AR Kane - 69 : classic or dud?

Of course it bugs me that few care to acknowlege the brilliance of the Kitchens Of Distinction in taking A.R. Kane's basic sound and making killer pop songs out of it.

Saying that the Kitchens somehow improved on A R Kane is a strange idea. However *does* one improve on perfection? Thanks, I'm here all week.

The Kitchens made two more albums, "The Death of Cool" (which is by far their best) and "Cowboys & Aliens". They then did another single in about '96 for Fierce Panda under the moniker of KOD I believe, but folded soon after.

In fact, having kicked AR Kane to the ground yesterday, I've had a nagging wish to actually hear '69' or 'I' again to see if my criticism was valid. That's the problem with my 'culling the runts of the litter policy' (see another thread!) - there's no going back. Maybe Napster will turn up something. Ah well - back to "Louie Louie".

Really should give the _Nuggets_ box a long overdue relisten.

Always the Up Home! EP, always.

pulled Sufi out the other day...didn't hold up as much as I thought it would...maybe more due to the lousy CD quality than the tunes...

his voice is a big part of this.

but also not enough rock.

gonna throw 69 in next; report to follow.

But these are obviously just random fractured first impressions, and should be taken with enough grains of salt to kill your grandparents.

wow! did THE BELOVED just rip off A LOVE FROM OUTER SPACE and just make a whole album based on that one song or what?? i'm shocked.
another revelation from SPOTIFY!

About damn time!

http://www.factmag.com/2012/07/10/the-singles-of-lost-80s-legends-a-r-kanes-compiled/

i bought these dudes' album like 14 years ago or so and thought it was totally forgettable. maybe time to revisit?

they had three albums, first two are classics but quite different from each other

A slightly obvious and yet also misleading comparison, but in some ways A.R. Kane's early singles are to '69' as Disco Inferno's singles are to 'D. I. Go Pop'. I understood the early hosannas a lot more once i'd heard "Lollita", "Up" and "Green Hazed Daze". '69' is quite an inscrutable album by comparison, at least at first.

great, closest to the e.ps I get is the Americana cd and that is far from complete and duplicates lp stuff.
Looking forward to this.

Were the 1st 2 lps remastered over the last couple of years? I have cds of both of them but I know at least i is pretty ancient.
New Clear Child wasn't as good neither was the Sufi material.

From Rudi on Facebook a couple of hours ago:

https://www.facebook.com/arkaneuk/posts/1575310215879208

Derek. One little Indian owner, punk rocker and dedicated anarchist, man of the oppressed, anti corporate anti capitalist, animal rights activist, feminist, etc cliche etc. claims to have purchased the entire A.R.Kane catalogue for a few pennies, in perpetuity, and refuses to let the rights revert to the band ... [Insert four letter word of choice here]. As a result, we cannot do the '69' 30th anniversary box with Tees poster, goodies and dates we had been planning. Derek aims to re-press the vinyl (he does not have the masters so ripped from CD FFSake) and con y'all into buying it, and exploit the anniversary.We will take no part in this. A.R.Kane have never and will never see proceeds from OLI; no advance, no royalty. We made 69 on our own equipment with a £7K payment from RT - it sold 60,000 in year one. Never seen a penny. If I were you, and you want the re-issue, hang on in there ... cut from the original master tape is what you really need #ArtisticSlavery #MyArtToo

Let's expose them and their ilk - please share and Retweet, get the stories rollin'

@olirecords claim to have purchased our entire catalog from @RoughTradeRecs for a few pennies, in perpetuity, w'out our consent knowledge - they refuse to let the rights revert to the band - not so much #MeToo more #MyArtToo #ArtisticSlavery U ever had a powerful label rip u off?

