MuhMur Radio Broadcast April 27 2023.

 

Killerlady is Martin Kircher. Based in Munchengladbach, Germany. Martin has been producing sounds since the mid 1980's playing bass with the punk group Ranola. He began the Killer / Killerlady project in the late 1990's. "Die Heimat Wird Streben" is the latest 7" on the Beau Travail label. The programme starts with "Seestück", the B-Side. Beau Travail is an interesting label to watch with past releases by Pisse, Mark Wynn and Negative Space amongst others : https://beautravail.bandcamp.com/album/killerlady. 

                                                                          Killerlady 7".

Kazuya Ishigami ended 2022 with the release of the cassette "Unrealistic Memory" on the French Falt label. Falt is operated by Christian Schiefner who puts out his own sounds under the banner of Chemiefaserwerk. All Falt cassettes are limited but are available as downloads (if that's your thing) from their Bandcamp page : https://falt.bandcamp.com/music. 

February saw the release of the new album by The Dead Mauriacs (firm favourites here on MuhMur Radio). Entitled "Paravents Et Mirrors, Une Cérémonie" It is a live recording. 

'"Paravents Et Miroirs, Une Cérémonie" corresponds to the first concert performed alone on stage. I was invited through Thorsten Soltau to play at the HausKlangFestival in Hamburg in 2017. The hall where the festival is held is also an art cinema. So it was an opportunity to present a show combining film and music. It also solves the problem of a musician alone on stage behind a computer. Although the music was not especially thought for these images, the spectator himself makes relations, concordances are born between musical and visual ruptures and each one makes his own story .... I met Thorsten via the internet. We only saw each other once in Hamburg. He is a friend, we correspond regularly, we exchange sounds, we collaborate sometimes. I did one or two remixes for him. The festival took place during two days. The program included Enema Syringe, Air Cushion Finish, Ansgar Wilken, Thorsten Soltau under the pseudonym of Marina Stewart, Soviet-France and me!' (Olivier Prieur~from the sleeve notes). Here I play the whole of side A, it is split into seven sections :

1: Short Drift : An Opening.

2: The Return Of The Electric Insects / The Strange Birds.

3: Tension, False Terror.

4: Malaysian Ending.

5: Rituals And Vanities 1.

6: Rituals And Vanities 2.

7: Italians In Hamburg.

It has been released by the Japanese label Calax Records. https://calaxrecords.com. 

As strange as the story goes, I was also asked by Thorsten to play this festival in 2017 but I could not make the flight. It would have meant flying out to Hamburg on Boxing Day (Dec 26), so it was not possible. Regrets ... I've had a few.

The programme's obligatory cover version comes from The Human League and their take on Mick Ronson's "Only After Dark". The original appeared on the "Slaughter On 10th Avenue" LP released in 1974 (on RCA Victor), The Human League's version is from their 1980 "Travelogue" album on Virgin Records. To accompany the album "Starballs" (released by Chocolate Monk), Neil Campbell aka Astral Social Club has self-released the album "Occultics". Available through his Bandcamp page for a tenner!

https://astralsocialclub.bandcamp.com/album/occultics.

'On This Day' in 1982 Modern English released the single "Life In The Gladhouse" on 4AD Records. It was available only as a 12". The single was a remix from the album "After The Snow", the version I play here is the album version ... the 12" has always evaded me as have Modern English. I had the opportunity to see them live on a couple of occasions but they were support to New Order and Japan so I gave them a miss. I love the 4AD singles from 1980 to 1983. 

Speaking of singles I love .... I was in Bristol a couple of months ago and bought a pile of 7" singles from the variety of (excellent) second hand record shops that are situated in the City. Manicured Noise "Faith" was in the pile, mainly for the B-Side "Freetime". Manicured Noise were formed in 1978 in Manchester and fell apart in 1980 (or 1981 ... I'm uncertain). They centred around singer / songwriter / guitarist Steve Walsh. Steve was a member of Flowers Of Romance and formed the soul / funk outfit The Weathermen after the demise of Manicured Noise. Death In June's "Holy Water" is the B-Side of the their 1982 single "State Laughter". 

                                                                             Joe Colley.

