Warm Leatherette (1978) - Normal [Amazon US]
The Normal = one Daniel Miller, the eventual head of Mute Records. From this initial single sprang one of the most important labels in modern, trendsetting music from the late 1970s onward, one which gave us Depeche Mode, Soft Cell, Einsturzende Neubauten, and very much so on. This is a raw piece of work, bedroom-recorded, and very much a part of the industrial outgrowths of the UK punk scene, like similar efforts by Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle, Robert Rental, Thomas Leer, and others. Imagine a garage-band Kraftwerk, and you'll get the idea. The sad thing about this meager single, though, is that there's more to the Daniel Miller oeuvre than this, and it's nigh-impossible to get, such as an intense and exposed-nerve-raw live set by Miller (as The Normal) and Robert Rental which was released on Rough Trade c. 1980. So, this gets five stars, both for content and historical import, but a full compilation of The Normal et al would likely get a theoretical six. --DAC Crowell for amazon.com
Words and Music (2003) - Paul Morley [Amazon US][FR][DE][UK]
Synopsis
'This is a book about music from the second century BC to 2003, from before then to after now, from the Italian Futurists to 'File Under Futurism', from the human voice to the processed vocoder, from 78 RPM to MP3, from the heat of early twentieth-century modernism to the chill-out of early twenty-first century lifestyling.' Our guide on this obsessive journey is none other than Kylie herself, as she drives through an industrial landscape in the video for 'Can't Get You Out Of My Head', morphing through time and space, meeting strangers with interesting stories to tell, and personifying the pleasures of pop. For after Tangerine Dream and Pete Waterman, Kraftwerk and Philip Glass, Alvin Lucier and Jarvis Cocker comes the cynical commercial glitter of 'Kylie', who shimmers in the spaces between innocence and sensuality, between the natural and the artificial. But the future of pop remains firmly in our hands, as Morley reminds us that without the listener, there can be no music.
From the Publisher
'Paul Morley is the greatest thinker/writer/social critic/tv presenter
since Plato/keynes/duchamp/betjeman' - Brian Eno
Fiesta Songs (2003) - Senor Coconut [Amazon US][FR][DE][UK]
1. Smoke on the Water
2. Negra Mi Chachacha
3. Riders on the Storm
4. Smooth Operator
5. El Rey de las Galletas
6. Oxygene (Part II)
7. Blue Eyes
8. Las Maracas de Machin
9. Beat It
10. Electrolatino
11. Humo En El Agua
It's always nice to hear music that combines interesting ideas with a sense of humour and Fiesta Songs has plenty of both. Señor Coconut--aka prolific sonic chameleon Uwe Schmidt--has proved himself a master of tongue-in-cheek musical madness on many occasions. Schmidt's Señor Coconut persona has been his most popular project by far though. It's no surprise given the concept, which is the transformation of well-known songs into slightly cheesy, mildly exotic Latino lounge music.
