Tag: Nick Cave

PLAYING MELBOURNE: Anita Lane Leaves A Legacy of Post-Punk Art Rock Brilliance

“Bury me high up
Up on that mountain
Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao,
Bury me high up
Up on that mountain
And let a flower mark my grave”

– Anita Lane, “Bella Ciao”

Anita Lane, courtesy Mute Records.

Anita Lane was an exceptional talent – a songwriter, a singer, a creative powerhouse. The greatest pity of her lifetime and now, after her passing, is that she is often referred to only in relation to the men she co-wrote and duetted with, but in the interests of karmically restoring the universe to rights and doing justice to Anita’s legacy, here is why you ought to spend a few hours at least indulging in her prolific work.

Born in March, 1960 in Melbourne, Lane was clever and musically gifted. While a student at the Prahran College of Advanced Education in Melbourne’s inner south, she began writing songs and singing in her mid-teens. This was also where she befriended Rowland S. Howard – the iconic post-punk guitarist most commonly associated with The Birthday Party and The Bad Seeds.

Still a teenager, Lane met Nick Cave in 1977 when he was fronting The Boys Next Door, a seminal Australian post-punk band featuring Cave’s schoolmates from Caulfield Grammar: Mick Harvey on guitar, Tracy Pew on bass, and Phill Calvert on drums. The two began an on-off romantic relationship that lasted another 10 years, but it was their powerful co-writing relationship that was epic and memorable. The following year in 1978, Lane’s schoolfriend Rowland S. Howard joined the band on lead guitar and, riding the popularity of post-punk, frenetic guitar and furied lyrics over immense walls of feedback fuzz, the band moved to London in 1980, freshly renamed The Birthday Party.

Their debut 1981 album Prayers on Fire featured “A Dead Song,” co-written by Lane and Cave. She also co-wrote “Dead Joe” and “Kiss Me Black” on their sophomore album Junkyard (1982), released the same year the band and Lane moved to Berlin just before breaking up in 1983.

“Kiss Me Black” epitomises the best of The Birthday Party – clattering percussion like starving cats released into a drum set, Cave’s gothic baritone shifting between hollow cries and frenzied, almost shouted pleas and accusations. Chugging bass drives the whole bloodied, brilliant body of a song while snaggle-toothed guitars take savage bites into the melody.

Lane went on to join Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds on keyboards and vocals. The band comprised ex-Birthday Party member Mick Harvey, Barry Adamson, Hugo Race and Blixa Bargeld. Most notably, she co-wrote the beautiful, tragic “From Her To Eternity,” also the title of the band’s 1984 debut album. She left the band soon after, but would continue to co-write with Bargeld for both the Bad Seeds and Bargeld’s other band, Einstürzende Neubauten. She would later feature on Einstürzende Neubauten’s sixth album Tabula Rasa (1993) both as a co-writer and vocalist on a couple of tracks, including “Blume.”

In 1986, she co-wrote “Stranger Than Kindness” with Bargeld, which appeared on Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ Your Funeral… My Trial. It is a glorious, jangling, delicate beast of a song that reveals the significantly mellowed yang to The Birthday Party’s frenetic yin. The same title was given to an exhibition of Nick Cave’s life and work in 2020 and to a book released to align with the exhibition.

In 1988, Lane sang vocals on the soundtrack to Australian gothic western movie Ghosts…of the Civil Dead, which Bargeld, Cave and Harvey scored. The same year, she also provided vocals on the German post-punk band Die Haut’s Headless Body in Topless Bar album. She’d also duet with Kid Congo Powers on Die Haut’s Head On album of 1992.

One of her most wonderful collaborative outings was with Mick Harvey on his Serge Gainsbourg tribute album Intoxicated Man in 1995 and again on his second Gainsbourg-inspired album Pink Elephants in 1997. She sounds so gorgeously young and louche on “Harley Davidson” when she claims to be a “hell hound.” “I don’t need anyone on my Harley Davidson,” she sings, “If I die tonight, it’s my destiny, I’m alright.”

All the while, Lane had been in the process of recording her debyut solo album; Dirty Pearl was released in 1993 after a decade in the making. It opens with another devastating and beautiful Harvey co-write, “Jesus Almost Got Me,” a divinely gothic ballad in which the country-folk guitar is tempered by solemnly poetic lyrics (“Love is cruel/Love is truly absurd/Jesus almost got me/I don’t know how many prayers he overheard”).

Four of its tracks were originally released on a 4-track EP called Dirty Sings in 1988. Adamson, Cave and Thomas Wydler (of both the Bad Seeds and Die Haut) perform on these, along with Mick Harvey, who also produced it. She sounds breathy, sad, like there’s only a thread holding her to this earth and yet, there’s something primal and sacred in her shameless femininity. Even surrounded by men, or perhaps because she is, she embraces the elements of girlhood and womanhood in her voice, her writing and her videos. One moment she is delicate and complicit, the next she is scarily knowing, determinedly solitary.

The album also features her solo versions of some of her best co-writes, like “Blume,” along with a brilliant, quite creepy, cover of “Sexual Healing.” You’ll never hear the song the same again; the same is true of her 1991 collaboration with Barry Adamson on their version of “These Boots Are Made For Walkin’.” Anita Lane put an indelible mark on everything she touched.

Her second solo studio album was also produced by Harvey. Released in 2001, Sex O’Clock was a little less jangly, primitive and arty. Instead, it embraced greater melodic hooks and pop  elements, though Lane’s deadpan, sardonic approach to lyrics and vocals was ever present. Pop Matters referred to her as “the female Leonard Cohen.” Track names like “Home Is Where the Hatred Is,” “I Hate Myself” and “The Petrol Wife” contrasted with the almost sunny, laidback album cover image of Lane swinging an umbrella as she gazes, smiling, to the horizon.

