The Chasms

This Isle of Man three piece remain, for me, the band against whom all others in the current millennium must be measured.

Their existence spanned a mere three years and, in that time, they produced four stunning albums and became a mainstay of both my show and the wider Dandelion Radio landscape. They didn't misstep once, producing a glorious motorik-driven drone around which Mike Seed's loosely weave.

Reviewing their Alchemical Postcards album in 2011, I called it in my now defunct Unwashed Territories blog 'the latest in a series of mesmerising releases by what we must now surely label the world's best band.'

Their appeal hasn't waned with time. Assisted by Neil Whitehead of Vert:x, they released one final album - Winter Arcade - in 2012 before disappearing from our lives. Mike Seed and Richard Quirk have released some fine solo material since then but it's no disservice to their solo output to say that nothing - either by them or anyone else - has matched the chemistry that this band conjured up together during that period.

In this month's Dandelion show, I'm playing a track from their first Dandelion Radio session, recorded for Pete Jackson's show in September 2009. You can get it at the band's bandcamp site, which also has all four albums available for download:

Advance Paranoia, Advance (2009)

Index of Spirits (2010)

Alchemical Postcards (2011)

Winter Arcade (2012)

Also available on the site are the two Pete Jackson sessions, a session they recorded for my show in collaboration with Vert:x and a Christmas tune specially recorded for my show in 2009.

Gusto Extermination Fluid: Newty 08

I still remember the CD crashing through the letterbox, announcing itself to me, it seemed. These days everything tends to come through digitally, but back in 2008, when this gem was released, we were still receiving a lot more physical releases.

Gusto Extermination Fluid present the kind of industrial noise attack you can't tear your ears from even if you want to. Fortunately, I didn't want to and this EP became a firm favourite at the time. The bad news is GEF don't appear to have released anything since 2011: the good news is you can find their two releases on their bandcamp site, including this which is available to download for free.

What are you waiting for?