Whatever Wood Beez, Wood Beez: Scritti Politti live at HAU
whatever-wood-beez-wood-beez-scritti-politti-live-at-hau
November 29, 2012
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# Whatever Wood Beez, Wood Beez: Scritti Politti live at HAU
"Postmodernism and pop reggae: a marriage made in Heaven or Hell. You
Decide," declaimed a denim-clad Green Gartside with slightly-practiced
modesty and a shuffling consternation that would appear repeatedly
during **Scritti Politti**'s first Berlin appearance since a Martin
Kippenberger-sanctioned night at SO 36 in 1979. Scritti---which is
whomever the stage-adverse Gartside decides it wood beez---haven't
played many gigs since 1979, and with their arc from the directly
countercultural to the complicatedly commercial, it's not the only
comparison one might make between them and the once stage-shy **Steely
Dan,** whose initial dissolve coincided with Scritti's brief ascendancy.
Also like The Dan, their previous album (which was all Gartside) is over
a half-decade old; with the Klieg light a-wanderin' it is apparently
safe to hide on the road again.
So, is that road a stairway to Heaven or a highway to Hell? Well, the
road to Hell is paved with good intentions, just as the stairway to
Hebbel Theater is red-carpeted with legacy acts. A well-known autodidact
sporting a semiotic student's bookshelf and a squatter's sense of place,
Gartside's best known for his effortfully effortless mid-Eighties
lite-funk and most respected by the current cognoscenti for his
proleptical Rough Trade messthetic post-punk, and is self-effacing about
both. That paradigm may yet shift again. He doesn't record often---five
official albums in thirty years. But if the stories he told while
fronting his four-piece, which included seeing Tito Puente with
Kraftwerk, as well as Gregory Isaacs, Joni Mitchell, and---HEY! There's
his buddy Robyn Hitchcock peacocking in polka dots throughout the room
tonight---were any indication, the sparseness may have less to do with
exactitude and more to do with an intellectual's fall toward earthier
pursuits. Introducing "The Boom Boom Bap" from 1999's severely odd,
rap-ish record *Anomie & Bonhomie*, he noted, "This next song is
about beer and hip-hop," which he claims dominated his life during his
post-stardom years of Welsh exile. And may still be, as during an
evening in which he was previously gulping Spree Quelle and cough syrup,
he theatrically canvassed the audience for a brew. A woman offered up a
Kostritzer from her bag she had smuggled in, though he perused a single
quaff.
Gartside looks younger than he did in the promotional photos for that
album. His voice, now housed in a bear-of-a-man instead of a rail-thin
androgyne, is often described as boy-ish and, at his age, one might add
uncanny. Perhaps the years of restricting its use have prevented
retardation. Tonight's concert revealed the songwriter beneath the
perfect pop conceptualist; he did not privilege his hits and, by
avoiding 80s soundtrack signifiers "Perfect Way" and "Oh Patti,"
arguably de-emphasized them. But by doing so, also showed up the
historical danger that ideas can render upon songwriting, positioning
them as platforms for the sonics-of-the-day.
[][1]{: rel="attachment wp-att-35773"}For while it appears that Gartside would go on to embrace black pop
music out of aesthetic, not political love, like many brainiacs and
Commies taken with populism during the 80s, the creator of the
commercial pinnacle *Cupid & Psyche 85* can (fairly or unfairly)
appear a bit dilettantish, sampling and weaving the styles of the era,
and Gartside's discovery of Black Music as a Came to Golgatha moment
whiffs a bit of the ridiculous in these 2000s. A 1980s England just
coming to terms with the idea that black people were humans led to a lot
of musical overdetermination (the first wave of British rappers is truly
worthy of a mini-series; it would be more Brideshead Revisited than The
Wire). But a quarter-century later and the UK is a truly multicultural
society (Germany, not so much).
Still, there is a touch of the Amazon Shopper in the Ivory Tower to
Gartside's pop work, with its daub of **Miles** and smidgen of **Mos
Def** (whose rap Gartside had to apologetically mimic on "Die Alone"),
though this also makes the Scritti albums archetypal for their
period(s!). If you want to understand a certain late-70s leftist
mindset, the Early compilation Rough Trade put out last decade is as
good as any. For the non-political ways Thatcher/Reagan and cocaine
goosed Yippie into Yuppie, Scritti's 80s albums are key. And *Anomie*
reflects the mainstream absorption and bohemianization of hip-hop
culture during the late 90s.
