Going through some old post-punk albums last night, Public Image Ltd‘s name came to mind. Thanks to Enzo Notorio’s good taste, he pointed me to the direction of The Flowers of Romance, which contained this gem.
Art-Rock
[Video] Alcatraz – Piss Off (1971)
With many thanks to Alan Freeman, the proprietor of England’s coolest prog-rock shop, Ultima Thule, and the editor of the magazine which poisoned my musical taste for the rest of my life, Audion.
This freakish track by Alcatraz managed to scramble the brains of Steven Stapleton of Nurse With Wound. If that isn’t high praise, nothing is.
[Article] We’re an Anonymous Band: How Do You Make a Film About the Residents?
A legitimate question, really, posed over at Rolling Stone Magazine. Still, the idea of seeing a well-done documentary on The Residents is intriguing.
[Video] 잠비나이 (Jambinai) – Connection
Many thanks to dear Maryna Evilly from Ukraine for originally posting this.
The band is a new one to me. It seems that they’re from South Korea, and, at least on this track, they have a sound which reminds me of Tuxedomoon or bands from the legendary Italian record label Materiali Sonori.
[Video] Cluster and Eno – Für Luise
Sehr Kosmiche…
The duo of Cluster (Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius) paired with Brian Eno on several albums.
Here’s a slice from the 1977 collaborative LP titled (simple enough) Cluster and Eno.
[Video] Peter Hammill – (This Side Of) The Looking Glass
While fronting one of the greatest of all progressive rock bands in Van Der Graaf Generator, Peter Hammill was releasing critically acclaimed solo albums. Here’s a piece from the album The Love Songs.
As a side note, many thanks to Virgil Pink, who shares a tremendous amount of wonderful videos. He should be on your Youtube subscription list immediately.
[Magazine] Art Rockin’
The purpose of my blog is to cover a mass of information as orderly as possible, though it’s proving difficult (though pleasurable) to do. One of those bits of information I like to pass on is the existence of other blogs and zines who are more specific in scope. Art Rockin’ was started by Salim Ghazi Saeedi and Lee Henderson to review and promote art rock releases, as not enough mags are concentrating on this rather rich genre of music.
Good luck to them!
Lou Reed, R.I.P.
It came as a shock to find out that Lou Reed, a fixture throughout the whole of my musical life, had passed away due to complications from liver failure today. Ben Ratliff of the New York Times wrote a fine obituary today, so in terms of a retrospective, it’s best to leave it to the professionals. However, there’s also a personal component.
I’m not quite sure who made the quote (it’s always attributed to Brian Eno when I try to source it), and it is surely apocryphal, but here it is:
I’m one of those guys. Now, my ‘band’ did nothing but practice, and it was a real pleasure at the time, but for all those bands who heard that first Velvet Underground album, it compelled the listener to go do something. You became an active participant rather than a mere listener.
Though I spent my formative years in Los Angeles, I loathed The Doors and most of the bands from San Francisco (Love was the only one I cared for deeply who were from the West Coast). My heart and mind, musically, at least when it came to Americn music, was firmly planted in New York, with all the debauchery that city was famous for. The Velvets were gritty and hard, unlike their bloated, pretentious, and frankly mediocre fellow musicians out west. We got bands like Blind Melon thanks to The Doors. We ended up with Cabaret Voltaire, Joy Division, The Cure, and scores of other substantial bands thanks to Lou, John Cale, and the troupe.
May Lou rest well, and our condolences go to his wife, the composer Laurie Anderson, herself one of the great sages of radical American music.
Sunday mornings won’t quite be the same, will they?
A Miscellany Of Tasteful Music 