To Share in Times of Austerity

It is Friday, but I began this post earlier as the above image stuck a chord in relation to the pirate utopias of the late William Burroughs (ever a comfort for me). Since I composed the above collage: Greek Rioters and The Wild Boys, riots have started in the Swedish city of Malmö. In the neighborhood of Rosengård youths have been running amok overnight. I wonder which European state is next for all night anarchy?


La Haine: Matthieu Kassovitz 1995 stark depiction of life in a Paris project is just as relevant today. Powerful performances and harsh images shot in black and white and intercut with actual footage from the riots. Said Taghmaoui is right on the money as one of three friends the movie follows for one day in the aftermath of a violent street riot.

Walking to work this morning most of the snow has melted and it was just under 5 degrees Celsius. A week before Christmas! Global warming is clear near the arctic (I live at Latitude 63° 50'). Five thousand Swedes are loosing their jobs every week at the moment (not the same people over and over again..ha ha...but throughout the whole country).

In related news, I am well, the family is fine, holidays (PhD code for 'working at home') have started and we have a Christmas tree. "Now we don our gay apparel, fa la la la la la la". On to the recommended media for the week found on the web:

You & Me on a Jamboree!
Reaggae, Roots, Dub, Ska: Music blog from Brazil lost of Mp3s of whole albums.

Monitor - webbradio - sr.se
Special with Karl Bartos: formerly of Kraftwerk and now sound artist and academic

Whole Earth Review Fall 1989 - Electronic Edition
The Alien Intelligence of Plants.....Edited by Terrence McKenna

UbuWeb Sound - Gertrude Stein
From A Gertrude Stein Reader, Northwestern University Press, 1993 These sound recordings are being made available for noncommercial and educational use only. All rights to this recorded material belong to the Estate of Gertrude Stein. © 2005 Estate of Gertrude Stein. Used with permission of Estate of Gertrude Stein, through its Literary Executor, Mr. Stanford Gann, Jr. of Levin & Gann, P.A Distributed by Penn Sound and UbuWeb.

The Wild Boys (1996)
Composer: Colin Bright
Performers: Synergy Percussion
4 Saxophones, 4 Percussion + samples of William S. Burroughs
This is the first in a series of pieces to shift focus somewhat towards a more urban psychoscape. The elements of 'place' are still there, but are less obvious. The title is drawn from the novel by William S. Burroughs. It is basically about homosexual warrior packs out to save the world from an oppressive police state. Samples of Burroughs readings are integrated into the music of four saxes and four percussion. This work was awarded the Sounds Australian Composition of the Year 1996, and was also selected in the Recommened-for-Broadcast List of 10 pieces at the Paris Rostrum 1997. It was subsequently the most broadcast piece.

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy & Captain Anomoanon :: 2006
As Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy prepared to embark on what would become a very busy fall of 2006, he played two very special nights at Joe’s Pub in New York City. With brothers Paul and Ned Oldham (Will Oldham/BPB/Palace Music), the trio blistered through nearly 40 covers, nearly all traditionals - playing only one original (“Cursed Sleep” in its pre-release form). Below are three of those shows (all but the first night’s late show). Enjoy, and hat tip to the original taper.

Mahikari
Taking their name from a Japanese religious movement that translates to "true light", Mahikari is the combination of two of Japan's most creative guitarists. Acid Mother's Temple's Makoto Kawabata and Yamamoto Seichie of the Boredoms combining forces sounds like it could either be incredible or incoherent, but thankfully it leans much more to the former on this collaboration. As expected they open things up with a long and winding rumination on the various uses of stings, amps and distortion before plowing on through the rest of the record, touching on walls of noise and psych-wrangled blues along the way. The pair is tethered, though ever so slightly by the able drumming of former Thin White Rope pounder Stoo Odom. This was released in a super limited vinyl edition (of course) but has thankfully begun popping up in a few digital outlets as well. Absolutely brilliant performances from all involved.

Next week is a bit of a mystery. I will be online as usual, but waking and sleeping times become very mixed when I don't go to work. So we shall see. Solstice on Sunday, I will be playing didgeridoo somewhere at sunset as part of the Worldwide Didgeridoo Mediation. Om Gaia!