Maybe Logic

Data's Cat (2012)

Temple of Wounds

The Death of the Enlightenment Project (2010)

Movement and Drama 2

(2010)

Ray Reagan and the RayGuns 

Ray Reagan and the RayGuns (2010)

"Social punk at its best? I’d certainly think so. This LP has lain hidden in some grimy basement for nearly 30 years until given a release by the marvellous Pumf Records. It’s an interesting, occasionally very funny release; set over a swampy mash up of then-current musical styles and attitudes, all tinged with an acid-head outlook. (And some of the synths are very hippy it must be said). To say that this record is a faithful chronicle of alternative life in the eighties is something I’m less certain of stating, but for sure it’s a personal one; vivid, and empirical as well as often being a banner for standard punk concerns. I’m sure they liked Crass.
This is an eccentric record too; for all the addressing of “classic” issues such as being busted by the fuzz in Salt and Pepper, you get the feeling that the band truly lived in a twilight zone of their own making. Check out Dopamine; it’s that little bit mental... Opener Little Purple Children and Big Business are mid-tempo rants, coming on like a concerned neighbour tutting over the wall at some infant misdemeanour (is the system that gets it in the neck most, at all times). And what on earth is going on in tracks like The Warm Stripe, A Sermon on Account and Radio Broadcasting?
It seems that the rules, the accepted conventions about how to write songs, the lyrics… are often that little bit intense and based on ignoring the outside world. In some weird way it’s a very straight take on the Residents’ attitude (without any of the strange outer space noises); in a word, obsessive. Though stylistically it can be a very conventional folk-punk record: Salt and Pepper sounds like with a drugged Wonder Stuff starring Will Sergeant on guitar.  And there’s the obligatory dubby skank (Gestalt), which veers off into some lo-fi scuzzy workout at times.
Whatever this record is, it’s a real charmer, and made by decent people".
- Incendiary, September 2010

"Ray Reagan sounds extremely original . . . a lost classic! . . . would've bought it then if it existed. Read the whole inlay . . . some sounds very familiar! Thumbs up for releasing this!"
- Lord Litter, in a personal e-mail to pStan Batcow, 1st September 2010

"As cult bands go, this one must be up there with the greats. Pretty much unknown in the late 70s / early 80s this re-mastered album has come about after Reagan found the mastertape 'in my attic when I was clearing out some rubbish'. Surprisingly it's pretty good - a mish mash of post punk, ska and even psychedelia - though he can't remember much about it".
- Robin Duke, Evening Gazette, August 2010

"House owners will be familiar with the experience of the long overdue attic clearout. The process generally reveals junk such as old toys and faulty electrical appliances that ought to have been disposed of 20 years ago. In Ray Reagan’s case, it has allowed him to rediscover the master tapes to his long forgotten album which is at worst a curiosity and at best a minor treasure.
As the name suggests, Ray Reagan and the Rayguns were a late 1970s / early 1980s punk influenced band that, until now, was not even a footnote in history. Some of their themes do seem as dated and irrelevant as mohicans. Radio Broadcasting bemoans the airing of “endless crap” but now the information or music would be found elsewhere so that dull radio stations can be easily ignored. Gestalt is the token cod reggae track with ganja references of which punk bands were so fond yet it does feature an unexpected baroque break.
This playfulness makes the record interesting. Little Purple Children earnestly condemns the teaching of conformity and cruelty at school. Salt and Pepper is not a misspelt anticipation of the pop rappers but a reference to police brutality. Yet sandwiched in between these tracks, The Warm Stripe comes over all Monty Pythons with its complaints about “croutons in my soup”. There is a nuance to their worldview, so while Big Business reflects that time is more important than money and Ray cannot imagine working for a living there is an important one-word proviso, “full-time”.
Musically, the best tracks are propelled by Alla Narova’s bass. It is fuzzy, dirty and dynamic on Dopamine which matches the feeling of “chemical attraction” mentioned in the song. This ought to have been their big indie chart hit. Similarly, the scampering bass style gives A Sermon on Account and Slave to the Machine an impressive velocity. Closing track, The Stone, almost seems to be mirroring the band falling apart and trying to cram all their remaining ideas into one song: backward masking, theremin, whistling, changing The Who’s Squeezebox to “cheesebox” and including mentions of brie. Unfortunately, they have either anticipated or utilised one of the most annoying aspects of the CD era, the hidden extra track.
Ray Reagan and the Rayguns are definitely preferable to senile ex-American presidents."
- Andrew Truth, July 2010

