Severed Heads are one of the longest standing bands to have emerged from the Australian post-punk and experimental scene. They began in Sydney in 1979, and were an early outfit to incorporate elements of 'industrial' noise-generation, tape cutting & looping and electronic sound synthesis. As the project developed, song-structures and vocals were employed in a more-or-less recognizable mutant electro pop style. After many line-up changes featuring Gary Bradbury and psychedelic guitarist Simon Knuckey, Severed Heads became the solo vehicle for composer Tom Ellard. 
In 1983 they released a C-60 cassette called “Since The Accident” that grabbed the attention of Ink Records, a subsidiary of Virgin in the UK.  Ellard added a throwaway track at the last minute to fill out the cassette, not wanting to leave an unseemly gap on a C60 tape. This track, “Dead Eyes Opened” was catchy enough to get a lot of airplay on the main non-commercial radio station in Sydney. The band was asked to make this song into a 12” single. For this extended version, Tom Ellard and producer Patrick Gibson went to M Squared studio and passed the multitracked recordings through various EQ's and delays. “Dead Eyes Opened” features samples from a radio program narrated by Edgar Lustgarten, a crime journalist from England, referencing a double murder case that occurred in 1924. The rhythms are made by a TR-808 drum machine and an SH-1 synthesizer. A KORG PolySix was used for strings and additional atmospheric elements. The lead solo was a Casiotone run through an Octaver foot pedal. On the B-side are two solo compositions “Bullet” and “Mount” that Ellard recorded at Terse Tapes in 1982. 

All songs are remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. Housed in the original jacket featuring the iconic photograph of a girl with a painted face wrapped in some cloth by Juilee Pryor. Each copy includes a fold-out newsprint poster with a large photo of the band wearing Art Unit skull shirts on one side and liner notes and press clippings on the other. 30 years later Severed Heads are still paving the way for powerful, imaginative, and challenging music.

Severed Heads - Dead Eyes Opened extended 12" mix

“City Slab Horror” was released in 1985 on UK “Ink” records.  The LP though 2 years after “Since The Accident” continues to carry the torch illustrating the evolving transition between experimental structure and loops into the catchy pop hooks that would later define such releases as “Rotund For Success”.   This LP seems to move slightly into darker territory in general with it’s synth textures and slower tempo tracks but overall has a nice “continuation” feel from “Since The Accident” yet with obvious technological evolutions. The opening track “Spasm” drags the listener down the Sev Head mental rabbit hole instantly with it’s heady samples and eloquent drum machine rhythm.  “Spitoon Thud’ is a rambunctious affair with it’s cacophony of samples and percussion.  “4.W.D.” is a great sneak peak into the sound of the Sev Heads LPs to come with it’s treated vocals and pop hooks (perfected on later records such as “The Big Bigot”).  Next to last is the amazing “Goodbye Tonsils” track which is unstoppably catchy and features more of the creative use of samples which made this group so interesting. Though signed to 80’s industrial label icon Nettwerk in North America and often classified in the same vein, these records are not easily definable and actually have a life of their own. Though commonly misclassified with a lot of the late 80s industrial/goth scene (as well as touring with Skinny Puppy at one point), Severed Heads would be more accurately in good company with acts such as Cabaret Voltaire, early Coil, Chris & Cosey (and CTI), and the like.  Long out of print and a rarity on the collector’s market, it is presented with original repro jacket.   Remastered by Tom Ellard form the original source masters. Presented on high-quality 180gram heavyweight bone white vinyl. Features bonus LP insert compiled by Tom Ellard with ephemera from the time.  Limited Edition.

Severed Heads -  4.W.D. (MR-035)

Outer Circle Of Practitioners

Updated version released on Bandcamp: http://LeonardJPaul.Bandcamp.com

Billboard Magazine Article: www.billboard.com/articles/business/7624544/beep-documentary-traces-history-of-video-game-music

Experiment by the School of Video Game Audio for download. Learn how to make your own procedural music using Pure Data at our school in our Pd course: http://SoVGA.com

Beep (Original Score)

Cruisin' the Cosmos

Pure Data - Generative Music Basic

The Chill

Татуй [Tatuy]

ambientstyle postrock improv. lsdj improvised on  the fly over looping guitar.

relentlessness

Recorded in July 2016, in Southampton. 

Please play at a loud volume.
credits
released November 28, 2016 

www.clivehenry.org

Hymns

we gathered, invulnerable by Clive Henry

Test axoloti: Sentence1

'Pure exploration of what sounds can be made using just electronics and mathematical algorithms [sequence/probability] with sine waves, bleeps,glitch, loop, scratches, percussive effects, and white noise in rhythmic : for the truth of sounds aesthetic.'

*All sounds from Puredata.

Outer Circle Of Practitioners

A Fence Of Trees

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