"Total Vermin’s unstoppable, drone, fluxus, nether regions UK underground documentation process shows no sign of abating and with this batch proves that if you need to know whats happening beneath the Wire radar you need to be getting in touch. Total immersion over the last few days coupled with a real under the skin session on a wet and dank November Saturday afternoon had all the benefits of drug overdose without any of the side effects. Listening to whats left of the Ceramic Hobs in their MPO/LERM guise is a startling experience and fills me with the kind of hope for music I once had back in ’78. Leaving Stan Batcow to his own devices the drink seems to have taken hold of the rest of them and in OZ OZ Alice 1 they carve out a rock seam that fits in somewhere between the Velvet’s The Gift and Nurse With Wound circa A Sucked Orange. Morris’s spoken word delivery makes Charles Manson sound about as scary as a the speaking clock, add in juxtaposed and ill fitting samples [cheerily sung Christmas carols and Wurlitzer organs?] and you have probably the only group in the UK worth following. There are songs on here the spines of which are a thudding bass plod or a chugging riff but each becomes buried under some detritus or other whilst Morris sings/talks through a series of diatribes that coalesce into something that could be termed a ranting manifesto against normality. They left the cake out in the rain. Maybe the drugs are stronger in Blackpool or the beer is cheaper or they have too much time on their hands but something is definitely happening on the Fylde coast and it needs to be heard. This is the first in a series of 11 OZ OZ Alice release, the rest are eagerly awaited.
Sunday, 22 November 2009
Idwal Fisher Reviews
Reprinted without permission, but I'm sure he won't mind...
Monday, 19 October 2009
Total Vermin October Update
New tapes, fifty copies each. £2.50 each, plus postage. Orders to be emailed to smearcampaign@hotmail.com, as ever.
TOTAL VERMIN #26: FILTHY SMEAR - CONSTIPATED ALBION C26
Dirty protest/remote collaboration between muckers Turd and Campaign. Tape noise, traffic noise, trumpet noise, bashing and crooning. Artwork by Ms Susan Fitzpatrick.
TOTAL VERMIN #27: MORAL HOLIDAY/A JARVIS C20
Moral Holiday is a synth-based solo project from Ashtray Navigations mainman Phil Todd. All swooping flourishes and animal yelps, like a caged Harmonia. Todd's former bandmate in A Warm Palindrome, Andy Jarvis (also of Sculptress, Saboteuse, et al), takes the other side. He uses guitar and synthesizers to steer his craft through these lunar waters.
TOTAL VERMIN #28: BAD ORB/PLUM SLATE C20
More in the way of eerie disembodied voices and creeping electronics from Bad Orb, a la the previous Total Vermin tape. Plum Slate in acoustic mode; feedback hum and occasional twanged strings.
TOTAL VERMIN #29: MPO/LERM - OZ OZ ALICE 1 C43
MPO/LERM is, in fact, none other than the Ceramic Hobs, with the first motion of the Oz Oz Alice Project. A potted history of the Hobs, should you need it, can be found here. This astounding document shows that Phase Eight of the Hobs is as brilliantly cracked as ever, with energy and ideas gushing out at every turn of the spool.
TOTAL VERMIN #30: SERVANTS OF CULTURE, DRINKERS OF PEARLS VOLUME I C40
The first in a series of 6 artiste compilations, this cassette comprises Dead Labour Process, Littlecreature Courses Thorough Content in Ribald Constance, Shareholder, Deepkiss 720, Plum Slate and Sindre Bjerga.
Tuesday, 21 July 2009
Thursday, 18 June 2009
Monday, 15 June 2009
NEW RELEASES
Check them out!
Two pounds fifty each, plus postage and packing. Email smearcampaign@hotmail.com for a quote. Sorry for raising prices. My costs went up.
TOTAL VERMIN #18: ASHTRAY NAVIGATIONS - THE NIGHT TIME IS THE RIGHT TIME CD-R.
