The Caretaker - Selected Memories From The Haunted Ballroom (V/Vm Test Records, 1999)

1 The Haunted Ballroom (3:44)
2 By The Seaside (4:00)
3 One Thousand Memories (1:25)
4 Haunting Me (3:48)
5 A Summer Romance (3:05)
6 Den Of Iniquity (2:45)
7 Dream Waltz (3:29)
8 A Handful Of Stars (3:34)
9 Request Dance (5:09)
10 In The Dark (3:02)
11 Reckless Night (3:02)
12 Thronged With Ghosts (3:48)
13 From Out Of Nowhere (3:45)
14 Friends Past Reunited (2:00)
15 You And The Night (3:12)
16 Moonlight Seranade (2:34)
17 Disillusioned (2:41)
18 The Revolving Bandstand (0:47)
19 Garden Of Weeds (3:06)
20 "Excuse Me" For Ladies (0:59)
21 In Days Of Old (2:14)
22 September 1939 (1:57)
23 Thanks (3:25)
24 The Haunted Ballroom (3:20)
25 Untitled (3:29)

The Caretaker has always been the more thoughful alter-ego of V/VM - the Stockport based butchers have been grinding up sound for quite some time now, and this full length was originally released way back in 1999. A nice diversion from the demonic plugin-fuelled insanity of their more well known work, Caretaker instead goes for industrial ambience. Think Skinny Puppy’s more cinematic moments and you’ll be somewhere in the right area – what I love most about this album though is the kind of reverberating fairground mood. Seaside organs hiss and hum in the background and give the record a persistent menace, a thick nostalgic groan which reminds me of Jeunet and Caro’s shiver inducing ‘Cite Des Enfants Perdus’ or maybe even more fittingly David Lynch’s ‘Eraserhead’. Vinyl crackle rings out across the album as if it’s being played as an instrument and before long you’ll be certain you don’t live in the real world anymore. Utterly unique and really quite scary, in the best possible sense.
Boomkat

sold out visit The Caretaker

try

The Caretaker - Deleted Scenes / Forgotten Dreams (Wémè Records, 2007)

A Untitled (21:39)
B Untitled (23:26)
C Untitled (23:30)
D Untitled (23:05)

This latest vinyl only offering from everyone's favourite V/VM feller The Caretaker is just about the most indispensable thing the guy has ever put his name to. Those of you who follow this site with a fine tooth comb will know we all got a bit hot under the collar about the Caretaker's previous releases - and this latest is a perfect continuation of the quality we've come to expect. Made up of four long-form pieces (one on each side of wax) the pier-side haunted dancehall sounds which made up the first albums are now all but hazy memories, blasted into the breaths of ghosts and half heard resonances of a shoddily plastered wall. You can still hear an organ somewhere in there but it has been degraded beyond belief and transformed into something which wouldn't sound out of place on Brian Eno's 'Apollo'. Sounds are allowed to take their time, to grow slowly and fade out with grace and we are welcomed into a world where vinyl crackle is a part of the listening experience, not something which should be avoided at all costs. To be quite honest melancholic ambient music doesn't get much better than this, and those of you with love for Deaf Center, Machinefabriek, Jasper TX and the like had better snap this up without delay as of course, it's very, very limited indeed (and hand numbered'). Huge recommendation.
Boomkat

sold out visit The Caretaker & WéMè Records

try