Friday, April 29, 2005
Give Praise To True Scientists
Edan - Fumbling Over Words That Rhyme
Edan - Smile
In the same way that rock music emerged from rock 'n' roll and outstayed it's welcome, developing into forms Chuck and Ike could never have imagined, so Hip-Hop has long since proved that, far from being a fad, it's hardly even begun. While chart Hip-Hop becomes ever more bland and bling-obsessed, it's heartening that elsewhere, just below pop culture's surface, it's trying on the whole damn fancy-dress trunk, pointing the way for multiple futures. It's depressing to hear such a narrow lyrical remit in the charts when rap can so perfectly accommodate anything from old-fashioned storytelling to psychedelic surrealism. Party-tunes have their place, of course (especially in Hip-Hop), but if I hear 'Fiddy' Cent whining about wanting his lolly sucked one more time, I might just give up on pop music altogether.
So, it's great to come across someone like Edan, who's not just taking Hip-Hop down one idiosyncratic path, he's stretching it in every direction at once to see where it might break - which, seemingly, it rarely does. The fascinating thing is that, on his new LP, 'Beauty And The Beat', he does this relentlessly within thirteen tracks, few of which cross the three-minute mark. Pop music, see. The two tracks I've posted here contrast each other enough to give some idea of the LP's scope - 'Fumbling...' is a fairly straight-up (but really great) whirlwind dash through the early history of Hip-Hop, taking us from Kool Herc via Spoony G and Slick Rick up to GZA. 'Smile' couldn't be more different, sounding more like a two-minute distillation of the early history of guitar-based psychedelia. But really you need to hear the whole LP - it's stacked full of inventive samples, old-style tape echo, Minimoogs galore and generally more ideas than you thought it was possible to fit onto one record. Frankly, it's all over the place.
If you're a fan of the wordplay of Mos Def and Kweli, the goodtime funkiness of Jurassic 5 or ATCQ, the playfulness of the Beasties and De La Soul and the wonky psychedelia of Clouddead/Why?, you might just think he's onto something.
Buy - Edan - Beauty And The Beat
Visit - Edan - The Humble Magnificent
Thursday, April 28, 2005
P*O*P
Platinum Pop - This Year's Blonde
This was the week that was... Human League have just peaked at No.6 with 'Open Your Heart' their third single taken from Dare. OMD are at No.17 with 'Souvenir' (the first single to be released from 'Architechture and Morality'). New Order have just smashed their way into the Top 40 for the first time with 'Procession / Everything's Gone Green' debuting at No.38 and we've also got Soft Cell's 'Tainted Love' and Depeche Mode with 'Just Can't Get Enough' just hovering outside the top 10.
So when was this? 17th October 1981 of course. Now there is an obvious wealth of music to choose from here but what i'd like to point you to is a single I picked up at the Castle Coombe car-boot sale last weekend for only 50p. I was intrigued by the name, the alluring sleeve but most of all by the eight Blondie tracks shoehorned into one apparent seamless medley. "this might be a gem, I thought and worth at least 50p" I wasn't wrong! When Pink sang about getting the party started I reckon she was on about this record, so stick it on and crank it up a tog or two, 'tis Platinum Pop indeed. Now sadly it didn't make the Top 40 on this eventful week and only scraped into No.46 but then again Dave Stewart & Barbara Gaskin were at No.1 with 'It's My Party' and The Tweets were at No.2 so there's no justice.
These are the tracks:
1. Hanging On The Telephone
2. Denis
3. Dreaming
4. Union City Blues
5. (I'm Always Touched) By Your Presence Dear
6. Picture This
7. Sunday Girl
8. Dreaming
Platinum Pop tried again to trouble the charts with a Madonna medley six years later which i'm hoping to pick up at the Tollgate boot next week. I couldn't find much on the Internet about Platinum Pop except for this Google translation from a Japanese website.
"Perhaps, how good thing, but there is no this record っ て ジャケ it is not many, is? Respectively it is in the pad as though it is example. Just a little, the バブリー the A aspect may divide the taste easily with eighties pop, is, but the B aspect of the joke type ボッサ is highest."
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
The Truth Is Way Out There....
The Carpenters - Goodbye To Love
Where do things come from?
Jelly? That's easy. Jupiter.
Twister? That's a punishment from one of the Outer Circles of Hell.
Grunge? Let me see... miserable lyrics, great fuzzy guitar solos, some time in the early to mid 70's so it could wheedle into the developing psyches of Mark Arm, Tad, J. Mascis and the rest... and it would have had to have been everywhere...
Well, it has to be The Carpenters, obviously. I'm not convinced that it isn't a J. Mascis aged 10 actually soloing on this track. How fuzzy can you get? And all the while, the Carpenter kids do the sweet backing vocal aaaahh thing in order to conceal their wicked intent.
Face facts: do you really think it really came from Sabbath and Iggy?
Next week: Mike claims Post-Rock spontaneously appeared in the wake of "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft."
Buy - The Carpenters - Gold: 35th Anniversary Edition
Visit - Lead Sister
Mike.
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Screamixadelica.... Primal Scream Remixed.
Towards the end of last year I was approached to do a remix for a forthcoming project .... re-mixing Screamadelica by the mighty Primal Scream...
How could I not refuse, it just happens to be one of my favourite albums by one of my favourite bands, and knowing that the people behind this project were also partly responsible for The Clash's London Booted, The Prodigy's Always Outsiders, Never Outdone and The Chemical Brothers Flip The Switch remix projects, I jumped at the chance to be involved.
"There's no reason for this. How do you improve upon perfection? You don't. We don't pretend to think this comes close to the Scream's masterpiece, but then nothing else does.
So what Screamixadelica offers is a different spin, moving from chill through dub via glitch to drum & bass.
