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Friday night special: John Eden’s ultimate roots’n’dancehall mix

After much pestering from me, one Friday night in 2000 John comes home from the pub, severely pissed, and lashes together a reggae mix — and it’s amazing. It wasn’t the first mix tape he’d done — following extensive experience DJing in seedy north London dives he produced a series of eclectic and entertaining tapes under the Ultimate Beaks and Bats moniker. One day, my complete collection of these will be worth a lot of money.

But this was the first serious reggae mix he’d done. Like I say, I badgered him for months to do one and he wouldn’t, kept saying he wanted to do one “properly”. As you can imagine, I had no truck with that; in the same way as developing a “proper” business strategy is a sterile process, so doing a mix requires an admixture of chaos to be flavoursome. (That’s not to say that I don’t edit the chaos to fuck when I’m doing my own mixes!)

When I tore open the jiffy bag and played the tape, it was a simply sublime mix of roots classics, DJ cuts and ragga. Ever since, the wife and I have been caning it in the car and on the home stereo, we’ve played it hundreds of times and the tape itself is now badly wearing out, hence my desire to capture it digitally before it finally died. As it turns out this is a service not just to us, and John and his family (this was the music playing when I drove John, Lorna and Ruby home from the hospital when Ruby was born!) but also to the world at large — for this is the best DJ mix you will hear this month. I guarantee it.

Friday night special: John Eden’s ultimate roots’n’dancehall mix
132Mb.
90 minutes.

Mix Tracklist
John has kindly compiled a track listing, which pleases me hugely cos he was much too drunk to do it at the time, and far too hung over the next morning to do anything but stick it, naked and unadorned, in an envelope. Even better, he’s done sleeve notes and record scans. We don’t do it by halves here at Shards Fragments and Totems!

1) Introduction
I can’t take any credit for this 😉

2) Willie Williams – Armagideon Time (off s/t Studio One LP)
First Studio One record I ever owned. I was struck by how much of this mix featured in my recent dj set at a mate’s birthday a month or so back. That either means that the first few mixes I did were really enduring or that I just associate records in “batches” and am stuck in a rut! Everyone knows this from Ghost Dog or the Clash cover and it’s especially good to be able to kick off with a discomix – lets you get the rest of the records out, and also doesn’t rush things sonically…

3) Abyssinians – Declaration of Rights (Studio One 7″)
Get up and stand for your rights, my brothers...
An anthem, obviously. In some ways more so than “Satta”, because of the more universally immediate lyrics…

4) Prince Phillip & The Musical Intimidators – Judgement Dub (off “Heavyweight Sound – A Blood & Fire Sampler CD)
Purists can fuck off
First version excursion – bring it on! Being a bit pissed obviously meant my purism went to pot – not quite sure if you’re “allowed” to follow up the first cut with another one on a version of the riddim by a different producer. Playing tracks of a CD – and a sampler CD at that! OK – it’s a sampler for one of the best labels in the world, but y’know, not very cred – heh heh. The actual track itself is part of the tip top “Tappa Zukie in Dub” release, and basically if you’re new to all this, you can do no wrong with any Blood & Fire releases which take your fancy.

5) The Hurricanes – You Can Run (Black Art 7″)
No escape from the terminal zone
One of the first batch of represses which got done by Omar Perry in 2000 or so. Proper Scratch roots bizness and obviously most people haven’t heard it because it isn’t on any compilations I’ve seen. Fits in with the preceding tracks in the sense that it’s all about not being able to avoid judgement – dread claustrophobia and no escape.

