various | the may queen in july

this is the best tape compilation i did, and i never bloody released it. i spent 2 years compiling it, was very excited about it, but then its completion coincided with the collapse of my tiny empire in 2000. oof.

anyway, at 2 x c60 it's a monster - 42 tracks in all - and it's basically dedicated to four-track pop, so expect lots of hiss along with the tunes.

and there really are plenty of tunes to be had here, from:

::: charlie mcalister
::: father
::: southern charm pageant
::: remora
::: crayola summer
::: inca eyeball
::: girlboy girl
::: mad planets
::: courtis
::: werewolves on hashish
::: in tundra
::: tegan fraid (age 3)
::: hood
::: caleb fraid
::: 50holehead
::: jalopy
::: michelle glaw
::: fink
::: plundershop
::: warser gate
::: smirkworthy
::: elk
::: catkins of jazz
::: food
::: november 1959
::: frank peck
::: will simmons
::: drekka
::: i hail taxis
::: cocker spaniels
::: ring
::: mandorris
::: crosseyed
::: my place in space
::: shy rights movement
::: swingset
::: wagstaff
::: princeton reverbs colonnial
::: george willard
::: fernando

2 x c60 nearly released by kylie productions in 2000.

part 1.
part 2.

various | neon signs in a dralon sky

the first release from fisheye, the label from paul wild, who ran the distro of the same name. for a while there fisheye was the best source of decent underground tapes, records and zines in the uk. and the label released some quality stuff too.

unsurprising then that this cassette represents a pretty decent snapshot of that scene, with sounds both noisy and tuneful from the uk, us and down under.

it features: children at play, paste, tea culture, prick decay, brown tower, omit, the shadow ring, hood, scaredy cat, calvin party, goosewind, wizard ho ho, moist, refrigerator, polyp, 70 gwen party, derv, lichtenstein girl, superfluous, bucknalls, jack geek, my deviant daughter, earl + osram, the golden mile and w.o.r.m.

for a full tracklisting view the discogs page.

tape released by fisheye in 1994.

get.

various | deliberately lo-fi

this is the first thing i ever released, and in time-honoured tradition it's a mixed bag, with some bands you probably know (hood, boyracer, 70 gwen party) and tons that (perhaps rightfully) you don't.

listening back now for the first time in a long time, on balance i'd say it's not bad for a first effort. not great, but not terrible either. a bit like the label as a whole.

this was ripped from the master tape, but still very much lives up to its title.

tape released by kylie productions in 1995.

get.

various | big-bollocked bonfire blow up

mmm must rip my fabric lp.

::: emperor julian - red rag
::: joeyfat - perfumery, incendiary
::: hood - attempts to revive the victim failed
::: wat tyler - everything i do
::: ligament - way good otis
::: fabric - friend

7" released by ka-boom! in 1995.

get some.

mixtape | bleak house: a uk post rock primer (vol 2)

and without further ado, here's volume 2. this one picks up at 1994 and ends in 2007 with the slo-core bliss-out of epic45.

i should point out that these two mixes focus on the "experimental" side of post rock. a primer on the sturm und drang noisy side (mogwai etc.) is coming soon.

::: main - rail
::: pram - life in the clouds
::: hair & skin trading company - *
::: 'o'rang - little brother
::: navigator - driving bell
::: state river widening - unsung couples
::: third eye foundation - a galaxy of scars
::: fridge - five four child voice
::: rothko - april 18 / undone
::: hood - closure
::: epic45 - the stars in spring

fill your boots.

various | breaking the plastic hymen, vinyl virgins & lo-fi whores

originally conceived as a compilation of bands who had yet to release anything on vinyl (hence the title), it took a while to come together, by which time i suspect quite a few had already achieved that feat. however, this compilation still serves as a perfect document of many of the bands that were doing the rounds of the tape trading underground at the time, some of whom went on to something bordering mainstream indie success (well hood anyway).

released as two double 7" sets artworked by graham lambkin on the fisheye distro label, sadly the long-promised boxes never materialised. but there was an edition of all 4 records that came with instructions on how to make your own. very d.i.y.

