Indelible and as evocative as hell, the wah-wah pedal riff that heralds the coming of Shaft, “the black private dick that’s a sex machine to all the chicks,” is one of those great sonic movie moments that elevate a film into the mythical. And the guitarist playing that riff was Stax studio musician and a member of Isaac Haye’s band, Charles “Skip” Pitts. Sadly, Pitts died on May 1 of lung cancer. He was 65.
The ‘Shaft’ part was created because Isaac needed something driving for the beginning of the movie, when (actor) Richard Roundtree is coming out of the subway and walking through Times Square,” Pitts told Guitar Player in an interview regarding the song. “I was checking my pedals. I tested my overdrive, my reverb, the Maestro box, and then I started in with the wah. Isaac stopped everything and said, ‘Skip, what is that you are playing?’ I said, ‘I am just tuning up.’ He said, ‘Keep playing that G octave.’”
Pitts also played the ultra-funky licks on The Isley Brothers’ “It’s Your Thing” and Rufus Thomas’s “The Breakdown.” Soul sauce slathered on thick and juicy.
Here’s Pitts playing the riff that will always be associated with his name at his last gig in Memphis on the eve of a brand new year, 2012.
Seven years is a long time in rock and roll, particularly nowadays, and that’s how long it’s been since Garbage released their last album. As a big fan of the band, I’m excited by the thought of being able to listen to 11 new Garbage tracks when their new album, Not Your Kind of People, hits the streets on May 14. Yes!
Here’s Garbage rehearsing “Battle in Me” from Not Your Kind of People. My kind of trash.
Antony Hegarty of Antony and the Johnsons is joining past Meltdown Festival curators like David Bowie, Morrissey. Nick Cave, Jarvis Cocker and Patti Smith, as he announces the line-up for this year’s prestigious event to be held in London, August 1-12.
Antony discussed the predominantly female performer selection, his ideas about “future feminism” and how these artists are pushing towards something completely new for society, with Pitchfork:
Hegarty: Kembra Pfahler is like my leader, basically. She’s such a seminal or feminal influence on so much of us in New York City. Just because she’s so fierce, ferocious and her creativity is so pure, and her vision of the world is so unrelenting. And she’s so unrelenting in her willingness to deliver a sense of truth. That has political ramifications.
Laurie Anderson is the same way: she’s named and framed her sense of apocalyptic culture for 25 years. Ferociously named it. Joey Arias is so hardcore. He’s a very hardcore queen. Marc Almond is also a super hardcore pioneer. There’s David Tibet from Current 93 and Cyclobe. They are on the frontier of English, queer, hallucinogenic paganism. And they sort of sit on the spiritual frontier in terms of trying to articulate or embody in their work a vision that they have of the world that’s very different from a typical patriarchal, sky god, Christian crap that even a lot of indie musicians in America are turning out. Christian chud. They’re pretending they’re alternative artists, but they are just confirming this patriarchal chud that we desperately need to rid ourselves of.
CocoRosie has been very controversial, especially in America, just because they take so many risks, and most guys in the boys club don’t take even them. In Europe they’re very embraced. Amongst artists, they are celebrated around the world, but there’s obviously been a lot of people that can’t take the frontier that they’re pushing. To me, they are amongst the most important young artists in American today. I think it’s intergenerational. There’s a lot going on in the festival.
Pitchfork: Every artist, in their own way, seems to have an uncompromising vision.
Hegarty: It’s not even just within art that they’re uncompromising. I think for me, it’s the next step that’s interesting. Since the early 2000s, a lot of straight boys created bands that are about, like, nurturing this pastoral inner life—these colorful psychedelic lives and nurturing their sensitivity as straight boys. And that’s great and everything, but we need to start participating in the bigger picture because this whole ecology of our world is going to start collapsing in the next 50 years, and if there’s going to be a validity to anything, in 50 years’ time just like the way they were, people are going to be asking what the kids of today are thinking, what the artists of today were thinking. Were they just checking out? Were they just, like, hugging a couple of cuddly bears or feel-good pillows? What is the point of music at this point? Is it just a beer swill at Coachella? Is it a few sensitive guys getting up there having a circle jerk while all the girls and all the other people have to sit around and try and find their experience within their opaque song styling? We could be participating, and that’s what I aspire to do, and so I wanted to create a vivid festival that had some teeth to it.
