This is the over-long, unawaited follow-up to Being Audacious. Further sardonic echoes of Pontypridd airwaves, recorded on quarter inch tape, minidisc and cassette, in the radio studios at the University of Glamorgan, on the hill south of Pontypridd, and here and there in Norwich, remastered with sparkly new special effects and underwhelming melodies, snapped, re-edited and tickled to the endth degree. It is incredibly awful and contradictory in some places, but still not enough in others.
That’s right, it’s the difficult second album, 4 years in the making. Going Off At A Tangent was launched charitably on 13th March 2009, raising £111.11 for Comic Relief. I squeezed as much as I could onto an 80 minutes disc – it’s fat, fun and beyond epic in concept.
It’s here on Bandcamp to stream for free, or download with bonus bits for £3+ if you want it.
And I have a nice lot of CD copies, so if you want one (£4, if you’d be so kind), get in touch.
That’s the front cover – a picture of some ruins in Abergavenny in 2007 – and here is (a recently revised version of) the back inlay:
There’s Alan the Bunny again, as he was on the Being Audacious back, but this time there is some relevance. That’s me, aged 3, which is relevant because my 3-year-old self features on this CD. And there’s Rebecca the Squirrel, a squirrel who appears on the album in the track Squirrels. The lovely woodland backdrop is lovely, as you may have noticed. I can’t recall where it was as my mum took this picture, but I’ll ask her some time. And the floating glowing orb thing is a floating glowing orb – adapted from a photograph of my eye. Can you guess which one?
It’s an album of two halves, starting with sketches, interviews, questions, and odds and sods; then from track 13 a magical adventure leads us to the dramatic anticlimax.
Starting anew, these last 7 tracks entail The Director’s Cut of a jolly dramatic narrative from 2003, remixed and enhanced during 2007-9 with a fresh bed of background noise and additional dialogues from 2005.
Right, so here’s some quick information about each of the tracks:
Go over and across into another world with this disc of modernist, eschatological escapism.
Have your brain tickled, confused and exhausted by these epistemologically provocative sketches, semi-detached interviews, ad-lib musical off-shoots and hypnotic rumblings.
Swoon at the tragedy and the saviour of sheep species, smirk at good squeaks, new starts and repeated attempts.
Join us on adventures and find yourself alone at the end with a bit more, or a bit less, of something or other than when you started or joined us.
Audacious sound pioneer Jake Wyatt going off at a tangent with experts and animals, blowing off into the breeze on a journey to a place.
Mostly unscripted heartache and fun, spoken and sung.
Featuring
- Rhia Stankovic as Schmiel the Sheep, a squirrel and evil Dorothy
- Amanda Buckley and her big beginning, middle and end
- Rick Bush with his legs on fire
- Daryl Perrins as the unstable stable lad
- Kym Ragin’ Ryan as the Shepherd of the sheeps
- Tim Shaw as Dr Liam Trosser, an actual expert on birthdays from the University of the United Kingdom
- Laz Assiratti as sporting achiever Chester Harold III
- Richard Errulld as Richard the Squirrel
- Lloyd Harrington as Graham the driver
- Baz Greenland & Lisa Hancock as freelance weather forecaster Michael and his mother
- Kate Griffiths as the Weather Prognosticator
- Tanya Walker as a squirrel
TRACK LIST: FROM A
Unruly and restful profiles and noise with top cats, fanatics – fantastic and the bored. So, journeying with sustenance, join us at the beginning – bound for the middle – enjoy, endure, sojourn for joy!
(1) Things Can Start
With a San Franciscan red squirrel 2006, harmony of Rick 2000 and contemplation with Amanda 2004, edited 2006/7/8.
“We can begin with a resolve.”
(2) Goodbye
Spontaneous inebriate blues 2003, edited 2008/9.
A bewildered man coming to terms with losing the love of Wilma.
An edited extract from The Jesus Opera, a 31-minute improvised vocal spill I recorded on 13/9/2003.
(3) Forecast
A sketch I wrote about a young man doing the weather forecast in his bedroom, starring Baz and Lisa, recorded and edited 2001.
“Eeeee-yupp! Urrrrgghhh!”
(4) The Shepherd
A conversation with Clinton Ford, The Shepherd, who explains about rearing sheeps with his pa. He “learnt to be cool” and “got into the thing about these sheep.”
“Sheeps love mushrooms.”
A phone chat with Ragin’ 2004, edited 2004/8.
(5) Burnt Whisper Experiment
“Burnt my lip.”
“Yeah, my, my legs are on fire.”
Live radio research with Rick 2001, remixed 2002/6.
(6) Schmiel The Sheep
Rhia defies the norm 2004, edited 2004/8.
“I took my biscuits with me up to the Black Mountains to meet Schmiel, a lone stalker of the hills that I had heard rumours about.”
“When I first heard about her, I, I, I, I cried.”
“Well, um, feathers, I – no, not feathers – I have little, um, little. . . I would say. . . balls. Balls.”
“There’s many wet times – that’s holding us back.”
(7) Keeky Kumpy
Relentless nonsense of the Spring of 1983 from 3-year-old Jake, performed for the family and Margaret the babysitter, left mercilessly unedited.
(8) Birthdays
Prime conceptualizations with Tim, recorded and edited 2005.
An interview with Dr Liam Trosser, an actual expert on birthdays.
“How do you think I feel? I’m ten and I have a birthday every 4 years. . . you know, and my wife, she’s 167 when she shouldn’t be, just ’cause she counts her birthdays in different ways.”
(9) 100 Years Of Achievement
Pretty amazing insights with Laz 2002, edited 2002/6.
“Some pretty amazing insights into the world of sport.”
“Me and my 11 kids go out and we ’ave a grape each on a Tuesday ’cause it’s my favourite day. I wake up early on a Tuesday, I wake up at 11 o’clock.”
(10) Wizard
With backing vocals by Rick 2000, edited 2008.
A jingle out-take, initially only included so Questions Of 11 would be pushed back to track 11.
“Do you have a hat?”
(11) Questions Of 11
Featuring unknown contributors who were confronted, recorded and told what to say at the University of Glamorgan in 2002. Edited 2002/5/7/8. Videos 2008-9 fell together 13/10/09. And here it is:
“Eleven? Eleven? Eleven?”
“About 11?”
(12) Debate
Time-out with Amanda 2004, edited 2007/9.
“It needs to end. Does it ever end, really? The beginning, the start? Hmm?”
“All endings end with either a void or a lot of things to clear up.”
“When something comes to an end, it’s an opportunity to . . .”
TRACK LIST: TO B
Starting anew, jolly drama ensues – a bonkers overnight meandering through magical woods! We join my camping adventures at the dreamlike dusk of my 25th birthday, feeling old and meeting congenial squirrels, a rancid witch and an unstable stable lad – and then ending up up-ended back at the start of the end!
(13) Follow The Grains
A ginger beer with Rhia, and the weather reflected by Kate 2003, edited 2003/5/8/9.
With my tent covered in ketchup, but moving on and having a journey here, I welcome a stranger to my campsite, and join her on her search.
“Oh God – rain! Lots of clouds. Stormy, stormy weather! Oh dear. Oh no – rain! Oh no – wind! Ahahahahahahaha! Brrrr! It won’t be good overall. Hahahahaha!”
(14) Squirrels
High pitches from Tanya 2002, Richard 2003/5 and Rhia 2003, edited 2003/5/7/8/9.
“Hang on a sec, I’ve really reached a milestone here, I’ve become an adult, I’m an old man . . . I’m an old man.”
“I’ve matured. It’s the most horrible thing in the world.”
“Running across a brick, running across a road, you come near me, I bring you home!”
(15) The Orb
Rhia encountered 2003, edited 2003/8/9.
“Yeah, and here I go, I’m still going – my walking’s just gonna never end – oh, it may end.”
“Kinda stuck now.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever see that rabbit!”
(16) A Stable Lad
Trappings and slappings from Daryl 2003, edited 2003/8/9.
A disturbing entrapment down on the farm.
“Don’t see boots like that ’round ’ere! Oh no! Gotta go to London to find boots like thaa-aat!”
(17) The Windmill Castle
Rhia leaves 2003, edited 2003/8/9.
“What? You’ve spat in it? That’s horrible. You’re really, really disgusting.”
(18) Great Squirrels
A great bunch of squirrels, rounded up by Lloyd 2005, edited 2005/8/9.
“You’ve just jumped in on my show.”
(19) The End
Conclusive thoughts with Amanda 2004, nice people 2002, Grandma 2005, and Rick 2000, plus red-eyed blues 2003, edited 2008/9.
“I don’t wanna, you know, speculate on every situation that’s ever occurred, but in general, we started on our own and we end on our own.”
“We all have to face the end on our own.”
“Is that it?”
“Never mind if this all comes across as mad rapping, just mind if this actually makes sense.”
Reviews
“I have felt it and mighty it was too: what a compilation of sorts: real sorts, from all sorts of places: ‘all sorts’ in fact!” ~ Daryl Perrins (2009)
“To my mind, Going Off is the spontaneity of a performance, the way the voices come into the air within the sound effects. And there’s the pleasure of the effortless, professional way your own voice comes over and across, a tangent indeed, the presence that oversees this whole creation. Most people cannot dare risk the meaninglessness and absence of self, but like everything today that aspires to art, this work demands a performance by the listener to hear it as it really is.” ~ Mike Wiley (2009)
“Fucking brilliant!” ~ Brendan Quiggley (2009)
“I was mightily intrigued and not disappointed. Was like tuning into local radio from a close but different dimension. Woke up for my 5am banana with the opening bars of Keeky Kumpy in my head.” ~ Rosamunde Longshanks (13/5/2016)
“I’ve listened to the Going off on Tangent CD again. I still can’t quite get over The End, The En-d. It never fails to cheer me up.” ~ Rory Watson (19/8/2016)
Acknowledgements
Thanks to all the squirrels and the sheeps and all the marvellous artistes named above and also those wonderfully obliging wits cornered on campus at the University of Glamorgan whose names I didn’t catch and who appear on the album unknowingly but with my permission. A big thank you to Bob Hewett, John Dane, Steve Johnson, Mary Traynor, and all at and around GTFM Radio. Great thanks to Mum and Dad. Thank you and you.
This album is dedicated to the memory of my brilliant grandma, L. Vera Wyatt (1912-2008) and the great Kym Ragin’ Ryan (1953-2006).
Page created: 28/4/2016. Last updated: 17/4/2022
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