Issue 21b / 7 June 2024
In part two of this week's serving of DIY electronic goodness... Track Of The Week: Mercury Rev + Good Stuff new release round-up featuring Loula Yorke, Concretism, Mzylkpop + much more...
Previously on Moonbuilding Weekly… In this morning’s issue there’s a long-form review of David Boulter’s ‘St Ann’s’, one of the my favourite releases of the year so far. And it comes with one of my favourite interviews of the year so far, David Boulter is such a joy. The whole shebang is here… moonbuilding.substack.com/p/issue-21a-07-june-2024
OK let’s crack on, kick the week into touch with the usual round-up of what else is good that’s out and about today. The weekend starts here. Or just over there, in a bit.
Thanks for reading.
Neil Mason, editor
moonbuildingmag@gmail.com
Issue 21 Playlist: bndcmpr.co/5e6ad78e
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MERCURY REV ‘Patterns’ (Bella Union)
“When Jonathan and I first met,” says Mercury Rev’s Grasshopper, “one thing we bonded over was ‘Blade Runner’, both Ridley Scott’s film and Vangelis’ soundtrack: that feel of the past and the future, the haunting noir mood and the romance of the future.”
The band say their new album, ‘Born Horses’, taps into that vibe. Hold that thought will you. Mercury Rev meets ‘Blade Runner’. Yup. Released by Bella Union on 6 September, they talk about the musical influences on the record and how they look back to childhood, “to Broadway tunes, to lonesome blues, Chet Baker, Miles Davis’ Sketches Of Spain, records that our parents listened to”.
“When we gaze up at the stars in the sky at night,” says the band about the first single ‘Patterns’, “the flickering lights seem random. If we could zoom out and see all of the galaxies revolving around each other, we would see the order in it. There are only Patterns on top of Patterns.”
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Words: Neil Mason
GOOD STUFF #1
LOULA YORKE ‘June Mixtape’ (Truxalis)
Loula Yorke is the gift that keeps on giving. She’s just released the second of what she calls her monthly sound offerings, an hour of ambient sounds that come complete with a detailed audio description. Loula talks about the tapes being “long-form sonic material” that she creates from scratch each month using field recordings, voice notes and “unreleased synth-heavy ear candy all collaged together with love and care”. As you will know, Loula doesn’t do anything without love and care. The listening notes are really excellent, something well worth luxuriating in. Some three minutes 20 seconds in, there’s the first “synth-heavy ear candy”, ‘Untitled #007’ that Loula explains in the notes accompanies a grove of trees near her studio, giving way to skylarks as Loula crinkles through leaves, which in turn gives way to a voicenote from her sister in New York capturing a saxophonist busker “on the corner of Madison Ave And 56th Street”. You have to love that sort of precision. This is terrific stuff. She’s asking for a minimum £1 for it. It’s worth way more than that.
GOOD STUFF #2
CONCRETISM ‘39 Furnival Street’ (Error Correction)
Concretism’s Chris Sharp has set up a new label, Error Correction, which can only be good news. The original dystopia merchant, he says that moving forwards the label will be a home for his own work and other projects. The first release is a brand-new Concretism 12-inch single, ‘39 Furnival Street’/’Trunk Switching Centre’, which comes with a raft of fine remixes from Lovekrafty, Phono Ghosts and Faex Optim. It is, of course, prime Concretism. “39 Furnival Street is the surface level address to what was once Kingsway Telephone Exchange, a secret telephone exchange deep beneath central London,” explains Chris. “The Trunk Switching Centre is what it technically was.” The vinyl will be available exclusively from Norman Records (hurry!) and you can grab the downloads via Chris’ Concretism Bandcamp page. This will be a label to keep a very close eye on that’s for sure.
