Around this time last year, I went to LA for the first ever Part Time Punks festival. I hung out with A Certain Ratio, I met the Propeller Records guys, I bought a Urinals t-shirt, I ate a taco the size of my head and I bickered with my friend Adesh like an old married couple. It was a great time and you can read all about it here. Now I’m coming back for a whirlwind visit, I probably won’t even go to Amoeba this time, but I will be DJing more.

First, on Saturday, October 10th, I will be joining jasefromouterspace and Kazzique at their party The Chase. There will also be some live music from Love Grenades and Sample 208. There will also be special guests! And also me! I will be bringing a random bunch of vinyl records. Disco, italo-disco, post-punk disco, Loft disco, hip-house disco, crisco disco, etc disco, etc. As you can see in the flyer above, the party takes place saturday at the Mountain Bar, 473 Gin Ling Way, LA, from 10pm till 2am. 21+ and $5 to enter.

Then, on Sunday, October 11th, I will be hanging out at the second annual Part Time Punks Festival. I will be DJing here and there between bands. The line-up as of now features:

THE RAINCOATS
SECTION 25 (Factory Records)
GANG OF FOUR (Guest DJs Hugo Burnham & Dave Allen)
THE JAZZ BUTCHER
MEDIUM MEDIUM
KID CONGO POWERS
SAVAGE REPUBLIC
VIV ALBERTINE [THE SLITS]
ABE VIGODA
RAINBOW ARABIA
WEAVE
THE INTELLIGENCE
CHRISTMAS ISLAND
SHARK TOYS
BLESSURE GRAVE
SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY
+ guest DJs +
DAVE NEWTON (MIGHTY LEMON DROPS)
DAN SELZER (ACUTE RECORDS) (<–that’s me)

and tickets are already available online. So please come out, I heard Mr. Mojo is rising.

New Viva-Radio Pyjamarama show Checkout Time goes up tuesday at 1pm, perfect for post-lunch pre-mid-afternoon drag perk-up. Just tune into Viva-Radio at 1pm eastern or check the archives of Pyjamarama at various times after. This show is just a bunch of stuff that has been making me happy these last few weeks.

1. Jet-Song For Hymn
Loved “Nothing to Do With Us” from the Glitterbest compilation, finally heard the whole LP c/o Jim Allen (not John Allen). Great Sparks-esque arty glitter/glam with this pleasant Phil Spector-esque intro.

2. Mittagspause-Herrenreiter
Strangely, I’ve never been a huge fan of the whole NDW/german new wave scene except for a few of the hits, I find a lot of it a bit too stern and humorless…imagine that. But I have been gravitating to some of the earlier more punk stuff, like the totally catchy Male and Mittagspause, who have member connections to DAF, Fehlfarben and SYPH. Also check out Testbild on youtube. Sounds like if Neu! 2 was released 5 years later.

3. The Nightingales-Blood for Dirt
What can I say that I haven’t already?

4. Age of Chance-Bible of the Beast
For some reason everyone keeps talking about C86 as if it was all about jangly twee pop bands and not noisy, angry and chaotic bands drawing more from The Fall and the Nightingales.

5. Bob Seger-Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man
Always loved this surprising track, “oh hey, I knew Bob could rock, but not like this!”. DJing my friend Nate’s wedding with my old friend Rebecca brought this song back into my life, and it’s amazing video which I’ve included below. You won’t be able to think of Bob the same way again.

6. Sandy Bull-Gotta Be Juicy (Or Aint Love)
Lots of talk in certain quarters of I Love Music about artsy folk guitarists and I just checked this one out for the first time recently. Lots of multi-tracked overdubbing of weirdness. File this between Amon Duul and Haphash and the Coloured Coat and Fred Neil’s and John Fahey’s raga-folk jams.

7. The Beatles-The Night Before
I just discovered The Beatles. No, that’s not true, I’ve always liked them and have gone through periods of listening to this record or that, but all the recent fuss has made me give a serious study. As usual I’m most attracted to that golden 65/66 period and particularly find upbeat and happy or melancholic pop ragers like this my faves. But checking out all the reissues and listening to the entire catalog in chronological order for the first time has certainly made some things pop out. Like how many times have I heard Eight Days a Week on the radio, in movies, in the air, etc, and NEVER until just now did I ever hear the beautiful intro/outro chords. I plan on editing them together and repeating them for hours.

8. Fuxa-100 White Envelopes
Ah Oberlin. Talk of Bright online reminded me of this band and this CD that I loved while in college, when it was new and exciting to mix krautrock and shoegaze aesthetics into low-fi indie-rock. I have to dig up that Fuxa/Bright plastic pink 7″ to see if I still love it like I used to.

9. Dion & the Belmonts-My Girl the Month of May
Mentioned this in a prior post. Goddamn is this a good song. For fans of Del Shannon, Everly Brothers, Frankie Valli, circa 66-68.

10. De Artsen-She’s in Love
Thanks to Mike Wolf for this one via Facebook. The band that evolved into Bettie Serveert playing loopy repetitious minimal and moody indie-rock of the highest order.

11. V3-Checkout Time, Mr. White
Jim Shepard. It doesn’t get any better then this. And stories don’t get more tragic. I’ll write a long post about him at some point. In a prolific period with many releases on many labels in many styles, it was hard to filter through it all at times, but on the Launchpad Explosion double 7″ you can find this gem. Shoulda been huge.

12. Din A Testbild-Die Siebziger
More german weirdness I never really noticed until lately. A bit of a PIL/Joy Division vibe to this.

13. Section 25-Sweet Forgiveness
I had most of Section 25’s records for years but for some reason never picked up Love and Hate, which opens with this song that’s just perfect. Big and catchy, some similarities to big New Wave sounds, some to more experimental/minimal synth type sounds.

14. Shaun Harris-Today’s a Day
When discussing Dion on Facebook a friend sent a “break-up” mix he had made for a girl. Great stuff but this one really caught my ear.

15. McDonald & Giles-Flight of the Ibis
Was Viva leader Matt discussing this? Can’t remember what brought it up, Fripp’s pre-King Crimson collaborators with some wonderful flighty pop music.

16. Bob Bannister-Eight Day Clock
Guitar experimenters like Sandy Bull and 90s low-fi atmosphere creators like Fuxa and unheralded noise rock guitar gods like Jim Shepard got me thinking of this. Just a slice of Bob.

17. The Dictators-Stay With Me
The final song played at my friend Nate’s aforementioned wedding last week. I never knew the Dictators beyond Cars and Girls and having to go to Manitoba’s once or twice, but seeing the happy couple and friends and family rock out to this put some good feelings in me for real.

and before I go…here’s Bob (Seger, not Bannister):
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2aBOTNGWMY[/youtube]

The Method Actors, photo by Curtis Knapp

2 posts in 2 days…what is this, Twitter? I had this information yesterday, I just wanted to compartmentalize. Figured it was time to give some updates about what is going on in Acute land. First, I’d like to formally announce our next release, This Is Still It by the Method Actors. One of the original Athens, GA bands from the scene that gave us Pylon, B-52s, REM, Love Tractor and others, the Method Actors started as the duo of Vic Varney and David Gamble, and with this basic line-up they rocked riveting, angsty, angular, funky, raw and explosive rock and roll. Beefheart meets Television guitar, propulsive drums, ecstatic singing and a sound that ranges from and jangly and aggressive post-punk rock to a deconstructed and deep funk to more expansive and experimental structures. This CD compilation will focus on the earlier years of the band before they expanded their line-up, featuring selections from their first several singles and the original double-LP UK version of their first LP, the critically acclaimed Little Figures. Trying to figure out how to describe them makes me realize how much they have in common with some other Acute releases, particularly aspects of The Fire Engines and The Lines, but in a particularly American manner. We’re shooting for a very early 2010 release and will have some updates prior to then, including some free downloads and more info.

