[FABRIC] New Fabric CDs, compact discs, all on Fabric label, 20 years of Fabric two-disc

SV Stop 267: Wire Chart 2020

Eight years I've been doing this. BORRITWEM now has its own dedicated blog which gets, on average, zero views. Here's my 2020 set of acquisitions anyway, all according to the criterion “buying one record reviewed in The Wire each month” – plus three more to make up a proper Wire 15 chart. For reference, the previous seven years’ worth can be found here: 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019.

The # marks denote the issues in which the records featured.
___________________________________________________

SubVersion 2020 15

#431 Catatonic Effigy - Putrid Tendency (Iluso)
#432 Tyshawn Sorey & Marilyn Crispell - The Adornment of Time (Pi Recordings)
#433 Chaos Motion - Psychological Spasms Cacophony (Transcending Obscurity)
#434 Jan St. Werner - Molocular Meditation (Editions Mego)
#435 Witch ‘n’ Monk - Witch ‘n’ Monk (Tzadik)
#436 MSHR - Signal Hybrid Recursion (De Player)
#437 Moor Jewelry - True Opera (Don Giovanni)
#438 Maggi Payne - Arctic Winds (Aguirre)
#439 Bob Vylan - We Live Here (Venn Records)
#440 Tashi Dorji - Stateless (Drag City)
#441 Clipping - Visions of Bodies Being Burned (Sub Pop)
#442 Krust - The Edge of Everything (Crosstown Rebels)

+#435 GRID - Decomposing Force (NNA Tapes)
+#439 Hedvig Mollestad - Ekhidna (Rune Grammofon)
+#441 Laura Cannell, Kate Ellis, Stewart Lee, et al - These Feral Lands Vol.1 (Brawl)

Compiled by Jonathan Tait, subvertcentral.blogspot.co.uk
___________________________________________________

And my record of the year for 2020: Witch ‘n’ Monk by the duo of Heidi Heidelberg and Mauricio Velasierra. As Brian Morton wrote: “Hard to imagine that voice, guitar and flute could groove so hard and deliver so much.”

SV Stop 266: FL (www.focisleft.bandcamp.com) - Grains Of Sand, Pinches Of Salt LP (Unsigned, Unreleased, 2020) - First previews

https://soundcloud.com/subversion-2/sets/focis-left-grains-of-sand-pinches-of-salt# On this link, dear reader, you will find full ten-track audio for the heavily-trimmed LP newsie by FL, a 41 minute exploration into the connection between what makes sand grainy, and what makes salt salty. Ultimately it's about two different types of flavour, coterminously working together as one. Throughout the album, there are nods to some of I Michael's favourite acts, including Zelienople and Nils Frahm as actual tributes to those artists. While the mood is gentile, the flow is pastoral, ebbing from one wild river into smaller estuaries and back out into a cosmic lake moat mouth. Unlike the motorik, motor-mouthed pull of 70s kosmiche and faux-Neu! and Can, the music is polarised by being firmly connected to Muttley's library music roots: music, quite literally, that is as interesting, alternately, as it is ignorable. The polarisation aspect speaks to the queer identity of the artist, the weirdness of the current contemporary sonic landscape, and the fact that music does not sell these days, only the experience does. If you would like to join in this experience, I ask you not to donate copious amounts of money to me - spend that with viable charities or your mates in pubs and venues instead. No, what I would ask you to do is simply talk about releases like this, and spread the word. Word of mouth goes a hell of a long way if it is positive word of mouth. Support your local record shops too, before they experience only liquidation. It really happens, all the time. We just have to blot out the misgivings of time and space and focus on the pleasantries of the artform. My local record shops, for instance, are The Original Animal Sanctuary Shop in Carterton, as one music charity shop of several selling implausible titles; there are also local supermarkets for the big stuff, of course. But the real jewel in the crown I have to shout out, and all the staff is Rapture, Witney in their Woolgate Centre for visitors and tourists. According to many sources only Rapture and it's base Truck Store remain, Truck in Oxford, while there is a shop called River Man Records in Jericho, Oxford on the outskirts of the main city. I am talking for the outskirts of the Cotswolds; I literally live in the middle of nowhere. It has hence been ancillary and auxiliary minded to book artists for gigs in Oxford since moving here in 2006; more often than not, I am just contributing the same amount of participation as an extra audience member, a signed tour CD or mug/tee and the odd magazine reviews and concert photos. Anyway, enjoy the relationship, as ever, between musical entropy and musical anhedonia.

SV Stop 264: Lobster Records highlight release

 https://lobsterrecords.co.uk/products/aux-88-electro-techno-ep?mc_cid=ed42d40d0b&mc_eid=1d4cacdace

A particularly interesting take on remastered electro, techno and acid. 

