Music Week magazine quotes and headlines 1983-84

Music Week mags
I recently sold a pile of nearly 40 issues of Music Week from the end of ’83 and throughout ’84. Reading the news and ongoing concerns back then, nearly 30 years ago, seems like another world next to today’s download culture. Cassette piracy was still a concern, compact discs were only just being introduced, MTV and video promos were the hot item with VHS releases a much hyped format.

No eBay –  Adrians‘ weekly listings in the back of the music press was as near as you got. No iPods –  Sony Walkmans and boom boxes were the carrier of choice. No YouTube – only Top of The Pops, Whistle Test or MTV (if you had cable). No Discogs, Wikipedia or search engines to find out about your music – The NME, Melody Maker, Sounds, No.1, Record Mirror or Music Week every Wednesday or Thursday with Smash Hits, The Face, and i-D (surely the first emoticon?) monthly.

Here are some choice headlines from the issues:
‘Chrysalis sends promo video to NY via satellite’
‘Linn set to challenge CD quality claims with vinyl label’
‘Computer games industry woos record retailers’
‘High hopes for CD’
‘CD set for 1/2m sales in 1983’
‘City reports predicts CD will be ‘household item’
‘Japanese tape 8bn songs a year’
‘Weller to support home-tapers on TV’
‘Dealers angry at the £3 12″ single’
‘No moves on Sunday trading ‘in this season”
‘Quo: End of the Road’ (apparently Status Quo played their last ever gig in ’84!!)

Posted in Magazines, Oddities. | 1 Comment |

Popbot 3-pack by Ashley Wood and 3A

Ascended headLook what Santa had in his sack for me this year. The Popbot 3-Pack (Popbot, Badbot and The Ascended plus a Kitty each in different colourways). Popbot is an on-going comic by Ashley Wood and his company 3A make toys from this world and others…

Long sold out from pre-order night and waiting in customs for a month while Parcel Force got their act together, they arrived on Dec 23rd so I decided to save them a couple more days before the big opening.

Pop sidePop topBad fullAscendedAscended legs & kittyBad legs

Posted in Comics, Design, Robots, Toys. | 2 Comments |

Olly Moss

Olly-Moss-Thorrr3
Further to the Star Wars fan posters post earlier I felt I should dedicate a post to Olly Moss’s work. He has such a simple angle on things, great colour sense and a clean, unfussy presentation. Able to merge different genre styles and bring a touch of the classics to everyday pop culture. For examples see his Penguin Classic book covers illustrating video games or his film poster updates via his site (click on Design > Rolling Roadshow or Videogame classics).

Posted in Art, Design, Film. | No Comments |

Tron-ization

Tron:Legacy is the big Xmas movie to see as I type and these just popped up on Deviant Art by iamclu – beautiful.

Tron-Legacy-Fan-Art-Buzz-Lightyear iamcluTron-Legacy-Fan-Art-London-Bus

Tron-Legacy-Fan-Art-Tube-Map - iamclu

Following on from the fan posters post there are a couple of lovely Tron ones by Eric Tan for the first and second film that go together beautifully. They had glow in the dark inks and were available from Sideshow Collectibles earlier this month but are now gone, maybe eBay?
Tron Eric TanTron Legacy Eric Tan

Posted in Art, Design, Film. | 1 Comment |

Star Wars fan film posters

Fan versions of film posters are nothing new but there seem to be more and more of them around with every major release these days. They can be a deviation from the norm for working artists in other practices or virtually launch careers of unknowns posting on their blogs or deviant art page (see the Tron post). Of course the most popular films will get multiple versions and inspire hitherto unseen levels of love and creativity, far outshining the original film’s posters themselves. The best example is probably the original Star Wars trilogy (I’m yet to see ANY fan posters for the second trilogy) and the recent smash and grab success of Olly Moss’ set on the Mondo site show that there is plenty of mileage in those old images as he brings a fresh look to all three films with gorgeous colour combinations.
SW Olly MossESB Olly MossROTJ Olly Moss

Earlier this year Andy Helms got into hot water with Lucasfilm after he posted his take on the trilogy on his site and offered them for sale. His reward was a cease and desist letter, which is fair enough if you don’t have permission, but a shame as the posters are excellent.

star_wars_a_new_hope_print_andy_helmsstar_wars_the_empire_strikes_back_print_andy_helmsstar_wars_return_of_the_jedi_print_andy_helms

A couple of years ago the ridiculously talented Tom Whalen did his take on Star Wars and Empire but never did one for Return of the Jedi. Wanting copies of the posters I even contacted him asking why he didn’t make a 3rd but it seems time didn’t make it a reality. Now he’s finished the trilogy to complete a beautiful set (also check out his Godzilla posters). There are many more Star Wars-themed posters out there if you google, a lot not even attempting to portray each film but taking obscure references and imagining situations or alternate versions. I’m sure these won’t be the last.

newhope tom whalenempirestrikesback tom whalenstarwars_jedi tom whalen

Posted in Art, Design, Film. | 1 Comment |

ZTT re-issue series rolls on

18068871x18068872x18068873x You wait for ages (well, not that long actually) and then 3 come along at once – loving these ZTT reissues from Salvo. A fanboy’s wet dream come true and more archive excavations than straight represses. Due early next year…

‘Liverpool’ tracklist:

Disc 1:
1. Warriors Of The Wasteland
2. Rage Hard
3. Kill The Pain
4. Maximum Joy
5. Watching The Wildlife
6. Lunar Bay
7. For Heaven’s Sake
8. Is Anybody Out There?
9. The Waves
10. “Pamela”
11. Pocket Vibrator
12. Suffragette City
13. Roadhouse Blues
14. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
15. (Don’t Lose What’s Left) Of Your Little Mind
16. Rage Hard (Voiceless)

Disc 2:
1. Rage Hard (Montreux Mix)
2. Warriors Of The Wasteland (Montreux Mix)
3. Warriors Cassetted (Featuring Highlights From Both The 7″ And 12″ Single, Warriors Of The Wasteland, The Twelve Wild Disciples Mix And A Phenomenon Of Megabytes)
4. Drum Loop (Monitor Mix / Wisseloord Sessions / November 1985)
5. F*** Off (Monitor Mix / Wisseloord Sessions / November 1985)
6. Wildlife Cassetted (Featuring Orchestra Wildlife, Watching The Wildlife (Hotter), The Waves, Bit 1, Bit 2 And The Frankie Condom Mix (For A Wilder Time)
7. Our Silver Turns To Gold (Monitor Mix / Ibiza Sessions / May 1985)
8. Delirious (Monitor Mix / Ibiza Sessions / May 1985)
9. “Stan”
10. For Heaven’s Sake (Monitor Mix / Wisseloord Sessions / March 1986)

‘Art of the 12″ ‘ tracklist:

Disc 1:
1 Propaganda – Jewelled 7:48
2 Frankie Goes To Hollywood – Rage Hard (The Young Person’s Guide To The 12” Mix) 12:07
3 Art Of Noise* – Closely Closely (Enough’s Enough) 7:10
4 Act – Theme From Laughter (06.12.87, Extract) 1:08
5 Act – Snobbery & Decay (Extended, For Stephanie Beacham) 8:31
6 Instinct (7) – Sleepwalking (12” Extended Mix) 9:36
7 Art Of Noise* – Moment In Love 1:12
8 808 State – Cübik (Kings County Perspective) 6:00
9 Nasty Rox Inc. – 10th Wonder (12″ Mix) 7:02
10 MC Tunes Vs. 808 State – Dance Yourself To Death (License To Thrill) 5:40
11 808 State – Pacific 909 (Mellow Birds Mega Edit) 7:05
12 Art Of Noise* – Moments In Love (Beaten) 6:58
13 Propaganda – Testament Two 0:24

Disc 2:
1 Frankie Goes To Hollywood – The Power Of Love (Singlette Mix, Extract) 0:28
2 Frankie Goes To Hollywood – Relax (Sex Mix Edit) 8:15
3 Anne Pigalle – Souvenir d’Un Paris (Mix Aguicheur) 7:14
5 Glenn Gregory & Claudia Brücken – When Your Heart Runs Out Of Time (6’20”) 6:20
6 Frankie Goes To Hollywood – Warriors (Compacted, Extract) 0:51
7 Andrew Poppy – 32 Frames (Drummed Up) 8:33
8 Propaganda – Dr Mabuse (12″ Master Mix For Germany) 6:13
9 Frankie Goes To Hollywood – Two Tribes (Hibakush-ah!) 6:59
10 Art & Act (A pArt Of Noise)* – Life’s A Barrel Of Laughs (Out Of This World Mix) 8:05
11 Art Of Noise* – Dreaming (Silver Mix, Extract) 2:00
12 Frankie Goes To Hollywood – Welcome To The Pleasuredome (Pleasurefix) 9:37
13 Frankie Goes To Hollywood – The Only Star In Heaven (Starfix) 3:47
14 (lomax•)* – Waiting In Vain (Extended Dub) 4:44
15 808 State – Pacific (Bonus Bird Beats) 2:58
16 Frankie Goes To Hollywood – Rage Hard (++, Extract) 0:22

‘Combined: The Best of Claudia Brucken’ tracklist:

1. Dr.Mabuse (A Paranoid Fantasy) – Propaganda
2. Duel – Propaganda
3. (The Beta Wrap Around Of) P:Machinery – Propaganda
4. Absolutely Immune – ACT
5. Snobbery And Decay – ACT
6. Femme Fatale (The Woman With The Orchid) – Propaganda
7. Absolut(E) – Claudia Brücken
8. Delicious – Andy Bell And Claudia Brücken
9. Cloud 9ine – Onetwo
10. Thank You – Claudia Brücken
11. Sequentia – Onetwo
12. Light The Way (Radio Seduction Edit) – Chrome Seduction Feat. Claudia Brücken
13. This Is Not America – Claudia Brücken And Paul Rutherford
14. Night School – Claudia Brücken
15. In Dreams – Claudia Brücken And Andrew Poppy

Posted in Design, Music. | 5 Comments |

20 minute Amorphous Androgynous mix sampler

Got hold of this last week, it’s every bit as good as the first two and might just be the thing that turns rock music down a more interesting path in the next decade, who knows. It’s supposedly out at the start of January but I got a copy from Sister Ray on Berwick St. recently and they have copies at their FSOL Digital store which has had a makeover too. Here’s 20 minutes from it, turn on, tune in, freak out.

Posted in Music. | No Comments |

Videocrash Solid Steel AV XXmas party this Saturday

snub-hexstatic-dj-food-dk

A bit of a special one this: Videocrash and Solid Steel team up for a XXmas knees-up at the Electrowerkz in an Audio Visual rave up this Saturday. Hexstatic will be presenting a ‘Trailer Trax’ special, Cheeba will no doubt be previewing some tidy new pieces and DK and I will round out the year with a final showcase of our own Ninja Tune XX AV mix before packing it up and putting it to bed. Joining us will be Digitonal showing their new ‘Deep Space’ a/v set – an hour long set constructed around a voyage that starts with Earth. moves past the Moon and planets, and into the infinite…

Not only that but Graffiti artist, stenciller and sticker-er (?) supreme, SNUB23 from Brighton will be joining us and painting an original piece live from 11pm. This will later be auctioned off in aid of the MacMillan Cancer Support charity after being signed by all present. He might also bring some stencils for custom T shirts too (see below). It all starts at 8pm and will probably end messily at 4am, this is a final farewell to a great year for Ninja and the 20th celebrations before we break for Xmas.

SNUB-brugal-tee-001

Posted in Art, DJ Food, Film, Gigs, Music, Solid Steel. | No Comments |

Cage Against the Machine

51jwWocio4L._SL500_AA280_It’s that time – the race for the (UK) No.1 spot in the charts. This year I’m fully behind the Cage Against the Machine rework of John Cage’s 4’33”, the famous ‘silent’ piece. Here are links to buy the Cage single and a video of the rerecording made in London the other week.

Every purchase of 4’33 will now count towards the Christmas Chart – you must buy the ‘Cage Against the Machine version though – you can buy the original on it’s own or the full package of remixes, either will count as a purchase. Please keep spreading this and remember  proceeds go to various charities for the deaf or those with impaired hearing :-) For this to work we need to give this a really big push and now!!

Just Giving charity for the deaf

BUY Cage Against the Machine on iTunes

BUY Cage Against the Machine on Amazon (cheapest!)

BUY Cage Against the Machine on 7 Digital

BUY Cage Against the Machine on HMV Digital

BUY Cage Against the Machine on Play.com

Posted in Event, Music, Radio. | No Comments |

1-Bit Symphony by Tristan Perich

1 Bit CD + mug1 Bit and jack

I’m currently listening to this amazing piece of art / packaging / engineering. There is no CD in the case, just a series of electrical components that make the music you hear when you plug your headphones into the mini-jack inserted in the spine. A battery, on/off switch, selection pad (to jump to the next track) a volume wheel and a mini headphone jack sit connected to something that chucks out the 1-bit code programmed into it. It’s basic, as the sound capabilities are obviously limited – imagine Phillip Glass played on a Nintendo – but it’s enjoyable nevertheless, also the volume seems to lose the bass as you decrease it. Beware, the last track is infinite, I sat there for a while before checking the packaging and saw a loop logo – doh!

More info at 1-bit symphony.com and you can still buy a copy although it’s not cheap, as a work of art it’s more than worth it I think. If anyone has a copy of Perich’s ‘1-Bit Music’ CD they want to sell I’d be interested.

Posted in Art, Design, Music, Oddities. | No Comments |

Ninja Tune XX box set news

An XX box set just went for nearly £300 on eBay someone should have told the bidders that Ninja had a few tucked away for their new site launch and the winner could have saved themselves £200. In other news, the box set was featured in an end of year round up in the New York Times of all places (there we are over on the right) alongside, Elvis, Dylan, the Stones, Springsteen, Lennon and more…

Picture 6

Posted in Design, Music, Ninja Tune, Openmind designs, Records. | 8 Comments |