OA 241. This show is dedicated to the Romani People

Songs of exile, resistance and independence this week in OvAryAction, with Esma, Björk's Declare Independence and loads more.

I also played "Sick to Death" by Atari Teenage Riot, because I've been using a part of the song as an intro theme for... the past 5 years. A little tribute to ATR, therefore, because if you don't tell what your sources are, well, quoting turns into stealing. It's just a question of respect (and of self-respect)... just a reminder for the thieves who claim ownership on things they didn't create themselves.... don't shit in the hand that gives.

For your ears, heart and soul, the week's album was Mika Miko's C.Y.S.L.A.B.F.

For your eyes, brain and reading days, the week's zine of choice: Skinned Heart 2. Get in touch: skinnedheartzine@hotmail.com, wwwmyspace.com/skinnedheartzine

The full playlist is available on request calamityval2000@yahoo.com , and the show will be played again on Wednesday, on RadiOrakel, 99.3 fm in Oslo, or www.radiorakel.no on a computer near you. 15:00-16:00, Drammen (Norway) time.

take care of one another, we're all we have

vAl

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oA240: Vibrarians interview and other stories...

of riots in the garage.

The Vibrarians paid a visit to Oslo last week and had a little talk in oA's mic about Oly, riot grrl, and... their magic creative chemistry. Sleater-kinney, the Third Sex, Bikini kill, juju queen, Vicious Irene and ....more were on the playlist.

If you want the whole playlist in detail, please ask for it and I 'll send it to you.

The show will be rerun on Wednesday on radiorakel, www.radiorakel.no or 99.3 fm in Oslo.

peace and ostregene in the airwaves

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back, live’n’kickin’

Hey you out there. Here is the OA Playlist 238.
First show in August, first show of season 2008-09, back live and kicking after one month of reruns of older shows. T
his is an Anti indie free kitten punk not rock show

Free kitten, Help me, Inherit/Ecstatic Peace
Free kitten, oh bondage up yours, Alright this time... V/A, SFTRI
Free kitten, Punk suing punk e.p. Kitten Bossanova/KillRockStars
Free kitten, punk swing punk e.p. punk v punk/KRS
Sonic Youth, Flower, Screaming Fields of Sonic Love/Blast First
Free Kitten, Feed the Tree, v/a rock stars kill/KRS
Free kitten strawberry milk, sentimental education/wiija
funkmesiter G, Strawsberry Milf, Free kitten played yourself: the official tribute to free kitten/Self-release
Free Kitten,what s fair, Nice ass/KRS
Free kitten, Erected girl, Inherit/Ecstatic Peace
Free Kitten, monster eye, Inherit/Ecstatic Peace
Free Kitten, Seasick, Inherit/Ecstatic Peace
Free Kitten, Sentimental Education/wiija
Free Kitten, Dick, Straight Up/Pearl Necklace

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Interview with Blonde Redhead’s Kazu

Only reruns on the radio front, but ovAry-nonstop-Action has been busy... obviously. It takes FOREVER to transcribe an interview. Or, let me rephrase: it takes forever to find the motivation to start typing an interview...3 months in this case. I'm not even gonna say I'm sorry... at least it's done and I'm happy to share. have a good summer, squeeze it to the very last drop, it's the sweetest one.

The radio show will be on again from the beginning of August, so you can send in your demo, lps and mix tapes :)


Interview with Blonde Redhead's Kazu. Backstage at Rockefeller, Oslo. April 14th, 2008.

A whole year after the release of their 7th lp, 23, Blonde Redhead finally decided to pay a long awaited visit to Oslo this spring (NB: they'll be back for Storaasfestival in the beginning of August -their last European date of the summer).
The soundcheck was not finished when we entered the dark, empty venue, which gave us the chance to enjoy a whole song performed just for us -or so it seemed- and the sound engineer, obviously. We followed Kazu into a small back room after promising Playground's Glenn not to take any pictures. Strange when most people would be watching the concert, some 4 hours later, through the screen of their cellphone but whatever, we're on the serious, pro side of the stage now and there are some rules we have to play along to or look like we do at least.
We're alone with her now. None of us is comfortable and I'm so nervous I'm about to pass out. On her side, Kazu's a bit annoyed because the soundcheck was not really satisfactory. She apologizes for being a bit tired while pulling the curtains shut but ends up confessing that the Swedish gig last night went so well that they stayed up very late/early drinking. Somehow, the tension drops a bit when we realize it was just caused by some heavy hangover and more casual discussions begin, starting with ....horses.
Here are, transcribed as faithfully as possible (fuck teasing-effiecent-fast golden rule of journalism... all you need is some truth and we'll give you some truth) these 20 minutes spent with Kazu. Please, do take a seat, relax. We hope you'll enjoy....


