Yes friends! We’ve reached the end of the year already, and we hope its been as good for you as it has for us! Some amazing acts have joined us each month to celebrate life, liberty (creative at least!) and live musical experimentation, and as those of you who have joined us will know, we’ve been treated to everything from deep afro jazz and space funk to raw West African drum calls and roots reggae music. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank all who have performed and attended….your support means a LOT!
For our last session of 2010, we’re taking a swerve from the usual format and instead inviting the fine souls behind London’s BOGLEWALTZ parties to share the turntables and microphone for our end of year party. Famous for bringing the house-party spirit to warehouses and tropical gardens across London town, GUYNAMITE, ANALOG JONES & D.ABLO deal with everything everything from deep synth funk to hype global crunk with a particularly nice line in 90s New Jack ( a guilty pleasure of mine!). Oh, did I mention they’re the very same crew (well two of them at least) that are behind the TWIN CITIES project?
Greetings Brethren & Sistren – it’s been a while….so long I almost didn’t remember the password to get me here. I’ve been working hard on the OKRA project, and as such, have had little spare time to communicate via this particular channel. To tell the truth (which is usually dangerous, especially online), regardless of OKRA, blogging was losing it’s charm for me anyway. I realised that i’d reached a point in time where my actions needed to have meaning – and blogging about music just wasn’t cutting it no more. Don’t get it twisted though, the love for the music is still there, but it’s the message in the music (or vice-versa) that’s feeding me now….which brings me on to this month’s Heads High guests…
On Sunday 14th November, ASHEBER & THE AFRIKAN REVOLUTION head east to settle in for two mind-blowing sets at our monthly Vibe Bar session. Those of you who haven’t met them yet, you’re in for something special. I first heard how they stay almost a year ago when I played alongside them at a Haiti Fundraiser. When they opened with a 7 man drum call led by West African pioneer Adesose Wallace, I knew I was in for something special, but didn’t know quite what. An hour later, i’d heard searing horns, rumbling bass and vital vocal, wrapped around a framework which was constantly shifting between Afrobeat, Reggae, Funk and raw, tuff drum rhythms. In short, 90% of what I love about music, all packed into one hour. Time has passed since then, but I’m happy to finally be welcoming them to our stage…..join the revolution!!
East Village have always repped with the bookings they secure. Most acts are bait but one thing always ensured is a consistent level of quality. Continuing on this tip, tonight, they bring to the masses: Amp Fiddler (along with Alton Miller and Stuart Patterson).
Forgive me for dropping this so last minute; I’m hoping most heads are already well aware of this event, however for those of you that aren’t, I feel obliged to share this now or forever hold my peace.
In saying that, I’m going to keep this short and sweet.
Being born and bred in Detroit, Amp’s got that natural tendancy to dabble in soul, hip-hop, jazz and electronic music… His 3 solo albums are proof to this testament. The essence of Amp Fiddler, however is in all things funk. His profile up-to-date boasts collabos with pretty much anyone that has had anything to do with P-Funk. (Oh and if you didn’t know, he was also responsible for introducing J-Dilla (RIP) to the MPC-2000).
Tonight he will be performing a live PA set at East Village. Expect to hear both classic and new material. Having Alton Miller as support can only indicate how serious the vibe will be.
Party people, this is not to be missed.
East Village
89 Great Eastern Street
London EC2A 3HX
020 7739 5173
Sat 24th April marks the unveiling of a brand new Heads high vs 12 Tone session in the centre of our fair city. Having raised our east-end party the right way, the good people at Soho’s newest venue, Barrio Central have invited us to embark on a fresh leg of our beats, bass and brass tour with them. Erase all memories of the soundsystem at their sister venue Barrio North though. We’re assured that they’ve done the right thing with BC and come correct with the sound. You know we’ll do the same with our performance, and entry is free so it’d give us a warm glow inside to see some familiar faces in the place.
