2004, Feb 01; 11:08 :::: Chelsea Girls
More talked about than seen since its debut, The Chelsea Girls, Andy Warhol’s infamous double-projected dive into a demimonde he created, is getting a rare theatrical revival. It’s hard to imagine that this experience — it’s as much spectacle as film, really — was His Pastiness’s first honest-to-god cinematic success. After years of showing his movies to his methed-up Factory friends and the stray camp follower who wandered in off the street, and perhaps because his time had simply come, Warhol was able to sell these “girls” to the hip mainstream. The Chelsea Girls was reviewed in The New York Times and many another venue, raked in a cool (for Warhol) $300,000 in six months of exhibition, and became one of the gaudiest baubles on the charm bracelet of the urban culture vulture circa 1966.--Gary Morris http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/37/chelsea.htm2004, Jan 31; 22:21 :::: counterculture
Swimming Underground: My Years in the Warhol Factory - Mary Woronov, Billy Name (Photographer) [Amazon US][FR][DE][UK]
Woronov (Wake for the Angels) was a Cornell undergraduate when she was "discovered" by Andy Warhol protege Gerard Malanga and suddenly found herself drawn into Warhol's notorious circle of counterculture hipsters. Seduced by the decadent glamour of the scene that revolved around Warhol's famous Factory, a world where "wanting was better than having, looking was better than being-it was the land of reflections," Woronov dropped out of college, appeared in several of Warhol's underground movies, notably Chelsea Girls, and embraced the weird fascinations of New York City's '60sdrug culture. Here she weaves a vivid, impressionistic account of her time in Warhol's inner circle, a chapter in her life that came to an end when her addiction to speed got out of hand. Beginning in a tone of youthful excitement and slowly descending into one of frenetic despair, these memoirs are highly compelling and offer insightful portraits of such Factory notables as Lou Reed, Ondine and Nico. Woronov's prose is often dazzling; while she notes that Warhol himself was "uncomfortable with words," she proves herself a wordsmith. Her writing alone makes this an engrossing read. --From Publishers Weekly, amazon.com
2004, Jan 31; 21:36 :::: photography
Devil's Playground (2003) - Nan Goldin [Amazon US][FR][DE][UK]
Dating mostly from 2000 to 2002, this latest collection of photos from '80s star Goldin broadens her exploration of intimacy to take in first loves and births, along with the usual chronicling of accidents and illnesses, drug addiction and recovery, age and loss among friends and family. Throughout this nearly 12"×9" collection, the body is always primary, and often unabashedly fleshy. The ease with which Goldin captures her friends and relatives showering, relaxing on a bed, or in the midst of lovemaking is impressive, establishing both the reality of the moment while simultaneously bathing her subjects in her loving, third-party glow. Texts include pieces by Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave, along with New York downtowners John Giorno and the late Cookie Mueller. While Goldin's work is often compared to Diane Arbus's, in that both photographed the so-called "marginal" members of society, rather than using the lens as a distancing, voyeuristic tool, Goldin equalizes viewer and viewed. Through the lens of familiarity, the photo becomes less an exploitation than a connection. Homosexual, transvestite, straight, scarred, tattooed or simply uniquely shaped, everyone has relations-and Goldin does not exempt herself, as two sections in the book follow her struggle against heroin addition. While the 460 shots here are printed in gorgeous color, many of the photos are unfortunately situated across a two-page spread, with the central human figure often disappearing or elided into the gutter, at odds with the overall intention of the collection. --amazon.com
2004, Jan 31; 17:54 :::: women, Andy Warhol
Edie in Ciao! Manhattan (1972) - David Weisman, John Palmer (II) [Amazon US] Fact and fiction collide in the cultclassicCiao! Manhattan, which was billed as "the film that wrote itself." The unexpectedly poignant tale is based on the life of "Superstar" Edie Sedgwick, who plays a drugged-out former model named Susan. In Southern California, she lives in her wealthy, pie-obsessed mother's swimming pool and recounts her glory days in Manhattan to a Houston drifter (Wesley Hayes). John Palmer and David Weisman began filming in New York in 1967 and kept shooting for the next five years, even as Sedgwick moved West, grew out her hair, got breast implants, and spent time at a variety of mental institutes. The 1970s present is in color; the 1960s flashbacks are in luminous black and white. John Phillips, Richie Havens, and others provide the period-perfect soundtrack. Confusing at times, but always entertaining, Ciao! Manhattan is a must for fans of Head, Trash, and all things weird, wiggy, and Warhol. --Kathleen C. Fennessy2004, Jan 31; 17:49 :::: Thumbmonkey.com: Animal wierdness, art gossip, and yes, teeny monkeys...
Poor Little Rich Girls, blah blah blah....
You know- I find the whole Paris Hilton thing to be a thumping bore, despite my inordinate fondness for celebrity gossip,- and I just realized that I've already BEEN obsessed with a platinum blonde, super skinny, vacant eyed, glamour puss heiress socialite before- 60's Warhol superstar Edie Sedgewick! When I was 16 I was totally enamoured with Edie, thinking her the most facinating and glamourous thing that ever walked the earth. I carried her biography around with my like a goddamn bible, watched "Ciao Manhattan" numerous times, even made myself a Edie T-shirt in my art class in high school. She had silver blonde hair, chandelier earrings, tons of black eyeliner,and lived in black leotards, and was a muse of ANDY WARHOL fer chrissakes...I tried to look like her as much as I possibly could. I found her tragic and exotic (as did any good hipster chick worth her salt as I later discovered). Eventually I came to think of her as slightly pathetic (she was a hyper insecure drug addict who died at 28, I believe) and moved on to other "goddesses"...but I do think Paris should ramp it up a notch and find a hot artist to hang out with constantly. Paris and Damian Hirst! Now that's what I'm talking about.--Kirsten Anderson http://www.drmenlo.com/roqlarue/2003_12_14_roqlarue_archive.html2004, Jan 31; 10:08 :::: Roy Ayers
Master band leader, vibraphone virtuoso and second most sampled men in hip-hop…Just a fraction of the titles Roy Ayers has amassed in his near-mythical journey through the international Jazz, Funk, Soul, and Hip Hop worlds.
