SOUNDTRACK: GIRL TALK-All Day (2010).
Girl Talk is the product of Gregg Gillis. Gillis doesn’t play any instruments. All he does is mash-up different songs into a killer DJ mix. There is absolutely nothing legal about what he does (in terms of copyright), and for that reason alone, I love it. But beyond that, he does a great job of mashing two (and more) songs together.
Mostly this is a fun way to play “spot the song” [Hey: “In Your Arms,” Hey “War Pigs”]. And when you give up you can check out the samples list (which has 37 entries under the name D alone). [Hey, Spacehog’s “In the Meantime”]
I knew a lot of the songs that he sampled, but he also put in a lot of rap which I didn’t know. The rap works well over the original music (what sampling would be like for real if it was legal). [Hey, Portishead!]
Mostly you get a minute or maybe a little more of each song, [Radiohead’s “Creep”] sometimes the clips are sped up or slowed down to merge perfectly with the other. And it’s a whole lot of fun. [The Toadies!] As someone described it, it’s like listening to a whole bunch of radio stations at once [“Cecelia”]. And, if you don’t like the song that’s on [two seconds of the Grateful Dead?], just wait a couple seconds. [INXS].
Gillis doesn’t (really) sell his music. Indeed, you can download all of All Day for free fromIllegal Art. [Hey, the middle of Edgar Winter’s “Frankenstein”].
I’m not sure if it’s art, per se, but it’s clearly a lot of work, and it takes a lot of skill to make it so seamless [White Zombie!]. It probably works very well at a party too.
[READ: June 20, 2011] Five Dials Number 13
Five Dials 13 is more or less the music issue. It is specifically dedicated to festivals and their overindulgence of everything. And so it is long (63 pages), it is full of rather diverse points of view, it even has clouds! Thankfully it’s not full of overflowing portapotties. It also has lots of artwork from Raymond Pettibon, which is pretty fantastic in and of itself.
CRAIG TAYLOR-Letter from the Editor: On Festivals and George Thoroughgood
The letter opens with some comments on Festivals–two paragraphs of complainants about festivals with a final admission that the interlocuter is going to Glastonbury. The end of the letter is devoted to a story from George Thoroughgood. Usually I agree with the Five Dials‘ tastes without question, but I have a serious complaint about their love of Thoroughgood, about whom it would be charitable to say that he has written one song seventy-five times. And I have absolute incredulity at this quote from George:
The promoters had gone to another festival where we played on Thursday before Roskilde, and they were so knocked out by the power of the performance they called me the next day and asked if we would mind if they changed our show time to close the festival.
Are you seriously telling me that they would change the headlining act a weekend before the festival? How pissed would you be if your headliner was bumped for 90 minutes of ‘Bad to the Bone’? Good grief.
JAMIE BRISICK-In Pettibon’s Studio
A brief look into Pettibon’s studio and the chaos the resides there.
MOHSIN HAMID-Currentish Events: Is James Cameron Secretly Pakistani?
Hamid returns to Pakistan after being in England for many many years. The first thing he does is get a haircut (and I am charmed by the haircuttery–perhaps it would worth a trip there for the haircut and neck massage!). The end of the article discusses Avatar, and how the locals can relate quite a lot to the blue folks of the movie.
SIMON PROSSER-The List: Twenty Summer Calendar Customs
Prosser lists twenty summer festivals that have been around forever and don’t get the publicity of say Glastonbury. Like, The Braw Lads’ Gathering.
GAVIN PRETOR-PINNEY-A Festival Cloud Primer
This is a wonderful explanation of what clouds typically look like at a festival, and what they mean for your festival going experience. From the trippy Cirrus to the deadly Cumulonimbus
JAMES MURPHY (LCD SOUNDSYSTEM)-A Single Song
Murphy explain the origins of his surprise hit “Losing My Edge.” It’s a very cool story.
SAM LIPSYTE-Fiction: The Ask (exceprt)
As far as I can tell, Lipsyte was invited to the festival issue because he was once in a band (I had no idea). Indeed, James Murphy himself name-checks Lipsyte as his favorite singer of the band Dung Beetle. Anyhow, I read and enjoyed The Ask, and this is an excerpt of the first few chapters.
