19 Aug Matador Playlist(s) – 8/6/15 & 8/13/15

La Ciudad Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Assis is not a town that suffers from any lack of fascinating, unusual and talented people. Over the course of the past 180 years or so (give or take a decade) New Mexico at large has earned an enduring reputation as a mecca for creative types and eccentrics of all sorts. The list of painters, sculptors, printmakers, photographers, musicians, artists of the folk, dancers, writers and nut jobs that have called the place home over the years presents an impressive roster indeed. Starting with the likes of John Mix Stanley (circa 1840s) to the Meow Wolf collective (circa present and future), the artists have come to this place, drawn by whatever unique combination of physical, metaphysical and ineffable intangibles are manifest in this place, variations upon which have drawn people to places such as this place for as long as people have been drawn to such places as this. Or words to that effect…

 

Amongst the artistic habitués of the alleged City Indifferent there is a couple whom I am honored to call friends and whom I hold in the absolute highest of esteem. They are Steina and Woody Vasulka—pioneering artists in the realms of video art, computer-based art, robotics and the interfaces betwixt and between music, sound and human and mechanical motion—New Media art, if you will.  Woody, born in the former Czechoslovakia in 1937, and Steina, a native of Reykjavik, Iceland, born in 1940, have been in Santa Fe (or more accurately, the neighboring village of Agua Fria) since 1980. After emigrating to the United States in the mid-’60s they set up shop in New York and, in 1971, co-founded the Kitchen—the groundbreaking art and performance space that exists to this day in Chelsea. At the time of the founding of the Kitchen they released the following mini-manifesto which still resonates beautifully:

 

Welcome to the Kitchen

 

This place was selected by Media God to perform an experiment on you, to challenge your brain and its perception. We will present you sounds and images which we call Electronic Image and Sound Compositions. They can resemble something you remember from dreams or pieces of organic nature, but they never were real objects, they have all been made artificially from various frequencies, from sounds, from inaudible pitches and their beats. Accordingly, most of the sounds you will hear are products of images, processed through sound synthesizers.

 

Furthermore, there is time, time to sit down and just surrender. There is no reason to entertain minds anymore, because that has been done and did not help, it just does not help and there is no help anyway, there is just surrender the way you surrender to the Atlantic Ocean, the way you listen to the wind or the way you watch the sunset and that is the time you don’t regret that you had nothing else to do.

 

The Vasulkas

 

In 1974 the Vasulkas relocated to Buffalo, NY, and engaged the world of academe at SUNY, Buffalo. Since then they have managed the delicate balance of hiding out in their unobtrusive corner of the world while being productively and actively engaged with the art community, locally and beyond. Perhaps not as widely known as their slightly older Korean-born contemporary Nam June Paik, Steina and Woody have nonetheless been at the vanguard of the assorted genres in which they operate for 50-plus years. They have been in remarkable places at remarkable times and, in documentary mode, have captured remarkable people and events. They have made extraordinary art, both together and separately, in which the provocative interface of technology and magic is manifest to a degree that has few, if any, equals.

 

 

The metaphysics of sensory awareness, perception of nature vs. the self, mind/body duality, analog/digital alchemy, the Ghost in the Machine, audio/video/tactile unity-disparity—all of these concepts and many others are part of the dialogue taking place within and around the work of the Vasulkas. Their work is provocative, challenging and beautiful. Some of it is just plain fun. Steina’s 2008 retrospective at SITE Santa Fe was rapturously beautiful—an unparalleled gathering of her “electro/opto/mechanical environments” which illustrated with incomparable clarity that contemporary obsessions with hi-res, pixel-counts and giga-this and terra-that are e-dog chasing e-tail endless ends unto themselves and have no true relevance in the world of art. Yes, the show looked and sounded amazing thanks in no small part to updated digital technology, but the function of the enhanced technology was to allow an exceptionally clear, concise experience of the low-res analog soul that is at the core of Steina’s work.

