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sinceileftyoublog · 7 years ago

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Joseph Shabason Interview: Deep Digs or Dinner Parties

Photo by Colin Medley

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Saxophonist Joseph Shabason’s Aytche is one of the more ambitious instrumental experimental releases of the year considering its subject matter, which includes memory loss, doctor-assisted death, and the Holocaust (Shabason’s grandparents are Holocaust survivors). But the Diana band member and Destroyer collaborator, even on his debut, knows better than to bite off more he can chew. The album is sequenced in such a way that it’s never too dissonant or too easy, subsequently exploring the complexities within its subject matter. It also helps that Shabason subscribes to Brian Eno’s adage that good music can be ignored; indeed, Aytche is just as rewarding as a passive listen as it is a close listen.

All of this made me want to speak to Shabason about the album, and he agreed to answer some questions over email. Read on as he writes about his personal relationship with the album’s themes, the composition of various album tracks, the album art, and playing live.

Since I Left You: What did you hope to convey or introduce about yourself with your debut album?

Joseph Shabason: A sense of what has been getting me excited about music these days: patient, deliberate, and meditative songs that are for the most without set forms.

SILY: What is your relationship with the album's themes of degenerative illness and assisted suicide?

JS: I have two family members who have Parkinson’s disease, so dealing with degenerative illness and loss is something that is pretty constant in my life. Seeing people who were once vital and full of energy have that freedom and energy slowly taken from them really makes you think about what you would do if you were faced with the same situation. The late stages of the illness are particularly unforgiving, and in a lot of cases, you start to become demented and in a way turn into a person completely unrecognizable from who you were when you were healthy. Eventually, the illness defines who you are, which is something that I’m not comfortable with. It was that realization that got me thinking about doctor-assisted dying. As a control freak, I want to be in control of how people remember me, so for the last year, I’ve just been thinking a lot about how logical and humane the idea of ending your life on your own terms is.

SILY: For an album with such heavy themes, you also envision it in the Brian Eno school of "ignorable as it is interesting." How did you balance pouring yourself into the album with the ultimate recognition that someone's interaction with it might just be while they're cooking dinner?

JS: It was very easy. No one likes to be told how to feel or how to interact with an album--at least I don’t! So for me, I set out to make an album that could work for people on many levels. If you want to dig deep and try and pick out the instances where I was trying to convey some heavier themes, you can totally do that…but I’d be equally stoked for the album to be the din at someone’s dinner party.

SILY: I wrote in my review of Aytche that “Westmeath” “reminds me of the final room at Yad Vashem in Israel, where you look into a pool and see the hazy reflections of the surrounding walls that contain inscribed names of those who were murdered in the Holocaust--a reminder that as time goes on, history becomes harder to concretely recall.” What did you hope to convey about memory and the Holocaust with this track?

JS: Whoa! That’s a huge compliment. That room is a very sacred and beautiful place. When I started recording “Westmeath”, I just plopped the full, unaffected interview over that track and thought that maybe it could work as a very stark and literal coupling of words and music…but the more I listened, the more it sounded corny and melodramatic. In the end, I ended up obscuring the words and chopping up phrases of the interview so that themes were hinted at, but ultimately, the listener had room to make up their own mind about what was being talked about. I’ve spent so much time reading and looking at documentary footage of the Holocaust, and I think that it’s really important to do that and try and feel as close to that horrible event as you possibly can--trying to understand it as literally and as clinically as humanly possible. But I also think that there is a a lot of beauty in thinking about the Holocaust in a much broader and emotional way--not focusing in on the details but zooming out and just trying to feel the grief and hopelessness of it in a much less overt way. Feeling it as a massive trauma that shaped generations of survivors and their families. For my grandparents, it was an open wound, but for me, it’s more of a dull ache that sometimes flares up into something more painful. I guess I was trying to capture all of that in some way or another.

SILY: Making an album that touches on memory and perception of reality in 2017 seems to me almost inherently political despite intention. Did you intend for this album to engage with the politics of today in any way?

JS: Only in the issue of doctor-assisted dying. That’s something that is being talked about in Canada and is slowly, slowly, slowly accepted. The video for “Westmeath”, which is coming out in October, deals heavily with this topic in a pretty stark and overt way. But other than that, I was lust looking to make music that sounded good to my ears.

SILY: Many of the songs reference specific or broader motifs in other songs, from the dissonant combination of saxophone and other instruments on "Looking Forward to Something, Dude" and "Smokestack"/"Belching Smoke" to the steadiness of the title track and "Neil McCauley". How did you decide on the sequencing of the album?

JS: I wanted those three tracks to be the beginning, middle, and end of the album. Other than that, I just tried to make things unfold in a way that seemed natural.

SILY: "Long Swim" seems to me to be the album's most straightforward but beautiful track. Can you talk about that track's composition process?