OvAryAction: First of all, I need to apologize for not being able to give you good addresses to ride around Oslo1 . I know there are some, though. I reckoned it would have been difficult to squeeze this between soundcheck, interviews and the gig..... As a replacement, I brought you a postcard of a fjording, it's a typical norwegian horse.

Kazu: Oh yes, it's beautiful, thank you

OA: Have you been riding horses for a long time or is it a recent passion?

Kazu: It's been a while, but it's getting more and more... it's taking over my life a little bit so it's getting hard to do both music and horses.

OA: What is it you do with them? Do you ride in races? Do you jump?

Kazu: Yes, I jump. Then I have a few horses I work with for a given period. You know, it's like a partnership so you have to keep riding them. It's a very much time consuming thing and I play music with the twins, which is in the city, and the horses are of course in the countryside. So I spend my time commuting: I wake up at dawn and start riding, then I get back in a car to the city to practice... so it's pretty tiring.

OA: Do you feel like you're gonna have to give up one of your passion?

Kazu: You know what, I think about it because I feel almost guilty that I love riding horses so much, that I'm not giving enough attention to music sometimes, but.... they're both really similar, I don't think I could live without one or the other. I must say that being on tour has been a relief because I don't have to worry about the horses.

OA: Did you leave someone to work with your horses while you're away or are they just having a break?

Kazu: No, no, they have easier work because I'm not there, I think, but they have other people who ride them. It's tricky, though, because you become partners with the horses. They get very attached to you and then they get confused when other people ride them. It's better with only one rider, but.....

OA: Talking about horses, I wanted to ask you if you remembered where you took that picture on Misery is a Butterfly.... because you see, I come from southern France originally and....

Kazu: Oh yeah, that's a Camargue horse.

OA: OK, yeah, that's exactly what I thought. (The picture was also used for the BrH website)


Kazu: You know what, it was a book I have been given. I've had it for years, though I can't quite remember.... I love that photo! It's nice, right?

OA: yeah!

Kazu: They're running in the water.

OA: Many of them are still wild there.... or almost completely wild.

Kazu: You know, I've never been.... I've seen some Camargue horses, but not actually there, you know, on the beach, running like that. I heard that they are really wild: they have a mind of their own, they do what they want.

OA: Yeah, but they are generally very straight forward as well, so thay're really nice to ride.... But : about music now....(laughs: the ice 's broken). Did you play music before you played in Blonde Redhead?

Kazu: Yeah

OA: In bands? On your own?

Kazu, laughing: yes.

OA: What's making you laugh, were they bad experiences?

Kazu: No, no, I was always doing it, without any ambition whatsoever, but I was always playing music.

OA: Any kind of instrument in particular?

Kazu: Piano, I guess. I had never picked up a guitar before. That's just after Blonde Redhead I started playing guitar, just becasue I wanted to, but I'm a really bad guitar player. (laughs)

OA: Were you into New York No Wave as well?

Kazu: Yeah... though I didn't know much about it then. Now I know that a lot of them didn't know how to play guitar either.

OA: Which is quite inspiring, isn't it?

Kazu: You know I was rather ignorant because I kind of went into it without any concept about it. It actually ended up being kind of good, I think, because I didn't know there were people before me who'd done a lot of this... that would've stopped me from doing it, maybe. But I had no idea, so I was just trying to get done what I needed to get done, without any sort of embarrassment or....information.

OA: Have you lived in NY for a long time now?

Kazu: Yes, a little over ten years. I never really admit that I live in New York.

OA: Why is that?

