Mick West: Musical Memorial @ Trades Club in Hebden Bridge

The legacy of English avant-garde guitarist Mick West will be celebrated with a Musical Memorial @ Trades Club in Hebden Bridge on April 3rd:

The night features Mick-inspired sets from bands he founded or played a vital role in and representing many sides of Mick’s musical brilliance from his first acid folk songs as a teenager (Amoeba Pie), his love of exploratory mind-expanding improv (Abrasive Pheasants), twisted avant garde songs (Beastfish), wigged out garage psych (The Electric Brains) and Slavic folk-punk (The Ukrainians).

Mick West: 1968-2018

English avant-garde guitarist Mick West is dead at 49. He suffered a cardiac arrest on the 20th March. He was taken off life support after being diagnosed with major brain damage, which ruled out a meaningful life. West collaborated with various like-minded musicians in Yorkshire.

He formed a duo with Colin Robinson. They recorded four albums as The Clog Hunt Occasional Collapsing Knitting Society. Their latest album, Lunch should always be quietly threatening, was released last year.

» Michael Linden West on Soundcloud

HCTF review of Lunch should always be quietly threatening.

The Clog Hunt Occasional Collapsing Knitting Society: Lunch should always be quietly threatening

Experimental guitar duo The Clog Hunt Occasional Collapsing Knitting Society played a short set on December 1st at the Methodist Church in Hebden Bridge to support The Soup Dragon, a charity that offers soup, sociability and support every Friday. The set is now released on >Lunch should always be quietly threatening. Colin Robinson and Michael Linden West were in an ambient mood for the occasion, going at the deep end for two pastoral excursions and a bit more noisy Coda.

Robinson and West are making it up as they go along, grabbing musical ideas out of thin air. With just two guitars and minimal set of pedals and devices they created a stew that will enjoyed by six string geeks, Krautrock buffs and anyone who can handle meandering musings pouring down into their ears. An acquired taste for most, but a healthy treat for avant-garde fans.

The Clog Hunt Occasional Collapsing Knitting Society: Live on Recycle Radio 1st October 2016

photo: Gareth Babb

On the 1st of October experimental guitar duo The Clog Hunt Occasional Collapsing Knitting Society paid a visit to the studio of Recycle Radio, a station ran by volunteers in Hebden Royd area. s Colin Robinson and Michael Linden West talked about their music with DJ Rosie Blunn before launching into to an improvised tune.

They named the track Noble Ruins for Rosie Blunn and it bears the stamp of their freak post-rock approach. While voodoo funk that was all over their latest live album Live at The Nutclough Tavern 25th September 2016, this latest slice of on-the-spot progressive geekery is a bit more harsh and it might have caused some people frantically trying to adjust their set.

The Clog Hunt Occasional Collapsing Knitting Society: Live at The Nutclough Tavern 25th September 2016

photo: Gareth Babb

When avant-garde guitarists Colin Robinson and Michael Linden West performed as a duo during the last weekend of the Winter of 2016, they didn't have a name for their project. They settled for The Clog Hunt Occasional Collapsing Knitting Society, suggested by Dave Lee, one of the regulars on the Clangroyd Facebook page, a hang-out for the various avant-garde acts in Hebden Bridge. Live at The Nutclough Tavern 19th March 2016 documented that debut performance and now there's another live recording, recorded in the first weekend of the Autumn of 2016: Live at The Nutclough Tavern 25th September 2016. They changed up things a bit and gravitated to twisted voodoo funk.

Spontaneity is key, with an assorted array of gizmos and effects acting like a bunch of kids after the school bell has rung to announce the holidays: a riot may happen without warning. Robinson and West share a love for Krautrock, King Crimson and Captain Beefheart; repetitive patterns and Sci-fi keyboards are torn apart by loud outbursts of distorted guitar. Fulsome Fishcake Funk sounds like an experiment by Adrian Belew and Thurston Moore that got out of hand. While most musicians would discard it as being just to plain weird, they use it as launchpad for howling feedback, serious clipping and post-rock mayhem.

Avant-garde in Hebden Bridge: Takeyari Shunta + The Clog Hunt Occasional Collapsing Knitting Society

A promising double will for the regular avant-garde music happenings @ The Nutclough Tavern on Keighley Road in Hebden Bridge. On September 25th Japanese acoustic guitar player Takeyari Shunta and The Clog Hunt Occasional Collapsing Knitting Society (Colin Robinoson and Michael Linden West) will provide sets of adventurous music. Arcane devices might be used as extra noise makers. Free entry (donations welcome).

The Clog Hunt Occasional Collapsing Knitting Society: Live at The Nutclough Tavern 19th March 2016

English avant-garde guitarist Michael Linden West (guitar & devices) and Colin Robinson (guitar & devices, drum machine) have both performed at the Nutclough Tavern in Hebden Bridge, a pub that is turned into a free port for geekery, loops and freak funk ambient metal about once a month. This time they decided it would be nice if they plugged in simultaneously and take it from there. Record thw whole thing and release it as a digital album: Live at The Nutclough Tavern 19th March 2016.

West and Robinson are both suckers for repetitions and since they where a duo that night they could stack layer upon layer, creating lopsided impossible structures that still manage to stand tall. As the set progresses a true connection develops. Opener Newts' Bonsoir starts to gel about halfway through and once the initial stumble blocks are of the way for a free-flowing showcase of twin guitar workouts.