Love is the Message: Dance, Music and Counterculture

In this episode Jeremy and Tim discuss the economic and social setting into which Studio 54 opened in 1977. They talk about the differences between midtown and downtown scenes, the antagonism (or lack thereof) between punk and disco, subcultural theory and escapism. 

How did disco become so popular so quickly? The guys explore the commercial phenomenon as it exploded after 1975, including the first Disco Convention in 1976 (with awards ceremony!), the in-crowd vs the suburbs, and an extended meditation on the history and value of gimmick records. Plus: has Jeremy done the Hustle?

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Books:
Sarah Thornton - Club Cultures: Music, Media and Subcultural Capital

Anthony Hayden-Guest - The Last Party

Thomas Delany - Times Square Red, Times Square Blue

Tracklist:

Rick Dees and his Cast of Idiots - Disco Ducks 

Van McCoy - The Hustle 

Carol Douglas - Midnight Love Affair 

Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band - Cherchez La Femme 

This is an excerpt from a patrons-only episode. To hear the full thing and a whole lot more, go to Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In this patrons-episode Jeremy raises a devil’s horn salute to the gods and demons of heavy metal. He explores the etymology of the genre term, excavating its shared roots with acid rock, and explaining how heavy metal compliments our story here on LITM. With reference to Easy Rider and the misconceived ‘end of the ‘60s’, we hear about how biker culture, the legacy of the blues and changing regimes of accumulation contributed to the anguished intensity expressed in the music of Led Zeppelin, King Crimson and Iron Butterfly. 

Jeremy also explores noise, feedback and distortion as the new aesthetic tools of metal, questions why people in the late 60s would want to explore occult and black magic ideas, and finishes with a deep dive on Black Sabbath, asking: was heavy metal an expression of the blues for white guys who’s dad’s worked in the car factories of Birmingham?

Join us next time for pt. 2.

Produced by Matt Huxley.

Books and Films:

Easy Rider
Robert Walser - Running with the Devil: Power, Gender and Madness in Heavy Metal Music

Tracklist:

Steppenwolf - Born to be Wild 

Blue Cheer - Summertime Blues 

The Who - My Generation (Live 1968) 

Led Zeppelin - Dazed and Confused 

Led Zeppelin - Whole Lotta Love 

King Crimson - 21st Century Schizoid Man 

Iron Butterfly - Easy Rider (Let the Wind Pay the Way) 

Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath 

Black Sabbath - Paranoid 

Black Sabbath - War Pigs 

In the final episode of our three-parter on punk, Jeremy and Tim stick a pin through their ears and make their way down the Kings Road for the release of Anarchy in the UK. We hear about the mercurial Malcolm McLaren, Situationism, Symbolism and SEX in discussion with the Pistols project. We uncover why John Lydon knows what he hates but not what he wants, how a prime-time curse word scandalised Britain, and ask who wasn’t at the Manchester Free Trade Hall the night the Sex Pistols played.

Elsewhere in the episode we dig deeper into what constituted punk as a structure of feeling, contrasting authenticity with irony and asking: how serious really is all this? With Blondie, John Waters, Rimbaud, the Mercer Street Arts Center and Patti Smith. Never mine the bollocks, here’s Love is the Message…
Produced by Matt Huxley.

Tracklist:
New York Dolls - Personality Crisis

Patti Smith - Horses

Blondie - X Offender

Books:
Frith & Hall - Art into Pop

This is an excerpt from a patrons-only episode. To hear the whole thing and much more besides, visit Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

Earlier this month UNESCO added Berlin techno to its List of Intangible Cultural Heritage, a register to recoginize and safeguard important traditions, practices and expressions. This news was met with consternation from music fans over how this honour completely overlooked the birthplace of techno, Detroit. For this patrons-only episode, Jeremy and Tim react to the news by pulling out a dozen or so of their favourite Detroit techno cuts to discuss.

We hear about the ‘Belville Three’, post-Fordism, Alvin Tofler and the relationship between Chicago and Motor City. The guys dwell on the aesthetic of coldness and futurity that characterised much of the Detroit sound, folding in the Panthers, jazz and unidentified flying objects into records from Underground Resistance, Carl Craig, Drexciya and Theo Parish. Plus, we hear one of the first records Jeremy ever bought, memories of squat parties past, and a de rigour David Mancuso cameo.

Tracklist:
Model 500 - No UFOs
Rhythim Is Rhythim - It Is What It Is
R-Tyme - R-Theme
Underground Resistance - The Theory
The Martian - Star Dancer
K-Hand - Starz
Innerzone Orchestra - Eruption
Innerzone Orchestra - Bug in the Bass Bin
The Aztec Mystic - Jaguar
Drexciya - Birth Of New Life
Carl Craig & Pepe Braddock - Angola (Carl Craig Mix)
Theo Parish - Falling Up
Innerzone Orchestra - People Make the World Go 'Round

In this episode we continue our trio of episodes on Punk by examining some crucial mid-70s proto-Punk antecedents. Via the lean funkiness of Dr Feelgood Jeremy and Tim explore the interesting British formation of pub rock, with its R’n’B roots and distinct danceability. This leads to a discussion on the slipperiness of Rock’n’Roll as a term and its tensions with ‘rock’ proper. We also hear an early influence on Post-Punk and meet the influential Stiff Records at its foundation.
In the second half of the show we make a second encounter on the show with the Ramones, and ask: what were they really up to? Authenticity, performance, historiography and hagiography all come under the microscope as we lead to the first definitively British Punk record: New Rose by The Damned.
Join us next time for Blondie and the Sex Pistols.
Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Tracklist:
Dr Feelgood - She Does it Right
Dr Feelgood - Keep it Outta Sight
Nick Lowe - So It Goes
The Ramones - Blitzkrieg Bop
The Saints - (I’m) Stranded
The Damned - New Rose

This is an excerpt from a patrons-only episode. To hear the whole thing and a huge number of other conversations, head to Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In this patrons episode Jem and Tim once again share what’s been on their turntables recently. We hear two tracks - one contemporary and one not - from the UK Asian Underground, along with a consideration of the cosmopolitan aesthetic of artists like Bally Sagoo and Nitin Sawhney. Tim reflects on trips to the WOMAD festival and digs into trip hop while Jem shares a powerful Qawwali cut. Elsewhere we hear Swedish afrobeat, extremely psychedelic roots reggae, free love, a compilation for Gaza, Messages from the Stars and more…

Tracklist:
Nitin Sawhney - Charu Keshi Rain
Nora Dean - Angie La La
Bally Sagoo - Noorie
Morelo - Promise (from ‘For Gaza’ comp by Planet Turbo Records)
The RAH Band - Messages from the Stars
Orgōne - Strike
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Shamas-Ud-Doha, Badar-Ud-Doja
Olumo Soundz - Sunday Jump
June Jazzin - Shine Your Brightest Light

Books:

Sanjay Sharma, John Hutnyk, Ashwani Sharma (Eds) - Dis-Orienting Rhythms: The Politics of the New Asian Dance Music 

Welcome to Series 6 of Love is the Message! We hope you enjoyed the series of conversations with writers and academics that comprised Series 5, but now we are returning to our usual format to examine a watershed year: 1977. 

In this first episode we are unpacking Punk. What is it? A musical style, a subgenre of rock, a fashion sensibility, an attitude, a structure of feeling? In the first of three shows on Punk, Jeremy and Tim unfurl a general genealogy of the term as we build towards the release of Anarchy in the UK in two episodes’ time. They discuss where the term came from and how it was codified; the importance punk placed on realness and spontaneity; and contrast Punk’s nostalgic and avant garde modes. 

Tim and Jeremy make reference to three bands not immediately thought of as Punk - The Seeds, The MC5 and The Stooges - to uncover what musical work was taking place in the late 60s and early 70s that could be viewed as proto-punk, and use these bands to show the problems of rock historiography in recounting the history of Punk. And, this being LITM, we of course spend some time untangling the Punk vs Disco dichotomy. 

We hope you’ll join us as we continue our long march through the 1970s and beyond!

Become a patron at patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Tracklist:
The Seeds - Pushin’ Too Hard
The MC5 - Kick Out the Jams
The Stooges - Funhouse

This is an excerpt from a patrons-only episode. To hear the whole thing and a lot more besides, head to Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In this patrons’ episode we conclude our trio of episodes on Glam Rock.

Tim and Jeremy pick up where they left off with a walk on the wild side. This leads to a discussion of the relationship between Lou Reed, Bowie and Iggy Pop in the early 70s. They discuss the undisputed glam anthem Cum on Feel the Noize from Birmingham’s finest Slade, replete with its football terrace chant and fist-pumping energy. And on the mellower side, explore the idea of glam as torch song, with entries from international treasure Elton John and a return to the show for Roxy Music.

Jeremy and Tim conclude the episode with an acceptance of the might of Queen and a brief scintilla of postmodernism - much more of that to follow.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Tracklist:

Lou Reed - Walk on the Wild Side

David Bowie - Moonage Daydream

Slade - Cum On Feel The Noize

Suzi Quatro - Glycerine Queen

Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Roxy Music - In Every Dream Home a Heartache

Queen - Killer Queen

This is an excerpt from a patrons-only episode. To hear the whole show, and a whole lot more besides, head to Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod to sign up.

In this patrons’ episode we move into the second of three episodes on Glam. The third part of this trilogy will be dropping in your feed sooner than our normal schedule so hold tight for that.

Tim and Jeremy discuss that big beast of British rock, Roxy Music. They consider Brian Ferry’s cultivation of a White British vocal style, the effects of art college on this and so many other contemporaneous UK bands, Ferry’s eventual styling as ‘Frank Sinatra in quotation marks’, and the emergence from within Roxy of one of the most influential producers of the Twentieth Century - Brian Eno.

Also in the episode the guys go deep on Ziggy Stardust and unpack the desire of so many 70s musicians to just be taken seriously. Plus, the shadow of Dylan, Cornelius Cardew, and more Marc Bolan. 

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Tracklist:

Roxy Music - Re-Make/Re-Model

Roxy Music - Virginia Plain

David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust

T.Rex - Children Of The Revolution

In this episode Jeremy and Tim are joined by writer, historian, and friend of the show Simon Reynolds to discuss British musical trends of the 1970s and his life as a music journalist. Simon is arguably the most important music critic writing today, having penned seminal books on post-punk, electronic dance music, feminist rock and much more. In this interview he mostly talks about his most recent book, ‘Shock and Awe: Glam Rock and Its Legacy, from the Seventies to the Twenty-First Century’, sharing stories from his childhood interest in the decadent world of Glam.

The three discuss how so many artists came to aestheticise a rejection of suburbia, the purply gauze of Top of the Pops, and thinking the Situationists were a band. They unpick how Punk is imagined and historicised versus how it was experienced, how Simon came to reappraise the 60s against a hostile critical culture, and consider the role of the music press historically and today.

For patrons, our extended edition also includes a discussion around Simon’s 2011 book ‘Retromania: Pop Culture’s Addiction to its Own Past’. Tim, Jeremy and Simon recount the particular conjuncture from which the book arose, tease out its key theses, and apply those to contemporary music culture.

Simon Reynolds is the author of ‘Blissed Out: The Raptures of Rock’, ‘The Sex Revolts: Gender, Rebellion and Rock 'N' Roll’ with Joy Press, ‘Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture’, ‘Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978–1984’, ‘Bring The Noise: 20 Years of Writing About Hip Rock and Hip-Hop’, ‘Retromania: Pop Culture's Addiction to Its Own Past’ and ‘Shock and Awe: Glam Rock and Its Legacy, from the Seventies to the Twenty-First Century’. His next book, ‘Futuromania: Electronic Dreams from Moroder to Migos’ is forthcoming.

Tracklist:
Scott Joplin - The Entertainer
Ian Dury & the Blockheads - Plaistow Patricia
The Rezillos - Top Of The Pops
The Specials - Ghost Town

Led Zeppelin - Whole Lotta Love

UNLOCKED - We've made public this previously patrons-only episode following the death of Can singer Damo Suzuki. If you'd like to become a patron, visit Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

W do you call it? Krautrock, space rock, the Great Komische Music? It’s all German to me. In a little under two hours the guys cover the history of post-WW2 Germany (East and West), anti-Communist geopolitics, what you want to hear when you’re tripping, Pop Art, post-rock and playfulness, all in reference to the music of Can, NEU!, Ash Ra Tempel and more.

We hear about the characteristics of the German counterculture from which many of these players came, the various tendencies of revolutionary European socialism, the Green Party, and the problems of De-Nazification. We consider the avant-garde compositions of Karlheinz Stockhausen, the impact of American acid rock, Ancient Egypt, and the many ways James Brown’s funk filtered into the motor rhythms of Dusseldorf 1971. More than anything, we survey a formidable body of work that is at once mesmeric and danceable - both things we like here at Love is the Message!

Produced by Matt Huxley.

Books:
Julian Cope - Krautrock Sampler: One Head’s Guide  to the Great Kosmische Musik
David Stubbs - Future Days: Krautrock and the Building of Modern Germany

Tracklist:
Ash Ra Tempel & Timothy Leary - Timeship
Karlheinz Stockhausen - Spiral (Realization A)
Amon Duul ii - Yeti (Improvisation)
Ash Ra Tempel - Amboss
Kraftwerk - Stratovarius
Tangerine Dream - Genesis
Tangerine Dream - Flute Organ Piece
Can - Halleluwah
NEU! - Hallogallo
Can - Moonshake
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Harmonia & Eno '76 - Atmosphere
Kraftwerk - Trans Europe Express

This is an excerpt from a patrons-only episode. To hear the whole thing, plus dozens of hours more discussion and conversation, head to patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In this patrons’ episode we continue our look at musical currents of the 1970s by pulling on our platform boots, pasting on some eyeliner and getting ready for Glam Rock. In the first of two episodes, Tim and Jeremy excavate the pre-history of this strange trans-Atlantic phenomenon, which expresses both fascinating cultural insights and some pretty bad music (to our ears). Tim and Jeremy discuss the concept of glamour itself, the glamorous side of Hippy culture, and clothing and makeup as forms of self-expression. They also get stuck into 60s Garage Rock, focusing on The Stooges and The Velvet Underground, to consider ideas of decadence, masculinity, mass culture, Warhol and more, before - via a detour through the singular artistry of David Bowie - teeing up two recognisable faces of early Glam: Marc Bolan and Alice Cooper. Next episode we’ll be continuing on to Roxy Music, the New York Dolls, later Bowie, Slade, and the legacy of this strange musical force. Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Tracklist: The Pleasure Seekers - What a Way to Die The Velvet Underground - Venus in Furs The Stooges - TV Eye Alice Cooper - I’m Eighteen David Bowie - The Man Who Sold The World Alice Cooper - School’s Out T. Rex - Hot Love

Books: Philip Auslander - Performing Glam Rock: Gender and Theatricality in Popular Music Simon Reynolds Book - Shock and Awe: Glam Rock and Its Legacy, from the Seventies to the Twenty-First Century Colin Campbell - The Romantic Ethic and the Spirit of Modern Consumerism

To hear an extended version of this conversation, become a patron at Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In this episode Jeremy and Tim are joined by historian and New Yorker Kim Phillips-Fein to discuss a crucial event in the Love is the Message story: the 1975 New York City fiscal crisis. Kim’s book ‘Fear City: New York’s Fiscal Crisis and the Rise of Austerity Politics’ is widely regarded as the definitive text on the matter, so she was the perfect person to talk to, and she brought some great music recommendations to boot.

The three discuss both the long- and short-term backdrop to the crisis, charting how the city’s unique social democratic municipal system of rent controls, hospitals and education changed across the twentieth century, before examining how the centre of international capital came extremely close to bankruptcy. Kim explains the financial mechanisms which animated the crisis and the political choices that precipitated it. She elucidates President Ford’s predicament during the crisis, the effects of ‘white flight’, and reminds us that New York was itself an industrial city rapidly de-industrialising. 

This being Love is the Message, naturally we also hear about the extraordinary cultural creativity of the time and examine its material causes, including changing democraphics and the transformation of Soho. Finally, Tim Jeremy and Kim consider what happened next, and how the fiscal crisis has been historicised to serve a particular ideology.

Kim Phillips-Fein is the Gardiner-Kenneth T. Jackson Professor of History at Columbia University. Her book ‘Fear City: New York’s Fiscal Crisis and the Rise of Austerity Politics' was named a finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for History. She is also the author of ‘Invisible Hands: The Making of the Conservative Movement from the New Deal to Reagan’.

Tracklist:

Television - Venus

The Dils - Class War

The Rolling Stones - Shattered

Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - The Message

This is an excerpt from a patrons-only episode. To hear the whole show, plus much more, head to Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

On this festive edition of What We’re Listening To, Jeremy and Tim share selections from their turntables alongside thoughts on religion, atheism, death - and Blondie. We hear psychedelic jazz from north India and northern England, a brace of uplifting Gospel anthems from Pastor T.L Barrett, and some free-wheeling spiritual jazz from the Bronx via Puerto Rico. A smattering of seasonal song is dispersed throughout the selections, and with an eye on the horrors of the last two months in the Middle East, an uplifting call for peace to sign off on.
We will be taking a short break for Christmas and New Year but will be back in mid-January with more LITM. Tune in, turn on, get down…

Produced by Matt Huxley.

Tracklist:

Manish Pingle - Raga Puriya Kalyan
Erobique (ft. Florence Adooni) - Mam Tola
Matthew Halsall - An Ever Changing View
Pastor T.L. Barrett And The Youth For Christ Choir - I Shall Wear a Crown
Pastor T.L. Barrett And The Youth For Christ Choir - Jingle Bells
Blondie - Yuletide Throwdown
Antonio Ocasio ft. Nina Hadzi Antich - That Something
Alfredo Linares - La Musica Por Dentro (Remixed by Jose Parla & Phenomenal Handclap Band)
Joseph Macwan - Climb That Mountain (3AM Mix)
Mike Anthony - Why Can't We Live Together

This is an excerpt from a patrons-only episode. To hear the full show, and much more, head to Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In this episode Tim and Jeremy begin a series of shows for patrons that flesh out some of the other musical currents of the UK and Europe in the late 60s and early 70s, beginning with… well, what do you call it? Krautrock, space rock, the Great Komische Music? It’s all German to me. In a little under two hours the guys cover the history of post-WW2 Germany (East and West), anti-Communist geopolitics, what you want to hear when you’re tripping, Pop Art, post-rock and playfulness, all in reference to the music of Can, NEU!, Ash Ra Tempel and more.

We hear about the characteristics of the German counterculture from which many of these players came, the various tendencies of revolutionary European socialism, the Green Party, and the problems of De-Nazification. We consider the avant-garde compositions of Karlheinz Stockhausen, the impact of American acid rock, Ancient Egypt, and the many ways James Brown’s funk filtered into the motor rhythms of Dusseldorf 1971. More than anything, we survey a formidable body of work that is at once mesmeric and danceable - both things we like here at Love is the Message!

Produced by Matt Huxley.

Become a patron at Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

For rights reasons, we can only play excerpts of the tracks we discuss. However, if you'd like to listen along in full, with updates every episode, follow our Spotify playlist at: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1ZylmJYk5SxyyTI2OQp0iy

Books: Julian Cope - Krautrock Sampler: One Head’s Guide  to the Great Kosmische Musik David Stubbs - Future Days: Krautrock and the Building of Modern Germany

Tracklist: Ash Ra Tempel & Timothy Leary - Timeship Karlheinz Stockhausen - Spiral (Realization A) Amon Duul ii - Yeti (Improvisation) Ash Ra Tempel - Amboss Kraftwerk - Stratovarius Tangerine Dream - Genesis Tangerine Dream - Flute Organ Piece Can - Halleluwah NEU! - Hallogallo Can - Moonshake Kraftwerk - Autobahn Harmonia & Eno '76 - Atmosphere Kraftwerk - Trans Europe Express

This is an excerpt from a patrons-only episode. To hear the full show, plus much more, sign up at Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In this patrons episode, Tim and Jeremy continue their investigation into the musical cultures of Europe and the UK of the 1970s. For this show, pull on your wide-leg jeans, pop a dexy and talc the floor, because we’re talking Northern Soul. We hear about Mod culture, subcultural theory, Quadraphenia, and clubs like the Twisted Wheel, the Wigan Casino and the Blackpool Mecca. Tim and Jeremy excavate a particular wistful, romantic and nostalgic affect to the mid-60s Soul music that fuelled these all-night dances in the north of England, and consider to what extent the dancers were seeking escapism. We also hear about Rave, Jackie Chan and Paul Mason, so get out on the floor and keep the faith!

Tracklist:
Don Gardner - My Baby Likes To Boogaloo
Small Faces - All Or Nothing
Christine Cooper - Heartaches Away My Boy
Dobie Grey - Out on the Floor
The Flirtations - Nothing But A Heartache
Kariya - Let Me Love You For Tonight 
Gloria Jones - Tainted Love
Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band - Bring It To Me Baby
Tobi Legend - Time Will Pass You By

Books:

Stephen Catterall and Keith Gildart - Keeping The Faith: A History of Northern Soul
Stan Cohen - Folk Devils and Moral Panics
Watch Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore by Mark Leckey here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dS2McPYzEE

Watch Paul Mason’s Keeping The Faith doc here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJsgkXdlkgs

In this week’s episode, Tim and Jeremy are joined by writer, critic and academic Emily J. Lordi to discuss her 2020 book The Meaning of Soul (and much more besides). Emily talks about how she got into writing about Black music and the particular status Soul held in academia at the start of her career. The three consider changing historiographies of Black culture, talk over some key canonical texts, and contrast Soul with scholarship on Blues and Jazz.
Emily explains how her analysis looks beyond lyrics in its appraisal of the political content of Soul, and how through an evaluation of a shift between sacred and secularised notions of the genre, we can see an articulation of a collective subjectivity representative of the congregational traditions from which the music draws on.
Elsewhere, Tim, Jeremy and Emily consider ‘the crew’ in Soul and Hip Hop, Disco’s relationship to Soul, Gladys Knight and the Pips and Minnie Ripperton. For patrons, the three dig into Emily’s concept of ‘Afro-Presentism’, Beyonce, Janelle Monáe, contemporary R’n’B, and the affect of resilience.

Emily J. Lordi is a writer, professor, and cultural critic whose focus is African American literature and Black popular music. She is professor of English at Vanderbilt University and the author of three books: Black Resonance (2013), Donny Hathaway Live (2016), and The Meaning of Soul (2020).

Produced by Matt Huxley.

Check out the back catalog, reading lists, playlists and more at our website: https://www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/

In this week’s episode, Tim and Jeremy are joined by writer and scholar Mark Anthony Neal. Mark’s 1999 book ‘What the Music Said: Black Popular Music and Black Public Culture’ is a crucial text for us here at Love is the Message, so it was fantastic to have him join the show to discuss his life and work in music. We discuss how the Black popular music of the past 60 years provides an insight into black socio-political life, via Gospel, Soul, Hip Hop and more. Mark explores how his upbringing in the South Bronx, from spending Sunday mornings with his parents to heading to the Apollo to see the Jackson 5 and Aretha, shaped his view of the Black public sphere. The interview provides Jem and Tim with the opportunity to trace their interest in the progressive potential of the 1970s back to the slave experience, the development of spirituals that became a channel for acts of resistance, the African American church’s reversioning of Christianity as a space of Black communion and expression, the importance of the jook and the rent party for expressions of Black pleasure. These spaces contributed to the shaping of an increasingly radical Black politics, from the burgeoning civil rights movement to Black Power, with rhythm and blues, soul and funk. We discuss the late-80s turn toward commodity culture within Hip Hop and consider what happened politically to black musicians into the 90s.

For patrons, Mark, Tim and Jeremy also discuss early disco, Black dance music and Saturday Night Fever; consider the aspirational, entrepreneurial mindset of many of the 70s pioneers; and the role of sampling as an act of Black archival work undertaken by caretakers of Black musical lineage, bringing us right up to the listening practices of today.

Mark Anthony Neal is the Professor of Black Popular Culture in the Department of African and African-American Studies at Duke University host of the weekly webcast ‘Left of Black’ in collaboration with the John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University. He is the author of ‘What the Music Said: Black Popular Music and Black Public Culture’, ‘Soul Babies: Black Popular Culture and the Post-Soul Aesthetic’, ‘Songs in the Keys of Black Life: A Rhythm and Blues Nation’, ‘New Black Man: Rethinking Black Masculinity’ and ‘Looking for Leroy: (Il)Legible Black Masculinities’.

Produced by Matt Huxley.

Become a patron to hear an extended version of this conversation by visiting patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

Check out the back catalog, reading lists, playlists and more at our website: https://www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/

And listen along our Spotify playlist featuring music from the series at: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1ZylmJYk5SxyyTI2OQp0iy

Tracklist:

The Sugarhill Gang - Rapper's Delight 

The Jackson 5 - Dancing Machine

Eugene McDaniels - Headless Heroes

Eric B. And Rakim - Paid in Full

Ray Charles - (Night time Is) The Right Time

The Isley Brothers - Fight the Power

Marvin Gaye - What’s Going On

Sly & The Family Stone - Stand! 

Bessie Smith- Back Water Blues

LL Cool J - The Boomin' System

This is an excerpt from a patrons-only episode. To hear the full show, plus many more hours of conversation, become a patron at Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In this patrons episode Tim and Jeremy offer music on the theme of war and peace. They reflect on the ongoing conflict in Palestine, discussing the current unfolding crisis and taking a longer view on Israeli history. We hear about the ecstatic peace of John Coltrane, a lesser-known companion to Edwin Starr’s ‘War’, why Tim loves the Human League but New Order not so much, and consider the Promised Land. Tim and Jeremy also share music by Palestinian musicians Sama’ Abdulhadi and Kamilya Jubran, talk about Jem’s experiences DJing the country, Boiler Room as an unexpected anti-imperialist organisation, and the pitfalls of cultural appropriation.

Produced by Matt Huxley.

Tracklist: John Coltrane - Peace on Earth (Live At Shinjuku Kosei Nenkin Hall, Tokyo, Japan / July 22, 1966) Edwin Starr - Stop The War Now The Human League - The Lebanon  Sama' Abdulhadi - Reverie  Mutado Pintado presents Sworn Virgins - Michelle (Acid Arab Mix) Bashar Murad - Maskhara Joe Smooth - Promised Land (Club Mix) Willie Hutch - Brother s Gonna Work it Out Kamilya Jubran & Werner Halser - Wa (pt.1) Maurice Ravel - Kaddish

In this week’s episode, Tim and Jeremy welcome writer and academic Gayle Wald to the show to tell us about the life and times of Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Christened on social media ‘the queer black woman who invented rock’n’roll’, yet derided in 1970 as ‘a blacked up Elvis in drag’, Sister Rosetta’s story disrupts the received narrative of rock history. We hear about her religious upbringing, hitting the road with her evangelist mother; playing in the Cotton Club, the Decca Records studios, and from the centre field of a football stadium (in her wedding dress!); and being feted by Johnny Cash at the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame.

Sister Rosetta’s story concerns misogyny, Pentecostalism, the evolution of the electric guitar, gossip, Little Richard and more, and Gayle is the perfect person to share it with us.

This is an edited version of the full interview. To hear more about Sister Rosetta as well as about Gayle’s book on the television programme ‘Soul!’ - a groundbreaking piece of public broadcasting that brought black thinkers, activists and musicians to the TV screen - and her forthcoming work on the eminent children’s musician Ella Jenkins, become a patron.

Gayle Wald  is a professor of English and American Studies at George Washington University and a Guggenheim Fellow. She is the author of 'Crossing the Line: Racial Passing in U.S. Literature and Culture’, ‘Shout, Sister, Shout!: The Untold Story of Rock-and-Roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe’ and ‘It's Been Beautiful: Soul! and Black Power Television’.
Produced by Matt Huxley.
Become a patron at Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

Check out the back catalog, reading lists, playlists and more at our website: https://www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/

Produced by Matt Huxley.
Tracklist:
Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Rock Me
Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Up Above My Head

Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Marie Knight - Didn’t It Rain
Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Strange Things Happening Every Day
Mahalia Jackson - Move On Up a Little Higher
Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Move On Up a Little Higher

Love is the Message is back for Series 5! After a few weeks off for the summer holidays, Tim and Jeremy return to the show for more music, dancing, sound systems and counterculture. This time round, we’re changing things up. As you’ll hear, we’re taking a break from our chronological narrative to bring in scholars and writers for a series of guest interviews, allowing us to both deepen our understanding of the late 60s and early 70s, and move around a bit more to histories we haven’t got to yet.

For patrons, we’ll also be recording a number of episodes on the European and British musical phenomena that were taking place at the same time as the Loft and its ecosystem, so hold tight for that.

But for this introductory episode, we’re sharing a ‘What We’re Listening To’ show, featuring ten tracks that Jem and Tim have had on the turntables this year. We’ll hear a rare Northern Soul cut from Tim, driving Brazilian funk, Carol King at her grooviest, plus spiritual jazz, ambient DnB, a conversation about Burning Man, and a pledge from Jem to keep playing Max Romeo until the rents go down.

Become a patron at Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

And check out the back catalog, reading lists, playlists and more at our website: https://www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/

Produced by Matt Huxley.

Tracklist: The Flirtations - Nothing But a Heartache Antonio Carlos & Jocafi - Simbarere Carol King - Believe in Humanity Miriam Makeba - We Gotta Make It Max Romeo - Rent Crisis Universal Togetherness Band - Ain't Gonna Cry Pharaoh Sanders - Oh Lord, Let Me Do No Wrong Underworld - Dark & Long (Spoon Deep Mix) Omni Trio - Higher Ground Brawther - Sundials Ft Nathan Haines

This is it - the final episode of series 4, New York City 1975-76. For this show Jeremy and Tim are staying in the Bronx for more discussion around the links between Downtown party culture and the port hip-hop scene. We hear about the very first B Boys, what their moves looked like, and what sort of music they were breaking to. We explore how important performing or being watched was to these dancers, and the similarities and differences with losing yourself on a disco dance floor.

Tim and Jeremy unpack the class dimension of the early breaking scene, set against a backdrop of poverty and rising gang membership. They profile Africa Bambaataa, both as a DJ and an agent for social cohesion, and also introduce a young Grandmaster Flash - more on him to follow. Plus - Jeremy shares his own breaking experiences…

We will take a short break (no pun intended) for summer, and will be back in the autumn for Series 5. Thanks to everyone for your continued support as we reach our 60th main episode of the podcast, closing in on 100 hours of music, dance floors, sound systems and counterculture. Love is the message…

Become a patron at Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

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Books: Jeff Chang - Can’t Stop Won’t Stop Jonathan Mahler - Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics, and the Battle for the Soul of a City Philippe Bourgois - In Search of Respect

Tracklist: The Jimmy Castor Bunch - It's Just Begun Abaco Dream - Life & death in G & A Shirley Ellis - The Clapping Song Herman, Kelly & Life - Dance to the Drummer’s Beat The Rolling Stones - Honky Tonk Women Sly & The Family Stone - Family Affair  Grandmaster Flash - The Adventures Of Grandmaster Flash On The Wheels Of Steel

In the penultimate episode of our current series, Tim and Jeremy explore the earlier incarnations of what would become Hip-Hop. They begin by asking where the term comes from and interrogating the problematic historiography of the genre. The show then moves on to a detailed profile of the legendary DJ Cool Herc and his nascent rec room parties, alongside the contemporaneous mobile DJ culture, the Jazz poetry of Gil Scott-Heron and the Last Poets, the ‘merry-go-round’ mixing technique, and the historical and affective significance of the breakbeat for hip-hop and disco. Plus: the only evidence you’ll find of David Mancuso cutting breaks.

Become a patron by visiting Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

And check out our new website: https://www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/

Books and Films:

Wild Style (1982)

Stan Cohen - Folk Devils and Moral Panics

Tim Lawrence - Life and Death on the New York Dance Floor 1980-1983

Jeff Chang - Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation

David Toop - The Rap Attack: African Jive to New York Hip HopTracklist:

Rare Earth - Get Ready

Gil Scott-Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

The Last Poets - When the Revolution Comes

Incredible Bongo Band - Apache

Benny Goodman Orchestra - Sing Sing Sing

Dennis Coffey & The Detroit Guitar Band - Scorpio

For this episode, Tim and Jeremy pull on their dancing shoes to explore why the Downtown dance floors of the early 1970s were such historically unique places. Situating the forms of dancing found at the Loft and the Sanctuary as part of a turn away from the forms of partner dancing covered in our previous episode, we hear how these new forms of dance deconstructed how people experienced their bodies socio-sexually and conceived of themselves as part of a newly self-conscious audience.

Tim and Jeremy discuss how developments in both sound, DJ practice, lighting and the now famous mirror ball contributed to a ‘polymorphously perverse’ experience for dancers. We also try to understand how people were actually dancing, ‘freakout gestures’, ‘lofting’, and how the ‘hustle’ reterritorialised disco for a suburban market.

Become a patron by visiting Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

And check out our new website: https://www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/

Tracklist: Earth, Wind & Fire - Power Lloyd Price - Bad Conditions James Brown - Cold Sweat (Live at the Apollo vol.2) Dinosaur L – Go Bang! #5 The Meters - Hand Clapping Song Tribe - Koke Van McCoy - The Hustle

This is an excerpt from a patrons episode. To hear the full show, and much more like this, head to Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In this patrons-only bonus episode, Jeremy explores what it means to analyse music from a feminist perspective. Beginning with a literature review of both the various forms of feminism theorised in the 1970s, and the body of feminist music writing from the late 80s to the early 2000s, we hear about the work of important thinkers like Susan McClary, Simon Reynolds, Angela McRobbie and Judith Butler to tease out what the various feminist perspectives were and what the task of feminist music criticism might be.

We consider formal expressions of gender within music through Bach, Beethoven and Black Sabbath; spend time with the feminist post-punks Siouxie Sioux, Patti Smith and the Raincoats; think about how disco fits into all this; and consider the work of Laurie Anderson and Donna Haraway in the early 80s as they point towards a new form of cyborg feminism.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Books and Articles:
Simon Frith and Angela McRobbie - Rock and Sexuality
Simon Reynolds and Joy Press - The Sex Revolts: Gender, Rebellion and Rock and Roll
Richard Dyer - In Defence of Disco
Andy Beckett - I Promised You A Miracle: Why 1980-1982 Made Modern Britain
Donna Haraway - A Cyborg Manifesto

Tracklist:
JS Bach - The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080 (Contrapunctus 1)
Black Sabbath - Paranoid
The Byrds - Wild Mountain Thyme
The Chicago Women's Liberation Rock Band - Mountain Moving Day
The Pleasure Seekers - What a Way To Die
Joni Mitchell - Woman of Heart and Mind
Siouxsie And The Banshees - Mirage (John Peel Sessions)
Patti Labelle - The Spirit’s in It
Donna Summer - I Feel Love
The Raincoats - Lola
The Raincoats - Dancing in my Head
Soft Cell - Say Hello, Wave Goodbye
Laurie Anderson - O Superman

We say that LITM is a podcast about music, the dance floor, sound systems and counterculture, but we realise that we haven’t dedicated a show to dance floor practices for some time. So in this episode, Tim is in the hot seat to give us a quick primer on the history of social dance in the USA and beyond. With reference to the prevailing gender, class and power relations of their time, we learn about the surprising sensuousness of the Waltz, James P Johnson and the Charlston, the Lindy Hop, the Swing Age, The Twist and even Deadhead freakouts. 

Calling into this history the Great Migration, the Harlem Renaissance, Elvis, the Acid Tests and more, Tim charts a history of social dance spanning over 200 years, and bringing us to the doors of the Loft and the Sanctuary in the early 1970s, from where we’ll pick up next episode.

Become a patron my visiting Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

And check out our new website: https://www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/

Tracklist:

Johann Strauss II - The Blue Danube Waltz

James P Johnson - Charlston

Frankie Manning - Hellzapoppin

Count Basie - One O’Clock Jump

Hank Ballard & The Midnighters - The Twist

The Grateful Dead - Mama Tried (Live at Woodstock)

This is an excerpt from a patrons-only episode. To hear this and much much more, become a patron at Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In this patrons-only bonus episode, Tim draws on some recent research into David Mancuso’s record collection to share some tracks that might have been played during what he called ‘the prelude’ -  the introductory portion of the night’s musical entertainment. Taking into account the different settings at both the Broadway and Prince Street Lofts, and David’s never-ending adjustments of the sound system, Tim explains what the prelude represented for the party, why hi-fi audio was crucial, and how the prelude changed across the 70s.

Drawing on the three bardos understanding of the acid trip, we explore why this gentle introduction to a night of dancing was an important innovation and select a range of pieces of music that we can speculate would have been played.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Tracklist:

Van Morrison - Astral Weeks

Morgana King - A Taste of Honey

Aretha Franklin - Amazing Grace

Valerie Simpson - I Don’t Need No Help

Jean-Michel Jarre - Oxygene, Pt. 1

Gong - Bambooji

Norman Connors - You Are My Starship

Elliott Fisher - Land of Make Believe

Carl Orff - Fortune Plango Vulnera

Donald Byrd - Places & Spaces

In this episode Jeremy is reunited with Tim to explore the early life and times of the legendary DJ Larry Levan. We hear about his youthful friendship with fellow DJ (and future leading light of House) Frankie Knuckles as they embed themselves deep in early 70s dance floor culture, taking us not just to discos but to rent parties, drag balls and The Continental Baths. 

Naturally, we look at the role David Mancuso played both in inspiring Larry and in advancing his career, and shout out one of his less well-known mentors, T Scott, alongside the ever-present Nicky Siano. Tim and Jeremy also discuss shame, the Hustle and Mick Jagger’s strut, and ask the question: should we all be playing more musical theatre records?

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And check out our new website: https://www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

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Tracklist:
B.B. King - Philadelphia
Shirley & Company - Shame Shame Shame
Consumer Rapport - Ease On Down The Road
Donald Byrd - Change (Makes You Want To Hustle)
Babe Ruth - Elusive

This is an excerpt from a patrons-only episode. To hear more, become a patron at patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

In this patrons-only episode Jeremy is once again flying solo on the podcast to explore the lives, ideas, and uses of the French philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari. Starting in the intellectual hotbed of late-60s Paris, Jeremy explains who the pair were, how they met, what their shared - somewhat heterodox - philosophical canon was, and how this was expressed in their two-volume work Capitalism and Schizophrenia.

Deleuze and Guattari are often seen as being very hard to comprehend, but Jeremy introduces us to concepts like schizoanalysis, deterritorialisation and reterritorialisation, the rhyzome, the refrain and the notorious body-without-organs in accessible and easy to digest language.

Through the work of both the composers cited by the philosophers and a good deal of musicians who weren’t, Jeremy shows how the radically materialist, non-dualist analysis of Deleuze and Guattari can help us understand how music works on us as listeners, with examples ranging from Messiaen to Keith Rowe and Kode9.

Books: Deleuze and Guattari - Anti-Oedipus Ian Buchanan - Reader’s Guide to Anti-Oedipus Deleuze and Guattari - A Thousand Plateaus Jeremy Gilbert and Ewan Pearson - Discographies Jeremy Gilbert - Common Ground Kojo Eshun - More Brilliant Than the Sun Ian Buchanan & Marcel Swiboda (eds) - Deleuze and Music Tim Lawrence - “In Defence of Disco (Again)”. New Formations, 58, Summer 2006 Jeremy Gilbert - “In Defence of 'In Defence of Disco’”, New Formations, 58, Summer 2006

Tracklist: Olivier Messiaen - Fête des Belles Eaux Olivier Messiaen - Chronochromie Mozart - Adagio for Glass Harmonica Schumann - Cello Concerto in A Minor mvt. 1 Debussy - Rêverie Spontaneous Music Ensemble - Karyobin Pt. 5 Keith Rowe - Ode Machine No. 2 Oval - SD II Audio Template Kode9 & The Spaceape - Sine of the Dub

In this episode Jeremy takes to the lectern for a two-hour mega-episode on the New Left in the second half of the Twentieth Century (and beyond). Picking up in the 1950s, where our previous episode concluded, we chart the full emergence of the New Left in various locations on both sides of the Atlantic, including the Students for a Democratic Society, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, the anti-Vietnam war movement and more. Jeremy spends time explaining the pivotal year of 1968, with its raft of political assassinations, violent disorder at the Chicago Democratic Convention, and the barricades of Paris, set alongside the work of crucial thinkers like EP Thompson and Raymond Williams.

Jeremy contests the prevailing notion that the New Left laid the groundwork for the bourgeois individualism of the 80s, showing how its focus on anti-racist, feminist, anti-authoritarian politics, along with demands for maximum democratic freedom, can be traced all the way to the Bernie Sanders movement.

