Loose Joints’ “Is It All Over My Face” is a classic of forward thinking disco from 1979. A collaboration between avant-garde musician Arthur Russell and DJ Steve D’Acquisto, and remixed to another level by Paradise Garage’s Larry Levan, it’s a staple of disco clubs and the gay/drag ballroom scene (see Paris Is Burning below). Arthur Russell died in 1992, but there has been a huge resurgence of interest in his music in the last decade and quite a cult has grown around him. Always open to re-interpreting his own music (with recurring melodies and themes in a lot of his work), a new generation have taken his baton and run with it.

Arthur’s Landing is a group of musicians based in New York City, some of whom played on Russell’s original recordings, who come together to play his compositions. They have just released an album on the UK’s Strut label, and tomorrow night sees the US launch party in New York (details further down). Here is one of their slow, hypnotic versions of “Is It All Over My Face”, now given the song’s original title of “Love Dancing”. This version does not appear on the album, and is perfect Sunday afternoon listening material:
 

Band member Steven Hall told Dangerous Minds about the beginnings of the group:

“It was originally just a bunch of friends getting together to play Arthur’s songs for pleasure. Steve D’Acquisto heard us play and wanted to record us live, so he produced several days of recordings in a huge studio (Excello) in Brooklyn many years ago. Nothing happened for years and in the meantime Arthur’s music became more and more popular.

After I put the band on MySpace, then Facebook, we got a tremendous response and started playing gigs—we found a ready-made audience who already liked us because they loved the material. So we didnt have to “pay our dues” in the traditional showbiz sense, although ironically we have been playing these songs for more than thirty years. Now suddenly we are getting a lot of attention. This makes us feel good because we enjoy sharing this amazing music!”

More Arthur Russell and Arthur’s Landing after the jump.

 
Released twenty years ago this year, Paris Is Burning is one of the all-time great music documentaries. It’s not really about music though, it’s about the mid 80’s gay/drag “vogue” subculture that sprung up in New York City, and the adverse social conditions overcome by the contestants (mostly black and Hispanic transvestites and transsexuals). The music is in the background, but plays as important a role as the clothes, the make-up, the settings or the interviews. 
 

 
This time, this place, and unfortunately most of these people don’t exist anymore. This upload won’t for long either, as it keeps getting yanked - so seriously, if you haven’t watched this film before, watch it now while you can. The director Jennie Livingston has never made another film that garnered as much praise and sadly, for most of the queens involved, this was as famous as they were ever gonna get. Despite being some of the most funny, articulate and charming people ever seen on film. They never had a penny to their names, which is probably why they threw the best parties in the world.

Voguing wasn’t just some hyped up fad that was hot for a New York minute (well, maybe if you are Madonna), - it has a rich, complex history and is just as big a subculture now as it was then, bigger maybe, with the dancing developed to new super-athletic extremes and the balls bolder events. Vogue dancing and vogue balls are an overlooked part of both gay and black history and culture, but more and more they getting the attention and recognition they deserve. Due in so small part to this remarkable film. 
 

EDIT
 
As I thought, this film wouldn’t last long on Vimeo. However, someone has thankfully uploaded it to YouTube too:
 

 
As reported last week, Chic guitarist/legend Nile Rodgers is battling cancer. He is updating his blog with regular posts about it, and it makes for a very moving read. If there is anyone left on the face of the planet who doesn’t think this guy is the shit, here’s a relatively recent interview clip where he dishes the dirt on Atlantic Records and Studio 54 dj Tom Savarese’s involvement with “Dance Dance Dance (Yowsah Yowsah Yowsah)”:
 

 
In the last article I set-up the parameters of what I have coined the “Haunted Retro” sound, and looked at Ariel Pink and his friends John Maus and Gary War. But that was all very phallocentric really, so this time I am covering the female-led bands in this imaginary “scene”.

Nite Jewel

Well, it’s not so imaginary, as a lot of these artists have worked together and definitely share some aesthetic and musical qualities. For instance L.A.‘s Nite Jewel have worked with John Maus and Haunted Graffiti member Cole MGN in the past. It’s not hard to see or hear why. They both record to 8 track tape using analogue and classic FM synths (like Roland Junos) and both have a slightly surreal, daydreamy vibe. But while Maus could very roughly be described as “synth-pop”, Nite Jewel make something that is more like “white-girl-soul”. They have recorded a cover of MOR-period Roxy Music and have a definite Fleetwood Mac-on-more-downers vibe. Being largely the work of one woman (Ramona Gonzales) Nite Jewel recently released the Am I Real? EP on the American Gloriette label, whose lead track “We Want Our Things” is a good snapshot of their sound.

