Punk’d

Recently saw this on LaughingSquid and thought it worth posting to have a bit of a laugh to.

The first is the Punk episode of Quincy in which he confronts the music scene’s violent and overly made-up audience to find the victim who has recently taken to ‘burning cigarette holes in her arm, shredding her clothes to bits, taking pills and locking herself in her room listening to that violence orientated punk rock music that does nothing but reinforce those bad feelings’… Hmmm sounds like a punk conspiracy to me.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpYd7bOn52M]

The punks again take another hit from an 80’s cop show in CHiPs. This time it’s concerned with a band called Pain, whose members include an oddly happy go lucky smiley drummer, an aggressive singer who has a penchant for kicking audience members in the face and stealing guitars and a bassist who wields it in the faces of oncoming victims. The inevitable outbreak in mayhem ensues.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3y4PFCpoOw]

Also mentioned is the 90210 drug-rave episode whose episode synopsis is just as ridiculous as the clip.
With all this subversive music it’s nice to see that some people are still promoting some good clean fun…

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iUU6jTqB6k]
…as heard on phantom fm.

Brendan Canning - Something For All of Us

After Broken Social Scene’s initial tryptic carried the collective Toronto scene to international acclaim, the Kevin Drew / Brendan Canning centred alt-pop collective had the wit, canny and sheer cynicism to launch a series of ‘Broken Social Scene Presents:’ records - beginning with Kevin Drew’s ‘Spirit If’, a riotously experimental indie rock record, twinkling with wide eyed valiance - and near enough as collaborative as the original Broken Social Scene project. The second BSSP record has now hit. ‘Something For All Of Us…’ provides a platform for Drew’s cofounder, Brendan Canning. More conventional, if no less energetic than Drew’s début, SFAOU spans the gamut from uptempo cinematic instrumentals (’All the Best Wooden Toys Come From Germany’), to dreamy shoegaze on ‘Been at it So Long’ & ‘Chameleon’, to grittily melodic alt folk of the Jeff Buckley school (’Snowballs and Icicles’, ‘Possible Grenade’). Less successfully are the weak Lisa Lobsinger driven pop song ‘Antique Bull’, and the blandly funky ‘Love is New’. Overall, Cannings voice is warm, and his guitar and horn lines catchy, but there’s no snare driven pop anthem to compare with Drew’s ‘Safety Bricks’. None the less, this fuzzy, likeable record should hit the spot for salivating BSS fans.?

World Leader Pretend

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDhOKNlbuwM]

As the world watches Governor Palin fluff answers to serious questions, muddle more answers than Bertie “Smokes and Daggers” Ahern and generally continue to realise that helping to run The Free World is more difficult than hunting a wolf from a helicopter, my thoughts wander. There was a time before, after eight years of Republican government, that American bands made good, fear-infused music about politics. And for a couple of albums in the late eighties (Life’s Rich Pageant until Green, say), REM got pretty good at it. In the video is a song called World Leader Pretend from (in my opinion) the peak of their powers as a live band. From a time when they were actually good, shall we say.

“This is my mistake/I will make it good/I raised the wall and I will be the one to knock it down”. - Michael Stipe

“In 1998, the Clinton Administration and we in Congress agreed to abolish the United States Information Agency and put its public diplomacy functions inside the State Department. This was a mistake. Dismantling an agency dedicated to promoting America’s message amounted to unilateral disarmament in the struggle of ideas. Communicating our government’s views on day-to-day issues is what the State Department does. But communicating the idea of America, our purpose, our past and our future is a different task. We need to re-create an independent agency with the sole purpose of getting America’s message to the world” - John McCain

Heavy enough for you?

Can’t think of a noughties band who’s done fear/politics/rock music as well as some of the stuff from the 80s, but maybe they don’t need to when Tina Fey’s around:

MENTAL!

As in let’s go f*cking… I went to see Jape and Friendly Fires tonight in 53 Degrees, “the North West’s premier live music, club and comedy venue.” It was my first gig there, and while I was very impressed by both acts, I spent much of the gig thinking about what bugs me when I go to gigs. The following gripes came to mind during and after the show.

