Posts Tagged ‘Henry Flynt’

My ‘moment of truth’ – MP3s have some advantages over CDs….

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

The other day as I was eating out (and no I wasn’t with my girlfriend Tessie Talk), Gang Starr’s Moment Of Truth album was playing in the background. I find Gang Starr’s earlier work a mixed bag but there are some good tracks among it. That said, by the time they made this 1998 album they were so self-obsessed and up their own arses that their rhymes were a shower of shit. It should go without saying they wouldn’t have recognised a ‘moment of truth’ if it had hit them on the head with a brick.

There are a lot of rappers I prefer to Gang Starr, but Moment Of Truth remains an excellent example of how the CD rather than the MP3 ruined the pop/rock/rap album….  Coz let’s face it, once the CD was established as a format, people started thinking they had to make albums that were around an hour long, rather than a coherent collection of songs that lasted somewhere between 25 and 40 minutes. On a platter like Moment Of Truth, everything is just stretched out to make that CD length ‘album’, which isn’t really an album at all but a fucking train wreck. Far better to focus on fewer beats and tunes and produce 25 minutes of great music rather than 70 or so minutes of crap. Pop life is supposed to be about fun, and fun should come in small intense doses.

Likewise, Gang Starr’s obsession with their own ‘authenticity’ is pathetic, and if they’d had any suss they’d have got ‘real’ and realised they live in a plastic world of corporate simulations where being completely fake is really where it’s at! As that swinging daddio Karl Marx pointed out way back when in the nineteenth-century, under capitalism we all reproduce our own alienation (and implicit in this is the insight that there can be no ‘authenticity’ in a commodity economy). So getting real means being unreal and demanding the impossible!

Returning to my opening theme, it was the CD that killed the album, while the MP3 takes us back to the classic pop focus on individual songs. Okay, so most people wanna cram so much onto their MP3 player that they compress the shit outta their tracks and what’s supposed to be music sounds like sewage rattling through a drain – and stuff is now mixed with this sad fact in mind too! But since most people ain’t gonna go back vinyl, let alone mono (and don’t forget that scumbag Phil Spector is rotting in jail for murdering Lana Clarkson), they really need to be convinced that they shouldn’t go for quite so much compression on their tunes.

Quantity is quality but it ain’t necessarily hi-fidelity! The future was always and already digital (tenderness)… and that has its upsides as well as its downs. So it’s time to boycott those motherfuckers who make platters longer than about 45 minutes and recognise that in the old days any really great album could have been fitted alongside its follow up on a single CD! And like Henry Flynt says: “Demolish Serious Culture!”

And while you’re at it don’t forget to check – www.stewarthomesociety.org – you know it makes (no) sense!

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Posted in dreams, mass media, music | 27 Comments »

Zero Books launch in Marylebone High Street

Friday, April 24th, 2009

Zero Books launched last night at Daunt on Marylebone High Street in central London. Upon arrival I was greeted by Zero editor Tariq Goddard. I hadn’t realised he’d moved out of London, but then I hadn’t seen him around for a while, so I wasn’t too surprised when he told me he was living in the country. Shortly after arrival I found myself chatting to sci-fi novelist China Miéville who brought up the extremely ugly subject of David Tibet (real name David Bunting) of Current 93 and his utterly ridiculous sub-musical collaborations with hardcore fascists. Our anti-fascist exchange was interrupted when the evening’s formal speeches began. I didn’t catch the name of the first speaker who was passionate on the subject of how neo-liberalism had collapsed but we still needed to clear away the ruins.

Next up was journalist David Stubbs who gave a short talk based on his book Fear Of Music. The blurb for this runs as follows: “Modern art is a mass phenomenon… However, while the general public has no trouble embracing avant-garde and experimental art, there is, by contrast, mass resistance to avant-garde and experimental music, although both were born at the same time under similar circumstances… This book examines the parallel histories of modern art and modern music and examines why one is embraced and understood and the other ignored, derided or regarded with bewilderment, as noisy, random nonsense perpetrated by, and listened to by the inexplicably crazed. It draws on interviews and often highly amusing anecdotal evidence in order to find answers to the question: Why do people get Rothko and not Stockhausen?”

