Crumb Duck

1993 EP by Stereolab & Nurse With Wound

Crumb Duck

EP by

Stereolab & Nurse With Wound

Released| October 1993
Label| Clawfist (UK)/United Dairies (UK)
Producer| Steven Stapleton & Steve Mack
Stereolab & Nurse With Wound chronology
|  | Crumb Duck
(1993)  | Simple Headphone Mind
(1997)

|
|

Stereolab chronology
| Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements
(1993)  | Crumb Duck
(1993)  | Jenny Ondioline
(1993)

|
|

Professional ratingsReview scores

Source| Rating
Allmusic| [1]

Crumb Duck is the first collaboration between Anglo-French indie band Stereolab and cult avant-garde unit Nurse With Wound, first released on 10" vinyl on the Clawfist label in 1993.[2]

Stereolab guitarist Tim Gane detailed the circumstances surrounding this collaboration to The Wire in 1997 (issue 164) whilst undertaking the magazine's "Invisible Jukebox" feature (alongside Lætitia Sadier). Gane stated that he had invited sole permanent NWW member Steven Stapleton to produce Stereolab's debut album (later released as Peng!). However, Gane stated that Stapleton had refused on the grounds that the group were "too rock" but had agreed to undertake a remix for the group instead. Stapleton surprised Gane by producing a letter he had written to NWW some years previously, which he had marked as the 15th piece of correspondence he had received regarding his group (also The Wire, issue 164). According to a newsletter issued by Stereolab's Duophonic Records, part of the agreement was that Stereolab would not get to hear the finished results until after the record had been pressed and released.[3]

"Exploding Head Movie" is a Stapleton remix of a section of the 18-minute album version of the "Jenny Ondioline" single (as heard on Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements). "Animal or Vegetable (A Wonderful Wooden Reason ......)" saw Stapleton playing the vocal track in reverse and adding several layers of wild distorted guitar to the lengthy middle section before applying his familiar tape collage methods to the coda. The original version of this track has not been released. An homage to the German group Faust is provided by the subtitle to "Animal or Vegetable" – "A Wonderful Wooden Reason." The latter references a line from the lyrics of "Meadow Meal," a track on Faust's first album self-titled Faust (1971). Stapleton provided the distinctive cover image but around 30 copies came with sleeves hand drawn by members of Stereolab.[4][5]

Stereolab later included both tracks on their Refried Ectoplasm compilation which remains in print. NWW, for their part, issued a Crumb Duck CD, adding 2 tracks from a 7" single NWW had previously issued on the Clawfist label and an outtake. A vinyl edition of this expanded reissue was also made available but both formats went out of print when NWW's distributor, World Serpent Distribution, went out of business.[6] NWW also included "Animal Or Vegetable" on their The Swinging Reflective compilation.[4][7][8]

They would collaborate a second time in 1997 with the release of Simple Headphone Mind.[9]

## Track listing

[edit]

### Side one

[edit]

1. "Animal or Vegetable (A Wonderful Wooden Reason ......)" (Tim Gane, Laetitia Sadier, Steve Stapleton) – 13:34

### Side two

[edit]

1. "Exploding Head Movie" (Gane, Sadier) – 4:48

### CD reissue

[edit]

1. "Steel Dream March of the Metal Men" – 5:39
2. "The Dadda's Intoxication" – 6:25
3. "Exploding Head Movie" – 4:48
4. "Animal or Vegetable (A Wonderful Wooden Reason ......)" – 13:34
5. "A New Dress (remix)" – 9:43

(Only tracks 3 and 4 feature Stereolab; all other tracks by Nurse With Wound.)