When people barge to the front and don’t apologise - we’re all here for the same thing, so be nice.
When people spend the soundcheck bellowing football chants (as above).
When people spend the whole gig chatting to their mate(s) (although I can be guilty of that sometimes).
When people thrust one hand in the air and sing along to throwaway lyrics like “come oooon” as if they’re the most meaningful lyrics since Sam Cooke wrote A Change Is Gonna Come.
When people scream for the band’s biggest song, which will probably be their encore anyway.
When people scream for songs during quiet parts of a song.
When people think it’s appropriate to mosh to upbeat indie-dance-pop.
When people scream during breakdowns
When crowds sing so loud you can’t hear the band.
Crowd surfing (I’m sorry, I really think this is utterly pointless).
When band-members get into the crowd and adoring fan-girls start stroking said band-members hair.

I realise while writing this that I may come across like Otto in the U2 episode of The Simpsons - “Sit down, you’re ruining it for everyone!” - but I’m 90% certain these, among others, are gripes shared by others. Feel free to add your own…

Dublin Duck Dispensary - Luanqibazao

[youtube:http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=_-82Ewr9u5M]

The latest album from savage one man lo-fi outfit ‘Dublin Duck Dispensary‘ is out today for free, from the bands netlabel Rack and Ruin. The band recently made their live debut with an ultra brief but fantastic set at the poorly organised Hard Working Class Heroes festival. The album is called Luanqibazao (pronounced Loo - an - zi - ba - zow), from a Chinese word meaning ‘a complete mess’. Haven’t had a chance to listen to the rest of the LP yet, but the first ’single’, (i.e.: the first track with a video) is embedded above. Look out for an interview with DDD in the next issue of Analogue.

Download Luanqibazao.

Teen Drama

For a teen drama to work, it has to be relevant. It doesn’t really matter if the actors are ten years on the wrong side of 18. It doesn’t really matter if their arch, self-aware style of speaking is unlike anything ever heard in a high school. Hell, it doesn’t even matter if they stay in high school for 9 years. What does matter though, is the music. A teen drama needs a credible, realistic soundtrack, more than anything else. Viewers are willing to suspend their disbelief to a certain extent, but not enough to believe that a 17 year-old boy is going to a Hannah Montana concert. Equally, music featured in a teen drama has to change with fashion. It’s no use writing a show about teenaged hipsters who are three months out of the loop in their listening habits. While several studios (Disney in particular) have circumvented this problem by making their teen characters be in fictional/real-life bands, others have learnt to take a more hands-on approach, learning through trial and error that, ultimately, the viewer knows best.

The hit Nickelodeon show, Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996-2003), featured a spunky young witch, growing up in happenin’ Boston at the tail end of the nineties, and therefore had endless scope for credible musical interludes. The first guest musical appearance on the show was by The Violent Femmes (31st January 1997), whose in store record-signing Sabrina fan-girlishly attended. Needless to say, a spell goes wrong, she is still learning, after all, and Gordon Gayno falls in love with Sabrina’s arch nemesis, head-cheerleader Libby Chesler. The writers on the show quickly learnt that one mumbled spell could magic any artist into the script, no matter how strained the connection was. In ‘Dante’s Inferno’ (10th October 1997) an unfortunate dose of ‘Pun-itis’ means that Sabrina’s aunt Hilda can only speak in puns that then, hilariously, come true. Hilda says something about the name ‘Jean’ (by the way, not a pun) and Davy Jones from the Monkees appears, singing ‘Daydream Believer’. He then hangs around for the rest of the episode, giving sage advice, and teaching the characters how to do the Monkees’ walk. An appearance by 10,000 Maniacs on Season 2’s Hallowe’en special is equally shoe-horned into the script. Libby turns up at Sabrina’s impromptu Hallowe’en party, with a withering put-down at the ready: “I thought I’d swing by the biggest gathering of freaks this century.” Sabrina then opens the doors to her kitchen, where 10,000 Maniacs are midway through a surprise set. Teenage Witch- 1, Head Cheerleader- 0.

