I was happy to be asked onto Jonny Trunk’s OST show on Resonance FM yesterday to feature various selections from my flexi disc collection. Listen back to our Flexible Finds and Wobbly Sounds from earlier, lots of stupidity and hilarity, inc.Star Wars, Biz Markie covering Elton John, Humpty Dumpty, Fenella Fielding, Ken Nordine, Blondie doing a Christmas version of Rapture and a silly competition.
Out today: #4 of 10 projected releases I’ve designed for the De:tuned label as they celebrate their first 10 years. One release a month, multiple combinations of great artists coming up across nine 12″s whose covers fit together to form a larger image, with a tenth remix 12″ to finish things off. This one comes with an extra Peshay track as a digital download too.
Buy:
Red Eye: https://bit.ly/2Vzl9T6
Bleep: https://bit.ly/2uNPfqm
Norman Records: https://bit.ly/2FSdQiW
Intense Records: https://bit.ly/2D1Y6t7
Juno: https://bit.ly/2YQzYDb
Clone: http://bit.ly/2UtbpZy
Deejay: http://bit.ly/2XAEB2O
Decks: http://bit.ly/2GzOKqH
HHV: http://bit.ly/2UOU02o
Triple Vision: http://bit.ly/2W3edOw
Hibernia Comics, who published the excellent ‘Beyond 2000AD’ a few years back, have a new release that taps into possibly the ultimate Thrill Powered nostalgia-fest yet – a miscellany of Kevin O’Neill artwork called Cosmic Comics. Collecting covers, short story illustrations, mock up adverts and full runs of his Captain Klep (first published in Tornado) and Dash Decent (from 2000AD).
A 68 page collection in full colour and black & white, we’re treated to Kev’s first forays into comic strip work, one-off cover stories and other oddities that don’t cross over into his ABC Warriors, Dredd or Nemesis work. Starting in the late 70s and progressing through to the late 80s (although mostly rooted in the earlier part of the decade) it’s dripping with detail and creativity as we witness the glory years where he made his reputation as one of the clutch of artists responsible for 2000AD’s first golden age. This is the collection I’ve been waiting for for 30 years and never thought I’d see so I’ll be buying it as soon as I can and hats off to David McDonald at Hibernia for putting this together. Buy it here for the princely sum of £8 (Earth Money).
The Delaware Road event in August continues to ramp up the line up as word gets around about it with more announcements to come. This will be a truly unique event, the likes of which haven’t been seen on this scale before. Transplant yourself to a secluded army base in the middle of the Salisbury countryside for over 12 hours of sonic, audio visual and performance-based adventures in sight and sound with a who’s who of the current crop of leftfield electronic, weird, and experimental practitioners working on the margins today. Buried Treasure, the label who hosted the last two experiences, have put together a mix showcasing some of the acts playing.
Tickets are available for the event, including group and camping options and follow the Facebook event for updates and competitions to win tickets and packages of merch from some of the featured acts and labels.
I completed this a few weeks back for my friend Allison who hosts the Mix-Ins show, it’s her birthday today so we agreed to hold it until then. Nearly two hours of contemporary acid, rave and footwork, this is what’s floating my boat club-wise at the moment. If anyone wants to book me to do this kind of set at their night (or even send me this kind of music) then get in touch.
I met Allison years ago in Montreal after corresponding online (she went by AlisonWonderland before another DJ claimed the name and went big time). Based out of Boston Massachusetts, her and Paulinnate started Mix-Ins loosely as a way to share the music (mixes and original productions) of the many talented people they are surrounded by. They try to feature an exclusive mix once a month although at times it can vary.
Whilst putting together my recent Kraftwerk: Klassics, Kovers & Kurios AV set I’ve been searching for the best quality footage possible for the visuals. One thing that has always alluded me is a decent copy of Roger Mainwood’s trippy video for ‘Autobahn’ that was commissioned by EMI in the late 70’s, originally to be issued on laserdisc. Bad to worse copies have cropped up on YouTube for years, hazy, blurred and cropped, always seemingly encoded from video sources which was the only official release it gained eventually.
