Philip Guston is my kind of Artist.  He made his name in abstract expressionism (actually attended Los Angeles Manual Arts High School with Jackson Pollock), a field he could have easily continued on in with building accolades for the entirety of his career.  Instead, when he had bled the last drop of inspiration he could from the form he turned to something new.  And was subsequently savaged for it.  The reaction was nothing new for Guston, in fact, violent rejection of his work was one the earliest; in the early ’30′s he had a mural he did of the Alabama Scottsboro Boys defaced by local Los Angeles police.

Perhaps ironically, many of his late representational art period depicts members of the Ku Klux Klan as garish cartoon ghosts; smoking, drinking, torturing each other, painting etc.  Over all, it’s interesting stuff, sometimes funny, sometimes curious (a lot of phallic imagery – pointing fingers, snail shells, cigarettes etc.) and always surreal.

Well folks, I’ve been on a Blade Runner kick as of late.  So much so that I bought the Ultimate Collector’s Edition which contains (inhales) FIVE differing versions of the film, about 6 hours of documentary footage, a Spinner matchbox, a linticular motion box, a plastic origami unicorn and a folder filled with the design work of Syd Mead – all in a ‘Voight Kampf Machine’ replica case .  Yeah, it’s nuts – but I got it for 35 bucks shipped so it was a massive deal!

Which brings me back to Syd Mead.  Syd has done the design work for a lot of Hollywood’s biggest, most influential sci-fi epics of the 80′s: the aforementioned Blade Runner, Star trek: The Motion Picture, Tron and Aliens.  In essence, he created the ‘visual universes’ these films exist in.  He also did work on an spin-off from what we traditionally accept as the quintessential giant Japanese robot series; Gundam.

In the 90′s Mead moved into the realm of video games, designing vehicles and environments for games like Terraforming (AKA ‘Syd Mead’s Terraforming), CyberRacer, Gran Chaser and Wing Commander: Prophecy.  He did some quality design for some less than classic films (Johnny Mnemonic, Time Cop, Mission to Mars) as well as 1994′s underrated Strange Days.  Still pluggin’ away at 78 years of age, Mead continues to design for both film and games.

What I love about some of Syd’s work is how right on the guy turned out to be as to how the future would look (witness Blade Runner which, Spinners aside, isn’t far off) at some times and how stunningly off he would be at others.  This isn’t a bad thing, mind you, I get huge thrills witnessing a high tech future based on a late 60′s early 70′s aesthetic.

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Hello all and welcome to another edition of Permanent October; a series of articles and interviews delving into the post-punk / post-no wave music coming out of New York City in the 1980′s and early 90′s.  Being a revolving door to an ever increasing cast of future indie luminaries, DUSTdevils were practically a hostel for NYC bound post-punks. Led by Brit guitarist Michael Duane and Australian guitarist Jaqi Delaney (who also sang), DUSTdevils grafted Fred Frith string scraping to rainy day Echo & Bunnymen pop forms and wrapped it all up in nerve wracking production.  Michael has been really open with his music and past and has been so cool as to give us an interview; a peek into one of New York’s more polarizing bands!

PBBI: When did DUSTdevils first form?  Who was in the original line up?

MICHAEL: DUSTdevils formed in 1984 in New York, we were called Kidding for a couple of weeks & actually played a show at 8BC under that name… i sang (not a good idea)… then it was all change… the 1st line-up was me, Jaqi, Prue on bass & Drako on drums…

PBBI: When did you first pick up guitar?

MICHAEL: At the age of 13, there was much prompting by my brother; he is ten years older than me & infected me with good records as an infant… he played me AMON DÜÜL II “Yeti” when i was very young, hearing “see emily play” [Pink Floyd - DUH...-T.] at 9 years old was probably a little damaging… i do forgive him though; he took me to see both Led Zeppelin & David Bowie in 1973 when i was but 13… he smuggled me in… there was very little parenting going on in Bradford in the early ’70′s… i blame him for a lot of the way i am but am very pleased he was there…

PBBI: Sounds like a case of positive corruption!  ”See Emily Play” – that whole era of Pink Floyd is just perfect, and  Amon Duul II is some seriously crazy, progressive stuff for a kid – I’m jealous!  You say there was very little parenting going on.  It seems like your brother who, being ten years older with little reason to take note of you other than a common parentage, filled that role to some extent.  Or was he more of a pop culture guru than a parental figure?

