so and slow it grows

Wir = Wire around 1991-1992 when Bruce Gilbert, Graham Lewis & Colin Newman assembled without drummer Robert Gotobed. Wir’s released an album “The First Letter” (Mute cat. no. STUMM87, 1991-10) and a single “So And Slow It Grows” (Mute cat. no. MUTE107, 1991-11). The latter also featured remixes by the Orb and LFO – with Mark Bell & Gez Varley remixing album track “Take it (for greedy)”. Despite it all, the band once again failed to sell by the billions. They wouldn’t return to the scene until around 2000 … Hey and dig the slowness here too ;-)

41°N 93°W

Finally at long last … exhaustive details on that 41°N 93°W location Wire sang about (and MBV too)! Utterly obvious someone should’ve dedicated himself to this issue thoroughly …and now that’s happened – many thanks Mr Basement Geographer! (And one last question: did Mr. Lewis fly over Iowa with BEA?)
http://basementgeographer.blogspot.com/2010/11/map-ref-41n-93w.html
http://fusionanomaly.net/wire.html
http://www.45cat.com/record/har5192
http://www.discogs.com/Wire-Map-Ref-41%C2%BAN-93%C2%BAW/release/911145
http://ripitupfootnotes.blogspot.com/2008/11/footnotes-9-chapter-8-art-attack.html
http://www.pinkflag.com/read/discography/map-ref-41*N-93*W.php
http://www.wireviews.com/reviews/wire_on_the_box_1979.html
http://www.discogs.com/Various-Whore/release/101972
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/154_%28album%29

supercharged with real jinglyjangly gitness

Yay! A new cd by Colin Newman, Malka Spigel, Max Franken & Robin ‘Scanner’ Rimbaud! Musically, I’m not as charmed as I was by “Art Pop“, the previous, 3rd Githead album (2007), but “Landing” (2009-11) has as great a set of lyrics as ever, e.g. “Over the limit” (see below) or the valentinesey “Transmission tower” … Furver furfing via http://www.githead.com/ + http://myspace.com/githead + http://www.swimhq.com/ + the rather unlikely wiki … and of course the archive where you can find a Colin Newman interview ànd our no downloadable AV files policy! (Great to see CN’s still got his sense of insult btw.)

Over The Limit

Talent free fame, over hyped fare,
Celebrity stiffs, dubious gifts
Never ever paying, keep freeloading,
“I’m cool”, give it here
Your dad’s records, not quite forgotten,
Patchy memory? More easy pickings
Choc full tube, red light stop,
Cold at dusk, early dark.

Lack of discretion, lack of taste,
Lack of judgment, lack of space
Pecking orders, concrete borders,
Bust & boom, prophets of doom
Too much money, too many gods,
Too much pride, too many opinions
Too much hate, too much stupidity,
Too many mugs, too little hope.

Spam fissures, surfeit of knowledge,
History victors, instant experts
Stolen music, arsehole managers,
Pompous gits, celebrity shits
British spin, the way they sell it,
Ticking boxes, guilt in giving,
White van vandals, black economy,
Token spokesmen, endless analysis.

Lack of discretion, lack of taste,
Lack of judgment, lack of space
Pecking orders, concrete borders,
Bust & boom, prophets of doom
Too much money, too many gods,
Too much pride, too many opinions
Too much hate, too much stupidity,
Too many mugs, too little hope.

Source: http://www.githead.com/Landing.html

buzz buzz buzz

http://www.pinkflag.com/read/discography/eardrum-buzz.php
http://www.wireviews.com/lyrics/ibtaba.html
http://patrick.op.het.net.je/wire/

+ bonus

paul & brian & peter & dudley

 

“Sorry mate – history’s moving along. Recorded music equals whale blubber.” From Paul “ZTT” Morley interviewing “Eno”, The Guardian, 2010-01-17, http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jan/17/brian-eno-interview-paul-morleyvia http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2010/01/20/end-of-an-era-2/ (check the extra comments), itself discovered via the ever wonderful http://www.freaky.be/blog/2010/01/21/the-record-age-was-just-a-blip/ & see also http://uzine.posterous.com/3345-return-of-the-return-of-vinyl

The interview also brings ‘interesting’ observations on Abba to Zappa, e.g. “You don’t quite know where you are but you find yourself in the space left behind by the things you’ve rejected.” Yet also “Instead of shooting arrows at someone else’s target, which I’ve never been very good at, I make my own target around wherever my arrow happens to have landed. You shoot your arrow and then you paint your bulls eye around it, and therefore you have hit the target dead centre.” And so I’m always in two minds about Mr. Eno. I really enjoyed reading David Sheppard’s authorised Eno bio – http://www.orionbooks.co.uk/HB-39318/on-some-faraway-beach.htm – but I must admit that I got really bored by the bit beyond Talking Heads, the accounts of moving to a mansion, making high concept cd-roms, advising Tony “WMD” Bliar or producing James simply weren’t as exciting. Click the Eno tag for more on the man whom Colin Newman called “a bunch of things, one which … is an incredibly adept bull****ter – he’s a brilliant opportunist”. I second that emotion every so often. And meanwhile, the BBC’s “Arena”, of all programmes, has broadcast this documentary on Eno: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00q9xqk ; see also this interview http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcmusic/2010/01/a_brief_chat_with_brian_eno.html … Final bonus: Eno on the impact of the internet via http://www.edge.org/q2010/q10_2.html#eno

Re: Derek & Clive & Dudley & Pete: more on them in the next post.