press on

Ultra Eczema
always happy to hear from family man NEIL CAMPBELL, one of the greatest uk recording artists alive! the "plug music ramoon" lp by his band ASTRAL SOCIAL CLUB remains the best (new) lp of the year, and the new releases on his own music mundane label are great, especially the double cdr of the A BAND is sweet; 2 live documents from 1992 stoner free bagger in the vein of the architects of reason or even destroy all monsters..

www.thesoundprojector.com
Astonishing LP of high-energy improvised music from certified UK geniuses, recorded by Anna Tjan in 2007 and released on her own vinyl label.
The great Neil Campbell has come a long way since the 1990s and his days of founder member of the A-Band and Vibracathedral Orchestra, and since creating the solo project Astral Social Club in 2005 he is increasingly widening out the many tentacles of his powerful acoustic droney music octopus. Here, the Club has been expanded to include Stewart Keith, a fellow member of the chaotic and wonderful free-form collective The A-Band; and John Clyde-Evans, that mystical enlightened marvel whose recent solo electronic recordings have been realised with assistance and support from Campbell. Four tracks, using lots of guitars, electronics, analogue synths, percussion, violin and vocals all heaped up in abundance, and incredibly dense and generous noise of joyousness and righteous playing, packed with dynamics and ideas reinventing themselves at every turn. In these four walls we have been beset of late with numerous solo records from Norway and Denmark, where the players aim for a similar kind of overcrowded and dense sound through the use of multiple overdubs of their acoustic instruments, but they cannot match the power we hear on this LP. All of Plug Music Ramoon has that backbone, that staying power and musical integrity. While remaining hypnotic and compelling, this record is also much less droney than the beautiful but monotonous music of Vibracathedral, with more musical horizons opening up. 'Punk Rocker / Mug Cracker' includes some stripped-down percussive beats that suggest a strong krautrock vibe, while the layers on top are full of shimmering electronics and insane psychedelic noodling. 'Don't Stomp On The Silverfish' also uses some percussion but as its main rhythm has a very awkward 'clonking' beat that Metabolist would have been proud of. Again, the music has a tough inner core, like the fibre of an indestructible jungle plant. Campbell's vocalised whoops and hoots decorate this uplifting track and 'Ramoon Ramoon' ends this LP with an extremely heavy grinding drone of further intense beauty. Perhaps the sessions were heavily edited for this release, but I don't hear the trio putting a single foot wrong in this supremely assured, joyous outpouring of magical music. Never short of ideas, it's also a very physical record; you feel that every possible motion of finger, hand, arm, foot and body that could possibly be deployed in the context of playing an instrument (sawing, plucking, bowing, keying, hammering…) is on offer in this rich array of work. The gatefold cover (a sleeve with no seams) is screenprinted by Midori Ogata and Anna; in a single glyph, it establishes the missing link between man and tree, between music and forest, while at the same time resembling one of the chalk hill figures which are part of the UK's rich historical heritage. An essential item!

The Swedish Nurse
... "Plug Music Ramoon", released on the new London label Dancing Wayang in December, is an LP enfolded in a nice sleeve illustrating how, as in the Albert Ayler song of the same name, a man is like a tree. This club meeting comprised of the trio of Neil Campbell, Stewart Keith and John Clyde-Evans and for my money this is one of their best releases so far. Dunno who does what but this is something else.
Below electronic trails and whizzes, piano chords chime in a stately procession at first, then get on the dancefloor to a glam-rock beat, tapping away in a I Wanna be Your Dog style. When the beat drops and the noises take over and teleport, the piano plays on, bashing out busy and longing melodies underneath the tumult high, high above. Honestly, it's breathtaking.
Side two begins with a long percussion workout by freaks (it's not a freakout, it's definitely a workout), grooving arhythmically to a heavy bass burp and the battle cries of Space Maories. On the closing 'Ramoon Ramoon' dazzling, no-wave guitar superstringing bounces off a driving pulse and a gathering fuzz guitar chime that builds until the needle abruptly lifts. The recording captures all the techincolour chaos beautifully, hats off to all concerned because this is an amazing piece of modern, unclassifiable and experimental psychedelia.
First 100 copies (of 500) come with a tiny wee 3" CD with twenty minutes of extra tuneage, so try and get on it, but the LP is worth it in itself.

