DIY, Experimental, Klappstuhl Records, Space

The Bridge – Mick Magic’s 40 Years Jubilee Album

It’s been a while since I posted something about Klappstuhl, despite a few things kept me busy and actually happened and are out in the wild. Well, more about those another time – here comes a very special edition – Mick Magic, yes he of Music & Elsewhere fame, head honcho and giant of the UK tape scene besides being a musician on his own right, most prominently with Magic Moments At Twilight Time and later solo as Magic Bullet with his alter egos and guests.

The Bridge [SP 048] is build now. Showcasing bits and pieces of 4 decades in the underground wrapped up as parts of a retro futuristic radioshow you can listen to the whole adventure from lo-fi pop, indie space rock, experiments with dance beats and cut-ups (‘Dance, Freak’) and of course a megamix of the secret top hit ‘Freedom Overflow’among other hidden treasures.

The digital issue actually comes with 2 pdf booklets explaining the whereabouts of all ingridents, origins and more fictive explanations of alternative realities, the Cassette edition of course with a dl code if you don’t get it via bandcamp.

…..Yes, there will be a ltd. tape edition available soon. As of shared roots in the cassette label scene and due to the fact I got hold of a pile of unused Maxell’s XL II C-90’s this is a perfect opportunity for a nod to the old days of DIY long before everything went digital, cloudy and got partially lost on the way.

Dub, Electronic, Findings

24/7 Dub Techno, Deep Techno, Minimal | Cold Tear Records Radio

Just a cool breeze for days like these….. supplied from Lithuania and mixed from the huge catalogue of electronic music they released since 2010, which is mostly focused on dub tech, ambient some idm, electronica and deep tech with a highly enjoyable rooster.

If you like what comes to your ears they’re also well present on various other platforms like bandcamp, soundcloud and instargram. Not to forget they do have a real home on the net for a closer look.

Computer Blue, Electronic, Experimental

The Next Generation – SPK : THE SPKtR : SPKtR XXX

Another legend of industrial returned to music last year on the VOD Festival, Graeme Revell performed as SPK together with his son Robert. Now they released a single track in March which is meant to show one side of the new project mutation.

Graeme Revell had basically left the music business after he scored the Australian Thriller ‘Dead Calm’ which opened a new and successfull way for him of working in Film Music for movies like ‘Until The End Of The World’, ‘The Crow’, ‘Sin City’, ‘Tomb Raider’, ‘Dare Devil’, ‘Riddick’, ‘The Spawn’, ‘Dune’ and many more.

SPK had ended with the mixed up Nettwerk release of ‘Gold and Poison‘ and a poor but official live album. The backcatalouge of Side Effects / SPK was handed over to Brian Williams who licensed it to Mute in the 1990’s. During the last years various other recordings and reissues appeared, even their controversioal and most commercial ‘Machine Age Voodoo‘ album got an careful and loving remaster.

His long time partner and wife, Sinan who’s not involved any longer gave a rare Interview last year to Maurizio from Chain D.L.K. covering amongst other topics the story of ‘Metal Dance’.
As of now Graeme and their son have established a solid web presence and a basic concept involving two different directions – both are set for official live debuts this year – discover more here.

“SPK has always worked at the fault lines of new technology — from scrap metal and samplers to AI. The outrage is never the point; the diagnosis is.
Industrial culture taught us that humanity has always been hybrid — we are already technological organisms.
The sampler didn’t kill music. The drum machine didn’t erase drummers. They changed the terrain.
AI is simply the contemporary coal face. It isn’t a shortcut or a replacement for artists. It’s an instrument — one that exposes how patriarchy, power and spectacle are already algorithmic.
The real danger isn’t AI in art, but the invisible accumulation of power and money shaping an opaque technology. Perception and desire without scrutiny. By foregrounding it, we reveal the machinery.
If ‘The Last of Men’ provokes discomfort, that’s consistent with SPK’s history. We don’t avoid the technological fire — we step into it and see what it exposes.
AI is not the enemy of art. Unexamined power is.”

Electronic, New Wave, RIP

The long good-bye of Soft Cell

DAVE BALL PHOTOGRAPH: Mike Owen

When the news broke which reached me first through the official mailing list it made me really sad. Following Soft Cell it was no secret that he had been fighting with his health for some time now. But it’s forever the same – you keep up the hope for a better future until it’s gone.
So… Soft Cell will go out on a high – with forthcoming mixes, versions, the long in the works deluxe version of ‘The Art Of Falling Apart’, various limited 12″ singles and their now really final Album ‘Danceteria’ which Dave finished only a short while ago for a release in 2026. Hopefully the announced expanded reissue of his 1983 solo Album ‘In Strict Tempo’ will appear sooner or later too.

In 2020 he published his memoir ‘Electronic Boy’ which is highly recommended, esp. as the picture of the quiet man behind the keyboards gets expanded in his larger view than being a part of Soft Cell – working with Cabaret Voltaire, Genesis P. Orridge / Psychic TV, Annie Hogan, Gavin Friday and The Virgin Prunes – his one off projects Other People, Ronnie B., English Boy On The Loveranch, plenty of guest appearences, remix and production work. And a bold step into the 90’s starting with the ‘Electric Head’ album leading to another career together with Richard Norris as The Grid.

