MuhMur Radio Broadcast 17 February 2022.

 

This broadcast features two pieces by Frans deWaard's Modelbau project. The programme starts with "Caustic" a track from the cassette EP "Cataract". In 2014 Modelbau released on cassette for the first time since the project began in 2012. Following "Blade" on Barreuh Records, "Cataract" is a C30 on the German Licht-Ung label. "Cataract" was originally released to accompany two Modelbau performances / workshops in Leverkusen and Kail (August 2014). The copies sold over these two events have different sleeves to the 'official' Licht-Ung mail order release. A rarity I have yet to get my hands on. 

The Modelbau piece "Object Of The Attack" is from the compilation cassette "Blurred". The compilation also features Jeph Jerman, Licht-Ung, Emerge, Forgotten Ghost and The Rita amongst others. It's a beautifully packaged release that comes with an A5 'zine with interviews, photography and artwork by the participants. The compilation marks the 50th release by the German label. The "Cataract" cassette is long sold out (limited to 50 copies) but a download is still available from Licht-Ung via their bandcamp page.https://licht-ung.bandcamp.com. Frans can be contacted here : https://fransdewaard.com, and copies of "Blurred" are available here : https://grisaille.bandcamp.com/album/blurred. (D/load only). 

2021 was a busy year for Swiss sound artist Francisco Meirino producing three of the finest releases from the year. The vinyl LP "A New Instability" on Helen Scarsdale Agency, the cassette "Something Always remains" on Thomas LaRoche's Research Laboratories label and the 4xCD collection (box) "The Process Of Significance" on Misanthropic Agenda. 2022 begins with the excellent album "Shattered Reel(m)s" on Edward Sol's Sentimental Productions label. The album was recorded throughout 2020 at Francisco's Shiver Mobile (Lausanne). The sound is created from 30 tape reel loops built upon using violin, piano, field recordings, synthesisers, voice and computer. As always Sentimental Productions have produced an excellent album with limited copies available in an 'art box' containing a reel to reel tape version of the CD along with an original tape loop that was used on the album. (I have #30). Copies are available direct from Francisco here : http://www.franciscomeirino.com. 

What can I write about Cabaret Voltaire that hasn't already been written? Every Cabaret Voltaire interview that has been in print since 1977 is included in the great new book "Cabaret Voltaire - A Collection Of Interviews 1977-1994". I am having a great time reading the interviews and playing my Cabaret Voltaire records as aid and reference. The book has been collated by Fabio Méndez, no pictures just words. A great read. The last few weeks I have been enjoying a few new books whilst listening to records. The Nigel Ayers "Electronic Resistance" book, the book by The Shend on his writing within The Cravats and (over Christmas) the book on The Fall "Extracate!". I am looking forward to the new book by Jowe Head, out on Feb 18 ... expect some Swell Maps tunes in March. The Cabaret Voltaire interview book can be found here. https://www.fabiomendez.com/cabaretvoltaire/product/cabaret-voltaire-a-collection-of-interviews-1977-1994-book/.

I am having fun listening to Cheap Imitation. I managed to get their first vinyl release at the end of last year and now I want to hear everything. Before the 7" Cheap Imitation released three cassettes "No More Weekend" is the title track from their 2018 album on Oma333. 

Two releases feature in the "On This Day" section. The Passage released their first 7" on the Night & Day Ltd label, a label created for The Passage by Virgin Records. The Passage were a Manchester based group with fluctuating members with multi instrumentalist Dick Witts being the one constant member. Formed in 1978 as a three piece including The Fall's Tony Friel they released a brace of singles and an album on Object Music before creating Night & Day Ltd in 1981. They call it a day in 1983. Dick Wilts used to appear on the BBC music programme "The Oxford Road Show" and Granada TV's "What's On". A year later on February 17 1982 23 Skidoo released the seminal "7 Songs" (mini) LP. 

The album is produced by Genesis P-Orridge, Peter Christopherson and Ken Thomas. The album was released on Fetish Records, the London based label that started in 1978 by re-releasing Throbbing Gristle's "2nd Annual Report" album. I saw 23 Skidoo play live a few times around this time and remember them playing films / videos that were used by Throbbing Gristle. I play the (mini) LP in full here. 40 years on and it still sounds (funky) fresh. The LTM label have re-issued "7 Songs" as a double LP including the John Peel session from 1981 and their debut 12" "The Gospel Comes To New Guinea" (produced by Stephen Mallinder of Cabaret Voltaire. Worth getting : https://www.ltmrecordings.com.

