Joy Division - "Disorder" [live]. Taken from Joy Division's superb live record, Les Bains Douches. Recorded in Paris, December 18th 1979. Joy Division can be a hard band to discover. For those of us who didn't grow up with Closer playing on either our stereos or those of our older siblings, it's a difficult and somewhat baffling listening process. The first response tends to be one of distaste: this is cheesy 80s moping, weak on hooks, with a lame-sounding echoey production. Whereas New Order is able to break through the generation gap through its similarity to contemporary dance-punk and electro, Joy Division can sound embarassingly dated. Les Bains Douches, however, puts a new face on the aesthetic of the J.D. studio releases: it is nimble and visceral, and it strikes me dumb with its fury. The songs become frenzied, rock'n'roll, and I can hear an anger that the track seems to direct against its own debauchery. It's dance-rock that's tearing itself down, nails out. Eyes blackened, booze spilled.
Wiley Kat - "Bird Tune". What I've heard of the new Wiley record I like a whole lot. I'm a pansy, so it helps that he feels nicer than Dizzee Rascal, but I also appreciate the skewed organic sounds that bruise his productions. "What Do You Call It?" is totally charming to me - it's the horns that do it, punched through with brittle garage tics. "The Game" is great too, like G-Unit after a punch in the gut. "Bird Tune," though, is older - and in this case, it's not a vocal mix. The track is hollowed out, a little desperate: a captured bird that squirts out song like a creaky door, steam from a valve. It marches on with a kind of sick determination, tabla hanging on like a craven accomplice.
[minor edits at 5:13pm]
Posted by Sean at March 30, 2004 12:59 PMwheeeeeeeee, new wiley!
I must say that the whole "borecore/moperock/emo/whatever" wave of rock is utterly uninteresting to me. I find most of the jpop over at fruits of chaos much more interesting than tortoise though, so there's no accounting for taste.
Posted by forksclovetofu at March 30, 2004 4:14 PMi'm glad to finally hear someone else say that about joy division, i always WANT to like them, and expect too. but beyond a few songs i just can't seem to leave their stuff playing. i keep saying "someday" and turning them off again.
Posted by justin at March 30, 2004 6:29 PMjoy division is hard to get into, especially when you didn't hear them at the time. it took me a couple of years. on les bains douches and on preston people can at least catch a glimpse how powerful, how punk they were live. i wish i had been at a concert of theirs. most people who have will tell you that it was the most intense concert they have ever been to. live their music was still grim but not as claustrophobic as on the studio recordings which owe their sound a lot to producer martin hannett. hypnotic drumming, a bass taking over the lead, a noisy guitar and an unforgettable voice. the perfect band. it's not that they were ahead of their time it is more that time has never caught up with them.
btw did you ever listen to new order's first album movement, sean? my fave of no. a requiem for ian curtis. all the grief of the other jd members is in there. bernard sumner sounds like the ghost of ian curtis. it is unearthly.
Posted by alex at March 31, 2004 4:27 AM
and it will begin playing. All songs are also available to download: just right-click the link and choose 'Save as...'