As a result of legendary albums like Everybody Loves The Sunshine (1976)Stoned Soul Picnic (1968) and Mystic Voyage (1975), Roy Ayers has established himself as a living legend and an idol of jazz cats, crate diggers and true music lovers the world over. Having played with some of the finest musicians in the world, including Herbie Hancock, Guru, Fela Kuti, Mary J. Blige, Ron Carter, Erykah Badu, and The Roots, Roy Ayers has found acceptance from both the Jazz and Hip-Hop communities.
In 2003, Ayers gave Rapster/BBE unprecedented access to hundreds of unreleased recordings. This resulting album is the 2nd in the Lost and Found series and what is likely to be a series of albums, giving life to what can only be termed "the holy grail" of any true music lover’s search. --amazon.com
Style Wars (1983) - Tony Silver[Amazon US][FR][DE][UK]
Some call it tagging, some call it writing, still others call it bombing--it's all graffiti. Whether it's art or not is another matter, but it's undeniably illegal. Tony Silver and Henry Chalfant's historic PBS documentary Style Wars tracks the rise and fall of subway graffiti in New York in the late 1970s and early 1980s. At the peak of its popularity, graffiti was as much a part of B-boy culture as rapping, scratching, and breaking. The filmmakers present a sympathetic, but well-rounded portrait of their subject through extensive interviews with taggers--notably Seen, Kase, and Dondi--art collectors, transit authorities, and even Mayor Ed Koch, who would eventually put the hammer down. Along the way, they documented the burgeoning breakdance scene, with a focus on the world-famous Rock Steady Crew. The soundtrack features selections from Grandmaster Flash, the Treacherous Three, and other tagger-approved icons of old-school hip-hop. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Strange Sounds: Music, Technology, and Culture (Routledge, 2001) - Timothy D. Taylor [Amazon US][FR][DE][UK]
Clearly technology has added a "voice" to music, but how does that voice affect the traditional humancraftsmanship of music? In other words, can the music created still be called one's own? In Strange Sounds, Timothy Taylor addresses the anxieties provoked by technology's role in music composition since World War II. In this accessible and comprehensive study, Taylor discusses the nature of technology, its use in making music, and the inevitable fears of losing one's agency further with the new digital technologies being developed. From the early tape music of France and the "space age pop" of 1950s America to the numerous electronic dance music genres of today that detour into "illegal" activities like those argued in lawsuits over the sampling of traditional folk music, and the tranceclub scenes in cities like New York and London that have become synonymous with the drugecstasy, technology has irrevocably penetrated the production and consumption of contemporary music. --Book Description, amazon.co.uk
2004, Jan 27; 18:19 :::: music, technology
Music and Technology in the Twentieth Century (2002) - Hans-Joachim Braun (Editor) [Amazon US][FR][DE][UK]
From the Publisher
"A surprisingly good read, with a depth and coherence . . . Pays attention to both sound production and sound recording, as well as economic and social factors that have shaped the 20th century music industry . . . This is a very strong collection written by leading researchers in the field."—Mark Clark, ICON, Journal of the International Committee for the History of Technology
About the Author:
Hans-Joachim Braun is a professor of modern social, economic, and technological history at the Universität der Bundeswehr in Hamburg, Germany.
Technology has always been inseparable from the development of music. But in the twentieth century a rapid acceleration took place: a new "machine music" came into existence, electronic musical instruments appeared, and composers sometimes seemed more like sound technicians than musicians. In this book Hans-Joachim Braun and his co-authors offer a wide-ranging and fascinating look at the relationship of technology and modern music. Topics range from the role of Yamaha in Japan's musical development to the social construction of the synthesizer; from the player piano as precursor of computer music to the musical role of airplanes and locomotives; from the growth of one independentrecordingstudio (from "Polka to Punk") to the origins of the
45–RPM record. Other chapters consider violin vibrato and the phonograph, Jimi Hendrix, and the aesthetic challenge of soundsampling. The book concludes with a look at the current situation, and perspectives for its future in! electronic music.
Contributors: Barbara Barthelmes, Karin Bijsterveld, Hans-Joachim Braun, Martha Brech, Hugh Davies, Bernd Enders, Geoffrey Hindley, Jüergen Hocker, Mark Katz, Tatsuya Kobayashi, James P. Kraft, Alexander B. Magoun, Rebecca McSwain, Andre Millard, Helga de la Motte-Haber, Trevor Pinch, Susan Schmidt-Horning, and Frank Trocco. --Book Description
via amazon.com
One of the most interesting areas of 'studying' disco and house music, is their relationship of sampler and samplee. The house record borrows from the disco record by isolating a sample of it and make a whole new record from that sample by using digital equipment.
This is a phenomenon of 'black music' in general. Examples can be found in every 'black music music genre'. Which begs the question: is this quality unique to black music or can it be extended to white music?
I do not have the answer for that question, but I will leave you with some 'black music' examples:
A word on DeepBeats Classic Disco vol.1. This is the cd that got me into disco. It features Carrie Lucas's Dance With You, which Armand Van Helden - who appears to have a fine set of ears - used for his 1998 You Don't Know Me.
