Oh dear me. Hermann Nitsch‘s bloody/Dionysian/biblical/medical performance art rituals have haunted me since I first learned about them via my high school library’s unusually well-stocked art book section (thanks Mr. Allen !) so I’m amazed to finally see great quality footage of an aktion that I’d previously only seen hazy stills of. I think it’s the combination of the studious manner of the participants and observers and the all out bloody fucking (literally) insanity taking place that unsettles me the most. This stuff causes all sorts of conflicting emotions, and that’s probably the point. See for yourself but only if there’s no kids or really anybody with delicate sensibilities around, alright ?
Marc can say what he wants about M.I.A.—we’re an anarchist collective here at Dangerous Minds—but I love her. if you ask me, her performance of latest single Born Free on The Late Show with David Letterman positively tore the roof off the sucker. I was absolutely blown away by what she did on that stage. And with Martin Rev of Suicide playing beside her? Playing his synth with his fist? We’re not worthy.
Kudos to M.I.A. for bringing Martin Rev out on to the stage with her. I found it sad how so few of the blogs, of all the many that wrote about this performance, even mentioned Martin! Kids! What’s the matter with kids these days?!?
A little late night listening inspired by Marc’s post. I felt the need to present one of the best recorded pieces by Yes, the much-maligned yet utterly wonderful UK prog band: The nine and a half minute epic (what else?) Sound Chaser from 1974’s Relayer LP. The by turns angular, noisy (check all the subtle micro-synth bits scurrying across the stereo field) and lovely classically structured song reflects a band emboldened by their huge fame to stretch out and attempt something decidedly outside of pop music. Also our man of the day, Steve Howe is a total demon here. Wild and unpredictable, with a nasty, almost Link Wray-esque tone. This is not your bog standard hippy-prog rock. Once again, please excuse/ignore the goofy visuals in the fan vid below.
Dangerous Minds pal, Adam Parfrey of Feral House infamy, sent me a remarkable CD a few weeks ago, called Restored to One by Sabbath Assembly and I wanted to highly recommend it to y’all. If any of what you are about to read sounds like it might be of interest to you, then trust me, I think it probably will be. You can buy a copy via Feral House.
There is a bit of a back story to the Sabbath Assembly project. The group got together to perform the actual hymns from the 60s apocalypse cult, The Process Church of the Final Judgement as part of a several city book tour/multimedia performance for Timothy Wyllie’s excellent insider’s history of the group, LOVE SEX FEAR DEATH (See my interview with Timothy Wyllie here). They did events in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, New York, Portland and Seattle. Not to imply they were some sort of occult Monkees, of course, but that’s I believe how this project came to pass. The New York ceremony was officiated by Genesis Breyer-P-Orridge, who has long been fascinated by the Process (and who wrote the introduction to the book).
From the Sabbath Assembly press release:
Restored to One is a modern response to the musical activities of a cult known as The Process Church of the Final Judgment, who used music to spread their visions of Gnostic reconciliation in a time of cataclysmic change. Sabbath Assembly has re-charged the original hymns of The Process Church and worked them into moving renditions that unite the trinity of rock, psychedelic, and gospel into one triumphant re-awakening.
The Process Church was an intensely creative, apocalyptic shadow side to the flower-powered ‘60s and New Age ‘70s. The influential group opened chapters in London, Europe, and across the United States. Dressing in black cloaks and walking the streets with German shepherds, they created their own intricately designed magazines, and promoted a controversial, quasi-Gnostic theology that reconciled Christ and Satan through deeper awareness and love…
So far, so good, right Dangerous Minds readers? It should sound pretty good, on paper, even, because it’s one of the most interesting albums of 2010.
To begin with, the “sound” of the recording is fairly stunning. It’s quite difficult to achieve a truly authentic early 70s rock sound, but the group, consisting primarily of The No Neck Blues Band’s Dave Nuss, San Francisco-based doom/psych singer Jex Thoth and Sunn O))) producer Randall Dunn perform ably in this regard. If someone played this CD for you and said “Hey, listen to this rad, witchy-sounding metal album from the early 70s that no one’s ever heard before” you’d not question it. (Although having said that, a typical rock snob like me might say “This sounds like Coven. Or Amon Düül” Not that this is a bad thing, of course!)
