Saturday, October 31, 2009

Share the Media



The week peels away like the back of a Bondi surfer and I am tired but happy. Another thesis chapter was submitted this week. Autumn has flat-lined and winter appears to be ready to enter the scene. Old friends appear on social media sites and others are expected in the flesh in the coming week.
I am ready for free media as I am sure you are as well:


4 Cool Things I Found On the Internet This Week
Hal Blaine - Psychedelic Percussion - 1967 The Most Prolific Dadaist in Golden Age Hollywood
Hal Blaine: Psychedelic Percussion
Failed Pilot for 1967 Dick Tracy TV Series (with Ventures Theme Song)
Gallery of Hand Painted Movie Posters from Ghana

Psychedelic Jukebox: Sadhu Sadhu - 2009 - Live at the Hideout
Sadhu have a Live Album, self-released by the band and/or for free download (see link above). fuzzed out psychedelic rock! the sound quality is not the best, but the music quality is for sure! also have a look on their myspace site: www.myspace.com/sadhusadhu

what i like ( The House Of Fun)
Ladies and gentlemen please Would you bring your attention to me? For a feast for your eyes to see An explosion of catastrophe Like nothing you've ever seen before Watch closely as I open this door Your jaws will be on the floor After this you'll be begging for more Welcome to the show Please come inside Things I like Music Wrestling Chilling Partying sex and You.

Howard Rheingold's Vlog
One of the most knowledgeable people I have ever met. He has a vlog. His name is Howard.

What's in my Ipod
Incredible collection of the obscure and pure. Excellent Mp3 blog.

The Women of the Avant-Garde / Avant-Garde All the Time : The Poetry Foundation
Sound clips from Kathy Acker, Laurie Anderson, Caroline Bergvall, Denise Levertov, Lydia Lunch, Patti Smith, Eileen Myles, and many more.

Angus MacLise (1938-1979) Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda (1968) Brain Damage in Oklahoma City (rec. 1968-1972) and from Aspen No. 9
Angus MacLise (Bridgeport, Connecticut, March 4, 1938 - Kathmandu, Nepal June 21, 1979) was an American percussionist, composer, poet, occultist and calligrapher probably best known as the first drummer for the Velvet Underground. MacLise was a member of La Monte Young's Theater of Eternal Music, with John Cale, Tony Conrad, Marian Zazeela and sometimes Terry Riley. He contributed to the early Fluxus newspaper VTre, edited by George Brecht, and was also an early member of The Velvet Underground, having been brought into the group by flatmate John Cale when they were living at 56 Ludlow Street.

Comets on Fire. The Black Cassette

The Comets On Fire "Black Cassette". This sucker is so rare and forgotten I didn't even give it a catalog release number on my Silver Currant label when we made them. Just its number out of 21 made. Most often in Comets, Noel or I would make these at 2:30 am the night before heading out on tour and we'd just pull old rehearsal recordings from out of a box of hundreds that we have and find a couple killer 20 minute free jams and dub one on each side and there you go. So that's what this is. The cover is made of black lightweight construction paper, the comet symbol is burned into the paper by bleach, the Comets title is silk screened in gray ink and it was numbered in pencil.





Its not where you think it is.........

vast multiplicities of ideas and images




“Sartre and Kerouac attempted to organize vast multiplicities of ideas and images through some forms of totalizing structure. This was Sartre’s project in The Critique, and it was also the function of the theory of spontaneous-bop poetics. Sartre used Hegel and Marx to try and achieve a “theory of practical ensembles”; Kerouac and the other Beat writers used jazz or Mahayana Buddhism to work through spontaneity or improvisation to produce self-organizing texts. In both cases, the writers tried to find a way of going beyond meaning. This was the great challenge of cybernetic culture - the idea of “the net” being its most current form. Sartre and the Beatniks stand on two sides of the great divide opened up by post-World War II civilization: Sartre trying to hold on to rationalism, even as rationalism decimates larger and larger human populations, while the Beats flee into the transcendental East – both fueled by over-the-counter stimulants”
Marcus Boon, 'The Road of Excess: A History of Writers on Drugs’ p201.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Charles Ess in HUMlab



Seminar in HUMlab November 3rd 1:15pm (CET)
Professor Charles Ess
Ess is a distinguished researcher and pioneer in internet studies. Recent
publications include Digital Media Ethics (Polity Press, 2009). See for
http://www.drury.edu/ess/about.html and http://www.drury.edu/ess/ for more
information.


HUMlab. Date/time: Nov 3, 1.15 pm. The seminar is open to everyone.

Trust and Democracy Online?

Trust is an essential requirement in human existence generally and specifically in our social and political engagements with one another.

At the same time, however, our lives - including our political lives - increasingly take place in online environments that raise notorious difficulties for establishing and maintaining trust. In response to my title question, I will review some representative characterizations of trust, followed by three major obstacles to trust and democracy in online settings. I conclude with some reasons for optimism that trust - but perhaps not democracy - can be fostered and sustained online.

The seminar will also be streamed live on http://live.humlab.umu.se/ (link opens at time of seminar) and archived on http://stream.humlab.umu.se/.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

There are Always Videos

Things have not been exactly hectic on this blog in recent months. Doing the final stages of a PhD thesis is cutting into my time to write about anything else. However, I have no intention of giving up blogging. In fact in recent weeks I have been reawakened to the amazing opportunities and learning experiences that blogging makes possible. At the same time, it is time that restricts my ability to produce content here. I have a lot of ideas (too many) but bringing them to form and fruition is not something I can invest in at the moment. This has resulted in an increased focus on my Vlog. Video blogging is not logocentric in the same way a written journal-type blog is. Blogging videos is quick and there is no end of inspirational films on the net. So, I urge any readers of this blog who have found some resonance with what I am concerned with and their own interests to check out Soul Vlog. Here is a taste of my taste in the moving image;



9 is a computer animated short film by Shane Acker released in 2005 as a student project. Tim Burton saw the film and was so impressed by its artistic vision that he went on to produce an almost feature-length adaptation called 9 (2009), directed by Acker and distributed by Focus Features.

A lot more is HERE

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Free the Space Hijackers



“The vehicle, owned by anarchist pranksters the Space Hijackers, bore a number of fake CCTV cameras bolted onto its turret, a plastic pipe with holes in it for a gun and a bumper sticker that read “How Do You Like My Driving? 0800 F**K YOU”. It blared Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries from a sound system. If you can show me a police force that does all that, I can show you a police force on acid.” Leah Borromeo
Continental Drift

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Weekend Show





Images from the performance on saturday night in Skellefteå. Bonus Diallo, Adil Fadi and me. If you are especially keen to hear what it sounded like, there is a large rough .wav file that can be downloaded from here. But it is 812 MB for 24 mins. Its not meant to be shared. Its meant to be tidied up.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Sharing Some Media

Back into the week with a week long course in sign language and other sundry affairs. So much to do, just a few minutes to spread some joy in the form of downloadable and streamable media located by myself, the Dim Locator. Here is few things and keep enjoying the sounds of everything.

Internet Archive: Free Download: Capitose Windowpane

"Last night I saw a man in my sleep who brought me to a utopia of pyramids and sourceless rays of light and the gates read scrambled letters that presented themselves in a foreign manner beyond inherent human synthesis. And then liquid of gold reflecting blue began to drown me from above, building from the sky down. I was taken by hand from sunrises to sunsets, past horizon radars from orange to gray. And as the liquid began to recede, it strangled me from an everchanging origin, shaking and distorting and grasping strenuously, knuckles white, attributing omniscience to desperation. My view dissolved to a spectator's view of myself in bed, choking. And then I woke up in bed. Choking. The manifestation of psychedelia from the view of my Capitose Windowpane Where everything they said had deeper meaning."

Psychedelic Jukebox: Strangers Family Band - 2009 - EP (60's Psychedelic)

At seven tracks this EP never wears out welcome, nor-just like a good Stranger, overstays. From the mood-setting/changing opener "Enochian", (well, it would be an opener wouldn't it?), we know we're entering another world. Sound creating a travel ticket. Perfectly segueing into "Girl I've Been Taken," from all sides of the spectrum-in my Sennheisers, this reminds me substantially of those 70s desert-dwelling, peyote-munching psychsters Kennelmus. That's a compliment where I come from.Stylistically, this track also seems to lean more on the early 70s period of psychedelic music.

Ceol Álainn

Rare recordings of traditional irish music


Bug In The City: mike rozakis
Another Psychotic-Hippie-Drug-and-Sex-in-the-Greek-Isles Movie soundtrack.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Play for African Story Week



If you are near Skellefteå in the north east of Sweden tonight come to Nocks night club for an evening of West African fusion musics. I will be playing with my friends Adil (Morocco), Bonus (Senegal) and Simon (Sweden/Haiti) in the relaunch of a wild percussion drone group we had in 2002-03. Sometime after nine o'clock we will be jamming.

Sunday, October 04, 2009

Viral SymphOny


01-viral-symphony2

02-viral-symphony-2nd-mvt-murmurin2

03-viral-symphony-3rd-mvt2

04-viral-symphony-4th-mvt2

05-post-mortem2

Total time 1h 40mn
Composed 2006-2008

Joseph Nechvatal: sound sources & synthesizer
Matthew Underwood: sound processing
Andrew Deutsch: sound processing
Stephane Sikora: programming
Jane Smith: voice (recorded 1985)
Kevin Harkins: synth on 4th Mvt & PostMortem

“A founding member of the Tellus Audio Cassette Magazine, Joseph Nechvatal (b1951) famously curated two noise compilations for Tellus in 1986 and 1988. He composed an opera called XS: The Opera Opus (1984-5) with Rhys Chatham. His visual and sound works since then has been concerned with ‘viral’ techniques, ie: computer-assisted complex structures, heavily processed material, unwanted input corrupting the media and a general self-annihilation of the artist as composer/painter. The computer is summoned to create the art in the same way the Golem was raised by Rabbi Löw to create the myth. Viral Symphony’s First Movement was published on CD in 2006 by The Institute for Electronic Arts. The rest of the symphony is derived from this 1st Mvt in variously processed textures. The 2nd and 3rd Movements include the voice of Jane Smith reading from Ovid’s Metamorphosis, an apt metaphor for a Symphony dealing with permanent mutability, in as much as the perpetually morphing sound particles are used as the very structure of the work. While the 1st Mvt is a cornucopia of noisy, aleatoric electronic debris in the ‘garbage in, garbage out’ tradition, the remaining movements are more ambient affairs in which compositional mystery and sonic restraint create tension and captivates the listener. It seems the electronic sounds were refined after the nth re-processing and when reaching the 4th Mvt it’s become a mere distant static. The processed vocal parts sounds like early radio transmissions, and I personally envisionned Ezra Pound on conversation on Italian Radio or a BBC broadcast during the 1930s, while he was working on his 2 radio operas. In the last 2 movements, the input of Kevin Harkins on Midi sounds brings a neo-gothic touch to the music thanks to his endless cello and piano arpeggios. PostMortem is the most poignant part of the Symphony, its processed sounds slowly recessing in the background leaving room to sadness and emptyness. PostMortem appears for the first time on the web thanks to the generosity of Joseph Nechvatal. The very nature of the Viral Symphony indicates there will be additional movements soon and the ‘Complete’ set is presented as is, prior to further re-processing.”


Extra demos of Joseph's new project, Viral Venture (working with composer Rhys Chatham) are available here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRvoMEzua_k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3dlXV3K2C4

Text from the excellent Continuo

Saturday, October 03, 2009

Recomended Media for First Snows

Wake Up!!!! yes, I am still here. The good ol PhD thesis has now taken over my life. It seems I am in the home straight, full gallop straight ahead. Allez Allez!! Life will not be normal until midsummer, July 2010. I have so much work to do it makes me dizzy thinking about it. But I shall prevail. Here are few things I found on the web in recent days.

Magic Carpathians Radio Last fm The Magic Carpathians Project web radio: excellent stuff.

UbuWeb Sound - Toshimaru Nakamura Toshimaru Nakamura has been producing electronic music on self-named "no-input mixing board," after long unhappy years with the electric guitar. The name describes the method of his music. "No" external sound source is connected to "inputs" of the "mixing board." Mostly an improviser, occasionally a composer for dancers, an instrumentalist for compositions.

Black Eye Records Jukebox: Schadenfreude - Lubricated Goat Lubricated Goat was formed by Stu Spasm (real name Stuart Grey). Upon returning from England, Spasm went to Perth to visit with Singing Dog drummer Brett Ford who was then playing in The Kryptonics with Peter Hartley.

While in Perth, Stu recorded side one of what later became the Plays The Devil’s Music EP at No Sweat Studios with Ford and Hartley. Side two was recorded in Adelaide on a 4-track with drummer Martin Bland (Bloodloss/Salamander Jim).

Lubricated Goat signed to Red Eye Records offshoot Black Eye Records. The band soon relocated to Sydney where Stu had previously met Guy Maddison of the Greenhouse Effect (now in Mudhoney) in Perth, Maddison now living in Sydney was offered the opportunity to play bass for Lubricated Goat. The majority of the band lived on Cleveland Street in an old run-down three-story mansion which was soon dubbed "Gracelands." The house was a creative haven for musicians and artists that were known to host art shows and nude discos. These events were less common than they were reputed to be.

Time Has Told Me: Parrenin, Fromont, Lefebvre Musiciens Emmanuelle Parrenin : vielle à roue, épinette des Vosges, chant Philippe Fromont : violon, alto, violoncelle, sarangui, ganza, zarb, cymbale, chant Claude Lefbvre : guitare, mandole, violoncelle, tampoura, cymbale, chant.

The Wire: Adventures in Modern Music Download an MP3 featuring two tracks performed by The Master Musicians of Joujouka (as featured in this month's Global Ear) recorded live at the Brian Jones 40th Anniversary Festival in Joujouka/Jajouka 29 July 2008. The performance began exactly forty years to the hour from when Brian Jones recorded The Master Musicians in 1968. The resulting LP Brian Jones presents the Pipes of Pan at Joujouka was the first release on Rolling Stones Records in 1971


» PHTC019 / L’eau du robinet – God is a Hippie L’eau du robinet AKA Cristopher Pokora is a Poland-based producer exploring actually the musical fields between jazzy dope beats and exotic collage sample puzzles. The work presented here … is like a sunday afternoon visit to some open-field spot, where you can breathe some fresh air while collecting some insects … forget the mirage. Cristopher have is own personal universe growing out is mind and it invites you to take a deep breathe and dive in … you will find some real catchy and rare musical specimens floating out your speakers…make sure you catch every note with the right senses.

Glad I'm Not Famous Comp 1985-2008 with stories of Alien Virus, Acid World, Queer, Act and more... - Star Sludge's MySpace Blog | In the late 1980s and 90s Brisbane, Australia was a hotbed of mad punk musics, venues filled to overflowing with psychedelic contortionists, sellers of unnamed powers, exhibitionist trombonists, collective houses where the walls were painted with the poems of the mad, streets filled with hope-filled telephonists, corrupt police sleeping, unemployed prostitute philosophers, one armed guitarists, free tropical fruits and crowded second hand bookshops where anarchists plotted to overthrow their own minds. This is some of the music that went along with it......


Good night.......