I became really self-conscious about The Mekano Set. A loss of confidence I think. The material has been getting really good again, but my heart hasn't been it. But things have happened lately that should be telling me that's stupid. I guess I needed someone to say it straight up.

So it's true. It's looking like there will be an album. And on our own terms (which is why we're finally saying yes to letting other people do stuff for / with / to us).

I don't want to say too much at the moment because, well, it tends to break the spell. But I do want to say that I think we're doing it for the right reasons. We need the focus, and we can't just keep doing ep's, because putting three or four tracks together is easy, play-listing a whole CD's worth is going to be a challenge.

This is no sell out. Frankly, it's something we've always wanted. And we certainly have more than enough material. Which is good and bad...

At the moment I'm thinking that it will almost be like a compilation (but with studio versions of tracks, with decent mixes and production etc. not just compiling the tracks that you already have). Conventional packaging too, for the first time. Because the arty hand-made paper style releases are a hell of a lot of work, and they take time, and you can't do 500 of them, let alone 5000.

And as much as we all love those early ep's, they never received the production / mix we felt they really deserved. I've learned so much over the past couple of years that I feel I can really do them justice now.

If it does OK, I'm hoping that we will be in a position to release key tracks from the different stages - the best freewheeling tracks from the 'Classic Agenda Lineup', the best grooves from the Screw Top / Cake Shop years of Beth and Milk Bedsit Therapy, the best of the 'Milk Now Has All The Toys He Could Ever Need' sessions, and beyond.

Expect some surprises.

M
x

Well it was a hell of a gig. Absolutely excellent. Completely exhausted for a week afterwards. I'm still exhausted now but want to type a little.

Apparently I was spitting water and generally being silly, I don't remember that but it certainly sounds like me. Or at least that 'me' that comes out around Jo and Al... Ask them, I used to be a shameless mix of shamelessly silly and blatantly offensive. Or something... Now I do it all quietly and cause even more trouble. Anyway, the gig:

Wrapped in Plastic is Beth refined. Her songs (down-tempo industrial dirges where her voice stalks) have that 'organic' edge she brings to the mix. All those years scrapping with lion cubs in the bush seeping through.

SPC-ECO. Well, what can I say? I'm very glad they exist. They put these disgraceful 'Nugaze' bands (the same thieving stuck up brats that jump every other bandwagon) to the shame they deserve. They groove in a way those fakers wouldn't dream of. Why is it so hard to find a band that have noisy guitars, decent beats, some real bass end, and a unique vocal sound? Well we had a couple that night didn't we?

And there was Milk & Pickles:



And so...

'For Play' is pretty much sold out. We're keeping a few copies back for ourselves this time because I no longer have copies of the early ep's. Have recently been listening to To The Doghouse, Awake and the mix of Buoy with Beth's vocals and they all sound huge, urgent, special. Saw Patrick the other night and we were trying to work out why we only did Doghouse live just once.

I was almost on a downer but there's a new batch of tunes, and a couple of fresh mixes of the 'almost there' tracks. And I want to get them out there.

We now have a new batch of CD's almost ready to go and they look and sound way better than the last set (I know you're supposed to say stuff like that, but we're only doing it BECAUSE it's an improvement). They now have these shiny red sleeves, on-CD printing and the stickers are nicer too.

We also have enough material for an album! There's just a couple of tracks left to mix and then we need to sort out the running order (never an easy thing...). We think these might end up as jewel-cased type releases with proper artwork and stuff but we're not sure if that's really where we want to go with it.

Plus, now that there are enough promos we might do a very limited run of DVD's.

The new songs... the old songs... I think there's a definite 'natural' progression going on.

But what sort of music is it? And does that really matter? You either like it or you don't.

The Mekano Set

Wednesday 19th November : SPC ECO + WRAPPED IN PLASTIC = LIVE!

As you know, SPC ECO is none other than Dean, Deb and Monti from indie / shoegaze / bigbeat legends Curve, with the delovely Rose Garcia on vocals. They do a damned fine line in down-tempo psychedelic electro shoegaze and they've still got THAT bass / guitar noise sound...

WRAPPED IN PLASTIC features the gorgeous voice of none other than Beth 'Bake or Die' Rettig, and the filthy, from-the-ankle guitar squall of Deb (Curve, SPC ECO, Echobelly). A very delicious noise.


The Mekano Set won't be playing but we will be there, and I'll be doing some sounds with my best fiend Jo Staples (see Abstinence & Sensibility for more about that) and HRT will getting the ball rolling with their usual cinematic / ritualistic shenanigans.


Plus delightful DJ's Creta Fluxorum and Poison Creeper will play an exotic mix of tunes to merge it all together.


www. myspace. com/spceco

www. myspace. com/wrappedinplasticuk

www. myspace. com/abstinenceandsensibility

www. myspace. com/hrtcorp

www. myspace. com/trainofthoughtradio


TRAIN OF THOUGHT NIGHT @ The Good Ship, 289 Kilburn High Rd, London, NW6 7JR
020 73722544

www. myspace. com/thegoodship

8pm until 2 am. £4.


We hope to do a night with the same line-up in Brighton too as soon as the venue is sorted.


Meanwhile, you can check out the TRAIN OF THOUGHT PODCAST (featuring some exclusive tracks from the likes of CARTHAGE, WRAPPED IN PLASTIC, THE FLESH MACHINE, amusing asides by some bloke called Milk, and a theme-tune some band called THE MEKANO SET?)

If you missed us on the radio last night you can listen on-line:http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/shows/tom_robinsons_introducing/


And see you in London on the 8th October?






And Worthing on Saturday 18th October?



The Mekano Set