Floatinghead's ramblings about music and music-related themes interspersed with various interludes and home of Cabeza de Vaca radio show on Scanner FM, Barcelona.
A new Cabeza de Vaca show already at Scanner FM!!! This
week a short interview backstage of BeCool with Scott Monteith aka Deadbeat and
Danuel Tate aka Danuel Tate. The focus on the interview is on playing live and
a little at the end on being Canadian since the rest of the show is some newish
Canadian music and also the show was to celebrate the new Micro Mutek line-up
which is partially announced. More details can be found at the Official Mutek Site.
Click here
for a partial transcript of the interview.
Some points
of discussion arose from several things that appeared on Resident Advisor
recently. Scott mentions the Blawan interviewand was aghast in particular at the
following answer from Blawan:
“Q: You
made the move from using a laptop at first on this project, then on to a
completely analogue set-up, right? Why? What is the appeal?
A: We were
so frustrated by the writing process on a computer, I think I was coming to the
limits of what I could do with a computer because I felt like, not in a
big-headed way, but that I knew the software that I was using, Ableton, well
enough that I could do anything. I didn't really like that.”
I also
mention a few comments from the recent Critics Round Table podcast with guest Kirk Degiorgio who mentions something that Scott interprets
to be Alexkid’s Insta-Haus a Max for Ableton device while one of the other
journalists enthuses over the recent set of Bass Clef at The Wire Magazine’s
recent Rewired night at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
There are
several contradictions here, rightly pointed out by Scottt and Danuel all to do
with the technology fetish. Bass Clef plays without a computer and it is
credited as amazing when many groups made electronic music for many years with
no computers. Similarly, Blawan’s comments come across as somewhat extreme too,
ditching the computer for lack of creative potential when it is likely that it
is his use of the computer that has become static. However, the other side of
this is that the analogue machines these people use are essentially “stupid
computers” as Scott says. So what is the difference? Alexkid shows here how his
Insta-Haus set up for Ableton works and indeed it seems quite a simple set-up
but one could easily find limiting creativity at a certain point.
However, it
may be that Kirk Degiorgio was also talking about something like this Vintage House Construction Kit
which has helped all the Rush Hour et al. artists to sound the way they do. I am
most definitely not familiar enough with the technology to know its limitations
and how it really works, but having thought more about it in the interview, it
does seem true that the man vs machine debate is far from over, but it nonetheless
has been a hot topic in 2012 especially after Deadmau5’s comments earlier in
the year in Rolling Stone about pressing play.
Scott and
Danuel also talk about the Pure Data (PD)visual
programming language developed by Miller Puckette for making music.
Peter
Brinkmann has also been credited with bringing PD to Android devices that I
also do not fully understand, but it is perhaps these kind of things that Scott
was saying that Mathias Aguayo was using?
“I shouldn't mind learning why--why the sun do shine on the just and the unjust alike, [...] but that's what books will not tell me.”
- Thomas Hardy – Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Latest Cabeza de Vaca show is up at Scanner FM after a
few delays with FTP.
A couple of extra things that are worth
pointing out. Most obviously is the connection between Sasha Grey of aTelecine and Cosey
Fanni Tutti of Throbbing Gristle/Carter Tutti Void and more fame. The fact that
both worked in the pornographic industry and, in Tutti’s case, also in
sexually-orientated performance art (and more) as part of Genesis P. Orridge’s
COUM Transmissions brings the relationship of sex with industrial and noise
music back into focus.
One of the problems of the genre has been the
weakening of the symbol of bondage imagery by over use and of course a more
male-dominated perspective of it. The two women in question bring the uneasy
relationship with sex and gender back to a more personal level. One’s interest
is one thing, but public participation (performance) is another and is much
more important than elevating symbol to the echelons of art. It is a form of
acting, after all, to appear in a pornographic movie which has its own symbols
and extended culture, including its version of the Oscars system, of which
aTelecine’s Sasha Grey has won several. In her case one hopes it does not
become the only talking point in a fledgling career yet one full of releases
that suggests a real dedication. Certainly she drops enough names that she
might enjoy the odd piece of literature too, as well as a bit of industrial
music. The appearance of aTelecine at this year’s Unsound Festival in Krakow,
Poland also heralds well. Coincidentally, Sasha Grey also features as a guest vocalist on the just-released "Desert Shore/The Final Report" album by (Ex) Throbbing Gristle, minus Genesis P. Orridge, originally envisioned as a tribute to the Nico album of the same name as well as being the final TG album. Due to the untimely death of Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson during the album's preparation it has also come as something of a homage to his life and work as well. Yet returning to the point, one cannot ignore the sexual elements either since
it is forever entwined in the mythology and DNA of the music and culture. Let
us hope that Grey and Tutti can continue to bring new and real perspectives to
it.