Not a million miles away from the eclecticism of the source.
And because it made sense there's a bonus track also."
Well, it's finally here, after months of hard work the whole caboodle can now be grabbed as a Bittorrent for you to peruse at your leisure and pleasure.
Seeing as the album is only available as a Bittorrent for the time being and I know a lot of you don't use it, and even if you do, it's a quite a large-ish file to be downloading willy nilly, so the wonderful Mr.Dunproofin' thought it would be a good idea to have a couple of MP3 downloads as a little taster... or teaser if you prefer... (I know I do!)
So sit back, have a cup of tea and a smoke and enjoy....
slip inside this house (soundhog mix featuring ex-rental)
Primal Scream took the original 13th Floor Elevators track and turned it into a dubby housey wonderous thing.
Here it's given a brand spanking new fresh lick of paint...
Soundhog gets the music and feel of the track absolutely spot on while Sean Ex-Rental adds his great washed out vocals.
Fantastic.
shine like stars (empire state human mix)
Erm...
I kept most of the original track for the first half and added some drums and a quite dirty keyboard... wanted to get an old style feel to it...
And for the second half I just got a bit carried away....
Builds nicely I think!
I like clatter, what can I say!
So now you've heard a couple of tracks you really should go and grab the album, there's a few links on the site for help with Bittorrent if you're not familiar with it.
And dont forget to donate something to Macmillan Cancer Relief or The Hoping Foundation....
It's the nice thing to do.
Visit And Download- Screamixadelica
Buy - Primal Scream - Screamadelica
Visit - Primal Scream
Visit - Demrocked!
Visit - Soundhog
Visit - Ex-Rental
Visit - Gameover
Visit - Tone396
Visit - Fakeid
Visit - Searchanddelete
Visit - cry.on.my.console.
Visit - Fujikato
Visit - Act of Dog
Visit - Dunproofin'
Visit - Empire State Human
Visit - Go Home Productions
So there we have it, don't forget, if you like what you hear then please donate something to the charities that are linked on the site.
Simon
X
Monday, April 25, 2005
Druzzi's Big Night Out....
Some friends and...erm... associates are having a big bash in the big smoke...
Date:- Saturday 30th April.
Address:- Night Moves, 145 Shoreditch High Street, Londinium, E1 6JE.
Time:- 9pm till about 5am.
The Bands:-
Park Attack
Bronze Age Fox
Ray
The DJ's:-
The Rapture DJ's
Dan Kahuna
Chris Duckenfield and Pipes present TONIC
Simian Mobile Disco
Idjut Boys
Gucci Soundsystem
Simon Russell
Druzzi's Residents
Should be a great night for sure.
And just as a taster here's a wonderful hour long mix from Ben Fat Trucker and Riton, collectively known as The Gucci Soundsystem.... Yum!
The Gucci Soundsystem - Gucci Mix 01.03.05
Visit - Druzzi's II
Visit - Pulp
Visit - The Rapture
Visit - Riton
Visit - Campag Velocet
Visit - Bronze Age Fox
Visit - Dan (FC) Kahuna @ Skint
Visit - Chris Duckenfield @ Turbo Records
Visit - Simian
Visit - Park Attack
Visit - Idjut Boys @ Glasgow Underground
Buy Lots Of Stuff From - Rough Trade
Simon
x
Sunday, April 24, 2005
Not The Sound Of The Suburbs...
Vashti Bunyan – Swallow Song
The rain cleared, the sun came out and the Postman delivered "Just Another Diamond Day", Vashti's legendary album. The current free folk movement - which, let's face it, is a resurgence of late 60's/early 70's ideas - holds this album as some kind of touchstone. So I bought it. Don’t go looking for an original vinyl copy if you want to pay your rent and eat next month.
It's so good I almost vanished. The last time that happened to me was Nico's "Marble Index", another highly personal take on folk music that make you wonder how straight folk manages to survive at all with all these wonderful mutant strains bouncing around.
Like Nico, Vashti contended with assumptions: one, the German Junkie Ice Goddess, the other, Whole Earth Hippie Chick. But for my money, any one who takes a horse and gypsy trailer from London up to The Outer Hebrides has guts. She did it. Brave, yes, but totally reasonable and human. A pity her actions seemed so unusual.
And when you're listening to this particularly beautiful little song which she wrote on the way, bear in mind that the lyric is not some flight of fancy, but a simple description of what she can see on her journey, no more or less. The world can be as beautiful as this, my friends.
Sorry, have you met Vashti? No? Well, you’ll get along just fine.
Buy - Vashti Bunyan - Just Another Diamond Day
Visit - Vashti Bunyan
Mike.
Friday, April 22, 2005
Reality Is Only Temporary...
The United States Of America - Coming Down
You know how these things connect. I was sat there wondering why absolutely no one I knew had the second Polyphonic Spree album after we all flipped over the debut when a riff clicked into my head... Where is that from?
What the hell is it??
Got it.
Most people know this act (if at all) from "I Won't Leave My Wooden Wife For You, Sugar", a track that turns up on Psych compilations. It doesn't sit easily with the usual cloud licking oh my golly the world has turned into purple butterflies schtick, being a jaunty tune about extra marital S&M. And even when Messrs. Byrd and Co. are more openly hallucinogenic with their concerns, there's an appealing archness that sets them apart from their contemporaries.
"Coming Down" is, according to the sleeve notes, "Clearly concerned with mind expanding behaviour". No kidding! But the great thing about this track, apart from the opening riff, the headsaw keyboard tone, the gratuitous echo at the end of the chorus, the violin, the fuzz bass line and the drumming- all of it, basically, is Dorothy Moskowitzs vocal.
