what happened? who dropped the ball?
how bout we pick things up here again. cuz its can be pretty fun and informative.
i'll post a thing for people to think about it.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/8eqfxl
its an album by italian mystic goth-prog/psych outfit, jacula (later to become antonius rex). one of the band members was apparently a 'medium'(!!!). vocals are by doris norton, who many years later would release a number of crazy heavy synthpop/proto-techno albums, with titles like "nortoncomputerforpeace" and "personal computer".
so cool! (she was sponsored by apple, btw)
i will post some of her stuff later.
15 comments:
Oh man - the file died a death of blood.
I mean, it's not there anymore.
Too bad.
I hear from h-dogg that he has something in mind. Not sure what.
Of course, I'm a huge fan of the EPN and want it to come back. But how?
i can re-up if there is any interest
i'll try to remember to put some doris norton stuff up, too
yeah man....put that shit back up....i dont think people check this page anymore
RE-UP
doris norton - personal computer
http://www.sendspace.com/file/e3xc5a
jacula - tardo pede in magiam versus
http://www.sendspace.com/file/3gflf1
YAgh! this Doris Norton shit is giving me brain-bubbles, i love it. TCD- i imagine you are hip to a whole load of 80's italian electronic stuff, but i'm in the dark. Off the bat, I thought of the obvious Kraftwerk parallels in waveforms & ideology (Personal Computer//Pocket Calculator), but shit, when I listen to Computer World i envision a laboratory of congenial robots kindly collaborating on a subdued dance track----whereas Doris Norton is on another planet. For being generally melodic in structure, EVERYTHING about these songs is abrasive. Listening to this record really loud is a commitment to a paranoid trance that flutters from very satisfying to utterly terrifying. I'm most fond of the blip triplets & other cutting percussives, the modulating bagpipe synth in ADA converter, & 2000 mph spastic leads all over the place. I am surprised this is not a soundtrack. I bet H-GWAZNOID would like this alot. Thanks for posting it, are her other records this out of control? PS- doris norton is HOT! ?
haha, glad you like it christian!
i agree, the norton stuff is much more dire and abusive than kraftwerk's blasé utopian blips...for me there is a distinctly roman bent to the norton stuff - quasi-fascistic, even.
the only other album of hers that i've heard, 'artificial intelligence' is similarly severe, and a little more *digital*, with lots of weird sampled bits. it's cool, though. i will upload that one later.
and yeah, doris norton is a total babe. maybe part of it is just the idea of seeing a chick surrounded by synthesizers that i find errm...erotically charged. she's also extra hot because she digs the roland gear, and that shit is my jam (i just got a roland sh-101 last week, btw!).
speaking of hot and italian, check out diana est:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=eyWRh3JiFuM
also heavy on the italo-fascist tip. the song is about a brand of hair spray and/or an italian night club?
i can keep inundating people with mildly weird european electronic music pretty easily, if desired.
yeah duder...keep that shit coming...i loooooove it.
tommi stumpff - zu spät ihr scheisser
http://www.sendspace.com/file/mc4pcb
german wave from 82, reminiscent of daf (with maybe some neubauten touches), but more textured and brittle. for as forward and aggressive the album is, it seems oddly fragile. it's an odd, unique sound.
doubly odd is the way stumpff appears to have marketed himself - his look and cover art seems oddly traditional, in a 77 uk punk way - a far cry from the daf's homo-fascist angular eroticism, neubauten's primal bleakness, or the playful-yet-creepily perverse optimism of much of the german new wave (ie: die doraus und die marinas, der plan)...stumpff seems out of place in his earnesty and simplicity...
err shit...well, i'm obviously overcaffeinated and procrastinating....it's a beautiful day out....and i'm swamped with work...gross...
i love this....i could keep this up forever. i always thought shawn should have a blog where he just posts music and shit. so awesome.
p.s. found this jacula video on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g64468oA5CY
that jacula video is radical.
it's like, way jess franco-y.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/3i7n7r
here is another doris norton album, 'artificial intelligence'. im not quite as fond of this one as i am of 'personal computer', although this one is actually even more aggressive and melodically hook-heavy.
Hmmm. I like a lot of this music.
I'm not into the fascist thing though. I mean, I don't think that's the only way to read it, but I think that is def smthing they are referencing.
It has something to do with the minimal, anti-humanist aesthetic, with the enjoyment of a vibe that is distinctly oppressive and mechanical, and, oh, Italy, Germany? I need help being clearer here.