The sexual element of DH Lawrence’s scene from
“Women in Love” (1920) is also important. The black metal train and the green
English countryside are obvious elements, but it is the metal on flesh image again,
as Gerald Crich unleashes his stirrups on the trembling red Arabian mare (a
female horse of course), that is more open for interpretation. Some have
likened the drawing of blood to loss of virginity and even rape since he uses
force. It is then easy to move back to the train and see its shuddering,
throbbing gait to be phallic.
“The connecting chains were grinding and
squeaking as the tension varied, the mare pawed and struck away mechanically
now, her terror fulfilled in her, for now the man encompassed her; her paws
were blind and pathetic as she beat the air, the man closed round her, and
brought her down, almost as if she were part of his own physique.”
The book is also famous for the scene in which
Gerald Crich and Rupert Birkin, played by Oliver Reed and Alan Bates,
respectively, in the 1969 Ken Russell film version, wrestle nude in front of a
fireplace.
Shown here from 8:20 onwards.
The homosexual image is integral whether
intended or not, but the scene must also be seen as something merely
animalistic, more innate, just men, after all. There are more complications,
however. The movie also features a scene where Birkin, a thinly disguised
Lawrence himself, shows an aristocratic audience at a grassy luncheon how to
unfold a fig like a vagina. Birkin also runs naked through the long grass and
woods to absorb its scent. Thus, the symbols have always been confused it
seems, man and machine, terror and pleasure, nature and creation.
The fabled magician Aleister Crowley seems to
have understood this contradiction deeply. The fervent optimism of Crowley’s
piece generates its own intensity from within and is meant as a ritual, a
transformation, at worst, theatre.
“Ever worth the passion glowing to distil a
doubtful tear.
These are with me, these are of me, these
approve me, these obey,
Choose me, move me, fear me, love me, master of
the night and day.
These are real, these illusions: I am of them,
false or frail”
Interestingly the stage design includes plans
for a swastika. It is somewhat ironic that the Punk’s intention to undermine
the power of the swastika by wearing it, and thus wearing it down, bears
similarity to the way that the bondage/fetish image has also faded in power
with the same scene and its off-spring by over dissemination. But Crowley is
forgiven of course as the piece “The Rite of Jupiter” from “The Rites of
Eleusis” dates from 1910. It is probably only for this reason that he also uses
the phrase
“Of the East and all its splendour, of the West
and all its peace”
One wonders what his attitude to
industrialization really was? Certainly Lawrence is much clearer, yet both seem
like they should come from similar perspectives on nature in many ways. It
seems somehow fitting that Emptyset, by their mere geographical sitting in
Bristol and via their recordings in the nearby countryside also invoke images of
Stonehenge in nearby Wiltshire, the place where Thomas Hardy’s famous heroine
Tess of the D’Urbervilles met her end, in the arms of nature and paganism.
The subtitle of the book (published first in 1891)
is “A pure woman faithfully presented” and given the story, brings to mind the
films of Lars von Trier. Yet the major theme is the same, the anguish at the
growing segregation of man and nature.
“Beauty lay not in the thing, but in what the
thing symbolized.”
- Thomas Hardy
Factory Floor also keep the sexual question
alive and open in their video for “Stereotype”, their collaboration with the
Pop Group’s Mark Stewart. The androgyny of the protagonists recalls the cult
film Liquid Sky while the fashion is slighter more cyber and Blade Runner-punk
style.
Latest Cabeza de Vaca show is up at Scanner FMfeaturing a lot of atmospheric
techno and a special on the Prologue label. Not much else to say except please enjoy
and share!
To make the later slightly easier I have
started a Facebook page as loathe as I am to do so. The address and link is
here: http://www.facebook.com/Cabezadevacaradio.
Please like, shae, and all those other silly Facebook things. It is still a bit primitive as I am not a fan of social media and haven’t much
time, but I will add all the program links and more as we go, though here the
blog should be the main port of call.
The Scanner FM
website will also undergo a massive overhaul in the next week or two as well,
but more on that when it becomes available.
Next show will
either be some industrial and noise flavoured techno or another special
program, but I will not spoil the surprise.
I am a bit behind on everything these days,
especially blogging, for multiple reasons. One is doing the radio show is more
priority than blogging in big swathes, sadly. Another is I essentially also
have two jobs to cover the 35% reduction in salary enforced by the Spanish and
Catalan governments to pay for the financial crisis.
"I'm just trying to remember / the days of wine and roses"
But somewhere in there have been plenty of
gigs, many of them free and, ironically, paid for in some way with the money
taken from me and given to the governments.
Ben Klock – Razzmatazz October 2012
It seems a long time since Ben Klock’s “Compression
session” came out and except for a few remixes here and there, some of which
turned up on his recent Fabric 66 Mix, there is no signs of anything much
substantial coming our way soon on wax.
While Klock may excel more than his colleague
Marcel Dettmann in the studio at least, the two are on equal par still in the club. Klock’s
arrival in Barcelona only a week or two after Dettmann’s return has meant
another long run of techno dominating the big clubs, a change that has been
evident for several years now. It is worth mentioning that Len Faki also played
Razzmatazz the week after Klock and that the hunger for techno has been attributed
to by many the cliché of Spanish feistiness and the Latino lust for the fast
and furious.
Klock’s set was consequently and unsurprisingly
pretty intense, with driving rain outside and the labyrinthine halls and
corridors of Razzmatazz rammed to the rafters until the bitter end. After a
hard days drinking it seemed like it took him an age to start, but once he was
on, time seemed to stand still for long periods. The only sense that it was
passing at all came from a slowly building feeling of intensity and abandon
manifest in the shifting lights as the lasers came on and scanned the sea of
fists rising from the crowd and in the more raucous dancing that the music
seemed to elicit as the knowledge of the end became more palpable. God knows
what he was playing though. It always seems so hard to tell in the club, but it
always surprises me how different a set seems to a mix CD for example (more on
that later).
One thing that was evident in his style,
however, was a sense of purity and simplicity. A lot of DJs now feel they need
to blend styles to keep it interesting. Indeed, dubstep was a Godsend for
average DJs as it meant an easy way to avoid monotony by dropping in a break
beat section that still retains the steel and dub saturated palette of techno,
while often also giving a shift in BPMs. Klock, however, was doggedly fixed
only on heavy techno, not resorting to house subtleties or any break beat
modernity. On the Fabric mix, for example, Floorplan’s house-influenced “Never
grow old” starts the ease down into the closing tracks, but such delicacies
were not on offer at Razzmatazz.
Perhaps this is the key to the feeling of timelessness?
Klock’s sets act like a double time clock/Klock to which you adapt your
metabolism to. You can measure past, present and future, extending out in all
directions simultaneously. That said, towards the end of the set there was a
number of structural shifts. Big, monolithic breakdowns started to come into play
and just before he wound down he layered one together that seemed like it lasted
for nearly half an hour or so. By monolithic I mean the employment of the type
of track that you often get on a 12” that can seem abrasive and staccato when
listened to out of context at home. They are almost funkless these passages,
but this is why they are so brilliant. If you take a step back and look at it
from an outsider’s point of view it must seem insane to subject such a large
crowd to abrasive, abstract music and see them respond with such fervor. One
example is almost Dettmann’s “Allies” which sits in the centre of the Fabric mix.
As far as his mix goes, there is a lot more
detail there than in the club and the feeling of shifting between platforms
almost, like in a video game, rather than flowing as he does live. There are
also plenty of highlights in the as-yet unreleased edits, especially Josh Wink’s
“Are you there?” from 1996 and the aforementioned team-up with girlfriend Nina Kraviz.
A curiosity as well of the mix is its use of a
more electro and experimentally tinged sound that also doesn’t come across so
directly in the club. The starting couple of tracks for example are almost
robotic, glitchy even. It is worth here comparing it to Norman Nodge’s recent
"Berghain 06" mix which goes even further down that path, almost as if he was
self-consciously staying as far away from straight techno as a way of making a
personal statement or to keep it fresh. The opening of Oni Ayhun and Mokira is
pretty challenging in the sense that these kind of tracks can often feel better
in the middle to weird you out, rather than laying down a dirty and fragmented
doormat to enter into proceedings. Similarly, the track by Patrick Gråser may
be undercut by a rollicking beat, but its anti-melody and feel a little twisted
if you aren’t in the mood or want something a little more sensual.
A side point to this is that the Delta
Funktionen album was harshly criticizedearlier this year for sounding electro, when in
fact it seems a fairly common DJ tool/style to use. But worse perhaps was a
certain inherent hypocrisy in labeling the album too retrospective looking and
too close to Drexciya when the last years has seen far too much retro-house
that sounded too close to Chicago for its own good.
Nodge’s mix is a good counter point to Klock’s more
friendly mix, but perhaps it suffers from coming down a bit too soon with
Radioactive Man’s “Nastyradio” feeling like a sudden breaking rather than an
ease down. Similarly, the spidery, searching feel of "Berghain 06" requires a
little more investment to get the return than "Fabric 66".
Nodge, also a lawyer by day, spoke recently to Little White Earbuds about his mix, GEMA and his
upbringing in East Germany.
L.E.M. Festival – Nurse with Wound
The same night as Ben Klock I was supposed to
see Arbol (Miquel Marin) play with Julia Kent at the L.E.M. Festival, but by
the time we arrived it was sold out. One earlier show I did make it to however,
was Steven Stapleton and Andrew Liles who played in the small auditorium
beneath the MACBA, the literal underground of the Sonar Day venue. The room is
essentially a half circle with strategically placed speakers to give the
feeling of three dimensional sound space. Drones were already playing when we
entered the room, although the duo had not yet appeared. The room filled and
still nothing happened. One man at the front stood up and became quite irate at
the attendants who shrugged their shoulders. Then, as if homing in on the man’s
negative tension, Stapleton and Liles appeared. Stapleton stayed close to his
mixing desk, looping small sounds and playing a small bowed instrument to start
with. Liles was initially the more physically active of the two, changing
instruments, singing into a microphone and performing all sorts of tricks to
distort whatever sound they made. The trajectory of the music was essentially
an arc, coalescing, darkening and growing in intensity. At its peak the two seemed
to become more unhinged from each other, or in a sense, from the drone that had
remained beneath the sound all the while. They shifted, moved and changed with
increasing frequency. To hear better and I closed my eyes, letting myself get
drawn in. I could hear Liles voice from time to time, but the rest was
unrecognisable and constantly shifting. It began to lighten to glide as if
layers were peeling off the surface and being torn into a void where they would
disappear. There was a sanguineous warmth to the music suddenly, as if an inner
heat was pressing out against the rain I knew was battering on the ground above
the ceiling. The darkness started to run inwards. Suddenly I was awake, eyes
open. The drone had stooped. Stapleton and Liles had gone and the room was
applauding the empty stage.
I bought two CDs
from the stand after the show. From Nurse With Wound I bought their “Echo Poem Sequence
No. 2” from 2005, essentially a long cinematic track of processed female voice
and electronics. As expected, it is unsettling as the cover art suggests and can make you nervous,
especially after many minutes listening.
From Liles I
bought an album called “Mind Mangled Trip Monster” from 2010 which bears many
similarities with the “Echoe Poem” although it is more spoken word than sung.
Mercè Festival –
September 2012
Going to a few
of the free concerts for the annual Mercè Festival reminded me of one thing I
had forgotten, though perhaps shouldn’t have: that people don’t like weird
music and that all music is essentially weird to most people.
Friday night saw
San Francisco punk rockers from the Paisley Underground, The Dream Syndicate, play in Plaça Real. I had
somehow whipped myself into something of a frenzy for the show, listening
almost obsessively to “The Days of Wine and Roses” album in the lead up, it’s
rough edges and feedback solos as well as its more innocent touches seeming
perfect for the optimism of the moment. It was a somewhat disappointing gig in
a way, the tougher, quick playing of the album sounding decidedly grungy and
dated. Things weren’t helped by being with a group of people who weren’t really
interested at all in the music not to mention a show that was too long to hold
the interest. The strangest thing is the group do not really seem to be in a kind
of revival either at the moment, with the show as part of the Mercè Festival
being an apparent one-off. Time will tell perhaps.
