safehouse demo(n)s

27th August 2019, Safehouse Studios, Oxford.  Where professional greats such as Foals and Glass Animals recorded some of their seminal works. But on this day, it was I, Soloman Tump, who plugged in a load of stuff and made a right old racket for a couple of hours.

I recently listened back to my studio recording, with all of its static, feedback (some of it which was intentional), the plugging in and out of stuff, the fiddling with cables and the general chaos of it all.  And I decided I actually liked some of it enough to stick it on bandcamp.  So, I present "safehouse demo(n)s", 4 tracks in all of their naturally entropic states.  Kind of noisy droney dismal electronic stuff.... exactly what you might not expect from me I guess.

All of these sounds were improvised.  There was barely any planning, I just turned up with a couple of boxes of kit and plugged it all in on the fly.  I probably should have spent a bit more time deciding what I wanted to do, but such is the nature of Soloman Tump that I am pretty proud of how this recording turned out.  If you take time out for a listen, I hope you enjoy it, warts n all. 

And thanks to Safehouse Studio for letting me make silly sounds for a few hours.  I wanted to go back again but then Covid happened, and I moved to Devon.  It's a great little studio, really compact, atmospheric, and given this was August, damn sweaty in there! It helped get me in the "mood" for jamming hard. 

Mixcloud

It looks like they are imposing a posting limit soon on Mixcloud - 10 shows only.  So... I shall start removing the old episodes as we move forward.  I cannot afford the premium thing right now (and there's no point doing it for 3 months only to then lose the privilege and have to delete everything anyway if I want to add a new show).  More info on it here.

I understand why they are doing it - server costs and loads must be through the roof.  This will definitely clear out some of the chaff for them, but may also lose them some customers.  I guess they have properly done a cost/benefit thing and it should earn them some money.  Hey ho, not from me unfortunately. 

This is a shame because I have enjoyed the Mixcloud platform to date.  The main thing that was a bit slow and awkward is the tagging of shows (because I do it all manually rather than using a tracklist app... yeah I know, i'm still fairly analogue.  Hence this blog I guess...)

///

So what next for Soloman Tump?  Well, the Christmas / final episode of The Tump Clump in 2022 is up next on 2nd December. And I am slowly working on a new Ep of tracks.  Some potential collaborative stuff bubbling under but nothing concrete on that yet.

Also, the latest RENTAL YIELDS volume is imminent, featuring the Megaheadphoneboy rework of some Soloman Tump sounds.  These compilations are fantastic and well worth throwing a few pounds at as we head into winter.  Proceeds are supporting a homeless charity based in Manchester and those without a roof could really do with the help right now.  On this release you will also find Tump Clump friends and alumni Robin The Fog, Decommissioned Forests, Pulselovers, Polypores, Field Lines Cartographer, Pettaluck, Giant Head, The New Emphatic and Concrete/Field.  What a role call!

Amazing work by Front & Follow putting these compilations together, curating so many artists and being generally fab at organising a bunch of disconnected people who are probably all working together for the first time.  Very inspiring and I hope it has kick started some new projects around the place.  I enjoyed working with Megaheadphoneboy and Klaus Von Mork in our little round-robin trio, it felt fairly effortless and all of our creations are very different and inspiring.  More please :)

The Tump Clump Episode 17

The clocks have changed, and Halloween hangeth over our heads like a string of luminous pumpkin bunting. 

Episode 17 of The Tump Clump appeared out of nowhere; suddenly October was done I realised that I had not managed to put much thought into the next radio show at all.  A combination of a new job (which is going well), school half term (pretty good, saw some friends, did some things), and generally trying to decide if I want to start work on a new zine or carry on making Soloman Tump sounds - I really do not know if I can commit enough brain power to be able to do either or both justice right now.

So I picked out some music from my collection - some tracks a few years old, some brand new and not even released at the time of recording.  And actually I enjoy how these tracks sit together, especially the IOM track that Iker sent me a download code for over the weekend.  This track in particular really clicked with me. The Bloodkry EP (and Existence LP) are also both amazing pieces of work, and really fit with The Tump Clump aesthetic of dismal. 

The Tump Clump #17 - 03/11/2022

1. Stuart Chalmers & Lee Riley - 5:5 (Points of Vital Difference) 
2. O Ratel Ratel - Roerloos (Translucent V/A) - ARCHIVE
3. Mordant Arrow - Nettles (Death Shapes) - Owlripper Recordings
4. Decommissioned Forests - Drop Brick (Industry)
5. Jonas Geiger Oglin - 22 (Januari har trettioen dagar) - ToneBurst
6. Jonas Geiger Oglin - 06 (Januari har trettioen dagar) - ToneBurst
7. Jonas Geiger Oglin - 09 (Januari har trettioen dagar) - ToneBurst
8. IOM - A2. Paaraatt 15 (Happiness & Sacrifice) - SOIL
9. Bloodkry - My Shelter (Dark Paradise EP)
10. Plus Size - Another Boring Product Wealthy People Buy (Translucent V/A) - ARCHIVE
11. Plague Tump Soloman Arish - Live @ Dartington Hall 01/10/22 (Cartes Postales) - Camembert Electrique
12. Soloman Tump - Banquet (demo / unreleased)

