http://blog.thesickroom.co.uk/ The Sickroom Blog Sat, 13 May 2006 14:00 GMT http://blog.thesickroom.co.uk/may2006_Issue3.h tm Predictably, our last noisebox single was a limited edition vinyl, this time cream coloured, and was crammed with even more tunes than its predecessors. Perhaps less predictable, was the all out fuzz pop assault that was EYE SPY. Banned from radio stations across the country (seemingly) because of its explicit sound, to our credit we managed to avoid the Brit-pop revolution. Firmly from the underground then, (the soon to be fashionable Chemikal Underground) we thrashed out more adaptions of 4-track favourites, culminating in the Soateramic Sounds Of Magoo a year later. This followed the same precedent of both studio and 4-track recordings in the same record. The other studio track here is POLKA PARTY, which we also adapted as the outro for local arts program The Front Row. It only leaves for us to say thankyou to the cover star, Mike, and to Steven Rayner for his contribution at the end of SILVER SCREEN. We hope you enjoyed the Noisebox singles. Now, for one last time, party like it's 1996... Fri, 28 Apr 2006 17:00 GMT http://blog.thesickroom.co.uk/april2006_Issue2 .htm This week we dust off another limited edition vinyl. This time we went for translucent electric blue, and decided to cram even more music onto those measly 7 inches. The lead track, ROBOT CARNIVAL , influenced by a healthy dollop of early pavement, is a dirty bass riff with dirty guitars and drums and filthy vocals all squished together, and the treble cranked. Difficult to listen to now. At the time it was pure lo-fi heaven. By now we had racked up a few Peel plays, a regular spin on the NME stereo, and our first Peel session was to coincide with the release. All exciting stuff. The lead B-side, Candle Buddha was one of the few songs we ever recorded with no bass, and 3 guitars. Again recorded at the Swamp with Chris, in possibly an even hazier weekend than the last time, there are some improvised moments in this track we didn't want our parents to hear! By now Andrew had well and truly got the 4-track bug. The two backup tracks on the E.P. were two of his own recordings. Firstly, SAMPA CALMIDA(LAND OF JOY), a favourite of the Magoos which consisted simply of guitars making noise and nothing else. Fantastic. Secondly, another instrumental with a surf twist : ROCKET TO SPECTOR CITY inspired by the large amount of surf music (man or astroman, shadowy men on a shadowy planet etc.) being played by the wonderful Mr Peel at the time. Thu, 20 Apr 2006 16:00 GMT http://blog.thesickroom.co.uk/april2006_Issue1 .htm We released our very first, orange coloured, 7 inches of vinyl on Norwich label Noisebox, now deceased. The lead track, Pop Your Mouth ,recorded at the Swamp over a very hazy weekend, utilised every instrument we could lay our hands on. The swinging pop chorus gradually moves into an 'orchestral' climax and ends with a beautiful piano and faint guitar riff recorded on a dictaphone. The last few beats are played out to infinity by way of a circular groove at the very end of the record. Side B and Tom, Lou, and Me begins with the starting up of the Swamps ex-Abbey Road tape machine. Chris from the Swamp was keen to add sampling techniques and effects to go some way to meeting our ideas, and even remixed Pop Your Mouth, a copy of which is laying around here somewhere. It was our first taste of what could be achieved in a studio, but the 4-track, even to this day, has never been overlooked. An example of this is the last track here, Elsie's Skinny Arms, a lo-fi, sweet little tune, that is blown apart by an enormous guitar riff, all over the beat of a ball full of water. The record was scribbled on with felt tip pens (they didn't send us the labels) and was limited to 500 copies.