Kevin Tomkins solo + Sutcliffe Jugend

[FreakAnimalFinland]

look at the original 1980s crew, and there is Gary Ramleh doing arty Gothic/pop music in Breathless, Maurizio Bianchi making religious/New Age type music, Tim Gane from Un-Kommuniti attaining fame and success through Stereolab's intelligent and melodic work, and it's rather obscure but I have The Worried Well 12" made by Philip Best in the 80s which is a kind of indie techno-pop. I haven't heard them but Kevin Tomkins is making all sorts of peculiar homemade box sets of experiments nowadays, and of course he had a stint in a rock act too.

To me, SJ "Blue Rabbit" CD was best SJ since early days. Certainly very different, but good. Since that SJ recording is Kevin alone, it made me think has anyone heard these Kevins box sets he keeps putting out? This stuff has very little - or lets say - pretty much nothing to do with what is generally considered power electronics. Only dark narrative voice on top of sound textures hints towards such direction. It makes me wonder whether his solo works would be something in this way?

I think that "Between Silences" CDR from 2005 was awful. There was one another CDr, before in 2009 launched "Between Silences" label. From single CDRs up to 17 CDR box sets... Considering some are limited to 20, released in 2009 and still in stock, tells a bit about scale of sales.
All SJ and Between Silences stuff can be found:
http://www.unlabel.net/betweensilencesshop.htm  (note that it lists things as CD even if all between silence stuff is cdr)

Which is basically reason why I have none. I've stopped buying cdr simply to spend money on more lasting formats.. But still little curious.

[Dr Alex]

"Blue Rabbit" is amazing and somehow disturbing album! Artwork/paintings are truly great!

I didn't knew that mr Tomkins had that much solo albums. How is sounds?

Mikko, you should rename this thread at Sutcliffe Jügend / Kevin Tomkins solo.

[Scat-O-Logy]

Mikko, I think I was the victim who purchased the "Between Silences" CDR from you. It's so bad that I couldn't even make it to the end, hah! I would also be interested to know more about these solo works. YouTube has this great live performance of Kevin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKWQV5du7y8

In the vein of "Blue Rabbit", which was by the way, one of the best releases of 2012, but obviously more minimal and maybe even a little more "nightmarish". To those of you who haven't heard "Blue Rabbit", someone uploaded complete album on YT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--9WYixhW24

EDIT: The awful release I was talking about is actually "Threnody For The Victims Of Ignorance" by SJ but I did indeed buy it used from Mikko and it fucking sucks, hah.

[bitewerksMTB]

"Blue Rabbit" is better than expected. At least, the first 10 or so minutes that I was able to listen to. Definitely better than other other SJ material I've heard- I think the last thing I got was the 2LP(?) with Prurient & I'm not sure I ever made it past the first side before losing interest.

Where the hell is the reissue of "We Spit on Their Graves"?!? Maybe I.R. should ask to reissue those... or the unreleased full-length LP, "Six Perversions" or something?

I see that "Blue Rabbit" was released by a US label so the cd isn't pricey so will pick up a copy sooner or later.

[HongKongGoolagong]

I guess if Whitehouse were the Sex Pistols of PE, then Con-Dom or Genocide Organ would be The Clash, and Kevin Tomkins/SJ would be the GG Allin of the scene.

The very powerful earliest SJ recordings including the Graves set were also recorded by Tomkins alone to my knowledge.

I really like the three SJ albums recorded during the 1990s - they are very silly indeed yet manage to be as thoroughly obnoxious and offensive as anyone could hope for. Try getting that stuff co-opted by The Wire. Everything I have heard since then has not been to my taste but it's hard not to appreciate the madness of a seventeen disc set of autoharp experiments even if no-one wants to listen to it.

Interesting to read an interview where he talked about his disgust for literary references in music. In a world filled with people trying to market themselves he seems to stand against 'high culture' and for the authentic and autodidactic.

[simulacrum]

I agree that Blue Rabbit is the most peculiar, as well as my favorite, SJ release, and it's interesting to find out that album was just Tomkins. I'm particularly fond of The Bad Mannered Prophet, as some of the discernible lines are very intriguing, as opposed to the more tired and kind of silly lines from When Pornography... and Victim as Beauty. I'd say the aforementioned albums are more disturbing than Blue Rabbit in terms of lyrical fare alone, but whoever used "nightmarish" to describe Blue Rabbit is, in my opinion, spot on. I was always a Death Mask kind of guy until I listened to Blue Rabbit.

[SiClark]

Where the hell is the reissue of "We Spit on Their Graves"?!? Maybe I.R. should ask to reissue those...

There was a thread on Troniks where (I'm pretty sure) Tomkins was posting updates about his progress in mastering all of the recordings. However now that Troniks is gone I don't know where you might be able to get updates from? I really hope he's still working on it. I got tired of waiting and am currently going through a rip from the bootleg vinyl edition. Quality isn't amazing but it's still very good to hear. I'm through the first part and I think it hasn't aged badly at all, still sounds great.

[Dr Alex]

You can find mr Tompkins on facebook so you can ask him about it.
I have rips from tapes. Not so good quality but still great material.

[Levas]

Just today got these pursuit of pleasures vinyls. Didn't have time to listen to those, but I guess not that many people had the possibility too because of exotic label and prices. And for those who are interested - I've got a few copies of Asian and European edition for sale.

[Dr Alex]

Why that shit is so expensive?
Is it made of gold?

[bitewerksMTB]

I have tape dubs of some of the WSOTG that, I think, came from originals & the sound quality isn't so great. I think I have rips of the entire set on a data disc somewhere too. The best thing is the collection on Susan Lawly.

The 10 volumes of WSOTG + Campaign (I have the bootleg LP) deserve proper releases, not cd-r's. A cd or lp comp of all of SJ's compilation tracks would be nice too.

[Dr Alex]

I have tape dubs of some of the WSOTG that, I think, came from originals & the sound quality isn't so great. I think I have rips of the entire set on a data disc somewhere too. The best thing is the collection on Susan Lawly.

The 10 volumes of WSOTG + Campaign (I have the bootleg LP) deserve proper releases, not cd-r's. A cd or lp comp of all of SJ's compilation tracks would be nice too.

Somebody should do proper WSOTG re-release from original tapes remastered on cds. That box set will be amazing!!

[Levas]

Why that shit is so expensive?
Is it made of gold?

Nah. One label releasing golden releases is enough most likely. Well, it's nicely released and as with quite a lot of stuff from Asia, the prices for European standards are quite high. Latest Hijokaidan CDs for example etc.

[Dr Alex]

Why that shit is so expensive?
Is it made of gold?

Nah. One label releasing golden releases is enough most likely. Well, it's nicely released and as with quite a lot of stuff from Asia, the prices for European standards are quite high. Latest Hijokaidan CDs for example etc.

Yes, last two Hijokaidan was too overpriced!

[FreakAnimalFinland]

That was CD standard price in Japan. I don't think there really exists cheap Hijokaidan CD's? Also all Alchemy Records stuff used to be priced according to Japanese standard.

I'm guessing vinyl pressed in europe (?), shipped to asia, then back to europe - it will be expensive.