Duals and Triples And Quadrapaedics

For no particular reason, phrases such as this "The Dream/Aktion Unit were originally birthed as a side-project to allow Thurston Moore and Jim O’Rourke to fully explore the kind of ecstatic power blues that their work in Sonic Youth repeatedly implied." have started to nag at me, like an ulcer or a small blind child, waving a spoon.

It's the use of the word 'allow'.

'Allow' sneaks in there and seems to be seems to go almost unnoticed, a weird state of affairs in that it appears to be suggesting that musicians are not allowed to do what they want with their regular bands. It's not a new thing (and I talked about the beginnings of the latest wave here) but it's rapidly turning into a plague. Everyone's doppelganger has an alter-ego. I succumbed to the blogging version myself, forcing into existence the twin beasts of Tuche and Automaton and even the artbloated linkdump that became Subject A Obliterates.

And to what end? Couldn't any of that crap be safely posted here? Would I disappoint anyone if I diverted from my usual mp3 fare? Are blogs capable of disappointing in the same way that media you pay for?

One day I might come back to this. Or maybe not. As Coum used to say I "guarantee disappointment".

I can see perhaps why Major League playahs like, erm, Sonic Youth might not be able to dish out any old crap under their real names for fear of abusing their $1,000,000 record deals but what's with all the Jewelled Antlers and the Fonal folk's eternal twisting - and why does it even seem reasonable that The Tuss might be Richard James aka Aphex Twin aka AFX aka Caustic Window aka The Diceman?

I remember Mark Pritchard going on about how he needed all the different monikers to reflect the different styles he was coming out with - techno, ambient, drum n bass, electro etc - but couldn't one of the names deal with multiple genres? Is no name big enough to transcend its signifiers?

I remember Coil talking about the same thing just before the ElpH and the Black Light District period - the pressure to live up to a name (which seemed to have crippled the Backwards album), to not be a disappointment to all the t-shirt wearers out there.

Now everyone's at it. No names unwound. No names sacred. No names willing to carry the can. What's happening? Am I being bugged in all the wrong places or is there something sinister machining its way through the system?

The Tuss album? Really good. Well poppy. Best thing ol' AFX has done for ages.