6) The Heptones – Guiding Star (Impact 7″)
My guiding star, that's what you are... Sirius rising
Beautiful song, with the added bonus of “true stereo” which always freaks people out when they hear it in their cars or on headphones. I got this in HMV when they briefly had a bunch of sevens in. The callow youth at the checkout looked very confused by the “dinked” hole in the middle of the record and asked me how, ah, you actually PLAYED it…

7) Tappa Zukie & The Aggrovators – Jah is I Guiding Star (off “Heavyweight Sound – A Blood & Fire Sampler CD)
Natty time to go home now
So good he used it twice – if you like these two tracks you should buy the compilation, it’s only a fiver or something! Once again I think this deejay version is over a different vocal cut. (Is it Horace Andy?) “Down in a babylon a very long time, it’s time to go home now”. That bit of echo at the end is by Paul, BTW. And as a special bonus you can hear the beginning of the next track on the CD as well…

8) Scientist/Jammy – Flash Gordon Meets Luke Skywalker (off “Scientist and Jammy Strike Back!” Trojan LP)
CLASS record cover!
As I have said elsewhere “This track kicks ass – a massive anticipation-builder as it has virtually no beats in it. Stripped down minimalism that is all the more powerful for it – you know what SHOULD be happening, but just get teased. When the entire tune kicks in just before the end it feels like you’ve just come.”

The sleeve says Jammy, but Scientist reckons some of the dubs credited to both of them were entirely his, so who knows…

9) Johnny Clarke – Babylon (Jah Shaka Music 12″)
This track's rocking...
So, yeah, follow THAT up with a huge boshing Shaka steppers tune, innit? I probably needed a piss and another can from the fridge at this stage. Anyway – this is featured in the film Babylon, but isn’t on the soundtrack LP. I think it’s actually a Channel One production rather than one of Shaka’s own. But either way, it’s RUFF!!!

10) Delroy Wilson – Rascal Man (off Niney & Friends 1971-1972 “Blood & Fire” Trojan LP)
Where you going to run to rascal man?
Because you need a bit of funky twinkly tunes after the bleakness of the last track. I can’t believe Niney doesn’t get more respect from people. Another “run / hide” judgement track.

11) Upsetters – Blackboard Jungle Dub Version One (off Upsetters – “Blackboard Jungle Dub” Upsetters(?) LP)
WARNING TO THE MEEK AND 'UMBLE
Shitey pressing but it’s actually as was originally intended – with one mix in each channel! I can’t remember the full story off the top of my head, but I seem to recall that one mix is by Lee Perry and one by King Tubby. Some versions are in mono (not as daft as it sounds – most soundsystems are set up in mono) but you can mix it up big style by the use of your “balance knob”. Anyway I remember taking some Merzbow fan to task because of him doing what was heralded as the first “two lps in one – with one recorded on each channel”. Psychic TV did something similar with the b-side to the Roman-P 7″ on Sordide Sentimale, but once again Jamaica got their first, better and more listenable! Anyway – this was an early 70s ting, like the Niney track before it, so that must have been what I was thinking…

12) Linval Thomson – Mariguana (Thomson Sound 7″)
13) King Tubby – Mariguana Version (Thomson Sound 7″)
I like to smoke... it gives me a deep meditation...
Great tune – I snuck out of the flat one Saturday morning “to get milk” and pegged it down to Gladdy Wax for half an hour, and then snuck back in trying to hide the carrier bag and everything. Of course, Lorna knew exactly what was going on and found the whole incident highly amusing. Hmmph. I found myself singing this loudly to myself one afternoon recently, which is a good sign, except I was making coffee for the whole department at the time in the work kitchen…

Paul has added his own echo here again, to cover up my deft “pause the tape and turn the record over” technique.

I think we can safely call this “the end of side one”.

(Ed.: Compare and contrast with the versions on my Tons of Boxes mix, which I must stick up here some time…)

14) Frankie Paul – Worries in the Dance (from “Hitbound – The Dances Were Changing” Pressure Sounds LP)

Massive tune off an outstanding compilation – Pressure Sounds are easily up there with Blood & Fire for quality, but spread out away from being strictly 70s roots as well – which is fine by me. Anyway – you can’t mess with this and the dogs get sampled all over the place, don’t they? It always amazes me how much Frankie Paul’s vocals sound like Joe Strummer here. DJ Scud dropped this in the middle of a bonkers set at The End once. And then played the dub as his last track – respect!