Nu Bop (2002) - Matthew Shipp [Amazon US][FR][DE][UK]
We've seen many different sides to avant-garde jazz pianist Matthew Shipp, who has more than 20 albums as a leader to his credit. Now the pianist does something radically different, bringing breakbeats and electronic sampling into his downtown jazz world. The sound is a bit uneasy, but that is nothing new for Shipp, whose other efforts also move back and forth between musical friction and musical synchronicity. Nu Bop has both: Shipp's broad, thunderous acoustic piano winds through and bounces off producer Chris Flam's unswerving beats. Live drummer Guillermo E. Brown and bassist William Parker are kept on a tighter leash, but somehow they still manage to make such tracks as "Space Shipp" and the title cut swing. Techno fans may be used to higher production values, but this is truly a Matthew Shipp album with beats. The savvy Shipp also includes a few lovely solo piano pieces here that nicely break things up. --Tad Hendrickson, Amazon.com
2004, Jan 26; 21:56 :::: jazz
Blue Break Beats Vol.1 (1992) - Various Artists [Amazon US][FR][DE][UK]
1. Grooving with Mr G - Holmes, Richard 'Groove'
2. Sookie sookie - Green, Grant (1)
3. Who's making love - Donaldson, Lou
4. Weasil - Byrd, Donald
5. Kudu - Henderson, Eddie
6. Harlem River Drive - Humphrey, Bobbi
7. Blue juice - McGriff, Jimmy
8. Final comedown - Green, Grant (1)
9. Turtle walk - Donaldson, Lou
10. Your love is too much - Three Sounds
11. Black Jack - Byrd, Donald
12. Olilloqui Valley - Hancock, Herbie
Want some of the best jazz around--? Budget impaired, like myself? Fortunately, for us, there's this Blue Note Records collection of the best from favorites like Donald Byrd, Lou Donaldson, and Grant Green. Now, the powers that be at EMI-Capitol thought to get some sells of this great jazz by packaging it as a "sample this" offering to hip-hoppers/rap raconteurs. It turns out that they needn't have done so. The various volumes and the box set with Vols 1-4 has some great work like Bobbi Humphrey's "Harlem River Drive" and Herbie Hancock's "Olilloqui Valley". The music, in other words, can really stand alone...I would urge those interested in sampling to listen to these greats not to lift a groove, but to help themselves in learning how to make their own groove....Dig? --yygsgsdrassil, amazon.com
White Women - Helmut Newton
[Amazon US][FR][DE][UK] WhiteWomen, Helmut Newton's legendary first work, appeared more than twenty years ago. With it's superior mixture of aesthetics, technical perfection and bourgeoisdecadence it has lost nothing of its potency and attractiveness. Newton's work encompasses a wealth of themes, also embodying facets of the mass-media world of glamour, masquerade and show. Using subtle, yet striking images--like those of Paloma Picasso, Veruschka, Elsa Peretti, Karl Lagerfeld, David Hockney, and Charlotte Rampling--Newton embraces the delicate, natural beauty of the naked female body. White Women is a masterpiece of erotic visual literature.
2004, Jan 26; 14:55 :::: nu (as in nu jazz, nu soul)
Nu Jazz Cool (Ocho Records) (2003) - VA [Amazon.com] [FR][DE][UK]
1. Samba De Bencao - Bebel Gilberto
2. The Child - Alex Gopher
3. Santa Maria (Del Buen Ayre) - Gotan Project
4. Barrio Alto - Thievery Corporation
5. She's So - Royksopp
6. Virtual Insanity - Jamiroquai
7. I Am the Black Gold of the Sun - Nu Yorican Soul
8. Easy to Remember - St Germain
9. No Problem - UFO
10. Teardrop Butterfly - Praful
11. Waltz for Koop - Koop
12. Felicidade - Suba
13. Queixume - Tom & Joyce
14. Mr PC - Snowboy
Disc: 2
1. Riders on the Storm - Yonderboi
2. Ponteio - Da Lata
3. Feeling Good - Huff & Herb
4. Indigo Blues - Llorca
5. Garden of Earthly Delights - D-Note
6. Lady Day & John Coltrane - Gil Scott-Heron
7. Friendly Pressure - Jhelisa
8. Outro Lado - Zuco 103
9. The Jackal - Ronnie JOrdan
10. Seis Por Ocho - NuSpirit Helsinki
11. Cantaloup - Us3
12. Hoy Tenemos - Sidestepper
13. The Creator Has a Masterplan - Brooklyn Funk Essentials
14. Mettin Una Sera A Cena - Balanco
15. Les Nuits - Nightmares on Wax
2004, Jan 26; 13:55 :::: soundtrack, spaghetti western
Remixes Vol.1 (2003) - Ennio Morricone [Amazon.com] [FR][DE][UK]
1. International Pony - La Moda (We Love Ennio Mix)
2. Alex Attias - Le Foto Proibite Di Una Signora Per Bene (Alex Attias Mustang Mix 1)
3. Swell Session - The Good, The Bad And The Ugly
4. Hakan Lidbo - Alla Serenità
5. Leroy Hanghofer - Beat N.3 (Toy Destroy Mix)
6. Raw Deal - Ninna Nanna In Blu
7. Needs - Amore Come Dolore
8. Hird - I Crudeli
9. Kabuki - Dal Mare
10. Butti 49 - Rivoluzione (Con-fusion Mix)
11. Kid Sundance - Indagine Su Un Cittadino Al Di Sopra Di Ogni Sospetto
12. Majbour - Addio A Cheyenne
13. The Amalgamation Of Soundz - La Cugina
14. Temporary Soundmuseum - Giù La Testa (Sucker's Finale) (Lullaby for James Coburn)
When I heard that Compost were putting together a Morricone remix LP I was pretty excited. Quite an ambitious project even by their standards. The standout tracks have to be the sublime remixes by Alex Attias (this guy's really on form right now - check out his remix of Sun Ra's 'Nuclear War' on on the Kindred Spirit label) and Swell Session aka Andreas Saag. Is it just me or are these guys the only ones on this project to come up with remixes that have balls? I heard somewhere that Morricone personnally signed off all these remixes - is he mad? Some of this stuff is pretty 'coffee-table'. It would have been nice if Compost had looked past the 'Flavour of the Month' broken-beat/nu-jazz djs & producers to work on this project and invited a broader range of experimental musicians to be involved. The music of Ennio Morricone will forever be seen as genius ... maybe Alex Attias & Andreas Saag one day? I'll give those 3 stars for their remixes alone. --solecizm, amazon
Rewind Vol.1 (Ubiquity) (2002) Various Artists [Amazon.com] [FR][DE][UK]
1. Breathe - Open Door
2. Hercules - Beatless
3. Riders on the Storm/Pink Solidism - Yonderboi
4. Sunshine of Your Love - Ella Fitzgerald
5. Turn off the Lights
6. Daylight
7. Round About Midnight - Gotan Project
8. Quimbara [Jazztronik Mix] - Jack Costanzo
9. Calypso Blues [As One Remix] - Jack Costanzo
10. Billy Jean - Shinehead
11. Heaven Must Be Like This
12. Golden Brown - Better Daze
Rewind Vol.2 (Ubiquity) (2003) Various Artists [Amazon.com] [FR][DE][UK]