Well, I finally bit the bullet and ordered a French DVD compilation of the Halas & Batchelor studio which features a whole host of animations, including the aforementioned Kraftwerk hit. I was expecting a better quality version with un-muddied colours but was blown away by not only the crystal clear clarity of the image (you can see pencil lines on the figures) but also new areas of each frame, much of which had been cropped off when encoded for the web. See above and below for some A/B comparisons of what I’d been missing, the new edition on the right will now be making its way into my future sets for your viewing pleasure.
I’ve contributed a half hour guest mix to The Allergies podcast along with a short interview with my old mate DJ Moneyshot (one half of the duo along with Adam Rackabeat). It’s more of a selection than a complex, all guns firing mix where I picked out tunes that really get people coming up to the decks when I play them to ask what the hell they are. These are mostly one-offs, oddities that appeared and were never followed up by anything else in the same vein by the artists involved, songs that don’t sit easily in the background but tap you on the shoulder to get your attention. Some are bizarre, some just silly, all exist on vinyl in one form or another and reside in a section of my collection labelled, ‘Misc.’.
If you like what you hear and want to check out more episodes then…
Subscribe on iTunes > https://apple.co/2tLFJ7z
Stream on Mixcloud > https://bit.ly/2PnVlaj
Stream & DL on Soundcloud > https://bit.ly/2ZsXxCg
It’s a radio sort of week as I spent this morning chatting to George Stewart-Lockhart for the first episode of a new show at Soho Radio about two decades or more of clubbing, starting off in my native Surrey and then moving to London in the 90s. The show will go out in the coming weeks but first I have a 100minute + mix set to debut this Saturday (April 27th) on North American show, Mix-Ins which is a pure acid/rave mash up.
Just so much going on at the moment, hard to keep track – Record Store Day was great fun, got a few releases (the Yage and Acid 88 releases are excellent, the Stone Tape less so). Played silly flexi discs at Audio Gold with Shane Quentin first thing, the shop was bustling and my Jonathan King ‘Lick A Smurpf For Christmas’ disc got a cheer. The staff generously treated us to pizza and drinks as well as pushing a couple of filthy flexi’s my way – thanks guys!
Excellent package of the day goes to the Kubrick 7″ from Silva Screen which is a delight on many levels even though it’s actually Wendy Carlos arrangements re-recorded by Mark Ayres and not quite what it was sold as on the original RSD info mail out. The Acid 88 design is also particularly tasteful with the label designs causing some excellent flickering motion when revolving.
After this we headed down to Palace Vinyl in Crystal Palace for a bit of acid techno with the Downfall crew and a dig through their considerably stuffed crates – if you want any kind of secondhand electronic dance music from the last 30 years then this is the place to go although they mainly sell online. The new Corroded Circuits EP on their label is another winner.
Last stop was the Book & Record Bar in West Norwood where we nearly didn’t get in it was so packed for the showing of Shawn Lee‘s ‘The Library Music Film’, a 2 hr journey through the medium that had our legs aching as we had to stand the whole way through. Records were bought, played and beers consumed afterwards too and it rounded off a great day with friends and a set from King Michael that culminated in a shop-clearing Goblin tune.
Monday saw a private showing of Vickie Bennet‘s ‘Gone, Gone Beyond’ 360 degree film at Goldsmith’s College, a kind of fever-dream across multiple screens with surround sound that made me wonder if she was sane. Collage cross-referencing across multiple decades and genres was the order of the day with a particularly successful hall of mirrors sequence and crazed compression of what seemed like my 70’s childhood for a finalé. If you get the chance, go and see it but it’s only showable in a tiny amount of spaces due to the nature of the surround medium.
Tuesday night saw Shane, myself and Jonny Trunk at Spiritland in Kings X for the Wobbly Sounds book launch, playing flexi discs on their mega sound system – it sounded awful! 😀 It didn’t matter though as the place was packed and everyone had a great time, especially the Four Corners Book publishers Elinor and Richard. I ended up chatting to actor Paul Putner (aka The Curious Orange from This Morning With Richard Not Judy among many other roles) who is a massive music fan who really knows his stuff.
Off to Bristol this Saturday for the second performance of my Kraftwerk: Klassics, Kovers & Kurios AV show at the Cube Cinema with DJ Cheeba, which is sold out! There are two mixes forthcoming this month too, one imminently and one on the 27th – both very different, more info soon.