You generally know when you’re in the presence of greatness. When I stepped into Adesose Wallace’s NW London abode to find him casually playing a Goje at his kitchen table, I had that familiar feeling of humility that only a learned elder can provoke. For those of you who don’t know who Adesose is, prepare to be amazed. Having roots in Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Liberia, Mr Wallace is a West African in the expanded sense of the term. An accomplished artist, singer, percussionist and many other things besides, Ade’s existence has been rich to say the least. I was sent by East London venue Passing Clouds (an organization with whom Adesose shares a close artistic relationship) to interview him and create a biography for their artist roster. When we began to break bread, I realized that I could easily write a series of books charting Ade’s experiences. I’m not a biographer per se, but I do feel its important to record the achievements of our great cultural ambassadors – besides stories about the arts/music scene in 70s Lagos, Covent Garden’s Africa Centre before the Soul II Soul Soundsystem and first hand accounts of the showmanship of Sierra Leone’s Geraldo Pino (African Funk legend and one of Fela’s inspirations) are like drugs to me, I can’t help but listen.
So I thought it’d be nice to drop a post every once in a while and relate a little of our conversation to you. Rather than an overview of Ade’s achievements (which i’ll save for Passing Clouds), think of each post as a snapshot of a time gone by. A window into the sights, sounds and smells which still have relevance today and are ingrained in the very fabric of our artistic culture.
Geraldo Pino was a huge star in the West Africa of the late 60s/early 70s. Hailing from Sierra Leone Pino turned the African popular music scene upside down with his heavy brand of Funk. Here’s what Adesose had to say about Geraldo, his band, his influence on Fela and the club scene in 70s Lagos:
‘I’ve always been a musician but for a long time I didn’t play an instrument, my instrument was my mouth. In school I studied music theory, Brahms, Mozart, Schubert, Handel. I sang in the church choir and travelled from country to country singing gospel. In Sierra Leone [Adesose's place of birth] I wasn’t playing anything professionally, I used to go to gigs and fetes and just hang out. Around that time there was this band called the Heartbeats, Geraldo Pino & The Heartbeats. Geraldo Pino was the biggest musician ever to come out of Sierra Leone. You could call him a megastar. He was known all across Africa as early as 1964. His music was a combination of James Brown and Elvis Presley, and he even dressed like Elvis, with the big collars and the suits. He was a huge guy, a big womaniser and a good singer, he had all the star qualities. It’s only now he’s dead that people are starting to know about him. In Nigeria he is very famous. He’s the man who influenced Fela to make Afrobeat. There would be no Afrobeat music if Pino hadn’t toured there with his band.
Advertisment featuring ET Mensah and Geraldo Pino
He arrived in Nigeria like a true superstar. He drove a Pontiac convertible and he had a big bus that carried his musicians and his instruments. He travelled from country to country by road, so when he got to Nigeria, he arrived with all of that. Nigerian bands did not have anything close to the quality of equipment he had. Strobe lights, PA system. This guy had all these things in the early 60s. He had things that most Nigerian musicians had never even seen before. He was way ahead of time! Fela came on the scene in 1970. When Pino played in Lagos, that was where it was happening. People flocked to see him – wherever he is, its sold out. He was the godfather of soul in Africa.
So Fela is doing his Jazz thing with Koola Lobitos. He’d come back from England and was doing a mix of Highlife and Jazz. Something made him stop playing that, and that something was Geraldo Pino. Since Pino arrives, he’s the biggest star in the country. He’s playing for the President and the state house, right down to the grass-roots level. He was cleaning-up. That’s what led Fela to change. Fela had just begun to sing about cultural awareness, ‘Black Man’s Cry’ and those kind of songs. Pino arrived in town, confused the whole thing with his James Brown style and Fela got mad. He was like ‘no way is that going to happen in my home country when this guy comes from Sierra Leone – coming to disrupt what i’m just beginning to set up’. So Fela decided to disband his own group. That’s how Fela, Tony Allen, Tunde Williams (he and Fela used to play trumpet. I was there when he learned to play saxophone) and the others moved to Afrobeat. The sound that mixed the African drum rhythms, Jazz and Funk to create a new style. That first band was the Nigeria 70.
