'Utopia' is the first demo from my debut EP 'Strange Heavens'. 

Lyrics:

The air in utopia’s poisoned
The white city’s old and grey
And the house feels a little emptier now
That the children have gone away

To where the fat cats prowl the dancing halls
And their awkward hips doth sway
And their dirty fingers caress her slowly
Searching for the vein

The fever of last year
Weighs heavy on your lungs
As you lose grip of the notion that
One day your saviour will come

But these broken hands will hold you
Keep your head above the waves
As you slip back to the comfort of
That all too familiar place

Of tea cups and cheap cocaine
Soviet vodka and lemonade
Whips that crack like thunder
And after comes the rain

Utopia (Strange Heavens EP)

A1. Tesco Bombers – Break The Ice At Parties
A2. Sara Goes Pop – Sexy Terrorist
A3. People In Control – When It’s War
A4. Nancy Sesay & The Melodaires – C’est Fab

B1. The Distributors – TV Me
B2. Dorothy – Softness
B3. Thomas Leer – Private Plane
B4. Visitors – Electric Heat

C1. The Murphy Federation – Fed Up Skank
C2. The Distributors – Never Never
C3. The Cro-tones – Tea Machine Dub
C4. Fatal Microbes – Violence Grows

D1. The Spunky Onions – How I Lost My Virginity
D2. The Fakes – Look Out
D3. The 012 – Meltdown Situation
D4. The Prats – Disco Pope

This is a compilation of 16 UK 7" singles recorded between 1978 and 1982, compiled by JD Twitch, that showcases the DIY spirit of those times. 

"If Punk was the nuclear detonation, the fallout that came after was where a lot of the most interesting music of that era was made. People who would never have thought to release a record before realised it was something they could do, and the end result was a DIY explosion. I've always loved music that doesn't try to fit in a particular genre, that is anti-canonical and doesn't care what else is going on in music at that time, that takes risks and is full of imagination and ideas that may or may not make any logical sense but that resulted in something unique, that ignores conventions about how a record SHOULD be produced and that was created simply because its creators felt the urge to express themselves and share the results with some other people. This compilation compiles 16 tracks that fulfil all those criteria. None of them had any success, most are (unjustly) obscure but every one of them has inspired me and would be in my ultimate 7" singles box." – JD Twitch.

This release has been a real labour of love involving tracing long-lost artists to far-flung corners of the globe, persuading them that the modern world needs to hear the music they made several decades ago, tracking down lost masters, lovingly restoring 7"s in the case of those where the masters were lost and then conceiving an elaborate package with detailed sleeve notes to house the double album package.

*NOTE - Due to legal problems with the original title a new version of the sleeve has had to be designed and manufactured. We still hope to make the original packaging available in a modified form but in the meantime this will be released in a gatefold sleeve with printed inner sleeves containing all the info and notes from the original.

The original 2 x LP vinyl edition was to come in a super deluxe package combining a double-sided black and white four x 12" panel sleeve, hand-folded into an LP sleeve with a colour insert containing colour photos of all the sleeves all inserted in a bespoke pvc wallet. The four x 12" panel sleeve contains sleeve notes and detailed overviews of each individual track by JD Twitch, and an introduction by New York's DIY expert Dan Selzer. Due to the huge amount of work involved putting the sleeve together, it would only ever exist in an edition of 500 copies. 

Release date October 30th 2015. Distribution by Kompakt.

Digital version contains 13 tracks.

Various - [Cease & Desist] DIY! (Cult classics from the Post-Punk era 1978 - 82)

Recorded 13.12.2011

I love this shit and like to pick up bits here and there in charity shops and 2nd hand record shops around the UK. Its a welcome break from all the Italo, Boogie and Synth jams i listen too most of the time these days. 

These are some of my favourite vinyl of these genre's from my collection. Part 2 to follow at some point :D

Utopia (Strange Heavens EP)

Joe Moro

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