Kazu: I came by accident... I kind od didn't like it so much from the beginning. I didn't have any fantasy about living in NY, but now I like it, compared to other cities in America. America is a pretty strange place, it's completely different from Japan. I can't relate to it, most of the time, it's very hard for me to relate to it. It's easier for me to understand or relate to European culture, you know. Like, not that I like England (or the UK) more, but islands in general, I can see people's mentality a bit more easily. Island mentalities are very specific, I think. Besides these are old countries. America is the complete opposite of that, so....

OA: Well, a lot of the ancient history of the American continent has been erased so....

Kazu: Exactly, yeah, it's true.

OA: Talking about history..... Do you remember when you heard about Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg? Can you remember or do you just grew up listening to them?

Kazu: Well, it's really strange because I remember watching movies with my parents, like really bad b-movies with Jane Birkin in them, or Gainsbourg. I remembered when I watched them again, I was like "yeah, I think I have seen this before" so that was just that much. But you know so much of Gainsbourg's music was derived from classical music and I have listened to a lot of classical music when I grew up, because that was the only kind of music I was allowed to listen to at home. So in a way, I get very moved by the fact that he borrowed a lot from classical music and still created something so original. I think that's why I like him so much.

OA: He was also a very political artist, playing with tabooes.... which is very empowering too.

Kazu: I don't know what he was really like, but he seemed to be a very difficult person to live with

OA: I wouldn't know, we should ask Jane Birkin. (laughs).... but I guess that people with strong personalities....
But closer to us, and more personal now: about the writing of 23... you might think this is a very innocent and clumsy question, but how do you decide everything for songs. Like what instruments are going to be used, what effects? I know there's no recipe to write a song... It is a magical act of creation, but can you give us some examples or explain in what kind of perspective you worked on this album.

Kazu: It really was an accident. There was a song I really wanted to work. In my head, it was a more simple groovy song, in the style of Gainsbourg, or something like this, but it never quite worked.... though I was incisting. Meanwhile Simone and Amedeo were working on something else and then, just because we were just kind of frustrated, they suggested we put them together. It was infuriating for me. I was like: "I'm not gonna give my song to your ....stuff!" Eventually, I tried and literally.... how to say this? Well, it was half time, like my melody worked as half slow. If I really wanted to make it work, I should have sped it up twice as fast, but I just kept its ballad like atmosphere, and they were playing really double tempo, so that's how "23" came about: that really stretchy melody over this quite groovy thing. Then at that point, I was converted and thought this could really work. But it was one of the songs we paid least attention to, so whenever we didn't have anything else better to do, we would work on "23"

OA: Then it ends up opening the whole album and giving its title even.

Kazu: yeah, but it was ok for me. I knew it was gonna be a very important song for me, because I really liked it. I didn't want to overwork it. You know when you like something so much, you kind of don't wanna like conclude anything too clearly, you want to keep all options open, so it was really ok for me we never worked too much on it, just a bit here and there, then leave it alone for a while. It's just one of those songs. When that happened, I knew it was gonna be special. Another thing that was a bit different: I always had this thing about my vocal sounding too pretty. I hate my voice, so pretty and kind of high, it's so annoying! I always want to be lower and as nasty as possible, but for this one I really wanted to sound beautiful. I wanted to sound like I'm not from this world. So that was another thing I tried hard to do, and I had never tried it before in my life. I told the engineer: "please, make my voice sound as beautiful as you can possibly make it".

OA: You talk a lot about "what THEY are working on and what YOU are working on", how do you then deal with ownership issues in your work?

Kazu (smiling widely): You can kind of tell by who's singing it. I guess that's the way we incist the ownership of it. (laugh)

OA: As simple as this. So basically the one singing has written the lyrics and the music?

Kazu: No, no, the lyrics. Musically, I definitely need everybody's help to finish a song. Amedeo is then a big influence, but the idea, the concept, what you want... the one singing has -or is- the guideline: this is the way I want to do it, and then everybody has to read what's on the other's mind.

OA: Is it more jamming or more talking when you write a song?

