Nurse with Wound

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Nurse With Wound or NWW is a British music band, formed in 1978 by Steven Stapleton, John Fothergill and Heman Pathak. Their early recordings, all made quickly, were heavily influenced by free improvisation and Krautrock and were generally considered industrial music, despite the objections of the group.

By 1981, only Stapleton was left from the original trio and he now regards 1982's Homotopy to Marie, as being the first proper Nurse With Wound release. There are now over 30 full length NWW titles. Stapleton's fondness for dada, surrealism and absurdist humor are demonstrated in much of NWW's output, which, though it draws directly on nearly every musical genre imaginable (from cabaret music to nursery rhymes to John Cage to The Beach Boys to krautrock to pop music to ambient music and Captain Beefheart) retains a distinctive and recognizable aura. Musique concrete may be the most prominent touchstone, due to Stapleton's frequent – and often humorous – use of creative tape loops and editing. This aesthetic is fully represented in the artwork that features on the album covers, virtually all of which is created by Stapleton, mostly under the curious pseudonym "Babs Santini".

Although Stapleton has sole curatorship of NWW, the group has a long and illustrious list of collaborators including Jim Thirwell of Foetus, Tony Wakeford, David Jackman of Organum, Andrew McKenzie of The Hafler Trio, Jim O'Rourke, Christoph Heemann, William Bennett of Whitehouse, Rob Haigh, Annie Anxiety, John Balance, Matt Waldron of Irr. App (Ext) and most regularly David Tibet of Current 93. At time of writing, NWW is a core duo of Stapleton and Colin Potter, the latter having first worked with NWW on 1992's "Thunder Perfect Mind" when it was recorded at Potter's ICR studio. Potter has appeared on almost every NWW release since.

Nurse With Wound recently performed live for the first time in 20 years at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco and they will appear at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival organized by Thurston Moore in the UK come December. Stapleton recently reported to a Dutch radio station that he is working on a collaboration with British sound artist Andrew Liles and is halfway through his long-promised "hip-hop" album, with around 5-6 female rap artists guesting.

[edit] Discography

(selected, a full discography can be obtained from the official website – see links below)

(all records on United Dairies, except where indicated)

(1979) Chance Meeting on a Dissecting Table of a Sewing Machine and an Umbrella (expanded, anniversary edition issued on World Serpent/United Dairies, 2001)
(1980) To the Quiet Men from a Tiny Girl
(1980) Merzbild Schwet
(1981) Insect and Individual Silenced
(1981) The 150 Murderous Passions (with Whitehouse)
(1982) Homotopy to Marie
(1984) Brained By Falling Masonry
(1986) Spiral Insana (on Torso, rereleased on United Dairies, 1997)
(1988) Alas the Madonna Does Not Function (12" EP on United Dairies)
(1988) Soliloquy For Lilith (3LP set on Idle Hole, rereleased on 2CD by United Dairies, 1993, on 3CD in 2003 and finally, again on 3CD by United Jnana, 2005)
(1988) The Sylvie and Babs Hi-Fi Companion (on Laylah, reissued by United Dairies 1995)
(1989) Soliloquy For Lilith [Parts 5 and 6]
(1992) Thunder Perfect Mind - with Rose McDowall, David Tibet and John Balance - issued on Untied Diaries (sic)
(1993) Crumb Duck (with Stereolab) (Clawfist, edition of 1450, expanded reissue on United Dairies 1997)
(1994) Rock 'n Roll Station
(1996) Who Can I Turn To Stereo
(1997) Acts Of Senseless Beauty (with Aranos)
(1997) Simple Headphone Mind (with Stereolab, on Duophonic)
(1999) An Awkward Pause
(2000) Alice The Goon (Second Edition) (release with a bonus track of a 1996 vinyl-only issue of 500 copies)
(2001) Funeral Music For Perez Prado (a compilation featuring extended versions of previously released tracks)
(2002) Man With The Woman Face
(2003) Salt Marie Celeste
(2003) She And Me Fall Together In Free Death (on Beta Lactam Ring)
(2003) The Musty Odour Of Pierced Rectums (very limited edition, on Beta Lactam Ring)
(2003) Chance Meeting Of A Defective Tape Machine And A Migraine (remixes)
(2004) Angry Eelectric Finger (5 releases - one disc each in collaboration with Jim O'Rourke, Cyclobe and IrrAppExt, a vinyl only release of the source material and a disc of outtakes on United Dairies, all other editions on Beta Lactam Ring)
(2004) Shipwreck Radio Volume One (on ICR - special edition with extra disc Lofoten Deadhead)
(2005) Echo Poeme Sequence No. 2 (on United Jnana)
(2005) Shipwreck Radio Volume Two (on ICR - special edition with extra disc Gulls Just Wanna Have Fun)
(2006) Soundpooling (on ICR - special edition with extra disc A Hand Job For The Laughing Policeman)
(2006) Stereo Wastelands (on Beta-lactam Ring - an edition of 500 CDs compiling previously unreleased mixes from Who Can I Turn To Stereo?)
(2006) Rat Tapes One- subtitled an accumulation of discarded musical vermin 1983-2006 (on United Dairies)
(2006) Shipwreck Radio:The Final Broadcasts (On ICR)