#dean and britta

[mack-anthology-mp3]

13 Most Beautiful: Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests - Dean and Britta 2010

One of my close friends and bandmates lent me her cd of this album (yes we swap cd, we are music nerds) and I was immediately entranced by it. It has the feel of the Velvet Underground in a way that seems to be equal parts homage and worship without being a direct carbon copy, in some parts sounding very 90s in a way I can;t quite put my finger on - it definitely does not sound like 2010 I'll tell you that.

Andy Warhol's Screen Tests were another one of his wacky little film ideas, which boiled down to 'put person in front of camera, push record on camera'. Pretty much everyone in the Factory, and most visitors, everyone from Edie Sedgwick through Mama Cass through Gerard Malanga through Bob Dylan through Salvador Dalí, was... subjected to one of these. All are shot in black and white, and they generally last for three minutes, though are played slowed down.

Dean and Britta were approached to make music accompanying 13 of the screen tests for a movie (which regrettably at time of writing I have not seen, will watch soon and update this when I have) and accompanying soundtrack. Each song is specific to a person, and the second disc (of the cd at least) is seven alternate versions/remixes, which I actually like better in some cases, although I did just read an article (from popmatters) saying that indeed some of the mixes, specifically Sonic Boom's, work better as standalone music that the versions that do go with the movie. They certainly do have a hypnotic quality to them. That there are 13 songs is significant - Warhol had two exhibitions called '13 Most Beautiful Men / Women'.

The songs are -

Silver Factory Theme (Billy Name)

I'll Keep It With Mine (Nico)

Not A Young Man Anymore (Lou Reed)

I Found It Not So (Mary Woronov)

It Don't Rain In Beverly Hills (Edie Sedgwick)

Incandescent Innocent (Freddy Herko)

International Velvet Redux (Susan Bottomley)

Teenage Lightning and Lonely Highways (Paul America)

Herringbone Tweed (Dennis Hopper)

Richard Rheem Theme (Richard Rheem)

Knives From Bavaria (Jane Holzer)

Eyes In My Smoke (Ingrid Superstar)

Ann Buchanan Theme (Ann Buchanan)

And you will not believe how much googling I just did to figure all that out.

Silver Factory of course refers to the period where the Factory was wallpapered in tinfoil. I'll Keep It With Mine is a non-album Dylan song covered by Nico. Not A Young Man Anymore is a Velvet Underground rare song convered so convincingly by Dean Wareham that I thought for a moment it *was* the VU on the recording - classic mid-sixties garage rock sound giving the indie treatment. It Don't Rain In Beverly Hills / no matter what they say / the pain never washes away is probably the most Edie Sedgwick song out there, beating even Patti Smith's Poppies, which was written for her. Teenage Lightning and Lonely Highways could fit nearly any teen road trip movie, and has definite fictional 1950s vibes, perfectly fitting a guy nicknamed Paul America. Knives From Bavaria is delightfully nonsensical and I have no idea what it has to do with Jane Holzer or her teeth brushing but it's a cool little song anyways.n

This album has a deep sense of sadness to it, despite the generally upbeat vibes. Maybe it's cause we know that so many of the superstars died young, or had a lot of bad stuff happen to them, struggled with addiction, or just that they are a footnote in history. Maybe it's because they stare at you, or avert their eyes, from the depths of time and the screen tests. Because, for a lot of us on here reading this, some of the people who this music was written for died before our parents were born. Some of the songs are genuinely tragic, and like the superstars themselves, the facade of glitter and beauty lies thin over emotion. The Factory and the people in it were some of the defining points of the sixties, and yet listening to this music, watching the screen tests, can at times fell like being let in on a secret about their lives.

I really love this album, and though I don't know it particularly well, it has a profound impact on me and I will be listening to some of the songs on this for a very long time.

[strangerathecinema]

silly community textposts pt. 2

[troybarnesbabygirlconfirmed]

people don’t even ask for a hit of your vape anymore they just look at you like this

[xelarale]

we as society should talk more about this great cultural piece

[march32nd]

"""I'm gay""" """I'm straight""" okay????? and somewhere out there????? beneath the pale moonlight????? someone's thinking of me????? and loving me tonight?????

