The programme opens with Sugai Ken's "Boundary" from the compilation LP "Aquapelago : An Oceans Anthology", released last year on Discrepant. I must admit that this was my first hearing of Ken's work and I like what I hear. More discovery is needed. There is a fascinating interview with Sugai and his approach here : https://www.ableton.com/en/blog/sugai-ken-the-shibui-of-field-recording-and-electronics/
"Variant, Number Two" is from the latest LP by Jim Haynes released last year on Verlautbarung. No stranger to the programme Jim also released the CD "Insomnia" on the Ukranien Sentimental Productions label. This album featured Variants numbered ten, four and six.
"Turbulence is a prequel of sorts, with two twenty minute studies in smouldering noise and concretized electricity, as evidenced through shortwave radio, corroded metal-on-metal, and glass being vibrating just shy of the point of shattering ..... Thick, fluttering, heated rays of sound building a slow tension of rhythmic, oppressive structures. Piercing, crackling tones increase and decrease, layered with icy cold precision. Muffled segments of bass pressure enters and are abruptly cut short, leaving just enough room to breathe inside the mechanical stasis".
The album has a sleeve of hand drilled holes of varying amounts and sizes making each cover unique. Something that is so Verlautbarung. Copies are available direct from the label at : http://www.millstonevinyl.se/verlautbarung/.
On the recommendation from the folk at Sensory Leakage I bought a copy of the MÆkur album "Conditions : 1218 - 0719". A new project to my ears MÆkur is the collaborative project of Maia Urstad, Anton Kats and Eva Rawson. The album (which is played in full on the programme) features three live pieces. "Distant Voices Still Live" was performed and recorded live at Landmark, Bergen Kunsthalle in Norway. "The sonic material for this performance is gleamed from recordings on FM, AM and satellite radio transmissions. Bergen Krigkaster, the Deutsche Wielle radio archive, and excerpts from a sonic collaboration with Hilda Hauan alongside modules, crackles and electromagnetic listening devices". The piece "Small Crystal" was performed and recorded at ILYICH HQ in Berlin and is based on an original live performance at Landmark. "RS 52" "Using sounds recorded at the Blind Veterans UK Amateur Radio Society, Brighton. Improvised and recorded live at Lighthouse, Brighton and re-mixed with Njål Paulsberg, Bergen, Norway". At the core of the MÆkur collaboration is an ongoing archive, to gather and emphasise multiple soundings of technical development and the different communities that form around it. Great stuff! The LP isn't on any label, it's a collaborative release between the Bergen Kunsthalle (Norway), Lighthouse (UK), Sonic Arts and Paradiso (Netherlands). Part of the Re-imagine Europe co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. Copies can be obtained in the UK from : https://sensoryleakage.bandcamp.com/merch.
A new year, a new 'feature'? Now MuhMur Radio has entered it's eleventh year I was wondering whether or not to keep the 'On This Day' section where I play records that (according to my diaries) were released on the day of broadcast. The section itself replaced the 'Classic From The New Wave Era' feature ... that used to be introduced by Alan Hempsall (Crispy Ambulance). After asking a few folk I have decided to stick with 'On This Day' (quite a popular feature apparently) when appropriate and add a cover version or two on to the playlist. I do like cover versions. So ... Almagest! covering the Jefferson Airplane classic "White Rabbit"
Regular listeners to the programme will recognise the sound of Andrea Borghi. I first came across his work in 2013 when Chris Groves of Cipher Productions gave me a copy of the split Borghi / VipCranco cassette "C-46". Chris handed me the tape outside Barbie World in Berlin along with other Cipher Productions releases .. it's a long and complicated story! Ever since that day I have been hooked to the sound of Andrea Borghi and his VipCranco project although I believe that VipCranco have ceased activity. "Lato" was released in 2021 on the Canadian Buried In Slag And Debris label. (Last year BIS&D put out a great cassette by Les Horribles Travailleurs). "Lato" is a 2xC25 cassette release with Andrea using VHS sound samples and real time computer processing. Recorded in 2021 it's an extension to the "VHS" LP (Misanthropic Agenda 2018) and "VCR" cassette (Second Sleep 2020). Mastered by Riccardo Mazza of Lettera 22 and available from https://buriedinslaganddebris.bigcartel.com.
