15 juillet 2006

Fact25


Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

«Closer» était arrivé dans un contexte tout à fait différent. Ian Curtis s’était pendu au mois de mai à Manchester quelques jours après les dernières sessions, la veille du départ prévu du groupe pour l’Amérique ; en Angleterre, Joy Division était en passe de devenir une grosse affaire. Curtis était un épileptique, un schizophrène, c’est entendu : c’était surtout quelqu’un d’extrêmement timide, tantôt exubérant, tantôt muet. Sa mort sordide, discrète, n’était en tout cas pas prédestinée par une musique morbide, malsaine, ou je ne sais quoi, suivant les clichés qui collaient à Joy Division. La musique de Joy Division était pure. Le problème n’a pas suffi à guérir Curtis. Le plus poignant dans «Closer» réside assurément dans cette brusque timidité qui s’était subitement emparée de la voix de Ian Curtis. Au lieu d’appuyer ses inflexions mélodramatiques, il cherchait presque maladroitement un timbre lumineux et apaisé. La première face de «Closer» présentait un développement extrême de «Unknown Pleasures» : morceaux désarticulés, jungle sonore et rigidité rythmique implacable. Avec ce roulement percussif sourd et animal et cette guitare désincarnée, le calme de la basse et de la voix en contrepoint, «Atrocity Exhibition» offre une sorte d’introduction rituelle à «Closer». Jusqu’à «A Means To An End», on s’enfonce dans un chaos effrayant, mais toujours resplendissant. Mais la deuxième face, vraisemblablement enregistrée un peu plus tard, en même temps que l’indispensable 45 tours «Love Will Tear Us Apart», va là où personne ne s’est jamais aventuré. Pas d’expérience progressive, pas de complexité d’arrangement, simplement une limpidité apaisée et souveraine. «Heart And Soul», «The Eternal» et «Memories» changent la densité de l’air dans la pièce où vous écoutez ce disque : tout retombe, s’épaissit et rayonne. Piano à la Satie, mellotron démodé et ingénu, «Memories» arrache des larmes de délivrance. Avec ceux de John Cale, les disques de Joy Division sont les seuls où les ballades aient un sens fondamental. «Closer» a bénéficié d’une conjonction miraculeuse, c’est un disque magique et impalpable. Au risque de me répéter, je ne vois que «Get Happy!!» pour avoir un propos si ferme, décisif et nécessaire. Et au train où vont les choses, je ne crois pas que je parle de l’année 1980, mais de la décennie.

Michka Assayas Rock & Folk n°170 de mars 1981

13 juillet 2006

Everything's Gone Green (Live 1981)



Merveille qui doit beaucoup à l’accidentel, la guitare de Ian Curtis sur « Love Will Tear Us Apart » réapparaît comme un fantôme discret

28 mars 2006

FACT 10

Une claque, une baffe comment décrire ma première écoute de Joy Division ! Au début un air perplexe c’est quoi ce truc ? Le chanteur ne sait pas chanter, c’est quoi cette musique toute désincarnée ? Ce son terrifiant et comme absorber ? et puis très vite au bout de deux trois écoutes liquéfiantes une certitude celle d’avoir trouvé mon groupe qui ne me quittera plus jamais même si je ne l’écoute plus très souvent ...

Ian Curtis - Queen's Hall, Leeds, 1979

24 mars 2006

Melodica

The melodica was another instrument used by Joy Division during a select few recording sessions: briefly on "Decades" and quite predominantly on "In a Lonely Place", which only exists as a rehearsal recording (this recording can be heard in the "Heart and Soul" box set). New Order used the melodica a number of times and were said to have "inherited" it from Curtis, who purchased one after hearing it used by dub-reggae artist Augustus Pablo. Sumner apparently didn't look after the original very well and was seen to smash it to bits over the back of his head during a New Order gig at the 'Tabernacle' in London shortly after the release of their first album 'Movement'

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy_Division

Although Sumner probably was the member most keen on changing the band's sound and constantly "move on" in new directions, it was actually Curtis who took the unusual step to bring a melodica to the studio. This, by some considered as "just a child's instrument" had found an unexpected renaissance in Jamaica, frequently used by artists like Augustus Pablo. Sadly, the only track with said instrument that Joy Division got to put down to vinyl was "Decades" where it features briefly. It was to be used more properly on In A Lonely Place which was written and demoed only weeks before Curtis' death. According to themselves, New Order "inherited the melodica from Ian" and not only used it on In A Lonely Place, they would use it on many songs recorded from then on: Truth, Hurt, Your Silent Face, Love Vigilantes, Angel Dust, Fine Time and Run Wild, and of course their Keith Hudson cover Turn The Heater On (which they recorded for a John Peel radio session as a tribute to Curtis - who had been a huge fan of reggae legend Hudson) all feature Curtis' melodica.

Source : http://members.aol.com/lwtua/eqpt.htm

21 mars 2006

Live in a suburban pub



Joy Division Live in a suburban pub shot on super 8. She's Lost Control, Shadowplay, Leaders Of Men.


Martin Hannett


The work of this extraordinary but bizarre Mancunian includes seminal production for buzzcocks and slaughter and the dogs, as well as his own brand of experimental electronica and bass playing as part of a support ensemble known as the invisible girls. he is perhaps best known for ground-breaking work with joy division, restraining, isolating and separating the sounds of manchester's most powerful band. he served as the in-house producer for several record labels, including rabid, thin line, and Factory,[recording label] in which he also had a controlling interest until a falling out and a lawsuit with legendary provocateur Tony Wilson over royalties. he changed with the times, producing the first single by the stone roses in 1985 and giving the happy mondays their first hit. he was found dead in his chair by his step-daughter on april 18, 1991.

