Introducing Yuka Yamaguchi

Introducing Yuka Yamaguchi

Yuka Yamaguchi

Yuka Yamaguchi

I found this image[1] by Japanese artist Yuka Yamaguchi yesterday. Artwork which features innards of bodies are a personal favourite, I first realized this after discovering Ferdinand Springer‘s Ecorché I[2] some years ago.

I can’t tell off hand who else belongs in this category from an artistic point of view, but from a utilitarian point of view there is the anatomical art by the lickes of Vesalius, Jacques Gautier d’Agoty[3] and John Bell[4]. Perhaps my first exposure to the subversion of inside and outside was David Cronenberg‘s Videodrome in which a videotape and a pistol are inserted in the belly of James Woods.

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ytp69fBh0J8&]

Videodrome (belly insertion scene at 2:54)

More of her art can be found by clicking this[6] Google gallery. She also has presences on Youtube[7] and Flickr[8], as well as a blog[9].

She is a woman with excellent and adventurous tastes. From her Flickr profile:

Favorite Books & Authors: Mishima, Osamu Dazai, Mitsuo, Cyu-ya, Oliver Sacks, Murakami Haruki, Saki, Yourou Takeshi, Tsurumi Shunsuke, Kindaichi Haruhiko, Malcom Gladwell, Jan Wong,

Favorite Movies, Stars & Directors: Ozu, Kurosawa, Yamada Yoji, Wong Kar Wai, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro, Coen Brothers, Wes Anderson, Michel Gondry

Favorite Music & Artists: Aeroplane, Superpitcher, Junior Boys, Jacques lu Cont, DFA, France Gall, Daniel Wang, Kelley Polar, Loo & Placido, Alpha, Satie, Kahimi Karie, Tom Waits, Stereolab, Yuzo, Fujiyama Ichiro

Most of the comments on Yamaguchi’s work focus on the fact that she transcends the “weird for weird’s sake” aesthetic found in many of her contemporaries (think many of the lowbrow Americans presented by Wurzeltod). Her work is an uncanny mix of cruelty and innocence, benign in spite of its undercurrent of disturbance.

Her closest percursor is probably Roland Topor.

RIP Lux Interior (1946 – 2009)

Lux Interior (1946 – 2009) of the Cramps died yesterday.

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owF1iSVi8KA]

“Human Fly“

The encyclopedic stuff:

The Cramps are a punk rock band originally formed in 1972. Their line-up has rotated much over the years, with Lux Interior and Poison Ivy, the lead singer and lead guitarist respectively as the only permanent members. They were part of the early CBGBs punk rock movement that had emerged in New York and are best-known for their song “Human Fly“.

Their music is mostly in blues form, played at varying, (though usually fast) tempos, with a very minimal drumkit. An integral part of the early Cramps sound is dual guitars, without a bassist. The content of their songs and image is sleaze, trashy Americana (much in the style of filmmaker John Waters), sexual fetishism, clever bad jokes, and cheap, horror B-movie clichés.

Their sound was heavily influenced by early rockabilly and proto-rock’n’roll like Link Wray and Hasil Adkins, 1960s surf music acts such as The Ventures and Dick Dale, 1960s garage rock artists like The Standells, The Gants and The Sonics, as well as the post-glam/early punk scene from which they emerged. They also were influenced to a degree by The Ramones and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, who is often credited for having pioneered their style of theatrical horror-blues. Their influences and/or the songs they covered were compiled in the vinyl album series Born Bad.

In turn, they have strongly influenced subsequent punk and rockabilly revival bands, even creating a genre in their wake. “Psychobilly,” a style played by bands like The Meteors and the Sharks, is a term† coined by the Cramps, although Lux Interior maintains that the term does not describe their own style. The Cramps also influenced or anticipated acts like The White Stripes, The Gun Club, The Fuzztones, James Chance and the Contortions and The Birthday Party.

The personal stuff:

I can’t really remember my first exposure to The Cramps, but I was hooked when they first came within earshot. The first song must have been “Human Fly“, which tapped straight into my veins. I bought most of their albums up until the early nineties, I believe the last one was Smell of Female which I played over and over. Phrases such as “This is to all you Gucci bag carriers out there” can be reproduced from memory.

The phrase is from “You Got Good Taste.”

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYiGxfOL5eo]

Of course, my interest coincided with the then garage rock revival of the eighties. My best memories of The Cramps are bying their originals on the Born Bad series.

“To understand bad taste one must have very good taste” –John Waters

The clearly Betty Page/Irving Klaw-inspired sleeves could have been a lot better but the music opened up to a whole world of musical misfits and one-hit wonders, of which the following “Goo Goo Muck” is an excellent example.