Things weren’t much
better the second night in terms of crowd. Plenty of people thought that Madrid
Krautrockers Lüger were too heavy. While I can see there was a metal tinge to
their propulsive and utterly brilliant performance, I would hardly call it
heavy. The perspective of familiarity is all so important it seems. Had the
group been Nirvana and played the same I am not sure the criticism would have
been the same. In any case, their show was one of the best of the year. Utterly
bewitching high octane space rock with genuine psychedelic edges reminiscent of
Acid Mothers Temple, without being so technically proficient or overloaded.
There is a lot of groove in their music too which would be perfect for an
underground club.
End of the night
was left for Black Dice that was something of a PR disaster for everyone for
different reasons. Way too weird for most people, they just seemed to annoy in
the way that everyone had to start checking phones and convince everyone there
was a better show somewhere else, yet nobody would leave as they knew the time
to get there it would all be over. Even for me I found it a little pointless.
Not enough texture or synchronicity in the playing, just a mess at times that
also seemed to try too hard to be self-deprecating as if it was a safety net
for not scaring people too much. Goofy and fascinating, but hardly satisfying. And
perhaps something to have better see alone than with a fastidious crowd not
really curious enough to learn something. I am glad I didn’t pay for that
though, except if that is where my tax money is going.
Another Cabeza de Vaca show on Scanner FMto
coincide with the the 10th edition of the Beefeater In-Edit International Festival of Music Documentaries. Again, all in Spanish, but
instead of music, a lot of talking. I was lucky to be able to get an interview
with Cristian Pascual, the director of the festival which took place in the
morning in Hotel Pulitzer. Its is a shame the non-Spanish speaking audience
cannot hear as Cristian is clearly very intelligent and very well spoken,
making for a fascinating conversation. For those who do speak Spanish,
apologies for my crappy accent and I was waffling a bit afterwards due to
tiredness and a bit of pressure as there was a manifestation outside the study
which meant many retakes. Please enjoy anyway!
Head over to Scanner FM
for the
latest show which is an all ambient special! A few beats in some tracks, but
nothing worth locking up your daughters for, even if one of the artists is Xhin
who you might expect to lay it on heavy.
There will be
another ambient show in a couple of weeks, but I confess to lying accidentally
at the end of the show, when I say that next week will be back to beats. Looks
like a coup instead for the Spanish speaking contingent as I have an interview
with Christian Pascual, director of the Beefeater In-Edit International Festival of Music Documentaries, that was the
foundation of the previous show and will be now at the centre of the next one
with the interview at heart, but the beats will return.
Also, anyone
curious about listening on mobile devices, there will be a major overhaul of
Scanner FM in the near future and you will be most impressed with the new
direction, new programming and new flexibility, so stay tuned and be patient
for now.
For supplements,
here is a little film on Actress’s "R.I.P" album by Pierre Debusschere. The concept
of the album may be loosely John Milton’s “Paradise Lost”, but little mention is
given to the title with its two and not three points at the end of the letters.
My personal take on it would be that the “I” in the centre is meant to be read
as “I” or self and you are meant to place yourself into the story. Another
possibility is that the “I” is almost a mirror or a portal where one has “R”
and “P” on opposing sides, almost reflections of each other. I haven’t read
Milton as most of us haven’t, but maybe there are more clues there.
Mohn (the
project of Jörg Burger and Wolfgang Voigt) has also had several video treatments,
but none for the self-titled track I use in the show that closes the album.
This track falls just before it and its “negative view” of the world is somehow
metaphorical of ambient music and its absence of daily rhythms.
Finally, I
mention in the show the websites of ASC and Australian artist Kane Ikin, in
particular, and here are some nice mixes from the two. Check out their websites
though for much more and of course plenty of useful information to boot.
I promised when
I named the show Cabeza de Vaca that we would cross uneven and unexpected
terrain and so it is that we end up playing almost all punk and no electronica
in the most recent show!
Well a couple of tracks anyway.
All the tracks
on the program today were chosen to coincide with the 10th edition
of the Beefeater In-Edit International Festival of Music Documentaries held this time every year in
Barcelona (last year’s review can be found by clicking here).
Because of the local nature of the festival I chose to do the program in
Spanish this time, a first, and more difficult than I thought, but then it was
late and I was tired and I am always rushing with preparation. Not a perfect example
of the language, but not too shabby either. But apologies for saying repeatedly
that Paul Weller was from The Clash and not from The Jam… I had one ear/eye already on Joe Strummer
and The Clash. But That’s Entertainment!