RUIS Magazine - download pdf
Some people are firmly convinced that everything Neil Campbell touches turns to gold. As one of the key figures of the UK underground scene he set high standards with the A Band and Vibracathedral Orchestra. His solo project Astral Social Club is currently his most productive project. His last record “Sieben Stax” on Bottrop-Boy was already described as “alien dance music” in the last issue of RUIS. Pulsating streams of sound and abstract rhythmic jams also dominate on “Plug Music Ramoon”. Here Campbell collaborated with John Clyde-Evans and Stewart Keith. In four pieces they balance between drone sounds, which originate from England, and what’s possibly best described as “folk techno jams”. In either case, it furthers the sound which Campbell has been working on for years. “Plug Music Ramoon” is the third release from London’s Dancing Wayang Records label which already guarantees beautiful silkscreened cover art, hand numbered must-haves and good taste.

The Wire Magazine, February 2009
Here, Neil Campbell detours from his recent Techno-centric route, joined by associates John Clyde-Evans and Stewart Keith for a comparatively conventional live-action studio jam. Euphoric electronics are still the main ingredients - thick drones, twittering loops and fizzing static - but recognizable instruments pierce the veil: a tendril of guitar, a bongo beat, even, at the end of opener "Flamingo Moon", stabbing piano echoing the garage heartbeat of VU's "I'm Waiting For The Man". Campbell seems happy to make his retro-psych influences plain. "Punk Rocker / Mug Cracker" is dominated by Krautrocking 4/4 drums, smothered with enough flange and cosmic shortwave whooshes to approach Hawkwind-style heaviness. And "Don't Stomp On The Silverfish", with its slapdash rhythm and tribal grunts, recalls the openended, communal jams of late 60s collective Haphash And The Coloured Coat. Finally, "Ramoon Ramoon" returns to more typical ground, with deep sruti drones and muffled Techno beats. It's a tripped out tradition that Campbell's always been working to keep alive by joining the musical (micro-)dots - but rarely so explicitly.

www.brainwashed.com
Neil Campbell forms part of a trend of contemporary musicians who feel that they need to release every single thing they do. Acid Mothers Temple, Merzbow, Wolf Eyes and Nadja are other big names that come to mind and while these all release decidedly sub-par material, the good releases tend to make this practice forgivable. Unfortunately, Campbell has been more miss than hit for me and this has put me off his work as the risk of being burned is too great. Needless to say, I was surprised when I actually liked Plug Music Ramoon which, although patchy, is one of the more interesting items in his post-Vibracathedral Orchestra back catalogue.
The first side of this LP starts off wobbly with “Flamingo Moon” where the group (consisting of Stewart Keith and John Clyde-Evans in addition to Campbell) sounds like they are warming up rather than in full flow. The kraut stomp of “Punk Rocker/Mug Cracker” that follows blows the opening piece out of the water, the pulsing beat and dynamic electronics making for one of the spikiest and most exciting Astral Social Club tracks. The music eventually folds in on itself; all sense of rhythm lost and all that is left is a joyous celebration of pure sound. The second side of Plug Music Ramoon does not fare quite so well as the lengthy “Don’t Step on the Silverfish” goes on too long for my tastes; its demented mardis gras rhythm is a bit grating. It does change over its 13 minutes yet it never seems to come together properly. “Ramoon Ramoon” explores similar territory to far better effect. The tribal percussion combined with dentist drill electronics is more pleasant than it sounds and I wish it took up more of Side B than the previous track. It is here that freer side of the music really opens up and the musicians start to examine the implications of the group’s name (as any albums I have heard previously have never been very astral or social). The fact I dislike most Astral Social Club releases but dig this one might not bode well for those who do like Astral Social Club in general. However, I do think this is a genuinely good record no matter what name is on the sleeve. Granted it has its less desirable moments but these are most likely due to the recording process (all recorded in one day) and perhaps with more time this line up of Astral Social Club could have pulled something greater out of the hat.

Rock-A-Rolla Magazine - download pdf
Despite the cast of helping hands across these two releases, it's still a quintessential set of Astral Social-mode Neil Campbell constructions. Still in the process of renegotiating the wiring of his mojo away from his past, Astral Social Club is an evolving major volte-face from the paths that the man who played with Vibracathedral knew so well. Always yieldingly organic, with manic undercurrents of electric squid ink rushes, and clubbed with splodge/stomp rhythm - Campbell's music feels like its made up of melody streaming into receptors unable to handle the size of the data. [...] Plug Music Ramoon is just as electrically fluid as Octuplex, a mix of lightning-scratched steam power and bubbling phials - a warp of Frankenstein and frankincense. This vinyl-only release feels shorter than its CD counterpart, though it carries a more spontaneous vibe combining piano haloed stompers and warped Reich-smothered gamelan.