Back in Sierra Leone, Geraldo Pino’s house was just up the road from mine so I knew him and the band personally. We grew up together. I used to check out their gigs back home and they knew me as a singer from the choral stuff I was doing.When I came to Lagos in the 60s, my mother had a hotel which had a night-club called the Q Club. I moved in there, and Pino’s group used to come and check me. The Q Club name is originally from London. Africans have been coming to London for a long long time man – my mother is 85 and since she was a little girl she’s been coming to England. Africans know London & England inside out, it’s no mystery to us! Everybody came to the Q Club. It was in the centre of Lagos so a lot of artists used to pass through.
Because I knew Geraldo and his band from Sierra Leone, I went to every gig they played in Lagos. They knew I was a singer and because I’d heard them play so much, I became familiar with a lot of their music. I used to occasionally help out with backing vocals but that was about it. One day, one of their singers walked out. In 70s Lagos, musicians would play on a contract basis. you’d be booked to play a certain venue for like 3 months, and when that 3 months finish, you move to the next place. That means every night, 6 days a week you’re obliged to play. You pick your night-off and the rest of the time you’re working – from 9pm to 6am in the morning! There was also a thing called ’showtime’ which was when the featured artists for the night performed. From 12 midnight to 3am it’s showtime. After that, its over to the band and dance till daybreak. So Francis Fouster [asks me if I know who he is, to which I reply no]. People need to know about Francis Fouster. People need to know about the real people. Right now he plays congas and percussion for Hugh Masekela. He’s been playing with Masekela since 1974. Fouster was the band-leader of the Heartbeats. Pino was the owner of the band, the showman. he could sing and play a bit of guitar. Pino would come for showtime, sing, play guitar and his band would back him. He’d do his show, and then get in his Pontiac and leave! The rest of the night, the Heartbeats would play, and the leader of the Heartbeats was Francis Fouster. He’d play kit drum and sing lead at the same time. When the singer walked out that night, I stepped in and helped Francis because he was struggling man. He was on the kit, singing, and at the same time he had to organise all these other artists – it was a hectic night. From then on I became part of the band.
Eventually, the Heartbeats split from Geraldo Pino. They were touring between Ghana, Nigeria and the Ivory Coast. They got to Accra in Ghana and next thing the band was split. It was kind of Pino’s fault I think. There were times when the band were waiting to get their money, and Pino had just got into his car and drove out of town. Not necessarily that he didn’t want to pay them, he was just doing other things and wasn’t there to authorise the release of funds. Remember, he’s a superstar, a womaniser, after a show he’s leaving with his women and not thinking about his band. When the Heartbeats came back to Lagos, of course they checked me because I’m at the hotel, I could give them rooms, and my mother has a club so they’re thinking maybe something could work.
There was this half Lebanese guy who was very popular in 70s Lagos called Nabir. He was a club DJ. he used to play in a club which is actually still there today called the Phoenicia NIghtclub. It was owned by another Lebanese guy called Mahmoud. It was originally a nightclub but he converted it into a club with a restaurant. We went to Nabir and explained the situation to him. We had a band with all their instruments but no amps bacause they were owned by Pino. We wanted Mahmoud to let us play there and provide the missing amplifiers, supported by Nabir on the turntables. Mahmoud provided the equipment and we started playing.
Of course, we needed a new name. We came up with two. Barof and Baranta. They were both creole or patois if you like for rebel. Baranta sounded nice. Francis liked it so we went with that. So a new band was born from what used to be Geraldo Pino & The Heartbeats. But Geraldo Pino, he never, ever faded…..(to be continued)
Looking back at the last few years, soul, funk and rare groove have returned to the forefront of the clubbing scene all over again… Walking through your standard non-commercial nightlife district in London, you can pretty much hear Motown classics booming from every other venue. However a genre that has superseded those already mentioned based on the sheer impact it has had in its re-explosion back onto the scene is disco music.
