Jim Mahfood comes with the goods two years after he did our ‘Caught In The Middle of a 3-Way Mix’ cover.
This is for SM&A Productions‘ forthcoming Visual Companion to Paul’s Boutique, due online on July 25th, the 25th anniversary of the great album.
They also commissioned Derek Langille to do a poster, he of the Sabotage comic fame.
“Yeah, you can’t front on that!”
I’ve never heard this before, an interview with Matt Johnson playing some of his favourite records on Greenwich Sound Radio way back in 1983 when ‘Soul Mining’ was first released.
Another look behind the scenes at some work I’ve been doing on the Frankie Goes To Hollywood box set for the 30th anniversary edition of their ‘Welcome To The Pleasuredome’ album. Earlier this year I visited photographer Steve Rumney who took a set of photos backstage at the London launch party of ‘Relax’ at the Camden Palace (now Koko) back in November 1983, one of which ended up on a promo poster, cassette and sheet music.
We looked through boxes of negatives and found very little aside from some prints and one badly damaged negative strip. Nevertheless, on that strip was an image that I recognised from the inside sleeve of the original album and he graciously let me take it away. After having it scanned at a professional lab I took the digital files and proceeded to repair all the dust and scratches it had incurred over the years. See above the 5-step cleaning and cropping process, this will then be used on the inner sleeve of the new version of the album. Quite a bit of work for one small 4 x 5.5cm image.
I’ve managed to land myself a gig at the top of the ArcelorMittal Orbit in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in East London. I’ll be playing spacey sounds whilst visitors have a great view over the city and various other performers play at different parts of the structure. Visitors can expect views like this (except it will be at sundown). Ben Eshmade of the Arctic Circle is putting on the event, the first ever musical one at the site and it will be limited to 300 people only.
Tickets are £20 which sounds steep but they are usually £15 and you get a whole night of music for an extra fiver. Tickets are also limited because of the nature of the structure and at the moment you can call to book on 0333 800 8099. Other performers will be Transept, Astronauts (acoustic) & ex-Homelife band leader Paddy Steer with DJ sets from Inch-time & Ninja label mates Grasscut.
I only just caught on to the new Sean Lennon & Charlotte Kemp Muhl record under the name The Ghost Of A Sabre Tooth Tiger (or GHOASTT for short). It was released a couple of months ago, titled ‘Midnight Sun’ and an article on them in the new MOJO made me curious to seek it out. If you liked the last couple of Pepe Deluxe albums and the way they mix up psychedelia with female vocals, strong pop hooks and all manner of vintage electronics and effects then this is for you.
It pushes so many of my buttons, you can hear west coast harmonies, Pink Floyd, heavy drums, Radiophonics, Tame Impala and of course a sprinkling of Sean’s dad here and there. It gloriously references the 60’s both sonically and visually and pulls it off without sounding clichéd, their videos are good fun too with a definite Kenneth Anger homage going on here in this NSFW one above. You can listen to the whole album here and watch another video too.
I took part in an article about parenting and DJing, talking about my experience playing at the Big Fish Little Fish party. It’s over on Inverted Audio and it’s actually part 4 of a series with lots of other DJs talking about their take on partying after parenthood. Talking of BFLF, I’ll be taking to the decks for a second time with them this coming autumn in South London, announcement soon…
Due out September or mid-October (depending on what you read online), ‘Training Days’ catches up with the characters and writers who populated the scene during the early 80’s when Henry Chalfort, Martha Cooper and James Prigoff were documenting the New York graffiti scene in book and film with ‘Subway Art’ and ‘Style Wars’.
Interviews by Chalfont and Sacha Jenkins find out who did what and how the movement changed their lives when graffiti was catapulted into the international spotlight 30 years ago. The 176 page hardback has B&W and colour images plus interviews with writers like Lady Pink, Kel, Jon One, Skeme, Daze and more. It looks like it will be a perfect addition to Subway and ‘Spraycan Art’, making it a neat trilogy after 30 years.
Seems like you can only pre-order if from A*az*n at the moment unfortunately but it’s a bargain at under £10 so if you have no qualms with dealing with them, go here.
I got sent this the other day and by coincidence (or possible design?) I’m going to see ‘The Making of Jodorowsky’s Dune’ today at the British Library. This record is about to be reissued and shares a fascination with Frank Herbert‘s book, being a concept album based on Dune. The composer is Bernard Szajner – ‘the French Brian Eno‘ as the press release tell us – and it was recorded in 1979 for Pathé Marconi EMI.
The album is full of droning synthscapes and great drums, definitely a lost classic of the genre and, typically, Finder’s Keepers label boss Andy Votel has already been here and come up with a minimix for us to hear. The album will be released on 25th August on InFiné Reissues from Germany and include two new tracks, previously unreleased from the original sessions. More info here and pre-order here.
I’ve been scanning the original Welcome To The Pleasuredome artwork by Lo Cole this week and, comparing it to the existing scans I was working with, there’s quite a bit of difference. It’s tempting with Photoshop to put images through all sorts of filters and processes to make the image ‘pop’, much like compression and limiting on audio files. After a while you can lose sight of the original but having the original paintings to hand I could check on screen that they were as accurate reproductions as possible. Certain colours didn’t initially scan exactly so I made sure that I corrected them to as near as possible with the colours of origin.
It’s actually hard to tell but the lower left of the moon is a subtlely different shade to the rest. The background is a more yellow/grey tone of blue.
This is a little like remastering from the original master tapes, cleaning up any stray dust or hair particles that have got on to the surface in the process. The blurrier, more saturated images here are the working files I’ve had and the subtler, sharper ones are the new scans that will be seen on the forthcoming box set. If you get the prints from the box, rest assured that the colours on them will be as accurate as possible to the original source (as long as the printer doesn’t mess things up) and if you display them they will nearly pass for originals.
As you can see with this comparison, there’s a bit more of the image on the top and the blues are more grey/yellow.
On Monday evening I joined Matt Johnson of The The on stage at Rough Trade East in London for a two hr Q&A about his ‘debut’ album, ‘Soul Mining’. It was a great evening with plenty to talk about and 200 eager fans there to listen and ask questions before queuing half way down the shop floor for autographs.
One fan even had the original art for the ‘Soul Mining’ cassette with him, complete with pasted up overlay. Matt recorded it all via clip on mics and I believe someone was video taping as well. I should be editing the audio sometime next week for a podcast. (Top photos by Nancy Brown and Adam James Seth-Ward, photo below posted on Twitter, thank you , please let me know who you are so I can credit you).
The recently released box set is something to cherish with lots of quirks courtesy of Matt’s designer Cally at Antar. Upon lifting the lid you’re greeted with a huge scan of one of the original master tapes on the underside and a 24″ x 36″ foldout containing images and liner notes. The download card is a large replica of a 1/4 inch reel to reel tape and I was thrilled to have a thank you on the reverse for providing images from my archive to the project.
The bonus disc of remixes and B-sides is probably the jewel in the crown as it arrives in a full colour gatefold plastered with Andy DOG Johnson‘s classic imagery. Finally we come to the original LP which is a faithful recreation with an inner sleeve showing the original labels barely visible printed straight on to the paper. Cally tells me he had to fight hard to present details like this and more as part of the package as Sony wanted it all cleaned up but to me these are the details that make it unique, showing off the artifact. More master tape scans finish the experience on the box bottom and the quality is top notch, it all feels as if a lot of care and attention has been taken to put this together.
The audio really doesn’t need rhapsodising over but the bonus Recollected disc contains alternate 12″ and early versions of Uncertain Smile, Perfect, This Is The Day and I’ve Been Waiting For Tomorrow (all of my life) from the album and period B side Fruit of the Heart. The remaster has been very sympathetic to the original and with a lack of outtakes or demos the quality of the songs never dips or falters. You can order a copy direct here and there are several articles doing the rounds on the web at the moment, one of the best being John Doran‘s piece on the Quietus and check the latest issue of Mojo for 6 pages of Soul Mining.
Also I should point out that the box set is (intentionally) large enough to easily fit the dual 12″ of Matt and mine’s versions of ‘GIANT’ that was released for Record Store Day. This was always intended and nicely completes the set of Andy Dog cover art from that era whilst adding a touch of my own take on his work.
The new series of singles by regular Ghost Box artists and some very exciting guests commences later this month. The series is called Other Voices and kicks off with a collaboration between Sean O’Hagan of the High Llamas and Jon Brooks of The Advisory Circle. Future contributors so far include, Steve Moore, Ed MacFarlane (Friendly Fires), Listening Center, Pye Corner Audio and The Soundcarriers. Pre-order here…
Very pleased to log on and see that the Frankie Goes To Hollywood ‘Inside The Pleasuredome’ box set I designed has tipped over the 100% mark to become fully funded :). Rob Puricelli has put together a great overview of the project on his Failed Muso blog.
I’ve been waiting for this to drop for over a year now, Spencer from Death Waltz hinted at it a long time ago and has since confirmed it here and there online. I saw him a few weeks back and he was saying September and he’s been true to his word as it popped up for pre-order out of the blue yesterday. A synth and organ-heavy score to the ‘lost 80’s movie’ by Black Mountain member Jeremy Schmidt, it has all the slow moving menace of the film and the sleeve is just as beautiful.
There are two versions : one for Europe on clear vinyl with red smoke effect via Death Waltz and one on clear vinyl via Jagjaguwar for N. America who are also doing a bundle with a DVD of the film.
This is a corker of a mix by Tony Thorpe of the Moody Boyz, lots of classic 90’s techno and electronica with bits of his own production thrown in and a ton of Solid Steel-centric spoken word. One of the contenders for mix of the year?
There seem to be an inordinate amount of anniversaries for great albums and films at the moment. 30, 25 and 20 ‘years ago today’ posts pop up every day at the moment, reminding up of countless classics and making me wonder if there’ll be quite so many in 10, 20, 30 years time?
One that no one will argue with is Global Communication‘s masterwork, ’76:14′ – one of the greatest ambient albums of the 90’s (alongside Aphex Twin’s ‘Selected Ambient Works II’, The Orb’s ‘Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld’ and FSOL’s ‘Lifeforms’).
Apparently it’s 20th has come and to commemorate the occasion a producer called Huess has created a tribute version and flipped the timing around (the numbers of the title refer to the minutes and seconds the album lasts for – maybe Kasabian never heard of GC before?). It’s pretty good and well worth the 15 minute listen.
Seeing at Glastonbury is upon us once more it’s appropriate to post this – an image of festival organisor Michael Eavis made from names of all the artists who have ever played the festival. The image is by Annemarie Wright who does text-based illustrations and I’m proud to say that my name is there, just below the neckline.
I’m very pleased to be a part of the new Luna 9 dome at the Kendal Calling festival (Aug 1st-3rd). They’ll be showing my fulldome piece ‘The Search Engine’ as well as hosting a AV set by DJ Cheeba and Dome Club‘s Pink Floyd show amongst many others over the weekend.
Really looking forward to this gig on Friday, apart from the fact that it’s in my second home from home, Switzerland, apparently the train ride down to Sierre from Geneva is incredible. Also looking forward to catching up with my homies Cheeba and Moneyshot, the former of who has had a new addition to the family since our last gig. Should be fun 
Enjoying this new compilation on Buried Treasure that takes a slightly different angle on the library comp from what’s been done before. They add ‘Brass’ to the line up of Psych and Moogs, not something that you usually find but it’s there alright.
The tracks come from the German Sonoton Music Library and they’ve done a great job with superb mastering and a fatastic sleeve by Rob Crespo to pull you in. John Fiddy and Sammy Burdson seem to make up around half of the tracks and it’s all new to me.
There’s some really great material on here and whilst I would question the amount of ‘Psych’ in the selection there’s plenty of Brass and modular keyboard sounds. Most of all there’s some superb playing all over the selections even though is can slip into cheese occasionally.
Sven Perner‘s ‘High Tension’ is a thinly veiled take on Led Zep‘s ‘Whole Lotta Love’ whilst ‘Crime & Glamour’ by Hermann Langschwert & Wolfgang Killian is a classic slice of spy funk. More info and clips here.