 

There is an Old World sensibility present in the Vasulka’s work, New Media though it may be. Woody and Steina have an Old World grace and gravitas about them—something true and real that connects them to ta timeless tradition of creativity, innovation and joyful discovery. An exhibition of imagery by Woody is currently on view at Phil Space in Santa Fe through the 29th. Go see it while you can.

 

In the meantime, dig this offering of the last two weeks of DJ Inky playlists. The most recent (8/13/15) is an abbreviated version necessitated by Your Humble Narrator’s early morning departure to fly off to the Great White North to spend a birthday weekend with his dear old Mum. Rather disconcertingly, it was hotter in Wisconsin than it was in New Mexico and the place was crawling with golfers, golf industry hacks and flacks, fellow travelers, fans and hangers-on of just about every stripe. Unbeknownst to YHN, the PGA tour was in town. Early Friday evening last a brief but violent storm came ripping down the west coast of Lake Michigan, scattering the crowds from Whistling Straits, destroying the leader board and uprooting trees . The entire while, YHN and his Mum were safely ensconced in the snug of the Duke of Devon enjoying dinner while Sir Nicholas Alexander Faldo enjoyed a drink at the table adjacent to ours. I know absolutely nothing about golf and care even less, but even I know Nick Faldo… by name at least. Just the same, I only watch golf on television when the Paint Drying Channel is unavailable.

 

Matador Playlist 8/6/15

 

Grammar of Life – Charles Bukowski
New York City – Skin Disorder
Speak – Scuba
Piss Factory – Patti Smith
Negative Capability – the Shimmies
Rose Blue – Crime & the City Solution
Afterworld – Tiger Army
Pedal Pusher – Abdominal
Eight Miles High – the Byrds
Wasted Days and Wasted Nights – Freddy Fender
Horse Pills – the Dandy Warhols
Pancho & Lefty – Townes Van Zandt
My Way – Sid Vicious
Open (Rara Avis Remix) – Jamshied Sharifi & Hassan Hakmoun
Ballroom Blitz – Sweet
Blow Dumb – Nobunny
Brazil – Wire
(We Ain’t Got ) Nothin’ Yet – the Blues Magoos
Pump It Up – Elvis Costello & the Attractions
Anthrax – Gang of Four (request for DJ Prairie Dawg)
Dead Flowers – the Rolling Stones
Cut Your Hair – Pavement
Concrete Jungle – Bob Marley
Baby Let’s Play House – Elvis Presley
You’re My Best Friend – Queen
Your Phone’s Off the Hook, But You’re Not – X
Back for You – the Blackwater Fever
Why She’s A Girl from the Chainstore – Buzzcocks
Bye Bye Love – the Everly Brothers
Science and Wine – the Shimmies
Iron Man – Black Sabbath
Honky Tonk Man – Dwight Yoakam
I Love Livin In the City – Fear
Gentle On My Mind – Glen Campbell
Electricity – Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band
Freya – the Sword
Dima Dima (Always) – Hassan Hakmoun
And She Was – Talking Heads
(Do The) Fuck Yourself – Nobunny
Make It Rain – Tom Waits
Casino Queen – Wilco
Night Train to Memphis – Roy Acuff
Cherub Rock – Smashing Pumpkins
Some Girls – Cosmic Psychos
House of Cards – Chrissie Hynde
Faster Pussycat Kill Kill – Bostweeds
Queen Bitch – David Bowie
SkinHead Drama – Fear City
Honky Tonkin’ – Hank Williams
Through the Floor – Crystal Stilts
My War – Civil Rights
Brown Eyed Handsome Man – Chuck Berry
In the Dark – Billy Squier
Buzz(killer) – the Dead Weather
Dirty Deeds (Done Dirt Cheap) – AC/DC
Hit and Run – T.S.O.L.
We Dance Alone – Beck
Psychotic Reaction – Count Five
I Want Candy – Bow Wow Wow
The Payback – James Brown
Birthday – the Beatles (Happy Birthday HENRY!)
Carl Perkins’ Cadillac – Drive By Truckers
Funeral Pyre – the Jam
Ramble On – Led Zeppelin
Tramp – Carla Thomas & Otis Redding
Facet Squared – Fugazi
Paper Panes – M.I.A.
The Magnificent Seven – the Clash
Tired Of Waiting For You – the Kinks
Man-Size – PJ Harvey
It’s No Fun Until They See You Cry – the Dirtbombs
Sexual Healing – Marvin Gaye
Fake Tales of San Francisco – Arctic Monkeys
(DJ Note: At this point Veen starts to lose his mind over perceived issues regarding the temperamental Matador PA system. At Veen’s behest the playlist defaults to the Replacements and Gang of Four for the balance of the evening.)
Damaged Goods – Gang of Four
Unsatisfied – the Replacements
What We All Want – Gang of Four
Johnny’s Gonna Die – the Replacements
Paralyzed (Tortoise Remix) – Gang of Four
Bastards of Young – the Replacements
I Love A Man In A Uniform – Gang of Four
Alex Chilton – the Replacements
I Can’t Forget Your Lonely Face – Gang of Four
Shiftless When Idle – the Replacements
Mother – Danzig
Not Great Men – Gang of Four
Can’t Hardly Wait – the Replacements
Natural’s Not In It – Gang of Four
Rankin’ Full Stop – the English Beat
World Without Tears – Lucinda Williams
Buona Sera – Louis Prima
Happy Trails – Roy Rogers & Dale Evans (feat. Trigger on Xylophonic Glockentuba)
Taxi – Bryan Ferry