15) Morgan Heritage & Bounty Killer – Gunz in the Ghetto (71 Records 7″)
16) Anthony B – Lock di Gun Dem (71 Records 7″)

So, yeah, these are also on the Shake The Foundations volume 2 mix in slightly curtailed form. “Lock” was the first Anthony B tune I ever heard as well. Yaggedy Yow!

(Ed.: these tunes are absolutely KILLER!!!)

17) Sister Nancy – Bam Bam (off “300% Dynamite” Soul Jazz LP)

Is that the sounds of purists spitting? Pop tune off pop label, but you have to see a room full of women dancing to it, really. And female vocals sound ten times sweeter after some rugged DJ biz.

(Ed.: Anyone who doesn’t like this wants their head examining.)

18) Pliers – Bam Bam (off “Dancehall 101” VP LP)
Want you to know that, I am a man who, fights for the right and not the wrong...

Hmm, so no version excursion on the stalag riddim but instead a follow up with the same title. A bonafide classic – “Murder She Wrote” also, but that’s slightly problematic because of its ambiguity about the wrongness of abortion (i.e. – it’s not wrong per se, is it?). The cover of this record is just absurdly un-pc and everyone who’s seen it round my gaffe has picked it up and laughed at it. You can’t fault the riddim either – a sharp reminder to those who hate ragga for its inauthenticity that it is often more “african” musically than a lot of roots tracks from the 70s.

19) Sizzla – Jump Nuh (Xterminator 7″)
No, I can't make out what he's saying either
Hmmm. The record I taped for lots of people without realising it has lots of homphobic references in. Gah. None of them have mentioned it though. I can’t unhear it now, which somewhat detracts from the huge chasmic pounding riddim behind it. One of those tunes I picked at random from Dub Vendor’s mail order catalogue…

20) Luciano – Final Call Dub (from “MLK Dub” Ras CD)
Fiiiiinaaal callllllll....
This is pivotal shit, 21st Century dubwise from Fatis Burrell of Xterminator.

(Ed.: a killer modern dub and the main inspiration for the new wave of Grievous Angel tracks…)

21) Super Cat – Boops (Techniques 7″)

Stoopid! Super Cat is widely seen as the vocal precursor to Sean Paul. In fact he has allegedly recorded a dis track on the very topic. I assume this is the first of a whole slew of boops (sugar daddy) tracks from the period. Class lyrics “and when you check it out, Friday a payday…”

(Ed.: quite possibly my favourite record ever…)

22) Tanya Stephens – Bounce Me (off “Ragga Ragga Ragga 12” Greensleeves LP)

First ragga LP I bought and I’m not ashamed to say so, innit! Can’t fault Tanya – great delivery and humour “kick of the size 10 nikes” and all. Fucking big skip in it though, I probably fell over onto the table. 🙂

23) Simpleton – Coca Cola Shape (off “Dancehall 101” VP LP)

Love this – great lyrics about thwarted lust. Miles away from the “I’m a sex machine and all the laydeez want me” attitude so prevalet today. All over the world men are getting knocked back by gorgeous women, alright? Hopefully they’re not all getting injured by flying rocks as well, but there it is.

24) General Degree – Pot Cover (off “400% Dynamite” Soul Jazz LP)
25) Cobra – Tek It Off (Size 8 7″)

Bass, innit. Plus kitchen implements introduction. What’s not to like? Well apart from the stupid “reversed out” lyrics in the Cobra tune – what’s that all about, eh? I especially like the General cut, cos it makes no sense whatsoever to me and sounds like two cartoon characters having a domesitc in Homebase or something.

