Holiday Dance Electro Party Nonstop Rave Shoes

Hello kids.

As you may have noticed (or not – you ungrateful brats! boo hoo :P), I have been away for a while.
I’ve been to 7 different cash points at 3 different Fashion weeks in 4 different countries. I got a haircut. It was my birthday. I read half a book. I accidentally volunteered in a third world country hospital. I got my heart broken.

blue skies, eh?

But all that doesn’t matter, because Mekano-Milk urgently needed me to compile a list of some of the old and new Mekano songs he’s put up on viinyl.com over the last few months, and to write some mini-reviews so y’all don’t get too confused (because they never name the goddamn songs after anything that’s in the lyrics, ya know…)

He said to mention that “they strike quite a good balance between the post punk and the more groove beats electro dancy stuff” but I don’t know exactly what he means by that so that’s why I’m just quoting him here. I’m not psychic, you know.

but maybe these ladies are.

Loom http://loommarmaladesoupmix.viinyl.com
This song sounds like you’re going through one of those underground tunnels in a car, watching the orange lights go by and wondering what you’re even doing with your life, because you’re not sure who the person driving the car is, nor where you’re headed.

No Place http://noplace.viinyl.com
It’s a bit like a film set in the woods – it feels like you’re outdoors, but really, you’re not. You’re just stuffing popcorn into your face.

or crisps. or bits of glass. whatever.

No High http://nohigh.viinyl.com
This one has a tune like a friendly robot humming along while he’s making your tea. Then it gets more interesting. I like this one. Maybe because it sounds a bit like a song?

Plavitsa http://plavitsa.viinyl.com
Bit of an undergroundy vibe going on here. Imagine a wine cellar, but instead of wine there’s all antique medical equipment and shit on the shelves.

only dog knows what's going on

Sumni http://sumni.viinyl.com
I like to listen to this one while I’m in the bathtub.
(Not really. I’ve just heard it for the first time.)
It’s… groovy?

Lavia http://lavia.viinyl.com
So I’m not really sure but I think it’s about lady parts? Like, a bit rough around the edges and has a solid rhythm. The song, I mean.

cheeky.

Reaching Out http://reachingout.viinyl.com
This song is most definitely set on a different planet. I think it might have even been recorded on a different frequency or something (I haven’t done any research). Justine sent it to NASA and asked them to take it back to where it belongs, but they wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole. Bastards.

Glass Keys http://glasskeysvendridinoirmix1.viinyl.com
So I got these really cute heels in New York, and they’re dark red and velvety and hurt your toes like the bajeezus . And they just made me think of Cinderella, even though nothing on them is made out of glass, and also, she’s supposed to be all innocent and shit, and these shoes really don’t look innocent at all and… where was I?
…oh yeah I don’t know whether they mean door-keys or keyboard-keys so I’m just keeping shtum on this one.

turrets?

Even Stevens http://evenstevensunevenstevensmix.viinyl.com
A hint of citrus, served on a bed of echoing despair.

You’re Full of You http://yourefullofyou.viinyl.com
If a vacuum cleaner and a blender had a baby… and it went back to the 80s to stop its grandmother from falling in love with its own brother, but at the same time they had to save the world from pollution… this would be the soundtrack. Probably.

that is some spikey shit, dude

A Chased Hart http://achasedheartdemo.viinyl.com
Don’t play this one to your pets. They will literally go nuts. My favourite dress as well. Ruined.

Theme for Mr. Stew http://stewartleetheme.viinyl.com
I don't get this. It's not even funny. Milk Mckenzie's let himself go.

crap crap crap

 Over and out, kiddos.

SIN xxx

xxxxx

Adventures in Sounds and Spaces

Our hour-long adventure in sounds and spaces will be on the radio tonight (Saturday 9th February) at midnight. The show will be repeated on Monday at 7 am and again on Friday at 11.00 am. In Brighton you can tune in on 97.2 FM and listen online anywhere via www.radioreverb.com

 Thanks to Melita for making this happen. 

Also, we got together yesterday for an interview with the excellent Elegy Magazine. Some very in-depth questions from Jessica. Excellent. 

 

 

 

TWELVETY THREE

Live in London thanks to DJ Cavey Nik

Ten years ago this week, I made a fairly sudden decision to quit my job, move to Brighton and try to make some music.

I couldn't find the noises I wanted to hear. So I figured I'd better start making some for myself. But I wanted collaborators, and I wanted to do gigs.

I stayed with a friend (Andy B) who had introduced me to Post-Rock, Techno Animal and The Bug. 

We met Nigel, a guitarist who was interested in improv and musical adventures. He had a guitar that made great industrial sounding drones when you hit the bridge with the palm of your hand, and a child’s sampling keyboard with a recorder gaffa-taped to its built-in microphone and made these fantastic, exotic sounding ambient squiggles with it and a basic Boss multi-effects unit. Nigel happens to be one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.

