‘NEW’ SECT EP FINALLY


The nights are drawing in and the days are getting shorter – perfect for staying indoors with a cup of tea and a slab of fruitcake. Only joking! This winter has got more in the way of festivities and celebrations than a Christmas spent in Lapland, and none of them involve tinsel...


M


ore known for its grade II listed properties and biodynamic farmers’ market than its happening happenings, Stoke Newington is the


proud host to Cosmic Slop. Touting itself as a “psychedelic mess of funk, soul and rock ’n’ roll,” the ‘Slop is fuzz-tastic, freaky and best of all, free. Run by a trio in possession of impeccable tastes – Chris “The Judge” Arthur, Dr Smith and Shindig!’s very own Pat Long – it looks set to put a cosmic rocket up London’s behind. So to get your dancing pleasure in this underground cellar get on down to The Gold Bar, 125 Stoke Newington Church Street, on the first Friday of every month.


From Cosmic Slop to Kosmik Radiation: it’s not often I imagine, that the radio waves of Madiscon, Wisconsin are abuzz with the rumblings of rock. But every Friday morning, between the ungodly hours of 2am and 5am, Dave 3000 and his extensive record collection host Kosmik Radiation – a radio show dedicated to the clashing of the great titans… Psych vs. Prog. Playing underground sounds from the second half of the twentieth century, Kosmik Radiation plays a rainbow of rock ranging from The Monks, Curved Air and Silver Apples to more recent pretenders to the throne like Mission of Burma and Ariel Pink. So turn on, tune into Wort 89.9 FM, and drop out!


Nobody needs an excuse to visit the charming climes of Barcelona, but 14th November provides one sound reason in particular. If you’ve got 10 Euros in your pocket and find yourself on the Plaza d’Adria, take a turn into Calle Vallmajor No. 33 and descend the steps of the Jazz Room, home to The Boiler Club. The club’s staple diet of rhythm and soul will be accompanied by a side of jazz and a garnish of Jamaican grooves, served up by resident DJs Jordi Duro, Alberto Valle and Cristina Alonso.


Less exotic but equally electrifying is Glasgow’s newest club night, The Psychedelic Ballroom, and it promises to live up to the moniker. Held on the second Friday of each month in the subterranean depths of Waterloo Street’s Admiral Bar, hosted by Glaswegian gypsy bluesters The Balladeers and headlined by leading live acts, The Psychedelic Ballroom is gonna shake Glasgow up. Balladeer Gav Troon is steadfast in his purpose: “We’re trying to move away from the other garage and psych nights which are out there. The plan is to approach it from a different angle, with heavier things like Iron Butterfly and Hawkwind.” With previous headline acts including beardy psych ambassadors The Hidden Masters and future events buzzing with the promise of specially commissioned video projections and moves from go-go girls The Balladettes, this is one not to be missed.


12 UNEARTHED


A lost Downliner’s Sect recording, dug out of the depths of obscurity, RICHARD S JONES investigates.


Months, years, even decades can pass for record hunters without ever hitting upon a discovery so rare, its unearthing will spark instant hysteria. For most record hunters that is. Not for 29-year-old Subury resident and avid crate-digger Gary Kyle however, who recently unearthed a recording of a “forgotten EP” by The Downliner’s Sect amongst a batch of self-help and hypnosis tapes bought at an auction. Previously lost and thought gone forever,


Gary was first to admit that his purchase was by all accounts a, “punt on something that looked like it could be interesting.” A punt that has since blown understatement


out of the water given that this freshly dug copy is now believed to be the only known tape of this particular recording in existence. “In a way, I was distantly dreaming of some


RG Morden or Fine Recording Studio style haul, but in reality the Sect tape has been the only real find. It seems incredibly out of place among all the self-help stuff and various random tapes,” Gary explains further. After a discussion with The Downliner’s


The Supremes


That’s the winter’s nights covered then, but what about the days? When you’re not spending them eating all the best ones left in that tin of Quality Streets (I’m sure that’s not just me), how about taking a trip to Tyne and Wear? No, I haven’t taken leave of my senses; I’m talking about the Shipley Art Gallery. From 24th October to 24th January it will be home to one of the biggest and best exhibitions, about one of the world’s biggest and best girl groups – The Story Of The Supremes From The Mary Wilson Collection. Featuring over fifty sequin-festooned frocks (some of which cost a jaw-dropping $2,000 each), the exhibition examines the role the group played in changing racial perceptions and the rise of Motown Records. The display charts their rise from The Primettes to The Supremes, and there’s also archive performance footage of the girls. I hear a symphony…


If the Psychedelic Ballroom has got the club night covered, those generous chaps at Scotland’s finest mod mag Double Breasted Fanzine has got the winter weekender in hand. A Little Mixed Up is an alldayer taking place at the Winchester Club on Glasgow’s Bell Street, on 28th November. It boasts a club night and 8 live bands (many of whom are featured on the top-notch CD free with the current issue of the ’zine) for just £10. From Scotland’s finest purveyors of up tempo R ’n’ B, The Five Aces to Les Bof!, premier French-language garage rockers from Scotland’s badlands, to a-singin’ and a-dancin’ Hammond beatniks Modus, A Little Mixed Up will leave your head spinning.


Sect’s lead vocalist Don Craine, Kyle soon discovered that the tape was initially titled Bright Lights, Big City and originally recorded after the sect’s live EP A Nite In Great Newport Street and amidst the mass confusion of a pressing plant closure, which saw the EP fall off the radar during the band’s signing to EMI. Containing the unheard tracks, ‘Bright


Lights, Big City’, ‘Mona (I Need You Baby)’, ‘Do The Dog’ and ‘Rock ’n’ Roll Music’, Gary is grateful for the path the tape has taken since they were originally lost so many years ago. ‘”What strikes me is not just how fluky I am in finding a lost gem, but also how lucky it is that the tape ended up in the hands of someone who recognised it after all these years.” And the future of these recordings? “I've since met with Don and agreed a way


forward to releasing it. I help run a record label and will press it up and release it myself, as authentic to the original design as possible. I was kinda hoping he still had the original sleeves and we might be able to release it in those, but there are only two left. Don has one and I think Terry Gibsonhas the other.” Now there’s something to look forward to


and inspiration if ever there was such a thing to keep mining those dusty crates.


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