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The Lloyd Dobler Effect: John Cusack onstage with Peter Gabriel
10.08.2012
03:14 pm
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Saturday night at the Hollywood Bowl, Peter Gabriel played his classic 1986 album So from start to finish. For the album’s big finale, “In Your Eyes,” Gabriel brought out John Cusack, who of course played romantic dreamer Lloyd Dobler in Cameron Crowe’s 1989 movie, Say Anything….

During that film’s climax, Lloyd holds up a boombox playing the song outside the home of Ione Skye’s character, Diane Court. It’s one of the ultimate, most immortal gestures of romantic love in all of cinema history so why am I even bothering to describe it?

In any case, it’s a great and iconic scene, and it’s cannily played out to exactly the perfect soundtrack. I’m sure that “In Your Eyes” was already a staple of romantic mixed tapes that lovelorn Gen X guys would have made back then even prior to Say Anything… but post-Say Anything…, well, that song became quite a statement indeed for a guy to put on a mixed tape. That meant he really, really liked you.

When I was in my 20s, I distinctly recall someone I know telling me how he kept VHS tapes of romantic comedies “casually lying around” his apartment for seduction purposes. I certainly don’t think he was the only guy to figure this out, and I would always take note if I saw that a male friend of mine owned a lot of rom com videos, you know, “chick flicks.” (A girlfriend of mine once told me how she’d been gushing about me to her mother because I had a VHS of Breakfast at Tiffany’s on my bookshelf and she felt this indicated great things about me. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that it wasn’t mine and that I had no idea how it had gotten into my apartment and onto my bookshelves. When I met her mother she mentioned knowing that I was a big fan of Breakfast at Tiffany’s!)

The videotapes I always seemed to notice in the homes of these 80s Don Juans were things like Say Anything, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally and The Sure Thing (dig the Rob Reiner / John Cusack axis / overlap there). If these four films were as effective as Jägermeister, another no-fail seduction cliche of the 1980s, then imagine that you are the guy who actually played Lloyd Dobler and “Gib”?

Christ, that must be like having a superpower or something!

Below, Gabriel, in fine voice, performs a stellar “In You Eyes” at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, October 6, 2012:
 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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10.08.2012
03:14 pm
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Cocaine’s a Helluva Drug: John Cale’s Rockpalast freak out, 1984
10.08.2012
11:45 am
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The first in an intermittent series of posts showcasing the most coked-out music performances of recent times, that are still available for the public to see via the magic of the internet.

Cocaine’s A Helluva Drug kicks off with this frankly terrifying clip of John Cale tearing up floorboards at the German Rockpalast festival in 1984, as he rips through Elvis’ “Heartbreak Hotel” on the piano.

The madness begins at 4:40, and it is preceded in this clip by a relatively sober Cale performing the same track at the same festival one year earlier, which gives great context for just how fucked up he is the following year. Apparently most of the crowd the second time round were waiting for London’s white-funk homeboys Level 42.

For the record, Cale’s interpretation of this classic is simply astounding, delivered here in a stripped down, chilling arrangement showcasing Cale’s delicious butter-from-the-gutter growl.

This is neither a warning nor an endorsement. It simply IS.

John Cale “Heartbreak Hotel” (Live at Rockpalast 1983 & 1984)
 

Posted by Niall O'Conghaile
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10.08.2012
11:45 am
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Misty Roses presents a Mix Tape to Die For: ‘Empty Streets 5 a.m.’
10.07.2012
02:40 pm
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One of my favorite bands, Misty Roses has compiled a Mix Tape #1 “Empty Streets 5am”, which beautifully captures the diversity of influences behind Robert Conroy and Jonny Perl’s fabulous music. Lead singer, Robert tells Dangerous Minds that Mix Tape #1 is:

‘Essentially mixes of music we dig - some of which we are very obviously damaged by, some less obviously so.

‘But I think one is influenced by all music one likes - whether or not that music is not perceived as “cool”. For instance, both Jonny and I spend a lot of time listening to vocalists from the 1950’s - Nat King Cole, Eartha Kitt, Blossom Dearie, Francis Faye, Timi Yuro, Julie London, etc. I think a lot of “hip” people never give that sort music a chance - and they are only doing themselves a disservice by being so unimaginative. Besides - the connections between say, Judy Garland and Bowie or Broadcast or The Moon Wiring Club seems pretty obvious to me.’

