Elation
Two songs today, one old and one new, as before. The first song is by L.A.'s Soviet, who are one of my favorite groups. After disappearing completely for a couple years, Soviet resurfaced on Myspace with details of a new album, Spies in the House of Love, which will be their first since 2001's We Are Eyes, We Are Builders, one of my 10 desert island discs. The Soviet Myspace account has details on how to buy We Are Eyes.... The song today is "Photographs," an ecstatically happy synthpop tune that belongs in the opening credits of Pretty in Pink 2 if they ever make it. Play it during the opening credits of your life.
Following that we have a tune I have dug out of the recesses of the internet after failing to get the CD for a reasonable price on eBay. The song is called "Council Houses," and it's by a group called Denim. Denim formed following the dissolution of better-known post-punk act Felt, whose repertroire consisted mainly of soft, intricate and artsy 60's-influenced jangle pop, often namechecked by bands like Belle & Sebastian. Denim, formed by singer/frontman Lawrence Hayward, was pretty much the diametric opposite. Despite penning a song about how much he hated the 80's, Denim's sound was sort of a hybrid of 70's glam and 80's synthpop. "Council Houses," like a number of other Denim tunes, sounds like a kickass Saturday morning action-oriented cartoon with floppy-haired dudes flying around in hawk suits and laser guns fighting evil robots in castles. Except the lyrics are all about modernist architecture, namechecking le Corbusier, Gropius and Mies van der Rohe in as many breaths. The record is terribly out of print, it came out in 1996 to not much fanfare, but I think it sounds more in tune with today's recyclist music scene than it ever did during the height of britpop. It can be found on Denim on Ice if you can track a copy down. If you're interested in more humorous if less kitschy similar fare, track down some Go Kart Mozart, the current project of Lawrence's.
"Photographs" - Soviet
Following that we have a tune I have dug out of the recesses of the internet after failing to get the CD for a reasonable price on eBay. The song is called "Council Houses," and it's by a group called Denim. Denim formed following the dissolution of better-known post-punk act Felt, whose repertroire consisted mainly of soft, intricate and artsy 60's-influenced jangle pop, often namechecked by bands like Belle & Sebastian. Denim, formed by singer/frontman Lawrence Hayward, was pretty much the diametric opposite. Despite penning a song about how much he hated the 80's, Denim's sound was sort of a hybrid of 70's glam and 80's synthpop. "Council Houses," like a number of other Denim tunes, sounds like a kickass Saturday morning action-oriented cartoon with floppy-haired dudes flying around in hawk suits and laser guns fighting evil robots in castles. Except the lyrics are all about modernist architecture, namechecking le Corbusier, Gropius and Mies van der Rohe in as many breaths. The record is terribly out of print, it came out in 1996 to not much fanfare, but I think it sounds more in tune with today's recyclist music scene than it ever did during the height of britpop. It can be found on Denim on Ice if you can track a copy down. If you're interested in more humorous if less kitschy similar fare, track down some Go Kart Mozart, the current project of Lawrence's.
"Council Houses" - Denim
posted by Brian at 9:01 PM
1 Comments:
One of the better blogs I've read, Brian, and that Denim song is quite good, despite (or because of?)its 'recyclist' nature.
Looking forward to reading (and hearing) more.
"Jane Suck Died in '77" -- that's great...
Cheers,
Marinelli
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