Cazazza / Cazzaza

 

Many years ago in a land far far away ... well 1996 in York to be precise, I used to shop regularly at Depth Charge Records on Gillygate. Depth Charge Records was opened shortly after the Red Rhino Records shop on Goodramgate closed down (there are a lot of Gates in York). The staff were basically the same in both shops. I fondly remember staff member Dave Moss (aka Mossy). After a few months shopping there (at both Red Rhino and Depth Charge) he would tell me about releases that had just come in and not hit the racks yet, or were imminent ("put a copy aside for me, please"),  I would always get a discount and sometimes an 'unsellable' 7" or CD. Nice chap Dave. A guy called Tony ran both shops, but I rarely saw him ... he was always in the backroom. 

I cannot remember the exact year that Red Rhino Records morphed into Depth Charge but my guess is around 1994. It was in October of that year that Dieter Müh played their first live performance, at The Bonding Warehouse (just off Skeldergate) and we managed to convince Ilpo Väisänen, Tommi Grönlund and Lassi Lehto (aka Jimi Tenor) to come and play on the evening as well. They performed as Sähkö Crew. They were on a short tour of the UK and had previously played Glasgow the night before and their next gig wasn't until 2 days later in London ... so we invited them down, break the journey etc. I remember the evening being filmed by members of Sähkö but I have never seen the results. Perhaps it is this film? https://ra.co/news/39582. At the end of the evening a few folk from Depth Charge Records showed their faces (there could have been no more than 10 people watching the performances), word had got around town that members from Sähkö were performing, but the evening finished about half past ten. I remember Beaumont Hannant and his posse took the 'Crew' away to a party and I never saw them again ... a shame because only a few miles away at my house in Thorganby I had a few barrels of beer, a cupboard full of drugs and plenty of space to collapse.  

I mention this because it raised my 'profile' in Depth Charge Records, the chaps behind the counter, the local wannabe DJ's and mixmasters started to talk to me. For the first time in my 32 year life ... I was 'cool'. I was the chap that brought the Sähkö Crew to York (I didn't, it was all Dave Uden's doing. He was friends with Ilpo and Mika Vainio, he had been since the mid 1980's when they used to correspond and swap tapes etc, they connected through the Bill Nelson Fan Club of all places. It was Dave who got Dieter Müh played on national Finnish radio, he did record with them in Turku in the early 1990's but I have never heard the results). 

Back to 1996 and a trip to Depth Charge Records. They used to have an 'Industrial' section in the 12" racks, that was always my first port of call. Around that time I was still listening to stuff by Psychic Warriors Ov Gaia, Lagowski / Terror Against Terror / Psychic TV etc and nesting in the pile was a 12" by Cazzaza. I knew it was a misspelling and it was on the Telepathic Recordings label who had already put out the "For Charles" 12"EP by Psychic TV ... it just had to be Monte Cazazza. It came in a plain sleeve (what we call 'generic' in the trade) and had a shop produced sticker saying "Beatles Samples". Expensive (at the time) import price but I had to have. Monte's homage to The Beatles? A reply to Genesis' obsession with Brian Jones and The Rolling Stones? It had to be bought. 

                                                     Leaving Depth Charge Records, 1996.

When I got back to my place and slipped the disc on the turntable I was very surprised, no sampling of "Blackbird", "Revolution No. 9" or "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" etc, just synth sounds, sporadic whooshing and the like. Very disappointed. I mentioned this to Mossy the next time I was in Depth Charge Records who seemed surprised at my dismay, he grabbed another copy from the racks and pointed out that the shop produced sticker read : Beatless Samples. I never played the 12" again and in my travels and house moves over the next five or six years the record kind of disappeared. 

A few weeks ago I saw the record listed again filed under 'Warehouse Find'. I had honestly forgotten all about this 12", but now ... 26 years later curiosity got the better of me. was my overriding disappointment of the record not containing samples of The Beatles at the time overshadowing the actual content? Could it be a great 12"? I saw a review of the 12" on the Discogs site by someone called DrGiggles. : "This is a killer record, one side spaced out electronics, way out there like Nik Raicevic, other side kind of power noise like Daniel Menche or Lou Reed Metal Machine Music, but enough changes on in the songs and variation to make them interesting and awesome dj tools to boot". After reading that, the record needed a re-listen / re-evaluation. "Kill Your Self", two untitled pieces of abstract electronics. One side is seven and a half minutes, the other eleven. Both sides verge on the unlistenable. What I am hearing is someone who has just bought a new synthesiser (maybe two?) and they are discovering what sounds they can make ... which turns out to be, not very good ones. After the two singles Cazazza put out on Industrial Records in the1979 / 1980 and the rather excellent "Stairway To Hell" single on Sordide Sentimental in 1982 this is a wholly disappointing 14 year follow up. The way that Depth Charge Records listed the 12" as 'Beatless Samples' back in 1996 makes me think that this is not a piece of vinyl to be listened to for pleasure but maybe a piece of vinyl to take some whooshing synth sounds and bubbly-burping sounds to sample? 

It shall remain (this time) in my collection but it should've been included on the compilation album "The Worst Of Monte Cazazza".