Gordon Voidwell

http://youtu.be/Uia2BLBL6Jw


(swipe)

It seems like a lot of people’s natural first thought about Gordon Voidwell is that he’s making a whimsical pastiche of music from another era — one of those winking, costumed approaches to music-making we tend to adore but not take super-seriously.

Which makes sense — I mean, watch this video. A lot of the guy’s art is redolent of bygone moments, sure. (Although note that the visual and sonic “bygone moments” happening in this video are kinda mismatched, or matched up in a weird hindsight false-memory way.)

But I was doing a little DJing last night, and trying to build a set around some Voidwell songs I wanted to play, and the process would up underlining a lot things I dig about the act — things beyond the way he sneaks sharp thoughts and biting jokes into the music, beyond the way my life is probably overly influenced by The Cosby Show and the odd way he taps into that. Truth is, much as I trawled through different ends and pockets of the 80s (and late 70s, and early 90s) in search of things that worked like my Voidwell starting points, I did not reliably find a ton in any place. The idea that he’s making simple pastiche is a little bit of a false memory. The music he winds up with is very specifically … Voidwellian. That’s partly because of his vocal presence, which I love — a little wry, nerdy, and new-wave; also a bit goofy and anything-goes, a spirit that somehow feels more like late-80s hip-hop than anything else. (I dunno: Imagine Prince joined Das Racist? But in 1984? No, don’t do that.)

All I know is that I now have a long, surprisingly varied playlist of r&b, new-wave, and hip-hop attempting to somehow surround the feeling I get from Voidwell’s mixtapes (you can find Malcolm XXX McLaren right here), and in my imagination it’s pretty much the record collection you’d find in the bedroom of Howard, seen on the right below:

http://i43.tinypic.com/aeunh2.png


http://agrammar.tumblr.com/post/19968722399/gordon-voidwell-id-superego-it-seems-like-a

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When discourse of Blackness is not connected to efforts to promote collective black self determinism
it becomes simply another recourse appropriated by the colonizer

http://hardboiledbabesanddarkchocolate.tumblr.co

_______________________________________
When discourse of Blackness is not connected to efforts to promote collective black self determinism
it becomes simply another recourse appropriated by the colonizer

http://hardboiledbabesanddarkchocolate.tumblr.co

Gonna get hip to this. Interesting piece (is that yours?). I think I need to listen to a whole mixtape before commenting though.
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Big PEMFin H & z's
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"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am one thing, a musician." © Miles Davis

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

we were discussing around the time hiphop started(mid to late 70s)

what else could black ppl got into jakob hellberg said the whole new wave thing

as in what if more black ppl heard ESG and went down that road

_______________________________________
When discourse of Blackness is not connected to efforts to promote collective black self determinism
it becomes simply another recourse appropriated by the colonizer

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>as in what if more black ppl heard ESG and went down that
>road
>


We played a bit of ESG in Chicago during the early/mid 80's ( specifically "Moody"), and other New Wave/Synth Pop acts from that era like KONK, and Liquid Liquid.


BUT. We listened to them in the context of them being somewhat funky bands with a weird sound, and not as "New Wave". As a matter of fact, those groups kind of bridged the gap between Art Pop and Club/Dance music. We played that shit alongside Philly Soul, Kraftwerk, Funk, and early Chicago House.


It just fit in. We never really placed a Genre on it.

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one of the few GREAT music writers

listen to that and then asnwer your own question. its was always there.

Bernie Worrell went there a whole lot and made it do what it did.

mistermaxxx R.Kelly, Michael Jackson,Stevie wonder,Rick James,Marvin Gaye,El Debarge, Barry WHite Lionel RIchie,Isleys EWF,Lady T.,Kid creole and coconuts,the crusaders,kc sunshine band,bee gees,jW,sd,NE,JB

Miami Heat, New York Yankees,buffalo bills

No....listen to Prince's "Sexuality" from the Controversy lp and tell me that isnt new wave.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8Sh9WSbO6s

http://mp3.zing.vn/bai-hat/Let-s-Not-Talk-Slot-Cameo/ZWZBEWIZ.html

I was just about to say alligator woman but I have to say that I hated the style lp cuz it was straight up TRASH. with lets not talk slot, they were just repeating the same song and I dont know what they were thinking when they made that lp. for a long time I wanted the lp and when I finally got it back in 1999, I recorded it to cassette and traded it back in for another lp.

>I was just about to say alligator woman but I have to say that I hated the style lp cuz it was straight up TRASH.
>with lets not talk slot, they were just repeating the same song and I dont know what they were thinking when they made that lp.
>for a long time I wanted the lp and when I finally got it back in 1999, I recorded it to cassette and traded it back in for another lp.



Okay i see. Its the opposite with me lol. I dig the tweaked synthesizer sounds and other instrumentation on "Style".
Great synth solo towards the end of "Aphrodisiac", solid harmonized vocals and falsettos on "You're A Winner", etc.
Saw them once perform "Slow Movin" as well which was an event to witness. Also dig the transition they made to their next "She's Strange" project.

>Okay i see. Its the opposite with me lol. I dig the tweaked
>synthesizer sounds and other instrumentation on "Style".
>Great synth solo towards the end of "Aphrodisiac", solid
>harmonized vocals and falsettos on "You're A Winner", etc.
>Saw them once perform "Slow Movin" as well which was an event
>to witness. Also dig the transition they made to their next
>"She's Strange" project.

besides the above, is the use of the electronic/Simmons drums all over that record. Larry played 'em like he would drums normally but they sounded extra fresh in his hands

>besides the above, is the use of the electronic/Simmons drums all over that record.
>Larry played 'em like he would drums normally but they sounded extra fresh in his hands


Right on man, a trip indeed to hear him locking the pocket on those pads, and as it's described on the back cover of the Style album:
"...There are no conventional drums used on this album, all drums are electronic. The new age sound..."

I think to have read somewhere sometime ago that drummer Jonathan Moffett performed live on Larry's Simmons-kit during Cameo shows and tours at that time.

Jordan!

And I would make the argument that we kinda went there.

but now listening to the link...good question.

(please don't say she wants revenge...)


also, i think this spinoff is a misunderstanding of imcvspl's comments on NO wave, not new wave, unless there was another topic about new wave

If there was an Af Am take on those sensibilities, i'd say it showed up in acts like Black Box, Lisa Lisa, et cetera.

since i lump post-punk/new wave/no wave/punk-funk all together

im talking ESG, lizzy mercier, devo, talking heads, josef k, scritti politti, orange juice, human sexual response, james chance and the contortionists etc

basically that downtown new york art scene shit that came up mid to late 70's and its uk counterpart

_______________________________________
When discourse of Blackness is not connected to efforts to promote collective black self determinism
it becomes simply another recourse appropriated by the colonizer

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>since i lump post-punk/new wave/no wave/punk-funk all
>together

as they are all pretty closely intertwined. The music in the og post is closest to New Wave. It's important to realize that No Wave was in reaction to No Wave and punk. In many ways it fused the two while at the same time sonically condemning them both, mainly on their musical chops. In essence No Wave was what if you took the absentness of punk and new wave and threw in some jazz chops. It was definitely a white spearheaded movement but with its trenches deep in the black experience. But it was in many ways aimless as a reactionary movement, and as the reactionees faded in popularity there was little left for the movement to hold on to.

For me it would have been interesting if it was a more black led experience. In many regards it parallels how hip-hop was a reaction to disco. As a black led movement though hip-hop had more base in its own existence. The ideals of No Wave could have been appropriated towards some of those same values blah blah blah... shoulda woulda coulda


________
Big PEMFin H & z's
█▆▇▅▇█▇▆▄▁▃
"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am one thing, a musician." © Miles Davis

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

>also, i think this spinoff is a misunderstanding of imcvspl's
>comments on NO wave, not new wave, unless there was another
>topic about new wave


________
Big PEMFin H & z's
█▆▇▅▇█▇▆▄▁▃
"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am one thing, a musician." © Miles Davis

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

I tend to think new Wave as Blondie, "Whip it"-era Devo, B-52's as well as skiny-tie power-pop like the Knack ("My sharona") and a very time-specific type of semi-edgy guitar/keyboard-pop (example:Martha&the Muffins "Echo beach":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEQkIEkxm7k as well as many Go-Go's songs like this one:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RHTiXvELNg).

