Howl In The Typewriter - Manifesto: A Universal Declaration of Indespendence

I have spent the last few days fully immersing myself in the slightly disturbing but always mind-blowing world of the Ceramic Hobs and the late and much missed Simon Morris. One of the rabbit holes down which this foray took me is Pumf Records, run by Stan Batcow who, aside from a stint in the aforementioned Hobs (and a major contributor to some of the band's best albums) records under the name Howl In The Typewriter. As HITT he has released a slew of tapes and CDrs that veer from lo-fi punk to unsettling noise...seriously, they are all worth checking out...but 'Manifesto' must surely stand as his magnum opus and, although released a couple of years ago, its message rings true and hits home during these days of selfish idiots buying up all the bog roll they can lay their hands on and total c***s like Tim Martin and Mike Ashley proving once more that capitalism strips people of humanity and all decency.

'Manifesto' channels the true spirit of punk; the kicking against the pricks, the calling out of arseholes and the standing up for what's right. It is one single track that runs for 64 minutes. Now, before you all start shouting "64 minutes, that's prog not punk", steer your thoughts towards Crass' 'Yes Sir, I Will' or Subhumans' 'From The Cradle To The Grave' or more recently Aus Rotten's '....and now back to our programming'...there is a precedent here! The subject of Batcow's ire in this case is advertising and consumerism and little did he know that some 18 months after release it would take on a whole new dimension; in a time when we are in lockdown, people are being laid off or furloughed, people acting like savages in the supermarkets we are STILL being bombarded with TV adverts for the Kia friggin' Ceed and expensive holidays and, god help us, online casinos ("been laid off, struggling to survive, come and spunk away your remaining money on roulette").

Musically 'Manifesto' covers an awful lot of ground from lo-fi punk to noise, electronica to reggae all connected with leifmotifs both musical and lyrical. It is a bit like a portmanteau; a series of musical cameos stitched together with the 'chorus' - “We don’t fucking want / what you’re trying to fucking sell / shove it up your fucking arse / then fuck off and go to hell.” all sung or spoken by a cast of thousands . All of this cleverly interwoven with samples of adverts, vox pops and TV to really ram home the message. It is, in short, a magnificent listen that certainly appealed to me as an old punk (there are definite shades of Crass and Chumbawumba throughout) but more importantly it lays bare the sociological evil inherent in advertising which, at this time, is totally undermining our collective efforts to survive this current shitstorm. It is an angry, creative and eminently enjoyable hour long tirade....strongly recommended!

There is no media to go with this review but if you head over to the Pumf Records website and navigate down to the release you can hear a 2 minute soundbite. It will set you back a mere £5 for a CD and while you are there, check out the other releases - it is a veritable treasure trove of the weird and wonderful.