Drummage 1970s 3 of 2

Thought of some more...

Few comments. I just like to dance, dammit!

Eddie Kendricks "Girl, You Need A Change Of Mind" Dave McSparran

Don't know much about the drummer - just going by what AMG says. Nevertheless, nothing special technically, but the feel, the feel, the increase in tempo, the switch to four-on-top... just breathtaking. If you are familiar with the cannons of underground disco and house music, you know this one. It's a favorite of the most influential American DJs ever. Mancuso, Levan, Hardy. Probably Knuckles Siano, Krivit, whoever else, too. I don't know if this record ever made it out of that scene, though. Can't imagine why not. Top 5 soul music track of all time, for sure. Stop not believing me and try moving along. I like Marvin, Stevie, too. But. Speaking of...

Stevie Wonder "As" Greg Brown

Just more great feel here. I really like the way the drummer alternately pushes and follows the music towards greater levels of intensity without ever getting too dominant. Each fill takes things a little higher, but the compulsion to hit too hard is mostly restrained. It's still a ballad, after all, and one by Stevie at that.

Curtis Mayfield "(Don't Worry) If There's Hell Below, We're All Going To Go" Don Simmons

Again, going by AMG here. I believe my copy just lists the musicians and not their roles... Surprised I like this record? Kidding, of course. Almost went for "Move On Up", but the interaction between the bass and the bass drum is really nice here. That little flurry of syncopation on the kick at the end of the bass phrase before the "one" comes around... drives the song forward and gives it the attitude.

Schema

So after re-reading most of The Condition of Postmodernity (Harvey) and finishing Neo-Bohemia (Lloyd), I came up with the following table, which is after a similar, though not equivalent, table by Hassan, quoted by Harvey:

Industrialism---> Post-Industrialism

Material Commodity Production---> Social Value Production (via aesthetics)

Use Value---> Exchange Value

Fordism---> Individualism

Republicans---> Democrats

Biological Antogonisms (apparent)---> Class Antagonisms (hidden)

Nationalism---> Delusional Nationalism

Welfare: preserver of reserve army of labor---> Welfare: legacy

Internal Market---> External Market

Alienated Subject---> Self-fuffilment

Mass Politics---> Lifestyle Politics

Group Actualization/Ambition---> Self-actualization/Ambition

Oppositional Culture---> Commodified Culture (at base, ie Baudrillard, simulation without simulated)

Fixed Accumulation---> Flexible Accumulation
Reality precedes Perception---> Perception precedes Reality

Hard Control ---> Soft Control

"Masculinity"---> "Femininity"

Structural Critique---> Psychology

Underclass: reserve army of manual labor---> Underclass: reserve army of aesthetic labor

Mental Discipline---> Social Discipline

Physical Strength---> Physical Stamina

Rote---> Creative

Gentrification---> Mediation

Modernism (new space for exploitation)---> Retro (reclamation of old space for re-exploitation)

Working Class---> Middle Class

Love Before Sex---> Sex Before Love

Disciplined Exploitation---> Voluntary Exploitation

Grey Flannel Suit---> Jeans

Blue Collar managed by White Collar---> White Collar managed by No Collar

Poor: "useful idiots"---> Poor: useless

High School---> College

So I don't make any claims for brilliance, for accuracy, for novelty, or anything else when it comes to the above. The table is just something to keep my own thoughts organized., a way of framing the world that is necessarily incomplete because the picture within is so complex. But it did lead me to hypothesize something. Which is that Retro is a structural necessity within the new formation of capital.

Although industrial capitalism can never be eradicated completely given that material commodity production is also what reproduces human existence on its massive scale, as a focus of policy and self-perception, industrial capitalism has receded from the imagination, and even the physical landscape. If I recall correctly, most large American corporations who manufacture goods not only do so offshore, but also sell these goods mostly to non-Americans. A lot of the supposedly "wrong" economic policy practiced recently at the Federal level, especially staring in 2008, seems "wrong" because the person perceiving it be wrong does not understand the reality described above and sees the period that could be  described as the "Fordist social contract" aka the welfare state as somehow being a proper equilibrium, when in fact it was, at the time, a necessity for the perpetuation of capital accumulation, not a concession to social justice by the elite. Regardless, that "concession" is no longer necessary. The internal market is no longer a growth market (in fact, it has been based on the abuse of credit for decades, credit that may never be available again at the previous scale).

