Though perhaps stylistically inconsistent, the works of Wire maintain tactile continuity.
Every song feels like a lungful of cool coastal air, idyllic and rustic and contemplative. A collection of experimental brushstrokes.
As October approaches, the works of Wire capture the dual melancholy-yearning invoked by the transition from summer into fall.
“Pink Flag”
Largely considered to be a landmark album, Wire debuted with the release of “Pink Flag” in 1977.
A collection of 21 songs with an overall runtime of just under 36 minutes, “Pink Flag” presents a marked deconstruction of the punk genre.
Cover for “Pink Flag” by Wire
Though most of the tracks on the album are short, with some falling under 30 seconds, the album passes by at a remarkably slow pace.
It’s clear that Wire was methodical in their composition of the album, only remaining with each track for as long as absolutely necessary.
The resulting album presents something adjacently punk — punk stripped of its blaring paint — cultivated at a distance.
Post-punk before post-punk had really begun.
The album’s cover, I think, most adequately represents the album’s sound: minimalist, uncomplicated and sunbleached.
Recommended Tracks: “Three Girl Rhumba,” “Fragile,” “1 2 X U”
“Chairs Missing”
Wire’s second album, released 1978, marked the band’s progression further into experimentalism.
While “Pink Flag” presented punk at a distance, “Chairs Missing” moved even farther away.
Cover for “Chairs Missing” by Wire
The album’s tracks are deeply atmospheric and contemplative.
While traces of punk influence persist in the realms of distortion, vocal styles and lilt, there’s a noticable presence of synths throughout.
When I hear the words “art punk,” the sounds of this album come to mind.
Recommended Tracks: “Another the Letter,” “Marooned,” “Sand in My Joints”
“154”
Wire’s third album, released 1979, was another step in the band’s progression of style.
Building upon the atmosphere of “Chairs Missing,” “154” demonstrates a slower, more exacting musical process.
The album’s opening track, “I Should Have Known Better,” is almost unrecognizable as Wire.
Cover for “154” by Wire
With cold, clean vocals buffered by a smooth guitar-synth combo, the track has an almost gothic slant.
This effect continues throughout the album, with use of electronic beats coloring a pneumatic atmosphere.
“154” represents Wire’s penchant for transformation — or rather, metamorphosis — as the deconstruction witnessed in “Pink Flag” culminates in the birth of a distinct genre.
Recommended Tracks: “I Should Have Known Better,” “Single K.O.,” “Once is Enough”
Final Thoughts
Wire’s experimentation with music didn’t end with “154.”
In 2020, the band released “10:20,” their 18th studio album.
Though Wire never reached the mainstream acclaim of other groups, their influence is uncontested.
There is just too much music on WKNC. This is especially true of electronic music. Luckily, I’m one of the people who are putting in the automated music queue for Afterhours, so I can tell you what I like to help you sort through it. Here are a few of those that are recent additions to the WKNC rotation.
Howdy! Hope everyone is doing well post-Hopscotch partying and celebrating. I’ve seen many wonderful experiences and posts on our own blog site about how it went, which you can easily check out under WKNC’s “Festival Coverage” blog tag.
But, I am not here to talk to you about Hopscotch. Over the next couple weeks there’ll be quite a few wonderful artists comin’ through the Triangle area that you could easily go see if you’re not tuckered out from Hopscotch.
Durham/ Chapel Hill:
In Durham and Chapel Hill over the next couple of days alone we have Ben Folds, Cosmic Charlie (a Grateful Dead cover band), The Connells and Nick Cave that will all be making separate shows in the area.
If any of these shows are too spontaneous for you to go to, well good news, there are even more artists coming later this month like of Montreal, Hand Habits, Osees and Soul Glo (with Zulu). All of these shows have varying ticket prices depending on popularity and venue.
Of course, there are like thirty bands I didn’t mention, and even more that I don’t know about, but go explore and find some cool new sounds that inspire you or make you feel good.
Raleigh:
For you Raleigh homebodies, there are also quite a few artists (and comedians) coming to the area throughout the rest of this month. Over the next couple days Craig Robinson (a comedian) will have a few improv shows; Schoolkids Records is hosting Keep Flying; and Lil Yachty will be at the Ritz in just over a week.
