Doc Wör Mirran
Retch
GERMANY MISS MANAGEMENT HAVE FOUR mt-557 CDR (2011)
With the idea of it being a platform for music, design, sculpture, poetry and possibly even white- water rafting and taxidermy, Doc Wör Mirran were formed back in mid-eighties Nurnberg, Germany by Bernard H. Worrick and Joseph B. Raimond and have left a scattered crumb-trail of releases through notable clearing houses such as RRR, S.F.T.R.I., eMpTy and Korm Plastics in the passing years. “Retch” heaves to (sorry!) as the fourth entry in a series of free CDs, which would explain the “Pay no more than $0.00!” notice emblazoned in red on the sleeve’s reverse, above a pic of a freely pissing rabbit/man hybrid. On the obverse, again rendered by a skritchy Steadmanesque nib, we see some poor unfortunate caught in a furiously violent mid-vomit. Nice inkwork Mister R !!
So there we have it, a disc sandwiched between the more measured aim and…the involuntary spasm. But which approach does this archival set pursue? Well, as this has been “thrown onto the master without much thought to order and flow…/take it or leave it…” the planning/construction of this disc might point towards the latter concept. But perversely its contents favour the former (!), as the scuffed post-punk textures I half expected really fail to materialise, and instead these instrumentals reveal themselves to be on resting on moderately level terrain, where even the drum machine is on its best behaviour. For instance, we find the fairly languid sax-driven “Trekno” (with Bernard H. paraphrasing James T. Kirk’s mission statement in his very last Doc Wör-related moment. And the buckskin-fringed “Loretta Lynch” where Howe Gelb-like figures are upended by various cheese-based settings from moog’s early dawn. After the porno heavy samples of “Scripted Destiny” sigh to a close, it’s then a slight return to the golden age of Krautrock with the Kluster-fragranced “A Nightmare is also a Dream” and the excellent motorik of “Wish I was in Adine” which shifts gear into prime Dingerland territory at the closing stages of its journey.
As to whether those last two numbers mentioned are firmly tongue-in-cheek parodies or genuine tributes is unclear and pretty much unimportant really. What is more to the point is that these sweepings from the cutting room floor have been given a successful resuscitation and, contrary to the self-deprecating sleeve notes, hold up pretty well with the rest of the Doc’s outage.
Miss Management Records: (empty @ empty. de) Spitzwiestr. 50, 90765 Furth, Germany