November 2008 - Ken Hollings - "Welcome To Mars" Book/CD out Now

312pp, pb, £11.99, illustrated, index
ISBN: 9780954805487

'Welcome to Mars is a map of the post-war Zone, a non-fiction Gravity's Rainbow
that follows the arc of Germany's V2 rocket to the end of the rainbow - to America.' Erik Davis, author of 'Techgnosis'

Welcome To Mars draws upon newspaper accounts, advertising campaigns, declassified government archives, old movies and newsreels from this unique period then the future first took on a tangible presence. Ken Hollings depicts an unsettled time in which the layout of Suburbia reflected atomic bombing strategies, bankers and movie stars experimented with hallucinogens, brainwashing was just another form of interior decoration and strange lights in the sky were taken very seriously indeed.

"Ken Hollings shows brilliantly how the extraordinary web of technologies that drove the Cold War have shaped not just our culture but the very way we think of ourselves as human beings. Welcome to Mars offers a rare and fascinating glimpse of the roots of the strange humanoid culture we live in today." Adam Curtis, director of BBC documentaries 'The Power of Nightmares' and 'The Trap'

'Ken Hollings has placed his critical focus at the precise point where the high technologies of information control and social manipulation intersect the passionate search for scientific ways to probe the human mind. Welcome to Mars is a searingly accurate and deeply disturbing exposé of the fantasies of American modernism that have inspired the many nightmares and the few hopeful visions of our new Millennium.' Dr Jacques Vallée, author 'Anatomy of a Phenomenon'

The first 200 orders of the book will receive a free hour-long CD of classy analogue Outer Space exotica by Simon James.

A small run of postcards have also been produced using images from the book and these are being sent out with any orders from Strange Attractor Press.

www.strangeattractor.co.uk

October 2008 - Mondo Mancunia - Cancelled

I very much regret to announce that, for health and safety reasons, all live music events at the Shunt Vault have been suspended for the next two weeks. This suspension will include ‘Mondo Mancunia’, the four-day residency curated by Graham Massey due to start on Wednesday October 1. You can only imagine, given the small amount of notice we have been given, what a bitter disappointment this news has been to all the participants in ‘Mondo Mancunia’. New dates for the residency are being discussed at the moment, however, and I hope to be able announce details on ‘Mondo Mancunia Redux’ in the very near future.

Taken from Ken Holling's blog.

September 2008 - Mondo Mancunia - 1st/2nd/3rd/4th October 2008

MONDO MANCUNIA

Graham Massey Curates Shunt Vaults October 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th.

The 808Statesman brings together an anthology of projects dating from 78 to 08, using a matrix of artists to present the music of: Biting Tongues, Homelife, Toolshed, The Sisters of Transistors, Seaming To, Massonix, Oort and more to be held at Shunt in London (near London Bridge Station).

Graham Massey presents: MONDO MANCUNIA at the Shunt Lounge.

‘Never go back to a lit firework,’ Graham Massey reminds us in these days of faked special effects and dubious digital spectacle. From his days with Biting Tongues he still maintains the concept of live performance as an information explosion, with the group functioning as an experimental audiovisual laboratory at the centre of it. ‘It’s about what happens when you don’t stop,’ he explains. ‘Biting Tongues was a media whirlwind, shredding sound before digital effects came in, cutting up texts and chants before rapping. We rewrote the rulebook but forgot to tell anyone. That’s why Biting Tongues is still the band we never quite understood but could never quite leave alone.’

What began with Biting Tongues, however, has continued with Massey’s other projects: from 808 State to The Sisters of Transistors, from Tool Shed to Massonix. Presented together over four days between October 1 to 4 at the Shunt Vault, alongside a whole range of friends, collaborators and kindred spirits, are various stages of a live tradition of deeply committed, full-force performances, shards and trajectories from the original information explosion. This is a unique opportunity to witness moments of secret transmission, a live line of descent that continues to this day. Supported by DJ sets, installations, lectures, screenings and seminars, MONDO MANCUNIA is about to rewrite the rulebook yet again – ‘only this time we’re telling everyone,’ Massey adds, ‘so there’s no excuse if you miss it.’

Day 1 - Wednesday October 1st:

8.00pm EGO IN EXOTICA SUM: In memoriam Martin Denny 1911- 2005
Spoken word/audiovisual piece written by Ken Hollings and Graham Massey in 2005: Martin Denny s 1950 s Exotica band recreated by members of Toolshed. ‘We rob ourselves of paradise by our very presence there: to see it with our own eyes is to see it vanish before our eyes.’

9.00pm SEAMING
Music written and performed by Seaming To an electronica artist, songwriter and classically trained vocalist. Known as the vocalist with Manchester acts Homelife and Toolshed and guest on several recent albums by Liela, Robert Wyatt, Herbaliser and Mr Scruff, tonight Seaming To is performing many new songs with her new band.