::: rake - bring me the head of wingtip sloat
::: wingtip sloat - rake/sicle
::: v-neck - towerblock
::: hood - a piano as an object
::: delphium - where the drifts get deeper
::: small things - glow in the dark prisoner
::: geiger counter - two
::: paste - abuse of celebrity
::: scaredy cat - ice cream cone
::: richard youngs and simon wickham-smith - walking the mongoose
::: sone - f.s.f. pt a (2600 to the top)
::: the negative kite - i'm on a streak of dumb luck y' wouldn't believe
::: the shadow ring - back-combed lines
::: tea culture - better than socks
::: refrigerator - new complaints
::: noggin - he gets really bad allergies and symmetries and a lot of peanuts
::: prick decay - 3 variations of chronic delirium
::: bügsküll - our dwarvish nightmare
::: starstruck - cilla bull
::: mother tongue - see you next wednesday
::: i'm being good - three:ten
::: glands of external secretion - a total plate of shrimp

4 x 7" released by fisheye in 1997.

get.

john clyde-evans | delf songs

a collection of recordings made on a borrowed 4-track over a week that demonstrate very clearly what jce brought to those first few hood releases (this was recorded in the same year as "silent '88"). fragments of songs, ethereal and distorted, with scraped violins, jangled guitars, clarinet, keyboards, even a bit of singing now and then. all with this layer of hiss that turns the 4-track into another instrument almost, giving it a dreamy quality that i miss from latter hood records (though i still love them).

this and the [for ht/rp/j&s] album are the only jce releases i have - if you have any others then please let me know; i'd love to hear them.

tape released by cakehole in 1996.

get it.

various | the condition of muzak

the beauty of the tape compilation is that you had 90 minutes to stuff it with whatever you fancied. sure that means there's normally a fair amount of crap to wade through till you find the oysters, but so often the oysters aren't where you'd expect.

cakehole was one of the better tape labels, one that seemed to actually have some kind of quality threshold. and this comp was their fiftieth release, a kind of "state of the label" release if you will. and if the title is anything to go by, then clearly we need to redefine our expectations of what is actually music.

::: cakehole - intro
::: rarb terb - even steven's
::: realm in dreams - as the scalpel cuts
::: hood - worrying about getting old
::: father - sex & ten
::: bleekmen - h-bomb versus a-bomb
::: they have stayed too long in the forest - sulky nectar
::: eastnmoor ambient group - extract
::: strip - mary 1
::: gary & the cro-magnons - untitled i
::: i hail taxis - me nag nug's a-naggerin'
::: stewart walden - song from the back of ian's record collection
::: children at play - the swollen testicles of jesus christ
::: splendid palatial retreat - difficult 2nd novel (a rock opera)
::: crayola summer - monkey island
::: the mike hunt set - living off the fat of tape hiss
::: children at play - wok noise
::: kostas d'lary - caruso '95
::: bovine over sussex ne - rok & choc
::: father - frog balloon
::: the starfire lounge - redwood yard
::: scooter - all these people
::: gary & the cro-magnons - untitled ii
::: stonebody - freak not born
::: rosa lee state - clip twist (holding one's breath mix)
::: johnnie mitchell - contact
::: drug masturbation - oh yoko (ono is the nigger of the world)
::: bleekmen - fluffer
::: orange sunshine - the truth about carrots
::: i hail taxis - you've made your bed
::: geoffrey sick - improvisation for xaphoon & tape xaphoon
::: peter buckley - a long time ago
::: culver - lectchin
::: vileda - night birds
::: novemberer - census '66 (appropriate music no. 1)
::: stewart bloody walden - snare hater

tape released by cakehole in ???

side 1.
side 2.

hood / themselves | you shins break my heart / p.u.s.h.

i went through a phase of being really into themselves and the whole anticon thing, and some of the records i still think are pretty amazing. but somehow themselves no longer cut it for me. and i think a lot of that is the sheer density of their songs, whether it's the convoluted theatrics of the lyrics or the dislocated beats. i'm only a fairweather at best hip hop listener, something i turn to satisfy cravings for heavy bass rhythms and good tunes, good times. and themselves take work.

their contribution to this split picture disc (another winner on the rocket racer label) never sinks in; i can never remember what it sounds like, just seconds after playing it. why is that?

hood, on the other hand, never fail me.

