Acen – Close Your Eyes / Trip II the Moon

The lights circle the heaving dancefloor like swooping angels. The crowd flail wildly as the bassline drops deep, a physical pummeling in your stomach and lower. The snares skitter from both sides, now forward, now back. Synth lines buzz and screech, sending spiralling trails of synaesthetic colour across your E-addled vision. It’s rising, coalescing, everything coming together in a thunderous wall of sound that threatens like a stormfront to break, to break, to… “Here comes the sun… here comes the sun…” sings George Harrison as all the golden scans come on at once, every hand in the place shoots skywards and the top of everyone’s head lifts clean off, in response to the most glorious E-friendly sample drop of all time.

Welcome once more Acen, aka Syed Razvi, producer of legendary early hardcore classics “Close Your Eyes” and the epic three volumes of “Trip II the Moon”. You’ll find a few of these sides on compilations, and a couple (without that joyous Beatles sample on “Optikonfusion”, unsurprisingly) made it onto the disappointing album 75 Minutes. If you want it, seven mixes of “Window in the Sky” and all, you’ll find it turns up online from time to time. What follows, though, are the real shit.

All are new 320 rips from original twelves; any crackles are merely authentic souvenirs of a wild, wild time.

Close Your Eyes, 12″, Production House PNT034, 1991

a. Close Your Eyes (XXX Mix)
b. Close Your Eyes (Vitamin E Mix)

Close Your Eyes Remixes, 12″, Production House PNT034R, 1991

a. Close Your Eyes (Optikonfusion!)
b. Close Your Eyes (The Sequel)

Link: below | Discogs pt1 pt2

Trip II the Moon pt1, 12″, Production House PNT042, 1992

a. Trip II the Moon
b. Obsessed

Trip II the Moon pt2, 12″, Production House PNT042R, 1992

a. Trip II the Moon (The Darkside)
b. The Life and Crimes of a Ruffneck

Trip II the Moon – Kaleidoscopiklimax, 12″, Production House PNT042RX, 1992

a. Trip II the Moon (Kaleidoscopiklimax)
b. Obsessed II (Pictures of Silence)

Here: The whole of the moon | Discogs pt1 pt2 pt3

Plant Bach Ofnus – Symudiad Ymddangosol y Lleuad

Tape, Direction Music, 1990

The “Timid Little Children” were a Welsh pair, Gorwel and Fiona Owen, who released just a single derived from one of their two John Peel sessions, a tasty beat-heavy twelve incher on Ankst that Peel caned for a while, and this magnificently dreamy tape for the ever-essential Direction. Superb stuff that, like so much on Direction, should really be out on a smartly remastered CD for all to enjoy. Ah well.

Four tracks, devoted to the phases of the moon, ranging from echoing drones to underwater-Cocteaus shoegaze shimmers. For actual track titles, though, you’ll have to see the tape inlay – they be wordless astronomical symbols.

Working link | Discogs

Rob Preston – Insect Mechanics

Tape, Direction Music, 1996

All hail Direction Music, the mightiest post-industrial/electronic label ever to come out of Anglesey, North Wales. No, really, all hail. Some of their releases were damn fabulous. Maeror Tri’s early outings Sensuum Mendacia and (especially) The Beauty of Solitude are the gold standard in melancholy dark ambient, and have since been reissued on CD. Others, though, are unfairly lost. We’ll prepare Plant Back Ofnus’s tremendous electro-ambient suite on the phases of the moon, Symudiad Ymddangosol Y Lleuad, for reposting here momentarily. Meanwhile… Contrastate, Vidna Obmana, Morphogenesis, NWW, Con Schnitzler – how can you not be licking your lips at the very thought of it al?. And they always had lovely covers, with stuck-on artwork and clear inlays. Sadly, label founder Pete Harrison died back in 2000, but his legacy remains. As a taster, here’s a rare gem, Rob Preston’s jittery explorations of insect sounds and synth drones. It’s a kind of method-ambient; ponder on it too much while listening and you’ll scratch yourself silly (and not in a DJ Shadow kinda way).

SIDE ONE
1. Chamber Of Clones (6:18 )
2. Silver Y (5:43)
3. The Brutality Of Transformation (4:09)
4. Lunar Underwing (11:39)

SIDE TWO
1. Allegiance (3:30)
2. Chrysalis Fourteen (6:31)
3. Insect Mechanics (3:49)
4. Construction (9:55)
5. Venus (5:21)

Working link | Discogs

The Mothmen

When we posted that early On-U Sound compilation, Wild Paarty Sounds, the track that got most attention was by The Mothmen, Manchester’s shadowy purveyors of post-punk dub-funk. It’s well past time, we thought, to revisit them…

Their brief life is a surprisingly fascinating one. They were assembled from various Manc bands, including the Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias, to form the backing for Vini Reilly on his first Durutti Column album. This line-up split and Reilly effectively went solo, and the rest of them formed The Mothmen. After a single on local label Absurd, their debut album Pay Attention was picked up by On-U Sound for their second release. Despite this, owner Adrian Sherwood played no part in the record, and only remixed one track (for the aforementioned Wild Paarty Sounds) – though drummer Chris Joyce did guest with the London Underground on some recordings. A couple of singles and a more new wave, almost Talking Heads-ish second album for Robin “M” Scott’s Do It! label were followed in early 1982 by the band splitting.

