The Chaos Magick Audio CDs, Volume 6: The Singing Tadpole & Best Before the End of the World, performances by Ray Sherwin & Nigel Mullaney; commissioned by Peter J. Carroll
CD: New Falcon Publications, 1-56184-262-1

The first CD, The Singing Tadpole, contains the poem of the same name, by Thessalonius Loyola, read by Ray Sherwin against a musical backdrop reminiscent of those old meditation tapes – poor sound quality and a twangy instrument in the background, but still sort of neat sounding. Five short electronica pieces follow, with the last titled ‘Nothing is True’ with this phrase repeated throughout.

The second CD, Best Before the End of the World, consists of eight tracks, titled ‘Best Before Sex’, ‘Identified Alien Intelligence’, ‘Unnatural Selection’, Kundalini Me’, ‘Mayday’, Darkbud’, ‘Never There’, and ‘Androgene’, though you wouldn’t know this to look at it. The only place I found the song titles was the New Falcon website. No liner notes accompany the CD – there’s not even a cover. It seems sort of pointless to name tracks then but not identify them to listeners. The music is predominately instrumental, electronic, but fairly laid back. Likely suitable for use in ritual, though one may want to have listen through first before incorporating them into one’s practice.

That said, I’m not certain exactly why it’s dubbed a chaos magick CD set. The Singing Tadpole does weave in a mention of sigil work, but I don’t see that as being exclusive to chaos magick, nor is electronica particularly associated with it as far as I’m aware. Perhaps simply it is virtue of the fact that Ray Sherwin is half the team, and Peter Carroll is associated with it? Either way, it’s a neat set, perhaps more so if you’re a fan of electronica. Personally, while I dig the poem, punk rock better suits my musical tastes and my chaote aesthetic.