You should need no introduction to Ashtray Navigations. Phil Todd has been sailing this beautiful vessel since the early 90s. However, I for one have never heard an Ashtray release as HARD as this. Seriously tough stuff. The night time is the right time to listen... if you want to wake up having suffered complete mental collapse. You do? Then there are fifty copies on spray-painted CD-Rs. 3 tracks, 39 minutes. Artwork by Phil himself. SOLD OUT
TOTAL VERMIN #19: MID LEOPARD VIOLET PRISM - ELIMINATED CD-R
MLVP is the damaged new duo of Ruaraidh Sanachan, aka Nackt Insecten, and Stuart Arnot. Electronics and contact mic'd acoustic guitar conjure stormclouds and drought-scarred plains. Fifty copies on spray-painted CD-Rs. 3 tracks, 41 minutes. SOLD OUT
TOTAL VERMIN #20: TOWERING MANE ON BOTH SIDES CD-R
Live collaboration between Towering Breaker and Part Wild Horses Mane on Both Sides, two of the finest duos operating at the coalface of showbusiness today. Flute, drums, electronics and garbled vocals combine to blow the cobwebs from the recesses of your mind. 50 copies on sprayed CD-Rs, 1 track, 24 minutes. SOLD OUT
TOTAL VERMIN #21: JOHNNY SCARR - NEOZIVEN/UERO AVA C28
Sometime Fossils member Johnny lays down some substantial ritualist electronics. Hypnotises your brain zone. 50 copies on green tapes, in blue boxes, with colour inlays.
TOTAL VERMIN #22: BAD ORB C26
Bad Orb is the solo project of Sarah from Polly Shang Kuan Band and Jettatura, so it should come as no surprise that this tape sings with woozy electronics and disembodied voices. 50 copies on lilac tapes, in green boxes, with colour inlays.
TOTAL VERMIN #23: KYLIE MINOISE - PAJAMA PARTY! C19
Ill-tempered, bludgeoning, searing and ripping noise from one of the best in town. 50 copies on pink tapes, in yellow boxes, with colour inlays.
TOTAL VERMIN #24: THE WHOLE VOYALD - IN REPOSE CD-R
Gang improvisation built around the Serfs guitar duo of Jon Collin and Tom Settle, augmented on this live recording by Pascal Nichols on drums, Stuart Arnot on trumpet and Jon Marshall on harmonium. Burns like Santana circa '74, but with a hangover. 50 copies on sprayed CD-Rs. 1 track, 18 minutes. SOLD OUT
TOTAL VERMIN #25 GHOST OF AN OCTOPUS - 12, 13, 26 CD-R
More furious guitar/bass ructions, recorded live at some of the hippest nitespots in England's glorious north-west. 50 copies on sprayed CD-Rs. 3 tracks, 40 minutes.
Thursday, 30 April 2009
Sell Out Bastards
Serfs 'At Victoria Baths' has now sold out. You snoozed, you lost, but fear not! The Whole Voyald 'In Repose' will be ready soon.
Saturday, 25 April 2009
OLD STUFF, plus OTHER LABELS
These recordings are currently available for £2 each, plus postage...
TOTAL VERMIN #6: PUFF - "PUT DOWN" CD-R
Latest work in Joincey's Puff continuum. Unworldly pop, power electronics and bubble wrap abuse, tinged with the desolation of a perverted rainbow. Spraypainted CD-R (5 tracks, 21 minutes) in card sleeve adorned in Joincey's vague visage, with photocopied insert. 50 copies.
TOTAL VERMIN #7: SMEAR CAMPAIGN - "ANOTHER SATURDAY NIGHT, ANOTHER JOYLESS WANK" C20
Recorded one lonely weekend in May, the unsightly and stinking produce of a navel-gazing loser with too much time on his hands. 50 copies on red tapes in red boxes with red photocopied sleeves.
TOTAL VERMIN #9: FORD MADDOX BROWN/SMEAR CAMPAIGN C30
Manchester's Ford Maddox Brown's new age synth mask hides an ugly brute of an ogre, threatening and cajoling, and fitfully sticking his scabby coarse tongue through their shiny strawberry lips. The other side is some kind of electric wall, crackling and buzzing and shocking our weaselly protagonist as his pathetic naked frame slides flaccid from repeated attempts to mount it. Lilac tapes and inlays, with artwork from Burial Suit. 50 copies.
