Tuesday, August 29, 2006

More Kompleksi @ Musasalama, Radio Helsinki



Musasalama @ Radio Helsinki
Playlist 24 August 2006
Time: 2300-0100 EET

1 COSMOBILE - On My Way (Cosmobile)
2 MESMER - Subutex Willer (Mälsä kolhoosi)
3 GONG - Love Is How Y Make It (!K7)
4 TESTBILD! - Where Did This Begin? (Friendly Noise/Dotshop.se)
5 BARDO POND - Lost Word (All Tomorrow's Parties)
6 ESPERS - Dead King (Wichita)
7 SCATTER - O Death (Blank Tapes/Dotshop.se)
8 IKE YARD - Loss (Acute/Dotshop.se)
9 KOMPLEKSI - Porno Tampere (Kompleksi)
10 T.A. KAUKOLAMPI - Paraphonic Repeating Vase Waves (Aaltosvoice.com)
11 CHAS MTN - Friendly Skies (Western Vinyl/Dotshop.se)
12 PHELAN SHEPPARD - Broken in the Wrong Places (Leaf/Dotshop.se)
13 PLAID & BOB JAROC - Zn Zero (Warp)
14 RÄTTÖ JA LEHTISALO - Saamari kantaa olympiasoihdun stadionille (Ektro)
15 PONYTAIL - Kovisbambi (Tuulanauhat)
16 MAGNUM 38 - Du machts mich schmutzig (Shitkatapult)
17 MARKKU LAHTELAN SIRKUS - Nurin lentää lintu (Kevyt nostalgia)
18 ORLA WREN - Ballad of a Daydream (Expanding Records)
19 RYAN TEAGUE - Coins & Crosses (Type/Dotshop.se)
20 SEIDENMATT - Thuwe pt. 2 (Sinnbus/Dotshop.se)

Saturday, August 26, 2006

Tammerforce 25 August 2006 Images



Orgue Electronique's Brian Chinetti and Legowelt's Danny Wolfers


Sakke Karipuro, that ever-trusty court photographer of Tampere electronic dance music scene has photos he took of last night's Tammerforce event here:

http://sakarik.1g.fi/kuvat/Events/tammerforce-20060825-feat_legowelt_and_orgue_electronique/

Holland's Orgue Electronique and Legowelt were both amazing, and I (the guy in white Murdercapital T-shirt for those who were there) danced my ass off. Soundwise a lot of it made me think of 80s Chicago house à la Adonis' 'No Way Back', Sakke compared some Legowelt stuff to Leo Anibaldi and DJ Autobass raved to me about their 101.

And if you watch closely, you can also see the members of Kompleksi lurking somewhere there in the pics...

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Jarkko Laine In Memoriam



Jarkko Laine (17 March 1947 - 19 August 2006)

Finnish writer, poet and playwright Jarkko Laine has passed away. Laine became known in the late 60s as one of the pioneers in Finnish underground culture when he published in Turku with another "U" luminary, Markku Into, their provocative counterculture magazine Aamurusko. Laine also provided with Into and M.A. Numminen lyrics for the band Suomen Talvisota 1939-1970. Furthermore, Laine wrote lyrics for Rauli "Badding" Somerjoki.

Jarkko Laine @ Wikipedia

Jarkko Laine: Kuin ruumissaatto

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Cerrone: ''Supernature' / Space: 'Magic Fly'


Cerrone: 'Supernature'

Talking about Kenny Everett and Hot Gossip, it was at Everett's show where I first heard Cerrone's now-classic Eurodisco hit 'Supernature', where Gossips did their thing to this song. Unfortunately YouTube doesn't offer (at least, not yet) Hot Gossip's performance to 'Supernature' but above you can check Cerrone's hilarious original video (Magical Mystery Tour, anyone?) from 1977.

  • More Cerrone search results @ YouTube

    And while on the subject, here's another classic Eurodisco moment from 1977 for you, by Space:


    Space: 'Magic Fly'
  • Monday, August 21, 2006

    More Kompleksi Playlists @ Radio Helsinki



    Samu Montonen of Musasalama radio show @ Radio Helsinki kindly provided us with these playlists of different shows who have played our tracks at this station.

    (If you're a radio/club DJ/music writer/A&R person yourself, just drop us a mail to phinnweb[at]sci.fi with your contact street address, and we are happy to send you a CDR of our music.)