After the Method Actors, we are not going to wait another year for another release. No, we’re already working on a few follow-up projects, all of which will be limited edition vinyl and digital download only releases. That’s right, we’re mostly abandoning the Compact Disc. If we line up certain dream projects that we think could raise the interest of the types of fans who still buy CDs, we will consider it, but some of the upcoming projects we have are soooo obscure and have such a niche interest, that the only people who will probably get excited about them are the kinds of fans who are collecting vinyl these days, and things seem to be trending in that direction, or haven’t you read any “death of the CD, rebirth of vinyl” articles lately? For those of you without the record players, the music will still be available from all your favorite download sites, and people who purchase the vinyl will get a coupon to get the downloads as well. No more ripping vinyl for you! We’re super excited about finally putting out vinyl, and think people will really dig these releases, more information about that soon.

What else is new? Some Acute related acts are rocking out and busier than ever.

photo by Tony Cenicola

First we have exciting performances by The Glenn Branca Ensemble, performing music from the album in progress, “The Ascension: The Sequal”. The members of the group are, on guitars: Reg Bloor, Evelyne Buhler, Eric Hubel and Greg McMullen, on bass: Ryan Walsh, on drums: Libby Fab and conducting: Glenn Branca. They are playing PS1 on Sept 5th as part of the Summer WarmUP series (also playing is Coati Mundi! and TBD, Justin from !!! and Doug Lee’s new house music project), Le Poisson Rouge on Sept 11th and Issue Project Room on Oct 17th.

Finally, some news from Stuart from Ike Yard. They’ve got a new 10″ coming out soon to be mastered in the Basic Channel studio in Berlin, more news when that’s released on the Phisteria label. He’s also got some interesting events lined up for his new project Outpost, a collaboration with Mark C. from Live Skull. From Stuart:

Outpost presents a preview of JG Ballard tribute series Sept 5th between 9-12 on WFMU; Michael Goodstein’s “Choking On Cufflinks” radio show …

* Atrocity Exhibition Chapter 1 excerpts , read by David Silver ,sdtk by Outpost.
* Drowned World soundscape by Mark Fisher aka K- Punk
* Ice Planet & Serial Angels recorded live in Studio + interview , discussion after 10

to be followed by an expanded version @ Monkeytown Oct.24 …
All the above + All of  Atrocity Exhibition’s Chapter 1,
Time,Memory and Inner Space. Read by Judy Nylon + special video and music mix

More to follow : London’s Resonance FM , and 2010 – other venues in Europe tba

That’s it for now!

Been meaning to post some new music again for a while. I don’t have much time for the new stuff as there’s still too much old stuff to catch up with, I mean I just heard Din A Testbild, and Dion & The Belmont’s My Girl the Month of May, but I do really dig a lot of stuff that’s going on now. Lots of synth-punk stuff and C86 influences and psychedelic flourishes and plenty of post-punk, NDW, italo and other referencing. MGMT is really great. But I just got exposed to some tangentially Acute related artists I thought I’d share.

When I first met Matt Wood, he was referred to as “Teenage Guitar Sensation Matt Wood.” He had somehow joined the Nightingales, the band that evolved out of the Prefects. The Nightingales reformed around the time Acute’s awesome Prefects CD was released and we helped bring them to the US for their first gigs. On their second or third visit, they had shuffled their line-up a bit (not the first, nor last time) and had this stylish youngster playing guitar. From the first note it was obvious he was a force to be reckoned with, adding a great deal of skronk to the band. He was excited that our next release was the Fire Engines CD, so I knew he had excellent taste. I was sad to hear that he left the Nightingales, though they replaced him with Christy from Christy & Emily, forging a slightly different but no less powerful sound. In keeping touch with Matt since then I learned he has a new project still very much in the early stages. They are called the Silver Hares and are described on myspace thusly…

metalbeat noise and pop songs to salvage despondency of grey matter modern music + all suspect supposed ‘new-wave’ / ‘indust-est’ monochromoloid young liquid savages &/or hungry ghost league.

Their influences are listed as Faust, Palais Schaumburg, Subway Sect, Throbbing Gristle, Milk n Cookies, Joe Meek, Fire Engines, Family Fodder, Sparks, John Foxx

I asked for further details and found out we’re all at Goldsmith’s College and live in a big pink house just round the corner from Deptford (fun city!) We hope to one day find somebody else we like who’ll sing and play bass for us.

Without further ado, here is a song called 48CRASH, also known as Demonstration Two.

The Silver Hares-48CRASH
[audio:http://acuterecords.com/blog/audio/48CRASH.mp3]
control-click to download

Totally killer, right?

And a world and ocean away…I got word from Gustaf Heden, a young swedish songwriter who’s been gigging solo around NYC for a few years now and is forming a new band, Gustaf Heden & Distracting Noises. I’m assuming he’s spent some time in Scotland because he’s worked with Malcolm Ross of Josef K and Orange Juice and Acute’s good friend Russell Burn of the Fire Engines, Win, Sexual Objects and other projects. Gustaf’s debut album, recorded with Russell, called Spectorbutllets is out soon. This is what he had to say about it on his myspace page…

My debut album and collaboration with Russell Burn is recorded and being mixed in Edinburgh by mr. Burn. You can catch the first, raw fruits on here – “Goldmine”, “The Buffalos” and “- + – is…” are rough mixes from the album.

This LP is what happens when you tell one of the best and most creative drummers I’ve ever heard to play 4/4 on every fucking song, and see what he does. It’s what happens when you let me attack every instrument around. Most importantly, it’s a nuclear battlefield of different ideas, harmonies and disarray influenced by the likes of Mayakovsky, Bowie, 13th Floor Elevators, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Augustus Pablo, and gay spray.

There are also some further contributions on certain tracks – guitar from Malcolm Ross (Orange Juice/Josef K, The Bum-Clocks), writing by Joanna Pickering, plus vocal assistance from Heather Craig and Fiona McIntosh.

It was a great month in Scotland and apart from walking up Arthur’s Seat and taking “creative breaks” at the Albion Pub I also got to collaborate on a track off the Sexual Objects’ album and on the second Piefinger album – two albums I can’t wait to hear – as well as play piano with The Bum-Clocks on two nights (Thank you for the great support, Aberdeen!)

Enough Yakkin’. Hope you like the songs – there is much more to come…

For DJ/review advance copies contact us on here or on distractingnoises@gmail.com

I’m really digging this song Goldmine, which reminds me of some the more accessible if shambolic Homosexuals songs…

Gustaf Heden-Goldmine
[audio:http://acuterecords.com/blog/audio/goldmine.mp3]
control-click to download

What else is new? It’s so hard to keep up. I love Jeremy Jay. John Carpenter sounds really good. Thousands of post-balaeric revival grooves, post-Italians Do It Better moody italo-wave, Telepathe and Effie Briest. Mirror Mirror. The lo-fi italo/techno deconstruction of the mysterious Yellow Beach Balls. I don’t know, I still mostly listen to Fred Neil and the Lines. I JUST finally got Love and Hate by Section 25 and can’t wait to see them (and the Raincoats!) at Part Time Punks fest. I don’t get out much but did see The Pretenders and Cat Power in Central Park. What’s new with you? What’s the new stuff we should be listening to? What’s that, what’s new with Acute Records itself? That’s the next post.

Remember some time ago when the Film Society of Lincoln Center at the Walter Reade theater, as part of their Film Comment Selects series, showed a movie and I was invited to DJ the after party? Well, they/we are doing it again. This time Film Comment Selects presents The Last Days of Disco, from 1998, the third part of a trilogy of sorts by Whit Stilman, following the awesome Metropolitan and Barcelona, which I’ve never seen. The movie takes place in the early 80s and follows a group of friends as they talk about careers and relationships and other things that people in their 20s and 30s talk about. Personally, I especially identified with the character who spends most of his time talking about the utopian wonder that is disco, without ever having taken part in it.

Anyway, I haven’t seen the movie in ages. It’s fun. Chris Eigeman is in it, and he’s awesome. And even though it takes place in the early 80s, we can relate to it in a late 90s/early 00s vibe because it also stars Chloe Sevigny and Tara Subkoff. And afterwords, Viva Radio is sponsoring the after-party, featuring free drinks and disco DJing from your old Alldisco faves, Tropical Jeremy Campbell and myself, Dan Selzer. We’re gonna play some disco classics, some early 80s boogie, some fun stuff, some crazy stuff, some gay stuff, some macho stuff, you name it.

If all that doesn’t sell you on it, check out the radio bumper…another bang-up job from Tedward!

Here are the details:
FILM COMMENT SELECTS PRESENTS

THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO
Thursday, August 27, 2009 at 7:30pm

DIRECTOR WHIT STILLMAN IN PERSON!

All ticket buyers are eligible to win a FREE DVD copy of the movie, courtesy of Criterion, during a drawing at the screening!

Screening followed by a Late Disco Dance Party with DJs Jeremy Campbell (Tropical Computer System) & Dan Selzer (Acute Records), sponsored by Viva Radio with refreshments by Stella Artois.

The very early ’80s. Bourgie bourgie roommates Alice (Chloe Sevigny) and Charlotte (Kate Beckinsale) are on the prowl, while wondering what it takes to become associate editors. Nightclub flunky Des (Chris Eiegeman) realizes he’s gay while watching Wild Kingdom. And ad-man Jimmy (Mackenzie Astin) desperately tries to get his underdressed clients into the exclusive downtown club.

This ode to the waning days of bacchanalian nightlife in the Big Apple is the third in Stillman’s self-proclaimed “Doomed-Bourgeois-in-Love” trilogy and his most electrifying, with a pulsating soundtrack to boot: Diana Ross, Chic, Sister Sledge, The Chi-Lites, Evelyn “Champagne” King, The O’Jays, Andrea True Connection, Carol Douglas.

Purchase tickets here. Facebook event page here.

I will be playing records thursday night at the hip Trophy Bar with DJ Mcnany of Run-Roc, Justin Cherno and Matt Cash of the DFA. House, techno, disco, italo, new wave, no wave, post-punk, more house, hip-house, acid house, greenhouse, abc carpet and house, etc. This Heat? Maybe when it’s really late and nobody’s there.

Thursday August 6th at 10pm. Trophy Bar is 351 Broadway at Keap in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA.

A few months ago Barbara London, a curator at the Museum of Modern Art (a.k.a. MoMA) got in touch with me thanks to the suggestion of college buddy/art star Cory Arcangel. Last year, Barbara had curated an exhibition called Looking at Music which focused on “the dynamic connections that occured from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s”, covering media works and related art from the likes of Nam June Paik, Bruce Nauman, Steve Reich, Yoko Ono, John Cage, Jack Smith and others. Now she was working on a sequal of sorts, focussing on the late 70s and early 80s.

We met up and she showed me a lot of the stuff she was planning to include and I went on and on about some of my favorite music of the period, because as you can imagine, I like a lot of music from that period. This past weekend I finally got to see the show, Looking at Music: Side 2. It was really cool and if you’re in the New York tri-state metro area, I highly recommend you check it out. There were artifacts like an original copy of X Magazine and the Artist’s Space poster pictured above. They had many records on display set-up with headphones, Suicide, K-Rob vs. Ramelzee, Sonic Youth, Talking Heads…and most excitingly, they had tons of TVs set up with all kinds of great clips. Laurie Anderson’s O Superman, Beth B.’s video for the Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight, super vintage Blondie and CBs stuff. But the real centerpiece of awesomeness was a film shot by Ericka Beckman.

I got the backstory from Ericka via Jeffrey Lohn. In August 1979, VPRO television in Rotterdam asked Ericka to help prepare a segment on New York No Wave bands. Paul McMahon (A Band, Daily Life) and artist Nancy Chunn organized an evening of filming of several bands/artists in their loft. After many years, Ericka edited this footage back together and Lee Ranaldo did some work with the audio and it was part of the Sonic Youth show “Sensational Fix” and is now on display as part of Looking at Musc: Side 2. The video features two or so songs each from several young bands of the period…Theoretical Girls, A Band, Ut, Rhys Chatham, Jill Kroesen, The Static, Morales, Youth in Asia, John Lurie, Steven Piccolo and Chinese Puzzle. A pretty amazing document and a perfect compliment to Virginia Piersol’s video recorded at Jeffrey’s loft that I’m always talking about. Maybe one day these two can be released on DVD together.

