30 June 2024

The Naterock Album Dump Part 10: The Final Dump

Gotta squeeze this in before the month comes to a close. It was scheduled for July, but things change & I didn't want it to be left until October. This will be the last installment of the Naterock Album Dumps.

For the next two months, things are not going to be the usual (if such a thing exists) around NSS. I'm stepping away from my monthly mixture of mayhem & mania for two reasons. One, I have a project that I've had rattling around my brain for a while that I want to persue & two, I'm working on the latest iteration of Dubtember. That's taking most of my creative & musical juices to pull together so I need a couple months to be fully prepaired.

I'll be posting regularly, just not the usual mishegoss that passes for a blog around this dump. If you like what you find, kool. Follow along & see what shakes loose. If you don't, then come back in September for what I hope to be the best Dubtember yet. Anyway, the choice, of course, is your.

 



To the Dump...

Continuing on with part two of a continuing series, 1986 - 1987. Remember, a .zip file marked simply Albums List will be included in each dump, so youcan decide from that what you want or simply reference the list below (& with each posting).

Naterock Album Dump Part 10
Part Two -

decryption code in comments

1986
"House of Suffering" was the track I referrenced from the I Against I album but the Brains have regained control of their back catalogue & are re-issuing I Against I this July 22 so included here is only the live version of said song. Sorry, but support the Bad Brains.
Whiplash Smile - Billy Idol
Off the Beaten Track - African Head Charge
Dig It 12" - Skinny Puppy
Concrete Blonde - Concrete Blonde
The Unacceptable Face of Freedom - Test Dept.
Sound of Confusion - Spacemen 3
Throwing Muses - Throwing Muses
Manic Pop Thrill - That Petrol Emotion

1987
Tired Eyes Slowly Burning - The Tear Garden
Introducing the Hardline According to - Terence Trent D'Arby
The Elbow is Taboo - Renaldo & the Loaf
Rhythm Killers - Sly & Robbie
Happy Nightmare Baby - Opal

Enjoy,

28 June 2024

Previous Fireflies Post Prompted this Excursion

Fireflies are Nina Walsh & Franck Alba. I have featured Nina before involving her relationship as long term creative partner to Andrew Weatherall. The two ran the Sabres of Paradise & Sabrettes record labels. They later released material as Woodleigh Research Facility which I have extensively shared in the past.

The other half of Fireflies is guitarist Franck Alba (photo - 1st right). Franck was a long-time member of the Anglo-French ambient pop experimentalists Piano Magic. 

 



Piano Magic was formed by Glen Johnson in 1996, who used Ivo's collective This Mortal Coil as the template for his group. No less than 30 musicians have passed through their ranks, the solo constant being Glen. Franck has been onboard since the days of The Troubled Sleep of Piano Magic (2003).

Here is Piano Magic's final studio release... 

 

Piano Magic - Closure, Second Language SL036, 2016.
decryption code in comments

Closure    
Landline    
Exile    
Let Me Introduce You    
Living For Other People    
You Never Stop Loving (The One That You Loved)    
Attention To Life    
I Left You Twice, Not Once


 
 
Enjoy,

27 June 2024

Back to the Facility with the Peenywallies

This is the very first release from Nina Walsh / Andrew Weatherall's Facility 4 label. 

It features Nina & Franck Alba.

Fireflies - The Machine Stops, Facility 4 F4001, 2020.
decryption codes in comments

She's My Witch   
She's My Witch (VDCR remix)
Get Out of Town   
Heidi

bonus track -
On the Mountainside
 
 
 
 
 


While I'm sharing some Nina Walsh, here's one I really like from Nina & Alex Paterson of the Orb...
 
Rootmasters - Push Once 10", Malicious Damage MDV628, 2007.

Side A -
Book of Hours
Janis Joplin’s Mum

Side B -
Elephant Puddle
Book of Hours (Autolump remix)

bonus track -
Prozac Nation


 
Enjoy,

26 June 2024

Riding Off into the Sunset

When I began the 4AD shares in April, I got a comment from Anonymous who sez:
     "Anything by the Rutkowski sisters?"

