Love is the Message: Dance, Music and Counterculture (Love is the Message podcast)
Explore every episode of Love is the Message: Dance, Music and Counterculture
| Pub. Date | Title | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 23 Sep 2021 | LITM Extra - Live Conversations Recording 10th Sept. [excerpt] | 00:09:55 | |
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. | |||
| 20 May 2021 | Love, Love, Love | 01:01:40 | |
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. 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 | |||
| 12 Aug 2021 | Does It Make You Dance? Proto-Disco in the Early '70s | 01:10:24 | |
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? | |||
| 28 Jul 2022 | Nu Yorica! Salsa and NYC pt.1 | 00:53:00 | |
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... Cortijo Y Ismael Rivera - Bomba Carambomba | |||
| 20 Oct 2022 | "We The Undersigned...": The New York City Record Pool pt.1 | 00:56:12 | |
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. Produced and edited by Matt Huxley. Tracklist: Books: | |||
| 30 Jun 2022 | Samba and the New Beat: Brazil pt.1 | 01:02:48 | |
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: Books: | |||
| 11 Apr 2024 | Punk pt.2 | 00:57:48 | |
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.
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| 31 Aug 2021 | LITM Extra - What We're Listening To, August '21 | 00:15:09 | |
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 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 | |||
| 16 Jun 2022 | LITM Extra - Decolonising Disco—Counterculture, Postindustrial Creativity, the 1970s Dance Floor and Disco pt.2 [excerpt] | 00:11:18 | |
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 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: | |||
| 06 Oct 2022 | Happiness is Just Around the Bend: Living in NYC 1975 | 01:23:12 | |
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. Become a patron from £3pcm by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod And check out our new website: https://www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/ Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes - Bad Luck ft. Teddy Pendergrass Books: | |||
| 29 Jun 2023 | LITM Extra - 'Rather be a Cyborg than a Goddess': Feminist Perspectives on Music pt.1 [excerpt] | 00:08:01 | |
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: Tracklist: | |||
| 22 Sep 2022 | So Good They Named it Twice: Back to New York City | 01:10:52 | |
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. Tracklist: Patti Smith - Free Money Books: | |||
| 14 Apr 2022 | [unlocked] LITM Extra - Interview with Daphne A. Brooks pt.2 | 01:00:00 | |
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. 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 | |||
| 02 Sep 2021 | 'Liberation Conversation' - Feminist Soul | 01:24:04 | |
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. Aretha Franklin - (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman | |||
| 27 Apr 2023 | The State of 70s Psychedelia with Jesse Jarnow | 01:08:45 | |
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 | |||
| 15 Jul 2021 | Motown to Salsoul pt.1: Music in the Age of Fordism | 01:09:52 | |
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. Produced and edited by Matt Huxley. Ike Turner & His Kings of Rhythm - Rocket 88 | |||
| 09 May 2024 | Punk pt.3 | 01:18:26 | |
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… Tracklist: Patti Smith - Horses Blondie - X Offender Books: | |||
| 15 Dec 2022 | Over The Rainbow: Queering The New York Dance Floor pt.1 | 01:14:19 | |
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. | |||
| 25 May 2023 | The New Left pt.2 | 01:59:28 | |
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 | |||
| 13 May 2021 | The Dancefloor | 01:01:24 | |
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. | |||
| 01 Sep 2022 | LITM Extra - Phantom Power Podcast Episode Swap: 'Screwed and Chopped' | 00:34:20 | |
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. | |||
| 16 Jan 2025 | Eurodisco pt.1 | 01:04:23 | |
In the first episode of 2025 Jeremy and Tim attempted to understand a somewhat maligned genre: Eurodisco. What is it and where did it come from? We hear about the cross-continental currents that gave rise to the form, unpack its aesthetics and spend time with some of its key proponents like the French composer and drummer Cerrone. Tim and Jeremy also take time to unpack the Switched On Classics, play us an infamous Beethoven reinvention, ask what the Enlightenment has to answer for, and compare Eurodisco and another genre that riles people up, prog rock. Tracklist: The Walter Murphy Band - A Fifth of Beethoven Kongas - Jungle Cerrone - Love in C Minor Love and Kisses - I’ve Found Love (Now That I’ve Found You) | |||
| 23 Jun 2022 | LITM Extra - 'What We're Listening To' June '22 [extract] | 00:07:07 | |
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. 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. | |||
| 21 Dec 2023 | LITM Extra - WWLT, Dec '23 [excerpt] | 00:07:20 | |
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. Produced by Matt Huxley. Tracklist: Manish Pingle - Raga Puriya Kalyan | |||
| 11 Nov 2021 | LITM Extra - Afrofuturism pt.1 [excerpt] | 00:05:37 | |
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. 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: Books: | |||
| 23 May 2024 | LITM Extra - Heavy Metal Falling from the Sky pt.1 [excerpt] | 01:10:46 | |