TOTAL VERMIN #10: SERFS - "AT VICTORIA BATHS" CD-R
Strung out twin guitar explorations tying Fahey/Crazy Horse/Dead C venn diagrams into galactic knots of sound, enhanced on this live recording by the atmospherics of the Victoria Baths and the clatter and screech percussion of T. Hardman, P. Nicholls, B. Dean and S. Arnot. 47 copies on stencil-sprayed CD-Rs.
TOTAL VERMIN #11: GHOST OF AN OCTOPUS - "4, 10, 9, 11, 6, 8" C40
Cracked guitar and deadweight bass duo from the minds, guts and sweaty blistered fingers of a Puff/Smear Campaign alliance. Blindfolded sketching in oil and blood. A ghastly nightmare wherein you cannot find that fucking kettle that is boiling over with some horrible goddamned corrosive and you know that the work surfaces will be ruined. 50 copies, pink tapes and inlays.
TOTAL VERMIN #12: MUSCLETUSK/SMEAR CAMPAIGN C24
Heady, and heavy, live aktion from the 'Tusk, pissing off the neighbours of Manchester's Fuel Cafe in October 2006. As powerful as one could wish for, while never falling down onto any 'harsh' cliches. Two Smear Campaign pieces, a cymbal workout, and a trumpet lament. Orange tapes, green cases, colour inlays, 50 copies.
TOTAL VERMIN #14: USURPER TRIO - "PARTY TAPES" C37
"Easily the dumbest thing we've ever recorded". Ali and Malcy are joined by Grant from Muscletusk on this tape, where early japing gives way to some true out sounds. Comparitively low fidelity recording to some other Usurper releases removes the sounds from their sources, giving the listener a thorough brain-bending. Blue tapes, yellow boxes, colour inlays, 50 copies.
TOTAL VERMIN #15: GHOST OF AN OCTOPUS - "19, 21, 23, 14" C47
More heads-down fret fretting from Joincey and I. The first side (19) is one track with the both of us on guitar, a prolonged attack of double-soloing. If you know that John McLaughlin/Carlos Santana record, it's not like that. 21 and 14 see us in traditional guitar/bass mode, and on 23 we both play bass. It struck me the other day that GOAO sounds like an angrier Noggin. Without violins. White tapes, white cases, white inlays, 50 copies.
TOTAL VERMIN #16: PLUM SLATE - "ABRAXXXASS" CD-R
So, is this guy obsessed with Santana? Or what? All electric affair, and dissimilar to recent (and probably future) live outings. If you wish you only had to listen to Joincey in Ghost Of An Octopus (and I do), then pretend he's playing as well, and try to ignore what's actually happening. Or press stop, take the CD out, and put a Coits one in instead. Do what you like, I'm not your dad. Or your carer. 6 track, 35 minute stencil-sprayed CD-R in DVD case, 50 copies.
TOTAL VERMIN #17: SABOTEUSE - "APERÇU" CD-R
Saboteuse is the parts of Sculptress with testes, i.e. Andy Jarvis and Joincey, joined on one track of this release by Pascal Nichols of Stuckometer and that. A disparate clutch of guitar/drum tracks, with your boys swapping duties, I believe. Also includes some nice Stokey vocals from Joinson. 5 track, 30 minute stencil-sprayed CD-R in DVD case, 50 copies.
These recordings, on various other labels are also available...
KOVOROX SOUND #30: SMEAR CAMPAIGN - "STAKES SHARPENED" CD-R £4
"6 tracks of wailing free trumpet, bludgeoning bass, screaming percussive clang and piercing feedback hell from Manchester noise/style guru. Total running time 33:06" Lea's description.
