UNITED FAIRY MOONS

Attention Flatlanders

2007-08-25T20:22:00.000+12:00

Uh, we jus cum to get th uh facks...

2006-08-15T18:09:00.001+12:00

Here be the actual Ray Off Australian tour dates. Many palms to Mark Leacy for being far more organised than i could ever possibly be and putting this info into a comprehensible format for me....

[Wednesday the 16th of August]
live-to-air on 4ZZZ fm, 11pm - 2am

Antony Milton
Castings
Joel Stern
Ray Off

[Thursday the 17th of August]
@ The Globe Theatre, Fortitude Valley

Live soundtrack to 1922 Danish film "Haxan" - Witchcraft Through The Ages. Soundtrack provided by:

Ray Off
Brothers Of The Occult Sisterhood
Castings

7-9.30pm $7

[Friday the 18th of August].
"Beamathon". @ Jugglers Gallery, Fortitude Valley.
7pm till late

EEE (eye ear ensemble),
Castings
Sue Harding
Tina Blakeney and Danni Zuvela
Ray Off (9pm or so)
Point Source.

[Sunday the 20th of August]
Master Bedroom Session 8 with Ray Off
4:00pm – 5:00pm :: Visible Ink, 54 Berwick St, Valley
Free
Jim Currin of Ray Off hosts a master class in, uh, something or other.... music, revelation and the gastric arts...

[Thursday the 24th August]
Yvonne Ruve' 104a / 342 Elizabeth St, Surry Hills
8-ish start?

Ray Off (nz)
Marasmus (half of castings),
Bad Tables (matthew NOTV),
Cabaret Callado (brazil)

[Saturday the 26th August]
Annie Street Warehouse, NEWCASTLE

Will Guthrie,
Castings,
Crabsmasher,
Ray Off
Joel Stern+Yusuke Akai,
Adam Park+Daiji Igarashi

Unbelievable, eh? Well, to assuage any confusion, go here for a photo that explains why Ray Off is drawing kudos and respect from folks all over the shop....

blessings and crashings,
Jimb

The Eyes Have not Quite got It

2006-08-07T13:19:00.001+12:00

The creeping crackle of spring cometh to Dunedin ssslowly. So as we wake to the first few handfuls of heat for many a moon, activities aboundeth. Eth. Firstly we had the spectral and sublime Other Lives, a new devising by Agent Spree held in the King Edward Court carpark a few weeks ago. In dark twilight we saw the death's night dance of plastic bags and cardboard boxes, propped up on a couple of sets of stilts (the amazing, amazing Nathan ManBat and Ray Off's Katrina Thomson) and music by Jim Currin (guitar) and Miss Morse (accordian). It was wet and cold as hell but seemed like a fitting farewell to winter.

ManBat gets up on it

Let's run through some upcoming shows. There was meant to be some sort of Eye/Ray Off double bust-up happening at Circadian Rhythm, but probably this won't eventuate at least not for a while. Fingers crossed! What IS happening this Friday at Records Records (upper Stuart St) is Ray Off/Rory Storm badd action. Ray Off, THIS time, will be Currin and drummer Lee Noyes. Yes, that's his real name. Start about 6pm. Then on Saturday night DO NOT MISS Sweaty Betty and Haunted Love at C-Rhythm. $5, 9pm start. Sweat Betty are sounding fucking incredible at the moment - I know, they rehearse in the ceiling above my bed. Ok, that sounds weird. But it's true! Anyway, once you've seen 'em on Saturday, come on down to None (24 Stafford St) for another blast at the BIG MUTANT show, featuring also the talents of....

Now, what else is happening in Dunedin over these upcoming few weeks, I couldn't tell ya, because I'll be touring Australia. That's right you heard me. Dates as far as I understand 'em:

- Aug 17th, The Globe Theatre, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane. Myself (Ray Off as I wanna be), Brothers of the Occult Sisterhood and Castings will be performing live soundtracks to the silent films Haxan and L'Inferno. See otherfilm for details.
- now.... um... either the 18th or 19th in Brisbane. Ok, I know this sounds lame, but really, there is a show. The Beamathon on the Friday sounds great but i dunno if I'm part of that. Maybe the next night? Better smarten this up quick....
- um... maybe on the sunday too in Brisbane? (oh Jasus...)
- 24th of Aug at Yvonne Ruve, Sydney, with Marasmus and possibly some other cats.
- 26th of Aug in Newcastle at... um... this guys' warehouse... with Will Guthrie, Castings, maybe ALPS and god I dunno....
- maybe another show in Newcastle at a fort or in a moat or something...

Well, glad I cleared all that up.... now for new releases!!!!! Goshes these are some goodies! From Sinking Infinities we have the long promised 'The Life Of Riley' and from the indomitable CJA there's 'Ponds', a sensitive collection of songs that flew at us out of nowhere and knocked us silly. Further into the future, the incredible, incredible Anomie Ensemble gig the other night was recorded and will be out shortly after I get back, as will the Mixxxtape (provisionally titled so) compilation. More on these shortly.

Also when I get back a big rundown on what we all up to for the Dunedin Fringe Festival. Later to that, then. xxxxx

To craunch a marmoset

2006-07-06T18:16:00.001+12:00

Anyone else out there - spekkers de angalais - enjoy spending idle minutes applying the Google translator to random foreign-language pages? I sure do. And what egocentric joy to play so, when it comes to descriptions of ones' own work! This - quite plainly - lovely review from the Spanish language site Microphones In The Trees:

I like very many Ray Off. two discs, “I'm not in the racing sky” (united fairy moons, 2005) and “Ghost Wolf of Thunder Mountain” without hardly promotion… and is a pain because I take listening to them all the morning and they have to me more and more enamored. it is what happens with these seals so so small, its music sinks in that unjust world of the talent nonappreciated, until a good day somebody rescues them of there. Ray Off makes music hipnótica to leave to walk by the forests and to embrace to the trees… a perfect sound track for histories of betrayed friendships of Wild Group. much dust, many stringed instruments and only five “songs” that oscillate both between the twenty and minutes, that have the enchantment of old vinyls of Morricone. sinister whistles, short sound, desert fits of distortion, landscapes, acoustic guitars a little desafinadas and absolutely irresistible, and a special ability to manipulate the topics of country with the most disturbing and trembling sounds than I have been able to listen, once again, in much long time. a man, the one that hides after Ray Off, special really.

GORGEOUS!! It also says that United Fairy Moons 'is the stews of one James Currin...' which I couldn't have possibly put better myself. I'm just a man, the one who hides after Ray Off....

Mats Gustafsson and his Broken Face is at it again with a choice review of 'Clean & Dry...' (the first!). I also really enjoyed reading his and others' reflections on the recent Terrastock 6 fest, at the excellent Deep Water. And cop the beards on some of these fuckers! Anyone thinking of downloading some of the sets (damn, have lost the link...) might try one of my top 3: Larkin Grimm, Fursaxa (ask my flatmates if they're sick of hearing 'Lepidoptera' yet...) and Brothers Of the Occult Sisterhood. Plenty of others beauties too.

