hampstead tapes by WITCHBOY

All songs by WITCHBOY, except 'Katie Cruel' (traditional), 'Delia' (J. Cash), 'Don't Be Cruel' (Elvis), 'Little Drop of Poison' (T. Waits), and 'Rocket Man' (E. John).

Around 2008/2009 the neu folk resurgence was in full sway and pagan acoustic acts like White Magic, Fern Knight and Ex Reverie were creating a fashion sensibility of cloaked figures in forests gyrating to alien harmonic - a theme which continued and culminated in the witch explosion. This time also saw a huge swell of 'video-folk' - people around the world playing old folk version on acoustics in front of webcams and uploading them to youtube. At the time I was playing clubs in London in my two piece HI SPIDER ( https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10973076975 ) with drummer Bat Black. The music was pure guitar and drums and we were practising several times and week and playing a lot around London. I decided it might be fun to rewrite the melodic structures of popular standards and also invent some pagan folk songs, which I could record on a webcam and upload to youtube. I was living in Hampstead at the time, just beside Hampstead Heath. In fact my back gate opened directly onto Parliament Hill and I would often drift out in the middle of the night with my pink lacquer guitar and work out the songs in the darkness of the heath, returning to record these in my high room. AURAL SECTS decided to release these 'tapes', omitting the video and maintaining the low fidelity 'transmission from the centre of the night' quality of the recordings. The album cover is from the time.

coma clover VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2gNPV8Rj2I&list=PL8448F49F83A59642

katie cruel VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSpDT1hbBjs&list=PL8448F49F83A59642

my scalpel valentine VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzUMBWEMZLQ&feature=youtu.be

don't be cruel VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skvaAXy4vKQ&list=PL8448F49F83A59642

Tracklist

1.	coma clover	2:14

2.	katie cruel	2:21

3.	a train to talk to time	1:29

4.	delia	2:40

5.	moreau	2:24

6.	my scalpel valentine (with coco ᴐaᴚᴃoᵯᴃ)	2:23

7.	don't be cruel	2:46

8.	black lipstick	2:15

9.	little drop of poison	3:13

10.	eating popcorn at the apocalypse	2:17

11.	rocket man (with coco ᴐaᴚᴃoᵯᴃ)	2:18

12.	the wild stag	1:46

13.	late night radio	2:36

14.	andalusian white	2:17

Credits

released February 14, 2013

License