[E.O.M.S.]

Thursday, 22 February 2018

Wednesday, 21 February 2018

A familiar face from 1978

Was just re-watching the Clash film Rude Boy the other day for the first time in maybe 20 years and this familiar face popped into view

Kodwo Eshun: Mark Fisher Memorial Lecture

Kodwo Eshun delivering the inaugural Mark Fisher Memorial Lecture at Goldsmiths, University of London. 19th January 2018

Thursday, 8 February 2018

John Perry Barlow R.I.P.

Principles of Adult Behavior

Be patient. No matter what.

Don’t badmouth: Assign responsibility, not blame. Say nothing of another you wouldn’t say to him in the same language and tone of voice.

Never assume the motives of others are, to them, less noble than yours are to you.

Expand your sense of the possible.

Don’t trouble yourself with matters you truly cannot change.

Expect no more of anyone than you can deliver yourself.

Tolerate ambiguity.

Laugh at yourself frequently.

Concern yourself with what is right rather than who is right.

Never forget that, no matter how certain, you might be wrong.

Give up blood sports.

Remember that your life belongs to others as well. Don’t risk it frivolously.

Never lie to anyone for any reason. (Lies of omission are sometimes exempt.)

Learn the needs of those around you and respect them.

Avoid the pursuit of happiness. Seek to define your mission and pursue that.

Reduce your use of the first personal pronoun.

Praise at least as often as you disparage.

Admit your errors freely and soon.

Become less suspicious of joy.

Understand humility.

Remember that love forgives everything.

Foster dignity.

Live memorably.

Love yourself.

Endure.

(Written in 1977 on the eve of his turning thirty)

Pictured above with Bob Weir

A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace
Nothing to tell now/ let the words be yours/ I am done with mine.

Thursday, 1 February 2018

Tracklist:
01 Terry Callier - Live With Me
02 Banbarra - Shack Up
03 Tim Buckley - Get On Top
04 Syl Johnson - Is It Because I'm Black (Instrumental)
05 Bernie Worrell - Rentstrike (DJ Smash Remix)
06 Herbie Hancock - Hang Up Your Hangups
07 Jimi Tenor & Tony Allen - Selfish Gene
08 Shuggie Otis - Aht Uh Mi Hed
09 Lady Margo - This Is My Prayer
10 Chairmen Of The Board - Give Me Just A Little More Time
11 Dr John - Right Place, Wrong Time
12 Flora Purim - What You See
13 Cher - Walk On Gilded Splinters
14 Esther Phillips - Home Is Wher The Hatred Is
15 Opals - You Can't Hurt Me No More
16 The Staple Singers - You've Got To Earn It
17 Betty Wright - Clean Up Woman
18 Betty Davis - Your Mama Wants Ya Back
19 Chris Clark - I Want To Go Back There Again
20 The Jackson 5 - I Want You Back
21 Curtis Mayfield - Now You're Gone
22 Hall & Oates - She's Gone
23 The Temptations - Ain't No Sunshine

Love lost & found
It's been a while...

Friday, 26 January 2018

A.B. Original - January 26

'They tell us to 'get over it, forget it and move on!' Move on? Well, Gallipoli was about 100 years ago, so let's fucking move on from that too. But no – that's 'Aussie spirit'.'

Tuesday, 23 January 2018

Help save Bill Laswell's Orange Music Studio

In an era where music, among other creative endeavours, has been devalued as mere “content,” freely accessed through the new digital medium, the very survival of those who create music and art and culture has been threatened. Bassist, iconic producer, and sonic visionary Bill Laswell becomes the latest legendary talent to fall victim to the vagaries of these crazy times. Beset by health problems while trying to navigate this harsh and uncertain economic landscape, Laswell is struggling to maintain Orange Music, the legendary New Jersey studio that he as helmed for the last 20 years. He is putting the call out to all fans, friends, and fellow artists alike: If you can help, please do so now. No contribution is too small.

As an artist and producer, Bill Laswell really needs no introduction. Though he has operated largely out of view of the pop charts, he has managed to collaborate with the giants in practically every genre of music—from Miles Davis to Mick Jagger to Bob Marley to name but a few. At the peak of his commercial success, he even produced the Grammy-award winning hit “Rock It” for Herbie Hancock in 1983, one of the first songs that helped hip-hop crossover to the mainstream. At this point, he could have moved to L.A. and cashed in, but he chose to stay in New York and later, New Jersey, and keep it real. In doing so, he displayed his very real commitment to the underground.

Orange Music, the studio Bill moved to in 1998 after getting priced out of rapidly-gentrifying Greenpoint, Brooklyn, has a storied history of its own. Supposedly built in the late 60s for Franki Valli and the Four Seasons, it was originally called Vantone Studio. In the 70s, groups like Jethro Tull, Humble Pie, Brooklyn Bridge, and Carole King recorded there. In the 80s, the studio was renamed Grand Slam Studios and hosted such luminaries as Aerosmith and George Benson. When Laswell took over the studio, he brought with him his international cast of colourful characters, producing such artists as Tabla Beat Science, Sly & Robbie, Matisyahu, Bernie Worrell, and the inimitable Lee “Scratch” Perry. As a maverick in his field, he has always supported other independent artists, who, like himself, are striving for something further, deeper, and true. That’s why he allows other artists and independent labels to use the studio at reduced rates. So many stand to lose if Bill cannot hold onto Orange Music.

Bill’s entire career is a powerful statement of art over commerce. Money has never been an issue, but Bill now needs your help.

PayPal account for Bill Laswell:

modbandcamp@gmail.com

More info & Rewards
HERE

Friday, 5 January 2018

The Clash - New Year's Day '77

Built around the earliest, until now unseen, footage of The Clash in concert, filmed by Julien Temple as they opened the infamous Roxy club in a dilapidated Covent Garden on 1 January 1977, this show takes us on a time-travelling trip back to that strange planet that was Great Britain in the late 1970s and the moment when punk emerged into the mainstream consciousness.
Featuring the voices of Joe Strummer and The Clash from the time, and intercutting the raw and visceral footage of this iconic show with telling moments from the BBC's New Year's Eve, Hogmanay and New Year's Day schedules of nearly 40 years ago, it celebrates that great enduring British custom of getting together, en masse and often substantially the worse for wear, to usher in the new year.
New Year's Day is when we collectively take the time to reflect on the year that has just gone by and ponder what the new one might hold in store for us. Unknown to the unsuspecting British public, 1977 was of course the annus mirabilis of punk. The year in which The Clash themselves took off, catching the imagination of the nation's youth. As their iconic song 1977 counts us down to midnight, we share with them and Joe Strummer, in previously unseen interviews from the time, their hopes and predictions for the 12 months ahead.