Category Archives: punk

Lene Lovich @60

Lene Lovich @60

Nina Hagen & Lene Lovich by Theremina

Nina Hagen and Lene Lovich in their prime, click for credits.

Lene Lovich (born 30 March 1949) is an American singer based in England, who first gained attention as part of the New Wave music scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Her most popular hit single was “Lucky Number,” first released in 1979. She is the co-author of Cerrone‘s “Supernature.” Other notable recordings include “African Reggae“.

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnIJOO__jVo&]

“Lucky Number“

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM6QRjzE5gw]

“African Reggae“

“Sex Without Stress” is WMC #288

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OtuZjBc_H0

“Sex Without Stress” by the Au Pairs

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these. As I explained, I now do music on Facebook almost exclusively (join me there at Jan Geerinck with a brief note).

It’s been so long that I need to explain what WMC stands for: World music classics is an ongoing series of World Music Classics.

It had been a while since I’d heard “Sex Without Stress” by the Au Pairs.

“Sex Without Stress” is a musical composition by the British post-punk band the Au Pairs first released in 1982. It was also released on their album Sense and Sensuality. The song is also featured on Stepping Out of Line: The Anthology.

From the lyrics:

“Would you like to express
your sex without stress?
Would you like to discover
physical conversations of different kinds?”

The Au Pairs were a post-punk band who formed in Birmingham in 1979. Musically they were very similar to bands such as Ludus, Gang of Four and the Delta 5. That is, the rhythm section was tight and funky (obvious influences were James Brown and Funkadelic), but the guitars were light and “scratchy” (like Subway Sect). All these bands shared a strongly left wing social outlook, but the Au Pairs stood out due to their frontwoman, Lesley Woods, being an outspoken feminist and lesbian: the band were greatly influential in this respect on the riot grrrl movement a decade later. Music historian Gillian G. Gaar noted in her history of women in rock (She’s A Rebel: The History of Women In Rock & Roll) that the band mingled male and female musicians in a revolutionary collaborative way as part of its outspoken explorations of sexual politics.

Jello Biafra @50

Happy birthday Jello Biafra, former lead singer of the Dead Kennedys. In the late 1980s, the band was embroiled in an obscenity trial in the US over the 1985 Frankenchrist album, which included a “biomannerist” poster with art that depicted penises, “Penis Landscape“[1] by H. R. Giger, a work in the same vein as jahsonic fave Yoshifumi Hayashi.

Interviewed by Jools Holland:

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVrTW7AUkoM]

World music classics #11

Marquee Moon (1977) – Television

I was 16 or 17. D____ gave me this record. He didn’t like it or didn’t know what to make of it. To the last of knowledge, he lives on the Canary Islands. I don’t know where he got the record from. I no longer have this album. The World Dance Music classics category has been renamed to World Music Classics.

Marquee Moon is New York Television‘s post-punk outfit 1977 debut album. Television originally wanted to record Marquee Moon with veteran jazz recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder (John Coltrane‘s A Love Supreme, most of the classic Blue Note Records catalog) at his legendary recording studio. The album cover features a portrait of the band taken by Robert Mapplethorpe, who also took the cover of fellow CBGB rocker Patti Smith‘s Horses album. A cover version of the title track was recorded in 1990 by the Kronos Quartet for the compilation album Rubáiyát. The song “Marquee Moon” was done in one take; drummer Billy Ficca thought that they were rehearsing.

See previous entries in this series.