Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Snatch Tapes 30th Anniversary Tape









The wonderful DIY sound art producer Snatch Tapes have a free release on their website to mark their 30th Anniversary. It has two tracks to download and record to tape. Labels and cover art. You can also send your tape to them for them to frank and record as a collectors item.

I am a lover of the cassettes and find them a wonderful source of field recordings and untraceable music.

Snatch Tapes describe the music on Carriage Returns.

"Focussing on music and voice-overs originally recorded for various film and video projects Carriage Return weaves a fragmented narration concerning ghost sightings, car crashes, ley lines and hidden bends in and around Bluebell Hill in Kent, England. Mixed with the spoken words is prepared piano, VCS3 synth, circuit bent Casio, shortwave radio, pots and pans and the usual melodic cacophony we have come to expect from Snatch Tapes."

Well Worth a listen and I am off to record mine onto tape tonight.

Snatch Tapes - Carriage Returns

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Free Clash Magazine Download


Bought a copy of Clash to read on the train back from London the this week. I always find something worth the cover price in terms of new music. I can live without the Enemy - heavens they are so dull and the interview is riddled with the inconsistencies of youth.

Tom Clarke goes out of his way to point out how normal he is and how he wanted the new record to sound like they do live. Then in the next breath talks about the backward drums and reverb on one track and how much he loves Pink Floyd's Dark Side of The Moon. Hardly a live sounding records!

The free download they are current offering is rather wonderful.

Its worth the short download time just for Bleach - Mondays. Sisters Jennifer and Katherine O’Neill fashion a garage band storm with its nagging riff and soring vocals its a little bit of heaven for free.

Worthy mention to the bassline remix of the Virgins track Rich Girls that swirls and sways on top of well a spongy bassline and a wobbler!

You can go get it all here - June Cross Section Download

Good work Clash!

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

International Record Shop Day April 18th 2009



I love record shops. They are one of my favorite places to spend time. When I say record shop I mean local record stores not huge chains. I have seen the rise and fall of Our Price (where I once worked), Fopp (well most of them) and Virgin/Zavvi(eaten alive by HMV) in the last five years or so. Bath used to have a great collection of record shops from the second hand vinyl treasure trove (Nashers, 10:15), indie chains (Replay and Reckless) and chains (two Our Price, two Fopp, MVC). All that is left is a terrible HMV, a wonderful specialist Jazz shop Broad Street Jazz and a cool shop flogging dance music on vinyl - Drop Records.

I mention all this because of International Record Shop Day. A day to celebrate the wonder of the record shop.

"This is the one day that all of the independently owned record stores come together with artists to celebrate the art of music. Special vinyl and CD releases and various promotional products are made exclusively for the day and hundreds of artists in the United States and in various countries across the globe make special appearances and performances. Festivities include performances, cook-outs, body painting, meet & greets with artists, parades, djs spinning records and on and on. Metallica officially kicked off Record Store Day at Rasputin Music in San Franscisco on April 19, 2008 and Record Store Day is now celebrated the third Saturday every April."

There will be all manner of goodies on sale on the day including limited edition 7" vinyl, The Flaming Lips, Mute Math, Oasis and Green Day!

There is a list of the stores in the UK taking part here: Record Store Day UK

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Time Travel with Wire Magazine








I had a great find on Sunday in Lyme Regis in Dorset. In the Sanctuary bookshop I discovered a huge bundle of old copies of Wire.

For the sum of £15.00 I have four years of the magazine to work through reading reviews, interview and generally running backwards through time and electronic music.

First couple I have read through have had a great interview with Mark Hollis,Disco Inferno and a wonderful piece on John Oswald and The Grateful Dead/John Oswald Grayfolded which I have since downloaded from emusic.

All great stuff. I am in magazine heaven.

Monday, March 02, 2009

88 Albums - If You Think Radiohead’s Kid A is Weird, Then You Should Really Hunt This Music Down



This list is from the Paul Morley's Book - Words and Music

It is a list of albums he recomends you find if you start a conversion about what makes music weird "...and then after the weirdness - what happens, what changes, whats goes on, whats the point.."

I have created a Spotify Playlist from the selections though not all the LP are listed on spotify and not all the artist are available either, I have just dropped in tracks and not completely LPS but its a great starting point.

