Information: Credits: Max Rael's blog entry dated April 11th 2006
Mick Mercer review:
click here for selected discography
7 brand new tracks, and a new version of Kicking Down The Doors...
'Keep The Good Stuff Running' was originally titled 'Jumping Under Cars' and slated for inclusion on the 'History Of Guns - Wake Up! EP'. When Wake Up! became merged into Apophenia it was left over.
No time for individually produced artwork, though each cover is slightly different as the colour ink gradually ran out during printing causing the front covers to get increasingly more purple, and the yellow to fade from the back. The final booklets printed are in black and white.
Tracks 1, 2, 3 & 8 written by Alien/Rael. Track 4 written by Hughes/Rael. Track 5 written by Alien/Fester/Goose/Hughes/Rael. TrackS 6 & 7 written by Max Rael.
Photography by Max Rael, features an electrical storm in Kho Phangan where Max went on his honeymoon in April 2006. Look carefully for the boats.
yes hello. so in Kho Phangan. Full of horrid english tourists. Bangkok was much better than everyone said it was going to be. Up North to Chiang Mai and very different and 3 days (2 nights) trekking in the mountains. You're on honeymoon? people asked in disbelief as we shared a hut with seven other people sleeping on bamboo mats.
All in all we are having an amazing time.
Whilst in Chiang Mai i thought the next part in the history of guns bi-monthly hand produced cd series would be titled THE CORRUPTION OF LIBERALISM. Not so much in a Melanie Phillips kind of way, but more about "when good ideas... go bad" on every level. Maybe too up itself as a concept, but i'm well beyond caring. (and the previous best title i had was DRINKING APART YOUR OPTIC NERVE, (which perhaps was one of the inspirations behind FLASHES OF LIGHT.))
We met a couple on the boat over here... we were instantly on the same level and he told me good things and then concisely and beautifully restated some of my current theories on evolution. We exchanged numbers and may meet up later in the week, but this is a party island and the infamous Full Moon Party is set to send everyone into a delirious dancing mania in the next few days... but if we do i'll either ask him to restate said theories as an audio recording to set music to at a later date, or at the very least attempt to capture it on camcorder.
But yes anyway then last night half the island had a power cut. i'd just eaten one of the best meals of my life which had the innocent title "Thai Coconut Soup", we were the only customers and they'd lit a couple of candles after we were plunged into the glow of the moon. There'd been lightening going off randomly for a while, but after we crossed back to the beach, for the second time in my life i was privileged to witness a fantastic electical storm over the sea. In the near dark there were these three ominous row boats floating silently in the water occasionally lit up spectacularly.
Sometimes the lightning drew shapes and symbols in the sky.
The sequel to UDDERS, comes in MAY and will be titled ELECTRICITY IS THE ANSWER. i think i have the artwork sorted...
hope everyone's well.
maxout
(taken from: http://www.mickmercer.com )
HISTORY OF GUNS
ELECTRICITY IS THE ANSWER
HOG
They do your fucking head in, this bunch. Yesterday, and this is no word of a lie, I got confused over one track and decided to compare it to something on one of their previous records, but couldn’t find it and suddenly realised that their debut album and two old EPs had gone missing, which meant I ending up turning my office upside down, searching my entire CD collection three times to try and find the missing miscreants, until, by pure chance, I found a small box that hadn’t been unpacked during the move, containing music videos plus about fifteen CDs lurking at the bottom including the ones I needed, which just sat there, sneering. By the time I had found them I couldn’t remember why I was looking in the first place. BASTARDS!
Anyway, this is part two in a series and if you’ve pegged them as PIL meets Massive Attack you’re right of course and with this being the electronic blend gone haywire you get mutant strains of acceptability, all of it rather alluring, and reliably lurid.
‘Electricity’ is typical in that it can seem quite aimless with a burbling pulse putting in a belated appearance among fairly bland electronic doodling, then they actually lose the rhythm, flounder, and only escape after caning the beat later, but the more you listen the more it sounds like witches squatting in a generator. These bi-monthly explorative releases (this being a limited edition of 55) are there to test the waters, test themselves and test your patience. As I could make a zombie seem hyperactive I don’t get upset by any of these tracks. Feverish or coquettishly smelly I withstand it all.
‘The Birds Don’t Sing’ is ludicrously pretty, and the fact Del respects the actual musical dignity here makes it a real treat, as they fall into a lopsided, ethereal dream. By total contrast ‘The Concrete Steps’ could be the story of them waking up literally anywhere after a Friday night gone wrong. Disjointed mental thoughts and anxiety over a skilleted beat with an evocative synth wash, it actually remains too simplistic for far too long and should have tapered off but when they need to shake the walls of reality they do it with ease. ‘Keep The Good Stuff Running’ has a very slick attack with lively shading and it’s funny that when they go into controlled fluid mode they seem oddly confined, so the balance is weird. Where ‘The Birds Don’t Sing; works through evocative strains suiting them, a straightforward linear gait actually seems too ordinary. ‘Evolving Doors’ recognises this and has a fidgety deportment, with scandalously angsty rhythm coming out of the manic synth, almost flooding itself, as though Del’s trapped inside the machine, an underlying woozy melody playing off this wonderfully and the gathering storm, complete with all-important sounds of carpentry, makes this a mental delight.
Flightier by far with its bare percussive patter and wiggly synth lines ‘I Am A Car Crash’ is a sickening sorbet, after which ‘Bernard’ slides by in a spooky fashion and the slurred ‘Is This The End?’ finishes this slice of action with a subdued start, but gradually winsome escalation involving two vocal directions combine to create a stirring mystery which is another of their talents.
Lighter than its ‘Udders’ predecessor I’m still not sure what they’re up to, but it’s fun listening. When you can find them.
click here for complete discography
click here for shop