You just need a thick carrot, a mouthpiece, an electric drill, a potato peeler and a funnel. Then, in five minutes, you can do this …
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Month: July 2016
Spray: Enforced Fun (2016).
Spray are a couple of old goths doing semi-novelty synthpop straight out of The Manual. They do a brilliant job of it and you should listen to everything they have ever recorded.
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Reviews: Dark Colour, The War Between, The Nursery, Selves (2016).
’90s-style sample-ridden indie dance rock, catchy amateur punkish indie pop, melodic pop songs in an indie band with synths, American Britpop.
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Burning books is *wrong*. So we had it taken out and shot.
The above being a quote from Graham Clark, one of the literary assessors in question. He told me the story years ago (and I keep retelling it), but I finally found a decent writeup of this, from a 1994 interview with Iain (M.) Banks …
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Dischord releases most of its catalogue on Bandcamp.
It’s the happening thing. Doesn’t appear to be everything they’ve ever released, but it’s a pretty fair chunk of it for you to try before you buy and give them your money.
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Industrial singles: Mesh, Liquid Newt (2016).
A couple from the poppier end, on Dependent.
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Movie links: The death of the VCR; new ways for 3D to suck; why men aren’t funny.
The last video recorder, 3D again, why men just aren’t funny.
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Links: cultural markets in late capitalism, Patricia Morrison, the 1938 synthesizer.
Consumer markets, a nice Patricia Morrison interview and the 1938 Novachord.
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More eyegouging eastern European rap video for your delectation.
After yesterday’s wonder of the pop video maker’s art, we have a couple more. Here’s Russian rap act Little Big, whose dick is very very big.
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The worst video you will see today: “Winaloto” by Tommy Cash.
Estonian rap. The genre is “trap-pop”, apparently. The video itself is probably not worksafe, though technically within YouTube rules.
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Strap On Halo: Altar of Interim EP, Prayers for the Living CD (2016).
Strap On Halo are a goth rock band from the goth scene. This is unfortunate, insofar as not even current goths are interested in current goth music — it’s a subculture of new clothes and old music.
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Industrial reviews: Shiny Darkness, Psychicold, Alexander Fetuekow/2AF (2016).
Depeche Modeish EBM, sp00ky goth EBM, instrumental EBM.
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The guy who called his band Suicide dies of old age.
Useful signage for the turntable.
Origin unknown.
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Viv Albertine corrects British Library exhibition on punk.
Why does the history of punk rock seem so relentlessly white and male, when that’s nothing like how it happened? Well, you know why. And so does Viv Albertine of the Slits.
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65daysofstatic: No Man’s Sky (2016).
Averaging one studio album every three years, the classic math rockers, 65daysofstatic are right on time with their latest release, the official soundtrack to the video game No Man’s Sky.
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Industrial reviews: Psy’Aviah, Gamma 10, L.O.T.I.O.N.
Floaty EBM, instrumental EBM, industrial punk.
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Suggest a new theme for Rocknerd!
Rocknerd uses Kubrick, the most tediously basic WordPress theme that was all the rage in 2008. It’s possible we could do with an update.
So! I would welcome your valued suggestions on how to make the site look more like an interesting and perspicacious music magazine. Free themes by preference, we’re not big on budget resources around here …
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Industry links: YouTube, RIAA mathematics, Jay-Z’s Tidal.
YouTube, record company accounting, Tidal.
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Reviews: nTTx, Foot Spa, Kites With Lights, Stars Crusaders, Kepler.
Two industrial, one post-punk, one synthpop, one indiest indie.
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A nice interview with Alan Rankine of the Associates.
I named my old fanzine Party Fears after the hit single by the Associates, so I’ve always had a soft spot for them.
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Links: Opinionated record nerds on Ringo Starr, Frank Zappa and Record Store Day.
Ringo Starr, Frank Zappa and Record Store Day evaluated.
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Links: The lows and highs of the history of disco.
The Beach Boys’ worst record, the disco record that beats it, and when disco got good again with Jimmy Cauty and the KLF.
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The cookie monster vocal explained.
Will York, in the San Francisco Bay Guardian, helpfully explains for us the cookie monster vocal in death metal.
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Hey, sign up for the emails!
See that box at the right of the page saying “Subscribe to Rocknerd via email”? It does what it says. Sign up and you’ll never miss a post. Good, huh.
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Reviews: Növö, Stop The Wheel, Binaural Silence (2016).
The new release pile on Bandcamp is more work than it looks.
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An ’80s Australian indie rock band you should have heard of: the Arctic Circles.
Australian ‘80s indie rock band the Arctic Circles never made a huge impact and remain mired in obscurity, but their two records (the single “Angel” in 1985, the mini-LP Time in 1987 featuring “Wasp”) were well-received, did okay on an indie level and you couldn’t get away from them on public radio. The style is the ‘60s garage punk stuff popular in Australia at the time. Still sounds pretty fresh in 2016.
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“They’re explaining how a record sounds better when Tiesto plays it.”
Beware the dangers of trance and the cult of the DJ. Don’t fall for … the trance cracker. An informative tract that you can give your friends copies of!
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Alixandrea Corvyn makes her deserved bid for fame.
This is Alixandrea Corvyn, of Last July and Rhombus and various previous bands. It’s a cover of “White Rabbit”, but with this grasp of imagery she’s on the right track. This video is just made to be cut up into stills and GIFs and reassembled into viral Tumblr posts.
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Synth Britannia: the synthpop surge in ’70s Britain.
A wonderful 2010 documentary from BBC Four, covering the late ’70s synthesizer bands. Interviews with the (original) Human League, Depeche Mode, Orchestral Manoeuvres, Vince Clarke, Gary Numan, New Order and the Pet Shop Boys.
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