David Stubbs on The Today Programme

A (very) late notice to say that The Wire's David Stubbs will be appearing on BBC Radio 4's Today programme tomorrow morning to discuss his new book, Fear Of Music: Why People Get Rothko But Don't Get Stockhausen. He'll be on at 8:20, I understand.

TG Vids (and others...)

Check out some recent footage shot by Chris Carter of a jam during Throbbing Gristle's soundcheck in LA as part of their US tour which ends tonight in NYC with a sold out show... Next up is June 19th show in Copenhagen followed by two appearances on the 21st (the earlier show is already sold out) in London [check out their site for more info]


LA Soundcheck Jam from Chris Carter on Vimeo.

Also out there in the eVideosphere UbuWeb continue their expansion with a few interesting vids:
Craig Baldwin's 1995 film Sonic Outlaws which looks at copyright infringement, music and art including Negativland (and their run in with U2 and Island Records)



And on the TG theme, UbuWeb's also posted Tony Oursler's Synesthesia interview with Genesis P-Orridge (part of a series of interviews with Downtown NYC artists including John Cale, Thurston Moore, Dan Graham, Genesis P-Orridge, Kim Gordon, Glenn Branca, Laurie Anderson, Tony Conrad, David Byrne, Lydia Lunch, Alan Vega, and Arto Lindsay)



All of this along with some work by the digital artist Cory Arcangel (Wire #290) and Derek Jarman's 1993 film Wittgentstein

Wrinkles In Time

While I won't claim that early 90s junglists Tek9 aka 4Hero had the power to warp the spacetime continuum, "Del Die Gogo" from their recently reissued early Reinforced material certainly had me checking my iPod and counting out the beats to check it wasn't skipping. I think they've sampled the synth riff of Human Resource's "Dominator", but screwed up into micro black hole.

It's The Neu Style

I can't be alone in noticing a subtle shift in the public appreciation of Krautrock. Press release after press release comes into The Wire HQ suggesting a group sounds like Can, Faust and Neu! – a ridiculous claim, as they hardly sounded alike in the first place. Nevertheless, the number of projects coping a Krautrock feel – The Horrors on their new album (after a pretty weak cover of Suicide recently – another act who are threatened with looming canonisation?), the Brand Neu! tribute album (title says it all), featuring Oasis, of all people (Neu! is "great tour bus music", I think Noel Gallagher was quoted as saying), and most bizarre of all, David Holmes. Add Portishead's Third into the mix, and it's almost ubiquitous.

Generally they take only the most basic common denominators of German experimental rock – the motorik rhythm, the spiralling guitars, but particularly, motorik rhythm. What's going on here? Krautrock has suddenly become a signifier of seriousness, the never-ending autobahn of Neu! a kind of aspiration to never-ending longevity, but also a melancholic nostalgia for when there were still roads to be built. Often these days, dropping into a motorik rhythm isn't the sign of innovation, but a lack of anything more interesting to do. It no longer conjures up wide-open possibilities, but an aesthetic retrenchment when there's nothing else they can bring to the table.

Of course, the last thing proper Krautrockers would have done these days is just hammer away at a long-overused rhythm. And just as I was typing this post, a press release just crossed my desk namechecking Cluster and Popul Vuh, too. Of course, one shouldn't blame the artists for such material, but it does suggest Krautrock has become a currency (in all senses) in music industry speak these days.

Ikki heintaður - non réclamé

Despite our best efforts, efforts to locate the elusive Pom Pom records (see The Wire 303, now on sale) in the Faro Islands have hit a dead end. The search continues...

Sunny Murray screening competition

We're running a competition to win tickets for this week's screening in London of Sunny's Time Now, a new documentary about the influential drummer Sunny Murray, with a Q&A afterwards with saxophonist Tony Bevan and Tony Herrington from The Wire. Here's the details:

Win a pair of tickets to the London ICA Screening!
The Wire presents: Sunny's Time Now + Q&A

London ICA, Cinema 1
18 April 2009 8:15pm
£8/£7 Concessions/£6 ICA Members.

"Bang! Let's go on. Like Louis Pasteur. They ain't fucked with the milk since then, except maybe diluted it a little bit." Sunny Murray

Sunny's Time Now retraces the rough-and-tumble life and career of influential free jazz drummer Sunny Murray. Directed by Luxembourg film maker Antoine Prum, this documentary includes interviews with key witnesses (including Cecil Taylor, Val Wilmer, Robert Wyatt, William Parker, Grachan Moncur III) and exclusive concert footage of Murray in performance with the likes of Bobby Few, Sonny Simmons, and his trio with Tony Bevan and John Edwards. As well as casting some light into the shadows of a star-crossed jazz life, the film reassesses the intricate relationships between the libertarian music movement and the political climate of the 1960s.

After the screening there will be a Q&A with the director, saxophonist Tony Bevan, and The Wire's Tony Herrington.

Enter here.

Bushwacked

Good article from the New York Times on Lloyd Barnes of the Wackies label fame.