Existen muchas organizaciones secretas, Los masones, La mano negra, Los canteros o Los hijos de Lee Marvin (Sons of Lee Marvin). Esta última es una organización fundada por el director de cine (para mí uno de los mejores en la actualidad) Jim Jarmusch. Para ser miembro de este “club”, necesitas tener una fisonomía similar a la del gran actor Lee Marvin y la verdad es que encontrar una estructura facial semejante a la del señor Marvin es jodidamente complicado.

El genial actor de "Uno rojo: División de choque", "Los doce del patíbulo" o "Delta Force"...

Por esa razón es una hermandad de difícil acceso para los seres humanos de a pie, solo unos pocos privilegiados, todos ellos amigos, son los que forman la hermandad, gente que conforman un groso contracultural bastante firme, los personajes son:

El propio Jim Jarmusch: El injusto adalid del cine “gafapasta”. A veces creo que mi misión en este planeta es destruir a todos esos intelectuales del cine.

El fundador es probablemente quien más se parezca

John Lurie: El tremendo músico y amigo de Jim, trabajó con el por ejemplo en “Bajo el peso de la ley” aparte de un par de cintas más.

El genial músico de viento

Os regalo un video de Lurie junto con el buenísimo percursionista Naná Vasconcelos, en el mítico show americano “Night Music”.

Nick Cave: Ya he hablado aquí del señor Cave, amigo de Jarmusch y del resto de miembros.

Como podeís ir viendo el parecido físico es brutal...

También os regalo una de las mejores canciones de Cave, “Red right hand”

Tom Waits: En fin, pues dios, digo Tom, digo dios no podía faltar en este club. Espectacular músico y actor en varias pelis de Jim.

Una foto de dios, digo Tom, digo dios...

Siguiendo la rutina, lo que es probablemente mi canción favorita de este señor “Heart Attack and Vine”

Iggy Pop: El que faltaba… ¿Os dais cuenta de la calidad que tiene este club? Solo verdaderos amos que compartan, en cierto modo, la fisonomía de Marvin pueden entrar en él.

No es el que más se parece a Lee Marvin, pero quizas si tenga los rasgos faciales necesarios

Como estoy que lo tiro, os pongo lo que para mí es una de las canciones más románticas jamas escritas.

Neil Young: Pues otro más, bastante amigo de Jarmusch y creo que no debo decir quien es… ¿Verdad?

Es el mismo caso que Iggy.

Venga va, pues una de sus canciones más famosas, “Old Man”.

Thurston Moore: El frontman de “Sonic Youth” también está en este exclusivo club.

Como Young y Pop, es más la forma de la cara, la boca o los ojos que un parecido físico...

No sabía si poner un video en directo de la ruidosa “Kool Thing” o el video dirigido por Spike Jonze “100%” en el que el actor Jason Lee hace una de sus primeras apariciones en pantalla… me he decidio por “100%”

Richard Bose: Lo siento mucho pero no tengo ni idea de quien es este señor. Lo siento de verdad.

Bueno, pues esto es “Sons of Lee Marvin”. Curiosa hermandad de esa cantidad de artistas frikis y extravagantes.  Me encantaría formar parte del “club” de estos dementes artistas, pero creo que no me parezco a Marvin, como mucho en la boca, pero creo que no me aceptarían…Espero que os haya culturizado un poquito…

Sonic Youth is playing tonight in NYC, which got me thinking about Coco.

Coco is the daughter of Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon, the guitarist and basisst for Sonic Youth.  I remember hearing about her being born and getting all fuzzy and warm feeling for how awesome of an upbringing that would be.

So I thought, since she’s probably nearly an adult now, let’s look her up.

Coco (on the left) hanging out on the set of Gilmore Girls in 2006

Look at how adorable and not famousy this girl looks.  She just looks like a cool ass kid you’d want to have lunch with, unlike other rock royalty (I’m looking at you, Francis Bean)

…anyway, you can read all kinds of fun stuff about Coco here, but my favorite factoid is that she’s in a band called Lightbulb.  But also, she was in a Dinosaur Jr. video with her dad.  SWOOOOOOOON

What is in Thurston Moore’s iPod? Well, the Boston Globe put his musical device in shuffle mode and here’s what they got:

1. “Pinch,’’ Can. “I got it as a teenager in the early ’70s, and it was 49 cents at Woolworth’s.’’

Sometimes halting eloquence doesn’t fare well when you’re trying to make a complaint.  Winston Churchill faced such a problem at this Scottish hotel, where his letter of misgivings is proudly mounted for guests to see.  I’m hoping that, in addition to showcasing Churchill’s disappointments, they not only addressed their bug problem but started serving lunch food as well.  After all, what distinguished person eats pancakes at mid-day?  For crying out loud, Scotland.

Lit. & The Internet

• Bolaño explains life, naturally and continually, even or especially on book tour.
• Robert Louis Stevenson’s archives go digital in time for the writer’s 159th birthday.
• Google’s working hard on their digital book deal.
• Why are Dutch writers never actually associated with the Netherlands?

Moby-Dick Lives

• California College of the Arts’ Wattis Institute features Moby-Dick, where “artists from around the world are invited to address the key themes of the [book] and the  historical [moment] in which [it was] written.”
• Damien Searls has, after his foray into whaling territory, has taken on Thoreau’s journals, of which his edits are “meant to showcase the journal as a unified work of literature.”  Conversational Reading weighs in on the new edit, and provides a review.

Music

• Dave Hill: Funny guy/rocker
• The Serge Gainsbourg biopic is supposed to be good, and even better that the trailer, French of course, is NSFW.
• Thurston Moore answers the question, “what was there before YouTube?”, and quite a few others, for Carrie Brownstein’s Monitor Mix.

Carrie Brownstein quien es una escritora que además de escribir una columna en el New York Times, The Believer y participar también en Pitchfork, es parte de el grupo de rock (maravilloso) Sleater-Kinney;  publicó en su blog una entrevista que le hizo a Thurston Moore quien resulta que es perfecto, o esa clase de hombre que en lo personal aspiro de algún modo llega a ser un día pues además de ser el líder de la banda neoyorkina  Sonic Youth, y ser escritor de poemas,  tener  su propio sello discográfico (Ecstatic Peace Records), haber  hecho innumerables colaboraciones con muchos músicos y ser padre de familia;  recientemente inauguró su propia librería Ecstatic Peace Library)  en donde además de publicar lo que él ha escrito también estarán a la venta los trabajos de algunos artistas independientes incluyendo a sus compañeros de banda Lee Ranaldo y Kim Gordon (su distinguida esposa).

Y a quien Brownstein define puntuálmente como: “Ardent supporter of bold weirdos and fiery rockers” .

La entrevista es una joya y así que aquí se las dejo:

CARRIE BROWNSTEIN: Does the end of this decade feel important, or like nothing at all? If it does feel different, how does it feel different than the culmination of other decades?

THURSTON MOORE: I don’t even think of the 2000s or whatever it’s called as a specific decade, really. The decades of the last century each had such significant cultural developments, I feel like there’s some kind of worldwide exhaustion to event-charged identity. But regardless of that, I do feel like this past decade was really the birth of Internet culture, as lousy as that sounds. Everything everyone does in communication, music, art, literature and activism is part and parcel to the Internet. That’s undeniably big. I think the overall sense is that it is still nascent, and that the forthcoming decades are going to look at this time as “quaint.”

CARRIE BROWNSTEIN: What was there before YouTube?

THURSTON MOORE: What was there before eBay? The effect these instant-gratification systems have on our daily life as consumptive animals is one where the hunter stays home and gets fat so the punk-rock hordes can roll him/her over and make way for killer rock ‘n’ roll.

CARRIE BROWNSTEIN: How can we reconcile our nostalgic yearnings with new technologies, when in some ways they replace what we used to know and how we used to experience music?

THURSTON MOORE: I don’t think they so much replace as reconfigure. Nothing can replace the aesthetic heft of an LP, or the sensual comfort of analog grooves being so charged by the physical friction of a diamond stylus.

CARRIE BROWNSTEIN: What is your favorite means, method or context for listening to recorded music?

THURSTON MOORE: Sometimes I like it live and I like it fast, and sometimes I like it mixed and I like it weird.

CARRIE BROWNSTEIN: What’s the last band or artist you discovered while shopping for records?

THURSTON MOORE: The last couple of years, I’ve been delving into the sub-world of international black-metal records, and every once in a while will hit on something so genuinely bizarro, without any purposeful notion to be as such, that I want to run away and change my name and reappear as a demon noise lover.

