Karl Blake ‎– "Paper-Thin Religion (Solo Archives 1977-1981)" -(Pro-Evil Pro-Devil ‎– USEO 131-02CD) 1991

Here's the second volume of Karl Blake's home recorded doodlings. The leftovers from Prehensile Tales,but still a fine overview of Blakes twisted version of dream-logic songcraft.
Very DIY Avant Rock,and includes another welcome inclusion of the "BBC Sounds Effect Volume Two" LP, that everyone in DIY land has used on some occasion.(see Fifty Shilling Gun). The David Lynch of home recording.

Notes

Tracks 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15 & 16 recorded and produced between 1977 and 1979 at Kidmore End Rd, Reading, Berkshire, on Akai 4000 DS [sound on sound].
Track 6 was recorded 1980/81 at Gatestone Rd., Gypsy Hill, London (also on Akai 4000 DS).
Track 22 was recorded in a 16 track in Denmark St., London, November, 1981.
Tracks 1, 5, 8, 10, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 & 23 were recorded on a Teac 4 track in Stanmore Rd., Richmond, Surrey and at Tanglewood, Welwyn, Herts in 1981.
David Mellor mastered and, where necessary, 'stereofied' the various tracks.
Digital remastering and added 'oomph' by Denis Blackham at Porky's Mastering, December, 1990.
Sleeve illustration - Danielle Dax, 1983.

Tracklist:

1	Me - In A Single Skull	1:55
2	Lullaby Of Knives	1:06
3	Weatherman	1:53
4	Sweeper Of Leaves	3:30
5	Lamentation Blues	3:44
6	Fifty Shilling Gun	1:25
7	This Intimacy	4:03
8	Church Of Latter-Day Taint	4:08
9	Dreams Of Sweet Rain	1:34
10	Drogulus	1:47
11	The Sky Is False	4:07
12	Like Flies To Wanton Boys	3:18
13	Rosette	0:43
14	Saul	3:53
15	The White Worm	4:24
16	As Electric Poison	3:20
17	Slugabed	3:42
18	Characteristics Of A Rainy Day	3:26
19	The Malfunction House	2:03
20	Private Reserved Prohibited Locked	2:36
21	Green Fuse	3:55
22	Negative Essay	3:50
23	Life In Despair And Afterwards	5:49

DOWNLOADable religion HERE!
or
DOWNLOADable mediafire religion HERE!

Karl Blake - "The Prehensile Tales" (Normal Records NOR131) 1983

This album collects all the odds and sods from Karl's(Lemon Kittens) Bedroom floor in the years 1977-1981. Its all brilliantly disturbed, falling apart music of the highest sub-standards that we adore here at Die or DIY?.

Guitar strings are clawed at and recorded well into the red zone, drums are made to resemble the sound of a dustbin of empty tin-cans being unloaded into a skip, and the singer (Blake) sounds like he was captured as a field recording in the padded cell of a secure mental facility.

I personally think this is better than any of the Lemon Kittens albums,only rivalled by the "Spoonfed and Writhing" ep.

A truly unhinged miesterwerk, from one of the genuine 'weird' guys, and a lesson in the deconstruction of song.

Track Listing:

		DOG Side
A1		Baby's In Grey
A2		Switchback
A3		Whistle And Weep
A4		Blast The Human Flower
		TAIL Side
B1		The Waiting List
B2		No Limits
B3		People With No Shoulders
B4		Dreams Of The Lichen Tester
B5		A Misogyny Of Song
B6		Love So Much Like Violent Death

Download Prehensile Tales here!
or
A prehensile download from mediafire HERE!

Lemon Kittens - "The Big Dentist" (Illuminated Records JAMS 131 ) 1982

'Those that bite the Hand that feeds them sooner or later must meet.....THE BIG DENTIST'; to give it its full title,- is pop music filtered through an aural equivalent of a funny fairground mirror in a shadow earth from the 9th dimension.Yes, this is experimental rock's version of String Theory; but I understand string theory more than this.The Lemon Kittens are beyond rational thought,and exist in a parallel reality to utter shite like U2 and Kasabian. They drag you into places you don't wanna go, screaming and kicking;then like the reason Hell cannot exist,you get used to it,and then get to enjoy it.Unfortunately though,The Big Dentist only lasts 39 minutes and not Eternity. (Click the sample below)

TRACK LIST:

1. They Are Both Dirty (11:19)
2. The Hospital Hurts The Girl (4:30)
3. Mylmus (4:09)
4. No Night Not Shared (4:55)
5. Oath (4:08)
6. The Log And The Pin (4:00)
7. Nudies (3:17)
8. An Untimely End (2:11)

Download The upgraded Big Dentist HERE!

Lemon Kittens - "We Buy A Hammer For Daddy" (United Dairies UD-02) 1980

Now just a duo, of Danielle Dax and Karl Blake, they produced one of the most startlingly original lp's of the DIY era.Sort of John cage meets the Krankies on bad LSD. The obvious lack of musical technique is more than made up for by that long forgotten ingredient, ideas and originality.
(sample track below)

Tracks:

1. Pain Topics (4:24)
2. Reversal 2 (2:34)
3. These Men of Old England (2:25)
4. Wrist Job / Once Green and Pleasant Land (2:45)
5. Lycanthrothene (3:06)
6. Motet (3:10)
7. Throat Violence (2:28)
8. False Alarm (Malicious) (1:58)
9. P.V.S (1:55) MP3 sample
10. Small Mercies (2:03)
11. Coasters (3:48)
12. Up In Arms (2:34)
13. The American Cousin (1:50)
14. Evidence (2:25)
15. Rome Burning (1:31)
16. (Afraid of Being) Bled by Leeches (2:14)

Download a Hammer For Daddy HERE!

