{"title":"Mark Stewart","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMark Stewart was an English singer, songwriter, artist, and producer. He was born on August 10, 1960 and sadly passed away on April 21, 2023. Stewart was a founding member of *a33932*, and later fronted various projects for *l2409* and *l26391* Records.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThroughout his career, Mark Stewart collaborated with a diverse range of artists including *Mark Stewart \u0026amp; The Maffia*, *Tackhead*, *New Age Steppers*, *Keith Leblanc*, *Gary Clail*, *Adrian Sherwood*, *Creation Rebel*, *African Head Charge*, *23 Skidoo*, *Dub Syndicate*, *Jah Wobble*, *Rip Rig \u0026amp; Panic*, *Little Axe*, \n*Barmy Army*, \n*Singers And Players*,\n*The Pop Group*,\n*A Certain Ratio*,\n*Cabaret Voltaire*,\n*Renegade Soundwave*\nand\n*Chrome*\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith his innovative approach to music and artistry, Mark Stewart left an indelible mark on the industry. His contributions will continue to inspire generations of musicians and fans alike.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"metatron","title":"Metatron","description":"\u003cp\u003eMetatron has a much warmer, more immediate feel,than previous efforts and the band really gets a chance to explode. The sparing and effective use of electronics leaves plenty of room for crunching guitar cascades atop a megabeat rhythm section. Stewart's lyrical visions have shifted from revolutionary politics to paranoia about late- 20th-century life: These Things Happen is his response to a bloodthirsty human time bomb...an accident waiting to happen. The CD adds an instrumental version of the opening \"Hysteria,\" which sounds an awful lot like Black Sabbath's \"Iron Man.\"\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"No Label","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50410643259723,"sku":"287416","price":6.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"as-the-veneer-of-democracy","title":"As The Veneer Of Democracy","description":"\u003cp\u003eFor this album, Mark Stewart and producer Adrian Sherwood assembled the definitive Maffia lineup with the imported talents of drummer Keith LeBlanc, bassist Doug Wimbish, and guitarist Skip McDonald -- best known at that point for their work with the Sugarhill Gang and Grandmaster Flash. Opening with a robotic voice informing listeners they are about to be programmed to take their place in society, this is no rapper's delight but another glimpse into Stewart's shadowy world of political and sonic dissidence. LeBlanc, McDonald, and Wimbish contribute to a fearsome collision of industrial noise, abrasive electronics, and heavyweight funk that serves as a soundtrack to Stewart's lyrical obsessions: surveillance, the military-industrial complex, oppression, and economic inequity. Thanks to the hefty rhythm section, this album has a more overpowering, assaultive feel than its predecessor, as numbers like the ominous title track and \"Passivecation Program\" are built on punishing beats and mammoth basslines that batter the listener into submission. On top of that solid foundation, Stewart pastes together an unsettling collage of found sounds ranging from the call of a muezzin and media voices to barking dogs and simply barking mad noise. The air of confrontation is intensified as Stewart harasses listeners with distorted spoken and half-sung pronouncements and warnings. On the chaotic, disjointed \"Bastards\" -- harrowing enough with Stewart repeatedly shouting the title -- the menacing, sampled rasp of William Burroughs (who also appears fleetingly amid the manic hip-hop beats of \"Pay It All Back\") makes the proceedings all the more sinister. The album's standout is the dub-inflected \"Hypnotised,\" which is infused with scratches, ocean-trawling bass, and shimmering melodic fragments. Uncompromising, challenging, and yet totally compelling, this album stands alongside Learning to Cope with Cowardice as one of Stewart's most innovative and important projects. [This CD reissue also contains the \"Hypnotised\"\/\"Dreamers\"12\"].\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mute","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50410763813195,"sku":"287418","price":5.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/2fc3a537-991a-47a6-85aa-3827535f3f7d_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726648744"},{"product_id":"learning-to-cope-with-cowardice-the-lost-tapes-definitive-edition","title":"Learning To Cope With Cowardice \/ The Lost Tapes (Definitive Edition)","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe groundbreaking debut solo album, \u003ci\u003eLearning To Cope With Cowardice\u003c\/i\u003e, by visionary post-punk iconoclast Mark Stewart, is to be given a definitive reissue alongside \u003ci\u003eThe Lost Tapes\u003c\/i\u003e, a newly discovered cache of unreleased material - described by Mark and Adrian Sherwood as distinct primitivism. After disbanding The Pop Group in the wake of a final performance at a momentous CND rally in 1980, Stewart had grown disillusioned with the UK’s music industry.