“A new set of studio recordings from the latter day version of the A Band. As noted in previous musings (check out David Keenan's article on The Wire site) on this collective, the A Band follows in the tradition of the People Band, Scratch Orchestra, and Portsmouth Sinfonia (and oddly enough, Calgary's own Street of Crocodiles), ditching traditional notions of instrumentation and ability for a more disparate and unique flow of ideas and sounds. Standard instruments (piano, clarinet, electric guitar) sit alongside makeshift/found percussion, weird electronics, and vocal utterances, the elements shifting in and out of focus, often seeming as if players are walking in and out of the studio at their leisure, adding something then moving along. The first track is largely acoustic, featuring a swirling marriage of its rag-tag odd and ends, while the second main track (actually the third) features a much different feel and heavier usage of electric sounds. Totally bizarre, singular, and unlike anything else on Bug Incision. Treated white card sleeves with colour & b&w stick-on art, edition of 119.” – BI. 

New album featuring alchemically re-worked live and studio jams from Neil Campbell (A-Band/Vibracathedral Orchestra et al). Lucid electronic minimalism combines with a feel for elaborate technicolour architectures, illuminated circuitry and the application of ritualised trance moves to punk primitive drones for a series of gorgeous psychedelic constructs. The sister album to the vinyl only Super Grease, also on Important.

Limited edition of 500 copies on blue vinyl featuring alchemically re-worked live and studio jams from Neil Campbell (A-Band/Vibracathedral Orchestra et al). Lucid electronic minimalism combines with a feel for elaborate technicolour architectures, illuminated circuitry and the application of ritualised trance moves to punk primitive drones for a series of gorgeous psychedelic constructs. The sister album to the Neon Pibroch CD, also on Important.

Hand-numbered edition of 50 copies 3” CD-R, part of La Station Radar’s ‘Fake Tape Series’.  More electro-raunch from the duo of Neil Campbell (Astral Social Club et al) and Paul Walsh, recorded live at Batley swimming baths in July of 2009. Aggressively nuanced electronics that combine chuffing rhythms with hotwired crackle and amorphous bass tones. Somewhere between the more ‘Industrial’ stylings of early Kluster/Conrad Schnitzler and Astral Social Club?

Hand-numbered ‘bootleg’ edition of only 30 copies reissue of what was originally released in a run of 32 copies on American Tapes in 2000. Universal Indians were the trio of John Olson (Wolf Eyes), Aaron Dilloway and Gretchen Gonzales, playing hardcore free jazz/psych from the early 90s. This disc collects a bunch of live jams where they are joined by Neil Campbell (Vibracathedral Orchestra/Astral Social Club et al), some of which are variously fucked with in post-production by Olson. It’s a fantastic collection, moving through violent hovering drone work ala Vibracathedral with junk percussion, wailing atonal foghorn jazz moves ala Borbetomagus and classic twonked string confusion. This still sounds great and only confirms what an amazing time the 1990s were for underground music. Highly recommended. 

Another fantastic archival release of potent pre-UK underground DIY from the vaults of Neil Campbell. Redemption Inc were a post-ESP Kinetic group that Campbell (Vibracathedral Orchestra/Astral Social Club et al) led during the mid-to-late 80s and that featured MS Turner, Caroline Gormley, Stewart Walden of The Strolling Ones/Well Crucial/A Band et al and Andrew Watson. Redemption Inc were heavily influenced by Whitehouse, Throbbing Gristle and early SPK with barracking vocals over percussion and synthesizer but with a less ‘sophisticated’ sound than their Industrial forbearers, combing the crude no-fi approach of the UK tape underground with a high energy confrontational stance. Campbell seems to have been the firebrand influence on the pre-underground, dragging them kicking and screaming out of their avant Church Of England lunacy and into more transgressive punk-primitive realms, complete with lyrics like “The rhythm of love is the rhythm of power!” Uh, okay! But this is a blast, two live sets from the group that fill a whole bunch of speculative holes, recorded in Amesbury in December 1986 and at a punk festival in Dundee in January 1987. Can’t get enough of this archival UK underground stuff. Highly recommended. 

