|
|
Here are a few more links to stuff that I’ve been checking out. Thanks to the Nialler9, I heard this unusual track, ‘SEOD’ by Kindness, a new Indie-Dance project which recalls the 80s. Here’s a funny video they did, knowingly pretentious I think!
Kindness – Gee up
But really, although people knock the 80s for its overemphasis on glossy sound, sometimes you just can’t beat a bit of Jam & Lewis (geniuses who produced Janet Jackson’s Control and Rhythm Nation 1814 not to mention the S.O.S. Band and who inspired a host of risible imitators in the mid to late 80s) for sheer 80s bombast and it don’t get more bombastic than Change’s hit in 1984 ‘Change of Heart’!
Change – Change of Heart
Speaking of funny things, was watching the Donovan doc Sunshine Superman – the Journey of Donovan recently and it reminded me of a funny song one of my co-workers sang to me by Donovan called ‘The Intergalactic laxative‘. But not only did he write this humourous ditty but also this one and yup performed it live as you can see!
Donovan – The Pee Song
Anyway if trippy Balearic stuff is your bag then one blog site I can’t recommend more highly is Test Pressing also available as a podcast on iTunes. For example it features original 1985 mixes by DJ Alfredo in live at Amnesia in Ibiza and other great mixes by the likes of Lexx and my favourites Psychemagik as well as the more out there stuff like this recent one by Alexis Le-Tan. And if you can’t get enough here’s a favourite animated film that really is out there Fantastic Planet aka La Planete Sauvage set to the track ‘Spacer Woman’ by Charlie. On that interstellar note I’ll leave you to enjoy!!!
Charlie – Spacer Woman
Been away from this for awhile so forgive me if I’m a bit rusty! Anyhow, I’ve been listening to different grooves and watching documentaries and stuff so where I’ll begin is with a favourite tune of mine from the last few months. This is ‘Valley of Paradise’ by Psychemagick. I first heard it on their amazing Celestial Love mix and have been fascinated by it ever since. (By the way there is are another two Psychemagick mixes at Test Pressing here and here if you dug Celestial Love. Disco Delicious.com even went as far as to put Psychemagick top of their list for 2011. )
Valley of Paradise – Psychemagick
Apparently it is a sample from a song by David Crosby entitled ‘Orleans’ off his If I could Only Remember My Name album. Tantalisingly short but beautiful – apparently the story goes via 4 Way site.com that Crosby learnt it from Paul Kantner and that it was an old Medieval French tune based on the chime of the belltower of St. Firmin’s Chuch in Beaugency. The song from the fourteenth century recounts the allegiances of France in the Hundred Years War with England. The French connection neatly brings us to Justice’s use of the sample in the song ‘Ohio’ (quite a different approach I think you’ll agree) from their album Audio Video Disco.
That’s enough for now. Watched the brain melting Fearless Freaks documentary about the Flaming Lips on Sky Arts 1. There is a great web site that goes along with it here. What really amazed me was not only the hardship these guys endured in the beginning, but also the brothers in Wayne Coyne’s family all participating in football sessions which the doc was named after. Below is some of the footage of that event. It’s a little reminiscent to me of a of a harder edged Napolean Dynamite - enjoy!
Flaming Lips: unseen outtakes of fearless freaks football
Some funny space videos while things get up and running again.
T.O.N.T.O.’s Expanding Headband – Time Whys
T.O.N.T.O.’s Expanding Headband – the Boatman
Yes these guys were the one of the first synthesizer pioneer groups – supposedly!
Player [1] – Space Invaders
This is the song that formed the backing track to the first ever house tune On and On by Jesse Saunders in 1984!
It’s all a bit creepy but enjoy!
OK it’s an obvious title, but it will have to do as I’m taking a break from the blogging for the next while as I put together a new writing project. So see you soon and get ready for something really exciting on the horizon!
