Still Life-Oneohtrix Point Never

Has Oneohtrix Point Never become some kind of born again fundamentalist using propaganda videos to get his point across?

Either that or he's havin a laugh at the expense of others. Roll up roll up ...A modern day freak show for you all to see. No exploitation here folks just good clean healthy fun.

*Uh Huh, here's an essay on this video right here. This is what xxxxxxox says in the comments at Rouge's Foam about the essay

 "Its clear that the only point of this smug little uni grad zero books clique is self aggrandizing. You all police culture like your petty little incoherent screeds are remotely interesting to anyone."

I thought that was hilarious and pretty on the ball. Couldn't help but think though 'did xxxxxxox's manuscript get knocked back by Zero Books?' Also couldn't help thinking he was being a culture copper himself.

Back to that video, just look at reality tv though and you'll see how much people love exploitation. People want to be exploited, exploit and watch others exploit and be exploited. Nothing much has changed since the days of freak shows has it? We still love to see the freaky shit don't we? Shows like Embarrassing Bodies and that one about the guy with the massive balls* are popular for a reason. X-Factor, Idol et al have a fair bit of laughing at the unfortunate and the mentally ill. There's big bucks in this shit.

*Was AC/DC's Big Balls the theme tune for that?

Oneohtrix Point Never - R Plus 7

Remember when you just wanted to play Daniel Lopatin's records over and over again because they were lovely, atmospheric, epic and sometimes anthemic. Rifts (Oneohtrix Point Never), Days Of Thunder (Skyramps), Artificial Midnight (Infinity Window) and Returnal (Oneohtrix Point Never) were all classics and you thought they'd never stop coming. Now his records are just ok and interesting. But are they though? If a record was interesting I'd wanna keep dropping the needle on it wouldn't I? I want to love R Plus 7 (and the previous album Replica) more than I can. When S Club 7 is on its fine I don't wanna smash the stereo in but at the same time it doesn't fill me with the desire to rewind or add it to my I-Pod. There was a good few years where Oneohtrix was the sound in my eardrums. Particularly in the morning on the train, on the platform, on the escalator and walking the windswept and rainy streets. But he's moved on and Lopatin is not giving me what I need any more. Lovely has turned to slightly irritating, serene to jittery (not in a good way) and neo-kosmiche to pretty much vapourwave.  Then towards the end of R Plus 7 with tracks like Chrome Country and Still Life there's a flicker of the Oneohtrix I once knew which keeps me hangin on a little longer hoping for a full blown return to form next time.

These tunes also included on
the compilation below.

Artificial Midnight-Infinity Window
Serene Atmospheres. Lopatin in
collaboration with Human
Teenager's Taylor Richardson.

Essential compilation. Includes
the above record.

Days Of Thunder-Skyramps
Scintillating collaboration with
Mark McGuire from Emeralds.

Old stuff better than new stuff?



Maria Minerva has a new LP Will Happiness Find Me?



There are all sorts of new records I would usually be salivating to to listen to by Maria Minerva, Emeralds & Sun Araw plus a new side by Oneohtrix Point Never and a new tape by Mark McGuire. I mean they are there waiting to be listened to but since reading Energy Flash I'm in some kind of British 90-95 timezone wormhole that has attached to my brain and will not allow anything else to get past my ears. This is no bad thing as I'm re/discovering exciting music from exciting musical times. It does however make me wonder if what's happening now is really quite inconsequential. Has that whole underground of above mentioned artists, James Ferarro, No Not Fun records et al. run its course? If hipsterhouse is the only thing on the musical horizon god help us. It could just be that I have read two books recently by Owen Hatherley & Simon Reynolds on 90s music so I've just naturally gone back and checked out the music. When the future of music looks barren I do usually go into undiscovered (by me) retro-zones though. I have musical zones waiting for such times like Musique Concrete, 20th century composition, Jazz, Early R & B, Disco, 70s AOR, Dancehall, Aboriginal Country, Doo Wop, ECM Records, Gamelin, NWOBHM, Anything from Finland, Country Soul  and general things I've just missed etc. etc. Worringly on Maria Minerva's new LP she sings on Perpetual Motion Machine "this goes out to the lovers of deep house" Forgive me if I'm wrong but whenever the term deep house first appeared (I dunno 90-91?) didn't that mean shit house. How much deeper/shittier has it got in the following 20 years god only knows.

