Okay Spy Vibers, let's get this week moving. The Art of Noise was an experimental pop project that fused early avant-garde ideas with 1983-era sampling technology. Gary Langan, J.J. Jeczalik, Anne Dudley, Trevor Horn, and Paul Morley were the original sound alchemists, who crafted a proto-Gorillaz anonymous band packaged in graphics. Spy Vibers may recall their innovative adaptation of Peter Gunn. I will never forget picking up their first album. Not only was it my introduction to "found sound" in pop music (The Beatles' use of found sounds had been too subtle for me to notice as a kid), but also my introduction to the kind of primal electronic beat that would be a genesis for techno music. One of their early songs used the sound of a car engine starting as the foundation beat, an idea that blew me away at the time. The group has produced projects with various members over the years, including an interesting sound-bio of composer Claude Debussy in 1999 and a reunion on November 30th, 2013 with Dudley and Morely and the BBC Concert Orchestra. Official website here. Below is the Art of Noise versions of James Bond (1989) and Peter Gunn (1986). And just for fun, I will include their Max Headroom video, Paranoimia (1986). Enjoy!
Recent Spy Vibe posts: The Goldfinger Variations, Jane & Serge, Dylan at Newport, Mod Tales Interview, Pete Seeger nominated for Grammy, Kraftwerk returns to US, Beatles BBC on Fresh Air, Steranko S.H.I.E.L.D. Artist Editions, David Tennant's Ian Fleming audio books, Atomic Art, Modern Architecture LP, Julius Shulman, The Prisoner and Captain Scarlet, HMV returns to Oxford st w Beatles promo, Diego Fortunato and Verner Panton, Saturday Morning Cartoons, Assassination Bureau on DVD, new Young Bond series, new Beatles BBC album, new Hercule Poirot novel, Early Beatles image archive, Julie Newmar, Erno Goldfinger, Hitchcock tribute.
Recent Ian Fleming posts on Spy Vibe: Erno Goldfinger, Ian Fleming Music Series links: Noel Coward, Whispering Jack Smith, Hawaiian Guitar, Joe Fingers Carr, new Ian Fleming Catalog, Jon Gilbert interview, Double 007 Designs, Bond audio book reissues, discovery of one of Ian Fleming's WWII Commandos, James Bond book covers, Ian Fleming's Playboy interview for Kindle, Spy Vibe's discovery of a rare Ian Fleming serialization, rare View to a Kill, Fleming's Royal gold typewriter, Ian Fleming's memorial address, Spy Vibe's Ian Fleming image archive.
Yoko Ono's work is often whimsical and philosophical, offering ideas of global peace to inspire us and, sometimes, emotional rawness to invite the brave to face tough realities head on. Her work can also offer simple gestures of innocence and magic, as in the new book, An Invisible Flower, coming out this month from Chronicle Books. I had the pleasure to make a re-mix for Yoko Ono a couple of years back, a project that developed into an experimental film, The Sun is Down. Spy Vibe celebrates pioneer artists who worked in unusual areas in the 1960s and who continue to challenge us to 'think different'. I hope readers will check out her current work. See below for two additional books about Yoko scheduled for publication this year.
From Amazon: "Yoko Ono created An Invisible Flower when she was just nineteen years old, at the very start of her artistic career. Recently rediscovered in her archive by her son, Sean Lennon, who also provides a foreword, this jewel of a book tells the heartwarming story of the invisible beauty we all know is there—and of the one man, "Smelty John", who catches sight of it. Written years before Ono met John Lennon, An Invisible Flower offers a glimpse into the early process of a brilliant conceptual artist and, it will transpire, presages the love of her life. Simple pastel drawings complement the book's affirming message, and a new afterword by Ono makes this small treasure even more special."
