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"Impartiality is not neutrality. It is partiality for justice." - Stanisław Jerzy Lec (1909-1966)

 

posted by: Oborski at 20:53 | link | comments (1) |

Amazon.co.uk Reviews
On Pretty In Black, Denmark’s The Raveonettes are out to shake up preconceptions that had them pegged as stripped-bare garage-rockers – an association perhaps not entirely unfair, given that they once recorded an EP entirely in Bb minor. Recorded with reverb boosted up high in an effective, if budget, approximation of Phil Spector’s Wall Of Sound production style, the likes of "Here Comes Mary" and "Seductress Of Burns" are lean, shimmering cuts of 60s Americana - pure pop bubblegum laced with razorblades.

That’s not the only hallmark of this record’s increased scope, however: guests including the Velvet Underground’s Maureen Tucker and Martin Rev of synth-punks Suicide are on hand to further bulk out the compositions, while Ronnie Spector, voice of key Raveonettes influence The Ronettes, adds backing vocals to one of the album’s stand-outs, "Ode To LA". Elsewhere, a cover of 60s girl-group The Angels’ "My Boyfriend’s Back" – in which a demure maiden threatens a would-by suitor with a beating from her recently-returned amour – is recreated, quite beautifully, on a tinny drum machine: proof that The Raveonettes can still turn out pop magic using the most primitive tools. --Louis Patterson

Album Description
Danish rock duo the Raveonettes return with Pretty in Black. The 11-track album was produced by group member Sune Rose Wagner and Richard Gottehrer, who was behind the boards for its 2003 predecessor, Chain Gang of Love. Guests include former Velvet Underground drummer Maureen Tucker, Ronnie Spector and Suicide principal Martin Rev. Pretty in Black finds vocalist Sharin Foo leaving her bass duties behind and yielding them to new member Anders Christensen. It included the single "Love in a Trashcan".

Pretty in Black

Sune Rose Wagner - Vocals, Guitar
Sharin Foo - Vocals, Guitar

Stylish, confident, and, frankly, slightly menacing, the Raveonettes--Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo--made their mark on the emerging new garage-rock scene in 2002 with a flair for the dramatic. Their image was pure '50s retro-cool: lanky, dark-haired Sune and six-foot blonde glamazon Sharin wore black leather and sat astride motorbikes. The Danish duo doused their stripped-down songs about sex, suicide, and prostitution with noisy, fuzzed-out guitar, sweet boy-girl harmonies, and sleazy surf-punk twang. It sounded like a clash between Mods and Rockers if the brawl had taken place on the set of California beach movie.

The Raveonettes released two CDs, each of which adhered to the Raveonettes' own version of the classic Ramones formula: three chords and nothing longer than three minutes. Their 2002 EP Whip It On was recorded entirely in the key of B-flat minor, and the 2003 full-length debut, Chain Gang of Love, stuck to B-flat major. But where those two albums were dreamt up in monochromatic darks and lights, Sune shot Pretty in Black in blazing Technicolor.

"I realized that it was kind of hard for people to listen to an hour of music played all in the same key with the same three chords," he admits. "I can see why they might think it's repetitive." Adds Sharin: "We really had to do something different on this album, for the sake of ourselves and our sanity. We had to try something new."

On Pretty in Black, Sune flung away the rulebook, along with the fuzz and distortion, and let the elegant simplicity of his songwriting shine through. The resulting songs are, as Rolling Stone's David Fricke puts it, "...a whirlwind of ravishing noir and vintage-pop echo(ing) with Sune's deep affection for early rock & roll and girl-group bop coming through bright and clear."

"There were no guidelines for this record," Sune says. "I just started writing songs during some time off in London. I was hanging out and got kind of bored so I rented a rehearsal space and ended up writing seven songs on the first day. That was a really good start for me, so I just kept writing. I didn't have any distortion or noise gadgets with me, so I pretty much had to do it all very clean. When I played it back, I thought, 'Wow, this actually sounds pretty good. Maybe I should go for that kind of sound and not repeat myself.' Clean music is always more accessible than something washed in distortion.'" Not to mention more "direct and in your face," as Sharin puts it.

