“OMG” is the first track on the band’s single, so less of the teasing and here’s the video for your viewing pleasure…

Raised on Replicas addition to Louder Than War’s catalogue features a total of two fantastic ditties- “OMG” and the flip-side ”Sometimes”. This little gem is limited to just 300 7 inch black vinyl copies which you can treat yourself to in our shop, or as a download through Louder Than War.

Ten Notes on a Summer’s Day – The Swansong.  Recorded at Southern Studios Winter 1984–Summer 1985.

From the liner notes by Penny Rimbaud:

“Just as throughout our seven years’ existence as a punk band we had made concerted efforts to avoid specific political pigeonholing (‘left wing, right wing, you can stuff the lot’), so, musically, we attempted to push the barriers, always avoiding the obvious. In one respect alone we were absolutely consistent; our inconsistency. If the essentially rowdy Feeding of the Five Thousand and Stations Of The Crass had established us as the thinking man’s bovver band, so Penis Envy broke the mould as an almost lyrical, yet still very angry piece of rock ’n’roll feminism. And just as at the very time that the BBC thought us safe enough to be given airplay, so we ploughed in with Christ–The Album, an uncompromisingly avant-garde noise album which in its own way went a long way in redefining rock’n’roll’s limited parameters. Then, in much the same way as our fifth album, Yes Sir, I Will, owed more to free jazz than to rock, so Ten Notes On A Summer’s Day nudged itself towards modern European atonality, and us completely out of the rock’n’roll arena (as testified to by dramatically reduced record sales). In this sense, Ten Notes On A Summer’s Day truly was a swansong.”

Ten Notes is available now from our web shop, and to celebrate we are also making available a bundle of all six Crassical CDs for a special price.  We also have the first five CDs available at a special price. Still to come from the Crassical Collection is the Best Before 1984 CD (a collection of Crass’ singles and other bits) and Love Songs, the lyric book.  We hope to have those both ready before the year is out.

Ten Notes On A Summer’s Day track list:

1. Ten Notes On A Summer’s Day Vocal Version
2. Ten Notes On A Summer’s Day Instrumental Version
3. Acts of Love No.37 – remix version (Penny Rimbaud/Eve Libertine)
4. Pills & Ills (Hit Parade/Penny Rimbaud, from Hit Parade’s Nick Nack Paddy Whack, Southern Studios, 1984)
5. Rocky Eyes (Penny Rimbaud/A-Soma, December 1994)
6. Outro including Acts Of Love No.39 (Penny Rimbaud. from Acts Of Love, and Oh America, featuring Barber’s ‘Adagio’ with The English Chamber Choir, 2002)

Thanks.

We have long held a flame for Furrier, the Grumbling Fur album on the icy cool Aurora Borealis label. We quickly invited them for a session – but with little expectation of anything happening in the near future.  This was a group whose members define the word prolific – O’Sullivan himself had at least four bands on the go at the time. Still, we’re nothing if not hopeful. Lo and behold, ‘The Fur came back with not only a date for recording, but the tantalising prospect of a new sound – more focussed and stripped back –  with more ‘pop’ sensibilities coming to the fore.

The results are stellar. As soon as the loping breakbeat and pentatonic piano run of “Wylderness Waiting” kicked in, we knew ‘The Fur had created something very special on our behalf – the extra space and minimal approach providing a wonderful backdrop to Alex and Daniel’s instantly recognisable lyrical harmonies.

Now Deadbeat Echoes, Louder Than War, and Southern are chuffed as Punch to present the ace video for “Surge Of Youth”, the A-side of the single. The band are fresh off their tour supporting Inspiral Carpets and will be announcing some more gigs soon.  Meanwhile you can pick up their limited edition single from our shop, or buy the download from Louder Than War.

Thanks.

I was really scared at that point. Firstly, I didn’t want to be involved in party politics, but I also felt that if I was becoming too much of a nuisance for the Government, it wouldn’t take too much for me to just disappear one night.

