Transvolta - Disco Computer 12"

Rare electronic cosmic disco from 1979 produced by one third of Telex. Transvolta's Disco Computer features a funny and very cool combination of synthesized bass and high-concept vocoder vocals.

This is a recent bootleg facsimile re-release. The original is currently changing hands for around £50.

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

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Visage - The Anvil

As promised, here's the original full length second album from Visage, circa 1982. This is the original vinyl edition with textured cover and poster, photographs of which have been included in the archive.

From Wikipedia:

This album sparked a brief controversy at the time of its release for being named after New York's infamous gay club.

The only musician of the first album line-up that didn't participate in this album's recording was John McGeoch. McGeoch commented in an interview: "One time I was in Spain [touring with Siouxsie and the Banshees] at the same time as Visage were recording the second album in London. Rusty wanted me to put a guitar solo on something or other but I only had one day off and there was no way that I could fly home on my one day off. Rusty is not a man to be put off by such things and he was actually trying to put together a satellite linkup from Madrid to London for this one guitar part. Not surprisingly it didn't come off but I was sorry not to have been as involved on The Anvil as I had been on the first album".

The Anvil was also the last Visage project to feature Ultravox frontman Midge Ure who left the band after its release.

The original vinyl release of The Anvil came in an embossed/textured sleeve (considered as deluxe packaging for the time), and a limited number of copies came with a free poster of Steve Strange posing in front of a hotel with a number of models (the same models can be seen on the cover of the single The Damned Don't Cry).

The album saw a re-release on the CD format in 1997 with bonus tracks, though they are tracks from the 1980/1 Visage era and not that of The Anvil. For a long time, this was the only official CD version and was extremely rare.

'The Anvil' was re-released on CD again on 17 March 2008, containing more bonus tracks and detailed liner notes.

I'ts a bit patchy, but there are some great tracks on here. "The Horseman", in particular is sounding great to this pair of ears, although it's a more guitar-y sound than that which was their signature. Midge's presence can be felt heavily on that one. Can it really be time to reappraise "Vienna" as well?

A couple of tracks are sequenced together on side one, so I haven't split them in the edit. As (super)nature intended.

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

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Nelson - I Say You Can't Stop/Dammerung 7"

Excellent double A side 7" from 2008 from French art rockers, Nelson, who claim to sound like a mixture of Joy Division, The Rapture, and Animal Collective. Dunno about that, but there's a couple of great songs right here.

The tracks featured on the AA sided single are "I Say You Can't Stop" and "Dammerung", the latter of which was inspired by a German love poem written in the Battlefield trenches of the First World War.

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

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Say What You Want Promo 12"

The name of the band whose single this actually is, is hidden from sight on this promo club 12" like a dirty little secret. So, accepting for the fact that you wouldn't normally find anything by that band up on here, let's consider the work of the remixers.

Rae & Christian give it some smoooooth downtempo beatment and while taking a lot of the track away to make much more space, they don't really add much to the original except for some super cliched (at this distance) scratching and cutting.

Much, much better, and the sole reason why I'm posting this is the fucking brilliant Andy Votel mix which is a totally deconstructed dust 'n' crackle take on the track. Vocals are submerged under water, a distant car alarm is triggered, some acoustic riffing is obliterated by a pitched-up air raid siren as the beat reemerges and then drops out. Everything stops then starts again as things proceed cautiously to a wonderful oscilloscope fade out. And then silence.

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

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Burning Sensations - Belly Of The Whale 7"

Burning Sensations came out of Los Angeles in the early 80's and were a brief success (mainly for this single) on the fledgeling MTV in the USA.

According to Wikipedia, the group is best known for "Belly of the Whale", and for covering the Jonathan Richman song "Pablo Picasso", which was used in Alex Cox's cult classic, "Repo Man".

This is a great track in the Eighties stylee, which might spark some happy memories for a few of you. It's that kind of song.

