"The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work." 

- Emile Zola

Kim Jong-Il, they don't call him great for nothing!

Not only can the Dear Leader hide nuclear missiles, he also knows football tactics. Those are two pretty mean party tricks. Most reading types are aware of the Great Leader’s nuclear ambitions, but not too many folks are probably aware that North Korean leader and super-tactician Kim Jong-Il was also the inspiration behind North Korea’s march to South Africa. That’s right. And to think we’ve spent the better part of the last five months praising Roy Hodgson whose full time job is to manage Fulham. The Great Leader has to juggle tactical preparation with oppressing his people, rationing electricity, nuclear arms negotiations, collecting fabulous sunglasses, and forcible relocations. Take that Roy Hodgson, you one-trick pony.

According to Kim Jong Su of the North Korean Football Association, “The Great Leader gave in-depth guidance on the development of Korean football. He proposed the game’s tactics most relevant for the physiological characteristics of the Korean players.” Now that’s a leader.

Of all the North Korea previews I’ve seen (and there aren’t many), none of them try to get inside the head of the team’s tactical nerve center, the man himself, Kim Jong-Il. So here, only here, will you find some proper analysis that will enable you to properly place your bets on who gets out of the Group G, which many acknowledge is the 2010 World Cup’s Group of Death.

Tactics: Watch for the Unpredictable

The Great Leader is a big fan of the clandestine. Whether with uranium enrichment or general team information, Kim takes great measures to carefully conceal his hand. At the World Cup, the element of surprise weighs in favor of the North Koreans.

Kim has repeatedly duped foreign leaders, for instance, repeatedly entering into negotiations and then backing out when convenient. For the Great Leader, walking up to the line and quickly backpedaling is merely a form of exercise. If Kim passes on his erratic and unpredictable behavior to his team, watch out for 7-3 formations to start, shifting into 1-2-7 formations if the Koreans need goals. Completely disregard anything you’ve seen in qualification and friendlies, because what you see is not always what you get when the Great Leader is involved.

Style: In One Word – Hungry

The term “hungry” is often used to describe players who have an insatiable appetite to win. But with the North Koreans, the team might literally be hungry. And if they fail to impress, they could go hungry for some time. Kim Jong-Il is known for rewarding athletes who do well, while mercilessly punishing those who fail to meet his standards. So expect his side to get after it. The fashionable sides facing this hardened group of North Koreans may be in for a surprise when they learn what it really means to be hungry for success. And for the North Korean players, success will surely bring that reward that North Koreans desperately want and need, a massive, synchronized parade, full of all the color that has been removed from their daily lives. If that’s not incentive, I don’t know what is.

Adversaries: Escaping Death

Alongside the North Koreans in the “Group of Death” are Brazil, Portugal, and Sven-Göran Eriksson’s Côte d’Ivoire. Yes, the same Sven who was being lined up to potentially manage North Korea in South Africa. It makes you wonder whether Côte d’Ivoire’s placement in Group G is part of some nefarious plan concocted by the mind of the Great Leader. Too many variables you say? Well, Sven is capable of anything if the price is right. We all know that FIFA and bribery are good friends. And you can never underestimate the mind of a dictator when pride is at stake on the global stage. I’m just saying, don’t underestimate the mind of the man behind the sunglasses.

But back to the Group of Death. When you think of all the necessary characteristics that would enable one to overcome death, there’s an argument for each of Group G’s teams to escape group play. The Brazilians escape the death, kidnappings and Manchester City regularly. That’s a lot of evil to deal with. But I fear that Brazil may have become complacent with all of their success in spite of these obstacles. Portugal has a bunch of primadonnas who would rather look good than win. Faced with death, they’ll fold under the pressure and choose stylish losing. And Sven, well, he always escapes death, often getting paid handsomely in the process. But given that he cares more about his paycheck than he does about success, expect him to run well before it becomes a fight to the death. That leaves North Korea, a team of internationals that don’t even have refrigerators. As North Korean player Choe Myong Ho eloquently stated, “What’s a refrigerator for? It allows you to get cold drinks in the summer. And if you do that, you could catch a cold and not be able to train.” Yeah, in a Group of Death, I’m taking that guy.

***

And there you have it, my dark horse to make it out of the Group of Death, North Korea, heading into the knockout rounds with Brazil, the conventional pick. I’d have put my money on the completely unconventional duo of North Korea and Côte d’Ivoire if Sven wasn’t involved. But alas, he is.