Alas, Sabrina’s taste in music was subject to popular demand. When the show began, she was into grunge-lite, wearing Doc Martens to school, self-consciously toting a canvas satchel, and secretly going to a Smashing Pumpkins concert (2nd May 1997). However, come Season 2, the Backstreet Boys have performed in her school hall (27th February 1998) and in Season 3, she sneaks out to an *N Sync concert (5th February 1998). ‘Sneaking’ out to an *N Sync concert? Surely a spell has gone awry somewhere? It only gets worse, by the time Sabrina has gone to college and found a job on a magazine, she’s firmly ditched her indie leanings, in favour of Daniel Bedingfield, Ashanti and an unforgivable two guest appearances from Avril Lavigne (Season 7).

It seemed as if music was doomed to play (if Pun-itis can be carried over) second fiddle to the writing on a show, or to falling ratings. However, The O.C. (2003-2007) marked a turning point for music in teen dramas. Previously, musical appearances or references had been mainly incidental, or as part of a special episode. In The O.C., however, creator and producer Josh Schwartz was adamant “that music be a character on the show”. The show utilized the familiar format of a local music club, where local and international bands perform. The Walkmen, Modest Mouse, Tom Vek, The Thrills (!), Death Cab for Cutie and The Subways, to name but a few, coupled with some in-the-know muso characters, who name checked Bright Eyes, The Cramps and The Postal Service. Alexandra Patsavas, The O.C.’s music supervisor, also commissioned several special cover versions for the show: ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ covered by Jem, ‘If You Leave’ covered by Nada Surf, and ‘Champagne Supernova’ covered by Matt Pond PA.

As the show grew more and more popular, artists chose it as a platform to premier their latest singles. Coldplay’s ‘Fix You’ was played for the first ever time at the end of ‘The O Sea’ (Season 2), as Seth and Ryan apologize to their respective girlfriends at the prom, and Caleb, the pater familias and corrupt mogul, suffers a heart attack next to a swimming pool. Six volumes of Music from the O.C were released, the first in 2004, the last, an album of cover versions, in 2006. Each ‘Mix’ was essentially a soundtrack to the series, featuring indie-alternative artists such as Of Montreal, Stars, Shout Out Louds, Sufjan Stevens and Ben Kweller. While the mixes were hardly cutting edge, Mix 6 got a 1.8 review in Pitchfork, they introduced previously unknown artists to a wide-ranging, and iTunes-happy audience. Imogen Heap, who features on ‘Mix 4’ and ‘Mix 5’, found mainstream success through her connection with The O.C. Her song ‘Hide and Seek’ soundtracked a dramatic rape/shoot-out/crying a lot scene in the finale of Season 2, the next day, it reached number 8 on the download charts. Likewise, Bell X1’s ‘Eve, the Apple of My Eye’ was the tune to which Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton) shared her first lesbian kiss.

As Paul Noonan’s delicate vocals float in, gliding above clunky teenage romantic dialogue (“Are you in the mood for the beach? It’s almost time. The tide’s about to change. I have this ritual, for whenever something major’s going to change in my life.” “I thought you said no dating on Valentine’s Day.” “Screw it. I’m a huge fan of spontaneous first dates.”) the sun sets on the two young hotties kissing on the beach, beneath the pier. Understandably, the inclusion of the song on the soundtrack brought Bell X1 to the attention of the U.S. Unfortunately, the inclusion of the song on the soundtrack brought Bell X1 to the attention of a lot of angry American Christians, who immediately associated Bell X1 with promoting homosexuality, promoting drug use, promoting The O.C., promoting being Irish, and anything else they could think of. God only knows what would happen if they watched Skins, a teen drama that centres on a crowd of Bristol-based 18 year olds who like to take drugs, party hard and get laid. And study for their A-Levels.

Skins (2007- ) was created exclusively for E4 and is currently filming its third series. Surprisingly, for a show that centres solely on youth culture, it has yet to lose any of its credibility. This could be due to the innovative use of music in the series. The promo for Series 1 is a panorama of young hedonism. Teenage girls who are prettier than any teenage girls ever were take drugs with teenage boys who are cooler than any teenage boys could ever be. A food fight explodes across the screen, while bikes are ridden inside a family house. All the while, The Gossip’s ‘Standing in the Way of Control’, the series’ unofficial theme, blares out. Needless to say then that the music in the show veers towards the hipper side of zeitgeisty, with a focus on drum and bass. DJ Shadow, Tricky, Root Manuva and The Fall can all be found on the soundtrack to Series 1.

