The Chasms

Cindytalk & The Chasms vs Bristol...

2012-02-01T13:49:00.000Z

I promised myself I wasn't going to gush too much while I wrote this post, I'm going to try my best anyway...

Twenty five years ago I first heard Cindytalk. They changed me.
Twenty five years later I was finally in the position to ask Cindytalk to play a gig with us.
They accepted.
Erm...
I'm a little bit happy about this.

Cindytalk have been one of the most consistent bands in my life over the last quarter of a century. I mean that on two levels. For one, they've always been there around about my stereo, never too far out of reach to be played when they're needed. And secondly they've always, without exception, released stunning records. I really don't think I can describe their releases in any other way. Simply stunning.

So this gig is going to be just a little bit special for me (and hopefully you too).
Not only are we playing with Cindytalk in one of their very rare excursions outside of London (not counting outside the UK), but there is also local band Eftus Spectun on the bill.
And if that wasn't enough towards the end of their set Cindytalk will be interacting with Blackmass Plastics [Manx born DJ living in Bristol], who will carry on after the band and finish the night off in grand style.
And all this will be taking place in one of the best locations for a gig in the UK, The Cube Cinema in Bristol.

So to recap, I'm a little bit happy about this.

Visit - Cindytalk
Visit - The Chasms
Visit - Eftus Spectun
Visit - Blackmass Plastics
Visit - Cube Cinema
Visit - Graeme Swinton - Artwork & Design

Simon
X

The Path to The Chasms...

2012-01-30T14:57:00.003Z

I was asked recently what were our influences and came up with the easy choices (The Fall, VU, Sonic Youth, FSA, MBV, etc) but I said I might have been listening to Coltrane all week or Echo & The Bunnymen or Jackson Browne continuously and that may have had as much influence (Mike & Simon's choices excluded). Or when we did the recording I may have been more swayed by my daughter's singing or my son's rhythms on a chair.
It's obvious we've assimilated all the guitar noise we know, thrown out nearly all of it as it won't fit in the backpack, had a swig of Makers Mark and then taken the fork in the road. Therein life makes its footprint felt.

The tangled guitar line in 'A Copse of Trees' isn't going to come from Lee Ranaldo, though the sound might. In my mind all my guitar playing is Jackson Pollack.
Look at 'The Occult Soul Review'. Which oddly enough has turned out to be a commercial track in terms of getting us into Dandelion Radio's Festive 50 at number 3. It starts with bombastic riffage of sorts and goes into teaspoon noise before the hummable bass-line drops in and the completely meandering feedback riff shifts in it's chair like ants in its pants for the whole song, and Mike tells three stories in a dropped cards sort of sequence and by the end of the song my old fashioned is finally ready to drink.

Further down the path, the obvious choice for Manx poet laureate is Mr Mike Seed.
No question.

Richard.

On Tour?

2012-01-20T18:13:00.003Z

[Many thanks to Graeme Swinton for the ace artwork on our records and posters.]

Do two dates count as a tour?
Anyway, these are more than very likely going to be the only dates we play this year.

We're playing on Saturday 5th of May at The Windmill in Brixton as part of the wonderful Oddbox Weekender. For ticket information for this event please go here.
Please also note that tickets are already moving pretty quickly, so best hurry up.

And as for us playing at The Cube Cinema in Bristol on the 4th of May, we will have some very exciting news soon regarding the line-up. Also once we know the times and how much it is to get in then I'll let you know right here first.

We hope to see you in London or Bristol, or both. Come and say hi.

Visit - Oddbox Records
Visit - The Windmill, Brixton
Visit - The Cube Cinema
Visit - Evil Swinton

Simon.
x

January 18th... Blackout...

2012-01-18T19:32:00.003Z

A message from Kenneth Goldsmith:

"UbuWeb will blackout on Weds, January 18th for 24 hours to Protest SOPA & PIPA. If SOPA passes, you can kiss UbuWeb goodbye.
Remember, the web won't be this way forever. Don’t bookmark. Download. Download.
Download. Everything on Ubu is downloadable. Hard drives are cheap. Grab what you need. Don’t trust the cloud. Stop SOPA."

Ok - Ubuweb is the best resource of avant material anywhere, and probably of any time. At the moment I'm wandering around listening to a combination of Trevor Wishart, Scratch Orchestra, Bill Burroughs, Brion Gysin and Cornelius Cardew. And there are acres of other wonderful things, all legally downloadable, all for you to take away.

Mr Goldsmith is correct. It is a world of glorious head spinning material.

Go and get it while you can!

Visit - UbuWeb
Visit - Jacket 2

Mike.

Cool Serbia....

2012-01-15T03:03:00.003Z

Kill Someone by Cool Serbia

I think this band are going to be doing pretty well in 2012 if this first track is anything to go by.

