#The Jazz Butcher

[bandcampsnoop]

12/13/24.

When I think of The Jazz Butcher (Oxford, England), I immediately think of Eric Janssen. As I was listening to various Jazz Butcher releases on Bandcamp, I noticed one of the user reviews was written by none other than Eric Janssen (the review for "Last Of The Gentleman Adventurers"). Read it; outstanding.

"A Scandal In Bohemia" was Pat Fish's 2nd full length as The Jazz Butcher and it's a brilliant statement of pop/sophisti-pop. The first band that comes to mind is The Woodentops. But I think most would say Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, Edwyn Collins and maybe Jonathan Richman come to mind when they listen to this. Ex-Bauhaus bassist David J plays bass on "A Scandal In Bohemia".

And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the wonderful Momus. Fire Records reissued a lot of The Jazz Butcher discography in recent years.

[thephilosopheroftheboudoir]

The Jazz Butcher

Zombie Love

from the lp The Jazz Butcher in Bath of Bacon

[dadrockconfessions]

[mywifeleftme]

292: Various Artists // Abstract Magazine Issue 5

Abstract Magazine Issue 5 Various Artists 1985, Sweatbox Just got up to flip the record after sitting cross-legged on the couch typing on my laptop for quite a bit, not realizing my leg had fallen asleep until I tried to plant on it and had to pinwheel my arms to keep from falling flat out and cracking my head into my turntable. Absolutely how the coroner will shoot my body someday too, ass-naked and alone on the floor of my apartment, surrounded by instruments I can’t play and books I haven’t gotten to, bleeding into my record collection with a scythe propped sardonically against the wall in the background.

Speaking of ignominious deaths, while doing some research on the compiler of today’s record, a post-punk compilation / fanzine combo from 1985, the first thing that came up was a 2007 post from Burl Veneer’s old Typepad blog, specifically this inimitable sentence: “Abstract was the brainchild of Rob Deacon, who died last month in a canoeing accident at age 42 (same as me).” Strange nautical coincidence that, and a neat trick for Burl to keep blogging after death too (in fact, he’s still at it here on Tumblr), but I kept link hopping, and have learned that Deacon was quite a special guy, and a pivotal figure in two or three generations of UK music.

There’s genuine fondness and grief in The Guardian obit, the kind they reserve for lesser-known people who busted their asses and made a difference behind the scenes in media, and they spell out a resume I’m a little ashamed not to have been more up on. He was in his late teens when he started Abstract magazine, profiling the cream of the post-punk crop and cajoling exclusive tracks out of a bunch of them. Abstract would eventually morph into his own label, the influential Sweatbox, but the magazine + compilation bug stuck with him, and he’d go on to start the CD-era Volume series, which moved real numbers for an indie comp and featured… Jesus, everybody, apparently. He followed that up with the groundbreaking Trance Europe Express and Trance Atlantic electronic compilations, became a dance night impresario, did music photography, started a label (Deviant)… and then he fell out of his fuckin’ boat. Damn.

Abstract #5 is a real time capsule of 1985, featuring songs and interviews with the likes of Swans, Gene Loves Jezebel, Cindytalk, Colourbox, and the Jazz Butcher, interspersed with record reviews, scene reports, comics and more. The written pieces are all over the place stylistically, some transcribed in a borderline-incoherent fashion, others fighting for their lives against the adventurous two-tone printed layouts, but it has a wonderful fanzine energy and a level of ballsy spite you don’t see much these days.

Nearly every artist has a bone to pick with their label or journalists or bands they used to like that sold out or fans who have any sort of expectations of them. (The editorial pages get into it too, describing Morrissey “prancing daffodilously” and previewing a new New Order tune called “I’ve Got a Cock Like the M1,” which would see daylight as “The Perfect Kiss.”)

It’s zany and vulnerable and, even just shy of 40 years later, totally inspiring stuff. Highlights include Swans’ Michael Gira’s typically serial killer-coded interview, in which he talks about watching TV for 14 hours a day and shares the trans body horrific lyrics to a song called “BASTARD” that would eventually come out during the band’s maniac 1986; an account from industrial music pioneers Test Dept of the ’84 miner’s strike in South Wales, with a photo of one member who appears to have two sets of upper teeth like a shark; and the 400 Blows talking about having recorded their contribution to the issue in an echoing drainage pipe in which they nearly became trapped and drowned.

Musically this is by design a mixed bag (side one is kind of the uncommercial, experimental bits; side two the peppier guitar pop stuff). None of these exclusives would make anyone’s definitive collection of any of these bands, but as a complete listening and reading experience, Abstract #5 is a beautiful celebration. Cheers to Rob.

292/365

[musickickztoo]

Pat Fish

December 20, 1957 – October 5, 2021

[junkdrawerbrain]

And Godzilla is my friend Godzilla is my friend Wherever I go, Godzilla goes Godzilla is my friend

"I'll talk to Godzilla. Godzilla is my friend."

