Hoochie Pooch/Space Alligator: Freddie Viaduct at Naffi H.Q., 1979-83

Audio Remasterer: Koichi Hara.
Liner Note Authors: Paul Catchpole; Freddie Viaduct.
Recording information: 4-Track Ampex Co-operative Studio, Manchester (1983); Naffi H.Q. (1983).
Post-punk/experimental dub songwriter and producer Brenda Ray existed in a mysterious personal vacuum of sound. Apart from spending years perfecting a brilliant album of lovers rock reappropriations with 2006's Walatta, Ray worked with a loose collective of studio musicians and experimental freaks in the late '70s and early '80s called Naffi Sandwich, who issued their otherworldly studio experiments in a series of quickly evaporating cassette and vinyl releases in their time. Hoochie Pooch/Space Alligator follows the more straightforward collection D'Ya Hear Me!, which presented the less outlandish punky reggae party side of Naffi's hyper-obscure output. As a counterpoint, Hoochie Pooch/Space Alligator finds the collective in a far more experimental mode, offering up wild hybrids of funk, dub, noise, and percussive breakdowns, often highlighted by Naffi member Freddie Viaduct's relentlessly grooving bass playing. A fantastic look into the more abstract side of some unheard minds, the collection is a must for anyone whose appetite for reggae-informed post-punk weirdness doesn't stop at the Slits or the Pop Group. ~ Fred Thomas