Month: January 2008

Radio On

Radio-Framed

Last night I watched Christopher Petit’s luminous debut feature Radio On[1979]. For a film so spare, so oddly still (despite the road trip which functions as the bare bones plot engine, rather literally), it is thoroughly fascinating from start to finish, and ultimately very moving. The script is minimal, the characters mostly ciphers. And yet. Character is not the point. When you think about the time period (late 70s Britain), the film’s sense of unease, of unrest, makes perfect sense. Petit’s slow, deliberate camera frames the landscape with sociological precision, much of it seen from the interior of London DJ Robert’s vintage car as he drives to Bristol in search of answers in the unexplained death of his brother. His motivations remain veiled; likewise, it won’t spoil the film for you to say that the brother’s life (and death) remain mysterious by the time the final credits roll.

Rather, the film uses music and landscape in tandem to illuminate the creeping disenchantment and dehumanization —gray tower blocks and rows of pylons, factories billowing smoke, endlessly circuitous roads than lead to more entanglement. (Given this backdrop, Kraftwerk’s “Radioactivity” seems positively despairing —the sound of human ingenuity squandered in the name of progress.) Throughout the film, Petit derives maximum potency from minimal means; the way he imbues architecture with melancholy and emotional resonance echoes the lengthy, nearly mute sequence that concludes Antonioni’s L’Eclisse.

radio_onThere are also haunting echoes of Edward Hopper in the way that Petit freeze-frames men and women in their own, impossibly separate spheres; also in the way he captures the interior of a busy pub at dusk —laughter rings hollowly and every man is an island unto himself. (Here, Wreckless Eric’s “Whole Wide World” provides the poignant subtext.)

It’s an immensely quiet, ruminative film, its pace nearly glacial but never stagnant. There are wry touches (“Ohm Sweet Ohm” blaring from the radio as Robert’s stalwart car sputters its last) and brutal ones (an AWOL British soldier’s initially bland monologue spirals vertiginously towards psychosis, barely drowned out by the flick of the radio dial). It’s not an entirely uncaring world that we’re in, but one in which we are increasingly cut off from emotional connection to others. That music serves as solace and impediment both is an irony not lost on Petit and his eloquent cinematography.

I leave you with the magisterial sound of ’David Bowie‘s “Heroes” rendered into German. (I believe that “Helden” was originally created for the soundtrack of the German version of “Go Ask Alice”,Christiane F. ) This song opens the film and sets the lustrous yet isolated mood. For some strange reason this sounds even more poignant to me than the original sung in English —Bowie’s voice breaking with equal parts tenderness and desperation.

In contrast we have Devo’s staccato, pin-ball frenetic version of “Satisfaction.” (Compare this to Cat Power’s smoky, almost seductive version —talk about night and day. Yet both capture that kernel of longing, just giving it a different torque.)

Radio On Trailer | Plexifilm Shop | Mark Mothersbaugh [Devo] | Cat Power

MP3David Bowie, “Helden”

MP3Devo, “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” (from Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!, 1978)

MP3Cat Power, “Satisfaction” (from The Covers Record, 2000; her new album Jukebox is released this week.)

Snow Blanket

SnowBlanketSnip

Here on the east coast we’ve had the most schizophrenic winter. It can be relatively balmly one week, and freezing the next. Today the temperature is in the teens. In honor of winter’s reappearance, I’ve put together a little winter mix of twelve songs. I’ve also created a PDF CD sleeve that you can print out and assemble into a nice little CD envelope. (Just cut out, glue along the angled flaps, then seal.)

The zip file is 77 mbs; I’ve also included three sample MP3s.

SNOW BLANKET

• “Turn the Heater On”, New Order

• “Noon Chill”, Arto Lindsay

• “Myrsky Laulu”, Kuupuu

• “Clouds”, Spires That In The Sunset Rise

• “It’s Cold In Space”, Jessamine

• “Snow”, Lida Husik

• “Lines Low to Frozen Ground”, Hood

• “Still Feels Like Tears”, Broadcast

• “The Very Eye Of Night”, Teiji Ito

• “Disquiet”, Lubos Fiser

• “Hot Springs On The Snow”, The Creatures

• “Snows Past,” The Lowest Note

CD SLEEVE ARTWORK [PDF].

