Ah – Killing Joke. In truth one of a rare select few breed of bands who I can say without question or hesitation who in my early formative years informed my listening obsessions going right back to the days of their early Peel sessions.
One / off through the years they’ve flittered in and out of our listening space with the early 90’s released ’Pandemonium’ proving something of a favourite and with it a brutal affirmation that these were dudes with unfinished business to hand.
2003’s self titled set served to prove their most scathing and titanic set yet whilst ’MMXII’ posted notice that after 4 decades they could still piss all over the competition.
May time sees a positive cornucopia of Killing Joke delights hitting the turntables and coffee tables alike with the appearance of a by all accounts stunning 3 CD set entitled ‘In Dub’ – featuring selected dub edits of Joke groove past and present. Rewired by Youth – whose undoubted love of the sound form has seen his career intrinsically linked in propagating its sonic seeds into other generic mutations – see Brilliant, Orb, Wau! Mr Modo – thus leaving many to regard him as one of its keynote visionaries – this extensive and mammoth collection has taken over a year to put together – quite possibly longer given that leaked reports have been circulating way back when dinosaurs roamed the earth.
Such a release should be no surprise to long time KJ admirers for their sound has always strayed to a subtle dub dialect going back as far as ‘Follow the Leaders’ and further still back to ‘Requiem’ and ‘Turn to Red’ and which while if I recall rightly their landmark ‘Pandemonium’ set was oft prone to feature heavily souped mind weaved mosaics that featured on the flip sides of the attending singles ‘Millennium’, ‘Exorcism’ and of course the title track ‘Pandemonium’.
In addition there’s also the release of the bands live album ‘Down by the River’ on the same day – a 20 track double disc collection capturing the band in action in 2011 at the royal festival hall – a smorgasbord of old school KJ classics including ‘War Dance’, ‘Fall of Because’ and ‘Eighties’.
Not quite done yet Jaz Coleman’s first foray into the book world comes with the publication of ‘Letters from Cythera’ – a deeply philosophical study and account of the occult sciences and scriptures that have shaped Coleman’s beliefs and personalized renaissance, it forms the first part of a planned two volume secret history of the unseen world of the Coleman behind the outer veneer of Killing Joke.
The tome is perfectly complimented by the release of his 2nd symphony ‘The Island’. while we try to nail review copies for in depth explorations here be the dubbed up mix ’Tomorrow’s World’ by the Joke, a blissed out bonged up bouquet of psych fried Australasian mind altering higher plain mysticism that should prove a hazily heady and heavenly cocktail drawing the invisible dots between those magic mushroom band and ozric tentacles types……
In Dub Track listing THE 3CD SELECTION
CD1 Apocalypse Dancehall
01 This World Hell (Alive & Kicking Dub) Youth Remix 7:25
02 Money Is Not Our God (Babylon Dub) 5:23
03 Depth Charge (Pathfinder Dub) 5:18
04 Corporate Elect (President’s “Mustard In The Chalice” Manifesto Dub Mix) 5:07
05 Ghosts Of Ladbroke Grove (Portobello Dub) 6:32
06 Labyrinth Dub (Dynamics Of Geometry Dub) 5:14
07 Eighties (Voodoo Dub) 5.50
08 Love Like Blood (Your Heart Is A Weapon Dub) 7:08
09 A Sixth Sun (Prophecy Fulfilled Dub) 6:38
10 The Raven King (Never Grow Old, Forever Now Dub) 7:24
CD2 Rockers Retroactive
01 Requiem (A Floating Leaf Always Reaches The Sea Mix) 10:24
02 This World Hell (Cult Of Youth Ambient Samsara Dub Mix) 7:31
03 Pandemoonium [A Thread Of Steel In The Suspension Bridge Of Time & Space Mix] 9:19
04 Exorcism (Vatican Ambient Dub) 7:10
05 Primobile (Lifer, Kilimanjaro Dub) 5:54
06 Tomorrow’s World (Urban Primitive Dub) 7:06
07 European Super State The Orb Vs Youth Remix (Church Of The Open Sky And Holy Fool Dub) 7:12
08 Another Cult Goes Down (Portobello Mix) 6:45
CD3 (Bonus Tracks)
01 Pole Shift (Perpetual Motion “I’ve Seen Things You People Would Never Believe” Dub) 8:02
02 European Super State (Lizard Dub (Emerging From The Ayahuasca Cave )Remix) 5:49
03 In Cythera (Banda Remix). (Pre-Master) 7:20
04 Follow The Leader (Follow The Dub) 3:34
05 Democracy – Nin Remix 7:24
06 In Cythera (The Bloody Beetroots Mix) 3:50
07 Change (Spiral Tribe Mix) 6:39
08 European Super State (Nyc Soundclash Dub) (Piripiri Vs Youth Vs Banda 4.56
09 Requiem Third Party Dub (The Ultra Rare Last Laugh Mix) 8:02
10 Killer Dub (Aka Bread & Jam) 1979 5:14
