System of a Down, Muse, and The Formics: "It's About the Music, Not the Music Scene"

Wisconsin Summerfest Showcases THE FORMICS:

Read in the Daily News more HERE

Stolen

Thanks for following, Philosophia! I love your name, I love your blog, and I love that you make the 25 follower! Somehow that feels like a milestone. Anyway.

This post is inspired by the lovely Elizabeth :D She posts "music that moves her" every so often, and today I'm going to do just that. There are a few songs that have grabbed me lately and I decided to share them with you.

The Lonely ~ Christina Perri

Absolutely beautiful. The tune, her voice, the lyrics. It's a graceful, tragic work of art.

Rabbit Heart ~ Florence and the Machine

This one I actually got right from Elizabeth's blog. Love the song, love the video, love the lyrics.

Unfortunately embedding has been disabled for the video -___- Go figure. To watch the awesome video I love, click HERE. Or you can just watch this lesser vid XD

The Call ~ Regina Spektor

I think we all know this song. The first, like, ten times I listened to it, I cried. Her voice is perfect for this and the lyrics are strangely relatable and applicable. I just love it.

Hope you found something that moved you :)

~Stephanie

~Backseat~

You know that song that's really bad, but you LOVE IT?????

Oh. That's just me? >awkward<

Anyway, I fell in love with "Backseat" a couple of weeks ago and thought I'd share the PG-13 love. Hearts.

Btw the music video isn't that wholesome {then again neither is the song, but yeahh}. So yeah. And for the record, the girl is not even pretty.

The way his voice goes up at the end of each sentence gets me every time XD

"You got more of that--how you say it? Shawty swag..."

{I found lyrics that say it's actually "shy swag" but I think that's lame. So...I've officially changed them.}

~Stephanie

Sweetest Friday: Song of the Day

Just sit back and sing along.
Ok, you can dance if you wanto

at least, turn it UP...
Youngbloods, Come'on People Now,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4fWN6VvgKQ

mewsik

So sort of stole this tag from Elizabeth because it looked AWESOME. {Yeah. Awesome. I'm tired and I have a headache, so that's as good an adjective as you're gonna get.}

List ten musical artists BEFORE reading the following questions. Don't be lame and ruin it for yourself.

So okay. Ten artists.

1. Relient K

2. All-American Rejects

3. Ke$ha {hey, why not?}

4. Evanescence

5. Shinedown

6. Linkin Park

7. dc Talk

8. As I Lay Dying

9. tobyMac

10. Eminem

Mkay. Now for the questions, which I have honestly not looked at yet. I haven't even read Elizabeth's answers. I'm just THAT...awesome.

1. What was the first song you ever heard by number six?

{Linkin Park} "Papercut." I was twelve. And Linkin Park was SECULAR MUSIC OMG.

2. What is your favorite song by number eight?

{As I Lay Dying} "Forsaken" probably.

3. What kind of impact has number one had on your life?

{Relient K} Oh wow, this is the perfect question for them. Relient K has probably impacted my life more than any other music group. They have songs for every occasion. They introduced me to witty lyrics, songs about a God that seemed REAL, and Thunder Cats ;P Songs like "Which to Bury, Us or the Hatchet," "Devastation and Reform" and "Be My Escape" put my feelings into words when I couldn't. Songs like "For the Moment I Feel Faint" and "Who I am Hates Who I've Been" are songs that grew with me, their meaning becoming deeper as I grew older. Their love songs seem truer, their sad songs seem deeper and their fun songs seem funner than almost any other group I know.

4. What is your favorite lyric by number five?

{Shinedown} "When you lie like the devil himself, no angel's gonna hear your cry for help."

5. How many times have you seen number four in concert?

{Evanescence} Um. Zero. *sob*

6. What is your favorite song by number seven?

{dc Talk} Right now, it's a three-way tie between "Say the Words," "Supernatural" and "Sugarcoat It." {Apparently I love "S"s. As I should XD}

7. Is there a song by number three that makes you sad?

{Ke$ha} Umm....no :P

8. What is your favorite song by number nine?

{tobyMac} Okay, not counting the ones where he's with dc Talk...I love "No Ordinary Love," "All In" and "Face of the Earth."

9. How did you first discover number two?

{All-American Rejects} Oh. Hm. How DID I discover them? Well, I RE-discovered them when the Almost Alice CD came out. They sang "The Poison" and I loved that.

10. How did you first discover number three?

Ke$ha? The radio XD I haaaaaaaaated "Your Love is My Drug," so I thought I hated her. Then "Tik Tok" came out and I was like "Oh. YEAH."

11. What is your favorite song by number four?

{Evanescence} Probably "Bring Me to Life." I know, it's everyone's favorite.

12. Is there a song by number eight that makes you sad?

{As I Lay Dying} Not exactly. Pretty much no.

13. How many times have you seen number six live

{Linkin Park} Ughhh, nooooone :(

14. What is your favorite song by number one?

{Relient K} Seriously? Do not get me started. Oh wait. You did. {FAAAAVORITES are bolded.}

Be My Escape

Come Right Out and Say It

Failure to Excommunicate

Maintain Consciousness

For the Moment I Feel Faint

Life After Death and Taxes

My Girl's Ex-boyfriend

Pressing On

Up and Up

What Have You Been Doing Lately?

Which to Bury; Us or the Hatchet

15. How did you become a fan of number ten?

Honestly? *sigh* >.< A friend mentioned that he was hott in a FB status. I know. That's PATHETIC. But I had to Google him then, and he WAS hott, so I started paying special attention to him. Then I saw him on 60 Minutes and fell in love. He's so REAL. And he's actually really smart and amazing with words. He raps about life and makes sense of it. I just love him.

Awesome. I'm done. Now I tag, let's see...

ALL OF Y'ALL. Ha.

I'm so tired, guys.

~Stephanie

Zombie - Natalia Kills

Why do I love this? I do not know. But I do. O so much.

