‘We started out, because we were so crazy in love, just wanting to eat each other up, to become each other and become one’.
Genesis Breyer P-Orridge’s Pandrogyne (Positive Androgyny) is a project that resists easy classification; part performance, part romance and part prophetic it defies even orthodox authorship by belonging fully to neither of its two participants: Genesis P Orridge & Lady Jaye Breyer. It is even arguable that, as it is the result of collaboration, the Pandrogyne invented itself. The project also sets itself apart from the obvious categorisation of transvestism, presenting itself as existential rather than sexual:
‘It’s not about gender… some feel like a man trapped in a woman’s body, others like a woman trapped in a man’s body. The Pandrogyne says, ‘I just feel trapped in a body’.
The ‘Body’ is here seen within the perspective of the reality given to man via genetic and societal programming: the cage. Whereas the mind with its infinite possibilities, but most importantly choice, is seen as the key. Abandonment of the ego is territory already visited by Genesis in the original creation of his alter ego, although the sacrifice of the name ‘Neil Andrew Megson’ was no doubt a comparatively easier choice than the surgeons knife.
Encompassed within the distinction from transvestism is the idea that they are different and separate beings meeting in the middle, rather people attempting to clone the image of the other. This can be illustrated by perhaps the most bizarre Valentines ever, on February 14th 2003 the romantic gift of his ‘n’ hers (hers ‘n’ hers/his ‘n’ his?) breast implants were exchanged between the couple: the symbol of the first plastic change.
The project has an infinite scope of idealism, provided by faith in scientific technology. This rests upon the grounds that, if man has learnt to modify the body via plastic surgery, it will eventually destroy it altogether. This futuristic projection for the Pandrogyne echoes back to ancient times and Socratic ideas on the relationship between body and soul:
‘What is purification but … the release of the soul from the chains of the body’.
‘To the philosopher, the body is a disturbing element, hindering the soul from the acquisition of knowledge’
Socrates (tragically born before the Rhinoplasty)
The origination of the idea of Pandrogyny can be traced to Genesis’s self proclaimed artistic godfathers: William Burroughs and Brion Gysin - whose greatest collaboration was in the field of the cut-up technique. This method essentially broke down the linearity of words; creating new meaning by offering them to the chaos of random juxtaposition. However, it was looking at the process of their partnership, ‘the synthesisation of their personalities’, that gave birth to the idea of 1+1=3: the Third Mind.
The Pandrogyne, although undeniably taking the concept further, finds some precedent in the field of performance art: Marina Abramovic and Ulay. The collaboration between these two artists was likewise a romantic one - their epic journey on foot starting from each end the Great Wall of China to meet in the middle is reminiscent of the abstract meeting between the poles of self that is Genesis and Lady Jaye’s work (except for Marina and Ulay it was symbolic of the end not the beginning). However, the similarity is more specific than this; Abramovic and Ulay both recognised and investigated the creation through their partnership of another being formed through their work together, described by themselves as a ‘two headed body’ or ‘the other’. By dressing and acting like twins they blurred the distinction of their seperate entities. This relationship of co-dependence is explored in a performance in which they exchanged breaths between each other until all the oxygen was used up, replaced by carbon dioxide, causing them to fall to the floor unconscious.
‘The main problem in this relationship was what to do with the two artists’ egos. I had to find out how to put my ego down, as did he, to create something like a hermaphroditic state of being that we called the death self.
”We begin in a sort of synchronized similitude … and then we arrive at the level in which each of us functions alone. The two bodies doing the same, but within, there is a separation.’
Topics: Vision | 2 Comments »
1+1=3
By robotdeniro | April 5, 2009
Topics: Sound | No Comments »
Totally Breakbeat
By admin | January 26, 2009
For our third and final wave of cosmic enquiry into the great anthems of intergalactic euro fame, we turn our attention to the dark side of the Moon, Germany…
…and its gets pretty freaky and druggy. Christiane F to Major Tom, please report immediately.