Out today: #3 of 10 projected releases I’ve designed for the De:tuned label as they celebrate their first 10 years. One release a month, multiple combinations of great artists coming up across nine 12″s whose covers fit together to form a larger image, with a tenth remix 12″ to finish things off.
Order
Phonica:
Juno:
Bleep:
Clone:
Rush Hour:
Red Eye:
Norman:
Deejay:
Decks:
HHV:
Triple Vision:
A quick round up of all things flexi disc-related that’s coming up over this month. The good news is that the Wobbly Sounds book by Jonny Trunk and published by Four Corners Books that I contributed to is back from the printers and looking great! It’s 160 pages and is only a tenner – pre-order here for an April 15th release date.
As a result there’s a plethora of promotion coming up: The Eye on Design blog has just published this article on the book.
On April 13th (Record Store Day) I’ll be at Audio Gold in Crouch End, London with Shane Quentin from The Garden of Earthly Delights radio show, playing flexi disc sets with hidden discs in the racks and free beer as well – check the event page for more details.
April 16th sees the official book launch at Spiritland in Kings X, 6.30-8pm along with Jonny, Shane and Andrew Beedell Coram with an evening set by Jonny from real vinyl.
Later this month I should be joining Jonny on his OST show (4.30-6.30pm) on Resonance FM for a flexi special, playing selections from the book and more, hopefully with the usual competition hilarity.
I’m told print pieces in Record Collector and Shindig magazines are on the horizon too…
Other non-flexi related things happening: I have a guest mix coming up on The Allergies podcast mid April
I’ll be playing on Out Of The Wood radio at the Book & Record Bar this Sunday 7th with Pete Williams during the first West Norwood FEAST of 2019.
Also at the B&RB on Record Store Day (April 13th, remember?) I’ll be playing records with Ceri Preston after a showing of The Library Music Film and a Q&A from Shawn Lee. Starts at 7.30pm and goes to 1am.
Unfortunately the Kraftwerk AV gig I was to do at the Sheffield O2 Academy on the 27th April has been rescheduled for Nov 8th now but will be locking more in for May/June.
Also, I’ll be supporting DJ Krush on June 20th at Oslo in Hackney – tickets just went on sale yesterday.
It’s almost impossible to keep up with the onslaught of great new music coming out or up for pre-order at the moment and all just 2 weeks before the Record Store Day tidal wave too. Here’s just some that I’ve been listening and looking forward to…
Jane Weaver – Loops In The Secret Society LP – Pre-order
Vanishing Twin – The Age of Immunology LP (Fire Records). Pre-order (black or swirl pic disc – Rough Trade have a gold vinyl edition too)
Simon James – Cosmic Surgery (Spun out Of Control) Cassette – out this Friday
Pre-order tonight – audio preview. Also see his recent Simonsound cassette Musicity (only 2 left!)
De:tuned 10th anniversary 12″ EPs DE:01 / DE:02 / DE:03 (yeah I know I’m biased)
Previews
Drew Mulholland plays Delia Derbyshire Three Antennas In A Quarry (Buried Treasure) 10″. Limited to 250 copies on 10″ vinyl with sleeve notes by Drew + a sleeve design by Nick Taylor, up for pre-order now
Jon Brooks Applied Music: Science & Nature LP (Cafe Kaput) Order now – be quick, these will go!
Various Artists – ERR Library vol.2 – beautiful cover and music
Think this sold out at source, might have to hunt around
Loka with Julius Vanderbilt – Invisible EP – pre-order here
Chris Moss Acid Machine Heavy 12″ (Balkan Vinyl) Buy here
Fracture – Big Up The Ladies 12″ (Astrophonica) – New 4 tracker with T-shirt and print options
Been enjoying this lately too – Acid House Ragas
also forthcoming….
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard LP (Flightless) only 50/50 sold on what I’ve heard so far though
Various – Plastic Dance 2 LP (Finders Keepers) 
The first three releases from the De:tuned 10th anniversary monthly releases just turned up! I’ve been waiting to get my hands on these for months, turned out even nicer than expected 
These are selling very fast with DE:10.01 sold out at the label (but still available from Phonica on that link), DE:10.02 down to the last 10 copies and half of the pressing for DE:10.03 spoken for despite it not being out for two more weeks.
