blind-fitter

Madonna probably does seem a bit random in amongst that list of predominantly indie/alternative artists, yeah, but I did come up with that list spontaneously while I was writing the post, so it is a bit "random" anyway. And I liked Madonna at the time, so she is an example of "something good that was going on in the 80s". My list of artists was just an account of some of my personal tastes, but, by including too much "obscure stuff", did not really serve to illustrate the point I had been making previously. If it looks like I'm being the music snob, that's unfortunate and probably a misunderstanding of my point. Whilst having a committed interest in indie/alternative music, I also liked plenty of stuff from the "trivial pop" end of the spectrum -even at my most serious, I 've always been a sucker for good "pop" - but I tended to appreciate individual records rather than artists; partly because so much early 80s pop was so terrible, it was difficult to commit yourself to anyone, for fear of what crud they might turn out next. Artists you quite liked could become ghastly overnight. History has this way of magnifying the achievements of some whilst gradually airbrushing out others, regardless of the relative merits of either. I was mystified at the time, and am still at a loss to understand why the Americans picked up on (for example) A Flock Of Seagulls, Howard Jones - regarded only as figures of ridicule at home - and elevated them to something like iconic status. In the case of the former, their status rests upon one memorable hit single ("Wishing") and an eye-catching hair-do. OK, it's arguably a decent record. But there have been better pop-singles, better bands and better hairstyles, so why remember AFOS nearly 30 years later? When it comes down to it, maybe I feel a little protective of my decade. And the idea that "Karma Chameleon" (or similar) might be perceived as a decade-defining, high-water mark fills me with irrational, resentful dread.

To be fair, Bobby Farrell did form the band himself. He had put out a solo record in Holland, before recruiting the 3 other members of Boney M. Only after forming the band, did they start working with Frank Farian. Bobby Farrell did the vocals at all live performances and such like. However, Frank Farian didn't rate Farrell's singing voice, so he used his own voice for recording purposes. Hell, even if Farrell's voice isn't the one we hear on the records, who gives a toss, really? It's all part of pop's rich tapestry. I, for one, salute him in his passing.

Indeed. I don't have anything against Tears For Fears - I wrote a favourable review of their debut album "The Hurting" in the student magazine - but, on the other hand, if someone's arguing that the music of that particular decade sucked, I struggle with any alternative viewpoint which starts by citing TFF as some kind of pinnacle of musical achievement. My difficulty with appraising the 80s as a musical/cultural phenomenon is that, having been 15 in 1980 and 25 in 1990 (by which time I was recording and performing in a band myself), the 80s could reasonably be described as my "heyday", during which I experienced music with intensity and passion. As such, my lexicon of musical favourites does tend to include a lot of stuff from that decade. It's just that it's not the same stuff that most people cite in the context of "celebrating the 80s". Goldfinger's initial post attempted to drum up some support for an 80s themed forum, by citing 5 "flagship artists", only one of which I wouldn't cross the road to avoid. (The Human League, in case you're wondering.) So, I immediately had a very negative impression of what such a forum might look like. Don't get me wrong; I've danced to a Billy Idol tune or two in my time, but to hold him up as an example of innovative artistry and a credit to the decade is just staggering. The problem is/was that although there was good music being made in the 80s, for the most part this was away from the mainstream, in the independent/alternative sectors, where the groundwork was being done for the resurgence of credible rock music which occurred in the 90s, and which continues to resonate today. The trend in mainsream music was not only towards the use of synthesizers (not a crime per se, although a lot of heinous sins were committed under the synth-pop aegis), but towards grandiose production values, (particularly in American rock and pop), with the result that potentially enjoyable music was ruined by the stench of flatulent bombast. "Big" production values and the rise of "stadium rock" have never struck me as positive trends in rock/pop music, yet these are the two characteristics for which the 80s are most renowned. It might be difficult for many of you to understand my position, because there is a big difference between US culture and UK culture and the values we espouse. Similarly, there is a significant difference between "mainstream" cultural activity and alternative/independent cultural activity. Well, there certainlywas back in the 80s; It's a lot more blurred nowadays. I happen to be of the inclination that synth-pop, stadium rock and hair-metal all sucked , to a greater or lesser degree. I never even liked Guns'n'Roses. So maybe, it's unrealistic of me to even engage in any kind of discourse with US music-consumers about how shite the mainstream music of the 1980s was? I don't want to come across all negative - being reminded of "China In Your Hand" can have this aggravating effect on me - so here, off the top of my head, are some reasons to be cheerful about 80s music: Killing Joke, The Fall, The Smiths, Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Dead Kennedys, The Cocteau Twins, Sonic Youth, Throwing Muses, The Church, Julian Cope, Crass, The Wedding Present, Husker Du, Bauhaus, Scratch Acid, Madonna, X Mal Deutschland, The Triffids, Big Black, Public Enemy, Foetus, The Pixies, The Jesus & Mary Chain, Pop Will Eat Itself, My Bloody Valentine, Danielle Dax, The Cure. "Instead of peace and revolution, We got AIDS and Whitney Houston" from "Lunchtime For The Wild Youth" by The Chesterfields, 1986, in which the band express their disappointment at the climate of submissive consumerism of mid 80s pop culture.