"Ray Reagan and the RayGuns was excellent, it made me think of the following things - Chaos Theory and the Mandelbrot set. Mathematically inclined biologists puzzling the strange geometry of nature whilst rafting up the Orinoco river. Lynsey de Paul lingering briefly in various empty launderettes and massage parlours clutching a copy of 'Here Come the Warm Jets' by Brian Eno. Remembering a period in 1973 when I slept in a rabbit hutch for 3 months."
- Dr. Adolf Steg

the eggnog variations

the melodramatic monkey (2009)

"The follow up album to this one is titled Bing-Bong! . . . Amusement . . . Finished. It's available direct from the monkey himself, and it's by far the best album I've not yet heard."
- pStan Batcow

374+/-1
[three hundred & seventy-four plus or minus one]

the taurus board (2009)

This album could have been released at least three years earlier, easily. I guess we should simply be grateful that it made it in the end. Praise the Lord.

"After waiting over 3 bloody years for an album by the taurus board, pStan finally sends us two copies, one each for myself (Andy Martin) and Luc Tran. As I’ve ventured away from dance / rave / techno recently and into free jazz and progressive rock, Luc has become the primary champion of the genre of music represented by this outfit. The review that follows is by myself and Luc; we are both here listening to it early on Monday afternoon, 7th December 2009, in my flat so there’s likely to be a fight (which Luc will win, obviously).

MUJ PES JE ZLO
Andy: A rather restrained way to start an album, this needs a funky bass guitar, more electronics or perhaps even a vocal. Actually, it’s simply too short, I think that’s the main problem here. Mind you, at higher volume and with the bass turned up, this is better. 6/10
Luc: A real cool groove – and what joy! I won’t have to wait another year for the next godspunk album before I hear the next taurus board track. What language is this? Why are all the non-remixed tracks in this language? Well, at least I don’t have any titles to give me a false idea of what to expect or how I should interpret what I’m hearing. As I said before: a real cool groove. 8/10

RACIST PROFESSOR
Andy: I yawned myself into a stupor for the first four minutes. Finally something happens and it becomes lively and interesting. Sorry, HeF, I simply don’t do ‘chill out’. 6/10
Luc: Very odd – sorta Bangla groove meets electronica – bit laid back and ambient for me this – tho it does pick up a bit after four minutes, specially when the bass kicks in. How can you yawn yourself silly when all that sitar and odd noise stuff is happening? You been listening to too much Gentle Giant again. After seven minutes this really kicks serious ass.
Andy: But it just faffs about for 4’11” before anything happens.
Luc: Whatcha talking about – it’s all been happening quietly but your head’s too full of Jethro Tull to notice. See? Like your man says, the problem on the planet is white people!
Andy: Oh come on, Luc, behave!
Luc: Specially white people who think King Crimson are cool. Anyway, this deserves 9/10.

IS E MO DAIDI NIOS MO NA DO DAIDI
Andy: Now this is more like it – back in Ibiza with the Chavs –
Luc: Yeah, where you belong.
Andy:  – having a good time with a couple of clover leaf E’s and a fag. This takes me all the way back to 1995 in that club in Shoreditch that Chau Hoang used to run and I stood at door searching folk for weapons. Yes, this is excellent. It hammers into the floor and shakes the walls down. 9/10
Luc: Yeah, this is well hard – those spikey ice crystal keyboards scattered over a heavy beat really do the business. 9/10

LIMEHOUSE
Andy: I live near Limehouse – but this sounds far more intriguing than any of the crap you hear blasting out of Bangla boys’ car speakers while you wait for a 277 to take you to Hackney. A brass section, that’s what this needs; there almost is one, in the background there, a brassy keyboard sound.
Luc: This gets a bit repetitive but then I don’t reckon this music is designed for two people sitting on chairs in a room in Poplar at 2.30 in the afternoon. You need to be in a club up north about 2 in the morning to appreciate this properly.
Andy: Yes, it drags on a bit.
Luc: No, I’ve changed my mind now – about six minutes in there’s all this flashing silver stuff charging around from left to right – you have to take your time with this track – then, look, the brass samples return, hear it? Note how it gets heavier again but you hardly notice the transition. This one grows on you if you give it time to do so.
Andy: This track contains a number of slow, subtle changes. There’s this excellent driving groove twelve minutes into the track, for example. The trouble is, the whole piece is simply far too long. 6/10
Luc: Oh right, yeah, that’s a fine comment coming from someone who listens to crap by Yes that goes on for nearly half an hour. 8/10

