musings, ramblings, observations, all blown out of proportion and mistaken for insights


Saturday, January 29, 2011

Why it is important Spacemen 3 came into my life and why they should be part of yours

Spacemen 3 came into my life before I ever experienced the novelty of chemically enhanced consciousness or understood the merit of numbing minimalism in music. Naive and close-minded, I was enamored by the bloated excess and pristine production values of 70's prog rock. Knowing little about music outside of these parameters I was in need of a savior to open the aesthetic floodgates and allow me to escape the slavery of complexity and pretention. Jason Pierce and Peter Kember, along with the brave travelers they took along for the ride served this role. So when I ended up with a copy of 'The Perfect Prescription' on my hardrive because of a comparison to Hawkwind (a band I still adore) it was the beginning of a new era.

Hearing the endorphin releasing fuzztone of 'Take Me To the Other Side' for the first time provided me with a high that I still chase to this day. Admittedly I didn't fully understand the music - it sounded like static compared to the elaborate prog symphonies I was absorbed in at the time - but nonetheless the feelings I felt were transcendent. From this moment on I came to the realization that you could make a masterpiece from only one chord and that Keith Emerson was a cunt.

'Walking With Jesus' came next and was possibly my first exposure to junk-induced nihilism. A rumination of the nature of sin and salvation, Jason Pierce tells us he's "found heaven on Earth" and is going to "burn for his sin" but finds solace in the fact that he'll "have good company down there with all my friends". For a young man in midst of an intense confusion about religion these words helped put a rest to intense internal dialogue in my head like they were a shot of heroin itself. 'Walking With Jesus' is an apt metaphor comparing the highs of opiates to the void filling nature of religion. It was clear which of the two they preferred, giving their music a quality of edginess as well as darkness. This was before I heard The Velvet Underground or read Burroughs and the deadpan skag addict aesthetic was slightly disturbing to me but also fascinating.

'The Perfect Prescription' became an object of obsession. It was foreign sounding because of it's minimalism but it's experimental nature and mind-manisfesting qualities appealed to the prog nerd I was. 'Ecstasy Symphony' was a journey through the psychedelic realms of the mind, an exercise in Eno-esque ambiance that melded together with a cover of The Red Krayola's 'Transparent Radiation'. 'Feel So Good' and 'Come Down Easy' were stoned folk anthems for the desolate and depraved seeking redemption. 'Call the Doctor' is a meditative look into the world of addiction and the despair the came with it, telling an unresolved tale of an overdose. "You better throw away the spoon, and all the other dirty things.." This music was real and direct, not lost in pretention and fantasy.

At first Spacemen 3 sounded like no other band I knew of. I soon discovered that they were fairly, if not extremely, derivative of past influences. 'Come Down Easy' was basically a perverted version of an old blues song, 'Ode To Street Hassle' was completely ripped off of an old Lou Reed tune called 'Street Hassle' and this was only the beginning. The minimalistic rawness was already achieved by The Velvets, Stooges and MC5 and so was the nihilism. Originality is often the sole quality that some seriously value in music and to some this was something the Spacemen took little stock in. However I see these 'rip-offs' as a tribute to the mastery of their influences and a revelation of how musical innovation truly happens in rock'n'roll. The truth is that all bands regarded as groundbreaking base their sound on past influences and mutate them into something "new". True originality, as defined by complete separation from the past, is simply impossible. Others who took the same influences as came to the conclusion of punk, whereas Spacemen 3 came up with something similar in spirit but far more sonically diverse.

Spacemen 3's debut 'Sound of Confusion', like most other debut albums, revelled in the bands influences more than any other album. Even more minimalistic than The Perfect Prescription, Sound of Confusion dealt in noise drenched mantras that sounded like The Stooge's debut except even more strung out and willing to abuse feedback. The song 'O.D. Catastrophe' is basically 'T.V. Eye' with different lyrics and 'Little Doll' is a straight Stooges cover. While the pristine and celestial moments that would be produced on future albums were missing there was hint of the spiritual nature of the band to come in the song 'Hey Man', which hypnotically glides between two heavily distorted notes while Jason tells us "I don't mind dying lord, I don't mind dying lord, I don't mind dying but I can't let my mother cry." This is gospel for the suicidal and nihilistic who are begging to find peace of mind in a world gone mad, only find more of the sickness in religion.

The transition in sound from Sound of Confusion to the Perfect Prescription proved Spacemen 3 to be a promising band, capable of developing their sound while still being grounded in a rich tradition of musical minimalism for the sake of raw power. Playing With Fire delivered on this promise even more and almost sounds like nothing else to come before hand. Peter Kember called it "the refining point of a lot of my theories on minimalism being maximalism, 'hypno-monontony' (consciousness change via repetition)". More electronics became a part of the picture and production was more involved, even strings being used in parts. But Playing With Fire was far from a sell-out of any kind, but a perfection of the ethereal and spacey sound the band was pursuing. There was still rawness abound; 'Revolution' which is the closest the album comes to another detroit proto-punk ripoff was raw enough to inspire a Mudhoney cover. 'Suicide', which is a tribute to the band of the same name, takes their formula of incessantly primitive drum machine rhythms and distorted organs to an ecstatic height of blissed-out spacerock mayhem. However for the most part Playing With Fire is reserved and meditative - the gospel and folk blues roots of the band are fully revealed but put in a totally modern context. There is also a sense of uptopianism in some of the lyrics, a sort of separation from the nihilism of the past. We hear a calling for revolution and a promise that "we could make love and live as one". On Playing With Fire, Spacemen 3 ascend to the heavens and reach a height that sets a standard for all bands with cosmic intentions to come afterwards.

After Playing With Fire, the next two recordings to come have a controversial nature amongst fans. 'Dreamweapon: An Evening of Contemporary Sitar Music' sees the band taking their minimalism to an extreme. Inspired by the proto-Velvet Underground avant-garde classical collective the Dream Syndicate and Brian Eno's vast ambient landscapes, Dreamweapon is essentially 40 minutes of droning performed live. To some this was an exercise in extreme self-indulgence, but within the reverberating echoes of the drone is an essential aspect of Spacemen 3's sound being explored to it's full potential. Being high out of one's skull certainly helps, but if the listener simply surrenders to the void contained within the drone a new musical world is revealed.

Recurring is the final recording of Spacemen 3 and sees the group divided because of personal conflicts. The first side is entirely compositions by Kember, the second entirely Pierce. The separation of the two seemed to somewhat weaken the band, but rather than being a forced collaboration between the two, Recurring is a collection of great songs from both talents that shows their individual influences. Kember's side is far more electronic and drone oriented, even approaching Acid House with the ecstasy anthem 'Big City'. Pierce expands on the blues and gospel influences of the past, creating his own fair share of masterpieces such as 'When Tomorrow Hits' and 'Hypnotized'. While there are fewer sheer masterpieces to be found on Recurring, by no means is it a weak album. It is a parting of ways for the duo, as well a preview of what is to come in future from their respective side projects.

Spacemen 3 prove to be a band of contradictions. Derivative of past influences but with a radical approach, drug addled yet reverent, this is music that portrays both the grit of the streets and the beauty of the cosmic depths. It is part of an important tradition of music that covers everything from the spirituals hymns of slaves to the raw power of punk rock and should be heard by all who value the quality of authenticity in music.

Monday, January 10, 2011

this could be a cool beginning to a book

i wake up and the day begins, contrary to what I would prefer. it's time to take responsibility and care about things, no longer time to aimlessly wander the subconscious. however i have it my ambition to behave in the same way i do in the waking state of conscious consensus reality as i do in the dream state. I live in a haze, a cloud that filters out sensible logic and leaves me only with the abstractions and absurdities and none of the clarity.

what my computer speakers are currently spewing:

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