I heard Batelages by Etron Fou Leloublan by a stroke of luck. I love coming across a great LP or film that nobody has recommended and I hadn't the slightest idea existed. Maybe its the closest you can come to properly discovering something great for yourself, stripped of any preconceptions. Some of my favourite LP's and Films I was lucky enough to chance upon, and I can't deny that they remain favourites partly because of the chance, the surprise element.

"Paranoid stories of being stalked and creating new regimes"

For a long time now I have asked myself: why are the vast majority of Fall records so good? What are the elements that make them stand out from the output of almost every other band that existed since rock 'n' roll started? Of course there are many reasons; Mark E Smith's inventive, rhythmic and utterly commanding use of language; the compelling repetition of drums and bass; the spiky and at times weirdly detuned guitar riffs; and the overall uncompromising expression of who they are and where they come from. Their second LP Dragnet, released in 1978, of course has all of these elements, but for me also has something more, which I'm going to attempt to understand more through writing this article.

Liar was the fourth Jesus Lizard Lp recorded by Albini so they had all become very well acquainted with each other when they recorded it back in 1991. With the band at the height of their powers and Albini having obssessively honed his recording techiniques Liar is as explosively tense as any record you care to mention.

Yoko Ono's Plastic Ono Band record came out at the same time as John Lennon's one, 1970. The covers are so similar that it would have been easy for an unsuspecting Beatles fan to pick up Ono's by mistake. I'm sure that was the couple's intention and I'm also sure that the majority of people who bought it by mistake binned it pretty soon after. While Lennon's was massive success Ono's got to 187 on the American chart and didn't even get in the British one. This is no real surprise though as the LP is very much influenced by the extremely eclectic New York avant guarde scene. Ono had been deeply embroiled in that scene years before she met Lennon, mixing and working with heavyweights such as John Cage and La Monte Young.

I had listened to some of Brian Eno's Ambient LPs before I was introduced to Harmonia and liked most of what I heard. When I first heard Harmonia's debut LP, Music Von harmonia, I immediately realised that it pre-dated Eno's Ambient by a couple of years, it being released in 1974.

Eno had done a bit of crafty lifting of material I thought, but I didn't feel too betrayed or bothered not being an Enophile. What I did feel though was an increasing euphoria everytime I listened to Music Von Harmonia, and that happened to be many, many times after the first hearing.

I came by this satirical rock semi-masterpiece while sharing a house with a guy whose taste in music and films was to say the least weird. In fact that is being kind. I remember entering our shared living room, blurry eyed one Sunday morning with tea and toast. My friend was watching a film of real autopsy's, but didn't think it necessary to warn me. He just gave me his usual strange giggle. This was the mid nineties when you had to send off to obscure holes in Amsterdam to acquire such films. One of his favorite bands was Bongwater, strange it has to be said, but good strange not gross strange. The two protagonists of the band had the credentials for good strange: Kramer, who wrote most of the music, had been in the weird, wonderful and fucked up Butthole Surfers, while lyricist and vocalist Ann Magnuson had specialised in creating odd ball characters as a performance artist in the New York underground scene.

‘Ghost Stories: A Night Opera’ was an evocative, innovative and haunting musical experiment

Performed in the atmospheric Gothic setting of St Luke’s Church. Neil Campbell, accompanied by the soaring and sublime vocals of Anne Taft, composed the music for this project whilst the eerie soundscape and electronics throughout were effectively handled by Michael Beiert. It was apparent that Campbell’s technically skilled classical guitar playing combined diverse musical influences, including elements of Spanish flamenco, minimalism, and progressive and experimental rock music. The music of ‘Ghost Stories’ itself is certainly compositionally suggestive of the subtle and elusive compositions of French impressionistic music such as Debussy and Satie, as well as the ambient pieces of more contemporary musicians such as Harold Budd and Brian Eno.

Available soon on your mobile Twittering device DEFCON TV  

It's not ready yet but we are toying with the idea.
Interested in getting involved???? then let us know This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Download a copy of
the famous DEFCON Fanzine

This time it's the online edition - available online!??? If you know what we mean.

Click image to download or click here

Defcon produced a Defcon Magazine for the Love Music Hate Racism Festival in August 2008 held mainly at the Picket on Jordan Street.  

Read the Love Music Hate Racism Issue here