CLOCK DVA

Epic 15 CD box set, coming as a deluxe book-like folder, compiles all the Clock DVA material previously issued by Vinyl-On-Demand on the three vinyl-only box sets Horology, Horology II and Horology III. With bands like Cabaret Voltaire leading the way, Sheffield, in the north of England, has long been known for pioneering the hybrid zone between punk and electronic music during the late 1970s. Among the first of them all was Clock DVA, founded in 1978 by Adi Newton from the ashes of an earlier project, The Future, whose other members would go on to find fame in The Human League and Heaven 17. Clock DVA produced dozens of visionary underground releases that have remained tragically obscure and are long overdue for reappraisal. Thankfully, VOD has done just that with Horology - Anthology Vol. 1-3, gathering an astounding 15 CDs of material within a stunning box set edition, covering their earliest and arguably wildest years.

Formed in Sheffield in 1978, around the core lineup of Adi Newton, Steven Turner, David Hammond, and Simon Elliot-Kemp, rather than many of the pop temperaments that would form around electronic music in their city, Clock DVA belonged to the same creative temperament and scene as their London based peers, Throbbing Gristle, embracing moral and political deviance as means toward sonic liberation. Like TG, they are among the early pioneers of the UK’s first wave of industrial music.

The first volume within VOD’s Clock DVA Anthology Vol. 1-3, Horology I - DVAtion 78/79/80, stretching across 6 CDs, covers the bulk of the band’s available output during their first three years. Channeling ideas taken from Aleister Crowley, Marquis De Sade, Kenneth Grant, Antonin Artaud or Charles Baudelaire against a pallet of primordial electronics and glamour of acoustic interventions, a glimpse of one of the most uncompromising pioneers of the late '70s and early '80s comes sharply into focus; a thrilling, sludgy, and engrossing landscape of sonic mayhem that feels radical more than 40 years after they were first laid to tape.

The second volume of Clock DVA Anthology Vol. 1-3, Horology II - The Future & Radiophonic Dvations, dives even further back to 1977, with an entire disc dedicated to recordings by The Future - Newton, Martyn Ware, and Ian Craig Marsh - prior to the trio dissolving into The Human League and Clock DVA, gathering songs ranging from industrial synth-pop to pulsating proto-techno, and in the process capturing one of the earliest chapters in Sheffield's hugely influential electronic scene.

The remainder of the volume’s 4 discs comprise solo recording by Newton, delving into abstract zones inspired by esoteric elements, from psychoacoustics to early acousmatic technique, the occult, and infrasound, it offers up some of the most introspective and dark moments of the entire collection.

The final volume, Horology III - Tape, Reel - Recordings & Art 1978-1980, document rarely heard experiments made within Adi Newton’s Sheffield studio, capturing the foundations at the root of their sound. A stunning expanse of tape loops, EMS synthi, electric violin, bass, guitar and various devices, often falling far closer to '60s electronic avant-gardism than anything you’d expect from the industrial scene.

Nothing short of a towering accomplishment, bringing one of England’s most important but neglected musical pioneers the attention they rightfully deserve, Clock DVA Horology - Anthology Vol. 1-3 sprawls to an incredible 15 CDs of material, issued in a stunning box coming as a deluxe book-like folder and including with a t-shirt. This one can’t be believed until it’s heard.