Jeremy relates the politics of the New Left to a series of musical scenes, including Krautrock in Germany, proto-punk in Detroit, West Coast acid rock, Feminist post-punk, Hawkwind, the Pet Shop Boys and more.

Next episode we return to NYC for our first encounter with Larry Levan.

Check out our new website: https://www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!

Books: Raymond Williams - The Long Revolution Port Huron Statement, 1962 Guy Debord - The Society of the Spectacle Raoul Vaneigem - The Revolution of Everyday Life Eve Chiapello and Luc Boltanski - The New Spirit of Capitalism

Tracklist: Buffy Sainte-Marie - Universal Soldier Phil Ochs - I Ain’t Marching Anymore The Stooges - 1969 MC5 - Kick Out The Jams Jefferson Airplane - Volunteers Can - Mushroom Marvin Gaye - Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) Hawkwind - We Took The Wrong Step Years Ago Helen Reddy - I Am Woman Tom Robinson Band - Glad to be Gay T. Rex - Children of the Revolution The Strawbs - Part of the Union The Clash - Remote Control The Slits - Typical Girls Pet Shop Boys - Shopping

This is a patrons episode. To become a patron, head to Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In this patrons-only bonus episode, Jeremy and Tim have a conversation about what music has been on their turntables recently.

Tim kicks things off with a bang - sigh - with a field recording of a thunderstorm and a lengthy conversation about New Age, David Mancuso’s wind machines, Frankie Knuckles and the -8 pitch control. Jeremy brings Deep House and Welsh Jazz harp, along with memories of the trials and tribulations of record shopping at Fat Cat Records. 

Tim and Jeremy also return to Summer of Soul, share a lesser-known Pharoah Sanders cut, Afro-House floor fillers and dedicate some time to the life and work of Collin Curtis.

This is part of a rough series of more conversational, unplanned episodes reflecting on what's been on our record players recently and what we've been up to that we'll be releasing to patrons to say thank you for your support.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Tracklist:

Environments: Totally New Concepts in Sound - Ultimate Thunderstorm

Amanda Whiting - Little Sunflower

Ju Ju - Black Samba

Pharaoh Sanders - Oh Lord, Let Me Do No Wrong

Arturo Sandoval - Fiesta Mojo

Nina Simone - Are You Ready

Guinu - Palagô (Jose Marquez Remix)

Slam Mode - Monopole

Cignol - Modularity

Born Under A Rhyming Planet - Spasm Band

Following our last episode on the state of psychedelic culture in the 1970s, we wanted to expand the historical setting in which our series is situated. In that spirit, in this episode Jeremy goes solo, taking it all the way back to the 1790s for a historical primer on the New Left: a political tendency to emerge from the decline and split of the hegemonic left forces of the early and mid-century left tradition. In order to accurately explain who the New Left were - and to challenge a prevailing inaccurate story about what they achieved (more on that next episode) - we go back to the origins of the French Revolution for a refresher on what we mean by ‘left wing’. In a whistle stop tour, Jeremy explains the concepts of Liberalism, Conservatism and Radicalism, and the historical conjunctures that they emerged from. 

We hear about the ‘old left’ of the Communist party and the USSR, exploring their aesthetic and political frameworks, and how the tendency fractured after 1956. For the music heads, Jeremy discusses the somewhat bogus ideas of popular authenticity that gave folk music a privileged position within the old left, and lays the groundwork for the more expressive libertarian art forms that would accompany the New Left. Plus the Spanish Civil War, Trotsky and the New Left Review.

Become a patron at Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!

Books:

Doris Lessing - The Golden Notebook

EP Thompson - The Making of the English Working Class

Tracklist:

Ewan McColl and Peggy Seeger  - Dirty Old Town

Peter, Paul & Mary - If I Had A Hammer

Trini Lopez - If I Had A Hammer

Ewan McColl & Peggy Seeger - The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

This is an excerpt from a patrons-only episode. To hear the full podcast, plus much much more, become a patron at Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

Jeremy and Tim conclude this mini-series on the 1975 Schizo-Culture conference with a look at some of the other contributors to the event. They explore the rhizomatic theories of Gilles Deleuze and discuss desire with Felix Guattari, taking in the Steppe nomads, molecular revolution, and explaining why trees are bad as they go. We also hear about the composer John Cage and his Zen Buddhist influences, the Mudd Club, the internal pressures the conference faced, and ask whether it could be seen as a success. 

Plus, minimalism, the Modern Lovers, and the meaning of ‘schizo’ in the conference title.

Books:

Deleuze and Guattari - A Thousand Plateaus

William Burroughs - Naked Lunch

Tracklist:

Spontaneous Music Ensemble - Forty Minutes pt.1

John Cage - 62 Mesostics Re Merce Cunningham

Steve Reich - Music for 18 Musicians

Eliane Radigue - Triptych pt.1

The Modern Lovers - Roadrunner

In this episode we were extremely happy to welcome to the show the writer, podcaster and historian Jesse Jarnow to discuss the state of psychedelic culture in 1975. Jesse is the author of several books, including Heads: A Biography of Psychedelic America, as well as the host of the official Grateful Dead podcast, so he is the perfect guide through the bardos of American drug history.

Jeremy and Jesse cover the history of modern urban psychedelic use through the Twentieth Century, including the boom in legal usage through the 50s and early 60s for multiple purposes: therapeutic, mystic, mind-control and goofing around. They go on to cover the shift in attitude towards psychedelics in the mid-60s, prohibition, and the racist antecedents of ‘reefer madness’. After getting reacquainted with Ginsburg and the Beats, we consider the veracity of the claim that the main schism in leftist organising in the 60s was between the old school straights in the SDS and the new unruly Hippies, and we spend time tripping on the couch with the Weavers.

Jesse gives a fascinating account of the ‘family tree’ of Owsley Stanley’s acid production, noting the various distribution networks and showing how writing history about something so secretive is not always easy! He introduces us to The Parkies - early NYC hippies living and turning on in Central Park - and reveals the links between Dead-related chemists and the Rajnish. And of course, all this acid use circles back round to our main story on the show, the NYC party scene and - you guessed it - The Loft.

We are really grateful to Jesse for coming on and being such a generous guest. We thoroughly encourage you to check out his podcast The Good Old Grateful Dead Cast at dead.net/deadcast, tune in to The Frow Show every Tuesday night on WFMU and learn more about Jesse’s work at jessejarnow.com.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!

Books:

Jesse Jarnow - Heads: A Biography of Psychedelic America

Jesse Jarnow - Big Day Coming: Yo La Tengo and the Rise of Indie Rock

Jesse Jarnow - Wasn't That a Time: The Weavers, the Blacklist, and the Battle for the Soul of America

Mike Jay - Mescaline: A Global History of the First Psychedelic

Stephen Stiff - Acid Hype: American News Media and the Psychedelic Experience 

Jay Stevens - Storming Heaven; LSD and the American Dream

Ken Kesey - Electric Cool Aid Acid Test

This is a patrons episode. To become a patron, visit www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

In this patrons-only episode, Tim and Jeremy continue our mini-series on the 1975 Schizo-Culture Conference. They discuss the demographic makeup of the two thousand attendees - from philosophers and writers to theatre makers, Black Panthers, radicals and prisoners - and consider what this interdisciplinary assemblage represented. We hear about the intellectual scenes of France and America, ask what they each had that the other lacked, and consider what the unexpected outcomes of Continental Philosophy eventually were.

Tim and Jeremy also discuss the potency of an irreducible multiplicity, S&M, the opportunities and limits of anti-psychology, and ask how much repression is too much repression?

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Tracklist:

Dominatrix - The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight

In this episode we return to our home turf of the Loft, as David Mancuso moves his venue (and his home) from 647 Broadway to Prince Street. Tim and Jeremy detail the shutdown of the first Loft space, how David found the new location, and the battle he had with the art scene residents of Soho to stay there. The Prince Street Loft was a much larger space, set over two floors, so we hear about the different configuration of the sound system, and how across all Loft settings a collection of principles helped guide and maintain the setup.

Jeremy and Tim talk more broadly about audiophile aesthetics, the introduction of 'the prelude' to David's musical journey, and the slippery concept of 'jazziness'. Plus, a deep dive on the Dark Side of the Moon.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!

And check out our new website: https://www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/

Tracklist:

Johnny Hammond - Los Conquistadores Chocolates

D.C. LaRue - Cathedrals

Lonnie Liston Smith - Expansions

Pink Floyd - Speak to Me / Breathe

Sandy Bull - Blend II

Chuck Mangione - Land of Make Belief

Ozo - Anambra

This is an excerpt from a patrons-only episode of LITM. Become a patron for just £3 at Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

In this patrons-only episode, Jeremy and Tim begin the first of a mini-series on the 1975 Schizo-Culture Conference, held at Columbia University in NYC and convened by the writer and editor Sylvere Lotringer. Lotringer wanted to bring the ideas of Continental Philosophy to the US, so we hear about the intellectual culture and key thinkers of post-'68 France, including Derrida, Foucault, and Deleuze and Guattari. 

Tim and Jeremy consider the position of madness, sanity and freedom to these thinkers, how these ideas influenced the 'schizoanalysis' from which the conference took its name, and how they contrasted with Freudian thoughts and methods of analysis. Plus, free jazz, the Floyd, Bowie and beyond.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Tracklist:

Mahjun - Nous Ouvrirons Les Casernes
David Bowie - Aladdin Sane
Pink Floyd - Shine On You Crazy Diamond
Ornette Coleman - Free JazzOrnette Coleman - The Circle With A Hole In The Middle
Television - Little Johnny Jewel part 1 & 2

Books:
Michel Foucault - Discipline and Punish
Deleuze & Guattari - Anti-Oedipus
Deleuze & Guattari - A Thousand Plateaus

We've unlocked this patrons-only episode of Love is the Message Extra, on which we welcome the legendary Nicky Siano to the show. Nicky is a central character in the story of the NYC underground party scene and disco, as well as a frequent interviewee for Tim's books.
Nicky discusses his recent book, 'I, DJ: Stonewall to Studio 54', which tells the story of his life behind the decks in New York in the early 70s. We talk about Nicky's early life, how he got his first DJing break, what New York City was like in the 70s, and how he started the Gallery.

Nicky also shares stories about his friends Frankie Knuckles and Larry Levan, his work with Alex Rosner on building the perfect sound system, the various early turntablist techniques of his crew of DJs at that time, and his experiences away from the dance floor working with people with HIV/AIDS.

We're very grateful to Nicky for generously giving his time, humour and endless stories. You can read his book in serialised form by visiting Patreon.com/nickysiano.

love lasts forever, glitter - they sweep it up every night...
Produced by Matt Huxley.

Tracklist:
The O'Jays - Love Train

This is an excerpt from a patrons-only episode. To become a patron, head to Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In this patrons-only episode, Jeremy and Tim respond to an article in the New York Times about early evening partying for which Tim was interviewed - and misrepresented!

This precipitates a wider conversation about the history of daytime partying and how partying at night became normalised. Tim and Jeremy recount their experiences of dancing in the day at Lazy Dog and Body and Soul, explore the reasons why throwing an intense daytime party is hard, and make the case for an early bedtime.

Jeremy and Tim also cover the Northern Soul 'weekender', drag balls, rent parties, nascent Acid culture, amphetamines, rave, and - for the first time on the show - the Bee Gees.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Tracklist:
Wilson Pickett - In The Midnight Hour
The Beatles - Day Tripper
Bohannon - Have A Good Day
Dobie Gray - Out on the Floor
Bee Gees - Night Fever
Eddie Grant - Time Warp

In this episode Jeremy and Tim are checking in to Nicky Siano’s downtown spot The Gallery, a legendary party space often uttered in the same breath as the Loft, the Paradise Garage and the Warehouse. Nicky was a highly influential and original DJ who had as much as influence on Larry Levan and Frankie Knuckles as David Mancuso. We hear a history of the Gallery, setting it within the complex web of 70s Soho, including the temporary closure of the space and its triumphant reopening. The show covers how party spaces were regulated, the regulatory regimes of dancing more generally across time, and the tension that the requirement to promote oneself as a freelancer DJ put on the emergent ethos of the scene.

Tim and Jeremy also talk about Studio 54, drugs, the role of lighting in a party setting, and the place of women - and especially women DJs - in downtown party culture. Finally, all this is contrasted repeatedly with what David Mancuso was doing simultaneously as his Loft night moved venues.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!

You can get Nicky Siano's book 'I, DJ', serialised, through his Patreon. Visit https://www.patreon.com/nickysiano.

Become a patron from £3pcm at Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

And check out our new website: https://www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/

Tracklist:

MFSB - Love is the Message
LaBelle - What Can I Do For You
Grace Jones - That’s the Trouble
Diana Ross - Love Hangover
Silver Convention - Fly Robin Fly
Vicki Sue Robinson - Turn the Beat Around

Books:
Barbara Ehrenreich - Dancing in the Streets
Tim Lawrence - Love Saves the Day

This is a patrons episode. To hear the full thing, become a patron at Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

On this patrons-only episode of Love is the Message we are excited to welcome the legendary Nicky Siano onto the show. Nicky is a central character in story of the NYC underground party scene and disco, as well as a frequent interviewee for Tim's books.

Nicky discusses his recent book, 'I, DJ: Stonewall to Studio 54', which tells the story of his life behind the decks in New York in the early 70s. We talk about Nicky's early life, how he got his first DJing break, what New York City was like in the 70s, and how he started the Gallery.

Nicky also shares stories about his friends Frankie Knuckles and Larry Levan, his work with Alex Rosner on building the perfect sound system, the various early turntablist techniques of his crew of DJs at that time, and his experiences away from the dance floor working with people with HIV/AIDS.

We're very grateful to Nicky for generously giving his time, humour and endless stories. You can read his book in serialised form by visiting Patreon.com/nickysiano.

love lasts forever, glitter - they sweep it up every night...

Tracklist:

The O'Jays - Love Train

We conclude our mini-series on the Downtown gay scene by taking a visit to three important parties of mid-70s New York: the 10th Floor, the Flamingo and 12 West. Jeremy and Tim explore the different musics, DJ styles and demographics found in each venue, along with the issues of race, exclusivity, consumer culture and sex that to different extents inform them. Naturally, they also contrast all of these spaces to the Loft, from which they are all drawing in one way or another.

In addition, Tim and Jeremy discuss the seminal novel of this story, Dancer From the Dance, which documents both the joy and the melancholy of this clubbing culture; introduce us to a variety of 'themed nights'; and close the episode by spending a bit of time on the 'trash aestetics' of filmmaker John Waters.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.    

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!  

Become a patron by visiting Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

And check out our new website: https://www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/

Tracklist:
Area Code 615 - Stone Fox Chase
The Glass House - I Can't Be You (You Can't Be Me)
Zulema - Giving Up
The Temptations - Happy People
Melba Moore - Standing Right Here
Dionne Warwick - Take It From Me
The Trashmen - Surfin' Bird

Books and Films:
Andrew Holleran - Dancer From the Dance
Irving Welsh - Trainspotting
Leo Bersani - Is The Rectum a Grave?
Pink Flamingos

This is an excerpt from a patrons-only episode. To become a patron, visit Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

In this patrons-only bonus episode, Jeremy and Tim have a conversation about what music has been on their turntables recently.  

True to form, Jeremy brings psychedelic jazz and ambient selections both modern and classic. The legacy of Alice Coltrane is discussed around two excellent releases from the Spiritmuse label alongside some beguiling flute playing from Tenderlonious.

Tim asks: where have all the live dance bands gone? Answering his own question, he brings a number of high quality Afrobeat cuts from Tokyo to Zurich. The guys discuss the role of live musicianship in a computer age, why were we all getting into cumbia, and close on an end-of-the-night Bobby Womack classic.  

This is part of a rough series of more conversational, unplanned episodes reflecting on what's been on our record players recently and what we've been up to that we'll be releasing to patrons to say thank you for your support.  

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Tracklist:
Surya Botofasina - Sun of Keshava
Tenderlonious - Shahla Bagh
Wau Wau Collectif - Xale (Toubab Dialaw Kids Rhyme)
Konkolo Orchestra - Blue G.
Jaribu Afrobeat Arkestra - Rock Steady
Ed Longo & Applied Arts Ensemble - Love On the Line
Grupo Jejeje - Kumbia de la Rober
Bosq & Kaleta - Ipade
Bobby Womack - Daylight

Our mini-series on the Downtown gay scene continues in earnest, so grab your towel because we're visiting the iconic Continental Baths. Tim and Jeremy give the history of this seminal space, charting the various forms of bathhouse culture since Antiquity, and exploring the role of promiscuous, anonymous and/or public gay sex through time.

They also discuss 'queerness' as a radical act, heternormativity, the decriminalisation of gay sex and the utopian aspirations for radical changes to ways of living that characterised New York in the early 70s.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.    

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!  

Become a patron at Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

And check out our new website: https://www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/

Tracklist:
Bette Midler - Do You Want To Dance?
Bobby Byrd - Hot Pants (I'm Coming, I'm Coming)
The Equals - Black Skinned Blue Eyed Boys
The Staple Singers - I'll Take You There

Books:
Guy Hocquenghem - Homosexual Desire
Deleuze and Guattari - Anti-Oedipus

This is a patrons-only episode. To hear the full interview, and many more episodes like it, go to Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In this patrons-only episode Jeremy and Tim talk about New York City in the 1970s with writer and academic Sharon Zukin. Sharon is a Professor of Sociology, teaching at Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York, and the author of books including Loft Living: Culture and Capital in Urban Change, Landscapes of Power: From Detroit to Disney World, and Naked City: The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Places.

In this interview, Jeremy and Tim ask Sharon both about her research and her experiences as a public sector worker in New York City in the 1970s. They discuss changing patterns of cooperative housing and loft living in downtown Manhattan, the social and economic circulation within and between these various neighbourhoods, and the problems loft living presented. They also talk about the visual art scenes of the East Village and Soho, the pursuit of professional art careers within these spaces, the role of gender and race in how these opportunities were presented, and the incorporation of the avant-garde into the American establishment.

Tim, Jeremy and Sharon also discuss the work of David Harvey, Richard Nixon, suburbia, and scrutinise why the 1970s came to be so widely understood as a crisis decade.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Tim and Jeremy return from a mini winter break with a second episode looking at the music and politics of the Downtown queer dance floors of the early 70s. They interrogate the position of the Stonewall Riot in the history of queer culture, exploring many of the historiographical problems latent in the received accounts of this period and recontextualising the gay liberation movement of the time within a broader set of radical, anti-imperial demands.

Tim and Jeremy also return to one of the most important clubs of the moment - the Sanctuary - and take a trip upstate to Fire Island Pines. Plus, Jem delivers a healthy dose of iconoclasm to a particularly beloved classic.    

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.      

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!    

Become a patron for £3pcm by visiting Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

And check out our new website: https://www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/   

Tracklist:  
Abaco Dream - Life & Death in G & A
Gladys Knight and the Pips - Got Myself a Good Man  
Marvin Gaye - What's Going On  
Diana Ross and the Supremes - Ain't No Mountain High Enough

This is an excerpt from a patrons-only episode. To hear the whole thing, plus lectures on music and Marxism, Afrofuturism, Louis Vuitton, Fordism and more, become a patron by visiting Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In this patrons-only episode Tim continues to read from and discuss his essay Disco Madness: Walter Gibbons and the Legacy of Turntablism and Remixology. We hear about developments in DJ technique in both the uptown Bronx and Downtown discotheque party scenes, including the many key tracks which crossed over between the two. Tim discusses the break, DJ Kool Herc's 'merry-go-round' spinning style and the differing musical demands of disco dancers and B-Boys.

Tim also details Walter's studio craft, unpacking a number of his famous remixes, as well as his experiences cutting his live mixes to acetate.

Read Tim's original article is here:

https://www.timlawrence.info/articles2/2013/7/16/disco-madness-walter-gibbons-and-the-legacy-of-turntablism-and-remixology-journal-of-popular-music-studies-20-3-2008-276-329

Tracklist:
Benny Goodman & his Orchestra - Sing, Sing, Sing
Freddie Perren - 2 Pigs and a Hog
The Jimmy Castor Bunch - It's Just Begun
Miroslav Vitous - New York City
James Brown - Give It Up Or Turn It Loose
Walter Gibbons - The Ten Commandments Are The Law Of The Land
Kongas - Jungle
Salsoul Orchestra - Salsoul Hustle
Double Exposure - Ten Percent (Walter Gibbons Mix)
Jakki - Sun... Sun... Sun... (Walter Gibbons Original 12" Edit)
The Salsoul Orchestra - Salsoul 3001 (Walter Gibbons 12'' Original Mix)

Compilations:
Walter Gibbons - Jungle Music [Strut Records]
Walter Gibbons - Mixed With Love (The Walter Gibbons Salsoul Anthology) [Suss'd Records]

Books:
David Toop - Rap Attack, The: African Jive to New York Hip Hop
Peter Shapiro - Turn The Beat Around
Mark Katz - Groove Music: The Art and Culture of the Hip-Hop DJ
Nelson George - The Death of Rhythm and Blues

The is an excerpt from a patrons-only episode. To hear more, as well as many more episodes on Fordism, Afrofuturism, Walter Gibbons, Marx and more, become a patron by visiting Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

As we're in the dog days of December, we're happy to share with you: the LITM Christmas Special 2022. Tim and Jeremy have selected 9 records to form the basis of your alternative festive listening. We hear from show staples like the Salsoul Orchestra, Arthur Russell and Lee 'Scratch' Perry, some seasonal deep house, Senegalese monastic music and the Modern Jazz Quartet. We also discuss the relevance of the winter solstice, the proliferation of novelty records, what makes a gimmick, acid brass, glam rock, vibes and more...

Thank you for all your support this year, it's been great to have you all along for the party. We'll be taking a short winter break, then the music is back on the platter early in January.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.  

Tracklist:
Williams Fairey Brass Band - Voodoo Ray
The Modern Jazz Quartet - England's Carol
The Salsoul Orchestra - Christmas Medley
Choeur des Moines de l'abbaye de Keur Moussa au Sénégal - Exulte, fille de Sion
Blondie & Freddie - Yuletide Throw Down Rapture
Lee 'Scratch' Perry - Merry Christmas (Happy New Year)
Arthur Russell - In the Light of the Miracle
Jerome Sydenham & Kerri Chandler - Winter's Blessing
The Celestial Singers - Stand on the Word

In this week's episode Tim and Jeremy begin a three-part investigation into the music, politics and social practices of the downtown gay party scene in mid-70s New York City. The guys review the historiography of homosexual sexual activities, beginning with a refresher on Michel Foucault's analysis found in his History of Sexuality. Jeremy and Tim also cover Freud and the psychoanalytic account of sexuality (heavily critiqued by Foucault), broader questions around the creation of homosexual social identity, and how thinking around sexuality developed into the Fordist era.

The episode also covers the Gay Liberation Front on both sides of the Atlantic, the influence of Feminism and Civil Rights on the GLF, the police, early 70s gay bar culture, the erasure of women in all this, Motown, jukeboxes, and Judy Garland. We end on the eve of the Stonewall Riot - in the next show, bricks get thrown.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.    

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!  

Become a patron from £3 per month by visiting Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

And check out our new website: https://www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/

Tracklist:
Judy Garland - Somewhere Over The Rainbow
Little Richard - Good Golly Miss Molly
The Temptations - Don't Let The Joneses Get You Down
Diana Ross & The Supremes - No Matter What Sign You Are  

Books:
Michel Foucault - History of Sexuality

In this patrons-only episode Tim takes the long view on Walter Gibbons: DJ, remixer, break-juggler, born-again Christian and seminal character in the LITM story. In part one, we hear about Walter's early life, the techniques he developed to extend tracks when DJing, and his early experiments in reel-to-reel editing.

Tim also discusses difficulties with disco historiography, misunderstandings about the relationship between Bronx-based Hip Hop and the Downtown party scene, and how connections between the two can be mediated by Walter himself.  

This episode draws on Tim's article 'Disco Madness: Walter Gibbons and the Legacy of Turntablism and Remixology' from the Journal of Popular Music Studies. Read Tim's original article is here:

https://www.timlawrence.info/articles2/2013/7/16/disco-madness-walter-gibbons-and-the-legacy-of-turntablism-and-remixology-journal-of-popular-music-studies-20-3-2008-276-329

Tracklist:
Strafe - Set It Off (Walter Gibbons Love Mix)
Jimmy Bo Horne - Gimme Some (12" Mix)
La Belle - Messin’ With My Mind
Arthur Russell - School Bell / Tree House (Walter Gibbons Mix)

Bobby Byrd - Hot Pants

Compilations:
Walter Gibbons - Jungle Music [Strut Records]
Walter Gibbons - Mixed With Love (The Walter Gibbons Salsoul Anthology) [Suss'd Records]

Books:
David Toop - Rap Attack, The: African Jive to New York Hip Hop
Peter Shapiro - Turn The Beat Around
Mark Katz - Groove Music: The Art and Culture of the Hip-Hop DJ
Nelson George - The Death of Rhythm and Blues

In this week's episode Jeremy and Tim flip the record for Side B of our examination of the 12" single. The guys consider what was going on in Dub culture and the format in the mid-70s, talk dubplate spec, and give the proper meaning to the dub discomix. They consider the appealing acoustic qualities of the 12" record, situate SalSoul within the story, and consider when the 12" single could be judged to have truly established itself. Plus, Walter Gibbons.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.  

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!

Become a patron from £3pcm at Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

And check out our new website: https://www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/

Tracklist:
The Jays and Ranking Trevor - Yaho
Patti Jo - Make Me Believe In You
Double Exposure - 10 Percent (Walter Gibbons Remix)
Freddie Perren - 2 Pigs and a Hog
Rare Earth - Happy Song
Jermaine Jackson - Erucu
Jacki - Sun, Sun, Sun

This is an excerpt from a patrons episode. To hear the full show, plus lectures on Fordism, Marxism and music, book readings, interviews and more, become a patron from £3pcm by visiting Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

In this patrons-only bonus episode, Jeremy and Tim have a conversation about what music has been on their turntables recently.

Tim and Jeremy play and discuss Malian Blues-inflected modern psychedelia, uncover devotional south Indian classical music, and try to pin down what Prog House is meant to mean. They select another slice of excellent contemporary ambience from show favourites International Anthem, introduce a new Afro House bootleg through Radio Mundo, and tie back to the main series with a new Walter Gibbons release. Plus, sunrise on Mount Sinai.

This is part of a rough series of more conversational, unplanned episodes reflecting on what's been on our record players recently and what we've been up to that we'll be releasing to patrons to say thank you for your support.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Be sure to visit our new website athttps://www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/

Tune in, turn on, get down!

Tracklist:

Vieux Farka Toure and Khruangbin - Savanne
Bombay S Jayashri - Kalimaheshwari
Photay with Carlos Niño - Change
Jorja Smith - Rose Rouge
Roy Ayers - Liquid Love
Greg Foat - Electric Dreams pt.2
Andronicus - Make You Whole
Radio Mundo - Garango
Kerri Chandler - Kaiku (Disco Version)
Walter Gibbons - The Ten Commandments Are the Law of the Land

A major technological innovation to emerge from the milieu of NYC 1975 was the 12" single. In this episode, Jeremy and Tim uncover the demands of dancers and DJs in the discos for longer tracks, the precursors found in acid rock and Bob Dylan, and tell the story of individual releases that presaged widespread adoption of the 12" format.

Tim and Jeremy also talk album aesthetics, the Penny Lane / Strawberry Fields double A side, nascent remix culture, the importance of wide grooves, and return to a recurring character of the show: Tom Moulton.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.    

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!  

Become a Patron from just £3pcm at Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

And check out our new website: https://www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/

Tracklist:
Rare Earth - Get Ready
Eddie Palmieri - Una Dia Bonito
Leon Russell - It's A Hard Rain Gonna Fall
Don Downing - Dream World
Al Downing - I'll Be Holding On (Disco Mix)
Calhoon - (Do You Wanna) Dance Dance Dance
Bobby Moore - (Call Me Your) Anything Man
South Shore Commission - Free Man (Tom Moulton Mix)

This is a excerpt of a patrons-only episode. To become a patron from just £3pcm, visit Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In the concluding episode of the mini-series, Jeremy completes his account of those Marxist academics and thinkers whose work either makes reference to music or can be brought to bear on it. Picking up in the 1950s, we hear about ways of understanding music's autonomous capacity to affect people's bodies and make them feel, desublimation, Structuralism and it's descendents, and vibe. Jeremy touches on the writing of Bloch, Marcuse, Freud, Barthes and Kristeva, as well as staples of the show Deleuze and Guattari. We hear about the 'grain' of the voice, the difference between the meaning and the material aspects of song, and finally return to the big question: what drives historical change?

Tracklist:

Pete Seeger - Which Side Are You On?
Ewan McColl & Peggy Seeger - The Shoals of Herring
The Grateful Dead - Birdsong

Books, articles etc:

#ACFM Podcast on folk music: https://novaramedia.com/2021/05/08/acfm-microdose-jeremy-gilbert-on-folk-music/
Ernst Bloch - The Spirit of Utopia
Herbert Marcuse - One Dimensional Man
Herbert Marcuse - Eros and Civilisation
Sigmund Freud - Civilization and its Discontents
Roland Barthes - Mythologies
Roland Barthes - The Grain of the Voice
Julia Kristeva - Revolutions in Poetic Language
Deleuze & Guattari - Anti-Oedipus
Deleuze & Guattari - A Thousand Plateaus
Jeremy Gilbert - 'Becoming Music: The Rhizomatic Moment of Improvisation’ in Deleuze and Music Buchanan & Swiboda (Eds)
Jaques Attali - Noise

In this episode Tim and Jeremy continue the story of the NYC Record Pool. We hear how the Pool invited the record labels to their inaugural meeting in the basement of David Mancuso's Prince Street Loft, the demands they made of them, and the egalitarian way they wished the Pool to be organised. These techniques of self organisation and collective self-assertion are set against the wider contemporary context of political and social movements of the New Left.

We also hear about feedback forms, the changing status of the DJ as a professional category, modern platform capitalism, and how the DJs of the Pool staged a sit-in protest at the offices of a record company who refused to play ball.  

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.    

Tune in, Turn on, Get down!  

Become a patron from £3 a month by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

Check out our new website: https://www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/

Tracklist:  
Double Exposure - My Love is Free
D.C. LaRue - Cathedrals
Blood Hollins - Don't Give It Up
WAR - Why Can't We Be Friends
WAR - Leroy's Latin Lament
Brass Construction - Movin'

This is an excerpt from a patrons-only episode. To become a patron from just £3 a month, got to Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

In this patrons-only episode, Jeremy dons his professorial gown to deliver the first of two lectures on music and Marxism. What is historical materialism? What does it mean to apply historical materialist analysis to culture? Jeremy shows how Marxist theory can be - and has been - applied to music from Bach to Jazz, illustrating ways in which we can explain cultural and aesthetic changes with Marxian thinking.

In this episode Jeremy gives a whistlestop refresher on Marxist thought, then introduces us to some of the writers whose work can be applied to analysing music: Lukács, Bakhtin, Voloshinov, and members of the Frankfurt School including Benjamin, Adorno and Horkheimer. Jeremy considers the main innovation of the interwar period - the development of recording technology -  and introduces the idea of reification as both a positive and negative phenomenon. He also considers how various forms of music-making embody egalitarian or bourgeois subjectivities, and tees us up for the next episode, starting in the 1940s.

Tracklist:

JS Bach - Harpsichord Concerto No.1 in D Minor BWV 1052
Beethoven - Symphony No. 3 in E flat major
Beethoven - Symphony No. 5 in C minor
Igor Stravinsky - Firebird
Arnold Schoenberg - Verklärte Nacht

Books and Articles:

The SAGE Handbook of Marxism
Jeremy Gilbert - A Brief History of Marxist Cultural Theory (https://jeremygilbertwriting.wordpress.com/2022/07/24/a-brief-history-of-marxist-cultural-theory/)
György Lukács - History and Class Consciousness
Valentin Voloshinov - Marxism and the Philosophy of Language
Walter Benjamin - The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
Adorno & Horkheimer - The Dialectic of Enlightenment

In this episode Jeremy and Tim begin the first of a two-parter on the New York City Record Pool - a cooperative venture that saw DJs in the city come together to distribute the records they received from the labels equally and with a spirit of egalitarianism.  

We hear about the lay of the land for early DJs in the city, the ways in which they tried to make money, the role they played in 'breaking' records, as well as what early disco journalism was doing. Naturally, we also hear about the important role David Mancuso played in setting up the Pool.  

These developments are contextualised as part of an international wave of people in different areas of life seeking ways to self organise and democratise, from Italian Autonomia to American and British trade union militancy, and in the tradition of 'commoning'.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.    

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!  

Become a patron by visiting Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

Check out our new website: https://www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/

Tracklist:
B.T. Express - Do It ('Til You're Satisfied)
Gloria Gaynor - Never Can Say Goodbye
Esther Phillips - What A Diff'rence A Day Makes
Labelle - Messin' With My Mind

Books:
Theodore Roszak - The Making of a Counter Culture
Tim Lawrence - Love Saves the Day: A History Of American Dance Music Culture, 1970–1979

This is an excerpt of a full length episode currently only available to patrons. To become a patron and support what we're doing from £3 per month, head to www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In this patrons-only episode, Tim and Jeremy react to Louis Vuitton's latest menswear line "Fall in Love", designed by the late Virgil Abloh and, according to the LV publicity, inspired by David Mancuso and the Loft. Tim published a long article on this topic, linked below, in which he tears into the claim by Louis Vuitton, the largest and most profitable luxury corporation in the world, that it shares David’s concern with egalitarianism.

The show opens with Tim outlining his argument after which Jem and Tim dig deep into the problem of corporate appropriation, the luxury brand market, conspicuous wealth in music culture, the role of language in fashion reportage, Roland Barthes, private luxury and public squalor, how to deal with corporations, and some extended biographical recollections about David.

You can read Tim's article here: https://www.timlawrence.info/david-mancuso-and-louis-vuitton

And join the conversation on facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/tim.lawrence.3152

Tracklist:
The O'Jays - For The Love of Money
Jah Wobble - How Much Are They?
Heaven 17 - Play To Win
Dan Boadi and the African Internationals - Money Is the Root of Evil
TW Funkmasters - Love Money
Ashford & Simpson - Stay Free

Love is the Message series 4 continues apace. In this episode Jeremy and TIm continue to examine the dynamic environment of New York City around the 1975 Fiscal Crisis, contrasting pessimistic and optimistic accounts of the time: was the Big Apple a depressed town cut off from the rest of the country, or a city enjoying its own cultural renaissance? Or both?

We hear about the early emergence of Neoliberalism, the cybernetic revolution, and the affect and aesthetics of Heroin. Tim and Jeremy introduce some early electronic music outfits, spend time on the singular sound of Suicide, discuss artistic representations of alienation, and introduce us to the downtown 'Loft Jazz' scene. Plus, Richard Hell and Morton Subotnick.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.  

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!

Become a patron from £3pcm by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

And check out our new website: https://www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/

Tracklist:

Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes - Bad Luck ft. Teddy Pendergrass
The Main Ingredient - Happiness is Just Around the Bend
Morton Subotnick - Silver Apples of the Moon 
Suicide - Dream Baby Dream
Suicide - Rocket USA
Suicide - Keep Your Dreams
Richard Hell & The Voidoids - Blank Generation
Kalaparusha - Jays

Books:
Jane Jacobs - The Death and Life of a Great American City
Michael C. Heller - Loft Jazz: Improvising New York in the 1970s

This is an excerpt of a full length episode currently only available to patrons. To become a patron and support what we're doing from £3 per month, head to www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In this patrons-only bonus episode, Jeremy and Tim have a conversation about what music has been on their turntables recently.  We hear more music from the Californian psychedelic renaissance, another dose of celestial harp music, cosmic Gwoka, and a good time party-startin' sitar funk jam.

TIm and Jeremy also recount some of what they've been playing out, including a pair of genre-hopping Brazilian Bass bops, some deep and murky Bayou beats from the Dixie Cups, as well as Italian ambient house and Weather Report. Plus - will Jem every make it to Ibiza?  

This is part of a rough series of more conversational, unplanned episodes reflecting on what's been on our record players recently and what we've been up to that we'll be releasing to patrons to say thank you for your support.  

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Tracklist:

Arushi Jain - The Sun Swirls Within You
Weather Report - Boogie Woogie Waltz
Sven Wunder - Sun-Kissed
The Dixie Cups - Two-Way-Pock-A-Way
Fabriano Fuzion - Kominike
Almir Ricardi - Festa Funk
Gigi Testa - Moments in Time
Maga Bo - Cadê Zé (Nirso Remix)
BaianaSystem - Água (Diogo Strausz & JKriv Remix)
Georgia Kelly - Rainbow Showers

Love is the Message is back for a new series! Early this year we travelled the world in search of Afro-Psychedelic sounds, but in now we're bringing it back to New York City. Tim and Jeremy will be exploring the melting pot city around the year 1975: at the pinnacle of the musical and art worlds, yet teetering on fiscal collapse and almost bankrupt, transforming from industrial to post-industrial and at loggerheads with the rest of the American population.

In the opening episode of the series, Jeremy and Tim set the scene on the political and economic backdrop of the age. As the Fordist settlement begins to collapse, we hear about the creeping neoliberalisation of the city. We explore the austerity aesthetics of the proto-punk scene emerging from bands like the Ramones and the Modern Lovers, and think about how Patti Smith bridges this new sound to the rock songwriters of the late '60s. Plus a Loft classic and the return of Adam Curtis.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.  

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!

Become a supporter from just £3 a month by visiting Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

Tracklist:

Patti Smith - Free Money
Miroslav Vitous - New York City
Jonathan Richmond and the Modern Lovers - Roadrunner
New York Dolls - Looking For A Kiss
The Ramones - Sheena Is a Punk Rocker

Books:
Jeremy Gilbert and Alex Williams - Hegemony Now
David Harvey - A Brief History of Neoliberalism

As listeners will know, we've come to the end of our series on Afro-Psychedelia. Tim and Jeremy will be back soon with a whole new series, but in the meantime Love Is The Message is very happy to share 'Screwed and Chopped', an episode from the archive of the Phantom Power Podcast.

Phantom Power is an excellent podcast about sound, sound art, music, and the scholarship that surrounds it. It's beautifully put together and is a real treat for the mind and the ears. Host Mack Hagood was kind enough to share an episode of ours with his listeners recently, and we're happy to return the favour with you today.

If you like what you hear, do check out the back catalogue at PhantomPod.org, or search wherever you get your podcasts.

'Screwed and Chopped' features an interview with folklorist and Houston native Langston Collin Wilkins, who studies “slab” culture and the “screwed and chopped” hip hop that rattles the slabs and serves as the culture’s soundtrack.

Since the 1990s, many of Houston’s African American residents have customized cars and customized the sound of hip hop. Cars called “slabs” swerve a slow path through the city streets, banging out a distinctive local music that paid tribute to those very same streets and neighborhoods.

Wilkins shows us how sonic creativity turns a space—a collection of buildings and streets—into a place that is known, respected, and loved.

As we finally come to the end of our series on Afro-Psychedlia, Tim and Jeremy bring us back to New York, David Mancuso and the dancefloor of The Loft via Puerto Rico, Salsa and the Latin influence on the city in the early '70s. We hear about the mighty Fania Records - a classic example of the sort of small labels who found a commercial audience while still releasing amazing music - and the band they fostered, the Fania All-Stars. We also spend time exploring the catalog of Ray Barretto, who's track Acid featured at the very beginning of the LITM project.

Jeremy and Tim also interrogate the idea of New York as a 'melting pot', consider the construction of the Nu Yorican identity, and contrast it to the other cultural and musical formations of the late '60s we've heard about in this series. We're also introduced to Boogaloo, 'the Watusi', and close with Eddie Palmieri's fantastic, epic track 'Un Día Bonito' - a worthy place to end for now.

We'll be taking a bit of a summer break and back with a new series in the Autumn - but keep an eye on the feed, we'll be throwing out some extra bits for patrons to tide you over.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.  

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!

