Long time Secret Chief and ubiquitous all star Eyvind Kang has released a new “solo” album. I approached it with trepidation, expecting long violin solos. What I did not expect was a middle-eastern tinged, medieval / baroque thing of immense quality. Secret Chiefs 3 fans will be well acquainted enough with “weird stuff” to be able to cope with the shifts in style. God knows what someone who listens to Adele would make of this but I’d like to find out. Forcibly.

An album that has sweet riffs (albeit played on instruments I cant even name) and angelic female vocals that suddenly give way to dissonance and string ensemble drones should be easily classified as “heavy listening”, but there is a narrative quality that runs through the album that makes for a magical chiaroscuro effect (look it up bitches).

Best listened to in a sun-dappled glade with a fair maiden (or knave or whatever the male equivalent of a maiden is) on one arm and a goblet of mead in the other. Oh and if the makers of Assassin’s Creed are reading this (I know you are) this would be an AMAZING soundtrack to any future sequels.

Kim Monaghan

So I wandered into the dark and foreboding wind tunnel of Digbeth, Birmingham last night to get on with my weekend of delights. The bleakness of this industrial area was fittingly accompanied by the muted gargling of Slabdragger, which got louder and louder as we approached. I felt a bit sorry for a.P.A.t.T and Slabdragger as the ticket office opened at nine and the first bands were on at 9:20. By the time we got in Slabdragger had played most of their set of growling, angry doom infused metal. If it was up to me I would probably have stayed and watched them as they were whirling their hair round and I haven’t seen people do that for a while, but Daz my photographer and long suffering friend indicated that we were off to see a.P.A.t.T and sharp-ish. Apparently they were very good over the course of their set and just before we got in they had been doing some sort of Japanese acappella thing, but all we caught was 10 mins of sludged out feedback that had an interesting effect on my ears. Next up was an easy choice. Who wouldn’t go and see Drumcunt ?

Drumcunt (yes I am going to say their name a few more times) were a two piece wielding laptops, mic and knobs. For the first ten minutes I was pretty impressed, as they gave the impression that they were going somewhere epic, tweaking and playing with a simple drum loop and occasionally emitting a noise that sounded a bit like the martians in War of the Worlds. However, when we were twenty minutes in and nothing had really changed, I realized that in this crazy “less is more” world of ours this was probably all I was getting. If I was twenty and had never heard techno maybe I would have had my mind blown. Or more probably if I had spazzed out on drugs then it would have been mega awesome. But I know techno and I’m too old and fragile for drug abuse so instead of paying attention to Drumcunt I watched the frankly amazing antics of the large bald man in an Adidas tracksuit who was larging it in spectacular fashion at the front. He kept it up a lot longer than I thought he could, and considerably longer than he should have.  There was an interesting moment where I thought he was trying to initiate a dance off with a distinctly unimpressed man behind him, by invading his space in an energetic way, but it never happened. Why is it they only ever happen in ones ? I’d love to watch two of these people find each other in an audience. It would be beautiful. Anyway we abandoned  Drumcunt ( I won’t say their name again, promise Mum) and caught the last twenty minutes of Part Chimp. The song we walked in on sounded an awful lot like Soundgarden to me, but that was just a weird trick of acoustics because they’re not like Soundgarden but there was definitely a Seattle-esque flavour to it. I don’t know them but at the end of their set they received a rapturous …. whatever the opposite of reception is. I will give them a listen at some point.

It was turning into an evening of choices. I don’t like choice. I prefer to be told what to do but when it came to choosing between Scotch Egg and Mike Watt and The Missingmen it was an obvious shoe in for Scotch Egg. So I was a bit confused to find myself watching Mike Watt. I’ve never heard The Minutemen but I know the name (legendary proto punks) but that in no way could prepare me for the madness of the ensuing prog / jazz / hardcore / spoken word “45 minute song in 30 parts” awesomeness that followed. Mike Watt endeared himself to me instantly, firstly by being 30 years older than everyone else in the room and secondly by quite patently being a lovely, lovely man. His band were amazingly tight and they rampaged through an incredibly diverse range of styles. I was particularly envious of his guitarist who was awesomely cool throughout, although Mr.Watt’s bass playing was wildly impressive too, while the drummer finished off the recipe perfectly. The influence of Zappa and Beefheart were strong but healthy, and while neither of them inspire me to wild acts of devotion (unlike many) I will certainly be investigating further. So another time Scotch Egg.