~Stephanie

Wider Reading | Mixtape in the Hood

Though it is in a slightly different vein to the fine selection of mixtapes on offer at Silkworms, I feel that The Hood Internet certainly deserves an honourable mention for this superb 60 minute hip-hop mix:


The Hood Internet - The Mixtape Volume Five by hoodinternet

Songs Included:

1. Intro [R. Kelly x Drake x Ally Sheedy x Tim Blaney]
2. Bars In The AM [Ninjasonik x !!!]
3. L is For Love Junkie [Donwill x Harlems Cash x Peter Hadar x El Perro Del Mar x Caribou]
4. Hot Tub Freaks Like You [Slug x MURS x Tobacco]
5. Rude Baptism [Rihanna x Crystal Castles]
6. Ariel Pink's Haunted Grafitti - Round And Round (The Hood Internet remix)
7. Moar Doo Wop N Whatever [Lauryn Hill x Deadmau5]
8. Show Me Red Lights [Robin S. x Holy Fuck]
9. Psycho Break [Talking Heads x Ellen Allien & Apparat]
10. Show Me The O.N.E [Yeasayer x Jump Jump Dance Dance x Grum]
11. Back You [Cee-Lo Green x Sir Mix-a-Lot]
12. Freeze, Barbra! [Young Dro x Gucci Mane x Duck Sauce]
13. Blowin' Money At The Deli [Drake x Birdman x Delorean]
14. It's Front Row Love [Metric x Treasure Fingers]
15. Giving Up The Sunshowers [M.I.A. x Vampire Weekend]
16. Ignition (Keep It Remixing Louder) [R. Kelly x Major Lazer]
17. Chi Citizens [BBU x Broken Bells]
18. How Purple Can You Go [Ludacris x Joker & Ginz]
19. Swag Boost [Soulja Boy x Rusko]
20. Lorem Ipsum Dolor Sit Amet [Waka Flocka Flame x Flock Of Seagulls]
21. Cards And Quarters And Green Lights [Local Natives x John Legend x Andre 3000]
22. Oh My Kids [Usher x Sleigh Bells]
23. Virginia Is For Cameras [Clipse x Matt & Kim]
24. Dougie Vision [Cali Swag District x Toro Y Moi]
25. This Shit Was (All I Know) [Drake x Free Energy]
26. Brigade & Yellow [Wiz Khalifa x The Go! Team]
27. Shutterbugg In Miami [Big Boi x Foals]
28. Nuthin' But A Journal Thang [Dr. Dre x Snoop Dogg x Class Actress]
29. The XX Gon Give It To Ya [DMX x The XX]
30. Outro [John Barry x Faith No More x Larry David x Robin Bartlett


I also highly recommend this mashup of Arcade Fire and Blondie:

The Hood Internet - Sprawl Of Glass (Arcade Fire x Blondie) by hoodinternet

Wider Reading | David Lynch Goes Electro

Writing about Guardian article: 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2010/nov/29/david-lynch-good-day-today

I don't know what I was expecting when I heard that David Lynch had released a single. I suppose part of me was thinking Aphex Twin. Or maybe some of that beautifully weird score we get so much of in Twin Peaks. What I wasn't expecting was this:

Good Day Today by threeminutesthirtyseconds

Honestly, it sounds like something that could be knocked up in Garage Band in twenty minutes. But then, as I have often been told when it comes to David Lynch, I just don't 'get it'. But does anybody else think it sounds like the batshit crazy Aussie animator Wendy Vainity?

Saturday Morning Music Staple Singers

What ! Again!
I may be boring but i know what tastes comforting.


the lyrics are HERE

atonishing 16 year old janis ian

Come to my door, baby, Face is clean and shining black as night. My mother went to answer you know That you looked so fine. Now I could understand your tears and your shame,
She called you "boy" instead of your name.
When she wouldn't let you inside,
When she turned and said "But honey, he's not our kind." She says I can't see you any more, baby, Can't see you anymore. Walk me down to school, baby, Everybody's acting deaf and dumb. Until they turn and say, "Why don't you stick to your own kind."
My teachers all laugh, the smirking stares, Cutting deep down in our affairs.
Preachers of equality, Think they believe it, then why won't they just let us be?
They say I can't see you anymore baby, Can't see you anymore.

One of these days I'm gonna stop my listening
Gonna raise my head up high. One of these days I'm gonna raise up my glistening wings and fly.
But that day will have to wait for a while.
Baby I'm only society's child.
When we're older things may change,
But for now this is the way, they must remain.
I say I can't see you anymore baby, Can't see you anymore.
No, I don't want to see you anymore, baby.

Steve Gugg
first vid Acoustic Guitar Pick-
second vid Jam






James Blunt You're Beautiful


Now, HERE  is the link to the original You're Beautiful Video.
The embedcode is no longer downloadable, probably due to the high number of (admit it- hilarious) parodies made off it--
But i still remember the breathless moment when i saw the video the first time and "got it" --
I had not overly enjoyed the song when it was popular; since i don't have a lot of time for music radio i was not burnt out on it like some apparently were--

(I think it was the HONEY of 2007... in that youngsters overplayed it till some elders wanted to poke their ears out rather than hear it again--alos,add in the drugs, internationalism and depression medication of a new generation---


SO I WAS driving down
the mystical zeandale road, and heard YOu're Beautiful a year or so after its release for the first time as a real song. intrigued, i realised i, without cable and video channels, might get to see more about what he meant by the song by seeing the video of it on the new YOUTUBE thing.

The clearness of his statement,
 the purity of his anguish,
 the matter-of-factness of his suicidal depression at the horrible cosmic joke and loss of love, is something that can teach you if you listen.
A broken heart is a physical thing.

Have you never been 17 and dumped?

Swamp | Mixtape | Vol XV, Narrative for Orchestra

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Music As Reading: Mixtape XV, Narrative for Orchestra

For a background to this mixtape, a rather hysterical and dreadfully organised set of paragraphs are available here. To summarise, it is intended to be a reflection on the way that we can’t help but read certain songs forever tied up with the television show/ film/ whatever narratives that we’ve seen them accompany/ introduce/ symbolise/ whatever enough times that this connection has become the point of the song, whether we like it or not. Such tracks, indeed, represent an act of Music As Reading that we’ve all engaged in, subconsciously or not, at one point or another, and deserve to be recognised as such. Lyrics and even mood are discarded and the connotation is king! Half of the mixtape will illustrate the various points made in those aforementioned paragraphs, the other will introduce a few other particularly compelling examples – for the potential scale of this mixtape is enormous, but citing examples such as the Star Wars theme and Singing in the Rain would be a waste of everybody’s time.

