New DJ mix,  inspired by the music and events of the past year.

1. Runaway – Dirty Cake

I had the pleasure of working with Marcos Carbal and Jaques Reanault aka Runaway on Diesel U Music Radio New York last summer and also managed to catch them DJ in San Fran and L.A.  I’m sure you are all familiar but if not they throw great parties in New York, They DJ together and they released some great house tracks over the past few years. This is from their latest E.P. on Mule Musiq, check out their label and party… on the Prowl.

2. Louis Chedid – Hold Up (Losoul Edit)

3. LoSoul – The Crush

This is an edit of an old French Chanteuse Louis Chedid, who seems pretty average except this bonkers track which almost sounds house anyway, this is exactly how I like and edit and am still busting out Losoul’s – The Siren and a zillion other tracks from the  ”Famous when Dead” Compilation series on Playhouse. So then straight into some more Losoul as I was feeling like something a bit warbley and bleepy but not Gyratory System who are equally as warbly and bleepy.

4. Omar S – Set if Out

I’m a big fan of both this and the 80’s proto house anthem Midway which is on the Metro Area Fabric mix CD. Was meant to see Omar DJ at the Sunday best party at the Yard in Brooklyn but due to mega climate change NYC summer stormy weather got stranded at the No Monkey or no Ordinary Monkey party. (Pictured above)

5. Hell feat Bryan Ferry – U can Dance (Tim Goldsworthy remix)

I really like the original but thought that this version would fit a bit better in the mix. The video is directed none other than the very talented Jo Apps (SMD with Kate Moross) and can’t wait to see more of her work.

6. Daniel Wang  - Like some Dream

Daniel Wang’s  early productions were all based on Loft classics and featured a lot of samples which were all cut up entirely on tape even though it was the 90’s. This track features around 70 samples of old disco records and is totally hypnotic and an absolute massive banger from that 1 bar somewhere in the middle.  Here are the video for 2 of the samples.

7. Crystal Fighters – I love London (In flagranti version)

Pretty rawkus and really wanted to post the video, which of course has been censored due to scenes of a sexual nature and recreational substance use.

8. Pete Visti – All Night (Yes Maam) (eskimo)

Mine and Matt Waites summer anthem.

9. Bot’ox - Babylon By Car (Discodeine Remix)

French squared.

10. Jody Finch – Jack Your Big Booty (BHQ No Acid Vocal)

Classic rare chicago track re-issued on Let’s pet Puppies and given the 00’s update from Derrik Carter, this one goes out to Jack Savidge.

11. Joakim – Watermelon Bubblelicious.

Epic French piano house and great album released this year.

12. Housemeister – What you want (Siriusmo remix)

Banging’

13. Discodeine - Tom Select – (La Horse remix)

Waiting for that Discodeine album should be big for 2010. La Horse is Ivan Shmagghe and Tim Paris and usually, when I put this on people looked very scared. I always thought it was quite euphoric hands in the air banger but it seems to have the opposite effect disturbing the dance floors of London. As a social experiment at an after party, I tried to find the most upsetting music and the original, Joakim and La Horse mix really do freaked the most people out.

14. Magnets – Charm Offensive

This is totally hot new  heavy electronic shit from Dalston 2010 so Check it out.

15. Brennan Green – My First House

Fave DJ in NYC, you know they always seem to play something that will never work outside of the States so the one time he dropped some bloody Beyonce or Mariah Carey under a smoke machine and green lazer of east London he totally went down in my books,  go to New York and it all makes music more sense. Seriously, the cities best DJ and producer and label matey and currently producing Arthur’s Landing (pictured)

15. Soft Cell – So (extended)

Non Stop ecstatic Dancing.

16. New York Gong – Jungle Wind(ow)

NYC power No Wave band

Remember classic aborted ILB series Novelty Cover Version week? The people who ensure we still get about 15 hits a week for search for photos of Richard Cheese certainly do.

Anyway, we never got around to Nouvelle Vague and our confusion as to how they have 14 million plays on last.fm (to put that into some kind of perspective, that’s more than double the number of plays for De La Soul). They’re a band that apparently have a lot of fans, and not just in a “lol listen to this fucken cover of “Into The Valley” done by a chick talking very very slowly” way. We would have gotten around to, hey, covering them during Novelty Cover week eventually, if we had any staying power. The point we would have made is that they don’t really work as a good novelty cover band, because all do is make you want to listen to the originals tracks. Indeed, in some cases, NV’s covers aren’t even as good as covers of NV’s covers:

But anyway, whatever whatever. Nouvelle Vague’s third album, dropped earlier this year, and it contains a over of Plastic Bertrand’s “Ca Plane Pour Moi”, rather than Elton Motello’s queercore anthem “Jet Boy Jet Girl”, which just seems like a waste of time. It also features a take on “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye”.

