AR Kane - 69 : classic or dud?

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.

years after ILM (read: Ned Raggett) convinced me to give them a listen, I love "i", and find 69 "totally forgettable". I'd definitely check out a singles comp tho!

Tim f otm re: DI comparisons

Yeah that's a sharp comparison.

No remasters for the two albums yet afaik. Rudy Tambala has been answering fan questions here for a minute. He corrected me on the assumption Adrian Sherwood mixed one of their 12"s. I coulda sworn I got that info from his former bandmate...

The albums were rereleased some years back, but not remastered, I think. Could be wrong.

I saw a 2004 release noted on rateyourmusic but somebody else has said that was a straight reissue of the previous version.
Hope that means there was a 90s remaster, otherwise the cds are the same as the late 80s which I don't think can be true.

Hopefully this singles compi will mean somebody looks at redoing the lps.

I think I saw them live once at the Clarendon, Hammmersmith. Can't remember who with.
Have hoped that a live set or 2 would appear on Dime or similar.

THey started as a 3 piece live if i'm remembering right. Had a bassist called Russell who went onto play guitar with Terminal Cheesecake and later Skullflower.
I think they played live with a drum machine but could be wrong.

He corrected me on the assumption Adrian Sherwood mixed one of their 12"s. I coulda sworn I got that info from his former bandmate...

I had heard this too - maybe even in the press way back when.

I bought a promotional copy of this record and it was filled with clippings, an old school one-sheet (stapled), a glossy photo, stickers, and other promo stuff.

Also, it rules.

Very cool!

<3 this album

"Sun Falls Into the Sea" has turned into one of my favorite songs from the 80s

Enjoyed them a lot live when I saw them way back when

Found this via the "music to get stoned to" thread ... Singles comp is making me :)
I hear Lansing Dreiden in here

Weird thread where people disconnect and connect all the time to this band. The same seems to be happening to me. I remember being very disappointed by 69 when I first listened to it about ten years ago. I thought it was an uninspired mess. Now I listen to this singles comp and "Catch Your Drift" and it kind of klicks. They seem like a quite good blend of Cocteau Twins and MBV with a dash of dub. I have to investigate further. On my streaming service Deezer they are under three or four different names/spellings. Better to look for the songs to find the albums.

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

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.

And speaking of fantastic Rudy interviews, a great one here from Joshua Minsoo Kim at Tone Glow

https://toneglow.substack.com/p/tone-glow-101-ar-kane

yeah that's a wonderful interview, jmk is one of the best interviewers around

Yes , very interesting .

Love this