Metamatic Forums John Foxx John Foxx My Lost City

I am not fond of CO myself so if its like that then I think I will give it a pass.

Just looking into Foxx’ repurposing of F.Scott Fitzgerald a little further – do any of these sound familiar?

This Side of Paradise – 1920
The Beautiful and the Damned – 1922


Another anorak fact - the title Umbra Sumus very probably comes from the Latin quote “Pulvis et umbra sumus”, which translates as “We are but dust and shadow”. This is taken from Odes by the Latin poet Horace (c. 23 BC and 13 BC) (Book IV, ode vii, line 16) although Foxx could of repurposed it from Ernest Hemmingway, who repuposed it himself for his novel The Sun Also Rises.

You can tell I'm busy at work today eh?

Gazza

This is EXACTLY what I love about John Foxx and the delights of being a fan.

For me, the very essence of his work is the way the references and ideas cross-pollinate each other, the way the writing becomes music becomes artwork, the way different periods of time merge into one another in an ethereal non-linear way, the way this style of music is closer than first appears to that style of music.

It's great to see everything coming together at last and different profiles emerging.

Go Gazza GO!

Heartened to see thoughtful discourse around the
Parish,gentlemen.

For me, JF is the kind of artist who,upon encountering their first synth will think:' I could get away with pressing the demo button and alternate the pre-sets? No,perhaps I can explore some avenues less travelled.'

That is how you become influential-the cyphers inevitably follow.

The Swimmers - 1929 (anorak with fake-fur?)

Cheers Martin! Lody!

I love it when artists do this sort of thing – leaving clues.

David Sylvian does something similar, mind you it’s not as deftly camouflaged as Foxx. Brilliant Trees as an example, is riddled with it. The lyrics – “Nature feeds this nausea” (Pulling Punches), “The blood of a poet, the ink in the well, It’s all written down in this Age of Reason” (Ink in the Well), “It’s the devil in the flesh, it’s the Iron in my Soul” (Red Guitar). I had no idea until a few months after purchasing the album that what he was leaving was clues about the works of Jean-Paul Sartre; Nausea and the Roads to Freedom trilogy – The Age of Reason, The Reprieve and Iron in the Soul.

You can probably imagine what a journey of discovery this was as a teenager. Ink in the Well also mentions Picasso – and the covers to my battered second-hand Penguin editions of the Roads to Freedom trilogy all used artworks by Picasso for the cover art, and so Brilliant Trees became so much more than just an album, in the same way as Ballard does for Metamatic and Burroughs and Philip K. Dick do for Replicas – it became an education.

Sadly – it’s struck again. I’m already head over heels in love with My Lost City and I’ve yet to hear a single note!

The Swimmers as in The Garden Disc 2 :p

TSOParadise. There is a first solo album by Cars
Frontman, Ric Ocasek with same title and track.
Worth hearing.Good use of ye olde synths thruout.

repurposing I bought a packet of 'Chorley' cakes in Sainsbury's yesterday...

Also Jean Cocteau was an influence on 'Brilliant Trees', as you probably know, Garry.

Oh yeah! I forgot about that! I had that postcard set that came with Pulling Punches.

PS - Will write to you soon (honest! ) It's just like Piccadilly Circus round 'ere at the moment!

A lovely sample of "Holywell Lane" is up on John's MySpace player...