Albums I've listened to: October 2023 Edition

Alot of Cabaret and Afew vampires here and there

There were afew albums that actually came out this year that could've made the list such as 'burn your bible' by twin temple (but they're already on here) and 'danse macabre' by duran duran (which was EMBARRASING)

Hello my lovelies 🥀

Today we are honored to bring you Part 3 of this special Cryptic Salutations exclusive!

Continuing our talk with Jonathan Lemon of Jesus Couldn't Drum, in this section we delve into his later career as a cartoonist, what it's like working solitary vs working in a group environment, inspirations, and unauthorized Best Of's! We hope you thoroughly enjoy it! 🔥

Track: Jesus Couldn't Drum's Frosty Stay tuned for the final part, coming August 15!

Cryptic Salutations: I’ve done a bit of research and have seen your illustrations and cartoons. Very unique! Was there a turning point where you made a transition toward more comic-oriented art, or have you ever combined your cartoons with music?

Jonathan Lemon: I’ve always been obsessed with comics and cartoons, although not the superhero kind.  And in art college I did an undergrad degree where you had to pick a performing art to go with your visual stuff, so I obviously did music and ended up with a lot of video stuff and animation. And now it’s my job to draw cartoons every day.  Apart from the brutal deadlines it’s pretty fun..

CS: Do you find that you work best in solitary environments, or when you have other minds convening to bounce ideas around with?

JL: If you can find the right person, it definitely helps to have a sounding board, but since I mostly hate most everyone (including myself) I am usually quite happy on my own. I don’t know if that’s typical for most people. With Pengwyn, we would work independently and then share what we’d done and make suggestions. I like to be able to make mistakes in private first. It’s an interesting experiment to share your idea with a group and see what happens but you have to allow for a certain amount of “letting go”. I think that’s what’s good about drawing a comic strip.  You can control an entire world on your own and since I subscribe to the notion that we live in a chaotic, random, cruel universe, it’s my way of staying sane.

CS: At the time of the earliest Jesus Couldn’t Drum recordings, what or who were your greatest inspirations? Musicians? Movies? Even just your everyday environments?

JL: Remember that 1981 was long before you had wide access to free media.  What we did was a sort of backlash to the big outpouring of slick branded “commercial” New Wave pop that was coming out like A-ha and Heaven 17, etc.  …. synthesizer bands in expensive suits. Guitar-based “rock” had mostly taken a back seat for a while. So we were always on the lookout for anything weird and experimental that we found on the racks of the Record & Tape Exchange in Camden where we’d go every Sunday.  Definitely The Residents because they had those great covers and the music was so deconstructed from what music should be and they had that essential vein of humor to show they weren’t taking themselves too seriously, and they branded themselves as such a brilliant anti-commercial concept. We had our minds blown when Pengwyn discovered “The Fish Needs a Bike” single by Blurt.  That would still be one of my Desert Island Discs. The early Fad Gadget stuff (which was apparently recorded in a wardrobe) was refreshing, anything on Cherry Red (especially the Pillows and Prayers album), 4AD, Mute, The The, The “A Factory Quartet” album, etc. Psychic TV, Foetus, Cabaret Voltaire, Renaldo and the Loaf, and The Deep Freeze Mice (who I later joined with when they became The Chrysanthemums).  I remember Pengwyn liked Julian Cope, Orange Juice, The Rutles, The Higsons, and the Monochrome Set and he was a lot more open minded than me and got to listen to more stuff since he worked in the music store. The Bonzo Dog Band was a huge eye-opener. Both Pengwyn and I had a mutual love of comedy albums such as Monty Python, Spike Milligan, The Young Ones, and older stuff like Spike Jones. We both hated U2 though and all those moody bands that sounded like Joy Division. I secretly liked them but I hated that everyone else liked them. We both listened to the John Peel radio show with tape recorders at the ready. The first time we saw the “Fish Heads” video by Barnes and Barnes was an incredible awakening. Oddly enough we got contacted by some guy in the US who was raving about us and we had no idea who he was but it was Dr Demento! There was a lot of older stuff too that is almost too embarrassing to mention like the first Pink Floyd album, and Syd Barrett, Faust, early Kraftwerk maybe. As far as movies… well this was long before you could just stream any movies you wanted, so just interesting stuff we caught on TV.  Lots of old Cary Grant movies, all those cool sixties spy movies, and French New Wave (mostly for the nudity). 

