Edwige Belmore RIP

Edwige Belmore - RIP

The Downtown Decade: NYC 1975-1985 coming soon to Glenn Horowitz Bookseller

In a show that sounds not all that far off from what the Fales Library did about 10 years ago, Glenn Horowitz Bookseller announced the following event(s) earlier today:

The Downtown Decade: NYC 1975–1985

Exhibition Dates: Thursday, September 10–Saturday, October 10, 2015

Opening Reception: Tuesday, September 15th, 6–8 pm

17 West 54th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues

Catalog PDF available here. Includes many photos of Stupefaction faves & pals like Kate Simon, Allan Tannenbaum, Marcia Resnick, Roberta Bayley, Bob Gruen, and much more.

We are excited to begin our Fall season with The Downtown Decade: NYC 1975–1985, a multi-genre overview of the visionary creative scene that developed on New York City's Lower East Side during the late 1970s and early 1980s. At a time when the city was on the brink of fiscal disaster and suffering daily internal chaos, a burgeoning and interconnected artistic community emerged that would enduringly alter previously held perceptions of art, photography, literature, film, and music.

On display will be original items both by and featuring many of the era's participants, including Rene Ricard, David Armstrong, Nan Goldin, the Lurie Brothers, Jenny Holzer, Richard Prince, Peter Hujar, Kiki Smith, and Christoph Kohlhofer, as well as historical documentary material—vintage issues of the East Village Eye, gallery flyers, posters, manuscripts, and advertisements—and original artwork and photography by Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kate Simon, Philip Taaffe, Francesco Clemente, Marcia Resnick, Curt Hoppe, Jimmy DeSana, Christopher Makos, and Patti Smith, among others.

A soundtrack showcasing the period's outstanding musical talent will also be playing in the gallery during the show, including songs by the Ramones, The Clash, Blondie, Public Image Ltd., Grandmaster Flash, Talking Heads, James Chance, the Lounge Lizards, and Television.

The exhibition will be on display from Thursday, September 10–Saturday, October 10, 2015. 
An opening reception will be held Tuesday, September 15th, from 6-8 pm.

Events in conjunction with The Downtown Decade:

Book Signing: Jeannette Montgomery Barron


Date: Wednesday, September 30th, 6-8 pm 


Location: GHB Penthouse, 20 West 55th Street

Photographer and author Jeannette Montgomery 
Barron will be signing copies of her new book, My Years 
in the 1980s: New York Art Scene, in the GHB penthouse. Material featured in the book will be on display during the event, and RARE will remain open until 7 pm.

Screening: Downtown 81, with Glenn O’Brien


Date: TBA 


Location: GHB Penthouse, 20 West 55th Street

Please join us for a special screening in the 
GHB penthouse of Downtown 81, starring 
Jean-Michel Basquiat, which has been praised for capturing “…that New York moment when punk, emerging rap, art school cool and the East Village art and music scenes were at their creative best.” 
The film’s writer and producer, Glenn O’Brien, will both introduce the film and answer questions afterward. Seating will be limited.

James Chance Featured on Dangerous Minds

We're happy to report that Dangerous Minds ran a feature on James and the BUY album today! You can read the article here, and order BUY direct from Futurismo here. 

"Truly great jazz is rhythmic enough to lure you in but chaotic enough to make sure you don’t get bored…or too comfortable. Truly great funk is rhythmic enough to keep your body moving and your senses tighter than a trucker on a yellow-jacket binge. Cross these mighty twin forms together and you land somewhere near the county of James Chance. Even then, like any artist worth their salt, simple categorization is not only uneasy but also ill advised. And that’s when things get truly
exciting..." Continued...

Like A Gang of Four reared on Groucho, Chico and Harpo as much as Karl: The Three Johns announce 3 Disc collection!

One of my favorite unheralded bands of the 80's, The Three Johns (who were, indeed, 3 men named John: Jon Langford of the Mekons, John Hyatt, and John Brennan) have announced the release of Volume - a 3xCD box featuring two of their great albums, plus singles and B-sides. Over 50 tracks in all...and even a fanzine! Continue to read for the full scoop, and place your pre-order directly with the band here:

PRE-ORDER NOW FOR A 8/21 RELEASE

The Three Johns – Leeds original Death Rockers! – JOHN HYATT, JON LANGFORD and JOHN “BRENNY” BRENNAN, release their entire back catalog from 1982-1987 on CD for the first time. VOLUME is a 3 CD boxed set of all the singles, B-sides, 12 inch bonus tracks and the ATOM DRUM BOP and WORLD BY STORM albums in their complete original form. Digitally re-mastered by guitarist JON LANGFORD it contains over 50 art-metal disco classics including previously unreleased tracks from the mid-80s when the JOHNS ruled the roost on the post-punk indie circuit in the UK, Europe and the USA.

This definitive collection reveals the band at their creative peak, featuring raucous drum machine driven anthems like DEATH OF THE EUROPEAN, MEN LIKE MONKEYS, AWOL and NEVER AND ALWAYS (their 1987 collaboration with producer Adrian Sherwood). The box includes an exclusive THREE JOHNS fanzine called GET SEXY 2 created by James Brown of Loaded and NME fame.

Like A Gang of Four reared on Groucho, Chico and Harpo as much as Karl.

- Simon Reynolds, NME 1986

They're my favorite new Brits in years. - Robert Christgau, Village Voice 1984

The Three Johns by Ian Tilton

Revenge of the Mekons documentary available in July

Revenge of the Mekons, which hit some theater screens last year, will be released on DVD at the end of July. It can be pre-ordered on Amazon here.

Here's the scoop:

Revenge of the Mekons Music Box Films Home Entertainment

DVD RELEASE DATE: July 28, 2015

PRE-ORDER DATE: June 23, 2015

Price: DVD $29.95
Director: Joe Angio
Running Time: 96 minutes 

Format: 1.85:1 widescreen

Sound Format: Dolby Digital 5.1

Rating: NR

Country: U.S.

Language: English  

Bonus Features

·  Mekons Live Concert at the Bell House in Brooklyn, NY

·  Mekons Symposium at Columbia University

·  Bonus outtakes and interviews including Rico Bell and Will Oldham

·  Concert Poster Gallery

Audio of the Week: Interview with Ed Bahlman, founder of 99 Records

99 Records storefront, MacDougal St, NYC, by Ian Robb

A short, interesting interview with 99 Records founder & owner, Ed Bahlman. Unfortunately I don't know the date or origin of the interview, but it obviously dates to the early 80's as he's speaking of the bands in the present tense. It definitely pre-dates ESG's debut album.

Stupefied: The NME UK Top 50 Singles of 1980

Back by no demand whatsoever, I felt inspired to continue the series of NME year-end lists, so here you go - 1980 in all of its glory. Lake Placid, Russian boycott, great records & more video with each release. You could easily do a second, completely different, list, and it would be just as good. Please note that the Spotify list is not as complete as the YouTube list due to availability.

01. Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart

02. The Jam - Going Underground

03. The English Beat - Mirror In The Bathroom

04. Joy Division - Atmosphere

05. David Bowie- Ashes to ashes

06. Bow Wow Wow- I Want My Baby On Mars

07. Grace Jones - Private Life

08. David Bowie - Fashion

09. BOW WOW WOW - C30 C60 C90 Go!

10. Stevie Wonder - Master Blaster (Jammin')

11. The Teardrop Explodes - Treason

12. Dexys Midnight Runners - Geno

13. The Jam - Start

14. UB40 - Food for Thought/King

15. Elvis Costello & The Attractions - New Amsterdam

16. A Certain Ratio - Shack Up

17. Echo and the Bunnymen - Rescue

18. UB40 - My Way Of Thinking

19. Kurtis Blow - The Breaks

20. The English Beat - Best Friend

21. Elvis Costello & The Attractions ~ I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down

22. The Cramps - Drug Train

23. The Fall - Fiery Jack

24. Dexys Midnight Runners - Dance Stance (Original 7'' Version)

25. Robert Palmer - Johnny and Mary

26. The English Beat - Hands Off... She's Mine

27. The Subterraneans - My Flamingo

28. Magazine- A Song From Under The Floorboards

29. Comsat Angels - Independence Day

30. The Undertones - My Perfect Cousin

31. Stray Cats - Runaway Boys

32. Robert Wyatt - At Last I Am Free

33. Robert Palmer - Looking For Clues

34. Dexy's Midnight Runners - There, There My Dear

35. Madness - My Girl

36. Squeeze - Another Nail In My Heart

37. A Certain Ratio - Flight

38. Au Pairs - Diet / It's Obvious (7")

39. Tom Browne - Funkin' For Jamaica

40. Caberet Voltaire - Seconds Too Late

41. Diana Ross - I'm Coming Out

42. Elvis Costello & The Attractions - High Fidelity

43. Aswad - Warrior Charge

44. Richard Hell & the Voidoids - Love Comes in Spurts

45. Smack - Edward Fox

46. The Police - Don't Stand So Close To Me

47. Bette Bright - Hello I Am Your Heart

48. Linx - Rise and Shine

49. Siouxsie & The Banshees - Happy House

50. Adam and the Ants - Dog Eat Dog

Documentary of Note: Big Gold Dream - Scottish Post Punk, and Infiltrating The Mainstream

Here's a good one thats been in the works for a while, so keep an eye out for it! Big Gold Dream is a feature length doc from director Grant McPhee, and tells the tale of Scotland’s post-punk & indie music scene circa 1977-1985. It will apparently premiere, naturally, at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on the 19th June.

Friday Ephemera: ESG & Y Pants, 12.17.80, The Other End, NYC

To purchase this, and see much more like it, visit Gallery 98.

Rainforth: Former Maximum Joy vocalist, Janine Rainforth, is back!

Lead singer and co-founder of original post-punkers Maximum Joy, Janine Rainforth has made a welcome return to performing her music after an absence of more than two decades.

“… only Maximum Joy had Janine Rainforth, who played violin and clarinet, and gave them a voice that suggests a more generous comparison, like one of the Slits backed by the Gang of Four.” - Tom Hull (Recycled Goods)

“Rainforth has a smooth, even alto, that probably would have been singing British prog-folk 10 years earlier and trip-hop 10 years later” - Joe Tangari (Pitchfork)

“While their compatriots may have generated more attention, the rather more subtle Maximum Joy have perhaps worn rather more well. Janine Rainforth’s vision and vocals at this distance sets them apart, and maybe provide a more recognisable link to the leading players of the ‘90s Bristol creative renaissance.” - John Carney (Tangents)

Now performing under the name Rainforth, she has been busy devising and constructing new solo work in and around her home studio based in east London, and has an album worth of material set for release, she says ‘My new material is definitely not a re-run of Maximum Joy but the same exploratory ethos remains strong in this work.” She describes this new batch of music as ‘ballads with beats, soundscapes within a song.’

“New stuff rox” – Mark Stewart (The Pop Group)

The first tracks for official release on her own label, London Field Recordings, are "Rumination of Us" and "Have Brave Heart" as a limited edition CD-single and digital download – the CD and download are available for pre-order/purchase now from the Rainforth website. The tracks are devised and constructed solely by Rainforth, post-produced by Rainforth and Dave McEwen, and mastered by Noel Summerville. The video to "Rumination of Us" was shot in east London.

Rainforth is performing her new music live now, one of the first airings of it supporting The Pop Group at the final gig of their recent sell out UK tour, at Islington Assembly Rooms, October ’14.

Rainforth Website

Rainforth Facebook

Rainforth Twitter

Rainforth YouTube

Rock 'n' Roll High School

Via Precious Instant

TG24: I Hope Your Ears Don't Bleed

Thanks to Ubu Web for making the Throbbing Gristle TG24 set available. For hardy souls only...Listen here.

