Impossible Symmetry - Helm - Musicbiz

Cop Goes Undercover As A Beatnik

Jet magazine, 1960. Pre-Serpico, this would have made a great film, surely, with the faux beat cop Sylvester hanging out in cellar bars, learning to play bongos and talk hip. With his 'natural cat-like mannerisms', he fooled many a beatnik into selling him dope, the dirty rat! If I'd made the film, he would have been unable resist the allure of those crazy chicks and cool sounds, and gone AWOL in San Francisco. Did he never get Charlie Parker and LeRoi Jones, I wonder?

Tate Modern Excursion & Oskar Fischinger Find

Art, what is it good for? Bah! Went to Tate Modern over the bank holiday (it was that or DIY) in search of constructivist stuff, mostly. Starting badly, if you go now you're confronted with a Damien Hirst 'sculpture' in the forecourt, which is basically the kind of biological figure used in medicine - whoa! Ama-a-zing concept there.

Move on - overheard a kid (no more than six) saying 'Mummy, Damien Hirst' - ! - no lie, GI, they're catching 'em early, these days. He's featured in an exhibition, in case you didn't know. Here in the UK there's no escaping him - he's on breakfast TV through to morning chat shows featuring women on a sofa, then an afternoon game show called 'Can't Paint - Won't Paint', then the sic-o'clock news, and finally Newsnight, where he can be found pontificating on the problems of maintaining a mansion and paying tax - probably.

Shockingly, a fair few members of the proletariat were seen and heard in the galleries - kids in tow, teachin' 'em all about Art an' that. There really should be some kind of vetting system at the door - 'Can you tell which is the Beryl Cook and which is the Frida Khalo?' Actually, scrap that idea, I'd never get in.

'Don't go in there!' I had to scream at LJ when she appeared to be veering towards the Rothko room - phew, close thing. Oh how laughed at the idea that sitting gazing at Rothko was a most horrendous viewer cliché imaginable. Both being inveterate snobs, that wasn't on.  Funnily enough, as LJ pointed out, the room is darkened - probably so as to prevent some viewers from actually being able to clearly see what they're staring at and come to the wrong conclusion, namely that there's a lot of nice colours, rather than grasping what the man himself called 'the big emotions - tragedy, ecstasy, doom'.

One gallery contained a lot of strip lights. Needless to say, I took one peek, laughed, and turned swiftly on my heels. We did a lot of that.

The big find, though, was a room showing work by Oskar Fischinger. A three-panel slide show with music by Cage and Varese. I won't attempt to describe the work, being an art ignoramus and no kind of critic; suffice to say it's worth going to the Tate just to see it.

The Social Network Tragedy

63 Film Soundtracks Chosen by Kreng

As part of a Q&A I'm conducting with Pepijn Caudron (Kreng) I asked him to name his Top 5 film soundtracks. Understandably, he found that impossible, saying 'I can't do this'. Instead, he offered 63 from what I suspect would be a much larger list. He also added: 'and there is so much great Ennio Morricone. Too much to list here. check his wild 70's period on 'Crime & Dissonance' - a great double-compilation on Mike Patton's Ipecac label!'. I wholeheartedly support that recommendation; it's a good way of cheating if the list is short and like him I'm a big fan of Ennio's 70s work. 

The full Q&A session will be posted soon, along with a review of the forthcoming box set on Miasmah, Works For Abattoir Ferme 2007-2011 which, trust me, is an absolutely essential purchase.

Aliens - James Horner
John Corigliano - Altered States
Assault On Precinct 13 - John Carpenter
Basic Instinct - Jerry Goldsmith
Blanc / Blue / Rouge - Zbigniew Preisner
Bram Stoker's Dracula - Wojciech Kilar
Bug - Brian Tyler
The Cell - Howard Shore
Crank: High Voltage - Mike Patton
The Dark Knight - Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard
Dark Of The Sun - Jacques Loussier
The Day The Earth Stood Still - Bernard Herrmann
Derek Jarman's The Last Of England - Simon Fisher Turner
Dirty Harry - Lalo Schifrin
Drive - Cliff Martinez
Ed Wood - Howard Shore
Edward Scissorhands - Danny Elfman
The Fantastic Mr. Fox - Alexandre Desplat

The Fearless Vampire Killers - Krzysztof Komeda
The Hurt Locker - Marco Beltrami & Buck Sanders
In The Bedroom - Thomas Newman
In The Mood For Love - Michael Galasso & Various
Inception - Hans Zimmer
Insidious - Jospeh Bishara
The King's Speech - Alexandre Desplat
The Lost Weekend - Miklos Rozsa
Lust, Caution - Alexandre Desplat
The Machinist - Roque Banos
Marnie - Bernard Herrmann
Mirrors - Javier Navarette
Moon - Clint Mansell
Mullholland Drive - Angelo Badalamenti
Music From Twin Peaks - Angelo Badalamenti
The Ninth Gate - Wojciech Kilar
North By Northwest - Bernard Herrmann
Obsession - Bernard Herrmann
The Omen - Jerry Goldsmith
The Painted Veil - Alexandre Desplat
Pan's Labyrinth - Javier Navarette

Paris, Texas - Ry Cooder
A Perfect Place - Mike Patton
Planet Of The Apes - Jerry Goldsmith
Psycho - Bernard Herrmann
Punch-Drunk-Love - Jon Brion
Pursued - Max Steiner
Rosemary's Baby - Krzysztof Komeda
Seven Samurai - Fumio Hayasaka
She - Max Steiner
A Single Man - Abel Kozeniowski
Sisters - Bernard Herrmann
The Social Network - Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
Solaris - Cliff Martinez
Spellbound - Miklos Rozsa
The Straight Story - Angelo Badalamenti
There Will Be Blood - Jonny Greenwood
The Thing - Ennio Morricone
Tron Legacy- Daft Punk
Twisted Nerve - Bernard Herrmann
Up - Michael Giacchino
Vertigo - Bernard Herrmann
White Oleander - Thomas Newmann

30 Days Of Night - Brian Reitzell
2046 - Shigeru Umebayashi





Miasmah label

Disco Inferno

Watched 5mins of C4's How Clubbing Changed The World  last night - enough! Clubbing As We Know It Today is not clubbing as I knew it when they were called discos. Back then dance music was better, so were strikes, football hooliganism and telly - ha! Every generation claims it's music was better.

Possibly the Greatest Dance Record Ever made (check the 5.22 switch to synth hand clap stoned groove overload):

So we're dancing 'round the bunker to this and it creates a kind of delirium:

In ye olde days of Disco, the music would occasionally display a sense of social conscience and produce a classic like this:

Now, the greatest anarchist disco record ever made, surely, and although whilst dancing to this we had never actually read Kropotkin, the message no doubt embedded itself in a subconscious fashion:

As a DJ in the 90s I was still getting plenty of mileage out of this, the last great Dance tune by Mr Bohannon and one which manages to fuse the rawness of a Sly Stone classic whilst hinting at House/Techno things to come:

I could go on all day and night but in the spirit of discos then I shall stop whilst the going's good and no-one is exhausted.

Saturn With RW Paul & Sun Ra

Take a drive on the ring road with RW Paul...

Or travel with Sun Ra...

Reqiem pour Satan/Fantasmagories - Camille Sauvage

Fantasmagories - Camille Sauvage

You Have Needs

Author of text

Varoomshka - John Kent (1972)

Varoomshka's a surprising comic strip heroine for the 'right-on' Guardian newspaper, and there were protests from some members of staff, apparently. Though hardly a feminist role model in appearance, her creator John Kent used her as a vehicle for some smart political satire. It ran for ten years starting in '69. This annual is from '72. His obituary is here.

Tesco - Wishmountain (Accidental)

Matthew Herbert's supermarket sweep of sound, throwing Dairy Milk, Lucozade, Nescafe, Andrex and others into his sonic trolley. 'Dairy Milk' sound like he's doing what many of us would enjoy, namely, boiling fat cat supermarket executives in a vat of chocolate, then letting them dry before feeding them to kids - well, perhaps that last part is just my private fantasy, not yours. 'Fruit Shoot' has the feel of our Matt's earliest recordings - funky, but with fewer ounces to the bounce (ie pared down), therefore offering no threat to your daily intake of, er, rhythm. 'Kingmill, Hovis & Warburton' though, contrarily, is heavier than loaves made by those companies - it's more like a Vogel's, actually (Cristian & the bread), grittier, heavier, more wholesome. 'Nescafe' is a sprightly tune, as one named after coffee should be, although I imagine Matt's more of a freshly ground man, actually. That may, however, be the sound of coffee beans being incorporated into the rhythm, so perhaps he just like posh Nescafe. A fun album filled with Matthew's acute sense of sampled sound as buoyant beats and tasty textures.

Sights & Sound Of '69 - Playboy Hi-Fi Feature & Duke Ellington Birthday

Posted sights and sounds of '68 before. Hi-fi gear never looked so handsome.

Winner in Playboy Poll that year....

And in the same year he celebrated his 70th birthday...

We Are Time - Collage With Text

Page from work in progress. 

U.S. Industrial Design '49 - '50 (1949 The Studio Publications Inc)

Mojo Magazine Gets It Wrong Shock! A Proper 25 Greatest Electronic Records List

I had a good chuckle at Mojo magazine's 50 Greatest Electronic Records in the latest issue - well you wouldn't expect the bastion of Rock heritage to get it right, would you? And they don't. Which I'm not pleased about, believe me - yes, I'm also known as 'Snobin', but that doesn't mean I'm laughing because many names on the list are popular - oh no - they're plain WRONG is all.  Roxy Music is an 'electronic record'? Eh? Oh, just 'cause Eno's on it, right. King Tubbys Meets The Rockers Uptown? Er, OK, if wizardry at the mixing desk meets the criterion where the hell is Lee Perry, or for that matter, Phil Spector? Massive Attack's Blue Lines is there...mmm...so sampling/breakbeats in Trip-Hop form counts, does it? Well, Tricky's Maxinquaye should be in then, or DJ Shadow's Endtroducing, because both are far more ground-breaking.

The POP/Rock connection is an umbilical chord that Mojo seem unable to cut, which makes this list a lie. If they'd stated first that most selections related to Pop/Rock & Dance that would be fine, but they don't, so they give the impression that researchers really have presented the 50 Greatest Electronic Records instead of 50 Electronic Records For Those Who Don't Like Pure Electronic Music Without Vocals Or Guitars Incolved. There's no Stockhausen. I repeat, in caps, THERE'S NO STOCKHAUSEN. Silver Apples' Silver Apples, but not Morton Subotinik's Silver Apples Of The Moon. Heh-heh - you gotta larf. Silver Apples gets the nod because that's sort of like a Rock record, but with electronics, and the effect's the same.

I can only presume that Terry Riley's A Rainbow In Curved Air is in because some ex-hippy staff member (or powerful hippy ex-staff member) fondly recalls lighting incense and getting stoned to it in '69. Ditto Tangerine Dream, whose Phaedra continues the longhair freek connection - jesus. That's all dubious enough, but then we move forward in time and look who's here, Burial! I can't say anything bad about Burial, though, that's the law. If I did, I'd be banned from breathing - fact. Nine Inch Nails...The Prodigy...LCD Sound System...Radiohead...Radiohead? Yes, Radiohead. And look, here's Stevie Wonder's Music Of My Mind. Why? Because none of them have heard Innervisions? As much as I love this era of Stevie in no way does it qualify as Electronic Music. Notably, his aids in the electronic realm, Malcolm Cecil and Margouleff (Tonto's Expanding Headband) do not make the list, despite their debut, Zero Time, supposedly inspiring Stevie to get with the new technology.

Jean-Michel Jarre's in there, because he wrote the intro so, you know, it wouldn't be fair to exclude him, would it? Even though his music's the equivalent of being trapped in a New Age shop whilst a Las Vegas lounge bar star plays Eno's greatest hits - no wonder he sold trillions, it's Electronic Music as Valium and resides in the homes of every pony-tailed L.A. producer since 1976 - I rest my case.