So we now have, at least in my perception, two simultaneous capitalist systems. The Industrial system, which, at least in the United States, is now embodied in disinterested manufacturers, who, as noted, no longer need Americans, neither as producers nor consumers, and the former reserve army of labor of this system, who now have no place, neither physically, nor economically, nor culturally, in the new system. The new system, is, of course, the Post-Industrial system. This system, which places a premium on education and cultural fluency, no longer needs the race and gender-based antagonisms of the past because, first, it is not in this new system's benefit to prevent new ideas, new fashions and new aesthetics from developing (the formation of new markets is contingent), but also because the direct exploitation of  the factory has been replaced with indirect exploitation. As Lloyd notes, the creative class generates far more money for real estate speculators, bar owners (taking advantage of virtually free labor and the hipness of the neighborhood in which their businesses operate), and, of course, media conglomerates, than members of the class will ever see. In fact, most are open to this exploitation, invite it even (think of reality TV at the extreme end of this process). There is no selling out anymore, neither as a possibility or as a stigma. Or rather, there is the possibility of feeling served or not served by the new organization, but it is not possible to create and not participate at the same time.

(This is not to say, at all, that "hipsters" suffer like, say, Latino workers at food processing plants. We are talking about relations in capital, not social status and the material conditions of an individual's life.)

*****

So how does this lead to the idea that retro is necessary? Well, it doesn't, at least, it doesn't in terms of what I have written above and how much more needs to be filled in between this paragraph and the last. Maybe I don't quite understand it yet. Maybe I am wrong. Here's what I have so far:

The loss of the alienated subject, structural critique, mass opposition (through the fracturing of markets via flexible accumulation) the loss of biology-based antagonisms (which persist but are no longer "beneficial") which form groups out of necessity, instead of deliberate taste, has caused the production of new cultural material to exploit to come to a standstill (or at least, to become so slow as to not be able to keep pace with the speed of commodification necessary to provide the necessary profits). The structural need for perpetual growth (you gotta spend money to make money) has reopened past forms to exploitation. The new underclass, no longer alienated, no longer antagonistic, only concerned with personal growth, is only too happy to repurpose older cultural product for the new market. This repurposing is the stripping of any referents or cultural baggage that belonged to the older form of social and economic organization.

(I think I am getting at something but can't quite prove the necessity thing. Sometimes I can't type as fast as my brain writes - there's more here but I already forgot it - we'll see if it comes  back to me. I think another important thing to note is that - well, I've felt in myself, and have written about, a real frustration with the way that social issues continue to dominate the mainstream political discourse and I think some of the above has a lot to do with it. Within the new socioeconomic context, a huge swath of gender-, race- and sexuality-based critique seems to have somehow lost its politics, and has become a distraction from deeper issues instead of a view into them. That's not to say that I disagree with the fundamental goals... it's more that the noble language of those movements somehow seems now to be deployed towards less-noble ends. To be brutish about it, I believe that abortion should be legal, but find no solace in the liberal discourse around the issue, which reeks of privilege [in the "new world" there is no figurative poor and uneducated female "victim" upon which to build a moral foundation] and the mediated alienation from the self and the body that is so much a part of the post-industrial mental landscape [the phrase "getting in touch with yourself" seems to me like it has two subjects].)

The broader the generalization, the better!!!

Is it me, or has (white) American music and surrounding critical discourse never really recovered from the turn against psychedelia towards roots in the late 1960s? I don't think the "betrayal" is even really acknowledged or perceived.

Outside of black music, the UK rules my world. I don't think it's a fetishization of the exotic (though I imagine the UK like I imagine a perfect city - small enough to know everything about, large enough to not have to see everyone you know every day - that's the only romanticization). 1965 - 1995. Revolver to Different Class (putting aside electronic music!). For years now, I've tried to get myself into all of the classic 1980s American music that I "should" like. The Replacements, Husker Du, etc. But it all seems strangely parochial to me. We're a parochial country (we won't even notice when the rest of the world doesn't need to care about us anymore). Even Black Flag always seemed like it was concerning itself with a local struggle. LA cops. "My War". I know I'm wrong. Probably it's just the sounds. Maybe it's just that I like reverb? Space?!?! Eventide. Lexicon. Flood, hell yes, Albini, only if you know martial arts.

Say what you will about U2, but I always liked their ambition. The broadness of scope. Could an American band even make Achtung Baby or something equivalent (don't take me too literally here - no more Bonos necessary in this world at this time, I agree)? It's too bad that most of the people who like that record are U2 fans, you know what I mean (because I still think you all are missing something out there - but whatever - I don't even think the people who like it get it or else things would be different now)? All the bands they were inspired by when they made that album are always just going to be "cool kids" bands. Loveless is great but I remember being 13 and feeling like I was in on some joke that excluded everyone else. Like, "don't you know there are nice, melodic pop songs buried underneath the forty layers of guitar?". How much is that knowledge really worth? Nothing. At least those forty layers are nice.

Stravinsky is "urban", too. Do people actually listen to music or do they just notice who is making it?

Small town blues. Everyone here has tattoos and flannel shirts and there are many beards (am I too old to try and look like David Sylvian in 1981? I can't pull off the hair, that's for sure, but maybe I can stop wearing jeans? Grey wool flat-front trousers - punk as fuck - Organization Man is made of straw).

The big downside of the American underground's fear of pop is perhaps the resistance to any sort of totalizing vision. It's just a unique view of life instead of life. And the uniqueness is what is compared and contrasted with other uniqueness. Does it really matter if "life" is correct? Outside of the 1960s, there was Nirvana. And REM (but "Shiny Happy People" sounds like what I hate about politics in a country that imagines there is no class society or self-preserving elite - like maybe if we paint a picture of earth with a caption underneath that says "don't mess with my mother" on a placard and stand outside a nuclear power plant then we can show those corporations and then we can drink some tea afterwards - sencha). And the Talking Heads, too, maybe (I'm not old enough to know). Is that it? For the BIG stuff with BIG ideas, I mean? I don't think Blondie quite makes it. Who else? Fleetwood Mac? But the subject matter is a little different (though I still haven't heard all of Tusk - jesus what do I do with my time?). Foghat! The Wipers deserved better, but probably wouldn't have taken it. See what I mean? Pere Ubu? Big hole in my life, methinks. I hope so.

Perhaps the UK just likes weirdos more (more likely they just have to sell fewer records to have their say). Except we're all special here in America, aren't we?

Entryism is the worst pop ideology, except for all the others. Have I posted that here before? I've been meaning to for a long time.

None of these ideas are new to me. I could have written this a decade ago.

But I need this crap out of my brain and somewhere else.

I may be incorrect. Or worse, boring!

Could you imagine being my editor? If so, you must be getting paid well. Congratulations!

;-P

Tiny Little Addendum

In thinking about last night's post (or this morning's post - bartender hours, you see?), I recalled a word that I used to use often to describe the nature of the malaise, a word that seemed to disappear from my vocabulary but I think is quite apt.

Intransitive.

For those who don't recall, an intransitive verb is a verb without a direct object to refer to contained within the sentence in which it is used. Stretch it out a tiny bit. If a verb is usually an action and object is another word for a point or a reason then you see what I am getting at...

Great Article

Spectacular, really.

Here. From here.

Maybe I'll have something constructive to add tomorrow. Surely, it won't be as insightful or as well-crafted as anything linked-to above. And no, I'm not feeling sorry for myself.

For now, I'll just say, more easily expressed now since reading the above: Most of the bitching I do here, whether it's about music or politics or whatever else, is simply because I am sick of being told that (my) life has no meaning. And so exuberantly.

And you could say, well, why are you letting other people define meaning in your life? Well. I don't. I still buy records and fuck around with my music equipment and read and write. Towards what end besides my own pleasure? Apparently, now, that's the only end there is. And if life is all about that particular end, I get just as much pleasure from ordering pizza and watching action films. I just keep thinking that there has to be some better use for my time. Why?

I don't know. This can't be it.

(By the way. Yes. I start too many sentences with conjunctions. And there are fragments (like this one). It's just bad style. My English teachers did teach me better than to write as I do.)

It's Just So Awesome

Justice Department: "The condition that an operational leader present an 'imminent' threat of violent attack against the United States does not require the United States to have clear evidence that a specific attack on U.S. persons and interests will take place in the immediate future."

In some small way I am glad that there is a separate justice system for the elite and the rest of us. Because the logic of the Justice Department, applied in the real world, would allow a racist shop owner  to justify killing any "menacing"-looking black youth in anticipation of their "imminent" armed robbery of the shop.

Fucking balls, man. Fucking. Balls.

There's a local Leftist library/communal space that has a little poster in the window of a nearby restaurant inviting people to their weekly potluck dinner. It says something like "before we can make changes in the world, we have to organize, and before we do that, we have to meet each other". I guess I shouldn't laugh, or be so cynical. It's true, isn't it? But, what is it about the Left in this country? It's like we have to start all over again all the time. Read the Justice Department again. Potluck? 

(I bet if I showed up there with meatloaf we'd be talking about the damn cow the whole night.)

Drummage 1970s Part 2 of 2: This One Goes To Eleven

Well. This entry is written sober. Even if I was drunk, I would be sober now. For you see, in anticipation of getting Internet service in my new apartment (living alone - so productive, so isolated), I reformatted my hard drive, updated my OS, and reinstalled all my programs. I remembered to copy most of the files to my email account for re-introduction to my "new" machine. All of them, in fact, except the list I created of all the tracks I wanted to write about. Shit.

So this is off the cuff. We'll see how it goes. First, an addition to rock, and then, something completely different.

The Who "Love Reign O'er Me" Keith Moon

Well, he had to appear sometime, didn't he? I'm way later than others in finishing all of my drummage posts and also being a bit lazy in not checking right now, but I don't seem to recall Moon popping up too often.

I can't imagine the 1960s, the SIXTIES 1960s, the one everyone remembers, as being too fashionable or interesting to a lot of people now (I'm even told by a few record shop owners that new vinyl pressings of the Beatles albums aren't doing exceptionally well). Sure, there is always some acetate somewhere of some tiny bit of flatulence recorded by some mentally-unstable genius and/or mentally-stable accountant with a hidden (lack of) talent for music that will invariable get unearthed, in order to "complete the picture" of a decade (note to historians: I ate a piece of foccacia today), but I think the closed circle that has kept revivals of styles from the first half of the twentieth century safe from appropriation (save Maudlin and Sons and their ilk) may finally no longer encompass the 1960s. Which, like everything else in life, is good and bad.

Listening to 1960s bands is a bit depressing, now, isn't it? For all of the resentment I felt towards ye olde boomers growing up, as their history was constantly sold as History in order to market nostalgia, I miss the feeling of culture being dominated by a group of people with a clear sense of the world and their place in it. Those years seem really, really far away now. The irony of retro culture is that, if it is an attempt to discover history towards finding a footing on which to build the future, the process has yielded quite the opposite result.

The Who is a band that I admire more often than I enjoy. I want to love them. They always seem like the underdogs amongst the legends that surrounded them when they were at their best. And Quadrophenia seems to embody so many feelings I have towards a life spent, relatively speaking, in the more bohemian sectors of society. The alienation and sadness and difficulties adjusting and, more than anything, the psychic costs of believing in something more than it deserves to be believed in, and believing in it more than most. Disillusioned but still hanging on, perhaps out of "fealty to the event", the sense that those "brighter side(s) of life", seen "not very often", have to matter, have to be held onto out of spiritual, not pragmatic, necessity; that's Townsend, and that's me. You could say that the Who sold out in the 1980s, but I'd say that they made literal something that had already happened, not just to themselves but to everyone else. I'd also say, more than any other band, and mostly because of the above, they'd fucking earned their money and had every right to take it.