 

[FTAL] Simon James French - Soundscapes Radio - Episode twelve

 https://sjfmusic.bandcamp.com/album/soundscapes-radio-episode-twelve

 On this collection of three long-form ambient music tracks for radio transmission environment, SJF creates tonal hues likening him to producers on the Subvert Central forum such as Formication ("Agnosia" EP, but much lighter) and ennui (but much less spacious). 

With a fractal portent that yearns for patient listens, Simon James French has produced another installment of fine musical pieces that are as harmonious as they are beguiling. See the link for more information. 

Pseuds corner: Iron Shackle poem

The scribbles are set
And The Time is wasted?
No
not copied and pasted
rather hastened and slim-waisted
falling like an evergreen curve
around the hips of a parabola
time may make us loners
but too much pride is for stoners
getting stoned to death
and stoned out of their heads
until ash comes out of their ears
and all they breathe is fears
not copied and pasted
rather gripped like life was chastised
tormented, trailed like an iron shackle
attached to the wrecking ball of days gone by.

[Foodie Noodlings] Three FIsh Roast, Red Wine Jus garnish, White Stilton and Salad Tomato

Three fish roast, salad tomato, white Stilton Cheese and Red Wine Jus.
A healthy, tasty meal that doesn't cost the Earth, provides nutrition and is easy to source.
Lay out the fish on the plate once cooked or ready to eat, crumble the Stilton alongside, spoon over the Jus and halve the
tomato and lay the pieces on a shape on the plate.
The flavour you will get from this is strong flowers, vegetables and quality meat, with the sauces giving necessary garnish.

Foci's Left [Music] - Unofficial Pokemon Game Music For Nintendo Switch 2020 Edition

https://focisleft.bandcamp.com/album/pokemon-unofficial-game-music-switch-edition

Hi all,
What with the very very nice twelve views on my last post, I am incensed to post more about my music projects, as people are into them. This time, comes three new tracks to begin an archives release by FL, a Pokémon Unofficial Game Music album based around games from Nintendo Switch compatibility. This release is exclusive to my FL fan club - see www.focisleft.bandcamp.com

- A sound track to all the games
- Various pieces work at different times
- Different cut-scenes
- Based around animal encounters, spectral activities and soul searching exploration.

For example, the Sword & Shield games of recent: I was thinking of music to accompany these.

Pokémon music is usually a bit zany, very complex and deceptively simple.

It calls on the clarion of traditionalist Japanese and Chinese music(s) and has a certain feel.

I have played Pokémon games since 1998. When they first made their way to Kent, United Kingdom.

I have a constant love for the card game, the computer games and the merchandise in all forms.

It is easy for me to overdo it. Hence, these pieces are as plain and precise as possible.

Dangerous Pike - Aquarium Jazz LP - finally the trilogy package is complete

For more information on all that, scroll back a few posts to the "like Tangerine Dream" post.

There's a rundown there. Here's your link to the origins of Dangerous Pike on BC since Crimbo:

Fear Pain Grief LP

https://focisleft.bandcamp.com/album/fl-fear-pain-grief-compilation

Snakes And Lathers LP

https://focisleft.bandcamp.com/album/fl-fear-pain-grief-compilation

Aquarium Jazz LP [third in the official trilogy of CDs]

https://focisleft.bandcamp.com/album/fl-fear-pain-grief-compilation

For the record, "Fear Pain Grief" and "Snakes And Lathers" are NOT DP LPs per se, they are just origins records, not part of the trilogy at all. The official trilogy record weighs up like this:

1. Treacherous Paths LP
The most concise, and dosed-sounding music by FL's new side project, withdrawal music.
2. Trail LP
Two long-form tracks, 24 plus minutes each. Comprises micro-passages, with a sound not unlike William Basinski in his prime. It's also the happiest sounding DP music, made for my father's Day.
3. Aquarium Jazz LP
The most low-fidelity of the three CD records. Everything works as part of a compositional whole.

Finally, there are remixes of "For David Robert Jones" by Basinski, "Under The Coke Sign" by Boards Of Canada and "A Deeper Silence" by Steve Roach. Those are omitted from self-release, so keep your ears peeled for how I can get public versions of those out there in other forms. =)

Good morning MixCloud

MixCloud, the Soundcloud equiv for mixtapes and podcasts, is like a cotton candy dispenser to a young boy or girl. I highly relish checking out the best selectors on there; my page comes up by searching "Muttley Subversion".

SC Thread by DJ ML - Recommend Some Good Chill Out / Downtempo albums!!

http://www.subvertcentral.com/thread-63057.html

In this thread, currently with 221 readers, a few of the board are commenting with records - specifically, albums - that grew our likings for chilled out music, with beats or not.

As such, the differential is with chillout music being more a brand that got fashioned by Paul Oakenfold and the like, the Café Del Mar and Ibiza club scene and after parties - rather than a generative mood music, or an isolationist discovery.