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 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 | |||
| 25 Nov 2021 | LITM Extra - Afrofuturism pt.2 [excerpt] | 00:13:23 | |
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. Tracklist: Books: | |||
| 14 Mar 2023 | The Gallery | 01:07:28 | |
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 Books: | |||
| 29 Sep 2022 | LITM Extra - What We're Listening To, September '22 [excerpt] | 00:09:45 | |
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? Tracklist: Arushi Jain - The Sun Swirls Within You | |||
| 13 Oct 2022 | LITM Extra - David Mancuso and Louis Vuitton: Can They "Fall in Love"? [extract] | 00:15:24 | |
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: | |||
| 14 Dec 2023 | LITM Extra - The Great Kosmische Musik: Krautrock [excerpt] | 00:10:00 | |
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 | |||
| 07 Jul 2022 | Tropicália: Brazil pt.2 | 01:16:07 | |
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. Produced and edited by Matt Huxley. Tracklist: Books: | |||
| 09 Sep 2021 | What's In A Name? Disco Gets Genrified | 01:28:24 | |
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. | |||
| 30 Sep 2021 | [UNLOCKED] LITM Extra - What We're Listening To, Aug '21 | 01:22:35 | |
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. | |||
| 13 Feb 2025 | Eurodisco pt.2 | 01:07:36 | |
Tim and Jeremy are back on European soil for our second episode on Eurodisco. Examining their record boxes with a post-colonial lens they discuss the aesthetics and politics of race within the genre. We also here about homoeroticism, history-themed tracks, ‘the honky box’, and the life and times of two of the key players in the scene: Jacques Morali and Richie Rome. Next time – Moroder! Tracklist: | |||
| 17 Mar 2022 | Worlds of Echo: Dub Pt.2 | 01:21:56 | |
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 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. Become a patron from just £3 per month by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod Books: | |||
| 06 Jun 2024 | 'Tossing the Salad': Studio 54 pt.1 | 01:04:16 | |
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: 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 | |||
| 20 Jul 2023 | 'Watch Me Now, Feel The Groove' - Breaking and Bambaataa in the Bronx | 01:03:31 | |
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 And check out our new website: https://www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/ 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 | |||
| 24 Feb 2022 | LITM Extra - 'Love Saves the Day' Reading Series: Chapter 1 part 3 [excerpt] | 00:03:48 | |
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! | |||
| 20 Jan 2022 | Roots and Routes: Flows of Influence in '70s Africa | 01:24:45 | |
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. Tracklist: Books: | |||
| 12 Feb 2024 | [UNLOCKED] The Great Kosmische Musik: Krautrock | 01:46:14 | |
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: Tracklist: | |||
| 19 May 2022 | Music in the Cuban Revolution | 01:21:04 | |
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 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. Books: | |||
| 16 Feb 2023 | LITM Extra - What We're Listening To, Feb '23 [excerpt] | 00:08:35 | |
This is an excerpt from a patrons-only episode. To become a patron, visit Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod 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. Tracklist: | |||
| 10 Feb 2022 | LITM Extra - Live Conversations January '22 [excerpt] | 00:15:10 | |
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. | |||
| 12 Sep 2024 | Boombox on the Klipshorns: Downtown in '77 | 01:10:50 | |
We’re back from our summer break and getting straight back to business to examine what was going on in the Downtown party scene during the fabled year of 1977. We return to a favourite of the show - Nicky Siano - to hear how the Gallery wound down, check in on what’s happening back at the Loft, and unearth the very first iteration of the Paradise Garage. Also featured in this episode: a bit more Studio 54 wash-up, the decline of the New York Record Pool, Deleuzian sobriety and more on Jem’s breakdancing. Produced and edited by Matt Huxley. Books: Tracklist: | |||
| 15 Feb 2024 | 'Divine Decadence Darling!': The 70s with Simon Reynolds | 00:55:44 | |
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: Led Zeppelin - Whole Lotta Love | |||
| 27 May 2021 | Why the ’70s? | 01:05:16 | |
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. | |||
| 08 Dec 2022 | LITM Extra - Walter Gibbons pt.1 [excerpt] | 00:08:54 | |
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. Tracklist: Compilations: Books: | |||
| 14 Oct 2021 | LITM Extra - 'Love Saves the Day' Reading Series - Chapter 1, part 2. [excerpt] | 00:04:55 | |
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. 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! | |||
| 18 Jan 2024 | 'Fear City': Kim Phillips-Fein on the NYC Fiscal Crisis | 01:09:33 | |
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 | |||
| 23 Feb 2023 | 10th Floor, 12 West, The Flamingo: Queering the New York Dance Floor pt.4 | 01:17:20 | |
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. Tracklist: Books and Films: | |||
| 25 Apr 2024 | LITM Extra - No UNESCO: Detroit Techno [excerpt] | 00:07:54 | |
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: | |||
| 30 Mar 2023 | LITM Extra - The 1975 Schizo-Culture Conference, pt.1 [excerpt] | 00:10:32 | |
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.