Kazu: It's almost like more talking... we almost don't need a practice space, we could just talk it through (laughs) without even touching instruments

OA: a spoken word band (laughs)

Kazu: yes, sometimes it's like that, you know, but except for "The Dress", the song called "The Dress," I can't remember where on the record, it was Amedeo's song and it was very kind of classical sounding and very.... Amedeo, and then he just couldn't work it through. Then I took over, and then we switched the chords around and then suddenly it became this really .... feminine song and that was also accidental, like the way it happened. I didn't like it when he was singing it, but whenb I started singing it, it was like "oh, we can heat this up, this is gonna be really good!"

OA: You worked with different people to mix the songs on the album....

Kazu: yes, two different people.

OA: How did you decide that? Are they friends of yours....

Kazu: no, no, those are like the top, top, top producers, who normally charge bands loads of money.... they are like among the best producers in the world. But they want to do "interesting" stuff too... I mean not only money-making bands... so if they have time, they like to work with us. Alan Moulder (the Cure, Nine Inch Nails, Smashing Pumpkins, Shakespeare Sisters...) said "yes, we could do it but I don't have time because I have to do so and so and blah blah"... you know. So he said he only had time for one, but he ended up doing 3. And the rest of it, the other engineer, Rich Costey, he's just as famous, so we had to wait a long time for him to be available. He was working with U2 at the time, it was really annoying... (laughs)

(interruption by Glenn from Playground who asked us very politely to hurry the fuck up.... but politely, yeah .... Rock'n'roll is the very edge where wating and rushing meet)

Kazu continued anyway: These people (the engineers) are artists themselves. I was really shocked to see how musically in tune they are and what they were capable of, what very special ears they have, they are very sensitive to sound and knowledge.... that's pretty wild. I am so glad that we asked because the music changed so much through them.

OA: Ok, thanks for your time and your answers. One last thing, though: would you like me to play any particular song when I play the interview on the radio? Your favourite songs at the moment?

Kazu: ..... god, dear, yeah, of course I do, but I can't think of anything right away, there's a a lot....

OA: yeah, I can imagine, I would hate this kind of question too.... (laughs)

Kazu: shit..... oh, the band we're playing with.... maybe it's gonna be hard to find the record, though....but The Devastations' "oh me, oh my" is really good and so is "Avalanche of stars" i think you might like it... it really sounds like Gainsbourg, really twisted.

www.blonde-redhead.com/index2.html
www.4AD.com

8:44 AM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

OvAryActin’ summer

Long time no see... nor hear! RadiOrakel was again a very local radio for a short while, due to the emptying of the Blitz House for renovation. The Blitz café and the radio are now in barracks next to the house (we are keeping an eye on the work in process.... who trust the word of the town hall???).

You can now hear radiorakel on the internet again: www.radiorakel.no. As far as OvAryAction is concerned, it's reruns until August, every Wednesday, 3-4, and Saturdays 4-5 CET.

Send us your records, demos, tapes... they'll be carefully lsitened to, played on the radio and possibly reviewed :)

OvAryAction
Herslebsgate 30b
0561 Oslo
Norway


so long


vAl-aryAction

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no show today.... how could they know, just what this message means???

....the end of all my hopes, the end of all my dreams....
no, it s not that bad, fear not. It's music's day today in Oslo, and Blitz/radOrakel (/akks) have a stage in front of the house for the occasion, which means NO live show. Kate Pendry is gonna be the Orakel the whole afternoon, chatting between bands. A show between the shows.
Starts around 13:00, I believe, see the programme: http://www.musikkfest.no/

anyway, OvAryAction's back on Wednesdday.

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Oslo punk forspiel

OvAryAction's Playlist 237.
life....but how we live it..... ovary punk not rock action brigade
Moonstruck, little sister b/w chica merica, 7"
life...but how to live it? barefoot in the snow/ugly
lydia Lunch, God's Other Son
Life...but how to live it? beautiful world. day by day your life but how live it
The Gits, Whirlwind+Seaweeds, Seafish Louisville
Seven Year Bitch,It's too late. Viva zapata!
Paragraf 119, Middelklassejunkie, musik til ulempe 7"
aerobitch, Queen of rock n roll, 4 track ep
aerobitch, (you) wanna be so punk, c'mon cop, make my day/punch rec 10"
de fatwas, not with me, screaming clit v/a
Haggard, quit your job, No Future
kaos klitoriano kaos, klitoriano kaos, up the grrrlz v/a
The Siren, another spectacle, siren
tozibabe, dezuje
mz ann thropik, off with your Head demo
grylurnar, valur og jordarberjamaukidhans, mavastellid
lilliput, eisiger wind, lilliput
the ettes, a conversation, messthetics
West Dyke, Dyke, unisex
team dresch,dykes and fagetarians, personal best
free kitten, help me, inherit
life..... but how to live it. Sweet dreams, ugly