A thread to discuss the artistic merits of T'Pau? I never heard anything more ridiculous in my entire life.

And that's your idea of a compelling counter-argument, is it?

Link to news article

"Night" - Zola Jesus (2010) "Endgame" - Killing Joke (2010)

Re the embedding of videos: I've been away from the site for a few months and in the meantime the site has had a bit of a make-over, including a new facility for embedding youtube clips. It's all new to me. I only used the facility, because I thought it was what we're supposed to do nowadays. If I participate in future, I'll just go back to doing it the old-fashioned way.

Well, if you've nothing positive to say, you know what you can do. :humph:

"Vacation Brain" - Shudder To Think

"Actor Out Of Work" - St Vincent(2009) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpWisIEnwrw "Cheese" ~ Biscuithead & The Biscuit Badgers (2009)

Although I continue to accumulate alot of music, most comes second-hand - bought from charity shops, borrowed, etc - so I hardly ever buy new up-to-the-minute music. I might buy some 2010 stuff (e.g. Liars "Sisterworld", Wild Nothing "Gemini") in the January sales, with any Christmas/birthday gift vouchers i might receive, if the mood takes me. But, whilst I haven't bought alot of new albums in 2010, i have heard bits and bobs of the stuff that's supposed to be happening, and do you know what? In alot of cases, I don't care too much for what I've heard. I guess I'm out of step. Not that it's all bad, but there are too many full beards around for my liking. Anyway. New albums I have enjoyed this year include: Killing Joke ~ "Absolute Dissent" Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse ~ "Dark Night Of The Soul" Paul Weller ~ "Wake Up The Nation" Gonjasufi ~ "A Sufi And A Killer" Evelyn & Evelyn ~ "Evelyn And Evelyn" Zola Jesus ~ "Stridulum II" I'll probably think of some more later.

Felicitations, ma chere!

Gonjasufi is a rapper, singer, disc jockey and yoga teacher from San Diego, California and currently living in Las Vegas, Nevada. He has been releasing music since the early 1990s among the San Diego Hip Hop scene, notably with the Masters of the Universe crew.His debut album on the UK label Warp, "A Sufi and a Killer" was released earlier this year. (I'm paraphrasing all this from a well-known website). To be honest, I only heard Gonjasufi for the first time a couple of weeks ago, when the album was playing in a record shop I was browsing. I went to the counter and politely demanded to know what it was. Unable to purchase that day, I managed only a few days of restraint before capitulating to my insatiable desire to own the damned thing. Gonjasufi's voice has been described as "a scraggly, scary, smoked-out croak that creeps like the spiritual offspring of George Clinton and Leadbelly" (Pitchfork), also as "warped, wheezing, stoned and dusty". Think of Tom Waits, Tricky and Nina Simone after a particularly heady night on the whacky-baccy, and you might be getting the picture. He has been described as "a freewheeling nomad who wanders wherever his creative impulse takes him", and it's true that "A Sufi and a Killer" is a genre-transcending record, a patchwork of languid stoner blues, acid-fried garage, paranoid trip-hop, acid folk, soul,kitschy Bacharachesque pop, even a smidgeon of bubbly electro...It's not really like anything else I've ever heard. But I'd recommend it to anyone who hasn't been deterred by my description so far. I will link to some tracks as tasters, although I do feel that this is an album to be appreciated as a whole and in sequence- in which case it works brilliantly. I'm not sure how well it works, conversely, listening to tracks on an individual basis. Some albums are like that. "She's Gone" "CandyLane" "Dust" "Change" "Ancestors" "Kowboys & Indians" "Holidays"

