While other American sailors were volunteering their boats and their time along the East Coast to spot U-boats, Hemingway’s concept of operations went further. He would pretend to be fishing, wait until a German submarine came alon side to buy fresh fish and water and then attack the enemy with bazookas, machine guns, and hand grenades. Hemingway would use Basque jai alai players to lob the grenades down the open hatches of the unsuspecting U-boat.
- Back when I was super into writing science fiction shorts, stories like this always fascinated me: Shamoon Virus Targets Energy Sector Infrastructure. As the world becomes more and more digitalized, it opens itself up closer and closer to ruin. Yes, I realize I’m breaking no new ground with that statement.
- Enlightening interview with Gore Vidal in 2005, which has never before been translated into English. Like most writers — good writers — the guy couldn’t get enough of himself. But I can respect that because he was one of smartest men on the planet, and never spoke about anything he wasn’t ahead of the curve on. Example: this was his response to, “what do you think of religion today in America?”:
It’s the work of the devil. Maybe there is no good God. But there is definitely a devil, and his predominant passion is the religion of those Protestant fundamentalists. I believe my country is beginning to resemble a theocracy. Using television, the evangelists raise appalling amounts of money which they then invest in the election of mentally disabled obscurantists.
Since there is no system of public education, the great majority of my fellow citizens is frighteningly ignorant. They have no idea where Iraq is. They accept as the gospel whatever the government tells them. Good grief, any other normal country would have been against the Iraq war! But we live in an abnormal country, governed by experts in deceptive advertising.
- Really insightful post from my guy PEESHE (over in Australia) about using the MPC for live shows. Specifically the MPC2000XL. Number 5 is something I always try to remind myself of. This is where he blogs now, mostly. What an excellent collective site. Dang. Beautiful design.
- And speaking of collectives, the new Minneapolis/St. Paul collective F.I.X. (“F to the I to the X”) is giving away three free albums in one nifty package until their debut collective show Friday the 17th: No Bird Sing’s “Theft of Commons”, Kill The Vultures’ “Ecce Beast”, and Kristoff Krane’s “Hunting For Father”. The last I’ve spoke of on here before. Probably multiple times. It’s an awesome album. The other two are as well. And hey, the shit is FREE. Here’s the Bandcamp stream:
- Hey, independent comics retailers/press… wanna know a good way to not sell your shit? By ripping on any of Warren Ellis’ friends in the public net-square. This includes blogs, Facebook, in this case Twitter. His wrath will be swift and severe. And I’m betting his site gets more views than yours. Not to mention that is just being an asshole. Saying that shit on Twitter.
The social, cultural, and political turbulence chronicled by such off-radar newspapers as Rat Subterranean News, Screw, San Francisco Oracle, East Village Other, Black Mask, and Los Angeles Free Press, to name only a few, is commonly overlooked in mainstream histories. As a result, what often remains is the same scattershot of familiar imagery from the late 1960s/early 1970s that’s lingered in the nation’s collective memory: hippies dancing with flowers in their hair at the Monterey Pop Festival during the Summer of Love; Timothy Leary at the Human Be-In at Golden Gate Park in 1967, urging the Haight-Ashbury crowds to “Turn on, tune in, drop out”; U.S. military tanks on city streets during the race riots in Detroit and Newark; the rise of the Hell’s Angels as the new American outlaws; and the Kent State University shootings and Mary Ann Vecchio’s haunting scream.
- After Daniel Tosh’s recent remarks to a female heckler, the internet has become ablaze with all kinds of knee-jerk reactions to him. From defending him at all costs to wanting to crucify him and get his show cancelled. MN poet/rapper Guante wrote a piece on his blog about the whole thing that makes a lot of sense. This point needs to be understood especially:
“1. We’re not picking sides between “pro-censorship” and “anti-censorship.” We’re picking sides between “pro-rape jokes” and “anti-rape jokes.”
This is not a free speech issue. As a comic (or poet, or rapper, or singer or whatever), you have the right to say whatever the hell you want to say on stage. But your audience has that same right. If you say something hurtful or offensive, they can heckle you, call you out, start internet campaigns to ban you from clubs, whatever. And you have to deal with that.