Before I go on further, to avoid confusion, this modern craze will be distinguished from what has always been available. Up until a few years ago, disco was a niche sound appreciated by those who used to club to it the first time around in the 70s/80s. These nostalgic clubbers tend to be older and enjoy sparse nights out only on ‘special occasions’.
There is also nothing groundbreaking about the cheesy medium-sized bed-town clubs that run a “Saturday Night Fever” fancy dress disco party every first Friday of the month.
However, the surge of interest from city hedonists willing to re-explore the sounds of yesteryear has been unfounded to say the least. This audience is young, cool and seeking danceable music that is not too hard on the ear. Not only do there seem to be more DJs around responding to this need but venues alike which may have previously had no connection to any old-school music can now be seen boasting a strictly disco only play-list forcing a change in the way people party.
For a month, I worked in the cloakroom of one of these bars that have transitioned in their music offerings from EDM back to disco and it was from here that I realised the sheer quantity and quality of songs coming from this era. Although at its peak, disco became too popular, a lot of the hits have been carried through time pretty well without been frowned upon. As a reader of this post, I’m sure you could hum a few disco melodies and even if not, I would bet my right arm that you would surely be able to recognise many disco tracks if played to you.
Disco itself stems from an era of discontent, rebellion and creation. In the mid 70s, whilst seeking a new form of expression, a mish-mash of black, latino and gay party animals formed disco together with DJs (such as Larry Levan, Tom Moulton and many more), artists, fashionistas and socialites all based in New York. They wanted to dance… and hard. Rock music wasn’t really rocking it and the earlier soul, R&B movement of the 60s was way too agreeable. The Hippies had failed in their west-coast countryside exploits but these east-coast urbanites adopted their drug culture and sexual promiscuity, exchanged the acoustic guitars for record breaks and electric basslines and made it a whole lot fiercer (check out West End Records or Casablanca for typical sounds). By the mid 80s however, the saturation and commercialisation of disco music resulted in a sharp decline in its popularity. Although general consensus states that July 12, 1979 is the day that disco died when Steve Dahl and his pro-rock, Chicago White Sox posse staged the Disco Demolition Night, in hindsight it is evident that it merely morphed into other forms of music and has since proved itself to be a highly influential catalyst in creating what we now know to be electronic dance music. What is significant about this very brief history lesson is that the evolution in disco music has now somewhat reversed.
The word disco itself has come a long way too. The first time around, it went from referencing a pioneering, post flower-power funky scene to embodying a highly unfashionable, cheesy movement that dribbled into the 90s epitomized by tacky moustaches, hairy chests, medallions and the Bee Gees. Strangely enough however, these days the word has come full circle from its tabooed connotations to once again representing all things genuinely cool. This is seen to the extent that party promoters who may have called themselves raves or club nights are now referring to themselves as ‘discos’ despite the fact that they may be spinning jungle music all night long.
Back to 2010, how has this sound managed to reclaim its former glories of being the music to dance to and what is responsible for the resurgence of disco? I think it’s due to these reasons:
> Its musical makeup. Sound-wise, disco is very easy to dance to due to its melodic yet edgy characteristics. It is the safest compromise between dance, soul and pop music and draws from a number of other conflicting musical styles such as funk, jazz, rock and classical. The basic four-on-the-floor beat, syncopated bass lines and enriched, layered sounds makes disco music very danceable. In composition, very few instruments are spared and it was not uncommon for producers to incorporate orchestral harmonies over reverberated vocals.
> The quality of disco by comparison to contemporary pop music. Whether you are a fan of disco or not, you must admit that it is well made music by comparison to today’s array of chart-toppers. Even from before disco when Motown was bigger than the US government, they comfortably churned out quality sounds that now leave new-age pop music looking rather weak. For example, anyone that listens now to the Donna Summer, Giorgio Moroder classic track “I Feel Love” gets the sense of a guilty pleasure but must still admit that by todays’ standards, is something to be very proud of.