Early Dayz (1991-1994)
Music was always played in my house. My parents owned the original gatefold of the Beatles’ Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band and I remember buying records myself from a very young age. The day I decided to pick up a guitar though was when I first heard heavy metal band, Metallica in 1991 (although having my ears bled by the Thin Lizzy reunion gig in Horan’s, Tralee must have also helped!). This was as loud, uncompromising and rebellious as you could get and my brother and I wanted a piece of this. So we formed our own metal band with two other school friends in Killarney. Soon there were grunge and metal bands springing up all over Killarney all with their own style, look and attitude. We tended to play covers of Guns’n’Roses, Metallica and Thin Lizzy songs and looked the part! I played bass, while my brother sported a Warlock guitar and a brutal vocal and lead guitar playing style to match!
Blackened – Metallica
There was a revolving drummer door while Mike was ever present on rhythm guitar. There were two truly memorable gigs. The first was in 1992 at the Castle Heights Hotel in Killarney. We were on the bill with three other young metal and alternative rock bands and all the local young headbangers were out in force! In 1994, though we played a biker rally at the Falcon Inn in Glenbeigh. We played two gigs there over a weekend, one late night on Saturday and another more subdued gig at two on Sunday. We all thought, ‘This is it we’ve truly arrived’, but sadly I left the band in 1995 to go to college and the band only last another few years after that.
DJ Aspirations 2000-2004
I decided to become a DJ in September 2000 after an amazing night up in the Black Box Theatre in Galway. That night Cian O’Ciobhain was in charge celebrating his 110th Street night (now Sisi), which regularly played at the Town Hall Theatre. This was around the same time he joined Radio Na Gaeltachta to host his An Taobh Tuathail and also had his own TV music programme on TeeGee Cathair, Rianta.
110th Street – Easter Sunday 2 (Hope those records on the wall aren’t real!)
I had heard many big room dance and radio DJs, but what really struck me was the way he could effortlessly blend world music, alterative rock and dance music styles. I decided I could do this and set about buying CDs. What helped me in this was the fact I worked in Roxy Records Killarney between 2001 and 2004. I was able to keep up to date with new releases as well as pick up the odd rare compilation and obscure CD single. I played a few places around Killarney such as the Granary and Courtney’s and the odd 21st, but somehow the world of Killarney music wasn’t ready for a dance DJ who could blend styles. Come to think of it neither was I. I liked a wide eclectic range of styles and played guitar regularly at the Sunday session in Courtneys, as well as checking out the burgeoning singer songwriter scene in the Granary. Highlights included Rodrigo y Gabriela, The Jimmy Cake, Tir Na Nog, Mundy, Jerry Fish and the Mudbug Club and The 4of Us.
Jetta’s Palace – The Jimmy Cake
However I could not link both sides of the equation and eventually tired of the limitations of the music scene and working in a record shop I sold my CD decks and took a career break.
Present Styles from 2007 on
In 2007, I rekindled my interest in world music, probably due to the influence of JJ O’Shea and Liam Rice’s Music Tree night at the Granary. Throughout 2008 and 2009 I started learning how to dance salsa and play samba. People sometimes mix these two up so I’ll clear up the misunderstanding here. Although both can involve musical accompaniment or dancing, in general, salsa is associated with a style of dancing originating in Cuba while samba is associated with a style called Samba Reggae drumming from Western Brazil.
Salsa Dancing L.A. Salsa Style P.2 by Brain Labor
The salsa styles I learnt included LA Salsa, Cuban Salsa, Cha Cha Cha, Bachata, Merengue. Although the latter two originate from the Dominican Republic and are significantly different in style to the others, all these dances are generally taught together up in the Greyhound Bar in Tralee and at the Salsa Congress and other classes around Ireland. I also learnt how to play samba with SambaCuisle in the Greyhound Bar and have played with the group in several parades around the county as well as in places as far afield as Kilmihil in Clare and at the Drogheda Samba Festival.
Samba Duro – Samba Cuisle in Cloghane 2010
Recently I joined an African drumming group up in the Tralee International Resource Centre that meets every Friday at 7pm and Samba Cuisle continue to meet every Wednesday at 7pm in the Greyhound Bar. Also a DJ (still no gigs as yet and sure when I’m playing what I like what do I care!), I have finally managed to combine world music and dance music styles into a seamless whole which incorporates Disco, Motown, House and Funk as well as African, Arabian and Brazilian rhythms. I also play in a community band in Killarney, incorporating these diverse influences primarily through percussion and some vocals.
