April 2005

Rare Meat

An obscure mid-80s offshoot of the Virgin Prunes was Princess Tinymeat. a short-lived project led by Bintii a/k/a Daniel Figgis of the Prunes - The Princess was around long enough to record three 12” singles for Rough Trade and a couple compilation tracks (ultimately all collected on the Herstory LP which was briefly available as a Japanese CD reissue, now impossible to find) - This is the A-side to one of those singles, “Sloblands”, sounding like a drug-drenched post-punk take on Warm Jets-phase Eno - FYI, the name Princess Tinymeat was taken from what was evidently the backstage nickname of actor Montgomery Clift…

PrincessTinymeat_Sloblands.mp3

Dirt, Take 11 (false start)

Yup, it's The Stooges, from that awesome & out-of-print Rhino Handmade 7-disc box set 1970: The Complete Fun House Sessions - One take among thirteen of "Dirt" (there's like 32 takes of "Loose" altogether on this collection). At seven seconds, this is just a teaser - Maybe next time I'll upload the full 17-minute take of "L.A. Blues". Enjoy... Stooges__Dirt_Take_11_false_start.mp3

Black Hole Sun

Okay, I’m no Soundgarden fan, not that I dislike them particularly, just that I never owned or even listened to one of their records, and this is the only song they ever did I could name or recognize. Whatever… But this is a truly awesome cover version. It’s Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme singing here (and I don’t know whose arrangement or production this is but it’s a masterstroke). It comes from a (mostly wretched) compilation CD called Lounge-A-Palooza that came out back in ‘97. Eydie sounds like a bit of a lightweight here, but Steve’s voice is in fine form, his singing has mellowed with a gravity and depth that rivals Sinatra at his best. This track, IMHO, is right up there with ‘the Godlike genius of Scott Walker’…

SteveandEydie_BlackHole_Sun.mp3

The Emperor Of Disgust

This is surely one of the most evocative sound collage works I’ve ever heard - a consummate example of Dadaist radio theatre. The perpetrator of this slice of genius is M.S. Waldron a/k/a irr. app. (ext.), the same artist responsible for the above illustration. This short track is taken from the limited-edition CD-R release by irr. app. (ext.) entitled Radiant Black Future: Step Forward and Address the Present Amidst the Wreckage of the Past, to which the artist has appended the following elucidatory footnote:

We can start with a single human being. Now remove it from its environment, pin it down, isolate it: here, in this vulgar material, the blueprint for something else can be uncovered.

We strip away its rationalisations, its excuses and lies – and what we are left with is an animal, dominated by hunger and by a single-minded craving for freedom. As an animal, it howls and protests without shame, chafes against its restraints without cease.

Next, we siphon away curiosity, anxiety, and initiative. What remains is an insect: an existence steered only by instinct and mechanical responses, blissfully devoid of questions, voiceless and unambitious.

The opportunity for true, worthwhile development is now becoming available, so we act further: our insect is drained of social habits and hierarchies, purified in the uninterrupted glow of unconsciousness - and thereby emerges as a plant, a monument to life as self-fulfilling fact.

This far from recrimination, the possibilities expand in every direction. But let’s move farther still: extract all impetus, conflict, sentience, mortality. Here, we walk through the indefinable doorway into the domain of mineral bliss – sparkling with the metal from which is formed the crown of eternity, paved by the stones that comprise the road to unqualified perfection. Let us now take that road, abandoning form and substance.

With this final stage accomplished, our subject is transformed into an idea that is infinite in its scope – and will always remain so, for it will never be debased through the act of materialisation. And from here we need go no further.

(December 17th, 1869; O.A.C. temporary lodgings after the fire; dried mud, the sound of flies mating.)

If your curiosity has been piqued (as it well should be), you are encouraged to explore further at The Official Irr. App. (Ext.) Website…

IrrAppExt_TheEmperorOfDisgust.mp3