Annie Clark is a hugely-talented multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter who performs under the name St. Vincent. (She named herself after a line in the TV show Arrested Development, fact fans). Annie Clark has previously worked as a member of The Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens' touring band, before branching out on her own as St Vincent. She has also worked in collaborations with Amanda Palmer , Bon Iver and The National, amongst others, and has opened shows for the likes of Television, Arcade Fire, Midlake,Death Cab for Cutie, Grizzly Bear, etc. Pitchfork described St Vincent's 2007 debut album as "an art-rock album at times redolent of prime Kate Bush and Lodger-era David Bowie",(and who am I to argue?), praising "its brilliant production flourishes and impeccably left-field arrangements". Whilst the Pitchfork review for the 2009 follow-up album, "Actor", is well worth reading for a better idea of what St Vincent is about: Link to Pitchfork Review I find both albums make quite compelling listening. This is recognisably "pop-music", yet it strikes a fine balance of (superbly-crafted) slightly avant-garde instrumentation, elements of potentially discomforting challenge to pop's natural order, with a definite accessibilty which draws the listener in. From a purely personal perspective, it doesn't doesn't hinder matters that St Vincent is utterly gorgeous and enunciates beautifully. However, I'm loathe to cheapen this review by dwelling too much on the baser issues of sexual attraction. Here are some clips to whet your appetite: "Actor Out Of Work" "The Strangers" "Laughing With A Mouth Of Blood" "Marry Me, John" "Marrow" "Jesus Saves, I Spend" Great stuff!

...would have been my #1, if I had been participating this week. Top tune!

Looks like you just about got there without any help from me.

A most peculiar thing happened: I was in Maumoniats International Supermarket - a fairyland of food - an Asian supermarket where I sometimes go to stock upon nuts and spices, and where the musical background is usually Asian Radio, bhangra, etc. when suddenly I was listening to a reggae tune, which as it unfolded revealed a lyric sung in what I recognised as German. I didn't get to write any of the lyric down, but the main chorus/hook was something along the lines of "besser du wartest und lassen es passieren". Anybody any idea what this is, and why it might be playing in an Asian shop, in the UK?

Happy Birthday, Joe. Whatever you do, make sure you have fun. Cheers!