Become a supporter of the show for as little as £3pcm by visiting www.Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

Tracklist:

Estrellas de Chocolate - Fania
Pacheco - Cañonazo
Fania All Stars - Guatacando (Live at the Red Garter)
Joe Cuba - Bang Bang
Ray Barretto Y Su Charanga Moderna – El Watusi
Ray Barretto - Despójate
Ray Barretto - Acid
Ray Barretto - Tin Tin Deo
Bobbi Humphreys - Harlem River Drive
Ocho - Oriza
Eddie Palmieri - Un Día Bonito

We're almost at the end of our series on Afro-Psychedelia. The final stop on our tour is the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the USA, with a rich musical tradition and close migratory ties to New York City, where our journey began. We hear about the accessible complexity of the percussion-rich music of Puerto Ricans like the mighty Tito Puente; hear how Cuban and Jazz flavours made their way into Salsa and Mambo; and consider the role played by Puerto Ricans in the construction of NYC as an immigrant city. Plus, Celia Cruz, Louis Vega, and how purchasing a vacuum cleaner secured Tim his first trip to the Big Apple...

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.  

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!

Become a supporter of the show by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

Tracklist:

Cortijo Y Ismael Rivera - Bomba Carambomba
Tito Puente - Abaniquito
Tito Puente - El Rey Del Timbal
Tito Puente - Tito And Mongo On Timbales
Tito Puente - Hong Kong Mambo
Tito Puente - Oye Como Va
Celia Cruz y la Sonora Matancera - Mi Bomba Sono
Eddie Palmieri - Tema La Perfecta

In this week's podcast Tim and Jeremy complete their three-parter on Brazil, looking at music in the country from 1968 - 1975. Against a backdrop of managed democracy, repression and censorship for musicians, we hear about a number of exciting artists who combined inventive experimental radicalism with a popular imagination to create electrifying music. Jeremy and Tim introduce Fusion groups like Azymuth and Aitro, totemic Brazilian singers like Astrud Gilberto, and the incredible output of Jorge Ben.

Tim and Jeremy also discuss varying psychedelic aesthetics in the country and internationally, including the contrast between indigenous practices and the classical countercultural LSD scene; spent time on the place of reissuing culture of contemporary labels like Mr Bongo; and disagree over how we should listen to music with explicitly religious lyrics. Plus, Pelé!

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.  

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!

Become a patron from as little as £3pcm by visiting www.patron.com/LoveMessagePod

Tracklist:

Pedros Santos - Água Viva
Astrud Gilberto - Beginnings
Jorge Ben - Take It Easy My Brother Charles
Claudia - Jesus Christo
Airto - Return to Forever
Novos Baianos - Preta, Pretinha
Tribo Massahi - Fareuá
Sivuca - Ain't No Sunshine
Gal Costa - Milho Verdé
Azymuth - Periscopio

In this week's podcast Jeremy and Tim continue with the second of three episodes evaluating Brazilian music from 1965-1975 as they turn their attention to Tropicalia. We hear about the origins of Tropicalia, or Tropicalismo, set against the turbulent political climate and eventual military coup of the country in the mid-'60s. Via music from the Gilberto Gil, Tom Zé, Caetano Veloso and more, Tim and Jeremy show how the genre articulated an aesthetic of 'cannibalism' consonant with Brazil's multiplicity and cultural fluidity, but also how it leaned heavily on Anglophone psychedelic rock and vague trends and styles of the Counterculture for much of its inspiration.

Tim and Jeremy problematise the period of Tropicalia, asking questions of its political valiancy, discuss whether it was actually radical or should be understood instead as an expression of liberal modernity, and examine the movement's rejection of paternalism in keeping with other youth scenes internationally.

Join us next time for the final part of this series-within-a-series, as we move to the Seventies to discover some truly astounding music.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.  

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!

Become a patron of the show for as little as £3pcm by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

Tracklist:
Caetano Veloso - Tropicália
Gilberto Gil - Domingo No Parque 
Gal Costa - Mamãe, Coragem
Tom Zé - Gloria
Os Mutantes - Panis Et Circenses

Books:
Naomi Klein - The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
Gilberto Freyre - The Masters and the Slaves
Roberto Schwarz on Caetano Veloso, New Left Review: https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii75/articles/roberto-schwarz-political-iridescence

In this week's podcast Tim and Jeremy begin a multi-show examination of the music of Brazil in the Twentieth Century, starting in part one with the emergence of Samba in the late 1920s, Bossa Nova, and the first shoots of what would become Tropicalia. We hear about the complex and hybrid makeup of the nation, considering its Indigenous, African and European sources, and the role of slavery and colonialism on the vast nation.

Tim and Jeremy talk about how music, and especially Samba, was used to cohere a new idea of Brazilian-ness, mobilised to express and represent a new national identity. We learn about new instruments like the cuica and surdo, and end with the introduction of a titan of Brazilian music, Jorge Ben. 

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.   

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down! 

Become a patron from as little as £3pcm by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

Tracklist:
Almirante & o Bando de Tangarás - Na Pavuna
Ary Barosso - Aquarela Do Brasil
Geraldo Pereira - Cabritada Mal Sucedida
João Gilberto - Bim Bom
Luiz Bonfá - Manhã De Carnaval
Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto - The Girl From Ipanema
Bola Sete And His New Brazillian Trio - Soul Samba
Jorge Ben - Más Que Nada
Jorge Ben - Rosa Más Que Nada

Books:
Bryan McCann - Hello, Hello Brazil: Popular Music in the Making of Modern Brazil
Gilberto Freyre - The Masters and the Slaves

This is an excerpt of a full length episode currently only available to patrons. To become a patron and support what we're doing from £3 per month, head to www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In this patrons-only bonus episode, Jeremy and Tim have a conversation about what music has been on their turntables recently.  Jeremy brings a pair of Indian compositions from very different ends of the musical spectrum: a steel strung guitar played like a sitar, and one of ten famous 'ragas to a disco beat'. Joining the dots between Indian Classical, '60s American fingerpickers and today, we also hear a new-ish release on show favourite International Anthem from reformed Post-Rocker Jeff Parker, and tuck into some 2010s electronic Afro-Disco from London's Ibibio Sound Machine.

Tim shares a number of new discoveries, including the riotous contemporary Ghanian gospel of Alotgté Oho and a deeply psychedelic dancefloor freakout from Nico Gomez. We end with the new release from our friends at Beauty and the Beat, a tried-and-tested remix from our friend Kay Suzuki of some fantastic Guadalupian Gwoka.  

This is part of a rough series of more conversational, unplanned episodes reflecting on what's been on our record players recently and what we've been up to that we'll be releasing to patrons to say thank you for your support.  

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.  

The tracks discussed are: Jeff Parker - Four Folks
Vishwa Mohan Bhatt - Raag Bageshree
Don Cherry - Om Shanti Om
Alogté Oho - Doose Mam
Ibibio Sound Machine - The Talking Fish
Nico Gomez and His Afro Percussion Inc. - Baila Chibiquiban
Charanjit Singh - Raga Bhairav
Gaoulé Mizik - A Ka Titine (Kay Suzuki Gwoka Dub)  

Order your copy of Excursions in Gwoka vol . 1 from Beauty and the Beat here: https://beautyandthebeat1.bandcamp.com/album/excursions-in-gwoka-vol-1-batb-005

This is an excerpt of a full length episode currently only available to patrons. To become a patron and support what we're doing from £3 per month, head to www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In this patrons-only episode Tim concludes reading from his essay Decolonising Disco—Counterculture, Postindustrial Creativity, the 1970s Dance Floor and Disco, published recently in the collection Global Dance Cultures in the 1970s and 1980s: Disco Heterotopias, edited by Flora Pitrolo and Marko Zubak.  Picking up where he left off in part 1, Tim introduces us to Sylvere Lotringer, the French critic who straddled both the worlds of academic Post-Structuralism and the Downtown NYC scene, itself a 'heterotopic' formation (after Foucault). We hear about the hybridity and convergence of the city's overlapping scenes in the early '80s, embodied by musicians like Arthur Russell, before the AIDS and Crack crises, Reaganomics and shifts in the art world caused this exciting collectivism to give way to more individualist modes of creation and production.

In the final part of the essay, Tim shows how music from Africa, Latin America and Europe was a central component of what he calls 'Discotheque music' (ie records you would hear on the DJ-led dancefloors) which produced the original disco sound. With reference to SalSoul, Saturday Night Fever, Nigerian disco, contemporary reissue labels and more, Tim makes the case for these non-American, largely non-white musics to be included in an expanded edition of the disco archive. Lots of great musical examples are used in this show to illustrate the essay.

Tracklist:
The B52s - Rock Lobster
The Peech Boys - Don't Make Me Wait
Public Enemy - Public Enemy Number 1
Fela Kuti - Shakara
The Lafayette Afro Rock Band - Djungi
Black Blood - A. I. E. (A Mwana)
Tony Allen with Africa 70 - Afrodisco Beat
Orlando Julius - Disco Hi-Life
King Sunny Adé - 365 is My Number / The Message
N'draman Blintch - Cosmic Sounds
Khalab ft. Tenesha The Wordsmith - Black Noise

In this week's podcast Jeremy and Tim turn their atteniton to the musical cultures of 1965-1975 on some of the smaller islands of the Caribbean: Trinidad, Guadalupe and Haiti. We hear about Trinidad's particular combination of Afro-diasporic and South Asian populations during Imperial rule, how Calypso mediated the island's relationship to the British Empire, the emergence of the steel pans on the island in the face of persecution, and how American Soul influences gave rise of Soca.

Tim and Jeremy also discuss the archipelago of Guadaloupe - not a country but a department of France - and it's two great Twentieth Century musics, Zouk and Gwaka. They discuss the history of Haiti, from its successful slave revolt to the many political pressures its suffered subsequently, and it's Compas music, along with the particularities of the spiritual practice of Voodoo on the island. Plus, cricket lovely cricket!

Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert are authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.  

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!

Become a patron from as little as £3pcm by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

Tracklist:
Trinidad All-Star Percussion Band - Excerpt from British news reel
Lord Kitchener - London is the Place for Me
Lord Kitchener - Black Power
Lord Kitchener - Victory Calypso
Lord Shorty - Soul Calypso
Lord Shorty - Indrani
Les Vikings de la Guadeloupe - Assez Palé
Exile One - One Favor
Ensemble Aux Calebasses De Nemours Jean Baptiste - Donnez moi La Main
Shleu-Shleu - Ceremonie Loa

You can find friend of the show Cedric Lassonde's compilation of Gwoka Moderne, Lèspri Ka: New Directions in Gwoka Music from Guadeloupe 1981-2010, here: https://timecapsulespace.bandcamp.com/album/l-spri-ka-new-directions-in-gwoka-music-from-guadeloupe-1981-2010

Books:
CLR James - The Black Jacobins

This is an excerpt of a full length episode currently only available to patrons. To become a patron and support what we're doing from £3 per month, head to www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In this patrons-only episode Tim reads from his essay Decolonising Disco—Counterculture, Postindustrial Creativity, the 1970s Dance Floor and Disco, published recently in the collection Global Dance Cultures in the 1970s and 1980s : Disco Heterotopias, edited by Flora Pitrolo and Marko Zubak. Drawing together arguments from all three of Tim's books covering the party culture of the 1970s and early 1980s, the piece re-historises the so-called 'genre wars' of Disco, Punk and Hip Hop / Rap to better represent the fluidity between these scenes and musics as part of a city-wide music culture.

Tim continues to assert this radical creative potential of  the post-Fordist conjuncture in '70s music culture, and concludes by asking: what happened to the influence of music from the Global South on Disco; how did Disco go from the fringes of US culture to becoming a colonializing force itself; and how might we begin decolonialising Disco?

We've split the essay into two halves, with part two to follow in a fortnight.

Edited and produced by Matt Huxley.

Tune in, turn on, get down!

Tracklist:

Cristina - Disco Clone
The Salsoul Orchestra - You're Just The Right Size
The Pointer Sisters - Yes We Can Can
Booker T and the MG's - Melting Pot
James Brown - Give It Or Turn It Loose
Dinosaur - Kiss Me Again
The New York Dolls - Personality Crisis

Books:

Tim Lawrence - Love Saves The Day: A History of American Dance Culture, 1970-1979
Tim Lawrence - Life and Death on the New York Dance Floor, 1980-1983
Tim Lawrence - Hold on to Your Dreams: Arthur Russell and the Downtown Music Scene, 1973-1992
David Harvey - A Brief History of Neoliberalism
Anthony Haden-Guest - The Last Party: Studio 54, Disco, and the Culture of the Night
Simon Reynolds - Rip It Up and Start Again
Nelson George - The Death of Rhythm and Blues

This is an excerpt of a full length episode currently only available to patrons. To become a patron and support what we're doing from £3 per month, head to www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In this patrons-only episode, Jeremy and Tim conclude their mini-series ‘Heavy Dub Theory’ (for now). They talk about the work of the French radical philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, introducing three of their key concepts: the molar and the molecular; deterritorialisation and deterritorialisation; and the refrain. We then hear how these philosophical analytical ideas can be applied to Dub.

Later in the episode we consider the changing role of the producer in Dub and the ways in which this problematised authorship; contrast dub riddims with NYC remix culture, and finally ask whether dub and reggae can be thought of as truly psychedelic musics.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Tracklist:

Sound Dimension - Real Rock
Bounty Killer - Roots, Reality and Culture
Modern Romance - Salsa Rappsody (Dub Discomix)
Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry - Bed Jamming
Disco Dub Band - For the Love of Money

In this week's episode Jeremy and Tim travel to New Years Day 1959 as Che Guevara's forces defeat Batista to complete the Cuban Revolution. We hear about the military embargo imposed by the USA on their island neighbour, its impact on life for musicians on both sides of the border, and is resonances with American foreign policy in Latin America more broadly.

Tim and Jeremy also consider the nationalisation of the Cuban record industry, the pros and cons of state sponsorship on music creation, and how Communists across the world have addressed the problem of vernacular popular music's status within the culture industry. Plus, the Cha Cha Cha source of a foundational piece of Garage Rock, the Bay of Pigs, and why cymbals were banned for being 'too jazzy'.

Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert are authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.  

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!

Become a patron from as little as £3pcm by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

Tracklist:
Cuarteto D' Aida - Yo Si Tumbo Caña
The Kings Men - Louie Louie
René Touzet - El Loco Cha Cha Cha
Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna - The Man I Love
Irakere - Bacalao Con Pan
Grupo De Experimentación Sonora Del ICAIC - Granma
Los Van Van - Chirrin, Chirran

Books:
Timothy Brennan - Secular Devotion: Afro-Latin Music and Imperial Jazz
Ned Sublette - Cuba and its Music

In this week's episode we move away from Jamaica across the Caribbean Sea to Cuba. To explain the theological precursors to modern Cuba, Jeremy and Tim start with the history of slavery on the island and the influences of Congolese and Uruban religious and musical practices the trafficked people brought with them. We hear about pantheism, master drummers and a musical culture centered around danced devotional rituals where percussion was key.

Later in the show we cover Batista's brutal takeover of the island, the emerging links between Cuban and New York musicians, Rhumba, and the phenomenal popularity of Mambo. Join us next week, where revolution's in the air.

Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert are authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.  

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!

Become a patron from as little as £3pcm by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

Tracklist:

Grupo Oba-Ilú - Oshún
Conjunto Kubavana de Alberto Ruiz - Rumba en el Patio
Afro-Cubans - Sopa de Pichon
Afro-Cubans - Tanga
Dizzy Gillespie & Chano Pozo - Manteca
Perez Prado - Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White
Tito Puente - Night Ritual
Rolando Aguiló - Descarga Roja

Books:
Ned Sublette - Cuba and its Music
Timothy Brennan - Secular Devotion: Afro-Latin Music and Imperial Jazz

This is an excerpt of a full length episode currently only available to patrons. To become a patron and support what we're doing from £3 per month, head to www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In this patrons-only episode, Tim and Jeremy continue their deep exploration of the aesthetics of dub. We begin with a history of MCing, toasting and chatting in Jamaican music, taking in famed MCs like U-Roy alongside NYC contemporaries like DJ Kool Herc. This opens up a conversation about spontaneity, improvisation and liveness that problematises received ideas about ownership, authorship, and the musical work itself.

Via a brief refresher on Critical Theory and Continental Philosophy, Jeremy and Tim explore the tensions between the musical performance and its recording, the power of repetition, and why dub's self-conscious experimentation with studio production makes it the most innovative medium of twentieth century music. We also get a healthy dose of Hauntology, '90s electronica and Socrates to complete the picture.

We'll be back in a fortnight with the next iteration of Heavy Dub Theory.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Tracklist:

Sir Lord Comic And His Cowboys - Ska-Ing West
Sir Lord Comic - Jack Of My Trade
U-Roy - Dynamic Fashion Way
U-Roy - Wake The Town
Bedouin Ascent - Broadway Boogie Woogie
Rhythm & Sound - Music Hit You
Mad Professor - Ragga Doll
Omni Trio - Half Cut

Books:

Jeff Chang - Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation
Lloyd Bradley - Reggae: The Story of Jamaican Music
Jacques Derrida - Spectres of Marx

LITM returns with the second half of our examination of the life and work of Bob Marley and the Wailers. Jeremy and Tim pick up the story in 1973, with the release of Burnin', the band's split, and the launch of Marley in the rock star mode. A discussion on the strange case of Eric Clapton's cover of I Shot the Sheriff follows, along with Marley's first international smash, No Woman, No Cry.

Tim and Jeremy proceed to the release of Exodus in 1977 - also the year of an assassination attempt on Marley - and dig into the politics of a turbulant late '70s Jamaica, the Socialist PM Michael Manley, and the complexities of Marley's own political appeal to love and peace in the face of extreme political violence. The episode concludes with the singer's cancer diagnosis, a late return to explicit radical anti-colonialism, and eventual death in 1981, with time given to parsing his singular posthumous legacy. 

Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert are authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.  

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!

Become a patron from as little as £3pcm by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

Tracklist:

Bob Marley & the Wailers - Burnin' and Lootin'
Bob Marley & the Wailers - I Shot the Sheriff
Eric Clapton - I Shot the Sheriff
Bob Marley & the Wailers - No Woman, No Cry
Bob Marley & the Wailers - Exodus
Bob Marley & the Wailers - Waiting in Vain
Bob Marley & the Wailers - Redemption Song

Books:

Lloyd Bradley - Bass Culture: When Reggae was King
Dick Hebdidge - Subcultures

Unlocked - for a number of personal reasons, we've been unable to record the episode on Bob Marley and the Wailers. In its stead, we've taken this opportunity to unlocked both parts of our interview with Daphne A. Brooks, previously only available to patrons. Become a patron from £3pcm to access much more of this material at www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod. We'll be back to pick up with Afro-Psychedelia very soon.

In this episode Daphne talks with Tim and Jeremy about the writers, practitioners and 'organic intellectuals' who have created a new discourse around Black female sound, taking in figures such as the writer and collector of field recordings Zora Neale Hurston, the writer, journalist and singer Pauline Hopkins, and the writer and playwright Lorraine Hansberry. They dig into what it means to hold precious these forgotten figures, affectionate writing praxis, and the relationship between curatorial or archival work and contemporary music making. In part 2, coming in a fortnight, we will hear about some of the contemporary artists featured in the book, including Janelle Monáe and Beyonce.

Daphne A. Brooks is William R. Kenan, Jr. professor of African American studies, American Studies, Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies and Music at Yale University; she is also director of graduate studies.She specializes in African American literary cultural performance studies, especially 19th century and trans-Atlantic culture. She is a rock music lover and has attributed her research interests in black performance to being a fan of rock music since a very young age.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Tracklist:

Zora Neale Hurston - Wake Up Jacob (trad. recorded 1928 in the field)
Mamie Smith - Crazy Blues
Elvie Thomas & Geeshie Wiley - Over To My House
Elvie Thomas & Gershie Wiley - Last Kind Words Blues

Books:
Daphne A. Brooks - Liner Notes for the Revolution: The Intellectual Life of Black Feminist Sound
Daphne A. Brooks - Jeff Buckley’s Grace
Zora Neale Hurston - Their Eyes Were Watching God
Pauline Hopkins - Of One Blood

Unlocked - for a number of personal reasons, we've been unable to record the episode on Bob Marley and the Wailers. In its stead, we've taken this opportunity to unlocked both parts of our interview with Daphne A. Brooks, previously only available to patrons. Become a patron from £3pcm to access much more of this material. We'll be back to pick up with Afro-Psychedelia very soon.

In this episode we conclude our two-part interview with Black Feminist scholar and music critic Daphne A. Brooks. Following from our previous show, Daphne disucsses some of the contemporary figures in her new book Liner Notes for the Revolution: The Intellectual Life of Black Feminist Sound, including Janelle Monáe, who along with the Wonderland Arts Collective engage in an act of intellectual worldbuilding around her music, and the deep archival searching of jazz singer Cécile McLorin Salvant. With reference to Beyoncé Tim, Jeremy and Daphne consider to what extent we are living through an ascendent period of Black feminist consciousness and discuss the way such Black female megastars are held in cultural production.