Gartside appears aware of this. He joked about mispronouncing 'Jacques
Derrida' in the early single of the same name (why not? It worked for
Sting?), then he warned us that he would be interpolating a Jeru the
Damaja song. He pronounced him as Jerry the Damager. On the way to the
show I caught a mustachioed fellow reading Slavoj Žižek on the U-Bahn.
Returning, I mused on how Gartside's lyrics are so literate and wordy
that his confusion causes lyrical rhythms that might well end up being
his true musical innovation. Or rather, invocation. Isn't praying like
Aretha Franklin just another form of analysis? ~
*Photos: Tanja Siren, https://www.facebook.com/tanjasiren007*
[1]: http://www.electronicbeats.net/?p=35752?galleryimage=scritti-politti_06
---
id: 1a4ac490-0be3-4820-a5eb-a80b0567e41c
blueprint: article
title: 'Whatever Wood Beez, Wood Beez: Scritti Politti live at HAU'
date: 2012-11-30T00:01:42+01:00
wp_id: '35752'
slug: whatever-wood-beez-wood-beez-scritti-politti-live-at-hau
teaser_image: legacy/whatever-wood-beez-wood-beez-scritti-politti-live-at-hau/SCRITTI-POLITTI_091.jpg
contents:
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type: text
text: '<p>“Postmodernism and pop reggae: a marriage made in Heaven or Hell. You Decide,” declaimed a denim-clad Green Gartside with slightly-practiced modesty and a shuffling consternation that would appear repeatedly during <strong>Scritti Politti</strong>’s first Berlin appearance since a Martin Kippenberger-sanctioned night at SO 36 in 1979. Scritti—which is whomever the stage-adverse Gartside decides it wood beez—haven’t played many gigs since 1979, and with their arc from the directly countercultural to the complicatedly commercial, it’s not the only comparison one might make between them and the once stage-shy <strong>Steely Dan,</strong> whose initial dissolve coincided with Scritti’s brief ascendancy. Also like The Dan, their previous album (which was all Gartside) is over a half-decade old; with the Klieg light a-wanderin’ it is apparently safe to hide on the road again.</p><p>So, is that road a stairway to Heaven or a highway to Hell? Well, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions, just as the stairway to Hebbel Theater is red-carpeted with legacy acts. A well-known autodidact sporting a semiotic student’s bookshelf and a squatter’s sense of place, Gartside’s best known for his effortfully effortless mid-Eighties lite-funk and most respected by the current cognoscenti for his proleptical Rough Trade messthetic post-punk, and is self-effacing about both. That paradigm may yet shift again. He doesn’t record often—five official albums in thirty years. But if the stories he told while fronting his four-piece, which included seeing Tito Puente with Kraftwerk, as well as Gregory Isaacs, Joni Mitchell, and—HEY! There’s his buddy Robyn Hitchcock peacocking in polka dots throughout the room tonight—were any indication, the sparseness may have less to do with exactitude and more to do with an intellectual’s fall toward earthier pursuits. Introducing “The Boom Boom Bap” from 1999’s severely odd, rap-ish record <em>Anomie & Bonhomie</em>, he noted, “This next song is about beer and hip-hop,” which he claims dominated his life during his post-stardom years of Welsh exile. And may still be, as during an evening in which he was previously gulping Spree Quelle and cough syrup, he theatrically canvassed the audience for a brew. A woman offered up a Kostritzer from her bag she had smuggled in, though he perused a single quaff.</p><p>Gartside looks younger than he did in the promotional photos for that album. His voice, now housed in a bear-of-a-man instead of a rail-thin androgyne, is often described as boy-ish and, at his age, one might add uncanny. Perhaps the years of restricting its use have prevented retardation. Tonight’s concert revealed the songwriter beneath the perfect pop conceptualist; he did not privilege his hits and, by avoiding 80s soundtrack signifiers “Perfect Way” and “Oh Patti,” arguably de-emphasized them. But by doing so, also showed up the historical danger that ideas can render upon songwriting, positioning them as platforms for the sonics-of-the-day.