Gen X mindfuckery: R.I.P. Farrah and Michael Jackson

Things that make you go, hmmmmutherfuckinmmmm: in one day, Gen X lost two of its biggest icons. Farrah Fawcett passed away in the morning; Michael Jackson in the afternoon. Every time I went for coffee, someone passed away. I’m not getting up again, I thought.

Farrah, you expected. She had been battling anal cancer for a while, and it had reently spread to her liver. Last night her family gathered to say their final farewells to the ultimate 70’s pin-up, actress and ultimately, heroine. It was a matter of hours. It was no less heavy. People at work were bummed out .

Then came a series of pings, texts, and exclamations. OMG, Michael Jackson rushed to the hospital; in cardiac arrest; dead from a pill overdose; in a coma. Finally, at 3:15, after hours of rumors, the LA Times confirmed, MJ, age 50 had passed away. On the way home, everyone in the subway was talking about Farrah and Michael. On the street, people had boomboxes on their fire escapes and car radios tuned to stations playing all Michael Jackson songs. The internet “collapsed” under the flurry of activity.

Iran disappeared. Once the death was confirmed, all mainstream news switched to Michael Jackson coverage. Barbara Walters aired a tribute to Farrah that ended with Jaclyn Smith crying.

Ed McMahon also died a couple days ago, but sad as that was, it didn’t really hit me or most people my age as hard as this one-two punch. Adding to the surreal vibe of it all, a rumor floated up from a fake news generator that Jeff Goldblum had died on location in Australia. According to “Kevin Spacey” on twitter, it’s all lies, so stop it. Just as well, there’s only so much even slackers can take.

“You’re just a product of / Loveliness / I like the groove of / Your walk, / Your talk, your dress…”

R.I.P. Andy “the Orb” Hughes

On June 12th, ambient/balearic producer and DJ, Andy Hughes passed away in a liver intensive care unit from a “short illness”. He was best known for his work with the Orb, notably on the album Orblivion which featured one of their bigger hits, “Toxygene”. Most recently, he was working with Basement Jaxx.  His family is accepting donations at JustGiving.com.

R.I.P. Ian “Eon” Loveday

Ian “Eon” Loveday passed away June 17 from pneumonia. He was best known for the early 1990’s rave track, “Spice”, instantly recognizable by the “Dune” blips: “He who controls the Spice controls the universe” and “the Spice must flow.” He also teamed with Peter “Baby” Ford often; and Mark “S’Express” Moore. Most people would say, “Who?” But for ravers everywhere, this track bring long, giddy nights instantly, freshly to mind.

Flavorwire: Rune Lindbaek interview

MusicExclusive Idjut Boys Interview Meanderthals Rune Lindbæk

Exclusive: Idjut Boy and Meanderthal Rune Lindbæk Talks the Substance of Size

1:13 pm Tuesday May 19, 2009

by Jorge Hernandez

In Norway, size matters. “The big clubs don’t do well. They try to bring ‘BIG’ names there and it doesn’t really work,” says Rune Lindbæk from his part-time flat in Berlin. “Most of the popular DJ’s on the scene – Todd Terje, Lindstrom, etc – are the dubby DJ’s and we all prefer the small clubs.” How small is small? “150 people or so. We just came back from the Ukraine, places you wouldn’t think of, but people are dedicated.”

Lindbæk, once part of Those Norwegians with pre-Royksopp Torbjorn Brundtland, is presently a third of Meanderthals, along with UK’s disco-not-disco dons Idjut Boys (Dan Tyler & Conrad McDonnel). While Meanderthals’ new record, Desire Lines, was recorded between Oslo and London, it sounds like something out of a Malibu slumber party. After the jump, we chat with Lindbæk about disco dalliances, the impossibility of taking studio albums on the road, and the aesthetics of the Pacific Coast Highway.

Lindbæk had very specific ideas about the new album. “When we started on this project, I said, ‘This record should be like the Pacific Coast Highway – something very California.’ It became a cliche in the studio – our hot crowded studio with the tiny window,”

The trio’s unglamorous confines could have been a set up for failure, considering their working styles. “As a team, we sort of prefer to play alone, DJ alone. I need to go into a zone. Doing a back to back DJ thing, I lose some concentration,” he confesses. While they managed to work things out in the studio, don’t expect Meanderthals to go globe-trotting any time soon. “We’re talking about touring; if we were going to do it, we’d need to bring out a whole studio, a massive amount of gear. What we have in mind would be like a rock setup, and I don’t think it would work in dingy basement clubs.”

With a tour uncertain and the album done, what’s an idle primitive to do? “A remix album is possible; Conrad (of Idjut Boys) is making dub versions of all the tracks on Desire Lines. I’m doing some remixes for Annie, a minimalist/Italo guy on Kompakt called Skateboard, and Dominique Leon from San Francisco. Lindstrom discovered Leon and set up StromLand records to put his stuff out. I’m going back to Oslo on the 14th to work on my next 12 inch ‘Odessa’”.

Reflecting on his homes away from home, the wayward Rune adds, “The area where I live in Berlin, I would be better off learning Turkish, I really love it. I also lived in NY. My heart is there – can you please kiss the pavement for me?” When I ask him what pavement, he says “I used to stay at Danny Wang’s apartment, next to my favorite East Village café, 7A.” By coincidence, I tell him I used to stay at Danny’s as well, and that it was going through Wang’s record collection that I realized Lindbæk had sampled Bill Withers’ “The Stuff” for “Junta Jaegar.” “It’s a great bass line, and when I heard it, I knew I wanted to use it. On the B-side of Junta, I used a sample from a 70’s rock band called Zoo.”

That single, and the album it came from, Sondag, was released by Repap, a left-field sister label to Paper Recordings, the now-defunct deep disco imprint out of Manchester, UK. Paper also released Kaminksy Park, by Those Norwegians. The album’s cover features a pile of melting vinyl, a reference to the Comiskey Park “Disco Sucks” bonfire of the late 70’s often cited as the unofficial birth of House music. “When I was living in London I spent a lot of time in record shops. And one of my best friends used to live in Manchester. So we knew about Paper and decided to send them a demo, just to see. When they called us up, we were like FUCK, YEAH!”

London is also where Rune first met Idjut Boys. “They were on to something with their underground sound long ago. I was always a fan.” But how did this Nordic nomad wind up a disco purist in the first place? “My mom liked Disco and when I heard the rhythm, I liked it too. People my age, we were the first rhythm generation of Norway, I was like a sponge – this was before Paradise Garage and NY radio. We had a radio station, state owned, they had one program for pop music and there was no club scene at all, just really shit discoteques.”

Fortunately for Oslo, those days are over. Kings of Convenience, Erlend Oye, Lindbæk and company have put their homeland on the global music map. “It’s not like we have one place that we all hang out in Oslo – it’s a slow burning scene, and discos come and go. People have been doing their thing for many years. The rest of the world is just catching up now…”