    MUSASALAMA 20060810 1900-2100

    1 VOLCANO! - Apple or a Gun (Leaf/Dotshop.se)
    2 PET - Whip My Blue Chip (Grönland/Dotshop.se)
    3 THE DEARS - Find Our Way To Freedom (Bella Union)
    4 POP LEVI - Blue Honey (Counter)
    5 MALCOLM KAKSOIS - Sexy Dentist (promo mix) (Kaksois Recordings)
    6 RISTO - Nina, olen palasina (Fonal)
    7 LE SPORT - It's not the End of the World (Songs I Wish I Had Written)
    8 VITALIC - You Are My Sun (Different)
    9 ESPERS - Widow's Weed (Wichita)
    10 SLEEPY JACKSON - Play A Little Bit For Love (Virgin)
    11 ERIK LEVANDER - Sekund (Rumraket)
    12 SUNBURNED HAND OF THE MAN - The Main Vein (Very Friendly/Manhand)
    13 MERCURY REV - Tonite It Shows (V2)
    14 FRIKO - Mandoola (C+C Records/Dotshop.se)
    15 IAIN ARCHER - Canal Song (End of Sentence) (We Love You)
    16 KOMPLEKSI - Spiders in the Sky (Kompleksi)
    17 HOLIDAY FOR STRINGS - Brest (Stilll/Dotshop.se)
    18 IKE YARD - Night After Night (Acute/Dotshop.se)
    19 NINA NASTASIA - Jim's Room (FatCat)
    20 BEAR QUARTET - Where I Cried (A West Side Fabrication)
    21 PONYTAIL - Lapsi (Tuulanauhat)
    22 MUGISON - One Day She'll Park the Car (Lifelike/Dotshop.se)
    23 LOVE - The Good Humor Man He Sees Everything Like This (Elektra)
    24 LAMBCHOP - Fear (City Slang)

    MUSAREKKA MUSAREKKA 20060802 2100-2300
    1 LYNOTT PHIL Fatalistic attitude
    2 LES RITA MITSOUKO La fille venue du froid
    3 TAKAHASHI YUKIHIRO Mirrormanic
    4 PUPPETMASTERS Artcreep
    5 TENOR JIMI Mammon
    6 BJÖRN TORSKE BIG BAND Ny lugg (kort bak/lang på sidan)
    7 PAVAN Crank up
    8 TALK TALK Happiness Is Easy
    9 HARDCASTLE PAUL King tut
    10 OYE ERLEND Ghost trains (instrumental)
    11 SKATEBÅRD One thousand years of loneliness
    12 ATMO / BRTSCHITSCH Around me
    13 COMMON Go! (instru)
    14 BEE GEES Children of the world
    15 AYERS ROY Love Will Bring Ús Back Together
    16 RUSHEN PATRICE Superstar
    17 THE REDDINGS You can be a star
    18 BARDEUX I love the bass (thee bass mix)
    19 I:CUBE Tokyo uno
    20 STIG DOGG FEAT MC HEPATIITTI Pilluja, pyllyjä, tissejä
    21 UNITED FUTURE ORGANIZATION Dice For A Chance (Rough Diamond Mix)
    22 DEAD KENNEDYS California Uber Alles
    23 KOMPLEKSI Love Missile F1-11
    24 DJ TARAL Ab ke saawan

    PARANTOLA 20060729 1400-1600
    1 TOLONEN JUKKA Aurora Borealis
    2 SIMOLA SEIJA Tuo Onneton
    3 LEINONEN VILLE Rakkaus on hellyyttä
    4 HEINIVAHO MATTI Tunturin juurella
    5 VALENTE CATERINA Malagueno
    6 SLIM ALLAN 3 Bug Hunt
    7 TIMMY THOMAS Why Can't We Live Together
    8 RAUTAVAARA TAPIO Rööperin Reiska
    9 VILLE LEINONEN & VALUMO Helmipuutarhan perhosia
    10 KYTÄJÄ Muuttopäiviä
    11 LUZ Un ano de amor
    12 LOIRI VESA-MATTI Ei ole Kööpenhamina kuin ennen
    13 PAUKKUMAISSI Maatilalle mennään
    14 HEINONEN TAPIO Hyvää hyvää iltaa
    15 KUUSUMUN PROFEETTA Häivähdys
    16 KARI PEITSAMO JA ANKKULI Jaana S
    17 TUOMARI NURMIO Valssi
    18 ERNEST RANGLIN Surfin'
    19 KARJALAINEN J. JA MUSTAT LASIT Tatsum tisal
    20 THE FEENADES Theme from Leningrad
    21 OCTOPUS SYNG We could be everywhere
    22 THEM SHEPHERDS Ill Mustache
    23 NASTY NARDO Lets get a room
    24 KOMPLEKSI Spiders in the Sky
    25 PRINCE The Word

    MUSAREKKA MUSAREKKA 20060208 2100-2300
    1 KESSU KEIJO Shanghai blues
    2 KESKITALO JOOSE Kilpa-ajaja
    3 PELTOLA MARKKU Menopeli
    4 KARKKIAUTOMAATTI Ja kesä hiipuu hiljaa
    5 BOWIE DAVID Cygnet committee
    6 SOMERJOKI RAULI BADDING Kaaleppi Aaltonen
    7 NIEMINEN & LITMANEN Tutankhamon
    8 RÄTTÖ JA LEHTISALO Kulje suoraan pannuhuoneeseen ohittamatta
    lähtöruutua
    9 KYTÄJÄ Pato murtuu, metsissä tuulee
    10 CHAINSMOKER Kongo
    11 RIUKUPASTORI Tienoo
    12 AKSU 10 EURON SETELI
    13 KOMPLEKSI (I AINT NO) LOVECHILD
    14 TORINKULMA Rajuilma raastaa
    15 MARKO HAAVISTO & POUTAHAUKAT Kahden viikon mies
    16 MALCOLM KAKSOIS & HIS KAKABOLICA KAKOPHONIA Helsinki Tram ride
    17 KITAJIMA OSAMU Benzaiten
    18 PLASTIC BERNARD Tout petit la planete
    19 TAKAHASHI YUKIHIRO Bijin kyoshi at the swimmingpool
    20 NACHT UND NEBEL Everything is white
    21 CLASSIX NOUVEAUX Every home should have one
    22 LEVEL 42 Something about you
    23 HUMAN LEAGUE The sound of the crowd ( Instrumental )
    24 TWO LONE SWORDSMEN The lurch
    25 GUIGNAT BENOIT ....

    Kaukolampi Timo 20050720 1700-1900
    1 FOUR TET No More Mosquitoes
    2 KANABIS THE EDIT ASSASIN Walk under a full moons light
    3 STEVENS CAT Was dog a doughnut
    4 ZODIAC Pacific
    5 FUN FUN Happy station
    6 KANO Holly dolly
    7 UNIVERSAL ROBOT BAND Barely breaking even
    8 PARRIS MITCHHELL The Worm
    9 TUOMO ILARI PURANEN Diga dab
    10 J.O.Y. Sunplus (dfa version)
    11 KORNIQ CYLINDERS Carousel
    12 COMTRON Evil OS(tm)
    13 TWO LONE SWORDSMEN Formica fuego
    14 HOME VIDEO Citizen
    15 KOMPLEKSI Lal lal lal
    16 TRIO TETRIS John Deree - Astronaut
    17 THE GAY MC Boys
    18 TOTALLY MIX 2003 By annie & disko-timppa

    Musasalama 20050203 1900-2100
    1 PLAIN RIDE Funeral House
    2 LOW California
    3 GIANT SAND Les Forçats Innocents
    4 NASTASIA NINA Too Much In Between
    5 IRON & WINE Freedom Hangs Like Heaven
    6 RED RED MEAT Sad Cadillac
    7 PHANTOM BUFFALO Anywhere With Oxygen
    8 FIERY FURNACES Here Comes The Summer
    9 GRANADA Drinking Problem
    10 HELLSTRÖM HÅKAN Min Huckleberry Vän
    11 THE (INTERNATIONAL) NOISE CONSPIRACY Up For Sale
    12 THERMALS How We Know
    13 AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD Let It Dive
    14 BLOC PARTY Tulips (Club Version)
    15 KILLS The Good Ones (Jagz Kooner remix)
    16 MONEYBROTHER They're Building Walls Around Us (Spånka NKPG Re-Mix)
    17 FISCHERSPOONER We Need A War
    18 KOMPLEKSI The Only Star In My Sky (Tampere Remix)
    19 OVALI VIRTA Outsider
    20 KNIFE Manhood
    21 KOKEELLISEN ELEKTRONIIKAN SEURA Morlokkimusiikkia
    22 KONTACKTO Markuksen laulu
    23 DAMNED Take That
    24 KILLERS Mr Brightside
    25 AMBULANCE LTD Heavy Lifting
    26 M83 I Guess I'm Floating
    27 M83 Teen Angst