I have no idea about Soft Cell, really. All I know is that a) “Tainted Love” b) Rowan Atkinson firing shots at Marc Almond in a Not The Nine O’Clock News skit (apparently Almond’s autobiography contains a long section calling the star of Johnny English “talentless” for this, might be worth hunting out in the final Border’s firesale) c) six pints of semen.

So I never understood why your fat London dyed hair fairy wing labret piercing six-inch platform heels Simon Price Facebook-friended glamour phag yatches went for Soft Cell so hard. I have no real desire to find out fully either. All I know is that it twigged the other day that “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye” is a really good song, like if someone slapped a bit of sense into “Don’t You Want Me Baby”. It doesn’t even sound that sleazy, it just sounds like a couple of sixth formers who’ve discovered Soho for the first time and are laughing at dildos at 11pm on a schoolnight. We’ll avoid talking about the David Gray version, obv.

All epically great music videos should contain at least eight of the following:

- Political incorrectness

- Weird juxtapositions

- Obscure and symbolic (NOT direct) references to at least one taboo sexual perversion or drug

- Mythical archetypes turned into high camp

- At least one prominently sparkly thing, even if it’s a B&W video (remember those Flock of Seagulls videos? That, but maybe less).

- Sunglasses. Or some type of interesting spectacles.

- Some tie-in with the lyrics, but not so much it becomes over-literal and fussy.

- Creative storyline (think Common and Mary J. Blige’s “Come Close to Me,” where Common proposes marriage to his deaf girlfriend he’s just had a fight with, by standing on her lawn drawing a cue-card rebus to go with the song lyrics)

- At least one tastefully tongue-in-cheek phallic or sexual symbol (my favorite: Devo’s “That’s Good”… that repeated cartoon of a french fry going into a doughnut)

- Twisted, campy references to classic films, novels, comics or anything that permeates our cultural consciousness

- At least one caricatured angry authority figure (parent, teacher, cop etc) (The Kinks, “Come Dancing”… Beastie Boyz, “Fight for your Right (to Party)”… this was more popular in the 80’s I think…)

- Exaggerated gestures and facial expressions (think anything Van Halen), or, conversely… studiously understated “cool” gestures (think Digable Planets, Snoop Dogg)

- Art that comes to life (optional)

- Food that comes to life (optional)

- Musical instruments that come to life (optional)

- Musical instruments that combust (please, just one is enough per video)

- At least one child, often cast into an ambiguously appropriate and ironic adult role (I love Jill Scott’s video for “Gimme,” where she’s a sexy nurse followed by sick children who suddenly can get up and dance)

- Awesome choreography (ALL MJ videos)

- References to insanity (Bjork “Violently Happy,” David Bowie “Look Back in Anger”)

- Irony, even unwitting irony

- Big hair, no hair, long hair, blue hair… some kind of hair extreme going on

- Disturbing visual imagery (optional, depending on song)

- Humor (less optional)

- Both of the above at once

- Dreamlike, smooth transitions between scenes

- Special effects only to fit the mood/narrative.

What is NOT necessary for a good music video:

- Booty close-ups

- Gratuitous sexuality

- Gratuitous and overdone special effects

- Maudlin, heavyhanded political memes and themes

- References to drugs and top-shelf sexual perversions without the slightest trace of irony

- Excessive instrument/hand close-ups

- Anything where the band plays on a beach, on top of a tall building, a mountain, a boat… (yawn… cliché alert… although I did love U2’s “Gloria” and Duran Duran’s “Rio” videos back in the 80’s)

- Choppy, jarring transitions

- Zooming in and out repeatedly (excuse me, some of us are epileptic)

- Words superimposed unnecessarily on footage, as if to provide visual Cliff’s Notes to the action (you’ll see a lot of this in French and African videos…)

- Excessive food references (I am still haunted, to this day, of that horrible Wall of Voodoo video from the 80’s where everyone is drowning in baked beans… not to mention INXS’s “The One Thing”)

- Any, any, any form of pixelized or other cheesy image fades… except when done to create a mock 80’s effect.

- Too many women in one video… destroys the narrative effect

- Humans morphing into ferocious wild animals… biggest video cliché on the planet (think Sade)

- Sentimentality or over-seriousness about romance… unless you’re making karaoke videos (think Alicia Keys)

- Any form of leopard-skin print clothing, Greek columns (unless used ironically, as in Soft Cell’s magnificent, insanely perfect video for “Tainted Love” which contains just about every video “DO” listed above)

- Any visual imagery so completely disgusting or disturbing that people can’t even watch it. That differs for everyone… for example, I think Aphex Twin’s “Rubber Johnny” and “Come to Daddy” videos are fantastic, but they disturb me too much to watch them. I get nightmares.

- Over-selfconsciousness, narcissistic imagery (most rap videos…)

- Over-fixation on the symbols of luxury and wealth (ditto, although many 80’s videos were guilty of this distraction from good-video content as well)

- Over-repeated samples

- Distasteful focus on death or body functions

- Meaningless, weird or random stock photo footage that doesn’t fit the mood of the song

- Footage that is very obviously stock footage

- Special effects that can quickly be named by anyone who knows the editing software

- Destroying more than two cars, three guitars, or one building… kids are starving in Africa, man. Do you really need to blow up four guitars??