To which I sez:
     "I've shared several by The Hope Blister & there will definitely be several This Mortal Coil coming up. Anything in particular or is that good?"

To which Anon sez:
     "It's too hard to think. Anything rare, or not so rare. Thank you."

Well... 

 

 



Sunset Gun were sisters Louise & Deirdre Rutkowski with multi-instumentalist Ross Campbell. In 1984, they were snapped up by CBS who released three single & an album.

The Rutkowski sisters went onto bigger things, eventually gaining huge acclaim for their extraordinary vocal work on the last two This Mortal Coil albums on 4AD then The Hope Blister (as I alluded to above).   

Sunset Gun's sound is very much in the pop/soul field. This one's for you, Anonymous... 

 

Sunset Gun - In an Ideal World, CBS 26584, 1985.
decryption code in comments

Side A -
Sister
Paint the Town Red
On the Right Side
Company
Stop

Side B -
How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?
Stay with Me
Tongue Tied & Twisted
Life of the Freeman
Face Up to What is True

Enjoy,

24 June 2024

Ted’s Other Excellent Adventures - Blurt part 3

Milton, Eagles, & Wiggens add another guitarist -Chris Vine & another percussionist- Nic Murcott. They suddenly become the Blurt Big Band.

 

Ted Milton & the Blurt Big Band - Magic Moments, Bahia Music CDB008, 1994.
all decryption codes in comments

Burial Mound
First World Trombone
The A2. Through Thong
Click
The Neutral Territories
First Day Issue
What's Happening to You Milton?
Columbus
A Grace
 
 
 
 

In 2000, Ted teamed up with Loopspool (Andreas Gerth) to release Sublime.
 
Ted Milton / Loopspool - Sublime, Charhizma charhizma008, 2000.

Suck on the Night    
In Your World    
You've Seen the Light    
L'Alpiniste    
C'est Ta Faute    
The Room    
Fragments    
Don't Let Love Pass You By    
I've Stolen All of Your Being
 
 
 
 

In 2006 Ted released Odes, a compilation of tracks of Ted performing with various artists. Signed & numbered limited edition of 100.
 
 
Ted Milton - Odes, self-released, 2006.

Nogales - Ted Milton with Back to Normal Orchestra
Can’t Blame Blim - Ted Milton with Sam Britton
Love is like a Violence - Ted Milton with Steve Beresford
Oh Pity Us - Ted Milton with Paddy Steers & Andreas Gerth
Fragment - Ted Milton with Back to Normal Orchestra
Miles Away - Ted Milton with Paddy Steers & Andreas Gerth
Skys are Bruised - Ted Milton with Herman Martin
St. Valentine’s Day Mascara - Ted Milton with Loopspool
13 Rules for Composition - Ted Milton with Yam Yam
My North Face - Ted Milton with Back To Normal  Orchestra
Ode! Oh! To Be Seen Through Your Eyes - Ted Milton with Herman Martin
Fragment - Ted Milton with Back to Normal Orchestra    
Where You End - Ted Milton with Paddy Steers & Andreas Gerth
 
 
 
 

I've Blurted out all I can for now,

23 June 2024

Some More Poppycock - Blurt part 2

Disappointed with the reception of Blurt, Ted & crew worked tirelessly on a new album while shopping around for a new label that would capture their sound more precisely.This would be the final Blurt release with the original line-up. After this release, Peter Creese (who had been dubbed The Human Loop by fans) would part ways with Blurt. 

 

Blurt - Bullets for You, Divine DIV584, 1984
all decryption codes in comments

This Side -
Bullets For You
Enemy Ears
Nogodada
Deep-Frozen Heart

The Other Side -
Kill Time
Sugar-Coated
Gravespit
The Little Death
The Prayer
 
 
 
 

Next up was another live album, Friday the 12th, recorded at the Limelight in Kortrijk, Belgium on October 12, 1984. About this time Jake Milton also exited the group. Now made up of Ted, Steve Eagles (guitar), & Paul Wigens (drums), Blurt returned to the studio & recorded Poppycock
 
 
Blurt - Poppycock, Toeblock TBL002, 1986.

Side 1 -
Poppycock
Smug Hills
Man to Fly
The Flags

Side 2 -
Domain of Dreams
Down in the Argentine
Hurrah, Die Butter ist Alle!
Niagara Falls
 
 
 
 

Many personnel changes, many albums, many side-projects followed. The last five albums from Blurt have been live recordings from various eras. The most recent date is Cut It! Live recorded in 2017 with a 70+ years young Ted Milton. The band's last studio release was 2015s Beneath Discordant Skies with Milton & Eagles joined by David Ayleward on drums.
 
 
Blurt - Beneath Discordant Skies, Salamander NEWTCD3, 2015.

Let Them Be!    
Giant Lizards on High    
I Wan See Ella    
Where's the Blue Gone?    
Fresh Meat for Martyrs    
Stella by Arc Light
O! Look Who's Out on Parole!    
Listen to Me, Shirley!    
Beneath Discordant Skies    
They'll Be Here Soon!
 
 
 


Next time: Ted's other excellent adventures...

22 June 2024

Dog Save My Sole

 

I recently finished up a series called Glasgow Noise. I had a few vaguely associated groups (Joseph K, Jazzateers, Stinking Lizavets, etc.) that weren't from Glasgow so didn't really fit the billing. Still want to share them here so here's the first one...

Blurt was founded in 1979 in Stroud, Gloucestershire by poet, saxophonist, & puppeteer Ted Milton along with Milton's brother Jake, formerly of the psychedelic group Quintessence & Eric Clapton Band on drums, & Peter Creese on guitar. Their music has been compared with James Chance, Captain Beefheart, Wild Man Fischer, the Pop Group, Tom Waits, or numberous other left-field avant-jazz icons, though their stripped-back, noisy, avant-garde sound continues to defy easy categorization.

After the initial line-up, personnel changes were common with Ted being the only permanent member. When original guitarist Creese left after three albums, he was replaced by Herman Martin, who was replaced a year later by Steve Eagles. Eagles has been a constant member from 1987 to present except for a four year span 1990-1994 when Chris Vine took over guitar duties.

Musician, poet, & self-confessed 'performance junkie' Ted Milton was a true Renaissance man: as a poet his work appeared in the Paris Review & Children of Albion: Poetry of the Underground in Britain; as a puppeteer in the 70s he performed with Mr. Pugh's Puppet Theatre & the Blue Show; as well as supporting Ian Dury on tour in 1978. Ted also contributed a puppetry scene to Terry Gilliam's 1977 comic film Jabberwocky.

Blurt recorded a sparse demo tape at Jake's home in Stroud & sent a copy to Tony Wilson, head of Factory Records. Ted had done a puppetry performance on a Granada TV show So It Goes that Wilson produced,. Always looking for new Factory acts, Wilson used tracks from the tape as one side of the second Factory compilation, A Factory Quartet. The band made their debut on that compilation which they shared with The Durutti Column, Kevin Hewick, & The Royal Family and the Poor. 

 

Various - A Factory Quartet 2x12", Factory FACT 24, 1980.
all decryptions in comments

Side 1 -
For Mimi    
For Belgian Friends    
Self-portrait - The Durutti Column

Side 2 -
Rubble    
1940    
A Little Feeling
Forget    
Morphia
The Enchanted Kiss    
Haystack - Kevin Hewick

Side 3 -
Puppeteer    
Dyslexia    
Some Come    
Benighted - Blurt    

Side 4 -
Dirge 1    
Vaneigem Mix    
Dirge 2
Death Factory
Dirge 3    
Rackets - The Royal Family and the Poor 
 
 
 
 

About one of Blurt’s early live shows, a reviewer sez:
     "Jake Milton plays a small drumkit or rather half of it. He beats out the steady tribal rhythm on a snare and a closed hi-hat, adding a tom-tom and a crash cymbal for the last bar of each number. Pete Creese plays either rock guitar riffs like Duane Eddy on a tape loop, or a two-chord repeat; there's no bass. And Ted, who's a dead ringer for Tom Waits, goes berserk over the top, mostly with the aid of an alto sax. It's all-purpose chaos; it's brilliant."

On December 13, 1980 Blurt performed at the Free University in Berlin, a show billed as 'Rock Against Junk'. Also on the bill was Gang of Four, PVC, & others. The event was professionally recorded. This was scheduled to be released by Factory's European imprint Factory Benelux as Blurt's debut album, but continued delays & the fact that Blurt was not really "Factory" led Ted & Co. to find other outlets for the project. Thus the live set came out as a conventional eight track album, In Berlin, on Armageddon Records (ARM 6) in a memorable sleeve depicting pink bin bags. The album was released by Ruby Records in the US.
 
 
Blurt - In Berlin, Ruby Records JRR103, 1981.

Side 1 -
Cherry Blossom Polish    
My Mother was a Friend of an Enemy of the People    
Puppeteers of the World Unite!    
Dyslexia Rules

Side 2 -    
Get    
Tube Plane    
Paranoid Blues    
Ubu
 
 
 
 

In Berlin being a live recording, Blurt still had not released a true studio creation. Their self-titled debut studio album was recorded at Windrush Studios in Gloucestershire & released May 1982 on Red Flame Records (formerly Armageddon).
 
 
Blurt - Blurt, Red Flame RF6, 1982.

Picture Side -
Dog Save My Sole
Trees
Physical Fitness

Logo Side -
Empty Vessels
Play the Game
The Ruminant Plinth
Arthur

Next time: Bullets for You & beyond...

20 June 2024

The Naterock Album Dump Part 9

 

Continuing on with part nine of a continuing series, 1984 - 1985. Remember, a .zip file marked simply Albums List will be included in each dump, so youcan decide from that what you want or simply reference the list below (& with each posting). 

Naterock Album Dump Part 9
Part One -


1984
Zen Arcade - Hüsker Dü
Family Man - Black Flag
History Mystery Prophesy - Lee “Scratch” Perry
Double Nickels on the Dime - The Minutemen

1985
Worlds Apart - Subhumans
Sell Out Young - Nils
Rum Sodomy & the Lash - The Pogues
Lysergic Emanations - The Fuzztones
Bad Moon Rising - Sonic Youth
Clan of Xymox - Clan of Xymox
Album - Public Image Limited

Enjoy,

19 June 2024

Musick that Needed Work - P: Pye Corner Audio

 

Pye Corner Audio is a moody, retro-futuristic project of British hauntology musician Martin Jenkins. 

 



Pye Corner Audio explores majestic, cinematic electronica that evokes sci-fi soundtracks, dystopian futures, & the sound of haunted dance floors. 

 

Pye Corner Audio - Black Mill Tapes Volume 1: Avant Shards, self-released pca001, 2010.
all decryption codes in comments

Transmission One: Lonesome Vale    
We Have Visitors    
Folk Festival    
Electronic Rhythm Number Three    
A Dark Door    
Theme Number Four    
Electronic Rhythm Number Eight    
Building Twelve, Room One    
Theme Number Nine    
Transmission Three: Briar Lane    
Gathering
 
 
 

Mirror Sequence    
Electronic Rhythm Number Seven    
Transmission Four: Crooked Hill    
Electronic Rhythm Number Four    
Through the Kings Wood    
Recrypt    
Theme Number Six    
Toward Light    
Sine Times Nine    
Ecneuqes Rorrim
 
 
 

Pathway Six    
Electronic Rhythm Number Five    
Transmission Seven:Pathways Open    
Inside the Wave    
Memory Wiped    
Building Obscured by Mist    
Electronic Rhythm Number One    
Foreshadowed    
Hexden Channel    
Transmission Two:Pathways Closed
Electronic Rhythm Number Eighteen (Retransferred by the Advsory Circle)
Theme Number Eight
 
 
 

Transmission Five:The Old Place    
Dystopian Vector Part One    
Transmission Thirteen:Line of Sight    
Electronic Rhythm Number Nine    
Theme Number Seven    
Electronic Rhythm Number Two    
Electronic Rhythm Number Twelve    
Transmission Nine:Black Light    
Void Bound    
Dystopian Vector Part Two    
Evil Surrounds    
Cont No Stop
 
 
 
 

This P's for U,

18 June 2024

Musick that Needed W- P: Purple Image

 

