Blame Jimi

Ahhhhhh….
Big City Abyss / Nublu Records 2009 by  Thor De Force

TV clippings with Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth) and Byron Coley about the New York downtown pre-1980 post punk no wave noise music scene.

They talk about Pere Ubu, The Contortions, Teenage Jesus & The Jerks, Bush Tetras, Devo, and DNA. All these bands have the NY funk & noise trademark that makes them quite a lot different from their european counterparts. Three of bands – The Contortions, Teenage Jesus, and DNA was on the legendary Brian Eno produced 1978 album No New York. Six videos below….
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[ BlameJimi.com - Video interview from Gestalten.tv] DJ Spooky is an egghead. In the good way. He speaks about politics, religion, freedom, creativity, art, education… he gives lectures and he writes books. He talks about the roots of hiphop and about Wagner. He views the world through his DJ mindset: sampling, rearranging, re-distribution, collection… curation. He makes good music too.

I just recently found out that DJ Spooky has put out a new book on MIT Press: Sound Unbound: Sampling Digital Music and Culture. The publishers state: “Sound Unbound” is about the remix – how music, art, and literature have blurred the lines between what an artist can do and what a composer can create.” DJ Spooky (Aka Paul D. Miller) asked some serious and relevant artists and critics to describe contemporary creativity. Among the participators are Brian Eno, Pierre Boulez (composer/conducter (Zappa)), Steve Reich (in C…), Chuck D (Public Enemy), Hans Ulrik Obrist (The Serpentine Gallery), Moby, Simon Reynolds (of NME), and Cory Doctorow (Boing Boing)…. (more…)

Gil Scott-Heron – often said to be the father of rap music – is back.

NME states: “The track comes from his first new album in 16 years, I’m New Here, and it depicts a stark and cold New York far removed from post-9/11 renewal. Scott-Heron echoes these personal calamities with an impressionistic and tuneful ear.

His grizzled, torn-down-by-time baritone immediately demands attention, and XL Records founder Richard Russell’s sparse production magnifies the song’s junkyard beat with vocal detritus, handclaps, and electronic fuzz. It feels bluesy and caked in earth, but also surprisingly modern. Many artists make comebacks, but here Gil Scott-Heron makes it sound more like a rebirth.”… (more…)

The Flaming Lips – the dalings of the 00′s – performed Pink Floyd’s legendary Dark Side of The Moon album live new years eve 2009/2010. Interview and live footage below…. (more…)

“The Artist Formerly Known as Captain Beefheart” – a brilliant 1997 BBC documentary on Captain Beefheart – the original Blues-meets-Freejazz master.

Captain Beefheart (Don van Vliet, born 1941), a friend of and collaborator with Frank Zappa, developed a truly unique mix of tough blues, free jazz, and avant garde in the early 70s. He is quite a character and a mean band leader.

The Artist Formerly Known as Captain Beefheart is a BBC documentary from 1997 containing interviews with Ry Cooder (an early band member), Frank Zappa, Matt Groening (creator of The Simpsons) and many of the original musicians. It is directed and produced by Elaine Shephard, and the one and only John Peel is the narrator.

Captain Beefheart now calls himself by his real name Don van Vliet and is a renowned painter (one of only 13 artists with the Michael Werner Gallery. The others include Per Kirkeby, Sigmar Polke and Baselitz!)…
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Some producers can rightfully claim their unique and lasting spot in the history of creative music: Phil Spector, George Martin, Teo Macero, Brian Eno, Manfred Eicher, Rick Rubin, and perhaps even The Neptunes, Dr. Dre, Daniel Lanois, a.o. A lesser known giant music producer is Bill Laswell.

During the 80′s and well into the 90′s Bill Laswell was a defining figure in the extremely creative New York music scene. His musical background and key inspirations seem to be Miles Davis’ electric jazz, Free Jazz (Ornette Coleman style), early 70′s jamaican dub, and heavy funk (Parliament style).

