Thursday 8 December 2022

2022 thing what I did

I like putting together an end of year "achievements" list because otherwise I feel like I have not done much.  I guess it helps put it all into context that I do actually get some stuff sorted, which is nice.

So in 2022 I managed to:

  • Release "Intrusive Signals" zine issue 3 (still a handful of copies left at a bargain bin price if you want one) - see here.
  • Release a super limited split tape with Plague Arish for Supernormal Festival.
  • Dump out a trio of digital-only EPs (Gritonometry and Safehouse Demo(n)s as Soloman Tump, and стіна as Postman Lomu). 
  • Complete the folk-horror 3" CDr trilogy that started with Grim's Ditch and Weland, capping off with the Palimpsest EP
  • Start the Palimpsest live document of archival "live" recordings.  I didn't add as many to this as I had hoped, but I shall update it soon with some new bits.
  • Get a couple of articles published in the ever-impressive TQ Zine - cheers! Look out for my extended SPL/IT article in issue 57. 
  • also had an article included in the impressive tome-like Supernormal zine
  • Release a collaborative album alongside Distraxi on CD - DARTMOOR ELECTRONICS.  I am pretty proud of this one, its pretty brutal and I love the work Distraxi does.  
  • Put together 10 new radio shows of The Tump Clump.
  • Collaborate with Arachnopus on a live audio/visual piece for Wonder Valley Experimental festival in California for Phog Masheeen
  • Unleash a fairly banging guest radio mix for WCR Dark Train - a great show for Warminster Community Radio that always brings new music to my ears.  Check it out
  • Get to a few festivals and shows which felt damn good!
  • Get some tracks on various compilation releases including bits for Moon Musiq, Front & Follow, Owlripper Recordings, Camembert Electrique, godNOISEgod - more details of each of these elsewhere on the blog.
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Busking with kit at Supernormal Festival 2022

So when I write it out like that, I guess I have achieved some things.  2023 might be quieter, I don't really have any plans for new zines (at present) but I hope to continue with releasing music and doing the radio show....

Friday 2 December 2022

The Tump Clump Episode 18

 And with this show, my time in 2022 is up.  How on Terra did that happen.  

I didn't specifically set out to make this show a "festive" special but it was still November when I recorded it, and Christmas was but a dim and distant memory from the previous year.

Yet it was very easy to re-use my "festive" logo from last crimbo and change the colour scheme slightly, and shazam! Instant festive edition.

Tonight's episode opens up with Breezeblock Tomb by Rovox 625, taken from possibly my most listened to tape of 2022 "Cut Into" which is on Steep Gloss.  A great label, and a massively awesome album.  Top drone / noise collage / weirdness in a very cohesive manner.  Breezeblock Tomb is a great example of a fairly simple drone track that comes to life if you listen over a good pair of headphones - its creepily panning all over the place and theres some subtle deep bass things going on in the background.  Lush.

Boobs of Doom - #29 Filthkiller is next, with the track Poisoning The Peace Pipe.  Boobs of Doom were a lockdown discovering of mine, and after a fairly quiet 2022 from them, I was (dis)heartened to discover this new album in their ongoing bid for digital domination.  An electronic doom-rock-electronic duo hailing from Scotland, their output is solid, noisy, sometimes groovy, but never positive.  This track has a bit of guttural doom amidst some head nodding drums... lovely.  This is not a show just for fans of noise or drone... I do like to stick in the odd thing with rhythm or repetition every now and then. 

Photophobik with "Exit Strategy" gets played next.  This is by no stranger of the show, Nick Edwards aka Ekoplekz, in a slightly more bizarre side project.  Quirky synth bleeps and decayed textures are the order of the day here. As a bit of a fellow gear nerd, I enjoy the fact that Nick lists his equipment on the bandcamp page, so for these sounds he used "Strega - 0-Ctrl - Liquid Foam - Quadrantid Swarm - Benidub Echo". . Nice.

Time for some noise! I discovered this tape on a rather cool London based label called Dusty Ballz.  The artist is Deng Boyu, a cut-up noise/idm artist hailing from China. Using metallic objects and various processing they deliver a rather excellent tape of intensity.  The artwork is awesome too.



Human Mask by OMNICIDE - from the "Blue and Yellow" album which was re-released in March of this year in order to memorise the Russian attacks on Ukraine.  Yodest from Leicester is the artist behind this diverse body of works.  Mostly drones and weird noises, you know, like what you would expect to hear on The Tump Clump.

And then my favourite discovery of 2022, O Ratel Ratel, with a track called Zindering released by Audio Visual Atmospheres from Belgium.  The story goes that Knifedoutofexistence played the Crude Transmissions Festival in the Dutch town of Leiden back in March, and O Ratel Ratel was on the line-up.  After reading impressive reviews of the performance I did some digging and discovered it is perfect material for the Tump Clump.  Decaying loops, wasp-like noises, desperate tension... wonderful.  

Bloodkry next, with Existence V from the Existence album, which I gained in a trade with the Finland based artist earlier this year.  Cold industrial repetition and smudged hiss combine with intriguing shifts in tone.  

I then thank Steve from Muhmur Radio for hooking me up with the next artist which is Minneapolis based Stomachache with the title track from their Good Machine album.  Building loops, noises and intensity make for a generally nauseating experience.  Proceeds from sales of this album go to the Minnesota Environment Fund, so support if you can. 

The excellent NoPartOfIt label are very liberal with their bandcamp codes, and I grabbed my code for Thirteen Hurtz UVB-76 this from a Reddit post.  Thank you! I play here the track called MDZhB.  This is quite a blistering noise workout of blown-out wind sounds, high frequency alarm shrill and constructed thingamybobs. 

Finally, time for some self-promotion because why the hell not.  I managed to squeeze in the track Demo(n) 3 from my own recent release as Soloman Tump called Safehouse Demo(n)s which I have detailed elsewhere on this blog.  You can find it here at name your price if you feel kind enough to support my artistic endeavours and maybe encourage me to do more of this stuff. 

And that is that.

Mixcloud now only lets me upload 5 shows for free, so i've deleted a load of old shows to make way for the new (as i'm skint and not paying for a premium account).  If there are any old shows you want to listen to again let me know and I can upload them. 

Well, I've waffled on loads this time.  It's nice to put a bit of time into the blog. Not sure when The Tump Clump will be back on the air in the new year yet but I shall update the blog when I know.

As ever, thanks to SoundArt Radio for putting me on.