At a glance, the script for The Cherry Thing might have been recycled: A global pop star returns from a long hiatus with an album of covers, backed by a jazz band. But nothing about this record's sound — or its backstory, for that matter — even remotely suggests Rod Stewart, Linda Ronstadt or Paul McCartney singing standards.
Subverting the starring role is the singer and rapper Neneh Cherry, whose hors categorie dance-pop ("Buffalo Stance," etc.) earned her 15 minutes of international fame in the late 1980s and '90s. In the time since she released her last solo LP in 1996, three Norwegian and Swedish free-jazz musicians formed a remarkably versatile band. The Thing — with Mats Gustafsson on saxophones, Ingebrigt Haker Flaten on bass, Paal Nilssen-Love on drums — is as happy trading blows with fire-breathing saxophonists as it is rocking out on a PJ Harvey tune or "Louie Louie."
This collaboration dates back only two years, but its ties run deep. Neneh Cherry, whose mother is Swedish, grew up largely in Sweden and the U.S.; The Thing's members are from Scandinavia and have racked up many American collaborators (Flaten currently lives in Austin, Texas). Neneh Cherry's discography lists work with punk rockers, trip-hop pioneers and African pop icons; The Thing is known for its unmediated punk energy and its recordings with The Cato Salsa Experience, a Swedish rock band. Cherry's stepfather is the American improvising cornetist Don Cherry, and she spent much of her childhood touring with him and his fellow jazz legends; The Thing initially met expressly to play Don Cherry compositions, and named itself after one of his songs.
So it makes sense that they cover electronic punk duo Suicide (the beautiful "Dream Baby Dream"), English vocalist and songwriter Martina Topley-Bird (the driving "Too Tough to Die"), hard-rock band The Stooges ("Dirt"), prolix rapper MF Doom (an interpolation of the lyrics of "Accordion"). There are also fetching originals from Cherry and Gustafsson, as well as an inventive reconfiguration of a Don Cherry theme ("Golden Heart"). It's a wild record, in an expect-the-unexpected sort of way; it's also a homemade record, in that its arrangements feel spontaneous and minimally varnished by studio polish. It's a raw record, in the way that a go-anywhere singer encounters an upright bass, a baritone saxophone and an actual drum set.
Out June 19, The Cherry Thing winds down with "What Reason," a remarkably appropriate choice for the strengths and pre-history of this band. It's an aching, sawing melody; it was also one of the few vocal features penned by free-jazz trailblazer Ornette Coleman, a close associate of Don Cherry. It closes here on a peaceful a cappella strain: "Only when I'm without you," Neneh Cherry sings. Then, a most present silence. Patrick Jarenwattananon @'npr'
The notorious Black Spades was once the largest and most feared gang in New York City. Hailing from the Bronx, the Spades had as their warlord, Hip Hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa. They were the precursors to Hip Hop.. We caught up with many of the members including original leader Bam Bam who gave Bambaataa his name. We spoke with Hip Hop legend Popmaster Fabel who is finishing up a documentary on early gang culture called 'The Apache line'.
We also hear from Karate Charlie who was the President of the Ghetto Brothers which was another large Street Orginazation highlighted in Jeff Chang's book 'Can't Stop Won't Stop'. The Black Spades
"...The best solution, in my opinion, is to regulate it. Then you can
control it. The only ID a dealer needs to see now is a £20 note. If you
had to go to a shop [to buy it], you would no doubt need to prove how
old you were. If you had difficulties, you could get advice about it.
Prohibition is not control at all. It's just shoving it under the carpet
and trying to ignore it; a foolhardy idea."
Cyber threats, hacker attacks and laws officially aiming to tackle
internet piracy, but in fact infringing people's rights to online
privacy. It's an increasingly topical subject - and the world's most
famous whistleblower is aiming to get to the heart of it. In the latest
edition of his interview program here on RT, Julian Assange gets
together with activists from the Cypherpunk movement - Andy
Müller-Maguhn, Jeremie Zimmermann, and Jacob Appelbaum.
At a sunny flea market, Robin tries to sell her own
made-up stories. As she tells one of her stories with increasing
confidence to a potential customer, all the main characters come alive
and anxiously listen in.
This short children's animation has lead in the movie 'The Smurfs' in
all Pathe Cinemas in the Netherlands as part of the Ultrakort 2
initiative by The Netherlands Film Fund and Pathe.