> The over-fragmentation and homogeneity of music today. These days there’s an increasing multitude of sub-genres as newer sounds are developed. Individual tastes have become more specific than ever. No longer do people have to endure mainstream techno when in actual fact they prefer minimal tech or tech-house. The side effects of this imply that one may feel alienated if not absolute music snobs or enthusiasts of very niche genres. Conversely, most of popular music has become so washed out and dumb down to a homogeneous blend of crap that it either all sounds the same or of nothing. The fans of this scene can almost be generalised as those that are probably hammered in a student union on ‘2-4-1 Sambuca shots,’ not really caring about the music that comes on and are expected to hear the precise same set list the following week. People should expect and deserve more.
> Aspect of nostalgia. The re-emergence of disco’s analogue, synth-driven sound is unique and distinctive of that era. Nostalgia is the ‘feel-good-factor’ that people experience when dancing to disco. Party people today can escape back into the more adventurous times of the colourful 70s and 80s. Disco also represents the very beginning of dance music (without being neurotic about the issue). Thus musically, this genre represents the oldest reference point of danceable music a non-niche venue can present without loosing their customers.
> Its cheapness. Disco so far is not an expensive affair. Bars, clubs and DJs don’t charge the over-inflated rates people expect to pay these days on a night out. This has helped wean people back into the genre.
> It induces inebriation. Disco although cheap to experience, is a wild money-making sound. Disco requires its young hearts to run free. People want to drink in homage to the era and the feelings the genre encapsulates. This is perfect for club and bar owners.
> The accessibility and inclusivity. Disco is neither threatening nor alienating. Although initially a black style, the big hits opened up the genre to all. Disco is also one of the few genres that doesn’t discriminate those that know from those that don’t; it is to a degree, highly predictable by comparison to jazz for example. Even the more obscure sub-genres such as Italo, Eurodisco, New Wave, Hi-NRG are still not too specialised to not be appreciated by all. The pioneers of the scene cast very long shadows when they integrated all styles into the genre. Most people know more than they realise regarding disco, which means that familiarity and initiation into the scene today is instant. There is very little learning to do for those that do not wish to explore deeper into the genre.
> The variety in the scene. Disco branched off into hip hop, new wave, post punk, electro, house as well as establishing DJ culture, which in turn branched off into many more contemporary genres such as techno. Disco therefore has the capabilities to capture a broad audience coming from its many musical descendants who can all find an aspect of disco that distantly relates to their personal tastes. Here are the three main types of totally divergent disco DJs that have been reawakened by the revival of the scene:
1. “Cool” DJs exercising a shift in taste towards the music that their modern stuff came from. The saturation of electro music presented the need to quickly stray away from their core sound by mixing it with something divergent for differentiation. Examples of this type of DJ are Erol Alkan and his Disco 3000 alter-ego. DFA Records, Horse Meat Disco (aka Jim Stanton) and Disco Bloodbath. They play massive venues and their loyal fanbase will enjoy anything these DJs choose to spin at marked-up prices, if that happens to be electroclash or Italo – so be it. With this category, there tends to be a focus on the more synth-led eurodisco aesthetics.
2. “Original” DJs who have always been renowned within the genre before the niche re-exploded. Frankie Knuckles for example, John Morales, Danny Krivit or Rahaan all from the States. This is probably the most quality you can find when hunting down a real retro set. Hardcore crate diggers who live and breath the stuff. Some of them are lucky enough to have established themselves in the house music scene and still sell out venues like “Little” Louie Vega (MAW). Their fans range from the accidental listeners to the hardcore lovers of the sound. Many of these DJs moved into house music but due to their thorough knowledge of disco will still spin anything from very early disco tracks to the more experimental house sounds.