Lane was a bit of a nomad, as many musicians were in the ‘80s and ‘90s, and still are. She moved from London to Berlin, then later lived in New York and Sydney before returning to Berlin in the late 1980s. She married a German man, Johannes Beck, and had her son Raphael in 1990, before that relationship ended four years later and she moved to Morocco. She had two sons to her Italian partner, Luciano (born in 1995) and Carlito (1998).

Melbourne reclaimed her in 2008, when she returned to live in the suburb of Glen Iris, where she’d grown up. Last year, she moved to Collingwood at the same time that I was packing up to leave it, and remained there until her death in April, aged 61. She isn’t the first nor will she be the last woman to be shrunk down, becoming merely the “muse” to the men around her, but let’s hope, at least in this case, that Melbourne names a lane after her, or erects a statue, or both. Vale Anita Lane.

MUSIQUE BOUTIQUE: Elizabeth King, Marianne Faithfull, Merry Clayton & Evie Sands

Welcome to Audiofemme’s monthly record review column, Musique Boutique, written by music journo vet Gillian G. Gaar. Every fourth Monday, Musique Boutique offers a cross-section of noteworthy reissues and new releases guaranteed to perk up your ears.

Elizabeth King’s life was always centered around the church. “We had preachers in our family, my mom and my daddy was church people, and mom was a great singer,” she told the Memphis Commercial Appeal. “That’s just how I was brought up.” She began singing at the age of three, later recorded with the all-male Gospel Souls, and subsequently formed another singing group, the Stewart Family. But she wasn’t interested in seriously pursuing a singing career, because of her reluctance to tour while she was raising her family (she was eventually the mother of fifteen children).

Which is why it’s taken her so long — King is 77-years-old  — to finally release her debut album, Living in the Last Days (Bible & Tire Recording Co.). King has a commanding voice, as is evident from the opening track, “Blessed Be the Name of the Lord,” performed acapella to further emphasize her power. Elsewhere, she’s backed by the vibrant Sacred Souls Sound Section, who make foot-tapping numbers like the title song really jump and swing. When King and the Sacred Souls lock into a groove together, as in “Reach Out and Touch” and “Testify,” the musical force they generate is irresistible. She’s just as compelling in slow burning numbers like “Walk With Me” and “You’ve Got to Move.” This is uplifting music that will soothe your soul.

When Marianne Faithfull was hospitalized with coronavirus last year, she wasn’t expected to survive. But she beat the odds and pulled through — and went right back to work on her 21st solo album, She Walks in Beauty (BMG), created in collaboration with Warren Ellis (best known for his work with Nick Cave the Bad Seeds), and featuring guest appearances by the likes of Cave and Brian Eno.

Its release fulfills Faithfull’s longtime dream of recording an album of poetry. It’s an area she’s explored before — her 1965 album Come My Way featured “Jabberwock,” a recitation of Lewis Carroll’s poem “Jabberwocky” — but never in such depth. Her resonant voice is tailormade for the classics, and when set against the languid, atmospheric musical backing, the effect is sublime. The title track is the renowned love poem by Lord Byron; “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” is John Keats’ tale of a woeful knight; “The Lady of Shalott” is Lord Alfred Tennyson’s epic ballad of a doomed young woman (Faithfull chooses the darker 1833 version of the poem). Faithfull breathes new life into these timeless works, turning them into something exquisite.

Merry Clayton has the kind of music resume that could fill the entirety of this column. You’ve heard her voice on records by Carole King, Ringo Starr, Tori Amos, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Linda Ronstadt, Coldplay, and Odetta, to name a very few, as well as her riveting guest appearance on the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter.” She’s released her own records too, and was profiled in the 2013 documentary 20 Feet From Stardom.

Now, twenty-seven years after the release of her last album, comes Beautiful Scars (Motown Gospel/Capitol CMG/Ode Records). Its appearance is even more remarkable considering the challenges Clayton has faced in the last decade; following a serious car accident in 2014, both her legs were amputated below the knee. Clayton’s resilience can be seen in her first question to the doctor: would her voice be affected? No, it would not. Beautiful Scars is the result.

Indeed, she wears those scars proudly, calling them “beautiful proof that I made it this far” in the album’s title song, so filled with emotion it moved her to tears. There’s a wonderful version of Sam Cooke’s “Touch the Hem of His Garment,” her voice soaring with ecstasy. She revisits Leon Russell’s “A Song for You,” which she first recorded in 1971, her voice now grown in stature to become fuller and richer. And as always, there are songs of the faith that helped her persevere, such as the joyful testifying of “He Made a Way” and “God Is Love.” Merry Clayton’s indominable spirit vibrates through every note of this record.

Evie Sands launched her music career in the 1960s. But after watching other artists go on to have hits with songs she’d previously recorded (including “Take Me For a Little While,” “I Can’t Let Go,” “Angel of the Morning”), she began moving into songwriting herself. She eventually stopped performing in 1979 to pursue songwriting and producing full time, though still releasing the occasional record.

Get Out of Your Own Way, on Sands’ own R-Spot Records label, is her first solo album since 1999. It’s fairly bursting with warmth and positive vibrations; the musical mood is an engaging rock/pop mix, with elements of country and soul, and rich harmonies throughout.

Highlights include the soulful “My Darkest Days,” a powerful number about overcoming despair, and the opening track, “The Truth is in Disguise,” a solid rocker addressing the confusion and uncertainty of diving into a new relationship. The title track provides a gentle reminder that you might be getting in the way of your own success. “Don’t Hold Back” is a go-out-there-and-get-’em ode of affirmation. “Leap of Faith” encourages you to make one.

RSVP HERE: Dora Day Improvs Live on Twitch as Existence130 + MORE

Existence130 is Dora Day, a Minnesotan multi-instrumentalist live looper and improv artist who streams three days a week on Twitch for 6-9 hours. She has been a regular music streamer for two years, honing her improvisation skills in front of her Twitch community. Dora Day “live learns” songs on stream and jams over other streamers’ tracks with guitar, ukulele, violin, bass, harmonium, and vocals. She exudes positivity, curiosity, appreciation, and always makes everyone who joins her stream feel at home. Her streams feel like the closest thing to having a friend playing live music for you in your living room. Plus, she just started freestyle rapping!

