Blip Pop Svengali
Dec. 22nd, 2004 11:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
imomus'Baroque in Voltage', the new album from the Super Madrigal Brothers, is officially released in 2005, but I'm told initial quantities are available now from Fever Pitch. Super Madrigal Brothers is the 8 bit supergroup featuring Adam Bruneau and John Talaga. Adam lives in Dacula, Georgia (the fabulous graphics he makes for the Super Madrigal Bros website always make me think of Dracula, though) and John is based in Bay City, Michigan. In 2002 I was the svengali who put the group together. I'd heard their demos, and thought that Adam's charmingly controlled 8-bit compositions put together with John's wild and heavy deconstructions might yield something extraordinary. It did, and I unreservedly recommend their Shakestation album to anyone. It's an incredibly adventurous exploration of madrigals played on freaky electronics, a superb balance of control and abandon, melody and texture, music and noise. If you don't believe me (I am, after all, the label boss) read the Pitchfork review.
So why is 'Baroque in Voltage' on Fever Pitch instead of American Patchwork? Well, I froze the AmPatch release schedule when I realised I was paying for launching the careers of new artists with my own record royalties. I wasn't able to afford the press officers and advertisements needed to break new artists, so in some ways the label was a kind of R&D laboratory, designed to put together new acts then let them migrate to bigger labels. AmPatch has now broken even, so there may be a chance to put out records again in 2005. Let's see. Anyway, I'm delighted the SuperMads have released another record. A copy is on its way to me at this moment. From the preview mp3 on their site it sounds as strong as the last one. I'm sure I'll love it.
I worried back in 2002 that the 8-bit movement might be a passing fad, but it seems to have a life of its own, existing, like a retro video game, in a parallel world alongside the musical world we know. The other day the BBC ran a feature about Polish Blip Pop, and if you go to the website of America's best contemporary art centre, New York's PS1, you can hear a radio show in which Malcolm McLaren, the ultimate svengali (he assembled the Sex Pistols the same way I assembled the Super Madrigal Brothers) talks about his own forays into the genre. He even uses the word 'folktronic' in the interview! I know McLaren a bit through his girlfriend, and I can only say that I'm delighted if he's been influenced in some way by my ideas. McLaren albums like 'Duck Rock' and 'Waltz Darling' were certainly an influence on me. I interviewed McLaren a couple of years ago and he spoke non-stop for ten hours without ever once getting boring. What an extraordinary man!
So why is 'Baroque in Voltage' on Fever Pitch instead of American Patchwork? Well, I froze the AmPatch release schedule when I realised I was paying for launching the careers of new artists with my own record royalties. I wasn't able to afford the press officers and advertisements needed to break new artists, so in some ways the label was a kind of R&D laboratory, designed to put together new acts then let them migrate to bigger labels. AmPatch has now broken even, so there may be a chance to put out records again in 2005. Let's see. Anyway, I'm delighted the SuperMads have released another record. A copy is on its way to me at this moment. From the preview mp3 on their site it sounds as strong as the last one. I'm sure I'll love it.
I worried back in 2002 that the 8-bit movement might be a passing fad, but it seems to have a life of its own, existing, like a retro video game, in a parallel world alongside the musical world we know. The other day the BBC ran a feature about Polish Blip Pop, and if you go to the website of America's best contemporary art centre, New York's PS1, you can hear a radio show in which Malcolm McLaren, the ultimate svengali (he assembled the Sex Pistols the same way I assembled the Super Madrigal Brothers) talks about his own forays into the genre. He even uses the word 'folktronic' in the interview! I know McLaren a bit through his girlfriend, and I can only say that I'm delighted if he's been influenced in some way by my ideas. McLaren albums like 'Duck Rock' and 'Waltz Darling' were certainly an influence on me. I interviewed McLaren a couple of years ago and he spoke non-stop for ten hours without ever once getting boring. What an extraordinary man!
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(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-22 12:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-22 04:13 pm (UTC)'The Nick and Malcolm Xmas Carol' !
Thank you,
Antonio
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-22 08:17 pm (UTC)Going back to the t-shirt, I'd like to think it encouraged me to seek out loves of my own - it's a while ago but I think I had a pretty good idea a few of the references were more than a bit dodgy even then. I remember being so relieved when groups like the Subway Sect and The Pop Group emerged from the margins of the punk scene, intelligence stopped being a dirty word and there was at least the attempt to make music that moved away from the deadly 1-2-3-4.
There have been a number of people in my life - including McLaren - who have provided prompts and pointers that have led me along whole chains of interests, I like so-and-so, they say they like so-and-so and they say that they're influenced by etc. You come up with variable results but that is half the fun of the journey. There've been a whole list of things I've followed up as a result of your posts too I might add.
question mark and mystery
Date: 2004-12-22 11:17 pm (UTC)erik
Re: question mark and mystery
Date: 2004-12-23 12:30 am (UTC)