Comments on: Green’s elevator performance

By: Joe R

Joe R — Sun, 11 Jun 2006 12:56:59 +0000

The following snippet is from today’s Sunday New York Times. Also Amazon UK emailed to say that the release of the Boom Boom Bap single has been delayed.

“If you’re a British new-wave pioneer who turns 51 next week, if you were once known for your obsession with Marxist and post-Marxist theory, if your career includes big hits (none bigger than “Perfect Way”) and long silences â€” well, if all this were true, then you would be Green Gartside, the man behind Scritti Politti. It’s hard to imagine how he could have made a better album than “White Bread Black Beer” (Rough Trade/Nonesuch), his beautiful and puzzling new CD, out now in Britain and next month in America. It’s full of synthesizer-driven bedroom pop, and the lyrics hint at personal obsessions and, as always with Scritti Politti, dry jokes about pop convention. “Road to No Regret,” near the end, is a startlingly straightforward ballad. But in “Boom Boom Bap,” he sneakily undermines his own lush atmosphere. He croons, “Wake up, Hollis crew/ Rock box, it’s like that,” and attentive listeners might notice what he’s doing: listing the songs from the first Run-DMC album.”

By: Marco Raaphorst

Marco Raaphorst — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 20:03:57 +0000

I have a meeting at the VPRO this week and I will ask them about it. This would be better for us of course.

By: justin bindley

justin bindley — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 19:40:09 +0000

hey this is great..any way to get the video so we can keep a copy for ourselves??

By: Ellen

Ellen — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 16:26:12 +0000

Translation of the info:

Almost thirty years in the music business: Green Gartside, actually Paul Julian Strohmeyer, because that is the name on his fishing license. The name Scritti Politti is always on his records, an act which scored a couple of synth funk hits in the 80s. After that time Gartside reinvented himself again and again; he experimented a lot and made an album regularly [translator: regularly??]. But the Irishman [tr: ??] hasn’t been in the spotlights for years. Until he made the refreshing album White Bread Black Beer in 2006, which sounds rather familiar actually.

Earlier this year Scritti Politti played a ‘one-time gig’ after 26 year. You only say something like that when you doub’t if the public is still waiting for you, but reactions were positive so there are some new gigs planned on Gartside’s agenda.

3VOOR12 [tr: 3 BEFORE 12] had a meeting with Green Gartside in Hotel Vondel in Amsterdam on May 11th. Armed with an acoustic guitar he played three songs in eight minutes. “Actually, I can’t play at all,” Gartside says beforehand. “I record the music and never think about how to perform it live. I’ve got a band for that. I just sing.”

On request of 3VOOR12 he plays solo anyway and he does it quite good. Look for yourself!