Because of this, I have reached for slightly more middle-ground releases than my usual isolationist ambient music recommendations, as even for me, I do enjoy a good hook or mood music vibe, whether we call it aciiied related or not (see acid house, Tall Paul, 808 State and Jam and Spoon).

Ecumenically so, talking points on club culture and Ibiza have been covered in much depth even by auteur writers like Simon Reynolds; "Energy Flash" and "Retromania" for example are often cited by book selling sites as common go-tos on the scene itself.

And that's commenting on dance music as a whole - not microgenres, subgenre grenades thrown into the mix and what have you.

Check it out - or chill out, either way - you might be placidly cleansed.

In a similar vein to 36, Boards Of Canada and Tangerine Dream

Evening,

Currently I'm compiling and decompiling punctuation and musical asterisks for the first Dangerous Pike artist trilogy album.

It's a bit of a "Sadly, The Future Is No Longer What It Was", just not quite as bleak and blustery.

Expect a pie graph in musical form most parts distant melody, with fractions of movement and textural sustenance.

The 3CD set comprises [3 bonus "name" remixes excluded]

Treacherous Paths CD
Trail CD
Aquarium Jazz CD

The third one at the time of writing is still in progress.

It's partially inspired by animal communications, particularly pikes (snakes). Nothing to do with bad dives at all. Otherwise, a nod to Arthur Lowe and Pike in Dad's Army and their bond in the Home Guard.

Likely been the most life-affirming music I've consciously made since the "Nothing" original.

Keep in touch to see what's cooking here, and be sure to revisit www.focisleft.bandcamp for all.

Boards Of Canada - Music Has The Right To Children Vinyl

Just got the first (1st pressing) catalogue edition "Skalp" of Boards Of Canada (BOC)'s "Music Has The Right to" LP.  I have wanted to own this artifact on dubplate, acetate or plain record for more than 15 years. Now I have a dub vinyl. I use the term dub vinyl because there's little variation from the original pressing, but enough to keep it fresh.

The pressing quality is good. I got it from Truck Store Oxford. The vinyl sounds better than the digital. It's of course warmer, but very clear, at the same time. And punchy, too, but not so that the drums swamp the mix.

To me MHTRTC was always BOC's best album. There were two EPs before its official release in 1995. I think those were "Twoism" and "Hi Scores". Also very good releases. Especially for "Happy Cycling" and "Oirectine".

For me personally, the early stuff was when they were itchy, untamed and scratchy.

Then as they smoothed out, they got itchy and scratchy but were tamed by then.

It's also worth noting the type of anti-austerity mix and mash of the vinyl sides on this repressing 25 years on.

"Rhombuses And Triangles", one of the interleaves from Twoism EP, closes side 1 of 4. A fitting serenade. I wanted to provide audio linked in my post like I used to do, but YouTube's reliance on its subscription is beating me. So you'll have to make do with these words. It's all very well put together as incidental music sequences go.

Honestly, "Music has The Right" is one of the finest albums by older electronic musicians I've ever come across in life. It's just right. Like it has the right. And like that it uses that right. The right of music. Giving plans to children. Even if you never plan to raise children yourself (I don't want kids), Boards Of Canada provide a good working score. Sit back with a glass of water, a doctor's apple and a lime and sprinkle over your glass the essence of true British vim.

One for the home bodies.

An Open Letter To The Wire about Bark Psychosis, and symbolically, psychosis in general

"Now she's gone to ground, now she's gone, she's sticking around / "she can't be found, to ground"

Where did I lift this lyric? It's from Graham of Bark Psychosis, and I think it's apt for much of their ambient rock, minus soft rock style of the post-rock idioms of their alternative remix EPs, and their LP, "From What Is Said To When It's Read". Back then, from research as I did not get into BPsy until 2001, the granular richness of their records became truly spellbinding.
I think what it was, most of all, was the concentric regard for a good song. Not quite, not quite a tufty bygone lyric exercise, but something that germinates from its roots into a mellifluous, stodgy Golden Syrup porridge, enjoyable whether you milk or water the contents. Yes, that was it. And nothing has really stuck with me the same since. At least in post rock. Mogwai, Mono and Godspeed might have the bombs, ASMZ and Rival Consoles might have the wonder, and Penguin Cafe Orch and the Denovali catalogue at large might have the jazz, but I dunno; Graham's way with a good vocal, and a non-whiny voice really set Bark Psychosis apart at the time, and surely long before I even registered them. That, was a good era.

Pseud's Corner

The practice, Of practicing, Often
Tempestuous, Trickling at reserves

Pour your viol, Pourrrr it through
Until the grey comes out of you

Pour your viol, Pourrr it thru
Until the grey comes out of you

Get used to slurping, Get used to the slurp
Of nothing, Little fancies of sumting
A London sumting? Or a professional espionage
Pour your viol, Pour it everlasting

The practice of practicing
Often tempestuous, just liiike my pen.

