Why artists shouldn’t stick to art

Salvador Dali NYWTS 1965 Roger Higgins public domain via wikipedia

By Princess Stomper

Everett True reckons that Artists Should Stick To Art instead of making mixtapes of obvious dad rock. If mixtapes made by artists are so disappointing in real life, I think we should invent some fantasy selections.

For example:

SALVADOR DALI

The Beatles – ‘I Am The Walrus’

Yes, obvious, I know – but has there been a more perfect example of psychedelic pop? It has that mix of accessibility, oddness and substance that I associate with Dali’s work.

Knifeworld – ‘Clairvoyant Fortnight’

Kavus from Cardiacs returns to his Monsoon Bassoon roots with this frankly bizarre track with an earworm of a chorus. I’d call it an acquired taste (which I’ve since acquired), but Monsoon Bassoon did get NME‘s Single of the Week three times in a row, so maybe I’m the weird one here.

Thinking Plague – ‘Behold The Man’

This was the first track I heard by the legendary progsters and it was one of those stop-what-you’re-doing-and-buy-it-instantly moments. Apparently their style is called Rock In Opposition, but any time anyone says ‘RIO’ to me I want to dance around to Duran Duran. You just need to know that it’s not the elves-and-unicorns type of prog, but the heavier more jazz-influenced stuff. Dali pictures could look as much like nightmares as like dreams, and I think this reflects that.

Levitation – ‘Smile’

By contrast, this is the gentler, more melancholic side.

Karda Estra – ‘Red Room’

Kavus Torabi (Knifeworld, etc) co-hosts a radio show and picked out Karda Estra on the first show I heard. It was one of those moments where you half-hear the name of the band and then spend ages trying to track down information about the band and trying to figure out which specific song you fell in love with. I think Dali would have loved them.

(continues overleaf) 

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 8th, 2012 at 3:40 pm. It is filed under Princess Stomper and tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

3 Responses to “Why artists shouldn’t stick to art”

  1. Princess Stomper says:
    August 8, 2012 at 9:40 pm

    (BTW I do love Knifeworld – I wouldn’t include them if I didn’t – but I do have to admit it’s bonkers music in the same way that Bastards of Fate are bonkers)

  2. Daniel says:
    August 9, 2012 at 12:52 am

    As a twenty-something snob, I never gave Rothko his due, but when I saw some of his work up close (as a (thirty-something snob) it turned me around. There was a piece called untitled blue and green, where a velvety blue shared the canvas with an ashen black. Upon closer inspection their was green underneath the black, but it only revealed itself when the viewer leaned in close. That’s a pretty similar to hearing “A Warm Place” for the first time since high school.

    great article!

  3. Princess Stomper says:
    August 9, 2012 at 7:46 am

    I just thought people who liked art like Rothko’s were gullible and stupid until I saw ‘Red on Red’ (untitled), which sold for about £4 million a decade or so ago. It was like a very loud musical chord that strikes you in the gut – it just sort of resonates on a totally primal and intuitive level. It was the exact shades of red used were so … biological. Nothing else I’ve seen of his has affected me that way – but then, I’ve never seen his stuff close up.

    Almost of all of his copyists are just people slapping a wadge of paint onto a board, though, so my contempt towards them still stands.

    Really glad you enjoyed the article.

Leave a Reply