We also took advantage of speaking with Daphne to ask her about the Harlem Cultural Festival, the so-called 'Black Woodstock' which the excellent new film and firm LITM favourite Summer of Soul documents, as well as to commemorate the recent passing of two titans of Black cultural writing, Greg Tate and bell hooks. We are so grateful to Daphne for being so generous with her time, insight and humour.

Daphne A. Brooks is William R. Kenan, Jr. professor of African American studies, American Studies, Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies and Music at Yale University; she is also director of graduate studies.She specializes in African American literary cultural performance studies, especially 19th century and trans-Atlantic culture. She is a rock music lover and has attributed her research interests in black performance to being a fan of rock music since a very young age.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Tracklist:

Janelle Monáe - Make Me Feel
Cécile McLorin Salvant - Ghost Song
Beyoncé - ***Flawless
Burnt Sugar - Conduction #5
Burnt Sugar - Rock'n'Roll Suicide

This is an excerpt of a full length episode currently only available to patrons. To become a patron and support what we're doing from £3 per month, head to www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

This is the audio from our recent patrons-only 'Live Conversations' between ourselves and our patrons, which took place over Zoom in March of this year. Tim, Jeremy and our guests discussed the role of the internet in music fandom, the relative importance of mediating figures like critics and DJs, the impact of the net on the record market and its infrastructure, and ask whether DJs can still truly break a record from behind the booth.

We also talked about how strongly subcultural affiliation and music are linked in the 2020s, the perils of (sub)genrification, pluralistic listening, and whether dance music culture is - or has ever been - politicised.

We intend to hold these events semi-regularly, so do come along to the next one if you can.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Tune in, Turn on, Get down!

In this week's episode Tim and Jeremy focus on the early life and work of Bob Marley & The Wailers. They explore the role Marley and the group played in bringing Reggae to the world, with the singer becoming a singular and ubiquitous figure in culture in the process. Beginning with their first Ska singles from the mid-'60s, we hear how the original 1965 recording of One Love articulated a nascent form of philosophical universalism, with love as a political virtue to overcome difference. We also follow Marley on his journey towards Rastafarianism, and reintroduce Island Records' Chris Blackwell to the show.

Tim and Jeremy discuss the powerful, dub-inflected production of the Wailers' second album Soul Rebels, consider the anti-imperialism of rootsyness, and explore the recording and marketing of their follow up, Catch A Fire.

We'll be back in a fortnight with part two of our deep dive on Marley. One Love.

Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert are authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.  

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down! 

Become a patron from just £3 per month by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

Tracklist:
The Wailers - Simmer Down
The Wailers - One Love (1965)
Bob Marley & The Wailers - Soul Rebel
Bob Marley & The Wailers - Rebel's Hop
Bob Marley & The Wailers - Concrete Jungle

Books:
Timothy White - Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley

This is an excerpt of a full length episode currently only available to patrons. To become a patron and support what we're doing from £3 per month, head to www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In this patrons-only episode, Jeremy and Tim begin a multi-part exploration of what we're calling Heavy Dub Theory: a deep dive on the aesthetic, musicological and theoretical understandings of dub. We start with a discussion of the materiality of bass as expressed in the concept of Bass Materialism - how bass frequencies behave in space, are felt in our bodies, and how bass music rejected and upset prevailing musical expressions of white heteropatriarchal culture.

We also consider how dub composition is organised around subtraction rather than addition - a fact it shares with the contemporaneous school of Minimalism - and make the case that dub is anti-climactic, anti-telos, and ultimately breaks with traditional musical conceptions of time all together.

We'll be back in a fortnight with the next iteration of Heavy Dub Theory.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Tracklist:

A Tribe Called Quest - Vibes and Stuff
Steve Reich - Come Out
King Tubby & Observer All Stars - Rema Dub
King Tubby & Jacob Miller - City Of The Weakheart Dub
Peter Tosh - Mystic Man

Books:

Paul C. Jasen - The Low End Theory; Bass, Bodies and the Materiality of Sonic Experience
Julian Henriquez - Sonic Bodies
Steve Goodman - Sonic Warfare
Jeremy Gilbert & Ewan Pearson - Discographies
Tricia Rose - Black Noise
Henri Bergson - Matter and Memory

In this week's episode Jeremy and Tim move through the late 20th century to trace dub's echoing influence on Disco, Post-Punk, early House and the music of the British Rave scene. Dub's aesthetics of space, minimalism, and bass-centric production are revealed on the New York dancefloor through the early remix experiments of Walter Gibbons and the studio work of Francois K, as well as in the punk clubs of London and the after-party living rooms of late '80s ravers.

Tim and Jeremy consider how the Clash came to lean heavily on their fascination with Dub and Rastafarianism; how Reggae as a musical vocabulary was repeatedly drawn on for distinctly Feminist musical projects with explicitly experimental aims; and spend some time discussing one of UK music's most singular figures, Andrew Weatherall.

Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert are authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.  

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!  

Become a patron from just £3 per month by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

Tracklist:

First Choice - Let No Man Put Asunder (Walter Gibbons Mix)
Disco Dub Band - For the Love of Money
The Slits - Shoplifting
The Clash - White Man in Hammersmith Palais
The Clash - The Magnificent Dance
Vivien Goldman - Launderette
Tom Tom Club - Genius of Love
Chip E - Like This
Sandee - Notice Me (Notice the House Mix)
The Orb - Earth (Gaia)

Books:
Vivien Goldman - Revenge of the She-Punks

This is an excerpt of a full length episode currently only available to patrons. To become a patron and support what we're doing from £3 per month, head to www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In this patrons-only bonus episode, Jeremy and Tim have a conversation about what music has been on their turntables recently.

In a genre-busting and wide-ranging discussion we consider potential connections between the current wave of excellent ambient psychedelic jazz releases from labels like Chicago's International Anthem with '90s Post Rock and the '70s Minimalism; explore the fresh and surprising offerings of '70s Belgium and the unusually Cuban sounds of '60s Senegal; and consider how Reggae covers of American and British pop songs are expressions of Gilroy's Black Atlantic.

Also in this episode we hear a Brazilian Tropicalia tune about the apparent founder of a universal mystic gnostic philosophy, contemplate the religion and theology of Late Antiquity, enjoy an exciting spurt of post-Jungle energy from contemporary London, and end with a playful and trippy dub remix fresh from a party.

This is part of a rough series of more conversational, unplanned episodes reflecting on what's been on our record players recently and what we've been up to that we'll be releasing to patrons to say thank you for your support.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

The tracks discussed are:

Jamie Branch - Birds of Paradise
Placebo - Dag Madam Merci
Prince Buster - A Change is Gonna Come
Idrissa Diop - Caridad
Jorge Ben - Hermes Trismegisto Escrreveu
The Tornadoes & Tyra Hammond - You Got Me Thinking
Parris and Call Super - Poison Pudding
Desmond Chambers - Haly Gully (Toby Tobias Version)

In this week's episode Tim and Jeremy dive headlong into Dub. They discuss the changing meaning of the term, the difficulties in charting the history of the music, and explore the work of two of the pioneers of the sound, Lee 'Scratch' Perry and King Tubby. Jeremy and Tim discuss the sonic properties of dub, including the innovative use of reverb and delay, as well as the distinctive vocal practice of toasting and the starring role performed by the bass in this new musical form.

Tim and Jeremy also talk about why the innovations of Dub took place in Jamaica, the importance of addition and subtraction to the dub producers, and the persistent dialectic between seriousness and playfulness out of which so much Dub emerges. In this spirit, we also hope you enjoy the special LITM theme music version. Back in a fortnight with more - stay dubwise. 

Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert are authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.  

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!  

Become a patron from just £3 per month by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

Tracklist:

Les Paul & Mary Ford - How High The Moon
Richie Havens - Indian Rope Man
Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & The Trinity - Indian Rope Man
Bob Marley & the Wailers - African Herbsman
Lee 'Scratch' Perry - African Herbsman (Dub Version)
King Tubby & Augustus Pablo - King Tubby Meets the Rockers Uptown
Junior Byles - Curly Locks
Augustus Pablo - Curly Dub
Sir Gibbs - People Grudgeful
The Abyssinians - Satta Massagana
Joe Gibbs - Satta Amasa Gana Version
King Tubby - Weeping Dub

Books:
Michael Veal - Dub: Soundscapes and Shattered Songs in Jamaican Reggae

This is an excerpt of a full length episode currently only available to patrons. To become a patron and support what we're doing from £3 per month, head to www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

Continuing our ongoing patrons-only reading series, Tim picks up where he left off in his 2004 book 'Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture 1970-1979'. I'm sure you'll all have heard him reference the book the show, and many of you will have read it, so here we present a reading series of the book to compliment the Love is the Message project.

In Chapter 1 part 3, we hear about the original parties thrown by David Mancuso in his home at 647 Broadway. Tim describes the make up of the crowd, the lengths David went in preparing for the party, his innovations in décor, and the freedom people found dancing there.

Thank you for your continued support of the show - we couldn't do it without you.

Expect to hear much more from the book in the coming months, as well as more patrons-only content and a new series of the main show.

Tune in, turn on, get down!

In this week's episode Jeremy and Tim focus on the birth of Reggae in Jamaica. Beginning with the island's first popular music, Ska, we hear how the music of Alton Ellis and Desmond Decker transformed into Rocksteady, with it's slower pulse, rootsy feel and serious lyrical turn. Set against the backdrop of Kingston's high crime rate and Rudeboy culture, Tim and Jeremy recount how this music took on the feeling of suffering and anguish many Jamaicans experienced in their lives. We hear how these musicians began to look less to America for their musical inspirations than to the island's Mento folk traditions as the Reggae sound began to crystalize in the late '60s.

Also in this episode, we are introduced to the pioneering producer and performer Lee 'Scratch' Perry (more from him next episode), explore the emerging link between Reggae music and Michael Manley's socialist People's National Party, and consider the problematic gender and sexual politics of a genre so focused on emancipation and liberation. Join us next time as we dive deep into Dub...

Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert are authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.  

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!  

Become a patron from just £3 per month by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

Tracklist:

Alton Ellis and the Flames - Girl I Have Got A Date
Alton Ellis - Rock Steady
Desmond Dekker & The Aces – Israelites
Lee 'Scratch' Perry - People Funny Boy
Junior Byles - Beat Down Babylon
The Abyssinians - Satta Massagana
Marcia Griffiths - The First Cut is the Deepest

Books:
Lloyd Bradley - Bass Culture: When Reggae Was King

This is an excerpt of a full length episode currently only available to patrons. To become a patron and support what we're doing from £3 per month, head to www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

This is the audio from our recent patrons-only 'Live Conversations' between ourselves and our patrons, which took place over Zoom in January of this year. Tim, Jeremy and our guests discussed the relationship between Afrofuturism and Afro-Psychedelia, the 'Robotic Sublime' of electronic music, Boomer politics and more, as well as a lengthy and unexpected conversation about how the Extreme Metal scene overlaps with those cultures discussed on the podcast, and a breakdown of the 8 hour Beatles documentary, Get Back.   

We intend to hold these events semi-regularly, so do come along to the next one if you can.   

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.  

Tune in, Turn on, Get down!

In this week's episode Tim and Jeremy turn their attention to the island of Jamaica. They recount a history of Jamaica as a British Colony and the liberation struggles that grew up in the face of Imperial rule, including the work of Marcus Garvey, the Back to Africa movement, and the eventual socialist prime minister Michael Manley. We hear about the emergence of Rastafarianism in the early Twentieth century, considering the importance of Zion or a promised land to the Rastas, their development into an anti-colonial vanguard, and the role of Indian mystical and religious rites on their own spiritual practices.

Jeremy and Tim also introduce us to some major players of the early '60s Jamaican music scene, including the head of Studio One Coxsone Dodd and the founder of Island Records Chris Blackwell. Finally, the pair reflect on how the history of Abolition has been written, how we should seek to remain transparent in the present, and tie these questions of historiography to the BLM protests and toppling of the statue of Edward Colston in Bristol in 2020.

Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert are authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.  

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!  

Become a patron from just £3 per month by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

Tracklist:
Lord Power & Calypso Quintet - Penny Reel
Andy & Joey - I Want To Know
Delroy Wilson - I Want Justice
Lance Haywood And Ernest Ranglin - Begin The Beguine
Owen Gray and the Caribs - Mash It
Bob Marley - Judge Not
Millie Small - My Boy Lollipop

Books and Films:
Eric Williams - Capitalism and Slavery
Tim Lawrence - Life and Death on the New York Dance Floot, 1980-1983
BBC4  - Roots, Reggae, Rebellion (with Akala)

This is an excerpt of a full length episode currently only available to patrons. To become a patron and support what we're doing from £3 per month, head to www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In this week's patrons-only episode we conclude our two-part interview with Black Feminist scholar and music critic Daphne A. Brooks. Following from our previous show, Daphne disucsses some of the contemporary figures in her new book Liner Notes for the Revolution: The Intellectual Life of Black Feminist Sound, including Janelle Monáe, who along with the Wonderland Arts Collective engage in an act of intellectual worldbuilding around her music, and the deep archival searching of jazz singer Cécile McLorin Salvant. With reference to Beyoncé Tim, Jeremy and Daphne consider to what extent we are living through an ascendent period of Black feminist consciousness and discuss the way such Black female megastars are held in cultural production.

We also took advantage of speaking with Daphne to ask her about the Harlem Cultural Festival, the so-called 'Black Woodstock' which the excellent new film and firm LITM favourite Summer of Soul documents, as well as to commemorate the recent passing of two titans of Black cultural writing, Greg Tate and bell hooks. We are so grateful to Daphne for being so generous with her time, insight and humour.

Daphne A. Brooks is William R. Kenan, Jr. professor of African American studies, American Studies, Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies and Music at Yale University; she is also director of graduate studies.She specializes in African American literary cultural performance studies, especially 19th century and trans-Atlantic culture. She is a rock music lover and has attributed her research interests in black performance to being a fan of rock music since a very young age.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Tracklist:

Janelle Monáe - Make Me Feel
Cécile McLorin Salvant - Ghost Song
Beyoncé - ***Flawless
Burnt Sugar - Conduction #5
Burnt Sugar - Rock'n'Roll Suicide

In this week's episode Jeremy and Tim complete their three-part study of African music by looking at the flows of musical influence across the Black Atlantic. They explore how diasporic sounds reflected back on music being made in African nations, including the heavy Latin rhythms found in the Malian Super Rail Band and the fingerprint of Duke Ellington on the Ethiopian Jazz of Mulatu Astatke.

Tim and Jeremy also investigate how state subsidies in aid of building national culture affected musical production, flesh out the geopolitical background these independence movements took place against, and dedicate a long discussion to Manu Dibango and his talismanic record, Soul Makosa.

Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert are authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.  

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.  

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!  

Become a patron from just £3 per month by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

Tracklist:
The Super Rail Band - Rail Band
Orchestra Baobab - Baila Mi Gente (feat. Medoune Diallo)
Manu Dibango - Hymne de la Coupe d’Afrique des Nations
Manu Dibango - Soul Makosa
Manu Dibango - Lily
Mulatu Astatke - Dewol
Ebenezer Obey- Inter-Reformers A Tunde
Miriam Makeba - I'mm You'mm We'mm

Books:
Paul Gilroy - The Black Atlantic
Banning Eyre - In Griot Time
Manu Dibango - Three Kilos of Coffee

This is an excerpt of a full length episode currently only available to patrons. To become a patron and support what we're doing from £3 per month, head to www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In this week's patrons-only episode we are happy to present the part 1 of our very first interview on LITM. Jeremy and Tim were happy to welcome the Black Feminist scholar and music critic Daphne A. Brooks to the show to discuss her new book, Liner Notes for the Revolution: The Intellectual Life of Black Feminist Sound. Brooks explores more than a century of music archives to examine the critics, collectors, and listeners who have determined perceptions of Black women on stage and in the recording studio.

In this episode Daphne talks with Tim and Jeremy about the writers, practitioners and 'organic intellectuals' who have created a new discourse around Black female sound, taking in figures such as the writer and collector of field recordings Zora Neale Hurston, the writer, journalist and singer Pauline Hopkins, and the writer and playwright Lorraine Hansberry. They dig into what it means to hold precious these forgotten figures, affectionate writing praxis, and the relationship between curatorial or archival work and contemporary music making. In part 2, coming in a fortnight, we will hear about some of the contemporary artists featured in the book, including Janelle Monáe and Beyonce.

Daphne A. Brooks is William R. Kenan, Jr. professor of African American studies, American Studies, Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies and Music at Yale University; she is also director of graduate studies.She specializes in African American literary cultural performance studies, especially 19th century and trans-Atlantic culture. She is a rock music lover and has attributed her research interests in black performance to being a fan of rock music since a very young age.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Tracklist:
Zora Neale Hurston - Wake Up Jacob (trad. recorded 1928 in the field)
Mamie Smith - Crazy Blues
Elvie Thomas & Geeshie Wiley - Over To My House
Elvie Thomas & Gershie Wiley - Last Kind Words Blues

Books:
Daphne A. Brooks - Liner Notes for the Revolution: The Intellectual Life of Black Feminist Sound
Daphne A. Brooks - Jeff Buckley’s Grace
Zora Neale Hurston - Their Eyes Were Watching God
Pauline Hopkins - Of One Blood

In this week's episode Tim and Jeremy continue with the second part of their mini-series on the music of '60s and '70s Africa. They start with an exposition on the ideas put forward in Paul Gilroy's seminal book The Black Atlantic. With reference to a variety of historical theorisations of the experience of Black people since the period of slavery, we hear how Gilroy offered a diasporic understanding, showed the moderness of black cultural production, and opens questions of why music ended up paying such a central role in the culture of North America, Europe and the Caribbean.

Jeremy and Tim then turn their attention to Nigeria in the early '70s. We hear about the titanic influence of Fela Kuti on world music, how he exchanged ideas and influences with James Brown on his 1970 tour of Africa, and how the length of the records of the Afrobeat sound he pioneered lent themselves to the emerging dancefloors of NYC and beyond.  Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert are authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.  

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.  

We'll be taking a very short break over the festive period, but will be back early in January 2022 to pick up where we left off.  

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!  

Become a patron from just £3 per month by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

Tracklist:
Geraldo Pino and the Heartbeats - Power to the People
Fela Kuti - Viva Nigeria
James Brown - There Was A Time (I Got To Move)
Fela Kuti, Africa 70 and Ginger Baker - Black Man's Cry
Fela Kuti - Shakara
Lijadu Sisters - Fasiribo

Books:
Paul Gilroy - There Ain't No Black in the Union
Jack Paul Gilroy - The Black Atlantic
Judith Butler - Gender Trouble
Tricia Rose - Black Noise
Carlos Moore - Fela: This Bitch of a Life

This is an excerpt of a full length episode currently only available to patrons. To become a patron and support what we're doing from £3 per month, head to www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In this week's patrons-only episode, Jeremy and Tim finish their mini-series on Afrofuturism. As it's LITM, the guys finally dig into the contested role of Disco to Afrofuturism, taking in the futuristic innovations of Larry Levan, the queer cyborg aesthetics of Sylvester, and the key developments being made on the synthesizer in the the Disco tracks of the early 80s.

Tim and Jeremy also discuss the guitar innovations of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the singular force of Afrika Bambaataa, Prince's fusion of electronic and rock sounds, while closing out on two contemporary artists - Janelle Monáe and Moor Mother - who's self-conscious use of cybersoul and Afrofuturist tropes ring true today.   

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Tracklist:
Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Up Above My Head
Ednah Holt - Serious, Sirius Space Party (Club Version)
Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force - Planet Rock
The Peech Boys - Don't Make Me Wait
Janelle Monáe - Take a Byte
Moor Mother - After Images  

Books:
Gale F. Wald - Shout, Sister, Shout!

In this week's episode Jeremy and Tim expand their series on Afro-Psychedelia with a multi-show exploration of the music of Africa, beginning today in the 1960s. They discuss the contested and shifting conceptualisations of Africa through history, the emergence of Marcus Garvey and Pan-Africanism, Paul Gilroy's seminal book The Black Atlantic, and the production of the specific relationship between Black Americans and Africa as a form of identity.

