“Urine extractor, improv daredevil, and all caps antagonist, Louis Johnstone aka Wanda Group aka A LARGE SHEET OF MUSCLE, invites a rattle around his notorious swede with a set of 26 gonzoid blasts for TTT – RIYL Graham Lambkin, Richie Culver, V/Vm/The Caretaker/Leyland Kirby, Rat Heart.
More often found nowadays on his private label Umbro G, the Huddersfield-based DIY torch carrier/flame thrower speaks his truth across a slew of murky morsels that may be read like leaves in the bottom of teacup or taken as narration to a K-trip or whatever takes your fancy, really. As ever the track titles are as poetically oblique as the sounds they signify, juxtaposing his estuarial Essex accent against efflorescent electronics and withered strings in ’STD UNIVERSE’ and slanging soggy sort of electrodub hiss in ‘OPERA COKE’ or going on like Leyland Kirby’s bastard steplad with the eerie sampledelic slur of ‘AVIATION IS ETERNAL’.
His stuff just falls right off the frayed cuff with an ever admirable directness, variously yowling into a community centre tea dance on ‘ENTERTAINING THE CLOCK THE MIRROR’ like a gadge who stumbled in from the pub next door, or equally able to dial it right down to something like a lullaby for a snoozing bairn in ‘SALVADORIAN SNIPER’. Trust at every turn he draws on and distills lived experience in a way that escapes many more try-hard types, emulsifying sweat and the detritus of the quotidian into a form of culture marbled with the bacterium and clag accreted by a working person.
OK maybe we’re at the risk of fetishising that back-from’t-mines bit, but when taken in context of his practice – turn on mic, lay pipe, chop it off, put it out – when compared to so many others with all the gear and no idea, it’s pretty untouchable on lots of levels. Proper music for gits and those who get scraps on their chips every time.”
Thanks Boomkat!