No one is trying to make it illegal for a comic to say offensive shit; we’re just trying to hold you accountable. That’s a huge difference, and people hiding behind the “free speech” argument are really missing the point. I want you to take chances on stage, to challenge people, even to deal with hecklers harshly—but there are a million ways to do that without joking about something that is extremely hurtful to so many people. Less offensive ways, sure, but funnier ways too.”
- One of the best things to come out of Comicon thus far this year is news that the second Captain America movie will be titled, Captain America: The WinterSoldier. I didn’t really like the first one, but I love the character of Winter Soldier. I’m sure it still won’t be my favorite movie in the world… but the other awesome part of this is that the character was created by a favorite comics writer of mine, Ed Brubaker. Ed is one of those guys who’s been writing excellent stuff for a really long time. Actually, he rarely writes anything that sucks. So he deserves whatever kind of paycheck he’ll be getting in the mail from Disney and Marvel. I just hope they have him consult on the movie a little. Oh and Brubaker recently started a title simply called “Winter Soldier” and it’s cool: post-Cold War intrigue thriller shit. Great artwork, great writing.
- Bleeding Cool actually talks about the best movies of all time? Wow… I figured all comic book websites do is speculate about the shit (umm… Captain America?). Kudos to Craig Skinner. This post from him discusses the quarter four releases for “Masters Of Cinema”, who put out old/classic films in modern formats. Their list of releases is impressive. Their quarter four sees the releases of Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc, and Fritz Lang’s longest film Die Nibelungen (among others).
- Blueprint wrote a very humble and appreciative piece on his blog recently about his time being a full-time musician. Ten years ago last week he handed in his resignation as a software programmer to become a musician. It’s kind of impossible not to love that dude:
“I’m very appreciative of the fact that I’ve been doing this as a full-time job for ten years now. Shit, I’ve now held this job twice as long as any other job I’ve ever had. The irony is that unlike most jobs where people grow more jaded and bored as the years go by, I’ve found that my attitude has followed the opposite path where I become more appreciative and excited as the years pass. I don’t know if it’s a result of the extended amount of time I took to make Adventures in Counter-Culture, or a side effect of becoming more mature and realistic about what having a career as an artists really means, but either way I probably wouldn’t be writing this if my perspective were any less positive. For that I’m thankful.
That said, I feel extremely blessed that the people and the universe have blessed me with an opportunity to pursue music full-time for ten years now. It seems like the most common gift to give is one that satisfies someone for a day, but the rarest gift is one that satisfies someone for a lifetime. So I decided to ask the universe for the gift of artistic longevity and will try my best to spend every day cultivating that opportunity and gift.
For all of my people out there that are pursuing their passion, try to build something that brings you a lifetime of joy. Understand that in a world full of people who may have not been given the opportunity to pursue the things they love – you are an exception, and should therefore cherish that opportunity for as long (or as short) as it may last. Be inspired by all the things you don’t know about your craft, and celebrate the fact that get to try to learn them everyday.”
- Last Call W/ Carson Daly isn’t nearly as bad a show as everyone probably thinks it is. It had been a while since I saw an episode — as in, oh probably at least 6 months — but I tuned in last night while lying in bed and it brought to my attention a band I’d never heard of before:
- KYLESA. They’re a Georgian based metal band who apply the two-singer approach (uniquely, one male/one female), sludgy, downtuned riffage, and elements of psychedelica. They’ve been around for some time now; it has been 10 years since their self-titled, debut album. The band has been through some amount of lineup changes, unfortunately. But sometimes there are those rare cases where the project trumps the members. The entity exists independently, and the musicians are the nourishment that help it survive. They’ve even been through death. The last LP they put out was a record from 2010 called “Spiral Shadow“. I’m giving it a go now and it’s excellent. They sort of mix the hazier, trippier elements of 70′s rock with slow, heavy-hitting metal. Think Sabbath meets late Pink Floyd, with a little punk aesthetic thrown in for good measure. Here’s part of their Last Call performance:
- They reminded me of another band who I was way into for a bit but kinda forgot about: Radio Moscow. In fact, when I was researching Kylesa tour dates I realized they’re both connected to “Tone Deaf Touring” Co. Now this band is from Iowa. This band is the shit. They aren’t metal. Their sound floats pretty aimlessly between the Blues and Rock headspaces. What they do have in common with the former is a psychedelic influence, and they heap in on in spoonfuls. They don’t skimp. And the main member of the band — Parker Griggs, he’s a multi-multi-instrumentalist, he also helps produce their stuff, and he draws their album art — is insanely talented. The last album this band did was last year’s “The Great Escape of Leslie Magnafuzz”. I know, right? Lotta fun to listen to. Here’s the first song off that album:
- I’m rolling through Guided By Voices’ nearly 10 year return for the second time now. It is definitely low-fi. Sounds like a 4 track alright; a non-digital 4 track. It ebbs and flows nicely, from these mind-bending, trippy valleys to giant peaks of noise rock. There are horns from time to time, which is nice. The album is over 20 tracks and I have a feeling this was only the tip of the iceberg from the recording sessions, considering the band is already readying the release of Class Clown Spots A UFO.