Although she has no official releases yet, you can find her collection of experimental, funk and ambient tracks on Soundcloud to give you an idea of what she’s cooking up. You can catch her streaming on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays starting at midnight ET on Twitch. We chatted with Dora Day about her electric violin journey, connecting with her favorite artists online, and how she keeps her energy up during her marathon length streams. 

AF: What are some of your inspirations that got you into live looping, improv and music in general?

DD: I have always been fond of live looping and a huge fan of artists like DubFX and Grimes who often use live looping in their performances. I have deeply admired musicians who have an experimental flair when creating and you can see the joy when they are in the zone producing their creation. When I joined twitch and started playing music, I noticed there were several twitch musicians starting to get into live looping and I admired all of them! I saw the endless possibilities of being able to live loop and deeply contemplated on what route I should go and was going between Ableton or getting a Boss RC-300 live loop station. One musician who I deeply admire is Echo Locations. He live-loops and has his sound so refined for his live performance. He came into my stream one day and encouraged me to get Ableton and showed support straight from the beginning, offering his guidance, which was incredibly encouraging, so I jumped ship and went the Ableton route when it was on sale during Black Friday. I like to create/produce music as well, so figured why not get a DAW that I can get experimental with and then turn my live looped performance into a song I can produce. The possibilities are endless! I got into improv because I want to be able to jam out with other musicians and connect with others on another level! I think improvising with others is a profound experience and it nourishes my soul. I knew if I took the time to just focus on improvisation, I would reap the benefits for the rest of my life by having a skill that can connect with others in this way. It’s a way to deeply connect with another’s essence in my opinion.

AF: How many different instruments do you play and what are you favorite instruments to improvise with?

DD: I love getting experimental and live looping with all of my instruments. The instruments I generally live loop with are the guitar, violin, bass, ukulele and keyboard. Lately I’ve been having loads of fun turning my own vocals into an instrument and either pitching it up or down, which is something I learned recently how to do in Ableton. I also have a harmonium which I love to play and want to start incorporating that into my live looped performances as well. It’s an instrument used quite a bit in India and I love the beautiful tone that comes out of it. It puts me into a lull state. My favorite instruments to improvise with are the guitar and violin. I also love improvising with cool sounding synths/sounds that I find in Ableton. I feel like a little kid in a candy store feasting off what’s created and there are always more sweets that I haven’t discovered yet.

AF: How long have you been playing the violin and is there a story about the electric violin you play on stream?

DD: I played violin in 8th and 9th grade. It was one of my favorite sounding instruments. I practiced all summer long to get into the 8th grade orchestra, and was shocked when they accepted me. I was so excited. I grew up in a family that didn’t have money to afford a violin, so I got a loaner violin from the school temporarily and then my aunt bought me one. However, in ninth grade, someone broke my violin that my aunt gifted me. It was a tragedy to me when it happened and I had to stop playing violin cause there was no way my family could afford another one. About two years ago I decided to buy an electric violin since they were ones that were decently priced – I think I got mine for 130.00 at the time. I bought it two years ago, but didn’t end up really playing it cause I couldn’t remember how since it had been over 15 years since I touched a violin. About a year and a half ago, I decided to pull it up on stream and played around with it since I had bought it. It was hilarious and embarrassing, haha. However, putting myself out there allowed some viewers who were violinists themselves to offer some suggestions that helped me grow. The knowledge started to slowly come back and I started looking up videos and reading books on how to improvise with violin and it spiraled from there. Some of the theory started to click intuitively! I was already learning how to improvise with guitar, so I knew that blues/pentatonic scales played in the same key is amazing for improvising, so I started practicing those scales with the violin too, and BAM it all started to click. I ended up jamming out over people’s requests with the violin and guitar and it sharpened my ear. It was crazy. Can’t even believe I can improvise for the most part with the violin by ear now. It was a skill I always dreamt of having and I knew that the more I practice the violin by trying to figure out the key of a song by ear, it will be ingrained in me to naturally jam out with others. Really grateful I got back into it again cause it’s one of my favorite sounding instruments.

AF: How long have you been streaming on Twitch? How has the platform changed since you first started?

DD: I’ve been streaming on Twitch for close to two years now. The platform has had some major changes especially with some recent DMCA strikes on users’ accounts which has caused streamers to change the way they do things. Many streamers used to jam over a song that a viewer requested and they would layer drums, bass, etc. over it. I used to do this as well, but have moved away from that and will jam over only royalty free music now to prevent getting a strike on my account. One thing that I have noticed on the platform is how refined these streamers are getting with their skills. It’s amazing to see their growth. I kind of look at it like a hive mind. We are all inspiring one another to grow and we also help and learn off of each other. It’s truly amazing.

AF: You usually stream for 6 or more hours. How do you keep your energy up and keep improv sets interesting?

DD: I generally stream three days per week and will stream for 6 to 9 hours generally straight. It’s quite a process just to get things set up right for the stream, so once I’m on, I’m like, why not keep going? It’s like a party hanging out with my community. The viewers will throw in sound suggestions, themes, words, etc. and we all create songs together. It’s so much fun and it really inspires creativity. Lately, I’ve been getting into freestyling singing/rapping and it’s super fun when the audience throws in words, themes or rhymes; I’ll try to bounce off of what they say in chat and create a song and it’s such a blast. I really love the creativity exchange that happens on stream and I think that’s what fills me up with a dopamine drive to go all night. I also can save all these projects that we create together and produce a song with it in the future, so it’s a lovely feeling to be able to pump out content like that when I’m in the zone. I also switch up the stream to taking requests at times from my songlist, from improv to playing party games, so I think the variety keeps me going for a long time. I just love music and prior to being a serious musician on my days off I would listen to music as my form of entertainment and try to find amazing artists and create songlists for hours.