Now that my selection is made for Group G, I need to find a proper North Korean supporters club, which is difficult since no North Koreans will be permitted to travel to South Africa for the World Cup. Fortunately, a stand-up crew of Chinese fans calling themselves the “fans volunteer army” have stepped in to support the North Koreans and have been given tickets from the North Korean government. How’s that for community service? It would be a sad day in South Africa to watch North Korea play without supporters, especially considering that the nation has a very strong flag, perfect for waiving and apparel. I hope the volunteer army accepts me. But just in case, I’m bringing platform shoes to show them that I’m down with the Leader.

Clive Longbottom-Fellow, Esq. @'Nutmeg Radio'

Orphan101 - Mix

Saigon Recordings is a brand new imprint out of Bristol, who claim to blend techno and dubstep to a new diamond standard, which they themselves call “Dub-Tech” (not to be confused with dub techno). Haughtiness aside, their first release seems to warrant this kind of superior attitude — “Tribtek” by newcomer Orphan101 is a steely and muscular two-tracker that rightfully should drum up hype when it’s released next month. To celebrate the launch of the label, we’ve got a Saigon Recordings mix by Orphan101, loaded with his own exclusive dubs as well as new sounds from Headhunter and his not-so-mysterious juke alias Addison Groove. The mix is beyond captivating, and the Orphan101 tracks run the gamut from throbbing, dark techno to tribal-influenced sounds to something that sounds suspiciously like trance, and blended in with the tracks from other producers it really does sound like a manifesto for a completely brand new sound — something which is ever rarer in the heady days of 2010. Check this tracklist:

1. Scribe – Orphan101
2. Similate – Orphan101
3. Corsa – Orphan101
4. Commune – Orphan101
5. Olo – Orphan101
6. 45 – Orphan101
7. Au Dela – Orphan101 & Bloodman Ft Soraya Saberi
8. Out Of The Sun – Arkist
9. Remote Viewing – Bloodman
10. Hocus Pocus – Headhunter
11. Deepfish – Bloodman
12. Propa – Orphan101
13. Home – Orphan101
14. Labella – Orphan101
15. Whish – Orphan101
16. Chasing Dragons – Addison Groove
17. V710 – Headhunter & Orphan101
18. What Do I See – Arkist
19. Worry Dolls – Wedge

@'OneThirtyBPM'

HERE

Coming from the musical melting pot that is Bristol England Orphan101’s Blend of four to the floor Dubstep and Techno have brought him fast acclaim and attention of genre impresarios like Appleblim (Apple Pips / Skull Disco), Headhunter (Tempa), Jus Wan (Apple Pips), DJ Pinch (Tectonic) and RSD (Punch Drunk Records) to name but a few.

His wide range of musical tastes have certainly shone through in his productions with labels such as Appleblim’s highly regarded Apple Pips label, British based alternative label Saigon Recordings and Deca Rhythm already signing tracks from him, all due for release in 2010 making this a very busy year for Orphan101.

His live DJ sets have gained a reputation on radio and in clubs as a new diverse sound with little or no boundaries to what he will play. His sets do not sound out of place whether it be minimal house, techno or dubstep This approach has recently earned him a residency in Berlin, Bristol and also Apple Pips nights across Europe.

His current production collaborations include Headhunter, Bloodman Appleblim and Gatekeeper to name just a few, with remix work being picked carefully to fit with his own production roster.

@'Extra Music New'

www.saigonrecordings.com
www.myspace.com/saigonrecordings
www.soundcloud.com/saigonrecordings
www.twitter.com/saigonrecording
www.facebook.com/pages/Saigon-Recordings/117236301627473

DV>CV

Originally released on VHS in 1982 by Doublevision.
1 Diskono
2 Obsession
3 Trash (Part 1)
4 Badge Of Evil
5 Nag, Nag, Nag
6 Eddie's Out
7 Landslide
8 Photophobia
9 Trash (Part 2)
10 Seconds Too Late
11 Extract From Johnny YesNo
12 Walls Of Jericho
13 This Is Entertainment
14 Moscow
Liner Notes:
Doublevision was a communication company founded by Cabaret Voltaire and Paul Smith in 1982 initially as a vehicle for this programme, and also with a view to releasing affordable music based video (video releases were generally between 40 and 70 pounds back then) for around 15 pounds. Material released by Throbbing Gristle, Derek Jarman, The Residents, Einsturzende Neubauten, Chris and Cosey (cti), 23 Skidoo, Tuxedomoon and many others,. To help finance / and compliment the video releases, records by Cabaret Voltaire, Chakk, Lydia Lunch, Arto Lindsay, Clock dva, The Hafler Trio, Eric Random helped to turn it also into a forward thinking record label which organised various audio visual events and club nights around England. The label continued throughout most of the 80s and left behind an interesting legacy of experimental visual arts and music.
RHKirk, Oct 2002

All videos by Cabaret Voltaire except "Obsession", "Nag Nag Nag", "Photophobia" and "Seconds Too Late" by St. John Walker of Plan 9 with special thanks to Roger Bush (Communication Dept. Sheffield Polytechnic). "Extract From Johnny YesNo" courtesy Peter Care.

