Allegory (1992) C40

Allegory was a compilation put together by Mark of Impulse, the only one which wasn't associated with an issue of the mag, and, so far as I recall, dating to the time he was making a go of running his thing as a label - see also Konstruktivists AGM tape and the Muslimgauze 7" he released. I'm sure you're both all familiar with most of the contributors here - Pure Motorised Instinct was Stephen Jarvis from Nagamatzu, Tautologize represents Mark's brief tenure as part of the factor X pyramid scheme, and so on and so forth.

To briefly adopt my Negative Neddy persona, I have to say, thirty years later and I'm still fucking mystified by the brief descent into industrial rock karaoke with underwhelming cover versions of chart smashers by Front 242 and the Throbbing Gristles, not least because I seem to recall Another Headache being somewhat better than this one might suggest; but never mind. Maybe it's just me. Once over those particular humps, the tape settles into a very pleasing rhythm of not-quite-ambient sound concluding with Dark Star's stunning P2C2E.

There was also a tiny wee booklet of artwork with this one, some related, some not at all related and therefore maybe pertaining to persons who failed to stump up their tracks in time (guessing here), so I've scanned that and it's included in the download.

Download the nine tracks, cover and booklet by clicking on this link.

Tracks:
1 - Pure Motorised Instinct - Shaking Death's Hand
2 - Voltoid - Tragedy for You
3 - Another Headache - Hamburger Lady
4 - Antonym - Cinnamon Air
5 - The Impulse fX - Tautologize
6 - Attrition - The Third House
7 - Brume - Suck Your Bones
8 - Konstruktivists - Untitled II
9 - Dark Star - P2C2E
 
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Impulse 8 (1996) C30

Here's my final Impulse compilation. For some reason I don't have the magazine that came with this one, yet I have issue seven but no tape, so issue seven is included with the download for the sake of tying up a loose end. You should know most of these names, but for the record: Splintered were something to do with Richo Johnson of Grim Humour and Adverse Effect zines, and as such probably qualify as the best band ever to involve a bloke who writes a fanzine, possibly excepting Alternative TV. Discogs seems to think the Richard Johnson of Aphasia is a different person, but personally I'm sceptical. Even my wife's 93-year old Texan grandmother has a couple of tapes by Illusion of Safety, so there's no excuse for ignorance regarding the same. Cathedra was Mark who wrote Impulse (and as such is exempt from any statements about bands formed by blokes who write fanzines), later of Konstruktivists, and whose Codex Empire have just put out a double vinyl album about which I've heard only good things. Day of the Moon was in Evil Twin with Karl Blake, and Band of Pain was something to do with Steve Pittis of Dirter Promotions.

 

Had to apply an unusual amount of noise reduction to this one - the silences were filled with this sort of low-level digital susurrus suggesting a virtual rather than physical master copy, but I think it's come out sounding okay.

Download the tape and mag by clicking on this link.

Tracks:
1 - Splintered - Smokescreen (Impulse mix)
2 - Illusion of Safety - Altered Locations
3 - Aphasia - Based on a Disturbed Glance (edit)
4 - Cathedra - Relegatio
5 - Day of the Moon - Night of Knives
6 - Band of Pain - Fake Shit (Drone Mood)
7 - Konstruktivists - Midnight Mass (short mix)

 
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Cassette Music 5 (1994) C60

Here's the last of my compilations from Dave Hopwood's excellent Personal Soundtracks label - not sure if it's the best of the bunch but it's probably a contender. As for the individual tracks - was never entirely convinced by Brume, although I can no longer even remember why, but this one is excellent and seems to foreshadow a lot of that glitchy laptop stuff by a good couple of years; and talking of foreshadowing, Cacophony '33' were apparently recording vapourwave roughly two decades before anyone else - vapourwave here distinguished as the sort of repurposing done so well by Blank Banshee and others, as distinct from, you know, Africa by Toto and other stuff from which it borrows. I never got around to nabbing any Cacophony '33' material at the time, and I should have done because they had some great stuff on a couple of other compilations too; Ice Pedestal is presumably factor X again, collaborating with - at a guess - maybe Tom Cox, but I could be wrong; Westland seems to be Parisian noise dude Franck Canorel; Konstruktivists are Konstruktivists, obviously; and Cathedra was Mark who published Impulse and ended up in Konstruktivists, possibly as the longest serving member aside from Glenn himself; Ozone Bandits was Dave Hopwood, and I'm not sure about the rest - apart from factor X, whom I'm sure you will have heard about, and M. Nomized whom you will definitely have heard about unless you've only recently emerged from thirty or forty years spent living in the Amazon basin. Chris Brett's track is also particularly fine and worth singling out as such while I'm here.

Download the fourteen tracks and cover by clicking on this link.