1. Ridin' High - The Platinum Pied Pipers
2. To Know You Is To Love You - Greyboy
3. Take It All In And Check It All Out - Joseph Malik
4. Uam Uam - Povo Povo
5. Meaning Of Love (Herbert Remix) - Karin Krog
6. Speak Low - Big Bang
7. People Get Ready - Roy Davis Jr.
8. Deja Vu - Yesterdays New Quintet
9. Reza - Superbaccana
10. Adriana - Nicola Conte
11. Fragile - John Beltran
12. Private Life - Fruitbeard
13. Open Your Eyes - Platinum Pied Pipers
14. Just My Imagination - Terry Callier
15. Naima - Soul Bossa Trio
Rewind vol .3 (Ubiquity) (2004) - Various Artists [Amazon.com] [FR][DE][UK]
1. Louie Vega - Jungle Fever
2. Greyboy w/Bart Davenport - Genevieve
3. Antibalas - Che Che Colo (Makossa mix)
4. Elsa Hedberg - Open Your Eyes
5. Paolo Fedreghini - Please Don't Leave
6. This Kid Named Miles - Ring of Fire
7. Damon Aaron - Willing
8. Spiritual South - Stars and Rockets
9. Spaceboys - Space Is The Place
10. John Arnold - Rough
11. P'taah - Baltimore Oriole
12. Swag - Riot In Lagos
13. Nobody - Porpoise Song
14. Jeremy Ellis - Chameleon
15. Bing Ji Ling - All Night Long
The Rewind! concept is simple - a selection of our current favorite artists, producers, and bands record new versions of tunes that inspired them to make the music you love 'em for now. On our third volume artists like Louie Vega (Masters at Work), Greyboy, Antibalas, Swag, P'taah, Jeremy Ellis (aka Ayro), This Kid Named Miles (of Breakestra), John Arnold, Nobody, Damon Aaron, Spiritual South and others pay tribute to classic songs and underground cult tracks by the likes of Herbie Hancock, Cymande, Gil Scott-Heron, Sun Ra, The Chakachas and even Johnny Cash and AC/DC. Rewind! 3, unlike the first volumes, includes no remixes or re-edits of the originals this time - just 100% cover versions made from scratch, with love and dedication by artists from Italy, England, Sweden, Portugal and the USA. 6 tracks are completely exclusive, 2 are currently unreleased, and 2 more were previously unavailable on CD. --amazon.com
Aelita, The Queen of Mars (1924) -Yakov Protazanov [Amazon US]
A Soviet sensation upon its heavily publicized release in 1924, Aelita, the Queen of Mars is now a curiosity of post-revolutionary Russian silent cinema, a bit laughable in its revolutionary zeal not only on Earth but on Mars as well! Despite a cool reaction from critics, the film was such a hit with the Soviet public that many Russian babies born in '24 were named Aelita, and the Cubist designs of the Martian sets --heavily influenced by the avant-garde "constructivist" style-- would in turn influence science fiction films in the years to follow. With costume designs performances that are truly out of this world, Aelita was the 1924 equivalent of a Spielberg spectacular; now it's a museum piece, unlikely to raise anyone's pulse, but it's startling to think that this film was even possible in 1924 Russia.
The story is almost beside the point, revolving around a married Moscow engineer who dreams of Aelita, the Queen of Mars, and is obsessed with building a spaceship that will take him to her. An alleged murder, passionate jealousy, and a bumbling detective are all part of the film's portrait of hardscrabble post-revolutionary lifestyle, but they pale in comparison to the intermittent scenes on Mars, which peak with the engineer's ultimate arrival and the eruption of a Martian slave rebellion! It's pure propaganda, but agreeably light and remarkably revealing of its time and place. Anyone expecting a Soviet Metropolis will be disappointed, but if you're fascinated by imaginative films from the silent era, Aelita is must-see viewing. --Jeff Shannon for Amazon.com
2004, Jan 24; 14:36 :::: new wave
Formed in 1981, the group was composed of Beate Bartel, later a member of DAF, and Chris Haas with vocalist Krishna Goineau and recorded their music in the studio of famed Kraut-rock producer Conrad Plank. These references- EBM, DAF, and Krautrock- only begin to tell the tale of exactly where this group was coming from. Tape manipulations, no wave, post-punk, all of these terms apply to a certain extent, as well. But taxonomy isn’t the point here- this group was a one-of-a-kind entity and their reputation doesn’t rely on their obscurity, but rather the quality of the music. --Todd Burns, http://www.stylusmagazine.com/review.php?ID=600
New Religion a Secret History (2003) - Various Artists [Amazon.com] [FR][DE][UK]
1. Hypnotic Tango (Instrumental Version) - My Mine
2. Problemes D'Amour - Alexander Robotnick
3. Temporary Secretary - Paul McCartney
4. Frequency 7 (Dance Mix) - Visage
5. Peut Etre...Pas - Liaisons Dangereuses
6. Secret Life - Material
7. Riot In Lagos - Riuchi Sakamoto
8. Brainwash - Telex
9. Wonderful (Disco Dub Mix) - Klein & M.B.O.
10. Hot On The Heels Of Love - Throbbing Gristle
11. I.C. Love Affair (Italian Version) - Gaz Nevada
Oh yeah, there is plenty of Italian Italian disco but some of the biggest Italian Disco records are from Canada. Make of that what you will! People site I-F's Mixed up at the Hague as THE italo-disco primer but that's just because it has a few, but really there's as much non italo, Patrick Cowley represents San Francisco, Pluton and the Humanoids' Space Invasion, which most think is Italo, is french canadian, etc etc. And I'd say you're right, Space's Magic Fly, later covered by the obviously
French Canadian Kebekelektrik as well as another Frenchie, Cerrone were major influences on Italo-disco, in that they were Space Disco. Also see Disco Circus by Martin Circus, 15 minutes of French funk. But that's a tangent. I'm supposed to put something together soon for a friend's site, will forward. Here's the cream of the crop of ITALIAN Italo-disco, according to my tastes/whims, top o' the head, briefly from what I see as 3 period of Italo, big orchestral Morricone cinematic Italo of 78-82, dark space electro italo of 82-84 (the prime) and big pop new wave freestyle Italo of 84-86: -- Dan Selzer http://www.woebot.com/movabletype/archives/000039.html
After the experience with the punk bands Theoretical Girls and Statics GLENN BRANCA met the Minimal music and started, with this first production, a carreer that during the 80's will sign a new approach to the Minimal music and in the 90's to become one of the most complex and innovative composers of the American school.
