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Category: music (page 4 of 5)

Viva Severed Heads

13 August 2008 / / Comments Off on Viva Severed Heads

I’ve been kind of bummed since finding out that Tom Ellard has broken up Severed Heads, one of the great electronic/industrial/noise/dance bands of the last thirty years. Well, ‘broken up’ is the wrong term, since it’s just Ellard. Perhaps I should say he’s ‘stopped doing it’, but that doesn’t sound quite right. That’s the story though.

Severed Heads is one of my formative bands. One day in 1986, I walked into a record store in Seattle’s U-District, and they were playing “Twenty Deadly Diseases”. It was a great piece of industrial dance electronica, aggressive but cerebral. I immediately realised that whereas I’d been listening to the Art of Noise, it was this that I’d really been looking for. I promptly bought all the Severed Heads I could find, and never listened to the Art of Noise to any real extent ever again.

Listening to a song like “Army” from Come Visit the Big Bigot, it’s hard to believe that it came from Australia. It’s very icy, and many’s the day I would slap on the headphones and walk in the snow with the sound of “Army” mixing with the cold and the howling wind and the gray sky and the long arctic horizon.

Not going to that year’s Severed Heads/Skinny Puppy show in Seattle is still one of the great regrets of my concert-non-going experience. (The other is Kraftwerk in Perth at the Big Day Out 2003, because it was on a Sunday. Shitty religious observance! At least I got the bootleg from the show.)

But now Tom’s hung it up because he’s teaching full-time at UNSW. Academia has sunk many a promising career. Why not both at once, like Dan Snaith of Manitoba, or Brain May from Queen?

However, our loss is our gain, since Mr Ellard has released much of the Severed backcatalogue. There are gems among the free downloads (especially ‘Twister’), but it’s Big Bigot and Bad Mood Guy that really shine. You might also want to check out his thesis, an exploration of how recording format can affect the music itself.

Religion influenced, killed Bob Marley

26 May 2008 / / 9 Comments

Seventeen years ago this month, Bob Marley died. Everyone knows Bob Marley. A copy of “Legend” is now issued to every infant in the world at birth.

He died of cancer. His Wikipedia page says it started from a football injury in his big toe. Toe cancer. Usually treatable. You don’t want to lose a toe, but if it saves your life, you have the thing off.

But Marley refused to amputate because of the Rastafarian belief that the body must be “whole”. And so the cancer spread to his brain and the rest of his body, and killed him. A religious belief robbed the world of one of its great musical artists.

Maybe it’s not possible to separate Marley’s music from the religious ideas that fired it. I’m not sure, though. Aren’t the songs without the religious lyrics great too? Marijuana influenced Marley’s music, but I don’t think that’s necessarily a great thing.

Marley’s action would probably impress a lot of people. Wow, he really followed his religion, even though it cost him his life, etc. But I just think it’s really sad. If he’d had a different religion, he could have had it taken care of, and been around a lot longer. What ended his life was an idea that was almost certainly false, and that seems wrong.

Have you been high today?

13 April 2008 / / 1 Comment

Good old human brains. Always picking patterns out of noise. And if you have someone to prime you in a certain direction, then it’s easy to see what you expect to see.

Case in point: this fantastic (and hilarious) music video in Hindi. Once you’ve had the (mildly risqué) English suggested to you, it’s very difficult not to hear it.

After you’ve dried the tears of mirth from your eyes and forgotten the lyrics, try watching the original without the subtitles and notice how the English disappears.

Friday Random Five won’t sacrifice anything at all to love.

4 April 2008 / / Comments Off on Friday Random Five won’t sacrifice anything at all to love.

I’ve had enough of sorting through identical sounding ambient glitch bands. Fortunately, I’ve found something really great to rescue me from Click Madness.

If you’ve been around for awhile, you may remember a project by Harold Budd and the Cocteau Twins called “The Moon and the Melodies”. Some great songs there, except that some songs sounded like the Twins and some like Budd, and it never really gelled into the Cocteau Budds. Good stuff anyway.

Now in our post-Cocteau world, Robin Guthrie (of the Twins) and Harold Budd have teamed up again with two albums (released on the same day) called “After the Night Falls” and “Before the Day Breaks”. The two albums are of a piece; even the song titles flow on from each other. Within are exquisitely woven sounds; Budd’s sepia-tinged piano and Guthrie’s flowing guitar, fusing into something airy and watery, light and shade and beautiful. But for the missing vocals of Elisabeth Fraser, it’d be like the Cocteaus never left.

And now this week’s offering of five random songs from the collection.