The organisatorors of the biennial Lines Of Flight festival have got a blog up and blogging; check back for relevant details as they come to hand. We're all on a fat buzz that Crude is back in the lineup this year; anyone who saw him steal (or was that crush?) the show at the inaugeral 2000 event will definately want to get on back for more. Or will it be even less this time???

Raddio plug time again: my show is called Spit In The Cracks; it broadcasts on Sundays, 9-11pm (GMT+12); and on the 16th of July (not this week, as planned) will feature a live-to-air by none other than His Jolly Crankingness, CJA. 'Nuff said.

Wellington readers might wanna keep an eye out for an all-too-rare-these-days performance by Rory Storm, sometime in the next week or two. Yep, that's the complete extent of the information.

Plenty of Ray Off shows have been happening - Dunedin, Wellington, Greymouth... will post details of upcoming Christchurch and Dunedin joints very soon.

Like everybody these days, I've been wasting far too much time on My Space, and kinda digging it. UFM be at here, or, um, there. Check the blog section for far more tragic examples of my usual waffling.

Ok! Anyone for tofu and mung beans for tea? Yum!!

Sometimes the name really does say it all - Jo Jo ef Steve

2006-05-28T16:00:00.000+12:00

One radio live-to-air. One gig (described by one of the six people in the audience as a 'catastrophe'). One jam in a basement on a harmonium and bits of concrete. One recording session the night before one-third of the group relocated to Australia ('morning-after' photo above. The balloon illustrating the popular expression 'my muff has tusks' had just been sucked out of the window by a wind vector and blown 300 metres across the city until we lost sight of it). And now - their debut album.

UFM 014 Jo Jo ef Steve 'A Quiet Night In With...' cdr
Each cover is hand-drawn by Dunedin graf maven Agent Spree

But people it is no joke! Take the tape/radio drop-in genius of Spit, the rock-solid repetition and resonance of Rory Storm, and the hyper melodic scattergun texturalism of Ray Off and what you've got is not only surprisingly coherent but also a damned compelling listen. Marvel at the way Storm adjusts a heart-rending two-chord riff to fit in the shifting plates of random sound! Swoon to Currin's lonely and tender balloon solo! Gasp at how Cockburn snatches exactly the 'right' piece of opera/talkback/pop trash from the airwaves at JUST the 'right' time.

Catastrophe in progress

This is one of my favourite UFM's for the sheer chutzpah and 'uh...what? how?...' of it all. It's pretty, it's stupid, it's deep... it's... ummm... stupid again... Beautifully recorded in vivid 2-track stereo, we dare you to spend a quiet night in with Jo Jo ef Steve and not get a jazzed feeling in your bones. If the Dead C had kept making records in the vein of 'Operation Of The Sonne', but ditched the drums and the electric guitars, they might have ended up here. If the Clean got incredibly lazy and started forgetting to finish songs or turn the radio off or sing properly... 'One out of the box', as the puzzling NZ expression for something unusual goes. And, as for the name: there is no explanation; but somehow it does say it all.

Give us more Skull!

2006-04-30T21:12:00.000+12:00

Here's a wee bit of up-to datings: the Ray Off gig at Circadian Rhythm is ON for the 11th of May. CR is a neat new cafe on St Andrew St opposite the Rock Shop - check it out. There'll be solo sets from Pamela and Jim as well as ze Ray Off; there'll be cheap beer ($3 Macs Gold) and only $2 entry so, no excuses chaps. I'd say about a 9pm start.

The Wolfskull/Sweaty Betty gig at the Crown this past Saturday was the ultima shizzle and no joke. Sweaty Betty's a new outfit that drags the knuckles in all the right ways; got some members of the Shut-Ups and International Telepaths in there, so yeah, primal! Excellent rousing choruses like "I'M YOUR DEAD SCUBA DIVER!!!!!" and "Fliesfliesfliesfliesfliesfliesflies....she eats FLIES!!!!". Love it. Wolfskull's set was the performance of the year so far, in fact I've not seen its' like since the last mind-mashing Eye show. ISO 12 - what a singer, what a showman! Duane Zarakov - them drums were SINGING. CJA and Mandroid - their churning riffage sounded like the propeller of a boat made from solid absinthe. So, locals, step up and see these cats at one of their TWO remaining gigs this week. For the Wednesday one you might have to pretend to be a friend of Rory Storm's to attend (it's his birthday party, at None) but the Friday at Arc, supporting Thought Creature from Wellington, is open to all.

Also, this is the last week of the Peter Stapleton-curated 360degrees sound-art exhibition at the Blue Oyster Gallery, Moray Place. Features works by Antony Milton, Richard Francis and a host of other NZ filemunchers and tape-tiddlers.

AND look out for upcoming in-store gigs at RECORDS RECORDS, Upper Stuart St. Apparantly the inaugeral one by Crude last week fuckin' went off (his last gig at Arc two weeks back was pretty awesome). And of course check out RR for mad bargains! got a nice 1977 Willie Nelson LP there the other day, myself....

Oh, and the Rory Storm track has moved up one place to number three. Up yours, Zan Batman Circus!

Number Four With A Bullitt - Rory Storm

2006-04-23T22:13:00.000+12:00

It did not take a genius to predict it - if you had heard the material in question, you would've said the same - but the new Rory Storm album 'Fuck the Memescape' has taken over the Dunedin airwaves. Evidence here (for this week anyway). Why is this? How could this happen? Because this album fucking ROCKS.

It's stupidly simple. When you hear a record, it either rocks or it does not. There is an in-between, but really, who gives a fuck. It's gotta ROCK. I love how 'Fuck The Memescape' starts - the big opening electro beats are so cheesy, so dodgy; I've observed dropped jaws on many faces, including my own, when the bip-bop starts up. But hang on because in 3 minutes time Dr Storm's going to have you in the palm of his hand. It's so insanely catchy, so mesmerizingly static; the time-warps-per-second ratio is staggering. Once you get to the track that's blasted through to number four on the Radio 1 charts, 'Valerie Solanis Space Station' (track three) you will be as gripped by the vortextual pull of these electronic beat paddocks and massive electric guitar riffs as a bunch of zoned-up Russkies once were by the Sol-Anus.

The connections with his previous, and gaining-in-legend album 'We Are Superior Beings' are remarkably few. Think of that albums' 'No Full Attempt On Lightening Robot'; but with vocals (and lyrics!)... and just a general all-over songliness. The main connection is in the precision with which it's all put together, and the superstrings of guitar arcing like electric meltdown. Not sure who I'd compare it to in the modern pantheon, but I would like to call attention to the occasional resemblances, via the use of numbing repetition; and a healthy mixing of the vivid and the vague, to the early Fall. And anyone knows that early Fall is as good as it gets.

