a blog about obscure muzik & graphix,random thoughts and free minds.

Wednesday, 15 April 2020

DISCIPLINE N2-(Fanzine-UK-198?)

An old zine focused on the first wave of industrial music.
Released by R&D Group 28 in London probably around the mid-80s.
 Interviews to Culturicide, Blixa Bargeld,  long and detailed research about Throbbing Gristle discography, collages and graphix + various rants and info about small independent music labels, zines and related artists.
Enjoy it.
:f(a*r)a*w)a)y¬
click me 

Monday, 13 April 2020

DAWSON-First Peel Session 09/05/90-(Unreleased-UK-1990)

First Peel session by this amazing Scottish band, I have already posted the second one and some of their studio productions. As the description there fits very well in this post I just gonna C+P it here. I am adding a great video made for the song"Bears Den To Bagdad" discovered on their FB page.
Back in the early 90s, I was in touch with Dawson, They kindly sent me an amazing tape with some live recordings by various Scottish post-hardcore noise bands, the tape also contained 2 Peel sessions by Dawson! Unfortunately, I lost the letter that came with this cassette but I reckon these recordings were not released and I cannot find any info about it. I left them as waves.
I already wrote about this fantastic band: compared to names such as Butthole Surfers and Minutemen, Dawson throws in their songs sheer violence and electric energy mixing some Avant-guard fast chaotic guitars riffs, math rhythms, weird vocals and experimental jingles that make their music original and difficult to categorize.
 Coming out from the very lively Noize Post Hardcore punk scene from the end of last century, they shared common interests and sweats with StretchheadsWhirling Pig Dervish and  Archbishop Kebab, all very original bands hailing from Scotland.  An FB page about them is here, where you can see old flyers and pics, a new band formed by the 3rd era Dawson musicians are called Sumshapes and their Bandcamp page is here, you can listen/buy their album Cabin Biscuits released June 30, 2017.
I guess there is no need to talk about John Peel and his famous radio show, all the music lovers around the world should know John Peel already. The recording of this tape is excellent. 
Enjoy it.
:f^a:r*a)w_a(y^

Saturday, 11 April 2020

STRAITJACKET FIT - #0 -(Self Released-Greece-2006)

Straitjacket Fit is a Greek Hardcore/Punk band formed in 1999 in Patra, Greece.
They self-released their music and do gigs in squats and free places with no forced economic payback. They do not sell their music through the "music industry network" and do not play in clubs for money. They refuse to participate in the "music labels slavery trade".(from  Discogs)
I am lucky enough to know the singer of this band, in fact, I have already written about him when I posted the music by Grim Machine and Black Faun.
Straitjacket Fits play a form of very personal punk mixing various influences waved within great English lyrics.
Since I was very interested to know more about this amazing band, I asked Alex to answer a few questions, so you can read here a small yet interesting interview. #0 is their first album available on their Bandcamp Page as a free download just as all their other productions. A big thanx to Alex for passing me such a great band and for the relevant interview.(f*a¬r{a*w~a:y)

1000flights-When do you formed and how long have you been together??

1. We formed at 1998, on the remains of a previous band we had, Alex (voice), my brother Dimitris (guitar) and Argyris (drums) playing post-punk/darkwave since 1995-6. It was called PICKMAN'S MODEL and unfortunately, there is only a cd recorded back then, not on the internet yet, but you can get an idea here
Around 1998 came Yorgos "Pontikos" from THE DALTONS (hxc punk) and replaced our bass player, so we changed the name and became Straitjacket Fit, focusing on a more post-hardcore/experimental punk sound. We played at literally every squat/steki in Greece from 1998 to 2013 where we ended playing live shows and disbanded.
1000flights-Which one are the bands/artists that most influenced you?
S.F.: We were all avid music consumers(ha!) so the sound was a mix of what we listened to and everything else we thought would fit regardless of the style. Post-punk, anarcho-punk, hxc crust, post-metal, ska, jazz, apart from the big names such as Neurosis, Faith No  More, early Sonic Youth, Gang of Four, etc, it's useless to keep namedropping since we were very different in our tastes but very close in our purpose and vision. Let's just say, from Grind to Ambient and back, hehe!
Also lots of anarcho/DIY bands that toured around Greece and we played with, had been an influence in one way or another, such as the mighty JE M'EN FOUS from France/Switzerland.
We were  doing the original artwork for every release,(well, I was..) from the photos, collages, paintings to the final graphic design and packaging to distribution, a mix of art-loving provocation, Ad Busters magazine aesthetics, Dada collage, artists such as Yoshitomo Nara, stencil art and a healthy dose of dark humour or just dark.
 