Inspired pairing that pitches a side each from Neil Campbell’s kinetic Industrial trance unit Astral Social Club with Jan Anderzen of Kemialliset Ystavat’s hypnotic toy orchestra Tomutonttu. Campbell’s side has a heavy automating/Nurse With Wound feel to it with Steel Dream Of The Marching men rhythms dissolving in corrosive F/X that feedback all over themselves to the point that it feels like Terry Riley remixing Neu w/an eternal Acid motorik sound. Anderzen’s side is the perfect compliment, extended fluttering drones over helium melodies that feel as if they could have been beamed from the most candy floss areas of James Ferraro’s brain. Edition of 300 copies w/150g colour vinyl, hand-stamped labels and full colour silkscreen sleeves by Alan Sherry of SIWA. 

A “heavy session players” release from Phil Todd’s Ashtray Navigations, with the A side featuring the duo  line-up of Todd and Neil Campbell (Astral Social Club/Vibracathedral Orchestra) and the flip a trio jam with Mel Delaney and Phil Legard (Xenis Emputae Travelling Band). A side has a great Velvets play two-chord infinities feel while all sorts of astral fireworks explode just beyond the horizon. Very beautiful and with a slow-motion euphoric appeal that is highly addictive. The trio side hews closer to Faust’s “Krautrock” but with a semi-erased/subliminal edge. Packaged in the usual classy Medusa style with a two-colour silkscreen fold-out cigarette box style sleeve. 

New limited self-released CD-R from Neil Campbell’s (Vibracathedral Orchestra/ESP-Kinetic et al) solo Astral Social Club guise, here with a series of recordings scored for electronics and guitar recorded in October 2011. Campbell is increasingly moving towards the kind of amalgam of psychedelic electronics, euphoric techno and heavy meta minimalism of Pita circa Get Out and this has got to be his most addictive and sensually disorientating passes through accumulated strata of angel tone to date, with a heavier guitar aspect that is particularly satisfying. Parts of this almost sound like Donovan’s “Hurdy Gurdy Man” re-tooled with circuit-bending drones, ticker-tape melodies and flashes of pure white light that you would almost swear were coming straight from Heaven. This is massively adrenalized loop-minimalism that accrues layers of ecstasy on every pass to the point that it becomes one huge pulsating energy form that just keeps on keeping on.

Fantastic and very limited LP that documents another side of Neil Campbell’s legendary early-80s post-Industrial DIY punk/synth outfit ESP Kinetic. ESP were the duo of Campbell (better known these days for his work with Astral Social Club/Vibracathedral Orchestra/Richard Youngs et al) and Andrew Watson and although they looked closer to the Virgin Prunes they sound more like, well, if you can imagine an ultra-low grade rehearsal cassette from the Velvet Underground circa “Ocean” with Cale on organ playing duo takes on Pop Group, Public Image Limited and Throbbing Gristle material then you’re somewhere in the conceptual vicinity. The A side is made up of home recordings from 1982/83 and these are more minimal keyboard-led drone-outs cut-with caveman rhythms and enough vertical spectra to launch Vibracathedral proper. The second side, with live excerpts from various gigs across the space of 1984/85, has a little bit more ‘aggro’ with walls of scummy electronics, the hallucinatory use of tapes, obsessive hectoring vocals and incessant skullcracking rhythms coming over like an evil basement take on Silver Apples – does that make em a UK Suicide? Either way this is fantastic and yet another step towards a full understanding of the convoluted evolution of the contemporary UK underground. 

New album from Neil Campbell’s (Vibracathedral Orchestra/ESP Kinetic et al) solo Astral Social Club guise: Generator Breaker runs the gamut of Campbell’s contemporary strategies but w/a heavy emphasis on the euphoric/devotional trancefloor works. Once more the spirit of Donovan’s “Hurdy Gurdy Man” inexplicably hovers over the music, w/weird extensions/visions of that classic psych track’s rhythmic ‘logic’, albeit usurped by beams of technicolour electricity. Some of the music has the same microtonal detail married to vertical ascensions aspect of Matthew Bower’s Sunroof while at points it sounds like a more ‘metal’ take on Kluster/Cluster. Either way, it’s another great one. 