CASUAL SEIZURES no cat: SMEAR CAMPAIGN - "NIT SEASON" CD-R £2.50
"Five tracks of howling voice/feedback/what the fuck? from Barbarians/Plum Slate thumper (Featuring a cover of Leonard Cohen's 'One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong'...worth the price alone!). Sprayed cdr's in slim dvd box." Gareth's description.
UNVERIFIED RECORDS UN006: SMEAR CAMPAIGN - "GAGGED AND BOUND (I WISH I WAS)" CDR £4
"Liverpool – home of The Beatles, and now refuge to exiled Manc style icon Stuart Arnot AKA Smear Campaign. In this fat blurt, he spills the contents of his filthy mind onto yr favourite sheets and turns the Capital of Culture on its head. Enveloping, triumphant skree for trumpet and electrical storm. Tracks: Sigh and Come, Fuck a Fascist, The Mechanisation of Romance pt2: Aroused by Robots, Acid Rain on St Swithuns Day." Euan's description
SINGING KNIVES no cat: THE WHOLE VOYALD - LIVE AT THE HEELEY INSTITUTE CD-R £4
"The Whole Voyald is based around the intimate Dead Man guitar interplay of Serfs Jon Collin and Tom Settle but with Pascal from Stuckometer on drums and Stuart ‘Smear Campaign‘ on trumpet helping it blister into full colour. The name comes from a collection of stories by the humanistic Armenian-American writer William Saroyan, at the start of which he explains that the word 'voyald' is a neat combination of the words 'void','voyage', and 'world'. A recording of the amazing set they played at The Heeley Institute on Friday 27th October 2006 is now available." Label description.
Prices do not include postage.
TOTAL VERMIN #6: PUFF - "PUT DOWN" CD-R
Latest work in Joincey's Puff continuum. Unworldly pop, power electronics and bubble wrap abuse, tinged with the desolation of a perverted rainbow. Spraypainted CD-R (5 tracks, 21 minutes) in card sleeve adorned in Joincey's vague visage, with photocopied insert. 50 copies.
TOTAL VERMIN #7: SMEAR CAMPAIGN - "ANOTHER SATURDAY NIGHT, ANOTHER JOYLESS WANK" C20
Recorded one lonely weekend in May, the unsightly and stinking produce of a navel-gazing loser with too much time on his hands. 50 copies on red tapes in red boxes with red photocopied sleeves.
TOTAL VERMIN #9: FORD MADDOX BROWN/SMEAR CAMPAIGN C30
Manchester's Ford Maddox Brown's new age synth mask hides an ugly brute of an ogre, threatening and cajoling, and fitfully sticking his scabby coarse tongue through their shiny strawberry lips. The other side is some kind of electric wall, crackling and buzzing and shocking our weaselly protagonist as his pathetic naked frame slides flaccid from repeated attempts to mount it. Lilac tapes and inlays, with artwork from Burial Suit. 50 copies.
TOTAL VERMIN #10: SERFS - "AT VICTORIA BATHS" CD-R
Strung out twin guitar explorations tying Fahey/Crazy Horse/Dead C venn diagrams into galactic knots of sound, enhanced on this live recording by the atmospherics of the Victoria Baths and the clatter and screech percussion of T. Hardman, P. Nicholls, B. Dean and S. Arnot. 47 copies on stencil-sprayed CD-Rs.
TOTAL VERMIN #11: GHOST OF AN OCTOPUS - "4, 10, 9, 11, 6, 8" C40
Cracked guitar and deadweight bass duo from the minds, guts and sweaty blistered fingers of a Puff/Smear Campaign alliance. Blindfolded sketching in oil and blood. A ghastly nightmare wherein you cannot find that fucking kettle that is boiling over with some horrible goddamned corrosive and you know that the work surfaces will be ruined. 50 copies, pink tapes and inlays.
TOTAL VERMIN #12: MUSCLETUSK/SMEAR CAMPAIGN C24
Heady, and heavy, live aktion from the 'Tusk, pissing off the neighbours of Manchester's Fuel Cafe in October 2006. As powerful as one could wish for, while never falling down onto any 'harsh' cliches. Two Smear Campaign pieces, a cymbal workout, and a trumpet lament. Orange tapes, green cases, colour inlays, 50 copies.
