* caused by suggestion from d.l. David
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‘XTC defined themselves by propeller-armed drums and a skin-cutting guitar sound. It’s pure pop disguised as jittery post-punk, all played with teeth-chattering intensity. The aesthetic is so tight that even their forgettable tracks serve it. Colin Moulding’s big singles serve as the commercial front for outro, neo-political epics on which Partridge wrings his vocals like laundry and spits out vowels like golf balls. XTC also defined their own version of a love song: Stuttering boys are so staggered by the sight of spectacular girls that their feet don’t touch the ground. Dozens of other contemporary bands were more extreme in every way– angrier, more danceable, more adventurous or primitive or whatever– but XTC’s triple-jointed sock hop out-charms them all.’ — Pitchfork
‘XTC came to prominence in 1978 by bumming a ride aboard the New Wave express, but even as techno-punks pogoing awkwardly out of step at the art school hop, on their hectic first album White Music they displayed the idiosyncratic smarts that have sustained a distinguished career on the sidelines of English rock. The spluttering incoherence of Andy Partridge’s vocals and the spikey nervous energy typified by scattergun songs had given way to a more measured approach by the time of 1980’s Black Sea, but their penchant for convoluted arrangements somehow bundled into oddly-shaped pop packages remained intact. XTC’s complex music with all its high-wire antics has always managed to sling up the safety-net of a good chorus and, paradoxically, this simple, traditional facility may yet prove to be their greatest achievement.’ — Uncut
‘A band which is often regarded as too cerebral for its own good, XTC has no equal. One of the many groups that rose to prominence (at least in critical terms) during the punk heyday, they proved to be much more than mere British punksters from day one. The band was led by Andy Partridge, who wrote about 85 % of the original compositions and assumed lead vocals. The other songwriter was Colin Moulding. He penned the remaining tunes, sang them and played the bass quite admirably (Gilmour offered him the position of Pink Floyd bassist when he won the rights to use the Floyd’s name back in the late eighties, in fact). In 1982 Andy decided to stop touring due to exhaustion. From that point onwards, the band became a studio entity. Their sound became more pastoral and far more quirkier than it was before. They released several albums (including recordings as psychedelic alter egos The Dukes of Stratosphear), and in the 90’s they went on strike against Virgin Records since the label refused to release one of their songs as a single. When they were freed from the contract two more albums ensued. After that, Colin lost interest in music and he even stopped communicating with Andy. It looks like the story of XTC ended there.’ — musicKO
Audio: Andy Partridge interviewed @ Todd Rundgren
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‘I quite like themes of communication or breakdowns of it. I got jilted quite a bit as a teenager and I thought it was because I couldn’t speak to girls. I later discovered it wasn’t speak they were after. By the way, Son of Sam, who pokes his head up somewhere in the middle of this song, claims his dog talked him into being a murderer. Up goes the rocket, down comes a shower of burning ‘Are You Receiving Me?’ sparks. I’d lost my voice by the end. I loved some of Barry’s squelching organ tones. The sound of pulling your wellington boots out of the mud.’ — Andy Partridge
‘Are You Receiving Me?’
