THREAT#3: Sedgemore – Major Threat Mixtape

Artwork by: Sedgemore

Free DL: here

“You danced before my eyes
We met there
Santas on trees and dolls on benches
Now you dance in the woods
The oily asphalt is my sky
Ants in the cracks
No more straw dog
Let my joy ride you
Swallowing up delicacies like the sweeper trucks
Nails eating candy canes
Now you see the boots
Metal links feeling your skin
Flickering lights will show your expression”
Sedgemore

17th October 2015 // Some unresolved murders inspired Sedgemore in giving (a-)physical shape to his inner disease and hopeless weariness. Don’t bother being pitiful towards him tough, you’d better be questioning your existence by now. His strength is his firm brave and aggressive attitude through which he lives this grotesque masquerade called Life. Here’s the mysterious producer’s score of an imaginary horror-road-sick movie. Recorded at Towers Motel.

Lo slot temporale di Ottobre, nell’ambito dell’appuntamento mensile con il Mixcloud della webzine, è occupato dal Major Threat Mixtape firmato Sedgemore. Si tratta del terzo episodio della serie Threats, e del primo artista che si lancia così violentemente sul tema della minaccia, ponendosi anzi primariamente come una di esse. Pochissime informazioni sono effettivamente reperibili riguardanti Sedgemore, ed i contatti sono stati spesso difficoltosi e rarefatti.

Major Threat Mixtape è un lavoro completamente atipico per la concezione diffusa di mixtape. Non per durata, scelta delle tracce o tecnica di mixaggio, ma per intenti. La dose di attenzione richiesta è massima, la soglia e la guardia non possono mai essere abbassate (pena lo smarrimento nella forte componente astratta della musica prodotta). Più che una questione di volumi (alla stregua di un mixtape da set/dancefloor classico), l’apprezzamento in ascolto arriva dalla capacità di immaginazione. Major Threat Mixtape è la colonna sonora di un viaggio in un abisso. Viaggio che non si conclude sprofondando disastrosamente in esso, ma al contrario è vissuto, per tutta la sua lunghezza, come un gioco pericoloso sulle sue ripide pendici. Lo scopo di Sedgemore è questo: descrivere come ci si sente vivendo in prossimità dell’oblio. La forma è quella di una ipotetica soundtrack, per compilare la quale non c’è necessità stretta di continuità di atmosfera, ma anzi diventa necessario contestualizzare uno svolgimento e declinarlo in diverse possibili scene (sta a chi ascolta, come menzionato sopra, immaginare quali).

V/H/S trailer (2012)

In ogni caso, una sufficientemente nutrita serie di indizi che possano guidare l’ascoltatore è presente ed è trapelata dai nostri scambi con Sedgemore, oltre che dall’artwork del mix (volutamente stampata in low quality). Major Threat Mixtape è l’OST di un road movie alla Joy Ride / Lost Highway, dai forti connotati misterici / inquietanti. Altra fonte di ispirazione è stato il film V/H/S, principalmente per la sensazione claustrofobica permeante (al di là del valore del film in sè) che Sedgemore ben conosce e che ha cercato di ricreare in altra forma. Alcuni lavori di James Fotopoulos hanno fatto il resto. Particolare menzione va fatta al forte interesse di Sedgemore verso gli unsolved murders, come fenomeno sociale di massa, spettacolarizzazione televisiva e rimando al macabro. Per concludere, Sedgemore ha insistito perchè si citasse tra le sue fonti imprescindibili di ispirazione anche il lavoro fotografico dell’artista inglese Mac Adams (per ulteriori informazioni: qui).

Smoke and Condensation (1975), Mac Adams

Al solito, in coda alla versione inglese di questo post è possibile trovare la tracklist scelta da Sedgemore per raggiungere il proprio obiettivo. I Boards of Canada si alternano agli Ulver (negli episodi più ambientali / drone), passando da pezzi rumorosi di Delroy Edwards, tracks nere di Aaron Dilloway, e tracce di Sedgemore prodotte per l’occasione. All’interno anche una traccia di Skag Arcade dal primo album Post Tenebras Lux (per una review del disco dagli amici di Futurismi vedi qui). I pezzi sono stati scelti per creare una sorta di altalena di emozioni forti ed aperture di attesa, proprio come potrebbe essere musicato un horror movie ed i suoi espedienti scenici per inquietare il fruitore. La chiusura è tanto brusca quanto inaspettata (quanto da finale beffardo del tipico mistery movie, appunto): è riservata ad un pezzo blues di Eddie Noack del giro delle ormai cult murder ballads, dal titolo Psycho. La canzone, del 1968, racconta in prima persona l’esperienza di un assassino alle prese con la vita quotidiana, ed è espressione di un umorismo indimenticabile (come indimenticabile in sè è pure la ballata). Il nostro consiglio è di ascoltare Major Threat Mixtape nel momento della vostra giornata in cui vi sentirete maggiormente oppressi / senza speranza, ed affondare con esso. All’ascoltatore la decisione di che fare raggiunto il fondo.

Enjoy. (Do not) support Sedgemore.

Keddie murders

You know the little girl next door, Mama? // I think her name is Betty Clark
Oh, don’t tell me that she’s dead, Mama // Why I just seen her in the park

She was sitting on a bench, Mama // Thinking of a game to play
Seems I was holding a wrench, Mama // Then my mind walked away
Don’t you think I’m psycho, Mama // You can pour me a cup
If you think I’m psycho, Mama // You better let ’em lock me up

Say something to me Mama // Mama, why don’t you get up?


