“Always the eyes watching you and the voice enveloping you. Asleep or awake, working or eating, indoors or out of doors, in the bath or in bed — no escape. Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimetres inside your skull.” — George Orwell. 1984
The avant-garde rock musician passed away of complications from multiple sclerosis.
Don Van Vliet, who blended rock, blues, psychedelia and free jazz under the stage name Captain Beefheart, died Friday of complications from multiple sclerosis in a Northern California hospital. He was 69.
From 1965-82, Beefheart worked with a rotating ensemble of musicians called the Magic Band, with whom he recorded 12 studio albums. Van Vliet sang and played the harmonica and saxophone among many other instruments.
After two decades in music, Van Vliet retired from performing to devote himself to painting and drawing. New York City’s Michael Werner Gallery hosted several shows of Beefheart’s paintings and confirmed the musician’s death Friday.
A native of Lancaster, Calif., Van Vliet was friends and a regular collaborator with another eclectic California musician, Frank Zappa.
Van Vliet began performing as Captain Beefheart in 1964, and the Magic Band’s first album, 1967’s Safe as Milk, was highly regarded. His first bandmates were guitarists Alex St. Clair and Doug Moon, bassist Jerry Handley and drummer Paul Blakely.
After a stint at A&M, they signed to Zappa’s Straight Records, which in 1969 released Trout Mask Replica, ranked No. 58 on Rolling Stone magazine’s 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
Banned in D.C. with a thousand more places to go
Gonna swim the Atlantic, cause that’s the only place I can go
You, you can’t hurt me
Why?! I’m banned in D.C.
We, we got ourselves, gonna sing it, gonna love it, gonna work it out to any length
No worry, don’t worry, about what people say
We got ourselves, we gonna make it anyway
You, you can’t hurt me
Why? I’m banned in D.C.
And if you ban us from your clubs, it’s the right time, with the right mind
And if you think we really care, then you won’t find in my mind
Noooo! You can’t afford, to close your doors, so soon no more
My oh my i lay you down upon the ground so soon no more
Nooo you can’t afford to close your doors so soon no more
My oh my i let you down upon the ground
Chaos “Afrogermanic”
from the “Crime Report” Underground Resistance EP (and the “Interstellar Fugitives” LP)
UR “Talking To Z”
from the “Crime Report” Underground Resistance EP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUf4y8LET4k
Crimereport UR 021 – 1996
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There have been reports of a UR special operations sonic insertion team code named I.S.F. (Interstellar Fugitives) in your zone. An imminent “LP” attack is expected any moment. Beware you have been warned!!
Taken From “Interstellar Fugitives” LP
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Mastered at National Sound Corporation (NSC), Detroit
Underground Resistance is probably the most militantly political outcropping of modern urban American techno. Combining a grubby, four-track aesthetic, an almost strictly DIY business philosophy, and an oppositional, militaristic ethos similar to Public Enemy without the drama (or the familiarity; the members refuse to be photographed without bandanas obscuring their identities), UR have redirected their portion of the Detroit techno legacy to social activist ends, trading mainstream popularity and financial success for independence and self-determination. Begun in the early ’90s by Detroit second-wave trinity Mike Banks, Robert Hood & Jeff Mills, UR adapted the flavor and kick of early Detroit techno to the complex social, political, and economic circumstances in the wake of Reagan-era accelerated inner-city decline, and was formed as an outlet for uncompromising music geared toward awareness and change.
The early UR catalog is defined by a typically Detroit combination of Motown and Chicago soul, and ruthless, at times caustic lo-fi techno, acid, and electro (Mills’ background is in, among other things, Chicago industrial and EBM-style electro-techno, with Banks and Hood both coming from a solid house and techno base). Much of the label’s early output was the product of various permutations of Banks, Mills, and Hood, both solo and in combination, before Mills and Hood left UR in 1992 to pursue (and achieve) international success. Banks continued to operate UR in the wake of the split, releasing EPs such as “Return of Acid Rain,” “Message to the Majors,” and “Galaxy to Galaxy” under the UR banner, as well as 12-inches by increasingly renowned artists such as Drexciya, Suburban Knight and Scan 7. The first actual full-length credited to Underground Resistance was 1998’s Interstellar Fugitives. When the UR and Submerge Recordings Headquarters moved from 2030 Grand River to 3000 E Grand Blvd., the UR ‘family’ transformed again by assigning new members such as DJ 3000, S², Aquanauts, The, Buzz Goree and most notably the live band Los Hermanos.
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Members:
Andre Holland, Bileebob, Chuck Gibson, Cornelius Harris, Dan Caballero, DJ Buzz Goree, Drexciya, Frankie Fultz, Galaxy 2 Galaxy, Gerald Mitchell, Ghetto Tech, ISH, James Pennington, Jeff Mills***, Marc Floyd, Mark Taylor, Mike Banks, Mike Clark, Milton Baldwin, Raphael Merriweathers Jr., Robert Hood***, Rolando Rocha***, Santiago Salazar, Timeline.
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other tracks from the “Interstellar Fugitives” LP:
