Front Line Assembly - No Limit

12" on Wax Trax! from 1989.

Nice wee bit of industrial electro here, courtesy of one of m'lady's shelves marked "dark". I fuckin love the B-side to this, it's a 'game of two halves' 12min epic that wouldn't sound out of place on any number of 12"s I posted on v1.0 of Ripped In Glasgow last year. I could certainly see a certain Glasgow-based DJ duo (new mix here) embracing its magic.

I got a text out of the blue a while back informing me that not only are this lot playing a gig in Glasgow in July, but that the next night their partners in crime Skinny Puppy are on! I dunno what the fuck is going on with the booking policy at the Classic Grand, but earlier in the year we had a great shimmy on down to Nitzer Ebb, and in a month or so we've got ATTRITION on as well. Mental. It seems to be re-aligning itself as Glasgow's prime hotbed for ageing industro-electro-80s acts that we'd all forgotten about.

Fingers and toes crossed for Pigface, which will never happen but we can dream...



Front Line Assembly - No Limit (Damaged Goods Remix)
A - No Limit (Damaged Goods Remix)
B - Lethal Compound (Harmful If Swallowed Mix)

Buy it here

Andrew Weatherall - Vice Mixtape

Well it's been a while...

This is a great mix of (mostly) noisy guitar and dubby nonsense and it's doing the job for me right now. Despite getting regular emails from Vice, I didn't clock this mix until Johnnyboy posted it on the Primal Scream forum. Cheers pal!

Think I'm gonna check out quite a lot of the acts on here that I've not heard of before, he seems to be digging Higamos Hogamos quite a bit just now as there's another track by them on an exclusive mix CD that's being given out to the first 100 punters to arrive at his new monthly residency. From the latest Rotters mailout:

"Starting next Thursday (20th May) Andrew and Sean Johnston are launching a monthly residency at intimate new Stoke Newington hangout, The Drop. Welcome to the Psych-Disco - never knowingly exceeding 122..."

Looks like a winner, although I can't imagine I'll be down in London on a Thursday night for the forseeable future. The tracklisting for the CDs is here. If anyone reading this goes along then you know what to do...



Andrew Weatherall - Vice Mixtape
1 - Hygiene - The Things That Dreams Are Made of
2 - Wounded Lion - Degobah System
3 - Django Django - Wor
4 - The Soft Moon - Breathe the Fire
5 - The Oscillation - The 3rd Harmonic
6 - Kante - Die Summe Der Einzelnen Teile
7 - Higamos Hogomos - Deuced
8 - Harlem - Friendly Ghost
9 - Ty Segall - Bullet Proof Nothing
10 - The Liminas - I’m Dead
11 - Dum Dum Girls - Jail La La
12 - Getatchen Mekuria and The Ex - Etheopia Hagere
13 - The Fall - Hot Cake
14 - The Vermin Poets - Vermin Poets
15 - Lord Auch - Lettre De Cachet
16 - Second Layer - Underneath the Gloss

Buy Weatherall stuff here

Iggy And The Stooges - Raw Power - Hammersmith Apollo - 2 May 2010

Full live set from the gig the other week.

This is a proper recording unlike the one below, courtesy of one of those 'buy the USB stick after the gig' ripoffs (cheers to my man DeadOtter for shelling out on that one).

It was a fantastic set and Iggy put on a great show, but I was still in post-Suicide 'WTF' mode and was a bit too on-a-different-planet to get into it in the way I'd planned. Just as well I've got this then.

In recent interviews Iggy had threatened to not stagedive, seeing as how he's 63 now and all that. This lasted until approximately the second track when he hurled himself into the crowd. He did the old 'get-hunners-of-cunts-onstage' thing as well for Shake Appeal, which was pretty mental. We were further up the back though, bizarrely sandwiched between Bobby Gillespie and Douglas Hart on the right, and Jarvis on the left. I managed to resist the temptation to tell Bobby that Optimo had mixed Shabba Ranks' Mr Loverman into Loaded the week before at Optimogeddon (thanks to m'lady hauling me away at the appropriate moment). But I digress, this is a superb recording of a gig that I had feared might not be up to scratch due to the lack of Ron Asheton (RIP), and the fact that James Williamson hadn't played guitar for nigh on 20 years. Baws to that - I'd certainly go see 'em again after this performance.

Raw Power, motherfuckers...



Iggy And The Stooges - Raw Power - Hammersmith Apollo - 2 May 2010
1 - Raw Power
2 - Search And Destroy
3 - Gimme Danger
4 - Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell
5 - Shake Appeal
6 - I Need Somebody
7 - Penetration
8 - Death Trip
9 - Cock In My Pocket
10 - I Got A Right
11 - I Wanna Be Your Dog
12 - 1970
13 - L.A. Blues
14 - Night Theme
15 - Beyond The Law
16 - Open Up And Bleed
17 - Fun House
18 - Kill City
19 - Johanna

Buy the 'Legacy' edition of Raw Power here

Suicide - Hammersmith Apollo - 3 May 2010

Crowd recording from the night after I saw them a couple of weeks ago. Quality = pretty good.

