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musicmixtapes · 6 years ago

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October 10, 2018 Mix

Welcome to this week's installation of music! I loved finding tracks that blended well in terms of sound and meaning, as well as playing around with the pace of the pieces so not to cause monotony inside the eardrums. Enjoy and any suggestions/opinions, send my way

Spotify Playlist (Listen in order!) 1. Walls by The Lumineers - First off, can I just say how excited I am to see new music from a group who never seems to disappoint both my ears and my heart. While listening for the first time I thought, "Wow what a great song, but this sounds kind of familiar" so when I showed it to my mom she said "Of course it sounds familiar, it's a cover of one of Tom Petty's songs" and then it made my heart that much fuller knowing that. Petty is known to have the American writing way of describing through metaphor exactly how love and relationships feel at a moment suspended in time. Using that craftsmanship and words that cut to the bone, The Lumineers created a cover that is so folky and vulnerable sounding, I am sure that Petty would not be disappointed in it. 2. I've Just Seen A Face by The Beatles - Continuing with classics that we may find hidden in corners of our mind, that pop out into existence from time to time, is this wonderful treasure from the Help! album, a beloved album to me and most of the world, I'm sure. I specifically chose this track because the title definitely created a supernatural element in my mind that translated to the feeling that love often gives, which is that it transcends regular human volition. It causes this reaction that cannot be expressed through regular conversation and absolutely needed to be sung about, which to me, is fantastic. Also, the really fast and frantic pace of the song adds to the urgency of the message of seeing someone in passing and instantly feeling a surge of love and the need to be with them at the moment. Falling in love is sometimes done in a slow motion type fall, but in this instance, it seems more immediate. 3. Moon Barks At The Dog by Saintseneca - The lyrical value that this song has is endless, and quite honestly, I could spend a long time doing an in depth analysis of this piece line by line, but for now I won't. The main thing I wanted to go in depth with a little bit is this image of the moon barking at the dog, which is just such a strange and abstract concept to grasp. Of course, the typical thing that someone would refer to is the dog barking at the moon, which is apparently a reference to the famous statement (I had no idea this existed): "It is common for the dog to bark at the moon, but if the moon barks back, the dog becomes famous." As a person who loves strange expressions, this has quickly become one of my favorites. There is also an entire verse that nods to Bruce Springsteen and his music not being the singer's cup of tea, which I disagree, but appreciate the reference anyway. 4. Los Ageless (cover) by The Wombats - I would say I'm sorry about including another version of the same song within two months, but I am not sorry at all because it is my firm belief that different versions of the same song can change it entirely and bring fresh perspective and possibly a new interpretation of meaning. Originally a St. Vincent song from her amazing album Masseducation, it was a more techno rock sound for sure, but this alternative group brought it down with a more acoustic sound fleshed out through it. I don't think the sound was altered so much that it changed the composition entirely, but the male voice for sure gave it a perspective which I was not expecting. To have a male singer express the notion "How could anybody have you and lose you and not lose their minds too?" makes me feel a glimmer of hope to diminish toxic masculinity. 5. More Than Romantic Love by St. Lenox - I don't know exactly what to classify this as and to be fair, I'm not sure that putting this artist in a box would be serving him justice in any way. I felt that I was having a conversation with a fellow new yorker while really really cool, eclectic music was playing in the background. And I loved it. Just all of the references to living in a place in time where you are losing someone because you cannot accept the fact that they only want a platonic love, not romantic. This goes deeper though, and examines how to deal with someone who is going through personal struggle and how to reach them emotionally while being sensitive to their needs. St. Lenox has such a soulful conversational tone that speaks freely about mental health, breakup and the nervousness of the city, also shout out to Washington Square. He's an artist on the rise for sure. 6. This Is The Day by The The - This is a classic example of a song with an upbeat, generally happy sounding tune that literally step by step tells about the woes that a person with depression has to go through. It actually really reminded me of a Smiths song, where the mood totally does not match the words, and this is a trope I absolutely love to see in older music. The image of eyes being red and burning when seeing daylight is so profound because insomnia is one of the main traits of depression, so this feeling of always feeling tired in the daytime is so relatable to hear about in song, which I never have before. The synthesized sound and the acordion that are strung throughout the song really emphasize the dichotomy of the sound and feeling, which also add the layer of how you look on the outside doesn't always match how you are on the inside. 7. Greyhound by Calpurnia - Have you ever made future plans with someone you are in a relationship with, thinking that basically you'll be with them forever, and then suddenly, the time for that plan comes around, except you're not together anymore? Yeah? Me too, and apparently the writer of this song was in this exact position because that's essentially what it's about to put it in base question format. But what really satisfied me concerning this song was not the super relatable storyline aspect, but the sarcastic way of telling something pretty sad, which seemed like an epic breakup and heart break. The whole "hats of to you, for you to go" is so sassy and like a middle finger in the center of a song about still having feelings for an ex-love, which was so fun to see. I hope the subject of this song listened to this song. 8. 15 Minutes by The Strokes - Whenever asked my top favorite bands, they are always at the top of the list. I don't know exactly what resonates with me, but I have been trying to pin point the moodiness and exacerbated feelings for awhile that me and this band seems to always share. I think it's the way that Casablancas always mutters some really sad yet humorous things while hard core guitar comes in and really great drum beats and a bass line are right in line with it. This song is no exception because it totally defies the meaning of telling someone how you feel and being comfortable with oneself about it; if I may be so bold, I think it generally classifies how one with lots of anxiety would go about telling feelings from a real perspective, rather insecurely and with the approach of joking about emotions in a very honest way. 9. Think I'm Still In Love With You by Joyce Manor - A new album by an awesome punk, angsty, emo rock band, news I will never be upset to hear about. Specifically, this artist has so many different qualities going past the initial relatable angst you feel when listening to the many, many, many songs they have about not being able to get over something or feeling like a burden in someone else's life constantly. This song has a clear shift in feeling though because the uncertainty is definitely present in terms of wanting to still be in love with someone because of a past emotion, but now things seem a bit hazier and they aren't so sure if the feelings are still quite there. This song comes about midway through the album, a really great placement on their part because it signifies perhaps a shift in weather during a one sided relationship and perhaps things will change thereafter. 10. So Tied Up by Cold War Kids and Bishop Briggs - Oftentimes I speculate from an outsider's look at a song, and piece together the meaning in relation to both the music and my own life. In this instance, I didn't really have to do so because the artist actually shared exactly what his intentions were with the meaning behind this song. He said, "With every new relationship, you either talk about previous relationship stuff (warts and all), or you just pretend like they never existed. Both are kinda terrible. When you go the full disclosure route it’s probably sincere, maybe you’re even praised for your vulnerability. However, you know it’s probably gonna be used against you later, in a fight, in the worst way." So that's that, and in terms of the gospel vibes I received from this alt rock song, I am very happy and get really pumped walking down the street to it. 11. Days On A Wire by Case - This instantly gives me the image of watching a movie scene where one person is lovingly thinking about another and kind of like sitting on a train looking out the window and considering their feelings, all wrapped up in desire. So now that I have shared my mental scene, let me explain that the really awesome acoustic with horns sounds that are produced in this piece add to the love song vibes that is perceived while listening. Also, the singer's voice is super dreamy and light, at some points seeming like barely more than a whisper of phrases, adding to the whimsical elements involved in the song. Actually, the horns in this song kind of act as a guitar usually would in terms of a melodic riff that occurs between verses and choruses, and I love this difference of instruments, a unique sound. 12. In The Morning I'll Be Better by Tennis - Taking some else's pain away is the hardest thing to do, especially when it's something not curable by care and devotion on it's own, but that's precisely what the artist is intending to say in this piece, which is tragically beautiful. So originally, I perceived this to be about someone's mental anguish and a relationship of sorts attempting to remedy this suffering by acceptance and love. In fact, this is not what the artist meant, but it's still a cool interpretation if I do say so myself. It was revealed that the writer's friend was deemed terminally ill and this was their way of processing the emotions that go into realizing that someone is most likely not going to get better. It is a love song that goes beyond love, but more about the wanting to take someone's pain and endure it so they don't have to. 13. Clueless by The Marías - Yes, yes, yes. My exact thoughts when seeing that this group came out with new music, when listening to the first few bars of the song, and then again when hearing the song two full times through (once for sound and another for words and meaning). The palpable tension heard in the song is so real for so many people when having an argument and to match the tension is the dialoguing throughout that basically says they can't handle the ups and downs going through the relationship anymore. I read that this was inspired by a spat between the vocalist and her significant other, drummer-producer Josh Conway. This revelation was incredible because imagine being in a band and a relationship with someone and having to create music while a major fight is going on. Me neither. 14. Running by Nicotine's Famous Honey - If I could title this anything other than what it is, I would title it "The Art of Just Barely Getting By In Our Fucked Up World" but that would not be as aesthetic as this aptly titled name. In the past, I have publicly argued against certain styles of music, simply because I knew less about music and didn't listen to enough genres on a regular basis. I am still trying to broaden my horizons, especially in terms of R&B and the Hip Hop genre in general, but this under emphasized artist is such a beautiful example of taking one genre that is criticized for being cliched and overdone and taking it to a whole different level. I love this combination of dream-pop, low-fi indie and hip hop and R&B all in one piece, and if you haven't looked into them, definitely check out some of their other music, it is so enticing. 15. Weird Honey by Elvis Depressedly - I'm taking the meaning of this song entirely from the artist because I think it can be interpreted a hundred different ways, depending on who you are thinking about while listening to it and what kind of mental state you are in too. Also we love to see an iconic guitar riff thrown in sporadically to a pretty sad low fi rock song, so that's a pretty cool spot in hell. The meaning though: "I lied before. It’s just an homage to Jesus and Mary Chain, and has no direct meaning. This is a love song so it could be seen as a pet name, or even a symbol of a love that is strange and new but full of sweetness. I find it incredibly strange that so many people have interpreted this song to be so negative, or even a break up song, when it’s the opposite. It’s a song about new love." There you have it. 16. Wings In All Black by Gregory Alan Isakov - If you are looking for an acoustic folk artist who puts emphasis on literally every single word and note of a song, look no further, he is right here, and also in my soul forever. Hailing from his brand new album, is this gem which sinks your heart to your stomach almost immediately upon listening. I believe this to be about having to rise up out of a really dark time in your life, despite not wanting to, the fact that instead of feeding the beast of loss, you have to grow wings of your own and fight against the demons you are experiencing. The image of having "wings in black" is a nod to the struggle between staying down in a bad place and having to come out of it no matter how impossible it seems at the time. I am now noticing a lot of these songs have to do with dealing with loss and mental health day by day, which is very important. 17. Should I by Arum Rae - I have to give entire props and credits for this song to my wonderful mother, who is always good for sending me songs to listen to on a weekly basis. Particularly, I first heard this song on my ferry ride home to New Jersey for the first time since leaving for college this year, so it has earned a really special place in my heart for the year. The piano is so present in this song, which as I have mentioned in previous posts, you don't get to see a lot in newer slow songs, which have become taken over by guitar a lot of the times. Also, Rae's voice questioning her every move and overthinking all her choices for the future is so heart felt and honest that you can't help but empathize with these feelings. The message of the song is maybe taking things one step at a time is the healthiest thing you can do when things get overwhelming in life. Yes. 18. How by Daughter - Ok, so finding out that most of the songs I have chosen for this week's mix surround the topics of loss and grieving past versions of self has become super illuminating in terms of my own maturation process. Staying topic though, this group always sheds light on the painful emotions rather than the pleasurable ones, which sometimes creates a dreary mood, but I like to view it as not being afraid to voice some negativity in order to clear it out of one's mind, which many people are apprehensive to do. This song describes pain as being in slow motion and I can't explain why that is true, but it is. The lines "hold me back, hold me back" in reference to wanting to go get someone that they have lost is so crucial to the theme of the song which is moving on from something while still having regrets in regards to the situation, feeling cheated or let down by someone. 19. Killer by Phoebe Bridgers - This playlist began with this song all by it's lonesome, but all along I knew that the rest of the pieces would be built around this, so I guess this has to be the reason why all the songs are so deeply related with one another. You may be thinking, wow I can't believe this song is about one's own death, this is really morose and ominous. Yes, I totally agree and think that it's really sad and death related, but knowing that it goes deeper than that is really vital to appreciating it's beauty. This is about a relationship being buried away and while doing so, dredging up all the past memories of loving a person. There is no remedy for knowing that two people are too much for one another, but this soulful lament is definitely a start. Also, Bridgers has noted that this song is in reference to Ryan Adams, famed songwriter who had a short fling with her when she was pretty young. 20. WALLS by Kings Of Leon - I did this on purpose, I made the first and last song both titled "walls" for a particular reason. I think they both serve very different purposes and perspectives to the metaphorical walls that are being broken down and simultaneously built up within a relationship. In the covered song that the Lumineers did, we see a shift to a more positive message of hearts having walls and climbing them is a struggle, but that it is worth it for the love we get to experience on the other side of it. In contrast, this very low tempo song (especially for Kings of Leon) is about kind of the exact opposite. This is about a man's ego being utterly shattered, exemplifying walls being torn down, in order to love a woman who just took his heart with her when she left. I don't think it's all sad though; I think this experience of walls coming down around someone to experience true loss of a person is so important for personal growth and strength. Thanks for listening and reading into things really deeply with me, catch you next week! Love & Listening,

Julia

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theresas-sound-world-blog · 4 years ago

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Theresa’s Sound World Interview

Person: Rosie Varela

Bands: EEP/ The Rosie Varela Project

Genre/s: Dreampop/Shoegaze/Indie

In my interview, I talk to Rosie Varela of US Dreampop Shoegaze band EEP and The Rosie Varela Project about music, inspirations, her music projects, the modern music industry and...Star Trek! ⭐️

❓When did you first feel the impulse to create music and why?

🅰️I wrote my first song around 1975, when I was 8 years old. I was inspired after watching “My Fair Lady.” I was the youngest child of five and a latchkey kid, so I was alone after school every day. I turned to singing and writing little songs to amuse and comfort myself. I had a little tape recorder I used to record little tunes with my vocals or on my flute.

Picking up guitar at 30 was an epiphany - I suddenly had a way to really write fully formed songs. And once I started, it felt like a flood of songs came pouring out. It still feels that way.

❓Can you name the top ten inspirations for your music? It can be anything, bands, songs, albums, books, poems, art, films, people...

🅰️1. AM/FM radio and shows like American Bandstand, Soul Train, and The Midnight Special.

2. My older brothers’ huge record collection that covered jazz, blues, oldies, rock, and latin music.

3. When I was a kid, I was inspired by The Beatles, Steely Dan, ELO, Fleetwood Mac, Tower of Power, Tom Petty, Motown, and Blondie.

4. Movies that have a focus on music - Woodstock, Blues Brothers, A Hard Day’s Night.

5. My first concert - Carlos Santana at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley. A powerful and spiritual experience.

6. Raymond Carver’s short stories. Minimal and intense slices of life.

7. Movies that put characters in morally challenging situations like Pulp Fiction, The Shawshank Redemption, The Big Lebowski, and Goodfellas.

8. In my late teens and 20s, I was inspired by the recordings of bands and artists like REM, Bowie, Talking Heads, and Peter Gabriel.

9. The Verve awakened me to what I call Proto Shoegaze. The textures and layers of “A Storm In Heaven.” And first wave Shoegaze bands like Slowdive, MBV, Ride, Catherine Wheel, and Lush.

10. The art and lives of Frida Kahlo and Georgia O’Keefe. Their independent and unapologetic dedication to their art has inspired me to do the same.

❓You’re known for your band EEP and more recently, your solo material in the form of the Rosie Varela Project, but can you say what you were doing before musically?

🅰️I think I spent from age 18-51 in a bit of a haze - working, raising my son, writing music in my spare moments, playing in cover bands here and there, and trying to find my voice as a songwriter. So I played every night in my living room and wrote a lot of songs that didn’t sound like me. It seems like I only recently found my voice.

So I’m a very late bloomer!

❓ Can you tell me a bit about how EEP got together?

🅰️I had been helping some musicians in El Paso to record their music, and through that met Ross and Sebastian of Brainville Studio. Because we worked so well together, we formed an experimental synth-based project called Something Something Sound System.

One day I wrote a shoegaze song for my husband that just came out of nowhere (in Spanish to boot!) and I recorded the whole demo at home in 2 hours.

