Surrealist Music: Nurse With Wound
Harvey Thornburg
seriously interested in surrealist experimental music should check out first
the work of the basic founder of the genre, Steven Stapleton. Since 1978,
he and an ever-changing supporting cast under the name Nurse With Wound have
embarked on a variety of surrealistic journeys, committing them to vinyl
(and then later re-releasing them on CD) and are still around, coming off
what is arguably their best album ever (Thunder Perfect Mind) although you
can say that about seven or eight of their releases.
Yes, NWW do consider themselves surrealists, and they draw many ideas from
Lautreamont's _Maldoror_ as starting points. In addition, they have at many
times expressed their beliefs (on record, with song titles, etc.) in the
supremacy of "Automating" concepts. Listening to their stuff is the musical
equivalent of Bunuel/Dali's film "Un chien andelu". Most of their work is
very dark but humorous in character. They've frequently been thrown in with
the "industrial" crowd which is not altogether a mistake ... They can
usually be found (in the US) in the import sections of very good record
stores (like Tower - but don't pay their prices... Find some cool
independent shops specializing in fringe/alternative stuff ...
Descriptions:
Their first three albums are
the most nakedly surrealistic, each containing wandering ever-changing treks
through the collective psyche of the unknown. Highlights from this period
are [song listings] "Blank Capsules of Embroidered Cellophane" which starts
out with eight eerie minutes of chains clinking, then women chime in with
random phrases in French, somebody practices saxophone, and computer blips
drift in and out. "Ostranenie" is more developed, with many of the same
types of elements except speech samples are spliced into one another very
subtly in the background, all given depth by judicious use of delay. About
13 min. into the piece run the sounds of many music boxes; about 17 min.
inward the whole thing is fit around striking piano chords, then settles
into something different before the piece decides it should end. Sounds
like 1000 inmates plotting to take over a mental hospital. "Dada X"
is more of the same, but abrasive while "Ostranenie" is ambient. Some
really evil woman chants subliminally in the background. "Futurismo",
alternatively titles "Insect and Individual Silenced" consists
of minimal electronic backing, more processed "clinking", women speaking in
Franch and English... the English lines are something like "We have fallen
silent.. I'm afraid we have lost the power of speech .. Insects run buzzing
in our heads..." etc. All these pieces have sort of a "progressive
spaciness" that makes them really evil and sinister at times - a state which
co-exists with their inherent surrealistic quality. The only problems
sometimes are you have to wade through a whole lot to get to the "good
parts". Patience is an extreme virtue when listening to their early stuff.
From this point they kept getting better and better, although more abrasive
around the 1981-1983 period. Their surrealistic techniques were a dash more
subtle, in an attempted truce between being dogmatically surrealist and
conveying heightened emotional states. _Homotopy to Marie_ is probably the
strongest in this period, and dwarfs the achievments of their earlier albums
except at the total expense of "listenability".
From this point they've evolved in many directions at once; highly
recommended are the "Sylvie and Babs Hi-Fi companion" which dissects earlier
NWW releases with distorted samples of other things in a completely
hilarious manner. They've recently been exploring more dreamy, cold ambient
states like in "Thunder Perfect Mind" and such.
Recommendations: Albums:
-------------------------
Starters:
Automating Vol.2 (but long out of print)
Large Ladies with Cake in the Oven (re-release of Gyllenskold/Brained with
'91-'92 studio outtakes added on)
Sugarfish Drink (compilation of recent singles/EP's)
Noise lovers:
Homotopy to Marie
150 Murderous Passions
Hardcore surrealists:
To the Quiet Men from a Tiny Girl
Merzbild Schwet
The Sylvie and Babs Hi-Fi Companion
Ambient types:
Soliloquy for Lilith (just now released on CD!)
Thunder Perfect Mind
(All the above except Automating vol.2 now on CD)
Other stuff:
-----------
I'll post about the other artists I mentioned next week (I'm going on break
until next wed..) Read rec.music.industrial for more info - NWW, C93 etc.
have been discussed quite a bit there lately.
ps. I know the above may seem confusing when I alternately talk about albums
and song titles... A (mostly complete) discography is attached..