Ganymed / “ It takes me Higher ” (1979)
For all ye who, like Kelly, just cant get enough of turning your head to the stars…
1036 Ganymed is the largest Amor asteroid. It was discovered by Walter Baade on October 23, 1924 and is named after Ganymede, the Trojan prince turned god whom Zeus designated the cupbearer to the Greek gods. Ganymed is about 32 km in diameter and is an S-type asteroid, meaning that it is relatively reflective and composed of iron- and magnesium-silicates. It is also a Mars-crosser asteroid.
Perhaps it is this all too close close proximity with the red fumes of Mars which once dramatically impaired the dress sense of Viennese aliens Ganymed. This, however, didnt prevent their single “It Takes Me higher” to sell up to 1 million copies throughout Europe, topping various charts. The sleeve of the album is in itself an ode to intergalactic bad taste, showing the band members wearing large funkadelic mutant piggy outfits. In spite of such fashion apocalypse, the song remains a true gemstar of galactic disco attack.
DÖF / “ Codo ” (1983)
DÖF (Deutsch-Österreichisches Feingefühl) was a 1980s Austrian-German band from the short-lived “New German Wave” movement, the Neue Deutsche Welle (NDW) which can be considered as the ‘dark’ side of cosmic disco, next to the more glitzy Morroderian strand.
Its line-up was noticeable in that it mixed in equal parts comedians and musicians, consisting namely of two (male) Austrian comedians and two (female) German music artists. As a consequence, DÖF’s few ever released songs were a mixture of Standard German and Viennese dialect, and their performances a delight of bizarre geeky theatricality. We’ll let you judge with the bizarre and cult “Codo”, taken from their 1983 LP “DÖF”. The song was a major hit in Europe, selling over a million copies, and became number one of the charts in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands.
Interestingly, DOF were no just pranksters but also tried to convey a message of cosmic love and harmony to the masses. Band members Joesi Prokopetz and Inga Humpe explained the story behind the song :
“Codo is an abbreviation for “Cosmic Dolm” or also “Cosmic Depp” (both meaning cosmic idiot). Codo was an extraterrestrial creature without a specific gender, which overcomes hate and brings everything that is missing to us stressed and negatively attuned human beings: a good mood, jokes, charm and above all love.”
Pray on, Codo.
Andreas Dorau / “ Fred Vom Jupiter ”(1981)
Finally, we give you the freakiest wunderkid of early 80s German electro pop, Andreas Dorau, who happened to be fresh out of his teens when he wrote the most cosmic of all euro-disco anthems, the super spaced out ” Fred Vom Jupiter ”… apparently as a classroom exercise !
Originally credited to the fictitious group Die Doraus & die Marinas (check out the Marinas’ amazing dance moves please, they are an inspiration to us all), the song quickly became an international pop hit in late 1982 and has remained until now one of the most bizarre sonic teutonic missiles ever conceived.
Topics: Sound | 1 Comment »
Cosmic Euro Nation part 3
By House of Coma | January 13, 2009
While the cosmic seed had been inserted into the body of funk, a new wave of machine-driven dance records invaded the European charts. Euro-disco was born and one of its one main strands sprung out of the minds of a new generation of Italian ‘funksters’, quickly earning itself the nickname of ‘Spaghetti dance’. While most of the production failed to evade a sort of Cuban refugee nightmare, somewhere in between the ‘tropical wet shower’ feel and a poor New Order cover, a few gems rose from beneath the kitsch to invade our minds with sounds imported straight from another galaxy. Here is a subjective selection of such Italo Disco space-age rarities.