— A.R.Kane (@InfoKane) January 2, 2018

I wonder if he's still holding a grudge for them leaving One Little Indian back in '87.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pump_Up_the_Volume_(song)

A.R. Kane had released an E.P. When You're Sad on One Little Indian records in late 1986. Frustrated by the lack of support from One Little Indian, Alex Ayuli of the band approached 4AD owner, Ivo Watts-Russell to see if they would release a record on his label.[2] Derek Birkett the owner of One Little Indian, was under the impression that 4AD were trying to poach his band and along with label designer Paul White and Einar Örn Benediktsson from The Sugarcubes visited the 4AD offices in Alma Road to confront Watts-Russell.[2] Colin Wallace, a 4AD staff member, convened a team from the warehouse to support Watts-Russell. Despite a heated argument where a furious Birkett told Watts-Russell "You don't do that. You fucking stole my fucking band", A.R. Kane signed to 4AD for a one-off release.[2] Following the release of the Lolita EP they voiced their disappointment with One Little Indian who had failed to deliver on a promise that they could work with producer Adrian Sherwood. Watts-Russell suggested that they instead work with Martyn Young of Colourbox.[2]

I'm no great fan of this band or that album but that is shitty behaviour from One Little Indian. Indie labels are the worst.

It seems like there are multiple levels of *wrongness* to this (not all of it OLI) though I have no understanding of indie label economics.

I'm not sure the comparison to #metoo is a good one, mind.

Wow, he used Einar as muscle for the meeting with Ivo Watts-Russell? I am imagining him playing the trumpet while they argued.

Or mewling "I lost my pony/In the big town/I'm a cowboy in the big city/Looking for my pony/I'm a cowboy/I'm a cowboy/I'm a cowboy"

I dunno, I once saw Einar challenge an entire venue to a fight when he got pelted with something during a Sugarcubes show.

Dude was volatile. I once asked Bjork to autograph my ticket stub after a Sugarcubes show. She was sweet. Said, "I don't have a pen!". He jumped in and offered to autograph it for me. I think he asked me to put the stub in the palm of my hand - can't recall - made a fist and punched the stub -HARD - with this stupid horned-skull biker ring he had on. Then he walked away.

Regarding that 'incident' as posted by Dan Worsley .. um, isn't that pretty close to almost fair? Obviously I wasn't there but both people had 'protection' 'in case' it kicked off which it didn't..

It's not exactly Don Arden with a headache is it?

I recall Einar yelling at the audience - who wanted them to come back on for an encore - at the end of a gig in '89 I once saw "YOU PAID TO SEE US, WE DID NOT PAY TO SEE YOU!!!!!"

Quite a guy is our Einar. The closest I've ever been to getting into a fight in the entire time I've lived in Glasgow was after The Sugarcubes played here in '88 and he came over and started talking to my girlfriend and me at the bar after the show and within two minutes started throwing punches at me for seemingly no reason whatsoever. He was so drunk that he never managed to actually land a punch on me and was soon escorted from the venue by the security.

It's not exactly Don Arden with a headache is it?

Just another classic 4AD punch-up!

"he came over and started talking to my girlfriend and me at the bar after the show and within two minutes started throwing punches at me for seemingly no reason whatsoever."

did you say "OUCH! THAT REALLY HURTS!"?

OLI seem to be cunts from everyone I've had contact with who worked with them (Patrick from KOD, Ian from Disco Inferno, and Rudy)

Chumbawamba hates him too fwiw

OLI have a shitload of old bands that were on Rough Trade listed on their current roster, so I think they must have bought a job lot of rights off them: Camper Van Beethoven, Beat Happening, Galaxie 500, Opal, Souled American, Woodentops, Band of Holy Joy, Straitjacket Fits etc

In 1997 One Little Indian acquired parts of the old Rough Trade catalogue including landmark releases in AR Kane’s ‘i’, Shellyan Orphan’s ‘Century Flower’, Galaxie 500’s ‘?‘ and The Woodentops classic ‘Giant’. The roster also includes Mancunion indie heroes of the 80’s and 90’s respectively, Easterhouse and Marion – as well as The Boo Radley’s pre-Creation ‘Every Heaven EP’.

They're now known as Jübl and have a new EP:
https://jublband.bandcamp.com

Yep, the album is now out, called 'DNA Cowboys' self-released via Bandcamp (digital) and their own website (vinyl). I really like it.

Um, can't believe I missed the Jübl album til now -- it's awesome! Finally fell in love with New Clear Child a few years ago so very much hearing/enjoying it in that context. Guess I should find the Sufi albums...

