I've been in lots of theoretical groups
(and theoretical girls),but its when they became real that the
problems began (with the girls too). Theoretically, the Theoretical
Girls, featuring Glenn Branca and Sonic Youth producer Wharton Tiers,
should be terrible, at least in the power pop driven environment of
1978. Detuned guitars,monotonous song construction, simplistic
repetitive drumming, virtually no vocals,all adding up to a mudslide
of driving noise. There were no records(one single?) either,just live
performances to be experienced once then forgotten.
For a non-rock group they sure could
make an exciting driving rock like effect;best encapsulated in the
ultimate distillation of the rock essence in a two minute tune, the
eponymous “Theoretical Girls”. Where the lyrics consist only of
their name and the endless 1,2,3,4 count-in,repeated through out.
This posthumous collection all the disparate shards of their recorded
existence from 1978 to 81,with live recordings and the odd released
and unreleased studio effort. Pure dissonance you can dance to. After
this Glenn Branca started to have pretensions in becoming a serious
composer with his “Symphonies”,and is now taken very seriously
indeed. It was left to his fans,Sonic Youth, to carry it on (or rip
it off?)and develop this into a kind of pop music.
Track Listing:
1. Theoretical Girls (Live)
2. Computer Dating
3. Contrary Motion
4. Europe Man
5. Lovin In The Red
6. Mom & Dad
7. U.S. Millie
8. No More Sex
9. Keyboard Etude
10. Electronic Angie (Short Version)
11. Chicita Bonita
12. Polytonal
13. Parlez-Vous Francais
14. Theoretical Girls (Studio)
15. You Got Me
16. Fuck Yourself
17. TV Song
18. Glazened Idols
19. You.
14 comments:
Speaking of 'Rip-Offs', compare and contrast 'Theoretical Girls - Live' with '1234' by the 'artist' known as Martin Creed from his Love to You' album. Creed hasn't an original idea in his entire DNA.
Never heard of Martin Creed but he sounds like a complete Twat! Should I compare and contrast in your opinion, or leave well alone?
Thank you!
Not wanting to sound ungrateful, do you have Stefan Jaworzyn’s old solo work?
thanks a million for the TG, huge Branca fan says
Lost my rip of this some time ago, thanks for the top-up JZ.
If you head over to Acute Recs' site there are a few downloadable tracks there that they couldn't fit onto the comp, defo worth a listen...
Never heard of Stefan Jaworzyn....but apparently he was in skullflower?
So obviously i don't have any sorry. Sounds a bit 90's for me.
Creepscanner and I had a small run in with mr Acute records a couple of years ago about my Disco Zombies post.
But ,I got a few extra tracks on my hard drive, but they're just alternate versions of a few of the tunes contained herein.So didn't wanna swell the file size up too much.
Anybody out there got a t-shirt printer 'cus i want a "You're going 'ome in a Crispy Ambulance" t-shirt too!? :D
Mr Acute here. Fond memories of that run-in, love being told that I didn't put any effort into my releases and that the packaging was shoddy. The Theoretical Girls CD sure was, I was too rushed to do any kind of liner notes and fucked up the tracklisting on the first batch of CDs. I'm proud of the rest though.
Anyway, one track that's not on the CD, "Nothing at All" and 5 alternate versions of various quality.
http://acuterecords.com/blog/?page_id=230
There are some aspects that make them more than just outtakes, I vaguely remember long discussions about which version of at least one of the songs to put on the CD. Like the recording quality is clearer one on version but the performance is better on the other or some such issue.
Ah come on Dan, you gotta go for performance over quality surely?
Yeah, the "run in", it was definitely more Jerry Orbach who had a thing about you being a 'Hipster'. I had never heard of you...sorry. as he's my internet buddy, and blogging influence, i felt i should kinda side with him?
You're only doing what I wanna do....but I ain't got no fucking money!
Although my netlabel "year zero" is going physical in 2015,albiet CD's.Made to order.
er...thats it.
ha, I like to think I'm pretty "hip". Actually just a guy like any other guy who really likes music, likes sharing it, and who has mixed feelings about file-sharing, particularly still in print/recent releases. I don't have any money either, was just lucky to find someone with a record label who dug what I dug, my input is 100% sweat equity. I can discuss the morality of file-sharing in different contexts all night, when it crosses over to personal attacks and comments about "shoddy packaging" and only releasing obvious stuff (trust me, the demand for Happy Refugees and Lines records prior to reissue was nothing to write home about), well that stings.
Good luck with made to order CDs. You may also want to try bandcamp...there are people who do pay for digital downloads. Not many, but some.
Anyway, Acute probably has one more release lined-up and that's it. I can't afford the time to do it any more.
Thank You So much!!
Try out Boredoms – 77 Boa Drum .
Maybe more hippie than punk attitude.
But great fun anyway.
Damn Jonny you killed it for Dan... wtf!?
Also what happened to the Orbach guy?
Wasn't he a middle school teacher or some shit?
I liked creepscanner.
like a lot!
that was a good blog.
oi... and you still want that shirt made?
Orbach was a teacher yes. Last i heard he was thinking of doing a real 'Zine'.
And yes, I want that shirt made!!!!
Post a Comment