Mahjun - Nous Ouvrirons Les Casernes
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| 21 Oct 2021 | American Afro-Psychedelia | 01:19:48 | |
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. 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. Sun Ra - Space is the Place | |||
| 27 Mar 2025 | LITM Extra - Dylanology pt.2 [excerpt] | 00:06:23 | |
This is an excerpt from a patrons-only episode. To hear the full thing and dozens more episodes on topics ranging from Walter Gibbons to Glam Rock, visit patreon.com/LoveMessagePod. In this patrons episode we conclude our two-parter on Bob Dylan, dragging him from where we left off last time in 1966 all the way up to the freewheeling year of 1977. Through a glut of albums we hear about John Hammond, spirituality, gnosis, religious iconography, St Augustine, Joe Hill and The Band. Dylan meets the Panthers, who don’t think much of him, he gets married and divorced, sets out on the road with the Rolling Thunder Review, and lights up the silver screen. Tim and Jeremy consider the Grain of his voice, the reception history of his mid-70s output, and leave him smiling as the happy hippy uncle we wish he’d became. Tracklist: | |||
| 02 Jun 2022 | LITM Extra - Decolonising Disco—Counterculture, Postindustrial Creativity, the 1970s Dance Floor and Disco pt.1 [excerpt] | 00:08:55 | |
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. 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. Tune in, turn on, get down! Tracklist: Cristina - Disco Clone Tim Lawrence - Love Saves The Day: A History of American Dance Culture, 1970-1979 | |||
| 03 Mar 2023 | LITM Extra - Interview with Nicky Siano [excerpt] | 00:05:17 | |
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 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 | |||
| 17 Jun 2021 | New York in the 1960s | 01:27:20 | |
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. | |||
| 03 Mar 2022 | The Version: Dub pt.1 | 01:07:49 | |
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. Tracklist: Les Paul & Mary Ford - How High The Moon Books: | |||
| 02 Mar 2021 | Love is the Message: Trailer | 00:04:00 | |
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. | |||
| 21 Sep 2021 | LITM Extra - 'Love Saves the Day' Reading Series: Chapter 1, part 1. [excerpt] | 00:04:48 | |
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 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! | |||
| 07 Apr 2022 | LITM Extra - Live Conversations March '22 [excerpt] | 00:04:10 | |
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. 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. | |||
| 16 Mar 2023 | LITM Extra - Night and Day: Early Evening Partying [excerpt] | 00:06:10 | |
This is an excerpt from a patrons-only episode. To become a patron, head to Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod. 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: | |||
| 01 Jul 2021 | Early DJ Culture pt.1 | 01:06:44 | |
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. | |||
| 26 Aug 2021 | Huh! Here Comes The Funk | 01:37:56 | |
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. | |||
| 12 Jan 2023 | LITM Extra - Walter Gibbons pt.2 [excerpt] | 00:12:57 | |
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. 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: Tracklist: Compilations: Books: | |||
| 05 Dec 2024 | Black Disco | 01:14:39 | |
In this episode of Love is the Message Jeremy and Tim have packed a bag chock full of stone cold 1977 dance floor classics that share a Black Disco aesthetic. We hear a number of cuts from Tom Moulton and Walter Gibbons that can be pinpointed as some of the most important contributions to early remix culture (whilst still guaranteed to go off at a party). François K makes a fleeting appearance, alongside Boney M, Grace Jones, Miami, the SalSoul Orchestra and Henri Bergson. We close out the show with an all-timer in Lamont Dozier’s ‘Going Back to my Roots’. Enjoy this week listeners, as next time we’re taking on Euro Disco… Due to licensing issues, we can only play short clips of the music discussed. If you’d like to listen along to the full tracks, we have an ever-expanding Spotify playlist hosting (most) of the tracks played in the show. You can find Series 6 here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3ZpKyqhvhOXfTuPMHCBkFs Produced by Matt Huxley. Tracklist: CJ & Co - Devil’s Gun (Tom Moulton Mix) | |||