CARRIE BROWNSTEIN: What’s the last band or artist you discovered from listening to an MP3?

THURSTON MOORE: Someone just sent me MP3s of this Australian band Sherlock’s Daughter, which was pretty sweet.

CARRIE BROWNSTEIN: In a time when one can easily manipulate an album’s sequence, or bypass the purchase of an album and buy only one or two songs, how does that affect the process of making and sequencing an album? Why is it still important for musicians to put out albums and make artwork for that album? Or is it not important?

THURSTON MOORE: I want to make an album that can be looked at as either an audio experience, be it CD or vinyl (or both) incorporated into a book, which would also include a film presentation (DVD) — and make it beautiful as an object. I like feeling and smelling and looking at records and books as much as, if not more than, actually hearing/seeing/reading them.

CARRIE BROWNSTEIN: You have always been someone who has approached music and art from multiple perspectives and via various media. Lately, it seems like many musicians are in multiple bands. In this day and age, is there less of a need or a viability in having one singular project? Or, have musicians always cross-pollinated and we just have more access to them now? How have your other projects helped with the longevity and creative output of Sonic Youth?

THURSTON MOORE: SY is a democratic band in the sense that no one is going to control any bit of songwriting regardless of how complete it is when brought to rehearsal. We all figured that by having Sonic youth as a forum specifically for the sake of collaboration, that allows us to work outside it so as to fetishize the personal desires each of us may have.

CARRIE BROWNSTEIN: How do you shape and curate Ecstatic Peace?

THURSTON MOORE: The most important and passionate aspect of Ecstatic Peace is when I design the card-sized ad that runs every month in the back pages of The Wire.

CARRIE BROWNSTEIN: What is a record label’s role in the community where it’s based? Or does it need to have a physical presence?

THURSTON MOORE: It creates a true sense of activism in the culture.

CARRIE BROWNSTEIN: What’s the most punk-rock thing you’ve witnessed lately?

THURSTON MOORE: Iggy & The Stooges’ premiere of the Raw Power line-up (James Williamson on guitar) at this fest in Sao Paolo. Iggy was in feral freakout mode, creating an unhinged performance of violence and suggestion.

CARRIE BROWNSTEIN: How does living outside of New York City help you to understand and appreciate it?

THURSTON MOORE: It has proven that I’m really bored not being in the city — though I do like the colors, I guess.

CARRIE BROWNSTEIN: What is a band or artist you’re particularly excited about right now?

THURSTON MOORE: Yellow Tears, Yoga, Marblebog — those are three I like.

CARRIE BROWNSTEIN: What do you miss about 10 years ago? Twenty years ago? What don’t you miss?

THURSTON MOORE: I really don’t miss too much, except now I feel like I have less of a shelf life physically, which is a new feeling and kind of crazy.

CARRIE BROWNSTEIN: What is the last song you danced to?

THURSTON MOORE: I was just playing the 2CD reissue of The Slits’ Cut LP — I danced around to that. A girl I know started dancing when I put on Can’s Ege Bamyasi LP, and it was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.

CARRIE BROWNSTEIN: What’s the last book you read or film you saw that made you want to go home and play music?

THURSTON MOORE: I think it was probably reading Foam of the Daze by Boris Vian — the surreality and romantic energy of it, and its love of Duke Ellington, made me want to play.

En la entrevista original Carrie agrega algunas canciones grabadas bajo el sello perteneciente a Moore. Así que corran a su blog a escucharlas.

Y nada más por que es el favorito de este blog vamos a escuchar algunas de sus cacniones:

Thurston Moore – Wonderful Withches:

Thurston Moore – Fri/end:

Thurston Moore – Ono Soul:

]]> http://microphonememoryemotion.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/oneohtrix-point-never-physical-memory/ Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:33:01 +0000 fiercetalk http://microphonememoryemotion.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/oneohtrix-point-never-physical-memory/ http://utopiaparkway.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/hobos-question-marks-and-new-york-on-rediscovering-justine-kurland-edward-burtynsky-richard-learoyd-and-olaf-breuning/ Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:25:36 +0000 utopiaparkway http://utopiaparkway.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/hobos-question-marks-and-new-york-on-rediscovering-justine-kurland-edward-burtynsky-richard-learoyd-and-olaf-breuning/

Sorry to have kept you waiting, but sometimes one really needs a break…  just to find oneself filling that break with art and art again. That’s what happens, of course, when you spend a week in New York. Apart from visiting the big Georgia O’Keeffe and Roni Horn-retrospectives (Whitney Museum), watching Meg Stuart’s improvisational project Auf den Tisch (Performa festival) and seeing lots of familiar faces at the opening of Avec le temps – In time, an exhibition of Belgian contemporary art at the Robert Miller Gallery (curated by Tim Goossens), I was particularly happy to have made,  by chance, a couple of discoveries: Justine Kurland, Edward Burtynsky, Richard Learoyd and Olaf Breuning. Please follow your guide.

It goes without saying that New York is an art lover’s paradise. But at the same time I was surprised, while strolling through the Chelsea-neighbourhood, to come across so many really disappointing shows. Only later did I understand that he was right, that crazy old man who starting talking to me while looking at Justine Kurland’s pictures at Mitchell-Innes & Nash. ‘Oh boy, this is great, this is really great. I see a lot of shows, but this is really something.’

I went to Mitchell-Innes & Nash because I remembered having seen Kurland’s pictures at Galerie Rodolphe Janssen in Brussels, a couple of years ago. For This train is bound for glory she focused on the nomadic subculture of the ‘hobo’. You get beautifully composed pictures of  landscapes, trains and train-hoppers. There’s a documentary aspect to these pictures, but they refer to romanticism as well, and you feel that she’s been influenced by watching paintings of old masters. Interesting detail: the exhibition’s catalogue is the first book published by Sonic Youth-leader Thurston Moore’s art book imprint, Ecstatic Peace Library (more info about that here). For more of Kurland’s great Bound for glory-pictures, click here.

I knew of Edward Burtynsky’s name and fame, but I had actually never seen a show of his work, and I must say I was quite impressed. With his images of scarred landscapes the Canadian photographer tries to document the impact of humanity’s expanding footprint. Oil, at Hasted Hunt Kraeutler, focuses on… oil: extraction, production and consumption. Of course he wants us to think about all the horrible things we do to our dear mother Earth, but his pictures are beautiful in an eerie way as well. Too much beautification going on, I’m sure some will say. PS: rather cute, Burtynsky is not only taking pictures, he has built a website too, to help kids think about going green (www.meetthegreens.org). For more of his Oil-pictures, just visit his website (www.edwardburtynsky.com) and click on ‘works’ and ‘oil’. There’s a book about this series as well, published by Steidl (more info, click here).

And then I have to say something about Richard Learoyd’s beautiful Agnes, Red Dress.(2008, picture courtesy McKee Gallery, New York) How come that, while walking through an exhibition with so many great pictures, there’s always one or two that really succeed in capturing your attention. In Learoyd’s case, I know the reason why. It has to do with technique, and again, with referring to old paintings and pictures. Learoyd’s Agnes is just one of the many great pictures in an exhibition about the ties between fashion and art. Dress codes, at the International Center Of Photography, explores the uses of style, image and personal presentation. For his large-scale portraits, Learoyd uses a room-sized camera obscura. The pictures of this British photographer are rather simple compositions, but when you look at them from up close, you’ll notice an uncanny sense of detail. Haunting. For more of his pictures, visit the McKee Gallery-website (click here).

And last but not least: it’s always nice to have a laugh too, once in a while. That’s why I was more than happy to discover the work of Swiss artist Olaf Breuning at Metro Pictures. In a way he reminds me of that wonderful Belgian artist Benjamin Verdonck (even his website resembles Verdonck’s). Small brain big stomach is an exhibition with wall drawings and wood sculptures referring to the simple questions one could have about life. Yes or no? Is the glass half empty or half full? And that one thing that we always have to remind ourselves of: just focus! (more pictures, click here).

The title of the post today is from a track brought to you by Generation X in the late 70’s on their self-titled album. I decided to play some old punk early in the show and peppered later on due to an exhibit I just saw at the MoMA called “Looking at Music: Side 2″. Here’s an article about it if you want to check it out: Bob Gruen’s Journey to MoMA.

Listen in tonight on KRUI 89.7 fm from 8 to 10 pm. You can listen in online here.

