Hollow Earth
Tuesday, October 27
Synth Britannia and Krautrock TV Shows Review
The other night I watched this Krautrock program on iPlayer. It was essentially a good documentary but it had me thinking that this is an era which has been combed over so thoroughly that it has been done to death. When Cope's Krautrocksampler came out in the mid-nineties many of us had been digging those bands for nearly a decade. It was the twin momentum provided by the incipient psychedelia of dance music (precisely the absence of which has now left me pretty disinterested in it) and the rhythmic twist of bands like Loop, which drove interest at this point in time. Furthermore, the geist of Post-Punk, containing within it the germ the first wave of Krautrock revivalism, was very much alive.
I picked up Can's "Saw Delight", my first German record in, ooh, 1988. I eventually found "Tago Mago" in Vienna in 1989, the original Neu! LPs in Edinburgh/Manchester/London after failing to track them down in New York. How am I supposed to still be excited about this story twenty years later? One has to have sympathy with these waves of rediscovery in culture, the whole Soul Jazz Reggae revival thing which only now seems to have petered to a halt left me fairly non-plussed, but it did unearth the odd gem. With regards to Krautrock, new Indie bands like The Horrors are name-checking them afresh so I guess that must be driving some interest, and I notice there is a new book out by the Black Dog publishers about the movement.
It didn't help that the documentary felt sloppily put together. We were treated to the same footage of rioting students being hosed down over and over again. On a number of occasions it felt as though the barrel was being scraped for supporting imagery. There must be more of Neu! to see than those two photos that are endlessly reproduced (the one of them on the bed and the carnivalesque one of them on that low stage). As bad there were plain errors and ghastly editorial faux-pas. One thing which particularly annoyed me came right at the end of the show, supposedly a elucidating moment, when the veteran journalist commented of the Zodiac Club that there appeared to be a "Krautrock" night. There seemed to be the suggestion that the event organisers were unaware of the true history of this term, but the flyer was emblazoned with Dierks' Ohr label ear graphic- so they patently were. Only someone completely ignorant of Krautrock would fail to recognise that symbol. I also winced at the voiceover's parting shot: "No Captains of society here, just happy Avant-garde musicians" - just so awful.
It was sad too that, although a good roster of people were wheeled out for interview, crucial folk whose stories were absolutely central were either unavailable: Ralf, Florian, Werner Herzog, David Bowie, Richard Branson and Brian Eno, or not contactable through the usual channels: Klaus Dinger, Conny Plank, Timmy Leary, Uwe Nettelback and Florian Fricke. Too often we were left with people speaking on behalf of other people: Danny Fischelscher (for Florian), Wolfgang Flur (for Ralf and Florian), the Hansa Studios engineer (for David Bowie). Oh and far too much of those two berks from Faust, sorry.
Krautrock for me will always exist in the mind, and although the doc did trade a few really lovely transcendental moments- Michael Rother standing by the river and in the grounds of his house, Iggy Pop sharing his Asparagus story, Renate Knaup smoking her fag, the lovely old footage of the Autobahn, by-and-large it was depressingly literal, and occasionally even depressing. I really do feel bad for poor old Dieter Moebius when he told how Brian Eno had said to him "Don't worry, you'll be rich one day" - and he shrugged and commented that he still wasn't rich. Eno should bloody well mail those guys a cheque. McCartney has done lovely genuine things like that in the past. And could they not have interviewed Klaus Schulze somewhere other than that muddy track?
:-(
It might seem that my comments here are unnecessarily harsh. But truthfully this is the kind of terrain one would need to cover to do proper justice to Krautrock. I would confess to being just about content that it was made, but it feels much like a botched and missed opportunity almost better not to make it at all. But rather than damn the poor guys who made this show, and I understand it was a slightly seat-of-the pants sequitur inspired by the constant Kraftwerk worship they encountered making Synth Britannia, I would like to praise that other program which delivered in spades.
-
Synth Britannia: A completely different kettle of fish. Now I will never care for any of this music as much as the Krautrock but you've got to hand it to them, they made an absolutely splendid, even comprehensive study of the field. They managed to speak to practically everyone who mattered (barring Thomas Dolby - a friend has quipped). The footage they sourced was absolutely gripping and always fresh and varied. Conversely, unlike the Krautrock story this was one which I don't believe has been credited with a "dignified" study, and sorry but a few scribbles in the NME don't qualify. Lots of shiver down the spine moments: John Foxx's "Underpass", Daniel Miller with Kraftwerk's "Vocoder", Howard Jones' "My Song" (only kidding)...
My only gripes would be that much more should have been made of the Eno/Roxy Music angle. Roxy were the unavoidable influence of all these bands from the Poppy (Human League) to the Industrial (Cabaret Voltaire). The music of the second half did become increasingly queasy and emotionally compressed, I will never really swallow Synth-Pop (especially Nadirs like B.E.F and OMD, more of whom later) but the documentary did the story complete justice, you couldn't fault anything's inclusion, only its absence. Oh actually they probably should have talked to Martin Rushent as well.....
Finally, OMD. Since Owen raved about "Architecture and Morality" the other day I've been repeatedly reinvestigating them. Sorry, but they're dreadful, and I'm afraid Andy McCluskey's performance in Synth Britannia was skin-crawlingly embarrassing. Unlike all the other charming and often hilarious folk, and you've got to love Oakey, what a great guy, McCluskey seemed really wrapped-up in his own consequence, very "white bread" and bereft of irony. People have been slagging off Vince Clarke online and I'd just like to say to those guilty parties, shaattit aight, Vince is a really sweet guy- that bit where he sighed "I just wanted to be in the studio *all the time*" - god bless him, and curse you miserable lot. I have spoken!
posted by Matthew Ingram # 22:05
Wednesday, October 21
The Best of The Big Bands
Tuesday, October 20
Discographisme récréatif
Friday, October 16
Manic Miner
Thursday, October 15
Jetset Willy
Wednesday, October 14
Atic Atac
Tuesday, October 13
Pyjamarama
Sunday, October 11
Woebot at the ICA
Lodge, Jeapes, McGhie: TV Title Pioneers
Tuesday, October 6
Those 36 LPs
Monday, October 5
Philips: Showcase of Hits
I bought this Johnnie Ray LP a while ago for purely musical reasons. "Cry" is great. But the cover blew me away!
Then I found this (terrible) Frankie Laine record and bought it purely for its beautiful, luminous sleeve. One day I'll get these two framed - "Frankie and Johnnie". Then I hunted round the net and found a load of images of these Philips "Showcase of Hits" records.
Then I found this (terrible) Frankie Laine record and bought it purely for its beautiful, luminous sleeve. One day I'll get these two framed - "Frankie and Johnnie". Then I hunted round the net and found a load of images of these Philips "Showcase of Hits" records.
Doris Day.
Guy Mitchell.
Rosemary Conley.
With this reconstruction (yes you read that right...) of a Frankie Vaughan sleeve I have reached some kind of apotheosis. I suppose it's possible that this might not actually be a "Showcase of Hits" disc (the original image I found is cropped on the left and right) but I think the chances are very high.
posted by Matthew Ingram # 21:11
Sunday, October 4
Modelling
Saturday, October 3
UK Post-Rock Shows Its Roots!
Butterfly Child: Eucalyptus [H.Ark! 1992]
Sam mentions them (and it's funny that 4AD sleeve designer Mills crops up too) but coincidentally I was thinking the other day that The Cocteau Twins have a great deal to answer for. We certainly wouldn't have had either A. R. Kane or My Bloody Valentine without them, the Cocteau's stranglehold on the student readership created the environment within which those two greater groops were understood and enjoyed by most people, not whatever outlandish music people twin them with these days. Yet today they seem strangely, perhaps thankfully, forgotten. The day before yesterday I heard "Donimo" on some net radio stream. It was quite affecting, and I liked the big gaps, but Elizabeth Fraser's elfin gibberish is ultimately off-putting.
I saw The Cocteau Twins, alone naturally, at The Barrowlands circa "Heaven and Las Vegas" and remember dancing slightly mentally through the entire show while everyone around me stood sensibly impassive clutching their beer. I'm pretty sure even Elizabeth was un-nerved by me jigging up and down under her nose, like, who is this idiot psychopath? This summer I found a copy of "Victorialand" in Cannes (I used to own "Treasure") I clutched it for about 20 minutes as I waded through racks of Blues Rock before eventually deciding I could live without it.
posted by Matthew Ingram # 20:35
Clement Price-Thomas
posted by Matthew Ingram # 07:27
Friday, October 2
From A to D minus
Never been a huge Parker fan but...
Compare this beauty above by Barney Bubbles with Graham's recent sleeve:
posted by Matthew Ingram # 11:14
Thursday, October 1
Meic Stevens
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