The 13th anniversary MuhMur Radio Christmas Broadcast. It happens only once a year!
As is traditional we start the programme with a couple of Christmas 'themed' pieces. "Sighlent Night" comes from the 400 Lonely Things Christmas album "have Yourself A Lonely Little Christmas" released in 2020. https://400lonelythings.bandcamp.com/album/have-yourself-a-lonely-little-christmas is still available as a pay what you can download.
The Grey Park track "Christmas" is from the 2018 cassette album "Olic Banquet" released by Hyster Tapes.
May your heart be light ....
Last month saw the release of 'Ephemeral Rituals', the latest CD offering from UK based sound artist Jo Montgomerie. Released on Jim Haynes' Helen Scarsdale Agency imprint. If I did lists for Best Album Of 2025, 'Ephemeral Rituals' would probably top it ..
"Jo Montgomerie doesn't to pull back the veil too much on her source materials, but she's becoming more declarative and emphatic in how she works with her crucible of tempered noise. The opening clatter to ephemeral rituals sounds to these ears like a repetitive strike of a typewriter; though she asserts, without showing her hand, that is not the case. Out of this, a hallowed, radiant black glow emerges, nearly engulfing the acoustic clack with a sublime grandeur. Based in Manchester, Mongomerie has steadily built a body of work of abstracted, decentralised sounds into an emotional rich, metaphorically potent compositions. It's never enough for her to merely articulate those phenomenological interregnums of time, space, memory and decay. Instead, she focuses on the yearnings, the hauntings and the compulsions which form the daily rhythms and rituals of everyday life and re-imagines them as transcendental electronic hymns..... On Ephemeral Rituals, Montgomerie is deft in her industrial strength drones, her ghost dubs of sound research and the luminous chromatic auras that appear as if latent images from decayed film".
Contact Jo via https://jomontgomerie.bandcamp.com to get a copy. All four tracks in the broadcast are from 'Ephemeral Rituals'.
Sticking with the seasonal theme. Drekka "Christmas 1973 Or 1974" is from the album "No Tracks In The Snow" released by Dais Records in 2019. The album is a collection of recordings from 1996 - 2002. Next year (March) SoundArt Radio / MuhMur Radio will be hosting a live event by Winter Is The Sun, a new project from Drekka main man Mkl Anderson and Timber Rattle. Details to follow in the new year.
MuhMur Radio received a lovely package the other week from Paul Harrison (one of the busiest names in noise). It is well worth checking out his activities via his label's bandcamp page : https://xemporium.bandcamp.com.
One of the stand outs is the collaboration with Swedish sound artist Astrid Björklund. They met through providing sound material for Mark Vernon's Radiophrenia project in 2020. I am uncertain if the three 'Sketches' broadcast here are an official release, Paul mailed them to me on a CDR. Paul has since lost contact with Astrid .... Alongside Expose Yr Eyes, Chapman and PDH one of Paul's projects is Paradox Encounter Group. 2025 saw the release of the PEG / Nnja Riot collaborative album 'Dissent Particles' on Fusion Audio Recordings. In 2024 PEG collaborated with American project R4 to produce the double CD 'Scene Shifting' on the Oxidation label. R4 is Barry D. Scheffel based in Ohio and is the man behind Fusion Audio Recordings and a member of Laced. Paradox Encounter Group releases can be found at the Xemporium bandcamp page. Recommended.
Some of my favourite 7" singles are on the I Dischi Del Barone label and Blod's "Käre Jesus" is one of them.
I am not a fan of the reformation. Sometimes it works, but most of the time it doesn't. I was intrigued though when I saw the CD album "I Can Feel The Fun" by Zaghurim listed on the Klanggalerie web site.
"I Can Feel The Fun" is a reissue of a 2023 digital release on Tristan Koreya's Nostalgie De La Blue label.
Zaghurim were formed by the Ackerley brothers, George and Paul in 1984 and aligned themselves with the Temple Ov Psychick Youth. I first became aware of Zaghurim when they played at 'The Feast Ov Flowering Light" all-day event at Hammersmith Palais in 1985. The same year Zaghurim released their first vinyl album "Moral Rearmament" on the German Atonal records label. This album was produced by Julian and Simon from Bourbonese Qualk. (I have a sneaking feeling that Simon Crab also played live with Zaghurim at 'The Feast' ... could be wrong, I usually am). 1984 also saw Zaghurim appear on the "Sex & Bestiality" compilation cassette with a track called "Anal Rape" (get it out of your system boys).
The 2018 re-appearance of Zaghurim passed me by. UK live performances and a 'live' album, also on Klanggalerie. But, I was intrigued by "I Can Feel The Fun".
"Lovechild" is from this album and "Dropkick!" is from "Moral Rearmament".
November's broadcast was themed around Nicolas Ballet's "Shock Factory" book featuring sounds from artists contained therein. The playlist changed on numerous occasions and at one time featured Column One. I thought they would be in there (somewhere) but a quick check of the index proved me wrong ... so I play Column One this month. Their W. Transmissions series are some of my all-time favourite recordings. C.O. ceased to exist in 2016 but in 2022 the Polish label Zoharum released the box set "W. Transmission I - V". https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/w-transmission-1-5-set. (Digital copies only).
The tracks by Het Zweet Zos-Kia and Soviet France also made it to the "Shock Factory" playlist at some point!
If I did lists for Best Album Of 2025 'A Lifetime' would probably top it ... A double CD on the early increasingly collectable label Satatuhatta. https://satatuhatta.net/collections/satatuhatta. For a copy. Regular listeners will not be strangers to the sound of Altar Of Flies, for the last 20 years the Mattias Gustafsson lead project has produced / released some essential sounds. Sewer Election collaborated with Ån to release the album "De Sälla Jaktmarkerna" on the Discreet Music label. Ån is the pseudonym of Swedish sound artist Matz Engdahl. The album is very much in the Neutral vein, another of Dan Johansson's projects. A few weeks ago a friend was having a 'bit of a clear out' and posted me some records ... in the pile was a 7" single by Trikorder 23.
Apart from being from Germany (probably Stuttgart) I know nothing about this project, but it did give me an idea to do a broadcast of cover versions .. maybe in the new year. Earlier this month I received a copy of the latest "The Annual" from Frans de Waard. For the past 3 years Korm Plastics have been an end of the year annual covering all those things you never realised you were interested in - until now!
https://www.kormplastics.nl/the-third-annual/. It's a great read for the festive break. I was saddened to read about the passing of Harold Schellinx, at the end of last year Frans' Kringloop Kassetttes released "Splinters Van Eeuwigheid" a collection of Harold's recordings. I knew Harold's works from his Diktat project and releases on the Greek Coherent States label. "Radio Aligre" is from the 2016 cassette "Tour De Force"
Harold Schellinx.
Next year the Finnish Satatuhatta label will be releasing the latest album by MNEM. (I told you that they were a label to keep an ear/ear out for). The album is called "Tropos Of Entropy". I am uncertain of the format, but Weno & Juri from MNEM have kindly given MuhMur Radio a 'sneak preview' with the track "Hydrox Communion".