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‘He makes a beeline for the place / Where he gets his only ace / Sometimes he’s standing in the rain / Oh Gene Kelly’s hat and cane / He has the Rhythm in his head / He has the Rhythm, sing! / It’s chaotic at the bar / B & O those sweaty drops / We are all mesmerized / To the thing we have inside / Inside, outside, eastside, West / We kill the beast / Yourside, myside, worlds collide,/ yes / We kill the beast’. — AP
‘The Rhythm’
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‘Nineteen Seventy-nine was the year we became TV friendly and this tune I think started it off for us. Although we had appeared on the box before, really unless you had done a Top of the Pops you remained invisible to the general public. But our faith in the magic spell of appearing on this legendary programme was severely shaken when our chart position plummeted just days after our performance went out to the masses. Having said that, I think it’s one of our better excursions into that world of young fizzy pop. Lots of major to minor going on in the verse made for a nice tension with the melody.’ — Colin Moulding
‘Life Begins at the Hop’
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‘This is the one live number that had the band wanting to pass out. Singing the continuous round at the end, ‘working for paper and for iron’, left everyone feeling sick and dizzy for lack of oxygen. By now, we’re pummeling out the numbers, with worrying violence. It sounds like the sort of thing my dad might say over an apocalyptic, bad tempered Sunday lunch.’ — AP
‘Paper and Iron’
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‘”Nigel’s” the song that won’t go away and I suppose in some circles it’s what we’ll always be known for. People comment on the rhythm and how inventive it was, but it’s just a normal pattern played on the wrong drums. The only reverb we had was a very twittery Vesta Fire spring to give the sounds a sense of depth. Heard at its jitteriest on my Mr Punch doo doo vocal hook. Finally, I must confess, Devo’s upside down drum rhythm for “Satisfaction” was an influence for Terry and myself to concoct this happy voodoo tumble. I really wanted to be a drummer.’ — AP
‘Making Plans for Nigel’
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‘This was just a sort of a silly song that was great to go [sings high] “boo-boo boo-boo” with. It was like playing a human siren — it was just the joy of yelling and playing a rotor-blade guitar. You know, the whole thing probably came out of the guitar pattern sounding a bit like blades of a chopper. That’s what the song’s about.” Sometimes it would take no more than that. In fact, that’s a big thing for me — the onomatopoeic sound of the instrument you’re writing on. “Oh! That sounds like a blah-blah!” And so “Blah Blah” becomes the title of the song, or blah-blah is what the song’s about.’ — AP
‘Helicopter’
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‘Barry out, Dave in, that’s got Go 2 out of our system, now we can relax a little. . . Not! Virgin want to hear demos of our newest material, better buy a pen and get scribbling. A makeshift studio in the basement of Swindon Town Hall, Red Brick, rings to the rafters, (heating ducts really) with some spanking tunes. Here’s one now, recorded March ’79, you can almost feel the egg boxes.’ — AP
‘Chain of Command’
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‘We had problems with the humming part of the song as well. We had to get somebody from the kitchen, a guy called Step, I think. The cook from the kitchen, and my, could he hum! [laughs] That part was all him. It was a half-finished song, really. It only came to life when Andy came up with the chorus – most of it was created in the studio. It’s related to “Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines”. One for all the military types – justify your manhood here, chaps. Partly inspired by a school mate’s brother who was a mercenary in Angola and got killed.’ — CM
‘Generals and Majors’
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‘I shout this, you shout that, the clouds coming over are looking awful black – it’s all hot air, you say go, I say stay, clear blue sky goes Sheffield grey – it’s all hot air. I’ve grown immune to your claws pussycats, I know all your threats are tissue tigers crawling across the table to me all your threats are tissue tigers ripping ’em up is easy for me now.’ — AP
‘Tissue Tigers’
