Mixed Band Philanthropist – The Impossible Humane

Thirty odd minutes of splatter collage created via samples originating from over 30 artists working on the fringes of experimental music. Its car crash tape collage still stands today as one of the best examples of the genre. Its perpetual barrage of split-second samples are a dizzying mess of sixties Pop songs, scrapes, industrial whirr, uncategorizeable racket, ghostly voices, electronic beebles and burrs, sped up records, tape whizz, machine rumble, snatches of Reggae, bucket damage, kazoo farts, Disco spots and about three thousand or more (I’m guessing) other samples that really shouldn’t work but by some slight of hand or genius, actually do. Which is the thing that draws me to such work in the first place. On paper snatches of steel bands shouldn’t be found on the same side of tape as Geordie MC’s, Michael Jackson, pneumatic drills, early Merzbow muck and 50’s Doo Wop but on The Impossible Humane they do and again, it works. Totally. Then comes the added bonus of being able to listen to this to the point of ad nauseum, mainly due to the fact that there are so few reference points that every listen brings something new. And this is 1986 remember, none of that taken for granted home computer and digital editing fancy Dan stuff.
This release also gathers in the 2003 MBP single The Man Who Mistook A Real Woman For His Muse And Acted Accordingly plus a reworking of it by The Broken Penis Orchestra. The Man Who… uses the same template as The Impossible Humane but this is more of a nudge nudge Friday night lads out affair with lots of knob jokes coupled to comedy sound effects - it wouldn’t have looked out of place stuck to the cover of Viz magazine or on the B side of a Stars on 45 Pints single, what with all the North East Geordie DJ gorm thrown into it. Still, it works, that’s the main thing and despite all the oo-er vicaryness of it all you still cant help but admire the damned thing.
The fact that even after 25 years The Impossible Humane hasn’t dated one tiny bit is further testament to its originality. It’s a towering releases and one that you really need to own. (IDWAL FISHER)

'A strange and perplexing mid-'80s artefact. The source material comes from a huge checklist of works by notable outlaws, tape-traders and marginal sound extremists. Whatever insane fragments these geniuses donated to this insane project have been thrown into a gigantic melting-pot... It's a frantic assault on the senses, carried out by madmen perched like vultures behind a four-track tape machine, equipped with sharp scissors, a big roll of greasy scotch tape, a grab-bag of tapes, and scant regard for any sense of restraint. It's a massacre of music. Pretty god-damn essential if you ask me.' (THE SOUND PROJECTOR)

'A mind-boggling sound collage akin to the best tape-compositions by Trevor Wishart, Luc Ferrari, Negativland and NWW (who themselves contribute.) At first it may sound like a randomly constructed pot-pourri using a variety of musical and spoken word sources. However, on closer inspection it becomes apparent that there is method in their madness. I think the best description would be 'Surrealist music' - taking ordinary elements of everyday life and then juxtoposing them in an unusual, humorous way.' (DUCK & COVER)

'The montage is superfast and superstereo. There isn't a single moment of peace and quietness here. Elements of Noise go together with quotes from Pop and Jazz, and snippets of radio announcements. It's totally crazy stuff, much better than a lot of today's Plunderphonica, who can only dream of doing things like this. And this is all pre-laptop.' (VITAL)