A few highlights from Pretty in Black:

"The Heavens" -- "I thought, 'If Elvis were alive and asked me to write a song for him, what would I do?,'" Sune says. "I always liked it when he sang ballads; he had a great crooner voice. So I wrote that song in his style, with the kind of melody he would like, and sang it in my best Elvis voice. It was like he was sitting next to me. So that one is for the King."

"Seductress of Bums" -- "If Beyoncé were to hook up with ['60s balladeer] Bobby Vinton, this is what it would sound like," Sune says. "It was an attempt to do something modern but with a very nostalgic feel."

"Love in a Trashcan" -- "This is about girls hanging out with boys from bands," Sune says. "Guys in bands are trashy and no good. So if you're looking for love with one of these guys, it's not going to happen because he'll be gone the next day."

"Twilight" -- With its chugging techno beat and tremolo guitar line, "Twilight" was Sune's attempt to combine his love for '50s sci-fi with his admiration for French techno artist Miss Kittin and the Berlin club scene. "It's sort of the Cramps in the future," he says, "a lustful, seedy story of debauchery and decadence."

"My Boyfriend's Back" -- A cover of the original, which was written by the band's longtime co-producer Richard Gottehrer. "Richard wrote that song in 1963 for the Angels and no one has had a hit with it since," Sune remarks. "But people know it when they hear it, it's very recognizable. I'm just crossing my fingers that we have a hit with it, too. That would be so amazing--42 years later."

Another very special track for Sune is "Ode to L.A.," which features vocals by rock icon Ronnie Spector. Richard was acquainted with Ronnie's management and sent her "Ode to L.A." Ronnie loved it and agreed to come to Sony Studios in New York City where the band were mixing. "She's like a goddess," Sune says. "It doesn't get any bigger than that for me personally. She's the reason why I do the kind of music I do. It was really after hearing 'Be My Baby' for the first time that I thought, 'This style of music is just so incredibly good that if I can somehow preserve it through my own music then that will be my quest for life. So meeting her was just insane. And she was really nice. She came in very excited about the whole thing and was jumping around, saying, 'Oh my god, I feel like I'm 16 years old again!'"

Another featured player on the album is Martin Rev, keyboardist for one of Sune's favorite bands, the pioneering electro proto-punk duo Suicide, who plays on "Uncertain Times," "You Say You Lie," and "Here Comes Mary." "He brought over all his sound modules and we hooked them up to my Midi keyboard, which he almost totally destroyed in a creative frenzy," Sune says.

Rounding out Sune's dream team of special guests is legendary Velvet Underground drummer Moe Tucker who performs on four tracks, including "Red Tan." The band had heard through her manager that Tucker was a fan, so Gottehrer invited her to record with them when they made a tour stop in Atlanta where she lives. It was Tucker's 60th birthday. "The bus was parked outside the studio and I got up first to make sure everything was ready before she came," Sune says. "When I walked in, she was already there, just sitting on the couch by herself. I'm too nervous to handle these things, so I ran out to the bus and told everyone, 'You have to come in because I can't handle her alone, no way!' But after a few hours I relaxed. She was just awesome."

Pretty in Black was recorded over several weeks in mid-July at Allaire Studios "on a desolate mountain peak," as Sune puts it, in Shokan, New York, outside Woodstock. It was recorded entirely live, a new process for the Raveonettes. "Whip It On and Chain Gang were demos that I made into albums," Sune says. "This one was recorded live and then I just kept adding things, like samples, until it sounded right. I didn't teach everyone the songs before we went in because I wanted it to be more spontaneous. We did it right there on the spot so it would have that fresh quality."

In addition, Sharin is no longer playing bass. "I originally started playing bass out of necessity--because we needed someone," she says. "It's nice now to have some freedom to concentrate on the vocals, which is really my thing. I'm a singer." The rest of the band is fleshed out by longtime Raveonettes guitarist Manoj Ramdas and drummer Jakob Hoyer, and new bassist Anders Christensen, a veteran of jazz drummer Paul Motian's band. All three play on the album and will tour with the Raveonettes.

Pretty in Black still reflects Sune's love for the early rock innovators Buddy Holly and the Everly Brothers. "I can't get away from it," he says. "Maybe I tried to modernize it a bit more than with the last two records, but it really is the same inspiration," he says. "I've been known to buy a computer magazine, but I still cherish the '50s-style dinner table in my apartment. I think you can mix those two things up in a gentle way."

posted by: Oborski at 02:21 | link | comments |

Warsaw Diary 4 – political agreement

For the very first time all my friends – whether of the left, centre or right – in Warsaw seem to agree about the political prospects in Poland . Unless there is a totally unexpected twist of fate they currently expect:-

…A “Donald Duck” victory in the Autumn Parliamentary elections. “Donald Duck” is the affectionate or derogatory (depending on your outlook) short hand for a right of centre PO (Citizens Platform) and PiS (Law and Justice) victory. The “Donald” comes from the name of PO ’s Donald Tusk while the “Duck” comes from the vague similarity of the PiS Kaczynski brothers surname to the Polish word for duck. Donald Duck is known to Poles as Kaczor Donald.

…None of them believe that the currently ruling left wing SLD will be totally expelled from Parliament as were the right AWS (Solidarity Election Action) at the previous election. They reckon that the SLD has a hard core 10% of voters who will mostly turn out for the Party come what may. Their representation will be drastically reduced but the SLD will still be in the game say my friends – mostly with deep regret.

...There is also a clear concensus of concern that the “Donald Duck” leadership will have real post-election difficulties in coming to an agreement as to who will fill which posts in a new government. If PO and PiS fail to secure an overall Parliamentary majority then they will have even more problems if they have to incorporate a third party into the administration in order to get the votes they need in Parliament.

…My friends also express varying degrees of concern about the leadership capacity of PO and the fact that PiS is rather a Kaczynski Brothers fan club than a normal political party. These factors could mean that a new government comes in without a clear political programme winning on the basis of the evident failure of the outgoing SLD government rather than on the merits of its own proposals.

…Any post Parliamentary election bickering and squabbling within a new incoming coalition will be taking place in the immediate run up to the subsequent Presidential elections. This could weaken the right in that election.

…Although Donald Tusk is being heavily promoted by PO as their Presidential Candidate he is not making the progress in the polls for which he might be hoping. That being the case my friends expect to see PO at some stage – maybe in the second round of the Presidential elections – to PiS Presidential hopeful and currently second placed opinion poll runner for that election Lech Kaczynski. Such a deal, they think, might see a PO nominee secure the Premiership. However, they don’t think that the PO could actually get its supporters to switch to Kaczynski if push comes to shove!

…Incidentally quite a few of my normally rabidly politically active rightist and centrist friends simply do not at this stage intend to vote in either election on the grounds that they are variously unhappy with the parties, policies and candidates on offer. Others from the same political backgrounds are determined to vote simply to oust the left. This appears to be the one point on which they are divided. If this turns out to reflect wider public opinion it could make the Parliamentary election result a little tighter than expected and conversely increase the Presidential margin.

…The unanimous view among my friends is that the SLD’s Cimosiewicz will win the Presidential elections. He is personable, well liked, looks the part, is untainted by the corruption charges otherwise damaging the SLD and has placed some distance between himself and the party while ensuring that he will get full SLD support in the campaign. As the only prospect for SLD to retain at least some control on power and the levers of patronage he is likely to attract their full financial and organisational support in a determined bid to keep the left in the game in some shape or form.

There is still a lot of water to flow under the political bridges between now and the Autumn but that’s the way they seen it for now. Of course the people I’m talking to on this trip are all in Warsaw and it may look different from other parts of the country but as the people I’m talking to are pretty smart and experienced I will be interested to see how far their predictions end up.

What is sad is the unquestioned acceptance that Poland remains locked in a pattern of pendulum politics where oppositions are likely to win simply because they are not the despised current government rather than because of what they stand for.

 

 

posted by: Oborski at 11:48 | link | comments |