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‘The lyrics build from absolutely the most minimal, sort of unimportant thing — you know, if I put my finger there or there. What I’m trying to say is, it’s kind like that thing where the butterfly sneezes in China and eventually there’s a hurricane in Chile. Wow, we’re getting into fractal land here! [laughs] It’s one of those things where you’re not sure how important any minor action is going to be. Is it going to be incredibly important, or is it going to be futile? It’s the little cross on the voting paper — you know, should I put it on the right or the left? This person or that person? I think, at that time in my life, I was starting to feel a sense of futility. I think it had to do with being in the band, and being stuck on the touring trail, and seemingly not having any control in my career. In fact, I didn’t have much control in my career at all.’— AP
‘Complicated Game’
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‘Birds beware, expect me up there / me and air are feeling light today / jets should hide, I’ll fly alongside / me and pride are bolted tight today / I’ve been set off by a pretty little girl / I’m like a rocket from a bottle shot free / I’ve been just explosive since you lit me / I’ve been up with the larks / I’ve been shooting off sparks / and I’m feeling in love’. — AP
‘Rocket from a Bottle’
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‘Actually inspired by my neighbour who spends half her life banging on the wall should I so much as sneeze. Not knocking people who have ‘respectable’ ideals (I know I must have a few), more of a song of people with double or hypocritical values. You know the sort, blind drunk one night, church the next. Or the mother who urges her daughter to go out and have fun dear, isn’t abortion wonderful. If their daughter got pregnant they would beat her senseless. The A&R; man decided the BBC wouldn’t play this with words like ‘abortion’ and ‘contraception’, so he took out all the words he didn’t like. It wasn’t a big hit, though, because the BBC still didn’t play it. A couple of bands have covered it, and they always get the chords wrong. The second one’s a seventh, formed from the E-string up. They always miss it.’ — AP
‘Respectable Street’
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‘I think it’s kind of a genteel morality play. It’s a real Threepenny Opera, but delivered over some Rock-n-Roll. To me, it’s almost Dickensian in its morality, with ironic little twists. I think it just was a desire to write this rather old-fashioned-slash-modern morality tale — you know, to bring it up to date. At the time it was written, there was an awful lot of awareness of the National Front in England — we’d done at least one Rock Against Racism festival by that time — and at that point in England, there was an awful lot of anti-Right kind of feeling, because it seemed like they were growing in prominence. It was probably more to do with the paranoia of the time rather than their actual prominence, if you know what I mean.’ — AP
‘No Thugs in Our House’
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‘The whole Mummer album had a sort of a feel to it, and all the songs, all of the material for Mummer came up in sequence. And then the very last one, that came up at the last moment — that didn’t even get a demo, because it was so last-moment — was “Funk Pop a Roll.” I was feeling somewhat had by the record industry! We’d just come off the road, and it was the thing of, “Well, we’ve been playing live for five years, and I’ve not seen any money.” You know, the big trap is success. Because if you have success making one type of cheese, you’re not going to want to stop and change and try something different. You’re just going to want to reproduce Cheese A forevermore. Because, “Cheese A — we know that sells!” But we had the luxury of not being successful. We could say to ourselves, “We always fancied doing a record like this — let’s try that.” “Yeah, why not, let’s get the orchestra in,” or “Let’s get the acoustics in.” We weren’t going to be pissing anyone off, because not enough people were buying our records to piss ’em off!’ — AP
‘Funk Pop A Roll’
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‘I wrote this at a time when I was really confused about what I was supposed to be doing. You know, in terms of, “Well, that’s my touring career out of the way. I don’t want to do that any more. We just made an album that didn’t sell very well” — that was Mummer. “We’re about to make another one that probably won’t sell very well, and Virgin are getting fed up with us and starting to grumble about potentially not carrying on with us. I think the music stuff came up first, and it made me think of a train. I was trying to remember where I came up with the idea for that riff. As I say, it’s an open-E tuning, but I’ve got a funny feeling that I was dicking around with the Rolling Stones song, “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking?”, which is on Sticky Fingers, I think. It’s the lick underneath the title phrase that I think I was messing around with — I think it’s a similar tuning, it’s tuned to a set chord, and so when you play the shapes you get those intervals.’ — AP