A man who gave very few interviews, he was, nevertheless, well regarded enough to be voted producer of the year in 1981 by readers of zigzag magazine. a native of northside, Manchester, he spent his time in further education immersed in the local music scene, trying hard to make it come alive. while working in a chemistry lab, he also found time to work as a soundman, play bass in various bands, tour briefly with paul young (no, the sad café one), manage a musician's co-operative, and form his own music promotion company before local punk heros buzzcocks offered him his first production job with the seminal "spiral scratch" ep in 1977. this led to his long-running involvement with tosh ryan's rabid records label for which he was to produce, amongst others, slaughter and the dogs, john cooper clarke and "jilted john" by jilted john which emi re-released and took to number four in the uk singles charts.

Drug abuse was a major feature of hannett's life and there is little doubt that his early death was related to years of misuse and experimentation. what effect this had on his personality one can only guess. he certainly had a reputation for being a difficult man to work with (c.f. new order, a certain ratio), and for presuming to know far better than the group in question how their music should sound (jello biafra would premise nazi punks fuck off "this is fuck off overproduced by martin hannett take 4"). he also loved to be at the cutting edge of new technology and was pushing the potential of synthesisers at a time when many musicians in britain were trying to outlaw them, believing that they would merely replace "real" musicians rather than create a new form of music. in the late 70s, electronic music at its extreme was mainly coming out of germany from groups such as kraftwerk, but hannett never lost sight of the human element, making the machine work to complement the artists involved rather than trying to dehumanize bands or make work of a purely "synthetic" nature. following hard on the heels of punk rock and the "do it yourself" attitude, he managed to tap into the raw energy of the rabid roster without burdening it with technology, yet when presented with a very raw joy division found a new sound that perfectly suited curtis' lyrics (in spite of the band's implacable resistance, at first, to the idea of synth), moving music forward from new wave into a genre that was all his own.

Hannett is best known for his work with factory records, beginning (as told by tony wilson) with the idea that martin should produce the durutti column's first recordings - laurie latham eventually won that honour - and ending with the lawsuit, brought by hannett against factory for not giving him his "rightful" share of royalties and fees. the suit was brought in april 1982 and settled out of court in january 1984. in typical factory style, the lawsuit has its own factory number (fac 61) and letterhead. hannett would come back with factory to produce the happy mondays, after rather less successful stints with, among others, john cale behind the desk. the mondays' biggest album to date, "bummed", and their first hit, "wrote for luck", are due in some part to the jelling of the hedonists, hannett and ryder. more on that on the mondays' page.

in the aftermath of his death, factory added a subtitle to their huge "cities in the park" festival in heaton park, manchester, on august 4, 1991: "in memoriam martin hannett". a week later, factory released an excellent introduction into hannett's production work, entitled martin, the work of martin hannett (fact 325). A recent compilation cd, and here is the young man, may also help those unfamiliar with his work, or perhaps familiar with only a part of it, to start to recognise the essence of what makes a "hannett" production.

source:
http://freespace.virgin.net/anna.b/hannett/bio.htm

20 mars 2006

FACT 50


Le premier New Order je l’avais acheté à Londres dans une boutique de Carnaby Street avec aussi plein de badges top destroy, Stranglers, Jam un magnifique tout rose de Sid Vicious, un vrai petit punk d’opérette que j’étais faut dire à l’époque. Ensuite après la journée à Londres j’étais retourné dans ma famille d’accueil, des gens très bizarres et très gros qui mangeaient d’énormes petits pois sans sauce avec de la viande bouillie et du thé immonde. Le lendemain des que la famille était partit au boulot je m’étais précipité sur leur mignard électrophone pour écouter le New Order.Evidemment ça valait pas Joy Division mais le chant hésitant de Bernie le coté mortifère et en même temps un brin lumineux m’avait beaucoup touché un disque de rescapé, le nuit suivante le Père Mallet mon prof d’anglais un curé bien pensant qui portait toujours des sandales sur d'abjects chaussettes de tennis blanche et chantait Let It Be sur une guitare désaccordée, donc le père Mallet m’avait choppé à 4 heure du matin dans le parc so british longeant la maison des petitpoiophiles avec une charmante jeune anglaise ignorant les pratiques linguales en court sur le vieux continent, conflit diplomatique avec le curé furax, et la jeune anglaise toute coupée dans l’élan qui me regardait déjà l’œil humide et nostalgique, la vie est dure parfois.

17 mars 2006

FACT 14


Avec un nom comme ça et chez Factory en plus ça devait être de la cold Wave frigorifique et bien non surprise découverte interloquée d’une musique délicate et totalement atmosphérique je n’ai pas ramené le disque chez le marchand et j’ai découvert par la suite qui était le fameux Durutti.

14 mars 2006

Decades

"Here are the young men, the weight on their shoulders,
Here are the young men, well where have they been?
We knocked on the doors of Hell's darker chamber,
Pushed to the limit, we dragged ourselves in,
Watched from the wings as the scenes were replaying,
We saw ourselves now as we never had seen.
Portrayal of the trauma and degeneration,
The sorrows we suffered and never were free.
Where have they been?
Weary inside, now our heart's lost forever,
Can't replace the fear, or the thrill of the chase,
Each ritual showed up the door for our wanderings,
Open then shut, then slammed in our face.
Where have they been?"

Ian Curtis-The Moonlight Club, London, 1980

Transmission