On 7th December it is 27 years ago that Nine Inch Nails released their Fixed EP (HALO6). Fixed is the sequel (remix) disc to the Broken EP (HALO5) which was released on 22nd September 1992. Guest remixers include Danny Hyde from Coil, J. G. Thirlwell (Foetus), Butch Vig (Garbage) and Chris Vrenna and James Woolley who both were members of the live band at the time.
The different, unusual, harsh and eclectic remix techniques used on this EP makes it sound like ear-candy for the noisy industrialists amongst us but it's also aneasy listening EP for the hard of hearing!
Today, 1 ago, Pete Shelley the punk troubador left us.
Born Peter Campell McNeish in Lancashire, England he became central to the formation of the punk and new-wave movements.
Shelley formed Buzzcocks with Howard Devoto after the two met at Bolton Institute in 1975 and Buzzcocks debuted the following year in Manchester.
They released their first well received EP, “Spiral Scratch” on their own label, New Hormones. With a few false starts and Howard Devoto leaving the group Shelley was forced to take over duties as lead vocalist, main songwriter and main focus.
Buzzcocks soon became one of the most important bands on the late-seventies punk scene, releasing a dynamite fueled bunch of singles such as “Orgasm Addict", "What Do I Get?", and "Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)".
The three long-players released are blueprints for the eighties new wave sound, “Another Music in a Different Kitchen” and “Love Bites” both in 1978 and “A Different Kind of Tension “ released the following year.
The most common album and most people’s audio entry into the world of Shelley and Buzzcocks was the compilation and punk masterpiece “Singles Going Steady”, though this was also the cause of friction between the band and publishing companyl Virgin, the band threw in the towel initially in 1981 although reuniting several times over the years and most recently with the 40th-anniversary shows on 2016
Shelley's debut solo album “Sky Yen” was recorded in 1974 but remained unreleased until early 1980 when it was released on 12" vinyl on Shelley's own Groovy Records, it remains an impressive dive into electronic music.
In 1981, Shelley released his first solo single “Homosapien", an almost autobiographical tale of his life, following on from this with the album of the same name along with follow-ups “XL1” and “Heaven and the Sea”.
He still remains an important figure of influence and will be sorely lost by a world who dance to “Ever Fallen In Love”.
Homosapien
Pete Shelley
I'm the shy boy, you're the coy boy
And you know we're Homosapien too
I'm the cruiser, you're the loser
Me and you sir, Homosapien too
Homosuperior in my interior
But from the skin out
I'm Homosapien too
And you're Homosapien too
And I'm Homosapien like you
And we're Homosapien too
And I think of your eyes in the dark
And I see the star
And I look to the light
And I might wonder right where you are
All the Gods in the sky, way up high
See the world spinning 'round
But the sun and the moon
And the stars are so far from the ground
I'm the shy boy, you're the coy boy
And you know we're Homosapien too
I'm the cruiser, you're the loser
Me and you sir, Homosapien too
Homosuperior in my interior
But from the skin out
I'm Homosapien too
And you're Homosapien too
And I'm Homosapien like you
And we're Homosapien too
And the worlds built of age are a stage
Where we act out our lives
And the words in the script seem to fit
'Cept we have some surprise
I just want this to last
Or my future is past and all gone
And if this is the case
Then I'll lose in life's race from now on
Homosuperior in my interior
But from the skin out
I'm Homosapien too
And you're Homosapien too
And I'm Homosapien like you
And we're Homosapien too
And I just hope and pray
That the day of our love is at hand
You and I, me and you
We will be one from two, understand?
And the world is so wrong
That I hope that we'll be strong enough
For we are on our own
And the only thing known is our love
I don't wanna classify you
Like an animal in the zoo
But it seems good to me to know
That you're Homosapien too
I'm the shy boy, you're the coy boy
I don't wanna classify you
Like an animal in the zoo
But it seems good to me to know
That you're Homosapien too
I don't wanna classify you
Like an animal in the zoo
But it seems good to me to know
That you're Homosapien too
I don't wanna classify you
Like an animal in the zoo
But it seems good to me to know
That you're Homosapien too
Kevin Burke 6/12/18
This day 43 years ago Jean-Michel Jarre released the electro-ambient masterpiece known as Oxygène (5 December 1976, Les Disques Motors / Polydor).
It was the French-composers first release which was not intended as a soundtrack, a front-runner in electronic music, the album which brought Jarre into the mainstream almost overnight was also overlooked in certain parts of the world upon release, as it coincided with the surge in the punk-movement but unmistakable in the delivery and synth advances.
