Tuesday, 17 May 2011
First Listen: Boris - 'Heavy Rocks'
Digging further, Heavy Rocks — out May 24 — also celebrates that original release by digging, if ever-so-slightly, into the thick, distorted riffage that made Boris' mark at the beginning of the last decade. The guitar tone isn't quite the same, but, through the band's move toward poppier song structures, the attitude is. And, instead of dodging around the glam-teasing of 2008's uneven Smile, Heavy Rocks embraces glam with its own blistering approach to sonic excess. The one-two punch of "Galaxians" and "Jackson Head" is two Jack Daniel's shots away from a Dodge Charger crashing through the living room. And if you need a rager, lead guitarist Wata doot-doot-do's her way through the barn-burning headbanger "Window Shopping."Heavy Rocks isn't just one big riff party, though. There are moments of blissed-out sweetness in "Missing Pieces" and "Aileron." The latter actually appears on Attention Please as a short acoustic interlude with a picked chord progression that begs for a full song. So here it is, in all its 12-minute heavy shoegazing glory, like the sludge-metal weirdos in Harvey Milk having a really bummer day (which is always).
If there's anything to learn from Boris' prolific release schedule, especially in 2011, it's that the band sees no difference in its wide array of sound. This year, it's hard to disagree.
Lars Gotrich @'npr'
Hear 'Heavy Rocks' In Its Entirety
17 May: International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia
To mark this year's International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA-Europe) has published its Rainbow Europe Map and Index in which it rates each European country's laws and administrative practices according to 24 categories and ranks them on a scale between 17 (highest score: respect of human rights and full legal equality of LGBT people) and -7 (lowest score: gross violations of human rights and discrimination of LGBT people).While the publication of this kind of research is broadly to be welcomed, and as eye-catching as the rainbow map is, it may be considered problematic in its conflation of LGB and TS/TG issues. As Justus Eisfeld (co-director GATE - Global Action for Trans* Equality) points out:
There are 5 possible positive points to be gained for gender identity issues vs. 13 possible points in the sexual orientation categories (I counted freedom of assembly and freedom of association under sexual orientation because trans groups generally have not had the organizational capacity to even run into issues in this category yet). The negative points are similarly unequally spread: two possible negative points for gender identity (two negative points are mutually exclusive, I therefore counted them as one) and four for sexual orientation. This means that a country that scores well for sexual orientation will automatically be in the 'best' group, no matter what their human rights record is for trans people.
In the light of this, the separate indexes for gender identity and sexual orientation may perhaps be of more use.
Note that intersections of race, class, disability, etc, are not mentioned in the report; nor is it recorded whether subjects are binary or non-binary identified. It should also be remembered that some TS/TG people are also LGB, and vice versa. Last but by no means least, it should be noted that - as is so often the case with research of this nature - the situation of intersex people seems to have been entirely ignored.
By way of a counterpoint, Trans Murder Monitoring has launched an interactive map for IDAHOT 2011. The new interactive map for the first time visualises the 604 reported murders of trans people that the Trans Murder Monitoring (TMM) project has documented since January 2008. The interactive TMM map can be accessed on the TvT website here.
In the first four and a half months of 2011, 55 reported murders of trans people have been registered in 19 countries. While the actual circumstances of the killings often remain obscure, due to a lack of investigations and reports, many of the documented cases involve extreme aggression, including torture and mutilation.
Although it may seem that sexual orientation and gender identity is less of an issue it becomes clear that homophobia and transphobia exists, and may be increasing, in many places. If today's International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia serves one purpose, it is to raise awareness regarding the ongoing discrimination and violence committed by states, societies and individuals against lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer people on various scales, from homophobic and transphobic legislations and forms of state repression to hate crimes including insults, attacks and murders.
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The ILGA Rainbow Europe Map may be downloaded as two PDF files from here (map) and here (index).
Separate indexes for sexual orientation and gender identity may be downloaded here (gender identity) and here (sexual orientation).
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Thanks to Juris Lavrikovs and Silvan Agius (ILGA-Europe), Justus Eisfeld (co-director GATE - Global Action for Trans* Equality) and Carla LaGata (Research and Coordination, TvT project)
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Via Bird of Paradox
Gmos - Sun Ra Mix
Gmos (ISM/Fatty Fatty) has recorded a promo mix ahead of Amen Brother's Sun Ra Birthday Celebrations on May20th with Mike Huckaby. For more details, check mntothat.com
1 Sun Ra - Sleeping Beauty
2 Sun Ra - Twin Stars Of Hence
3 Sun Ra - I'll Wait For You
4 Sun Ra - Where Pathways Meet
5 Sun Ra - On Jupiter
6 Sun Ra - Space Is The Place
For Yotte!
1 Sun Ra - Sleeping Beauty
2 Sun Ra - Twin Stars Of Hence
3 Sun Ra - I'll Wait For You
4 Sun Ra - Where Pathways Meet
5 Sun Ra - On Jupiter
6 Sun Ra - Space Is The Place
For Yotte!
Warsaw - Pictures In My Mind (Unreleased)
The Warsaw version of the song that has just been released on Peter Hook's new EP
First Listen: Thurston Moore - 'Demolished Thoughts'
For nearly 30 years with Sonic Youth, Moore has created everything from eccentric pop tunes to lengthy rock-outs and free-form noise experimentation, and he's earned the freedom to explore his esoteric musical interests in various side projects. Similarly, Beck has been known to toggle back and forth between rambunctious, hip-hop-infused rock and moody, cosmic folk.
For Demolished Thoughts — out May 24 — Moore went the latter route, eschewing the tension and noise for an introspective acoustic sound. His songs here are about as lyrically earnest and evocative as anything he's written. "Simple pleasures strike like lighting, scratches spell her name / Thunder demons swipe her halo and then they run away / But I know better than to let her go," he sings in "Benediction," an ode to the stability of love. At the song's center are layered guitar textures formed around open tunings that ring out underneath Moore's cool, composed vocal delivery.
While Beck's influence is subtle, his presence is felt. Demolished Thoughts is, in some sense, the twin of Beck's own album Sea Change — if not in theme (Beck chronicled the ravages of a failed relationship), then at least in terms of existential contemplation and sonic template. The music is both hauntingly ethereal, as in "Space," and aggressively impassioned, as in the slack-stringed acoustic rocker "Circulation," which swells into a dissonant vamp of strings, thundering toms and power chords.
Demolished Thoughts was written over a two-year period and recorded this past fall and winter at Beck's Los Angeles studio and in Northampton, Mass., where Moore lives with his wife, Sonic Youth bassist Kim Gordon. It re-teams Moore with the violinist Samara Lubelski, who brings a swooning quality to every song. Together with Mary Lattimore's exquisite harp, songs like "Blood Never Lies" and "Illuminate" capture a sort of sprawling autumnal folksiness. The record also features Bill Nace on guitar, as well as Beck regulars Bram Inscore on bass, Joey Waronker on drums, and even Beck himself. The end result is a beautifully nuanced album that not only reveals a personal side to Thurston Moore's songwriting, but also sits alongside his strongest solo work.
Michael Katzif @'npr'
Hear 'Demolished Thoughts' In Its Entirety
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