Powers of Ten (1977)

A while ago,I came across this information:

"Btw, I had a duo with Gordon during that period, dubbed 'Pills for Ills' for the Wexner and Cleveland Cinematheque live performances of new film scores we had composed (to accompany two of Charles and Ray Eames' great films, 'Powers of Ten' and 'Tops') as part of the avant garage music/film series, for a couple consecutive years of its run"...
So I asked Phillip, for more...

"I met Gordon in the late '90s shortly after he moved to Columbus, Ohio where I have lived since 1990.
At the time, I was working in an 'art house' video rental store that was called Aardvark Video and he became a customer there. We soon became friends and shortly began to collaborate on the music/film scores.
I was then, and still remain, enamored of the Charles and Ray Eames films- some of which I saw as a child in my early school days- and I had recently rediscovered them after reading a book by Paul Schrader ('Schrader on Schrader') in which he devoted a section to them.
I had begun making music for short films a few years earlier, mainly by participating in an annual series called the Avant Garage Music and Film festival, which my friend Tim Lanza organized and ran for about 8 or 9 consecutive years.
The general concept of the series was to have several artists or groups compose new scores to accompany existing (often silent) short films, and to perform these live with the film screenings in a public venue for an audience.
I suggested to Gordon that we should attempt to re-score the Eames' films 'Powers of Ten' or "Tops",depending on his reaction to seeing them for the first time. We first watched 'Powers of Ten' and he responded immediately to it, even DJing along with it on this first viewing, if I remember things correctly.
He happened to have had some records already selected that- by sheer coincidence- seemed to work perfectly for the film, and we decided immediately that we would perform a new score based on this for the series. Gordon would perform with two turntables and I would be adding electric static and guitar noises. This was performed at the Wexner Center for the Arts and was well received.
We enjoyed the experience ourselves and decided to do another score for the Eames' film "Tops" the following year for the next installment of the series. Gordon was to be away during the dates of the actual performances, so he contributed to the score with a recording of a piano piece he had improvised some time earlier.
This piece also happened to accidentally work perfectly for a major section of the film and I found it easy to incorporate this into what was otherwise a drum and melodica-based score.
I performed it alone on melodica along with the recorded piano and drum pieces for the film screenings which occurred in Columbus and Cleveland, at the Wexner Center and the Cleveland Cinemateque, respectively.
The name 'Pills for Ills' was a purely ridiculous one I had chosen to use for this second collaboration of ours, partly because I believed I would have to present it myself in Gordon's absence and didn't want the ads to specifically list (or NOT list) him by name as appearing."

Between 1950 and 1982, Charles and Ray Eames made over 100 short films ranging from 1 to 30 minutes in length.
They also made slide shows and multiscreen presentations.
From 1953 is this visually stunning production,

A Communications Primer
Delightful.

Related article in Senses of Cinema

Up Here in the Clouds

From Isolation Recordings website:



"For its first CD release of the year,
Isolation is delighted to announce that this will be
Up Here In The Clouds by Cindytalk.
Up Here In The Clouds is a laptop set by Cindytalk,
who for the past 25 years have been beguiling
and challenging listeners with their beautiful,
uncompromising sound.
The album will be released in a limited edition of 500."

Imagery

The two bottles found in some Cindytalk-related images come from Smile Magazine,produced by Stewart Home in 1985.
About his graphics,he has said:
"...my graphics are usually simple. A prime example of this is a photograph of a packet of tea with the word 'FREEDOM' underneath. These two elements set up a simple but effective dialectical opposition between the slogan 'FREEDOM' and the historical reality of the production of tea being based on slavery.
So while there isn't necessarily much visual delectation to be taken from the graphic and it only requires the viewer to look at it for a few minutes, for anyone intelligent enough to understand how the racket we call society is organized, this combo could potentially spark off hours of thought on the inequities of commodity production and the bourgeois world."

"Haud yer WHEESHT!"

In January 2007 Cindytalk signed a licensing deal with Italian distributors Abraxas.
A sub-label,Wheesht, will shortly be re-issuing their entire back catalogue,re-mastered and re-packaged.
Wheesht will be "run" by Gordon Sharp and longtime friend Maurizio Fasolo of Italian band Pankow.

