Monday 29 August 2022

Distraxi & Soloman Tump - Dartmoor Electronics

 

I am rather excited to have released this split album with DISTRAXI which we have worked on for the past few months.  It began quite organically, following a discussion on her visit to Dartmoor and my recent Palimpsest EP which began to explore the themes of folklore and layers of stories embedded in the landscape.  We soon began to work on tracks that would symbolise the dark horror folklore of Dartmoor through a harsh industrial soundscape. 

>>>> dartmoor electronics <<<<

A few words about the tracks I wrote for this release.  Please check out https://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/ for much more information on the places and legends named.

Bowerman's Nasus - named after a rocky outcrop found near Manaton, said to be the petrified body of Bowerman The Hunter who fell prey to the vengeful witch Levera after he disturbed their sabbath ritual.

Vixiana - the tale of a six foot tall witch who lived under Vixen Tor.  Legend said she had green sunken eyes and was skinny as a rake, trapping passers by in her cave carved by the creatures of Hades.  

Kitty Jay - the tale of the orphaned servant girl who fell pregnant to a farmers son near Easdon Tor.  She committed suicide in a barn and her grave was placed at the cross of a parish boundary to avoid shaming any locals.  To this day, fresh flowers are still placed by passing pilgrims to remember her.

The Triangle - A podcast on this area of Dartmoor can be found here by the wonderful "Faery Whisperer", relating to Kitty Jay, Bowerman's Nose and Easdon Tor.  

The album cover is a boundary stone found near Grimspound on Dartmoor.  The glitched background art was a happy accident created in the wonderful MSPaint. 

I was lucky enough to recently visit The Museum of Witchcraft & Magic in Boscastle, Cornwall where I picked up some further reading material on these legends.  Perhaps there will be more words on these soon.

In other news; I locked myself out of my instagram account recently, and unless someone at their end can get me back in somehow, I won't be back there anytime soon.

But, I am still alive. 

Friday 5 August 2022

The Tump Clump Episode 15 - MIXCLOUDSPESH

The Tump Clump reaches episode 15, and due to the summer siesta for SoundArt Radio, this is a Mixcloud exclusive edition for July / August.  Which also coincides with my 40th birthday so I decided to play a few extra tracks because I do not need to stick to the usual prescribed one hour slot......


Another disclaimer: I only play tracks I own. Either physically, digitally, or gifted to me direct from the artist/label.  If you enjoy the sounds played on this show, please directly support the artists and labels buy purchasing some of their art.


https://www.mixcloud.com/solomantump/the-tump-clump-15-040822/ 


Opening with the monolithic drone of Shiverdust by Lucidet which is taken from the Life Death Chaos Order album, a sprawling 4xCD / digital album of longform dirge and dark dynamics.  A feast of a trip if ever there was one.

Drek 5 by Ekoplekz is next - part of a suite of unreleased tracks that Nick was kind enough to send me a while back.  Check out his new single release which is on 7" lathe - be quick, not many left!

The next couple of tracks come from the compilation album The Quietened Mechanisms which was released by A Year In The Country back in 2018.  I recently revisited my CD copy and released again just how many great tracks there are on the release.  So I have included the offerings by Field Lines Cartographer and Grey Frequency which seem to sit well amongst the opening electronic drones of tonight's show.  I love the way the Grey Frequency track melds into a lush pad with birdsong halfway through.

A track by False Moniker from the Screen Memory tape which was released on Strange Rules in 2020.  Pretty much everything on the label is gold, but it seems to be a bit quiet of late as label owner Cremation Lily is concentrating on touring and releases their own sounds.  

Then I gratuitously played my remix of the Klaus Von Mork track "Little Owl" from the Rental Yields Volume One compilation, out now on Front & Follow.  It is really great to be involved in this digital series, and I thoroughly enjoyed putting this track together.  It's a sort of noisy / squelchy distorted vision of KVM's original session recording and found samples.  Future editions of the compilation will include the Megaheadphoneboy interpretation of my samples, and then the Klaus Von Mork rework of a Megaheadphoneboy track.  There are 20 tracks on this volume, all of excellent quality and touching up the various strands of electronics / experimentals, and sales are raising money for the homeless shelter charity in Manchester, so please support if you are able.  



AUTECHRE! I previously said on The Tump Clump that I wouldn't play any Autechre because if you wanted to listen to them you know where to find them.  But for this special edition of the show (and to kind of commemorate my 40th birthday!) I decided to play Tankraken, lifted from the Versions edition of their 2008 Quaristice album.  It still sounds superbly future, with icy percussion and moody grumbling bass.  I hope the mixcloud algorithm AI doesn't pull my show because I played this.

Then more excellent moody electronics from Helm, with a track called MOLE from the recent Axis album.  

Time to play some noisier stuff... kicking off with GRIMWITH who I recently discovered via the double edged sword of Instagram.  Some great digital / tape noise coming at ya from Leeds.  Check it. 

I dipped back into the Rental Yields album with a track from Kinver Ponds and TarotPlane, with a track called For The Benefit Of The Community.  Lovely brutal repetition and ethereal voices.  Some might say "dismal".

Some may say that quite foolishly I decided to then play RatCornSample by DK.  This beast of a track appeared in my inbox recently and I cackled hard and had to play it.  So there.  VAMPIRES!

Then a bit of crackling noise wall for you, 5 minutes to be exact, courtesy of Gynaeolotry and the Plastic Bag: A HNW tribute to Vomir.  You will also found my Postman Lomu tribute to Vomir on the digital download extension should you really wish to listen to more.  

Black Lead Crucibles is a side project of the mighty Disgusting Cathedral - a long form tense droning beast of dungeon noise.  This meshes nicely into.....

....Hoodrat Messiah and the track Casablanca from the new EP called Gospel. Panic inducing atonal drones! Lovely stuff.  Another artist I discovered via Instagram, and they often put up pictures of their wonderful array of pedals and synths used in the creation of these sounds.  

To finish wish, I play a track by another Tump Clump favourite which is Salac, with their album closing number called Manifesto from Illicit Rituals.  It's a few years now since they interviewed for my now defunct Snare Rush zine, so maybe I should try and entice them back to Intrusive Signals for some more.  Hope to hear some new stuff from them soon! 


That's it for now.