There is a second list which I will try and do this week.

If You Think Kid A Is Weird - One

This is the list below.

Thanks to Rocklists for saving me the time typing this our

88 Albums - If You Think Radiohead’s Kid A is Weird, Then You Should Really Hunt This Music Down

“After you have listened to at least twenty-two of the following, then perhaps you can begin a discussion, with Kylie or her ghostwriter, about just what makes music weird, and then – after the weirdness – what happens, what changes, what goes on, what’s the point – is it just a pleasure listening to weirdness that is just straightforward pleasure, or is the weirdness making the world, you mind, your mind in the world, a better place thing space capsule container mind room, etc… ?”

There is an order to the following – the order that it comes in, which I thought about short and hard. I was delighted with the order. It worked perfectly…

o Lindsay, Arto – Subtle Body
o Bailey, Derek – Guitar, Drums ‘n’ Bass
o Frith, Fred Guitar Quartet – Ayaya Moses
o Niblock, Phill – Four Full Flutes
o Scott, Raymond – Manhattan Research Inc
o Branca, Glenn – Symphony No 3 (Gloria)
o Palestine, Charlemagne – Strumming Music
o Satoh, Somei – Incarnation II
o Yellow Magic Orchestra – Technodelic
o Fullman, Ellen – Body Music
o Oliveros, Pauline – Suspended Music
o Partch, Harry - Collection Vol 1
o Cowell, Henry – Piano Music
o Zorn, John – Spillane
o Faust – So Far
o Fripp, Robert – That Which Passes
o Pan Sonic – A
o Budd, Harold – Lovely Thunder
o Incredibly Strange Music Vol 1 (Various Artists)
o Cage, John – Indeterminacy
o Rich & Lustmord – Stalker
o Borden, David – Continuing Story of Counterpoint Parts 1-4
o Nikolais, Alwin – Electronic Dance Music
o Johnston, Ben – Music for Piano
o Butler, Ken – Voices of Anxious Objects
o Harrison, Lou – Rhymes with Silver
o Vangelis – L’Apocalypse des Animaux
o Cyberchump – Dreams Groove
o Reed, Lou – Metal Machine Music
o Kruth, John – Cherry Electric
o Subotnick, Milton – Silver Apples of the Moon
o Lustmord – Place Where the Black Stars Hang
o Labradford – E Luxo So
o Hassell, Jon – Surgeon of the Nightsky Restores Dead Things by the Power of Sound
o Young, La Monte – Trio for Strings
o Supersilent – Supersilent 4
o Nyman, Michael – Decay Music
o Swswthrght – Essence or Residue
o Ashely, Robert – In Sara Mencken Christ & Beethoven There Were Men & Women
o Carlos, Wendy – Sonic Seasonings
o Residents – Duck Stab
o Sonic Youth – Goodbye 20th Century
o Fennesz – Endless
o Stockhausen, Karlheinz – Kontakte
o Mad Professor – Psychedelic Dub: Dub Me Crazy Part 10
o Varese, Edgard – Arcana/Ameriques/Ionisation
o Parker, Evan – Breaths & Heartbeats
o Fila Brazillia – Maim That Tune
o King Crimson – Larks Tongues in Aspic
o Magma – Live
o Arvo Pärt – Tabula Rasa
o Holland, Dave Quartet – Conference of the Birds
o Can – Tago Mago
o Art Ensemble of Chicago – Bop Tizum
o Hendrix, Jimi – Are You Experienced?
o Ligeti, Gyorgy – Lux Aetena
o Pablo, Augustus – King Tubby Meets Roots Rockers Uptown
o Sun Ra – Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy/Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow
o Björk – Selmasongs
o Peach Orchard – In Order to Survive
o Conrad, Tony/La Monte Young/John Cale – Inside the Dream Syndicate Vol 1
o Ribot, Marc – Saints
o Towner, Ralph – Sounds & Shadows
o Sylvian, David/Holgar Czukay – Plight & Premonition
o Cabaret Voltaire – Conversation
o Grateful Dead – Dark Star
o Talk Talk – Laughing Stock
o Throbbing Gristle – In the Shadow of the Sun
o Nurse with Wound – Spiral Insana
o Hassell, Jon/Brian Eno – Fourth World Vol 1: Possible Musics
o Henry Cow – Concerts
o Moss, David – Dense Band
o Eno, Brian – Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy
o Pere Ubu – Dub Housing
o Palestine, Charlemagne – Schlingen Blangen
o Scriabin, Alexander – Preparation for the Final Mystery
o Takemitsu, Toru – Quotation of a Dream
o Mouse on Mars – Autoditacker
o Feldman, Morton – Crippled Symphony
o Frith, Fred – Clearing
o Fall – This Nation’s Saving Grace
o Russell, George – Electronic Sonata for Souls Loved
o Mitchell, Roscoe Sextet – Sound
o Coltrane, John – Meditations
o Mother Mallard’s Portable Masterpiece – 1970-73
o Walker, Scott – Tilt
o Momus – 20 Vodka Jellies
o Mantler, Michael – Beckett/No Answer