Special Thanks to; Phil Barnes, Lyn Clark, John Lake, Steve Nall, Psychic Television, Jon Savage, Paul Smith-Boden, Christopher Watson, Tony Wilson, Tim Owen.

"Double Vision Presents Cabaret Voltaire" was one of the first independent long form videos ever made. As such it is a collectors item. The audio and visual quality of this programme may be of a slightly lower standard than is usual today.

HERE

US oil spill a disaster — but more oil is spilt in Nigeria every year

Only when the disaster is coming through the front door does it seem the West takes notice of the ecological catastrophes that are throughout the world, by and large through the inadequate safeguards put in place by Big Corporations. In the ever ongoing rush for higher profits for shareholders and the over-consumption of the general western public we are rapidly destroying vital environments that will take decades or longer to recuperate. With the "clean-up" underway in the US Gulf, it is vital that other parts of the globe are incorporated into the "clean-up" picture/action as well. Maybe there will be some lean years for the shareholders, but surely this is not the time to turn our backs on such pressing, global, environmental carnage. - Beeden

One small positive that may come out of the Deepwater Horizon spill is the slender beam of reflected light cast on the fascinating, tragic story of oil drilling in the Niger Delta.
On Sunday The Observer rather stunningly announced that “more oil is spilled from the Delta’s network of terminals, pipes, pumping stations and oil platforms every year than has been lost in the Gulf of Mexico”. Given the scale and longevity of the disaster in Nigeria the disparity in publicity is troubling.

 Rafiq Copeland @'Crikey'

'Give Me A Beat' by Leilani Clark

The guitarist started talking about Maureen Tucker right after I tried to quit the band for a second time. I was standing by the door, microphone stand in hand, and I had just told my new band mates that if they wanted to find a different drummer, that was okay by me. I’d realized after our second practice that my enthusiasm for playing the drums did not necessarily translate into an ability to play a steady beat. With a drum repertoire limited to two or three rhythms–if I tried to toss in a little bass drum action than those beats became off-kilter and off-beat–I didn’t know how much more I could offer much more beyond the first three songs. What if my simplistic and untrained musicianship made everything sound the same? Sure, they wanted to play raw garage rock, but that didn’t mean every song had to sound like the one that came before.

“Moe Tucker used to flip this on its side,” said Will, the guitarist, as he turned the battered bass drum in the middle of the living room practice space over, “Instead of using a pedal, she played it like another tom.”

“Really?” I said. My dark mood began to lift. What an original trick, made all the more promising because it had been used by the drummer from the Velvet Underground. I’d rather sound like her than Lars Ulrich anyway! Maybe there was still a chance for me to venture beyond the guitar. Maybe I was being too hard on myself, holding onto this idea that music has to be polished and melodic in order to be worth anything. How many bands did I listen to in the nineties that didn’t give a fuck about being perfect? Often times, the rawer and messier the music was, the more I liked it. Huggy Bear, anyone?

“We want a more primitive sound anyway,” added the singer, “And your drumming works for that.”

“I can do that,” I responded, feeling once again inspired to take up the drum sticks, the inadequacy descending back into the pit from whence it came. I promised them I wouldn’t quit the band just yet and that I would go home and listen to tons of Velvet Underground to get all pumped up for our next practice. (I’m listening to their 1969 self-titled record as I write this and I’m reminded that Moe Tucker’s notions about singing were about as high-falutin’ as her drumming philosophy—meaning, no pretension, whatsoever)

Driving home from practice that night, I listened to classic rock on the radio, paying close attention to the percussion, realizing more and more that drumming didn’t have to be complicated. When it comes to drumming, simplicity is the key. I mean, honestly—Neil Peart and Art Blakey are about the only people I want to hear drum solos from anyway.