“Hogar” was the first song I had ever written in Spanish. It felt really easy, fluid, natural, and everything just clicked into place organically. My husband Justin really loved it and encouraged me to talk to Ross about recording it as a one-off single. Ross, Seb and I started writing more songs and eventually I asked Serge and Lawrence to join us. The combination of our influences and ages made for a really great band dynamic.

❓How different is it working on a solo project without your bandmates?

🅰️The RVP is basically me taking songs I’ve written that don’t make it into the EEP catalog, in varied genres, and having fun producing them through a gazey lens alongside some of my friends in music. The big difference is I am learning how to produce my own music for the first time. My goal is to release 4 singles this year while I work on my 2022 solo album and so far it’s going well!

❓Have you found that Lockdown/ The Pandemic has impacted on you positively or negatively in a creative sense? Why do think this is?

🅰️For me, the pandemic has affected me positively. It forced me to adapt, modify, and accept a whole new model in making music. Songwriting and remote recording collaborations have had to become a bigger priority than rehearsing and playing live shows. I think EEP and I have pivoted pretty well in that aspect.

❓ I sometimes feel that although financially a lot of bands are struggling owing to miserly streaming platform revenue and (at the moment) no tours, getting music to an audience is easier than it was say, in the 1990s. It seems that social media is key. Have you any tips for bands/artists starting out in the modern music industry ?

🅰️I think figuring out your musical WHY is super important at the start. And every band member’s answer to that will build the collective creative effort and also the band’s calling card, so to speak.

Decide on your short-term and long-term goals and figure what you need to achieve each one.

Assess how each band member can contribute to them and make sure everyone buys in on those goals. If not financially, then with their creativity and skills.

Don’t be in a hurry and don’t be desperate about your music. If it takes a year to save up the budget you need to record your album, save and focus on getting your music ready. Be patient and actually have a solid release plan. I see some bands who release music quickly and often without any marketing plan and it’s sad to see these releases come and go with very little coverage or sales.

Don’t expect to make any profit from your music. Breaking even financially is a great goal to shoot for instead.

It’s important for DIY bands to set realistic benchmarks of success and remain humble about them. The myth of an album “blowing up” to huge financial gain is just that. A myth. It is extremely rare. Instead, think about different kinds of specific goals - how many Bandcamp followers, how many pre-order sales, etc. Make those goals achievable.

Our goal for EEP was to simply have 30 fans who would buy our music and to know our fans by name and cultivate real friendships. I’m happy to say we surpassed that number by a bit.

Use your social platforms to engage, inform, and have fun. Ask for help if you need it from people who you feel have figured it out. We use our social platform to geek out about Shoegaze bands we love, share our stories, and share the behind the scenes of our making music. We love to showcase our peers, and ask our followers about what they like so that we get to know them better.

And always, support those sho support you whenever you can.

❓What are your plans from a musical point of view next? Have you any pipe-dreams for post-lockdown?

🅰️For The RVP, I want to challenge myself musically by interpreting non-Shoegaze songs I’ve written through a Dream Pop and Shoegaze lens. Because I have so many different kinds of songs, it will either be really good or incredibly bad!! I’m willing to take that risk.

For EEP, the pipe dream is to tour the US and the UK when things stabilize and travel is possible. For now, our short-term dream is just to be able to record and rehearse together.

Next, just for fun...

❓Who is your favourite Beatle and why? For example, I like Ringo Star the best, because of his laid back man-of-the-people attitude, his sense of humour and ability not to take himself seriously, namely voicing Thomas the Tank Engine. Musically, in terms of personality, or both, which member of the Fab Four do you sway to the most?

🅰️I think lyrically John Lennon is definitely my favorite. There is a spirit of rebellion, humor, and absurdity in how he played with words and song structure, especially towards the end.

As a person, I identify with George Harrison the most. His curiosity and reverence for Indian music, philosophy, and using music to process the larger questions of life was a refreshing contrast to his bandmates’ style.

❓ I know, like me, you’re a Star Trek fan, so I couldn’t resist this one; Spock or Data and why?

🅰️I identify so much with Data for his quest to understand the different aspects and fullness of being human. I think that has driven a lot of my past and present interactions and relationships. He’s probably the most noble of characters in The Next Generation in his unflinching willingness to sacrifice himself for the needs of the many⭐️

🎼Below are links to Rosie’s latest single, ‘Low’ in her incarnation as The Rosie Varela Project, plus links to two Theresa’s Sound World reviews of music by Rosie’s band, EEP from last year ⭐️

🎧Listen to the single ‘Low’ by The Rosie Varela project: https://thervp.bandcamp.com/track/low

📚🎧: Read my 2020 review of the single ‘Hogar’ by EEP, including listening platform links to the track: https://www.facebook.com/116279076583978/posts/180288703516348/?d=n

📚🎧Read my 2020 review of the album, ‘Death of a Very Good Machine’ by EEP including listening platform links to the album: https://www.facebook.com/116279076583978/posts/198924518319433/?d=n

#MusicBlogger #MusicBlogs

#MusicWriter #MusicBlog #TSW #MusicReviews #TheresasSoundWorld #MusicReviewer #Shoegaze #Dreampop #Indie #AlternativeMusic #Writer #EEP #AlternativeMusicBlog #UK #IndieBlogger #TheRosieVarelaProject #UnderGroundMusic

#alternative music #tsw #underground music #theresa’s sound world #music blogger #uk #music writer #music blog #shoegaze #Dreampop #indie #eep #the Rosie varela project #music interview

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auskultu · 7 years ago

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Liverpool of the West

Ed Denson, Berkeley Barb, 15 September 1967

San Francisco is being called the Liverpool of the West or something like that because it is presently the creative center of the new music which is coming onto the charts.

This week 3 of the top fifty Ip’s in the country are by San Francisco groups and there are 2 other Fresno Ip’s in the top 200. Everywhere in New York’s music industry they speak of the San Francisco groups, and yet there is something a little strange going on which probably points to something else which is happening.

If I had to define the essence of the Frisco sound to people, and I do often here when someone in a suit will look at me and say “just what is the Frisco sound anyway, I don’t understand this new music” I think of the endless flickering evenings I have spent in the Avalon and the Fillmore listening to walls of dark pulsing electric blues cooking with interminable guitar solos, musicians wavering back and forth as they play to a darkened hall half filled with entranced hippies watching glassy eyed and half cauldrons of energy where whirling dancers bodies become molten and flowing as the music meets their minds; and I say, “It is a new development of blues with some of the rhythms stretched, and a great deal of improvisation” and subside into a silence as the echos sound in the back of my consciousness.

“The Frisco sound is the Quicksilver Messenger Service, the Grateful Dead, Big Brother and the Holding Company, and Steve Miller,” I say, “ drawing on the blues of Muddy Waters and Paul Butterfield who were the first to show it could be done, and done today.

“Above all I think of Frisco as the blues, a development of a tradition which began in the flat Delta of the Yazoo in Mississippi, nfoved to the slums of Chicago with the northward flight of the country negroes, and thru a gigantic cosmic coincidence was found meaningful in Liverpool and San Francisco when the people there needed a music.

And then I smile and say to myself, “yes, you understand it. The Frisco sound is blues, a new and exciting, almost intellectual blues, but basically blues” and God knows that Butterfield, Bloomfield, the Animals, Canned Heat, Cream, Cotton, Dead, Buddy Guy, Yardbirds, Junior Wells, Jimi Hendricks, Blues Project, Siegal Schwall, Howling Wolf, Steve Miller, The Stones, Johnny Hammond, and Big Brother are all blues bands.

And God knows that they are all very successful blues bands who can play the new psychedelic circuits from Boston to D.C., from Vancouver to Los Angeles; for serious proper New Yorkers’ sipping ice cream sodas at the Go-Go and the wild hippies at the Avalon and the Fillmore; and their records even those from the heavy bands which get no airplay, sell respectable amounts and they appear at Expo and the State Department ships them around the world. Yes, yes, its true, and I think of it and feel that I am right in what I have said to the suit in New York.

Except for one thing. The Three Frisco groups that are on the top 50 of this week’s Billboard charts of best selling pop records, are not blues bands, and if what I have said to the suit is correct, in some sense they are not central to the Frisco sound either. Moby Grape is perhaps closest to a blues band, but the Fish and the Airplane are not at all.

The Grape is a shooting star, you blink and you are not certain that they exist at all. They spent little time in Frisco actually, or anywhere else that I can put my finger on, but they got one of the most fantastic promotion jobs imaginable with literally tens of thousands of dollars spent lifting them from obscurity to their present status in a hurry.

The Airplane is a rock band, they mix pop with hard rock, and a little of something else; and the Fish seem a little more undefinable and yet certainly they are more pop than blues. It is their something else, and the Airplane’s something else, and perhaps the Grape's something else ihat have made the difference.

The present popularity of the blues is the result of a cosmic coincidence, an accidental crossing of cultural lines of force, and it is not likely to live long after those lines cease to cross. You can see the lines by looking at the present blues bands: there are the “real” bands, the southside Chicago Negro bands who have played basicly the same music since they moved north and invented it in the early fifties, playing in the crowded clubs ol the ghetto and periodically renewing themselves with road tours of the Negro South.

It is their music, it means something to them and to their original audience which it does not mean to me, or the bulk of its presenl audience. The associations are not there, it is a tremendous intellectual effort to ferret out the meanings of the verses, even the surface associations are not present.

Just what is a mojo hand? what does it look like? what does it feel like to buy one in Louisiana and to move among the women knowing that your mojo means tha any of them are yours if you wan them, and wondering if it wil really make you invisible so you can steal, and what do you owe the mojo factory for it? I don’ know any more than a southside Negro could know what it was like to go off to the Western Front for the Kaiser'with a copy of Nietzsche in his back pocket.

The second wave of blues bands are the English, who seem to have taken the music as top forty material from the records that were brought to port by sailors and played it in the basement clubs in Liverpool or later London because it was the sort of thing tha everyone wanted to hear.

The early Stones imitations of Slim Harpo, and the Beatles copies of Chuck Berry seem to be a sort of nostalgia for the old radio hits certainly that was the reaction that they aroused in many hippy hearts in the mid sixties; the good ok stuff that they don’t play anymore, reminds me of high school and my early life; then they seized it and moved into their own ways of thinking and expressed contemporary England and its problems.

Who knows whose daughter runs off with someone from the motor trade, and what do all those farmyard sounds mean to an Englishman? And when those guys burn their equipment in an orgiastic destruction who in their American audience was a part of Dada?

The Beatles have once again become Englishmen with their new record, and we will have to be also to hear it all, and I imagine that the others will follow suit. Anyway the nostalgia is gone now, now that someone has played like the fifties and then moved on, the desire to hear someone else play like that is extinguished.

And the third wave of blues bands were the hippies, and they played blues for just the opposite reason that the Englishmen did, and for a reason not connected with southside Chicago, they played blues because it was not rock and roll, and so not corrupt. For the hippies used to be the people who listened to folk music . . . did you ever hear that one about the monkees in a cage who all got splashed by their keeper everytime one of them reached for a banana, and they would put a new monkee in the cage and he would reach, and all the others would kick the shit out of him so that he wouldn’t get them splashed, and everytime they put one in they took one out until finally they had a cage full of monkees who had not ever been splashed but who kicked the shit out of each new monkee that reached just the same.

Thats the position of the hippy who validly asserts that he never listened to folk music . . . because it was not corrupt rock and roll, and because in its protest phase it began to express the things that they were concerned with. They went electric just when the southside Chicago bands had just been admitted to the number of the untainted after years of people saying that they were too much like rock to be real; and there was this civil rights generation empathy for the Negro and his life.

All of this has changed. The Negro is going to lose his position among the hippies because black power seems frightening and unpleasant, and unsafe for the white hippy, and it probably is; the civil rights movement is about over, just as the fifties rock nostalgia is over, and the line between rock and hip music is very blurry with three hip bands in the top fifty along with the Beatles, Stones, and Dylan. The non-musical attraction which the blues had among the middle class whites are no longer realities in the young middle class mind.

The hip groups, the Frisco groups which are making it, and inevitably setting the path that the others who are going to be successful will follow, are not blues bands, they are something else.

They write their own songs, for the most part. This is the key, because their own material is more in tune with their audiences’ mind than old blues. The Airplane, have had tremendous success with their second lp, due in great part to the two singles which became hits from it: “Don't You Want Somebody to Love”, and “White Rabbit”, both of which strike themes, obviously intensely meaningful to the audience which they, like all of these bands, must reach, the 18-30 year old hippies, bohemians, and uncommitted college students.

“Love” is about the pains of emotional isolation, “Rabbit” is about acid, unless I hear incorrectly, and these are themes that neither the southside blues band nor even the English, until very lately, could get into.

“Bass Strings” or “Sweet Lorraine” by the Fish have the same quality: the treatment of grass, and intellectual chicks, is not something the Negro or English bands could have written because they do not share the experiences. The very successful bands are beginning to express a particularly modern-white-middle-class-American consciousness—one which their audience is most interested in, since it shares it, just as its fathers share the whisky consciou-ness problems which Sinatra sings of.

Now that the Airplane, Fish, and Grape have discovered that a vast audience shares their consciousness, there is no return possible. There is no cold calculation about it, it is a cultural fact.

Would you watch a leading college student be introduced to LBJ on NBC; how about a hippy being introduced to LBJ on LSD on NBC? Nothing calculating about it, its just that one will pick an experience with which one can identify.

I ought to close this letter with a prediction after so much analysis, doubtless I who have toured the 42nd parallel with the Fish and been exposed to many hours of other bands, can take this experience and mingle it with my sharp powers of mind, and predict which bands will be great in the future.

But no, outside of Frisco most of the bands sound very much like the Yardbirds, and that will have to change if they are going to make it; a few sound like white Motown but they are always doing black Motown material. Nothing promising there.

Among the Frisco bands who are not well known I can't predict because I’ve been out of the scene for over a month: Mad River and Mother Earth seemed promising, the former for its songs, the later for Tracy Nelson's singing, but lord only knows what changes have gone down since I left. Thats it, can you dig it?

#san francisco #summer of love #haight ashbury #berkeley barb #music criticism #hippies #counterculture #psychedelic rock #Moby grape #Jefferson airplane #country joe and the fish #1967 #1960s #sixties #60s

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troutfishinginmusic · 5 years ago

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Essay: The difficult humanity of Iggy Pop’s solo discography

Most interviewers will talk about The Stooges, maybe touch on the Bowie years and leap to whatever album Iggy Pop is currently promoting. There’s a lot of history missing in between all that.

Iggy’s solo discography, from New Values to Après, is a lot to take in. It truly runs the gamut, from radio pleas to experimental fuck-offs. I’ll try to provide nuance and context wherever possible as I go through each kind of Iggy record from this period. That said, it isn’t an easy body of work to assess.

Here comes success: Pop albums

Iggy’s attempts to fit into the mainstream are fascinating. New Values (1979) possibly had the the greatest chance to become a hit. It’s an album that does a fine job threading the needle of Iggy’s punk, avant-garde and pop sides. You don’t have to imagine too hard to see a song like “Tell Me a Story” getting radio play.

New Values also may be one of Iggy’s strongest solo albums. Songs like “New Values,” “I’m Bored” and “Five Foot One” are undeniable classics. There are few flaws to be found (I’ll get to that later).

There’s a genuine commitment to the material on Party (1981), but crossover mega-stardom proved to be elusive. It may have been hard for audiences to forget this guy making radio moves was someone who, only a few years prior, was known for rolling on broken glass.

It’s a bummer because there’s more to Party than the cover would lead you to believe. It’s a solid 80s album with more lyrical depth than what you’d find on the radio in that era. No one could argue it’s his best, but you can definitely put it on and not skip a track.

I met you out at the Mardi Gras On a French Quarter sidewalk When you kissed me, it was strong I wonder if you'll hear this song

- ��Pumpin’ for Jill” from Party

Iggy lets his crooning take center stage for the first time as well. It’s more fully developed on later albums like Preliminers or Avenue B, but it didn’t have far to go. His version of “Sea of Love” on Party is one of the best, falling just short of Cat Power’s cover.

Blah-Blah-Blah (1986) is just a well-executed 80s pop record, but you do get the nagging feeling it doesn’t feel as natural as other Iggy albums. The best songs are one’s like “Cry for Love” where he brings out his incredible goth-y croon to great affect. And it’s hard to hate a song like “Real Wild Child (Wild Child)” even if it is desperately clawing at the pop charts.