Joe Colley is an artist / composer based in Sacramento (California). He began recording as Crawl Unit and releasing on his own Povertech Industries label in the mid 1990's. Since the turn of the century he seems to be recording / releasing under his own name. "Limit" is from his latest release, a 10"EP  "Acting As If" on the Drone Records subsidiary Substantia Innominata. 

"In describing 'Acting As If', Colley offers a vague series of descriptors: unheimlich, terror of the familiar, and no faith in what is not "real". Within the sustained movements of scrabbling textures, motorised abrasions, and uncomfortable harmonics, such conditions are made manifest and Colley amplifies them into something eerily sublime.

All of that held within a self-contained logic that works within and against a deep knowledge of drone-on minimalism, mystique concrete dynamics, and the explosiveness of noise culture. His swarming masses, throttled rumbling and smouldering tension are all encircling and folding in on themselves. Rhizomes of sound that speak poison, Drink up if it doesn't kill you it will only make you stronger".  (Jim Haynes). More information on this 10" can be found here : http://www.substantia-innominata.de.

Another new release from the MuhMur Radio 'house-label' Haemoccult Recordings. Modelbau and the EP "Metal & Motif". 'Three imaginary soundtracks from the dystopian nightmare at the cineplex. Reel-to-Reel cacophonies, made to measure the format of a 7"' (Frans de Waard). 

The single is available from me at muhmur.radio@gmail.com at £7.50 + postage. And speaking of Reel-to-Reel cacophonies .... "Film Theme" by Simple Minds is from their 1979 album "Real-To-Real Cacophony" on Zoom Records, although the version I play here is from the 2003 remastered CD on Virgin Records. "Warm Leatherette" is a classic .... and also mine & Mrs MuhMur's wedding song back in 2003. I am still spinning 'The Elephant Table' compilation double LP from 1983. Portion Control's "Chew You To Bits" (which incorporates their 'Crash Weight Gain' song) and Chris & Cosey's "Raining Tears Of Blood" are from this release. A different version of "Raining Tears Of Blood" was released on their 1984 album "Songs Of Love & Lust" (on Rough Trade Records). 

The Prestidigitators were created in 1995 by Micheal Gillham. A rotating set of musicians and misfits that have included Dave Walklett (Smell & Quim), Kevin Short (Drunk In Hell) and Michael Baines + Ian Roberts (Snotnosed). "Nights Jenseits Nihilismus (II)" also features Thomas LaRoche and Zoë Valls (Dead Normal). Michael Gillham is also involved with The New Blockaders, it was many years ago that I met Michael whilst he was performing with TNB and we have remained friends ever since. It was Michael that invited me to be part of Vagina Dentata Organ in 2012. Michael was the 'master of ceremonies' at VDO performances. Whilst compiling tonight's programme I received the news of Michael being hospitalised after an attack on the streets of Middlesborough. He is (at time of writing) on the mend. Another compadre and fellow Blockader is Phil Julian of Cheapmachines. The track here is from the "Viva Negativa!" 8xLP Box Set on Vinyl On Demand*. A tribute to The New Blockaders. 

The programme finishes with the Normil Hawaiians and their version of "Heaven" from the 'Eraserhead' soundtrack. This is from their debut single "The Beat Goes On* on Dining Out Records. The Normil Hawaiians are formed in 1979 and active until the mid 1980's releasing on labels such as Dining Out, Red Rhino Records and Illuminated Records. A few years ago (uncertain when), they reformed and now  release on the Upset! The Rhythm label. https://normilhawaiians.com for more information. 

Listen to this broadcast here : 

https://www.mixcloud.com/tamsin-jane-cammack/muhmur-radio-broadcast-april-27-2023/

Playlist:

01: Killerlady : "Seestück" (Beau Travail) 2023.

02: Kazuya Ishigami : "Unrealistic Memory (I)" (Falt) 2022.

03: Kazuya Ishigami : "Unrealistic Memory (II)" (Falt) 2022.

04: The Dead Mauriacs : "Screens And Mirrors:A Ceremony" (Calax Records) 2023.

05: The Human League : "Only After Dark" (Virgin Records) 1980.

06: Astral Social Club : "Knowl" (Astral Social Club) 2023.

07: Modern English : "Life In The Gladhouse" (4AD Records) 1982.

