MySpace a place for friends

14th July 2009 - My debut CD "Threads" has now been mastered by the independent French label Slaughter in Art. Just the CD sleeve layouts to complete, then there will be loud martial fun with a very absinthe-induced release party...

OR MAYBE NOT, after the events of Satuday 11th October 2008. Thanks for censoring that which you don't think you like the sound of, indymedia.org. Just remind me, what does the "indy" stand for? More on that topic later, as Lemmy would say.

18 December '08 - Harry's superb SkullLine label has now released "In the Sign of the Runes"

..skullline CDR040-08..

V/A Sampler 'In the sign of the runes' CD Lim150

CD 16 Tracks (77min) A5 handmade cardboard cover lim150



Info: available Special Edition 2CD Lim50 white cover 29 track(142min) banderole + insert (Oak leaf).

***tribute to :Guido von List:***

Tracklist:

CD1:

01. Heilges Licht - Keep the fire in your heart!
02. Argentum - Runa
03. Barbarossa Umtrunk - Eldritch Germania
04. L Effet C Est Moi - Runes of victory
05. Svarta Sol - Instrumental
06. Bleiburg - Raidho
07. Geheime Staatspolitik - 1941
08. In Scherben - Runentraum (SkullLine Edit)
09. Sala delle Colonne - Al troneo effersato..
10. Kazeria (KZ) - Song for a black sun
11. Seuchensturm - Stoersender
12. Durch Heer und Kraft - Postwar
13. Waldquelle - Abschied
14. Waffenruhe - Ehrerbietung
15. Traum ner Leben - Der Kuss (Vorabversion)
16. Life s Decay - Waerkstats

CD2:

01. Tesla Monophonie feat. Chemoshaman - Meatgrind Industry
02. PPF - Routines are killing you
03. IRIKARAH - Runengebrauch
04. Stormfagle - Untitled
05. Fournirisches Gangraen - Lullaby for a nightmare
06. Kaliber 9 - Deathtrab
07. Nocturne - Behind the shadows
08. Zyankali - Vergeltungsschlag
09. Kenji Siratori - Spallation
10. Hybryds - Trancedub09
11. Melek-tha - L abattoir des memories
12. Area Bombardment - Armanenschaft
13. Zr 19.84 feat. Beintensong - Algiz, the elevent charm...


Genre: Neofolk, Modern Classical, Medival, Martial, Ambient, Experimental, Noise

order now:
normal: V/A Runes CD


special edition: V/A Runes 2CD

As quite a few people have now asked, I will try to explain here a little bit about the old name Geheime Staatspolitik, which was widely used before this project was renamed IronWork, because I am not intending to be ambiguous here.

Geheime Staatspolitik is German for "secret state politics", by which I am referring to the dirty underhand political dealings perpetrated by governments and industrialists worldwide. This is a motif of some of my songs.

In fact someone who wrote to me expressed an interesting take on my work and understood some of its levels: "Well your name shocked me at first... and then I read the explanation you gave to it... fascinating concept... I think this Gestapo spirit has taken over in UK and US as they have created this spy society culture... where neighbour is watching neighbour..." - cheers Aki. And Zebulon, the anti-lizardesque metal madman [he knows he does not know, and therefore he is not actually mad] who wrote the same sort of thing, but in, er, Inuit, I think. And 'Ant' of Dark Villager fame, who contributed enormously to the fine tuning of this text.

I did choose the name deliberately for its similarity to Geheime Staatspolizei, which was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. I'm interested in and horrified by the concept of 'denunciation', whereby members of the public denounced ["informed on"] people against whom they had a private grudge. All types of people suffered as a result of such denunciation. Contrary to general supposition, the Gestapo did not have a huge number of staff in proportion to the German population, and much of its work was aided through this process of denunciation. Therefore I suppose you could say that the band name reflects an aspect of the "don't grass" spirit that I adhere to. That's the reasoning behind the name. But I admit there is also a potential shock value and I was capitalising on that to some extent. Maybe GSp should be retitled "general musings on the Cold War, terrorism and state control' or something less artistic. "IronWork" should do nicely.

Anyway... While I was watching a film about the porn millionaire Larry Flynt I noticed the judgment from Judge Rehnquist of the Supreme Court of America, and I thought it was apt so I noted it down: "At the heart of the First Amendment is the recognition of the importance of the free flow of ideas. Freedom to speak one's mind is not only an aspect of individual liberty but essential to the quest for truth and the vitality of society as a whole."

Yep. Totally agree. As long as you've made some efforts to be reasonably informed, you can say whatever you like as far as I'm concerned.

What I find more fachistic than anything I've ever witnessed at a SoleilNoir concert, is the use of tear gas and the destruction of musical instruments by masked hooligans who, if they were truly honest, would admit that they're just looking for excitement.


History of this musical project and brief words on the songs:

IronWork (né Geheime Staatspolitik)started on 8th July 2005, the day after the terrorist bombings in London, with an angry song called "52". "52" was an exhalation of relief the following day when I found out that my family was OK. My sympathies are with the families of the 52 murder victims, and even more strongly with those who live on scarred by this atrocity.

A good friend, classical music lover and nurse/psychologist in training [ only 6 months to go... stick at it Doktorrrrr ] really liked this song, and so with a bit of encouragement from her I composed the instrumental "Auf dem Weg zurück aus der Lichtung des Schneewaldes", ("on the path from the clearing in the snow-filled forest, after...") which is a sort of short story in music about a man who has to take another man into the forest and kill him; it is supposed to represent his thoughts as he walks back through the snow from the middle of the forest. It was inspired to some extent by the bleak coldness of Robert Harris's book "Fatherland" and John Le Carré's Cold War works. I also wanted to make something with mad arpeggios and a Russian sort of feel, after a mind-expanding visit to St Petersburg in 2007. My thanks go to the outstandingly talented cz of Vinterriket (who hates Myspace héhé) for correcting my appalling German.

At the same time I cobbled together "L'aube au Chien qui Fume" from an Yves Montand war song. I used a little artistic [ow ow put the tear gas away!] license to displace it in place and time; it was written after WWII in 1949, but I imagined it being sung in the great Paris restaurant 'Au Chien qui Fume' in 1940. In terms of structure the song is slightly strange, because the noise we hear before the middle break is apparently a genuine recording of a V1 rocket, and the long quiet part where Montand's vocals fade away in the middle is there because the V1 cut off its engine about 1 minute before it landed. This terrifying silence sticks in the minds of all who experienced the bombing of London during the war. Then the bomb explodes, and the song continues in a different key. At the start of the song, the lyrics are very sad, but the end of the song is quite optimistic. The continued sounds of battle counterpoint this unrealistic optimism.

"My England" is a very simple folk-style song with just guitar and voice, about my disappointment with England in 2005.

"Threads I and II" are about the fear of nuclear war that I was instilled with growing up in the UK in the 70's and 80's.

"A heathen conceivably" is a tribute to the film The Wicker Man, and to Markus Pesonen's Karjarlan Sissit, both of which I like very much.



So, what do I think about on dark evenings ?

I'm practically unpatriotic
I prefer the bizarre and neurotic
I can't ma'am and smarm
Kowtow and salaam
I prefer my obeisance erotic

[Andrew Motion]