A series for Saturdays in 2026 inspired by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt's set of cards, Oblique Strategies (Over One Hundred Worthwhile Dilemmas). Eno and Schmidt created them to be used to unblock creative impasses and approach problems from unexpected angles. Each week I'll turn over an Oblique Strategy card and post a song or songs inspired by the suggestion.
Last week's Oblique Strategy suggestion was Remove ambiguities and convert to specifics.
I converted this suggestion into The Ramones in 1976 and roped in Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie too. Out in the internerland/ real world the Bagging Area community came up with Smokebelch by Sabres Of Paradise (Rickyotter), Buzzcocks (Boredom courtesy of C), Jah Shaka (Ernie), The Cocteau Twins (Spencer), 808 State's Pacific (Al G), Tool (Mrs G), Camper van Beethoven, (Rol), Buzzocks (again, Oh Shit, The Swede) and Mont Kimbie (Chris ZenArcade). And there's nothing wrong about any of those choices, they make a fine Saturday morning mixtape in their own right.
The Swede works in a supermarket in Beccles, Suffolk, the home of Brian Eno (and formerly the town my maternal grandparents retired to). I'm encouraging The Swede to have a brief word with Mr Eno the next time he sees him down the bread aisle or by the deli counter and see if he'd like to drop in and contribute to the fun. If you're reading Brian, welcome.
This week's Oblique Saturday card is this- Always First Steps.
Snapped Ankles took 3 steps to a development in 2019. Post punk/ psychedelic electronic band vibe, (unhinged in a good way), weird hyperactive 80s crossed with scuzzy Fall influences.
The Flaming Stars took 39 steps on their Named And Shamed album in 2004. A Bad Seeds and Gallon Drunk kind of band. You'll like them.
In 1990 Bocca Juniors, the Boy's Own inhouse band of Andrew WEatherall, Terry Farley, Pete Heller and Cymon Eccles, took 63 Steps to heaven. Anna Haigh on vocals singing Weatherall's Aleister Crowley inspired lyrics. A screech of tyres, a massive piano riff calling Thrashing Doves to mind, crunchy drums- a roof raising record. 'Boy am I gonna wake you up!'
One shouldn't live in the past but within seconds of Raise playing my initial thought is almost always, 'oh man, take me back...'
In 19943 The Boo Radleys took Giant Steps on their album of that name, a record inspired by John Coltrane's Giant Steps (an album I own on vinyl but don't have digitally). The Do Badleys finally broke their reputation as the band Creation Records couldn't sell with a genre busting, spirit of Screamadelica record. On Lazarus a shoegaze band from Wallasey go dub reggae/ experimental that then becomes trumpet led MBV inspired pop. This is the first time Boo Radleys have appeared at Bagging Area.
Feel free to drop your own responses to Always first steps into the comment box.
What came to mind is baby steps…and then what also came to mind was the band The Babies and a track from their eponymous debut album called Breaking The Law.
ReplyDeleteI may be misremembering but fairly sure Mr. Weatherall played it on a 6 music session in the early 2010s too.
The Ventures please Mr Adam:
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/hIuIIqbyEIU?si=0rnURYDHI8ITl82j
By 1972, Caetano Veloso was already a legendary figure. Alongside Gilberto Gil and various other luminaries, he had co-founded Tropicália - the explosive avant-garde movement that revolutionised Brazilian music by fusing traditional bossa with a mix of modern pop cultural influences.
ReplyDeleteBecause the military dictatorship of the day had imprisoned and forcefully exiled him for this very radicalism, his years away only inflated his mystique. To the politically suppressed youth of Brazil, he was a returning anti-establishment martyr to the cause.
Recorded in 1973, Araçá Azul is his most experimental and polarising work. The album features a rich stew of musique concrète, tape loops, spoken word, and minimal instrumentation. It famously set a record for the most returned disc in Brazilian history because his fans had been expecting another pop album, but it remains an avant-garde masterpiece.
In 1973, during the recording of Épico, one of the tracks on the album, he literally escaped the studio, walking his microphone into the São Paulo din, allowing the chaotic street noise to redefine the boundaries of his fans' typical listening experience!
Make no mistake, this was a political act... standing on the sidewalk, you can picture Veloso as he chants a litany against the passive consumerist muzak of the day used to stupefy the masses.
Under the iron fist of a repressive state, in Épico, Veloso shows that one must always be ready to change shape if wishing to avoid being shattered by the blows that rain down...
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=3TB_dqHFvDc&si=z3xxZFB40Lv_-YSP
Dropped Miss G at Mcr Uni yesterday, so she’s very much the NKOTB taking her first steps of student life. Which leads inevitably to
ReplyDeletehttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nITMhO3ZPZM&ra=m
Also this’ll annoy Mrs G, as I’m 99% sure it’s the first thing she’ll think of, despite her apparent love of Tool 😉
I'm gonna go for Joe Jackson's Steppin' Out from his career defining Night & Day album. The very first time I went to New York this is the song that was playing in my head as I was walking in Times Square. The Korg KR55 drum machine used on the track is also memorable as it was a sound everyone had at that time - step forward Depeche Mode et al.
ReplyDeleteAl G was right. It was my first thought. Also my first gig (if you can call it that) and I’m not sorry or ashamed.
ReplyDeleteI’ll spare everyone the obvious Police earworm - because, frankly, it’s creepy - and instead offer a whole album of first steps, metaphorical and literal… Public Service Broadcasting, The Race for Space.
If I had to choose one track from the album it’d be this one: https://youtu.be/It42TsD7_sI?si=5TRcx98aVkczbTKz
Thinking of your Jodrell Bank post in August, there’s a bonus Lovell Radio Telescope connection in this track, more about which here: https://rylandscollections.com/2017/10/04/sputnik-and-jodrell-bank-radio-telescope/amp/
Miss G will be grand. She’s in the best place.
First thought is the first track on the first album by the New Age Steppers, so it's 'Fade Way' from me.
ReplyDeleteAl and Mrs G- we dropped Eliza at uni 5 years ago yesterday. It's a big moment. She came through it unscathed and with experiences and friends she'll keep for life. And a degree.
ReplyDeleteC- New Age Steppers occurred to me too.
Disco Spider- I'd forgotten about that one.
John and Ernie - good choices
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmbop- once again, thank you for your comments, always a joy
No sign of Brian himself yet....
ReplyDeleteI never tire of the menacing bass and guitars that materialize in the middle part of Mogwai's nearly 11 minute long "Christmas Steps."
ReplyDeleteThe First Steps were a moddy new wave band from Suffolk in 1979. They released two singles then packed it in. First and last steps, I guess. But this one is a cracker...
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/s_1gJbGDzZ0?si=rFTQ6FxkySI2S2oA
Step It Up by the Stereo MCs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_8WNA9IX1o Released in 1992, a time when I was taking my first tentative steps away from indie music into dance music. I saw them live at Hull Uni in 1993, a few months after that single was released.
ReplyDelete