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

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Music For When The Clocks Have Gone Back.

These Cotton Goods albums are as much limited edition art projects as they are actual music releases, but for those who are lucky enough to get hold of them, the quality of the work reveals itself as being truly beautiful and special.

Variable Resistance is the work of Miles Whittaker, also of recent deep, deep, dub techno project "Demdike Stare" among several other dark and delicious electronic outfits shrouded in a doomy Northern fug of rolling mist and wasted dreams.

This amazingly packaged 3x3" CD set is housed in bespoke handmade sleeves inside customised microfilm boxes that have been individually numbered. 175 copies for the world. Sold out.

320 Kbps with full artwork.

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Beyond The Wizards Sleeve - George

I've just done a fresh rip of this fantastic third album from the wonderful Beyond The Wizards Sleeve.

I'm hanging out for some fresh material from the band and find myself returning to these early records time and again. They always go down well here on the blog so I thought I'd stick it up here as I think it was Spinster's Rock days when I last posted this.

There's a couple of tracks on here which didn't appear on the Ark 1 CD I posted a while ago.

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

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Various - One Little Indian Take On The Cowboys With Greatest Hits Volume One

Excellent and early collection of tracks from the One Little Indian label, featuring Sugarcubes, A.R. Kane, The Very Things, Flux Of Pink Indians, D&V, Loudspeaker, The Babymen And Annie Anxiety Bandez.

"One Little Indian was founded by various people (including members of Flux Of Pink Indians), and inspired by the DIY principles and anarchistic ideals of independent labels such as that of anarcho-punk band Crass – who became so frustrated with the restrictive nature of the music industry that merging the creative aspect with the distributive side of things became the only viable option.

"Instead of rooting itself in the anarchic punk niche Flux Of Pink Indians spearheaded, the budding label set about homing a roster of artists as eclectic as they are unanimously enticing"

The A.R. Kane track is a fucking belter.

320 Kbps.

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Jeans/Scott 4 - Jean's Record (Choke Bore) Promo 12"

Terrific single sided 12" from 1997 which mutates the Scott 4 track "Choke Bore" into a leaden-footed, hypercolour, electro disco funk monster of massive proportions. Remixed by S.G Blixen (from the band) & I.E. Slater.

Lost classic, I'm saying.

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

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Black Sheep - Kiss My Sweet Apocalypse LP

"Kiss My Sweet Apocalypse" is the debut double-LP and 2CD set from Julian Cope's group, Black Sheep. This here is the double vinyl LP set which has a significantly different track list to the CD.

In common with most people who hear this, I really didn't like it that much at first, but it's dusty charms reveal themselves over the course of a few listens. I guess as good a starting point as any is the parched cover version of "Just Like Leila Khaled Said" from the Teardrop Explodes second album "Wilder". Here reduced to basically an acoustic riff strummed over and over with a distant synth picking out that classic melody. This is great stuff for Cope heads everywhere and is just about worth the price of admission on it's own.

Also great is the Holy McGrail led title track which is 24 minutes of krauty synth drones and buzzed out textures, sounding not unlike a darker Queen Elizabeth.

The album is mostly lyric free apart from the repeated protest chants appearing occasionally. "War! Peace!" is a typical example, but for the most part this stuff wears very thin, very quickly.

I believe there are spin off albums due sometime from several members of the Black Sheep group. Indeed the first one, from former Universal Panzies frontguy, Christophe F. has already appeared and is available over at Head Heritage. Christophe F. also leads the fourth side of this album with a brace of acoustic 'n' mellotron singalongs from around the acid campfire. Accomplished.

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

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McAlmont & Butler - You Do

"I never want to see you break down, but you do. You do."

It's soul music is what it is. Healing and powerful like the strongest of medicines.

Its the 7:29 extended version that I go for, but there's a radio edit here for those who are in desperate need of a shot and just can't wait for the full strength potion to take effect.

In the end, when all is said and done, don't we all just want someone who cares?