Rory's threatened a recorded version of his acoustic live show for the next record - an experience which resembles a slowed-down rendition of Palace Music's 'Arise Therefore' album as sung by Ian Curtis, but less life-affirming - so until that brain-batterer comes down the tube you better get yer kicks while you can. This is an outstanding rock'n'roll record in any arena - maybe even, g_d forbid, a stadium arena. It's just got it. And it's coming to you from an improv/weirdo label at the bottom of the world. I dare you to argue with the logic in that.

"....a superior musical organism..."

2006-04-16T15:53:00.000+12:00

Just discovered these out-of-it reviews from the Deep Water site - wow! Also check out Lee's other superior musical writingisms at the Womblife blog.

On a less-than-superior note, I'd like to publicly apologise to two customers who have had to wait forever for their orders due to nothing other than the scattered contents of my so-called brain. They will be receiving extra discs at no charge; and I thank them for their patience.

Ray Off

2006-04-15T18:03:00.000+12:00

Writing this the night after a total blessing of a Ray Off performance (at the new None Gallery opening, Shadow Boxing, with constructions by Agent Spree, Iso 12, Racula, Eddi, Rachel Taylor and meself), featuring the nth-times-X line-up we've had over the past year-and-a-half or so (with me, that is, Jim, on cello and Toki and Franco on echo cellos and cellphones) leads me to muse on what the hell is a band, is this in fact a band, where is my band, etc...

I started the Ray Off schmozzle over two years ago as a pressure vent against the then not-jamming Three Forks. At first, I mucked around some on the computer and produced hours of electronic mishmash, which I then mixed onstage with cd-jays and portables and tapes and whatnot while working on that so-special Ray Off "stage presence". It sounded vile - excellent, mission accomplished - and was pretty fun. But it wasn't enough; solo is fine, but not ALL the time. So after Three Forks split others came in: first Jon Chapman otherwise known as Co.,Inc; Mr Rory Storm; and the grouping captured on the out-of-print cdr 'I Am Not In The Racing Sky', with Jon, Katrina Thomson on harp, Pamela Poppins on voice, guitar and keyboard, and myself. "Ray Off" played Melbourne and Sydney, with Eamon Sprod helping out; then throughout the second half of last year a heaping of big-band "compositions" got played with the help of the abovementioned locals, with Ryan Cockburn and the Forks/Sandoz genius of Tim Cornelius added in as well. I think the most we had on stage was 7 - good times, crazy times. But was it really a band yet? Not quite.

UFM 015 Ray Off 'Clean & Dry Area Before Application' CDR

This new record is pretty much a solo record, however. Time constraints on the various players have meant that only a select few can make it to regular jams. And that is what has started to make us a real band over the last couple of months - hanging out, drinking fine alcohols, playing, regularly. So at the moment the group seems to be Katrina, Pamela, Tim and me, and it's us you'll hear (possibly with another newcomer, drummer Lee Noyes) on the next record to be released on the Austro-Japanese imprint Black Petal.

So yeah, as for this disc, I took the oppotunity to try out a few things and so it is a lot more varied than the previous two. A lot of piano playing; some thick music/sound-collaging; some outright pretty stuff. Pamela, Katrina, Jon and Rory all make appearances. If you liked Ghost Wolf... I'm sure you won't be disappointed, but it is quite a different trip. To see if it's for you, why not check out our track 'Middlemarch Hop' on the just-released MYMWLY compilation Sound Surrounds Us 4. I think that one track is my favourite of all the Ray Off stuff thus far.

Locals, look out for us playing next month at Circadian Rhythm and Arc, as well as making a bit of atmospheric whatever for the upcoming Mid-Winter Carnival in the Octagon. As for Toki and Franco... I think this might end up as a different band altogether, if our explorations in pop music are anything to go by... keep ya posted.

We Rule

2006-04-07T16:02:00.000+12:00

That's right, you heard me. After elephantine delays and a rain of shit so thick you could swim in it, all our new releases are finally on the blocks; Ray Off's Clean & Dry Area Before Application, Rory Storm's incredible Fuck The Memescape and of course the Jo Jo ef Steve CDR we discussed earlier. This lot, without doubt, is as strong or stronger than anything we've done to date. So watch here in the next two days as 1) UFM hooks up to broadband and 2) posts up some facts and figures on these three.

In other news, we've been busting a nut running the screenprinting biz and you can see our work adorning the new Brothers of The Occult Sisterhood cd on Digitalis Industries - soon we'll be, uh, printing more of that ('cause it, like, has almost sold out already) and also a Tom Carter cd cover for the same label. Our prices for this sort of work are really very reasonable and anyone interested in a kick-arse screened cover for their cd should contact us immediately. Just take a look at the the new Ray Off cover for an examble of what we're capable of - I think it's the most beautiful thing we've done.

Ok - couple days off and then hard into it. Ay-up all.

I Fucked My Way To The Beer

2006-02-18T20:09:00.000+13:00

Well hello. No, this isn't a gig guide, or a community-funded arts project. So why do I feel so guilty when I don't post for weeks and weeks? Must be some sort of tortured artist.

Been so much change around here that new releases almost seem insignificant. But that's what it's all about so let's get ya up to date. Firstly, the really pretty great Jo Jo ef Steve CDR, 'A Quiet Night In With....', is now available. Ummm... haven't got a photo yet... but every cover is hand-drawn by Agent Spree, the mad finger-knitting nightcreature I keep in my basement. Honestly, it's not me - I really do keep this guy in my basement. He's pretty self-sufficient really - just keep him supplied with skips to raid and old Thug LPs, and he's happy. This Jo Jo record numbs my speech centres everytime I hear it so I'll think up something clever and write it here soon. Buy now. Yay.

Also the screened-cover reissue of Ray Off's 'Ghost Wolf Of Thunder Mountain' is ready. The new Ray Off, 'Clean & Dry Area Before Application', has been pushed back two weeks due to all the other activity which I'm about to ramble on about some, so to speak.

So UFM has shifted headquarters from the Good Food Pyramid to the None building at 24 Stafford St Dunedin. The None/Lot 24 gallery has reopened for the year and you can drop on in to see the goods each Saturday/Sunday between 11am and 4pm. Also there's a wee shop being put together in the room formerly occupied by Black Star Books with shirts, records... um... cactuses.... just the usual. The current exhibition is a group show, DIVE DIVE and hell, let's stick in a photo of Agent Spree's sculptures.

and one of Rory Storm's big-as cartoons:

The new space is also the UFM screenprinting company; and yes we do take requests and do orders. In a short while you'll be seeing our work on a new release from the American label Foxy Digitalis, 'Goodbye' by the fantastic Australian crew Brothers of the Occult Sisterhood and there's work being produced around town for various interested parties -aprons, shirts etc so it's pretty darn busy some days. Just the way we like it.

The None building at this time is a festering hive of activity so it wasn't hard to come to the conclusion that a CD and book highlighting the skills of those who live and work here was necessary. Just in musical terms, that'll include The Riff Rats, Murderbike, The Aesthetics, Rocko Mayday (formerly Dick The Phone), Iso 12, Agent Spree, Wolfskull, Toki Wilson, Ray Off, Eddi, The Love Haters and god knows how many other solo trips and combos. Coming soon.