(what is missing are two NWW/Current 93 collaborative cassettes - I'm too
tired to add these...)
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THE NURSE WITH WOUND DISCOGRAPHY
================================
Compiled by Marco Piovanelli (piov...@dsi.unimi.it).
Version 0.1 of September 25, 1993.
-- "I locked myself out of my apartment."
ABOUT NURSE WITH WOUND
----------------------
Nurse With Wound is a musical project started in 1979 by Steven
Stapleton, centered around the work with tapes, found materials and
homebrew acoustic instruments. Some years later, Diana Rogerson
and David Tibet joined the project and [...]
DEFINITIONS AND FORMATS
-----------------------
This discography lists only vinyl and CD releases, not cassettes
(there are too many of them). A typical entry has the following
format:
"<Name of the release>"
<Format> <Year> <Label> {<Catalog Number>}
<Comments>
<Track Listing>
Personnel: <Listing of the Personnel for the Recording>
A [?] marks the entries containing partial and possibly incorrect
information.
The entries are sorted in chronological order (more or less).
WORKS BY NURSE WITH WOUND
-------------------------
"Chance Meeting on a Dissecting Table of a Sewing Machine and an
Umbrella"
LP 1979 United Dairies {UD01}
"Two Mock Projections" / "The Six Buttons of Sex Appeal" / "Blank
Capsules of Embroidered Cellophane"
"To the Quiet Men from a Tiny Girl"
LP 1980 United Dairies {UD03}
"Umbrella Link" / "She Alone Hole and Open" [*] / "Ostranenie"
[*] Dedicated to Rudolf Schwarzkogler, who killed himself in the
name of art by successive acts of self-mutilation.
"Merzbild Schwet"
LP 1980 United Dairies {UD04}
"Futurismo" / "Dada X"
"Ostranenie 1913"
[?] LP United Dairies
"Insect and Individual Silenced"
[?] LP United Dairies {UD08}
"Homotopy to Marie"
LP 1982 Unitied Dairies {UD013}
"I Cannot Feel You as the Dogs are Laughing and I am Blind" /
"Homotopy to Marie" / "The Schmuerz (Unsullied by Suckling)" / "The
Tumultuous Upsurge (of Lasting Hatred)"
"Gyllenskold, Giejerstam and I at Rydbergs"
EP L.A.Y.L.A.H {lay 3}
"Brained by Falling Masonry"
EP L.A.Y.L.A.H {lay 7}
"Brained by Falling Masonry" / "A Short Dip in the Glory Hole"
"The Sylvie and Babs Hi-Fi Companion"
LP 1985 L.A.Y.L.A.H {lay 15}
"You Walrus Hurt the One You Love" / "Great Balls of Fur" [*]
[*] Featuring the last ever performance of Murray Fontana, a
harbinger by nature, who killed himself in the name of music by
successive acts of self-indulgence.
"Spiral Insana"
LP 1986 Torso {33016}
"Sea Armchair" / "Migration to the Head" / "Earthwork" / "Red
Period" / "This Lady for Burning" / "Chasing the Carrot" /
"Sugarland" / "There's Always Another Illusion" / "Stewing the Red
Herring" / "Pulse Interplay" / "A View from Lammas Tower" /
"Swallowhead" / "Fitching a Wrong Sucker" / "All That's Over" /
"Forever Chasing the Carrot" / "The Terminal Song" / "Ship of the
Dead" / "Obituary Obligation"
Personnel: SS / Robert Haigh / Chris Wallis / Peter McGee
"Automating vol. 1"
[?] United Dairies
"A Missing Sense / Rasa"
LP 1987 United Dairies {UD020}
"A Missing Sense" / "Rasa" [by Organum]
Personnel on "A Missing Sense": SS / DR / DT / Tathata Wallis /
Andrew M. McKenzie
"Cranke / Wisecrack"
[?] 7" EP {WW01}
"Faith's Favourites"
EP 1988 Yangki Records {YANGKI 2}
"Ballad of the Pale Girl" [by Current 93] / "Swamp Rat"
"Soliloquy for Lilith"
3LP 1988 Idle Hole Records {mirror one}
Personnel: SS / Calhoun Phelan
"Alas the Madonna Does Not Function"
miniLP 1988 United Dairies {UD027}
"Nil by Mouth" / "Swansong"
Personnel: SS / DR / DT / Dik / Tathata Wallis / Babs Santini
"The Sylvie And Babs Hi-Fi Companion"
CD 1988 L.A.Y.L.A.H {lay 15 CD}
This is the re-release of the original LP, with some slight
changes.
"You Walrus Hurt the One You Love" / "Great Ball of Fur"
"Automating vol. 2"
LP 1989 United Dairies {UD030}
"The Strange Play of the Mouth" / "Elderly Man River / Dance of
Fools" / "Lonely Poisonous Mushroom" / "Human Human Human" / "Lea
Tantaaria"
"The Sisters of Pataphysics"
LP 1989 Idle Hole Records {mirror two}
The tracks on this album are excerpts from the same titled tracks
originally appeared on the first three NWW albums.
"Blank Capsules of Embroidered Cellophane" / "Ostranenie" / "Dada
X" / "The Six Buttons of Sex Appeal" / "She Alone Hole and Open" /
"Futurismo"
"Cooloorta Moon"
EP 1989 Idle Hole Records {mirror three}
"Cooloorta Moon" / "A Piece of the Sky is Missing"
Personnel: SS / DT / Tony Wakeford / Dik / Douglas P. / Chris
Wallis / David Jackman / Bradford Steer
"Gyllenskold / Brained"
CD 1989 L.A.Y.L.A.H {lay 30 CD}
This CD contains remixed versions of the original EPs
Track listing (the track listing on the CD is wrong): "Glory Hole
(for David Lynch)" / "Brained" / "Odd" / "Aquarium" / "Dirty
Fingernails"
Personnel: SS / DR / DT / Roman Jugg / Clint Ruin
"A Sucked Orange"
CD 1989 United Dairies {UD032CD}
Sound collage of 29 snippets, many taken from other NWW works.
"Pleasant Banjo Intro with Irritating Squeak" / "It's All Gone
Weird" / "Spiral Theme" / "Man Is the Animal" / "A Precise History
of Industrial Music" / "Raymonde Fluffs It" / "Musical Bovine
Spongiform (the Mad Cow Two-Step)" / "I'm A Frayed Knot" / "Sinan
Sings for Her Chums" / "It Just Ain't So" / "Nasal Hair" /
"Rockette Morton Part One" / "Rockette Morton Part Two" / "Dogs
Breath Rising" / "This Piano Can't Think" / "Crack Up" / "Scissor
Rock Bicycle Revelation" / "Dream of a Butterfly Inside the Skull
of a Horse" / "Raymonde Cries a River" / "Fade / Crack Down" /
"Ritva Sings for the World" / "Peccadillo" / "Great - God - Father
- Nieces" / "It Just Ain't So (Slight Return)" / "A Little Missing
Part of Homotopy to Marie" / "S.B.B. Dragged through a Hedge
Backwards" / "Scrapie" / "Flea Bite" / "Scrambled Egg Rebellion in
the Smegma Department"
"Psilotripitaka"
4LP/4CD United Dairies {UD0134}
This box set includes the first three NWW albums plus a previously
unreleased bonus album, "The Ladies Home Tickler" {UD00}. These
four items are also available separately.
"Soresucker"
EP/CD United Dairies {UD031}
"I am the Poison" / "Journey through Cheese"
Personnel: SS / Tony Wakeford
"Live at Bar Maldoror"
[?] CD United Dairies {UD034CD}
"Homotopy to Marie"
CD 1992 United Dairies {UD013CD}
This is the re-release of the long deleted, same titled 1982 LP,
with slight changes and an extra track.