Tracks:
1 - Brume - Le Chemin Duciel
2 - Cacophony '33' - Chill Up A Rising
3 - TAK/fX - Ice Pedestal
4 - The Rorschach Garden - Night Journey
5 - Westland - Hidden in Argentina
6 - Konstruktivists - Alien Blues
7 - Cathedra - Prima Luce
8 - Ozone Bandits - 12/3/94
9 - Chris Brett - Napalm Gtr 2
10 - M. Nomized - Russolo Music
11 - MMATT - Song X
12 - factor X - She's Mine
13 - Ars Moriend - Lack of Light
14 - Manatisa - No Title

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Impulse 5 (1993) C40

Here's the fifth Impulse tape, and in case anyone was wondering, yes, I somehow missed issue four and never had a copy. I haven't scanned the mag on this occasion* because I couldn't be bothered after a certain moaning wanker slagged me off on Twatter last time I shared one of these things, whining what the fuck have you done to our track?, somehow having failed to take into account that it was digitised from a tape which came out nearly thirty years ago, and a tape run off by one of those duplication services and therefore done on the cheap so as to make it practical to give it away with a fanzine, thus meaning people who had never heard of your music would then be exposed to it and might even thusly go forth and buy your fucking records and make you rich despite nothing resembling hard work on your part unless you believe programming a drum machine somehow falls under the heading of graft, your Royal Highness. You'll also notice a certain bit of old tape wobble on a couple of these tracks, so if it's a problem that something you're getting for free isn't quite up to your exacting standards, then simply don't download the fucker, mkay?

 

Anyway, if anyone really feels they need to see the mag that came with this tape, give me a nudge in the comments box and I'll get around to scanning and add it to the download when I get time.

 

You'll probably have heard of a few of these, particularly factor X, Pessary, Smersh, Brume and Left Hand Right Hand whom I only recently found out occasionally featured Karl Blake as well as Charlie Collins from Clock DVA. There's a fair bit of techno on this one, but most of it is pretty well done, and thankfully lacking the usual suggestions of the guy with too much technology pretending to be a frost-faced Matrix cyberstormtrooper in his bedroom in his mum's house; and I'm kicking myself that I never got anything by Left Hand Right Hand.

 

*: Actually, I did in the end.

Download the nine tracks and cover by clicking on this link.

Tracks:
1 - factor X - Determinants
2 - DsorDNE - Orgasme III
3 - Terraform - Meld
4 - Pessary - Dark Shadows
5 - Cathedra - Voices
6 - Smersh - Crazy Orange Atom - Do You Remember Love?
7 - Agonije - Un Soffio Di Immagine
8 - Left Hand Right Hand - White City
9 - Brume - Zindoo

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Impulse 3 (1992) C40

You will recall Impulse, the magazine which came with a compilation tape, either from Impulse 2 which I posted here, or perhaps even from reality (and in case anyone is wondering - no, I never saw the first issue). Well, here's another volume, short and sweet but with some great tracks. You will be familiar with some of the artists, perhaps not all, in which case, Google is your friend, as snidey forum dwelling internet wankers used to say and probably still do. Out of this lot, the big surprise for me was just now finding out that Cathedra was actually Mark who edited the mag and eventually joined Konstruktivists. Maybe I did know that, but in any case I had obviously forgotten it, despite actually having known the bloke since roughly the time when he was doing this mag. Good stuff anyway.

 

Last time I posted one of these, I scanned the magazine and included it with the download. I couldn't be bothered this time*, having noticed that issue three includes a big fat helping of Misery and Purity, a thoroughly clownish treatise on Death in June by Robert Forbes, also author of The White Nationalist Skinhead Movement: UK & USA, 1979 - 1993, and For Europe: The French Volunteers of the Waffen-SS, although obviously those are entirely different books sharing no thematic common ground with the aforementioned ode to Dougie, so I'm not even sure why I mentioned them. For Europe: The French Volunteers of the Waffen-SS is apparently great according to all the five star reviews on Amazon. It's a well written history of the people who tried to help stop communism according to one bloke, so that's nice. Going back to Impulse 3, there's also an interview with Somewhere in Europe about whom I've never been entirely convinced, plus they have a crap name; so sorry - better things to do with my scanner. If it's any consolation, by not scanning and sharing the thing I am at least helping to preserve the current value of the mag for those investors and shareholders lucky enough to have secured a copy as part of their portfolio. Long live the market.

 

*: Apparently I changed my mind at some point.

Download the eight tracks and cover by clicking on this link.

Tracks:
1 - Patternclear - Waiting in the Wings
2 - Cacophony '33' - Slander Upon My Head
3 - Doubling Riders - Suite Veritas
4 - Moisten Before Use - Thud Pt. 1 [excerpt]   
5 - Voltoid - Black Mass   
6 - factor X - Happy Birthday   
7 - Konstruktivists - Klub Zodiac '84   
8 - Cathedra - Neolith  


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