TG24 was originally released as a cassette boxed set in 1980. The set contained the first of Throbbing Gristles 24 shows in addition to two C90 cassettes taken from a Throbbing Gristle radio interview. The set was presented in a small attache case with a personalised handmade collage and various autographed pictures.

Beyond Time: A new album and film about William Turnbull by 23 Skidoo

Coming across this news was certainly a pleasant surprise. One of my all-time favorite UK post punk bands, 23 Skidoo, are releasing a new LP (their first in 15 years!!!) entitled Beyond Time, along with a DVD of a documentary with the same title which tells the story of acclaimed UK artist, William Turnbull. Turnbull happens to be the father of two of 23 Skidoo's members. Here are the details, along with a film clip - if you're reading this in an email you may want to click the headline to see the video.

Beyond Time is the first album by acclaimed experimental group 23 Skidoo in fifteen years, released in a special double disc edition combining the soundtrack music to 2011 documentary film Beyond Time, and a DVD of the film itself.

Directed by Alex Turnbull and Pete Stern, Beyond Time is a journey into the life and work of artist William Turnbull, from his modest roots as the son of a Dundee shipyard engineer to his standing as one of the world’s most highly regarded modern sculptors. Narration is by Jude Law. “An insightful, irreverent documentary, yet with a palpable sense of purpose” said the Daily Telegraph, with the Guardian confirming that“William Turnbull helped change the way we see art today.”

The soundtrack music is performed by 23 Skidoo. Formed in 1979 as industrial, post-punk and funk genres coalesced, the group included Bill Turnbull’s sons Alex and Jonny together with Fritz Catlin and Peter ‘Sketch’ Martin. As well as new music, the accomplished score features re-worked versions of older material. “Johnny and I thought 23 Skidoo’s anti-commercial tendencies came from a punk sensibility,” explains Alex. “But it turns out we had a genetic predisposition to anti-establishment practices. Bill was a polymath at a time when that was a dirty word, shifting between sculpture and painting and putting both in a symbiotic relationship. Now crossing boundaries is everywhere: think of hip-hop. The name of the band referenced a William Burroughs short story. Burroughs used, as we did, cut-up techniques, collaging and sampling. We were oblivious to the fact that a lot of that aesthetic was in what Bill did until I made the film.”

Both the CD and vinyl versions of Beyond Time include a Region 0 NTSC format DVD of the documentary film (with bonus features), but feature different artwork. The CD/DVD package features a portrait of Bill by photographer Ida Carr, while the vinyl/DVD version features a detail from 05 by William Turnbull (oil on canvas, 1959) printed on matt reverse board.

CD tracklist:

1. Dawning (version)

2. AYU (ambient)

3. Calypso

4. Interzonal

5. Kendang

6. Contemplation

7. Helicopterz

8. Urban Gamelan

Vinyl tracklist:

A1. Dawning (version)

A2. AYU (ambient)

A3. Calypso

B1. Kendang

B2. Contemplation

B3. Helicopterz

B4. Urban Gamelan

Both formats come with a Region 0 DVD copy of the film, and can be ordered here.

Contortions' BUY vinyl reissue from Futurismo now available for pre-order!

As announced back in November, the vinyl reissue of James Chance & the Contortions' BUY from Futurismo is now available for pre-order. It ships in March and it looks gorgeous!

Fully remastered and featuring two bonus tracks recorded at a brief reformation, this LP comes on heavy 180g limited edition coloured vinyl with Free Download. The record is encased in a mirror and neon gatefold sleeve containing a new large 12pg booklet featuring rare photography by the late great Anya Phillips and newly written text by the legendary James Chance himself. Get hip, get contorted. Don’t think just BUY.

Tracklisting > 

01. Designed To Kill 

02. My Infatuation 

03. I Don’t
Want To Be Happy 

04. Anestetic 

05. Contort Yourself 

06. Throw Me Away 

07. Roving Eye 

08. Twice Removed 

09. Bedroom Athlete 

10. Terminal City  (bonus cut)

11. Incorrigible (bonus cut)

Pre-Order BUY Now!

