Scopdom Scop

Like As The Mule

PERFORMANCE SERIES, VOL. 1

(2007)

tracklist:

Hobby Horse Hop 1984

Breath Head Bug 1986, 1992

Night Tzengara (a/k/a Night Zingara) 1988

Throughout much of Scopdom Scop’s recording history, there have been musical pieces created that didn’t fit in with their planned releases. Most notable among these are what insiders refer to as the “performance pieces”: loosely defined as the longer, more improvisational recordings that were created with an intended purpose (if any) that didn’t include standard commercial release. A few recordings have seen proper release over the years (“22 Blisters” on the CD version of Bail Out and “Is That You?” on Fresh Deceit, to name a few; A Healthy Hound and A High Horn, Top were eventually issued as complete albums), but many more have remained in obscurity. Most of these pieces can be found on video soundtracks, albeit in truncated form (and limited by the inferior sound of existing semi-professional videotape technologies). This is the first in a series of installments intended to bring these recordings to light, freshly remastered from the original source tapes and released exclusively through Scopdom Scop’s budget-line imprint Bardom Bard.

Scopdom Scop's recorded performance pieces owe their existence to a variety of causes, though they tend to fall into two distinct categories: first, to fill the need for musical accompaniment to their visual projects; secondly, as a result of their increasing prolificacy during their tenure at The Plant, where they exclusively recorded until relocating in 1986. The three selections on this volume offer one example of each, and a third that came about by chance.

“Hobby Horse Hop” was recorded in May 1984 as work on the Backbiting LP was nearing completion. The song was captured live to a mono track – just vocal, harmonica, Paia programmable drum machine and electric guitar, with a prepared tape delay fed to a separate channel. The lyrics were written on the spot - shortly before recording began – and recording commenced without any prior planning whatsoever (notice the incorrect key of harmonica used!). Canned audience sounds (from a “1983 psychiatric conference” cassette, also used for “Dog Star Rose” two years later) were added shortly after the session date.

The song may have been originally intended for inclusion on the forthcoming LP release, but it never made any proposed track list. Instead, it found its way into Scop video #23, where its freeform lyrics were used as visual cues for the random visual accompaniment. The mono “video mix” master tape was used for this LP, as the multitrack source remains missing.

“Breath Head Bug” has a rather complicated evolution. It originates from work done for the video production of A High Horn, Top (1985-86). The plan was to shoot a mock stage performance at the fabled Bellmen And Waiters’ Club (obviously The Plant) to be used as a silent video montage over the already completed music score. A 1992 reworking of this footage brought about the idea of using the in-camera sound that was captured (Scop members were actually performing a variant of what would later become “Honey On The Last Last Thorn”). The original camera track audio was pitched down and additional instrumentation and ambient sounds were added for this version. The “audience” sound is taken from a videotape of a hockey game – also used for the aborted “live” album project of ‘92 (of which two tracks did survive: “Suddenly Conscious (live)” (on Hey Little Girl EP, 1983) and “Stroke Victim (live)” (on Equine Spring, 1984).

As it turns out, “Breath Head Bug” is a more appropriate song for the story being told in the original video. Its absence from the original score is more of a result of bad timing than any other reason, having been written late into production (the video took over a year to make, and was nearly abandoned before its 1987 broadcast debut). The performance has a dark, noirish feel to it and features the trademark “jazz player” vocal style that is mostly absent from the original video production. The 1992 mono mix is featured on this compilation.

“Night Tzengara” is a more classic example of the ‘performance’ track. The recording was created primarily for use as a video piece, and multiple cameras captured its creation. The finished video is one of the most notorious creations in the Scopdom Scop canon, as much for the inclusion of bizarre found footage (kittens, line dancers, vintage 16mm porn) as the relentless audio assault that accompanied it. The instrumentation consists of a frantic drum pattern, looped, and a variety of distressed Casio keyboards. The vocal is a very strict, stern narration that borders on psychosis as it goes on (perhaps caused by the constant keyboard screetch). This track is not for the casual fan.

A rough mix of “Night Zingara” did appear on an early draft of Fish Overlap (as did some other performance pieces) but was withdrawn in favor of new material recorded for that project. Some cassette copies of this version did find their way into circulation, and this track has been widely bootlegged. The version here is the final (and superior) “stereo video mix” master.