26) Luciano – Blast Off Go Moon (Kennedy International 7″)
27) Baby Wayne – Sick Of Dem Treatment (Kennedy International 7″)
28) Admiral Tibet – Blame It On Yourself (Kennedy International 7″)
When there's blacks on the moon...
Again – this lot features on the Shake The Foundations 2 mix. But better put together by a factor of about 3 million. The Luciano track I found out about just as it had left record racks all across London, which was a pisser because I was about to play a couple of space reggae sets for the Association of Autonomous Astronauts. Baby Wayne I know nowt about, but Admiral Tibet is always a favourite – perhaps not over a whole album but if he turns up on one cut of a roots selection then I’ll definitely check it out.

29) Bloodclaat Gangsta Youth – Kill Or Be Killed (Full Watts 7″)

This is one of the best pieces of music ever committed to vinyl, in my opinion. It certainly inspired countless others to have bash at bashment. Perfect.

(Ed.: they had my old Allen & Heath 32-channel desk for ages — claim to fame!)

Many thanks to John for doing the sleeve notes and, most of all, for doing one of the finest reggae mixes you will ever hear.

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a.Theist musing

a·the·ist (n.) One who disbelieves or denies the existence of God or gods.

the·ism (n.): Belief in the existence of a god or gods, especially belief in a personal God as creator and ruler of the world.

These are not entirely satisfactory definitions. I think that theism — the belief in god(s) — implies that god has an empirical existence as a seperate entity, as opposed to being an artefact of belief. I’m not sure that Wicca in particular or paganism in general can easily be described as definitively theist in the sense of believing in an ontologically authentic sense in an objective, manifest god. When Doreen Valiente did her valedictory address at the Pagan Federation conference, she stated quite explicitly that in her opinion, the gods might be powerful, might be experientially authentic, might be personally immanent, but they do not objectively exist. Insecure Wiccans have a problem with that. As you would expect, I for one have serious philosophical issues with the proposition that there is a seperately existing “Lord” and “Lady”. For me, it’s simplistic nonsense.

But if paganism isn’t quite theist, is it atheist? Well, not in the sense of adopting a belief system which denies any dealing with what might be called “deity”. Belief is itself a negotiable commodity; indeed, this makes the term “agnostic” problematic, because not only does one trade belief for results, but one is by definition engaging in “gnosis”. I guess the theist / atheist divide is a false dichotomy, a set of obsolete Aristotleian categories. We need new words the escape binary polarities!

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The lull’s over — but god what a victim it has claimed.

I once said I could make a blogging career out of commenting on TWANBOC and one could say the same about K-Punk, whose blog has already become one of the most interesting communities on the web. The comments boxes have almost as much traffic as UK-Dance. His iron discipline — or is it an obsessive glossolalia — was an existential challenge to any suggestion of a Lull. But Mark, don’t forget that it was a just that — a Lull — not a termination. Summer innit. People should be dancing, camping, shagging, gardening, not stuck in front of a monitor.

However — Stelfox shuffling off the coil is still hurting. It’s bad enough that he stopped writing — almost as if following too seriously my imprecation to do it for love, or don’t do it at all, him being desirious of retaining his professional status — but what really stings is that he DELETED ALL THE OLD POSTS. Never, I suspect, to be resuscitated. That’s so wasteful it’s almost criminal, but ye gods, it’s hardcore. ‘Course, it’s his game and he can take his toys away, but that’s a ROUGH way to make an exit. Though I guess it’s legend-making and rather admirably committed, in its own way.

“Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?”

Not me — him. I imagine.

We can only hope we get a taste of his taste and a sample of his selections in the future. There’s no guarantees though.

And on the subject of the welcome return of Luka — Mark gets THIS close to nailing Luka’s genius with the term industrial sublime. I suspect Luka himself doesn’t understand it entirely, since he’s so un-self-conscious in his writing, but he’s a psychogeographer of the old (early 90s) school. His writing is highly redolent of the urban paganism encoded in industrial culture which I showcased in my industrial mix. He captures the transcendence of secret London, of abandoned urban places, the shadowlands of Heathen London, in a way of which Sinclair would approve, and which (IoT initiate) Burroughs would have understood, and more importantly which (Burroughs associate) Phil Hine would doubtless find inspirational. (Something I plan to ask Hine about specifically when I next interview him.)