My, she seems to say, my brain is completely blown and I'm not sure it's ever coming back. I've glimpsed the beyond and I will never, ever be the same again.
Oh well. Hey, let's get doughnuts!
She's so cool it's hilarious. Others would be screaming, bawling, attempting prophecy and all kinds of gumbo. Yes, I'm talking about Jim Morrison.
OK, says Dorothy. I think we can all agree that Nirvana is pretty groovy. There's no need to, like, shout about it.
This is one great album. It doesn't let you down with endless spirally guitar solos or duff Bo Diddley covers half way through, like a lot of so-called classic American Psych does. The song's the thing here. Go buy it and don't go worrying about the side effects.
Life is short, the Universe is vast.
And doughnuts are really good.
Buy - The United States of America... re-jigged with bonus tracks.
Visit - Good Article on The United States of America
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
350125 Go! (re-duxe)
Joy Division - In A Lonely Place (Detail)
This has to be one of the most haunting pieces of music ever written, whether it's because of the overall sound of it, the lyrical content or the fact that within a couple of weeks (Or maybe even days) of this been recorded Ian Curtis (Joy Divisions singer) had hung himself... But it's possibly a combination of all those reasons.
It's still quite hotly debated as to where this was recorded, some seem to think it was recorded at the prophetically named Graveyard Studios during their final ever recording session, others (including Peter Hook) seem to think it was recorded as a rehearsal tape... I tend to go for the later as this might explain the abrupt ending as the tape ran out and the fact it actually sounds like a rehearsal tape as opposed to a studio recording.
Either way the first time I heard this it just stopped me in my tracks... And when the song abruptly stopped I was considerably upset.... What can I say, It moved me.
Folklore says there is a full version of it out there but I don't think there is to be honest (unless someone can prove me wrong?), something as important as this would have surfaced by now I'd imagine.
After the Suicide of Ian the rest of the band decided to carry on and change their name to New Order, In a Lonely Place was recorded by the three piece before Gillian joined and was released as the B-Side of Ceremony (another of Joy Divisions final tunes)(Ceremony was later Re-Recorded with Gillian but In A Lonely Place wasn't)...
In A Lonely Place can nowadays be found on the excellent Heart & Soul Box Set that basically anyone vaguely interested in one of the most important bands of all time should own.
Squarepusher - Love Will Tear Us Apart
This version isn't to different from the original but adds a lovely kind of washed out feeling to it.
It's taken from the Covered Album released on Obsessive Recordings.
The album is a bit patchy but has a couple of gems on there, most notably Roots Manuva doing Yellow Submarine and The Slits with their brilliant version of Heard It Through The Grapevine.
Can I also recommend Squarepusher's Ultravisitor Lp to you... It's very good....
Visit - Squarepusher @ Warp
Psychic TV - I.C. Water (Full Version)
This is Psychic TV's tribute to Ian Curtis who was a friend of Genesis P. Orridge, it was recorded in 1990 and released on their own Temple Records.
Along with all the usual Psychic TV reprobates it also features a certain Mr. Dave Ball on key duties, once of the great Soft Cell (and again now).
I was once quite a big fan of Psychic TV (following on from Throbbing Gristle) and collected a number of their records, reading material, videos, t-shirts, haircuts....
I also seriously considered joining Thee Temple Ov Psychick Youth which was kind of like their own little private cult thing (friendly one though), but to join you had to send them various bodily fluids which I just wasn't prepared to part with.
Looking at it now it all seems a bit strange, and nothing like I'd even contemplate doing nowadays... Guess I was just a little lost youth looking for something... anything. Close call eh?
Anyway back to the music...
This is one of the dare I say 'Poppier' moments in their catalogue, along with another tribute to a dead hero of theirs, "Godstar" a little ditty about Brian Jones (of some little virtually unheard of beat combo called The Rolling Stones apparently).
I.C. Water can be found on their best ov compilation Beauty from Thee Beast, which also features thee aforementioned Godstar along with their versions of Good Vibrations and Je T'Aime.
Nice.
Visit - Genesis P.Orridge
Visit - Thee Temple Ov Psychick Youth
Galaxie 500 - Ceremony
This is one of my favourite Joy Division covers, by one of my favourite bands.
It's just a sublime version that builds beautifully, and I love the way the low end bass doesn't make an appearance till nearly four minutes in accompanied by a tambourine.
Lovely.
Ceremony first appeared on the Blue Thunder 12" but can now be found as a bonus track on what is arguably (well I'll argue for it anyway!) their best album On Fire, which also includes the wonderful tracks Snowstorm, Blue Thunder, Another Day... to be honest they're all great songs... Buy it!
There's also a great live version of it on the fantastic Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste DVD...Erm.. Buy this too!.
Visit - Full of Wishes - An excellent site chocka full of all things Galaxie 500, Luna, Damon & Naomi and Dean & Britta stuff.
Xiu Xiu - Ceremony
This is a whole different kettle of fish...
Yes it's the same song, and yes it has some of the same notes (possibly) but it is a whole world away from the sublime Galaxie 500 version... but that doesn't mean it's rubbish... Oh no, far from it.
This clatters along in a wonderfully percussive way with all sorts of things thrown in, including a really cheap (sounds like it anyway) mad synth replacing the guitar line, a lovely chime part and features the deranged edgy vocals of Jamie Stewart.
But take away all the added gumph and it is surprisingly like the original...
Great stuff.
Xiu Xiu's version of Ceremony can be found on the wonderful Chapel of the Chimes EP.
Visit - Xiu Xiu
Joy Division - New Dawn Fades (Live - Amsterdam 11.01.1980)
Possibly my favourite song of theirs, this features one of the darkest lyrics ever written in "Directionless, so plain to see, a loaded gun won't set you free.... so you say..."