    Levylaukku - Saku Kiviharju 20040806 0900-1100
    1 KOMPLEKSI Moscow 1980
    2 EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY A Poor Man's Memory
    3 FUN Big Lies
    4 RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE Mic Check
    5 INTERPOL Obstacle 1
    6 IDAHO Drive It
    7 UNREST Loyola
    8 GUIDED BY VOICES The Main Street Wizards
    9 COLTRANE ALICE Blue Nile
    10 BROADCAST Papercuts
    11 BIG BLACK Kerosene
    12 TINDERSTICKS Talk To Me
    13 ECHO IS YOUR LOVE A Song For Sea Scouts
    14 YO LA TENGO Deeper Into Movies
    15 CIRCLE The Presence Of Epileptics
    16 DEEP TURTLE Pesadilla
    17 MAGYAR POSSE 7
    18 KEUHKOT Siitinjulistus

    Saturday, August 19, 2006

    The Genius of Kenny Everett!


    Opening credits to a typical Kenny Everett episode

    Kenny Everett (1944-1995) was a British madcap TV comedian who came into prominence in the 60s as a radio DJ. His Kenny Everett Video Show / Video Cassette was shown here in Finland in the early 1980s as Videoviihdettä. Featuring the hilarious Captain Kremmen sci-fi parody animations and such memorable characters played by Kenny Everett himself as Cupid Stunt (below) and Sid the Snot, this show with its combination of some wacky post-punk era anarchism, snazzy graphics & Pythonesque animations, contemporary pop culture (such people as David Bowie performed there) and lots of conservatives-scaring sexual innuendo (Everett's irreverent sketches and the steamy performances of Hot Gossip dance troupe) remains in my memories alongside even Monty Python's Flying Circus. Show some reruns, please!




    More Kenny Everett search results @ YouTube

    Also the risque dance troupe Hot Gossip was a mainstay at Kenny Everett's shows:


    Hot Gossip and 'Sleazy' (performer not mentioned)


    Hot Gossip and Flying Lizards' 'Money'


    Hot Gossip and Blondie's 'The Hardest Part'


    Hot Gossip and 'Hot Pink Coat'

    More Hot Gossip search results @ YouTube

    Friday, August 18, 2006

    Ursula Martinez: Is It Performance Art, Comedy, Stage Magic or Strip Tease?





    You've probably never seen anything like this...
    Watch one example of Ursula Martinez stage shows here (erm, so I suppose it is not suitable for children).

    ***

    From her own site:

    Ursula Martinez is a London-based writer and performer. She has worked with several leading British experimental theatre companies including Forced Entertainment, Insomniac Productions, The Glee Club, and Duckie, with whom she is an associate artist.

    10 years ago Martinez began working as a solo artist on the queer club/cabaret circuit where she soon achieved cult status.


    "She sets fire to her tits, interrogates her parents, re-defines class, blurs fiction with reality, cures homosexuals, gives birth to penises, tells autobiographical stories, deconstructs performance and sings South London suburban flamenco - from high brow to low brow, from spectacle to confessional, from live art to light entertainment, Ursula Martinez produces solo and collaborative performance for theatre, site-specific, installation, cabaret, night club, film, television... birthdays, weddings and Barmitzvahs!"


    Ursula Martinez @ BBC Arts

    Monday, August 14, 2006

    Privilege (1967) by Peter Watkins



  • Privilege in its entirety @ YouTube
  • Privilege trailer @ LikeTelevision.com

    Several cultural critics have pointed out the connections between rock music (+ pop music in general) and fascism. Rock has always prided itself as a music of freedom and personal expression, but when one starts to think about it, there are not really so many differences between gigantic stadium rock concerts and Nazi events like Nuremberg Rally; with their massive stage settings, the hypnotic, stomping rhythms; power trips for the masses making the rapturous fans raise their fists in the air... Fascism makes use of the underlying frustrations (social, economical, political, sexual), inhibited aggressions and latent violence mass society tends to create in its members -- the same fuel which can also be found behind rock's emotional energy. Drawing such comparisons even closer to the point, one such charismatic rock star as the late Freddie Mercury of Queen was called by his detractors "the Adolf Hitler of rock'n'roll". One can only ponder all the potential there to mass control and manipulation.

    Peter Watkins' 1967 film Privilege, starring Paul Jones (of the band Manfred Mann) and Jean Shrimpton (a "supermodel" of her own era), is a dystopian tale about a near-future pop star whose success is exploited for their own means by the powers that be. A totalitarian government and church well understand the importance of Steven Shorter (Jones), an extremely popular singer, to their own efforts of mass control, pacifying the youth dissent and religious domination.

    "Aren't you using this young man to further your own agenda?" a clergyman in the film is asked. He replies: "Well, in the middle ages the church used the inquisition to further our own agenda, and we think this is a lot less painful!"

