jane from occupied europe

Swell Maps found their way through cacophonous collisions into a secret island of surreal post punk soundscapes and adventurous avante angst.   Brothers Kevin Paul Godfrey (Epic Soundtracks) and Adrian Nicholas Godfrey (Nikki Sudden) started the band in 1972 in the Birmingham suburb of Solihull,   They had expanded to include Richard Earl (Biggles Books), David Barrington (Phones Sportsman), John "Golden" Cockrill, and Stephen Bird (Jowe Head) by the time they recorded their debut single "Read About Seymour" in 1977.   Their debut album A Trip to Marineville came out in 1979 and reached the top of the new independent album chart.  



Their final album The Swell Maps in 'Jane From Occupied Europe' featured  Epic Soundtracks on drums, piano, organ, toys, vocals, handclaps, violin, guitars, sax, concrete, and typewriter;   Nikki Sudden on vocals, guitar, organ, toys, handclaps, bass, and piano;   Jowe Head on bass, sax, guitar, toys, and vocals;   Richard Earl on guitar, organ, toys, vocals, handclaps, and bass;   David Barrington on guitar, violin, kazoo, vocals, and bass;   John Cockrill on handclaps and vocals;  and Barry Gray on organ.   

Sudden says:   "The electric typewriter was a home recording that Epic and Phones Sportsman had done with the mic inside the typewriter, hitting the keys and screaming at the top of their voices.  We were trying a lot of the same things The Beatles had done - independently, not really knowing anything about their techniques.  And doing it on a much lower budget.  I was just trying to make records that sound like T Rex, and Epic was trying to make records that sounded like Can.  When Epic got into Scritti Politti, it was like he didn't want to do songs any more; he just wanted to make things up.  It was a battle to actually record my songs.  I was the one who wrote all the songs basically.  My songs sold the albums and the singles.  When we did the last single, "Let's Build A Car", they wanted to put "Big Maz" as the a-side, just an instrumental, but I managed to overrule them."








"Let's Build a Car"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YweKU8ckalk



"Dresden Style"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z42tmEgGulk



"The Helicopter Spies"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf2fa1IzKj0



"Cake Shop Girl"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGSIRGGdARo







The Swell Maps in 'Jane From Occupied Europe'
full album:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUp1WFTgkzU



Side One:

00:00  "Robot Factory" (Soundtracks/Earl) – 2:27
02:24  "Let's Buy a Bridge" (Sudden) – 1:55
04:18  "Border Country" (Sudden) – 2:12
06:30  "Cake Shop"  (Head) – 2:25
08:57  "The Helicopter Spies" (Sudden) – 4:20
13:13  "Big Maz in "The Desert From The Trolley"" (Swell Maps) – 5:11
18:21  "Big Empty Field" (Soundtracks/Earl) – 3:44
22:05  "Mining Villages" (Soundtracks/Sportsman) – 1:01

Side Two:
23:09  "Collision with a Frogman vs. The Mangrove Delta Plan" (Swell Maps) – 8:06
26:49  "Secret Island" (Sudden) – 4:34
35:45  "Whatever Happens Next...." (Sudden) – 2:58
38:45  "Blenheim Shots" (Sudden) – 3:42
42:25  "A Raincoat's Room" (Soundtracks) – 1:42

bonus tracks
44:09  "The Stairs are Like an Avalanche" (Swell Maps) – 4:04
47:31  "New York" (Sudden) - 3:19

and more:

"Let's Build a Car" (Sudden) – 3:06
"Epic's Trip" (Soundtracks) – 0:55
"...then Poland" (Swell Maps) – 0:52
"Dresden Style"
"Ammunition Train" 
"Full Moon in my Pocket"

fear of music

Talking Heads changed gears with the panoply of paranoia that informs this paradoxical polyrhythmic post punk party.  They had a breakthrough with their second album 'More Songs About Buildings And Food' and the single 'Take Me To The River' becoming a top thirty hit.   Going into the studio on their own to work on new material, the band was unsatisfied with the results and decided to set up at the loft apartment of Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth in Long Island City where they used to rehearse back in the day.  It was there that they wound up recording the basic tracks for 'Fear Of Music' using a mobile recording van from Record Plant with engineers running cables in through the loft window.  Brian Eno returned to co-produce the sessions and did electronic treatments on the tracks that resulted.  Eno revealed at the time:  "What appealed to me initially about their music was its powerful structural discipline.  In the Talking Heads, the rhythm section is like a ship or train--very forceful and certain of where it’s going. On top of that you have this hesitant, doubting quality that dizzily asks, ‘Where are we going?’ That makes for a sense of genuine disorientation, unlike the surface insanity of the more commonplace, expressionist punk groups."

