Now-Again Records

Mr. Chop – “Switched On” 2×10″ LP/CD

We’re pleased to present – in association with Five Day Weekend – Mr. Chops’s Switched On over the course of a 9” single and a 2×10” LP. By now you know all about the man – but, in case you need a primer: Chop is a producer, engineer, multi-instrumentalist and the proprietor of Cheshire, UK based Ape Recording Studios, one of the finest analog studios in the world…. and a repository for vintage synthesizers, guitars, drums and gear sourced from the world over.

Thus, Switched On is a natural album: Chop’s homage to the great Moog-lead albums that proliferated in the wake of the synthesizer’s invention in the late 60s and early 70s. Unlike those records – like Dick Hyman’s Age of Electronicus, which contained one great synth-funk track amidst a series of soft pop hits – this album is all killer, and no filler. Mr. Chop tackles songs by the likes of Can, the JBs, Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Smith via a still-futuristic blend of heavy drums by The Heliocentrics’ Malcolm Catto and his own fuzzy guitars and cosmic keys.

LP and CD presented in a thick cardboard “tip-on” sleeve. Colored-vinyl 9” presented in a clear, heavy vinyl jacket.

Buy the album: Mr. Chop Switched On.
Download: Mr. Chop “Happy Birthday.”

Announcing: Mr. Chop “Switched On” Album/”Vitamin C/Happy Birthday” 9″ (and a free MP3!).

We’re pleased to announce that Mr. Chop has teamed up with the 5 Day Weekend label – they behind last year’s For Pete’s Sake album – for another bugged-out excursion into the realms of psych-funk. Switched On – Chop’s Moog-synthesizer driven album of classic funk, soul and rock “breakbeat” covers – comes out on October 11th. The album features Malcolm Catto (drums) and Jake Ferguson (bass) of our Heliocentrics.

Available now is the 9″ (yes, you read that right) single pictured above: Chop’s take on Can’s “Vitamin C” and the Jimi Hendrix/Curtis Knight obscurity “Happy Birthday.” We’re offering a download of the latter – one of our Switched On favorites – below, alongside a sneak peak of the packaging for the CD.

Download: Mr. Chop “Happy Birthday.”

Mr. Chop – Switched On

Tracklist:

1. Hung Up
2. Root Down (And Get It)
3. Breakthrough
4. Givin’ Up Food For Funk
5. Blow Your Head
6. Deep Gully
7. Greedy G
8. Happy Birthday
9. Vitamin C
10. Cortex

Produced by: Mr. Chop, Executive Produced by: Joe Mansfield and Egon
Recorded by: Mr. Chop at Ape Studios, Cheshire, UK 2011.
Mastered by Dave Cooley.
Art direction by Errol Richardson

2×10″ LP/CD. 2011. Released in conjunction with Five Day Weekend (there is no NA catalog number for this release).

Mr. Chop – Vitamin C

Tracklist:

1. Vitamin C
2. Happy Birthday

Produced by: Mr. Chop, Executive Produced by: Joe Mansfield and Egon
Recorded by: Mr. Chop at Ape Studios, Cheshire, UK 2011.
Mastered by Dave Cooley.
Art direction by Errol Richardson

9″ Single. 2011. Released in conjunction with Five Day Weekend (there is no NA catalog number for this release).

Exclusive Download: Mr. Chop remixes Cherry Ghost’s “We Sleep On Stones”

We’re offering you a special one this week – an exclusive download of Mr. Chop’s remix of Cherry Ghost’s “We Sleep On Stones” – featuring Heliocentrics Malcolm Catto on drums and Jake Ferguson on bass. His remix will be on the first 12″ release from Cherry Ghost’s forthcoming Beneath This Burning Shoreline album on Heavenly Records, and will be in stores in early November.

We were so blown away by the quality of Chop’s work that we had to ask for a dispatch from The ‘Shire. Chop fired back with:

“Cheers! I didn’t have anything in the library suited, so I asked Mal and Jake if they would record a backing track for me. Came at a bad time really as they were just moving out of their studio again, so it was a quick one as they had to move out that day and had just finished mixing their Lloyd Miller record. All the synth parts and effects are mine; I used strings, an odd little piano and guitar hits from the original. Other note drums have been processed through a Moog and Ring Mod.

I let the strings play out at the end as they sound lush. There is another version with Simon’s vocals on, which I think makes a lot sense, but the band preferred the instrumental. Ben, who plays keys, is a top bloke did all the arrangements – and offered his time if anything ever comes up in the future. Its a quartet playing if you are interested in some strings on the Chop album.

Back to my cave.”

Download: Cherry Ghost/Mr. Chop Remix (w/ Malcolm Catto and Jake Ferguson) ““We Sleep On Stones (Instrumental).”