TOTAL VERMIN #14: USURPER TRIO - "PARTY TAPES" C37
"Easily the dumbest thing we've ever recorded". Ali and Malcy are joined by Grant from Muscletusk on this tape, where early japing gives way to some true out sounds. Comparitively low fidelity recording to some other Usurper releases removes the sounds from their sources, giving the listener a thorough brain-bending. Blue tapes, yellow boxes, colour inlays, 50 copies.
TOTAL VERMIN #15: GHOST OF AN OCTOPUS - "19, 21, 23, 14" C47
More heads-down fret fretting from Joincey and I. The first side (19) is one track with the both of us on guitar, a prolonged attack of double-soloing. If you know that John McLaughlin/Carlos Santana record, it's not like that. 21 and 14 see us in traditional guitar/bass mode, and on 23 we both play bass. It struck me the other day that GOAO sounds like an angrier Noggin. Without violins. White tapes, white cases, white inlays, 50 copies.
TOTAL VERMIN #16: PLUM SLATE - "ABRAXXXASS" CD-R
So, is this guy obsessed with Santana? Or what? All electric affair, and dissimilar to recent (and probably future) live outings. If you wish you only had to listen to Joincey in Ghost Of An Octopus (and I do), then pretend he's playing as well, and try to ignore what's actually happening. Or press stop, take the CD out, and put a Coits one in instead. Do what you like, I'm not your dad. Or your carer. 6 track, 35 minute stencil-sprayed CD-R in DVD case, 50 copies.
TOTAL VERMIN #17: SABOTEUSE - "APERÇU" CD-R
Saboteuse is the parts of Sculptress with testes, i.e. Andy Jarvis and Joincey, joined on one track of this release by Pascal Nichols of Stuckometer and that. A disparate clutch of guitar/drum tracks, with your boys swapping duties, I believe. Also includes some nice Stokey vocals from Joinson. 5 track, 30 minute stencil-sprayed CD-R in DVD case, 50 copies.
These recordings, on various other labels are also available...
KOVOROX SOUND #30: SMEAR CAMPAIGN - "STAKES SHARPENED" CD-R £4
"6 tracks of wailing free trumpet, bludgeoning bass, screaming percussive clang and piercing feedback hell from Manchester noise/style guru. Total running time 33:06" Lea's description.
CASUAL SEIZURES no cat: SMEAR CAMPAIGN - "NIT SEASON" CD-R £2.50
"Five tracks of howling voice/feedback/what the fuck? from Barbarians/Plum Slate thumper (Featuring a cover of Leonard Cohen's 'One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong'...worth the price alone!). Sprayed cdr's in slim dvd box." Gareth's description.
UNVERIFIED RECORDS UN006: SMEAR CAMPAIGN - "GAGGED AND BOUND (I WISH I WAS)" CDR £4
"Liverpool – home of The Beatles, and now refuge to exiled Manc style icon Stuart Arnot AKA Smear Campaign. In this fat blurt, he spills the contents of his filthy mind onto yr favourite sheets and turns the Capital of Culture on its head. Enveloping, triumphant skree for trumpet and electrical storm. Tracks: Sigh and Come, Fuck a Fascist, The Mechanisation of Romance pt2: Aroused by Robots, Acid Rain on St Swithuns Day." Euan's description
SINGING KNIVES no cat: THE WHOLE VOYALD - LIVE AT THE HEELEY INSTITUTE CD-R £4
"The Whole Voyald is based around the intimate Dead Man guitar interplay of Serfs Jon Collin and Tom Settle but with Pascal from Stuckometer on drums and Stuart ‘Smear Campaign‘ on trumpet helping it blister into full colour. The name comes from a collection of stories by the humanistic Armenian-American writer William Saroyan, at the start of which he explains that the word 'voyald' is a neat combination of the words 'void','voyage', and 'world'. A recording of the amazing set they played at The Heeley Institute on Friday 27th October 2006 is now available." Label description.
Prices do not include postage.
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