uncarved.org blog

Nick Gutterbreakz’ brilliant piece on Robert Rental complete with context and mp3s. Excellent stuff - like a mini documentary on the web.

Another great post from Beyond the Implode, this time on Herman Nitsch and the like. I was actually involved in showing one of his films at the Scala a while back. It was pretty good from what I can remember (I was doing my usual trick of organising great events and then spending the whole time running around the venue sorting stuff out rather than just sitting down and enjoying it). Loadsa insane black and white cow dismemberin’ and religious image desecratin’ and all that.

It was one of those nights, the Scala. Some bloke complaining about how it wasn’t extreme enough, other people walking out because it was. We had a bit of a Vienna “theme” with some ambient industrial bizness from Immolation by Scum, who were great (the projectionist at the Scala just spontaneously mashed up all this insane porn, riot and other weird footage whilst they were on, which was a fantastic surprise). Some other bloke was giving the guy selling their tapes a hard time before they even went on:

“Well what if I don’t like it?”

“Eh?”

“What if don’t like the performance?”

“Fucking DO something about it - don’t come whining to me, mate.”

“Er… oh…”

Never been that excited by the prospect of the Nitsch music itself, tho. The Aktionists were barking though, weren’t they? Schwarzkogler with his bandages and schizophrenia and Muhl (sp?) with his freaky german sex communes and stuff. There’s definitely scope there for a performance art version of Spinal Tap, I reckon… didn’t a crew including Germaine Greer try to disrupt one of the ICA shows they did?

belated tip of the hat to Geeta for her ‘women and noise’ entry and the great back page piece in The Wire.

And also to Beyond the Implode, Gutterbreakz, Dan Molex, Crumbling Loaf and Drip Drop Drap. And all you other fuckers out there, especially if you’ve left comments here.

And finally a heavily filtered and reverbed shout out of “easy now!” to Paul Meme and Comrade Dubversion for their forthcoming trials and tribulations. Dubversion will make an excellent father, and Paul will be proven innocent of all charges

Simon on Keenan’s noise primer - bang on, and similar to my thoughts when reading it. I think there is scope for noise and subversion, though not in the black and white way in which Simon characterises DK’s position.

For example, as he says, noise can be meditative and lulling as well as total derangement. See for example Nocturnal Emissions and the Hafler Trio. I also think noise can just be a quick route to produce something full on and mental which will get people’s attention. Nowt wrong with that. Indeed I’ve done it myself. I was involved with a performance which used noise loops etc and it was quite effective but afterwards I think I was more interested in provoking more complex responses from an audience.

Like, it’s easy to bash people round the head and make them go “aaaaaagh! You nutter!” but quite difficult to do something less intense (or less OBVIOUSLY intense) which still holds their attention. Or for that matter, gets them whooping and getting on down.

Plus Simon is absolutely bang on with the mythologising which goes along with all this “only released on 6 woolworths cassettes, 3 of which were unplayable because they were encased in uranium” business.

This was always going to be a strange one. As Matt has said, it can often be difficult to experience Coil’s music on its own without delving into the underlying philosophy. These days I’m somewhat distant from both, though I recognise they had a tremendous influence on me in the past.

When I was seriously into Coil (roughly from Horse Rotorvator to Love’s Secret Domain) there was no hope in hell of seeing them live. You’d get newsletters through which promised everything from film soundtracks, to books of photographs, to editions of Scatology on coloured “skidmark” vinyl, which never materialised, but certainly added to the fetishistic appreciation of the package. And there’d be references to playing live… in Belgium… which were cancelled because the organisers wouldn’t provide a herd of sheep to roam the stage…

We missed the support (Githead, a supergroup featuring Scanner, members of Wire, etc) due to cheaper beer across the road. Ocean was packed out, and as expected I wasn’t able to get up the stairs without bumping into old faces and catching up. The amount of people who stayed on my sofa in the 80s beggars belief! People had varying amounts of cynicism and enthusiasm for “the scene”, but it was great to be somewhere with a critical mass of people with a shared history.

Also another opportunity to mix up social circles. There have been a few occasions in the past where I’ve been dashing round trying to see everyone and I’ve casually introduced two people who happened to be standing next to each other and later found out that they went on to collaborate on some project for years. Same thing has happened to me – that’s the best thing about “scenes” – drawing people together and pooling resources and creativity – finding someone who can be the missing bit in the jigsaw.