Idiotically enjoyable limited edition archival release documenting the DIY/punk roots of A-Band member Stewart Walden and Vibracathedral Orchestra member Neil Campbell. Recorded 17-18 August 1992 in Nottingham, these primitive all-improvised song attempts have an art-damaged DIY edge to them that locates this somewhere between Simon Wickham-Smith and Richard Youngs, Storm Bugs, The Fugs and The Scrotum Poles. Limited edition of only 120 copies released on Eddie Flowers of Crawlspace’s great Slippy Town imprint.

Live archival find, newly released on Chocolate Monk, from the duo of Neil Campbell and John Clyde-Evans (now Tirath Singh Nirmala). An atmospheric punk-primitive ritual with slow flashing beams of cello and violin ala early Theatre Of Eternal Music boots combining in charcoal clusters of electric DNA. Campbell on cello and tapes, Clyde-Evans on violin, tape and voice. Features the ghost presence of Sticky Foster and art by Karen Constance.

Brand new big-band line-up release from Blood Stereo, recorded live in Leeds in April 2005. The duo of Dylan Nyoukis and Karen Constance are joined by Julian Bradley, Neil Campbell and Sticky Foster for an Ur-primitive UK underground freak-out that jams signals with electro-flesh conceptions that are as occult as Heathen Erath-era Throbbing Gristle and as ecstatically damaged as anything from the tongue of yr favourite dope-dosing guru. A whole mess of smeared vocals, slow helium of electronics, loops, reeds and - crucially - plenty of doof. Killer.

New duo punk magic from these two UK underground stalwarts central to the whole Vibracathedral Orchestra/A-Band axis. Uncut 8" lathe in an edition of 150 hand-numbered copies, part of Alt Vinyl's new lathe-only series. Featuring John Olson (Wolf Eyes) as MC on side 1.

New 40 minute collection on Neil Campbell’s own label of recent private tapes from Paul ‘Nonnen’ Walsh, one half of legendary UK underground actionists Smell & Quim. Minimal tape work, primitive concrete accumulations of cut and splice electronics, digital processing of rhythms and huge shadow-forms, dark monolithic drones: this one exists on the cusp of basement noise and 20^th century avant garde composition as previously hinted at by Dylan Nyoukis and Blood Stereo while expanding it with a glossier, hyper-digital patina.

Great new album from Jan Anderzen’s Chemical Friends, three years in the making, with a freeform freakout style that could almost be The Familiar Ugly on The Red Krayola’s Parable Of Arable Land. There’s also a newfound ‘song’ quality to many of the tracks, with snatches of melody and hints of vocal arcs that float like Popol Vuh choirs above the flashing electronics, hand-drums and toytown tropicalia. Aspects of Astral Social Club and Monopoly Child Star Searchers combine in weird childlike hymns that could almost pass for a Japanese Ya Ho Wha soundtracking a Hawaiian beach monster movie. Nostalgic, funny, uniquely compelling, with guest appearances from a bunch of key underground players including C. Spencer Yeh, Neil Campbell, Hitoshi Kojo, Pekko Kappi and Niko-Matti Ahti.

Edition of 80 copies CD-R from Bridget Hayden of Vibracathedral Orchestra/Telescopes et al. Recorded while on tour with Marcia Bassett (Zaimph/Hototogisu et al) in November 2008, the set sounds very much influenced by Bassett, particularly her work in Zaika with Tom Carter (Charalambides). Hayden sings and plays overdriven electric guitar with a slide, combining hovering fuzz drones with travelling steel in a pugilistic Industrial-blues style. 

Rare vinyl outing for Phil Todd of Ashtray Navigations’ Memoirs Of An Aesthete imprint with a solo album from Julian Bradley. Bradley has been a mainstay of the UK underground for a while, a member of Vibracathedral Orchestra as well as the name behind diverse projects like The Negative Kite, A Companion As Glamorous As Sleeping On Wheels etc... this is Bradley’s first vinyl outing since his mid-90s Giardia LP and it’s just as enigmatic, with massive guitar compositions that move from static gravities of doom/drone through Matthew Bower-esque ecstasies and odd string tectonics that would dissolve the fact of the guitar altogether. A great side from a consistently interesting UK underground player. Edition of only 250 copies with full colour sleeves. 

