Tumult | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | April 1983 | |||
Recorded | 10–19 January 1983 at Koeienverhuur Studio | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 53:20 | |||
Label | Original LP on FAI Records Reissued on CD by Ex Records (Europe) and Fistpuppet (USA) | |||
Producer | Jon Langford and Dolf Anonymusfortaxreasons | |||
The Ex chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Tom Hull | B+ [2] |
Tumult is the third album by Dutch anarchist punk rock band The Ex, originally released in 1983. It was produced by Jon Langford of The Mekons and Dolf Planteijdt (credited as "Dolf Anonymusfortaxreasons" in the album's credits). [3]
Right after recording their Dignity of Labour box set, The Ex returned to Koeienverhuur "Cow Rental" Studio to record the 13 songs for Tumult in January 1983. The Ex's perennial recordist Dolf Planteijdt, co-produced the album with Jon Langford of British bands The Mekons and The Three Johns, who was also recording the Dutch group Eton Crop in Dolf's studio. [1] The album saw release in April, one month after the band's previous release, and featured a gatefold sleeve along with a full-size poster in its original pressing. [4] The cover's stark red-white-and-black painting depicts a prisoner bending cell bars to break free, [5] The album's insert bore the phrase, The record's poster announces "hometaping is killing record companies...and it's about time." [6] this time adapted from Roode Hulp (“Red Help”) poster drawing attention to political prisoners needing aid.
The album was first issued on CD, along with The Ex's entire back catalog, in 1993, and then as a digital download on Bandcamp in the 2010s.
Stewart Mason's review of the album for Allmusic was quite positive, writing that the band "are something of a rarity in political rock circles, in that their albums are at least as musically interesting as they are lyrically pungent." He praised Jon Langford's production, who "gives the band a slightly more structured sound, which turns out to be to their advantage; in so doing, Langford minimizes the group's obvious points of comparison (singer G.W. Sok sounds more than a little like the Fall's Mark E. Smith) and makes them sound more like their own band." The opening track "Bouquet of Barbed Wire", picked as a highlight from the album, was described as "build[ing] slowly from a hypnotic guitar riff, adding instruments one at a time before exploding into an intense post-punk roar". The "declamatory" "Squat!" was picked as another "musical and sociological high point" while the closing track "Island Race" "ends with an industrial clanging that predates the early records by Test Department and Einsturzende Neubauten." [1] An unattributed review on The Ex's official website describes the album as the "[m]usic of malcontents, rebellion and impotent rage about everything that is wrong in this world [...] But they're quite aware themselves, too, that reality is not always black and white [...] What they lack in pure originality, gets compensated by their passion and devotion. In a time during which many of their contemporaries have switched their brain off, the primeval music of The Ex sounds really beneficial." [3]
The Ex is an underground band from the Netherlands, started in 1979 at the height of the original punk explosion as a Dutch punk band. The Ex originated from the squatting movement in Amsterdam and Wormer, and was inspired by bands like The Fall and The Mekons. Although initially known as an anarcho-punk band associated with the Dutch post-punk ultra scene, over the decades The Ex's sound has gradually developed into its current form of highly intricate, experimental punk/post-punk/no wave-inspired work. This sound includes a combination of diverse genres and styles, such as noise, folk, world music, free jazz, and crossovers between these genres. Other examples of branching out stylistically include the improvised double album Instant and a release under the moniker Ex Orkest, a 20 piece big band assembled for performances at Holland Festival. "One reason we are hard to describe is that we never had an education at music school, and in that sense we are not influenced by any traditional playing," explained Katherina Bornefeld, drummer for The Ex since 1984. The Ex's lyrics consist of straightforward statements about politics and abuses in society. The band enjoys international acclaim for this socially critical message, as well as for the energetic, rhythmic, atonal guitar playing, and for the furious vocals of singer G.W. Sok, who was replaced in recent years by Arnold de Boer of the duo Zea. The Ex have released over 20 full-length albums.
Jonathan Denis Langford is a Welsh musician and artist based in Chicago, Illinois, United States.
Joggers and Smoggers is a double album by punk artists The Ex, released in 1989 as a double vinyl record album, and issued as a double CD in 1992. It is the first of the Ex's albums to feature extensive use of improvisation and instruments outside of the standard guitar/bass/drums arrangement of punk rock, as well as great numbers of international guest musicians, most notably New York's Sonic Youth, Glasgow's Dog Faced Hermans, Amsterdam's Instant Composers Pool, as well as numerous folk musicians from a variety of European and Middle Eastern traditions. The album marked a turning point in The Ex's artistry, foreshadowing many collaborations and delvings into avant-garde, experimental, improvisational, folk and world music that the band would mix with their abrasive trademark post-punk sound in the 20 years to come.
