Links: Rasa Didzpetris Davies genius of The Kinks, Milli Vanilli, Arthur Baker, Children of Satoshi.

 

  • Andrew Hickey makes the case that the “quintessentially English” songs of the Kinks, during their most “quintessentially English” period, were great because they were co-written by a Lithuanian immigrant: Ray Davies’ wife, Rasa Didzpetris.
  • THE REAL STORY OF MILLI VANILLI: How two naive foreigners were exploited and abandoned by the shady and dangerous music industry, and how badly Frank Farian screwed them over. An extended Twitter thread. “Fun Fact: The group name ‘Milli Vanilli’ was inspired by their love for the English band, Scritti Politti and vanilla ice cream.”
  • Arthur Baker, interviewed in 1999 about New York electro in the ’80s. Includes YouTube audio of some of his early productions. “The straight clubs were nothing. It was either the black clubs or the gay clubs.”
  • I’m playing all this Arthur Baker now. I think I first heard this stuff on 6NR Late Nite in the early 1980s, because NME covered it. “Walking On Sunshine” is so good. There’s a whole universe that you could enter starting at “Planet Rock”. “I knew ‘Planet Rock’ was a historic record before we even mixed it. I knew before there was even a rap on it. I brought the tape home and I said to my wife at the time, ‘We’ve just made musical history.'” In related early electro hip-hop, the Peech Boys, with Bernard Fowler. I don’t know how you’d do this stuff in the present day, but it’s still amazing from its time.
  • Fuckin’ blockchain bullshit. At least I get money for this garbage. I see the musical and artistic promoters haven’t stopped. The most hilarious lately is Children of Satoshi, which is yet another attempt to fund a TV show with an ICO. The backer describes it: “Charged with Child Trafficking by his bosses at the CIA and publicly accused of hacking the casino by his ‘ex’, a price is put on his head by the Chairman of the collapsing bank. Who just happens to be his Father.” This is like a twelve-year-old being asked to script an action movie, by making it all more awesomer. Also, they plan to pay the caterers in cryptos. Imogen Heap is on the soundtrack too, because some people just don’t seem to learn.
  • I mean, look at the official promotional image for Children of Satoshi. Click through for full size:

    Hope you didn’t need those eyeballs. The more I look at this official promotional photo, the more is wrong with it. I reduced it for the blockchain blog and the outlined lettering aliased. The outline lettering is transparent — I remember this effect in 1980s Smash Hits, and even there it was only in fashion for about six months. The colours and shading are wrong. The “computer code” in the background is web page HTML. The eyes are uneven. The circuit-board face is 1990s at best. Pick your own!

  • Look, go back up to the top and read the Andrew Hickey article, it’s really good. Also, sign up for his Patreon.
  • And for mine. Say you’re signing up for more Rocknerd!

 

 

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