30 Nov 2016

Rocket probes – November



Julie's Haircut - Invocation and ritual dance of my demon twin
(JH's first album for Rocket...a unique and masterful album of psych/kraut sounds re-presented for tomorrow)
Julie's Haircut  

Jiboia – Masala
(Really great psychy, grooved out post punk with a strong Middle Eastern vibe on Lovers and Lollipops, well worth checking out!)
Jiboia

Orb – Migration / Birth
(Real nice 7" and album of psych fuzz rock from Australia...toured with Goat and King Gizzard)
Orb

Various – Space Echo - The Mystery Behind the Cosmic Sound of Cabo Verde Finally Revealed!
(Amazing comp and a simply mind blowing back story)
Space Echo

David Bowie – When I met you
(Really nice groove running through this track)
David Bowie

Bad Brains – Attitude: The ROIR sessions
(Still as potent as when it was first recorded...you can here the spit and sweat in the room – this album is perfection)
Bad Brains

Coldnose – Trancemania
(New tape of great experimental kurdish influenced electronica and techno)
Coldnose

Jóhann Jóhannsson – Arrival Soundtrack
(Stunning soundtrack for a stunning film)
Jóhann Jóhannsson

Steve Monite – Only you (disco jam)
(Nice slice of afro cosmic disco from 1984)
Steve Monite 

Black Bombain/Peter Brotzmann – Part III
Second Lovers and Lollipops release...great track of repetition, feedback noise and Brotzmann's sax from their collaborative album...calls to mind the great Kevin Martin band GOD)
Black Bombain/Peter Brotzmann

Stereolab – Back catalogue
(Been another month of heavy Stereolab listening)
Stereolab 

Prostitutes - Late To Take It Light 
(Analogue Machine Psychedelic Techno)  
Prostitutes 

The Fall-outs - No Ambition 
(Listening to alot of Grunge bands which lead me to this via Mark Arm, feels a bit Love Battery)   
The Fall-outs 

Feedtime - Curtains 
(Oz Post Punk from the 86 album Shovel, again this one arrived via Mark Arm)   
Feedtime 

Orchestra of Skin & Bone - Deadeyes 
(More Post Punk from Oz, this time female fronted and jazzed tinged)   
Orchsetra of Skin & Bone


Listen to a compilation of these and previous tracks from the Rocket probes via our Spotify playlist:



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Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs cover story in latest Narc Magazine


There is a great interview with Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs in the latest issue of Narc Magazine where the band have taken over the cover!!

Find out more here: Narc Magazine

You can also preorder their debut album Feed the Rats which is released on 20 January here: Rocket

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29 Nov 2016

Poster for Teeth of the Sea supporting Chrome


Tickets can be bought from here: Baba Yaga's Hut

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The Digital Fix reviews Necro Deathmort show at Corsica


On Saturday, Necro Deathmort abused the amazing sound system at Corsica Studios supporting Dalek, and The Digital Fix said the following:

In support we have local boys Necro Deathmort and their own their own mix of swirling electronica, earthquake-inducing beats and reverb-drenched distorted guitars. Shifting from tone-driven ambience to pulsating dance, it is a surprisingly varied set that is engaging and rather enjoyable. Wreathed in darkness and hidden behind an impressive array of synths and desks, the bass-driven rumble both liquidises the innards and relaxes the brain. 

Read the rest here: The Digital Fix

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28 Nov 2016

Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation track features on latest The Reverb Conspiracy compilation


Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation have the track Dunes on the latest The Reverb Conspiracy compilation on our friends Fuzz Clubs label.

You can buy the compilation here: Fuzz Club

Read a review of it here: Drowned in Sound

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25 Nov 2016

Al Lover rewires Josefin Öhrn’s ‘Rushing Through My Mind’

Nothing But Hope And Passion have premiered Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation 'Rushing Through My Mind' Al Lover Remix.

This is what the website said:

'We’re long-term fans of JOSEFIN ÖHRN + THE LIBERATION here at NOTHING BUT HOPE AND PASSION, having first covered her way back in May 2015. She released the heavy-duty psychedelia of her second full-length, Mirage, a couple of months back, and now San Francisco producer AL LOVER has taken on and remixed that record’s sprawling lead single, Rushing Through My Mind, and we’re delighted to be able to present you with an exclusive first listen.

