Bomb the Music Industry! – Adults!!!: Smart!!! Shithammered!!! And Excited By Nothing!!!!!!!

March 4th, 2010 § 0

Adults!!!

I’ve not reviewed Bomb the Music Industry! on NFI before, although I did reckon last year’s Scrambles was the second best album of the year. That aside, it feels difficult to review a band that you’re so outrageously fond of without just spewing hot, exciting love all over the place. But! The idea behind Adults!!! (surely wins most ludicrous title of the year if nothing else) is that it was recorded in five days, so here is a short review that I wrote in five minutes. It would probably be more in keeping with the spirit of the record if I spent five hours on this review but I don’t have the patience for such an outrageously pointless conceit.

So! First up, Adults!!! is more ska-centric than either Scrambles or 2007’s Get Warmer. It opens up with ‘You Still Believe In Me’, which could almost be an Arrogant Sons of Bitches (Jeff Rosenstock’s old ska-punk band) song, driven as it is by brass, rolling drums, and simple hooky chords. Right after that you have the faster-paced ‘Planning My Death’ ska-punk tune which is characteristically tongue-in-cheek, light-hearted but dark: ” I’ve been planning my death ’cause I wanna have a really good death. I want heroism, mystery and courage.”

Lyrically the entire EP reads like is a snapshot of where Jeff is at in his life right now: “I used to be an awesome listener. But now I just drift in and out or get pulled away by beats and measures like I don’ t have a choice but failure and running from a brighter future.” » Read the rest of this entry «

Half-hearted Wednesday post (actually, good news about indie gaming)

March 3rd, 2010 § 0

Some radspiffy news over at Rock, Paper, Shotgun:

Some indie games make a lot of money. Most don’t. Worse, many never even get off the ground because they have no funding. The freshly-announced Indie Fund means to change that – it’s an angel investment group set up by some of independent gaming’s greatest current luminaries (the likes of 2D Boy, Jon Blow, Flashbang…) and intended to help the next generation of indie devs get started on making wonderful toys for us lot to play with. I.e. more Worlds of Goo, more Braids, more Audiosurfs, more Solium Infernums…

PC indie gaming has been experiencing something of a renaissance over the past couple of years, with games like World of Goo, Braid, VVVVVV, Kudos 2 and Solium Infernum garnering significant attention (and, in some cases, the sales to match). However, there are still a lot of games that don’t make it to release or that disappear due to limited / poor promotion. Hopefully grants from this fund will help alleviate this problem and allow more wonderfully inventive independent projects reach fruition.

Steven Blush – American Hardcore: A Tribal History

March 2nd, 2010 § 0

American Hardcore: A Tribal History by Steven Blush

American Hardcore: A Tribal History by Steven Blush

It’s difficult to approach this book, originally released in 2001, without bringing a certain amount of baggage with you. It’s probably among the most well-known collected histories of the early American hardcore punk movement, particularly after it was adapted into the notorious film of the same name. It’s widely regarded as an essential resource in tracing the bands, people, geographical and musical trends of the time; a book almost anthropological in its attempt to thoroughly document a long-dead scene (no no no hardcore is not dead, nor is punk, but in this exact form it’s gone). It’s almost as widely castigated for attempts to assert itself as ‘the’ undeniable true history of American hardcore, 1980-1986, for maintaining a pretence at objectivity even as it recounts personal recollection as fact and presents stories that are sometimes one-sided and often poorly recollected by those quoted.

I’ve got a good amount of distance from the book, being an English bloke who was only born a year before Minor Threat split up. Whilst I can’t and won’t attempt to dispute any of what the book claims as fact, I can observe that where a particularly controversial subject arises (such as the infamous dispute between the Bad Brains and the gay Texan band Big Boys over the former’s homophobic attitudes and generally shitty behaviour) a variety of participants and observers are given space to speak their piece. The difficulty in retrospectively covering something that was erratically documented at the time speaks for itself, especially bearing in mind that a lot of early participants were young and prone to extensive indulgence in alcohol, drugs and extreme violence; the sort of thing that, over time, can fuck with your head pretty thoroughly. And that’s not even to mention the amount of difference time can make to memories: over time people’s minds will inevitably distort details to fit their opinions.

» Read the rest of this entry «

Killing children

March 1st, 2010 § 0

There seems to have been limited coverage of this incident so far. A cursory search with the obvious keywords turns up nothing on the Guardian or Beeb websites.

Linkfest: February 21st – February 28th

March 1st, 2010 § 0

Del.icio.us links for February 21st through February 28th:

» Read the rest of this entry «

Blacklisted – No One Deserves To Be Here More Than Me

February 25th, 2010 § 0

Blacklisted - No One Deserves To Be Here More Than Me

Deathwish isn’t a label I’ve really followed over the years, as in my head I had it pegged as a repository of boring macho metalcore. But while it probably has had such bands on its roster at some point, it has also played host to hardcore luminaries like Cursed, Breather Resist, Modern Life Is War, I Hate You, Boysetsfire and Converge. The moral of the story, I guess, is that I’m kind of a fool.

