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DISSONANCE​/​ANTAGONISTIC MUSIC

by Migraine Inducers/Martyn Bates

/
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1.
* Point Of Interest * MIGRAINE INDUCERS tapes include embryonic snatches of tunes that were later fully realised elsewhere –e.g.: Calls Of Birds (a tune appearing on the 1982 album Letters Written) and snatches of a nascent Kodak Ghosts Run Amok (which was of course the very first Eyeless release) .
2.
* Point Of Interest * QUESTIONS ANSWERED : Q :So, the original British version ran about 60 minutes or less, yes? And the so-called American version (a bootleg?) added another half hour? A :’The AMERICAS’’ version of Dissonance (NOT a bootleg), runs for approx 43 MINS OF MUSIC. The ORIGINAL VERSION of Dissonance ("DISSONANCE /ANTAGONISTIC MUSIC' by MIGRAINE INDUCERS ...) runs for approx 60 mins of music.
3.
* Point Of Interest * QUESTIONS ANSWERED Q : When did the DISSONANCE Americas version appear? A : mid to late 1981– around the time of the release of Caught In Flux /The Eyes Of Beautiful Losers by Eyeless In Gaza .
4.
almost out 00:35
* Point Of Interest * QUESTIONS ANSWERED : Q : Are there different covers/artworks? A : The UK RELEASE has two or three covers ... altho I’m unsure now –definitely TWO, at least .
5.
word through 01:32
* Points Of Interest * * this release was the first time the slogan "An Ambivalent Scale Production" appeared on any release . "Dissonance/Antagonistic Music" by Migraine Inducers recorded summer into autumn 1979. "Dissonance Americas Version": completed early to mid 1981. "Dissonance Remake": engineered by Peter Becker at A-Scale Studios, UK. mid 1994.
6.
* Point Of Interest * * The very first edition cassette release of "Dissonance" was credited to Migraine Inducers, who were listed as Martyn Bates (Instrumental Ambivalence) & Ann Biguous (Grundig & Random Noises).
7.
* Point Of Interest * * this title references some of the pieces on Americas Dissonance .
8.
* Point Of Interest * * this title was one of several humorous appellations suggested for AMERICAS DISSONANCE - it bears no strict relevance !
9.
come out 01:40
10.
not said 01:16
11.
my hands 00:40
12.
13.
14.
i stumbled 01:59
15.
16.
enabling 03:11
17.
the taste 01:24
18.
rivulets 01:42
19.
. ambivalent scale .
20.
. as in : as in ... the spaces between the notes, any notes/any key .
21.
above 1-17 19:31
. as in : no slavish adherence to a particular musical style .
22.
. as in : ambivalence to IMPROVISATION .
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
. when DISSONANCE was first issued, back then - I liked the idea of music without musicians – hence the original credits, as listed on Migraine Inducers sleeve ...
32.
din music 01:30
* Point Of Interest * ... with the whole of DISSONANCE of course, there’s an awful lot of humour as self-effacing defence mechanism stuff going on here as well. Such beautiful armour!!! ... maybe .
33.
. HOW IT WAS DONE *1 : • * ALL WAS CREATED using a Grundig 2-track domestic Tape Recorder, mastered to cassette whilst live feeds were made into this master – thus enabling further chance musics and collaging. This ‘master’ was then further edited, with various intuitive section processes deployed to achieve required representation of Dissonance /Antagonistic Music .
34.
non-pop 02:22
. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE . . re then blossoming cassette culture : "I was just excited to be around when fellow travellers were crawling out of the woodwork. Plus, I’d spent an awful lot of time being around musicians who intimated me, to be frank. I felt that that because I didn’t have their dexterity and proficiency, whatever I wanted to do with my own music wasn’t valid somehow –which was nonsense, of course! So, it (DISSONANCE) was very much an exercise in autonomy and release. " - Martyn Bates
35.
* Point Of Interest * . …. (you will note that the label’s original name was PURE NOISE TAPES. This was however, dropped at the advice of Geoff Travis – who cautioned me that Siouxsie & The Banshees maybe have a whole barrage of lawyers ... (it transpired that PURE NOISE also happened to be the name of the Banshees publishing company) .
36.
. SOME ORIGIN NOTES : the story began with the very first DISSONANCE being very much a product of the late seventies first wave of cassette only releases (a then reasonably new and totally independent means of music production – this point is important, politically, for 1979 ). I was contemplating setting up a label to release it myself ( which I later did, of course, Ambivalent Scale ), I thought I’d send a copy or two out in order to get some feed back, of any sort. I sent one copy to Industrial Records of Martello Street ( the tape is listed in at least TWO issues of Industrial News), and the other copy to Stabmental mag. Dissonance /Antagonistic Music was then chosen by Geoff Rushton, Mark Perry and Paul Reekie( of the Factory released band operating under the name of Thursdays) to be released on the cassette-only label, I.D. CASSETTES.
37.
new noise 00:56
. AN UNNECESSARY ASIDE : DISSONANCE was ( I believe) mooted for some sort of exhibition set up by Thurston Moore - a sort of ‘‘the cassette medium as anthropological & sociological artefact’’ type exhibition, around the year 2000. My friend John Everall of Sentrax was doing the legwork –as far I know it didn’t materialise, and I’m not sure that the idea even got off the ground ...
38.
minus beat 00:50
. FRAGMENTS from an early INTERVIEW : A very early (mid-1980) article/interview by Geff Rushton/John Balance . * " ... I first got in touch with Martyn Bates before E.I.G. had formed as such. I had heard selections from a tape he had done for I.D. cassettes called ’Dissonance’, and I was so intrigued by the really vicious electronic scrawls he produced (he describes the tape as a scream of frustration) that I had to find out more about the tape and about Martyn. We corresponded regularly and then suddenly Martyn sent me a pre-tape of a planned EIG ep. The tape was three tracks from their first ep plus three more which are to be included on the soon to be released Lp. The tape was a total change from anything Martyn had done (or rather sent me before). It was haunting, beautiful and totally fresh sounding. It was difficult to believe that such stuff could come from the same person as had the earlier tapes that I had heard. It was a shift from violent, anti-music to smooth, controlled mood music. The following article is culled from lengthy correspondence between Stabmental and EIG" .
39.
free form 00:18
. an original cassette assemblage/aggregation .
40.
... and that was : the fab new waxing from Migraine Inducers : THANK YOU all, ladies & gentlemen wherever you may be .

about

Dissonance/Antagonistic Music . this d/l consists of 3 separate versions of DISSONANCE/ANTAGONISTIC MUSIC
. tracks 1-21 comprise AMERICAS DISSONANCE ( i.e. the 'second version' or 'later version'- reworked early 1981, for release in the USA, 100 cassette copies only)
. tracks 22-30 comprise DISSONANCE/ANTAGONISTIC MUSIC ( i.e. the 1st version, the original version, the version sent to I.D.Tapes for release.
. tracks 31 - 40 = DISSONANCE*3. (Dissonance *3 comprises 'automatic' & interference versions, re-readings of certain elements of what's gone before - made mid 1994 by Martyn Bates, with technical help from Peter Becker .

credits

released May 24, 2022

. all sound by Martyn Bates, mid 1979 .
. a product of cassette culture & xerox aesthetics .
. recordings made using Grundig 2-track domestic model tape recorder & 2 x cassette recorders : d.i.y. & lo-fi, assuredly .
. instruments used : tape recorder (inching-weighting-manual manipulation etc)/feedback loops/food blenders/automated slimmer's aid/electric guitar/prepared electric guitar(paper/bulldog clips/marbles/ biro/clothes pegs/lighter/screwdrivers/knitting needles etc)/glockenspiel/variable speed turntable/electric piano/H & H 100 watt amp/watkins copycat/4 x 12 Marshall cabinet/chair springs/violin/glasses/tuned percussion/various domestic motors/lightswitches/tins/percussive bowls/soprano sax/tremelo effects/distortion effects/radio feed/voice & contact mic) .
. images of mb/sympathetic listening,
mirroring & life-amanuensis : Elizabeth S.
. 2007 vinyl & cd issue focus point etc : Else Teicher/BLRR .
. INFLUENCES/STARTING POINTS/Inspiration & Sources: T.G, Agitation in Anticipation of Offspring i-iv , Cage, ‘Dub Train’, Berio’s Visage, Revolution No.9, The Chrome Plated Megaphone of Destiny, Chance Meeting, Stabmental, Final Solution, ‘Dromm’ e.p., L. Voag, Clock Dva ‘Tape NO 2’’, Peking –O, Augm .( + 100’s of other, less obvious points of origin that I simply don’t recall …) .
Write to Jerry at eyeless@eyelessingaza.com to receive infos re CD version of this album .

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpmqeniW3aM
* ( KODAX STROPHES/MARTYN BATES - SKULLS ) *

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Martyn Bates UK

(For CD version write to Jerry at eyeless@eyelessingaza.com)
voice +acoustic w/songs/ e-guitars/kybd/ tape. Since 1980, Eyeless in Gaza, & since 2000, Twelve Thousand Days, Mick Harris etc. Knew stuff / Forgot stuff / cared too much / cared too little - perhaps. 2023:current band = Kodax Strophes … with Martyn reportedly "still longing for 'Christmas in my soul". kodaxstrophes.bandcamp.com ... more

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