songsequitur blog

Pink Fairies- "When's the Fun Begin"

2008-07-29T12:10:00.004-04:00

Love the Nuggety goodness. In 1987 the gentlemen of Plasticland met the then touring reformed Pink Fairies. They hit it off with the drummer Twink (also of The Pretty Things) and recorded a collaboration called You Need a Fairy Godmother released in '89.

Due to the revolving door lineup of the Pink Fairies this track, from 1973's Kings of Oblivion doesn't have Twink playing on it. Still it brings the awesome.
Listen to "When's the Fun Begin"

Plasticland - "No Shine For the Shoes"

2008-07-29T09:32:00.002-04:00

RE: The Normal's "Warm Leatherette." I wasn't aware there was anyone left who hadn't heard this song, if not the original, then the myriad cover versions. Most notable cover versions: Grace Jones, Chicks on Speed, Die Todliche Doris. That song was totally foundational to my thinking, as it was both "real" industrial music—hard, minimal, cold—and it was incredibly perverse. Piece of trivia: Daniel Miller actually wrote the first screenplay for the film adaptation of Crash back in the early 1980s, even though it was eventually rejected and the film was written and directed by David Cronenberg in 1996.

But onto sunnier vistas with the neo-psychedelia of Inspiral Carpets, drenched with reverb and Farfisa organ. The Carpets were part of an outcropping of bands that were playing with the formula of 1960s psychedelic garage rock, as popularized by the Nuggets collections. In fact, when the compilers of Nuggets decided to compile the Children of Nuggets - Original Artyfacts From the Second Psychedelic Era 1976-1996 box set, they were sure to include Inspiral Carpets.

Who else did they include? Another great, completely forgotten neo-psych band, and one of my personal favorites: Plasticland. We're jumping across the Atlantic to middle America: Milwaukee, in fact. These guys were amazing, and this is my favorite track from their 1985 LP Wonder Wonderful Wonderland.

Listen to (or download) Plasticland's "No Shine For the Shoes"

Inspiral Carpets - "Directing Traffik"

2008-07-28T23:42:00.008-04:00

MUTE 1... An excellent track I'd never heard before now, and so I am grateful to you for sharing it. Mute Records is dear to my heart, releasing a large chunk of material from some of my favorite artists ever.

DUNG 8... Following their signing of Inspiral Carpets and acquisition of Cow Records, Mute decided to continue with the cataloguing conventions already in place for use on future releases by the band. My response is "Directing Traffik" from their debut LP Life. It's a track I first heard on the v/a release Manchester - So Much To Answer For (a critically important compilation in my personal timeline of music exposure), but have recently visited again as I've found myself exploring more deeply into the Inspirals' catalogue over the last few months.

By the time 1990 rolled around (the year Life was released), founding member and vocalist Steve Holt had departed, ushering in his replacement: Tom Hingley, who sings on this track.

Listen to "Directing Traffik"

Fad Gadget - "One Man's Meat (Remix)"

2008-07-27T13:11:00.002-04:00

The track by The Assembly is great, and I can't believe I never heard of the project before, being a fan of Yazoo, Erasure and all things Vince Clarke. It's like when I found out about Biting Tongues or The Grid or ESG or 23 Skidoo and I was like: "Where have you been all my life?"

My response, however, focuses on the lesser known member of The Assembly, Eric Radcliffe. He co-ran a label with Clarke, and had a couple of different projects over the years, but never really broke through like Erasure or Yazoo did. However, his production and remixer credits can be found on a lot of choice synth-pop from the 1980s, including this awesome remix of a track by the late great Frank Tovey AKA Fad Gadget.

Listen to (or download) "One Man's Meat (Remix)"

The Assembly - "Stop Start"

2008-07-27T02:16:00.010-04:00

The Assembly was an ephemeral project of Vince Clarke (founding member of Depeche Mode, Yazoo and Erasure) and producer Eric Radcliffe. Output was limited to a lone single, 1983's "Never Never," which featured the vocals of Feargal Sharkey (ex-Undertones) on the A-side and a four-minute instrumental ditty on the flip. I've chosen this latter track—"Stop/Start"—to begin our first sequence.

Listen to "Stop/Start"

READY, SET, GO!

2008-07-27T01:10:00.007-04:00

Songsequitur has been activated (July 27, 2008).

Here are the preliminary guidelines, which will remain in effect for a minimum of one week; at which time we may decide to renew them, or to make changes.

CYCLE OF TURNS
• Shawn is followed by Jonathan.
• Jonathan is followed by Chantelle.
• Chantelle is followed by Shawn.

TERMS OF TURNS
• When it becomes your turn to post, you become the Responder.
• As the Responder, you must post within 24 hours of the previous post.
• Failure to do so forfeits your turn and cycles to the next person

VALID RESPONSES
1. Something reminiscent (style, structure, lyrics, et al.)
2. Something attributively related (1-2 degrees of separation preferred)
3. "PASS" (this would be the polite way to forfeit your turn, so as not to delay the sequence)

CAPTIONS
Please provide 1-5 sentences of text to accompany your response. This text should serve as an explanation of how your response satisfies either criteria #1 or #2 above.