- Obviously underage girls (or boys) in sexually compromising situations

- Cheesy metaphors for sexual body parts (think Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back”)

Anyone want to add to this list?

 Tainted Love (Re-Recorded / Remastered) by Soft Cell

2009 (1 tracks, 3:11)

pop

Take your hands off me, please
I dont belong to you, you see.

Take a look in my face, for the last time.
I never knew you, you never knew me.
Say hello, goodbye.

Say hello and wave goodbye.

“Say Hello, Wave Goodbye” is a song from the album Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret by the  synthpop duo Soft Cell. The song was covered by singer-songwriter David Gray and  released on his highly-successful 1999 album White Ladder.  I took the liberty of using some of the lyrics to say goodbye to my old camera, who has in a way become a true and faithful friend. But after more than four years, I decided it was time for a change and therefor I bought a new camera. Up until now, all of the photos in this blog were taken with the Kodak DX6490 that you can see above.

Say hello to the world one last time my friend, show them your face and wave goodbye!

I’m in Glasgow, Scotland, and I just had the opportunity to watch the debut screening of Synth Britannia on BBC Four tonight!

It’s very well done and utterly brilliant. It’s a well financed, respectful film that traces the evolution of its subject matter in a full 90 minutes, starting really from the scene created by The Human League and Cabaret Voltaire in 1978 to the debut of the Pet Shop Boys in 1984. It stretches a little earlier to mark some of the influences widely respected by UK synth bands, particularly the soundtrack to A Clockwork Orange, the bands Kraftwerk and Roxy Music (to a lesser extent), and the novel Crash by JG Ballard.

From there, it kicks off a wonderfully told interweaving of separate pockets of synthpop or synth-driven bands across the United Kingdom popping up in the late ’70s. The major narrators and thus characters of the piece quickly become Phil Oakey of The Human League, Martyn Ware of Heaven 17, Gary Numan, Andy McCluskey of OMD, and Vince Clarke of Depeche Mode and Yazoo–with Richard Kirk of Cabaret Voltaire serving as sort of a dark contrast to a lot of the work the other bands were doing.

Along the way, we also have great conversations with the likes of Bernard Sumner of New Order, John Foxx and Midge Ure (both about Ultravox and their other work), Andrew Fletcher of Depeche Mode, David Ball of Soft Cell, and Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys as well as Daniel Miller of Mute Records and others.

Two things that really stand out in my mind at the moment is the mad respect the document gives to OMD, who were incredibly prolific and generated a massive amount of catchy and terrific tunes. McCluskey is a great storyteller and you really warm to his anecdotes and pontifications on the times. (Regarding, the misinformed concept that synthesizers made making music easy from critical music journalists “If there were a hit single button the thing, I would have pressed it every opportunity that I could.”)

You also really get the impact of what an amazing bolt of enlightening Gary Numan represented, breaking through from a punk band to a full-blown synth sensation with “Are Friends Electric?”, demonstrating that synthesizers could make hit records and putting everyone inside and outside of the music world on notice. Detractors ravaged Numan so badly in his early years that it contributed to an early retirement for the crimes of actually wanting to be a pop star and wanting to make great synthpop. (Thankfully, his retirement was short but unfortunately he never fully embraced synthesizers as much again.)

My brief criticisms? The Eurythmics are mentioned only briefly with a reference to the success of “Sweet Dreams Are Made of These.” And they totally avoided New Romanticism, leaving zero mention of great synth-driven bands like Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet and only the briefest mention of Visage and their hit “Fade to Grey.”

All in all, Synth Britannia was an amazing piece of work by the BBC. Bravo!

So I’m visiting Northern Ireland and Scotland this week on vacation.

While I’m here this Friday, the BBC will debut a documentary called Synth Britannia, which charts the rise of electronic New Wave music in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s.

Thanks to Steve Strange for this excellent link about the documentary.

One nation under a Moog

It appears the documentary will cover a great deal of the early New Romantics, including Gary Numan, Soft Cell, The Human League, Visage and others…

I’m hoping to catch it while I’m in Scotland, the night before I see Spandau Ballet on their reunion tour in Glasgow. I’m even maybe hoping to catch a viewing party somewhere?

“Imelda had a scan yesterday, which revealed she has a slipped disc.  If it was up to me, she wouldn’t be playing tonight, but she’ll probably do the show of her life, so enjoy.”

To have your stage manager come on and apologise for the show in advance is hardly the most auspicious start to any gig.  But in the case of Imelda May, it only served to show that she is both a natural and a professional.  While the opening numbers had a certain grimace to them, that soon gave way to gratitude and a lively performance.