The band anticipate the ensembles of the 80s, full of guitarists. Here, beside BRANCA we find a second guitar player, Michael Gross, and a rhythmic section formed by Stephen Wischerth on drums, a constant presence in the BRANCA's bands through most of the eighties, F.L. Schroder on bass and a young Anthony Coleman on organ, a musician who collaborated in the following years with John Zorn and some of the most innovative improvisers becoming an important bandleader on his own today.
The compositions on the CD are two, for a total of 20 minutes. The first one, Lesson No.1 for electric guitar, the title of the CD, is fully inside the Minimalist musical language of the period. A short phrase repeated by the various instruments at regular intervals. The influence of Minimalist vocabulary, in particular of Steve Reich, that has a very high consideration of BRANCA's music, is evident. The second track, Dissonance, is a mixture of the minimalist language with the atmosphere punk. The result is very wild and intense.
A recording that after more than fifteen years still mantains the original innovative character and strength. --http://www.felmay.it/5032en.html
Space Box: 1970 & Beyond (Space, Krautrock & Acid Trips) [BOX SET]
Various Artists - New Age [Amazon.com] [FR][DE][UK]
Disc: 1
1. Valium 10 (12' Version) - Hawkwind
2. Slo Blo - Pressurehed
3. Wolf City - Amon Duul II en
4. Mominous - Ron Geesin
5. Boots Of Ascension - F/I
6. Apropos Cluster - Cluster
7. Brainticket - Architectural Metaphor
8. Gongwash Indelible - Gong
9. Burning Sky - Porcupine Tree
10. Third From The Sun - Chrome
11. 10 Seconds Of Forever - Nik Turner
12. International Sponge - Alien Planetscapes
Disc: 2
1. UFO - Guru Guru
2. In Aquarian Dream - Melting Euphoria
3. Deranged (Zero Gravity Mix) - Kraftwelt
4. Past Zero Time - Dark Matter
5. Sehr Kosmisch - Harmonia
6. This Alien Nation (Space Mix) - Darxtar
7. Time Center - Michael Moorcock's Deep Fix
8. Vision Of Infinity (7' Version) - Farflung
9. Number 6 - Brainstorm
10. Contrapuntal Interstellar Radars - Conrad Schnitzler
11. Time Of ... - Hawklords
Disc: 3
1. Devoted Bone Dance - Faust
2. Leaving The Body - Helios Creed
3. Ich Mache Einen Spiegel - Popol Vuh
4. 12-24-2011 - Anubian Lights
5. Tribal Elders - Nick Riff
6. The Changing - Harvey Bainbridge
7. Interferon - Zero Gravity
8. Tangerine Sky - Dilate
9. 21:51 (Edit Version) - Kluster
10. Scorpius (Deep Space Version) - Steve Peregrine Took
11. Vortex In My Cortex - The Brain
12. Cysyrgy - Spiral Realms
13. Gamma Days - Surface 10
'Just as water, gas, and electricity are brought into our houses from far off to satisfy our needs in response to a minimal effort, so we shall be supplied with visual or auditory images, which will appear and disappear at a simple movement of the hand, hardly more than a sign.'
Comme l'eau, comme le gaz, comme le courant électrique viennent de loin dans nos demeures répondre à nos besoins moyennant un effort quasi nul, ainsi serons-nous alimentés d'images visuelles ou auditives, naissant et s'évanouissant au moindre geste, presque à un signe. -- Paul Valéry, “ La conquête de l’ubiquité ” (1928), Pièces sur l'Art
White Noise (1985) - Don DeLillo [Amazon.com] [FR][DE][UK]
Better than any book I can think of, White Noise captures the particular strangeness of life in a time where humankind has finally learned enough to kill itself. Naturally, it's a terribly funny book, and the prose is as beautiful as a sunset through a particulate-filled sky. Nice-guy narrator Jack Gladney teaches Hitler Studies at a small college. His wife may be taking a drug that removes fear, and one day a nearby chemical plant accidentally releases a cloud of gas that may be poisonous. Writing before Bhopal and Prozac entered the popular lexicon, DeLillo produced a work so closely tuned into its time that it tells the future. --amazon.com
2004, Jan 19; 18:04 :::: biology
The Presence of the Past: Morphic Resonance & the Habits of Nature - Rupert Sheldrake [Amazon.com] [FR][DE][UK]
Biochemist Sheldrake maintains that if a pigeon in London learns a new habit, then pigeons everywhere else will automatically show an increasing tendency to learn the same habit. He holds that invisible energy patterns or "morphogenetic fields" surround and shape all atoms, all crystals, all pigeons and all humans. In his astonishing theory, any natural system whether insulin molecules, dandelions or societiesinherits a collective memory from all previous members of that group. Experimental evidence for Sheldrake's hypothesis is inconclusive but tantalizing. If true, it would force a radical revision of our understanding of genetics, evolution, memory, learning. Many books on the "new physics" and the paranormal have discussed Sheldrake's ideas, but his own explanation of morphic resonance is the most lucid and exciting account to date. He uses the theory here to suggest how creation myths and rituals connect past and present. --Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc, via amazon.com
2004, Jan 18; 18:15 :::: obsession, cult fiction
The Collector (1963) - John Fowles [Amazon.com] [FR][DE][UK]
Fowles launched his career with The Collector, which was welcomed with great critical enthusiasm, including that of LJ's reviewer, who found it "a distinguished first novel" (LJ 8/63). Mantissa, on the other hand, was a departure from the author's more popular material and received only a marginal response (LJ 9/1/82). Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
In this chilling archetypal tale of good and evil, a beautiful, idealistic young woman studying art in London is kidnapped by a startlingly ordinary young man who wants only to keep her--like the butterflies he has collected before her. James Wilby is superb as the collector, by turns angry, indignant, whining, and threatening, and the terrified, but defiant, prisoner waging war against her captor while in secret journals struggling to come to terms with her past and present. Despite a lengthy digression on the meaning of art and the British class struggle, this powerful reading of a haunting tale will echo in the reader's psyche long after the words fade away. J.E.T. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine
2004, Jan 17; 00:25 :::: art
On Sept. 22 2004, the new Kunsthaus Graz, a large venue for contemporary art, debuts in Graz, Austria's second largest city. The approximately $40-million, 120,000-square-foot, three-level building was paid for in part by federal funds and local public sources as well as by Graz 2003, which oversees EU funds allocated to the town as this year's cultural capital of Europe. Nicknamed "a friendly alien" by local residents, the building, designed by the London-based architectural team of Peter Cook and Colin Fournier, has an organic shape with a skin made of shimmering blue acrylic panels. At night, the building glows by means of a computerized lighting system beneath the translucent skin. With large, tubelike "nozzles" for windows that protrude from the convex roof, the structure indeed suggests an outer-space creature that has landed in the middle of Graz's historic town center along the banks of the Mur River. --David Ebony
2004, Jan 16; 22:17 :::: Umberto Eco
Umberto Eco provides an interesting thesis for
the appeal of the cult work of art. In "Casablanca: Cult Movies and Intertextual Collage," an essay that comes from his anthology Faith in Fakes: Travels in Hyperreality, Eco talks specifically about Casablanca,, a work, which is in my opinion as mainstream as can be.