Nexus: All and Sundra A Decade in Dark Horse #3 (1996) by Steve Rude and Mike Baron

[twinpinkyrings]

The Jazz Butcher - Looking For Lot 49

[roystannard]

The Whole Nine Yards Ep 147 19.11.23 Graduating from Oxford with Roy Stannard on Mid Sussex Radio 103.8FM

https://www.mixcloud.com/roystannard/the-whole-nine-yards-ep-147-191123-graduating-from-oxford/ The Whole Nine Yards Episode 147 With Roy Stannard On Mid Sussex Radio 103.8FM Sunday 19th November 2023 3-5pm http://www.midsussexradio.co.uk/listen Graduating from Oxford Oxford became a breeding ground for influential indie and alternative bands during the 80s and 90s. The City’s music scene…

[jacobwren]

the jazz butcher conspiracy - baltic

[nedison]

A song for @brettish

[burlveneer-music]

Butcher Brown - Solar Music

The Richmond, VA band Butcher Brown’s new album Solar Music explores a blend of genres including Jazz, Hip-Hop, and R&B/Soul. Following the release of Butcher Brown Presents Triple Trey and #KingButch, this forward-thinking band shares 17-tracks (with three additional single edits on digital) and includes featured guests: Pink Siifu, Braxton Cook, Jay Prince, Nappy Nina, Keyon Harrold, Michael Millions, Charlie Hunter and more.

[ourladyofomega]

New game.

@lysistra has blessed me to name songs (favorite or now-playing) that spell out all the letters of my Tumblr name. No vowels to buy, no bankrupt spaces, and no puzzles to solve, but loads of ‘free spins’ and sparkly $5,000 spaces to give out. Pat Sajak is forever done with the show, so let’s see if Ryan Seacrest will ruin it like Drew Carey did with $The Price Is Right. That’s another debacle to expound on.

O: “One Way Flight” (Benny The Butcher ft. Freddie Gibbs)

U: “Ugly Truth (Hommo)” (Your Old Droog)

R: “Real High” (Nite Jewel)

L: “Light Song” (Emma Ruth Rundle)

A: “Ace Of Spades” (Heavy Joker)

D: “Down” (Mr. Elevator)

Y: “You Are Still Out There” (Constant Smiles)

O: “Outreach” (Chris Carter)

F: “Frio” (Las Eras)

O: “One Winter At Point Alpha Privative” (The Mountain Goats)

M: “Matador” (Model/Actriz)

E: “Eraser Soundgazer Forever” (Guerilla Toss)

G: “Guy Fawkes” (Vumani)

A: “Awaiting The Hour” (Ill Bill ft. Killa Priest)

All songs chosen are those I discovered in the last five Summers. As always, there's something for everyone.

[mywifeleftme]

243: Dave Russell // Bricolage

Bricolage Dave Russell 1992, Hangman

Tracked on a reel-to-reel recorder in an afternoon in the basement of Billy Childish’s home in Chatham, UK and released on his personal label, 1992’s Bricolage was the first album by Dave Russell, a folk musician and poet who has been performing around London since the late ‘60s. While he got a flicker of interest from an MCA A&R man back in 1969, he’d never been picked up despite the era’s post-Dylan / Fairport Convention feeding frenzy. Upon listening to Russell this isn’t exactly surprising: between his sarcastic, paranoic lyrics, spindly fingerstyle playing, and pinched, aggravated voice, this is thoroughly outsider-coded music. If he were cast in a Pixar movie, it would be as the voice of a cranky leftist-libertarian mosquito troubadour.

Of course, the dyspepsia of Bricolage is what helps it rise above standard peace-and-love folk revival pablum. The songs inveigh against clinical psychiatry, Britain’s elite, ecological collapse, and uh cosmetics (Jonathan Swift style). Russell’s lyrics begin as poems, and you can often feel him bending his melodies to accommodate his intricate wordplay—songs with the simple cadences of traditional folk songs are crammed with syllables, while others drift off into more diffuse, atonal structures as he rambles. He plays fiercely, his technical precision juddering against the manic force of his picking. In interviews, Russell’s talked about his interest in progressive jazz and experimental classical music (e.g. Bartok, Stockhausen), and that bent reveals itself in the fractured, hair-raising virtuosity of story-song “Microscope”:

My favourite cut is probably his cover of the Jazz Butcher’s “Bicycle Kid.” While the Butcher original juxtaposes its hysterical description of an 11-year-old sociopath with a sunny guitar pop arrangement, Russell’s is a jagged Billy Childish-esque folk-punk screed that vibrates with irritated rage—when Russell sings the closing “You’re an evil little fucker” refrain you feel like he’s about to throttle the kid.

By the end of Bricolage I usually feel a little rubbed raw by Russell’s style, but beyond its status as an interesting footnote in the Childish/Thee Headcoats musical universe, on balance the record is a bit of an unplucked gem for aficionados of avant-folk music. As of late 2023, Russell still performs regularly in his community, and had a handful of CD-only releases around the turn of the millennium.

243/365

See also: Rob Hertner

[musickickztoo]

Pat Fish

December 20, 1957 – October 5, 2021