08: Manicured Noise : "Freetime" (PRE Records) 1980.

09: Death In June : "Holy Water" (Extremocidente) 2020.

10: Killerlady : "Die Heimat Wird Streben" (Beau Travail) 2023.

11: Joe Colley : "Limit" (Substantia Innominata) 2023.

12: Modelbau : "Film Theme (Not Explained)" (Haemoccult Recordings) 2023.

13: Simple Minds : "Film Theme" (Virgin Records) 2003.

14: The Normal : "Warm Leatherette" (Mute Records) 1978.

15: Portion Control : "Chew You To Bits" (X Tract) 1983.

16: Chris & Cosey : "Raining Tears Of Blood" (X Tract) 1983.

17: Modelbau : "Segue" (Haemoccult Recordings) 2023.

18: Modelbau : "End Titles (Curtain)" (Haemoccult Recordings) 2023.

19: The Prestidigitators : "Nichts Jenseits Nihilismus (II)" (Research Laboratories) 2017.

20: Cheapmachines : "Null Opus" (At War With False Noise) 2010.

21: Normil Hawaiians : "Heaven" (Dining Out Records) 1980. 

* The Cheapmachines track is from the CD version of the box set on At War With False Noise. 

                                               Mike Dando, Phil Julian & Michael Gillham.                                              

                             

                                                                  TNB in Bristol. 2012.

MuhMur Radio Broadcast April 13 2023.

 

The programme begins with a track by K Of Arc from their "Show Them Your Throat" cassette, released by Cruel Nature Records in 2022. And that is all I know. I have no more information on K Of Arc. The cassette is available from : https://cruelnaturerecordings.bandcamp.com. Tomorrow the excellent Brachliegen Tapes release the latest album by Left Hand Cuts Off The Right. The album is called "Free Time / Dead Time" and available at : https://brachliegentapes.bandcamp.com/album/free-time-dead-time. Left Hand Cuts Off The Right is the project of Robbie Judkins. 

"Blue Sky" is the B-Side to the 1997 single "Some People Never Got The Chance" released on the Japanese Kubitsuri Tapes label. It has been seven years since the seminal Con-Dom album "How Welcome Is Death To I Who Have Nothing More To Do But Die". I have supported Mike Dando (Mr. Con-Dom) on many occasions in UK and Germany. In February the Athens based label Modal Analysis released a double album of Het Zweet recordings (studio and live). Het Zweet was the project of Marien Van Oers from Breda, Holland. Active throughout the 1980's Marien also collaborated with Simon Crab of Bourbonese Qualk and Eric Hammers of Forced Run. The collaborations with both these artists are on the LP. https://modalanalysis.bandcamp.com/album/het-zweet-archives-vol-i-82-88. Sadly Marien passed away in 2013.

Another Recloose Organisation / Bourbonese Qualk released project is / was Muslimgauze. "Soviet Occupied Territories" is from the LP "Buddhist On Fire". Both Het Zweet and Muslimgauze feature on the Recloose Organisation compilation LP "Songs From The New International" (1986). The album also has a track from my old project <<I.B.F>>. Copies can be found floating around on the internet. 

The new cassette by Swedish project Leda comes incased in lace. Entitled "Music For A Film", it is released by the German label Kashual Plastic. Leda is the project of Sofie Herner, guitarist and vocalist with Neutral. https://kashual.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-a-film for copies ... although I think it is available as download only now.

"In March of 2020, early pandemic, Tom asked me 'Wanna do a quick and dirty internet collaboration.?' He had recently posted an extended track called 'Strip Ice Water To Listerine', and added 'It's only six days old. A simple generative system. Why don't we rework it together? Tear it apart, add your bits, then I can sprinkle some magic dust atop the rubble'. I said I'd see what I can do, but was in the middle of a big project, The Prevalence, and was not in the frame of mind to take on anything else at the time. Fast forward to January 2022, after receiving the sad news that Tom had died, I decided to go ahead with the project. By then I had developed new processes and the motivation to record four new albums over the next few months, one of which was a reworking of 'Strip Ice water To Listerine'. By cutting up looping and sampling Tom's original track I created a series of rhythmic backdrops for Tom's improvisations, an album's worth of material that I could not stop listening to, and this is the result. Unfortunately the rubble never got the magic dust but I think Tom would have liked it." An extract of Robert Turman's sleeve notes to the CD "Strip Ice Water To Listerine" on the Nyahh Records label. "Shoulders Are Weeping" is from this album. Great artwork by Karen Constance and liner notes by Thurston Moore. Copies are available from : https://nyahhrecords.bandcamp.com/album/robert-turman-tom-smith-strip-ice-water-to-listerine. The Cosmonauts Hail Satan track is from the 7" "Mortuary Sorcery". The Passengers were a Belgian punk band between 1977 and 1978, members of The Passengers formed The Names in 1979. In 2018 Les Disques Du Crépuscule released two 7" singles by The Passengers (both recorded in 1978). The Names (of course) became Factory Records stalwarts until their demise in 1982. They have (as they all do) reformed for the 21st Century.