Skins touts itself not as a TV show, but as ‘a lifestyle choice.’ Fitting then, that it had an Official Skins Tour to celebrate the launch of the second series last February. The tour featured bands and DJs which have made guest appearances on the show already, Crystal Castles and Klaxons, and others which haven’t, but might as well have: Mylo, Maximo Park, Annie Mac, Erol Alkan, Kissy Sell Out. Accompanying the tour were a series of “exclusive” and “deeply decadent” Skins after-parties, tickets to which were, erm, free and available through the ever-decadent Myspace. Just as in The O.C., being associated with Skins is enough to propel a long-forgotten song back to the top of the charts. In the finale of Series 1, Sid, one of the main characters on the show, plays an acoustic cover version of Cat Steven’s ‘Wild World’. When the episode was broadcast, the song re-entered the Top 40 for the first time since it was released. Likewise, a heart-felt cover version of Daniel Beddingfield’s ‘If You’re Not the One’ brought Natasha Beddingfield’s less famous brother back into the spotlight.

While the show has a dedicated composer, Fat Segal who wrote the theme song and a lot of the incidental music, much of the music, especially for the later series, is chosen by the viewers themselves, through fansites and message boards. Skinslife, the main fansite, has its own record label, which signs viewer’s bands, and then features the bands in the show. The signings tend to fit in with the ‘sound’ of the show, or music that will (presumably) go with the episode structure. ‘Alex’, a music producer on the show of some sort, left the following message on Skinslife: “As always I’d like to hear everything you’re making but in particular the following genres: Modern chart friendly Indie like Skinslife’s Paper Heroes produce. Funky House type stuff that sounds like DJ NG, Geeneus, Crazy Cousinz, etc. Dark electronic noise like Alva Noto and neo classical ambient soundscapes like the Stars of the Lid. Things that sound like UK Punk acts from the 70s. And finally ANYTHING remotely Disco orientated.”

As recently as three weeks ago, producers were calling out through the fansites for suggestions for the season 3 soundtrack and noting carefully the replies they received. As a result, “Awesome Kompakt-orientated acts (the new Burger/Voigt 12” maybe?)” lie next to “amazing twee Swedish indie pop with bands like Suburban Kids With Biblical Names” in the suggestion box. “Ambient compositions from Summer Night Air to Stars of the Lid to Eluuvium” are also promised to appear in Series 3. By eschewing the middle-man, and going straight to the source, the resulting soundtrack-in-progress becomes both hip and, more importantly, relevant. Instead of talking down to a teen audience, or dictating their tastes, producers are instead listening to them. It seems that the producers, directors and the cast themselves have learnt that if they want the series to be a success, they’re going to have to do more than just keep up with the kids, they’re going to have to out-run them.

Pop Levi - Never Never Love

Marc Bolan lives. Or at least his spirit does. ‘Never Never Love’ eschews Pop Levi’s Ladytron background, and instead veers directly into glam-rock territory. Opening track ‘Wannamama’ stomps to a beat of glitter platform boots, and lead single ‘Dita Dimoné’ is ‘Hot Love’ remixed with some Ladytron synths. Elsewhere, tracks like ‘Love You Straight’ offer chilled out mid-70’s slow-set grooves. This is the record Har Mar Superstar wished he’d made.

Existential Musical Blues or Sheer Boredom?

Pandering to my gay side recently I was reading about the this weeks Armani show during Fashion Week in Milan or wherever it was . The subsequent reviews from the daily newspapers were full of glowing and sycophantic responses typical of the fashion scene. However what disturbed me was the positive means they used to describe the show. As fashion supposedly moves at a frantic pace, renewing, reviewing, cannibalizing various themes, styles and genres the writers were pleasantly surprised that good old Giorgio shunned the current craze on the catwalk for the 80’s and took “inspiration” from the 90’s.

What irked me was the fact that although it is fine and healthy to take inspiration from the past it has felt like an age since anything new came from the fashion industry. There has been no real Noughties style so to speak like the iconic mini skirt of the 60’s or 70’s flares and so on. Each round of fashion weeks it seems these past few years goes in a cycle pandering to various decades of past. Are we so bereft of imagination? Have we reached some post-modern society where fashion has reached its zenith?

