The Pop Group - Thief of Fire

Today's entry about the Pop Group makes pleasant company with yesterday's on Suicide. Although they both have a shared affinity for occasional shrieking, they sound quite different. However, both bands pushed post-punk to its outer limits, making music that could only be classified as post-punk because what it truly was hadn't been invented yet, or was impossible to classify.

The band had a short life, forming in 1978 in Bristol, England and breaking up by 1980. Their debut album, Y, remains their classic and is seen by many as a forgotten masterpiece. You can sum up the Pop Group by throwing punk, funk, free jazz, and dub reggae in a blender, setting it on high, and recording the result while the blender is still mixing. You hear elements of familiarity, funky bass lines, jazz guitar, timely percussion, but then waves of feedback, screeching horns, chaotic drums, and bipolar vocals. It's a beautiful mess.

The Pop Group - Thief of Fire

"I admit my crime
I'm a thief of fire
I admit my crime crime crime
I'm a thief of fire

We do not have anything
We have not learned anything
We do not know anything
Do not understand
We do not sell anything
We do not help
But we will betray
And we will not forget
And we will not forget
I admit my crime
I'm a thief of fire

But who to trust
When you're stealing from a nation of killers
Do I trust myself?
I'm like a tramp in its cage
Flower in Moscow
Losers take all
We are here to go
All lovers betray
All lovers betray"

The Pop Group: Stylus Magazine's Second Thought

The Pop Group - Y @Amazon.com

Suicide - Ghost Rider

Suicide were one of the first significant no-wave acts and the pioneers of the electroclash/ electropunk sound. What Suicide accomplished with their 1977 self-titled debut would be done to death in later years, but in its original form it still sounds just as affecting today. All their imitators simply pale in comparison (I'm looking at you the Faint!) although the Jesus and Mary Chain did take some of what Suicide laid down and made their own masterpiece from it. While they were never popular in their heyday, their influence was significant. In addition to the aforementioned, some of Suicide's fans were/are among Joy Division, R.E.M, Bruce Springsteen, the Cars, the Sisters of Mercy, Black Flag, and Soft Cell.

I'm going to feature the album's first track here, "Ghost Rider." If you can, first try and clear you mind from any thought of that terrible Nicholas Cage comic book movie. The song is pretty characteristic of Suicide's style, simplistic and repetitive distorted synth lines, drum machines used at its bare minimum, and idiosyncratic vocals, varying from deadpan to stammering to outright shrieking.

Suicide - Ghost Rider

"Ghost Rider motorcycle hero
Baby baby he's a lookin' so cute
Ridin' around in a blue jump suit

Ghost Rider motorcycle hero
Baby, baby, baby he's a blazin' away
Like the stars, stars, stars in the universe

Ghost Rider motorcycle hero
Baby, baby, baby he's screamin' the truth
America, America's killin' its youth

Hey baby he's screamin' away
America's killin' its youth

Ghost Rider
Ghost Rider"

It's a bit surreal watching this live video, as the lighting, clothing and quality of footage seems so dated, but the music itself sounds so ahead of its time.



Another "Ghost Rider" video, but this time almost entirely focused on Alan Vega's face, emphasizing his vocal performance.



Suicide - First Album @Amazon.com

PFFR - 3 Murdered 5 Dead w/Phillip

PFFR are the twisted geniuses behind Wonder Showzen (the best show MTV has had since The State,) yet outside the show's most devoted fanbase, their music is unknown. According to the members, "A shimmering gem crashed down from the heavens, black clouds exploded unto the Earth and PFFR was formed." Other times PFFR are "group of highly motivated young people that formed a band in order to start a riot in the local public library." They also are home to one of the strangest band websites I have ever seen.

The band's music is equally strange avant-garde electronica. This song is my favorite from their one and only album, United We Doth. I love how they use of a drum machine on the chorus.

PFFR - 3 Murdered 5 Dead w/Phillip

Now for a few bonus PFFR videos:

Japoney Apple


Our Concern


Wonder Showzen Episode 1x01:



PFFR - United We Doth @Amazon.com

Lightning Bolt - Dracula Mountain

Drum & bass is an unfortunate genre. That's one of downsides of Kraftwerk, the whole club 4/4 thumpin' ecstasy popping rave scene that would eventually become an electronica subdivision. Actually I'm completely ignorant to the differences between techno, house, trance and drum & bass. What I've heard though is house= boring techno, trance = pretentious techno, and drum & bass = minimalist techno. What is techno? Obnoxious. I can never wrap my head around that scene. I do like Apex Twin though.

