Livros sobre música que vale a pena ler - Cromo #92: Vários (Fernando Cerqueira + Luís Van Seixas: SPH + Thisco - "Isto Vai Acabar Em Lágrimas"

 

autor: Fernando Cerqueira + Luís Van Seixas: SPH + Thisco

título: Isto Vai Acabar Em Lágrimas"
editora: Thisco / Nariz Entupido / Chili Com Carne
nº de páginas: 144
isbn: 490096/21 (Depósito Legal)
data: 2021

Primeira Edição.

Edição comemorativa dos 30 anos da Editora SPH e dos 20 anos da editora Thisco.

Conta a história desta 2 editoras, intimamente ligadas, desde logo através dos seus mentores e impulsionadores de sempre: Fernando Cerqueira e Luís Van Seixas.

Esta história é contada, sobretudo, através de duas grandes entrevistas aos citados Fernando e Luís, que ocupam a grande maioria do conteúdo do livro.

Este conteúdo é completado por um prefácio de Carlos Matos, um texto final de Rui Eduardo Paes e um pequeno texto de Rapoon.

Completa o livro a discografia completa das duas editoras, para além de fotos de muitas capas dessas mesmas edições, cartazes e outro tipo de memorabilia associada às editoras.

ISTO VAI ACABAR EM LÁGRIMAS

30 anos da SPH e 20 anos da Thisco

Entrevistas a Fernando Cerqueira e Luís Van Seixas por Afonso Cortez.

Outros textos por Carlos Matos, DJ Balli, Rapoon e Rui Eduardo Paes.

Lançamento no âmbito da Comemoração dos 30 anos da SPH e dos 20 anos da Thsico no Desterro (Lisboa) no dia 26 de Outubro e na S.M.U.P. (Parede) com exposição e concertos entre 22 e 23 de Outubro, organizado pela Nariz Entupido [narizentupido.com] com a Chili Com Carne [chilicomcarne.com] e Thisco [thisco.net]

volume 13 da colecção THISCOvery CCChannel, publicado pela Chili Com Carne e Thisco com o apoio à edição de João Castro (Nariz Entupido) com capa de André Lemos e arranjo gráfico de Joana Pires.

D.L.: 490096/21

Impresso em Outubro de 2021 na Rainho & Neves, Portugal

Aqui fica o texto de Rui Eduardo Paes:

Retrato De Uma Pessoa Difícil

O Fernando Cerqueira é a pessoa mais difícil que eu conheço nos meandros da música. A nossa e a de todo o mundo. Gosta muito pouco do que ouve, fala mal até dos músicos e dos projectos cuja validade parece ter sido aceite por toda a gente, e discorda de quase tudo o que se lhe diz. Poderia limitar-me a escrever aqui que ainda bem, pois são necessárias vozes dissidentes, contestatárias e questionantes, na boa tradição do Discordianismo das badges que alfineta nas lapelas do casaco. O tipo é irritante para caraças, mas eu agradeço-lhe o "ser do contra": mantém-nos alerta e críticos, autocríticos sobretudo. Acontece que, pelos vistos, não é sempre assim: que mantém uma editora discográfica como a Thisco durante tantos anos, e quem agora retoma um velho selo como a SPH, que foi um oásis editorial no campo do experimentalismo em tempo de vacas magras, é porque acha que músicas existem merecedoras de divulgação e partilha.

Músicas e não só, tendo em conta que o mesmo Cerqueira é parceiro da Chili Com Carne na publicação de livros numa colecção específica: a Thiscovery CCChannel. Há ensaios sobre (ou não, tendo em conta as compilações pensantes Antibothis ou o volume da Ondina Pires sobre o cinema maldito de Kenneth Anger) música que ele acha válidos e importantes de imprimir em papel. E pelo que verifico na bibliografia da CCChannel, sou eu o autor mais publicado, o que para mim significa que o rapaz até gosta do que escrevo. Mais incrível ainda, na retoma musical que fiz recentemente com os Astronauta Desaparecido (não, não foi um regresso do duo, e sim um intervalo no silêncio), ouvi dele num pós-concerto uma palavra que valeu por toda uma frase: «Gostei.» Nem queria acreditar.

