Phil Western (°12 August, 1971, † 9 February, 2019) was a producer/engineer/composer and programmer who has been active in music for close to 20 years and has close to 40 albums released to date.

He is known for his collaborative work with his close friend Cevin Key (Skinny Puppy) in the electronic music projects like Download and PlatEAU, as well as his own solo albums, many of which have been released on his own label, The Record Company. His production and engineering work includes remixes for Skinny Puppy, Nine Inch Nails, Monster Magnet and many others.

May he rest in peace.
DISCOGS

Electronic band, Delusive Relics have just unveiled their new single, "Fairy Ring".

A fairy ring is a naturally occurring circular or arc-shaped pattern of mushrooms or other fungi that grows in grassy areas. These rings are formed by the underground mycelium (network of fungal threads) of certain fungi, and the mushrooms or toadstools that appear above ground are the reproductive structures of the fungi.

Fairy rings can vary in size, with some being just a few feet in diameter and others reaching up to 50 feet or more. The mycelium in the soil expands outward from a central point, and as it depletes nutrients in the center, mushrooms sprout in a ring where the mycelium is still active.

Throughout history, fairy rings have been surrounded by folklore and myths. In European folklore, it was believed that fairy rings were created by dancing fairies during the night. Different cultures have various superstitions and legends associated with these mysterious rings, often linking them to magical or supernatural events.

"Fairy Ring" is available on all major digital platforms including Bandcamp and Spotify.

www.delusiverelics.net

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 9, 2024 - COP International Records are proud to announce the release of Death & Sex, the latest album from legendary post-punk group The Cassandra Complex.

40 years ago Rodney Orpheus, Paul Dillon, and Andy Booth got together in a basement in Leeds, England with a collection of cheap second-hand guitar pedals, synthesisers, and drum machines, and created a post-punk revolution in sound with songs like Moscow Idaho, One Millionth Happy Customer, and Nightfall, which filled alternative dancefloors and topped Indie charts around the world.

In 1993 they released the album Sex & Death to a limited audience. Now, 30 years later, the band have re-recorded this classic record from scratch as Death & Sex and it will finally achieve a worldwide release for the first time as part of their 40 year anniversary celebrations.

Death & Sex features original founders of the band Rodney Orpheus (vocals, synths, drum machines) and Andy Booth (guitar), with long time additional members Chris Haskett (Henry Rollins Band, David Bowie) on guitar and Mera Roberts (Faith and the Muse, Black Tape for a Blue Girl) on cello, plus new member Brent Heinze (Probe 7) on keyboards.

The album, along with many other classic songs from the entire 40 year back catalog of The Cassandra Complex, will be featured on the forthcoming CX40 world tour beginning in the UK in March, and taking in shows in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Czech Republic, Austria, Latin America, and the USA throughout 2024.

Rodney Orpheus explains: “When we first wrote these songs we didn’t have the tools to fully realise them the way we wanted. Now 30 years later we can finally make them sound the way they always sounded inside our heads.”

Christian Petke, CEO of COP International Records says, “When the band told me that they would start to re-record their back catalog, I was 100% on board. It can be a dicey proposition to “fix” an old record, but I knew that they had the experience and the skill to pull this off. It was a real pleasure to see these classic gems come to new life, and the fans of The Cassandra Complex will love this fresh take.”

Track Listing

Mouth of Heaven
Voices
Kneel to the Boss
Give Me What I Need
Come Out
Satisfy Me
Realm of the Senseless

The album will be released on March 8, 2024 on CD, Bandcamp download, and all streaming services.

In tandem with this release, COP International will also be releasing a newly remastered version of the previous album by The Cassandra Complex, The Plague, which spent 4 weeks at #1 in the German Alternative Charts on original release.

www.facebook.com/thecassandracomplex

This month it’s been 28 years since American industrial metal band Ministry released their cover version of Bob Dylan’s ‘Lay Lady Lay’ (February 1996).