320 Kbps.
Artwork included.

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Visage - The Damned Don't Cry 7"

Enough with the maudlin shit. Let's have some fun.

The recent and ongoing popularity of 80's inspired electropop has given me the excuse, if one were needed, to dig out some more Visage. And at the risk of temporarily transmogrifying into one of those Eastern European blogs that post this stuff without distance or irony, I hereby reserve the right to have my cake and eat it by posting this stuff inside big inverted commas, while secretly being as filled with love for it as I always have been (off and on) throughout the years.

This is from the brilliant second album, which is MUCH better than the first. By this time McGeoch had exited, but even better, Barry Adamson had turned up. So what we have is some of Magazine and some of Ultravox all topped off with just a little too much Steve Strange. I seem to remember that the Helmut Newton photo shoot was more expensive than the recording budget for the whole album. How Eighties. And worth every penny.

The instrumental B side, "Motivation" is a solid classic which genuinely sounds like a funked up Magazine sans Devoto, but with that Adamson bass in FULL effect. Genuinely fantastic.

I'll be posting the second album, "The Anvil" in all it's glory over the next few days. You lucky bastards.

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.
Full artwork.

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Tony Christie - Made In Sheffield

Produced by lifelong Tony Christie fans, Richard Hawley and Colin Elliot, “Made In Sheffield” is a beautiful dedication to the city that Tony Christie grew up around, featuring new recordings of songs by the city’s most revered contemporary artists and songs by unknown city songwriters deserving of acclaim.

It is a record dreamed up on the roads of late night Sheffield, and one that’s fruition stretches far beyond the simplest of dreams,

Tony Christie, “I was in the middle of an album project, when on the drive back home after a late session, I heard ‘Coles Corner’ by Richard Hawley on the radio. I said to my son, “that’s the sort of production I should be getting.””

Unbeknownst to him, Richard Hawley had already sent him over ‘Coles Corner’ four years ago, but due to prior commitments they were unable to record the track together. Weeks later, Tony went to see Richard in concert to request his production duties and guitar on a new version of ‘Coles Corner’. The pair bonded immediately, and Hawley immediately requested that he and co-producer Colin Elliot record and produce the whole album together at their Sheffield base, Yellow Arch Studios.

Tony’s original recording project developed into a new concept that the album should only feature songs written by Sheffield’s own songwriters, and new songs by Tony himself.

Tony Christie, “When we started listening to material, we were amazed at not only many songs there were, but the quality just blew us away. Some of the songs on the album are by completely unknown writers and might possibly have never seen the light of day.”

Some of Sheffield’s most acclaimed contemporary artists feature on the record, including album opener ‘The Only Ones Who Know’ by The Arctic Monkeys, ‘Born To Cry’ by Jarvis Cocker, ‘Louise’ by The Human League, and that long awaited recording of ‘Coles Corner’ by Richard Hawley.

It is the sound of the lesser-known city songwriters that Tony holds close in the aftermath of the album sessions, including Martin Bragger, who contributes two songs (‘Danger Is A Woman In Love’/’Paradise Square’).

Ultimately, ‘Made In Sheffield’ takes the glittering career of the 65-year-old Tony Christie into a bold new direction. It contains all the grittiness and beauty of a city that often loses its prominence as a cultural birthplace, shunned for the proud history of Manchester and London, and moulds it into a romantic journey that could have been created at any point over the past four decades.

Tony Christie, “We are a proud community and the artists that have hailed from Sheffield are some of the most exciting and successful UK artists in pop history. I wanted to celebrate our culture.”

320 Kbps

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McAlmont & Butler - Yes

It's been another energy sapping week, packed with more trials, tribulations and traumas. I really don't know how I'm getting through this period in my life. I know it's wrong to wish your life away, but I wake up every morning doing just that. I also know that reading me bleating on about how hard things are for me does not make for interesting blogging. Hence the lack of posts for a few days.

