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LP
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BLACKEST 027LP
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Writer, musician, and misanthrope Stefan Jaworzyn was a notorious and energetic presence in the UK underground of the 1980s and 1990s. Following a brief stint in Whitehouse, in 1986 he formed Skullflower with Matthew Bower and remained the band's guitarist for four years, playing on Birthdeath (1988), Form Destroyer (1989) and Xaman (1990), among others. In 1990 he established the Shock label. Shock Records was a resounding boot to the arse of the narrow-minded, welcoming artists as disparate as Lol Coxhill, Coil, Drunks With Guns, The Dead C, and Ramleh into its fold. Jaworzyn rejoined Whitehouse in 1990-1991, and around this time was also invited to participate in a roundtable discussion about serial killers on Channel 4's After Dark program -- it ended with him vehemently debating the meaning of the word "integrity" with fellow guest Michael Winner. Despite having supposedly renounced the guitar, in 1991 Jaworzyn returned to the instrument with some venom, forming Ascension (later Descension) with drummer Tony Irving. In the second half of the decade, Jaworzyn retired the Shock label and largely withdrew from music, choosing to focus on drinking and cursing; although his Texas Chain Saw Massacre Companion was published by Titan Books in 2003, and on occasion he emerged to play live (including the Whitehouse "farewell" show in a duo with drummer Chris Corsano). Now, after 17 years off the grid, Jaworzyn has reappeared. 2013 saw him reactivate Shock to issue two 12" EPs of emphatic new solo material, as well as Eaten Away by Shadows (a compilation of solo bedroom recordings from '82-'83) and the aforementioned Skullflower KINO CD series. Pre-dating the Eaten Away tracks, the driving, faintly sociopathic and supremely zoned pieces on Drained of Connotation were created in early/mid-'82 at Jaworzyn's then home in Cardiff using a Korg MS10 or 20 and his beloved Dr. Rhythm drum machine. SJ: "While a maniacal edge predominates, a couple of pieces seem surprisingly 'mellow,' a concept infrequently associated with my subsequent endeavours and disposition." Last copies...
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12"
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SX 037EP
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"Welcome to another sojourn in hell. 'Bilharzia' is 15 minutes of electronic nausea, adding layers of bleeping LFO nastiness to a relentlessly repetitive base. I have no idea how to categorize it and don't intend to try. Definitely one of the more twisted pieces of music I've been involved in creating. You should know you'll get what's coming to you with a song called 'Make a Joyful Sound.' Pounding brutality and a bad time guaranteed to be had by all. There is a kind of tune in there somewhere though, lurking dimly in the background." --Stefan Jaworzyn, 2013
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CD
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SX 036CD
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"It's flashback time at Shock. Everybody loves the '80s now innit, and everybody positively adores old tapes of bedroom noodling... So, always keen to exploit the latest trends, Shock has rummaged through the archives to come up with Eaten Away by Shadows, over 79 minutes ('value' for money!) of SJ archive stuff recorded between '82-'83, before editing Shock Xpress, playing in Whitehouse, Skullflower, etc. This was recorded mostly in Bristol, some in London while living in a squat up the road from M. Bower. (Mr. P. Best was crashing on my floor around then. Hilarious times were had by all.) It moves from 'guitar rock' to metal-banging, drone, and industrial, and ends with some major guitar 'deconstruction' and a positively uplifting organ/feedback orgy. Most of it doesn't sound too obviously like anyone else, so as far as influences go, the dedicated can ponder what I'd been listening to (other than the Satanic voices in my head) at any given point. Suggestions on a postcard, please. Many cheap instruments were abused in making this music. Guitars and mics were dropped, hit, beaten with pieces of metal and occasionally with an axe, and pretty much all of it (including a good old Dr. Rhythm) went through some sort of distortion and a dysfunctional tape echo unit. Various glitches and tape oddities may be discerned at various points, all part of the music's many charms. Tracks are ordered as they appear on the cassettes, the titles (some a tad uninspired or stemming from idiotic 'private' jokes, sorry) are off the inlays. One piece was previously heard on a Fusetron 7", another appeared as the Hydra track on the Melt/Dissolve compilation, and one was chopped up and used on Band Of Pain's Reculver CD. All are presented here in vastly superior sound quality. The album's mastered by Andrew Liles, so it sounds amazingly good (given the limitations of the source material), and we don't want to hear any moaning about the fact it's in a jewel case, not a repulsive digipak! " --Stefan Jaworzyn, 2013
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10"
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FD 54
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The Ascension guitarist, solo live in the UK 1996. Reduced price.
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