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sj24CBT2NSE]

“Goo Goo Muck” (the music doesn’t start until :59)

Farewell Lux!

New erotic fiction in France

Coños. Juan-Manuel de Prada

Coños by Juan Manuel de Prada (in the Valdemar edition)

De Papieren Man reports[1] that French publishing house Seuil just launched an erotic fiction series in its Points collection of cheap paperbacks.

Nine titles have been published at the end of January. They feature strikingly bright pink covers. “Parce que la littérature est une provocation…” (Eng: Because literature is a provocation), goes the slogan to the new collection.

The slogan reminds me of Mallarmé‘s famous dictum on the subversive qualities of book reading “Je ne sais pas d’autre bombe, qu’un livre.” (I know of no bomb other than the book.)

Four titles were acquired from other publishing houses. Coños[2] by Juan Manuel de Prada, Le Beau Sexe des hommes by Florence Ehnuel, Le Fouet by Martine Roffinella and Légendes de Catherine M. by Jacques Henric on the exploits of his wife Catherine Millet. Other titles include La vie sexuelle de Catherine M. by Catherine Millet, Le Boucher by Alina Reyes and Putain by Nelly Arcan; an anthology of erotic poetry by Jean-Paul Goujon. Director of Points is Emmanuelle Vial. First prints range from 4.500 to 8.400 copies, price hovers between 6 to 8 euros. Every two books bought merit a “naughty gift” by lingerie brand Yoba. The first present was a mask.

It was not the first time that the color pink came to symbolize eroticism in the media. In the eighties started the popular TV series Série Rose.

Jean Richepin @160

Jean Richepin @160

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bAZPmgvQn4&]

contemporary version of La Glu by a certain Dorsannes

A la dérive by Jean Richepin

Jean Richepin (February 4, 1849 – December 12, 1926), French poet, novelist and dramatist, noted for perpetuating tropes such as La Glu (1881). He belonged to the Le Cercle des poètes Zutiques and was an important player in French cabaret, the French avant-garde, the history of the cruel tale and the history of derision.

Richepin was virtually unknown until the publication, in 1876, of a volume of verse entitled Chanson des gueux (see Les Gueux), when his outspokenness resulted in his being imprisoned and fined for outrage aux mœurs.

La Glu

La Glu by Richepin

La Glu first came to my attention[1] a year ago. It is a poem/song by French writer Jean Richepin. It is a story of motherly love, of a mistress who demands of her lover his mother‘s heart to feed to her dog.

The song was a staple in the French cabarets of the late 19th century and has been interpreted by various performers including Eugènie Valladon, Mistinguett and Polaire.

“La Glu” was brought to stage by Richepin for the Théâtre de l’Ambigu-Comique in 1883 and later adapted to musical drama set to music by Gabriel Dupont performed at the opera of Nice in 1910.

Hungarian writer József Kiss used the plot for his novel The Mother’s Heart (“Az anyasziv”, written between 1883 and 1889).

The origin of the story is probably an old Arabian tale. It was updated in the 1920s by Iranian poet Iraj Mirza.

The original lyrics of “La Glu” are:

Y avait une fois un pauvre gars
Et lonlon laire
Et lonlon la
Y avait une fois un pauvre gars
Qui aimait celle qui ne l’aimait pas.
T’es-tu fait mal, mon enfant ?
Et le cœur disait, en pleurant :
Elle lui dit : Apporte-moi d’main,
Et lonlon laire
Et lonlon la
Elle lui dit : Apporte-moi d’main,
L’ cœur de ta mère pour mon chien.
Va chez sa mère et la tue,
Et lonlon laire
Et lonlon la
Va chez sa mère et la tue,
Lui prit l’ cœur et s’en courut
Comme il courait, il tomba
Et lonlon laire
Et lonlon la
Comme il courait, il tomba
Et par terre, le cœur roula.
Et pendant que le cœur roulait
Et lon, lon laire,
Et lon, lon la,
Et pendant que le cœur roulait,
Entendit le cœur qui parlait.
Et le cœur disait, en pleurant
Et lonlon laire
Et lonlon la

Felix Mendelssohn @200

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHj_eV6WSdg]

Song without words in D major, Op.109 Jacqueline du Pré

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqsFvz1bWFk]

Wedding March

Felix Mendelssohn (February 3, 1809 – November 4, 1847) was a German composer, pianist and conductor of the early Romantic period best-known for his Wedding March from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. After a long period of relative denigration due to changing musical tastes and antisemitism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, his creative originality is now being recognized and re-evaluated. He is now among the most popular composers of the Romantic era.