3. “Wedding” DJs are a tad more difficult to define as they spin everything, yet essentially are not particularly attached to whatever is being played as opposed to the reactions they get from the crowd. They play the same tracks that ‘get the party started’ and rely on their audience’s inebriation to overlook the substandard mixing. Examples of these can be found in generic bars that have adopted the new music policy but are not prepared to pay for serious DJs since their customers probably won’t even notice the difference. Here, people are more likely to hear all the classic danceable disco hits.
Where will disco go from here? To be honest, I haven’t any idea but I do wish it the best of luck. I also believe that disco may prove to have greater stamina this time around despite the danger of ‘wedding’ DJs killing the music again. Luckily for Londoners, contemporary pop music has taken on this role, running the risk of cannibalising itself as it bears the brunt for poor audiences and DJs.
So when next passing a venue in Shoreditch with the sounds of KC and the Sunshine Band blasting out, lets not be too hasty to raise our noses up at what was possibly one of the golden eras in popular music.
Yeah I know, this should have been posted last Friday but it’s been hectic times at Heads High HQ. I could have done it yesterday but I promised myself I’d take one whole day off the LCD and actually interact with real people ALL day. It was nice. I’ll do it again someday….
Anyway, here’s the missing selection. One of those ones that I wasn’t too happy with when I recorded it but listened back and was pleasantly surprised…A little rags in places but the rawness is the realness. Enjoy….
Dark Knight // Mutant Funk Bookworms // African Rhythms Zomby // One Foot Ahead Of The Other Silkie // Spark Red // I Should Tell Your Mama On Ya Baatin // Marvelous Jimmy Castor Bunch // It’s Just Begun (Larry Levan Mix) Holzer & Kamura // Pure Love Players Association // Let Your Body Go Don Armandos Second Avenue Rhumba Band // Deputy Of Love Fallout // The Morning After Martyn // For Lost Relatives F // Epilogue (Ramadanman Mix) Kode 9 & The Space Ape // Do You See What I See Elemental // Talk
The last time I saw Meshell Ndgeocello live, she was involved in a project known as ‘Spirit Music Sextet’ collaborating with Mos Def Big Band in one of New York’s more intimate settings.
As the crowd anticipated a run-of-the-mill set with re-inventions of her handful of hits, Ndgeocello flipped the script beyond recognition. What was apparently going to be a standard jazz/soul/funk/rock live performance turned into a live jammin’ session-cum-experimentation of various psychedelic sounds reminiscent of the cosmic interludes on Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon.
Once I stopped trying to make sense of what was going on, I could sit back and enjoy the band’s hypnotic super-sonic journey.
“Meshell Ndegeocello is so underrated it’s ridiculous. Her shows are some of the best shows that I have ever seen. She is just this beautiful soul. She ain’t pulling no punches. She is telling it like it is.”
—Lenny Kravitz, VH1 Neo-Soul Special, October 25, 2001
She went on for no less than 3 hours to which, at most of the time was with her eyes closed as the accompanying musicians (including an SFX DJ) injected free jazz riffs and electronic AV effects to the performance.
At the abrupt end, which none could have anticipated, she opened her eyes, thanked the crowd for “participating in her journey” and jumped off the stage and out the fire exit for a “smoke.”
Everyone was left stunned and solidly divided on whether what had just been seen was a big con or the work of a genius. I decided to hunt her down and quiz her for myself. I can vividly recall the experience as she spoke about many issues, from not exploiting the medium of music, to being honest with what one’s shares as an artist, to Fela and Miles, the Jazz Cafe’s sound system, London’s record shops and Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart.
In all fairness, despite her intense sense of presence, I could have comfortably been having this casual chat with anyone from the ends. In fact, it was only when the venue manager interrupted us to remind her of her second performance sound check, did she snap out of the convo and get back into professional mode.
In professional mode, she has given birth to 7 top quality, highly diverse studio albums, an uncountable amount of collaborations and side-projects and has earned herself 10 Grammy nominations plus other accolades. In short, Meshell is the envy of her industry peers. As Jill Scott puts it, she really “… is in a realm of her own.”
