Godspunk – volume two

Label: Pumf
Artist: Various
Format: CD
Title: Godspunk (Volume 2) – released 2004

The Godspunk series, released via Pumf Records and curated by Stan Batcow, is a long-running archive of outsider music, experimental noise, and surreal DIY creativity from the fringes of the UK underground.

If Godspunk Volume 1 established the tone of the series – anarchic, irreverent and joyfully unpolished – then Godspunk Volume 2 doubles down on the formula. The result is another essential dispatch from the Pumf underground: avant-garde in spirit, proudly lo-fi in execution, and gloriously indifferent to conventional good taste.

Howl in the Typewriter open proceedings once again. “Llamas” arrives in a haze of rumbling, limiter-straining distortion – a wonderfully rough slab of sound that shifts gear just often enough to keep the chaos interesting. It’s unmistakably HITT territory: lo-fi but purposeful.

The curiously fragmented “Here Comes the Butterfly” follows, chopped into eight perfectly equal seventeen-second segments. A reviewer’s nightmare in track-list form, although one suspects the piece exists somewhere in the wild in its full, uninterrupted state.

“Jesus, Buddha and Allah” continues the religious satire that threads through much of the compilation. Twin guitars take control of the middle section before the vocals – sounding as if transmitted from the bottom of a swimming pool – re-emerge briefly before an abrupt cut to silence.

The compilation then hands over to LDB, whose contributions pick up exactly where their Godspunk debut left off. More dry, deadpan wordsmithery from the self-appointed inventor of rap:

“Bring the silence, listen who swears
That’s the sound of the fact that nobody cares
’Cause your voice has more force than Elton John’s hair
Take a walk round the back of the Gallery, yeah.”

Moments like this, from “Last Days of Rome”, remind you why the project remains so oddly compelling. Further tracks such as “Stadium R’n’B” and “Warrior” continue the surreal flow, the latter sounding like a warped reflection of Status Quo in their early Pictures of Matchstick Men phase, albeit filtered through several layers of distortion and satire.

Next up are Gays in the Military, whose track titles alone hint at their approach. With a 2005 album titled People Is Beautiful and comparisons occasionally drawn with Butthole Surfers, their contribution is a sprawling medley of samples, recurring motifs and extremely graphic lyrical material. Tracks such as “When We Were the AIDS Team” feel less like songs and more like deliberate acts of provocation – a satirical broadside masquerading as outsider rock.

Las Vegas Mermaids follow with “Rich Man’s Ballbag” and “Weevils”. Describing them is difficult: they occupy a curious space somewhere between The Residents and Stereolab, although their reputation rests as much on theatrical live shows with film projections as on the recordings themselves.

Pinkeye then deliver a cluster of clipped samples, fragments and sonic doodles – exactly the sort of short-form experimentalism that the Godspunk series thrives on. Field recordings collide with tape snippets and lo-fi sketches that occasionally evoke the earliest, most chaotic moments of Guided by Voices.

Pissed Off contribute perhaps the compilation’s most pointed piece: samples referencing torture techniques from Guantanamo Bay detention camp, layered over what sounds suspiciously like a beatbox interpretation of Rivers of Babylon by Boney M.. Dark humour, political commentary, and absurdity collide in equal measure.

Roohmania, the project of the late Andy Hayes, continues the religious satire theme. The unmistakable melodic skeleton of Blue Monday by New Order is repurposed into a sardonic commentary on belief systems, while “J.I.G.” does exactly what its title suggests – albeit driven by a gloriously overdriven guitar tone.

Blackpool’s Higgins++ contribute two tracks, including an inspired cover of A New England by Kirsty MacColl. Their spoken-word piece “Silent Weapons for a Quiet War” is equally striking – a monologue that feels eerily prescient more than two decades after it was first recorded.

The mysterious Taurus Board appear with “The King of Denial”, a sleek slice of krautrock-inflected electronics that briefly introduces a sense of motorik propulsion to the proceedings.

Finally, UNIT close out the compilation with five tracks that are – at first listen – a curious hybrid: punk energy punctuated by flute flourishes and the occasional enthusiastic burp. Yet the charmingly titled “Two Weeks in Malaysia” reveals a softer side, sounding almost like a North-West cousin to Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci.

Like its predecessor, Godspunk Volume 2 feels less like a compilation and more like a field recording from an alternate musical ecosystem – one where satire, experimentation and DIY stubbornness happily coexist.

In the Pumf universe, chaos is not just tolerated. It’s the whole point.

3.8 out of 5.0 stars3.8