gigsplurge 6: mogwai etc, april 2000

Mogwai etc., All Tomorrow's Parties, Camber Sands, April 2000

Alphabetical post-rock nostalgia your way comes:

Arab Strap typical festival band, rolled out all the hits; sales of The Weekend Never Starts Round Here saw a spike the following week.

Bardo Pond failed to live up to a rather high billing as stoner post-rock legends, were but reasonably spooky and diverting; side projects, I gather, include Harsh Jar Tempo and Prairie Dog Flesh.

Delgados sat down so nobody could see them and played cellos really quietly.

Fly Pan Am were the guitary chaps out of Godspeed; they started loud and got louder until they finished. I'm dead keen on Fly Pan Am.

For Carnation started quietly and got quieter. Various other ex-members of Slint also played, sparking rumours there would be a reunion--which did eventually happen at ATP in 2005. At the time this was simply curious, though not quite curious enough. I spotted John Peel looking fed up: God bless the dead.

Gorkys Zygotic Mynci had tunes, which would have made them more than welcome on any ATP line-up. They ought to reform, and maybe play ATP.

Godspeed You Black Emperor had been on the cover of NME the previous year. At the time, the magazine frequently reviewed post-rock albums with descriptions like "sounds not unlike the Sonora Pine". I'm guessing a lot of 'paymasters' breathed a sigh of relief when Conor McNicholas turned up. Godspeed were staggering: preceded by two of their side-projects, marching to the stage through the crowd, blowing out speakers. What on earth happened to them?

Hood played, as did Pram; one or both played frosty British post-rock, not too far removed from the third Portishead album. But which?

Labradford were a sign of things to come for ATP, by which I mean, the sound of whirring fridges.

Ligament were a slightly dreary hardcore band, kind of like Sparta but without the massive air of disappointment.

Mogwai My Father, My King (Live at ATP, 2000) Listennnnnnn!

Molasses were the strings bit of Godspeed, as opposed to the guitars bit. Pretty much the parts of the sum, which is no faint praise.

Papa M popped up with various bands across the weekend; his own set consisted of a 20-minute version of 'Turn, Turn, Turn'. On a scale of one to 'Slint reunion', this ranked pretty low.

Pram played, as did Hood; one or both played frosty British post-rock, not too far removed from the third Portishead album. But which?

Radar Brothers had the tunes; sleepy, sleepy tunes, but tunes they were.

Scott 4 are much missed.

Shellac went on to curate their own ATP, and to play most days of most festivals, until they were politely shuffled off to make room for Bon Iver. Taut, horrifying and, pleasingly, extremely witty, they were the perfect bar band for beardos with, you know, souls full of agony and rage.

Sigur Ros soooop soooop sweeeep sweeep; this was a bit feeble, really--though harmless. I never quite got why they won; possibly by singing about elves, rather than the New World Order.

Snow Patrol were a likeable, slightly shit indie band before they started writing Lou Barlow songs with X-Factor choruses for car companies. This was a likeable, slightly shit performance.

Sonic Youth spent this gig blowing trumpets into guitar pickups. I’m glad I saw Sonic Youth when they were behaving, too.

Stereolab did their thing; you can't knock Stereolab, after all.

Super Furry Animals were still the right side of Status Quo at this stage.

Ten Benson pork sausage … rock cottage! This project has just caused me to discover that Ten Benson have reunited. I am screaming inside. See them.

Trail of Dead sounded like Sonic Youth covering the Who at this stage. Presumably they broke some stuff. I could do with seeing the old Trail of Dead again.

Two Dollar Guitar belonged to Steve Shelley out of Sonic Youth and were precisely that whelming.

Wire reformed before it was profitable, but still got the headline slot; everybody came to see them, and adopted a serious look.

The Oxford English Dictionary of ROCK #1: Punk

I like punk rock. It’s got a cool beat, and I can bug out to it. Plus, if I want to shake my fist in the general direction of The Man, it’s just the ticket. Screw you, The Man!

But I’d like to learn more about these street-punks and their snotty ways. In the first (and possibly the longest) of a regular series, GMS seeks higher learning the language’s best and biggest repository of FACT, the Oxford English Dictionary. Here’s a definition:

punk rock n.

Originally: rock music played in a fast, aggressive, or unpolished manner. In later use: spec. a genre of rock music originating in the late 1970s, characterized by a deliberately outrageous or confrontational attitude, energetic (and often chaotic) performance, and (freq.) simple or repetitive song structures; the subculture or style associated with this music.

Gold Blade – ‘Punk Rock’ (from Do You Believe In The Power Of Rock’n’Roll?)

Mogwai – ‘Punk Rock’ (Live at All Tomorrow’s Parties, Camber Sands, 2000)

Straightforward enough, but there’s still debate about what, or who, counts as punk. Recently John Lydon suggested Green Day’s spiky hair and ripped clothing made them less like punk and more like “gorgonzola in old boots”. True punks might take this sort of argument outside. GMS takes it to the OED:

punk n.

b. A performer or fan of punk rock; a person who adopts the style or attitude associated with punk rock. In terms of appearance a punk is typically characterized as having coloured spiked hair, wearing deliberately ripped clothing, and using safety pins for adornment, either as a decoration on clothing or as a piercing through the ear or nose.

One-nil to Green Day. But wait:

1976 New Musical Express 17 Apr. 43/1 Johnny Rotten..has the makings of a good punk.

Honours even, then, for attire and attitude. Some mp3s:

Sex Pistols – ‘No Fun’ (Live at San Francisco Winterland, 1978)

Green Day – ‘She’s A Rebel’ (Live)

But which bands does the OED use to define punk? Hands up whoever said Sleater-Kinney and Green On Red.

punk band n.

2006 Chicago Tribune (Nexis) 29 June C25 Sleater-Kinney emerged out of the early '90s riot grrrl movement, a loose coalition of female punk bands.

punk style n.

b. With past participles (in sense A. 5), as punk-influenced, punk-related, punk-styled, etc., adjs.

2005 Uncut June 163/1 Their punk-informed country underpinnings evoke fond memories of fellow travellers like Green On Red.

Sleater-Kinney – ‘You’re No Rock’N’Roll Fun’ (live, 2005)

Green On Red – ‘Easy Way Out’ (from Gas Food Lodging)

Like the OED, punk is continually evolving. The latest addition to the dictionary’s definitions is punk-funk (added: September 2007). That sounds about right: about three or four years ago people were going “ape” for bands like Radio 4 and the Rapture. Rubbish, weren’t they? Turns out, though, “teeny-bop” act T. Rex invented punk-funk. Just ask the staff of Kingston, Jamaica’s Sunday Gleaner.

punk funk n. any of various styles of music incorporating elements of punk and funk; cf. FUNK n.² 2.

1974 Sunday Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 24 Mar. (Mag. section) 6/2 T. Rex. Band with *punk-funk sound. Emerged with second coming of teeny bop, 1970. 1991 C. EDDY Stairway to Hell 45/1 ‘The Stroke’ ranks with the sleaziest, sassiest, strangest, slyest hit singles of the eightiespunkfunk for real. 2004 Uncut Mar. 58/2 The more experimental wing of the post-punk brigade,..the abrasive, sky-strafing guitar stylings of PiL's Keith Levene, the Banshees, or the non-linear, noisenik punk-funk of Gang Of Four.

Side-stepping that whole farrago, here’s some punk rap from the Cold Crush Brothers, funky for you:

Cold Crush Brothers – ‘Punk Rock Rap’

Who invented punk? The US and the UK have long disputed the title. The dictionary notes the old English origins of the word, generally meaning a young prostitute, but attributes the musical meaning to the US. Much as it pains me to say it, that’s substantiated by the relative number of bands cited as examples or inspirations: on the American side there are mentions for the Ramones, Stooges, Descendents, Green On Red, Sleater-Kinney, Angry Samoans, My Dad Is Dead and even Blink 182, as well as 1960s garage progenitors Shadows Of Knight, The Music Machine, and the Nazz. The UK falls just short with Sex Pistols, PiL, T Rex, Mick Jagger, Led Zeppelin, the Golden Horde (Irish, but that’s close enough), Souxsie and the Banshees, Gang Of Four, Elvis Costello (a “punkabilly”) and Toyah Wilcox (on a side note, no sign of the Clash). Interestingly, though, the bands against which punk was said to be in reaction (Pink Floyd, Cream, Genesis and Yes) are all Brits. Europe only gets a passing reference to the Raveonettes. Keep up!

Jeffrey Lewis – ‘The History Of Punk On The Lower East Side’

Gogol Bordello – ‘Immigrant Punk’ (from Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike)

Scott 4 & Magic Car – ‘European Punks’ (from European Punks LP)

I once bought an album from a charity shop called Totally Punk. It was. Here is the best track.

Tom Robinson Band – ‘Glad To Be Gay’

And here are two more top tunes to complete our magical musical journey:

Kenickie – ‘Punka’ (from At The Club)

Magnetic Fields – ‘Punk Love’ (from 69 Love Songs)

Previously on the OED of ROCK