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Riot at the Ritz: The infamous Public Image Ltd. ‘riot show’
08.12.2012
08:27 pm
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Although I was told by the guy who actually shot it himself that there was, in fact, a videotape of the legendary Public Image Ltd. “riot” show at New York’s Ritz nightclub in 1981, I’ve never seen it bootlegged anywhere. However there were at least a couple of different audio bootlegs of the show. The one I have is like the one pictured above, a 45 rpm record that came inside of a clear plastic sleeve. It’s chaotic, noisy and difficult to tell what’s going on, yet still really interesting.

The set up was simply that PiL were brought in to hastily replace Bow Wow Wow, who’d screwed over the concert promoters at the last minute. PiL, having no time to rehearse, offered to do a “video performance” using the club’s state of the art video projector, standing behind a screen mixing video, DJing with some live playing.

The following is a description of what actually happened that night, May 15, 1981, as told by Ed Carabello, who arranged the gig. The full article is at Perfect Sound Forever.

“So now it was PIL’s turn to go on. The crowd was really cranky and pissed by then, chanting ‘PIL, PIL, PIL!’ I was in the control booth with my headphones, nice and snug in there in the back of the club with a beautiful view of the audience and the stage: I felt like I was manning the Starship Enterprise. We felt that it would be appropriate to have a video of Lisa Yipp interviewing Keith and John in the trashcan she used for the show. Lisa gets on the headphones and says ‘I’m not going out there- they’re rowdy, they’re screaming!’ I told her ‘you’re a professional, go out there and do it.’ So one of the stage crew drags out the trash can she used for her show with her inside and with the lid on top. The audience looked at it like ‘what the hell’ and she pops out like Oscar the Grouch and says ‘HI, I’M LISA YAPP! I’M HERE TO TALK ABOUT PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED!’ So now the crowd’s really pissed and they start chanting louder. She starts to give an introduction about the band and we play this interview she did with Keith. In the interview, he’s saying ‘Rock and roll is dead. This is a new age of performance.’ The crowd had it by then. They turned on Lisa for everything that happened. They pelted her with beer bottles but Lisa was such a trooper that she kept going with her introduction. She fended off the bottles with the lid of the trash can like a gladiator shield. Then she says ‘AND HERE’S PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED!’

The whole band’s behind the screen and Keith starts playing and the drummer’s playing this celtic rhythm to start the show. Then Keith starts playing the record ‘Flowers of Romance.’ He cranked it up and took all the equalization out of it- it sounded so cacaphonous. I started pulsating the parcan lights. It was really eerie and screechy. The crowd just loved it- they fell silent. You just saw the glow and the lights flashing. Keith’s guitar was feeding back, playing off the record that was on and John was just silent throughout this whole thing. He just stood next to Keith. You could only see the silhouettes of them and the projections of them on the screen. The crowd is just loving this, thinking ‘what a great introduction.’

The first song ends and John starts to talk to the audience for the first time. He says ‘sil-ly fuck-ing aud-ience, sil-ly fuck-ing aud-i-ence…’ He’s slowly taunting the audience. Now the crowd’s not quiet anymore. They start chanting ‘raise the screen, raise the screen, raise the screen!’ John’s never been one who likes to be told what to do so he’s chiding the audience. He says what fuckers they were to pay 12 dollars to see this, just taunting the audience. The more they say ‘raise the screen,’ he says ‘we’re not going to raise the fucking screen!’

So the band goes into another song that was this kind of improvisational kind of thing. It seemed to be directed by the drummer! John and Keith were just doing their thing. John made those sounds with his voice, almost like a yodelling type of thing. Keith is doing this screechy, primal sounding thing with his guitar, almost like a jazz number. They go through this and it’s a ten minute number. The crowd is kind of liking it but you could hear them add their two cents by syncopating the rhythm with ‘raise the screen! raise the screen!’ At the end of this, John is really being abusive. So the audience starts pelting the screen with beer bottles. Even in the balconies, they were throwing bottles and some of it was hitting the audience down below. The more that they threw bottles, the more that John would chide them.

The manager of the Ritz comes to me then as I’m the only member of the band that was accessible- everyone else is behind the screen. Jerry says ‘you gotta raise the screen! There’s a riot happening right before our eyes!’ I felt like Nero watching Rome burn, seeing these bottles all over and I never realized how abusive John was to his audience. So I tell Jerry ‘No, I’m not raising it. You should have advertised and said that this wasn’t a concert. It’s a performance art show. That is what it is, that’s what they paid for and that’s what we’re putting on.’ I was guarding the remote control switch, not letting anyone touch it. Jerry kept yelling at me to raise it and I’d yell at him that I wasn’t going to do it.

Then Jerry turns to the crowd and sees something going on as they let out a collective ‘aaah.’ The front of the crowd started pulling on the tarp and I start getting scared because the instruments and amplifier were moving forward like they were going to go into the audience. So Jerry says ‘Are you crazy? Look at that!’ I said ‘you’re probably right.’ So I raised the screen just a little bit, enough to put on the parcans full blast so that we’re blinding the audience with light. For a minute, they shrink back from this huge flash of light. It looked like the screen from ‘Wizard of Oz’ where everyone sees the magical workings of the Wizard, like ‘pay no attention to the PIL behind the screen!’

 
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After the jump, listen to audio recordings of what happened during this infamous performance…

READ ON
Posted by Richard Metzger
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08.12.2012
08:27 pm
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Exclusive: The Niallist remixed by Egyptian Lover
08.11.2012
12:00 pm
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So, did you check the Egyptian Lover interview and set I posted the other (808) day? If not, what is wrong with you?!

Like I mentioned in the article, Egyptian Lover is a bona fide legend, a pioneer of both Hip-hop culture on America’s West Coast, and the TR-808 drum machine (the foundation stone of rap, electro and house music - in fact, it’s an integral part of all electronic music.) If you are in anyway interested in dance music culture and it’s history, then Egyptian Lover, or Greg Broussard to his friends, should loom very large on your radar.

Which is why I am absolutely BLOWN AWAY to announce that Egyptian Lover has produced a remix for my next single. That release is an acid-vogue version of Missy Elliot’s “Work It” that I have performed in my live sets for a long time, and included on my AKA album earlier this year (available to hear and as a free download here).

I still need to pinch myself form time to time to prove that no, I am not dreaming, I really do have a remix from Egyptian Lover. This guy has been a huge influence on my own music and djing, so to actually have him creating a beat and rapping on my track is… hard to describe.

As we say over here, I’m chuffed.

I sent Greg a few quick questions to answer, via email:


Do you still have the first 808 you bought? If so, does it still work
?

Yes I still have the first one I ever bought and 5 more. I absolutely love the sound of it. I even bring one on the road with me to play at all my shows.

Are there any good 808 substitutes (for people who can’t afford the real thing)?

Fruity Loops.

What are your top 3 808-based tracks of all time
?

Planet Rock - Soul Sonic Force
Electric Kingdom - Twilight 22
Computer Age (Push the Button) - Newcleus

The 808 is still going strong to this very day. Who are your favorite modern producers, or djs?

Not too many, I’m old school 100% but I like AUX88, Jimmy Edgar, Jamie Jones, Dam Funk, just to name a few.

You seem to be touring non-stop. How is that going?

It’s a great life when you can see the world, DJ, and get paid for it!!!

What are your favorite places to play?

Paris, London, all of Germany and Barcelona are my favorites

What’s coming up in the near future for the Egyyptian Lover?

A new album 1984 and a big surprise with Stones Throw Records.

Have you ever been to Egypt?

Never been to Egypt but I plan on it very very soon!!!


Now THAT would be a gig to see - Egyptian Lover rocking the pyramids of Giza with his trusty 808. Or maybe on a boat down the Nile on the way to his house. I’ll do a fuller interview with Greg when 1984 is ready to drop, but in the meantime, here is the Egyptian Lover’s remix of “Work It”:
 

   Work It (Egyptian Lover Remix) by theniallist
 

 
The full download release of Work It is coming on the 17th of September through Juno, and I will be uploading more of the remixes (from Hard Ton, Electrosexual, Ynfynyt Scroll and Cunt Traxxx) to my Soundcloud page over the coming weeks.

There’s always music and news updates available at www.niallism.com, and if you’re on Facebook, you can find me here.

As he mentioned, Egyptian Lover’s album 1984 will be coming out later this year on Stones Throw Records. You can keep up to date with Egyptian Lover, and his tour schedule, via Twitter and MySpace.

 

Posted by Niall O'Conghaile
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08.11.2012
12:00 pm
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Björk tells Russian authorities to let Pussy Riot go
08.10.2012
04:20 pm
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Björk has posted a ‘statement in defense of Pussy Riot’ on her website:

dear folks

here comes a statement in defense of pussy riot :

as a musician and a mother i would like to express i fiercely dont agree with them being put to jail because of their peaceful protest performance . they are currently standing trial and facing seven years in prison for this .

in my opinion the russian authorities should let them go home to their families and children


i would like to invite pussy riot to join me in a particular song on stage : which was written for all enhancement of justice ( you can guess : once , which one )

warmth , björk

Help free Pussy Riot here.
 

 

 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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08.10.2012
04:20 pm
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Pseeco Keeler: Awkward Talking Heads performance on French TV, 1978
08.10.2012
03:32 pm
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An odd (semi) lip-sync of “Psycho Killer” on French television in 1978 sees the Talking Heads furiously strumming their guitars—including drummer Chris Frantz!—which are not even plugged in.

David Byrne looks as if he is about to burst out laughing any second here. Serge Gainsbourg and Andy Gibb were both on this same show.
 

 
Thank you, Adrianna!

Posted by Richard Metzger
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08.10.2012
03:32 pm
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Frank Zappa & The Mothers live at the Roxy, 1973
08.10.2012
12:11 pm
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Frank Zappa’s 1974 album Roxy & Elsewhere captured for posterity one of the most musically accomplished incarnations of The Mothers (George Duke, keyboards; Tom Fowler, bass; Ruth Underwood, percussion; Bruce Fowler, trombone; Walt Fowler, trumpet; Napoleon Murphy Brock, tenor sax, vocals; and Chester Thompson and Ralph Humphrey on drums) onstage and on fire.

Roxy & Elsewhere was recorded primarily over three nights (December 8,9,10, 1973) live at The Roxy nightclub in the heart of the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood. The Roxy is a pretty intimate club—a performer onstage there could practically make eye-contact with every member of the audience—and the musicianship during these sets was particularly inspired.

The shows were also filmed in 16mm. When Frank Zappa lectured at the Gifford Auditorium at Syracuse University on April 23, 1975, one of the audience members asked him “Can you tell us if anything is going on with your ‘Live at the Roxy’ movie?”

His reply:

“Well, I wish there was…The status of that film is this: I spent about $30.000-40.000 trying to get the thing on film, and I got it on film, and there’s some things that happened down there that were absolutely fabulous. However, they’re too weird to show on television, and I don’t think there’s really a market in the theaters for a straight concert film like that…So right now, it’s sitting in my shelf, being an expensive piece of home movie. Maybe one day, when TV loosens up a little bit, we’ll be able to show the lovely Brenda, doing…(FZ and George Duke laugh)...that was a real nice piece of film, that Brenda…(more laughter).”

A DVD of the Roxy shows has long been promised, but has never come out. Zappa “vaultmeister” Joe Travers was quoted on the Wikipedia entry for the album about the long-delayed DVD release: 

“It’s sitting in the vault. Waiting for a budget to do it properly. Basically the film footage, the negatives were transferred by Frank in the ‘80s using ‘80s technology. What we want to do is go back to the original negatives and do it in High Definition and then create a 5.1 mix from the original masters so that we have surround sound as well as Frank’s 2 channel stereo mix. Once we get all that together, then we need to cut the program. Edit the program together, camera angles, what shows, what we are going to include from what shows or include all the shows. I have no idea what Dweezil and Gail want to do. It’s great stuff, but the process of just getting to that point is going to cost a lot of money and take a lot of time.”

