Tuesday, March 28, 2006

 

World Domination Enterprises


World Domination Enterprises are a band that I must confess to not knowing much about and a web search hasn't come up with much either so does anyone know of them? Back at the end of the eighties I was living in Toulouse, it was there that one day while browsing through the racks of my local indie store I came across an album that grabbed my attention, it was 'Lets Play Domination'. So much was I impressed by their name and the sleeve that I bought it there and then. No regrets. One hell of an album, an amazing mash up of sounds, maybe due in part to their Ladbroke Grove roots. Apart from their cover versions of LL Cool J's 'I Can't Live Without My Radio' and Lipp, Inc's 'Funky Town' it was a song penned by guitarist/singer Keith Dobson 'Asbestos Lead Asbestos ' that grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and made me pay attention. A number that turns out to be highly political in lyrical content, Thatcher had just been re-elected and discontent amongst the squatting community was at an all time high. A dub bass intro to lull you into a false sense of security before your ears are assaulted by great big slabs of distorted rusty string guitar riffing, pure musical mayhem, chaos at its most inventive, pain has never been so pleasurable.
As everyone knows the early 90's heralded in the CD revolution and I must admit that the practicality of the medium seduced me as much as the next boy. By the end of the century my record deck had long given up on me and for different reasons had not been replaced so I found myself with loads of vinyl and nothing to listen to it with. As time has gone by I have either sold off or given away the lions share of my collection.This I do regret, and so it is much to my chagrin I no longer own 'Let's Play Domination' and would dearly like to replace it on CD, as I believe it was released on this medium though I myself have never seen a copy. According to AMG they went on to release a second album 'Love From Lead City' in 1989 and maybe a compilation entitled 'Asbestos Lead Asbestos' on Caroline in 1993, if anyone can shed some light on these releases I would be grateful.
Visibly today's mp3 is the only available song by World Domination Enterprises and can be found on the excellent Rough Trade compilation 'Post Punk vol 1' where it is in the company of many other nuggets from this productive period. Maybe Rough Trade could do us the service of getting together a World Domination Enterprises compilation or at least a 'Post Punk vol 2'?

Comments:
Hi - nice choice for WDE...

To shed a little light: WDE were formed by Keith Dobson...
He was previously known as 'Kif Kif le Batteur' and was the drummer with 1970's anarchist-hippies Here and Now (who - amongst others things - had strong connections to Gong, released a split LP with ATV and also undertook 'Free Tours' on a converted bus where they would play for free and pass the hat around after the concert)...He was also the mastermind between the great late 70's/early 80's D.I.Y. label Fuck Off Records which came out of the Ladbroke Grove/Westbourne Park squatting scene...

He was playing in a group called the 012 in the early 80's (who appeared on a few Fuck Off Records releases, and had a single out on Flickknife Records - which was affiliated to Hawkwind...and - incidentally - did the first version of 'Asbestos Lead Asbestos'), and then re-appeared with WDE playing the mangled mix-up which you know...
I saw them live quite a few times, partly because my friends band (Godflesh) did a few tours with them...They were always loud and heavy, and a pleasure to listen to...

'Love from Lead City' is a half-live/half-studio release, with a killer version of 'Hit Me Little Children' on it...

Somewhere in the spare room I have a promo-poster for their 'Shopping for Clothes' 7"...

Here's a link to a fan-page about Keith Dobsons label:
http://home.btconnect.com/shitola/StreetLevel/
I still have a bunch of these cassettes and ep's although they are like gold-dust now...

Hope that helps!
 
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