October Twenty-Seventh

 Here is yesterday’s show on NTS Radio, a bit of a strange blend as usual! Hope you enjoy…
 
Matmos – Teen Paranormal Romance
Felix Kubin – Gelegenheitsexperiment
Linear Movement – I Think I’m By You
Perspects – Strap
Le Car – Version 19
Helena Hauff – Break Force
Alwin Nicolais – Chimera Darcel
Nate Young – Under The Skin
Purple Pilgrims – Pseudo Arcana
No UFO’s – Ted And Monty
Doris Norton – Norton Apple Software
Exaltics – Imoeh
Luke Eargoggle – The Way of the Master
Purple Pilgrims played along with Nate Young and Gary War this weekend at Cafe Oto.  They are two sisters currently living in Hong Kong, originally from Christchurch NZ, and unfortunately I arrived too late to see them play, though it was amazing to see Nate Young!

October Twentieth

Today’s show included a lot of great stuff from Seattle-based reissue label, Medical Records.  One of their releases, Guyer’s Connection, is a Swiss duo that started up in 1982, recording music at the tender ages of fourteen and fifteen.  Excellent 80s synth! I also played something from Laugh Clown Laugh which was actually a collaboration between Medical Records and the Crispy Nuggets Blog, the band only had one released track in the early 1980s, Feel So Young (although they recorded many more out of their living room, these tracks were never released at the time) however they eventually gained a following from their music posts on Crispy Nuggets.   In the same vein, I played music from Trevor Jackson’s Metal Dance 2, which was released in August of this year, on Strut records.
Other tracks of the show included music from Shit and Shine’s new EP on Powell’s Diagonal label as well as B£AMS on Kit Records (Richard and Sarah from Kit are fellow NTS-ers and good friends so it’s great to see them put out their first vinyl release!) Today’s show also included music from an album I love, Ruth White’s Flowers of Evil, with White creepily reading poetry from Charles Baudelaire, over early electronics that goes way back, from 1969. This album has recently been reissued by France’s Black Mass Rising.
Haruomi Hosono- Platonic
Laugh Clown Laugh- Track 14
Plus Instruments- Vom Ertrunkenen Mädchen
Guyer’s Connection- Gorilla’s Dance
Guyer’s Connection- Discoqueen
Shit and Shine- Blowhannon
Francois de Roubaix- Astralement Votre
Shape Worship- Seaglass
B£AMS- Song for PKD/ Peep East
Pod Blotz- Beings in Hollow Earth
Ruth White- Lover’s Wine
Bee Mask- Moon Shadow Move
Guyer’s Connection- Flow
Evan Caminiti- Returning Spirits
Mind Over Mirrors- The Fence
Shape Worship- Concentration
Creepy track I played on the show…

Pod Blotz

 
Here is a review I wrote for Juno Plus on the latest Pod Blotz album…

“Suzy Poling’s Pod Blotz project arrives on Glasgow label Clan Destine with Glass Tears, the latest album in a long line of releases dating back to her emergence under the name back in 2002. Hailing from Detroit, Poling has been involved in quite a wide range of artistic endeavours over the years, be it installation works, photography, video and performance art, with visual work that seems to parallel and overlap with her output as Pod Blotz.

From the very start of the album, Poling introduces a sense of tension that builds with terrifying urgency. Rattling drums weave throughout nightmarish electronics of opening track “Relay” with spine-chilling wails that expose a sense of subdued agony. Continuing the theme, the aptly named “Mirrored Tundra” has a darkly paranoid sensibility; it’s a track that largely relies on percussion, the kind of drumming and tapping that recalls youthful experiments with old pots and pans. Meanwhile, harsh electronics once again unfold beneath, lashing out like sirens in shrieks of desperation. The album hits its stride with “Die and Come Alive” which is perhaps the most accessible track of the album, with an enticing melody sung by Poling’s heavily treated vocals over repetitive synths, whilst retaining the same experimental curiosity of previous tracks…”

Read the rest of the review HERE

 