JS: I had just gone for a really long swim in order to get to this diving board where I could practice gainers (back flips). It was super fucking boring, and I realized that I hated distance swimming. Immediately after getting back to the cabin where we were staying, I started dicking around with my harmonizer pedal and recorded the first breathy chords. Then, I used the exact same patch to record the counter line. At that point, I just used the track I’d made as a kind of karaoke track to solo over. After about an hour of playing over, it I realized that I was still into how it was making me feel, so I decided to record a few takes of saxophone soloing and see if I still liked it in the morning. When I listened again, I was still stoked on it but realized that it needed some percussion to punctuate how repetitive it was. So I got Phil [Melanson] up on it, and it was done. Easy peasy.

SILY: What about the character in Heat [”Neil McCauley”] made you want to title a song after him?

JS: It was less about the character and more about wanting write a song that captured the feeling of that movie--which I love!! To be honest, I had to IMBD search the character’s name when I was naming the song.

SILY: What inspired the album's title? Did you feel the title track evoked the album as a whole?

JS: It was named after a stupid band joke that Diana has with each other. “Aytche” can really mean whatever you want it to mean…which I liked the idea of for an album title.

SILY: What inspired the album art?

JS: Andre Ethier’s paintings have always been deeply inspirational to me, so when I saw that lion, I knew I had to use it for my cover art. It felt both dark but also playful and a bit sexual, which felt right!

SILY: You’ve contributed to past Destroyer albums, and [Destroyer guitarist] Nic Bragg returns the favor and contributes to Aytche. Do you hope to foster a collaborative relationship with artists where you're contributing to each other's projects?

JS: Always! It’s the best part about being a musician.

SILY: Are you playing these songs live? If so, how are you adapting them to the stage?

JS: Totally! I’ve played two gigs so far, and I have two more coming up [in Toronto]. One is the album release (Sept 29th @ The TRANZAC), and the other is a gig opening for Hans-Joachim Roedelius (Oct 17th at The Monarch Tavern), which is fucking amazing! Dude is a legend.

I have a six-piece band of amazing improvisers (some of whom played on the album) who all know that the vide is about small, slow changes and letting people get lost in the repetitive nature of the songs. Each set is different, which is such an exciting thing after playing in rock bands for so long.

SILY: I read you're working on a new album. What else is next for you?

JS: Hopefully touring…but right now, I am focusing on finishing this next album. It’s almost done. I just need to do a bunch of field recordings and interviews that I want to weave into the album. My bud Roger [Leaves] (who mixed Aytche) lent me an insane field recording rig, so over the next month I am gonna get out into nature and the city and different spaces and really try and find some interesting sonic texture to add the the new songs, which right now are deeply new agey.

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whatilistenedtoatwork · 2 years ago

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From August 22nd to 24th, 2022

22-08-22

BILLY BRAGG “Between The Wars EP”; ROBYN HITCHCOCK & THE EGYPTIANS “Gotta Let This Hen Out!”; SQUEEZE “Argybargy”; THE BETA BAND “The Three E.P.’s”; SQUAREPUSHER “Big Loada”; GRAHAM PARKER & THE RUMOUR “Squeezing Out Sparks”; THE STONE ROSES “The Stone Roses”; IRON MAIDEN “The Number Of The Beast”; OASIS “Be Here Now”; ROBERTA FLACK “First Take”

23-08-22

IAN DURY “The Bus Driver’s Prayer & Other Stories”; GRANT GREEN “Idle Moments”; BILLY CONNOLLY “Riotous Assembly”; THE WAILERS “The Wailing Wailers”; MIDFIELD GENERAL “Boutique Birthday Mix”; THE CHIEFTAINS “The Chieftains 3”; PIXIES “Surfer Rosa”; P.J. HARVEY “To Bring You My Love”; THE RAMONES “Live At The Old Waldorf, SF 1978”; THE JUNGLE BROTHERS “J Beez Wit The Remedy”; CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND “Mirror Man”

24-08-22

CAN “Monster Movie”; NIC JONES “Penguin Eggs”; THE WATERBOYS “Room To Roam”; CORNERSHOP “Woman’s Gotta Have It”; QUEEN LATIFAH “Nature Of A Sista”; JULIAN COPE “World Shut Your Mouth”; PETER COOK & DUDLEY MOORE “Good Evening”; DEREK & THE DOMINOES “Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs”; IGGY POP “American Caesar”; SONNY & CHER “Look At Us”

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doomandgloomfromthetomb · 7 years ago

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An Interview with Dan Bejar — 2004

Sunday interview! I remember feeling nervous about this one -- there weren’t a whole lot of interviews with him at the time and Bejar seemed kinda mysterious! But he was very friendly and receptive ... I still think Your Blues is one of the best Destroyer records. So there!

Under the ominous moniker Destroyer, Dan Bejar has released some of the most adventurous and iconoclastic indie rock of the past few years. Never content to settle on one particular sound (or backing band), Bejar's already impressive body of work displays an artist with a gift for infectious melodies, a unique lyrical voice, and a fearlessly experimental streak. Your Blues, the latest Destroyer release, sees Bejar flinging himself wholly into the alien world of Roland synthesizers, MIDI guitars, and highly orchestral song forms. It's almost the polar opposite of his previous record, the sprawling, messily brilliant This Night. But once the shock of this jarring sonic shift wears off, Your Blues reveals itself to be another idiosyncratic masterpiece. On the eve of a rare North American tour, Bejar talked about the genesis of the new album, among other topics.

