I remember seeing this video, very late at night in 1979, on some random TV show. At the time, all I was really listening to was classical music and prog rock, so I had no previous interest in David Bowie, I thought he was just some wacko. When this video came on, it took me by surprise, and I sensed there was more going on with him, in fact, I believed I was seeing "art."
It's not that the video is weird. Weird isn't always good, or even interesting, sometimes weird is just dumb. Boys Keep Swinging is chilling in a metaphysical way. Note the lack of special effects. It's essentially a theatrical performance. It's not spontaneous or tossed off, it's premeditated and carefully staged.
There are two parts, the "performance" and the "runway show." In the performance part, Bowie performs enthusiastically in eerie isolation, doing his awkward/cool rock and roll dance, without a band or any visible audience. It's like a claustrophobic peepshow. If you haven't seen this, or forget what happens next, I won't spoil it for you, but David takes some female personas for a stroll down a catwalk. It's has you wondering at first, "Is that him? It can't be him. Oh, yes, it's definitely him!" The cheap set design for the "runway" section is completely fabulous, it would have been ruined if it were of a higher quality. And don't forget cheap can look expensive on film, this was meant to look tacky. The female characters are deftly mimed in brief cameos and each of them is individually defined with a few ingenious bits of actor's business.
How can I not mention Adrian Belew's guitar solo that accompanies the runway portion? It's a sublime and unbounded bit of ecstatic improvisation.
I came across this video while our family was in Guangzhou, China for our second adoption. Our son was taking a nap and I found myself watching the V Channel, which is the Asian music video channel.
I had read in the NY Times that Chinese pop was generic and bland. Some of it is, but I found a lot of the music really delightful, pretty, delicate, and light as air, and that's not a crime. I saw a band that did some really sweet Indie pop reminiscent of the NY band Ivy.
And I was impressed by this video, “Short Stay No. 2″ by Yuan Quan. At least I think this is the video, it looks like it, but I remember it sounding different, more of a samba. Either way, it's probably something most folks in the states would never see, and it has a refreshing charm. Yuan Quan is apparently quite a big deal in China. She's an actress and musician, and she has compiled a collection of travel related songs under the series title, Short Stay that she recorded with musicians living in each of the cities she visited. Yuan Quan. Short Stay No. 2:
I've been listening closely to Junior, the new album by Röyksopp. Even if you think you've never heard of this Norwegian electronic duo, I'm pretty sure you are already familiar with some of their music, and here's why: Please don't hold this against them.
Anyway, what's really impressive on this disc is the second track, called The Girl and the Robot, a techno tinted pop tune with a sophisticated chord progression, evoking a 19th century art song as it might have been written by Grieg over a hundred years ago. This lovely harmonic sequence goes like this, in a minor: iv / VI / #VII / i / VII / VI / iv / i. It's interesting how the progression avoids the more obvious use of the dominant chord, substituting the iv chord instead, which has a softening effect. Using a #VII chord is also a brilliant substitution for the V chord, and gives the song a unique flavor.
The track is a collaboration with the truly peerless Swedish pop singer-songwriter, Robyn. There is an official video for this which is rather fabulous , but I prefer the version Röyksopp performed live on tv with Robyn (notice the cheers when the audience recognizes her!):
Other tracks feature vocals by Anneli Drecker, Karin Dreijer from The Knife, and Lykke Li from, presumably, some other planet. All worth a careful listen.
Sometimes I second guess my own taste. When my most favorite musical discovery of 2008 was a campy, easy-listening album from the mid 1980's, I fear I am losing my grip. Then, I have to remember, I rarely find myself in consensus with the mainstream over what is commonly being hailed as good, or the greatest, or the best thing ever in music, anyway. I just go my own way, and that often leads me into some strange locales.
The Incredible Anthony Adverse was a best-seller for el Records, which makes sense because it's truly an eccentric gem. The cover of the CD boasts, "On screen or off, an original from the outset," a typically oblique declaration from the el Records myth makers. "Original" certainly defines her.
The disc launches with a brief, and gothically gnarly, instrumental for a digital chamber orchestra. The first vocal track is an outlandish recounting of the Garden of Eden story, complete with diminished chords, a Cookie Monster-ish "voice of God," and a kazoo solo. It's ebullient, ridiculous, and campy, the whole album being a camp masterpiece. El Records specialized in the stylized, the artificial, and the outmoded, combined with a sensibility for the literate, humorous, and ironic. Anthony Adverse was able to fully engage herself in these tunes, and takes them on with utter conviction whether they require a throaty cabaret voice, a mellow jazz voice, or a "mod" pop voice. Her singing is a bit like acting, she comes up with a character for every necessity. It gets you wondering though, what was the motivation behind this strange recording, what were the circumstances, and what is it with all these eccentric songs that mix pop, with jazz and novelties?
