as this long and strange year finally begins to draw to a close, we would very much like to take the opportunity to say a few words in honour of our now truly-legendary captain josef motley, who very sadly left this mortal coil under such desperately tragic circumstances at the beginning of the summer. captain honey and myself, reindeer, consider ourselves so very fortunate to have been able to become friends with josef back in the myspace days and had the very good fortune of collaborating with him on what should have been the first of very many songs. in truth, we both very much considered him to be the 'third man' when it came to the uk alt-rap scene and, while our paths sadly never crossed in person, we very much saw him as a close acquaintance and a fascinating artist indeed. his passing is a truly cruel blow to the world and how we can only know that he will be so dearly missed by so many.
josef's creative output was always something very much worth paying close attention to. from his own solo releases, to the storming power of his 'swampglow' group, to the richly bizarre world of the 'tortoiseshell male' to his work on the staggeringly surreal 'christmasaurus' collections, there was always more than enough to entertain, bemuse and satisfy the most-curious of listeners. josef's talent lay in his incredibly adept ability to filter the mundane sham of everyday life into a strange and captivating series of cut-up words, sounds and images to a standard that burroughs himself would surely have approved of. sometimes 'unlistenable', sometimes wonderfully 'catchy', oftentimes absurd, and joyfully daft, his output so perfectly mirrored this farsical 'everyday life' which the western lands have steadily built-up as 'reality'. the world is a poorer place in his absence, but we will be sure to celebrate his works until the very end, so grateful that he would have given us the chance to do so. an incredible artist and a noble captain indeed. he will remain in our thoughts for all-tme
josef motley : 01-10-82 - 28-06-12
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