ENGLISH VERSION


THREAT #3: SEDGEMORE – MAJOR THREAT MIXTAPE

You danced before my eyes
We met there
Santas on trees and dolls on benches
Now you dance in the woods
The oily asphalt is my sky
Ants in the cracks
No more straw dog
Let my joy ride you
Swallowing up delicacies like the sweeper trucks
Nails eating candy canes
Now you see the boots
Metal links feeling your skin
Flickering lights will show your expression
Sedgemore

17th October 2015 // Some unresolved murders inspired Sedgemore in giving (a-)physical shape to his inner disease and hopeless weariness. Don’t bother being pitiful towards him tough, you’d better be questioning your existence by now. His strength is his firm brave and aggressive attitude through which he lives this grotesque masquerade called Life. Here’s the mysterious producer’s score of an imaginary horror-road-sick movie. Recorded at Towers Motel.

This month, the mix coming out on our Mixcloud channel is by Sedgemore and it’s called Major Threat Mixtape. It’s the third episode of the Threats series, and Sedgemore is the first artist in focusing so strongly on threat-y topics (being one of them in first place). Very few infos can be actually gathered on the Internet about him. Our (digital) chats have been often difficult and rarefied.

Major Threat Mixtape is a complete a-typical mixtape according to the most common meaning mixtape has. Differences are not about the length of the mix, type of tracks choosen or mixing techniques, yet about the aim. The focus one ought to address has to be maximum, the guard cannot be dropped (the drawback might be to get lost in the abstract music). The mix is neither about the high volumes, as the classical dancefloor mix would request to go straight to the listener: it’s about imagination. Major Threat Mixtape is the soundtrack of a journey towards the abyss. However, the travel does not end in it. On the contrary, it takes all its length moving on the deep’s steep sides. Sedgemore’s will is to describe the feeling one would feel living forever close to the oblivion. He does that making a full-movie score, so there’s no straight need to preserve the same moods all along the mix. Instead, it’s important to describe a plot for it, and to define the possible scenes/scenarios.

James Fotopoulos’s Jerusalem

There’s a quite long list of major influences Sedgemore had been affected in doing the mix. Major Threat Mixtape sounds like the O.S.T. of a movie such Joy Ride / Lost Highway, remarkably mysterious and creepy. V/H/S was another source of inspiration, mainly because of its claustrophobic atmosphere: that’s a feeling Sedgemore knows very well, and he tried to put that into music. Some movies by James Fotopoulos were important too. It’s important to mention also Sedgemore’s great interest in unsolved murders as a social mass phenomenon and as a great (TV) show of violence and macabre. To sum up, Sedgemore insisted to report as another main influemce the photography of the English artist Mac Adams (more informations here).

Mac Adams’ Fury (1976)

To reach his goal, Sedgemore chose a tracklist that sees Boards Of Canada alternating with Ulver (the more ambient/drone releases), one of the noisiest tracks by Delroy Edwards, dark anthems by Aaron Dilloway and some Sedgemore productions for the occasion. A track by Skag Arcade is featured too: it’s from the first record Post Tenebras Lux (review by Futurismi here). All the tracks were chosen to create kind of a roller coaster of suspence and quiet moments, just like a horror movie’s score would be composed for. The closing is rough and totally unexpected, such as Sedgemore is recalling the typical quiz-y ending of a mistery movie. The track is a blues piece by Eddie Noack that can be inserted in the cult genre today we can label as murder ballad. The song is named Psycho, was published in 1968 and is about a psychotic murdered telling how is to face his ordinary life. The lyrics show an unforgettable sense of humour, making the whole ballad unforgettable too. Our advice is to listen to Major Threat Mixtape in the worst moment of your day, when you’re feeling oppressed and hopeless, and to let the mix drag you down. It’s up to you what to do once you’ve reached the bottom. Enjoy. (Do not) support Sedgemore.

Marylin & Dennis Depue

You know the little girl next door, Mama? // I think her name is Betty Clark
Oh, don’t tell me that she’s dead, Mama // Why I just seen her in the park

She was sitting on a bench, Mama // Thinking of a game to play
Seems I was holding a wrench, Mama // Then my mind walked away

Don’t you think I’m psycho, Mama // You can pour me a cup
If you think I’m psycho, Mama // You better let ’em lock me up

Say something to me Mama // Mama, why don’t you get up?


TRACKLIST


  1. Boards Of Canada – Beware The Friendly Stranger
  2. Sedgemore – Some Things Are Better Left Alone
  3. Marco Beltrami – Mole Asses
  4. Dual Action – Oil On Asphalt
  5. Sedgemore – Flickering Light
  6. DJ Punisher – Untitled 3
  7. Aaron Dilloway – After The Showers (Re-2)
  8. Ulver – Silence Teaches You How To Sing
  9. Metal Fang – Fury Becomes Method
  10. Aaron Dilloway – Side B (Songs About Jason)
  11. Skag Arcade – Pentagram
  12. Sedgemore – Death Under Suspicious Circumstances
  13. Truck Stop Strangler – Hammerhead
  14. Truck Stop Strangler – Sigil Designation Zone
  15. Ulver – Silence Teaches You How To Sing
  16. Sedgemore – Jenkins Sycamore
  17. Eddie Noack – Psycho

 


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PAYNOMINDTOUS is a non-profit organization registered in December 2018, operating since late 2015 as a webzine and media website. In early 2017, we started our own event series in Turin, IT focused on arts, experimental, and dancefloor-oriented music. We reject every clumsy invocation to “the Future” meant as the signifier for capitalistic “progress” and “innovation”, fully embracing the Present instead; we renounce any reckless and ultimately arbitrary division between “high” and “low”, respectable and not respectable, “mind” and “body”; we support and invite musicians, artists, and performers having diverse backgrounds and expressing themselves via variegated artistic practices.

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