Intergalaktische Abenteuer

I would like to use a very small quote which sums it up for me:

“Thank you Dave for being an immense part of my life and for the music you gave me. I wouldn’t be where I am without you.”
Marc Almond, Soft Cell

The full and fitting orbiturary can be found at their homepage.

Books, DIY, RIP

Goodbye Vital Weekly, Hello Again Korm Plastics !

Vital Weekly Book

Vital (Weekly) was the longest running review newsletter for any experimental / drone / post-punk / whatever outside of the categories releases. At first it was published as A4 leaflet which was copied and distributed freely by anyone in contact with him (or against postage) starting in 1987. I remember a few odd copies which reached me in the late ’80’s/ early 90’s when there was still a healthy diy/fanzine/tape culture arround which had grown over the years and postal ways. The last of these appeared in 1995 and all the issues have been documented as seen above in a book collection a few years ago. The internet had become a handy tool with it’s homepages, e-mail info services, discussion boards and suddenly an incredible wealth of information could be found and distributed at very low costs (depending on your connection and bandwidth). In Vital Weekly Frans and his allies reviewed nearly anything they got – with a few limitations only: it needed to be a physical product which was sold or kept after being reviewed and since several years the permission to use excerpts for the accompanying podcast.
Still up and running are the lates issues at the mixcloud channel or with tracklisting at Vital. The decision not to review any digital only releases excluded quite a lot interesting music but seemed to work fine as a pre-selection at least for the reviewers. Now after Marc Almond’s e-mail service closed recently (due being not more relevant as other ways of posting are more popular) Vital closed with #1500 too in September. The site and archive is still up and can be found at vitalweekly.net.

The reason for this is different – Frans decided to concentrate again on his label Korm Plastics once again but this time it’s mutation as music book publishing house. So after 40 years and various phases from fanzine, tape label, releasing CD’s and Vinyl, working 10 years+ for Staalplat (see his published resumee below) and also being – judging on the amount of releases – permanent active as Musician (Freiband, Kapotte Muziek f.e.) one can hope he enjoys what he does next equally. Thanks Vital for all your input and time!

Of course you can also listen to a lot of his works via bandcamp nowadays as of Korm Plastic Releases.

Ambient, Dub

The Collapse Of Everything – Adrian Sherwood

the collapse

Another fitting comment to the times we live in comes in pastell artwork by Mark Stewart associate Peter Harris who was also responsible for quite a few recent ON-U Sound covers. A mellow genre bending new work by Adrian Sherwood without vocals and no words besides the song titles – “Hiroshima Dub Match”, “Battles Without Honour And Humanity” or “Spaghetti Best Western” which speak for itself.
He’s taken actually 13 years since “Survival And Resistance” which was equally short but one of my personal highlights of his impressive amount of work. Of course he did not rest all this time – issuing two albums in collaboration with Pinch in 2015/17 and more collaboration work with The Near Jazz Experience, Fire, Panda Bear besides his restless work producing and mixing and releasing archive box sets for the most prominent ON-U Sound acts; Dub Syndicate, African Head Charge, New Age Steppers and Creation Rebel.

Back to his current album which is surprisingly coherent and peaceful compared to the preceeding 10″ single of “The Grand Designer” and it’s additional tracks which ended up as bonus on the Japanese CD version. As it’s 2025 there’s also a transparent LP version available together with a casual black one. Actually I can see the endless praise coming along but not without reason.
Musicians involved are mainly Doug Wimbish and Mark Bandola but there are plenty of guest spots for Horseman, Gaudi, Jazzwad and even Brian Eno.

Posthumous featured is Keith LeBlanc, the incredible drummer from Tackhead and so many related projects, on “Body Roll” and “Spirits” and these are the most driving rhythms inmidst this post-everything cocktail.

Daily Life, DIY

BYE BYE – 2025

Video

All proceeds from “BYE BYE 25!” will be donated to reproductive rights nonprofit NOISE FOR NOW.

“Justin Raisen had this idea to redo ‘Bye Bye’ starting at the end of the song. When I was thinking of lyric ideas, it occurred to me to use words taken from a site that had all the words that Trump has essentially banned, meaning any grant or piece of a project or proposal for research that includes any of those words would be immediately disregarded or “cancelled.” I guess Trump does believe in cancel culture, because he is literally trying to cancel culture.” – Kim Gordon

The words Gordon speaks in “BYE BYE 25!” have begun to disappear under Trump’s agenda.

Directed by
Vice Cooler
Kim Gordon

Cam Op / Editor:
Vice Cooler

For a little more background see https://kimaltheagordon.com/#byebye25

Dub, Electronic, Post Punk, RIP

Memory Of You – Mark Stewart’s Surprising Return

mute recently announced to issue a complete unreleased Album by Mark Stewart; The Fateful Symmetry, which was completed shortly before Mark’s untimely passing in April 2023!

I can’t find the proper words to express my astonishment, in utter disbelief I had waded through all of his many collaborations of the last years including the hell of emergency hearts digital releases and remixes of the 2022 “VS” Album and tried to make my peace with this great loss at any cost. Never was there any hint of another Album and now I consider myself speechless but lucky as I’m sure it will grow on me whatever musical course he took at last.

Release is set on 11 July 2025 on mute in the usual formats – Digital / CD / LP (Red colored).

lost in musick II