Though it did go on to sell fifteen-million copies, a remarkable feat for an album without a singer, lyrics or even a guitar, in the nineteen-seventies this was almost unheard-of, Kraftwerk had incorporated guitar, drums and violins into their work as to did Tangerine Dream, then again these are bands and Oxygène was composed, constructed and produced by a single individual.
The modern-day Mozart created a landscape of sound embedded with his own unique charm, created through the VCS synthesizers, mellophonium, mellotron and programmed rhythms it was a complete electronic production unlike those of his counterparts such as Mike Oldfield, this was a record relying solely on technical advances. However, the studio used to record the album was Jean-Michel Jarre’s own kitchen in his apartment using an eight-track recorder,
Without a track-list as such only a breakdown of six-segments (Parts I-VI) the most famous of course the dance-floor filling “Part IV” released as a single in 1977 and going top-ten in most European-territories, this joyous crescendo is another instantly recognized piece of music.
The inspiration for the album came from a painting by Michel Granger, that painting adorns the album cover, instantly recognized , a precursor to the climate-change movement revealing death as the earth is ravaged, as resounding an image as it is, Jarre also foretold the future in the very-fresh sounding album.
Oxygène (Original 1976 Track List)
Side One
Oxygène (Part I) – 7:40
Oxygène (Part II) – 7:39
Oxygène (Part III) – 3:20
Side two
Oxygène (Part IV) – 4:03
Oxygène (Part V) – 10:26
Oxygène (Part VI) – 6:22
DISCOGS
This month it’s 35 years ago Canadian industrial act Skinny Puppy released their very first EP Remission.
This month it’s 35 years ago Canadian industrial act Skinny Puppy released their very first EP Remission, a six track record, on Nettwerk Records (December 1984). In 1986, after their first full album Bites was released, Skinny Puppy released a cassette version of Remission with additional tracks expanding the release to a full-length album. In 1987 both albums Remission and Bites ended up together on one single CD album called Bites And Remission containing 17 tracks while the European PIAS version named Remission & Bites had only 14 tracks on it.
Besides the already recognizable and typical Skinny Puppy style the EP is filled with vocal samples taken from, amongst others, the 1943 Hitchcock movie Shadow Of A Doubt and even a sample of president Ronald Reagan’s speech about pornography as art.
The original release already contained some of Skinny Puppy’s classics songs like Smothered Hope, Far Too Frail and Solvent, tracks that still can be heard at many underground parties today.
Remission (original 12" vinyl version)
Back (Side A)
A1 Smothered Hope
A2 Glass Houses
A3 Far Too Frail
Side B -
Forth (Side B)
B1 Solvent
B2 Sleeping Beast
B3 Brap...
Jah Wobble & The Invaders Of The Heart have announced a UK Tour throughout January, February and March 2020.
The legendary bass player and his band begin the dates at The Cavern in Liverpool on the 16th of January before ending up in the Norwich Art Centre on the 21st of March. The seventeen show run will include a London date at the Jazz Café in Camden Town on Thursday the 23rd of January 2020.
Wobble's most recent album 'Realm Of Spells' was recorded with Bill Laswell and saw the two musical pioneers collaborate on a joint long player for the first time since the release of 'Radioaxiom: A Dub Transmission' in 2001. Released on limited edition vinyl, CD and available digitally, the current album captures perfectly the sound of the coming together of post punk London and the avant garde of New York's no wave movement of which the two were very much key.
The live shows will see the original PIL bassist and The Invaders Of The Heart line up of Marc Layton-Bennett (drums & percussion), George King (keyboards) & Martin Chung (guitar) perform a set of new tracks together with some of his finest solo, Invaders Of The Heart and Public Image Limited output from an incredible and genre bursting career that spans over forty years.
LIVE DATES:
JAN 16TH THE CAVERN, LIVERPOOL
JAN 17TH CLUB ACADEMY, MANCHESTER
JAN 18TH BRUNDELL SOCIAL CLUB, LEEDS
JAN 23RD JAZZ CAFÉ, LONDON
JAN 24TH PATTERNS, BRIGHTON
JAN 25TH ARTS CENTRE, COLCHESTER
JAN 30TH THE GLOBE, CARDIFF
JAN 31ST THEKLA, BRISTOL
FEB 01ST THE BROOK, SOUTHAMPTON
FEB 06TH THE CLUNY, NEWCASTLE
FEB 07TH LA BELLE ANGELE, EDINBURGH
FEB 08TH GARAGE 2, GLASGOW
FEB 13TH THE PHOENIX, EXETER
FEB 14TH HARE & HOUNDS, BIRMINGHAM
FEB 15TH RESCUE ROOMS, NOTTINGHAM
MAR 06TH PUBLIC HALLS, HARPENDEN
MAR 21ST ARTS CENTRE, NORWICH