Visit us at polderanimation.com or follow us on facebook.com/polderanimation Via
Three-part series about the history of punk. Daydreaming England was
about to be rudely awakened as punk emerged from the London underground
scene and a nation dropped its dinner in its lap when the Sex Pistols
swore on primetime television. Punk had finally found its enemy - the
establishment. It began to extend its three-chord vocabulary through an
alliance with reggae, captured by the Clash on White Man in Hammersmith
Palais. A disastrous PR stunt by the Pistols on a Thames barge marked a
turning point - the darker underbelly of the summer of '77 saw race
riots in Lewisham, the backdrop for a rawer, working class sound. By '78
punk was becoming a costume - the pop orthodoxy it had originally
sought to destroy. For many punk ended when the Pistols split, beset by
internal problems, following an abortive US tour in January '78. Those
practitioners who would go on to enjoy sustained success sought to
modify their sound to survive, such as Siouxsie Sioux, leading to the
post-punk era
UN observers today entered the village of Mazraat al-Qubeir to verify
reports of mass killings in the village. After hours of coordination
with local authorities and communities in the area, the observers were
able to access the village at 3:30 local time. Mazraat
al-Qubier was empty of its own residents and thus the observers were
not able to talk to anyone who witnessed Wednesday's horrific tragedy. Upon
the arrival of UN observers villagers from a neighbouring town came and
spoke of what they heard and the relatives they lost.
Bmp tracks were visible in the vicinity. Some homes were damaged by rockets from bmps, grenades and a range of caliber weapons. Inside some of the houses, the walls and floors were splatted with blood. Fire was still burning outside houses and there was a strong stench of burnt flesh in the air.
The
circumstances surrounding this crime are still unclear. The number and
names of those killed are still not confirmed. The observers are still
working to ascertain the facts.
The observers were not able to
enter Mazraat al-Qubeir yesterday despite multiple attempts throughout
the whole day. Their mission was obstructed by three factors: • They are being stopped at Syrian Army checkpoints and in some cases turned back. • Some of our patrols are being stopped by civilians in the area. •
We are receiving information from residents of the area that the safety
of our observers is at risk if we enter village of Mazraat al-Qubeir.
SHOTLIST: 1. Various shots, UNSMIS military observers approaching Syria Al-Kubeir village 2. Close up of UNISMIS observer driving next to a shelled house 3. Close up walls of shelled house with holes and bullets marks 4. Wide, burning smoke outside house 5. Wide, wide hole from shelled house with UNSMIS military observers on the background 6. Wide , various UNSMIS military observers walking inside Al-Kubeir village 7. Med, Inside house , unidentified men showing mattress spattered with blood and bullet holes next on the walls 8. Close up of blood stained mattress 9. Med, Unidentified man holding sheet with some human flesh remains 10. Med, Blood stained floor 11. Close up pool of blood 13. Med, Unidentified man pointing at picture frame of man inside house , then breaks down crying. 14. Wide, shelled house 15. Med, UNSMIS civilian staff going through rubble 16. (Soundbite )(Arabic) Man: "Young
children, infants, my brother,his wife and seven children, the eldest
only in 6th grade all dead. I will show you the blood. They burnt his
house." 17. Wide, of shelled village 18. Med, close up UN personnel gathering evidence on the ground
Qat is a natural amphetamine cultivated in the Horn of Africa. Its leaves are chewed by millions of people around the world, nurturing a business worth billions that connects the Kenyan and Ethiopian highlands to lands as far as the UK, the United States and China.
Labelled as a ‘drug of abuse’ by the World Health
Organisation, Qat has been banned in most European countries for charges
over funding international terrorism. Nonetheless, the qat
trade provides livelihood to millions.
What a huge debt this nation owes to its
"troublemakers." From Thomas Paine to Martin Luther King, Jr., they
have forced us to focus on problems we would prefer to downplay or
ignore. Yet it is often only with hindsight that we can distinguish
those troublemakers who brought us to our senses from those who were
simply troublemakers. Prudence, and respect for the constitutional
rights to free speech and free association, therefore dictate that the
legal system cut all non-violent protesters a fair amount of slack.
These observations are prompted by the
instant lawsuit, in which a putative class of some 700 or so “Occupy
Wall Street” protesters contend they were unlawfully arrested while
crossing the Brooklyn Bridge on October 1, 2011. More narrowly, the
pending motion to dismiss the suit raises the issue of whether a
reasonable observer would conclude that the police who arrested the
protesters had led the protesters to believe that they could lawfully
march on the Brooklyn Bridge’s vehicular roadway.
US District Court Southern District of New York Judge Jed Rakoff Via