Nestes últimos tempos em que a iliteracia e a estupidificação millennial vêm levando a que muitas pessoas tenham perdido a capacidade de interpretação do que lêem, editar um autor nada convencional como este que se assina é uma aventura de altíssimo risco. Tenho para mim que Fernando Cerqueira e Marcos Farrajota (o anti-boss da Chili Com Carne) só podem ser loucos, mas ainda bem que existem e estou-lhes muito grato por isso, pssss, companheiros, estou a preparar um novo livro. Publicam? Eu sei que o último não vendeu, tão esquisito e tão pouco hypster que era, e que têm os exemplares amontoados em baixo das camas, mas enfim, também sei que é de causas perdidas que vocês gostam...

Rui Eduardo Paes

Linda-a-Velha, 6 de Julho de 2021

Além da editora Thisco, que se mantém em atividade, e cujo link acima deixo, também aqui fica o link do bandcamp da SPH, editora agora "ressuscitada" e já com dezenas de edições, muitas delas reedições da primeira encarnação da SPH mas também já com muito material novo, isto é, nunca editado.

Passem por lá e comprem. Vale a pena a música e os preços são quase de saldo.

https://sphmusic.bandcamp.com

Ah, e também podem lá adquirir o livro, pela módica quantia de 10€... e mais, com um CD do Merzbow atachado. Que querem mais?

https://sphmusic.bandcamp.com/merch/isto-ai-acabar-em-l-grimas-livro-sobre-30-anos-sph-20-anos-thisco-cd-dust-of-dreams-de-merzbow

(outro) EXEMPLO DE EDIÇÃO:

Dominion - "Where Muses Dwell" | Tragic Figures Series: TFT005

 Dominion

"Where Muses Dwell"

Label: Tragic Figures ‎– TFT005

Format: Cassette, Album, Reissue, C46

Country: Portugal

Released: 1989

Genre: Electronic, Pop

Style: Electronic, Abstract Ambient

Dwellink

X Ray Pop - "Sexy Swelter" | Tragic Figures Series: TFT006

 

X Ray Pop

"Sexy Swelter"

Label: Tragic Figures ‎– TFT006

Format: Cassette, Album,, C60

Country: Portugal

Released: 1989

Genre: Electronic, Pop

Style: Experimental, Synth-pop

XRayinK

Meat Generation - "16 Goiters" | Tragic Figures Series: TFT007

 

Meat Generation

"16 Goiters"

Label: Tragic Figures ‎– TFT007

Format: Cassette, Album,, C60

Country: Portugal

Released: 1989

Genre: Electronic

Style: Industrial

16nk

Livros sobre música que vale a pena ler - Cromo #91: Will Sergeant - "Bunnyman, A Memoir"

 

autor: Will Sergeant

título: Will Sergeant - "Bunnyman, A Memoir"
editora: Constable
nº de páginas: 238
isbn: 978-1-47213-503-2 (hardback), que é o meu

978-1-47213-502-5 (trade paperback)

data: 2021

Primeira Edição.

Music it's the touch of the ephemeral sea in which we all swim. Whether we notice it or not, music seeps into us, creating emotions and desires that are powerful. How can it be that a couple of notes played in the right way, in the right order and making the right sound can make you laugh or cry?

Growing in Liverpool in the 1960s and '70s, when skinheads, football violence and fear of just about everything was the natural order of things, a young Will Sergeant found that the emerging punk scene provided a shimmer of hope amongst a crumbling city still reeling from the destruction of the Second World War .

Through school-day horrors, teenage insecurities and unnerving occult encounters, Sergenat was always fuelled by and thrived on music. Pennies were scraped together for the latest record or a night at Liverpool's punk club, Eric's. It was this devotion that led to the birth of the Bunnymen, to the days when he and Ian McCulloch would muck around with reel-to-reel recordings of song ideas in the back parlour of his parents' council estate house. Chance meetings led to finding a community - friends, enemies and many in between - amongst those who would become post-punk royalty, Dead or Alive, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and The Teardrop Explodes.