Nurse With Wound's "Mandragore" is the eleventh in the Lenka Lente series of NWW releases. Each release is a mini CD accompanied by a book of surrealist / DaDaist literature. "Mandragore" is a piece by Jean Lorrain. Jean Lorrain (Paul Duval) was a French poet and novelist of the Symbolist School. The Book / CD is available at : http://www.lenkalente.com.
No stranger to MuhMur Radio is no stranger to the sound of Swedish project Arv & Miljö. If MuhMur Radio is just some old bloke playing his records and tapes (and it is!) then I am going to playing Arv & Miljö. Back in 2012 when I was playing at The Fylkingen in Stockholm Dan Johansson (Sewer Election / Neutral etc) handed me a copy of the Arv & Miljö CD "Orientering I Denna Värld" which he'd just put out on his Ljud & Bild Produktion label. He also gave me releases by One Dark Eye, Macronympha and Lettera 22 but the Arv & Miljö CD was the addictive one. Arv & Miljö is Matthias Andersson, the man behind the Discreet Music and I Dischi Del Barone labels. (Also Release The Bats at the turn of the century). The new Arv & Miljö album is called "Vålnad Av Fornskog", the three tracks here are all from that LP. Grab a copy from : https://discreetmusicgbg.bandcamp.com.
"Dangerous Rhythm" was the first single by Ultravox! and released 'On This Day' in 1977. (Looking at a few sites on t'internet it says it was a February release, but I am going by my dairies, the internet also fails to mention their 1977 gig at Lincoln Tech College. My older sister went and brought back an A0 poster for the gig ... picture of the first album cover ... it was on my bedroom wall for years). Also 'On This Day' in 1981 the first Crispy Ambulance John Peel session was broadcast. Earlier in the month (Jan 1981) I had seen Crispy Ambulance support New Order at The Porterhouse in Retford and was absolutely blown away by them. I knew nothing of the band before the gig and came out a devotee. I went to see New Order (their 11th gig) but thought (and still think) Crispy Ambulance were the better band that night. I must have seen New Order half a dozen or so times in 1981 ... and the support bands were always better, it ended up being the only reason to go to their gigs. "Sexus" was the final Crispy Ambulance single before they split in 1984. The wonderful LTM released the Crispy Ambulance John Peel session on the CD "Frozen Blood (1980-1982)" available here : https://www.ltmrecordings.com.
Playlist :
01: Sugai Ken : "Boundary" (Discrepant) 2022.
02: Jim Haynes : "Variant, Number Two" (Verlautbarung) 2022.
03: MÆkur : "Distant Voices Still Live" (Not On Label) 2020.
04: Almagest! : "White Rabbit" (Tourette Records) 2013.
05: Andrea Borghi : "Lato 1" (Buried In Slag And Debris) 2021.
06: MÆkur : "Small Crystal" (Not On Label) 2020.
07: MÆkur : "RS 52" (Not On Label) 2020.
08: Nurse With Wound : "Mandragore" (Lenka Lente) 2022.
09: Arv & Miljö : "Brittsommar" (Discreet Music) 2022.
10: Arv & Miljö : "Rid Över Skog" (Discreet Music) 2022.
11: Arv & Miljö : "Tunga Lager Av Jord" (Discreet Music) 2022.
12: Ultravox! : "Dangerous Rhythm" (Island Records) 1977.
13: Crispy Ambulance : "Egypt" (LTM) 2000.
14: Crispy Ambulance : "Sexus" (Factory Benelux) 1984.
Please take a listen to the broadcast here :
https://www.mixcloud.com/tamsin-jane-cammack/muhmur-radio-broadcast-january-19-2023/
Once again, big thanks to Chris Booth (and Skunk) for assistance and company. Back on February 2 with sounds from The Lonely Bell, U.V. Pop, Anla Courtis and Anji Cheung amongst others ... 21:00 kick-off on SoundArt Radio 102.5FM. https://www.soundartradio.org.uk.
