FKSpaceman is playing... (8th issue)
Hey hey hey, fellow warriors and ecoers and... whatever.
Long time no see eh, long time you are left without good music. Long time you are listening shitty auto-tune songs or even worse trap or even worse of the worse, some latino reggaeton (May God have mercy of your poor souls)...
I apologize for this, so I am here today with a new issue of good fucking awesome music.
But enough with the small chit-chat, let's get into business.
Now, obviously, you guys have no idea that your DJ selector doesn’t actually spend much time on the Tube. And thank God for that, too. (Thank God both that I don’t spend much time there, and that you don’t know that I don’t. Two blessings, really.)
Anyway, YouTube serves me up a rather special clip: footage from the 2023 Levitation Festival, where the CREME DE LA CREME of the neo-psychedelic rock scene of the past twenty years get together to play SISTER RAY by the Velvet Underground.
The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Black Angels, Dandy Warhols and the lot.
And at this point I honestly don’t know how to go on, because I have no idea whether you actually understand WHAT THE FUCK ‘Sister Ray’ BY THE VELVET UNDERGROUND IS.
We’re talking about a nearly 17-minute track, recorded in 1967 and released a year later on the Velvet Underground’s second studio album, by which point Andy Warhol was no longer producing them.
This is a piece of music that has inspired thousands of university theses. A bottomless pit of musical ideas. A song packed with literary references. A “song” that even Joy Division played live.
I said it before, and I’ll say it again: ‘Sister Ray’ isn’t really a song. It’s a THING. Something alive, with a life of its own.
The whole thing was recorded in a single session. At one point, the sound engineer simply walked out. He just gave up and left the studio because he could no longer keep up with the band.
And the Velvet Underground? They just kept playing.
And recording.
All the way to the end.
Right up until Lou Reed signs off with:
“Am-am-am-ph-ph-ph-etamine!”
If you listen to it one day when you’re in the right state of mind — maybe while relaxing with a drink, a smoke, or whatever — BUT NOT TOO MUCH, because you need to keep at least a little bit of your brain switched on to really appreciate it, something strange happens.
You start living the scenes Lou Reed is singing about.
You’re suddenly in that room with Rosy, Miss Rayon and Cecil, getting God-knows-what ready while they talk about how one of them came back from Carolina to make a few bucks, and how she’s waiting for the sailor who’s just returned from the Seven Seas, hoping to make some serious money.
And then—
BANG.
A gun goes off.
"Oh, you shouldn't do that
Don't you know you'll stain the carpet?
Now don't you know you'll stain the carpet
And by the way, have you got a dollar?
And again:
Now, who is that knocking?
Who's knocking at my chamber door?
Now could it be the police?
They come and take me for a ride-ride
Oh, but I haven't got the time-time
Hey, hey, hey, she's busy sucking on my ding-dong
She's busy sucking on my ding-dong"
And that’s Sister Ray.
I hope I’ve managed to make you curious.
Enjoy a genuine masterpiece.
On the turntable, spinning exactly as it has been spinning since 1967:
SISTER RAY.
Oh I almost forgot: for fuck sake, listen to the whole GODDAMN album, do yourself a favour.