There’s not much better than New Wave era Ultravox!
Post-Punk
[Music] BlindººCoyote – A Beginner’s Guide To Hard Hat Color Coding
A Beginner’s Guide To Hard Hat Color Coding is a new project by BlindººCoyote, longstanding monicker of Drem Bruinsma, a Dutch-born composer now based in Alicante, Spain, whose work under this moniker reminds me of peak-period Cluster finding a bit of time to carouse with an early-wave Industrial band (think Cabaret Voltaire’s more daring experimental work than the dark funk they would produce during their heyday). It would make sense, as BlindººCoyote has been alive as a project since the early 1990s, and this particular sound to me is timeless. The project has been active (with some periods of non-activity) since its first 1993 release, Phantom Pain/Genkaku no Itami, a project which stemmed from a collaboration with legendary jazz fusion trumpeter Toshinori Kondo.
There’s something very kosmisch about this particular release, though it has flourishes of a cold, metallic bent. This floats surprisingly easily and envelops this listener into a dreamy, lulling feeling. There’s also a reminiscence of sounds made by such acts as BlindººCoyote’s one-time collaborators Tuxedomoon (he wrote scores for video, dance, theatre and collaborated with the individual members of Tuxedomoon, amongst others).
As a side note, and quite a tasty one, the first track on this EP, Chapter One: Red Hard Hat Area, will also appear on the compilation Radio Nautilus, released by No Records on June 1.
To explore more of BlindººCoyote’s works, visit his Bandcamp site here, and his Reverb Nation site here.
[Music] The Gorehounds – Cargo Cult
The Gorehounds are, perhaps, Ireland’s finest rock band. No, U2 isn’t, sorry. They haven’t put out a great record since The Joshua Tree. These guys, rather, were a pure rock and roll band.
[Music] Various Artists- Heresy Records: A Map Of The Kingdom Of Ireland
Though not as long in the tooth as INA-GRM nor as exotic as the scenes in places like Egypt or Iran, it seems that Ireland has developed a venerable electroacoustic music scene which has spanned over five decades. This compilation, A Map of the Kingdom of Ireland, a compilation of Irish Electro-Acoustic music featuring works by Ireland’s most celebrated Electro-Acoustic artists, was released on March 2, 2018 by Dublin, Ireland-based Heresy Records, is quite a gem of not only electroacoustic music, but of pure, non-theoretical music of many stripes, including contemporary classical and even new wave/post-punk.
The comp starts off gently with a cut by Paul Morrin. It is a bit like a boat taken off its moorings, and drifts along until about the two-minute mark, when the tempo changes to something a bit more lively and focused – one could even say it has a post-rock feel to it, reminding me a bit of the band éf.
Tóirse Ó Ríordáin comes up next with something that feels slightly like an early Penguin Café Orchestra piece if it were composed somewhere near the border of Brazil and Colombia.
It is Daniel Figgis’ piece, Timothy Cream’s Crown of Wines, which really gets into a more freeform composition, referencing avant-garde music and perhaps Krautrock. There is a lilting, marching quality to the composition which allows one to drift off into the ether while.
Even freakier are the two pieces turned in by Dublin mainstay Roger Doyle. This is a bit away from the avant-garde – this feels more like a cleaner, more updated sound referencing Tangerine Dream. As my old Kraut friends would say, “sehr Kosmisch…”
The fun surprise of the compilation for me were the two tracks included by Princess Tinymeat (a reference to actor Montgomery Clift’s… er… shortcomings in the boudoir, I’d imagine). His (her?) back catalog is screaming for a re-release, as I haven’t come across this name since I was collecting cassettes in the late 1980s.
Finally, Spooky Ghost gets a mention for some of the most pleasant guitar work I’ve heard since Vini Reilly was in peak form with the Durutti Column in the early 80s.
There isn’t a duff track on the compilation. If you find this collection enjoyable, you may want to also consider purchasing On The Nature Of Electricity & Acoustics, another remarkable compilation curated, this time, by Figgis.
Track Listing
1. Compass – Paul Morrin
2. Atop D’Seefin (Educution remix) – Tóirse Ó Ríordáin
3. Timothy Cream’s Crown of Wines – Daniel Figgis
4. Avant Garde Your Grille – Deep Burial
5. Little Train To Heaven – Richard G. Evans with Daniel Figgis
6. Eighties Rampwalk – Roger Doyle
7. Sleep Circus (remix) – Paddy Hunt vs. Charles
8. Richard Harris Blesses The Dawn Flotilla At Guilvinec – Cathal Coughlan with the Grand Necropolitan String Band
9. Finale from The Room In The Tower – Roger Doyle
10. handsinmyhead – GREETINGS
11. DriftDin – Vincent Doherty
12. Arcticus – Donald Teskey
13. Your Majesty – Princess Tinymeat
14. Stutter – Spooky Ghost
15. Unscan Ó Malley – Tóirse Ó Ríordáin
16. MegaMix – Princess Tinymeat
17. Wandering Compass – Paul Morrin
* The digital version of the album includes the following four tracks
18. Old Piano – Vincent Doherty
19. Reverse – SOM
20. Audacity – Deafector
21. Rampwalk – Roger Doyle / Olwen Fouéré
[Music] Richter Scale – A Ripple on the Richter Scale
In 2008, Legendary Pink Dots members Edward Ka-Spel and The Silverman trekked over to Chile where they made a collaboration of Michel Leroy of Un Festín Sagital, Chile’s finest experimental neofolk group.
This hazy, drony, Krauty improvisation is the fruit of their meeting. Stunningly hypnotic work.
[Music] Ghost Bike – Nothing Charms
I don’t know what’s going on in Jerusalem these days, but it seems there’s quite a goth/darkwave/witch-punk scene brewing over there.
Thanks kindly to Tamar Singer for recommending me the work of her colleague Vlad Shusterman (working as Ghost Bike), whose work reminds me of bands like early Sisters of Mercy, Rubella Ballet and X-Mal Deutschland in their calmer moments.
[Music] ±0 – ±0
±0 (pronounced as plus-minus-nula) are a post-punk band out of Prague, Czech Republic. This eponymous debut was released in March of 2017. If you are a fan of this particular genre of music, especially of the sounds made by The Cure, Joy Division, The Sound or others during the 1979-1980 heyday of the genre, this album was made specifically for you in mind.
Kudos go especially to their sound engineer, who must have really studied post-punk. He managed to get the sound just right for the band. Authentic, and worth exploring further!
[Music] The Three Johns – English White Boy Engineer
Some classic post-punk for you, courtesy of The Three Johns.
[Music] R.I.P. Mark E. Smith, frontman of The Fall has died
Mark E. Smith, frontman of legendary UK post-punk band The Fall, has died. The Fall’s manager, Pam Van Damned, confirmed Smith’s passing in a brief statement provided to Consequence of Sound. “It is with deep regret that we announce the passing of Mark E. Smith. He passed this morning (24th January) at home. A more detailed…
via R.I.P. Mark E. Smith, frontman of The Fall has died — Consequence of Sound
The Hippest of Priests has departed this mortal coil. Mark E. Smith was 60 years old. May he rest in peace.
[Music] 10 new reissues to add to your collection in early 2018
According to our friends at The Vinyl Factory, 2018 will be a magnificent year for reissues. Included in this article are releases from Klaus Schulze, Songs: Ohia, Holger Czukay, Sun Ra and Kuniyuki Takahashi among others.
A Miscellany Of Tasteful Music 