It was an uphill struggle to carve their name in the history of Liverpool music, with early gigs disrupted by technical difficulties and an eternally temperamental drum machine. But what started with a nervous first gig, an out of tune guitar and lyrics sung from a pocket notebook, became something truly iconic, as Echo and the Bunnymen created cult classics like "The Killing Moon", "The Cutter" and "Lips Like Sugar". By turns wry, explicit and profound, Bunnyman is the long-awaited story of how Will Sergeant foun himself in the right place at the right time and became a pioneer of the post-punk area.

UK£20.00

O livro é simpático. Não é uma pérola de literatura, mas se fosse nem eu a conseguiria ler, tão mau é o meu inglês. Portanto, tudo bem. Também não é a história dos Echo & The Bunnymen (certamente haverá outros livros sobre esse tema), e muito menos a história do SUCESSO dos Echo & The Bunnymen.

É um singelo livro de memórias, escrito por uma pessoa simples e humilde, sem percurso académico, tímido e solitário, complexado e complexo, na sua infância e juventude, cujos traços manteve ao longo da sua vida.

A história de um trabalhador pobre dos arredores de Liverpool, oriundo de uma família complicada e pobre também. A vida para ele não foi fácil.

E a história que conta é essa mesmo, da sua vida simples e comum de miúdo e adolescente dos subúrbios que, por acaso, perdão, por acaso e por paixão, ambição e grande força de vontade, se tornou  músico.

Mas as luzes da ribalta sempre o incomodaram e continuam a incomodar.

Mais de metade do livro fala da vida familiar, escolar e de brincadeiras (às vezes não muito leves) do grupo lá da rua.

E isso foi uma das coisas que mais me sensibilizou. Quase que me revi ao espelho, não só na personalidade do autor mas também nas brincadeiras e ocorrências que refere terem-se passado na sua escola e rua, não tanto na sua casa.

A bicada constante ao politicamente correcto sobre muitas das coisas que nós, adolescentes e crianças fazíamos na altura e que agora são mesmo crime. OMFG!!!! Hoje, qualquer otário "defensor" de uma "causa" consegue, mais do que irritar, ter poder e influência (que não se sabe de onde lhe vem) para pôr qualquer pessoa normal em sérios sarilhos. Exemplos não faltam. É só folhear os jornais do dia ou ver os programas televisivos, ainda mais invasivos.

Não é que o mundo esteja perdido, já os gregos diziam o mesmo a propósito da juventude e das diferentes gerações. Só que agora já não é um problema de juventude... qualquer idade serve para continuar a ser idiota (ou a protegê-los e apoiá-los) e incomodar os outros com os seus traumas, manias, parvoíces, causas, mas vivendo, quase sempre, à custa dos que criticam, os pais.

Como diria o outro: "o mundo está perigoso".

Mas voltando à vaca fria. A partir do meio do livro, além da vida pessoal, extramusical, começam os episódios da formação atabalhoada dos Echo, cujo sucesso, que a basearmo-nos na descrição do autor, foi um autêntico milagre. Mas acho que não. O Will é que é humilde e um pouco "misantropo", não suportando as "pavonadeadelas" da maioria dos envolvidos no meio. Pelo livro, além de muitos músicos e outras personagens da cena punk post-punk de Liverpool, sobretudo dos membros da banda e de Julian Cope (ominipresente), ressalta também o feitio peculiar de Ian McCulloch.

Do percurso de sucesso da banda, muito pouco.

Ainda bem!

Tickets de concertos: agora a lista do Tiago Carvalho - #9

 

1994-03-19 La Fura Dels Baus

1997-05-18 Tricky

1996-11-25 La Fura Dels Baus

1993.05.15 U2

Quem encontrar vídeos referentes a estes concertos no youtube, vimeo, etc., envie, por favor o link, ou coloque-o nos comentários. Grato.