Next month sees the release of a new album by The Dead Mauriacs. The album is called "Expedition" and is a collaboration between The Dead Mauriacs and Evan Crankshaw. Limited to only 300 copies it is available now (pre-order) at : https://akuphone.com/catalog/1C9Mu1EZFqoA#content. In anticipation I play a 2021 piece by The Dead Mauriacs. I don't know if it was a good idea to play the new single from Current 93. "Soft As The Sun" is a single-sided playable postcard, limited to 250 copies on the Greek Chrysallida label. It is only available from the Folklore & History Museum of Xanthi and unfortunately it snaps, skips, crackles and pops white a bit. The record does play better on my turntable at MuhMur HQ than it did on the studio decks. "Caresse" from the "LAShTAL" 12" comes to the rescue. 

In 1985 Frans deWaard at Kom Plastics compiled and released the compilation cassette "6x10=60 Vol.1". It featured Bands Berne Crematoire, Merzbow, Asod DVI, Commando Bruno, Falx Cerebri and Throw Me Your Finger. It was a limited run of 130 copies and came with a small tract. The following year Korm Plastics released volume 2 this time with Het Zweet, Coup de Grace, No Unauthorized, Hjarntortyr Med Slacktmaskins, Swimming Behaviour Of The Human Infant and Bourbonese Qualk. Again limited to 130 copies and this time packaged in a 'zip bag' with 24 art cards. Essential in the day ... and still essential now. The quality of the sound really stands out, it hasn't dated or lessened in effect. The projects included really were on top of their game at this point. And now the Staalplaat 'side label' Korm Plastics D have re-issued the two volumes in one box and included a booklet containing the original artwork from the tract and postcards. The Falx Cerebri (aka Graf Haufen) piece and the Het Zweet piece that ends the broadcast are from this compilation. I have a vague memory that Ron at RRRecords may have released these tapes in the U.S. but I may have that wrong ... The Korm Plastics D edition is limited to 96 copies only and available from : https://kormplasticsd.bandcamp.com. 

I am always looking to fill the gaps in my Muckrackers collection and at the start of the year I managed to get a couple of albums from their back catalogue. "Regarde Et Prends Garde" was released in 2014 on their own L.F.A. label. Again, the style, the individual and unique style of Muckrackers industrial noise is at the forefront on this LP. "Prends Garde" is from this album. http://www.forges-alliees.org. Contact! Talking of filling gaps ... over the Christmas holiday I ventured to the new secondhand record shop Hussar Records in Pinhoe, Exeter and picked up some classic tunes by Sisters Of Mercy and Joy Division. My copy of "Unknown Pleasures" went beyond the snap, crackle and pop many moons ago so to grab a CD copy was most pleasurable. For some reason I find it difficult to buy the first four Sisters Of Mercy singles, mainly because of price (to me they are all 'ten bob singles') so I was grateful to get a copy of the awfully titled "Some Girls Wander By Mistake" CD.

A connection is made - I saw Sisters Of Mercy live on the same day I saw 23 Skidoo. 1981 at the Futurama 3 Festival in The Bingley Hall, Stafford. They had just released the "Damage Is Done" EP and really stood out ... I had never heard (of) them before and became a disciple for the next couple of years buying everything and seeing them live all over the north of England. 1984 they played Manchester University it was then I knew our time was over ... 

The MixCloud Archive is here : (Pease take a listen) :

https://www.mixcloud.com/tamsin-jane-cammack/muhmur-radio-broadcast-17-february-2022/

Playlist :

01: Modelbau : "Caustic" (Licht-Ung) 2014.

02: Francisco Meirino : "Shattered Reel(m)s (#3)" (Sentimental Productions) 2022.

03: Cabaret Voltaire : "Do The Mussolini (Headkick!)" (Rough Trade Records) 1978.

04: Cheap Imitation : "No More Weekend" (Oma333) 2018.

05: The Passage : "Devils And Angels" (Night & Day) 1981.

06: Slum Of Legs : "The Baader-Meinhoff Always Look Good In Photos" (Spurge) 2020.