Cool Serbia are a guitar pop band from Austin, Texas and feature Raz, Renan and Caleb. Renan used to be in Ringo Deathstarr.

Visit - Cool Serbia @ Bandcamp
Visit - Cool Serbia @ Facebook

Simon
x

2011, What We Got Up To...

2011-12-31T13:43:00.004Z

So I was was thinking what we'd collectively done this year and got the impression we'd had a quiet year on releases, but as it turns out, between us we've released four albums, which isn't too bad I guess. And on top of that The Chasms have recorded a session for Pete Jacksons's Dandelion Radio show, which will be released on Monday (2nd January) to download, and sometime shortly after that to buy on CD.
So all in all it's ended up quite a busy year, although we didn't play live, but we already have a couple of gigs planned for 2012. More on them closer to the time.
So anyway, here's a quick(ish) roundup of what was released in 2011...

First up was Richard's solo album...

Drawing The Footpath of The Sun by Richard Quirk

Then we had a new album from myself (Simon) and Mike's long running (approximately 15-20 years) side project The Phantom Carriage...

III by The Phantom Carriage

We got one review for this album, it's in German, but a rough translation reads...
"the gentlemen Mike Seed & Simon Pott behind The Phantom Carriage here a masterpiece in terms of Electronica deliver that in the same league as publications by Massive Attack, Leftfield, Portishead, Aphex Twin etc.."
The Phantom Carriage - III, reviewed at Kultur [terrorismus]

Next up was the first (and only) full band release of the year...

Alchemical Postcards by The Chasms

This was our third album and just happened to be the one that got us our first proper reviews, and very good they were too...
"The greatest band to appear this century."
The Chasms - Alchemical Postcards, reviewed at Unwashed Territories
Alchemical Postcards was also rated as the second best album of the year at Unwashed Territories. Thank you Mark.
"it may very well already be too late for the Isle of Man."
The Chasms - Alchemical Postcards, reviewed at The White Noise Revisited
"BRUTALS"
The Chasms - Alchemical Postcards, reviewed at L’Apartment 18

And then came Mike in collaboration with The Language of Light which was released as part of a split 12" with Stone Breath on the flip-side, 'The Aetheric Lamp'...
Mike Seed with the Language of Light - Grendel At Long Mynd by AntiClock

This release can be bought from our good friends at AntiClock.

There have been quite a few reviews of this, here's a few snippets...
"Mike Seed and Language of Light mix drone, atmosphere and vocals to devastating effect, the opening track “Commit to Water”, getting straight into it, a rattling haze of sound offering a sonic background to the almost spoken vocals, each element drifting in and out of the mix in a cloud of atmosphere."
The Aetheric Lamp reviewed at The Terrascope
"Mike Seed's voice sounds tormented and the pieces almost like murder ballads. Much more radical, less musical, free form etc this side leaves a mighty impression on me."
The Aetheric Lamp reviewed at Vital Weekly
"Bearing in mind the darker path of Mike Seed, it seems that his take on The Ætheric Lamp is perhaps a more traditional one as there wasn’t much “light” to be found on his side of the split. If anything, it seems that the illuminating nature of his will to go on in the current world is the brightest part of his side."
The Aetheric Lamp reviewed at Heathen Harvest

So that's all the proper releases covered. The Chasms did record a track for 'Five Years' double album download to celebrate 5 years of the wonderful Dandelion Radio. The track was a slightly different mix of 'A Copse of Trees'. The download was only available throughout June and July via Unwashed Territories on Bandcamp.
The Phantom Carriage also recorded a track for The Oneirocritical Society which is a project curated by AntiClock.
The Phantom Carriage - 1st of July 1986 (Dream 1) by AntiClock

And to finish off the year we had the best news ever. The Chasms were voted into the number three spot in this years Official John Peel Festive 50 which has been hosted by Dandelion Radio since John's untimely passing. The track that made it was 'The Occult Soul Review'.

This now makes three years on the trot we've managed to get into the top 5.
So for all the people who voted for us in the Festive 50, and to all those that have downloaded or bought any of these releases and enjoyed them we hope you've had a great year.

Many thanks,

Simon
x

Visit - The Chasms - Website
Visit - The Chasms - Bandcamp
Visit - Command To Destroy - Website
Visit - Command To Destroy - Facebook
Visit - Richard Quirk - Bandcamp
Visit - The Phantom Carriage - Website
Visit - The Phantom Carriage - Bandcamp
Visit - AntiClock - Website
Visit - The Official John Peel Festive 50 at Dandelion Radio

A Copse of Trees...