Donna Summer (produced by Giorgio Moroder) /
“ I feel love ” (1977)
Legendary producer Giorgo Moroder is no less than the man who single-handedly catapulted the organic sound of funk into the new age of synthetic love, thereby influencing the course of all synthetizer music, from new-wave to techno and electro. While some of Moroder’s personal hits such as “From here to eternity” (under his own name) or “La Nuit Blanche” (under the name “Munich Machine”) are pure gems of interstellar funk, his particular place in the pantheon of cosmic disco stems from the most spaced-out of all his collaborations, the aptly named “I Feel Love” by soul diva Donna Summer. Taken from her 1977 concept album “I Remember Yesterday”, the track’s production was designed to represent the ’sound of the future’. Based on the hypnotic repetition of a robotic bassline, it created a precedent in club music which all tracks ever after sought to emulate, casting into the obscurity the age of acoustic big bands and inaugurating the age of machine funk with one long ode to futuristic love and time travel. Bowie himself, who was recording some of his Berlin masterpieces with Brian Eno as producer when the song came out, has spoken of the track’s influence in terms of a ‘before’ and an ‘after’ :
“One day in Berlin … Eno came running in and said, ‘I have heard the sound of the future.’ … he puts on ‘I Feel Love’, by Donna Summer … He said, ‘This is it, look no further.’ ”
Stefania Rotolo / “ Marameo ” and “ UFO robot ” (1979)
Only just a few years after the “I feel love” landslide, the Italian television dusted itself up and began producing a series of outrageously funny disco-infused programs. Stefania Rotolo quickly became the queen of such shows and an icon for a whole generation. These shows, which were created on the Italian public channel at the end of the 70s, incorporated disco music to produce a new form of spectacle designed to cater for the tastes of a younger, discoball-hungry generation. They focused as much on music as on the general atmosphere of the performance, from choregraphy to costumes, aiming to offer a real ‘feel’ of a disco party to the young public. Here, in these two extracts from “Tilt”, her 1979 success show, Stefania, along with her two young fabulous astro-henchmen, is seen in a mind-blowing ballet of robotic moves that make you think those kids must have spent just about the rest of their teenagehood in rehab.
La Bionda / “ I wanna be your lover ” (1980)
La Bionda is such an ambiguous name. It sounds like one of those nicknames which Italians are so fond of when it comes to their porn-stars reconverted as politicians. But the ”blonde girl” was in fact no blonde and not even a girl, but rather was composed of two brothers, Carmelo and Michelangelo La Bionda. Active as producers and composers throughout the 70s and 80s, they are perhaps best known as the ones the world has to thank for Righeira’s international anthem of Spanish horror, the unforgettable “Vamos a la Playa” (”We’re going to the beach”). Before pouring such wonders onto our undeserving ears though, they took the time to produce the most kitsch of all cosmic disco gems, the mesmerizing “I want to be your Lover” whose video clip itself looks like it must have been watched over a trillion times by Daft Punk. A Personal all-time hit and a special dedication to that special someone who will never take the time to read this post. Cos that’s how the cookie crumbles in the disco wonderland.
Topics: Sound | No Comments »
Cosmic Euro Nation part 2
By House of Coma | January 5, 2009
In the next series of posts, we will chart some of the defining historical trends which have presided over the best of disco music. We kick off with a survey of the rise and fall of European space-age disco or, in other words, the great Cosmic Euro Nation. In this first post, we aim to shed some light over early cosmic experiments within some of the genres which have preceded and shaped interstellar disco and to assess their legacy.
Pink Floyd / “Astronomy Domine (An Astral Chant) ” (1967)
“Astronomy Domine ” ( or “the Lord of Astronomy” ) , subtitled “An Astral chant” , was the first song on Pink Floyd’s debut album and is perhaps the most important early space ode of contemporary pop music. Masterminded by the late Syd Barrett whose demise would relegate Pink Floyd to the mass appeal of stadium rock, “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn” is undoubtedly the most significant of all psychedelic rock albums. This song, along with the other cosmically-enclined track, “Interstellar overdrive”, contained the blueprint for the whole ’space rock’ sound and some defining elements for all cosmic music to come. With its intense use of echoing effects in conjunction with an irregular (understand : “trippy ” ) guitar pattern, along with the additional use of a Farfisa organ, it conjured an avalanche of psychedelic frequencies alluding both to hyperspace travel and communication waves throughout deep space.