    Rock's undercurrent of violence is also exploited by the film's fascistic government: in one concert sequence, the crowd watches Shorter sing a plaintive plea for love and understanding while locked in a cage surrounded by police officers armed with clubs. It is said that at least one scene in the film was copied by Stanley Kubrick for his Clockwork Orange.

    Filmed in a quasi-documentary way, Privilege was Watkins' only British feature film, and it was both a commercial and critical flop in its time. Privilege has since gained a cult film status, though, even if seeing it these days can be extremely difficult, only semi-bootleg DVD or video copies being available at the moment. (For me, this is another one I have liked to see for years but haven't, because of this poor distribution status.)

    Peter Watkins (born 1935) is known for such controversial film works as The War Game (1965), which with its disturbing scenes depicting the effects of nuclear war was banned by BBC. The Gladiators (1969) was filmed and distributed in Sweden, being another bleak sci-fi satire, this time foreseeing the so-called reality TV phenomenon, when the world governments decide channel man's aggressive instincts to a more controllable manner and start televised contests (with sponsors and commercials) between teams of selected soldiers from each country.

    Privilege @ Peter Watkins' own site

    Privilege article by Tom Sutpen @ Bright Lights Film Journal

    Privilege images @ Reelstreets.com

    Peter Watkins @ Subcin.com

    Peter Watkins @ MySpace

    Peter Watkins @ Wikipedia
  • Friday, August 11, 2006

    Kompleksi Featured @ Musasalama Show of Radio Helsinki




    Musasalama radio show @ Radio Helsinki featured Kompleksi's 'Spiders in the Sky':

    Playlist 10 August 2006 1900-2100 hours EET:

    1 VOLCANO! - Apple or a Gun (Leaf/Dotshop.se)
    2 PET - Whip My Blue Chip (Grönland/Dotshop.se)
    3 THE DEARS - Find Our Way To Freedom (Bella Union)
    4 POP LEVI - Blue Honey (Counter)
    5 MALCOLM KAKSOIS - Sexy Dentist (promo mix) (Kaksois Recordings)
    6 RISTO - Nina, olen palasina (Fonal)
    7 LE SPORT - It's not the End of the World (Songs I Wish I Had Written)
    8 VITALIC - You Are My Sun (Different)
    9 ESPERS - Widow's Weed (Wichita)
    10 SLEEPY JACKSON - Play A Little Bit For Love (Virgin)
    11 ERIK LEVANDER - Sekund (Rumraket)
    12 SUNBURNED HAND OF THE MAN - The Main Vein (Very Friendly/Manhand)
    13 MERCURY REV - Tonite It Shows (V2)
    14 FRIKO - Mandoola (C+C Records/Dotshop.se)
    15 IAIN ARCHER - Canal Song (End of Sentence) (We Love You)
    16 KOMPLEKSI - Spiders in the Sky (Kompleksi)
    17 HOLIDAY FOR STRINGS - Brest (Stilll/Dotshop.se)
    18 IKE YARD - Night After Night (Acute/Dotshop.se)
    19 NINA NASTASIA - Jim's Room (FatCat)
    20 BEAR QUARTET - Where I Cried (A West Side Fabrication)
    21 PONYTAIL - Lapsi (Tuulanauhat)
    22 MUGISON - One Day She'll Park the Car (Lifelike/Dotshop.se)
    23 LOVE - The Good Humor Man He Sees Everything Like This (Elektra)
    24 LAMBCHOP - Fear (City Slang)

    Sunday, August 06, 2006

    Parrotzilla: Culture Jamming In Tampere



    On 3 August 2006 the Tampere morning paper Aamulehti's Moro supplement on local affairs reported of a billboard modification that had taken place at the pedestrian tunnel of Tampere Railway Station.

    An unknown person or persons had created a piece of culture jamming commando art: a parrot figure with a comic book balloon with the text "It's the Parrotzilla!!!" which had been created by ripping layers of paper off a Pepsi billboard ad. Parrotzilla remained there for a couple of days until it was censored away.

    The Re/Search anthology Pranks! (1987), edited by Andrea Juno and V. Vale, tells how American performance artist Mark Pauline used to create similar anti-consumerist billboard modifications in San Francisco already in the late 1970s. There was, for example, a billboard with actor Telly "Kojak" Savalas advertising Black Velvet whiskey, featuring the slogan "Feel The Velvet" -- which was changed into "Feel The Pain", Telly also getting new teeth in the process.

    Of course, little boys have done these sort of modifications to advertisements and posters since the beginning of time, by adding new moustaches, spectacles, scars and so on to the images of unsuspecting models portrayed there (and there's a famous Marcel Duchamp work of art with Leonardo's Mona Lisa sporting a handsome moustache), but these prankish acts receive additional philosopical stance in the works of these Situationist-influenced artists; made famous by the "counter-ads"/"anti-ads" of such magazines as AdBusters.

    Free the Billboards: Billboard Liberation Front's Guerilla Campaign

    Friday, August 04, 2006

    Arthur Lee of Love R.I.P.



    Arthur Lee (March 7, 1945 - August 3, 2006)


    It's been a bad month for eccentric veterans of psychedelic music. First it was Syd Barrett; now Arthur Lee of the legendary Los Angeles band Love, who passed away on Thursday 3 August 2006. The cause of death was acute lymphoblastic leukemia. I'm devastated, to say the least.

    Love was a rarity among 60s rock bands: a multiracial unit, with the frontman Lee and guitarist Johnny Echols being both African-American. Love started in 1965 in the wake of The Byrds' "jingle-jangle" folk-rock sound but soon developed their own idiosyncratic expression, with Lee's enigmatic and elliptical song lyrics. The band was for a short time considered the biggest name in Los Angeles rock scene but their unwillingness to tour and their growing infatuation with rock lifestyle marred their potential progress. Jim Morrison was an eager early follower of Love, to the extent of Arthur Lee's dismay, who claimed Morrison copied just any move Lee made. Paul Rothchild, the producer for both Love and The Doors, claimed Arthur Lee ate LSD like it was candy. Finally the crown of LA rock was taken over by Morrison and The Doors.

    The November 1967 album Forever Changes is considered Love's masterpiece but also their eponymous debut (May 1966) and Da Capo (January 1967) are well worth checking out.

    Love includes among the more Byrds-influenced moments the band's nervous and edgy cover version of Burt Bacharach and Hal David's 'My Little Red Book'. Among the little Lee gems there are also the unnerving junkie ballad 'Signed D.C.' (dedicated to the band's early drummer Don Conka who had become seriously addicted), the atmospheric guitar instrumental 'Emotions' and a pre-Hendrix version of 'Hey Joe'.

    Da Capo was a more jazz-tinged effort, with an extended line-up of Love. The exploding and fast, even a proto-punk type of single '7 & 7 Is' (which ends in a sound of the explosion of an atom bomb) is an undisputable psychedelic garage rock classic with its ultra-enigmatic lyrics -- can anyone explain me what these mean...?


    When I was a boy I thought about the times I'd be a man
    I'd sit inside a bottle and pretend that I was in a can
    In my lonely room I'd sit my mind in an ice cream cone
    You can throw me if you wanna 'cause I'm a
    bone and I go oop-ip-ip oop-ip-ip, yeah!
    If I don't start cryin' it's because that I have got no eyes
    My father's in the fireplace and my dog lies hypnotized
    Through a crack of light I was unable to find my way
    Trapped inside a night but I'm a day and I go
    Oop-ip-ip oop-ip-ip, yeah!
    One... Two... Three... Four!

    (the A-bomb goes off, followed by the slowing down of tempo and a strangely serene solo)


    Well, I guess that's psychedelia for you. There's also the lovely 'Orange Skies' and the philosophical '¡Que Vida!': "Can you find your way / Or do you want my vision / It's dark there, they say / But that's just superstition" -- "My mind's not made of gravel", indeed. The B-side has only one track, the 19-minute(!) long jam called 'The Revelation' which Arthur Lee claimed The Rolling Stones ripped off for their 'Going Home' on Aftermath album (The Stones added an insult to injury when they used the phrase from another Da Capo track, 'She Comes In Colors', in the chorus of their psychedelic-era track 'She's A Rainbow'). Incidentally, 'The Revelation' is the one most people owning the vinyl version usually skip, and without which Da Capo would probably be an immaculate masterpiece.

