The Veneer Of Democracy Has Been Stripped Away

Remembering Mark Stewart, 10th August 1960 to 21st April 2023.

I posted a hastily compiled Dubhed selection as a tribute the morning after news broke of Mark's passing. In closing, I promised that  

"There will be a follow up post, 

where I try to articulate just why Mark Stewart 

is such an important figure [...]

I just can't find the words right now."

This is that follow-up post, marking two years since Mark died. I'm still not sure I have the words, but Mark's stepped up and done it for me by releasing a brilliant new single, Memory Of You.

Memory Of You is the opening track of The Fateful Symmetry, out in July and completed before Mark's untimely passing. No compromise, even in death.

I discovered Mark's music in the late 1980s via my interest in Adrian Sherwood and ON-U Sound and the Mute label, the channels leading me to his solo albums with Maffia aka Doug Wimbish, Keith LeBlanc and Skip McDonald. 

At this point, I had no idea of Mark's links to my birthplace Bristol, and was largely ignorant of The Pop Group, their significance and legacy. The past thirty-odd years have been a voyage of discovery and learning, revealing the complexity and contradictions through a career of challenge and non-conformity.

I've had a little more time to compile today's selection, compared to the ad-hoc tribute in 2023. Even so, this remains a surface-scratching exercise; there are so many layers, and Mark's work goes way beyond that with The Pop Group, Maffia and solo. The good news is that much of it is available in digital and physical formats via Mute, Bandcamp or your friendly local record shop.

Mark's music remains as crucial now as it ever has done.

1) Deep Time Dub (Mark Stewart Mix): Nohumaneye vs Mark Stewart (2022)

2) Hysteria (Album Version By Mark Stewart & Adrian Sherwood): Mark Stewart + Maffia (1990)

3) Death Trip To Tulsa ('Mark Stewart’s Exopolitix Demix'): Mark Lanegan Band (2015)

4) Where There's A Will There's A Way (Single Version By The Pop Group & Dave Anderson): The Pop Group (1980)

5) Shame And Pain (Album Version By Mark Stewart & Jim Sclavunos): Mark Stewart & Jeffrey Lee Pierce ft. Thurston Moore (2014)

6) Gustav Says (Album Version By Mark Stewart & Youth): Mark Stewart ft. Keith Levene & Achim Treu (2012)

7) Toxic Waste (Mark Stewart & Uncle Fester On Acid Remix By Mark Stewart & Patrick Dokter): Lampredonto (2022)

8) Babycino (Album Version By Mark Stewart & Youth): Mark Stewart (2012)

9) Forces Of Oppression (Album Version By The Pop Group & Dave Anderson): The Pop Group (1980)

10) 'Ndrangheta Allotmen (Mark Stewart's Spectrum Remix): Meatraffle (2018)

11) Gang War (Album Version By Mark Stewart & Youth): Mark Stewart ft. Lee 'Scratch' Perry & Keith Levene (2012)

12) A4 ####### (Mallarmé Read By Mark): Nun Gun ft. Mark Stewart (2021)

13) (Amnesty Report II) (Album Version By Dennis Bovell): The Pop Group (1979)

14) Method To The Madness (Album Version By Mark Stewart & Youth): Mark Stewart ft. Nik Void (2012)

15) Rob A Bank (Album Version By The Pop Group & Dave Anderson): The Pop Group (1980)

16) The Last Enemy (Mark Stewart Black Mix): Consolidated (2021)

17) Simulacra (Album Version By Mark Stewart & Adrian Sherwood): Mark Stewart (1995)

18) Struggle (Adrian Sherwood / Mark Stewart Mutant Disco Vocal Mix): Radio 4 (2003)

19) Savage Sea (Album Version By The Pop Group & Dennis Bovell): The Pop Group (1979)

1979: Y: 19

1980: For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder?: 9, 15

1980: In The Beginning There Was Rhythm / Where There's A Will.. EP (split 7" w/ The Slits): 4

1980: We Are Time: 13

1990: Metatron: 2

1995: Control Data: 17

2003: Eyes Wide Open / Struggle EP: 18

2012: The Politics Of Envy: 6, 11, 14

2012: Exorcism Of Envy: 8

2014: Axels & Sockets: The Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project: 5

