| #592 |
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2002 |
Perilous 592 One of the most awaited releases of recent times has been the new Boards Of Canada album Geogeddi which comes out on Tuesday 18th. Its magical predecessor, Music Has The Right To Children came out way back in 1988 at a time well before the Ministry Of Sound and every other dance music corporation had the gall to release endless bad chill out albums. At the time it was a revolutionary record full of wistful and reminiscent melodies and childrens’ voices – BoC themselves talked of being inspired by the music that accompanied TV shows when they were children in the 70s. Now on the back of a glut of extremely crap and repackaged chill out nonsense, BoC return with an album that will be, again expected to be more magic than mush. An early 12” album sampler together with recent remix work and their In A Beautiful Place In The Country EP of last year, would indicate that Geogeddi will be typical BoC. However, more interestingly, early reports of the actual album proper have suggested a darker sound and one that will steer away from the prevailing ‘chill’ café monotony. A full report in the next Perilous . . . And on the subject on manufactured culture . . . the early 80s revival is in full flight. From the good like big turnouts for shows by Peaches (doesn’t anyone remember Karen Finlay?) and nutty new retro electropop from Germany, to the bad like skinny belts, faux ‘damaged teeshirts’ from everyone from Tsubi to Jeanswest, and even club nights that promote a fashionable ‘nu-punk’, its all downhill from here. Even for those who thought that the events of recent months wouldn’t faze them, there’s been a marked shift in consciousness backwards. I shouldn’t really be surprised, it happened to the 60s and 70s, but it’s a little disconcerting when its something you remember quite well yourself. Frustratingly its not the edgy grassroots culture that is returning but instead a kind of Malcolm McLaren-esque ‘manufactured culture’. As if its promoting a ‘real’ scene you have fashion designers and club nights both here and overseas working hand-in-hand to build something. That wouldn’t be so disconcerting if it didn’t come plagued with close ties between fashion design and elite culture, and umpteen years of relentless marketing of ‘street chic’. Of course they’d argue ‘what’s real anyway?’. If you want grassroots then the new SCAN project is the thing to support. Having faced resistance in a recent attempt at setting up a community centre in an abandoned building in Newtown, SCAN have moved further west to Homebush where they have turned a beautiful heritage wedding reception hall into a community space called The Grand Midnight Star Social Centre. Its just minutes from Homebush station and there are planned everything from music and film nights to a multimedia centre a little like Newcastle’s Octapod it seems. The best thing about the Homebush project is that at last there is a resource that is moving with the population. Artists, students and activists are being forced out of the traditional inner-city by rising rents and the conversion of low-rent spaces into apartment blocks. This on its own is not unexpected, but unfortunately the shift towards suburbia is only one of people not infrastructure. Most creative infrastructure (events, clubs, bookshops, café spaces, indie cinemas etc) remains resolutely positioned in the inner city and the Homebush project offers the start for new communities which are starting to form in the cheaper rent areas a little further from the city between Petersham/Lewisham and Granville. For more info check out http://scan.dorja.com/. Frigid launches the new BoC album on the 24th with Telefonica and Accumulator M as guests as Project For Better Digital projecting live video creations. On the 3rd of March its an MC battle organised by Stealth Magazine called Verbal Mechanics. More details and registration info at http://www.stealthmag.com. Yellow Peril  Goto
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