In the midst of the musical revolution of 1968, a 24-year old named Warren Adams from the 105th Superior area of Cleveland, OH put together an eight-piece band by the name of Purple Image. While most African-American bands in the Cleveland area played R&B & soul, Purple Image played mind-bending psychedelic funk rock similar to the post-Hendrix black rock of their Detroit counterparts Death & Black Merda

 



Purple Image recorded "Marching to a Different Drummer", which they released on Map City records. With the help of a popular Cleveland DJ the song became a number one hit. On the strength of that single, the band recorded their only album, the self-titled Purple Image. The album is an energetic blend of acid rock, fusion, frantic Coltrane-ish sax...a blistering amalgam of rock, soul, & funk. 

 

Purple Image - Purple Image, Map City MAP3015, 1970.
decryption code in comments

Side One -
Living in the Ghetto
Why
Lady
We Got to Pull Together

Side Two -
What You Do to Me
Marching to a Different Drummer

This P's for U,

17 June 2024

Musick that Needed Work - P: Prince Jammy



You all know Jammy, pretender to the throne, still Prince in 1982. 

 



Making up weird sci-fi names for these Dub riddims. 

 

Prince Jammy - Destroys the Invaders, Greensleeves Records GREL29, 1982.
decryption code in comments

Side 1 -
Conspiracy on Neptune
Martian Encounter
Saturn Bombardment
Attack on Ganymede

Side 2 -
War in the Asteroid Belt
The Great Red Spot
Life on Uranus
Final Destruction

This P’s for U,

16 June 2024

Musick that Needed Work - P: Pow Wows

 

Started in 2010, the Pow Wows are out of Toronto, Ontario: Chris (guitar & vocals) & Jon (drums) McCann, Ryan Rothwell (bass & vocals). They're garage punks. They're on the preeminent Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's garage punk label Get Hip


Chock full of addictive hooks, hot-wired fuzz guitars, & pounding rhythms that hearken back to the underworld of  60s Garage & 70s Punk while remaining undeniably fresh and modern.

 

Pow Wows - Shock Corridor 7", Get Hip Recordings GH258, 2013.
decryption code in comments

Side a -
Shock Corridor
Side B -
First World Rag

This P's for U,

15 June 2024

Musick that Needed Work - P: Popdefect

 

Popdefect is a three-piece rock outfit formed in Seattle in 1980 by guitarist/vocalist Al Anderson, bassist Charlie Hutchinson, & drummer Nick Scott. Nick & Al played in the band Psychopop with Tom Price (U-Men, Gas Huffer, Kings of Rock). When Tom left to form the U-Men, Charlie Hutchinson joined Al & Nick & Psychopop became POPDeFECT. Charlie moved to Los Angeles to attend college & the other two followed. 

 



Popdefect are the perfect example of late 80s indie/alternative before grunge came along. Having toured essentially without a break since the early 80s, Popdefect were a well-oiled machine by 1988. Their sound was uniquely their own, boiled down & crystalized into a distinct voice. No surprise then that their debut album Live with This is full of a sublimated anger at commercialism in a chaotic world. It is a well thought out amalgam of haunted, melancholic spy rock / surf riffs, punchy post-punk swagger, & existential howls. 

 

Popdefect - Live with This, Heart Murmur Records MRMR006, 1988.
decryption code in comments

Side 1 -
Live with This    
One Thin Dime    
Futility Train    
Jumpoff Joe    
Going to Hell (live)    
Better    

Side 2
On 'N' On (live)    
Devil in My Zipcode    
Don't Ask Why    
Envy - Jealousy    
Might as Well    
Hey...S'Alright (live)

This P's for U,

14 June 2024

Musick that Needed Work - P: Playground

 

Playground was started by Richard Johnson & Andy Pearson while they where editing/publishing/writing the Grim Humour 'zine. Intially comprised of Rich, Andy & their friends Dylan Hollinsbee, Harvey 'Havoc' Francis improvising a kind of industrial-tainted noise-rock around a drum machine. The original Playground was guitars, backing tapes & sometimes a keyboard. During the course of their first year together, their sound morphed into a more structured sound with the exit of Dylan & Harvey & the addition of Paul Dudeney on drums and Paul 'Fuzz' Wright on bass. 