AF: Who are your favorite Twitch streamers?

DD: I have so many favs I love to watch, but a few that are coming to mind right now are TheDapperRapper, Sarajazz, Middream_LA, Mamajoevramajoe, Echo_Locations, TheSilenceNoise, AaronGoldberg, Faezaria, Scessions, TheGreekGroover, Bort_, A_Couple_Streams, GuyCoMusic, Alicethelittlealien, MermaidUnicorn, Raquel, Songcojam, Benevolentdick, Seershamusic, Elleterese, Elizavetamusic, CalvinThomasMusic, Plasticjosh, Sharkmuffin_ and so many others! I keep discovering more and more streamers that I’m in love with. Many times when I get raided by a streamer I’ll ask them to send me an original of theirs and jam over it! Recently Sharkmuffin_ raided me haha, so I pulled up their song and was BLOWN away! I love unpacking the box and seeing what flavor is going to jump out at me! In Sharkmuffin’s case, I was so impressed by the creative and experimental punk sound that came of it. It’s not something you hear every day and I love when that happens, cause I love more underground types of sounds! Made my heart jump in excitement. I have discovered the most amazing musicians from being raided by them, so that’s why I always like to pull up their content to check out their flavor. I love the Twitch community. So many talented, creative and entertaining musicians there!

AF: Who are your dream collaborators?

DD: Oh my gosh, there are so many I would love to collaborate with! But recently I discovered that one of my favorite musicians, Phaeleh, joined Twitch and does live streams on there sometimes! I’ve been a HUGE fan of him for over 10 years, it’s amazing he’s on Twitch too. It would be a dream to collaborate with him. My heart palpated when he responded to my comment on Twitter/Instagram, hahahaha. That’s how much I deeply admire these musicians. They impacted my life in such a deep way that it makes my heart skip to even get a response from them. Also, recently, I followed another favorite of mine named Jon Kennedy on Instagram, he’s amazing and I’m obsessed with so much of his content. Now that I’m becoming more of a serious musician, I’ve started to figure out how to use socials, like Instagram and Twitter (just started using these socials a year in half ago). Being a content creator myself, I realized that if you follow others they might check you out as well – especially if you have the same interests. Well, after following him, Jon Kennedy ended up loving tons of my posts on Instagram, including my music! My heart was jumping out of my chest. After I saw he was responding/commenting on my posts, I sent him a message letting him know that I was live on Twitch and jamming out to all his content and he watched me LIVE! So freaking insane. It was an amazing feeling to basically have someone you are in deep admiration of watch you jam out to their content! I would love to collaborate with him on a song.

AF: Are you working on any original music to release in the near future?

DD: Yes! I just got my new computer all set up for streaming last night and I’m excited to start pumping out some production with it! I have hundreds of songs in the works that have been saved using Logic, but now I’m only going to be using Ableton primarily (since I switched from MAC to PC). I’m going to try to see if I can send my stems over and start some production with Ableton. I was going between the two and even using both DAWS at the same time, but I think if I really immerse myself in mastering one, it will really take me a long way. Some of my favorite artists like Grimes use Ableton as well and started using Garageband and Logic initially, so I’m taking the leap and really want to focus on getting some cool content on Spotify this year rather than just posting it up on Soundcloud! I now have the opportunity to do more production streams on twitch, cause with my new computer set up I can share my screen with the viewers!

AF: What are your plans for the rest of 2020 and beyond?

DD: This year, I plan to really hone in on my creative content and focus more on improv and technique. I really want to create some amazing content and would like to get some songs out on Spotify and really refine my live performance sound as well. Now that I’m using a full-sized desktop with a decent CPU instead of a laptop, I’ll be able to produce content without overloading my computer.  I’m really excited to see where this will take me.

RSVP HERE for Existence130 streams Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at midnight ET.

More great livestreams this week…

11/20 Ma Sha, Despina, Ayesha, Drummy via Elseworld. 6pm ET, RSVP HERE

11/20 We Are Scientists via Instagram. 4pm ET, RSVP HERE

11/20 Cartalk, Teenage Halloween, Bitchseat, American Poetry Club, Long Neck via Around The Campfire. 7pm ET, RSVP HERE

11/21 The Soul Rebels, Big Freedia via nugs.tv. 9pm ET, $14.99, RSVP HERE

11/22 Boy George, Culture Club via Royal Alber Hall. 5pm ET, RSVP HERE

11/23 Fontaines D.C. via Melody VR. 3:30pm ET, RSVP HERE

11/24 Mamalarky, Sour Widows, Black Ends via BABY.tv. 8pm ET, RSVP HERE

11/25 Django Django via Rough Trade UK Livestream. 1pm ET, RSVP HERE

11/26 Nick Cave, Mick Harvey, Blixa Bargeld via YouTube. RSVP HERE

NEWS ROUNDUP: Black Panther, The Recording Academy & More

  • Black Panther Controversy

    Black Panther doesn’t hit American screens until today, but Kendrick Lamar’s soundtrack for the film is already dominating music news for its star-studded collaborations and a copyright controversy. The album, which will soon be released on vinyl and cassette, features SZA, Vince Staples, the Weeknd, Schoolboy Q, James Blake, and many more. Yesterday, Jay Rock released the video for “King’s Dead,” his Black Panther track with Lamar, Future, and Blake. This latest single follows the debut of lead single “All the Stars” (featuring SZA), which has been the main source of the controversy; the creators behind its video have recently been accused of plagiarizing the work of British-Liberian visual artist Lina Iris Viktor for the clip’s imagery. She and her lawyer say that her painting series, “Constellation,” which features gold patterns and black female figures, was copied for a section of the video. The comparisons do seem too similar to be a coincidence, and in fact, Viktor alleges she was contacted by the “All the Stars” team about using her work but she declined to give permission – not once, but twice. The issue opens up a multi-layered debate about artistic license and usage (remember “Hotline Bling” and James Turrell?). Viktor told the New York Times, “It’s an ethical issue, because what the whole film purports is that it’s about black empowerment, African excellence — that’s the whole concept of the story. And at the same time they’re stealing from African artists.”