07: Cabaret Voltaire : "Baader-Meinhoff" (Factory Records) 1979.

08: Cabaret Voltaire : "Stay Out Of It" (Rough Trade Records) 1980.

09: 23 Skidoo : "Seven Songs" (Side A) (Fetish Records) 1982.

10: 23 Skidoo : "Seven Songs" (Side B) (Fetish Records) 1982.

11: The Dead Mauriacs : "... Play Secret Science And Le Festin Chimique" (Not On Label) 2021.

12: Current 93 : "Soft As The Sun" (Chrysallida) 2021.

13: Current 93 : "Caresse" (L.A.Y.L.A.H. AntiRecords) 1984.

14: Falx Cerebri : "Doom" (Korm Plastics D) 2022.

15: Muckrackers : "Prends Garde" (LFA) 2015.

16: Modelbau : "Object Of The Attack" (Grisaille) 2022.

17: Sisters Of Mercy : "Alice" (Merciful Release) 1982.

18: Joy Division : "Shadowplay" (Factory Records) 1979.

19: Het Zweet : "Indus I" (Korm Plastics D) 2022.

It was great to be back in the studio again, the magickal Chris (again) made it all happen and Tony Whitehead and Nathan Carter joined in the fun. Edgar built pencil art and Isabel took pictures ... 

                                                                     Chris & Edgar.

                                                                         Tony & Nathan.

                                                         The Grey Mullet plays another tape .. 

MuhMur Radio Broadcast February 3 2022

 

It's really pleasing to see Phil Julian get physical. Over the past five years or so Phil has been putting his sounds out as download only files. "Young Person's Guide To Voice Job" is released in cassette format (as well as WAV format) on Dale Cornish's Vanity Publishing label. All pieces were recorded in 2018 using a corrupted user bank of a Yamaha TQ5 FM Midi Expander and resequenced in 2021. The cassette is limited to 40 copies only and available : https://vanitypublishing.bandcamp.com/album/young-person-s-guide-to-voice-job

"Organ Needles" by The Anti Group is their first full album since 1994's "Burning Water". Over the past few years TAGc have been releasing a series of split releases and collaborations with the likes of Matar, Mikel Boyd and Obsolete Capitalism. I guess Adi Newton has been concentrating on his revitalised Clock DVA project. This album was originally planned for a 2020 release but CV-19 stalled the project. There are two versions on release, a limited CD version featuring two exclusive tracks and 10 double sided postcards designed by Ads and a USB / Tote Bag edition. The album features sounds / collaborations with Jack Dangers (Meat Beat Manifesto), David Knight (Five Or Six), Stephen Thrower (Coil), Jacques Beloiel (Entr'acte) and Michael Esposito amongst others. "Organ Needles" is Adi Newton. Copies available via https://rizosfera.net

Re-Clip are from Finland and another project who now concentrate on download releases. I first came across their sound via the 2009 cassette album "Notes" on Hyster Tapes, and have been hooked ever since.  Re-Clip seem to put out extremely limited editions of self-pressed 7"'s once in a while .. "Alt" is from the 2021 7" "Alt/On". https://re-clip.bandcamp.com is worth following if you want to grab the 'physical' stuff. 

Q&A are the improvisational / experimental duo of Quentin Rollet and Andrew Sharpley. Rollet is a French saxophonist who has collaborated with Nurse With Wound whilst Sharpley is a founding member of Stock, House & Walkman. "Loop" is from the CD "The New Me" on the French labels Reqords / Test Recordings. https://testrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/the-new-me-2

I received a package of releases from Humanhood Recordings a few weeks back and the album "Heat On Earth" by PBK/Spybey/Butcher/Johnson was a great surprise. With Robin Spybey being involved the tracks have a kind of motorik pulse feel around them with electronics from PBK and treated saxophone by John Butcher. John Butcher is also part of the UK free jazz improvisational electronic troupe The Seen alongside Phil Julian. Travis Johnson adds a stringed drone to the pieces ... it's become a regular spin here at MuhMur HQ. Originally released in 2018, a second edition on cassette has now been issued. Go to https://humanhoodrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/heat-on-earth to get a copy. (Download available). 

