Dark Entries picks up Severed Heads yet again for Ear Bitten, a double LP reissue of some of the band’s earliest material. As originary Aussie industrial legends - although founder Tom Ellard would balk at being branded as such - Severed Heads shaped the continental subcultural sound with their kitchen electronics, chaotic tape loops, and quietly infectious nursery-rhyme-esque melodies. In 1979 Ellard, Richard Fielding, and Andrew Wright abandoned the moniker Mr. and Mrs. No Smoking Sign and adopted the edgier name Severed Heads “to pretend to be an industrial band such as Surgical Penis Klinik & Throbbing Gristle.” Noise-rockers Rhythmx Chymx had placed an advertisement in a local shop looking for a band to share the costs of pressing an LP. The Heads set about recording a Dadaist racket on a pair of open reel dictaphones and a cassette deck using a TRS-80 computer, Kawai Synthesizer 100F and Korg Mini Pops drum machine. Ear Bitten was released in 1980; original copies now fetch obscene sums, in part due to most of Severed Heads’ copies perishing in a fire at Richard’s home. The band’s next endeavor was a cassette titled Side 2, a collection of free-form experiments fashioned as Ear Bitten’s second side. For this reissue, Dark Entries has collected both Ear Bitten and Side 2 on the first disc, presenting the album in its full form. Disc two includes the original first version of Ear Bitten, which was only unreleased because it was recorded in a format not suitable for...
2XLP $29.00
09/06/2024
***Medical continues it’s exploration and admiration our beloved Severed Heads. Long overdue and much needed reissue of their1989 album “Rotund For Success”. Special expanded 2LP version including alternate versions and remixes. “Rotund” is a treasure trove of hits including “All Saints Day”, “Greater Reward” and “Big Car”. Includes deluxe gatefold heavy duty full color jacket featuring the iconic pineapple and pine cone featured on the singles. Remastered by Mr. Ellard himself. Double 160gm black vinyl. Limited Edition.
2XLP $28.75
07/29/2022
***Repress of Medical’s 2014 reissue of the long out of print and crucial LP Australia’s Severed Heads (alongside “Since The Accident” also being repressed by Medical). Released in 1985 and features some of the most important yet underrated electronic music of the genre. Characterized by a fusion of experimental tape loop manipulation perfectly integrated into synth-based and quite catchy pop stylized tunes. Features the standout tracks “Goodbye Tonsils”, “We Have Come For This House” and the lovely “4.W.D” track. For fans of innovative early industrial/wave crossovers such as Cabaret Voltaire, early Coil, and Chris & Cosey. Limited Edition.
LP $21.50
12/17/2021
***Repress of Medical’s 2014 reissue of the long out of print and crucial LP Australia’s Severed Heads (alongside “City Slab Horror” also being repressed by Medical). Released in 1983 and features some of the most important yet underrated electronic music of the genre. Characterized by a fusion of experimental tape loop manipulation perfectly integrated into synth-based and quite catchy pop stylized tunes. Features the hit “Dead Eyes Opened” as well as other standout tracks such as “A Million Angels” and “A Relic Of The Empire”. For fans of innovative early industrial/wave crossovers such as Cabaret Voltaire, early Coil, and Chris & Cosey. Limited Edition.
LP $21.50
12/17/2021
***While the 1980s output of Australia’s oft misunderstood Severed Heads is well known, the 2000s were also an intensely creative period for the group. Along with a periodical magazine/album called Op, SH released limited hand-cut discs, two computer games and a handful of ultra-rare artworks. Medical Records is proud to present a new museum Clifford 2000—-a 180-gram double album holding 18 years of music over four sides of continuous montage personally segued by Mr. Ellard himself.
2XLP $28.25
12/11/2020
***BACK IN STOCK!!! Dark Entries’ first release of 2020 is a deluxe 2xLP reissue of Severed Heads’ debut 1981 album Clean. One of the longest surviving bands to emerge from the Australian post-punk independent music scene, they began in Sydney in 1979. Severed Heads is basically a nom- de-plum for Tom Ellard, who incorporates elements of ‘industrial’ noise-generation, tape cutting & looping and electronic sound synthesis. As the project developed song-structures and vocals were employed in a more-or-less recognizable mutant electro pop style. Clean was amongst the first vinyl releases under the Dogfood Productions banner of Terse Tapes, previously a cassette-only label. For this records Tom used an array of synthesizers (Kawai 100F, Casiotone, Roland CR78+SH1+CSQ100), sequencers, tapes and occasional guitar and violin played by Garry Bradbury. Severed Heads have a language of their own, music that juxtaposes all sorts of noise, in all sorts of ways so that a structure evolves, (fragmented) melody and rhythm being almost a by-product. As one reviewer said in 1981, “It is an ugly album that you simply cannot ignore, it thuds and screeches and makes you stare just to wonder what kind of people would procure such an album.” For this deluxe reissue we’ve included a bonus disc featuring 13 songs, 5 of which have never been released before, culled from live performances, the Side 3 cassette and a Clean demo tape that only surfaced last year, plus "Food City" missing from previous reissues. Each copy is housed in a gatefold...