The origins of
the show actually came from an idea to do one about LCD Soundsystem’s track “Losing
my edge” which I will still probably do in the future when the promos and new
releases dry up a bit. Their track doesn’t need too much more introduction
other than the film itself which will be eagerly awaited by many:
As part of the
LCD show I had wanted to play the Talking Heads track “Cross-eyed and painless”
from “Remain in light” as it always reminded me of LCD Soundsystem, even though
it doesn’t feature on the official list part of “Losing my edge” that was to be
the basis of the show. That said, neither does Can appear, perhaps the other
critical group for triangulating the LCD sound, although Can does get a more official
mention in the main lyrics. Looking forward to seeing the full feature of “Stop
Making Sense” which seems to be one of the more pioneering live concert films
ever made for different reasons, including staging, lights and so on.
The punk stuff in
the show we have more or less dealt with serendipitously in different posts including
the one on punk and the
second show which dealt with Tresor, Berlin and Detroit.
The only things
additional to report here, especially for the English speakers who won’t catch
me saying it in Spanish are the fight between Paul Weller and Sid Vicious over
the Sex Pistols use of the bass guitar riff from “In the city” in “Holidays in
the Sun”. The damage done by Weller on Vicious was apparently permanent (at
least until his death not long after) with the irony being that Vicious had
been incensed that Weller had dare claim that the riff was stolen, when all and
sundry knew it had been, but he’d felt it worth fighting for anyway.
I chose to put
in the live version of “New York” recorded at Chelmsford Prison, one of the only
prison gigs I know of, except for Elvis Presley’s “Jailhouse Rock”, Johnny Cash
in St Quentin’s prison in 1958 and The Cramps playing, of all places, California
State Mental Hospital on June 13, 1978.
“Somebody told
me you people were crazy, but you seem alright to me”
- Lux Interior
There is a great
joke and insult by Johnny Rotten at the end of the track where he says
“Best captive
audience I ever played for. Boring, you’re boring me. I bet you all have piles
from sitting down too much”
Joe Strummer has
two films about him, the more well-known Julien Temple film “The future is
unwritten” as well as a Spanish film “Quiero tener una ferreteria en Andalucía”
(y no “Quiero hacer una ferreteria en Andalucía” like I say in the show – lo siento
mucho).
Finally, in the
Joy Division track (another track from Jon Savage’s compilation) you can
apparently hear the group eating crisps (patatas) at the start of the track, well
drenched in reverb by Martin Hannett.
The Ice T track
was chosen as it relates to the three films that he stars in, or appears in in
the festival this year that relate to Hip Hop.
“Planet Rock: The
Story Of Hip Hop And The Crack Generation”,
“Something from
Nothing The Art of Rap”
And finally “Uprising:
Hip Hop and The LA Riots”
The track “New
Jack Hustler” from the “O.G. Original Gangster” album of 1991 is also one of
the first examples of gangster rap, but was also used in soundtrack to the
Mario van Peebles-directed film “New Jack City” starring Wesley Snipes as well
as Ice T and Chris Rock amongst others.
Those with a
keen sense of humour might also see the irony in the use of the term “O.G.” for
“Over gold”, a syndrome by which African Americans die in ghettos from wearing
too many gold chains a-la Mr T in the blackploitation comedy “I´m gonna get you
sucka” which also stars Chris Rock as well as Isaac Hayes and was directed by
the Keenan Ivory Wayans of “Scary Movie“ and more fame.
The classic
scene with (young) Chris Rock and Isaac Hayes:
Rest of the
tracks don’t need too much explanation, though arguably you shouldn’t mix Sigur
Rós with The Doors too often, but, as Paul Weller says, “That’s Entertainment”.
Enjoy the festival and the show!
“What kind of place are we in where nobody
cares?”
-Disco
Inferno (D.I. Go Pop)
Despite the many beautiful voices and tracks on this weeks Cabeza de Vaca show at Scanner FM, the stars are undoubtedly Essex group
Disco Inferno who are enjoying a belated and most deserved moment in the
spotlight.
The catalyst for this attention is the release
of “The 5 EPs” compilation on One Little Indian that as its name implies, colletcs together five singles of almost all non-album tracks from the period 1992-1994.