| 22 Jul 2021 | Motown to Salsoul pt.2: Music at the Birth of Post-Fordism | 01:16:07 | |
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. Tracklist: | |||
| 15 Apr 2021 | Counterculture pt.1 | 00:54:12 | |
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. | |||
| 14 Apr 2022 | [unlocked] LITM Extra - Interview with Daphne A. Brooks pt.1 | 01:22:26 | |
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) Books: | |||
| 27 Oct 2022 | LITM Extra - Music and Marxism pt.1 [excerpt] | 00:08:15 | |
This is an excerpt from a patrons-only episode. To become a patron from just £3 a month, got to Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod JS Bach - Harpsichord Concerto No.1 in D Minor BWV 1052 Books and Articles: | |||
| 31 Mar 2022 | Soul Rebel: Bob Marley & The Wailers pt.1 | 01:14:44 | |
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. Books: | |||
| 10 Apr 2025 | You Should Be Dancing: Saturday Night Fever pt.1 | 01:33:46 | |
The day has finally come: after 79 episodes of Love is the Message, it’s time to talk Travolta. Saturday Night Fever was always coming down the pipe for us, and now we’re giving it the LITM treatment. In this episode, Tim and Jeremy establish some of the pre-history to the seminal 1977 film. With musical examples drawn from Vince Aletti’s Disco Files playlists, we hear about the rise of the suburbs in the USA, the dynamics between the different boroughs of mid-70s NYC, and consider the suburban disco scene. We ask again what makes disco disco, revisit the Hustle, tune up the Salsoul Orchestra and take a trip to a disco conference. Of course, it wouldn’t be Saturday Night Fever without the Bee Gees: often-derided and much-mocked but one of the highest selling bands of all time, it was their music which provided the soundtrack to the film. Are they a guilty pleasure? Listen along to find out. Produced by Matt Huxley. We are now on Youtube! Find series 6 here: https://www.youtube.com/@LITMPodcast Remember, we have a rolling playlist of all the tracks discussed over on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3ZpKyqhvhOXfTuPMHCBkFs Tracklist:Carl Douglas - Blue Eyed Soul Gloria Scott - Just as Long as We’re Together Babe Ruth - Elusive Tina Charles - Disco Fever Joe Bataan - The Bottle Van McCoy - The Hustle Salsoul Orchestra - The Salsoul Hustle Bee Gees - Spicks and Specks Bee Gees - Massachusetts Bee Gees - Jive Talkin’ Bee Gees - You Should be Dancing | |||
| 14 Mar 2024 | New York City 1977: Welcome to Series 6. Punk pt.1 | 00:56:32 | |
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: | |||
| 03 Feb 2022 | Rasta, Rocksteady and Race: Jamaica in the Early '60s | 01:11:44 | |
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. Produced and edited by Matt Huxley. Tracklist: Books and Films: | |||
| 09 Dec 2021 | LITM Extra - Afrofuturism pt.3 [excerpt] | 00:10:52 | |
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. 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. Tracklist: | |||
| 07 Apr 2021 | Welcome | 00:59:29 | |
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. | |||
| 17 Feb 2022 | Beat Down Babylon: Reggae Arrives | 01:06:23 | |
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... Become a patron from just £3 per month by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod Alton Ellis and the Flames - Girl I Have Got A Date | |||
| 29 Feb 2024 | LITM Extra - Screwed-Up Eyes and Screwed-Down Hairdo: Glam pt.2 [excerpt] | 00:05:12 | |
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 | |||
| 13 Jan 2022 | LITM Extra - Interview with Daphne A. Brooks pt.1 [excerpt] | 00:07:44 | |
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 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: Books: | |||
| 18 May 2023 | LITM Extra - What We're Listening To, May '23 [excerpt] | 00:08:09 | |
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 | |||
| 28 Apr 2022 | LITM Extra - Heavy Dub Theory pt.2 [excerpt] | 00:07:04 | |
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. 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. Books: | |||
| 22 Apr 2021 | Counterculture pt.2 | 00:49:16 | |
