*Colossus: The Forbin Project* (1970) is very much my jam.
Late Early Punk (or Early Late Punk)
Dreaming of early Billy Childish
Hilobrow.com update: My piece on the 1970 film *Colossus: The Forbin Project* will be online soon as part of the [Klaatu You](http://www.hilobrow.com/2020/01/01/klaatu-enthusiasm-intro/) series, in which writers “revisit their favorite pre-Star Wars sci-fi movies.” But first, I’ve got another short essay due up. The series [Cabona Your Enthusiasm](https://www.hilobrow.com/2020/07/31/carbona-your-enthusiasm-intro/) contains 25 posts about participants’ favorite punk songs (from between 1974-1983). I selected a very early Billy Childish track, “Dreams of ’63,” from the 1979 debut album of his band the Pop Rivets. None other than Mike Watt (of the Minutemen) has contributed to the series, along with personal favorites Deb Chachra and Douglas Wolk. Here’s the great lineup. Several of the posts are already online:
Mimi Lipson on Flipper’s “Sex Bomb” | James Parker on The Jam’s “Going Underground” | Dan Fox on The Cramps’ “Human Fly” | Adrienne Crew on Bad Brains’ “I and I Survive” | Devin McKinney on Romeo Void’s “Never Say Never” | Deb Chachra on The Buzzcocks’ “Ever Fallen in Love” | Mark Kingwell on The Demics’ “New York City” | Jessamyn West on Dead Kennedys’ “Kill the Poor” | Douglas Wolk on The Homosexuals’ “Soft South Africans” | Josh Glenn on The Freeze’s “This is Boston, Not L.A.” | Stephanie Burt on Sorry’s “Imaginary Friend” | Luc Sante on Public Image Ltd.’s “Public Image” | Miranda Mellis on X-Ray Spex’s “Oh Bondage! Up Yours!” | Adam McGovern on The Clash’s “Washington Bullets” | Mandy Keifetz on Germs’ “Forming” | Gordon Dahlquist on The Sex Pistols’ “Problems” | Anthony Miller on The Soft Boys’ “I Wanna Destroy You” | Deborah Wassertzug on The Mekons’ “Where Were You?” | Tor Aarestad on Gang of Four’s “Return the Gift” | Marc Weidenbaum on The Pop Rivets’ “Dream of ’63” | David Smay on The Rezillos’ “(My Baby Does) Good Sculptures” | Vanessa Berry on The Cure’s “So What” | Chelsey Johnson on The Slits’ “Typical Girls” | Lynn Peril on Crass’s “Smother Love” | Mike Watt on The Dils’ “You’re Not Blank.”
Loraine James’ Fluid Techno Refactoring
A live video performance
Ten-plus minutes into this bracing live techno set by Loraine James, posted as a video by Fact Magazine today, I thought to myself, “She’s still playing ‘Glitch Bitch.'”
I wasn’t complaining, not by any means. Quite the contrary, it was great to have the opportunity to stretch out and luxuriate in the light breakages, the fluid refactoring, that she brings to the music in extended form. A friend then mentioned to me that James, on Twitter, had herself expressed surprise: [“didnt realise I played ‘Glitch Bitch’ for 13 minutes..oops.”](https://twitter.com/LoJamMusic/status/1293166133739171846) The original version of the song clocks in at a mere 3:12 on the album *For You and I*, where it’s the lead track. In the video, it’s more than a third of the set’s nearly 33-minute runtime.
I’ve never known quite what to make of the snippet that serves as the song’s title and lyric — less a lyric than a prominent sample reworked this way and that for the full length of the piece. It may mean be intended as something else entirely, but I’ve taken the song to be an act of James grabbing hold of a dismissive statement and turning it inside out, pushing back by making it her own, so thoroughly owning the phrase that it becomes a powerful symbol of transformation and expertise. That’s certainly the case with the underlying beat, how James lets unfurl and then pulls back gleaming rhythmic patterns, coaxing odd meters and pulse-disorienting pauses as she goes.
Video originally posted at [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnvxRT9nUbc). More from James at [lorainejames.bandcamp.com](https://lorainejames.bandcamp.com/).
Forest Synth
And where do the bugs end?
Me, I’m too nervous with what little gear I have to take it out of the house, let along to lug it into the forest. Then again, I’m a city mouse, and camping isn’t my thing. In this gorgeous footage, shot in Japan, a modular synthesizer takes root among trees, dappled by the light as filtered through leaves. Part of the beauty of it is not knowing where the synthesis ends and the songs of birds and insects begin. The source YouTube account, named Wac- Lounge, has only been up since May of this year, yet has already racked up over two dozen modular-synth videos worth checking out, some indoors, some out.
Video originally posted at [youtube.com](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INz8aXaYePw).
Current Listens: Sampled Sources, Roadside Tuba
Heavy rotation, lightly annotated
This is my weekly(ish) answer to the question “What have you been listening to lately?” It’s lightly annotated because I don’t like re-posting material without providing some context. In the interest of conversation, let me know what you’re listening to in the comments below. Just please don’t promote your own work (or that of your label/client). This isn’t the right venue. (Just use email.)
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NEW: Recent(ish) arrivals and pre-releases
▰ *Warp & Weft* is a lovely, free, six-track release posted by Scanner (based in London) of delicately reworked samples from kalimba alongside soft synth lines, lightly glitched and filtered. The first two tracks (“Wefte,” “Wevan”) and sixth (“Weave into Time”) are especially sedate and gentle. The album was recorded live and released this past Friday, August 7.
▰ The free *Reel Feels (Sound Pack)*, by Frankfurt-based musician Jogging House, is the source audio from which Scanner derived his *Warp & Weft* album, but you don’t need to be a musician to take advantage of it. The first five tracks are beautifully torqued recordings of kalimba (or mbira), turned into pure atmosphere, each a minute or longer. Put them in a playlist and set them to loop on random. You’ll lose track of time happily.
▰ Sometimes an instrument is just as useful on the receiving end of sound, such as this great ongoing series in which a tuba amplifies nearby audio, here rendering deep metallic reverberations from passing traffic.