ANNE BEAN &
PAUL BURWELL PULP MUSIC "Low Flying Aircraft"
(7”, Poutre Apparente, PAPE-002, 2007)
“Pulp:
‘Low Flying Aircraft’ is what happens when avant-garde meets punk on neutral
ground, a wonderfully delirious disaster area. I love it” New Musical Express 1979
“The excellent ‘Low Flying Aircraft’ – a single whose potency and raw
energy gave the punks a run for their money.” City Limits 1979
This enigmatic
7”, released in 1979, is one of the most startling DIY records from this period: it originally comes in a plain white cover
with ‘Pulp Music’ or ‘Pulp’ written and two signatures, no label but a white
pen numbering and an extra hole burned instead. The music was as rough as you
could guess from this strict design: a very “intense mix of manic precise percussions together with vocal yelps,
grunts and screams leavened with distortion and feedback”.
The so-called
Pulp or Pulp Music (in fact the label name, not the band name) was a London
based duo composed of the performance artist Anne Bean and the percussionist
and instrument-maker Paul Burwell. Anne Bean has presented solo and
collaborative projects incorporating visual art, sound, and performance since
the beginning of the 70’s. Active on the improvised music scene through the
70’s, notably in a collaboration with David Toop and poet Bob Cobbing, Paul
Burwell was also one of the founding members of the London Musicians Collective.
This duo met
several years before the release of this 7” and performed in various places
until the beginning of the 80’s. One of their last appearances took place in
october 82 at the
“(...)
but Burwell and Bean put an incredible show of pyrotechnics preaching, pounding
of drums and proclaiming of ‘White mans gotta god complex’ by the Last Poets. A
sample of the late Steve Cripps ‘legacy’ of explosives had the battery of the
exotic snappers, video and super eighters, minor celebs and their retinues,
scampering for cover, as Anne bean raged, stamping her feet in the billowing
smoke.”
Soon after this event, Anne Bean and Paul Burwell extended their duo
with sculptor Richard Wilson, to form
the influential and much noticed performance group, BOW GAMELAN ENSEMBLE,
which lasted until the beginning of the 90’s. Sadly, Paul Burwell died on
Sunday 4th February 2007. (listen to
mp3 excerpts)
PAUL BURWELL
1949-2007
The music we
are playing is our own Is of us Its
construction Its
articulation And its end. We are doing it | Because the
relationships we set up Are tools and
bridges to other things. We are showing
it To the auditors To allow the
relationships And the
exchanges To include more
than The people
playing **** i am trying -
let me succeed i am travelling
to many different lands i am nowhere -
i am faded cast loose,
adrift, leave all behind no goodbye; no
memory everythings
over i am trying –
let me succeed |
P.B
1976/79 |
The work I do
has no name No one can be
certain of its purpose Its past
changes with its present Its future
changes as its past changes And through all
its presents There are no wages,
no hours, No holidays No retirements We are showing
it (Sometimes I
can do it faster) **** he was a
traveller he was a part of the ocean a home for no
one shifting deeds
without landmarks or fixed points i am trying -
let me succeed he was on board
a little ship i am travelling
to many different lands a collection of
different woods i am nowhere -
i am faded bound together cast loose,
adrift, leave all behind his clothes
were made of sailcloth heavy and wet |
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