Later, I stumbled upon a Beat Happening video for the song “Black Candy.” The drummer from my old band was a big-time Beat Happening fan but I’d never really given them a chance. Considered one of the originators of “twee pop,” the band was formed by Calvin Johnson (who is also one of the founders of K Records), Heather Lewis, and Bret Lunsford in 1982. They hailed from Olympia, Washington—a breeding ground for primitive beats and rule-breaking music in the eighties and nineties and probably today. During this particular performance the drummer plays standing up, his only equipment: tom, snare drum, sticks. I watched the video—thinking, “I can do that!” For the millionth time, I remember what drew me to punk rock/DIY in the first place. Primarily, the thundering realization that music and writing do not have to be aesthetically perfect; that in fact, what some consider primitive, ugly or silly can actually be the most stimulating and inspiring art.

I love what Moe Tucker says about her drum “philosophy” in an interview with Drummer Girl Magazine:

“I always think that the drummer’s just supposed to keep time—that’s basically it. I always hated songs where if you rolled at every opportunity, there would be a constant roll throughout the song. Or crashed a cymbal at every opportunity or every place where you felt like you should do that. So I consciously avoided it. While you’re crashing you can’t hear the vocal and you can’t hear the guitar part, you know? I just always felt like the drums shouldn’t take over the song. They should always be under there, obvious, but not taking over the song so that suddenly you realize all you hear is drums.”

So I’m taking on Maureen Tucker and Heather Lewis as my drum gurus, while worshiping at their altar of cool, raw simplicity. Other bands that have taken this approach: Young Marble Giants, The Need, and sometimes, Yo La Tengo.

I’m looking for more inspiration when it comes to simple, innovative and “primitive” drums as I embark on this drumming adventure, so any suggestions are welcome! 

Leilani Clark @'Is Greater Than'

Leilani Clark writes, copy-edits, teaches and plays music in Santa Rosa, California. She blogs about books, music, culture and DIY radness at www.leilaniclark.com.

Glenn Beck promotes book rife with anti-Semitism and racism

What the BP oil spill would look like in Melbourne

To see what it would look like wherever YOU are:

Go

HERE

An interview with Guido

You’re probably already familiar with Guido. The Bristol native, real name Guy Middleton, has released two singles to date (the swollen grime odyssey ‘Orchestral Lab’ and R’n’B joint ‘Beautiful Complication’, both stunning), and last month followed them with Anidea, his debut album and one of the most accomplished LPs that grime or dubstep has produced.

Guido’s musical upbringing is inspired by grime, and as a member of both Peverelist’s Punch Drunk stable and the “Purple Trilogy” with Joker and Gemmy, his ties to dubstep run deep. But Anidea is, at its heart, a pop album, reliant on overwhelming hooks and melodies. Sometimes these are provided by guest vocalists, but mostly they’re courtesy of synthesized instruments; memorably saxophone on the incredible ‘Mad Sax’.

More than anything, you get the feeling that Anidea is just the start for Guido. He’s already stated in another interview that he gets more out of playing piano than he does producing electronic music, and the inspiration he gets from classical music (both in traditional form and in video soundtracks by the likes of Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu) is clear to see on Anidea’s symphonic crescendos. Guido’s got ideas beyond dance music, and I can’t wait to hear how they materialise. We spoke about this and more over email.

You’re trained in both jazz and classical piano – are you from quite a musical family? 

“I wouldn’t say my family is hugely musical but my dad was in a punk band and can play guitar, keyboard, mandolin and various stringed instruments. I’m not trained prolifically in jazz and classical although I have learnt both for a few years.”

What contemporary music were you into early on in life? Any particular acts?

“I use to listen to a lot of hip-hop, R’n’B from the 90’s and so on, that was what I was mainly into.”

When did you start producing? And what sort of stuff were you trying to make then?

“I began to produce whilst I was attending my early secondary school years, I don’t believe I was aware of trying to make a particular style of music, I just wanted to make music!”

You’re always grouped in with dubstep, but you’ve said you used to go to grime nights a lot when you started. Was that stuff a bigger inspiration to you?

“Nope, it was never really the nights that got me inspired, I was just young and wanted to go out with friends.”

What particular grime were you into? ‘Orchestral Lab’ always reminds me of Ruff Sqwad tunes like ‘Lethal Injection’.

“Low deep, Davinche, Dizzee, Wiley to name a few.”

Are you still into much grime now?

“Not as much as I used to be.”

You’ve said that you get more of a thrill out of playing piano more than you do producing – is live instrumentation something you’re going to incorporate more and more into your music?

“We’ll have to see. It feels more enjoyable to play piano than it is to try and make music on a computer sometimes but I do both.”

Do you reckon you’d ever make an all-out piano-led record, like Sven Weisemann with Xine?

“Yeah I don’t see why not!”

