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Various Artists

Cease & Resist - Sonic Subversion & Anarcho Punk In The UK 1979-1986 - 2024 Repress

    This compilation is a fundraiser for Faslane Peace Camp. Not so far from Glasgow Faslane Naval Base is home to Britain's abhorrent Trident nuclear missiles. The camp has been there, protesting since 1982 and is still active to this day. We hope in our lifetime we will see those missiles leave Scottish soil. We have so much respect for those who have dedicated their lives to protesting these weapons and it seemed an obvious choice that the proceeds from this release should go to help them, and the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

    This is a double vinyl retrospective compilation of some of the most radical music ever made, a musical force that changed lives. Covering the years 1979 - 86 and including classic tracks from Crass, Poison Girls, Flux Of Pink Indians, The Mob, Zounds, Annie Anxiety, The Ex, ATV plus 10 more, all newly remastered by iconic Punk mastering engineer Daniel Husayn.

    It has been lovingly compiled by JD Twitch and Anarcho legend Chris Low and was ten years in the making. There are also a couple of previously unreleased mixes included. It comes as a high quality double vinyl pressing, and has a full colour sleeve with back and front images designed by the legendary Gee Vaucher. It also comes with a 6 page fold out poster on one side with detailed sleeve notes, recollections and essays on the other side.

    Anarcho Punk was the one sub-genre of Punk that emerged in isolation from the rock & roll establishment. During its pioneering days of the early 1980s it thrived in opposition to the music industry, existing as a fiercely underground alternative to the bands, labels and venues of the commercialised mainstream Punk scene. It continues to do so. Anarcho Punk represented one of the last truly underground and autonomous music movements ever witnessed and remains a movement that has never sold out and has never gone away.

    The major differentiation between the Anarcho Punk acts and the more traditional Punk outfits was that for the former, albeit often more due to musical limitation than intent, the message was more important than the music. Standard song structures were often dispensed with in favour of a relentless lyrical polemic accompanied by a similarly uncompromising aural assault. As the scene grew, so did the diversity of records that emerged under the Anarcho Punk umbrella: from D & V (drums & vocals) to the proto-EBM synth-pop of Belfast’s one-man Hit Parade and the Dadaist Beefheart hybrid of The Cravats. In later days the two biggest acts of the scene, Flux of Pink Indians and Crass themselves, both released LPs which had more in common with improv Jazz than hardcore punk.

    The resounding victory of Anarcho Punk is that it is now the unifying soundtrack to a culture of resistance that spans Scotland to Indonesia and remains without compromise. It is still as removed from mainstream music and oppositional to conventional culture as it was over forty years ago and shows no sign of changing. Quite the opposite: the more popular Anarcho Punk becomes the less it has to engage with the music establishment and the more control it can enjoy. In 2023, that message remains as uncompromising as ever.


    TRACK LISTING

    A1 Zounds Can't Cheat Karma 00:02:43
    A2 Honey Bane Girl On The Run 00:03:59
    A3 Crass Bloody Revolutions 00:06:45
    A4 Annie Anxiety Hello Horror 00:05:40
    B1 Flux Of Pink Indians Tube Disasters 00:04:07
    B2 Andy T Death Is Big Business 00:01:29
    B3 Poison Girls Underbitch 00:04:18
    B4 Alternative Anti-Christ 00:04:41
    B5 The Cravats Rub Me Out 00:05:47
    C1 The Apostles Mob Violence (unreleased Studio Version) 00:04:13
    C2 Lack Of Knowledge We're Looking For People 00:04:03
    C3 Hit Parade Here's What You Find In Any Prison 00:03:08
    C4 Hagar The Womb Idolisation 00:02:48
    C5 Alternative TV The Force Is Blind 00:03:48
    D1 Chumbawamba Revolution 00:04:46
    D2 The Ex Aye Carmela 00:03:13
    D3 D&V Conscious (Pilot) 00:02:58
    D4 The Mob No Doves Fly Here (unreleased Studio Version) 00:06:20

    Optimo Music treat all fans of indie miserablism, bedroom gloom and post punk groan to the new album from Jacob Yates (Uncle John and Whitelock). Not only is he one of the label's all-time favourite artists from Glasgow, but he is one of their favourite artists from anywhere. Criminally unknown except to a few who have been long transfixed by his recordings and performances, we hope this release will open a few more ears to his wondrous musical world.