Musically, Restored to One consists of earnestly rendered doom-folk, ominous proto-metal, gothy call and response gospel and other minor key favoring musical genres. Some of the 40-year-old lyrics are intensely devotional, others quasi-blasphemous. As you might expect, this being from the Process, the lyrics name-check Christ, Jehovah, Satan and Lucifer. They sing of GODS and not God. The entire project is charged with a special kind of energy. The performances are inspired, in a way that only religious music can be (save for Christian Rock, natch). Religious music has a different quality to all other types of music—I think that makes sense, right?—and the Sabbath Assembly project is infused with that soaring, ineffable quality. As with the films of Kenneth Anger, there is a beautiful evil at the center of the art form, and a lot of conviction behind what they are doing. As a listener, you feel it.
Then there is the voice, the heavenly pipes of Jex Thoth, possessor of a powerful set of lungs and a uniquely retro sounding singing voice. I know the concept of having a “retro” voice seems absurd, but once you hear her voice, you’ll know what I mean by that. Overall the Sabbath Assembly sound does remind me of Coven, which is an obvious comparison, but an appropriate one, nevertheless, but Coven fronted by “Mama Lion” Lynn Carey. If this sounds even remotely like something you’d like, I urge you to check out this unique recording.
Well before Steve Howe became a prog-rock guitar God, he was in a scrappy sixties r&b band called The Syndicats. In this BBC video, Howe lays down a Bo Diddley beat while lead singer Kevin Driscoll, looking like Bruce Foxton of The Jam doing a Mick Jagger impression, growls some solidly punk vocals.
Imagine if Howe had said no to Yes and continued to pound out great rock and roll instead of bloated six string symphonies. We would have been spared the mindnumbing agony of Tales from Topographic Oceans.
The Syndicats released a handful of singles, three of which were produced by Joe Meek, before disbanding. Singer Driscoll died in 1982. Howe continues to shred.
Electronic and text-sound music pioneer Robert Ashley‘s video opera (developed over a period of time from the mid 70’s to the early 80’s) is, in retrospect, the kind of VHS artifact you might find deconstructed at Everything is Terrible or parodied on Tim & Eric. Only thing is, this piece comes pre-deconstructed ! it’s already one of the most fragmented and inscrutable pieces of “TV” you’re ever likely to stumble upon. Following the narrative is an experience akin to being stuck inside Ashley’s mind for a long stretch. That he also happens to suffer from a mild form of Tourette’s only serves to make that mind a very interesting place.
Here’s a classic British TV commercial from the ‘80s starring Peter Murphy from Bauhaus. You can read on the Internet that he was on the label, seen above, and in the print ads, too, but was that really Peter Murphy, too? I think it’s someone else.
Peter Murphy’s birthday was July 11. He’s 53 now and still looks like this. I guess drinking the blood of vestal virgins keeps you young, eh?
No, not really, but this is close enough! Made by the visionary Eclectic Method, this video really captures the essence of Buju Banton and the makers of it don’t even have to worry about retaliation from this fuckwit because his ass is in jail with all the batty men (a delicious and justly deserved fate don’t you think? Buju meet your new cell mate, the Salad Tossing Man!).
And before any “care troll” Buju fans write in that he’s changed and that he wrote Boom Bye-Bye when he was 15, and has moved on, blah, blah, blah, can it, hippie, because that’s nonsense. He still performs that fucking song—his mike was cut at New York’s Reggae CariFest in 2007 when he began it!
If Buju Banton learns anything from his prison stint, it should be what goes around comes around. You piss in the wind, don’t be surprised when it comes back to hit you in the face.
One Hate, One Fear: Homophobia in Dancehall (Santa Cruz News)
Threat of Gay Protest Forces Buju Banton Cancellation (SF Weekly)
LP. The by turns angular, noisy (check all the subtle micro-synth bits scurrying across the stereo field) and lovely classically structured song reflects a band emboldened by their huge fame to stretch out and attempt something decidedly outside of pop music. Also our man of the day, Steve Howe is a total demon here. Wild and unpredictable, with a nasty, almost Link Wray-esque tone. This is not your bog standard hippy-prog rock. Once again, please excuse/ignore the goofy visuals in the fan vid below.
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