Very happy, roll on the next seven 12″s…
Hit me up for design work if you like these or check www.openmindesign.uk
The highlight of my recent trip to Paris to play at the Ping Pong 20th anniversary party was a trip to the Pompidou Centre to bask in the first major Victor Vasarely retrospective. A comprehensive overview of his work was on display, from earliest experiments through to his breakthrough op art achievements. Whilst a lot of his large scale work wasn’t present there were some 300 pieces to admire including paintings, sculpture, ceramics, prints, logos, textiles and more. The final room was particularly good with very low light and excellent lighting that picked out the paintings in a glow that seemed to make them radiate and become even more three dimensional. The level of skill and draughtsmanship on display was incredible and I’d highly recommend a day trip over before it finishes in May, the book shop at the end is something else too, take lots of money and a strong bag is all I can say!
I’m playing catch up after getting a new computer and all the hassle that entails so forgive me because this exhibition has already passed. Augustine Kofie‘s first solo show in London was at the Stolen Space gallery in East London this February. He’s already had work featured as part of group shows over the years but this is his first one-man outing. Shown are a selection of his collage pieces including details. These formed only a small part of the work as there were some newer pieces that seek to achieve the same effect as these but solely with paint. This was a new direction that I’d not seen before and, while technically brilliant, they seemed to lack something that these works contain. Maybe the layering, textures and grit is what I like in his work, the sampling of old material to build the structures he makes, but the newer painting held less for me than these assemblages. The show may be over but Stolen Space have a print available if you’d like a souvenir of his visit to these shores as well as some originals if you have deep pockets.
The new Sister Corita Kent exhibition has been on at the House of Illustration in Kings X now for a month, expanded from the version shown in Ditchling last year. It’s still small but packed with lots of beautiful prints, books, posters and ephemera that she created during her lifetime both in and outside of the church. I urge you to go and see these beautiful prints in the flesh and pick up a free copy of her ‘rules’ taken from an art department classroom.
This is why Ruben Sutherland is one of the trippiest animators out there – new Sculpture release just out – Tapegrot Vol.1 – a digital EP on their freshly-baked label Plastic Infinite.
Oh yeah!
Hats off to Electronic Sound magazine for their next issue cover, the best looking (and smelling) magazine about electronic music celebrates all that is European. For anyone outside the UK reading this, the UK has descended into madness, more than half of us don’t want to leave the European Union, and most of the British people never gave it a second thought until a minority of Tory MPs decided that the new EU tax laws would threaten their bank balances thus forcing a weak Prime Minister’s hand into calling an advisory referendum on something few fully understood, either inside or outside of Parliament. The British people have been duped by the 1% and the right wing press while the supposed ‘opposition’ party has done anything but. Two days after we leave is April 1st – April Fool’s Day in the UK – but our country has become an international joke, due to lose much more than we would ever gain by leaving the EU. Rant over
Colourise.sg colours black and white photos via a deep learning programme. Here are a few results I tried (including one colour photo of a B&W photo). It’s apparently better with human figures and landscapes and is only planned to be available on the web temporarily as it is the result of a hackathon from Singapore. More info
A new Pepe Deluxe record is always a reason to get excited, and this beauty goes in sale this Friday. Just a one-sided 7″ but look at it, all 60 copies will be lathe cut (!). The new song accompanies an original Graphic Novel by Josh Frank, published by Quirk Books and based on a screenplay by Salvador Dalí for The Marx Brothers – a lost un-filmed classic from the masters of the bizarre: Giraffes on Horseback Salad.
UPDATE: The sale didn’t happen until Monday in the end because of website problems, but the 7″ sold like hotcakes. There is still the digital version though which includes an instrumental not on the disc you see here.
https://www.catskillsmusic.com/product/pepe-deluxe-the-surrealist-woman/
Notes from the press release:
• This is a single but it is not a single
• Official Theme Song for a Graphic Novel adaptation of the Salvador Dalí and The Marx Brothers film “Giraffes On Horseback Salad”
• Limited 60 hand cut 7”, hand signed clear vinyl with gatefold artwork
• International book tour to support release of the Graphic Novel
• Video directed, filmed and animated by Maria Candia aka Taru N. Hohtonen
• Features Harpo Marx’s original harp and horn
