Tulpa - "Mosaic Fish"

Tulpa Music

"Mosaic Fish" was produced by Tulpa, then licensed to Midnight Music in the UK in 1985.

The hidden track #10 is included here - a horn duet by Nic Gotham & Tom Walsh.

As a bonus item we have included artwork here for our first vinyl 45" "Apologize to Your Mother" b/w "Mystical Dreams".

The original artist's artwork for Mosaic Fish is
"Mosaic Fish" was produced by Tulpa, then licensed to Midnight Music in the UK in 1985.

The hidden track #10 is included here - a horn duet by Nic Gotham & Tom Walsh.

As a bonus item we have included artwork here for our first vinyl 45" "Apologize to Your Mother" b/w "Mystical Dreams".

The original artist's artwork for Mosaic Fish is displayed here - the European label we licensed the album to in 1985 - Midnight Music - changed the vinyl release art from yellow to bronze.

We hope you like the songs as much as we did playing them.

Rock on!

Chris Bottomley, John Bottomley (RIP) & Mike Severin

REVIEWS

"Unable to settle, Tulpa move continually, nimbly and nervily around an axis of battered pop fundaments and crude bop, eating a way out from the inside, streamlined and precocious. A suburb of sound , and a new development worth visiting, Tulpa have got what we take."

Ralph Traitor - Sounds Magazine UK

"One of the best live acts i've ever seen"
Hilly Krystal - CBGB Owner

"By the mid-eighties the tight-knit punk scene along Toronto's Queen Street had begun to fray into various musical threads. A more escapist alt-country scene was developing around the irrepressible Handsome Ned, exposing a seedier heroin-fuelled underside on the street's western fringes. The Bunchoffuckinggoofs had staked out Kensington Market with their Baldwin Street hangout. And when post-punk stalwarts Rent Boys Inc and the Dave Howard Singers decamped for gloomy Britain, the void - acutely felt in all those dour bangs-and-overcoat types - was swiftly filled by the band Tulpa.

The Bottomley brothers along with drummer Sev Micron had been plying their multimedia show, dubbed The Tulpa Circus, since about 1981, initially as Private Lives and then later on as Tulpa. The energy-packed show incorporated slide projection, dance and futuristic cyber clowns into the band's rhythmic post-punk. A featured slot on Daniel Richler's New Music programme on local City-TV expanded their net somewhat. But with the dearth of indie labels in Canada at the time, the lads were forced to make that trek to the U.K., issuing their debut Mosaic Fish as an import on the Midnight Music imprint in late 1984.

Mosaic Fish burns with the same blistering intensity of Tulpa's live shows, starting with the primitivism of 'Life's So Strange', which melds bassist Chris B.'s loping bass with brother John's Metal Box-era guitar noodling. Though the record at times seems to veer in radio-friendly directions (the funkier 'Initiation Rites' or the frantic beat of 'There is a Fear') the stop-start time changes, the squealing sax and John B.'s overly-earnest vocals were probably too much for the club kids at the time. Still, the almost-dreamy 'Passion' could by rights be resurrected onto CBC Radio 2's hipster-friendly programming.

After the release of Mosaic Fish, Tulpa started to make headway down in the states, especially in New York City, where they played CBGB a number of times. Of course, it helped that they were favourites of owner Hilly Kristal ("One of the best live acts I've ever seen"). The group certainly seemed on the verge of something when their follow-up live LP, Off the Board - Live at CBGBs, found release in the U.S. and Japan. But alas, in 1987 Micron left, to be replaced by future Blue Rodeo drummer Glenn Milchum for a spell, and Tulpa never really recovered, ending things not long after. John Bottomley kicked off his fruitful solo career with 1990's excellent Library of the Sun, while brother Chris ventured down groovier bass-heavy paths with his Brainfudge project. The guys often mused about another reunion gig, but sadly John B.'s untimely passing in April 2011 seems to have forever put paid to that idea."

Michael Panontin - CanuckistanMusic.com
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"Live At the Supermarket" - TULPA Re-Union Show 2009

TULPA

Two recordings of the 2009 TULPA re-union show at The Supermarket in Toronto.

Many thanks to promoter Gary Topp for presenting the show.

"Saint Psalm" John Bottomley - Guitar & Vox Chris Bottomley - Bass & Vox Great Bob Scott - Drums Mike Severin - Drums and Percussion James Gray - Keys Song written by Johnny B Live mix by John Trelawny

Two recordings of the 2009 TULPA re-union show at The Supermarket in Toronto.

Many thanks to promoter Gary Topp for presenting the show.

