RhoDeo 1315 Aetix

Hello,  Aetix continues with females in the lead, todays bands are bound by one woman, now it's hard to ascertain why both bands had a very limited existance, it's not as if they weren't lauded at the time, they were. Was our singer the divisive element playing the boys, hearing her voice one wouldn't think it, but then appearances can be decieving. What's left here are no less than 66 tracks divided over 3 posts to...  N' Joy

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Young Marble Giants was a Cardiff post-punk band, formed by a trio in 1978. Their style featured minimal, unmistakable instrumentation provided by brothers Philip and Stuart Moxham, supporting the cool, gentle voice of Alison Statton. Stuart Moxham wrote the majority of the band's songs, and his writing was often deceptively simple-seeming, giving the YMG's classic work a uniquely fragile yet powerful quality. Centered around a weird mix of Philip's steel-hawser bass, Stuart's haunting, rhythmic Galanti electric organ lines and punchy rhythm guitar (played on a rare John Lennon style blonde Rickenbacker), with Statton's vocals tentatively hanging in the space above, the sound was unlike anything anyone had heard before.

Their first vinyl release was on the compilation LP Is The War Over? on Cardiff DIY label, Z Block Records, in October 1979. While signed to UK independent record label, Rough Trade Records the YMGs released two EPs, Final Day and Testcard, and one acclaimed and very influential album, Colossal Youth (a reference to the Early Greek 'Kouroi' marble statues, from which the YMGs took the inspiration for their name.)

The band toured and played in the US and Europe, and played in San Francisco, Vancouver, New York, Berlin. Touring companions included the band Cabaret Voltaire.Musical influences included Eno, Kraftwerk, The Velvet Underground, Roxy Music, Can and others. The band were acquainted with Scritti Politti, the band of Cardiff native Green Gartside, and ended up signed to the same label, Rough Trade Records. It was revealed in the 2003 book Journals that the band were, along with Scotland's The Vaselines, Kurt Cobain's favourite band.

After the band split up in 1980, Stuart Moxham formed The Gist, whose song 'Love at First Sight' became a major hit on the continent when covered by French pop singer Étienne Daho under the title 'Café de Flore'. Following a very severe motorbike accident Stuart concentrated on home recording, which bore fruit in the album "Embrace The Herd,"(1982)

Philip Moxham went on to play bass for The Communards and Everything But The Girl, Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn's group. He features on their fourth album, Idlewild. Alison Statton, Spike, and Simon Emmerson formed Weekend (with Phil Moxham on bass) and released the acclaimed La Variete (1982) and Live at Ronnie Scott's (83) .

In early 2003, Statton and the Moxham brothers reunited for a BBC Radio Wales radio special. They performed one new song, "Alright," on this special. It was rumoured that the band might stay together to make further new recordings, but this project has not yet surfaced. There was a 'reunion concert' in Hay-on-Wye on 27 May 2007, part of the Hay-on-Wye Festival, 2007. From Stuart Moxham's website: "Young Marble Giants reform for a one-off celebration of Domino Records' re-release of their seminal album 'Colossal Youth'

They also played a show for the BB-Mix Festival in Boulogne Billancourt, just outside Paris, on 28 October 2007. The band has performed regularly since then, including appearances at the Primavera Sounds Festival in May 2008 and at the Hebbel Am Ufer (HAU) theatre in Berlin in January 2009. The YMGs played their entire Colossal Youth album at All Tomorrow's Parties in Minehead, Somerset, UK, on 9 May 2009 – they have been chosen by Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel for a return performance at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival that he curated in March 2012 in Minehead, England.

Young Marble Giants - Colossal Youth and Peel Session (flac 256mb)

01 Searching For Mr. Right  (2:58)
02 Include Me Out  (2:01)
03 The Taxi  (2:06)
04 Eating Noddemix  (2:02)
05 Constantly Changing  (2:03)
06 N.I.T.A.  (3:30)
07 Colossal Youth  (1:52)
08 Music For Evenings  (3:02)
09 The Man Amplifier  (3:15)
10 Choci Loni (2:36)
11 Wurlitzer Jukebox (2:44)
12 Salad Days (1:59)
13 Credit In The Straight World (2:28)
14 Brand - New - Life (2:52)
15 Wind In The Riggin (2:21)
John Peel Session 1980
16 Searching For Mr Right 2:35
17 Brand – New – Life 2:46
18 Final Day 1:56
19 N.I.T.A. 3:43
20 Posed By Models 1:31

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It's rare for any band's earliest recordings to warrant attention outside of their most fanatical followers, but in the case of the Young Marble Giants' Salad Days -- a collection of 15 songs dating back to their very first home studio sessions -- such interest is rewarded; although nowhere near as brilliant as their Colossal Youth album, the set is an even purer distillation of the group's true essence, with the inherent primitivism of the demo process providing the perfect context for their consciously minimalist pop. It's remarkable to consider how fully formed and distinctive Stuart Moxham's reductivist musical vision was even in its infancy these early stabs at classic YMG songs like "N.I.T.A.," "Constantly Changing," and "Eating Noddemix" are intimate and mysterious at the same time, distinguished by the austere spaciousness of their ingenious arrangements and the icy allure of Alison Statton's vocals.

Young Marble Giants - Singles and Salad Days  (flac 217mb)

01 This Way 1:40
02 Posed By Models 1:22
03 The Clock 1:37
04 Clicktalk 2:41
05 Zebra Trucs 1:31
06 Sporting Life 1:01
07 Final Day 1:42
08 Radio Silents 1:52
09 Cakewalking 2:48
10 Ode To Booker T 3:02
Salad Days
11 Have Your Toupee Ready 1:08
12 N.I.T.A. 4:27
13 Brand - New - Life 2:53
14 Zebra Trucks 1:31
15 Choci Loni 2:13
16 Wind In The Rigging 2:37
17 The Man Shares His Meal With His Beat 4:23
18 The Taxi 2:02
19 Constantly Changing 2:05
20 Music For Evenings 2:56
21 Credit In The Straight World 2:11
22 Eating Noddemix 1:60
23 Ode To Booker T 3:00
24 Radio Silents 2:51
25 Hayman 1:24
26 Loop The Loop 2:60

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Weekend was a band formed by Alison Statton following the split of Young Marble Giants in 1981. The band was actually a merger between two projects. Statton began writing with Spike of Z Block Records and Reptile Ranch in Cardiff, Wales in the summer of 1981 before moving to London where she teamed up with Simon Emmerson of Methodishca Tune. The band signed to Rough Trade Records in December 1981, but recorded only one studio album, La Variete.

La Variete was released in 1982 on the Rough Trade label and made it to no. 4 in the independent charts staying there for 15 weeks. It was revered by critics on release as a bold new departure from the prevailing post-punk ethos and served as a major influence on Saint Etienne, the Sundays, Belle And Sebastian and many others. According to Cherry Red, La Variete is: "A beautifully realised and delicate collection of songs set against a jazz backdrop, it switches across myriad musical settings including samba, cabaret, Afrobeat and highly personal, confessional pop. After splitting up in 1983, members Simon Booth and Larry Stabbins formed the more jazz orientated Working Week.

The airy arrangements and exotic rhythms throughout La Varieté sound like low-budget approximations of Antonio Carlos Jobim, although "A Life in the Day Of...Pt. 1 & 2" is a stab at African high life, and "Nostalgia" minus the vocals could be one of U2's early instrumental B-sides. In short, the album is nothing like what you would expect from former Young Marble Giants vocalist Alison Statton, excepting the song "Drum Beat for Baby," which mimics the unique sound of her previous band. Interestingly, Young Marble Giants' main man Stuart Moxham has nothing to do with that track, but he and his brother Phil contribute a couple of compositions, one of which is the Gist's "Carnival Headache." La Varieté is an impressive stylistically diverse achievement.

Weekend - La Varieté (flac 450mb)

01 The End Of The Affair 3:05
02 Weekend Stroll 3:23
03 Summer Days 2:53
04 Carnival Headache 2:51
05 Drum Beat For Baby 2:57
06 Life In The Day Of Part 1 3:49
07 Life In The Day Of Part 2 2:23
08 Sleepy Theory 2:52
09 Woman's Eyes 2:49
10 Weekend Off 3:20
11 Red Planes 4:46
12 Nostalgia 3:50
 Bonus Tracks
13 Red Planes (Demo) 8:58
14 Nostalgia (Demo) 5:23
15 Summerdays (Demo) 3:37
16 A View From Her Room (12 Inch Version) 8:11
17 Leaves Of Spring 2:40
18 Past Meets Present 3:38
19 Midnight Slows 2:03
20 Drum Beat For Baby (12 Inch Version) 4:17

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