rainbows in curved air (or curves in rainbowed air)

How Did We Get Here From There

Spending all those years abroad in a war zone, meant I had to catch up on a lot of new music on my return. During that short time so much musical changes had occurred, perhaps inspired by that second summer of love. Mind you when one looks around, one doesn’t witness a world full of love. Certainly there isn’t a lot of love in the USA & Britain’s weapons of mass destruction, that are killing & maiming innocent women & children all over the Middle East.

Dance music had exploded in the uk. I had to immerse myself in house, techno & drum & bass for a while. During an earlier period in my life, I wanted to learn about classical music & I learned by spending 2 or 3 years tuned into a very informative and pompous radio 3. I still listen to classical music, but now it’s the newer cutting edge pieces by artists like Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Terry Riley…etc… Radio 3 has a number of decent programmes that I listen to on a weekly basis e.g. ‘Mixing It’, ‘Jazz on 3’,’Hear & Now’, ‘Between the Ears’ etc..

As the years pile on I have had to become very selective in the listening process. I am still fond of the odd decent house tune or good Detroit techno or intelligent techno e.g. Wagon Christ, Aphex Twin, Muslimgauze or Black Dog. As I write this I am listening to the latter’s album with Black Sifichi & it is so outstanding. I was in contact with Black Dog’s Ken Downie via a Bulletin Board (remember them?) while I was working @ Bell College.

At that time using Bulletin Boards I got in contact with 2 friends, Eric & Steve, who got me involved in the whole Industrial/Intelligent Techno scene. From a shared interest in Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV, Zoviet France & especially the Hafler Trio I was to move into an exploration of pure sound or more non-musical sounds, soundwalks, glitches………etc…….

I am still around that arena with occasional backsliding. Now for instance, I am listening to Johnny Cash American V: 100 Highways, but during the period of writing this, I have played Vashti Bunyan, Devendra Banhart, Linda Perhacs, Astor Piazzolla Remixed, Koop, John Mayall, John Martyn’ s ‘Dusty’ & ‘The River’ & the Allman Brothers Live @ Filmore East.

My current obsessions include Psychedelia, Krautrock, Ye-Ye Girls & jazzy lounge.

‘If you could read my Mind’ now I am puzzled: who used to sing that? ‘I will Meet you Brother Further on up the Road’. Looking forward to it: Mr Cash.