Wednesday, September 29, 2004  9:20 am 

But we love life!

Fly Pan Am – Pas a Pas Step Until

Did anyone mention the Boredoms ? I’m sure the canadian people were listening and here is the result: Pas a Pas Step Until is a joyous riot of noise, kerrazy rhythm and tribal chanting, krautrock that left Germany and travelled East in a blitzkrieg of peace and love, running through the snow like a russian Wendigo .

Ah, Siberia, if you look down south you can see the Himalayas, say hi to the Yeti , further down there is Goa and all those kids dancing in the beaches, take it in, take it in, all the energy of the psychedelic drone but none of the boredom of that dodgy techno.

Ah, you just said Boredom, Boredom, Boredom? No! Boredoms! You must be in Japan, completely different folklore, but Damo Suzuki came from here walking in the opposite direction, at the end of the day (did you notice you were running towards the sun all this time?) it all makes sense, they dance around the bonfire like those peasants in the The Hidden Fortress (check it out, one of the most impressive cinematic movements ever), Eye can be Toshiro Mifune and Yoshimi Lady Yukuhime, and you a kappa, a spirit of the water, if the sea freezes you can keep running, or maybe swim with the orcas or fly with the geeze, finally land in Alaska.

Ah, Alaska soon to be destroyed by men, more forests in front of you, the cinemascope white plains of Canada, Bigfoot roams in the other side of the frontier but there’s no time to stop, fast forward to Montreal, become hippie smoke and get into the bodies and the fingers and the souls of some kids making enlightened larger than life only 5 minutes long this time Rock and Roll from the forest and god did you go a long way to listen to people talking in French!!

(One can only be that nerdy about stuff as alive as this, suffice to say that this song by Fly Pan Am is included in an amazing album called N’Ecoutez Pas out in Constellation Records. It’s not post anything, by the way, its something much less intellectual, primal primeval psychedelic tribal drone rock, closer to Oneida than to GSY!BE. Go out and buy it, it’s really worth it)

ps- Apologies to french-speaking readers, this blog thing won’t let us use write properly in your language.

I cannot believe we have not posted any Kraftwerk yet!

So here they are with their sing along chart topper Ruckzuck – meaning “Do it quickly” or “Hurry up”.

Kraftwerk – Ruckzuck

Pan pipes? Live drums? No synthesised electronic pop?

Nah.

This is all about the boys fixation with Iannis Xenakis, John Cage and Pierre ‘all art of the past must be destroyed’ Boulez (isn’t that anarchy or something?)

This structured and unstructured rhythmicness from these avant classical composers is what they tried to recreate and learn to reproduce, latter extending it into the field of pop music. As they had no orchestra and were interested in the structure of sound it all went a bit BBC Radiophonic Workshop, a wonderful thing.

Inside the album sleeve is some lovely pictures of the boys in leopard print shirts with thin white ties and those pointy glasses glamorous women in the 1950’s used to wear. I wonder if the road there bikes in this get-up?

It’s clear there is some sort of otherworld escapism stuff going on here, and who can blame em- 70’s Germany being not as glamorous as Hollywood, and probably as dull as Detroit, Sheffield, Newcastle and Manchester. Dressing up is one of the first and easiest ways to escape your surroundings and slip into a bit of Hollywood glamour. Latter they went for Robot Chic which is just way out there in the escapism stakes, what could more amazing than a being from another world and another time ? I find Kraftwerks image as fasinating as their music – they go hand in hand – and thats the way it should be for all great artists.

This was a good time for the boys with Rother and Herr Dinger playing and Conny Plank producing.

Apparently the American science and technology TV program Newton’s Apple used Kraftwerk’s Ruckzuck as its theme music which must have really fucked kids heads up. This was eventually replaced with a cover version which I would love to get, anyone know who the cover version was by?

Right I’m off to play X For Henry Flint for 27.36578 minutes on a casio vl tone and metal lamp shade put through a space echo effects unit, while dressed as Optimus Prime.

labels >> xxjfg

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