By the author of "The Name of the Rose", these essays, written over the last 20 years and culled from newspapers and magazines, explore the rag-bag of modern consciousness. Eco considers a wide range of topics, from "Superman" and "Casablanca", Federico Fellini and Michelangelo Antonioni, Jim Jones and mass suicide, and Woody Allen, to holography and waxworks, pop festivals and football, and not least the social and personal implications of tight jeans. --amazon.com
The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae (1998) - Colin Larkin (Editor) [Amazon.com] [FR][DE][UK]
This is a complete handbook of information and opinion about the history and development of reggae music. Based on the "Encyclopedia of Popular Music", the book contains over 1000 entries covering musicians, bands, songwriters, producers and record labels which have made a significant impact on the development of reggae music. It brings together people such as Prince Buster and Duke Reid, with performers who took reggae beyond Jamaica's shores such as Jimmy Cliff and Bob Marley and the Wailers, and those who have been at the forefront in more recent years, such as UB40, Shabba Ranks and Red Rat. Each entry offers information such as dates, career facts, discography and album ratings. --from the publisher
2004, Jan 15; 21:32 :::: music, Bjork
Life's Too Good (1988) - The Sugarcubes [Amazon.com] [FR][DE][UK] Rare is the debut that displays such fully formed talent as Iceland's Sugarcubes' first album. Highlighted by the Cocteau Twins-influenced single "Birthday," two other provocative singles, "Deus" and "Coldsweat," and by the incredible vocal gymnastics of Björk Gudmundsdottir, Life's Too Good brilliantly shows a new band staking out its own sonic space. Einar Orn contributes an electronically reprocessed trumpet, and a few awkwardly charming and ranting vocals as well, but this is clearly Björk's show. Her vocal range is staggering. The CD reissue adds six extra tracks, several of which are sung in Icelandic. --Rob O'Connor, amazon.com
2004, Jan 15; 10:32 :::: mass, art
In this pathbreaking new book, a leading philosopher of art provides an accessible and wide-ranging look at the topic. Noel Carroll shows why philosophers have previously resisted and/or misunderstood mass art and he develops frameworks for understanding the relation of mass art to the emotions, morality, and ideology. He also discusses the major theories of such pivotal figures as Collingwood, Adorno, Benjamin, McCluhan, and Fiske. Mixing conceptual analysis with many vivid examples, Carroll forges the first significant attempt at a philosophy of mass art, concluding that there are strong grounds for approaching mass art in the same fashion as high art. --amazon.com
Sounds and Society: Themes in the Sociology of Music - Peter J. Martin [Amazon.com] [FR][DE][UK]
Martin (sociology, U. of Manchester) argues that musicalmeaning must be understood as socially constructed rather than inherent, and that the notion of a correspondence between social and musical structures is highly problematic. He outlines an alternative approach, based on the "social action" perspective, and concludes with a discussion of the social situation of music in advanced capitalist society. He draws on studies across the entire spectrum of Western music, from medieval plainchant to rock and avant-gardejazz. --Book News, Inc. Portland, Or., amazon.com
2004, Jan 15; 01:03 :::: music
Late Night Tales (2003) - Jamiroquai [Amazon.com] [FR][DE][UK]
1. Pointer Sisters - Happiness
2. Commodores - Girl I think the world about you
3. Rufus & Chaka Khan - Once you get started
4. Johnny Hammond - Fantasy
5. Ramsey Lewis - Whisper zone
6. Leon Ware - Whats your name
7. Ashford & Simpson - Stay free
8. Kleeer - Tonight's the night
9. Dexter Wansel - Never forget
10. Sister Sledge - Pretty baby
11. Jose Feliciano - California dreaming
12. Skyy - Here's to you
13. Dexter Wansel - Life on Mars
14. The Real Thing - Raining in my sunshine
15. Lalo Schifrin - Theme from Enter The Dragon
16. Marvin Gaye - Here My Dear
17. Patrice Rushen - Music of the earth
2004, Jan 14; 22:13 :::: art deco
Screen Deco (Architecture and Film, 3.) - Howard Mandelbaum, Eric Myers [Amazon.com] [FR][DE][UK]
Mandelbaum and Myers take the reader on an entertaining tour of the Hollywood of the 1920s through the '40s, examining the glamour of movie sets, where Art Deco flourished. Opulence in the celluloid fantasy world, they note, was popular with audiences because films created a refuge from the drudgery of their lives and the poverty of the Depression. Cedric Gibbons was the first Hollywood designer "to fully exploit the new Modernist decor" in Our Dancing Daughters (1928) and the trend continued through Busby Berkeley's extravaganzas, reaching its height in the Fred AstaireGinger Rogers collaborations of the '30s. The role of the art director is examined briefly, and mention is made of the influence of the Hollywood-style on society (many stars and directors, acting out public yearnings, lived in mansions modelled after their film dwellings). Mandelbaum is co-author of Flesh and Fantasy; Myers is a motion picture publicist. December 9
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc., amazon.com
Long sought-after in the out-of-print market, SCREEN DECO is a witty and detailed look at the fabulous Art Deco designs in the films of the Twenties and Thirties. Lavishly illustrated with stills from movies famous and obscure, SCREEN DECO appeals to the film historian as well as anyone interested in the rise of High Style Deco. Chapters cover, among other topics, the design of musicals, ocean liners, and futurist cinematic epics. The final chapter presents portraits of the stars who personified the Deco "look." --Book Description
Passionately and clearly written, this wide-ranging book probes into the social and material rewards that accrue to "the possessive investment in whiteness." Lipsitz sums up the ways that public policy has virtually excluded communities of color from everything that American society defines as desirable: first-rate education, decent housing, asset accumulation, political power, social status, satisfying work, and even the power to shape and narrate their own history. White supremacy is no thing of the past, no fringe movement. It is a pervasive and pernicious system that restricts the political and cultural agency of African-Americans, Asian-Americans and Latinos every day. Unearned and unacknowledged, race-based advantages, not greater merit or a superior work ethic, account for white privilege.
