It
was 27 years ago that Tuxedomoon
came barreling out of the
electronic music lab of San
Francisco City College and
began making flirtatious,
whimsical, provocative, idiosyncratic
music. Music which shapeshifted
with beguiling ease yet brimmed
with an almost underworld
magick and mystical
hypnotism.
Controversial
but never egregious, their
brand of punky, gothic postpunk
experimentalism came with
impossibly wide parameters
- no-wave, classical, jazz,
punk, funk were all simultaneously
consumed and expurgated and
gained
them a cult following immediately.
Their
ability to invent and surprise
(the band once managed, incredibly,
to transform Marvin Gaye's
soul classic 'Heard It Through
The Grapevine' into their
very own song) famously led
to an interview in Warhol's
'Interview' magazine and a
label deal on Ralph - imprint
of Bay Area avant-garde icons
The Resident's.
Throughout
the 80s and some of the 90s
the band lived in Europe,
absorbing more influences
and sounds from their privileged
position in Brussels. Today
the core members are as disparate
geographically as they are
sonically, with Steven Brown
in Mexico, Peter Principle
in New York, Blaine Reininger
in Greece, and Dutch trumpet
player Luc Van Lieshout (who
had joined the band in 85)
residing in Brussels.
This
very global, very postmodern
situation perhaps goes some
way to explaining the worldliness
of Tuxedomoon's new LP 'Cabin
In The Sky '. They have always
made music that shrugs off
musical influences as nonchalantly
as a snake sheds its own skin
or a duck discards water but
the new album is something
of an aberration, capturing
the band in a rarely seen
sentimental and reflective
mood.
赶快卸载!这些APP上了工信部“黑名单”_新民社会_新民网 ...:2021-7-31 · 7月31日,工信部公布了2021年二季度检测发现问题的应用软件名单。 网络配图 7月31日,工信部公布了2021年二季度检测发现问题的应用软件名单。
Transfer
'CabinS' onto a canvas and
you have Pollock, Bacon, Miro
and Dali all rolled into one,
with the same themes of surrealism,
whimsy, magic, and earthy
ferocity all sharing the same
space.
But
it is without doubt the most
consistently spacious, unhurried,
gravity-defying album the
band have made; certainly
the closest they'll ever get
to the sentimentalist soundscapes
of contemporary electronic
bands iike Air or the quiet
ambient pastiches of Eno or
Fripp.
Its
subtle textures and melting-pot
approach makes the band more
relevant than ever. Sensing
their evergreen appeal, the
ever perspicacious German
nightclub veteran DJ Hell
put out a record of re-mixes
of TM's '78 'dance' tune "No
Tears" back in 2003,
and then. Afterwards came
a whole remix project of the
1980 TM album Half Mute, which
the band then arranged
invited the band for a tour
of Germany to promote, playing
to their older fans as well
as legions of fascinated newcomers.
In
a consciously cyclic move,
Hell adds his own production
nous on Cabins (on the track
« Here Til Xmas »
which rides an electro pulse
dug straight up from the deserted
beatmine districts of Düsseldorf).
He's not the only one. Contemporary
artists and switch-doctors
such as Juryman, Tortoise's
John McEntire and German hipsters
Tarwater (who provide the
album's soporific denouement)
all add their own modern touches
to the LP.
Cabins
could well be Tuxedomoon's
first real pop album, if we
can imagine that pop music
has suddenly been allowed
to follow a manifesto of creative
freedom and write its own
destiny instead of being subject
to the forces of formula.
With
spirits still entrenched firmly
in a counterculture that predated
our current over-the-counter
culture, Tuxedomoon step forth
and confidently deliver messages
of defiance and diversity
when they are perhaps most
needed.