GOOD STUFF #3
MZYLKPOP ‘Doomerati’/’No Plan C’ (Discus)
Following a first fundraising two-tracker in April, Sheffield’s long-running Discus Music label has released another two tracks from Steel City supergroup Mzylkpop in aid of the continuing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, with all proceeds going to Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies. Both tracks come in advance of the band’s second full-length, are previously unreleased and both are absolute belters. If you don’t know Mzylkypop, it’s the brainwave of Sheffield maverick Mick Somerset and friends. Mick has some very cool friends. For example, ‘Doomerati (The Final Party Mix)’ is co-written with Stephen Mallinder, who appears here on vocals, and it also sees Dean Honer on synthy duties. Looking forward to their new album I have to say.
GOOD STUFF #4
DAVID MILLS ‘Anaesthesia’
You might know David as one half of Cautionary Guides whose ‘A Cautionary Drive Around The Wirral’ album was warmly received on the Castles In Space subscription library in 2023. Here he pops up on his own with ‘Anaesthesia’, which is about his experience of going under general anaesthetic when he had surgery for a rather nasty chest infection last year. Just before he went under, the radio was turned on in the theatre. The last song David heard before he drifted off was Maroon 5’s ‘She Will Be Loved’, the lyrics of which seemed to stick in his head even when he was unconscious. “It got me thinking though,” he says, “what would be your choice of music to be put to sleep to? Or what would be your choice to listen to while you were unconscious – if that’s even possible? Or if being put to sleep had a soundtrack, what would it be? What does anesthesia sound like?” Using a single instrument, the Soma Lyra-8, he’s produced an album that documents what he imagines the experience of anaesthesia to be. “There must be something going on in there, right?,” he says. “Whether you’re conscious or not, we’re always listening.” It’s a lovely record. Cracking artwork too from his Cautionary Guides bandmate Nathan Brenville.
GOOD STUFF #5
IDTiL ‘Equilibrium Horizon’ (Moolakii Club)
New Zealand’s In Darkness There Is Light aren’t wrong. We were talking only last week about the joy you can find in the melancholy. Here the label says that the excellently titled ‘Equilibrium Horizon’ is a “glassy mellow long-form ambient album for an evening in”, which isn’t wrong either. Personally I enjoy this sort of thing in the mornings, windows open, and filling the Moonbuilding office with mellow sounds. It’s the best way to start the day. It’s also the sort of thing that should be compulsory issue to yoga teachers instead of all that tosh they insist on playing. We should suggest it, right? If anyone has a yoga teacher point them at Moonbuilding Weekly. So here we have four tracks that ebb and flow, rise and fall, as they very gently evolve. The title track is a real doozie, almost sounding like the most peaceful of ringing bells stretching out so gently over 16 very relaxing minutes. Don’t let yourself have a bad day, start it with a bit of this.
moolakiiclubaudiointerface.bandcamp.com
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PR-IME TIME
I was talking to a publishing agent a while ago about writing biographies. It was general chit-chat about the tips and tricks used by all sides to secure a book deal. The one that stays with me is it’s always good, as a writer, if you can show you are close to the subject. You know, if you’ve any photos of you with the rich and famous that often helps convince publishers to back the project.
Imagine being the publisher asking PR behemoth Alan Edwards if perhaps he has any photos of himself with famous clients. Maybe we could pop one on the cover to catch people’s attention. His new memoir ‘I Was There: Dispatches From A Life In Rock And Roll’ (Simon & Schuster) blows the doors off.
A flick through the photo plates in this book throw up a pile of images they could’ve used. There’s one of Alan backstage with Marc Bolan, there he is having a pint with The Stranglers, hanging out with Blondie, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, The Spice Girls… but of course the star turn is David Bowie, who was his major client from the early 80s right up until his death in 2016.
Alan Edwards’ company, Outside Organisation, is as big as it gets and his tale reflects that. Like fellow big cheese PR Barbara Charone’s book, ‘Access All Areas’, the early years stuff is an absolute treat. Chapter 1 starts with Alan shadowing his new boss, Keith Altman, the legendary 60s music PR who looked after, well, absolutely everyone – The Who, The Stones, Hendrix, The Beach Boys (key advice, “If the company, me, is buying the drinks, it’s halves. If the client is buying, it’s pints”.)