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAbove the constructed chaos Stewart remains a commanding and mercurial presence, sitting at extreme boundaries within the mix and wrestling with themes of alienation, doubt, power, and political resistance. From the thunderous distortions of the eponymous introduction through the mixing desk sabotage and visions of urban blight on \u003ci\u003eLiberty City\u003c\/i\u003e to the sublime subversion of \u003ci\u003eJerusalem\u003c\/i\u003e (an unforgettable rendition of William Blake’s poem) \u003ci\u003eLearning To Cope With Cowardice\u003c\/i\u003e is a blast of volatile soundsystem music for modern dystopias, the ones we knew back then and the ones we know now. The backdrop in which Stewart and Sherwood produced the record was one of pressure and unrest, an atmosphere driven by severe social deprivation and unemployment, Cold War disquiet and fears of nuclear conflict. Exemplifying its pertinence to the temper of the time, the recordings that comprise Learning To Cope With Cowardice were shaped by sessions that Stewart and Sherwood conducted at the studio HQ of anarcho-punk outfit Crass, wildly creative stints that coincided with the riots that erupted in Bristol, London and across other areas of the UK in 1980 \/ 81.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlongside this faithful reissue of the original comes \u003ci\u003eThe Lost Tapes\u003c\/i\u003e, a collection that represents the outcome of a painstaking search and arrangement of previously unheard material. Brought together into a sequence of embryonic prototypes, frenzied dub versions and new archive discoveries, \u003ci\u003eThe Lost Tapes\u003c\/i\u003e chronicles the early ideas and unknown stories that defined the outset of Stewart and Sherwood’s vastly influential work together. With the seething assault of \u003ci\u003eIntro\u003c\/i\u003e the collection provides a glimpse into a project Stewart originally intended for William Burroughs whilst \u003ci\u003eMay I\u003c\/i\u003e presents a never-before-heard spectacle of raw dubwise disorder recently discovered on an unmarked tape in an archive in France.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eLearning To Cope With Cowardice\u003c\/i\u003e is a vital chapter in the legacy of Mark Stewart and The Maffia, a project that would prove to be a revolutionary benchmark for many, from the innovators of the ‘Bristol Sound’ (The Wild Bunch, Smith \u0026amp; Mighty, Tricky, Massive Attack) through to the likes of Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails. Collected together this set realizes an expansive restoration of one of Stewart’s most audacious statements. As it was in the early 1980s so it is now, \u003ci\u003eLearning To Cope With Cowardice\u003c\/i\u003e is a masterwork of mutant design and a rude awakening of extraordinary bite.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mute","offers":[{"title":"2LP - Black","offer_id":50498028142923,"sku":"1047740","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD | x2","offer_id":50498028568907,"sku":"1047738","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/e7870d9d-ff93-4568-a877-c65f47bcf445_2048x2048_1811ec3a-69aa-4f32-9c55-a17c623c3c2b.jpg?v=1747479969"},{"product_id":"the-fateful-symmetry","title":"The Fateful Symmetry","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe groundbreaking, enduringly influential artist \u003cstrong\u003eMark Stewart\u003c\/strong\u003e presents his eighth solo album \u003cem\u003eThe Fateful Symmetry\u003c\/em\u003e, a vital new masterwork completed shortly before his untimely passing in April 2023.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAcross an illustrious career of pioneering music with \u003cem\u003eThe Pop Group\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eMark Stewart and The Maffia\u003c\/em\u003e and as a solo artist, Stewart has produced a seminal body of work, galvanized by the DIY ideals of punk, radical politics, protest movements, theory, philosophy, technology, art, and poetry.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith \u003cem\u003eThe Fateful Symmetry\u003c\/em\u003e, Stewart’s abiding legacy as a ‘revered countercultural musician’ (The Guardian) is sustained, with an album as fearless and visionary as his best work. Testifying to his prolific, unrelenting ingenuity, and signifying one of his most intimate, empowering statements, \u003cem\u003eThe Fateful Symmetry\u003c\/em\u003e is an astonishingly expressive and innovative record; a fierce and beautiful manifesto for a better world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe inimitable, titanic \u003cstrong\u003eMark Stewart\u003c\/strong\u003e, never normalized, always extraordinary. \u003cem\u003eThe Fateful Symmetry\u003c\/em\u003e is released on Mute, Stewart’s long-standing label helmed by old friend and kindred spirit \u003cstrong\u003eDaniel Miller\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mute","offers":[{"title":"LP - Red","offer_id":51582056202571,"sku":"R2543-1878","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":51582056169803,"sku":"R2543-0845","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"LP - Black","offer_id":57668147577163,"sku":"R2543-4113","price":24.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/MarkStewart_TheFatefulSymmetry-Finalcoverpackshot_1080_86418a62-a64d-40f1-8e50-ddaf64936e0b.jpg?v=1752250904"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/de\/collections\/mark-stewart.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}