Here’s some of the set:

1. Generation X, Generation X (1978), Ready Steady Go
2. Frumpies, Frumpie One-Piece (God I love this title), Duvet Ta
This is a CD collection which assembled all of the band’s previous singles, created around 1996.

3. Half Japanese, Half Japanese Greatest Hits (1995), Put Some Sugar On It
4. The Clash, The Clash (1977), Garageland
5. Dead Boys, We Have Come for Your Children (1978), I Don’t Wanna Be No Catholic Boy
6. Radio Birdman, The Essential Radio Birdman (1974-1978), Do the Pop
7. Patti Smith, Horses (2005, album originally came out in 1975), Redondo Beach
8. Thurston Moore, Psychic Hearts (1995), Patti Smith Math Scratch
9. Belly, Star (1993), Angel
10. Slant 6, Soda Pop * Rip Off (1994 on Dischord Records), Blue Angel
11. Film School, Film School (2006), Eleven-Eleven
12. The Dandy Warhols, Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia (2000), The Gospel
(I’m sorry but this album is POP brilliance, I don’t care what you say.)
13. The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Tepid Peppermint Wonderland: A Retrospective, If Love Is The Drug
This was a compilation put out by these guys in 2004 spanning their entire career except for the album Strung Out in Heaven.
14. Built To Spill, Time Trap Sampler (1994-2006), The Plan
15. Aveo, Battery (2004), Haley
16. Chapterhouse, Sunburst-EP (1990), Rain
17. Slowdive, Morningrise-EP (1991), Losing Today
18. Stella Luna, Stargazer-EP (2002), Stargazer
19. New Order, Power Corruption & Lies (1983), Age of Consent
20. My Bloody Valentine, Tremolo-EP (1991), Honey Power

21. Fleeting Joys, Despondent Transponder (2006), Go and Come Back
22. Pinback, Some Voices-EP (2002), June
23. PJ Harvey & John Parish, A Woman A Man Walked By (2009), Black Hearted Love
24. Unwound, New Plastic Ideas (1993), Hexenzsense
25. Guided By Voices, Isolation Drills (2001), The Enemy
26. Morrissey, Bona Drag (compilation album released in 1990), The Last of the Famous International Playboys
Morrissey recently walked off a stage in Liverpool Echo Arena after being hit in the head with a drink. So this track goes out to you Morrissey, I want to know what dumb ass would throw a drink at you? You can read more about it here.

Com quase 30 anos de carreira e ícone no cenário do rock alternativo, a banda novaiorquina Sonic Youth, que tem como principal referência Kim Gordon e Thurston Moore, já passou por diversas fases. Foi independente de 83 até 88, quando assinou contrato com a Universal. Agora, em 2009, volta a gravar com um selo independente; dessa vez pelo selo Matador, que tem em seu catálogo Cat Power, Pavement, Belle & Sebastian, Guided by Voices e Yo la Tengo.
O último álbum da banda era de 2006, mas o “The Eternal”, lançado esse ano, promote satisfazer a ânsia de três anos de espera. Para a turnê de divulgação do álbum o Sonic Youth conta com o baixista do Pavement, Mark Ibold; e foi com essa formação que tocaram no Brasil, no festival Planeta Terra, dia 07/11.

Outro fato interessante sobre a banda foi a participação no seriado Gossip Girl, transmitido pela Warner, onde tocam numa festa de casamento a música “Starpower”, do álbum EVOL (1986). Thurston Moore disse que ele e Kim Gordon (sua mulher) são telespectadores alucinados do programa. “É a nossa dose de Shakespeare da semana”, afirma Moore. Para quem não sabe, o seriado pop narra a vida dos milionários de Upper East Side.
Mas não é a primeira vez que banda aparece em séries da TV. Eles já participaram de Os Simpson, tiveram várias músicas tocadas na série Gilmore Girls.
A cena em que o Sonic Youth em Gossip Girl é a seguinte:

Este ano, além do novo álbum, a banda lançou uma coletânea intitulada “Hits are for Squares”, onde celebridades americanas escolheram a tracklist preferida do Sonic Youth. A coletânea ficou desse jeito:

‘Bull In The Heather’ (selected by Catherine Keener)
‘Sugar Kane’ (selected by Beck)
‘100%’ (selected by Mike D)
‘Kool Thing’ (selected by Radiohead)
‘Disappearer’ (selected by Portia De Rossi)
‘Superstar’ (selected by Diablo Cody)
‘Stones’ (selected by Allison Anders)
‘Tuff Gnarl’ (selected by Dave Eggers and Mike Watt)
‘Teenage Riot’ (selected by Eddie Vedder)
‘Shadow Of A Doubt’ (selected by Michelle Williams)
‘Rain On Tin’ (selected by Flea)
‘Tom Violence’ (selected by Gus Van Sant)
‘Mary-Christ’ (selected by David Cross)
‘World Looks Red’ (selected by Chloë Sevigny)
‘Expressway To Yr Skull’ (selected by Flaming Lips)

E os lançamentos não param por ai. Thurston Moore lançou esse ano o livro “Grunge”, que na verdade é um álbum de fotografias feitas por Michael Lavine. Lavine era um dos fotógrafos oficiais da gravadora Subpop, e fotografou capas de discos de bandas do grunge, como Nirvana, Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Screaming Trees e outros, que acabaram identificando o selo.

O Sonic Youth influenciou bandas como Radiohead, Pavement, Helmet, e Nirvana. Kurt Cobain chegou a declarar que jamais poderia esperar fazer tanto sucesso e que o máximo que ele queria era que seu som fosse autêntico e parecido ao do Sonic Youth. A banda tem uma vasta discografia, e vários projetos paralelos (como o de Kim e Thurston – Mirror/Dash). Confira a discografia logo abaixo:

Sonic Youth (1982)
Confusion Is Sex (1983)
Sonic Death (1984)
Bad Moon Rising (1985)
EVOL (1986)
Sister (1987)
Daydream Nation (1988)
The Whitey Album (1989) (como Ciccone Youth)
Goo (1990)
Dirty (1992)
Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star (1994)
Screaming Fields of Sonic Love (1995) (compilação da “era pré-Geffen”)
Made in USA (1995) (Trilha sonora do filme homônimo)
Washing Machine (1995)
A Thousand Leaves (1998)
SYR4: Goodbye 20th Century (1999)
NYC Ghosts & Flowers (2000)
SYR5 (2000)
Murray Street (2002)
Sonic Nurse (2004)
Rather Ripped (2006)
The Destroyed Room: B-sides and Rarities (2006) (compilação de lados b e raridades)
Hits are for Squares
The eternal (2009)

Mundo e Anna.

spirituality is just a different bandwidth

Paul D. Miller. Academic and musician in a digital world

Radiohead. George Bush. Chinese lyrics. A complex narrative of the current economic chaos without getting boring.

DJ Spooky, a.k.a. Paul D. Miller, has always been a bit of a wild card. Aside from being the creator of illbient sound — an offshoot of hip-hop heavy electronic music that uses dark themes and dissonance — he’s a noted writer on digital music culture in the academic world. His latest album the Secret Song, is no stranger to this notion of shifts in culture in relation to the fine art of sampling. Using a myriad of influences from the literary to the real, Miller  weaves together a fine piece of intelligently crafted atmospheric music without getting too cerebral. Blending sounds from ATM machines, to other familiar dub and hip-hop riffs and rock legends like Sonic Youth, Miller articulates current social thoughts on commercialism, materialism and other human obsessions.

Tell me a little bit about Secret Song. Did you try anything new with it, or take any risks?

There’s so much that we don’t really think about – how we wake up and put on clothes made by workers in Indonesia, China, The Phillipines, or the way our computers are made from small fragments of labor — computer chips are made from precious metals mined in strange spots all over the world, the metals used for soldering the motherboards of your hard drive together comes from all over the place, the metal “coltan” that comes from mines in Congo that are in the middle of awar zone, the way bits and pieces are assembled from all over the world into one device someplace in a factory in China. That kind of thing fascinates me. It’s just sampling “materials” instead of sounds, and I wanted to make an album that reflected that kind of thing.

What was it like working with Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore? What kind of synergy is created when experimental rock collaborates with sounds in electronic music? Think you’ll do this again?

Thurston is an old friend, and I’m a fan of what he’s been up to with Sonic Youth. We’ve done concerts and projects together before, so this is just an extension of the vibe. There’s art rock, so now I do “art hip-hop”  — it’s that simple.

Your books weigh heavily and are strongly regarded in the academic community. How do you balance the academic with an artistic life?