Steve Strange RIP

 

Steve Strange - RIP

Just Because: The Lounge Lizards first poster (1979)

Tier 3: June 21, 1979

courtesy of John Lurie & Hilary Jaeger

Liz Maher reviews Viv Albertine's Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys

Order the book here. Visit Viv's website here.

By Liz Maher for Stupefaction

Viv Albertine, original Slit girl and It girl of the 70’s London punk scene, long before the Kates and the Caras, has released her memoir CLOTHES, CLOTHES, CLOTHES. MUSIC, MUSIC, MUSIC. BOYS, BOYS, BOYS. (Thomas Dunne, on sale 11/25) The title comes from Albertine's long suffering mother’s exasperated summation of Albertine’s autoelectic description. Mother Albertine nailed it. Fortunately, Albertine grew up impoverished in the UK council estates (you know, the staircases and hallways are on the outside like at an Eileen Warnos era Florida motor court) instead of the USA where she could have easily have taken the ubiquitous mall rat turn. Thus charming transcends annoying. Malcolm McLaren and Viv Westwood’s frock shop, Sex, was Viv’s university and family, and they used her without mercy. The Diane Lane film based on Viv and her mates, Ladies and Gentlemen the Fabulous Stains, missed that part.

Albertine’s memoir does more than reminisce about her days as guitarist of the pioneering female punk bands (The Slits, The Flowers of Romance, and Flying Lizards), it tells a coming of age story which also serves as a historical insider’s guide to London’s early punk scene. The Slits served as female counterparts to The Clash - touring with them and The Buzzcocks and opening for The Sex Pistols. Declaring herself a feminist throughout the book, Albertine eschewed the traditional groupie/girlfriend role women - think Bebe Buell, Uschi Obermaier (my brother’s fave), Pamela Des Barres – women who also obtained a measure of agency through a more traditional and outwardly submissive role. Instead she immersed herself into the music scene as a musician and artist and uninhibited public persona who redefined her identity to embrace the world beyond the council flats. What Albertine might actually mean by “feminist” seems to be an autodidactic sense of rejecting the role of the abject and being assigned to ontological irrelevance. A plaster caster, she was not.

Admittedly she could not actually play guitar when she started out but that was part of punk’s search for the arche blues energy and its charm as an arresting fairy tale in the age of disco, self-absorption and Silver Jubilee commorative tea sets. Obsessed with having the perfect look and band cred, she eventually learned to play power chords. On the side she dated The Clash’s Mick Jones, inspiring the song Train In Vain, and Johnny Thunders (who I remember watching on stage wedged in between two speakers, drunk out of my mind at age 13,) was Sid Vicious’s BFF and ran with Chrissie Hynde and Siouxie Sioux.

Albertine offhandedly stakes her claim to setting the Doc Martin with minis, shrunken dress and taped torn stocking trends and Sid started the safety pin thing. More accurately, it happened around McDowell and Westwood’s boutique on Portobello Road and they glommed onto the trend and pushed the merch. At one point Albertine mentions her influence on 15-year old Slit’s bandmate Ari Up (RIP, Johnny Lydon’s daughter in law and creative msifit). Later she served as role model for Sleater-Kinney, Carrie Brownstein, Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain through the phylogenic persistence of her “mosquito guitar” sound). If that is not enough, her analysis of Sid Vicious’ handwriting alone makes it worth reading. I had always wondered about graphology and the creative process. In Sid’s case he was a sensitive slob, behind his – um – public image.