-Mrb

FTAL/FTEL/FTCL Reco: Kosheen - Independence LP [2012]

I'm presenting here Kosheen's 2012 ambient ebm album, well, kinda. It's along those lines. You will know Kosheen if you have been in the dnb scene for over five years. Their album "Kokopelli" was featured in SubVersion Stop 1 of 230+. This LP, "Independence", is actually eight years old, from a similar time, but is very different to even that. It's seemingly a real fuse between those sounds, with the use of new wave and goth/darkwave elements. The only new wave in it is the synths, but the whole vibe is gothic and headstrong. Definitely something worth checking out if you are a fan of NIN, Scorn or Decoder.

DJ Muttley - Let It Take You Mix

intro atmos - might as well jump
boards of canada - kid for today
goldfrapp - let it take you
kd lang - if i were you
spiritualized - medication
foci's left - cadiz anthem
ken peel - mamallapuram

been having a lot of music making inspiration at the mo :) from incidental music, found sounds and the token synthy stuff. not trying too hard to put something of serious worth together. those days are over. i did all my concepts in first year. it's good to just get stuck into writing, reading hurts my eyes, the images stick, i need to interact with something. i only have so much creative juice for music tho :) easily get tired, but always enjoy a good rest. :) water helps, too, because it's natural stimulus, and good for ya. i also like tucking in to 2 ingredients cooked at a time from a meal deal. personally the fixation with stimulus: doing things that make us feel better, was always important to existence well. the surge to create is constant when we are protected, and the same can be said for a power-hungry surge protector unit.
structure wise, clear mindedness is very crucial to any success in the home studio. i have worked in groups in other areas on music, like in other studios, dedicated studios at that, but there's no place like the sanctuary for a good vibe up. i don't take as much inspiration from walks or rather messing my head up in the outside world today. climatology > covid19. maybe that metroid game for the switch i bought over a year ago and never opened will show me some secret technologies. i like super metroid, the metroid series in general and want to play it. it is surprising how often musicians find their close families thoughts in their chosen screen, dream it may be or hogwash. dreams often turn into nightmares meaning it's hard to stay positive. sleep therapy helps with that. and avoiding not.

Keith Berry and Spotify Radio

Spotify artist stations: a good thing. I've just been listening to Keith Berry, a ambient light drone musician who comes highly recommended. It's very medicinal music, full of charm and wonder, without the charm offensive. Keith Berrys two disc-er "The Ear That Was Sold To A Fish" is a great catalog addition. If you like any of the greats: the Enos, Cluster, Harold Budd, Grouper, Eliane Radigue - you cannot afford to pass on this station. Or just listen on Ytube, or whatever :)

AUDIO AT: www.soundcloud.com/subversion-2

"Awkwardi" is a new release on the SC Affiliated (loosely) Foci Left label, in that I do hardly any promotion like Statto,and the records are always "awkward", in that not a lot of people like many of the tracks. That is no skin off my nose, simply aim to please myself, looking after number one means the goodness can spread from the root without decay trails.

This particular ambient album is very very lo-fidelity, not a lot happens microtonally, yet at the same time lots of shifts occur in seismic tone and morphing tonics toward sonic peace, ecstatic peace, and the generalized feel of mood music at large. The rippling of earlier releases is replaced by a mature understatedness and a empty reverb pocket to fill in hope.

Expect to hear influences from Ennio Morricone, Angelo Badalamenti, Brian Eno, Roger Eno, Sylvain Chaveau, Jandek and Nils Frahm, amongst others. It's serious music, there are numerous influences I could list, but influences are vague at the best of times. Ultimately, the album exists as a two-part longform live album, with two live tracks, and numerous side pieces.

subversion recommends: dj muttley - painting nice memories mixset [soundcloud]

...and now for a return to my ambient obsessions in music.

i love putting mixsets together, so here is another one for us.

no track list, interact with my fan club for tune ids. i do not talk between my fan club, i just imagine they exist.

the mixing is straight forward, back to the norm. therapeutic to put together.
i enjoy all the tunes. the m. bartram loop "glory is forever" is a fave. it's the shoegazey guitar ambient track.
the "wrap me up" atonal guitar track from a 14tracks compilation actually made me cry when i first mixed it in. 
there are more orchestral moments too, from bruno bavota's piece to "cologne cerrone houdini" by alison goldfrapp.
i also had a chance to work in school of seven bells "painting a memory" beats track at the end, very chilled and nice.
relish the summer while we have a decent spell of it this year. i see plenty of you cycling and jogging past. good signs.
https://soundcloud.com/subversion-2/foci-left-painting-nice-memories-mixset-may-2020

the reason i abhor hipster culture

imo, deification and blasphemy is only foolhardy idiocy, not experimentation. punk is anti-intelligence.
of that, there was very little hip stuff that was any good back then. the sex pistols and the stranglers is about
as far as most mods get to punk, because it was on television, and because it was on television, it was termed post punk
by them. really stupid idea imo, because there's nothing post about beginnings. i blame the drugs, the shitty close-minded
attitudes of sheep, and the sausage fest fans who would not know ennui if it blasted them in the ear with a maxi syringe.

