The final MuhMur Radio Broadcast of 2024, the traditional 4 Hour Festive Feast ... although now that I have changed for the bi-monthly 2 hour broadcast to the 4 hour monthly broadcast this year perhaps my Festive Feasts should now be six hours long .... or two ... I'll have a word with the bosses.
There is usually a couple of Christmas themed songs in the seasonal broadcast and this one is no different beginning with Stuntcock's "And If Xmas Couldn't Get Any Worse ... You Had To Turn Up". It's from the compilation CDR "Aural Atrocities - Volume 3". The album also features Duncan Harrison, Splinter Vs Stalin and Chav Stabber amongst others. I know little about Stuntcock apart from their split tape release with BBBlood. The second seasonal themed tune is Severed Heads "Hello Donald, Merry Xmas". This is from the excellent "Adenoids" box set on Vinyl On Demand.
No Festive Feast goes without a piece from Neil Campbell and/or his Astral Social Club. "Vision Pink Mix" is his latest and available via his Bandcamp page. https://astralsocialclub.bandcamp.com. Shadow Pattern is the solo project of Nathan Ivanco and based in Ontario. This year he has released collaborations with Blod (Gustaf Dicksson) and Duncan Harrison. Matar is the project of Adi Newton and Michael Esposito. "Homme Verde" is from their latest LP "Archaeoacoustics" on the Italian Sleepers label. This is one of the finest albums of 2024. https://www.sleepersrecords.com. There is news of a new Matar album out in the early part of 2025. Another MuhMur Radio is Frans de Waard. I managed to get one of his earlier releases this month, the 2013 cassette "Departure" by Pick-Up. Pick-Up is Frans's collaboration with Dutch guitarist / producer Martin Luiten.
2024 saw Nocturnal Emissions play live in New York City and the label No Holiday re-issue a couple of old recordings for the event. "Cathedral" and "Invocation Of The Beast Gods", both beautiful releases with full colour sleeves and accompanying booklets with art from Nigel Ayers. "Wailer" is from "Cathedral". (Originally released in 1991 on Musica Maxima Magentica). Also for the live show No Holiday put out a lathe-cut 7", limited to 30 copies and only available on the night, "Agathicus" is from this single.
The week before Christmas I had to pop in to Torquay to pick up some presents for the kids, I was in town quite early (I never go in to Torquay Town as a rule) so decided to wander through the indoor market. There was a secondhand record stall selling the usual fare of vinyl by the likes of Whitney Houston, The Crickets, Sheena Easton, Curiosity Killed The Cat etc, and on the top of a pile of likewise vinyl was a mint copy of "The Project-Phase 2-We Love The Moon" by The Royal Family & The Poor on Factory Records ... and it was only £1! The smallholder said he'd had the LP for about 15 years and it had worked its way down in to the one pound pile. A little Christmas treat for myself ... I have a vague memory of seeing The Royal Family & The Poor live at The Hacienda in Manchester. 1984, it could have been supporting Psychic TV .. but then again that could have been Ram Ram Kino .. or maybe Pink Industry? If anybody knows please let me know .. The track "White Stains" made me play my 'official DJ' card and play a track by Swedish occultists White Stains.
Christine K is Christine Kärkkäinen, sister of Ester Kärkkäinen of Himukalt fame. "Lost Time" is from the cassette album "An Empty Fiction" on Ester's EK Verlag imprint. The cassette has sold out but digital downloads can be got at : https://himukalt.bandcamp.com/album/an-empty-fiction.
The next MuhMur Radio Broadcast will be on February 2 and not February 5 as some drunken fool murmured into the microphone. The programme will centre around artists released by the Austin, Texas based label Elevator Bath. Susana López and Matt Shoemaker will be played, but for now I thought I would play a couple of their pieces from non Elevator Bath releases. The Susana López track is from the recent Licht-Ung CD "Partikel". Recordings from performances by Susana, Kapotte Muziek, Aidan Baker and [multer] that took place at Kulturausbesserungswerk in Leverkusen (Germany) on the 30th December 2023. The CD is part of the ongoing StRuPpig tAnZen series. https://licht-ung.bandcamp.com/merch for further details. The Showmaker track is from the 2013 cassette "The Late Day Spectrum".