This tantalizing 32-minute chunk of that film—neither song (“Montana” and “Dupree’s Paradise”) were actually on the Roxy & Elsewhere album—was screened at the Zappa Plays Zappa concerts and posted on the Zappa.com website for a while. George Duke’s solo that starts at about 11 minutes in is a thing of wonder to behold. The Roxy shows were also a fantastic showcase for Ruth Underwood’s skills. (Part of the Roxy performance of “Dummy Up” can be seen in the Zappa doc, The True Story Of 200 Motels).

With the Universal Music Group re-releasing remastered versions of the entire Frank Zappa catalog beginning at the end of August, hopefully a Blu-Ray of the 1973 Roxy shows in 5.1 surround will soon be on the way.
 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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08.10.2012
12:11 pm
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Riots Not Diets: exclusive video premiere from London’s Covergirl
08.10.2012
11:09 am
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Covergirl are part of a new wave of politically-minded, queer/gay/femme/whatever-core bands that are popping up all over the UK (and the world, in fact) and sowing the seeds of a new, healthy, d.i.y. underground scene.

Covergirl take their musical cues in part from post-punk and post-disco, mixing up raw guitars and wailing synths with insistent, driving rhythms. Their outlook comes from Riot Grrrl, punk 7"s and zine-culture, but by way of the no-budget-yet-glamorous catwalking of RuPaul and the queens of Paris Is Burning. Their name, in fact, comes from a RuPaul song, but don’t let that fool you. The band has more in common with the ripped-up-punk-drag of RuPaul 25 years ago than it does with today’s polished TV host. 

I was lucky enough to catch Covergirl live in London a few months ago (when they bizarrely asked Joyce D’Vision to open for them) and can report back that they are blinding. Now Dangerous Minds is lucky enough to get a world exclusive from the band, the premiere of their new video “Ice Father Nation”. On top of which, I sent Covergirl’s co-leader Andrew Milk some questions to get his head around for our readers:

Describe Covergirl to me in a dozen words or less:

A post-punk-party band. Serious about having fun.

What was the inspiration to form the band and when did you start?

I think we started in 2010, I guess spurred on by our other bands having recently broken up or being on hiatus at the time and wanting to do something new.

Can you tell me a bit more about Tuff Enuff, the label this is coming out on?

‘Tuff Enuff Records’ has appeared out of the Riots Not Diets collective in Brighton. Our friend Toby runs it and puts on awesome gigs/film screenings and more! ‘Ice Father Nation’ is taken from their first ever release, “Why Diet When You Can Riot”, a compilation 12”. I’m sure they have plans to release more. their website says ‘descended from Irrk’  - which is a legendary, but little known queer/feminist record label some amazing people ran in the early/mid-Noughties. Serious pedigree!

Who else is featured on the release?

Halo Halo, Ste McCabe, Skinny Girl Diet - so many amazing bands, you can check them all out on the bandcamp page.

I’ve heard a lot about Power Lunches, the venue featured in the video - can you tell me more about it?

It’s an independent venue in East London, run by a pal of ours. She’s a musician and wanted a space that worked as an affordable practice room/gig venue where you could get great and healthy food instead of the usual things you’d eat as a cash strapped musician (crisps and a Tesco sandwich.) A pretty specific dream, but what’s the point of putting the hard slog in if it’s not for something you’d really want for yourself? it’s a cafe/bar upstairs and an ‘intimate’ sweat box of a venue downstairs. Lots of bands and promoters have got behind it which is great. it’s our home away from home.

And how is the East London scene in general at the moment? How are the Olympics going down there?

The Olympics are weirdly not affecting us that much, it does feel a little quiet but i think that always happens this time of year, people stay out, drinking in parks, not putting on or going to gigs. Also i think the same amount of people left London as have come in… So if you’re not in the vicinity of the Olympic Village or whatever, it’s pretty empty. The weirdest thing is being able to see this nuclear glow covering Stratford from the balcony of my flat.

Thanks, Andrew!

Andrew also runs the rather fine Milk Records, who have released music by Woolf, Trash Kit, Ultimate Thrush and the mighty Divorce. You can check Milk Records here, but in the meantime, here’s the video for Covergirl’s “Ice Father Nation”:
 

 
You can connect with Covergirl on Facebook here. You can listen to, and pre-order (if it’s not sold out) the Why Diet When You Can Riot LP at the Riots Not Diets bandcamp page.