Here is what the ever wordy Wikipedia has to say about that :
“The song opens with the voice of their manager at the time Peter Jenner, reading the names of stars through a megaphone. The intention of this opening is to replicate the feeling of outer space, with Jenner’s voice sounding like an astronaut’s over an intercom. Barrett’s Fender Esquire then seemingly emerges from the distance and grows louder. At 0:19 a rapid beeping sound appears, again reaffirming the feeling of distant space. At 0:26, Mason’s distinctive drum fills emerge, followed closely by Barrett’s bluesy, sinister-sounding guitar (perhaps reminiscent of Duane Eddy) in a figure suggestive of the brass motif from “Mars, the Bringer of War” in Holst’s The Planets. Wright’s Farfisa organ is mixed into the background. Barrett’s incantatory lyrics about space again support the cosmonautical theme in the song, mentioning planets Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune as well as Uranian moons Oberon, Miranda, and Titania, and Saturn’s moon Titan.”
David Bowie / “Space Oddity” (1969)
Space Oddity is the song that gave a name to Bowie, launching him into the spheres of fame as his fictional astronaut character, “Major Tom”, got launched into outer space. Despite being a classical pop ballad whose production and melody remain entirely conventional, the theme of the song, as its unashamed parallel between space exploration, mental confusion and a heavy psychotropic subtext, have been seminal in establishing cosmic disco-very as a internal voyage of sorts. As Huysmans’ Des Esseintes reminds us in “Against Nature”: “What was the good of moving when a person could travel so wonderfully sitting in a chair?”. Nonetheless, “Space Oddity” did go down in History far beyond its metaphor and has been associated by generations with (real) interstellar travel ever since the BBC featured the song in its television coverage of the lunar landing.
Kraftwerk / “Tanzmusic” (1971)
Kraftwerk, the art pioneers of electronic music, have been instrumental in catalyzing Krautrock, the first truly cosmic music movement with its long effusions of synth waves and psychedelic riffs, into a more concise pop format, thus leading the way to the later appropriation of space hippie shit by the infamous heir of funk, disco music.
“Tanz Music” is a piece which bears testimony to this transition, with its “Kraut” pattern, all trippy waves and mellow hallucinations, brought back to a recognizeable melody, the essence of pop. It is also a song of a rare hypnotic beauty which lays the foundation for the very sound which will conquer the minds and embody the future over the following decade. The electronic virus, in the meantime, has been inserted almost surrepticiously into the body of pop. Nothing can ever be the same. Cosmic Euronation, act 1. The rebirth of the space age into a disco apparatus.
Roxy Music / “Ladytron” (1972)
Meanwhile, the 70s’ excess offered a fertile ground for all sorts of experimentations. Following his chance encounter with one of Roxy Music’s members in an underground station, pioneering weirdo Brian Eno subseqently joined the band, orchestrating the fusion of art rock’s quirkiness with glam’s sleaze to produce a series of genre-defying sonic objects. In these early Roxy songs, a classic rock matrix collides with Bryan Ferry’s honey-infused crooner style and Eno’s own sound alterations behind the mixing console and various synthetizers. The Glorious ”Ladytron”, taken from Roxy Music’s eponymous debut album, bears witness to the cosmic results produced by Eno’s collaboration with the band. As a matter of fact, the sound which opens the song was created by Eno after Bryan Ferry asked him to produce something reminiscent of the Lunar Landing.
Topics: Sound | No Comments »
Cosmic Euro Nation part 1
By House of Coma | December 30, 2008
The late Bettie Page, even though she may strike us now as a classic 50s Bombshell, must be really put back into the context of her heyday in order to see the originality of her outrageous sex-appeal. She was in fact a far cry for the blonde pin-up that dominated the then landscape of female icons.
More Deeta Von Teese than May West, and definitely more Manson than Marilyn, Page, one of the earliest “Playmates of the Month” to be featured in Playboy, became a icon of fetish and kinky erotica through her modelling acts and movies, and due to her characteristic look - jet-black hair and red lipstick, which can be traced back as one of the major influences for the whole rockabilly scene.
Here Page is seen in the cult “Second Initiation of the Sorority Girl”, directed by Irving law, one of America’s first fetish photographers.
Bettie Page ? Queen of bondage.