Hear, hear!
Antony’s Meltdown line-up:
Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins in her first live performances (she’s doing two shows) since 1998
Laurie Anderson
William Basinki: “Disintegration Loops”
Marina Abramovic doing a rare lecture.
CocoRosie
Hal Willner’s"Freedom Riders”
Charles Atlas’ Antony and the Johnsons tour doc Turning.
Planningtorock + Light Asylum
Buffy Sainte-Marie
The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black + Tenderloin
Kembra Pfahler + Claywoman
Diamanda Galás
Joey Arias channeling Billie Holiday in his “Strange Fruit” review
Marc Almond performing his classic Torment and Toreros album in it’s entirety
Selda
Myrninerest + Cyclobe + Derek Jarman Films
As someone who has seen most of the acts on this year’s Meltdown bill, I have to say that this is one of the very best curated music festivals I’ve ever heard of. There’s a real vision here and I think it’ll be an amazing experience for attendees.
Meltdown Festival tickets will go on sale next Tuesday, May 8th at noon for Southbank Centre members only, and then on Thursday 10th at noon for the general public.
Below, a stunning performance of “Cripple and the Starfish” at Amsterdam’s Theater Carré Amsterdam, June 21, 2009:
Japanese clothing line Interbreed announced on their blog the release of a Tommy Boy Records floor mat. My Google translate ain’t workin’ too well today, so I’m not certain how to order this or how much Interbreed is charging for it. If you’re interested, go to this link and maybe you can figure it out?
I guess I was sleeping under a rock or something, but I completely missed Henry Rollins turning over his KCRW show to Ian MacKaye on April 7. Beyond Ian’s DJ set, it’s a treat to hear these two pals—Rollins and MacKaye—who go way back chatting it up.
Oh, and I’m happy to see Lungfish made the cut on Ian’s set. Do listen!
Setlist:
01. Bikini Kill - “New Radio” / single
02. Scream - “Walking By Myself” / single
03. Lungfish - “Savings” / single
04. Nervous Norvous – “Transfusion” / single
05. Trashmen - “King Of The Surf” / single
06. Cold Cold Hearts - “Broken Teeth” / Cold Cold Hearts
07. The Vibrators – “Petrol” / Pure Mania
08. Viktims - “Television Addict” / single
09. Wire - “Ex Lion Tamer” / Pink Flag
10. Eddy Current Suppression Ring - “Which Way To Go” / single
11. Vernon Walters - “The Truth About You” / single
12. Felt Letters - “600,000 Bands” / single
13. Satan’s Rats – “Louise” / single
14. The Pack - “King Of Kings” / single
15. Skunks - “Good From The Bad” / single
16. The Need - “Let Them Eat Valiums” / single
17. Shine - “Lost Sun Dance” / single
18. Dog Faced Hermans - “Keep Your Laws Off Of My Body” / Those Deep Buds
19. Creation - “Through My Eyes” / single
20. The Arbors - “Hey Joe” / The Arbors
Tummy Touch is a label I’ve been a fan of since it started putting out records in the mid-90s. It has veered from the offbeat disco slackness of Tutto Matto and early Groove Armada to more recent “artist” based fare like the solo troubadour Tom Vek and the live sensation The Phenomenal Handclap Band, all the time being steered by the eccentric and “extravagantly bearded” dj Tim “Love” Lee.
The label’s website describes its sound as “Bohemian disco rock, sci-fi electro soul, unruly latin mash ups and oddball urban exotica”, and I’m not gonna argue with that, except to add that analog warmth is a key element of their sound. Oh, and that the split Groove Armada/Tim “Love” Lee twelve inch called “Disco Insert/Again Son” is one of my favourites from that period and should be in every discerning DJ’s box. “Again Son” in particular is a twisted delight, an early 90s breakbeat classic that samples a Christian preacher admonishing his own son to beat him “again, son… harder!”
Now based in New York as opposed to London, Tummy Touch is currently celebrating 15 years of releasing fine music by giving away a free compilation album, Fully Bearded: 15 Years Of Tummy Touch, featuring many of the labels best known acts remixed in a dub style.