Jeremy and Tim look at the national liberation movements of the mid-twentieth century, starting with Highlife music in Ghana, Congolese Catholic chorales, and two legends of South African music and activism - Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba - including their improbable meeting in a musical production of King Kong. Finally, Tim and Jeremy link up Babatunde Olatunji's seminal album Drums of Passion with psychedelic currents already explored in the show like the Grateful Dead, John Coltrane, Santana, and the dancefloor of the Loft.

Tim and Jeremy look at the national liberation movements of the mid-twentieth century, starting with Highlife music in Ghana, Congolese Catholic chorales, and two legends of South African music and activism - Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba - including their improbable meeting in a musical production of King Kong. Finally, Tim and Jeremy link up Babatunde Olatunji's seminal album Drums of Passion with psychedelic currents already explored in the show like the Grateful Dead, John Coltrane, Santana, and the dancefloor of the Loft.

Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert are authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.  Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!

Become a patron by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

Tracklist:
Babatunde Olatunji - Gin-Go-Lo-Ba
Santana - Jingo
E T Mensah - Ghana Freedom
E. K.'s No. 1 Band - Ene Maa Abaso
Les Troubadours Du Roi Baudouin -- Sanctus (Missa Luba Song)
Monks of Keur Moussa - Le Seigneur Nous Offre Sa Bienveillance
Hugh Masakela - Grazing in the Grass
Miriam Makeba - Kwazulu (In the Land of the Zulus)
Letta Mbulu - Mahlalela

Books:
Paul Gilroy - The Black Atlantic
John Chernoff - African Rhythms, African Sensibility: Aesthetics and Social Action in African Musical Idioms
Ned Sublette - "The Kingsmen and the Cha-Cha-Cha". In Eric Weisbard (ed.), Listen Again: A Momentary History of Pop Music.
Timothy Taylor - Global Pop: World Music, World Market

This is an excerpt of a full length episode currently only available to patrons. To become a patron and support what we're doing from £3 per month, head to www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In this week's patrons-only episode, Tim and Jeremy continue their mini-series on the aesthetic and political content of Afrofuturism. Beginning with Kodwo Eshun's 1998 book More Brilliant Than The Sun, Tim and Jeremy interrogate the thinking of a number of academics and journalists around the Cybernetic Cultural Research Unit, their body of work around cyber theory, and the music of the 'Hardcore Continuum' in the context of '90s intellectual culture.

Tim and Jeremy spend time talking about the Detroit Techno of Drexciya, consider the complex position of soulfulness within Afrofuturism, and dig further into the contested ideas around the promise of technology. Finally, we hear about the origins of dubstep, with Jeremy making a strident case against the aestheticization of alienated urban life under capitalism - with some swinging UK Garage thrown in for good measure.

Tim and Jeremy will conclude with part 3 on Afrofuturism in a fortnight.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Tracklist:
Drexciya - Andreaen Sand Dunes
Lenny Fontana - Spirit of the Sun (Steve Gurley Full Vocal Mix)
Maddslinky - Dark Swing

Books:
Kodwo Eshun - More Brilliant Than the Sun
Jeremy Gilbert & Ewan Pearson - Discographies: Dance, Music, Culture, and the Politics of Sound
Donna Haraway - Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature

In this week's episode Tim and Jeremy describe the genres of psychedelic jazz and fusion. Drawing on rock, modal and free jazz and funk, as well as a wider pool of international musics, we hear how artists like Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock and Weather Report created - through processes of fusion and fission - a new sound. Tim and Jeremy consider the impact hearing the Grateful Dead had on Miles, the virtuosity and immanence of his trio of fusion albums, and the struggles he had in marketing this new music (with little understanding or help from the label suits).  

We also hear about the various psychedelic qualities of the music and musicians, how rock displaced folk and jazz as the countercultural music of the moment, and join the dots between American jazz musicians and the improvisatory brilliance of the Indian Classical tradition.  

Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert are authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.  

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.  

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!  

Tracklist:
Joe Harriott - Mishra Blues
The Grateful Dead - The Other One
Miles Davis - Shhh
Miles Davis - On The Corner
Dorothy Ashby - For Some We Loved
Weather Report - Orange Lady
Les McCann - The Lovers
Herbie Hancock - Raindance
Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds of Fire

Books:
Phil Freeman - Running the Voodoo Down: The Electric Music of Miles Davis
Kevin Fellezs - Birds of Fire
David Toop - Ocean of Sound

This is an excerpt of a full length episode currently only available to patrons. To become a patron and support what we're doing from £3 per month, head to www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In the first few episodes of our new series on Afro-Psychedelia we've mentioned the concept of Afrofuturism a few times, so we wanted to take a moment to record this supplementary patrons-only two-parter outlining exactly what we mean by the term. Beginning with Mark Derry's 1994 book Flame Wars, Tim and Jeremy expound the aesthetic and political components of Afrofuturism to serve as a helpful supplementary text to our main episodes.

Tim and Jeremy cover Detroit Techno and the Belleville 3, the 'Golden Age' of Hip Hop, the particular position of Dub in the Afrofuturist imaginary, and the singular insights of Goldie, along with the antagonisms of Gangsta Rap, white libertarian cyberpunk culture and the politics and economics of the early '90s.

Tim and Jeremy will be back in a fortnight with part two. In the mean time, do leave us a review on Apple podcasts if you can, it really helps us reach more people.  Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Tracklist:  
M500 & 3MB - Jazz is the Teacher
Lee 'Scratch' Perry - Dub Revolutions
Goldie - Inner City Life  

Books:
Mark Dery - Flame Wars
John Corbett - Extended Play
Michael Veal - Dub: Soundscapes and Shattered Songs in Jamaican Reggae
Paul Gilroy - The Black Atlantic  

Films:
The Last Angel of History

In the second episode of our third series, Tim and Jeremy describe a psychedelic aesthetic appearing in the transformative and rapturous musics of the American Black church, Rastafarian Jamaica and Nigeria, with reference to Gospel, Juju, Reggae and Funk. They counterpoint this with a strain of musical antipathy with roots in Plato and iterating in radical Protestant tendencies throughout history, while also pointing up the specific and slightly scary millenarianism to the utopias imagined through the tunes discussed.

Tim and Jeremy also spend a good amount of time on the West Coast Acid Rock scene, contemplating the edginess of the sound and it's representation of paranoid psychoactive experiences; the musical expressions of Caribbean Brits in the early '70s; and touch some more on Afro-Futurism, with specific reference to the playful childlike energy of space-facing Parliament-Funkadelic.

Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert are authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.  Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!

Tracklist:

Mahalia Jackson - A City Called Heaven
The Staple Singers - This May be the Last Time
The Voices of East Harlem - Shaker Life
Love - Revelation Santana - Toussaint L'Ouverture
Cymande - Dove
King Sunny Adé - 365 Is My Number / The Message
Nairobi Sisters - Promised Land
Parliament - Mothership Connection (Star Child)

and some reading for this week's episode:

Jayna Brown, Black Utopias: Speculative Life and the Music of Other Worlds, Duke UP 2021
Christopher Waterman, Juju: A Social History and Ethnography of an African Popular Music, University of Chicago Press, 1990
Craig Werner, A Change Is Gonna Come: Music, Race and the Soul of America, Canongate 2002

This is an excerpt of a full length episode currently only available to patrons. To become a patron and support what we're doing from £3 per month, head to www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In this patrons-only bonus episode, Jeremy and Tim have a conversation about what music has been on their turntables recently.  

In line with the themes of our new series, Tim and Jeremy have been on an Afro-Psychedelic tip recently. In this show they discuss the relational philosophies of early '70s anti-colonial Africa, the UK's brilliant current strain of psychedelic jazz, and link Floating Points' new release to Vangelis, prog rock and 'Hooked On Classics'.

We also hear excerpts from the only record Hendrix ever produced, consider the importance of vocal records to a party, and hear some sublime House selections to lift your spirits as the weather gets colder.  This is part of a rough series of more conversational, unplanned episodes reflecting on what's been on our record players recently and what we've been up to that we'll be releasing to patrons to say thank you for your support.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.  

The tracks discussed are:

Miriam Makeba - I'mm You'mm We'mm
Floating Points - Promises mvt. 4
Sly & the Family Stone - Everyday People
Bunn Debrett Quintet - Someday
Cat Mother & the All Night Newsboys - Track in A (Nebraska Nights)
Soma World - Want This (feat. Falle)
Phenomenal Handclap Band - Judge Not (Ray Mang Special Mix)
Guided Souls - Freedom's Light
Sofia Kourtesis - La Perla

Love is the Message returns with series 3! In our last cluster of episodes, Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert took a deep look at the musical, social and political currents flowing through New York City from the late '60s to around 1975. This time, they're turning their attention outwards, expanding their analysis of this crucial period of time to include South America, the Caribbean, West Africa and parts of Asia.

In this opening episode of the series, Tim and Jeremy are exploring American examples of Afro-Psychedelia. They begin by defining the term, alongside its close cousin Afro-Futurism. They then discuss the psychedelic experiences of a number of Black American musicians, and interrogate the often misrepresentative history of Black America's involvement in Acid culture. Taking in great musicians like Sun Ra and Hendrix, Tim and Jeremy talk about how both Ancient Egypt and outer space recur as images of alternative and utopian possibilities, and consider the esteem with which jazz musicians of the time held Indian Classical music. We end the show by thinking about the different yet huge legacies of John and Alice Coltrane as spiritual musical innovators.

Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert are authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

We are committed to making Love is the Message free to everyone who wants it, but if you have the means, please become a supporter by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod for as little as £3 a month so we can stay free.

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!

Tracklist:

Sun Ra - Space is the Place
Robert Johnson - Crossroad Blues
Sun Ra - UFO
John Coltrane - Om pt.1
Jimi Hendix - Valleys of Neptune
Alice Coltrane - Journey in Satchidananda

This is an excerpt from a patrons-only LITM Extra episode. To hear the whole thing, as well as conversations between Tim and Jeremy about what they've been listening to, intermittent lectures, listeners' questions and more, visit www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod to become a patron from £3 a month.

Continuing our ongoing patrons-only reading series, Tim picks up where he left off in his 2004 book 'Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture 1970-1979'. I'm sure you'll all have heard him reference the book the show, and many of you will have read it, so here we present a reading series of the book to compliment the Love is the Message project.

In Chapter 1 part 2, we hear about 'Le Club' and the first discotheques of New York; how a converted church came to be known as The Sanctuary nightclub, and how Francis Grasso scored the gig of DJing there; and we dig into the NYC underbelly to hear about the involvement of the Mafia in the gay bars and clubs of Manhattan.

Thank you for your continued support of the show - we couldn't do it without you.

Expect to hear much more from the book in the coming months, as well as more patrons-only content and a new series of the main show.

Tune in, turn on, get down!

This is an excerpt from a patrons-only episode. To hear the whole thing, along with accessing lots more LITM Extra content, go to www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod to become a patron from £3 per month.

In this patrons-only episode of LITM Extra, Tim and Jeremy take questions from you, the listeners. They talk about the portrayal of disco as synthetic music, the misplaced protest of rock musicians and fans against the genre, and dig into the odd phenomenon of the novelty disco single.

Tim and Jeremy also share with us the system components David Mancuso used at the Loft, including amps, turntables and cartridges, and respond to the accusation of retro behaviour.

And to close out, we hear some of our favourite modern disco remixes and learn the how to talk about bangers in Seventies lingo.  

Tracklist:
Rick Dees - Disco Duck
Gorillaz - Dare (DFA Remix)
Sandy's Gang - Hungry (Sean P Re-edit)
Loose Joints - Is It All Over My Face (Kon's Duet Mix)
Sister Sledge - Lost in Music

We've unlocked this patrons-only bonus episode from August, in which Jeremy and Tim have a conversation about what music they're listening to at the moment. To hear more of these conversations, along with book readings, lectures, Q&As and (soon) interviews, become a patron from £3 per month by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

Tim and Jeremy discuss New Orleans hip hop, big edits of legendary tunes, reissue culture, online digging, playfulness in music, and getting back into the saddle of DJing again.

This is part of a rough series of more conversational, unplanned episodes reflecting on what's been on our record players recently and what we've been up to that we'll be releasing to patrons to say thank you for your support.

The tracks discussed are:

Mario Rui Silva - Kazum-zum-zum
Sylvester & the Hot Band - Southern Man
The Invisible Session - People All Around the World, Can Make It
Butch - LSD-25
79ers Gang - 79ers Bout to Blow
Ash Ra Tempel - Ain't No Time For Tears (The Sacred Rhythm Mix)
Muckers - Out of County

If you like the clips we played, we'd encourage you to support the artists and buy the tracks, most of which are available on bandcamp, starting with Out of County! https://muckers.bandcamp.com/releases

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

This is the an excerpt from the audio of our first patrons-only 'Live Conversations' between ourselves and our patrons, which took place over Zoom on the 10th September. To hear the whole thing, and to participate in the next one, along with accessing lots more LITM Extra content, go to www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod to become a patron from £3 per month.

Tim and Jeremy discussed and took questions on Acid, Ecstacy, and the 'downer' drugs; talked about the particulars of the Japanese listening bar culture and it's impact on both their own soundsystem and David Mancuso; and gave their top tip on what is the best amplifier for the Klipshorn speakers.

We also chatted about the role of early internet culture, hear a funny anecdote about David being trolled on Deep House Forum, and reflect more broadly on the Love is the Message project.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Tune in, Turn on, Get down!

This is an excerpt from a patrons-only LITM Extra episode. To hear the whole thing, as well as conversations between Tim and Jeremy about what they've been listening to, intermittent lectures, listeners' questions and more, visit www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod to become a patron from £3 a month.

In first of an ongoing patrons-only project, Tim reads from his seminal 2004 book 'Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture 1970-1979'. I'm sure you'll all have heard him reference the book the show, and many of you will have read it, so here we present a reading series of the book to compliment the Love is the Message project.

In Chapter 1 part 1, we hear about David Mancuso's childhood in the children's home in Utica, New York; his early employment after leaving home; and his first forays into throwing parties in the mid-1960s, featuring two recurring characters from our show, Timothy Leary and Richard Long.

Thank you for your continued support of the show - we couldn't do it without you.

Expect to hear much more from the book in the coming months, as well as more patrons-only content and a new series of the main show.

Tune in, turn on, get down!

In the final episode of our second series, Tim and Jeremy turn to 1974 to consider the emergence of disco as a discernible and self-conscious genre. Does genre allow people to define themselves through the music they listen to, and to consider themselves part of a (physical or imagined) community? Or is genre simply a cynical tool of division promoted by a rapacious media and music business that stifles creativity and interaction?

Tim and Jeremy also consider our present moment of algorithmic listening and Spotify playlists, the performance of sexual pleasure in music, Eurodisco, the importance of strings to the disco sound, and dip into their record bags for a selection of dancefloor fillers fit for this bumper 12" edition of the show.

We'll be taking a short break, but will be back in less than a month to begin a new series, leaving the Anglophone world for the shores of South America, the Caribbean and Africa. In the meantime, expect some more patrons-only content to tide you over.

Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert are authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

We are committed to making Love is the Message free to everyone who wants it, but if you have the means, please become a supporter by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod for as little as £3 a month so we can stay free.

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!

Tracklist:

South Shore Commission - Free Man (Franscois K Remix)
Carol Douglas - Doctor's Orders
Disco Tex & the Sex-O-Lettes - Get Dancing
Gladys Knight - Make Yours a Happy Home
Eddie Kendricks - Date with the Rain
Ultra High Frequency - We're on the Right Track (Tom Moulton Remix)
Silver Convention - Fly, Robin, Fly
Shirley & Company - Shame, Shame, Shame
Ramsey Lewis - Sun Goddess

In this week's episode Tim and Jeremy explore one of the most important musical currents of the early '70s, Feminist Soul. Beginning with Aretha Franklin, they situate the music of these powerful, articulate and conscious female performers within the Women's Liberation and Black Power movements, alongside the scholarship of Simone de Beuvoir and Angela Davis, and in relation to the girl groups of Motown and the mid-'60s.

Through lyrical, musical and cultural analysis, Tim and Jeremy also consider the explicit revolutionary subjectivity of Nina Simone, marvel at the potency of Marlena Shaw, and link these musics with the Loft, the Gallery, and the emerging Disco scene.

Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert are authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

We are committed to making Love is the Message free to everyone who wants it, but if you have the means, please become a supporter by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod for as little as £3 a month so we can stay free.

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!

Tracklist:

Aretha Franklin - (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman
Nina Simone - Revolution
Spanky Wilson - Sunshine of Your Love
Marlena Shaw - Liberation Conversation
Marlena Shaw - Woman of the Ghetto
Little Sister - You're The One
The Three Degrees - Dirty Ol' Man
Labelle - What Can I Do For YOu
Betty Davis - They Say I'm Different
The Pointer Sisters - Yes We Can Can

This is an excerpt of a full length episode currently only available to patrons. To become a patron and support what we're doing from £3 per month, head to www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In this patrons-only bonus episode, Jeremy and Tim have a conversation about what music they're listening to at the moment.

Tim and Jeremy discuss New Orleans hip hop, big edits of legendary tunes, reissue culture, online digging, playfulness in music, and getting back into the saddle of DJing again.

This is part of a rough series of more conversational, unplanned episodes reflecting on what's been on our record players recently and what we've been up to that we'll be releasing to patrons to say thank you for your support.

The tracks discussed are:

Mario Rui Silva - Kazum-zum-zum
Sylvester & the Hot Band - Southern Man
The Invisible Session - People All Around the World, Can Make It
Butch - LSD-25
79ers Gang - 79ers Bout to Blow
Ash Ra Tempel - Ain't No Time For Tears (The Sacred Rhythm Mix)
Muckers - Out of County

If you like the clips we played, we'd encourage you to support the artists and buy the tracks, most of which are available on bandcamp, starting with Out of County! https://muckers.bandcamp.com/releases

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

In this week's episode Tim and Jeremy get ready to make you sweat with an extended length episode for maximum dancing. Starting with Soul Brother Number 1 James Brown, Tim and Jeremy chart this history of Funk, from its roots in Soul and R'n'B, via it's adoption by the Panthers and Black Power, and on to the psychedelia of Funkadelic. We also hear the source material of some of the most samples breaks ever, moonlight in some film criticism, and freak out to some serious lysergic experiences.

Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert are authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

We are committed to making Love is the Message free to everyone who wants it, but if you have the means, please become a supporter by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod for as little as £3 a month so we can stay free.

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!

Tracklist:
James Brown - Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud
Marva Whitney - It's My Thing
Sly & The Family Stone - I Want to Take You Higher
Chigaco Transit Authority - I'm A Man
The Meters - Cissy Strut
Funkadelic - Free Your Mind And Your Ass Will Follow
The Lumpen - Free Bobby Now
Isaac Hayes - Theme From Shaft
The Undisputed Truth - Ball of Confusion
Lyn Collins - Think (About It)

In this week's episode Tim and Jeremy consider the emergence of Disco as a recognisable and distinct sound in the period 1973-75. They grapple with the problems of codifying a genre, showing how genrefication can limit previously open spaces of possibility, and talk about to what extent the participants in the nascent scene saw themselves as part of a single project.

Tim and Jeremy also discuss the lush orchestrations of the Philly Sound, the machinic pulse of the four-to-the-floor drumbeat, the development of remix culture as a way of sculpting tracks more appropriate for the dancefloor, and finish up with the coronation of Gloria Gaynor as the first Queen of Disco. Plus: the Disco swear word!

Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert are authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

We are committed to making Love is the Message free to everyone who wants it, but if you have the means, please become a supporter by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod for as little as £3 a month so we can stay free.

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!

Tracklist:

The O'Jays - Back Stabbers
Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes - The Love I Lost
Eddie Kendricks - Girl You Need a Change of Mind
MFSB - TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)
George McCrae - Rock Your Baby
Don Downing - Dreamworld (Tom Moulton Mix)
BT Express - Do It ('Til You're Satisfied) (Tom Moulton Mix)
Gloria Gaynor - Never Can Say Goodbye (Tom Moulton Mix)

In this week's episode Tim and Jeremy consider the numerous musical and cultural currents of the early '70s that fed into the emergence of 'Disco' as a genre. They discuss the important antecedents of Soul and Rhythm and Blues, consider the yearning, future-facing qualities of Gospel, the musical influence of the Latin community in the city, and the imminent insistence of Funk.

Tim and Jeremy also consider the important role of romance, eroticism and sensuality on this developing musical form, discuss the appeal of longer tracks to dancers and DJs, and end with a friendly disagreement over that age-old question: what was the first disco record?

Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert are authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

We are committed to making Love is the Message free to everyone who wants it, but if you have the means, please become a supporter by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod for as little as £3 a month so we can stay free.

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!

Tracklist:

Erma Franklin - Piece of my Heart
James Brown - Sex Machine
The Doobie Brothers - Long Train Runnin'
Curtis Mayfield - Move On Up
Joe Bataan - Latin Strut
Osibisa - Survival
Barry White - I'm Gunna Love You Just a Little Bit More, Baby
Ultra High Frequency - We're on the Right Track

In this week's episode Tim and Jeremy are exploring the emergence of 'loft'-style living in downtown New York in the early '70s. Set against a backdrop of deindustrialisation and middle class flight to the suburbs, they detail how artists, bohemians and party hosts moved into these vacated loft spaces, affording them the space and time to exhibit their art and - crucially - throw parties.

Tim and Jeremy discuss David Mancuso's first party venue, at his loft space at 647 Broadway, along with some of the other parties which took his loft style, such as Nicky Siano's The Gallery and the more exclusive Tenth Floor. We hear some of the biggest records from these parties, consider the changing demographic makeups of their clientele, and finally ask: were these experiments in alternative styles of living inherently political, or were they opening themselves up to cooption by capital?

Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert are authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

We are committed to making Love is the Message free to everyone who wants it, but if you have the means, please become a supporter by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod for as little as £3 a month so we can stay free.

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!

Tracklist:

Stevie Wonder - Living for the City
Barrabas - Wild Safari
Patti Jo - Make Me Believe In You
Brenda Holloway - Just Look What You've Done
The Temptations - Law of the Land
Suicide - Ghost Rider

In this week's episode Tim and Jeremy finish their three-part overview of the transition from a Fordist to a Post-Fordist world by examining the period 1973-75. They cover the OPEC oil crisis, rising inflation worldwide, and the breakdown of the Bretton Woods Agreement, all of which served to puncture the post-war mood of endless growth and prosperity.

Tim and Jeremy also discuss the sense of pessimism that set into some music of the time, detail the emergence of the Salsoul label with its new dancefloor-focused sound, and bring some of Antonio Negri's ideas to bear, analyzing the pivotal role of workers and artists in forming a new culture.

Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert are authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

We are committed to making Love is the Message free to everyone who wants it, but if you have the means, please become a supporter by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod for as little as £3 a month so we can stay free.

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!

Tracklist:

Roxy Music - In Every Dream Home a Heartache
The Joneses - Love Inflation
New York Dolls - Looking for a Kiss
The Supremes - Stoned Love
The SalSoul Orchestra - You're Just The Right Size
Archie Bell and the Drells - Dance Your Troubles Away

In this week's episode Tim and Jeremy continue their in-depth look at the economic, social and musical transformations of post-Fordism, focusing specifically on the years 1970 to 1972. They discuss the tedium, boredom and conformity many experienced during the post-war period, and the myriad ways people pushed back through art, inspired by a romantic vision of the expressive artist and new set of democratic demands from workers, hippies, black radicals, feminists and more.

We also hear about the resurgent economies of Japan and Germany, the ripple effects of the cybernetic revolution, the development of the Technics turntable, and the emergence of the synthesiser, and interrogate the charge that hippies should be held responsible for the advent of neoliberalism.

Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert are authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

We are committed to making Love is the Message free to everyone who wants it, but if you have the means, please become a supporter by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod for as little as £3 a month so we can stay free.

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!

Tracklist:
Stevie Wonder - Big Brother
Isao Tomita - Imagine
Isao Tomita - Snowflakes Are Dancing
Giorgio Moroder - Automation
Soft Machine - The Soft Weed Factor
The JBs - Gimme Some More

Love is the Message: Music, Dance & Counterculture is a new show from Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert, both of them authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.

Tune in, Turn on and Get Down to in-depth discussion of the sonic, social and political legacies of radical movements past and present, from the 1960s to today. Starting with David Mancuso's NYC Loft parties, we’ll explore the countercultural sounds, scenes and ideas of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Become a supporter by visiting our Patreon at www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

In this week's episode Tim and Jeremy begin the first of a three part series-within-a-series connecting the dots between Motown and Salsoul. We start with Fordism, Antonio Gramsci's term for both the industrial practices of Henry Ford and the wider post-war settlement in which they occurred.

Tim and Jeremy discuss how the experience of Ford's production lines inspired Berry Gordy to create Motown Records, the groups and solo acts birthed by the label, and the emergent cultural norms they both expressed and reacted to. We also hear about the changing patterns of employment for musicians in the post-war era, the bohemia of Jazz and the Beats, and the imminent, embodied and sexual power of Funk.

Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert are authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

We are committed to making Love is the Message free to everyone who wants it, but if you have the means, please become a supporter by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod for as little as £3 a month so we can stay free.

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!

Tracklist:

Ike Turner & His Kings of Rhythm - Rocket 88
The Miracles - I Got a Job
Martha and the Vendellas - Third FInger, Left Hand
Lennie Tristano - These Foolish Things
Bob Dylan - Times They Are A Changing
The Shangri-Las - I Can Never Go Home Anymore
James Brown - Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine

This is an excerpt of a full length episode currently only available to patrons. To become a patron and support what we're doing from £3 per month, head to www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In this patrons-only bonus episode, Jeremy and Tim have a conversation about what music they're listening to at the moment. Tim and Jeremy discuss Afro-psychedelia, chill out rooms and ambient music, and how best to use the sound system at the start of a party. They also talk about rock & roll, contemporary harp, and give as a taste of a new label reissuing some of the earliest dance edits from Francois K and Walter Gibbons.

The two tracks discussed are:
Noel Brass Jr - Prism Jousting
Marty Wilde - Jezebel
Mary Lattimore - Jimmy V
Sunshine Sound - I Feel Love Medley (Francois K Edit)  

If you like the clips we played, we'd encourage you to support the artists and buy the tracks, most of which are available on bandcamp. And be sure to check out Moonshine Sound for more historic reissues: https://moonshinesound.bandcamp.com/music  

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

In this week's episode Tim and Jeremy continue their two-part look at early DJ practices. They consider the role played by the personality-focused radio DJs of the late '60s, interrogating the relationships between these radio jocks, the party DJs, and the record companies, and the conditions that led to the establishment of the NYC Record Pool.

Tim and Jeremy also take an in depth look at other aspects of DJ culture, including early mixing techniques, beat juggling and turntablism, as well as charting the history of the first dancefloor-focused remixes. Finally, they consider whether the figure of the DJ - branded, mobile, and able to process large amounts of musical information on behalf of a paying public - prefigures the ideal neoliberal subject.

Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert are authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

We are committed to making Love is the Message free to everyone who wants it, but if you have the means, please become a supporter by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod for as little as £3 a month so we can stay free.

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!

Tracklist:
Love Unlimited Orchestra - Love's Theme
Manu Dibango - New Bell
Incredible Bongo Band - Apache
Rare Earth - Happy Song
The Glass Family - Smoke Your Troubles Away
Jakki - Sun Sun Sun (Walter Gibbons Remix)

In this week's episode Tim and Jeremy turn their attention to the wheels of steel, and the inhabitants of late 1960s and early 1970s New York who played them. We hear about the overwhelmingly Italian American young men who first pioneered the scene, the various public discotheques in which they performed, and the numerous technical innovations which advanced the craft.

Tim and Jeremy also contrast the emergent New York scene with the soundsystem culture of Jamaica by considering the extent to which both could be thought of as assemblages of dancers, DJs, MCs and equipment, and share how rudimentary advances in beatmatching and mixing laid the groundwork for what we would consider today as the DJing archetype.

Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert are authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

We are committed to making Love is the Message free to everyone who wants it, but if you have the means, please become a supporter by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod for as little as £3 a month so we can stay free.

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!

Tracklist:
The Chamber Brothers - Time Has Come Today
The Upsetters with Lee 'Scratch' Perry - Black Panta
Chicago - I'm A Man
Eddie Kendricks - Girl You Need a Change of Mind
The Joneses - Sugar Pie Guy
Zulema - Giving Up

In this week's episode Tim and Jeremy are tuning in and dropping out as we talk all things Acid. We hear a history of the psychedelic movement within the Anglophone world, taking in the accidental maiden trip of chemist Albert Hoffmann, the activities of Timothy Leary at Millbrook and the Merry Pranksters on their Magic Bus, and The Beatles' musical rendering of the classic trip.

Tim and Jeremy also consider how dancing is incorporated into the Acid experience, with a grateful nod to the role played by the Dead and their sound engineer Owsley Stanley, and draw out the tensions between the post-war consumer culture and the emergent psychedelic movement that rendered Acid such a uniquely potent political - as well as pharmacological - phenomenon.

Note: At Love is the Message, we don't encourage our listeners to take Acid, which is of course illegal! Also, more prosaically, in this episode Jeremy refers to Ralph ‘Metzinger’ - he is of course talking about Ralph Metzner, the American psychologist and not Thomas Metzinger the contemporary American philosopher.

Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert are authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

We are committed to making Love is the Message free to everyone who wants it, but if you have the means, please become a supporter by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod for as little as £3 a month so we can stay free.

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!

Tracklist:

Ali Akbar Khan and Ravi Shankar - Raga Palas Kafi
The Grateful Dead - Alice D. Millionaire
The Beatles - Tomorrow Never Knows
Country Joe and the Fish - The Acid Commercial
Country Joe and the Fish - Colours for Susan
Charles Earland - Leaving This Planet

In the first episode of our new series looking in depth at the transformative decade of 1965-75, Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert discuss the pivotal position of New York City in the 1960s. They contrast the emergent New York with the fading Paris as centres of cultural and political life, taking in such important assemblages as the Greenwich Village Folk scene and Andy Warhol's Factory. Tim and Jeremy also discuss the contrasting schools of Jazz during the period - free, bebop and cool - and consider how the changing demographics of the city, forever a melting pot, led to the introduction of salsa to the New York audiences. The episode also takes in the various manifestations of the aesthetics of minimalism across the city, and ties it all back to David Mancuso's ear for the perfect lyric.

Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert are authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

If you've enjoyed the show so far, please do tell your friends and share on social media – it really helps us spread the show to a bigger audience. We are committed to making Love is the Message free to everyone who wants it, but if you have the means, please become a supporter by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod for as little as £3 a month so we can stay free.

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!

Tracklist:

Ornette Coleman - Free Jazz (part one)
Joan Baez - Joe Hill
The Velvet Underground - Heroin
Lamonte Young - 31 VII 69 10:26 - 10:49 PM
Ray Barretto - Acid
Miles Davis Quintet - Stuff
James Brown - Think (Live at the Apollo Volume 2)
Petula Clark - Downtown

This is an excerpt of a full length episode currently only available to patrons. To become a patron and support what we're doing from £3 per month, head to www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In this patrons-only bonus episode, Jeremy and Tim have a conversation about what music they're listening to at the moment. We had planned to listen to 6 or 7 tracks, but the conversation was flowing and so we only managed 2.  Tim and Jeremy discuss the British jazz revival, taking in labels like Gilles Peterson's Brownswood and venues like the Total Refreshment Centre; their own recent experience of throwing parties in East London; developing a more global musical palette than that offered by David Mancuso; and the changing patterns of migration that feed into interesting syntheses of international musics.

This is the first of a rough series of more conversational, unplanned episodes reflecting on what's been on our record players recently and what we've been up to that we'll be releasing to patrons to say thank you for your support.  Hold tight for news about a live seminar series with Tim and Jeremy - more info when we have it.

The two tracks discussed are:
Lokkhi Terra mmets Dele Sosimi - Afro Sambroso
KOKOROKO - Abusey Junction

If you like the clips we played, we'd encourage you to support the artists and buy the tracks, both of which are available on bandcamp.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

In this final episode of our introductory series, Jeremy and Tim dig into why the 1970s was such a crucial decade for political, social and musical innovation. Challenging the negative image of the ’70s so popularly held, they discuss the crucial importance of the era's global anti-colonial movements, and its liberation struggles around gender, sexuality and race, which found expression in music through punk, disco, afrobeat, reggae and proto-rap.

Tim and Jeremy also take on the thesis that the Counterculture of the late ’60s and early ’70s served purely as a precursor to neoliberalism, arguing that countercultural movements represented a genuine rebellion against the rigidity and conformity of the postwar settlement. Finally, with an eye to the dancefloor, they discuss how the decade saw the emergence of the DJ, and later the remixer, and the technical innovations both of early mixing and of the 12" single.

We're now taking a couple of weeks off, after which Love is the Message will return with a new series of 8 episodes, looking in depth at the period 1965–1975 with all the good musical, political and social commentary you'd expect. 

If you've enjoyed the show so far, please do tell your friends and share on social media – it really helps us spread the show to a bigger audience. We are committed to making Love is the Message free to everyone who wants it, but Tim, Jeremy and producer Matt have all been hit hard by the Coronavirus pandemic, so if you have the means, please become a supporter by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod for as little as £3 a month so we can stay free.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!

Cristina - Disco Clone
Max Romeo - Socialism Is Love
Machine - There But For The Grace Of God, Go I
Gil Scott-Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Mirage 
Kraftwerk - Trans Europe Express
Brian Eno - Music for Airports pt1
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks - Burning Rubber
Dinosaur L - Go Bang

In this week's episode, Tim and Jeremy are discussing love as the central affect of countercultural dance practice. They talk about the heteronormativity of the post-war period and the queerness of many male '60s pop singers, the religious antecedents to both the anti-war and the psychedelic movements, and the embrace of love as a universal force in both rock and jazz music of the period. They describe a continuum of dancefloor experience that runs from spiritual rapture to eroticised mating ritual, and place the collective experience of shared ecstacy through dance along that time. Finally, Tim and Jeremy recount the special place David Mancuso held for songs about love, and reflect on how Coronavirus has deprived us of that special type of dancefloor friendship.

Join us next week as Tim and Jeremy ask - why the '70s?

Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert are authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Become a supporter by visiting our Patreon at patreon.com/lovemessagepod

Tracklist:
Big Mamma Thornton - Hound Dog
Elvis - Hound Dog
Love - Alone Again Or
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme pt1, Acknowledgement
Weldon Irvine - Love Your Brother
MFSB - Love Is The Message
Donna Summer - I Feel Love

In this week’s episode, Tim and Jeremy chart the emergence of the dancefloor as a site of important cultural practice. From the frigid discotheques of the 1960s to the wild abandon of the all night dancing that would explode in popularity just a few years later, we hear how the role of the DJ changed in both technical innovation and relationship with the crowd, the types of people who were heading onto the dancefloors of the early 1970s, and the repressive society they were seeking to cast off. Tim and Jeremy also discuss David Mancuso’s early audiophile experiments, the parallel sonic explorations also taking place in the sound systems of Jamaica, and draw similarities and differences between dancing and another ’70s activity, jogging.

Join us next week as Tim and Jeremy ask - is love really all you need?

Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert are authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley

Become a supporter by visiting our Patreon at patreon.com/lovemessagepod

Tracklist:
Babatunde Olatunji - Jin-Go-Lo-Ba
Eddie Kendricks - Girl You Need a Change of Mind
The Revolutionaries - Kunta Kinte Dub
Chuck Mangione - Land of Make Belief
Taana Gardner - Work That Body

This week Tim and Jeremy recount their personal journeys across the dancefloors of the UK and the USA, talk about how they came to work together, and their first time meeting David Mancuso. They recall how - after playing in London for the first time - David would join Tim and Jeremy in eventually hosting four UK Loft parties a year. They discuss the difficulties of finding an appropriate venue and sound system, the effects of hearing David’s selections in the flesh, and why balloons are always better than lazers.

Jeremy's 3 hour postmodernism lecture, mentioned in the show, can be found here: https://culturepowerpolitics.org/2020/12/20/what-is-or-was-postmodernism-3-hour-version/

Join us next week when we'll be talking about DJing and the dance floor as forms of cultural practice.

Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert are authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley

Become a supporter by visiting our Patreon at patreon.com/lovemessagepod

Tracklist:
Patti LaBelle - Spirit’s In It
Nuyorican Soul ft Jocelyn Brown - It’s Alright, I Feel It
Larry Spinosa - So Good (Club Experience Mix)
Aora - Out Of The Rain (Dubaholics Vocal Mix)
Moloko - Forever More (Francois K Remix)
Stevie Wonder - As

This week Tim and Jeremy take us back to Valentine's Day 1970 for the very first of what would become a 50 year era of David Mancuso's Loft parties. They consider David's childhood experience of collectivised living while in care; the important antecedents found in the rent party scene and the '60s psychedelic culture of the melting pot city of New York; Tim recounts the origins of David's interest in audiophile sound; and the pair ask whether creating a space of freedom on the dance floor can be seen as a form of molecular politics.

Join us next week when Tim and Jeremy talk about meeting David, working with him to throw the first UK Loft parties, and forming their own party collective, Lucky Cloud Sound System.

Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert are authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley

Become a supporter by visiting our Patreon at patreon.com/lovemessagepod

Booker T and the MGs - Melting Pot
Alice Coltrane - Journey In Satchidananda
Dorothy Morrison - Rain
War - City, Country, City
The Equals - Black Skinned Blue Eyed Boys
Manu Dibango - Soul Makosa

In the second of two episodes on Counterculture, Tim and Jeremy leave the '60s and move through the rest of the 20th Century, identifying the countercultural characteristics of reggae, punk, hip hop, house, techno and drum & bass. They cover the anti-imperial and anti-colonial sentiment of Rastafarianism, the simultaneous emergence of DJing in both Kingston and New York, and discuss the ambivalent political status of Punk. We also dig into the historiography of House and Techno, and consider the idea and potentiality of 'the machine' for the creators of these musics, asking: can the embrace of pleasure alone ever change the world?

Join us next week as we go back to Valentine’s Day 1970 and the very first Loft party.

Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert are authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Become a supporter by visiting our Patreon at patreon.com/lovemessagepod

Jonny Osborne - Truth and Rights
Patty Smith - Free Money
Talking Heads - Remain In Light
The Clash - (White Man) in Hammersmith Palais
Marshall Jefferson - Move Your Body
Rhythim is Rhythim - It Is What It Is
A Tribe Called Quest - I Left My Wallet In El Segundo
Roni Size - Brown Paper Bag

In the first of two episodes on Counterculture, Tim and Jeremy focus on the late ’60s and early ’70s – a period of exceptional cultural and political activity in the UK and the USA. They discuss the emergent New Social Movements, how Rock was institutionalised as the sound of the counterculture at the expense of other genres, the limitations of Timothy Leary’s invitation to ‘tune in and drop out’, the under-appreciated importance of Miles Davis and Jazz to the moment, and whether love really is all you need.

Join us next episode for part 2, where we’ll look at countercultural tendencies in Reggae, Hip Hop, Punk, House and Techno.

Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert are authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Become a supporter by visiting our Patreon at patreon.com/lovemessagepod

Tracklist:
Jimi Hendrix - Purple Haze (live)
The Youngbloods - Get Together
The Grateful Dead - Birdsong (live)
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
Gil Scott-Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

Love is the Message: Music, Dance & Counterculture is a new show from Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert, both of them authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.

Tune in, Turn on and Get Down to in-depth discussion of the sonic, social and political legacies of radical movements past and present, from the 1960s to today. Starting with David Mancuso's NYC Loft parties, we’ll explore the countercultural sounds, scenes and ideas of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

In this introductory episode, Tim and Jeremy set out some of the major themes and moments the project will encounter, as well as introducing themselves as thinkers, dancers and friends.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Become a supporter by visiting our Patreon at www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

Tracklist:

The Beatles - All You Need Is Love
Exuma - Exuma, The Obeah Man
MFSB - Love is the Message
Blaze - Brand New Day
Can - Future Days

Welcome to Love is the Message: Dance, Music and Counterculture, a new podcast from academics, DJs and soundsystem owners Jeremy Gilbert and Tim Lawrence. Join us for a long and winding journey through David Mancuso's legendary Loft parties in NYC, via the countercultural musical expressions of acid rock, jazz, reggae, hip hop and jungle, and to the early '00s, when Tim and Jeremy started hosting their own parties. Expect political discussion, detailed analysis and deep tunes.

Be sure to subscribe to this channel to get the first episodes as soon as they're published.