MICHAEL: my brother parented me well. he turned me on to John Peel… who also parented me well…

PBBI: Who put on a better show, as you recall, Led Zeppelin or David Bowie?

MICHAEL: How can you ask what was better between Bowie & Zep of a thirteen year old!!!… mind blown apart at each… that is when i started playing guitar… my always present brother stuck Henry Cow in my ears next… i will always love him for pointing me in the direction of Fred Frith, that is when i realized you could use a guitar for your own ends… it was a wonderful discovery & one i’ve always stuck with…

PBBI: From hard rock straight into the avant garde.  Damn.  So, why noise?  How did you arrive at the sound that you did?  Who were your major influences?

MICHAEL: We were never “noise”, i was just trying to write the perfect 3 minute slab of vinyl that sounded right to MY ears… if you notice, most DUSTdevils songs hang around that 3 minute mark, a lot just under… i wanted that near perfect Echo & the Bunnymen, Wah Heat, Prefab Sprout pop song to be sounding right in my ears… so i tried to cram the meandering format of Henry Cow, King Crimson, This Heat into that 3 minute form… it came out sounding as it did… it was always about writing a pop song that didn’t exist that i wanted to hear… i got close on occasion…

PBBI: When did you make the move to NYC and why? What was the English scene like at the time and how were you received?

MICHAEL: first came to nyc in ’84… can’t remember why exactly beyond wanting to make my own music rather than following some shit thing like going down to london twice a year to give john peel a casette as he came in to work… & playing jangly tunes…

i met jaq not long after being there… we formed a band (for better or worse), i put a limit on finding our first show at 4 weeks… i think we’d been together as a band for two days when i sorted the show… at an afterhours place called Delmontes on 3rd between b&c… our only credentials being we had good cheek bones… we played, were a bit shit… but we played… second show was Danceteria a Howe Gelb night… we played encient for half an hour before having the power cut off (me still singing at this point)… ssoooo fucked up…

PBBI: “fucked up” good times or “fucked up” fuck this fucking place?

MICHAEL: i found a tiny bottle of some powder in the bowels of Danceteria… it was hard to get to the stage, on a spiral staircase… what happened after that happened… a public display of Encients or inanity… not quite sure… i remember being quite happy about it & returning to the bowels only to find my favorite guitar being gone… oh well… Jaq was probably still living with Parker (Certain General) at this point… it was a miserable evening but quite uplifting in some ways… we could do something… that is where the band started… so we went back to england, hunkered down & got good…  then we played at 8bc where an alcoholic rabbit stole my pernod [I didn’t know this - Pernod is a type of absinth, hence the possible delusion of felonious Leporidae? - T.] during soundcheck & carried my 6 pack of beers on stage during the show (it is on film somewhere, i used to have it)… i was still singing so we decided to drop that way our life was going & move back to england… did the rouska records toured europe a couple of times & then came back in ’89 with a bit of an attitude… i don’t think we were welcomed to say the least, although chris & gerard did put Geek Drip out…

PBBI: A regular accusation levied at DUSTdevils was that you were ‘Sonic Youth clones’- something most NY post-punk bands of the era had to deal with but, none more than you guys. While it’s true that you used an approach to guitar that echoed no wave and Branca, the parallels pretty much end there – your song arrangements are very “DUSTdevils” – anyone who listens to a few DUSTdevils records will be able to know a DUSTdevils track within a few chords. However, the SY issue was still something I read pretty frequently in fanzines of the era. What The Fuck?

MICHAEL: it is a common misconception… to be honest, i’ve only ever wanted to sound like Echo & the Bunnymen… honest… listen to Rhenyards Grin with that in mind & you will get it…

PBBI: Speaking of DUSTdevils tracks, until the comparatively skeletal Struggling, Electric & Chemical your albums were super-dense slabs of lacerating post-punk. Was there a conscious decision to switch to a more spacious approach to the later material?

MICHAEL: i think that was right around the time we started to use heroin.

PBBI: One of the notable aspects of DUSTdevils is the endless line- up changes, some of whom have gone on to become ‘names’ in other areas, making DUSTdevils a kind of ‘primer’ for many people’s NY experience – can you give us a list of as many ex ‘devils as you can recall?

