Love is the Message: Dance, Music and Counterculture

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

We continue our mini-series on Arthur Russell by turning to his mid-70s pop and folk work. Starting in the famous Poet’s Building in 1975, Tim and Jeremy explore life in the East Village, in particular the area’s poetry scene. They discuss the aesthetics of setting spoken word to music, stop by Ginsberg, and drop in some Tibetan Buddhist classes. Elsewhere in the episode we hear about a number of recording sessions at the Columbia Records studio, get haunted by the spectre of Dylan, and speculate on whether Arthur could have been the fourth Talking Head. Tim shares some demos from Arthur’s short-lived band the Flying Hearts, a version of Psycho Killer with punchy cello that didn’t make the final cut, and some Laraaji-ish keyboard noodlings.

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

Books:
Philippe Bourgeois - In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio

Tracklist:
Arthur Russell - Barefoot in New York
William Carlos Williams - The Red Wheelbarrow
Bright and Early - Apple to the Orange
Arthur Russell - Nobody Wants a Lonely Heart
Arthur Russell - I Couldn’t Say it to Your Face
Arthur Russell - Reach One (with Two Fender Rhodes)
Talking Heads - The Girls Want to be with the Girls
Talking Heads - Psycho Killer (acoustic version)
The Flying Hearts - Ballad of the Lights
The Flying Hearts - What’s It Like

In this episode we return to the Mudd Club, NYC’s ‘intense laboratory’ of cinema, performance, dance and music. We hear about how this new kind of club fused these various media in novel ways, both as a day-to-day scene hang out spot and a site of never-ending unusual parties (‘Rock’n’Roll Funeral Ball Extravaganza’ anyone?). Tim and Jeremy detail the movement of artists into the East Village in the late 70s, the Fluxus inspiration for the Club’s goings on, and throw a little light on another less well-remembered venue, Club 57.

Elsewhere in the episode the guys talk about The Cure, Lou Reed, retromania and cable TV, whilst also spending a moment on the legacy of Anita Sarko, a much-loved DJ on the scene.

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

Tracklist:
Shrapnel - Combat Love
Policeband - Mono
The Cure - Killing an Arab
Lou Reed - Vicious
Bobby Freeman - Betty Lou Got a New Pair of Shoes

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

We’re back on the tail of Arthur Russell this week, paying close attention to his piece Instrumentals. A large ensemble composition comprised of multiple musical cells and first premiered at The Kitchen while he was music director, this work expresses Arthur’s proximity to NYC’s post minimalist scene. Jeremy and Tim discuss the works of several of the more prominent composers of that world, including Steve Reich, La Monte Young and Philip Glass, discussing the merits and failures of minimalism and how Arthur’s music aligned and diverged. Elsewhere they spend time on Arthur’s close friend and collaborator Peter Gordon, spend a moment unpacking Postmodernism, attempt to give a very potted account of just and equal temperaments, and give the stage to Memphis rockers Big Star.

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

Tracklist:
Arthur Russell - Hey! How Does Everybody Know
Captain Beefheart - Dachau Blues
Arthur Russell - Instrumentals (Live at the Kitchen)
La Monte Young - The Well-Tuned Piano
Steve Reich - Music for 18 Musicians
Henry Flynt & Nova'Billy — Amphetamine Rhapsody

Continuing our mini-series on post-punk, Jeremy and Tim turn their attention to the pre-history of a crucial NYC venue: The Mudd Club. Given Tim literally wrote the book on this stuff, he’s well-placed to tell the story of how three Downtowners got the idea, got the premises, agreed on the name (not without its difficulties) and threw open the doors. We revisit the blending of punk and dance cultures that was emerging in the city at the time, spend a moment in another club - Hurrah - and contemplate the pitfalls of punk. Elsewhere in the episode Jeremy recounts his indie disco escapades, we hear a very early iteration of Psycho Killer, and pour one out for the mighty B52s. Plus: John Wilkes Booth, Molotov cocktails, and Elvis.
Produced by Matt Huxley.
Become a patron at patreon.com/LoveMessagePod
https://www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/

Tracklist:
The Rolling Stones - Miss You
The Ramones - I Wanna Be Sedated
Talking Heads - Psycho Killer (Live at CBGB’s)
Elvis - Moody Blue
The Heartbreakers - Chinese Rocks
B52s - 52 Women

We've dug into our vault of past episodes and unlocked this previously patrons-only interview from last year. To hear dozens more episodes like this from just £3 a month, visit Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In episode we welcome writer and anti-fascist activist Joe Mulhall to the show to discuss his fantastic book Rebel Sounds: Music as Resistance, a survey across time and place of groups and cultures using musics as part of their resistance to forms of racism and imperialism. We hear about Irish rebel songs, Kneecap and an impromptu Irish history quiz in the toilets of a Wolftones gig; the role of Jazz, Blues and Soul in the Civil Rights Struggle; revisit Tropicalia with fresh eyes and ears; and fly to Nigeria for the Felabration in Lagos. Alongside these topics we consider how our personal tastes can divert from a music’s political power, US cultural hegemony, music in the USSR, 'bone records’, Two Tone, and bring things up to date with a trip to the trenches of Ukraine.