Nurse With Wound ‘Two Shaves and a Shine’ remix project CD ICR DISTRIBUTION

Steven Stapleton writes: A couple of years ago David Tibet and I were moochin’ around the Virgin record store in Glasgow. David was patiently waiting for me as at that time I was feverishly into female MCs and I wanted to study the sleeves of all the CDs in the shop’s hip-hop section. “You’re on this,” he said, tapping me on the shoulder with a dance compilation in his hand, and sure enough, there it was: Nurse With Wound: Two Shaves and a Shine—remixed. So, somewhat surprised by this discovery I purchased a copy and promptly got in touch with the label who led me on a merry song and dance for over six months until I gave up, neither sending any copies or paying any royalties. The one thing they did give me was the idea of remixing ‘Two Shaves’, so when I was considering the extra material for the upcoming reissue of ‘An Awkward Pause’ (which had been out of print since the collapse of World Serpent Distribution several years back), the concept of supplying the essential ingredients of drums/bass/guitar and giving everybody a chance to fuck with the track and make their own versions really appealed to me. ‘El Duderino’ Mark Logan of Jnana then came up with the stroke of genius: a remix competition, open to everybody; first prize the original artwork from the front cover of this album. For three months, on my car stereo, I listened to over a hundred versions. I listened to them anonymously, not knowing who the remixers were, judging them on their own quirks and musical merits. It was so difficult to choose the versions that appear on this compilation as all entries were intriguing and full of cranky invention. Eventually I honed it down to these gems. Taken as a whole it’s quite an intense ride, especially as all the tracks are crossfaded into one mightly mother of a jam—enjoy! Steven Stapleton, Cooloorta, November 07