Pretentious multi-instrumentalist and mentalist Karl Hodge (AKA Karl Karcass, Craven Twain and Stench Cistern) is the pivotal sixth side of the CVC hexagon. The better looking, less smelly half of Santaphobia, his contributions to CVC bands included stints in the GWF, Fish Hat, Webfoot and Karcass, the Backseat Boys, the Al Jolsons of Death, Glass Orchard, The Vendetta Men and Octafish. He also made contributions to the original Jon Jugulation's solo tapes, Satan's Willy, All New Lucky Boys and Jon Thomas. In short, he is ace.

Karl's early solo output was patchy at best and rarely collected in one place – though tracks such as "Meh" and "Oedipus Rex" crop up on occasional compilations.

In the late 1980s Karl and Brother Jason began exploring the music possibilities presented by electronic computational technologies - a pair of Atari ST computers, the primitive sample sequencing software "Quartet", two Amstrad 4 track cassette recorders and a shitload of dope.

Influenced by one another, the brothers created solo material - frequently acting as production assistants on each others stuff. Karl even briefly adopted the name "Strong Bobby" for these endeavours - a direct reference to the Gibs song of the same name. The first tape, "Cybergothadelia" is an odd mixture - the sound of someone holding onto primitive technology with grease-smeared fingers. Unlisted tracks "Hear Me Speak" and "This Is For Zora, This Is For Pris" - pointed in a darker, more accomplished direction.

In 1991 Karl recruited a female singer, Claire Sully (nee Pitman) to provide exquisitely ethereal vocals. Much of this odd, folk, goth and Madchester influenced new collection was recorded using the same primitive set-up of Quartet and Amstrad 4 track - but the results were more complex and thoughtful. With manically convoluted arrangements that stretched creditability, like an electronic Birthday Party, or a bontempi propelled Throwing Muses. Truly weird, often pompous, the resulting tape featured three songs with the same title.

The zenith of the Quartet recordings came with the release of "GeminiFireMonkey" in 1995. By this time, Karl - using the pseudonym "Twain" - had been living on the breadline in the middle of a forest shack somewhere in Lancashire for far too long. The work reflects this. Almost exclusively instrumental, it pushes the by now redundant technology to the limits of its capabilities. The music's dark and subtle, obsessive, overwrought and freezing cold.

In the late 90s a happier Karl recorded a handful of new electronic songs. Though many of the tunes were lost in a hard drive crash a couple of unfinished fragments were collected on "Santaphobia Vol 3". After that the Twain project slept - as Octafish demanded more of Karl's time.

In 2003 and 2004 Karl recorded a sparse new set called "The View Through Seven Bridges" a collection of acoustic folk and alt.country influenced guitar songs that will shortly be released through colnevalleychaos.blogspot.com. Simultaneously, a companion collection of heavier rock songs is being readied for release.

Karl Hodge

Guests:

Claire Sully
Jason Hodge

Releases:

Karl Karcass and the Karcophiles – Unfinished EP featuring "Timothy's Veil"

Karl Karcass – Uncollected drunken solo mumbling into a tape deck. Includes version of GWF's "Not All There".

Karl Karcass – Oedipus Rex Complexity (single)

Strong Bobby – Cybergothadelia - C60, notable for extra track "This Is For Zora, This Is For Pris", but also strange pop romp "I Dreamt I Was" and gothic Jason collaboration "Forever Girl".

E-Motive – It's Over - EP, a short collection of folk rock weirdness with Claire Sully on vocal.

E-Motive – Collected - C60, the original E-Motive EP, together with other tracks recorded around the same time. Highlights are "Schadenfreude" (all three of them) and "Undertow".

Twain – GeminiFireMonkey – industrial/ambient noodlings recorded in splendid, necrotic isolation. Mostly scary.

Twain – The View Through Seven Bridges – acoustic CD coming soon to colnevalleychaos.blogspot.com

Twain – 4V – CD: A wholly unrepresentive, cherry picked and remastered "best of collection" from the Quartet years, featuring most of GeminiFireMonkey and selected tunes from "Collected" and "Cybergothadelia" – shortly to be made available through colnevalleychaos.blogspot.com

Twain – Untitled Rock Project – coming 2007

New Release - November 2007

Twain – GeminiFireMonkey - Digitally Remastered tracks from the mid 90s in an ST styley!

Click Here

Eight Fifty Two

Life of the Mind

Schadenfreude

Meh

Mind Control

L.A. Paradise