After cha-cha-cha-ing a load of Kraftwerk classics on his previous El Baile Aleman (The German Dance) LP, he returns now with a more diverse collection than before, one that embraces a range of soul, pop and rock classics from the last 30 years. "Smoke on the Water", "Riders on the Storm", "Blue Eyes", "Smooth Operator" and "Beat It" all get the Coconut treatment and sit alongside a few original compositions. Some say he's a renegade genius, others that he's a tacky cover artist--most of us are too busy swaying and smiling to care. --Paul Sullivan for Amazon.co.uk
By Brakhage - Anthology (2003) - Stan Brakhage [Amazon US][FR][DE][UK]
While you go out to see most other kinds of movies, you must go inward to see the extraordinary avant-garde films of Stan Brakhage. Foremost among American experimental film artists, Brakhage influenced the evolution of the moving image for nearly 50 years (his impact is readily seen on MTV), and this meticulously prepared Criterion Collection anthology represents a virtual goldmine of Brakhage's finest, most challenging work. Challenging because--as observed by Brakhage film scholar Fred Camper in the accompanying booklet--these 26 carefully selected films require the viewer to be fully receptive to "the act of seeing with one's own eyes" (to quote the title of one film, consisting entirely of autopsy footage), which is to say, open to the perceptual and psychological responses that are provoked by Brakhage's non-narrative shorts, ranging here from nine seconds to 31 minutes in length. While "Dog Star Man" (1961-64) is regarded as Brakhage's masterpiece, what emerges from this superb collection is the creative coherence of Brakhage's total vision. Through multilayered textures (often painted or scratched directly on film) and infinite combinations of imagery and rhythmic cutting, these films (most of them soundless) represent the most daring and purely artistic fulfillment of Criterion's ongoing goal to preserve important films on DVD. --Jeff Shannon for Amazon.com
Elevator Music (2003) - Truby Trio [Amazon US][FR][DE][UK]
I just heard the "Jaleo" track on Radio Nova, and this one is hot. [Listening to a Japanese cover of Sea Sex and Sun by Gainsbourg now]. Tunes.co.uk says on "Jaleo": 'Jaleo' is the result of a Flamenco session in Mallorca. If you like the Vengo soundtrack, you will like this track. Haven't heard the rest of the cd.
The Trouble With Normal: Sex, Politics, and the Ethics of Queer Life
(2000) - Michael Warner [Amazon US][FR][DE][UK]
The Trouble with Normal argues passionately against same-sex marriage, but here's the twist: not because it denigrates the institution of marriage, but because it perpetuates the cultural shame attached to sex between consenting but unmarried adults. When gay men and lesbians try to claim that they're just like "normal folk," Michael Warner writes, they do a profound disservice to other queer folk who choose not to live in monogamous or matrimonial bliss and who believe that the solution to being stigmatized for your sexuality is not to pretend it doesn't exist. Same-sex marriage advocates, he continues, often seem to be willfully blind to the cultural ramifications of their position, viewing marriage as "an intensified and deindividuated form of coming out." They don't seem to realize that if society validates their relationships, other types of relationships will by necessity be invalidated. (He also makes a strong case for the fight against sexual shame's being more than a queer issue, citing 1998's presidential impeachment crisis: "[Bill] Clinton, certainly, was not the first to discover how hard it is in this culture to assert any dignity when you stand exposed as a sexual being.") Extending his analysis, Warner shows how the championing of married