On a happier note this has one of Hooky's best ever bass lines, so simple but so so effective.
This version can be found on the Les Bains Douches Live CD
Bis - Love Will Tear Us Apart
A change of speed a change of style... indeed.
Love Will Tear Us Apart is one of Joy Division's most covered songs by artists such as The Cure, 10,000 Maniacs, Swans, Frank Sidebottom (I Thank You!), Nouvelle Vague and bloody Paul Bloody Young amongst many others, all of which I could have posted (apart from Paul Bloody Young obviously), but I thought I'd treat you to a little bit of Electrotastic Vocoder Action...
This version stands out from most of the other ones for me purely for the fact that it doesn't sound anything even vaguely like Joy Division.
Anyway, this is great.
Visit - Bis
Low - Transmission
Low, what can I say apart from I love them...
This was my introduction to the wonders of Low, and I first heard it on the A Means to an End: The Music of Joy Division compilation, which also features great versions by The Smashing Pumpkins (along in a sec.), Tortoise and Codeine.
I really don't have the words to describe how gorgeous this track is, so just sit back and wallow in it's beauty.
If by any chance you don't own any Low records (fool), you really can't find a better starting place than A Lifetime Of Temporary Relief 4 disc box set thingy.
Greatness
Visit - Low
The Smashing Pumpkins - Isolation
This was recorded under the pseudonym "Starchildren" for the aforementioned A Means to an End: The Music of Joy Division compilation..
If you're expecting loads of heavy guitar action you'll be sorely disappointed I'm afraid, as this is pretty much an electronic version of the song, kind of a precursor to the Adore album recorded a few years later by them.
I like it though, and I also like the Smashing Pumpkins a lot... Drown and Starla being a couple of absolute belters by them.
Visit - Matts Smashing Pumpkins Page - About a million Pumpkins links.
Boy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
Clatter, clatter, clatter... Fist made of ham.... Clatter, clatter, clatter...
Love Will Tear Us Apart... Clatter, clatter, clatter... The End.
Brilliant.
Boy Division hail from Germany and are possibly the greatest cover band in the world... other great versions include US 80'/90's, Wonderwall, Ace of Spades, Losing My Religion... Ah what the hell, they're all good... if you like a little noisy fun that is. (Some of which can be downloaded from their site).
Your best bet I think for buying any of their records is possibly ebay...
Well worth hunting them down though.
Visit - Boy Division (in German)
Joy Division - Insight (Demo)
"Guess your dreams always end.
They don't rise up, just descend,
But I don't care anymore,
I've lost the will to want more,
I'm not afraid not at all,
I watch them all as they fall,
But I remember when we were young.
Those with habits of waste,
Their sense of style and good taste,
Of making sure you were right,
Hey don't you know you were right?
I'm not afraid anymore,
I keep my eyes on the door,
But I remember....
Tears of sadness for you,
More upheaval for you,
Reflects a moment in time,
A special moment in time,
Yeah we wasted our time,
We didn't really have time,
But we remember when we were young.
And all God's angels beware,
And all you judges beware,
Sons of chance, take good care,
For all the people not there,
I'm not afraid anymore,
I'm not afraid anymore,
I'm not afraid anymore,
Oh, I'm not afraid anymore."
I've had a real problem picking a track to finish on here, there's just so many truly great tracks to pick from... and this is good but I'm not sure if it's what I would play to someone who I was trying to introduce Joy Division to...
lyrically It's not the best, musically It's not the best, performance wise It's not the best....
But for some reason I picked it....
Maybe it has something to do with the line "We Remember when we were young"...
I've been doing a lot of that lately,
Memories of a time when everything was wide open, there was no past only the future... Not sure!
A lot of people think that Joy Division made sad and depressing music for sad and depressed people, but nowadays they just seem to take me back to a time when I was young and I had my whole life ahead of me, and I was happy.
But there again I always did find Joy Division uplifting not depressing...
Blah Blah Blah!!!
This is available on the excellent Heart & Soul box set.... Please buy it.
Ian Curtis hung himself at the age of 23....
Please Buy And Read - Touching From A Distance By Ian's widow Deborah... You'll have to trust me on this... It's Essential.
Visit - Shadowplay
Visit - Joy Division Central
Simon
X
Monday, April 18, 2005
Ghost Music...
The Congos - Congoman
The Congos - Fisherman
"Years ago one of my cousins, who would have been about 7 or so at the time, asked me what I was listening to on my personal stereo.
I gave her the headphones and let her have a blast of "Heart Of The Congos" by The Congos.
She sat in stunned silence for about 10 minutes and then gently handed the 'phones back and whispered, "It...it sounds like... ghosts"....
I think Lee Perry would love that description."
(Mercilessly culled from a comment by Budgie on a previous post...)
Buy - The Congos - Heart of the Congos (re-jigged double disc affair)
Buy - Lee Scratch Perry - Arkology
Visit - The Congos @ allmusic
Saturday, April 16, 2005
If I Were A Fancy Person Who Made Great Music All The Time...
Andrew Bird - Measuring Cups
I'm putting these guys together in a post cuz I just discovered Andrew Bird and apparently he used to open for Magnetic Fields who I've seen many times. It's unfortunate but I probably missed Andrew Bird due to thinking opening bands are annoying to sit through. I should know that with a band like MF, the opening band is gonna be great, Once Daniel Handler (plays accordion for MF and wrote the Lemony Snicket books) did a reading as the opening act.
Anyway, Andrew Bird is just a little impressive, he plays the violin, glockenspiel and guitar live, while on records he plays nearly all the instruments.
He's also an expert whistler but that's probably my least favorite aspect of his music, tho it's pretty impressive.