7" released by rocket racer in 2004.

fill er up.

various | speakers keep speaking

rocket racer was one of those small labels that put out consistently interesting records in attractive packages. and this record is definitely proof of that. the music is enigmatic, beguiling and uncommerical, and so is the packaging - no words on the sleeve, a solitary match glued to a sleeve that depicts hundreds of matches, the running order provided on a matchbook... that kind of thing.

and any label that's willing to release records including eletroscope is genuis in my book. ahem.

1. hood - i have it in my heart to jump into the ocean
2. the freed unit - picnic at stretton baskerville
3. ma cherie for painting - ola ola es una boa manha
4. lackluster - hyaline reverie
5. tank - kino art
6. electroscope - the prior eye
7. astorria - third movement
8. accelera deck - guided (a^d/ec.k-rmx)
9. five way mirror - libby marsh

released by rocket racer in 1999.

you dig.

john clyde-evans | [for ht/rp/j&s]

john clyde-evans contributed mostly violin and clarinet to many of hood's earliest recordings and you can hear echoes of those records' atmospherics here in this mournful instrumental album. adjectives like 'beautiful' and 'mesmerising' don't quite do this justice. listening to this record is a bit like watching the sunrise: words fail.

john subsequently changed his name to tirath singh nirmala and has subsequently released records under both names. seek them out. here's an interesting interview with him from 2006.

released by fisheye in 1998.

getsome.

p.s. i ripped this a couple of years ago on my old turntable. the sound could be better - one day i'll re-rip it.

various | autumn mix

it's suddenly got chilly here, which means i can finally shed the shorts and t-shirts and start layering up. right now i'm wrapped up in a thick jumper. i like winter clothes. they remind me of long walks in the country, gloves on and breath steaming; equally long waits at bus stops in the cold; warm pubs with warm bitter; dark monday mornings struggling into work. in my curent nostalgiac frame of mind, i miss all of these things equally.

this onset of autumn requires a mix to celebrate. some bands immediately lend themselves to this topic (i'm looking at you hood and epic45). but please allow me to indulge myself by including one of my former bands in here too.

::: yo la tengo - autumn sweater
::: hood - branches bare
::: bark psychosis - big shot
::: epic45 - a year without summer
::: explosions in the sky - first breath after coma (live)
::: malcolm middleton - autumn
::: yo la tengo - autumn sweater (tortoise remix)
::: flying saucer attack - come and close my eyes
::: rachel's - systems/layers
::: the reverse - emily
::: july skies - autumn fires
::: yo la tengo - autumn sweater (kevin shields remix)

archived

various | our salvation is in hand

following on from abridged perversion is this gem of a compilation, stuffed to the gills with lo-fi 4-track songs from the days when people still had 4-tracks. makes me nostalgic for the days of cutting out tape inlays and gluing labels and stuffing jiffy bags full of flyers. in other words the days before the internet came along and stole our innocence.

features my favourite mountain goats song ever, alpha omega. theme park was a great label too.

released in 1995 on theme park.

::: paul nini - down to the floor
::: the bruces - beginning to see the red light fade
::: father - teach us
::: the mountain goats - alpha omega
::: bucknalls - travelsick
::: simon joyner - sorrow floats
::: neil mcclury - untitled
::: national heroes - untitled
::: the losers - she never promised
::: paste - 68x8
::: matthew hattie hein & wham o - new house basement
::: franklin bruno - cat scratch fever
::: steve lindstrom - me and the weatherman
::: m-ways - the last deep mine
::: fungoboat - radio city
::: spacehopper - spoken for
::: mark s - stephen
::: the post - the joy of spring
::: brown tower - bacterial home
::: nick jackman - fucked up & free
::: trewavas - who needs me?
::: yak & - my own fiefdom
::: party of one - hit the north 3
::: the mountain goats - hand ball
::: john davis - waiting for my wife
::: hood - art without precedent or tradition

hit me up. *re-upped at 320mbps*