Also, the Pour House has weekly shows from Monday to Saturday and Kings has some improv and music shows on Saturdays for the rest of the month. If you’re interested in any of these shows, spend some time enjoying Raleigh’s local music venues who help attract and support local talents.
This past Tuesday (Sep. 12) I got the chance to see billy woods & Kenny Segal live in concert at Motorco Music Hall in Durham. Their collaborative album “Maps” is one of my favorite projects to release this year, so I was very excited. Thankfully, it was a phenomenal show that completely exceeded my expectations.
This was my first time going to a concert at Motorco, and I thought it was a great venue. I did not expect it to be as small as it was (with a capacity of about 500 people) after looking at photos online, but I think that definitely added to the experience. Most of my favorite concert memories are at smaller venues.
Opening for woods and Segal was former WKNC Double Barrel Benefit 19 performer Austin Royale, who brought amazing energy from the get-go. After entering the stage to a chill Sampha track, he brought the heat immediately, playing a setlist of mostly unreleased songs from his upcoming album.
Alternate poster from Criterion of "Tampopo" directed by Juzo Itami
Alright, so this week I’ll be taking a short break from my regularly scheduled blogs focused on hardcore and local music, but I’ve prepared a nice treat as a substitute. I will be writing about “Tampopo” by Juzo Itami.
This movie was introduced to me by a good friend, and has quickly become a comforting favorite to rewatch every now and again. The biggest draws towards this movie are its comedy, food presentation, and wacky characters. “Tampopo”is all about a novice ramen maker trying to become a full-fledged ramen master by the end of the movie.
I’ll dive a little deeper into the plot, but not too much so that it ruins the movie. Honestly, I think even if this film were to be spoiled it’d be terrific to watch anyway because of how the actors deliver their jokes, lines, and emotion on screen. I could never capture the beauty on the screen and translate it into words here.
Serving 1 – Plot
The movie opens in a movie theater with a dapper man and woman talking through the fourth wall to us about how to enjoy a movie with food (no chips!). These two characters are fun additions to the main plot of Goro (played by Tsutomu Yamazaki), Tampopo (Nobuko Miyamoto) and Gun (Ken Watanabe) trying to fix up Tampopo’s ramen shop.
Tampopo is a vibrant woman running a ramen shop with lots of beautiful smiles, earnest attempts at improvement and so much love towards everyone and everything. She is one of my favorite characters in the movie as she is so cheerful and wonderful throughout the film.
This film has many characteristics of a classical Western in that it has a strong vagabond protagonist trying to better the people around them, Goro wears a cowboy hat, and loves to fight to make a point. “Tampopo” also is a comedy. It satirizes the tropes of Westerns and makes fun of many cultural customs like eating quietly.
By the end of the film we are in love with the whole cast of characters and rolling around laughing because of the ridiculous behaviors, scenes and gags that we get to witness on Tampopo’s journey to becoming a ramen master.
Serving 2 – Music
“Tampopo” blends jazzy instrumental scenes with classical scores to elicit emotions like awe, love, joy and comedic shock. The composer and sound workers for this film created a life-like city while adding in sound effects to enhance the noodle-slurping madness that makes this move so appealing.
There’s also a great scene with a group of unhoused people from the city singing a beautiful song in appreciation for their one true ramen master who taught them to appreciate food.
Plate 3 – A Sip of Sake before We Go
“Tampopo”, a lot like “Monty Python” and other satirical movies, has many gag scenes that aren’t focused on the characters of the movie, but do have to do with the general theme of the film. Many such scenes include an old woman fondling soft items in a grocery store, a Charlie Chaplin-esque scene focused on sneaking into a kitchen to make a beautiful egg and rice dish, a sick mother dying and her family eating her meal she made as a sign of respect and a few other naughty scenes played out by the couple from the beginning of the film.
I don’t know what y’all look for in films but if you want comedy, food, music, emotion and anything else, “Tampopo” is the place to go. It’s easy to watch on HBO (or other places if you’re not willing to pay for a subscription…). There are many unmentioned treats in this film because there’s so much to explore and love.
