What actually is going on in Iran?

There are some fascinating thoughts from Paul Craig Roberts on Counterpunch.

The full article ("The U.S. Regime-Change Recipe for Iran") is here - my excerpts of the most interesting nuggets are as follows...

On May 16, 2007, the London Telegraph reported that Bush regime official John Bolton told the Telegraph that a US military attack on Iran would “be a ‘last option’ after economic sanctions and attempts to foment a popular revolution had failed.”

We are now witnessing in Tehran US “attempts to foment a popular revolution” in the guise of another CIA orchestrated “color revolution.”

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Even if the mullahs hold together and suppress the protests, the legitimacy of the Iranian government in the eyes of the outside world has been damaged. Obama’s diplomatic approach is over before it started. The neocons and Israel have won. ... One cannot avoid the conclusion that the West wants the 1978 Iranian Revolution overthrown and intends to use deception or violence to achieve that goal.

According to a wide variety of news sources (for example, London Telegraph, Yahoo News, The Globe and Mail, Asbarez.com, Politico), “Before the polling closed Mr. Mousavi declared himself ‘definitely the winner’ based on ‘all indications from all over Iran.’ He alleged widespread voting irregularities without giving specifics and hinted he was ready to challenge the final results.” ... Mousavi’s premature claim of victory before polling was over or votes counted is clearly a preemptive move, the purpose of which is to discredit any other outcome. There is no other reason to make such a claim.

In Iran’s system, election fraud has no purpose, because a small select group of ruling mullahs select the candidates who are put on the ballot. If they don’t like an aspiring candidate, they simply don’t put him on the ballot.

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Neoconservative Kenneth Timmerman let the cat out of the bag that there was an orchestrated “color revolution” in the works. Before the election, Timmerman wrote: “there’s talk of a ‘green revolution’ in Tehran.” Why would protests be organized prior to a vote and announcement of the outcome? Organized protests waiting in the wings are not spontaneous responses to a stolen election.

A writer on pakalert.wordpress.com says that he was intrigued by the sudden appearance of tens of thousands of Twitter allegations that Ahmadinejad stole the Iranian election. He investigated, he says, and he reports that each of the new highly active accounts were created on Saturday, June 13th. “IranElection” is their most popular keyword. He narrowed the spammers to the most persistent: @StopAhmadi, @IranRiggedElect, and @Change_For_Iran. He researched further and found that On June 14 the Jerusalem Post already had an article on the new twitter. He concludes that the new Twitter sites are propaganda operations.

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The unexamined question is Mousavi and his motives. Why would Mousavi unleash demonstrations that are obviously being used by a hostile West to discredit the government of the Iranian Revolution that overthrew the US puppet government? Are these the actions of a “moderate”? Or are these the actions of a disgruntled man who kept his disaffection from his colleagues in order to gain the opportunity to discredit the regime with street protests? Is Mousavi being manipulated by organizations funded with US government money?

Rudder - "Matorning" (Nineteen-Eight Records)

So I recently got a copy of “Matorning”, the new album from NYC based group Rudder on Nineteen-Eight Records. I’ll get the interest declaration out of the way right now, and state that I’m related to one of the band. Whatever about that, I’m not one for plugging stuff that I don’t like, plus you can get audio clips on the web and decide for yourself.

Where was I – oh yes, the album. So, they are all great musicians, and they’ve got a sense of humour. Rudder are a four-piece, composed of Keith Carlock on drums, Tim Lefebvre on bass, Henry Hey on keyboards, and Chris Cheek on saxaphones. They’ve all done various famous stuff, including Steely Dan, Saturday Night Live, Rod Stewart plus their own projects - you name it.

To the album. The band claim to “feed the intense craving for [an] organic and phenomenal groove experience". Now I'm all about phenomenal groove experiences (although they typically are more likely to be supplied by rigorously quantised machines, but that's a subject for another day) - so giving the ten-track “Matorning” a spin is particularly interesting, as my 'phenomenal' threshold for grooves is set pretty high.

First to hit is “3H Club”, and within 3 seconds it’s an experience alright, with an insistent groove getting hit from here to next week while the edge-of-distortion bass grumbles over the top and the keyboards vamp around. It’s difficult to describe the genre, but it’s a good genre whatever it is. Just when you think it’s going to be a pure bass groove, the sax appears and leads the whole track in to a more classical jazz mode, joined in a second by an organ. Every so often it breaks, and every time it comes back (for an organ solo, then a stomping building jam, then a sax workout, then the main tune again), the groove seems heavier and more insistant. 3H Club runs for a touch over 7 minutes, and every time you think you have a label that you could pin on it, something happens to make you think again.

If you weren’t sure about the electicism after the first track, then the rest of the album will definitely sort you out. While the theme of jazz and jamming runs across the whole album (although this is udpated jazz - without being different-planet unlistenable), the extra ingredients are always being mixed. “Toyko Chicken” adds electrified and cheeky ska-punk, “Lucy” distills a stunningly contemplative downtempo track into the most plaintive sax melody, “One Note Mosh” is an urgent and musical car chase.

Usually anything with 7 beats in the bar sounds horrifically indulgent, but on “Jackass Surcharge”, Rudder manage to get those beats in (or take them out) to come up with a stunningly funky looping monster, without sounding deliberately clever – it’s good solid fun.

The second half of the album is just as good – from the deranged offkilter “Innit” (where did that title come from - aren’t these guys supposed to be American?) to the hilariously titled “Lucky Beard” which seems (amongst other things) to have a time signature which simultaneously leans two ways. Devastatingly funky. “Daitu” comes across almost like a sub-acid-house jam, all distortion and looping, loping bass – custom made for a big PA. Then it’s in to the last two on the album, with the frantic and claustrophobic 2 minutes of jamming that is “Neppe” leaving on to the finale, “CDL”, which appears in a sweep of pads and effects, until a repeating bassline and piano motif opens up the track and reveals (together with “Lucy”) the most commercial sound on the whole record, as straight powerful chords underpin an arching sax tune as the band drive inexorably towards the end in a deliberate and articulate full stop on the ten tracks.

The music itself really is great, and suprisingly easy and engaging to listen to for something that has so many ideas. The mix of players sounds right too - if you haven’t noticed by the end how well the band work together, then you need to listen again – the effortless and easy flow of the sax, the always-in-the-right-place stylings of the keyboards, the busy and hugely effective work going on all the time in the bass, and the freakishly metronomic and funky drums, it’s effortlessly musical, and highly recommended. Just don’t ask me what to call it.

Tuneful, thought-provoking, and funky to the point of uncontrollably danceable, Rudder supply music to snap genres by.

If they are this heavy, engaging and funky on record, you wouldn’t want to miss them live...

The KLF / JAMS - It's Grim up North

Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty have always been up to wierd stuff. Cauty is from Liverpool, and Drummond is from Scotland. For a few years in the 90s, they formed "The KLF" together, and launched in to a bizarre and temporary career as art-pop terrorists, foisting a unique, strange and fascinating series of pop/dance singles on the charts.

One of their later singles was "It's Grim up North", and although I didn't understand it at the time, it's come to seem more and more significant to me as I've grown up.

