Midweek Music News Roundup 09.23.09: Woman Is the WHAT of the World?
Posted by Lucas Wesley on 09.23.2009
A look at the worldwide vilification of Yoko Ono, books by Peter Hook, Nick Cave and Thurston Moore, the music fan appeal of the Twilight soundtrack, new Radiohead (by means of solo Thom Yorke and solo Phil Selway), new Smashing Pumpkins, innovative advertising, an update on Leonard Cohen's condition, and, oh yeah. Some band called "Pavement" reunites. I think they had a hit in the 90s or something...
So, as I somewhat expected, we had another title change. I just can't be trusted with these things. If the day ever changes again, you can expect two more. I just can't be trusted with this whole naming thing. I'm sure that's subconsciously part of the reason I never want children. It's also probably why I never made a graphic for this. But anyway, I've been pretty sick and really busy lately, so if any of this seems disjointed, it probably is. But whatever, you can't catch a cold from reading this, so here we go.
- So, sure, Hooky has more or less disbanded New Order and isn't taking place in the post-project Bad Lieutenant, but he did write a book. This is not news. The news is the fact that his book has a soundtrack. Probably not the first instance of this in history, but a rarity nonetheless. Called Hacienda Acid House Classics (the book is called Hacienda: How Not To Run A Club, based on the night club Hacienda) and will be released the same day as the book: October 5. The song includes tons of early, definitive acid house classics, and two unreleased numbers from Hook alias Man Ray. Let's call it The Harder They Come of acid house.
- A while ago, it was reported that Radiohead drummer Phil Selway would be releasing what is essentially a solo album. Some new information on that: it will feature a few guest stars. The list includes Glenn Kotche and Pat Sansone of Wilco, singer-songwriter Lisa Germano, and Sebastian Steinberg, formerly of Soul Coughing. Seems like a cool band, but I mean, he's in Radiohead. Hard to live up to that when you just have a few sidemen and Lisa Germano.
- Sometimes you forget how important a band are to people. Then they reunite. Pavement are set to reunite, at least for one show at Central Park SummerStage on September 21, 2010. People are already counting down. If they play "No More Kings," I will make sure to instantly find out, reverse time a few minutes, and then teleport there. That would make it all worth it. Three more shows have been added, all at the same Central Park stage, all the day after the previous.
- Misconstrue this one, Pumpkins fans: Billy Corgan has announced that the name will release a 44 song set called Teargarden by Kaleidyscope over the next year or so. The songs will be released, presumably online for download, one at a time starting in late October. Oh yeah, and it's free. Aside from the silly name, this looks to be sweeter than the lives of Zach and Cody, and I really can't complain at all. Hope it's good.
- Talk about innovative. Jónsi & Alex, also erroneously known as Riceboy Sleeps (the former of Sigur Rós) have started a fan competition. A coloring book. I don't know all the details about it, but I"m on their mailing list and apparently everyone on the mailing list had the instructions mailed to them. So if you want them, join as quickly as you can. The winner will receive a bunch of J&A goodies, including their debut album and a mix CD of their favorite songs. I wonder if they'll dock for coloring out of the lines or if they'll be one of those places that just celebrates the youngest applicant.
- So, uh, I got excited by this thing I read in the New York Times about Twilight and Hot Topic. Am I a thirteen year old girl (one of those really cool ones that reads the New York Times)? No. Did the Times write something confusing and/or misleading? Did they interview a liar? Well, I'm kind of hoping for one of the second two, honestly. To put it simply, Grizzly Bear have been added to the apparently great list of artists on the New Moon soundtrack, alongside already announced Thom Yorke and Bon Iver. So? The exciting part is their planning some kind of Hot Topic promotional tour. No details exist really, so nothing is known, but the image of Grizzly Bear performing for free at a Hot Topic...well, it's enough to get me to enter a Hot Topic.
- We may never know what wonderful demons influence Nick Cave's music, but we just learned this minor gem: his latest novel, The Death of Bunny Monro (which, yes, I have overhyped), was influenced by Avril Lavigne and Kylie Minogue. The novel is about a sexual deviant who fantasizes about, surely amongst many others, the two pop superstars. Cave hopes the two aren't offended - in fact, having worked with Kylie before, he believes she'll find it funny. No word on what Avril thinks.
- Books, books, books, books. One more about a book. Thurston Moore is planning on writing some pieces for Grunge, an upcoming book of photographs taken by Michael Levine. Moore will focus on the music, the bands, the Seattle scene and Kurt Cobain in particular. It all makes sense, and it'll probably leave us thirstin' for moore, as do most of his projects.
- Well, that was a scary headline. Leonard Cohen collapsed on stage during a concert in Valencia, Spain. Luckily, he's doing fine now, and the hospital report merely cites a "stomach complaint." The BBC presumes the culprit to be food poisoning. Cohen is already expected to resume the tour, and there's no end in site as he returns to North America for more dates in October. Monday was his 75th birthday, and this is his work ethic. Damn.
- That new Thom Yorke single ("Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses" and "The Hollow Earth") can now be found on youtube and the likes. Eh. That's all.
Star Power
Yesterday, Yoko Ono's latest album, Between My Head and the Sky, was released. By my count, it's her eleventh solo studio album, and it's getting pretty good reviews. That said, there are hundreds of people who haven't heard it, but if they happen to hear of it it'll instantly be called the worst album of the year. I haven't heard it either, but I pass no judgment yet. I've tried to get it, but no store around me stocks it. Though I did follow my college radio station music director instincts and look at the label's web site, looking for a promotions e-mail address or something, I couldn't find one. I just don't feel comfortable e-mailing Yoko or Sean directly, they're too big for me. But, enough of that, let's get to the point. The vilification of Yoko Ono ranks as one of the most fascinating aspects of rock music culture, and it's something that I have some trouble fully understanding. In this week's Star Power, I intend to look at the public perception of Yoko, both good and bad, how it started, and what it means.
The rumor is pretty simple. Yoko Ono broke up the Beatles. There is absolutely no way that this is even remotely true. The counter-argument is that, well, fine, maybe she didn't, but she was a factor, right? Only in the sense that every aspect of John and Paul's lives were an equal factor. It's kind of hard to piece all the facts together, since there really were a great deal of factors that lead to the Beatles break up, but nine out of ten of these reasons came down to the fact that 75% of the time, John and Paul hated each other. Especially on a musical level, they couldn't agree on anything. We hear the cute story about how they recorded "The Ballad of John and Yoko" together and think, well, they couldn't have hated each other that much! That was released in 1969, they can't joke around that day and the next day go back to hating each other, at least not with variable Z...that's Yoko! Well, here's the flaw. If Paul hated Yoko, how could he be fun and jovial while playing a song about how much John loves Yoko? I understand if I didn't sell you on that one piece of evidence, but the breakup of the Beatles is a big, complicated mess I don't want to fully get into right now. Today, the focus is Yoko.
Then we have the other end of the deal. The somewhat undeserved belief that Yoko is amongst the most influential women in rock, not for her position as John's wife, but for her music. Let me start this section by saying that, yes, Yoko was indeed influential. Her Plastic Ono Band and Fly remain landmarks in experimental music, and have far more influence on freeform jam bands than they are ever given credit for. However, she did not invent punk. She did not invent new wave. Perhaps her singing style influenced some key performers in each genre, but it was a skeletal influence if that. People respond to vilification with amplification, and problems arise. She's given more credit than she deserves, but at the same time, she isn't given the proper credit she deserves. I don't necessarily blame John or Yoko for this, since most artists need a certain pretentiousness about them in order to maintain the drive to create music. But on the fan level, it's less acceptable.
There's also always the typical fan response, that if people hate something, they don't understand it. I hate to say it, but in this case, it's kind of almost somewhat true. I don't think that people don't understand her or her music necessarily, but they don't understand her situation. We have the above explanations of why people blindly hate her, and this leads to a blind misunderstanding of what she's doing. She isn't siphoning John's fame and she wasn't driving a wedge between friends. She was just being Yoko. She was in the music business, though in a far less prevalant manner, as an occasional member of Fluxus in the early 60s. John bolstered her fame, but he didn't suddenly make her a musician.
There's another interesting factor to Yoko's vilification. In certain circles, she embodies the silly term "feminazi." Though it was Le Tigre who added the mantra to their remix of "Sisters O Sisters," Yoko did develop a certain theme throughout a fair amount of her work: "Women united will never be defeated." Certain albums of hers, particularly Feel The Space, have been offered a very unique genre: feminist rock. Throughout my entire life, I've never seen anything else receive this label. It's possible we could apply it to Le Tigre, Liz Phair or Peaches, but it would have a different meaning for each one. With Yoko, it's pretty simple: she's a feminist who makes rock music. And just as the idea of feminism infuriates certain overly masculine people, making rock music about it does the same. There may be a level when feminism is overdone, and you know, maybe Yoko even reaches that level in certain songs. "If we say no abortion for women, we should say no masturbation for men" ("What A Mess") is the kind of lyric that'll piss some dudes off. But I feel on a wider level, much of her vilification comes down to the fact she's proud to be a powerful woman.
All I ask by this piece is you look at the factors that make people hate Yoko and realize they are baseless. You'll notice I didn't mention people who listened to her music objectively and hated it, at least not directly or in a negative way. This is because they are completely within their right. Her music is quite experimental, and that's not for everyone. And certain tracks, like the overlong yelping title track on Fly, are, without question, utterly unlistenable. I'm not even saying people need to acknowledge her influence on music as a whole, there's so much unrecognized influence before and after her it doesn't bother me. I just feel her vilification is unfounded and overdone, and when I read things baselessly negative things about "Darth Yoko" it bothers me a little bit.
I think what it comes down to is...while everybody's talkin' 'bout bagism, shagism, dragism, madism, ragism, tagism, this-ism, that-ism, ism, ism, ism, all I am saying is give Yoko a chance. Also, someone give me her new album. That'd be awesome.
Farewell Song
1971, the year a few of my favorite albums were released. With that, two of my favorite songs were released. Both were, loosely, within the folk genre. Both are by people who, in a way, stand as legends in their field, but still have a certain indie appeal. The two men are Bert Jansch and Leonard Cohen. Though its easy for me to announce the Jansch song to you because I am not a huge fan. It's Tell Me What Is True Love, from Rosemary Lane. However, to talk simply about the Cohen song is a bit more difficult. The reason is, the Cohen song for a long time has ranked as one of my all time favorites. Even the harsh critics that are my sister's pop-loving friends have declared the song as, quote, "mad chill." A letter in song form, the song ends with what by definition was Cohen's most honest lyric: "Sincerely, L. Cohen." Of course, the name of the song is Famous Blue Raincoat.
The album the song appears on is Songs of Love and Hate. It ranks as one of my top ten albums, the perfect creation of chamber folk. In my lifetime, I've only known two albums to create the song this album creates so perfectly. The other is Nico's Chelsea Girl. However, that loses some luster for whatever reason. Cohen's album is a sustained masterwork and every song does indeed celebrate both love and hate.
That does it for this week, folk. Hope you enjoyed it and hope to see you next week on Expressway. Or whatever we're called now or we will be called.