The song was performed earlier during a charity concert in October 1994, with Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam performing the backing vocals. Later the studio version of the song was recorded and released as a 4 track CD single from Ministry’s sixth studio album, Filth Pig. The song also appears on the 2008 Ministry cover album, Cover Up.

In the Rolling Stone magazine’s review of Filth Pig, critic Jon Wiederhorn wrote that the cover "amalgamates a deep distorted bass line, clicking electronic percussion, jangling acoustic guitars, ominous curls of feedback and Ministry frontman Al Jourgensen's trademark howls”.

Lay Lady Lay (CD) Tracklist

Lyrics

Lay lady lay
Lay across my big brass bed
Lay lady lay
Lay across my big brass bed
Stay lady stay
Stay while the night is still ahead
Stay lady stay
Heaven's fills our head
Whatever colors that you have in your mind
I show them on to you and you see them shine

Stay lady stay
Stay with your man a while
Till the break of day
Then you're gonna see him smile
His clothes are dirty but his hands are clean
And you're the best thing, he's ever seen
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
You can have your cake and eat it too
Why wait any longer for the one you love
When he's standing over you?

Lay lady lay
Lay across my big brass bed
Stay lady stay
We're gonna build the whole night ahead
I long to see you in the morning light
I long to reach for you all night

Lay lady lay
Lay lady lay
Lay lady lay
Lay lady lay
Lay lady lay

Songwriter: Bob Dylan

© Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

DISCOGS

The Stooges classic 'Raw Power' was released on the seventh of February 1973. The game-changer. In 1997 Iggy Pop remixed the album, making it sound like a war of noise and aggression.

Some said there was no need to overhaul the original Bowie mix of this incendiary album, after all, it was that which caused such a huge influence on Punk in the 70s. Probably Pop did do a remix at the request of CBS, more than likely to stop anyone else from doing it.

'Raw Power' is a beautiful album of destruction.

Recorded in the autumn of '72 in London, with a new guitarist in James Williamson. He brought the extra cutting guitar licks into all this. When a suitable rhythm section could not be found, the Asheton brothers were brought back into the frame. Ron, being the original guitarist and core songwriter for the first two Stooges albums, this time switched to bass and the line-up was complete.

Pop produced and mixed the original sessions, but Bowie took the masters to remix them again. Several of the tracks were remixed in one day, another reason why Iggy may have felt in 1997 that he wanted to leave his stamp on it. Willamson and the late Ron Asheton had both publicly stated they preferred Bowie's mix of the album.

All this talk of remixes, does it really make a difference? In this case yes! On Iggy Pop's version, there is a lot more distortion in the mix, especially on the guitar lines, probably down to Pop keeping all the levels in the red and turning them up full for the remix. The noticeable difference is that the Asheton brothers are much more prevalent in the mix, unlike before. Ron proved he was handy enough with the bass, this seems closer to Pop's original vision for the album. Feedback and distortion over the loud mixes are the hallmark of Iggy Pop and The Stooges.

Ironically it was Bowie who pushed to get Pop back on the scene in the early 70s, due to Iggys spiralling heroin problem. What happened with the two gentlemen and their relocation to Berlin in the years that followed makes that effort by Bowie seem a slight contradiction.

Distortion and feedback and talk of remixes to one side, it is Iggy Pop at his finest. His vocal delivery is faultless, snarling, convincing and perhaps his best, from the 'Search And Destroy' opening line:

"I'm a streetwalking cheetah with a heart full of napalm

I'm a runaway son of the nuclear A-bomb"

to the closer -‘Death Trip', all is remarkably well delivered, like the collision of two nuclear warheads.

The argument will always be there surrounding this album. Which is the better version, the true version? That is whichever you personally like the most. The argument is there for both sides, but don't turn the attention away from the fine album it is and what it did for punk- rock, not only in the 70s but in general.

Raw Power (1973 LP Tracklist)

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