LOVER‘s touch on the single is subtle. Leaving the song’s DNA largely untouched, he draws out the song’s inherent trippyness by burying the vocals deeper in the mix and layering up the haze. 


Read more & Listen here: NBHAP 
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Goat's Requiem features in the NME albums of the Year 2016

Goat's Requiem features at number 28 in the NME's top albums of the Year 2016.

This is what the NME says:

Self-confessed Swedish psych oddballs Goat embraced 1970s British folk and film on their third album, adding the pagan virgin-burning pop vibes of ‘The Wicker Man’ to their lush sound. From the cult-ish panpipes to the hypnotic rhythms and Afro-funk inspiration that peppered that album........


Read the rest & full list here: NME

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Josefin Öhrn plays for the Whyte Horses album launch

This weekend Josefin Öhrn plays with the Whyte Horses and guests Badly Drawn Boy, Stealing Sheep, The Go! Team.

Josefin Öhrn will be bringing to life the lauded long player in a multi faceted visual lead event. 


For more info Whyte-Horses

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Back Seat Mafia 25 Essential Psych Albums 2016

We are delighted to see Rocket album KURO feature in Back Seat Mafia's 25 Essential Psych Albums 2016.

This is what the site had to say:

KURO by KURO (Rocket Recordings)

I’ll confess that I really didn’t get this album when I listened to it digitally, but enough people who’s sonic judgement I trust assured me that it was one I should persevere with. So I took what I thought was a risk and bought the album on vinyl. Well, boom…as soon as I heard it I was convinced pretty much immediately......


Read the full review & there 25 albums: Back Seat Mafia

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24 Nov 2016

GUM TAKES TOOTH Play PUWABA! Event

PUWABA! - THE GUM TAKES TOOTH EPISODE
Sat 26 Nov, from 10pm
Unit 8 Exselsior Works. SE15 1EP
£10

Gum Takes Tooth have a rare London gig this weekend. Some good friends' legendary out-of-body out-of-mind club night, PUBAWAH, are doing something unusual in hosting a live performance!  It will be a MASSIVELY UNHINGED RAVE UP with a hugely ambitious sonic palette.  
GTT on at 11:30pm 
For more info: here

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23 Nov 2016

Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs to play next years Desert Fest in London


We are excited to announce that the mighty Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs are to play next years Desert Festival in London.

This is the third year in a row we have had Rocket bands at the festival, and we are sure Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs will do us proud!!

Tickets etc can be found here: Desertfest

Preorder their debut album Feed the Rats on Ltd red vinyl here: Rocket

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Cardinal Fuzz reissue Hills S/T debut


Our friends at Cardinal Fuzz have reissued the great S/T debut by Hill and it comes with a free LP on unreleased music, which can also be purchased separately.

Find out more here: Cardinal Fuzz

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22 Nov 2016

Introducing Julie’s Haircut – Invocation and Ritual Dance of My Demon Twin

We are excited to announce that Rocket will be releasing the new album by Italian band Julie's Haircut called 'Invocation and Ritual Dance of my Demon Twin' on 17 February 2017.

Preorder on Ltd LP/CD here: Rocket

Preorder digital here: iTunes

See what Loud and Quiet say about the album here: Loud and Quiet



The press release reads:

“Being from Italy and doing what we do - we are outsiders” reckons Luca Giovanardi, a founder member of Julie’s Haircut, whose always incendiary yet increasingly outlandish sound has found itself with few parallels in their homeland since their inception towards the end of the last century. Yet in following their own singular pathway, the band have arrived at the deep-end approach to sonic innovation audible on their debut release for Rocket Recordings, ‘Invocation And Ritual Dance Of My Demon Twin’, which finds them at a plateau of small-hours elucidation and revelation that may summon the spectres of the wayward squall of Mercury Rev, the shamanic allure of Dead Skeletons or the wild soundscapes of Amon Düül II to some, yet essentially sounds like no-one but themselves. 

Inspired by the methods of Can and Miles Davis, the band follow intuitive processes to transcend notions of classicism, genre and contemporary reference, somewhere in motion along the pathways of the consciousness-expanding psychedelic continuum without paying lip-service to its well-worn signifiers. The result is a record built on trance-like repetition that builds to mantric intensity to summon atmospheric plateaus redolent of the psychic and surreal transgressions of its title - a double-helix tribute to both Frank Zappa and Kenneth Anger. 

