Sovetskoe Foto >> Seeing you breathing is my inspiration

Sovetskoe Foto - "Cellophane Laughter"

(Rebel Rec. / SPV Recordings, 1991)

I don't really know anything about this band, especially what this song title meant.  That really irritates me.  While looking for their music on eBay, I ascertained that their name was taken from an old Soviet photography magazine called... Sovetskoe Foto.  The members of the band, at least on this album, were Georg S. Huber (bass), Walter Sterr (guitars), Stefan Busch (vocals), and Marc Turiaux (drums).  They hailed from Rosenheim, Germany, but recorded this album, The Humidity, in NYC with esteemed noise rock producer Martin Bisi.  I bought this CD on a whim for a dollar at the Tulane Record Raid in March of last year, drawn in by the cover art and song titles.  To read my overly long review of it, go here and look under the username shockofDAYLIGHT.  The song itself starts off funky and sleazy, and would be pretty memorable if it just continued on that way for its duration.  But it undergoes a sudden Helmet-style breakdown and then a speedy tribal part.  Just amazing, breathtaking musical talent, especially the rhythm section (translation: drummer + bassist).  Though the rest of the album doesn't live up to this song, the jarring, Bare Minimum-esque "Necromancer" and the ultra-funky, The Pop Group-esque "Stay Tonight" are noteworthy.

"Seeing you breathing is my inspiration" is a blithely romantic line upon first listen, and later becomes evident as a great pun when you realize what the medical definition of "inspiration," as part of the system known as respiration, means.  Also buried under the instrumental fireworks is the line "Struck my eyes with a thousand lights."  Jim Thirlwell (a.k.a. Foetus) sings guest vox on the feral "Forget".

Fun Fact: Sovetskoe Foto's publicity company was named Art Rock Mgmt.

CDs in my car on March 8th; top one is Secret Life Of Machines by Doldrums.

Friday: Ate at Clancy's with parents, Em & Damion. Met one of D's brothers, who played hoops at (I think) Swarthmore.  I had the best bread pudding of my life for dessert.

Saturday: Went to Mandeville & took my customary stroll through the Northlake Nature Center, which is sort of a Zenlike ritual that I always do when I'm up there.  The flora really is quite different from that of the south shore of the lake.  A big black snake with yellow spots slithered right in front of me, and I, a former aspiring herpetologist, was sadly unable to identify it.  I semi-accidentally took a root pup of one of my all-time favorite tree species, Vaccinium arboreum (Sparkleberry or Tree Huckleberry).  It has some roots so hopefully it will live.  The pup I took in Dec. 2010 died.
Then went to a great plant nursery called Inwood Gardens in Covington.  They had dozens of unlabeled cacti & succulents, so I volunteered to write their Latin names on the sides of their pots.  So I did this off the top of my head (no books) for about half an hour.  Finally one of my useless talents came in handy... The lady working in that greenhouse seemed pretty bemused.  Bought an Agave guiengola, which I never thought I'd see in person, much less be able to buy.  Just look at this motherfucker reclining in a group of them, living the high life while you sit here on your computer.

Tuesday: Went to Baton Rouge to see School Of Seven Bells and EXITMUSIC at the Spanish Moon.  On the way, I stopped at the Blockbuster Video that's going OOB and scored a bunch more obscure foreign (mostly) flicks for $2 each.  Then I hit up FYE and got lots of kewl cheapo used CDs (The Heart Throbs, Hooverphonic, The Railway Children, Secret Machines, Sunny Day Real Estate, King Missile, Heather Duby + Elemental, Teenage Fanclub).  Passed on a Zapp CD due to its lame song titles.  I made it to the essentially empty club just in time, and saw SVIIB's Ben Curtis shooting pool upstairs.  As befitting their Radiohead-based name, EXITMUSIC were not too exciting, kinda dirgey, like Beach House meets Swans or something.  I think I just heard half of the blogosphere pop a boner after hearing that description.  They opened with "Sea," and closed with a great new song, "Sparks Of Light," from their upcoming LP Passage.  Their guitarist played it using a cello bow, Jimmy Page-style.  They were so loud that all kinds of things were rattling throughout the club, and I hence didn't even try to take a video clip of them.  SVIIB came on like a well-oiled machine and delivered a great performance to a crowd of only 40-50 people.  I saw them open for Interpol last April in front of almost 1000 people, so I was crestfallen that they had to headline for so few people.  The club had only put up a few crude flyers, so I mainly blame the club's management.  This time SVIIB had four members, whereas last year it was two, or maybe three.  Anyway, their new LP Ghostory is the one that I predicted would make them Big, but it seems the public is not paying attention, even though Katy Perry(!) is apparently a fan, according to every recent YouTube commenter.  (E.g. "katy perry sent me here XD")  Their setlist: Intro (sampled chanting of "I am here... I am here..."), Iamundernodisguise, Scavenger, Windstorm, Bye Bye Bye, Love Play, White Elephant Coat, Lafaye, The Night, I L U, White Wind, Low Times, My Cabal.  No encore.  No "Babelonia," which was their first song at the NOLA show last year.  Bought a cool white t-shirt afterwards with the "Kiss Them For Me" 7" cover art on it.

The two logo things were flickering lights of varying colors via MIDI; my flash unfortunately negated it.
Not shown: 1.) The entertaining way that the singer shakes her head from side to side after every line. 2.) The guitarist's SVIIB chest tattoo.

Offensive wallpapers

Planets with similar climates: The Pop Group - "Sense Of Purpose" (~1980), Shudder To Think - "Goat" (1992) & "Gang Of $" (1994), Gang Of Four - "Damaged Goods" (1979), Live Skull - "Machete" (1987), Polvo - "Highwire Moves" (1995), Fugazi - "Sieve-Fisted Find" (1990), Tanner - "Hey Jigsaw" (1995).