I understand you just played SXSW? How'd that go?

Well, it was with the incarnation with the band that's playing songs off of Your Blues, which is basically this band Frog Eyes who have learned the songs. It was our second show ever, so keeping that in mind I thought it was really good. I just started practicing these songs in the last couple months, and we've got a little ways to go, a couple more songs to learn. We did one show in Vancouver just before we played SXSW.

So are there challenges in presenting these new songs in a live setting? The album certainly isn't a "rock band" type of record.

There's no challenge, because the idea of trying to replicate or even approximate what's on the record was the first thing that we threw out the window. I mean, on some songs the vocal melody is the same, the lyrics are the same, the chords generally stay the same, but they bear no resemblance whatsoever to what you might hear on the record. For the most part, it's a full-on rock band. I'm in the middle of it right now, so I feel like I can't quite describe what exactly is happening to the songs. And also, it's really being shaped by Carey [Mercer], who is the main guy in Frog Eyes.

How'd you hook up with Frog Eyes?

A few years back, the New Pornographers played a show in Victoria and [Mercer's] band at the time, Blue Pine opened up. I met him briefly then, and heard his record and was a big fan of it. Then he started this new band Frog Eyes, and when I moved back to Vancouver I went to go see them play. We corresponded a bit, and when it came time to figure out how to tour the record, Nic [Bragg], who played a real integral part of the This Night experience, had the crazy idea that using Frog Eyes might be an interesting way to decimate the songs in a cool manner. And he ended up being right.

I'd like to talk a bit about the new record. Obviously, the production and execution of Your Blues is radically different from This Night. Did you go into recording this new one thinking you wanted to do something completely different?

You know, it was an idea I had even when we were making This Night. I don't think it was purely reactionary to the last record. I liked the idea of actually sitting down and composing something. But the idea I had is actually a fair bit different than what came out. I wanted it to be along the lines of a weird, crooning record. Lots of orchestrations, though I had a feeling I'd have to go down the MIDI road, because I knew I wouldn't be preparing charts for an orchestra or anything like that. So yeah, the idea was growing for a while. That being said, I don't think it's something I'll ever do again. I'm pretty sure of that actually.

Was it a pleasurable experience to make it? I know you've worked in more "band" settings in the past.

Yeah, it was fun. And in some ways, it was kind of leisurely. In other ways, it was nerve-wracking. But the set up was pretty easy. You just pick up your MIDI guitar and plug it into the computer and you do your metal riffs and you punch in the 101 strings setting and there you go. But at the same time, I was questioning from beginning to end whether the whole thing was completely misguided. Like, was there some sort of strange death wish I had in making the record? And I still listen to it with a certain amount of trepidation. I think it came out way more palatable than I first thought it would be.

Did you know you could get a good sound out of all of these synthesizers? Or was it more of an experimental thing?

With the MIDI technology we were using, we really didn't want to court some kind of eighties nostalgia. We got the highest end sound module we could find. Hopefully the one that ["Late Show with David Letterman" band leader] Paul Schaffer uses or something like that. And I really did want to approximate the sound of strings, or the sound of a woodwind section as much as I could. And with the synth settings, I was thinking more along the lines of new age settings more the New Wave settings. But also, my ears are worse than most people's, so you could probably play me a fairly chintzy violin sample and I'd be like "Oh man, that sounds so great!" Meanwhile everyone else would just be rolling their eyes. Having heard the record a few times, I can see where people are hearing synths where I'm hearing strings. Maybe that kind of backfired a bit. But I always knew that would probably be the case, and I wasn't too concerned with it.

Are there any sonic touchstones for Your Blues? Any records that you used as reference points?

I've always been a big Scott Walker fan. And I've listened to certain Richard Harris records that Jimmy Webb did.

Are those spoken word records?

No… well, the way he sings, it could be debated [laughs]. He did try his hardest to infuse some sort of drunken melody into the thing. And I would listen to somebody like John Cale, who I've always really liked. Just the way he used classical instruments. He always ends up being a specter on whatever record I do.

Is there any reason you're drawn to his stuff?

I just really like his solo records. There's kind of like a marriage of this old world austerity with this unavoidable pop sensibility. I can't seem to shake that.

That makes sense actually. I hadn't thought of it before, but his early eighties stuff like Music For A New Society is kind of similar in tone to Your Blues.

Exactly. When I had the idea for the record I pictured it being way more desolate and kind of barren and brutal. But the songs that I brought to the table, for the most part, were just too busy. Too many major chords. Too wordy. So things changed.

Is that the case with most Destroyer records? Do you have ideas for them that change through out the recording process?

For the Thief and Streethawk records, we were essentially trying to put forth what the band ideally would sound like if we just walked into a room and played the songs. And that was always a bit of sleight of hand, because we were always a messed-up lineup. But [producer] John [Collin]'s pretty good at creating those kinds of illusions.