—Jill Scott, VIBe Magazine, May 2002
Being nurtured in the midst of Washington DC’s Go-Go (funk) scene, this bisexual female has never been afraid to do what she wants, regardless. Never wanting to be pigeon-holed, her sounds have ranged from pure beat poetry – as can be heard on ‘The Spirit Music Jamia: Dance of the Infidel’ and ‘Cookie: The Anthropological Mixtape,’ to bass guitar-driven funky jazz vibes (on most of her work) to the folksy, soulful styles she displays on ‘Bitter‘ or more complex hypnotic sounds like in ‘The World has made me the Man of my Dreams.’ She will offend you, if necessary and has no intentions for mass appeal. Meshell strives only to be herself (and Miles Davis reincarnated).
Her realness has even been admired by those who have ‘played the game’ – so to speak. Madonna once told a British paper that:
“Meshell is an incredible talent who never plays by the rules. That’s her strength—and weakness.”
—Madonna, The Sunday Telegraph, August 29, 1999
Whilst Talib Kweli goes as far as to label her with the uttermost kudos stating simply that:
“She is music.”
—Talib Kweli, VIBe Magazine, May 2002
So after a mini hiatus, we gladly welcome her 8th studio effort “Devil’s Halo.” The album will be released on October 6th on ‘Mercer Street‘, a label that she has just joined. Her press release tells us…
“Devil’s Halo harkens back to the way records used to be made: no click track or electronic synthetics, with a focus on musicianship and live band energy. Devil’s Halo represents a return to a place that she truly appreciates, music that is created and performed by people’s hands. It’s said to be influenced by a wide breadth of sounds – from The Human League to Wu Tang to Yes.
The album will be produced by Meshell and guitarist Chris Bruce. Additional musicians on the album are Deantoni Parks (drums), Keefus Ciancia (keys), Lisa Germano (cello), Oren Bloedow and Mark Kelly (background vocals).”
I’ll be damned if I don’t get my hands on this.
1. Slaughter
2. Tie One On
3. Lola
4. Hair Of The Dog
5. Mass Transit
6. White Girl
7. Love You Down
8. Devil’s Halo
9. Bright Shiny Morning
10. Blood On The Curb
11. Die Young
12. Crying In Your Beer
A singer, self-taught guitarist, painter, writer and musical pioneer, Lizzy Mercier Descloux was special. Her sound, like that of her No Wave peers, occupied the space between Punk and Funk. It was her expansion of that space that made her so unique. Sounding more like a softly spoken beat poet than a singer, Lizzy chanted, scatted and chatted over effect-laden rhythm tracks composed of minimal, single note guitar lines, off-key harmonies and rhythm sections oozing with funk. To begin with at least, the people weren’t ready. Like Albert Ayler’s Free Jazz formations of the early 60’s or J Dilla’s late 90s MPC musings, Joe Public and Ian Industry slept….thankfully though, they woke up.
A Paris native, Lizzy made the transatlantic jump to New York in the mid 70s. Starting as she meant to go on, she published ‘Desiderata’ (a collection of poems and photographs), bought a Fender Jazzmaster guitar, starred in the New Cinema short ‘Blank Generation‘ and eventually recorded a six-track mini LP for the cult legend ZE Records under the moniker Rosa Yemen in 1978. Rosa’s low-key Punk Funk stylings invited comparisons to fellow No Wavers ‘Mars‘, but the release showed few signs of the genius that was ahead of her.
The real gold came with the release of her ‘Press Color‘ long player in 1979. The album is simply off the chain. Now, I was born in 1979 and waited almost twelve years to experience genres whose seeds can be found germinating on Press Color. LP cuts like ‘Hard Boiled Babe‘ and ‘Birdy – Num -Num‘ are mind blowing. The former sounding like a pre digital Burial/Sbtrkt cut with French accented vocals while the latter presents an eerily pitched jazz workout punctuated by double time, proto Drum & Bass rhythms. Heat.