- One album I forgot to mention when listing hip-hop releases of 2012 is Cecil Otter’sPorcelain Revolver. Which I believe will be disturbed by Strange Famous Records (Sage Francis‘ company) in addition to DTR. His music has grown more sophisticated yet simple (re: No Kings) since his last solo release, so I’m interested to hear where he goes next.
Oh and POS, who’s gonna wreck shit with his next CD… this grimy, Industrial, percussive sound that’ll make you wanna dance and mosh at the same time.
- I’m not one to rant — uncontrollably — but there’s something I need to get off my chest.
No… no I’m not interested in your Rap group. Sorry. I know you want to be supported and I do too and so does everyone who makes anything for nothing but I’m just not interested. And I never will be, for a multitude of reasons. First thing’s first: actual music. You and your “DJ”, though the term here should be used loosely, need to spend time in the basement — just like I do, and everyone else does who takes their craft seriously does — practicing. Don’t even master your individual crafts… first just get the gist of it for fuck’s sake. Being an MC doesn’t mean shouting out obscenities and hardly rhyming this with that for the sake of praxis. Get some flow, just a little tiny bit is all. Once you do, think about what you’re writing before going to your friend’s house to drink 40′s (even though I know you can afford some IPA) and smoke terribly rolled “blunts” before hopping in the “booth” and laying it down. Put some thought into it. But then again… I’m not a rapper and I never have been so maybe I should shutup and move onto your tunes. Where… to…. begin. What a mess. No, it isn’t even a mess. A mess is when someone puts one too many ideas into a beat or lays down sloppy turntablism (which, I admit, I’ve done) or cannot find the identity of the sound. These things are the least of your problems. I’m standing up now, in defense of all the producers out there who put a ton of time and effort into making quality, unique beats who get a bad name because of you. There’s people out there who take this shit very seriously… it’s an artform to them the way an artform to you is doing a beer-bong. For the sake of them, and their reputations, please… please try to find your own voice. Do something that comes from inside you, not plastic-made stock loops stacked one on top of the other until you get the musical equivalent of Barbie’s Dream House. Cause maybe you don’t think people care, but inside, subconsciously, they do. And they notice. They can hear it a mile away, and if you want people to like you, you’re going to need to put more effort in. You’re going to need a quarter of a teaspoon of originality otherwise the show’s over. But beyond the music… the painfully assembly line beats and awful lyricism, it’s really the image you’re shooting for that disgusts me to no end. Homicide? You wanna talk about homicide?? I know where you grew up you fucking poser. I’ve known who you were since before either of us laid down with a girl. I’ve seen death, and I know other people who have, and they don’t behave the way you do. So either you’re putting on a front or you just aren’t as mature at dealing with it as other people are. Either way you need to grow up. This perpetuation of what you think a “rapper” is, this image churned out by the machine… the man, is a stereotype of the worst kind. See… hip-hop, or in your case rap music, started as a black artform. And you ain’t black. So when you present yourself in a way that is a caricature of what you think a “rapper” should be, you’re essentially perpetuating stereotypes, division, and passive racism. And the very worst part about it is you don’t get any of this. You think you’re just being a rapper. A terrible… terrible rapper. No man, I’m not interested. Sorry.
Ah the joys of social networking. Late last night El-Pwrote:
i have finished recording cancer for cure. now its getting mixed.
