Patti Smith on Tom Verlaine’s Passing
I’ve spent the past few days revisiting Tom Verlaine’s catalogue. Even more impressive than I remember. This morning I came across this lovely tribute by Patti Smith, another favourite, in The New Yorker. Then go and listen again.
The Redskins.
Earlier this month, I wrote a brief appreciation of Easterhouse. Here’s a piece from The Quietus about the other British neo-Trotskyist band from the 1980s, the Redskins. Unlike the Easterhouse’s sympathies for the Revolutionary Communist Party or illy Bragg’s Labour Party boosterism, the Redskins were not only supporters of the Cliffite Socialist Workers Party, but singer Chris Dean was an actual member.
The article “Reissue of the Week: Redskins’ Neither Washington Nor Moscow” was occasioned, as the title notes, by a 4-disc boxed set of the band’s sole album. Lots of good stuff including Peel sessions, remixes, live stuff, rare tracks and all. Pretty interesting article.
Sometime I’ll write about my infatuation with Crass.
Notes from Underground: Request for Comments…
On January 7, I wrote that I would “try to post more frequently.” This is the 22nd post of the month. Quite stunning for this little cottage industry – a collection of reviews, forwards, plugs for other sites and the occasional longer article.
Wondering if anyone who reads this blog with any regularity had a preference – shorter but more frequent articles, or longer but less frequent pieces. Let me know.
And in case you’re wondering I do have a few longer pieces in the pipeline including an account of the Communist Workers Group, the IBT split in the 1990s. Nothing planned on the Sparts though.
Music Notes : January 2023
1 The Murder Capital – Gigi’s Recovery
The thing about punk was that it was always immediate gratification. You knew within five seconds if that Ramones song was it. Post-punk on the other hand was a different thing. Often, an album or song had to grow on you before you could be knocked out. The Murder Capital’s second album is like that. Listened to it a couple of times, and while some songs were immediate, others are growing. They’re coming to Toronto in April.
2 Glen Matlock – “Head on a Stick”
This came to my attention as I was preparing this list. Racing and raging track. Give this a listen. Available from the usual sources. The album is out in April
3 Penetration – Moving Targets
Long felt that Penetration ought to be more highly regarded. After their magnificent debut single “Don’t Dictate” and several others, it was a year before this album was released. Four decades later it holds up very well. Many great originals and covers of Buzzcocks and Patti Smith songs. Highly recommended punk classic even if it’s a tad overproduced (the demos on Race Against Time are exceptional)
4 Sleaford Mods – “UK Grim”
Another winner and a funny video to go with it. The new album is out in March.
5 Renegade Soundwave – In Dub
Released the same year as their debut electronica album Soundclash, a dub release for your second album is a bold move. Or a clever one if remixes are your thing. Sounds great in the car or in a club. Doesn’t work quite so well at home, but still worth a listen
6 PJ Harvey – To Bring You My Love (Demos)
I mentioned this in the December 2020 list, but I hadn’t listened to it in a while. Absolutely terrifying. Don’t know whether it’s better than the released version, but songs like “Long Snake Moan,” “Meet Ze Monster,” and “Down by the Water” seems even more monstrous. Brilliant.
7 Le Tigre – Le Tigre
I hear Le Tigre are touring again. No word on a new release, but dig back and find the debut. Lots of punk-rock electronica charms. And that marvellously crappy video for “Deceptacon.” Both versions!
8 Killing Joke – “War Dance”
I never realized there were three versions of this song until fairly recently. All great mind you, but noticeably different. The version recorded for a Peel session, the original single, and the album version. I like the latter the best as it sounds the most deranged. Was a big Killing Joke fan as a teen.
9 Uncut Magazine – Sounds of the New West vol 6
I subscribed to Uncut at the start of the Covid years. Don’t regret keeping the sub. Is this free CD Americana? New Country? Alt-country? Something else? A lot of artists worth listening to including the fabulous Margo Cilker. Get it.
10 Tom Verlaine
A sad note to end. Tom Verlaine passed away yesterday. As with many musicians, there are longer and better tributes available that I can write. I never saw Verlaine or Television live, so all I have are the recordings. Spent much of the last day listening to Marquee Moon and live stuff. Fantastic. He will be missed.
Till next month.
Paul Mattick Biography
Years ago, I was at the Montreal Anarchist Bookfair when a friend from the L’Sociale group came up to me to try to interest me in a biography of Paul Mattick. Normally, I would have been very interested, but the volume in question was in French. So, of little use to me.
The other day a friend pointed out it’s available as a PDF in English at LIbcom. I’ve know idea how long it’s been there and whether or not it violates copyright (assuming that’s an issue), but there it is.
Workers’ Autonomy and All That
When I first came around to what might broadly be called ultra-left politics (I mean that as a compliment) in the mid 1990s, two issues in vogue were the refusal of work and workers’ autonomy. Neither issue was new, but there was a revival of both.
Recently, I’ve noticed a greater incidents of mentions of the latter in my social media and other feeds. Among them:
The New York Archive of Autonomist Marxism – some of my stuff is there
Autonomia – this is the link for the discord server, but there’s also a twitter account
London Workers Group and Autonomy Reading Group – not sure if they are connected to the group from the ’70s in any way.
Hard to say how “real” these are (how “real” is this blog for that matter?), but the impulse is good. Busy at work so I won’t be able to dig too deeply into this until at least the end of next week, but then you can bet, they’ll be more to come on this.
Internationalist Perspective – European Nationalism? No Thanks
New article on the Internationalist Perspective web site by Sander.
The Commodification of Everyday Life (II)
After Wednesday’s post, I re-read some of the material Internationalist Perspective produced on formal and real domination of capital.
Internationalist Perspective #42 (Spring 2004) has several articles on this topic which I think are well worth reading or re-reading. I do wish IP would re-post the articles as individual pieces rather than as a PDF for each issue. Only the most recent (final?) issue is published as single articles on the site.
The Commodification of Everyday Life (Again)
I’ve been a SF / fantasy nerd since my early teens, bu somehow never got caught up in Dungeons and Dragons (my knowledge of the game is almost exclusively down to watching Stranger Things and Community) . Nevertheless a friend and work colleague is a big fan, and at lunch today, someone mentioned an article on CBC, When Hasbro tried to extend its Reach over Dungeons and Dragons, fans fought back. D&D has operated under an open licence for the past two decades, which meant fans could create unique content, but not have to pay royalties…till now. The company which owns D&D, Wizards of the Coast, itself a subsidiary of toy-giant is proposing to change that deal (they claim they’re not), which might mean loss or ownership or huge fees for fans who did create material
As my friend patiently explained both D&D and what the changes would mean to us non–players, when another colleague, snapped, exasperated, “Everything’s a commodity now. It’s like they’ve run out of things to turn into commodities, so they’re trying to commodify fun.”
And what followed was a conversation about how capital has gradually encroached more and more over our lives, busily seeking monetize every aspect of life, and eliminating all those social spaces where alternatives to capital, where community might flourish. And all of this without a reading of the sixth chapter to Capital or a reference to the formal and real domination of capital.
33 Revolutions a Minute
If you were interested in the Easterhouse post from Saturday, you might want to check out Dorian Lynskey’s 2010 book 33 Revolutions a Minutes, a history of protest songs.from “Strange Fruit” to “American Idiot.” The accompanying blog has some good stuff, but hasn’t been updated in two years. Lynskey also writes for Mojo, the Village Voice and the Guardian among others. His website is at Dorian Lynskey.
Notes from Underground 