Excellent three-way psych/trance and roar-drone oblivion rendered in the usual human/primitive style from a bunch of central UK heads, with Mel Delaney of Ocelocelot, Bridget from Vibracathedral Orchestra and Phil Todd of Ashtray Navigations et al. Excellent lo-fi, tactile feel, with dead car-crash tones dive-bombed with lurid shots of electric string and what sounds like the "Fire" section of Brian Wilson's smile extrapolated to almost Xpressway-levels of grit. Hand-numbered edition of 100 copies on Delaney's own label. Long OOP.

Cool archival release that bundles a bunch of peak-period jams from Sunburned Hand Of The Man, al recorded across 2006. Features a bunch of radically expanded line-ups, with the core group joined by Chris Corsano, Mick Flower, Bridget Hayden and Keith Wood. Weird, detourned, almost Magic Band scale jams go up against vocal goofs, string drones, Ubu-styled garage and all-out Xhol worship. Cassettes come in screened cloth cases with insert. 

Self-released hand-numbered edition of 100 copies, with an audio collage of a 2008 Birmingham show, a blow-out from Mick Flower’s house, a London gig and a set from Greenfield, MA. Features a buncha heads: Moloney, Thomas, Schneiderman, Sarah O' Shea, Paul Labrecque, Mick Flower, Conrad Capistran, Phil Franklin, Taylor Richardson, and Adam Nodelman (Borbetomagus).

“Fantastic set by Matthew Valentine and Erika Elder from the recent UK tour in February 2010 recorded at the Brudenell Social Club, Leeds.  On this one the duo are joined by local resident Mick Flower on bass for the whole set and the Doozer provides blues harp on a couple of tracks.  Whilst this is the same line-up and a similar set as those played in Manchester and Coventry a few days later (captured on recent Heroine releases "(Bad) Blood on the Doozer's Guitar" and "Electric Wharf (Conventrian)") this is well worth checking out as it has quite a different sound: more agressive, bit faster and really good mix on the sonics.  Firstly, this 'bootleg' comes from two composite mixes to get it right and it shows with a much clearer recording than some of the other Heroine releases.  The set opens with "Cold Rain" which sounds sublime this time around; Mick's bass is less distorted, you can hear those melodic bass runs properly this time, and this is clearest I have heard Erika's firebird mandolin and lap steel outside of a spectrasound recording.  About four minutes in MV drops a beautiful solo with single melting notes ringing out, great version.  Next up is "Get Right Church" which is the only performance from the set which does not have such a hard edge.  Instead it is a much more authentic blues rendition which reminds me of the electric blues recordings from Chess Studios circa 1950s.  The Doozer's blues harp is simple 3-note riffs but with effective note bending in the style of Junior Wells or Little Watler, and MV's clean, single note solos sound like Hubert Sumlin.  Midway through MV produces some delicate clean wah-wah reminiscent of Hendrix's "Up from the Skies" before bursting into a fuller onslaught for the song's close.  If the versions of this song from the No Floor Tour were blues rock at their finest, then this version is simply electric blues at its finest.  Dedicated to Jo Ann Kelly who I'm sure would have approved.  "Summer Magic" returns to the more frazzled playing on this set with the opening chords being laden in wah-wah and hammered out relentlessly throughout.  Really like the version of "Environments" on this set of shows with the sitar-sounding meanderings going into waves of raga induced chord-like crescendos which whip up a frenzy.  Sounds a bit like a live take on "Jook Enthusiast", the opening track from the latest COM release "Bollywoe". Finally, a few seconds of fuzz signals the descent from "Environments" into one of the heavier versions of "Canned Happiness" I have heard, even without drums.  Not much canned boogie, only a full-on feedback onslaught just to prove they can melt guitars better than Courtis / Moore, yeah right! Only question remains, did Mick Flower's house feature in the top ten middens? Great sonics.  Highly recommended.” – Andrew Ross