A lot of times his lyrics remind me of being a little kid and I really like the sadness and melancholy these songs evoke of that time.
Magnetic Fields If I Were A Rich Man
And what else can I say here? Magnetic Fields doing this Fiddler on The Roof staple for a Knitting Factory tribute, totally rules and makes Gwen Stefani's recent stab at this seem even lamer (though ok, I just saw the video for her pirate song and it's pretty cool but wtf? isn't she what one would consider "a rich girl?" I just don't get it...).
Download the Magnetic Fields Track for free from Amazon here.
Buy - Andrew Bird - Andrew Bird & The Mysterious Production of Eggs
Buy - Knitting on the Roof
Watch - Andrew Bird @ KCRW
Visit - Andrew Bird
Visit - The House of Tomorrow - Stephin Merritt's (Magnetic Fields) Homepage
Visit - Lemony Snicket
Friday, April 15, 2005
of
Dave Charnley
Dave died on April the 5th aged 42 after a long fight.
Not only was he one of the nicest people I've played music with,
But was one of the nicest people I've ever had the privilege of knowing.
My thoughts are with you.
Ways of Stephen - Captain Quayle
Ways of Stephen - Bartlett Green
Ways of Stephen - Saloon Car No.9
Rest in Peace.
Simon
X
Off With Their Heads!!
Genesis - The Grand Parade Of Lifeless Packaging
Without realising it, I've been drifting into Wonderland over the last few weeks. I bought a copy of Surrealist Games, published by Atlas Press a decade ago. I lent my original copy out and it never returned, so it was good to see it again. Alice was a key text for Surrealism, a thing full of the wonder and invention they aspired to in their game playing, which for a while at least was as creative as their poetry and art.
Then after years of procrastination I got around to ordering Randy Grief’s “Alice” box set from strangefortune.com, purveyors of all kinds of strange and interesting things. Five cds, five years in the making, epic and twisted, reckoned to be massively psychedelic. What the hell, you live once. It's on the way from the USA, so expect a report in the near future.
And then what sneaked up on me in the HMV sale but another retelling of the Alice story, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway by Genesis. Now I hadn't heard this for a good 15 years or more, but the contrariness of it had always appealed. Prior to this album, Genesis were happy to give us songs about little girls playing croquet with heads and restaurant owners threatening to commit suicide, but there was a constant pastoral strain within the music that softened the macabre subject matter. Selling England By The Pound, released just before Lamb Lies Down, is a warm, beautifully produced record. Regardless of whether you like the music, they were massively successful within their remit. But it couldn't go on, and it didn't.
Lamb Lies Down was Peter Gabriel's last album with the band. At the time, he seemed more interested in working on scripts with William Friedkin, the man who brought us "The Exorcist". But the album got underway, defined by Gabriel’s story of a New York hoodlum who drifts into some nether world, passing though a series of episodes that echo Alice.
Adieu to Old England, with your lush green fields. There's no room for the pastoral in New York. The rich sound is gone, replaced by something deliberately synthetic. And the vocal is constantly shifting, buzzing, echoed. It’s worth pointing out that Brian Eno was on board, too, applying what is called "Enossification". You can tell.
The story doesn't work, they cried. How could it? But you get the feeling that Gabriel was actually saying, "Why should it?" The dark nonsense of the content had seeped out into the structure, threatening collapse. Let it go, let it go.
Yes, the album is flawed. It's a double, and the conceit is spread too thin. But it certainly works better than that other last gasp gatefold folly, "The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle". And "The Grand Parade Of Lifeless Packaging" shows them yielding results that sounds like nothing they did before or after that point. Pokey keyboard, waspy vocals, building into a clockwork dusty room soul strut straight into the nearest wall and topped off with a mutant choir giving it their all. Then it’s gone. Now get back in your boxes, you freaks.
What happened? Gabriel left. His 1977 solo debut kicked off with "Moribund The Burgermeister", which sounded like a postscript of The Lamb. Despite the presence of "Solisbury Hill", it’s a nervy album.
Genesis retreated back to the pastoral with "A Trick of The Tail" and "Wind & Wuthering", trying to ignore the clatter of McLaren and his oiks outside.
There is no future in England’s dreaming…
Buy - Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Buy - A Book of Surrealist Games
Visit - Top notch info on recording the album, and more
Visit - Strange Fortune
Mike.
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Come Join This Dizzy Ecstasy...
Maxi Geil & Playcolt - A Message To My Audience
Maxi Geil & Playcolt - Strange Sensation
While were waiting for our roving reporter Littlepants to finish the film she's making with them (good god I'm impatient!) I just couldn't resist posting a couple of tracks from one of my favourite bands around at the moment... The wonderful Maxi Geil & Playcolt... great name too.
You might remember a while back I did a Cud post (found here) and hinted at what had got me scurrying off to find my old Cud albums... well this is them.
Yes they remind me of Cud, especially Maxi's delivery, and yes, they also remind me of Eno period Roxy Music, but above all my ruminations of who they might remind me of, the most important thing is that they sound like a band called Maxi Geil & Playcolt, and they sound like they really enjoy being in their band.
And who wouldn't, great lyrics, great music, great videos, and by all accounts a fantastic live experience (I'm yet to see them... if they don't make it to the UK soon I might just have to sell some body parts to raise the money to get to New York... so come on guys, you wouldn't like to see little old me having to sell a kidney would you... that would seriously hinder my favourite pastime of wine tasting!).
The band have been going for a couple of years now and started life as "an imaginary rock group archetype complete with inter-band struggles and romantic tension" that was the brainchild of Artist Guy Richards Smit who took on the persona and inhabited the body of Max Geil.