And with This Night, I just wanted to make a sprawling, fucked-up record. And that was easy - I just practiced with some people who I knew would be really good at that kind of thing. And we just totally messed up the songs and didn't practice much. I went in the studio and just threw stuff at them. Those records actually ended up pretty close to the way the initial idea of them was. While this one, because it had a definite conceptual basis, changed a bit. And also, I had no idea what it would be – I'd throw around the word "MIDI" and I just didn't know how it would work or what it would sound like. And John and Dave [Carswell], who were pretty integral in shaping the record, they'd never done anything like this either. I walked into the studio with the chords and the vocal melodies and the lyrics. The rest was just us sitting down and saying "Oh, well how about this here," and John coming in at the end of the day to edit it to make it sound… not completely embarrassing. Once in a while he'd have to say, "You know, maybe MIDI congas aren't a good idea." [Laughs]

So it wasn't a free for all. But I think it definitely came out sounding a lot more melodious than we were originally thinking. And that has a lot to do with Dave as well. Once you get him on a guitar -- even if it is a MIDI guitar – he's gonna come up with catchy parts.

You mentioned the "sonic" concept of the record, but I was wondering if you'd dare call Your Blues a "concept" record? I mean, is there a narrative going on in the lyrics?

No. Lyrically I've never approached having a concept. A theme, maybe in some ways. I've kind of dabbled and waltzed in and out of this idea of a record that addressed, I don't know what, some kind of abstract bankruptcy in underground music and culture [laughs]. But I wanted to get away from that as soon as I did it. But any conceptual basis for Your Blues is purely a musical idea.

I guess the reason I ask is that a lot of the tracks have this theatrical, dramatic feel to them. I can almost see them being sung on stage.

That's funny. I'm always hesitant to mention this, but a lot of the songs on Your Blues are to be used in a play.

No kidding! But that came after the fact?

No, that came before the fact. But I have a) no ability and b) no interest in writing narrative songs. So it wasn't like I sat down to write a libretto or something like that. It was more like, here's a bunch of songs, and maybe you can use them to color the play somehow and see if somehow a Destroyer song would make sense with someone other than me singing it. And also I was pretty adamant that I had this idea for making this record that some people might mistake as like "The Sound of Music" [laughs], and that in no way would that be the way I would envision the songs being played onstage. The songs that do get used will hopefully be really stripped down and just will shine some different light on the songs.

But anyway, I think there's always been a certain amount of theatricality, if that's the word you want to use, to Destroyer songs going way back. And the songs on Your Blues, if I look at them, don't seem that atypical from the rest of the stuff I've written.

Your lyrics have always been really strong and distinctive. Are there lyricists you admire?

Yeah, of course. Somewhere in the heart of me there lurks an indie fan boy, I think. There's always a couple songs off of a Smog record that I'll hear, I'll just shake my head and walk away from it. Just like, "This fucking guy." And then I'll wonder if you can really approach writing [those sorts of lyrics] without being some kind of sociopath. And there's stuff that I really love that most people don't associate being really lyrically based music. Like the Plush records or the Neil Hagerty records. There hasn't been anything in recent years that's really leapt out at me. Frog Eyes I think are really awesome. I like the Cass McCombs record, I think that's really good.

Do you consider your songs autobiographical, or confessional in any way?

I would never write something down just to confess it. Usually it's a pretty conscious effort to create something of aesthetic value. You know what I mean? I mean, my approach to language is not super conscious in that I sit down and have some over-arching idea that the language has to fit into. It's actually really instinctual. But the aesthetic is one of using language that just works. You write it down, and somehow it's just working for you. It's not what the words mean, but what they do, I guess. How the phrasing interacts with melody, and how meaning can change once you throw that in there. That being said, you could probably comb through my lyrics and find a handful of threads that would piece it all together.

One thing I think that makes your lyrics stand out is that often they're really funny. Not in a novelty sense, but more like Bob Dylan can be really funny.

Yeah! That's cool that you think that. No one has ever said that to me. That's really good. It's not something I'm striving for, but there will be times when I look at something [that I've written] and -- I won't laugh at loud -- but I think it's just… yeah, I'll use the word "funny." In the same way that like Leonard Cohen can be funny. And Dylan can be really funny. I think that any writing I really like walks the line between severity and playfulness.

#dan bejar #destroyer #new pornographers #sunday interview

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coneshotline · 8 years ago

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LABOUR 1945-2010

of bennites and blairites, of infighting and shitflinging, of pretentious blurbs and italic text

here, have some really old mixes (made in about 2012 i think)...i don't even like some of the bands featured any more but i'm too lazy to change it. i actually only finished one of these the other day! so yes, only 'drowning men' has been published before but the other has been 99% complete for years now...blame those mmmm [smacks lips] depressive episodes

1945-1979 | 1979-2010

tracklist/liner notes under the cut

1945-1979

in our bedroom after the war - stars (out of the rubble)

it's us - yes, we're back again, here to see you through, 'til the day's end and if the night comes, and the night will come, well at least the war is over

lift your head and look out the window stay that way for the rest of the day and watch the time go listen! the birds sing! listen! the bells ring! all the living are dead, and the dead are all living the war is over and we are beginning

childhood memories - british sea power (1945 labour government - the new dawn)

and a little electricity won't hurt and no a little electricity won't hurt especially when we're all out of gas and coal and oil, and steel and cash but a little electricity won't hurt and no a little electricity won't hurt

against agamemnon - the mountain goats (clement attlee)

red, red, red everywhere bright red all along the thin canvas wall i stepped outside for a little air i stepped outside to get away from it all

one way - the levellers (aneurin bevan)

my father when i was younger took me up on to the hill that looks down on the city smog and above the factory spill he said, "now this is where i come when i wanted to be free" but he never was in his lifetime, but these words stuck with me

the velocity of saul at the time of his conversion - okkervil river (an unceremonious defeat)

the audience is tired, "we've had enough fire, we're entering the age now of ice" and i, feeling older, pull off to the shoulder and wonder, with my head in my hands, should i call my wife

and say "enough 'you and i,' enough of 'the fight' enough of 'prevail' or 'walk in the light' while the angels stood by i got high as a kite too tired to smile or know that i'm right

machine - regina spektor (hugh gaitskell)

i count all my blessings i have friends in high places and i'm upgraded daily all my wires without traces

hooked into machine

we were wasted - the leisure society (bevanites)

and from the flat above the square we watch our comrades bare their teeth, their souls, their flesh

we were wasted son we were wasted all on the ride from the nightclub to our drive all the way we sang

the pioneers - tunng (bloc party cover) (gaitskellites)

if it can be broke then it can be fixed if it can be fused then it can be split it's all under control

if it can be lost then it can be won if it can be touched then it can be turned all you need is time

so here we are reinventing the wheel i'm shaking hands with a hurricane it's a colour that i can't describe it's a language i can't understand ambition tearing out the heart of you carving lines into you dripping down the sides of you

we will not be the last

easy lucky free - bright eyes (the disarmament debate)

i set my watch to the atomic clock i hear the crowd count down 'til the bomb gets dropped i always figured that there’d be time enough i never let it get me down, but i can’t help it now

weeping willow - the hush sound (deaths and rebirth)

there will be a tomorrow the sun will light a sea of sorrow tonight it set and took our friend if i could do one thing, i'd bring him back snow won't stick to the weeping willows

maybe, this time - ok go (harold wilson)

you've spent your entire life quick-tongued and always right hasn't being right just let you down?

soft revolution - stars (1964 labour government - hopes and dreams)

we are here to save your life the fool, the drunk, the child, and his wife

we are here to take the blame to take the taunts and lift the shame

and after changing everything they couldn't tell we couldn't sing

joan of arc - arcade fire (barbara castle)

you had a vision they couldn't see so they put you down but everything that you said would happen it came around and they're the ones that put you down 'cause they got no heart but i'm the one that will follow you you're my joan of arc

speed the collapse - metric (devaluation of the pound)

every warning we ignored, drifting in from distant shores the wind presents a change of course, a second reckoning of sorts

hope on fire - vienna teng (the workers united)

gotta fight gotta strike 'cause there's no turning away from what you don’t want to know

gotta change rearrange something’s bending to break it’s just a matter of when

burning up - ladytron (born again tony benn)

i wrote a protest song about you, about you set off on the long march without you, without you

i set myself on fire without you, without you i wrote a protest song about you, about you

so many things worth burning for

sonnet - hundred waters (from 'sonnet' by percy bysshe shelley) (1974 labour government - a radical promise)

through the unheeding many he did move a splendour among shadows, a bright blot upon this gloomy scene, a spirit that strove for truth, and like the preacher found it not

white winter hymnal - fleet foxes (michael foot)

i was following the pack all swallowed in their coats with scarves of red tied 'round their throats to keep their little heads from falling in the snow and i turned 'round and there you go and michael, you would fall and turn the white snow red as strawberries in the summertime

half day closing - portishead (the counterattack)

underneath the faded sun the silent sum of the businessman has left us choking

dreams and belief have gone time, life itself goes on

the last living rose - pj harvey (the failed referendum)

goddamn europeans take me back to beautiful england and the gray, damp filthiness of ages and battered books and fog rolling down behind the mountains on the graveyards and dead sea-captains

past the thames river, glistening like gold hastily sold for nothing, nothing

if it is growing - fanfarlo (wilson resigns)

your memory's failing your eyes are like rocks and i can see you on the floor of your box

you've got answers in everyone is electric circuits and that's all there is

then here's the irony no one will know if it's tomorrow or today that you go

caliber - wintersleep (jim callaghan)

you drive the exact speed limit keep of a track of your mile listening to radio music smiling when everyone else smiles you should take a beating willing do it in the name of the cause do it for the feeling that one day maybe you can be your own boss maybe get a beautiful woman get a fat piece of land get a couple of kids a prototypical civilian housing towards the future mining towards the sun you keep your caliber loaded no one's gonna fuck this up

electioneering - radiohead (the loan)

it's just business, cattle prods and the imf i trust i can rely on your votes

beggars - bombay bicycle club (lib-lab pact)

your guard isn't on, your barriers open your words have now got the whole town waiting my army is down, my company old and leaving quiet and burned

riding a fleet of beggars and cons taking it back, it won't be long

isles - little comets (winter of discontent)

leeds screaming bristol torn belfast and hull forlorn oxford dreaming in denial with all its gleaming spires

stoke bleeding glasgow yawns dundee and cardiff mourn york breaking sheffield cries all fears are multiplied

elephant gun - beirut (vote of no confidence)

if i was young i'd flee this town i'd bury my dreams underground as did i, we drink to die, we drink tonight

take the big game down

we used to wait - arcade fire (election '79)

now our lives are changing fast hope that something pure can last

the red flag - billy bragg (to the future)

though cowards flinch and traitors sneer we'll keep the red flag flying here

1979-2010

bye bye bye - school of seven bells (the beginning of the end)

after the great flood, all washed away, i still stayed

one by one 'til there's nothing left of you one by one by one by one

you and i are a gang of losers - the dears (old labour begets new)

every single one of us is getting massacred on a frozen path fever comes to wipe us out and scratch your name off of a list

you and i are on the outside of almost everything you and i are on the other side of almost everything

red right hand - nick cave & the bad seeds (tony benn)

he's a ghost, he's a god, he's a man, he's a guru

you're one microscopic cog in his catastrophic plan designed and directed by his red right hand

life - dai (benn vs healey)

instrumental

he dreams he’s awake - stars (michael foot, landslide defeat, and the wilderness years)

sunrise, oh sunrise, when will you ever come? sunrise, oh sunrise, when will the night be gone? it won't let me go

from red to blue - billy bragg (labour, miners, and militant)

i hate the compromises life forces us to make we must all bend a little if we are not to break but the ideals you've opted out of, i still hold them to be true i guess they weren't so firmly held by you

the geese of beverly road - the national (labour's rebranding and 80s excesses)

we'll take ourselves out in the street and wear the blood in our cheeks like red roses

we're the heirs to the glimmering world

illuminated red - the accidental (kinnock and mandelson)

and illuminated red - and illuminated white instead like a red sock burning through my table; lying in my bed

oblivion - patrick wolf (kinnock and mandelson, pt. 2)

oh my stubborn son, i know that you said you need no one don't you see danger, danger, danger, headed to oblivion?

our hell - emily haines & the soft skeleton (new labour/john smith)

we're moderate, we modernize 'til our hell is a good life all we know is to forget how to do right

colouring in the black hole

overture - patrick wolf (tony blair)

it's wonderful what a smile can hide if the teeth shine bright and it's nice and wide

titan arum - foals (gordon brown)

you see assassins on the walkway home you eat yourself from bones to bones, to tongues to toes contractors nor the council can find the time to piece your head again

drowning men - fanfarlo (the new labour ouroborous)

even though the lights have changed i'm caught up in an endless loop we spend our time with drowning men, we're going to let ourselves get dragged down

do you want the truth or something beautiful - paloma faith (landslide victory)

do you want the truth or something beautiful? just close your eyes and make believe do you want the truth or something beautiful? i am happy to deceive you

destroy everything you touch - ladytron (brown and mandelson)

anything that may desert you so it cannot hurt you destroy everything you touch today destroy me this way

bright bright bright - dark dark dark (blair, to mandelson)

you always cared for me, that was easy enough to see you always cared for me, and i pushed you in the dark and i wanted to tell you, i wanted to tell you but i lie, i lie, oh i lie, i lie i hurt myself, i hurt myself nearly as much as i hurt you

you and whose army - radiohead (blairites and brownites)

come on, come on, you think you drive me crazy well, come on, come on, you and whose army you and your cronies

masters of war - bob dylan (iraq, pt. 1)

you fasten all the triggers for the others to fire then you set back and watch

celebration guns - stars (iraq, pt. 2)

desert wind and a perverse desire to win history buried in shame

then the next day, how will you know your enemy? by their colour or your fear? one by one we can cage them in your freedom make them all disappear

my hands grow darker every day

claws off - margot and the nuclear so and sos (blair and brown)

if you wanna go, get lost if you wanna stay, shut up

wine red - the hush sound (brown takes over)

the sea is wine red, this is the death of beauty the doves have died, the lovers have lied

monster love - goldfrapp (brown and mandelson, redux)

i never thought i would return to be consumed by you again

everything comes around bringing us back again here is when we start and where we end

weekend away - tunng (the end)

wander through the wreckage all is said and done faces dance in the light

forget those days, they've gone

mykonos - fleet foxes (david miliband and ed miliband)

and you will go to mykonos with a vision of a gentle coast and a sun to maybe dissipate shadows of the mess you made

when out walking, brother, don't you forget it ain't often that you'll ever find a friend

#it took ages to write this up lmao #as for whether i'll do a 2010-onwards sequel...let's wait and see what the next election brings first :))))

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dstrachan · 5 years ago

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‘VIEWS FROM THE EDGE’ - w/c 16th September 2019

Team Player 'Lie To Your Face'

The Chapman Family '1,000 Lies'

The Baby Seals 'It's Not About The Money Honey'

Spat 'Robot'

Pretenders 'Cuban Slide'

Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention 'Plastic People'

Pat Benatar 'Sex As A Weapon'

The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, Crouch End Festival Chorus, Nic Raine 'Concerning Hobbits (From The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring)'

Polly Styrene 'Trick Of The Witch'

Led Zeppelin 'Kashmir'

Billy Bragg 'Accident Waiting To Happen'

The Pretty Things 'Sickle Clowns'

Grim Dylan 'I'd Like A Moat Too Please'

Emma Withers 'Ride Or Die'

Emma Withers 'Shot By the River'

The Burns Unit 'Send Them Kids To War'

D-Kel & Los Bandidos 'Racket'

The Other Ones 'Get Your Hands Off Me'

The Other Ones 'Shallow Heart'

The Fireflys 'This House Is Ours'

Charles Mingus 'Solo Dancer'

Lakehouse Bell 'Mexican Wave'

Zara 'Bad With Names'

VSGodchild 'Blood Money'

Gene 'London Can You Wait'

#views from the edge #mad wad waspradio #td1 radio #north highland radio #community radio

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the-hindu-times · 7 years ago

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November 2017 reviews roundup

The first day of the month saw Giant Party open for Little Comets and The Pigeon Detectives at Kentish Town Forum. A great start to the evening peaked with their singer hugging every standing person that had come in early through the doors, before complimenting me on my Ryan Adams T-shirt. The venue filled up for Little Comets, with Robert Coles giving us his best ever live vocal before The Pigeon Detectives looked back to their debut album with singer, Matt Bowman, soldering on with his broken foot.

The following Monday saw Hurricane #1 return to London for a gig at the Islington. Having their own sound engineer seem to complicate thing. The guitars weren’t always in tune either and the bassist had an unnecessarily punchier sound to his predecessor’s – Carlo Mariani(the guitarist)’s brother, who was with them at their first London reunion gig at the Brixton Jamm. The first support band played an impressive set; Still in their amateur stage, you could imagine this band to have more of a call with their experimental recordings, and there's no reason why they couldn't become bigger than when the headline act were in their hay day.

The next day, Billy Bragg was on his second sold out night at The Islington Assembly Hall. Switching between electrics and acoustic, apart from being joined by the occasional pedal steel and additional instruments, it was a solo show. He didn't seem that comfortable with talking to the audience – feeling disconnected in addressing lights rather than faces - nor did he always seem at home with playing his songs - maybe he was just on autopilot. It didn’t feel like paint by numbers to us though as the magic and emotion was present - even in the new songs, which seemed to come across the best, despite the classics receiving the reactions expected for this artist who’s relevant in the here and now, no matter which decade the topics came from. It’s the here, in particular (especially in this part of town) that welcomes this powerful gig and message, despite 'Between The Wars' featuring in tonight’s set.

The day after, we attended a work in progress show for Kevin Bridges, with support from Tom Deacon, Carey Marx and James Gill at Always Be Comedy at The Tommyfield in Kennington - great comedy club in an awful pub.

Shed 7 at New Slang, Kingston the night after was followed by a sold out John Power gig at the Slaughtered Lamb in Clerkenwell on the Saturday. Joined by current Cast bassist, Jay Lewis, on additional acoustic guitar and vocals, they ran through folk songs, on their differing array of vintage instruments, from John’s solo records before delving into some rarities to go along with the hits from their main band.

A full work in progress show from James Acaster at the Bill Murray on Tuesday night was followed by a night of covers from Ralph McTell & Wizz Jones at Cecil Sharpe House, in Camden, the next. In a hall next to group violin lessons, they went into great depth about each song; playing pieces penned by friends, admirations and Dylan, McTell went on to explain how he used to write fan mail to Jones, and how, now they had to make another record together before it was too late, at their age. Wizz's old Epiphone acoustic set the tone for the perfectly clear sound in this honest, simple arrangement. I would have loved to have stayed for the second set but I was due to catch the end of Shed Seven at the Hospital Club in Central London.

On the Sunday, we decided to head to Koko in Mornington Crescent; choosing to see a rare acoustic set from Hundred Reasons, over Dog Eat Dog in New Cross. Supporting My Vitriol on the first of 2 nights, where the same audience would be returning, the one-time flavour of the month emotive/post-hardcore Aldershot outfit opened with a solo, vocal of Nestle's ‘Alpine White’ theme from Colon Doran. Holding nothing back, they launched into 'I'll Find You", triggering sing-alongs during the 9 song set, after the early mistakes were out the way.

With My Vitriol performing 'Finelines' in its entirety on this night, with 'Between The Lines' on the next, new material was spread out over both as encores. Regular bassist, Tatia Starkey, (still on maternity leave) watched on as Bloc Party's Russell Lissack filled her shoes. Possessing no visible amps on stage is a direction that many bands are going in now but with My Vitriol, they had no choice after frontman, Som Wardner, was diagnosed with Tinitus.