We’ll begin then, to pay lip-service to this week’s theme, with Jace Everett’s ‘Bad Things’ along with another of his recent tracks, ‘More to Life (C’Mon C’Mon)’ to demonstrate that ‘Bad Things’ probably isn’t as good as we think it is. Then we’ll draw out the strand of teenage association via Remy Zero’s ‘Save Me’, Mates of State’s decent attempt to make ‘California’ listenable and Simple Mind’s ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’ to demonstrate that this has been going on for some time in a teen-sense – since 1985’s Breakfast Club, certainly. We’ll then explore four of the five versions of The Wire’s ‘Way Down in the Hole,’ two versions of Twin Peaks’ ‘Falling’ (the Wedding Present cover proving that even when a band with a significant, important, connotative identity take on one of these songs, the narrative prevails) and finish off with Nick Cave’s ‘Red Right Hand’ in order to state, in less explicit terms, I hope it was the fucking label what sold it to Hollyoaks. ‘Red Right Hand’ also offers a useful segue into Cave’s cinematic soundtrack work, an unsurprising example of music acting, beyond its original context, as a vessel for narrative – considering that Cave wrote a soundtrack for the audio version of his most recent novel and just generally has form here, as regular readers will have noticed. Then, by way of conclusion, three other examples of this phenomenon manifesting in film: Carly Simon’s ‘Nobody Does it Better’ from The Spy Who Loved Me, mainly because of Alan Partridge. Bernard Herrman’s Psycho work for straightforwardly evocative reasons as well as the fact that when he combined all the cinematic fragments into a single composition he called it ‘a Narrative for Orchestra’. And the Door’s ‘The End’ because, despite the fact it was the final song played at the band’s last ever gig i.e. represents a fabulously important musical-biographical punctuation mark (and a staggeringly appropriate one at that), one can’t hear that without first thinking of Kurtz/Brando. A fitting final testament to the power of the imposed filmic narrative. And one that comes full circle, in terms of its relation to this week’s theme. For Apocalypse Now = Martin Sheen, in blackface, in primeval swamp, as much as it = anything, right?

TRACKLIST, Y’SAY?

Bad Things – Jace Everett (True Blood)
More to Life (C’mon C’mon) – Jace Everett
Save Me – Remy Zero (Smallville)
California – Mates of State (The OC)
Don’t You (Forget About Me) – Simple Minds (The Breakfast Club)
Way Down in the Hole – The Blind Boys of Alabama (The Wire)
Way Down in the Hole – Tom Waits (The Wire)
Way Down in the Hole – The Neville Brothers (The Wire)
Way Down in the Hole – Domaje (The Wire)
Falling – Julee Cruise (Twin Peaks)
Falling – The Wedding Present
Red Right Hand – Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (NOT Hollyoaks)
The Proposition #1 – Nick Cave & Warren Ellis (The Proposition)
Song for Jesse – Nick Cave & Warren Ellis (The Assassination of Jesse James...)
The Road – Nick Cave & Warren Ellis (The Road)
Nobody does it Better – Carly Simon (The Spy Who Loved Me)
Psycho: Narrative for Orchestra – Bernard Herrman (Psycho)
The End – The Doors (Apocalypse Now)

Pretend you're in love: Bee Gees love songs make you feel better

Just close your eyes, listen and pretend.

words
the first of may

i walk the lonely streets...

uuhmmm what? too much?

Live Performance | Mixtape | Mixtape XI, by Cypress Grove

Music As Reading: Mixtape XI, by Cypress Grove

Right now I can’t read too good
Don’t send me no more letters no
Not unless you mail them
From Desolation Row.

*Cypress Grove is the man responsible for this year’s most interesting collection of songs that aren’t his own – a king among mixtape-makers, then.

*That it also represented a heartfelt paean to a king among music-makers is not particularly surprising – the role of the mixtape-maker is to draw as much attention as possible to others’ talents, not one’s own.
Basically, you could say his imagination has made him on of the best-connected men in music.

*And he’s already started putting together a new Jeffrey Lee Pierce tribute record which, I gather, is going to feature contributions from an even more compelling array of musicians than appeared on the first. Can’t tell you who though. Sorry.

*So we very much wanted to get his take on the Music As Reading project before he got too knee-deep in superstars. Being the resolutely cool guy that he is, he even made sure his choices would fit on one side of a C60.

(Cypress’ tracklist is, due to the same Spotify shortcomings as were brought to our attention last week (no BPB – and no Dylan either, turns out) our second YouTube Mixtape. Click on the individual track-title for audio/video. So as to provide some Spotify content though, here’s a link to a playlist containing both We Are Only Riders, Cypress’ remarkable take on the compilation record (also purchasable, obvs – on Glitterhouse Records) and the man who inspired that record, Jeffrey Lee Pierce’s most important achievement, the Gun Club’s first album, Fire Of Love. For a brief introduction to what We Are Only Riders actually was/is, along with some of Cypress’ thoughts regarding compilations/mixtapes/etc. I’d recommend going here.)

The Ghost Of Tom Joad – Bruce Springsteen
From the album of the same name. We had to read The Grapes Of Wrath at school. It was the first piece of American literature I had read, which in turn made me seek out the music of Woody Guthrie, and traditional American music in general. I owe that book a great debt. Brilliantly evocative and “dustbowly”, it is similar in tone to Nebraska, an album that Springsteen had recorded a few years earlier, which is probably his masterwork.

Desolation Row – Bob Dylan
Name checks for Ezra Pound and T.S Elliot – and Ophelia also gets a look in. Probably a stream of consciousness affair, but the imagery is dazzling. An unparalleled moment of truth from Bobby.

