Burl Veneer’s Music Blog

UK Skronk part 1

nobody@vox.com(Burl Veneer) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 20:38:11 -0700

I must come to terms with the fact that a blog entry is not a book, so instead of a definitive history of skronk in the UK, here is a brief survey of it. "Skronk" is a term attributed to Robert Christgau (by Lester Bangs) to refer to a certain ki...

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Filling in the gaps

nobody@vox.com(Burl Veneer) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 19:50:54 -0700

Having had access to the college radio station record library during the 80s, not to mention the constant stream of new releases that came in, and then spending all my disposable income (plus future income, once I got a credit card) on imported Br...

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I'm still listening to Peter Hope (and Nine Inch Nails)

nobody@vox.com(Burl Veneer) — Wed, 28 May 2008 18:24:08 -0700

Since I've put up two songs from Peter Hope's post-Box career, I should really put up something from the band that put him on the map. (You know, my map.) The Box was formed by the original ClockDVA instrumental lineup after being fired by bandl...

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The Dream Ticket

nobody@vox.com(Burl Veneer) — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 17:45:33 -0700

With all the buzz about an Obama/Clinton (or Clinton/Obama) "dream ticket," the time is ripe for posting Cabaret Voltaire's "The Dream Ticket." Recorded in 1983, it is arguably their earliest mastery of American-style electro, overlaid with their...

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Belatedly, Cabaret Voltaire

nobody@vox.com(Burl Veneer) — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 10:09:36 -0800

Here I've been going on about Sheffield and the great industrial dance music of the 80s and I haven't even gotten around to Cabaret Voltaire yet, arguably the godfathers of that whole scene. So to remedy that, here's the video for what is probabl...

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Sheffield crooner: John Stuart

nobody@vox.com(Burl Veneer) — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 16:27:05 -0800

Here starts at last my Crooners thread, and I will state right here at the beginning that no songs posted will contain the MMc Factor. In this case MMc stands not for Microsoft Management Console, but Michael McDonald. Just as there are certain ...

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Bass porn + Sheffield = Chakk

nobody@vox.com(Burl Veneer) — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 14:32:18 -0800

Back once more to Sheffield and Damon Fairclough's "Destroyed by gods" annotated musical tour. Fairclough writes: As the Designers Republic made their first assault on Sheffield's graphics/music interface - in tandem with Leeds' Age Of Chance, ...

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Sheffield continued: The Human League

nobody@vox.com(Burl Veneer) — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 06:45:07 -0700

The Human League was the first Sheffield band I ever heard: switching radio stations to WHFS in 1982 to check out the "new wave," "The Things That Dreams Are Made Of" is one of the songs that made me a convert. That wacky synth playing under the ...

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More Sheffield music: Chakk Theme

nobody@vox.com(Burl Veneer) — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 09:23:11 -0700

Following up on the "bands with a self-titled theme song" thread from two posts ago, here is Sheffield band Chakk with "Chakk Theme." It did not appear on any Chakk release, only on the Audio Visual LP companion to Rob Deacon's Abstract Magazine ...

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Lost 80s: Hula (again)

nobody@vox.com(Burl Veneer) — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 08:09:28 -0700

My first Hula post was quite rudimentary, as it was just my second post on Vox and I was still trying out the system. My statement that they were my favorite band of the 80s still stands; their mix of drum machines and real drums (courtesy of Nor...

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