In keeping with the brevity of punk tracks averaging under 3 minutes, Albertine’s writes in speedy, two page per chapter bursts, a roman a clef version in the vein of Dashiel Hammnet, James McElroy and the 30 Second Bunnies ‘tunes. She takes the reader through a treacle flavored tour of her life from her first memories as a child immigrating from Australia to an dodgy life in England, growing up in an abusive broken home, coming of age on the cusp of punk rock’s development in the UK, attending art school hoping to follow in the footsteps of Ray Davies, too many boyfriends, battles with addiction, cancer and personal demons. Albertine experiences more in three chapters than most people experience in a lifetime. In short a Scholastic Books type morality tale for the middle –aged. Albertine writes about a lot of sexual harassment which she doesn’t feel the need to call out thereby making a stronger statement. She muses wistfully upon Joe Strummer’s lack of loyalty to his bandmate Mick Jones as Strummer “pesters (her) to sleep with him” despite his rotting teeth and overbearing political naiveté. Strummer wasn’t the only Clash member to solicit her. On the other hand, Vicious is portrayed as the eternal gentleman, if gentlemen spit, curse and start fights.

The Albertine-Jones relationship is complicated. It starts out with her whining to Jones about another

boy she's shagging after which he asks her on a date. With no effort or intention on her part, it progresses to a thing with Albertine reluctant to publicly acknowledge the romance (on the surface not conform to societal expectations but really because she didn’t want to hurt her chance with other boys.) Their love is challenged by Jones’ jealousy, a lonely abortion, more jealousy from Jones, Jones’ infidelity leading to VD for VA and finally ends with his blowing Albertine off after she won’t have sex with him will dealing with depression. She really should have gone with Thunders, possibly the only larger narcissist on the scene.

CMB is sectioned into two parts: Side One (young Viv) and Side Two (Middle Aged Viv). Side Two brings to mind the Arctic Monkeys’ anthem Fluorescent Adolescent of a woman who “used to get it in your fishnets, now you only get it in your night dress.” Part Two has our heroine trying to remain relevant by attempting re-create her band, teaching aerobics and taking a sort-of traditional job. Cancer, divorce, aging and loneliness enter but Albertine doesn’t let that or any man get her down. Albertine presents as not overly self-conscipus of her own talent. She is very skilled at showing things with her writing without having to state it, a sure sign of someone who never fit in. Her refusal to submit to undermining statements from male mouths is pronounced a bit too often and loud, we got the point. However, it is appreciated and maybe does need to be pronounced, discussed and chanted like a battle cry. It all ends on an uptick with Albertine counting her blessings and again her determination that no man will break her spirit. Albertine soundtracks her whole life in an appendix at the end, omitting the Arctic Monkeys. Let's say she lost her groove after 1981.

CMB is a great read/gift for both punk-o-philes and young women who these days identify with strong heroines (i.e. Katniss Everdeen.) There are a few cringe-worthy sex scenes in the book but they are so strained and uncomfortable they are more likely to promote abstinence than promiscuity. Vivian Albertine, you will never become a fixture in the Victoria & Albert, but her exegesis will be referenced in the catalogue.

James Chance & The Contortions BUY to see deluxe vinyl reissue in early 2015 on Futurismo

Word just in from the UK: The Futurismo label will be reissuing the Contortions BUY album in a deluxe 180 gram vinyl edition in early 2015!

What they say: Come contort yourself…the New York No Wave classic from the CONTORTIONS
is back! It’s just over 35 years since James Chance first assaulted turntables with the juddering jazz punk fusion that permeate the tracks immortalised on BUY. Continued here.

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Les Pattinson (Echo & the Bunnymen) collection up for auction Nov. 15

Former Echo & The Bunnymen bassist, Les Pattinson, is auctioning off a bevy of things, and bidding begins November 15. Items include ephemera, photographs, clothing and plenty of musical gear. See the list here, and watch the video below.

New Book of Note: The Big Midweek - Life Inside The Fall by Steve Hanley

Former Fall member, Steve Hanley, certainly had a great spot to observe everything going on for the band back in the heady post punk peak of the late 70's into the 80's as the bassist. By all reports, this just published book about his time in the band is excellent, and I plan on reading it. Plus it'll look nice next to Mark E. Smith's book on the shelf. Get a little more info at Hanley's website, and if you're in the US, you can order the book via Amazon.