maybe I am meeting the wrong people...

Everybodys got some James Brown in 'em. Except one person: the Evil Opposite of James Brown...the ANTI-JAMES...(the anti-james's got no james in 'em...)







Bernard Sumner has no James Brown in him.

the article also calls the Happy Mondays dumber than New Order which may or may not be true, but off-the-cuff remarks like that with no explanation are so boring. We gullible readers are not supposed to like them 'cause the reviewer says so. Any other Washington people here? Am I being too harsh?

Speaking of the Washington City Paper, I remember when they reviewed Craig David's album, they dissed him for not being authenticly black because he was British, though maybe not that bluntly. WCP is one of the last places for pure snobby indie-rock writing.

Just in case anyone was wondering what album I was listening to, it is "Conversations With Myself" ;-}

another thing that's kinda gettin on my nerves is this national 21 drinking age? HuH? whaddya think of that? A BUNCH OF MALARCHY!!! (whatever malarchy is man, its a WHOLE BUNCH OF IT!!!) oops wrong song

I live in D.C., Aaron, and I've just read the review in question. To quote the aforementioned paragraph: "Happy Mondays, a dumber, rowdier, more obviously drug-addled band that self-destructed spectacularly, in the process bankrupting ... (Factory Records, etc.)



So I do think you're being too harsh. Nowhere are we told that we should not like the Happy Mondays, and I think it's far more of a crime to summarize New Order as a "slightly more upbeat death-disco postpunk band" ! Mark Jenkins is just suggesting that the Mondays were more basic and ballfaced in their approach than New Order. While determinism re: 'dumbness' is obviously an impossibility, it's not even clear that 'dumb' is a rockist put-down, considering all the bands that were praised for their stone stupid approach (Stooges, Ramones, et. al.)



The point that you have got is about acid house and the Hacienda, and the difficulty of pinpointing electronica's origin(s) in any one particular locale, given the dispersive nature of the music and technology. Mark Jenkins is fairly well-known for chronicling the D.C. punk scene, but while it might be useful to argue his relative reliance on assumptions about techno, ultimately I'd say the fault lies in the film and its soundtrack. My problem with the latter is similar to yours -- if they make the excuse to include the Pistols' "Anarchy in the U.K." and the Clash to complete a triumvirate of original Punk music, then it makes just as much sense to include the dialogue between Detroit/Chicago and London/Manchester. Surely Phuture's "Acid Tracks," Afrika Bambaata's "Planet Rock" or something similar from the U.S. would have fit nicely next to "Blue Monday." Or likewise a song by A Certain Ratio would have done better to flesh out the soundtrack, in light of the back-patting triumphalism of New Order's "Here To Stay" -- something to offset the dullness of the Durutti Column's "Otis" !

MALARCHY!!! (whatever malarchy is man, its a WHOLE BUNCH OF IT!!!)

Anarchy == Absence of Government.

Malarchy == def 1) Absence of Bad Stuff; definition 2) an evil form of Italian lunchmeat.

― Lord Custos Alpha (Lord Custos Alpha), Sunday, 18 August 2002 13:59 (twenty-three years ago)

Begone foul teletype!

Side issue: Does anyone know when (IF?) 24 Hour Party People will ever be played in the States?

It's out now -- at least it is this weekend here in the LA area.

yeah it was officially released in the us on the 9th though it looks as though it is not coming to denver-shock! maybe it will play at the film festival?

Just how many of you live around Washington, anyway? Do you ever have get-togethers to argue/agree about music? I live in Germantown and want in (I know, if you live in Germantown you must want OUT).

"Nowhere are we told that we should not like the Happy Mondays"

True, but I am cynical, and don't believe that many will read that article with your admirable objectivity. I just realized that it might seem to others that I truncated the material paraphrased in order to add strength to my argument, but that is not true.

"I think it's far more of a crime to summarize New Order as a "slightly more upbeat death-disco postpunk band" "

Yes. What the hell is death-disco? A mediocre phrase, I think. Does "upbeat death-disco" mean "I am happy about dying, and feel like dancing?" :-?
In general I have a chip on my shoulder about the City Paper because their music coverage seems to be getting worse. I bought a Photek record years ago on their advice, but now I think the scope of music covered has narrowed, and the only times I remember electronic music being reviewed, the reviews have been negative. If there have been exceptions, I have missed them (I am not here all of the time, so this may be more of a coincidence than anything else.)

Have there been any DC meetups? I am new so I don't know...

I knew that and I like PiL but I don't think it is a good term to describe a band on the whole.

especially in regards to New Order.