On top of all of this, MoMA was cool enough to stock some of those essential No Wave related Acute releases in their store. Here’s a photo. As you can see, due to popularity they had to order many more copies of our CDs then the Talking Heads and Sonic Youth releases.

First of all, in case you haven’t seen this yet (and if not I assume you live under a rock…or just aren’t on Facebook)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03u_6DadGms[/youtube]

Jools Holland and Leslie Ash visit Danceteria, the Roxy and the Paradise Garage and hang out with Mark Kamins, Arthur Baker, Ruth Polsky, the Peech Boys and others. Watch to the very end for a snippet of Quando Quango.

As usual I try to channel those times and attitudes, even if it’s a tiny lounge and not a converted roller rink or parking garage! This friday I’ll be DJing at the Mint Condition party at the Label Lounge at 174 Rivington. Stop by and maybe I’ll even tell you about the upcoming Acute releases, because believe or not, Acute’s still planning on putting out some CDs and records (yes…RECORDS). Here’s the story for friday:

Mint Condition fuses rare extracts of disco, electro, rap and funk into an intoxicating, moisturizing concoction that will leave skin silky smooth and deliciously dark. Apply generously and regularly to all areas. Reapply at frequent intervals.

This time we’re doing Mint Condition at the intimate and groovy Label Lounge, in the L.E.S. on Rivington near Clinton St. We are also proud to present Tropical Jeremy and Dan Selzer, making their first Mint Condition appearances.
www.labellounge.com

MUSIC SELECTORS:

DEVIN DEVEAUX
Devin Deveaux retired from his successful Miami-based transportation business to pursue his true passion: disco. The electropical musical narratives he constructs are inspired by the colorful characters he encountered on his adventures on and above the high seas. Check his releases on Black Vinyl Records, Elan Records and Formaldehyd Records, available at itunes and beatport.
www.devindeveaux.com

SELECTOR HONEYKNUCKLES
Selector HoneyKnuckles is the distinguished mind behind such world changing inventions as the lamborghini, G-string bikini, Aqua Velva, and the morning after pill. Having grown bored with science he now dedicates his time to mixing records and perfecting his macaroni and cheese recipe.
www.thehoneyknuckles.blogspot.com

TROPICAL JEREMY
Tropical Jeremy brought Beppe Loda (Afro Cosmic legend) from Italy to play at PS1 and do a mini US tour in 2007. He founded the Alldisco and Beat Club parties at Subtonic and Capones. Dazzle Ships for 3 years. These days he’s focused more on production and quality over quantity DJ gigs. In the past year or so he’s played at MOMA, Sculpture Center, Guggenheim, Museum of Art and Design, etc.
www.tropicalcomputersystem.com
www.bumrocks.com

DAN SELZER
Dan has been dj’ing disco, house, techno, italo, new wave, post-punk, hi-nrg and AM gold records in NY for over a decade, from the chic crowded indifferent clubs of Manhattan to the underground jaded lofts of Brooklyn, he’s done it all. While he’s known by a few for his post-punk reissue label Acute Records, he will be remembered mostly for the Crazy Rhythms mix CD recorded with Mike from Italians Do It Better a few years back. Dan was the resident DJ of the influential Transmission party at Plant Bar and co-resident of the influential Alldisco party at Capones and the not-influential Dazzle Ships party at Heathers with the influential Tropical Jeremy.
www.acuterecords.com/blog (you’re already here!)
www.myspace.com/newyorkendless

I realize now I haven’t blogged about my Viva Radio shows in a while. Hey, what do you know, it’s been over a YEAR! Now I’m not like some of those other Viva DJs who update every week, I update only when inspiration hits. Or when I’m really bored and/or frustrated and looking for a distraction. Or when they email me and say “hey Dan, how about a show?” So here’s the last bunch ‘o shows playlists typed up so more people will stumble on my blog while googling. Sorry I’m not gonna give the complete history or some weepy story about how each song changed my life, I’m not that bored and/or frustrated, and I have a lot of work to do. A few of these shows are up and accessible at the Viva Radio Pyjamarama page.