2011-09-08T20:04:00.001+01:00

A Copse of Trees by The Chasms
The dreamt landscape of The Ayres provokes a little fear
Such as that felt by dogs for their masters
Croft nearby, long gone
Reason for planting this copse of trees is unclear
Unclear
Held shot
Static camera
This allows the imagination to enter
What will occur here?
Allow the characters to enter separately please
The copse, a stage
Let them act out what this place implies

Woman, mid thirties, trouser suit, dark blue
Small case which she places carefully down, and then picks up again
Every ten steps she does this as if carrying something very heavy
Sunlight
Herself at the edge of clouds
Shadows, clean shadows, cloud shadows
Seen now from further away
Wide screen
Slow progress of her steps towards the trees
The trees barely move in the wind
The geography of the sky mapped out on the land
We reflect
Who wishes to read it?

Cut to close-up of the case covered in stickers
Hotels in France, Germany, America
Case edged in black
Camera closer still
Camera closer still
Something inside
Some history, some kind of history
A scratching noise
Scratching noise

Close up of her face
Looks directly into the camera
Descend into slow motion as she closes her eyes
Cut to darkness

The case interior
Scratch
Scratch
Scratch
Scratch

History
Why bring history here?
Last thing that happened here was a glacier
Then the copse, nothing else
This place does not encourage event other than nature, which it could not prevent
It would have done if it could have done
Why bring history here?

Rainfall
Second character emerges from the dunes
Avoids the remains of a fire
Broken bottle glass
Perhaps he is part of the rain
Sudden grey eyes, shifting
How does the rain appear?
He appears middle aged, black suit, pained
Runs a hand through the hair, overlong, un-businesslike
A tattoo on the back of the left hand
Cassiopeia, the constellation, picked out in tiny blue dots
What does he represent?
What coalesced within him
The outward signs indicate purpose
And unease
He is ours to guess upon

Cut to shot amongst trees
Sound of breath
Sighs
Low notes

Perhaps a cello
Movements at the boundary
Not the characters so far introduced
Others are here
We are not close enough to identify
Unfocused
Show the faces you have
Please show the faces you have
No, never mind

Cut to darkness
Cut to a shot of the copse
Sky altered
Darker, darker
Perhaps we have woken up something

Plane overhead, light aircraft
A distracting narrative

Another character
We see only his back
He holds a book
How long do we see him?
He holds a book
What book?
Show your face
Show your face

I can't make them
Why can't I make them?

They are not my characters
These are not my characters
These are not my characters
These are not my characters
They are not mine
They are not mine

The coalesced figures at the edge of the frame darting now
Footfall on dead ground
They are barely here
As I am barely here
As I am barely in this place

Reveal the book, the fiction
Reveal the fiction
Holds it to his face
Turns to camera

Airplane noises return
Man disappears
Book becomes transparent
Layered words drift through the frame
Reappear
Distant now
Becoming several movements obscured by text

Scene fades
A few words stay
Unfocused
Unwelcome
Unfocused
Unwelcome
Unfocused
Unwelcome
Unfocused
Unwelcome

Download From - The Chasms (Free)
Download From - Command to Destroy (Free)
Download From - The Chasms @ Bandcamp (Free)

Simon
x

The Perils of the Three Speed Gear...

2011-09-05T18:21:00.003+01:00

An Excerpt From 'The Third Policeman' by Flann O'Brien as read by Jim Norton

We’re driving through the village at half eight in the morning and there was a man clipping his hedge. He was wearing a joke policeman’s helmet. I’m glad to say he was also wearing a high visibility jacket. Health and safety is very important. We normally have a peacock wandering around first thing as well, so you have to be a bit careful. But that day he was off somewhere else.

A week or so later I renew my subscription at the local library and what do I find? An audio book of “The Third Policeman” by Flann O’Brien. It’s read by Jim Norton, known to Father Ted fans as Bishop Brennan (“Don’t call me Len, you little prick.”)

As part of a Literature course I took years ago, I had the opportunity to choose a book for my fellow students to read. This was it. I thought they’d find it funny. Some did. I think “disturbed and threatened” would cover some of the other reactions. I forgot that even on a Literature course, many people do not want to stray too far from Jane Austen.

Flann O’Brien, that droll Catholic with a bag of pen names for protection, presents a vision of Purgatory. It isn’t Hell, the judgement is circling around. Like Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, it’s full of argument, confusion, terror and really good situation comedy.

A man kills another man with a spade and in no time at all we’re debating whether night is just coloured air, considering men who are horses and horses who are men, and being told of justice being meted out by the hanging of a bicycle. I tell you, the Devil with his horns and a spiky fork has nothing on this lot. Oh yes, and when they go to Eternity they talk a lot about boiled sweets.

I ride my old three speed down into the town for work. Four miles, not too hilly, beautiful scenery, why wouldn’t I. Not too much on the brakes: this is just as well because they are a bit fictional, especially in the rain. I’m listening to Mr Norton as I pedal along.

