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Liar was the fourth Jesus Lizard Lp recorded by Albini so they had all become very well acquainted with each other when they recorded it back in 1991. With the band at the height of their powers and Albini having obssessively honed his recording techiniques Liar is as explosively tense as any record you care to mention.
Yoko Ono's Plastic Ono Band record came out at the same time as John Lennon's one, 1970. The covers are so similar that it would have been easy for an unsuspecting Beatles fan to pick up Ono's by mistake. I'm sure that was the couple's intention and I'm also sure that the majority of people who bought it by mistake binned it pretty soon after. While Lennon's was massive success Ono's got to 187 on the American chart and didn't even get in the British one. This is no real surprise though as the LP is very much influenced by the extremely eclectic New York avant guarde scene. Ono had been deeply embroiled in that scene years before she met Lennon, mixing and working with heavyweights such as John Cage and La Monte Young.
I had listened to some of Brian Eno's Ambient LPs before I was introduced to Harmonia and liked most of what I heard. When I first heard Harmonia's debut LP, Music Von harmonia, I immediately realised that it pre-dated Eno's Ambient by a couple of years, it being released in 1974.
Eno had done a bit of crafty lifting of material I thought, but I didn't feel too betrayed or bothered not being an Enophile. What I did feel though was an increasing euphoria everytime I listened to Music Von Harmonia, and that happened to be many, many times after the first hearing.
I came by this satirical rock semi-masterpiece while sharing a house with a guy whose taste in music and films was to say the least weird. In fact that is being kind. I remember entering our shared living room, blurry eyed one Sunday morning with tea and toast. My friend was watching a film of real autopsy's, but didn't think it necessary to warn me. He just gave me his usual strange giggle. This was the mid nineties when you had to send off to obscure holes in Amsterdam to acquire such films. One of his favorite bands was Bongwater, strange it has to be said, but good strange not gross strange. The two protagonists of the band had the credentials for good strange: Kramer, who wrote most of the music, had been in the weird, wonderful and fucked up Butthole Surfers, while lyricist and vocalist Ann Magnuson had specialised in creating odd ball characters as a performance artist in the New York underground scene.
Before There's a Riot Going On, Sly Stone had produced so many classic slabs of funk that he was likely to be forgiven anything by his adoring public. He decided to test this faith to its limit.
It might seem odd to be suggesting a mega selling album from a multi-mega selling band is an under-appreciated album. However, even though this weird, messy, low-fi, downbeat funk classic had an immense effect on so many artists it's possible that if any other band had produced it at any other time it may have wriggled into a corner of cultdom that even cults shied away from.
When you hear Cut by The Slits for the first time you may be duped into believing that you are listening to some early attempt at a punk/reggae crossover. Listen again and you'll notice that this is not even close to being a hybrid. The Slits were unique. Formed at the age of 14 when girl bands were becoming even less frequent, two of the members had been chucked out of their first band by Sid Vicious because they couldn't play. And they barely could play but the compensation was a stop start scratchy punk style that they used to emphasise and enhance lyrics that were so harsh, witty and provocative that they are scratched into your memory for a long time after.
Un-Convention, which ran from the 4th to the 6th of June in Salford, attempts to bring together musicians on a grass-roots level, with the goal being: 'to bring together like minded individuals to discuss the future of Independent music'.
Consisting ofpanels and live music, with the inevitable opportunities for networking, a large theme within the conference was the difficulties in marketising artists' products in the light of the digital/online revolution that has swept the industry since the beginning of the millennium.
Will Oldham's best songs always feel like he has stopped off to take in the view. But he is not drawn to the usual beauty spots. His resting points can be as enigmatic as the man himself. And that's why he is so durably brilliant. His songs are both random and specific. Sadness is full of humour, pessimism full of optimism. You are left knowing that life is as terrible as you thought and why are you taking it so seriously.