In reverse order…

My Strange World An eclectic mix, there’s connections, but maybe only in my head.
1. Martin Rev – My Strange World
2. Ana Da Silva – The Lighthouse
3. Quando Quago – Go Exciting (12″ version)
4. Judy Nylon – Others
5. Ruth – Mabelle
6. + Instruments – Paradise
7. Laurie Mayer – Black Lining
8. The Moles – Cassie Peek
9. The Passions – Runaway
10. Ann Steel – Sweet Life
11. Red Crayola with Art & Language – Keep All Your Friends
12. Flying Lizards – Hand 2 Take
13. Michael Nyman – A Walk Through H
14. Arnold Dreyblatt – Group Velocity
15. Meredith Monk – What Does It Mean
16. Mic Woods – Weekday Lovecrush

Chain or Reaction All New Zealand, all the time.
1. Peter Jefferies & Robbie Muir – Catapult
2. Roy Montgomery – Something Else Again
3. Plagal Grind – Vincent
4. The Chills – Doledrums
5. Cyclops – Lunar Fall
6. Dadamah – Papa Doc
7. This Kind of Punishment – Overground in China
8. David Mitchell & Denise Roughan – Grey Funnel Line
9. Alf Danielson – Glover
10. Dead C – Scarey Nest
11. The Clean – Tally Ho
12. Alastair Galbraith – Stormed Port
13. Nocturnal Projections – Nerve Ends in Power Lines
14. The Bilders – Bedrock Bay
15. Pin Group – When I Tell You
16. The Gordons – Spik and Span
17. Norma O’Malley – Some Tame Gazelle
18. Peter Jefferies – Chain or Reaction
19. Alastair Galbraith & Graeme Jefferies – Timebomb
20. Roy Montgomery – In Our Own Time

Dignity of Labor Early (mostly) UK electronic/new wave/industrial, not unlike my last Beats in Space appearance.
1. The Human League – The Dignity of Labor (Part 1)
2. Fad Gadget – Back to Nature
3. Chris Carter – Outreach
4. The Associates – White Car in Germany
5. Thomas Leer & Robert Rental – Attack Decay
6. Vice Versa – New Girls Neutrons
7. The Future – Blank Clocks
8. Severed Heads – Lamborghini
9. Our Daughter’s Wedding – Airlines
10. Yazoo – Goodbye Seventies
11. OMD – Messages
12. Heaven 17 – I’m Your Money
13. Cabaret Voltaire – Kneel to the Boss
14. Throbbing Gristle – AB/7A

Biting My Nails Again, some threads exist, sort of avant/fake white dub, digital dub, I dunno.
1. Piero Milesi – Modi 2 (Extract)
2. The Lavender Pill Mob – It Doesn’t Matter
3. Alla – Una Dia Otra Noche
4. Genevieve Waite – Biting My Nails
5. Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazelwood – Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)
6. Sister Nancy – Bam Bam
7. Cabaret Voltaire – Digital Rasta
8. Renegade Soundwave – Liquid Up
9. Vivien Goldman – Laundrette
10. Flying Lizards – Her Story
11. Scritti Politti – Jacques Derrida
12. Holger Czukay, Jah Wobble, Jaki Liebizeit – How Much Are They?
13. L Voag – Kitchen
14. Agentss – Agentss
15. Tom Ze – Gloria
16. Brian Eno – St. Elmo’s Fire
17. Snatch – Amputee

