WOEBOT

ARIEL PINK
WORN COPY
PAW TRACKS

Originally released on the miniscule Rhystop Records, and now available via The Animal Collective’s imprint Paw Tracks, "Worn Copy" feels like an epoch-defining record. Furthermore one senses that with it, the recently re-released "Doldrums" and the imminently available "House Arrest and Lover Boy" (collectively forming the "Haunted Graffiti" triumvirate) Ariel Pink has engineered some unholy sonic force field which seems to threaten to cosmologically trigger events in life itself. The atmosphere about "Worn Copy" appears to duplicate the frighteningly unheimlich qualities of that surrounding Bobby Beausoleil and Charles Manson's music.

How can what sound like poorly recorded demos of early 1980s MTV out-takes pack such a punch? Ariel Pink's abandonment of sophisticated audio technology (he records onto an MT8X Yamaha cassette 8 track in preference to Pro Tools wizardry) doesn't represent a gesture of Lo-fi inspired defiance so much as unquestioning single-mindedness. It's the same total integrity of vision, which makes hearing music composed in such insular conditions not a solipsistic experience for the listener, but more akin to entering a parallel dimension. Fittingly here is a record which one can justifiably claim reveals itself after repeated listenings, one's ears acclimatise to the gloom, details such as Ariel's human-beat box drumming and the delicacies of the production become gradually apparent. It's Ariel's insistence on, to quote Baba Ram Dass, the "here and now" which contribute to the transcendental stature of tracks like "Trepanated Earth". In an act of monumental perversity he claims to be trying "to put Beverly Hills on the map", to try to forge a folk music in the gutter at the centre of the media universe. This same gutter is dramatised in Norman Klein's "History of Forgetting: Los Angeles and the Erasure of Memory" as a zone of permanent amnesia produced through proximity to Hollywood.

Pink is a fantastically gifted songwriter. One can easily imagine tunes like "Life in LA", "Artifact" or "Jules lost his Jewels" recast by Billy Joel, Cindy Lauper or Ric Ocasek as perfect pop pap, yet their raw conception explicitly resists this. It's thrilling to imagine such talent fingering the corrupt edifice of the music industry, and as fascinating to imagine Bonnie Tyler and Meatloaf, not as partisans hijacking the global media machine, but as minstrels scuffling through the malls and back-alleys of the City of Angels.

Posted by WOEBOT at 12:09 PM | Permalink

ODD NOSDAM
BURNER
ANTICON

If you’ve struggled with the self-consciously wacky and gratingly nasal delivery of MCs why? and Doseone, Odd Nosdam’s partners in cLOUDDEAD, you’ll warmly greet their absence on “Burner”. Nosdam is free here to bring his pain-stakingly scuffed soundscapes to the fore. Like his hero Lee Perry, Nosdam is obsessed with the liminal qualities of sonic distortion in recording. Every envelope of this collection is flecked with static and subsumed in hiss. Antique vinyl samples crackle, snatches of radio hum with interference, instruments dwell in the red and foley is occluded by background noise. Music is thus encroached upon by sound, suggesting ego itself melting into the ether.

The tone of this post-Hip-Hop sonic collage is perhaps more sombre than Odd Nosdam’s previous LP “No Wig for Ohio”, which admitted some rinky-dink touches often in the form of sideways digs at mainstream America, a mainstream which in the intervening four years may appear less cheerfully surreal. One of the voices on “Small Mr Man Pants” remark: “A bird in the hand is very nice to have,” and indeed this grudging settling for less seems to ring true to the state of underground America. It’s tempting to view the record as some kind of soundtrack to destitution and homelessness. The “Burner” of the title could easily be a vagrant’s makeshift fire, the exhaust trails of feedback equivalent to the polluting smoke of “unsuitable fuel” plastic bottles, soiled paper and methylated spirits. The hobo economics incarnate in Nosdam’s choice of raw materials: “the most worthlessly obscure records I can find in the basements of Walnut, Iowa’s many antique shops,” ostensibly free-to-procure street recordings and the contributions by “friends” (including vocals Mike Patton and Jessica Bailiff) bear this out.

Unfortunately enthusiasm for the record is tempered by its faults. Only “Upsetter” and “Untitled One” come close to bearing a satisfying hook. If you’re destined to sit in front of a smoking hearth, you may want it to bear a little more heat. Too often tracks seem to pursue a convoluted logic, before ending up lost in rhythmic cul-de-sacs, though admittedly it may be that more focus would be antithetical to Nosdam’s aesthetic.

Posted by WOEBOT at 12:39 PM | Permalink

i first heard about this in the pages of uncut magazine. that same issue with the postcard feature (ie the only one ive picked up in the last couple years, lest anyone be scrutinising me for dad-rock tendencies, lol! i am a hipster, honest guv!) it comes across as an art-rock take on 70s US AM-rock, a kind of radicalised version of chicago/al stewart/tom rush/seventies bob dylan. amongst the producers on it number steve albini and jim o'rourke.

the legend goes that the record label (i think domino?) pulled the plug on the lp because the production costs were spiralling out of control. plush ended up footing the bill himself (in the region of six figures apparently, gasps) one the one hand kind of admirable (the pursuit of art) on the other giving the proceedings the aura of a vanity project. bizarrely the only way of getting this nowadays is by importing it oneself from japan. all of which above lends it the aura of a cult object.

the idea of a radical mor is, ive always found, quite seductive. its the self-conciously grown-up cousin of pop-entryism. its a less of a trojan horse than a kit-built bmw replica incorrectly parked in the management's demarcated bay. unlike pop-entryism (which is cool too isnt it? its a bit of fun. richard x, yeah he's cool- not that i see him as anything but a rockist.....), it's relationship with the mainstream is softer, but by the same token it's less likely to receive fantastic remuneration. off the top of my head other examples are scott walker's 3 and 4, tom jobim's "matita pere", van dyke park's "discover america', arto lindsay's "prize", richard and linda thompson's "shoot out the lights". the brazilian connection is an important one, because there softly-spoken ballads by the likes of edu lobo and caetano veloso aren't seen as being unradical just because the content isnt grating. actually this is why nick cave (who's been wanting to make a good radical MOR record since he nearly achieved it with "from her to eternity") goes on about brazilian music and the "suadade" (inkorrekt spelling probably).

also spending ridiculous amounts of money on production (roping in veteran r'n'b producer tom tom wotsit), and long periods of time "getting it right" must be lauded in the push-button climate of electronica. nowadays you get people putting out an lp every week. thats what the planet mu bloke the gasman boasts of being able to do. i've always admired anton webern and edgar varese for their absolutely miniscule musical output. take your time and get it right innit.

the problem with "fed" is that its a huge pile of steaming horseshit. the songs are unbelievably feeble, and the guy has the worst, meanest, thinnest most-out-of-tune voice you've ever heard. i actually had to switch it off as i found the experience of hearing him mangle and not-quite-reach notes with his mewl was so fucking painful.

Original Thread Here

Posted by WOEBOT at 11:33 AM | Permalink

Simon tried to slip this in at the RIU&SA panel, claiming that of the post-punk brigade (and indeed beyond that in the entire field of music) only Bono and his gang have managed to keep alive the link between Music and Life. So cheeky! It would have made the perfect point for a spectacular flare-up, but strangely no-one rose to the bait. Bit of a mind-bomb that one blissblogger!

But let's face it, he's right. I've never once bought a U2 record but I'll concede (not even grudgingly) that U2 are alone in imagining a word where music matters outside the domain of sound. OK I admire Grime for something like similar reasons, it has ceased its own methods of production and created its own fantastic disorientating spectacle, but even though its politicised its politics (here in the broadest sense) appear to say a different thing. I wonder if i'll feel the same way about Grime when IT IS as big as Hip-Hop (aw, probably i suppose!)

But U2! You've got to give them credit. Its one thing to hate on the catholic church quite another to actually meet the Pope and level with him (though naturally some might see that as appeasement, but for my money having a quiet meeting with Murdoch would have a stronger effect of the direction and behaviour of the global media than bombing SKY, thats not compromise in my book). And say what you like about crass charity records, Bono's done as much as he could have done for Africa and the Third World Debt.

I reckon he's pretty bloody cool. And you know what, to boot, i thought they're latest single, the one where they're all standing on what looks like some desert flats and some vaste shapeshiting wind is smearing them downstream at 200mph while they churn a quite fantastic-sounding bit of Hero-era Neu! Well I thought it was excellent.

Original Thread Here

Posted by WOEBOT at 09:47 AM | Permalink

Was listening to the new Ludacris track on the way home:

"I'm an explorer like Dora,
But Swiper can't swipe me"

Nearly crashed the car. Luda MUST have little kids. My three year old is mad for Dora the Explorer. In the UK you can catch it on Nick Jr. I just adore it. Dora's voice is, well you have to hear it, so perfect. The songs are great too:

"Come on, vamanos, everybody lets go!"

Dora is this plucky little 5 year-old chiquita who goes on ADVENTURES. She rescues the little Jaguar from the waterfall. She gets granny a chocolate tree. She finds a present for her baby puppy.

Dora has a pet monkley called Boots. Boots says "I love you Dora". Dora talks to the camera:

"What was your favourite bit of our adventure?"

__REALLY BIG PAUSE___ Lulu shouts at the TV.

"Oh I liked that part too!"

Dora is full of oddities. The Festival trio, a Frog, snail and slug who appear when she has completed each of her three tasks and play a little triumphal fanfare on tiny instruments (SOOOOO Jim Woodring!) Then there is Backpack who after he's produced the item Dora needs (for example, a spare tyre for Esa the Iguana!) eats everything else: "Yum yum yum, delicioso!" And Swiper the fox! "Swiper no swiping!"

Everything is spoken in a mixture of Spanish and English, which for us Brits is plain weird. Lulu, my baby girl is now always coming out with Spainsh words: Arriba, Abaho, Sienna. Even occasionally words which we dont know the meaning of! Woops!

At the end of each show Dora sings "We did it!" this charming little celebration song and does her little wiggly dance.

Seriously, if you havent clocked it, even if you're a hardened bad boy (like Ludacris!) do yourself a favour and check it out.

Original Thread Here

Posted by WOEBOT at 11:35 AM | Permalink

I'm still only 200 pages in because I've been struggling for the past two weeks with an absolutely insane burden of things. Excuses, excuses! Though hear me out: the week before last I was writing late every night when I got back from animating all day. I did linernotes (two interviews), 5 singles reviews, a 7000 word column, a 1000 word feature (one interview) and a book review.

Then this last week I've been working even later in the evening and trying to care for my wife and two babies, all of whom have been struck by this vicious virus, thats involved all night care as well as doing what i usually do (cooking and putting away breakfast and dinner). Poor little Sam, you should have seen him crashed out, bogies everywhere, heavy lids. I only managed to represent at the RIU&SA panel thing at the last minute, and sadly had to miss the Friday night sesh with The Mover......

....but I've still found time to read 200 pages, not sounding so bad now is it! I've been keeping a little checklist for myself of things which having heard Simon describe I'm desperate to check out. Presumably it's all over the web by now, but if you haven't discovered the pdf discographies available at the Faber and Faber website you ought to check them out as soon as possible. So anyway here's just a few of the things I'm after:

Iggy Pop's: The Idiot

OK OK OK. Yes I did have it when I was kiddywink, but I sold it about 7 years ago. It and Lust for Life are just staples arent they. But LFL is a much less interesting record, very catchy of course but a bit trite and R'n'B-ish. The Idiot on the other hand was a record which always used to unsettle me, Iggy looked deeply unpleasant on the cover and the music was, well, nasty. Cruel. Obviously the vision of something without my ken. And cold. And all those synths....the whole vibe is very Deutsche Gabber. I reckon I probably sold it cos I was never properly reconciled with it. And then I find Ian Curtis listened to it the night he topped himself!

Thomas Leer: 4 Movements and Contradictions

I've already managed to find a copy of private Plane on eBay along with Rental's Paralysis http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....AMEWN%3AIT&rd=1 which strikes me as one hell of a score for 14 quid. I did have Contradictions at one point, and I've no idea why I sold it.

Devo: The Booji Boy Singles

I think Simon gets justifiably frothy about Pere Ubu's early stuff. The Datapanik collection (heart flutters) is just to die for. And the Modern Dance, well it was just about the only thing I listened to for years darling. I even had that (quite poor) Tin Huey LP at one point, but Devo! Devo?!? Devo I completely missed. I reckon this may have been because they were, in 1985, when I started to get deeper into music, very much around. Doin the college tour thing, and generally reduced to shtick. Bit of a turn-off. I heard that "Are we not men?" for the very first time EVER last week. I turned to my colleague at work and said, "Hmm, this sounds weirdly....like....mid.....period....Eno." Dang, what a great single. (scratches head) Wonder what the LP is like. Blissblogger has some GREAT GREAT GREAT Devo stories, but you'll have to read the book cos I'm not telling you them cheapskate!

Minutemen Paranoid Time and Bean Spill EPs

Why would you be interested in records which I havent actually checked out yet...er I dunno. For some reason these two little blighters have fallen through the cracks in my Minutemen collection and I intend to remedy that. Yes sir I do!

The Fire Engines

Slightly jumping ahead of myself here, havent even got to the Scottish chapter yet. Is there one? Ive been scratching around Postcard alot recently (as is attested elsewhere on this f'rum) but this I must hear....

The Albion Band and Martin Carthy

I'd really appreciate it if someone could reccommend me some good stuff (the best stuff) by these candidates. The Penster is on record saying this is what they were listening to at the Scritti squat. And I know the Albion Band LP was massive, but (again scrathes head) which was THE ONE? On a related note I've been digging a little deeper into UK folk music of this era. The Pentangle "Basket of Light" LP (which I know I'm the last person to hear) is just splendid also on the trail of some Bill Fay, though it looks like I'll have to surrender to buying it on CD.

Vic Godard

This guy I thought just sounded great. The quote of his I liked which I recounted to the panel at RIU&SA was this: (Vic) told Melody Maker that he viewed "Rock" as "potentially a really good secondary education system...Teaching (people) to educate themselves." I wanted to know why that would just be an unthinkable remark for a musician to make nowadays, why it seems (tragically) completely irrelevant these days. Gina spluttered something, which I didnt get , about how Vic Godard only had about 100 fans (yeah didnt understand that remark at all, was that supposed to mean he was irrelevant, unlike The Raincoats who had 500 fans...and you cant really answer back at these affairs, winks) and Morley, quite graciously I thought, cos it was kind of an ill-formed lackadaisical question which seemed to generally fail to ignite the panel's ardour, that with the internet knowledge is at everyones finger tips (nice of him, but i suppose potentially prompting the reply, then why the hell dont people fucking use it to enlighten themselves!?! and wasnt it better in the old days!)

I liked Vic's idea enormously. Truth be told thats EXACTLY how i used "Rock". Like an alternative secondary education system. When I was at my posh public school, I just couldnt begin to understand what the hell use ANYTHING i was being taught was. It wasnt that it wasnt conceivably interesting stuff, Latin, Geography, English Literature and all that, just the starting point, the assumption that lay beneath the reason you were being taught these things was so crooked that I just felt like I was autistic. It just seemed so weird. Rock education superior. Cut with the personal stuff.

The Swans "Filth"

I suppose largely because it's on Glenn Branca's Neutral label. Kind of sexy slice of vinyl. My bruv used to have "Cop" and that was good as well. Actually I regret not having that still as well.

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One of the truly great things about RIU&SA is that you get to hear the blissblogger talking about really quite famous records like Talking Heads "Remain In Light" and Wire's "Chair Missing" while usually he's writing about something deeply obscure (c'mon Simon, you know it's true!) And you're just overpowered by the need to check them out again.

Original Thread Here

Posted by WOEBOT at 09:49 AM | Permalink