The show first clicked three or four songs in, when the band covered the John Lennon classic Oh, Darling.  Last time, I said Imelda’s cover of Patsy Cline’s Walking after Midnight was pedestrian (and I’m still proud of the pun), but this new direction works much better.  Indeed, the blues play a much bigger part in Imelda’s canon now, injecting greater passion into the performance.

Far be it for me to insinuate that the band can’t write their own songs, however.  The new material sounds as good, if not better than the last album.  Psycho seems to have been tinkered with, to give it a jazzier sound, and I still have trouble disbelieving It’s All For You.  The new album, just around the corner, looks like it could be a good one.

It’s a short but tight set, culminating in a hurried Johnny’s Got a Boom Boom.  There’s plenty for the audience to enjoy, but it doesn’t exactly bristle, and you start to wonder whether there will be an encore, given the back injury.  But there certainly is, and for near-enough the first time, the show becomes not just another performance, but a real thrill.  Playing three covers – Tainted Love, an unidentified Elvis one, and the blues standard Rollin’ and Tumblin’ most recently found on Bob Dylan’s Modern Times LP – the band cut loose and take their turn at solos while Imelda dances and shrieks away. 

Onwards and Upwards

That last time I saw Imelda, about this time last year, she was playing to about two hundred people in a Northern social club, all in spite of an appearance on the Jools Holland show and a rigorous touring schedule.  In the mean time, she has played with Jeff Beck (watched by Ronnie Wood and Jimmy Page), supported rock ‘n’ roll legend Chuck Berry and been in demand from America’s Tonight Show.  Now she’s playing to thousands at a trendy venue in London.  That’s some rise.

And it’s easy enough to see why that rise has been so rapid.  The British sense of humour naturally draws them to novel acts, and Imelda is a sublime practitioner of fifties-era rockabilly.  She’s also backed by one of the best live bands in the business, from the wild-eyed but wonderful drummer Steve Rushton, the virtuoso trumpeter Dave Priseman and double bassist Al Gare.  Special mention also to her husband and guitarist Darrel Higham, who inhabits the very side of the stage, but fully deserves to be called a ‘rockabilly god.’

Whether Imelda’s sense of fun is enough for a breakthrough, only time will tell.  The model, as for all ‘retro’ acts these days, is Amy Winehouse.  Having achieved moderate success with a new trend – Frank – the public only really took to her with Back to Black.  If there’s one thing that trumps fun, it’s sentimentality, and the audiences much prefer to feel they’ve discovered something personal, than have an act slave away at promoting a brand they’ve been working on for years.  That, however, is probably the only thing between Imelda May and stardom.  Let’s hope it doesn’t stop here.

התכנית האחרונה עמדה בסימן פרידה ממרסדס סוסה, אחת מהגדולות שבזמרות העולםף שהלכה לעולמה ביום ראשון האחרון עקב אי ספיקת כליות. התכנית כללה קאבר אחד שהיא מבצעת, וקאבר אחד לשיר שלה.

שיר: Fragilidad (Fragile)

המקור של: סטינג, מתוך האלבום Nothing Like the sun מ-87′. השיר נכתב במחווה לבן לינדר, מהנדס אמריקאי שנרצח על ידי ארגון הקונטראס בניקרגואה.

הקאבר של: מרסדס סוסה, מתוך האלבום Gestos De amor (מחוות של אהבה) משנת 2007. גדולת הזמרות הלטיניות בכל הזמנים, שהלכה לעולמה בתחילת השבוע (יום א’) עקב אי ספיקת כליות.

זה נשמע לא מי יודע מה מכובד, אבל סוסה הייתה זמרת קאברים. היא ביצעה שירי שאחרים כתבו, שירי עם מכל רחבי אמריקה הלטינית. היא הייתה ידוע כקולם של ההמונים, אלו שלא יכולים לדבר. זמרת מחאה שאפילו נעצרה על ידי השלטון בארגנטינה והחליטה לגלות לאירופה למספר שנים.

בישראל היא זוכה להערצה רבה. היא הקליטה שירים עם דיוויד ברוזה וחווה אלברשטיין, וגם ביצעה עם אביב גפן ב-96 את לבכות לך לזכר ראש הממשלה המנוח יצחק רבין. פעם אחרונה שביקרה בישראל הייתה באוקטובר 2008.

סוסה. זמרת ענקית.

שיר: Viva Las Vegas

המקור של: אלביס פרסלי, משנת 1964, מוכר בעיקר מתוך הסרט בעל אותו השפ.

הקאבר של: הזמרת האמריקאית זוכת הגראמי שון קולווין. מתנגן בסוף הסרט ביג לבובסקי של האחים כהן. מוכרת לנו בישראל בעיקר בזכות השיר Sunny came Home שגם זכה ב-98 בגראמי של השיר הטוב ביותר והביצוע הטוב ביותר ב-98′. היא גם ביקרה בארץ מתישהו לא מזמן והופיעה עם דיוויד ברוזה וג’קסון בראון (כמובן במצדה).