Basic vibe: I’m into IDEAS. Music and art, literature and digital media; whatever drives this kind of creative process. At the end of the day, it’s all about ideas. I think that concept — ideas — is the most elusive quality of 21st century life. You have one idea, and you do a google search and you realize that there’s 20,000 other people with the same motives and same drive. What makes you different? That’s something I’m thinking about a lot these days. We’ve moved so far into mass production of experiences; copies, copies, copies!!! That we’ve somehow lost the thread of how we got into this 21st century headspace of the “net” as a reference point for all experience. As an artist, I think its cool. But hey, I’m just creating material all day, every day, so my whole take on this kind of thing is that it’s all about making everything connect. Sound, image, literature, etc. Nothing is out side the framework of digital media at this point. Including “spirituality” — it’s just a different bandwidth.

What do you hope to say about digital culture with Secret Song?

Music is what connects so many thing. It’s deeper than language, more flexible than painting or sculpture, and more elusive than literature. I wanted to do something that would shine a light on this kind of 21st century strangeness of being able to hear anything anywhere, and what that means for creativity. I guess you could say I’m just looking at the post playlist mentality.

You sample failed ATM transactions in the album, is the global economic downturn a big theme in the Secret Song?

The “Global Financial Crisis” is what the album is all about. There’s a trickster scenario going on with the idea that music made of samples can really speak to the fragments of the ponzi scheme that is modern financial life. I’m inspired by writers like Ben Elton with his novel Crisis or J.G. Ballard’s Super-Cannes, stuff like that, but when you really look at how our modern economy works, nobody really knows what makes it all tick.

Remix music gets a lot of flack from copyright law. What do you think it says about human creativity when a whole music culture justifies itself by creating something new by recycling previously existing ideas? Is this a digital renaissance, a paradigm shift, zeitgeist or other artists getting ripped off?

Everything is sampleing: we borrow words, we stress connections and quotations in everyday life, we exchange information at every level by citing facts. It’s all sampling. Copyright law is written for a world of physical objects, and we’re moving into a realm where control of software and how it unfolds, whether you’re Google or Danger Mouse, will make or break the way your bottom line rises or falls. I love the complexity of it all. I wake up every morning and think about how wild it is that I live in the 21st century and the whole planet can relate news and information and music and style at the click of a mouse. This is just the beginning, and copyright law will be sidelined more and more as countries like China, India, Brazil and others come into this mix who are less invested in the normal American/European model of copyright protection.

Now that music is digital, do you think it detracts from the music in any way?

Too many people are listening to frequencies that are missing. Most people experience music these days through their data player, and that means they are basically hearing a really compressed file. Which is crazy! When you think about how complex vinyl was, it’s pretty intense that we’re actually moving into a digital realm where we’re still trying to recreate the signal to noise ratio of audio fidelity that our parents took for granted. But, at the other end of the spectrum, a lot of really high end digital media can be BETTER sounding than anything that was recorded in the past. It’s eerie to see Miles Davis sessions put into super high quality software patches (drums, horn, bass line separated and put into multiple file formats where anyone can take that material and sound just as good). But again, I can only say: this is the beginning, and the Secret Song is just a mirror held up to a society that has been uprooted by the very technologies we use to hold everyday life together. Dig?

Free download from Sussan Deyhim. It’s about the elections in Iran and it’s one of the lead singles on the new album.

http://www.soundcloud.com/dj-spooky/azadi-the-new-complexity

Translation of the Chinese lyrics for “The Secret Song” are at:

http://www.djspooky.com/art/the_secret_song.php

DJ Spooky Website

http://djspooky.com/

DJ Spooky Myspace

http://www.myspace.com/djspooky

1. 얼마 전 간만에 Daydream Nation 앨범을 들었다. 90년대를 꿰뚫은 시대정신과 뜨거운 미학이 가득 담겨 있다고, 새삼 생각했다. 이 앨범을 들으면서 고등학교 시절을 보낼 수 있었다는 것은, 축복이었다고 해도 좋을 것이다. 물론, 내 고등학교 시절에 출시된 앨범이란 소린 아니고…;

2. 내친 김에 Dirty 앨범도 같이 들었다. Goo와 Dirty 중에 고르라면 나는 Dirty 쪽이었던 기억이 난다. 어쨌든, 가만히 듣고 있다 보니 연주가 정말 탄탄하다. 당연하지, 변칙튜닝한 20여대의 기타를 앰프에 비벼대면서 평생을 살아온 사람들인데. 변칙튜닝이 주법 이외의 어떤 차이를 가져오는지도 그때는 실은 제대로 이해하지 못했는데, 그런 탐구생활을 하면서 성공적인 결과물을 가져왔다면 일단 얼마나 기타를 안고 사는지를 먼저 생각해야 할 것이고, 그것이 곧 실력으로 연결된다는 것은 당연한 결론이다. 하지만 그때는 소닉유스가 연주를 잘 하는 밴드라는 생각은 별로 하지 못했다. 부끄럽구나. 그러니까 나는, 비르투오조와는 가장 거리가 먼 성격과 마음가짐으로도, 겁도 없이 음악을 하겠다고 덤빌 수 있었던 것 같기도 하다.

3. Dirty를 듣다가 부치 빅을 생각했다. 어쨌거나 내 10대 시절의 가장 커다란 존재감이었던 스매싱 펌킨스도, 부치 빅을 만나 완성된 것이 아닌가 하는 느낌이었다. Dirty 앨범에서 줄곧 보여지는 곡 단위의 탄탄하고 선 굵은 리듬 리프들은 스매싱 펌킨스가 Siamese Dream을 거쳐 슈퍼밴드가 되는 데에 가장 중요한 받침돌이 된 것 같다. Sugar Kane이나 Youth against Fascism은 Today와 얼마나 닮아 있나 하는 것. 부치 빅이 그런, 곡의 아이덴티티로서 두드러지는 리듬에 먼저 관심이 있어서 드럼을 잡았는지, 드러머여서 그런 스타일이 나왔는지는 모르겠다. 흥미롭게도 정작 가비지의 곡들은 그 정도까지 명쾌한 리듬 리프는 아니라고 생각하는데…

4. 라이브에서는 또 다른 이야기지만 레코딩에선 사실 기타가 솔로를 위해 빠져나간 반주 자리를 베이스와 드럼만으로 메꾸기가 쉽지 않다. 확 빠져나간 긴장감에는 유효하지만, 계속해서 달려나가는 꽉 찬 느낌을 베이스만으로 채우는 건 어려우니 오버더빙도 많이 하고 그러는 거겠지. 그런데 소닉 유스는 (디스토션이 걸려서도 그렇겠지만) 베이스만 남아도 별로 허전하지가 않다. 그러다가 풀밴드가 총공세를 가할 때면, “베이스만으로도 이만큼이었다면, 풀밴드는 이 정도는 해야지!” 라는 느낌으로 때려준다. 두들겨 맞고 마구 휘둘리는 쾌감을 이만큼 느끼게 해주는 밴드가 얼마나 있을까.

5. 이 모든 것은 The Eternal 앨범을 듣게 된 이후였다. A Thousand Leaves 때부터 느꼈는데 소닉 유스는, 당연한 소리지만, 진화하는 것 같다. Daydream Nation 때부터 나는 “소닉 유스는 신이다!” 외치지 않을 수 없었는데 더 진화하면 대체 뭐가 되는 거야… 싶지만.; 그만큼의 성과를 이루고도 여전히 완성형이길 거부한다…는 것조차도 아니고, 당연하다는 듯이 조금씩 조금씩 움직여나가는 모습이 사뭇 감동적이다. 그런데 인디 빠면서 소닉 유스 안 좋아한다는 어불성설 궤변을 늘어 놓는, 이름은 밝히지 않겠지만 김라흐는 백배사죄하라.

6. 원래 보컬에 크게 마음 두는 편은 아닌데, 그럼에도 정말 완전히 파고 드는 설레는 보컬들이 있다. 남자 보컬 중엔 닐 테넌트는 언니 부문으로 빼고 서스턴 무어와 버나드 섬너가 양대산맥인 것 같다. 뭔가 미묘하게 닮은 구석이 있다! 표 차이가 꽤 있지만 마이클 스타이프까지 덧붙인다면 제법 그림이 나오지 않나?

언니 부문 얘기는 농담이고; 닐 테넌트 목소리 정말정말 좋아하지만 서스턴 무어나 버나드 섬너만큼 동경하게 되진 않는 것 같다. 글쎄, 이거 소녀시대보다 카라가 좋아요랑 비슷한 얘기가 되나? ; 데이비드 개헌이나 빌리 코건도, 꽤 좋아하지만 맥락을 막론하고 너무 좋은 그런 건 아니다.

