quoted 27 lines Subject: Re: (idm) Portishead / Orbital>Subject: Re: (idm) Portishead / Orbital
>
>Mark Stewart did some great lo-fi, megaphone-throated, highly-damaged
>songs on his 3rd album (the one with the microchip on the cover).
>Produced with Adrian Sherwood. It contains a cover of the theme song from
>_Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (sp?)_ which starts off distorted and
>creepy. By the end it has fallen apart, into a mess of tangled tape. You
>can't go wrong.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>
>This mentioned LP is I believe the 4th and maybe even the 5th LP of Mark
>Stewart.
>I've got a pile of 'em at home. I'll try to figure it out. Agreed on the
>LP that is mentioned here,
>but *do* look up " As the veneer of democracy starts to fade " . I'm
>guessing early 80s?
>This is similar to above mentioned but grittier and uglier and way more
>Sherwood-y.
>Definite precursor to a lot of the flat, distorted, minimal "electronica"
>of today.
>
>Did Mark Stewart die? I heard heart attack. I also heard heroin.
>
>But I've learned to mistrust *all* rumors in the music industry.
>
>Anyone?
>
The eponymous "Mark Stewart" was the 3rd, 1st "Learning to Copw w/
Cowardice" (83) used the Singers&Players/Dub Syndicate backing, rather than
the Tackhead musicians on subsequent releases, 2nd "As the veneer of
democracy starts to fade" (85) - both of these definately noisier - but
"Mark Stewart" (87) I think has the best balance between the noise, melody
and rhythm. This is fucked up trip hop from when hip hop was still a baby.
See also the awesome "Major Malfunction" by Keth LeBlanc to see what
happens when man+machine give each other a damn good kicking in the studio
- we're talking the Squarepusher of the '80s here. There were a couple of
12" eps also - "Wrong name and number", "Jerusalem"....I think the noise
initially came more from Stewart rather than Sherwood - The Pop Group's
"For how much longer do we tolerate mass murder" (80) has very similar
noise/distortion to subsequent Stewart/On-U Sound releases, whereas before
Stewart, Sherwood's productions were, altho mindbendingly extreme, mainly
straight reggae/dub. I think the last 2 lps "Metatron" and "Control Data"
have sounded, unfortunately, a bit stodgy.
Still, I do hope the death of Mark Stewart is only a rumor.
martin