Sharps' own label touchedRAW is in the process of releasing three albums:
* Cindytalk - "The Crackle Of My Soul"
* Matt Kinnison - "Evenings Of Ordinary Sand"
* Ship On Fire - "Bits And Bobby August"
London independent label Isolation will release another Cindytalk album, "Up Here In The Clouds" (2007).

No more heroes

"No more heroes"
A Complete History of UK Punk from 1976 to 1980.
Written by Alex Ogg.
Published by Cherry Red Books in 2006.

MacBeth

"MacBeth the real person was a very benevolent and kind king. During his reign (1040-1057) Scotland didn't have any expansionist ideas. He was concerned with what happened within the country. It's interesting how a very clever playwright can come along and destroy your reputation entirely for possibly propagandist reasons. At the time the play was written it was important for the English to believe that Scots kings were bad people -- heathens and primitives.

It was a good way of darkening the soul of a powerful character from Scottish history."I looked into it and I got really pissed off that that had happened. I like the darkness of the name MacBeth but, knowing the historical truth, I thought that I'd like to use the name for both purposes. It has a power, but also in the context of dissemination of information -- if I can sort of lighten the name of the true MacBeth then I'd be quite chuffed about that."

Snippet from soon-to-be-published Cindytalk interview for French Magazine "Trinity":

"MacBeth was in many ways destined to become a one-off project.In truth,the track "Help Me Lift You Up" was intended to be a Cindytalk track (for the CD compilation Volume 5) but I never felt happy with it.The line-up on the track was all wrong.Robin Guthrie and myself managed to cancel each other out,leaving only Nadia Lanman's cello as a bright spot.I decided not to use the name Cindytalk as the whole process lacked the energy or creative spark that was always present in our recordings.It just felt wrong.In doing so,I had a brief flirtation with the idea of more songs of that nature but time just moved on so quickly and left that idea in it's wake.It's always possible that I will return to the idea of recording some acoustic based songs in the future but I doubt if I will resurrect the name MacBeth".



MacBeth was a Cindytalk side-project established to explore covers of songs or traditional Scottish songs."Help me lift you up" is a Mary Margaret O'Hara cover that appeared in 1992 for the CD+book magazine Volume,number 5.


Volume 5 MacBeth photo by Simon Bower
Pinky Cindy photo by Nicole Huber

Rare Hearsay

Cocteau Twins live recording
The Venue,Victoria London
November 16th 1982

Gordon Sharp sings in the first track,"Hearsay Please"
(added to the player) and the last one,an encore,
"It's All But An Ark Lark".

Recorded by CB and mastered by Josef Karol.

Not In Colour

"It's October, so it's raining. Only 50 yards walk fast, faster, trotting, running jumping, made it. The train ticket wasn't an option and the barrier's only 4 feet high. Money for drink now and that drink will be in Chamber Street tax dodgers union where The Freeze will play an encore longer than a set - it's always the way.

I'm on the guest list because I've got a car, shit I've got a car, why did I catch the train! I meet Billy and go to the pub first, Ramones on the jukebox, "Go Mental", so we do. One hour to Freeze time, a slow walk, more pubs on the way. Two pubs from Chamber Street Billy remembers he's late getting home, should've been back in June. Truth is he won't go to the Freeze because he auditioned on keyboards and Gordon said he was bottom of the list, he was the entire list so an optimist might say top, he's still waiting for the call.

In Chamber Street I see Gordon, he's sitting in the corner, a finer display of undisguised indifference to the students who talk at him, I have never seen. He's obviously writing in his head. The sounds he writes may be for tonight or may be 20 years time, his concentration span is rather longer than that of most.
I decide to talk at him too. "What's Paranoia about?" "Can't say, figure it out." He never would explain that song to me but I know he's told everyone else, why, why them and not me, what's going on, am I the only one he won't tell? I'll work it out later, he will sing it at least twice, because he has to, if he doesn't the audience will rip him to shreds, so they all know.