October Thirteenth

Here is my radio show from Sunday! I got a chance to focus on lots of super German stuff, including some releases from the Bureau B label.  I also played music from Suzy Poling’s Pod Blotz album, new on Clan Destine records as well as a super track by Mind Over Mirrors.  I ended the show with a track  by Carol, Belgium synth 1981 with Snowy Red’s Micky Mike.
Donato Dozzy- Vaporware 05
Brainticket- To Another Universe
Pod Blotz- Crests and Reflections
Mind Over Mirrors- Storing the Winter
Conrad Schnitzler- Track 01
Dieter Schutz- The Comet
Hans Joachim Roedelius- Fieber
Toy Planet- Rapido de Noir
Vester Koza- Masio
Prof Genius- Valleys of Paradise (Steve Summers)
St. Julien- Lazor
Carol- So Low

Conrad Schnitzler

Rejections and Ectopia live at CATCH

 Rejections and Ectopia will be playing live sets at Catch in November, as part of a series of experimental electronic gigs linked to the Alien Jams radio show.  
There will also be great Djs for the evening, with Tony Poland of Juno Plus taking over the decks, as well as Laetitia Deering of Phonica who will be dusting off some of her favourite records! 

 

REJECTIONS-


Michael Hann aka Rejections, is a musician based out of Teesside and also runs the label Reject and Fade. Michael’s work deals with scuzzed-up electronics and harsh industrial textures, with releases on his own label as well as Opal Tapes and Jehu and Chinaman.

“droning rhythm emerging out of cyclical, dissipating metallic synths and pulsating noise waves. Stabs of distorted sonar-like sound fire across the stereo range like the final distress calls from a submarine teetering on the edge of some gargantuan abyss, before finally disappearing into the black with a steely, echoing scream.”- Laurie Tuffrey (the Quietus)

https://soundcloud.com/rejectionsfade

ECTOPIA-

Cello, voice and electronics collide in a whirlwind of improvised experimentation from this London three-piece. Vicky Steiri, Adam Christensen and Jack Brennan create shadowy sonic offerings, where dark velvety cello soon turns into fierce turbulent outbursts, often driven by electronics. In the past they have performed at the New Museum of Contemporary Art ‘The Lion Tamer’ (music for Spartacus Chetwynd’s performance), as well as a live soundtrack for Jack Smith’s Normal Love at the ICA (London) and a live composition in Hotel Garderobe in response to Carl Theodor Dreyer’s 1928 Passion of Joan of Arc.

http://ectopian.blogspot.co.uk/

FACEBOOK INVITE- HERE

Burma Camp- Repulsion

Here is a review I wrote for Juno Plus on Burma Camp’s new release…

“Burma Camp’s release on Avian’s 10″ sub-label Mira is a new venture for The KVB’s Nicholas Wood aka Klaus von Barrel, a fuzzed-out sonic excursion, set out for more industrial sights.  Since their emergence in 2010, the KVB have put out a number of releases, including a 10” appearance on the DNS series from Karl O’Connor’s Downwards imprint, as well as releasing Immaterial Visions on Veronica Vasicka’s Minimal Wave offshoot, Cititrax.

 This new side-project is an extension of Wood’s previous work, with Burma Camp thriving on messed-up synths and aggressive drum-machine beats. Decayed electronics envelop the tracks of the Repulsion EP, creating a hazy veil of dizzy isolation. It is almost as if the listener has been trapped in an abandoned tunnel, with the forces of claustrophobia steadily compounding. Exposing a harsher side to Wood’s compositions than The KVB, Burma Camp sits between the mechanical drive of Ike Yard’s dark minimal synth and Vatican Shadow’s fierce brooding hopelessness.

There is an experimental abrasiveness that recalls bands like Wolf Eyes, well known for their noise conjuring antics. Additionally techno leanings become apparent throughout the releases, with hypnotic beats that bring to mind the music of Juan Mendez’s Silent Servant project, who has been instrumental in The KVB’s releases, helping to curate their work on the Downwards label (and notably, he was also responsible for the artwork here).”

check out the rest of the review HERE