Suede by Ken Nordine
Album: Wink
You’ve heard Ken’s voice, even if you don’t know the name. He’s done voiceover work for films and commercials for decades now. But he’s also a very hip sort of beat poet guy in his warm cool way. I love his “Now, Nordine” shows, and “Word Jazz“.

This album finds him contemplating (in his schizophrenic way, Ken talking to Ken) windscreen wipers in love, the morality of licking lampshades, and here, the dangers of sneezing on suede.

It might be worth mentioning that the album was originally called “Twink”, before they changed it for obvious reasons. Ken doing Robert Shure’s “Twink” just sounds wrong. Semantic shift and all that.

All the Way to Reno (You’re Gonna Be a Star) by R.E.M.
Album: Reveal
Even though everyone knows R.E.M., and I like a lot of their albums, I still find something hidden in R.E.M. that I can’t get to. Maybe I didn’t listen to them early enough; they weren’t one of ‘my bands’. (U2 was never one of my bands either, but now I no longer care.) Maybe the incomprehensible mystique that they cultivated in the 80s still clings to them for me. And after Berry’s departure, trying to ‘get’ R.E.M. became impossible because the band I never really knew was gone.

That said, I still like Time magazine’s description of this album: a ride through the rain forest in a hovercraft. This song feels like driving somewhere out West, or maybe the beginning of Mulholland Drive.

Stories of Old by Depeche Mode
Album: Some Great Reward
Depeche was hitting their stride here, carving a template that they’d use for their next 20 albums: sexual dissolution encoded in religious metaphor, all wrapped up in the sharpest sound samples anyone had ever heard. When I first heard this song in the autumn of 1984 (driving down to Utah), I decided that Depeche Mode were the kings of neat noise.

Hong by Kiln
Album: Sunbox
Kiln is the best of the ambient glitch bands for my money. The mix of smooth chill and clicky percussion is perfect. It won’t bore you or put you to sleep, unless you’re happy to go there. Simple, but intelligent.

War Pigs by Faith No More
Album: The Real Thing
I never had a Sabbath phase because as a young Mormon boy I was askeert, but I do really enjoy this cover. If there had been any doubt about FNM’s metal credentials, let them be dispelled. And the lyrics: relevant for Iraq just as for Viet Nam.

Friday Random Five was sleeping on your shoulder

22 February 2008 / / Comments Off on Friday Random Five was sleeping on your shoulder

Before I hit the Random button and talk about the first five songs that come up (no cheating), a word on recent explorations into ambient IDM/downtempo/glitch.

Carbon Based Lifeforms (no ‘the’, please) are a duo from Sweden that makes music like glaciers — cool and verrry slow-moving. I’ve been checking out two of their albums: Hydroponic Garden and (the slightly better) World of Sleepers. Both guaranteed to transport you to BubbleWorld, and not to antagonise you or raise your blood pressure more than a few ticks. I’ve found that there’s a place for the Carbs, and if you try listening in the wrong place, it’s desperately boring. Get it right, and there’s nothing else quite like it. Hint: driving, bad; working or sleeping, good.

If you like CBL, there are lots of other things you might get excited about. You might try Pushing Air by Deru, still ambient but with beats and more of an edge. Somehow it feels more substantive and engaging. Nice to see that the Boards of Canada tradition of putting weird little experimental numbers between the songs is holding up.

And in other news, did you know Devo had a new song? We didn’t get the Dell ad over here, so you Americans please excuse us while we watch them work it.

Good to know they’re still out there.

And now on to the Random.

The Robots (Cha-Cha-Cha) by Señor Coconut
Album: El Baile Alemán
I’ve blogged about Señor Coconut’s work before. This track comes from his first album — Latin reworkings of Kraftwerk songs. It’s more than just concept; the songs really stand up to repeated listenings. Even newcomers to Kraftwerk would probably enjoy these. My only qualm is that El Señor doesn’t follow the chord progressions for the song exactly. I’m a purist that way. His second attempt, Yellow Fever (consisting of YMO covers), is even better. Part homage, part humour, and all Latin.

Love Street by The Doors
Album: The Best of the Doors
The Doors remind me of being a kid in Jeffrey’s house. Maybe his older brothers listened to them. For some reason, the music of the Doors is in a different place in my mind from other 60’s music, but I can’t say why. It seemed deeper somehow.

I never got the chance to hear this song until I saw the movie, which is why I associate it with Val Kilmer as Jim, slinking up to Meg Ryan’s house. Run, Meg!

Love is a Stranger (Stranger Days Mix) by Eurythmics
Album: Art of Compilation CD7
More Eurythmics this week. This time, a dance mix of this classic track.
Liberation by Pet Shop Boys
Album: Very
‘Liberation’ is a powerful choice of word — it’s tied up with struggle and emancipation. As a straight guy, our society constantly affirms my sexuality, including when my beloved and I are in public. It’s difficult for me to imagine what that situation would be like for two men in love. I’m guessing that this is the situation described in the song, which uses the word to describe the feeling of freedom and self-acceptance from being with a lover. I’ve always thought this a lovely song.

