Postmodernism and Music - Neon Neon Homage Does your chosen artist use other peoples music in a respectful

way? Are they bringing a potentially overlooked or forgotten style to a new audience? Stainless Style (2008) - The duo began with a concept album, 2008's Stainless Style, about a gure of
hubristic maximalism, car designer John DeLorean, whose tale was told in sleek, 80s synth-form

Praxis Makes Perfect (2013) - Publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli the story of this intriguing album's subject maverick Italian publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli. This time, the subject is the life and death of wealthy Italian publisher and 1960s/1970s political activist Giangiacomo Feltrinelli: a millionaire communist who met Fidel Castro and championed education and culture (the Feltrinelli mantra was reading is resistance), yet died apparently attempting a terrorist attack. Feltrinellis ideas might have lent themselves to punk rhetoric; instead, we made a communist Europop album, says Rhys.

Pastiche Does your chosen artist use other peoples music in order to mock it and its fans? Are they attempting to damage the authority of a style of music?
Dan Lucas of Under the Radar said that "Praxis Makes Perfect conrms the pun-happy pairing as leaders in the admittedly niche genre of concept albums about historical gures with whom listeners may at rst not be familiar." Q - 'the concept' is not fully realised, but it is still unlikely you'll hear a better anti-fascist-Marxistselectro-pop record all year." Stainless Style - The album's title is a pun on stainless steel, deriving from the fact that the only car produced by the DeLorean Motor Companythe DeLorean DMC-12was distinctive by the fact that its body was berglass with a stainless steel veneer. DeLorean also began selling "D=MC2" stainless steel watches for $3,495 each on the internet in 2000. Praxis Makes Perfect

Bricolage Does your chosen artist use music from different time periods or genres? Does this change the meaning of the original song? *80s synth-pop *shaggy indie * Pop * Electronica * Hip-Hop

Intertextual References Does your artist reference other songs (lyrically, melodically, stylistically, visually) in their work?
Praxis Makes Perfect Tracks here such as the merely competent 'Mid-Century Modern Nightmare' require you to spend an afternoon with Wikipedia before their content can be fully appreciated. references the sound of 70s TV current affairs soundbeds. Hammer and Shickle - Communist Symbol Mid Century Modern Nightmare - Gruff Rhys tells Rolling Stone that "Mid Century Modern Nightmare" is "a protest against the stylistic mid 20th century cultural stranglehold that continues to clog up our pop culture and strangle our forward minded spirits to this day." features Asia Argento reading out extracts from a call-to-arms that Feltrinelli broadcast in Genoa in 1970, using a pirate transmitter wired up to his Fiat car. "It's a protest against the stylistic mid-20th century cultural stranglehold that continues to clog up our pop culture and strangle our forwardminded spirits to this day," explains Rhys of the song, which bounces along like 1980s Kim Wilde and makes mention of "shagpile carpets". Basically, left wing political activism never sounded so much fun. Hoops with Fidel - Hoops with Fidel is a self-explanatory nod to one of the more surreal games of basketball you can imagine, while Dr. Zhivago and The Leopard refers to two giant works of literature that Feltrinelli brought to the attention of the wider world through his publishing company. If you only take one thing away from this record, its some brilliant factoids to bore your friends with. Stainless Style The song "Raquel" is based upon tales of an affair DeLorean allegedly had with actress Raquel Welch in the mid-'70s, and mentions many true-life biographical details about Welch, such as her Bolivian father and Irish mother, her birth in "north Chicago", and education and upbringing in California. The song is sung from DeLorean's perspective, as he delivers lines to Welch such as "I saw you as a movie star, but now you're riding in my car."[16] According to Rhys, "I Lust U" recounts "a dark period in DeLorean's life when he was having lots of affairs", while "Michael Douglas" describes the time when DeLorean "redesigned his own chin while sitting at pool parties in LA with Michael Douglas."

Consumption How does your chosen artist wish their music to be consumed? Is there an artefact (object) that accompanies their music? Stainless Style The album was streamed in its entirety on the band's Myspace page for one week before its physical release. Praxis Makes Perfect *Vinyl 12 * 12 Single(s) (Picture Discs) * CD X2 (Ltd Etd (Book), Reg CD) * Ltd Etd Cassette * MP3 Download The limited edition!version is a deluxe digipack CD & Book including lyrics, exclusive archive Feltrinelli photographs, redux artwork and a 4 track Bonus EP, 'Years of Lead'. The vinyl format includes the CD album The limited edition cassette includes an instant MP3 download of the album. Creation
How does your artist create their music, are they a musician, a songwriter, a composer? Stainless Style - (Gruff Rhys (Super Fury Animals), Boom Bip (Electro Artist/Producer) (ft., Fab Moretti (The Strokes), Har Mar Superstar, Yo Majesty, Spank Rock, Cate Le Bon, Fatlip) Praxis Makes Perfect - (Gruff Rhys (Super Fury Animals), Boom Bip (Electro Artist/Producer) (ft., Sabrina Salerno, Asia Argento, Cate Le Bon & Josh Klinghoffer) SUBVERTING GENRES

Performance Does your artist play live? Is there a show to accompany? Is there a style to their videos? What if any interaction is there with their audience?
"Wear something red," instructs the ticket email. "Bring your favourite book, with a message written inside, to give away to a fellow comrade." Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals and electronic producer Boom Bip and their live band are joined by actors from the National Theatre of Wales in a live, three-dimensional, album-length pop "video" in which the story of this intriguing album's subject maverick Italian publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli is told in the round. Ancient Olivetti typewriters provide some of the percussion, as do Anglepoise lamps (the company is a sponsor). There's a dance routine involving Mao's Little Red Book. Another movement piece seems to imply torture by the CIA. Neon Neon air most of the tracks from the Praxis album, interspersed with scenes from Feltrinelli's life, told through dialogue and projections, megaphone blasts and ersatz "bombs". It's immersive: you have to shift when the scenery does. During the expository Doctor Zhivago, the audience are given the manuscript and told to hide it from the cold war-era Soviets who roam the crowd. "PASS IT ON," urges Rhys from the stage, via a placard straight out of Bob Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues. (The Soviet goons' sense of menace is, perhaps, compromised slightly by decadent bourgeois hairstyles.) Hoops With Fidel nds the band essaying salsa rhythms, with a pretty corny "Fidel" chomping a smokeless cigar. Coming to the event cold, Praxis might be little more than an opportunity to hear this cult band's aerated synth-pop while surrounded by vintage commie kitsch. But a surprising number of people do wear red and exchange books: I bring one about maa women (another very Italian contradiction), and receive an illustrated introduction to Wagner in exchange. We were more aware of Praxis Makes Perfect being a full-on concept record and we wanted to subvert the generic performance of a rock concert. Because Neon Neon isnt a conventional group, we can include extras who arent necessarily musicians. When you see stadium rock bands play, the closest you get to audience connection might be a stage walkway, nods Hollon. Were taking that to a much more extreme level the performers and the sets move within the crowd. Were creating an event at each show, with bars and book stalls. This record is going to come alive in front of people theyre going to be in it. For the higher grades you will need to have an understanding of music that relates to the following areas: * The postmodern sensibility that anything can be considered cool in an ironic I know its bad, but its so bad its good way * Work that is created based (entirely or in part) on older material. This incorporates sampling and will take you from the realms of hip hop culture transporting you nally in todays modern fragmented musical landscape. You will have to listen to some of the artists to fully appreciate them and their work. * Audiences that are both niche and mainstream. E.g.: Radio 1, 1xtra, BBC6, XFM