‘eye for detail’, the midwich remixes album, out now!

October 1, 2014 at 9:22 am | Posted in midwich, new music, no audience underground | 2 Comments
Tags: ap martlet, aqua dentata, astral social club, bbblood, breather, brian lavelle, chrissie caulfield, clive henry, dale cornish, daniel thomas, devotional hooligan, dr:wr, drone, dsic, eddie nuttall, electronica, foldhead, gerado picho, hagman, hardworking families, helicopter quartet, improv, in fog, joe murray, john tuffen, julian bradley, karl mv waugh, la mancha del pecado, michael clough, michael gillham, midwich, miguel perez, neil campbell, new music, no audience underground, noise, orlando ferguson, panelak, pascal ansell, paul walsh, paul watson, posset, psychedelia, pyongyang plastics, scott mckeating, shameless self-congratulation, simon aulman, the piss superstition, the red cross, the zero map, tom bench, van appears, yol, zn

Comrades!  Light the bonfires!  Blow those long, thin trumpets with banners hanging off ’em!

Radio Free Midwich is delighted to announce the release of eye for detail – the midwich remixes album.

About six weeks ago a passing comment on Twitter was tossed over the chalet balcony and started to roll down the mountainside.  The resulting giant snowball crashed through the doors of my back catalogue and, within hours, a happy band of looters was ransacking the vault.  An album was retroactively called into existence with a deadline and a charity cause adding some ‘oomph’ to proceedings.  The cut off was the 30th September, the release date today.  Such is the unfettered power of the no-audience underground.

I have been delighted with the number of responses, the enthusiasm with which contributors embraced the task and the breadth, quality and imagination shown in the submitted tracks.  The artists featured represent a (partial at least) cross section of the ‘scene’ this blog reports on and the gathering of the clan has reminded me, more than once, of the ridiculous oTo tapes project I oversaw a decade ago (indeed, check out the title of Michael Gillham’s track – dude also has a long memory).  It has been extremely flattering and morale boosting to see such art inspired by my own meagre output.  I am humbled but beaming.

A few words about the album itself.  There are 27 tracks in total and the combined running time is over three and a half hours.  The artists included are (deep breath):

Andy Jarvis, ap martlet, Aqua Dentata, Breather, Brian Lavelle, Chrissie Caulfield (of RFM faves Helicopter Quartet), Clive Henry, Dale Cornish, Daniel Thomas, devotionalhallucinatic, DR:WR (Karl of The Zero Map), dsic, foldhead (Paul Walsh – who accidentally started it all), Hardworking Families (Tom Bench), In Fog (Scott McKeating of this parish), John Tuffen (of Orlando Ferguson), Michael Clough, Michael Gillham, Neil Campbell (Astral Social Club), Panelak, Paul Watson (BBBlood), posset (Joe Murray also of RFM), Simon Aulman (pyongyang plastics), the piss superstition, Van Appears, Yol, and ZN.

Phew, champion line up, eh?  I have made a stab at organising a coherent running order but please feel free to chop and change according to your own mood.  Over such a long time, and with so many different styles in play, some juxtapositions are going to grate for some listeners.  I have done a little light-touch mastering – mainly just amping up a couple of tracks – but not much, most tracks are presented as they arrived.  There are some variations in volume but SO BE IT – no unnecessary compression/loudness war crap here.

The cover photograph was donated by Michael Clough and I encourage all readers to regularly check his tumblr site for a stream of similar observational genius.  The download includes a portfolio of a further seven photographs from Clough to accompany the release.  Also in the bonus items is a document listing links to further information about the featured artists and, where possible, links to the midwich material that was the source for their track.

Finally then: the cause.  It seemed appropriate to me to make this a charity release and chose the Red Cross as the beneficiary.  You may be aware of the front line medical help they supply in disaster situations but may not be familiar with the global network they have for tracing missing family members, or the support they provide to refugees in accessing services and adapting to life in a new country.  You can read about what they do here.  All proceeds from this album will be heading their way.

—ooOoo—

eye for detail on Bandcamp

The Red Cross