It is indeed, Mr Conroy. And if you haven’t already, hop over to here and Exotic Pylon Records to check out some of Misty Roses beautiful compositions - more of which, we hope will be forth coming very soon.

Meantime, here is some perfect listening compiled by Misty Roses for a thrilling evening in.

Track Listing:

01. “Lonely House” - Lotte Lenya
02. “As I Lie In Your Arms” - Little Annie (A.K.A Annie Anxiety Bandez)
03. “Walking In The Rain” - Grace Jones
04. “Skin” - Leslie Winer
05. “Outta Space” - King Midas Sound
06. “Slipping Away (Tick Tock Mix By Chamber) - The Creatures
07. “Sultanesque” - Roxy Music
08. “Tender Talons” - Ladytron
09. “The End” (“Assault On Precinct 13”) Part 1: Disco Version - John Carpenter
10. “Human” (Massey’S Cromagnon Mix) - Goldfrapp
11.“Message Oblique Speech” - The Associates
12. “The Killer” - Pumajaw (A.K.A. Lumen)
13. “Brother And Sister” - Lubos Fisher
14. “The Be Colony”/“Dashing Home”/“What On Earth Took You?” - Broadcast And The Focus Group
15. “World’s End” - Mimi Goese & Ben Neil
 

 

Bonus: Misty Roses “Villainess
 
Previously on Dangerous Minds

Misty Roses: Wichita Linemen from the Black Lagoon


 
With thanks to Robert Conroy
 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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10.07.2012
02:40 pm
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Notes from the Niallist #3: go see SSION live, immediately!
10.05.2012
03:36 pm
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SSION in Bullett magazine
 
Surely you’ll know by now that we’re big fans of SSION at Dangerous Minds. The album Bent (which was originally released as a limited edition free download last year) was one of my favorites of 2011. It’s the kind of artful, emotional, electronic dance music that I always wished the Scissor Sisters sounded like, or that Madonna would make instead of chasing Lady Gaga’s crown.

Well, Bent has now been given the full, physical release treatment by Dovecote Records, and SSION are out on tour to promote it this autumn. That means they will soon be coming to a town near YOU and, godammit, I wish I lived in the States so I could catch one of these shows!

As someone whose music I greatly respect and admire, for the third Notes From The Niallist column I caught up with Cody Critcheloe (who, for all intents and purposes, is SSION), to ask him what he has in store for this tour, and how the album promotion is going:


The Niallist: You’ve stated that you plan on producing a video for each track on your album Bent - how is that going? Is there a narrative thread between these videos? I have noticed some slight stylistic similarities.

Cody Critcheloe: That is true, we’ve completed 5 of the 10 videos so far. We’re still waiting to release a few while we are on tour. The wait is killing me! Yes, there is a narrative thread between all of the videos… I’m not sure if everyone will pick up on it and i don’t know if it’s really important that they do… We will see, I guess.

TN: You put out Bent as a limited edition free download last year, and now it is being re-released physically. How do you feel the free download worked in your favor? Or did it?

CC: Well a lot of people are familiar with the songs, they come to shows and sing a long, and that’s cool. I think it worked in my favor for sure. I mean, do people even buy records anymore? i do sometimes but not like i did when i was a kid… I feel like things are on the uprise though, but then again I don’t have anything to compare it to. This is just they way it turned out.

TN: You put a lot of effort into your stage shows - what can we expect from Ssion on this tour? Any secrets you might be willing to give away?

CC: I think a lot of people have seen photos from shows we did 5 or 6 years ago and assume that they are going to get that, or they see the “Clown” video and think that’s who i am and what we do. That’s not the case. iId need some insane funding and the audience to put on shows that big! When we get the opportunity to do a lavish pop show I go all out, but when you’re touring in a van and sometimes playing to 100 people in a basement or dive bar you can’t really do that! And i actually sort of like stripping it down, i like forcing people to have to deal with it on a strictly musical level… For this tour it’s me and a live band, some visual elements but nothing really over the top. It doesn’t seem to bother people who come to the shows either. It’s still good. I’m a good performer and the band is tight. Also, we have House of Ladosha supporting us on the tour, they are my favorite band in NYC. Check them out!