</p><a href="http://www.electronicbeats.net/?p=35752?galleryimage=scritti-politti_06" rel="attachment wp-att-35773"></a><p>For while it appears that Gartside would go on to embrace black pop music out of aesthetic, not political love, like many brainiacs and Commies taken with populism during the 80s, the creator of the commercial pinnacle <em>Cupid & Psyche 85</em> can (fairly or unfairly) appear a bit dilettantish, sampling and weaving the styles of the era, and Gartside’s discovery of Black Music as a Came to Golgatha moment whiffs a bit of the ridiculous in these 2000s. A 1980s England just coming to terms with the idea that black people were humans led to a lot of musical overdetermination (the first wave of British rappers is truly worthy of a mini-series; it would be more Brideshead Revisited than The Wire). But a quarter-century later and the UK is a truly multicultural society (Germany, not so much).</p><p>Still, there is a touch of the Amazon Shopper in the Ivory Tower to Gartside’s pop work, with its daub of <strong>Miles</strong> and smidgen of <strong>Mos Def</strong> (whose rap Gartside had to apologetically mimic on “Die Alone”), though this also makes the Scritti albums archetypal for their period(s!). If you want to understand a certain late-70s leftist mindset, the Early compilation Rough Trade put out last decade is as good as any. For the non-political ways Thatcher/Reagan and cocaine goosed Yippie into Yuppie, Scritti’s 80s albums are key. And <em>Anomie</em> reflects the mainstream absorption and bohemianization of hip-hop culture during the late 90s.</p><p>Gartside appears aware of this. He joked about mispronouncing ‘Jacques Derrida’ in the early single of the same name (why not? It worked for Sting?), then he warned us that he would be interpolating a Jeru the Damaja song. He pronounced him as Jerry the Damager. On the way to the show I caught a mustachioed fellow reading Slavoj Žižek on the U-Bahn. Returning, I mused on how Gartside’s lyrics are so literate and wordy that his confusion causes lyrical rhythms that might well end up being his true musical innovation. Or rather, invocation. Isn’t praying like Aretha Franklin just another form of analysis? ~</p><p><em>Photos: Tanja Siren, https://www.facebook.com/tanjasiren007</em></p>'
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Chunk #1 (Position: 0)
# Whatever Wood Beez, Wood Beez: Scritti Politti live at HAU "Postmodernism and pop reggae: a marriage made in Heaven or Hell. You Decide," declaimed a denim-clad Green Gartside with slightly-practiced modesty and a shuffling consternation that would appear repeatedly during **Scritti Politti**'...
Chunk #2 (Position: 1)
Scritti---which is whomever the stage-adverse Gartside decides it wood beez---haven't played many gigs since 1979, and with their arc from the directly countercultural to the complicatedly commercial, it's not the only comparison one might make between them and the once stage-shy **Steely Dan,** ...
Chunk #3 (Position: 2)
And may still be, as during an evening in which he was previously gulping Spree Quelle and cough syrup, he theatrically canvassed the audience for a brew. A woman offered up a Kostritzer from her bag she had smuggled in, though he perused a single quaff. Gartside looks younger than he did in the ...
Chunk #4 (Position: 3)
Tonight's concert revealed the songwriter beneath the perfect pop conceptualist; he did not privilege his hits and, by avoiding 80s soundtrack signifiers "Perfect Way" and "Oh Patti," arguably de-emphasized them. But by doing so, also showed up the historical danger that ideas can render upon son...
Chunk #5 (Position: 4)
A 1980s England just coming to terms with the idea that black people were humans led to a lot of musical overdetermination (the first wave of British rappers is truly worthy of a mini-series; it would be more Brideshead Revisited than The Wire). But a quarter-century later and the UK is a truly m...
Chunk #6 (Position: 5)
For the non-political ways Thatcher/Reagan and cocaine goosed Yippie into Yuppie, Scritti's 80s albums are key. And *Anomie* reflects the mainstream absorption and bohemianization of hip-hop culture during the late 90s. Gartside appears aware of this. He joked about mispronouncing 'Jacques Derrid...