All the following releases feature pStan Batcow,
as a band member or recording collaborator.

Texas Redneck with a Big Cock by Def-A-Kators

(2009)

"BLACKPOOLPUNK ROCK MENTALISTS GET EXPERIMENTAL
Apparently, this album took the Def-A-Kators 12 years to release. As you might imagine, musical styles have shifted like the tides in that time, so it's through some minor miracle that, er, Texas Redneck with a Big Cock doesn't sound entirely out at sea. Its occasional psychedelic bent suggests its creators were listening to a lot of Queens Of The Stone Age when Josh Homme's troupe were in their prime. The rest of their sound recalls old school, embryonic pop-punk of the late 70's and 80's. At 27 tracks it's an exhausting listen, but there are bright spots of wit and invention. [Best track]: Ponk Ist Dood."
-Alistair Lawrence, Kerrang!

"Incendiary’s LP of the month? Not far off and believe me there’s some strong competition. Strictly speaking this is the best non-released LP of 1996-98, as the tracks all date back to that time. Now, how to describe it . . . This is alien rock in extremis, (albeit accessible to the point of it being slightly cartoony). Nothing here is being created from an acceptance of anything at all, when placed against even acceptable and credible “independent” music The Def-A-Kators’ LP might as well come from another dimension.
As with all Pumf releases there’s hyperactive, questioning air to the music, music that sometimes wanders into surreal subject matter. Ponk Ist Dood seems to be about shitting on cars as a form of sexual release and the gloriously anthemic A Bedtime Story for Mechanical Owls is some sort of tribute to the Clangers. I think.
The “style” is straight-down-the-line rock, almost on the verge of parody, with cod flourishes drawn from Crass to New Order via the Damned; “big” drum/snare sounds, eighties style. And then there’s the question of those horse noises in Deliverance . . . Now and again it has a heavy garage-band Fall vibe (Impaler) or a monstrously overbearing Glam-Goth vibe that veers uncomfortably towards Billy Idol before running off laughing (Gulag). Or even feisty C86 (Object). But that is in some ways to be expected as anything out of the Pumf stable seems to enjoy monstrous sonic notions . . .
As I write this, the press marks the passing of director John Hughes, whose soundtracks were so celebrated at the time for their use of independent music . . . Now imagine, in a parallel, slightly more warped universe, Texas Redneck with a Big Cock would be the soundtrack LP for the Breakfast Club. Think on."
- Richard Foster, Incendiary

"TEXAS REDNECK WITH A BIG COCK - Yes, you did read correctly . . . The Def-A-Kators have been in existence since 1986, originally forming "in order to parody the mindless idiocy that most punk bands of the time were displaying, hence the name, one chord thrash & mindless lyrics"! The new album Texas Redneck with a Big Cock, was recorded in part, back in the nineties when the band first reformed. Another decade on, the album is finally finished and gets a release through the excellent Pumf Records, a truly unique label. Do not miss out on this album . . . as an added bonus it will only cost you a fiver!"
- album of the week, August 14th 2oo9, StarshipOverflow.com

"They describe their music as 'a guitar-based sonic triumvirate collision of synaptic überpop designed to stimulate both the head and the foot gland' . . . however, [this album] is a lively slice of what we are missing - particularly the instrumental 'Scurvy', a cross between Link Wray's cult classic Rumble and the cutting room floor of a Tarantino soundtrack . . . other tracks are 'Object' - a punchy road rage tribute - and 'P.118', a salsa led item as hot as last night's left-over chilli."
- Robin Duke, Evening Gazette, 1996

"What fresh hell is this? Texas Redneck
We get sent plenty of albums to be reviewed at Crack House. Some cause chirrups of delight, some are just plain terrible, and some don’t even merit a cursory listen.
We’ve never played this album, but it can’t be any good. It’s simply not possible. Entitled Texas Redneck with a Big Cock it comes complete with a sleeve image of a bloke in a ten gallon hat walking along with an oversize cockerel on a piece of rope. Now ignoring the fact that the bloke in the pic is more “cowboy” than “redneck” it’s still a pretty lame “joke”. The infantilism of the whole shabby enterprise was sealed for me however by noting with some distain that the album is by a band called The Def-A-Kators. The Def-A-Kators, for fuck’s sake. Texas Redneck With A Big Cock by The Def-A-Kators and a picture of a cowboy and a huge cockerel. If ever there was a collection of words and images designed not to make you play an album, then here they are. The band image on the back depicts Duke Box (frilly snooker shirt circa 1978), Count Basic (elder statesmen of the hanging-around-Old-Eldon-Square posse) and Sgt. Panic (Mick Hucknell after a hunger-strike wearing an old Nelson Mandela shirt). It’s not a trio that makes you feel any more inclined to slapping this on."
- RM, The Crack

If, for whatever warped, twisted reason, you feel the need to check out more about the Def-A-Kators, an extensive history can be found at www.templeofdin.co.uk.