Topics: Vision | No Comments »
Your December Whoroscope
By House of Coma | December 22, 2008
( Image : House of Coma)
Starring: Blessed are the Meek / Process Wave Generations / 12-Bit Voyages / Discount Haackula / Radioactive Mind Dessert / UFO Answering Machines.
Space is the Place by Robot de Niro (Click here to listen / Right click to download)
Topics: Sound | No Comments »
Space is the Place
By robotdeniro | December 18, 2008
For the doubters of the sincerity of Brooklyn Neo-Tribalism, brought on by the Sigh-Chedilia of MGMT (originally known as ‘the Management’), here is the heavenly inspiration of the scene godfathers: Gang Gang Dance in their own words.
We continued like this for a while, doing vaguely structured but mostly improvised shows around town, playing fairly consistently. We recorded our first record after about a year of doing this, then shortly after recording, Nathan was struck by lightning on a rooftop in Chinatown and died. This was obviously a very intense thing for us, but very joyous in many ways as well because he had always wanted to be struck by lightning. When this particular storm rolled into the city, he made a point of going to the roof and offering himself to the sky, as he always did, and this time the sky obliged. After Nate moved from earth to elsewhere is when something began to drive us to really work harder on the band and to buckle down a bit and begin really bashing it out. It seemed very unconscious in a sense, as if Nate was pushing us from the heavens, telling us that it was urgent and important to do this. And really from then on we have been playing quite militantly and have immersed ourselves in Gang Gang.
Topics: Sound | No Comments »
Gang Star
By robotdeniro | December 15, 2008
A little riddle :
What is the common point between …
- 1970s psychological research on micro-facial interpretation ;
- C.I.A. video analysis techniques ;
- experiencing mass murder by proxy ;
- crossover photo-journalism ;
- PTA fear-mongering and media classic scapegoating discourses ;
- Star Wars ;
- and Kids on LSD but not really ?
Answer here :
and here
Expressionistic zombies of the words unite !
Topics: Vision | No Comments »
The Immersion project
By House of Coma | December 12, 2008
Collective concious cataclysm, mark the end
Burst light Hall of Mirrors, alignment 1999
Magnetic self-destruction, cyclic world age
Quantum contamination contribute descendants
Mutating resonance collapse, culmination global night
Breathing Universe, emit pulse prophecy
Time of No-Time; compare, illuminate, verge day 2012
Golden Age empirical plan, dream telepath science
Linear Time Elimination: creation reality
Dawning spirit technology - sync 13 heavens song.
The Mayan End Times Prophecy is not an apocalyptic vision of doom attached to a date picked from a hat. Its foundations are (reassuringly) in an astrological system more accurate than the Greogorian calendar that marks out time - notorious for its frequent need of correction. The prophecy has an affinity in aesthetic symbols of destruction, but a modern interpretation can disregard the mysticism of Kali and Xolotl, instead focusing on the message and its relevance for Now. The similarities between Maya’s ancient-astro-future-projections and contemporary scientists and environmentalists calculated predictions are astonishing in the distance of 1000’s of years that stands between them.
The years 1992-2012 that we are fast coming to the end of are momentously entitled the ‘Time of No Time’, the period of realisation at mankinds self destructive path. Cynicism can easily discount the prophecy’s astrological value, but its theoretical resonance is more concrete, as is its beauty. One aspect of Mayan Time is the belief that time is cyclical not linear, just as the Earth is round and not flat. The prophecy’s persuasion power on the rational mind arguably rests on the fact that it does not proclaim impending annihilation of mankind, the earth and the universe (etc.). That fate is possibility not certainty. The message is essentially the pre-empting of the idea that man as a species must either evolve, or face extinction. The success of which is outlined in abstract fuzz as the promise of mankinds entry into the Golden Age of light. The haze is explicable, the Mayans did not know the answer; they left only the question. Perhaps the solution lies in Genesis, we shall see next time.
Note: read with selective vision to pierce hippy dust and seize radioactive nuggets.
http://www.adishakti.org/mayan_end_times_prophecy_12-21-2012.htm
Topics: Vision | 3 Comments »
Concept Prophecy
By robotdeniro | December 9, 2008