N.N. End / Scorn / Outside Africa / Monopoly
The Immediate Stages Of The Erotic
A right racket* masquerading as art, this 12″ by MARS has few redeeming features, save the amount it could fetch on E-BAY. For best results invite a friend round, give him or her a microdot, put this on loud, then wait around for a bit. Recorded in 1978 but released in 1980 a little while after Brian Eno took an interest in the No Wave scene in New York. Eno was interested enough to produce the ‘No New York’ LP which contained tracks by The Contortions, Teenage Jesus And The Jerks and D.N.A as well as MARS, that release is the only decent starting point for an introduction to this scene for anyone who gives a rat’s arse…The scene was small, did not last more that a year or two but gave a fair amount of inspiration to artists later on down the line, like Jim Foetus and Nice Cave.
*This release is not that bad if you can handle SPK or Throbbing Gristle!
Nic
February 6, 2008 at 11:25 amThe ‘No Wave’ scene from New York was very inspiring for me: the naked aggression of Teenage Jesus, the splintered sounds of DNA, the hate funk of James Chance, the maximalism of Rhys Chatham and Glenn Branca, the rhythmic pulsations of Ut – and then the later groups inspired by this scene such as Sonic Youth and Swans (in their early-to-mid 1980’s incarnations)…
And this EP is fantastic! A racket? It’s beautiful! Very uplifiting and energising…
Great grinding bass, freeform freakout guitars, thug vocalisations (the high-pitched howls reminsicent of 1979/1980 live TG), amp/cable buzz, primal savant drum rituals, and that fantastic ‘rehearsal room’ production that always gives music a desperate urgency…
You can’t beat coughing on records either!
Hmmm, the second track title would be a good name for a group, wouldn’t it?
😉
Penguin • Post Author •
February 6, 2008 at 1:19 pmYeah, I do like this release Nic, that’s why I have still got it! I also gave a clue about the Throbbers and SPK who’s work I also admire (in small doses, but y’know). Just wrote that stuff above to tempt comments from the other side, cos I know how precious the No Wave scene is to people! I also like the term ‘masquerading as art’, and ‘rat’s arse’ which I would not be able to fit in many other posts eg a live Mob release or whatever! Contact me with stuff on mickeypenguin@blueyonder.co.uk
Chris
February 6, 2008 at 3:01 pmGot that No new wave LP back in the day but, musically, I always liked the stuff that came a bit later – Liquid Liquid in particular, and later still, as you say the mighty Swans.
Micky, you know you could probably retire on how much all this stuff goes for in Japan?
Nic
February 7, 2008 at 11:01 amI was just being cheeky, penguin…
😉
I’ll be in touch next week with some scans and also one or two bits of music – how about the recent Eat Shit 7″ (which is – I believe – sold out now)?
Chris
February 7, 2008 at 4:15 pmPersonally i’d have thought it better to keep this site to stuff that has some relation to KYPP or at least that era/milieu, which i’d say was characterised by NOT being exclusively limited to stuff that was exclusively punk and the generic APF clone bollocks, no? That’s what gave KYPP its’ identity surely?
sean
February 7, 2008 at 6:12 pmforgive me for being a bit slow but what does APF mean?As in …”APF clone bollocks…”,not trying to be argumentative or disagree with anyone just dont understand.
I imagine the A is anarchist and the P is punk but the F…?Funsters,fuckers,fanzines,fools,frauds,footballers,farmers…Chris…help!
Nic
February 7, 2008 at 6:55 pmAPF = Anarchy, Peace, Freedom, Sean…
Grumpy nogoodniks like Chris and myself used the term ‘APF clones’ to refer to Crasstafarians…
Chris – I thought Eat Shit might be pertinent as the people involved had some relationship to the milieu in which KYPP existed (as demonstrated by the long Roseberry thread) and were in operation in the same timezone (1984 – when the recording of the 7″ was made)…
Looking at the site, it would seem that the balance you would like is already being developed and maintained, from Patrick F and Door and the Window to Hysteria Ward, Blood and Roses and Part 1, and on to bands like Chron Gen and The Fits – hardly ‘exclusively limited’ to ‘generic APF clone bollocks’…
🙂
I also thought that one of the issues that Penguin and the team (that sounds so professional!) had to deal with is the nature of copyright, particularly in relation to a lot of the ‘bigger’ or more ‘mainstream’ bands which would be related to the KYPP milieu. This would (I imagine) limit the amount of material which can be put up…
Chris
February 7, 2008 at 6:55 pm‘fannies’ would probably be the most apt 😉
“Anarchy Peace & Freedom” clone: basically the sort of dorks who took every word Crass said as gospel, like Christians regarded the Stone tablets or like Maoists took ‘The Little Red book’, dressed in black blah blah…
Certain bands i’m sure spring to mind (why Crass released records by them I don’t really understand unless it was the simple, tho not unlaudable, fact that these bands were assured to sell sufficient units to subsidise the less ‘commercial’ – but more challenging – releases they put out on the label)
Think Mr Bullen may have been a protagonist in popularising the term, which is a pretty accurate one in my mind.
