Monday, 19 September 2011
attackerman attackerman
The title of the new WINEP position paper on Iran would make an awesome 80s crossover/thrash song: "Nuclear Fatwa"
First Listen: Apparat 'The Devil's Walk'
The Devil's Walk, out Sept. 27, began during a lengthy trip Apparat took in 2010 to Mexico, where he worked in a makeshift studio in the town of Sayulita. The album became fully realized later in recording studios located in Europe. The cross-continental journey and combination of cultures helped to define and inspire the right blend of cold electronics with warm strings and keys, along with a dreamlike vocal that drifts in throughout.
For The Devil's Walk, Apparat enlisted the help of others to help fully realize the material. Joshua Eustis (of Telafon Tel Aviv) and friend Fredo Noguerira were brought in to contribute, yet at a certain point, the project hit a lull. The fire was rekindled later in Europe with the help of yet another contributor, Patrick "Nackt" Christensen., who re-inspired Apparat and helped craft the finished product. The influence of late, quiet nights in a simple tropical atmosphere can be heard, as can the exhilaration Apparat rediscovered after time away from these songs.
The album's soft and sad opening track, the poignant "Sweet Unrest," could have easily found a home in Terrence Malick's latest film, The Tree of Life; the song's title describes exactly what's to come from the album's delicate, blissed-out instrumentals. "Black Water" provides another highlight: A mind-bending song, it exudes the same expressive force that Moby and M83 have also mastered, as well as a moody richness that The Cure has specialized in crafting.
Apparat has become adept at taking the strongest elements of electronic music and transforming them into a human sound that captivates listeners on multiple levels — the most important of which is emotional. That combination helps make The Devil's Walk one of 2011's most moving and inspired records.
John Richards @'npr'
Hear 'Devil's Walk' In Its Entirety
FBI halts anti-Muslim training
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has said it has discontinued a lecture that taught counter-terrorism agents that mainstream Muslims were violent.
The move comes after leaked documents revealed the controversial elements in the FBI's training manuals.
According to the FBI documents: most American Muslims are likely to be sympathizers to "terrorist" groups like al-Qaeda.
Spencer Ackerman, the journalist who broke this story for the website Wired dot com, told Al-Jazeera why the FBI teachings are "constitutionally dicey".
"There is still a real ignorance and to some degree a real fear of Islam that has found a surprising home in the FBI," he said.
"If they spend their time and resources going after indicators of violent behavior based on the amount of religiosity a person displays, then first of all they are not going to get actual terrorists, but innocent people."
The move comes after leaked documents revealed the controversial elements in the FBI's training manuals.
According to the FBI documents: most American Muslims are likely to be sympathizers to "terrorist" groups like al-Qaeda.
Spencer Ackerman, the journalist who broke this story for the website Wired dot com, told Al-Jazeera why the FBI teachings are "constitutionally dicey".
"There is still a real ignorance and to some degree a real fear of Islam that has found a surprising home in the FBI," he said.
"If they spend their time and resources going after indicators of violent behavior based on the amount of religiosity a person displays, then first of all they are not going to get actual terrorists, but innocent people."
Cultural Exchange: The diplomatic view of classical music
A few weeks ago WikiLeaks published cables sent by American diplomats who were reporting back to the government on events and people of interest to the United States. The reports are incredibly detailed (we can now confirm that, yes, the president of Turkmenistan did get two extra pineapples on his fruit plate in 1997), which can make for a tedious read.
Put a few classical music keywords in the search box, however, and nuclear-weapon panic gives way to the curious mixture of social chess, pageantry theater and "Fawlty Towers" that is cultural diplomacy.
If the reporting diplomat happens to be a good writer, the extra detail creates a vivid and at times extremely entertaining picture.
Classical music is mentioned most often when the diplomat is discussing an individual's openness to Western culture, his level of sophistication and the cultural health of a region in transition.
It is surprising to discover how classical music performances are used to introduce foreign audiences to American culture. An explanation comes from pianist Michael Sheppard, who won a classical fellowship with the American Pianists Assn. in 2003. The prize included a State Department-sponsored tour of Sri Lanka, Bahrain and Syria, which led to Sheppard's name showing up in a cable.
"The State Department probably uses classical music because there aren't words attached it," he said. "It's hard to be inflammatory when you're just playing piano pieces."
Reading the cables, it seems these concerts are more about what the music represents than the performance. Explained Sheppard, "Music can be a propaganda tool for sure, but I don't think the State Department is thinking, 'Let's use music to get [the audience] to like the U.S.' I'm not trying to push a political agenda at all. Music doesn't have anything to do with the little boundaries that we make."
What follows are excerpts selected to give a glimpse into diplomatic life and the various ways classical music fits in...
Continue reading
Velvet Underground 1965/6
At the Cafe Bizarre
At Delmonico's
At the Architectural Association
(Click to enlarge)
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Girlz With Gunz #156 (Разгром армии Путина)
"While Kremlin polit. tech. are collecting cheap little chickies for national PR, the successful girls are against the party of liars and thieves... "
(Thanx Gennady!)
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