Lipsitz's ultimate point is not to condemn all white people as racists but to challenge everyone to begin a principled examination of personal actions and political commitments. Exposing the system of unfairness is not enough. People of all groups-but especially white people because they benefit from that system-have to work toward eradicating the rewards of whiteness. --amazon.com
Rough Trade Shops - Post Punk Vol.1 (2003) - Various Artists [Amazon.com] [FR][DE][UK]
Disc: 1
1. I Found That Essence Rare - Gang Of Four
2. Georges Five - Les Georges Leningrad
3. We Are All Prostitutes - The Pop Group
4. Die Matrosen - Liliput
5. Out Of The Races And Onto The Tracks - The Rapture
6. Mind Your Own Business - Delta 5
7. Shoplifting - The Slits
8. Delayed Reaction - The Rogers Sisters
9. Sunny Day - Pigbag
10. You're No Good - ESG
11. Another Song - Swell Maps
12. You - The Au Pairs
13. Fade Away - New Age Steppers
14. Careering - Public Image Ltd
15. You And You - DNA
16. The Leanover - Life Without Buildings
17. For My Country - UK Decay
18. Skank Bloc Bologna - Scritti Politt
19. Sex Machine - The Flying Lizards
20. Disco Pope - The Prats
21. Groupmegroup - Liquid, Liquid
22. Ex Lion Tamer - Wire
Disc: 2
1. Too Many Creeps - Bush Tetras
2. Robot - The Futureheads
3. Contort Yourself (Original Version) - James White And The Blacks
4. Asbestos Lead Asbestos - World Domination Enterprises
5. The Fish Needs A Bike - Blurt
6. Debbie Harry - Family Fodder
7. Like You - Gramme
8. Definitive Gaze - Magazine
9. Lola - The Raincoats
10. Sink - bIG flame
11. Last Words - 23 Skidoo
12. Yes I Do - Chicks On Speed
13. Tongue Tied - Erase Errata
14. I Bloodbrother Be (£4,000 Love Letter) - Shockheaded Peters
15. Industrial Estate - The Fall
16. Searching For Mr Right - Young Marble Giants
17. Deaf - Crispy Ambulance
18. This Is Pop? - XTC
19. White Mice - Mo-Dettes
20. Bop Bop - Fats Comet And The Big Sound
21. Aerosol Burns - Essential Logic
22. Stretch (Disco Mix/Rap) - Maximum Joy
2004, Jan 12; 16:06 :::: cult object
Classic Cult Fiction - Thomas Reed Whissen (Author) [Amazon.com] [FR][DE][UK]
Whissen argues persuasively that cultfiction is a distinct genre that can influence and change individuals and Western society. Cult books encompass the cultural components of "romanticism, democratic idealism, myth-dream, opportunity, and truth" and the psychological components of "idealization, alienation, ego-reinforcement, suffering, and vulnerability" and reinvent reality because the world has strayed from traditional values or is heading in the wrong direction. Reader response is crucial for cult status; readers must feel that the book speaks for them. To explore this genre, Whissen selected 50 novels, most written in the United States after 1945, and wrote individual essays. He summarizes the plots, themes, and characters; describes the cult status of each book; and makes appropriate comparisons to similar cult books. Thought-provoking and challenging, Classic Cult Fiction is recommended.