I was wondering if the same argument can be taken into the world of music. I know it is very blunt and limited to base things around such abstract and linear ways as time and decades but I wanted to open this up as a debate to you, fellow Analogue readers. It can be fair to say that a lot of bands this decade have been quite vocal in their musical magpie ways. Has there been a quintessential post-Millennial music style, sound or band? Or have we fallen into the clothing fashion abyss. Since we are only 15 months to the end of this decade I thought it would be an interesting argument. What do you think will musically define the first decade of the Millennium? Is it wrong to think in such a way? What do you think?

File Under: Unpopular

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ruDdcd8G-g]

Sometimes a bit of rock criticism just makes you honk with laughter. This week’s NME contains a review of the new album by Seasick Steve. Receiving just 2 out of 10, its opening paragraph caused me to laugh out loud in an otherwise church-like village coffee shop…

“Without dwelling on the complex socio-economic factors that can render a person homeless, really, Seasick Steve should have a bath, get a job and shut the fuck up.” (James McMahon)

It’s funny because it’s so wholly inappropriate. I haven’t heard the album but I suspect that the review isn’t very fair. Really bad reviews rarely are.

Whilst browsing the excellent Metacritic.com, I decided to see which album had the lowest critical rating on the site. It turned out to be Kevin Federline’s “Playing With Fire”. Here is a choice quote from the All Music Guide:

“Soon, he was dubbed as an “aspiring musician” in the tabloids, which soon gave way to “aspiring rapper.” The fruits of his labor were first tentatively revealed when a portion of “Y’all Ain’t Ready” was leaked on the Net toward then end of 2005. It may have lasted no longer than a minute, but that minute was jam-packed with memorable absurdity, most notably his timeless malapropism of calling paparazzi “Pavarottis” and his boast that his style was “straight 2008″ when his sleepy drawl and backing track recycled every white wannabe-gangsta cliche from the past 15 years. Bloodied but not beaten, K-Fed” which he was now being called, with absolutely no irony on his part unveiled his first full-length single on New Year’s Day 2006. “PopoZao”, “a celebration of Brazilian ass” was let loose on the Internet, where it was greeted with unfettered and deserved ridicule, as it lived up to the promise of “Y’All Ain’t Ready.” Both singles were awful, but they were gloriously awful, the work of a hack who believed he was a genius and was surrounded by yes-men were either too well paid to tell him otherwise, or were laughing behind his back as they gave him enough rope to hang himself high.”

To be honest that review makes me eager to track the album down and listen to it. Is this the desired effect of a bad review? For some time now, I’ve enjoyed searching out notoriously bad albums. Or just albums that killed an artist’s career. I enjoy the stories behind such records. One of my favourites is the story of how, in days long before the invention of the internet, fans of the 1970s prog-rock group Spirit petitioned the band’s record company to force them to issue their “Journey To The Centre Of Potato Land” album. When the album finally got a release, the general consensus among fans was that it was unmitigated rubbish.

Over the next few weeks I’m going to write about a few career-destroying, award-losing albums. Some of them have been dismissed unfairly. Others deserve all of the criticism they get. Feel free to use the comments section to talk about records which you believe to be the worst you’ve ever heard, or which you think are mocked for no good reason.

First up, ABC’s 1983 album “Beauty Stab”…

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPm_v4vTPgw]
ABC “That Was Then But This Is Now”

This is one of the most unfairly overlooked albums I can think of. Where to start… Let’s start with the end then. The end, that is, of their previous album “Lexicon Of Love”. You may be familiar with “4 Ever 2 Gether”, it was a grim, apocalyptic closer to what is otherwise a glamourous, glossy pop album. A real manifesto album - the ultimate realisation of New Pop principles. “Lexicon of Love” was lavishly produced by Trevor Horn, featured the fledgling Art of Noise and was bursting with singles and wit. ABC had the world at their feet. So they toured the world. And in Tokyo, Martyn Fry flushed his gold lamé suit down the toilet. It was a symbolic gesture.

