Blonde Redhead: In an Expression of Changing Times

In ten short years, government agencies have gone from encouraging the diversity provided by inclusion of the arts in education to campaigns that encourage kids to pursue careers in science and technology. Meanwhile, clashes over immigration law continue, signalling that the country battles over what to do with its own great cultural diversity. Economic reformation requires budget cuts, and the arts and education are taking significant hits. But as the NEA budget only slowly grows back to the height of monetary appropriations since 1992  and public schools are forced to reduce funding for "non-essential" programs like the arts, will the U.S. be forced to now depend on the artistic influences of cultural imports for inspiration?

I thank my lucky stars that in 1993, when the NEA budget was at a healthy $174,459,382, and the patriot act remained a very scary but distant nightmare, four immigrants to the U.S. (visiting Japanese students Kazu Makino and Maki Takahashi and the Italian born/French-Canadian raised twin brothers Amadeo and Simone Pace) had made it into NYC and teamed up to form the group Blonde Redhead (named after a song by the No Wave group DNA).(0) The quartet met by chance in NYC where Makino and Takahashi (the latter of whom left soon after their second release) were studying art.(1) As a quartet, the group apparently both impressed and were taken in by Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth, who produced their first releases on the Smells Like Records label only two years after they formed . With Shelley's assistance, they immediately released two albums in 1995: the eponymous debut and La Mia Vita Violenta.

Musically Blonde Redhead 's debut(s) are equal parts delicate and strong, inviting and forceful, symphony and cacophony, accessible and aloof. The angular guitar and layers of minimalist noise textures of their experimental roots were couched in skillful jazz-influenced drumming as a scaffolding about which the voices of singers Makino and A. Pace were sometimes draped, sometimes welded. The moderately accessible lyrics and whimsical playfulness from the vocals softened the genre's harsh critique in ways that seemed to outclass their predecessors.

As an enthusiastic listener of their early work, it was the constant presence of this tension that made Blonde Redhead so formidable. The wisdom with which the sexuality and distance, violence and indifference, love and hate were present generated an electricity that brought clarity to their dichotomous name. As aspiring amateur musicians, we were struck by how Blonde Redhead were playing with the art of noise, and making it all work together so perfectly - exactly what many of us wished to do.

This success in maintaining uneasy beauty in discordant sounds garnered opportunities for collaboration. Blonde Redhead's Fake Can Be Just as Good (1997) featured Vern Rumsey of Unwound on bass (as well as the insertion of Unwound's reverse bell sound from  . . . My French - on 1995's the Future of What ). In an Expression of the Inexpressible (1998) featured Guy Picciotto of the D.C. based Fugazi on vocals, and he also shared production credits on this as well as following records Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons (2000) and Misery is a Butterfly (2004).

The four year hiatus between Melody and Misery albums was the result of considerable tragedy. According to Simone Pace, "Guy couldn't come because his mother passed away. Kazu got really hurt. That gave us more time even though the things that were happening were sad."(2)  However, the band is undeniably relentless in their creative process, and not even Makino's horse riding accident could keep the band from returning to music. Take for example this video of the band playing Bipolar allegedly with Ms. Makino's jaw still recovering after her terrible accident.

The crucial four years between albums also marked the transition from Touch and Go records to the impressively diverse and intercontinental 4AD label. These changes seemingly produced a loss of the band's edgy beginnings, continually moving toward a broader, international pop audience and increased commercial success. Blonde Redhead has lent their music to a handful of commercials and television shows since 2007. But Blonde Redhead claims full creative responsibility for their developing sound, and has no apparent qualms about their continued commercial success. In other words, if one objects to Blonde Redhead's evolving sound, it can't be blamed on selling out - one simply does not appreciate their personal creative vision. Makino commented that the band's changes were likely responsible for Touch and Go's loss of interest and 4AD's attraction spurred on by their expanding interests."The change happens so gradually for me, I can’t really put my finger on it and explain to you 'This is what we went through,' because it happened way too gradually for me to have a clear awareness of the changes. I think maybe if I spent few more years and looked back I could say something about it, but then I would probably have forgotten how I wrote [the songs]."(3)
So perhaps the most accurate term for BR's trajectory is development rather than change. All of the former elements are there, just honed and sculpted and crafted into more and more polished finished products as the band members mature. Twenty years ago, if Fugazi had done a Pontiac commercial, their sizable fanbase would have been reduced to convulsive tears and would have quickly abandoned the group altogether. This was because indie street cred absolutely depended on a DIY ethic that refused big-budget recording contracts in favor of absolute creative freedom. But now it is not at all uncommon to find nearly obscure bands contributing background tracks in major ads. (Check out this Audi commercial featuring the beautiful song Modern Drift by the band Efterklang.)  Clearly, times, they are achangin'.

Still, as a fan, this makes me uneasy. When tracks from their Touch and Go releases surface in my rotation, I am often awestruck at the raw aesthetic that holds so many incongruent elements in balance. If the story arc of their discography were set on a see-saw, I'd have Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons placed right in the center. This was the last album to contain a No Wave -inspired track (Mother). But the album also pushed into far broader territory than previous albums. It had the stones to include the ultra-poppy This is Not and the incredible piano ballad For the Damaged with its epic counterpart and finale For the Damaged Coda. But with all this taken together, my favorite albums remain Fake Can Be Just as Good and In an Expression of the Inexpressible - both had fantastic production value, maintained all of the playfulness of experimentation that made their music exciting, and made indie rock incredibly sexy, an element I believe came out of the relationship between Kazu and Amadeo - never discussed publicly (*ahem* see image below). 

Later Blonde Redhead releases on 4AD are so much more focused and particular in sculpting an idea. Now, tracks are intensely sexy and romantic, but have all but done away with playfully insecure rough edges. I cannot help but recognize this as the increasing confidence of the band itself, and in this confidence, an exciting element has gone missing. It reminds me of when I saw them on the Penny Sparkle tour in 2010, and the throwback songs I really wanted to see were dispensed with because of technical issues with the guitars. I walked away feeling that a piece of our history together went missing - discarded due to complications.

Blonde Redhead once represented power in being lost in one's own existence - proven in feelings provided by their chaotic and angular guitar noises and squealing lyrics. And a desire to participate in this was why some of us picked up guitars and pounded on drums in the first place. Yet, the band that made those records up through Melody isn't in the same jukebox as the band that made the following three albums. They are off with superstar acts like Interpol somewhere. It's pointless to say which incarnation is better, they are both fantastic at what they do, and BR deserves all of the success it receives. But am I alone in sensing that "what they are" has been shaped far more by their well-deserved fame than one might have hoped? I can't help it, I miss the Blonde Redhead that seemed not to even know what it was they were supposed to be true to - a collection of experimental artists still playing with their instruments and still searching for even a vague notion of reality.