[them-bo-dacious]

[troynabed]

hey bro, is it cool if i write and perform a comedy set entirely about our life together that no one else understands just so i can see your beautiful smile

[annieedisonfriendofellen]

today I offer you: more textpost memes

tomorrow? who knows………

[capcomabednadir]

and POST

[sw33t-transv3stit3]

I finally made some Community textposts!! I hope they don’t suck too badly

[mack-anthology-mp3]

Music I have discovered thus far in the last week (recommendations, do what will with them)

Jonny Greenwood playing Steve Reich's 'Electric Counterpoint, I, II, III'. Steve Reich is an electronic composer who was hugely influential on Radiohead, and of course Jonny plays/programs most if not all of the electronic elements in Radiohead's work. He plays Electric Counterpoint on guitar, interestingly, with his own band, and several live versions are available on youtube. Jonny's film music is also fantastic. Electronic music as a whole is not something I know a lot about or listen to much of, as a genre it's kind of intimidating, but this is pretty cool.

'Peredam' by Soundwalk Collective and Patti Smith, remixed by Brian Eno. Patti and Soundwalk have released a trilogy of albums celebrating the lives and works of three French Symbolist poets, Rimbaud, Artaud, and Daumal, some of which has been remixed by a variety of people and released as a 'reworkings' album. Many of the Soundwalk collaboration also have videos, though I must admit I have not seen them, though I have seen a short film about Chornobyl with Patti reading over the top and it was pretty cool.

'Splat' by Bailter Space. Bailter Space are a band from my own home city, that my friends' dad / band mentor suggested we play, and it's pretty cool. The music video is played backwards and slightly slowed (I think). Sort of dreampoppy/shoegazey but with a New Zealand accent.

'Three Hours', John Parish and Aldous Harding covering Nick Drake. This is part of a larger project of Nick Drake songs by various artists whish has not all been released yet and I am very much looking forward to. It sort of sounds like Dean and Britta's '13 Most Beautiful', which I will write a separate post on later. Nick Drake is brilliant, Aldous Harding is completely bonkers (think indie folk Björk), and John Parish is an auteur of a producer who still allows the artist to create something unique.

Keep it Like a Secret (album) by Built to Spill. I actually discovered this a while ago, but I listened to it again the other day and just thought 'well fricken freakin hell this is brilliant'. Some of the best guitar playing I've heard in a while, that indie 90s charm of 'ok so what are they actually singing about here', emotional sounding music and slightly funny lyrics in some points. Closest comparable is Grandaddy, but more guitars. But like seriously, fantastic soloing here.

'Tarkovsky (the Second Stop is Jupiter)' by Patti Smith, from her 2012 album Banga. Tarkovsky is a Russian director who I understand has the kind of considerable cult following directors of European art films tend to get. Vaguely jam-band-ey in a cool, sort of late 60s way. It;s just got the kind of guitar sound. Has a little of that sound like the music's being played through a radio, sort of squashed.

She walks across a bridge of magpies...

[taekwite]

[troybarnesbabygirlconfirmed]

jeff winger the type of guy to be with his friends, having a few brewskis, laugh lightly, and say "i needed this."

troy the type of guy to call his friends and say "no you hang up!! stop!!" over and over until someone finally hangs up

annie the type of girl to say "no more nice annie" when she gets really mad

britta the type of girl to go up to a rabid dog and say "look at me. this isn't you. don't do this." and then get bitten, causing her to get rabies

abed the type of guy to walk away slowly with a polka dot bag on a stick and look sadly into the distance when he gets evicted

shirley the type of girl to play gta and stop at the red lights

the dean the type of guy to pick petals in a field and say "he loves me, he loves me not" about jeff

frankie the type of girl to say "good talk" when she says hi to someone on the street and they don't respond

chang the type of guy to say "you're about to get some knuckle sandwich" (probably 'knuckle changwich') in a fight and then get the shit beaten out of him

[the-chaotic-snek]

Props to Craig Pelton for literally screaming and saying " I don't fit in a box, and it doesn't matter to me" Representation for everyone who doesn't wanna be in a box

[march32nd]

idk it made sense in my brain

[g3othermal3scapism]

i am NOT sick 😀 👍 but i miss them