Renude19 have re-imagined the seminal work by beat poet Allen Ginsberg, Howl, as a dance-infused concept album.
Working alongside vocalist Ashley Slater of Freak Power, Renude19’s Reimagining Allen Ginsberg’s Howl blends the poet’s words with pulsating modern rhythms, and is out now on Irvine Welsh’s Out Yer Box label.
The album, which has received the stamp of approval from the Allen Ginsberg Project, the foundation that oversees the poet’s legacy, coincides with the 70th anniversary of the first performance of Howl, at the Six Gallery in San Francisco in 1955. It’s an event that is said to have kickstarted the Beat Generation, and inspired writers such as Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs.
“I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness; starving, hysterical, naked, dragging themselves through the streets at dawn looking for an angry fix,” as the poet puts it.
Renude19, a synthpop duo from Brighton, UK, consisting of singer Christabel and producer Ash Huntington, initially turned Howl into an electronic album using Ginsberg’s original voice, before turning to Slater to re-record the poet’s words.
Tracks like Waking Nightmares and Visionary Angels spin hallucinatory lines into electro, disco, and acid frameworks, while deeper cuts like Moloch Moloch and I’m With You In Rockland channel the urgency of Ginsberg’s original work through modern, club-friendly production.
In track 8, Epilogue – Holy, Ginsberg exclaims “the ecstasy is holy” – perhaps predicting the acid house revolution three decades later. 🙂
Check out Renude 19 – Reimagining Allen Ginsberg’s Howl here. Photo: @allenginsbergoffical.
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