Monday, May 21, 2007

Remissions

Devine and Statton: Bizarre Love Triangle (1989)
Ludus: The Escape Artist (1982)

After the Young Marble Giants broke up, the Moxham brothers formed a band called the Gist, and YMG singer Alison Statton joined a hard-to-google group called Weekend. She also collaborated on two albums with Ian Devine, a fellow Cardiffian and former guitarist of the Manchester group Ludus.

Trouser Press pointed out that Devine and Statton reimagined "Bizarre Love Triangle" as an acoustic ballad four years before the Australian group Frente had an alt-rock hit with an identical arrangement of the New Order song.

Ludus seem to be forgotten by almost everyone except Morrissey and the fine folks at the LTM label, who have reissued some of the band's albums and compiled an excellent overview of their work called The Damage. Ludus singer Linder Sterling is better remembered as a visual artist (she created the collage on Buzzcocks' "Orgasm Addict" single). She has been a photographer and confidante of Morrissey for many years.

The music that Linder and Ian Devine made together was experimental and highly ambitious, straddling the genres of post-punk, pop and jazz, with a distinctly feminist lyrical perspective. I've chosen one of their more accessible tracks, simply because it is my favorite Ludus song; but be forewarned that the going gets weird. Read more about Ludus here. Buy Ludus music from Darla Records or on eMusic.

3 Comments:

At 5/30/2007 11:15 PM , Blogger Disco:Very said...

I'd forgotten all about the Young Marble Giants. This Ludus track is making me skip around the room (with the curtains drawn).

 
At 6/12/2007 2:51 PM , Blogger jonder said...

The "BLT" cover version by Devine and Statton has been downloaded almost 100 times from my mp3 host. That is a world record in Underneathical terms. Who are all you people?

I urge you, the silent majority, to listen to Ludus. Their song totally >>> BLT. Remember the first time you tried a BLT? Maybe you wanted them to hold the "L"? Or you're a vegetarian and wanted some fakey bakey in place of the "B"? That's what I do. My point is, we were all a bit apprehensive the first time. Those three ingredients seemed to be set in stone; otherwise, the acronym doesn't make sense anymore. And meat substitutes weren't always so widely available. (Am I right? Vegans? Lacto-Ovos? Smiths fans? Can I get a what what?)

 
At 8/21/2008 11:31 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi!
I thought you might like to know that Ian Devine released a Cd with old friend Amanda Griffiths in 2007 called 'Wheels to Get to Heaven' (Devine & Griffiths) on Anhrefn Records. It's available through Darla in the USA.

 

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