“Big sounding highly energetic set from the trio of Matthew Valentine, Erika Elder and Mick Flower from the infamous “Steal Yr Slice” tour joined by Andy Ramsay (drums) and The Doozer (mouth harp). Towards the end of this tour the group started to play two sets a night with not much of an acoustic/electric split but probably more of an experimental trio/stretched out Golden Road jams split.  Presented here is the second set from the show at Café Oto which is fast becoming one of London’s premier underground music venues. I actually attended this show and there was a tremendous atmosphere with everyone sat round tables looking like a scene out some Parisienne café. The microbrews kicked in by the time the second set came round. This set is also notable as it marks the live debut/audition of Andy Ramsay (of Stereolab fame on drums). First off the sound quality on this recording is fantastic with the drums sounding really full giving the overall set a big sound of monumental proportions. Secondly, it is fair to note that given this is the debut performance of a new line-up the particular choice of numbers, rockers like “East Mountain Joint”, “Get Right Church” and “Canned Happiness” lend themselves towards more strung out blues jams in the style of the Allman Brothers Band or Canned Heat. Probably most similar sounding to the recent Freak Flag set a couple of nights later from Exeter. The set opens with one of the tour’s highlights, a reworked version of “East Mountain Joint”. The drums are played with a motoric precision and with minimal fills giving the song an almost euphoric drive. Mick’s melodic basslines sound particularly fantastic with a really good sounding mix between all the guitars. At about five minutes the song breaks into a two-note bassline which signals the start of that west coast style jam. Compared to other versions though, the song seems to naturally speed-up, giving this a really energetic edge. The song breaks again into a slower paced section before finishing on a kind of start/stop break beat rhythm. This is one of the highlights of the set for me. The addition of slow pounding drums turns “Home Comfort” into a real Neil Young/Crazy Horse sounding jam. MV is particularly wild on guitar on this one, sounding almost possessed while laying down walls of feedback between wild flurries of notes. A rarely available cover of Dylan’s “Positively 4^th Street” makes a welcome return having only previously appeared on the Red Head Transistor and Not Only Wine But Oblivion I Pour sets. However, given both those were duo performances this is the only true authentic “Dylan ‘65” sounding electric folk version. The set finishes with some monumental blues jams around “Get Right Church” and “Canned Happiness”. The Doozer’s simple but effective three-note bending harmonica riffs really enhance those numbers and Anram’s double kick-drum fills give them a real driving energy, inspiring MV to some wild electric blues – sweet, my kind of stuff.  Overall, a set which runs: “East Mountain Joint”, “Home Comfort”, “’Scuse Me Rap”, “Positively 4^th Street”, “Reconnoitering The Lovejoy Rap”, “Get Right Church”, “Help Yrself Carny Rap” and finally “Canned Happiness” into “Environments” back into “Canned Happiness”. Fairly long single set at 59 minutes, recommended for those who like their extended sweet Golden Road style jams. On the basis of the quality of this recording I can’t wait to hear the first set whose release is imminent. It’s recommended.” – Andrew Ross.

“Matthew Valentine opens it up to deliver a masterpiece solo album in what might just be one of the recorded highlights of his career so far: It was always going to be important that MV delivered an album that didn’t sound principally like an MV&EE album or any of the releases with the various augmented ‘Golden Road’ line-ups.  In that regard, he has succeeded in delivering a record that sounds like nothing he has done before while clearly building on prior musical and personal themes – a concept that recurs throughout this deeply affecting musical statement.

What I Became is particularly introspective and inward looking - at times fairly dark – and it shares aesthetic ground with career anomalies like Gene Clark’s White Light, Dennis Wilson’s Pacific Ocean Blue and Neil Young’s On The Beach. In fact, an even closer comparison may be Terry Reid’s River album with its notable side A/ B split loosely termed ‘City’ and ‘Country’. What I Became also seems to have a split focus, with the first side focusing on ‘physical surroundings’ and evoking the importance of that Home Comfort vibe through more up-tempo numbers, while the second side is more introspective and seems focussed more on personal aspects. The presentation of the album seems to support this ‘concept’ of the journey and what he became.  The inner sleeve acts almost like a scrapbook of MV’s life, with pictures from throughout the years pulling in various locations, homes, and personal acquaintances. At an informed guess this includes MV’s homes from Lower East Manhattan through to Maximum Arousal Farm in Vermont. It also features a various who’s-who of the psychedelic underground, including a shot of him hanging with the late Jutok Kaneko of Kousokuya, and it even goes so far as to include his influence on the free folk underground with a poster for the original Brattleboro Free Folk Festival. It’s then that you realise you are looking at a virtual time capsule and you feel the weight of personal importance that this release carries.