Emeralds-Just To Feel Anything
Been waitin' 2 years for this but it remains unplayed!

Anyway I'm on this trip- The lineage (that would be a very crooked one) of 'Ardcore to Darkside to Ambient Jungle. Wow the times were moving then! A sort of hyper progression of culture that blasted into the future with the speed of light which was also reflected back into the music. I've been making ultimate mixtapes of hardcore, darkside and yesterday started one on ambient jungle. Had to dig out old Omni Trio, Foul Play and 4Hero tunes. A long time since I've listened to these records and they're great. This mix is already at nearly 3 hours. Someone on the blogosphere mentioned recently the Macro Dub Infection compilation released by Virgin in '95. I was getting massively into dub man in the early 90s like King Tubby, Scientist, Prince Jammy, Scratch, Augustus Pablo, Keith Hudson, Blood & Fire Records et al. This modern dub influenced collection on Virgin was great but out of the 4 tracks I could think of off the top of my head the other day (before I found it in my closet) 3 were jungle tracks. Omni Trio's The Half Cut, 4Hero's The Paranormal In 4 Form and a track by Spring Heel Jack. That just goes to show how outstanding jungle music was/is! There were only 3 jungle tracks on the compilation! I do have to mention the other track is one of the most astounding modern dub reggae tunes heard to this day. It was by Irration Steppas called Irration Steppas V Dennis Rootical (never found any of their records though). Anyway I remember playing Omni Trio on student radio and fuck me they were made for FM radio. Other tracks I recall from this one off night included The Beach Boys, Booker T and the MGs, My Bloody Valentine, Laika, The Beastie Boys and er....The Tindersticks. I have often thought my blog was a little too eclectic but clearly this is nothing new for me so I couldn't do it any other way.



Omni Trio strike more gold!



One of the greatest ambient jungle
 tunes. Which one???

Michael Hoenig & Manuel Gottsching

Should really be trying to finish off my Glaring Omissions series but I'm a bit under the weather to be researching/checking facts etc. It was my aim to have the series complete by the years end, we'll see. It has been the most popular thing on my Blog. My two most misspelled words would be Kosmische which is German for cosmic and the other would be Oneohtrix. It's a silly name and I don't care that I spell it wrong every time. What does it mean? I must be dyslexic, for the first couple of years I had the pronunciation as 'on eo thrix' until I noticed the correct spelling. The way to say it apparently is 'one oh trix' which to me now just seems absurd. Anyway speaking of Kosmische I've recently discovered a record I did not know existed within that genre by two of my favourite artists doing a collaboration. Michael Hoenig of Agitation Free, Tangerine Dream and Solo Artist got together with Manuel Gottsching of Ash Ra Temple, Ashra, Cosmic Jokers, Solo Artist and Collaborator Extraordinaire in 1976 to make this fabulous slab of Kosmische music called Early Water. It's an unheralded classic with Manuel/Hoenig in fine form on their respective instruments. It's up there with best Ash Ra records and Hoenig's brilliant Departure From The Northern Wasteland LP. I understand this project remained unreleased for many years, until sometime in the 90s. How could they sit on such gold for so long without unleashing it? 48 and a half minutes of intergalactic guitar and synthesiser bliss. Float free man.

Departure From The Northern
Wasteland - 1978



S/T debut classic-1971





*Ok it was in the Cosmic Egg but I somehow missed it you know how it is

Suzanne Ciani, French Electronics & NZ Underground Rock.

Anyway what else have I been into well Suzanne Ciani's archival release on Finders Keepers Livixiation 1969-1985 is a little bewdy. Somewhere between formal undergrad avant garde, cosmic, new age, advertising and soundtrack music, this bird did it all. She did jobs for Atari, Coke and TV Stations as well as doing her own gear.

How 'bout this cover?!

Also diggin' Patrick Vian's LP Bruit Et Temps Analogues (thanks Mutant Sounds) from 1976. He was another French person doing cosmic electronics with a moog. Awesome! Up there with the best French astronautical musicians Heldon, Spacecraft etc.

And then there is an album by some other Frenchmen, this time from 1980, Ilitch - 10 Suicides. Can't describe it. Out there electronics in a world of its own. Fuckin love it! Oneothrix Point Never Must be a fan. Mental!

