A beautiful tribute to Chantal Passamonte by David Vallade who we shared a house with in the 90s and who went on to illustrate several of her record covers. David says: “Hearing the news @warprecords I revisited something I drew back in 2012 for my dear friend @miracalix_ inspired by an evening we spent together with friends at the opening of her installation ‘Nothing Is Set In Stone’. Her spirit will forever resonate within me forever.”
I was reminded yesterday of something we put on the ‘Blechsdottir’ mix album PC and I did on Warp back in the 90’s. We’d got one of the Mira Calix releases late and were finding it hard to fit a track on but wanted to include her. I found a vocal line from ‘Humba’ of her simply saying, ‘do the things they say you cannot do’ looping over and over and flew it over an LFO track. It became one of my favourite moments in the mix and, in hindsight, sums up her outlook on life.
Art
At Xmas I was lucky enough to receive a copy of Jill Drower‘s ’99 Balls Pond Road’ book which is a weighty tome that had been expensive and hard to come by for some time. I devoured it over the holiday and into the new year before deciding that I had to contact Jill and invite her to Stephen Coates‘ Bureau of Lost Culture podcast. Her story of the performance art collective who were part of the first wave of kinetic art and the psychedelic underground in the 60s whilst squatting at the Dalston address of the title is an eye opener.
Finally tracking her down, she kindly agreed to come in and tell her story, a rare female voice in a sea of men who have so far largely written the history of the movement. She doesn’t pull her punches on the inequality of women, the class structure of the underground and the collusion between police and gutter press in suppressing their happenings and invasion of the home.
There are two versions of the book; the original, large format, picture-heavy coffee table book entitled ’99 Balls Pond Road’ which will cost a bit more but is worth every penny. Or the new paperback-sized, picture-light, more affordable version entitled ‘The Exploding Galaxy – Performance Art, LSD and Bent Copper in the Sixties Counterculture’, which is a mouthful but sums up the contents far better than the original title.
Reading some original Howard The Duck comics the other day I came across the original sources for classic NYC graffiti pieces that have been embedded in my brain since seeing the Subway Art / Spraycan Art books back in the 80’s. The Seen / PJay wholecar piece above is probably the first train I ever saw painted as it was part of a magazine review for the book I discovered on holiday in the summer of 1984. This led me to trying to draw my own designs and eventually seek out the book for the bigger picture. I’d never seen lettering like this but was immediately drawn to it and wanted to know more, from then on I wrote graffiti for the rest of the 80s, only stopping when I moved to London in 1990.
The duck on the right seems to be taken from the panel below on the left from issue 2 of the original 1977 run of Howard The Duck, later adapted with added cigar for the top left corner on certain covers. The hat is missing on the train version, possibly due to space, it’s not an exact copy but this is the nearest image I can find and you try painting something 8 ft high in the dark whilst hanging off a train in the freezing cold and getting it spot on. Seen was a master of characters, using many Marvel, DC, Disney and underground comic creations like Cheech Wizard in his pieces.
The duck on the left of the car is much closer to the original source and obviously comes from the cover of the Marvel Team Up issue of Spiderman and Howard seen below. Seen recently underwent heart surgery and is currently resting until given the all clear to go back to painting, something he seems to do 24/7, regularly selling canvases and prints out in minutes. I very much hope he makes it through and can carry on where he left off, he’s one of the greats and hugely influential, one of the Godfathers of the whole graffiti scene.
Another classic featuring Howard was by Lee Quinones and covered a whole basketball court in 1980 with the original being swiped from the cover of HTD #20.
Dear friends, I hate to be the bringer of bad news but the Covid curse has finally struck – and at the worst time possible too.
After evading the bugger for 2 years I tested positive yesterday, the day before tonight’s opening BSMT Space for EPOD‘s first solo show of new work. I was supposed to be there and this has put months of work and prep out the window. Be vigilant, we’re not through this yet, no matter what our government tells us.
But it’s not all bad news though as my man Ollie Teeba has gamely stepped up to bat at the 11th hour with his box of 45s and two turntables for your delectation tonight. I’m sure he needs little introduction but having hands in The Herbaliser, The Process and Soundsci as well as a solo artist and DJ in his own right is nothing to scoff at – he’ll do us all proud.