So - contradiction - I would say that I would not use "fascist" as a positive or non-critical adjective, but I am interested in some of the qualities that are associated with this adjective. Of course, being interested in something is different from supporting it. One can be interested in something in a critical way, interested in something one hates.
One can assume that the people who made "starship troopers" or other such movies about fascist societies were being critical, but were interested in these ideas. And as we are living in an increasingly totalitarian society it can be assumed that these ideas will be expressed through the filter of artistic sensitivity - i.e. not critical or supportive of authority - because a lot of the best art does not seek to teach a moral lesson. Art made this way is not always responsible though. I guess this asks a big question about the role of the artist...
I was surprised that nobody else called TCD out on this. You can't just nonchalantly reference fascism - especially not in the age of the birth of the american empire - we should talk about this aesthetic because it makes us uncomfortable and because it is something we have to learn more about in order to see our society more clearly.
That said, I have chatted with TCD before and I think his stance is critical and highly nuanced. He's a real smart dude who has a very interesting analysis of society, and I think he has something interesting and valid to say - but I'd like to know more so I can figure out whether I agree or disagree with him. Not being so clear, so don't let's get worked up.
But I would very much like to hear a bit from TCD about this. Perhaps a post?
As an artist I am very much aware of the "look" of oppression. My work considers humanity in a pretty negative light and I have used humans as experimental subjects before, which is actually quite freaky-feeling (haven't explored this enough to be more specific - which is why I'd like to chat). I think this can sometimes feel anti-humanist. But I also think that there are some ideas in my art about democracy and individualism that are humanistic.
So, what does this adjective mean to you TCD? Why did you use it to describe this music? I am confusing anti-humanism, authoritarianism, and fascism. Can you help me sort them out? Do you think these ideas have any particular relevance to our times (i.e. new american authoritarianism)? Or am I getting it all wrong?
BTW - I really like dancing to this music - and always have. I have always liked dance music that is very mechanical and cold sounding. Why? Shouldn't I like music that is warm and happy, that makes me celebrate? But, no. I don't. I think part of it might be that this music makes me viscerally aware of the negativity coming at me through society. Having this awareness I can dance it out. By which I mean confront the negativity within my own mind and body by playacting out little dramas in my mind while moving my body. Dancing is hugely cathartic to me.
thanks for calling me out on my flippant linguistic abuse, eff :)
in these cases, i was using 'fascist' to convey the sense of severity, of rigidity/order/angularity that some of these artists espouse. it is, perhaps, a mildly egregious mis-use, but it just sounds better than authoritarian :P
you are correct to call me out on this, though - it is late now, so i can't mentally prepare a full response now...but i will make a full post sometime this week on "fascism", the body, and dance music. these are all topics that interest me to no small degree.
i will say, in brief:
art of any sort, perhaps most of all music (seeing as it is temporal, tactile, and interactive in ways that most other media are not), should ALWAYS raise awareness of the fundamental flaws in our world in some way. the music (and other art) that i prefer always has an uneasy relationship with things like harmony and pop structure, and not simply in a "let's tear things apart" way. i find noise at large fairly boring - total rejection is a juvenile endeavor, one that generally results in reiterating the same banal formal deviations (brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr). it is the tension, the push-pull between order and chaos that i find compelling.
i am not entirely sure if i view "fascism" as an entirely negative thing - i equate it with "order", more or less. when "order" is aestheticized to a sufficient degree, it, by necessity, comes across as somewhat fascistic. with doris norton and DAF, two of the outfits i referred to as "fascist", this *orderly* compulsion is aestheticized (both sonically and iconographically) to sufficient degrees as to connote fascism to me.
of course, DAF and norton have a particular geographical/historical relationship with fascism (being of italian and german origin, as farley pointed out).
what makes this aural/visual "fascism" acceptable is the fact that the underlying message is ultimately the opposite. DAF, for instance, appropriate such imagery and language (tanz den mussolini!) with the fairly explicit intent of dismantling such machinery...
errr...shoot...430 is sleep time...
think/write more later...i'm busy tomorrow i think, though...
I'm def looking fwd to that post - even if the word "fascism" were not used at all, I'd still like to look at why people are attracted to and pursue obsessive social order while all the time whining about freedom. The orderly compulsion is a huge part of art - think of museums, minimalist art, etc.
TCD has put out another thesis that I was discussing:
"art of any sort, perhaps most of all music ... should ALWAYS raise awareness of the fundamental flaws in our world in some way."
That's another thing to talk about...
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