MATTHEW DE ABAITUA-The Festival Issue: Woodstock: The Sex, Drugs & Rock ‘n’ Roll Were Incidental
This remembrance of Woodstock is unlike any I’ve seen before. And, while it’s nice to have a new point of view the tone is kind of preachy and I can honestly say I don’t like the author. He and his companion are campers. They are prepared for all incidents and are shocked at what they f ind in the ‘campsites’: people with no concern for themselves or others. They are appalled. When he asks why people are here, they all say “for the music,” But, he insists there is no music. It appears that the music is a small glowing light far far away.
They make their way to it to see who is in charge, but the only person with any authority seems to be “the toothless clown” asking people to chant to keep the rain away. I support what he did and what he tried to do, but he seems so preachy about it. If this is a truthful account it totally harshes my mellow. If it’s fiction, then I guess it’s kind of funny.
PEGGY SHAW & SUZY WILLSON-An Extract from Must: The Inside Story
This is a brief look at a woman who would rather be at Woodstock than giving birth at that very moment.
JAMES GREER (GUIDED BY VOICES)-Festival Issue: The Main Stage: The Time I Bled All Over the Place
Greer is a great storyteller–funny and witty. He recalls a time in Philadelphia when he was tackled onstage (by a bandmate) and cut his wrist on broken glass. He bled all over his bass for what sounds like an unforgettable show (there’s even a recollection from a fan who was there). The ultimate fate of that bass is unknown, but how cool it would be to have bought it in a pawn shop.
NIGEL WAYMOUTH (GRANNY TAKES A TRIP)-The Festival Issue: The Isle of Wight: Miles Davis Canoodles!
Waymouth remembers (a little) from the ’69 and ’70 Isle of Wight festivals, but mostly he remembers Miles Davis canoodling with a beautiful blonde woman.
KELE OKEREKE (BLOC PARTY)-Fiction: The Kick
This is an intense story about a young girl and her experiences with young love. The story begins near the end and slowly fills in the back story until we move to the present. Young love can hurt very much, especially when it gets totally pear shaped. A very affecting story.
GAVIN HILLS-Berlin Love Parade Circa ’94: Of Love and Lycra
I felt like this essay seemed out of date. At the end it explains it was published in 1994 (in The Face) so that makes sense then. This is a weekend techno festival in Berlin. There are jokes in pidgin German, and questions about styles of music–handbag is a genre? And there’s even a nod to Mr Blobby being on Larry King Live.
SARAH NEUFELD (THE ARCADE FIRE)-The Main Stage: The Crazy Maker
A brief look at what it feels like to play in front of so many people. (And some of the downsides of festivals).
JOHN K. SAMSON (THE WEAKERTHANS)-The Main Stage: “…but that isn’t his fault…”
Lyricist extraordinaire Samson discusses poetry. (I didn’t know The Weakerthans even made it to England!). This is a brief Q&A, but it really speaks to Samson’s strengths. I like him even more now.
HARI KUNZRU-The Festival Issue-Burning Man: Heroic Dose
Kunzru describes getting incredibly wasted at Burning Man. It introduces to my vocabulary the expression “shirtcocker”
guys who are revelling in their first ever chance to be naked in the vicinity of hot women, but who are prudent enough about desert skin care to cover their lobstery backs and shoulders with, preferably, a nice blue button-down, beneath which their members can peep out inquisitively, hoping against hope for a look or touch or a little lick or suck or any other action whatsoever.
MIKE WATT-A Single Song: ‘Providence’ by Sonic Youth
The always entertaining Mike Watt gives an interesting interview. Primarily this concerns his contribution (on an answering machine tape) to the Sonic Youth song “Providence.” Ever wanted to know what Watt was talking about? Just read this. (The Q&A is interrupted by a call from Iggy Pop).
SIMON PROSSER-An Introduction to the Artist, MARTIN PARR: Threadbare
This is an introduction to the nest few pages of photos by Martin Parr. He took many photos of the residence at Port Eliot. This issue comes from the Port Eliot Festival in Cornwall, England. The house has been occupied by the same family since 1565, and the accompanying photographs document some of the really old items inside.
DEAN WAREHAM (LUNA & GALAXIE 500): The Main Stage: Co-conspirators
This essay starts with Luna on tour opening for Guster. I love Guster, so I am surprised to hear their audience described as all fourteen year olds. Aside from the (fairly obvious) disconnect of Luna and Guster, he also talks about the dissolution of their record label and how that impacted the rest of thier tour. But then things turn surprisingly personal.
It’s an account of what happened when Wareham felt for Luna’s (sexy) bassist Britta Phillips. The story is surprisingly dark and confessional. While on tour, the married Wareham (with a two year old son) fell for Phillips. He fought it for some time, eventually caved and was eventually caught. He talks about the spiral he went down and the ultimatum he was given: either she leaves the band or he leaves his family.
RYAN ADAMS-Poem: The Wind Up
A Poem from the prolific singer.
PAUL MURRAY-The Festival Issue: Port Eliot: Fugue State in a Forest
Murray describes what it was like to be at this literary Festival. This was a very funny essay with so many great little parts (like the FLOPs: Fabulous Ladies of Publishing–every woman who works in publishing is hot!) that I laughed through pretty much the whole thing. It starts off promising, with Murray getting a ride from the FLOP Seraphina (going all the way to Cornawall via London, even though Cornwall is so close to Dublin). But a ten hour car ride (Seraphina is a terrible navigator) and Murray’s failure to erect a tent puts a serious damper on things. Then came the rain and more embarrassments and soon Murray (who quite several months ago) finds himself a smoker once again. He even wonders about the wisdom of the whole trip. But all was saved by Christopher Lodge’s reading of his poem “War Music” renews Murray’s faith in the arts. There’s a hilarious denouement about Milan Kundera that wraps up the whole things wonderfully.
STUART HAMMOND-Death Fest: How It Was For Me
This story began innocently enough–a fabulous person scoring free tickets to the Festival. But slowly we can see things aren’t right. For this is the story of when the terrorists attacked the Festival to get all of the A-listers. It is gory and more than a little funny.
SALLY CHAMBERLAIN-Memoir: ‘Make Interesting Mistakes’
In Five Dials Number 7, Chamberlain talked about her time during and after Woodstock. I kind of liked the memoir, although there were parts I didn’t really enjoy. This excerpt recounts the lost years of that memoir when she and her husband Wynn went to India. They spend much of their time with Robert Fraser (co-creator of Rolling Stone). This excerpt talks about their life in India, a rather privileged life in which they were able to evade all the negativity of Nixon’s America. They begin in Ootacamund with Nataraja Guru, the spiritual leader who helps them through their dark time.
I’m leaving out the details because there are too many. But it’s an interesting look at people who were trying to drop out. It’s also an interesting look at the white American flood to India in the early 1970s.
ALAIN DE BOTTON-The Agony Uncle
The reader chastises him for the previous issue in which he says not to worry about what others think of you. Now, that’s not what he said exactly, and De Botton clarifies his position. He once again appeals to philosophers for help, this time to Schopenhauer who modifies his tones some what by saying that one should never care what others think because “the earth swarms with people who are not worth talking to.”
DAVID SHIELDS-A Final Thought: ‘I Wanna DO It’
Shields looks at the transgressive streak of Tiger Woods. How it must have been difficult not to smash the marble statue of himself.
SIMON PROSSER MEETS FIONA BANNER-An Introduction to the Artist
This brief introduction to Banner’s work focuses on Banner’s love of words and punctuation in her art. Specifically, about her use of the period (full stop) in so many of her pieces. The following 8 pages show Banner’s art–7 of which are called “Full Stop.” The one I am particularly interested in really doesn’t translate to photographs–they are all sculptures, so the photos never do them justice. The introduction describes “Neon Full Stop”:
Fiona’s first full-stop sculpture was a small blue dot executed in neon (the smallest neon sign in the world), after she noticed that neon signs always reproduced the full stop as more of a stunted dash.
The photo doesn’t quite live up to it (it’s really small). But otherwise, they are cool pictures.
RAYMOND PETTIBON
And let’s not forget the art by Pettibon. Pettibon has drawn the covers for some great punk albums over the years, but I never knew that he was so, well, good. His punk album covers come across as urgent and meaningful but not necessarily “good.” But here are some pictures that seem to be more created with more patience, and his talent is undeniable. Plus there’s the wonderful inscrutability of the words on his paintings.
And here’s a picture of the man himself.
This was a wonderfully exhausting issue.
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