Both Daz and I were at Supersonic for one reason. Secret Chiefs 3. If you read the site occasionally you may know that the dichotomy of Spruance and Patton form the chief tenet of my musical philosophy and I have been yearning for a Secret Chiefs 3 experience for many years now, since “First Grand Constitution and Byelaws” I have been mesmerized by this band and I have watched (listened ?) as they have gone from being a noisy, experimental and slightly sardonic inception to an all conquering force of musical apocalypse. So you can probably guess that I’m not going to be providing an un –biased review here. I started getting silly about this performance before they were even onstage, when I walked past Trey and had a bit of a mental stumble. “That was Trey” I whispered excitedly. I thought I had a reasonable level of self-respect but my brain just lurched and some dark part of my mind shouted “Offer Him Sex !”. That’s not self-respect, that’s closet groupie and it’s a bloody good job I didn’t see any of them after their stint, because it was fucking mind blowing. Set-wise it strongly resembled the “Great American Music Hall” live DVD. I have always found it impossible to memorise the song titles ( a lot of them are unpronounceable or very long) but there was a little sprinkling of everything, and a couple of songs I’ve never heard before. “Halloween” appeared and tossed the cinders of my sensibilities into a big musical dustbin and they also played my favourite SC3 song which is an incredibly aggressive, heavily Traditionalists orientated thing that they play near the end of the DVD. If they ever need a soundtrack for the end of the world Secret Chiefs are more than up to the job. I’m not sure which players were on board for this incarnation, I think there’s a good chance it was Timb Harris (violin) under the sparkly veil thing, and it may have been William Winant on drums but the only ones I could say for definite were Trey and Shazad Ismaily (the bassist). For a band to be able to play this well regardless of the constituent members is somewhat supernatural. Most bands on this Earth would sell their hands to be as good as this band and it doesn’t even have a steady lineup. The crowd absolutely fucking loved every second of their performance and the Chiefs fed on this response. There was one of those magic rare things where you get a positive feedback loop and by the end of the last song they were plainly having a fucking ball. This gig was everything I thought it would be, and if you went off to watch Cloaks and Scorn instead I’m sure you thought you made the right choice. You didn’t. I hate having to choose who to see and not for the first time I wish I had more ears. Now I’m going to find minerals and nutrition so that I can start getting excited about seeing Backwards and Zombi tonight.

Kim Monaghan

So it’s two weeks till our favourite festival and now that the line up is confirmed its time to start getting excited. Here’s why :-

FRIDAY - APPAT/CLOAKS/DRUMCUNT/MIKE WATT/PART CHIMP/SCORN/SCOTCH EGG/SECRET CHIEFS 3/SLABDRAGGER/

SATURDAY - AGATHE MAX/ALEXANDER TUCKER/ANTILLES/BACKWARDS/BARDO POND/BERG SANS NIPPLE/ELECTRIC WIZARD/KLAUS KINSKI/KOGUMAZA/LUCKY DRAGONS/MONARCH/MUTE SYNTH/NATHAN BELL/ORTHODOX/PHAROAH OVERLORD/SKULL DEFEKTS/TEETH OF THE SEA/WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM/ZOMBI/

SUNDAY - ALVA NOTO/ASTRO/BARN OWL/BYETONE/CIRCLE/CUT HANDS/DRUNK IN HELL/DRUM EYES/ENVY/ETERNAL TAPESTRY/FIRE!/ICONACLASS/JEFR CANTU LEDESMA/MODULATE/ORE/PEKKO KAPPI/SELFLESS/SILVER APPLES/TONY CONRAD/TURBONEGRO/WHITE HILLS/

So not only am I finally getting to see Secret Chiefs 3 but I get to catch Scotch Egg, Barn Owl and the amazing Silver Apples. I only just got the Silver Apples album but it is an absolutely extraordinary thing and I am tremendously excited not only at the prospect of seeing the Simeon in action, but at unleashing some spasticated hippy dance moves in their general direction.