The "North" in the song refers to the North of England. A place of stunning scenery, post-industrial waste-towns and cities, riven with unemployment, it's generally experienced from one of the few major motorways that arc across this part of England. The main artery (the M6) runs from Birmingham directly North, passing between Liverpool and Manchester before trailing up all the way to the border with Scotland. On the other side of the country, the oscillating disaster that is the M1/A1 grinds slowly up the East Coast, passing Hull, and eventually reaching Newcastle, before snaking up and around in to Edinburgh.

Linking these two is the M62, which cuts directly East-West from Liverpool to Hull. Driving from, to or through "the North", you spend a lot of time on these motorways, gliding past parts of England forgotten or deliberately neglected for huge parts of the 80s by London and Thatcher, with the attendant social problems and unemployement that resulted.

In "It's Grim up North", the KLF somehow captured this atmosphere in one of the most surreal tunes ever to make the UK charts. Set entirely in front of a rain-drenched motorway underpass, a searing industrial kick drum thunders out underneath klaxons and horns, as a litany of distored Northern English placenames is intoned from a guy standing in the driving rain in front of the biggest pile of back-floodlit speakers. Political parties seeking to fight the BNP should at least have to watch this video and soak it up a little bit.

It somehow captures the bleak and resiliant spirit of the North, in the context of the never-sleeping dirty motorways that constantly stream through it. The most amazing moments of the tune are halfway through, as the grinding industrialism breaks and slowly melts into the plaintive and powerfully epic "Jerusalem". Tied up in "little England" psychology (check Jerusalem at the last night of the Proms from London for some idea), nothing is guaranteed to fill the hearts of middle class England with more pride.

Two completely disparate atmospheres, one track. As musical pivot it's incredibly skilfull - as a cultural counterpoint, it's jaw-dropping.

Arthur Kade

Forgive me for posting this, but have you met Arthur Kade?

Or perhaps, seen his Twitter page?

I'm not sure what constructively I can say about this - except, please send help.

Kade in his own, inimitably self-obsessed Twitter words:

"All of my female friends are hot and have implants and the unattractive ones at least have successful, high paying jobs."

"Acclaimed casting director Mike Lemon says my performances are cool and effortless and that I'm a "once in a generation" talent."

"I am too good looking for radio, but I think I have a diverse, powerful, and interesting enough personality, that I could be great at it."

"Just finished an amazing radio appearance with Danny Bonaduce. He mentioned several times how good looking I am"

"Went to my ex's bday party and had to be careful not to monopolize the whole party with my good looks and celebrity stories. Impressive."

"People don’t realize the effort that goes into getting perfect pictures. I have had times where a look was so hot, I just look amazing."

"I just hired an acting coach (Pat Jordan of Philadelphia) and I could tell she was shocked by my good looks and innate acting ability."

"My beard is really looking amazing. I think it gives me that leading man/tough guy look, like Colin Farrell."

"Changed my Twitter backgrounds today with head shots because I think it better perpetuates the "Kade brand"."

And my own personal favourite:

"I'm blessed with thick, full hair that looks amazing straight or curly."

Just for some fan perspective, here are some snippets from the comments people have left on his webpage:

"I might have to just stop posting, because there are no words whatsoever for the trainwreck that is that commentary video at the top"

"I started to watch the ‘autograph’ clip and had to stop :10 in . . .
ARE YOU F*CKING RETARDED?
again Arthur,
ARE YOU F*CKING RETARDED?"

"someone needs a severe douching of the soul i thinks."

"he is truly a perfect storm of douchebaggery"

"The decline of western civilization has finally happened."

"The pig in Babe had way more highly evolved acting skills"

If you don't feel uncomfortable already, then be sure to check out the Kade Scale (his rating system for women).

And if that doesn't do it, then his Youtube Channel surely will.

Perhaps the Final Dance Rehearsal will do it for you. Or mabye even seeing the "Kade Dance" go down live in a nightclub...?

If none of that works for you, then could I suggest that you try the poolside danceoff?

Across 110th Street on the Emerald Isle

Here's a stunning performance by Bobby Womack, with a double-header of songs - California Dreaming, and the incredible "Across 110th Street", which is as relevant today as it was the day it was written (1973).

I've always found something quite magnetic about "Across 110th Street" - it explains urban decay and what follows more accurately than any dry text is likely to, and it's an amazingly soulful song. With Womack's voice, it's even better, and this performance with just an acoustic guitar is about as good as it gets.

It's a timely song as well, and it's a warning following the insane property bubble and unhindered development that's been happening in Ireland for the last 15 years. This frenzy of development was one of the first things that struck me when I moved to Ireland in 2003 - building of shoddy housing estates, on the extreme periphery of cities, and some of the larger towns. This is exactly what happened in Scotland back in the 60s with the concrete tower blocks - which were the great new thing at the time. The problem is that the estates typically don't get finished, you can't walk to anything or anywhere, public transport is patchy, and viable and plentiful services such as schools, shops, and a proper sense of community are never developed.

Take a very poorly positioned housing estate that sprawls for miles and is walking distance to nowhere, fail to complete it, fail to put in public transport, fail to add shops, gardens, parks and community, and then throw in a price crash trapping owner-occupiers on the estate, and a recession with job losses sapping them of any money they might have remaining, and watch the inevitable outcome.

A lot of people in dream housing estates are going to find themselves across 110th street in the next few years...

Regina Brett's 45 life lessons

I got this as a circular email recently. I usually bin them, but this one ties in with a lot of stuff I think about life too. It reminded me in places of Walter Payton (if you haven't got his book yet, get it) - and some of the ways that he talked about life.

Anyway, here it is - 50 pieces of life advice from Regina Brett, columnist for The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, Ohio.

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.

16. Life is too short for long pity parties. Get busy living, or get busy dying.

17. You can get through anything if you stay put in today.

18. A writer writes. If you want to be a writer, write.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Overprepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: "In five years, will this matter?"

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

35. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

36. Growing old beats the alternative - dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood. Make it memorable.

38. Read the Psalms. They cover every human emotion.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

41. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

42. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

43. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

44. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

45. The best is yet to come.

46. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

47. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

48. If you don't ask, you don't get.

49. Yield.

50. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

Air France 447

The disaster involving Air France flight 447 is a very odd one. A widebody airliner, running a regular scheduled oceanic flight, suddenly dissapears with no distress calls. A debris field has been found, so it seems certain that the aircraft is destroyed - whether this happened prior to or after contact with the water is to be determined.

I've been sifting the web - there are a million theories out there, but here's a super-condensed version of what seems to be known, and the most reasonable conjectures out there.

Firstly - what seems to be known (with UTC times).

A couple of notes - aircraft fly 'routes' in the sky that are marked with 'waypoints' at specific locations. Over the ocean, there is no radar coverage (it only extends a certain distance from land due to the horizon). So normal procedure is to radio in to Air Traffic Control as you pass a waypoint, advise them of where you are, and advise them of your estimated time at the next waypoint. These reports from aircraft allow ATC to track aircraft they cannot see, and to keep adequate separation between aircraft over the ocean.

The waypoint TASIL mentioned below is the halfway waypoint between South America and Africa. At this point, the flight would be 'handed over' from Atlantico ATC (CINDACTAIII - covering the South American side) to Dakar ATC (covering the African side). HF radio communications over the ocean can be a bit tricky, and other pilots have indicated problems in establishing communications when transitioning from Atlantico to Dakar, so just because no radio transmissions were received, does not mean that none were made.

22:03 (19:03 local) The Aircraft (An Airbus A330) left Rio de Janeiro, heading for Paris Charles de Gaulle

01:33 Flight reports to Atlantic Area Control as it overflew the INTOL waypoint, indicating it expects to arrive at the TASIL waypoing at 02:20

01:48 AF447 leaves the radar of CINDACTAIII at Fernando de Noronha, as expected. The aircraft is flying at 35,000 feet, and 453 knots as it leaves radar coverage.

02:20 The aircraft fails to report at waypoint TASIL. Atlantico ATC raise the alarm, and inform Dakar ATC also.

05:33 No further radio or radar contacts from the aircraft. A search is initiated by the Brazilian authorities.

The above, seems to be fact. What follows is less solid - but it seems to me the "most useful" info and the "most likely" scenarios that I can glean from the torrent of information, theory, supposition, and wild-eyed conspiracy flying around.

According to the Aviation Herald, "sources within Air France" suggest that the aircraft emitted a stream of ACARS messages, starting at 02:10 and ending at 02:14. (ACARS is a system for transmission of simple, short messages between the aircraft and ground, which can also be automatic). The unconfirmed sequence of ACARS messages is alleged to be:

02:10 Autopilot had disengaged, fly by wire system had changed to Alternate Law
02:11-02:13 A flurry of messages issued indicating faults with both ADIRU and ISIS systems
02:13 PRIM 1 and SEC 1 faults indicated
02:14 An advisory is issued regarding "cabin vertical speed".

The final ACARS report on "cabin vertical speed" pretty much speaks for itself. The most interesting one is the first one - the deselection of Autopilot, and the selection of "Alternatve Law" for the flight control system. Normally on the A330 (and other Airbuses), the flight is controlled by the pilot, via flight control computers (two of which - PRIM 1 and SEC 1 - started to get cranky at 02:13). Normally there are quite a few protections built in to these computers - they stop you getting the aircraft in too wierd positions, basically.

In "Alternate Law" mode, a lot of the protections are removed - you can stall the aircraft, you can put it in to extreme banks left or right, and you can fly at extreme angles of attack.

What is interesting is, under what circumstances would Alternate Law be engaged? It would seem that it's caused by "multiple failures of redundant systems". One other site suggested that Alternate Law can also be engaged if the aircraft gets in an attitude that is abnormal (i.e. pointed way up or way down, or banked left or right to an extreme degree).

So IF Alternate Law was in fact one of the first problematic ACARS transmissions, it could be supposed that the aircraft was in a highly unusual position *before* the other failures (ADIRU, ISIS, PRIM 1, SEC 1) started.

What could have gotten the plane in a highly unusual position? There's a fantastic weather analysis by Tim Vasquez here (it's a must-read if you are curious about this disaster) which for me comes the closest so far to putting a finger on a likely start to the problems. The plane had to fly through the ITCZ, and the thunderstorms there are not your average animal.

If you combine Vasquez's moving animation of the expected aircraft track, together with the times of the error messages, it does start to look more likely that extreme weather may have been where this problem started.

People are also pointing to the possibility of a dual engine flamout. On another forum, a pilot alleges that the aircraft had CF6 engines, and that they have a history of rollbacks (uncommanded reductions in power), including ones caused by super-cooled water droplets in the vicinity of thunderstorms.

Could it have been a double-engine failure?

Others are pointing out the possibility of a rudder failure, which Airbus may have had a couple of in the past, particularly when extreme rudder deflections are called for from the flight deck. Mabye. In response to extreme weather?

Finally - as of writing it seems to be a debris field of up to 35 miles in length. If that's the case, it strongly suggests the aircraft broke up in the air, not upon impact with the water. That's an interesting investigative point, and also it might provide some small solace to the families of those involved. If the aircraft broke up in the air, it would (together with the very quick flurry of ACARS error messages) point to something going wrong very very quickly.

One thing is for sure - I don't like 2-engined aircraft flying ETOPS long haul flights, no matter how reliable modern engines are. And I definitely don't like fly-by-wire either. Not only is the computer modifying what the pilot is trying to get the aircraft to do, but if for example the pilots were still concious and attempting to control the plane in the 02:10 - 02:14 timeframe, then not only were they trying to cope with extreme weather, and a huge aircraft getting out of control in the dark, but their systems were bombarding them with error messages - Alternate Law engaged, ADIRU faults, ISIS faults, PRIM 1 fault, SEC 1 fault - all this at the same time as trying to figure out what way up they were (it was dark) and how they could rescue the plane.

The area where the debris has been found is several thousand feet deep, and the locating transmitters on the Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder only function for 30 days. Let's hope they can find the two boxes before that time is up, and a bit more light can be shed on what happened in the last few minutes of the flight, and doing everything possible to prevent a repeat.

Mick Chillage - "Pure Blue" [Dave Anderson remix]

After a bit of quiet on the music front for a couple months, I've a new remix out today...

Mick Chillage - "Pure Blue" [Dave Anderson remix] (Nice & Nasty)

This is a remix I completed a couple months ago. The original track by Dublin man about town Mick Chillage is a gorgeous piece of chilled out bluesy electronics, whereas my remix is a 10 minute walking pace thudding deep house reworking with jazzy overtones. Or something like that. As I added a big breezy jazzy melody, I had actually labelled it my "Pure Blues" remix (Pure Blue, Pure Blues, you see what I did there?) - but the title got lost somewhere in the process of releasing.

The label (Nice & Nasty) says this about the release:

2009 has witnessed the rise of Mick Chillage. After two decades of purveying the finest ambient techno and abstract dance across the airwaves of Ireland and in various clubs, his star as a producer has finally risen due to the Departure EP and its' subsequent remixes.

The third remix pack from the Departure EP is Pure Blue and features the talents of Finland's Lackluster, Anglo-Irish star Dave Anderson (Ferox records); and Andrew Duke of Canada.

Lackluster goes deep into abstraction with scattered sounds and anti-rhythmic beats full of fx and weirdness whilst Dave Anderson delivers the finest Detroit style techno and one of the most club friendly Chillage trax to date.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out anyway - you can download it, now, from here:

http://www.junodownload.com/ppps/products/1408906-02.htm

(for contrast - the original of Mick's "Pure Blue" is here)

Enjoy :)

Stars and stuff

This is pretty amazing - the milky way rising above the horizon at night, shot in time lapse with a Canon EOS-5D...

Max Mobley - "Riot Gear!" (Crawdaddy)

Here's a column that's worth a look - my ex-colleague Max Mobley is writing for the online reincarnation of legendary US rock magazine, Crawdaddy.

The column is called Riot Gear!, and offers humerous occasional musings on music, technology, humanity, and the places they meet in the middle.