NO A SI EL NACIOLISME A L’INTERNACIONALISME
Andy: This is sheer Chemical Brothers and from me that’s high praise indeed. Can you hear the resemblance?
Luc: No, at least not to any CB track I’ve ever heard.
Andy: I mean in terms of atmosphere, of flavour – there’s a late night Manchester feel to this one. Note the collision between major and minor modes towards the end. 8/10
Luc: Yeah, it’s sorta early 1990s house / garage hybrid. I reckon this might be my fave one yet. Very difficult to keep still when this is on. Mind you, IS E MO DAIDI NIOS MO NA DO DAIDI takes some beating. 10/10

WE ARE THE ABORIGINES HERE
Andy: Ah, here we go again – let’s blame all the worlds’ problems on white people. It’s all our fault apparently. Blame the corporation and the government, not the person for the colour of his skin.
Luc: Well, how many black people own and run multinational corporations in the world?
Andy: I don’t for a start. Why should I be given a hard time simply because I’m white? I’m proud of what the white race has achieved and I’ll bloody well say so in public, too. Look, if I said about black people what he’s saying about white people, I’d be called a racist but apparently it’s permissible to slander the entire white race simply because a few neo-nazi nerds want to make life difficult for a few Abos.
Luc: A few Abos? You mean Aborigines. But the chap on the tape is making a valid point – I mean, could you blame Native Americans –
Andy: Red Indians, you mean?
Luc: I mean Native Americans – could you blame them for thinking all white people are scum? Okay, well anyway, so this one definitely deserves top marks because neither of us has even said a single thing about the music yet – which is easily the most interesting thing I’ve heard yet. What ya reckon then?
Andy: Yes, musically this is the most adventurous work yet. It isn’t my favourite track to listen to but I suspect that aesthetically it is the most satisfying. I wonder how much of this is due to the remixing process as opposed to the original track. The absence of any drum or strong rhythm track really suits this work. 8/10
Luc: Yeah, I think a heavy beat would spoil the effect and distract people from the words. Well, it’s not so much that but the use of weird disembodied electronic sounds makes the words sound even stronger, even heavier, even more in your face than if there was a beat or a tune happening. 9/10

KAPA CNENI
Andy: I find myself waiting for the track to start but it is never able to leave the launch pad. The engines are powered up and there’s smoke pouring out of the exhaust tubes but the piece stays on the ground as if wondering what to do next. It needs a pilot to steer it into space. 5/10
Luc: You’re off your head – you know, for someone who doesn’t do drugs, you come out with some real space cadet statements sometimes.
Andy: Oh yes, says Luc who earlier on wrote about ‘flashing silver stuff charging around’.
Luc: No, what I mean is, you often say you’re waiting for stuff to happen when it is happening and has been happening but you’re asking for The Prodigy when it’s the taurus board.
Andy: You may have a point there . . . I think.
Luc: I mean, there’s more subtle, under the counter stuff that happens in their tracks – his tracks – is it just HeF who does everything or are there two or three of them? Anyway, it’s often during the quieter sections that all the really interesting shit happens. 7/10

CHILDREN OF GOD
Luc: Now then, is this my favourite track after all? I reckon it is, you know. It has the subtle, strange and secretive bits, all odd sounds flitting in and out of the groove like digital ghosts, while up front you have a driving beat backed up by a mean mother of a bass. 10/10
Andy: Yes, I agree with you totally. Even after nine minutes I’m still not remotely bored and impatient. The track keeps changing direction but in a logical manner that is almost impossible to describe accurately. 8/10
Luc: Maybe it’s because although this music is rooted in the 1990s, it still sounds 21st century. Note how the tempo has changed totally by thirteen minutes into the track. The voices are different, the whole feel has altered. Thank you, Jesus!

Right then – this is Luc Tran with Andy Martin signing off. If you haven’t bought this album yet – DO IT! It’s worth every penny of your hard earned. Really, it is – this isn’t just retro sounds by people who want it to be 1995 again – this is NOW music, taking rave culture into the 21st century."
- The chaps from UNIT

A Lane In Spain-Fox Trot

Haddenham One Orchestra with vocal chorus (2009)

"You wouldn't believe where inspiration for some of these recordings came from!"
- pStan Batcow

Biscuit Psychosis 

The Style Pigs (2008)

"To give you a rough idea, here are some Style Pigs lyrical snippets:
You live on a planet of wasps / in little houses they're all having tea / there's a cream puff loose in the garage / Jesus liked Tizer and plums / upstairs there's a man with a gun / he's up there bleeding for you / do you have any segments, Mother? / I want to buy half a Christ / when I woke up I could only see sheep / horse filters wait in the afterlife.
Enough said?"
- pStan Batcow