The book swiftly moves through his career, reeling off tales as his client pool filled up. You have to keep in mind that Alan is a PR. He’s not going to be spilling any state secrets, but there’s enough here to keep you entertained. He tends to tell these stories from his PR point of view, often self-deprecating, but always pulling aside the curtain for a peek inside the tent. There’s the time he took a line of what he thought was coke from a fellow PR only to discover it was heroin, or making the schoolboy error of not having a visa the first time he worked with Bowie. On tour in Australia. And the interview to be Prince’s PR is as wild as you’d expect (he got the gig).
If you like old school music biz tales this is a must-pack beach read for the summer hols. If you’re anything like me you’ll have this one hoovered up way before you’ve stepped on the plane.
simonandschuster.co.uk / Moonbuilding bookshop
SPICE UP YOUR LIFE
Books, books and more books. You’ll end up looking like a book if etc etc etc. I’ve only just come across Parisian publishing house Masala Noir, so excuse me if you know about them already. Blimey, their books are good aren’t they? I discovered them at the same time I discovered Heavenly Records have their own bookshop on Bandcamp. What a smart idea. They’ve curated a bookshelf that merits investigation and in among them are several titles from Masala Noir. Founded by Shinzo Noda who moved from Osaka, Japan to Paris in 2012 to study graphic design, his imprint focuses around his collection of print design, which is quirky to say the least. Quirk we like. Some of the images he has collected include Iranian movie posters, beer coasters, fruit stickers, super 8 movie packaging, general food packaging… but it’s the music collections that caught my eye. There’s so many, but ‘New Wave /Post-Punk Graphics’ looks excellent as does ‘Record Sleeves 1930-2000’, oh, and ‘Blank Tapes’ is going to be a favourite round here. There’s a whole mini-series of A5 zines that cover genre record labels, you know the labels on the actual records – hip-house, trance, hardcore, jungle, house… and then while you’re looking at those you get lost again in thinking, “Oh, there’s ‘8-Bit Video Games’… and ‘Analog Photography 1930-2000’, ‘Space Programs’, and look, ‘8-Bit Porn Video Games’!”. The Masala Noir website is really nice too, if you hover over a book cover you get a rapid little animation of a bunch of inside pages as a taster. You carry on, I’m going to be busy here for a little while.
mamama-paris.com
A MUG GAME
Another stumble this week led me to the “Beat” mug collection from Copenhagen design house PLTY. Thought you might like. The idea is so simple it has me kicking myself I didn’t think of it. The mugs look great, they’re a very pleasing shape. Don’t be fooled by the picture, they do have handles. And then it occurred to me what you could do with two, one that says “Punk” and another that says “Rock”. Or maybe “Acid” and “House”. Bit steep at £17 a pop, but there’s always birthdays and Christmas, right? Tell my family. I was wondering what the artists round here would have a on a mug? Techno, Pop, Soul, Jazz, Disco, Glam… none of these fit really. Suggestions please.
plty.dk
A MESSAGE FROM THE MOTHERSHIP
MOONBUILDING ISSUE 4, £5 (+P&P). GRAB YOURS WHILE STOCKS LAST … MOONBUILDING.BANDCAMP.COM
The latest issue of MOONBUILDING is full to the gills with the good stuff. On the cover, star-in-the-making Maria Uzor, we profile label-of-the-moment quiet details, there’s an incredible interview with Captain Star creator Steven Appleby, and Ghost Box’s Jim Jupp gets busy with our There’s A First Time For Everything questions.
We review a big pile of releases from labels including Castles In Space, Woodford Halse, Persistence Of Sound, Assai, Ahora, DiN, Werra Foxma, Ghost Box and many more. There’s a column from The Orb’s Alex Paterson and the world-famous Captain Star cartoon strip.
This issue’s CD is ‘The Moonbuilding Miscellany – Volume One’, which is put together by CiS supremo Colin Morrison. It’s a belter featuring tracks from the likes of Lo Five, Lone Bison, Twilight Sequence, Ojn, NCHX and more.
Moonbuilding Weekly is a Castles In Space publication.
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