Last year Onewayness played a few selective live dates with Drekka. For these dates they put out a 'tour only' collaborative CDR. This alerted me to the presence of Onewayness and it's main protagonist Adam Holquist. Adam kindly mailed me a package of releases (including the 'tour only' CDR which I played in the last programme on January 20) that he has released on his own Onomastic label. Onewayness are based in Erie, Pennsylvania. Adam is a multi-instrumentalist using pianos, guitars and analog synthesisers to create a unique ambient drone sound. 'Contemporary electronic listening music'. The track here is from the Onewayness compilation CD "Bansang". Contact Adam here : https://onewayness.com. Also on the last broadcast I played side A of the new Art & Miljö album "Ensam Vär Rhyd Över Vita Vägar" in full. This broadcast includes Side B ... in full. Vinyl copies are sold out from Discreet Music but I have seen the LP on various distort lists. Download is still available though. https://discreetmusicgbg.bandcamp.com/music

'Vertonen is the work of Blake Edwards, a veteran of the Chicago noise and experimental scene. With close to 100 releases many of them published through his own Crippled Intellect Productions and Ballast imprints spread over several decades. Edwards has fine-tuned his craft of cryptically inclined, electronic invocations that might channel the raw brutality of industrial machinery or the existential claustrophobia of a submarner's voyage nearing its untimely end. There are numerous aesthetic facets to the Vertonen oeuvre - scabrously harsh noise, zoned out isolationism, roughly tactile cacophonies, polished smooth harmonics. Yet, much of the work is tied to a conceptual precision that informs if not agitates his sound to act'. (J. Haynes). 

The Vertonen track here is from the 2020 cassette "Broken Air" on Helen Scarsdale Agency. Vertonen and his work can be found here : http://ballastnvp.blogspot.com

A couple of books were read over the Christmas holiday. "Rub Me Out" by The Shend was a good enough reason to reacquaint myself with the sound of The Cravats. "Rub Me Out" is a history of The Cravats inter-woven with The Shend's lyrics all explained and given purpose. There are also lyrics and stories from his later projects The Very Things and Grimetime. Other words in the book are written by (amongst others) Mick Mercer, Penny Rimbaud, Stewart Lee, Jello Biafra and Steve Underwood. (Just as an aside and totally unplanned the author/comedian/national treasure Stewart Lee is also a member of the UK free jazz improvisational electronic troupe The Seen). The book is limited in publication, recommended and available from : https://advancerecords.com/product/the-shend-rub-me-out-book/. I was fortunate to meet The Shend once, in the queue for the buffet at Steve Underwood's wedding, we chatted briefly and I learnt that the first The Cravats LP was recorded in Torquay, a few miles from where I now live. A reformed The Cravats later played a blistering live set at the wedding ... I vaguely remember Mark Durgan's son playing drums with them for a bit ... I was very drunk at the time ... 

                                                              The Shend in Torquay (1980). 

In 1990 I moved from Manchester to York and started drinking in a pub called The York Arms. It's right next to the Minster (if it's still there). It was there whilst wearing my Psychic TV "Feast Of Flowering Light" T-Shirt that a man approached me to talk about all things Psychic TV. He called himself Fez and mentioned he was the drummer in local surf / psychedelic rock band Suicidal Flowers. Over the weeks we became drinking buddies and I got to see Suicidal Flowers live around York a few times - they usually played with a band called God's Little Monkeys who had ex-The Nightingales roadie Kev Cartwright in their ranks. Lovely chap. Anyway, it was Fez who asked if the then recently formed Dieter Müh would like to support Suicidal Flowers live at a venue called The Bonding Warehouse. I (naturally) agreed, but the gig was cancelled (I can't remember why ... perhaps the venue flooded? The Bonding Warehouse was always flooding as it sat on the River Ouse) but the idea of playing live was too tempting and Dieter Müh's first live performance happened later that year in 1994. If it wasn't for Fez perhaps we would have never played live, certainly not in York where Colin Potter introduced himself and offered time in his ICR studio. Sliding doors and all that ... anyway, Pre Suicidal Flowers Fez was the drummer in The Village Idiots. The track here is from their one and only 7" "Ugly!". Ramblin' Johnny Stomachpump's whereabouts remains a mystery.

Nolls are no strangers to the MuhMur Radio playlist, the track here is from the compilation cassette "Skunk'd Gunk" on D.I.H.D. http://www.dihd.net. 