שיר: Straight to Hell

המקור של: The Clash, מתוך האלבום Combat Rock מ-82′. אחד השירים הפחות אופייניים, אך עם זאת, אחד היומרניים של אימפריית הפאנק מבריטניה. שיר מחאה על מצב המהגרים בעולם בכלל, ובאנגליה בפרט. שווה לנסות לקשר למצב העובדים הזרים כאן אצלנו, יש דימיון.

הקאבר של: לילי אלן במסגרת פרוייקט הקאברים המצויין War child heroes מ-2009, שהוא פרוייקט צדקה לילדים נפגעי מלחמות ברחבי העולם (מעניין כמה מזה הולך לילדי שדרות…) אלן מחשיבה עצמה לבת סנדקותו של גיטריסט וסולן הקלאש המנוח ג’ו סטראמר, וכאן היא מבצעת בחן רב את השיר ביחד עם עוד קלאשיסט לשעבר, מיק ג’ונס. גרסא הרבה יותר חביבה ויותר אופטימית מזו של הקלאש, כיאה לדיסק קאברים שבנועד לתת תקווה.
ֿ
השיר זכה לעדנה מחודשת בשנה האחרונה והפרחים ל-M.I.A שסימפלה אותו לתוך הלהיט Paper Planes ולמפיקי “נער החידות ממומביי” שכללו את השיר בפסקול ונתנו לו פוש רציני.

לני קרביץ. כיכב פעמיים בתוכנית!

Usually covers are not better than or become more popular than the original but sometimes they are. (Mostly they are worse like movie remakes).  Especially with the songs that you don’t realize are covers. 

Some of these songs have A LOT of covers, but I only put the original and most popular cover.

Tainted Love  Soft Cell cover Gloria Jones  original  Ever wonder why the song sounds like 60s?

Hazy Shade of Winter   Bangles   cover          Simon and Garfunkel  original

Self Control  Laura Branigan  cover   Raf  original

It’s my Life   No Doubt  cover  Talk Talk  original

MacArthur Park   Donna Summer cover  Richard Harris original

Which of these do you like better the original or the cover?  Did you know about the original before?  Know anymore better/more popular covers? I would like to know more.

Kagehime

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYuPBWDV_Ow

by Soft Cell is today’s song. Most people know about their Tainted love, but not about all their other amazing tracks with interesting and different lyrics. This one I found quite fitting at the moment. For me, every autumn comes with depression. I don’t know why but the autumn really drags me down, every year. I start thinking about things I should do, obligations. How short life is, how hard it is. How I miss my old life, my life in Japan, my childhood. In autumn times, the future seems incredibly dark, and sometimes like it’s not planning on coming at all. Like my life has ended already. My peak has passed.

And the reason to why this song is so suitable, is because I know that it’s me in my mind, taking out these dangerous and negative feelings that makes me fall apart. It’s something I have always done. And this year, it is extra hard, since I have moved away from my secure Japan and all my friends there. I think about all the hard studies I have ahead and what I would have to do if I would fail or chose to quit, instead of thinking about all the fun I will have at uni and what an amazing career I would have ahead if I really started liking what I do.

However, I am starting to know myself. I know my flaws, I know how I react in different situations and that fear and uneasiness could be the product of irrelevant thoughts that I am making up for nothing. To be aware about problems, that’s a start. Then to process and heal them, that’s the next step. There are some good ways of turning rainy sad autumn days in to something good and bright. Like mushrooms. Tasty mushrooms to be picked in a beautiful forest, filled with yellow and red leaves. Chanterelles are the best. First of all, they are tasty. Also, there are plenty of them. And another important feature of theirs is that there is no chance you could take them for being some other kind of mushroom. In other words, you wont risk die of liver failure just because you eat shrooms from the forest next door. As for how to cook them, the best way is without any doubt to fry them with butter, a little salt and pepper. First all the water will come off, but if you are just patient enough the water will turn into vapour, and after some minutes the chanterelles will turn golden brown. Serve them warm on a piece of dark bread with butter. Yummie!

Another amazing thing to do in the chilly autumn is to go visit your lovely cousin and have a cup of tea accompanied by some delicious macarons that she just purchased in Paris. This is to be done while talking funny nonsense, discussing happy memories and great futures to come while maybe doing some studying. In that way, studying will be connected to something good. Well, the point is to make good things happen. To keep the good mood and ignore pointless negative thinking. There is really no bad sides of that. Really. Well, I will try and do some outfit blogging sometime soon. I have an awesome new APC top that I love, and I think you would think the same.