To many, this probably isn’t that big of a deal. But for me — and if the reaction is any indication, lots of other people too — this is a huge deal, and probably one of my most anticipated albums of the past 5 years. I’ll Sleep When You’re Deadopened my eyes, to a lot of things. In my opinion, that album epitomizes the post-9/11 life in America theme we’ve seen in so many different forms of media and art since the early 2000s. It is a perfect album. The production itself is mind-blowing, with melodies weaving in and out and popping up here and there throughout the entire disc. Plus it features samples ranging from Kill Bill to Anchorman and Twin Peaks; and performances from Trent Reznor to Mars Volta, with the omnipresent cuts of Mr. Dibbs. If you haven’t heard it I suggest getting it ASAP and listening to it straight through when you have the time (it’s about an hour long).
[Speaking of Mr. Dibbs, he's going through some medical complications and his insurance isn't covering the necessary surgeries he needs. He has a Facebook page setup: Pay It Forward 2 Mr. Dibbs. And for people who don't use Paypal, anyone who wants to give to him can mail a check to (payable to Kristin Rose):
Brad Forste
4830 Poplar St
Cincinati, OH 45212
Dibbs, for those who don't know, essentially re-revolutionized turntablism. He'll go down as a legend.]
El-P’s next album should be a treat. Throughout last year, he’d been updating a blog for the making of the album, with some very eyebrow-raising pics and statuses popping up now and again. In a good way. Here’s to hoping he’ll be playing Soundset this year.
I found this list at HipHopSite.com (great name guys!) detailing 60 reasons “to live another year” in 2011. It’s a list of albums that were slated for release that year. Problem is, not all of them came out in 2011, like Cancer For Cure. Which means we (or… I) have the pleasure of getting these hip-hop albums into our greedy hands in 2012:
El-P – Cancer For Cure
Slaughterhouse – Welcome To: OUR HOUSE
Dr. Dre – Detox
Madlib & DOOM – Madvillian 2
Q-Tip – The Last Zulu
Cage – ???
Aesop Rock – ???
Ghostface – Supreme Clientele 2
Ghostface & DOOM – Swift and Changeable
Talib Kweli & Mos Def – Blackstar 2
Brother Ali & Jake One – Mourning In America, Dreaming In Color
Freeway - Diamond In The Ruff
Busdriver – Beau$Eros
Kristoff Krane – ???
Kill The Vultures – ???
I Self Devine – The Sounds of Low Class America
J Dilla – Rebirth of Detroit
Tyler, The Creator – Wolf
Wu-Tang – ???
Public Enemy – Most Of My Heroes Don’t Appear On No Stamp/The Evil Empire of Everything
- I have just sent high(er) quality MP3s to the boss over at Black Lantern Music. Still hoping I can find someone to do physicals with it. The album is done. It’s called “The Parallel”, for several reasons. You know, for being knee deep in the Great Depression in the 1930′s, we certainly accomplished quite a bit. Here’s a short list of things we invented in the 30s: scotch tape, the frozen food process, the jet engine, the electron microscope, the drive-in movie, the tape recorder, radar, canned beer, the helicopter. What else? We built the Golden Gate Bridge and the Empire State Building. New forms of artistic expression emerged like Expressionism, Surrealism, and Realism. Now, the idea was that tough times actually result in massive increases of creativity. Ask any CEO of a company, they’ll tell you the same thing. So “The Parallel” not only refers to the idea that we’re going through the same things as we did in the 30s (so why can’t we go out and invent new things, build new buildings, express ourselves with new artforms?), it also refers to my creative process stemming out of tougher times. Plus, when I was researching the 1930s for this project I read through a lot of Dos Passos, particularly The 42nd Parallel. I sat with that book for hours upon hours. So the title is also a reference to that 30s novel. Suffice it to say I’m very excited about the whole thing. I’ve also written a flash-fiction companion piece which embeds the song titles into the “story”. More on that to come.
- Holy shit 2012 sounds straight outta some science fiction. It doesn’t feel right, does it? The great Paul Sizer created quite the rallying cry for humanity with this poster he made for the New Year:
“2012: SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED”
- There were several albums I thought were going to come out in 2011, so here’s to a better year in music than the last! I suppose I should, like every other blogger on the planet, release my “2011 yearinmusicaaaaaggggh” list. And I probably will, at some point soon. Lots of critics are saying how boring of a year it was because nothing really dominated “Best” lists, I find that to be a lot more interesting than the other way round. And what’s up with everyone and their brother putting that Bon Iver record in their top 5 or 3?? It was okay I guess, but then I saw Justin Vernon and his band on The Colbert Report and good God I would never pay money to see that. I mean, I know it’s hard to sing that falsetto in key without multiple takes, but still.
Well I went through a birthday, a couple different Thanksgivings, and one hell of a rough night. I hope anyone who reads this had a happy holiday (if he/she chooses to celebrate that particular one). Now, here are some links and things to get me back into the swing of things:
- The newest Black Lantern Music release is “Narcoleptic Insomniac” by Asthmatic Astronaut. He describes the tracks as outtakes from his previous release (“Super Intelligent Common Sense”), but these don’t sound like outtakes to me. Crisp, polished Electronic Hip-Hop for the future… which is now. I’ve always been a big fan of his name too.
- John from SuperPuch is calling Marc Maron‘sWTF Podcast his absolute favorite podcast out there. Quite the compliment, considering his other tastes. It’s nice to know that a guy like Maron — smart, funny, surprisingly non-political, honest — can find a home via the world wide web, when no other media outlets will have him.
- Not really all that impressed by the newest Avengers promo image. I mean, I get that’s it’s an over-the-top type of title but this screams of desperation. I think most people can agree that the best Marvel film connected to this project has been Iron Man thus far; a movie that suffered only when it tried to go over the top (the end scene with Tony and Stane makes me cringe every time I see it). On the other hand, this promo image has got my brain working. Why oh why would that character be holding up a picture of that character? Interesting.
- So the Doomtree crew, who may as well be called “Super Friends”, has a new project where they’re combining the music of one of my favorite punk bands of all-time with one of my favorite hip-hop collectives of all-time:
FUGAZI + WU-TANG = WUGAZI
They have a Tumblr-based website for the project already, and they’ve so far released two tracks on their Soundcloud. Here’s the newest, delicious track:
- Want to know what Google thinks you’re into? CLICK HERE. Apparently I’m into comics, meat and seafood recipes, radio, myths and folklore, astronomy, hip-hop, visual art and design, and movies. That isn’t 100% wrong…
- Iron Fist Clothingmakes some pretty cool stuff for the more punk-aestheticized amongst us.
A little positive press on Dead Herringmade me feel good about myself last night.
A French-speaking Quebec radio station included me on a playlist recently, along with mostly Dubstep. I would argue that would I do is not Dubstep. Check it out here. (Really surprised how much people seem to be liking “The Fix”, as it’s probably the most jazz-oriented song on the disc. This makes me smile.)
Weeks ago I was also played on an Oregon-based radio station called Radio23. Go and stream them, they do wonderful work (both in selection and in being an independent radio station trying to keep indies alive).
On FreeMusicArchive, an admin who rolls by “PushBinLou” wrote up some really, really kind things about DH. I actually couldn’t even believe some of the things he was saying. Haha. He featured me on what he calls “Ears Wide Open”, a series he does where he posts about what’s happening and/or new on FMA. This is what he had to say:
I’ll admit that the majority of the time I tend to lurk in the electronic corner of the Free Music Archive but every now and then when things are slow I’ll see what new things have landed in some of the other genres. In doing just that I have discovered some really good hip-hop releases that have surfaced here in the last few weeks. My favorite release of the moment is Dead Herring from Mild Maynyrd (Dan Black). Dead Herring is Dan’s second full length release with an EP and a few Notorious B.I.G. remix records under his belt as well.
All of the tracks are dark instrumental numbers with tons of great rock samples (some very recognizable and some not) and experimentation peppered throughout. The majority of the album has a dark brooding feeling that is akin to some of DJ Shadow’s early work. There is also a very organic live instrument feel to the tracks as well. You definitely get the sense that these songs are not simply a cut and paste job that is being done by someone on a laptop. I cherry picked a few of my favorite tracks from the album but like most of the albums that I pick for these blog posts I recommend that you give the whole thing a listen. Enjoy!
Lastly, and totally unrelated, this was just way too cool not to reblog (via SuperPunch):