The Immaculate Confection 

Mrs. Cakehead (2006)

"Mrs. Cakehead has tided me through many otherwise-glum hours with his trademarked Bacup reggae vibes. I can't imagine any but the most po-faced of listeners not enjoying the wigged-out-on-homebrew lyrics & inspired choruses of "Don't need to beg for a pickled egg" etc. And even they will have to give in to the wall of bass. Mrs C is another Perfectly Pumf Performer - buy his music & then zip on down to http://www.myspace.com/mrscakehead to meet the man, the legend".
- Phil Smith

The Future is Esoteric - The Best of Martoc 

Martoc (2005)

"Supposedly Peel-touched undiscovered genius of English eccentricness sits right in there on the Pumf roster. Why hadn't it happened before? pStan should list the titles on his website to give a good idea of the psychedisized pop explosion herein. The best pop is always created by those you can't get an angle on".
- Phil Smith

Orgasmic Death (2004)

"I was visiting Faslane Peace Camp (outside a nuclear submarine base on the west coast of Scotland) for a few days, sometime around late 1984. In the communal caravan, next to the battered old ghetto blaster, was a ragbag collection of assorted cassettes (left behind by a ragbag collection of assorted people). Most of these cassettes were without covers or boxes, and many were without labels. A friend and I decided to try playing some; one of these unmarked cassettes was the Orgasmic Death tape. (The name of the band is mentioned in one of the soundbites). I was very impressed with the tape, but nobody at the camp knew anything about it. I asked a few people if there were any objections to me taking it, but nobody seemed to be that bothered – so off I went with the cassette. To this day I haven’t been able to find out anything about it."
- Stream Angel, November 2004.

Some Rotting Vegetable Sessions 

Christ + Satan (2004)

No other information available

Electronic Music 

Radiosonik (2004)

“. . . The Cosmic Earth (part 2) . . . I tried it today with the windows and door open and the outside ambient sounds were working perfectly with the composition; even a fly’s wing buzzing into the kitchen seemed to be at the correct level.  Zen or what? . . .”
- Dave Knight

Yximalloo (1989; re-release 2003)

"Naofumi Ishimaru, the man behind this act, visited Pumf Records HQ for short stays on two occasions in the late 1980's, links having been forged between Japan and Blackpool over several years correspondence. During one of these stays Nao and Stan recorded a peculiar little piece of music together, titled Peter's Back. It was written around Nao's guitar riff, and vocal melody sung in vowel sounds loosely based on both English and Japanese. Stan invented words to fit afterwards . . . it was originally destined to be part of the 'Stan Batcow plus guest musicians' recording series, but was in fact deemed worthy of inclusion on a Howl in the Typewriter release. Naofumi most notably took Yximalloo to notoriety when they played a gig 'live at the lavatory' in Honda's factory in Japan - "We had the gig at the male lavatory in Honda's factory on 4th-July-'81. The audience was not so many. But we did. After 3rd tune, the guardmen came and stopped the electricity. That's all. Well, we don't say <Buy Honda!> or <Don't buy Honda!>."
There was also a short visit - 25 hours, to be precise - to Pumf HQ by Nao late in 2002: hopefully he'll be visiting again sometime soon; maybe there'll be time for more recording. (Yes, he did, in June 2004 and again in June 2005. A short recording session was undertaken - resuts to be found on godspunk volume four compilation album)."
- pStan Batcow

The Silent Light

Killy Dog Box (2003)

"Killy Dog Box as mixed by Stan Batcow . . . over a track lasting a full hour and ten minutes. Which is usually enough to have me running to the hills waving my arms about like my hair's on fire . . . but after about ten minutes submerged into the bleak minimalist tones of KDB I was won over and lasted its entirety.
. . . For those not familiar with the KDB sound expect lots of not much happening - breathy vocals and long stretches of almost industrial like drone are par for the course . . ."
- Mark Wharton, Idwal Fisher, 2003

Eggs, Beans and Mayonnaise

The Pre-War Busconductors (2003)

"This is a lot like a more together version of the Keaston Pils and other home-knitted bands. The thing is, this was recorded between 1980 - 1982, which is over 20 years ago - which makes this somehow seminal! I once heard a tape of very early Fall, and they sounded even more 'bedroom' than this lot. (I recognise the name Laurence Burton from somewhere - did he used to run a tape label, and look like Dr. Who?) Yes, this is definitely of historical importance - The Pre-War Bus Conductors are the grand-daddies of TreeWireHead and the Keaston Pils. Also, comparing this to similar stuff, it's surprising that the sound quality is often better than the similar stuff that's being put out today, and this was recorded in the 1980's! (Lo-fi bands take note - you've got no excuse for poor sound quality)."
- Stream Angel