TN: Who are your primary influences as a live performer? And musically and more generally, in terms of art and style which you poses a lot of, who has influenced you to do what you do?

CC: Courtney Love, The Cramps, Prince, Little Richard, Iggy Pop, Madonna, Queen, Sonic Youth, Darby Crash, the B-52s, and a lot more.

TN: Thanks, Cody!


Here’s the latest SSION video, an interview about the upcoming Live & Wet tour:
 

 
And here, for your diary, is the full SSION tour date schedule:
 

 
Previously on Dangerous Minds:

‘My Love Grows In The Dark’: SSION’s springtime pop perfection

SSION’s ‘Earthquake’ will rock your world

Feeling good 4-evr, it’s another great SSION promo

Getting ‘Bent’ with SSION: an interview with Cody Critcheloe

 

Posted by Niall O'Conghaile
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10.05.2012
03:36 pm
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‘Angel Face’: Shock’s early 80s template for the synthpop sound
10.05.2012
03:23 pm
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“Angel Face” by Shock was a minor hit in the UK and on European dancefloors, but not in the US. Music fans here knew the song because it was included on a (well-known at the time) “loss leader” $1.99 “New Wave” “sampler” from RCA called Blitz that you can still easily find in the used record bins for around the same price. Aside from introducing adventuresome early 80s American listeners to Bow Wow Wow, the album also contained songs by great songs by Sparks and Polyrock, a minimalist synthpop band that Philip Glass sometimes played with and produced.

But for me, the best track on Blitz was “Angel Face” a cover of an old Glitter Band song. Shock were a dance troupe, incorporating mime artists (Tik & Tok from Return of the Jedi were members). I realize, of course, that this probably sounds fucking terrible already, but give it a chance. Were they musicians? No, but they did have “a look” that record companies, searching for the next big thing—the New Romantics and Boy George were just around the corner—could get behind.

Shock’s Barbie Wilde would later play the female Cenobyte in Hellraiser II. Other than that there’s not a whole lot more to the story, but amusingly, one of them, Carole Caplin, went on to become a “style coach” for Cherie Blair, wife of former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. She became tabloid fodder for her connection to Australian con-man Peter Foster, who she introduced to Mrs. Blair, during a scandal dubbed “Cheriegate.”

The song’s propulsive beat comes from the use of a then-new (and prohibitively expensive) Roland MC-8 Microcomposer and in many ways provided the template for the New Romantic sound soon to be taken up by Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, Blancmange and others. The song was co-produced by Blitz club DJ Rusty Egan (later of the group Visage and London’s Camden Palace nightclub) and technological innovator Richard James Burgess of Landcape (who produced hit albums by Spandau Ballet and designed the first electronic drum).

I used to go the Mudd Club in London, practically every Friday in 1983-84 and “Angel Face” was always played once a night without fail, which always made me very happy.

Below, Shock performing “Angel Face” live when they opened for Gary Numan at Wembley Arena in 1981:
 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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10.05.2012
03:23 pm
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Saving Father’s Children: Washington DC’s almost forgotten Islamic funk futurists
10.04.2012
07:40 pm
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“Blessed are they who strive in the way of peace, for they shall be called Children of the Father.”
― Norman “Saleem” Hylton (via Matthew 5:9)

This is a guest post by Washington D.C. music historian Logan K. Young

In June of 1981, Dischord Records released catalog number 003―the Minor Threat EP. Its eight songs, including track four’s “Straight Edge” clarion, lasted a total of eight minutes.

Talk about economy.

Some thirty years later, and for a lot of Washington, D.C. insiders even, that’s all the District hath wrote. It’s almost fitting: Nothing ever gets done on Capitol Hill; why would it be any different inside the Dischord House? You could make a case, I suppose, for the plethora of post-hardcore memes like The Dismemberment Plan that followed in Fugazi’s wake. But The D-Plan’s leader, the doe-eyed doyen Travis Morrison, works for HuffPo now. As for Ian MacKaye, he’s taken to playing silly love songs with his wife-cum-drummer, Amy.