 
Matador Playlist 8/13/15

 

Grammar of Life – Charles Bukowski
Red – King Crimson
Temporary Freakout – Icky Blossoms
The Only Place – Best Coast
It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue – David Clemmer
Headbanger – King Tuff
Eminence Front – the Who
Tour-Spiel – the Minutemen
Boys Don’t Cry – the Cure
Ashes to Ashes – David Bowie
The Wind – PJ Harvey
Gary Gilmore’s Eyes – the Adverts
Baby I Ain’t Joking – 2Mex & Awol One
Nice to Be Dead – Iggy Pop
Let Yourself Go – James Brown
There Was A Time – James Brown
I Feel Alright – James Brown
Cold Sweat – James Brown
You Really Got Me – the Kinks
Thrashard – D.R.I.
Cinco Minutos Con Vos (feat. Black Thought) – Elvis Costello & the Roots
Ten Years Gone – Led Zeppelin
Summer Wind – Frank Sinatra
What Makes A Man Today (Slight Return) – Zounds
Hey Bulldog – the Beatles
In Bloom – Nirvana
California Cottonfields – Gram Parsons
Town Called Malice – the Jam
Scarecrow – Beck
Last Goodbye – Jeff Buckley
Sometimes Always – the Jesus & Mary Chain
Kites – Geographer
Sugar – Bikini Kill
Ask – the Smiths
Just Kissed My Baby – the Meters
Teen Age Riot – Sonic Youth
Cheerleader – St. Vincent
Where Is My Mind – the Pixies
Shapes of Things – the Yardbirds
Surfin’ USA – the Beach Boys
Let’s Have A War – Fear
She Sells Sanctuary – the Cult
I Dig A Hole – the Rogers Sisters
Berlin – Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Everybody’s Happy Nowadays – the Buzzcocks
Would That Not Be Nice – Divine Fits
Rock Billy Boogie – Johnny Burnette
You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory – Johnny Thunders
Fuck and Run – Liz Phair
Road Runner – the Gants
No One’s Little Girl – the Raincoats
Busy Bein’ Born – Middle Class Rut
I Got Mine – Black Keys