Una recensione camp del nostro Francesco Pacifico apparsa qualche tempo fa sulla rivista Rolling Stone.

di Francesco Pacifico

«Il miglior modo di nascondere una cosa è metterla in mostra».
Bellissima frase che non si sa mai quando usare. Per i sodomiti della Londra tardovittoriana, invece, era uno stile di vita. Gruppo eterogeneo di poveri, ricchi, nobili, amanti delle cose belle e dell’inversione, in una società che aveva inventato da pochi decenni il concetto di omosessualità per misurarli e ghettizzarli, si trovarono in questa curiosa posizione: non potevano negare di essere molto distanti dal noioso modello britannico di virilità, ma nemmeno ammettere cos’erano. Di fronte ai bisogni contraddittori e ugualmente imprescindibili di segretezza ed espressione, la soluzione era agghindarsi, fare scena, spiazzare per sfuggire alle definizioni. Un garofano verde all’occhiello, una vistosa pelliccia, andarsene in giro a sparare aforismi. Per questo genere di comportamenti cominciò a utilizzarsi la parola camp, che più o meno voleva dire mettersi sulla scena, esibirsi. Da allora la parola ha fatto moltissima strada ed è stata di volta in volta sinonimo di gay, travestitismo, pop (quando esplose come fenomeno negli anni Sessanta e tutti cominciarono a parlarne).
Per documentare la fortuna e il peso culturale di questa parola sfuggente che ha contagiato cultura e controcultura, PopCamp accumula eroicamente contributi eterogenei dal presente e dal passato. Un senso di abbondanza dovuto allo spirito collezionista dei suoi teorici ed interpreti, impegnati in elenchi di cosa è camp e cosa no, e di cosa è attivamente camp (la Marilyn di Warhol, i Soft Cell) e ciò che lo è involontariamente, passivamente (il boa di piume quando veniva considerato elegante, i film di King Kong, perfino i discorsi seriosi e retorici di DeGaulle), più una lunga rilettura del passato in chiave camp: dai nobili nullafacenti di Versailles, costretti a travestirsi e giocare per nascondere, esibendola, la propria inutilità sociale, al barocco, con cui la chiesa di Roma cercava di sopravvivere all’austerità della riforma protestante contrapponendole un’abbondanza alla Phil Spector di segni e svolazzi ultracattolici. In generale, le tragedie mascherate da farse sfarzose.
Oppure, come scrisse Isherwood negli anni Sessanta, il metodo è «Esprimere ciò che è serio in termini di umorismo, artificio, eleganza». Dipingersi le lacrime sul volto invece di piangere (i ritratti di Francesco Vezzoli). C’è chi dice che il camp nasce come esibizionismo ma a forza di accumulare materiali bassi diventa una forma di tenerezza per il reale e per tutti i prodotti della cultura. Un modo per rifiutare i confini di alto e basso, come a fine Ottocento adunate d’invertiti di ogni ceto volevano trovare una chiave per stare insieme oltre i confini socioculturali, e la trovarono nell’eccesso. E in effetti si entra in questo libro come alle feste in cui ci si può levare le scarpe, e si incontra di tutto. C’è Bette Davis/Elisabetta I, ci sono le povere voci bianche della chiesa che il Vaticano faceva castrare perché cantassero al posto delle donne. C’è l’estetica dandy degli stacanovisti russi, la dolcezza robotica di Stelarc, il Blond Ambition Tour di Madonna, le avventure picaresche da Fratelli d’Italia di Arbasino. E ovviamente anche un fiume di immagini, per invogliare il giovane dabbene a sfogliarne le pagine con aria languida su divani fondi come tombe (stando a quanto dice Baudelaire) (I Baustelle sono camp?): Greta Garbo, Oscar Wilde impellicciato, Goldfinger, la pop spy-story The Man from C.A.M.P., Russ Meyer, Flash Gordon, Theda Bara vestita da Cleopatra, Marcel Duchamp fotografato da Man Ray nei panni dell’alterego un po’ Gloria Swanson di Rrose Sèlavy. C’è Gloria Swanson in persona, le coreografie di Busby Berkeley, Wonder Woman, Mae West, il mago di Oz, Glenn or Glenda di Ed Wood, Brian Jones nel suo buffo gessato, David Bowie, Wonder Woman, Luigi Ontani nudo e pluridotato…
Questo manuale di travestitismo può mettersi a disposizione del giovane straight angustiato dalla vita moderna e dalla continua richiesta dei suoi dati personali, dalle banche fino a Facebook, un censimento in divenire che neanche a Betlemme nell’anno Zero, la civiltà trasparente dell’autocertificazione e delle telecamere a circuito chiuso. Il camp, la maschera, come via d’uscita dal CCTV, come in V for Vendetta (V/Guy Fawkes era molto camp) e come in Banksy: nei suoi stencil i poliziotti vestono da donna, e su tutti vegliano alberi di telecamere.

Il libro
PopCamp è una raccolta in due volumi (25 euro l’uno) della rivista Riga, diretta da Marco Belpoliti e Elio Grazioli. Fabio Cleto, il curatore, ha messo insieme un materiale vastissimo che va dall’archeologia della New York anni Sessanta, con pezzi di Tom Wolfe, Susan Sontag, Truman Capote, James Purdy, agli studi più recenti su cinema, moda, cultura cyborg.