10.00pm TOOLSHED
Formed accidentally as a ‘house’ band in Manchester’s Northern Quarter club scene, Toolshed was the name of Graham Massey’s monthly club night. Electronica acts such as Autechre, Mathew Herbert, Squarepusher and Kieren Hebden all came to play live sets. The Toolshed Allstars monthly sets grew from two people to a 28-piece orchestra at one point.

Centred around Massey’s laptop and instrument collection, established MCR musicians such as Paddy Steer (Homelife),Richard Harrison (Spaceheads) and jazz violinist Graham Clark (Gong) were joined by newcomers such as vocalist Seaming To and drummer James Ford .

A compendium of the project is available on Twisted Nerve Records as a double vinyl pack and CD

'The release is too diverse to pigeonhole, without a hint of pretention either, it’s as if Massey wanted to collate every piece of music he’s ever heard into one complete package. He’s pretty damn successful too. Music as good as this doesn’t come about often, embrace it while you can.’

‘The voodoo soundtrack created by the drummers is terrifying but exhilarating. This percussion force is crucial, blasting the band off from dance music. The other key component is the brass section, whose enormous stabs of melody ensure that no matter how weird the Allstars get - and they certainly get weird they are always orbiting around a killer tune. Everyone from avant jazzheads to techno kids should love them.’

DJ s for the evening will be SIMONSOUNDS

Day 2 - Thursday October 2nd:

8.00pm DR X (A Version of Events)
Spoken word/video/ live electro-acoustic soundtrack
Filmed nearly 70 years ago in a revolutionary new two-colour separation process, the Hollywood thriller Doctor X is a largely neglected film these days. Its title, however, has entered popular culture as a cipher for everything mysterious, secret and strange. Writer KEN HOLLINGS, in collaboration with composer GRAHAM MASSEY and filmmaker HOWARD WALMSLEY, uses mythically enlarged recollections of the original film to create retrofitted images of a totalitarian futuristic New York in which AC electricity is banned and ‘radio psychics’ are used in the detection of crimes. Examining electricity, crime, scientific inquiry and pathological behaviour, Dr X was originally commissioned for the Royal Institution event ‘Electra: Electricity Culture’ in 2004. This is a new expanded version created just for Mondo Mancunia

9.00pm OORT
Born in the darkness of deep space, Oort have been creating glittering electronic spacescapes on Earth since 2006. With the bodies of Richard Guest, Zali Krishna, Mark Pilkington and Bruce Woolley, the voice of Ken Hollings, Oort have provided information and guidance on subjects ranging from the worship of their principle deity, Gojira, to issues of depravity and death in outer space. Their presentations have taken place at sites including the Camden Roundhouse, the ICA and the Bethnal Green Working Men's Club. Tonight, from their bunker city beneath London Bridge, they will employ their retro-futuristic oscillatory technology to illuminate passages from Ken Hollings' forthcoming study of weird science in the American Century ‘Welcome to Mars’. Also featuring the ethereal sonic strangeness of Simon James, this is what the future used to sound like
Welcome to Mars: Fantasies of Science in the American Century 1947-1959 is published by Strange Attractor Press this autumn, www.strangeattractor.co.uk

10.00pm TOOLSHED
The second half of the Toolshed residency: not a repeat performance of Wednesday night as a different line up will be in place.

DJ s this evening are Resonance FM’s Kosmiche crew

Day 3 - Friday October 3rd:

8.00pm TRICLOPS
The Lotta Continua label has been producing a steady stream of beautiful releases since 2001. There’s a strong identity and approach to the music and artwork: think Throbbing Gristle if they were on ECM. Triclops is a Lotta Continua ‘super group’ comprising three of the label’s artists in a car-boot sale electronic orchestra.

9.00pm HOMELIFE’S ATLAS
Paddy Steer & Anton Burns have now amassed a sizable back catalogue of releases under the moniker HOMELIFE. It’s almost a home recording experiment that grew into an orchestra, gathering in some of MCR’s finest musicians, one by one, to create the work with a craftman’s care. Then with equal attention to detail to recreate the music and take it on tour: a labour of love which continued for several years. Then at some point the red giant exploded into a white dwarf: Paddy, it seems, decided that he would play all the instruments at once. ‘Madness!’ I hear you say except; that this is what appears to be happening as he sits at the drum kit plays, bass with his feet and wields dozens of homemade instruments into some strange kinetic sculpture. Now a duo, Anton’s song-writing has come to the fore, nicely balanced by the DIY approach to the instrumentation that keeps it more akin to outsider music than traditional song forms.

