Beat Rhythm Fashion -Turn of the Century

Beat Rhythm Fashion were one of the standout acts from Wellington's "Terrace Scene" in the early 1980s. For me, a young Aucklander at that time, this band, along with Nigel Russell's Dance Macabre showed we could do the post-punk thing as well as the UK (the standard-setter of course). The reason I am posting this video is firstly because I love "Turn of the Century" so much, and secondly, as a sort of "turn of the year" memorial to Dan Birch, the lead singer and creative force, who passed away a little over a year ago, and whose ashes are going to be scattered in Oriental Bay on January 5th. As someone noted on his Facebook memorial, Dan did get "to see the turn of the century" but very sad this enormously creative fellow could not have stayed with us a bit longer. Ironically, "Turn of the Century" is seen by many as their masterpiece, but they were a little unhappy with the end-result. It often works that way. Others have written about Beat Rhythm Fashion, much better  than I ever will, so I have included some links that you can use to learn about one of the great, mostly unknown, NZ bands of the 1980s. You can read more about the band, as well as buy their material again on the compilation album "Bring Real Freedom", through the Failsafe Records link below:

 http://www.failsaferecords.com/artists/current/beatrhythm.htm

Some further links to learn more about Beat Rhythm Fashion and Dan Birch here:

http://www.radiolive.co.nz/Beat-Rhythm-Fashions-Dan-Birch-In-Memoriam/tabid/506/articleID/23512/Default.aspx

http://www.upthepunks.co.nz/wiki/index.php?title=Beat_Rhythm_Fashion



BEAT RHYTHM FASHION -Turn of the Century(1981) New HQ Dub 4:3 ratio

Dear Time's Waste - Heavy/High

Claire Duncan's Dear Time's Waste has been the source of some of my favourite music in 2012, firstly on the discovery of some of the older material, then with the new album "Some Kind of Eden". Ms Duncan makes frequent use of 1980s post-punk references as well as some other less obvious ones, for example what I think might be The Blue Nile, in the intro for this song "Heavy/High". As a 1980's participant, it is almost as if that era's back-catalogue has been brought to life again in a range of refreshing mutant strains. "Some Kind of Eden" is a superb album and highly recommended. An album to listen to, it is not background music...unless you like feeling slightly off-centre. Veronica Crockford-Pound's video for "Fortune" from the album was a triumph, and I find it slightly frustrating that there hasn't been the viewership that this video deserves. Her video for "Heavy/High" is also very good, continuing with the use of slow-moving evolutions of a central motif, in this case the female body, upon which a range of images are projected that are indirectly linked to the lyrics of the song. The song itself, in the artist's words "is a highly melodramatic depiction of the distance between humans, the hollow structures we build in an effort to connect". You can buy "Some Kind of Eden" at the link below.

https://itunes.apple.com/nz/album/some-kind-of-eden/id554154192

There is a very good interview with Claire Duncan and Veronica Crockford-Pound at this link. http://www.yenmag.net/artery/dear-times-waste-video-premiere/




Dear Time's Waste || HEAVY/HIGH