1973! Fusion as a genre has yet to totally degrade itself & is still on the crest of an immensely expansive & exciting musical progression. This splendiferous masterpiece of an album & debut for the daring Warsaw born violin crank – Michal Urbaniak & his posse of eager & unorthodox upstarts is definitely’ definitely one of my favourite Fusion albums ever & an massively singular stand-out in the Fusion context. Continue reading Michal Urbaniak – Fusion 12” LP
It’s another flurry a’ Murray! This obscure cut originating from, for me, probably his greatest stint (fall of the late 1960’s) on the Shandar record series. Shandar was a French initiative, i believe a series of live concerts (or at least the label that released material from these concerts) which I know included other pressings by Cecil Taylor & Sun Ra (good shit!). The four tracks on the LP were captured live in 1968, & thus sit adjacent to his two riotously cataclysmic cacophonic classics that were issued by the cult Actuel editions (there were actually x3 on Actuel but one was a dud) during the same aeon.
The ol’ Jackeyboard! On fine form with this largely lucid (of sorts) Fusion-Jazz-Avant elixir from 1975 with John Abecrombie on electric guitar, Peter Warren on electric & up-right bass & Alex Foster on alto & tenor saxophone. Never re-issued, its another of DeJohnette’s concealed marvels from his earlier career (not that 1975 was very early for Jack). The opening title track of the LP (Cosmic Chicken) is a real stormer. Continue reading Jack Dejohnette – Cosmic Chicken LP
A hugely informing book, with tons & tons of anonymous insider information & direct accounts from bankers & members of the financial sector on the industries internal machinations. Yes, that’s straight from the horse’s mouth, off-record (or rather with assured anonymity) revelations & insight from sources operating in the profession from a wealth of positions. Continue reading Swimming With Sharks – My Journey into the World of the Bankers (Joris Luyendijk)
2014 – LOFI OR DIE REX
So you are into fucked up music, right? You are an ‘outsider’ as a listener beside your cool friends and you are constantly mocked about this? Well then, next time you feel like shit after trying to talk to your (so called) “friends” about “good music”, go home and put this record in your player, Player. Continue reading BOLLOCK SWINE / PSEUDOKU Split 7”
So I am thinking on which angle to begin writing on this historical book? should it be on the “conspiracy theory”? or rather when the “theory”, after years of strenuous denial by the perpetrators, media & the regulators & legal operators that should have been bringing them down, gets total & utter public confirmation & an ‘oh yes! You were actually 100% right all along’ moment? Or should it be the Continue reading Blacklisted – The Secret War Between Big Business and Union Activists (Dave Smith & Phil Chamberlain)
A front-line testament of a revolution from writer & journalist Andrey Kurkov. Apparently never intended to be compiled into a book, Kurkov began writing a diary on Ukraine’s 2013 pro-European protests from a first-hand perspective (his flat being just a few hundred yards from Independence Square in Kiev). Getting accurate information on Ukraine can be difficult, as both Europe/The West & especially Russia deploy so much disinformation, hyper-bias, omission & propaganda. Continue reading Ukraine Diaries – Dispatches from Kiev (Andrey Kurov)
Bleg: Hi Brett! So you have a new book/theory coming out. My understanding, at least in gist, is that it argues we should scrap politicians altogether? or that the ever exponentiating calamity & crisis that seems to be engirdling the modern world derives from their constant misrule & malfeasance so their existence/empowerment needs to be seriously questioned/contested. Please elaborate/set-it straight about the book & your ideal/solution to this ghastly emergency that’s shunting us towards extinction or worse. Continue reading The End Of Politicians – Forthcoming Book by Brett Hennig
A year in the United Kingdom without spending so much as a single penny!? A concept/action of such importance, taken to a considerable extreme (of such) to fully demonstrate the capacity of human ingenuity & ability even in the modern day environment. It’s challenging to over exaggerate the importance of such experimentation. By taking it to such consummate frontier (an entire year on absolutely zero money) Continue reading The Moneyless Man – A Year of Freeconomic Living (Mark Boyle)
An absolute smasher of a book! on a page tearing tip. I came across it by chance whilst sifting through the isles in a decent shop. Wus’ this? It’s got pretty poor sleeve design, especially considering the strength & style of the material within. But the vignette on the back convinced me that this was essential reading based on the journalists insight. I wasn’t wrong. Continue reading Nothing Is True And Everything Is Possible – Adventures in modern Russia (Peter Pomerantsev)