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Nurse with Wound | |
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 Steven Stapleton live with Nurse with Wound at Avantgarde Festival 2008,Schiphorst | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | London, United Kingdom |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1978–present |
| Labels |
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| Members | |
| Past members | Herman Pathak John Fothergill Colin Potter |
| Website | nursewithwound |
Nurse with Wound (abbreviatedNWW) is the main recording name for British musicianSteven Stapleton. Nurse with Wound was originally a band, formed in 1978 by Stapleton, John Fothergill and Heman Pathak.[1][2] The band's work has explored genres such asindustrial,noise,dark ambient, anddrone.
Their early recordings, all made quickly, were heavily influenced by free improvisation andkrautrock and were generally consideredindustrial music, despite the objections of the group.[3]
By 1981, only Stapleton was left from the original trio and he now regards 1982'sHomotopy to Marie as being the first proper Nurse with Wound release.[4] There are now over 40 full length NWW titles. Stapleton's fondness fordada,surrealism and absurdist humor are demonstrated in much of NWW's output, which, though it draws directly on a wide assortment of genres (includingcabaret music,nursery rhymes,John Cage,The Beach Boys, krautrock,[5]ambient music,[6] andeasy listening[7]), retains a distinctive and recognizable aura.Musique concrète may be the most prominent touchstone due to Stapleton's frequent, and often humorous, use of creativetape loops and editing.[citation needed] This aesthetic is fully represented in the artwork on the album covers, virtually all of which are created by Stapleton, mostly under the pseudonym "Babs Santini".[8]
Although Stapleton has sole curatorship of NWW, the group has a long list of collaborators includingDiana Rogerson,James Thirlwell ofFoetus,Tony Wakeford,David Jackman of Organum, Andrew McKenzie of TheHafler Trio,Stereolab,Jim O'Rourke,Christoph Heemann, William Bennett ofWhitehouse,Robert Haigh,Rose McDowall ofStrawberry Switchblade,Annie Anxiety,John Balance ofCoil, Matt Waldron of Irr. App (Ext), and most regularlyDavid Tibet ofCurrent 93. For some time, NWW was a core duo of Stapleton and Colin Potter, the latter having first worked with NWW on 1992's "Thunder Perfect Mind" when it was recorded at Potter's ICR studio. Potter has appeared on almost every NWW release since 1992. In 2009, a CD titled "Ød Lot" was released (credited to Nurse With Wound) which contained solo recordings by Stapleton, Potter, Waldron andAndrew Liles.
In 2005, the band returned to live performance after a 21-year absence. Stapleton, Potter, Waldron, Rogerson and Andrew Liles played three concerts at theNarrenturm inVienna, where they performed improvisations on the albumSalt Marie Celeste. These concerts were not billed as NWW appearances. The first official NWW appearances since 1984 were at theGreat American Music Hall in San Francisco in June 2006. In December of the same year, the group played at theAll Tomorrow's Parties festival organized byThurston Moore. During 2007, Stapleton gigged and DJed with much greater regularity, including a set at experimental music night Stress!! in Galway City, Ireland and full live NWW sets is in Austria, Belgium, France, Barcelona, London, Moscow, Berlin and Venice.
A collaborative work withkrautrock bandFaust was released on CD in 2007 asDisconnected with a vinyl edition carrying additional mixes following in 2008. Nurse recently joined Faust for the encores during the concert at St. John in Hackney. A NWW album entitledHuffin' Rag Blues, primarily a collaboration with British sound artist Andrew Liles, was issued in 2008 with a companionmini-LP entitledThe Bacteria Magnet. A remix ofSunn O)))'sØØ Void entitledThe Iron Soul of Nothing was given a limited release with an expanded reissue of the out-of-print studio albumThe Man with the Woman Face following. An album of new material entitledThe Surveillance Lounge was then released as a CD with a limited triple CD calledThe Memory Surface. A CD of new material entitledSpace Music will be released on 17 November 2009.
A recent collaboration was a result of the chance meeting of Nurse With Wound's Steven Stapleton and Graham Bowers, both artists were appearing at Bangor Sound City's first art/sound event 'Wet Sounds' curated by Joel Cahen located at the Bangor Swimming Pool, North Wales, in January 2011. Both were admirers of each other's past works and felt that a collaboration on a new piece of work could be an interesting and exciting prospect; consequentlyRupture was the first full-length work, and was released as a double vinyl album/LP, a CD and download. The vinyl album and CD have been released through Dirter.
They followed up toRupture withParade, which was released on the interdisciplinary arts group/record label Red Wharf and distributed by Cargo. The third collaboration,ExcitoToxicity, was released July 2014, and the fourth,Mutation released in March 2015 all through Red Wharf and distributed by Cargo.
All records released on United Dairies, except where indicated.
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