Seven or The Union Won't Wear It by Heffalump Trap

(2008)

"Percussive heavy instrumental noise-rock"
- Smart King Dan

"Well, let's face it, in musical terms 2008 was fucking dire. The Fall plodded on with Imperial Wax Solvent (better than their last LP but that's not saying a great deal is it?). Honourable mentions to Portishead, Mark Stewart, Stereolab and 1 or 2 others. So to find the true gem of 2008 you will have to dig a little deeper. Quite a lot deeper in fact. So please be upstanding for Seven or The Union Won't Wear It by Heffalump Trap. Yeah!
The Trap describe themselves as spacedronenoiserock unit which is as good a description as any. Imagine very early Ash Ra Tempel jamming with Einsturzende Neubauten on Mars and you may be slightly close. You will be lulled and feel as though you are about to leave your body, only to be slapped with a percussive attack and then bulldozed with bass. This is fucking great stuff and perhaps the most genuinely psychedelic music I've heard in the last 20 years. Forget the chin-stroking post rock guff, this is the real deal, repetition, slow rising crescendos, planets slowly dying and . . . well you get the picture. Imagine an alternate universe where Ummagumma was made by insane Lancashire types instead of middle class architecture students. You owe it to yourself . . . Get Trapped!"
- Melodramatic Monkey

for the kids in Nigeria by Hedgehog in Bracken

(2007)

"I watched the audience carefully, and only about half of them got it. The rest were a bit confused. Enjoyed the chocolate though; thanks."
- The promoter of the gig where this was recorded

Wrack and Roll by Blunt Instrument (2003)

". . . the wrack n roll cd - got it the other day and I like it. Reminds me a bit of Nick Cave and perhaps Julian Cope but . . . kinda like they were having a fight in a sausage factory. I don't really think it's that much more 'commercial' . . . I'd say it's probably more 'accessible' . . .  But still only as accessible as a wheelchair ramp with a police stinger on it."
- Andy Paciorek

 ". . . its got a sort of Beefheart feel."
- John Tree

". . . new band called Blunt Instrument. It's just two guys . . . They play this sort of electronically enhanced rock/pop/artrock/artpop/electro hybrid that I can't quite describe. [sleeve] notes seem to indicate that the lyrics came from some sort of '30s/'40s/'60s anti-war songs (or songs about the war effort at the time) and other such concerns. All very confusing and illuminating, but in that way that makes me want to go check it out one more time. I love the riffs, there's some real knockout, drag-out, hook heavy tunes that have stuck with me. While I'm convinced that Simon is one of the best rock n' roll growlers of our time, this fellow Stan definitely shows off some fine vocal skills himself, more in a soulful vein . . ."
- Chris Sienko,  Migidum Bligablum, 2003

"It is on heavy rotation on my CD player. I love the way the songs sound new but strangely familiar."
- Phil Smith

"Thirty tracks make up this curio from Pumf, and whilst it will take a lot to beat Howl in the Typewriter . . . Wrack and Roll is still a lot of fun. Tracks like A Song About Flowers, Tomorrow Is The Day, Hail To The Chiefs, Track Nine and quite a few others all have a certain lo-fi, low production and 'demo' quality about them, yet are incredibly good. I love the way that some of the tracks use 'found' sounds; the radio, audience applause etc., which gives an added something. Many will say that the album isn't exactly in the running for mass media attention, it's a perfect example of simply getting up there and having a go. There is a certain amount of spontaneity that comes across with many of the songs. Hell, it's an album to put a smile on your face."
Dave W, Modern Dance, 2003

"Hmmm. Good CD here, this Wrack and Roll. It may be a wanky thing to say but it's really well produced – doesn't have that 'oh – a drum machine and cubase' sound to it. Reminds me of Cockney Rebel and Guns 'n' Roses (well a bit) for some reason. It's also nice to hear “song” songs that don't make me cringe."
- Laurence Burton