The conservative strain in Mendelssohn, which set him apart from some of his more flamboyant contemporaries, bred a similar condescension on their part toward his music. His success, his popularity and his Jewish origins irked Richard Wagner sufficiently to damn Mendelssohn with faint praise, three years after his death, in an anti-Jewish pamphlet Das Judenthum in der Musik. This was the start of a movement to denigrate Mendelssohn’s achievements which lasted almost a century, the remnants of which can still be discerned today amongst some writers. The Nazi regime was to cite Mendelssohn’s Jewish origin in banning performance and publication of his works as degenerate music. Charles Rosen, in his book The Romantic Generation, disparages Mendelssohn’s style as “religious kitsch”, such opinion reflecting a continuation of the aesthetic contempt of Wagner and his musical followers.

An encore?

Mendelssohn in The Abominable Dr. Phibes:

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nJ40F8MLjc]

War March of the Priests (is it?)

Carl Theodor Dreyer @110

Carl Theodor Dreyer, Danish film director (1889 – 1968)

Vampyr (Carl Theodor Dreyer) by hipecac

Most iconic image of Dreyer’s career, from Vampyr

by nequest

Second most iconic image of Dreyer’s career, from Vampyr

Still from The Passion of Joan of Arc

Still from The Passion of Joan of Arc

Carl Theodor Dreyer (February 3, 1889 – March 20, 1968) was a Danish film director. He is regarded as one of the greatest directors in cinema. Although his career spanned the 1910s through the 1960s, his meticulousness, dictatorial methods, idiosyncratic shooting style, and stubborn devotion to his art ensured that his output remained low. In spite of this, he is an icon in the world of art film.

At the same time he produced work which is of interest to film lovers with sensational inclinations, which merits his placement in the nobrow canon.

Thus, we tend to remember best of his oeuvre films such as Vampyr (a vampire film) and The Passion of Joan of Arc (for its execution by burning scene).

The Passion of Joan of Arc

The Passion of Joan of Arc is a silent film produced in France in 1928. It is based on the trial records of Joan of Arc. The film stars Renée Jeanne Falconetti and Antonin Artaud.

Though made in the late 1920s (and therefore without the assistance of computer graphics), includes a relatively graphic and realistic treatment of Jeanne‘s execution by burning. The film stars Antonin Artaud. The film was banned in Britain for its portrayal of crude English soldiers who mock and torment Joan in scenes that mirror biblical accounts of Christ’s mocking at the hands of Roman soldiers.

Scenes from Passion appear in Jean-Luc Godard‘s Vivre sa Vie (1962), in which the protagonist Nana sees the film at a cinema and identifies with Joan. In Henry & June Henry Miller is shown watching the last scenes of the film and in voice-over narrates a letter to Anaïs Nin comparing her to Joan and himself to the “mad monk” character played by Antonin Artaud.

Vampyr

Vampyr is a French-German film released in 1932. An art film, it is short on dialogue and plot, and is admired today for its innovative use of light and shadow. Dreyer achieved some of these effects through using a fine gauze filter in front of the camera lens to make characters and objects appear hazy and indistinct, as though glimpsed in a dream.

The film, produced in 1930 but not released until 1932, was originally regarded as an artistic failure. It got shortened by distributors, who also added narration. This left Dreyer deeply depressed, and a decade passed before he able to direct another feature film, Day of Wrath.

Film critics have noted that the appearance of the vampire hunting professor in Roman Polanski‘s film The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967) is inspired by the Village doctor played in Vampyr. The plot is credited to J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s collection In a Glass Darkly, which includes the vampire novella Carmilla, although, as Timothy Sullivan has argued, its departures from the source are more striking than its similarities.

Vampyr shows the obvious influence of Symbolist imagery; parts of the film resemble tableau vivant re-creations of the early paintings of Edvard Munch.

Vampyr and The Passion of Joan of Arc are World Cinema Classics #83 and 84.

Havelock Ellis @150

Havelock Ellis @150

Psychology of Sex by Havelock Ellis

Pan Piper was an imprint of Pan Books

Havelock Ellis (February 2, 1859 – July 8, 1939) was a British sexologist, noted for his seven volume Studies in the Psychology of Sex and for his translation of Against the Grain by Joris-Karl Huysmans.

