Crumb Duck
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| Crumb Duck | ||
 |
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| EP by Stereolab & Nurse With Wound | ||
| Released | 1993 | |
| Recorded | 1993 | |
| Length | 18:20 | |
| Label | Clawfist | |
| Producer(s) | Steven Stapleton & Steve Mack | |
| Stereolab & Nurse With Wound chronology | ||
|---|---|---|
| Crumb Duck (1993) |
Simple Headphone Mind (1997) |
|
Crumb Duck is the first collaboration between prolific Anglo-French indie band Stereolab and cult avant-garde unit Nurse With Wound. It was originally released as a limited edition of just 1,450 but the music has since been reissued in unlimited editions by both artists.
The collaboration came about at the behest of Tim Gane, Stereolab's guitarist and co-founder alongside Lætitia Sadier. Gane told The Wire in 1997 (issue 164) that he had been an early fan of NWW and had invited their sole permanent member Steven Stapleton to produce their debut album, Peng!. Stapleton refused on the grounds that the group were "too rock" (Gane, quoting Stapleton, as above). Stapleton surprised Gane by producing a letter he had written to NWW some years previously, which Stapleton had marked as the 15th piece of correspondence he had received regarding his group (also The Wire, issue 164). As a compromise, Stapleton agreed to remix a Stereolab recording. According to a newsletter issued by Stereolab's Duophonic Records, part of the agreement was that Stereolab would not get to hear the finished results until after the record had been pressed and released. They also reported that it was originally intended to be a 7" single but that one track was too long to fit on the format.
Of the two tracks, Exploding Head Movie was effectively a section of the 18 minute album version of Jenny Ondioline remixed by Stapleton. The track deviated only slightly from Stereolab's usual music but the second, Animal Or Vegetable (A Wonderful Wooden Reason) was a considerable diversion, with Stapleton playing the vocal track in reverse and adding several layers of wild distorted guitar to the lengthy middle section before applying his familiar tape collage methods to the coda. Although the original Stereolab recording has never been made available, it bears strong resemblance to Anemie, a track heard during Stereolab's third session for John Peel but never released in a studio version by the band. The subtitle is a quotation from the lyrics of the first album by Faust, a shared influence of the two artists and a nod to the resemblance the finished track bears to It's A Rainy Day, the first track of Faust's second album. Stapleton provided the distinctive cover image but between 30 and 50 copies too few of the sleeve were made and a small number came with sleeves hand drawn by members of Stereolab.
Stereolab later included both tracks on their Refried Ectoplasm compilation which remains in print. NWW, for their part, issued a Crumb Duck CD, adding 2 tracks from a 7" single NWW had previously issued on the Clawfist label and an outtake. A vinyl edition of this expanded reissue was made available also but the release went out of print when NWW's distributor went out of business. NWW also included Animal Or Vegetable on their The Swinging Reflective compilation.
They would collaborate a second time in 1997 with the release of Simple Headphone Mind.
[edit] Track listing
Original Clawfist 10"
- Animal Or Vegetable (A Wonderful Wooden Reason) – 13:32
- Exploding Head Movie – 4:48
United Dairies reissue
- Steel Drum March of the Metal Men
- The Dadda's Intoxication
- Exploding Head Movie
- Animal or Vegetable (A Wonderful Wooden Reason)
- A New Dress (remix)
- Only tracks 3 and 4 feature Stereolab, all other tracks by Nurse With Wound.
| Stereolab |
| Tim Gane | Lætitia Sadier | Simon Johns | Andy Ramsay | Dominic Jeffrey | Joseph Watson | Joseph Walters |
| Martin Kean | Joe Dilworth | Russel Yates | Mick Conroy | Mary Hansen | Sean O'Hagan | Duncan Brown | David Pajo | Richard Harrison | Simon Johns | Gina Morris | Katharine Gifford | Morgane Lhote |
| Discography |
|---|
| Albums:
Peng! | Space Age Batchelor Pad Music | Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements | Mars Audiac Quintet | Music for the Amorphous Body Study Center | Emperor Tomato Ketchup | Dots and Loops | Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night | The First of the Microbe Hunters | Sound-Dust | Margerine Eclipse |
| Compilations:
Switched On | Refried Ectoplasm | Aluminum Tunes | ABC Music | Oscillons from the Anti-Sun | Fab Four Suture | Serene Velocity (A Stereolab Anthology) |
| EPs:
Super 45 | Super-Electric | Low Fi | Crumb Duck | Simple Headphone Mind | Captain Easychord | Instant 0 in the Universe |