Well that’s all for now, folks! Until we meet again be happily contented and keep that wonderful thing deep within your spirit called imagination flowing!
Pure Imagination – Lou Rawls
Recently, I had the pleasure of performing the song ‘Tainted Love’ for the first time at a Fairtrade open mic night. I hadn’t intended to do this, but we were very short of volunteers and I spotted the lyric sheet among the pages on the table, so I thought why not? Well it was a massive success and helped liven up the evening, which also featured a hang drum, probably the first ever live performance of one in Tralee, but that’s another story!
Anyway, I started wondering about this tune and pretty soon had enough info to fill this blog entry. ‘Tainted Love‘ by Ed Cobb of the Four Preps, was first released as a single for Gloria Jones in 1965, which sadly never charted unlike so many Motown and R&B songs at the time.
Gloria Jones version
Legend has it that in 1973, Richard Searling, DJ at the famous Wigan Casino picked up a copy of the song Stateside, and started spinning it back in Wigan. It became one of the anthems of the joint and just listen to those handclaps as people shook their thing and you’ll see and hear what I mean!
Anyway, due to the popularity of the tune on the Northern Soul scene, Jones rerecorded the song for her Vixen album in 1976, which was co produced by her boyfriend at the time, one Marc BolanFor completists, here’s the 1976 version of the tune!
who was one of if not the most iconic of all the Glam stars in ’70s Britain.
A few years later in 1982, at the height of the New Romantic scene in the UK, Soft Cell had a number one smash with the song and people have really been covering it ever since. I must warn people though that post is about to take a very dark and controversial turn, because the following videos are of let’s say an acquired taste. My advice here is to look at them as art rather than commentary. So here is the Soft Cell Version.
Soft Cell version
A little later on, in 1984, Industrial band, Coil, recorded a version of Tainted love, which was a double A-side with the song Panic. Well, neither of these songs are really for the faint-hearted, but in defense of the Coil video, I should say it was done to warn people about AIDS and raise money for charity.
Coil Version
Then in 2001, Marilyn Manson released his version of ‘Tainted Love’, this time based on Not Another Teen Movie. I always like to think that even if Manson didn’t hear the Coil version, he certainly embodied the spirit of it’s dark heart!
Marilyn Manson Version
In recent years we have had covers of the song by Pussycat Dolls and Imelda May, but for me this Spanish language version really stands out, plus the video really sums up, IMHO what the message of the song is. ‘Til next time…
La Union – Falso Amor
At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want.
If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.
Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them – that only creates sorrow.
Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.
Rejoice in the way things are.When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.
Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.
Kindness in words creates confidence.
Kindness in thinking creates profoundness.
Kindness in giving creates love.
Respond intelligently even to unintelligent treatment.
The words of truth are always paradoxical.
Truthful words are not beautiful; beautiful words are not truthful.
Good words are not persuasive; persuasive words are not good.
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.
Lao Tzu
Hey readers! Are you having a good time here? If so read on! If not cheer up because this blog entry gets better! Anyway, I was very surprised to discover myself writing yet another spiritual blog entry, but then again maybe not! I often end up writing stuff after reading a good book or listening to a great album or discovering a new movie or blog site etc. It’s just that I thought after I’d read John C. Parkin’s F**k It – the Ultimate Spiritual Way, I’d rather thought I’d given up bothering to write spiritual blogs.
Well, as it turns out I haven’t and let’s be honest, I do these blog entries for my own benefit. So perhaps that’ll separate the wheat from the chaff. But if it doesn’t, I have decided that Parkin’s book excellent as it is neglects to say f**k it to one thing and that is the thing and that is existential angst.
What is existential angst? The best answer is probably here, because it doesn’t waste time going through all the philosophical schools, but doesn’t short change either. For me existential angst is asking what life is about and worrying about what happens when life is no more or how worse it is going to get. In a nutshell, this is an utter waste of time, but still it is a very prevalent habit nowadays as we are bombarded by so many philosophies, ideas, view points and lacking a predator to busy ourselves with the distraction of survival, we have too much time to think about these things.