Livros sobre música que vale a pena ler - Cromo #90: Anthony Blokdijk - "The Abrahadabra Letters By John Balance, 1984-1988"

autor: Anthony Blokdijk

título: The Abrahadabra Letters By John Balance, 1984-1988
editora: Korm Plastics
nº de páginas: 138
isbn: N/A
data: 2021

Segunda Edição.

COIL

 

THE ABRAHADABRA LETTERS BY JOHN BALANCE, 1984-1988

Maldoracca, The Hague 2016

KORM PLASTICS

Second edition 2021

 

Introduction

It does the dead no service to leave them mute, buried and gone. Artists in particular are not a category of people crying out to be silent. While obviously we cannot resurrect anyone whole and intact, we can at least commune with them through their words, images, and sounds. In the case of John Balance (aka Geff Rushton, Jhonn, and various other pseudonyms) we’re faced with a prime candidate for such a treatment given the limited quantity of his writings to emerge during his lifetime, as well as the enticing breadth of his interests, particularly across the period 1984 – 1988 covered by this volume.

Most professional musicians, it must de said, are not especially fascinating creatures. In the majority of cases, there’s the usual stock of tour stories, party tales, hard luck dramas and soap operas; supplemented by functional accounts of the logistics and requirements of their specific mode of employment. This is not true of Balance. What made the difference is that, whereas most musicians engage with the practical requirements of earning a living, the independent income earned by Balance’s partner, Peter ‘Sleazy’ Christopherson, meant that it was only after the turn of the century that touring became a key part of Coil’s income and Balance never had to seek other employment.

 

Blessed with time, Balance’s day-to-day existence was akin to that of the aristocratic writers and explorers of the 19^th century. From Coil’s base at 14 Beverley Road in the leafy London suburb of Chiswick, a stone’s throw from the River Thames, he was able to delve into topics of interest and process them intensely until each line that emerged within Coil’s work was a tight knot of visual and intellectual references. While Christopherson was out – often away abroad for weeks at a time pursuing his career as a successful director of music videos – Balance shouldered the efforts involved in Coil as a business entity, and as a conceptual unit expressed via fanzines, mainstream publications, and in personal letters to interested parties.

 

Published as a limited edition volume in 2016, The ABRAHADABRA Letters, sits in the lineage of archival works such as The Letters Of William S. Burroughs that provide a less mediated and more ‘of the moment’ view of an artist’s fixation and investigations. Within these 80 – or – so pages, Balance dashes off vibrant missives regarding the multiple concerns of his existence, everything from the ongoing disruption caused by his (and Christopherson’s) departure from the group Psychic TV; both more and less successful attempts to release new music; Coil’s unwillingness to perform live; his pursuit of artefacts and writings related to various artists and writers; less than satisfactory relationships with the music industry; magickal and ritual practices in his life. It´s a cornucopia of diverting thoughts and snapshots for further exploration.

What is noticeable is Balance’s relatively introverted nature even at a relatively young age – the letters follow his activities from 22 to 27 years’ old. He comes across, to some degree, as hermitic, something of a bookworm, busying himself tracking down Aleister Crowley first editions, Austin Osman Spare’s handwritten annotations, making positive asides on the writing of Victor Neuberg… Then, suddenly, the doors are flung open and gives thrilled accounts of visits to other countries and cultures, all rendered in concise electric detail. As a perfect example, the book ends with a postcard in which Balance displays his talent for seeing the macabre, the humorous and the suggestive wrapped up within day – to – day encounters.

Of course, if one watched only the surface detail of pop culture or our modern social media one might expect significant figures only spend time partying in public – life as a highlight reel. The letters are far more honest portrait in that the time alone and the ways in which that time was filled are vividly portrayed, as is Balance’s more sociable side. Characters as diverse as The Butthole Surfers, David Tibet, and William S. Burroughs crop up as correspondents, old friends, companions on nights out. The letters allow us to see multiple facets of his identity, not just as a frozen figure processioning past a shifting backdrop of events – Balance is interesting because of who he was, not just where he was or who he was with.

