lydia lunch worship thread

Actually, the juxtaposition on "Siam" of Lunch's annoying whine (at it's best here, for what it's worth), and big band arrangements is diverting for while.

I also have a kinda scratchy copy of the 8-Eyed Spy record that I can't seem to get rid of... any takers?

So, anyway, yes...Teenage Jesus = aces. "Orphans" in particular seems to be a peak of that wonderful mini-genre of wail-rock.

I can't believe her last EP, "Champagne, Cocaine and Nicotine Stains", in collaboration with the Anubian Lights, hasn't been discussed here. Fantastic late-night space mambo. I really hope they release a full album together, but somehow I don't think that's ever gonna happen...

When the hell is that 8 Eyed Spy studio album on Fetish gonna get reissued? I doubt that guy from 2001 is still here or I'd buy his.

http://www.meilewis.com/photos/atp2005/lydia.jpg
(From UK ATP earlier this year)

I think she was playing her late night space mambo.

"I'm in the hot tub...I'm surrounded by like two hot Italian, really macho stallions, long dark hair, black eyes, I'm in fuckin' heaven. We're in the hot tub...and we're doin' the right thing! I mean, we're doin' what comes naturally! You see, I always do the right thing. I know I'm doin' the right thing. I always do the right thing because I do exactly what the fuck I wanna do, to whoever I wanna do it to, wherever I wanna do it, any time of the day, night, season, it don't matter WHAT it means."

Dammit, I'd forgotten about this, and I owned it on 12" vinyl -- it was on 4AD, yeah? Brilliant. Came with a lovely photo postcard of la Lunch and Rowland, as I recall.

She's playing at Joe's Pub here in NYC tonight -- anyone going?

Her spoken word stuff says nothing to me about my life...It seems pretty poor, melodramatic and unimaginative to me.

Queen of Siam and In Limbo are ok in small doses.

eight-eyed spyy were great!! is there any documentation of devil dogs her short-lived "blues" band?

I am liking the new EP Smoke From The Shadows quite a bit. Makes me want to get that Anubian Nights thing also. She's definitely into some swirly psychedelic jazz vamp tip with the music these days, Nels Cline plays on it.

I gather it's not sold out. I'm thinking of going, but the likeliest suspect friends of mine all grimaced when I suggested going. Might go solo. Might stay home. She's also reading at Barnes & Noble on Astor Place tomorrow.

I'm sure you've seen her before but the one time I saw her was great, on spoken tour with Exene. I would go!

Yeah, I'm really on the fence. I've seen her before and she was great -- vitriolic, irascible, heroically hostile. But I've also seen her be woefully self-indulgent and annoying.

I've got a copy of Adulterers Anonymous, the poetry book of Exene and Lydia and the only thing I can say is that LYDIA's ALL CAPS RANTS make Exene look like a literary master. Should I find this and eBay it now? Or wait for the hour of her death?

And, no, while it would seem logical, I never collected the "poetry" or Henry Rollins.

I prefer the good stuff: Yeats, Jewel...the kid from Dahsboard Confessional...

What's odd is that I've had a copy of "Paradoxia" for ages (or at least since 2003 or so. They've re-released it and seem to be treating it like it's brand new. What up wit'dat?

I saw her in 1995 with Exene in Camden, London at the Jazz Cafe.

She'd clearly been for a look round Camden Market earlier as she started by slagging off all the 'fake alternative types' in the area. One guy in the audience took offence and started heckling back asking what the fuck she knew about Camden, and objecting to her attitude.

Sadly the sheep-like audience fell squarely behind Lydia.

'fake alternative types'

Surprises me that she'd ever use the word 'alternative' as such.

Absolutely fantastic show from Big Sexy Noise here in Glasgow last night! I loved it. Really fun - guitar player is great, endlessly moving and grimacing and even high-kicking, they have a really direct groove from such a stripped-down set up, and Lydia Lunch seems lovely.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8004/7463794710_82afbd5ef6_z.jpg
Big Sexy Noise @ Classic Grand by Crimson Glow Photography, on Flickr

"One guy in the audience took offence and started heckling back asking what the fuck she knew about Camden, and objecting to her attitude.

Sadly the sheep-like audience fell squarely behind Lydia."

my guess is that the crowd felt the guy was unnecessarily confrontational and made them feel uncomfortable when all they wanted to do was go on enjoying the show.

I find this clip of her getting in a fight with Joe Rogan kind of funny:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lXUd7VxuSA

Also, I really like that album she did with Rowland S. Howard.

http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg846/scaled.php?server=846&filename=tumblrlzg993rj8l1r295jm.gif&res=landing

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m37sfuteuU1qaxs1wo1_500.gif

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m24mefCtmj1r64t0co1_500.gif

how was the turnout for the glasgow gig? i was devastated to find i was away when she was playing.

It was ok for current times. it felt pretty quiet earlier on, but there was a decent (and enthusiastic) crowd by the time she came on.

no one's mentioned this then? http://www.amazon.com/Lydia-Lunch-Developing-Obsession-Satisfying/dp/0789324385

always liked the b-side of that Some velvet morning 12" I Fell In Love With a Ghost
as well as Der Karibische Western with Die Haut.

i didn't know about that book. i shall be pre ordering forthwith.

..as well as Der Karibische Western with Die Haut.

that song! one of the very best things ever created.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXpaigknWpw

She has a cookbook out now...

Lydia Lunch: The Need to Feed: Recipes for Developing a Healthy Obsession for Deeply Satisfying Foods
Written by Lydia Lunch

Pub Date: September 11, 2012
Format: Trade Paperback
Category: Cooking - General
Publisher: Universe
Trim Size: 7 x 9
US Price: $35.00
CAN Price: $37.50
ISBN: 978-0-7893-2438-2
About This Book

Underground legend Lydia Lunch presents witty and provocative recipes for feeding your friends and lovers nourishing, deeply satisfying food while maintaining a hedonistic downtown lifestyle. Lydia Lunch earned her name from cooking up banquet feasts out of whatever ingredients were on hand for fellow starving artists and musicians, including Sonic Youth, Suicide, Henry Rollins, the Dead Boys, and the Butthole Surfers. In this book, she draws on her experiences and the celebration of a healthy obsession for foods that not only satisfy our craven desires but are also nutritious, delicious, and exactly what a body hard at work and play needs. This book serves as a provocative guide to setting the mood as well as the table for a rousing three-course meal—whether a quick pick-me-up after a long night, a party for a gang of pranksters, or a much-needed weekend detox to replenish the body after being depleted by glorious overindulgence. Written with sass and dripping with sexy personal asides from the racy author, this volume is an irresistible addition to every hedonist’s library.

would love to see the food network lateral

I already know how to make apples with lace, which appears to be the cover recipe, but I still want to read it.

hmmmm

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/edwardiii/DD36709C-8474-4473-99BF-A8DC0F67972D-2101-000002242674110F_zps7206bc6c.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msfkUmns9Vo
think it's about the time of Honeymoon in Red cos a song from that is played as s/trk. Not sure if Some Velvet Morning/I Fell In Love With A Ghost is from same time or a bit earlier but I do think that features Genevieve McGuckin who's present here while Honeymoon doesn't as far as I recall.

http://thequietus.com/articles/13483-lydia-lunch-favourite-albums

right around Notorious B.I.G. this takes an unsettling turn, ramping up to a blurb on the Bo$$ album that spends most of its time talking about Miley Cyrus while doing an impression of black gangsterdom and pretty much ignores the album that the blurb is supposed to be about

so, you have Lydia Lunch saying shit about Miley Cyrus while doing pretty much exactly the kind of thing that made a whole bunch of (mostly black) people irritated with Miley Cyrus

sorry if this post isn't worshipful enough of Lydia Lunch for this thread but I tend to fall out of adulation mode when people start referring to themselves as "whiggers"

“You can take a whigger out of the ghetto but you can't take the ghetto out of this muthafuckin' whigger.”

jesus.

also one of her favorite records is by the black keys.

big vindication for me here, I've hated her stuff forever and back in my goff days she was pretty unavoidable and people dug her and I'd be like "no don't you see she sucks bad"

well there's http://thequietus.com/articles/13483-lydia-lunch-favourite-albums

it sounds more like an older person trying to sound "relevant" than anything else

why would LYDIA LUNCH of all people need to worry about sounding relevant, and why would she big-up Bo$$ if that's what she was trying to do?

what does "need to worry" have to do with it? That's what it sounds like to me -- it's like when older white try to seem "down" and use language that used to be acceptable when discussing black people that now comes off as racist and pandering

This thread is relevant to this discussion (from the part where the Lester Bangs essay comes up):
black people and punk rock

was that language ever really "acceptable"?

the bo$$ bit reads better if you imagine her saying "they gotta go down" in a keanu reeves voice.

she sounds a bit like Bea Arthur in person

the bo$$ bit reads better if you imagine her saying "they gotta go down" in a keanu reeves lord custos voice.

I'm not arguing that what she said wasn't cringeworthy in its use of racist language -- I think we can agree there, crut? Dan?

What I am arguing is that by her selections she is trying to position herself as still culturally relevant and engaged and not a 50-something year old female musician that is best known for things she did about 30 years ago so who gives a shit now? And it is totally in character for her not to pick her top whatever indie albums on some indie blog, because she doesn't want to be "corny indie," and being into "hardcore" rap is a great way to signify that you aren't corny indie -- this is something ilx can relate to.

Is the problem what she likes or how she talks about what she likes?

how she talks about what she likes

It does make me happy that she gave props to Carla Bozulich and Weasel Walter, musicians I think are great and am friends with -- so you can all take my defense with that in mind

it sounds more like an older person trying to sound "relevant" than anything else

sarahell otm. the rap write-ups made me cringe (not to mention the black keys as "the best of junior kimbrough"), but the pathos of age keeps me from getting too worked up about it.

haha, i had the thought, "I wonder if Lydia would like Chief Keef," which then reminded me that I am also getting up there in years so

You guys know that all those rap albums are ancient. Almost 20 years old.

no one is saying that she was successful at her quest for Carlesian relevance

blogito ergo sum

i'm not questioning whether she honestly likes rap - obv she does! - i just think the voice she uses in her Bo$$ anecdote is gross, and the word "wigger" is gross (otoh i'm getting very minor lols from imagining her saying it with an aspirated "wh")

Anybody read Paradoxia? I thought it sounded interesting, some people say she makes herself sound like a terrible person.

