I download music. I download a lot of music. I don't purchase music often, so I completely and totally understand when kids come up to me at shows and look me straight in the eye and tell me they're not going to buy my record tonight because they've already, or are going to go home and, download it. There just isn't any reason to show animosity towards this new-ish way of communicating; to me, this feels like a natural way of weeding out assholes and the people that aren't smart enough to make interesting work.
I want to give back. Here are three ZIP files of instrumentals. Download them, use them for karaoke, perform as YACHT or The Blow, chop them up and make your own remixes, make your own new songs, put them on indietorrents, upload them on alt.binaries.mp3.cooldudes, do what you will. These are 256 kbps DRM-free MP3s properly tagged with album art. Have at it!
available HERE are the instrumental tracks from the blow's magical paper television, y.a.c.h.t.'s 2007 instrumentals, and — possibly the kicker — jona's side of his split LP with lucky dragons, mentioned here as a possible album of the year a year and a half ago, finally released this year in a run of 300 from marriage records, all sounds digitally cut up from nirvana records. (two versions of luke's side of the split LP available here.) have at it indeed, girls and boys.
that jona, at once so level-headed and so utopian, always able to see past the received ideas and reified values that the crusties cling to, always willing to ride technological waves and find liberating potentials in technology. i don't mean to dredge up ancient history, particularly now that paul dickow has "broken through," but click here to read jona laying the critical beatdown on rockism in electronic music. i'm not sure if i fully understood the inherent stupidity in believing in art for some authentic "presence" before jona said it four years ago (two years later, douglas crimp said something to similar effect to me about disco being about community and not live music). jona and i were both quite young at the time, but he was already not naïve. maybe he never was.
12/28/07
CRITICS IN EXTREMIS, III
i'm not completely out of touch, am i? my favourite songs of the year—
1. john cale "all my friends" (LCD soundsystem all my friends 12")
2. the tough alliance "silly crimes" (new waves e.p.)
3. the tough alliance "a new chance" (a new chance)
4. devin the dude "what a job" (ft. andré 3000 and snoop dogg) (waitin' to inhale)
5. gang gang dance "oxygen demo riddim" (RAWWAR e.p.)
6. HEALTH "crimewave" (crystal castles remix) (crimewave 7")
7. rihanna "umberella" (the lindbergh palace radio edit) (umbrella CD5)
8. put the rifle down "architekt" hordes of canada compilation
9. the postmarks "goodbye" (the postmarks)
10. secret mommy "kool aid river" (plays)
12/27/07
CRITICS IN EXTREMIS, II
here is the promised addendum to my top ten albums of the year list. to be honest, it was a pretty lousy year for records; at least for records that i heard. what was the year's big trend, psych rock, didn't thrill me, though a couple of the albums on my year end list do fall loosely into the psych rock or psych folk categories. you know, i have nothing against caribou, panda bear, or high places. they're all pleasant enough records. but caribou sound like the zombies' odessey and oracle with the lead vocals taken out. they're pretty songs, but all of the melodies on caribou's ubiquitous album andorra sound like backing vocals. panda bear is kind of the same way, though less extremely so. their widely acclaimed album person pitch sounds like a lethargic stoner's take on the beach boys. and maybe it's just me, but if you take away the intricacies of the beach boys' melodies and their neurotic attention to detail, what's the point? i saw high places in new york a few months ago. the sound was too muddy and didn't hold a candle to their promising self-titled e.p., which is marked by lots of swirly reverb and "iko iko"-style percussion. only every song on the e.p. sounds the same. all the melodies sound like "row row row your boat." but i think this all just speaks to me not being able to relate with hippies. i can't do it; i love melodies too much. and i'm just not on board with the wishy-washy, suggestive but not quite there quality of this stuff. focus. where's the rigour?
all that said, my favourite album of the year, through the panama by sightings, can be said to be a departure into psych folk, though very very loosely so. it's miles behind sightings' best record, 2002's stunningly pummelling noise-thrash album absolutes, and it probably ranks as their third best (at best), but it's a very interesting album. it's not just that sightings is actually writing melodies (however weird) now. they used to floor you with pure force, but their noisy industrial lexicon has become more varied and refined. often, the lieb and i have wondered what a throbbing gristle record would sound like if recorded with the high-fidelity and punch of contemporary recording techniques and technology. this is the closest thing i've heard to that. (my friend ryan wanted to hear it, so i sent it to him via sendspace. i've shared download link here)
john wiese's soft punk defines explanation, though i offer this one to you. it's actually a much tighter, more thoughtful, and more carefully composed album than through the panama. on most levels, it's infinitely better. the kicker, however: live industrial noise, if done right like on through the panama, will always sound a million times better than the digital cut-and-manipulate noise, even at its best, as on soft punk (even johannes silentio knows this).
there were other very good records this year, though few that blew my mind away. the tough alliance wrote some insanely catchy songs, kites put together a very nicely focused industrial record that puts wolf eyes to shame but which can't top their unfocused masterpiece peace trials, lil wayne continued his prolific output, and battles added a pretty impressive psychedelic (yes, that again) element to their hyper-precise math rock.
a few retro bands got me going, which is usually a bad sign. i mean, the pipettes, art brut, ikara colt, and saturday looks good to me have all provided me with some good times in recent years, but this is not best-of material. tyvek is somewhere between the cookie-cutter-but-quite-good fall revivalism of ikara colt and the jaw-dropping awesomeness of le shok's retro post-punk stylings. ponytail do much the same to the early 90s olympia punk rock of bikini kill, bratmobile, the peechees, etc. and, like tyvek, they're quite good, but fail to reach the point at which retro becomes so good that it takes you back in time (like last year's finally punk album). while tyvek's labelmates ca-USE co-MOTION! didn't make the list because they didn't release a proper record (though, to be fair, tyvek's was just a singles collection), their four tracks on the what's your rupture? compilation were probably the best of this bunch and did nearly magical things with that C81/television personalities/swell maps/pre-felt era of pop music.
i've been working on a theory of punk rock and community recently. the very preliminary conclusions i've come to so far are beside the point, but (and i realise how incredibly corny this will sound, but...) i feel a sense of community when i listen to the lloyd & michael album. not so much because i knew katy and ritchey, but because i knew them in portland back when we all lived there, when they were in dear nora and, later, when ritchey was in the badger king. not only were those two of the three greatest bands of this millenium, but the people associated with the record labels that put out and continue to put out katy and ritchey's records — magic marker, marriage records, and states rights records, which released lloyd & michael's just as god made us — and all of these people's work and conviviality come back to me when i mail order these records, years after moving away from portland. it's just a little thing, but the personalised notes from steve at states rights or curt at magic marker that come with the dear nora, blow, manta, y.a.c.h.t., and lloyd & michael records i've ordered in recent years speak to the thematics of community through distribution that i'm thinking about in the early films of sadie benning, miranda july's joanie4jackie video chainletter project, or sonja ahlers' work.
but, beyond all of that, you know how the wonderful records your friends make are made even more wonderful by the fact that you know them and recognise them in the songs? that's the inexpressible brilliance of kittens & puppies for me. the songs were written by robert gordon newell, whose previous two albums i mixed and released on monoculture. more importantly, robert and i were best friends in first grade, we were in a band together when we were teenagers, and, well, he's my oldest friend and i miss him.
12/24/07
IN THE DRUNK TANK
Happy holidays from Monoculture Media Conglomerate. In lieu of an embedded flash animated greeting card this year, please enjoy this Christmas-themed song, free to stream or download or turn into a ringtone. But act fast. The song is only free the week of the birth of Our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.
1. sightings through the panama (load)
2. john wiese soft punk (troubleman unlimited)
3. the tough alliance a new chance (sincerely yours/summerlovers unlimited)
4. kittens & puppies s/t (self-released)
5. kites hallucination guillotine/final worship (load)
6. lil wayne da drought 3 (young money entertainment)
7. battles mirrored (warp)
8. lloyd & michael just as god made us (states rights)
9. tyvek fast metabolism (what's your rupture?)
10. ponytail kamehameha (creative capitalism)
the ones that are links are downloadable. commentary to come soon. songs of the year list also to come (with downloads) soon. in the meantime, i'll leave you with the first paragraph of pitchfork's top fifty albums of the year list:
It's easy to get caught up in the story of Tinariwen: They descend from some of the world's last truly nomadic peoples — the Kel Tamashek or Tuareg — and formed in a refugee camp. But the narrative is just background, a conversation piece that's not necessary to enjoy their work. The electric crunch of "Cler Achel" is breathtaking — especially the way it contrasts with its hypnotic massed vocals — and "Matadjem Yinmixan" whirls with the force of a cyclone. You can feel the empty spaces; these musicians locate their home in the music, a sound that feels like it's been part of the world as long as we have, as essential as blood, as elemental as fire.
who needs politics? we've got form. real-world issues? don't worry, it also works on the level of aesthetic contemplation.
12/17/07
A SOLDER FALLS IN LOVE AS WE WALKED THROUGH LAN KWAI FONG
does anybody remember prozzäk's 1999 pop album hot show? basically, it was an ode to sex tourism disguised as a celebration of cosmopolitanism, which was kind of a big deal at the time. "thinking and feeling beyond the nation" indeed. "feeling global," even.
here are two emblematic videos, of "omobolasire" and "europa," respectively, from hot show:
but the one that really got me was "tsunami." the thing is, though, hot show was one hell of a catchy record. in spite of everything — politics, ethics, form, everything — that's a great record. for me, it's similar to the "chain hang low" controversy, 'cos that's a great song too, though not one i'd ever be caught dead putting on a year end list.
i've only spent one month in hong kong since the beginning of the "one country, two systems" era, but the three songs about hong kong mentioned in this blog entry do hit me with a bit of weight. "tsunami" lyrics:
I told you 'bout Europa and me
And how she haunted every memory
Went 'round the world just to forget that song
And sing a new one for a girl in Hong Kong.
it's like "turning japanese" only directed at me. fuck, dude. but, you know, at least it's specific. the ash song "kung fu" flattens daniel-san from the karate kid, taiwan, and jackie chan. but "kung fu" is another impeccable pop song from a saccharine pop record that marked my teenage years. (note: no, not 1977; i'm talking about this. —ed.) what can i say?
then there's the wu-tang clan. dissertations could (and inevitably will) be written about the hybrid landscapes of their songs that are one half staten island, one half hong kong kung fu film set. most will probably be apolitical, soft cultural studies projects lionising "intertextuality" and new forms of "de-stablilised identity" without really acknowledging the possible dangers of cosmopolitanism, multiculturalism, modernity at large, imagined communities, etc. but some will be good and will tell you why the wu-tang clan was and continues to be miles ahead of anyone in pop music ever, and why enter the wu-tang (36 chambers) is in no way the same thing as "tsunami" and "kung fu."
in 1972, buffy saint-marie wrote a devastatingly poignant riposte to neil young and others' exoticising "cowgirl in the sand," "cortez cortez" nonsense. sainte-marie used the american space program to stand allegorically for european imperialism and, in the same stroke, satirised patronising white attitudes towards non-western cultures (the academic discipline of ethnography, the celebration of "languages so primitive," and the like). they were revealed to be parts of the same colonial enterprise; it was absolutely devastating. and, thirty-five years later, still almost nobody gets it. "moonshot" is often taken as a lament for her people's lost civilization while it actually 1. laments the imperialistic ideology that led to the loss and 2. criticises the white, liberal guilt that absolves itself for the settlement of north america by embracing the native Other in a superificial manner. that the song actively solicited hippies' appropriation of first nations/native north american spirituality and culture as lifestyle and decoration, and that those hippies for the most part chose not to see the critical work of the song when it is obvious, is so brilliant and so sad it often makes me want to cry. seriously.
The women all were beautiful
And the men stood straight and strong
They offered life in sacrifice
So that others could go on.
Hate was just a legend
And war was never known
The people worked together
And they lifted many stones.
They carried them to the flatlands
And they died along the way
But they built up with their bare hands
What we still can't do today.
And I know she's living there
And she loves me to this day...
or rock and roll's constant channelling of the african "primitive" (cf. lou reed's "i wanna be black"), or punk rockers wearing mohawks.* and so, in the mid-90s, the irish pop-punk band ash, in the heyday of cibo matto, giant robot, and all that abstract japoniste fascination, got their orientalism all mixed up (which, i suppose, is at least staying true to orientalism) and wrote "kung fu." you know, i love that song. but i almost would rather listen to rage against the machine right now.
We, the undersigned independent record labels, wish to share our indignation regarding Rolling Stone's November 15th pull out editorial, which featured the names of our artists in conjunction with an ad for Camel cigarettes. This editorial cartoon gives every impression of being part and parcel of the advertisement wrapped around it.
The use of an artist's name to promote a brand or product should be done only with the artist's explicit consent, something that was neither solicited nor obtained from the labels or bands.
When questioned, Rolling Stone has referred to the Indie Rock Universe pull out section as an editorial, but it hardly seems accidental that this editorial content is wrapped in a giant ad from R.J. Reynolds announcing their support for independent artists and labels. The idea that this was a coincidence in any way seems dubious at best. There are two other pull out sections in this same issue of Rolling Stone. Both are wrapped in advertising, but neither of these ads could be construed as part of the editorial content within.
Many of the bands named, and the labels that represent them, are very unhappy with the implication that they have any involvement with R.J. Reynolds and Camel cigarettes. We ask that Rolling Stone apologize for blurring the line between editorial and advertisement, and in doing so, implying that the bands named support the product being advertised.
Sincerely, Kill Rock Stars, Touch and Go, Skin Graft, Lovepump United, Lucky Madison, 5RC, Monoculture Media Conglomerate, Audio Dregs, and Fryk Beat. (12/13/07)
how sad that this is the only time johannes silentio will ever get any mainstream recognition? on a positive note, i was mentioned in this month's texte zur kunst (p. 174).
12/09/07
I WANT MY MP3
according to patches, the mp3 blog is going back up. so, in honour of his birthday, i've posted a new mix.
12/08/07
DORKUS MALORKUS
what would i do without kant to diss in my essays?
i'm skeptical, but the rhetoric is definitely suggestive:
Sir Richard Eyre, the distinguished director who led the National Theatre for 10 years, has warned that "apartheid" in the arts is denying millions of people access to high culture.
Identifying a chasm between those who feel the arts are for them and those who are disenfranchised, Eyre said failure to instil in schoolchildren an appreciation of theatre, art and classical music means the situation is deteriorating. The director is concerned that the next generation will turn its back on the world of classical art and entertainment.
Eyre said: "My fears are that you enlarge the divisions in society between those for whom the arts are a part of life and people who think it is impossibly obscure and incomprehensible...I would use the word apartheid."
but then i took a step back for a second. the so-called democratisation of art (in its various problematic and less problematic guises advanced by such recent artists and art commentators as rirkrit tiravanija, claire bishop and grant kester, thomas hirschhorn, and jeremy deller) often leads me to ask: why? which is to say, what do we lose in this so-called "art apartheid," particularly as it has been happening from time immemorial (or at least, as bill ray's book argues, since post-revolutionary france)? is looking at a painting or painting one a somehow ennobling and self-actualising activity? and, if so, what kind of self-actualising? aren't we merely losing the conversion of subjects to high art's moral disciplining?
Nicholas Hytner, artistic director of the National Theatre: "Ideally children would be exposed to the classics at school, but there are children leaving our schools now who have not seen a play, let alone performed in one."
Melvyn Bragg, author and broadcaster: "You don't have to have been to university to watch an arts programme, you don't have to dress up and go to the opera house. You just turn on the box."
Grayson Perry, artist: "Students from working-class backgrounds are also often saddled with what is known as 'impostor syndrome.' This is a deep-seated sense that the world of culture, particularly so-called 'high culture,' is not for the likes of them, a feeling that at any moment they will be tapped on the shoulder and asked to leave."
Mark Ravenhill, playwright: "Politicians worry, I suppose, that an enjoyment of the arts will mark them out as elitist. And yet, statistics tell us, far more of us are attending live performances than are going to football matches."
me, i'd rather point you to this blog poll from a month and a half ago.
last week, i gave a lecture in my ART 101: introduction to art history class on abstraction and modernism. in it, i identified abstraction as an artistic project shared by modernist european artists in a handful of different countries in the teens. now, there is very little social utility in teaching eighteen year olds about how mondrian paintings work; you don't have to convince me of that. but, in differentiating between dutch, polish, and french abstraction from its iteration in revolutionary russia, i wanted to point to the eventual russian constructivist project in the twenties to democratise art by destroying it, in the process harnessing the creative potential of art for the betterment of society. this, it has always seemed to me, was in contrast to art's social role in europe at the time to reinforce bourgeois desire, to produce aspirations to the bourgeois in the lower classes, and, so, naturalise the economic advantages held by the bourgeoisie.