Ulalume – Jeff Buckley
Hal Wilner (who produced this) is of course known for his unlikely collaborations, and they don’t come much more unlikely than Edgar Allan Poe and Jeff Buckley. With bereavement at its core, it was a central theme for them both.

Tied And Twist – Lydia Lunch
As well as being a musician, Lydia is, of course, a writer. We met up for a drink recently and she brought me a copy of her book Amnesia. As the evening wore on, I started ranting about something entirely inconsequential. She listened patiently, then picked up the book and wrote in it ‘learn to forget.’ Best advice I have ever been given. An excellent human being.

More News From Nowhere – Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
Another musician who is also a writer. He excels at both. He is the polymath’s polymath. The title is apparently a reference to the Utopian novel News From Nowhere by William Morris. Plus Will Self appears in the video, but more importantly Beth Orton appears as a waitress.

Killing An Arab – The Cure
Another song inspired by a novel – L’Etranger by Albert Camus. Robert Smith takes on the role of the title character (Meursault) during the book’s central episode – the apparently motiveless murder of an Arab man in Algiers.

Thousands Are Sailing – The Pogues
One of the few Pogues-composed songs that MacGowan had no hand in writing. This was written entirely by guitarist Phil Chevron. ‘In Brendan Behan’s footsteps, I danced up and down the street.’ The album artwork also features a picture of James Joyce.

The Man Comes Around – Johnny Cash
As opening gambits go, reciting from the book of Revelation is a surefire attention-grabber. One of many apocalyptic biblical references scattered throughout the song. An end-of-time ballad if ever there was one.

Brother and Sister – The Gun Club
Well, it does have D.H. Lawrence Jr. (AKA Debbie Harry) on backing vocals!

The Ugly File: The CDC, Violence Against Teenage Girls. and the Sexualization of Your Child by the Music Industry

A journalist was in Afghanistan some years back and noticed that the women walked several paces behind the men, not alongside as equal partners.
When the journalist returned to the country more recently, the women were actually walking several paces ahead of the men. The journalist asked the locals about the sudden cultural advancement—Why the change? The simple reply — “Land mines.”

For whatever reasons, there is a tendency to treat women poorly in many cultures, throughout history.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,

• about 1 in 5 high school girls have been physically or sexually abused by a dating partner
• 1 in 3 teens report knowing a friend who has been hit, punched, kicked, slapped, choked, or otherwise hurt by his or her partner
• 80% of girls who have been physically abused in their dating relationships continue to date the abuser
• 1 in 5 teenage girls who have been in a relationship said that a boyfriend had threatened violence or self -harm if she threatened to break up with him
• www.unm.edu/-women

more HERE

This is of course, appalling.
 However, we are reaping what we sow.
Music videos, video games, motion pictures, and other media continually show violence against women as a rewarded event, both for the man or boy and the woman or girl.

Our current culture is teaching young boys and girls that girls are a commodity, a thing to be used.

At   the   risk   of   sounding   like   my   father  (!)

here is one column which addresses one piece of this problem.
(to see the column
with its many LINKS and citations at its original site, click HERE.)

Music Industry Sexualizes Your Children  By Rebecca Hagelin (Archive) · Tuesday, August 17, 2010 Culture Challenge of the Week: Music Porn
Every twelve-year-old knows Rihanna. And Katy Perry and Lady Gaga. Do you?

The music industry today is huge, racking up over 1.5 billion in sales in the U.S. alone—and kids are their target audience. It’s an industry that’s no longer primarily about music. It’s become another avenue for selling porn and sexualizing younger and younger children in the process.
Last week, Mike Stock, one of Britain’s top songwriters and producers, denounced his own industry for marketing music that is “99% soft pornography.” The “music industry has gone too far,” he says. Stock, whose own music portfolio in years past included some very explicit lyrics, has changed his tune. He’s a parent now. In Stock’s view, “Kids are being forced to grow up too young” because music videos expose them to explicit images and “sexualize” even young children.”

Gone are the days when parents could protect their children from raunchy music by checking CDs for Tipper Gore-inspired advisories. Much of the music’s not just raunchy anymore--it’s explicitly sexual. And it’s only a download away from limitless play on your child’s iPod.
And the industry excels at promoting across every platform available, especially video. Nearly every major pop star produces pornographic music videos and pushes them to your children through Facebook fan pages (new videos generate tens of thousands of hits in just hours) and YouTube videos, plus MTV.
Live concerts are often worse, like Rihanna’s recent New York appearance, which simulated sex and masturbation before an audience full of pre-teen and adolescent girls.

The stars often reach down into the children’s market to cultivate new fans, creating brand awareness among even the youngest children, ensuring future success and million dollar revenues.

Take, for example, pop star Katy Perry. Wildly popular with the pre-teen set, she has long left her Christian roots behind. In her latest album, “Teenage Dream,” her nearly naked, pornographic romp flashes between beach flirtations and sex in a hotel room. She boasts about resisting record company efforts to tone down her song Peacock, baldly sexual in its connotation, because she spells success “s-e-x.” The same Katy Perry was just featured on Nickolodeon’s “Kid’s Choice” music awards, guests on Sesame Street this fall, and appears in the 2011 kids’ movie, The Smurfs. [The fourth grade girls in my neighborhood love her.]

It’s the kind of purposeful, deliberate, crossover marketing that the music industry has perfected.
How to save your family by monitoring your child’s music.
First, understand the problem. Research shows that exposure to sex on TV dramatically increases the risk that children will become sexually active. Music videos multiply the effect, imprinting pornographic images in our children’s minds that replay every time they hear the song. Even with “neutral” lyrics, the stored images continue to do their damage.
Second, monitor. Unplug the iPod from your child’s ears and check song lists. Don’t recognize the songs? Try Pluggedin.com for the latest music reviews.
Take the time to become familiar with the latest artists, celebrities, and songs so you don’t rely on vague assurances of older siblings or neighbors that “it’s all right.” Use TV parental controls to block channels that feature music videos or music celebrities.
Third, don’t facilitate bad choices. Pop singers perform to sell-out crowds across the country, even in today’s recession. As one observer noted after Rihanna’s lewd performance, “The children attending these shows must have gotten there somehow.”
Fourth, provide alternatives. We can’t simply say “no”—we need to spend time promoting the good too. There are many artists who still have high standards and are actually true musicians. Help support them by introducing your children to them too.
Finally, be consistent. Don’t let battle fatigue wear you down. Our children need to know that we protect them because we love them. And even when we’re tired or worn down, that will never change.