Opener “Continuing The Good Life” seems to act as the prelude or overture to the LP – a two and half minute instrumental with a single hooting vocal cry. It features some beautifully finger-picked country folk chords with subtle psychedelic and spectrasound arrangements, as if paying reference to his other work and sounds. Also some sublime single piano notes that remind me as much of English as American folk, with the influence of some simple Joe Boyd-type produced arrangements. At the end the song segues between acoustic guitar and an ‘environ’ looped soundscape, reminding me of some of the recent live transitions between “Environments” and “The Hungry Stones” from the “Steal Yr Slice” tour.
Next is “Hit The Trails” which is the wildest full-on song on the album. Again this seems to focus on the importance of physical surroundings as well as paying homage to MV’s love of playing live – “Hit the trails, up on the road”.  I read a few older interviews with MV prior to listening to this record and a recurring theme which came up was the influence of ‘where I live’ on the sound of his records.  This can be traced through his work from living around the area of 4^th Street and Avenue B in the Lower East side (“Av. B” later on this album) where there were small practice spaces and the remains of the Manhattan loft scene all the way to the influence of the open space of his surroundings in Vermont on his work in more recent years. “Hit The Trails” could even be a reference to walking the East Mountain Road itself, which is featured appropriately on the back cover shot. The track itself has more of a ‘live’ feel and sounds not unlike Thurston Moore’s “Trees Outside The Academy” with its blend of frazzled electric guitar and soaring arcs of notes over repetitively strummed chords on the acoustic. The way “Hit The Trails” is sung/spoken reminds me of Lee Ranaldo’s vocals on classic tracks like “Hey Joni” and “Mote”.
Next is a clear reference to the influence on MV of lunar sounds with the excellent space raga jam of “PK Dick”. This was originally released as a 7-inch on Time-Lag (TL043) back in 2007 as a Dylan-esque folk blues  w/rambling prose recorded on a 4-track. Here it’s radically re-worked with the original lyrics spoken over the top with the kind of gonzo rap-style delivery used on “The Beater” from Bollywoe (COM35). We hear the repeated mantra of “Ryan stepped up, everybody gave him a hand” from the extended title of the original accompanied by a space raga jam which includes hand percussion that is almost dub-like alongside enchanting harp and lucid spectrasound meanderings that come across like underwater guitars. It’s worth spinning back-to-back with the original.
Side one closes with the deeply personal “Stay” in anticipation of the more introspective side two. With gently strummed acoustic chords and a delicate arrangement of oscillating wah-wah tones, MV delivers one of his finest vocals to date. Overall, this album seems to have more of a focus on the vocals and the lyrics, and no more so than this track. The lines “I will always love you that way, why won’t you stay” could sound almost cliché in the hands of a lesser performer, but delivered here in a strained, raspy, emotional vocal style reminiscent of Dennis Wilson circa Pacific Ocean Blue you know it’s heartfelt and sincere – long drawn on the anguish of the soul.
Overall side two seems to work as a complete side as opposed to individual tracks. With a running order of “Ease My Eyes”, “Ave. B” and “Sweet Little Indian Girl”, all tracks are stripped bare and based around strummed acoustic guitar chords and vocals. It’s heartbreakingly beautiful. “Ease My Eyes” has some gentle finger-picked chords and an acoustic bass sound courtesy of Mike “Muscox” Smith that is so clear and organic you could almost be there in the room. MV has always displayed a strong influence from English folk and the interplay between the guitar and bass could easily be that of Nick Drake and Danny Thompson. Erika Elder makes her only appearance on this track, contributing some atmospheric slide as well as some haunting double-tracked vocals. The song closes with a restrained solo of single weeping notes. “Ave. B” retains the mood of the side with a reflective piece that possibly relates to the earlier days and sounds around 4^th Street, Avenue B and Tompkins Square on the Lower East Side. The side closes with the epic “Sweet Little Indian Girl” which is a dark blues masterpiece. It’s possibly a coincidence in light of the comparisons between Country Stash and David Crosby’s If I Could Only Remember My Name, but this song may have taken its title from Rita Coolidge’s character in Crosby’s “Cowboy Movie” from the same album. At almost nine minutes in it gives way to two simple chords accompanied by sporadic hand percussion that sounds like falling raindrops courtesy of Woods’ Jeremy Earl holding this fragile song loosely in place. With atmospheric vocals and lyrics that include “So please tell how far down I came, I don’t know what I’ve become” this is the darkest I’ve heard from MV this far.  Only the desolation of Neil Young’s “Ambulance Blues” comes close.
A deeply personal, psychedelic and at moments very dark release from MV – not psychedelic in the sense of far out ‘spectra’ but more in terms of its intense intimacy and sparse nature, particularly on the second half of the album. Even in the context of some of the recent Heroines and the stunning Country Stash this is a landmark release and it lines up alongside deeply personal albums like On The Beach and Blood on the Tracks or even Jandek’s Chair Beside A Window. It feels like a fully conceived artistic statement, with the cover and inserts working to enhance the experience. Indeed, the classic cover shot featuring MV at Maximum Arousal Farm with Mick Flower in the background (probably on the No Floor Tour April 2010) sanding his homemade Indian banjo stand seems to typify What I Became perfectly – an insight into the world of MV. I went wild over Country Stash and this is equally compelling though for completely different reasons. It feels like the solo album that MV was destined to make – if you are only going to buy one record this year it comes with my absolute highest possible recommendation.” – Andrew Ross. 