that's my parade rain opinion of fakes at large though. i don't really need to share it with subverts, because true or
stand-in subverts are liberally contrarian, basically opposition to non-vehement anger. i'm just sharing my views, since
this is an open forum and non-nazist in truth. well, the trolls, they ultimately fucked off years ago when they realised
they couldn't milk the machine any longer. the ones that remain, like you are here for the pure appreciation of music.

i'll give the stuff you listed a listen when i can. normally i'm just ambient music, this stuff is very challenging, not
my taste and never has been. i prefer the golden oldies, but not the radio 2 golden oldies if you get what i mean. lots of
"artists" are so pretentious and think educated college artists such as tracey emin are like monet. i could never get that.
horses for courses and all, i'm describing the average hardcore music lover (rave or revolt genres) as a puppet of their
own creations, it's a psychedelically sad state of affairs i think, though that understanding is pretty personal.

i feel for the fans of real metal punk and hardcore that have been waxed over by the pseudo-intellectuals and post-piss,
post-everything, all-in-morrissey-ness miserabilism of a lot of rock and punk based repertoires. it's all about the music,
there is no need to be airy fairy or maxi-ponce pointless about everything. that's also called being anal, exactly what
fluidity does not need.

fluidity creates, being pseudo-intellectual fragments. fragmented brains only create spread of a demise of true creation.

foci left label infos: ultrawerld series (3 mini lps)

foci left - ultrawerld lp

there are three of these, like "sadly, the future", if you did not know. they're more atmospherically upright than james' creation, though, it's less of a doomy affair (i like doom). all on bandcamp - search foci's left, i don't like leeching. i also do not like capitalising, hee hee. nah, try it for size. if the melodies fit your ear frequency, you could have a good album in your collection there.

the music was furtively based around the idea of a demon world, a shadow world, and a medium (integer) organic world. in the demon world, everything is shit and destructive, to put it bluntly. a bit of a dead end job type of idea. the shadow world on the other hand is the "you've gone too far, wrong turning" type of world. in this nature the shadow world presents itself as alienation from the demon world, and the loss of faith in people at large. not disaster, just acrimony.

the organic world goes back to carlos castenada's ancient book "the art of dreaming", in which 'organic beings' are a temperamental force in the non-home synopsis as much as climate change annoys people and gets them down. for instance, if one goes outside, i often encounter at least one "shady" (shadow of self/demon) type individual that can potentially ruin my night or afternoon. it's the same for many good people. but i do not predicate my simple mind worrying about death.

the fact that every person is incredibly differentiated in their mind and body makeup pays dividends to the fact that after billions of years, life and growth still has a stable currency in the world. things will continue to be this way as long as people stay interested in what they are doing. it's very easy to be a shadow, aka shady, lifeless, fake person (no thanks Donald Trump!) and it's also very easy to be a negative demon at the best and worst of times. the trick and point is to try our best to avoid it all. and that's what the tape machine reliances of "ultrawerld series" are designed to do.

in a series of evocative, textured loops that paint in rosy reds and pale whites, there is an absence of garish pink, the top and middle layer of any undercooked piece of meat out there usually fit for your electric cooker or microwave. locus thoughts do not stray too far from original base, but the plan here has been to go for the home run, baseball style. the fact it takes me three compact discs worth to fully express what i wanted to say is perhaps key to my downfall, but on the occasion of goodwill, sometimes i come with the goods much stronger than a succession of unlistenable musics. i would say just approach it with an open mind, and you might be pleasantly surprised.

influences? my influences for this triptych of albums: i have to mention the eno associates, at least. pretty much anyone whom appreciates what 1950s ambient was on record like, such as the modern minimalism of philip glass, terry riley, la monte young, eliane radigue, pauline oliveros, daphne oram, delia derbyshire, all the radiophonic and library music work shops crews. there is a very good doc that was screened on bbc4 about these types of musicians, around 3 years back, that was presented by jarvis cocker. also, skip spence, aka jandek. i have "the song of morgan" from his mail order when i was still on the ball, there's a good feature about him across two front covers in wire magazine circa 2015.

so, all paragraphs must come to an end. all analysis, must persist or perish. my thoughts on an "ultrawerld" were just that. an album of organica, "real" things, real people, not some pale imitation, or negative degenerate. i digress. the world is a very beautiful place and every person is born equal, with equal intelligence, unless convulsed. i guess i'm just happy, after thirty-two years, to still be here. making music like this gives me great pleasure. there may be a development series later in 2020. on my mind now are ideas of relocating in a slower climate, not literally however, and that would not be possible for my family anyway because of lockdown (that will likely be extended for some time).

