Systems of Romance

Here’s another request for you folks to kickstart the week. On the slab is Canadian minimal wave band Ceramic Hello’s one and only album, released in 1981. Ceramic Hello formed in 1980 and lasted only 2 years before disbanding, and have never played live. The band consisted of Brett Wickens (ex-Spoons) and Roger Humphreys (a more classically focused musician), who previously played one show together as The Jovial Foresters.

Cermaic Hello released one lone 7” single and the record below, which has been reissued in 2006 by Vinyl on Demand. The reissue contains a record of rare demo materials that were once slated for the band’s second record, and also includes a track by The Partnership, a one-off collaboration between Wickens, Martha Ladly and Andy McCluskey of OMD. The project never got off the ground, but this one track appears on the reissue.

Otherwise, after Ceramic Hello’s split, Brett Wickens began working with Jah Wobble and focused heavily on graphic design, now based in California. Meanwhile, Roger released one limited run folk/psych record in 1996, entitled Beyond the Wall of Sleep. These days, rumor has it that Humprheys and Wickens are working together on a second Ceramic Hello record, due for release soon. Exciting news, if so!

As far as the LP is concerned, I haven’t uploaded the extra goodies, and won’t, as though the first run of the double LP reissue is out of print, plans are in the works to print a second edition run, along with a CD containing all the same tracks. So anyone eager to get those, have a bit of patience and keep your eyes peeled over at Vinyl on Demand and support the band proper! Otherwise, here’s the main feature for your previewing pleasure:

Ceramic Hello- The Absence of a Canary LP
1. The Diesquad
2. Ex / Im
3. Climatic Nouveaux
4. Conversation Between Units
5. Geometry
6. Staticarnival
7. Symphony Of Shudders
8. A Grey Man
9. Footsteps In The Fog
10. Ringing In The Sane
11. Trio
12. Gestures
13. Little Tune (Warlike)
14. Dig That Crazy Beat

*DOWNLOAD LINK REMOVED* – Reissue now available!

If you’re hip to facebook, there’s a Ceramic Hello group. Click below for both a link to the group and to the band’s homepage:

Ceramic Hello facebook page
Ceramic Hello dot com

This entry was posted on August 18, 2008 at 4:28 pm and is filed under 1980s, 1981, 2000s, brett wickens, canadian, ceramic hello, minimal, synth . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.