Lightning Bolt, a duo from my wonderful home state of Rhode Island are a different type of drum and bass. Their music consists of drum...and bass. Two guys, two instruments. "Drum and bass?" one may say. "That sounds boring." I would smack that person across the face, throw on Wonderful Rainbow and trample that misconception into the ground and out of their minds. When you're lacking in band members, to make music that sounds just as commanding as a full band, you have to put a lot into your playing. Say you have a 10 member band, excessive orchestra section, all that. Each member could just half-ass it and to the average listener it would sound perfectly fine. However, when it's just two guys, you don't have the protective shield that numbers offer you. Every note you play counts. That said, Lightning Bolt at times will rock as hard as anything else you've ever heard. My favorite song of theirs, "Dracula Mountain" has a build-up about 3 minutes in which leads to such an expulsion of pure rawk that it's practically impossible not to bang your head, pump your fist, or do whichever dance that flies your weird flag the highest. It's the epitome of rock, and a section that I'll often use in a judging scheme for rating how hard something actually rocks. I grade my rock levels on a curve, and "Dracula Mountain" is that kid who always aces the test.

Lightning Bolt - Dracula Mountain

"See you on the evening
See you in the dawn
See you all today long
Then I will be gone

See you in the evening
See you in the dawn
See you all today long
Then in the beyond"

Good luck actually making out those lyrics. Brian Chippendale, Lightning Bolt's drummer and "vocalist" sings using a modified phone receiver strapped to the inside of his mouth. Brian Gibson is also unconventional with his bass, using a cello tuning, CDGA rather than the typical EADG and uses a banjo string for the top A.

Now for an incredible live video featuring my said favorite part of "Dracula Mountain." Whoa.



And then the Muppets play "Dracula Mountain." Transcendental.



Lightning Bolt - Wonderful Rainbow @ Load Records

Faust - Picnic On A Frozen River, Deuxieme Tableux

First things first, I have a final exam tomorrow, so this entry will be breezed through. Summer courses are such a pain in the ass.

Now I've made passing references to "Krautrock" in the last 2 entires. If you're unfamiliar, it refers to the late 60's to the mid 70's experimental scene in Germany. In brief, its influence on rock music as we know it was immeasurable. The biggest band to come out of it was undoubtedly Kraftwerk, a band that is an important as the Beatles. Though bands like Silver Apples laid the groundwork, Kraftwerk invented electronic music. The other bands involved were almost as significant, with Can, Neu!, Tangerine Dream and this entry's own, Faust being the most notable ones.

In terms of time as well as it not being necessary, I'm not going to go into describing the song. I can't make out any of these lyrics, and to simply verbalize what the song's doing musically would be redundant. We do have ears. I'll just say, it's pretty epic, features multiple movements , including one of the catchiest synth riffs you'll ever hear, and ends abruptly.

Faust - Picnic On A Frozen River, Deuxieme Tableux

The song comes from Faust's fourth and my personal favorite album of their's Faust IV, originally released in 1973.

Faust IV @Amazon.com

Boredoms - Hoy & Super Are

Your grandmother will hate Boredoms. Boredoms will frighten your pet parrot. Boredoms are not reccomended for pre-pubescent individuals, as if exposed they may effect your development in unknown ways.

This is weird week on the Boner blog. I'm digging out some of the strangest music I can find on my hard drive drive for your listening pleasure, or perhaps listening terror. In terms of oddity, chaos and inaccessibility, they're hard to exceed. I'll begin with a brief history on the band, as it their case, it can be as interesting as the music. Before forming the band during 1986 in Osaka Japan, eventual leader Yamantaka Eye headed the noise band Hanatarash. They focused more on their extreme performance art live show rather than the music. Apparently to even attend one of their shows you needed to fill out a waiver. At one show Yamantaka sliced a dead cat in half with a machete. Others involved molotov cocktails and oil drums. The most infamous of all though was one gig where a backhoe was actually driven through the back of the venue, smashing through the stage. Rather than forming the Boredoms as a new venture, they were formed as a necessity, as Hanatarash was soon banned from playing anywhere. Over a few years, Boredoms popularity began to grow and the band befriended Sonic Youth, with Yamantaka Eye collaborating with the band on what is undoubtedly their most difficult EP, TV Shit. Nirvana were also fans of the band, something that helped get the band signed to a major label as well as a main-stage spot on Lollapalooza (!). Now this leads me to their major label debut, Pop Tatari, from which this entry's first song comes from.

