...you could do worse than read Neil Kulkarni's concise summation of everything you need to know about mid-'70s Zambian rock. "Need" being the operative word.

Labels: Neil Kulkarni, Paul Ngozi, things of interest, Zambia

The Best Record Review.

Just a quick, off-the-cuff link post, but, having read it this morning, I would like to thank Andrew Breckerman for writing a record review that pretty much summarises all that needs to be said about the process of listening to rock / pop music in the 21st century into five easy paragraphs.

At the time of writing, I don’t know anything about the band Swearin’ or their album Swearin’, but when I’m home this evening with a computer that has speakers, I’ll certainly give ‘em a shot.

Regardless though: point is, I know that in future, on the increasingly rare occasions when I actually find a band playing song-based guitar/drums/singing music that moves me in some way, my first instinct will probably be to just take Breckerman’s text and paste in the appropriate details. Maybe I’ll try to avoid charges of plagiarism by rewriting in-my-own-words and throwing in some local colour and faux-journo blather, but basically there is little more that needs to be said on the matter. Case is closed.

Or is it? I mean, by this point in our lives, shouldn’t we have got over this idea that songs need to be “transformative”, or somehow exceptional? I know that in the past year or so in particular, I’ve increasingly found myself enjoying rock music on a purely utilitarian level – riffs and rhythm tracks and cool guitar sounds to get me from A to B. “Special” in quite a different way from all that rousing, heartstring-tugging song-centric stuff – music that prioritises its own basic craftsmanship: getting the job done, keeping the motor running.

I guess that every now and then, when a Royal Headache or Shoppers come my way, I’ll revert to the Breckerman hypothesis. The rest of the time, I’ll just listen to Creedence and shut up. Either way, I’m happy.

Labels: blather, things of interest, thinkpiece

Things of Interest:
Stinky Toys / Elli et Jacno

It goes without saying that I’ve been learning a great deal from Joe Stumble’s spectacular recent round up of French music from the punk/new wave era over at Last Days of Man On Earth.

Of all the tunes and videos he’s posted though, the two that really did it for me turned out to be the work of the same people.

First, here’s Stinky Toys from 1979;



As you will have observed, Stinky Toys appear to be a replica of a ’79 power-pop band created by aliens who tried their best to replicate earth culture, but, rather like the creators of the room Dave Bowman wakes up in at the end of 2001, got everything slightly wrong. By which of course I mean completely right.

The singer’s dress and dance moves are of an order one rarely sees without having ingested powerful drugs. The interlocking guitar strumming patterns are simple but quite unusual and deeply pleasing, as is the deceptively ‘normal’ rhythm. The English language lyrics are slurred and kind of perplexing (“Chinese Chinese birthday party / give me Chinese birthday cake”?). The whole thing is awesome and fascinating.

Before long it seems, the singer and one of the guitarists broke away from the band and began to build a pop career as a duo: Elli et Jacno.

Stinky Toys seem pretty rad, but I think this was undoubtedly a good move for them, because Elli et Jacno are simply incredible.

In fact, I have no words that allow me to quite quantify how incredible they were.

By way of explanation, let’s just watch this;



Oh man, the bits where he plays the ‘solos’. GENIUS. I love you Jacno.

Elli et Jacno did some other songs and videos in 1982 as well.

They’re all pretty similar.

They’re all pretty great.





‘Main Dans La Main’ Is still totally the best video, but ‘Le Telephone’ is probably the one I’d go for if I was DJing somewhere.

Wikipedia says:

Elli & Jacno was a French 1980s electro-pop group. They were quite successful in France and to some extent in Britain, having been featured once on the front page of Melody Maker magazine.

Denis Quillard alias Jacno and Elli Medeiros decided to start a music duo after leaving the punk band The Stinky Toys. Jacno composed and performed the music and Elli sang and wrote the lyrics. They released three albums together before splitting up and beginning solo careers.

I have found The Ramones of minimalist, tongue in cheek French synth-pop, and I couldn’t be more happy.

Labels: Elli et Jacno, France, Stinky Toys, things of interest

So, Uh...

I was going to stack up this blog with lots more singles reviews over the next few weeks, but somehow none of them got finished, and I forgot to take account of the fact that I'm now on holiday in Wales, and don't have any singles with me, or a record player.

Hmm...

What's that you say, internet?

An absolutely astounding video of the late Rob Tyner of the MC5 rocking the fuck out on an electric autoharp...?

Testify!

Labels: awesomeness, lameness, MC5, Rob Tyner, things of interest, videos

And Also...



This new blog looks right up my street.

Labels: comics, Josie and the Pussycats, punk, things of interest, weblog round-ups

Things of Interest:
The Hitmen

So here's a new discovery to help cme liven up this Dennis Hopper-less Saturday Night - The Hitmen!