Sail on Sailor Songs for a sinking boat or something.
1. Glen Campbell – Galveston
2. Split Enz – Six Months in a Leaky Boat
3. Thomas Dolby – Europa & the Pirate Twins
4. Echo & the Bunnymen – The Cutter
5. In Embrace – Our Star Drawn Through Panes
6. The Lines – Ultramarine
7. Can – Future Days
8. This Heat – A New Kind of Water
9. Tindersticks – Tiny Tears
10. Stephen Mallinder – Del Sol
11. 808 State – Pacific
12. Beach Boys – Sail on Sailor

The Simple Life I think I wanted to just make sure this one rocked, indie-, punk- or otherwise.
1. Sparks – Propoganda/At Home, At Work, At Play
2. The Ex & Tom Cora – State of Shock
3. Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 – The Operation
4. Mission of Burma – That’s How I Escaped my Certain Fate
5. Oxford Collapse – Please Visit our National Parks
6. V3 – Hating Me, Hating You
7. The Stranglers – Bitching
8. Dry Rib – Quail Seed
9. Artery – Pretends
10. Toy Love – I Don’t Mind
11. Peter Jefferies & Robbie Muir – Catapult
12. The Saints – This Perfect Day
13. The Cigarettes – All I Want is You
14. Alternative TV – Action Time Vision
15. Male – Risikofaktor 1:X
16. Subs – Gimme Your Heart
17. Rudi – Big Time
18. Helter Skelter – I Need You
19. Urinals – I’m Like You
20. Clive Langer – The Simple Life

Little Fluffy Clouds This is me in 1992.
1. Renegade Soundwave – Murder Music
2. Pop Will Eat Itself – 92ËšF (The 3rd Degree)
3. Meat Beat Manifesto – Psyche-Out
4. Psychic TV – I.C. Water
5. Aphex Twin – Analogue Bubblebath 1
6. Orbital – Chime
7. The Orb – Little Fluffy Clouds
8. Ultramarine – Stella
9. 808 State – Pacific 202
10. Tranquility Bass – They Came In Peace
11. Richard H. Kirk – The Feeling (Of Warmth and Beauty)

Frozen Warnings “Arty” mix, some “world” and some “hippie” stuff. Best Viva playlist ever?
1. John Cale – Frozen Warnings
2. Popol Vuh – Gemeinsam Tranken Sie Den Wein
3. Catherine Ribeiro – Un Sourire, Un Rire Des Éclats
4. Mahogany Brain – Silkskin Dawn
5. Illitch – N.A. (No Answer)
6. Faust – Baby
7. Rita Lee – Vamos Tratar Da Saudade
8. Joe Byrd and the Field Hippies – Moonsong: Pelog
9. Franco Battiato – Areknames
10. Hapshash & The Coloured Coat – The New Messiah Coming 1985
11. Amon Düül – Bitterlings Verwandlung
12. Comus – The Herald
13. Nico – Frozen Warnings

That’s it for now, go listen to all of them, let me know what you think, thanks.

A year or so ago some friends of mine asked me if I wanted to help out on this movie they were working on, a documentary focusing on the no wave cinema scene that emerged in NYC in the late 70s. I talked my way into becoming the “music supervisor” of their movie, Blank City, and began suggesting music to use. I didn’t realize how serious the project was until I finally saw the rough cut, which was about 8 hours long. The film was beautifully shot, excitingly edited, masterfully directed…and covered so much more than just no wave cinema. While the no wave film of the late 70s and the cinema of transgression of the 80s are the focal point, the movie goes further back to discuss influences in NYC and underground film, from Warhol and Jack Smith through the punk films of Amos Poe. And in discussing the scenes, they paint a more expansive picture of the times, the artists, the musicians, the lifestyle. So while the focus is certainly on the movies that were made, the movie should interest anybody with an interest in that time period.

I haven’t seen the final final cut yet, so I don’t know if all my favorite parts and all my favorite music made the cut, but movie goers will likely hear selections like imPLOG!, Glenn Branca, Ut, Patti Smith and tons of other great stuff.

The movie was accepted into the Tribeca Film Festival as part of it’s Encounters programming and has gotten great advance buzz. The festival site for the film is here, and you can purchase tickets here. The premiere, this saturday, is already sold out, but you may be able to get tickets to showings on Monday April 27th or Friday May 1st.