Valley where the Moon Sleeps - Critical Netherworks of John Bartles

Bartles (2002)

A Day in the Life

Stream Angel, Neil Campbell and Stewart Walden (2002)

Also features Kyp Highbury and William Clark

Four Hundred Rabbits

War Drum (2002)

"It was inevitable that War Drum and Pumf would meet someday. The mainman behind the project has been an unsung hero of the UK tape underground for 20 years, working with acts like Konstruktivists and Academy 23 amidst too many other musical, publishing and artistic ventures to count. You'll never find a barcode on War Drum's products - this is music done for the love of it, not for the sake of fame or lucre. This sampler cassette features the best of four previous releases - War Drum No. 1, War Drum by War Drum, Fatu Hiva and La Quinta Trecena. Immaculately crafted and getting more from a four-track recording set-up than Radiohead could from a 96-track studio in the Maldives."
- Laurence Burton

The Desperate Accountant Tapes

(2001)

Take one lovelorn obsessive chap, one carefree disinterested woman, and the cassette recorder that brings them both together . . . this is a surefire recipe for enthralling, voyeuristic listening. Also includes: two nearing-redundancy women, distraught (or possibly relieved?) at being cast on the scrap heap; a peek into the world of the (usually) anonymous or erroneous answerphone message; an overwhelmingly logical monologue about freedom of expression, authority and situations of conflict; and a sixth-form studenty recital of a play, complete with narrative concerning the recording process.

Sonic Wallpaper

Acidfuck (1999)

This album contains crazed electronic jamming sessions extremely similar to most of their other recordings and therefore a huge, dirty, stolen, arythmal rhythmic sound, a crazy indecipherable technodreambox of surreality and insomnia that will leave you gibbering (and screaming for more).

"How the fuck these two hippies manage to create such a pounding, shrieking, atonal (but goddamn intriguing) racket with only a pair of computers is beyond me."
- Stan Batcow

Invite you to Chew on your Yeasty Bits

Treewirehead (1997)

Words fail to communicate the gargantuan stupidity behind Treewirehead (this is a huge compliment). The tracks on this compilation were taken from four of their albums: Treewirehead, Satan's Biscuit Oddessey, Expose their Gums and Veni Vidi Silly. Their Treewirehead album has an insert, headed "Spoon!" which continues, "We need contaminated soap on the BBC even though it later emerged in Gyles Brandreth as a large oily gentleman likes of Elton John. The Department of Transport and grotesquely- named footwear acknowledges that deceptively simple children of the current century can be protected against EJACULATION by firmly grasping the erect penis of daily reality." The music sounds very much like this.

"Treewirehead are . . . delightfully silly. I kind of get where they're coming from (lo-fi homemade bands) and whilst I've long harboured a suspicion that perhaps those kind of things might only be fun to the people that make them, this tape does indeed work, and is fun to my ears - so perhaps I'll have to revise my theory. It sort of shouldn't work (because all it is, if one wants to be reductionist, is lunatic stoned / drunk ramblings over homemade instrumentation) but, against all the odds, it does. It's great. God Eggs indeed! Stand out tracks are Michael the Raccoon, and Illuminati. Superb."
- Stream Angel

Fainting Memories of Lancashire Hotpot

(various artists, 1995)

Features Crayola Summer, Colgates, Shrinkwrapped Genious and Treewirehead

This sampler cassette of Inner Psyche Productions recording artistes was a simultaneous release with Katzenjammer, a Pumf Records sampler cassette on the IPP label. In the booklet accompanying Katzenjammer, Crayola Summer writes, "Pumf! is very important! Pumf! made me start IPP! How much more important can you get?" - Well . . . Cor, Blimey!

Mouldy Roll

SWANC (1992)

"When God descends to earth on judgement day, demanding to know 'who did that fucking stupid tape?', [this pair] will either hang their heads in shame, or at least look a little sheepish. This is a cassette of two blokes who should probably know better, making a noise in the general direction of a gas powered tape recorder. [The songs] are just so majestically stupid that you're forced to listen closely, through the hiss and distortion, in order to fully appreciate the shoddy magnificence of this badly drawn monolith. The outstanding song is Morons with its catchy chorus of 'It's easy to have fun when you're a moron' . . . Morons could, with the right promotion, be the next big Ibiza anthem. It wouldn't even need much studio tweaking, just a big sound system in the right time and place."
- War Arrow, The Sound Projector, 2000

Pumf Records