I received a copy of this album a week or two ago and hadn’t sat and listened to it properly, last night I played it during my walk to Marske where I was meeting a friend for a pint. When I arrived at the pub the album hadn’t finished so I kept on walking. The whole album is a stone-cold kosmische killer, the dub track, An Interior, was a total surprise and is just brilliant. The best new album I’ve heard this year.
music
In praise of Stockton
A New Song in praise of Stockton, in the year 1764
by Mr William Sutton
*
On the banks of the Tees, at Stockton old,
A castle there was of great fame we are told,
Where the Bishops of Durham were wont to retreat,
And spend all their summers at that gallant retreat.
Derry Down & co.
*
‘Twas once a time, that King John being there,
The chiefs of Newcastle, did thither repair;
Humbly prayed that his Highness would deign for to grant
Them a charter, of which they were then in great want.
*
The King highly pleas’d with the Bishop’s grand treat,
Abounding in liquors and all sorts of meat
Their prayers comply’d with, the charter did sign,
Owing then, as ’twas said, to the Bishop’s good wine.
*
From Northern Garlands. Published 1810
Norma Waterson 1939 – 2022
Ivan the Tolerable – Autodidact II
Ivan the Tolerable aka Oli Heffernan has just released Autodidact II and it’s rather wonderful.
The latest instalment in Oli Heffernan’s prolific ITT project, this album started life as three separate recording sessions in July and August 2021 – work for a soundtrack to a series of films about psychogeography and North Yorkshire folklore, a remote improvised session with Christian Alderson (The Unit Ama/Archipelago) and a solo EP of arpeggiater repeat drones and freak-folk. Originally intended as three EPs, the flow and theme running through them lends itself well as a single album, linking previous release ‘White Tears’, (Library of The Occult) and forthcoming album ‘The Long Year’ (Stolen Body)
NARC Magazine Issue 177
Between October 2021 and January 2022 Oli Heffernan will have released five albums as Ivan the Tolerable, Houseplants and with his work in King Champion Sounds. It’s an eye-watering work ethic by anyone’s standards, but the energy and inspiration is something that seems to flow freely from the Teesside based artist.
NARC #177 October 2021 . Interview by Ben Lowes-Smith. Read it here
Benefits – Empire
The new single by Teesside band Benefits is loud and angry and for me captures the rage and fear felt by many at the current state of our society. The language may offend you, the noise may offend you, but the message is true and uncompromising, that is what is important.
Here are a few things that offend me
In our region, the HBAI figures indicate that 37% of all children and young people in the North East were living in poverty over the three years prior to the Covid-19 pandemic (2017/18 to 2019/20) – equivalent to more than 11 children in a classroom of 30 across the region, and up from an average of 34% in the three years before (2016/17 to 2018/19).
https://www.nechildpoverty.org.uk/facts/
Record 2.5m food bank parcels given to people in crisis in the past year.
https://www.trusselltrust.org/news-and-blog/latest-stats/end-year-stats/
The UK has the worst regional inequality in the developed world, with people in England’s North East worst-off overall.
https://www.bigissue.com/latest/what-you-need-to-know-about-uk-inequality/
There are 171 billionaires in the UK, 24 more than a year ago
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/may/21/number-of-billionaires-in-uk-reached-new-record-during-covid-pandemic
Wireless in Boro 1929
Out of Season by Ivan the Tolerable
Another top record from Ivan the Tolerable & His Elastic Band. I’d recommend that you give it a listen. It’s super good
Unease by Ivan the Tolerable
This soundtracked my walk from Redcar to Saltburn today, it’s a bit good.
A message from Oli
Happy Bandcamp no-fees day! I made a new EP and its out today so i can raise the funds to replace my 8-track machine which has all but died after 15 years hard labour. So if you wanna buy it, do it today as all the money goes to the artists for the rest of the day. Its pay what you like so all donations are welcome, and if you are skint and still want it, well thats ok too!
Ivan The Tolerable – 16 Pieces for 16 Pools
A message from Ivan the Tolerable (Oli Heffernan).
Bandcamp are waiving their fees today for one day only so I’m putting my new album out early to make some money to pay my rent and bills cos I work in the private sector which basically means I don’t get paid when there is a downturn in work. Great. Anyway, Shoebox Records are releasing the album on 10” and CD if you want a physical copy (there are only 10 left) but if you want it now for any price you like go to this bandcamp link and get it there. If you can pay something that would be mega but if you are in the same boat as me, feel free to have it for nothing. It’s a big old slab of watery endtimes music. Hope you like it. Thanks and stay safe everyone!
The Black Meadow Archive Volume 1
“Some artists create a distinctive sound, others magic up an accompanying persona and backstory. Kev Oyston and Chris Lambert have gone one further: their Black Meadow project has seized control of an area of the North York Moors and used it as the backdrop for a deliberately confusing, unsettling multimedia mix of disturbing folklore and Cold War paranoia.
“…the story is set out in the shadow of an early warning ballistic missile station at RAF Fylingdales where a mysterious village, trapped in a pre-industrialised web of sinister superstition, appears sporadically from the mist. “The Village Under The Lake” is a sweeping orchestral overture with banks of synthetic, otherworldly choirs, impressively echoing the cinema work of John Williams. Meanwhile, “Ghost Planes” reverts to haunted type with the crackle of analog MOD communications and the rumble of discontented synths soundtracking investigations into a mysterious aircraft seemingly spiralling backwards through time. “Song Of The Meadow Bird” is a disquieting pastoral delight, all ersatz harpsichords and flutes, the half forgotten theme to some spooky 1970s BBC children’s drama.”
Bob Fischer, Electronic Sound Issue 61, January 2020
Release date 31.01.2020. Available for pre-order here
The Smell of Water 