Also soon from us - the new album by Rory Storm. His much-loved first album, 'We Are Superior Beings' is nearly sold out (but will be reissued with a simpler cover) but let me tell you, this new one is even better and rocks like ten motherfuckers. Rory's long been the only one of our artists who gets played on Dunedins' Radio 1 during the day but this baby is gonna TAKE OVER THE AIRWAVES.

And further down the line? Crumbs... spoke to Jane Venis the other day and her album is well underway and due to fall/plunge/descend in the second half of the year. I'll continue hassling Mandroid from Rocko Mayday for a record and I'm sure it'll happen. Rory Storm & The Invaders are well overdue. If the Eddi/Miss Morse set I saw the other night is to be believed then she has been cruelly holding out on us. Recording for Sinking Infinities' 'The Life Of Riley' continues apace. A collaboration between Jimb Currin (Three Forks/Ray Off/ 'Infinites) and Brothers of the Occult Sisterhoods' Meyekal Donnelly is in the works - our first non-pure-Dunedin joint. Would love to do an Anomie Ensemble disc. Ummm... yeah.

A UFM sub-committee have also recently diversified into a production company, CRACK PRODS., that'll be staging special events throughout the year. More performancey stuff; at a variety of location indoors and out. Watch this space.

Also watch out this Monday at Arc Cafe for Ray Off in action - for another James Robinson art opening, what a surprise! 7pm start and probably the odd julienned carrot and cask of wine.

Now - lastly, but goodly. A whole heap of reviews for Three Forks' Seven Layer Ape have come down the vac tube recently. Foxy Digitalis thought it resembled something resembling God. Dusted weren't quite as fervent but did say a heartfelt prayer. The Wire were more equivocal, and slightly incoherent. They seemed to be suggesting that we deliberately added extra "ambience" to the live recording 'Drunken Traffic' - this is not true. Or was he saying that we fit well into the noisy ambience of the space? It's hard to tell. Anyway, a review in the Wire is a lot better than a kick in the teeth with a wet fish, so no drama; and he called us "musically expansive meta-folk" which is pretty catchy. I do want to take issue with a number of reviews which have highlighted the fact that the recordings were made onto cassettes - in fact only a couple of the tracks were done this way (the rest to Video 8) but my main problem is that it tends to suggest that the sound quality, well, blows. It doesn't. Does too! Does not!!! Does too! Hey, fuck you, man.

What, never argued with yourself?

The best review, however, comes from NZs' own Real Groove. Beneath a twice-life-size colour reproduction of the cover, Adrian Osman calls it an "experimental audio lobotomy", states that it is "not Mariah Carey" and that "there are times when Seven Layer Ape delves into hideousness that is seldom seen on this planet or in any dimension explored by man". He also uses the words "perversion" and "hour of chaos". I reckon you couldn't buy a review like that if you tried, eh?

Great big sweaty hugs to each and every one of you.

UFM Masterpiece Theatre

2006-01-22T13:06:00.000+13:00

Those of you who, over the years, have trawled the byways of out-of-it musical culture, particularly that of these wee islands of NZ, can hardly have missed the musings of one Mats Gustafsson. He's in it up to his neck and I am shocked and elated to report that in a new post to his The Broken Face blog he's passed judgement over a couple of our titles. Yes, they're good reviews. Man, I can't hold out - they're great reviews. Allow me to here quote - he is speaking of Three Forks' 'Seven Layer Ape':

'Despite its' fringe characteristics there's a sense of beauty and isolation that is much more seducing than it is perplexing, like following a hidden trail through a region draped in dramatic natural beauty. Seven Layer Ape is a slice of timeless improv.... a visual and aural masterpiece that comes highly recommended to every avid Broken Face reader.'

Mmmmm. 'Masterpiece'. That, my friends, is a $50 word if ever I heard it. Could get used to this kind of business.

Ok, better go scrub out my bath tub now....

Evil Eye

2006-01-08T16:24:00.000+13:00

(above) Peter Stapleton and Ryan Cockburn
(below) Peter Porteous

They went out on a good one.

Thanks to the amazingly huge (and hugely amazing) crowd who made it out. The Tunnel Hotel rocks! Thanks Fred (the sweet-as owner, who looks quite a bit like Bricktop from that film Snatch) and again to Rob who ran the gig like a champ despite momentary PA problems (which unfortunately curtailed the Gate Disco set). The New Zealots will be playing again on the 21st of this month, and supposedly Matt Middleton's Anomie Ensemble is in on the 28th.

Too PC for you

2005-12-31T19:12:00.000+13:00

Well, there you have it. Nevermore. At least until Nathan Thompson gets back into town (April I'm told)

Before anything, can I just say it's a testament to the single-minded determination of Rob "Leg Of" Lamb and his fellow thinkers that the Tunnel Hotel, formerly Port's most reliably vacated drinking establishment, is now up and running as an honest-to-god venue. The first gig there a couple of weeks back - with Rob's band, The New Zealots, launching their CD - was apparantly a shocking success and I'm sure this one will top it.

Farewell, Ryan, you'll be sorely missed. Prior to leaving he'll be editing and selecting recordings with Eye bandmates Stapleton and Porteous for upcoming releases; also, the final recordings for the totally imminant Jo Jo ef Steve release will be made. The world didn't know they needed it; the band didn't know that they even existed - but it arrived anyway, the glorious rich funky Jo Jo sound. New from UFM this summer!

Also having the final touches applied is the new Ray Off cdr, Clean & Dry Area Before Application. More on that soon. Hope to have both of these out by early Febuary.

I'll be attempting to do new silkscreened editions (in a slightly simpler format) of the totally gone Ghost Wolf Of Thunder Mountain and the very-nearly-gone We Are Superior Beings (7 copies left, folks!) in the coming weeks (please note that there will be no more of Black Ice once the run of 120 is done - read fab review here). My living/working arrangements have been a little odd for a while now, as some of you know (!), and are about to get weirder but in a good, productive way. That is the plan anyways.

So a happy new year to all. Thanks so much to all of you who took the plunge into our world - I've been honoured to meet (via email, predominantly) many of you, and it's been a blast. Special extra thanks to the Sydney and Melbourne gangs who took care of Jon and myself on our Western Isles tour - see you all again soon! Must put a special-friend mention in here to Forbes and Sean, soundguy and booker respectively of Dunedin's Arc cafe. Your support this year gone has been invaluable. And of course to our fabulous distributors (see links). These guys are at the edge, looking up.

Also soon - more info (promise!) and more MP3's. Ok.... cut!

Best Regards,
Jim

New releases part 2: Three Forks regret that they can't be here tonight, but...

2005-11-19T06:54:00.000+13:00

UFM 013 Three Forks 'Seven Layer Ape' CD

So let's say you're a CDR label, got your roots in lathe-cuts; what makes a record jump out and scream "pay these two Australian munters hundreds of dollars and never be short for beer coasters ever again"?? Scientists and shamans alike are undecided.