gays and lesbians as "normal" is part of the same cultural climate that leads to "quality of life" crackdowns against queercentric businesses--as is already underway in New York City--and a deliberate sabotage of safer-sex education that puts millions of Americans at continued risk of exposure to HIV. Warner's precise, straightforward argument is enlivened by numerous sharp zingers, as when he accuses Andrew Sullivan of "breath[ing] new and bitchy life into Jesuitical pieties" about sexual morality. The Trouble with Normal is a bold, provocative book that forces readers to reconsider what sexual liberation really means. --Ron Hogan for amazon.com
Praxis - Bill Brewster [Amazon US]
1. Catalpa - Beanfield
2. Fire - Wagon Cookin’
3. Brazilia City Mix - Teddy G (Mateo and Matos Deep Mix)
4. Kote Moun Yo - DJ Hiro feat. Masabumi Kikuchi (Joe Claussell Rhythmental Mix)
5. The Fires Inside - Chris Lum
6. Hazy Shade Of Love - Alexander East (Deep Sugar Mix)
7. Mushrooms - Marshall Jefferson Vs Noosa Heads (Salt City Orchestra Out There Mix)
8. Seoul - Max Fresh
9. Infinite Rhythm - aFRO-mYSTIC (Dub Mix)
10. Touch The Sun - Atjazz
11. Flatbush Dawn - Be Bop Dawg (Catalyst Bossa Mix)
12. Midnight - Solaris Heights (Original Mix)
13. Mandinga Drumz / F&L – Love Capsule Deluxe - Don Yvo meets the Hunter (Acappella)
Disc: 2
1. Psychedelic Billy - Leo Young Presents the Subiaco Project (LAJ Remix)
2. Strobelight Serenade - Superstars Of Rock (Original Mix)
3. Tasty Treats - Chantilly
4. Conga Sunrise - All Good Funk Alliance
5. Don’t Mind If I Do - Bushy
6. Bones - Brandi Ifgray
7. Do It Any Way You Wanna - People’s Choice (Album Version)
8. Latin Stroll - Universal Principles (Original Mix)
9. Honey - Tosca (Only Child Dub)
10. Vai Viver a Vida - Rae & Christian featuring Tania Maria (Truant Little Witch Pass Mix)
11. Praise Dance - Take Aim
12. Wind Ya Neck In - Chicken Lips
13. I Got It (Pts 1&2) - New York Port Authority
14. Junta Jaeger - Rune Lindbaek
15. Futuro - Nova Scotia feat. Nina Miranda
Last Night a DJ saved My Life [Amazon US]
Introducing the new site of Bill Brewster and Frank Broughton: http://www.djhistory.com, the site was originally put op with the 2000 release of the book "Last Night a DJ Saved My Life". The old site used to feature chapters of the book and playlists, sadly, those are no longer there, but in its place Bill and Frank offer us previously unpublished interviews with Arthur Baker, Francis Grasso, Hippie Torrales, Charlie Ahearn, Gilles Peterson, Mike Pickering, Tom Moulton, Ian Levine
: http://www.djhistory.com/books/archiveInterview.php
Soul Jazz Records Presents Joe Gibbs Productions 1975-1982 [Amazon US][FR][DE][UK]
1. Fist To Fist Rub A Dub - Nigger Kojack And Liza
2. Jah Jah See Them A Come - Culture
3. Kingston Two Rock - Trinity
4. Cool Out Son - Junior Murvin
5. Chapter 1 - Joe Gibbs And The Professionals
6. Standardization - Joe Tex And U Black
7. Identity - Mighty Diamonds
8. Massive Fuel - Joe Gibbs And The Professionals
9. Down Town Thing - Althea
10. Two Sevens Clash - Culture
11. Three Piece Suite - Trinity
12. Friday Evening - Joe Tex And U Black
13. Hully Gully Rock - Mighty Two
14. No Peace - Shorty The President
15. I’m Coming Home - Dennis Brown
16. Starsky And Hutch - Trinity
17. Stonewall Jackson - Joe Gibbs And The Professionals
18. Dreader Mafia - Suffi And Walli
19. Million Dollar Plan - Bigger T
New York Noise - Dance Music From The New York Underground [Amazon US][FR][DE][UK]
1. Optimo - Liquid Liquid
2. Baby Dee - Konk
3. Do Dada - The Dance
4. Reduction - Material
5. Wawa - Lizzy Mercier Descloux
6. 5:30 - DNA
7. Beat Bop - Rammelzee Vs. K Rob
8. Contort Yourself - The Contortions
9. Lesson No. 1 - Glenn Branca
10. Button Up - The Bloods
11. Clean On Your Bean No. 1 - Dinosaur L