The set will include BG123, I know that's a lift, Her Eyes, I don't know who she is, For JPS, Jean Paul Satre, Celebration, Louise Brooks and of course PsycoDalek Nightmares, doomsday.
The encore will cover the rest of an expanding repetoire. Fifteen minutes to go, the band disappear into the bogs to change. Bandages to be applied for a three minute opener during which bandages will be unravelled to reveal Gordon's face. The opening number is always the same and sets the tone, if I could remember the name of it I would share it, but I can't, if I could remember the words, I would share them, but I can't. I know the tempo, slow to fast put very before both. I know the chant it ends with, so I will share it, "you're gonna die, die die, die die, die, die, you're gonna die, you're gonna die. I know who died but that's private and tragic and still hurts us all.

The gig is over, time to break the news to Gordon that I forgot I have a car and we're going home by train. If we had the car he would sit in silence for the entire 30 minute drive back to Linlithgow, then I would stop at his house and he would talk for 2 hours. Last week he mentioned something called CindyTalk. CindyTalk would be his next venture. Named after Sindy the kiddies doll, you pull a chord in her neck and she would speak a randomly chosen inane, incomprehensible phrase, could you base a band on that, I didn't think so!"

Text by Andy Hutchinson,aka Plastic Orcadian

Electric

A: When did you start playing live again, in your new formation?

G: We began to rehearse with the purpose of playing live in the beginning of 1993. We played our first gig, under the name Lucinder, in December 1993. And we played 6 gigs under that name from December until March of 1994. We kept it quiet, and then at the end of that period, the last two gigs, we invited some people, to get some feedback. We were getting a good reaction, so we played our first show as Cindytalk, on the 16th of March, 1994. And we chose a smallish venue and tried to tell as many people as we could, expecting not to be many people there, we'd been at the venue before and it was practically empty, so we weren't expecting too much. I hid in the dressing room for two or three minutes until it was time to go on stage and I came out of the dressing room and I practically couldn't get through the crowd, it was so packed. I was shocked. The atmosphere was electric. I could just feel it. I had been waiting 12 years for that moment, for Cindytalk to play live. Something in me had lost hope about it, didn't think it would happen. And so walking out, through the crowd that night, I know from my own point of view, I had been waiting 12 years, but I didn't expect to feel like a sizable portion of the crowd had been waiting that long too. It was just an electric atmosphere. It was incredible. It really affected a lot of people. It was really really special. I don't even know if I enjoyed it that much, because it was tense and so scary. But I know it was an important experience. I know it was really good. I wouldn't have liked to see it on video, or listen to it on tape, ever. It couldn't match the atmosphere I actually felt as it happened. Very special.

Tear Down The Sky Volume 12, 1995

Sounds:
Cindytalk Live Seattle Feb 28th 1996
By This River (Eno cover)

Photos by Steve Gullick

"... as the sun through a lens..."

Photo and texts from the Midnight Music official press release for
"Secrets and Falling". (Click on the texts to read them and enjoy
"Song of Changes" in the player).

"In 1991, SECRETS AND FALLING saw daylight, an EP containing four titles that opened the doors to a new CINDYTALK. This album is a renaissance: the voice returns more troubled and present than ever, while the instrumentation of guitar-bass-drums impose themselves anew in the breast of the atmospheric sounds. A life brilliant, furious, heated, and bruised pours out; on In Sunshine, a trumpet corroborates the shivering joy while enfolding the melody beneath a hood of nostalgia. Empty Hand's descent into Hell tightens the atmosphere, curving one's spine to the lyrical flights of Gordon Sharp's voice -- pain culminating in unison with supreme pleasure."
"CINDYTALK", Trinity No. 2 (Winter), 1998
Stanislas Chapel,translated by Sandra

Follow Sun Ra

I SOLD EVERYTHING I OWNED
YESTERDAY
WHAT I COULDN'T SELL
I THREW AWAY

WHAT I DIDN'T THROW
I LIT A FIRE I DUG A HOLE
SOME THINGS NEED A RITUAL
BEFORE YOU LET THEM GO

IT'S TIME TO GO
IT'S TIME TO LEAVE
IT'S TIME TO DISAPPEAR

TO FOLLOW SUN RA

CARTHAGE NINEVAH JUPITER MARS
CARTHAGE NINEVAH JUPITER MARS
CARTHAGE NINEVAH JUPITER MARS
CARTHAGE NINEVAH JUPITER MARS

I'M GOING HOME...


