This classic lost album by 23 Skidoo was first released on vinyl only by Crepuscule's Operation Twilight arm in February 1983. It flagged two radical new directions for 23 Skidoo following their funky indie chart-topper Seven Songs the previous year. Drawn from two live performances, The Culling Is Coming combined a collaboration with the Balinese Gamelan Orchestra recorded at Dartington College of Music in October 1982, together with extracts from a more extreme, improvised set at the first Womad festival in July 1982, using scrap metal and tape loops. Both sides of the album were exactly 23 minutes long, and side one signed off (or rather didn't) with a stylus-hostile lock groove.
Long deleted, this challenging, misunderstood album was light years ahead of its time. Now digitally remastered for release on the Boutique Label, it has been expanded by the inclusion of a complete (and equally extreme) 26 minute loop performance at Tielt, Belgium, on 8 October 1982. Recorded as part of Crepuscule's short Move Back/Bite Harder tour with Cabaret Voltaire, Tuxedomoon and Pale Fountains, this material has never before been released. The extended CD runs for more than 70 minutes. The booklet features the original artwork and contextual notes by Skidoo's Alex Turnbull. The remainder of the band's back catalogue is available on the Ronin label.