Photo: Iain Macmillan. © Yoko Ono.
Were Microphonies a living character, he’d be the quintessential iNerd, overdosing on Butthole Surfers and Captain Beefheart albums with caffeinated exuberance, a network of plugs and snot coursing through his veins. The vision of musician Sam Farfsing, Microphonies is turbulent and often ridiculous, his ramblings about asymmetry, Los Angeles, Beatles loathing and copycats somewhat lost in the midst of his self-generated computerized bleeps, garage instruments and oddity.
In recognition of The RZA’s birthday, I’d like to turn your attention to “Wu-Gambinos” from Raekwon’s classic, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx.... Aside from the fact that this album encompasses some of RZA’s best and most innovative production work, (Gotta love those crudely collaged orchestrations), I was always drawn to his appearance on this track, particularly the muted reprise of the song’s chorus just before RZA, vocal impediment in place, rattles off his phrases with a commanding presence that almost outshines everyone else’s contribution.
Released on September 14th (13th outside the US), Penny Sparkle – the band’s third for 4AD - marks another sonic twist in their already adventurous canon. It was made over the last year with the band journeying between New York and Stockholm to work with production duo Van Rivers and The Subliminal Kid (Fever Ray, Glasser) and as with their previous album, 23, Alan Moulder (Depeche Mode, My Bloody Valentine, Yeah Yeah Yeahs) was enlisted to mix it.
Writing as a fan and not so much a critic of your work, I've taken the unpopular position that your post-Beatles output took the most risks and made the largest impression from an artistic standpoint. But, because you've always been a titan of public relations, your reputation at times overshadowed your work. Next to John Lennon, who for a time did strive to embody an avant-garde and subversive ideology, (thanks to the influence of his artist second wife), you're the "safe" Beatle, the contemporary rockstar who's aged along with the people running the show. As The Beatles once stood as somewhat of a societal downfall in the eyes of parents, because nothing speaks of the onset of immorality and anarchy louder than long hair, you're now "one of them" I guess. It's something even you've acknowledged. Didn't you put yourself in line with being "twee" in your song "English Tea?"
Out of their initial phase, 154 has two of my favorite Wire songs: "The 15th" and "Two People In A Room." "The 15th" could've been the inspiration behind My Blood Valentine's Loveless, it's sensitivity and walls of angelic sound as enveloping as the sonic canvases Kevin Shields is accredited for originating. When I got to see Wire in 2008, they played this song and that could've been their entire set as far I was concerned.
VOICES VOICES "Flulyk VIsions" Music Video [HD] from CrazyGoodness on Vimeo.
Indulge for me a moment while I recompile all the wondrous images that I’d gathered in my head a little over a week ago during Black Breath’s impressive display the night of June 2nd: Beat-up Vans, cut-off shorts, t-shirts tattered with crackled silkscreened names like Brutal Truth and Septic Death, the stench of heat, B.O. and rock music, my sizzled eardrums squealing high frequency dialing that made any subsequent silence that night less than golden. 
Javelina, however, was a surefire crowd pleaser, a riff-heavy locomotive push the likes of Motörhead and they tore through their set in what felt like five minutes. They were fast, heavy and never dull, a real deal dressed up in local royalty. When one of Javelina’s vocalists, (three members were at the mic), mentioned Black Breath it was to modest acknowledgment.
I was in Ocean City, New Jersey with a friend, sitting outside on a deck with a boombox resting between us. It was 1993. On this particu...