The latest CD album by US based Russian duo. Post Scriptvm is written totally in Russian. My 'pooter translator thinks the album is called "Clouds Over Borsk : Exhuming The Shadows". As far as I can figure out Borsk is a village in Poland ... but then, maybe Ukraine (?). The track I play may or may not be called "Mouse People". I did a gig with Post Scriptvm in Berlin, I fell in love with their sound then. I remember them telling me that they listen to MuhMur Radio in a cafe in New York, they got the cafe owner to play it through the speakers. This was 12/13 years ago, so ... not anymore. All Post Scriptvm releases are essential : https://postscriptvm.bandcamp.com. A few folk I know have not been impressed by the two editions of 'De-Generation' magazine. A complaint of it being too Genesis P-Orridge centric. Pointless articles, bad writing, uninteresting interviews etc .. I can understand and partly agree but what drew me to issue #2 was the CD featuring a track by Sinan. Sinan Leong formerly of SPK. I have written about my past involvement with SPK, so I am not going to mention it here (... just put SPK in the blog search engine if interested). I didn't know Sinan had started recording again, and the interview contained in the magazine is fascinating .. apparently there is a memoir on the way ... Cold Spring Records are distributing the magazine/CD in the UK. https://coldspring.co.uk. The Esposito / Warnke piece is from the 2021 Geräuschmanufaktur audio advent calendar. September saw the release of the Trepaneringsritualen EP "A Diadem Of Fire", available as 3"CD or 7" vinyl. https://www.raubbau.org.
Because of the last handful of broadcasts being 'themed' playlists I have neglected the 'On This Day' section. All is re-righted here with singles from Physicals, The Cure and The Wake.
Back in 1978 I remember walking in to Sanctuary Records in Lincoln and hearing "You Do Me In" blasting from the speakers, and I had to buy it. Physicals were led by Alan Lee Shaw and you just knew he had New York Dolls records in his collection. Alan also played in Maniacs, one of the first London punk bands. I remember them from their appearance on the 1977 album 'Live At The Vortex' on the NEMS label. Alvin Gibbs was the bass player, he went on to play with Iggy Pop and UK Subs. The drummer Steve Bye left the UK when Physicals split and joined the Canadian ska group Villians. There was a follow up to "All Sexed Up" released in 1980 called "Be Like Me" (not the Zos-Kia song) and was produced by Paul Cook. I have never seen a copy.
I really enjoyed the broadcast that was playlisted from compilation albums. Last month I went to the far North (Bristol) to visit my son Oscar and had to pop in to Wanted Records. Probably the best second hand record shop in the South West, great choice of vinyl and NOT silly London prices. If you are ever in or near Bristol pop in : https://www.wantedrecords.co.uk. This time I managed to get a copy of the LP "Labels Unlimited", Cherry Red Records follow up to "Business Unusual". A brilliant album. (* Mint Copy £12). I Jog & The Tracksuits, AK Process, Second Layer and Crisis feature on the album. I did play the original Crisis 7" here as it is on side A and the rest are on side B.
In 1982 The Wake released their debut album "Harmony" on Factory Records. Early 1980's and I saw a lot of Factory Records bands. Primarily at The Porterhouse in Retford and Rock City in Nottingham and then all the time in various places in 1983 when I moved to Manchester, and became a member of The Hacienda .... 1983 - 1985 when it was a decent place to go (!). The Wake were formed in 1981 by former Altered Images guitarist Caesar. (Gerard McNulty). the original bass player was Bobby Gillespie, he left in 1983 to join The Jesus And Mary Chain and subsequently Primal Scream. I think the first time I saw The Wake play live was at Futurama 4 Festival in North Wales, 1982. They must've just become a 'Factory' band.
It was great back then as Factory bands toured with Factory bands, or supported non-Factory acts at The Hacienda. Howard Devoto + The Wake springs to mind. I saw The Wake headline with Del Amitri as support and Quando Quango. I always have time for the 1981 - 1985 era of The Wake. They split in the 1990's and reformed in 2005 but as I mentioned earlier, I am not a fan of the reformation.
The broadcast has been archived into 2 parts for easier aural digestion. Part 2 begins with MNEM.
Part One :
Part Two :
Playlist :
01: 400 Lonely Things : "Sighlent Night" (Not On Label-Self Released) 2021.
02: Jo Montgomerie : "The Warmth Of Sun In Winter" (Helen Scarsdale Agency) 2025.
03: Jo Montgomerie : "I Can Feel You Breathing" (Helen Scarsdale Agency) 2025.
