Sheer Zed's "Blog For Your Head."

It's All Down in Black & White is a mixtape that changed my life. It's a hand-made mixtape that was given to me by a man called Wilf. It has never left my side. During the 1980s I was studying art, art history, drama (officially) and music (unofficially though I did utilize the departments studio and attend some module classes) at Yeovil College, Somerset. The college refectory was always a heady place of roll-up smoke and tea drinking combined with the consumption of chips with melted cheese. One day through the windowed sheets of condensation in the refectory I saw a long coated, curly Mohicaned, tall and thin chap walking towards the college over the grass with an art folder under his arm. This was Stephen Wilmott (or Wilf as he was affectionately known to everyone). As soon as I met Wilf I instantly liked him. Wilf was a part of the Yeovil music and art scene. I looked up to him. He was inspirational and always generous with his time. He was often seen (as I was too) in Acorn Music looking at the vinyl. I recall visitng his home in Grass Royal in Yeovil one day. It was a massive shrine to vinyl. His collection ran up the stairs, into the kitchen, living room and bedroom. Wilf was in a group called The Psyco Daisies (later to be known as The Psycho Daisies) who played regularly and had released a beautiful album of music through their own label The Golden Pathway on cassette called Send No Flowers. Graham Moores of The Psycho Daisies has very kindly written to me on the subject of Send No Flowers and the mixtape's creation; "Wilf used to come to my place to use my hi-fi equipment to make some of his tapes - It's how I got to hear some great music. He might have used my copies of Colourbox and ACR's Flight - possibly Wire 12XU from my copy of Wire - Live at the Roxy and the Joy Division and soundtracks too. Consumed lots of coffee and chocolate biscuits during these sessions...Send No Flowers was recorded on my Portastudio at Sutton Montis in the barn of Matt Cornish. Vox and Sound F/X added in my front room at Castle Cary - It was finally mixed down at Monitor in Milborne Port by Martin 'Bastie' Beresford."

Since Wilf's passing there has been a growing appreciation and celebration of his life and work. The mixtape has been a constant scorce of pleasure and inspiration to me over the years and has recently been lovingly transfered and migrated by Adrian Finn at The Great Bear. I am not the only one to have benefited from Wilf's mixtape kindness as Sarah Beatrice testifies. If you look carefully Wilf has written on the fly leaf of the mixtape cover these words; "When we're born with nothing then we die with nothing. Least we say we've say we've try instead of giving up the fight." I haven't given up the fight Wilf and since your beautiful spirit has touched my life, I never will.

Posted May 6, 2012

Sheer Zed Live at Media Kitchen L.A. 2003 #VHS #WeirdMusicForWeirdTimes

From 2001 to 2005 I had the pleasure and privilege of being a part of what John Wyman (the then head honcho at Media Kitchen) would call "The Content Incubation Society". As a regular client at Media Kitchen Studio, Gardena, L.A. (producing one album, one EP and one single) I would come to know the crew that ran this remarkable studio and rehearsal space namely, John Wyman (producer/mastering engineer), John "Irvo" Irvine (producer/engineer) and the late, great Bill Krodell (He was an engineer/producer for area studios such as Pendragon, Jet City and Media Kitchen. He worked with bands such as Guns N' Roses, Seinsfeld, Pennywise and Motörhead. He also recorded oprea singers, rap artists, gospel choirs and even relaxation therapists!) Irvo would regularly organise rehearsals, recordings and the occasional happening (which would eventually come under the name of Irvopalooza) The video document you see before you now is a casual, surreal, chaotic and non-professional VHS taping of one such happening that was streamed live on the night onto the internet via a PC cambot. The line-up that evening also featured a local band called The Rolling Blackouts (which are not included here but make up part of the audience) I had no control over the quality of the taping. Indeed, as you will see the whole evening was somewhat unhinged (including my performance) The cameraman was unknown to me and is sadly uncredited. The performance starts at 7:23 mins, so if you wish to fast forward past some experimental cut out puppetry, Irvo stopping hipster art nerds nailing up canvas onto the pristine Media Kitchen wall with the now legendary "Hey, brainiacs!!!" intervention and bizarre L.A. audience banter, then please do so. The previous year I had released my debut album 'Music For Your Head'. The tracks featured here are from that recording and are as follows: 1 - But He Didn't Know What He Wanted. 2 - Label. 3 - Sticky Glyph. 4 - New/Old. 5 - You Are My Sin. Since this recording many things have changed or passed; my weird postage stamp moustache, the orange shiny jacket and the great Bill Krodell. Many thanks go to Adrian Finn at The Great Bear for his migration of the VHS tape to digital. I would also like to thank the two John's for their inspirational support and friendship. This video is dedicated to the memory of Bill Krodell.

Posted March 25, 2012

The Release of Sheer Zed's The Twelve Mithraic Eyes of Emergence EP 09-04-12 #WeirdMusicForWeirdTimes

The Twelve Mithraic Eyes of Emergence by Sheer Zed

Demon et Deus Inversus by Sheer Zed

Dub Delay (Secret Leaf Enclosure) by Sheer Zed

My next release will be The Twelve Mithraic Eyes of Emergence EP due out on the 9th April 2012. These three tracks of experimental mutant starship stealth bomber electronica will be made available through The Orchard via all major online retailers, mobile and streaming services. The EP has been mastered by the magical Loz Gill at Fat As Funk. The artwork is hand drawn by myself. This will be my eleventh release via my label (SZR) Music. Prior to release you can listen above or via my SoundCloud page. For more reading about Mithras read The Cosmic Mysteries of Mithras or indeed go here.

Posted January 17, 2012

The Release of Sheer Zed's Hieroglyphica Flashback EP 11-11-11 #WeirdMusicForWeirdTimes

Hieroglyphica Flashback by Sheer Zed

Anapnea by Sheer Zed

Prisca Sapientia by Sheer Zed

Schitzoidad by Sheer Zed

My new release the Hieroglyphica Flashback EP will be out 11-11-11. It features four tracks of dark, avant-garde, experimental electronica and will be made available via all major digital platforms for purchase or streaming via The Orchard. In the meantime you can listen to the whole EP above or via my SoundCloud page. The EP was mastered by the magical Loz Gill at Fat As Funk Mastering. The above cover art was hand drawn by myself. This will be my tenth release via my label (SZR) Music. It's available to purchase at Juno and iTunes.

Posted October 7, 2011

Ink Drawings By Keef #BioMorphicArt #PenAndInkDrawings

(download)

Ink Drawings By Keef from the artist Keef Patrick is an excellent and fine collection of work. In his handmade, screen printed limited edition (first run 50 copies only) book Keef says: "I would describe most of these drawings as "bio-morphic" where I imagine mother nature running amok, but they could also be called anatomical abstraction, or surrealism." Keef is planning a second run of this book. If you wish to order a copy, book him for a gallery show or have any enquires about his drawings/prints, you can contact Keef via his email keefpatrick1@gmail.com. Keef has done numerous posters and design pieces for Queens of the Stone Age and Eagles of Death Metal.

Posted September 24, 2011

Coalition Government cuts will force thousands of disabled people further into poverty #PapworthTrust #20PercentCutToDLA

Click here to download:

dlasurveyresultssummary_110830174513.pdf (192 KB)

(download)

Proposed Government cuts mean disabled people will not have enough money for everyday essentials like food and transport, according to new evidence revealed today by the charity Papworth Trust. Disability Living Allowance (DLA) was introduced by the Conservatives in 1992 to help disabled people cope with extra costs they face daily, such as paying for someone to help cook a hot meal if the person can't prepare it on their own. Based on a sample of over 2,200 people from across Britain, Papworth Trust's survey shows that if payments were reduced or stopped under PIP, 86% of disabled people will have to cut back on essentials such as food or being able to get out and about. The Coalition Government plans to replace DLA with a new benefit called Personal Independence Payment (PIP). It will reassess everyone who receives DLA and simultaneously reduce the total amount spent on this benefit by 20%. Papworth Trust Chief Executive Adrian Bagg says: "Disabled people's daily costs are typically 25% higher than those of non-disabled people. For example, not all public transport is accessible. This means that some people have to use accessible taxis to be able to leave their home, which cost significantly more than non-accessible taxis."