Dark Star (David Andrew Sitek Remix) by Beck
Album: The Information
I have a confession to make. I’m a bit obsessive about documenting my music-listening habits. It’s pretty easy, because iTunes keeps track of playcounts etc. for you. But if I hear a song on the radio and I have it on the computer, I have been known to notch up the playcount for it. Because it should count, dammit. So it means something if I say that the album version of “Dark Star” is currently number 15 on my list of most listened-to songs (out of 13,000).

This mix is faithful to the original, with slightly more tambourine. I thought the instrumental interlude a bit unnecessary.

Bonus sixth.

Circus Ring by Vitamin Z
Album: Rites of Passage
I always thought this album was a cut above the usual late-eighties good-looking synthpop. Probably Anne Dudley’s influence. Searching for copies of this album was always futile, and I came to hate the sight of Sharp Stone Rain in the bins under ‘V’. It never did see a US release; even Discogs.com fails to list the CD. Nowhere else but Japan, from which this recording comes.

This track has a majestic quality, but its intensity stays in control. One of their best songs.

Friday Random Five is playing with my heart

8 February 2008 / / 1 Comment
Blue Mood by Swing Out Sister
Album: It’s Better to Travel
I always loved this first album for its jazz sensibility and sophistication. If the members of the post-ZTT Art of Noise had decided to drop the quirkiness and go for musicality, it might have sounded like this, and that would have been good. Not to slight Anne Dudley at all.

There Must Be an Angel (Playing With My Heart) by Eurythmics
Album: Greatest Hits [Europe]
Youngest Boy frequently asks to hear Eurythmics, and who could blame him? No one ever went from arid synthesised cool to beautiful electronic pop with such ease and joy. This song is one of the latter — lashes of gospel choir and soul, complete with Stevie Wonder’s harmonica. How do they make it sound so easy?

This Is a Lie (Palmer Remix) by The Cure
Album: Join the Dots
By a coincidence, this song came up randomly in the car this very morning, and now here it is again. While I don’t have much enthusiasm for the Cure’s later work (anything past Head on the Door actually), I have to applaud this as a solid piece of songwriting. The first half is all orchestral, then joined by Robert Smith on solo guitar.

Here on the blog, you see a lot of the kinds of thoughts I’m dealing in at the time. So you will understand if these lyrics seemed pertinent:

how each of us believes
I’ve never really known
in heaven unseen and hell unknown
how each of us dreams to understand anything at all
why each of us decides
I’ve never been sure
the part we take
the way we are
why each of us denies every other way in the world

It’s not just about religion; the simple act of choosing — a way of life, a life partner, anything — excludes an infinite number of other possibilities. And how do we know we’ve chosen the right one? Or the wrong one? What makes us say ‘This is a lie”?

I haven’t thought about a Cure lyric this much since “How Beautiful You Are”. I feel like an undergrad.

Fields – Fields (Reprise) by The Lilac Time
Album: And Love for All (2006 Remaster)
Stephen Duffy takes us out for a stroll in the country with his guitar. He’s been sleeping in the hedgerow. He knows how you feel, and he knows what you feel is real. The summer wind is making long fingers in the wheat and the undulating fields are cool and inviting. Go with him on this album and you’ll find beautiful bucolic XTC-influenced folk-pop. Other Lilac fans say start with ‘Paradise Circus’, but this is one of my favourite albums ever. Highly highly recommended.

Neon Lights (Ton Up Mix) by Kraftwerk
Album: Toccata Electronica
An interesting remix that overlays “Boing Boom Tchak” lyrics onto “Neon Lights”. Very trancy, and not too annoying.

A bonus sixth.
Alison by Future 3
Album: Blue Skied an’ Clear
There’s an interesting tendency for glitch IDM artists to gravitate toward shoegaze. So this album is a slew of Slowdive covers redone in shimmering electronic tones. Listen to it while you glide silently through smooth rooms. Or when you’re hunched over the laptop working. It won’t jangle you too much.

Inevitable music gentrification

4 February 2008 / / 1 Comment

There I am in the Pizza Hut with Oldest Boy, when I hear “Kill the Poor” over the stereo. “Hey, you’re listening to the Dead Kennedys!” I say.

The pizza guy blinks. “Yeah, no one else has recognised it yet.”

“That’s cool. I went to see them in Salt Lake in ’85. Jello Biafra stage dived on my head.”

“Wow,” says Pizza Man, who may or may not be stoned.