    Check out Lina Iris Viktor’s work below and then hit the three-minute mark in the video to compare.

  • Congratulations On Your Efforts… Not!

    In an attempt to make themselves look slightly better, the Recording Academy have given another lackluster response to the lack of female representation at The Grammys. In a letter to members, they present a challenge to USC Annenberg’s findings on gender disparity in the music industry. The study noted that among major categories in the Grammy’s between 2012-2017, only 9.3 percent of nominees were female. The Academy points out that these numbers only included Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best New Artist, and Non-Classical Producer of the Year. If you take all of the Grammy categories into account then the percentage of women is a whopping seventeen percent!

  • Other Highlights

    Borns plays Terminal 5 tonight. Beach House released a new song this week; “Lemon Glow” will appear on their next album, which is slated for a springtime release. Frank Ocean also has a new track release, but it’s an oldie. Listen to his cover of “Moon River” below. “Black Kennedy” is the latest from mega-group August Greene (featuring Common, Robert Glasper, and Karriem Riggens). Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds will release a documentary film of a Copenhagen concert. Distant Sky will have a one-time screening around the world on April 12th. The next day, Brazilian Girls will release Let’s Make Love, their first album in a decade! They recently unveiled the video for “Pirates.” The band will embark on a short US tour, starting with Williamsburg Hall of Music on May 5th. Sleigh Bells are staying busy! On Tuesday, they played at Brooklyn Steel. They’ll return to New York in July for opening slots on an upcoming tour with Weezer and the Pixies. The Smashing Pumpkins are celebrating their 30th anniversary with a North American summer tour. Kook Keith’s alter-ego, Dr. Octoagon, is back after more than two decades! He reunites with DJ Qbert and Dan the Automator for the song, “Octagon Octagon.” Zola Jesus and Yves Tumor play an immersive performance at House of Vans next week on February 23rd. On Valentine’s Day, Kanye West reactivated his Instagram account by posting many, many pictures of celebrity couples. He’s since deleted that account and bid farewell to social media again.

NEWS ROUNDUP: Changes at MTV, Rodents + Rush & More

  • MTV Ends Its “Era” Of Longform Journalism 

    The site has laid off a sizable portion of their editorial staff in a (possibly misguided?) effort to give millennials what they really want, a.k.a. “short-form video content.” An in-depth article by Spin breaks down this shift, and reveals MTV News’ troubling loyalty to artists over its writers. Inside sources state that lukewarm reviews of Chance the Rapper and Kings Of Leon were removed from the cite after complaints from the artists’ management. Read the whole thing here. 

  • Meet The Capybara Babies Named After Rush

    Naming animals after rockstars is the best trend to come out of 2017. The latest species to get the eponymous treatment is the freakishly adorable capybara, the world’s largest rodent from South America. The triplets of two well-known capybaras named Bonnie and Clyde, who gained fame after running away from their Toronto zoo for 36 days, were recently named after Rush’s Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart. Look below for what you really came here for: videos of the huge rodents doing cute stuff. 

  • Listen To She Keeps Bees’ Healthcare Protest 

    It’s a somber but fiery track, delivered by She Keeps Bees at a very appropriate time as Republican leaders decide to hold off on voting on the health care bill until after the July 4th holiday. Rather than go the subtle route, “Our Bodies” ends with a very literal, unmistakable message: “Our bodies are our own… don’t control me, we demand autonomy.” Listen below.

 

ONLY NOISE: Sex Music

ghost-movie

Some might say that sex without love is like music without soul…but what is sex without music?

It seems natural enough that someone who obsesses about aural pleasure and its many applications on the daily, would also wonder which sounds best suit oral pleasu– you get the idea. But all puns aside: if I am to write about the personal, idiosyncratic links we have with specific music, how can I respectfully gloss over musica sexus? Which is fake Latin for “sex music.”

It is a worthy genre, and not only for those of us who live our lives thinking up Top 10 lists for every possible occasion. I’ve heard many say that they don’t like to have sex to music; perhaps they don’t think of it, find it distracting, or can’t take the DJing pressure in such a moment. Others like my good friend Fletcher* say it “feels cheesy” and that it was something he “did more in high school.”

And I hear that. High school was when you were still figuring out how to navigate the difficult, terrifying and oft-taboo world of sex. You had little to no prior experience, and most likely based your moves off of those you saw in movies. So you stood outside your love’s window, goliath boom box foisted above your head blaring “In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel. It worked so well for John Cusack in Say Anything! Or perhaps you put on “Unchained Melody” by the Righteous Brothers after watching Ghost. Maybe you even got out some clay and a pottery wheel. You didn’t know any better!

At the unromantic end of the spectrum, sex music was just practical back then. You needed something to mask the coital cacophony you and Kateigh were making from your unsuspecting mother down the hall. Sadly few New Yorkers have escaped this sound barrier reality, as playing music while boning is a frequent necessity when living with roommates. It doesn’t actually work though.

But I refuse to accept that shagging to a soundtrack is only for teens and broke city-dwellers. Despite how “cheesy” and juvenile some might find it, I’m always down for some rock n’ roll in the hay…provided it’s awesome.

The foreplaylists (sorry!) that have intrigued me the most came when I least expected them to. A personal favorite was when a nerdy, socially inept and tame lover put on “Girl” by Suicide right before he pounced on me. The sounds of “ding!” abounded in my head as his points accrued for a) liking Suicide and b) knowing this particular song would light my fire. It’s not the kind of ditty you would think to diddle to immediately, given its eerie, ominous tenor and bouts of murderous screaming – one might wait at least until the second Tinder date – but I loved it. That was probably the only good thing he did in the relationship, and I commend him for it.