Regardless, Washington harDCore always seemed a tad too emo for me.

Predating that fury by at least two decades was the District’s one true sound―go-go. A spicy, mid-Atlantic blend of funk and R&B, with those ever-present dancehall congas, you still don’t hear much from proto-go-go groups like Rare Essence, Trouble Funk, E.U., or the genre’s godfather, the late Chuck Brown, in the white-washed books of history. And while Ward 8’s infamous Marion Barry can be cited as the godfather himself of straight-edge punk―during his first mayoral term, Barry extended seasonal employ to youths, essentially paying people like Henry Rollins (né Garfield) to start bands―go-go never had such a champion, much less a dole, in Washington, D.C. 

What, then, to make of a group like Father’s Children? They weren’t go-go, and they sure as heckfire weren’t straight-edge punks.

No, they were something different entirely.
 

 
Re-listening now, it’s kind of eerie just how different they were. Of course, were it not for soul-saving historians like Kevin Coombe (a.k.a. DJ Nitekrawler), we might never have known. Moreover, if not for a highest-fidelity reissue from the archival saints at Chicago’s Numero Group, Father’s Children would be as altogether lost as John Boehner’s Congress.

1972 was an eternity ago, really, and plenty of great records have been buried by the legislation of time―especially in the District of Columbia, where ignorance has its own blissful lobby. If you know Father’s Children at all it’s probably for their compromises made elsewhere later in the decade. (Or, to borrow a term from the HxC kids, their ‘sell-out’ stuff.) 

Here’s a quick refresher: After years of both member and manager turnover, the funky, Islam-ified ensemble finally signed to Mercury Records and manifested west for a gold grab with The Crusaders’ Wayne Henderson behind the console. These gilded sessions would end up bearing the s/t decalogue, Father’s Children. Watered-down by Tinsel Town, that album’s torpid single, “Hollywood Dreaming” b/w “Shine On,” ultimately failed to chart in July of ‘79.

Another reminder: Things only got worse. Mercury soon relinquished rights, forcing the roughshod soul-Futuros to slouch it on back to Norman Hylton’s People’s Center in rough-hewn Adams Morgan. Abandoned and old enough, Father’s Children eventually divorced.

It was time to take sides. Whereas disco got custody of the America’s capital, Dischord would soon overtake her capitol city. 

It wasn’t always like that, though. The would-be Children were birthed as a doo-wop/skiffle outfit called The Dreams at Western High School (now Duke Ellington School of the Arts) in the late ‘60s. And everything was jive.
 

 
Well, almost. After a Volkswagen accident outside Petersburg, Virginia killed their gear but left every Dream alive, the boys fell prostrate before Allah and rechristened themselves accordingly: Ted “Skeet” Carpenter became “Hakim,” Billy Sumler choose “Qaddir,” Nick Smith became “Nizam,” Michael Rogers assumed “Malik,” Steve Woods went with “Wali,” and Zachary Long was called “Sadik.” Norman “Saleem” Hylton had convinced the boys that they weren’t meant to die on I-95 that night.

The Dreams now deferred to a celestial Father. But once again, all was seemingly jive. And on stage anyways, Father’s Children grew up quickly. The kids would play jook joints (Ed Murphy’s Supper Club, The Other Barn, Motherlode Wild Cherry) and ivory towers alike (Howard University, American University, University of the District of Columbia). Like any father figure should, Hylton taught the Children not to discriminate; a gig was a gig. Sooner than later, he promised, life on the Beltway would pay off at home.  

Writing in the liners for this reissue, Numero’s Rob Sevier and Ken Shipley tell the truth thusly:

“In fall 1972, Saleem was introduced to local studio magnate Robert Hosea Williams, who owned and managed a small network of Beltway studios. Jules Damian at D.B. Sound Studios had recently brought Williams in as a partner to right the debt-heavy ship. He wouldn’t disappoint. Williams had built his rep behind the boards at Edgewood Studios on 1539 K Street and by freelancing at Track Studios in Silver Spring, Maryland. His engineering experience included work for Gil Scott-Heron, Hugh Masekela, the Soul Searches and Van McCoy, but he always managed to find time on his schedule for locals.”

For Father’s Children, their time was September ‘72, just a few weeks after this fateful meeting. Stationed at D.B. Sound, the seven-piece ensemble ran down a voodoo equal parts lament for D.C.’s earlier race riots and their newfangled, moon-unit take on Islam. Again, it’s near scary just how good they were.

But there was a problem.

As so often happens, the Children never got the master tapes because Fly Enterprises―the fly-by-night hucksters these callow kids from Meridian Park hired to replace Saleem Hylton―didn’t pay the time tab. (Were Hylton still at the helm, it’s hard to imagine such a scenario.) Regardless, those originals sat collecting dust on producer Robert H. Williams’ shelf until 2006, when Coombe griped them tight, and with Numero’s blessing proper, raised them from perdition.

Four more years still, their combined ransom has proved more than bountiful. Hence, we finally have thee definitive question come unto the Children―Who’s Gonna Save The World[?].

But in northwest D.C., especially in the early ‘70s, that question was hardly rhetorical. In fact, it was downright dangerous. As per Sly Stone’s There’s a Riot Goin’ On, the most convincing lines, the most insatiable rhythms here are the ones that play the most urgent. And as far as shared sentiments, anyways, this could easily be 2012.

Lead-off cut “Everybody’s Got a Problem,” written and wrought by Nizam Smith, looks not at Richard Nixon’s White House, but instead the silent majority Tricky Dick had resigned to either side of Pennsylvania Avenue: “Oh man, you talking about the Watergate, man? Man, I’m so broke, I can’t even pay attention.” Given a GOP CEO, it rarely pays to be poor. 
 

 
“Dirt and Grime” is a skeletal study, almost menacing by comparison. In a strained but palpable tenor, Smith dutifully rebukes his own Adams Morgan. “My dirty, filthy habitat is where I got my habit at,” he admits. Apropos, Wali Woods’ high-pass guitar adds some extra-brittle filth atop. It’s a fragile, yet classic case of nature versus nurture. Smith’s ‘AdMo’ neighborhood, now, has surely been swagger-jacked, but on the right Saturday night, it might be alright for fighting. Still.

Meanwhile, “Linda”―the lone, legit love song of the lot―succeeds in spite of Robert Williams’ 101 Strings schmaltz. It’s actually a quite beautiful tune. Re-recorded as a later one-off for D.C. Valentine’s D.C. boutique Arrest, the original suburban reading sparkles still. After all, sometimes the new isn’t also the improved.

In retrospect, Father’s Children’s Islam never was as hard-lined as Elijah Muhammad’s Nation. Thus, their own eschatology was hardly dogma ‘n’ brimstone. Perhaps it’s because the Children were so young a band. Take side two’s opener “Kohoutec,” for instance. Kohoutek, the doomsday comet 150,000 years late even in late ‘72, had been anticipated in song by everyone from Sun Ra to Kraftwerk to Journey. Swaddled in warm, Red Line reverb here, the Children aren’t so much waiting idly for some cosmic Godot as they are bustin’ loose during His interregnum. But just like that, it’s glorious noise of wind, brass and percussion comes to a psychedelic halt; it seems their “Kohoutec” was our Hale-Bopp.
 

 
Undeterred, the shimmering harmonies of “In Shallah” follows. Arabic for “god willing,” it’s the weakest link only because it’s unfettered optimism sounds a bit like the airport Krishna’s proselytizings. That said, it’s not a bad-meaning-bad song.

Clocking in at just under eight minutes, “Father’s Children” is probably the best, most representative Father’s Children track recollected. Tempo-wise, it’s got to be their fastest as well. Kicking off with the Biblical boilerplate atop, it simultaneously anticipates and obliterates the coming go-go sound. Not bad, indeed. Here, the Children dial down the Arabic rhetoric and summon forth a pure groove clinic. Nearly every member of the flock gets a featured workout, with Wood’s deft wah-wah leading the charge of his brigade’s light. It’s a true joy, a genuine blessing to behold.

Were “Father’s Children” made available on wax in 1972, even as a single, methinks the entirety of hip-hop and rap would have sounded a lot different. Yes, the breaks simply are that infectious, the beats just too obvious not to sample. I’d wager it’s only a matter of time now before some enterprising crate-digger mashes the funk out of this one.           

Come August of 1974, Nixon was gone, leaving his fellow Americans firmly on the losing side of the War on Poverty. Especially in the District, it was a struggle just to keep the lights on. A last-ditch salvo was launched locally to save Norman “Saleem” Hylton’s ecumenical Center at 17th Street and Kalorama, but alas, the citizens of Suffragette City would lose that, too. And Hylton was a Vietnam veteran!

To this day, in a city of some 700,000 people, not a single resident of Washington, D.C. has a Congressional vote that actually counts. Making matters worse, go-go got its first bona fide Billboard-er that year with Black Heat’s “No Time To Burn.” With head songwriter Nizam Smith having defected to Miami for a solo shot, wagons ho!, Father’s Children made that ill-advised, career-ending trek to the City of Angels.

The rest, well…you already know by now.  There is a post-script, however.

As late as 2007, a reunited Father’s Children self-financed an album called Sky’s the Limit and distributed it via their own FC Music imprint. (In D.C., D.I.Y. neither starts, nor ends, with one Ian MacKaye.) But honestly, from what I’ve heard of Sky’s the Limit, like most musical reunions anyways, it’s only a cheap simulacrum―a gold-plated calf cast to former glories and youthful follies (i.e. this new D-Plan record).

Eternal thanks be to Numero Group, et al. for finally putting out the real thing. We can now call off the search.

Who’s Gonna Save The World is a national treasure, worthy every bit of Jeffersonian pomp and Honest Abe’s circumstance. For once in the life of our nation’s capital, here lies a legitimate bipartisan record. And in a town littered with monuments to men passed, the seven in Father’s Children remain but a few of the ones truly worth revisiting.

Blessed were they, each one, indeed. Let us all come unto the Children once more. 

This is a guest post by Washington D.C. music historian Logan K. Young

Posted by Richard Metzger
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10.04.2012
07:40 pm
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An incredible video of Throbbing Gristle: Recording their album ‘Heathen Earth’
10.04.2012
07:09 pm
Topics:
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An incredible video of Throbbing Gristle recording their album Heathen Earth in one take, on a Saturday night between 20.10 and 21.00 hours, on February 16th 1980. The album was recorded in front of a small audience of friends and associates, at the Industrial Records studios, and was filmed by Monte Cazazza on a single camera, with “certain visual information” included by TG.

“The soundtrack of this tape was taken independant of the 8-track audio master recording and it remains ‘live’ and unremixed and consequently differs from the album in some places. Like the TG sound itself, the quality and content of this recording cannot and should not be compared with conventional commercial recordings…”

Tracklisting: as provided by Genesis P-Orridge:

01. “Cornets” (that’s all we ever called it on gig sheets etc, boring hey!)

02. “The Old Man Smiled” (this is a song I wrote. Originally I was messing about on my own in the Death Factory, at Martello St. I got a rhythm I liked on my COMPURYTHM drumachine. Then a fuzzed lead bass guitar sound. So I recorded it. Maybe 15 minutes or so. One section made it onto 20 Jazz Funk Greats as “Six Six Sixties” I believe. But I always wanted a longer version. So after I came up with a story telling lyric primarily about William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin in Tangiers and their stories of Captain Clark, boys etc I decided to do the NEW song on Heathen Earth. We did it live a couple of times too. At Oundle School for eg.) For Heathen Earth we used my original cassette as the basic track.

03. “After Cease To Exist” (yes, a new version for Heathen Earth)

04. “The World Is A War Film”

05. “Dreamachine” (Brion Gysin LOVED this track. Said it was best music, equal with The Master Musicians Of Jajouka to use his dreamachine. The rhythm had already existed (one of Chris Carter’s gems). So I always think happy thoughts of Brion, Bachir Attar and others listening with eyes closed in Paris at his apartment opposite the Beaubourg Museum in Rue St Martin. Ah, happy daze.)