12. You Got Me - Theoretical Girls
13. Can’t Be Funky - Bush Tetras
14. Helen Fordsdale - Mars
15. You Make No Sense - ESG
16. Defunkt - Defunkt
Difference and Repetition - Gilles Deleuze [Amazon US][FR][DE][UK]
Since its publication in 1968, "Difference and Repetition", an exposition of the critique of identity, has come to be considered a contemporary classic in philosophy and one of Deleuze's most important works. The text follows the development of two central concepts, those of pure difference and complex repetition. It shows how the two concepts are related, difference implying divergence and decentring, repetition being associated with displacement and disguising. The work moves deftly between Hegel, Kierkegaard, Freud, Althusser and Nietzsche to establish a fundamental critique of Western metaphysics, and has been a central text in initiating the shift in French thought - away from Hegel and Marx, towards Nietzsche and Freud.-- amazon.co.uk
Gilles Deleuze’s Difference and Repetition (1968, translated 1994) introduces the importance of a philosophy of difference by describing how difference may be internal to the nature of every Idea and how every Idea may have multiple elements which may be differentiated. Deleuze explains that difference and repetition have a reality which is independent of the concepts of sameness, identity, resemblance, similarity, or equivalence. Pure difference is not a factor of negativity, or a negation of sameness, but affirms the actuality of an Idea. -- Alex Scott
Beat Street (1984) - Stan Lathan [Amazon US][FR][DE][UK]
A slightly dated but nonetheless fascinating snapshot of musical history, Beat Street is an urban musical detailing the roots of hip-hop. Set in early-1980s New York, the film focuses on the lives of a small group of young people setting their experiences against the larger backdrop of the city's burgeoning music scene. The story of up-and-coming DJ Kenny (Guy Davis) and his relationship with jazz musician Tracy (Rae Dawn Chong) may only be a device, but it's surprisingly effective, as is the ultimately tragic tale of graffiti artist Ramon (Jon Chardiet). The movie's real raison d'être, however, is to showcase the sounds of the street, so it's full of some of hip-hop's most influential names--Melle Mel, Doug E Fresh, Kool Moe Dee, the Rocksteady Crew, Jazzy Jeff, and Arthur Baker. And while the combination of electro and rapping may sound a little crude to modern ears, there can be no doubt that Beat Street is the sight and sound of history being made. --Phil Udell for amazon.com
The Soul of Disco (2003) - Various [Amazon US][FR][DE][UK]
1. LeRoy Hutson - Never Know What You Can Do (Give It A Try)
2. The Players Association - Everything's Gonna Be O.K.
3. Pam Todd And Love Exchange - Let's Get Together
4. Billy Frazier And Friends - Billy Who?
5. Herbie Hancock - I Thought It Was You
6. The Strikers - Body Music
7. Odyssey - Inside Out
8. Sylvia Striplin - Give Me Your Love
9. Sister Sledge - Thinking Of You
10. Kool And The Gang - Take My Heart (You Can Have It If You Want It)
11. Chemise - She Can't Love You
12. Mtume - Juicy Fruit
13. Leon Ware - Why I Came To California
Deep Beats Essential Disco Vol. 1 (1994) - VA [Amazon US][FR][DE][UK]
1. Penguin at the Big Apple/Zing Went the Strings of My Heart - The Trammps
2. Uptown Festival [Medley] - Shalamar
3. Come to Me - France Joli
4. Dance With You - Carrie Lucas
5. Phoenix - Aquarian Dream
6. There But for the Grace of God Go I - Machine
7. In the Bush - Musique
8. Feed the Flame - Lorraine Johnson
9. A-Freak-A - Lemon
10. This Is It - Melba Moore
11. Baby Don't Change Your Mind - Gladys Knight & The Pips
12. Loving You, Losing You - Phyllis Hyman
Deep Beats - Essential Slow Groove Dancefloor Classics Vol.1 [Amazon US][FR][DE][UK]