The two realms of music that seem to be the biggest influences on you – correct me if I’m wrong – are incredibly different: 8-bit video game sounds, and classical. Is your music an attempt to bridge the two, do you think? It’s something people like Uematsu have done with the Playstation-era Final Fantasy soundtracks, to some extent.

“Could be. Uematsu’s music translates perfectly to an orchestra and that is the nature of his compositions. I guess you could say I’d like to play it by that angle too.”

Obviously you’ve talked about being an Uematsu fan before – what other composers are you particularly into? You heard Hiroki Kikuta’s Secret of Mana score?

“Yes I played the Secret of Mana game so I’m familiar with it, I think the music writers for early Japanese games were a very talented bunch. They had to make music that accompanied the player whilst they played the game and the sound plays an important role in setting a feeling from the game.”

When you work with vocalists, is it usually the case that you build a track and they record on top of it, or is it a more cooperative relationship than that? You ever built a track on top of a raw vocal, for instance?

“With Aarya’s vocal on ‘Beautiful Complication’ I completely built the tune around it. She had written to another beat before and I felt inspired to try making another tune to it. With Yolanda it was very easy I sort of knew how I wanted the singing to go so I sent her another song as an example to show her. I was really happy with what she did.”

How’s your DJing going? You started pretty late – how did you approach learning it, knowing you had to get good really quick now you had bookings?

“I picked it up from going to nights and seeing other Dj’s play. I took advice from friends then practised and got there in the end. I am having a great time as a DJ being able to travel and go to new places and meet people from doing music is a fantastic thing and I appreciate it very much.”

@'fact'

If you haven't heard Guido's new album 'Anidea' I thoroughly recommend that you beg, borrow or steal it as it is a truly remarkable debut.

HA!

Antarctica - Ole Ole (Original Mix)

    

Ex-MTV Executive A Suspect In Promo and Piracy Case

“On Monday, a federal court of appeals in Seattle will consider whether it is legal to resell ‘promo CDs’. You’ve seen them, the CDs mailed out for free by record labels to industry insiders, reviewers, and radio stations, each bearing the label ‘promotional use only, not for resale’,” writes the EFF in an article titled “Why Your Right To Sell Promo CDs Matters.”

The case sees Universal Music Group take on an eBay seller called “Roast Beast Music”. Roast Beast Music buys promo CDs at used record stores and sells them on eBay. In 2008 Roast Beast Music won its case but Universal, undeterred, appealed the decision.

Over the pond in the UK a similar question could be answered shortly.

Earlier this year TorrentFreak learned of raids quietly carried out against members of an Internet release group, a case that is still ongoing. In the course of our investigations into this event we stumbled across another release group whose sources for new material had suddenly and coincidentally dried up. It didn’t take long to work out that both groups somehow had a connection to the same supplier.

Our investigations then led us to look closer at an eBay account which had been offering, amongst other things, promo CDs. The individual behind the ‘popculture4sale’ account clearly had access to a huge number of them and had conducted many thousands of sales through the site.

Armed with the user names of both the seller and some of the buyers we started digging deeper and asking questions, and we were surprised at what we found.

In 2006 a row blew up on an online forum over some unreleased tracks being sold on eBay. Someone interested in finding out who was behind the sales obtained the seller’s address. That address was a perfect match for the contact address provided for ex-MTV executive James Hyman on his personal website.

Hyman began his career at MTV Europe in 1988 as Press Officer but later went on to become Senior Producer, Director and Programmer. His achievements there were impressive.

“From 1988 to 2000, Hyman steered MTV through the emerging UK dance music scene, from its inception (the acid house explosion) right through to its current global multi-million dollar culture. Hyman’s MTV shows featured over 500 in-depth interviews with all the major players, many unknown at time of interview: The Prodigy, Goldie, Moby, David Holmes, Chemical Brothers, Underworld, Paul Oakenfold, Aphex Twin etc,” reads information from Hyman’s personal website.

“Hyman, involved in all aspects of MTV’s playlist strategy & programme production was also responsible for producing, directing and editing over 250 pop videos, including clips for Fatboy Slim, New Order, Mike Oldfield, Moby, Prince & Michael Jackson,” it adds.

The row about promo sales played out on the NuSkoolBreaks forum. However, it seems that Hyman, who had left MTV at the time of the transactions and had joined London’s XFM as a DJ, took exception to having his real name, address and associated eBay account linked in public. Hyman went on to threaten the forum’s administrator with legal action, should he not take down the information. The multi-page thread in question was edited, but not enough to obscure who the discussion was about.