Also in the band is Guy's wife and Artist Rebecca Chamberlain (known as Giselle Thurst for Maxi) on Vocals, Artist Fritz Chesnut on Bass, Drummer Jeff Jefferies on... Drums, and Guitarists Hiatt Regency and Dirk Godlyk on... Erm!... Guitars.
They've been moving away from playing the New York galleries and have now moved to playing clubs, but in my opinion they are still massively under exposed, and deserve to be heard and seen by people outside of New York.
Go visit their website, buy their album for a paltry $10 (+postage) (absolute bargain, trust me), then play it to all your mates, tell them to buy their album... and so on.
*Update*
Luckily it looks like I can keep my body parts intact... phew!
From the mouth of Guy...
"You'll be happy to know that we are coming to the UK in June in conjunction with my exhibitions at Fred Ltd. in the East End and at Sketch ( they'll be showing my new Maxi Geil! & PlayColt rock opera Nausea 2).
We'll be playing in support of a new EP vinyl picture disk (UK only) of new material that will also have a couple of remixes by Sleazy (of Throbbing Gristle & Coil fame)
We have gigs lined up on the 25th and 26th of June in London but are currently looking to play other towns as well."
Oh yes indeed!
Buy - Maxi Geil & Playcolt direct from the band
Visit - Maxi Geil & Playcolt
Visit - Rebecca Chamberlain
Visit - Fritz Chesnut
Show Them Some Love - Maxi Board
Simon
x
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Dazzle Ships In Drydock At Liverpool (re-floated).
by Edward Wadsworth 1919 (detail)
Part of the 'Vorticism' movement (a name suggested by so called "poet's poet', Ezra Pound!) Edward Wadsworth along with Wyndham Lewis used Cubo-Futurism as a basis for developing art that was geometrical to the point of abstraction. So far so good. The roots to this new abstraction can be traced back to young Edward's enlistment in the Navy and his appointment to supervise the camouflaging of ships in Bristol and Liverpool. Good old Bristol. Anyway what was the result? Gigantic crazy warships painted in zig-zags! Fragmented rectangles, trapeziums, broken diagonals and disjointed lines. Just brilliant.
Step forward 60 years or so and we have the dashing Peter Saville who's been asked to come up with the sleeve for OMD's forth LP. He sees this painting by Edward Wadsworth and a plan hatches. 'Dazzle Ships'. Ta da!
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - This Is Helena
What a great LP and to start off the proceedings let's begin with this instrumental number that uses a recorded broadcast by a presenter from Radio Prague. The opening spoken line "music for your tape recorder" should have if it hasn't already been sampled to high heaven. Come on all you acid house producers out there get sampling.... er quite. Anyway it's a snappy little number, kind of jaunty with some great horns in the middle. Put it on your walkman and then go down Tesco's. You'll be dancing in the aisles my friends.
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - The Romance Of The Telescope
Also from the 'Dazzle Ships' LP (this may well be my favourite track?) I just love the opening line:
"See these arms that were broken, how they held you so. Never once did they fail you, they wont let you go."
We'd already been thoroughly spoiled with the 'Architecture and Morality' LP the previous year where all three singles from it went top 5 and turned OMD into Smash Hits cover stars and this is what they follow it up with? It's difficult to imagine a band nowadays taking such a risk as to follow up a multi-million selling LP with a collection of fractured futurist soundscapes, Eastern European radio broadcasts and robot noises. Thankfully they did as artistically it is their greatest LP, sadly on a commercial level it didn't sell. It's lack of success was responsible for their more conservative approach in the future. Next stop Junk Culture. Oh dear. So may I just repeat if I can, the title of this track, and that's 'The Romance Of The Telescope' yes, romance of the telescope. Go on Coldplay I dare you.
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Mystereality
I was going to post the track 'Red Frame/White Light' which was inspired by a telephone box used by the band outside The Railway Inn on the Wirral and as songs inspired by telephone boxes go, it's pretty marvelous. Instead however I've gone for 'Mystereality' with dead ace horns by Martin Cooper.
The design for the LP (Peter Saville) features a die-cut grid that revealed the inner sleeve inside and the inspiration for it actually came from a metal grid in London's Covent Garden. Metal grids, phoneboxes. Peter Saville once commented that "Talking Heads' Fear Of Music cover is the first definitive high-tech sleeve. The OMD sleeve is the UK version of the same thing. It is a perforated sheet metal pattern cut out of cardboard. It is the moment at which fashion comes in to play on design".
I don't want to sound like an old curmudgeon but sleeve design is now at it's most base level ever and it's become something (if not nothing) of just simple promotion. Nice picture, white font. *sighs*
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - The New Stone Age
Anyway to round off today's OMD spectacular let's end with what some believe is their finest hour. 'Architecture And Morality' and the opening track 'The New Stone Age'. Always ready with a surprise the young OMD boys decide to start the ball rolling with guitars! So the story goes, the band were hoping people would take the record back to shops convinced it wasn't OMD! I still play this record out at more and more irregular evenings and it always goes down a storm. It's got a slightly new-wave childlike dance beat to it and at volume it's mighty.
Buy - Dazzle Ships
Buy - Architecture And Morality
Visit - Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
Visit - Peter Saville
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Birthday Boy!
Visage - Fade To Grey
Well, well, well guess who has a Birthday today then? Yep, Simon our very own Spoilt Victorian Dad and in recognition of all his great work in keeping this site up and running, for promoting fantastic music, writing about it so passionately and generally being an all round good guy i'd like to dedicate this post to you.
I thought it'd be fitting to have a song that relates to all of us and the general passing of time. So here's the original 12" mix of Visage's 'Fade to Grey' and don't worry some of us have got it more than others and some of us have none at all! i'm like a silver fox!
