August Drudion
After the Archdrude’s Harrogate show, four Black Sheep returned to the Rudston Monolith, England’s tallest standing stone. (L‑R) Michael O’Sullivan. Julian H. Cope, Big Nige, Hebbs.
Hey Dorian,
I’m dedicating this entire August Drudion to you by way of thanks for the heroic manner in which you’ve managed and navigated the first year of your ON THIS DEITY tour de force, bequeathing to the Black Sheep and our May 1st Movement a spectacular new People’s World History, uncovering not only heroes, heroines and righteous acts, but also re-sharpening the knives for World Tyrants such as Cromwell, Hitler, Franco and Stalin. Let every man and woman in this world – through patient research and excavation – K N O W that ‘Death To Tyrants!’ must always be the first cry of Future Humanity. Right On.
ORCADIA by Black Sheep VC
Let me also give great thanks and love to Black Sheep VC, whose debut Ur-shriek – entitled ORCADIA in honour of the Orkney Isles – escaped on to the shelves this very morning of August 1st 2011CE. ‘Goodbye Ego, Hullo Id!’ should be the warning sticker on this CD. For those in contact with this disc will be thereafter forever changed, as our VC duo of Vybik Jon and Common Era have – by way of their Cosmic Unrestrain shown on these recordings – now given us also permission to ‘S T O O P’ down into our own underworld selves each time we pay a visit to Wayland’s Smithy, Belas Knap, Hetty Peglar’s Tump, or some such local Neolithic temple. Let No id remain un-stooped! Bravo VC Motherfuckers, for in setting the bar at ‘STOOP’, our outer stooping egos shall each reflect our inner Stoop-ids.
TROWO PHURNAG CEREMONY by Phurpa
Onwards next to the sublime sounds of Moscow’s vocal’n’arcania ritual ensemble Phurpa, whose magnificent double-vinyl LP TROWO PHURNAG CEREMONY has just gained a particularly splendid release on Stephen O’Malley’s brand new Editions Mego (www.editionsmego.com). Combining traditional Tibetan instruments with throat singing and shamanic traditions from the Asian pre-Buddist religion known as Bon. Beautifully recorded, rich and otherworldly sonorous as a hi-fi recording of monks in the Hypogeum of Malta, this spectacular series of performances is highly useful also, being both meditative and medicative simultaneously. Soothe your blistered 3rd eye, and heal your raped chakras with the music of Phurpa. Oh, and contact these druids via phurpa.ru and praise these poetic RŸsskies pronto, Tonto.
RRR by Hey Colossus
Righty oh, you’d next better scoot over to the website of the excellent Riot Season Records (www.riotseason.com), where Hey Colossus has just given birth to another beautiful Underground monster by the splendid name of RRR – sounds like the noise Odin’s body will make when devoured by the Fenris Wolf during Ragnarok. Uh-oh. Now what the actual is it with these achieving guys? Here was I expecting some post-Doom symphony to the 15’ long prehistoric sloth of legend, and here they come proceeding stately and ritualistically, somewhat like This Heat dressed as the 3 Wise Men. It’s a canny sound, gentlemen, and that’s a fact. Dunno what they’re imbibing, but all the while musicians everywhere are falling by the waysides, teetering into the gulleys and deep ditches of our once deep rock’n’roll scene, instead the unyielding gentlemen of Hey Colossus continue to rise, slowly building up a hefty and fortified canon of work of considerable poise and sonic use. Better still, the evocative grooves of RRR see Hey Colossus [temporarily?] dump their side-long tours de force, dump their many pronged Ur-riffs, herein substituting instead a rolling-mix of many tracks, snatches, sonic cinema verité, a vast and panoramic music always incoming, always outgoing, and as entertaining as Thrones playing THE FAUST TAPES, if you detail freaks can get to such a comparison. To the Colossus, I raise another stein and cry: “Naileth Encore, Mes Motherfuckeren!”
LIFE IS AN ILLUSION by Annapurna Illusion
Next up, and commencing with a slab of post-STRATOSFEAR T. Dream aftershock, comes the throbbing sub-space of LIFE IS AN ILLUSION by New Zealander avant geezers Annapurna Illusion, whose series of sonic ebbs and flows sound on this record each like an excerpt from the radiant heart of some Jam Eternal. Indeed, I coulda done with each track lasting twenty minutes or more. Released on the oft-wonderfuel Bristol label Rocket Recordings (rocketrecordings.com), LIFE IS AN ILLUSION is a much repeatable experience, guaranteed to irrigate your psychick synapses by Dynorodding any previously Congealed Entrance. Sounds like da biz, nein? Oh, and contact them via myspace.com/annapurnaillusions, awl-righty?
