and is also one half of the Drone Folk duo Time. Since 2014 Mark has been releasing under his own moniker. 


"Flyalarm" was recorded in a room above a church in Oslo, Norway earlier in the year. Collecting field recordings around the location, sounds from a Norwegian winter, Mark mixes the recordings with multi-layering modular synthesisers. 'Flyalarm' is released on the Brachliegen Tapes label. Brachliegen Tapes is run by George Rayner-Law in Deal (Kent). George also records and releases as Schwerpunkt, expect some Schwerpunkt in the next broadcast. "Flyalarm" is available direct from the label here : https://brachliegentapes.bandcamp.com Another Mark Dicker cassette I found was the "Schwarzschild Radio" C30 put out by Beartown Records in May this year. Two fifteen minute pieces of modular synth work mixed with processed recordings of number stations. Another great tape from the highly collectable Beartown Records label. https://beartownrecords.bigcartel.com

Emile Bojesen (like Mark Dicker) was an artist unknown to me until a few weeks ago. I bought his latest cassette release "Ice" via Jan Warnke at Gerauschmanufaktur. Further listening led me to the CDR album "Reality", a collaboration with the project Banished Pills. Banished Pills is the project of Italian sound artist Edoardo Cammisa. As well as releasing sounds on a variety of labels such as Gerauschmanufaktur, Outsider Art, Line and Hoopoe Industries Emile is an author of philosophy and academic books such as 'Forms of Education (Rethinking Educational Experience Against and Outside the Humanist Legacy'. 


Emile works as Reader In Education And Faculty Head Of Research And Knowledge Exchange at Winchester University. "Reality" was released by Cathedral Transmissions and "Ice" on Gerauschmanufaktur. Both releases are available here : https://cathedraltransmissions.bandcamp.com/album/reality . https://geraeuschmanufaktur.bandcamp.com/merch

The Crispy Ambulance track is from their debut LP "The Plateau Phase". http://muhmur.blogspot.com/2010/02/crispy-ambulance-in-north-hykeham.html Since this piece was written I have met up with Mark again (he lives in Dursley, Glous ... just up the M5) and contacted Alan to get his memories of that evening ... he remembers it well.

"On This Day" features the only decent track on the 1979 compilation album "Street To Street - A Liverpool Album". The Id were a precursor to Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark. The album also features (amongst others) Echo & The Bunnymen, Big In Japan, The Accelerators, Modern Eon and Dead Trout. Sleeve notes are by John Peel. 


Over the past five or six years Stefan Hanser at The Epicurean has been collating, archiving and releasing the oeuvre of John Murphy. 2016 saw the collection "All My Sins Remembered - The Sonic Worlds Of John Murphy". A 3xCD set featuring John's work as a drummer in various post-punk groups in Australia (Whirlywirld, News and Mandrix) and his projects The Orchestra Of Skin And Bone, Browning Mummery, Krank, Vhril, Sooterkin Flesh as well as his work with The Associates, SPK, Knifeladder and Blood Axis amongst others. This year The Epicurean released Volume II of "All My Sins Remembered" exploring the recordings of The Grimsel Path, Crank, Ophiolateria and My Father Of Serpents. This time the release is a double CD package. John Murphy was a legend. Both volumes are available direct from The Epicurean : http://the-epicurean.transformed.de

Shit Creek is Bristol based artist Lewis Duffy. Last year he teamed up with Neil Campbell and Owen Chambers (of Carnivorous Plants) to create Soberin Exx and release the cassette album "Normal Islands". This year Lewis and Neil team up again to release the CDR "Arclight Trance/Cloud Market". Lewis also runs the Luxury Bucket label releasing his own work as well as sounds from Neil Campbell, Territorial Gobbing, Daniel J Gregory, Bearer and Kek-W amongst others. A label worth exploring. Contact Lewis : https://luxurybucket.net

A few weeks ago I bought a Din A Testbild Boxed LP and inside was a 7" by Kluster and Mr. Welten. A 1997 release on the German Marginal Talent label. I know nothing of Kluster / Cluster, always tagged them with the likes of Can, Faust, Neu! and Ash Ra Tempel. Although I did see Dieter Moebius play live in Hamburg University, 2013. 


The broadcast ends on Dangerous Girls and a track from their final vinyl. Dangerous Girls existed between 1978 and 1981 releasing four classic singles. Originally from Birmingham and called In The Jungle With No Guns they have recently reformed calling themselves Dangerous Girls Reunited. There's some great live footage across YouTube including this song filmed in 1979 in Birmingham Uni.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9Lf8Sk4UkA


Playlist : 

01: Mark Dicker : "Isflak" (Brachliegen Tapes) 2021.

02: Mark Dicker : "Morkegronne" (Brachliegen Tapes) 2021.

03: Mark Dicker : "Varmeskaper" (Brachliegen Tapes) 2021.

04: Mark Dicker : "Sirap" (Brachliegen Tapes) 2021.

05: Banished Pills & Emile Bojesen : "Irrelevant" (Cathedral Transmissions) 2021.

06: Emile Bojesen : "Ice (2)" (Gerauschmanufaktur) 2021.

07: Crispy Ambulance : "Are You Ready?" (Factory Benelux) 1982.

08: The Id : "Julia's Dream" (Open Eye Records) 1979.

09: My Father Of Serpents : "Untitled" (The Epicurean) 2021.

10: Mark Dicker : "Broadcast No. 29028.118.1" (Beartown Records) 2021.

11: Shit Creek & Neil Campbell : "Cloud Market" (Not On Label) 2021.

12: Kluster : "Eruption (Extract From Part Two)" (Marginal Talent) 1997.

13: Dangerous Girls : "Men In Suits" (Human Records) 1981.


Please take a listen here : https://www.mixcloud.com/muhsteve/muhmur-radio-broadcast-19082021/

Next Broadcast will be on September 2nd, 20:00 GMT kick-off (as always). SoundArt Radio 102.5 FM. Live stream via https://www.soundartradio.org.uk and will feature sounds from Karen Constance, Thomas LaRoche, Schwerpunkt, Ice Yacht and tracks from the new Minny Pops LP ... amongst other things. 

Saturday 7 August 2021

MuhMur Radio Broadcast 5 August 2021.


 Quite an eclectic broadcast featuring some old classics and artists that are no strangers to the MuhMur Radio playlist, and a couple of new projects that are new to my ears ... 

The programme starts with a track from the new Leda release "Covid 'Music' I Made With My Guitar". a CDREP on the ever collectable Förfall label. Hot on the trail of the re-issue of eponymous Leda debut album on Grapefruit Records this 28 minute 'sketchbook' is a great addition in the Förfall cannon. 
Leda is the solo project of Neutral guitarist Sofie Herner. Förfall can be contacted directly through Discreet Music. https://www.discreetmusic.se

2021 has seen the start of the Extratool 7" series. The latest on the roster is by American duo Kidbug. After two singles of experimental, electroacoustic ambience this latest release came as a great surprise. Refreshing blast of experimental shoegazing experimental rock. Kidbug are a completely new name to me and thanks to Extratool for introducing them to these ears. I am now desperately trying to find a copy of their "Theme From Kidbug" 7". Go to https://extrapool.patternbyetsy.com/listing/893985128/extratool to grab a copy. 

One of my favourite 7" singles from my teen years is the 1981 EP "Fragile Sentences" by Bron Area on Ambivalent Scale Recordings. Trawling the internet a few weeks ago (I don't surf ... I trawl) I found a CD copy of their 1983 album "The Trees And The Villages". Re-issued on the Glass Redux label, it was originally released by Glass Records, the CD also includes tracks from the 12" 'Different Phrases'. There's a great booklet with the CD too on the history of Nuneaton's finest (they pre-date Eyeless In Gaza) and how the album should have been called "The Treason Of Images" but the title got misheard over a phone call and so it will always be "The Trees And The Villages".  https://glassredux.bandcamp.com A great album, Glass Redux also released a great CD Religious Overdose recently. 


I recently spent a couple of days reorganising the cassette collection. I bought some new racks off a lady in Exeter ... the result of internet trawling. In doing so I unearthed some gems I hadn't played for a few years including the Bourbonese Qualk / Hartmann split tape "Music While You Work". Released on the Italian ADN label back in 1985. I wanted to include the track "Meatrack" in the programme and then discovered this was on the vinyl compilation box set "Archive 1980 - 1986" released by Vinyl On Demand. A cleaner copy than the cassette so I play three tracks from this compilation. "Blackout" features the dulcet vocal tones of Nigel Ayers and is from the "Here We Go" compilation album released by Sterile Records in 1985. Support The Miners! Staying with Nigel Ayers and the Nocturnal Emissions. "Even The Good Times Are Bad" is from the album "Duty Experiment", a compilation of demos and studio out-takes from 1980 - 1984. 

Tone Generator + The Body Without Organs is ex SPK member Dominic Guerin. The track here is from the recent release "Normalisation Of Response" and features samples from old SPK recordings. I found a copy via Tesco Organisation in Europe, but copies are available direct from the label Innercity Uprising. https://innercityuprising.bandcamp.com

Two singles from the "On This Day" feature. Firstly "Shack Up" by A Certain Ratio. A cover of the 1975 classic by Banbarra, released in 1980 by Factory Benelux. Secondly "Ends With The Sea" by BC Gilbert & G Lewis released a year later on 4AD Records. 

Records as memories. 


The debut LP (12"EP ?) by C Cat Trance will always bring back memories of my time in Manchester, living in Hulme Crescents. John Nash Crescent to be precise living with my then girlfriend Trace. I remember getting the record from a sale of ex-library records at Manchester University and it hardly came off the turntable for the time we were together. I recently found a decent copy for sale (trawling again) and grabbed it. Tunes I hadn't heard for over 30 years but were still locked their in the brain now swirling out of the speakers at MuhMur HQ with visions of Hulme, sunshine days and Trace. Who was it that said 'Happy memories leave a bitter taste'? C Cat Trance were formed by John Rees Lewis in 1982 when he left Nottingham funksters Medium Medium. This record was recorded in Newark. The first four tracks are from the 33RPM side, "Hypnotised" is from the 45RPM side. Hearing "Hypnotised" again made me pull out my DJ license that allows me to play the 'same title different song' card. 


Licht-Ung is Johannes Garbe, an audio-visual artist from Leverkusen in Germany. "Yellow Yellow Weather" is his latest release on Grisaille. https://grisaille.bandcamp.com/album/yellow-yellow-weather

The Chris & Cosey / CTI track is from the double compilation album "Out There - A Thread Through Time" released in 1994 on the Scottish Pi Recordings label. "Dancing Ghosts" was recorded in 1983. Sleeve notes claim that this was the first recordings of "Acid House", they obviously don't know about the track "WSB Is Very Clever" recorded by Diet Of Worms in a shed in North Hykeham featuring the sound of a Roland SH101 & Roland Drumatix ... and of course samples of the great man himself! When I get time I'll dig the tape out and play it! 


Please take a listen here : https://www.mixcloud.com/muhsteve/muhmur-radio-broadcast-august-5-2021/ 

Playlist :

01: Leda : "Covid Rock 1" (Förfall) 2021.

02: Kidbug : "Cloudbursting" (Extratool) 2021.

03: Bron Area : "Les Arbres" (Glass Redux) 2016.

04: Bourbonese Qualk : "Meatrack" (Vinyl On Demand) 2016.

05: Bourbonese Qualk : "Under Observation" (Vinyl On Demand) 2016.

06: Bourbonese Qualk : "Blackout" (Vinyl On Demand) 2016.

07: Nocturnal Emissions : "Even The Good Times Are Bad" (Soleilmoon Recordings) 1995.

08: Tome Generator + The Body Without Organs : "Ne/H/il's Back Room" (Inner City Uprising) 2021.

09: Kidbug : "Endless Waves" (Extratool) 2021.

10: Leda : "Covid Groove 1" (Förfall) 2021.

11: A Certain Ratio : "Shack Up" (Factory Benelux) 1980.

12: C Cat Trance : "Railway Magazine" (Red Flame) 1983.

13: C Cat Trance : "Let Me Sleep" (Red Flame) 1983.

14: C Cat Trance : "Untitled" (Red Flame) 1983.

15: C Cat Trance : "Dangling On A String" (Red Flame) 1983.

16: Dieter Müh : "Illuminati Humiliati" (Verlautbarung) 2012.

17: Licht-Ung : "Yellow Yellow" (Grisaille) 2021.

18: BC Gilbert & G Lewis : "Ends With The Sea" (4AD Records) 1981.

19: Chen Yi : "Rounder" (90% Wasser) 2006.

20: Chen Yi : "Honey Money" (90% Wasser) 2006.

21: C Cat Trance : "Hypnotised" (Red Flame) 1983.

22: Mark Stewart : "Hypnotised" (Mute Records) 1985.

23: Cabaret Voltaire : "Hypnotised" (Parlophone Records) 1989.

24: Chris & Cosey / CTI : "Dancing Ghosts" (Pi Recordings) 1994. 

Thanks again for listening, the next broadcast will be on August 19. SoundArt Radio 102.5 FM, it's an evening kick off at 20:00 GMT. https://www.soundartradio.org.uk



Not too certain but I think whilst (pre) recording tonight's programme a new Totnes Pope was declared! 




MuhMur Radio Update (Part Deux) ...

  MuhMur Radio will be back on air on MARCH 31 at 18:00 GMT for the first monthly 4 HOUR LIVE Broadcast. Please make a date with the radio...