‘Train Running Low on Soul Coal’
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*
p.s. Hey. ** Killer Luka, Yeah, I missed that yesterday, by hair’s breadth, I bet. Thanks for the festive add, pal. ** Thomas Moronic, How was the Chapman Bros. show? I saw a video of it, and it looked very, very them. That’s all I could really tell. Sure, email, cool, wink wink, thanks! What magazine is it that contains the Travis/Bruce thing? Sounds interesting, obviously. ** Empty Frame, Hey. The Sussex Beacon does sound pretty amazing. And yep, big time, about the people back during the epidemic’s heaviest thrust who used themselves to make the necessary noise. Yeah, your piece was great, man. The dolls piece. I’m totally humbled and chuffed, as people in your neck say, that my work had anything to do with it. Thank you a lot, bud. The new pieces sound like they’ll be fascinating. Love from here too. ** Kiddiepunk, Feed that tan today, and good luck with that movie. Talk to you, I hope. ** Allesfliesst, Hey. That is an inspired idea, i.e. something here on singer/microphone style, etiquette, etc. Let me look around and see how I could do it. Depends on the nature of the resources, but, yeah, great idea, and I’ll get on that. Thanks a lot, Kai. ** Nb, My luck has its sights on you, be assured. Jesus, man. Hang in there, and report back. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi, D. Sounds amazing: the LaTouche Day. Can’t wait. And that’s very good news about ‘The Golden Apples’! ** Katalyze, Hey, Kat. I don’t think it can be turned back, no. I guess it needs to be acknowledged and addressed by, I don’t know, everyone, the rioters included. With people’s tiny attention spans and fear of disruption these days, I fear what this means will be quelled and spun and sidelined in a week. But we’ll see. Interesting about the guilty pleasure books. I think I’m weird in my not ever turning to books without turning off my critical faculties. I personally wouldn’t say Rothko is a guilty pleasure at all. He’s pretty great, I think. I don’t know David Mack, but I’ll google him. I used to look at Odd Future tumblr, but I haven’t in a while. I think that actually I got into them because of that tumblr, which, yeah, I was really into, of course. A book of it sounds like a good idea. Hunh. Thanks, K, and lots o’ love. ** Brendan, Kinkos at 3 am. Ah, that really brings it back. Except in my case it probably more like 11 pm. Okay, well, the job thing sounds pretty okay, and that’s awesome. But get that eye repaired, man. When does the insurance kick in? Sorry about the Giants. I’ve given up on the Dodgers. I don’t even try to follow them anymore. If I was in a position to hear Vin Scully put a genius spin on things, I might. I’m okay. Been better, been worse. I hate the no talking too. Let’s Skype. What do you say? ** Frank Jaffe, Thanks for slaying everybody yesterday. I’m checking my mailbox like a meer cat checks the horizon. Yeah, I’ve seen at least two of — or parts of two of — the ‘Twink Peaks’ movies, and, yeah, no owls, no Bob, no Lynchian nothing. I know the name ‘Dante’s Cove’, but that’s all. Should I chase down some online clips? Great day to you and the Lukester, maestro.** 5strings, ‘Milkboys + John Holmes = freaky’: ha ha ha, awesome. Man, I missed your great voice while you were away, let me tell you. That better/worse thing sound like something I could say this morning. Actually, I think I just did. Here’s the lighter, man. Heads up. Catch. ** Tonyoneill, Tony! Awesome to see you! Man, thank you so much for those words about ‘TMS’. That means a fucking ton. And your timing is impeccable ‘cos ‘TMS’ just got its first official review in Library Journal, and it’s the same dismissive, condescending shit my books have always gotten from the official sources most of the time, and I’ve been depressed ever since. It’s weird, T. There’s just nothing I can do as a writer to prevent being written off as a ‘gay’ ‘transgressive’ writer perpetrating an update on ‘the more outré passages of Burroughs and Genet’ whose most recent book aka ‘TMS’ is only of interest to fans of The Marquis de Sade. ‘Cos, yeah, the thing is, I do feel like this novel is the best thing I’ve ever written, and to feel that way and really know that’s true, actually, and to have something I’ve worked so hard on and that really raises my work’s game be written off as just another of my usual gay transgressive books fit only for people who like that kind of weird stuff is so disheartening, or, I guess mostly, worrying, ‘cos if that’s indicative of the response the book’s going to get, it’s going to kill me. Anyway, sorry about the rant. I need to thicken my skin and fast. So, yeah, sorry, and, really, Tony, thank you, man, thank you! Right, you’re coming to Paris soon! I should be here now that LA trip plans got delayed. When do you get here? I can’t wait to see you! Are you doing any events or anything while you’re here? Fantastic! Super excited about your film stuff. May that process sail. Yeah, so good to see you, and its ‘s great that I’ll get to see you in the real world. Lots of love to you, Tony. ** Misanthrope, Happy birthday! Everyone, it’s Misanthrope’s birthday! He’s hit the big 4-0! Make him happy in the comments today in one way or another Dude, after that McFeast, why even bother with a birthday party? It’s done. You’ll never top that! ** Chris Goode, Hey, C. Your blog post on the riots is by far the best thing I’ve read on the situation. By a million kilometers. Everyone, the great Chris Goode has written a piece on his blog about the London riots that is, I can pretty much guarantee you, the best thing you will read on the situation. It’s here. Go there. That really is the first thing I’ve read that addresses and unearths the incredible difficulty and necessities and awfulness of what is happening. Brilliant, Chris. I don’t need to tell you that the impotence you feel as an artist right now isn’t impotence at all. When I get that feeling, I always end up thinking that it was a drastic battle against the automatic and repetitious in which my immediate needs were left out for a very good reason. See if that isn’t how you feel soon. I’ll bet. The cris cheek post was really fantastic, by the way. Huge and rich, and I felt very, very inspired by it. You rule, basically. Accept it, buddy. ** Schlix, Man, I’m sorry. It sure sounds like depression. Can you trace it back to anything or -things? I don’t know how your depressions work, but I know mine basically tend to end or start ending when I get bored by my depression, and the weirdest, most random things can knock it loose. Breaking your habits by doing something peculiar sometimes helps. And I have things that I turn to like GbV and the early New Pornographers albums, for instance, that seem to able to produce joy in me against most odds by magic. Anyway, please talk about it if it will help, my friend. Hugs. ** Steevee, Hey. Yeah, that is a piece of the fallout that’s interesting to consider. Everyone, courtesy of Steevee, here’s a Pitchfork piece about the impact of the London riots on indie music labels. Congrats on nearing the end. 75 pages is either close enough to 80 or easily beefed up or surrounded by slightly bigger margins, right? ** Paul Curran, Hi, Paul. I haven’t scoured the news this morning yet, but I got the idea last night that the rioting is happening more noticeably outside of London now? ** Chilly Jay Chill, Very best of luck if you need it with the dermatologist today. Let me know how it goes. I haven’t read that much Mark Richards really. I was not very interested in what I did read by him, which was some stories and an early novel, but my memory is vague. If you dip into him, let me know the deal. ** Chris Cochrane, The Syria stuff, yeah, yikes. I don’t know about in the States, but that situation is getting very heavy coverage over here. Nice Elvis track indeed. Is it less muggy over there now? It’s still endless spring over here, or maybe we’re into early fall at this point. Hard to tell the difference. ** Alan, Hey, man. Oh, I only think I know vaguely or remember vaguely about Bakhtin’s concept of polyphony. Obviously, I’m going to investigate that as soon as I get out of here. Thanks, man. That could be a really big boon. ‘Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics’ has always been the book of his that I’ve intended to read next. I think it might be high time. Yeah, thanks again, A. ** Sypha, Good work, man. Wow. When you’re into it and diligent, you’re into it and diligent. Great! I hope to get to see some of the new work. ** Jeff, Interesting comic. A bit bleak for men, of course, ha ha, but very well done, obviously. Well, I hope for the very best with your uncle, whatever the best may be. You were talking to Thomas not me, but I’ll throw in that Bruce Benderson translated Tony Duvert’s novel ‘Diary of an Innocent’, so the influence you see is likely there. ** MANCY, I know Capitol Hill just a little bit. When I was up in Seattle to do that Spin article on Courtney Love, all the other band members of Hole lived there, so I was shuttling between their apartments a fair amount. The area seemed quite nice. Great! Keys! ** Bill, Hi, Bill. You got out there in the nick of time, I guess. How are you adjusting? When does school start up again? ** Okay. D.l. David suggested an XTC post, and that’s what I came up with. Given that a bunch of people around here are feeling kind of glum, maybe XTC’s jaggedy, inventive goodness is just the thing. Either way, see you tomorrow.
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