7. 그 동안 시건방 떨면서 소닉 유스를 조금 멀리했던 나 자신을 참회하면서, 올 가을 파리 공연도 아무 생각 없이 흘려 보냈던 나 자신을 책망하면서, 하지만 소닉 유스는 “지금 안 보면 평생 후회할 것 같아!”라고 하기에는 너무나 생생하게 살아 있다는 걸 느끼기에 마음의 여유를 갖자. 언제 어디에서 어떤 공연을 보게 되더라도 최고일 테니까.

Jemina Pearl, frontwoman of the late punk outfit Be Your Own Pet, had a couple of good records over the past few years, and I was poised to pounce all over this solo effort and tear it to shreds, as I was certain it was going to be pretty piss-poor; I imagined fake punk studio stand-in instrumentation that was completely devoid of any trace of legitimacy. Everyone has that love-to-hate tendency about something or another, music critics doubly so. Needless to say, as this is a short review and the score is already visible (not that the reader doesn’t often check the score before reading, anyway), I was pleasantly surprised to find a somewhat convincing depth behind this young lady’s solo writing. She crosses the melody of Debbie Harry with the poise and resounding yelp of Johnny Rotten, but never leans too far toward ripping either one off.

Jemina actually pulled some all-star talent here, even though it sounds like a laundry list of name-drops straight out of Juno: Iggy Pop sings with her on “I Hate People” and Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore was in the video for it. Her swagger alone makes her ten times more believable than Katy Perry, and though she lacks the insane vocal talent of Hayley Williams, she’s got a rough-hewn tangibility that neither of the other two can replicate; the choruses are fantastic to sing along to, the guitars are loud, and the lyrics are lovelorn and burnt at the edges. The kind of focus you get from having a unified group with a developed sound is somewhat diminished without her former bandmates, but the album is something of a modest success.

The exaggerated coughing outro for “So Sick!” is only enough of a subtle nod to AC/DC’s “The Jack” as to make you question whether it’s just coincidence, and therein lies the some of the charm. Miss Pearl obviously isn’t breaking any new ground, either in her own career or in the punk aesthetic, but it’s a pretty fun record, and undoubtedly an equally engaging live show.

Jemina Pearl’s “Looking For Trouble,” from Break It Up.

- JB

.

…that is all.

Sonic Youth at the Q awards last night:

O músico e escritor Thurston Moore e  o fotógrafo Michael Lavine são duas figurinhas bem conhecidas na cena underground de Seattle.

Thurston Moore é o líder da banda Sonic Youth e o cara que apresentou Kurt Cobain e companhia para a gravadora Sub Pop. O novaiorquino, hoje renomadíssimo fotógrafo,  Michael Lavine, trabalhava justamente para a mesma gravadora e acompanhou o surgimento da cena Grunge, registrou grandes momentos e fotografou as capas dos discos das principais bandas da época como Soundgarden, Mudhoney e as também as capas do Nirvana.
Moore que já escreve sobre música há algum tempo, juntou seu texto às coleção de fotografias de Lavine para e juntos lançarem o livro “Grunge”, o mais completo registro da cena de Seattle nos início dos anos 90.

Em entrevista para a Interview mag, Morre disse: “Não pretendia ser um livro sobre o Grunge. A idéia inicial era fazer um livro com o (fotógrafo) Michael Lavine… Era tudo em preto e branco e sugestivo e bonito e percebemos que o estilo das pessoas que ele timnha fotografado parecia com o  stilo que uma grande parte das chamadas bandas grungusava para se vestir e se apresentar. Havia uma relação muito estreita entre o que estava acontecendo, entre os jovens nas ruas e essas bandas, então começamos a chamá-lo “O Livro Grunge” apenas como um título de trabalho.”

“queríamos exibir o estilo nas ruas de Seattle, com os jeans rasgados e flanela rasgadas e os cortes de cabelo…O conceito de moda elevado ao grunge…Mas nós nunca pensamos realmente em chamá-lo “Grunge”.(Thurston Moore)*

“A palavra “grunge” saiu dos registros da Sub Pop como uma piada para o New York Times, para criar uma terminologia para o som que todas essas bandas na época estavam fazendo…” (Thurston Moore)*

[*Interview Magazine]

Fotoğrafçı Michael Lavine, 80’lerin başından 90’ların ortasına kadar süren grunge akımını kendi çektiği fotoğraflar ve Thurston Moore’un kaleminden çıkan yazılarla bir araya getiren bir kitap çıkardı:  adı sadece ‘Grunge’. İçinde Kurt Cobain’den, Pearl Jam’e veya sokakta akımın sivil temsilcilerine kadar dolu dolu 160 sayfa yer alıyor. İşte Lavine gözünden gerçek grunge akımı, grunge modası… Kitapla ilgili müzikal detaylar ve daha çok müzik kareleri için müzik defterindeki yazımı okuyabilirsiniz.

Kısa ömürlü grunge akımın anlatan fotoğraflardan oluşan bir kitabı hazırlasa hazırlasa Michael Lavine hazırlar, yazsa yazsa da Thurtson Moore (Sonic Youth) en güzel anlatırdı herhalde. Kapağında da olsa olsa en güzeli Kurt Cobain olurdu herhalde. Kitabın adı da en sadesinden ‘Grunge’…

Sub Pop Records’un adamı Michael Lavine, portre ve müzik fotoğrafçılığı hayatında birçok isimle çalışmış bir fotoğrafçı… Rock ve alternatif objektifinden bakarsak; Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Soundgarden, Pavement ve Dinosaur Jr. gibi isimlerin albüm kapaklarını çekmişliği var. Hip hop objektifinden bakarsak; Puffy, Lil’Kim, Foxy Brown, The Wu Tang, Notorious B.I.G’in albüm kapaklarını çekmişliği var. Dergi sayfalarına baktığımızda ise onun portre fotoğraflarını Vogue’da, Esquire’da, People’da veya Fox’da görüyoruz…

Kitaba dönersek… 80’lerin başından 90’ların yarısına kadar süren grunge akımını farklı açılarla görebileceğimiz kitapta; Pacific Northwest, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam; kısacası Thurston Moore’un tahminimce çok keyifli şekilde kaleme aldığı Seattle punk gençliği yer alıyor. Akıma öncülük eden gruplar, alt kültürün nasıl sömürüldüğü, grunge’ın sert tepkisi, ve kuşkusuz akımın en büyük temsilcisi Kurt Cobain’in aramızdan ayrılışı…

Grunge dolu dolu, siyah beyaz, ünlü ünsüz 160 sayfa… Özellikle, akıma şahitlik etmiş olan her müzikseverin kütüphanesine şart!

.do they know it’s hallowe’en? performed by the north american hallowe’en prevention initiative.

di Tiziana Lo Porto

Erano bellissimi nella loro oltraggiosa imperfezione. Se ne infischiavano del mondo, e la stessa musica punk suonava alle loro orecchie troppo convenzionale. Dipingevano, fotografavano, riprendevano, cantavano, urlavano, più di ogni altra cosa si esibivano, e il loro palcoscenico era la fin troppo celebrata New York di fine anni Settanta. La New York del CBGB, per esempio, amatissimo locale live che un paio di anni fa chiuse i battenti tra pianti e rimpianti di nostalgici e sopravvissuti. La New York di Patti Smith e Robert Mapplethorpe, coppia icona di un’epoca irriproducibile, irriducibile e oltremodo invidiabile. La New York di Lydia Lunch che di quegli anni e di quella scena questo dice: «L’anti-chiunque della No Wave era un miagolare collettivo che sfidava le classificazioni, contagiava il pubblico, oltraggiava le convenzioni, cagava in faccia alla storia, e poi spaccava». Così racconta di sé e dintorni nella prefazione a un gran bel libro fotografico appena uscito negli States e curato da Thurston Moore dei Sonic Youth e dal critico musicale Byron Coley. Il libro si chiama No Wave: Post-Punk. Underground. New York. 1976-1980, e insieme al testo di Lydia Lunch raccoglie una serie di importanti foto in bianco e nero e rare interviste ai protagonisti di quel mezzo decennio lì, ovvero la cosiddetta scena No Wave (per farsi un’idea basta ascoltare la compilation del 1978 No New York curata da Brian Eno).

