A fairly typical journey to / from work:
In the car on the drive to the station
Talking Heads Sand In The Vaseline (disc two). The second part of their comprehensive retrospective includes selections from Stop Making Sense, through Little Creatures and their swansong, Naked. Aside from the usual favourites ('As She Was', 'Road To Nowhere', 'Nothing But Flowers') you also get two comparatively little known gems, 'Sax And Violins' and 'Lifetime Cracking Up', plus the final Talking Heads track, 'Popsicle', which joins together all their various facets – weird lyrics, clipped funk grooves and eighties keyboards.
On the train to work
Neu! Neu! 75. A bootleg bought in about 1997 from a charity shop in Colchester. At the time this Krautrock album was out of print, hence the need for a bootleg CD. I remember at the time being really pleased at having found this album, but actually quite disappointed when I listened to it. After it had launguished for a decade in the loft, I took another listen and thought it was... okay. Just okay, nothing special. 'Hero' is a good proto-punk track though.
On the Tube
Kraftwerk Radio-Activity. A conversation at work about how Coldplay ripped a section of 'Computer Love' drove me to dig out and dust down my Kraftwerk CDs. 'Radio-Activity' finds the Germans on the cusp of perfecting the electronic beats that would propel much of their later work, and has a much more concept-y, experimental feel than their subsequent albums. I still think the updated version of 'Radioactivity' from The Mix is far superior to the melancholy original available here.
On the train home
Throbbing Gristle The First Annual Report AKA Very Friendly. Another bootleg, and a purportedly mythical lost first album. Grainy sound quality, edgy and unsavoury at times (the first track, 'Very Friendly', is about the Brady / Hindley murders), if this really is the first utterances of the nascent post-Coum Transmissions TG then they set their uncompromising industrial art-punk stall out very early on.
Walking back to the car
System 7 Alpha Wave (Plastikman Acid House Remix). The hippy-tinged System 7 original I can live without; Richie Hawtin's twenty-minute 303-dominated mix is essential. If you only own one acid house track from the period after 1988, make it this one. The track length may seem quite challenging, but its subtle changes and minimal techno purism mean it could easily last double the time without remotely sapping at your energy.
Thursday 28 May 2009
Wednesday 20 May 2009
Audio Journal : 18/05/2009
This morning I found myself listening to various tracks downloaded from the website of Stephen Vitiello. I first became aware of Vitiello’s brand of abstract electronica from a piece of work that now seems exceptionally moving. For that particular piece Vitiello taped contact microphones to the windows of the 91st floor of the World Trade Center when the former punk guitarist was a resident artist there in 1999 for six months. ‘Sounds Building In The Fading Light’, a two-sided 10” single comprises a collection of Vitiello’s recordings from that experiment, and the sounds you can hear are variously of the street far off down below and the wind battering the glass. As with all location recordings, the results are completely unique to that point in time; the sounds recorded for ‘Sounds Building In The Fading Light’ – and other releases drawing on the same set of recordings – have an added poignancy post-9/11. Some free Vitiello recordings can be found here.
Architecture has been a theme for me this week. I attended the Le Corbusier exhibition at the Barbican ahead of it closing this weekend. In among the scale models of realised and unrealised buildings was a recreation of the Philips Pavilion Le Corbusier designed for the 1958 World Fair in Brussels, which featured a piece of musique concrète produced by Edgard Varèse. Hearing the blast of his Poème électronique whilst wandering round the brutalist edifice that is the Barbican complex was quite something, if a little claustrophobic.
Completing the theme, I am currently listening to the 1999 album Avant Hard by Add (N) To X which is an uncompromising journey into what you can do with fuzzy synths, drums and guitars. The album includes a track called ‘Buckminster Fuller’, named after the visionary architect.
Architecture has been a theme for me this week. I attended the Le Corbusier exhibition at the Barbican ahead of it closing this weekend. In among the scale models of realised and unrealised buildings was a recreation of the Philips Pavilion Le Corbusier designed for the 1958 World Fair in Brussels, which featured a piece of musique concrète produced by Edgard Varèse. Hearing the blast of his Poème électronique whilst wandering round the brutalist edifice that is the Barbican complex was quite something, if a little claustrophobic.
Completing the theme, I am currently listening to the 1999 album Avant Hard by Add (N) To X which is an uncompromising journey into what you can do with fuzzy synths, drums and guitars. The album includes a track called ‘Buckminster Fuller’, named after the visionary architect.