Youth | Music | Postcards from Italy

Music As Reading has gone Italy! I lie: in fact, at the time of writing, Music As Reading is sitting on his bedroom floor half-writing, half-packing in preparation for his Tuscan holiday – it’s Friday 2nd July, soon to become Saturday 3rd July. Music As Reading is coming at you…from the past!

Anyway, long and short of it is Italy and t’internet are, despite sharing two letters (three if you count the T twice) not as happy friends as England and t’internet (by England, I mean all of England except Cumbria). Which means that for two weeks only, Music As Reading (mixtapes not included within that umbrella-sort-of-term incidentally – I prepared those earlier) will be relying upon more analogue methods of communication. Inspiration courtesy of the wonderful Beirut, whose ‘Postcards from Italy’ can be enjoyed in its Spotified entirety if you’re willing to click on the hyperlinked title above…

Whose ‘Postcards from Italy’ also has some maybe-profound things to say about this week’s theme, yoof, actually:

The times we had
Oh, when the wind would blow with rain and snow
Were not all bad
We put our feet just where they had, had to go
Never to go…

The shattered soul
Following close but nearly twice as slow
In my good times
There were always golden rocks to throw
At those who admit defeat too late
Those were our times, those were our times…

And I will love to see that day
That day is mine
When she will marry me outside with the willow trees
And play the songs we made
They made me so
And I would love to see that day
Her day was mine…

Hmmm. A link at best tenuous, at worst entirely non-existent. I’ll move on. Basically, throughout my Tuscan retreat (lol) I’ll be sending postcards from Italy to one of my fellow editors in lieu of contributing to the blog (for, let’s be honest, this is hardly a proper contribution) in the hope that, A, they don’t get lost or take a million years to get to England, it being not quite yet high season, and B, one of said editors can be arsed to scan them into the blog so Silkworms gets to see them. Both sides please chaps, scan both sides! Not yet being in Italy, I obviously have no idea what I’m going to write, but I will promise now that it will be vaguely linked to the weekly themes and SHORT. Such is the advantage of postcards. An advantage blogging lacks, as I daresay you’ve noticed.

They shall be our very own Postcards from Italy – without a ukulele in sight or sound. Actually, I lie, Mother’s bringing her ukulele with her, so goodness knows what kind of synthesis might happen. Useful fact: BA are cool with passengers bringing a musical instrument (guitar or smaller) in addition to their hand luggage onto their flights. A boon Mother intends to take full advantage of. I recommend you do the same. And there you were thinking BA were strike-breaking bastardbitches and nothing more. Shame on you. Shame on us all.

(To access a [very, very short] Spotify essay-soundtrack-playlist to accompany the above, click here)

Sam Kinchin-Smith
Music Editor

Destruction | Mixtape | Mixtape IV, Thorn In His Side

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Music As Reading: Mixtape IV, The Poet With A Thorn In His Side (he only ever wanted to be a music-maker)

Armitage: “I really like your stuff.”
Mark E. Smith: “Got a light, cock?”

The poet who, really, would have liked to be in a band more than he enjoys being a really-quite-successful poet – an evocative, pathos-drenched, rather depressing image. And one of crucial import to the Music As Reader. For out of it buzz a swarm of questions at the heart of what the Music As Reading project is, really, all about: what is the relationship between the poet and the music he or she listens to – and what can one discover about both forms from that relationship? Does the poet who loves to music-listen read or write with, alongside music because of the benefits to be had out of this relationship? And is poetry (slash, the poet) not just ultimately, compared to goodmusic (slash, the musician) intolerably sad, po-faced, poontang-repelling, and does it (slash he slash she) therefore require an injection of rockandgoddamroll if it (slash he slash she) is to regain the reputation, readership and romanticism that once defined it (slash he slash she) as a mode? Because let’s face it, most people start writing poetry because they want to be Lord fucken Byron, not Sir Andrew Motion – ladies and gentlemen, we’re being cool-shortchanged… Why?

Armitage is so specifically important, though, because he did the unthinkable and actually started a bloody band – way late (perhaps middle would be the more appropriate word, actually) in life. Then wrote a book about it, Gig (published by Penguin) which contains the above two-line anecdote – and a full history of not-being-in-a-band-but-being-a-really-quite-successful-poet Northern miserabalia. In it, and generally, he is admirably open and generous about who he digs, who he adores, the kinds of artists he would have loved to be a part of. Unfortunately, his actual band, the Scaremongers (www.simonarmitage.co.uk for videos etc.) sound like nothing so much as Registered Trademark The Worst Band Of All Time, the Beautiful South. Only a bit less shit. Surely, Simon, there might have been another way? Surely, Simon, is not Music As Reading it?

Part one, Bands Armitage would like/have liked to be a part of.

Searching for Mr Right – Young Marble Giants
She’s Lost Control – Joy Division
Independence Day – Comsat Angels
Spoilt Victorian Child – The Fall
Wildcat Fights – Eyeless in Gaza
The Boy With A Thorn In His Side – The Smiths
Nocturnal Me – Echo and the Bunnymen
Diamonds are Forever – Arctic Monkeys
Ever Fallen in Love (with someone you shouldn’t’ve)? – The Buzzcocks
Blue Boy – Orange Juice

Part two, Bands Armitage’s writing/songwriting reveal would have, in actuality, been a slightly better fit (note, half the size of part one).

Lucky You – Lightning Seeds
Irish Blood, English Heart – Morrissey
Our Mutual Friend – The Divine Comedy
Perfect 10 – The Beautiful South
Put A Donk On It (original mix) – Blackout Crew*

* I suspect this one needs a wee explanatory note. Blackout Crew are, basically, the Beatles of the Donk scene, a relatively new species of drainpipe-techno defined by a quintessential northern-only-ness to compare with, say, Armitage’s rendering of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Simon would surely approve – somebody should put them in touch with one another, get the poet to ‘drop’ on the next record (if there is a next record…) See the VBS donk-umentary (http://www.vbs.tv/watch/music-world/donk) for more information.