Nite Jewel “We Want Our Things”
 

 
Nite Jewel “What Did He Say”
 

 
Nite Jewel “Want You Back”
 

Desire & Italians Do It Better after the jump…

 
Another “Haunted Retro” video - yet more no budget fun, different to yesterday’s Gary War clip, but complimentary. This was directed by Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips, when Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti supported them on a US tour last year. It was shot on an iPhone and after-effected by George Salisbury of Delo Creative. All notes for this video say the effects don’t come through fully due to YouTube bitrate-compression. Trippy!
 

You can find this tune on the latest Haunted Graffiti album Before Today (4AD). This short spell of “Haunted Retro” concludes with tomorrow’s post, part two of the made-up genre overview with Nite Jewel, Glass Candy and more.

This is an interesting concept - a group of people come together to listen to a particular album, in its entirety from start to finish, on a state of the art PA, with no talking or phones allowed. It’s pure appreciation of an album - its track list and running order, listened to in the format the artist intended. No skipping, shuffling or fast-forwarding. This kind of thing doesn’t really have a name yet, but “record club” (like “book club”) is probably a good place to start.

Classic Album Sundays is just such a group, put together by the well known DJ Cosmo, aka Colleen Murphy, who cut her teeth at David Mancuso’s legendary Loft parties in New York. From the BBC:

This monthly club in north London is run by Colleen Murphy and for her it is a strike against “‘download culture”, the sense that music has just become an endless compilation of random songs used as background noise.

“Everyone, stop multi-tasking, sit down, open your ears and do some heavy listening.”

The set album this month was Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. We sat in silence even as David Bowie’s record was turned over to side two. The seats were soft, someone had lit some incense. Some people closed their eyes, others nodded in rhythmic appreciation. There was a sense of being collectively submerged in Bowie’s music.

“You’re not even allowed to use the bathroom here, it’s too noisy,” says Ms Murphy.

This raises some interesting issues. Personally, I like having the freedom to skip and choose tracks to listen to, as I see fit. For me there are very few albums that are worth gluing your ears to from start to finish. That’s not to say they don’t exist, but the “album” is a superficial format imposed on music only in the last half-century. I find individual songs to be more important, something I guess I have picked up from dance and dj culture. Or maybe I just have a low boredom threshold.

Listen to an audio report from BBC News on Classic Album Sundays.

 
I deliberately avoided putting this video in yesterday’s Haunted Retro post because I think it deserves a post all of its own. It represents visually what War, Pink et al represent musically. It’s indecipherable without being shoe-gaze, it’s psychedelic without sounding like it came from the Sixties. It’s lo-fi, it’s esoteric, it’s fun - everything this imagined genre should be. It’s from the album Horribles Parade on Sacred Bones, which you can get here, and if you want to hear more here is the Gary War MySpace. Broadcast fans will find much to like in this:
 

 
What is “Haunted Retro”? It is hypnagogic music. It is the sound of the future as heard in the past. It is children hiding under bedsheets with AM radios, dialling through the airwaves til they find the sacred music that will sweep them far away. It is the music of your dreams, even your nightmares. just before the alarm wakes you up and your memory is wiped.

Ok, so “haunted retro” doesn’t exist. I made it up for the purposes of this article, and as an excuse to write about Ariel Pink and his pals. But hey, as a term it works! Because, while these acts I am going to write about share certain lo-fi techniques and nostalgic sensibilities, they are much more than simple pastiche merchants trying to relive an imagined past. Akin to bands like Portishead sampling 60s spy soundtracks and putting them in a different context, haunted retro artists cannot help taking their influences and molding them into something new. Something that feels warm and cozy like we’ve heard it before, but with a deep and disturbing uncertainty at its core. It’s beautiful, it is uncanny, but it’s not quite right.

