Show Notes
On this week’s episode we return to 70s for the first of a mini-series on post-punk. A historical period, an unhelpful genre descriptor, a structure of feeling? Whatever it is, the guitar bands of the UK and NYC in 1978 were creating some serious music. Jeremy and Tim discuss where the term came from, what exactly the ‘punk’ it was following was, and some the music’s early proponents. With reference to The Slits, Wire, Talking Heads and more, we hear about the Hacienda, John Peel, Modernism and Mark E Smith. The guys unpack how funk and reggae were influencing bands like The Contortions in their experimentation with rhythm, visit the CBGB club in New York, and dispute received ideas about the division between punk and disco. Finally, we introduce a major character in out story over the coming months: Arthur Russell.
Tracklist: The Slits - New Town (John Peel Session) Wire - I Am the Fly The Fall - Stepping Out Talking Heads - Tentative Decisions The Contortions - I Can’t Stand Myself
Books: Simon Reynolds - Rip It Up and Start Again John Savage - ‘The New Musick’ in Time Travel
More from Love is the Message: Dance, Music and Counterculture
In this episode we conclude our survey of 1970s spiritual jazz with some lesser known cuts from the canon. Several of the tunes here were once hard-to-find collectors items, but the renewed interest in this body of work has led to reissues and an enlarged audience for these awesome pieces. Tim and Jeremy discuss the various religious sources on the practitioners of spiritual jazz, from Buddhism and Hinduism to African and Gospel influences. They unpack the problems with the term ‘spiritual’, consider this music’s utopian horizons and conduct a little reception history of how this sound lost and found an audience.
This is an excerpt of a patrons-only episode. To hear the full thing, visit Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.
Today we’re taking it back to the early 70s as we begin a mini-series on spiritual jazz. Psychedelic, cosmic, astral: all words associated with a set of releases somewhat maligned at the time but now firm favourites on our turntables and across the globe. Tim and Jeremy cue up Pharoah Sanders, Albert Ayler, Lonnie Liston Smith and of course the great Alice Coltrane for a journey down the streams of consciousness. They examine the genealogy of the term spiritual jazz and the pre-history of some of its early progenitors, dig into the the various belief systems of universal love and peace, examine the Indian influences on both the music and the metaphysics, and give some time to the looming figure of Miles Davis in all this. Plus: an unexpected visit from Louis Armstrong. Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod Loveisthemessagepod.co.uk Produced by Matt Huxley
This is an excerpt from a patrons-only show. To hear the full thing, plus dozens more like it, visit Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod to sign up.
Love is the Message returns from our summer break just in time for the Bank Holiday Weekend, which in London means one thing: Carnival. In this episode Jeremy and Tim cover the history of Notting Hill Carnival, the largest such event in Europe. They discuss patterns of Caribbean migration to the UK, traditions of carnival from Ancient Greece to Trinidad and Rio, and the particular story of Notting Hill, with its steel bands, dub sound systems, parade and party. They return to Lovers Rock, consider legendary stages like Aba Shanti, Good Times and Saxon, and interrogate how Bakhtinian and Deleuzian ideas can be applied to this unique expression of Black British culture. Plus: David Mancuso in Trinidad, and a young Jeremy tries to buy Pass the Dutchie.