*There was a fine line back then between annoying and sublime wasn't there? I suspect the annoying factor comes from somewhere deep within these youngsters to create a generation gap and to stamp a genre all their own.
"Just because you are doing something in inverted commas doesn't mean you're not doing it"
Quote from Tim Space Debris at Cardrossmaniac2, 23/11/12.
"What is there in uselessness to cause you distress"
The title of an AMM song from AMMMusic 1966.
I had more but I've forgotten where I read them. Anyway some food for thought that may one day be put into some kind of coherent passage of words.
Other Stuff
*I saw a bunch of musicians in the states are doing a tribute to The Band's Last Waltz concert/movie. Fuck me wasn't the first one tedious enough. Imagine what it'll be like with 2nd and 3rd rate indie musicians doing it. I feel sick. Are they gonna get Marty to film it as well, now that would be weird. No hang on they should get some 2nd rate Scorsese wannabe to film it. Hang on that starts to make the concept almost interesting. When is this shit gonna end? Didn't Nels Cline used to be some kind of avant musician?
**Here's a collaboration I'd really like to see Skrillex V Umberto. Doncha reckon that'd be good? Or would it end up sounding like some kind of witch-house? Either way I'd like to see that happen.
I can't seem to escape the 90s anymore. A couple of weeks ago I saw a terrific band Chinese Handcuffs who had me flashing back to slowcore into post-rock Godspeed stylee. Then there is this bar I sometimes frequent and I swear the last 4 or 5 times I've dropped in they have been playing Afghan Wigs. Then there is hip hop which I hadn't listened to willingly for something like 15 years but after going back to Hardcore/Jungle etc. it made perfect sense to check out some of those gems from the 90s and even further back. You know before it all went a bit shit. I'm even gonna put some old DJ Shadow onto my I-Pod in a minute. I never thought I'd listen to those records ever again but listening to Wagon Christ the other day put me mind of this stuff. I was really diggin Throbbing Pouch, Wagon Christ's 90s classic. Still can't bring myself to put on Tricky or even other 90s faves Mouse On Mars. I guess it's only a matter of time.
I was nearly thinking of abandoning an end of year best of 2012 article which will be due soon but I've come out of my fear of the present and have started listening to recent LPs again. Artists might not be breaking much new ground but there is still some great shit out there worth listening to.
A picture from the park a couple of
weeks ago just because. Nice.
I know I use the youtubes a little bit too much. Growing up as a kid in Australia though it has always been a dream (along with thousands of others I suspect) to one day programme Rage. Rage is an all night Music show on the ABC on Friday and Saturday nights. On Saturday night they have a guest programmer for the first 3 or 4 hours. Name any Australian band/artist or any international touring artist and chances are they've probably been a guest. The most memorable for me being Steve Kilbey in like 1992, Johnathon Donahue in the the late 90s, Michael Hutchence had a go and more recently filmmaker Richard Lowenstein was a fabulous guest. I've missed hundreds and probably some of them were probably my favourite bands/artists. Anyway I'm just playing Rage fantasy guest host a lot of the time.
*NOTE: Probably best not to play The Birthday Party's Nick The Stripper or Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division as they get played every week. There's probably plenty of guest bits up on Youtube.
So I've been listening to Knife Party's Rage Valley EP. All these words have have been going through my head: EDM, Brostep, The Zone Formerly Known As Dubstep, Mentasm, Rave, 90s, Belgian Hardcore, DJ Excel, Acen, Big Beat, Omni Trio, Electro, Just When You Thought It was Safe, Trip II The Moon, Nowtro etc........
Both of these from Rage Valley EP 2012
This is from '92
This is from 1994.
Can you believe this is from1991?!
That's 21 years ago!
This is from 1991 as well!
*Just how now is Nowtro?
Me suspects not very.
**This doesn't necessarily make Knife Party a bad combo. I
really enjoy them a lot. It makes them for example akin to something like The
Stems in the 80s. They were a fantastic 60s influenced Australian rock
band who were very enjoyable in much the same way Knife Party are. We knew the
Stems were like 60s bands and even knew they loved The Yardbirds, The Electric Prunes, Creedence, The Easybeats, The Standells, stuff off The Ugly Things comps (Australia's Nuggets if you like), Nuggets etc.
This did not take anything away from them, in fact I still think they are
brilliant to this day. They were beyond pastiche and mere referencing. Whether
Knife Party stand up 20 years down the track is a moot point really. Maybe this
is what they mean by Nowtro. I'm enjoying them for now. If
they still stand up in 20 years that's a bonus but who really cares. Now is
what it's all about.
***I guess this is supposed to be a presentation on where Knife Party are coming from. I know I've used a couple of these clips before but I felt it necessary for the context of this piece.
So someone said Disco Inferno experienced critical indifference in their lifetime as a band but I recall a dude from Lime Lizard waxing lyrical about them thus alerting me to their existence in 1991. In Melody Maker '91 they were described as "exploring glacial zones" on their Closed Windows and Science records. In '92 their sound was also described as "Bitter and brooding beauty.' While in 1994 Disco Inferno's DI GO POP LP was placed at no. 3 in the out rock end of year list in The Wire. I would almost say they were critical faves but I don't really know what the more mainstream press were saying at the time. The possibilities seemed endless for this kind of experimental rock (if you could call it that). When was the last time you could say that about a band performing loosely within the rock idiom? Seeing The Boredoms a couple of years ago in full giant guitar neck/percussion overload mode would have been the last time I could have said that. Swans circa Soundtracks For The Blind. A band I saw perform once in the early 90s at The Esplanade Hotel in St Kilda called Peril also had that future's up for grabs anything could happen vibe going on too. They consisted of Australian and Japanese experimental musicians including Michael Sheridan and Otomo Yoshihide if memory serves. Anyway I dunno what happened to Disco Inferno after that GO POP classic.
One of the noisier tracks off the excellent DI GO POP LP.
You know I was looking at the cover of moranthology the other day and was thinking you know Caitlin Moran with her docs, coloured hair, shorts and bright clothing would actually not look out of place as a member of Ned's Atomic Dustbin circa 1991. This tickles me.
Writing some new lyrics for the comeback
Ned's Atomic Dustbin LP.
Auditioning as the new bass player for
Ned's Atomic Dustbin.
Now I know I've been watching a lot of The Sopranos (up to the final couple of episodes) but seriously the surgeon who operated on me on Saturday was this man. I swear! So I was quite happy to have him operate on me because I felt like I knew him and well I thought it was really funny.
I always thought the GZA was the RZA or The Genius was the RZA. Didn't some of The Wu-Tang Clan have more than one pseudonym? Anyway Genius/GZA's LP Liquid Swords possibly the best Hip Hop record of the 90s and probably the best in The Wu winning streak from Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) through to Ghostface Killah's Iron Man. And that is a tough call as there were 7 gems from 93-96. Anyway Liquid Swords did not even make it into The Wire's end of year lists at the end of 95. The Chef made it into the top 10 but Genius/GZA was conspicuous by his absence. In NME and Melody Maker it faired better but c'mon it should have been somewhere in the top 3!
I'll leave it at just 3 but I coulda' put the lot up here!
