The Tower XVI
I've been trying to figure out what I should write about on a blog. I have plenty of writing to do and I suppose I could use this as rough-draft land. But is that interesting, to me or to my (abstract) reader?
So why not try to find things to write about that are not part of my daily responsibilities? Here's a try, only a year later than intended. It's a playlist.
My snowmonkey friend John organized an effort at friends sharing music with each other through a CD club and this was my first contribution. The image in the title of the collection represented a bit of pessimism about what I was thinking would be the sources and direction of political change in the US in 2004. Can’t say if I was right or not.
Explanation of the playlist:
1. Eric Idle, FCC song. A little light-hearted fun to start out, in the vein of “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.”
2. Tilt, Dear Wife. West coast punk rock for everyone who sports a “Support the Troops” ribbon on their SUV.
3. Bureau de Change, I Dream of a Council Flat. A kind of theme is probably emerging already. I also liked the title of this album: “Global Village Idiots.”
4. IQU, Teenage Dream. So the theme fades a bit. Incorporating “Toryansay” is a nice touch, though.
5. People Like Us, Handjob. I’m fond of “plunderphonics,” and People Like Us, like the more infamous Negativland, do it with humor. So…is this pre- or post-Hayes Code?
6. Ex Models, Girlfriend is Worse. There are a few selections here chosen just because I like the song.
7. Refuzer vs Schizoid, Fuck the NAFTA. These guys have distilled punk rock to its quintessence. There are 50 tracks on this CD and the whole thing only lasts 5 minutes.
8. Jets to Brazil, Your X-Rays Have Come Back and We Think We Know What the Problem is. See track 6. Plus a great rock lyric: “I got three years tied to the mast of this town/She’s a handsome ship but I’m going down…”
9. The Conet Project, The Lancashire Poacher. This one probably does need some explanation. The Conet Project is a collection of recordings of “numbers broadcasts,” shortwave radio broadcasts of strings of numbers. The best explanation available is that they are probably coded messages sent to spies in the field.
10. Four Tet, No More Mosquitoes. I’ve been developing a taste for electronic music made on laptop computers. Like punk rock, it’s a mixed bag both aesthetically and socially/politically. I love that music is once again becoming something that almost anyone can make and distribute.
11. Refuzer vs Schizoid, Anarchy Now!
12. Refuzer vs Schizoid, Shoot a Nazi Pig.
13. Buffalo Daughter, 5 Minutes. Same as Four Tet. These tracks are especially nice in headphones. But that’s kind of the problem, too: is this any way to share a joyful experience? It seems that the physical, face-to-face, embodied contact of dancing with someone to a sensual beat is lost…or is it? Presence is nice, sight and smell and touch as well as hearing, right? But don’t we also dance with strangers when we dance alone in our rooms? The music is being shared, after all.
14. Kalahari Surfers, Diengele. OK, maybe I’m on more stable ground when it comes to politics. I love Kalahari Surfers. Warrick Sony was also an anti-apartheid activist and he did some incredible covers of “Boots” and “Bad Moon Rising” that returned their pointed political meanings in the context of such an intense struggle. But on the previous note as well: if not for CDs and mp3s and electronic file sharing, how likely is it that we would hear political music from South Africa?
15. Do Shaska!, ZakatZakat. This comes from a tribute collection for Muslimgauze. Muslimgauze was the stage name (pen name? Public identity?) of Bryn Jones, a musician who had a passion for Arab music and who was deeply committed to the Palestinian struggle. According to a Wikipedia article, he was opposed to using computers in his music and composed using analog tape. He was also a skilled drummer. He died, tragically, of a rare fungal blood infection. The tribute features remixes of some of his tracks by other electronic musicians.
16. Kristin Hersh, Your Dirty Answer. Up for air again? My hips haven’t stopped shaking but I can understand when people want rock and roll to be rock and roll, and when they think that politics matters but so do integrity and sex and drinking.
17. The Slits, Instant Hit. An all-woman punk band emerging from the London scene in 1977, the Slits are on my all-star list. They were very courageous and proved that “talent” doesn’t have to be a barrier to making music. The songs is purported to be about Keith Levene, who became the guitar player for Public Image Ltd., though it does sound like it’s a song about Sid Vicious, too.
18. Jon Langford, Tubby Brothers. I like Tilt because it’s punk rock and it’s literate. Another literate band that started as a punk band but became oh, so much more, is The Mekons; Jon Langford is a member but this is from a solo project.
19. Gong, Radio Gnome. Gong is a guilty pleasure, sort of the closet where I hid the bong and the tie-dye and the awful drawings I did when I was tripping. I don’t go there anymore but I do have some fond memories.
20. Dick Richards, Tarragona. A few minutes of trance, built up layer upon layer. It transports the listener – in the worst case, at least to the next song.
21. Zmrzlina, School Girls. A Polish band, whose name apparently means “Ice Cream.” This is a deranged and disturbing song that just used its beat to wend its way into my subconscious.
22. Nomeansno, One Fine Day. One of the great, and most under-appreciated, Canadian rock bands. Most of their music is much, much darker than this. I listened to this song over and over when Christopher Reeve died. I had always imagined it as his theme song. Some redemption to finish this disc.
So why not try to find things to write about that are not part of my daily responsibilities? Here's a try, only a year later than intended. It's a playlist.
