I was first acquainted with this work about 20
years ago when some friend handed me a tape with what i
thought then was a Tuxedomoon project Joeboy in
Rotterdam/San Francisco.
That
was the time when we were all trying to find something
shockingly inspired and inspiring, a new definition of
sound. Myself, being an academic world product, felt so
tired with the insipidity of certain projects like The
Whitehouse or the Satanic Sunction and generally such
things that were incoherent and flashy just due to lack
of form.
Joeboy was none of the above. In one sentence: A bursting piece
of lyricism by Steven Brown embedded in a brilliantly
constructed vacuum of tape guitar noise by Peter
Principle.
Twenty five years have passed since this release and i haven't
heard anything as original and moving as this piece,
surviving itself over thousands of auditions well
there's maybe another piece i can think of Alban
Berg's Woyzzeck.
Two years ago i was teaching 20th century music, from Schoenberg
to Xenakis,
it somehow occured to me to refer to this lost tape,
saying that i've listened to a piece of music done in
the eighties which is actually to contemporary music
what Schoenberg was to Irving
Berlin.
In the age of technology, i did a search online and i
finally found the one responsible for this album.
If some of you feel like examining whether the music you
listen to, is neoteric, then get hold of Joeboy, to
reconsider your thesis on modernism.
Best
Wishes, Vangelino