i thank anyone who listens and is able to smile, and i extend my gratitude to anyone who supports the truly needy artists.

signing out (for now)
mike robert buckingham (foci left label)

www.focisleft.bandcamp.com
www.muttley.kapsil.net
twitter.com/focileft

ESB - Covfefe And Bleach Illumination Mix (SoundCloud)

ESB - Covfefe & Bleach Illumination Mix

An hour's worth of electronic techno lushness. Treads the boards in terms of style. Mostly minimal however. The affection for efficiacy over flights of fancy is admirable. Nothing about this is too tired or tiring to the listener. The whole set is a lot of fun. Across the hour, is a feeling of anti-luddite power. While in the grips of the music I feel no redundancy; I feel like I actually matter; that I have a purpose. And that's a great feeling to achieve.

"Covfefe..." is cordially recommended if you like music by Morgan Geist, the treatments of Brian Eno, and the glitch tech of Surgeon and Jeff Mills. The hamper sits well on the stomach here, taking in a handful classical techno alternatives and brushing through the debris that breaking house and Goa trance up left behind in the late 1980s pirate radio Chicago scene.

That might sound like an altercation, but it's a reality for most of us. In Oxfordshire for example it was apparent full stop that the nightlife scene for progressive electronica: techno in its purest form - never really made it promoter wise. All the promoters were concerned about were banging on and packing out clubs, not that type of IChiOne vibe ESB also shows that I traveled miles for previously to experience (see Geiom, Neil Landstrumm, Peverelist, Pinch, Nubian Mindz, Andy Stott).

So my point remains that while this is techno, through and through, techno as descriptor used to just really mean open-minded club music, and music that was forward thinking, tick-tocking like a multiplier reel taut on a big catch. That the generalized castration-angst of bleep kicked everyone in the balls who had balls quite literally along the way is a tad of a long story not fit for articulating in small print.

Whether you choose to be on the inside or outside, or before or behind the beat is up to where you enter the data stream...

Foodie Noodlings: Massaman Sauce, Feta and Gem Lettuce Tacos

A good mash-up recipe, takes 5-10 minutes. Can be eaten warm or cold.

I get these Tortillas packs from HelloFresh UK. 8 Tortillas provided to make wraps.

I lay two out on an ovenproof baking tray or griddle pan. I have a small metal tray.

What I get is Gem Lettuce from a Taco meal, any lettuce will do, Gem is durable and can be torn off the stalk bud easily. You can discard the stalk bud to compost.

I arrange on the Tortillas. Then, I add crumbly Feta Cheese. Mozza is fine too.

Once I've done that, I (today) used Massaman Thai Sauce on the Gem and Feta.

Depending on your taste you can eat this warm hot or cod. I'm not fussy. I had this cold just now. Because the Massaman curry marinade is hot itself, no problem.

The taste is pretty damn good! Because I use the HelloFresh, I have a few servings.

Sometimes I do chicken fried with it, sometimes Mexican veggie, sometimes beefy.

Well worth giving a go or returning to if you haven't already :)

www.fluid-radio.co.uk Retrograde Review: Francis M. Gri - Boke (Krysalisound) - Mick Buckingham review

Francis M. Gri - Boke - Krysalisound - Mick Buckingham review

Having recently lost a close(r) family member to Alzheimer's related illnesses, I can partially sympathise and empathise with how Francis M. Gri, owner of Krysalisound label, feels with this neat new record. Boke means "Blur", and is made to represent memory disorders and the time it takes for an image to do just that. Gri calls it "the memory illness" - it's always dementia, Alzheimer's or some such. Great novelist Terry Pratchett was taken from us by the latter; many its link.

On with the record itself, and this uses repetition as a narrative device. Give 'em a few rounds, then hit 'em with the boomerang. It catches us unawares. Succinctly peaceful, the album is so decent it dispenses with nom de plume's such as "beautiful art" - I don't want to wax insincerely about a delicate subject that has affected so many, and is being shown to put pay to Covid figures among others. What does one do when the memory is ready to pack up? Francis communicates the point well in some of my investigative email questions: "you transform in an empty box...we ARE memories it's undeniable!"

It is like that - life is a blur, because the present is at best a memory, since memories are about dream or goal meeting, and fantasy becomes secondary. Memory loss is rife with grief, and that is presented emotionally on "Boke". Especially that track, which closes the record. The music sounds like it comes from a very faraway place. A bit like Bvdub's, and his recent record "Ten Times The World Lied" on Glacial Movements, of similar ilk. Directionally but not genre wise, the sombre feel of Massive Attack tracks with Tracey Thorn and the like. Those have a similar emotional trippy poignancy to them.

