Miscellaneous - February 2011

  by Admin

published: 31 / 1 / 2011

intro

Hello and welcome to the February edition of the Pennyblackmusic Magazine. Few record labels have ever attracted such notoriety and contradictory opinion as producer Trevor Horn’s ZTT Records. Whatever else, ZTT was in

Hello and welcome to the February edition of the Pennyblackmusic Magazine. Few record labels have ever attracted such notoriety and contradictory opinion as producer Trevor Horn’s ZTT Records. Whatever else, ZTT was in the changing musical landscape of the early 1980’s almost impossible for music fans to ignore. Detractors slammed it for what they saw as its shameless exhibitionism, lewdness, “Minister of Information” Paul Morley’s pretentious sloganeering and Horn and his deputy Stephen Lipson’s endless remixing of their bands’ records. Others, however, admired ZTT for pretty much the same reasons and its flamboyance, risqué humour, Morley’s wit and its constant reinvention of itself. ZTT could never be accused of being safe or dull and was in the musical zeitgeist of the 1980s as significant as Margaret Thatcher was to politics and Diana Spencer to royalty. It main act was the Liverpudlian band Frankie Goes to Hollywood, whose single ‘Relax’, a paean to gay sex, was banned by the BBC in early 1984. What was surprising was not that it got banned, but that it was not until after three months after its original release and by which stage it had already reached number six in the charts.‘Relax’ predictably immediately afterwards shot to number one in the charts and remained there for the next five weeks. It re-entered the charts later that year reaching number two, the then number one being Frankie’s next single, ‘Two Tribes’. Their third single, ‘The Power of Love’, also went to number one, as did their debut album, ‘Welcome to the Pleasuredome’. Over the last year, ZTT have reissued many of the albums from their back catalogue and 25 years on from their heyday continue to be seen to reinvent themselves. The majority of the reissues have appeared in double CD format and feature remixes, many of which have lain in the ZTT vaults unheard since the 1980s. There has been the inevitable reissue of ‘Welcome to the Pleasuredome’. What has, however, been really conspicuous from these reissues is how well some of the other acts on its roster such as the short-lived, but seminal German electro outfit Propaganda and Horn and Morley’s own synth pop outfit, the Art of Noise, continue to stand up. We are running two ZTT interviews this month. The first is with Claudia Brucken, one of the stars of Propaganda. After Propaganda broke up in acrimony in early 1985 six months after the release of their debut album, ‘A Secret Wish’, Brucken went on to form another band on ZTT, Act, with electronic musician Thomas Leer. She has since then gone on to collaborate in her latest band, Onetwo, with OMD’s Paul Humphreys and also to work as a solo artist with composer Andrew Poppy, Erasure’s Andy Bell and Pet Shop Boys producer Stephen Hague. In our lead interview this month, she talks about her years on ZTT and some of these other collaborations. The second interview is with freelance music journalist Ian Peel, who has spent the last year curating a double CD of ZTT remixes, ‘The Art of the 12”’, the majority of which have either have never been released before or alternatively on CD. This month’s magazine is a very big edition with sixteen new interviews. Some of the other highlights there include interviews with Iron and Wine, the much acclaimed band of Americana musician Sam Beam; reformed 70’s British punk/new wave group and “great lost band” the Distractions; jazz master Dave Brubeck; spooky folk newcomers Esben and the Witch; Madam, the project of London-based singer-songwriter Sukie Smith, who are about to release their second album, ‘Gone Before Morning’ through fan funded site Pledge Music; former Hefner member Jack Hayter, who has just put out his first EP of new music in eight years and Robin Allport, one of the owners of shoegazing/club and label Club AC30. We are also running the second part of a two part interview with former June Brides front man, Phil Wilson. Other highlights include profiles of Chris Brokaw and Geoff Farina, who have released two albums together in the last year, one of 40’s music; Green Peppers, the solo project of the Soup Dragons’ Jim McCulloch and Vermont-based producer and musician, Pete Weiss. We are also paying tribute to Broadcast singer Trish Keenan, who died at the age of 42 last month, by printing a Top 10 list that she compiled for a German publication in 2005. In our 'Regular Features' section there is a preview of the next Pennyblackmusic Bands' Night which will take place at the Half Moon in Herne Hill, South London and will feature sets from Anthony Reynolds, Nick Garrie, the Hall of Mirrors and Alex Monk. Tickets cost £6 in advance and can be bought from http://www.wegottickets.com/event/105861. They are also available on the night for £7. Our columnists are all out in force there this month. Jeff Thiessen in ‘This Metal Sky’ writes about ‘Five Bands Critics love But I Hate and I Hope You Them Too’, while Lisa Torem in ‘Rock Salt Row’ chats with Alligator Records boss Bruce Iglauer about live over studio recordings. Jon Rogers in ‘Soundtrack of Our Lives’ writes of Sonic Youth’s 1986 and 1987 albums, ‘EVOL’ and ‘Sister’, and Ben Howarth in ‘Condemned to Rock ‘n’ Roll’ of the surprise addition of Neutral Milk Hotel’s ‘In the Aeroplane Over the Sea’ to Q’s Q’s latest Greatest Album Ever poll which compiled together the best albums since 1987. Jamie Rowland in ‘Gimme Indie Rock’ examines Babak Ganjei’s graphic novel, ‘Hilarious Consequences’ and accompanying musical soundtrack, and Spencer Robertshaw in ‘Evidently Spencertown’ provides a romantic poem for Valentine’s Day. In our ‘Re:View' section the ZTT theme is continued with articles on Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s 1986 second album, ‘Liverpool’ and techno/dance act Shades of Rhythm’s only 1991 CD, ‘Shades’, both of which have been recently reissued. Our Website of the Month is ‘Pay the Piper’, a site which provides information about both buying and learning an instrument. There are also 24 new album and single reviews. In our previous reviews only up-date in January we also ran another 24 album and single reviews. This magazine is put together through the hard work of many people. Thank you to Peter Allison, Carl Bookstein, Malcolm Carter, Andrew Carver, Dan Cressey, Dixie Ernill, Tony Gaughan, Tommy Gunnarson, Ben Howarth, Adrian Huggins, Richard Lewis, Neil Palmer, Spencer Robertshaw, Jon Rogers, Jamie Rowland, Maarten Schiethart, Dominic Simpson, Anthony Strutt, Jeff Thiessen, Lisa Torem, Paul Waller and Denzil Watson, all of whom contributed articles to this edition or the reviews up-date. Thank you also to our webmaster Richard Banks and also to Gilbert Blecken for the piece on Trish Keenan. We will be in mid February with an album and singles reviews up-date and then in early March with another new edition. We hope to be running interviews then with Donovan, the Tom Tom Club, the Undertones, Anthony Reynolds, the Joy Formidable, Stephanie Finch, Natasha England, the Smoking Popes, Risa Hall, Daniel Land and the Modern Painters, the Hall of Mirrors, Samson and Delilah and the Blanche Hudson Weekend. Thank you as always for reading, John Clarkson Magazine Editor www.pennyblackmusic.co.uk