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? | |||
| 29 Apr 2021 | The First Loft | 01:03:50 | |
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. Booker T and the MGs - Melting Pot | |||
| 21 Jul 2022 | Invention, Radicalism and the Popular Imagination '68 -'75: Brazil pt.3 | 01:24:56 | |
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! Pedros Santos - Água Viva | |||
| 07 Mar 2024 | LITM Extra - Killer Queens: Glam pt.3 [excerpt] | 00:03:53 | |
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 | |||
| 24 Jun 2021 | Turn Off Your Mind, Relax and Float Downstream... | 01:15:19 | |
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. | |||
| 11 May 2023 | The New Left pt.1 | 01:11:20 | |
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 | |||
| 04 May 2023 | LITM Extra - The Schizo-Culture Conference pt.3 [excerpt] | 00:07:23 | |
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 | |||
| 26 Oct 2023 | LITM Extra - WWLT, War and Peace Special [excerpt] | 00:07:49 | |
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 | |||
| 10 Oct 2024 | The Warehouse pt.1 | 01:05:48 | |
This is the first of two episodes on another seminal club in the history of dance culture: The Warehouse. Jeremy and Tim begin by spending some time discussing the city of Chicago, a place that despite its massive musical output hasn’t really featured in out story so far. A crucible of industrial modernity, they consider its unique historical position, the move from Delta to Chicago Blues, and how it linked to NYC in the mid-70s. We hear about the several early locations of the club that would become The Warehouse, revisit Frankie Knuckles and Larry Levan, and give a shout out to another satellite of the US disco scene, Le Jock. Plus: singing bumblebees, Chaka Khan, and David Mancuso’s enduring love of Tescos. Produced by Matt Huxley. Tracklist: | |||
| 09 Nov 2023 | Black Popular Music and Black Public Culture with Mark Anthony Neal | 01:03:04 | |
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 | |||
| 04 Jul 2024 | Ten Thousand Discotheques: Studio 54 pt.2 | 01:06:08 | |
In this episode Jeremy and Tim walk us past the velvet rope and into opening night at Studio 54. They introduce us to Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager, the two businessmen who owned the club, as well as to the often overlooked Carmen D’Alessio, who’s taste and art world connections were crucial to the look and feel of the party. Through these characters and more we get to learn about the founding of Studio 54. We also hear discussions on Muzak, eclecticism, returning champion Nicky Siano, and the aesthetics of ‘smoothness’. Tim and Jeremy interrogate the surprising links between Downtown and Midtown, explore how journalists tried to understand the Studio 54 phenomenon, and contemplate whether they even like disco anymore. Produced and edited by Matt Huxley. Tracklist: The Ritchie Family - Brazil Anthony Whyte - Block Party (A Walter Gibbons Mix) Chic - Dance Dance Dance Santa Esmeralda - Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood | |||
| 09 Jun 2022 | Small Islands of the Caribbean - Trinidad, Guadalupe and Haiti | 01:07:19 | |
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: 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: | |||
| 24 Mar 2022 | LITM Extra - Heavy Dub Theory pt.1 [excerpt] | 00:13:55 | |
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. A Tribe Called Quest - Vibes and Stuff | |||
| 06 May 2021 | Meeting David | 01:06:12 | |
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/ | |||
| 12 Dec 2023 | 'Getting Togetherness': Emily J. Lordi on Soul | 01:05:08 | |
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 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/ | |||
| 22 Jun 2023 | Dancing with Finesse: History of Social Dance pt.1 | 01:06:56 | |
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) | |||
| 01 Feb 2024 | LITM Extra - School's Out! Glam Rock pt.1 | 00:08:47 | |
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 | |||
| 01 Dec 2022 | The 12" Single (Side B) | 01:04:08 | |
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. Become a patron from £3pcm at Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod Tracklist: | |||