Luckily, the roads are not too bumpy so I reckon I’m only about 18%. And to understand that last comment, you’ll have to go read the book.

Buy - The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien [book]
Buy - The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien, read by Jim Norton [audio book]
Visit - Flann O'Brien: A Biographical Introduction

Mike.

Songs The Lord Taught Us...

2011-08-26T13:10:00.000+01:00

The Cramps - Garbageman [Original Version]

***Music Geek Alert***

Many many moons ago I bought a copy of Songs The Lord Taught Us by The Cramps. It quickly became one of my favourite albums and still is to this day.
The track listing on the back was quite a bit different to the listing on the sleeve (I'll get to this in a bit), but I didn't really pay much attention to this as I had several other records with differences in running orders.
Anyway, many years later (mid to late 90's) I bought the album on CD when it was first released, and to my surprise all the mixes were different! I just thought that they'd planned a re-mastering job on it and decided to completely remix it at the same time. Until I got to the end of the CD, where there are some 'Original' mixes tagged on to the album which were identical to the versions on my trusty old vinyl copy.
That's still ok as I thought that it was still to do with a complete remix as mentioned above. I never really thought about it again.

Step forward to last week when I was trawling through YouTube videos for old Cramps stuff and started playing tracks from Songs The Lord Taught Us, some of which were taken from vinyl and not the CD, and to my befuddlement they were the same mixes as the CD versions.
Now this really did get me thinking. So since then I've been searching the internet for any mention of the copy that I have on vinyl, and have come up blank.
The only similar release that I've been able to relate my copy to is the white label test pressing which had the same mixes, but not in the same order as my copy as it had Drug Train on it.

These are the details of the copy I have...

Basically everything sleeve wise is identical to the original 1980 UK release.
Cat.No:- ILP 005 (UK Release) (the made in France version)
Red labels (the ones in the picture above)

Vinyl wise is where it gets completely different:-
Matrix numbers:- ILP 005 A1 and ILP 005 B1 which correspond with the aforementioned white label copy.

The track listing on the vinyl plays like this:-

Side One
01 Garbageman
02 Rock on the Moon
03 TV Set
04 I Was A Teenage Werewolf
05 Sunglasses After Dark
06 Strychnine
07 The Mad Daddy

Side Two
01 Zombie Dance
02 Mystery Plane
03 What's Behind The Mask
04 I'm Cramped
05 Tear It Up
06 Fever

Not only are the mixes all different on both sides (bar Fever, which to my ears sounds the same as the CD), but the album opens with 'Garbageman' and not 'TV Set' and 'Strychnine' is on side one and not side two.
And on side two 'Zombie Dance' and 'Mystery Plane' are switched around compared to the official release.

If anybody out there has any information on my copy of this wonderful album please let me know. I might be able to sleep properly again.

Anyway, regardless of the origins of this pressing it doesn't change the fact that 'Songs The Lord Taught Us' is still one of the greatest albums ever made.
Even though I do prefer my pressing to the usual one, I have lived with this version of it for 30 years thinking it was the 'proper' version after all.

Rest in peace Lux.

Buy - The Cramps - Songs The Lord Taught Us
Visit - The Cramps

Simon
x

Circus Beach Incident...

2011-08-25T14:13:00.002+01:00

Circus Beach Incident by The Chasms
No one turned up for the first show, just the tide
And she only wanted to see the clowns
She pushed around the edges of the ring when they came out, hissing her approval
And she sloped off afterwards
I said 'next time bring some paying customers with you'

A storm came in the following day
It felt like the season was dead before it had got going
I knew what the weather would do
The families would stay in their guesthouses playing Ludo
Fathers in the lounge bar moaning at the tariffs, moaning at the cold as the horse trams carried on without custom
And the municipal award winning brass band knocks out Elgar to rows of empty seats down at the sea terminal
Ferry delayed, reason given... apathy

And we had no expectations of the day
But the tide brought in a crowd
And what a crowd
65 lost men. The drowned, long dead
Ushered into their seats by the dove grey sea
I sent out the dwarves to get what they could by way of admission fee
They did alright
Old coins, briny watches, a medal or two, documents on oil skin, weathered pictures
Enough

So we gave them a show
I can't say they were the warmest of audiences
But we've had worse
The sea took them away afterwards

I gave her a postcard by way of thanks
It was a portrait of herself
Storm Scene, Douglas Promenade, 1910
'Ah, how young I look' she said, 'how beautiful'
'I'll bring more tomorrow' she said
'They like clowns too'

So we get a different audience in here these days
The living tend to stay away
They're fussy about what they sit next to
But who cares
Full house is full house

Download From - The Chasms (Free)
Download From - Command to Destroy (Free)
Download From - The Chasms @ Bandcamp (Free)

Simon
x

Alchemical Postcards...