After The Flood 2, review

Gordon Sharp - voice
Richard Young - bass,electronics
Dale Lloyd - drums,percussion,electronics

Splinter and Move

Splinter and Move",a "Camouflage Heart"-era track can be found in the Midnight Music compilation"Between Today and Tomorrow".

On February 01, 2006 6:04 PM
if in doubt turn up the gain, said...

"Splinter and Move" was mainly a John Byrne/Gordon Sharp track,with David Clancy adding (great but) minimal guitar to it.
It was recorded live in David's bedroom at Priory Road,Crouch End in early 1984 and if it wasn't for the shrieks of feedback from the microphone,it would have been included on "Camouflage Heart" for sure.It was thankfully rescued by the aforementioned midnight compilation.There was an interesting experimental noise track from late 1983 called "Kiss the Wiseman",written and performed live by Gordon Sharp,David Clancy and Matt Kinnison (16 at the time) but the tape of that has been lost to "storage & travelling..."

Cindytalk circa 1984.Photo by Cliff Ash who also photographed the "Camouflage Heart" session.
From left to right: Gordon Sharp,John Byrne & David Clancy.

Vocal Counterpoint

Gordon Sharp singing with fellow Scots Cocteau Twins
at The Odeon, Hammersmith,
spring of 1983 opening for OMD
(Photography by Mick Mercer)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
On the Peel Session recordings of "Hazel" and "Dear Heart,"
Liz has her only vocal accompaniment ever on a Cocteau Twins record
with Gordon Sharp of Cindytalk (along with extra lyrics not featured on the original recording).
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"We did our second Peel session recently",enthuses Liz."We're really pleased with it and the new songs came up better than they do on the EP- I shouldn't really say that,should I ? " she chuckles,"but Gordon Sharp,
a friend of ours who used to be in The Freeez (sic) came along and added some vocals,and it came up pretty well".
(Melody Maker March 19,1983)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"THAT John Peel session-a fabulously exquisite tapestry of supreme,breathtaking power..."
(Sounds May 21,1983)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"The original version of Hazel rocks as few other Cocteau tracks do, but the stunning BBC Sessions version manages to surpass it, mostly due to the great vocal contributions by Gordon Sharp, vocalist with Cindytalk.It would seem virtually impossible to compete with Liz on the vocal level, and to his credit Gordon Sharp doesn't try to emulate Liz' parts. Instead he delivers some straightforward but extremely effective background vocals, mostly consisting of the single line "to the outside.... "
The band apparently chose to gradually shift the emphasis between the two vocalists, which works wonderfully well.In the first parts Liz is singing on her own, but Gordon gradually increases his contributions.
Midway through the two have a mesmerizing vocal exchange, and in the final parts Gordon gives a fabulous demonstration of how to end a song with some desolate vocals.The result of all these vocal fireworks is an incredible version of an already great track".
(Eric Roosendal)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Hazel" hammers the dance floor at reportedly two-hundred-seventy beats per minute (quite fast for that time...very few drum machines could do that) and sounds less dramatic than the BBC version, the nagging guitar sounding more minimal and less important, and Gordon Sharp's (Cindytalk) countering vocal entirely not there. I imagine this sounds great before listening to the BBC version, but once you have heard that, then one cannot think the same again about the studio version of "Hazel" since it feels suddenly lacking.
(Comment by property_two in rateyourmusic.com)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

"Your train-stations are my radio waves..."

touchedRADIO channel list is as follows :

tR 1 : touchedRAWKISSEDsour,a cindytalk compilation (1982-1994).

t/list : muster.cherish.everybody is christ.memories of skin and snow.gift of a
knife.touched.homeless.my sun.the beginning of wisdom.angels or ghosts.a song of changes.prince of lies.disappear.in sunshine.wheesht.still whisper.