My housemate Gilbatron was telling me and Javatron that there’s a web-site you can subscribe to which sends you various top 10’s every week.  Did you know that the fastest plane on Earth travels over 4,500 mph.  4,500 MPH!!!!  I thought that was pretty bloomin’ incredible.  There’s was also some other stuff about growing arms on legs, but that made me feel a bit sick so I switched off.

Anyway.  I thought it was a pretty good idea to steal.  I’ll do it slightly differently, I’m not sitting researching proper facts.  That’s like well dull innit.

Instead, every week I’ll do a top 10 of what I think is top 10.  In fairness, what I say might as well be fact.  I’m very seldom wrong.

So here’s the first one.  Top 10 cover versions:

1. All Along the Watchtower – Orig: Bob  Dylan – Jimi Hendrix
2. Tainted Love – Orig: Gloria Jones – Soft Cell
3. Louie Louie – Orig: The Kingsmen – Toots and the Maytals
4. Not Fade Away – Orig: Buddy Holly – Rolling Stones
5. I Fought the Law - Orig: The Crickets – The Clash
6. Wichita Lineman – Orig: Glen Campbell – Dennis Brown
7. Just Can’t Get Enough – Orig: Depeche Mode – Nouvelle Vague
8. (I can’t get no) Satisfaction - Orig: Rolling Stones – Devo
9. Twist and Shout – Orig: Isley Bros – The Beatles
10. Summertime Blues - Orig: Eddie Cochran – The Who
11. Rocket man – Orig: Elton John – Kate Bush

Alright so it’s 11, but I couldn’t not put Kate Bush in…..and 11 was alright for Spinal Tap…..and they were the coolest.  By default this also make me cool.  OK!

Also, honorable mentions for St Etienne and Happy Mondays.

What do you think…..who would you have?

Sweet.

RnR

20 Best Songs of the 80s – #16

Here’s an example of an 80s song that didn’t make much of an impression on me at the time of release (after all, I was only 9 in 1981 when it came out) but has muscled its way into my brain as a quintessential 80s song in the years since. ‘Tainted Love’ so typifies that 80s sound that, coming out as early as ‘81, I suppose it really should be credited with creating that sound.

And that makes it all the more surprising that this is actually a cover of a 1964 song recorded by Gloria Jones. I had no idea this song wasn’t an original. Somehow that takes away from what Soft Cell accomplished. I mean, doesn’t that make them even less than a one-hit wonder? Sort of a half-hit wonder? I don’t know, maybe not. Here’s the Gloria Jones version if you’d like to compare.

I suppose if this whole 80s thing is about sound and production less than the actual structure of the songs then Soft Cell deserves full credit. While Jones’ version is close to Soft Cell’s in pace and melody there’s no confusing the decades each was recorded. And if you want to hear a song from the new millennium sampling ‘Tainted Love,’ check out Rihanna’s ‘S.O.S.’ Good lord, I could check that video out all day (and no, I don’t just like Rihanna for her looks!).

Speaking of videos, the Soft Cell one is rather odd, with half-invisible star people molesting a man in his bed. And is it my imagination, or were there far more obviously gay singers back then?

Last week a small group of family and friends got together for what was ostensibly my nieces birthday but turned into a night of hits (and not) from the 70’s and 80’s. On vinyl. With us singing.

There were groans from the younger generation. And hysterics from us – the cool, hip, slightly older gen x’s.

What was equally as funny was the fact that my sis-in-law had been given a record player as a present last Christmas. Yep, especially bought for her so they could play vinyl. Now that’s a sign of the times when you have to go out and hunt for a record player. It was actually a good idea though. We have a large box full of records that we can’t listen to. The greeny in me can’t justify replacing it on cd, although downloading it off iTunes is an option as wouldn’t be using up resources. But what a waste. Perfectly good records sitting in the cupboard not getting a hearing. Of course a period of 10 or 15 years went by when I wouldn’t have been caught dead listening to those old things because I love what’s available today.

But…

… when those records hit the loungeroom floor and we all vied for some of our favourites to be played (Ballroom Blitz , Crazy Little Thing Called Love), and groaned at others choices (The Pretenders – oh, please, my bleeding ears!), everyone was singing along and yes, even dancing… YMCA does it every time.

Although a firm favourite of mine I will admit, ABBA was banned as being too controversial as the room was split between lovers and haters. I strenuously denied being a fan of Bay City Rollers, although others there (yes, the girls) had been in love with them, ACA DACA was an all round favourite and we all fell about laughing at Ant Music and how cool we used to think Adam Ant was. It was unanimously decided the European version of 99 Luft Balloons was far better than the english translation, my brother finally fell out of love with Sheena Easton but we still got a listen to Morning Train, and even Soft Cell’s Tainted Love got a look it. And the worst song of the evening… yep, Making Your Mind Up by Bucks Fizz. We still want to know who was the owner of that record!

And of course the night wouldn’t have been complete without a playing, as loud as possible accompanied by the entire room in chorus, of Am I Ever Going to See Your Face Again… NO WAY, GET F…

Gen Y & Z eventually left the room.

