British producer Tony DeVal’s debut full-length, Applehead de Applehead (2011) is only the second publication to appear on the Pre-Cert Home Entertainment label that is curated by Demdike Stare (Modern Love) and Andy Votel (Finders Keepers) in their quest to document contemporary musical and non-musical material created in the northern part of England.
 
As is the usual for Manchester-based Pre-Cert, the album was released in an ultra-limited run of 500 copies, and reflects the label’s preoccupation with providing cross-sections of oblique influences that range from sound research libraries, VHS video culture, mainland European influences, tape manipulation and more. Applehead’s music is surrounded by a semi-ficticious quality that is created by an “aesthetic context of cold modernist-pop and Italian and Spanish horror film music featuring randomized spoken word segments and concrete compact tape experiments.” (Boomkat). Horror, erotica, crime fiction, and fairy-tales combine into a dark, European surrealism that effectively distort any clues as to the artist’s Manchester connection. The album features subtly disturbed artwork from label-mate Anworth Kirk.
 
Only a month after his debut full-length, Applehead released the label’s first mixtape, the "Crepaxian Interligne Mixtape" (2011), which appeared in a unique clamshell/cartridge style pack. Mixed using only original European vinyl pressings, the EP continues to explore the surreal and macabre via horror films, creating a familiar atmosphere replete with dark alleys, warring mafia clans, femmes fatales, and foreboding omens.
 
Appearances:
› CTM.12 › PRE-CERT HOME ENTERTAINMENT