'On This Day' in 1979 Pink Military Stand Alone released the live EP "Buddha Waking, Disney Sleeping".

Pink Military Stand Alone were a band from Liverpool formed by Jayne Casey after the fallout of Big In Japan. They existed for a handful of gigs and this one EP before shortening their name to Pink Military and releasing the excellent album "Do Animals Believe In God?" Only Jayne and keyboardist Nicky Cool remained in the Military with drummer Paul Hornby joining The Dogs D'Amour and John Higham going to The Merseysippi Jazz band. In 1981 the Military became an Industry and Pink Industry became a trio with Jayne, Ambrose Reynolds and Tadzio Jodiowski. It was around this time I saw Pink Industry live, a memorable evening at The Gallery in Manchester where Pink Industry played a striking miners benefit, only to be usurped on stage by John The Postman. Also an empty Tuesday night at The Hacienda in 1983. 'On This Day' in 1981 The Fall released the 10"EP "Slates, Slags, Etc" on Rough Trade Records. 

A few weeks ago I got a copy of the new Ubiquitous Meh! album "the Love Pseudomorph". It's a cracking album featuring the ever expanding talent of Luke Richards. The album has the track "I Identified The UFO" and that put on the UFO tip, so I dug out three other songs that feature 'U.F.O.' starting with the 1979 single "UFO" by Eddie Fiction. 

The single is on Absurd Records, a very diverse and collectable label with artists such as Blah Blah Blah, Cairo, Naafi Sandwich and Gerry & The Holograms to name but a few ... Eddie Fiction was a pseudonym for Ed Garrity, a.k.a. Ed Banger vocalist with The Nosebleeds, Slaughter & The Dogs and The Baskerville City Raiders. A Mancunian legend. "Mystery Plane" by The Cramps is from their first album "Songs The Lord Taught Us. MC 900ft Jesus & DJ Zero track is from the 1989 album "Hell With The Lid Off". Back in 1989 I found myself listening to, and going to see live, bands like Consolidated, Meat Beat Manifesto, Tackhead (band and sound system) and MC 900ft Jesus & DJ Zero. Of all this mentioned I only have MC 900ft Jesus records here at MuhMur Radio HQ, I know he kind of drifted off into a jazz/funk style and I lost interest, but I think this LP is timeless. The Ubiquitous Meh! album can be found on CD, cassette, lathe cut LP and/or download at : https://ubiquitousmeh.bandcamp.com/music. Schwund follow up 2021's "Dieezer Tübe" cassette album with Dieezer Tübe 2". Released on the German Phantom Records label. Schwund can be contacted at : https://derschwund.bandcamp.com/music. 

As I was compiling tonights programme I was reading the book "Listening To The Music The Machines Make" by Richard Evans. Subtitled 'Inventing Electronic Pop 1978 - 1983'. The tome begins OK with stories how the 'inventors' of electronic pop in the late 1970's were influenced by the likes of David Bowie, Brian Eno, Sparks et al, but it soon gets really boring because all it is (really) is a collection of newspaper reviews, papers like NME, Record Mirror, Sounds, Melody Maker and Smash Hits. A collection of reviews and snippets from interviews. 

