This photo was taken in 1979. I have no idea what the hell is going on here, but I’d thought share it anyway.
 
A few weeks ago I blogged about Giorgio Moroder uploading his 70s and early-80s remixed and rare electro tunes to Soundcloud. This week brings an all new Moroder set, showcasing his tunes from the 60s to the early-70s with his versions of songs like “Yummy Yummy Yummy” and “Mah Nà Mah Nà.”

Oh, there’s a song named “Sandy” in the mix there that’s pretty good, too.
 

 
Goldfrapp’s first single, 2000’s “Lovely Head,” taken from their debut album Felt Mountain (it’s also the lead-off number), is one of my favorite, favorite songs. The whole Shirley Bassey/John Barry meets Ennio Morricone vibe, the catchy forlorn whistling melody—and the lyrics, those haunting, disturbing lyrics…

It starts in my belly
Then up to my heart
Into my mouth I can’t keep it shut
Do you recognize the smell
Is that how you tell
Us apart

...well, it’s pretty much the perfect pop song in my book. I can’t think of a stronger, more deliriously delicious way for Goldfrapp’s vision to have been unleashed on the world than with “Lovely Head.” Will Gregory’s impeccable arrangement is topped off with the black cherry of Alison Goldfrapp’s absolutely otherworldly dripping-with-weltschmerz mega-diva vocal performance. It’s genius stuff. (Here’s a link to the original Wolfgang Tillmans-directed music video).

But here’s the thing: I’ve listened to this song hundreds upon hundreds of times—many of them in the past week, just ask my long suffering wife!—but it wasn’t until I got the live Wonderful Electric DVD that I realized what I have long thought was a deftly executed Theremin solo, was, in fact, Alison Goldfrapp’s voice being manipulated by a vintage monophonic analog synthesizer, the Korg MS-20.

In the stunning live rendition of “Lovely Head”—shot at Somerset House in London in 2004—that starts below at 9:42, watch what happens when Alison Goldrapp grabs the second microphone. It’s a real showstopper and yet it’s only the third song in the set. The entire concert is an absolute knock out from start to finish. Highly recommended.
 

 
From the Dangerous Minds archives:

Turkish punk, new wave, no wave, psychedelia and hard rock vs. Turkish Star Wars (The Man Who Saved The World).

Turkish-made film Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam commonly known as “Turkish Star Wars” because of its notorious bootlegging of Star Wars film clips worked into the film. Released in 1982, Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam was created in Turkey caught in the midst of massive political upheaval. As a result, American-made films were not easily acquired and were often remade with a Turkish cast and setting. The musical soundtrack is entirely lifted from Western film hits of the time, primarily using Raiders of the Lost Ark. There are also scenes incorporating the music of Moonraker, Flash Gordon, Battlestar Galactica, Planet of the Apes and Disney’s The Black Hole.”

01. Uzun Ince Bir Yoldayim - Özdemir Erdogan Ve Orkestrasi
02. Zardanadam - Kalbim Yok
03. Rashit - Kapak Güzelleri
04. Deli - Ösym
05. Gokhan Dabak - Sekiz Kahkaha
06. Dynamit - Yok Olmaz
07. Hayaksi - Dur Dinle
08. Panik - Bahtsız Bedevi
09. Vae Victis - Tek Tabanca
10. Zibidiler - isterler
11. Kilink - Boktan Mesele
12. Headbangers - Beni İlgilendirmez
13. Kırık Çizgi - Mirimari
14. Ask it why - Yükselen Degerler
15. Güray Binay - Roma’ya Varış
16. Antisilence - Kesme Sesini
17. Second - İki Bomba
18. Horanta - Davuluna vur
19. Noisy Mob - Kısır Döngü
20. Dehr-i Yalan - Yangın Var
21. The Androids - Elhamdurus
22. Tünay Akdeniz & Cıgrısımlar - Disi Denen Canlı
23. Bundan Sonra -Selda Bağcan, Vurulduk Ey Halkim

Thanks to my Turkish sweetheart, Mirgun, for the inspiration.
 

 
Daniel Ralston over at Low Times challenged his readers to come up with the worst t-shirt designs ever. The results are pretty fucking funny.

Want to see more? Visit the Low Times website.
 

 

 
Via The Daily Swarm

 
Here’s something to mull over music nerds: Did New Order blatantly cop the groove for “Blue Monday” from obscure minimalist Manchester new wave novelty act, Gerry & the Holograms?

Or what?