As Luca elaborates, "For me, if anything, psychedelic music has always been about adventure and loss of any safety net". Rest assured, 'Invocation And Ritual Dance Of My Demon Twin' offers no such security at all. 

The band are now booking EU tour for May, contact: cormass@gmail.com

Watch video to the track Gathering Light here:



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Get into this reviews Goat, Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation etc at the Albert Hall


It reads:

Goat headlined an all-dayer at Manchester’s Albert Hall, Getintothis’ Michael Hovercraft and friends took a trip to the next dimension.

It began before that night in late October. In fact it had probably been going down for more than a decade now.

The psychosis they’d been feeling was just an extension of what seemed like forever but Big Rob’s tales about sitting up in his spare room road-testing his new Electrohome Signature Vinyl record player by repeatedly playing Neil Young‘s On The Beach from 2am until 7.45am while hoovering up half of the North End’s class As perfectly suited the day’s pre-amble to Manchester. Big Rob was on fine form and his stories about hallucinating deep into Saturday morning while fantasising about quitting the 9-5 office game and becoming a heavy-weight boxing champion may have sounded fantastical in the extreme yet they were also characteristic about what lay ahead and where they were all at. Who knows, such was his substance resistance he probably could take down half the heavyweight division. And still have something left for later...

Read the rest here: Get into this

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21 Nov 2016

Roots of Rocket 01: 80s and early 90 Underground



We at Rocket have had many influences that has got us to where we are today and we thought it would be nice to put together a series of YouTube playlists that celebrate our many influences.

The first one is

Roots of Rocket 01: 80s and early 90 Underground 

Definitely a hugely influential time for us in discovering new music, so we really hope you enjoy our collection!

***PLEASE NOTE***
We have missed off many great bands like Bad Brains, Minutemen, GOD, Black Flag, Silverfish, Fudge Tunnel, Alice Donut, Steelpole Bathtub and many more....maybe a Vol2 just of this time will be needed!

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Hey Colossus Gigs with Part Chimp

In the coming days Hey Colossus go back out on the road for a few dates in France & Belgium, they will be playing alongside the great Partchimp.

24/11 Espace B, Paris, France
Tickets
Facebook

25/11 La Malterie, Lille, France 
Facebook

26/11 Magasin 4, Bruxelles, Belgium 
Tickets
Facebook

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The Arts Desk reviews Kuro


It reads:

Kuro is the brainchild and debut album of classically-trained violionist Agathe Max and bass-playing noisenik Gareth Turner, he of wigged-out psychedelicists Anthroprophh. If this seems an unlikely partnership, a shared love of “the drone” is where their sonic worlds collide, and from this collision has come a spaced-out opus of quite uncommon beauty.

Drawing on a sonic pallet that takes in the repetitive minimalism of Steve Reich, the drone of Sunn O))) and Ulver’s Terrestrials collaboration and dashes of Alice Coltrane’s trippy meditations, Kuro avoids easy pigeonholing. Its melancholy but rich tones, however, demand complete immersion, since this is one of those rare albums that requires the listener to sit down and pay full attention throughout.

The sparse “Arashi” draws you slowly into Kuro’s world with a long and sombre drone that builds and falls away through a North African flavoured soundscape, while the cinematic “The Hierophant” has Agathe Max’s violin floating high above Turner’s deep bowed bass throb before distilling into a minimalist repetitive groove with strange, looped sounds. “Song for the Mysticeti” eventually brings the album to a close with an Orb-flavoured spaced-out exploration into the trippy outerworlds, but it's in the monumental, 20-minute “Ishtar” where Kuro really shine the brightest on their debut outing. Mutating from a drawn-out organic drone that slowly builds and twists to take in spaced out samples and loops, Max’s violin soars and cuts in and out of Turner’s jazzy bass, as it builds and falls away. It's a beautiful sound sculpture of rich Eastern textures that is trippy and strange but also subtle and melodic.

Kuro’s debut album is in turns dark and sombre, beautiful and strange, but it is defiantly experimental. Nevertheless it exudes a warmth and richness throughout that makes it a totally engaging trip.