This is the record of a band that existed from 2002 up until the beginning of this year. They never left Dunedin. I understand that at one point they had as many as five fans. So what's the big deal? In the post directly below I ruminated slightly on time and steeping blah blah blah... and this disc is a perfect example of what can be achieved. It's like Akira Kurosawa's story about the oily emanations of a ten-legged toad being slowly simmered for 3707 days to produce the perfect cure for burns and stretch marks. When they existed Three Forks were a band that could hardly agree on anything; three hugely divergent personalities. What we were doing was barely comprehensible to us, and it's only been with time and distance that from the hours of recordings we made, 3 platters have almost (almost) miraculously floated together to tell the story. The first, 'Firewood', on Metonymic, was a wee taster. It's now out of print but soon to be reissued in Israel. That is a fucking true story. Then probably early next year a CDR will appear on Richard Francis' CMR label. I ended up with this one.

'Seven Layer Ape' is sorta free-folk, but it isn't. It's a little droney, but it's not. The instrumentation is almost entirely acoustic. It starts with a slow, sleepy but waking-up eyerubbing jam, Donald McPherson picking the soul of simplicity out of a home-built guitar. Minutes go by without, seemingly, much progression, but something is happening. Track two, electric guitar and drums enter the mix, but it sounds like free jazz played by people who just returned from an extremely disorientating hovercraft excursion. Then track three: 'Peru'... time is suspended. Heaven is inside that cloud over there. Track four and the acid casualties have infiltrated a bus terminal.... and on and on it goes, never settling. The final track, 'Drunken Traffic', is a complete 15 minute live piece that builds into the most intense, dense, weirdly unfolding melodic constructions until those headlights start slow-streaking past your eyes like auroric pulses.

'Melodic' is kinda the best description I can think of sometimes, but it's a melodicism keeps reaching and reaching and over-reaching and blending and going splat... Donald and I are both massively influenced by electric folk - ISB, Steeleye etc - and the density/clarity thing you find in the best of that stuff was always strong in my mind. Tim Cornelius would throw all sorts of things in, pushing us this and that way. Some of our gnarlier work will be on the CMR disc - yes, 'Seven Layer Ape' is sweet in many ways. It also fucking blows my mind and I'm so goddamned proud of it, I can't shut up even though I know I'm rambling.

Went all-out on these covers - oh boy. James Robinson did the drawings, then Tim and I went to work on 'em. Too much. Every cover is handscreened and handpainted. The recording quality of the tracks ranges from very good to damn-near-pristine, even though much of it was done straight to video camera. Do I have to come out and say it? Please, come on, buy it, please! Please!

I guess for me the real reason I wanted to do this so badly was the completely likely likelihood that this world may never see another record by Donald McPherson. Probably a ridiculous notion, but I started this whole carry-on (the label) because of him and 'Seven Layer Ape' is my little offering. Fans of 'Bramble' will hear another side of the man here, but that's as normal as two consecutive days to him. What can I say - people, start your letterwriting campaign today and get another solo album out of this guy.

So, time for a reunion then? Not on your nelly.

What is Spit? (new releases part 1)

2005-11-19T04:26:00.000+13:00

Hell of a question really. Well, apart from being a place (the Aramoana spit, at the very mouth of Dunedin's Otago Harbour, where the artist in question once lived), an art project, a sound-emitting monstrosity, and a word that is plastered over every single piece of clothing and semi-stationary object in Ryan Cockburn's possession, it is also now a website. What was it Al Goldstein said about Ron Jeremy? - "Ronnie really is a walking train wreck: with a website". Yee-haw, yet another comparison we can make between Ryan Cockburn and Ron Jeremy!

UFM 011 Spit 'Trash Music Spitacular" CDR

Some projects take time to mellow, to pick up lint and absorb spilt coffee grounds. 'Trash Music Spitacular' was months and months in the making and was an exhibition (at the Segue Gallery this past April), a master's thesis, a group-participation extravaganza, a public relations bonanza (nice photos of the 'unusual artist' in all the papers) and finally now a CDR. And necessarily, no CDR can give you much beyond basic pointers when dealing with such a whirlwind of activity but lemme tell you a little about what went down. You had, firstly, a room and a corridor strewn - I mean, strewn - with sculptures etched with thought on the nature of recorded sound and the various traceries of musickal hardware. Then, every day for two weeks, performances. You had Kim Pieters painting 'notation' onto graph paper while RC 'played' the piece as the ink dried; a 'street horn' - an absolutely massive length of metal piping with a stylus welded onto one end that was then dragged up and down Burlington St; a pile of wrecked furniture, taller than a man, wound with piano wire and played with anything available by RC and Aliki, with harpist Katrina Thomson (Ray Off) jamming along; a cellist in evening dress alongside a ghetto blaster that was being buried under a four foot high mound of coal; two homies on the 16rpm decks, while a drunken idiot rambled on about the secret punk beginnings of Snoop Dogg... that's a few of 'em. Flux as hell, yes? Well, possibly the best thing I saw was one night in the bellringers chamber of the church next door (the oldest church in Dunedin). Cockburn had the actual bellringers of this place perform a 'chance operation' composition, with each ringer assigned a number and him rollin' the dice. Balls like big fluffy dice, this guy.

You'll hear a section of that on this disc - and much else besides. It's really nicely varied, concisely edited - most pieces are fairly short - and gives a good overview of a guy who's a pretty zoned and imaginative cracked-sound thinker. Ryan was initially known to us music-heads around here as the guy who cut records in half, glued 'em back together all wrong, then made a hell of an invigorating racket - there's none of that here (but plenty on Eye's Black Ice CDR, him being a member of that group). He's just, you know, got a lot to offer.

Nice screened cover as per usual, uh-huh, and a booklet with photos and whatnot.

Oh, and by the way, the other thing that he has in common with Ron Jeremy is that he's really hard to get on the telephone.

Damn ol' Yellow Swans...

2005-11-19T03:45:00.000+13:00

Totally best night out! Group fantastic! That's what we all were saying after last Wednesday's Ray Off/Futurians/D Yellow Swans gig at Arc. First of all, thanks to everyone who came despite the remember-last-winter? weather - so fucking great that we had a decent crowd to witness this one. Firstly, we who is Ray Off had a blast with our possibly finally-solid line-up really getting into the swing; and for those who mentioned it afterwards, we promise to keep working on the Japanese opera vocal stylings. Second-to-last gig for The Futurians (at least in current form).... these guys have ruled Dunedin with an iron robotic hand for the past couple of years and not only Dunedin but, I believe, the world is better for it. All the best in Wellington, Ms Duckling. DN folks really, really ought to sober up and drive out to Port Chalmers for the final gig next Friday (the 25th) at the Masonic Lodge, corner of Wickliffe Tce and Currie St.