Elsewhere, there’s a glimpse at the top of one letter of Balance’s intense approach of word-play. Just a few lines long, he twists and connects phrases, sounds, ideas, letting them unspool as simultaneous insight and nonsense until he might extract a golden thread of thought or phrase. I’ve seen this some approach elsewhere, a full page in which every last white space was filled in with sentences that crested and crashed in great sways and curls. A further bonus, we also see examples of Balance’s likeably naïve sketches something rarely seen in his lifetime. For me, The Abrahadabra Letters are akin to Coil’s many-pointed Chaos Star emblem, a compact centre exploding outward in many directions that one can choose to follow.

 

Anthony Blokdijk, like Balance, had gone through his own awakening courtesy of Throbbing Gristle, than a brief involvement with Thee Temple Ov Psychic Youth. After departing TOPY, Blokdijk’s continued friendship with David Tibet led to him visiting London and encountering Balance. Bonding over a love of books, Balance helped track down Austin Osman Spare works in London for Blokdijk (undoubtedly fuelling his own burgeoning interest in Spare across those years, very much the icon who replaced Crowley as his guiding light), while Blokdijk hunted for Salvador Dali-related items in The Netherlands to support Balance’s fervent fandom.

The book’s title, The Abrahadabra Letters, stems for the Dutch periodical Blokdijk ran for 14 issues between 1985-1990. Focused on esoteric and magickal topics, the first three issues come with cover imagery drawn from Egyptian mythology, after which the magazine shifted to feature a specific theme per issue: sex, conspiracies, Technology, Spare, Crowley. An initial burst of energy in 1985 – 1986 saw five issues per year after which it became sporadic: one in 1987, two in ’88, the last in 1990. Clean production values, quality artwork, and the depth and specificity of its content made Abrahadabra a late peak in the era of self-produced zines.

At the same time, Blokdijk lobbied and negotiated with interested parties in Holland to try to arrange the release of a Coil single. He was also writing for a range of Dutch music publications and was able to get Coil highlighted in various locations (specific articles are included herein). A recording of an extensive interview conducted with Balance, with contributions from Stephen Thrower and Peter Christopherson, is still in Blokdijk’s possession and, by the time you read this, I hope you may had opportunity to hear or read it. Blokdijk also published an official translation or William S. Burroughs’ influential text Electronic Revolution to which Christopherson contributed artwork, while Balance gave a foreword. This is significant to scholars of Balance’s work as one of only three places of extended prose he published in his lifetime – the others being as essay on ‘The Exploration of Sleep’ – excerpted in the Peyrere compilation of 1986, then in full in the magazine Hang Loose With Coil in 1987 – then ‘AOS: Artist, Occultist, Sensualist’ from the exhibition catalogue of a Spare gallery showing in 1999.

A regular guest to Threshold House – the nickname of Coil’s Chiswick residence as well as of their record label from 1987 onward – a visit in late 1988 caused a permanent rupture. As recounted by Blokdijk, Balance was in a manic state brought on by a significant level of amphetamine consumption, spent the majority of the visit trying to source a further supply, and refuse to share which left Blokdijk – also no stranger to chemical stimulation at the time – fairly grumpy and keen to head home, especially given a pointed and sharp non-farewell from Balance. Heightened states, a period of over-indulgence, unresolved mental health issues, it’s understandable why small snubs led to the cessation of communication.

In that sense, the book is a memorial marking the end of the relationship, however, more positively, what is recorded in the pages is both individuals’ desire to create, regardless of reward or recognition, to place their energies behind things they loved and appreciated – including each other. In that respect, I can imagine no better home for The Abrahadabra Letters than with Frans de Waard. De Waard’s father, a classical music lover, dubbed his son’s taste ‘Kapotte Muziek’ – ‘broken music’ – and De Waard paid defiant tribute to that dismissal by using the phrase to christen his first musical project. This gave early notice of a lifelong commitment to independence visible in his music-making in all its guises, in his magazine Vital Weekly which promotes some of the most uncompromising sounds imaginable, and his label Korm Plastics which has helped spread the curious and unique visions of numerous artists.