All the best Si, Happy Birthday x x x x
Visit - Empire State Human
Visit - The Phantom Carriage
Buy - Visage - Visage
Monday, April 11, 2005
Cry... cry...
Irma Thomas - Wish Someone Would Care
I've only recently got into Irma Thomas, in fact only very recently after a friend of mine Thomas introduced me to the fantastic Dave Godin 'Deep Soul Treasures' CDs and for the past week or so apart from a dalliance with The Phantom Carriage I have been listening to not much else. I've pestered Thomas on a few occasions to write something about Mr.Godin for SVC as he was a truly influential man and crucial to the emergence of Deep Soul music in the UK and i'm sure there will be a lot of our listeners out there who'd be keen to hear a few more tracks and could perhaps share some info and recommendations. Well they do say that the best things come to those who wait, oh and the best things in life are free so watch this space...
Back to Irma, I couldn't decide whether to post 'These Four Walls' or 'Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand)' but instead have plumped for 'Wish Someone Would Care' her biggest hit from 1964 reaching No.17 on the Billboard's pop chart. It's heart-breaking.
Twenty-two years old with two failed marriages behind her and with three young children Irma wrote this tragic/beautiful song from her own painful experiences, she said herself that "It was a song from my heart... I really wanted someone to care, to stand beside me and care."
Anyway I don't think you really need me to go on about how good it is, so i'll away. Check out the links below for a detailed bio and an interview, she's still singing today so if you've in New Orleans get to the Jazz Fest on the 23rd of April. Lucky, lucky. Oh and buy the Dave Godin Deep Soul Treasures CDs. Really now.
Visit - Irma's website
Visit - Interview
Visit - Biography
Buy - Irma Thomas - Straight from the Soul
Buy - Dave Godin's Deep Soul Treasures Vol.3
Savannah Affair... (rekindled)
For some of the postings over the next couple of weeks we thought we'd revisit some of the golden oldies that have been searched for or requested the most, or just simply because we like them....So, take it away me...
Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band - Sunshower
This wonderful piece of sultry Latin smoothness was originally released in 1976 on Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band's eponymous titled first album on RCA Records, and also featured as the B-Side to the following years "I'll Play The Fool" 7" (also featured on the album).
The mastermind behind Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band was one Stony Browder (Dr. Buzzard to his workmates!) who sadly died in 2002.
Stoney's songwriting talents were very ably executed by the lush voice of Cory Daye.
Also featured in the line-up playing bass and singing backing vocals was Stony's younger brother Thomas (who re-named himself August Darnel), later in 1979 when the feuding brothers went their separate ways Darnel changed his name again to Kid Creole and enlisted the help of some coconuts... and went on to fame and prosperity the world over.
For me though this tops anything that came after the split, this song is just beautiful, from the kids singing, the aforementioned sultry Latin feel to the lovely gentle tremeloed guitar parts... Excellent.
You might also recognise this as MIA covered it (the chorus anyway!) for her last single.
And for all you anoraks out there De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest have also sampled this track.
Buy - Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band
Buy - The Very Best Of Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band
Visit - Dr. Buzzard @ The Disco Museum
The Harvey Girls - Good Morning, Bubblegum
And now for a wonderful bit of music that found it's way into my inbox recently.
It's so fantastically upbeat and jolly, not generally my preferred listening style I have to be honest,
but it's so damn catchy, I swear you'll end up whistling along to the Good Morning line too...
This is the opening track from The Harvey Girls second album "Blabber And Smoke", the title was the first thing that caught my eye when opening my mail...
It's a Captain Beefheart song... Bonus points for that.
Also bonus points for making me smile...
Bonus points too for writing an infectious song that reminds me of some of the Velvets more upbeat moments...
The Harvey Girls are Melissa and Hiram, and they take the vocal duties in turn on the album, another of my favourites is sung by Hiram, Green Light (In Your Heavy Metal Mind), it has a darker dirtier feel but is no less beguiling.
Go see them at their website and download the album... Don't forget to donate something though.
Visit - The Harvey Girls
Simon
x
Sunday, April 10, 2005
Eat Them Up, Yum!.
For Mr.D
Barnes And Barnes - Fish Heads
If you were like me in the early eighties and living in the UK, then sunday nights consisted of listening to the top 40 on Radio 1, then running a bath while waiting for the Annie Nightingale show to start.... then more likely than not, singing along to this track while wallowing in the strangely murky water that stems from a whole day mucking about in mud and stuff that boys tend to do on non-school days....
This first featured on Barnes and Barnes' debut 1980 long player Voobaha, although it has appeared on a few compilations since.
B & B consisted of Rob Haimer, who I don't know too much about and Bill Mumy, who I don't know too much about either, apart from he was a child actor since the age of 5 and has also recorded what seems to be a kajillion records...
But he is most famous for playing Will Robinson in the classic Lost In Space.
Since the debut album B & B have recorded either 8 or 9 albums depending on which web site you read...
Although I've never heard any of them apart from Voobaha, which is ok, a bit like a more twisted Weird Al Yankovic (who incidentaly played on a track for the aforementioned album), with songs about vomiting, girls in cemetaries, amputee's and voyeurism.
Nice.