## Personnel

[edit]

* Denis Blackham – Mastering
* Tim Gane – Guitar, Farfisa Organ, Group Member
* Mary Hansen – Vocals
* David Kenny – Guitar, Engineer, Mixing
* Steve Mack – Engineer
* Sean O'Hagan – Organ
* Colin Potter – Engineer, Mixing, Sound Manipulation
* Laetitia Sadier – Vocals
* Babs Santini – Cover Art
* Steve Stapleton – Organ, Guitar, Harmonica, Percussion, Loops, *Mixing, Pedals, Tapes, Ring Modulator, Generator

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ Allmusic review
2. ^ "crumb duck". Stereolab Official Site. Stereolab. Archived from the original on 17 May 2007. Retrieved 5 May 2007.
3. ^ Mike Barnes (October 1997). "Invisible Jukebox". The Wire. p. 38.
4. ^ a b "Crumb Duck". NWW Official Site. Nurse With Wound. Retrieved 5 May 2007.
5. ^ "1971: Faust: Clear". Records. The Faust Pages. Retrieved 7 May 2007.
6. ^ "World Serpent to stop". Side Line. 23 August 2004. Retrieved 8 May 2007.
7. ^ "The Swinging Reflective: Favourite Moments of Mutual Ecstasy". NWW Official Site. Nurse With Wound. Retrieved 7 May 2007.
8. ^ "refried ectoplasm". Stereolab Official Site. Stereolab. Archived from the original on 17 May 2007. Retrieved 7 May 2007.
9. ^ "simple headphone mind". Stereolab Official Site. Stereolab. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 5 May 2007.

## References

[edit]

* "Crumb Duck". Stereolab. All Media Guide/All Music. Retrieved 5 May 2007.
* "Crumb Duck". NWW Official Site. Nurse With Wound. Retrieved 5 May 2007.
* "crumb duck". Stereolab Official Site. Stereolab. Archived from the original on 17 May 2007. Retrieved 5 May 2007.

* v
* t
* e

Nurse with Wound

* Steven Stapleton

* Heeman Pathak
* John Fothergill

Albums|

* Chance Meeting on a Dissecting Table of a Sewing Machine and an Umbrella
* To the Quiet Men from a Tiny Girl
* Merzbild Schwet
* Insect and Individual Silenced
* Homotopy to Marie
* The Sylvie and Babs Hi-Fi Companion
* Spiral Insana
* Alas the Madonna Does Not Function
* Soliloquy for Lilith
* A Sucked Orange
* Thunder Perfect Mind
* Crumb Duck
* Simple Headphone Mind
* Shipwreck Radio Volume One
* Shipwreck Radio Volume Two
* Shipwreck Radio: Final Broadcasts
* Disconnected

Collaborators|

* Colin Potter
* David Tibet
* James Thirlwell
* Tony Wakeford
* David Jackman
* Stereolab
* Jim O'Rourke
* Robert Haigh
* Cyclobe
* Christoph Heemann
* Rose McDowall
* Annie Anxiety
* Jhonn Balance
* Andrew Liles

Related articles|

* Coil
* Current 93
* Foetus
* Hafler Trio
* Nurse with Wound list
* Strawberry Switchblade
* Whitehouse

See also: Nurse with Wound list

* v
* t
* e

Stereolab

* Tim Gane
* Lætitia Sadier
* Andy Ramsay
* Joe Watson
* Xavier Muñoz Guimera

* Mary Hansen
* Sean O'Hagan

Studio albums|

* Peng!
* Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements
* Mars Audiac Quintet
* Emperor Tomato Ketchup
* Dots and Loops
* Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night
* Sound-Dust
* Margerine Eclipse
* Chemical Chords
* Not Music
* Instant Holograms on Metal Film

Compilations|

* Switched On
* Refried Ectoplasm: Switched On, Vol. 2
* Aluminum Tunes: Switched On, Vol. 3
* ABC Music: The Radio 1 Sessions
* Oscillons from the Anti-Sun
* Fab Four Suture
* Serene Velocity (A Stereolab Anthology)
* Electrically Possessed: Switched On, Vol. 4
* Pulse of the Early Brain: Switched On, Vol. 5

EPs|

* Super 45
* Super-Electric
* Low Fi
* Space Age Bachelor Pad Music
* Crumb Duck
* Jenny Ondioline
* Ping Pong
* Wow and Flutter
* Music for the Amorphous Body Study Center
* Cybele's Reverie
* Fluorescences
* Miss Modular
* Simple Headphone Mind
* The Free Design
* The First of the Microbe Hunters
* Captain Easychord
* Instant 0 in the Universe

Related articles|

* Discography
* Duophonic Records

Category

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz release group

|

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