The England which ABC returned to after their fairytale round-the-world trip was in a slump. Miners striking, mass unemployment, youth disenchantment - that type of thing. So ABC changed tack by swapping tack for substance, or at least they tried to, and they weren’t as unsuccessful as is claimed. “Beauty Stab” was met with a fair amount of derision on its release and regularly crops up in discussions of career destroying records. Where other British pop groups were busy polishing their sound - copying “Lexicon…” in other words - ABC made a 180 degree turn. Pianos and strings were, largely, out. Guitars were in. Not acoustic ones. Chugging rawk ones. Riffs, even. The spirit of “Lexicon…” still hovered about though. “S.O.S.” musically at least, mined a similar vein of sweetness. “By Default By Design” is another string-driven thing and is one of the highlights of the album.

Lyrically, Martyn Fry was still quick with a pun and a witty couplet (such as “The Power Of Persuasion”’s “Workless, cashless, hungry and in debt/ Out of house, out of home, out of pocket…”). Thematically, it dwells on Thatcherite Britain. “King Money” is a good example of an 80s pop record rejecting the aspirations of yuppy culture. Its refrain is simple and straightforward, critics would say overly simplistic and platitudinous: “If your king is money, then I feel sorry for you”. In his book “Rip It Up and Start Again”, Simon Reynolds criticises the sentiment of lyrics like this and suggests it just sounds hypocritical coming from a band who promoted their “All Of My Heart” single dressed as aristocratic huntsmen. That’s fair enough, I suppose. I celebrate the tentative and sheepish retraction of those values which “Beauty Stab” represents though. Not many were brave enough to make a move like it.

The album saved from being outright gloom by its zippy production (I think Gary Langan does a great job, personally, but he’s often considered to be Trevor Horn’s apprentice.) It is tempered by a kind of righteous anger, often clumsily expressed but commendable nonetheless. It tackles Reaganism (“Russians should be babysitted/ Americans resist it”), consumerism (“They persuade you that they made you/ Then betray you and they blame you/ With the power of persuasion”), and the dangers of being seduced by the lies of politicians (“Love’s a dangerous language/ Survey the damage/ Look what we’ve done”).

So it’s a meatier album than it’s given credit for. I suppose it depends on who people are prepared to accept politically-charged music from. It’s ok coming from Gang of Four or the Clash, but it’s as if ABC are too frivolous a pop to get away with this sort of thing. That’s quite a patronising view, I’d say. It’s not as if “Lexicon…” is just silly fun either. Compare “Beauty Stab” with that other long-awaited follow up of the time: The Human League’s “Hysteria”. That also incorporated guitars into the band’s sound. It didn’t really work. It sounded really tinny and awful. Overall, “Hysteria” is a big, big disappointment. Time hasn’t been kind to it either. Its legendary attempt at political commentary, “The Lebanon” is rather cringeworthy (although I do like the rhyme “Before he leaves the camp he stops…/ And where there used to be some shops…”). In attempting to swing away from the whole New Pop thing, in the spirit of the endlessly challenging avant-garde, it really does protest too much and gets it all wrong. It contains “Rock Me Again and Again and Again and Again and Again and Again (Six Times)” which has to be among the most dreadful cover versions in history. “Dare” is one of the greatest albums ever made. “Hysteria” is not even the best album called “Hysteria” to come out of Sheffield.

“Hey Citizen!” (from “Beauty Stab”) contains the line “All through summer/ There’s no glamour in the slammer”. It always makes me smile to hear it. I keep a mental list of lyrics like that.

Next week: Dexys Midnight Runners “Don’t Stand Me Down”

Kill the Pig!

Over on the Guardian, what with their proper journalists and that, they’re reporting on legal harassment and prosecution of Oink. Oink was a members only website for torrent sharing with strict rules about leechers and that, with an invite only membership. I’m not sure what brought it to the authorities attention other than that it’s based in England and therefore under the insane British legal system, despite which it is far from obvious that Oink was in any way a criminal operation. This follows on from the multiple other attempts to harass torrent tracking websites world wide. Interpol was amongst the many agencies involved in shutting the site down. There have been several attempts to sully the waters surrounding Oink, with police sources in the UK lying about the (actually normal) levels of pre released material on the site. All in all its a crap little development. Founder was in court today- case adjourned.

ps I yoinked the photo from tiny mix tapes. I wouldn’t normally mention it, just its a great website.

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