The "On This Day" section features the 7" "Eiseger Wind" by Liliput. Liliput were formed in Zurich in 1978 using the name Kleenex. They released a couple of singles on the Rough Trade Records label before changing their name to avoid legal battles with the tissue manufacturers. Liliput split in 1983. Around the same time that Kleenex played live in Lincoln's Drill Hall (along with The Raincoats and Spizz Energi), Fashion played at AJ's. It must have been 1979 ... I've always loved the single "Citinite". I heartedly recommend band member Luke James' memoir "Stairway to Nowhere". It's a fascinating read. https://www.lulu.com/en/gb/shop/luke-james/stairway-to-nowhere/paperback/product-1z8mjvn5.html?page=1&pageSize=4

"This Jungle" comes from the newly released collection "Church" by John Foxx. "Church" is comprised of studio outtakes and demo recordings from the time of "The Garden", it was released to coincide with the 40th anniversary pf John Foxx's 1981 album. 

"Gods And Guns" by Savage Republic is from the new LP "Meteora". It's a lathe cut album, but also available on CD on the Gusstaff Records imprint. https://gusstaff.com.

A few weeks ago I heard the project The Wyndham Research Institute on the radio programme "The Institute Of Spectra-Sonic Sounds". I hunted down the track they played, it was from the "Concise Illustrated History Of....." cassette. I contacted the label HREA'M Recordings and discovered that the main member of TWRI also had a project called Bolivian Fireships. Bolivian Fireships are J.G. Sparkes and James Buchanan and they're based in Stockholm. "Thank You For Not Smoking (The New Emphatic Remix)" is from the cassette "Translations / Reinterpretations" and "Border Crossings" is from the CDR (imaginatively) called "Untitled". Both albums are on HREA'M Recordings. 

HREA'M Recordings are contactable at : https://hream.bandcamp.com/releases. Or write direct to J.G. and James via : https://jgsparkes.bandcamp.com/music. 

Playlist :

01: Phil Julian : "016" (Vanity Publishing) 2021.

02: The Anti Group : "Organ Needles" (Armmcom Europe/Rizosfera) 2022.

03: Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft : "Co Co Pino" (Mute Records) 1980.

04: Re-Clip : "Alt" (Re-Clip Records) 2021.

05: Q&A : "Loop" (ReQords/Test Recordings) 2021.

06: PBK/Spybey/Butcher/Johnson : "Heat On Earth" (Humanhood Records) 2018

07: Onewayness : "Colours And Audio Vibration" (Onomastic) 2019.

08: Arv & Miljö : "Gnistrande Och Knarrande" (Discreet Music) 2021.

09: Arv & Miljö : "Sagoland" (Discreet Music) 2021.

10: Arv & Miljö : "En Strimma Hav Som Glimmar Grå" (Discreet Music) 2021.

11: Arv & Miljö : "Värnandet Av Kyla" (Discreet Music) 2021.

12: Arv & Miljö : "Tystnaden Djup I Decembers Mitt" (Discreet Music) 2021.

13: Arv & Miljö : "Extas" (Discreet Music) 2021.

14: Vertonen : "Collision (Escalation)" (Helen Scarsdale Agency) 2020.

15: The Cravats : "Gordon" (Overground Records) 2012.

16: Ramblin' Johnny Stomachpump And The Village Idiots : "Norman On The Platform" (Elwood Recordings) 1990.

17: Nolls : "Villain" (D.I.H.D.) 2021.

18: Liliput : "Eiseger Wind" (Off Course Records) 1980.

19: Liliput : "When The Cat's Away The Mice Will Play" (Off Course Records) 1980.

20: Fashion : "Citinite" (Fashion Music) 1979.

21: John Foxx : "This Jungle" (Metamatic) 2021.

22: Savage Republic : "Gods And Guns" (Don't Sit On My Vinyl!) 2021.

23: Bolivian Fireships : "Thank You For Not Smoking (The New Emphatic Remix)" (HREA'M Recordings) 2021.

24: Bolivian Fireships : "Border Crossings" (HREA'M Recordings) 2021. 

The broadcast can be heard here : https://www.mixcloud.com/tamsin-jane-cammack/muhmur-radio-february-3-2022/