10.00pm BITING TONGUES
Emerging out of the dark days of post-punk Manchester, Biting Tongues represented an uncompromising attempt to blend electronics, text and dance beats to harsh and overwhelming effect. Renowned for their unique high-energy performances and experimental video projects, the band’s original line-up featured writer Ken Hollings on vocals, multi-instrumentalist Graham Massey, filmmaker and saxophonist Howard Walmsley working together over the fiendish rhythm engine made up of Colin Seddon on bass and Eddie Sherwood on drums. In close collaboration with premier Manchester labels New Hormones and Factory Records, Biting Tongues recorded a series of album EP and 12 release as well as Feverhouse, their ambitious independent film project released on video by Factory Ikon.

In 2003 the original Biting Tongues reformed to perform selected shows at the ICA and Islington Mills, with Hollings, Massey and Walmsley working together on new audiovisual presentations such as ‘Dr X’ at the Royal Institution in London as well ‘Ego In Exotica’ and the ‘Lonely Creatures’ series of short films at the Green Room Theatre in Manchester. With their back catalogue available on CD, the band is currently enjoying some long overdue credit for their innovative pre-digital slicing and dicing of sound, text and vision. ‘Effortless ferocity,’ The Wire remarked of Biting Tongues’ return to live performance, ‘as exhilarating and as urgent as ever.’

DJs for this evening Resonance FM’s Kosmiche crew and Kelvin Brown

Special After-show Performance GRAHAM CLARK and GRAHAM MASSEY
Graham Clark is one of the UK s leading improvising violinist. Combining Massey’s electronic landscape with Clark’s virtuoso playing, the duo has been performing together off and on since 1977 most recently at a sell-out show at the Manchester Jazz Festival.

Day 4 - Saturday October 4th:

8.00pm MAYMING
Featuring Semay Wu on cello and electronics and Seaming To on vocals and electronics. The line between improvisation and lost songs from a past world blur whenever this duo start up their magic.

8.00pm HOMELIFE’S ATLAS.

9.00pm THE SISTERS OF TRANSISTORS
Fresh on the heels of their first single release ‘The Don’ the SOT are the UK’s premier Ladies Combo Organ Quartet. Born from an eBay addiction to vintage Italian transistor organs, a hybrid form of prog-disco has been developed, while trying to fit function to the form. Described by Angry Ape as ‘Giorgio Moroder’s daughters running rampage with sequins and sequencers through a Dario Argento movie’, the Sisters of Transistors are the ultimate Dark Party Band.

10.00pm BITING TONGUES
One final information explosion – hear everything in every dimension. Nothing will ever be the same again.

DJ s for the night Liela Arab and Kelvin Brown

Doors Wed & Thurs 6pm-11pm, Fri 6pm-12midnight, Sat 8pm-12 midnight,
once inside bar open ‘til late
Entry fee £5 Wed & Thurs, £10 Fri & Sat
Entrance on Joiner St inside London Bridge Tube Station

September 2008 - New Ken Hollings Blog

Ken Hollings now has Blog page at http://kenhollings.blogspot.com/ - this page is updated on a regular basis.

June 2008 - Biting Tongues on New Hormones Collection

Biting Tongues appear on a new compilation album, released by LTM, which compiles New Hormones' artists between 1977-1982.

Auteur Labels - New Hormones : 1977-1982
UK 2008 CD; LTM Publishing: LTMCD 2492

Tracks:

5:50 Biting Tongues - Denuture Beach
5:28 Biting Tongues - Heart Disease (Live)

Released:

11th June 2008.

Notes:

"Denture Beach" is from the "Live It!" cassette.

"Heart Disease (Live)" is from the ICA Live gig in 2003.

Liner Notes:

(Extract from the liner notes by Justin Toland):

"With New Hormones back in business, Richard Boon set about finding new talent. One early discovery was Biting Tongues, spotted supporting The Fall at the Beach Club in May 1980. Held at Oozits on Newgate Street, the Beach Club filled a gap left by the closure of the Factory Club and ran from April 1980 until the end of the year. Essentially a New Hormones club night, these events offered cult films as well as bands, and included the first gig by New Order on 29 July 1980.

Filmmaker (and saxophonist) Howard Walmsley had initially formed Biting Tongues to play a live soundtrack at a screening of his film, Biting Tongues. Bassist Colin Seddon describes the nascent group's approach: "We had a kind of unspoken rule amongst ourselves that if anybody else does it or follows any rules of musical harmony, then we don't do it… Mix that with a high level of energy and arrogance." "Organized noise" is how Graham Massey (keyboards, tapes, guitar) sums it up.

In August 1980 New Hormones paid for a recording session at Drone Studios in Chorlton with Stuart James at the desk. Not for the last time, cashflow problems led to the label sitting on the tape. When Peter Kent at Situation Two expressed an interest in putting out a Tongues record, Boon agreed to let them have the tapes, which became the second side of the album Don't Heal."

Release Page:

LTM Recordings

Purchase:

LTM