The CD version came out last year and its
success prompted the release of a double vinyl edition that has kept the group
clearly in the consciousness. One suspects a certain amount of guilt in this,
since the group were clearly overlooked in their time, something that is both
surprising and sad since back in quiet little Perth in Australia at the beginning
of the 90s it seemed that everyone owned and loved “In Debt” released on Ché Trading back in 1992.
In addition to
learning that Daniel Gish of Bark Psychosis fame was once a member of the group,
Howell’s liner notes demystify how the group made their sounds, describing in
detail the gear that Disco Inferno started using and the problems it caused:
“Principally
inspired by My Bloody Valentine’s dense swirl, by The Young Gods Wagnerian,
sampler-enhanced post-industrial rock, and by Hank Shocklee / The Bomb Squad’s
sample-heavy, pressure-cooker productions for Public Enemy, they dismantled
their conventional indie set-up in one subversive, resolutely non-rock gesture.
Pulling back from the idea of being entirely sample-generated, [vocalist and
guitarist Ian] Crause replaced his standard guitar pickup with a hexaphonic
Roland GK2 MIDI version (outputting separate signals for each string), which
fed into a Roland GI10 (a guitar-to-midi interface that could track pitch). [Drummer
Rob] Whatley bought a set of MIDI drum pads [and later a full electronic dDrum
kit), and the combined output of this and the guitar data fed into a Philip
Rees MIDI merge, and then a Roland S750 sampler. Unable to afford the switch to
MIDI, [Paul] Wilmott’s bass remained unmediated and – like that of Joy Division’s
Peter Hook or PIL’s Jah Wobble – came to the fore as lead instrument,
functioning as a stable anchor and often the sole point of obvious melody.
Recording as a live band with guitars and drums triggering a MIDI-based sampling
system, the results came to resemble some chaotic studio explosion. Notes, chords
and beats were abstracted into shifting blocks of sampled sound. Each piece of
Whatley’s kit, each string of Crause’s guitar could be wired to a separate sample
(with each fret affecting its pitch or pan position), unleashing in real-time a
limitless flood of sound: the burst of fireworks, dripping water, breaking glass,
peeling church bells, crashing cars, screeching gulls, clicking camera shutters,
revving engines.”
The equipment
was not without its problems. The old Atari computer used for the recordings
would endlessly crash and playing live was frought with difficulty for the same
reasons. Crause later described it as “vaguely amusing nightmares of malfunctioning
and crashing equipment.” It is arguably this reason above all others that might
have led to the group’s downfall. Media praise had, after all been genuinely
positive, if not as prolific as the group might have like, but their inability
to gain momentum on the road and also to enter into any scene perhaps cost them
the most. Disco Inferno were forever outsiders, embracing sampling and
technology at a time when indie, surprisingly, turned its back on the burgeoning “baggy”
scene, while Crause’s obvert political lyrics may have been too much for many.
"Foreigners
get hushed-up trials
And you're
waiting for a knock at the door
Which would tell
if you spent the next few years
Free from life
attacked by petrol bombs
The price of
bread went up five pence today
And an immigrant
was kicked to death again."
Wilmott
explained the bands position clearly to Howell in an interview:
“We appeared to
exist within a bit of a bubble. The guitar kids didn’t like us because they
thought we were weird. The electronica people didn’t connect with it. The art
crowd weren’t really sure about us either… we existed in this strange
never-space where we sat outside looking at the Venn diagram and wondering why
nobody liked us…”
There are some
post-Disco Inferno curiosities floating around, more than I have briefly collected here, including several unreleased tracks
that might see the light of day again soon, and surely there is now a call to
re-release the early material on vinyl or even CD as well, as even the CDs are fetching high enough prices on Discogs?
To start, an unreleased
Disco Inferno track from the “Technicolour” sessions:
A BBC 3 live radio
session was post-humously released as “The Mixing it session” by Tugboat in
1999.
After leaving
Disco Inferno, Ian Crause recorded two solo singles, one for Tugboat and another for Spanish label
Aquarella. Crause’s politics apparently also led him to Bolivia.
Psychogeography
is a term that seems to come up a lot in terms of music these days (see also
the previous post on Punk and Jon Savage)
In particular, Patrick Keiller’s films are hailed a big influence on the
politics and sound of Disco Inferno and blend in with Crause’s left-wing
politics.
