2023: Stirrings in the MUGSTAR camp…

Following an unexpected extended hiatus, plans are beginning to coalesce…
Finger poised over the button to restart the MUGSTAR engines!

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MUGSTAR – GRAFT

MUGSTAR GRAFT
Released a year ago today!
Many thanks again to the awesome guys at Cardinal Fuzz & Centripetal Force Records for working their magic! Cool cover design work by painted.papillon.smile.
If you haven’t got your copy yet… we have black vinyl still available at Mugstar base camp. Email us direct via mugstarhq@gmail.com – Includes full colour insert and download code.

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Best wishes to all for 2021!

MUGSTAR - IWF + GRAFT
Many thanks to all that have supported MUGSTAR throughout the last twelve months. Obviously, we really missed being able to play live shows and meet up in person with friends and bands. But, we did get to release two albums: “Invisible Wind Factory”, recorded live performance with Damo Suzuki – and our latest studio album “Graft”. Thanks to The Weird Beard and Cardinal Fuzz / Centripetal Force labels respectively. Thanks too for the positive reviews for the albums (some of which are posted on the “Reviews” page here on this site) such as the most recent in from The Obelisk below…

BEST WISHES TO ALL FOR 2021!

The Obelisk – Graft album review…

MUGSTAR, GRAFT

“Not that the initial droning wash of “Deep is the Air” or the off-blasted “Zeta Potential” and warp-drive freneticism in “Cato” don’t have their appeal — oh, they do — but when it comes to UK lords-o’-space Mugstar‘s latest holodeck-worthy full-length, GRAFT, it’s the mellow drift-jazz of the 12-minute “Ghost of a Ghost” that feels most like matter dematerialization to me. Side B’s “Low, Slow Horizon” answers back later on ahead of the motorik linear build in the finale “Star Cage,” but the 12-minute vibe-fest that is “Ghost of a Ghost” gives GRAFT a vastness to match its thrust, which becomes essential to the space-borne feel. It’s 41 minutes, still ripe for an LP, but the kind of album that has a genuine affect on mood and mindset, breaking down on a molecular level both and remolding them into something hopefully more evolved on some level through cosmic meditation. Fast or slow, up or down, in or out, it doesn’t ultimately matter. Nothing does. But there’s a moment in GRAFT where the one-skin-on-another thing becomes apparent and all the masks drop away. What’s left after that?”

JJ Koczan (H.P. Taskmaster)

Quarterly Review: Fuzz, Crippled Black Phoenix, Bethmoora, Khan, The Acid Guide Service, Vexing Hex, KVLL, Mugstar, Wolftooth, Starmonger

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MUGSTAR – GRAFT album released today! 30th October 2020

MUGSTAR GRAFT
MUGSTAR’s new studio album “GRAFT” is released today on Cardinal Fuzz records (Europe) and Centripetal Force (USA).
Initial copies on Cherry Red vinyl.
Many thanks to all involved! Especially Dave Cambridge, Mike Mannix, Rob Whiteley, Chris Hardman and Paul Evans.
Order direct from MUGSTAR here at the Mug-Store page,
www.cardinalfuzz.bigcartel.com (Europe)
www.centripetalforcerecords.com (USA)
And support your local independent record shops when you can:
In North West, UK – Good Time Records, 81 Renshaw and Probe all in Liverpool, VOD in Mold, North Wales and also at Grey’n’Pink and Up North Records, both in Chester… all have the album in stock now.

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MUGSTAR – New studio album… “GRAFT”

MUGSTAR - GRAFT CherryRed
MUGSTAR’s new studio album “GRAFT” coming on the Cardinal Fuzz label (Europe) and Centripetal Force (U.S.A.)
Release date Friday 30th October 2020.
Pre-Orders open now from the Cardinal Fuzz Big Cartel
or direct from the “Mug-Store” page here on the website
Limited initial copies on Cherry Red vinyl.

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MUGSTAR & DAMO SUZUKI “Invisible Wind Factory” album…

MUGSTAR & DAMO SUZUKI “Invisible Wind Factory” Grape splatter/Eco vinyl. Download code included Weird Beard Records 2020

MUGSTAR & DAMO SUZUKI
“Invisible Wind Factory”
Grape splatter/Eco vinyl. Download code included
Weird Beard Records 2020


Now sold out at the label. Be careful of escalating internet prices. Support you local record shops where possible – in north west UK… North Liverpool: Good Time Records, in Liverpool city centre: Probe Records & 81 Renshaw Street. In Mold, North Wales: VOD Records.
Or you can order directly from us via the “Mug-Store” page on here.