ARIEL PINK
 

 
Unquestionably Ariel Pink is the leader of this whole “movement”. An outsider from the outset, Mr Pink is finally coming to gain the respect he deserves in the industry after putting out music for the last 10+ years. Much of this is down to his current act Haunted Graffiti and their album Before Today (4AD 2010), in which he has reigned in his more obscure tendencies, and whose output has subtle shades of the Doors, 10CC and even mid 80’s Fleetwood Mac. But his early work is worth checking out too, and his choice of instrumentation (analog synths and vintage drum machines) and recording techniques (8 tracks and plenty of hiss) have been influential on many new acts. In fact, to some folks (me included) discovering Ariel Pink and his music is akin to a spiritual revelation. Music really lacks truly talented idiosyncratic oddballs like this. At a time when the mainstream is playing weirdo dress-up, Ariel Pink is the real deal. Check out the video for “Kate I Wait” which is both ridiculous and sublime:
 
Ariel Pink “Kate I Wait” 

 
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti “Bright Lit Blue Sky”  

 
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti “Life In LA”  

 
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti “Beverly Kills”  

 

John Maus and Gary War after the jump…

What a shitty few days for music. Disco pioneer Nile Rodgers, half of one of the 20th century’s greatest songwriting duos (Chic, along with Bernard Edwards) has announced via his blog that he is currently battling “aggressive” cancer.

Chic are to me what I guess the Beatles are to most other folk - a musical ground zero. Apart from writing the stone-cold classics “Le Freak”, “I Want Your Love” “Everybody Dance” and “Good Times” (thus inadvertently kick starting rap music) the Chic Organization also wrote and produced some of their biggest hits for acts like Sister Sledge, Diana Ross, Duran Duran, Madonna and David Bowie. But they weren’t just gifted songwriters and arrangers - both Rodgers and Edwards are/were incredibly talented musicians that had a huge impact on guitar and bass playing styles of the coming decade.
 

 
I was going to do a post about last year’s 4 CD Chic Organization box set on here anyway, but it seems more urgent now as Nile could presumably do with all the money he can get for his treatment. If you have ANY interest in popular music of the last 50 years then you really should look into this, but if you have a particular interest in dance, soul or funk, this is damn indespensable. Nile Rodgers presents The Chic Organization:  Savoir Faire Boxset Vol. 1 contains all the big hits for Chic and others, in full extended 12” format, plus rare material, some unreleased tracks, and a few remix/remasters by French disco guru Dimitri From Paris.
 
Norma Jean “Saturday” (Dimitri From Paris Remix) 

 
Fonzi Thornton “I Work For A Living” (Nile Rodgers Long Version) 

 
Carly Simon “Why?” (Extended 12” Version) 

 
Chic are one of the very few acts with true cross generational appeal and that are guaranteed to start any party. Rodgers has recently been touring with a revamped line-up of the group, and although he is the only original member left, it’s still an incredible show. Their debut appearance in Ireland, at the Electric Picnic festival in 2009, was probably the best gig I have ever been to. People really didn’t know what to expect, but by the end of the set the tent was filled to capacity and the electrified crowd were literally roaring for more. Nile Rodgers has had a massive influence on modern music, yet he exudes a blissful aura of love and happiness, the true spirit of disco. He is also my namesake, and I wish him a power of health and a speedy recovery.

Nile Rodgers talks about “Rapper’s Delight”
Nile Rodgers talks about writing “We Are Family”
Nile talks about wriiting “I’m Coming Out” for Diana Ross (very funny!)

Image via Bobo Epileptic.

Just before the recent trip to Australia on which she contracted swine flu, Broadcast singer Trish Keenan compiled some experimental music and psyche-pop for a friend, and called it the “Mind Bending Motorway Mix.” The mix (which has no track list), has been uploaded as a tribute to the late musician, with a view to being shared with as many people as possible. Joe Muggs at The Arts Desk writes:

“A friend in Birmingham who had become good friends with Keenan in recent years has passed me THIS LINK for a “mixtape” she gave him very recently. It’s the most wonderful collection of psychedelic rarities, film music and synthesiser experiments, and perfectly illustrates Keenan’s constant mission to turn people on to exquisite and unusual sounds - but also, as the tracks are not titled, shows the sense of mystery and incentive to investigate with which she imbued all her work.”

 
Trish Keenan, lead singer of the British indie/electronica group Broadcast, died today of pneumonia following a swine flu infection. Associated with Stereolab, the band had a similar psych-pop-esque sound, if a bit more electronic and sample heavy. Having released some of their earliest work on Stereolab’s Duophonic label, the band found a more permanent home on Sheffield’s reknowned Warp records. Broadcast really deserved their reputation as one of the best bands the UK has produced in the last 15 years, and I guess that Ms Keenan’s death spells the end for them. Very sad news indeed.
 