Basically, an umbrella-term for the more audience/pop-friendly post-punk (as a musical era, NOT genre).The *genres* Post-punk and No Wave are IMO better used for music that was more challenging, dark, bleak, edgy etc. So basically, I would never call P.I.L. or Joy Division (or Bauhaus) "New Wave".

I do not really think of synth-pop like (early) Depeche Mode, Yazoo (4and by extension Erasure), Soft Cell etc. as New Wave either; it's the same era but I think it comes from a somewhat different lineage, more removed from punk...

Anyway, that's just how I understand the term

Martin Gore is biracial ( his dad was an African American G.I. stationed in the UK )

https://www.instagram.com/christiancgarrido/

Hussein ibn Malik "if he escaped on a horse he might be realest nigga ever, EVER..2013 Nat Turner with the burner"

MaxPtah "Django is real homie.."

PoppaGeorge "If you're a child of the 70's, Ye looks like

besides "Bud" so that alone piqued my interest.

the lyrics are kinda... bullshit, but I fucks with what I'm hearing.

I think that "New York" scene description is pretty dead on. New York was coming with some very interesting shit in that era.

Isn't J*Davey considered new wave?

I think that Prince was definitely into new wave during the 80's because the rude boy button that He wore from the dirty mind and controversy lp was a love for Ska music.....and sexuality is a prime example of new wave.....

.

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yep.....that too and annie christian was like experimental new wave......

.

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That song gives me a Gary Numan or even Devo-vibe. I think it's really cool. I HATE "Delirious" though; the synth-updates of 50's-early 60's rock'n'roll that was common in the early 80's just sound corny to me...

the synth-updates
>of 50's-early 60's rock'n'roll that was common in the early
>80's just sound corny to me...


that "The Boys are Back in town" song was AWFUL. And Eddie Murphy just KEPT trying to push them on us...

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I doubt it will though. That and the whole Huey Lewis "roots rock gone new wave"-vibe, I don't even like ZZ Top's "Eliminator" (hard blues/boogie-rock with drum-machines and synthesized basslines-WTF? BAD IDEA) and that's a band whose old4 stuff I consider myself a fan of...

Man....back in 1983....I used to love lets pretend were married when my dad used to blast the 1999 cassette in the car along with lady cab driver and others....that beat along with the melody and loud synthesizers is SICK.........to this day, 1999 is still my favorite Prince lp especially with his eyes on the label, that was CREATIVE.
who would have thought of putting their eyes on the lps itself? very creative and smart.

There may be long stretches where it doesn't happen, but the Lesson be puttin me on to hot ish I may not have heard otherwise. Thanks.

**********
Peace to the Gods.

Eclectic Soul/Sunday, 2-4 PM est/89.3 WCSB.ORG

shit kind of sounded New York, but the kind of shit that would immediately get that Detroit/Mojo love

in the lesson. I saw him a couple years back and made a post about his song "Ivy League Circus" with little response. I'll definitely be checking for new material though.

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"Take one for the team when the opponents disperse damage"

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_______________________________________
When discourse of Blackness is not connected to efforts to promote collective black self determinism
it becomes simply another recourse appropriated by the colonizer

http://hardboiledbabesanddarkchocolate.tumblr.co

> yeah, just bumped into that while browsing for vintage soul tv-shows on youtube lol,
although i remember vaguely seeing their name pop up at playlists or selling lists.

Here's another interesting site:

http://www.roctober.com/roctober/blackpunk1.html

http://www.roctober.com/roctober/blackpunk2.html

http://www.roctober.com/roctober/blackpunk3.html

http://www.roctober.com/roctober/blackpunk4.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlFMSJ6zk1w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak8paRfr2_E

_______________________________________
When discourse of Blackness is not connected to efforts to promote collective black self determinism
it becomes simply another recourse appropriated by the colonizer

http://hardboiledbabesanddarkchocolate.tumblr.co