NoMen Records Compilation
This is the first compilation CD from NoMen Records. As there aren't that many artists actually on NoMen Records we asked our friends and bands we have worked with to add some tracks. We think the result is pretty good! If you want a copy all you need to do id buy some thing from our shop of from Bandcamp and we'll include a copy on CD or a download if you buy a digital item.
TRACKS ON THE ALBUM
Music Liberation Front Sweden -
Political Superstars Mix
This is an evolving MLF song originally called “All the Colours Are You” from 2000, which was on their 2004 debut album “Though I Wasn’t Doing Much I Felt More Satisfied With My General Situation Than I Should Have Been”. This version is spliced together with a 2019 remix and a 2022 live version.
The Music Liberation Front Sweden (MLF) started when Richard of the The Hanging Stars and Michael Tiley Evil had a club in Sweden in the late nineties and Joe Foster, Jim Shepherd (Jasmine Minks) and Alan Hake (18 Wheeler) used to come over and play; never for money, just fun. From there Jim and Joe got involved with The Ultra Wide Band (Babalu) which became TheMLFs. Joe would play feedbacking guitar but they didn’t do many gigs just a couple of Swedish festivals and a gig with Damo Suzuki. They relocated to Berlin where influential record label Saasfee released the MLF debut album “Though I Wasn’t Doing Much I Felt More Satisfied With My General Situation Than I Should Have Been” in 2004. MLF remixed Slaughter Joe's "I’ll Follow You Down" for the album.
Since they moved back to the UK they’ve managed to do one gig together but are always hopeful at some point they will do another
Phones Sportsman - Krakatoa
Cardboard box
The lockdown brought Swell Map founding member Phones Sportsman out of "retirement" and he released three albums; DaDaPhone, Bad Reputation (with The NoMen), and Cardboard Box. Krakatoa comes from Cardbox Box which is a PIL influenced, bass heavy album that features reggae legend Style Scott on drums and percussion.
Jowe Head & The NoMen - Akhenaten
Jowe Head by Bruce Wang
"For this piece of music, I have written a speculative account of certain events in the life and death of Akhenaten, the heretical pharaoh of ancient Egypt. It is impossible to be certain of exact details, but it seems that he was a heretic and visionary, who abolished the traditional Egyptian religious establishment, which promoted worship of many gods. Instead, he offered the concept of a single supreme god, Aten.
After Akhenaten’s death, his rebellious ideas were discarded. The next rulers tried to wipe out all traces of Akhenaten’s reign, and they restored the worship of the old gods."
Midwich Youth Club - Doomscrolling
“The soundtrack to counteract your bad social media habits”
“The MYC soundtrack to a night of tweeting bad things to bad people”
The Badger Sisters - Everybody Lies
Multi-influenced, short-lived Kilmarnock legends with Lawrence Brice, Johnny Fergusson, Alan “Cooky” Cook and Craig White. They recorded possibly the best album ever to come out of Fenwick, and managed to bless the town with 9 or 10 live performances. The pinnacle of this was playing the Grand Hall in support of, and after, the nuclear protest film The War Game… half the audience left after the film!
TheTicket Inspectors - Switch on at Six
Steve Treatment was a legend in the world of post punk independent records but by the eighties his Bolan influenced pop music was out of style and no records were forthcoming. He formed the Ticket Inspectors who self released their music on cassette and gigged around London and at festivals.
The tune for ''Switch On At Six'' was composed by Kozzie, the bass player, around 1986. The title came from a popular image during the miners' strike of '85 which showed Maggie Thatcher being electrocuted! This version was recorded by Chris Bramble and Kozzie from the Ticket Inspectors with some guests. Unfortunately Steve turned up at the studio too late! Kozzie had already put lyrics to the song and sang it!
The “guests” were Jason Cook, drummer of London punk bands Trenchfever and The Blaggers I.T.A and Dharma Dave, a mutual friend of Steve and Kozzie from the Hare Krishna scene who played the acoustic
guitar on it. Jason's dad Roger Cook was a famous songwriter whose biggest hit was ''I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing'', sung by The New Seekers in 1972.
www.topplers.net/ticket-inspectors
Steve Treatment - It Shook Me
Steve had a long association with the NoMen who got in touch with him in 2002 and made records together right up to his death in 2015. This track is a remixed version, with a different vocal, of one of his last songs.
www.topplers.net/steve-treatment
RazorWire - P.R.A.T.S.V.I.L.L.E
Written in 1979 by a teenage wannabe punk band after hearing The Prats session on John Peel. They thought, "We can do that!" but unfortunately they couldn't and had to wait until 2015 before they had the skills and equipment to do it!
earspooktapes.bandcamp.com/album/the-razor-wire-7-collection
Punky Pea - This is not a Punk Song
Punky Pea released a Punk EP and a Punk LP in 2021.
topplers.bandcamp.com/album/punky-pea
I Shake Like Static - Overwhelmed
I Shake Like Static
I Shake Like Static is a writer and performer from Southwest Scotland playing personal and introspective electronic music. His first album “From a Single Cell” was released on an extremely limited run of lathe-cut records in November of 2020 and a new EP entitled “Everything Slower than Everything Else” will be released in early 2023.
“Overwhelmed“ was written and recorded as the full impact of the pandemic, Brexit and global cataclysms arrived at our collective front door, and is a timely reiteration of the old adage that “another world is possible”
The NoMen - Discopath
Every Halloween the NoMen trawl through their horror film collection and write a spooky song which they
film for YouTube.
This year they were inspired by the 2013 Canadian slasher film “Discopath” directed by Renaud Gauthier.
Alphabet Dust - TAPE NO TAPE Side 2
Alphabet Dust is an ongoing project by Kenneth Brown, an electronic musician and sound designer based in Stirling, Scotland. Consciously eschewing the icy precision of the digital world and often blurring the boundary between music and noise, Alphabet Dust incorporates electronics, found sound and field recordings in soundscapes that are formed by a process that is more collage than planned composition. The resulting fuzzy warbles have escaped into the real world in the form of digital releases, live collaborative improvisations, short film soundtracks and sound design. On rare occasions live solo performances have been known to occur.
Cream Gorilla - We Are Cream Gorilla
Japanese noisy art rock, Their complete recorded output has been collected and released by NoMen Records.
thenomen.bandcamp.com/album/cream-gorilla
More NoMen Records here - www.Topplers.net./NoMen-Records