So – the show must go on, get down to BSMT tonight between 6-9pm, there will be excellent art, great music and free beers supplied by Vedett. Maybe even snag one of the limited slipmats or prints being sold on the night?
I’ll be there in spirit and hopefully we can do something once I’m out of isolation. 
This Thursday – March 10th – .EPOD‘s first solo show opens at BSMT Space in Dalston. EPOD has made a pair of slipmats in five different colourways which will be on sale on the night and exclusively through the gallery. There will also be prints and new canvases plus beers by the Vedett brewery.
I’ll be providing the music on the opening night from 6pm-9pm via my Quadraphon turntable with the currently unreleased Omnitronic TRM-422 mixer and the Ninja Tune Zen Delay, creating music live with locked grooves and up to four tone arms.
RSVP to [email protected] for entry to the private view on Thursday.
March 10th – 27th .EPOD presents his first solo show – DOPE. – at BSMT
DOPE will feature .EPOD’s largest works to date, the new canvases will be threaded together within the gallery space in both concept and design. Limited edition prints and collectible slipmats will also be featured as part of the show.
Private view 6-9pm March 10th
I’ll be performing on the opening night using my customised Quadraphon turntable, a brand new, unreleased 4 channel Omnitronic TRM mixer and the Ninja Tune Zen Delay.
RSVP essential: [email protected] for entry to the private view
BSMT 529 Kingsland Rd, London, E8 4AR
Sponsored by Vedett beer.
I was alerted to the Punch cover above by the excellent Instagram account ephemeramablog and it sent me down a rabbit hole to find more. Geoffrey Dickinson did a fair bit of work for Punch over the years as far as I can ascertain as well as numerous other magazines. From the blog:
“Geoffrey Dickinson (1933-1988) created these two cover illustrations for Punch magazine. Born in Liverpool, Dickinson studied at the Royal Academy Schools with the intention of becoming a landscape painter. He became a teacher while also freelancing, producing graphics and animations for BBC TV. Dickinson began contributing to Punch in 1963 and produced numerous covers. He took the position of Deputy Art Editor at Punch while continuing to freelance, working for Reader’s Digest, Which?, Esquire, Highlife, Hallmark Cards and more. In 1966, he also created the notable “Swinging Sixties” cover for Time Magazine. In 1984, Dickinson left Punch and joined the Financial Times, producing a daily pocket cartoon and illustrations for the weekend supplement.“
Cover and inside images from the rare 1965 Celanese Celcon brochure that Syd Mead designed – very much referencing that Atomic look of the era but with plenty of the signature Mead style already present. I don’t have a copy of this and forget where I found these images on the web but I believe these were the bulk of the content Mead made for it. UPDATE: original images taken by Hiroshi Matsui, check out his amazing collection @sydmode on Instagram.
Very pleased to be a part of EPOD‘s first solo show after being a fan of his work for years.
Open @bsmtspace in Dalston on March 10th and running until the 27th.
I’ll be creating a live soundtrack during the private view 6-9pm on the 10th using my Quadraphon turntable, Ninja Tune Zen Delay and a brand new mixer I can’t reveal yet…
I’ve been making some further adjustments to the deck and hope to have them ready by March 10th
RSVP to [email protected] for entry on the 10th
Love these by Michael Kreiser – more on his Instagram including loads more contemporary rap artists.
I’ve been doing some research for a current project and found the excellent website The Art of Diving along the way which provided all sorts of treats. I pulled a few choice examples of 70’s book art while I was there but give the site a visit as there is years worth to navigate.
Photo: Matt Flynn © Smithsonian Institution
‘Poster From The Past’ – #2 in the Neon Rose series by the legendary Victor Moscoso – plus original artwork below. 55 years ago today.
Doing this next week: Wednesday at The Gun in Hackney with old friend Mira Calix
A collage party, come and cut and paste images while we cut it up on the decks.
FREE! but you have to book on this link, limited places too.
Plus, Mira is launching a call for collage with the theme, ‘let’s stick together – in a divided world’, details on the link too.
Her new album, ‘absent origin’ is out now on Warp and limited numbers come with a 48 page collage fanzine and stickers.
FREE! but you have to book on this link, limited places too.
Plus, Mira is launching a call for collage with the theme, ‘let’s stick together – in a divided world’, details on the link too.