The Plague Tump Soloman Arish track was recording in a fancy camping pod at Dartington Hall on a rainy / sunny / afternoon / evening.  Fuelled by cider, ale and pizza.  With apologies to anybody camping nearby who could hear what we were up to, but the acoustics in those pods was pretty lush.  We recorded about 2.5 hours of sounds, with a variety of gadgets, foley, battery powered speakers and rummaging.  This snipped is a trimmed/layered/EQ'd compilation of some of the more interesting parts to our ritual.  The recording appears on the Cartes Postales compilation through the hugely prolific Camembert Electrique label, alongside a talented bunch of international artists (including James Nathan Powell who's crumbling noise wall efforts I am especially fond of). 

I finished the show with a demo track I am working on called "Banquet" - I did not talk about this in the recording as I just wanted to see if anybody was actually paying attention.  The track was created with the Behringer Neutron, some time stretching, and a recording of me fiddling with my office chair.  I quite like it and it may appear on a forthcoming release.  

The Tump Clump Episode 16

Back once again with the ill behaviour.....

SoundArt Radio returns after its Summer siesta and with it, The Tump Clump returns to the FM airwaves across Totnes, Dartington and slightly beyond.  Now at 8pm from Thursday 6th October (now, as I type this!) and every 4 weeks thereafter.  So just in case you can't figure that out, the next couple of shows after will be Thursday 3rd November and Thursday 1st December.  Stick them in your diary.  

You can listen live online with the player app, or I stick them online on Mixcloud soon after broadcast.

Same format as before really, as many dark weird electronics dismal experimental noisy tunes as I can cram into an hour. 

This month, the track list goes a little something like this, with some bits of me rambling between. 

1. J. Lynch - The Wanderer (from the Tender Appropriation EP on Difficult Art & Music)

2. Jason Crumer - He's Game Babe (from the Thin Ice tape on NoRent)

3. Degradation - Reflux (from the Leadlined LP on Brachliegen Tapes)

4. Distraxi - Zombie Met Kim Jong Il (from Cotard's Syndrome)

5. Rooy - In albis (from Por un instante, la mariposa que arde en mi lámpara se hace de oro )

6. Jo Montgomerie - they all fell so easy (from Those Things Beyond & Within on Brachliegen Tapes)

7. WELLNESS REGIME - Sleep techniques (from the album DOWN)

8. WET MIRROR - Trick Bone (from the album CARTOON POWER ELECTRONICS)

9. Isn'tses and Pillars of Golden Misery - Live from Epping Forest, May 2022. Exclusive to finish the show with, thanks to Tim & Lisa for sending this to me :)

I enjoyed recording this show, having sat on a bunch of these tunes over the summer ready to unleash.  I dropped into the SoundArt Studios at the weekend with my partner in crime Plague Arish, just as Jon was recording his Dub On The Dart show.  Plague and I then visited the nearby New Lion Brewery for some funk and soul jams courtesy of Jelly Jazz which was a scorcher! Nice to dance and drink beer again. 

We also recorded a bunch of noisy tracks which you might be able to hear somewhere soon....

Cheers!

Autom, Sprau

Greetings!

Some autumnal ramblings as the summer holidays are at an end and my young Tumplets are sent kicking and screaming back to school.  

Forthcoming:  An excerpt of a live recording from Supernormal Festival 2022 whilst jamming in the woods on the Sunday morning after not enough sleep, too much ale and lots of hot sunshine.  Some delirious spanked out drones were the order of the day, and thus I named the track Brazier's Drone in homage to the amazing location I found myself in.  The track will feature on the new Shadowlands #2 compilation released digitally by Owlripper.  Thanks for having me.  Have a listen / download it here:- 

https://owlripperrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/comp17-shadowlands-2

I had been jamming alongside my regular partner in grime Plague Arish, and whilst he waddled off to get some breakfast and coffee for us I made this recording.  Some of our duet work will be released elsewhere soon.

Here's a sneaky preview of the artwork I created, a sort of dreamy overlay showing Sunset on the festival site on the Friday evening, and some of the gear I used to create the sounds.  Everything was battery powered or just raw weird sounds - sticks, stones, leaves, springs... you know the drill.  

We appreciated the small audience who had gathered by the end of our session.  Including the wonderful DJ Bus Replacement Service who had slayed the Red Kite Tent (pictured!) the evening before with weird techno, hardcore and lashings of fun.  Later that day, Surgeon rocked the main Shed stage with an hour of live and raw techno from his mod synth rig.  Such a great weekend.  More ramblings on that soon I suspect.

Tump Clump #16 will be out end of the month - and possibly a 2 hour show.  We shall see.

And yeah i've still got no access to my Instagram page but I still don't care.  So, find me here, or over there.