Love is the Message: Dance, Music and Counterculture

Today we’re taking it back to the early 70s as we begin a mini-series on spiritual jazz. Psychedelic, cosmic, astral: all words associated with a set of releases somewhat maligned at the time but now firm favourites on our turntables and across the globe. Tim and Jeremy cue up Pharoah Sanders, Albert Ayler, Lonnie Liston Smith and of course the great Alice Coltrane for a journey down the streams of consciousness. They examine the genealogy of the term spiritual jazz and the pre-history of some of its early progenitors, dig into the the various belief systems of universal love and peace, examine the Indian influences on both the music and the metaphysics, and give some time to the looming figure of Miles Davis in all this. Plus: an unexpected visit from Louis Armstrong.
Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod
Loveisthemessagepod.co.uk
Produced by Matt Huxley

Tracklist:
Pharaoh Sanders - The Creator Has a Master Plan 
Louis Armstrong - The Creator Has a Master Plan
Louis Armstrong - Give Peace a Chance
Albert Ayler - Music is the Healing Force of the Universe
Ahmad Jamal - The Awakening
Gary Bartz NTU Troupe - Celestial Blues
Alice Coltrane - Galaxy in Turiya
Lonnie Liston Smith & the Cosmic Echos - Astral Traveling

This is an excerpt from a patrons-only show. To hear the full thing, plus dozens more like it, visit Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod to sign up.

In this episode Tim responds to Boy George’s recent musical offering, ‘We Will Dance Again’. To respect BDS, we won’t be playing this AI-generated apologia for the Gaza genocide, or anything else from George’s catalogue, but Tim does explore the British singer’s confused history of political pronouncements on this and other issues, alongside some contemporaneous synth-pop from his New Romantic heyday.
Elsewhere in the episode Tim talks about his own Jewish upbringing, the history of Israel, the nation’s participation in Eurovision, current reflections on the horrors being perpetrated in Palestine, and some modern and vintage Palestinian liberation music. 

Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod
www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk

Tracklist:
The Equals - Black Skinned Blue Eyed Boys 
Visage - Fade to Grey
Heaven 17 - (We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thing
Kofia - Leve Palestina
Roger Waters - Comfortably Numb Re-Imagined

Love is the Message returns from our summer break just in time for the Bank Holiday Weekend, which in London means one thing: Carnival. In this episode Jeremy and Tim cover the history of Notting Hill Carnival, the largest such event in Europe. They discuss patterns of Caribbean migration to the UK, traditions of carnival from Ancient Greece to Trinidad and Rio, and the particular story of Notting Hill, with its steel bands, dub sound systems, parade and party. They return to Lovers Rock, consider legendary stages like Aba Shanti, Good Times and Saxon, and interrogate how Bakhtinian and Deleuzian ideas can be applied to this unique expression of Black British culture. Plus: David Mancuso in Trinidad, and a young Jeremy tries to buy Pass the Dutchie. 

If you’re going to Carnival this weekend, enjoy yourself and take plenty of water!

Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod
Loveisthemessagepod.co.uk
Produced by Matt Huxley

Tracklist:
Laurel Aitkin - Boogie in my Bones
Hells Gate Steel Orchestra - Ah Love It Here
Sir Coxson - King of the Dubb Rock
Louisa Mark - Caught You in a Lie
ASWAD - Concrete Slaveship
Smiley Culture - Cockney Translation
Papa Levi - Mi God Mi King
Ted Taylor - Ghetto Disco (Norman Jay Edit)
Cajmere - Brighter Days
Aba Shanti-I - Zulu Warrior
Moliy x Shenseea x Skillibeng - Shake It To The Max

We at LITM are still on our summer break, but while we’re away we wanted to share this interview on that most Northern of subjects, Mark E Smith of The Fall. Joining Jeremy for this discussion is Dr David Wilkinson. With reference to David’s essay ‘Mark E. Smith, Brexit Britain and the Aesthetics and Politics of the Working Class Weird’, the pair get into the weeds on Smith’s complicated politics, working class conservatism, the Weird, and the type of guy MES represents: autodidactic, contrarian, nostalgic, boozy. They relate The Fall’s work to pulp Modernism, loss and libertarianism, excavate the role of boredom in the development of the band’s sound, and ask: why should we care?

David Wilkinson is the author of the book ‘Post-Punk, Politics and Pleasure in Britain’. He is Senior Lecturer in English at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Thanks so much to David for sharing his time and thoughts. Tim and Jeremy will return together in the next few weeks.

Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod
www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk
Produced by Matt Huxley

It's just Jem this week, mopping up the last suds of our post punk mini-series with a series of British bands who ripped it up and started again. We spend time with The Slits fantastic dub punk debut Cut, shouting out the production of the great Dennis Bovell on the way, then drive up the M1 to explore the rich pickings of that great musical city, Sheffield. With reference to an early Human League single, Jem unearths the imminent possibilities of the crumbling Fordist world. We hear two tracks from Public Image Ltd, before digging into one of our host’s favourites - the Raincoats - to explore feminist aesthetics, Maoist China and an unlikely meeting with Kurt Cobain. We round out the piece with two classics from the mighty Clash. Not a bad haul for one year.
We’ll be away for a few weeks on various summer excursions, but will be back soon after with more music, dance floors, sound systems and counterculture. Tune in, turn on, get down!
Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod
https://www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/
Produced by Matt Huxley

Tracklist:
The Slits - Typical Girls
The Slits - Adventures Close to Home
Human League - Empire State Human
Public Image Ltd - Death Disco
Public Image Ltd - Socialist
The Raincoats - Fairytale in the Supermarket
The Raincoats - Lola
The Clash - London Calling
The Clash - Lost in the Supermarket

Books:
Audrey Golden - Shouting Out Loud: Lives of the Raincoats
Frith & Horn - Art into Pop
Reynolds & Press - The Sex Revolts: Gender, Rebellion and Rock’n’Roll