Open Thread and some other stuff...
From the original Analog Industries archive. Some links and images from that era no longer resolve.
I’ll start with the other stuff first. I’m going to be looking to book a couple shows for June/July, so if you’ve got an event/night/whatever that is primarily IDM or experimental electronic music in Seattle, Portland, SF, or LA, or you want to fly my ass somewhere else, and you want to add a Micronaut Elektron Fiesta (fuck a laptop; I’ve got gear) to your bill, drop me a line. By the same token, if you’re aware of same but not directly involved in booking, go ahead and post in the comments, as the information will no doubt be useful to others.
As for the open thread topic, I’ve been pondering this for a few years now, and I think I’m maybe 10 months from deciding for sure, but “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout A Thing” is just starting to take the lead in my mind as Best Soul/Funk Side Ever Cut. It is edging out Bill Withers’ “Use Me.” But I could be persuaded that Bill could win. I think the production in the Stevie Wonder song is a little bit better. Maybe.
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The 3 hand-claps in 'Use Me' do it for me.
Nother vote for Use Me
But re-listening to James Brown 'In the Jungle Groove' i guess more Funk/Soul.
CR! Question on the 'once we were hardcore' topic of a couple days back: - Do you still own the SMG recorded legacy? - ever thought of uploading to let your visitors remix? 'made with Audiodamage?
The only masters I own are from [R]evolution onwards. In all truth, I don't know who owns the master use rights to the first four albums. I've asked my lawyer to look in to it a couple times, but he hasn't managed to find out. Wax Trax! assigned them to TVT, of course. Then TVT put them up for collateral for a loan, which they then defaulted on. So one bank owned them, and then I'm given to understand that bank went out of business, and another bank acquired them.
I was contacted by Rykodisk a couple years ago about giving permission (because I own the copyrights, of course) to use some of the soundtrack stuff. I denied it, because they couldn't provide me with a sound answer as to who owned the master use. I wasn't fully confident they even had the rights to release, as the company they pointed me to was just a post office box, with no presence at all otherwise.
My rerecording clause is up on all of them, and I could theoretically re-record the first four albums, but in all honesty, I'd rather chew off my right arm and beat myself to death with it.
All that said, the first four SMG albums are all on some 200 reels of 24 track 2" tape (with Metropolis being double-reeled for 48), and the mere thought of baking all that tape, trying to find the fucking tones, and sitting in a studio while some Full Sail reject tries to figure out how to bias an MTR-80 so I can get the tracks off is just nightmarish. [R]evolution is on 32-track Mitsubishi digital tape, and good fucking luck finding one of those decks still in working order somewhere.
So, long story short, no, we won't be doing that any time soon.
-CR
Thanks..shoulda guessed it'd be a toughie, i had a hard enough time getting my limited back catalogue off dat couple of years back, without even having the 'benefit' of the company of the Full Sail 'professional'. dint have the cash or the temerity to tackle the stuff that's on PCM
Great that you have posted those SMG videos tho, a few boards where I hang out in industrial seems to be a meme on the rise.. with 'the kids'.... born in 1988!... wanting to know 'what it was all about'...
yes.. even your old dad was hardcore once too..
I'm gonna have to vote for Bill Withers too. "Use me" is an amazing track....though my favorite track of his is still " I Can't Write Left Handed"
No disrespect to Stevie, but Withers all day long.
And respect to the person who mentioned "In The Jungle Groove". I have listened to that album a thousand times in my life and will probably listen a thousand more before I am through.
You have to slice and dice the genres pretty fine to build a category that contains "Use Me" and "Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing," but I'll grant you they both are great tracks. It saddens me every time I hear "Don't You..." in a commercial. Not that I begrudge Stevie the money, but I hate the way advertising uses a song up, associating a great childhood memory with tampons or bug spray.
As for Soul Funk monsters -- "Think" by Lynn Collins? "Cissy Strut" by the Meters, "Superbad" by James Brown, any number of more obscure tracks ... one could have a personal favorite based on your own associations with the track, but to declare one as 'Best' seems really limiting.
There are any number of people who figure out how to dip a cup in that stream, and for me it's the stream itself that I worship, not any particular example.
Sorry but Bill Withers all the way.
Baby <clap> baby, baby<clap> baaaby <clap> trumps Don't you worry 'bout a thi-i-i-iii-i-i-iii-i-i-iii-i-i-i-i-ing every time, but both are classic.
Actually thinking on it a couple more minutes much is Bill Withers catalog is absolutely classic, Harlem, Grandma's Hands, Same Love That Made Me Laugh, Who Is He. The man could sing.
"and you want to add a Micronaut Elektron Fiesta (fuck a laptop; I've got gear) to your bill,"
I just caught Autechre's Elektron fiesta here in Chicago the other night. Not sure if staring at red LED's on a Machinedrum is much different than staring at a laptop, though, having your fingertips glow fire-red instead of having your face look like it's lit by an underpowered fluorescent lamp is certainly an improvement.
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