Brian 'Uncle Kastro Valley" T.(original)voice over, tapes
Special "FED" ED alias the Edbomber(original and present)tapes, electronics,beats,bass
DJ NAYPALM BREATH "Natobasher"(original and present)beats,tapes,electronics,percussion
El JEFFE "Springsteen"(joined 1996 and present)loops,beats, tapes, fx
Frequent collaborators included DJ double Doppio"Robo", Dara Starr, the elLiS Diva, DJ Skippy, the Dr. Crystal Mess and Papalota Sound
Influences
TG, John Cage, Violent Onsen Geisha, Merzbow, GGG, Sun Ra, Masona, Cock ESP, Haters,
Bastard Noise, late nite talk radio, poverty, ocd, add, various drugs, Noisegate, Brass Construction, Nurse With Wound, SPK, Negativland, Chrome, Meat Beat Manifesto,New Oral Exciter, Big City Orkestra, NBC, UBZUB, Coil, Bill Burroughs, Wilhelm Reich, Nicola Tesla, Flutter, Mildew all you noise loving wing-nuts......
Founded 1994 by a psychotic poet and two very jaded musicians. Based originally in Oakland and Castro Valley CA considered defunct since 1999, only to resurface in 2003 with the 3" CD "Feeling Bad 1995" (2003 veal stall productions)...extreme noise and tape collage. A form of sonic disruption created with cassette tapes, reel to reels, computers and broken equipment. During the mid 90's Self-Help contributed to Free Radio Berkeley broadcasts, put out a four side noise 7inch with Deerhoof performed on KPFA and collaborated with Noisegate on a split remix cassette only release in 1997. The central theme of SH(if there is one) is the idea of reclaiming "media space" with the world so utterly polluted and sullied by the myriad of psychological advertising techniques and "control images" SH decided to fight back and reclaim this media headspace. At first politics and social commentary was inadvertent later SH decided to design peices that were laden with overt social and political content. The ethos of the group could be described as punk. Poverty stricken and always on the edge of sanity, Self-Help is the soundtrack for post-modern urban decay. On the rare occasions that SH performed live the group never had a real stage persona often times obscuring their identities. This seems to be a stark contrast to the modern noise bands "rockstaresque" stage posturing and naming schemes. In 1998 Self-Help mutated toward more computerized music and supplied material to a small underground website called Speedbass.com Just as speedbass was becoming a growing electronic/noise community it was pulled off the web suddenly(it seems to be back but with none of the original 90's archives). The artists held no copyrights, traded their work freely, and encouraged others to remix previously posted tracks. More info to come and a return to webcast and performance is in the works. I will also try to put up old tracks as I find them. If anyone that stumbles across this site has any of our cassette only releases let me know I want to digitally archive them. New stuff will make it up here too.
CUT(SELF-HELP SEMINARS LTD.)'s Friend Space (Top 32)
Hey I'm making a new halloween inspired video from scratch everyday this week. The videos vary greatly but share elements and hopefully work as a whole. I'm calling it:
and Hillary ,Mccain & Obama are interested in getting rid of the patriot act, NAFTA, getting rid of the federal reserve & income tax and getting out of Iraq. As for the points you brought up, I have heard Ron Paul say that those are state rights issues and the federal gov. has no business in them. but I hear ya no one is perfect. In other news good thing we left Oakland cuz they have started these random house searches to make sure your guns are safe & legal. Look out it could be coming to a town near you soon. xoxoxo
Absolutely capitol! This makes my day, to find Self-Help related wickedness at my doorstep. I made a Self-Help cd a coupla years back, from a multi-track tape given to me to mix. Still one of my fave cds. But then I like overkill mixed with confusion and clutter.
cheers!
