New Yorker music critic Sasha Frere-Jones has an excerpt from Arthur contributor Dave Tompkins’ long-awaited book about the vocoder up on his blog. Tompkins connects the dots between Cher, T-Pain, Holger Czukay, and the classic Cylons, sprinkling in ample quotes from Bell Technical Journal along the way. Go read “Unvoiced Hiss Energy” over at the New Yorker. And keep an eye out for Tompkins’ book, due out next spring on Stop Smiling Books/Melville House.
P.S. Tompkins’ infamous interview with Godzilla appeared back in Arthur #10, which is currently available in the Arthur Store.
Proud Flesh is a 30-minute Western shot mainly in the Dakota badlands by Jenny Graf Sheppard and Chiara Giovando and starring their mothers. It’s a remarkable film, even if it hasn’t been seen much outside of Baltimore.
Until it’s more widely released, there is this trailer:
And last month, Baltimore’s Ehse Records released the entirety of the soundtrack as an LP in an edition of 300 copies.
It’s a beautiful thing, made from a private, internal symbolic system and some amazing tweaking of the idea of the Western film and, by extension, America itself.
(Disclosure: although this writer made small contributions to the film and soundtrack, my hand is neither in the till nor on the tiller.)
“A double-take on sci-fi and speculative writing from the African world, collectively titled “Dr. Satan’s Echo Chamber” after a dub mix by King Tubby. Chimurenga 12 is an all-faxion issue on black technologies no longer secret, featuring words and images. Chimurenga 13 documents the (un)making of: Dr. Satan’s Echo Chamber.”
What is Chimurenga?
“Chimurenga is a pan African publication of writing, art and ideas, out of Cape Town, South Africa. Founded and edited by Ntone Edjabe, the first issue appeared in March 2002.”
Lux Interior, lead singer of The Cramps, passed away this morning due to an existing heart condition at Glendale Memorial Hospital in Glendale, California at 4:30 AM PST today. Lux has been an inspiration and influence to millions of artists and fans around the world. He and wife Poison Ivy’s contributions with The Cramps have had an immeasurable impact on modern music.
The Cramps emerged from the original New York punk scene of CBGB and Max’s Kansas City, with a singular sound and iconography. Their distinct take on rockabilly and surf along with their midnight movie imagery reminded us all just how exciting, dangerous, vital and sexy rock and roll should be and has spawned entire subcultures. Lux was a fearless frontman who transformed every stage he stepped on into a place of passion, abandon, and true freedom. He is a rare icon who will be missed dearly.
The family requests that you respect their privacy during this difficult time.
Lyrics to The Cramps’ “Garbageman”:
you ain’t no punk, you punk
you wanna talk about the real junk?
if I ever slip, I’ll be banned
cuz I’m your garbageman
well you can’t dig me you can’t dig nothin’
do you want the real thing, or are you just talkin’?
do you understand?
I’m your garbageman
yeah, somethin’ from the garage and down the driveway
now get outta your mind and get outta my way
now do you understand?
do you understand?
louie, louie, louie, lou-i
the bird’s the word and do you know why?
you gotta beat it with a stick
you gotta beat it ’til it’s thick
you gotta live until you’re dead
you gotta rock ’til you see red
now do you understand?
do you understand?
I’m a garbageman
aw, jump on and ride
yeah it’s just what you need when you’re down in the dumps
one half hillbilly and one half punk
big long legs and one big mouth
the hottest thing from the north to come out of the south
do you understand?
do you understand?
woo, I can’t lose with the stuff I use,
and you don’t choose no substitutes
so stick out your can
cuz I’m your garbageman
now do you understand?
do you understand?
do you understand?
all right, hop off
Q: Do you have Asteroids? A: No, but my dad does.”
OMFG! We thought the mere IDEA for this thing was funny enough, but then Van Hagar’s ugly mug comes floating through the space debris. GENIUS. Forget the latest Tom Clancy nuclear holocaust first person shooter war porn: Diamond Dave’s Assteroidz is the video game of the year.
Find more wonderful Van Halen oddities over at WFMU’s Beware of the Blog.
1971: a massive GI Movement to end the Vietnam war was sweeping through troops, wreaking havoc on the U.S. military. Into that mix came the FTA Show, a caustic, electrifying, sharply antiwar comedy review led by Jane Fonda & Donald Sutherland. As they toured outside military bases from Guam to the Philippines, over 60,000 soldiers cheered and joined the show’s call to end the war.
Available for the first time since it mysteriously disappeared in 1972 after only one week in theaters, this raucous film is a riveting slice of the Vietnam anti-war movement. Reviving the wonderfully campy, yet biting theater of Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland’s Free The Army (or, more popularly, “Fuck The Army”) Tour, FTA captures the entertaining magic and mayhem of the anti-war and pro-labor show as it rallies and rouses dissident GIs stationed along the Pacific Rim.
A gritty mix of rollicking performances and GI interviews, FTA juxtaposes lighthearted political satire with the somber realities of war, occupation, and the absurdities of military life, a barbed rebuke to the staid USO program. From Okinawa to the Philippines, stirred by the show’s provocative message, the members of the U.S. military find courage to speak out candidly in front of the camera.
Fonda and Sutherland are joined on stage by an all-star cast of musicians and activists including folk musician Len Chandler, songstress Rita Martinson, and comedian Paul Mooney.
A fresh look at the Vietnam anti-war movement through the songs and skits that shook a generation, this film will leave you singing along with the fired-up men and women of the military. Foxtrot, Tango, Alpha… Fuck the Army!
DVD Extras Include an Interview with Jane Fonda About Her Perspective on the Film Now
Street date: February 24 , 2009
Sug. Retail Price: $26.95
Catalog #: NNVG146161
Running Time: 97 mins + extras
The National Film Board of Canada was founded in 1939 in part as a way to distribute World War II propaganda throughout the Great White North, but went on to become a bastion for experimental animation, “socially relevant documentaries” and other film projects “which provoke discussion and debate on subjects of interest to Canadian audiences and foreign markets.” In particular the NFB is known for producing some of the dreamiest nature documentaries of modern times — it’s where Boards of Canada got their name and a lot of their soft-focus naturalist vibes. And now the NFB has started posting their library of films online.
A lot of these docs are wordless montages of natural imagery accompanied by droning Eno/Tangerine Dream-style synthesizer soundtracks — our favorite so far is William Canning’s 26-minute short Temples of Time (1971), described by the NFB as follows:
A mountain is a living thing; it has an ecological balance, a process of evolution manifested in slow, subtle ways; but it is also subject to the ravages of human intervention. Filmed in the Canadian Rockies and in Garibaldi Park, this picture brings to the screen magnificent footage of mountain solitudes and the wildlife found there, of natural splendor in all its changing moods. The film carries the implicit warning that all this may pass away if people do not seek to preserve it.
Hook your computer up to your stereo for the full effect of Edward Kalehoff’s warbling synth drone soundtrack. Who needs to figure out the whole new digital TV upgrade chip whatever thing when we’ve got this treasure trove to explore? More to come …
Note: The NFB’s online library is brand new and still a little wonky from time to time. If the embedded Temples of Time isn’t working for you, go here to watch it on the NFB site.
Part rough-cut, part camera test, this video is going to be part of a longer documentary project about the evolution of the concert industry in the 1960s, early 70s DC/MD/VA area, told through the words of promoters, musicians, journalists and the fans.
If you were at the Wheaton Youth Center when LED ZEPPELIN PLAYED HERE, please get in touch:
jeff@jeffkrulik.com
And a special thank you to Brian and Andre Dahlman of http://www.hiptv.com for helping with this video.
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