The first Sufi album is really great. The second, Lovers and Trippers, less so, kinda pedestrian trip hop.

the first Sufi album has involvement from kevin 'the bug' martin.
something i only found out a few months ago.

I think Virgin bankrolled the Sufi album as part of their ambient/isolationist series, which Kevin Martin was heavily involved with.

good Sunday review on Pitchfork today

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/ar-kane-69/

Never really got on with New Clear Child but I do love the first track on it

Xp - oh wow!

It does seem like interest in them is picking up again, Nts radio did a one hour special on them a couple of months back

That new review is good to see!

If only we could buy the album.
I have never ever seen a copy out in the wild.
And given the chaos, I doubt it will be up on bandcamp in the near future

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jlh3AmWK3jE

If only we could buy the album.
I have never ever seen a copy out in the wild.
And given the chaos, I doubt it will be up on bandcamp in the near future

― mark e, Sunday, February 14, 2021 6:43 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

On CD? The vinyl is still pretty cheap.

yeah cd.
not a big fan of vinyl.

My favorite of Alex's solo tracks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC3AXycUg5M

Meantime in good timing, Jübl just sent out this message:

heloo - we been quiet for a while - working ever so s sl o w l y on a handful of remixes and new stuff - will let you know when it comes real - hope the world's treating you good - J

https://mixmag.net/feature/exploring-the-black-roots-of-shoegaze-and-dream-pop

seen this doing the rounds a bit - a piece in Mixmag of all places, on the Black roots of shoegaze, featuring an interview with Rudy Tambala. There's nothing new said in it if you've been following AR Kane's online presence lately but it's nice to see it stated so clearly:

that’s what the experimental edge of Black music always does; invent, innovate and create new shit, which is rapidly imitated and assimilated

Quite right

Oh my god, that is reveletory. So awesome. I'd been looking for something like black shoegaze forever.

And that black artist database!

So psyched for more mixtape madness.

Thanks.

yeah thanks for the link!

and I M Losted, you probably know dean blunt already, but if not, this is total dream pop vibes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQfwPziK-SA

Yeah that Spotify playlist is distinctly lacking Dean Blunt and any recent Yves Tumor

Luaka Bop is releasing a new version of Americana on vinyl but the real news in ways is that there's a new Greg Tate piece with it, one of the last things he wrote before his passing. You can read it here:

https://www.luakabop.com/products/a-r-kane-americana

Wasn't this already a recent RSD release?

They did, but this is a new variant per the PR:

Some of you might remember that way back in April we made a limited 2LP gatefold edition of Americana for Record Store Day (thirty years after its first release)—well, we held a few copies back for you. It has the same beautiful cover and artwork as the original (by Fabien Baron of Baron & Baron), but it comes with new notes by the late, great art and music writer Greg Tate, which were among the last things he wrote before he died.

I had the vinyl....you had to sit down and listen to it. It's got noise but also delicate and melancholy, it's got all of these jazz and reggae influences. Tough thing for a young band to pull off.

Funny this thread was revived...it's such a wintry record for me.

I don't understand the obsession with all the RSD-centric vinyl variants coming out these days.

Seems like such an arcane hobby...

Arcane, you say

Per this FB post, remasters of Up Home, sixty-nine and "i" due late June on 12", digital and of course ethereal formats. (Per a followup, no CD plans yet unless there is demand.)

Nice! I was pleased to find a decent enough copy of ‘69’ on vinyl in Berlin for €3 a couple of weeks ago in amongst some big crates of vinyl outside a shop. Got a Cardiacs LP too.

remasters of Up Home, sixty-nine and "i" due late June on 12"

I keep checking online to see if there have been any updates on this. Surely they should be announcing these reissues any day? Needless to say, I'm stoked

Rudi showed off some test pressings on FB the other day, it's happening.

Beautiful news

Really enjoyed this NTS show featuring a great interview with Rudy and some music.

https://www.mixcloud.com/NTSRadio/post-punk-britain-ar-kane-19th-may-2023/

^loved that, thank you for posting. His enthusiasm is wonderful, as are his recollections.