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MUGSTAR & DAMO SUZUKI now available…

Version 2
The vinyl has arrived –
MUGSTAR & DAMO SUZUKI
INVISIBLE WIND FACTORY
Grape splatter vinyl (limited) and Eco vinyl pressings.
Currently available to order from The Weird Beard bandcamp.
Version 2

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New MUGSTAR & DAMO SUZUKI – Pre-order open now at Weird Beard

The forthcoming MUGSTAR/DAMO SUZUKI album is now available for pre-order from Weird Beard…
“Recorded live at The Invisible Wind Factory, Liverpool 2018.
Ltd to 500 copies.
300 on random eco vinyl (picture is not representative & the colours truly are random) and 200 on grape with black splatter, these are only available from us.
All copies come with an insert, the first 50 of which are hand numbered.
This item is a pre-order & we expect to start shipping around the 31st July.”
Available here – https://theweirdbeard.bigcartel.com
Mugstar:Damo eco-vinyl
Reviewed here by Terrascope. Many thanks to Francis Comyn…
“MUGSTAR AND DAMO SUZUKI – INVISIBLE WIND FACTORY
(LP on Weird Beard Records)
Back in those distant days of live music in packed, sweaty rooms I remember attending this concert with fellow Terrascope scribe, the illustrious Ian Fraser who if I remember rightly enjoyed or perhaps more accurately endured a lengthy and unexpectedly confusing taxi ride across Liverpool that nearly made him late for it (I’m sure his autobiography will explain more about this adventure at some point). Part of the 2018 Wrong Festival at Liverpool’s Invisible Wind Factory (any schoolboy humour will be punished, or at least punned) and other nearby venues, this set was one of the absolute highlights of a fine day of psychedelic rock.
Mugstar and Damo are no strangers to each other having shared a stage and recordings before this gig and their mutual pleasure in working with each other is clear to see and hear. It’s a pretty impressive marriage between Mugstar, one of the most interesting bands working today in the field of inventive and exploratory psych and space rock and one of the most iconic vocalists in the history of Krautrock who still crams in an eclectic and busy worldwide schedule of collaboration and free improvisation projects.
Weird Beard have generously provided us with the chance to relive the full forty or so minutes of a dynamic and memorable set, a wide ranging improvisation taking in many diverse twists and turns on its path. Underpinned by a solid yet varied rhythmic platform, Mugstar create a musical canvas where light and shade is created through guitars that shimmer and soar, compelling and memorable riffs that propel where needed and feed melodic ideas providing texture, colour and contrast. There are generous servings of driving motorik, touches of desolate spaghetti western landscapes, flashbacks to echoing and tense early eighties psychedelia tinged new wave and Stooge-like energetic and exhilarating solos and riff fuelled sprints which come and go through the set keeping it varied, unpredictable and most importantly exciting. Using this canvas, Damo Suzuki treats us to his full array of vocal talents, sometimes leading the music to new places and sometimes responding to the challenge set by Mugstar. At times harking back to the wailing improvisatory style of his Can days, sometimes growling like Tom Waits and then crooning like Scott Walker (or even Ian McCullough) at his most desolate and experimental, Damo’s chameleon like and indeed unique approach to singing is demonstrated at its very best here.
You can see some good videos of this set on YouTube but there is something to be said for letting the audio pleasures on offer speak for themselves. I really enjoyed the set as a punter but this well recorded vinyl time capsule is already offering up some new delights unheard in the general hubbub of the crowd on the night and is pretty much essential listening for any fans of Mugstar, Damo or indeed of high quality and inventive improvised or psychedelic rock. Strongly recommended for your audio pleasure.
Francis Comyn”

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New MUGSTAR & DAMO SUZUKI – Pre-order from 1st July 2020

No-12-Purple-with-Black-Splatters---Vinyl-Effect-Mockup---With-Sleeve copy
Pre-orders for the upcoming MUGSTAR/DAMO SUZUKI “INVISIBLE WIND FACTORY” release will be available from the 1st of July from https://theweirdbeard.bigcartel.com

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MUGSTAR & DAMO SUZUKI coming soon on The Weird Beard label…

MUGSTAR+DAMO IWF
The guys at the Weird Beard label say… “We’ve been dying to announce this, so I think it’s about time we shared WB010 with you all. Currently queued at the pressing plant, more details and pre-order information will follow once we get a delivery date.
Trust us when we say that this performance is out of this world.”
https://theweirdbeard.bigcartel.com + The Weird Beard on FaceBook

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