On Friday nights we’d meet, drink a bottle of red wine each, and improvise around the beats I’d been working on during the week. I had a battered old Mac laptop, a cheap mic, and a cheaper bass. Andy would DJ location recordings and sound effects on a CD player and a cheap Boss sampler. I wanted to find a vocalist, maybe even a drummer. But instead of waiting, we just got on with it.

Looking back, and listening to some recordings from those early sessions (Stenopools is a live recording from one of those early sessions: http://themekanoset.bandcamp.com/track/the-stenopools), what's interesting is the way we accidentally worked like an ensemble: in free music and jazz, it’s totally acceptable for one or more musicians to not make a sound for a long period of time: it's music made by people who LISTEN to the overall sound, not just what that they feel obliged to play regardless of whether it fits or not. You don't really get that much in rock.

So you listen to what’s going on, and if it’s enough, you don’t play. Everyone gets their chance to ‘speak’, but everyone also shows respect, and doesn’t play anything unless it’s really necessary.

The Mekano Set grew out of these get-togethers. I don't try to force it in terms of direction but I guess it has a fairly distinctive sound. There's not many bands around doing what we do - and I guess that's why I still do it.

Now people can give you a hard time for making music that's unconventional. But look, we do what we do and it's honest. If you don't like it, good. If we piss you off, good.

Nowadays what I do with The Mekano Set is obviously a different thing to those early jams. But I think the sense of being on a journey in sound is still there, and we still leave a lot of space. Working on Behind The Sins recently has really opened things up and we can, if the mood takes us, explore those roaming, mysterious musical landscapes. We don't have to limit ourselves to the fairly conventional song-structures we usually find ourselves in.

No one seems to mind (or generally notice) that most of our songs don't conform to the conventional pop / rock song structures. 

These early nights were made as much of location recordings, found sounds and good old NOISE as much as drums, bass and guitars. And with Sins, we've been able to explore those sounds and noises too.

Over time we would have other people along to join in the noise. Some great musicians. But all along, what mattered was attitude. I remember when we started gigging seriously we advertised for a ‘proper guitarist’. In the end, our friend Lee got the job, because we knew we could get on with him, and he would happily just hold down one strangled note or a wall of filthy white noise for an entire song, rather than try out his funk-bass skills or some long-winded Chilly Poopers style funk-metal wah-wah guitar solo.

It took me a while to accept the fact that I wasn’t going to get (and didn’t really need, or want) a conventional line-up. I soon gave up on the idea of finding specific musicians, but I didn't give up. I just got people I met and got on with to join in the fun. And that's kept things interesting and fresh and taken me to places I'd never have thought to try. Pretty much everyone I know has been asked to join. Even (and especially) the people who can’t play an instrument. It doesn't always work, but makes for interesting experiments.

In a way, I’ve never quite found my place, or instrument. My main instrument these days is a baritone guitar (the one between a bass and a lead guitar...). And ultimately, I'm still doing what I set out to do ten years ago: trying to make some noise, because there isn't enough of the noises I like to hear out there.

Our latest noise: http://skintoo.viinyl.com/

Our adventures in sounds and spaces: http://themekanoset.bandcamp.com/album/behind-the-sins-o-s-t

The Mekano Set

London Gothic

We're getting ready to play London on Friday night. It's a full-on Alternative Gothic Post-Punk Electro Deathrock night which is a bit very exciting. Cavey Nik's Dead and Buried promises to be an eclectic and colourful night of noises where they play everything from Cardiacs to The Cramps, Joy Division to Generation X,  Sparks to The Smiths.

Digital Painting by SugarHighTyrant

Friday 25th January. 8 pm - 3 am - £6

Mother Live
333 Old Street
London
EC1V 9LE

http://www.clubdeadandburiedlondon.com/

https://www.facebook.com/events/186505638157475/


Nearest tube stations = Old Street + Liverpool Street

http://www.clubdeadandburiedlondon.com/location-and-transport/




Meanwhile, help yourself to a slice of our own brand of dark, grimy swirly electro punk noise:

http://glasskeysshoegrimemix.viinyl.com/ 

A little more info on Dead and Buried

ENTRY £6

No dress code but BLACK is preferable!

UPDATE: Please try and arrive before 23.30 as after that time all monies taken on the door go straight to the venue and NOT Dead and Buried - please help us to continue to bring quality live bands and Djs to London at thsi great venue if you can [none of which is free!] Plus the earlier you get tehre the more frun you will have! ;^)

You may hear music from bands such as: Opera de Nuit, Christian Death, The Cure, Gorgonas, Gertrud Stein, Bauhaus, Euroshima, The Unkindness of Ravens, Sisters of Mercy, Ideal, CCCP, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Specimen, ALien Sex Fiend, The Cramps, Frustration, La Femme, The Adicts, Cinema Strange, Defectors, Fangs on Fur.. etc.

The Mekano Set