Well, you can't have everything. I held out for a recording of the previous night, when we were down, but it hasn't materialised so this will have to do.

FUCK ME - this is one of the best live shows I have ever witnessed. No shit - at one point I had tears streaming down my face.When I first saw the tracklisting for this night, I was like "no way - they did Frankie Teardrop" (they hadn't done it the night I was there), but the more I think about it aye they did. Just in this fucked up version. I have memories coming back of Alan Vega screaming "Frankie Frankie" that have slowly crept back into my consciousness bit by bit after the event.

In the unlikey scenario that I live to the age of 71 I would like to have a fraction of the energy that Alan Vega displayed that night. Insane. Check Martin Rev's purple neon specs as well. Cool as fuck.

One of these shows that I've been waiting for for ever but didn't think I'd see in a million years. There was no was Iggy could follow it for me but he gave it a good shot...



Suicide - Hammersmith Apollo - 3 May 2010
1 - Ghost Rider
2 - Rocket USA
3 - Cheree
4 - Johnny
5 - Girl
6 - Frankie Teardrop
7 - Che

Buy Suicide-related nonsense here

Neu! - Neu! '72 non-public test

Ooh, look what got delivered today...

Yep - a drunken payday internet purchase a couple of Fridays ago and thank fuck I did it because this box set is fucking beautiful. You get heavyweight vinyl and gatefolds for the three main albums (2x white and 1x black vinyl), the full 86 album (featuring these two tracks) on nice lime green vinyl, and this here previously unreleased curio (black vinyl). Chuck in an album-sized 36 page book and a stencil to brighten up the local walls and you're cookin. Oh, did I mention the exclusive code to download mp3s for the full shebang and delivery of a nice orange t-shirt?

This is all you're getting as it's not available elsewhere and I don't think it would put off any punters contemplating the album.

Right! We're on a Kraut-roll here - off to see Faust do their cement mixer thing at the Arches...



Neu! - Neu! '72 non-public test
A - 6May '72 Part 1
B1 - 6May '72 Part 2
B2 - 6May '72 Part 1

Buy the box set here

Cold Cave – Life Magazine (An Optimo (Espacio) Flexi-Pop Mix)

Unreleased wee gem from Cold Cave via FACT Magazine.

I'm off to see this lot at the Captain's Rest in Glasgow tomorrow night and cannae fuckin wait. Haven't seen them before, but will soon get the chance again at the Primavera Festival in a few weeks. This superb remix won't be on any of the formats of the new single, and is only up on FACT for a week, so here's a perma-link for anyone who missed it.

For the uninitiated, Pitchfork said that their sound "weaves incomprehensibly distorted vocals with bits of synthetic feedback", but some songs "also come bearing serious hooks." What a load of wank, eh?

Anyway, if you're in the area you could do a lot worse than getting the fuck down tomorrow...



Cold Cave – Life Magazine (An Optimo (Espacio) Flexi-Pop Mix)

Buy Cold Cave stuff here

Factory Floor - Untitled

4-track mini album released recently on Blast First Petite.

I saw this lot supporting Fuck Buttons last Saturday night and they blew them off the stage. I'd been desperate to see them for ages after hearing about them a few months ago and they did not disappoint. Officially my favourite new band as of this minute. You're not getting the full thing as that wouldn't be on, instead I've randomly plumped for track B1.

What do they sound like? Well, I've heard them described as gothic electro but that doesn't do them justice. There was a drummer, a dude on analogue synth and a girl playing a guitar with a violin reed. The two non-drummers also did bits of vocal. Sounds pretty wanky but I assure you they sounded magnificent. I had been desperate to get my paws on this release (clear vinyl 10" with accompanying DVD) but for some reason Monorail didn't get it in. Thank fuck they sold it at the gig. The perfect Optimo band as well - hopefully they'll get them up again quickly for the new night.

It's been a busy-as-hell few weeks for gigs (April and October = always the same) - LCD Soundsystem set the Barras on fire last night with a set which included a fab cover of Carl Craig's Throw, and we're off down to London tomorrow to go and see The Stooges and Suicide on Sunday night. No doubt a booze-fuelled trundle round Berwick Street's record shops will be in order at some point as ever - cannae wait.

Blast First Petite? Where's my next Suicide 10"? That's been fuckin AGES now since the last one...



Factory Floor - Untitled
A1 - Lying
A2 - 16-16-9-20-1-14-9-7
B1 - A Wooden Box
B2 - Solid Sound
DVD - Solid Sound Video

Buy it here
Factory Floor on Myspazz

Optimogeddon - The Final Optimo - 25 April 2010

Full 7-hr rip from last night's shenanigans.

After a brief foray into broadcasting live on AWDIO.com last year, Twitch and Wilkes decided to stop it as it didn't really capture the atmosphere of the club. "Too clinical", apparently. Fair do's, but thank fuck they hooked it up again for this monster of a swansong.

Technical stuff: It missed the first minute or two (AWDIO, not me - I was refreshing like a madman) but apart from that you've got the full thing, split into 5x mp3 files. The program I use to rip stuff like this had spilt it into 7 files of its own choosing by the time I looked at it this morning. I've made three into one (seamless-ish) but the gaps between the rest of the files were in the hands of the gods. No noticeable gaps anyway...

*EDIT* turns out my computer missed off the banter at the end followed by the last two tunes (superb video footage here). I've changed the file for Pt 5 or you can grab the last 15 mins on their own via the link underneath it... *EDIT*

Of all the stuff I've read about Optimo in recent weeks, it's this Resident Advisor article that hits the nail on the head perfectly. Fuck knows how many people didn't make it in last night, as you should have seen the state of the queue very early on. According to the Sub Club's website it holds 400 people. Hmmm.

I listened to bits and pieces of it last night before I went to bed, but it was doing my nut in to do so. I made the mistake of following the action on Twitter as well, with everycunt commenting on what was on the stream. Couldn't sleep for ages as I was going through all sorts of emotions. Attempting to make do with the memories of our last visit a fortnight ago wasn't really cutting it.

Tune-wise I'll not spoil any of it for you, but rest assured that a good few of the Optimo 250 made it into the set (166 of 'em on this Spotify playlist if you feel the need). Only thing that's missing from this is the crowd, who certainly add plenty to it on the brief moments you hear them via the mic.

Well I guess that's it then. Cheers fellas. They loved our ears...



Optimogeddon - The Final Optimo - 25 April 2010

New DIRECT PERMALINKS: right-click to download (thanks to Chris E in the comments):
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5 (full)

Original links (just for posterity, like):
Part 1 (Alt link)
Part 2 (Alt link) (another alt link)
Part 3 (Alt link) (another alt link)
Part 4 (Alt link)
Part 5 NEW FULL VERSION
**EDIT** THE FINAL 15 MINS on their own (thanks to Soundhog via Frenchbloke) **EDIT**

Torrent link as well - these download links are getting fairly whored. Who says you don't get a good choice round these parts?

Click here for a team attempt at a full tracklisting

Pre-order the new Fabric Mix here

Neu! - '86

Limited-as-fuck release (500 copies) for Record Store Day yesterday, on Groenland Records.

This features a couple of Neu! 86 tracks which were 'reworked' by Michael Rother in 2009. Aye, very nice. Looks great and is on nice heavyweight vinyl.

Monorail in Glasgow opened at 11am yesterday, and we got there about 15 mins early to be greeted with a not-too-bad queue. We got chatting to a guy in front of us who'd already been to Avalanche (which opened at 9am) and got the Rolling Stones 7". He seemed to have an unhealthy interest in Simple Minds circa Don't You Forget About me, and kept going on about all these different versions he had. Under normal circumstances I could have coped with this but we'd been up all night after an Optimo thing at the Art School and I'd had a couple of red-wine-vomits just before we left the flat so wasn't feeling too clever. It was fine though. As soon as we got to the shop a band kicked off really loudly and we were given wee quiz sheets and a girl arrived brandishing free cupcakes (I passed on this one). Great stuff all round, and my haul consisted of this 12", Mogwai/Fuck Buttons split 10" (white vinyl), Nick Cave 12" (white vinyl, only 100 worldwide), Crystal Castles 12" and two Jesus & Mary Chain 7"s. The only thing that we missed out on was a Foals 7" that my girfriend was after so we did really well.

I love a good rummage in Monorail at the best of times, and the fact that it's part of a complex with a bar attached makes it all the more scary when in on a payday weekend. Shame that by the time we got home there were loads of cunts selling the stuff on eBay.

Roll on next year...



Neu! - '86
A - Crazy
B - Euphoria

Record Store Day website

Two Lone Swordsmen - Big Silver Shining Motor Of Sin EP

12" EP released on Warp from 2004.

So, yesterday's madness too much for you? Prefer to get a nice wee easy-to-digest dose of Two Lone Swordsmen rather than 17hrs, 16 mins and 54 seconds of live stuff (according to my iTunes)? Nae bother - here you go then.

This came out round about the same time as the Double Gone Chapel album, but it's much more electronic, hence (I'm guessing) why it wasn't included. Same format as the Sex Beat 12" - you get two Weatherall vocal-led tunes on side A, and their instrumental/dub counterparts over on the flip.

I don't know who I'm trying to kid on that I'm done with blogging, it's much less hassle just to fire stuff up when I'm in the mood though, rather than the daily juggernaut of postings that was 2009. Mind you, Google/Blogger seem to be pressing the big [DELETE] button on lots of blogs these days (cheerio Acid Ted) so catch it while it's hot. I always try not to upload stuff that people are likely to be actually buying though, and always amend/pull if asked to do so - mind you that doesn't seem to stand for much, especially considering that stuff like this is still on the go). It's a funny old world...



Two Lone Swordsmen - Big Silver Shining Motor Of Sin EP
A1 - Showbizz Shotguns
A2 - Feast
B1 - Showbizz Shotguns (Instrumental)
B2 - Feast (Dub)

Buy it here