[Shards Fragments and Totems]
k-punk: “What became slightly irksome about Dr Who in the Pertwee phase when it continually ‘borrowed’ this move from Kneale was the Doctor’s airy waving away of the supernatural in the name of science.”
Quite right. It’s just electromagnetic chauvinism combined with arriviste arrogance.
silverdollarcircle:
liking talking heads so young means i always enjoy those ‘what was the first record you ever bought?’ conversations, cuz buying ’77’ at the age of 8 is pretty much unbeatable compared to the usual admissions of buying whitesnake/billy idol/mc hammer etc etc as yr first entry into music.
Shit. That’s hardcore. I’ve trumped almost every record collector I’ve ever met by saying that I got Talking Heads’ Remain In Light as my first record at 12. But 77 at 8? Unbeatable.
WOEBOT: “Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fashion”
Big up Matt Woebot, as he henceforth shall not be known, for writing about fashion. Him espectially — for it is a powerful counter weight to his uber-spotter credentials. Writing just about music is a somewhat hermetically sealed and as we all know, potentially borderline-autistic pursuit. Music writing needs to be grounded in life to avoid sterility and, above all, that wretched refusal to engage with icky emotions and perceived naffness which is the tragic fault of the fanboy persona. And writing about fashion — or rather the wearing, enjoyment, and meaning of clothes — is an excellent antitdode to music nerdery.
Matt is nothing if not an emotional writer and he glides gracefully from dusty-record-rack investigation to reflecting on his love for his wife. His piece on fashion therefore puts into perspective the demise, or rather the fulfillment, of his TWANBOC enterprise. This came as a huge surprise to me — I had it on good authoritiy that it would be around until Christmas at least. I read his blog with awe as he churned out brilliant expositions on what was, to me, almost totally unfamiliar music, reaching a shattering climax with his pieces on experimental and classical Indian music. And then, suddenly, it was gone, leaving me asking, Is that it?
And it was. That was it.
Artful and intelligent as ever, he let us have a self-photographed silhouette, thereby creating the archetypal image of the blogger, and revealed the purpose of the cascade of intensity that so many of us shared with him for the last year or more. It was a paean to his deceased father.
Now that, as a few of you know, is something I can identify with.
Matt’s sequence of epistles comprised a complete framework for musical taste in modern music which must surely match, inter-lock with, and perhaps echo that espoused by his father in classical. Or at least, it created a means for his exchange of frameworks, feelings and thought processes with his posthumous father — a way of making sense of his father and of his relationship with him, a way of re-engaging with the personality of his father after the wrenching division of death. A way of bringing him back to life in his heart, almost. Dealing with death by making emotional sense of life.
I suppose. At least, that’s what I would have been doing if I’d been writing it.
It would be a shame if the best writing that came out of TWANBOC did not find a permanent home. The big set-pieces undoubtedly deserve hosting somewhere that is easy to refer to. I don’t know if that’s going to be possible. Yet Matt made of the fragile material of the blog an artefact of some gravity. His slight little site engendered both a host of imitators and many real-world and online friendships, changing minds, hearts, and most important of all, record shopping lists. TWANBOC will be remembered. So will Matt’s father.
blissblog: “really feeling
grievous angel soundsystem vol 1: nervous ragga “
Why thank you very much Simon, I’m glad you like it.
It’s called Nervous Ragga cos that’s the vibe. These tracks don’t make me feel all relaxed and chilled out. No, they make me feel nervous, hyped up, excited. This CD is propulsive, muscular, but constantly in spasm. Like deep funk, the grooves are densely packed, clenched, yet also like funk, the release comes from the vocals, alternately sweeping and stuttering but always hovering at the furthest edge of the beat’s swing.
The first rhythm, The Flip, eases you in. But the Threat rhythm that follows it, just hurls itself at you, all rave pianos and tubthumper bass. I tried to get a lot of call-and-response between male and female vocals on theis CD and this theme starts here. A recurring theme in the mix comes in here. The Highway rhythm is faster but gentler, but it’s very wiggly. It raoidly turns into a pounding ragga take on R&D on money with sweet female choruses being slammed into Lady Saw’s ruffness. She shouts us into Tanya Stephens’ Strange, over my favourite rhythm ever, Hard Drive. It sounds like world war three going off in a sound system, just vast gobs of massive bass and booming toms. I love it. Lots of cutting on this one, and a really nice mix of Lady Saw’s In Your Face Again and Cecile’s Backstrett Kettle at the end. The last rhythm, Bollywood, is a ragga version of throbbing p-funk. Despite recent criticism Sizzla is in top form on this rhythm. with a bit of politics at the end.
If you’re interested you can get an mp3 of Nervous Ragga at Marc Dauncey’s excellent Bassnataion site at http://www.bassnation.uk.net/sound/nervousragga.mp3. Many thanks to Marc for hosting this — if you want it you’d probably get it sooner rather than later cos who knows how long Marc will be able to keep it up. As it were.
Here’s the tracklisting.
The Flip
1 Ward 21 Style
2 Madd Cobra Bring It On
3 Kiprich Nah Waste Time
4 Tafari & Ava Monet Round And Round
5 Tok Girlz Girlz Girlz
6 Mr Vegas Gi Dem Wine
Threat
7 Tok Where I¹m From
8 Redrat Wine Your Waist
9 Sizzla Doin It Right
10 Kiprich Pickaside
11 Redrat Wine Reprise
12 Lukie D Woman With Shape
13 Shaddu Fi Real
Highway
14 Ward21 Reverse
15 Risto Benjie Right Now
16 Danny English Hang Dem
17 Lady G & Cutlass Chop It Suh
18 Chuck Fender & Fiona Money
19 Mr Vegas & Cecile Get Yuh Tonight
20 Lady Saw Follow Me
Hard Drive
21 Tanya Stephens Too Strange
22 Lukie De & Lexxus Hot Like Fire
23 Harry Toddler Doom
24 Action Check Fa
25 Alozade Ghetto
26 Sean Paul & Dutty Cup Crew Dutty Cup
27 Hollow Point Got You Deh
28 Famous Face & Tornado Jamaica
29 Lady Saw In Your Face Again
30 Cecile & Tanya Stephens Buss Back Skettel
Bollywood
31 Sizzla Heat Is On
32 Tanya Stephens Addiction
33 Determine More Fire
34 Frisco Kid More Marijuana
35 Captain Barkey Buss A Shot
36 Ward 21 Roll Up
37 Future Troubles Drunken Master
38 Wickerman Come Out
39 Elephant Man In The Streets Mega Mix
40 Mr Vegas War