Existential Angst in Bearville
OK, depressing lecture over! Let’s cut to the chase! Why am I wasting my time on these issues when I have already said f**k it to them? I think I still labour under the delusion that there is somebody somewhere inside my mind, which is alive when in fact all that can be defined as alive is the body, under the most objective terms. In this case alive means some sort of activity. The question of being and consciousness, that is purely a subjective one as is the existence of the mind. Let’s put it in simple English and then we can all slope off to the pub!
The mind/self/soul/Buddha Nature/essence, whatever you want to call it is just an idea, just a concept, like trying to describe the colour of the wind. So far so obvious. But, the problem comes about when you find there is nothing there and then become an extremist doing things like walking naked down the street or eating someone else’s food because nobody owns anything anyway! That’s called getting the wrong end of the stick, like saying you made the universe last Sunday!
So my basic point is this. Existential angst may be unnecessary, but so too is wasting effort trying to show off your realization and in the process forgetting that everyone is different and should never be exploited if you think they are more ignorant than you. In fact I would say f**k it to exploiting others because they act like everything is real while you feel the opposite way. So take it all with a pinch of salt, my friends and enjoy freedom from existential angst without making a big deal out of it!
By the way, I also asked Youtube what existential angst was and it came up with a much better answer! Enjoy!
Existential angst
Ever since this thing called rock’n'roll started up way back in the mid ’50s there have been examples of folks that never got the recognition they deserved at the time. This was either through being written out to the history books or simply some personality problems that prevented them from capitalizing. So, let’s go back to the beginning.
You may remember Elvis Presely’s first hit ‘That’s Alright, Mama’. What you may not remember is that this song was not even written by Elvis. It was in fact written by a little known black artist called Arthur Crudup. And yes he did record a version of the song!
Arthur Crudup – That’s All Right (1946)
The notes that accompany this video clearly state that although Crudup was referred to as the Father of Rock’n'roll, he never received a penny in royalties for his part in propelling Elvis to superstardom and even decided to stop recording as a result of arguments over royalties he was due. He died in 1974 from a heart attack. It’s likely he’d have been treated better if he’d been a white-skinned artist in 1950s/1960s America. Bo Diddley was recently in the news again over something similar. But his song ‘Who do you love’ reminds us that he could have easily had the same amount of adulation as Elvis if he’d been luckier and hadn’t signed off his rights to Chess Records back in the ’70s.
Although the ’60s were a time of experimentation for rock music, by the ’70s, there were many casualties from this hedonistic era. Syd Barrett was a member of Pink Floyd and his story has been eloquently told in the book Crazy Diamond: Syd Barrett & the Dawn of Pink Floyd. In that web entry you can also read about Barrett’s gradual descent into cult status/anonymity (while Pink Floyd sold millions of records) and finally death in 2006. However let us remember the wonderful journey’s Syd took us on such as ‘Golden Hair’ (here is the instrumental version, which really does it for me!), ‘Arnold Layne‘ and ‘Interstellar Overdrive’ (take the trip in the video below with headphones and fullscreen on!). For trainspotters here’s the original 17 minute version of Interstellar Overdrive!
Interstellar Overdrive – Pink Floyd
Barrett’s story reminds me of another victim of his own tendencies Nick Drake. He was a painfully shy English singer-songwriter, who released three albums in the late 60s and early 70s, but failed due to his inability to play live to give himself the promotion he deserved. He sadly died in his parent’s home in 1974, as a result of an overdoes of antidepressants, but his influence, as illustrated by his MySpace page, has been acknowledged by the likes of David Gray and John Martyn and when you listen to pieces like ‘Pink Moon‘ and ‘Northern Sky’ it’s not hard to see why. For those who are interested a documentary was made about Nick Drake, consisting of reminisces from his family. It’s all up on Youtube as you can see.