There's some pretty good stuff on there - for instance, Max's recent review of a Beatles based show, or his hilarious (and all too familiar) take on how recording sessions become consumed by technical difficulties.

It's great stuff, and definitely worth a look if you like a bit of music and a bit of techy stuff.

BBC 2 - South Pacific

Here's a great bit of new footage of a surfer riding in a pretty big barrel in the South Pacific.

Great thing about it is, it was shot with a super high-speed camera, and in HD. The surfing is alright, but for some reason I find it even more addictive watching the death-sentence lip of the wave coming cracking down the reef like a guillotine, blowing huge whitewater explosions into the air (must be quite a shallow reef I guess), and forcing foam back in to the barrel.

Impressive!

Tariq Ali - "The Clash of Fundamentalisms"

I've read "The Clash of Fundamentalisms" by Tariq Ali over and over, and it really is (so far) the best single book I've found for anyone who wants the non-rocket-science overview of what is really going on in the Middle East.

It covers the origins of Islam and its spread, Jerusalem and the crusades, the Ottoman empire, the schism between Sunni and Shia Islam and the place of women within the religion, Saudi Arabia and Wahhabism, the formation of Israel, Zionism, Palestine, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Bali, and 9/11.

I cannot recommend this highly enough - it sounds like a lot of heavy subjects, but it's split into neat chapters on each one, well written, easy to read, and a good balance of little historic titbits, quotes and stories.

It's utterly illuminating, and a very honest and straightforward picture of the situation in all of these countries. Fascinating stuff.

Powers of Three

More surf stuff - a new film out with the latest Carve magazine. Looks incredible from the trailers - I can't wait to see it.

Also finally a film of heavy surf (and heavy Irish surf) which is soundtracked by the kind of epic widescreen stadium sound that I think these monsterous scenes deserve, rather than the heavy rock that seems to be the backing in every other surf film.

(I have no idea how to get this little behind-the-scenes film to go to the correct width, so if you want the full size version, get it on the film site here.)

Update - the clip that I had embedded here seems to have cropped out the transport controls, and just plays uncontrollably on the blog even if you're not looking at this post - so I've deleted it. Click on the little italic link above if you fancy it...!

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Alison Limerick - "Time of our Lives"

Time for another oldie - well - I'm not sure how old it is, but it must be early to mid 90s at least, which in dance music, is forever. Could I get any more commas in a sentence? Stay tuned.

Where was I? Oh yes, an oldie, and one with vocals at that. I typically shy away from vocals in dance music (but sometimes towards them in other types of music). It's something to do with imagination versus explicit statement - sometimes I prefer the ambiguity that allows my imagination to figure things out. Also, so many dance music vocal tracks sound twee or weak or something.

Well here's a track that is very vocal. It's by Alison Limerick, and the original (a horrible weak poppy thing) is here. I think the original is a David Morales effort - the drums have that early 90s New York sound about them - in fact, there's a much more dancefloor version by Morales here, which has a bit of the wild pitch NY feel going on, and is a lot better than the original for it.

But - the killer remix is the "Lifetime Vocal Mix", which according to Discogs is (and I just found this out myself) by The Beloved. Thinking about it now, that's not too difficult to believe, as it's got emotional qualities that aren't so far removed from what The Beloved were up to back in the day (who remembers Sweet Harmony? Damn that was a great track)

Anyway - The Beloved took "Time of our Lives" by Limerick, and completely reconfigured it. Centered on a loping drumbeat, it's hugely understated with the deep thud of the kick, off beat hats, a ricochet double-snare and a couple bongos. The bass is just a rumbling wobble under the kick, but it's interesting in that it seems to be constantly playing the 5th - which as vocals and chords come in means the entire track hangs over a harmonic suspension.

Then there's the vocals. The vocals were always great, but they were neutered by the original pop mix. But here, they float free and easy over the rumbling bassline all the way through the first verse - walking pace soul that would shoot light and smiles straight through a club. And then at the first chorus, it changes from ordinary to extraordinary. From somewhere up above, the simplest 2-note chords fall down on the track, and in a short second it's transformed from a decent vocal track, into the rarest communal moment of catharsis. It's the sort of thing that if you were dancing, it might actually make you stop and stand still.

I heard this on the radio years ago, was blown away then, and it was a good while before I found it on vinyl. I've never got the opportunity to play it out (it's a long way from the sets I normally do, and the clubs I normally play), but I've always refused to throw it out or move it on, despite numerous clearouts of vinyl for space reasons.

Somewhere in the future, there is a dancefloor that will have been built up at the right pace, and held at the right pitch all night, and come 4am, it will be time to unleash this emotional bomb.

Richie Hawtin, Traktor and Twitter

An interesting development in the world of music technology seems (to me) to have happened.

Infamous DJ/producer Richie Hawtin has done something quite interesting – hooking up his Traktor DJ setup to his Twitter account. The result? You get a non-stop live stream on twitter of every track he’s playing on Traktor. As a lot of the stuff he plays is downloads and digital obscurities, this is a pretty amazing way to trawl through what he’s playing and find out odd bits and pieces.

As usual with all things Hawtin, it’s ignited fierce debate across the blogosphere. Some people think it’s the worst thing ever – that he is purely publicising himself without offering anything useful musically. Others think it’s a genuine leap forward.

I’m no big fan of Mr Hawtin’s current direction – it seems to be more and more of the same sub-Berlin minimal plodathon that is flavour of the month at the moment – records full of suspense and mid-paced tension, but without the set phrasing that suggests that it actually ever goes anywhere, or delivers anything at the end. That’s what I get from the ‘minimal’ scene anyway – it seems to me to be lacking dynamics to say the least.

But one thing that the ex-Plastikman does that is to be highly commended is that he seems to put much more stock in a sense of ambition, rather than acting with what some would see as authenticity. While others are revering the original techno formulas and the first wave of Detroit artists (and these guys deserve their due, but music is a living thing not a museum piece), Richie is out bending the formulas and pushing the technological boundaries.

Granted, sometimes he seems more interested in pushing the technical boundaries than actually progressing the music – but technical progression and new techniques tend to give birth to new types of music (Karl Steinberg didn’t invent house music, but he certainly helped), so he doesn’t have to write it himself to have a profound effect on what is happening artistically.

I think this is a great new example of someone putting collaborative web tools and new digital music technology together in an interesting (and highly accessible) way. The fact that I hate digital Djing, and dislike Twitter does not take away from the fact that this is a really interesting development, and anyone that values mutation and experimentation should applaud anyone that is out there trying new stuff.

dave anderson - FH09 mix

Here's a mix for the spring and summer. Much different from my previous dancefloor-oriented efforts, it's more of a chilled out "back to mine" type effort, and as we move (hopefully) into summer, it's for those sunny outdoor afternoon moments, or for those late party sunrise moments.

Tracklist is as follows:

plaid - "undoneson" - (warp)
cim - "comfort control" - (delsin)
bitstream - "monolith" - (signal)
cyrus - "inversion" - (basic channel)
the monsters from id - "bingo" - (signal)
move d - "in/out" - (fifth freedom)
marco bernardi - "trane" - (emoticon)
digitonal - "drencrom" - (toytonic)
digitonal - "carcause" - (toytonic)
future beat alliance - "void" - (delsin)
bola - "vespers" - (skam)

Grab it here - enjoy!