- Cheryl L. Conway, Univ. of Arkansas Lib., Fayetteville, Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Essays on 50 books that have acquired a permanent underground following in the past two centuries, analyze each story, its place in its world, and the manifestations of its cultism. Animal farm, Dune, Lord of the rings, and Walden two, are among the books. Also includes an introductory survey of the cult phenomenon, general and specific bibliographies, and a chronological list, 1774-1979, that also notes books not discussed. --Book News, Inc. Portland, Or. From Book News, Inc., amazon.com
Classic Cult Fiction is a history, analysis, and reference guide to books that have become "bibles" to generations of Europeans and Americans over the past 200 years--books like The Catcher in the Rye. Fearlessly taking on "canon formation," Whissen identifies the top 50 classic cult books, first presenting an informed and witty interpretation of the phenomenon and its characteristics with examples from different cultures and periods. The individual works are each discussed relative to time and place, impact, and audience psychology and analyzed in terms of common cult attributes. A chronological listing of cult fiction adds a number of titles not chosen for the top 50. --Book Description, amazon.com
The Bedroom (1992) - Hisayasu Sato[Amazon US]
Director Hisayasu Sato's eclectic study of subcultures: fetishism, drug use, prostitution and pornography. Both sensual and unsettling, "The Bedroom" paints a nightmare landscape that is strangely attractive. Kyoko is a member of a club called The Bedroom where all the girls use Hallusion, a highly hallucinatory drug, and then let men do whatever they want to them. One by one, the women in the club are being killed and mutilated. Soon, Kyoko begins to suspect her lover, Kei, of being the murderer. But the truth proves to be far more disturbing. This stylish example of Japanese "Pink Cinema" co-stars cannibal murderer Issei Sagawa, who shot and partially ate his Dutch girlfriend in Paris in 1981. Issei Sagawa, Kiyomi Ito, Kyoko Nakamura, Momori Asano, Takeshi Ito; Dir: Hisayasu Sato. Includes production stills and background information on the Pink Cinema movement and director Hisayasu. --amazon.com
2003, Jan 05; 12:36 :::: architecture
Artificial Love : A Story of Machines and Architecture (2003) - Paul Shepheard [Amazon US][FR][DE][UK]
According to Paul Shepheard, architecture is the rearranging of the world for human purposes. Sculpture, machines, and landscapes are all architecture-every bit as much as buildings are. In his writings, Shepheard examines old assumptions about architecture and replaces the critical theory of the academic with the active theory of the architect-citizen enamored of the world around him. Artificial Love weaves together three stories about architecture into one. The first, about machines as architecture, leads to speculations about technology and the human condition and to the assertion that machines are the sculptures of today. The second story is about the ways that architecture reflects the tribal and personal desires of those who make it. In the West, ideas of community, multiculturalism, and globalization compete furiously, leaving architecture to exist as it always has, as the past in the present. The third story features individual people experiencing their lives in the context of architecture. Here, Shepheard borrows the rhetorical device of Shakespeare's seven ages of man to propose that each person's life imitates the accumulating history of the human species. Shepheard's version of the history of humans is a technological one, in which machines become sculpture and sculpture becomes architecture. For Shepheard, our machines do not separate us from nature. Rather, our technology is our nature, and we cannot but be in harmony with nature. The change that we have wrought in the world, he says, is a wonderful and powerful thing. --amazon.com
2003, Jan 03; 22:36 :::: Guido Crepax, Louise Brooks
Valentina/Translated from Italian - Guido Crepax, Stefano Gaudiano (Translator) [Amazon US]
Valentina is the most known character created by Guido Crepax.
crepax was thirty two when he created his heroine 'Valentina',
her name, above all, reminds us her haircut...
it was Valentina which proved for Crepax the potentiality of cartoon
literature or 'fumetti', an art form he had previously attempted
when as a young evacuee during World War II in Venice he had read
and loved the american cartoon strips 'Mandrake' and 'Flash Gordon'.
'my first cartoon,' he recalled, 'I did when I was twelve and it was called
'the invisible man', and it obviously followed very closely the film
of the same name. I put everything together on my own, the
screenplay as it were, the writing and the drawings...'
twenty years later Crepax set about creating his cartoon strip for
Linus with the same attention to planning, storyline, lettering and framing,
inventing his own male super hero 'Neutron',
'with the magnetic eyes of mandrake and the physical build of the
traditional man In the mask.' he said.
gradually Neutron disappeared from the story.
it was almost by chance and without premeditation that the true
protagonist would prove to be Valentina,
'the incarnation of the actress Louise Brooks, the masochistic dreamer,
the all powerful photographer, the most beautiful androgyne with
the most beautiful backside in the world'. to say it with his own words. --http://www.designboom.com/portrait/crepax.html2003, Jan 01; 23:40 :::: Arthur Russell
Soul Jazz Records Presents The World of Arthur Russell (2003) - Arthur Russell [Amazon US][FR][DE][UK]
1. Dinosaur L - Go Bang (Francois Kervorkian mix)
2. Lola l - Wax The Van
3. Loose Joints - Is It All Over My Face (Larry Levan mix)
4. Arthur Russell - Keeping Up
5. Arthur Russell - In The Light Of The Miracle
6. Arthur Russell - A Little Lost
7. Loose Joints - Pop Your Funk
8. Arthur Russell – Let’s Go Swimming (Walter Gibbons mix)
9. Dinosaur L - In The Cornbelt (Larry Levan mix)
10. Arthur Russell – Treehouse
11. Arthur Russell – Schoolbell/Treehouse (Walter Gibbons mix) (Bonus track)
December 2003's Wire Magazine has an extensive article on Arthur Russell by David Toop, the writer ever to interview Arthur Russell and one of the first to point out his exceptional qualities. The original plan was to release this CD on this compilation on Nuphonic, but Soul Jazz records picked up the project after Nuphonic went defunct. There is another release by Arthur Russell on Audika records. [http://www.audikarecords.com/]
More on Audika:
Steve Knutson, formerly of Tommy Boy and currently of Audika, has been kind enough to put in a word with Soul Jazz about our compilation, New York City Body Music, Volume One, which we hope to have out somewhere, before too long. Audika will be reissuing Arthur Russell's World of Echo next year, possibly with DVD element. How fucking gangsta is that?
More talked about than seen since its debut, The Chelsea Girls, Andy Warhol’s infamous double-projected dive into a demimonde he created, is getting a rare theatrical revival. It’s hard to imagine that this experience — it’s as much spectacle as film, really — was His Pastiness’s first honest-to-god cinematic success. After years of showing his movies to his methed-up Factory friends and the stray camp follower who wandered in off the street, and perhaps because his time had simply come, Warhol was able to sell these “girls” to the hip mainstream. The Chelsea Girls was reviewed in The New York Times and many another venue, raked in a cool (for Warhol) $300,000 in six months of exhibition, and became one of the gaudiest baubles on the charm bracelet of the urban culture vulture circa 1966.--Gary Morris http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/37/chelsea.htm
Poor Little Rich Girls, blah blah blah....
On Sept. 22 2004, the new Kunsthaus Graz, a large venue for contemporary art, debuts in Graz, Austria's second largest city. The approximately $40-million, 120,000-square-foot, three-level building was paid for in part by federal funds and local public sources as well as by Graz 2003, which oversees EU funds allocated to the town as this year's cultural capital of Europe. Nicknamed "a friendly alien" by local residents, the building, designed by the London-based architectural team of Peter Cook and Colin Fournier, has an organic shape with a skin made of shimmering blue acrylic panels. At night, the building glows by means of a computerized lighting system beneath the translucent skin. With large, tubelike "nozzles" for windows that protrude from the convex roof, the structure indeed suggests an outer-space creature that has landed in the middle of Graz's historic town center along the banks of the Mur River. --David Ebony