    Well, then the ONE, Forever Changes; the album which shows up frequently on all "The Best Albums of All Time" polls. With this one Arthur Lee was obsessed with dying, thinking his days were soon to be numbered, which was reflected in the bleak overall mood of his elliptical lyrics here; a strangely sore note in the lovey-dovey days in 1967. My own favourite songs here are 'The Daily Planet' on the boredom and repetition of everyday life:


    In the morning we arise and
    Start the day the same old way
    As yesterday the day before and
    All in all it's just a day like
    All the rest so do your best with
    Chewing gum and it is oh so
    Repetitious
    Waiting on the sun

    Down on Go-stop Boulevard it
    Never fails to bring me down
    The sirens and the accidents and
    For a laugh there's Plastic Nancy
    She's real fancy with her children
    They'll go far, she
    Buys them toys to
    Keep in practice
    Waiting on the war


    And 'The Red Telephone', in which there is just everything; like an absurd Beckettian play of the futility of human efforts and imminence of death, disguised as a pretty pop song:


    Sitting on a hillside
    Watching all the people die
    I'll feel much better on the other side
    I'll thumb a ride

    I believe in magic
    Why, because it is so quick
    I don't need power when I'm hypnotized
    Look in my eyes
    What are you seeing (I see...)
    How do you feel? (... you)

    I feel real phony when my name is Phil
    Or was that Bill?

    Life goes on here
    Day after day
    I don't know if I am living or if I'm
    Supposed to be

    Sometimes my life is so eerie
    And if you think I'm happy
    Paint me yellow (white)

    I've been here once
    I've been here twice
    I don't know if the third's the fourth or if the -
    The fifth's to fix

    Sometimes I deal with numbers
    And if you wanna count me
    Count me out

    I don't need the time of day
    Anytime with me's OK
    I just don't want you using up my time
    'Cause that's not right


    And the eerie and paranoid "rap" at the end of the song:


    They're locking them up today
    They're throwing away the key
    I wonder who it'll be tomorrow, you or me?

    We're all normal and we want our freedom
    Freedom... freedom... freedom... freedom
    Freedom... freedom... freedom... freedom
    (All the God's children should have their freedom)


    The sound of this album is prevalently acoustic, with some tasty strings and also mariachi trumpets, as in the classic single 'Aloneagainor'.

    Love had been badly in disarray already at the time of the recording of Forever Changes: living the rock'n'roll lifestyle, several band members had developed themselves "personal problems" but Arthur Lee managed to whip up some discipline to the band by threatening to replace the members with session musicians. This approach worked great with the album and the following one-off single 'Laughing Stock'/'Your Mind And We Belong Together', but this 7" (only included on Love compilation albums) remained the swansong of this classic line-up. From now on Arthur Lee was the only original member of Love in a series of changing and erratic line-ups which were to continue to the end of his life. Post-Forever Changes albums include some nice songs (like my own favourite, the hilarious 'Singing Cowboy') and I even kind of like Four Sail (1969), but these were no comparison to the classic trio of albums of 1966-68.

    The rest of the days of Arthur Lee and Love were less than glorious. Alcoholism, drug addiction and even crime followed several band members, now dead or missing. Arthur Lee spent some years in prison, and only managed to revive Love a couple of years ago, with the help of the members of a band called Baby Lemonade. The revival was a short-lived one, though. Grab Love, Da Capo and Forever Changes to your hands now and remember the man as he should be remembered.

    All Love lyrics at Torben Skott's site


    Love: 'Little Red Book'


    Love: 'A Message To Pretty'


    Love: 'Your Mind and We Belong Together'

    More Love & Arthur Lee search results @ YouTube

    Listen:

    Love with Arthur Lee @ MySpace

    ***

    Arthur Lee remembered:

  • BBC News
  • CNN
  • Pitchfork
  • WFMU

    Technorati search results
  • Aux 88 to Finland!



    AUX 88: The legends of Detroit Techno Bass @ FLASH meets FBI!

    Friday 1 September 2006

    AUX 88 (Detroit, USA) live
    Lil'Tony (FBI resident)
    Erkko (YleX, Niitty)
    Messis

    @ Kuudes linja
    Hämeentie 13, Helsinki, Finland.
    entrance from the
    yardside (Kaikukatu 4)
    2200–0400 hours
    Age limit 20
    Tickets 8e

    I Need To Freak -- one of my biggest Detroit electro favourites coming to Finland! The musical collaboration of Tommy Hamilton and Keith Tucker started in the mid-1980s. They launched Aux 88 in 1993, releasing a series of legendary 12"s for Direct Beat label. Aux 88 has been gigging among all with Juan Atkins and Mad Mike of Underground Resistance. Recently Hamilton and Tucker returned together after having done solo projects (among all Auxmen) for some years. The new album, called Aux 88 was released in Japan this year. Their earlier album releases are Is It Man Or Machine? (1996) and Xeo-Genetic (1998).


