Severed Heads - Bad Mood Guy [IMPORT 2XLP Fleabitten Rash Vinyl] - New LP

Artzine booklet with liner notes by Tom Ellard

Known for exploring the spectrums of noise, with an oeuvre of electronic experimentation that dates back to 1979, Australia’s Severed Heads rawly garnered everything from the sources around them: the sounds of the city, tape loops, old machines, all distorted, fuzzed, edited and delayed. Although essentially one man, chief noisemaker Tom Ellard, in 1987 he was joined by film maker/homebrew video synthesizer operator Stephen Jones, and effects producer Robert Racic, who had worked with New Order, to create Bad Mood Guy. The result is a punishing view of pop, all crunching rhythms and electronic juxtapose. By incorporating popular tropes such as consistent rhythms, melodic vocal lines and drum machines this was perhaps as near to a little “boogie-oogie-oogie” as Severed Heads were likely to get, but the outcome is a striking hybrid of the avant-garde, EBM and Synth-pop, an industrial vortex in which the sounds of the 20th century are sucked in and spat out around a monstrous dance beat.

Never pandering to expectations, Ellard saw dance music as a benchmark area where exploration was still possible. Big ideas and big sounds, not to mention big headaches when the original CBS mixes were left in a taxi cab. Whilst many of their contemporaries persisted without dignity, Bad Mood Guy’s cool melancholy assured a fanbase in America and dance floor loyalty with ‘Hot With Fleas’, which dares to sit alongside classics like ‘Dead Eyes Opened’. The unique inventiveness inherent in SH's work make this essential for fans of Throbbing Gristle, Kraftwerk, Skinny Puppy and Cabaret Voltaire.

The deluxe remastered version of this LP comes with a 2nd LP containing lost original versions and remixes, and comes in a choice of ltd edition coloured vinyl. It is packaged in a metallic silver outer sleeve, a metallic gold inner sleeve and comes with a 12pg artzine booklet with liners by Ellard.

"Bad Mood Guy was written during, and soon following, a flawed world tour in 1986 which was often soul destroying and in some cases career ruining. Despite the adverse situation, I was desperate to exit the IDM scene and to try to make music that was at odds with the growing cliches of 'electronica'. And the Volition label wanted to try to lift the band out of the home recording ghetto into a real studio. All of this ended up in a frightful mess. In trying to avoid cliches, I was not able to find a better replacement - e.g. real drums didn't sound better than drum machines - and two days in a real studio wasn't better than a long time in a home studio.  Almost immediately the band announced a version 2 of the LP, which was worked on in fits and starts over the years, then lost in a chewed DAT tape. The sevcom re-issue joins live recordings and demo versions to create what the album was trying to achieve before the confusion - it's a marked improvement!"

Tracklist
1. Hot With Fleas
2. Nation
3. Unleash Your Sword
4. Jetlag
5. Contempt
6. Bad Mood Guy
7. Dressed In Air
8. Rabbi Nardoo Flagoon
9. Heaven Is What Heaven Eats
10. Mad Dad Mangles A Strad
11. Bad Mood Guy (Day 1)
12. Unleash Your Sword (Day 1)
13. Canine (Day 1)
14. Nature 10 (Terse)
15. Contempt (Day 1)
16. I’ve Always Hated Severed Heads (Live)
17. Hot With Fleas (12” Remix)
18. Nation (NYC Mix)
19. Canine (12” Remix)