Una non-corrente o anti-corrente musicale che all’epoca si contrapponeva alla New Wave e che per Thurston Moore probabilmente ha rappresentato le radici, le origini, l’io-vengo-da-lì, credibile movente di un accurato e devotissimo lavoro di ricerca, indagine, inchiesta. Operazione già realizzata un paio di anni fa dal regista Scott Crary nell’eccellente documentario Kill Your Idols, che coinvolgeva oltre che lo stesso Moore e il collega chitarrista Lee Ranaldo, la vecchia guardia di quella scena No Wave (con Lydia Lunch ancora una volta capofila) e i giovani eredi a noi contemporanei (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Liars e simili) che dovrebbero «uccidere i loro idoli», ma che, ammettiamolo pure, forse non saranno mai all’altezza. E non per mancanza di talento. «Qui in quest’album di famiglia si nasconde la progenie di sale di Lot», scriveva la poetessa russa Marina Tsvetaeva, rendendo bene l’idea che ci si fa nel rivedere oggi le immagini di un manipolo di ragazzi scapestrati talmente incoscienti e arditi da riuscire a creare una vera e proprio Sodoma nel cuore di New York senza mai rinnegarla. «Non vedevamo molte altre scelte al di là del fare quello che abbiamo fatto», dice adesso Martin Rev dei Suicide, insistendo soprattutto sul fatto che quella che facevano comunque non era musica. Si trattava di distruggere la musica degli altri piuttosto, o – per come la mette Arto Lindsay, all’epoca DNA – di riarrangiarla, ma in ogni caso di radere al suolo in primis, e poi ricostruire il tutto un po’ come capita, ovvero a cazzo. Questa la No Wave, la cui importanza nella storia del rock è stata soprattutto l’avere consentito di superare tutto quello che c’era prima, blues o punk che fosse, di costringere il prossimo a inventare e non limitarsi a rifare. È nata così, pochi anni dopo, la musica dei Sonic Youth, e Thurston Moore ne è consapevole. Il noise dei Sonic Youth è uno dei prodotti migliori della No Wave. Basta assistere a un loro concerto, ora come dieci o vent’anni fa, per capirlo. Accanto a loro, chiunque suoni prima o dopo o nel frattempo, semplicemente scompare. Ascoltateli e, nella peggiore delle ipotesi vi ritroverete a collezionare cd, ep, vinili, bootleg, dvd, libri fotografici, poster, la qualunque, nella migliore deciderete di diventare anche voi musicisti e metterete su la vostra di band. Michael Azzerad, autorevole giornalista musicale, c’ha scritto sopra un capitolo (una band per ogni capitolo, tredici capitoli in tutto) di uno dei suoi libri migliori, Our Band Could Be Your Life, ovvero la nostra band potrebbe diventare la tua vita. Che come concetto può apparire un poco estremo, ma rende perfettamente l’impatto che questa – come poche altre band – può avere sul prossimo.
Alcuni dei nomi della No Wave tornano poi in un secondo volume, curato sempre da Thurston Moore. Mix Tape è il titolo del libro, che si presenta come una raccolta ben confezionata di contributi (testi, disegni, foto, collage, elenchi di canzoni e di nomi di band) intorno al tema della compilation da musicassetta. Un omaggio a un oggetto scomparso, in pratica, che raccoglie nomi più o meno famosi della scena artistica e musicale americana, chiamati a riesumare bei ricordi&compilation. Presenti all’appello, accanto a Moore e a musicisti e artisti che orbitano intorno ai Sonic (Jim O’Rourke, o Leah Singer, artista e moglie del chitarrista Lee Ranaldo), John Sinclair, Dean Wareham, Damon Krukowski e Naomi Yang (ex Galaxie 500), la scrittrice Mary Gaitskill (suo il bel racconto da cui è tratto il film Secretary), Ahmet Zappa, musicista, attore e figlio di Frank Zappa, la regista Allison Anders (quella di Mi Vida Loca e di Four Rooms) e molta altra beautiful people.
Ammirevole il risultato che inevitabilmente induce a mettere a soqquadro casa alla ricerca del proprio di «mix tape» del cuore. O a cercare di ricostruire a mente la scaletta esatta delle canzoni regalate all’amato nel tentativo di sedurlo (se l’amato lo si è poi sedotto e conquistato si può pure provare a chiedergli direttamente se tante volte quella cassetta lì l’ha conservata, risparmiando così tempo e affanno). Nel caso in cui poi vi sentiate abbastanza nostalgici, o anche solo per noia, accendete il computer e andate alla pagina muxtape.com Potrete riprovare il piacere di farvi da voi il vostro impeccabile mix da cassetta, chiamarlo come vi pare e diffonderlo nell’etere. Qualcuno forse apprezzerà.
Nota a margine sulla mia vita, ovvero come Pretty Woman mi ha fatto scoprire la musica dei Sonic Youth. Quando vidi per la prima volta al cinema Julia Roberts dentro la vasca da bagno della camera d’albergo di Richard Gere che, auricolari dentro le orecchie e saponata intorno, cantava Kiss di Prince a squarciagola, avevo diciannove anni. Il giorno dopo andai a comprare un walkman identico al suo, di plastica, giallo e subacqueo. È dentro quel walkman che ho scoperto i Pearl Jam, i Nirvana e molta altra musica. Ci ascoltavo soprattutto vecchie cassette dei Pixies e dei Pere Ubu. Ci ascoltavo anch’io Prince, Kiss e Darling Nikki, la mia preferita che mettevo in tutte le mie compilation. Un giorno ci ho ascoltato anche Thurston Moore, e Kim Gordon, e i Sonic Youth. Per la prima volta. M’è venuto in mente adesso, leggendo questi libri, e ho pensato che da qualche parte dovessi scriverlo. Ecco, l’ho scritto qui.

Thurston Moore e Byron Coley, No Wave: Post-Punk. Underground. New York. 1976-1980, Abrams Image, pp. 143, £ 14.00
Thurston Moore (a cura di), Mix Tape. L’arte della cultura delle audiocassette, Isbn Edizioni, pp. 95, euro 22
Scott Crary, Kill Your Idols, Rarovideo, euro 17,90

LES meets UES in matrimony; image courtesy of gossipgirlinsider.com

So, I finally saw last week’s episode of Gossip Girl. For my money, there is nothing surprising about Sonic Youth performing “Starpower” and bassist/guitarist Kim Gordon marrying Rufus Humphrey and Lily van der Woodsen-Bass-etc. The reason, as I will outline chronologically below, is that flirtations with mainstream popular culture is completely in keeping with their career. This cameo isn’t an isolated incident. If anything this network-savvy band pioneered how indie does synergy.

March 1, 1988: Ciccone Youth, a side project formed in 1986 between the band and Minutemen bassist/co-founder Mike Watt releases The Whitey Album. In this configuration, they took part of their name from Madonna’s surname. They also covered some of her songs, including “Into the Groovey” and “Burnin’ Up.” For good measure, they also covered Robert Palmer’s “Addicted to Love.” Were they taking the piss or celebrating 80s blockbuster pop? Maybe both? You decide.

June 26, 1990: Goo is released on DGC, marking their major label debut. 

In 1991, the Goo video album is released, a clip accompanying each song on the album. Among them are “Mildred Pierce” which features Sofia Coppola dressed as Joan Crawford, who starred in the 1945 film noir of same name, “Disappearer,” which was directed by Todd Haynes, and a few clips directed by Tamra Davis, including “Dirty Boots” and “Kool Thing,” which also featured Public Enemy’s Chuck D.

September 17, 1991: Kim Gordon co-produces Pretty on the Inside, Hole’s debut album, released on Caroline, a subsidiary of Virgin.

July 21, 1992: Dirty is released. Two noteworthy music videos come along with it. Actor Jason Lee, then unknown, is featured as a tragic skateboarder in ”100%. The clip was co-directed by Davis and Spike Jonze, who just made some movie about kids and monsters based on a children’s book. Chloë Sevigny, once a Sassy intern, stars in “Sugar Kane,” which also showcases Marc Jacobs’ Perry Ellis grunge collection.

August 9, 1993: “Cannonball” is released as the lead single to The Breeders way-ruling Last Splash. Kim Gordon co-directs the music video with Jonze.

September 14, 1993: Judgment Night is released, along with a successful soundtrack from Epic that pairs alternative/metal acts with rap groups. Sonic Youth and Cypress Hill collaborate on ”I Love You Mary Jane.”