Tuesday 12 May 2009
Audio Journal : 11/05/2009
The big musical event last week was a trip to the O2 to see Razorlight. I've lost track of how many times my wife and I have seen the band, and the concert last week certainly wasn't one of the best. This could have been because we had seats way up in the heavens whereas normally we get standing tickets or it could have been that the band were bereft of the drummer that has been such an important part of their sound on stage. Either way, a good night out, but it turned out that the best bit wasn't Razorlight but The Howling Bells, who provided support. I'll be taking a closer listen to them over the next few weeks.
I found myself listening to a punk compilation this week (F**k Art Let's Danse - which, as names go, makes no sense at all). The basis of the compilation, undertaken by Clash biographer Pat Gilbert, was to point out to people that punk wasn't specifically a UK phenomenon – a notion that I find hard to believe anyone needs education of, as I thought everyone knew punk originated in the States. Licencing costs presumably meant that Gilbert couldn't secure tracks from the most important UK punks, leaving us with the second-tier ranks of UK Subs, The Adverts and The Slits, whereas the US punks are well represented with good demos and live tracks from CBGB stalwarts such as Patti, The Ramones and Television. Best of all are the US bands that came before punk, and were perceived to be an influence – specific highlights being 'Step Inside This House' by 13th Floor Elevators and everyone's favourite garage anthem, 'Louie Louie' by The Sonics.
David Byrne, a CBGB survivor from his Talking Heads days, released a new live EP this week, including songs from his most recent collaboration with Brian Eno (Everything That Happens Will Happen Today). You can listen to this here. Easily my favourite singer these days, no question.
I found myself listening to a punk compilation this week (F**k Art Let's Danse - which, as names go, makes no sense at all). The basis of the compilation, undertaken by Clash biographer Pat Gilbert, was to point out to people that punk wasn't specifically a UK phenomenon – a notion that I find hard to believe anyone needs education of, as I thought everyone knew punk originated in the States. Licencing costs presumably meant that Gilbert couldn't secure tracks from the most important UK punks, leaving us with the second-tier ranks of UK Subs, The Adverts and The Slits, whereas the US punks are well represented with good demos and live tracks from CBGB stalwarts such as Patti, The Ramones and Television. Best of all are the US bands that came before punk, and were perceived to be an influence – specific highlights being 'Step Inside This House' by 13th Floor Elevators and everyone's favourite garage anthem, 'Louie Louie' by The Sonics.
David Byrne, a CBGB survivor from his Talking Heads days, released a new live EP this week, including songs from his most recent collaboration with Brian Eno (Everything That Happens Will Happen Today). You can listen to this here. Easily my favourite singer these days, no question.
Tuesday 5 May 2009
Audio Journal : 04/05/2009
Having taken a couple of extra days off after the bank holiday for my eldest daughter's third birthday, I've been exposed to more kids TV than I normally would, specifically her favourite show, The Wiggles. The Wiggles are a group of Australians who perform catchy pop songs which she loves singing along and dancing to The trouble is, their songs are literally like crack, and you can't stop singing them – as an adult – all day. I will, however, confess that the song 'Tassie Devil' from the new DVD Go Bananas! is really good. Sung by Captain Feathersword (I can't believe I'm actually writing this), it's a repetitive rock 'n' roll track about the native Australian creature and I happen to think it's great. Just don't tell anyone.
The Wiggles, via a cover of 'The Mooche' can be held responsible for me buying a Duke Ellington compilation this week. I have an on-off love affair with jazz, and despite leftfield musical tendencies, I find myself actually enjoying classic, big-band jazz songs more than the wayward blowing of someone like Ornette Coleman. Woody Allen soundtracks are the other big influence on my tastes here, and Ellington songs have graced many an Allen film score.
Finally, a BBC Four documentary on the stalwart indie label Rough Trade turned up a load of songs that I have been adding to my iTunes shopping basket ever since. The best of those picks has been 'Country Death Song' by Violent Femmes. Suffice to say, it's an early alt-country track murder ballad, ie it does exactly what it says on the tin.
The Wiggles, via a cover of 'The Mooche' can be held responsible for me buying a Duke Ellington compilation this week. I have an on-off love affair with jazz, and despite leftfield musical tendencies, I find myself actually enjoying classic, big-band jazz songs more than the wayward blowing of someone like Ornette Coleman. Woody Allen soundtracks are the other big influence on my tastes here, and Ellington songs have graced many an Allen film score.
Finally, a BBC Four documentary on the stalwart indie label Rough Trade turned up a load of songs that I have been adding to my iTunes shopping basket ever since. The best of those picks has been 'Country Death Song' by Violent Femmes. Suffice to say, it's an early alt-country track murder ballad, ie it does exactly what it says on the tin.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