He was an astute observer, a quote I use regularly is:

What we call ‘Progress’ is the exchange of one nuisance for another nuisance. —Havelock Ellis

Havelock Ellis

The sexologist and writer Havelock Ellis “looked like a tripartite cross between Tolstoy, Rasputin, and Bernard Shaw; was one of the many semi-pagan ideological nudists that England produced at the end of the nineteenth century; and never achieved full sexual arousal until his second wife urinated on him in his late middle age.” (Our Culture, What’s Left of it by Theodore Dalrymple)

His impotence and urolagnia

According to Ellis in My Life, his friends were much amused at his being considered an expert on sex, what with the fact that he suffered from impotence until the age of 60, when he discovered that he was able to become aroused by the sight of a woman urinating. Ellis named the interest in urination “Undinism” but it is now more commonly called Urolagnia.

His marriage

In November 1891, at the age of 32, and still a virgin, Ellis married the English writer and proponent of women’s rights, Edith Lees (none of his four sisters ever married). From the beginning, their marriage was unconventional; Edith Ellis was openly lesbian, and at the end of the honeymoon, Ellis went back to his bachelor rooms in Paddington, while she lived at Fellowship House. Their ‘open marriage‘ was the central subject in Ellis’s autobiography, My Life.

On sexual inversion

His book Sexual Inversion, the first English medical text book on homosexuality, co-authored with John Addington Symonds, described the sexual relations of homosexual men and boys, something that Ellis did not consider to be a disease, immoral, or a crime. The work assumes that same-sex love transcended age-taboos as well as gender-taboos, as seven of the twenty-one examples are of intergenerational relationships. A bookseller was prosecuted in 1897 for stocking Ellis’ book. Although the term homosexual itself is attributed to Ellis, he wrote in 1897, “‘homosexual’ is a barbarously hybrid word, and I claim no responsibility for it,” the hybridity in question being the word’s mix of Greek and Latin roots. Other psychologically important concepts developed by Ellis include autoerotism and narcissism, both of which were later taken up by Sigmund Freud.

On sadomasochism

A lot has been written on masochism, from Freud to Reik, but one of the best descriptions is by Havelock Ellis:

“The essence of sadomasochism is not so much “pain” as the overwhelming of one’s senses – emotionally more than physically. Active sexual masochism has little to do with pain and everything to do with the search for emotional pleasure. When we understand that it is pain only, and not cruelty, that is the essential in this group of manifestations, we begin to come nearer to their explanation. The masochist desires to experience pain, but he generally desires that it should be inflicted in love; the sadist desires to inflict pain, but he desires that it should be felt as love….” — From an unidentified volume of Studies in the Psychology of Sex

Many of Ellis’s texts are featured at the public domain library Gutenberg.org. I do wish I could lay my hands on an indexed copy of Studies in the Psychology of Sex for a reasonable price. He is, I feel, an underappreciated writer.

RIP John Martyn (1948 – 2009)

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPb1OX8bbeY]

RIP British singer-songwriter John Martyn. Over a forty-year career he released twenty studio albums and worked with the best but despite this, he has largely remained a cult figure.

My first exposure to John Martyn was via Gilles Peterson in 2000 on his first Worldwide compilation, which featured his track “Solid Air.”

Q, 1999 voted “Solid Air” as one of the best chill-out albums of all time.

Like I said, I am not really familiar with Martyn’s oeuvre, but still his death was significant to me because based on the comments of the people I know and whose tastes I trust, he was an important musician.

His sound reminds me of Richard Thompson, whom I listened to in my early twenties, and who contributed to Solid Air.

John Martyn also recorded with my hero Lee Perry and is connected to British tastemaker Joe Boyd.

First a bit on the Lee Perry link.

John Martyn as the first white artist to be signed to Island Records. Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island introduced Martyn to Lee Perry. Martyn remembers: “He asked me to come over to Jamaica and relax with him. I went and crashed at his gaff in the Strawberry Hills by Spanish Town. It was cool.”

The One World liner notes report on their collaboration:

“The exact length of time Martyn spent in Jamaica is hazy (“I may have been there for seven weeks; it may have been seven months. I stayed rather longer than my visa extended”), but it introduced him to the cultural hotbed of the Kingston music scene, and one of its most flamboyant characters, producer and writer Rainford Hugh ‘Lee’ Perry aka The Upsetter aka Pipecock Jackson aka Scratch.
“Yes – John Martyn!,” Perry crackled
“Anything he’d request of me would
be OK. John is full of fun, a simple guy;
he’s somebody very special’
“Chris took me down to Scratch’s house, the Black Ark,” Martyn laughs. “Chris had said that Scratch and I were using essentially the same recording techniques and we should meet. I was using rhythm boxes and Echoplex, and my man Scratch was into the same effect, a dub thing, man. It was the echo thing that invented dub for Scratch -and I just came across my version of it by accident. Mine was faster, mine was Bo Diddley. I loved working with Scratch and will do in the future, please God. I love him. There was always a naughty, rosy little twinkle in his eye.”
This meeting led to Martyn recording at the legendary Black Ark studios, hanging out with fabled characters such as Max Romeo and Burning Spear. Martyn appeared on Spear’s Man In The Hills album, as well as on several other sessions of the day. “I did sessions with every motherfucker and nobody told me that I’d done them,” Martyn chortles. “I would hear records later and then all of a sudden a fuzz solo with a touch of phased echo would come and I would think, fuck me, that’s me! It was very cool -I didn’t mind it at all.”