Chris
February 7, 2008 at 7:08 pmSorry, Nic, think our posts overlapped. yes, I totally agree with you on the above. Rosebery Ave etc clearly being a continuation of – what in London at least – could be seen as the Centro/Wapping ethic, perhaps without the political pretensions? Despite what some of those involved in their genesis may have intended, the ‘anarchy centres’ weren’t really much more than DIY gig venues, not that that should detract from their cultural importance in any way. In Europe, where there already existed established anarchst/squatted areas (Kreuzberg in Berlin…whatever that area in Amsterdan was called to name but two) the political and situation was very different so a cross-pollinisation between anarchism and punk was more attainable as the ‘infrastructure’ was already in place.
And, although looking at my earlier posting it may seem ambiguous, having known a few of Eat Shit they were FAR from what anyone could ever term as ‘APF clones’ !!!
sean
February 7, 2008 at 7:14 pmeat shit could never have resembled an APF band,other than mainly black clothing,often by way of never washing it.The 3 first songs written were about,1;mark mob 2;mick luggy 3;alistair.The band were diametrically oppossed to the APF thing and existed firstly sing songs about our mates and next to mock,harass,harangue and generally be rude to what we saw as a whole new establishment with rules and dress codes,the whole crass thing.
I agree wholeheartedly with the dislike of the APF,but to include eat shit as one of them and to put them outside of the puppy mileau is entirely eroneous.Sorry mate,dont take offence,please;>
sean
February 7, 2008 at 7:21 pmOh yes,and josef porter was the first (performing) drummer .He left due to an unwillingness to sniff his own weight in glue and his existence on actually performing whilst onstage.Bang out of order they may have been but well in mileau
Chris
February 7, 2008 at 7:40 pmhaha…one of these days our posts won’t overlap!!
I was agreeing with you!! Most APF types reacted to Eat Shit like a vampire to garlic – or Napoleon to a bar of soap!!
PS: think Micky has put up my scans of the Rosebery Ave stuff from Tim’s ‘zine plus some of my photos of Olly, Martin, Neil, Tony, Alien etc. more to come when I find them 🙂
BTW. isn’t Clint re-releasing the single tracks together with a full live set and other stuff on LP together with the book?
Tony Puppy
February 8, 2008 at 12:25 amReplying to Chris’s post at 4.15pm today.
“Personally i’d have thought it better to keep this site to stuff that has some relation to KYPP or at least that era/milieu, which i’d say was characterised by NOT being exclusively limited to stuff that was exclusively punk and the generic APF clone bollocks, no? That’s what gave KYPP its’ identity surely?”
Unfortunately most of that stuff is still available for sale through overground markets.
A decision was taken to cast any strategy about downloads to the winds and put up anything not currently onsale we can get our hands on. Which spirit typifies the puppy philosophy in many, many ways.
And I don’t think we are being exclusively limited to APF bands? Where does that come from Chris?
APF? Ironically, Mike Scott’s band Another Pretty Face were popular around the Westbere Rd Puppy Mansions. “All The Boys Love Carrie”. Marvellous.
Chris
February 8, 2008 at 12:39 amAnd I don’t think we are being exclusively limited to APF bands? Where does that come from Chris?
Oh, dear, that post of mine REALLY did not come out the way I intended it!!! I was trying to say that the fact you WEREN’T limited to crass-type bands was WHAT gave KYPP it’s identity and vibrancy!!! I’d say the one factor that separates the earlier ‘zines from the later ones and makes the early ones more interesting and exciting WAS their catholic approach to music and the bands they covered – from Antz in KYPP to one of the first articles i ever read on the then emerging hip-hop scene in ‘new crimes’ – while many of the post 1983 ones of that genre (mine included) simply concentrated on crass-type bands to the exclusion of everything else, leading to a very marginalised and introverted ‘scene’.
All clear now folks? 🙂
NB: and you are quite right about the downloads having no ‘criteria’ – variety is the spice of life n’ all that after all and there are some amazing releases i’ve heard on here that i would normally not have ever bothered listening to or hadn’t ever heard.
sean
February 8, 2008 at 11:54 amchris,yes the awful recording on the 7″ put out by clint may well feature on the LP,I dont really know cos none of the band have been involved,the first I knew of it was getting a box of 5 singles in the post (long since given away).The LP may be slightly listenable for a couple of minutes but I wouldnt put money on it,may be worth it for the cover notes/book,clint and his dutch mate Ed seem to have done a lot of research.And upset a surprising amount of people in the most unexpected places in the process.Some people seem able to harbour bitterness for a long time……..makes it all the more worthwhile really,still upsetting people 24 years on without doing anything
Chris
February 8, 2008 at 12:34 pmmakes it all the more worthwhile really,still upsetting people 24 years on without doing anything
haha! if you have a gander over at the crass forum you will see that is only too true.
I had a load of photos of Eat Shit members and friends which I gave to Clint, mostly taken in the Victoria Park Road and London Lane (or was it Mare St) squats Olly and a few others I’m not sure about stayed. If I find any more i’ll forward them to Pengy too.
sean
February 8, 2008 at 12:37 pmchris,give us a link for the crass forum then……
sean
February 8, 2008 at 1:42 pmscratch that,found it……sheesh,talk about holding a grudge…..