"This is wonderful stuff. At best, it's well-constructed pop (in the same way that Pretty Vacant is well-constructed pop). Clever pop. It's kind of punk, as well, but more like American punk than UK punk - there are elements of Dead Kennedys in bits of Burn Baby Burn and the 'Ooh baby' track.
It's kind of camp and stylised, like the best US bands - lots of stolen spy-movie riffs. I'd have to mention Devo, Black Sabbath and the Macc Lads, which paints a lovely picture of the band - robotic drug-casualties from 'Oop North'. (The album)'s got great slidey guitar on it - I really think pStan should be guitar player for the Residents (thought who's to say he isn't?). This is an excellent bunch of songs, and all good enough that I think it has 'commercial' potential - I could imagine these tracks on the radio, and I could imagine loads of 'disaffected youth' out there who would buy an LP of this . . . right now - I'm your NUMBER ONE FAN."
- Stream Angel

it was  a foot! by Michael Aspel's Flying Saucers

(2002)

"Dense and impenetrable, this album left me dazed and bewildered. Subject matter veers from an oblique look at the dangers of drink-driving, to product development, to a lengthy piece designed to induce post-hypnotic hatred of children - I'm convinced that my mindset is radically different after listening to this, and I'm waiting for the subliminal trigger that sees me exploding in an orgy of miasmic rage, slaughtering any children in the immediate vicinity. On the bonus side, however, I'm now a firm believer in extra-terrestrial life."
- Laurence Burton

Rorschach Ink Blot Testing by Rrrrrrr (1998)

"Not a Japanese gentleman screaming about women’s knickers over a wall of feedback, as the name of the band would seem to suggest . . . It’s a bit lo-fi, but not so much as to make an ironic virtue of the fact. It sounds like the authors spent a fair bit of time and energy working on bits of each other’s music, and that energy shows. This is broad experimentation, just seeing what the other participant is going to throw back, and as such spans a schizophrenic range of moods and styles as each compensates or messes with the others diverse offerings. We go through bubbling techno to er . . . stadium folk to tape collage and back all chopped up with peculiar snatches of spoken word. What is communicated most vividly by this cassette is the sheer excitement that the Rrrrrrr boys must have felt waiting to see what would come out the other end of their musical sausage machine. The sense of the unexpected is strong - not to mention witty - without it all sounding like hopeless indulgence that could only possibly resonate with those directly involved. Back in the “good old days” there was a hardcore of people who only listened to home-produced tapes such as this. It might seem a little eccentric and peculiar but if you listen to this cassette and then see ask yourself how many records from 1986 (for example) you couldn’t live without - you’ll find it ain’t such a crazy notion after all."
- War Arrow, The Sound Projector, 2002

"I find it puzzling; I can't make up my mind about it. How I feel about it seems to vary, perhaps according to my own mood. Sometimes I listen to it and it seems like an incredible 'out there' wild punk version of the best and most hilarious dashes of Nurse with Wound - a masterpiece of caveman 'head' music. Then other times I listen to it, it just seems drab and depressing. Well, the truth must be that neither of these viewpoints is truly accurate, and the truth must be somewhere else . . . but where?"
- Stream Angel

In the Beginning there was Shite (various artists)

(1997 - original Pumf release dates next to artiste's name)

Features the musics of A-void (1984), Of Sound Mind (1984), The Howl in the Typewriter (duo - 1985), Sign Language (1985), The People’s Temple (1985), Henry’s Farm and Henry (1987).

Six of the earliest Pumf releases - now deleted - gave up their best bits for inclusion on this compilation.

"It's certainly a step back in time, being from the mid 80's, a period which is now receiving the demonisation that was meted out to the 70's by a fickle public only fifteen years ago, when of course any fool knows that he real enemy is the 60's . . . most of the tracks are fairly respectable recordings of the sort of groups I always ended up seeing in pubs around the time: Joy Division basslines and a fine array of effects pedals being stamped upon randomly by a spiky guitarist, before the word 'gothic' came into wide usage and took up its rightful place as an insult of a strength which placed it somewhere between 'slack-jawed arsehole' and 'Chelsea supporter'. This was when there seemed to be bands in pubs everywhere, none of which were covers-orientated, and most of which had some ambition beyond just sounding like a fusion of their favourite records . . . give it another ten years and a new generation of tediously ironic little turds will probably be bending over backwards to breathe new commercially viable life into this sort of stuff. Therefore a more appropriate title would probably be, In The End There Will Be Shite, because there's nothing wrong with this lot."
- War Arrow, The Sound Projector, 2000

Pumf up the Volume (various artists)

(1994)

Features Cabbage Head, Ceramic Hobs, Dandelion Adventure, Def-A-Kators,   Howl in the Typewriter, Jah Rizlafoureye and the Heady Bread Beast, Judge Mental and the Heavy Dread Beat, Orange Sunshine, Raw Veg, Salty Grouse Castration Squad, Satan the Jesus Barmy Army, and SWANC. Comes with a booklet; this is an extremely good starting point to attune your ears to the world of Pumf.