See the review here: The Arts Desk

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Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation to play This is Psychedelia Festival in Folkstone


Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation are joining Vanishing Twin, Lucid Dream and others for a Psych Fest in Folkstone:

Folkestone Quarterhouse presents...
Folkestone Psychedelic Festival: 
This is Psychedelia

Quarterhouse
Mill Bay
Folkestone,
Kent
CT20 1BN

1 April 2017
Doors 6pm- till late (11pm bands)
£15 + booking fee / £19 on the door
Over 14s welcome, under 16s to be accompanied by an adult

In April we celebrate all things Psychedelic in music. The festival starts at 6pm with five profiled psych artists covering a cross of genres and gender throughout the evening.
With visuals from Innerstrings, co- founders of Lewes Psychedelic festival and creator in part of what makes Liverpool Psych Fest look stunning, this promises to be the start of a brand new movement for Folkestone.

More info and tickets: Quarterhouse

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18 Nov 2016

Tickets on sale for Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Newcastle album launch


Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs are celebrating the launch of their new album with two shows in London and in Newcastle and the tickets for the Newcastle show are now available:

Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs (Album Launch) 
+ Tough Tits + DJs till 1am

Newcastle: St Dominics Catholic Club
20 jan, 2017 8:00pm

Tickets



And tickets are available for the London show too:

Baba Yaga's Hut Presents:

Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs (Album Launch) 
+ Lower Slaughter & Tough Tits

The Lexington
Doors 8:00 / £8
Saturday 21st January 2017 
Show: 8:00 

Tickets



And you can preorder their debut album here on ltd 'blood red' vinyl: Rocket

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The Arts Desk say some words about


It reads:

Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation Mirage (Rocket)
With their band name a tribute to a passage from The Tibetan Book of the Dead, that root text for Sixties lysergic exploration, you’d be right in assuming that female-fronted Swedish band Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation would be bathed in psychedelia. While they like a good blast of shoe-gazey noisiness, as on songs such as “Looking for You”, of equal importance is a precise Motorik rhythm section that underpins everything, and an innate ability to construct a catchy song. “Sister Green Eyes”, meanwhile, has a Velvet Underground moodiness about it. For all the hiss, squall and mantric pacing, Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation, like Lou Reed and John Cale’s seminal outfit, are actually an accomplished pop band in disguise, as may become clearer if their career blossoms.

Read more here: Arts Desk

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Goat and Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation feature in two 'Best of the year' lists


It is that time of year when the end of year lists start to appear and two of the countries great shops have published theirs:

Resident
No: 8 / Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation – Mirage

Piccadilly
No: 20 / Goat – Requiem

Big thanks to both shops for all their support!!!

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Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs to play special Baba Yaga / Fat out event at the Islington Mill


Excited to announce that Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs are to play a very special Baba Yaga / Fat out event at the Islington Mill.

They say:

Salford’s foremost experimental festival, Fat Out Fest, returns for its 4th edition.

** PERFORMING AT FAT OUT FEST 2017 **

Blood Sport // Blown Out // The Bug vs Dylan Carlson of Earth // Cattle // Giant Swan // group A // Housewives // I Know I'm An Alien // IMPATV // Irma Vep // Kleefstra/Bakker/Kleefstra // Lake of Snakes // Moor Mother // MUMS // Part Chimp // Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs // Qujaku // Test Dept:Redux // Ubre Blanca

** PLUS MUCH MORE TBA **

Tickets can be bought from here: Fat Out

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16 Nov 2016

Very limited Zam Zam Records compilation featuring Anthroprophh, Gnod members etc


The great Zam Zam records are releasing an amazing compliation tape to celebrate 5 years of the label and their appearance at Monstre festival.

Tracklisting is:

FACE /\
Anthroprophh - I LOVE YOU SO MUCH
Střed Světa -pojmenovávání během přemísťování
Microdeform - Unhallowed Descent
Black Tempest - OccultMudra
DJS$hluchT - searchfilter
Negra Branca - ENREDE
Holy Hole - Bosco (live)
Wizard Of - Crust Punk
Johnny Haway - lullaby
Urthsla - Skycramp
MW - HOW TO BE ULTRA SPIRITUAL
Weak Flesh - "ALIVE" IN THE ALL AMERICAN VALLEY
Donald Suck - trip musical complex