I'll be glad to see the back of 2009 and no mistake.

I just had Simon and Garfunkel's "America" on in the car (Look to the right. I've just tweeted it). This is a song that has always resonated with me, but I swear to God, when I just heard them sing:

"Kathy, I'm lost, I said, though I knew she was sleeping. I'm empty and aching and I don't know why"

I had to pull the car over.

At least there's always music. Positive, life-affirming, uplifting music like this.

320 Kbps.
Full artwork.

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Cold Cave - Love Comes Close

You just have to hear this brilliant darkwave/synthpop/factory album. Released earlier this year on the bands own Heartworm Press, this has now been picked up by Matador and will be re-released in November.

You will hear influences from Joy Division & New Order to Chris & Cosey with a coating of low level noise. Just nine tracks long, it arrives, it astounds and then it leaves. This is a proper old school indie electro album with heaps of panache, skill and fantastic tunes.

I've fallen in love with it.

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You Know The Drill...

...Two days only.

Trunk Records

Scuba - Negative/Speak 10"

'Negative' is the result of some focused research, a blend of halfstep-swung snares and powerfully driven but subtly clean sub-bass with expertly manipulated dub chords carefully eschewing the formulaic pitfalls of operators we won't care to mention.

However, the solid-gold is saved for the flipside on 'Speak', finding a glowing sweet spot at the centre of Basic Channel indebted dub-techno, Artwork-styled 2-step rhythm alchemy and the sort of lonely post-Garage-soul he shares with Burial or Peverelist.

A sound that's been informed by time well spent in clubs studying the physical impact of tracks, hence the attention to detail and resultant tension of flexible bounce with a heavy heads-down effect that many attempt to nail, but fail to execute.

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Go here.

Portishead - Portishead

This self-titled album manages to amplify and improve upon everything that made their debut so special. The vast spaces between the noises, the sense of menace, that deep streak of romantic fatalism. The widescreen, cinematic quality of the sound. And the voice. The voice.

Pretty much perfect really. Only bettered by the next album, which arrived just 11 years later.

320 Kbps.

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Sparras/Bushout! - Amigaman/Pretsel Chokin. Split 7"

This double A-side 45 from Sheffield is a pairing of super-cooled instrumental afro-funk and soul tracks. This is trerrificly authentic sounding stuff and could easily be one of those great lost singles that turns up on rare psychedelic funk compilations. Perhaps it will do 20 years from now.

Bushout!'s "Pret$el Chokin" is a powerhouse soul jam with West African horns hogging the spotlight. "Amigaman" by Sparras is a more low slung affair, bound by bongos with a three-way play-off between Hammond keys, wicked guitars and muted sax.

Fucking awesome and rare as hell.

Ltd 7" one-off pressing, limited to only 500. Clear pink vinyl in a handsomely designed sleeve.

320 Kbps.

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BvDub - We Were The Sun

Brock Van Wey has been building a fantastic catalogue of dub techno and ambient work for a few years now and is showing no signs of slowing down just yet. Indeed the opposite seems to be true as he follows his stunningly beautiful 2 CD set "White Clouds Drift On And On" from earlier this year with this equally exceptional album released in a criminally limited edition of just 300 hand numbered and assembled copies on his own Quietus imprint.

Stepping ever further away from the techno and beats (muted though they were) and calmly diving into the soft, warm pool of immersive ambient, this guy is delivering something really special at the moment and for my money is making the best ambient music there has been for years.

"We Were The Sun" is in a similar vein to "White Clouds..." but if anything is even better. Huge suspended chords hang heavily in the mist around you. Droning choral and string tones lift you up on a bed of warm air and transport you to distant beaches, faraway lands. Abnormally extended guitar plucks wrap a warm blanket around your weary head and kiss away your troubles as you drift off to sleep. You get the picture. This is beautiful. I feel like I'm being taken care of.