My impression is the tabloid press devotes more space to deriding modern art than it does to attacking modern music. That said, the (post)-modern art the ‘red tops’ have derided in  recent years is largely a waste of space anyway; i.e. the yBa bores who put the con back into neo-conceptual art by jettisoning any overt political content and instead concentrating on selling over-priced luxury items to the rich. As a consequence, it has been rather amusing to witness the response of complete bafflement to the Ray Johnson retrospective currently on at Raven Row; most of the London art world simply cannot grasp a visual practice that is so obviously hostile to the commodification of culture. As for Rothko and Stockhausen, for me there is nothing to choose between them, and the bourgeoisie can stick them both up its arse!

In his talk Stubbs appeared to be defending everything about Stockhausen, which I found more than a little odd. There have certainly been reactionary attacks on Stockhausen, but by focusing on these Stubbs seemed to be saying sock it to the critics to my right and ignore my own problematic positions. Personally I agree with the critique of Stockhausen made by Henry Flynt and Action Against Cultural Imperialism back in the 1960s; among other things they pointed out that Stockhausen’s criticisms of jazz were racist. I also find Flynt’s radical avant-garde hillbilly far more of a groove sensation than Stockhausen. And while I can dig much of what Cornelius Cardew did musically from the Scratch Orchestra through to his reworkings of folk melodies, his book Stockhausen Serves Imperialism lacks the edge of Flynt’s critique of this bourgeois hack. I have no problem with listening to modern music, but everything from Luigi Nono to grime is just so much better than Stockhausen. The positions Stubbs defended in his talk were both simplistic and wrong-headed.

As a speaker, Owen Hatherley was a lot more impressive than Stubbs. His book Militant Modernism was billed as a defence of modernism against its defenders. Hatherley was arguing in favour of post-war modernism, not just its early twentieth-century manifestations, and for its entanglement with revolutionary politics. I was with him on that, although I suspect we may well have differences on specific figures such as Bertolt Brecht and what is revolutionary. For me, defending the gains of modernism also means going beyond it, and this necessitates abolishing the capitalist social relations modernism emerged from. Of course, I haven’t read Hatherley’s book yet, because as a proletarian post-modernist, I’m blogging the launch and not the texts. Moving on, after Hatherley there was a quick word from publisher John Hunt. I then spoke to Hales Gallery artists Laura Oldfield Ford and Richard Galpin about the antagonism towards criticism on the gallery circuit. In the spirit of immaterial friendship I got to say hi and little else to Nina Power… and a few others. Then the booze ran out so most people moved on to the pub….

And while you’re at it don’t forget to check – www.stewarthomesociety.org – you know it makes (no) sense!

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Posted in culture gossip & parties | 37 Comments »

Unbelievable Hot Music Sex (More EFM than EMF)

Thursday, January 8th, 2009

So today I fell through a wormhole and was asked by the Fabulous FAB (“Thunderbirds Are Go”, but no Bomb The Bass here) to open up my music player, let 10 random songs play and then blog about them. Well I’d been having some problems with my MP3 player and had to reinstall the software before doing this (and wipe everything off it first) and I kinda cheated by only putting ten songs on before doing this, I’ll get more on now…. But here are my 10 “random” songs:

1.  “Morning Way” by Trader Horne – acid folk at its very best, the title track of the duo’s only album – and what a combination: sometime Fairport Convention member Judy Dyble and Jackie McAuley ex-guitarist with Them and Belfast Gypsies (dig all that stuff Kim Fowley produced for the Gypsies, but especially “People Let’s Freak Out”). Well Trader Horne couldn’t last but this is just fabulous, those vocal harmonies have me in ecstasy, and if you tell me this is fey I’ll kick you….

2. “Quiet Days In Clichy II” by Country Joe McDonald. Yeah, the title track to the legendary Jens Jorgen Thorsen screen adaptation of the Henry Miller book. The film is one of the finest examples of Situationist detournement ever (Thorsen was a member of the 2nd Situationist International) and one of my favourite movies of all time. Country Joe is good, nice little tune over which he sings filth.”

3. “Purified By The Fire” by Henry Flynt. Personally I can’t get enough of radical avant-garde hillbilly music and Flynt does us proud on that front. He knew all the names in the New York scene of the sixties, being close to La Monte Young, Tony Conrad, Jack Smith and others, but went his own way as a result of his interesting critique of art andserious culture. He also stood in for John Cale at some Velvet Underground performances when the Welshman was sick. There is an interview with Flynt up on my website at -   http://www.stewarthomesociety.org/interviews/flynt.htm – but this is about activities other than his music. But check the music, it is great!

4. “Get Your Tits Out” by Heavy Metal Outlaws. On this MillwallRoi Pearce formerly ‘singer’ with failed early eighties British skinhead band The Last Resort tried to make a nineties come back by crossing heavy metal with rap – and it doesn’t hold up against real talent like Run DMC, but it is funny. One of the worst records ever made: “Ever since I was eight years old I was a fan of the centre-fold, girl’s good looking andshe’s got class, I stick my cock right up her arse, my mate’s doing time or so I heard, so I’m going round there to shag his bird, bend me break anyway you take me all you gotta do is masturbate me, come on the heat I’m a sex machine, I’m really going down like a submarine, tits out for the boys, get your tits out for the boys… fuck you, fuck you, fuck you…”

5. “Why Don’t You Smile Now” by The Downliners Sect. This is from the third album “The Rock Sect’s In” by this legendary sixties British freakbeat band. For this platter they bought in a few songs from Tin Pan Alley tunesmiths, this one being knocked out by Lou Reed and John Cale; and it’s actually what the Velvet Underground would have sounded like if they’d been good. The Sect were also the first to do another Tin Pan Alley song “Hang On Sloopy”, but they decided it wasn’t strong enough to release as a single – so it was The McCoys who had the international smash with it despite recording and putting it out after the Sect had got there first….

6. “So Greedy” (remix) by 999. What a difference a producer makes! This is produced by Vic Maile and as an indie release actually sounds a lot better than anything Nick Cash andco. did when they were on the major UA label. For comparison purposes check out the difference in the three singles punk band Satan’s Rats put out, with the Maile produced “You Make Me Sick” standing head and shoulders above the other two. I saw 999 at least a dozen times in London in the late-seventies, just coz all the punks went to see them, and they were never that great. But the “Concrete” album this appeared on in the original mix has some other great tunes (and some not so good ones), but their version of “Fortune Teller” is a gas.

7. “N-E-R-V-O-U-S” by Trash. Another A1 production job, this time by legendary American maverick Shel Talmy, the man behind the early Kinks and Who sound. This is just fabulous, I bought this and the first Trash single “Priorities” when they came out, after seeing the band (who I recall as being from Reading) playing on a multi-bill event at some London suburban university. Power pop doesn’t get any better than this! There were a lot of great British pop records that came out in the late-seventies and didn’t make the charts, and I particularly love this one.

8. “You’ll Always Be In Style” by Sidney Barnes. A non-hit from the Red Bird label, and a classic example of stomping sixties soul. “Everybody do the jerk and the monkey too, but by this time next year there’ll be something new… you know the clothes we’re wearing are changing every day, what was new in December will be out by May…. but I wanna tell you sweet honey child, you’ll always be in style…” This was one of the Divine birthday CDs… and I’ve been playing it a lot ever since getting it as a gift from Andrew Divine….