Boredoms - Hoy

This song is indescribable. Just don't let the gentle whistles at the beginning fool you. This song is everything but subdued. A major label...this! Nirvana had the music industry by its balls. Also realize that this "song" is probably the closest the album has to a conventional piece of music. I think I really like about the album is the album is far from a pleasurable listen, what all in all music strives to do. In a strange way the complete discord and unattractiveness of it all is captivating.

A live performance from this era of the band:



Then the band completely changed (and for the better!) In 1998 they put what's considered to be their best album Super Ae. The sound is vastly different, more minimalistic with plenty of newly found ambient textures, extended instrumental sections, and a apparent krautrock influence. It's considered by many to be a modern day avant-garde masterpiece. I hesitate to split it up, as it's meant to be taken as a collective, but I'll feature the second track, "Super Are"
here. This sound sounds absolutely huge...I need to put this album on a hi-fi system some day. It's really an experience to listen to.

Boredoms - Super Are

Recently Boredoms were in the news for organizing a 77-member drum circle in Brooklyn NY on 7/7. From the looks of it in this youtube video, it was fantastic. The sound is unfortunately rather muffled, but the sight of 77 synchronized drummers pounding in midst of a packed crowd makes up for it. That would have been incredible to see first hand.



Boredoms - Super Ae @Amazon.com
Boredoms - Pop Tatari @Amazon.com

This Heat - Paper Hats

I'm always fascinated by the way we react to an album upon first listen. I've found that some of my favorite records (The Pixies' Doolittle, Joanna Newsom's The Milk-Eyed Mender, Guided by Voices' Bee Thousand and the Jesus and Mary Chain's Psychocandy for example) were ones I could barely stand the first time I heard them. I'm not quite sure why this is... Maybe something along the lines of the albums not conforming to what we're used to musically and to appreciate them we need to ease ourselves in, gradually becoming more familiar. On the contrary, some albums that sound great upon first listen can often fall flat with subsequent plays. Some albums just suck. However lastly, rarest of them all, are albums that blow you away upon first listen, and simultaneously are unlike anything you're heard before.

I've had this experience recently with This Heat's 1981 record Deceit. I discovered the band on the last.fm similar artists lists for both Pere Ubu and Suicide and with a moment's curiosity I gave the album a blind download. Wikipedia furthered my curiosity, with the entry on the band stating that This Heat "is widely considered to be a missing link between progressive rock (especially krautrock) and such later experimental genres as post-punk, post-rock and noise rock". It ranking #20 on Pitchfork's top albums of the 1980's wasn't too shabby either. I loaded it up on to my Ipod and finally gave it a play a few days later during a 6-hour car ride. I was struck with how timeless the album sounded, as it could have been recorded and released this year, still sounding ahead of its time. Animal Collective owe a huge debt to this band, as do countless of other today's experimental acts. Perhaps that's why I could get into this band from a single listen: that so many aspects of their sound have been done to death today, and when I finally heard it in its purest crystalline form, all I I could be was taken aback.

My favorite track from the album is "Paper Hats," an intense schizophrenic masterpiece involving tape loops, colliding time signatures, quiet to loud to quiet dynamics, frantic screams, and at times, complete cacophony. It's absolutely insane and I love every second of it.

This Heat - Paper Hats

"well, what do we expect
paper hats?
or maybe even roses?
the sound of explosions?
oh no, is this any easier?
comfy? climax? ego?
decorations up or down?
the sound of explosions
what does this tune signify?
what is its meaning?
is it really that straight forward?
or are our ears beyond words?"

Now for a first on this blog, I'm going to upload the entire album. I wouldn't do that if it were commercially available, but it's been out of print in the US for over a decade, with the lowest offering price on amazon.com being $39.99. Grab it here and have your mind blown.

This Heat - Deceit [album]

Oh yeah... the album was recorded in an abandoned meat factory.