“Big Muff” on Martyn’s One World album was co-written by Perry and Martyn.

On the Joe Boyd link:

Quotes from the liner notes to John Martyn’s Stormbringer!

In January 1969 Martyn met singer Beverley Kutner at a concert supporting US singer Jackson Frank at Chelsea College of Art. Beverley was also a figure on the London folk scene and had been a friend of Paul Simon when the American singer-songwriter had lived in London. After Simon found success with Art Garfunkel, he secured her appearance at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. When she met John she was in the process of working on solo material for producer Joe Boyd’s Witchseason Productions and was looking for musician’s to work with. She later recounted “He was individual, rakish, all curly hair and smiles. He seemed like the ideal guy to help me out, plus of course it helped that I fancied him like mad”. John and Beverley soon became romantically involved and married in 1969. Joe Boyd had secured interest from Warner Brothers records in America in releasing an album by Beverley and it soon became apparent to Boyd that the potential of the husband and wife recording as a duo could be creatively fruitful.
On April 16th 1969, John and Beverley Martyn entered Sound Techniques studio in Chelsea to commit four songs to tape. “Traffic Light Lady”, “I Don’t Know”, “John the Baptist” and “It’s One of Those Days” were all wonderful compositions, revealing that Boyd’s instincts in paring the duo were correct. Suitably encouraged, negotiations with Warner’s were completed and in the early Summer of 1969 he and Beverley travelled to the USA, basing themselves in the musician’s haven of Woodstock in upstate New York. The area was soon to become internationally famous thanks to the celebrated rock festival that took place later that year and also due to Bob Dylan and The Band becoming residents, recording their infamous “basement tapes” sessions there and setting the scene for The Band’s masterpiece “Music from Big Pink” (a big influence on John at that time). John and Beverley soon integrated themselves into the local musical social scene, befriending drummer Levon Helm of The Band and their near weekend neighbour, Jimi Hendrix. John would later recount “Hendrix lived virtually next door to us. He used to arrive every Thursday in a purple helicopter, stay the weekend and would leave on Monday”.

Many of Martyn’s obituaries mention his lifelong addiction to alcohol, drugs and women.

Germaine Greer @70, Leroy Sibbles @60

My fave Greer cover:

Female Eunuch (1970) – Germaine Greer [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

The Female Eunuch (cover artist unknown)

A newly discovered Sibbles track:

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgWwN3i9Qpw&]

“Express Yourself”

More at:

Germaine Greer (born January 29, 1939) is an Australian-born writer, broadcaster and retired academic, widely regarded as one of the most significant feminist voices of the 20th century. Her name has become synonymous with feminist “bra burning” activism of the late 1960s.

Leroy Sibbles (born January 29, 1949) is a reggae musician from Jamaica. He was the lead singer for The Heptones in the 1960-70s.

In addition to his work with The Heptones, Sibbles was a session bassist and arranger at Clement ‘Coxsone’ Dodd‘s Jamaica Recording and Publishing Studio and associated Studio One label during the prolific late 1960s era.

RIP French singer Gérard Blanc

RIP French singer Gérard Blanc

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgbtKg9g1jI]

Can someone ID Gérard in this clip

Gérard Blanc (December 8, 1947 – January 24, 2009) was a French singer and guitarist, internationally best-known for his work with Martin Circus.

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzfZ85ipb_c&]

“Disco Circus“

Martin Circus is a French rock group formed in 1969. They are best-known for their single “Disco Circus,” released in 1978 in France and licensed by in the US by Prelude Records label, which commissioned additional remixes by New York-based French expat François Kevorkian.

Disco Circus (1978) – Martin Circus

Released as an album and a twelve inch single on the New York Prelude record label, Disco Circus by French outfit Martin Circus which first came to my attention as a favourite of the Detroit techno artists such as Juan Atkins and Derrick May (who listed it as his top 5 record in the late eighties). It is an example of the cross-fertilization of the European and North American disco markets of the late 1970s. Other examples of which are Orlando Riva Sound‘s Moon Boots single which was released on the American imprint Salsoul records

See French disco.