Holidays in Europe (The Naughty Nought)

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Holidays in Europe (The Naughty Nought)
Holidays in Europe (The Naughty Nought) cover
Studio album by KUKL
Released January 24, 1984
Recorded 1984/1985
Genre Gothic rock
Length 34:55
Label Crass Records
Cat. No.: Crass Records Cat. No. 4
Producer(s) Penny Lapsang Rimbaud
KUKL chronology
KUKL á Paris 14.9.84
(1984)		 Holidays in Europe (The Naughty Nought)
(1986)


Holidays in Europe (The Naughty Nought), was the third and last album released by the Icelandic Goth rock group KUKL in January 24, 1986. This album was more complex in comparison to the The Eye, with the folksy and pseudo-oriental flutes, bells and pipes of that previous album abandoned on favour of keyboards and samples. The music on this record contains scrawny guitars, electronic noise, and distorted samples and keyboards.

Holidays in Europe (The Naughty Nought) opens with “Outward Flight” (”Psalm 323)” a track which begins with a sample of a flight attendant welcoming to flight on board Icelandair. The drums accompanied by synthesizers and keyboard parts help sound like tuned percussion.
“A Mutual Thrill” commences with heavily-echoed sounds, and digitally altered chamber music until there is room for scratchy guitars and distorted keyboards that contrive to create a chaotic rhythm. Einar Örn screams “Through the window!!!” along the track while Björk sings in Icelandic.
"Just by the Book" is widely thought of by fans as one of the best songs on this album. The guitars played by Guðlaugur Kristinn Óttarsson (also known as Godkrist) are thinner and more granting than other works, while a clear contrast is shown between the two vocalists: Einar Örn sings that "The man on the cross, he keeps staring at me," while Björk features herself as a pious follower happy because she sings “I believe” and as this track evolves she claims that she is "Willing to convince everyone… You don't have to think, he think for you!". Thus, Holidays in Europe (The Naughty Nought) is a concept album about abusive relationships. This song in particular and most of the track names contain obvious puns on or references to Christianity and the Bible.

The topic of the art cover is the “naughty nought”, that is, zero in power of itself equals unity (00=1). So, the meaning of this is that nothing in its own power can create something.

KUKL were:

Recording and mix: Southern Studios, London, between October, 1984 and October, 1985. Engineering: Mel Jefferson
Production: Penny Lapsang Rimbaud
Collaborators:

  • Jamil Sairah: Additional vocalist in “Zro”.
  • Sirgurjón Birgir Sigurðsson (Sjón): Participated in the booklet design, but the early work was subsequently replaced by Einar Örn and Crass.

Reissue: Smekkleysa/Bad Taste in 2002.

[edit] Track listing

Track Title Length Lyrics Audio clips
01 Outward Flight (Psalm 323) 03:49 link sample
02 France (A Mutual Thrill) 04:19 link sample
03 Gibraltar (Copy Thy Neighbour) 04:55 link -
04 Greece (Just By the Book) 06:58 link -
05 England (Zro) 04:51 link -
06 Holland (Latent) 04:40 link -
07 Aegean (Vials of Wrath) 04:29 link -
08 The Homecoming (The Night) 02:54 link RealOne (28.8) /
RealOne (ISDN)

[edit] Video clips

Footage from “A Mutual Thrill”.
Enlarge
Footage from “A Mutual Thrill”.
  • ”A Mutual Thrill”: QuickTime.
  • ”Outward”

[edit] External links

KUKL
Björk Guðmundsdóttir - Einar Örn Benediktsson - Guðlaugur Kristinn Óttarsson - Birgir Mogensen - Einar Arnaldur Melax - Sigtryggur Baldursson
Management: Einar Örn Benediktsson - Árni Benediktsson
See also
The Elgar Sisters
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