Weymouth waxed:    "I realize that some people think our music isn’t exactly heartfelt.  It’s not that we try to be aloof or oblique; it’s just that the ideas are a little unusual--not your typical love stuff. We’ve been criticized for using metaphors about efficiency and economy, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t real feelings behind them...We feel emotional about our songs.  But maybe other people just want us to explode. I think sometimes we almost do spin out of control--I feel like I’m driving a car very fast on a mountainous road. But some things are just too...embarrassing to do onstage...What we are is a bunch of overachievers."




Franz admitted:   "The only thing we have going for us, besides our eccentricities, is our sound.  Sometimes I imagine our whole purpose is to conceive of a song structure or rhythm that would be a breakthrough in music. Maybe get a little paragraph in some theory book. Sounds real corny, but that’s kind of what I hope this group does."

Jerry Harrison said:   "Every once in a while we’ll meet some artist who says, ‘I think using rock & roll for your art form is brilliant.’ I find that repellent. If anything, rock & roll should fit the proletarian view of art, which is partly what made punk so powerful: it was like a revolt of ugliness, a revolt against the elitism of aesthetic beauty. I think there are some deep differences between rock & roll and art."

David Byrne would reflect:   "It’s a question of semantics...I think people confuse coldness and unfeelingness with the fact that we’re aware of what we’re doing. I know that may suggest arrogance or awkwardness, but I mean it in just the literal sense of being aware of what you’re doing,’ like: ‘Look at the funny place we’re in; we’re in front of people doing this.’ That might seem cold to some; to me, it just seems realistic...What bothers us about art rock is the way other bands, like Emerson, Lake and Palmer, have construed it. They take something from a standard high-art context and try to make it palatable for mass tastes. We don’t see ourselves as trying to simplify highfalutin ideas, then slip them over on our audience...We’re in a funny position: it wouldn’t please us to make music that’s impossible to listen to, but we don’t want to compromise for the sake of popularity. It’s possible to make exciting, respectable stuff than can succeed in the marketplace...I haven’t done many interviews recently, but when I do, I make it a point to mention that I’ve never seen a psychiatrist...I’m not an entirely comfortable person. In fact, I admit to being extremely shy at times. But that isn’t necessarily neurotic. Actually, I find it unfortunate that people use so much psychology jargon when they write about me and my songs. I’m skeptical because so many people view psychoanalysis as a valid interpretation of how people operate. I tend to see my own viewpoints and behavior as sensible reactions to the goofy things around me...In order to play a particular character, you have to make yourself believe in the plausibility of his actions or ideas. I couldn’t write a song that I didn’t think was plausible."


'Fear of Music' features David Byrne on vocals and guitars;   Jerry Harrison on guitars, keyboards, and backing vocals;  Tina Weymouth on bass guitar and backing vocals;   and Chris Frantz on drums;   with Brian Eno on electronic treatments and backing vocals;  Gene Wilder and Ali playing congas on "I Zimbra" and "Life During Wartime";   Julie Last adding backing vocals on "I Zimbra";  Robert Fripp playing guitar on "I Zimbra";   Hassam Ramzy contributing surdo on "I Zimbra";  Abdou M'Boup playing djembe and talking drum on "I Zimbra";  Assane Thiam adding percussion on "I Zimbra";    and The Sweetbreaths doing backing vocals on "Air".  Overdubs were done at The Hit Factory and Atlantic Studios. 

'Fear of Music' went to thirty-five in Australia, thirty-three in the UK, twenty-seven in Canada, twenty-one in the US, and eleven in New Zealand.  Harrison designed the diamond plate inspired album cover that received a Grammy nomination despite resistance from their record label:  "We'd present an idea to the art direction at Sire, then they'd spend three months finding out you couldn't do it. And then we'd try to find out if you could. The same thing happened with Fear of Music...It's kind of a ubiquitous pattern.  You never noticed it until it was brought out of that utilitarian image by being an album cover."   




http://www.talking-heads.nl/







Life During Wartime
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDjZIowoZeI


Heard of a van that is loaded with weapons
Packed up and ready to go
Heard of some grave sites, out by the highway
A place where nobody knows