When Yoko announced the book on her website, she added this comment: It just made me choke up re-reading “An Invisible Flower.” I thought of the drawing of two people on horseback John made in 1952 (the same year I made “An Invisible Flower”). The two people on horseback look very, very much like John and Yoko. And the date, 18th February, was my 19th birthday. It seems like we both knew in 1952 that we would fall in love with each other in 15 years time… yoko"
In addition, there are two books about Yoko coming out in the next year. Reconsidering Yoko Ono by Lisa Carver is due in October from Backbeat Books. From Amazon: "John Lennon once described her as "the world's most famous unknown artist: everybody knows her name, but nobody knows what she does." Many people are aware of her art, and her music has always split crowds, from her caterwauling earliest work to her later dance numbers, but how many people have looked at Yoko Ono's decades-spanning career and varied work in total and asked the simple question, "Is it any good?" From her earliest work with the Fluxus group and especially her relationship with John Cage, through her enigmatic pop happenings (where she met John Lennon), her experimental films, cryptic books, conceptual art, and her long recording career that has vacillated between avant-garde noise and proto-new wave, earning the admiration of other artists while generally confusing the public at large who often sees her only in the role of the widow Lennon, Reaching Out with No Hands is the first serious, critical, wide-ranging look at Yoko Ono the artist and musician. A must-read for art and music fans interested in going beyond the stereotyped observations of Yoko as a Lennon hanger-on or inconsequential avant noisemaker."
And Yoko Ono: Collector of Skies by Nell Beram and Carolyn Boriss-Krimsky is due in January 2013 from Amulet Books. From Amazon: "This lyrical biography explores the life and art of Yoko Ono, from her childhood haiku to her avant-garde visual art and experimental music. An outcast throughout most of her life, and misunderstood by every group she was supposed to belong to, Yoko always followed her own unique vision to create art that was ahead of its time and would later be celebrated. Her focus remained on being an artist, even when the rest of world saw her only as the wife of John Lennon. Yoko Ono’s moving story will inspire any young adult who has ever felt like an outsider, or who is developing or questioning ideas about being an artist, to follow their dreams and find beauty in all that surrounds them.
In related news, The Beatles Yellow Submarine Blu-ray is available for order in Spy Vibe's secure Amazon Associates Store. Also, consider supporting a new documentary film about the Fluxus art movement (includes interviews with Yoko!). Info at our post here.
In conjunction with the launch of an official Linda McCartney website and retrospective book by Taschen, photographs by McCartney are now on exhibit at Bonni Benrubi Gallery in New York through July 29th. Limited-edition prints are also for sale. Linda McCartney began her photography career in 1966 shooting portraits of rock musicians. By 1968, her portrait of Eric Clapton was on the cover of Rolling Stone and she made history as the first woman photographer to achieve this milestone. Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono visited the exhibit together on June 23, 2011 (photo below from Imagine Peace). More info at the Yoko Ono website here, Bonni Benrubi gallery here, and Paul McCartney website here.
McCartney and Ono met earlier on June 8th with the Beatles community to celebrate the 5th anniversary of Cirque du Soliel's LOVE show in Las Vegas. The anniversary prompted new remix ideas for Spy Vibe's Jason Whiton, who created a short sound collage about friends and lovers, reunions and reconciliation. Hear "Love Peace" on SoundCloud here. Whiton was a winner in The Sun is Down remix competition held by Ono and the Plastic Ono Band last year. His award-winning experimental film for the piece is screening at film festivals, museums, and galleries. Related recent Spy Vibe posts: Paul McCartney's new tape-loop project and 60s experimental here, BBC Radiophonic Workshop here.
The Beatles community gathered recently for the anniversary of Cirque du Soleil's LOVE show in Las Vegas. The event prompted a new remix for Yoko Ono that is a meditation on friends and lovers everywhere, and is presented today in honor of Paul McCartney's birthday. On the heels of his winning remix and experimental film for Yoko Ono, Spy Vibe creator Jason Whiton composed a new sound collage called "Love Piece" that is a mantra in honor of reunions and reconciliation. Sound file via Jason Whiton on SoundCloud. Image of 2007 LOVE meeting between McCartney and Ono from Life Magazine. See recent Spy Vibe posts about experimental sounds and musique concrete in the 1960s and beyond, including news of Paul McCartney's plans to make a new experimental project with his original Tomorrow Never Knows machines here and a documentary about the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and Doctor Who here. 
“When I made my first tape loops, man was it a buzz!” McCartney said. “Bringing tape loops into the studio as I did, finding out that John has got a really funky tune called ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ that needed a solo…. Well, what was better than the crazy stuff I was doing? (Wired)." Paul McCartney has dusted off his original tape machines and is planning a new experimental project!
At the heart of "1960s Style in Action" remains the magic cocktail that blended space-age experimentation and artistic flair. It's what I love about the combination of Ken Adam set designs with the larger-than-life adventures of 007. It was an era of invention, like Rabanne molding industrial and sculptural materials into new fashion. For songwriter Paul McCartney, who was a fan of musique concrete, Stockhausen and avant-garde expression, the cultural soil was ripe for the planting of a new hybrid of pop music- one might say that hybrid has blossomed as the mainstay of contemporary, loop-based production.