06. “Still Walking” (A permutation of ‘meaningless’ phrases cooked up by myself and Sleazy, that were repeated over and over as the musics rythm gave shape to the shapeless. Chris and Cosey were shy of vocals at that time. It was partly a formula to get them to begin using their voices that I suggested based on Gysin’s theories and my own experiences of gaining confidence with microphones simply by using them.)

07. “Don’t Do As You’re Told, Do As You Think” (To be honest I think this is the weakest vocal track and lyric. Someone, a journalist or Sleazy or both suggested we should have a “positive” message! Ugh! Certainly Sleazy persuaded me to try and this is the resultant track. I still find it embarassing and wish I’d never listened to him. It would have been better as an instrumental. Ah well…)

08. “Painless Childbirth” (Named after a 10 inch vinyl album I found in a junk shop from which the voice was stolen.)

A great video of a brilliant performance by an excellent band.
 

 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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10.04.2012
07:09 pm
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Pearl jamming: A whole lotta Janis Joplin on the anniversary of her death
10.04.2012
06:50 pm
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Janis Joplin died 41 years ago today. Had she lived, she’d be 69 years old.

Video compilation of concert and TV performances by Janis and Big Brother and The Kozmic Blues Band 1967-70.
 
Live 1970 Various Locations Canada
1-Cry Baby
2-No More Cane
3-Thowing A Party
4-Tell Mama
5-Move Over
6-Kozmic Blues

Generation Club NYC 1967
7-Coming Home

Cheap Thrills Sessions
8-Coming Home
9-Piece Of My Heart
10-Down On Me

Dick Cavett Show
11-Combination Of Two
12-Ball & Chain

Monterey Pop
13-Summertime
14-Ball & Chain

Come Up The Years TV-Show
15-Down On Me
16-The Coo Coo

17-Summertime
18-Summertime Rehearsal

Woodstock Unreleased
19-Work Me Lord

Musicscene
20-Try

21-Raise Your Hand
22-Summertime
 

Posted by Marc Campbell
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10.04.2012
06:50 pm
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Dead Kennedy’s ‘International’ punk event at the Olympic Auditorium, 1984
10.04.2012
05:27 pm
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Incendiary pro-shot Dead Kennedys set from the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, 1984. This was the infamous “International Event” concert held on August 10th that ended in a riot (like many hardcore shows in Los Angeles did at that time, especially ones held at the Olympic, once a boxing area, now a church). Note that tickets were just $7.50!

Also on the bill: Italy’s Raw Power, BGK from the UK, Finnish hardcore group Riistetyt, Mexico’s Solución Mortal and Reagan Youth.
 

 
After the jump, Reagan Youth, Raw Power and BGK that same night

READ ON
Posted by Richard Metzger
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10.04.2012
05:27 pm
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Goth will never die: Double Echo’s ‘Black Morning’
10.04.2012
12:14 pm
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Calling all fans of mid-80s goth, here is some new music I am sure you will dig. And I’m talking about REAL goth here. You know, bands like Sisters of Mercy, Fields of the Nephelim, and The Cure before they sold out (man). None of this namby pamby, nu skool, emo, witch haus stuff. Let me introduce you to Double Echo, who have just put out their first release, the three track Black Morning EP through Bandcamp.

Well, correction, there’s maybe a little bit of witch haus going on here. But not too much. One of the main influences on Double Echo is Dangerous Minds’ favorite John Maus, making this release a must-hear for those with a penchant for Maus’ drawly, slightly incoherent vocal mannerisms, or even those with open, interested ears.

Otherwise the music is as floaty and ephemeral as a wisp of smoke. Low slung baselines ride over spare drum machine beats, guitars and synths do battle to see who can conjure up the most melancholy air. You don’t need to see this band in order to imagine shoes getting stared at. But menacingly.

Info about Double Echo is almost non-existent, but from what I gather they are from Liverpool (and not the UK’s goth-capital Leeds, sadly.) However, one thing I can be certain of is that Double Echo cast no shadows and have no reflections. Whether they wear cowboy hats and trench coats, and bathe under showers of flour, is another matter.
 

 

 
You can download Double Echo’s Black Morning from Bandcamp.

Posted by Niall O'Conghaile
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10.04.2012
12:14 pm
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