It’s not just bands remember and there are films and exhibitions aplenty and “the film programme will include; $100 Dollars And A T Shirt, Suspiria, Karp Lives: Kill All Red Neck Pricks, Man With A Video Camera, Still Before (Oxbow on the road), Blood Sweat and Vinyl: DIY in the 21st Century, Fonal Records shorts and more…

Art exhibitions include; Conny Prantera, Herman Inclusus, Birmingham Zine Festival and there will be a talk with William Bennett of Cut Hands/Whitehouse/Vice Guide to Liberia also.”

As if that wasn’t enough, there are also some kids gigs too so I intend to indoctrinate my sprog into the world of experimental electronics and also embarrass the crap out of her by stage diving into a bunch of six year olds.

As you might have gathered from this, I will be there for the whole time so if you see me come and say hello. If I look at you blankly just tell me you lent me some money once and I’ll feign being pleased to see you.

Kim Monaghan

Quite often decent bands and films skip Birmingham. I don’t know whether that’s a promotion problem or what but it is very frustrating. Mind you as I have been known to miss gigs by my favourite bands that are literally at the end of my road, I guess I shouldn’t be too upset. Anyway the fact that Capsule arrived a decade ago to redress the balance makes up for the occasional snub in spades. Capsule, for those of you who are ignoramii, is a Birmingham based promoter (and more) who specialise in specialism. A quick browse through their ten year history will have most fans of experimental, avant garde and just plain great music looking for ways to move to this fine city. It was courtesy of Capsule that I finally got to watch Lightning Bolt in a very small room last year, which rates as the closest I have ever come to a religious experience.

Anyway, the good news is that they are back with their fine Supersonic festival which will take place from the 21^st – 23^rd October. The line up can be enthused over here http://www.supersonicfestival.com. The things I am most excited about, in ascending order are Zu93, Scorn, Zombi and Secret Chiefs 3. Zu93 is a collaboration between Italian free jazz / rock nutters Zu and Prefuse 93. I recently listened to a Prefuse 93 album and was ok with it until some dreadful vocals messed everything up, but everything I have ever heard by Zu has been impressive. Scorn is the long running side project of Mick Harris (ex Napalm Death). I have never been a huge fan of Scorn but it has been very interesting to watch them go from being completely ignored (because they were “Industrial” and therefore irrelevant) to being embraced by the increasingly moody industrial / dubstep / techno scene. Mr. Harris must be laughing his head off. Zombi are a two piece drum and synth affair and I love them. Yes they are a lot like Goblin but “Surface To Air” is a brilliant album and I am looking forward to doing some extravagant progressive dancing to their intergalactic sounds. Finally it gives me huge boners to say that Secret Chiefs 3 will be appearing. If you haven’t heard Secret Chiefs then you have absolutely no business being on this website. They are among the best bands ever to have worn cloaks. I have never seen them live but my repeated viewings of “Live At The Great American Music Hall” have prepared me for an epic experience. If SC3 want to be heavy they will be the heaviest. If they want to be intricate then they will own intricacy. And if I take Ken with me there would seem to be a reasonable chance at backstage interview tomfoolery. I better start practicing my groupie skills.

Limited number of tickets on sale now www.theticketsellers.co.uk

Kim Monaghan

Broadcast #015

1. Sax Ruins – Korromda Peimm
2. Daniel Johnston – Spirit World Rising
3. Cannibal Ox – Vein
4. Iron Monkey – Web of Piss
5. Foals - Glaciers
6. Jesu - Friends Are Evil
7. The Lapse – Infinte Me
8. Lou Barlow - Gravitate
9. Lunar Abyss Quartet – Phova
10. Secret Chiefs 3 - Labyrinth of Light
11. Slint - Pat
12. Tom Vek - You Set The Fire In Me
13. Iron Lung – Care For The Machine

If you want us to play your band/noise/whatever, drop us a line at behindcloseddoors@sittingnow.co.uk.

Peace

***Signal Ends**

.

