MUDKISS FANZINE

The 13^th Floor Elevators - Sign Of The Three Eyed Men (Charley Acquisitions): I’d been looking forward to this baby since paying my money at the door, way back in December 2008. Having devoured Paul Drummond’s Eye Mind earlier the same year, I was finally qualified to accept the mother-load, to file the sounds up top along with the information. Sure, I’d possessed inferior sound copies of the Elevators catalogue for years, they’d served their purpose well, but this was a collection hitherto unimaginable, even in my wildest psychedelic dreams. In a throwback to my days in retail, a courier van arrived at my front door bearing the fruits of Jean Luc Young’s extensive labours and the object of my obsessive desire. Having signed and printed on an electronic screen, I retreated to my inner sanctum to liberate the artefact from its protective packaging. Blown away by the box itself, I initially sat and simply held it, studying every nuance the way I’d once studied LP sleeves for hours on end: the box was sturdy, beautiful and alluring. I’m almost embarrassed to admit this, but I did momentarily consider leaving the damn thing shrink-wrapped and stickered, so troubled was I at the prospect of popping its cherry! Sanity restored, I tore at the cellophane to reveal the treasures therein. In terms of content, there are 10-discs, an envelope filled with reproduction memorabilia/ephemera, and a 72-page hard-back 12” by 12” book penned by the aforementioned Paul Drummond, crammed with striking images and further pertinent information. Here, take a look for yourself:

http://www.internationalartistsrecords.com

Limited to 4000-copies, and available exclusively from the International Artists site (follow the link above), Sign Of The Three Eyed Men is one of the most impressive boxed collections I’ve ever had the pleasure to own. In addition to the already divulged visuals, the audio content is utterly magnificent: great time and massive effort has been invested in the music, high fidelity sound quality has been achieved utilising newly discovered sources and rare previously unavailable recordings to fill this holy grail of a box with substance. Endorsed by all surviving Elevators and named by Tommy Hall, Sign Of The Three Eyed Men deserves its place on the shelf of any connoisseur of counter culture. From the opening Contact Sessions demos of Disc-1, the set takes in the Elevators three landmark albums - The Psychedelic Sounds Of The Thirteenth Floor Elevators, Easter Everywhere and Bull Of The Woods - including rare mono versions, outtakes and alternate versions, two lost albums featuring previously unreleased material, and rare and previously unreleased live recordings. In many ways, this is like hearing the Elevators the way they originally intended us to hear them, like being in the studio at the time the tracks were being laid down. The music peeks from behind the clouds of dust raised by 40-years of alleged progression to remind us once again exactly what made the Elevators so unique. Sure, there’s an element of repetition in evidence, but considering the paucity of cannon, that’s hardly a surprise. Other caveats include the ‘Charly-ness’ (i.e. – quality control issues) of the 10-individual CD sleeves, but I am splitting hairs here. I’ve lived with this box for a month now, and its delights reveal themselves anew with every passing day. At a retail price of £75, some of you may well baulk, but with copies already showing up on Ebay at £175.00, the unscrupulous profiteers are already about their nefarious trade, and the only losers in the long run will be the fans themselves.

http://www.rokyerickson.net

Texas’ outsider musical lineage is, thankfully, not confined to the past, as the second long player from Texan 3-piece White Denim duly confirms. Hot on the heels of their excellent debut album, Workout Holiday (Full Time Hobby), Fits (Full Time Hobby) is an exemplary exercise in contemporising the essence of the Elevators as a post-modernist mannerist canvas. Working from a garage punk palette, and expanding via the mediums of soul, Hendrix and dub, White Denim state their case for being the most genuinely exciting entity in their genre with ever growing assurance. With more ideas going on in the space of one song than many pretenders can manage in a career, James Petralli, Josh Block and Steve Terebecki make no bones about their musical manifesto:

“The story, I've found of white denim really, begins with parque touch; then; after the departure of byshop massive from which white denim comes. In not attempting to prefess, now I may if I will say that these jobs are reflected in each song of the bands every move. The sirs before mentioned in these modern times are near to themselves and becoming daily in their times at the “free wheel” of disposure. At the brink of it all is the concretality of a format being contributable to outcomings. If not to simplify too; so, I retrace in my unstated, potentially radical view, of the eventual occasion to this at present one may encounter upon; whether enduring or adoring, but presently existing continually.” (Taken from the White Denim MySpace page)