- Steve Ignorant on the events surrounding the release of the Crass single Sheep Farming In The Falklands, The Independent

Read the full article about protest songs in The Independent.

This is not an official release – neither the band nor Southern are involved.

It is particularly upsetting to all of us as we have been working on an official reissue.  We have restored the original analogue master tapes and Pete Lyons from the band has worked with Harvey Birrell here at Southern and created new masters for CD and LP.  We are reissuing the album on vinyl in the original poster sleeve along with new liner notes and archival photos from the band.  We are also completely repackaging the CD, which will include a fold-out miniature version of the LP sleeve as an insert (similar to the way the Crass sleeves are part of the Crassical Collection CDs).

The audio for this bootleg will have been taken from a second-hand source, that is to say it’s not from the original masters, but is either taken from the 1994 CD or from the 1983 vinyl release.  The printing and packaging are also copies and are far inferior to what the band would like to see available.

Please do not waste your money on this inferior product.  We also urge any retailers or mail orders who are offered this to refuse it and contact us with information.

Thanks.

Track List:
A: Surge Of Youth
B: Forces

Deadbeat Echos will be joining Inspiral Carpets for a few dates on their current UK tour, so try to catch them if you can.

The second single to be released is from the sunshine noise-pop foursome Raised On Replicas from Brighton, UK.Raised On Replicas are two boys and two girls from Brighton who deal in discordant pop/noise that is full of the joys of hypnotic loud guitars, driving bass and really fab metronomic, motorik drums that are entwined with sharp melodies and hip, witty cutting lyrics. Opening with a searing blast of twin guitar feedback, ‘OMG’ careens headlong into an infectious punk rush of tumbling tom drums and dirty garage bass, propelled by nagging, angular guitar riffs and a spat out lyric about texts, underage drinking and the perils of 8-bit gaming. Whilst B-side ‘Sometimes’ announces itself with a monolithic beat and serrated wall-of-noise guitars before the track twists and turns through multiple gear changes; switching between woozy melancholia, jutting punk riffs and a heavy melodic meltdown at the climax.

Somehow, they manage to surf the possibilities of noise and tunefulness all at once, with their innate charm and their wired melodies they are pop, a real pop of the everyday cranked through a fuzzbox and brimming with the joy of guitars and intelligence. They are in love with the likes likes of Pavement, Pixies, Blur, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Sonic Youth and whilst they have some of that American scuzz to their sound there is something very British about them. Raised On Replicas sound like the real noise of 2012 and, potentially, with their witty lyrics and nervy, wired delivery will soundtrack the late night, Xerox machine, bedsit bohemian, pleasure zone.

Track List:
A: OMG
B: Sometimes

Both singles are available to purchase in the Southern web store, and downloads are available from Louder Than War on Bandcamp.

THE LOUDER THAN WAR MANIFESTO

There’s so much great music out there that we cover on the Louder Than War website that we decided we just had to release some of it. We will be eclectic, there are no boundaries to taste and we operate purely on instinct. If it feels good we release it.

We are international. Already lined up is Argentinian dark electronic music, UK garage indie, Dutch post punk, punk rock, indie rock, Indian black metal and Brighton pop noise.

The releases will come in a generic brown card bag and look great. We believe in style. A single is a thing of beauty from the music to the presentation. The singles will be released as seven inch vinyl because that’s the ultimate pop artifact, the perfect pop statement, and they will have downloadable mp3s because we live in the 21st century and like to carry around 100 000 songs in our pockets and that would be tricky if it was all vinyl. We believe in the power of rock n roll. We are proof that music is more alive than ever, the doom mongers can monger and we will get on with the music. We are truly independent.

This is just the start. In 2013 there will be a big Louder Than War festival for these bands and bigger names. We are fighting the notion that celebrity culture and talent shows are all we have. We will win.

- John Robb

Look out for news of their first releases coming soon.

It’s really not bad for something shot with an iPhone. The sound needed tweaking, though!

As always, you can get Subhumans stuff directly from us here at the label by visiting the Subhumans section of our web shop.