There are obvious musical and vocal reference points, we are hardly short of melancholic genius, thin voices soulfully whining over gorgeous strings and soft percussion, but I think I love him most of all for the reference points beyond music. Beware in particular makes me think of my favourite self effacing comedians, the way they can make you feel pathetic and euphoric. But the clearest image in my head is Harry Dean Stanton walking in Paris, Texas. Lost with purpose. Blotting out the pain until he knows how he can redeem himself.
Blimey, it's a Sonic Youth LP. Not since the days when it looked as if Grunge was going to set the musical agenda for a fair few years, drawing Sonic Youth closer and closer to the mainstream through their early-Geffen releases, has the world seemed quite so ready for a Sonic Youth release. In the interim, they've rolled along, making the world safe for detuned guitars and their own brand of six-string almost-jazz, having children, releasing records with seemingly little-regard for the bottom line and just being there.
This, their sixteenth studio release, harks back to the bubble gum of 'Goo' and 'Dirty'. Its strength is founded on a backbone of three tracks beginning with Leaky Lifeboat (For Gregory Corso), runnning through the languid, drone-lite qualities of Antenna and into mid-tempo inferno What We Know. Other tracks verge on parody/remix; Thunderclap (for Bobby Pyn) is a virtual photostat of Mary Christ from 'Goo', and Massage: The History augments the Kim Gordon slow fast slow songbook with limited results, but maybe that's the point because, blimey, it's A Sonic Youth LP. Mitherer
Album Review - Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career (4AD)
Written by Editor
From the first one-two punch, bang bang, opening notes of French Navy, this LP sets out its intentions as an uplifting, picnic on the beach sort of affair. Wicker basket, bone china and ginger beer, in fact. Affable and catchy, this eleven-track release is the band's fourth long player in thirteen years and is appropriately mature. As well as rummaging through a bucket bag full of emotions, the songs on here showcase a number of complementary musical styles without ever resorting to pastiche. Stand-out songs include the uptempo Honey in the Sun, the toy band hup-two-three-four of Swans and the title track itself, a thumping diamond set in a sea of swirling, rising, saxophone and strings. Mitherer
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‘Ghost Stories: A Night Opera’ was an evocative, innovative and haunting musical experiment
Performed in the atmospheric Gothic setting of St Luke’s Church. Neil Campbell, accompanied by the soaring and sublime vocals of Anne Taft, composed the music for this project whilst the eerie soundscape and electronics throughout were effectively handled by Michael Beiert. It was apparent that Campbell’s technically skilled classical guitar playing combined diverse musical influences, including elements of Spanish flamenco, minimalism, and progressive and experimental rock music. The music of ‘Ghost Stories’ itself is certainly compositionally suggestive of the subtle and elusive compositions of French impressionistic music such as Debussy and Satie, as well as the ambient pieces of more contemporary musicians such as Harold Budd and Brian Eno.
The Picket was a cool respite on one of the hottest nights of the summer when La Excelencia came to Liverpool.
Whilst their infectious salsa had people dancing right from the start it was the third track when they really started to move the room. By the end of the set they had the whole audience dancing from the mechanical steps of the salsa newbies to the bewitching moves of the more experienced dancers.
Salford
Sunday 3rd May 2009
Showcasing bands who haven’t been trampled to submission and soul-sucked by the music industry yet, the SFTOC festival featured nine venues (thankfully all close to each other) and over thirty acts, compressed into a chronological gridlock of 3PM to 11PM. Therefore, my companion and I decided to adopt a stripped-down ‘Dogme 95’ style of criticism. Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Two songs minimum from each band we managed to catch. How very magnanimous of us. However, owing to laziness and drink, we only managed to actually watch five bands. Very unprofessional, but we’re old now and I resent young people. It’s about
as much as I can do to be in the same room as some Ting-Ting lookalike for more than five minutes and not vomit blood.
New tune for the Art in Liverpool podcast
Do us a favour - Create a new tune for the Art in Liverpool podcast for us
Since the early days of the Art in Liverpool podcast we have used the same introductory tune, it has a good rhythm and fits together well with the other audio. But now we are looking for a new introductory tune and appropriate outro for the show.
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