Carlton Melton 7″
Those of you jonesing for the purchase of a new 7” single should forget about the next classic A‑side and, instead, scoot over to San Francisco’s Valley King Records (www.secretperpents.com) to score a copy of Carlton Melton’s wailing’n’fabulous new 33 RPM release. Housed in a front-opening tooled cover, the two colossal tracks showcased herein – ‘Handling Snakes’ and ‘The One That Got Away’ – continue this axe wielding ensemble’s starbound trajectory and then some.
‘Gwlad ar Fy Nghefn’ 7″ by Klaus Kinski
And if that’s not enough for your 7” fanatics, how about you grab your own copy of ‘Gwlad ar Fy Nghefn’ by Welsh band Klaus Kinski. Heck, this track deploys an Ur-rush and an Ur-roar unlike much I’ve heard before. Compelling and catchy as a bastard, these complain-o-thon kings-of-the-hill sound as raw and chafed as their hastily daubed coverstar.
Finally, thanks to everyone who survived our Black Sheep Radio Show TUE’SDAY NIGHT/WODENSDAY MORNING on Biker FM, and be sure that Big Nige and I will bring forth another in the near future. In the meantime, for all of you frustrated by the drowsily early morning half-heard titles, here’s a re-cap of what we played: 1) ‘Midnight Cobras’ by Tonsstartbandht, 2) ‘Into the Garage’ by Gunslingers, 3) ‘Badness All Around’ by Zodiac Mountain, 4) ‘Am I Not Yours?’ by Acoustika, 5) ‘Stranded in Ashland’ by the New Lou Reeds, 6) ‘Return to Heaven’ by Comets on Fire, 7) King of Kong’ by Nurse with Mound, 8) ‘TV as Eyes’ by Chrome, 9) ‘He’s Not Dead, He’s Just In Texas’ by 5‑Track, 10) ‘My Heathen Revolution’ by Christophe F., 11) ‘Vive Le Suicide’ by Julian Cope, 12) ‘Guitar Army’ by the Rationals, 13) ‘West Kennett Longbarrow Meditation on Sun and Moon So Heavy’ by Urthona, 14) ‘Damn Life’ by John Cale, 15) ‘Rama’ by Billy Miller, 16) ‘Christopher Columbus’ by Dorian Cope 17) ‘Magic’ by Awaken!, 18) ‘No Gods (Ni Dios, Ni Amo)’ by Black Sheep, 19) ‘Last of the Old Time Hippies’ by Lenny Bruce, 20) ‘Sewer Mouth Sue by Brast Burn, 21) ‘Marianne’ by the Jacks, 22) ‘Owl’s Path’ by In Zaire, 23) ’18 Charms of Odin’ by Julian Cope, 24) ‘Repetition’ by Kawaguchi Masami’s New Rock Syndicate, 25) ‘Song to the Men of England’ by David Wrench, 26) ‘Ypsilon in Malaysian Pale (7‑minute-excerpt)’ by Edgar Froese, 27) ‘A Letter to My Rose’ by Acoustika, 28) ‘Ken Kesey’ by Nurse With Mound, 29) ‘Funeral March for Amebix, The Mob, Dirt, Antisect, Crude SS, May Blitz, Flower Travellin’ Band, Diamanda Galas, Ash Ra Tempel, Guru Guru, Amon Duul, Black Sabbath and German Oak’ by Death Comes Along, 30) ‘Moses’ by Lenny Bruce, 31) ‘Fall’ by Billy Miller, 32) ‘Leila’s First Hijack’ by Dorian Cope, 33) ‘The Bastich’ by St. Steven, 34) ‘Loud Loud Loud’ by Aphrodite’s Child, ‘Dodsdansen, Life of an Island Lad’ by Sorc’henn, 35) ‘Song for an Unknown Daughter’ by Christophe F., 36) ‘The Negro & the Jew in Showbusiness’ by Lenny Bruce, 37) ‘Tony’s First Communion’ by Gnod, 38) ‘All Gates Open’ by Can, 39) ‘Cromwell in Ireland’ by Julian Cope, 40) ‘Kanal Telemedial Energieausgleich’ by Datashock, 41) ‘One Time in Chicago’ by Lord Buckley, 42) ‘Forge Your Own Chains’ by D. R. Hooker, 43) ‘Swansong’ by Be Bop Deluxe, 44) ‘Mud’ by Lenny Bruce, 45) ‘Adwenture’ by Las Kellies, 46) ‘Chelsea Hotel’ by Nurse With Mound, 47) ‘Supermarket’ by Lord Buckley, 48) ‘The Vastest Island’ by People of the North, and 49) ‘Blind Baby Has Its Mother’s Eyes’ by Les Rallizes Denudes.
Okay, with all of that done and dusted, I shall bid y’all farewell and see you in another month.
Love reign upon ye,
JULIAN (Lord Yatesbury)