That was an interesting interview, Carl. I hadn't realised that Gary Numan was regarded as a "one-hit wonder" in the States. As your interview revealed, he was a much more successful artist in the UK, (in terms of a string of hit singles and albums), and durable well beyond the commercial peak of electronic music. Funnily enough, even though "Cars" was the #1 hit which sealed his status as a pop "man of the moment", the track for which I think he is most remembered over here is probably "Are Friends Electric?", which was ground-breaking at the time (in bringing electronic new-wave to the masses), and remains (to my ears, at least) an astounding piece of music, which stands the test of time, (especially if played at a suitable volume!) I have to be honest and say that I went off Gary Numan pretty quickly. After "Replicas" and "The Pleasure Principle", which I enjoyed, he quickly became the kind of pop-star your mate's younger sister likes. Also, he took flying lessons, espoused uncool political views and generally made himself look a bit of a prat. However, that wouldn’t prevent me from admiring some of his work. I have read previous interviews with Numan, in which he disowned his punk past, professing that he never felt comfortable in that guise, that it wasn't "him". So it's interesting to hear his perspective has changed with the passage of the years. The Asperger's thing is interesting. I heard a few years ago that he is a self-diagnosed Aspie, so no clinician has actually confirmed his Autism Spectrum Condition. As the father of a young teen with an Asperger's diagnosis, I'm comfortable with any famous, successful cool dude outing themselves in this way. It's not exactly a "badge of cool" for those who have it, so the more Asperger's Icons the better, really. It is true that many Asperger kids are interested in machines /computers/technology; one of the classic traits of the condition is a tendency to develop "obsessive interests". (Many non-Aspie kids are pretty keen on modern technology too, mind you.) Also it is true, that many people with Asperger's tend to be fairly solitary (not necessarily through choice), having difficulties relating to other people and, subsequently, limited social networks; a significant and pervasive trait of Asperger's is the deficit in intuitive social learning. That is, the behaviours we all learn intuitively, from infancy, which facilitate social interaction - the understanding of body language and facial expression, of figurative speech, the art of reciprocal conversation or interaction, the ability to empathise, the fundaments of appropriate social interaction, the ability to transfer learnt social skills from one scenario to another, etc. Someone with Asperger's may lack all of these attributes (which come to the rest of us naturally, to some degree or another), but still desperately want to participate socially and to have a healthy network of friends, etc. So it's probably not accurate to characterise such people as "alienated", "loners", or whatever. They "fail" at social interactions so frequently (from the schoolyard onwards), and need so much support to develop the skills required to form and sustain a friendship, that many potential friends move onwards and upwards, into relationships with people who aren't such hard work. Why am I going on about this? Not sure, I lost my thread a bit. Oh, yeah. I think it is a stretch too far to suggest that "more people are on the Autism spectrum as a result of this social shift away from human contact". Asperger's Syndrome is a neurological condition: you've either got it or you haven't. (No-one acquires it as a result of avoiding social contact). If you have it, there is no cure; only support to help you manage its impact on your ability to function in the world. True, many of us do have some “Autism Spectrum traitsâ€, to some degree or another, but one has to possess several of the classic traits in conjunction, and to a degree that these have an impact on one’s ability to function socially, to be "on the Autism Spectrum". Many people, kids and adults alike, are spending greater time than ever before absorbed in the wonders of modern technology. This may, arguably, be to the detriment of proper, social interaction and in extremis lead to social isolation. Crucially, however, these people can come off the PC, electronic game, Pro-Tools,(or whatever) at intervals and will more often than not have a multitude of potential outlets for social interaction available to them - a gang of mates, a sports club, a pub, a social group – in which they will be adequately able to integrate and cope. Which is not the case for those genuinely on the Autism Spectrum. Well, you did say "Feel free to tell me I'm full of it..."

Link to story

One of the most hideous monstrosities I've encountered in recent years is Akon's one about being lonely. Lonely? If that's your idea of quality musical entertainment, there's no f******g wonder you're lonely.

Sounds ridiculous but sadly, it's true. The Story, as reported in my local paper

This week, I have mostly been listening to The Decemberists - "The Hazards Of Love" This album has caught me hook, line and sinker. A work of captivating brilliance. Sonically, lyrically, it is immaculately crafted, nigh on flawless. It possesses a spirit of musical adventure, unafraid of moving between passages of exquisite beauty, stirring almost anthemic choruses and potentially jarring acidic rock-outs, yet never veers close to the kind wanton "unlistenable experimentalism" which might temnd to alienate the listener. Its lyrics are amongst the most richly evocative I have encountered, addressing the potentially dangerous ground of the most overdone of cliches - "Love", and the hazards thereof - eloquently, stylishly, and with a convincing, raw, emotional quality, devoid of cliche and schmaltz. 9.75 /10

What the heck is PYGMALION? My latest purchase: Hooverphonic ~ "The Magnificent Tree", a snip at £2.