In its palette spectrum, much ground is covered, painting in cool blues, treading miles upon miles in a dead body's shoes. That lifting of a classically trained surfeit, Francis working with many musicians over the years, now producing his own material most of all, has never sounded so comforting in my own rough time with with coming to terms. I can tell you now, "Boke" is destined to be a quiet memory in the back of your mind for years to come. It, like a blur, will wait for you.

Blue, Reflected 2020 Variations

In the squawked pigeonn English of Kali the foul-mouthed pigeon, "you will see me do sumfinng!" with my next record.

I'm using basic recording tech and also some resampling. I plan to integrate speckled live sounds across tracks, with software intervention. Sample manipulations.

The result will be a development on "Neurondisiac" project, in terms of stylistic density. Software "and" hardware. A real blend.

I have a track right now that is resampling audio from my flagship cheap analog keyboard, the Casio CTK (available in Argos 8 years ago), which puts analog Clavichord and Warm Pad presets through electronic Crystal Reverb, the filters of my hardware, and the reverb module built in to the synth. It's basically a remix of "Blue And Reflected Instrumental" with the FX used, and the way it sounds. Really pleased with it.

Ed: here you go...

1- Blue, Reflected, 2020 Mix
https://soundcloud.com/subversion-2/fl-blue-and-reflected-2020-remix
2- Disco Cravings
https://soundcloud.com/subversion-2/patho-disco-cravings
3- You Beauty
https://soundcloud.com/subversion-2/fl-you-beauty-21032020
4- Buttercup Fields
https://soundcloud.com/subversion-2/fl-buttercup-fields
5- Curry Aperitif
https://soundcloud.com/subversion-2/curry-aperitif
6- As Lossless As Breathing
https://soundcloud.com/subversion-2/fl-as-lossless-as-breathing
7 - The Fate Of The Idle Randomite
https://soundcloud.com/subversion-2/longformacus-the-fate-of-the-idle-randomite

The March 2020 Foci's Left LP - Blue, Reflected Variations (Unsigned)

DJ Muttley - 2 new mixes for ya

DJ Muttley - Afro Waffles (St. Vincent, Junior Senior, Cigarettes After Sex, DJ Friction & Nu Balance...
DJ Muttley - Skinned Potatoes (Mood Music CD samples, Supergrass, Explorer Flamenco Music, 40 minutes)

What can I say about these...home studio curated, plenty of ducking and diving, slipping and sliding. Love the Masseduction remix, that's big. Also fancying the DJ Friction & Nu Balance mixed with the supergay Junior Senior. "Skinned Potatoes" takes a more ironed out route, but perks up half way through flamenco music. I was inspired by one of my Paco Lucia CDs bought for my father the paralyzing and hypnotizing power of Spanish Flamenco music...like being locked in a lover's gaze. Mixing the flamenco with Britpop seems a original idea, not many people have tried that except Santana.

Enjoy the soundscapes. They're in .m4a format, straight from studio microphones. No messing about. No hipster FLAC lol.

http://subvertcentral.com/thread-63018-lastpost.html

SV Stop 239: BORRITWEM

That's an acronym for “Buying One Record Reviewed In The Wire Each Month”. The ethos was explained in Stop 215. Round-ups for successive years (2014-19) can be found in Stops 237, 259, 267, 304, 320 and 326 – if you care to search for them.

In which case, you might also like to know that I'm now building a dedicated blog to this project. Each post, headed by a The Wire issue number, will feature the title of the chosen purchased record, a picture thereof, a sentence or two from its reviewer – and no further input or explanation from me whatsoever.

Anyone wishing to view the ongoing and “almost completely pointless” list can do so HERE.

SubVersion Stop 328:

I wanted to write an article, on a brighter note, for this publically redundant site. So, here I am. FTEL Valentines '20. FTEL peeps (Electronica lovers) know Burial music, and yesterday saw the public release of his compendium of 2011-2019. Burial tracks like "Loner", "Come Down To Us" and "NYC" still give me shivers. This stuff sprung from the post-everything but especially post-dubstep continuum. 130-145 beats-per-minute dub and acid techno music with wonky, buckle bent riffs.

This compendium is spread across 149 minutes and 17 tracks over 2 compact discs. It retails around £14.99. Much cheaper than vinyl of a 2LP, probably destined to be around £24.99 at least. The lacqueur manufacturing costs we know. Timeless electronic music with as much gravitas as early Omni Trio, Rufige Kru and Rob Playford.

Speaking of Goldie related music, his 4CD DJ Mix is really, really good. Early jungle thru hardcore styles, rave-o-matic jacket potato overdubs and Skrillex antidote dubby bombers. There are very few red herrings, rubber ducks or mind-numbing areas to be had. Of course I am referring to the brain-drain of rave music; an assault on the senses (at the best of times) often needs an anchor to rely on. Cliffy Goldie's mixing chops are pretty good, he doesn't train wreck the tracks or lazily mix them, and it's pretty damn fun while it lasts.