Cover to Judgment Night (Epic, 1993); image courtesy of brianorndorf.com

1994: Kim Gordon creates X-Girl with Daisy von Furth, a sister clothing line to Beastie Boys Mike D’s X-Large collection. I see DJ Tanner wear an X-Girl blue jumper on Full House and want one.

August 25, 1994: Sonic Youth contributes “Genetic” to the My So-Called Life soundtrack. Released on Atlantic, the compilation features other Juliana Hatfield, Afghan Whigs, Daniel Johnston, and (of course) Buffalo Tom, who every fan remembers played a show on Pike Street.

Track list to the My So-Called Life soundtrack (Atlantic, 1994); image courtesy of mscl.com

September 13, 1994: If I Were A Carpenter, a Carpenters tribute album, is released on A&M. An alternafest, acts like American Music Club, Shonen Knife, Babes and Toyland, and Matthew Sweet share time with SY, who cover “Superstar.” In late 2007, the song would make an appearance in the movie Juno.

Cover to If I Were a Carpenter (Rhino, 1994); image courtesy of whizzo.ca

October 27, 1995: CBS airs “The State’s 43rd Annual All-Star Halloween Special,” marking the MTV sketch comedy troupe’s network television debut. Sonic Youth is the musical guest. Few people watch (I am one of them), and CBS decides to pull the plug. 

May 19, 1996: Fox airs ”Homerpalooza,” The Simpsons‘ penultimate episode of its seventh season. In it, Homer goes on tour with Hullabalooza (re: Lollapalooza), taking canons to the gut to the bemusement of thousands of jaded slackers. Several acts made guests appearances, including Smashing Pumpkins, Cypress Hill, Peter Frampton, and Sonic Youth. The band also provides an “alternative” version to Danny Elfman’s iconic theme song, perhaps getting closer in tone to what creator Matt Groening had originally envisioned when suggesting that avant-jazz composer John Zorn write the show’s theme song. The song is later featured on Rhino’s Go Simpsonic With The Simpsons: Original Music From The Television Series compilation.

"I'm so disillusioned!"; image courtesy of taringa.net

June 5, 1996: James Mangold’s debut feature, Heavy, is released in the states. Moore composes the score.

June 1998: I watch the “Kool Thing” video at a Gadzooks in the Mall of America during a trip to Young Life camp in Minnesota.

July 13, 2001: Larry Clark’s Bully is released in theaters. Moore composes the score.

July 25, 2005: Gus Van Sant’s Last Days, the director’s take on Kurt Cobain’s final days, is released in the states. Gordon appears as a record executive based on Danny Goldberg trying to turn the main character’s life around. Moore also served as a music consultant.

May 2006: Former Pavement bassist Mark Ibold joins the band. This has nothing to do with matters of synergy or cross-promotion; I just happen to think he’s kinda cute. He was also featured in a comic strip, but the name escapes me. His catchphrase is something to the effect of “I’m Mark, the bassist from Pavement” but I’m butchering it. My friend Susan told me about it, so maybe she’ll share in the comments section.

Mark Ibold, perhaps around the time he was dating Oksana Baiul and before the Pavement reunion tour; image courtesy of amazon.com

May 9, 2006: Moore and Gordon appear with daughter Coco in “Partings,” the Gilmore Girls‘ season six finale. 

June 15, 2007: Pitchfork reports that SY will be contributing a track to a Starbucks compilation.

November 21, 2007: Todd Haynes’s I’m Not There is released. Gordon’s makes a cameo as folkie Carla Hendricks, who is based on Judy Collins. The casting furthers my suspicion that SY friend Todd Haynes must have been influenced by the band’s fandom of The Carpenters and preoccupation with Karen Carpenter’s tragic struggle with anorexia. They cover “Superstar.” He makes a biopic about Carpenter called Superstar. Coincidence?

September 8, 2008: Choosing not to renew their contract with Geffen, SY sign with indie stalwart Matador.

November 3, 2008: Moore and former Be Your Own Pet frontwoman Jemina Pearl cover The Ramones’ “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker” specifically for “There Might Be Blood,” a season two episode of Gossip Girl. 

February 16, 2009: Gordon debuts a clothing collection called Mirror/Dash for Urban Outfitters.

Is this bad? Hmm, maybe. I suppose it depends on your outlook. I’d say it’s no worse than The Flaming Lips performing on Beverly Hills, 90210 (although, maybe for it to be equal, Wayne Coyne would have to play a short-order cook at the Peach Pit). Beyond paying the bills and circulating their brand, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a fair amount of post-modern, art-school, post-Warholian why-the-hell-not? factoring into all of Sonic Youth’s above-ground forays. Or perhaps they (gasp!) like many of these texts and ventures. 

Perhaps the band knows that dabbling with the mainstream is tricky business. Maybe this explains why Moore (and, to a lesser extent Gordon and guitarist Lee Ranaldo, though not media-shy drummer Steve Shelley) cultivated an authoritative presence in recent music documentaries like Punk: Attitude, Kill Yr Idols, and I Need That Record! It may also have fueled a need for an outlet through which to channel more experimental projects, resulting in the band forming Sonic Youth Recordings in 1996, along with Shelley’s Smells Like label and Moore’s Ecstatic Peace label. In addition, Ranaldo has done a considerable amount of writing, creates installation projects with his wife Leah Singer, has an extensive solo career, and has performed improvisatory film scores as a member of Text of Light.

And, you know. The band is still really good. Even as folks mine their discography or weave them into above-ground mainstream corporate media culture enterprising, they’re still challenging themselves and making great music. Earlier this year, the band released The Eternal, their 16th album. Peaking at #18 on the Billboard charts, it also boasts a consistently great set of songs and a painting by late guitarist John Fahey for its cover. This blurring of art and commerce, for good or for bad, is in keeping with the band and their contributions to music culture.

Fikk du med deg Merzbow på Henie Onstad sist søndag? Uansett: Her er mitt 2001-intervju med den japanske musikkterroristen. Han elsker norsk black metal, synes punk er kapitalistisk og står bak noe av den mest ekstreme og støyende musikken som noensinne er laget.

En bekjent beskrev nylig hvordan han opplevde Merzbow på konsert: «Lydnivået var så ekstremt at hvis jeg åpnet munnen fikk vibrasjonene kjeven til å vibrere.» Ved første møte vil da også Merzbows musikk framstå som en nærmest ugjennomtrengelig vegg av ren støy – robbet for alt som kan minne om melodi og rytme – med volumet skrudd langt forbi 11.

– Jeg ser på lyd som en sjø, der rytme er bølgen, melodi er fuglen som flyr over sjøen og lydnivået er tidevannet som skyller fram og tilbake over stranden. Jeg liker å bruke høy lyd fordi jeg prøver å gjøre noe med hele sjøen, forklarer Merzbow fra Tokyo via epost.

Kafka og progrock
Masami Akita, alias Merzbow, har siden 1983 arbeidet med sin sjø av støy, og sluppet et utall kassetter, lp- og cd-plater med ekstrem musikk løs på publikum. Han vil gi ut tusen utgivelser, og kom flere skritt nærmere målet med fjorårets Merzbox – en boks bestående av hele 50 cd-plater.

Akita oppdaget vestlig rock som The Rolling Stones, The Doors og Cream på 1960-tallet, men det var kombinasjonen av progrock og Franz Kafka som ble det første viktige skritt på veien mot statusen som støykonge.

– Jeg hørte på Brian Davisons Every Which Way (trommeslager som ga ut sitt eneste album i 1970, journ.anm.), og et tidsskrift skrev at musikken minnet om Kafkas romaner. Også Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Inventions We’re Only in It for the Money refererte til Kafka.

Dette førte til at den japanske tenåringen leste sin første roman, Kafkas Prosessen, på toget til slektninger i Chiba. Romanen gjorde et voldsomt inntrykk på unge Akita.

– Boka hadde ingen endelig løsning eller ordentlig slutt. Siden har jeg lest mange bøker av Kafka, og alle bøkene hans har de samme trekkene. Å oppleve kunst uten en begynnelse, midt eller slutt var noe helt nytt for meg – og det fortalte meg at det var meningsløst å lete etter mening i verden. Gud og samfunnets normer og regler er menneskeskapt, og ingen absolutte verdier. Disse tankene ga meg stor frihet.

Merzbow live på Henie Onstad 11. oktober 2009.

Surrealisme og dadaisme
Kafka ga Akita en glødende leselyst, og han slukte bøker av Arthur Rimbaud, marki de Sade og grev de Lautréamont. Samtidig begynte han å spille i band, inspirert av rockere som Frank Zappa og Captain Beefheart, krautrock som Ash Ra Tempel og Can og frijazz à la Ornette Coleman. Men det var kunstudiene, og da spesielt surrealisme og dadaisme, som skulle bringe Akita videre i jakten på den rette musikken.