U2 - Magnificent

In Europe, it's pretty cool to not like U2 any more.

If it's not that they don't pay their taxes, it's Bono's preaching about poverty. If it's not that the "new stuff" they are trying isn't as good as the old U2, it's that the new stuff sounds too much like the old stuff. I guess when you reach the mega-pervasiveness that they now have, you are likely to get hung no matter what you do.

I've always found it a fascinating experience to slap on a new U2 album, and (almost invariably) end up a bit confused and disappointed as I go through it. It's not half as good as their last one is it? Naaah. There are flashes, but generally a bit too weird. Then I listen to it again. Yeah. Maybe it's got a song here and there... still loads of stuff I don't really get. Then I listen to it again. Huh. Maybe it's more like half and half - not at all the disaster I first thought. And again. Man. That track is actually pretty good isn't it? There's possibly only one or two dodgy ones on here. And then. Woaah. The whole thing is pretty amazing actually - and so on. Every time it happens this way - for me at least.

And while I like them doing new things which they've been tinkering with really ever since Achtung Baby - and many of the new things are the most interesting - there's still a part of me that hankers for that huge traditional U2 sound, the widescreen rock that nobody else can touch them at. I love it when they unashamedly seem like they're trying to write a deliberately big track. Usually, these are the moments that start out as the comfortably familiar 'flashes' of U2 in a first album listening, and end up almost too played out.

Well here's a flash of classic U2 from the latest album, No Line on the Horizon. Captured on Letterman in the States, it's pretty amazing I think.

There's something just brilliant about the whole presentation - how you get the feeling you're simultaneously watching an intimate gig to a handful of people, and at the same time witnessing something of epic proportions.

The music is really the amazing bit though... the guitar lines in the chorus sections (1:00 - 1:22 for example) are just stunning, and a fantastic counterpoint to the bassline. It's actually really clever the way the bass and the guitar between them imply and then fill in the chords.

And then the verses. Whatever you say about Bono, when he's singing he really does have an amazing voice. The arrangement helps - if you listen in the verses, the guitar is buried completely in the mix - and the Eno synths are just hovering over that solid thudding Mullen/Clayton bass end. It leaves so much space for the vocals. It also means when they hit the chorus and that guitar riff comes in, it really lifts the whole thing into the stratosphere. Another thing is when they hit the chorus and the guitar is back in, the vocal line goes way up in pitch - which means the vocal melody and the guitar aren't stepping on each others toes. It's amazingly well worked out: when the guitar is in the way, Bono is soaring over the top, and when he comes back down, the guitar makes space.

It goes all the way to the guitar solo - when that starts out, the guitar becomes the melodic top line - and Bono is filling in below with harmonies. All the way through the song, the bass and the drums provide the backdrop, and the guitar and vocals just weave in and out of each other.

And that's before you even start on the lyrics. While Bono has had his questionable lyrical moments, when he can avoid the trademark outrageous couplet he can come up with the goods.

"I was born, I was born to sing for you..."

What a band...

Speaking in Code

There's been a little bit of chat recently about upcoming electronic music film "Speaking in Code". Revolving around a group involved in the techno scene, it looks (from the trailer) like an attempt to do some contextualising of techno - almost like an attempt to answer the "what is the point" question.

Pipecock over at ISM takes issue with the selection of artists in the film as shown on Philip Sherburne's blog, on the basis that the film appears hugely Eurocentric and misses out most of the American forefathers of the modern techno sound. He (Pipecock) singles out Mad Mike Banks, but I'm presuming that the criticism extends to the rest of the first couple waves of Detroit artists such as Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, Jeff Mills, Carl Craig, Eddie 'flashin' Fowlkes and so on, who also look very much like they are not included in a major way.

Pipecock is right in one sense - if the film is meant to be a definitive history of techno, then the Detroit guys should for sure be in it - and that's not counting Chicago house or the NYC/Jersey Garage thing, which were (I think) as critical to the future of dance music as anywhere else. However, I'm not sure I completely agree with the point - while the film does look massively skewed in a Euro direction (most of the artists mentioned seem to rotate around the central European scene), I don't think it's the case that every film that aims to give a glimpse inside the world of electronic dance music has to be an exhaustive history of its roots. The story of Detroit has been told so many times that it's a matter of record at this point, and there's nothing wrong with moving on a bit and giving a snapshot of people's experience of the scene as it is at the moment. That's not withstanding the fact that a lot of the German/minimal stuff that is all the rage at the moment completely does my box in - but that's another rant for another day. The point is, every film about techno doesn't have to be reverentially focused on the original Detroit artists.

One interesting thing that I did notice on Sherburne's blog is the quote from Akufen, where he alludes to techno as a means of "speaking in code", referring to the feeling of the electronic scene being one which is very marginal to mainstream life, and in effect a semi-secret subculture. While I understand what Akufen means, to me the idea of techno as some sort of secret code is a major can of worms. Taking pride in the secrecy of an experience smacks of elitism for one thing - it's almost like saying, "the great masses don't deserve to have this experience", which is an unspoken contradiction of the "come one, come all" ethos that makes the best dance nights so special.

The other factor is that the experience that a great night engenders is one which breaks down the barriers that society puts between people, breaks down the barriers inside your head, and quietens the analytical mind which would prevent us from directly experiencing the world without constantly trying to analyse what we are experiencing. Mankind has long understood the power of rhythm in transcending the basic analytical state we need to survive the hazards of daily life - modern culture has simply obscured this understanding with layers of possession, debt, occupation, and "must have" physical artifacts.

Akufen's analogy is actually back to front: modern life is the abstract and unbreakable code, and music and rhythm is the open door to what is really real.

Teenage Engineering - Operator-1

This has to be one of the most interesting bits of studio kit that I've seen in a long time. A new company (seemingly from Sweden, although loads of their website text is oriental) called Teenage Engineering, were showing a new product called Operator-1 at Frankfurt Musikmesse this year.

It's going to be a super portable controller/sequencer, that you can use on the road. One of the most interesting things for me, is that it is going to include a proper (hopefully!) synthesizer, and functions for drum noise generation as well. From talking to the TE guys, they say it's going to have some type of sequencer function, but they weren't clear whether the paradigm was going to be a Cubase/Logic/Sonar type, step, Live, or multiple types.


Either way, it looks really exciting - it's a really slim, Mac-looking unit in a sleek aluminium case, with an absolutely gorgeous OLED display. They reckon it'll run for mabye 8 hours on battery power, and you can use it as a controller for your main computer when it's hooked up.

No idea on price (they made a guess when I asked them, but as I'm not sure they have their pricing and distribution model hammered out yet I'll do them the courtesy of not publishing their guesstimate) - but they plan to ship within the year.

It really does look like very cool technology, and for my money, was probably the coolest new hi-tech MI product at Messe this year.

