Severed Heads: CDSD

over at a friend's house rehearsing for a show, I see a copy of 'Since The Accident' on a chair and mention that I've always wanted to hear the early stuff and he just looks at me and says 'I don't understand how you haven't heard the early stuff'. I mention 'Well I have a copy of Cuisine and love it' and he just tells me to be quiet, goes to the shelf, pulls the other 1983-84 CD 'City Slab Horror' off and gives them both to me

so... yeah, okay, this band.

and they did -not- have a sampler? how did they do this much collage & rhythmic collage with just a delay unit? control voltage & filtering on a 4-track? I mean yes Brian's comment upthread about Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire spot the precedents neatly but this band pretty much wrote the earliest formal book on the way sampling was later implemented into industrial dance music, only it's far better, weirder and more musical than most of everything that followed

is that 4 CD set of 77-81 out yet?

they were definitely using a sampler by the mid-late 80s, but i don't know exactly when they made the switch.

the cd box isn't out yet, not sure exactly who's doing it but i've assumed ascension records is because the did the M2 box..

>they were definitely using a sampler by the mid-late 80s, but i don't know exactly when they made the switch.

looks like 1986

http://www.sevcom.com/documentation/harley/14.html

digital delays are samplers too more or less, but still pretty amazed at the results they got scrambling and dicing with synced delays on those early records. can hardly wait for the box of early stuff - the liner notes to the VOD version are online at sevcom as well

fuck i just grabbed a cheap vinyl of rotund for success -- very sick! is this their ecstasy album?

not entirely sure how you mean that

you could argue it's their most euphoric, although Gigapus vies for that title as well

and they did -not- have a sampler? how did they do this much collage & rhythmic collage with just a delay unit? control voltage & filtering on a 4-track?

Regarding City Slab Horror/Since the Accident era stuff, there's a lot of tape looping going on, if I remember correctly. An American in Paris/Tarzan's Grip/That That Revolves, I remember reading was one long live session of tape loops coming in and out.

i think tom ellard's first sampler was the ensoniq mirage which came out in 1984. so prior to that it was all tapes

I figured it out once I heard the epic 25 minute live version of 'Gashing The Old Mae West', which makes it a little clearer. Like a bollywood plunderphonic take on This Heat's '24 Track Tape Loop'.

The Network CD reissue of Since The Accident & the Sevcom Clifford Darling Please Don't Live In The Past comp are my favorites. And that Adenoids box is a lot to digest but has scads of completely addictive little pieces on it.

I'm definitely a Clifford I guess in that they get a lot less interesting once they bought actual samplers and tilt towards industrial pop, I didn't like Come Visit The Big Bigot as much as I thought I was going to, but relistening to Cusine again, that seems like an album where the songs got back into the weirder arrangements from the earlier records. Either way count me in as a big fan, I need to hear some of the more recent albums as well & it's too bad Ellard took down that essay I linked to because it had some of the better critical/theoretical writing on sampling in music that I've read

sean - please do make that available as an mp3. i'd like to hear it, even just out of curiosity. i adore 'dead eyes opened'.

Better late than never....?
Edgar Lustgarden reading Death on the Crumbles

I used to have Clifford Darling on a casette someone did for me and I lost it, buggeration.

Sean you're a peach!

OMG wait, its all on emusic now! Rotund, Clifford,. everything. When the shit did that happen? Gah.

Just listened to "Power Circles" and the tape loops remind me of "Come Out" by Reich, but with music.

Just discovered that Retread, Cuisine/Piscatorial and Gashing the old Mae West are all available for free download at sevcom.com right now - anyone who is wondering about any of these should go check em out!

An ancient curse sweeps over the land!

Severed Heads once more drag themselves out in a shameless display ... four nights in May in four capital cities. Details follow.

Then a serious concert by Tom Ellard in October.

And watch out in December!

???

!

"four capital cities"

er ... Washington DC? Or maybe he means Sacramento? or Albany? what?

my guess is melb/syd/brisbane/adelaide but you never know

i figured but i thought some whining was in order

considering how pissweakly Simstacular the vids were at the first reunion, the fact that he's talking about nothing except new videos, no mention of musical arrangement or performance, doesn't instil too much excitement tbh ;_;

i just closed my eyes iirc

he spent months detailing all the new videos he was making then too

presumably the rest of the performance is just him pressing play on quicktime and then singing over the top, I don't think he rly played anything himself. there was the bloke over on the right hand side though.

was worth it for him telling everyone to hang their heads in shame tho

so it turns out this is a support slot for Gary Numan performing The Pleasure Principle in full

Yeah I just spotted that on facebook and almost fell off my chair. Holy sheet!

Retiring in 2010, SEVERED HEADS will nonetheless come together once again to play at the Sydney show for electro-pioneer Gary Numan, and, prior to that, will give their final live to air performance TONIGHT on NEW WEIRD AUSTRALIA. Over 50 minutes in length, this exclusive SEVERED HEADS set will not be broadcast or performed anywhere else. A little slice of Australian music history tonight on FBi, be sure not to miss it!

streaming on http://www.fbiradio.com/ from 9pm AEST

podcast of ^: http://newweirdaustralia.com/2011/06/nwa-radio-severed-heads-live-to-air-set/

awesome--thanks for this!

blasting this at top volume to drown out the loud roar of hockey fans (and riot cops) outside my door

Should be interesting: http://www.residentadvisor.net/podcast-episode.aspx?exchange=132

!!

inevitable but also sort of depressing to start the podcast with Dead Eyes Opened (which I love unreservedly, btw)

In an alternate universe "Hot With Fleas" is a chart-topping song

inevitable but also sort of depressing to start the podcast with Dead Eyes Opened (which I love unreservedly, btw)

RA may have required it (they often meddle with dj podcasts, sending them back to the artist and asking for edits, additions, etc)

Sounds like the sort of bullshit they’d pull.

uh I haven't listened but presumably RA put the music bits into the interview, Ellard didn't play them off his phone between questions

he should have

as if he keeps Sevs tracks on his own devices

i can't even begin to imagine what he actually listens to for pleasure

I remember an interview circa 1989 in an alt-industrial magazine where Tom was asked what he likes to listen to. Tom excited said "Madonna, oh and lots of Middle Eastern and Indian soundtracks, pretty much." (paraphrasing)

I...am not complaining.

http://severedheads.bandcamp.com/

is something different?

No, it's just everything all in one spot. Again. Which rules.

I thought it was always there. It was at some point.

I thought he was hosting them directly on sevcom.com

Yeah I think the change is making it newly available this way. And why not?

I also hadn't realized how many things he'd added to some of these albums; there are tracks on Cuisine I've never even heard of before, for example, because I never looked at what he was offering there because I have the CD

these have been on bandcamp for quite a while, though they went up completely without fanfare

(i got stretcher and since the accident from there may '11)

Ellard's blog is worth a read. His recent "Five reasons why I’m not an ‘artist’" is great

And also from his blog, thanks to Dan Selzer for the tipoff:

http://tomellard.com/wp/2013/07/wednesday-night-is-garbage-night-autodidact-edition/

Essentially an overview of Ellard's musical education, what he listened to, how, etc.