Archive for February, 2008
Monday, February 11th, 2008
now that’s what i call investigative blogging
al-tahafut, that’s a truly impressive collection of songs that you’ve put together. i have to say, that i had noticed the similarities between iggy pop, jet and the decemberists. having already been a fan of ‘lust for life’ was one of the main reasons i wasn’t as enthusiastic as ‘are you gonna be my girl’ as most of my friends. i liked the decemberists song anyway, because well, i like the decemberists.
what’s interesting is that i’ve heard the jam song, the strokes song and selfish jean a number of times without realising the same drum beat. finally, the one song i haven’t heard was the one by the supremes. i think when i finally get a gramaphone, the supremes is one band i’ll definitely try to get on vinyl. i’ve never really gotten into them, but i find it hard to believe that so many people can be wrong on them.
btw, while we’re on music, how do people see miss winehouse in the states? over here, the tabloid press have basically taken her to pieces, perhaps even more savagely then they did to pete doherty.
finally, could you please elaborate on the emily goldman/sophie ellis bextor connection. i’m not really sure who emily goldman is.
Monday, February 11th, 2008
say, is that drum beat yours?
exhibit 1: you can’t hurry love, the supremes, 1966.
Sunday, February 10th, 2008
the revolution will be commodified.
a fluorescent chick of a different sort:
pity emma goldman, misquoted and sold as pop.
catchy though. no?
Thursday, February 7th, 2008
ingenuity!
i didn’t buy any chicks. however i do remember some roadside vendors had come up with a truly ingenious business plan. knowing that a lot of parents didn’t want to put up with the hassle of taking animals home with them, they offered to free the chicks for money.
mothers could give their children a lesson in the ethics of treating animals humanely without having to console them when the chicks invariably died within a few days. meanwhile the vendor would simply pretend to release them and then simply sell the chicks again. genius!
btw, i googled fluorescent chicks to see what came up and to assuage atomsmashers concerns that pakistani’s are the only ones to come up with pink chicks i came up withthis
Wednesday, February 6th, 2008
for those who like their chicks fluorescent
it dawned on me slightly late in life that there was no natural breed of chicken who’s chicks were a radioactive pink in hue. Instead, it was that rascally breed of increadibly enterprising pakistani men, who, in a agrarian marketing coup, caused to be prepared chicks (sold live, for rearing) in all florescent colours and sold them on roadsides and bazaars (particularly juma/friday bazaars). did you guys ever buy them? my maternal instincts being quite absent, my experiments would always end in misery..
dailytimes always writes the weirdest of articles, I can never quite decide if whether some of their staff writers are increadible astute impressionistic crafters of prose, or just plain retarded. following in this honest tradition - “how to check your chicken”
Wednesday, February 6th, 2008
dead sound
Monday, February 4th, 2008
sorry to lower the tone, but i couldn’t resist
Via Sepia Mutiny, I couldn’t help linking to this (video below).
There is a serious point though. Given the increasing purchasing power of the Indian middle class, both in India and in the diaspora, and the fact that almost all songs are voiced over, is it unrealistic to think that in the not too distant future Bollywood will feature a significant number of caucasian actors and actresses?
I appreciate that there is a strong Bollywood tradition of indigenous actors and actresses and people like Shahrukh Khan and Aishwariya Rai are huge stars. However given the general Indian obsession with fair skin and blonde hair, the fact that Bollywood is becoming more explicit and the increasing impact of American culture on India, I don’t think that this is that outlandish.
Carrying on with this thought I do think that it is more likely too see western actresses being wooed by Amir Khan rather than Bipasha Basu being serenaded by Tom Cruise. Having said that, given that Brett Lee is almost certain to get leading Bollywood parts when he retires, maybe this isn’t that implausible.
Anyways, without further delay watch this and weep.
Sunday, February 3rd, 2008
mali music
i’ve heard some of ali farka touré’s stuff before. and i’ve heard about diabaté, but i’d never heard any of his stuff. fantastic. there are two other bands from mali that i’ve heard: tinariwen - a band of touareg soldier-musicians - and tartit - five touareg women and four men who formed in a refugee camp in burkina faso. i’ve heard tinariwen’s 2007 album, aman iman, is fantastic, and tartit’s 2006 album abacabok, too. i first heard of tartit thanks to “ansari” being included on a free disc i got with the january 2007 issue of the word - probably the best music magazine out there - which i picked up in transit at amsterdam schiphol. check the song out on tartit’s myspace, or just ask me for it. mesmeric is the right word.
also, damon albarn - of blur, gorillaz, the good, the bad & the queen, and the recent monkey: journey to the west - released an album in 2002 entitled mali music, collaborating with toumani diabaté and other musicians. i haven’t been able to get my hands on that album either though. all royalties from the sale of the album go to oxfam. as an aside, i’ll throw out the suggestion that damon albarn is the most creative british musician of his generation.
on microsoft, i guess they’re getting desperate now. i fear they’ll end up messing up yahoo! and wait, i just realised: that means ms will own yahoo! mail too! maybe i’ll have to switch. =( i wonder how long it’ll be until apple’s os outstrips overtakes windows in terms of sales.
atomsmasher, what guitar did you get?
[edit: i've just started listening to tinariwen's aman iman. three songs in, it's absolutely amazing.]
Sunday, February 3rd, 2008
say, is that riff yours?
back in the day the unsuitable boy once made me sit down and listen to Ali Farka Toure. If you’ve ever heard his music, you will excuse me for being mesmerised, then started a largely unhealthy obsession with malian string instrumentals.
Ali sadly passed away, but its great to see some other very cool music coming out of Mali. In particular, a favourite of mine is Toumani Diabate, who plays the kora, a versatile stringed instrument similar to the guitar. Diabate brings it to life with heartbreaking skill. Heartbreaking because i recently picked up a cheap guitar at argos to try and teach myself, and all i can play is a junoon’s jugalbandi. Diabate meanwhile manages a little better: Toumani Diabate(check out debe)
Turn the volume up, grab a coffee and prepare to weep ;)
and as microsoft enters the fray to buy yahoo, the FT, never one to miss ironies quotes Robert Herrick
Thus times do shift, each thing his turn does hold;
New things succeed, as former things grow old
I’ve recently been reading histories of ancient empires, specifically the roman and indian ones, and its remarkable how the cycles of even man’s most abstract creations, seems to follow still a circle of waxing and waning…true enough of today’s new corporate empires i suppose too?
Sunday, February 3rd, 2008
that rock ‘n’ roll music
so i’ve been thinking about buying myself a guitar. specifically this beauty, but i can’t bring myself to dish out the hundreds of dollars. the casino has a rich history, especially since john, paul, and george bought one each in the mid-60s.
and it’s actually cheap for a top-end guitar, the more expensive of which run into the thousands of dollars.
i’ve also been looking into bass guitars, thanks to which i came across this video, which is hilarious for two reasons related to the instructor: his spectacles, and his virtuosity.