Waveriders

Went to see Waveriders last night - it's a film about surfing in Ireland, and particularly, the journey of the son of an Irishman in Hawaii who came back to California, popularised surfing, and nearly invented lifeguarding.

It's a good film - there are some great moments, like the multi-year world champion Kelly Slater taking to the Irish water (how easy does he make it look?). There's also epic footage of Aileen's at the base of the cliffs of Moher. Is there a more shapely big wave on the planet?

Anyway it's all great stuff, and I highly recommend going to see...

Amsterdam, Paris, Beer, and Genius.

Having just returned from an insanely chaotic weekend in Amsterdam, following Scotland amidst thousands of Tartan Army, it seems like a great time to post this incredible video compilation of Scotland in France, 2007, and particularly the journey of the Dublin tartan army to get there.

If I live to 80, I'll be unlikely to ever see a better Scottish goal.

Kenlou - "Sensational Beats" (Masters at Work)

Is there a “greatest house track ever”? Could there be?

I don’t know. I don’t know if you can pick one above all others – but if I were forced to try and do so, I’d probably have to go with “Sensational Beats”, by peerless NYC production duo Masters At Work. It’s a stripped out drum-only flipside to the far more commercial “What a Sensation”, with all the instrumentation removed. This track blew me away when I first heard it (I still remember the irresistible feeling of that groove powering its way through the Arches), and blew me away every time I heard it afterwards. It blew me away when I finally got a copy, and nearly 15 years later, it still blows my mind.

Fundamentally, house and techno music are all about the beat, and ultimately, the kick drum. Everything else in the track is there as window dressing. The beat as a whole is the groove, and when you are dancing, the groove is everything. The most compulsive part of the beat is indisputably the kick drum – it is the magnetic element that makes the entire experience work.

For some, the “mindless” release that dance music offers can only be properly experienced with chemical assistance. For others, a beer, a big PA, and a bit of dark is enough to let their guard down. Some can manage to let go in the bright midday sun. Whatever, what is happening when things are at their best, is that the conscious and analytical part of the brain is slowly, wilfully being decommissioned. When that starts to happen (and I’m convinced that repetition plays a vast role here, and it doesn’t have to be music – another time, another post), something deeper in your brain takes over. You transition from analysis and evaluation, to direct experience.

But what has this got to do with Masters at Work? The point is, that in dance music, the groove, the beat, is the element that communicates with that deeper, subconscious part of your brain. The other elements – the basslines, keyboard parts, strings, vocals and so on – all of that is window dressing – these melodic elements give your awake, analytical brain something to distract it, while it can slowly be switched off. While your analytical self is distracted, your unconscious and the kick drum do the heavy lifting.

House and techno span a huge range of acoustic “busyness” – from downright minimal, to outright walls-of-noise. For some people, they can directly connect with the tough and tracky side of house – the bare percussive tracks, the locked grooves, the endless repetition and the trancelike effect that it has. Other people are less comfortable – the dropping of the analytical alertness that is a presumed necessity of our daily life is not second nature, and the contact with the deeper part of your brain has to be dressed up as something else. Musically, the dressing can be basslines, vocals, melodies, and other elements to disguise and decorate the unconscious prerogative of the groove.

I pick “Sensational Beats” as my greatest house track ever, because it has less of this window dressing than almost any other house track, but at the same time delivers more musical quality than most tracks that have far more going on.

It’s a full nine minutes long, and has a kick drum, a handclap, an open hihat, a bongo and a couple other tuned drums, and a few sound effects here and there. That is it.

The kick, clap and hihat provide a completely plain four-on-the-floor beat – nothing could be simpler. On top of this, a single drum sound is the entire track.

This single drum provides all the phrasing - all the ups, all the downs – everything. Neither is it a drum filler track - there is real phrase here. Immerse yourself in it as it progresses, and imagine the drummer taking a pause and a breath at the end of one of the sections, before launching in to a new one. You can hear it, and you can feel it. The entire story of the track, which is significant, is told by that one single sound.

It's stunningly produced. It makes cohesive sense as a track in it's own right – something almost unheard of in drum-only tracks (which are usually regarded as filler or DJ mixing tools).

It sounds interesting in the cold light of day.

In the dark on a big system, it sounds positively primal.

It jacks like crazy.

I can’t think of anything that even comes close.

Basic Channel - phylypstrakII

There have always been innovative record labels, and there have always been innovative artists. In electronic music, the innovators tend to have been vastly outnumbered by the imitators, and only rarely does an artist or a label emerge that really breaks huge new ground.

In the early 90s, a shadowy record label emerged from the post-reunification debris of Berlin, and turned the underground dance sound upside down. Sounding like nothing that had come before, Basic Channel (the brainchild of Mark Ernestus and Moritz von Oswald) released 9 nearly perfect 12” singles, fusing techno, dub and reggae into noise-strewn endlessly repeating tracky grooves, shot through with tiny mutations and variations. In the interests of getting exactly the sound they wanted down on vinyl, they also mastered their own records, setting up the Dubplates and Mastering mastering studio to achieve the perfect final sound on vinyl.

The main Basic Channel label stopped after the first nine releases, and sired spin-off labels and projects such as the less noisy and more clubfooted M releases, the vocal and housey Main Street, Chain Reaction (which kind of started from where Basic Channel itself had terminated), and a range of less techno and more dub fired labels such as Rhythm and Sound, Burial Mix, as well as Dubplates and Mastering, and the legendary Hardwax record shop in Berlin.

My introduction to Basic Channel came in the form of the final (9th) release, “phylypstrakII”. Probably the most accessible entry point, one side is a heaving and grinding thudding track swathed in huge washes of noise and grit, which I couldn’t get my head around at all. The other side is so crisp and minimal it took my breath away at first – it was so different and alien.

A kick, an open hat, a dull snare on the backbeat, and a minor third chord playing the 2nd and 4th beat – it could hardly have fewer sounds in it. At first I couldn’t understand how anyone could make music so minimal, it was like nothing was going on. But the more you listen, the more it opens up, and the more you get from it.

The kick isn’t just a kick – there’s a sort of strangled bassline buried with the kick drum, articulating the whole beat. A favoured Basic Channel technique, it makes the entire drumbeat swing and sway. Then there are the effects, the EQing, the incredible metallicism of the noises, the irregular percussive clanking, like alien mine machinery. The tiny dashes of delay, of reverb, the way it’s always mutating and changing around, the once-off things that happen through the record.

While many came to imitate the loopy dub techno sound pioneered by Basic Channel, very few have even come remotely close to matching the visionary quality of the early 90s output of Ernestus and von Oswald. As their other labels continued to produce innovative and interesting music, the original Basic Channel was discreetly closed before there was any compromise.

It’s as close to a perfect legacy as I can think of - two years, nine releases, and dance music changed forever.

Torridon in winter

I've always had something about the Highlands of Scotland, and it's getting stronger as I get older. Particularly the West Highlands - there is no place on earth like them. Nothing beats travelling across the bleak majesty of Rannoch Moor, the heart-stopping scenery of Glencoe, and the wild silent spaces of Ardnamurchan.

