#the wolfgang press

[sowhatifiliveintsuyazaki]

The Wolfgang Press

#4AD #THE WOLFGANG PRESS

[mywifeleftme]

292: Various Artists // Abstract Magazine Issue 5

Abstract Magazine Issue 5 Various Artists 1985, Sweatbox Just got up to flip the record after sitting cross-legged on the couch typing on my laptop for quite a bit, not realizing my leg had fallen asleep until I tried to plant on it and had to pinwheel my arms to keep from falling flat out and cracking my head into my turntable. Absolutely how the coroner will shoot my body someday too, ass-naked and alone on the floor of my apartment, surrounded by instruments I can’t play and books I haven’t gotten to, bleeding into my record collection with a scythe propped sardonically against the wall in the background.

Speaking of ignominious deaths, while doing some research on the compiler of today’s record, a post-punk compilation / fanzine combo from 1985, the first thing that came up was a 2007 post from Burl Veneer’s old Typepad blog, specifically this inimitable sentence: “Abstract was the brainchild of Rob Deacon, who died last month in a canoeing accident at age 42 (same as me).” Strange nautical coincidence that, and a neat trick for Burl to keep blogging after death too (in fact, he’s still at it here on Tumblr), but I kept link hopping, and have learned that Deacon was quite a special guy, and a pivotal figure in two or three generations of UK music.

There’s genuine fondness and grief in The Guardian obit, the kind they reserve for lesser-known people who busted their asses and made a difference behind the scenes in media, and they spell out a resume I’m a little ashamed not to have been more up on. He was in his late teens when he started Abstract magazine, profiling the cream of the post-punk crop and cajoling exclusive tracks out of a bunch of them. Abstract would eventually morph into his own label, the influential Sweatbox, but the magazine + compilation bug stuck with him, and he’d go on to start the CD-era Volume series, which moved real numbers for an indie comp and featured… Jesus, everybody, apparently. He followed that up with the groundbreaking Trance Europe Express and Trance Atlantic electronic compilations, became a dance night impresario, did music photography, started a label (Deviant)… and then he fell out of his fuckin’ boat. Damn.

Abstract #5 is a real time capsule of 1985, featuring songs and interviews with the likes of Swans, Gene Loves Jezebel, Cindytalk, Colourbox, and the Jazz Butcher, interspersed with record reviews, scene reports, comics and more. The written pieces are all over the place stylistically, some transcribed in a borderline-incoherent fashion, others fighting for their lives against the adventurous two-tone printed layouts, but it has a wonderful fanzine energy and a level of ballsy spite you don’t see much these days.

Nearly every artist has a bone to pick with their label or journalists or bands they used to like that sold out or fans who have any sort of expectations of them. (The editorial pages get into it too, describing Morrissey “prancing daffodilously” and previewing a new New Order tune called “I’ve Got a Cock Like the M1,” which would see daylight as “The Perfect Kiss.”)

It’s zany and vulnerable and, even just shy of 40 years later, totally inspiring stuff. Highlights include Swans’ Michael Gira’s typically serial killer-coded interview, in which he talks about watching TV for 14 hours a day and shares the trans body horrific lyrics to a song called “BASTARD” that would eventually come out during the band’s maniac 1986; an account from industrial music pioneers Test Dept of the ’84 miner’s strike in South Wales, with a photo of one member who appears to have two sets of upper teeth like a shark; and the 400 Blows talking about having recorded their contribution to the issue in an echoing drainage pipe in which they nearly became trapped and drowned.

Musically this is by design a mixed bag (side one is kind of the uncommercial, experimental bits; side two the peppier guitar pop stuff). None of these exclusives would make anyone’s definitive collection of any of these bands, but as a complete listening and reading experience, Abstract #5 is a beautiful celebration. Cheers to Rob.

292/365

#abstract magazine #rob deacon #swans #the jazz butcher #pat fish #colourbox #cindytalk #gene loves jezebel #test dept #the wolfgang press #400 blows #and also the trees #nyam nyam #in the nursery #'80s music #fanzine #post punk #noise rock #sweatbox #burl veneer

[shethesilhouette]

The Wolfgang Press 🩶

#the Wolfgang press #goth #post punk #music #youtube #darkwave

[americanprimitives]

The Wolfgang Press | Cut the Tree | 1987

#the wolfgang press

[manysundays]

#the wolfgang press #Youtube

[differenthead]

Volume 279

0:00:00 — "Still You (Could Do Better)" by J. Fargo (1986)

0:07:52 — DJ

0:11:43 — "Friend for Life" by The Fact (1986)

0:16:29 — "The Crazy Garden" by Message (1988)

0:21:01 — "Apologies" by They Fade in Silence (1986)

0:24:51 — "L'Or A..." by Excès Nocturne (1989)

0:29:10 — DJ

0:34:57 — "¡Chas! Y Aparezco a Tu Lado" (Versión Larga) by Alex y Christina (1988)

0:39:31 — "She Knows" by Balaam and the Angel (1986)

0:43:07 — "Ella Vendrá" by Don Cornelio y la Zona (1987)

0:47:44 — "Doctor Games" by Natalie Ann (1984)

0:50:48 — DJ

0:55:52 — "Danger Zone" by The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (1983)

0:59:46 — "My Way" by The Wolfgang Press (1985)

1:04:25 — "Turn of the Century" by Beat Rhythm Fashion (1981)

1:08:57 — "Forward from Hell" by Fade to Black (1984)

1:14:29 — DJ

1:20:16 — "Heart of Darkness" by Sinister Dexter (1985)

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#j. fargo #the fact #message #they fade in silence #exces nocturne #alex y christina #balaam and the angel #don cornelio y la zona #natalie ann #the nuclear regulatory commission #the wolfgang press #beat rhythm fashion #fade in black #sinister dexter

[maquina-semiotica]

The Wolfgang Press, "Going South"

#The Wolfgang Press #Spotify

[musicwithoutborders]

The Wolfgang Press, Muted  I Sweatbox, 1985

#The Wolfgang Press #nowhere

[radiophd]

the wolfgang press -- dig a hole

#1980s #rock #new wave #the wolfgang press

[sowhatifiliveintsuyazaki]

The Wolfgang Press (1991)

#4AD #THE WOLFGANG PRESS

[radioattic]

#the wolfgang press #scratch #kansas

[shethesilhouette]

The Wolfgang Press 🖤

#goth #music #post punk #darkwave #the wolfgang press

[captainpirateface]

#Executioner by The Wolfgang Press

Gameplay By #CaptainPirateFace

#fortnitechapter3season3

#fortnite #fortniteclips #fortnitecommunity #CaptainPirateFace #fortnitegameplay #fortnitegamer #fortnitetumblr #instagramfortnite #fortnitebattleroyale #fortnitefunny #fortnitelovers #fortnitegame #isuckatfortnite #fortnitethoughts #fortniteshenanigans #FortniteMemes #FortniteMeme #fortniteskincombo #FortStagram #FortniteOnTumblr

#captainpirateface #Fortnite #fortnite gameplay #bipolardepression #chemicalimbalance #The Wolfgang Press #Executioner #I suck at Fortnite #Fortnite Gamer #Fortnite Video #Funny Fortnite #Spotify

[gunthermunch]

[Transcript under the cut]

Ernest: 'i wasn't able to sleep tonight. again. I havent felt the rocks inside me rumble like this in a WHILE.' Ernest: 'my baby is about to be born, and they're worse than ever.' Ernest: '…I'm scared? maybe? no, you don't doubt fear.' Ernest: 'god. anyways, this isn't the place for my turbulence to go. i might need to get an actual diary, i can't let Mortimer see this… if that ever happens' Ernest: 'something isn't clicking, regarding what's healthy and not' Ernest: 'maybe Carmen is right. forget about fantasy, drop your ambitions. get a new, fresh job away from publishing houses and their crap.' Ernest: 'but… what about Him, then?' Bat chirps Ernest: WHO'S THERE?! Ernest: 'i don't even know anymore, all i know is that it's a freezing cold morning, and i had no sleep' Ernest: 'note to future self: get rid of all your personal stuff in here. you big baby.'

#LITTLE BAT.... #unlike ernest i did have some sleep and i forgot to press the publish button #ts4 #munch #ernest munch #wolfgang munch #gunther munch #mila munch #HELL YES THE FIRST PART OF THE PROLOGUE IS DONE....... #prologue

[garadinervi]

Johann Wolfgang Goethe, (1815), Des Epimenides Erwachen (Zweiter Aufzug, Vierter Auftritt) [The Awakening of Epimenides, Act II, Scene 4], quoted in Weiße Rose, Leaflet #1 [Summer 1942]

SPIRITS: Though he who has boldly risen from the abyss Through an iron will and cunning May conquer half the world, Yet to the abyss he must return. Already a terrible fear has seized him; In vain he will resist! And all who still stand with him Must perish in his fall. HOPE: Now I find my good men Are gathered in the night, To wait in silence, not to sleep. And the glorious word of liberty They whisper and murmur, Till in unaccustomed strangeness, On the steps of our temple Once again in delight they cry: Freedom! Freedom!

From: Inge Scholl, (1952), The White Rose. Munich 1942-1943, With an Introduction by Dorothee Sölle, Translated from the German by Arthur R. Schultz, Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, CT, 1983, p. 76

#graphic design #poetry #theatre #theater #book #johann wolfgang goethe #weiße rose #sophie scholl #inge scholl #else gebel #dorothee sölle #arthur r. schultz #wesleyan university press #1810s #1940s #1950s #1980s

[uwmspeccoll]

An Eichenberg Feathursday

Yesterday we presented some wood engravings by Fritz Eichenberg from the 1971 Limited Editions Club (LEC) production of Leo Tolstoy’s early semi-autobiographical work Childhood, Boyhood, Youth. While perusing other LEC books illustrated by Eichenberg, we came across his wood engravings for the 1954 LEC production of Goethe's version of The Story of Reynard the Fox, printed by the Gallery Press in New York in an edition of 1500 copies signed by the artist. We were taken by Eichenberg’s anthropomorphic depiction of animals, so we decided to display some of his bird images from the 25 engravings in this book for #Feathursday!. Of his work on this edition, Eichenberg writes:

What a chance for an artist who has spent an inordinate amount of time in many zoos and circuses sketching and studying animals, finding comfort in their company, and more often than not learning the valuable lessons from their behavior. Graver and boxwood seem again ideally suited to produce a great variety of textures, from the softness of fur to the sharpness of fang and claw.

View more posts on the work of Fritz Eichenberg.

View other posts on productions of the Limited Editions Club.

View more posts with wood engravings.

View more Feathursday posts.

#Feathursday #wood engravings #wood engravers #Fritz Eichenberg #Limited Editions Club #Johann Wolfgang von Goethe #Reynard the Fox #fine press books #illustrated books #birds #birbs!