When I think of Goldie in later years, I think The Heritage Orchestra he played with, a full, rich sound with an oddity value. Oddity value is also a part of the electronically-sequenced and tracked Texas Sun project by Leon Bridges. It's a highly addictive four-piece EP of electronic big band country, with a dub and urban-centric undercurrent. Think Michael Kiwanuka's latest record with a dash of Jimmy Hendrix and you get the picture. Hendrix and contemporaries are very crucial to the eclecticism and growth of taste among non-electronica musicians; note the additional "a" next to electronic, as it's elements of computer manipulation that make this stew work.

Electronic manipulation is Katie Gately's speciality on her latest album, "Loom" (part of serpentwithfeet). It's a good record, very astute and encroaching on the drone axis, with lots of mellifluous field recordings; some partially there, some lost in the fog. Identification becomes a story to be told rather than a misnomer, there's a special atmosphere in this CD, which at times veers into the colossally brain-shaking. That feel, of defiant rejection and alertness, comes, it would seem, naturally as a jig around the Maypole. Like an old past-time, there's chances of things going sour, but it never does. The drones are crisply bubbling, encapsulating the growl of a wolf, or a shriek of a banshee, cast off into the distance like a tropical storm coming to an end.

That's another thing with this update's batch of music(s). These feel ever-tied to the neural centrifuge of understanding natural phenomena like Storm Ciara, Storm Denys and Hurricane Michael before it. Basically as long as we stay rooted to our origins, we can break away when we allow ourselves - ideally. Case in point: I haven't written an article worthy of Fluid Radio, Wire, hyponik, Soundium, A Closer Listen, Dogs On Acid, ATM et al, for some time. Mainly, because I've been afraid to be myself - as Leon Bridges sings, "chained to my sin". Music makes us forget all that woe behind inactivity.

SV Stop 327: Altruism And The Power Of One

I was feeling a few different ways in the last few months about more than just music. It was a lifestyle thing. Altering lifestyle for the better, not just eating a healthier diet.

For some, or lots of subverts, depending on their viewpoint (reader, poster, critic, editor, et al), altruism, the "power of now", "power of one", basically another way of saying transcendence too, became part of all this hypothetical stodge, a stew of hefty energy. 

Altruism, to me, is truancy of a belief system, or many belief systems. A "because obviously" kind of thought soon follows. But it's so essential to doing basic tasks, being, basically any bloody form of living.

In this thread we aim to collect all the balls about altruistic principles, from Brian Enosification, to mood music effects and techniques, just because I'm too lazy to work my fat Cartman ass into writing a prequel book about life and death parchment.

So feel free to join in. No pressure though, having me waffle on in a self-propelled space. Hey, you might even have an idea for your own book project from this. Mine was simply going to be called Book 3 of the Freeze Dry series: "Altruism Failure".

Hugs and sneezes

Muttley

 

PS: Subvert had a 500 Internal Server error when I posted this; the maintenance of the site is still ongoing, long may it continue; not everyone is an admon here. 

SubVersion Stop 326: Wire Chart 2019

Somewhat belatedly, here's my seventh (2019) set of acquisitions, all according to the criterion “buying one record reviewed in The Wire each month” – plus three more to make up a proper Wire 15 chart. For reference, the previous six years’ were: 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018.

The # marks denote the issues in which the records featured.
___________________________________________________

SubVersion 2019 15

#419 Éliane Radigue - Oeuvres Électroniques (Ina-GRM)
#420 Black Thought - Streams of Thought Vols.1&2 (Human Re Sources)
#421 Alvin Lucier / Trevor Saint - Ricochet Lady (Black Truffle)
#422 Wendy Eisenberg - The Machinic Unconscious (Tzadik)
#423 Mopcut - Accelerated Frames of Reference (Trost)
#424 The London Sound Survey - Thames (Persistence of Sound)
#425 9T Antiope & Siavash Amini - Harmistice (Hallow Ground)
#426 K-X-P - IV (Svart)
#427 Olivier Messiaen / Linda Catlin Smith / Apartment House - Quatuor pour la fin du temps / Among the Tarnished Stars (Another Timbre)
#428 Haino / Merzbow / Pándi - Become the Discovered, Not the Discoverer (RareNoise)
#429 Zonal - Wrecked (Relapse)
#430 Eve Risser - Aprés un Rêve (Clean Feed)

+#420 Hedvig Mollestad Trio - Smells Funny (Rune Grammofon)
+#427 Pharmakon - Devour (Sacred Bones)
+#429 Morton Feldman / Philip Thomas - Piano (Another Timbre)

Compiled by Jonathan Tait, subvertcentral.blogspot.co.uk
___________________________________________________

And my record of the year for 2019: Harmistice, which is available for streaming at The Wire website, or you can go and actually buy it via the Hallow Ground bandcamp. “A cross-continent project inspired by a nightmare” seems pretty damn appropriate for 2019.