tR 2 : FieryPlanetEyes,the dj mix of the "lost" cindytalk album (1996-2001).

t/list: vertical invasion.stars collide.architect/sa.rhizome.total devastation of the heart.this is who we are.rhizome.could that dream be free.my last request.
gabber-isolate.can i be your sister.a flame that flies.rhizome.sada abe.joy is the aim.dead flower or living.

tR 3 : The Freeze Live (1980/1981).

t/list : intro.angel sand.camera code.building on holes.from the bizarre.
a tower in the distance.this is no surprise.quietly burning.location.
lullaby in black.sunday.

tR 4 : After The Fireflies,a cindytalk dj mix.various artists (2005/2006).

t/list includes : field recording.gagaku (ancient japanese court music).cindytalk.autechre.edward artemyev.somatic responses(renegade hybrid rmx).fenno'berg.asmus tietchens.pita.
plastikman.oval.wasteland(renegade hybrid rmx).public image ltd.cindytalk.ryoji ikeda. main.if then do.ryoji ikeda.japanese folk voices.cindytalk.otomo yoshihide.
wasteland vs aphex twin (renegade hybrid).einsturzende neubauten.cindytalk. ryoji ikeda.robert wyatt.

tR 5 : Up Here In The Clouds,a collection of recent cindytalk sketches/ideas (2003/2006).

t/list : surrounded by sky.shibuku.a distant kite.splendid china miniature scenic spot.i walk until i fall.transgender warrior (mistmix).multiple landings.switched to lunar.the anarchist window.cloud symphony no.3.

tR 6 : Dj Fatal grime/dubstep mix from 2003 on deja vu fm,london pirate radio.

(Unfortunately,touchedradio is NO LONGER available.
We are currently working on other audio options).

Live at the ICA ( London),04.05.94

Photography by Steve Gullick

Cindytalk are currently working on a new (band) album provisionally entitled "In A World Without Hope".
The current line-up, also in rehearsal for future live shows
in and around Europe is :
Cinder - voice and electronics ; Matt Kinnison - bass ;
Andie Brown - bass ; Paul Middleton - drums & percussion ;
Shrill - electronics.

Ambi-dustrial Noise & Hushed Assaults

Back in 1994,a flyer said:

+--------------------------------------+
"CINDYTALK meets dj TERROREYES

 for a night of ambi-dustrial noise exploration

 with maybe just a squirt of ACIDTECHNO

 happening at 121 railton road brixton SE24

 on friday the 21st of october 1994 at 9.00pm until late"
+--------------------------------------+



And here is the text from another flyer advertising a Cindytalk gig in London in 1995:

+--------------------------------------+
| " Lizard magazine presents
| CINDYTALK
| in the first of the hushed assaults of 1995
| plus b a r b e d and s p a c e h e a d s
| good friday april 14th
| kennedy hall irish centre murray st
| off camden rd just past camden sq
| camden london nw1"
+--------------------------------------+




"Hushed" photos by Steve Gullick.

"Silver shoals of light"

New Cindytalk track added to the player.
Been meaning to ask...
The new album will be called "In A World Without Hope" but
what is "Unhinged 200ATCAKE Howl"?

...The spiritS behind the circus dream...

This photo resurfaced a while ago.
The time?
The people?
This?

"Cindytalk was formed in 1982 by Gordon Sharp (Vocals) and David Clancy (Guitar, Keyboards) from the ashes of Edinburgh based punk/new wave band The Freeze.The Freeze (1976-1982) released two 7inch singles,recorded two John Peel sessions and played extensively around the UK supporting many big name bands of the time. After re-locating to London in 1982,Cindytalk began to work towards their debut album Camouflage Heart,with a newer,darker and more fractured sound that drew much from post-punk and early european industrial music.In 1983 Sharp and Clancy were joined by John Byrne who proved to be a crucial component in Cindytalk's deliberately disintegrating sound..."

Soul Crackle

Floating in the net,
a discussion about
music,
noise,
Cindytalk
and
"The Crackle of My Soul"...


