huxley boon : distractions loops

Huxley Boon
Distractions Loops
Twin Lakes / Burnt Brain (2017)
Pro-dubbed cassette with card insert
Limited edion of 50 copies
 

Compositions created using a cassette 4 track, SAD-1 delay pedal and the samples from an SP404 that Sauna Youth used on their album 'Distractions' released July 3, 2017 

Recorded & Mixed by Huxley Boon (2016) • • • [ Bandcamp ]

I must admit that I have no idea who Huxley Boon is except that he's associated in some way with London-based post-punk, four-piece Sauna Youth. That's "post-punk" as in they play the same style of music about 35 years after the advent of post punk. I wonder if any members of the band were even born then?

Anyhow, I caught onto this thanks to a Twitter post about its upcoming release. Being a fan of William Basinski the title had caught my eye: 'Distractions Loops' being a pun on Basinski's 'Disintegration Loops' though I haven't the faintest if this was intended by Boon or not. Still, the whole thing does have that whole sort of Basinski-like drone feel to it and, though rather short (14'01" exactly on each side), is really quite good. I certainly prefer this to the Sauna Youth releases which; in all fairness, I haven't really given much time to listen to. I'll reappraise after another couple of listens to them and in particular the original 'Distractions' album.

Artwork is very nice: sort of op-art-ish (if that's what it's called) on the tape and J-card on one side and rather sci-fi on the other. Someone drowned in red tones appearing to look in a mirror, holding their head while a UFO like object (probably some ceiling light fixture) hovers in the top right corner. Curiously, the whole thing -tape & j-card- smells of aftershave or some other masculine deodorant.

So, according to what's on the Bandcamp pages I imagine this is some sort of side project by Boon. There's no infomation with the tape and virtually nothing Google-wise other than some bits on Sauna Youth and at their own blog . Blog which hasn't been updated since January this year. Apparently they're on Facebook if anyone's interested. I'm not. In Facebook, I mean so you'll have to do your own research if you want to know any more.

mick ronson : slaughter on 10th avenue

mick ronson
slaughter on 10th avenue
rca records (1974)
apk1-0353


Mick Ronson's debut album released in 1974. Tape which I bought with my well-earned pocket money for all of £2.35 from a Boots the Chemists store. At that time Boots sold both vinyl and cassettes as did a lot of other chain stores whose principal business wasn't selling records. Of course, Ronson I knew as the guitarist in Bowie's backing band, The Spiders From Mars, and was curious to find out what he had to offer as a solo artist. It's a short album -clocking in at just under 36 minutes- but it has its moments. Particularly the 'Only After Dark' track which is also the B-side to the 'Love Me Tender' single released a couple of months before the album.

The Bowie connection is furthered with two tracks; 'Growing Up and I'm Fine' by Bowie himself and 'Pleasure Man / Hey Ma Get Papa' co-written with the Thin White Duke. Not forgetting fellow Spider From Mars, Trevor Bolder, on bass. Bolder and Ronson had played together in The Rats in their native Hull before joing up with Bowie. Bolder would go on to join Uriah Heep and later, Wishbone Ash.

'Slaughter on 10th Avenue,' which became more or less Ronson's signature tune, was originally music from a ballet by Richard Rogers which was first used in a Rogers & Hart Broadway comedy musical in 1936! Apparently Ronson had listened to the original music often as a child and had always liked it. His version does it well.

All in all, 'Slaughter...' is a pretty decent album but not a great classic like 'Ziggy Stardust' nor 'Hunky Dory.' Still, it's worthy of a place in any music fan's collection. Never bought a vinyl copy though.

david bowie : station to station

david bowie
station to station (tape)
rca records (1976)
apk1 1327

design : AGI
photography: steve schapiro

 Another classic album from Bowie's best decade; the 70s. The year was 1976 and this was incredibly Bowie's tenth album release! Station To Station was recorded after he completed shooting Nicolas Roeg's Sci-Fi film, The Man Who Fell to Earth. The actual album artwork features a still from that very same film. As does the first of the "Berlin Trilogy" albums, Low.

Musically, Station to Station is a bit of a transitional album for Bowie. Developing the funk and soul music of his previous release, Young Americans, Bowie takes a new direction towards synthesisers and deutsch-motorik rhythms. Rhythms highly influenced by German electronic bands such as Neu! and Kraftwerk that were beginning to emerge and become known to a wider audience.

This trend would culminate in some of his most acclaimed work, the so-called
"Berlin Trilogy", recorded with Brian Eno in 1977–79 at the famous Hansa Tonstudio in the Kreuzberg district of '70s Berlin. Interesting to note that Bowie's buddy, Iggy Pop, who accompanied the Thin White Duke on his German sojourn, also made what are probably his two best solo albums, The Idiot and Lust for Life, during the same period.

After recording Station to Station in the USA, Bowie heavily addicted to cocaine, decided to get away from his Los Angeles base. In an attempt to flee the substance-fuelled years that had taken a toil not only on his sense of judgement but had also seen him go from thin to downright emaciated, Bowie departed for Berlin.

Incidents such as the infamous and supposedly "Nazi" salute photograph in the New Musical Express, under the headline "Heil and Farewell", as well as Bowie's apparent fascination with fascism and collecting Nazi paraphenalia really weren't doing his public image any good at the time. So, Bowie and Iggy packed their suitcases and set up home in the then very much divided and isolated former Reich capital. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Anyhow, I'd sort of gone off Bowie with  the Diamond Dogs and Young Americans albums -albums which I've since reappraised and found that they belong up there with Bowie's other great seventies recordings- but Station To Station put back him on track (no pun intended!) as far as I was concerned and gave us a glimpse of what was to come with the fabulous "Berlin Trilogy." Golden Years indeed!