from 16:00, under Dyveke's bridge in Oslo... in loving memory of the good old days, and Borre (sorry for the mispelling, my keyboard is not norsk equiped) and because we are a community, because we need to stay sane in this oppressive insanity will perform : Life...but how to live it, along with Israelvis/angor wat, Slow hard end, seppo goes to holocaust, lost luggage, leather face, billy no mates, cooler king...
thanks for this

7:53 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

last show in May, sunny maydaymayday

Playlist 236. DJane session with technical disabilities
LOADS of fresh, long awaited new music
Helluvah, "Behind the Screen", Emotion Pills/Blog up music rec
Trinacria, "Make no Mistake", Travel Now Journey Infinitely/Indie recordings
The long Blondes, "Round the Hairpin", Couples/rough trade
Free Kitten, "Erected Girl", Inherit/ecstatic rec
Faca, "Testosterona", http://www.myspace.com/facafaca
Hello Cucca, Doo Wah Da, Gran Sur/Disco Rompepistas
Free Kitten, help me, Inherit/Ecstatic records
Lushus, Some Reason, Infection/self-release
Las she Devils, frustracion tragediamentiras, www.myspace.com/lasshedevils 
Freedom, Apes and Sticks, Apes and Sticks/self-release
Juana Chan, Buscame, http://www.myspace.com/juanachang
Freedom, Apes and Sticks, Apes and Sticks/self-release
Ill Ease, "Power Turns me On", All Systems a Gogo/Cochon rec
Slumber Party, "So Sick", Musik/Kill Rocks Stars
Lesbians on Ecstasy,"Is this the Way?",We know you know/alien8 rec

11:35 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

ovArRevolutiuonAries part II

Playlist 235. Alright, this time just music
Aurora plastic Monster, hell of a Row, No Happy Endings
Free Kitten, Seasick, Inherit
Free Kitten, The Poet, Inherit
Pussy Galore, Yu Gung
Boss Hog, Monkey
Shoplifting, Raw Nails Now
Die Haut (vocals Critina), Burn Crying
The Third sex, Definition
x-triple, Clara Torf
Motormark, Love Us
Jenna Riot, feat Scream Club, Joey Casio and Patrick Chainsaw, Girl, you Look Expensive
Sexy Sushi, Sex Appeal
Sue P Fox, Boredom
Semiautomatic, stush push
team gina, feat Cindy Wonderful, Butch/femmes
Matrimony, Bleached
Meanwhile Back in Communist Russia, Acid Drop

of course, of course, many did not appear in either of the revolutiovAries.... among them were: Electrelane, marie celeste, sidi bou said, ella bandita.... and I am forgetting even more.
Anyway, if this does not convince you that we can unite and resist aggressive capitalopatriarchal conquest, I don't know what will.
Next live show/DJane session on Wednesday, then a Free Kitten special on Saturday.... until then, be well

4:21 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

for soft analog ear-hearts

Playlist 234.
I remember having a cassette in my stereo constantly, as anybody with a slight interest in music born before 1983 would do... Getting the tracks you liked form the radio was not always so easy: you had to be fast, precise and alert (ok, a little bit lucky too): you didn't want to miss the beginning and you had to know (or feel) when to stop (or erase if the DJ started talking before the end of the track... how f('§çé!"(§çç!é§(g irritating).
Well, in tender remembrance of these days and also of a band that was utterly inspiring to me, OA gives you the chance to make your own bootleg today, so.... be prepared, be ready, be fast... and enjoy.
This is a live recording Sushi(from Radio Orange in Vienna) made two years ago when the band played in Austria.... for what was going to be the very last time. With respect, tears in OA eyes and an infinite reverence and gratefulness, please help me welcome SLEATER-KINNEY

11:08 AM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment