ellis@flairvax.UUCP (Michael Ellis) (03/18/84)
My ability to describe is very happily quite inferior to the quality of the
new music I've heard this past year. 1983 was, in fact, the best year I've
ever known for new music.
Here is the music that struck deep this past year
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*Learning to Cope with Cowardice - Mark Stewart
*Yes Sir, I Will - Crass
Check It - Mutabaruka
Horrible - Half Japanese (and Everyone knew... but me - Jad Fair)
Mohnomishe - Soviet France
DRI - Dirty Rotten Imbeciles
Suite en sous Sol - TuxedoMoon
Golden Palominos - Fier, Lindsay, Frith, Miller, Noyes, Laswell, Tacuma
Flies Like Holidays - Smegma, Rancid Vat, Faulty Denial Mechanism
Earth vs Shockabilly - Shockabilly
My War - Black Flag
Old music, still new...
Winter songs - Art Bears
DOA, Mission of Lost Souls - Throbbing Gristle
*=described in this, the 1st article of a series of six.
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Learning to Cope with Cowardice - Mark Stewart (On-U Sound)
Anarchy distilled from a mash of Beefheart, experimental dub, industrial,
and postpunk/dirge push matters entirely beyond the bounds of rational
music -- majestic animalistic vocals ala van Vliet alternating between
`yowzah' and `no sir, I think I'm learning to cope with cowardice', hi-tech
rhythms repeatedly broken up with violent, distorted reggae echos, white
church anthems sliced thru by black gospel, always accompanied by a driving
dub rhythm that gradually disintegrates into total chaos most closely
resembling the space between radio stations on LSD -- wildly experimental,
destructive dub with ferocious purpose. Perhaps the noblest record since
Troutmask
Sample lyrics: I'd rather die for a noble cause
than live and die as a slave
Mark Stewart comes from the `Pop Group', a new wave(!) band that
specialized in thirdworld human-rights tunes like `We are all Prostitutes'
and `For how much longer will we tolerate Mass Murder', one of the most
underplayed masterpieces of recent times (try to find this record -- I
dare you).
On-U Sound is a new label that specializes in British dub. Their artists
are primarily transplanted Jamaicans and British working class with
industrial orientation. Prince Fari worked with them before he was
assassinated in October last year.
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Yes Sir, I Will - Crass (Crass records)
Perhaps the noisiest record ever made -- my vote for hardcore equivalent to
John Coltrane's magnificent `Ascension' (1964) goes to this 45 minute
composition that consists of belligerent antiwar lyrics, adrenalin
producing rhythms, and curiously sophisticated harmonies that often
resemble avant-garde jazz or classical more than the Sex Pistols. Good
introduction to modern hardcore for those who are sick of the older,
decadent, nihilistic punk, though not for the weak-at-heart.
The music overflows with wondrous human experience, and is undescribable
This band has continually defied convention since its inception in 1978
by getting more energetic and political with each album. Crass's label
records many other bands who represent the last and healthiest of the
British punk-derived bands, such as Dirt (featuring Shit & Vomit), the
Poison Girls (with Vi Subversa, world's only middle aged punk vocalist),
and Crucifix (whose reputedly excellent 1983 album I cannot locate).
The sentiment is usually anti-{establishment,drugs,violence} and
pro-{peace,anarchy,freedom}.
*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*ellis@flairvax.UUCP (Michael Ellis) (04/08/84)
Adrian Sherwood, dub master extraordinaire, was unfortunately unmentioned in a previous article describing `Learning to Cope with Cowardice'. Anyway, forward, into the past, to continue with the best of 1983! --+++-----+++++++-----------+++++++++++++-----------------+++++++++++++++++++ Learning to Cope with Cowardice - Mark Stewart, Adrian Sherwood Yes Sir, I Will - Crass Check It - Mutabaruka Horrible - Half Japanese (and Everyone knew... but me - Jad Fair) *Mohnomishe - Soviet France DRI - Dirty Rotten Imbeciles Suite en sous Sol - TuxedoMoon Golden Palominos - Fier, Lindsay, Frith, Miller, Noyes, Laswell, Tacuma *Flies Like Holidays - Smegma, Rancid Vat, Faulty Denial Mechanism Earth vs Shockabilly - Shockabilly My War - Black Flag Old music, still new... Winter songs - Art Bears DOA, Mission of Lost Souls - Throbbing Gristle *=described in this, the 2nd article of a series of ninety two. --+++-----+++++++-----------+++++++++++++-----------------+++++++++++++++++++ Mohnomishe - Soviet France Clearly inspired by industrial (read Throbbing Gristle), primitive tribal rhythms, Eno's slow moving ambient, Ummagumma-period Pink Floyd (Sisyphus), and deeply distorted radio static, this two record set gradually flows from a majestic, distant, analog sunrise thru a bleak jungle of factory noises to the, I mean THE absolutely most dazzling psychedelic finale these ears have ever experienced (assuming I've correctly deduced the intended order of play). Unfortunately, there are no credits or identification of any kind on the records, not even side numbers, save the word `Mohnomishe', and bloblike decorations on the labels that eventually serve to distinguish the sides once one becomes familiar with the set. The jacket itself is unmistakable -- two crude pieces of thick fiberboard tied together with a string. --+++-----+++++++-----------+++++++++++++-----------------+++++++++++++++++++ Flies Like Holidays - Smegma, Rancid Vat, Faulty Denial Mechanism Pigface Records, Oregon somewhere I don't know if this is what happens to people who take too many mushrooms and move to the Northwest. And it's not clear when exactly this music was made. But the lunacy and raw abandon documented here quite clearly attest to the power of beginner's mind, and the inventiveness of the crude american spirit. The best. Represented on these grooves are all varieties of fragmented anarchy -- aging hippie, provincial industrial, electronic tribal, simple but effective garage, space cadet... Also worth noting is the great beauty in the packaging of all Pigface productions. Each and every record to leave their garage is hand-decorated, with magic markers or crayon -- mine had clearly taken at least 3 hours of some human's attention. The credits are mimeographed, of course. Sample Lyrics: Let's go to the beauty school I wanna be beautiful They'll teach me how to do it they'll teach me how to shit be a beauty be a beauty be a beauty I wanna be beautiful wanna be one of the crowd just one of the crowd one of the crowd be a beauty be a beauty be a beauty --+++-----+++++++-----------+++++++++++++-----------------+++++++++++++++++++ -michael `life isn't fair... few things in life are' ellis