Prizes | Mixtape | Mixtape III, To a Wolf

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Music As Reading: Mixtape III, To a Wolf, after Luke Kennard

The Wolf and I visit the Arts Centre for the private view of Franklin Gewitz’s screen prints.

The Wolf signs the guestbook: Dear sir, I enjoyed your exhibition, but would have preferred it if all of the pictures had been of me. I suppose your meaning of life is different to mine. Wolf x x

Why is Luke Kennard’s wolf a wolf? There are clues. In the poem this mixtape takes its name from, the wolf reflects on the ‘rather circumlocutory’ novel the narrator has written about him: ‘Where are all the descriptions of my white-noise fur and bloody breath like the steam from a kettle?’ As if to confront the florid, melodramatic, vigorous connotations of the Wolf In Art head-on: feral, the opposite of a domesticated dog; Adolf, the most notorious name in the world (apart from possibly Lucifer) meaning ‘noble wolf’; Lycanthropy and Bram Stoker. And it talks! The talking wolf dressed up as Grandma in Little Red Riding Hood must be one of the most disturbing single images in all literature. Fairy tales, fables, parables. Wolf in sheep’s clothing. Boy who cried wolf. Three little pigs. I could go on. Musicians have, often.

Before shattering the very same connotations: ‘My girlfriend and I agree that the wolf should pursue a career – and there is just the position for him at Whitehall: WOLF REQUIRED, £20 per hour… ‘So what does the job involve?’ I ask, that night. ‘Nothing,’ says the wolf. ‘As I understand it, they mean to pay me simply for being a wolf.’’ Thus relegating the wolf to the mediocre-surreal, unambiguously middle class, two-dimensionally literary, academia- and ideology-deflating existence that all of the rest of Kennard’s characters enjoy. Modernity (in England, anyway) means a literary wolf is interchangeable with a literary centipede, fire, owl, Kennard’s poetic persona, Kennard himself – all have to deal with the same middle class absurdities, guilt, crises. The likes of the public-school-new-age-camp Patrick Wolf represent, I think, a similar joke. Others saw different potential in the shape of a wolf.

Luke Kennard’s wolf is such a brilliant, enduring (over three volumes already) character because he is a wolf, a creature laden with more mythological, monstrous, symbolic, humorous and pop-cultural baggage than, probably, any other. This mixtape offers an opportunity to get a widescreen sense of this phenomenon via a medium (guitar music) about which Kennard knows his shit – from the perspective of men and women from very different backgrounds writing at very different times, all of whom decided what they needed was a wolf. There are clashes here: what would Kennard’s wolf make of Peter’s wolf, Howlin’ Wolf, Three 6 Mafia’s bark (he’d definitely love Three Six Mafia)? From out of them, though, you may begin to understand: why is Luke Kennard’s wolf a wolf? Because of Duran Dumotherfuckingran.

(Luke Kennard’s wolf-poems can be located in all three of his volumes of poetry, all three of which are published by Salt)


Part one, The Wolf as Clergyman

Peter and the Wolf Op. 67, Introduction – Sergei Prokofiev
Howling Wolf – Muddy Waters
Wolf Like Me – TV On The Radio
Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts – Wolf Parade

Part two, The Wolf as Memoirist

Wolf in the Breast – Cocteau Twins
The Back Door Wolf – Howlin’ Wolf
Queen Isabella (She-wolf of France) – Patrick Wolf

Part three, The Wolf as Educator

Peter and the Wolf Op. 67, The Wolf – Sergei Prokofiev
The Grandmother Wolf – Pretty Girls Make Graves
Wolf Notes – The Fiery Furnaces
Wolf at the Door – Radiohead

Part four, The Wolf as Playwright

Crying Wolf Version – Lee “Scratch” Perry
The Wolf that Lives in Lindsey – Joni Mitchell
The Circuitry of the Wolf – Mew

Part five, The Wolf as Lieutenant

Peter and the Wolf Op. 67, The Procession to the Zoo – Sergei Prokofiev
Wolf Wolf – Three 6 Mafia
Killer Wolf – John Spencer Blues Explosion
Hungry like the Wolf – Duran Duran

Second Person | Mixtape | Mixtape II, Songs for Natalie

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Music As Reading: Mixtape II, Songs for Natalie ‘Tusja’ Beridze, after Don Paterson

O who is this dark angel with her unruly Slavic eyebrows ranged like two duelling pistols, lightly sweating in the pale light of the TTF screen?

Writing actually about music was always going to be an early focus of Music As Reading – it represents a point at which a connection between music-listening and words-reading becomes kind of inevitable: here’s how a writer has described an artist slash song, now I’d better listen to it slash them myself to see how good a job he slash she did. Inevitable, then, but necessary? Does a writer writing about music have as much of an obligation to describe his subject with a precision and three-dimensionality capable of catalysing a reader’s mind’s-eye – without any kind of visual or aural aid – as, I don’t know, a travel-writer sketching a remote destination? Almost certainly – but looking at the breed of metaphor peddled by the NME (the chorus: Frank Black buttfucking Iggy with a barbed-wire-guitar whist Steve Albini squats in the background ejaculating asymmetrical reverb-lines by way of lubrication etc. etc.) rarely is this obligation met with much success (is it even possible?) And neither does justice or precision seem to be Don Peterson’s project with Song…, which owes more to the wonderful bad-poetry of William McGonagall than it does to the best of music journalism.

Rather, Song… is far more encyclopaedic than it is descriptive, choosing in the main to catalogue and generalise (although ‘a kind of glitch-hop Blossom Dearie’ is breathtakingly eloquent, it must be said). Indeed, against a backdrop of actual tracks, the poem sheds a good deal of its seeming music literacy, the sentence that inspires Part two of the mixtape appearing particularly problematic and uselessly generalising – until one remembers that the piece is, A, that rare thing, a genuinely funny poem, and B, as much an indictment of avant-garde electronic geekery as it is a celebration: ‘the true focus of one not merely content – as, no doubt, were others at the Mänover Elektronische Festival in Wien – / to hit play while making some fraudulent correction to a volume slider’. The layers of irony, deliberate obfuscation and acute, high-spec knowledge thus make for a more complex and challenging Music As Reading experience than, say, a haughty comparison of journalistic similes with the records they describe – isn’t writing about music far more about writing than it is about music?