“Who are the Dead Kennedys?” asked Oldest Boy back in the car.

“Are you kidding? Have I never played you any DK’s at all?” I asked. “What kind of father am I?”

It only took a second to dial the iPod to the appropriate folder, not counting the time it took to ignore the irony. Soon we were jamming down the road to “Religious Vomit”. I was explaining how the Dead Kennedys were able to meld British punk into an genuinely American brand of thrash infused with leftist political sensibilities and extremely tight musicianship.

And I thought: Is this an odd situation? My introduction to the Kennedys was not family friendly. I think it was at Chad Smith’s house. I was listening to this grotty obscure punk stuff that no one was listening to, and I felt cool. My son’s introduction to the DK’s was from his Dad’s car stereo. Not particularly counter-culture or transgressive.

I suppose it’s like high school, when you hoped the normal people wouldn’t find out about your music because that was what made you different. But everyone did anyway, which is why alternative music became the new mainstream in 1991, and everybody became hip, which was not cool.

But these things have a way of traveling in cycles. Oldest Boy will find his own sound with its own forbidden allure. And when he does, he’d better tell me about it, unless it sucks.

Friday Random Five is always… wrong ong ong

25 January 2008 / / Comments Off on Friday Random Five is always… wrong ong ong

Can I revive the Five one… last… time…?

Hello, This One Is for You by Herrmann + Kleine
Album: Putting the Morr Back in Morrissey
This album has nothing to do with Morrissey — it’s just a bit of ambient glitch. It’s twinkly like stars, it has some beats, and some computer effects. I like this stuff now, but I’m not sure how I’ll feel about it in six months. Undemanding. Good for work.

Other Voices by The Cure
Album: Faith (Deluxe Edition)
Yes, I did buy Faith yet again, with the bonus album of extra bits. I love everything about it, from Robert Smith’s yelps to the insurgent bass to the echo-ey vocals. And they’re all here on this song.

Carry That Weight by The Beatles
Album: Abbey Road
A bit before my time. I didn’t know this song by name, but there’s no mistaking that sing-along chorus. Funny how Beatles songs are in our collective cultural memory.

Mr T. by Regurgitator
Album: Unit
A slow grind from the Gurge. Can’t explain the name.

Silhouettes by Prefab Sprout
Album: Faron Young (7″ Single)
An unusual b-side with a funk groove to it. I think the Sprout were playing with a lot of styles at this point.

Is ‘crack’ a dirty word?

12 January 2008 / / 1 Comment

I can see why this video for the Chemical Brothers Salmon Dance would bleep ‘fuck’ and ‘bitches’. Also ‘nigger’ (but why only the once?).

But why is ‘crack’ garbled at 1:52? Are drug words swears now?

Kind of. Just as drug themes are considered dangerous in movies and rated accordingly, it seems that even the mention of drugs needs to be controlled.

I hate that kind of thinking. Hearing about crack in a song wasn’t enough to make me want to try it, but it might just drive those other poor weak-willed souls over the edge. There’s a kind of elitism in censorship.

My radio version of Everlast’s Ends went through an even more skittish committee; not only did they garble ‘crack’, they also munged the words in [brackets]:

  • Shoppin’ sprees get her on her [knees]
  • If you broke she’s spittin’ / If you’re rich she might [swallow]

Thank the stars that the ears of young listeners have been spared. The times I offended my mother by saying crack, knees, and swallow.

On Australian radio they just play it as is. We’re not as afraid of words.

Reveal your Hottest 100 votes.

5 January 2008 / / 4 Comments

Come on, spill. What songs are you voting for in the world’s largest music poll?

Here’s my list.

  • Air – Once Upon A Time
  • Caribou – Melody Day
  • Chemical Brothers – The Salmon Dance
  • Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Satan Said Dance
  • Machine Translations – Need A Miracle
  • Midnight Juggernauts – Tombstone
  • Radiohead – House Of Cards
  • Soko – I’ll Kill Her
  • Spoon – My Little Japanese Cigarette Case
  • Yacht – See A Penny (Pick It Up)

Everyone around me is sick of ‘Tombstone’ except for Youngest Boy; we listen to it constantly.

Love that Salmon Dance, as much for the fun facts as for Fatlip’s deadpan reactions to them.

I saw ‘Yacht’ live. He’s a very energetic young man. Yacht story: After a couple of numbers, he asked if there were any questions. I wanted to ask, “What were you like as a kid?” But someone else asked if she could have ten bucks. So he said that would be fine, if people from the audience wanted to donate some money. He soon found himself pelted with coins, and those Aussie ones are heavy, too. He gathered up the coins, and soon she had her ten bucks. I decided I liked him.

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