The sound of gunfire, off in the distance
I'm getting used to it now
Lived in a brownstone, I lived in the ghetto
I've lived all over this town

This ain't no party, this ain't no disco
This ain't no fooling around
No time for dancing, or lovey dovey
I ain't got time for that now

Transmit the message, to the receiver
Hope for an answer some day
I got three passports, couple of visas
Don't even know my real name

High on a hillside, trucks are loading
Everything's ready to roll, I,
I sleep in the daytime, I work in the night time
I might not ever get home

This ain't no party, this ain't no disco
This ain't no fooling around
This ain't no mud club, or C. B. G. B.
I ain't got time for that now

This ain't no party, this ain't no disco
This ain't no fooling around
No time for dancing, or lovey dovey
I ain't got time for that now

Heard about Houston? Heard about Detroit?
Heard about Pittsburgh, PA?
You ought to know not to stand by the window
Somebody see you up there

I got some groceries, some peanut butter
To last a couple of days
But I ain't got no speakers
Ain't got no headphones
Ain't got no records to play

Why stay in college? Why go to night school?
Gonna be different this time?
Can't write a letter, can't send a postcard
I can't write nothing at all

This ain't no party, this ain't no disco
This ain't no fooling around
I'd love you hold you, I'd like to kiss you
But I ain't got no time for that now

Trouble in transit, got through the roadblock
We blended in with the crowd
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines
I know that ain't allowed

We dress like students, we dress like housewives
Or in a suit and a tie
I changed my hairstyle so many times now
Don't know what I look like

You make me shiver, I feel so tender
We make a pretty good team
Don't get exhausted, I'll do some driving
You ought to get you some sleep

Burned all my notebooks, what good are notebooks?
They won't help me survive
My chest is aching, and it burns like a furnace
The burning keeps me alive

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3BZd1CmiZI





I Zimbra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tyVn2ZDJ-Y




Air / Cities
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psygjciJG1A









'Fear of Music' 
full album:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb6izAqdTnc


Side one
1. "I Zimbra" (David Byrne, Brian Eno, Hugo Ball) 0:00
2. "Mind" 3:08
3. "Paper" 7:22
4. "Cities" 10:06
5. "Life During Wartime" (David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison, Tina Weymouth) 14:11
6. "Memories Can't Wait" (David Byrne, Jerry Harrison) 17:52

Side two
7. "Air" 21:22
8. "Heaven" (David Byrne, Jerry Harrison) 24:57
9. "Animals" 28:58
10. "Electric Guitar" 32:28
11. "Drugs" (David Byrne, Brian Eno) 35:37




Dancing For Money (outtake)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tL-SDVrOFkk

what makes a man start fires?

The Minutemen opened up their econo sound ever so slightly with incendiary blasts of punk propaganda in jazzy hardcore art fragments.  'What Makes a Man Start Fires?' was recorded in a single late night session with Spot (Glen Lockett) the house producer and engineer for SST Records with overdubs recorded in two more late night sessions that featured D. Boon on guitar and lead vocals; Mike Watt on bass and backing vocals; and George Hurley on drums and oil drums; with Joe Baiza from Saccharine Trust providing additional guitar on two tracks.  The album matches the eighteen tracks of their previous album 'The Punch Line'; but clocks in at twice as long with some of the songs actually breaking the two minute mark.  Although short, these songs are complex nuggets of avante-garde musical styles and arcane political ideology.  

'What Makes a Man Start Fires?' mostly sold locally in the San Pedro area; but it was recognized by critics and the underground scene as a powerful unique artistic statement.  
Boon would admit:   "Yeah, we're pretty much a college band. If you went to a bigger show, it seems there's a wider audience."

Hurley considers: “One of the most amazing things when I listen back to those old records I made is that I haven’t gotten any better.  What I mean is, I came up with some pretty inventive parts just struggling to try to make things work. I listen now and go ‘wow’; some if the ideas I had are just kind of crazy!”

Watt says:  "I borrowed the title from a Raymond Pettibon drawing. I sometimes think the question is more intense than the answer."

http://www.hootpage.com/












"Beacon Sighted Through Fog" 






"'99" 



"The Anchor" 



"Sell or Be Sold" 




"Split Red" 




"Life As A Rehearsal" 



"This Road" 



"Polarity" 






'What Makes a Man Start Fires?' 
full album:



All songs written by Mike Watt, except where noted.