But Moon, yeah? Drugs. Alcohol. Self-destruction. The now-tedious tropes of quickly-fading rock mythology. Oh, but he could play, you know? I don't have any particular words. Just that whole "ecstatic" drumming thing pushing a transcendent piece of music even higher. 

The real part two, now. Part two is funky.

Lyn Collins "Think" (Likely) Clyde Stubblefield

The obvious choices are the best, aren't they? I assume this is Stubblefield. I assume you are dancing right now. What I find interesting in funk music from this era is that the actual playing is so different than what I think people who don't play instruments imagine it to be. The parts all have to be played with almost tedious precision. A funky room would probably be filled with random stuff, might involve velour or velvet. Funky food would be filled with strange and atypical odors, or would just be bad, falling apart. Funk music? Funk drumming? It's really as tight as can be. It's a room painted white with no dust in it at all. No wonder Kraftwerk. It's not a stretch at all. Stubblefield is practically German engineering.

Does this make any sense? Well...

James Brown "Get On The Good Foot (Live)" Clyde Stubblefield

... look at the faces of everyone in the rhythm section. Are they having a funkin' good time? Of course the horns are, of course the dancers are, of course James is. But look at the bassist! The drummers! Might as well have kept that job at the factory! James was probably a harder boss to deal with. Unless the boss at the factory was a racist. And given all these guys are from the South...

Oh yeah, and this is a jam too. Keep watching. Pretty sure that is Jabo coming in for "Soul Power"...

The Winstons "Amen, My Brother" Gregory Coleman

Soul Searchers "Ashley's Roachclip" Kenneth Scoggins

More breaks, more breaks, more breaks. Of course. So much has already been said. But the actual records are good, too. Never mind the whole genres they spawned. Plenty of ink has already been spilled on UK hardcore and jungle and drum and bass and hip hop and everything important and innovative that has happened in electronic music. However, as much as I love all that, there is a certain point in the night when I just want to hear pop classics and I, child of the 1990s, may find myself making an ass of myself anywhere, everywhere, most likely at home to this (not an exact sample but clearly precedented) and this and even, really, sorry, this. So "Ashley's" doesn't win per se, but yeah, totally underrated. Relatively speaking, of course.

Both bands are from DC, incidentally!

Parliament "Mothership Connection (Live)" (Best guess is) Jerome Brailey

What a difference a few microseconds can make. So laid back compared to the JBs stuff. But just as precise. What is it about this performance compared to the others? No answer but pleasure.

Loleatta Holloway "Hit and Run" Earl Young

If, and I doubt it, there is any chance in hell that Mr. Young played all the way through on this, then this would have to go into the "ecstatic" drumming category, if only because playing this way for that long can make one lose their mind. There's a real change in feel here from most of the above. This swings.  It's just as precise. But the space between notes is calculated differently. And because of that it moves your body in a different way. It's lateral, not vertical. Try thrusting to it (preferably in solitude!). Now try shaking your ass. Left. Then right. Or the other way around. Or even around. Feels different? Yeah it does. People are more perceptive than they know. Because, compared to the music above, and forgetting all social context, this is feminine music, this is gay music (at least for more feminine gay men). Everyone was right in the 1970s. Except that so many of everyone were sexist and homophobic. Fuckers. What a loss for America and everyone in it. Because, outside of all the wasted time and wasted lives and hate and anger, house and techno, and, of course, disco, are, like, pretty good. And, outside of Jock Jams, still, mostly, nobody gives a shit. 

Well - if I can remember the last three, I'll put them up. Until then, I'll try and remember the 1980s.  The 1980s without drum machines or samplers. Urgh. Do I have to?