There's echoes of Eno (natch) and especially his work with Harold Budd. This is lusher, though. Better. Weirdly modern yet absolutely timeless. This is working for me not only as a functional ambient (I'm not going to use the term chill out, but you know what I mean), but also as a rewarding close-listening experience.

Head over to his BvDub site where there are many of his earlier works available to download. If you get a move on, you will be able to grab one of the few remaining copies from here. In the meantime, come on in. The water's lovely.

320 Kbps.

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Pulp - This Is Hardcore

I've already posted the first EP of this set up on here, but have since turned up the second EP which features three remixes of the track. There's nothing that's as good as the original, but some interesting reworkings all the same.

Beloved readers, we discussed this at length last time round, but this is a wonderful single from a wonderful band's best album. The sheer, warped nastiness of the Stock, Hausen and Walkman mix is yet more evidence of the self hatred seething away in Jarvis' dark heart around this time.

I love it.

I've got a few more Pulp treats lined up for the blog. It seems like a good time to reappraise that final album, doesn't it?

320 Kbps.

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Manic Street Preachers - Tsunami

Just the two tracks on this CD, but CD2 has remixes from Stereolab and Cornelius.

Anyone?



320 Kbps.

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Hypo - The Dark Leader Speaks 7"

Massively obscure clear vinyl 7" about which I know next to nothing.

It comes from NYC, I think, and in complete contrast to the previous Accidental post, this is wired, dirty and ugly.

The A side in particular is awesome in a mental, stalky, padded-room type way. Less of a song, more of a anguished, paranoid monologue set to a strung-out soundtrack.

Any info about this most welcome.

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

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The Accidental - 2x7"

Comprised of members of The Memory Band, Tunng, and The Bicycle Thieves, The Accidental make a quite lovely noise.

Both of these are taken from the debut album "There Were Wolves", which was released in April 2008.

Highlight of these four tracks is probably the Hot Chip Remix of "Knock Knock" which is fragile, fractured and beautiful.



Vinyl rips at 320 Kbps

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Karl Jenkins And The London Philharmonic Orchestra - Adiemus II: Cantata Mundi

Composer-genius Jenkins has managed to meld ethnic-style vocalizations, many of them exuberant and\or hauntingly beautiful, with rich Western European orchestrations in the late Romantic-to-now style. The result is a unique genre that is instantly recognizable and can be downright infectious.

There are similarities here with the "Mystery Of Bulgarian Voices" albums as released to massive impact by 4AD in the mid Eighties. It occasionally strays into mobile phone advert territory, but that's hardy Jenkins' fault.

320 Kbps.

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Supergrass - Richard III

And here's the second single to be released from "In It for the Money".

Again, according to Wikipedia, "The song's name comes from the band's method of creating working titles for songs - giving them people's names. This was the third called "Richard" and the band liked the reference to the king Richard III and the Shakespeare play Richard III in which the king is depicted as a dark and evil character, as it matched the menacing tone of the song. Neither the king, nor the play are mentioned in the song."

320 Kbps
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Supergrass - Going Out

The first single taken from their second album, "In It for the Money".

According to Wikipedia (so it must be true), "the song was originally written in the key of E, because the engine of Supergrass' tour bus would tick at that same musical pitch."

320 Kbps

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Stereolab - Banana Monster Ne Repond Plus: 2004 3" CD Tour Single

This Stereolab 3 track tour single was limited to 2000 copies, released on their own Duophonic label.

You already know what this sounds like, so expect the usual French-groove-Sixties-pop-kraut noise.

320 Kbps.

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Red Organ Serpent Sound - Autobahn: Baseball Furies Remix 10"

I love a good 10" single, and this is a REALLY good one.

Red Organ Serpent Sound are an Irish band. This one sided 10" was released in 2006. They apparently signed to Vertigo, but I don't think any further material appeared after this?

It reminds me of LCD Soundsystem.