Torridon is another place I'm fascinated by, although I haven't made it there yet. Mostly, it's the mighty Liathach that for some reason draws me there, but there's something about the whole area that just seems and sounds magical.

Here's a great video of a day driving through Torridon in the winter. It's so reminiscent of Scotland it's difficult to explain.

Even the start, driving behind the gritter in the snow (something I haven't had to consider any of the years I've been in Ireland), the slush on the road. There's something magical in this video, the mixing of the amazing scenery with the almighty tune (Highland Cathedral, which only lasts the first three minutes here, but almost always nearly reduces me to tears when it's done right).

The stillness of the loch, the trees, mountains and river at 1:01, the scene at 1:40 with the huge mountains standing silent as the car passes like a bug, then when they pull in to the glen, with that snowbound road twisting all the way down to Loch Maree...

Waldorf Q

So, I'm remixing a track at the weekend. I've been working on it for a couple weeks, in moments snatched between work, sleeping, DIY, and the rest. It's nearly at final mix stage - I've managed to maintain my desire to keep going, get it finished, it's sounding good, I'm excited.

So, I take my Waldorf Q Keyboard (which I love), and having come up with one last killer sound to put in the track, I try to save it.

It's obviously having a problem with this request, because it tries "reorganising memory" for a good few seconds. Then it comes back with this little beauty of an error report...


It was at least funny - my first reaction was involuntary laughter. But I mean, seriously - sort out your error messages. Not just "Flash full" (which would have told me everything I needed to know). Or perhaps "Memory full", for the non-geek users. Or even "Flash really full", or if they wanted to get militant about it, mabye "Flash badly full".

But "hopeless"? Lots of things I need from the machines in my studio - but emotional pessimism like this, is not one of them!

Mr Fingers - "Can you feel it"

Larry Heard was always cutting tracks on the deeper side of the house spectrum, but I don't think he ever bettered "Can you feel it", a track which still sounds as relevant today as it did when it came out. Emanating from deep in the Chicago house scene, this tune erupted as a genre-defining anthem when house music exploded across Britain in the late 80s.

It's an unusual track even for Chicago, as it straddles the line between deep and more soulful 'musical' house (of the type that Heard would go on to make later, and would be seen in later years on windy city labels such as Guidance), and the more mechanistic "jack tracks" that would inform later, tougher Chicago offerings like the discordant jacking 90s output of Relief records and slightly more song-based (but still twisted) sister label Cajual.

As for "Can you feel it"? Chattering hi-hats, hissing ride cymbals, a bass drum with the depth and impact which can often only come from the evergreen 909, and a gorgeous bassline in fifths and octaves which provides the anchor around which the most amazing deep filtered synth chords circle, moodily and endlessly.

It's oceans deep, and captures one of my favourite artistic and musical moods in managing to wobble on the tightrope between melancholy and optimism. And while I'm not too crazy about anyone sermonising over dance music, there is the occasional track on which it works (although making this point, I can now think of at least 3 other tracks immediately on which the effect is also amazing).

Seminal, with awesome depth and soul, thick with atmosphere, and a message that captures the ability of music and (particularly) the ability of communal dancing to rhythm-heavy and repetitive music to break the barriers in your head, and join the barriers between people.

You may be black, you may be white, you may be Jew or gentile - it don't make a difference in our house.

And this is fresh...

Afghanistan, Slam, Money, U2, and Waves

It feels like a random Friday, so this post is just what it says in the title - a random collection of Friday thoughts.

Firstly, on the subject of the previous post, there’s fairly hairy account on Counterpunch of how things are breaking down in Afghanistan. Check it out here. It’s not very promising.

I’d like to thank Mr Steven Scanlan for his very nice comment on the post regarding Slam @ The Arches. I spent a long time waiting to see those amazing nights captured in words, and after convinced myself that nobody else had done it, I did it myself. It sat on my computer for 2 years unfinished because I couldn’t get it right, and only late last year did I finally find the inspiration to finish it off and get it posted. It’s great to know that someone I don’t know remembers it just like I do. I’m not tripping, my memory is not playing tricks on me, I’m not glorifying it unnecessarily – it really was that good.

Economics. Mike Whitney (again on CP) has a very interesting article on the problems Eastern Europe may cause the world financial system. Equating the fall of the current economic system to a potential resurgence in fascism seems a little bit far-fetched, but stranger things have happened, and as one of my great musical and political heroes Mad Mike pointed out in his legendary Jockey Slut interview back in 1994, “Every time it gets tight over in Europe the nationalists want to come out and blame all the foreigners for all their problems”, so go figure. The BBC this morning has the news that there’s a €24.5 Billion rescue package for the banks in Eastern Europe. How far that will go in very tight credit markets when Whitney quotes sources as saying they’ll have to repay or roll over €400 Billion in debts this year, is another question.

U2 – now there’s a current issue. Firstly, because they have a new album about to drop. Secondly, because they moved all of their tax affairs as a band to The Netherlands in 2006, depriving Ireland of quite a lot of tax, and that’s a decision that’s coming under quite a bit of pressure as the financial downturn starts to bite. So anyway, the new album can be previewed in 60-second chunks on the Irish Times, and there’s a brief interview with them here. I can’t wait for the album – the sounds and production are always fascinating, and no one has a voice (or lyrics) like Bono. I mean, if you look back over their albums, back to The Joshua Tree and before – every one of them has probably 3 or 4 tracks that any other band would kill to have written just one of. And this continues album after album – just amazing. I’ll have to come back to this another time.

As for the tax thing, they are on a bit of a sticky one here. Having moved their tax affairs to The Netherlands around the time that Ireland announced that it was (quite rightly) putting a cap on the tax-free allowance for artists, they’ve come in for all sorts of ungodly stick for robbing their native country of the tax which their global enterprise could bring to Ireland. As Bono would explain it in the above interview, Ireland has been the net beneficiary of tax incentives in the last 10-20 years, as so many companies have based themselves here as a tax haven, and so his point is that there is a lot of hypocrisy in targeting U2 for moving to a more advantageous tax situation. I think that’s a bit weak personally. While the Irish may not criticise other companies for coming in to the country to set up in a favourable tax environment, people in the countries that these companies originate do criticise the movements of these companies, and in the US Obama is now specifically financially targeting companies that ‘offshore’ operations and jobs to reduce costs and save taxes. So if it’s right for the US to criticise companies offshoring jobs and facilities to Ireland, then it’s certainly right for Irish citizens to criticize Bono and the lads for their avoidance of Irish tax.

I’m also extremely disappointed to hear that the debate that Bono promised Dave Marsh on the value of celebrity activism is now not going to happen. Apparently, Bono pulled out with no explanation, which is gutting, as I was expecting a stout defence of celebrity activism, which would have been extremely interesting to hear. I’ve always been interested as to why Bono insists on hanging out with world leaders – he does have a constituency of sorts, but he seems to always offer the carrot end of his fame instead of the stick, which doesn’t make very good negotiating sense to me.

