FILE UNDER POST PUNK

 

prag VEC: Bits / Wolf / Existential / Cigarettes

Spec Records (1978)

'There is no future, 'cause you're in a fiction'

Accomplished and confident, occasionally strident, prag VEC released two singles, and recorded three sessions for John Peel. Their name is a conflation of Pragmatic and Vector,  too complex for Ingsoc but very Philip K. Dick.

Beneath their paint spattered punk facade, Bits and Wolf have a quirky Canterbury poly-rhythm going on, an almost progressive rock-ist interest in complex time signatures and interesting chords involving lots of fingers. These short, sweet, swervy blasts are agit-prop nursery rhymes played by supply teachers high on sexual politics, radical economics and arts centre poetry.  

Existential is the pick of the bunch, a sultry slow burner punctuated by angry, intellectual sounding French language narration and a series of wild, jagged guitar solos. It's tremendous, Stereolab plus steroids. 

Finally, there's Cigarettes, which marries a busy pub rock riff with a seemingly throwaway lyric about 'the fags we smoke' ('don't forget the menthol, though they're not so common now'). The crux, however, is that the fug of multiple exhalation obscures real issues. I mean, why even try to tackle world peace or famine or inequality when you can sit around with your mates like lotus eaters sucking on a B and H and talking rubbish? 

In any event, distraction devices or not, the band fully intend to 'smoke them until we die', a common attitude among dedicated addicts, and one that I used to fervently share. Now, like an ex who you cross the street to avoid, I wonder what I ever saw in them. Cigarettes, I mean, prag VEC are great.

GROTESQUE ROCK FORMATIONS

 

My eleven year old self was absolutely obsessed with Alien in 1979, although I wasn't able to see it until 1981, when it finally came out on VHS. I did, however, have the novelisation, and The Book Of Alien, a fantastic compendium of stills, sketches and extracts from the script. I have no idea where either of those went. I also had a small collection of bubblegum cards of which this is the only known survivor and is, therefore, my favourite in the series.

TABLEAU

 

How disputes should be settled: in a well-appointed room, with comfortable leather chairs, plenty of plants and a deep pile rug. Both parties seem intractable at the beginning, but may well move towards consensus in this quiet and neutral environment. If they don't emerge as the best of pals in an hour, simply chuck a couple of medieval weapons into the room and firmly shut the door.

DANCE AWAY

The Touchables (1968) is a lovely idea, but it runs out of steam very quickly. The visuals remain great throughout, however, with this sequence featuring dancer / model / actress Esther Anderson a particular pop art delight / highlight. 

The multi-talented Anderson was originally from Jamaica, and played a pivotal and somewhat unsung role in popularising reggae in the UK, including helping to develop Island Records. She later became a photographer and film maker, and remains a very interesting person. 

DEATH TO THE FASCIST INSECTS

Patty Hearst, d. Paul Schrader (1988)

'Marie Antoinette didn't know anything about the French Revolution until they cut off her head'.

On February 4th, 1974, 19 year old heiress Patty Hearst was kidnapped by a terrorist group called the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA). The original plan was for the SLA to exchange her for some imprisoned comrades, but this didn't happen, and the group refused all offers of ransom money from her parents.

After two months of imprisonment, sensory deprivation, indoctrination, intimidation and rape, Patty was given the choice to 'join or die' so, on April 15th, she helped the SLA rob a bank whilst wielding a machine gun. 

Hearst was finally returned to her family in September 1975, 17 months after being taken prisoner. The following year, she was sentenced to seven years in prison for bank robbery and using a firearm during the commissioning of a felony. Brainwashing was not used as a defence, as it had no precedent in law. The sentencing Judge stated: 'rebellious young people who, for whatever reason become revolutionaries, and voluntarily commit criminal acts will be punished'. Motherfuckers*.

Paul Schrader's fast moving film is unambiguous about the ordeal that the previously sheltered and naive Hearst goes through, and Natasha Richardson plays Patty as permanently scared, off-balance and confused (her IQ dropped by about 30 points during her captivity, and her health was seriously affected). Crammed into a small apartment, the SLA spend their time doing calisthenics, posing with guns and sleeping with each other. Worst of all, THEY WILL NOT STOP TALKING, not even for a moment - endlessly and monotonously droning on about race, about class, about power, about violence, about sex, about money, about offing pigs- the whole scene is claustrophobic, suffocating, stultifying, deafening - it makes your brain itch. After half an hour I was ready to shoot someone.

*Hearst was released after two years at the behest of President Carter, and later pardoned.

(HANS) JEAN ARP / (JEAN) HANS ARP

Das Meer / The Sea (1923)

EVERYDAY ELECTRONICS

 

010: Experimenter

FINGER MOVES

 

'Sit quietly, and let your breath go smooth...'

South African Yogi Alan Finger demonstrates a visualisation exercise by which thinking about colours charges the energy centres in your body, leading to better balanced chakras. Or something like that, I got caught up in the visuals. 

Alan is still alive, pushing 80, and he looks great, so there must be something in it. 

DO NOT OVER EXERT

 

From Yoga Moves with Alan Finger (1983)

Do not over exert they say, as the dynamic, gyrating figures on the screen make impossible shapes at a pace so rapid that it warps the variables of light and colour, space and time. Tantric and Kriya Yoga Master Alan Finger has a lot to answer for. I will be calling him to account.

DIE RHEUMASCHULE 2

 

Suggested calisthenic routine from The Rheumatism School booklet. Come on, get to it.