MICHAEL: i did have a fairly detailed list up ay myspace for a while… i deleted that a while ago… i think our most notable member was out 1st drummer, Drago, he had a wooden leg & clamped it to his hi-hat peddle… i was impressed by that…

PBBI: REALLY?  That is punk to the fuck!

MICHAEL: that was the legend… he walked with a pronounced limp & a cane & always lifted & stuck his foot on the hi-hat & it would never move… planted… i can’t swear to the truth of this as i never saw him naked… but so the story goes… he & Jaqi worked together at Trash & Vaudeville on St. Marks Place…

PBBI: What was your favorite DUSTdevils line-up?

MICHAEL: without doubt, me, Jaq, Mark Ibold [later of Pavement and, ironically, now in Sonic Youth -T.], Rick Nance… we had a lot of fun & played with music… perfect… it’s a shame Rick could never tour, so i have to include Martin Kobb from Austria [later of another NYC fave of mine, Loudspeaker -T.], who was our tour companion… he got us into a lot of trouble… i liked the version with John Easley singing also… we did some good live shows…

PBBI: Why is the word DUST capitalized in DUSTdevils?

MICHAEL: because at some point i was a pretentious person in their 20′s…

PBBI: Okay, the era of DUSTdevils was the mid to late 80’s, when NYC was at its nadir of its dark period. Take us through a day in the life of a starving musician in those days.

MICHAEL: we never really starved, we had day jobs… DUSTdevils was always an hobby… one that we loved & provided for… it had to exit, so we made room for it…

PBBI: Okay, Geek Drip. What movie is the still on the front cover from? I’ve seen it, but it’s not coming to me. Very ridiculous. Very disturbing.

MICHAEL: “oh lucky man”, a favorite of mine:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Lucky_Man!

the front cover is a still taken from the tv while we were watching it… the back sleeve is a drawing i did of a toilets eye view of Jaq puking… we were actually very happy at that point… oh the stories with this lp… this lp alone is worthy of a short novel!

PBBI: You are still actively playing music today, so what are you doing?

MICHAEL: just finished of the third dustdevil & crow lp:

http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Dustdevil__Crow/

did 2 lps with Steve Cerio [fantastic artist and one time drummer for industrial folk band Railroad Jerk - T.] under the name Atlantic Drone [also featuring Shimmy Disk mainstay Dave Rick and Sal Canzionieri of The Thing and Electric Frankenstein -T.], did a superb band in the uk called Ancients… unfortunately the main guy killed himself before we… ah Patrick… link:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WR3GN0RW

i will get this lp finished at some point, Patrick was a genius…

i played on the Jackie-O Motherfucker lp Ballads Of The Revolution, which was a lot of fun… played live with them a couple of times also… which was even more fun!… Tom is an old friend from NYC…

i’m doing a noise / John Fahey thing with Nick Toombs, who also raises his head with dustdevil & crow once & a while… & then there is new DUSTdevils thing with David Rat [the monster drummer of NY post-punkers Rat At Rat R - T.], he’s coming up here on june 7th & we’ll see what it sounds like…

here’s some new d&c

http://soundcloud.com/you/tracks

PBBI: If you had to pick one song that best exemplified what your goals were with DUSTdevils, what would it be?

MICHAEL: easy, Psychonaut from “Extant”… it is a nigh on perfect song…

Starting as a passport photographer in Bangui (situated in the Central African Republic), photographer Sam Fosso (originally from Ibo, in eastern Nigeria) found that there was one person he enjoyed photographing over all others: Himself.  Originally started as a way to document his growth for his grandmother, Fosso soon began taking self portraits for pure personal gratification.  Having already delved into the realm of fantasy with his passport portraits; giving his subjects clothes and using clever backdrops, his own slant on self portraiture grew more and more experimental.

When, in 1994, French photographer Bernard Descamps approached Fosso for inclusion in his exhibit on African Photography, everything changed.  Winning first prize, Fosso made his way to Paris where he not only became the talk of the town, but entered a new phase in his career.  Now with a proper studio, stylists and, markedy, color film, Sam Fosso began experimenting more deeply with politics and gender – even while basically having the images still be all about himself.

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If you’re in your middle age, like myself,  perhaps you can relate:  In the 70′s it became wildly popular among older folks to have plastic bouquets and vinyl fruit plates as dining table decorations.  Of course, to a child, the temptation is torture; you’re hungry and no one is paying attention so you grab a grape and pop it in your mouth only to discover it is made out of the same material as half your toys.  As is to be expected this revelation is anything but disappointing.  In fact, much to your grandparents dismay, every time you visit the fruit is dragged off it’s mantle piece and incorporated into your play.

This actually has nothing to do with Rebecca Stevenson other than her latest pieces are done in series using the same base sculptures and busts with which to build her resin fruit and flora designs upon.  This adds a false ‘mass produced’ feel to the work.  Which sent my mind reeling into the past, well, you know how these things are.

In reality her work seems to deal with death, life from death, beauty and renewal.  As such, the work could be grim and violent (as some of her earliest work skewed toward) but, in fact, it is rather peaceful and absolutely beautiful.  Although she has worked in brass and wax, Stevenson has seemingly settled into a preferred medium with a polyester based resin.  Rebecca also shows a great sense of humor in some of the titling.  For instance, the blue bust of a child and her cat with a burst of red and yellow roses and blackberries protruding from her back is appropriately called ‘Jolie Laide’ – literally ‘Pretty Ugly’.  Perfect.

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Hey gang, sorry I missed you last month.   I was crazy busy being knee deep in making music, art, film and whatnot!  This is good!  Anyway, as soon as I have something to show for it, I’ll let you see.

One thing I can show is an article I wrote for the online magazine, Sensitive Skin (who have a lot of great content – check out the piece on the old Bohlen / Rafferty / Ridgeway /Moore documentary Blood In The Face) .  The article is about the amazing, yet virtually unheard of, 90′s NYC band – The Spitters.  They’re a little out of the general scope of the Permanent October Series but they are certainly of the same spirit, one of my all time favorites and worth your ear!  Make sure to check out the reviews linked at the articles end, as well!  Click the pic of the late, lamented Mark Ashwill to experience!

Speaking of The Permanent October Series (other entries linked in the comments), my interview with DUSTdevils guitarist / head honcho Michael Duane has concluded and will be up as soon as I get a moment to edit it together – it’s gonna be great!  Also in future Perm Oct news, I’m trying to put together a few things with Sal Canzonieri of The Thing (though certainly better known for his work with Electric Frankenstein), Matt Borruso of Loudspeaker (again, probably better known for his work with Crucifix) as well as a piece on Cop Shoot Cop.  So, WATCH THIS SPACE.

When Jason shot Nicola Samori‘s site over to me for a post here, I have to admit I was actually genuinely shocked at what I saw.  Not the images themselves, though they do have that grim air about their Neo-Baroque style, it’s not something I haven’t experienced in the past (see Harvey Bennett Stafford).  No, what I found so unsettling was the process in which Samori treats his paintings after the fact.  You see, he somehow peels a portion of the paintings away from the canvas and leaves the dried paint hanging like discarded skin from the rest of the image.  It feels like a violation – I’m reminded of the vandalism that recently befell Andres Serrano’s controversial 1987 photograph ‘Piss Christ’.  Beyond or perhaps because of this there is an undercurrent of violence to the work one that extends to his earlier pieces that feature less drastic, but equally distorted techniques on display.

I won’t pretend to understand the artists intent here, as I imagine is intended as Samori’s website gives no clues that I could detect.  All I can say is it’s powerful work best followed by eating ice cream or something…

I suppose this post could be seen as a branch of my project to cover all of the artists deemed to be unfit for the Third Reich’s (Entartete Kunst / Degenerate Art) reign as, even though he was a photographer and not an artist per se, August Sander still rubbed the Nazi’s the wrong way and he had to run for his life and much of his work was destroyed.

August got his start in photography as a miner assisting a company photographer (!) in the late 19th century.  Being poor, but lucky to have a supportive family, Sander was able to get some equipment and set up a dark room for himself, thanks to an understanding uncle.  He went on to cut his teeth as a photographer’s assistant during his service in the military at the cusp of the 20th century.