 



The band released one studio album, one mini-album, one live album & one 7". By 1989 Playground 1.0 called it quits, with Johnson going on to form the band Splintered.

Playground 2.0 was Andy P. & vocalist Ed Wenn. They had a sound closer to the original idea of Playground, more experimental noise. They even covered several tunes by The Residents on their 1991 release, Resilience, on Steve Pittis' Dirtier Promotions. 

 

Playground - Resilience, Dirtier Promotions DPROMOCD5, 1991.
decryption code in comments

Hide   
Inbreds   
Two   
A Total Lack of Sympathy   
Propriety   
Victoriapolis   
Insignificance   
Deveneration   
Hateball   
Calling the Animals (Roger Miller [Mission of Burma/Birdsongs of the Mesozoic] cover)
Santa Dog (The Residents cover)
Perfect Love (The Residents cover)
Form & Function   
Sure

This P's for U,

13 June 2024

Musick that Needed Work - P: Plankton Wat

 

Portland, OR musician, Eternal Tapestry guitarist Dewey Mahood is Plankton Wat. His first album was 2002s Interstellar Sounds Of. Thus the world's introduction to the experimental space rock of Mahood's home recording project. Plankton Wat music is ethereal yet grounded rhythmic grooves that blend the cosmic & the earthly in perfect harmony. 

 



Mahood began playing the bass in the Chico, California punk band Empty Offer in 1987. He soon switched to guitar & played in numerous psychedelic, grunge, or free improv bands. He moved to Seattle at the end of the 80s, then settled in Portland in 1992. There he formed the post-punk band Elephant Factory with Larry Crane of Tape Op magazine. He formed the free jazz-influenced Cosmos Group in 2000, then in 2002 he started his solo home recording project Plankton Wat. The name is a tribute to Krautrock producer Conny Plank & bassist Mike Watt. 

 

Plankton Wat - Drifter's Temple, Thrill Jockey 344, 2013.
decryption code in comments

Toward the Golden City
Changing Winds
Klamath at Dusk
Nightfall
Empire Mines
Hash Smuggler's Blues
Dance of Lumeria
Western Lament
Bread of Dreams
Siskiyou Caverns

This P's for U,

12 June 2024

Musick that Needed Work - P: Pitch Shifter

 

Pitch Shifter (now Pitchshifter) is a Nottingham "Death Industrial" band formed in 1989 by
lead guitarist / programmer Johnny A. Carter & bassist / vocalist Mark Clayden.

 

They have been on-again/off-again for much of their career but are still active at present. Their sound has evolved to contain a mix of techno, drum 'n' bass, hip-hop, & punk merged with their original nu-metal sound.

It was after the release of this Remix album that they became known as Pitchshifter (one word).

Pitch Shifter - [The Remix War], Earache MOSH95CD, 1994.
decryption code in comments

Triad (Pitch Shifter remix)
Diable (Therapy? remix)
NCM (Pitch Shifter remix)
Triad (Gunshot remix)
Diable (Pitch Shifter remix)
Triad (Biohazard remix)
To Die is Gain (Pitch Shifter remix)

This P's for U,

11 June 2024

Musick that Needed Work - P: Phleg Camp

 

Phleg Camp was a Canadian band from Toronto, Ontario. It’s members were Eric Chenaux - guitar & vocals, Gavin Brown - drums, guitar, bass, & Sean Dean - bass.



Phleg Camp was a super-group before they knew it. This is the only true full-length. They self released an earlier self-titled & did a 2018 Brave New Waves Session. This one was produced by Steve Albini (R.I.P.).

 

Phleg Camp - Ya’red Fair Scratch, Cargo Records CAR016CD, 1993.
decryption code in comments

Rockets Red Glare    
Besides...Why it Tastes Fine    
Hi Hat    
Ya'red Fair Scratch    
Big Pocket Pretender    
Easy Star    
The Head is No Pillow    
Desk Star Looney    
Hog Bottom (Boot Cut Version) / Powderfinger

This P's for U,