Isolation Mix Twelve

I'm not sure that the title of these mixes holds true any more but onward we go. This week's hour of music is coming from the punk and post- punk world and the long tail that snakes from the plugging of a guitar into an amplifier and someone with something to say stepping up to the microphone. Some Spaghetti Western as an intro, some friendship, some politics, some anger, some exhilaration, some questions, some disillusionment, some psychedelic exploration and some optimism to end with.

In History Lesson Part 2 D. Boon explains his friendship with Mike Watt, the importance of punk in changing their lives, the singers and players in the bands that inspired him and, in the first line, the essence of punk as he experienced it.

'Our band could be your life
Real names'd be proof
Me and Mike Watt played for years
Punk rock changed our lives

We learned punk rock in Hollywood
Drove up from Pedro
We were fucking corn dogs
We'd go drink and pogo

Mr. Narrator
This is Bob Dylan to me
My story could be his songs
I'm his soldier child

Our band is scientist rock
But I was E. Bloom and Richard Hell
Joe Strummer and John Doe
Me and Mike Watt, playing guitar'

Ennio Morricone: For A Few Dollars More

Minutemen: History Lesson Part 2

Joe Strummer/Electric Dog House: Generations

X: In This House That I Call Home

The Replacements: Can’t Hardly Wait (Tim Outtake Version)

Husker Du: Keep Hanging On

The Redskins: Kick Over The Statues

The Woodentops: Why (Live)

The Vacant Lots: Bells

The Third Sound: For A While

Spacemen 3: Revolution

Poltergeist: Your Mind Is A Box (Let Us Fill It With Wonder)

Echo And The Bunnymen: Ocean Rain (Alt Version)

Pete Wylie: Sinful

Carbon/Silicon: Big Surprise

The World's A Mess

Punk, in it's 1976- 1980 form, was expressing some very universal attitudes through the lyrics, the sound and the presentation- boredom, dissatisfaction, rejection of authority, two fingers to the world. But the different scenes and places it took hold seem very local. Sex Pistols and their entourage were London. Buzzcocks could only be Manchester. The CBGB punks could only have come from a particular part of New York (wherever they all migrated from originally). The world was less globalised and less connected. Word of mouth spread more slowly. Local scenes had their own character based on the views and outlook of the participants. The punk scene as it developed in California and specifically in Los Angeles looks so much the product of late 70s LA that the bands could only have been spawned by that city at that time. According to those who were there and accounts of it, the new LA punk scene was suburban and from the sprawl, negative, against everything, especially the 'older' bands from the Hollywood part of town, who were more glam, more fashion conscious. These southern Californian suburban punk bands became faster, narrower, more hardcore. The animosity between the two punk camps and then the violent actions of the LAPD made California punk a genuinely dangerous scene to be a part of.

X formed in 1977, founded by singer- bassist John Doe and guitarist Billy Zoom. Doe's girlfriend Exene Cervenka joined on vocals and drummer D.J. Bonebrake arrived (who also played with Germs). X would go on to outlive the early LA punk scene and make records through the 1980s with re- unions in the 90s and 2000s. X could play loud and fast and their debut and it's follow up are full of loud, fast, short songs. What sets them apart from the hardcore bands is the country and rockabilly tinges to their music- you can feel it in Bonebrake's motorised drumming, Zoom's guitars and Doe's voice. Exene added urgency and a wail, her poetry and lyrics stand out, and the off kilter twin vocals give them another layer. The presence of producer Ray Manzarek and his Doors organ sound on their albums adds an unexpected swampy murk to their electric LA punk. Mostly though they just sound alive.

Two songs, one from 1980's Los Angeles album...

The World's A Mess, It's In My Kiss

And one from 1981's Wild Gift...

When Our Love Passed Out On The Couch

In This House That I Call Home

God things are busy this week, hardly got time to organise a thought, nevermind some blogposts- here's a cracking tune from 1981 from Los Angeles punk band X, punky and punkish rather than screaming Californian hardcore. Ragged around the edges and arms aloft.

In This House That I Call Home