Veteran connoisseurs of the ‘weird’ have been hit hard in recent years. With no John Peel to play 15-minute rambles set to a screwball musical backing (anyone remember A Sudden Sway?) and the demise of vinyl for purely gimmickry purposes (we salute Absurd Records, the label in the 80s who put out ‘unplayable’ releases by the likes of, I think, Gerry and the Holograms) it sometimes seems that the world of music has become a duller place. Happily, this release from a mysterious collective in, yes, Lancashire, fills the gap, at least a little.
Seemingly produced for broadcast on Radio Lancs’ legendary On The Wire show, the red vinyl 12” contains a pitfall for any intrepid DJs before the record even gets under way - side A is blank, the cheeky scamps!
The ‘b-side’ is however even stranger. Consisting of a spoken-word ramble from Lucy - a sprit who possesses the grooves of the record itself (note how she namechecks the actual record while recording, spooky!) the little minx relates a tale of the devil’s plans for Lancashire from the ‘dark Satanic mills’ of the Industrial Revolution and the Pendle Witches, through to the unworldly possession of modern radio phoneins.
All of which would be of interest from a curiousity point of view, but it’s actualy the interplay with the music which makes this record. Combining some heavy dub that could easily come from the studios of Kingston, it’s shot through with Lancastrian post-punk - again, our older listeners will recall The Fall’s version of ‘Kimble’: take that and multiply it a hundredfold. And then have Auld Nick himself remix it.
I’m probably not doing it justice in describing it in mere words. Happily, you can purchase it, or, if not feeling adventurous, sample it at the Suemi website.
[5 of 5 Stars]