Of course there are good, right and proper things on the list, but they're undermined by all the Electronic Music For Twats, by which I mean those who really think it all began with Kraftwerk and still jump up and down to The Chemical Brothers at festivals. Oh, and those for whom The Prodigy represent Acceptable Dance Music because, well, he's a bit of a nutter, isn't he? And they just rocked Glasto.

So here are 25 of my Greatest Electronic Records. Only 25 because I can't be bothered to do 50 and yes there are many left out but, you know, life's too short, and being a reader of this blog you'll know most of what I choose because you're hip, aren't you? I must state that these are not simply my favourites but indisputably some of The Greatest as scientifically and sonically proven. (Oh, and there's nothing 'contemporary' because I didn't get 'round to thinking about everything that's happened since Techno was born and I'm sure you'll agree that the test of time is not easy to pass or apply unless you think Jeff Mills is a genius.)

1.Silver Apples of the Moon - Morton Subotnik
2. Kontakte - Stockhausen
3. Trans-Europa Express - Kraftwerk
4. Futurissimo - Egisto Macchi
5. Quatermass - Tod Dockstader

6. Effets Speciaux - Pierro Umiliani
7. Zero Time - Tonto's Expanding Headband
8. Complete Electronic Music - Iannis Xenakis (yes, I'm including compilations)
9. Oramics - Daphne Oram
10. Electrosound - Ron Geesin

11. Zerkalo - Eduard Artemiev
12. Song Of The Second Moon - Tom Dissevelt & Kid Baltan
13. World With Worlds - Basil Kirchin
14. L'OEil ecoute - Bernard Parmegiani
15. Cesi Est Cela - Philippe Besombes
16. Independent Electronic Music Composer - Edward M Zajda

17. Ataraxia - Mort Garson
18. Biomechanoid - Joel Vandroogenbroek
19. The World Of Electro-Acoustic Sound and Music - Matsuo Ohno
20. Musique Pour Le Futur - Nino Nardini
21. Les Livre des Morts Egyptien - Pierre Henry
22. Film Music - Vladimir Ussachevsky
23. Logos - Igor Wakhevitch
24. Death Of The Moon - Rune Lindblad

25. Forest Of Evil - Frank Reidy & Eric Allen

The Art Teacher - Pedro deLemos (1931)

'Every pupil with a growing art knowledge, from his first kindergarten or primary school year through his finishing years of schooling, will have his eyes and mind and hands attuned and receptive to the thousand and one beauties which nature displays everywhere, often hidden for those only who have had their eyes opened.' 

So says Pedro deLemos in his foreword, strongly advocating Art as a utilitarian tool with which to make better buildings, furnishings and 'lovelier dresses', as well as planning 'finer homes'. Very sensible, I'm sure you'll agree, and the only way he was going to gain acceptance for the idea of art as a good thing, no doubt. The book's packed with How To diagrams on everything from sewing and weaving to drawing the human figure, posters etc. I still like to think that a few children who were taught from this book went on to throw paint at a canvas or do something abstract.

My copy is the 5th British printing, so it was obviously popular.

Unknown Vectors - Sd Laika (Lost Codes)

Glitch Grime, GDM (Geek Dance Music), Shoegaze Step, UBM (University Bass Music) - this EP could fall into any of those categories, but doesn't, because as you know I just made them up. The producer is American, the label is run by Visionist in London, and those are the only facts I know. The big tracks for me are 'Spaceman Piff' and 'Creepy Crawling', the latter especially, sounding like a cross between Nate Young and an old D&B tune played at minus 8.  Finding it at Boomkat proved that curiosity may kill that cat but also brings the occasional pleasant surprise. Below is a sampler.

Interplanetary Tour Reservation & How To Behave With Space Creatures

I've filled mine in and ticked Venus, only because Sun Ra's rocket is going there. Besides, the moon's been ruined by package holidays (proles and lager louts), Mars is full of gap year students and Saturn's all Guardian readers in eco-friendly huts which cost a fortune...