Buy - Barnes And Barnes - Voobaha
Visit - Voobaha - Official Barnes and Barnes site
Visit - Bill Mumy
Simon
x
Friday, April 08, 2005
Forget for a while your drab, wretched lives
Tom Lehrer - Poisoning Pigeons In The Park
Tom Lehrer - The Masochism Tango
Songs from another age, yet the wit and satire (not to mention the jokes) are timeless. The story of Tom Lehrer is a good one - a Harvard mathematics graduate who began writing songs in the early 50s to amuse his friends, he soon found a huge market for his self-released debut LP "Songs by Tom Lehrer" and sold 370,000(!) copies on his own label. This prematurely punk-rock approach was born partly of a naive entrepreneurial spirit, partly out of necessity, since record labels and radio stations shied away from his often (in fact, usually) controversial and risque subject-matters: Lehrer wrote songs about drug dealers (The Old Dope Peddler), the murder and mutilation of a lover (I Hold Your Hand In Mine), nuclear holocaust (We Will All Go Together When We Go), senior citizen sex (When You Are Old And Grey) and the nefarious vices of boy-scouts (Be Prepared). Mostly pretty shocking for the 50s - in a decade when Elvis' hip-swinging was deemed obscene, it goes to show that there were other forms of rock 'n' roll rebellion going on.
The songs here are "Poisoning Pigeons In The Park", which details Mr Lehrer's favourite springtime pursuit, and "The Masochism Tango" - both speak for themselves, really, and are among his best-known songs. In case you've heard them already, these are live versions from his album "An Evening (Wasted) With Tom Lehrer" which are perhaps new to you. You won't find any revolutionary musical leaps, transcendent virtuosity, or anything associated with rock or pop music from the last 40 years (although you can hear his influence in songwriters as diverse as Randy Newman and Eminem). What you will find are perfectly-crafted songs in a classic tradition and something approaching comic genius. Lehrer has been described as "a demented Cole Porter", so that should give you some idea of what to expect. As a satirist he has few equals - most of his songs satirise particular genres of song at the same time as their obvious subjects, and although Lehrer himself jokes that satire became redundant in 1973 (on the occasion of the Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to Henry Kissinger), many are still relevant and even seem spookily prescient today.
So what became of him? His musical career was fairly brief and he retired almost completely from entertainment in 1960 (apart from a short come-back in 1965), falling back on his other career as a lecturer in mathematics at Harvard. When asked why he stopped writing, recording and performing, he has suggested that he simply ran out of ideas, was quite happy with what he'd achieved and ultimately felt no desire to record any more songs. He's still alive today, having finally retired from lecturing. He still occasionally writes songs for friends and special occasions and plays old American show-tunes for his own amusement, but has no plans whatsoever to release anything again.
Buy - Tom Lehrer - Songs & More Songs By Tom Lehrer
Buy - Tom Lehrer - An Evening Wasted With Tom Lehrer
Visit - The Onion - Interview with Tom Lehrer
Thursday, April 07, 2005
As I Was Walking Up The Stair...
Stina Nordenstam - Proposal
This is from "And She Closed Her Eyes", a great album that is neither odd nor straight, just Stina. So it's odd in a very straight way, full of melody, beautiful sound, quiet paranoia, arrest, murder, disappointment, snow, and accidents.
She's cited Cindytalk as an influence. Ok. I expect she heard a lot of Billie Holliday when she was growing up, too. And The Carpenters, maybe. So that's Strange Fruit, Superstar and the sheer dread of Gordon Sharpe. Well, it's got to be better than Carole King.
If this was played on the morning sequence of any commercial radio station, I believe people would just stop dead mid-cereal. Really. Cars would lose all power and drift to the side of the road.
Because, you see, the Marilyn Mansons of this world don't really upset anybody that much. Pantomime is just fun. Look at me look at me. Stina, on the other hand, gives the impression of walking around like the rest of us, but somehow she can't be seen, although she can be photographed. She isn't really there. Just the songs. Even the V2 website, her own label, has no information on her at present.
I suspect she would consider that to be a compliment.
Buy - Stina Nordenstam - And She Closed Her Eyes
Visit - Stina Nordenstam
Mike.
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
This Feels Sunny...
Brendan Benson - Spit It Out
This is the kinda stuff my nerdy music friends don't get into. Ultra poppy, tho not in a bubblegum way, kind of just in a sunny, LA way. In fact, I don't really have any music friends who get into the real poppy stuff, like they can't take it seriously or something... this totally bugs me cause they can take Swedish Death Metal Techno seriously but not good pop, unless it's ironic in some way... anyways, I digress.
This is good stuff and the lyrics are sometimes unexpectedly bittersweet which I think people don't even notice because of the ultra pop, as if the lyrics are gonna be as breezy as the music.
In an interview last week, Brendan was asked if he thinks he's "this decade's Matthew Sweet." The person who told me this thought it was the most inane question ever but I dunno, I can kinda see the comparison if you're gonna compare him to someone. And to be considered this decade's anything is pretty cool since I always think that he's so underrated here in the States, but maybe that'll change soon, finally.
By the way, the design and type treatment on the new album is really lovely. I'm glad one of his records finally looks decent. Likewise, his new site has a yummmy, old timey style, tho I think it and the Arcade Fire's design are long lost cousins...
Every album of his seems to have a great song or 2 that reminds me of The Cars a little (a good thing) and I think this one is it on The Alternative to Love
Brendan Benson - Feel Like Myself Again
Buy - Brendan Benson - The Alternative to Love
Visit - Brendan Benson
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Phantom Like.....
Really sorry for the lack of posts round these parts in the last week, but I've been on holiday and sent the rest of the staff home, one of the buggers left a half drank cup of tea in the study, and SVC Mansions is looking a little dustier... but have no fear I've cracked the whip and the place will be looking just splendid again very soon.
In the mean time till the next proper post (tomorrow) how about having a look at the smashing Phantom Carriage website and listen to the album Late Comers in it's entirety that a few of us here at SVC have recorded.... and if you like what you hear get in touch via the mail link and order yourself a smart looking limited edition hand crafted CD that should be available in the next week or so.
For a little more info on The Phantom Carriage then you can read a bit about the phantom like ones here, and for an all together better written piece entirely there's this from the wonderful Pilgrim's Progress (thanks again).
Anyway, I'm off to whip the
Simon
x