Description
Epic Soundtracks and Jowe Head, along with Epic’s brother Nikki Sudden, were founder members of Swell Maps, that extraordinary band from Solihull in West Midlands of England. Swell Maps were pioneers of DIY independent rock in the UK, forming their own record label, Rather Records, in 1977, and releasing their own recordings independently. Their experimental fusion of punk-rock and experimental sounds was highly influential in the UK, around Europe, and in USA.!After releasing two acclaimed albums, Swell Maps split in 1980. Epic and Jowe, by some strange twist of fate, found themselves living as neighbours in Hackney, East London, and decided to continue together developing pieces for a new project. Jowe: “Many of these pieces are improvised and intensely rhythmic, partly influenced by our emerging interest in African music, particularly the Burundi drumming style. We were also excited by some of the wild “No-Wave” sounds coming out of New York at the time, such as The Contortions, and Teenage Jesus & The Jerks. We were also listening to some of the current German records by DAF, SYPH, and Holger Czukay”. !They recorded several pieces together, including “Rain Rain Rain”, featuring a fine improvised vocal by Jowe’s friend Carmel, who later had a successful career as a ‘torch singer’, and a few hit singles. This track was released by Rough Trade Records as a 12-inch single in 1982, with an instrumental piece called “Ghost Train” on the B-side. Epic and Jowe were unable to finish the album, due to lack of funds. Epic joined a band called Crime and the City Solution, and later embarked on a solo career. Jowe joined a band called Television Personalities, and also recorded several solo albums. These pieces reveal a radical step forward from Swell Maps. Much of this unique sound relies on Epic’s excellent drumming and his emerging piano skills, sympathetically allied to Jowe’s developing skills on bass guitar, electric guitar and voice. All of these pieces are unique and undeniably experimental, yet many of the tracks have a certain rhythmic sophistication; there is also a lot of space for melody, textures and mood. The original sessions were recorded over two sessions in 1981, at WSRS studio in Leamington Spa onto 8-track tape. These multi-track tapes disappeared for many years, and were only rediscovered a few years ago. Old magnetic tapes tend to deteriorate, so Jowe had them carefully baked in a laboratory, which stabilised the coating on the tape surface so they could be copied and digitised. The master tape of the single was never found, so Jowe’s friend Rico Conning recently remixed it, and the result sounds fine, so he deserves much credit. Jowe completed the rest of the pieces last year, and now, after over 40 years, the resulting album can finally be enjoyed. Sadly, Epic has since passed away, so this album can serve as a fitting testament to his talent.!“Daga Daga Daga” by Soundtracks and Head shall be released by Glass Modern Records in April 2024