So here we are back in 2010 and it seems that despite the probability that Hyman obtained said promos 100% legitimately and probably had little or zero idea the music would turn up on the Internet, he appears to be in considerable trouble. A source close to Hyman confirmed to TorrentFreak that he became a suspect in the case several months ago and has been answering bail.

In the weeks prior to posting this article TorrentFreak contacted Hyman via his current company website twice and gave him an outline of what we know along with an opportunity to contribute and comment, but we have received no responses.

According to his site, Hyman has a personal media library which includes over one million magazines, in excess of 50,000 vinyl records and more than 50,000 CDs. That’s several lifetimes worth of viewing and listening. Clearing some of them out on eBay seems to make perfect sense – how much music can one person listen to?

But that said, this situation provides much food for thought. If someone legitimately and freely gives a another person an item, should they then be entitled to do with it as they please? With just about any other item on this planet that would be fine. With promo copies of music, it seems to be a different story.

enigmax @'Torrent Freak'

Cat outta the bag dept..

The Strokes are to play a secret gig at my old stomping ground of Dingwalls in Camden Lock tomorrow night!

Brilliant! The best audience ever!

@'Dangerous Minds'

(Thanx Mr. Christmass!)

John McDonnell apologises for Thatcher 'joke' offence 

No offence taken...

Many years ago Thatcher came out to Melbourne to open the first Body Shop out here. I went on the demo and one point it was just me, the glass of the shop window and her! Firstly I was amazed how tiny this woman who had terrorised me in the UK was and secondly if only I had had a...

The best 'muso' joke ever...

What's the difference between a drummer and a gynaecologist?

Answer after the jump cut

Shanghai: 1990 VS 2010

@'skyscrapercity'

Icons

William S. Burroughs & Joe Strummer

Aidan John Moffat - I Can Hear Your Heart

HERE

Rafael Benitez ready to raid Liverpool FC’s backroom staff

The beez kneez...

...and antenna & eye!

HERE

"...illegal and unethical human experimentation and research"

The Torture Papers

HERE

Boing Boing spoke with the lead medical author of the report, Dr. Scott Allen, who is co-director of the Center For Prisoner Health and Human Rights at Brown University, and Medical Advisor to PHR. 

HERE

WTF??? (Your one stop shop for all yr 'girlz w/ gunz' needs...)

You can buy this which would go very well with this:

Of course feel free to send me the resulting photos...

For Anne XXX

♪♫ Grateful Dead - Ripple

Rabbi Who Recorded Helen Thomas Now Suffers From His Own Viral Video Past

Arab Strap - 17th March 2001 Punters Club Fitzroy Melbourne

Arab Strap

17th March 2001

Punters Club Melbourne Australia

Taper: Brett Habel

01 - Intro 00:37

02 - Packs of Three 03:38

03 - Not Quite a Yes 03:19

04 - Pro-(Your)Life 03:51

05 - Tanned 03:45

06 - Bullseye 04:25

07 - Blackness 05:34

08 - Hello Daylight 04:13

09 - Kate Moss 03:13

10 - Here We Go 05:34

11 - The Devil-Tips 06:05

12 - Amor Veneris 04:27

Encore:

13 - Islands 03:43

14 - Soaps 05:28

15 - Blood 04:17

62:47

HERE

Was this really nine years ago?

A really good night and great to hear it again...

The long lost debut album 'Coming Down' (only 5 copies were made) can be found

HERE

WOW!

What an amazing blog!!!

#BPGlobalPR

US reporter Helen Thomas quits over Israel comments

Constructing a Song: Trent Reznor’s Cacophony of Beats

Lots of musicians have studios; Trent Reznor [] has an alchemist’s laboratory. On hiatus from touring, the Nine Inch Nails frontman has stuffed a converted garage with blinking electronic doodads, from modded synthesizers and sequencers to archaic drum machines. Reznor is using all this gear for his new band, How to Destroy Angels. Here’s how one song off the group’s forthcoming EP evolved from a seeming cacophony of beats and weird noise into a dense, polyrhythmic track.

Continue reading (with audio samples)

@'Wired'

Scenes From A Mob

Via Ben Smith, the Bergen Record’s Mike Kelly lets the anti-Ground Zero mosque set display its canny and subtle understanding of Islam:

At one point, a portion of the crowd menacingly surrounded two Egyptian men who were speaking Arabic and were thought to be Muslims.
“Go home,” several shouted from the crowd.
“Get out,” others shouted.
In fact, the two men – Joseph Nassralla and Karam El Masry — were not Muslims at all. They turned out to be Egyptian Coptic Christians who work for a California-based Christian satellite TV station called “The Way.” Both said they had come to protest the mosque.
“I’m a Christian,” Nassralla shouted to the crowd, his eyes bulging and beads of sweat rolling down his face.
But it was no use. The protesters had become so angry at what they thought were Muslims that New York City police officers had to rush in and pull Nassralla and El Masry to safety.