Broadcast - Winter Now (live)
 

 
More Broadcast after the jump…

 
Just to muddy the water even further, “Kosmiche” the genre should not be confused with “Cosmic” the genre, also known as “Afro-Cosmic” and “Cosmic Disco.”

“Cosmic” is named after the Italian Cosmic Club, where in the late 70’s and early 80’s DJ Daniele Baldelli (with a little help from Beppe Loda and TBC) pioneered a strange, slow-motion mix of disco, Afrobeat, prog and electronica. Tracks were often played at the wrong speed with added sounds and percussion, to a hypnotic and druggy effect perfect for a crowd moving from cocaine and marijuana onto harder drugs. These mixes are quite unlike anything else. Early electro is mixed with tribal chanting and percussion before blending into a new wave or disco hit of the day (played at 33 1/3 rather than 45rpm of course). It can take a bit of listening to get used to, but it is expertly mixed and effortlessly musical.
 
Cosmic C80 Mix side A part 1

 
Cosmic C42 Mix side A part 1

 
Cosmic C84 Mix side B part 1

 
Cosmic Club and the Afro Cosmic sound was a big deal at the time, with mixtapes and stickers selling aplenty, and a dedicated fan base known to loiter in the parking lot if they couldn’t get inside. It remained largely unknown outside Italy and certain pockets of Northern Europe until a recent renaissance among disco music fans and fringe music cognoscenti. Baldelli’s numerous mixtapes from the era, along with those of Loda and TBC, have become cult musical artifacts eagerly collected and traded on the Internet, and a new generation of house and post-dubstep producers undeniably bear its slo-mo trace. Baldelli is still a successful dj, and has released a few official mixes including a two cd and book set dedicated to the Afro Cosmic Disco sound, and the excellent Cosmic Disco? Cosmic Rock! mix/compilation.

 
Everyone loves lists, and everyone loves music, right? So here a few different “Best of 2010” mixtapes that combine both, and give an insight into the kind of music I am going to be posting about here in the coming months.

THE JOIZE OF NOIZE

Let’s get the heavy shit out of the way first. Andy Brown is the drummer in Glasgow noiseniks Divorce, as well as bong rock champions Remember Remember (also see this post). He has put together his top 24 noise-rock tracks of the past 12 months via Soundcloud. Think 7inch records with paper inserts, gigs with bleeding ears and crushed toes, bands like AIDS Wolf, Action Beat, Comanechi, Daughters, Neon Blud and lots more you have never heard of.

Browntown’s The Joize of Noize 2010 on Soundcloud

THE NIALLIST Best of 2010

From the other end of the spectrum is my own run-down of top tunes from the oh-ten. This comp has a bit of a “synth” vibe, with a lot of synth-based electronica (SIlverclub, Dam Mantle, Goldfrapp, Detachments) and disco (LCD Soundsystem, Lindstrom & Christabelle, Space Dimension Controller, Brassica), and dashes of hip-hop, skwee, witch house and a track from Divorce. I will be covering some of the acts on here in more depth very soon. More info here.

Stream The Niallist’s Best of 2010 Mixtape via Radio Magnetic
OR
Download The Niallist’s Best of 2010 Mixtape via Radio Magnetic

FOUND pres ComputerScheisse Vol 5

Also on the UK’s longest running internet radio station Radio Magnetic is Chemikal Underground’s FOUND, who describe themselves as an art collective/experimental pop-band. They have compiled their 2010 favorites into one almost-seamless mix under the guise ComputerScheisse. It takes in hip-hop, folk, indie, retro and a smattering of pop. This is highly recommended, and not just for the exclusive cover of Men Without Hats’ “Safety Dance” by Malcolm Middleton (of Arab Strap) over a J Dilla beat - check out the intro and outro skits.

Stream ComputerScheisse Volume 5 via Radio Magnetic
OR
Download ComputerScheisse Volume 5 via Radio Magnetic

 
HOW IN THE HELL has this gotten so few views?!

Made by the uploader Papsfx, using 12 violins, one solo violin, four cellos, one piano and one soprano. It’s AMAZING: