Audio Flare

Siouxsie and the Sisters

Good morning,

 

The rain and lightning are surrounding Audio Flare castle here at the top of blog mountain. The single winding dirt track to the castle is slick with mud and water, wolves howl in the near distance and I think I hear gunshots.

Mwah hah hah haaaaa!

What a perfect scenario to write about gothic rock in the late 1970s and 80s. Specifically two bands in particular, selected on the basis that I love both of them. One I started to like a long time ago and one more recently, The Sisters of Mercy and Siouxsie and the Banshees. 

 

I'll start out with Siouxsie and the Banshees.

I first listened to Siouxsie a few years back when I was strongly recommended to listen to their version of 'Helter Skelter'.

  

 

This isn't any Beatles bullshit, nor that crazy-ass Charles Manson race war scenario (Wait. What?). This is punk. Discordant, vivid and catchy. I was hooked. By this time I was already a fan of music incorporating bizarrely tuned guitars and so on from Sonic Youth but I liked the stronger vocals and the re-imagining of a song I previously thought of as 'toss'. (An official Audio Flare rating)

 

So I listened to more. And I loved it all. I should also point out at this stage (before I link any more videos) that Siouxsie and the Banshees was a huge focal point of alternative British music when they formed in '76 and have influenced so many bands from so many genres it's amazing. Both Sid Vicious (of Sex Pistols infamy) and Robert Smith (of Cure fame) both were in The Banshees during their time. Bands influenced by them include U2, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Radiohead, Massive Attack and many more musicians.

Here are a few other fine S&tB songs which I find simply enchanting.

1) Hong Kong Garden. (Recently redone by Uffie, not as good) A piece of music made as a tribute to the Chinese takaway staff who got terrorised by Skinheads.

 

 

2) Metal Postcard. A song remade by Massive Attack as 'Superpredators (Metal Postcard).

 

 

3) Happy House.

  

 

Anyways, moving on now to another band I am a huge fan of, Sisters of Mercy. I first listened to their third and final album 'Vision Thing', which was a great experience. From the deep vocals (which I'm sure inspired the (now deceased) Type O Negative vocalist Peter Steele), the guitar work and the track More which appeared on the album was an exquisite 8:22 long opus.

 

 

A lot more gothic, industrial and rather less punk than S&tB as I'm sure you can hear. However, only after learning of their earlier two albums did I come across a selection of incredible (INCREDIBLE!) tracks.

1) This Corrosion. An utter bastard of a track incorperating a 40 piece orchestra. A song so industrial, so gothic, the video looks like Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome if directed by King Diamond.

  

 

Another track from the very same album 'Floodland' is the achingly haunted 1959. A song that utterly removs all the rock, all the industrial edge and leaves a bare, piano piece with deep, barely more than whispered vocals and it's pretty potent stuff.

  

 

Anyway. That's all for today.

Go away! 

A breaking of Schedule

Evening folks.

 

Today I was meant to be bringing you some fine-ass gothic rock but that'll have to wait until tomorrow.

Because I found this:

 

 

I am (as I'm sure you're aware) a huge Lupe fan but this is mad!

You can occasionally find some good freestyles on Tim Westwood's Youtube channel but this is so good.

 

You may be wondering why I'm bombarding the everloving crap out of you with music like Nato jets over a Tripoli compound (very topical, look it up on Wikipedia if it's over when you read this). It's all heading up for a return to regular Audio Flare posts starting at the weekend.

 

You have been warned, the blog is back! 

 

 

 

 

 

Isaac Hayes

was the man (yeah, I just started without saying hi) who composed the ever funky Shaft theme tune. A song so awesome the most top rated comment as of today was 'Listening to this song made me 10% black'.

He was also in the ever wicked mega-cool (yeah, this again) film Escape From New York playing the funky Duke of New York.

 

However, apart from his instantly known Shaft theme, my personal favourite Isaac Hayes track comes from his seminal 1969 album Hot Buttered Soul. An album title that quite literally rocks my very existence. The very first track off that album is a cover of the Burt Bacharach song 'Walk on By', which Hayes transformed into a near 13 minute funk masterpiece. (I had to redo a lot of typos here!)

 

So much like Sunday's 'Rime...', here's another 13 minute musical odyssey to enjoy.

 

 

So whilst that's running, let me introduce the ever enjoyable Wu-Tang Clan.

Unleashed to the general public in 1993 with the powerhouse that was Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), the Wu-Tang have released many albums under that moniker, many more albums from their affiliates and their most prominent producer, RZA, has done film soundtracks too.

 

Their first album at the start of the millennium was simply entitled The W, an album has a lot less of a polished feel than other rap albums of the time and spawned two of my favourite Wu-Tang songs. First is the ever fun 'Gravel Pit', I'll link the video simply because it rocks.

 

(visual pun alert!)

 

 

Anyway, my second favourite from the album is the pained sounding Can't Go to Sleep, a song about the hardships of urban life and history of crime, violence, the police, dead rappers, family and more. The song takes it pained edge from it's backing track which is (ta-da!) Walk on By.

 

 

And that's brings us back to square one!

Speaking of cycles, tomorrow I might bust open some goth punk, both young and old.

 

Have fun! 

 

 

 

Hitchcock and Herrmann

A good day to the lot of you.

After the fine interpretation and guitar work of yesterday's post of Rime of the Ancient Mariner (check it our if you haven't already, it's wicked mega-cool), today I'll be toning it down a bit.

 

On this fine Monday, to coincide with my purchase of the monolithic North by Northwest on DVD (check it out if you haven't seen it already, it's wicked mega-cool!), I shall be bringing you a few musical scores from the incredible Bernard Herrmann, famous not only for his work with Hitchcock on his films but also for the scores for films like Taxi Driver.

Wicked mega-cool

Psycho shower scene anyone? Not only a pivotal moment in modern cinema, but a powerhouse of editing and score. A score composed by Mr Herrmann. Your irrational fear of showers, motels and decayed corpses of parents are down to this swine. What a bastard! Albeit a talented bastard, and they are the worst kind of bastard! The bastard!

 Anyways, here for your enjoyment is Herrmann's first piece, 'Vertigo'

 

A haunting piece that perfectly embodies the intrigue and suspense of the film it accompanies. I'm sure you'll agree.

 

Finally, also because I name-dropped it earlier on, here's 'North by Northwest'.

 

 

This still brings me out in goosebumps.

 

Anyway, that is enough until tomorrow, when I shall be bringing you some Isaac Hayes and the Wu-Tang Clan.

 

A 13 minute distraction to your day.

Don't read, just listen.

 

 

Enjoy the rest of your day.