 

Wise words from the departing, remember to say ‘thank you’. Thanks to John Balance for his appetite for knowledge and to Anthony Blokdijk for allowing this glimpse of a rare mind.

 

Nick Soulsby

 

Second Edition

Korm Plastics

Website: http://www.kormplastics.nl

E-mail: info@kormplastics.nl

© 2016 Maldoracca & Anthony Blokdijk

© 2021m Korm Plastics & Anthony Blokdijk

Design: Alfred Boland

Printed in EEC

MØHR – "Always Female" | Tragic Figures Series: TFT008

 

MØHR

"Always Female"

Label: Tragic Figures ‎– TFT008

Format: Cassette, Album,, C46

Country: Portugal

Released: 1989

Genre: Electronic

Style: Industrial

MlØiHnRk

Dominion - "The Oracle" | Tragic Figures Series: TFT009

 

Dominion

"The Oracle"

Label: Tragic Figures ‎– TFT009

Format: Cassette, Album,, C46

Country: Portugal

Released: 1990

Genre: Electronic

Style: Electro

Interessados: pedir por email, sff.

This Heat / Albert Marcœur ‎– Untitled <-> This Heat / Marcoeur - Tago Mago (label original) booklet

 

temporariamente no WeTransfer - depois, solicitar por email

Nostalgie Eternelle – "Courage And Despair" (cassette C90)

 Nostalgie Eternelle

"Courage And Despair"

Nostalgie Eternelle – "Courage And Despair" Label: One Last Dream – OLD 016 Format: Cassette, Album, C90 Country: Germany Released: 1991 Genre: Electronic Style: Industrial, Synth-pop, Minimal, Darkwave

ainda vai ficar alguns dias no WeTransfer para Download.Depois, peçam por email

The Come Organisation - Artigo saído no Fanzine "Industrial Elitist Songbook, No 1, Feb 1983"

 

Come Organisation

Artigo saído no Fanzine "Industrial Elitist Songbook, No 1, Feb 1983"

História, Entrevista, Discografia,...

Famlende Forsøk – "En Overraskende Mate" | Tragic Figures Series: TFT010

 Famlende Forsøk

"En Overraskende Mate"

Label: Tragic Figures ‎– TFT010

Format: Cassette, Album, Limited Edition, Reissue, C60

Country: Portugal

Released: 1990

Genre: Electronic

Style: Experimental

Tickets de concertos: agora a lista do Tiago Carvalho - #8

 1994-16-23 Xutos & Pontapés, Mão Morta, Pop Dell'Arte, Tina And The Top Ten, Lulu Blind

1995-11-04 Pascal Comelade

1997-03-23 Heiner Goebbels

Nature Unveiled - "Suspension Device For Scoliosis" | Tragic Figures Series: TFT012

 Nature Unveiled

"Suspension Device For Scoliosis"

Label: Tragic Figures ‎– TFT012

Format: Cassette, Compilation, Limited Edition, C60

Country: Portugal

Released: 1990

Genre: Electronic

Style: Industrial, Noise

NATURALINK

1348 & Stolen Government Binder Clip – "En Marge" (Series: Tragic Figures | TFT015 | Cassette)

 1348 & Stolen Government Binder Clip

"En Marge""

Label: Tragic Figures ‎– TFT015

Format: Cassette, Compilation, Limited Edition, C60

Country: Portugal

Released: 1990

Genre: Electronic

Style: Freestyle, Abstract, Experimental, Ambient

MARGINK

Various ‎– "Labyrinth Vol. 1" (Series: Tragic Figures | TFT016 | Cassette)

 Various

"Labyrinth Vol. 1"

Label: Tragic Figures ‎– TFT016

Format: Cassette, Compilation, Limited Edition, C90

Country: Portugal

Released: 1990

Genre: Electronic

Style: Industrial, EBM, Abstract, Ambient, Dark Ambient, Electro, Experimental

Capa

Completo

Flyer

Flyer (Back)

LINKBYRINTH