Nick Drake – A Stranger Among Us -Part 1
Roky Erickson is another acid casualty who thanks to far too many drugs never got his dues. After a promising start with The 13th Floor Elevators, between 1973, when he was convicted into Rusk Prison for the Criminally Insane, and 1993, Erikson literally disappeared from view. But thanks to being acknowledged by other bands, in particularly on Primal Scream’s Screamdelica in the form of the track ‘Slip Inside this House’. Here’s the original so you can see how radical it really was.
13th Floor Elevators – Slip Inside This House
There is a happy end to this tale though. In 1995, Roky with the help of his brother Sumner and friend Casey Monahan published a book of his lyrics Openers II (I am proud to say I own a copy of it, and even prouder to say that it was given to me free! In it you can really dissolve into the weird visions of Roky’s world – in fact that book and the aforementioned Crazy Diamond were the inspiration for this piece!). After this in 2001 Sumner took care of his brother to get him back on track and after releasing a film about his life, You’re Gonna Miss Me , Roky released a new album in 2010 entitled True Love Cast Out All Evil, which seems like an amazing triumph, all things considered! He even did this interview last year with Will Sheff, who helped him make the record and seems well sharp!
Roky Erickson with Will Sheff of Okkervil River – Austin, Tx
And then there’s the victorious return of Gil Scott Heron, famous for inventing rap back in the seventies and eighties with tracks like ‘The Revolution will not be Televised’, and ‘B Movie’ and my favourite, ‘The Bottle’ . Well sometime in the late 80s/90s, Heron had some serious addiction problems of his own which led to incarceration. But in 2010 released I’m New Here, his first album since 1994′s Spirits, to rave reviews. He even got the dubstep remix treatment from Jamie from the xx in the form of We’re New Here. For me having watched Scott-Heron at his peak in the film Black Wax, it was amazing to see the man in this video. Redemption doesn’t come close to describing it!
I’m New Here – Gil Scott-Heron
For years I have been a great fan of the High Llamas, but always wondered where they came from originally. I had read in a book entitled Irish Rock: Where it comes from; Where it’s at; Where it’s going by Tony Clayton Lea and Richie Taylor, that Sean O’Hagan, their founder member (and not the Guardian journalist of the same name BTW!) was originally from Cork and set up a band with friend, Cathal Coughlan way back in early 1982 called Microdisney. In about 1984, no doubt tired of the scene down there and their eyes firmly set on ‘the big time’, the lads upped sticks and relocated t London. They toughed it out, producing masterpieces like ‘Dolly’, ‘Goodbye, it’s 1987′ and the hilarious ‘Give me all of your clothes’, (for trainspotters Alan Vega was in a New York post punk band Suicide showing how clued in Cathal Coughlan was even then). They even threatened the charts with the single ‘Town to Town’.
Town to Town – Microdisney
Sadly by 1988, the band went their separate ways, and probably for the best too when you consider that their respective projects eclipsed the final albums by Microdisney both in content and quality. The lads surely agreed with this as they even sold t-shirts with the legend ‘Microdisney are… shit’ on them! More representative of the bands’ many talents would be songs like ‘Sun’ and ‘Past’ showing a blend of satirical wit and pop melodies to die for. Ironically, while the former song along with rants like ’464′ was typical of the path Couglan would tread the melodious guitar lines of the latter song and instrumentals like ‘Patrick Moore says you can’t sleep here’ with later band the High Llamas. Before then while O’Hagan released an almost unnoticed solo album, The High Llamas, Coughlan quite literally blew away the cobwebs two years in a row, firstly with the sharp witted ‘Only Losers Take the Bus’ in 1989 and then with the angry earthquake which was ‘Blues for Ceaucescu.’ Of course, these were no one offs as subsequent albums, Viva Dead Ponies and Valhalla Avenue went on to show. Below are the videos, which show that if nothing else here was an angry man who would not be silenced!
Only Losers Take the Bus
Blues for Ceaucescu – The Fatima Mansions
In total contrast, O’Hagan’s High Llamas were are pastoral band more like the Beach Boys meets Stereolab and in their own way they too were as uncompromising as the Fatima Mansions making records for themselves and their fans. Their most well known song is probably ‘Checking in, checking out’ while on albums such as Beet, Maize & Corn and Can Cladders the band’s ability to write amazingly organic albums finally won through. Here’s one of my favourites.