Staggering document of the entire April Flower tour that took place in April 2011 and saw Matthew Valentine and Erika Elder joined by Mick Flower (Vibracathedral Orchestra/Flower-Corsano Duo) on electric bass. This trio might be the single greatest ‘small group’ to grace MV’s back catalogue. Something about the way Flower is able to navigate with the vaguest and most subtly ‘implied’ directions seems to free the group sound to float all the way out there, resulting in some of their most effortlessly psychedelic and unequivocally beautiful visionings of deep rural psych. The set comes with 8 separate CD-Rs, all with their own Heroine style sleeve/title, housed in a tall oversize handmade art book with beautifully printed artwork, a VIP certificate and a thick booklet with colour covers that features a complete rundown of the shows, snaps and liners from Coot Moon and MV himself. It might just be the most gloriously crafted artefact to come out of the Child Of Microtones stable, a label that has long set the standard for tactile home-burned presentation. The shows come from Feeding Tube in Northampton 4/4/11, Saratoga Arts Centre, Saratoga Springs 4/5/11, The Church, Boston 4/6/11 (where the group are joined on drums by Chris Corsano for an amazing heavy psych set), State University Of New York 4/7/11, Death By Audio, Brooklyn 4/8/11 (where they’re joined by Jeremy Earl of Woods), Brickbat Books, Philadelphia 4/9/11 (a stunning set with guest spots from Willie Lane and Harmonica Dan), Wilkes-Barre, PA 4/10/11 and Mystery Train 4/11/11. The whole set is massively varied, with odd acoustic re-thinks of primo meat up against endlessly extended soft-as-snow renderings of haunted blues and full-blown free improvised navigations of the furthest environments. If I hadda pick a highlight it may well be the astounding Brickbat Books set that just sounds so great and has the group playing with at an all-time high of confidence and euphoria but really the whole set is a stone and one of the most necessary releases of the year. Edition of only 99 copies, so make your move. Can’t recommend this enough! To further prime you for the jams, our resident COMmentator, Blues Scholar Andrew Ross, gives us a close-up on one of the major discs:

Yorkshire Puddin’ – MV & EE with Mick Flower

“Picking one of my highlight shows from the box set, I opted for the opening night where the core trio played the Feeding Tube Records shop.  For whatever reason, the Feeding Tube venue always seems to conjure up something special when MV & EE play (check out previous Heroines like “Muy Alto” and “Toasted Cookie”) with a real creative edge and great quality sonics. The performance here on the April Flower tour is no exception with a real high-end folk art performance that is totally killer. The sonic mix on the recording itself is up there with the best, with the vocals really clear in the mix and the bass sounds so organic, almost acoustic at times. If that wasn’t enough there are a few live rarities/new tracks thrown in for good measure.
The set opens with “Drone Trailer” and keeps with the transcendental arrangement of late but with the dual vocals of MV & EE sounding particularly enchanting. There’s some delightful interplay between MV’s melodic solo expressions mixed with Erika’s pedal steel during the main instrumental break.  Next up is the set’s mind-blowing highlight, which is a 30 minute passage which runs “Hammer”, “Space Blues”, “Crow Jane Environs” and finally into “Death Is Your Friend”. Starts with “Hammer”, which is a spectacular re-think of the song’s arrangement. Previous versions have had a West Coast/Crazy Horse style feel to them but this particular arrangement comes across like a folk/blues mammoth.  Sparse restrained clean guitar, almost acoustic at times, combined with Erika’s vocals (doused in echo with long drawn notes) which are simply heart-breaking.  Some lucid wah-wah infused soloing from MV which is continually pinned down by Mick’s organic bass seals the deal.  Hands down this is my favourite version of “Hammer” yet.  This segues into “Space Blues” (only previously included on Double Double Raw) which is a short instrumental passage with a real psychedelic edge.  Some great high-end bass work and almost jazz-like runs from Mick overlade with space FX on the slide sounding particularly great.  Next is “Crow Jane Environs” from Liberty Rose (COM34).  Only previously available on the duo performance from Blasted Wavelength this is a vastly superior version and this is its only inclusion in the sets in this run of shows.  With its traditional folk lyrics and an arrangement that displays MV’s admiration of British and Celtic folk this is a radical re-interpretation of the folk source but with a real dark/psychedelic undercurrent that none of the current ‘psych/acid folk’ imposters would be capable of creating.  Eerie vocals over finger-picked inverted and transformed chord structures – it’s simply stunning.  But the real star of the track is Mick Flower whose high-end melodic bass phrasing takes it to a new dimension, coming across like a cross between Bert Jansch’s “Jack Orion” and The Pink Floyd’s “Careful With That Axe Eugene” – check out the psychedelic guitar jam that erupts around 4m30s.  It doesn’t get much better.  This segues into “Death Is My Friend” which is another live rarity.  Only previously available on the Deep Space Circuit and Double Double Raw sets although the arrangement here borrows more from the studio version on “Liberty Rose”, albeit with a more electric blues feel.  It features those “Freight Train” style vocals from Erika with a mid-song rap that is as seductive to rival Kim Gordon’s on “Kool Thing”.  This develops into a sublime electric blues jam with some great hypnotic blues licks from MV pinned by a repeating bassline from Mick Flower in the same style as he did to those arrangements of “Get Right Church” and “Canned Happiness” on the Steal Yr Slice tour.  For anyone that read the recent article in the Wire on Bill Orcutt, it really does feel like artists like Orcutt and MV are pioneering modern interpretations of country and folk blues whilst still paying their respect to the source – recognising “the fact that you’re not Robert Johnson”.
“Crash Palace Of Records” is another new track (only previously available on the All Good Habs set, although that was recorded after this tour and so this is the real live debut) with the arrangement staying pretty true to the studio version from this year’s stunning Country Stash – albeit a month prior to that album’s release.  “Environments” is sufficiently different from the versions with Mick Flower from the Steal Yr Slice tour to keep even the completists more than intrigued.  It still has that raga feel particularly with the addition of Mick’s japan banjo interwoven with MV’s traditional banjo and some great space FX from Erika on the lap steel.  However, towards the end it breaks into a newer stretched passage which has a real heavy underground Tokyo psych feel to it coming across somewhere between live Hendrix circa 1970 and Takashi Mizutani.  In fact, anyone that enjoyed some of the heavier moments from Herbcraft’s Ashram To The Stars with those industrial/mechanical sounding feedback-drenched guitars should check this out.  This segues into the set closer, the road anthem of “Feelin’ Fine” which has a particularly sweet frazzled tone on the guitar on this one.
Overall, this set is totally killer (but it’s that middle passage that will keep you coming back) and has to rank up there with some of my personal favourites like Toasted Clam, Muy Alto, Double Double Raw, Wobbly Hall and even I Left My Wallet In The Trossachs.  If that wasn’t enough there are another 7 sets in the box set such as the mind-blower from Brickbat Books featuring Willie Lane.  It’s highly recommended!” – Andrew Ross.