If you’re anything like me, the band Alvvays has been a staple name in your music taste. I grew up listening to their album “Antisocialites”, having been shown this my freshman year of highschool. I didn’t stop listening to the album from that day on until I graduated in 2021.
Then came “Blue Rev”. Having been released eleven days before my birthday, this almost felt like fate. Their long hiatus between album releases did not disappoint- “Blue Rev” quickly became one of my favorite albums I had ever listened to, rivaling that same high “Antisocialites” gave me for so many years.
And then came Hopscotch. Alvvays was headlining alongside Pavement. My expectations were high, and they were exceeded. Alvvays sounded exactly like their studio recordings. Their sound was energetic and charged, contrasting their mellow and warm stage presence. Molly Rankin, the lead singer, joked about the humid temperatures us Raleigh locals are so used to. She’s from Canada, and was wearing a long sleeve. Go figure.
Their performance of “Archie, Marry Me” blew my high school mind away. I was surrounded by others who loved the band just as much as I did which made the streets of City Plaza feel more like a community rather than just a street downtown. The sounds of the chorus being sung echoed around the skyscrapers surrounding us. I wasn’t expecting this at all, and it was an amazing surprise. I had assumed the Pavement fans would’ve shown up early and ended up taking over.
They closed with “Easy on Your Own?”, a perfect way to send us off into the night. There was a tangible energy to the entire performance, a buzz that almost lingered in the air. Hearing them live was something I’ve wanted to witness since I first heard them years ago, and it was amazing. Alvvays always is.
If you’re interested enough in WKNC to peruse our website, then you probably know what a zine is.
If you don’t, that’s fine.
A lot of people, including those who make zines, find them difficult to define.
It’s part of what makes them cool.
Selection of British and American punk zines, 1994-2004, uploaded to Wikimedia Commons by Burn_the_asylum, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0
Zines are essentially handmade publications — zine is short for fanzine — created and disseminated by members of an underground subculture.
Despite their lack of official publication, zines were — and still are — vital tools within subcultural spaces.
Expressions of creativity, ethos and ideology, zines strengthen the foundations of resistance and community amid broader sociopolitical contexts.
The History
Zines can be traced to the early ’60s, where their subject matter centered on social and political activism.
By the ’70s, however, zines took on a starkly punk slant.
Zines from the Colorado College Tutt Library, licensed CC BY 2.0
“Sniffin’ Glue”
Mark Perry’s zine, “Sniffin’ Glue,” was released July 1976.
Inspired by the Ramones song “Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue,” Perry devised and released the zine just days after seeing the band live in London.
Created with simple on-hand tools, “Sniffin’ Glue” embodied punk’s D.I.Y. ethos.
The zine’s cut-and-paste graphics, rugged handwriting and unpolished doodles left every page imbued with youthful vigor and punk-rock passion.
Perry’s achievement was to unite for a brief time all the tensions — between art and commerce, between avant-garde aesthetics and social realist politics — that eventually tore punk apart, and write them out in a sharp mix of emotion and intention that still makes his words fresh
J. Savage, “Sniffin’ Glue: The Essential Punk Accessory,” Mojo No. 81 August, 2000, p. 129.
Soon after the zine’s release, droves of inspired punks took to their photocopiers to take advantage of an exciting new mode of self-expression.
The resulting metamorphosis of the fanzine medium facilitated a massive creative movement.
“Chainsaw” zine, produced by Charlie Chainsaw, arose from his personal desire to distinguish his work from the “‘Sniffin’ Glue’ ‘look-a-likes’.”
Other creatives followed suit, experimenting with different materials and styles.
Zine-making as a practice transformed.
Final Thoughts
Zines are still an important part of subculture today.
Walk into any record store or trendy downtown shop and you’ll likely see zines for sale in a multitude of colors and styles.
“Zine guys,” uploaded to Wikimedia Commons by college.library, licensed CC BY 2.0
The best thing about zines, and perhaps what zine-makers find most rewarding about the practice, is its freedom from stricture.
Essentially, the only rule is that there aren’t any rules.
If you’re interested in exploring some contemporary zines, consider browsing WKNC’s collection here.
Additional Reading
“Scissors and Glue: Punk Fanzines and the Creation of a DIY Aesthetic.”