Anyway, this album cropped up on a couple of best of 2009 lists I read last month so I picked up a copy, and hoooly shit this is some seriously pissed-off hardcore. Pardon the cliche, because I am really serious. The riffs and drums rain down like hammerblows, and their vocalist punctuates every bar with a snarling bullet of vitriol.

» Read the rest of this entry «

Science fiction muzik

February 24th, 2010 § 0

Gimmicky but cool. No doubt somewhere out there a Hollywood futurist is working out how to drop something similar into the background of a near-future thriller.

(If only more science fiction writers could capture the faddish yet creative nature of popular music and performance aesthetics half as well as incidental detail in big-budget film regularly manages. Call me controversial but most futurist fictionists are very bad at this.)

Joseph Patrick Larkin – The Arcade of Cruelty

February 23rd, 2010 § 0

The Arcade of Cruelty, by Joseph "J.P." Larkin

The Arcade of Cruelty, by Joseph "J.P." Larkin

I’ve reviewed a fair mix of self-published books in my time. They included a few gems but quite often they were frankly fucking awful genre novels, written by people who evidently didn’t read widely. As such I stopped accepting them for review. For some reason, in 2008, I accepted for review The Arcade of Cruelty, a book which sounded like an oddball collection of self-hating diatribes and darkly humorous artwork. About three months later, after I’d all but forgotten about it, a copy arrived in the post – sent from the US via the cheapest international tariff available, a very sensible move as it’s a huge, weighty book.

Since then it’s sat on my shelves as I’ve not really known what to do with it. I’ll be frank: it’s more of a vanity project than any of those terrible SF books I’ve read have been, even the ones that middle-aged men had been dreaming up since their university days (oh, I loved those press releases, let me tell you). You see, it’s more like a scrapbook than anything else, albeit one that’s 250 glossy, high-quality and colour printed pages. It’s also sub-titled “A Tender Cry For Help in Words and Pictures”. There’s a lot of self-deprecatory humour in this book, although most of the time it’s much more generous with the self-loathing than it is with the funnies.

» Read the rest of this entry «

More callous lies from peddlers of racist hysteria

February 22nd, 2010 § 1

I’m quite  a fan of the Enemies of Reason blog as 90% of the time author Anton Vowl mirrors my response to media trends and furores – right down to the tirades of colourful invective. Best of all, he reads the tabloids so I don’t have to. I’m impressed that he is prepared to return to those peddlers of bullshit, hypocrisy and lies time and again, and that he invests so much time and energy in not only observing that they’re wrong but also identifying why.

Over the weekend he posted this about a story in the Daily Express. Click on through to read Anton’s post as there’s little point me repeating what he says.

Our deluxe minicabs will transport you to your luxury accommodation.

Our deluxe minicabs will transport you to your luxury accommodation.

In essence, the Express claims that a refurbished hangar currently being used to provide shelter for migrants is a “holiday camp” akin to a “VIP club”. Of course, their photos proving this are nowhere to be seen. Fortunately Brighton No Borders and Calais Migrant Solidarity have already posted rebuttals – with photos.

I’ve only a little to add to this. I’ve been following updates from CMS over the last few months and I’m aware that the hangar has been legally hired by CMS to provide for the basic needs of migrants who are without shelter, food, money, medicine, legal and often social and emotional support.

Over the past few months tents and encampments have been repeatedly cleared and bulldozed by police under the orders of a mayor who wishes to appear tough on illegal immigration. Over the freezing winter and record snows we’ve experienced over the past couple of months, police were ensuring that these migrants lacked even the most basic provisions that they needed to survive.

Often travelling alone and traumatised by isolation, trafficking or the experiences they fled, it is probable that without the tireless activities of Calais Migrant Solidarity and other activists, many such migrants would have died, alone, cold and hungry, their last shreds of hope obliterated in the name of political displays of strength.

Our highly-trained staff are ready and waiting to cater to your every need.

Our highly-trained staff are ready and waiting to cater to your every need.

Perhaps the Daily Express might consider following in the footsteps of a famous journalist who possessed the courage of his convictions. Follow in the footsteps of Eric Arthur Blair, Express hacks, and experience for yourself this life you so glibly liken to that of a visiting dignitary. Or perhaps open up your offices to visitors: if a hangar containing camp beds and a small office is akin to a “holiday camp”, your organ’s finances and workforce must be in even direr straits than anyone thought.

(Photos courtesy CMS.)

—

In happier news, the Scottish Defence League (the north-of-the-border branch of homegrown far-right street thug movement, the EDL) has been thoroughly humiliated in Edinburgh. Outnumbered 15-to-1 and bundled onto buses by police. Fantastic.

Plurality is strength

February 22nd, 2010 § 0

From a comment thread over at Liberal Conspiracy, this remark from Sunny Hundal:

We need the people who roll up their sleeves, we need the workers, the agitators, the students, the feminists, environmentalists and even… (shock horror!) meeja types like myself who will fight for and defend the left in the media. There should be space for all types of people to contribute in different ways.

Thank fuck it is not just me saying this, and that it’s being said by someone who is actually read.

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