CS: Correct me if I’m wrong, but it looks like none of the tracks have been touched since the 2001 ‘Best of Jesus Couldn’t Drum’ compilation. Have you ever thought about remastering and rereleasing any of them, perhaps on vinyl for collectors?

JL: Actually, the “Best of JCD” CD wasn’t authorized by the band.  I first came across it while browsing the racks at Amoeba Records in Berkeley.  I had no idea it existed, so that was a surprise.  Lost Moment sold the back catalog to Cherry Red a few years ago so they might look into doing something with it, but part of me hopes not.  I do stumble across remixes and mashups sometimes.  For example someone in Japan made a brilliant version of “Beetlebum” recently with a kid singing over it for a Raman commercial.  And a few of our songs got used for jingles and we still get royalties for them.

here’s the archive link if Youtube pulls a Youtube and takes it down:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xihGJveutQ8

Halloween Countdown Day 2:

When I heard the incredible Halloween disco song "Phantasm" by Captain Zorro on Vintage Obscura's Side C 2020 album, I imagined the perfect music video to this wild piece of music. I envisioned a roller coaster ride through Halloween landscapes, with cemeteries, haunted castles, flying bats, howling werewolves, and shambling skeletons. Imagine my delight when I FOUND a roller coaster simulator video on Youtube that fit my idea quite closely! For a different kind of Halloween thrill, please play the music video while watching the virtual roller coaster on another tab. 

Camera Obscura Image of Chrysler Building in Hotel Room, Abelardo Morell, 1999

Gastro Obscura: Years Before Stonewall, a Chef Published the First Gay Cookbook

"... It was published on the cusp of a historic turning point, and copies of the book can still be found online and at many used bookstores. The bold cover has a colorful illustration of a blonde man in a flower-covered apron, grilling steaks, while the back features a hirsute person in a red cocktail dress. It was published years before the Stonewall riots ignited the gay rights movement in America, and at the time, widely advertising a cookbook for gay men was fairly edgy. But the author of The Gay Cookbook was no stranger to the gay publishing scene. In fact, five years before, he had published what is now believed to be the first detective novel with a gay protagonist, titled The Gay Detective." →

24 copies on Abe Books

12 copies on eBay

2 copies on etsy

article on JStor

Malam paskah di gereja yesus gembala yang baik, Denpasar Bali

Creating a persona

More confident

Sweeter and more delicate

With more empathy

Who doesn't talk or think too much

Calm down

More beautiful

More artist

More self-esteem

Why do I say everything I think?

Why do I think I can't?

Why do I have to do this to be able to do something?

thingsfromthevoid - tv magic sets

ASCII (not ass-key)

(via From Gift-Giving Koalas to Surfing Santa, How Christmas Imagery Gets Australianized - Atlas Obscura)

Hello my lovelies 🥀 Today we are honored to bring you Part 2 of this special Cryptic Salutations exclusive! Continuing our in depth interview with Jonathan Lemon of Jesus Couldn't Drum, in this section he shares details about the band's equipment set up, the life changing feeling of emerging into the music industry, and the unexpected cult popularity that arose in countries other than their own! We hope you thoroughly enjoy it! 🔥 Track: Jesus Couldn't Drum's Even Roses Have Thorns Stay tuned for Part 3, coming on August 13!

Cryptic Salutations: How many of the singles were originally pressed?

Jonathan Lemon: I believe the minimum amount was 1000 in those days. They would have pressed less if it was possible! They were distributed by The Cartel which was a co-operative group that included some of the most notable labels of the 1980s UK post-punk and indie scene such as Backs, Rough Trade, Red Rhino and Nine Mile. Apparently, they could sell anything.  When we did the free flexidisc for the first album, they made 50k in many different colors and gave them away with ZigZag magazine which went out of business the next issue which was disappointing because famous rock journalist William Shaw had done a long in-depth interview with us which has now been lost to time.  The first album was 3k if I remember correctly.

CS: Do you recall what your equipment set up was? What make of synths, guitars, pedals, etc?  

JL: A Fostex X-15 multitrack tape player, a Roland SH101, a very primitive echo chamber, a couple of used Boss effects pedals, a Gibson copy guitar, a melodica, a Shure SM58 microphone, a Black Box fuzz module, a Sound Master Memory Rhythm SR-88 and a small box filled with various percussion instruments and fluty pipes.  Later we had a Roland TR 808 and a Boss Dr Rhythm DR55 and very importantly an EM-U Emulator 1 sampling keyboard that used to belong to Tears For Fears. It had “TFF” stenciled onto the flight case.  It currently belongs to Fat Boy Slim.

CS: Do you consider your time in Jesus Couldn’t Drum as an exploration of your artistic limits, or was it simply a fun hobby shared between friends?

JL: I think we both couldn’t quite believe the speed of what was happening and consequently we just rolled with it rather than had any expectations or strategy.  Maybe it was pretty small beans to most people but it felt quite life changing to us, and we were suddenly serious young people in important trousers, and people were sniffing around us hoping we’d be the next big thing. There was definite conflict between the band and the label over musical direction.  The label kept telling us to get a big hit before doing more “challenging” stuff. We were more interested in doing something different. “Different” to use just meant not being like any of the other bands we were aware of at the time which was a pretty small pool admittedly. The second JCD album was very self-indulgent but in a way I think it’s also the only one I can really stand to listen to anymore. 

CS: Did you take the single and subsequent EP’s and albums on tour? If so, to where, and what kind of criticisms were you met with? And what compliments?

JL: We didn’t coincide tours with the releases.  We would just go if someone offered to pay us, usually an enthusiastic promoter in Belgium or Germany. We had no oversight really. In England, already at that time there was an expectation that the small bands would PAY to play to get the exposure or if lucky, play for free. Once the records came out there was a lot more interest in our music from(mainland) Europe. Incredibly, we would go off on the ferry in a car packed full of equipment and band members, and there would be a little venue in a small, picturesque town in Switzerland for example, with posters for our gig everywhere and a hall packed with people wanting to see us who knew our songs. There were four of us and a drum machine and mostly we went down well.  I think the set only lasted about 30 minutes. I don’t recall JCD having any bad gigs actually but many of my later bands did. Once in Italy some people threw coins at us.  We were later told that it was a sign of appreciation, but I’m still not convinced. It was all pretty thrilling because none of us had ever really traveled outside of England before. It was all a bit rushed and low budget but we had a lot of fun.

Vintage Obscura Halloween - FULL ALBUM - (1960′s)

Character sketch of a crazy fortune teller that's maybe gotten a bit too close to the eldritch.

Switched On in Austin, Texas The growing analog synthesizer scene in Austin can attribute much of its growth to this small shop, which specializes in the distribution and repair of analog music electronics. For synth musicians and producers, the store is heaven on earth, with walls and shelves covered entirely in all types of used and new analog electronic music equipment, which uses circuits and potentiometers to control sound, rather than ones and zeros.  Being one of the few brick-and-mortar establishments in the country that specializes in preserving the legacy of analog synthesizers, Switched On’s shop and the community that it fuels are rare. Dozens of analog synth bands have been popping up in Austin ever since the store opened in 2010. Before then, Austin didn't really have any businesses that could provide these services. The store gave Austin’s electronic musicians a community hub.  Though many of the pioneers of electronic music—Kraftwerk or Depeche Mode—used this kind of analog equipment, digital synthesizers had supplanted it through most of the 1980s. However, the 1990s began to see a resurgence as techno, rave, and DJ musicians without the budget for expensive digital equipment helped increase the demand for second-hand analog equipment. By the end of the 1990s, many musicians were beginning to rediscover the warm, vintage sound quality that analog synthesizers could offer. Recent years have seen another resurgence for analog synthesizers, so now Switched On's influence extends beyond Austin. The store has become an international destination for musicians and producers, attracted to its extensive collection of both vintage audio devices and new, innovative instruments. Led Zeppelin's lead singer, Robert Plant, has passed through to explore the collection. The store really saw the limelight after one of Austin’s premiere analog synth groups, Survive, was asked to write the soundtrack for the popular Netflix series Stranger Things. Survive’s members, Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein, are just two of the many Austin analog synth alumni who have been employed at Switched On and call it home.  https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/switched-on

First Training Record in Suicidology - Center for Studies of Suicide Prevention (1960)

Released by the U.S. Department Of Health, Education, And Welfare.