American musician Glenn Branca turns 60 today.
Branca is an avant-garde composer and guitarist of the New York “downtown music” and “No Wave” scene. He first came to international attention with his early work on 99 Records such as Lesson 1 for Electric Guitar, his production of Theoretical Girls and his contributions to the soundtrack of The Belly of an Architect, a 1987 British film directed by Peter Greenaway.
See Branca live[1] in 1978.
See also Music of New York City.
Tape editing: Bruno Maderna (left) and Luciano Berio (right)
Simon Reynolds published the director’s cut of an article[1] he wrote at the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, which was founded in 1958 on an unknown date. Similar radio services were started at the various public radios in Europe, all of influence to the emerging fields of electronic music and acousmatic music. Paris had the Groupe de Recherches Musicales which developed musique concrète, Cologne had Studio für elektronische Musik which nurtured the talent of Stockhausen, Italy had Studio di Fonologia Musicale with Bruno Maderna.
I’m probably generalizing, mixing studios with projects and radio with art projects. However, all of these projects share common characteristics: they are state funded (this is post-war, Marshall plan funded Europe), they involve electronic music and are centered around tape editing and thus the development of non-linearity in music recording.
So far the history of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, which was probably the biggest, as well as the other scenes mentioned above have been best documented. However, such studios and projects must have existed all over Europe. It would be interesting to get your feedback of the scene of your country. Scandinavia, Spain, Austria, the Balkan, everywhere, let’s hear it from you. I’m especially looking for cross-pollinations such as BBC Radiophonic Workshop/Doctor Who and Studio di Fonologia Musicale/Death Laid an Egg.
I’m collecting the notes for this project at European public radio and experimental music.
Dutch translation cover
French original cover
Yesterday, I went to Tuf Tuf, a not-so-reputed second hand book store on the South of Antwerp, my neighbourhood. It’s a real drag to hunt for books there: not enough space, books not arranged alphabetially, battered copies. But sometimes gems are to be found, I picked up a copy of Midnight Movies there once. Aside from this, they specialize in erotica. I spotted two Georges Pichard books yesterday priced at €86 each. I don’t think I’ve mentioned the canonical Pichard here before, his work is super-relevant today, as the good people at Kink.com have brought his ultra-pornographic vision to life.
Back to the subject at hand, me at Tuf Tuf yesterday. I bought Moderne Liefde, an anthology of short stories which previously appeared in Playboy Magazine (with a story by Borges, whose only hint at eroticism I’ve yet seen has been in his story Ulrica), Striptease en Erotiek[1] (a Dutch language translation of Strip-tease et érotisme[2]), De Leidraad (Le Lien) by Vanessa Duriès, and Erotiek by Francesco Alberoni.
Above, I’ve shown you the covers (above the translation I bought, below its original) of Strip-tease et érotisme, the actual object of this post.
Histoire et philosophie du strip-tease : Essai sur l’ érotisme au music-hall, as its full title reads, was written by François des Aulnoyes, to my knowledge one of the very few books he’s written. The book deals with striptease, what makes it interesting is that it was published in 1957, strictly speaking a couple of years before the sexual revolution. The text is hogwash and very briefly invokes Lucien Lévy-Bruhl, Émile Durkheim, Vilfredo Pareto and Freud, these are the only sources mentioned. Its historic overview also mentions Janine Jan and Anne Bruneau as 19th century predecessors to French striptease.
What makes the book interesting are the photographs by Roland Carré, see the cover shot of Huguette Delorme above. Like I said, the pre-sexual revolution mode, with all reference for example to pubic hair airbrushed away (this was the pre-Photoshop-age).
Following models are featured: Melody Bubbles, Clara Saint-Honoré, Sheiba Scott (very sexy), Vera Bell, Japanese model Yoko Tani, Flora Balmoral, Ketty Rogers, Luce Aubertin, Rita Renoir, Tony Teaser, Lola Stromboli, Sidonie Patin, Dodo d’Hambourg, Dora Bell, Magda (of the Concert Mayol), Kitty Tam-Tam, and Rita Cadillac.
Who was Roland Carré? The only person I know who can answer that question is Au carrefour étrange.
Via today’s post by John Coulthart comes the artwork of presumedly British graphic designer David Pelham. Most Ballardians, says Ballardian and John Coulthart prefer the 1974 Penguin paperbacks covers by Pelham. Here is a Flickr gallery[1] of Pelham’s work.
Pelham also designed the cover of the British edition of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, which has been replaced by the less interesting one shown below.
1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (2006) – Peter Dr Boxall [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Penguin Classics cover: from which painting?
I started reading The Red and the Black by Stendhal. Chapter 7 is entitled Les affinités électives, possibly a reference to Elective Affinities, published by Goethe 21 years earlier. This passage perfectly illustrates life imitating art:
“À Paris, la position de Julien envers Mme de Rênal eût été bien vite simplifiée ; mais à Paris, l’amour est fils des romans. Le jeune précepteur et sa timide maîtresse auraient retrouvé dans trois ou quatre romans et jusque dans les couplets du Gymnase, l’éclaircissement de leur position. Les romans leur auraient tracé le rôle à jouer, montré le modèle à imiter ; et ce modèle, tôt ou tard, et quoique sans nul plaisir, et peut-être en rechignant, la vanité eût forcé Julien à le suivre.”[1]
“In Paris, Julien’s position with regard to Madame de Renal would very soon have been simplified; but in Paris love is the child of the novels. The young tutor and his timid mistress would have found in three or four novels, and even in the lyrics of the Gymnase*, a clear statement of their situation. The novels would have outlined for them the part to be played, shown them the model to copy; and this model, sooner or later, albeit without the slightest pleasure, and perhaps with reluctance, vanity would have compelled Julien to follow.” –translation by C. K. Scott-Moncrieff (1889–1930)
The first literary example of life imitating art was Don Quixote in which Alonso Quixano has been driven crazy by reading too many mediaeval knight-errantry romances such Amadis of Gaul, the pulp fiction of the day.
The Red and the Black is an exceedingly accomplished novel.
*My excellent Dutch translation by Hans van Pinxteren (Pandora Pockets, Uitgeverij Contact, p.45) translates Gymnase as cabaret (liedjes in het cabaret). Gymnase probably refers to the Théâtre du Gymnase Marie Bell, rather than a gymnasium.
[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pE6FA2UwKs]
German documentary on the occasion of his birthday.
Germany’s sexual liberator and educator Oswalt Kolle turns 80 today. He was an equivalent of Phyllis and Eberhard Kronhausen in the U. S. and Torgny Wickman in Scandinavia. He was pivotal in the 1960s sexual revolution. I wouldn’t known who his other European counterparts were. The cinematic genre he spawned is known by cult film aficionados as white coaters, or in its home country as Aufklärungsfilme. The genre is related to the sex report films.
Kolle’s detractors came from the catholic corner (see sexual repression and Christianity and sexuality) and called him “Schweinehund” in the documentary above.
Kolle broke another taboo in 2000, when he assisted his wife’s euthanasia.
Visuals?
Check these:
Sunset from my rear window.
Erosion at work, how many feet have trodden?
My estimated guess is 14 million and 700,000
[Youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=cfUkWcMYwYY&]
“Pum-Pum“
Pum-Pum is a single by Lee Perry on his new album Repentance, his 54th studio album. Pum-Pum is a reference to the sexual slang word for vagina in early 20th century British and Patois.
I wonder what happened to “Disco Devil revisited 2007“, which I liked much more than this tune.
Last month, I discovered “Toe Jam,”[1] a song by David Byrne, Dizzee Rascal and Norman Cook, a dance tune with soca and Balkan influences. Its video, directed by Keith Schofield is a humorous take on 1970s porn, using censor bars as devices to produce images and sounds.
[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_wR22jTyyY]
“Toe Jam”
Three days ago, Schofield released a promotional clip for Diesel, Diesel SFW XXX[2], yet another send-up of film censorship, this time using models to enact “sexual acts,” superimposed by animation bits that hide the action and seemlingly give it an innocent appearance. SFW is an acronym denoting “safe for work,” i.e not NSFW.
[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vna0HojUUqA&]
“Diesel SFW XXX”
Another use of the censor rectangles
Perversion for Profit (1965)
[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95O5P4DTOEE]