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

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Rvng Prsnts Mx2 feat. J S Process & Diabolic

Another (earlier) mix CD from the terrific igetrvng crew, this time from J S Process & Diabolic.

Cat #: Mx2
Release date: 11/23/2004

Track listing:

1. Butthole Surfers - Sweat Loaf
2. Dub Diablo - Thunderstruck
3. 2 Live Crew - Me So Horny
4. Tone Loc - Wild Thing
5. Plump DJ's - Something Goin’ On
6. The Gap Band - Dropped A Bomb On Me
7. Steve Miller Band - Abra Cadabra
8. Big Apple - Break Record
9. MC5 - Kick Out The Jams (Testimonial)
10. Chemical Brothers - Losing Control
11. Gang Of Four - Outside The Trains Don’t Run On Time
12. Audio bullies - We Don't Care
13. Prince - U Got The Look
14. Felix The Housecat - Cyberwhore
15. Radioactive man - White Label
16. Stooges - T.V. Eye
17. Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit (Green Label House mix)
18. Robotanks - Body Rocker
19. Northern Lite - Reach The Sun
20. AD /DC - Dirty Deeds
21. GTO’s - What If There Were No Cones?
22. Kreisel Yellow - Pleasure My Flesh(7")
23. Michael Jackson - Billy Jean (Valley Style)
24. PIL - Bad Life
25. Daft Punk - Da Funk
26. Kreisel Yellow 7 Inch - Get It On
27. Aphex Twin – Men 1 Rmx
28. Fat Boys - Beat Box
29. Animotion - Obsession
30. ZZ Top - Sleeping Bag
31. The Jacksons (Feat. Mick Jagger) - State Of Shock
32. Pixies - Field Hockey Interlude
33. Ginuwine - Pony Song
34. Mr. Lovelace - Coca Bass
35. Eddy Grant - Electric Avenue
36. Prince – Controversy (Purple Mix)
37. Bennie Benassi - Satisfaction
38. Creme De Menthe - Plastique
39. Roxanne Shante - (accapella)
40. Devo - Disco Dancer (Bonus Beat)
41. Drive Like Jehu - If It Kills You
42. Romantics – Talkin’ In Your Sleep
43. Missy Elliot - Gossip Folks (accapella)
44. White Label Clash - House The Casbah
45. Blonde Redhead - In Particular
46. Dee-lite - Pussycat Bonus Beat

Liner Notes Julian S Prcss
01/05/2007

ian, jg and i mixed it during one of our lost summers. lots of internet porn, hangovers and nosebleeds. we put together the mix mixed it live to the computer and then edited it. pretty representative of what our crew had been doing for the past couple of years. smart and stupid all at once. from that summer, we went on to start the Pink Skull project. Dave threw a release party at the Ukie and we did a four turntable routine for like 3 hours.

Selecting and mixing: Julian S.Prcss & Diabolic
Additional mixing and editing: JG
Design: Kevin O’Neill

500 CDs produced for 11/04 release
500 CDs produced for 2/07
Packaged in really boring 4 color cardboard sleeves (sorry, J & Ian)

This has been mastered fairly quietly, so you might want to turn it up a bit.

320 Kbps.

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George Clinton - Atomic Dog: Australian Promo 7"

I paid an eye watering amount for this baby many years ago. And you know what? I think it was just about worth it.

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps

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LHOOQ - LHOOQ

Precious little about these guys on the internet. The backroom boys are Icelandic duo Jóhann Jóhannsson and Pétur Hallgrímsson. I'm not sure , but I think the Female singer (Sarah?) is English. She appears to be uncredited on the sleeve.

This appears hazy and slightly out of focus at first, but after a few listens, the quality starts to shine through.

The name LHOOQ is lifted from the Duchamp "readymade".

I bought this at the time because it is part produced by Steve Hillage and because it was released on the Echo label, one time home of Julian Cope. I was also smoking a hell of a lot of dope.

320 Kbps.

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