I prefer the description — or invocation — more satisfying than the poetry, but there’s little doubt he’s blogdom’s pre-eminent prose stylist.

But would it work on paper?

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Plum tucker

Woebotnik’s on the trail of celebrity chefdom. I’m so chuffed it’s completely changed my mood — we were going to the monthly continental market in town but can’t make it cos Felix is ill. Hope he’s better for Shrek 2 this afternoon. Anyway, as regular readers, will know, I’ve been hoping Matt would fulfil his manifest destiny and start writing restaurant reviews for a long time now so his exegesis on celebrity chefs is a step in the right direction as far as I’m concerned.

Stubbs is of course rapidly becoming a victim of his own irony with his Mr Agreeable / Mr Disagreeable schtick; slagging off Jamie Oliver is redundant, otiose, and above all ill-considered. Never mind the tongue. On telly he entertains, but more importantly, his puddings ae highly edible. (Does Stubbs actually cook? Probably does, actualy.) There are a lot of favourite dishes round here that started out in a Jamie Oliver cookbook. One morsel to fuel your appetite: cook a strong-tasting organic sirloin (yes the Oliver-branded, hung-for-21-days ones from Sainsbury’s are great but go to a proper butcher if you can), and serve with lemon. It’s a revelation, trust me. Jamie is the Norman Cook of cuisine: lambasted, dreadfully unhip, somewhat naff, but wonderful nevertheless.

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Ladykillers

Don’t believe the hype. There’s a lot of backlash bullshit against the Coen’s right now and AFAICT it’s a nonsense. The Ladykillers is another great movie from them. I’m notoriously picky about movies — I find it impossible to sit still for them. I can’t bear the lack of interaction; similarly, I can’t sit still for TV, unless it’s specifically about something I’m really interested in, or, more frequently, it’s part of my looking after my son. I don’t even sit still for much music: 90% of my listening is actually mixing, editing or producing stuff. I’m a bit of a control freak.

Watching the Ladykillers at Sheffield’s fantastic “Showroom” cinema, I only had the urge to go walkabout / punch walls / use the Inernet cafe once, and even then I headed back to the film after five minutes. It’s great. Go see it.

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Pearly whites

I haven’t been to the dentist since 1994. They said there was nothing really wrong but I should get them checked out more regularly. I fled, never to return, simply grateful that no one wasn going to stick needles in my mouth. I had a LOT of dentistry when I was a kid and it was fucking horrible.

Then, a few weeks back, prompted by concern at the vast fissures opening up in my teeth, and the possibility of mouth cancer developing in some foetid little corner of my mouth, I forced myself to go for a check up. To my amazement, the dentist said there was nothing wrong with my teeth — no rotting, cancer, gum disease — BUT I was going to need a load of fillings. Why? Because I’d been brushing my teeth so vigourously I’d worn them away. Those cracks that I had been nervously examining were simply down to me trying too hard to keep the darn things clean.

So, this morning I nervously took my place in the waiting room, awaiting the inevitable vast needle in the gum that has always accompanied fillings, and mulling over my wife’s reassurance that, however bad it was going to be, it wasn’t going to be as bad as the childbirth she looks forward to in seven weeks. I lay back in the chair and let him get on with it, surrendering myself to whatever tenderness he was able to provide, and resolving to breathe my way through the spike. After five minutes or so, I plucked up the courage to ask, “So when are you doing the injections?”

“Oh, we don’t need to do injections on these.”

WHAT?

“We just stick some of this glue in the hole. This is the sort of dentistry we like.”

Holy mama! Fillings without pain! What a revelation!

After he’d been fiddling with my teeth for ten minutes or so, I glanced at my watch, thinking I may be in for a long haul, but at least it wouldn’t be agony. Ten minutes a filling — that’s not that bad compared with what I remembered from childhood. He withdraw some of the cotton buds and asked me to spit.

