Column: It’s Genius, I Swear - Simian Mobile Disco
By: Thomas Hannan
Joe Meek & The Blue Men - I Hear A New World: An Outer Space Music Fantasy (1960, Triumph)
Let''s set something straight right from the off - there are no 'Blue Men'. The Blue men in question are fabrications of Joe''s warped imagination, created by running his voice through lines of sound mangling boxes, many of which were his own inventions. In fact, Joe Meek is as famous for his music as he is for his home made audio mashing boxes, still highly prised for mashing audio today.
The whole thing is another of Joe Meek''s attempts to make a perfect pop record, but he''s a bit of wrong'un so it comes out all wrong, in the best sense of the word.
Obsessed with space and knowledgeable in electronics, Joe turned what could have been an ordinary pop song into an eerie, sci-fi wig out. Going against the thinking of the time, instruments are close miked and distorted. Reverbs and delays are unrealistic and strange, all on purpose. Instead of a sugary pop track we have a sinister and pioneering electronic song which raised the bar artistically and technically.
The catchy lyric from the chorus and title "I hear a new world... calling me" leaves you with the impression that Joe is talking about killing himself rather than the usual "I think I''m pretty wild ''cause I take drugs sometimes" shtick. Unfortunately, Mr. Meek walked it as well as talking it and sadly shot himself (after shooting his landlady) in the late sixties.
- by Simian Mobile Disco
Simian Mobile Disco themselves release the single ''It''s The Beat'' on March 26th, and play all over the UK in the coming months:
27/3/07 - Dingwalls, London
1/4/07 - Bloggers Delight, London
5/2/07 - Fabric. London
6/2/07 - Legends, Manchster
10/5/07 - Zodiac, Oxford
12/5/07 - Audio, Brighton
19/5/07 - Junction, Cambridge
25/5/07 - Blowpop, Bristol
26/5/07 - Stylus, Leeds
27/5/07 - Custard Factory, Birmingham
31/5/07 - Music Box, Manchester
1/6/07 - Fabric, London
2/6/07 - Barfly, Liverpool
5/6/07 - Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
7/6/07 - Empire, Middlesborough
8/6/07 - Arches, Glasgow
9/6/07 - Plug, Sheffield
15/6/07 - Fabric, London
16/6/07 - Rennaisance @ Knebworth House