During the mid-1960s, Paul McCartney became fascinated with tape loops and experimental film. As he described in a recent interview for Wired, Lennon's song Tomorrow Never Knows provided a perfect opportunity to bring his experimental work into a Beatles production. Lennon himself would catch the loop-buzz and added his Revolution 9 to the 'White Album' and in three experimental records with Yoko Ono. McCartney revisited the approach again electronically in McCartney II (remastered release out this Tuesday), in his three Firemen projects with Youth, and in his collaborations with Sgt. Pepper cover artist Peter Blake on Liverpool Sound Collage (a fave of mine!).
Maybe it is because I have been working more on experimental projects myself lately and my ears are fascinated to hear and to create in that sandbox of 'chance' and playfulness, but I am excited to learn that McCartney has literally dusted off his original tape machines from the Tomorrow Never Knows sessions and is planning a tape loop project. Read the complete article by Scott Thill at Wired here. You can learn more about McCartney's travels off the pop-path in the books, Many Years From Now and The Unknown Paul McCartney: McCartney and the Avant-Garde. Listen to Tomorrow Never Knows on SoundCloud here. Check out Spy Vibe Jason Whiton's music and remix for Yoko Ono on SoundCloud here. Below is one of my fave documentary clips about how to make analogue tape loops.
Check out 60s experimental: BBC Doctor Who here. Learn about avant-garde composers the Avant-Garde Project here. Readers might also like to check out the series Obscure Tape Music of Japan, which includes Yoko Ono's first husband, composer Toshi Ichiyanagi. Nice overview of the series here, and Julian Copes introduction to Ichiyanagi here. Being a fan of Noh music, I particularly like Vol #1 in the series, which featured Joji Yuasa's Aoi no Ue ("blue above"), and Ichiyanagi's Opera From the Works of Tadanori Yokoo.
The experimental film for Jason Whiton's winning-remix for Yoko Ono celebrates the meaning of her name, ocean child, with images of sea creatures. Next screening is at the New Media Film Festival in Hollywood on May 21st. More info at the film's website here. Additional Yoko Ono and Beatles-related news on our Beatles page here.
What lies behind the fab world of go go boots and fast cars for Spy Vibe's Agent J? When I'm not searching the globe for 1960s fashion, music, and spies, I'm in my secret lair working on new movie, music, and book projects. As a special treat for the weekend, I thought I'd invite Spy Vibers into the inner sanctum to check out some of the latest irons in the fire. My film for Yoko Ono, which features a soundtrack by me, Yoko Ono, and the Plastic Ono Band, recently screened at a gallery in NY and won an award at the Park City Film Music Festival. I also had a chance to assist with English subtitles for a new Japanese film produced by my pal, Kousuke Ono. The iPhone has proven to be a wonderful and spontaneous camera, much in the way that Polaroid, Holga, and Diana cameras were in the past. I've posted production shots from my Yoko Ono film, Japanese robots & monsters, Claudia at Point Reyes (below), and a portrait of the father of electronic music, Morton Subotnick, on my website. More info at JasonWhiton.com. Spy Vibers, what are your secret Art projects?
JASON WHITON YOKO ONO SCREENING
My experimental film and remix for Yoko Ono, The Sun is Down, is an Official Selection for the Park City Film Music Festival. The film's big screen debut will be held at the Egyptian Theatre in Park City Utah on May 22 at 6PM (my birthday- great timing!). "The Sun is Down- very cool!"- Park City Film Music Festival. More information about film and other projects at JasonWhiton.com.
JASON'S SONG/FILM ON YOUTUBE
Spy Vibe Jason's winning song/film project with the Plastic Ono Band is now listed on Yoko Ono's YouTube Favorites. The visuals are black and white, experimental scenes of ocean creatures, but I think readers may enjoy the Lounge/Jazz approach of the music. You can read more about the project here. Before creating Spy Vibe, I have been composing music and making films for the international festival circuit. My previous film, I Was A Dancer -filmed in Japan- was short-listed for the Sundance Film Festival and screened around the world. Being a lifetime fan of 1960s revolutionary artists like Ono and The Beatles, I feel thrilled and blessed to have had a chance to collaborate with the Plastic Ono Band and to share the results. Thanks for checking it out!