“Right, that’s the first nine done. Do you want me to tidy up your front ones?”

NINE fillings in ten minutes! Wow! Seems like dentistry has changed completely in the last ten years and I am hugely grateful for it; even better, I think, is that my son seems unlikely to grow up with the pain and fear of nightmare dentistry that our generation had. Amazing.

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Summer Breakbeats 2: Dog Days

Back on the 25th May, summer was taking hold, the moon was waxing, and it was time to throw all cares to the wind and bounce around to old breakbeat records, so I posted a mix of hyped up, ragga-flavoured tunes of the broken persuasion. A lot of people said they liked it and some were unwise enough to ask for more. So here we are at midsummer, with the moon waxing again, the Dog Days fast approaching, and an introspective, waning-moon industrial mix under our belts; it feels like it’s time for another breakbeat mix, this time of more recent vintage and of an even more banging nature.

This is a mix of breakbeat for big rooms — arenas even. The tracks are maximalist, flavoursome, dirty and above all huge fun. Where the reference points for the tunes on the last mix were ragga and hip-hop, here it’s funk, acid and, with not a trace of irony, hard rock. While you can mosh to many of these tracks as much as dancing to them, this is not music for acid teds. As with all great pop music, whether Sinnitta or Sonic Youth, Sister Sledge or Psychic TV, there’s a cartoon element to this music which absolves it of any responsiblity other than to evoke that transcendence that comes from dancing about like a loon and bumping into strangers.

Breakbeat’s not hip. But as the blogerati know, it’s no longer that untouchable, following John Eden’s widely read defence of it. As he said at the time, “It isn’t cool, but I worry about people who worry about that stuff. Fuck ’em if they can’t take a joke.” I seem to remember Simon talking about breakbeat sharing many of the same features as our beloved ‘Ardkore: music that’s functionally designed to generate a buzz, a low-brow, orgiastic impertinence that revels in sounds and effects that are bound to irritate many listeners, while inducing grins of recognition from its targets. I therefore wanted to do a mix of favourite breakbeat pile drivers that emphasised the textural connection with ‘Ardkore without going the ragga route. Instead, the tracks in this mix represent a battle between funk and rock for the possession of dance music’s soul, with acid refereeing. It’s a blast.

Big Room Breakbeat
60 minutes.
83.4Mb.

Kasha Ft. Sarah Nelson: U
A picture of Shara Nelson. I can't remember who was in Kasha. Probably someone embarassingly famous.
Classy hyperkinetic soul to start off.

Leftfield: Dusted (Si Begg Mix)
Leftfield, wondering where that funny noise is coming from.
Yes! The Leftfield plodder from the LP no-one listens to gets twisted into industrial funk mentalism by hit-n-miss studio genius Si Begg.

Basement Jaxx: Jump’n’Shout (Boo Slinger Dub)
Basement Jaxx, in Brixton
The extra ruff mix. Familiar I know but there’s some interesting wrinkles here…

HardKnox: Come In Hard
Hardknox. MENTAL!!!
From one pub in Brixton to another. Absolutely mental heavy metal mash-up. I fucking love Hardknox.

Dylan Rhymes: Naked and Ashamed
Dylan Rhymes, DJing.
No I never heard anything else by him either, but this is the apotheosis of hard rock acid house.

S.I. Futures: I’m the Bomb (Grievous Angel Edit)
Si Begg, looking cheerful. Cute, isn't he?
The revenge of the funk. Awesome track. Dude.

Fatboy Slim: Michael Jackson
Norman Cook, acid house hero.
Saint Norman — who is still the most fun and therefore the best non-reggae DJ I’ve ever seen — in fine Negativ-land-sampling style.

Plump DJs: The Funk Hits The Fan
Plump DJs, embracing modernism.
I’ve danced around the kitchen with my wife to this track more than anything else in the past year. That’s really all you need to know about this one.

Plump DJs: The Gate
This is just a buzz track. Nothing else. It’s pure ear-candy. Obviously it’s just a re-working of an extremely well-known acid breaks track but that kind of versioning mentality tjust makes me love it all the more. Originality is the enemy of creativity in dance music.

Chemical Brothers: Loops of Fury
Just another huge, pounding, head-shredding buzz track. With extra guitar solos. It’s the dance music equivalent of Deep Purple’s Highway Star (the version on Live in Japan). The corruscating Hammond lines are replaced with wave upon wave of overdriven synths, and it’s just killer.

Way Out West: King of the Funk
Jody of Way Out West, DJing. No, really.
Under-rated act, Way Out West. Must’ve been that shite trance mix CD Nick Warren did. Still, this is a fabulously funky integration of dance music and metal.

Si Begg Vs T Power: I Like That
Si Begg, inventing another meaningless pseudonym.
Something twisted beyond all recognition to bring you down.

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Hermetic radio

The man with the hair.

The best programme on the radio is In Our Time, Melvyn Bragg’s weekly surf through philiosophy and history on Radio 4. It’s a great programme — you get some of the latest academic work on a subject, packaged up in a nice, digestible package. I love it. I know Bragg irritates many but this is the best setting for him: his ego, which elsewhere can be overbearing, is essential to serving the interests of the listener when engaging with subject specialists. In terms of eludication, it works a treat.

Last week’s was an absolute corker: it was all about Renaissance Magic. This is an essential subject for understanding both modernity, or what passes for it, and pre-Christian history, in terms of science, art, philosophy and, quite rapidly, cultural theory. It’s a humdinger of a topic.

The central text of Renaissance magic is Frances Yates’ magisterial Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition. I was introduced to it by my wife, who encountered it when doing graduate work at the Bartlett School of Architecture, at a time when the Bartlett was an inferno of intellectual energy; it still is one of the three or four most forward-looking and academically robust architecture schools in Europe. Architects have been enthusiastic recipients of Yates’ wisdom; so much of architectural theory is based on the neoclassical ideals of the Renaissance, and Yates provided a fresh conceptual model for evaluating the roots of modern architecture which was both persuasive and mind-blowing.

Its thesis is as startling as Yates is respected (she is THE hardcore authority on the history of Renaissance philosophy and art): that the Renaissance, far more than being simply a re-discovery of classical sources (though this was of course the central conceptual input) or a product of Arab technology (the use of the number zero for example, which was also covered in this series), was, in intention and in effect, a full-on pagan revival. Over and again, Yates demonstrates that the mantle of Catholicism, within which Classical themes were deployed, was largely a cover under which full-on practical magick flourished. I would happily split hairs about whether this magick was actually Christian in orientation and ideology, as is largely (if not comprehensively!) true of the cunning men, herbalists and midwives who are frequently and wrongly claimed by some Wiccans (for example) as being their explicitly pagan forebears… but such qualifications are scarcely necessary given the weight of documentary evidence marshalled by Yates to demonstrate the deliberate pagan intent of many of the Renaissance players.

Frances Yates' scholarly classic. Buy it!

The programme doesn’t quite possess the sweeping authority of Yates, but it’s a hell of an interesting survey nevertheless. As with pretty much all the In Our Time shows, you can still hear it: go here and click on the listen again button.

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Under new management.

It’s alright, you can put your hankies away.

I’ll miss the album art. Couldn’t take the heat from Grievous Angel’s gardening pictures and got out of the game, eh Matt? Wise move.

Anyway. “Crassly Loop > Main”. There was a period in 1988 when I worshipped Loop. Funky drug noise. Arc-Light and Collision are still killer. Main? Never got the bug personally. I like Genesis though.

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Wicked piece over at da punksta on The Lull. He nails the nature of blogdom as a network rather than a community in that way he has of expressing what you always thought about something but never quite articulated. And he scores extra points for not pulling in an emergence / tipping point argument that wouldn’t have stood up anyway.

Now lets stop the navel-gazing and get out there and blog.