9. “Street Tuff” by Rebel MC. I loved this from the first moment I heard it. Yeah it might be a pop record but the MC knows exactly what he’s doing and went on to respect on the Jungle scene, not a trick easily achieved by someone who has had a massive pop hit. Back when I was leaving school in 1978 we used to talk about liking EFM (standing for extra fast music) and this is really fast, and wonderful mix of reggae, hip hop and rapping… Great tune too. Grooves don’t come any better than this! Can’t believe it’s already about twenty years old!

10. “Memphis Underground” by S.O.U.L. Yeah, the Herbie Mann original is great, but so is this, and unfortunately I don’t have a copy of the Roy Ayres version of the tune (anyone wanna get me an MP3 of that?). This is also the title of a novel I had out a couple of years ago. It comes from the band’s first album “What It Is”, and what a platter! Check the cover of “The Ghetto” which is every bit as good as the original, and the same goes for “Express Yourself” or “Message From A Black Man”. And what about tracks like “Burning Spear”? This is just one track from an absolutely crucial rare groove album. This tune is great but you need the whole platter.

And while you’re at it don’t forget to check – http://www.stewarthomesociety.org/ – you know it makes (no) sense!

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Posted in humour, music | 27 Comments »

20 searching personal questions about Stewart Home, with answers!

Saturday, January 3rd, 2009

1. Why do you write? To create laughter.

2. Where do you write? Anywhere there is space for a computer: I don’t write, I type.

3. Which person in history do you most admire? Myself.

4. What do you consider to be the most important moment in literary history? The publication of my novel “Memphis Underground” on 26 April 2007.

5 What is your favourite quotation? “Bad poets borrow, good poets steal” or “I learn nothing from the dead art of living men, I learn everything from the living art of dead men, long live the dead!”

6. Which writer (living or dead) would you most like to have dinner with? Karl Marx if I’m not allowed Pamela Anderson or Naomi Campbell (due to the fact they employ ghost writers).

7. What or who inspired you to become a writer? It was an accident, I was more interested in playing rock and roll but I wasn’t that hot as a lead guitarist and I didn’t get enough attention playing rhythm or bass guitar.

8. If you had another job before you became a writer, what was it? I was unemployed and claimed welfare.

9. Of the books you have written, do you have a favourite? Mostly it is the last one I’ve written or published, and I’m particularly proud of “Slow Death”, “69 Things To Do With A Dead Princess”, “Tainted Love” and “Memphis Underground”.

10. Which book would you make compulsory reading? Hegel’s “Philosophy of Mind”.

11. If you had to choose one book to take to a desert island, what would it be? A survival manual.

12. What book are you reading at the moment? A manuscript copy of Terry Taylor’s “The Run” from the early seventies, a follow-up to his only published novel “Baron’s Court, All Change”.

13. What is your favourite Serpent’s Tail title? “Mind Invaders” edited by me.

14. What is the first book you can remember reading? “The Cat In The Hat” by Doctor Seuss, the first “adult” books I read were sword and sorcery novels by Michael Moorcock, spy and detective novels by Mickey Spillane and Ian Fleming, and youth culture novels by Richard Allen and Peter Cave.

15. What book do you consider most overrated? “Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens (in fact his entire output); “1984″ by George Orwell; anything by Martin Amis or Salman Rushdie.

16. Who is your favourite character (from a book)? John from Clarence Cooper Junior’s “The Farm”.

17. Which fictional character would you most like to be? Jerry Cornelius, Michael Moorcock’s hipster hero from London’s Notting Hill, subsequently taken up by other authors.

18. Which book would you like to see filmed? Henry Flynt’s collection of essays “Blueprint For A Higher Civilization”.

19. What is your favourite word? Groovy.

20. Which words or phrases do you most overuse? “Pass lightly through the trip”, “have a groove today”, “straight from the fridge”.

And while you’re at it don’t forget to check – http://www.stewarthomesociety.org/ – you know it makes (no) sense!

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Posted in humour | 20 Comments »