Small Hours — Clangers
For those not in the know The Clangers was a BBC produced children’s show that ran for 26 ten minute episodes between November 1969 & October 1974. The show told of a family of long nosed mice like creatures, who live on, and in, a small blue planet (quite similar to, but not intended to be, the Moon). They spoke in whistles, and ate green soup supplied by the Soup Dragon. It was a very quirky & English kids TV show
It’s safe to say this is one of Mr Killick's most over-the-top release packaging wise. The release comes in a spotty coloured bag and features: a 7” Anti Record, a tape, a minidisc, and a hand knitted Clanger doll!. Not surprisingly this release was only ltd to 4 copies that have long sold out. I’m reviewing a CDR promo of the release, so I’m not sure what order/ format the tracks originally appeared in.
The promo CDR features four unnamed tracks- we have two eight minute tracks( tracks 1 & 2) & two ten minute tracks( tracks 3 & 4). Untitled one finds Killick feeding a fairly even weave of speaker rumbling ‘n’ crackling noise over a background of surreal Clanger talk/chatter, and playful musical snippets from the show. The noise is kept to quite a pleasing & aged steady rumble ‘n’ purr, and it unfolds pretty much in an unbroken yet fairly thin textured noise manner. To me this first track feels a little too simplistic for it’s own good, with the samples been fed underneath the ‘wall’ in a fairly lose unfocused manner. It's ok I guess, but foe me it’s the least effective tracks here.
Track two starts off with a sample from the Clangers with the very 1970’s sounding English commentator out-lining the shows background story. Over this Killick slowly fades in a dense & aged mass of crackling/ jittering static. By around the minute & a half mark the sample has faded & we’re just left with the ‘wall’- which is a very pleasing mixture of tightly woven crackling & jittering static that’s underfed by a stuck mid-ranged billowing tone. The 'wall' unfolds in quite mid paced & warming manner, yet the tautly weaved tones keeps ones attention nicely.
Track Three opens with another sample from the show- this time the story teller is talking about the Clangers building an iron Chicken. Over this is a 'wall' of fading in noise, and this time it’s a mixture of taut juddering ‘n’ billowing low to mid end noise, which is circled by locked crackling/rumbling static. The low-to-mid-end elements have a most satisfying slow-tar-drying churn to them which really sucks you into the track.
Track four starts off once again with a rather bizarre & quirky sample from the show. This time it’s a mixture of: the story tellers voice, all manner of weird clucking chicken talking, cluttering spacey junk sounds & whistling talking. The ‘wall’ rises a little slower this time, and it’s much more in an ANW setting. The sample drops out around the minute & a half mark, and the ‘walls’ is quite a soothing mixture of continuous descending slow rumble ‘n’ tumble, with ribbons of warming/ aged jitter 'n' crackle.
So to sum-up, all but the first tracks ‘wall’ are rewarding & well thought out bits of HNW, with an often nice aged feel to them. It’s just a pity the tracks don’t really mange to put across the more playful/ surreal edges of the show beyond the samples, as this would have added another edge to the proceedings, and of course Killick has managed to weave the fun element into his wall work in the past with his great first Pooh release.