The best of the songs have a timeless quality that is difficult to pin down. The "Red Shoes Waltz," "Maria Celesta," and "Grisha's Birthday" all have a vaguely mid 1960's tint. "Now Listen" sounds more antiquated, like a small vocal group from the 1950's. The high point for me, emerging after many, many spins, would have to be "Imperial Violets," an impeccable tune which turns up as #55 on Jonathan Bogart's thoughtful list of 100 best songs of the 80's:
The songs on this disc still continue to draw me in. I listen closer and closer each time, attempting to catch all the lyrics, hear how the instruments fit together, and to decipher the chord changes which are incredibly svelte, sublime and deceptive.
Much credit is due Louis Philippe, who wrote most of the songs on this disc, including all the best ones. He also provided the arrangements and most of the vocal and instrumental background. Let's admit, a fair number of popular songs are just riffs with a vocal layered above, the tunes of which employa few steps of the blues scale. Louis Philippe wrote these songs the old fashioned way. There are distinct melodies within defined structures, and sophisticated modulations crafted in harmonies that borrow from the jazz and classical idioms. In the late 1970's, the teenaged Julia Gilbert was a member of a couple of punk bands, Popular Theory, and Five Or Six. Subsequently recruited by Mike Alway as a solo artist for el Records, she was renamed Anthony Adverse, and paired with Louis Philippe for the album The Red Shoes, a tribute to the 1948 Powell/Pressburger film. The original is long out of print, but those tracks are included on this "best of" collection, which appends some of her singles to the Red Shoes song cycle, along with covers of 60's hits by Mary Wells and the Shangri La's.
After The Red Shoes album, Anthony Adverse released Spin, a collaboration with the late composer and songwriter, Daemion Barry, which seems now very dated as a late 80's production, and sadly lacks the eccentricity which make el Records releases so engagingly outre.
Julia Gilbert retired the Anthony Adverse persona before the 90's even began, leaving behind very few images, and apparently no interviews or videos. Today, as Mike Alway himself related to me in an email, Julia writes scripts for the long running TV series in the UK, Eastenders. Over twenty years later, there is a lingering nostalgia over her haunting image. Momus recently posted in his blog about meeting her once, and being fairly starstruck in her presence.
The sound of The Incredible Anthony Adverse has the power to immediately obliterate the everyday world, plunging you into a whimsical and insular daydream of refined and charming kookiness. Once you enter it, it's very difficult to leave.
Just discovered this lovely, boy/girl, British/Norwegian, Indiepop band that blends influences from Broadcast, Electrelane, and Lush into a tasty treat.
The video for The Mystery of Marie Roget is fabulous viewing even without the music. Of course, it's styled to look like a 1920's silent film, and borrows some images from the 1928 Bunuel/Dali collaboration, Un Chien Andalou.
The title of the song comes from a short story by Poe. The girls in particular look incredibly authentic in this:
It's incredible that this past Friday night was the very first performance of Murphy in New York City. She's a veteran of the music biz in the UK and Europe, having been the extroverted half of electronica duo Moloko for ten years and six albums. During her show at Mansion, she highlighted tracks off her new album from last year, Overpowered, still yet to be released in the US. She performed one Moloko tune, but her somewhat experimental debut solo album, Ruby Blue, was represented only by the title track, and Ramalama. (Why didn't she do Sow Into You, one of her best, if not THE best, of all her solo work?). If you weren't one of the lucky ones able to be there, here's a good idea of what it was like:
The set list was as follows: Cry Baby You Know Me Better Checkin' On Me Dear Miami Primitive Ruby Blue Movie Star Forever More Let Me Know Overpowered Tell Everybody Ramalama
Murphy connected well with her adoring audience, projecting into the crowd and crouching down to grab hands. She commented that she's waited a long time to to play NY, "but I'm here now." There is word that she will return next spring during a full tour.Roisin has maintained that performing is very important to her. I was reminded of Peter Gabriel's early days with Genensis. Their music was compelling and entrancing to hear, and in performance took on the dramatic aspects of theater. Roisin changed costumes almost for every song: looking like a sleek biker chick, Little Red Riding Hood, or a plaid deer. My favorite outfit was probably the furry wings. My own snaps didn't turn out too well, but there are some superb photos and video posted on other blogshere, here, and here.
Murphy's NY debut was actually part of the CMJ marathon - a five day showcase of over 1,000 bands from around the world. She certainly outclassed (and outdressed) the mostly unknown, low-profile indie bands playing all over the city, often for free.
This was certainly the only time I will even get near the ultra swanky club, Mansion, formerly Crobar, in Chelsea. Looking almost decrepit from the outside, the interior is surely somebody's idea of - what? High style? Maybe a 21st century version of Morris Lapidus, full of the same self-important desire to dazzle, but without the surrealism. Mansion is huge, but it felt like we were packed into phone booth as I stood shoulder-to-shoulder with other fans on the main floor, maintaining my balance while being jostled by clubbers who tried to dance, or even just breath. But the venue was an excellent choice to showcase Roisin's flashy, glitzy electro-pop.