And then.... well, let me just say this about the Dirty Old Yellow Swans - ANY band that is capable of inspiring spontaneous Butoh dancing among a Dunedin audience is alright by me. Mention these guys to anyone who's met them and the first thing they say is "aren't they just the nicest guys?" Well, yes they are, but what nobody ever mentions is that one of 'em is quite short, while the other one is pretty tall!!! What's up with that? Anyway, best band from OS all year, easy, and we be digging their new album 'Psychic Secession' a lot. Label for that here. The band site here, and a pretty nice overview of their stuff on the Volcanic Tongue site. I really am a big fan of the 'Live During War Crimes' CD, and that's a good title.

Also, it was great that Pete and Gabriel (Denoting Yellow Swans) got to see The Aesthetics and Crude play while they were here (on the Tuesday)... spread the word, brothers.

Pretty soon Eye and Rory Storm 'n' the Invaders will be playing the Masonic too; and then Eye will be heading up to Christchurch for one night only at the Physics Room. Details as soon as....

Hey, the lips move!

2005-10-22T10:53:00.000+13:00

Read an interview with a mysterious UFM representative here. And while you're at it, here's a review of Ray Off's Ghost Wolf Of Thunder Mountain and bloody hell, why not just take a look around the whole damn mind-boggling site?

In other news, Ray Off will be supporting the touring tornado that is (excuse any errors) Destroyed/Deranged/Dove/Doppler/Diastima Yellow Swans (info here) at Arc on November the 16th... really, this will be one to see... see YOU there...

Art noise? Hell yeah!

2005-10-20T04:13:00.000+13:00

Heck of a great week for the old art and noise, this one gone. Before we got around to the show mentioned in the post below, there were not one, nor two, but THREE performances of Opraaaaa, a trashcan shitblast of the highest order devised by Boone and held in the formerly None, now Lot 24, basement (scene of so many great gigs in the near past). For locals who are wondering, Boone's the guy wearing the big piece of hot-water-heater insulation on his back who walks around town sticking up posters everywhere. Lily, Sally, Aliki and Tim got done up in skip-scrapings for the 'acting' (more dance/Butoh-esque than anything; and anyone who witnessed Aliki's stunning nothing-but-everything-happening turn in last years' Ghost Train - not to mention Lily's unforgettable vampiress-with-sausage act in the same - will know that these guys know their stuff), while Katrina Thomson and Rory Storm (only 6 gigs this week, Rory?) bashed the shit outta some washtubs and trolleys (using bottles and shovels, naturally) for the soundtrack. Fucking great stuff.

And, a REALLY great time around at 47 Ward St on Saturday.... with giant, mad paintings hung about the perimeter of the barn-like studio; sweet swelling from Ray Off ('it was like walking into church' - thank you, Aliki!!); a great sprawling Rory Storm & The Invaders set (which had some patrons doing the Robot AND the Mashed Potato!); Zero! Fuck, man! Crazed 80's industrial leather-pants cyborg riff-rockets from bloody Christchurch! The sort of band that makes me almost sad that I never put on black lipstick and walked a rabbit on a leash when I was a teenager. And Matt Middleton's Anomie Ensemble finishing the night with the type of insanity that only a damned insane audience could appreciate, and egg the players on to further heights of insanity; and we were that audience. Great to see Jason (sorry dude, can't remember your last name) from The Aesthetics taking the lead - sort of - with the synth in this outfit, with non-stop skronked-the-fuck-out support from Duane's drums and Matt on the home-made shenai.

News from Australia: the Three Forks cd is IMMINENT!!! Gawd bless yers, Dual Plover.

Art noise? Get fucked.

2005-10-14T09:01:00.001+13:00

All hands on deck for a sweet, sweet gig this coming weekend at the warehouse studio of not-recovering graphomaniac artist James Robinson. That UFM flagship band of swarthy, renegade hairdressers, Ray Off, will be making a rare big-band appearance with the harp and the wine-glasses and the violins all in attendance. Now, James has gone and advertised us on the poster as 'art noise'. Right.... all-acoustic instrumentation, utilizing the tonal qualities of those instruments, playing an actual composition (a new Currin 'classic', 'Run, Run Like A Tree')...... get with it, mate. For art-noise, try Rory Storm & The Invaders, who will also be playing, or Christchurch's Zero, who I can't tell you much about except that ex-pat guitar-thrummer Peter Wright was once among their ranks (or lived near them or something). Or for total run-for-your-damn-life art terrorism, none other than Matt Middleton will be shaping up with his 'free jazz ensemble', featuring Duane Zarakov on drums; he formerly of the TOTALLY, UNJUSTIFIABLY ignored Say Yes To Apes (everybody say after me: SAY YES TO APES FUCKING RULE). On the subject of ruling, you all got to know just how FANTASTIC that new Rory Storm & The Invaders cd 'Lone Nines' is... get hot CD now!!! As I once mentioned to Dr Storm, 'Lone Nines' is actually an anagram of 'Eno's Linen'. Think deeply about that.

Seriously for a minute, this gig is a send-off for James' latest round of insane hard work, his scores of smudgeoned, bludgeoned canvases making their way to Auckland for sale at the art circus of the damned, and we wish him well. We all know what Dr Dre means when he talks about 'the chronic', right? Well, if you want to see what sir Robinson means by that term then click here to witness the won't-quitness. And look out for his DVD (no, I'm not kidding) for sale from this site soon!!

(47 Ward St, Dunedin, this Saturday the 15th of October, from 9pm. Koha for the musicians, please)

Well, haven't written for a while, lots to cover, some important stuff, lots of waffling; let's jam it all into one gigantic unwieldy post

2005-10-03T11:00:00.000+13:00

Thanks for sticking with us through the lean times, the meantimes, those pink and purple hours spent without another fucking new post on some fucking blog somewhere.....

What the hell was that? That was the uncrowned King/Thing of Dunedin, Dr Rory Storm; just a typical night, you know, perched on some cushions, strange black hookahs around him, winnowing out the deathless ethnic electrobeat of the gods... yes, we all had fun this Saturday past at Arc Cafe laying down some ultra-chilled jams in our new 'combo' Jo Jo ef Steve, supporting the shaman munt of the mighty Futurians. This is the grouping that took shape on the radio a couple of weeks back - see post below - of Cockburn, Currin, Storm and, although she couldn't make to the radio gig, finally we got to play with the awesome Eddie Stevens WHO you can also hear on the BRAND NEW Rory Storm and the Invaders cd 'Lone Nines', out NOW on Celebrate Psi Phenomenon (click here for a rather thoughtful review of the Invaders' last gig...)! A good time was had by all - Ryan got to wear his bunny suit (unfortunately NOT one of the ones made of dinosaur wallpaper) - and thanks to everyone who snaffled up our t-shirts, cd's, beer coasters and coffee mugs. Also, thanks to The Futurians for the gig and SPECIAL thanks to the below-pictured sweetie who came perfectly dressed as Velma from Scooby Doo and laid in the moves somethin' rare.

