Blacksmoke

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Blacksmoke are "an occasional art collective and musical group dedicated to the propagation of audio visual noise". The group consist of The KLF co-founder Jimmy Cauty and James Fogarty, a 24 year old heavy metal musician. Keir Jens-Smith the ex Black Dog/808 State Manager and owner of feedback.com is described as their "project manager".[1] K Foundation collaborator Gimpo who is organiser of the annual "M25 SPIN" was the inspiration for an early Blacksmoke track "Gimpo Gimpo" but, contrary to reports, has never provided any vocals. Cauty left the organisation in 2005 to work on other projects[citation needed], leaving Blacksmoke to complete the bulk of their work without his involvement.

Cauty stated in a music press interview that the project is first and foremost an outlet for his anger concerning the September 11th Terrorist Attacks[citation needed]. Among the work so far produced by the Blacksmoke Organisation are limited edition prints of stamps known as The Stamps Of Mass Destruction the Post Terrorist Modernist EP, and the Post-Terrorism Xmas Shop. The anger over 9/11 is immediately apparent in the samples and vocals of many of the tracks as well as the graphics.

Contents

[edit] The Stamps Of Mass Destruction

A Blacksmoke Stamp Of Mass Destruction by James Cauty
A Blacksmoke Stamp Of Mass Destruction by James Cauty

Limited edition prints of 1st 2nd & 3rd class stamps featuring the Queen's head with a gas mask on. These were exhibited at the artrepublic gallery in Brighton, until they earned the attention of the Royal Mail.[2][3][4] All unsold copies of the stamps of mass destruction prints were sent to Royal Mail for destruction. A second series of the stamps were later released - 4th 5th & 6th class which had the queens head completely engulfed in a chemical warfare protection suit and thus were presumably not subject to the legal action taken by Royal Mail.

[edit] 2003 music

The first Blacksmoke releases were MP3s hosted on the Blacksmoke website, the tracks including "Gimpo Gimpo" and a remix of same entitled "Fuck the Fucking Fuckers". On 23 September 2003, BBC Radio 1's Breezeblock with Mary Anne Hobbs show broadcast a 15 minute mix session. The session comprised of the MP3s cut together with samples of mobile phones and Big Ben plus other sound effects. The BBC cut the final 3 minutes 30 seconds from the session due to the post Iraq war political climate. The cut material was "Silent Night", one of the previously available download-only tracks. A few months later, the collective added an MP3 of the Breezeblock version of "Silent Night" to their website for download.

Post Terrorist Modernism DIY MP3 EP cover
Post Terrorist Modernism DIY MP3 EP cover

On 5th November, 2003 Blacksmoke made available an MP3 EP on their website which they described as "post-terrorist modernism for the Boom Bang Generation". A Blacksmoke press release drew connections with Bonfire Night and called Guy Fawkes Britain's "most notorious terrorist". The downloadable cover art featured Big Ben exploding like the World Trade Centre and asked if the artwork "depicted the destruction of government buildings in Baghdad or Kabul, would we pay any attention?" There were media reports of "outrage".

[edit] 2004

In July 2004 Blacksmoke appeared at The Big Chill festival. Cauty played an eclectic and experimental DJ set, which he described as "an updated version of [The KLF's ambient album] Chill Out", while a film by Gimpo called Docklands Light Railway was screened.[5] An alternative version of the soundtrack to the film was later featured as an hour long mix radio session on Resonance FM on 28th August. This was described as an industrial ambient mix.

The Blacksmoke Organisation ran a 'Post-Terrorism Christmas Shop' at the Aquarium art gallery in Woburn Walk, London, throughout December 2004. Described as a "one-stop shop for all your post-terrorism needs"[citation needed], items for sale included silk ties for infiltrating Fortune 500 companies, strengthened crockery for after the attack, and a range of prints of original post-terrorism inspired artwork. A full length album was promised for 2004 but never surfaced, although a limited edition single, "I'm Dreaming Of A BLACK Christmas", was made available for collection from the Aquarium only on Christmas Day 2004.

[edit] Remixes

Blacksmoke have done a number of distinctive remixes of other artists. Some of them have been available for download from their website, others are available on commercial recordings.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Butler, B., interview with Jimmy Cauty for The Big Issue Australia, 18 June 2003 (link)
  2. ^ "Royal Mail stamps down on postage art ", The Guardian, 4 June 2003 (link)
  3. ^ "Row over gas masked Queen", BBC News, 4 June 2003 (link)
  4. ^ "Gas mask Queen removed from gallery", BBC News, 16 June 2003 (link)
  5. ^ Urban75 (link)
  6. ^ A-ha official website, March 2006 (link)

[edit] External links

The KLF
Bill Drummond | Jimmy Cauty
Also known as
The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu | The Timelords | K Foundation | One World Orchestra | 2K | K2 Plant Hire
Main albums
1987 (What the Fuck Is Going On?) | Who Killed The JAMs? | Chill Out | The White Room
Related articles
Discography | Films | The Manual | Disco 2000 | Space | The Black Room | The K Foundation Burn a Million Quid

Big In Japan | Brilliant | The Orb | Blacksmoke
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