Blacksmoke

Blacksmoke a.k.a. The Blacksmoke Organisation are "an occasional art collective and musical group dedicated to the propagation of audio visual noise". The group was founded by The KLF co-founder Jimmy Cauty, James Fogarty (a prolific underground musician) and like-minded experimental artists. The exact membership remains a closely guarded secret, although Keir (the ex Black Dog/808 State Manager and owner of feedback.com) has been described as their "project manager". [Butler, B., interview with Jimmy Cauty for "The Big Issue Australia", 18 June 2003 ( [http://www.libraryofmu.org/display-resource.php?id=538 link] )] K Foundation collaborator Gimpo who is organiser of the annual "M25 SPIN" was the inspiration for an early Blacksmoke track "Gimpo Gimpo" but, contrary to reports, has never provided any vocals. Cauty left the organisation in 2005 to work on other projectsFact|date=February 2007, leaving Blacksmoke to complete the bulk of their work without his involvement.

Cauty stated in a music press interview that the project is first and foremost an outlet for his anger concerning the September 11th Terrorist AttacksFact|date=February 2007. Among the work so far produced by the Blacksmoke Organisation are limited edition prints of stamps known as "The Stamps Of Mass Destruction" the "Post Terrorist Modernist" EP, and the "Post-Terrorism Xmas Shop". The anger over 9/11 is immediately apparent in the samples and vocals of many of the tracks as well as the graphics.

is when anthony turns his chip on and puts the petal to the metal!!! then "BLACK SMOKE" comes outa the exost!!!! duh=The Stamps Of Mass Destruction=

Limited edition prints of 1st 2nd & 3rd class stamps featuring the Queen's head with a gas mask on. These were exhibited at the artrepublic gallery in Brighton, until they earned the attention of the Royal Mail. ["Royal Mail stamps down on postage art ", "The Guardian, 4 June 2003 ( [http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,11711,970219,00.html link] )] ["Row over gas masked Queen", BBC News, 4 June 2003 ( [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/southern_counties/2963414.stm link] )] ["Gas mask Queen removed from gallery", BBC News, 16 June 2003 ( [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/southern_counties/2994418.stm link] )] All unsold copies of the stamps of mass destruction prints were sent to Royal Mail for destruction. A second series of the stamps were later released - 4th 5th & 6th class which had the queens head completely engulfed in a chemical warfare protection suit and thus were presumably not subject to the legal action taken by Royal Mail.

2003 music

The first Blacksmoke releases were MP3s hosted on the Blacksmoke website, the tracks including "Gimpo Gimpo" and a remix of same entitled "Fuck the Fucking Fuckers". On 23 September 2003, BBC Radio 1's Breezeblock with Mary Anne Hobbs show broadcast a 15-minute mix session. The session comprised the MP3s cut together with samples of mobile phones and Big Ben plus other sound effects. The BBC cut the final 3 minutes 30 seconds from the session due to the post Iraq war political climate. The cut material was "Silent Night", one of the previously available download-only tracks. A few months later, the collective added an MP3 of the Breezeblock version of "Silent Night" to their website for download.

On 5th November, 2003 Blacksmoke made available an MP3 EP on their website which they described as "post-terrorist modernism for the Boom Bang Generation". A Blacksmoke press release drew connections with Bonfire Night and called Guy Fawkes Britain's "most notorious terrorist". The downloadable cover art featured Big Ben exploding like the World Trade Center and asked if the artwork "depicted the destruction of government buildings in Baghdad or Kabul, would we pay any attention?" There were media reports of "outrage".

2004 onwards

In July 2004 Blacksmoke appeared at The Big Chill festival. Cauty played an eclectic andexperimental DJ set, which he described as "an updated version of [The KLF's ambient album] "Chill Out", while a film by Gimpo called "Docklands Light Railway" was screened. [Urban75 ( [http://www.urban75.org/photos/bigchill/big146.html link] )] An alternative version of the soundtrack to the film was later featured as an hour long mix radio session on Resonance FM on 28th August. This was described as an industrial ambient mix.

The Blacksmoke Organisation ran a 'Post-Terrorism Christmas Shop' at the Aquarium art gallery in Woburn Walk, London, throughout December 2004. Described as a "one-stop shop for all your post-terrorism needs"Fact|date=February 2007, items for sale included silk ties for infiltrating Fortune 500 companies, strengthened crockery for after the attack, and a range of prints of original post-terrorism inspired artwork. A full length album was promised for 2004 but never surfaced, although a limited edition single, "I'm Dreaming Of A BLACK Christmas", was made available for collection from the Aquarium only on Christmas Day 2004.

The Blacksmoke Organisation were commissioned by Disney to rework the original theme tune to their 60's movie "The Love Bug" for a 2005 remake entitled "Herbie: Fully Loaded". Blacksmoke produced two versions, appearing within the movie and on the soundtrack.

In May 2008 The Blacksmoke Organisation exhibited a new artwork entitled "Tom & Jerry" at the Photo Fictions: New Narrative Photography exhibition, held at the Show Cave Gallery in Los Angeles.

Remixes

Blacksmoke have done a number of distinctive remixes of other artists. Some of them have been available for download from their website, others are available on commercial recordings.

*a-ha - "Cosy Prisons (Aha inhale Blacksmoke)" [A-ha official website, March 2006 ( [http://www.a-ha.com/cparticle6906-417.html link] )]
*Bloodhound Gang - "Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo"
*Blonde From Fargo - "Hey! Hey! Hey!"
*Deep Purple - "Black Night"
*DJ Pierre - "No More War"
*Cradle of Filth - "Mannequin"
*Gay for Johnny Depp - "Shh, Put The Shiv To My Throat"
*Gogol Bordello - "Immigrant Punk"
*Heloise and the Savoir Faire - "Odyle"
*Les Six - "Died In A Day"
*Prada Meinhof - "Hannah Have A Guinness"
*Sébastien Tellier - "Wonder Africa"
*The Dandy Warhols - "We Used To Be Friends"
*The (International) Noise Conspiracy - "Armed Love"

References

External links

* [http://www.blacksmoke.org The Blacksmoke Organisation]
* [http://www.dangerglobalwarming.com The Danger Global Warming Project]
* [http://www.theaquariumonline.co.uk The Aquarium Gallery]
* [http://www.showcave.org/exhibitions_photo_fictions.html The Show Cave Gallery]
* [http://www.klf.de Blacksmoke / KLF Fans Website]
* [http://www.blacksmoke.co.uk Blacksmoke / Cauty Fans Forum]