The Scene is Now, Burn All Your Records (lala)
If you have a taste for Pavement's artier end, Wire's early years, Pere Ubu ever, Television, Richard Hell, Pixies before they "sold out," setting fires, pillz, Working on yr Manifesto, and the Red Krayola's poppist leanings, get your crooked-rained-upon ass over to the catalog of The Scene is Now. It is NYC dark corner 80's as hell but it is also very, very Now, like the Scene always is. They get cast as a postmodern jug band but I don't hear it. There might be a jug in there, but it does not carry their skinny, disaffected weight.
On the white board of my office I have drawn up a cover of a music book I sorta want to write. It has the word Manifesto in the post-colon subtitle, which should stand as a warning sign to any and all onlookers. Drawing up covers for new books is what I do instead of working on the actual book on which I'm supposed to be working. It's like how I've heard you can distance yourself from the pain of a getting a tattoo by thinking about the next one you are going to get, skipping out on the permanence of now to frolic in the sun-dappled hills with the speculative. Like the band, though, the scene is now and you gotta stay in the scene, hastily sketched as it may be.
The above photo of Philip Glass trying to politely yet expediently leave a room (that's his shoe on the left) was not taken by me (taken by Bill Kelley), but I found it on my phone; its provenance and wavy beauty accidentally extruded from sanctioned art figures make it seem like a Manifesto sort of thing to post.
Alex,
ReplyDeleteI sent this link once before, and now, more than ever, after reading your Scene is Now review, I hope you'll take a chance and listen to the link at the bottom of the page (please and thank you).
One more thing first, though. Do you know a 60-ish writer in Baton Rouge named Lewis Moyse?
You should find this interesting.
We refer to it as "Analog Music from a Lost World" -- previously unreleased post-punk experimental rock from 1981, unlike anything else recorded before or after.
"It’s out there but a really good listen...some awesome experimental work." -- Richmond Playlist
"It’s challenging music made by a collection of people who know what the f_ck they’re talking about when it comes to records...fantastic record...holds its own unique feel and straight weirdness. What more could you want?" -- anuncontrollableurge.com
"...a comment i had from an anonymous friend made me to move my old fat ass and write about this unique lost treasure, post-punk mixed with avant-rock, filled with spastic rhythms and synths in a very New York-ish manner, something like a No Wave Beefheart, if he was a female..." -- buginthecity.blogspot.com
"It's amazing!" -- Gibraltar Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock
"Once again, those lovely folks over at WFMU beat us all to the punch with another chunk of previously unknown avant/post-punk brilliance circa 1981..." -- nonotnyet.blogspot.com
"It reminds me at times of early Sonic youth. To be honest I love anything which contains deranged female warblings. Well worth an hour of your time." -- burningworld.blogspot.com
"...distorted echoes of prophets, and Border Breakers..." -- I Wanna Rock You Baby Blog (Hungary)
"Shinjuku Birdwalk" bodes something approaching fractured genius, and does little to disappoint." -- sibLINGSHOT ON THE BLEACHERS Blog
"...five seconds into the first tune on KCC's "Shinjuku Birdwalk," no recommendations were necessary. Hail, yeah, y'all, let's break some waves... -- unterkayness.blogspot.com
"...some hefty grooves, and plenty of 'holy shit" moments'. It's a spacious but highly rewarding listen, and I wouldn't be surprised if some label makes an effort to press this on vinyl in the near future." -- ongakubaka.blogspot.com
"Hopefully, some enterprising reissue label will snatch this one up, as it's too good to exist only in the ephemeral form of a download." -- Mutant Sounds
Jason Sigal, Managing Director at WFMU said:
"This is amazing stuff and we would be honored to feature it in wfmu's curated portal on the free music archive. I'm very sorry for our slow response, we have a lot of stuff to wade through to find gems like these."
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Karen_Cooper_Complex/