"Is it music or noise? Well, I'm no authority... I consider every noise to be music in potential. I liked it though, whatever it was. If life were a stream, this guy would be swimming with the current".
********************************************************************
"Wanted a fresh set of ears, cos to me this really IS so different from most noise stuff whose only concern usually is to brutalise and confuse the listener or even most avant-classical stuff which is usually overly technical or dry. This stuff is completely different I think.
"Soul" music indeed".
********************************************************************
"It sounds pretty brutal to me."
********************************************************************
"To me it sounds "Beautiful". Although I've had my periods of being immersed in noise. This is the thing that interests me about it. The USUAL idea with someone making noise IS brutality. That's why I say that this is completely different. Perhaps we're so used to connecting noise with brutality that we automatically assume it. Jonnyboy saw it as more like "art" which is also something we're used to : noise as art. Noise as beauty maybe is harder to comprehend. Although I'm not presuming my interpretation is the "correct" one. Jonnyboy is right when he says "art" cos this stuff is presented in an "art" way, although there's more to it than that. "Brutal" is also correct. Cindytalk can be very brutal. And "beauty" is also correct.
It's interesting how different people take out of it different things.
Cindytalk is however ALL these things. (And more).
A recurring theme in his career is the juxtaposition of extremes and the collision of opposites".
*********************************************************************
"Music is a pretty abstract medium though,don't you think? Expressing that which can't be expressed in words etc. That's the strength of music. The traditional rock "narrative" form of music would seem to be a denial of the power of music, putting the importance on the words. Now, there ARE Cindytalk songs with words, and I get kinda frustrated when Sharp doesn't sing cos he's one of my favourite voices. There's a double album called "In This World" where even though I love his voice and his lyrics are great, the 2nd disc which is comprised almost entirely of improvised piano pieces is the one that completely astounds me".
*********************************************************************
"My definition of noise as opposed to "music", is that noise is something random and unorganised and music is something that is made by a musician and is something that the musician has organised in order to put across a certain feeling or expressiveness or whatever. These tracks are made up of noise but their organisation makes them music, whereas in this definition someone sitting playing the guitar very badly and cliched I would see as "noise".
(Ever heard a room full of teenage guitarists noodling between songs? noise!).
The difference is the expression or "soul" of the musician or artist".
*********************************************************************
"I posted a while ago some music by Cindytalk that was to all intents and purposes "noise". Except that it wasn't. It was "beauty".The reason why is that it had the order , the symmetry, the proportion.This is what separates it from actual random noise, which doesn't".
*********************************************************************
"An instinctive grasp of what "beauty" is".
*********************************************************************


Photo by Steve Gullick and thanks to Cregan for the insightful words.

Maglev

Uploaded to the player,the track "Maglev",
live at Otoya Kobe May 2005,
featuring a sample from Macabre Unit's Shooting Stars.

"Wait, wonder and wander"

MADRIGAL, a film by Rabblewise



Work on the soundtrack,provided by Cindytalk,still in progress

"Dancer,alchemist and warrior,always female"

A: Tell me about your circle of friends that appear in Muster.

G: Well, Muster, in relation to the Wappinschaw, is an invocation of the spirits. Because I'm basically fucked off with the way our world is changing- in the opposite direction- and also pissed off at people's attitude, that they're not doing anything about it. And looking back over history, near and far and seeing how people with true soul and spirit and ideas and poetry try to reach out through their physical and artistic action to at least suggest change, in some instances to directly try to change things that might be forcing down upon them. That ranges from Ulrike Meinhof, terrorist...to Don Quixote de la Mancha who is the world's most wonderful cloud, who I am madly in love with. Each and every character is there for a reason. I wanted to find more women, and I looked really hard, but that was the wrong way to look at it, and I mention it because it's really quite important to me, it bothers me still. But I realized it would be very false of me to actively go and academically search for them- because that's not the same as being inspired by- they inspire me because they're there. They're just people who have some way affected me, in my life. I grew up always having some kind of oppositional attitude to things. As an adult too. It relates to anybody and anything that stands in a separate position instinctively, and creates their own space irrespective of the disruptions and destructions. So when feeling low, and in despair and wanting to conjure up ghosts, I think these are the ghosts I'd like to conjure up in spirit to come and galvanize people into thinking and acting and leaving behind apathy and trying to create beauty and ultimately joy. Because that's what we're after. Joy is the key.