(Don Paterson’s Song for Natalie ‘Tusja’ Beridze can be located in his latest volume of poetry, Rain, published by Faber)



Part one
…your fine vocals, which, while admittedly limited in range and force, are nonetheless much more affecting than the affected Arctic whisperings of those interchangeably dreary / Stinas and Hannes and Bjorks, being in fact far closer in spirit to a kind of glitch-hop Blossom Dearie…

Gorod – Tusia Beridze
Butterfly – Stina Nordenstam
Break My Body - Hanne Hukkelberg
Everything I’ve Got – Blossom Dearie
Wound – Tusia  Beridze

Part two
…how can I pay tribute to your infinitely versatile blend of Nancarrow, Mille Plateaux, Venetian Snares, Xenakis, Boards of Canada and Nobukazu Takemura…

String Quartet, Allegro molto – Conlon Nancarrow
Frictional Nevada – Venetian Snares
Cvet – Tusia Beridze
Plektó – Iannis Xenakis
Kursaa – Tusia Beridze
Roygbiv – Boards of Canada
Alone with the Alone – Zü & Nobukazu Takemura


Part three
…this little I have gleaned: firstly, that you are married to Thomas Brinkmann, whose records are boring – an opinion I held long before love carried me away…

Hextention – Tusia Beridze
Isch – Thomas Brinkmann
Smattack – Tba
Walk With Me – Thomas Brinkmann
Late – Tusia Beridze

Sam Kinchin-Smith
Music Editor

Issue 1 | Mixtape | Mixtape I, Berry Men

Music As Reading: Mixtape I, Berry Men

Bukowski was a jerk! Berryman was bester! He wrote like wet papier-mâché, went the Heming-way, weirdly on wings and with maximum pain – we call upon the author to explain.

This mixtape represents the coming together of songs drawing upon the imagery slash message slash romanticism of a poet’s life and career, musical literary criticism, work with very similar creative specifications to the same poet’s best pieces, and combination’s thereof – the focus being that writer most beloved by contemporary American guitar bands, John Berryman. And more specifically, his 385 Dream Songs. In order to pose the following questions: can music about literature bring with it new understandings of literature? If not, does it have a right to essentially then leech off this literature – even if the result is a compelling new piece of work? What happens when a song like Okkervil River’s John Allyn Smith Sails reflects upon both literature and music (i.e. the Beach Boys) simultaneously? Do certain of these songs bring something new to the real-time experience of reading Berryman (have a look at Dream Song 4 with Gainsbourg on in the background and you’ll see what I’m getting at)? Is a musical thematic project (say, write a ‘Dream Song’) the same as – or at the very least, related to – a similar literary thematic project? And what happens in the spaces in between these questions – is the existence of a composition for a brass quintet entitled Fancies, Toyes and Dreams: His Rest pure coincidence?


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Part one, Biography

Intoxicated Man – Serge Gainsbourg
Stuck Between Stations – The Hold Steady
John Allyn Smith Sails – Okkervil River

Part two, Literary criticism

We Call upon the Author – Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
Mama, Won’t You Keep Them Castles in the Air and Burning? – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Softly and Gently (Angel), the Dream of Gerontius Op. 38, part 2 – Edward Elgar

Part three, Other people’s Dream Songs

Dream Song – Matthew’s Southern Comfort
Coat Check Dream Song – Bright Eyes
Dream Song – Scott Matthews

Part four, Combinations thereof

Papa Won’t Leave You Henry – Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
We Live As We Dream, Alone – Gang of Four
Fancies, Toyes and Dreams: His Rest – Giles Farnaby


Sam Kinchin-Smith
Music Editor

Amazing physics--Could anything save a wretch like me?

I learned something about salvation through mathematics. In elementary school I did all right. I can do everything a simple calculator can do; I’m just slower. But freshman algebra did me in.

Always an A or B student without trying too hard, I brought home my first D, from algebra. When I showed my report card to my parents, I dreaded the worst. However, they confessed that my math disability was genetic.

I avoided further high school math classes by taking general sciences and biology. In the ACT college entrance test I ranked at the nineteenth percentile in math. Even someone of my arithmetically challenged skills could figure that 81 percent of college applicants had better math skills than I.

That ACT score, heavy on algebra, forced me into bonehead math at Loma Linda University my freshman year. That was easy: all arithmetic, no algebra. It was like being in seventh-grade math all over again. Happy days! As for the balance of my university science and math requirements for a communications/music education double major, I managed to squeeze in human physiology, geology, and other non-mathematical classes. However, there was one class I was required to take: Physics of Music and Sound.

The textbook, The Acoustical Foundations of Music, slightly comforted me on page 4 with a condescending statement about musicians: We artistic types would need not quite as much math skill for this class as it would take to balance a checkbook. However, I had never used logarithms to balance my checking account!

But I digress. To my dismay, most of those in Professor Lester Cushman’s Physics of Music class were pre-med math and science whizzes. They were in it for some easy credits to boost their GPA. I took careful notes of I know not what, and memorized verbiage to perfection. I could explain the Doppler effect. But I was clueless when they discussed absorption coefficients and the Pythagorean comma (proof that B-sharp is a higher pitch than C). It was all algebraic—a foreign language. I studied the text, but couldn’t comprehend. After 10 weeks it was time for the final exam.

It was a drizzly day and the classroom was cold. I shifted painfully on my hard wooden chair because I’d recently cracked my tailbone by slipping in the winter rain. The pre-medical students finished their papers quickly and practically skipped out of the room. Finally, I was alone, staring at the problems and formulas without any hope of a solution.

Mr. Cushman noticed I was stuck. He walked over and encouraged me to push buttons on my primitive calculator, which was very unlike the pre-meds’ with their buttons for “sin” and “cos” and other incomprehensible notations. I wrote the resulting numbers on the test blanks.