The night after, we made our first ever trip to Up The Creek in Greenwich - one of the only venues that's permanently a comedy club all year round. An evening in aid of Scope, hosted by Adam Hills, the mixed bill of comedians, who varied in abilities, brought everyone together in the best club in London, which included everyone - on and off stage.

The Happy Mondays had a pretty good sound for the Folkestone Leas Cliff Hall, during their nostalgic, Wednesday evening set. That could have been helped due to the hired-out PA that hung from the ceiling or just down to the amount of backing tracks in use. Despite being a ‘Greatest Hits’ tour, frontman, Shaun Ryder, still needed the aid of an auto que but the middle-aged, sold out crowd didn’t seem to mind as they danced and sang along with him – happy, as long as their ears didn’t have to absorb anything new or different in more recent decades.

The following Thursday, the return of [Viva] Brother accompanied the release of their second album with a one-off gig at The Garage in Islington. Having moved forward with their sound in Lovelife, and having formally achieved the complex emo formula in Kill The Arcade and Wolf Am I, whichever angle you look at it from, this was a step back to their lad-culture fans who were only interested in hearing those familiar Gritpop tunes. Walking on, in a T-shirt that simply said ‘Slough’, singer/guitarist, ‘Lee’ Leonard Newell, greeted the audience by beaming “Viva Brexit”. A lot has changed since they last stood solo in the Britpop revival, seven years ago, but some things never do; with a fight breaking out, prompting them to come to a halt during ‘New Year’s Day’, 5th song in. This only made the crowd even more boisterous as they started it up again. It was clear that you had to be off your face with your friends to get the most out of tonight - which probably made it the best gig of the year for the majority.

Nic Bennett

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gay-spaceman · 8 years ago

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How does Matt play into this au, since Ryan's JD

Matt is Martha and has a hugggggge crush on Geoff lmao, he’s Jeremy’s best friend and plays game with him a lot.

#matt bragg #heathers au #shut up Nic

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sinceileftyoublog · 7 years ago

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Joseph Shabason Album Review: Aytche

BY JORDAN MAINZER

An album about physical and mental decay and memory loss risks being emotionally manipulative. But Joseph Shabason’s debut album Aytche, a collection of instrumental experimental saxophone-based tracks with a malleable sonic palette, actually puts you in the place of the haze. Shabason, who has contributed his playing to albums by The War on Drugs and, more notably, Destroyer (you have him to thank for that cornball saxophone playing on Kaputt), asserts himself as a player in the saxophone world like Colin Stetson--pushing the instrument not necessarily to its limits but exploring a side of it jazz musicians don’t often explore: Its potential for deep textures.

This is immediately apparent on the opening track, the wonderfully titled “Looking Forward to Something, Dude”. Tenor saxophone interweaves with alto flute and various synth lines. The motif is repeated on “Smokestack”, which adds dissonant, distorted guitar courtesy of Destroyer’s Nic Bragg. It establishes both a narrative sense and some grating noise and rough edge to an album, something that so much ambient music, whether more accessible or more experimental, lacks. Closer “Belching Smoke”, too, features these same elements, this time with percussion. When the guitar drops out momentarily, it’s stunning, showing just how much sonic ground each instrument has been covering.

But what makes Aytche beautifully unsettling is the sequencing; Shabason carefully places serenity within chaos. The title track and “Neil McCauley”, sandwiched between the opener and “Smokestack”, are more understated, the former featuring a muffled trumpet solo from J.P. Carter, and the latter showcasing piano and prominent bass. “Tite Cycle” follows “Smokestack” and features field recordings of birds and melancholy, syncopated synths that could make for an R&B beat. “Long Swim”, which is next, also combines natural recordings--a barking dog and washboard percussion with sounds of water--with machine-like synthesizers. The downward melody of the saxophone reminds me of Paul McCartney singing “And I will sing a lullaby” on “Golden Slumbers”. It’s the most straightforward track on the album, and perhaps the most beautiful.

In between “Long Swim” and “Belching Smoke” are two of the album’s most difficult songs, and for different reasons. The penultimate track, “Chopping Wood”, features squealing trumpet from Nicole Rampersaud and percussive thumps. It’s an ugly but effective manifestation of its title. But “Westmeath” is the most devastating song on the album. The only one to feature any sort of vocals, it juxtaposes an interview with a man talking about his father’s trauma from being a Holocaust survivor, and his eventual suicide. Words and phrases cut in and out; you can understand what the interview is about but don’t get the details. It reminds me of the final room at Yad Vashem in Israel, where you look into a pool and see the hazy reflections of the surrounding walls that contain inscribed names of those who perished in the Holocaust--a reminder that as time goes on, history becomes harder to concretely recall. For Shabason, whose grandparents were Holocaust survivors, I can’t think of a more personal and noble way to engage with the fragility of memory: through art that, too, will live on through individual relationships to it.

8.3/10

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://josephshabason.bandcamp.com/album/aytche"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Aytche by Joseph Shabason&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

#joseph shabason #album review #aytche #western vinyl #the war on drugs #destroyer #kaputt #colin stetson #nic bragg #j.p. carter #paul mccartney #nicole rampersaud #yad vashem

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