Nerves and passions are all atwinge this week as we prepare to send our first REAL CD off to the plant, Three Forks' 'Seven Layer Ape'. It's been a long hard road but I think we all agree that it's been worth the pain and the shouting matches to get here; this baby is a gem. You'd drop several hundred hard-earned dollars on it right now, too, if you could only hear it. Contains some astonishingly great, shortish jams that sound like composed 'pieces' - about which we said 'fuck, that sucked' straight after we recorded 'em - and the legendaryish 'Drunken Traffic' performance at the Community Gallery in the centre of town. Which member of the band was actually having trouble standing during that gig? You'll never guess...

Also, nestled screaming and bewildered on Ryan Cockburn's stomach, umbilical knife at the ready, is the Spit cdr 'Trash Music Spitacular' which I'll rave out about at length once he lets me listen to the whole thing. Suffice to say for now that it'll come in a hard-card printed inner sleeve, screenprinted outer sleeve, with a booklet, and features recordings that'll have you saying things like 'I've never heard asphalt sound quite like that before' and 'interesting, I didn't know you could perform S/M/bondage on a pile of furniture', etc.

Now it must be pointed out that although there seems to be no end of out-of-print, You-Missed-It-Muther items listed on this page, quite a few of those ARE still available via our esteemed, gentle, worthy, handsome distributors whose links you will find on the right-hand side of this page but whom I'll mention here again in all-capitals: ECLIPSE, FUSETRON and VOLCANIC TONGUE. Search around these lovelies' sites and you should find all of these:

Sinking Infinities 'Forever Young' cdr
Ray Off 'I Am Not In The Racing Sky' cdr
Sinking Infinities 'Thousand Year Reich' cdr

as well as these non-UFM, yet affiliated, out-of-print releases:

Co.,Inc 'Hollows Time' cdr (sdn)
Three Forks 'Firewood' 3"cdr (metonymic)

Also on Metonymic, in the same series of 3"ers, and still available is Nathan Thompson's 'The Extinction Suite' which you can find at Volcanic Tongue or order through us ($6nz plus postage). Here's a bit of the nutty hyperbole I wrote about it after I'd spent all day listening to it: "....It's an evocation of the bones, and the overgrowth. You could put this on at home and almost think you're hearing distant traffic, or your refridgerator, before coming to and realising that you're actually hearing the desolation of eons and the deep brain-stem memory of flailing death in a lizard's skin....". Yeah. And I stand by that.

All day today I've been listening to a cache of releases from Auckland's CMR label, who I want to mention especially as 1) the discs fuckin' rock; 2) Richard Francis (aka-Eso Steel), who runs the concern, is a good guy; and 3) he's such a good guy that he's also now doing UFM distribution up in that stinky, overcrowded metropolis. AND he's releasing, in the fullness of time, cdrs by our very own Three Forks and Eye, as well as QUITE a number of other things, in his own extremely attractive packaging style (either woodblock or screenprint onto handmade paper - gorgeous!).

Well, that wasn't as much waffle as I'd suspected.... OH, please note there are now 5 mp3's up on the site; Three Forks' 'Baby Ives' has been added. More soon hopefully from Sinking Infinities, Eye, and who knows..... Jo jo ef Steve?

(NEXT TIME: actual, useable information about some of the recording artists affiliated with this 'label')

Local news

2005-09-14T04:09:00.002+12:00

Hey hey, it's New Zealand music week!! Dunedin's Radio One has non-stop NZ music blasting all week and while it's too late for you to catch the fantastic Rise Of The City Cat Cult playing live-to-air on the R1 stream (they were on last night), there's a few other bands coming up each weeknight, so fanatics take note; and, if the material promoted by this site is particularly to your liking, then you might kind of definately want to tune into Spit In The Cracks, broadcasting each Sunday from 9pm to 11pm, NZ time (GMT+12), and hosted by UFM's very own Ryan Cockburn and Jim Currin. AND, we'll be jacking up a little ol' live-to-air of our own this week, featuring.... well, us, and Rory Storm and Eddie Stevens. Jamming!

In other news, there are no gigs in Dunedin this week!!! Hurray! Except for... Lee 'Scratch' Perry and The Mad Professor (??). Yeah, you bet I'm going; it's my birthday.

Now that there's only one solitary Sandoz Lab Technician left in Dunedin, I'm not sure that we can call them a DN band anymore; they're "International Improvisers" I guess. Well, internationally speaking, Sandoz played their first ever internationalist gigs in Sydney a week and a bit back, and all reports received by UFM shortwave dishes confirm that they blew away motherfuckers left right and centre. Allow me to quote from MYMWLY's M. Donnelly: "...seriously the most amazing band I have ever seen/heard.... I was not prepared for what they unleashed on Saturday night..... I feel compelled to write a book on the experience....." and believe me there's more. The Sydney shows also featured NZ likelies by the name of Birchville Cat Motel, 1/3 Octave Band, The Stumps, Nether Dawn and the lucky country's own 6Majik9 and the gigantic, huggable Castings, whose Sound No Sound collective set up the gigs, as they did also the Ray Off / Co.,Inc / Tarab shows earlier in the year. Love those boys! Legend has it that Antony Milton, Pseudoarcana Head Banana, has already sought the release of the above-mentioned Saturday night Sandoz gig.... geez, these guys moved to three different cities in two countries and have played together twice in three years, and NOW things are looking up for them??

Lastly, and excitingly, the first of our Mp3's are up, and they work! Two tracks from Donald McPherson's 'Liquified' LP - scroll down to the post titled About: UFM 001. Thanks to Donald for letting us post these - more to come very soon so keep checking back with us......

(in fact, here it is later today and TWO more have been added - roll on down and check the listings for both Ray Off albums. And enjoy!)

Sweet dreams,
...................... ('blog administrator')

about: the 10" lathes

2005-09-08T15:42:00.000+12:00

(UFM 002 and 003)

(....being, perhaps, a study in the operational imperative at the the heart of the UFM soul; to just, please, DO SOMETHING, and SOON; or SOONISH; or be lost....)

In the beginning..... there was a gig in a basement. On the 29th of
august, 2003. The bill read -

- and the event in the newly opened/inhabited None Gallery on Stafford Street, Dunedin,
was the first performance of both the former and the latter.

Both groups shared a similar make-up. they each featured a member of the well-known combo Sandoz Lab Technicians, still extant but slowed down by James Kirk's exodus to Wellington. Multi-instrumentalist Tim Cornelius stood for the 'Forks; Nathan Thompson took up the electric guitar and took a swing at a fresh, pineal Eye. Also, both groups featured a musician whose prowess on their chosen instrument was legendary. Enter Peter Stapleton with his pipeband bass drum and nailgun hands in Eye; whilst Three Forks were grounded in the leather and lace of Donald McPherson's mastery of guitar forms. Finally, each one was rounded out by a relatively recent arrival in Dunedin, both of whom dragged a lengthy, but largely unknown pedigree behind him. Say hello to Eye guitarist Peter Porteous and 'Forks cellist James Currin.