I have been a fan of the Secret Chiefs for a while now, but I’ve never seen them live. I haven’t even watched any of the bootleg live stuff that is apparently so readily available, so I had literally no idea what to expect from this. I knew that hooded gowns were the garment of choice and that Trey was likely to be sporting a crazy man’s beard. These turned out to be the least exciting things about this DVD. The performance was presented in two sets and as the first set began I remember thinking something like “well, I know this’ll be good but its not like there are going to be any surprises….”. I was quite, quite wrong.

The Chiefs in action

For a start at least half of the music on here hasn’t been released, which is both wonderous and baffling. Wonderous because it means that there will be some truly amazing albums coming our way and baffling because, well, what’s the point of creating music this good, honing it to perfection for live performance and then smugly sitting on it and saying “Hey, guess what I can do….?”. Of the tracks that are “new” I got pretty excited about “Bereshith” and “Brazen Serpent”, both of which are at the noisy and aggressive end of the SC3 spectrum, particularly “Brazen Serpent”. This tune in particular deserves a mention, because for me it epitomizes everything good about this band, showcasing the amazing compositional skill of Mr. Spruance and the unbelievably tight playing of the band. Release this song.

In some ways the old material is the weakest. I realize this is a controversial statement, and I am in no way dissing “classics” like “The 4 (Great Ishraqi Sun)” or “Zulfikar”, but Trey Spruance has come a long way. Listening to the early albums is almost straightforward now, in comparison to some of the monumentally complicated music he has been creating recently. I thought I would miss the tape effects and surf tunes, but he has condensed the disparate sounds and philosophies of the SC3 into something that is much more direct and yet still equally as challenging to listen to. In fact at points during the performance you practically have to be a musicologist to keep up with what’s going on. I would love to test this DVD out on my parents just so I could hear the old chestnut “…it’s just noise…”

Now some of you may be thinking…”Great, just what we need, more beard stroking music for musicians.” Wrong. The Secret Chiefs 3 have taken Middle Eastern compositional theory and Western jazz’s love of the abstract, chucked it into a big pot with the relentless beats of drum’n'bass and the aggressive euphoria of metal, and come up with something that is almost indescribably powerful. Watching this band is an absolute joy. If I was going to attempt to play this music I would have to be in a quiet dark environment so I could concentrate, but these guys not only play excellently but obviously love every minute too, with Trey whirling like a dervish from start to finish, completely entranced with music he obviously adores. This is the point of music and bands and every member of SC3, at some point or another, gets completely lost in their performance. It is quite a poignant thing to witness in these cynical times.

So apart from a blistering set of eighty minutes of amazing music played by amazing musicians, what else do we get? How about a seventy five minute stop-motion animation feature by Tawd B. Dorenfeld, mostly sound-tracked with music from the American Music Hall show, but with other live gems thrown in. The film is quite amazing if almost impenetrable and whilst there is a “story” inspired by the symbolism and mythology of SC3, in my opinion it is much better to admire the bonkers adventures of the bejeweled goat than to try and fathom what the fuck was going on. There are some really interesting and odd creations in there though, along with a truly painful amount of work. It also reminded me quite a lot of the video for Aphex Twin’s “On”.

As if all that wasn’t enough there were some little secret rewards for the geeks among us too. If you were good and sat through the credits of the live show, a trailer for the next Secret Chiefs 3 DVD appeared. Yes, the next one (oh happy day!) This film will be highlights of their world tour and is comprised of footage shot by fans at the shows. Finally, I also noticed a trailer for “The Anna Cabrini Chronicles”. What’s that I thought? Only some sort of horror series scored by Trey and directed by Mr. Dorenfeld. I have never heard of it but it looks extremely interesting and I have ordered my copy of the DVD from here: ttp://www.annacabrini.com/

Daddytank

Best album art ever?

Wow! Head-chief Trey Spruance always seems to do this to us; makes us wait for ages, and then unleashes a whole barrage of new stuff at once (see the amazing slurry of 7″‘s produced last year). 