"Saint Psalm" John Bottomley - Guitar & Vox Chris Bottomley - Bass & Vox Great Bob Scott - Drums Mike Severin - Drums and Percussion James Gray - Keys Song written by Johnny B Live mix by John Trelawny

"Sway" Chris Bottomley on Lead Vocals & Bass John Bottomley on Guitar & Vocals Great Bob Scott on Drums Mike Severin on Piano Perry White on Tenor Sax Rich Underhill on Alto Sax Song written by Chris Bottomley Live mix by Johnny Trelawny

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Cassette - "Live at The Holiday Tavern" 1987

TULPA

Two clips from a sound board recording - to - cassette recorded Live at The Holiday Tavern in Toronto - 1987 or thereabouts...Rich Underhill of the Shuffle Demon's guesting on alto sax.

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TULPA Promo Cassette Release 1987

TULPA

Promo demo tracks recorded at Phase One in Toronto, with Glenn Milchem (Blue Rodeo) on Drums. Nice to hear "27 Years", which was never released, and alternate mixes of all three.

"In Solitude" and "She Lay Down By The Water" were eventually released on John's "Library of the Sun" solo album so they would see the light of day and not just sit there

Promo demo tracks recorded at Phase One in Toronto, with Glenn Milchem (Blue Rodeo) on Drums. Nice to hear "27 Years", which was never released, and alternate mixes of all three.

"In Solitude" and "She Lay Down By The Water" were eventually released on John's "Library of the Sun" solo album so they would see the light of day and not just sit there collecting dust. The mixes heard here are slightly different than the ones released. You can hear an alternate piano part played by Stephen Jameson on "She Lay Down" and there is no violin part by Hugh Marsh - he was brought in shortly after this demo version was done. "Solitude" features John at his wordy best, this song inspired by our travels on the road and beyond. "Where you going with that guitar boy" uttered by a US border patrol guard to John as we were navigating entry to the US once.

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TULPA - "LIVE AT CBGB" 1987

TULPA

An unreleased track from "Live at CBGB". "Wolves' is arguably John's best song from around this period. We never did get a good studio recording of it, so here is the live version recorded on a famous stage. Many thanks to Hilly Krystal (RIP).

John Bottomley - Guitar & Vox Chris Bottomley - Bass Mike Severin - Drums Recorded by Ronald Ardito

An unreleased track from "Live at CBGB". "Wolves' is arguably John's best song from around this period. We never did get a good studio recording of it, so here is the live version recorded on a famous stage. Many thanks to Hilly Krystal (RIP).

John Bottomley - Guitar & Vox Chris Bottomley - Bass Mike Severin - Drums Recorded by Ronald Ardito (RIP) Mixed by Ronald Ardito and Tulpa

REVIEW From Blog TO COMM Posted by Christopher Stigliano Wednesday, July 18, 2007 Various Artists-CBGB RECORDED LIVE OFF THE BOARD (red and yellow label CDs) (CBGB/Portrait Japan)

"Strangely enough my faves on this platter are the offerings by Jing and Tulpa...An even bigger surprise (than Jing) were Tulpa, a group that cluttered up many a CBGB gig listing in the mid-eighties opening shows for the likes of Michelle Shocked, Living Colour and (most importantly!) Binky Philips and the strangest thing about it is that they ain't even from En Why See but Toronto! That's in Canada and when I asked Bruce Mowat what he thought about 'em he seemed utterly surprised that I would wanna pay attention to such an act in the first place! I guess it's time for me to turn in my membership to the Imants Krumins Fan Club for making such a fox pas, but sheesh, I really dig them guys! Well, I gotta say that with tracks such as "Wolves" (a nice slow creeper that recalls everything from Pink Floyd to Harry Toledo's "Knots") and "Myrtle Street" (early-seventies guitar jangle that owes more'n a passing resemblance to Simply Saucer's "Bulletproof Nothing") how could I ignore 'em! I didn't care for the album that Midnight in England (as opposed to the New York outlet) released about a year before they made all those New York treks, but after giving these numbuhs a go I'm more'n apt to give that 'un another spin. I'm also on the lookout for the entire tape from whence these tracks were culled...should be another surprise winner here at BLOG TO COMM central! Tulpa also have a Myspace page which you might wanna look out for in case this review jangled your neurons even in the slightest."

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"Live at Larry's Hideaway" 1983

TULPA

Larry's Hideaway was a club on Carlton Street in Toronto. It had a great basement room with an excellent PA and an open booking policy. These recordings were made on a 4 track cassette machine in 1984, magically unearthed after all these years.

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"You're The One" 1983

TULPA

The Pop sounding "You're The One" is probably the earliest studio recording that John, Mike and I ever did together. No recollection where it was recorded. It's somewhere around 1983, and pre-dates our first single release "Apologize".

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