I dusted this magnificent book about two years ago. It’s impression remains very profound & I am writing this review after re-consulting all notes & rereading multiple marked sections that were designated during the first engagement. Published by one of the absolute greats in independent Middle-Eastern publishing – Al Saqi Books, these writings & their visual companions confront the Syrian tragedy head-on through an incredible inventory of artistic mediums comprising over fifty Syrian contributors, with examples of the Continue reading Syria Speaks – Art and Culture from The Frontline (multiple contributors)
The Morning They Came For Us – Dispatches from Syria (Janine Di Giovanni)
“Now, several years on and with hundreds of thousands dead, something has changed irrevocably in his country. It will not return to what it was, not now, not ever. How can Syria ever be what it once was? It has been burnt alive by hatred.”
I was initially sceptical about this book & had no hitherto experience of it’s author. My suspicion was motivated only once I had brought the book & had a quick glance at who was recommending it on the jacket along with Giovanni’s sprawling CV, which had some pretty unsavoury institutions mentioned. Continue reading The Morning They Came For Us – Dispatches from Syria (Janine Di Giovanni)
Urszula Dudziak – Urszula 12” LP
Another bombshell from the Dudziak! Actually the best from her solo career if you ask me & recorded on Arista in 1975. So more psycho-frolicking cute, kitsch, skits, deranged, cartoon-cuckoo-calenture, amateur/professional, animal-kingdom-mimicry & high-energy super-oestrogen spear-headed vocal-expostulation lallation backed-up by hard-Funk & Fusion. I have already pretty much depleted my Urszula Dudziak description-dictionary in the previous Michal Urbaniak “Fusion” LP post, but she takes high-pitched acutely Continue reading Urszula Dudziak – Urszula 12” LP
Michal Urbaniak – Fusion 12” LP
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
Sunny Murray – Shandar 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.
Jack Dejohnette – Cosmic Chicken LP
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
Swimming With Sharks – My Journey into the World of the Bankers (Joris Luyendijk)
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)
BOLLOCK SWINE / PSEUDOKU Split 7”
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”
Blacklisted – The Secret War Between Big Business and Union Activists (Dave Smith & Phil Chamberlain)
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)
Ukraine Diaries – Dispatches from Kiev (Andrey Kurov)
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)