FROM THE [GOOGLE] DOCS #002
I'm a little bit clearer about what is going on here now, maybe; somewhat.
Hi again. Welcome to the second edition of my newsletter that might not be a newsletter. In the first issue, I talked about the idea of sharing some older writing from my pre-web journalism archive, and well, I’m still going to do that, but I didn’t manage to get any together this week. That said, just like last week, I’ve got a few listening, reading and watching recommendations for you to consider, and a recap of what I’ve been up to lately + a couple of things I’ll be doing next week.
Cheers,
Martyn
WHAT I’VE BEEN LISTENING TO:
Fetus Productions, Luminous Trails (Flying Nun Records)
Sample song: ‘Flicker’
Man, I would love to have been an adult, or at least teenager, when this Flying Nun Records released this album in 1985. A spin-off from the definitive Auckland art-punk band The Features, Jed Town’s Fetus Productions came to life as a multimedia project, before decamping to Sydney in 1981, where they recorded and released music that sounded like the primal screams of fractured sanity. After two of the band members, Karel van Bergen and James Pinker, moved to Melbourne and then England to work with SPK and Dead Can Dance, Fetus Productions retooled their noise music into something closer to conventional songs. Luminous Trails, a dizzying mix of field recordings, twisted synthesisers, motorik drums, helium voiced croons, angular guitars, and even more angular wails, shows off Fetus Productions expansive vision with style and heft. Unknown Mortal Orchestra front-man Ruban Nielson once described the album as “a futuristic nightmare version of the Beatles,” and all in all, that’s about right. (Purchase)
WHAT I’VE BEEN READING:
DJ Target, Grime Kids: The Inside Story of the Global Grime Takeover (Trapeze)
In the mid-2010s, UK grime music did the impossible and re-emerged in the British mainstream by way of Skepta and Stormzy, a decade after Dizzee Rascal, Wiley and Kano ran up the charts in the early 2000s. During this second coming, longstanding London jungle, garage and grime evangelist DJ Target, a member of Pay As U Go Cartel, Roll Deep, and now a BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra broadcaster, decided that the UK grime story needed to be told by an insider. Target was the man for the job. Over 288 pages, he outlines his journey with music, the connections made along the way, and how it all ties together with a cultural sea change that redefined music in the UK, before having an impact across the globe. (Order here)
WHAT I’VE BEEN WATCHING:
Joji Matsuoka, Midnight Diner (MBS/Netflix Japan)
Directed by Joji Matsuoka, Midnight Diner is the story of a fictional late-night diner Shinjuku, Tokyo and it’s chef, known only as Master. It’s also the story of the lives of the regulars who patronise the diner between midnight to 7 am. Delivered at a meditative, nocturnal pace, Midnight Diner uses simple meals, created by the Master, or requested by customers, to tell stories of human connection and disconnection between the diner’s regulars and the people who orbit them in their lives. I’ve never seen a show quite like it, and if you haven’t discovered it yet, Netflix has five seasons for you to watch. I could revisit this show every five years for the rest of my life. (Click here)
WHAT I’VE BEEN DOING:
I interviewed the Danish New Age/Ambient music pioneer Klaus Schønning for Test Pressing. Klaus’ cult debut album Lydglimt has just been reissued by New York’s Frederiksberg Records in LP and digital formats. The article contains a previously unseen photograph of the synth-folk singer-songwriter Suzanne Menzel. In 1981, Klaus produced her sole album, Goodbyes and Beginnings. (Click here)
I talked to Radio New Zealand's Tony Stamp about Roland's TR-808: the drum machine that revolutionised music. (Click here)
At 4pm UK time on Tuesday, NTS 2 aired Closer, my special presentation on Street Soul and Swingbeat from Aotearoa New Zealand. It features loads of Houseparty/Fuemana, Teremoana Rapley, Semi MCs and other treats. (Click here)
My NTS 2 Closer special was the second part in my ongoing campaign to promote late 80s/early 90s Street Soul and Swingbeat from Aotearoa. Last month, I made a similar YouTube playlist for Low End Theorists, an excellent Sydney-based audio journal. (Click here)
Last Saturday, I hosted Radio Active 88.6 FM’s Late Late Breakfast Show, presented by Parrotdog Beer. It was a big three hour UK/NZ Street Soul Session.
WHAT I’VE GOT COMING UP:
On Sunday night, I’m DJing at Laundry Bar on Cuba Street in Wellington, 7pm till midnight.
On Saturday the 31st of October, I’m DJing at Verona Bar on K Road in Auckland, 8-10pm. My set will also be broadcast live on KFM 106.9 FM Radio Auckland New Zealand Aotearoa (Click here)
