A recording of Kraftwerk’s “Trans-Europe Express” night at the Tate Modern seems to have fallen off the back of the internet this morning: genuinely not sure where one of my colleagues found it, before you ask.
Until very recently, any mention of Bell Laboratories in conjunction with electronic music would’ve made me think of Laurie Spiegel, who worked at Bell Labs research centre in New Jersey while she was creating much of her extraordinary cosmic music in the 1970s.
Lots going on here, not least the fact that I have to write a long review of the mostly amazing Kraftwerk show that I saw next door at the Tate Modern the other night.
An unintended consequence of the My Bloody Valentine release: plenty of plays this week for “Straight Outta Compton”, following directly after “m b v” in my iTunes library. As you can see, though, it’s been an amazing few days for new music, and consequently I’ve added plenty of links so you can hear Mikal Cronin, Library Of Sands (to recap: Naynay Shineywater from Brightblack Morning Light), Jennie O (produced by Jonathan Wilson), and Retribution Gospel Choir’s amazing “Seven” (featuring Nels Cline, and especially recommended to fans of “Psychedelic Pill”).
Just before starting to write this morning, I spent a while digging around for the old office ghettoblaster, computer-connecting technology having failed us in our attempts to play a new EP that turned up yesterday in cassette form. The EP forms part of the capricious launch strategy of Library Of Sands, a new project from a mesa-dwelling outlier called Naynay Shineywater, who used to front Brightblack Morning Light.
Last night, it was all about anticipation. First, the rumours started circulating that Michael Gove was implicated in some job-threatening scandal, only for those rumours to reach a resounding anti-climax, as The Observer’s story was revealed to be a little spat between a couple of hacks and some unsavoury Tory operatives.
Today’s looking like it might shape up as Stephen Stills day: as I write, we’re on track 16 (“Helplessly Hoping”) of his new career boxset, with 60-odd more to come.
Reading a little about the whole Beyoncé lipsynching controversy the other day, I was tangentially reminded of an interview I did with Jim O’Rourke in, I think, 1999 (bear with me…).
To Matthew E White’s first London show tonight, all being well, but in the meantime this week’s playlist, with a few things to listen to and watch, as is becoming a hopefully useful habit.
A quiet office these past few days, as members of the Uncut team have dispersed to the States, Morocco and Portugal on various missions and holidays. Yesterday, the rest of us finished the next issue, which goes on sale January 31, and which features, among many other things, a piece about David Bowie and Tony Visconti, relating to something happening in March which isn’t “The Next Day”…