Three Forks started the night and set the blueprint for their
subsequent career - unpredictable, shambolic, brilliant, clattering,
swooping, humourous, occasionally boring, but with striking, lengthy
sections of pure, improvised acoustic gorgeousity. They seemed to
alienate and amaze in equal measure. And Eye..... from the very first
chord of Porteous' slacktuned (and deafeningly loud) instrument
everybody knew that this was a train with moveable rails and no cow
catcher. Their drone - if we can give it such a paltry term - was like
a major key and a minor key who got married and gave birth to
a heavy-lidded man-cudgel.

After things having been pretty slow on the sounds front in Dunedin for some time, it became clear that something was going on. Cool bands were poking out of holes all over the place. So the idea...... the idea was to release a series - 5 or 6 - of 10" lathe records with a different DN band on each side. The first pairing was obvious: and, sometime early in 2004, there it was.

UFM 002 Eye / Three Forks 'Jawbone', 'Arabesque'/'Baby Ives' 10" lathe
OUT OF PRINT MP3 Three Forks 'Baby Ives' 10.8mb

The idea for the second disc, coming not long after, was also born in the None basement, where both acts played the inaugeral (and, to date, only) Nonefest, their completely conflicting styles sounding as natural as water next to each other.

I'm given to believe that the $100 Band actually started in the North Island town of Wanganui, where Alastair Galbraith was an artist-in-residence at the Polytechnic, and drummer Mike Dooley and guitarist/cellist Maxine Funke were members of Dunedin's own Snares, who were on tour at the time. Reconvening down south, their existence was short but intense, leaving behind some killer gigs and bugger-all recordings; Alastair and Maxine headed bush from whence they occasionally emerge playing short but very sweet duo dates.

Since Ryan Cockburn AKA Spit's CDR on this label is impending, I'll write more on him then; suffice to say that at the time of this record's release Ryan was everywhere, smashing up records, gluing 'em, and spinning 'em into maelstromic (no, that's not really a word) sonic bubonics that were, well, pretty sick. The tracks on this disc are with hindsight too nice by half.

UFM 003 $100 Band / Spit 'Old Chronicle'/"Keltic', 'Lament' 10" lathe
OUT OF PRINT

Now, there are a lot of folk out there who're big fans of the lathe-cut record, specifically, the Peter King of King Records lathe-cut record. And we all are too. But the amount you have to charge for them to be worth your while doing is kind of a bummer. So the whole series idea was abandoned. The next lathe was to have been Rory Storm & The Invaders / Pirhanarama - sorry dudes. There was a feeling in the air: there was a better way.......!

about: UFM 001

2005-09-04T13:59:00.000+12:00

Donald Mcpherson & co. 'Liquified' lathe LP

Released: late 2002
Recorded: October 21st, 2001
Personnel:

Donald McPherson, guitar
Tim Cornelius, drums
James Currin, cello
Nathan Thompson, piano

In late 2001, the Gresham Hotel near Queens Gardens, Dunedin, was cooking slow but steady. Bar manager/booker Simon Johnston kept the place full of the most interesting musicians in town, and fair-sized audiences regularly packed the tiny room. Well, the room wasn't packed for the extraordinary performance documented on this LP - from memory, it was a freezing Wednesday night and there might - might - have been 10 or 12 people there, warming themselves over cold pints. First, Currin and Thompson played a duet. Then McPherson stepped up with his acoustic guitar and started to improvise solo, and all in the room took pause. His first cd, 'Bramble' (Metonymic) had just been released, but as brilliant as that was, what he laid down at the Gresham was on another level - completely solid, thematic, melodic improvisations, strung together with horsehair and fishing wire, agile as a bird and as implacable as a sealion. Tim Cornelius joined on drums for two pieces; one long and spacious, one short and jolting; McPherson had changed to electric by now. Then all four went at it, creating a beautiful, extended, druggy sprawl that arrested melodic lines from the piano, cello and guitar and beat them with sticks until they howled in unison, with Cornelius' drums skittering across the field.

Long before the notion of a 'label' reared it's head, we undertook to release this gig (almost all of the music featuring McPherson from that night is on the record) in order to alert the world to the kind of trip this bastard was on. And so we did, in some infinitesimally tiny way, with full colour cover art by renowned NZ artist Seraphine Pick. The edition - 40 or so - is of course no longer available.

Cornelius, Currin, and McPherson went on to become Three Forks, extant from March 2002 to January 2005, releasing one side on the long-gone UFM 002 10", one now-deleted 3" on Metonymic, and having two full-length surveys in the works, one on CMR of Auckland and another on this label. One track from 'Liquified', 'Perambulare', was included on the Pseudoarcana compilation CD 'Lowtides Rising'. McPherson has to date not released any more solo material, although there is a rumour that his guitar duets with Tetuzi Akiyama are to see limited LP release - don't blink.

And the Gresham Hotel? Gone. Boarded up; and the whole beautiful building is for sale at three quarters of a million dollars. Simon Johnston, these days, is a caregiver to the intellectually handicapped.

MP3's (128k):
'Fructifying' (solo) 8.3mb
'Tranquillize' (quartet) 11.4mb

(next: 10" to heaven and the death of the lathe...)

Forthcoming?

2005-09-03T04:52:00.001+12:00

UFM 011 SPIT 'Trash Music Spitacular' CDR

UFM 013 Three Forks 'Seven Layer Ape' CD (?)

and more by:
Ray Off
Sinking Infinities
Rory Storm & The Invaders
Jane Venis

And since then...

2005-09-02T08:57:00.000+12:00

.....we've released the following.....

UFM 005 Sinking Infinities 'Forever Young' CDR
OUT OF PRINT

UFM 007 Eye 'Black Ice' CDR
$6nz plus postage

UFM 008 Ray Off 'I Am Not In The Racing Sky' CDR
OUT OF PRINT
MP3 First Ray 12.3mb

UFM 009 Sinking Infinities 'Thousand-Year Reich' CDR
OUT OF PRINT

UFM 010 Rory Storm 'We Are Superior Beings' CDR
$6nz plus postage

(More info next time....)

UNITED FAIRY MOONS: the commerce page that reads like a blog!!

Hmmm. Then I bet some sort of revelation hit you....

2005-08-31T12:17:00.000+12:00

You could say that - the almighty power of the Holy CDR was revealed to us. Still available is UFM 004, released in January 2005, Ray Off's 'Ghost Wolf Of Thunder Mountain'.

full-length CDR, $6nz plus postage.

Dead Links (1)

2005-08-31T05:19:00.001+12:00

We started in order to release one record, and one record only:

UFM 001 Donald McPherson & Co. 'Liquified' lathe-cut Lp
OUT OF PRINT

And it was good. Very good.

And then some damned fool decided it would be a good idea to release a whole series of split lathe 10"ers featuring a whole bunch of Dunedin groups/musicians. Two of them actually happened, and were good:

UFM 002 Eye / Three Forks 'Jawbone', 'Arabesque'/'Baby Ives' split 10" lathe
OUT OF PRINT

and

UFM 003 $100 Band / Spit 'Old Chronicle'/'Keltic', 'Lament' split 10" lathe
OUT OF PRINT

(more to come.....)