Another beau had the genius idea to screw while the entirety of Loveless by My Bloody Valentine played in the background. A song is great, sure, but if you can find an entire record to listen to instead, you’re golden. An LP ensures adequate length and a consistent atmosphere. Loveless is perfect because it is gritty and romantic all at once, and you can’t understand a damn word anyone is singing, which is even better (you’ll find out why later).

Another record I have a fond, sensual affection for is Television’s Marquee Moon, especially the title track itself. I can’t point out any specific factors as to why other than the back catalogue of my personal spank bank, but that’s good enough for me. All of these songs, paired with their role in my sex life have so swayed me behaviorally, that when I hear them I get turned on. Which is kind of kickass.

Though despite these triumphs, partners have not always been victorious in the erotic disc jockey department. The same man who was wise enough to put on “Girl” later selected a track to lesser applause. It was 1991’s “Bitch Betta Have My Money” by rapper AMG. A song bursting with such poetic lyrics as “there ain’t nothin’ like black pussy on my dick” and “you can suck the dickity-dick but I’m gonna charge you a nut.” I bear no issue with this cut musically, but no one ever got a woman into bed by telling her to “suck the dickity-dick.” Sorry, AMG. You can kiss my assity-ass.

Another snafu occurred when the most loathsome person I ever dated put his iTunes on shuffle pre-coitus. There we were, rolling about on his poly-blend sheets, when Tegan and Sara’s “Back In Your Head” boomed out of his speakers. I jerked away from him, so very confused by his Tegan and Sara fandom, and thoroughly enjoying how mortified he was. He scrambled to his desktop and switched his “uncool guy” music to his “cool guy” music, which was “Uncontrollable Urge” by Devo.

I learned many things that day, namely that denying your love of Tegan and Sara does not make you manlier. But I also learned that no moment hinges more upon mood than the moment before sex. One should be ever so careful to ensure the music is not on shuffle.

And what about sex for a vinyl lover, such as myself? If you think putting a condom on is “awkward,” try committing coitus interruptus when the first half of Daydream Nation finishes up, or worse, skips. Out of bed, to the turntable to flip sides or frantically dig through records in search of something else. Who knew high fidelity audio could be such a cock block?

Despite certain studies on the matter of sex music, some of which claim that classical tunes are the best thing to get freaky to, what I’ve learned is that one can’t rationally explain why some songs work and others don’t. It’s like the mystery of attraction and fetishes; there isn’t always a 1+2=3 answer. “Love songs” are rarely what get me in the mood. Songs about sex are often laughable and cringe worthy when you’re about to actually have sex. And I’m sure some people would be horrified if I scored their sexcapades with what I prefer. Nick Cave anyone? The Cramps? Or what about “Cold Discovery” by Smog (the Peel Session please!)? Not for everyone I’m sure.

I was finally able to get an answer from Fletcher about what he used to put on for “a romp sesh” in high school:

“’A Punch Up At a Wedding by Radiohead’ was my favorite,” he admitted.

I give it a listen for the first time in years and realize that this song will never be the same for me again. I cannot unlearn what I have been told. Just as my own intimate history augments the songs I love, so now has his. Images form, and I don’t necessarily want them to.

I guess that you can have sex without music. But I am now near convinced you cannot have music without sex.

*Name changed for privacy.

ONLY NOISE: Holla-Ween

halloween playlist

It would be an injustice to the season and my family not to make this week’s installment of Only Noise all about Halloween, the greatest holiday on earth. The only holiday that you aren’t required to sit at a large table with family you may or may not enjoy being around, stuffing yourselves with unnecessary amounts of food, or packing into a cheesy restaurant to eat a pre-fixe menu priced double the everyday value, or pretending you are extra in love with your partner.

On Halloween you can be vulgar, clever, “slutty” (whatever that means), non-participatory, an adult-child, and more importantly, anything you damn want to be. In 1989, my parents got married on Halloween, only 15 days before I entered this mortal coil. My dad didn’t do it up for the holiday, donning slacks and a tweedy sports coat, while my mom wore an emerald green tunic with florid gold embroidery at the chest. She topped it off with beads, fake gold jewelry, and a dangly chainmail headband. It wasn’t a costume per se, but it certainly wasn’t a wedding dress. But the piece de resistance of their wedding in my humble, nostalgic opinion was the cake. It was a black cake. A black bat cake, with orange icing script.

Growing up I never equated my parents’ anniversary with Halloween, but now thinking back it makes a little more sense as to why they celebrated the day with such zeal. Halloween seemed wildly more important than any other holiday in my family, even more so than Christmas, which to many of the evangelical occupants of our rural town, must have made us seem like pagans. Maybe we were.

My parents, sister and I would spend days vandalizing the house with lengths of cotton fiber “spider webs.” We’d hang a sheer, fine mesh net from the ceiling and toss plastic spiders and centipedes into its canopy. We’d make a big paper tree to go up the wall adjoining the living room and kitchen, and affix bugs to that as well (bugs went on pretty much everything). Stuffing my father’s gardening clothes with newspaper, we’d prop a carved jack-o’-lantern on the makeshift scarecrow to greet guests.

With the help of a children’s cookbook entitled Gross Goodies – one of many finds at the school book fair, my mom and I would belabor an enormous menu of foul-looking treats such as “Pumping-Heart Tarts,” and “Open Wound Teacakes.” The party was a potluck, but the menu was exclusively Halloween-themed, putrescent looking food. Our table’s centerpiece was a miniature guillotine made by a family friend. Lying upon it was a decapitated Barbie doll – not the first in our household. She wore a green gown, with red nail polish encircling her open neck. Her blonde head rested in a basket before her.

But what is a party without music? In the same way the Christmas season makes some people want to go caroling, Halloween made my family want to do “The Time Warp.” My mom, a longtime fan of the 1975 musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show, made it an annual tradition that when the clock struck midnight, all guests would meet in the living room to reenact the synchronized dance moves for the film’s most famous song. I didn’t actually watch Rocky Horror until I was in fifth grade, which is a strange age to take in something like that with your mom, but I knew every wink, step and bar of “The Time Warp” since before I can remember. I don’t recall being taught it, just doing it.

Our playlist often found inspiration from other movies as well; cuts from The Nightmare Before Christmas (my mom’s motivation for leaving the Halloween decorations up until X-mas), “Jump in the Line” by Harry Belafonte for its association with Beetlejuice, and the bizarre numbers from a beloved little claymation flick from the ‘60s called Mad Monster Party. The film’s voiceover cast includes Boris Karloff, Phyllis Diller and Ethel Ennis. The songs are odd to say the least, but the animation and performances are ace.

In retrospect, I don’t think I’ve been to a Halloween party as kickass as the one’s my parents used to put on. Not even in New York, where Halloween invokes top-notch competition (like with everything else), and costume contests turn into battles of wit, obscurity, accuracy, and outlandishness. I remember my first Halloween here the entire city was frenzied with a Hitchcock theme. I saw several Tippi Hedren’s in the skirt suit and pillbox hat, eyes jabbed out by the fake sparrow on her shoulder. Even better was the man dressed as Psycho – who rigged up a bloodied shower curtain around his seemingly nude body.

Maybe it is just the adoring lens a child sees her parents through, but I still really think they did Halloween the best. But even after the parties ended, Halloween continued to be the supreme holiday in my life. I always knew what I wanted to be November first, and would count down the 364 days between my costume and me. These days I have less time to obsess over costume details as I used to, but the excitement is still there. I still spend October watching as many horror movies as possible (The Exorcist is always on heavy rotation) and listening to the likes of Bauhaus, Nick Cave, Throbbing Gristle, The Cramps, and just about anything spooky I can get my hands on.

In the few times I’ve lived abroad, I remember being thoroughly bummed that Halloween was not really a thing in Europe or the U.K. It was a classic case of not knowing how much you’d miss something until it was gone. In the same week that Hurricane Sandy was revving up to rip New York a new one, I was in Milan, cutting class to work on my Halloween costume for the tiny, American-filled party my roommate and I would be hosting. In was such an insignificant little party, held in a country that didn’t really give a fuck about Halloween, and that made it all the more important. I spent hours hand sewing fake intestines, a heart, a liver, two black lungs with real cigarette butts stitched on…I was some semblance of the internal organ system, with a brain sewed to the top of a bowler hat.

The party lacked decoration, the only autumnal thing being the mulled wine I drank too much of. It was a far cry from the all-out parties that my parents used to throw, but it was a stab in the right direction. So even if you’re nowhere near your ideal Halloween this year – I will be spending mine at a wedding – here’s a playlist to spook you through the greatest day of the year.

PLAYLIST: 18 Essential Halloween Songs

If the theme songs from X-Files and The Twilight Zone or repeated plays of “Monster Bash” and “Thriller” aren’t quite getting you in the mood for Halloween, have no fear (see what I did there?).  AudioFemme has compiled a list of the creepiest choruses and bone-chilling ballads, guaranteed to spookify your Spotify and haunt your headphones all season long.

1. Cat Power – Werewolf: At the crux of all lycanthropic legend is the intense pain experienced in the transformation from human to monster.  Sometimes the focus is on the excruciating physical changes – teeth and claws elongate, fur bursts flesh, etc. but the poignancy in the myth is the loss of control to the whims of the full moon and the bloodlust it brings to even the most timid changelings.  Chan Marshall’s baleful crooning and the spidery strings that anchor this romantic re-imagining of age-old folklore are the perfect expression of the mutant’s pain.

2. The Cramps – I Was A Teenage Werewolf:  Lux Interior and Poison Ivy made a name for themselves and their band by referencing horror and sci-fi iconography in many of their songs, and this jam is the quintessential piece of theatrical surf-rock that put their sound on the map.  Named for the 1957 movie starring Michael Landon (in which psychological experiments turn a troubled teen into something more sinister), the desperation this track captures is not just that of the werewolf’s plight, but that of being a teenager as well.  No one even tries to intervene with the wild mood swings and violent outbursts of our protagonist despite his begging cries.  And who can blame them – have you been near a high school around 3PM?  Teenagers: more frightening than werewolves.

3. Thee Oh Sees – Night Crawler: Thee Oh Sees are a band that love to infuse their raucous punk-rock with gruesome imagery and a dash of creepy vibes.  The towering guitar squall, futuristic synths and distorted vocals on this track, from this year’s excellent Floating Coffin LP, make me feel like I can see and hear in monster-vision as I prowl through the city at odd hours, deformed by toxic slime, just… you know… looking for a little love.

4. Misfits – Skulls: The 80’s horror punk crew took cranium collection to a whole new level with this quintessential anthem.  We don’t know why Glenn Danzig wants our skulls (or the skulls of little girls) nor do we know how they’ll be affixed to Danzig’s wall (has he commissioned and built a special shelving unit? Will the bone fragments be assembled haphazardly to his cracked plaster?) except to say this: he is a demon and bathes in the blood of decapitated bodies.  Demons just need skulls, okay?

5. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Red Right Hand: The king of murder ballads outdid himself with this one.  It’s essentially a tale of a mysterious stranger whose all-encompassing power seems culled from malevolent sources; he can get you what you want, but it may cost you your soul.  Nick Cave’s warnings are snarled over loungey organ, orchestra hits, crackling percussion, and even some musical saw, making it an indelible Halloween staple that sounds like no other.  But it truly endures because of the intrigue of the elusive man with the red right hand.  Like Nick Cave himself, he’s a ghost, he’s a God, he’s a man, he’s a guru.