Championed by Frank Zappa during a 1980 BBC Radio 1 guest disc jockey stint (as well as 1979 radio spot on WPIX in New York and The Dick Cavett Show), Gerry & the Holograms (who consisted of a guy named John Scott, and CP Lee of Manchester-based 70s comedy-rock group, Alberto y Lost Trios Paranoias) put out this Residents-influenced piss-take on the synthpop bands that would have been emerging then, like Soft Cell or The Human League.

Zappa referred to Gerry & the Holograms as “the hottest thing to come out of Manchester in at least 15 minutes.” The duo’s second record, “The Emperor’s New Music” came glued to the picture sleeve.

Gerry & the Holograms was later remixed by Diplo, in a manner, that somewhat amplifies the question about the “inspiration” behind a certain massive-selling worldwide dancefloor hit of 1983.

Coincidence? You decide!
 

 
Thanks Nico!

 
Although “The “Priest” They Called Him” might be the most obscure thing in Kurt Cobain’s discography, it’s probably the best selling musical collaboration of William S, Burroughs’s recording career. Basically, in 1992, Cobain contacted his hero, Burroughs about doing something together. Burroughs sent him a tape of a reading he’d done of a short story originally published in his Exterminator collection in 1973 and Cobain added some guitar backing based on “Silent Night” and “To Anacreon in Heaven.”

It was originally released as a limited edition 10-inch EP picture disc on Tim/Kerr Records in 1993, it was subsequently re-released on CD and 10-inch vinyl.

At the time of the collaboration, however, the two had not met. In a carefully prepared “dossier” on the subject found on the web’s premiere Burroughs website, The Reality Studio, their eventual meeting is described thusly, via several sources:

In October 1993 Cobain met in Burroughs in Lawrence, KS.

During this first week of the tour, Alex MacLeod drove Kurt to Lawrence, Kansas, to meet William S. Burroughs. The previous year Kurt had produced a single with Burroughs titled The “Priest” They Called Him, on T/K Records, but they’d accomplished the recording by sending tapes back and forth. “Meeting William was a real big deal for him,” MacLeod remembered. “It was something he never thought would happen.” They chatted for several hours, but Burroughs later claimed the subject of drugs didn’t come up. As Kurt drove away, Burroughs remarked to his assistant. “There’s something wrong with that boy; he frowns for no good reason.”

—Charles R. Cross, Heavier than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain

Burroughs describes the meeting… “I waited and Kurt got out with another man. Cobain was very shy, very polite, and obviously enjoyed the fact that I wasn’t awestruck at meeting him. There was something about him, fragile and engagingly lost. He smoked cigarettes but didn’t drink. There were no drugs. I never showed him my gun collection.” The two exchanged presents — Burroughs gave him a painting, while Cobain gave him a Leadbelly biography that he had signed. Kurt and music video director Kevin Kerslake originally wanted Burroughs to appear in the video for “In Bloom.”

—Carrie Borzillo, Nirvana: The Day-By-Day Chronicle:

“I’ve been relieved of so much pressure in the last year and a half,” Cobain says with a discernible relief in his voice. “I’m still kind of mesmerized by it.” He ticks off the reasons for his content: “Pulling this record off. My family. My child. Meeting William Burroughs and doing a record with him.

– Rolling Stone interview, 25 October 1993

Cobain killed himself on 5 April 1994.

In Lawrence, meanwhile, William Burroughs sat poring over the lyric sheet of In Utero. There was surely poignancy in the sight of the eighty-year-old author, himself no stranger to tragedy, scouring Cobain’s songs for clues to his suicide. In the event he found only the “general despair” he had already noted during their one meeting. “The thing I remember about him is the deathly grey complexion of his cheeks. It wasn’t an act of will for Kurt to kill himself. As far as I was concerned, he was dead already.” Burroughs is one of those who feel Cobain “let down his family” and “demoralized the fans” by committing suicide.

– Christopher Sandford, Kurt Cobain

Read more at The Reality Studio

Below, detail from a mixed media collage that Burroughs sent Kurt Cobain for this 27th birthday.
 

 

 
‘Tis the season to be freaky, mwa ha ha ha ha!

Hallowe’en is my favorite time of year, it’s basically the gay/goth Christmas! And this year is one of those awesome calendar occurences when October 31st happens to fall mid week. This gives us ghouls the chance to celebrate Samhain three times; this weekend, actual Hallowe’en next Wednesday, and then the weekend after.

Of course, for some people it’s Hallowe’en all year round, but if you’re planning on whopping it up like a banshee over the next 10 days, then you’re gonna need some music. And that’s where I present you with my Disco Argento mixtapes, THE definitive collection of horror-movie inspired funk and disco from the Seventies and Eighties, spread over two volumes and clocking in at almost two and a half hours.