This is simply some of the finest downtempo music around right now. From the Police-esque post-punk of Circuits and the psych-pop-funk of Bing Ji Ling, to the more dancefloor aimed grooves of New Young Pony Club and the previously mentioned Phenomenal Handclap Band, this is definitely worth a click of the mouse and the donation of your email address.
In fairness, I should have posted this ages ago, as it went up on the Tummy Touch Facebook wall 3 weeks ago with a note that said it would available for a limited time only. Which I guess means you should just download it now before it gets yanked.
Boots Sex Dread is the name of an anonymous reggae act (is it a band or just and MC? or two MCs?) who brought out a one-off single in 1980 that became instantly notorious. Both sides of the release feature heavy dub riddims coupled with explicitly gay toasting. Like, REALLY explicit.
One side is titled “Rinka” and features an MC coming out: “Mi black and mi proud and mi a Rastafari/And mi a ‘omo-sek-shual”. There then follows an hilarious list of anal sex euphemisms. The flip is titled “Prenton Pressure” and features a different, coarse voiced MC regaling us with the story of how he met his Asian boyfriend, and how their sexual relations in a cornership store room (involving lots of bizarre condiments - Brillo Pads?!) were interrupted by the boyfriend’s mother.
Information on this record is scarce, but rumors about who the authors/vocalists may be have been rife since it was first written about in the NME on its 1980 release. The theory that has gained most credibility is that Boots Sex Dread is the work of the British comedian and actor Keith (father of Lily) Allen. An anonymous source close to Dangerous Minds can semi-confirm this:
It was rumored to be Keith Allen. And Rinka was supposed to be named after Norman Scott’s dog who was shot by the hit man hired by Jeremy Thorpe. [Background: Jeremy Thorpe was the leader of the British Liberal party from ‘67-‘76. Norman Scott claimed to be his gay lover, and Thorpe was aquitted on charges of conspiring to murder Scott in 1979.]
But this was the story running the rounds when Julie Burchill banged on about it as being gay Reggae. Not convinced, but it sounds like it could be him. He is an accomplished pianist, as I found out when I spent 3 nights on the batter with him, whilst he was filming Shallow Grave.
Keith had a character he played on Channel 4 late night back in the early 80s, where he played a gay miner, who’s dad was gay and his father before him, etc. Led to religious people saying he shouldn’t be allowed on TV etc, as they thought Keith was genuinely gay.
There a bit more info on this story over at the Uncarved blog. Here are sides A and B of Boots Sex Dread (even the names have been confused over time):
Boots Sex Dread “Rinka” NSFW
Boots Sex Dread “Penton Pressure” NSFW
Boots Sex Dread is rare as hens’ teeth, but it was re-issued not too long ago, so keep an eye out and you might find it.
To get in the mood for his May Day appearance at New York City’s Union Square and a march with Occupy Guitararmy to Wall Street, Tom Morello, along with Ben Harper, played a scorching version of his song “Save The Hammer For The Man” on Jimmy Fallon’s show last night.
Save the hammer for the man, save the hammer for the man
You’re never too far down the wrong road
To turn back and change your plan
Save the hammer for the man
Morello is keeping protest music alive while also making it new.
If you ever needed another reason to love dear Phil Lynott then just watch this short clip from Jim’ll Fix It - Jimmy Savile’s classic dreams-come-true TV series - from 1982, in which 70-year-old grandmother, May Booker wrote to Sir Jim asking if he could fix it for her to play keyboards with her favorite band - Thin Lizzy. And you can guess what happened next.
May is rather good, and she has a fun time with Phil - who is such a delightful charmer.
British artist David Marsh uses swatch graphics in Adobe Illustrator to re-create iconic album covers. Each individual album artwork is made-up of 1369 Pantone swatches.
The purpose of this series is my own exploration and development along with the satisfaction I have when I complete an image I like to experiment with image creation and will stumble onto a technique and develop that and then archive it and resurrect it when I have a purpose for it. I will develop this idea into various new directions, the next being actually painting some of the covers that work best, hopefully on a very large scale or using collage to create the image. the options are endless and that excites me.
There are many more Pantone album covers to check out on David’s website and prints are available for purchase there, too.