After running a few studios, both as a partner and sole proprietor, Sander opted to join a Cologne based Group Of Progressive Artists.  His first book, Face Of Our Time was published in 1929.  The Nazi’s came in sooner after and, along with most other people outside the mainstream, found himself restricted and censored; the plates to Face were destroyed in 1936.  In 1944 Sander was forced to flee Cologne to the countryside in an effort to save himself and his work or face imprisonment (as did his son Erich, a socialist, who died while incarcerated).

As you can see, although there was no such term for it at the time, Sander was doing ‘street photography’ – catching everyday people going about their lives and having them pause for a moment while he captured their visage.  Again, not much of a surprise as to why Hitler wanted this type of thing rubbed out – many of these German’s don’t live up to the lofty Aryan ideal he couldn’t even achieve himself.  Of course, this makes for a compelling portrait, I hope you agree!

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It’s hard to even comprehend now, but there was a time when the Velvet Underground were not the major influence to 90% of the guitar wielding indie rockers and beloved by music fans globally.  For much of the 70′s VU were just a band that artsy types like David Bowie liked – far too dark and esoteric for the ‘Yacht Rock’ set and generally known as “The shitty band that the ‘Walk On The Wild Side’ dude used to be in”.  It wasn’t until post-punk hit in ’79-’80 that the lessons dished out in the groups meager discography started to seep out into the vocabulary of modern music.

Over the course of the next twenty years groups as diverse as Mars, Galaxie 500, Yo La Tengo, and The Strokes have used those lessons to varying degrees: Mars expanded on the redline psychosis that typified White Light /White Heat; Galaxie 500 drew from the shimmer of the softer side of the group; Yo La Tengo took on the groups dynamics of blisteringly loud guitars within contemplative folk songs; The Strokes offered a near cover version of the band for those who couldn’t be bothered with the real deal.

Barring The Strokes calculated mimicry and replacing that with a dose of pure innovation, Lower Dens successfully combine all of these elements along with smidgens of those groups as well and comes together with the near perfect blend of VU ‘particles’ that, ultimately, doesn’t really sound like VU at all.

For instance – much of their debut record ‘Twin-Hand Movement‘ has the spine of a moody, psychedelic pop record – bits of folk and blues with light moments of experimentation and recorded in this kind of homey atmosphere.  But the guitars are, when focused on alone, fairly vicious: howling distortion, feedback laden, crusty, overdriven chords, reverberated to hell dissonant figures – the kind of thing that would be more at home on a noise rock record.

However, when these are put together, the whole of it is an entirely pleasant sound giving everybody a little something melody, chaos, rhythm and lyric.  Part of this may be due to vocalist / guitarist Jana Hunter, whose voice is strong without resorting to rock cliches, soft without sounding fragile (or worse: precious) and fully in control of steering the melody of the songs straight into perfection.  Another winner for 2011, folks!

Okay look – I believe that with this article focusing on Gert Wollheim, I’m about four deep into an unintentional series on the artists behind the Third Reich’s Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art).  At this point, I suppose I’ll make it official: over the coming year or so I’ll be covering most – if not all – of the artists that were deemed to be unfit for Hitler’s Third Reich (happy children and landscapes only, please!).

It’s not had to see why Wollheim was added to the list, his work often contains images of strife and imperfect (read: normal) people.  Interestingly, before the Nazi’s took hold of Germany in 1933, Wollheim had formed “Das Junge Rheinland” (The Young Rhineland) collective with other artists who would go on to end up on Hitler’s shit list (including Otto Dix) – great minds and whatnot, I’m guessing.

Information appears to be somewhat slim on Mr. Wollheim; he was extremely left wing having joined the pacifist, proletariat Aktivistenbund 1919 (Activist League 1919), which no doubt didn’t earn him any favor with the goose steppers later in life.  During World War II he hid in  Switzerland but was captured in 1939 and held in a labor camp until he escaped in 1942 (eat it, Ratzi Scum!).  A great number of his painting were destroyed during the war.  In 1947 Wollheim moved to New York City and became a citizen of the US and died there, in the City That Never Sleeps, on April 22nd 1974.  Last and certainly least, his “The Wounded Man” was emulated and used as one of movie Cannibal-With-A-Heart-Of-Gold, Hannibal Lecter’s painting in the original Silence Of The Lambs.  Hm.

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