File alongside Mater as one of the finest albums of 2024, Post Scriptvm "Eisstoss" on Tesco Organisation. "Frazil" is from this album. Extra is the collaborative project of Howard Stelzer and Brian Grainger. "Decide/Accept" is from the split cassette with Liminal Haze on the Grisaille label. have a search at https://grisaille.bandcamp.com, they put out some great tapes this year. Like the Nocturnal Emissions lathe-cut on No Holiday, iDEAL Recordings released a limited 7" to commemorate a live performance that took place in Gothenburg earlier this year. "K-E-L" features, Alice Kemp, Leif Elggren* and Joke Lanz and a mash-up track by iDEAL boss Joachim Nordwall. The 7" is limited to 100 copies only and s I type 5 copies are available from : https://idealrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/k-e-l. Act Fast! The Grey Frequency track is from the compilation CD album "Undulating Waters 8" on the Woodford Halse label. 2024 has been a quiet time for Grey Frequency, March 2024 saw the release of the cassette (cassingle) "Panopticon" and that's been about it ... hopefully 2025 will see a nice surge for Grey Frequencies. (* the Leif Elgrren track is purposely played at the wrong speed).
I played Psychic TV "Unclean" as requested by a listener ... released 40 years ago!
Perhaps my favourite release this year (2024) is/was "TG Berlin" the 4 x CD , 10", DVD and book. I managed to get a copy of the preview 7" on Electronic Sound in November, and the box set was a great end to the year. A throbbing gristle Christmas. "Wotwududo" is the 7" single and "Scabs & Saws" is from the 10" (mixed in with the "Trumpet Herald" track from the live in Berlin set ...
The programme has been archived in 2 parts for easier aural digestion with Part 2 starting with Susana López:
Part I: https://www.mixcloud.com/muhsteve/muhmur-radio-broadcast-29-december-2025-part-one/
Part II: https://www.mixcloud.com/muhsteve/muhmur-radio-broadcast-29-december-2024-part-two/
Playlist:
01: Stuntcock : "And If Xmas Couldn't Get Any Worse ... You Had To Turn Up" (Aural Atrocities) 2009.
02: Severed Heads : "Hello Donald, Merry Xmas" (Vinyl On Demand) 2008.
03: Astral Social Club : "Vision Pink Mix" (Not On Label-Self Released) 2024.
04: Shadow Pattern & Duncan Harrison : "Cultural Customer" (Disques Bosh) 2024.
05: Matar : "Homme Verde" (Sleepers) 2024.
06: Pick-Up : "Departure" (Ultramarine) 2013.
07: Nocturnal Emissions : "Agathicus" (No Holiday) 2024.
08: Throbbing Gristle : "Wotwududo (Single Version)" (Electronic Sound) 2024.
09: The Royal Family & The Poor : "Sex Goddess" (Factory Records) 1986.
10: The Royal Family & The Poor : "White Stains" (Factory Records) 1986.
11: White Stains : "Sweet Jayne" (Zoharum) 2023.
12: The Leather Nun : "Slow Death" (Industrial Records) 1979.
13: Christine K : "Lost Time" (Ek Verlag) 2024.
14: Susana López : "Untitled (Live)" (Licht-Ung) 2024.
15: Matt Shoemaker : "Eclipse" (Masters Chemical Society) 2013.
16: Steve Roden : "Forms Of Paper" (LINE) 2011.
17: Post Scriptvm : "Frazil" (Tesco Organisation) 2024.
18: Extra : "Decide/Accept" (Grisaille) 2024.
19: Nocturnal Emissions : "Wailer" (No Holiday) 2024.
20: Leif Elggren : "No Queen" (iDEAL Recordings) 2024.
21: Psychic TV : "Unclean" (Temple Records) 1984.
22: Joke Lanz : "My Mum, Elvis, And ME" (iDEAL Recordings) 2024.
23: Joachim Nordwall : "Joachim Nordwall Plays K-E-L" (iDEAL Recordings) 2024.
24: Grey Frequency : "Ghost Rockets" (Woodford Halse) 2024.
25: Throbbing Gristle : "Scabs & Saws" (Mute Records) 2024.
The next MuhMur Radio Broadcast is February 2 2025. Keep a note in your diary ...
See you on the other side ..
Thank you for all your ears throughout 2024, all your thoughts, comments and requests.
Steve.