Predictably, LMD found little fame with her 1979 offering. Despite its artistic calibre, ‘Press Color’ was barely distributed in the U.S.. The true light of her work managed to shine through however and a tour of the States and Europe grabbed the attention Island Records supremo, Chris Blackwell resulting in the tropical funk of ‘Mambo Nassau‘.
Recorded in the Bahamas at Blackwell’s Compass Point Studios and crediting one Wally Badarou with co-writing and production, Mambo Nassau married the futuristic Punk Funk of Press Colour with subtle African/Caribbean musical constructions and hyper energetic equatorial vibes. Although not as hard-edged as it’s predacessor (which is natural when you exchange the NY skyline with the Bahamas coastline), Mambo Nassau still has it’s fair share of noteworthy moments. Highlights include the synth driven syncopation of ‘Five Troubles Mambo‘, the melancholic stepping of the Bob Marley cover ‘Sun Is Shining‘ and the Pidgin Funk of ‘Lady O’K'pele‘. Lizzy had been closely studying ‘World Music’ collections issued on the french Ocora label and it’s no accident that the Mambo Nassau LP bears the hallmark of an artist who was looking beyond the Western preoccupation with funk, soul and rock. Again, success was elusive under the star spangled banner but this time Lizzy’s efforts were appreciated in Europe, with her home country’s CBS office adding her to their roster. The people had woken up.
Clearly the ‘World Music’ bug (World Music was a term which was yet to come into existence) had bitten LMD hard. 1983 saw her exploring the African continent, beginning in Ethiopia and culminating in South Africa. Naturally, she recorded an album on her travels, it’s title track ‘Mais où Sont Passées les Gazelles‘ becoming a surprise hit in France and despite being three albums deep in creation, it is this track that remains her signature piece to the European market. It peaked at number 30 in the French charts and it’s international focus somehow managed to alter the course of French Pop music from that point onward.
From here on in we complete a familiar story. The sequence is this:
1. Artist offers up some truly inspirational forward thinking creativity. The people sleep.
2.Artist continues to do so, the people sleep but some take it on.
3. Artist’s output loses some of its original magic but the people are now awake and lauding his/her present offerings with praise.
4. Artist ‘peaks’ in the mainstream sense and continues to create work which gradually falls into obscurity again, but this time without the quality that characterised their early releases.
In Lizzy’s case, this ‘post-peak’ period saw her working with Chet Baker on her 1985 offering ‘One For The Soul‘ and linking up with old peers from her No Wave days Mark Cunningham and Constance Burg for her final release, 1988’s ‘Suspense‘. There is also rumoured to be an unreleased album of her work recorded in 1995.
At the end of her recording career, Lizzy settled in Corsica and revisited her old loves, painting and writing, completing a novel ‘Buenaventura’ which is as yet unpublished. Sadly, in 2003 she was diagnosed with a cancer which proved terminal when she left our realm in on 20th April 2004. It is said that two Dolphins surfaced as her ashes were scattered into the sea off the coast of Saint Florent, Corsica. The Dolphins knew too…
Needless to say, the very fact I am writing this shows both my admiration and gratitude for the influence her work has had. I am happy that compliation projects like Strut’s ZE 30 and Soul Jazz’s New York Noise are doing what the re-issues of her early work failed to and shine a broader beam on a truly inspirational pioneer. An artist who was immersed in punk and yet never conveyed any anger in her work, instead presenting a child-like wonder of the world, its cultures and possibilities. I’ll leave the last words to punk icon Richard Hell with whom Lizzy worked on her ‘Desiderata’ book:
“At 17 she was more sophisticated than anyone I’d known, while also seeming utterly unaffected. Or at least her affectations came from such a stubborn confidence and will to defy convention that they were irresistible.”
Click Here to listen to Duke Etienne’s latest Afro/Two-Step/Funky/Aquacrunk/Soul selection which kicks off with LMDs ‘Hard Boiled Babe’… and see below for Lizzy Mercier Descloux’s unrivalled discography.
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