2011-08-24T15:49:00.000+01:00

Alchemical Postcards by The Chasms
Well, it's been ten months since the last release by The Chasms. We had a few hiccups along the way due to several amps blowing up and other technical difficulties. But finally this week sees the release of our third album.
It's called 'Alchemical Postcards' and as usual it's available to download for absolutely nothing. It will also (again, as usual) shortly be available to buy as a limited run CD which you can buy for as little as a penny, or any other amount you think it's worth.

The artwork for it was put together by our good friend Graeme Swinton, the front cover of which is an old postcard that he found on eBay of The Chasms from 1937. And it really does look that washed out as if the building is vanishing into the ether.

Next up we'll be getting busy recording another session for Pete Jackson's Dandelion Radio show.
More on that once we've finished it.

Happy listening.

Download From - The Chasms (Free)
Download From - Command to Destroy (Free)
Download From - The Chasms @ Bandcamp (Free)
Visit - Graeme Swinton

Simon
x

The Occult Soul Review...

2011-08-03T18:56:00.000+01:00

This is a video I made for a brand new track called 'The Occult Soul Review' by The Chasms.
The track will appear on the forthcoming 'Alchemical Postcards' album which will (with a bit of luck) be out by the end of August on our Command to Destroy label.

And while I'm on the subject of the new album...
The mighty Dandelion Radio are playing a couple of tracks from it throughout August as part of their rolling monthly schedule.
To find out who's playing a track then just head on over there and head to the 'This Month' section.

Sadly at the time I sent them the tracks the set date for the release of the album was around about now. But alas we've had technical difficulties. So I'd like to make a public apology to them for giving them information that turned out to be wrong. Sorry guys.

Anyway, all is back on track now thanks to help from Rebecca at Anticlock who very kindly provided us with the means to finish off the album.

I hope you all like the video.

Visit - Dandelion Radio
Visit - AntiClock
Visit - The Chasms
Visit - The Chasms @ YouTube
Visit - Command to Destroy

Simon
x

Five Years, In Celebration of Dandelion Radio....

2011-06-01T21:19:00.002+01:00

NO LONGER AVAILABLE.

Today sees the release of a free to download double album compilation that celebrates 5 wonderful years of Dandelion Radio.
Now I won't go into too much detail about my love of Dandelion Radio, suffice to say that without them though there would pretty much be nobody on the planet who would have shown The Chasms any interest whatsoever. So for that reason alone I hold them dear in my heart, not to mention the fact that every month I subject myself to hours and hours of music old and new that warms my cockles!

Anyway, back to the compilation...
Each DJ has asked a band or two that means a lot to them to contribute a track for this compilation. There are a total of 34 bands that have given free of charge their music and time for this fantastic celebration of all that Dandelion Radio means to them.
Out of the 34 tracks there are 11 Dandelion Radio Session tracks from the likes of Dan Hayter (formerly of Hefner), The Truth About Frank, Beatnik Film Stars, Hehfu, Spidersleg and the legendary Magoo.
If that wasn't good enough for you then there are 10 exclusive tracks from the likes of say, Um, The Chasms. Along with tracks donated by Martin Carr, Alisia Casper (who also did the artwork), Darren Hayman (that band Hefner again), Vert-X, Trembling Blue Stars, Wolfram Wire with Broadcast, an old fave of mine by Lord Numb and many many more.

The whole caboodle can be downloaded for absolutely no monetary transaction whatsoever from Dandelion Radio's own Mark Whitby's label Unwashed Territories.
There is a hitch though, the albums are only available until the end of July, so get a wriggle on and grab them while you can.

Happy Birthday Dandelion Radio. And thank you for everything. You're properly ace.

Visit - Unwashed Territories @ Bandcamp
Visit - Dandelion Radio
Visit - The Chasms

Simon
x

The Oneirocritical Society...

2011-05-29T11:27:00.001+01:00

The Phantom Carriage - 1st of July 1986 (Dream 1)

Me and Mike have just finished recording a track as The Phantom Carriage for a very interesting project for AntiClock Records.

If you'd like to get involved in this project then here's a little bit about the group and how to go about taking part.

Oneirocritic literature is the traditional (ancient and mediaeval) literary format of dream interpretation. This is the musical form.

Each dream is an actual dream of the artist fashioned over a 6 minute musical backdrop that can be looped seamlessly. You are welcome to participate by :

1. Listening to these songs on loop while sleeping and attempt to change the dream in your dreams then tell us about it in the comment section or record and upload it as a dream song.

2. If you record a reinterpreted dream, please give it the name of the original dream and add that it's a second generation. ie.. if the original dream is called "John Smithy - John's Dream", then call yours "Your Band/Name - John's Dream (Second Generation)".

3. You can create and upload an entirely new dream as well. Please label it with your name or your band name and a title that is unique to it so that we can follow it if it's reinterpreted.

Visit - AntiClock Records
Visit - AntiClock Oneirocritical Society [group on Soundcloud]
Visit - The Phantom Carriage

Simon.
x

Wash Your Troubles Away...

2011-05-28T11:31:00.003+01:00

Gil Scott-Heron - Lady Day and John Coltrane

Last November we drove through the centre of London in Bobby's old Merc with the recent Gil Scott-Heron material bouncing around the car. The voice was beautifully shot, the music still had grit under its nails and the words, well, the words fixed the night in my memory.

I never thought I'd hear "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" on Radio 4, but there it was this morning, part of the eight o'clock news bulletin. Rest in Peace.

Buy - Gil Scott-Heron - I'm New Here
Buy - Gil Scott-Heron - Storm Music, The Best Of
Visit - Gil Scott-Heron

Mike.

Where All Roads Meet...

2011-04-07T17:35:00.002+01:00

The Magnificent Men - Keep on Climbing

The Group Feat. Cecil Washington - I Don't Like to Lose

Joy Division - Shadowplay [live]

Co-incidence. What’s the big deal? Co-incidences occur within us all the time and chance has nothing to do with it. We draw together things from disparate times and places so that they run alongside each other, waving in recognition. All of us are marvellously complex tables of correspondence.

For instance: the beautiful jolt into the vocals in the opening seconds of 'Keep On Climbing' by The Magnificent Men reminds me of John Donne’s 'Good Friday, 1613. Riding Westward.', a poem so in the moment, its title is the day, the year and what he was doing. He begins with, 'Let man’s soul be a sphere', and you can actually hear his tone of voice as he says it. Bam.

The Magnificent Men waste no time either. They grab you by the lapel and tell you what is going on with them, but you know what? We’ll keep on climbing. The Magnificent Men deserve a post to themselves, by the way. Check out their website for a marvellous piece of social history.

Let’s move on to a curious Northern Soul number: 'I Don’t Like To Lose', by The Group featuring Cecil Washington. Yes, but it’s really 'Shadowplay' by Joy Division. Or rather, it’s the same restless, melancholy spirit moving through two different songs.

'I Don’t Like To Lose' kicks in with a swagger and arrogance borne out of insecurity. By the time the bass drops down and he growls, 'I’m gonna make it... get out of my way', not even the crescendo and trumpet fanfare can convince us. The mask falls with the final, pathetic, minor chords, and the closing whimpered phrase, 'Make it'.

Just like Ian Curtis, this is the confession of a man who knows in his heart that he is not going to make it. But both are aware that without that knowledge, there would be no song, and probably no singer. They exist in the dark, hands raised. To the centre of the city where all roads meet.

The centre of the city is you.

Visit - The Magnificent Men
Visit - Joy Division Central

Mike.

Don't Forget Your Swimsuit...

2011-03-30T17:30:00.002+01:00

Burt Bacharach - Hasbrook Heights

It’s the late 60’s. In a parallel universe, we abandon organised religion because it just seems to make people really mean. The Vatican is turned over to a beaming, enlightened figure, who goes by the name of Burt Bacharach. Things go well.

He gives us a possible world anthem, which we are free to take up if we choose to do so. It appears to be an open invitation to come visit. It’s also a casual manifesto, a suggested way of being. It’s deep stuff, even though it pretends not to be. Everyone starts to feel a bit better.

Anyway, if the Scientists are going to come up with things like parallel universes, I’m keeping reincarnation and the whole mystic shebang. What’s the difference between a belief and a scientific hypothesis?

I digress. Enjoy the song.

Buy - Magic Moments: The Definitive Burt Bacharach Collection
Visit - Burt Bacharach

Mike.

My Ears Haven't Left The 70's....

2011-03-18T22:25:00.004Z

We're meeting tomorrow for a listening session to sift through the material recorded last year and early this year. Plenty enough for an album and probably an ep as well. As usual it's all noisy garage shamblings, this time with the added desolation of early Sabbath's ebbing distortion and Unknown Pleasures fed through several tube amps. There's even a short lullaby being soothed with steel wool.

I'm keen to start on the modular synth overdubs as I recently sold and traded a few things and now have a small Buchla modular (see pic) to work with my Bugbrand setup. Some of it is new, but most of the audio element is from the early 70's. Apart from the TSP Teaspoon CAS (which I couldn't live without), everything we use to create the sound of The Chasms could've been done in the 70's. The Teaspoon CAS probably could've been hotwired then too but would need a box the size of my amp instead of a pedal that fits in my palm. Oops, I'm forgetting the overuse of autotune on Mike's voice to give him a Manx accent.

Visit - Buchla
Visit - Bugbrand

Richard.

Not Crackin' Up Over You...

2011-03-14T19:41:00.001Z

Mike and myself (Simon) recorded an album last year under the name Lonesome Mercury (we're currently at the thinking stage for the follow-up album) which we released on our own label Command to Destroy.
There is another label that Mike has ties to though and that is the truly wonderful AntiClock Records which have released one of Mike's solo albums along with the first Phantom Carriage album.
There will also be a brand new collaboration album out by Mike and fellow AntiClock artist Language of Light later on this year.

Anyway, what this has to do with the above video is that Rebecca (AntiClock head honcho) was listening to the Lonesome Mercury album while watching old episodes of Your Hit Parade when Not Crackin' Up Over You came on and made her chuckle with the images she was seeing.
So she made this video.

Thanks Rebecca.

Visit - AntiClock Records
Visit - Lonesome Mercury at Bandcamp

Simon
x

Some Things Just Have A Bit Of Magic In Them...

2011-03-13T12:25:00.000Z

The Chasms - I'm Here To See The Clouds of Blood

I've been searching for another one of these for years, since before I even met Simon and Mike and The Chasms came to life.
Don Audio (the guy/company who builds tube amp heads and speakers and lives here on the island) had built me a Buggane 15 watt amp-head and a Baby Buggane 7 watt amp-head, each with their own 12inch speaker cabinet. The wattage listed is their maximum clean level, they run far louder than this and distort beautifully. I think this was about seven years ago.
I spoke to Don about building a speaker cabinet with a wider frequency range to use with modular synths, shortwave radio's etc. He quickly drew up a design featuring a tweeter and a 15inch speaker and then talked me through 3 different tweeters he had in old boxes. I can't remember the details but he recommended the Fane HF250 Bullet Tweeter (see pic) and I trusted his judgement. The speaker cabinet was done in the same red tolex as my amp heads and other speaker cabinets (see pic) and definitely requires the built in handles on each side when moving. There's a switch on the back to turn off the tweeter. Don recommended doing this with either high or low frequency synth drones. I used it more as a strong eq effect.

Of course I had to try it with the guitars. They all sounded better. But with the Fender Bass VI everything changed, it had all the high end that a bass amp had negated and enough welly for the bottom end. Why get more guitars; change what is putting out the sound.

When we started rehearsing for the Notting Hill show last November, I thought I'd blown the speaker (it's happened a few times with the Buggane as well, I'm using up their 9 lives too quickly) so we were just using 10inch and 12inch speaker cabinets. We started playing 'I'm Here To See The Clouds of Blood'. The guitar sound wasn't exactly lifeless but we were all looking each other like nothing sounded right. We tried it a few more times but getting nowhere I said I'd get the speaker cabinet out and maybe it wasn't permanently dead. One second of the first note was enough to have us smiling.
There is definitely some magic in how it pushes air.

Last year I added a 12inch speaker cabinet which sits on top (with a separate footswitch to turn it on & off), but the core is the Buggane through the speaker cabinet.
A guy we know came across the Fane HF250 last week (the store had done a stock clear-out and one turned up in the basement) and now it's sitting here ready to be delivered to Don to be put in a 2nd speaker cabinet to go with the Dual Drive Buggane amp-head, though it'll have to wait for album 4 to make an appearance as the core sessions for album 3 have been finished.

Visit & Download - The Chasms
Visit & Download - The Chasms on Bandcamp

Richard.

Falling But Not Laughing...

2011-03-10T10:40:00.004Z

Delia Derbyshire - Falling

Britain was right to view the Surrealist movement with suspicion. How dare it try to get the monopoly on dreams and the irrational! Manifestoes, expulsions, naïve politics, pretensions of research. None of it touched the delirium of Lautreamont or Rimbaud, nothing so strange as Crowley out in the deserts of Algeria or Artaud’s screaming. Nothing so strange as the individual.

Surrealism became a thing from before the war. Abstract Expressionism washed in, then Pop Art. New York rules.

But the hard, dark edges of the irrational were on show again in Blighty, 1964. Peter Brook’s Theatre of Cruelty Season. The Marat/Sade. R. D. Laing. Artaud, long dead, walked the streets. Birtwistle’s Punch was hiding around the corner. By that time, Surrealism was a door to door salesman, desperately trying to flog boxes of detergent.

Meanwhile, over at the BBC, the Third Programme presented 'Dreams'.
Delia Derbyshire provided electronic sounds, careful not to intrude upon the eerie recall of night terrors: falling, faces covered, running, drowning. Her music served the spooked beautifully.

No, Surrealism never did manage to get the monopoly on dreams and the irrational.

Visit - Delia Derbyshire
Visit and download - Delia Derbyshire - Dreams on UbuWeb

Mike.

Meep Meep...

2011-03-05T11:51:00.001Z

The rules that apply to Road Runner cartoons are severe as haiku.

The coyote cannot speak.
The coyote cannot die.
The coyote cannot win.

His foe is implacably inane. He stays on the road. He grins. He sticks out his tongue. He says 'Meep meep'.

Wile E. is a genius of failure. He can take a length of railroad track and get mown down by a train. Resigned, he plummets to the bottom of a canyon. And he can never be free of the adversary.

The struggle defines what he is. Of course, the damn bird would be just the same regardless.

What can we learn from this? I’ll tell you what.

Don’t buy rocket skates.

Mike.

The Phantom Carriage - III [CTD Release]

2011-02-28T08:27:00.000Z

The Phantom Carriage - A Dictionary of Angels

III is the third album released by The Phantom Carriage and consists of just the one forty minute track called 'A Dictionary of Angels'. And it's released today on Command to Destroy.

The Phantom Carriage is an ongoing project by myself and Mike Seed that has been fermenting for about 20 years.
We started out improvising over tape loops then over samples using our crappy old Casio SK-5. We recorded a load of albums on cassette, just for our own listening pleasure. Then we decided to do it properly, or as properly as we could, and released our 'debut' album on the internet called 'Late Comers' which was a collection of strange folk songs with some electronica and drones.
This was followed by 'Skull Exposed To March Rain' in 2007. For this album I took a back seat and we asked our good friend Graeme (King of the Rowser!) to do the production. What resulted was a twitchy, strange electronic album, interspersed with Mike's vocals and instrumentation.
Over these two albums there were also contributions from Buggane and The Grinning Ape.
For this though, the third album, we're back to just the two of us.

So that's a bit of info about The Phantom Carriage, and if you still fancy a listen then all three albums can be downloaded from the links below for no financial contribution whatsoever.

Visit - The Phantom Carriage
Visit - The Phantom Carriage @ Bandcamp
Visit - Command to Destroy Records

Simon
x

Me, the Night and the Music...

2011-02-15T18:00:00.000Z

Most nights I go check on the horses. It’s about an hour’s walk there and back. It tends to be when I listen to music.

Jane bought me Harrison Birtwistle’s “The Mask of Orpheus” for Christmas. It has possessed the ipod. Nothing sat easily next to it, so I stripped everything else out and let the three acts spin round.

Orpheus begins his struggle with words as the sea mist rolls in for act one. Perspective is effaced as he moves through the arches of act two: he moves through them and recalls moving through them at the same time, the narrative folded over. The great, feral voice of Apollo scything the end of act three into silence. Then the stuttering voice and the mist comes back.

Sometimes I’ve been torchless, padding my way past the hawthorn in the dark. Me and the music, circling in the winter night. That’s fine.

Buy - Harrison Birtwistle - The Mask of Orpheus
Visit - Harrison Birtwistle

Mike.

LEGION! Or: Sauron at the Mecca Ballroom...

2011-02-11T17:40:00.010Z

Lynne Randell - Stranger In My Arms

Ralph Bakshi’s animated adaptation of The Lord of The Rings was a big deal when I was a kid. I made my Dad traipse me up to Longridge Cinema to see it. Of course, we got chips afterwards. We ate them in the car. As the windows steamed up, I imagined the Black Riders harrying up the main drag of the town towards us.

I saw the film again recently. What still worked for me was the technique of animating upon live action. As I understand it, they filmed actors and then altered their appearance through animation until they became the characters.

When I saw the vast ranks of Orcs trundling around Mount Doom in Peter Jackson’s version, all that came to mind was that it must have taken a lot of programming to get it right. I was distanced from the spectacle by the technique. I’m sure that wasn’t the intent, but that’s what I experienced.

The technique in Bakshi’s film also distanced me from the action, but in a fruitful way. What I saw was unfixed identity. There was the person filmed, the film image, and the animated version of the image.

A lyric dropped into my head. It was from Lynn Randell’s great Northern Soul number, “Stranger In My Arms”. In the bridge running up to the second chorus, Lynn sings, “Who are you making me cry now?”, which conveys the sense of fear and confusion when faced with someone close who is not the someone you thought they were, who has a personality that is somehow shifting.

Figures that move outside their bodies, a glimpse of a person, real eyes, filmed eyes, animated eyes. The unfixed personality wandering around like a cat, settling for while here, now here.

Follow this line and you start to wonder how it is you wake up as the same person every day, with your own particular memories and routines. Well, relatively the same.

Buy - The Lord of The Rings
Buy - The Golden Age of Northern Soul Vol.3 - Blackpool Mecca
Visit - Ralph Bakshi
Visit - Lynne Randell

Mike.