FACE /\ /\
Cementimental - absolute appearance of the possibly alarming amplitude altar in the solar system
AYN SOF - GONG GALLERY (M)
Ocean Floor - sleeping stones
Jentle Ben - sticktoyourdreams
Henry Collins - That rich aroma of pencils
Deej Dhariwal - CHASING THE SUN (live)
Nundata - elevator music 2
Malcom Julian Swan - A Failer To Inspire Revolt
Robin Foster - Atychiphobia part one
TWIN - Draven
AHRKH - SEVEN STEPS TO THE SUN
zOH/astre - MVTMJSUNP

C110
101 copies
zamzamrec045

This is what they say:

To celebrate the 5 years of the L/\bel 
We have decided to put together a compil 
and asked all zamzam_artists for a new piece of music. 

The tapes will be assembled at the Monstre_Festival 
Only 25 copies available online via https://zamzamrec.bandcamp.com
The cassettes will be shipped after the MONSTRE_TOUR early 2+0+1+7

Buy now from here: Zam Zam

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Poster for Hey Colossus show in Plymouth


More info and tickets here: Soma Promotions

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14 Nov 2016

Psychedelic Comics by Jaypee


With Marvel's Dr Strange in the cinema, a psychedelic movie for the masses, we thought it would be great to take a look at the more weirder side of comics & no better place to start than a piece written for Rocket by a man that helped changed my life, his name is 'Jaypee' and he was responsible for introducing me to CAN.  

The place I grew up was twinned with his village in France and although we never met as exchange pupils at school, some years after school I landed up with another friend making a trip to Paris to hangout. We drank beer, beer up to that point wasn't something that appealed to me, but because it so hot French beer now seemed very appealing. So we spent our days wondering the City & visiting the usual sites and all the record shops. JP & I had a shared a love for Punk/Grunge/Garage Rock and he fed my curiosity for new music by springing bands like CAN, Neu! and Captain Beefheart on me.

I kind of don't have to say how it effected me, its sort of obvious for anyone viewing these pages, money spent on releasing music, time spent on artwork, lights, videos, photography, music....

I returned from Paris with tapes and tapes full of music that helped build the foundation for what the label became, lucky Revolver Records in Bristol were big advocates of CAN, so I bought the lot!!!

So the point of all of this, Jean-Philippe Chabot is a comics artist living in Paris so we asked him to come up with a list and say some words about some of the 'psyched' comics he's a fan of, so enjoy!

Who says the EU doesn't do anything for UK culture!!!!

Johnny O

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Jaypee:

As far as I can remember I have always been fascinated by pictures, any kind of picture, whether it be recent or old, figurative or graphic, offensive or calm. But one of the earliest forms I was struck by was that of comic books. I started out with a borderline insane obsession with them: at first French and Belgian, then American and Japanese, and this passion went on for many years and some of them lead to truly life-changing experiences. So much so that in the end it became my job (a full-time one, that is).

So here is a selection of some of the work I still worship to this day. The connection might not be obvious with Rocket Recordings but I cannot conceive pictures without music. Please read the following selection in case you do not know them already, and try to create a suitable soundtrack for them. You might be in for a hell of a ride…



-Oxo/La Mort Amoureuse (« Death In Love. »)

In the midst of a very weird Necropolis, Death becomes bored with his friend Destiny. Both seek out love and eventually find it with a Mermaid. They help her to find some lungs so she can breathe. Striking and harsh airbrush effects and violent colours. A bit like Salvadore Dali on acid, only 666 times harder…



-Jim Woodring/Frank.

A totally psychedelic comic book nicely drawn in black and white, where Mickey Mouse’s distant cousin seems to have an experience akin to Dante’s Inferno with pigs bearing human faces, toxic plants and living objects… They all seem to distract our hero who keeps struggling through surrealistic situations. No need for text when drawings are so expressive…



-Jim Starlin/The Life & Death Of Captain Marvel.