Coil came on at 9:00, as promised by the soundman, who one of our posse had found in the pub across the road. Full marks for presentation. Mainly black stage, with orange lightbulbs suspended by single wires just above head height. Sleazy and Simon Norris (I think) on synths, surrounded by very tall narrow, shower curtains cum mosquito nets (one black, one white) Jhon Balance bearded in a white straight jacket type thing with his arse crack visible. Plus a smallish square screen with ambient minimal imagery.

Balance is a great frontman – the occasional banter with the audience was very funny and his persona was on the right side of controlled mania. When I interviewed Coil, they said that if they did perform live, they’d be more into doing beat-driven stuff than the pastoral numbers. However tonight was a bit more of a mixture. I liked the more ambient pieces, but did find myself drifting off (which perhaps was the point, I dunno).

It’s a bit prog all this, no? Warbling synths with a bearded bloke in a straightjacket exorcising his inner demons…

It was all “new” stuff (by which I mean “from the last 10 years”!) with the exception of Teenage Lightning, so I can’t make any comment about the merits of live vs living room. It was quite “heady” rather than full on libidinal madness, for the most part. And treated quite reverently. Me and Gyrus were utterly bemused when the bloke standing behind us TOLD US OFF for talking during a quiet bit! For fuck’s sake – this is the dark side of consciousness, the ultimate fusion of magick and technology, sexual deviance and libertarian philosophy – but don’t have a chat when there’s not much happening on stage! Tut Tut!

There was a build up – more filmic material at the end, and more thrashy full on headfuck strobe madness at the end. This was very effective – they know what they’re doing, this lot. I wanted to get lost in it, get completely involved and I did there get there in places. One of the blokes I was talking to beforehand said he preferred the droney experimental performances over the vocal ones and I can see his point - I’ll certainly be checking Coil out again and it would be great to see them perform in a different context, or show a different aspect of their work like that.

My overriding memory of the gig is thinking about the use of children as imagery in industrial culture. When Balance did “All the pretty little horses” it was a tender moment made all the better because of reading nursery rhymes at bedtime.

But often children are used in (post)industrial music as a code for innocence, or sinister danger, or more usually as a way of illustrating your personal neuroses. I can’t see this in the same way now as when I was a single bloke in my twenties. When Balance bellowed “Where Is Your Child Now?” I didn’t think about how parents mess you up, or what I’ve become, or all the alienation business, but “She’s at home in bed, mate!”

Ever wondered why Cab Voltaire’s Nag NAg Nag is still revered as a 24 carat crypt-shaker? Cos of its galloping, Poundstretcher drum machine, its Crass-go-dalek distortion? Cos it lent its name to that trendy Electroclash club in London?

Can’t plug Beyond The Implode enough - the business…

Matt in Liking Nurse With Wound shocker!

not heard that one, despite the best intentions of the bloke who wrote this piece. I think it was just too damn expensive when it came out. “A triple LP boxset of drones? errrrrrr….”

At last…

Martin’s breathtaking piece on Love’s Secret Domain by Coil

Brilliant, heartstoppingly evocative stuff. Words fail me, mate! More, please, but not til I’ve read it over and over…

I spotted another invasion of spambots in my comments boxes this lunchtime. This necessitates laboriously going back through all the old posts and deleting huge great entries about finance for people who by accident of birth happen to live in the US.

It’s not all bad, though, because I do sometimes see comments on old posts for the first time. Today, I am chuffed to announce, I spotted a lengthy comment by none other than Alistair L on Coil, Zoskia and Hawkwind.

It’s probably not giving too much away to mention that Alistair was one of the people involved with Kill Your Pet Puppy zine - a seriously idiosyncractic magick/punk/psychedelia mag from the late 70s/early 80s. He writes really well and hasa habit of sending me old school newsletters and manifestos and stuff.

I keep meaning to write back as well, but they have a habit of disappearing. Not in the sense that I lose them or someone throws them away, or I send them all out to mates and forget to keep them. They just… go…

Now that I’ve mentioned them, they’ll probably all turn up again tonight when I get home.

Deprived of urban75 for a day while they move servers, our hero is forced to update his blog by reviewing the RE:TG recording session.

Jim Evergreendaze has a nice photo in his review.

Me? I was picking up the daughter from my parents after a hefty night out on Saturday. More of which later.