Sun Beats Down – High Llamas
So the next question you may ask is where are they now? Well O’Hagan’s band seem to be running and running and although they haven’t released anything since 2007, a new album Talahomi Way will be released on April 11th of this year and a tour is also ongoing.
As for Couglan, the Fatima Mansions stopped releasing albums aft0er 1994 with Coughlan releasing solo album Grand Necropolitan in 1996 up to last year’s Rancho Tetrahedron (as Cathal Coughlan and the Grand Necropolitan Quartet) which shows his creative fire has yet to dim, ‘Tender to the Blues’ being a great case in point. He even did a spoken word session in Dublin in 2009, the results of which can be seen below!
Cathal Couglan at St. Audeon’s Church, Dublin Part 1
Cathal Couglan at St. Audeon’s Church, Dublin Part 2
Reccommended listening
Microdisney From Daunt Square to Elsewhere 1982-1988(2007)
The Fatima Mansions Viva Dead Ponies (2cd includes best of) (2007)
The High Llamas Retrospective: Instrumentals and Rarities (2003)
The High Llamas Can Cladders (2007)
Cathal Coughlan and the Necropolitan Quartet Rancho Tetrahedron (2010)
Coda: Came across this video by Cathal Coughlan that I just had to include!
‘Amused as Hell’ Cathal Coughlan
I often have things that need clarifying, resources that I can’t get hold of too easily even on the web and most pertinently the need for a one stop shop for all my spiritual and intellectual needs. Well recently I came across some great websites that I think you should really check out!
First up, the whole business of whether the Celts came to Ireland and Britain or even existed for that matter, led me to this intriguing interview between Lord Melvyn Bragg of South Bank Show (I’ll be the first to admit this isn’t the best link – I mean the South Bank Show has been on Sky Arts since the New Year and the awards are on this evening on Sky Arts 1 and HD!!) fame and Professor Barry Cunliffe, Professor Miranda Green and Alistair Moffatt about all things Celtic. Of course, I won’t give the game away – you’ll just have to listen to the interview and make up your own minds about whether the Celts existed or not!
This led on to the discovery of an entire downloadable selection of eighteen interviews from the current series of In Our Time hosted by Melvyn Bragg on BBC Radio 4 on topics as diverse as Daoism, The Industrial Revolution, Metaphor and even the Unicorn! Wow, looks like I’ve got some quality interviews to listen to and so will you if you go to this link! Or if you’ve got a decade to spare go to the archive here!
Speaking of archives, that’s one way of describing Damien Senn’s amazing, People You Should Meet! interview site. It’s literally jam-packed with interviews with people on topics such as spirituality, career advice, healing and creativity and there’s even an interview with Chief Arvol Looking Horse about the Native American way of loving Mother Nature! If you want videos there’s videos and if you want to participate in the teleseminars you can sign up and they’ll let you know when they’re on!
On a spiritual note I came across a really good site entitled messagefrommasters.com, which has everything from Osho’s Jokes to the Buddha’s writings! It’s well worth checking out if you’re that way inclined! And if you’re completely burned out from all this information overload, you could always take the F**k it way created by John C. Parkin!!!
Happy hunting!!!
Well the talking drum arrived at the beginning of this month and it sounds like a dream! You can hit it with brushes, hands and two talking drum beaters! OK so I talked a little bit about what talking drums are. Here are a few more links to talkng drum articles.
Background
http://www.motherlandmusic.com/talkingdrums.htm
As you can see from this article the real name for the talking drum is the lya-llu and perhaps I can use it to get a job as a ceremonial drummer at Nigerian weddings!!!
How to play it
http://www.africaimports.com/talkingdrum.asp#What is a talking drum?
Finally here’s yours truly messing around on his new toy! Don’t worry I’m much better at it nowadays!!! Maybe I’ll post a video of me playing a gig with it!!!!! Carnegie hall, perhaps 
This is how to play the talking drum properly!!!
Ayan Bisi Adeleke – Master Talking drummer- Drum talks
|
|