And then – Joyce and guitarist Tony Bowers joined the first line-up of a little band called Simply Red, which in turn led to Adrian Sherwood providing some remixes for that band… and rumours of a whole “Simply Red In Dub” album languishing in the vaults somewhere. Various members have also played with the Suns of Arqa over the years; sure it’s no coincidence that the first track on One Black Dot is called “Wadada”. And tragically, the Happy Mondays song “Cowboy Dave” was inspired by the murder of guitarist Dave Rowbotham in 1991.

Credit where it’s due: The Irene single, included for completeness, came courtesy the mighty Always Searching For Music.

Does It Matter Irene, 7″, Absurd, 1979

A. Does It Matter Irene
B. Please Let Go

Working link | Discogs

Pay Attention, LP, On-U Sound, 1980

A1. Afghan Farmer Driving Cattle
A2. Animal Animaux
A3. Not Moving
A4. Factory/Teapoint/Factory
A5. Please Let Go
A6. Tardis (Sweep is Dead, Long Live Sweep)
B1. The Mothman

Working link | Discogs

One Black Dot, LP, Do It!, 1982

A1. Wadada
A2. Temptation
A3. One More Weapon
A4. Let’s Talk About It
A5. No Rest
B1. One Black Dot
B2. Weekend
B3. House & Car
B4. Home Sweet Home
B5. Thank You I Like It

Working link | Discogs

Henri Chopin – Audiopoems

LP, Tangent, 1971

To quote the Discogs summary: “Henri Chopin (1922, Paris, France – January 3, 2008, England, United Kingdom) is an avant-garde poet and musician. Henri Chopin is a little-known but key figure of the French avant-garde during the second half of the 20th century. Known primarily as a concrete and sound poet, he created a large body of pioneering recordings using early tape recorders, studio technologies and the sounds of the manipulated human voice. His emphasis on sound is a reminder that language stems as much from oral traditions as from classic literature, of the relationship of balance between order and chaos.”

What they said.

Incidentally, there is another LP, a tape and a CD all bearing the title Audiopoems in Chopin’s Discography; they are different releases entirely. If you got ’it…

This was released on the lovely, lovely Tangent label. Tangent is a hard label to collect. We only have one other, the early Ann(e)a Lockwood record Glass World – we were all set to rip our mint copy of that one too when T. spotted it was reissued as part of her Early Works CD, and as you know we try not to post in-print discs.

We’d really love some more Tangent – anyone else ripping any? Even the Isla St Clair record? (Update: three Tangent discs on this semi-dormant treasure trove.)

A1. New Departure (4:39)
A2. La Peur (First Movement) (17:10)
B. Pleuralité 1.1.1.1. (25:50)

Working link | Discogs

Taurus – Brain Music™

Tape, self-released, 198something

Ever since the history of mankind, music was created for various purposes.

The BRAIN MUSIC™ is a very special and advanced music. It was created by highly sophisticated computer engineers, and was specially designed to be in perfect harmony with your brain.

The ultimate way to listen to this very special music is to lie comfortably on your back in your bedroom, close your eyes, listen to the music and enjoy a wonderful pleasent [sic] feeling.

A MUST for every thinking person. Try it.

We need say no more.

01. Brain Music part 1 (25:14)
02. Brain Music part 2 (22:10)

Working link | Discogs

Gil Mellé- Mindscape

LP/CD, Blue Note, 1989

Rippling New Age-y synths meet fusion-inspired soundtrack impressionism, on this atypical (to say the least) late 80s Blue Note release. Mellé is best known for his wonderful electronic score for The Andromeda Strain in 1971 (dig that sleeve also), and he provided music for classic 1970s shows like Columbo and Kolchak the Night Stalker. He played everything here, produced the album and painted the sleeve image. He died in 2004.

NB, this is ripped from the vinyl edition; apparently the CD had two more tracks. If you have ‘em, may we direct you to the Comments link…

A1. Mindscape (3:37)
A2. Message from Mozambique (5:58)
A3. Shadow and Substance (13:51)
Part 1 – Vintage Autumn
Part 2 – Experiment Perilous
Part 3 – Zero in the Universe
B1. Bird of Paradise (3:39)
B2. Double Exposure (2:55)
B3. The Blue Lion (5:43)
B4. Neon Canyons (5:43)
B5. Swamp Girl (4:17)

Working link | Discogs