Mar-Vell of the Kree, known on this planet as Captain Marvel, fights some ultra-villains with names such as Stellarax, Thanos or Nitro in a modern and freaky story of Mythology where Cosmic Awareness seems to be useful. Large spreads with images filled with tons of detail depict the glory of Jim Starlin’s twisted mind and sense of storytelling.  « And behold the heart of your universe… »




-Claude Moliterni/Robert Gigi/Agar, Les Jouets Maléfiques (« Agar, The Evil Toys. »)

I have a very strong memory of discovering this book in 1974. A couple of teenagers are travelling through space in a butterfly-shaped spaceship and end up on a planet populated with toys and robots. The lord of this seemingly dreamy world whose name is Toïmaker ( !) is trying to launch a giant jellyfish to capture our heroes in the middle of a gothic city with collapsed bridges and giant gears. Imagine a 70’s version of Through The Looking Glass with acid and you might be close to it…



-Suehiro Maruo/Mr. Arashi’s Amazing Freak Show.

A young orphan called Midori joins a freak show and has some very disturbing experiences such as mental and physical torture. She later meets Masamitso whom she falls in love with. This is a wonderful fable about beauty Vs. Monstrosity and is masterfully drawn by Japanese genius Maruo: thin lines and large, black surfaces, very graphic yet with lots of detail. This is essential reading for fans of both modern horror and Japanese art with a touch of surrealism. « Farewell sweet cherry blossoms… »



-Moebius/The Airtight Garage.

An absolute and indisputable classic of science fiction, this comic book initially published in the legendary French magazine Metal Hurlant between 1976 and 1979 tells the twisted story of Major Grubert in an ever-changing world through his spaceship Ciguri. The outstanding nature of this work beyond its pure graphics and elegant lines, is its strong sense of improvisation. The story line wasn’t planned at all and Moebius did it every month from scratch, surprising everyone amongst his readers, and its end in a (spoiler alert !) Parisian tube station is truly the stuff of legend. The visual equivalent of a long jam involving Can, Trad Gras Och Stenar and Ash ra Tempel…



-Thomas Ott/Hellville.

One of Swiss artist, Thomas Ott’s earliest works , it is a prime example of his scratchboard technique and creates a striking effect telling some disturbing short stories reminiscent of David Lynch, Cormac McCarthy or even to some degree, Edward Hopper while staying idiosyncratic at the same time. A very dark world where constant pain and suffering leads the reader to reach for some air and seeking the soothing effect of pure and absolute darkness. This is Art, really.




-Massimo Mattioli/M Le magicien (« Wizard M. »)

I remember reading this in the late 60’s in popular children’s magazine Pif Gadget and being as nearly disturbed as when I was watching famous TV series The Prisoner… It’s a seemingly pleasant world where a very old wizard has the power to change everything . Slightly cruel and always surrealistic, the story takes place on a planet filled with chameleons, flowers and stars that TALK. It is drawn in a very simple way with strong pop colours. Turn on, tune in, drop out. For kids.



Daniel Clowes/Like A Velvet Glove Cast In Iron.

Some books have such a huge effect on you, you can actually remember the day you bought them. This is one of them. A man called Clay Loudermilk tries to locate his estranged wife and eventually finds her playing in a sleazy porn movie. The story goes through a very weird plot with an increasingly bizarre cast of characters involving perverse policemen, a nymphomaniac Mum and other freaks. Even a song by cult band The Shaggs inspires a character. Daniel Clowes is a true genius up there with people like Robert Crumb or Charles Burns. Oh, and it’s very poetic too…



-Hideshi Hino/Panorama Of Hell.

An evil Japanese painter tells his story about how he survived the Hiroshima disaster and tried to live in its aftermath. A tortuous journey depicted through some unsettling and pseudo simplistic pictures to great effect. A black & white Manga of its own… « It’s a great big beautiful Hell ! » says the main character at one point. Indeed it is.



Neil Gaiman/Dave McKean/Arkham Asylum.

Among all the books about mental illness, Arkham Asylum is the graphic equivalent of Samuel Fuller’s novel, « Shock Corridor » : a slow and painful, yet fascinating journey through Gotham city’s legendary madhouse where one meets the most evil version of the Joker who starts a riot and tries to provoke Batman, and tricks him into the corridors of this hellish place overcrowded with maniacs and other psychopaths. The inspired paintings of Dave McKean create a suffocating environment where even the Batman appears to be a shadow of his former self. The possible equivalent of looking at Hieronymus Bosch’s paintings with a crackling neon light…

Hope you are going to enjoy these… Night, night.

Jaypee


Other artists worth looking at : S. Clay Wilson, Victor Moscoso, Stephane Blanquet, Charles Burns, Blutch, Roland Topor, Pierre La Police, etc…

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