Tear Down the Sky,Volume 12 1995

"Take my hand..."

Melody Maker (October 22, 1994):

"The office stereo's packed up (again), which means I have no way of ascertaining if this semi-spoken, semi-illusional oddity from Cindytalk is half as intriguing as I thought on cursory listen sometime back in the Dark Ages. Probably." (Everett True)

Looking at the other artists reviewed on the page,this must have been an oddity indeed!

"Prince of lies"

take my hand
take my hand
take me...
anywhere you want to
touch my lips
touch my lips
touch me...
anyway you want to

i won't kiss you
if i kiss you
i could be
the queen of heaven

i won't love you
if i love you
i could be
the queen of heaven
the queen of heaven
the queen of heaven

away...
away...
away

VOICESawryPHUTUREsounds...

The thistle:
wild,prickly,pointing upwards.
The journey continues...
Demo version of "For the Benefit of All",
coming release on the Wheest label,
uploaded to the player.

That book...

"He only read from a book & screamed during his set..."
( A Bostonian's reaction)

"What you hear is all that is there.
I see a parallel with Haiku poetry.
The words and the music
are not symbolic of anything.
They are everything."

Cindytalk interview,Melody Maker (April 16), 1988


Photos courtesy of pepe king prawn, live in London 1993/4(?)

NoiseBroken

cindytalk's the crackle of my soul,
bobby august's debut album and
matt kinnison's evenings of ordinary sand
will be released on the touchedRAW label
before the end of the year,hopefully.

Track "Of Ghosts and Buildings" uploaded to the player.

Photo "The Poetry of Decay" by cinder

"Not so fast, just as loud"

"THE FREEZE are a band who,quite simply,deserve your attention.They are David Clancy (guitar),Keith Grant (bass),Graeme Radin (drums),Gordon Sharp (vocals) and,added recently,Tony Wallis (guitar,saxophone and clarinet).
Coming from Linlithgow near Edinburgh,they've worked very hard for the last two years,gigging constantly around Scotland.During this time they've supported a wide range of acts,from Sham 69 to Echo and the Bunnymen,and have progressed from being fairly ordinary to perhaps the most impostant band in Scotland today.They currently possess a set packed with numbers which grab your attention and don't let go.The main indication of their strength is the fact that their best songs are so diverse,making them extremely difficult to categorise and impossible to associate with any of the current muisc-paper invented fads.Unfortunately,this had repercussions,namely very little coverage in the music press.
They've released two singles,the "In Colour" EP of last year and the recent "Celebration" both on their own A1 label.
Although these singles are both excellent,most of their best songs are as yet unrecorded-the new "Perfect Call" with its speedy,hypnotic riff (it would make a great single),the disciplined power of "Lullaby in Black",the rampaging "Closed Circuit" and a great version of Eno's "Baby's on Fire".

