acb @acb@linernotes.club

RRR has an interesting (22-minute) interview with veteran Melbourne post-punk/minimal synthpop musician Karen Marks, about the early-80s scene and her recently rereleased 1981 EP “Cold Café”:

https://www.rrr.org.au/on-demand/segments/cult-classic-cold-cafe-makes-a-comeback

Is Komar and Melamid/Dave Soldier’s “The Most Unwanted Song” proto-vaporwave? Discuss.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Most_Unwanted_Song

An interesting interview with Florian Fricke of Popol Vuh:

https://medium.com/@archiepatterson/the-sacred-music-of-popol-vuh-67326e039682

Unfortunately, I probably won’t be watching the Eurovision final live this year, though I did write a few words about the contenders, on the strength of the semifinals and videos:

http://dev.null.org/blog/item/201905162358_eurovision_2019_prev

Croatia entering a guy named Roko, in a white suit surrounded by digitally projected hellfire and abseiling angels, makes one wonder whether this is some kind of AI cult propaganda. If he ends up working with Grimes, all bets are off. #Eurovision2019

My picks from the first #Eurovision final: Iceland, of course, Australia (much Kate Bush vibe), Georgia (the weird intensity makes it) and San Marino (the white suits and jittery electro make it)

Interesting piece on the
Stereolab Transient Random-Noise Bursts With Announcements/Mars Audiac Quintet rereleases and the rich confluence of currents at this point in history that they (and the bonus tracks/demos) reveal:

https://aquariumdrunkard.com/2019/05/07/stereolab-transient-random-noise-bursts-with-announcements-mars-audiac-quintet/

The other side of K-pop: a beginner’s guide to North Korean pop music:

https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/something-more/a-beginners-guide-to-north-korean-pop/10884792

Tired: chilled electropop by Swedes dreaming of tropical climates
Wired: instrumental hip-hop by Mongolians dreaming of Brazil

http://farsirecords.bandcamp.com/album/rio-bodianova

Singapore says: non-Satanic black metal only, please:

https://www.thelocal.se/20190307/swedish-black-metal-bands-gig-cancelled-by-singaporean-authorities

There is a vaporwave Twin Peaks tribute compilation, because of course there is:

https://noproblematapes.bandcamp.com/album/sounds-from-the-black-lodge-a-tribute-to-twin-peaks

And now, Helen McCookerybook and “Records and Tea”; a lovely piece of C81-era indiepop not that far from Tracey Thorn, though it does sound a bit like if one were to write a parody twee-pop song these days.

Some quality shoegazing going down at the Union Chapel, at Daylight Music; isn’t that the Twin Peaks theme?

“Hearing histories of Hammer Hill: Pop music as auditory geography”; an academic paper on the emotive aspects of geography in Jens Lekman’s songs:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1755458618301038

Interesting essay about Australia’s culture of local and community radio stations, by musician Dave Graney:

https://www.adelaidereview.com.au/opinion/dave-graney-community-radio/

The Quietus interviews Swiss post-krautrock disco-funk duo Klaus Johann Grobe:

https://thequietus.com/articles/25910-klaus-johann-grobe-interview

(Their album “Du Bist So Symmetrisch” was one of my records of 2018: http://dev.null.org/blog/archive/2018/12/31)

Hang on—Parenthetical Girls just released a new record, and it's a tribute to Ivor Cutler? https://parentheticalgirls.bandcamp.com/album/the-scottish-play-wherein-the-group-parenthetical-girls-pay-well-intentioned-if-occasionally-misguided-tribute-to-the-works-of-ivor-cutler

A quite comprehensive interview with @dubstarUK going into detail about their recent album One, the origins of the songs, and the recording process:

http://www.electricityclub.co.uk/dubstar-interview/