04: Jo Montgomerie : "You Better Run" (Helen Scarsdale Agency) 2025.
05: Drekka : "Christmas 1973 Or 1974" (Dais Records) 2019.
06: Grey Park : "Christmas" (Hyster Tapes) 2018.
07: Astrid Björklund & Paul Harrison : "Sketch One" (Not On Label) 2020.
08: Blod : "Käre Jesus" (I Dischi Del Barone) 2016.
09: Zaghurim : "Lovechild" (Klanggalerie) 2025.
10: Zaghurim : "Dropkick!" (Atonal Records) 1985.
11: Column One : "W Transmission 4 (Track 2)" (Zoharum) 2022.
12: Het Zweet : "Untitled One" (Staalplaat) 2022.
13: Het Zweet : "Ram" (Staalplaat) 2022.
14: Soviet France : "Ram" (Singing Ringing/Red Rhino Records) 1985.
15: Altar Of Flies : "We're All Building Walls, They Should Be Bridges" (Satatuhatta) 2025.
16: Sewer Election + Ån : "Alla Dagar Räknas Visst" (Discreet Music) 2025.
17: Trikorder 23 : "Da Da Da" (Singles Club) 2018.
18: Astrid Björklund & Paul Harrison : "Sketch 2" (Not On Label) 2020.
19: Paradox Encounter Group And R4 : "Scene Shifting (Act 1, Scene 1)" (Oxidation) 2024.
20: Diktat : "Radio Aligre" (Coherent States) 2016.
21: MNEM : "Hydrox Communion" (Not On Label) 2025.
(Exclusive Piece For MuhMur Radio).
22: Post Scriptvm : "Mouse People" (Death In Venice Production) 2025.
23: Jo Montgomerie : "Leave With The Leaves" (Helen Scarsdale Agency) 2025.
24: Sewer Election + Ån : "Rycker Till" (Discreet Music) 2025.
25: Astrid Björklund & Paul Harrison : "Sketch 3" (Not On Label) 2020.
26: Sinan : "Dai Ga" (Ultra Mail Prod) 2025.
27: Zos-Kia : "Be Like Me (12" Mix)" (Temple Records) 1985.
28: Michael Esposito & Jan Warnke : "GhOst Tannenbaum" (Geräuschmanufaktur) 2021.
29: Trepaneringsritualen : "Tainted Totem Nothing (I)" (Rabbau/Ant-Zen) 2025.
30: Trepaneringsritualen : "A Diadem Of Fire" (Rabbau/Ant-Zen) 2025.
31: Trepaneringsritualen : "With Hand And Heart" (Rabbau/Ant-Zen) 2025.
32: Trepaneringsritualen : "Tainted Totem Nothing (II)" (Rabbau/Ant-Zen) 2025.
33: Public Image Limited : "Theme" (Virgin Records) 1978.
34: Physicals : "You Do Me In" (Physical Records) 1978.
35: Physicals : "All Sexed Up" (Physical Records) 1978.
36: The Cure : "10:15 Saturday Night" (Small Wonder Records) 1978.
37: The Cure : "Killing An Arab" (Small Wonder Records) 1978.
38: I Jog And The Tracksuits : "Red Box" (Cherry Red Records) 1979.
39: AK Process : "After All Love" (Cherry Red Records) 1979.
40: Second Layer : "Metal Sheet" (Cherry Red Records) 1979.
41: Crisis : "Holocaust" (Action Group Records) 1978.
42: The Wake : "Judas" (Factory Records) 1982.
43: The Wake : "Favour" (Factory Records) 1982.
Many thanks to all who have supported MuhMur Radio throughout the year(s), I appreciate the sounds you send, the messages and emails sent, your comments and encouragement. Thank You.
MuhMur Radio will return on SoundArt Radio in the January 2026 .. probably the 18th ... I was a bit drunk when Chris told me! And thanks to Chris and all at SoundArt Radio, and to Tamsin. All Love.
