Sunday 6 January 2013

Kurt Vonnegut on how to write a short story

Via

The Steubenville Files

Good Morning Pyongyang

Via

Alan Moore: The Goebbels of the English language

Friday 4 January 2013

♪♫ The xx - Sunset (Jamie xx Edit)

Moving at the sound of speed...

Watch the Only Known Footage of the Legendary Bluesman Lead Belly (1935 and 1945)

Thursday 3 January 2013

First Listen: Broadcast - Berberian Sound Studio

The music world suffered a devastating loss when Broadcast's Trish Keenan died of complications from pneumonia two years ago; she was only 42. The U.K. singer could make seemingly random words shimmer with power and poignancy, as if she were casting a spell. With partner and bandmate James Cargill, Keenan released four widely loved albums during the '00s, and in the process left an indelible mark on the history of underground music.
At the time of Keenan's death, she and Cargill were working on the soundtrack to a psychological thriller called Berberian Sound Studio, an independent film about a sound engineer who loses his mind while working on the set of a kitschy horror movie. It was the perfect project for Broadcast, whose music often mined the subconscious.
Cargill took Keenan's recordings for the score and pieced together a gorgeous tapestry of sound that's as serene as it is spooky. Almost devoid of drums or repetition, these tiny vignettes float by one after the other, no one track explicitly memorable on its own but unmistakably Broadcast when consumed in succession. It's rare that an original score works so well as an audio-only experience; in that regard, the Berberian Sound Studio album (out Jan. 8) recalls Popol Vuh's 1970s work for Werner Herzog. Visuals aren't necessary to lose yourself in this music. If anything, the album works best when the listener's eyes stay shut.
For fans of Trish Keenan and Broadcast, Berberian Sound Studio is a godsend. For those who haven't yet discovered the mysterious, wonderful music they made together, may it act as a gateway into one of the finest bands of the 21st century.
Otis Hart @'npr'

Listen HERE

Chavela Vargas (1919 - 2012)

...Even when Vargas was young and her voice still as transparent as mezcal, she danced with her lyrics tacuachito-style, cheek to cheek, pounded them on the bar, made them jump like dice, spat and hissed and purred like the woman jaguar she claimed to be and finished with a volley that entered the heart like a round of bullets from the pistol she stashed in her belt.

Chavela Vargas

Leslie Winer - Burden/Drone HouseHolder Mix

Tom Verlaine Signed and Inscribed Television Bootleg For Sale

A copy of the Television bootleg album "Television with Bryan Eno" signed and inscribed by Tom Verlaine. On the back of this album of Television studio sessions, Verlaine has crossed out credits on two sides and written "All this info is full of shit. Tom Verlaine." We've seen the odd signed bootleg before, but never one with an inscription as great as this. This album was obtained in the 70's from a Philadelphia record store; it's in NM/EX+ condition. With our written lifetime guarantee of authenticity.
HERE
(Thanx Chuck!)