Last but not least I finally got my hands on Time To Go - The Southern psycedelic (sic) Moment: 1981-86, the fabulous Flying Nun Comp compiled by Bruce Russell. Can't complain about that......well... there is one track though where I couldn't really see a psych connection. The track in question is Sit Down by Playthings, which is a punk/new wave tune in the vein of Blondie. It's not a bad track per se but does it belong here? The rest of these tracks are one way or another psych post-punk in its myriad of forms. Bruce  is one of the master compilers of our times and this collection is no exception. Up there with, perhaps even surpassing, the previously mentioned Le Jazz Non on Corpus Hermiticum and The Xpressway singles comp Making Losers Happy.

Mixtapes.

Couldn't get into her new LP but I love her new mixtape on FACT.



dodgy 80s r&b

  One of the the best things about the interweb has to be people doin' mixtapes. There's heaps but I've found some beauties. Ariel Pink FACT 152 & Oneothrix Point Never FACT 162 were the shit, dunno if you can get 'em anymore. There is some kind of mixtape archive somewhere on the net. Oneothrix also did a good one called Needle Exchange Mix which included  Cleaners from Venus & Rush.

The best mixtapes of all for me though are from Pontone. Specifically the Spectral Cassettes Volumes 1-6. This is one of my ffavourite music discoveries on the internet. The first time I heard Dolphins Into the Future, Oneothrix, Infinity Window, Brother Raven, Spare Death Icon, Panabrite, Dylan Ettinger etc. Spectral Cassettes got me excited about electronic/ambient/soundscape music again, Volume 2 is seminal!. All Six are rippers.

 My other favourite mixtapes are from the brilliant Hauntological group (one person really) Moon Wiring Club. They have set the bar high with their Tapes. Incredibly thought out mixes which could have only come from the brain of Ian Hodgson. Which include great dialogue from dodgy old British films and spooky  music from any era as long as it's creepy.



Spectral II Glorious!



 I can't remember which came first, so there was The ASDA mix which was available at The Wire website( sexadelic eurogrooves). Then the summer vibes of Elementary Ice Cream Sunstroke Headache Mix (bringin' the bad vibes to summer). The Jayston Mix is another beauty(I cant remember where it came from). Lastly FACT had a mix at the end of last year to celebrate Clutch It Like A Gonk's release. Out of the four I can't decide which one is best. I like them just as  much as his records.

.

nobody here

Nobody Here

By one of Oneohtrix Point Never's side projects

This reminds me of John Oswald.

I dig this, but I can seperate this sample from its original context.

(It's become it's own song to me)

Something the Mrs can't, it makes her sing Lady in Red all day.

What do they call it ?

The sample stain or something?

Or is that the opposite?,

When a favourite old song is sampled by a modern act and then it ruins your enjoyment of the old tune forever.

...more on 2011...

*When I first heard Peaking Lights' 936 I thought what is this shite? It sounds like lo-fi z-grade trip hop, who'd wanna listen to this?  Dunno what kept me comin' back but now I love 936's hazy vibes.

*I must admit when i first heard Rangers I thought this just sounds so generic or like Ducktails.  Anyhow something made me keep goin' back to their brilliant Suburban Tours many times last year......whatever happened to Ducktails anyway?

*Replica to me was disappointing.  Rifts and Returnal were big faves of mine.  On Replica I just kept thinking 'Why make this beautiful music less so, by making it more difficult?'.  I thought maybe Oneohtrix had been reading his own critics, who wanted less kosmiche and more noise.  Anyway if it was anyone else I'd probably be praising it to the hilt. It's still growing on me.

*Now a bit about the telly.

Breaking Bad is still my favourite drama even though the last couple of episodes of season 3 seamed a bit directionless  Is there a season 4? 

The Trip- I saw it at the cinema and thought it was great, barring the heavy handedness of the director's contrast of the two characters. Then I caught episode 4 of the telly version and was shocked by some bits that weren't in the film.  These really changed the context of Rob Brydon's character.  In the theatrical version they left out the ultra sleazy Delilah scene.  One of the most awkward 'OMG please don't be coming onto her!' scenes in the history of TV.  Making him much more respectable in the film. Why did they even edit the series into a film?  After watching all 6 telly episodes the film seamed pointless.  Get the telly version on DVD it's longer, better and more funny.  An instant classic.

30 Rock- 5th season was good but were they getting tired or something?
100th episode though was pure gold.