1. Making Love [Original 12" Mix] - Pam Todd
2. All I Want Is My Baby [Original 12" Mix] - Roberta Gilliam
3. In the Night Time [Original Album Version]
4. Sexy Mama [Original Album Version] - The Moments
5. I Want You [Original 12" Mix] - Tamiko Jones
6. Love Talk [Original Album Version] - Jim Gilstrap
7. You Are My Starship [Original Album Version] - Norman Connors
8. Valentine Love [Original Album Version] - Jean Carn
9. We Both Need Each Other [Original Album Version] - Norman Connors
10. Be Thankful for What You Got [Original Album Version] - William DeVaughn
11. You'll Never Know [Original 12" Mix] - Hi Gloss
12. Curious [Original 12" Mix] [...]
Ultra Chilled 01 - Gorillaz [Amazon US][FR][DE][UK]
Disc: 1
1. Here With Me (Chilin' With The Family Mix) - Dido
2. New Genius - Gorillaz
3. Sure Thing - St Germain
4. Blindfold - Morcheeba
5. Swollen (Cafe Del Marsh Mix) - Bent
6. Eple - Royksopp
7. Hymn Of The Big Wheel - Massive Attack
8. Original Bedroom Rockers - Kruder & Dorfmeister
9. The Glass Bead Game - Thievery Corporation
10. Destiny - Zero 7
11. Utopia - Goldfrapp
12. The Shining - Badly Drawn Boy
13. Nights Interlude - Nightmares on Wax
14. Daydreamin in Blue - I Monster
Disc: 2
1. Another Chance (Afterlife Mix) - Roger Sanchez
2. American Dream (Afterlife Mix) - Jakatta
3. Go (Jam & Spoon Dub Mix) - Moby
4. We Don1t Talk - Ortz
5. One Too Many Mornings - Chemical Brothers
6. Childhood - Dusted
7. My Only Sin - Deep Dish
8. Papua New Guinea (Dub Mix) - The Future Sound Of London
9. Leave No Trace (Dub) - Witchman
10. The Child - Alex Gopher
11. 16 Again - Neon Heights
12. Lean On Me - Sounds From The Ground
13. No Need To Ask Baby - Taucher
14. Guitarra G (Afterlife mix) - G Club Presents Banda Sonora
You're having a dinner party. The in-laws are going to be there. So are some of your closest "after-hours" friends. You need music, something mellow but not despicably insipid. Welcome to a double-disc set that will cover all the above bases. Featuring Dido's "Home with Me (Chillin' with the Family Mix)," St Germain's wonderful, downtempo "Sure Thing," and Royksopp's jaunty "Eple," it's mainstream enough for the progressive suburbanites in your midst. Meanwhile, Badly Drawn Boy's "The Shining" and "Nights Interlude" from Nightmares on Wax are culled from a deeper well of modern folk and jazz, respectively. The second disc, which contains some absolute gems, works overall as a more fluid mix. After Jakatta and Moby bring us further in, Dusted hit the dubbed-out trip-hop trail with "Childhood." Witchman (a.k.a. John Roome) has the set's best moment with "Leave No Trace (Dub)," a smoky bit of wicked seduction that makes for a marvelous chill-out gem. --Steffan Chirazi for amazon.com [Wouldn't buy this in my life, I never buy anything with ugly cover art]
American Minimal Music: LA Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass
- Wim Mertens [Amazon US][FR][DE][UK] Wim Merten's American Minimal Music deals in depth with the school of American repetitive music which is more popularly known as "minimal music". Mertens discusses in detail the work of La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich and Philip Glass and places them in the tradition of Western music. Minimal music thus emerges as the latest stage in a development leading from Schoenberg, Webern, Stockhausen and Cage. Considering the philosophical thinking of Deleuze and Lyotard, the representatives of the so-called French "libidinal philosophy", and of Adorno, American Minimal Music examines the degree to which the "ecstatic dimension" is present in this music, or is even consciously introduced into it. American Minimal Music is an important and insightful contribution to every music studies library shelf. --Midwest Book Review
Waveform Vol I Transmission - Jeff Mills [Amazon US][FR][DE][UK]
I love this CD. It's one of my favorite works by Jeff Mills. But if you're a big JEff Mills fan, and want to own every CD with his name on it, BEWARE: This CD is Waveforms Transmission Vol. 1, it's exactly the same, not only are the songs the same, the packaging, booklet, everything. Why this is issued here under the name Apollo EP (it doesn't say Apollo on the CD) is beyond me. So,...great CD, but if you already have Waveform Transmission Vol. 1, you might not want this. --Amazon.com Customer
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