Review / Richard King / How Soon Is Now / Faber
I’ve just finished reading Richard King’s ‘How Soon Is Now’ which as you can see is sub-titled ‘The Madmen And Mavericks Who Made Independent Music 1975-2005′ which pretty much sums it up in a nutshell. If you look at the back cover below you can see all the labels King has covered in the book...
20 QUESTIONS / 001 / RICHARD “AMPO” HAMPSON / IS IT BALEARIC?
Where are you based and is this your home town?
Reviews / PROMO`D / 08 / 05 / 12
VARIOUS / PERSONAL SPACE / CHOCOLATE INDUSTRIES Larry Heard`s Alien seaside synths, the strange garage-studio Blues of Doug Hream Blunt. Vocals shredded by cheap mics and concrete reflections. A Bill Wither`s Georgia back-yard groove. Sun Ra`s spaceways. A `luded out Prince Charles and The City Beat Band. The YMO done moved to Harlem. The lo-fi...
Reviews / PROMO`D / 19/04/12
FRANCIS BEBEY / NEW TRACK / BORN BAD A great compilation, on French label Born Bad, of the work of African musician Francis Bebey. It took me a while to track down a copy as everywhere seems to have sold out, so a big thank you Lighthouse Records in Tokyo. A kora, kalimba, a kick-drum...
Interview / Nick Logan / Publisher & Editor / The Face / Smash Hits
Any regular readers of Test Pressing will know I am a big fan of The Face. For me they covered youth culture in an intelligent way at a time when the culture itself was vibrant, colourful and exciting. The man behind The Face was Nick Logan, named the most innovative magazine man of his generation...
Reviews / PROMO`D / 14/04/12
ORGANS OF LOVE / BONE / OPTIMO Dark Electro Cabaret from Jim McKinven, previously with One Dove. Laurie Anderson`s “X=X” and “White Lily” meet Add N To X. Goldfrapp`s choo-choo ch-boogie with torn stockings and a flick-knife instead of silk Agent Provocateur camiknickers and platforms. “Facefuck” is something German. Joe Meek getting blown by The...
The NME / DJ Harvey Piece / New Hard Left
Sometimes I feel like the only old articles I post are DJ Harvey ones but maybe that has just been recently but we’re not running the fan club honestly. I don’t even get the guru thing as I said before. I just think he’s a good bloke who stuck to his guns, throws a great...
One Thousand Cranes
On my recent trip back to the UK I was lucky enough to bump into my old friend Kevin Summers, of Anomaly. He had come to a house party thrown in honour of my return, thinking it was the host’s birthday, but that’s beside the point (he did bring a nice card). Whilst reflecting on...
Simon Jeffes Interview / Womad
This interview with Simon Jeffes of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra is from 1985 and comes from the Womad compilation Talking Book Volume One: An Introduction. Jeffes was a true great in our book and this is a lovely interview giving a little insight into the Penguin Cafe. (Please excuse the good doctors dodgy scanning ha.)...
How Soft Cell’s Tainted Love Came To Be…
Ian Dewhirst, longtime Soul DJ and man behind Mastercuts and many other good things, just put this post on DJ History and I thought I’d put this up here almost so I could remember it. The thread was about Leeds club The Warehouse. Ian Dewhirst says… “Soft Cell recorded “Tainted Love” as a direct result...
Reviews / PROMO`D / 15/03/12
SHAWN LEE’S PING PONG ORCHESTRA / SAN DIEGO / AFICIONADO RECORDINGS Shawn flicks on his Casio and channels Laurel Canyon. Dreaming of sunnier climes. Memories of everyone dancing at The Castle Hotel, Manchester. Moon played it to me and I thought it was a Crosby, Stills and Nash cover. Phil (Mison) does a respectful (both...
INTERVIEW / STUART LEATH / EMOTIONAL RESCUE / EMOTIONAL RESPONSE
Interview took place 13:30 GMT, 22:30 JT. One was about to go for a run, the other was opening a bottle of wine. Dr Rob (DR) / First question, who are Emotional Rescue & Emotional Response? Stuart Leath (SL) / Emotional Response & Rescue are me and Chris Galloway. It’s just me and Chris. Though...
Nice Things In The Post / Kindness
So this one has been getting noticed. You may have seen people posting about this on Facebook or whatever as it seems to be a bit of a hype one right now. Whatever. For me its great to see major record labels doing good things and supporting left of centre music in the correct way....
Nice Things In The Post / Tusk 4
Its always good when the postman turns up with a new record you weren’t expecting. I liked these guys from the off. They got in touch and said can we send the record and I said send digital if its easier and they said ‘vinyl only with us’. Good ethos. Tusk 4 is the new...
Reviews / Promo’d / 19 / 02 / 2012
BLAKULA / BACK FROM MYSTERY CITY / BEAR FUNK Italian Horror with a post-punk funk edge. Metallic echoes of Levene. Wobble-like bass. Richard Sen’s Padded Cell with harpsichord flourishes, thigh-bone trumpets and the Jajouka’s rhiatas. Sharing Barry Adamson’s “Moss-Side Story”s obsession with the night and musicians in sharp suits, Cold War spy theme guitar riffs...