MP3New Order, “Turn the Heater On” [from The Peel Sessions]

MP3Teiji Ito, “The Very Eye Of Night” [from Music for Maya, Tzadik 2007]

MP3The Lowest Note, “Snows Past” [from WOOF 7 Inches, Ad Hoc 2006]

MP3”Snow Blanket” [zipped file of MP3s, 77 MB]

BEST OF 2007 | PART 2: Reissues

This has taken me a small forever to post, sorry. Post-holiday I was struck down by something icky (of the fever-chills-achy-head variety) and subsequently got way behind on things.

soulforce-front+ The Dance, Soul Force [ReRelease.net] This minimalist post-punk/funk group formed when former Model Citizens Steven Alexander and Eugenie Diserio set about to create a giddy yet cerebral dance band, urgently assimilating the polymorphic and polyglot rhythms of the city. Soul Jazz put their gleefully anarchic single “Do DaDa” on the first volume of New York Noise; now their first LP [from 1982], along with some fun extras, has been digitally re-released by NYC label ReRelease.net. Also available through Other Music Digital. For more background and music. try the group’s official MySpace page.

MP3The Dance, “Looking for the World” (from Soul Force)

pylon_gyrate++ Pylon, Gyrate+ [DFA] I first read about Pylon in Roger Lyle Brown’s breezy, gossipy account of the Athens scene, Party Out of Bounds. Never having heard them, I formed a Pylon-in-my-head that sounded not that dissimilar to another group of vintage-attired non-musicians, the B52s. (In point of fact, the Dance sound more like the B52s than Pylon ever will.)

In actuality, however, Pylon don’t really sound like they were drinking the same wacky Kool-Aid as the beehived, extroverted Bs. Led by deceptively sweet-voiced, wide-eyed Vanessa Briscoe-Hay, Pylon’s sound was muscular, incisive, and, at times, cutting —as dubby and bass-heavy as the like-minded Gang of Four but far less politically-minded. Their sound was danceable, elastic and sharp; the group’s secret weapon (aside from their monstrous basslines) being Briscoe-Hay’s inimitable vocals, which can be unexpectedly fierce and almost cruel. (See the brutal “Feast on My Heart” for proof.) When she snarls, “We eat dub for breakfast,” boy do you believe her (and you’ll wish you had a better brand of corn flakes). As crystalline and perfect in 2008 as when it was first released in 1980. For concerts and updates, sign up at WeArePylon.

MP3Pylon, “Stop It” (from Gyrate+)

Ito-Music+ Teiji Ito, Music for Maya [Tzadik] At this point it’s impossible for me to separate Ito’s delicate music from his wife Maya Deren’s balletic visuals. But this long-overdue compilation of Ito’s greatest works for film proves, once and for all, that his compositions stand on their own, and beautifully. (Even more astonishingly, the earliest composition here, the exquisite “The Very Eye of Night”, was recorded when Ito was just 17.) While Ito’s music is varied in its cultural influences, it never feels like pastiche; Ito is far too gifted —and thoughtful— for that.

MP3Teiji Ito, “The Very Eye of Night”

Thierry_Rare+ Thierry Müller, Rare & Unreleased 1974-1984 [Fractal] Pioneering French electronica experimenter Thierry Müller has had a very busy year. A new album, Lena’s Life, appeared, and soon afterwards came this beautifully annotated collection of rarities, running the gamut from offhand solo pieces to unreleased group efforts, like the improvisatory, hallucinatory Arcane [1974] —the icing on the cake being two heretofore unheard Ruth tracks, “Mescalito” and “Mon Pote.” (My love of Müller’s Ruth project knows no bounds, so two new songs was a big deal.)

Intent on pushing the boundaries of possibility with electronic music, Müller has more than earned his place on the legendary NWW list. His work is as far-reaching as that of Cabaret Voltaire, Chrome, and other early improv-noise pioneers. Don’t let any latent mistrust of French synth music keep you away from this.

MP3Ruth, “Mon Pote” (Unreleased, 1978)

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