Two weeks later grades came out. I found my A’s and B’s in other classes, but I was astounded to see that I’d received a C- in physics, much higher than the F I’d expected and probably deserved. Because the class was required for my music major, however, anything below a C wouldn’t count. I might as well have failed, but at least Mr. Cushman had been kind to my grade point average.

I didn’t protest or challenge the grade. I’d worked hard, but to no avail. I was a mathematical bonehead and would have to retake the class at another college, as it wouldn’t be offered at my university again until after my graduation.

Another two weeks went by, and I received a notice from the academic dean. My grade of C- had been elevated to a C+, which meant that the class did count. At the bottom of the slip a reason had been given by Professor Cushman: “My error.” (Mind: grades were hand-written in the horse and buggy days of the late 1970s, when I was in college.) When I went to thank him, he added to me privately, “I forgot to put the other stroke on the + sign.”

How could a professional mathematician, with a famous reputation for perfection and being hard-nosed to his math students, make a mistake like that? Minus and plus signs are opposites. One meant I failed; the other meant I passed.

The only answer I knew was amazing grace. How sweet the acoustical waves that saved a math-challenged wretch like me. I once had failed, but now I’d passed. I never learned physics and never needed it in real life, but thank you, Mr. Cushman, for a lesson in salvation, grace, and a very practical love, which I’ll remember forever.

When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. Titus 3:4-5 NIV

Call it grace or unmerited favor or kindness to a known offender. I see grace as the precious undeserved gift that not only saves me from the second death, but gives me hope and happiness in this world as well. 

Amazing Physics

By Christy K. Robinson

Adventist Review, July 18, 1996

Diary of a Makeup Artist #24 - Nothin At All

"Who is your favorite celebrity you've worked with?"

This is a question I get asked often. Honestly it makes me uncomfortable because I feel like my favorite isn't the asker's favorite and they're never impressed. Jude Law, Sylvester Stallone, Molly Sims... none hold a candle to "Heart"in my book.

I can still remember in the 8th grade opening a gift that contained a cassette entitled "HEART". This was MY tape, not my dad's L.P. that he would make me a copy of, this was a true cassette with a genuine cover and the songs printed (not handwritten) on the cassette itself. Ooooh see see, the lyrics are written in the jacket, no more rewinding and fast forwarding trying to figure out the words to my favorite songs. And look how cool Ann and Nancy were, I'll be staring at this for hours thank you very much, AND it rocked!
Listening to Ann belt out a rockin tune in her amazing crisp and rich voice was not new to me. See my dad Ted had quite the album collection. Most kids my age were brought up on Neil Diamond, Dolly Parton and Inglebert Humperdink. Not me.. Foghat, Zeppelin, Beatles and Heart were belted in my home. The living room was filled with shelves loaded with vinyl. When dad was listening to music, it was so LOUD you couldn't hear yourself think, so why bother to even try to think, just sit back and enjoy. I would thumb through the numerous albums looking for my favorite covers while my ears were bleeding, just hanging and rockin out with Dad. (It's really no wonder why I'm hard of hearing these days.)

This one used to just freak me out. I would make myself look at it so I wouldn't be a fraidy cat.To this day, Heart is still one of my favorite bands, Ann still has her voice and they sound amazing live. Once on a 10 day shoot, everyone forgot their music except me, and I had brought along my Heart collection. Now, I get teased by my family crew for the 10 days of angry female music they were put through. It's all good. The truth is, I was in heaven those 10 days.

So imagine my horror when I received a booking call to ready the girls for a Led Zeppelin A&E Biography. I was having Keanu flashbacks, I was tempted to give the job away. I was afraid I would throw up in Ann's lap. I remember praying in the car, crying and telling myself over and over again what a professional I was and I could be calm, cool and collected. This was NO BIGGIE, who were these chicks anyway? Normal people, aging singer and guitar player. Probably NOT nice, probably high maint and probably total witches dang it! Who needs these girls anyway, I'll show them.. who do they think they are? They're nothing without my talent and brushes. Who cares this was "Nothin at All!" humphh

I stomped into the studio, didn't even bother to look into the green room, (I was too cool to even try to peek) walked straight to the makeup room. Where there was a woman in the chair getting her hair done. Who was this woman? She was so..... average looking, no makeup, a t-shirt and rollers in her hair. Whew.... civilian. "Mary, I'd like you to meet Ann, you'll be doing her makeup today, Nancy will be in from L.A. very soon." said the producer. Oh for the love of all that is good please dont let me crap myself. "Hi Ann, nice to meet you." "Pleasure." said Ann. I'm proud to say I kept my composure chanting to myself "This is a civilian in my chair, this is a civilian in my chair." We made pleasant small talk, she was horribly tired, they were on tour, she needed to save her voice, so I kept my mouth shut and gave her the makeup she wanted.

Later Nancy came in, what a SWEETIE! Very pleasant, she was chatty, we talked kids, we talked about their new album Jupiter's Darling at the time. We talked movies, her husband is Cameron Crow and then we had a most memorable moment. I felt I could share at this point . "Nancy, can I just tell you something and promise you wont freak out?" "Sure, whats up?" "I'm a HUGE Ann fan. She is such a freakin rock star!" I cried. "I KNOW, isnt she amazing? My sister F'n rocks, she blows me away to this day!" she said as she shared in my excitement. Then she went on to brag about her sister and all her accomplishments. Ann's number one fan is clearly Nancy. (Which is most likely why I've never gotten a callback, I could give Nanc a run for her money.) Here they are in my makeup garb. Ann likes it strong, Nancy just enough not to look to underdone next to Ann. Yep, that was my favorite celeb day of all time. Hope you're not disappointed.

In 2007 I worked backstage at the VH1 Rock Honors where Heart was honored. I was nowhere to be found when Heart was rehearsing for this performance. Hearing Ann rehearse was such a treat. That raw voice during mic check... oh yeah I have goose pimples just thinking about it.

So everybody has one... What celebrity would you like to work with?

Nothin At All by Heart