My snowmonkey friend John organized an effort at friends sharing music with each other through a CD club and this was my first contribution. The image in the title of the collection represented a bit of pessimism about what I was thinking would be the sources and direction of political change in the US in 2004. Can’t say if I was right or not.
Explanation of the playlist:
1. Eric Idle, FCC song. A little light-hearted fun to start out, in the vein of “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.”
2. Tilt, Dear Wife. West coast punk rock for everyone who sports a “Support the Troops” ribbon on their SUV.
3. Bureau de Change, I Dream of a Council Flat. A kind of theme is probably emerging already. I also liked the title of this album: “Global Village Idiots.”
4. IQU, Teenage Dream. So the theme fades a bit. Incorporating “Toryansay” is a nice touch, though.
5. People Like Us, Handjob. I’m fond of “plunderphonics,” and People Like Us, like the more infamous Negativland, do it with humor. So…is this pre- or post-Hayes Code?
6. Ex Models, Girlfriend is Worse. There are a few selections here chosen just because I like the song.
7. Refuzer vs Schizoid, Fuck the NAFTA. These guys have distilled punk rock to its quintessence. There are 50 tracks on this CD and the whole thing only lasts 5 minutes.
8. Jets to Brazil, Your X-Rays Have Come Back and We Think We Know What the Problem is. See track 6. Plus a great rock lyric: “I got three years tied to the mast of this town/She’s a handsome ship but I’m going down…”
9. The Conet Project, The Lancashire Poacher. This one probably does need some explanation. The Conet Project is a collection of recordings of “numbers broadcasts,” shortwave radio broadcasts of strings of numbers. The best explanation available is that they are probably coded messages sent to spies in the field.
10. Four Tet, No More Mosquitoes. I’ve been developing a taste for electronic music made on laptop computers. Like punk rock, it’s a mixed bag both aesthetically and socially/politically. I love that music is once again becoming something that almost anyone can make and distribute.
11. Refuzer vs Schizoid, Anarchy Now!
12. Refuzer vs Schizoid, Shoot a Nazi Pig.
13. Buffalo Daughter, 5 Minutes. Same as Four Tet. These tracks are especially nice in headphones. But that’s kind of the problem, too: is this any way to share a joyful experience? It seems that the physical, face-to-face, embodied contact of dancing with someone to a sensual beat is lost…or is it? Presence is nice, sight and smell and touch as well as hearing, right? But don’t we also dance with strangers when we dance alone in our rooms? The music is being shared, after all.
14. Kalahari Surfers, Diengele. OK, maybe I’m on more stable ground when it comes to politics. I love Kalahari Surfers. Warrick Sony was also an anti-apartheid activist and he did some incredible covers of “Boots” and “Bad Moon Rising” that returned their pointed political meanings in the context of such an intense struggle. But on the previous note as well: if not for CDs and mp3s and electronic file sharing, how likely is it that we would hear political music from South Africa?
15. Do Shaska!, ZakatZakat. This comes from a tribute collection for Muslimgauze. Muslimgauze was the stage name (pen name? Public identity?) of Bryn Jones, a musician who had a passion for Arab music and who was deeply committed to the Palestinian struggle. According to a Wikipedia article, he was opposed to using computers in his music and composed using analog tape. He was also a skilled drummer. He died, tragically, of a rare fungal blood infection. The tribute features remixes of some of his tracks by other electronic musicians.
16. Kristin Hersh, Your Dirty Answer. Up for air again? My hips haven’t stopped shaking but I can understand when people want rock and roll to be rock and roll, and when they think that politics matters but so do integrity and sex and drinking.
17. The Slits, Instant Hit. An all-woman punk band emerging from the London scene in 1977, the Slits are on my all-star list. They were very courageous and proved that “talent” doesn’t have to be a barrier to making music. The songs is purported to be about Keith Levene, who became the guitar player for Public Image Ltd., though it does sound like it’s a song about Sid Vicious, too.
18. Jon Langford, Tubby Brothers. I like Tilt because it’s punk rock and it’s literate. Another literate band that started as a punk band but became oh, so much more, is The Mekons; Jon Langford is a member but this is from a solo project.
19. Gong, Radio Gnome. Gong is a guilty pleasure, sort of the closet where I hid the bong and the tie-dye and the awful drawings I did when I was tripping. I don’t go there anymore but I do have some fond memories.
20. Dick Richards, Tarragona. A few minutes of trance, built up layer upon layer. It transports the listener – in the worst case, at least to the next song.
21. Zmrzlina, School Girls. A Polish band, whose name apparently means “Ice Cream.” This is a deranged and disturbing song that just used its beat to wend its way into my subconscious.
22. Nomeansno, One Fine Day. One of the great, and most under-appreciated, Canadian rock bands. Most of their music is much, much darker than this. I listened to this song over and over when Christopher Reeve died. I had always imagined it as his theme song. Some redemption to finish this disc.
posted by spike at 6:34 pm
2 Comments:
On first listen, my favorite tracks are 4, 6, 15 and 17. But I'll let you know how it develops after I've listened more carefully.
Thanks for the new music!
I admit your initial favorites kind of surprise me, though I am extremely pleased that you liked The Slits. It's the 70s, I suspect; with everything that was wrong with that whole decade, there at least seemed to be people trying to do something about it. Someday people will look back fondly on this decade as well, but I'll be so old by then that my sneer will have regained it's punk rock permanence.
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