Forgot about this: here’s the March 3 show from before the break. It isn’t bad, I suppose. There is Devo and Tim Buckley and Silver Apples.
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Another great BBC4 documentary, this one covering the Golden Age of British synth-pop (which they argue began when Gary Numan’s Tubeway Army reached number 1 on the UK charts with “Are ‘Friends’ Electric?” in June 1979). It adopts a kind of broad, semi-sociological approach and is really pretty fascinating. Here is an article written by the always interesting Simon Reynolds for the Guardian as a kind of introductory note. Excerpt:
“A curious thing that comes through watching Synth Britannia is how the futuristic-ness of this music is largely irrecoverable to us, precisely because we live in the future that the synth-pop era helped to bring about. Electronic tonalities are omnipresent to the point of banality, thanks to 90s techno rave and noughties R&B, videogames and ringtones. “Electro” in the early-90s meant cutting-edge, the future-now; nowadays “electro” refers to the kind of sounds that lit up hipster bars in east London through this past decade and then went mainstream this year with La Roux and Lady Gaga, which is to say synthetic pop that doesn’t use the full capacity of the latest digital technology, and is therefore almost as quaint as if it were made using a harpsichord.
With the future-shock aspect depleted, what comes through now is the pop in synth-pop: OMD’s pretty tunes, the aching plaintiveness of Numan and the Human League. Oddly, what’s made this music last are the same things that made the Beatles and Motown immortal: melody and emotion.”
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Here’s the February 24 show, with stuff from Michael Rother, Crash Course In Science, Quando Quango, etc. Here’s that incredible Scott Wilk video I mentioned:
In which our relationship with Stomp and Stammer is mended and everything works out really well. Featuring everyone from Fugazi to Michael Chapman. And this guy, Jem Targal:
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In which we are dumped by our former sponsor, Stomp and Stammer. Featuring John Zorn, The Breeders, The Lemonheads, etc.
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Here’s some rare of Arthur Russell footage–this track’s called “Soon-To-Be Innocent Fun” and originally appeared on his 1986 record World of Echo.
I’ve started reading Tim Lawrence’s book Hold On To Your Dreams: Arthur Russell and the Downtown Music Scene, 1973-1992, featuring appearances by David Byrne, Jonathan Richman, Phillip Glass, Allen Ginsberg, etc., and strongly recommend it to anyone interested in Russell or art-rock in general. More on this later.
Mission of Burma, Cleaners from Venus, Jesus and Mary Chain, etc.
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Swans, Young Marble Giants, OMD, etc. Recording starts with about 5 minutes of conversation courtesy of Liner Notes. I would edit that out but who has the time!
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First show of the 2010’s, with stuff from Glenn Branca, Chris Bell, the Three O’Clock, etc.
Blank Generation will be back Wednesday, January 13 at 8 PM. For now: Liquid Liquid’s only commissioned music video, for their 1982 song “Cavern”–best remembered as the sample in “White Lines”.