At some point, we simply have to recognize that these people are the real useful idiots. Build the Ground Zero Mosque.

@'Attackerman'

Dispersal of Oil Means Cleanup to Take Years, Official Says

Congotronics Minimix from Crammed Discs

     

(Thanx to HerrB for pointing this one out, the new Konono No 1 album is sublime btw!)

Music Stirs the Embers of Protest in Iran

Parisa remembers the precise moment she heard her first song by Shahin Najafi, an Iranian rapper living in exile in Germany, on her illegal satellite television in the small city of Karadj, west of Tehran.

“His words cut through me like a knife,” she said.

Parisa, a 24-year-old university student, stayed up long after midnight one night, when the Internet connection was faster, and spent six hours downloading Mr. Najafi’s songs.

Since the Iranian authorities have cracked down on the demonstrations that rocked the country after a disputed election a year ago, a flood of protest music has rushed in to comfort and inspire the opposition. If anything, as the street protests have been silenced, the music has grown louder and angrier.

The government has tried all manner of methods to mute what has become known as “resistance music.” It has blocked Web sites used to download songs and shut down social networking sites, which the opposition also used to organize protests and distribute videos of government and paramilitary violence.

In April, a shadowy pro-government group that calls itself “the cyber army” shut down Mr. Najafi’s Web site. The group, which hacked Iranian Twitter in December, left a message saying the site had been “conquered by anonymous soldiers of Imam Zaman,” a reference to the Shiite messiah.

In late December, the authorities detained Shahram Nazeri, a prominent Persian classical musician who had recorded the song “We Are Not Dirt or Dust,” a tart response to the words President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad used to characterize the antigovernment protesters. The government briefly took his passport, detained and intimidated him; he has not released anything since.

But clamping down on music in the digital age is like squeezing a wet sponge. Protest songs are downloaded on the Internet, sold in the black market or shared via Bluetooth, a wireless technology that Iranians have adapted to share files on cellphones, bypassing the Internet altogether. Fans have also made dozens of homemade videos, setting montages of protest images to music and posting them online.

Parisa first heard Mr. Najafi’s song on Pars TV, an opposition satellite channel beamed out of Los Angeles. And, despite being blocked by the government since last summer, Mr. Najafi’s Web site can still be found by computer-savvy Iranians with the help of circumvention software.

“Music has become a tool for resisting the regime,” said Abbas Milani, the director of Iranian studies at Stanford University. “Music has never been as extensive and diverse as it is today.”

The music of dissent spreads virally, so there are no Billboard or Nielsen SoundScan charts to quantify its popularity. But the anecdotal evidence is persuasive.

An opposition Web site has posted about 100 protest songs recorded since the election. About two dozen of them honor Neda Agha-Soltan, the 26-year-old teacher shot at a protest in Tehran in June who became an icon of the opposition after her last moments were captured on a video that has since been widely circulated.

Street vendors in Tehran sell bootleg CDs and MP3s at traffic lights for $2 or $3. Protest music plays on stereos at parties and from cars on the streets, Tehran residents say. Music blasting from car speakers at a stoplight has become one of the more public ways still available to signal to others that the spirit of struggle still lives.

The music can just as easily turn up in quiet and unexpected places. Niki, 25, who, like others quoted in this article, withheld her family name for fear of retribution, said that at a bookstore in downtown Tehran she found the salesman, a man in his 60s, weeping while listening to a new song by Mohammad Reza Shajarian called “Brother, Drop Your Gun.” After more than 70 protesters were killed by government and paramilitary forces during the postelection demonstrations, according to the opposition, the song, based on an old poem, was a melancholic plea to the soldiers to end the violence.

“I had seen people at protests carrying banners with those words, ‘Brother, drop your gun,’ ” Niki said, “but this scene was much more emotional.”

The government’s success in repressing dissent may help explain the increasingly angry tone the music has taken and the popularity of artists like Mr. Najafi, who tap that anger.

If Mohsen Namjoo, the folk troubadour whose poetic lyrics and tuneful melodies appeal to older listeners, is, as he has been called, the Persian Bob Dylan, Mr. Najafi may be the Rage Against the Islamic Revolutionary Machine, whose harsh lyrics and hip-hop beats have captivated Iranian youth.