"(Pumf up the Volume) is weird and wonderful. A perfect introduction to the musical world of (Pumf) . . . I'm very impressed with the Cabbage Head tracks, and the Heavy Dread Beat tracks are killers too . . . in fact, Brainfuck is my favourite track on the whole tape . . . from the stripped-down minimalism to the Northern cynicism, even to the strange track titles and the structure of the lyrics and the fact that they're enigmatic and don't really show which side of the fence the writer's on, (the album) reminds me of The Fall."
- Stream Angel

Pet Sounds by Blackpool Beach Boys and Girl

(1995)

Simon & Syd of the original (1985-88) Ceramic Hobs join the Batcow to work on an ambitious cover version project, working on an entire album. Lizzy also came on board for this project - this is possibly the only official release of work featuring her, and it is in some way dedicated to her memory. (16/11/68 - 27/3/96)

We’re on a Round Robin to Hell by Def-A-Kators

(1993, compiled from recordings in 1987/88)

"The much talked about but rarely seen post-punk band the Def-A-Kators have finally got their act together . . . it's not the sort of stuff which will have Mike Smith reaching for his tape deck but even the likes of John Peel would be hard pushed to hear everything that is going on . . . there are some interesting (if not exactly earth stoppingly original) ideas here but the quality of the recording hides many of them under blur, distortion and general tape hiss. Perhaps that's what the band means when it describes its music as 'self-explanatory'."
- Robin Duke, Evening Gazette, 1993

(1987)

After the resounding success of the debut 6-part Barbara Dwyer concept piece released as part of the BILE! recordings, Gerry Attric and Hospie Talward teamed up once again with 'Nelson' Batcow to produce this full-length album. Phew. There'd have been no stopping them if they could have been bothered to record anything else again, afterward.

"This may seem like kind of an arbitrary choice [to review] in the Pumf library. I mean, there's still . . . stuff done more recently than 1987 too! Well, what can I say . . . I really like Barbara Dwyer. Actually, I don't know Barbara Dwyer, but some friends I go to the bar with can vouch for her. Anyway, Barbara Dwyer was a one-off project with Stan Batcow and some other pseudonym'd folks. The roots of this project can be heard on the BILE! Tape (reviewed eventually), when it was going to be a band, or something else not as good. Well, it never panned out, but in the interest of keeping the name going, Stan solicited tapes from all participants, and made something different. This tape is a collage of stuff . . . literally, stuff. Refuse. Gems. Bits. Crumbs. Stuff off the TV, people talking and ranting, bands playing or practicing, bits from the movie of the week, noises, whooshes. Y'know, stuff. All grandly and simply edited into a tape that is both listenable and very, very muddy. Like if P16.D4 got really hammered and decided to futz with tapes and home movies instead of culturally 'significant' things. I say hammered / drunk not because this sounds drunken (or poorly constructed), but because it would probably take a night of strong drink to loosen P 16.D4 enough to get them this personal and fun. There's jams, TV shows / game shows / The Three Stooges (it's easy to get wrapped up in a tape of a linear plot, and very easy to disorient with just a few whisks of the editing razor), hot guitar freakouts, a great collage of'30s jazz sounds, some mumbledygook that I couldn't make out near the end of the tape that goes on for a long time, and more. If you give any sort of a shit about getting C-60s in the mail that make you want to root through your own home tape recordings and stitch a few of'em together, Frankenstein-style (or even send them off to Stan for a collabo), you should get on this one."
- Chris Sienko, Migidum Bligablum, 2003

The following trilogy of recordings spans some twelve years, with the only constant being Stan Batcow.
Other musicians, lyricists, collaborators etc. drifted, satellite-like, in and out of the recording environment at whim

It’s Now or Never! by BILE!

(1986)

Cheesecake and Chips by Troll

(1988)

Blessed is the Norm - Watch thou for the Mutant by Gravelin

(1997)

"Wow, I like this bit! Classic 60's chord progressions - sort of 'go-go' music with a sampled voice. Wowser - it could be the theme for a movie - 'Blackpool Topless' . . . standing on top of the Tower of Babel and words spew forth to turn into beautiful gibberish in mid-air. Solid backing - solid as a soul sandwich. It's beautiful! Lots of real 'reggae-heads' and 'dub' fans would probably freak out at this, though - the manicness of the vocals. This is full of buoyancy, vim and vigour. Great fun too."
- Stream Angel

Pumf Records