Rants Archive
a troll through previous thoughts and current ones
any thoughts sent in, given relevant and constructive, will be added here
(as will likely be the irrelevant and deconstructive)
(11/02)
Deep in the collective consciousness there is a desire to talk prog. To use the word. To mock yet with a certain sense of inquiry and intrigue. To reveal an inner desire to taste. It's hard to tell how many have ever actually been there really, beyond overheard second hand references to Rick Wakeman. But it is fascinating at how quickly people and reviewers have latched on to the progtronica references. It has evidently tickled the brain like a whisk, and teased out a certain draw for the genre. Although unfortunately the knowledge isn't there. (It's tautology I know: if the awareness of decent underground 70s prog had been present then that interesting fascino-dabbling with the dark side would be missing, substituted for specific and appropriate references.) It's difficult to draw the line at where unacknowledged prog-fetishism ends and any coolly accepted genre begins. Possibly with someone else's record collection; probably, and simply, with what's loaded into a name. Krautrock is prog, but then it's krautrock. Punk was prog, but then it was punk. Semantic reclamation perhaps, but prog as a term is progressing, and will continue to do so as long as there are those trying and developing something different. What we might think of today as progressive does indeed have much to do with the brilliant Kingdom Come, Gnidrolog and Aphrodite's Child, but as it also does with Crass, Nurse With Wound and Voivod. It shouldn't however be restricted to, or confused with, a certain period of 70s mainstream.
(03/02)
And Then Nothing's Clav Rumbold showed me a letter he'd sent in to Record Collector when the review of the 7" came out. After a bit of persuasion, he's let me put it here, as I think it has an all encompassing relevance...
"Dear R.C. Editor (after Nov'01 issue)
I was in sleep dreaming about a camel, then someone woke me up and showed me the picture. You put our sleeve in your 7" singles reviews! Wow! Great!
It's always kind of interesting and good when other people grab a chunk of music, have a good chew, and see what they make of it. After your review I still don't know who that guy Roy Budd is, but it's a great to hear trumpets. It's fantastic. I had a go on a trombone once, and met a guy who plays tuba, and love Septober Energy on Neon, but I've never tried he trumpet. Nor has Bert; that much I know. But what you did was open it up - show it for all. It's all about what the individual has in the ears. Some hear trumpets, others the flight of the dragonfly. Point is - we all do this whole pursuit of music thing, because we've gotta find the next tune, the next beat, next riff. In this sense, perception of what is, is immaterial - what is actually there is irrelevant. The ear of the beholder - you damn well summed it up without saying so. We all love music, and we all want more. Brothers and sisters..!!
Clav Rumbold, (And Then Nothing)"
(01/02)
Was all that just a cackhanded way of asking what happened to the middle 8?! And whenever you try and nail something down you know you'll be eating your words in the very near future. Pomposity is edible.
(10/01)
The parameters of what was initially thrown in to the pot when we started, if perhaps not fully identified and defined, were defining points for what moth was aiming to do. Or I should say, ‘present’. Musically that is. The polarisation of what was always more or less crudely polarised from the start. Not just a shared general taste for the psych, the funk, the dynamic, passionate, and difficult.
An overview of the releases so far (as well as those to come) point to a stronger shared underpinning: in musical structure. The tracks in the main, develop, go somewhere – they start off and go on a journey, towards an unknown destination, sometimes returning to base and theme-familiar from outset germination. What they don’t do is let off a drum machine, to bang away for 3 minutes with bunged noise topping. Admittedly, some noises are just great – you can’t get enough of them – but sometimes it’s just not enough. Even a 12 hour looped tie-fighter fly-past would demand a life more demanding eventually. A hint (!?) of personal taste creeps in to the equation, as well as over-simplification, and thus it may seem that there’s a negative towards the stripped down. Not so. These are extreme examples to make the point and offer differentiation.
And necessarily, to be clear: each to their own basket of expression – all power to those that do and receive in all areas - we cannot hope to argue over what is simply in the ear of the beholder.
So; a move to virtual mission statement (we will…) or virtual manifesto (we are…) is there-apparent, housed in the music released - through observation and analysis of its structure. By default and subconscious decision making there has grown a larval definition of what moth is and has become, at least aesthetically. The parameters of the initial releases set out on one level, in fact, under scrutiny, offer cohesion in what they set out to do as individual pieces.
I hope that makes it clear.
More rhetorical, self-referential, self-referencing next time folks, with a self-effacing quip at the end to make it seem less so…
(7/01)
Embracing the opinion that samples should be credited on a sleeve. When that is they lifted from within the bounds of decency. (Plagiarism and basically track-taping are still demons and should remain so.) A homage to an artist or piece of music, if you like. Creates an enthusiasts' link to other music, where others will also follow. Businesses own artists (if not wholly then certainly their output) and therefore there will be those that owe. Towards the ethical treatment of those who sample and pay tribute. Some areas of psychological thought have intelligence defined as the taking of two pieces of information and making something new. All thought is maybe then the creative act - although we tend to measure the creative once it has been processed through instrument, pen and lens. (It seems wholly intelligent to allow people as many tools as possible in order to explore and pursue their creativity). So, to the intelligent users of sampling, we can only hope that things will develop, such that you can credit for the sake of crediting, without the glare of a business purse.
(6/01)
Companies who make money out of postage..!?!
(11/00)
As you may have discovered there are two (now 4!) released moths available from all good record stores; good being a title bestowed on any that might favour the somewhat NEW, as opposed to those barely able to crawl amongst bad, or even out of bed to trade in trad terms of nothing new...
Let's be honest with each other before we go much further. These are fantastic releases. Faith has to begin somewhere, and in this case, with the initial airing of the respective tracks, it was born in fantastic.
We have encountered apathetic and, frankly, disturbing entities resting on record shop counters, and paid to do so, whose attempts at scratch jumping a needle through a rush play prove one thing. The undead make terrible DJs.
And, "… we don’t really take new stuff…" !
Encouraging news for the avid pursuer of MUSIC. Well at least those few all seem to use the same language, and we KNOW that parasites feed off the positive energy of the keen. Rather than in some way increase it by being enthusiastic, or even mildly pleasant, they invert the positive to the negative, attempting to turn all into like-minded zombies. I’m on that limboid rack now, that elastic torment, aware of the evil side yet trying to resist... to re... sist. But I feel their energy crawling faster within, increasingly claiming the sinews, the becoming torrent controlling my movements more and more completely. Less my. Not mine! Arms outstretched. ‘Kill. Kill’..!
Small problem with the argument. Since when did zombies have minds to be like to? The mind is replaced with a program, making them an organic robot. Okay. By that reckoning, what’s the difference between a zombie and a human..? Answers on a postcard, please - or the reverse side of a lolly stick.
Enough ranting. These places fortunately seem to be in the minority. We’re distributed by Cargo (and Dutch East India) so shops shouldn’t have problems getting hold of whatever you want, although the prices will vary. Though, not unsurprisingly, the aforementioned fantastic items can be bought direct from us, and you’ll have to contact us to find out where. Not that it’s a great secret, it’s just that we’d like to get some biscuits in for when you drop by... (Yeah, right... just go to the mail order page)
radio hat messages: people@mothrecords.co.uk
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