6. Liars – Broken Witch: Angus Andrew chants the word blood over and over again and incites what sounds an awful lot like some kind of Satanic spell with horses and bears and stuff.  From 2004’s brilliant Salem witch trials themed concept record They Were Wrong So We Drowned, a record which you should probably play in its entirety every October if you are not already in the habit of just listening to it all the time, like I did back in college.  See also: “There’s Always Room On The Broom” if you’re having an actual dance party.

7. Donovan – Season of the Witch: In 1967, Donovan was busy shedding his folksy reputation for a more eclectic one, which drew on styles as disparate as calypso and psychedelica.  On the latter end of those explorations, we have classic psychedelic jam “Season of the Witch”, a song about shifting identities and the strangeness of human personality.  When you break it down, the song is really about adopting identities and how in turn that makes all of us changeable, as though under a spell.  And while that doesn’t have anything to do with Halloween directly, it’s easy enough to apply to your experience costume shopping at Ricky’s.

8. Talking Heads – Psycho Killer:  Here’s the thing about serial killers: you don’t ever really know why they do what they do.  In general, their murderous sprees seem to stem from a deep hatred of the human race and complete lack of regard for life or personhood.  That’s what makes them psychotic.  You don’t have to understand French to get where David Byrne is going with this 1977 anthem that flips the point of view to that of a killer who at the beginning of the song just seems like he needs a little rest and maybe some Lexapro, and increasingly spazzes out until he’s ending lives left and right and reveling in the glory of it.  With misanthropes like these, it’s best just to let them be.  And with bass lines like this, it’s best to dance like the psycho you’ll hopefully never become.

9. Wooden Wand and the Vanishing Voice – Genesis Joplin: So you want to join a coven?  Well you’re gonna have to dance around with minotaurs and stuff.  A bunch of devils are gonna wake you up in the middle of the night and draw weird stuff all over you (probably in blood).  And then maybe you’ll write a super-chill a cappella jam about it, with just a little sparse percussion to back your possessed howls, but you don’t really have to if you don’t want to because Wooden Wand has you covered.  James Jackson Toth’s now ex-wife Jessica sings this one and her voice sounds as smokey and witchy as it needs to sound to pull off poetry that could’ve been ripped from a page out of the Necronomicon.

10. Girls – Ghost Mouth: Christopher Owens has here cast himself as the loneliest, saddest spirit left behind, trying to get to Heaven.  It’s probably a metaphor for simply feeling like a ghost, but actually being a ghost is probably also as sad and confusing as Owens’ living, breathing existence.

11. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffitti – Creepshow: Seedy and weird as only early Ariel Pink can be, this track seethes with macabre laughter, horror-movie samples, pornographic squeals, and stalker-inspired lyrics droned in low octaves.  It perfectly captures the sleaziness of dressing up like a “sexy” version of something only to find yourself in the wrong part of town, whisked into a dilapidated theater for a slasher flick you can’t be sure the actors actually survived.

12. Echo & The Bunnymen – The Killing Moon: Who doesn’t love this song?  The kind of person you slay as a sacrifice to the Lunar God, that’s who.

13. The Microphones – Headless Horseman: Phil Elverum’s acoustic ballad about the the Headless Horseman’s painful transition from “mighty human man” to terrifying monster is an extended metaphor for loss and shifting perceptions in relationships.  But he’s certainly got an admirable knack for making lines like “I walked aimlessly around with a flaming pumpkin head” sound pretty and melancholic instead of ridiculous.  Maybe Danzig will let him borrow one of those skulls he’s been so fervently collecting?

14. The Luyas – Channeling: Montreal band The Luyas wrote most of this record after the sudden death of a close friend and even give credit to “the ghost” in its liner notes; “Channeling” is a seancing song wherein Jessie Stein invites specters to make a host of her.  She makes contact through the repetition of the spirit’s name and in trying to hear the key of its voice, promising “I will let you disappear / so long, so long / But I’m giving you my ear / come play your song / if you’d like to stay a while / this way, this way / You can use my body now / To play, to play”.  As someone who’s never been able to say “Bloody Mary” in front of a bathroom mirror even once, I have to admire the bravery of that invitation.

15. Timber Timbre – Demon Host:  It might not keep the Halloween dance party going, but this acoustic gem pits Taylor Kirk’s haunted wails against questions about spirituality and the nature of death.  Instead of trickery, we’re treated to gorgeous imagery over quietly strummed guitars that burst into lush, ghostly chorales and twinkling piano.  It’s right at home on the band’s 2009 self-titled album, which features several tracks with still creepier vibes – so much so the band made the album available to fans for free on Halloween the year of its release.

16. Tu Fawning – Multiply A House: Swooning trumpets and startling vocals are only the beginning of this moody murder ballad; the lyrics are darker than a black cat at midnight.  Over a deliberate drumbeat, vocalist Corinna Repp sings about sinking bodies and being haunted by houses.  Hollowed-out flutes lend atmospherics toward the end of the track, as Repp coos “you’ll be the only one on the hill alive.” Listening to this is like Cliff’s Notes for reading House of Leaves.

17. Wymond Miles – The Thirst:  Against a thudding bassline and immediate guitars tinged with new-wave tropes, Wymond Mile’s plaintive vocals relate what could be a vampiric love story: “Death’s kiss upon your lips, a gentle curse / teach me tonight what that spell is worth” he pleads during the second verse.  The choruses are spattered with mentions of pale bodies and the moon and death and fire and the song unfurls anthemic from those reference points.  It’s too dark for the Twilight saga, but might be right at home on the soundtrack for Xan Cassavete’s excellent Kiss of the Damned.

18. Kanye West – Monster: As much as I really wanted to put “Werewolf Barmitzvah” on this list, the final spot goes to Kanye’s beastly boasting on this single from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.  Dark, twisted, and beautiful, yes, with a terrifying music video to match, this song features all-star guest appearances from Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj, and Rick Ross, all of whom bring the movie-monster metaphors into heavy play.