    Aux 88: 'Electro Techno'


    Aux 88: 'Play It Loud'


    Aux 88: Mini Video Fuse Festival in 2005

    All Aux 88 search results @ YouTube

    ***

    You can listen to some Aux 88 tracks at their MySpace site

    The official Aux 88 site
    Aux 88 info @ Smack Dynamik
    Aux 88 @ MP3.com
    Aux 88 discography @ Discogs.com

    Holland's Legowelt & Orgue Electronique to Tampere



    Tammerforce presents:

    Legowelt (NL)
    Orgue Electronique (NL)

    Friday 25 August 2006
    @ Yo-Talo, Tampere, Finland
    2200-0400 hours
    tickets 6€

    LEGOWELT [Bunker Records, NL - LIVE!]
    ORGUE ELECTRONIQUE [Bunker, Crème Organization, NL - LIVE!]
    DJ BOB RYYNÄNEN [Tammerforce, Rikos] vs. DJ NAKS [Sewer Leak Records]
    DJ mini [Tammerforce, Polytron] vs. DJ BAD PASSION [Rikos]
    DJ ZURKKA [Rikos]
    DJ JERE P [Bass&Beer]

    Info & discussion at Platinum (in Finnish)



    Listen:

    Legowelt @ MySpace
    Orgue Electronique @ MySpace

    Watch:


    Legowelt: 'Disco Rout'

    All Legowelt search results @ YouTube

    All Orgue Electronique search results @ YouTube

    Read:

    pHinnWeb's interview of Legowelt and Orgue Electronique in 2000

    Legowelt @ Wikipedia


    Tiedote 11.8.2006, julkaisuvapaa heti

    Hollannin elektrodiskotähdet Legowelt ja Orgue Electronique kiertävät Suomea

    Konemusiikin ystäviä hemmotellaan, kun Legowelt ja Orgue Electronique, eli Danny Wolfers ja Brian Chinetti, saapuvat pienoiskiertueelle Suomeen 24.-26. elokuuta. Helsingissä, Tampereella ja Turussa esiintyvä hollantilaiskaksikko kuuluu uuden aallon elektron huippunimiin.

    Kiertueen elektrodiskojuna starttaa Kuudes linja -klubilta Helsingistä torstaina 24. elokuuta, eli Taiteiden yönä. Luvassa on yölliseen taidetapahtumaan sopiva suurtapaus, kun Legoweltiltä kuullaan ja nähdään iskevän tanssisetin ohella The Mysteries Of The World -show:n maailmanensi-ilta. Poikkitaiteellisessa esityksessä
    Wolfers yhdistelee improvisoitua musiikkia valkokankaalle heijastettuihin otteisiin hänen omasta elokuvatuotannostaan ja suosikkielokuvistaan.

    Perjantaina 25. elokuuta karavaani pysähtyy Telex-klubin kotipaikassa Tampereen Yo-talolla. Ohjelmassa on live- ja DJ-musiikin ohella Danny Wolfersin omaa elokuvatuotantoa. Kiertue saa päätöksensä lauantaina 26. elokuuta Turun tunnelmallisessa Päiväkoti-baarissa. Kiertueen takana ovat alkuvuodesta voimansa Tammerforce-klubin tiimoilta yhdistäneet tamperelaisklubit Telex ja Bass & Beer.

    Legowelt (NL) & Orgue Electronique LIVE:

    24.8. – Kuudes linja, HELSINKI
    + dj:t Bob Ryynänen, Erkko ja mini

    25.8. – Yo-talo, TAMPERE
    + dj:t Bad Passion vs. mini, Naks vs. Bob Ryynänen, Jere P. ja Zurkka

    26.8. – Päiväkoti, TURKU
    + dj:t Bob Ryynänen, Jere P ja mini

    Lisätiedot: Mikko Niemelä 040 543 4441 / mpn[at]sci.fi

    Thursday, August 03, 2006

    Danger: Diabolik



    Diabolik is an Italian comicbook character, a super-villain created in 1962 by sisters Angela and Luciana Giussani. Diabolik's partner in crime in these amoral adventures is the ultra-cool Eva Kant (reminiscing in these comics somehow Kim Novak of Hitchcock's Vertigo). Some issues of Diabolik were published also in Finnish between 1975 and 1978.



    The acclaimed Italian horror director Mario Bava directed in 1968 a stylish movie adaptation called Danger: Diabolik -- starring John Phillip Law (of Barbarella fame) and Marisa Mell -- which has reached a cult film status.


    Teaser trailer


    Chase scene


    A damsel in distress


    Death scene


    Diabolik does his ironing

    Official Italian site
    Diabolik Club (in Italian)

    Star Trek Cribs: The Director's Cut


    Star Trek Cribs: The Director's Cut

    Tuesday, August 01, 2006