Trouble Tracer

Crow Versus Crow / CVC019 MC / DL

Trouble Tracer is a collaborative project between Mark Vernon and Fritz Welch. Their debut release, ‘Autofahrt’ is available now from Crow Versus Crow as a limited edition of 50 hand-numbered, professionally dubbed cassettes and digital download with original artwork from Fritz Welch.

Purchase your copy here.


Facing ignition issues?

Looking to identify the symptoms to understand where the problem lies?

Our handy Trouble Tracer guide offers clear audio examples that will help you diagnose the problem. Whether it be Corona Discharge Stains, Cold/Carbon Fouling, Pad Contamination, Flash Over, Ash Deposits or Detonation we are here to help!

At Trouble Tracer® we know one thing: quality is in the details. And what is true for technological developments is true for adequately identifying issues and matching them with the appropriate solution.

At Trouble Tracer® we also believe that accuracy is best attained by working together. That’s why we openly share solutions and lay out in a to-the-point and concise manner a reliable way to diagnose contamination, wear, damage and other potential issues, and how to best return to the ideal standards of performance and efficiency we work with dedication to maintain. The Trouble Tracer® guide doesn’t always give you enough information for you to know exactly what’s wrong, but it does mean that you can eliminate everything from the input to the point where the signal changes. It’s important to understand that when fault finding, any anomalous voltage is a symptom of the fault, and is not the fault itself.

With its unique patented technology, Trouble Tracer® produces audio and visual signals that technicians easily catch when they tap the target. But nevertheless, it does not require bending, cutting, freezing or any other actions that can damage cables.

Autofahrt is ideal for individuals that have difficulty in differentiating between static and leak noise on an electronic listening stick!

“…there are other noises that can spell trouble, are just irritating, or that can be expensive. How can we tell the difference? It’s certainly not easy. It obviously helps if you can identify the sound and where it’s coming from.”
Sarah H. Sanders

“All of these noises you heard were recorded in the Meagre Resource Workshop and have since been cured. Regular listeners will find out how all these jobs and repairs can be tackled in a way that’s easily understood. Everybody should know these sounds.”
Big Jack Hay

Thanks for listening! And remember: Cause – Remedy – Solution!

Reviews:

“The garbled outpourings from a drunken Bagpuss maybe or even a blindfolded tour of all the hot spots in a bin man’s lorry …the kind of release I would have loved to play to drive my Bruce Springsteen loving brother out of our shared bedroom, whilst growing up.”
(Monolith Cocktail)

“…twenty one tracks of huffing, puffing, rattling, shaking, frotting, grumbling noises…”
(Idwal Fisher)


Reviews in Full

“The garbled outpourings from a drunken Bagpuss maybe or even a blindfolded tour of all the hot spots in a bin man’s lorry, or whatever else you can imagine being off kilter but strangely enjoyable that is what we have here, It’s the kind of release I’m surprised is not on Wormhole World records; the kind of release I would have loved to play to drive my Bruce Springsteen loving brother out of our shared bedroom, whilst growing up. Yes, this is not to everyone’s taste I am sure; strange noises and strange noises made with one’s mouth with the occasional rattle and bang of some kind of pan or saucer, so not music as such, just audible art. And I find it very relaxing and amusing. 21 short tracks of audible insanity cannot be a bad thing. An ideal Christmas gift for the uncle you do not know what to buy for.”

Monolith Cocktail, 20th November, 2020.

 
“Did Mark Vernon and Fritz Welch meet up during the lockdown that wasn’t a lockdown to record Autofahrt? No, they recorded this in free to go where ever you want without dying 2019, in the days before ‘bubbles’ and ‘will we be having Christmas this year?’ discussions. Vernon is described as a sound artist who works with found tapes and ‘acousmatic presence’, Welch as drummer, percussionist and vocalist. Together they have created twenty one tracks of huffing, puffing, rattling, shaking, frotting, grumbling noises which merge in to one big huffing, puffing, rattling, shaking, frotting, grumbling Blood Stereo-esque blob. There is also plenty of gob hum, flapping lips, tuneless whistling, moans a-plenty and some kind of cross-checked list on the j-card that involves something to do with engines that makes absolutely no sense to me at all. Shut your eyes and imagine you’re at a Phil Minton improv gig where he’s joined by people making noises on bits of pipe and junk, this is where we are. And full marks once again to Crow Versus Crow for going above and beyond in the cassette department. These things of beauty are what makes this job all the more worthwhile. I’m sure there are people out there collecting them all. Having all the CVC tapes stacked on a visible shelf with the confines of ones locked down abode gives you a pretty good idea as to whats going on at the fringes of UK experimentalism. Its no bad place to be.”

Idwal Fisher, 21st November, 2020.
 

“

Behind Trouble Tracer is a duo of percussion player Fritz Welch, whom I didn’t know from Asparagus Piss Raindrop, Peeesseye, Lambs Gable, Ego Depletion, Dome Riders and others and Mark Vernon, who I do know for his work with Hassle Hound, albeit a long time ago, but mostly from his radiophonic works under his name. They recorded twenty-one, mostly short pieces, all of which seem uses their voices and percussion/objects abuse. It’s thirty minutes of madness that doesn’t fit in an easy category, but you might look under ‘outsider sound poetry’. They don’t produce any words that have any meaning, just sounds with their mouths and along they rattle plastic bags, slab on backs, teaspoons upon a table and this for twenty-one pieces and some thirty minutes, which is long enough. I quite enjoyed this, let there be no mistake about it, but it was also enough. By then I sort of knew what the idea was, and I also had the impression that everything was explored. It could be the perfect one-off project, the one that has a single release out and that’s the statement of it all.” 

Frans de Waard, Vital Weekly

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