Lemon Kittens ‎– "Cake Beast" (United Dairies ‎– UD 07) 1980

There are few musics that sound like they were made in a mental asylum. Mostly we only hear music that sends you to a secure unit, like Dire Straits,or Beyonce.
The Lemon Kittens are the sound of padded cells.An electroencephalogram made aural of a troubled mind. 
They inhabit a world where playing 'in time' is strictly for 'Normals',and melodies make adults scream for their mothers and children weep for joy.
The music is a feral mix of every bizarre pop and channelled experimental impulse the pair could manifest; bursting forth with all the skewed syncopation  of breaking glass. Somehow pulled through a distorted wormhole from a parallel, inverted existence, into the UK DIY scene. Poof!
So throw on that Electro-convulsive therapy kit you were saving for special occasions , set it to max, and dance to Cake Beast!

Track Listing:

A Kites
A2 Only a Rose.
B1 Popsykle

DOWNLOAD this beast of Cake HERE!

Lemon Kittens - "Spoonfed and Writhing" (Step Forward SF10) 1979

The Lemon Kittens come from a stranger place than most normal DIYer's, from the crustier edge of the pie, but none the less,part of the same pie. The link between the TV Personalities and Throbbing Gristle.
This is the first release from Karl Blake and Danielle Dax, and it is suitably nuts. Great off kilter pop tunes with the logic of dreams, sounds like a karaoke night in a lunatic asylum.(Mp3 sample below)

A1		Shakin All Over	3:30
A2		This Kind Of Dying	4:55
A3		Morbotalk	1:55
A4		Bookburner	1:55
B1		Whom Do I Have To Ask	2:35
B2		Chalet D'Amour	3:20
B3		Not A Mirror	2:30

With no “proper” musical skills upon their formation in Reading, England, the Lemon Kittens epitomized the “anything goes” spirit of late-’70s post-punk in the U.K. Karl Blake, who cut his teeth in numerous outfits prior to the Lemon Kittens, started the band with Gary Thatcher and a revolving cast of others (which at one point included future Alternative TV leader Mark Perry), but at the time of the release of their first EP in 1979, the seven-song ‘Spoonfed + Writhing’ 7″, the group’s lineup featured Blake, Thatcher, N. Mercer, Mylmus, and Danielle Dax.

The group was whittled down to a duo of Blake and Dax by February of 1980; the other three members had fled, making for the group’s 16th different lineup change since initialization in April 1978. Blake and Dax then decided to operate primarily as a duo, with help coming from whoever whenever they needed the assistance to perform.

DOWNLOAD  some spoonfed writhing brilliance HERE!

The Reflections - "4 Countries" (Cherry Red CHERRY33) 1981

Another peerless Mark Perry related release, this time accompanied by Nag(The Door and the Window), Karl Blake (Lemon Kittens),as well as Dennis Burns(The Good missionaries),and Paul Platypus(Doof).
Not quite up to the standard of The Reflections LP, "Slugs and Toads", but still high on quality anti-rock non-musicianship of the highest standard.
Of note,it is nice to see uber-weirdo Karl Blake try his considerable skills in crafting an alternative dimension pop tune with the genius's of the genre/non-genre, nag and Perry.

Track Listing:

A		4 Countries
B		The Coroner And The Inquest

Download Four Countries HERE!

The Reflections - " Slugs and Toads " (Cherry Red BRED 22) 1981

Anyone remember Blind Faith? Well this is the DIY equivalent, the nearest DIY land ever got to a super group.Dennis Burns and Mark Perry from ATV or The Good Missionaries,Karl Blake from The Lemon Kittens,and The legend that is Nag,from The Door and the Window. If that wasn't enough,the sleeve was designed by Danielle Dax!
The music ,bizarrely enough sounds like that of all the aforementioned bands,but....erm ...different. There's a hint of the pop song about it,and in this case its a good thing, 'cus it works.A great album indeed,even the cover version of Rocky Erickson's "Interpreter" is great, aided greatly by the dulcet tones of Mark Perry.An overlooked classic of the genre methinks.(click on the mp3 sample of tightrope walker for a taster)

A1		Tightrope Walker
A2		Zigzagging
A3		Keep It Easy
A4		Toy Dog Ripped By Cat
A5		Demon Of My Desires
A6		The Human Touch
B1		The Interpreter
B2		Oh Baby, Look Out ( It`s The New Dance)
B3		I Had Love In My Hands
B4		Clamming Up
B5		Nag Takes A Ride
B6		The Parting

Mark Perry, Nag, Dennis Burns, Karl Blake, Grant Showbiz,
Justin, Michele Bonett, Vicki Bonett, Steve Tannet
Recorded at Street Level and Denmark Street Sudios May/June/July 1981

Download Slugs and Toads HERE!