I used to get the music weeklies back in the late 1970's and one thing was obvious, the people who wrote in the rags had no idea what they were on about. Reviews on the whole were derogatory and acidic, interviews were snide. The writers would more than likely be writing under a pseudonym, so confident they were of their words. The reason to get the NME, Sounds etc was to find about tour dates, record releases, pictures and the classifieds. When we enter the invention of electronic pop the book concentrates on such great electronic bands as .. Ultravox!, Tubeway Army, Spandau Ballet, Simple Minds, Duran Duran. Not (in my opinion) electronic bands, I would use the words rock and pop, but there y'go. Richard hasn't really written this book, he has just put his name to a collection of other folks words. Alongside the newspaper clippings are extracts from autobiographies by the likes of Martin Kemp, Gary Numan and Martyn Ware. So, I was listening to Tubeway Army and Ultravox! whilst reading the book and play a couple of my favourites here ... adding a couple of my own 'electronic' bands of the era The Naughtiest Girl Was A Monitor and Doncaster's finest B. Troop. I did not finish the book. My next read .. Martyn Ware's autobiography ... 

The programme finishes on another slice of great electronic music, "Red October Black September" by Konstruktivists. Recorded in 1983 but not released until 1984 on Third Mind Records, Konstruktivists is the project of former TG 'road crew' and Heute member Glenn Wallis. Glenn was also a member of Whitehouse and NKVD. I first met Glenn back in 1998 when we appeared together at an all day electronic festival in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium and have remained friends since. I don't think there was a bar in Sint-Niklaas that we didn't visit. A few years ago I met up with Glenn again, he was playing in Belper, Derbyshire as Dark Union alongside the mighty Vagina Dentata Organ. I look forward to our next meeting. 

Kontruktivists / Glenn can be contacted at : https://konstruktivists.bandcamp.com.

The broadcast has been archived on MixCloud and can be heard here :

https://www.mixcloud.com/tamsin-jane-cammack/muhmur-radio-broadcast-13-april-2023/

Playlist :

01: K Of Arc : "Contact" (Cruel Nature Records) 2022.

02: Left Hand Cuts Off The Right : "Dead Time" (Brachliegen Tapes) 2023.

03: Con-Dom : "Blue Sky" (Kubitsuri Tapes) 1997.

04: Het Zweet : "Proef Opname" (Modal Analysis) 2023.

05: The Pop Group : "We Are All Prostitutes" (Rough Trade Records) 1979.

06: Muslimgauze : "Soviet Occupied Territories" (Recluse Organisation) 1984.

07: Leda : "Heavier Loop, Shredding (For The Young Woman)" (Kashual Plastik) 2023.

08: Robert Turman & Tom Smith : "Shoulders Are Weeping" (Nyahh Records) 2023.

09: Cosmonauts Hail Satan : "Pittsburgh Voodoo Satellite" (Suggestion Records) 1996.

10: The Passengers : "Femme Fatale" (Le Disques Du Crépuscule/Factory Benelux) 2018.

11: Pink Military Stand Alone : "Degenerated Man (Live)" (Last Trumpet Records) 1979.

12: The Fall : "Slates, Slags, Etc" (Rough Trade Records) 1981.

13: Eddie Fiction : "U.F.O. Pt 2" (Absurd Records) 1979.

14: The Cramps : "Mystery Plane" (Illegal Records) 1980.

15: Ubiquitous Meh! : "I Identified The UFO" (Damnsonic) 2023.

16: MC 900ft Jesus & DJ Zero : "UFO's Are Real" (Nettwerk) 1989.

17: Schwund : "Sie Kommen" (Phantom Records) 2023.

18: Schwund : Abgedriftlet" (Phantom Records) 2023.

19: Tubeway Army : "Me, I Disconnect From You" (Beggars Banquet Records) 1979.

20: Ultravox! : "Just For A Moment" (Island Records) 1978.

21: The Naughtiest Girl Was A Monitor : "All The Naked Heroes" (Aardvark) 1980.

22: B. Troop : "Espionage A Go Go" (Hotshot Records) 1980.

23: Left Hand Cuts Off The Right : "Free Time" (Brachliegen Tapes) 2023.

24: Konstruktivists : "Red October Black December" (Third Mind Records) 1984.

Thanks for listening. The next broadcast is on April 27. Same kick off time, same channel. SoundArt Radio 102.5FM (in the Devon region of Totnes) or listen to the live stream on : https://www.soundartradio.org.uk.