{"id":16554,"date":"2012-11-12T10:53:15","date_gmt":"2012-11-12T15:53:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/?p=16554"},"modified":"2012-11-13T08:24:17","modified_gmt":"2012-11-13T13:24:17","slug":"from-the-dark-side-of-the-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/from-the-dark-side-of-the-moon\/","title":{"rendered":"From the Dark Side of the Moon"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A recent little review of a singles compilation, in The New Yorker<\/em>, got me going about another of the bands I champion.<\/p>\n

One of the inescapable qualities about A.R.Kane<\/strong> is that they were black, and they were not making the music you\u2019d expect from them, given their image.<\/p>\n

Lollita<\/a><\/p>\n

Up<\/a><\/p>\n

Anitina (The First Time I See She Dance)<\/a><\/p>\n

Back in A.R.Kane\u2019s heyday, when The Jesus and Mary Chain were squalling with feedback and Cocteau Twins were building cavernous hypnogogic spaces, the reticent, difficult, and yes, arcane members of this duo cited only Miles Davis\u2019 In a Silent Way<\/em> and Bitches Brew<\/em> as influences. It was a reference that, at the time, had me scratching my head and straining to make connections, but enjoying that pursuit nonetheless. Such assertions opened up a different area of exploration for \u201cblack rock\u201d in a portion of the spectrum whose only representation came from the band Living Colour.<\/p>\n

Spermwhale Trip Over<\/a><\/p>\n

Spook<\/a><\/p>\n

Down<\/a><\/p>\n

A.R.Kane\u2019s moment in the sun came as part of a collaboration with fellow 4ad recording artists Colourbox, a one-off called M.A.R.R.S. that spawned the club hit \u201cPump Up the Volume.\u201d That scratchedelic dance fest sampled Eric B & Rakim, among a thousand other things, and bore very little of the studio contributions of A.R.Kane. The bulk of their sound exists in its own world, an immensely vast and yet microcosmic interior. I hear the acoustics of Pink Floyd and dub at the same time. It\u2019s an opulent and menacing space filled with equal parts distortion and subtlety, familiar and yet very alien.<\/p>\n