His verses, according to e-mail messages he has received from former prisoners, have been scrawled on prison walls and hummed behind bars. His bitter ode to repression, “Our Doggy Life,” has become something of an anthem to a generation:

Shut your mouth; accept the condition; this is the tradition of the Prophet; accept it; man or woman, there is no difference, die; this is our doggy life.

As Mr. Najafi sees it, anger is an honest response to the beatings, killings and executions the government has meted out to dissidents.

“The anger in my music comes from deep within me,” he said in a telephone interview from his home in Cologne, Germany. “I am a man who is always shouting sadly and angrily.”

A native of the Caspian city of Bandar Anzali, Mr. Najafi bought his first guitar when he was 18, and by 25 he had been thrown out of Iran for a song he wrote satirizing clerics. Although Iran’s ban on pop music, condemned by the revolution as un-Islamic, was softened in 2000, during the reform era of President Mohammad Khatami, only apolitical music was tolerated.

Mr. Najafi’s satirical “I Have a Beard” crossed the line, and a three-year prison sentence and 100 lashes await him if he returns. Like other Iranian artists in exile, his heart is bisected by borders: his life is in Germany, where he has artistic freedom, but his homeland will always be Iran.

Helplessly watching the events of last summer from about 2,500 miles away affected him deeply.

“I still belong to my country and feel their pain,” he said. “Distance has no meaning with Internet. We are a generation that was always suppressed and humiliated, which makes you sad and angry.”

The government-sponsored violence enraged other artists, too. In a song about last June’s election, Arash Sobhani, of the rock band Kiosk, calls the clerics who supervised the elections “dinosaurs” and says, “Compassion under the blow of batons; we all saw your justice.”

Even the Dylanesque Mr. Namjoo adopted more strident language in his last album, going so far as to ridicule the supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as the “supreme position of superiority.”

Although his lyrics are more metaphorical than Mr. Najafi’s, they, too, are angry.

“People are considered brave in Iran because whatever they do — from riding a motorcycle in the chaotic traffic of Tehran to staging protests against the government — is risky,” he said. “You have to constantly live with fear.”

Today, Mr. Namjoo lives in Palo Alto, Calif. But the fear, he said, never goes away. 

Nazila Fathi @'NY Times'

Eye Candy

Reflections by a Former US Marine on the Mavi Marmara On Cowardice and Violence

Ken O'Keefe was on the Mavi Mamara, he describes some of the events as they unfolded for the people on board, from the taking of the ship to his and others experience imprisoned on land. From this experience he has issued a challenge to ANY Israeli apologists to debate him over the affair.

"Please explain how we, the defenders of the Mavi Mamara, are not the modern example of Gandhi’s essence? But first read the words of Gandhi himself. I do believe that, where there is only a choice between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence.... I would rather have India resort to arms in order to defend her honour than that she should, in a cowardly manner, become or remain a helpless witness to her own dishonour. – Gandhi And lastly I have one more challenge. I challenge any critic of merit, publicly, to debate me on a large stage over our actions that day. I would especially love to debate with any Israeli leader who accuses us of wrongdoing, it would be my tremendous pleasure to face off with you. All I saw in Israel was cowards with guns, so I am ripe to see you in a new context. I want to debate with you on the largest stage possible. Take that as an open challenge and let us see just how brave Israeli leaders are."

@'Counterpunch'

Ex-Stereophonics drummer Stuart Cable found dead at Aberdare home

Welsh rock star Stuart Cable has been found dead at his Aberdare home this morning.

The body of the former Stereophonics drummer was discovered at about 5.30am.

His mother Mabel, who will be 80 this year, said: “Stuart has travelled all over the world with the band and I have worried myself silly.

“He is now settled down and then this has happens. It has not sunk in yet.”

Stuart's brother Paul said: "The family has no further comment to make at this stage. It is in the hands of the police."

South Wales Police confirmed the sudden death of a 40-year-old man. The cause of death has not yet been established but there are no suspicious circumstances at this stage.

Next of kin have been informed.

South Wales Valleys coroner Peter Maddox has also been informed.

BBC Radio Wales has cancelled 'Tom Jones Day' as a mark of respect to Stuart Cable and his family.

A spokesperson for the BBC said: "Sadly BBC Radio Wales presenter and former Steroephonics drummer, Stuart Cable was found dead this morning. The BBC has decided to pull the Tom Jones birthday party as a sign of respect. Our thoughts go out to all at BBC Wales."

@'WalesOnline'