This video is creeping me out:

http://vimeo.com/100276935

What is this all about?

She kinda looks good without a nose. Often, when I contemplate the pleasure that certain faces give me, I ruin the moment by thinking how arbitrary the configuration of faces is: two eyes above a nose above a freaky hole of lips and tongue and the horrorshow of teeth. We find it all lovely, of course, but it's easy to put yourself in the shoes of an alien who would find it pretty grotesque! Nevertheless, watching this video, I realise I am OK with moderate adjustments to the standard template.

What is this all about?

she's hitting on some comedian called Louis CK of whom I've never heard

"some comedian"

the video of her artist talk at some art museum in Detroit was pretty good -- I think she's funny, sometimes unintentionally. I know very little about Louis CK but the part about him being a voyeur feels kinda key to the whole thing

Lydia Lunch hates Christmas.

she exemplifies a particular strain of loudly transgressive moron. like if you made a papier-maché performance artist out of a stack of re/search books.

― adam, Tuesday, October 1, 2013 11:24 AM (11 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

adam otm

you know that she is interviewed and written about in re/search books, right?

anyway, she is not a moron.

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jul/21/lydia-lunch-no-wave-music-writing-workshop

Teenage Jesus & the Jerks AT NYC’S
TRANS-PECOS DECEMBER 11

FEATURING LYDIA LUNCH,
WEASEL WALTER, TIM DAHL

Plus Live 1977 to 1979 album coming out Nov 27th

I liked 8 Eyed Spy the best of her projects that I have heard

that walter,tim,bob,lydia lineup is fucking killer live.

lol I was so fucking wasted at that show-- if you ever end up back stage, DO NOT HAVE ANY OF THE COGNAC IN HER TOUR RIDER!!!

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/28/arts/music/lydia-lunch-war-is-never-over.html?fbclid=IwAR0-TOYZH_6ko0XN-mA890EgHaV9tj7ipfJEZfN7yu5GYvgLhhwG_OaBWq0

I'm interested in the documentary.

lol

Proud owner of the ‘Queen of Siam’ LP, which I love unreservedly. Just obtained a CD comp of 8-Eyed Spy, a project of her singing over an intense and good backing band. Their cover of Beefheart’s “Diddy Wah Diddy” is wonderful; their cover of “I Want Candy” is completely skewed and ridiculous but likable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videos

Never knew she had this podcast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCmDJJZ2maz

As usual they don't link to the actual channels
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vg31WhxRgmQ
All the rest are interviews

guess i now need to dig out the Stinkfist cd ep ...
not so sure i have ever listened to it all the way through.

Before I ever heard any solo LL I read about the killing a cat with a shovel boast so I never really bothered after that

she's not a nice person

she's not a nice person

Shocking, truly.

Proud owner of the ‘Queen of Siam’ LP, which I love unreservedly. Just obtained a CD comp of 8-Eyed Spy, a project of her singing over an intense and good backing band. Their cover of Beefheart’s “Diddy Wah Diddy” is wonderful; their cover of “I Want Candy” is completely skewed and ridiculous but likable.

Wait, Beefheart's Diddy Wah Diddy? A fine cover, but when did the cap'n get to own this one?

My bad! I guess I heard the Beefheart one first, or somehow forgot that Bo Diddley did it before, or some other excuse

I listened to one episode of this, had Wolf Eyes on. Yeah, it was kinda just uncomfortable and cringe-y more than anything. The repeated horndog come-on’s directed to the band were blech. Show might be unlistenable if it weren’t for the cohost mediating and directing things along. But… it’s Lydia Lunch, so I guess none of that’s surprising.

I enjoyed her set when she came through a few years ago.

She was a bit like that in the Thirlwell interview and she's lived with him for 7 years

The best episodes of her podcast are the ones where the guest knows how to work with her and throw back, otherwise she'll just steamroller through it all until she gets bored. I recall that episodes with Byron Coley, Martin Rev, and Jerry Stahl were great.

Ran across this interview with her on the Women of Rock Oral History Project YT channel. It's worth the time, especially if you thought The War Is Never Over doc was good, but not great. She's more funny, honest and open here than I've seen in other interviews.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wwvQx2Wzas

Kino Lorber just put The War Is Never Over on their YT channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgDa55EslRA

Unexpected line-up of Lydia Lunch and David J at the Monty Bar in downtown LA last night. Difficult and mostly negative vibes - the guitarist backing LL wasn't really paying attention to her words and playing the wrong kind of riffs. She was getting pissed (in both meanings), but from out of nowhere she broke into Bowie's "Time" and when she got to the "Time, he flexes like a whore" verse it was kinda brilliant and transcendent in a fractured way. She should record it.

David J came on with a band and played two songs: a destructo cover of The Birthday Party's "Deep In The Woods" and a straight-up glam cabaret version of "Alabama Song." Thank you good night?