Her new album, ‘
Boris Tellegen – A PLAY THING
27 nov – 19 dec. Opening 26 november
Encore Alice, 91 Rue de Flandre, Brussels
https://alicebxl.com/exhibitions/a-play-thing
Marc Oosting & Boris Tellegen – Copy
20 nov – 15 jan. Opening zaterdag 20 november 15:00 – 18:00
Gallerie Vriend van Bavink, Geldersekade 34
https://www.vanbavinkgallery.com/exhibitions
In other Delta news, Boris and I have granted the Tasmanian wine maker Dr Edge the rights to use our cover image for DJ Vadim‘s ‘USSR Life From The Other Side’ on a range of wine bottles. The good doctor has done several collaborations with Robert ‘3D’ Del Naja already and you can find these wines here.
My copy of Matt King and James Edward Clark‘s ‘Tales To Enlighten’ arrived from the US this week (for more context see here). I’m lost for words at how good this is, comic of 2021 for me for sure – and yes I am biased, but after the years this has been in production they’ve pulled it off and then some. The story is insane (definitely NSFW), the pin up gallery is huge and the quality off the scale. Matt King may be more familiar to Solid Steel fans as King Megatrip who made several guest mixes for the show and was one of the biggest and earliest collectors of tapes from it.
The attention to detail with fake ads, in-jokes and other myth-enhancing material is spot on and the print quality, superb. This is a huge book, 300+ pages and I look forward to diving right in after reading an early PDF copy last year. It has the spirit of underground comix but with the next few decades of comics knowledge thrown in and some serious art chops. I’m also thrilled to have a couple of spots in the book including a genuine endorsement on the back cover (unbeknownst to me, cribbed from an email to Matt after I’d seen the PDF).
The mixtape cover of religious music to help the Kickstarter along (they didn’t need it, it got funded in six hours!) is also featured in the back. I’ve uploaded the mix to my Mixcloud so it’s easier to find.
I’m so pleased for the whole crew after hearing about it for literally years and being teased to the point where I was going, ‘just put the damn thing out!’. There’s a volume 2 in the works too…
There’s a free Savage Pencil exhibition at Orbital Space for the month of September, that being the new name for Orbital Comics on 8 Great Newport Street, Covent Garden. There are T-shirts and prints for sale as well as prices on most of the artwork although they’re not cheap. It’s great to see the originals to the Nothing Short of Total War compilation on Blast First as well as several others and Edwin’s visual bite hasn’t dimmed in the last 40 years.
In the front of the shop there’s also a great display of Graham Humphreys‘ work for film and books, mainly dealing with horror or B movie content. It’s great to see the originals and most are for sale although some have already been taken.
Thanks to universalcollage for alerting me to these amazing tape reel boxes, once belonging to Louis Armstrong, now archived in an online museum on his website. There are hundreds of these plus even more pieces of ephemera to see, it looks like someone has gone through every piece of music-related item he ever owned and photographed it with notes for the site.
Thanks to universalcollage for alerting me to these amazing tape reel boxes, once belonging to Louis Armstrong, now archived in an online museum on his website. There are hundreds of these plus even more pieces of ephemera to see, it looks like someone has gone through every piece of music-related item he ever owned and photographed it with notes for the site. Any one of these could be a record cover, sometimes both sides of the boxes are collaged and the ageing sellotape just adds to their appeal for me.
More pages from the Wisconsin Historical Society G.I. Press Collection of The East Village Other papers I came across, all scanned in high res, (much higher than here). As the 60s heading to a close The Other started featuring a selection of the underground cartoonists of the day, namely Robert Crumb, Vaughn Bodé, Susan Morris, Spain Rodriguez, Kim Dietch and Charles Francis Winans. As well as striking covers, several artists did comic strip ads for Douglas Records and a lot of this art – save for some of the Crumb works – I’ve never seen reprinted elsewhere before.
Perusing the Wisconsin Historical Society G.I. Press Collection I came across a stash of East Village Other papers, all scanned in high res, (much higher than here) and started going through them. Here’s a selection of things that caught my eye from the covers and back pages.
Possibly Susan Morris‘ work above?
Is that an early Spain Rodriguez inking the figure above? The clouds don’t look like his work but the darker ink work does