The first topic discussed when I spoke to Gordon and Graeme recently was "Celebration".
Gordon:"It's about a silent film star called Louise Brooks who had her peak period from 1927-1929.She was supposed to be an excellent actress,she probably surpassed Dietrich and Garbo,she got some good parts in films but the trouble was that she wouldn't toe the line with the directors and producers and therefore her talent was spoiled by the fact that eventually they'd begin to lose interest in her because she wouldn't do what they told her.She wanted to do her own thing,that's really the basis of her story.
An unusual subject for a song as I am sure you'll agree.The other side of the single is "Crossover",a quiet,delicate piece which seems to be more of an atmosphere than anything else.Gordon agrees.
"It is meant to be very atmospheric,"Crossover" is very much about mood music,it's not really meant to be a definite song,it's a piece of music with vocals on it,in fact at one point,I would have preferred there had been no vocals on it".
This is not to say that the lyrics are meaningless.Apparently they are based around the idea of reincarnation.We talk about how sound is better on "Celebration" than it was on "In Colour",the band seem to view work in the studio as a process of trial and error.How happy are they with "Celebration" compared to the first single?
Gordon:"Much happier than the first one,not 100% obviously,when you get to the stage of being 100% what have you got to work for?I'll never be happy with our sound".
Next up is the question of success,something that The Freeze haven't found easy to locate,although as Gordon says they have been succesful in their own way in that they've pleased a lot of people and sold 3 or 4,000 copies of "In Colour".
I wonder to what extent they desire commercial success?
Gordon:"I'm not really sure if I want to get the same success as The Police,to name a band.I'm not sure if I really want that because every single they release sounds exactly the same.They started off as a good band and they're still a good band but they don't do much..."
Unfortunately,there is one major hurdle to be overcome before The Freeze can ever be commercially succesful.The fact is that most people have never heard their music.Their singles have not exactly exploded onto the Radio 1 playlist and they've had little or no advertising.This leaves the alternative of live gigs which is virtually impossible outside Scotland.
Gordon:"We'd love to go to London to do gigs,to try to break through there but it's very difficult getting in there,it's a vicious circle.The promoters say "we like your records,come down and we'll see you" and we can't get down till they book us and they won't book us until they've seen us,so we're stuck.You've got to know somebody,it's who you know that counts".
One controversial aspect of The Freeze is Gordon's image.It has always been very direct and has led many people to mistake his confidence on stage for arrogance and big headeness and subsequently to dislike the band.Gordon sees his image as being quite natural.
"My image is really feminine at the moment.When I say "at the moment" I don't mean that's just a phase I'm going through but I'm doing that just now.I've been doing that for a long time,I even did that two years ago although it wasn't as outward as it is now.The image is just an extension of what I am as a person.It's not even an image.It's just me.It's not contrived,just what I feel like".
In the future,The Freeze just want to continue making music that they themselves like and that makes people think.They are not a "political" band,their songs do not contain banal slogans.On the other hand,they are not a disposable pop band.If there is an overall message it is don't sell yourself and remain an individual.They are not against compromise,they will listen to suggestions but will not follow orders from anyone.
I suggest that you listen to The Freeze soon.It would be a tragedy if a band this good was ignored.

Zig Zag magazine,September 1980
Article by Andy Crabb,pic by Hilary Kerr

Protest songs

On November 4th 2005,The Guardian's Culture Vulture blog asked readers about their favourite protest songs.An entry read:

"Circle Of Shit by Cindytalk,a song from 1988 that suggests that the US's disrespectful foreign policies and frightening world policing might bring retaliatory attacks to america.Prophetic."


CIRCLE OF SHIT (From In This World)
ecstasy is...original sin
ecstasy is...original sin
and no favours and no faith
still born into a world filled with fruit and delight

ecstasy is...original sin
ecstasy is...original sin

into a world not safe, a world is crying
eyes red with tears, red-stained blood-shit smears
a world is crying...

'we welcome you america - we are seeking martyrdom'
'generation of anger - generation of anger...may fire pour on america'

...insincere at the very least and beneath the shit he smiles
while he fucks, scaled down to size mr. terrorist himself
shouts and fails to see his own puppet-shit

and the mouth of man is breathing fire down on our heads
and beneath the marble floor, there lies a question
why does my body shudder, why does my body shudder so

ecstasy is...original sin

and escape from death into life can be the greatest mistake
the child sees only the birds, hears only the sound of water
kissing land, the sound of the wind shifting through time
and now it appears with the joy of life...
from the past, covered in the blood of ignorance
from the past, covered in the blood of ignorance


(This song was also covered by Black Rose in The Room Inside,
featuring Gordon Sharp on vocals.)

"Cindytalk: gruppo di frontera, musica unica e vertiginosa"

Contributing vocals,
ideas and inspiration,
Gordon Sharp collaborated
on these two Contempo releases.



"My sun is hanging low in this sky
and beckons me and taunts me
and cries:
(icarus,icarus make love to me)
I'll come to you on wings of snow
I'll come to you on wings of snow
I'll come to you on wings of snow..."

(Words for Black Rose's Moon Love)