Solider is solid but doesn’t quite reach the heights of the focused, but flawed, New Values. “Take Care of Me” and “I Need More” are great, straight forward punk songs. “Mr. Dynamite” is one of his better stabs at incorporating pop and avant-garde. “Loco Mosquito” is a solid pop song that slips in punk lyrics. “Get Up and Get Out” is a rare feminist song that works perfectly in its simplicity.

I'm wondering fellas if you've heard the news The chicks are sick and tired of being abused Now I saw all this on the wide screen You know that chick Bette Davis split right out of the scene

- “Get Up and Get Out” from Soldier

“I’m a Conservative” is Iggy’s tongue-in-cheek lyricism firing on all cylinders. It’s placed next to “Dog Food” where Iggy thumbs his nose up at all the stereotypes people had hung on his shoulders up to that point, for better or worse.

Cold Metal: LOUD rock albums

Iggy has consistently said how boring big dumb rock albums are in interviews, especially Nu Metal. Yet at different points he still feels a need to put up a big ugly noise, while slipping in interesting lyrics, just to prove he can. This has meant different things at different points.

If you can get past the terrible hair metal-esque cover art and seriously flawed production, Instinct (1988) is actually kind of interesting. It pales next to the Stooges albums, but if you’re more partial to the rocking side of Iggy’s career you could do worse. Some highlights include “Easy Rider,” “Cold Metal,” “Strong Girl” and “High on You.”

The worst of these “rocking” albums, and possibly his worst album overall, might be Naughty Little Doggie (1996). It’s just sort of an embarrassing slog. The best songs (like “Knucklehead”) are passable and have a nice grinding blues-y thing going on. It sounds like the album a rocker would make to stay up to date with punks in the 90s.

Naughty Little Doggie also contains some repulsive and confessional lyrics, which I’ll get to later. It’s an understatement to say this thing is probably questionable to a lot of ears, but it is important.

American Caesar (1993) is interesting. It sounds like Iggy striking a good balance between rocking out and introspection. It’s also sort of a concept record.

“Jealousy” is a great acoustic song with simmering hatred just barely contained. There’s a great “Louie, Louie” cover that adds some political commentary. “Boogie Boy” is probably his best song making fun of big dumb rock music. There are standout songs, but the thing works best when you listen to the whole thing.

Now every mornin’ I wake up at nine I'm eating cheerios with red wine I'm reading that book but it's not too good Cuz my boogie head is made outta wood It's a fact i get so much joy When i can go out and be a boggie boy

- “Boogie Boy” from American Caesar

American Caesar is very long, with a runtime of over 70 minutes. You have to be in the mood for it and ready to hang in there for the whole thing.

As I revisited all of these albums I was shocked by how much I liked Beat ‘Em Up (2001). It’s extremely heavy and extremely funny. I made the mistake of reading reviews about it before I actually listened to it. It’s much more than a big dumb rock album.

A song like “Football” does a lot of things at once and somehow succeeds. Iggy is able to make a song where he imagines himself as a football being thrown around sound oddly touching. “Mask” and “V.I.P.” are are some of his best rant-y songs in a long career of them.

Complicated crushed up disappointed squirming angry thrusting stabbing regretting starving greedy human alien being, struggling down the street, up the alley, in the elevator, through the party, to the office, in the bedroom, on your way to the morgue.

- “Mask” from Beat ‘Em Up

It’s also HEAVY. It may even be heavier than the Stooges records in some ways. Mooseman from Body Count joins his band, The Trolls, on the album to provide some great lowend (sadly it was his last album). I never thought I’d find myself getting into this album but it’s actually pretty fantastic, although a bit long.

It’s totally what The Weirdness should’ve been. With a bit of time I could see this being a bit of a cult classic. Plus it gave birth to this great performance.

Till wrong feels right: Famous collaborator albums

Brick by Brick (1990) is a well-constructed early 90s rock record and it sounds like it. It’s damn catchy, especially “Candy.” It features session pros and rock royalty from the time like Slash. It’s all executed well, but it’s not really something you’ll return to often.

One interesting song on Brick by Brick is “Butt City,” which is as goofy the title suggests but does slip in a some pretty good social commentary about racial profiling by police. This and “Mixing the Colors” from American Caesar explain Iggy’s views on race in a plain way, which was overdue.

The cops are well-groomed, with Muscled physiques in Butt Town Their tan uniforms are tailored in chic In Butt Town Any young black male who walks down the street Is going to get stopped by a car full of meat But the girl with the hair Flies by in her underwear

- “Butt Town” from Brick by Brick

Skull Ring (2003) is an album that is the epitome of hit or miss. Iggy brought in marquee punks like Green Day and Sum 41 and it actually kind of works. His Peaches collaborations on the album are fascinating but aren’t songs you’ll come back to often. Their best collaboration is a song called “Kick It” on the Peaches’ album Fatherfucker.

The bad songs with new collaborators are at least interesting. Strangely, songs with the newly reformed Stooges and previous backing band The Trolls are the ones that don’t jump out. There are a few gems like “Superbabe,” “Whatever” and “Dead Rockstar,” though.

King of the dogs: French albums

The French albums Iggy made are both stunners. They seem ridiculous on first blush but, once you get over your own preconceptions, they’re great.

Préliminaires (2009) has it’s roots in a Michel Houellebecq’s novel, New Orleans Jazz and bleak existentialism. “King of the Dogs” is such a perfectly suited cover for Iggy. “I Want to Go to the Beach” is a devastatingly minimal plea. “Party Time” is a goofy song with a very 80s propulsive bassline. I can’t say enough good things about this album.

Après (2012) is great in a lot of the same ways but is a more straight forward covers album. The selection is great. His version of Yoko Ono’s “Going Away Smiling” is perfect, though it’s hard to beat the original. There are also some great Serge Gainsbourg, Beatles and Cole Porter covers. This is definitely worth seeking out.

Buried in a melting coffin: Experimental albums

It’s been resurrected with the documentary Gimme Danger, but most don’t think about the Stooges being one of the first noise rock bands. This is apparent in some of their discography, but the very early version of the band (when they were called the Psychedelic Stooges) supposedly sounded like The Melvins. Iggy even played the vacuum during shows. There are no recordings from this period. This is all relayed by Iggy in many different interviews. He was also very closely associated with the Andy Warhol crew and drew from a variety of boundary pushing influences as a record store clerk in Ann Arbor. In his solo discography, this willingness to push boundaries comes out on occasion.

Zombie Birdhouse (1982) was recorded in Haiti, following Party. It’s a very difficult album to unpack, so I’ll do so carefully. Imagine Iggy made his version of David Bowie’s Lodger album, at least in terms of lyrical content. Most of the album revolves around the idea of an American in a place he doesn’t understand. It’s the most political thing he ever recorded.

The opener “Run Like a Villain” depicts America bombing its poorer adversaries. It’s a wonder that he rarely ever made songs like this since it’s so effective. For example:

Big Dick is a thumbs-up guy He shot a missile in the sky It functioned just as advertised Until the fire made him cry

“Run Like a Villain Zombie Birdhouse

“The Villagers” is a bit hard to take but it fits the tourist theme of the album. “Watching the News” is a super experimental song about Iggy doing just that in a very uncomfortable, but effective way. “Ordinary Bummer” and “Platonic” are solid ballads. The best songs are the uptempo “Eat or Be Eaten” and “The Horse Song.” The ladder has these crazy drone-y parts that are molded into something insanely catchy. I’d submit it as one of the best songs he’s ever done.

This is such a vastly underrated album that was sadly undercut a bit by the production at the time. That’s since been improved on the remastered version, which I can’t recommend enough.

Avenue B (1999) is very reflective. It’s jazzy and slower moving than most of his discography. My guess is that his new album, Free, is going to be very similar to this based on the songs that have been released so far. That’s a good thing.

Collaborators like John Medeski provide a great foundation for Iggy’s lyrics to be on full display. Everything from acoustic guitars to bongos crop up, creating a subdued and gentle springboard to dive off.

You can tell Avenue B was an album he wanted to make for a long time. It explores a lot of difficult things. From being in love with fascist to the problems of a relationship with a much younger woman.

This is a course corrective from Naughty Little Doggie, picking up where “Look Away” left off. It’s the beginning of Iggy becoming a bit more accountable for his past. There are still some cringe-y moments, especially on the otherwise great “I Felt the Luxury,” that don’t age well. But, on the whole, it’s honest and the start of a new chapter.

(Don’t) look away: Contradictions and skeletons

You don’t have to look hard through Iggy’s solo discography to find "problematic” lyrics. The messages aren’t always handled well but they’re more honest than anything you’ll find on a typical rock record. That’s an important distinction.

Confessions

There’s a sense of willful forgetfulness rock fans have about teenage groupies. Every now and again I’ll hear a movie like Almost Famous called “dated,” even though that’s totally what happened at the time. While many thinkpieces point to the fact that there were laws in place that made this illegal at the time, they totally miss the point about public perception on this issue. Just because there is a law on the books doesn’t mean people will care or follow it. This wasn’t just a rock star problem, even if it’s easier to tell ourselves that.

Pretty much every rock icon you can name from the 80s and earlier has this skeleton in their closet. Iggy is no different in this regard.

The difference maybe is honesty. “Look Away,” from the album Naughty Little Doggie, is a very unpleasant but real song. It doesn’t romanticize the power imbalance and lays it out simply in the first line.

The song discusses Iggy’s relationship with Sable Starr and her subsequent doomed relationship with Johnny Thunders. You’re not going to hear a confession like that on an album by Jimmy Page or the Eagles, even though they have more reason to clench up about the topic. Honesty doesn’t make it easy, though. In Iggy’s own words in the song “What we did once, I wouldn't do again.” Hopefully that’s true.

I don’t excuse any of this, it’s terrible. Especially on an album with a creepy, leering song like “Pussy Walk.” Naughty Little Doggie is a difficult album to sort out. Yet it does lay bare all the downsides of the glam lifestyle (which in many ways he was a part of) and abandons any mythologizing about it. I do think we can discuss these things and learn from them, but I would never recommend anyone buy this record. If you want a reason to not listen further, this is it.

The flip side is that Iggy has been an ardent supporter of feminist art throughout his career and obviously didn’t see creeping on teen girls as a contradiction. He should’ve known better and been held accountable, along with scores of other artists from his era. We know better now.

It seems he does too and has been working to change this prior to the metoo era and has never tried to act like something he’s not. In recent years he has made a tangible efforts to correct these past mistakes, which I don’t see other artists from his era doing. He has recently raised money for the Girls Rock Camp Alliance charity. He’s championed independent female artists like U.S. Girls, Pins, Le Butcherttes, Noveller and countless others. Small steps, but steps nonetheless.

Race

On the whole Iggy been way ahead of the curve on race politics, but has one awfully ignorant song on his album New Values. His views are made a bit clearer on American Caesar and Brick by Brick, but this is still something worth discussing.

In pretty much every interview he’s given he’s made sure to promote the black music that gave birth to rock and roll. Early in his career he backed black musicians as a drummer and has collaborated with them throughout his career. He drew influence from traditions that weren’t his own and made something totally unique. He didn’t steal from other cultures. That’s far ahead of the time.

What isn’t is a song like “African Man” which was either intended to be edgy or goofy, but just ends up being kind of racist. There’s no way around that. It’s just a terrible song that ruins the near perfect New Values. It’s a fucking bummer it was ever recorded and I sincerely hope it doesn’t give someone the idea that it’s funny to say something like that.

I would chalk this up to ignorance that a good deal of white people had at the time. Movies and cartoons depicted Africans as savages and cannibals. I think this is what he was trying to replicate and possibly parody. For someone who supposedly had an interest in social anthropology early in life, I’m surprised he would utilize a stereotype that blatant. This makes me personally think it was supposed to be a parody. There comes a point where none of that matters, though. It sadly ends up giving comfort to those who hold backwards views on race.

I’d love to actually know his thoughts on this stuff, but no one actually asks about it in interviews. It’s frustrating because it’s an issue he gets right more often than not. It’s better to confront these things than to pretend they don’t exist. I think that’s the only way forward.

There is one moment where he does apologize for accidentally using a dated term in a past interview. Maybe that’s a good indication of how he feels today.

Break into your heart: Conclusions

It’s hard to write objectively about an artist who means a lot to you. I tried for years to figure out a way to do this coherently (it probably didn’t end up working). I saw a few OK lists spring up dissecting some of these albums, but they always seemed to just graze the surface. There was always something lacking.

They missed the honesty and humanity on display through a long and complicated career. They would mythologize the usual parts. They would gloss over the difficult parts. They would diminish the efforts for something better.

To me Iggy was a catalyst that didn’t just birth a movement for disengaged youths to stick safety pins through their noses. It was much more than that. He opened a door for marginalized people to scream about the oppression they face daily. He promoted difficult and confrontational art. He is a mirror for America’s best and worst impulses.

For me, and many others, his life represents a struggle to survive and keep getting better. He’s survived bad reviews, severe drug addiction, divorces and a host of other things. There’s something so powerful to that simple notion of getting back up after falling hard that many times. I think that’s why, despite his flaws, people still care.

It’s been difficult to grapple with some of the regrettable parts of his discography. I think everyone is doing that now with their record collections in some way. There are no easy answers. It really comes down to how you want to engage with art and commerce. I’m not going to preach to you or tell you how you should interact with art. Iggy Pop is a lot of things, but above all else he is transparent. I can live with that.

After some deserved success and recognition with Post Pop Depression, he’s ready to step out on a limb with his new album Free. I can’t wait to hear it.

#Iggy pop

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deusnatura · 6 years ago

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Mamoru Nagano On 'L-Gaim', 'Gundam' And The Fractal Nature Of 'The Five Star Stories'

One of the foremost creative people in manga and anime that I have always wanted to talk with has been Mamoru Nagano. A wonderfully polite and thoughtful polymath, I was finally able to sit down with him and discuss his extensive creative output. 私がいつも話したがっているのは、マンガとアニメの最もクリエイティブな人々の1人です。素晴らしく丁寧で思いやりのあるポリマスで、私はついに彼と一緒に座って彼の広範なクリエイティブな成果について議論することができました。 For fans of Nagano’s work, you’ll know that he has an incredibly involved and detailed approach to things. However, it’s interesting in how that manifested when he was growing up. 永野氏の作品のファンにとって、彼は物事に対して信じられないほど複雑で詳細なアプローチを取っていることをご存知でしょう。しかし、彼が成長したときにそれがどのように表れたのかは興味深いです。 “I am from Kyoto but not the city itself, outside the city, is an area called Maizuru. This is a town that has a Navy base, it's a port town. It was also really in the countryside, so information was pretty limited and as I was growing up. I was very much a country boy. That meant if everyone was watching TV and hooked on baseball, then I would also be obsessed with baseball. When the Olympics came along and volleyball became popular, then I would follow volleyball. Then came tennis, it was just like that. So I was quite an ordinary child. 「私は京都出身ですが、街の外ではなく、舞鶴という地域です。これは海軍基地がある町です、それは港町です。それはまた本当に田舎にあった、それで私が成長していたので情報はかなり限られていた。私はとても田舎の男の子でした。つまり、みんながテレビを見ていて野球に夢中になっていたら、野球にも夢中になるでしょう。オリンピックがやってきてバレーボールが人気になったとき、それから私はバレーボールに従うでしょう。それからテニスが来た、それはちょうどそのようでした。だから私はかなり普通の子供でした。 “When it came to hobbies, I was very interested in things like plamodels. However, as someone that was born during the 60s, as a person from my generation that was something everyone experienced simply because there was a craze surrounding making plamodels. In addition, when I was younger I used to listen to the Beatles and American pop music. So I was into music but again, at the same time, everyone else was listening to things like that. 「趣味になると、私はプラモデルのようなものに非常に興味がありました。しかし、60年代に生まれた誰かとして、私の世代から来た人としては、プラモデルを作ることに夢中になっていたという理由だけで誰もが経験したことでした。また、私は若い頃、ビートルズやアメリカのポップミュージックを聴いていました。だから私は音楽に興味がありましたが、同時に、他のみんながそのようなことを聞いていました “However, when I was at high school I seemed to listen to this kind of music in a way that no one else did. In that, I wasn't listening in a passive way but I really dug down and got really into it. Maybe that was a little bit different. 「しかし、私が高校に通っていたとき、私は他の誰もしなかった方法でこの種の音楽を聴いているようでした。その点で、私は受動的な方法で聞いていませんでしたが、私は本当に掘り下げて、そしてそれに本当に入りました。多分それは少し違っていた。 “So when everyone was listening to the Beatles, everyone knew them and their songs but in my case, I knew which member of the band did exactly what at what time. I had very deep knowledge, almost encyclopedic, compared to my friends. The same went for things like fighting vehicles, as in which model did what. I had all this deep knowledge, whereas my friends were more passive. I suppose this is just my character. 「それで、みんながビートルズを聴いていたとき、みんなが彼らと彼らの歌を知っていました、しかし私の場合、私はバンドのどのメンバーがまさに何時に何をしたか知っていました。私は私の友人と比較して、ほとんど百科事典の、非常に深い知識を持っていました。どのモデルが何をしたかのように、同じことが車の戦いのようなものにも行きました。私はこの深い知識をすべて持っていましたが、私の友人はもっと受動的でした。これは私の性格だと思います。 “With tanks, I did have a specific interest and the amount I knew was not normal. It was hardcore. Looking back, if someone could count he knew what the best in this area I reckon I would be quite near the top. 「戦車では、私は特別な興味を持っていました、そして、私が知っていた量は普通ではありませんでした。ハードコアでした。振り返ってみると、もし誰かが彼がこの領域で何が一番良いのか知っていたならば、私は一番上にいるだろうと考えています。 “For instance, in terms of plamodel, there is a company called Tamiya. When I was in high school, Tamiya hosted a contest and I won a prize. I also loved music and I actually wanted to become a musician, to the extent that I could make a living out of it. I would devise ways to become a musician and get out of Maizuru. During those days, in Kyoto and Kansai if you chose to leave the area, perhaps the biggest city would be Osaka or Nagoya for University. In my case, I wanted to go to Tokyo instead because I thought it was the center. Admittedly, during that period both Osaka and Nagoya were cultural centers as well, but for me, Tokyo was the real center. Specifically, for music Tokyo was the place to go. That meant when I went to University, I studied music and when I left University I played music for the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy at the Atsugi and Yamato Bases. 「たとえば、プラモデルに関しては、Tamiyaという会社があります。高校生の頃、タミヤがコンテストを主催し、賞を受賞しました。私も音楽が大好きで、実際に音楽家になりたかったのです。私はミュージシャンになって舞鶴から抜け出す方法を考案するでしょう。その間、京都と関西でこの地域を離れることを選んだ場合、おそらく最大の都市は大阪か大学の名古屋でしょう。私の場合は、東京が中心だと思ったので代わりに東京に行きたかったのです。確かに、その間は大阪も名古屋も文化の中心でしたが、私にとって東京は本当の中心でした。具体的には、音楽のために東京は行くべき場所でした。それは私が大学に行ったとき、私は音楽を学び、大学を出るとき、私は厚木と大和基地でアメリカ陸軍、アメリカ海軍のために音楽を演奏したことを意味しました。 “With manga though, it's quite difficult to describe exactly how I got into it but like how everyone was interested in building plamodel or listening to the Beatles as a kid, everyone was also interested in manga. That meant while I was growing up Osamu Tezuka was a big figure. Anyway, with music, the records had these large 30cm slipcases and on the cover, there was normally an illustration of one kind or another. I was very interested in that.” 「漫画では、私がどのようにして学んだかを正確に説明するのは非常に困難ですが、みんながプラモデルを作ることやビートルズを子供の頃から聞くことに興味を持っていたようです。手塚治虫が成長していたころは、それは大きな人物でした。とにかく、音楽では、レコードはこれらの30cmの大きなスリップケースを持っていました、そして、カバーの上には、通常何らかの種類のイラストがありました。とても興味がありました。」 Starting Out With Cosplay And Building Friendships With Future Anime Legends I am always curious how people get into things like manga and anime and Nagano’s route is especially interesting. With a unique approach to cosplay at a time when it wasn’t at all commonplace. “While I went out to Tokyo, not all of my friends did and I used to gather information for my friends back in Kyoto, in terms of music and things like doujinshi, these weren't like fanzines by the way. “For anime, I always thought it was something beautiful and during that time, Space Battleship Yamato by Leiji Matsumoto was on, there was a film as well. When I was in Tokyo, through the doujinshi friends of friends I was involved in drawing and I was quite skilled at it. In that, I would draw something almost photorealistic. Throughout my 20s, music and anime existed in parallel for me. So I was doing both. “In Kyoto during this period, there were a group of friends who were supporting Mobile Suit Gundam, that was in 1979. So to support that they would do activities as part of the fan club. There were also a lot of women in the fan club and I was amazed at the power of women when they got determined to do something. “So there were members of the fan club that wanted to do a film showing of Mobile Suit Gundam in Kyoto and they would get in touch with the film company and do all sorts to get things organized. They contained this enormous amount of power and energy I felt. So I got involved and I wanted to help them. When they discussed what to do, they decided to include cosplay and through that doing some kind of play with acting. That meant I would get involved with the comic market as well. In those days, there was really no one that did performances on things they admired in front of an audience. So it really stood out. To the extent that various anime and manga magazines would cover the events we did and show photos. Due to the fact that we were known in that way and stood out that much, somehow the record company and production company began to get in touch with us. So we would appear in events as some kind of attraction. “At the same time as I was doing all this in Kyoto, there were other guys doing Gundam related things in different places. These being Shoji Kawamori and Haruhiko Mikimoto. Separate from the comic market there were also a bunch of guys who were doing films. As in science fiction anime films in Osaka. There was a group of them, five of them altogether, and there were trying to make these anime films on their own. That included Toshio Okada and Hideaki Anno. This was Daicon. “Even we were all working in parallel in somewhat different genres, we met with each other at that time. Little did we know then that we would end up reshaping the entire anime industry. We honestly never thought that we would all be part of the same industry later on in life, we were all just University students. “At one point though, these connections that I established while at University sort of discontinued somehow. This was because the comic market was run five or six times, all of them together probably individually participated perhaps twice or so. However, as we all realigned ourselves to move onto what would come after University, we kind of lost contact with one another. I didn't think too much about this and that I would go back to music again but somehow around that time an event took place again. “My group of people in Kyoto that I was part of, were contacted for a Space Runaway Ideon event. That was run by one of the Sunrise representatives and they approached us to represent the fandom and do another performance for the event. This Sunrise guy was also making a TV program featuring the fandom. “In this cosplay group, there was a lady that went into working in animation as a professional. She joined Artland, alongside Kawamori and Mikimoto working under Noboru Ishiguro. There it suddenly became a bunch of young people learning how to make anime properly. So this group went on to make things like Super Dimensional Fortress Macross. Looking back, and while this may be a bit unfair to say, Macross did have a certain immaturity to it but it was definitely powerful and full of energy and, above all, it was new. What's more, young staff had made it and it became such a big hit. “In order to help create Macross, there was Anno who would later go on to create Gainax but before then he was there. So there was a period between 1982 and 1983 where young people were really making things happen. “Artland at that time was actually located in a building that was renovated from being a love hotel. That meant it had really small rooms but a lot of them. Anime studios used to rent out places like that because they didn't have that much money. I think this was in Okubo. So in those days, you would have people sleeping in the corridors, it was just like that and then they made Macross. “To explain, I was not involved with the production of Macross, I just watched my friends make it. However, when I joined the anime industry later one, all of these friends turned around and said: “could you actually draw?!?”. They had no idea.” Moving Onto Sunrise And Creating Heavy Metal L-Gaim What was helpful here was how Nagano broke down his early and formative months at Sunrise, which seemed crammed with all manner of different and overlapping productions. “So now I need to go back to that Ideon event I mentioned earlier. I had a friend who was organizing this event but at that point, I wasn’t sure whether to continue my studies at University or just leave. It was that critical point. At that time, coincidentally, because Macross had been such a success and produced by a group of young people, Sunrise was asking whether there was another young guy who could do something like Macross. So this friend, who knew I could draw, recommended me to someone at Sunrise and that's how I got into the anime industry. “When I got into Sunrise, I showed my drawings to Masuo Ueda, who was a producer. What I showed was really different and the way I spoke was different, so they thought I was rather unusual. So they never knew whether I could do this as a professional but they told me to try various things. From that point on, I was assigned to the third studio under Eiji Yamaura, who was the section chief. “I pretty much did anything that came my way at that point, so I did drawings for toys and all sorts of other things. This maybe was in January 1984. “From January to March of that year I was on a trial period if you like. During that time, my boss came up with a new idea for a series called Round Vernian Vifam. As there were a lot of mecha needed for this series, the third studio asked me to start drawing mecha for this new series as a form of practice. The Puppet Fighter from 'Round Vernian Vifam' was one of Nagano's first designs for anime. Credit: Sunrise “I showed the drawing of the Puppet Fighter to my boss and the design was accepted, this meant I was now useful to the studio and I was asked to join the company officially from the start of April that year. That meant my trial period was successfully completed. “Actually, when I joined it was quite an unusual setup because usually, nobody became an employee in this way. So even though I was based in the third studio, I was meant to directly with the producer and director and the requirement was that I do any work that these people ask of me. That meant it could be absolutely anything and was also in part outside of the third studio. In short, my job was doing anything and everything for Sunrise as a studio. “While I joined Sunrise as a designer, in fact, I was just told to do everything. Everything meant I was to work with the producer to do the planning, presentation and the financial side as well. I would also oversee who was doing what and effectively become a production manager as well. “While I was told to work on Vifam smoothly, I was also needed to work for all the other studios. However, not long after this Giant Gorg started under the direction of Yoshikazu Yasuhiko. That meant a famous animator was making Giant Gorg but in order to do that, Yasuhiko needed someone who was knowledgeable about weaponry and mecha. So he asked about this to pretty much everyone in the company and they answered that there was someone who just joined and I was brought in front of Yasuhiko in the fourth studio. We spoke and Yasuhiko would show me the picture of Gorg and ask me if I understood this and I said "yes". I also wanted to be looked upon kindly and I told him that there is no one more knowledgeable than I am about these matters. Then Yasuhiko asked me a few questions on how would a vehicle like this move and what does it do, I seem to have answered these correctly and he then offered me work on the project, specifically to work on things like a tank. “At this point, I had to explain that I was expected to work on Vifam but the company explained that because Yasuhiko was so important, so they couldn't neglect his request. That meant I had to do both, as in work on Vifam and Giant Gorg. “What Yasuhiko needed for Giant Gorg was that he wasn't looking for someone who could just draw weapons, helicopters and other hardware. What he wanted to know was what was happening inside of this machine, specifically in the case of the large tank type vehicle called the Beagle. So things like how does it work, how does the engine function, how would it be driven. These kinds of details were what Yasuhiko wanted. In short, he wanted to know how would something work and how could it be used. With all the knowledge I had on these matters, I came up with how all this would work and function. So I drew all the inside detail of the Beagle. “That meant while the external design of the Beagle was done by Yasuhiko and the inside was me. However, because I had to change parts of the inside, that meant Yasuhiko had to change it externally to fit. “To clarify on who designed what, Yasuhiko designed Gorg and the outside of the Beagle, I did all the other weapons and vehicles. Things like the blowback you get on a real tank firing its cannon, nobody else really knew about these kinds of things but I did. So I drew that into the technical designs of things like the Beagle. “Back in those days, normally you would always have the people in charge of the art ask me "why do you need to do that?" but Yasuhiko was the kind of person was if it was that way, in reality, then do it that way in the anime. The Beagle (top) from 'Giant Gorg' had its internal mechanics redesigned by Nagano (bottom). Credit: Sunrise “On top of doing Giant Gorg and Vifam, I was called in by the second studio to submit a design for the Billbine from Aura Battler Dunbine. At that time, the second studio was also doing Dunbine and the main mecha was going to transition over to the Billbine and that meant they needed a new design for that. So I went "to hell with it" and fitted it in with all my other work. I then submitted my design to this competition and Yoshiyuki Tomino already knew of me and was looking forward to seeing what kind of thing the new guy would design. However, after submitting my design I learned later on that Billbine's design was already set at that point and that Tomonori Kogawa had done it. I didn't understand why I had to do it and the whole thing was quite heartbreaking. “Anyway, my main work around this time was for Vifam but at that point, Yamaura started to ask me to create a new series that would come after Dunbine, as Tomino would be finishing up work on that soon. All of this was around June in 1984 I think and when I asked if they just wanted me to design the mecha, they replied: "no, the whole thing". That meant I had to do all the planning, story and everything else, which was crazy. They asked me to come up with a proposal for this new series and new types of mecha that had never been seen before. At that time, I really liked Star Wars and based on that I thought about what if I did a road movie on a planet that no one knows. There would be big mecha with boys and girls traveling and by the end of June, I submitted the first designs for Heavy Metal L-Gaim, these were the early designs for the Vatshu and Auge in case you are curious. “I initially did all this work for the second studio but I obviously belonged to the third studio. However, Ueda was looking for a new project to follow-up with after Vifam but what happened was that in July, I delivered my presentation but Dunbine's sponsor, that of Clover, actually went bankrupt and then Bandai came in as a new sponsor. So I showed my L-Gaim work to Bandai around this time and they accepted it straight away. However, there was a bit of internal reorganization to do at Sunrise because L-Gaim was done for the second studio but I belonged to the third studio and Ueda wanted a new project. In any case, it moved to the third studio and Sunrise wanted me to focus on this and that I could withdraw myself from Giant Gorg and they would let Yasuhiko know and for Vifam I could ramp down a bit, but I still would have to work on it a bit. So all these arrangements were made and L-Gaim was going to start. “If you see the dates, you realize all of this was done over the course of three months. It was fun. “At the end of July, Bandai gave Sunrise the go-ahead for L-Gaim but the only staff on the project at that point was just me. This meant both Yamaura and Ueda had to figure out a way to make this happen in terms of the staffing. They initially found someone that would do the direction and the working title for L-Gaim was going to be "Explorer", so they told me to get to work. “From that point on, say around August, it was all go and I was to build on the planning as well as do rewrites. Not to mention also having to do drawings for the toys. Then suddenly in September, I was called into the Sunrise headquarters and told that Tomino was now going to direct this series. “The thing was that I had actually known Tomino for a long time by this point because back when I was doing all that Gundam cosplay and helped with all those events, I met Tomino around that time as well. However, the moment Tomino came on to direct it meant that this would now be a project for the second studio and that caused all sorts of mayhem. The upside was that this was now going to be a follow-on mecha work from Tomino, so everything went ahead with that. “I think how Tomino and I previously knew each other was unusual and unique really. When I met him for the first time at work, yeah it was unusual. So the director and the designer, or the boss and his staff, but it was also a different relationship compared to other people. I'd say now, after all this time, that we really respected one another. It was a very good relationship. “Tomino had this capacity that he could really pull up people who had done nothing before and then value them. In that, consider them as someone who could draw in a way nobody else could. That was quite special I thought. “In a way, Tomino, Yasuhiko and Kanda are very respected but somewhat feared because they were such a force within the industry. In my case, they really treated me like just another human being, always respectful. In that regard, they showed their true face I felt. “Yamaura later explained why everyone was kind to me and he explained that there was no one in the anime industry during that time who could hold a conversation and greet properly. It was always mayhem, with people doing all sorts of things simultaneously. It was very friendly obviously. However, in this busy environment, I would greet someone and say "excuse me" and be polite. Apparently, that made a very good impression.” Working On Gundam And Moving Away From Sunrise One of the more unfortunate aspects of Nagano’s work at Sunrise was how his mecha designs weren’t really incorporated properly. Famously, his work on both Gundam ZZ and Char’s Counterattack was replaced, so I really wanted to find out more about this. I already spoke with Yutaka Izubuchi about his work on Char’s Counterattack, but I obviously wanted Nagano’s viewpoint on what happened. Unfortunately, the issues started earlier on Zeta Gundam it seems, as Nagano went onto explain in detail. “L-Gaim was obviously my debut animation, I really wanted to cherish it and treat it as something special. Luckily, L-Gaim was also awarded number one in a popularity contest in Animage and it was definitely a hit animation in 1985. While I was working on L-Gaim, towards the end, it was announced to me that the next project would be Zeta Gundam directed by Tomino. Obviously, I heard about all this before the public knew and Tomino asked me to work on it. At the time, I was happy but quite frightened. This was a big project. “Before it was officially announced that I would work on Zeta Gundam, Tomino said that at the end of that year he was going to the U.S. for a convention. For that convention, he wanted to bring some new Gundam related ideas, so he asked me to draw them. This later was commonly known as one of the early Hyakushiki designs. “Towards the end of L-Gaim, the staff were beginning to think more about Zeta Gundam and in general other staff were fading away from L-Gaim's production. As L-Gaim had been my first big project I wanted to see it through with a full force of people but I saw that the energy of the team was slowly shifting towards preparation for Zeta Gundam. I also had to make new mobile suit designs, so I didn't have too much time to think about all this but I felt a tinge of sadness at the time. “Again, it's getting a bit complicated, so I need to separate L-Gaim and Zeta Gundam here. As for Zeta Gundam, I had to design mobile suits and I wanted to do something new. Kunio Okawara was going to stop work for a while and instead of his designs, it needed to move onto something else. That was the idea. From that standpoint, I did the Hyakushiki, Rick Dias and Galbaldy Beta. However, when I submitted the designs they were heavily criticized because they didn't look like typical mobile suits. I was really broken-hearted at this but at the same time really angry. Now, looking back, I can understand why they said no because, for those people, who had been surrounded by the world of Gundam, they already had an idea of what Gundam should be like. However, Tomino and I shared a view that it needed to be a new Gundam. After L-Gaim, Tomino was of the opinion that mobile suits must also change because L-Gaim, after all, proposed a different type of mecha. I was the main mecha designer for Zeta Gundam and that was supported by Tomino. That says it all. “The fact is that with anime that there are so many different opinions, there would be sponsors, the plamodel makers and for Sunrise and Bandai a series like Zeta Gundam would be financially important for them. After the project started and I submitted those three designs, following this an enormous number of mecha designs arrived on my desk. I think something like thirty-six mecha designers were hired in order to provide extra designs and I was to look at all these mobile suits designs and fish out ones that could be used in the series. “After evaluating all of these designs, I concluded that very few of these were really usable. However, amongst them were the designs of Kazumi Fujita and he could really draw. He was meant to assist me. Then it became obvious that the previous re-incarnation of Gundam was somewhat necessary, so Okawara came back and he did three designs, namely the Gundam Mk. II, Hi-Zack and Asshimar. As I was quite young, I declared that I would leave the project if it was going to be like this but I did complete the work to help out Yasuhiko because he had so many projects but at the same time was meant to be involved in Zeta Gundam. That meant he was doing the character designs but the number of character designs he submitted was not nearly enough, so I also supported him in terms of those. Once that stage was over, I left the project entirely. “This is obviously the story from my point of view, others may not see it this way but that's how I saw the situation. It was very frustrating but I think both Okawara and Yasuhiko found it similarly if not more frustrating. It wasn't a happy experience for me. “With Char's Counterattack, we need to go back before that and follow-on with Gundam ZZ. Kenji Uchida the producer came up to Tomino and I to ask to work on it. We said yes and asked on what, he said "everything". So we did all the work but again just before it was going to be shown, it was all canceled and changed. It was really strange and I don't know what happened but in Bandai, there was a guy called Shimizu and he said that my work was fine, so let's start it. In fact, merchandizing had already started and the manga version was available publicly. So my version of things like Gundam ZZ was in the public domain. Then it got canceled. I was furious. So I don't know why this happened. “After Gundam ZZ, the next one was going to Char's Counterattack. Tomino approached me again and said let's do it together. I said okay if you say so. So I started to do the designs and ended up doing all the mobile suits this time around. Tomino then came over and told me that for whatever reason I was sacked. I had to give it all up. “In short, Tomino wanted to work with me but some other force somewhere interfered and it was canceled again. “For the bulk of the Char's Counterattack designs, most of these were done by my protege, I cannot remember the name right now which is a horrible thing to happen because I should remember. “I think it was very difficult for Yutaka Izubuchi on Char’s Counterattack because Tomino had in mind a certain design that I had already done, so Izubuchi was assigned to work on something I would have done. So that would not have been easy for him at all. “I think there was some force within the industry that really disliked my version of Gundam. Like your Gundam and our Gundam kind of thing. Even with the power of someone like Tomino, it was difficult to make it all happen. Although we were really in it together. “I would imagine that within Tomino there was a certain reservation because if he used me full-on it was going to be my work. So he probably wanted to use elements of my work but not to the full extent maybe. It's not clear though. In some sense, Gundam is a work that is very complex and sensitive. Delicate. “Now it has been forty years since Gundam and we can choose which type of Gundam is your favorite in a much more open environment. However, up until Char's Counterattack, it was a very narrow approach and what Gundam was very strictly defined. “It was like Star Wars and George Lucas, so with or without him is it really true Star Wars or not? The same went for Tomino's version of Gundam.” Creating The Five Star Stories And Its Fractal Structured Story For many, the work that people recognize Nagano for is his ongoing and expansive manga The Five Star Stories. Starting back in 1986, the manga is still unfinished and Nagano has no intention to conclude it any time soon. However, his aversion to animated adaptations of his manga work is something that was both interesting and made a great deal of sense. “When I was still working on L-Gaim, especially towards the end it was changing as I said. Around this time, a publisher called Kadokawa approached me and asked me if I would like to put a storybook together because it sounded really interesting. In doing this, I decided to pour out all of the original story I planned at the beginning for L-Gaim. This formed the foundation for The Five Star Stories. “Working on anime meant I was approached by many publishers and many media as well as record companies, all sorts really. Naturally, you also had many publications about anime as well. This may not be something one would usually do but I specifically and exclusively work with Kadokawa because I found the company really interesting. When I made that decision all by myself, The Five Star Stories was born. “To clarify, there is no narrative connection between L-Gaim and The Five Star Stories. Obviously, they are both made by the same person but I consider them as clear and distinctly separate projects. “I think here I should go back to my experience with making plamodels. Mecha in anime are essentially there for toys but the mortar headds in The Five Star Stories are not. I always wanted to make something real. If it existed in the real world, how would it look? What kind of scale would be it be? How does it feel? The texture. I wanted to communicate all of that. For that, normally in manga or animation why do you pursue detail to such an extent and no one really bothers with that. However, I really wanted to. I wanted to make it exist as it were a real thing. “A good example of these is how Thunderbirds and Ultraman differ. There is a distinctly separate approach between the two on how they tackle realism. For instance, the way that airplanes are depicted in both series is starkly different. I think the difference is in things like Star Trek, they legitimately make the costumes, weapons and all of it to a high level of detail. Whereas in Japan, the approach is always simplified. In a way, it can be positive to take this approach but it can also be seen as dumbing it down. “Up to a degree I was inspired by European knights for the mortar headd designs. Of course, The Five Star Stories is aimed more at adults but at the same time, I consider it very important to take into account how these mecha would look like if children saw them. So the LED Mirage is something like a Roman Knight, with the symbol on the shield coming from things like the Crusaders or Saint George. Whereas the Vatshu is closer to a Japanese samurai but other mortar headds do have a European influence. I really studied this. The first book for 'The First Star Stories' was used as the basis for the anime movie adaptation. “When children saw the LED Mirage they saw it simply as white and red with a pointy helmet. In a way though, children are complex because, at the time of the release of numerous Gundam shapes and forms, things like the Hambrabi and Qubeley were not considered all that cool then. Now, after all this time, people think they are really great. So you really have to plant the seeds to get them to think something is really cool at a young age and that's quite important. “I want to find out why this change has occurred and think that perhaps there might be a shape that people might like or a shape that would be almost safe. Maybe my designs included quite a lot of those shapes perhaps. Also the time I spend on creating things. “There is also this too, in that it is to do with the extent that my work influenced the younger generation. Those who were influenced by my designs and my ideas, they are now in the industry making work of their own. In some ways, they are partly under my spell I suppose. So when they create something that is considered cool and then the origin of that can sometimes be traced back to my work. “I reckon it's like The Beatles, with the following generations with bands like Oasis, Coldplay and all sorts of other groups all wanted to be in some way like The Beatles. So when these new bands are successful, that feeds back to the effect of The Beatles. Not that I aimed to be anything equivalent to The Beatles or anything like that. “The Beatles were an enormous success, not only did the latter generation of musicians admired them and it remained in the cultural context. Even politically, time and time again coming back to that era, that success, that cultural context, is something that the British government would reinforce if you like. To remain as a key cultural influence. “With video games, the current gaming generation wants to create cool mecha and they are already partly under my influence so it would come back to my type of mecha. I think that is how it works. “When it comes to doing video games related to The Five Star Stories, that's a no I am afraid. The story from the manga is already complex enough and I don't want to make it even more complicated than it needs to be. This is something I have been saying in Japanese interviews, with anime and manga there is scenario but with a game, if you fix that, in the same way, it's not going to be interesting. “As for building the complexity into the stories in The Five Star Stories, the setup is actually quite simple. To start with I make the core story, I then divide that into two parts. Then again into another two parts. I keep on dividing and this process can be done infinitely. It's like a fractal. However, it always comes back to the core stories. That's why it feels complicated in terms of all the detail but is in fact quite simple. “People often say that they can never predict when The Five Star Stories will end and how it will end, and in a way it is infinite but it will always come back to the key stories. I am not thinking of ending it anytime soon though. The story is now almost self-perpetuating. “One thing I take great care with in terms of the story in the manga is not to include any religious thoughts or my own agenda. “There is no specific inspirational external source for the story as such. For instance, the first episode the aim was to make it really easy to understand. So I thought about the ending of the film called Graduation, the climax was to be like that. Really simple. There was also another idea, which was starting from the grandfather's generation and then filtering through to the grandchildren, over a fifty-year span. So the idea that it would be the following generation to generation, that was something I thought about. Other than that, it really started by making a historical timeline and then looking at it and thinking "this part could be interesting". That's it really. “There are some stories that I build really meticulously and then there are some where I don't think too much at all. While there is a part I have for self-exploration, I always leave parts for the fans, for them to play with. There are things I might plan but the rest is at it comes. I just follow what I find interesting. “When it comes to the anime adaptation of The Five Star Stories made in 1989, I actually opposed the idea. When the anime was proposed, there is almost a jinx that whenever a manga is adapted into an anime, the manga finishes. It was really to do with the fact that all the successful manga really peaked when the animated version's popularity reached its highest point and then the manga finishes, almost fades away. I didn't want that to happen with my manga. So when the anime was proposed, I felt "is this it then?". I will say that I really trusted the creative team behind the anime version, it was many of the staff who worked on Macross and they are almost like part of my family group. I actually think the anime is a compact and solid little movie. What's more, among the anime that Sunrise made it was one of the best. “It's also worth clarifying, that while the anime versions can be simplified, what would take the manga hundreds of pages to explain, an anime can embody that all at once in maybe a single scene. “This is why I gave the go-ahead for the animated version in the end because I know what each medium can do. However, the anime version meant that I had to abandon the stories of Lachesis and Sopp. So these didn't really appear again after the animation was released. I was forced to change the scenery of the manga version entirely. “For the model kits and other merchandising, in a way and particular during that time it was moving more towards smaller productions. At the same time, I always had in mind how could I keep it not to be utterly consumed.” Hana no Utame Gothicmade And The Future Towards the end of the interview, we got onto Nagano’s latest animated work, Hana no Utame Gothicmade. This is part of The Five Star Stories but set a few thousand years before the events in the current manga. It’s also a movie that has no domestic release and is only available in theaters. While Nagano has separately explained this is down to technical limitations of domestic Blu-ray and other such players, he also gave another entirely separate reason. Not to mention, he explained that the previous issue of anime adaptations ending the run of a manga was something he again wanted to avoid. “Moving on to Hana no Utame Gothicmade, it's the same thing as The Five Star Stories. It has only been interchanged from one to another. Basically, I thought that some of the original mecha in the manga had become too old-fashioned and not really usable. So I refreshed it, that was my decision. “I've not really talked about this before but my decision was based around the original mortar headd designs looking too old. Maybe I am completely incomprehensible, as no one would ever think of doing such a thing but I did. “Up until the 90s, I made twelve volumes of The Five Star Stories but my feeling was that its visuals were reaching the point where they were starting to look absurd. However, people would say that the mecha designs looked very cool and the story in the manga was amazing. “But for me, there was no more to be done with this setup and yet I didn't feel like stopping the manga, so how do I extend its life? “When I started the manga for The Five Star Stories I was working with the technology I grew up with. If it was to be a telephone, I would use something with a rotary dial. However, if I was to look out the window today, I would see kids playing with things like smartphones in a completely different way. “Within myself, I felt that why should the technology in this fantasy world I created behave in this old-fashioned way. That certain mecha joints had to work in a particular way or typing stuff into older computers or just the general movements of the mecha themselves. Everything just stopped making sense to me, so I had to change it as it became so unrealistic in this imaginary future world. “Think about it, all the things where you would have messengers arrive with letters in a carriage. That is now a text message or e-mail. Or if you read a newspaper with a large headline, that is now a blog post online. It changed and I didn't want children to read this and think it was some kind of really retrospective form of fiction. After all, modern kids would not see the older editions of The Five Star Stories and think this was the future. The updated design approach used in 'The Five Star Stories' and 'Gothicmade'. “The Five Star Stories is in the future, so I would obviously have to make further progress into the current technology available and then restart it. So all of this was the major motivation for me to restart everything and that was the foundation of this new beginning to The Five Star Stories. “When it comes to Gothicmade, there is no plan to release this on home media. A movie is a movie. However, I wouldn't want to see this released internationally in theaters either. All I want is to have the longevity of this. “It took seven years to make Gothicmade and then released in a very limited way. People may have to take a day off to come out to see it, so it's quite hard to get a viewing and yet I want it this way. At the same time, after people would see they may think that it is complete rubbish or some may even think it is great but I essentially need this pressure to continue to create something that is worthy for my fans effort, attention, love and care. “It's a road movie really, not so much a mecha anime but I want to keep it like something that is released now but in a few years later it is still touring. This I can guarantee, it is different from any anime you may have seen so far. The way it moves and the way it works. “The movie was made at Kadokawa and the two top people at the publisher were really understanding and supportive of my Gothicmade project. Obviously, I come from the background where I know how many people are needed for an anime production. So we gathered around the necessary personnel and made it work. “In animation, you might think that thousands of people are needed but it can actually be made with three to four people. So the total core team for Gothicmade was about twelve people. Producer, fund manager, three artists, two people for scheduling, two artists for coloring and another two assistants for coloring. All the other elements would be outsourced to other companies. “Doing other projects apart from Gothicmade, just let me know and I would be there straight away. “The reason Gothicmade took seven years was that we started from cold but now that we have a team, but we were to do another movie then it would take around three to four years. Having said that, Hayao Miyazaki et al makes anime movies in such a way these days. So the smaller team is nothing new but I have to admit that there are so many people in the anime industry that help me to make Gothicmade. It was almost as though there was no one left in the anime industry that hadn't helped in some way. For that, I am extremely grateful. After all, there were people that weren't really credited but they all helped. “I think it would be impossible for a regular manga writer or artist to make something like Gothicmade but because I am in the anime industry and all the people recognize me as a part of them, there was a support structure available for me. “I would like to make another movie though and that will be The Five Star Stories. “In terms of the future of my own work, after Gothicmade and The Five Star Stories, there's nothing really. 'The Five Star Stories' manga has been running within the pages of Newtype magazine since the mid-80s. “When it comes to international releases of my work, there are really few people that are truly bilingual so I can't tell how many things the translators changed in order to make something like the English release of The Five Star Stories manga happen. So many translators had to leave the project and new ones came along. There is no exact vocabulary to match and that's frustrating. “So in the case of The Five Star Stories manga translation into English, it's as though you need to fully understand the 16th century British English. The classical form of English. It's different but the understanding and feel of the terminology, the way that people connect with each other, that needed to be understood and expressed through this. Unlike some of the American interpretations that it should be easier to understand for kids, I didn't necessarily want to take that approach with this project. There really are very few people who can really command two different things from a separate time period. “I also have a problem with the way Japanese content is marketed abroad. Currently, there are schemes like Cool Japan and all of that, so manga type contents are pushed to other countries. Almost in a way to forcefully accept the point of view and the way things are from the very Japanese viewpoint. That's not the way I want to go about dealing with releasing my work internationally. I also question that methodology, so I don't really want to be complicit in this big push. At the same, there are contents that are accepted abroad. From an early age, children may like the world of something like Final Fantasy or Pokémon. So the polygonal nature or elegant nature is understood for what it is and there are fans who would support it. Taking the whole thing quite naturally. However, from something like the Final Fantasy side, there is no push to get people to understand it in a certain way. There is no dogmatic cultural agenda. “If I were to introduce the manga of The Five Star Stories to different countries and cultures, at least at the beginning you would have to understand where they are standing culturally rather than where the work stands in Japan. I would like to have this approach at least considered. “To clarify, I am fine with creating non-Japanese versions of things like The Five Star Stories manga. I would actually encourage it. However, when I do it I would like to different versions for different countries. So British English for people in Britain and American English for Americans. The Spanish version, Italian versions, etc. That's how I think it should be. “For Japan, to date, as long as they make an English version of something it's not okay, you have to consider which audience this is going to. You have to think. “Let's say if I went to America, there would be fans of The Five Star Stories. You would have all sorts of people from differing cultural backgrounds. They will all come at the manga from different cultural viewpoints. However, if I wanted to be culturally sensitive it is not as though I could title it for these different groups of people. “I have certain questions, as I understand that in America there is a movie and it is aimed at everybody. It's all-encompassing. For something like a simple entertainment type movie, that would be acceptable. However, something like The Five Star Stories I am not sure if that is the way to go. “It is an endless issue. If someone gets interested in my peculiar drawings and mecha, then obviously that's a good thing and I don't think too hard about that.” Finishing up with Nagano, I realized how long the interview had gone on and that we could easily have continued our discussion further. It’s clear that he’s still very busy and creatively occupied, so that makes me happy. Not least because we can all look forward to more work of his in the future. https://www.forbes.com/sites/olliebarder/2019/04/04/mamoru-nagano-on-l-gaim-gundam-and-the-fractal-nature-of-the-five-star-stories/#5504c0d66733

#永野護

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onestowatch · 6 years ago

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gnash Reveals Secrets About His Broken Hearts Club Tour and The Meaning Behind Debut Album, ‘we’ [Q&A]

Photo: Jimmy Fontaine

Hailing from Los Angeles, gnash was always involved with music in one way or another. He started exploring music on the internet from the comfort of his own home, and now, the rapper just concluded his headlining tour to sold out audiences across the country. gnash received worldwide success after his hit single “i hate u, i love u” featuring Olivia O’Brien in 2016. But gnash’s real talent was showcased in his three EPs u, me and us which were released in the span of two years from 2015 to 2016.

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Fueled by his personal mission to help others feel better, gnash released his debut full-length album we, on Jan. 11. Track by track, the singer captivatingly reminds listeners that no matter what they go through, they are never alone. His shows are high energy, but gnash still conscientiously makes concerts feel intimate for fans. He frequently requests for the lights to be turned on so he can connect with as many people as possible. Many fans relate to the lyrics and some are even moved to tears. In everything gnash does, it is clear he just wants to encourage people to smile.

This Valentine’s Day, gnash released the fan favorite track, “imagine if” featuring ruth b., as his latest single from we.

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We chatted with gnash before he performed for a sold-out crowd at the last stop of the North American leg of his The Broken Hearts tour.

OTW: Growing up in LA, were you around the music scene? What made you want to pursue music as a career?

gnash: My dad got me a digital turntable when I was like 13 or 14 so I’ve been DJ’ing since then. I would just kind of do parties or friends’ houses and stuff like that. But I always loved music and I was always super into studying what was popular online, and then I think that’s when I realized I wanted to be in the music business. Well, I knew I wanted to be in entertainment because my mom and my godmother were in entertainment but I didn’t know what faction. I found out USC, which I really always wanted to go to, had a music business program so I set my sights on that. I transferred to USC and then towards the end of my time there, I started recording my voice on things and expressing myself in that way because I had been in a relationship for a couple years and I was going through my first real breakup. I was super inspired by that, just to get a few things off my chest, so I started making songs about it and that’s how I kind of got started.

OTW: Your first three EPs are titled u, me and us. Now you have your debut full-length album we; what’s the meaning behind these titles?

gnash: When I set out to make we I knew that I wanted it to be an album for everybody. So where u was something for one person, and me was something I kind of made for myself, and then us was something I made as a plea for something to become a thing. I wanted to fill we with songs that I thought everybody could connect with. So the core consensus and the mission statement I landed on is “if we feel together, then we’ll feel together,” and what I mean by that is let’s say for example tonight at the El Rey, a bunch of people come in and they’re gonna sing songs that I wrote, but I never knew that a thousand people would like them and would want to sing along with them. Maybe they come to the show alone or with one friend, and they see 800 or 900 other people who are singing as well and these are ideas and statements that people attach themselves to because they connect with them and so does everybody else here, and then automatically you are less alone which inevitably makes you feel better.

OTW: Congratulations on we! What was the process like creating it?

gnash: So for the album I started working with Jeff Levin at Atlantic Records. and I have a partnership with them with my label happysad. Jeff came on and he wanted me to tell stories in rooms with one other co-writer and an acoustic guitar. He wanted me to write a whole album of acoustic songs and then we’d worry about production. Basically what that did was prove The Beatles rule which is if a song is great over four chords and an acoustic guitar, then it’s a classic song. And so I knew the album was gonna take me a long time to make but I also knew that if every song was starting like that, it was gonna have that kind of longevity that I thought it needed to be relevant to people, some songs two years later. But what that process allowed me to do was wipe the slate clean for expectations for me or what at least I thought people were expecting from me, and then what I ended up coming back around to was more authentically me then I’d ever been before. I’m very thankful to Jeff for bringing me to that place.

OTW: What’s one message you hope listeners receive when people listen to we?

gnash: I think on the surface it’s if we feel together, then we feel better. And so when they listen to the 35 minutes top to bottom, I did my best to create them a sonic journey. Even if you’re having kind of a weird day, hopefully by the end maybe you’re feeling uplifted and you wanna throw a peace sign in the air and kind of say you feel better, that’s really the goal for me I just wanna help people feel better, and so I hope that’s what people walk away from we feeling, cause I’m not out here saying I’m the best singer or I’m the best musician or I’m the best performer or anything else like that, I just know that there’s a lot of people that would like to feel better and if I can be a small or large part in that for them, then that’s awesome.

OTW: You describe your music as “happysad;” what exactly is happysad?

gnash: To me happysad is kind of the range of emotions I exist in. I have really intense serotonin bumps and bruises, so sometimes those bumps go way up, sometimes they go way down. I like to think that I exist on this sliding scale between happy and sad all the time. Like if you had a graph and there was a line, I’m always kind of rollercoastering above and below that line. If I’m feeling below the line, what do I do? I write a happy song, but it’s gonna be about a sad subject. And if I’m above the happy line and I want to stay there, what am I gonna do? Probably write a song about feeling great, and then maybe three days later I’ll feel sad and then I’ll finish it that day so it’ll kind of add that kind of flavor to it. I always want to make sure everything I do has balance because if you don’t have happy then you don’t really know what it means to be sad and vice versa, if you’re never sad then you don’t know how great it feels to feel happy. I just try to have as many great days in a row as possible and if I have a bad day then I try and make sure I don’t have another one the next day, cause that’s how you form a bad habit.

OTW: Online you ask fans what song off we makes them feel better; is there a song by another artist that makes you feel better when you listen to it?

gnash: “Imagine” by John Lennon always makes me feel fantastic. “All You Need Is Love” by the Beatles, I’m a big Beatles fan and their songs always make me feel great. Most of Bob Marley, doesn’t really matter the subject matter, I just really think there was an energy that he put into every song he made that was just uplifting in a way that I just don’t know many people are capable of. “Don’t Worry Be Happy” is for when I’m really feeling down, I’ll put that on and it’ll always make me smile because it’s just silly and so beautiful.

Photo: Jimmy Fontaine

OTW: For your meet and greets you do arts and crafts with your fans; what inspired that?

gnash: I’ve always done my best to talk as long as fans want to talk and hang out but there’s still time constraints on that. We wanted to do something special and we were like, “Why don’t we just do something fun and make arts and crafts with everyone?” So we have 10 people a night come in and hang out. We burn an incense, we all drink half a liter of water and we have a different activity every day. Some days we’ve done Valentine’s Day cards to yourself, we’ve done self-love garlands, we’ve made slime, stuff like that. I ask them what they’re grateful for and how many pets they have, everybody introduces themselves, and then I encourage them to make either some kind of group text so they can all stay in touch because I want everybody to feel like they’re walking away feeling better, but there’s more than just saying you feel better. Maybe you create a support system with a group of friends, so why not meet them at arts and crafts or meet them at The Broken Hearts Club meeting? There’s been a lot of people who have become friends from it, and I see it online, and I’m excited for the next tour because I think people will come back together and even if they don’t come back to my show, maybe they’re lifelong friends and that means the world to me.

OTW: What is The Broken Hearts Club meeting?

Gnash: During The Broken Hearts Club meeting, we come out and take a group picture, I speak briefly, I do my best to hug everybody, there’s a couple selfies taken, but it’s mostly just about the human connection. And secretly we give out passes throughout the night. If somebody just comes in a homemade tshirt or if somebody is particularly emotionally moved by the show, someone in my camp keeps an eye out. Everybody secretly has a sleeve of wristbands underneath their hoodies and makes sure that everybody that we notice or feel like needs to be there, is there. It’s been fantastic, and to be honest it’s been what has gotten me through the tour because normally by this point in the tour I’m exhausted and ready for bed, but on this run every single day I wake up excited to make arts and crafts and then play a show and then hug 150 people or however many people are gonna be there because it’s hard to do that and walk away not feeling incredible on my end to. I’m extremely thankful for it.

OTW: What are your plans after this tour?

gnash: Well I’m gonna go home, which is about 10 blocks from here and then I’m gonna get started on my next little body of music, and I’m always working on new stuff so I don’t know where it’ll live eventually but the next month until we leave for Europe, is gonna be just music music music. And bringing friends over and writing with people and writing little songs when I’m alone or when I’m with friends and just really just getting back to my roots on that front like what I did with the first three EPs. And then every now and then one of those songs will probably feel more album-y, and I’ll probably hold onto it for a little bit longer, head over to Europe and play some shows and then for the rest of the year I just wanna keep hugging people and helping people smile and seeing people smile, you know you can’t make them smile but you can try to help. That’s my goal, is to see energies rise.

OTW: Who would be your Ones To Watch?

gnash: Guardin who is on first tonight, fantastic. As well as Mallrat who plays second she’s amazing as well. And also this guy Field Medic he’s a fantastic singer, and I’m a huge fan of his. Pretty much all of my friends, cause I’m always watching them and I’m excited for what they do next. When I get home, I’m excited to start exploring Spotify or Apple Music and just explore the web and see what shows its face. I’m always trying to find songs that have under a thousand plays on them and just like fall in love with stuff that way cause at the end of the day I’m still kind of like a pretentious music listener and still want to know that cool new thing that nobody’s heard of yet because I love that feeling.

#gnash #broken hearts club #interview #we #hip hop #pop

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randomkellyc · 6 years ago

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"SINCE U BEEN GONE" WAS THE BEST POP SONG OF 2005 AND ALSO OF ALL TIME, PROBABLY

This article is part of 2005 Week on Noisey, where we revisit all the best and worst pop culture relics from a decade ago. Before Kelly Clarkson’s massive 2005 banger "Since U Been Gone" came marching in and put a mosh pit in the pop world, pop and rock were yet to cross-pollinate in any major way. The divide between the two drastically different sounds and their pop culture affiliations was still as deep as Nick Carter’s middle part, especially after the tweeny-pop reign of Mickey Mouse club alumni. Our beloved 90s pop stars like Britney and Christina were aging out of the 90s at the same time as we were. Radio pop's transition into the Aughts was in the same awkward stage as the listeners it ushered into middle school. On the other hand, rock music was in commercial standoff between blink-182 rip-offs like Good Charlotte and insufferable FM sludge-rock from Nickelback and Staind. Both sides of the coin were pretty gnarly with songs like “The Reason” by Hoobastank and “Numb” by Linkin Park earnestly ruling rock radio. But that all changed in 2005, when the indie rock boom shook the foundation and cut off its circulation to the mainstream with skinny jeans and bass lines. One reason that the onslaught of indie rock bands like The Killers, Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand, Spoon, and Jet hit so hard in 2005 had a lot to do with the fact that it happened to catch both mainstream pop and radio rock at a pivotal moment of weakness. Pop-punk was siphoning off into “emo” while pop music took a nose-dive into a big, bad drought. Since Brit Brit and Xtina were regrouping in preparation for their second-comings a few years later, the pop world turned to the trusted Disney petri dish for its newest torchbearer. However,Lindsay Lohan, Mandy Moore, and Hilary Duff—all who had released albums with radio jams in 2004—failed to really explode as pop stars. Newbie singers like FeFe Dobson and Skye Sweetnam never made it past a hit single. I mean, the strongest family in pop at the time was Ashlee and Jessica Simpson (this was obviously before Ashlee's SNL disaster a year later.) That said, things were not OK. Pop just wasn’t cool anymore. Given the political climate in the US post 9/11, the most popular songs were inflated with a distinctly American, anti-Bush rage and urgency that was seriously lacking in pop music. That said, “Since U Been Gone” was the first mainstream pop banger built like an indie rock single. All you have to do is look at the charts to see what was happening to pop before “Since U Been Gone.” The top ten leaned towards R&B like Beyonce and Alicia Keys as tweeny-pop got sucked into the mighty undertow between soul slappers like from the Black Eyed Peas, Jo Jo, Pussycat Dolls, and Mariah Carey’s “We Belong Together.” Where the heck was pop hitmaker Max Martin—the genius producer responsible for Britney Spears and The Backstreet Boys—to steer 90s pop nostalgia back up to the top? Turns out the elusive Swedish producer (who’s currently responsible for all your favorite radio bangers from Taylor Swift to the Weeknd) had taken a break from the Hot 100 and left the pop world without one of its crucial behind-the-scenes masterminds. In a rare 2010 interview with Billboard magazine, Martin credits "Since U Been Gone" for his re-emergence as a star producer. Its blistering indie rock structure of quiet-loud-quiet made the song incredibly innovative at a time when the old pop loop had wrung around its own neck. It was desperately time for something totally new. It makes sense that the man who had once changed the music industry by wiping out what was left of grunge with songs like “...Baby One More Time“ and “I Want It That Way” realized that pop needed a guitar-rock kick in the ass to assert itself into relevancy again. By observing the rebirth of 90s alternative break-downs in popular indie singles such as The Killers' “Mr. Brightside” and Bloc Party’s “Helicopter,” you can see how someone as perceptive as Martin would think to bring a hard rock edge to the pop rut. Lukasz Gottwald aka Dr Luke, who helped to produced “Since U Been Gone,” said in the same issue of Billboard that introducing rock to pop was “a conscious move by Max and myself [...] We were listening to alternative and indie music and talking about some song—I don’t remember what it was. I said ‘Ah I love this song’ and Max was like ‘If they would just write a damn pop chorus on it!’” Sure, they may have ripped off “Maps” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs a bit, but that was the point. “Since U Been Gone” was intentionally written to bring an edgy rock flare to the pop sphere. Time has proved its enduring cross-genre appeal, as indie musicians like Ted Leo and Tokyo Police Club continue to cover the 2005 classic. But a pop song as obviously bent towards rock as “Since U Been Gone” was going to be hard to pull it off without its perfect matching pop star. In order to fully understand why Kelly Clarkson was the only pop singer who could pull it off, it's important to consider just how the song got to her in the first place. The most understandable choice for a vocally demanding song like “Since U Been Gone” was P!nk who surprisingly said no thanks. It was then brought to Hilary Duff who couldn’t hit the high notes. Think about the landscape of the other reigning pop stars: Jessica Simpson was dedicated to her wifey life as the “Southern girl with her Levis on.” Britney was deeply in love with trucker hats and K-Fed before coming back with Blackout. Post-“Dirrty” Christina Aguilera wouldn’t give up the 50s pin-up shit, and Mariah Carey was already way too established as the sophisticated chanteuse she is to take on something as raucous as “Since U Been Gone." The song's underlying rock structure of quiet-loud-quiet-loud was just too alternative for the pop princesses of 2003/4. The only other person who could have worn this song as well was Avril Lavigne, but she was busy trailblazing through as one of the only pop singers writing (or at least co-writing) her own material. A song from someone as associated with pop puppets like Martin would’ve sold her back into the category she was trying to break out of. “Since U Been Gone” had so much potential but given the pop touchiness of pop at the time, no one really wanted it.

Kelly Clarkson however was still a newbie cradled in the prenatal arms of American Idol, whose true star-making power was yet to fully revealed. The singles that came off the back of her win reeked so badly of the show itself. Still, her coronation song “A Moment Like This” broke The Beatles' record for the biggest leap ever to number one, from 52, despite the fact that it was a truly terrible song. Being the first American Idol had so much hype that Clarkson’s first album Thankful debuted at number one, with its funky lead single “Miss Independent” becoming an international top ten hit. With all that, Clarkson had proved that she could swing as hard as the best of them without having marketed herself on the back of a particular identity. In that sense, Kelly Clarkson was relatively free from the limitations that restricted other pop stars in 2005 and was able to transition from a bombastic pop sound to an edgy rock-oriented one with unprecedented fluidity. The genius was that those two sounds could co-exist: pop sensibilities with the powerful thrust of a guitar rock chorus. Since Clarkson was the first of all the reality TV contestants to be voted into pop stardom, she was malleable from the start. Clarkson had this peculiar leverage that allowed her to play around with the kinds of songs she put out. People knew her name, but she wasn’t locked into anything particular aside from American Idol. All we really knew about Kelly Clarkson was that she could +$#%%$+ sing. Since vote-from-home phenomenons like American Idol were still so new and she was the first real winner, it was OK for her to grow into herself. That’s what we the voters wanted from her! It was exciting for us to be in on the process. We rooted for Kelly because we could relate to how dorky and uncool she was on that show. (Her catch-phrase was "Cool beans.") She wasn't wrapped up in a post-Disney veneer or fastened to her bubblegum past. Kelly was quite literally the “American Idol." She represented us in a way that all other pop singers back then couldn’t since they seemed to come out of board rooms and think tanks. The fact of the matter is, that song needed Kelly as much as Max Martin needed that song. You know those explosive guitars that come in on the chorus? That was Kelly's idea. It was also Clarkson's idea that the producer enlist Mike Watt, guitarist of the legendary hardcore punk band Minutemen, to come in and play guitar on the track. The song's subversive rock formula was there, but Kelly pushed it over the edge with those blistering guitars and her powerhouse vocals whose frankly were the strongest of all. "Since U Been Gone" wasn't about being crazy in love or crazy sad about it. It was about being pissed off at the jackass loser that held you down until you'd had e-f*cking-nough. Look at the lyrics: “Since u been gone/I can breathe for the first time.” As Kelly shed her skin from American Idol winner to legit pop star, her relatable position in the American conscience made her the ideal person to cast off an ex. Her ex wasn't Justin Timberlake or the summer’s hot new action movie hunk. He wasn’t anyone deified by pop culture—he was the same guy who made out with you on the weekend and didn't text you back. You only need to look at what she’s wearing in the video: Converse, an army green t-shirt and cut-offs. Other than her snarly mic-face and the literal moshing going on in the video, Kelly let the song's brute #$%!-you speak for itself. We could relate to her so easily for being totally normal as well as the hormonal release of that perfect pop-rock chorus. 2005 was so ugh! Finallt, rather than the Girl Next Door image that Britney and Christina cultivated in their formative years, Kelly was the American Everygirl, and “Since U Been Gone” encapsulated that identity with an unprecedented fist pump. The song was roughed up just enough to remain rooted in Martin’s pop dynamic. Just as the pop fans could got down with a little rock, the rockers could appreciate a bit of pop as well. It was a digestible balance for everyone, and because of that, people ate it up. The only other break-up song even similar to it was Alanis Morissette's self-empowered revenge anthem "You Oughta Know," which the 90s had deemed as categorically alternative. “Since U Been Gone” was built so solidly on indie foundation that a recent study asked self-described rock nerds to identify this song by its first few bars and no one said Kelly. Instead, they guessed Pavement, Parquet Courts, and Smashing Pumpkins. All you have to do is turn on the radio to hear the enduring influence of that song. The formula that was once so radical for a pop song has become the standard. Now, we want our pop music to explode like rock songs. Think of "Wrecking Ball,” "I Knew You Were Trouble," “Tick Tock,” and “Bad Romance”: Pop music desperately needed that hard rock surge to evolve and become the dominant force once again. Commercial radio bangers still bubble and pop, but they’re not bubblegum pop. The throbbing zit on the face of pop music grew along with our own pre-teen acne in 2003 and 2004, but it wasn't until "Since U Been Gone" that we popped that sucker and finally let it bleed. That pop-rock banger represented the moment guitar-driven music became the dominant "sound" of mainstream music in the mid aughts. When you look back at your click-wheel iPod, does anything else capture the turning point between the golden era of pop princesses and the impending rise of indie quite like “Since U Been Gone?" No—and that’s why it was so successful, so memorable, and so @$%#%#! good. Now go listen to it on repeat like we've been doing for the past ten years. Bryn Lovitt and Emma Garland are writers for Noisey who whole-heartedly agree that "Since U Been Gone" is like, the best pop song ever.

https://web.archive.org/web/20150918005216/http://noisey.vice.com/blog/since-u-been-gone-2005-week

#list #article

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metalbuzz-net · 6 years ago

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The Devil’s Blood: A Quick Chat with Guitarist Selim Lemouchi

While Selim Lemouchi, the guitarist for satanic rockers The Devil’s Blood, who goes by just SL, opted not to answer a handful of questions pertaining to songs on ‘The Thousandfold Epicentre’, and another couple were abruptly answered with “No,” I did briefly engage him on subjects such as his writing process, F’s voice, Satan, the lack of protesting bible thumpers and Guns N’ Roses as rock n’ roll inspiration. Plus, I got a long ass list of music that he’s into. Sweet!

Ken Kopija: Hello SL. It’s Ken over at METALBUZZ in Chicago. We are the Internet’s number one source for real metal news, reviews, interviews and more. First off, I am a huge fan & supporter of The Devil’s Blood, which has graced the digital pages of METALBUZZ off and on now for several years. SL: Thanks for your time and energy so far.

How are you doing today? Today is a good day, the weather is quite downcast and grey which makes for a good walk in the forest.

I spoke with you about a year and a half ago, right around the US release of ‘The Time Of No Time Evermore’. That is the album that introduced me to and got me hooked on The Devil’s Blood. How do you feel the band has progressed musically from ‘The Time Of No Time Evermore’ to ‘The Thousandfold Epicentre’? I feel that, as a band, we have become better at performing and better at recording, perhaps that might not seem like much, but that is the kind of progress that allows a band to stay evolving. When it comes to the creation process of the material, nothing has changed.

‘The Thousandfold Epicentre’ was released on 11-11-11 in Europe. Is there any signifigance to it being released on that date? 11 is our most significant numerological correspondence and we always try to gather as many of them around as possible, in the artwork, in the music, in the lyrics, in the number of minutes and seconds, volume differences etcetera, etcetera. It signifies Chaos, renewal, freedom and at the same time, it signifies the structure of Satan and Death to us.

And the album dropped in the US via Metal Blade on January 17th. Do you have any special rituals that you followed on release day? To be honest, no, I have let this record “go” already. The release date in Europe was for me the ultimate moment and our Ritual at Groningen’s Vera Club was our perfect way of celebrating our Child’s birth into this “world of gravity gone mad.” For the glory of our first official American release, we shall wait with rituals and rites until we are on American soil again.

As I understand it, in addition to being one of the bands guitarists, you are also the primary songwriter. How much of the songwriting were you involved with on ‘The Thousandfold Epicentre?’ All of it. With the exception of the lyrics of “Fire Burning” and the last guitar part of “Everlasting Saturnalia,” which were done respectively by Tommie Eriksson (Saturnalia Temple) and Rob Oorthuis (NOX/Centurian).

That being said, other than topics like Satan and the occult, what other subjects or entities were your inspiration for the new record? All of it can be caught within the three principalities of Adversity; The Death, The Chaos and The Satan. There is nothing more to me.

Which comes first, the music or your words? Usually at the same moment, sometimes months apart, in which case music usually pre-dates the words. I guess this has to do with the fact that my instinctual understanding of music is still stronger than my understanding of language.

Can you elaborate a little on the whole writing process? There is not much to say, you have an idea, you pick up a guitar and a pen, you don’t stop till you are done.

Your sister, ‘F’, the bands lead singer, sounds a little more produced this time around. Was a different approach taken with the recording of her voice? Funny you should say that as she was most certainly less produced. We simply let her sing the song and apart from that nothing, except some choir parts, were doubled or added. This is as close to absolute purity as we could come this time around.

In my opinion, it sounds like The Devil’s Blood have re-invented themselves on ‘The Thousandfold Epicentre’, while at the same time maintaining that definitive sound that is unique to the band. Would you agree with that statement? We simply have done what we could, no more and certainly no less. We ourselves were quite surprised and of course immensely proud with what manifested itself, but to claim any kind of control of what the outcome came to be would be grossly overstating the importance of the musician in the creative process.

As far as I know, The Devil’s Blood have never done a concept video. Is that true? Yes it is.

Are there any plans to do a video(s) for ‘The Thousandfold Epicentre’? We would love to do that of course, it is mostly a financial thing. These things costs money and we have none.

Along with several European dates in the spring, I see that the band is scheduled to play ‘Maryland Deathfest X’ May 24th – 27th. Please tell me that those are not your only US dates this year? They are not.

Is a US tour planned? We will be doing a full North American tour which will be officially announced very soon.

The Devil’s Blood has played with the likes of Watain, Pentagram, Root, Venom and Tryptikon. Are there any bands that you’ve never toured with that you would really like too? Not any that jump to mind immediately.

I have never been to one of your live shows, or “rituals” as they are referred to, but I’ve watched videos online of the band performing live. There seems to be a lot of sweat and blood. Can you describe your live show to someone who has never witnessed it before? Explanation is empty, it is better to withhold all information and allow each individual the chance to experience freely and without priorly enforced parameters of expectation.

I know that there are a lot of bible thumpers out there who would probably jump at the chance to protest one of your shows. Do you every get those types hanging around your gigs? To be honest it has not happened yet, which is a shame of course.

The Devil’s Blood is based out of the Netherlands. What is the metal scene like there these days? I don’t really know, apart from a handful of bands and people I am personally in contact with. I am terribly uninformed about these things. I no longer read magazines and I rarely go to concerts and have no real desire to be on top of things any more.

The Metal Blade website has the following listed for band members: SL/TDB/A-O and F/TDB/MOS. Can you please tell me a little about what this means and who all of the members of the band are? No and no.

Well alrighty then. Have you ever put on headphones and listened to any of your music on vinyl? Of course.

Who or what inspired you to start playing music? If I had to name one person who has that dubious honour it would have to be Slash and Axl Rose of Guns ‘n Roses. That band really showed me the power of rock n’ roll and its insidious flair for rebellion and independence. And Slash’s personal style of playing and his careful ear for sounds and harmony combined with Axl’s uncanny talent for writing anthems is something that has definitely found its way into my music at various levels.

What is your favorite guitar to play? At the moment, it is a Haar Stratocaster, a custom built machine that seems to fill my needs wonderfully. But it does change from time to time.

Assuming you have one, if I got a hold of your iPod, what would I find on there? Danzig, Morbid Angel, Pentagram, The Doors, Merciless, Death, Judas Priest, Jimi Hendrix, Iron Maiden, Entombed, Slayer, Aphrodite’s Child, Slayer, Autopsy, Nick Cave, The Who, Root, Dr Feelgood, Nazareth, Aerosmith, MC5, Iggy and The Stooges, Mercyful Fate, Uriah Heep, The Byrds, The Rolling Stones, Bathory, Type O Negative, Charles Manson, The Beatles, Blue Öyster Cult, Coil, Joy Division, Ministry, Sepultura, Tiamat, Roky Erickson, GG Allin, Carnivore, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Jefferson Airplane, Blood Axis, Hawkwind, Motorhead, Cro-Mags, Mayhem, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Burzum, Kiss, Alice Cooper, Velvet Underground, In Slaughter Natives, Samael, The Pretty Things, The Golden Earring, ZZ Top, Master’s Hammer, Shadows, Thin Lizzy, T. Rex, Guns ‘n Roses, Bobby Beausoleil, King Crimson, Bolt Thrower, Dissection, Wishbone Ash and many, many more.

We have time for one more question, and it’s from a fan… Fred from St. Germain wants to know… “I grew up listening to a lot of Mercyful Fate and King Diamond. Would you consider them/him an influence on your music and are you a fan?” I consider Mercyful Fate to be one of the most important heavy metal bands that ever existed, apart from that I am not sure how much they actually inspired me, it is hard to say how these things work.

Once again, SL, thanks for taking time out of your busy day to chat with METALBUZZ. It has been my pleasure talking to you and I look forward to seeing The Devil’s Blood in Chicago soon. Thanks for you attention.

(с) Ken Kopija

#the devil's blood #metal #black metal

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ricardosousalemos · 8 years ago

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Green Day: Dookie

When he was 10 years old, long before he sang about masturbation losing its fun, Billie Joe Armstrong lost himself in music. His father had just died of cancer, and in Rodeo, Calif., a smallish East Bay suburb next to an oil refinery, Armstrong retreated into MTV, the Beatles, Van Halen, and a Stratocaster knock-off he nicknamed Blue. He grew close to schoolmate Michael Pritchard, who had his own family grief and who introduced Armstrong to British heavy metal giants like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. Pritchard later earned the sobriquet Mike Dirnt, for his constant dirnting on bass guitar.

In high school, Armstrong and Dirnt smoked pot and played in a band called Sweet Children, finding their tribe in a tiny clique of DIY punks. By 1988, Sweet Children had their first gig at 924 Gilman Street, the Berkeley punk mecca opened the previous year by Maximumrocknroll zine founder Tim Yohannan, and Armstrong told his waitress mother he wouldn’t be graduating. Sweet Children signed to Lookout Records!, changed their name to Green Day, and put out a pair of rough but promising EPs. They brought in Frank “Tré Cool” Wright, a drummer known equally for his musicianship and his mischievousness, and with their sharply improved LP Kerplunk!, Green Day arrived.

As Kerplunk! landed on shelves in December 1991, Nirvana’s Nevermind zoomed to the top of the album charts. A band with Green Day’s momentum and punk pedigree was obvious bait for the major labels. Still, it was Armstrong’s voice, sneering and congested, that initially put one A&R exec off of Green Day’s demo. Luckily, he passed it to his producing partner, Rob Cavallo, whose father had been Prince’s manager circa Purple Rain and who, despite signing respected L.A. pop-punks the Muffs, was sorely in need of a hit.

He found one. Co-produced by Cavallo and the band themselves, Green Day’s Dookie was released on February 1, 1994. To date, the band’s Warner/Reprise debut has sold more than 16 million copies worldwide. Most of those album buyers probably know nothing about its makers’ humble origins. But that story helps to explain the unique series of balances, between showmanship and disaffection, dogmatic punk ideals and romantic stadium dreams, sweetness and scatology, partying and pain, that have turned Dookie into one of the greatest teenage wasteland albums of any generation. Armstrong’s Dookie guitar? His childhood’s trusty old Blue.

What set Dookie apart from the grunge rock bellowers of its day was Armstrong’s voice, foggy and vaguely unplaceable. “I’m an American guy faking an English accent faking an American accent,” he teased at the time. Though Armstrong’s tone was bratty, his phrasing had that lackadaisical quality that left room for listeners to fill in their own interpretations. On Dookie, Armstrong channeled a lifetime of songcraft obsession into buzzing, hook-crammed tracks that acted like they didn’t give a shit—fashionably then, but also appealingly for the 12-year-old spirit within us all. Maybe they worked so well because, on a compositional and emotional level, they were actually gravely serious. Sometimes singing about the serious stuff in your life—desire, anxiety, identity—feels a lot more weightless done against the backdrop of a dogshit-bombarded illustration of your hometown by East Bay punk fixture Richie Bucher.

“Longview,” Dookie’s outstanding first single, smacks of the most extreme disengagement: a title taken from Longview, Washington, where it happened to be played live for the first time; a loping bass line supposedly concocted while Dirnt was tripping on acid; and a theme of shrugging boredom that placed it in the ne’er-do-well pantheon next to “Slack Motherfucker” to “Loser.” Adolescent interest may always be piqued by lyrical references to drugs and jerking off, the way a 5-year-old mainly laughs at the Calvin and Hobbes panels where Calvin is naked or calling Hobbes an “idiot.” But as beer-raising alt-rock goes, this is also exceptionally bleak, with the narrator’s couch-locked wank session transforming into a self-imposed prison where Armstrong semi-decipherably sings, per the liner notes, “You’re fucking breaking.” No motivation? For a high-school dropout hoping to succeed in music, that mental hell sounds like plenty of motivation.

The other singles mix Armstrong’s burgeoning songwriting chops with deceptively lighthearted takes on deeper topics. The opening line, “Do you have the time/To listen to me whine?” is endlessly quotable, but the self-mocking stoner paranoia of the irresistible “Basket Case” was inspired by Armstrong’s anxiety attacks. As late as 1992, Armstrong still had no fixed address, and “Welcome to Paradise” reaches back to those nights crashing at dodgy West Oakland warehouse spaces. It also brashly embodies punk’s trash-is-treasure aesthetic at its most American. But the closest Armstrong came to a pop standard, one that any guitarist who knows four power chords can play at a home and a more established star could likely have made an even bigger hit, was the midtempo “When I Come Around”—a smoldering devotion to the then-estranged lover who would become the mother of Armstrong’s two children. They’re still married.

Elsewhere, the bouncy, brief “Coming Clean” is from the perspective of a confused 17-year-old, uncovering secrets about manhood that his parents can’t fathom; Armstrong has forthrightly related the song to his own youthful questions about bisexuality. “Seventeen and coming clean for the first time/I finally figured out myself for the time,” he declares, in one particularly sublime bit of wordcraft. Teenage angst pays off well: Now he was bored and almost 22. Likewise, the rest of the album tracks often further showed what an accomplished songwriter Armstrong had become. “I declare I don’t care no more,” from breakneck slacker anthem “Burnout,” would be a classic first opener on any album, even though by now we know it contains an element of false bravado. The contrasts that made up the band’s identity also helped elevate Dookie above its shitty name, couching anti-social childishness in whip-smart melodic and lyrical turns. When, on the last proper track, the nuke-invoking “F.O.D.” (short for “fuck off and die”), Armstrong vents, “It’s real and it’s been fun/But was it all real fun,” it’s his Dookie-era way of saying he hopes you had the time of your life.

Critics have been kind to Dookie, but not overwhelmingly so. It’s tempting to wonder how many of these lyrics could’ve been influenced by Robert Christgau’s two-word, two-star Village Voice review of Kerplunk!: “Beats masturbation.” Still, he gave Dookie an A-, and the album made it onto the Voice’s 1994 Pazz & Jop year-end critics’ poll at No. 12. But the backlash against Green Day in the pages of Maximumrocknroll was real and visceral. The June 1994 cover showed a man holding a gun in his mouth with the words, “Major labels: some of your friends are already this fucked,” with Yohannan sniffing inside, “I thought it was oh so touching that MTV decided to interrupt playing Green Day videos to overwhelm us with Nirvana videos on the day of Kobain’s [sic] death.” At Gilman, where major label acts were banned, graffiti on the wall proclaimed, “Billie Joe must die.” So it’s an album many people adore, but like loving the Beatles, proclaiming your adoration for it doesn’t necessarily win you any special recognition. Oh, you were in seventh grade and learned every word of a Green Day album? Duh.

Time has worked on Dookie in strange ways. Most blatantly, the post-grunge alt boom allowed an album like this to exist in the first place. Green Day were masters at pulling stoner humor out of malaise, and that is what the so-called alternative nation needed. One of Dookie’s great light-hearted touches, the image of Ernie from “Sesame Street” on the back cover, has been airbrushed away from later physical editions, ostensibly due to legal concerns. Among the many things streaming has ruined was the old ’90s trick of including hidden tracks on the album buried without notice at the end of the CD, so all digital releases treat Tré Cool’s novelty goof “All By Myself” as its own proper track. The unfortunate “Having a Blast,” about wanting to lash out with a suicide bombing, is understandably absent from most recent Green Day setlists.

Then again, so many of the fights that Dookie started have happily become moot. In 2015, Green Day played their first show at Gilman in 22 years. Whichever Maximumrocknroll readers were mad at Green Day for trying to make it out of their working-class suburban beginnings probably have more adult worries today (the zine, however, hasn’t forgotten). Though Green Day never quite embraced the term pop-punk and certainly didn’t invent it, they were pegged as its popularizers; you could hear their echoes several years ago in records like Wavves’ King of the Beach, but younger pop-punk torchbearers like Joyce Manor, Modern Baseball, or You Blew It! have been more likely to name-check the more tightly genre-fitting Blink-182. In interviews, Armstrong still claims the “punk” mantle, but over the years Green Day emerged as a classic arena-rock band, noted for their pyrotechnics.

These days, Armstrong knows how to fire up crowds by promising them they’ll have a good time. Fans are brought up on stage every night to take their instruments and play a song. A T-shirt cannon is somehow involved. Green Day have matured in all the ways the biggest bands usually mature, and that’s their right. Immature but crafty, punk but pop, American pretending to be English pretending to be, well, whatever, Dookie-era Green Day were, for a time, in a class alone. Call them pathetic, call them what you will. They were all by themselves, and everyone was looking.

#reviews-albums

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auskultu · 8 years ago

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San Francisco: The Flourishing Underground

Richard Goldstein, The Village Voice, 2 March 1967

SAN FRANCISCO — Forget the cable cars; skip Chinatown and the Golden Gate; don't bother about the topless mother of eight.

The Bay Shore area is the Liverpool of the West. Newsweek says so. Ramparts says so. Crawdaddy says so. And thousands of scenieboppers all over the nation are craning their necks to catch a glimpse of the newest pop acropolis. The most fragile thing to maintain in our culture is an underground. No sooner does a new tribe of rebels skip out, flip out, trip out, and take its stand, than photographers from Life magazine are on the scene doing cover layout No sooner is a low-rent low-harassment quarter discovered than it appears in eight-color spreads on America's breakfast table. The need for the farther-out permeates our artistic involvement. American culture is a store window which must be periodically spruced and re-dressed. The new bohemians needn't worry about opposition these days; just exploitation. The handwriting on the wall says: preserve your thing.

The new music from San Francisco, most of it unrecorded at this writing, is the most potentially vital in the pop world. It shoots a cleansing wave over the rigid studiousness of folk-rock. It brings driving spontaneity to a music that is becoming increasingly classical, conscious of form and influence rather than effect. It is a resurgence which could smother the Monkees, drown the casual castrati who make easy listening, and devour all those one-shot wonders that float above stagnant water.

Most important, if the sound succeeds, it will establish a new brand of culture hero with a new message: pop mysticism.

Talent scouts from a dozen major record companies are now perusing the scene, and grooving with the gathered tribes at the Fillmore and the Avalon. Hip San Francisco is being carved into bits of business territory. The Jefferson Airplane belong to RCA. The Sopwith Camel did so well for Kama Sutra the label has invested in a second local group, the Charlatans. The Grateful Dead have signed with Warner Brothers in an extraordinary deal which gives them complete control over material and production. Moby Grape is tinkering with Columbia and Elektra. And a bulging fistful of local talent is being wined and dined like the last available shikse in the promised land.

All because San Francisco is the Liverpool of the West. Not many bread-men understand the electronic rumblings from beneath the Golden Gate, but they are aware of two crucial factors: the demise of Merseybeat created a doldrums which resulted in the rise of rhythm-and blues and milquetoast music, but left the white teenage audience swooning over an acknowledged fraud: the Monkees. Youth power still makes the pop industry move, and record executives know a fad sometimes needs no justification for success except its presence in a sympathetic time. There is the feeling now, as pop shepherds watch the stars over their grazing flock, that if the San Francisco sound isn't the next Messiah, it will at least give the profits a run for their money.

"The Important thing about San Francisco rock 'n' roll," says Ralph Gleason, "is that the bands here all sing and play live, and not for recordings. You get a different sound at a dance, it's harder and more direct."

Gleason, influential Jazz and pop music critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, writes with all the excitement of a participant. But he maintains the detachment of 20 years' experience. It is as though Bosley Crowther had set up headquarters at The Factory. Gleason's thorough comprehension of the new sound is no small factor in its growth and acceptance by the city at large. He is a virtual tastemaker in the Haight and even when the hippies put him down they talk to him, and he listens.

That Ralph Gleason writes from San Francisco is no coincidence. This city's rapport with the source of its ferment is unique. Traveling up the coast from the ruins of the Sunset Strip to the Haight is a Dantesque ascent. It is no accident that 400 miles makes the difference between a neon wasteland and the most important underground in the nation. San Francisco has the vanguard because it works hard to keep it. Native culture is cherished as though the city's consuming passion were to produce a statement that could not possibly be duplicated in New York. Chauvinism in Southern California runs to rhetoric about the grandeur of nature, but up north it is all have-you-seen-the-Mime-Troupe? and Haight-Street-makes-the-Village-look-like-a-city-dump.

Ten years ago, San Franciscans frowned on North Beach, but let it happen. Now, the city is prepared to support the rock underground by ignoring it. The theory of tacit neglect means a de-facto tolerance of psychedelic drugs. San Francisco is far and away the most turned-on city in the Western world. "The cops are aware of the number of heads here," says Bill Graham who owns the Fillmore and manages the Jefferson Airplane. "The law thinks it will fade out like North Beach. What can they do? To see a cop in the Haight... it's like the English invading China. Once they own it, how are they going to police it?"

With safety in numbers, the drug and rock undergrounds swim up the same stream. The psychedelic ethic—still germinating and still unspoken—runs through the musical mainstream like a current. When Bob Weir, rhythm guitarist of the Grateful Dead, says "the whole scene is like a contact high," he is not speaking in fanciful metaphor. Musical ideas are passed from group to group like a joint. There is an almost visible cohesion about San Francisco rock. With a scene that is small enough to navigate and big enough to make waves, with an establishment that all but provides the electric current, no wonder San Francisco is Athens. This acropolis has been carefully, sturdily built, and it is not going to crumble because nobody wants to see ruins messing up the skyline. • • • "I didn't have any musical revelation when I took acid. I'm a musician first. My drug experiences are separate." The speaker is a member of the Jefferson Airplane, the oldest and most established group in the Bay Area. With a cohesive, vibrant sound, they are the hip community's first product. Their initial album Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, was weak enough to make you wonder about all the noise, but the new release, Surrealistic Pillow, is a fine collection of original songs with a tight and powerful delivery. The hit single, 'My Best Friend', is a pleasant enough ballad, but much better to 'White Rabbit', which is Alice in Wonderland with a twist of psychedelic lemon. Grace Slick's vocal wobbles deliciously and the lyrics are concise and funny. Especially worth repeating is the song's advice: "Remember what the dormouse said: feed your head."

The mouse la sometimes employed to symbolize psychedelic "enlightenment". In Los Angeles, the same realization is expressed by the Flower. A concern with and an expression of turning on is an aspect of Bay Area rock, but it is by no means central to the music. The secretive reserve that characterizes every other hip community is unnecessary baggage here. There is open talk of drug experience. When references appear in the music they are direct and specific. While some groups seem impaled on a psychedelic spear ("How do we talk about drugs without getting banned from the radio?" is a key question of every Byrds album), San Francisco music says "pot" and goes on to other things. Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead insists: "We're not singing psychedelic drugs, we're singing music. We're musicians, not dope fiends."

He sits in the dining room of the three-story house he shares with the group, their women, and their community. The house is one of those masterpieces of creaking, curving spaciousness the Haight is filled with. Partially because of limited funds, but mostly because of the common consciousness which almost every group here adapts as its ethos, the Grateful Dead live and work together. They are acknowledged as the best group in the Bay Area. Leader Jerry Garcia is a patron saint of the scene. Ken Kesey calls him "Captain Trips." There is also Pigpen, the organist, and Reddy Kilowatt on bass.

Together, the Grateful Dead sound like live thunder. There are no recordings of their music, which is probably just as well because no album could produce the feeling they generate in a dance hall. I have never seen them live, but I spent an evening at the Fillmore listening to tapes. The music hits hard and stays hard, like early Rolling Stones, but distilled and concentrated. When their new album comes out, I will whip it onto my meagre record player and if they have left that boulder sound at some palatial LA studio and come out with a polished pebble. I will know they don't live together in the Haight anymore.

But, right now a group called the Grateful Dead are playing live and living for an audience of anybody's kids in San Francisco. Theirs is the Bay Area sound. Nothing convoluted in the lyrics, just rock 'n' roll lingua-franca. Not a trace of preciousness in the music; just raunchy, funky chords. The big surprise about the San Francisco sound has nothing to do with electronics or some zany new camp. Musicians in this city have knocked all that civility away. They are back in dark, grainy sounds that are roots.

"San Francisco is live," says Janis Joplin, singer for Big Brother and the Holding Company. "Recording in a studio is a completely different trip. No one makes a record like they sound live. Hard rock is the real nitty-gritty."

Ask an aspiring musician from New York who his idols are and he'll begin a long list with the Beatles or Bob Dylan, then branch off into Paul Simon literacy or the Butterfield Blues bag (which means sounding like you've got a Ph.D in spade music) or a dozen variations in harmonics and composition.

Not so in San Francisco. Bob Dylan is like Christianity here: they worship but they don't touch. The sound of the Grateful Dead, or Moby Grape, or Country Joe and the Fish, is jug band music scraping against jazz. This evolution excludes most of the names in modern pop music. A good band is a "heavy" band, a "hard" band.

Marty Balin, who writes for the Jefferson Airplane, declares: "The Beatles are too complex to influence anyone around here. They're a studio sound." Which is as close as a San Francisco musician comes to hissing. Their music, they insist, is a virgin forest, unchanneled and filled with wildlife. There is a fear, a dread, of the A&R man's ax. This refusal to add technological effect is close to the spirit of folk music before Dylan electrified it. "A rock song still has to have drive and soul," Balin maintains. "Jazz started out as dance music, and ended up dead as something to listen to. If you can't get your effects live, the music's not alive."

Gary Duncan, lead guitarist for the Quicksilver Messenger Service, adds: "Playing something in a studio means playing for two months. Playing live, a song changes in performance. In a studio, you attack things intellectually; onstage it's all emotion."

San Francisco musicians associate Los Angeles with the evils of studio music. This is probably because almost every group has made the trek south to record. And the music available on record is anything but hard rock (the Sopwith Camel, for instance, earned everyone's disfavor with a lilting good-timey rendition of 'Hello, Hello'. "They give us a bad name," says one musician. "They're a diversion," says another. "They smile nice.")

But resentment of Los Angeles goes much deeper than the recording studio. The rivalry between Northern and Southern California makes a cold war in pop inevitable. While musicians in Los Angeles deride the sound from up north as ''pretentious and self-conscious" and shudder at the way "people live like animals up there," the Northern attitude is best summed up by a member of the Quicksilver Messenger Service who quipped: "L.A. hurts our eyes."

Part of the Holding Company puts down the Byrds because: "they had to learn to perform after they recorded. Here, the aim is to get the crowd moving." A Jefferson Airplane says of the Beach Boys: "What Brian Wilson is doing is fine but in person there's no balls. Everything is prefabricated like the rest of that town. Bring them into the Fillmore, and it just wouldn't work."

The technology involved in putting on a lightshow doesn't seem to bother San Franciscans, however, because what they're really uptight about is not artificiality but Southern California. There is a sneaking suspicion in this city that the South rules and The Bay is determined to keep at least its cultural supremacy untarnished. Even Ralph Gleason has little sympathy for Los Angeles music. "The freaks are fostered and nurtured by L. A. music hype," he says. "The hippies are different. What's going on here is natural and real." The question of who is commercial and who is authentic is rhetorical. What really matters about San Francisco is what mattered about Liverpool three years ago. The underground occupies a pivotal place in the city's life. The Fillmore and the Avalon are jammed every weekend with beaded, painted faces and flowered shirts. The kids don't come from any mere bohemian quarter. Hip has passed the point where it signifies a commitment to rebellion, it has become the style of youth in the Bay Area, just as long hair and beat music were the Liverpool Look.

San Francisco is a lot like that grimy English seaport these days, in 1964. Liverpool rang with a sound that was authentically expressive and the city never tried to bury it. This is what is happening in San Francisco today. The establishment has achieved a much greater victory here than on the Strip: integration. The underground is open, unencumbered, and radiating. The rest of the country will get the vibrations, and they will probably pay for them.

Which everyone thinks is groovy. The Grateful Dead are willing to sing their 20-minute extravaganza, 'Midnight Hour', for anyone who will listen, and if people pay, so much the better. But Bob Weir insists: "If the industry is gonna want us, they're gonna take us the way we are. If the money comes in, it'll be a stone gas."

It will be interesting to visit the bay area when the breadmen have glutted every artery. It will be fascinating to watch the Fillmore become the Radio City Music Hall of pop music It will be a stone gas to take a greyhound sightseeing tour through the Haight.

But that's another story about another San Francisco. Right now, give or take a little corruption, it is new ideas, new faces, and new music.

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