OPPROBRIUM magazine, #4 December 1997
140 pages of dense text, detailing the ins and outs of some of the most ironed-ear releases you possibly can't imagine yourself listening to in the year 2023. That, of course, is a clear exaggeration for failed comedic purposes. There's plenty here to crow about. In fact, putting out a 140-page magazine with a who's-who of contributors and some truly exhaustive interviews with obscure artists - and doing this all the way from New Zealand in the 1990s to a global audience! - only goes to show that Opprobrium was one of the best publications of its era.
As it went on - and I believe this is the penultimate issue; #5 will be studied soon - the mag drifted away from its avant-rock roots as publisher Nick Cain became more and more ensconced in the world of avant-garde jazz and improvised music. You could almost say that it comes across like The Wire magazine if you extracted all words pertaining to Warp Records, Mo' Wax, Alec Empire, post-rock and the Bristol music scene in an average 1997 issue of the UK mag, leaving only the goods related to Evan Parker, Tony Conrad et al, though Opprobrium dug deeper than anyone else. It was for those who wanted the details.
Opprobrium was, as I've stated before, right up my alley at the time. This issue helped introduce me to the world of Eremite Records (I'd later meet label owner, Michael Ehlers, at a William Parker show in New York ca. 1999), and while Evan Parker and Raphe Malik might look like a couple of civil servants, they blow hard and with style, and I can still listen to both on occasion. The Hijokaiden piece, an extended history of the legendary Japanese noise band, remains a fascinating read, as are the interviews with Tony Conrad and Brian Doherty (of Sick Dick & The Volkswagons). The one conducted with Munehiro Narita of Japanese psych-rockers High Rise, and I remember feeling this way at the time when I first read it 25 years ago, paints him as a jerk high on the smell of his own bullpiss.
Here's a few samples to paint a picture... When asked about playing with Mudhoney and foreign bands: "Is there anyone worthy to share the stage with us? I don't listen to much stuff so I don't know. Even for the Mudhoney gig we'd never heard their music... I'd never even heard of Sub Pop. I'd heard of Nirvana because they were popular... Seemed that he (Jello Biafra) got pretty into it. I've never listened to the Dead Kennedys properly, so I don't know if that's anything to get excited about... I haven't listened to a single new record in the last ten years. I don't even feel like I should. What we're doing is the most important".
Of course, you could compliment this as a purity of vision and a very Japanese (obsessive) way of looking at the craft of making music. Or you could just conclude that he seems like a bit of an ass. I'm going for the latter.
The reviews section is intense. Like, intense. There's a lot of them, and they're in-depth and wordy. There are details for releases I would perhaps struggle to write three lines on, just because the contents leave me stumped. I mean, I know this music and this scene, but I don't know what to say about another improvised avant-jazz release at this point of my life. Examples: there are SIX Derek Bailey titles reviewed; FIVE Borbetomagus; THREE William Hooker; FIVE Richard Youngs; FIVE different Spontaneous Music Ensemble titles covered at great length... throw in a Coffee and Noggin chaser and you're almost done! The relentless verbiage dedicated to the world of avant-noise, improvised or not, is commendable, regardless of my desire in middle-age to avoid much of this music like the plague.
Now I need to lie down. These issues should be compiled into a book.
Derek Bailey cutting loose.
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