2XLP $22.25
01/24/2020
Dark Entries is proud to present the deluxe 2xLP reissue of ‘Come Visit The Big Bigot’ by Severed Heads, oone of the longest surviving bands to emerge from the Australian post-punk independent music scene. They began in Sydney in 1979, incorporating elements of ‘industrial’ noise-generation, tape cutting & looping and electronic sound synthesis. As the project developed song-structures and vocals were employed in a more-or-less recognizable mutant electro pop style. After many line-up changes featuring Garry Bradbury and psychedelic guitarist Simon Knuckey, Severed Heads was the vehicle for composer Tom Ellard. ‘Come Visit The Big Bigot’ was Severed Heads’ first record to be released commercially simultaneously in Australia, North America and Europe in 1986. It was a prime period for this 'industrial dance music' and Bigot was a respected album that did well from the tour they did with Skinny Puppy that same year. Quite a few people still define the band by this period. ‘Come Visit The Big Bigot’ was made on a Fostex 16 track recorder in Tom’s bedroom, employing the newly acquired AKAI S612 sampler and Roland SH-101 to create most of the drum sounds. The album signaled a new direction, flirting with the dance floor and the pop song. Presenting the Heads at their most cohesive, while retaining their distinctive musical stamp. Tom’s vocals are harmonized, slowed down, sped up, run through fuzz boxes, backwards, drum machine rolls, sampled guitars, horn sections, and voices but with a subversive rather than malevolent intention. Tape loops are...
2XLP $22.25
09/20/2017
Severed Heads are one of the longest surviving bands to emerge from the Australian post-punk independent music scene. They began in Sydney in 1979, incorporating elements of ‘industrial’ noise-generation, tape cutting & looping and electronic sound synthesis. As the project developed song-structures and vocals were employed in a more-or-less recognizable mutant electro pop style. After many line-up changes featuring Garry Bradbury and psychedelic guitarist Simon Knuckey, Severed Heads was the vehicle for composer Tom Ellard. In 1985 their record label asked them to release a retrospective, so they dragged out bits that we had lying around from 1979 up til 1983. The compilation was titled “Clifford Darling Please Don’t Live In The Past”, spread out into a montage over four sides of vinyl. Bradbury and Ellard would fuss each bit and sling it on their new digital recorder, and since they still have the digital recorder, this reissue is made directly from the bits assembled twenty years ago. This compilation includes live recordings, raw demos, unreleased studio recordings and solo pieces from each member of the band during from the first five years. Their early music was characterized by the use of tape loops, noisy arrangements of synthesizers and other dissonant sound sources in the general category of industrial music. After several releases in that vein, Severed Heads began incorporating various popular music tropes, such as a consistent 4/4 rhythm, strong melodic lines, resolving chord arrangements and the occasional vocal. This move was underscored by the incorporation of mimetic devices,...
2XLP $22.25
12/15/2015
Dark Entries digs deeper in to the archives of Severed Heads, one of the longest surviving bands to emerge from the Australian post-punk independent music scene. They began in Sydney in 1979, incorporating elements of ‘industrial’ noise-generation, tape cutting & looping and electronic sound synthesis. As the project developed song-structures and vocals were employed in a more-or-less recognizable mutant electro pop style. In 1986 the band released the 12” single “Petrol” on Nettwerk Records. We’ve decided to shed light on the evolution of “Petrol” with this EP showcasing four earlier incarnations of what became an instant synth pop classic. “Petrol”, originally titled “Lamborghini”, was written by Garry Bradbury and Tom Ellard in 1981. The first version of the song featured vocals by Finoa Graham and music by Tom Ellard. “Lamborghini” was featured on a compilation of Experimental Australian bands titled “Entrave Et Étouffement, From Australia...” released by L'Invitation Au Suicide in April 1982. DJs in Chicago discovered the import compilation and “Lamborghini” became a proto-House secret weapon, traded on mix tapes. In July 1982, the band was invited to record several songs on Metro TV in Sydney to demonstrate the video synthesizer, a new piece of equipment played by Stephen Jones. The video synthesizer was installed into Metro's control room above the main studio to process the performance in real time on two cameras while recording to video. Tom Ellard and Garry Bradbury were using analog synths and tape recorders along with the screaming guitar work of Simon...
12" $13.75
11/06/2015
Severed Heads are one of the longest standing bands to have emerged from the Australian post-punk and experimental scene. They began in Sydney in 1979, and were an early outfit to incorporate elements of industrial noise-generation, tape-cutting and looping, and electronic sound synthesis. As the project developed, song-structures and vocals were employed in a more-or-less recognizable mutant electro pop style. After many lineup changes featuring Gary Bradbury and psychedelic guitarist Simon Knuckey, the project became the solo vehicle for composer Tom Ellard. In 1983 Severed Heads released a C-60 cassette called Since the Accident that grabbed the attention of Ink Records, a subsidiary of Virgin in the UK. Ellard added a throwaway track at the last minute to fill out the cassette, not wanting to leave an unseemly gap at the end. The song, “Dead Eyes Opened,” was catchy enough to get a lot of airplay on the main noncommercial radio station in Sydney, and the band was asked to make it into a 12-inch single. For this extended version, Ellard and producer Patrick Gibson went to M-Squared studio and passed the multi-tracked recordings through various EQs and delays. “Dead Eyes Opened” features samples from a radio program narrated by Edgar Lustgarten, a crime journalist from England, referencing a double-murder case that occurred in 1924. The rhythms are made by a TR-808 drum machine and an SH-1 synthesizer. A KORG PolySix was used for strings and additional atmospheric elements. The lead solo was a Casiotone run through an Octaver foot pedal....
12" $16.00
07/22/2014