Posted August 31, 2011

Prey Project - The Killer LoJack App #PreyProject #LoJackedYoAss

via vimeo.com

Prey is an excellent, robust and killer software that lets you keep track of your phone or laptop at all times, and will help you find it if it ever gets lost or stolen. In a recent article about the looting during the UK Riots, Greg Martin, an "Information Security Evangelist", showed just how effective it can be. It's lightweight, open source software, and free for anyone to use. Basically you install a tiny agent in your PC or phone, which silently waits for a remote signal to wake up and work its magic. This signal is sent either from the Internet or through an SMS message, and allows you to gather information regarding the device's location, hardware and network status, and optionally trigger specific actions on it. You can quickly find out where your computer is located, who's using it, and what he's doing on it thanks to Prey's powerful reports system. By marking your device as missing, Prey will gather all the evidence you request and send it either to your Control Panel account or directly to your mailbox.

Posted August 13, 2011

The 2011 Tohoku Tsunami created a series of Antarctic icebergs #TohokuTsunami‬‏ #Icebergs

via youtube.com

New space-based images show the same tsunami that devastated Japan in March 2011 also caused a series of giant icebergs to break off halfway around the world in Antarctica. In total, the tsunami liberated about 48 square miles of icebergs from a region that had remained essentially unchanged for close to half a century. The largest iceberg that calved off of the Sulzberger Ice Shelf into the Ross Sea measured about 7 miles long by 4 miles wide. Go to http://www.igsoc.org/journal/current/205/j11j073.pdf for the full report.

Posted August 10, 2011

‪The Life and Works of Conrad Schnitzler #ElectronicMusicPioneer #ZodiakFreeArtsLab

via youtube.com

Conrad Schnitzler, one of the great pioneering forces in electronic music and co-founder of the group Kluster and early Tangerine Dream collaborator, has sadly passed away August 4th 2011 from stomach cancer. Born in Düsseldorf in 1937, he was an early member of Tangerine Dream (1969–1970) and a founder of the band Kluster. He left Kluster in 1971, first working with his group Eruption and then focusing on solo works. Schnitzler studied under Karlheinz Stockhausen and formed Kluster in 1969 with Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius, but left in 1971 to write and perform solo, reviving the Kluster name several times over the years. Schnitzler also opened the Zodiak Free Arts Lab, sometimes known as the "Zodiak Club" or "Zodiac Club," which was a short-lived but highly influential experimental live music venue, founded in the then West Berlin in late 1967 with Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Boris Schaak. Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra Tempel and Kraftwerk all played early shows there. While not quite reaching the status of being "house band," Tangerine Dream certainly played there frequently over a 3 month period, sometimes for five or six hours a night and for little or no payment, and the loud, iconoclastic improvised music sometimes climaxed with Who-style destruction of equipment. The club played an important role in the development of a style of music that would later be called krautrock. Schnitzler recorded over 100 pieces of music in his lifetime and even released his final piece of work “00/830″ just days before his death. Through his life he continued to record from his home studio in Dallgow, Germany, creating CD-Rs which he sold independently. Schnitzler also participated in several collaborations with other electronic musicians. In 2009 Schnitzler began his Global Living project, sending his DNA in the form of the strands of his hair all around the world, allowing him to 'be' in many different places at once. He influenced everyone from Brian Eno, Radiohead and Boards of Canada to Death in Vegas and Solar Bears. Goodbye Conrad, thank you for all of the immense and beautiful music.

Posted August 7, 2011

The Lost Satsang of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj #TheLostSatsang #SriNisargadattaMaharaj

via netinetifilms.com

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj (birth name: Maruti Shivrampant Kambli) (April 17, 1897 – September 8, 1981) was an Indian spiritual teacher and philosopher of Advaita (Nondualism), and a Guru, belonging to the Inchgiri branch of the Navnath Sampradaya. One of the 20th century's exponents of the school of Advaita Vedanta philosophy (nondualism), Sri Nisargadatta, with his direct and minimalistic explanation of non-dualism, is considered the most famous teacher of Advaita since Ramana Maharshi. In 1973, the publication of his most famous and widely translated book, I Am That, an English translation of his talks in Marathi by Maurice Frydman, brought him worldwide recognition and followers. The above video clip is from a recently discovered VHS tape that was filmed in Mumbai, India in 1979. The video came from S.K. Mullarpattan, who was Maharaj’s primary translator from 1976 to 1981. The film features one and a half hours of questions and responses taking place between Maharaj and some of his devotees. The “Lost Satsang” is fully subtitled in English, uncut and presented on DVD through Neti Neti Films for the first time.

Posted August 2, 2011

It's All Down in Black & White; A Mixtape That Changed My Life #Mixtape