2015: A Thousand Miles Of Midnight: Phantom Radio Remixes: 3

2018: Revenge Of An 'Ndrangheta Cell, On An Allotment, In Norbury, South London EP: 10

2021: Stealth Empire In Dub: 12

2021: We're Already There (Remixes): 16

2022: King Of The Zombies EP: 1

2022: !Wasted!: 7

The Veneer Of Democracy Has Been Stripped Away (1:14:41) (KF) (Mega)

You can find Out Here On The Perimeter, Nobody Can Hear You Scream, my previous Mark Stewart tribute selection, here

Ich Bin Ein Ausländer

I first became aware of Aki Nawaz via Nation Records, personally one of the most exciting labels to emerge in the 1990s. Little did I know at the time, but he'd featured in my record collection previously as drummer with The Southern Death Cult (who incrementally dropped prefixes to become The Cult, but that's another story).

 

As well as providing a home and creative outlet for artists via Nation Records, Nawaz also performed as rapper Propa-Gandi and has released an immense body of work as Fun-Da-Mental. Nawaz has consequently courted controversy over his political acts, lyrical content and recital of verses from the Qur'an over Fun-Da-Mental's music, as referenced in this 2015 interview with Vice's Jack Dutton.

 

This selection focuses on the 1990s, 12 tracks over 75 minutes, taking in Fun-Da-Mental remixes and remixed, including the collaboration with Pop Will Itself that provides today's post title. Some unsurprising inclusions here, with Transglobal Underground and Indian Ropeman, but hopefully a few unexpected remixes too, such as Hyperhead (Mary Mary's band between Gaye Bikers On Acid and Apollo 440) and especially The Jesus & Mary Chain.  

 

Fun-Da-Mental's last album was 2018's There Shall Be Love. As the Bandcamp release info states, the music "is a soundtrack to "life lived" and "life observed". The Political commentary, although very outspoken and nuanced, is and remains a matter of debate."

 
1) "You Have Become Human Swine" (A Lesson In Love...Listen!!!! Reprise): Fun-Da-Mental (1999)

2) Ja Sha Taan (Karachi Deathcult Mix By Transglobal Underground): Fun-Da-Mental ft. Nawazish Ali Khan (1997)

3) New World Order (Extended Version): Fun-Da-Mental (1994)

4) A Lesson In Love...Listen!!!! (Wisdom Speaks) (Remix By Phluide): Fun-Da-Mental (1999)

5) Ich Bin Ein Ausländer (Fun-Da-Mental 12" Mix): Pop Will Eat Itself ft. Blacka-D, Hot-Dog & Propa-Gandi (1994)

6) Mother India (Spirit Of The Tiger) (Remix By The Moody Boyz aka Tony Thorpe): Fun-Da-Mental (1994)

7) Shri Durga (The Organic Science Mix By Fun-Da-Mental): DJ Cheb I Sabbah ft. Mala Ganguly, Shafqat Ali Khan, Ustad Salamat Ali Khan & Ustad Sharafat Ali Khan (2000)

8) Ja Sha Taan (J&MC Debate With F<D>M Version By The Jesus & Mary Chain): Fun-Da-Mental (1999)

9) This Is Fascism (Exterminate Fascism Before It Gets Your Teddy Bear By Fun-Da-Mental) (Cover of Consolidated): New Fast Automatic Daffodils (1996)

10) Teenage Mind (Fun-de-mental Midi Breakdown Dub): Hyperhead (1992)

11) Mr. Bubbleman (Album Version): Fun-Da-Mental (1994)

12) Demonised Soul (Indian Ropeman Remix By Sanjiv Sen): Fun-Da-Mental (1998)

 

1992: Teenage Mind EP: 10

1994: Ich Bin Ein Ausländer EP: 5 

1994: Mother India EP: 6

1994: Seize The Time / Taking Liberties: 11

1994: Volume Nine: 3 

1996: This Is Fascism: 9

1997: Ja Sha Taan EP: 2, 8 

1998: Demonised Soul EP: 12

1999: Why America Will Go To Hell EP: 1, 4 

2000: Maha Maya: Shri Durga Remixed: 7

Ich Bin Ein Ausländer (1:13:45)