They were kinda like an Australian Undertones!

What, you mean you don't feel like listening to an Australian Undertones right now? Fine, please yourself.

It seems The Hitmen made a TON of videos between about '79 and '83. All of them are pretty much the same, but that's ok, because all of them are pretty great.

Enter Youtube:





That said, I'm not sure "Bwana Devil" was really a good idea from anyone's point of view. I still kinda love it though - fits perfectly into that whole weird sub-sub-genre of early '80s Australian bands who seemed to be into some kinda inexplicable tiki bar/jungle adventure/caveman shtick (see just about anything by Screaming Tribesmen, Hoodoo Gurus, Lime Spiders etc).



I was just reflecting on the fact that The Hitmen's song "Pay Up Or Shut Up" would be pretty awesome if it didn't owe such a huge debt to Radio Birdman's trademark sound, when Wikipedia informed me that The Hitmen's singer Johnny Kannis actually functioned as a kinda odd backing singer/hypeman for the Birdman in his spare time, as can be witnessed in this absolutely blinding video of the band from '77;



So, er, there ya go.

Man, Denis Tek [who you see playing that nifty white guitar in the above vid] rules.

One day when Youtube's been obliterated, we'll weep blood for all these good times.

Labels: Australia, punk rock, Radio Birdman, The Hitmen, things of interest, videos

Things of Interest # 4:
Ice & The Iced.

Ice & The Iced came from Podenone, Italy, late '70s. Maybe they were the first punk rockers in town, maybe not. It makes a better story if we assume they were though.

Ice has HAD ENOUGH. His dad treats him like a criminal, and wants to see him working all day. His teachers are fat, and sexually repressive, and don't care about the life he's bringin' on.

So what's a boy to do? Tell the world all about it in one of the best fuckin' songs ever, that's what.

Seriously, I can't express how wonderful this is. To anybody who ever made any "this track really defined what punk was all about blah blah" type claim re: some storied London/New York band; Ice & The Iced will blow you to smithereens.

As Joe Stumble of Last Days of Man On Earth where I first heard this last week puts it: "You think you could write a better song than We’ve Had Enough? You can’t. Kids all over the world are learning this song right now. Somebody needs to send me the tabs. It’s gonna be the next generation’s “Satisfaction”. Get on the train now or you are gonna miss it."

Labels: Ice And The Iced, Italy, punk rock, things of interest

Things of Interest # 3:
Meet the Renees.

Sorry for the brief hiatus in posting – just moved house and am busy with all manner of related and unrelated craziness.

Never mind that though: meet the Gymslips! Brought to my attention via Girls Can Tell, they’re the most thuggish, drunken '80s girl-punk band I've ever heard;





It seems that a few years later a couple of Gymslips, plus one of Delta 5 and a few other folks, regrouped as The Renees, and tried to make it big with a synth-heavy Human League styled single entitled "He Called Me A Fat Pig". Both song and video are brilliant, and completely mental;



I think the bit where the little girl starts stabbing a monstrous, deflating foam rubber policeman with a pitchfork stands as an all-time classic “and they wonder why they didn’t make it to Top of the Pops” moment.

Enjoy, or just feel faintly disturbed!

Labels: aggro, Delta 5, Gymslips, punk, The Renees, things of interest, videos

Things of Interest # 2:
The Dykes sing "Because I'm Bored".

These screengrabs are taken from "Debt Begins At 20", Stephanie Beroes' 1980 short film about the Pittsburgh punk/new wave scene, which you can watch in a pop up window on this page.

Needless to say, the Pittsburgh punk/new wave scene looks like it was pretty wild, favouring a confrontational drums n' ranting approach, and favouring no wave-inspired anti-musicianship, open participation and general arty chaos. The film is great too - partly a standard-ish scene documentary, and partly a semi-fictional day in the life of Mr. Bill Bored, drummer for The Cardboards. Well worth watching while you've got the chance!

Labels: films, photos, Pittsburgh, punk, The Dykes, things of interest

Things of Interest # 1:
Delia Derbyshire Documentary on Radio 4.

“Sculptress of Sound: The Lost Works of Delia Derbyshire”, it’s called. I listened to it whilst having my tea this evening. Pretty great programme actually – tends to resort to a few generalisations and obvious observations etc, as you’d expect, but the bits where they break down the construction of the Dr. Who theme and “Blue Veils & Golden Sands” track by track is pretty mind-blowing, as are the brief extracts from unreleased tapes, bits of music presented in their original context as part of radio shows etc.

Available on the BBC iPlayer for another seven days here.

And while we're at it:

Labels: BBC, Delia Derbyshire, things of interest, videos, weirdness