First up, the new album (pictured above), which will be available as a limited 12″ vinyl (and non-limited CD), is the bands take on the  Italian ‘Giallo‘ horror-soundtrack genre:

“The first thing to note is that Giallo cinema music has the distinction of having been graced by nearly all the great masters of Italian film music in general: Bruna Nicolai, Stelvio Cipriani, Ennio Morricone, Goblin, Pierro Piccioni etc. And though this area of “B cinema” certainly has its appreciators, one still-underplayed element is that when considering the music, Giallo’s harmonic language was developed by brilliant people who, by current musical and aesthetic standards, set the bar very high. For any of us wannabes to share in the magic of this lost artform, we have to bring a bit more more to the table than some vintage amps & keyboards and vague undeveloped musical ideas based only in hipster aesthetics. Because if you ignore the deeper intricacies of the music theory at work, the orchestration, the arrangement, etc., you’re really only asking to make an ass of yourself (which is likely anyway no matter what you do). But the usual thing is to sample stuff or simply borrow themes from the masters and to then repackage them in a new “updated” context. Well, in a climate like that we should emphasize that Le Mani Destre Recise Degli Ultimi Uomini is quite simply an album of original compositions.”

I actually cannot wait to hear this, as I am a huge fan of both the Secret Chiefs, and the Giallo style. SC3 have been pulling some truly spectacular musical masterpieces out of minds recently, and these two worlds colliding can only be a great thing!

Buy Buy Buy!!

But hold up, that is not all. Annouced earlier this year, we are also being treated to a live DVD from the band. Now, if you read my review of  their recent London show (still can’t get over the fact that it took 12 years for it happen mind you), you’ll know that the live experience is just as mind-blowing as the recorded:

“…this DVD does justice to a group whose live energy usually exceeds the recorded medium. Renowned for their ultra-elaborate CD productions, Secret Chiefs 3 has also garnered a reputation for the power and immediacy of their live shows. Their fanbase has swelled in recent years and grown accustomed to this live incarnation (the Secret Chiefs 3 bootleg scene is thriving), and they demand an official release! Not just some audience-hand-cam and stereo-mic-job thing, this DVD boasts a pro six-camera shoot with live sound mixed by Billy Anderson, with the multi-channel outs mixed for DVD by Trey Spruance and Randall Dunn (producer of Earth, SUNNO))), Kinski, Wolves in the Throne Room, etc). And it comes with a really nice six-panel gatefold digi-pack with original artwork.”

I’m going to get my hands on these asap, so expect reviews soon!

Ken Eakins

Please support artists like the Secret Chiefs 3 by going direct to the source and buying their work directly from them. Both of these items, and loads of other cool releases, are available from the amazing Mimicry Records online store.

Broadcast #002

***New Signal****
The guys behind the guys behind the guys return; this time with an extra guy (Maz) to bring you another helping of awesome alternative noise! This weeks tray of class includes:

85 bears – Shipwrecking

Secret Chiefs 3 – Haga Sophia

Malkovich – 017

HRT – The Hairline Crack

Guapo – Zero for Conduct

Trencher – Nightmares on Crack Street

Silent Front – I Much Prefer Hating You

Chronicles of Adam West – Tenderloin

Adult – Go home

Empirical – Gazelloni

Full English – Do You Want Full English?

If you want us to play your band/noise/whatever, drop us a line at behindcloseddoors@sittingnow.co.uk.

Peace

***Signal Ends**

We return with the second part of our interview with Trey Spruance of the Secret Chiefs 3 and ASVA. This week we discuss running Mimicry Records, Mysticism, Internet Piracy and Weird Little Boy. Massive thanks again to Trey for doing the interview!

Background songs taken from Book M and Book of Horizons.

Included songs – Secret Chiefs – Hypostasis of the Archons – Book of Horizons (Mimicry Records), Secret Chiefs 3 – Emir of the Bees – First Grand Constitution and Bylaws (Mimicry Records)

We lucked out!One of my all-time favourite musicians, Trey Spruance, gave us a sizeable amount of his time yesterday to chat to us for the podcast, its such a cool interview that we decided to split it into two sections , the first part being released tomorrow, then the next part sometime in the next few days!Trey is also the cover star of this months Rock-a-Rolla Magazine, featuring a full interview as well as an article on ASVA a band that he plays in. Go check the mag out here they are a cool indie mag, one of a dying breed, so show your support by purchasing an issue today! Oh! an remember to subscribe to us on your podcatcher of choice, and sign up to the site!