Friday, February 27, 2009

John Peel Festive 50 1988 - Spotify Playlist


Are you using Spotify? If not you really need to beg an invite. I think I have two left if anyone really needs one.The playlist function is cool as mud and I have been playing about with it. Thought I should create something we could all could share. So I created one for the John Peel 1988 Festive 50.

I picked 1988 as it was one of the years that I remember listing to loads of Peel as I left work and went back to college to do my "A" Levels. Lots of The House of Love, The Fall and The Pixies. Its not completely as they where missing The Wedding Present tracks from that period and a few of the more obscure tracks (No Spit - Road Pizza or Shalawambe - Samora Machel)which is a real shame. For a full list of the John Peel Festive 50 from 1988 visit Rock Music List.

For my playlist – John Peel Festive 50 1988 Spotify

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

American Music Club - The Golden Age Number 4 - 2008





American Music Club - The Golden Age

Mark Eitzel reformed American Music Club with a new rhythm section and the inscrutable Vudi along for the ride. The band fashioned a lighter than sound than their churning bruised glory. Laurel Cannon sunshine anchored by Eitzel sonorous crumpled vocals and his weary romantic Bukowski world view. The Golden Age soared upwards on harmonies of All The Lost Souls of San Francisco and the astounding bleak beauty of Windows of The World. Vudi bleeds his guitar grime into the mix and Eitzel opens his heart and our eyes as only he can.

Tony Heywood (C)

Goldmund – The Malady of Elegance Number 5



This was a late entry into my musical universe. It may had been higher up if I had time to immerse myself in its dark reverberations. Its fractured obtuse sense of melody, filigree and shadow, sparse piano notes drifting on the wind. Keith Kenniff plays like Satie freed from ad breaks and muzak hell and sent tumbling through inner space. Stilted, angelic and frozen.

Goldmund – The Malady of Elegance

Goldmund - Myspace Page

Tony Heywood (C)

Yellow Swans – Deterioration - Number 6 2008



The sudden, gracefully and friendly demise of Yellow Swans was my personal musical low point. Pete Swanson and Gabriel Mindel Saloman and have parted ways to pursue separate music journeys’. I will miss their warm noise blast, their unmatched flare for combining cantankerous white noise tension with burnt melancholy reflection. Cavernous and claustrophobic as ever. Electronic split ends flickering and sparking in an endless feedback loop. I wait with bated breath to see what comes next.

Yellow Swans - Myspace Page

Tony Heywood (C)

Number 7 - Glasvegas - Self Titled

Glasvegas - Glasvegas



I very nearly didn’t get beyond the name conjuring as it does the image of some terrible wedding band. Then there was the hype – Best New Band in Britain headlines that make you yawn and laugh long and hearty about Suede. Thankfully they sound like the love child of a drunken tryst between The Jesus and Mary Chain and Lily Allen. All corrosive feedback squall, submerged melodic gold and whip smart modern lyrics. The looked like they needed sunlight, orange juice and a good nights sleep. Imagine the Velvet Underground sharing a half time tangerine with Philip Larkin and Alex Turner. The choruses are huge, the soul deep and clobber blacker than black. Odes to social workers as angels in a world of post baby P witch hunts. Scotland The Brave.

Glasvegas - Website

Tony Heywood (C)