You know what’s a good song?

“Tainted Love”

But not that garbage Soft Cell version from the ’80s. Or any of the covers pop singers have recorded in the subsequent years that have followed.

No, I’m talking about the OG “Tainted Love” — the original ’60s soul version by Gloria Jones.

I saw VH1’s “Top 100 Songs Of The ’80s” on TV recently, and when “Tainted Love” came up, the show essentially painted the song as a Soft Cell original. I’m not sure if the androgynodudes from the group have ever mentioned their version wasn’t the original, but the clips of them talking about it on the show sure made it seem like they forgot theirs wasn’t the first.

Gloria Jones – Tainted Love

Furthermore, ’80s music is overrated.

Don’t get me wrong — I like some music that came out of the ’80s. But what I’m saying is that between the gangsta rappers and the angst-ridden grunge rockers of the ’90s, the hair metal bands and new wave groups would catch mad beatdowns, physically and metaphorically.

And don’t even get me started on Oingo Boingo.

Sexy.

Depois de muita luta mental para decidir se deveria ou não ouvir alguma coisa da nova queridinha da Disney, Miley Cyrus, resolvi deixar o preconceito de lado e comprovar se era ruim mesmo. Me arrependi.

Eu ia fazer o review há alguns dias atrás, mas me esqueci. E de modo tão drástico que até deletei o arquivo do CD; tive que pegar de  novo. Ouvi-o novamente, na esperança que não fosse esquecer as músicas daqui 5 minutos, como aconteceu da outra vez. Não adiantou muito, então estou ouvindo mais uma vez e escrevendo o post junto, pra acabar com essa sessão de tortura.

O álbum Breakout foi lançado em 22 de julho de 2008 nos Estados Unidos e tem feito considerável sucesso comercial e crítico (este para meu espanto), tendo boa parte da promoção do álbum dividida com a personagem Hannah Montana, devido ao seriado, filme e consequente trilha sonora. Teve até agora lançados os singles 7 Things, See You Again (Rock Mafia Remix) e Fly On The Wall. O estilo é claro : gravita entre Teen Pop e Teen Rock; Para os mais íntimos, Teen Shit. As canções são repetitivas e comuns demais : é Hilary Duff+Ashley Tisdale+Vanessa Hudgens+Meninas Super Poderosas+muito Disney Channel. Tudo bem que a mocinha tem 16 anos, mas as letras são medíocres e previsíveis até pra adolescentes americanas. Da canção Breakout :

Toda semana o mesmo
Presa na escola, tão chato
Meus pais me dizem que sou preguiçosa
Acordar às 8 é doido

Cansada de escutar o que fazer
Não é justo
Não é legal

Não é justo eu ter que ler/ouvir uma coisa dessas, isso sim.

7 Things até tem uma letra boa e o som começa bem, mas quando veem que já deu pra enganar bastante gente, começa aquela guitarra e bateria clássicas de músicas de 15 anos : nada de riffs, um monte de acordes sem carisma algum, o mais rápido que se conseguir enquanto a vocalista canta algo sem sabor por si próprio. See You Again (Remix), ao contrário das minhas expectativas, tem algo de memorável; mas muito pouco também. A voz de Miley é bonita, sem dúvida – e é esta que salva o single do ostracismo musical. Mas tirando isso, a canção é empacotada com batidas vazias e “batidas”, haha…er. Fly On The Wall já é mais ácida; lembra um pouco Katty Perry – tem seu brilho – só que quando Miley começa a ficar boa em alguma coisa, ela compensa com uma falha em outra: tem algo do riff de Tainted Love do Soft Cell no começo e nos bridges…aliás, tem bastante. E pra fechar com chave de ouro : ela faz um cover de Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, da Cindy Lauper! Se a canção original já é bem Teen Shit, apesar de muito mais irreverente e divertida, imagina o cover de Cyrus. Saibam vocês que é um dos pecados musicais fazer cover de uma música quando se está em início de carreira : se o cover fizer sucesso, corre-se o risco de não ter-se o talento reconhecido, de ser lembrado por outro artista. Se bem que nesse caso, ela já está cavando a cova…

O veredicto é : se você é uma daquelas pessoas que gostam de viver a vida como se não houvesse amanhã, de aproveitar cada segundo, então não escute esse CD, pois você vai perder tempo suficiente pra fazer caiaque, pular de pára-quedas e, provavelmente, comer uma coxinha. Há muito mais na vida que Miley Cyrus. Pelo menos por enquanto; eu rezo a Deus para que ela não se torne justamente o que tem cara de : coelhinha da Playboy (se bem que tem umas fotos na internê que ela já tá pegando pesado..). Mas pra segurar um pouco a barra dela, há uma canção muito bonita da trilha sonora do filme da Hannah Montana que eu recomendo :

Pra você ver : o negócio tá tão bravo que até as músicas da Montana são melhores que as da cantora real.

Letícia