There was a time before TG and a time after TG. They are not the same.
Rare Video of the Week
One of the strange features of British pop history is the lack of opportunities to presrnt artists outside of children’s television.
Vicious Pink, the duo who emerged from behind Soft Cell with their own dynamic electro, also had to endure this indignity. This clip is from the show, Poparound.
Filmed in Lausanne, Switzerland, way back in 1985, this clip shows three nice young men from a cooking school in South London on an outing with their keyboards and medical-horror films.
Portion Control continue to this day with a brand of hard electronics that they practically invented. The pop element found here, however, belongs to a moment in time. What a time it was!
Sweden’s Twice a Man were one of the most prominent groups of the Swedish New Wave. They emerged from the angular post-punk of Cosmic Overdose; creating a template of funky and experimental music mixed with ecological and social politics.
As this clip from a 1984 show demonstrates, their funkiness was never secondary. They continue to make excellent music to this day, but it is a joy to see them in regulation 80s clothes and with old school keyboards to hand.
Caught by veteran broadcaster Paul Gamaccini in Hamburg, the Basildon boys (and Alan Wilder) sat down to talk about Vince’s departure, DAF, and broken instruments. This 1983 interview is one of the deepest and wide-ranging, bringing in Daniel Miller and Vince Clarke for additional commentary.
Gabi Delgado would have turned 64 on the 18th of April, but time had already taken him from us. The DAF singer was one of a kind, and his rise from the Ratinger Hof to headliner at music festivals was a complicated one. It involved sleeping on the floor at Dan Miller’s mother’s home in Temple Fortune, ditching most of the band with Robert Görl, crafting the template for post-disco German dance music, a volatile relationship with Görl, attempts to break America, (unfounded) accusations of racism, provocative PR based on Baader-Meinhof, millions of cigarettes, and enough plastic bottles of water to make Greta cry.
In this early clip of Delgado and Görl on stage at Berlin’s legendary SO36 venue, the duo showcase the raw energy and minimalist tension of their act. Shorn of the other early members, this DAF lit up the night for three influential albums in rapid succession before flaming out temporarily. They would get back together over the years, to show new generations of artists how it should be done, but this period represented the core DAF experience. With his limbs waving and lines shouted with punk determination, this was Delgado’s assault on the cultural domination of Anglo-American music and domestic schlager. DAF won the skirmish, but the war goes on.
https://youtu.be/e4fiukLnJ_I
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Einstürzende Neubauten appeared at the Bizarre Festival in 1988. This clip includes parts of the performance and an interview (in German) with Blixa. Scary good.
https://youtu.be/lNR1nGolZVA
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Newer Posts