Yes! Disco and electro remakes of all your favorite horror movie themes, from Nightmare On Elm Street and Friday the 13th to Alien and Amittyville! Electro workouts from soundtrack maestros Riz Otiolani, Fabio Frizzi and Claudio Simonetti! Iconic funk inserts from masters of the game like John Caprenter and Alan Howarth, Robert Rodriguez and the mighty Goblin! It’s all here, and it’s guaranteed to satisfy your gore-soaked, blood-lusting, Disco Inferno needs!

Yes, I posted these mixes last year, but they really are that good. And let’s face it, DM has, ummm tripled (or more?) its readership since then. Thee full tracklistings for Disco Argento volumes 1 and 2 can be viewed on the respective Mixcloud pages, but for now let’s cut straight to the chase (music):
 

 
THE NIALLIST Disco Argento Volume 1 (featuring John Carpenter, Goblin, Fabio Frizzi, Lalo Schifrin, Claudio Simonettis, Zaza and Zitter, Budy-Maglione and disco/funk themes from Halloween 2, Prom Night, Dawn Of The Dead, Cannibal Ferox, Phantasm, Demons, Friday the 13th and more…)
 

 
THE NIALLIST Disco Argento Volume 2 (featuring Goblin, Pat Hodges, Robert Rodriguez, Riz Otriolani, John Carpenter & Alan Howarth, Todd Rivers, and disco/funk themes from Alien, Nightmare On Elm Street, Zombi 2 (aka Zombie Flesh Eaters), Tenebrae, The New York Ripper, Tentacles, The Omen and more…)

Happy Hallowe’en, ghouls!

You can find The Niallist on Twitter.

 
Komar and Melamid make art by surveying sample groups, an idea that blurs the lines between collaboration and artistic control. Their artists’ statement nearly demolishes the notion of “people’s art”:

In an age where opinion polls and market research invade almost every aspect of our “democratic/consumer” society (with the notable exception of art), Komar and Melamid’s project poses relevant questions that an art-interested public, and society in general often fail to ask: What would art look like if it were to please the greatest number of people? Or conversely: What kind of culture is produced by a society that lives and governs itself by opinion polls?

Born, raised, and educated in the former Soviet Union, where government was intended to be designed in the “people’s” interest, yet where people were never asked their opinion, Komar and Melamid, ironically, offered the Russian people an opportunity to exercise their taste. Their project took on even greater significance as capitalism—armed with its market-research consumerism and opinion-poll politics—begins to spread unimpeded throughout the former Soviet Union and the rest of the world.

When they took their concept to Americans, they expected a larger diversity of musical tastes. They were instead surprised with the uniformity of the survey results, which is probably why the “popular” song sounds so familiarly banal.

As an artistic concept,  People’s Choice Music is an amazing experiment in quantifying the unquantifiable, and how one-size-fits-all is bound to be one-size-fits-none when it comes to art. Of course, as music, it’s damn near unlistenable (though the “worst” song is clearly superior).
 

A miniature Don Draper.
 
Flavorwire has an excellent roundup of photos titled “Kids’ Halloween Costumes That They’re Too Young to Understand.”

Missing from the list: Little Johnny Cash.

“I shot a boy in Reno just for some candy corn.”

 
I love it when the audience feigns shock and disgust on The Jerry Springer Show, all the while poking their snouts in the dirt like pigs looking for truffles.

Gwar and El Duce of The Mentors gleefully push the crowds’ buttons as they discuss “shock rock,” which is the musical equivalent of taking a dump in the punch bowl of pop culture and political correctness.

Some might find El Duce’s “rape rock” crosses the lines of bad taste into something more vile, but I think it’s pretty obvious that Duce’s trangressions are a form of performance art in which he’s embodying the worst expectations of the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) and testing the boundaries of free speech. It may be crude but it’s effective.

Three months after this episode of Springer was filmed, El Duce (Eldon Hoke) died at the age of 39, which adds a bit of bittersweetness to the title of one of his classic love songs “My Erection Is Over,” the lyrics of which were quoted during the 1985 Senate hearings on offensive language in rock songs.

I want me a sleazy slut
Who can give a tongue bath to my butt
My erection is over…it’s over, it’s all over

It WAS all over when El Duce was crushed by a freight train one night in April of 1997. Some say it was suicide, some say it was payback for making claims he was hired by Courtney Love to murder Kurt Cobain. Maybe it was an accident. Whatever the case, it’s the kind of shit the denizens of Springerville love to their cluck their tongues over.