– Det fantes ikke musikkforskning sett fra et surrealistisk ståsted. Det ble for eksempel sagt at «Le Marteau sans Maitre» av Pierre Boulez og fransk musique concréte var surrealistisk, men jeg oppfattet det som heller konservativt. Skulle jeg følge den surrealistiske læresetningen om å «være samtidig», måtte jeg lage postpunk og gal musikk. På samme måte som dadaismen brøt med alle tidlige kunstretninger, burde punk brutt med all musikkhistorie. Men punk så jeg på som en enkel, kapitalistisk greie, så ekte surrealistisk eller dadaistisk musikk burde da være ren støy.

Black metal
Akita ga opp både progrock, rock ‘n’ roll og punk – og skapte isteden noe han mente var antirock – samtidig som han beholdt rockens høye lyd og brutale stil. Han likte den industrielle rockescenen, men følte seg ellers ganske alene i musikklandskapet. Ved hjelp av loops og manipulering brukte han støykilder som tv, sin egen platesamling, feedback, ødelagte instrumenter og lydopptak til å klippe og lime sammen ny musikk. Rundt 20 år senere er Merzbow guru for støyscenen, og skal spille på Blå tirsdag og sammen med norske Jazkamer på jazzfestivalen i Molde torsdag (i 2001 altså, 2009-kommentar).

– Den norske støyscenen er veldig aktiv og interessant, men akkurat nå har jeg ingen anelse om hva jeg og Jazkamer finner på i Molde. Vi skal øve sammen i Oslo, så da finner vi vel ut av det.

Og spør du Akita om han kjenner til noen norske band, kommer det kjapt en lang remse med black metal.

– Det finnes mange gode norske grupper, blant annet Burzum, Emperor, Mayhem, Satyricon, Immortal, Gorgoroth og Ulver. Jeg liker musikk som er revolusjonerende og ikke så lite gal. En annen favoritt er When, selv om det ikke er black metal.

Bonus 1: I støykongens favn – Lasse Marhaug om Merzbow

Norske Jazkamer har fått spillejobb på årets jazzfestival i Molde. Men forvent alt annet enn saksofonsoloer når elektronikaduoen står på scenen sammen med verdens ukronte støykonge, japanske Merzbow.

- Merzbow er blitt stemplet som ”støykongen fra Japan”, men han nyter stor respekt over hele verden som en lydkunstner av rang. Selve konserten i Molde blir delvis planlagt og delvis improvisert, sier Lasse Marhaug, som sammen med John Hegre utgjør Jazzkammer/Jazkamer.

Under jazzfestivalen i Molde spiller de to en konsert sammen med Merzbow, etterfulgt av en oppvarmingsjobb for Merzbows solokonsert på Blå i Oslo like etter.

I tillegg har Merzbow remikset et spor fra Jazkamers Timex-album, som sammen med andre remikser fra folk som Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), Tore H. Bøe, Pita, Maja Ratkje, Aleksander Rishaug og Francisco Lopez utgjør albumet Rolex, som slippes på Smalltown Supersound i mai.

- Vi har latt remikserne få frie tøyler. Thurston Moore er ganske respektløs og prøver virkelig å ta livet av materialet ved å spille gitar over. Merzbow vrenger stoffet til himmels, og det blir veldig intenst, sier Marhaug.

Japanske Masami Akita, alias Merzbow, er en av verdens fremste lydkunstnere, som har forent surrealisme, dadaisme og heavy metal på utallige støyende CD-utgivelser. Musikken hans er ekstremt fysisk, og kan være svært utmattende for både øre og sjel å høre på. Merzbow-kjennere gikk da også over seg i begeistring av den 50 CDer sterke utgivelsen Merzbox i fjor.

- Jeg brukte sommeren på å høre på den ja, det er vel nærmere 60 timer med musikk, sier Marhaug.

Marhaug liker ikke tittelen ”Norges støykonge”, men hans utgivelser og arbeid med plateselskapet Jazzassin Records gjennom ti år gjør det fristende å smykke ham med den tittelen. Nå er han ute med soloplata Nothing But Sound From Now On.

En rask gjennomhøring av soloplata kan fort få en til å tro at noen skrur tuneren på radioen din raskt fram og tilbake på langbølgen, samtidig som naboen banker i veggen. Og får du sansen for den eksperimenterende støyscenen innen musikken, kan resultatet fort bli at naboen begynner å banke i veggen din – i ren fortvilelse.

For mange opplever støymusikken som et kraftig slag i ansiktet – kaskader av ubehagelig støy og gnissende ulyder. Men som Merzbow selv har formulert det: ”Hva som er støy og hva som er musikk er avhengig av personen som hører. Dersom ’støy’ betyr ukomfortabel lyd, så er popmusikk støy for meg”.

Men soloplata er langt mer behersket enn det Marhaug har levert på plate og scene tidligere.

- Det er ikke så mye som skjer samtidig i musikken min denne gangen. Dessuten er jeg nok blitt farga av å samarbeid med John i Jazkamer, der musikken også er langt mindre støyende.

Marhaug henter mye av sitt lydmateriale fra nærmiljøet, ja faktisk fra leiligheten sin.

- Jeg henter lyd rundt meg, og sampler, låner, manipulerer, vender og vrir på det. Mye av stoffet på plata er opptak fra stille rom i leiligheten min. For det blir jo aldri helt stille. Utenfor leiligheten min er det vanskeligere å finne interessant lyd, på grunn av all bilstøyen.

I tillegg til Merzbow-konsertene, soloplata og Jazkamer-remiksene, har Marhaug enda en plateutgivelse på trappene: En LP-plate fra Jazzkammer, døpt Turntable/Surface Fireball 2.

- Plata rommer det samme sporet i en studioversjon og en konsertversjon. All musikken er i utgangspunktet vinylstøy; knitring, loops og rytmer. Vi har brukt plater, men konsentrert oss om de musikkløse øyeblikkene, som det lille øyeblikket mellom låtene, partiene helt på slutten og begynnelsen. Spesielt idet du setter stiften ned på plata, får man mange godlyder.

Her legger Marhaug og Hegre seg i en tradisjon etter musikere som Christian Marclay og Otomo Yoshihide, folk som bruker plater og platespillere til å lage abstrakt samtidsmusikk. Det er nemlig ikke bare hip hop-Djer som skaper musikk av gamle plater, og Yoshihide har da også til tider brukt platespillere uten plater for å skape musikk.

- Den elektroniske, eksperimentelle musikken i Norge har opplevd en liten boom de siste to-tre årene. Artister som Tore H. Bøe, Arm og Der Brief lager spennende ting, og samleplata Le Jazz Non var en representativ samling og en god instruksjon til det som skjer i Norge.

- Jeg har holdt på i ti år, og vet ikke om jeg er blitt så veldig mye bedre. Men ideene og ambisjonene er de samme som før; jeg vil eksperimentere, gi ut plater, gjøre konserter og jobbe med spennende mennesker, avslutter Marhaug.

Marhaug jobber for tiden med en CD-utgivelse med amerikaneren John Wiese, samt en LP-utgivelse med Brutum Fulmen.

Bonus 2: Anmeldelse av Molde-konserten på plate.

Merzbow/Jazzkammer
Live at Molde International Jazz Festival
Smalltown Supersound/VME 2001
5/6

Dynamisk og spennende mestermøte.
Stummende mørke og full konsentrasjon. Det er oppskriften for å få fullt utbytte av konsertopptaket fra møtet mellom den japanske støymesteren Masami ”Merzbow” Akita og nordmennene John Hegre og Lasse Marhaug i Jazzkammer.

For å ta høydepunktet først: Se for deg at du kjemper deg gjennom den verste og kaldeste snøstormen i manns minne. Du klarer til slutt å krabbe deg i ly, i et infernalsk støyende sagbruk. Omtrent slik låter det tredje og siste sporet på denne platen –  er det rart jeg liker det?

Men heldigvis er dette ikke et 40 minutters totalangrep på sansene – slik Merzbow alene fort kan ende opp som. I møtet med Jazzkammer har det oppstått noe mer dynamisk og variert, en bulldoser som sakte, men sikkert bygger seg opp mot det iskalde klimakset. Men du bør legge igjen tradisjonelle forestillinger om rytme og melodi bak deg før du våger deg ut på dette.