Side one
"Bob Dylan Wrote Propaganda Songs" – 1:27
"One Chapter in the Book" – 1:00 
"Fake Contest" – 1:44 
"Beacon Sighted Through Fog" – 1:00 
"Mutiny in Jonestown" – 1:06 (Boon/Watt)
"East Wind/Faith" – 2:10 (Hurley/Watt)
"Pure Joy" – 1:30 (Hurley/Watt)
"'99" – 1:00 (Hurley/Watt)
"The Anchor" – 2:30 (Hurley/Watt)
Side two
"Sell or Be Sold" – 1:45 (Boon/Watt)
"The Only Minority" – 1:00 (Boon/Watt)
"Split Red" – 0:52 (Boon/Watt)
"Colors" – 2:05 (Boon/Watt)
"Plight" – 1:37 (Boon/Watt)
"The Tin Roof" – 1:08 
"Life As A Rehearsal" – 1:35 
"This Road" – 1:26 
"Polarity" – 1:44 

turn on the bright lights

Interpol established themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the stylish grooves of their gloomy, post-punk revivalism.  The New York band released three EP's on three different labels before they recorded their debut album for Matador Records.  'Turn on the Bright Lights' was recorded at Tarquin Studios in Bridgeport, Connecticut and co-produced, mixed and engineered by Peter Katis and Gareth Jones.  with Paul Banks on lead vocals and guitar; Daniel Kessler on lead guitar and backing vocals; Carlos Dengler  "Carlos D"  on bass and keyboards; and Samuel Fogarino on drums and percussion. 

Banks remembers: "It wasn’t until we did a Peel session, as John Peel liked us early on and heard our first demo, which is what got Matador’s attention and then we got a record deal. But by the time we were signed to Matador we already had a fanbase and were doing pretty good shows in Boston and New York. We were just doing our thing and waiting for people to get with it rather than changing our thing to get with the people so we were just doing our shows and trying to get a record deal. I think there have only been three songs in the history of Interpol that have been scrapped. Pretty much anything we ever wrote is here. We weren’t tinkering with our sound to accommodate people."

The sound of the album was compared to that of British bands like Joy Division, Gang of Four, the Smiths, and Echo & the Bunnymen.  Kessler says: "I don’t think our band were directly inspired by any of the British post-punk bands although I’ve always loved Wire and Gang Of Four. I lived in England until I was six and I lived in Europe until I was eleven but I spent my formative years in Washington DC where there was a pretty healthy underground punk scene there and so I actually got a lot of my guitar sound from that and influenced by all of that. So what people confuse British post-punk has actually been to me Washington punk."

'Turn on the Bright Lights' went to one hundred and fifty-eight in the US, one hundred and one in the UK, sixty-two in France, and peaked at number five on the US indie album chart.  It has been certified gold in the UK and the US.  The album placed prominently on several critics lists as one of the best albums of 2002.  

Dengler admits:  "It's incredibly flattering. All the press that was happening before was really promotional -- an editor of a magazine deciding to put a photo of this month's band-on-the-scene. It was also due to the publicist at our label. That was all great, but the end-of-the-year stuff is more meaningful in a sense that it's critics and basically people who work at magazines responding to fan bases and to other people's tastes, which is awesome. That's the flattering part about it. All those lists we made at the end of the year -- we know that our CD did something."

Fogarino says:  “It’s one thing to be the flavor-of-the-minute, the whole Andy Warhol thing, it’s another thing to be accepted and to hit a level of establishment and not be taken lightly, and to be able to tour every record and have your fan base keep growing and returning...You work toward it and keep a close eye on the integrity of the band and try to expand without making a fool of yourself and watering down what got you to this position to begin with.”








http://interpolnyc.com/

@interpol






'Obstacle 1'
"Her stories are boring and stuff
She's always calling my bluff"





'NYC'
"Subway she is a porno and the pavements they are a mess
I know you've supported me for a long time
Somehow I'm not impressed" 





'PDA'
"Yours is the only version of my desertion
That I could ever subscribe to."










'Turn on the Bright Lights'  full album:



All songs written and composed by Interpol.

1. "Untitled"   3:56
2. "Obstacle 1"   4:11
3. "NYC"   4:20
4. "PDA"   4:59
5. "Say Hello to the Angels"   4:28
6. "Hands Away"   3:05
7. "Obstacle 2"   3:47
8. "Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down"   6:28
9. "Roland"   3:35
10. "The New"   6:07

11. "Leif Erikson"   4:00