Bill Laswell’s productions are allways “Laswellish”. They more often sound almost more like a Laswell album than an album with the artist he produces. His “Nothing Is True, Everything Is Permitted”-philosophy as a producer and musician (primarily bass guitar) can be heard on recordnings with Iggy Pop, Ornette Coleman, John Zorn, Henry Threadgill, Afrika Bambaataa, Ginger Baker, Laurie Anderson, Kip Hanrahan, Sly & Robbie, PiL, Mick Jagger, Motorhead, The Ramones, Tony Williams, William S. Borroughs, Bootsy Collins, Wayne Shorter, Peter Gabriel, Fela Kuti, Manu Dibango, Gil Scott-Heron, Steve Vai, Nine Inch Nails, and many others. Laswell’s best known work is his bringing Herbie Hancock and leading hip-hop artists together to create the 1983 megahit Rockit.  (more…)

The 2009 BBC Four documentary “Synth Britannia” is an excellent walk-through of the post-punk, new wave, pop, and industrial synth music scene in Britain. It is produced and directed by Ben Whalley. It is the good old story of young people rebelling against the establishment, their struggles and – ultimately – their success. [ BlameJimi.com ]

The 1.5 hour documentary contains lots of 2009-interviews with key musicians, industry people, and music critics from back then, as well as documentary footage, live performances, etc.

The documentary mentions Kraftwerk, Georgio Moroder, and Walter Carlos (score composer for the ’71 Stanley Kubrick movie A Clockwerk Orange) as main early influences. It goes on to tell the pre 80s story of OMD (Orchestral Manoeuvres in The Dark), Human League, The Normal, Throbbing Gristle, and Cabaret Voltaire. It continues with John Foxx/Ultravox and Gary Newman, who is seen as a major figure in bringing the scene from the underground to the charts. After Newmans 1980 success came Depeche Mode, Visage, Human League hits, and Heaven 17. Around ’81 there is a change again with lots of duo’s with cold synth backing to passionate female or gay singers: Soft Cell, Yazoo, and others. The documentary finishes with the likes of Pet Shop Boys, New Order, and Depeche Mode using samplers and entering a new era. The whole documentary video below…
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[ BlameJimi.com ] What a live performance! King Crimson, british guitarist Robert Fripp’s progressive rock band, had a glorious career in the 70s with a fanbase of lovers of symphonic rock music. Then came along the whole DIY punk movement of raw energy and its denial of technical skills, and suddenly King Crimson seemed bloated and oppulent and disbanded. But then…

Robert Fripp’s street credibility was never really questioned though – not least because of he’s collaboration with Brian Eno on the No Pussyfooting and Evening Star albums as well as he’s constant experiments with sound (Frippertronics).

King Crimson was re-united around 1980 as a quartet with a new setup: Robert Fripp on guitar, original Crimson drummer Bill Bruford, advanced bass player Tony Levin (also with Peter Gabriel in the same period), and guitar wizard and singer Adrian Belew (Frank Zappa, David Bowie, Talking Heads). This band was immediately “accepted” by the post punk movement, and became the first super group of the new wave era.

The first album with the new setup was Discipline, released in 1981, sounded like nothing ever heard, and they were by some considered the worlds best live band right at that time (not least by themselves). Fantastic live video below… (more…)

Talking Heads in 1980… what a band, what a live band.

Three years earlier they were a typical (and excellent) eclectic whiter-than-white New York art-rock-new-wave-no-wave band similar to many other artsy NY bands at the time (Television, The Feelies, James Chance, etc). The following three years brought extensive collaboration with Brian Eno, heavy West African influences, funk, cut-up lyrics, collaborative composition, and the creation of a whole new – and in many ways – still un-rivaled sound.

Their Fear of Music album came out in 1979 forecasting the eclectic-afro-modal-art-funk masterpiece Remain in Light in october 1980. Right after it’s release they started touring, and the videos below are all from this tour. The tour line-up included original band members David Byrne (vocals, guitar), Chris Frantz (drums), Tina Weymouth (keyboards, bass, perc) and Jerry Harrison (guitar, keyboards, perc). The band was heavily augmented with Bernie Worrell (Keyboards – of George Clinton/Parliament/Funcadelic fame), Adrian Belew (Guitar – also w. Frank Zappa, David Bowie, and King Crimson), and others. Four videos below… (more…)