Posted by Niall O'Conghaile
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08.10.2012
11:09 am
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Sockedelica: Famous album covers recreated using socks
08.09.2012
07:21 pm
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The person or persons responsible for the Tumblr called Famous Album Covers Recreated With My Socks must have an awful lot of time on their hands or else a lot of laundry. Sock it to me…


 
Via Exile on Moan Street

Posted by Tara McGinley
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08.09.2012
07:21 pm
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Happy 808 Day, with this excellent Egyptian Lover interview and live set
08.08.2012
07:06 pm
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Today is the eighth of the eighth, the official day to celebrate all things to do with the Roland TR-808 drum machine. And what better way to spend the day than with LA’s own king of the beats, and undisputed pioneer of both the 808 and hip-hop music, the Egyptian Lover.

This in-depth interview, by Redefine Hip-Hop for Fifth Element Online, stretches to 25 minutes over two parts, and covers everything you could possibly want to know about Egyptian Lover, aka Greg Broussard. From the origins of his moniker, to his introduction to the 808, from some of his most memorable productions to his extensive djing background, this covers all bases.

The 808 is a staple of modern music making, as influential a sound source as anything produced by Moog or Arp. I fuckin’ love it, as my Bang The Box mix from a few months back proves. There’s just nothing that compares to those massive kick drums, those sharp snares and that iconic, ringing cowbell. As Greg states in the interview, the 808 is never going to go away, and even Madonna has name dropped the 808 recently, in an attempt to gain some cred.

Of course, Egyptian Lover beat Madonna to rapping about an 808 by almost 30 years, and the great news is that he hasn’t stopped rocking. He’s still touring, and playing to more people than ever, all over the globe, as successive generations get turned on to the 808 sound. He’s a real dj’s dj too, mixing and scratching with original vinyl over his trusty 808’s live rhythms, and of course it wouldn’t be an Egyptian Lover show if he didn’t take to the microphone to deliver his classic raps. Check the 70 minute live recording from last year, after the jump. That, brostep kids, is a REAL dj.

The Egyptian Lover is a legend set in stone!
 

 
After the jump, part two of the Egyptian Lover interview, and a live set recorded in Athens last October…

READ ON
Posted by Niall O'Conghaile
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08.08.2012
07:06 pm
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Pataphysical Materialism: Daevid Allen and NY Gong, live in Los Angeles, 1979
08.08.2012
04:52 pm
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Above a flyer for New York Gong at CBGB’s

This just made my day: Black and white footage of Daevid Allen performing with New York Gong in Los Angeles, 1979.

Also known as the “Zu Band” because they were formed for rock impresario Giorgio Gomelsky’s “Zu Manifestival” event in Manhattan, the core musicians went on to form Bill Laswell’s Material. As seen here at the Los Angeles Zu Manifestival, New York Gong were Daevid Allen, guitar; Bill Bacon, drums; Bill Laswell, bass; Don Davis, sax, and future Shimmy Disc founder Kramer on trombone/synths. In the midst of New York’s abrasive No Wave scene, New York Gong were “Yes Wave” to the max, progressive, jazz, punk, progrock wunderkids led by the ultimate hippie

The sound quality is iffy, but that this even exists is a fucking miracle, if you ask me…
 

 
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
‘Weezy, get me some LSD’: When Sherman Hemsley met Gong

Floating Anarchy: Gong, live on French TV, 1973

Thank you Virginia Tate!

Posted by Richard Metzger
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08.08.2012
04:52 pm
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Former Strangler Hugh Cornwell performs ‘Golden Brown’ with mariachi band
08.08.2012
04:26 pm
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Hugh Cornwell and London-based Mariachi Mexteca take The Stranglers’ “Golden Brown” south of the border.

Golden brown texture like sun
Lays me down with my mind she runs
Throughout the night
No need to fight
Never a frown with golden brown”

It has been said (by Cornwell himself) that “Golden Brown” is a song about heroin (Mexican Brown). If so, this version is sort of a narcocorrido without the accordions.

I’ll take this any day over The Stranglers that are currently befouling the air.
 

Posted by Marc Campbell
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08.08.2012
04:26 pm
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