    “The Hare, The Moon, The Drone” is the gloom auteur's third LP. This recording finds the band exploring dark hawthorn hedged lanes, moors and suburban, new build estates. There's something more earthy about the songs but the menace and darkness remains. Musically there is a big shift on this album, a field recording of a folk band from a dark, pine filled glen. The opener, The Car sets the scene for the rural side of the album, dank and stone cold. The tracks then shift through the woods, people turn into animals, we pass a sunlit glade, do you hear a love song? Cassie Ezeji closes the side sweetly lamenting in Gaelic as the snow falls.

    Side two is a more urban affair opening with despair in a bedroom in Belgium, we visit a faith healer and drop in on your lonely mother. Lovatt recounts the story of a karaoke addicted murderer before we finally go home to our new build just outside of town where the pylons tower over Michael and his sister Rachel. It's a journey you can go on, looking out of the window of the bus, glimpses of lives glide by, cards on seats promise to help you. Ding! It's time to get off.


    TRACK LISTING

    The Car
    The Human
    The Hare
    The Moon
    The Drone (Part 1)
    The Drone (Part 2)
    Mr. Marouf
    A Scene From An Empty Living Room
    Outside The Needle Exchange
    Michael

    Another fierce and unique act from the depths of the Glasgow underground appear on Optimo Music with their debut Green Door studios recorded four track EP. Keyboard player Jim McKinven was previously in Altered Images, worked for many years in Martin Rushent's Genetic Studios, was in One Dove and previously appeared on Optimo Music as one half of Organs Of Love. He is however but one component of this transgenerational band. They describe their music far better than we could - "Seedy Electronica, consisting of 2 Basses, Electronic Drums, Synths and Dark Vocals. Inspired by the avant-garde that influenced the electronic music scene of the late '70's and early '80's.”


    TRACK LISTING

    Magick! 
    I Killed My Boy
    Soft Hell 
    The Red Eyed Raven

    Peter Zummo

    Dress Code - Don't Look At My Car

      Peter Zummo (born 1948) is an American composer and musician. He plays the trombone, valve trombone, euphonium, synthesizer, other electronic instruments, and also sings. He is associated with the postminimalist and Downtown aesthetics, and he describes his music as "minimalism plus a whole lot more." He’s well-known for his work with Arthur Russell.

      “In this project for Optimo, the listener can hear that my musical food pyramid has musicians at top, or maybe they are at the bottom. In any case, they are important. That is why, from track to track, I selected segments in which one player or another is featured in the take. Some may think that we musicians do multiple takes to get the perfect performance, but I like to find the special interactions lurking in each excursion. Different players came forward in each of the takes, which were recorded in the studios Seaside Lounge and Headroom, in Brooklyn, and live in performances at Cube Cinema, in Bristol, U.K., as well as in Long Island City and on Staten Island, New York.

      In order to escape the tyranny of the lyric, I am exploring in this release the possibilities of nonsensical and non-emotional lyrics. These kinds of lyrics bring the singing voices into the mix without an overweening message. The tracks include open-form compositions in which the duration was not specified.”


      STAFF COMMENTS

      Patrick says: Downtown legend and Arthur Russell collaborator Peter Zummo lands on Optimo Music with a sublime set of spiritual frequencies in strung out sleeping bag style. Indian percussion, loose bass and echo drenched trombone float freely on an LP perfect for horizontal journeys and sofa-based space excursions. Jazzy, Balearic and a little bit silly, this should please anyone looking to bathe in the light of the miracle...

      TRACK LISTING

      1. The Tape Is Chill
      2. How Does It Feel?
      3. Well Let Me Say Something
      4. Do You Know What To Wear Do You Know?
      5. What Do You Want To Do?
      6. Life Is Real
      7. Break Up The Pill
      8. Well Let Me Tell You Something


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