Disturbing Domestic Peace was the debut album from Dutch anarchist band The Ex.
And the Weathermen Shrug Their Shoulders is the second of two albums by Dutch punk band The Ex in collaboration with avant-garde cellist Tom Cora. Cora was acknowledged in the credits of earlier album Joggers and Smoggers but didn't actually appear on an Ex album until a recording session in 1990 which led to Scrabbling at the Lock as well as And the Weathermen Shrug Their Shoulders.
History is What's Happening is the second album of songs by Dutch punk rock band The Ex, originally released in 1982.
Pokkeherrie is a 1985 album by The Ex, originally released on vinyl only on the Pokabilly label. The original release included an eleven-page booklet containing lyrics & artwork and a double sided poster. It was reissued on compact disc in 1995 on Ex Records. The album comprises a collection of songs the group had performed on an anti-military tour. The title of the album is a Dutch word that means something like "so much noise" or "awful noise". It is the first of the Ex's albums to feature Katrin on drums, cementing the band's core lineup that would last for nearly two decades.
Scrabbling at the Lock is the first of two albums by Dutch punk band The Ex in collaboration with avant-garde cellist Tom Cora. It is also the first of The Ex's studio albums to feature the work of then Dog Faced Hermans guitarist Andy Moor, who has remained in the band ever since.
The Mekons are a British band formed in the late 1970s as an art collective. They are one of the longest-running and most prolific of the first-wave British punk rock bands.
Mudbird Shivers is an album by Dutch punk/experimental band The Ex. The album prominently features vocals by guest musician Han Buhrs, who also plays a number of different instruments on the recording. It was released the same year as The Ex's entirely instrumental improv album Instant.
Aural Guerrilla is the 1988 studio album by Dutch anarchist post-punk band The Ex, co-released by American indie label Homestead Records.
Too Many Cowboys is the second double-album Dutch anarchist punk band The Ex. Released in 1987, it mixes live and studio recordings and marks the band's beginning of a collaboration with British anarchist group Chumbawamba.
Instant is a double compact disc by the Dutch experimental post-punk band The Ex. The band recorded the album in conjunction with many guest musicians, notably members of Holland's Instant Composers Pool (ICP) for whom the album is partially named, the other part being that the Dutch term for "free improvisation" literally translates to "instant composition."
Hands Up! You're Free is an album by Dutch anarcho-punk band The Ex compiling the group's three different Peel sessions recorded for BBC Radio 1 during the 1980s. The Ex released the collection on their own label, Ex Records, first on vinyl in June 1988, then on CD in 2003.
Blueprints for a Blackout is the fourth album by Dutch post-punk band The Ex, originally released in 1984. It was the first of The Ex's albums to feature Luc playing bass guitar and he would remain as the band's bass player for 20 years. The album also featured many guest musicians, a notable trend in The Ex's discography that would provide musical elements unique to each of their albums.
6 is a collection of six singles by Dutch musical group The Ex. The singles were available in record shops and also through a subscription with a new one being issued every two months throughout 1991. Each of the singles explored different facets of The Ex's musical relationships and interests, featuring collaborations with an array of musicians and other artists. The 6 singles were not released on The Ex's CD collection, Singles. Period. The Vinyl Years 1980–1990 as they comprised an album to be collected and stored in a single box. The band announced plans to reissue the collection on CD in 2010, but have yet to do so.
1936, The Spanish Revolution is an album of songs and archival photographs related to the Spanish Civil War, recorded and assembled by Dutch anarchist punk band The Ex. The band released it in 1986, the 50th anniversary of the Spanish Revolution, on their own label as a square 7" (17.5 cm) soft-cover book with two 45 rpm records. A 5" (12.5 cm) hardcover edition was republished by AK press in 1997, replacing the records with a pair of 3" CDs.
The Ex are a Dutch music group from Amsterdam founded in 1979. In their four decades as a band, they have moved from playing anarcho punk to post punk, jazz, folk and African music. They have collaborated on records with fellow indie musicians Chumbawamba, Dog Faced Hermans, Tortoise and Sonic Youth, improvisers like Tom Cora and the Instant Composers Pool, and toured with African musicians Konono Nº1 and Getatchew Mekurya.
Dignity of Labour is the third album by Dutch anarchist punk rock band The Ex, originally released in 1983. The album was originally issued as a box set of four 7-inch records in solidarity with factory workers where there the band were residing. The tracks were compiled onto a CD album a decade later.
The Edge of the World is an album by the British band the Mekons, released in 1986. The album is dedicated to Richard Manuel. The band supported the album with a North American tour.