"I Am Blind" / "Homotopy to Marie" / "Astral Dustbin Dirge" / "The
Schmuerz" / "The Tumultuous Upsurge"
"Thunder Perfect Mind"
CD 1992 Untied Diaries {UD040CD}
Published simultaneously with the same titled "sister" album by
Current 93.
"Cold" / "Colder Still"
Personnel: SS / DT / Colin Potter / Chris Wallis / Rose McDowall /
Anita Plank / Alan Trench / John Balance / Joolie Wood / Clive
Graham / Konori Suzuki
"Sugar Fish Drink"
CD 1992 United Dairies {UD036CD}
Anthology of miscellaneous items, all but one previously released.
"Cooloorta Moon" / "Creakiness" / "I am the Poison" / "Swamp Rat" /
"A Piece of the Sky is Missing" / "Nil by Mouth" / "Brained
(unconscious mix)"
"Large Ladies with Cake in the Oven"
("Gyllenskold / Mawsookedorwranj / Brained")
CD 1993 United Dairies {UD038CD}
As the subtitle suggests, two thirds of this CD were taken
unchanged from the "Gyllenskold / Brained" CD published by the
defunct L.A.Y.L.A.H label.
"Bearded Lady" / "Odd" / "Aquarium" / "Dirty Fingernails" / "Sheila
Na Gig" / "Red Flipper" / "Head Cold" / "Scapegoat" / "Cranke" /
"Wisecrack" / "Glory Hole" / "Brained"
"Soliloquy for Lilith"
2CD 1993 United Dairies {UD035CD}
COMPILATIONS
------------
Tracks by Nurse With Wound have appeared in a host of compilations,
so the following list provides just a sampling.
"Hoisting the Black Flag"
[?] LP United Dairies {UD02}
Also featured: David Cross, Mental Aardvarks, Hamilton and Duarte,
Truth Club, Whitehouse
"An Afflicted Man's Musica Box"
LP 1982 United Dairies {UD012}
"I was no Longer his Dominant"
Also featured: AMM, Anima, Foetus, Operating Theatre
"Devastate to Liberate"
[?] LP Yangki Records
Also featured: Coil, Crass, Current 93, Robert Haigh, Shockheaded
Peters, The Legendary Pink Dots
"The Fight Is On"
LP 1986 L.A.Y.L.A.H {lay 10}
"Stick that Chick and You'll Feel my Steel through Your Last Meal"
Also featured: Coil, Current 93, Robert Haigh, Lustmord, Organum,
The Hafler Trio.
"Necropolis, Amphibians & Reptiles"
LP 1986 Music Brut {BRU 002}
"Lea Tantaaria" / "Great - God - Father - Nieces"
Also featured: Deficit Des Annees Anterieures / Graeme Revell
"The Elephant Table Album"
2LP/CD 1989 XTract {XxCD1}
Actually this is the reissue of an older release.
"Nana or a Thing of Uncertain Nonsense"
"A Bead to a Small Mouth"
LP/CD 1989 Barooni {BAR 001}
"A New Dress"
Also featured: Mother Tongue, Graeme Revell & Anthony Mannix,
Soviet France
COLLABORATIONS AND GUEST APPEARANCES
------------------------------------
Besides the NWW project, Steven Stapleton appears regularly in all
releases by Current 93. He also collaborated with Whitehouse,
Organum, Coil, The Hafler Trio, The Legendary Pink Dots and others.
NURSE WITH WOUND & WHITEHOUSE
"150 Murderous Passions"
[?] LP United Dairies {UD09}
NURSE WITH WOUND & THE HAFLER TRIO
Untitled Cassette
Original recordings by NWW mixed, processed and added to by The
Hafler Trio.
C Staaltape {ST00M}
STEVEN STAPLETON & DAVID TIBET
"The Sadness of Things"
[?] CD
STEVEN STAPLETON & TONY WAKEFORD
"Revenge of the Selfish Shellfish"
CD 1992 Tursa {TURSA 004CD}
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Enjoy,
--
"categories strain, crack, and sometimes break / Harvey D. Thornburg
step out of the space provided" \ htho...@osiris.ac.hmc.edu