radio free midwich

artifacts of the no-audience underground: rfm catches up, part one

There now follows an attempt by RFM to catch up a bit with the teetering pile of newness that I was enjoying not writing about during my month of unblogging.  These will not be in depth reviews full of attention to detail and flights of metaphorical fancy as most of these items were innocently provided as gifts or actually paid for by me.  Either way, they weren’t ‘submitted’ as such.  All I am doing here is calling your attention to some interesting stuff.  If you would like to take it further then links are provided.  I recommend that you do.

Astral Social Club – Wheezy Paradise (Sonic Oyster)

This tape documents an Astral Social Club show in Newcastle last year.  It’s a fun package: bright green cassette housed in a bright yellow A4 sheet of paper decorated with photocopies of, er…, cassettes (ha! not only clever – cuts postage costs – but clever-clever too).

The music is uplifting in the usual nostrils-flaring, day-glo way but I’m not going into any detail as it is no longer available to buy.  In fact, it appears to have sold out within days of being announced.  Sonic Oyster is obviously doing something right so maybe you should visit and get on the mailing list.

Tape Noise – All turn Native

Video snippets of various Tape Noise perfomances knitted together into a disarmingly charming seven minute film.  I watched this with a smile on my face throughout, several times over.  How much experimental performance can be described as cute?  Not much.

Like all Tape Noise ‘product’ I have no idea whether this is ‘available’ in any conventional sense.  You are best off contacting Dex directly at tapenoise@gmail.com or via his website.

Eyeballs – The Invisible Castle (Blackest Rainbow)

Very accomplished hour-long drone piece from blog-fave Richard Dawson in his Eyeballs guise.  The trick with a lengthy track like this is to be fuzzily meditative enough to be properly ego-dissolving, yet not so featureless that the listener’s attention slips right off.  Suffice to say this is a very satisfying success.  At the time of writing this (proper) CD is available for a knock-down price at Blackest Rainbow.  Get in.

More to come…