If Workout Holiday was pregnant with promise, Fits delivers the baby with the minimum of hot fuss. Less garage ensconced than its predecessor, elements of cosmic dub, Electric Ladyland and white-boy soul have sauntered into the mix, broadening horizons accordingly. Anyone looking for further evidence of White Denim’s pedigree should note that the admirable 60s-obsessed periodical Shindig! endorses very few contemporary combos, and their resounding praise for White Denim should not be ignored: highly recommended!  

http://whitedenimmusic.com

http://www.facebook.com/whitedenimmusic

http://www.myspace.com/whitedenimmusic

Fans of music to transcendentally meditate to will welcome the latest offering from Bremen based drone doom merchants, Troum. Sumptuously packaged in a gatefold card sleeve designed by Stephen O Malley (sunn 0)))), Eald-Ge-Streon (Beta-lactam Ring Records) is a seven-cycle-drone-concerto that delves deep into the inner psyche of the listener. Atmosphere abounds as waves of analogue sound wash over shores littered with avant references. Troum employ guitar, bass, voice, accordion, balalaika, flute, mouth organ, melodica, gong, field recordings and pre-recorded sounds to weave their tapestry of sound by hand. Call it dark atmospheric ambient industrial, call it transcendental noise, call it Tiefenmusik, if you will, but what ever you elect to call it, there were no samplers or computers involved in the process! Troum is the ancient German word for ‘dream’, and that’s possibly the best way to describe this listening experience: somnambulant. Haunting, evocative and expansive, this is womb music for astral projection, and only true space cadets should apply.

www.blrrecords.com  

“Have you ever sat at home after taking loads of drugs and spent an hour or two scanning randomly through Classic Rock channels on the radio so at the end you have a vague recollection of some really catchy, rocking moments, but you’re not sure if they really happened? That’s what That Fucking Tank is like at the moment”, so says Pablo, resident of Barcelona, and who’d argue with anyone from Barcelona in the year they belittled Alex Fergusson? That Fucking Tank, it transpires, are Andy Abbott and James Islip, owners of a Leeds postcode, and purveyors of musical excellence of a vaguely metallic bent. Tanknology (Gringo Records) is the duo’s second full length outing of instrumental channelling that reaches its apex on the Dancing In The Dark quoting and amusingly titled Bruce Springstonehenge and the equally engaging Stephen Hawkwind. Rewarding.

www.thatfuckingtank.com

www.gringorecords.com

Sticking with Leeds momentarily, the debut single from Blacklisters is worthy of mention to fans of Shellac, The Jesus Lizard and Melvins. Swords (Best Enemies Records) is a suitably belligerent stab at immortality, backed by the equally venomous OK47, slabbed-up on a 7” 45 that asks no questions, makes no promises, and takes no prisoners. Noted for their feral and often confrontational live performances, Blacklisters continue the corrosion of non-conformity originated back in the eye of the post-hardcore storm.

www.myspace.com/blacklisters

www.myspace.com/bestenemiesrecords

 

Meanwhile, back at pop central, it’s extremely pleasing to have Jonny Cola & The A-Grades debut mini album in the house at last: The Yellow Mini (BBA Highland Records) is a beguiling 7-track affair that exudes potential in spades. Risen from the ashes of the criminally under-rated Luxembourg, Jonny Cola & The A-Grades have been diligently honing their craft these past 12-months, and arrive at this particular juncture fully formed in every sense. Including previous 45 We’re All Going To Die and forthcoming single, Disappearing Act, The Yellow Mini is a perfect introduction to the fizzy delights bottled by Cola and his cohorts. If you like your whimsical popular music dark with a hint of nonchalance and an overwhelming sense of purpose, then The Yellow Mini is a good a place as any to play catch up.

www.jonnycolaandtheagrades.net

And finally, down in the bargain basement of desperation, it never ceases to amaze me what people will label ‘punk rock’ in 2009 . . . and Blakfish are no exception to the rule. Basically an emo band with shouty bits, If The Good Lord Had Intended Us To Walk He Wouldn’t Have Invented Rollerskates (Hassle Records) is nothing but an appalling extended pun on very wobbly legs: trite, laboured, and coated in some kind of sugar substitute. Somebody down at Hassle Records needs to either look the word ‘punk’ up in the OED, or otherwise buy themselves a thesaurus. The same could be said of In Case Of Fire, who’s Align The Planets (Search And Destroy Records) sounds like the Bluetones attempting to go metalcore (I know, it took me ages to think that one up): decidedly average, way out of their depth, wholly inappropriate. Interestingly, In Case Of Fire are managed by Craig Jennings, who used to front Chapter 22 Records back in the early 80s. It would appear he has unearthed his Balaam And The Angel for the noughties!

Jean Encoule – June 2009 – www.mudkiss.com