This is an excerpt from a patrons-only show. To hear the full thing, plus dozens more like it, visit Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod to sign up.

In this episode Tim responds to Boy George’s recent musical offering, ‘We Will Dance Again’. To respect BDS, we won’t be playing this AI-generated apologia for the Gaza genocide, or anything else from George’s catalogue, but Tim does explore the British singer’s confused history of political pronouncements on this and other issues, alongside some contemporaneous synth-pop from his New Romantic heyday.
Elsewhere in the episode Tim talks about his own Jewish upbringing, the history of Israel, the nation’s participation in Eurovision, current reflections on the horrors being perpetrated in Palestine, and some modern and vintage Palestinian liberation music. 

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Tracklist:

The Equals - Black Skinned Blue Eyed Boys 

Visage - Fade to Grey

Heaven 17 - (We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thing

Kofia - Leve Palestina

Roger Waters - Comfortably Numb Re-Imagined

Love is the Message returns from our summer break just in time for the Bank Holiday Weekend, which in London means one thing: Carnival. In this episode Jeremy and Tim cover the history of Notting Hill Carnival, the largest such event in Europe. They discuss patterns of Caribbean migration to the UK, traditions of carnival from Ancient Greece to Trinidad and Rio, and the particular story of Notting Hill, with its steel bands, dub sound systems, parade and party. They return to Lovers Rock, consider legendary stages like Aba Shanti, Good Times and Saxon, and interrogate how Bakhtinian and Deleuzian ideas can be applied to this unique expression of Black British culture. Plus: David Mancuso in Trinidad, and a young Jeremy tries to buy Pass the Dutchie. 

If you’re going to Carnival this weekend, enjoy yourself and take plenty of water!

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Produced by Matt Huxley

Tracklist:

Laurel Aitkin - Boogie in my Bones

Hells Gate Steel Orchestra - Ah Love It Here

Sir Coxson - King of the Dubb Rock

Louisa Mark - Caught You in a Lie

ASWAD - Concrete Slaveship

Smiley Culture - Cockney Translation

Papa Levi - Mi God Mi King

Ted Taylor - Ghetto Disco (Norman Jay Edit)

Cajmere - Brighter Days

Aba Shanti-I - Zulu Warrior

Moliy x Shenseea x Skillibeng - Shake It To The Max 

We at LITM are still on our summer break, but while we’re away we wanted to share this interview on that most Northern of subjects, Mark E Smith of The Fall. Joining Jeremy for this discussion is Dr David Wilkinson. With reference to David’s essay ‘Mark E. Smith, Brexit Britain and the Aesthetics and Politics of the Working Class Weird’, the pair get into the weeds on Smith’s complicated politics, working class conservatism, the Weird, and the type of guy MES represents: autodidactic, contrarian, nostalgic, boozy. They relate The Fall’s work to pulp Modernism, loss and libertarianism, excavate the role of boredom in the development of the band’s sound, and ask: why should we care?

David Wilkinson is the author of the book ‘Post-Punk, Politics and Pleasure in Britain’. He is Senior Lecturer in English at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Thanks so much to David for sharing his time and thoughts. Tim and Jeremy will return together in the next few weeks.

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www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk

Produced by Matt Huxley

It's just Jem this week, mopping up the last suds of our post punk mini-series with a series of British bands who ripped it up and started again. We spend time with The Slits fantastic dub punk debut Cut, shouting out the production of the great Dennis Bovell on the way, then drive up the M1 to explore the rich pickings of that great musical city, Sheffield. With reference to an early Human League single, Jem unearths the imminent possibilities of the crumbling Fordist world. We hear two tracks from Public Image Ltd, before digging into one of our host’s favourites - the Raincoats - to explore feminist aesthetics, Maoist China and an unlikely meeting with Kurt Cobain. We round out the piece with two classics from the mighty Clash. Not a bad haul for one year.
We’ll be away for a few weeks on various summer excursions, but will be back soon after with more music, dance floors, sound systems and counterculture. Tune in, turn on, get down!
Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

https://www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/

Produced by Matt Huxley

Tracklist:

The Slits - Typical Girls

The Slits - Adventures Close to Home

Human League - Empire State Human

Public Image Ltd - Death Disco

Public Image Ltd - Socialist

The Raincoats - Fairytale in the Supermarket

The Raincoats - Lola

The Clash - London Calling

The Clash - Lost in the Supermarket

Books:

Audrey Golden - Shouting Out Loud: Lives of the Raincoats

Frith & Horn - Art into Pop

Reynolds & Press - The Sex Revolts: Gender, Rebellion and Rock’n’Roll

This is an excerpt from a patrons-only episode. To hear the full show, and dozens more like it, visit Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod to join.

We made it: what started as a ten-minute conversation and became a six episode mini-series finally reaches it conclusion, with the 1978 release of Arthur Russell’s Kiss Me Again. Jeremy and Tim conclude the genealogy of this epic track, detailing it’s recording, dry runs in the club, how the record was sold to the punky Sire Records, and how the Arthur came to put together the players. Friend of the show Nicky Siano gets an extensive mention as the record's co-producer, and his club the Gallery plays host to its first outings. Tim and Jeremy compare notes on how Nicky’s aesthetic differed from David Mancuso’s, share the story of how Arthur came to begin dancing at the Gallery, and explore his queerness both in contact with the dance floor and with his friend and mentor Allen Ginsberg.
Elsewhere in the episode the guys ruminate on soft rock, spend a bit longer talking minimalism, and detail Arthur’s ill-fated trip to Italy to join Le Orme…

Tracklist:

Nirosta Steel - Lost in Music

Arthur Russell - Don’t Forget About Me

Allen Ginsberg - CIA Dope Calypso

Le Orme - Canzone D’Amore

Arthur Russell - Oh Fernanda Why

Barbara Pennington - Twenty Four Hours a Day

Desmond Child and Rouge - The Night was Not

We’ve finally made it - the pivotal Post Punk year of 1979. Well, sort of. It wouldn’t be LITM without a little extra detail, so Jeremy and Tim cue up our arrival with a couple of tracks from ’78 for good measure. They talk Tom Robinson Band, Undertones and the Only Ones, exploring ‘dole queue rock’, everydayness and the limits of politically self-conscious music of the period. Later in the show they tuck into a couple of indie disco staples to examine emergent New Wave, de-masculination, Manchester and the Iron Lady. Finally, for the first time on the show, the guys spend time on perhaps the most iconic post punkers of all: Joy Division. 

This is our last main feed episode for a little while - we'll be back in mid-August. Until then, why not become a Patron and explore our LITM Extra archive, featuring dozens of bonus shows?

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www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk

Produced by Matt Huxley.

Tracklist:

Tom Robinson Band - Winter of ’79

The Undertones - Teenage Kicks 

The Only Ones - Another Girl, Another Planet

Blondie - Heart of Glass

Machine - There But for the Grace of God Go I

The Cure - Boys Don’t Cry

Joy Division - Disorder

This is an excerpt from a patrons-only episode. To hear the full thing, plus dozens more like it, visit Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

We continue our mini-series on Arthur Russell by turning to his mid-70s pop and folk work. Starting in the famous Poet’s Building in 1975, Tim and Jeremy explore life in the East Village, in particular the area’s poetry scene. They discuss the aesthetics of setting spoken word to music, stop by Ginsberg, and drop in some Tibetan Buddhist classes. Elsewhere in the episode we hear about a number of recording sessions at the Columbia Records studio, get haunted by the spectre of Dylan, and speculate on whether Arthur could have been the fourth Talking Head. Tim shares some demos from Arthur’s short-lived band the Flying Hearts, a version of Psycho Killer with punchy cello that didn’t make the final cut, and some Laraaji-ish keyboard noodlings.

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Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

Produced by Matt Huxley.

Books:

Philippe Bourgeois - In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio

Tracklist:

Arthur Russell - Barefoot in New York

William Carlos Williams - The Red Wheelbarrow

Bright and Early - Apple to the Orange

Arthur Russell - Nobody Wants a Lonely Heart

Arthur Russell - I Couldn’t Say it to Your Face

Arthur Russell - Reach One (with Two Fender Rhodes)

Talking Heads - The Girls Want to be with the Girls

Talking Heads - Psycho Killer (acoustic version)

The Flying Hearts - Ballad of the Lights

The Flying Hearts - What’s It Like 

In this episode we return to the Mudd Club, NYC’s ‘intense laboratory’ of cinema, performance, dance and music. We hear about how this new kind of club fused these various media in novel ways, both as a day-to-day scene hang out spot and a site of never-ending unusual parties (‘Rock’n’Roll Funeral Ball Extravaganza’ anyone?). Tim and Jeremy detail the movement of artists into the East Village in the late 70s, the Fluxus inspiration for the Club’s goings on, and throw a little light on another less well-remembered venue, Club 57.

Elsewhere in the episode the guys talk about The Cure, Lou Reed, retromania and cable TV, whilst also spending a moment on the legacy of Anita Sarko, a much-loved DJ on the scene.

Produced by Matt Huxley.

Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

Loveisthemessagepod.co.uk.

Tracklist:

Shrapnel - Combat Love

Policeband - Mono

The Cure - Killing an Arab

Lou Reed - Vicious

Bobby Freeman - Betty Lou Got a New Pair of Shoes 

This is an excerpt from a patrons-only episode. To hear the full thing, plus dozens more like it, visit Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

We’re back on the tail of Arthur Russell this week, paying close attention to his piece Instrumentals. A large ensemble composition comprised of multiple musical cells and first premiered at The Kitchen while he was music director, this work expresses Arthur’s proximity to NYC’s post minimalist scene. Jeremy and Tim discuss the works of several of the more prominent composers of that world, including Steve Reich, La Monte Young and Philip Glass, discussing the merits and failures of minimalism and how Arthur’s music aligned and diverged. Elsewhere they spend time on Arthur’s close friend and collaborator Peter Gordon, spend a moment unpacking Postmodernism, attempt to give a very potted account of just and equal temperaments, and give the stage to Memphis rockers Big Star.

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Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

Produced by Matt Huxley.

Tracklist:

Arthur Russell - Hey! How Does Everybody Know

Captain Beefheart - Dachau Blues

Arthur Russell - Instrumentals (Live at the Kitchen)

La Monte Young - The Well-Tuned Piano

Steve Reich - Music for 18 Musicians

Henry Flynt & Nova'Billy — Amphetamine Rhapsody

Continuing our mini-series on post-punk, Jeremy and Tim turn their attention to the pre-history of a crucial NYC venue: The Mudd Club. Given Tim literally wrote the book on this stuff, he’s well-placed to tell the story of how three Downtowners got the idea, got the premises, agreed on the name (not without its difficulties) and threw open the doors. We revisit the blending of punk and dance cultures that was emerging in the city at the time, spend a moment in another club - Hurrah - and contemplate the pitfalls of punk. Elsewhere in the episode Jeremy recounts his indie disco escapades, we hear a very early iteration of Psycho Killer, and pour one out for the mighty B52s. Plus: John Wilkes Booth, Molotov cocktails, and Elvis.
Produced by Matt Huxley.
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https://www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/

Tracklist:

The Rolling Stones - Miss You

The Ramones - I Wanna Be Sedated

Talking Heads - Psycho Killer (Live at CBGB’s)

Elvis - Moody Blue

The Heartbreakers - Chinese Rocks

B52s - 52 Women