I think this collective are from Detroit but residing in New York (there is certainly some kind of NY/Detroit merger proceeding). Two MC’s & a duo in the beats department if I am not mistaken. It’s really the sonic finish/final product that scintillates here…some phenomenal production, harvested from predominantly Jazz sample source. Ergo hard-to-trace, busy intersections of double bass, vibes & pitched-down horn grafts. Continue reading MF911- Idol the Bloodsport CD
LAW was a ridiculously potent eleven-deep (or so) master rap collective from LA that you have probably never heard of? They did one truly historic album in 1995 that it seems went nowhere for reasons I am unsure of!? Their style was essentially Battle Rap/Hardcore Hip-Hop, but their mode of linguistic dispatching derived from an obsession with extremely violent, graphic & destructive lyricism & majorly murderous metaphors heavy on pugnacity & lethal depictions galore.
One shot – one kill! 1993, an MC duo of Phase & Mack 10, 12 tracks strutting the full spectrum of Hardcore, Gangsta, Hip-Hop & ultra-offensive flagrant type shit to perturb, repel or entertain? depending on your angle & strength of gut-lining. Some gorgeous hard beats, with a snare so sharp it could skewer on some tunes. Continue reading Brokin English Klik – S/T CD
An extremely important & timely exposé. Bill Gates is an absolute fucking monster! Beyond his repulsive corporate aggression, brand-bloat, ‘compulsory’-software imposition/unilateral product bondage & horrible diversity-quelling market monopolizing mania of Micro Soft miasma, a much more sick, sinister & damaging agenda is at foot. Continue reading No Such Thing As A Free Gift – The Gates Foundation and the Price of Philanthropy (Linsey McGoey)
A gem in the dirt rind! A merciless, unforgiving & abrasive masterpiece of sweltering urban decay & anti-establishment dissidence from the bowels of NY (I think it’s the Bronx? they never seem to specify?). Continue reading Assault & Battery – S/T CD
A wonderful piece of Avant-Garde class from 1974. Carla Bley was the Norse arch-bohemian Blanca lookin’ nut-case & composer bad-ass running with a crew of super cool NY envelope-pushers. This is also the first outing on her long-running record label Watt that she co-produced (& I assume founded?) with trumpeter Michael Mantler. Mantler is on this recording as well along with the great Dave Holland on bass, Howard Johnson on tuba & a whole gaggle of loons (seven in total) all enabling a herculean scope of detail & depth. Continue reading Carla Bley – Tropic Appetites 12” LP
So two words to kick the door in with – VITAL & MANDATORY!!! Capitalism & calamity, profit & crisis – are becoming like conjoined twins. War-pollution-incarceration… inflict, sustain, clean-up/eradicate, reaping revenues at every stage. You notice how many of today’s greatest problems/threats/fiascos crawled out of yesterday’s solutions or technological advancements (ISIS/Terrorism, Climate Extermination, Food Insecurity etc’ etc’ etc). Continue reading Disaster Capitalism – Making a killing out of catastrophe (Antony Loenwenstein)
Somehow, despite my huge interest in the topic, I only discovered Joanna Blythman recently. Not unlike fellow peer Felicity Lawrence (who works more on the abuse of workers & modern slavery in large-scale commercial food production), Blythman shares the front-line of food journalism/activism. This is her fifth book on food & deals predominantly with the hidden ingredients & deceptive stealth-feeding from an increasingly abnormal industry. Continue reading Swallow This – Serving up the food industry’s darkest secrets (Joanna Blythman)
“The rise of a major power is made up of thousands of details; like dispatching troops, mining mountains, building trading ports and skyscrapers, and most importantly entering the hearts and minds of the people without anyone noticing.”
This is a book for me that will most definitely be contending for 2016’s best title (I snatched it only this February). In this extraordinary piece, intellectual/observer/moralist/dissident/ analyst/”bad element” Xu Zhiyuan delivers an unprecedented critique & perspicacious reflection on China’s “economic miracle” & the true cost of this disastrous achievement. With remarkable clarity, Xu serves an almost sublime invective, with a grace & composure that almost contradicts the strength of the criticism & quiet outrage that he enacts. Continue reading Paper Tiger – Inside The Real China (Xu Zhiyuan)
And so! Pianist & rollicking bohemian cool-dude Paul Bley drags in the super duo qualities of bassist Dave Holland & drummer/percussionist Barry Altschul to form the Scorpio trio, sliding around the deck in the Avant improvisational district over premeditated skeletons arranged by knock-out Carla Bley & Annette Peacock. Now, to seriously add the rainbow-fluid, magic-dust, cosmic-bollocks to an already exciting proposition – Bley is playing a plump expanse of synthesisers, electric keyboards & what’s either a killer moog or a synthesizer modal that’s damn close to one! Like a bad sweet-tooth, I have a real pash on mad moogs & the idea of them in an unbridled orbit backed up by Holland & Altschul is pretty goose-bump dappling.