1000flights: Were you active in Villa Amalias or any other squat in Athens??
S.F.: We played Villa Amalias the first time in 1999 I think, and then many many times followed. We consider ourselves, up to this time, a brother-band to the people that run the place, very close to us, and to bands that played there, ANATELLON TROMOS (Rising Terror), CHASMA, THE PARKINSONS, VALPOURGIA NYCHTA (Valpourgis Night), TIMETRAP and more that we felt we were doing something meaningful together at the time.
Right from the start, we took part in the first anarcho diy space"steki Sachtouri" kind-of-squat in Patras , from its beginning in 1998. We had our studio there and did a lot of gigs, as well as involved in the diy concert organising team "Porto Patrasso", at Parartima in Patras, a major anarcho-political concert place. Learning to record, sound engineering, set a gig or a recording session from scratch, it was all part of the game.
For me personally the Villa years, from the first gig up to its evacuation, was a period that had a great impact on me as a person and as an artist.
1000flights: How many gigs did you play? did you ever played outside Greece??
S.F.: We had played, I don't know, more than 50 less than a hundred gigs around Greece, squats, free spaces, open areas, public squares, only political DIY. We played in Liege in Belgium first time in 2002 if I am not mistaken since our bass player lived in Amsterdam for some time. We toured 2 weeks Holland-Germany-Belgium in 2008 with KILL THE CAT (ska-punk).
1000flights-The releases available on your Bandcamp page were printed as tapes/CDs or vinyl or were these released only as digital files??
S.F: All the releases on Bandcamp- except the last one "The End" which is a digital one- are on CD format. Also, the comps we have participated are CDs but not available now I guess. We consider releasing "The End" on vinyl by the end of the year, maybe early 2021..we'll see about that.
 
1000flights-Are the lyrics political orientated or what are the subjects in there??
S.F: The lyrics are totally political, dealing with two main concepts from personal to public, alienation and social revolution.
I will not repeat the too commonly used anti-nazi, anti-species, anti-capitalist, anti-whatever the slogan, we were all that, since contributing to the whole DIY ethos-self organization and keeping a strong stance as a band from the beginning to the end. We felt that a more personal way of writing about these themes was the best to express ourselves artistically and not losing the target. So the lyrics are a bit more surreal and existential than straight forward, but still political and direct on their message. Yet not preaching but questioning and inspiring, I suppose.
1000flights-After that the band disbanded, you Alex started a few industrial/noise orientated projects (Grim Machine, Black Faun, The Zyklons)...would you like to say what inspired you to start such projects ??
Is any other members of the band at the moment active in other music/artistic projects/bands?? If so, which ones??
S.F.: While being at Straitjacket Fit, I started a duo of experimental/playful noise called Black Faun with my crazy friend Charis (hELLaSH), around 2007. Since then we do live acts and we have 4 releases. It all started as a parallel project to Straitjacket Fit, so as to express a different point of view soundwise and artistically speaking. It was the first vehicle for me to play free improvisation and noise music.
In 2013, in the middle of the financial crisis in Athens, I started Grim Machine, my personal project, because I wanted to try playing on my own after the band disbanded, and also to express my personal emotions about the political situation we were living at. It started as an industrial/harsh noise project and now it has evolved into more ritual noise/free impro territory.
Around 2016-7 I met Perseas Rizos, a poet, visual artist and sax player, and since then we are playing together as the free form/exp.jazz duo The Zyklons.
I consider it as an evolution in my playing and interacting in terms of improvisation.
After Straitjacket disbanded, me and Yorgos played together at the band SARKA STO ZWO (post hxc) for 3 years and after that we recruited with Argyris in HAUTE TANZ (post-punk/noise rock). Argyris also plays in a punk band and Yorgos never stops practising! Regarding the Straitjacket Fit members, the important thing is that we are friends first and foremost, so we will never stop playing music together one way or another.


Thursday, 9 April 2020

Adversity N8-(Fanzine-Usa-1993)

Number 8 of this legendary anarcho-punk zine! 
In this issue interviews to Disaffect, Choas UK, Hellkrusher, Rapture, squatting in North America, UK andWest Pennsylvania punk scene reports, music and book reviews + rants and graphic-works.
A great zine from the crypt of the 90s.
Enjoy it.
:f(a*r~a*w^a~y_
click me 


Wednesday, 8 April 2020

DEAFENESTRATION-Everything`s In The Red-(Self Released-Belgium-2011)

Another band from Liege (Belgium) with some members of the mighty Hiatus,here a little biography:
"Deafenestration started early 2010 with Phil and Azill playing with other people (who moved on to become local grind merchants Goat Vomit). For certain reasons lost in the mists of time, things didn't work. So David and Philthy were recruited as drummer and vocalist respectively. Practising began in June of that year in the deep bowels of La Zone, a local underground (pardon the pun) the venue here in Liege. The name was decided upon some months later and the legend began."
(info is taken from their FB Page) click me
 

Monday, 6 April 2020

v.a.-SOCIAL ISOLATION-(Social Isolation-Digital Release-India-2020)

Created and compiled during the last week of March 2020, this compilation brings together the sound of artists in isolation creating music that's reflective of our collective struggle during the COVID-19 pandemic. 
Those featured in this edition are of Indian origin but we wish to continue the Social Isolation series with more submissions and create a worldwide artist-listener network. 
Submit your music to socialisolationrecords@gmail.com.
(info is taken from their Bandcamp Page where you can get this sampler naming your price)
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Sunday, 5 April 2020

IDOLISE N1-(Magazine-UK-1984)

Great magazine created by Rober Nixon in Surrey (UK) around the mid-80s. I have already posted the Number 2 released in 1985.

In this issue some thoughts by Nocturnal Emissions, articles about Attrition, Nekrophile Recs, Departure, some poetries and quite a few amazing collages/graphic works.

Definitely, a magazine strictly connected with the first wave of industrial music and its wide network.
Enjoy it.
:f(a*r~a)w*a~y: