#075

All Mod Cons

I’d like to drop my trousers to the world

I am a man of means, of slender means

Each household appliance

Is like a new science in my town

The Smiths – Nowhere Fast

Por incrível que pareça esta semana dedico-a a versar sobre electromésticos, os all mod cons do titulo, conveniências domésticas que a musica pop pelos vistos tem integrado nas suas fabulações sobre o mundo em que vivemos. E começo esta selecção com Fridge Magnet (Radio Theme 1) de Uffe. Eu sei, e peço inclusive desculpa mas acho que um íman de frigorifico está mais próximo (talvez pelo seu magnetismo) do frigorifico do que um pacote de manteiga ou uma courgette…

Não há razões para preocupações, o resto parece tal e qual um expositor da Worten onde fui juntando de uma assentada os micro ondas do pip-pip no fim do tempo de utilização por outros que não eu: Skip Jackson & The Natural Experience que em 1979 gravava este Micro Wave Boogie seguido de Subtropic com um pedido especial de Microwave yer Brain. Claro que tudo isso só poderia acabar nos “microwave ovens” instalados no (in)contornável Money for Nothing dos Dire Straits, música made for CD, também eles modern conveniences que acabaram em tanta casa portuguesa a servir de coaster para mojito. 

Máquinas de lavar? Sem problema. Funky Washing Machine de Alvin Cash, Wasmasjien dos Travassi ou os Big Sleep que em 1996 gravaram o EP Looking For A Girl With A Washing Machine de onde retirei a faixa homónima desta banda proveniente de Thessaloniki, a segunda maior cidade grega depois de Atenas.

E que tal respeitar a grande necessidade de entretenimento e ir repescar umas quantas canções referentes aos hi-fis, televisões e rádios? Margaret Lorene Seidler, americana que nos princípios dos 80s andava por Valencia onde se casou com Alfonso Olcina, dono do selo Citra para o qual gravava em 1984 o seu projecto Manía do qual escolhi Television.

Ou a Hood Internet com VCR, Beryl Marsden com I Video, datado de 1981 e os Hi-Fly com Hi-Fidelity. Estes últimos uma pequena orquestra jazz, fundada em 2005 por Jerker Kluge e Florian Riedl no intuito de conceber uma música que soe tão moderna quanto os discos de jazz clássicos da era da Blue Note.

Hey, I’m feeling so dirty, you’re looking so clean

And all you can give is a spin in your washing machine

I fly off to Rome to my prima bella

She leave me in the rain with a telescopic umbrella

Aah the pain

Modern love can be a strain

Peter Gabriel – Modern Love

Mas é a comunicação que preenche a maior parte do espectro da escolha. O telefone e seus associados do século XX conseguem encher sem grande problema a lista desta semana. Natacha Snitkine com Le Jeu Du Téléphone, versão popcorn de Music to Watch Girls By escrita por Sid Ramin e Tony Verona e tornada famosa por Andy Williams; as manas Diane e Marilyn Rovell que vinham da girl group The Honey. Marylin era na altura casada com Brian Wilson de quem se sente a influência até mesmo neste projecto American Spring que aqui escolhi com Had To Phone Ya. Inevitável mesmo era Telephone A Telephone do belga Plastic Bertrand e que aqui fica como perfeito exemplo de tecnologia complementar a Answering Machine (Iron Curtis Chant Mix) dosJ.E.E.P.

É no entanto duas canções dedicadas ao Minitel que deixam um gosto das tecnologias mortas e de como tudo tem avançado a uma estonteante velocidade que indicia bem a Lei Murphy que rege estas coisas. Sur Minitel interpretado por Noé Willer e Mini-Minitel na voz de Marie-Paule Belle. Serviço de comunicação e compras online oficialmente chamado de Teletel mas o nome Minitel acabou por vingar, acrônimo de Médium Interactif par Numérisation d’Information Téléphonique e que ao ser inventada em Cesson-Sévigné na Bretanha em 1980 foi lançada de seguida no resto de França  pela PTT (a companhia Postes, Telegrames et Teléphones que viria a ser desmembrada em 1991 nas France Telecom e La Poste).

Lembro-me tão bem de olhar invejosamente para os meus amigos parisienses cada vez que em sua casa tinham de tratar de qualquer coisa via fio telefónico. Compras, bases de dados, jogos, ticketagem, “páginas amarelas ou brancas”, pornografia ou comida para gatinhos, tudo estava à distancia de um escrevinhar no teclado, mais ou menos como é hoje em dia mas quase 20 anos antes de todos nós termos acesso ao mundo da world wide web

Cindy tells me, the rich girls are leaving,

Cindy tells me, they’ve given up sleeping alone

And now they’re so confused

By their new freedoms.

And she tells me

They’re selling up their maisonettes

Left their Hotpoints to rust in their kitchenettes

And they’re saving their labours for insane reading.

Brian Eno – Cindy Tells Me

Os mais atentos irão reparar que há algumas escolhas um pouco mais inusitadas (mais que um íman de frigorífico?). Mirror dos Coconut Mushroom ou Thundercat com Lava Lamp; Stacy Lattisaw com Black Pumps and Pink Lipstick do album Sixteen produzido em 1983 por Narada Michael Walden ou Vian Pelez com Swimming Pool; o cómico Jerry Lewis com Candelabra Boogie, escrito por Robert Lamar Thompson, um dos responsáveis por aquilo que hoje chamamos de Space Age Bachelor Pad Music e que aqui assina uma cómica homenagem à figura de Liberace; o romântico Tony de Matos na canção de José Cid Junto à Lareira ou ainda Terry King a fazer-se passar por Jacuzzi Lover. Tudo isto para concluir que possivelmente o que hoje é um mod con amanhã pode muito bem sair da lista de “conveniência” e começar a fazer parte do rol dos indispensáveis…

Encerro este shopping spree com a Blödes Orchester (Orchestra Estupida), uma peça sinfônica para orquestra de eletrodomésticos do compositor alemão Michael Petermann. Petermann montou a orquestra a partir de aparelhos antigos que comprou no eBay. A performance pode ser atualmente vista no Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe em Hamburgo.

Desliguem as tecnologias, respirem fundo e que se desfrute o fim de semana, a coisa não está para menos…

#staysafe #musicfortheweekend

##############################

I’d like to drop my trousers to the world

I am a man of means, of slender means

Each household appliance

Is like a new science in my town

The Smiths – Nowhere Fast

Unbelievably I decided to dedicate this week to all sorts of electrical appliances, the all mod cons of my title, domestic conveniences that pop music apparently has integrated into its fabulations about the world we live in. And I start the selection with Fridge Magnet (Radio Theme 1) by Uffe. I know, and I may even apologize, but I think a fridge magnet is closer to the fridge (perhaps because of its magnetism) than a tab of butter or a zucchini…

There’s no reason to worry, the rest looks just like a stroll through a Worten exhibitor where I put together things that I don’t use, like microwaves with their pip-pip sound at the end of the use cycle: Skip Jackson & The Natural Experience that in 1979 recorded this Micro Wave Boogie followed by Subtropic with a special request to Microwave yer Brain. Of course, all this could only end up in the “microwave ovens” installed in the (un)avoidable Money for Nothing by Dire Straits, music made on purpose for CDs, modern conveniences as well that ended up in so many Portuguese houses serving as coasters for mojitos.

Washing machines? No problem. Funky Washing Machine by Alvin Cash, Wasmasjien by Travassi or Big Sleep who in 1996 recorded the EP Looking For A Girl With A Washing Machine from which I took the eponymous track by this band heralding from Thessaloniki, Greece’s second largest city after Athens.

And how about respecting the great need for entertainment and going after a few songs referring to hi-fis, televisions and radios? Margaret Lorene Seidler, an American who in the early 80s was traveling through Valencia where she married Alfonso Olcina, owner of the Citra label for which she recorded in 1984 her Manía project, from which I chose Television.

Or Hood Internet with VCR, Beryl Marsden with I Video, dated from 1981 and Hi-Fly with Hi-Fidelity. The latter is a small jazz orchestra, founded in 2005 by Jerker Kluge and Florian Riedl with the aim of conceiving music that sounds as modern as the classic jazz records of the Blue Note era.

Hey, I’m feeling so dirty, you’re looking so clean

And all you can give is a spin in your washing machine

I fly off to Rome to my prima bella

She leave me in the rain with a telescopic umbrella

Aah the pain

Modern love can be a strain

Peter Gabriel – Modern Love

But it’s all things related with comms that fills most of the spectrum. The telephone and its 20th-century associates manage to fill this week’s list without much trouble. Natacha Snitkine with Le Jeu Du Téléphone, popcorn version of Music to Watch Girls By written by Sid Ramin and Tony Verona and made famous by Andy Williams; sisters Diane and Marilyn Rovell who came from the girl group The Honey. Marylin was at the time married to Brian Wilson, who was influential even in this American Spring project that I chose here with Had To Phone Ya. Inevitable was Telephone A Telephone by the Belgian Plastic Bertrand and which here stands as a perfect example of complementary technology to the Answering Machine (Iron Curtis Chant Mix) by J.E.E.P.

It is however two songs dedicated to Minitel that give us a taste of dead technologies and how everything has advanced at a dizzying speed that is a good indication of the Murphy’s Law governing these things. Sur Minitel by Noé Willer and Mini-Minitel voiced by Marie-Paule Belle. Online communication and shopping service officially called Teletel, but the name Minitel ended up surviving, an acronym for Médium Interactif par Numérisation d’Information Téléphonique and which, when invented in Cesson-Sévigné in Brittany in 1980, was then launched in the rest of France by PTT (the company Postes, Telegrames et Teléphones that would be spun off in 1991 into France Telecom and La Poste).

I remember so well looking enviously at my Parisian friends whenever they had to take care of something over the phone line at their house. Shopping, databases, games, ticketing, “yellow or white pages”, pornography or kitty food, all just a stroll away on the keyboard, more or less as it is today but almost 20 years before we all had access to the world wide web.

Cindy tells me, the rich girls are leaving,

Cindy tells me, they’ve given up sleeping alone

And now they’re so confused

By their new freedoms.

And she tells me

They’re selling up their maisonettes

Left their Hotpoints to rust in their kitchenettes

And they’re saving their labours for insane reading.

Brian Eno – Cindy Tells Me

The more attentive ones will notice that there are some slightly more unusual choices (more than a fridge magnet?). Mirror by Coconut Mushroom or Thundercat with Lava Lamp; Stacy Lattisaw with Black Pumps and Pink Lipstick from the album Sixteen produced in 1983 by Narada Michael Walden or Vian Pelez with Swimming Pool; comedian Jerry Lewis with Candelabra Boogie, written by Robert Lamar Thompson, one of those responsible for what we now call Space Age Bachelor Pad Music and who here signs a comic tribute to Liberace; the romantic Tony de Matos in José Cid’s song Junto à Lareira or Terry King impersonating a Jacuzzi Lover. All this to conclude that possibly what today is a mod con tomorrow could very well get off the “convenience” list and start to be part of any list of so called essentials…

I close this shopping spree with Blödes Orchester (Stupid Orchestra), a symphonic piece for an orchestra made of home appliances written by German composer Michael Petermann. Petermann assembled the orchestra from vintage appliances he purchased on eBay. The performance can currently be seen at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg.

Turn off the technologies, take a deep breath and enjoy the weekend, that’s what you really need…

#staysafe #musicfortheweekend

Uffe – Fridge Magnet (Radio Theme 1)

Alvin Cash – Funky Washing Machine

Coconut Mushroom – Mirror

The Christians – Hooverville

Noé Willer – Sur Minitel

Henri-Pierre Noel – Diskette (The Reflex Revision)

The Hood Internet ft. Freddie Gibbs, Class Actress and Telli of Ninjasonik – VCR

Manía – Television

Terry King – Jacuzzi Lover

Tony de Matos – Junto à Lareira

Thundercat – Lava Lamp

Pepe Deluxe – Lucky the Blind vs. Vacuum Cleaning Monster

Beryl Marsden – I Video

Mario Fabriani – Blow Dryer

Stacy Lattisaw – Black Pumps and Pink Lipstick

Brian Eno – Cindy Tells Me

Natacha Snitkine – Le Jeu Du Téléphone

Peter Gabriel – Modern Love

Jerry Lewis – Candelabra Boogie

Hi-Fly – Hi-Fidelity

Björk – Domestica

Don Henley – Sunset Grill

American Spring – Had To Phone Ya

Travassi – Wasmasjien

Skip Jackson & The Natural Experience – Micro Wave Boogie

Subtropic – Microwave yer Brain

Dire Straits – Money for Nothing

Tony Alvon & The Belairs – Sexy Coffee Pot

Plastic Bertrand – Telephone A Telephone

Hysteric – Chrome Plated Broiler

The Smiths – Nowhere Fast

Madvillain – Meat Grinder

Le Couleur – Rouge à Lèvres (Oshi Slow Motion Remix)

Big Sleep – Looking For A Girl With A Washing Machine

Marie-Paule Belle – Mini-Minitel

J.E.E.P – Answering Machine (Iron Curtis Chant Mix)

Vian Pelez – Swimming Pool

Beans – Honky Tonk Refrigerator

Chris Conner – All This And Heaven Too

Blödes Orchester – The Stupid Orchestra

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *