2003 MARCH 28 #087
Ashfordaisyak - Leper In A Tumbledryer
Ashfordaisyak is a bit of a mystery. I've never been able to find out anything more about this song in particular, and only a very small amount about the artist. What I do know (possibly erroneous): 1) His name is Dan Wilson; 2) He leaves tapes for people to find them; 3) His only release appears to be a Split CD with ARC, which doesn't contain this song; 4) I can remarkably spell ""Ashfordaisyak" correctly without having to check it against things.
My guess is that this song appeared on one of the random tapes he left around, perhaps on a train or at a supermarket. Unfortunately, I've never found anything else about him, nor seen any of these mysterious tapes, so I don't know if they came with any identifying label of any sort.
Of course, not knowing anything about Ashfordaisyak didn't stop me from writing an article about him (and this track in particular) for my local college newspaper. Perhaps this will shed more light on this mystery... of course, if anyone has any more information, I'd really like to hear it. But, at any rate, here's the article I wrote. Thanks.
WHAT I"M LISTENING TO 2/18/2002
Ashfordaisyak "Leper in a Tumbledryer'I have no idea how I got this mp3. Well, actually, I do. A group I"m on in Audiogalaxy relating to the braingivings of Chris Morris distributed it. I"m not sure why, however, because it has nothing to do with him. Well, other than that Chris Morris is brilliant, and so is this track. But there are lots of other brilliant things I wouldn't necessarily associate with Chris Morris, so there you go. Anyway, I did a bit of research on the band. Apparently, Ashfordaisyak is one guy, Dan Wilson, a 19-year-old from somewhere in England. And I read the only way to get his recordings (outside of random missives from Chris Morris related groups on Audiogalaxy) is to find them taped to trains and public restrooms. So, there you go.
As for the song, it"s… odd. And well, if you know me, well, me saying it"s odd is something. It"s a song about a leper in a tumbledryer, if the title didn"t give it away. Moreover, someone has poured porridge in the dryer as well. Along with the clothing and the leper. And there are soapsuds up to the screen. Even though it"s a dryer, and at least here in America, we don"t put soap in a dryer. And with the political climate we"re in now, I don"t think we cotton to those who do put soap in a dryer. Also, there"s a guitar solo reminiscent of Philip "Snakefinger' Lithman, shortly before the song ends with the clicking of a stop button being pressed. All over a vaguely-funk-reggae synth and a beat reminiscent of a tape dryer. If you want to hear this, well, you might be able to find it on Audiogalaxy, or fly to England and bum around there like you just dropped out of college for a year to travel around Europe, looking in trains and public restrooms for mysterious tapes, and trying to be avoid being labeled as a pervert. Or embracing that label, whichever you feel fits you better. Now if you excuse me, I"ve got to grow out my beard, get some thrift shop clothing, start selling my blood, all while looking for my cassette-tape in black.
- Rev. Syung Myung Me (todcra@hotmail.com) of TODCRA Productions,http://www.todcra.org ; http://filmfunnies.keenspace.com
TT-1:47 / 0.8MB / 64kbps 44.1khz
UPDATE JUNE 8, 2003: Wow -- here's a bit
of news for you! It turns out that Ashfordaisyak/Dan
Wilson actually saw the Leper in the Tumbledryer
entry at 365 Days and emailed me! (He also praised
the site, which is pretty cool!) Anyway, he let
me know what he's up to: It turns out that Ashfordaisyak
has changed its name to "Meadow House"
(he said that a lot of people had trouble spelling
the former name, and that "Meadow House"
sounds nicer, which I fully agree, it does). And
there's a New Release. It's a 7" vinyl, called ""The Hermit" -- AND -- Leper in a Tumbledryer
is a/the B-side. It's available at Norman Records, http://www.normanrecords.co.uk. |