Anyway, if you want more Bono, I’d highly recommend the book “Bono on Bono: Conversations with Michka Assayas” – you can find it on Amazon here, although obviously I’d recommend supporting your small local non-chain bookshop. It’s full of fascinating thoughts on music, politics, authenticity and artistry, and is a brilliant and thought-provoking read. It also pretty much explains exactly why Bono does all the activist stuff that he does, if you read closely enough.

To finish off the day, here are some waves. Surfers search and search for the perfect 'peeling' wave. South Africa has probably the most famous one, in Jeffreys Bay, and while it may not go for quite as long, Thurso East on the North coast of Scotland is pretty damn close to perfect.

Here’s a video of it looking both perfect, and frighteningly big. Happy Friday!

Combat Outpost

The Guardian site is now carrying the latest video dispatch from John D McHugh in Afghanistan.

If you really want to know how things are going, then you can watch the video here.

This is what the US soldiers are facing on a daily basis. Grim, whatever you think of the politics of the situation - the moment where they a British Lee Enfield from 1902 in the mountains of Afghanistan really tells you everything you need to know about fighting in this country.

Andrew Maxwell

Last week I went to a 'proper' comedy gig for the first time in - well - possibly ever. One of my favourites from Irish TV show "The Panel", none other than Dubliner Andrew Maxwell.

Maxwell goes to see Hibs every time he's in Edinburgh, so he's quite clearly a man of vision (especially as he's from Dublin, which is full of more part-time carpet bagging bigot Celtic fans than any other location on the planet). Plus, he's got some quite socialist tendencies, so as a bit of a left-wing type (I'm in to controversial things like free healthcare to everyone at the point of delivery, large-scale cheap public transport, people who are earning vast amounts of money should be taxed heavily - radical stuff right?) - he's often in huge amounts of agreement with what I think.

He made one very interesting point during the gig, which is that while the Israeli Christmas slaughter was happening (my words, not his), RTE (the Irish state broadcaster) didn't want them talking about it. Despite the fact he wanted to talk about it, RTE preferred to edit anything out regarding that, and keep it on light and funny local stories.

Anyway, there's loads of his stuff on the web, including some funny stuff on Hibs and oil.

My favourite of the moment, is his rant about SUVs. Mabye you have to be in Dublin to grasp the full scale of the insanity, greed and reprehensible consumerism that has gripped Ireland and its capital for the last ten years - whatever, Maxwell's rant on The Panel mixed righteous fury about these futile status symbol pedestrian-killers, which some mindblowingly funny spluttering Irish twists on the English language.

"Red as the fucking Mars!"

Smokebelch II

On a strange Monday morning, in a week of titanic upheavals at work, unemployment and financial disaster hitting across the Western world, a redundancy of one of my friends, two funerals of my friends family members in the last week (one I attended, one I only knew about), it's a morning where you look for the best.

Back in the early 90s, "Smokebelch II", by Sabres of Paradise came out and simply stopped me cold. I first heard it on Radio 1 in the UK, in it's remixed form - turned in to a clattering monster by David Holmes of Belfast. I laid hands on the 12", and played it till I wore it out. Then there was the original Sabres version, which was far less clattering, more emotional, but still underpinned with the deep thud of a dancefloor kick.

In truth, Andrew Weatherall and Sabres stole the tune - lifted it wholesale, from L.B. Bad's "New Age of Faith", to whom the credit must go. But despite the theft, which is one of the most blatant I've ever heard, there can be no denying that the Sabres reworking of this idea is simply amazing.

Without a shadow of a doubt, the best incarnation is the Sabres "beatless" mix.

I remember the first time I walked in to a 'proper' nightclub - it was the Sub Club in Glasgow, probably some time in 1992. Weatherall was DJing (at least 4 hours himself, it went on till past 6), and I was curious enough to want to see him. I walked in with a friend, on a voyage of discovery, down the steps, in to immense heat, huge volume, dark corners and a heaving crowd, and deep in the basement, in the middle of the night, found the furnace of the dancefloor in freeze-frame meltdown to the overwhelming emotion of this tune.

An incredible work of melodic guitar guide tones, angular resonant corners rich in 5ths and portamento, backpedalling pads in the background, plucked string basses, and the richest arching synthetic string line.

In the middle of the night, deep in Glasgow, or on a pensive Monday morning in Dublin, this tune has all the answers.

Ma Mi La Kay

While in the Caribbean last summer, I had the honour of hearing this group play. We had been out shopping, and purely by chance stopped on the way back at a bar. We stopped for two reasons - we could hear cool music coming from the bar before we got there, and to add to that, it was some of the most intense midday heat I've ever walked in.

As we desperately fought off the heat (which was utterly blistering even in the shade) using the quite extraordinary Piton, we were able to listen at close quarters to Ma Mi La Kay. 5 or 6 guys (it wasn't clear) with a combined age of about 972 (apart from the bassist, who couldn't have been a day over 30 - no idea how he sneaked in to the group!) playing traditional St Lucian music in the sun.

Mostly violin led, but with banjo-like instruments, bass, and lots of really nice rolling percussion, it's amazing, melodic, cheery stuff. They were so good that I ended up buying their CD on the spot (it's mentioned on the website of the Canadian lablel that seems to have been involved in producing the CD here). It's been getting heavy rotation ever since I returned home, and it must be one of my favourite impulse music purchases ever.

You can download a 1 minute sample with a brief voiceover here (although it's crushed by the encoding to MP3, and sounds much fuller on the full CD version).

I'd definitely recommend getting hold of a copy if you have even the slightest disposition towards acoustic, live music - it's fresh, funky, uplifting, and really well recorded.

Jason Brunton - "Mixed Metaphors" (Iridite)

Iridite don't release very much stuff, but a lot of what they do release is very high quality indeed.

"Mixed Metaphors" is one of their most recent, and offers three different versions of the title track. It's an absolute belter of a release.

Jason Brunton's original is a super-deep tough jazzy workout, dominated by hard swinging 909 hats, bouncing snares, and a raking chord that rises and drops in semitones and fourths. As usual with Brunton, there's lots of thought in the track, but whereas with some other tracks this means too many sounds, motifs and ideas, on this one the innovation is restricted to the drum programming and the dominant synth sound (plus one other searing chord that sails in over the top of the track after a couple minutes). This keeping to the less-is-more school without falling in to the endless-loops trap makes it one funky monster that never gets boring, while keeping a solid flow from start to finish. It's got a hint of the better bits of Carl Craig about it, but it has a club-footed toughness that Craig often lacks. For me, this is one of Brunton's best tracks to date - serious and intense techno soul music.

On the flip, there are two remixes offer two contrasting styles. Marco Bernardi comes first, and serves up a version that manages to straddle an invisible line between techno and the crispest of electro styles. Again an artist who I occasionally find has too many ideas all happening at once, here he gets it absolutely right, with robotic vocals, sinister looping chords, a synthetic stringline that is just not-in-tune enough to give the whole thing a loose and dangerous feel, and the hardest of lethal electro backbeats. I'm not particularly partial to electro, but I would play this out in an instant. Killer stuff.

Finally, Iridite stalwart Rei Loci weighs in with his reworking, and it's another absolute beauty. A driving four-on-the-floor beat that starts out sounding clicky, but when you turn it up, you discover it's actually a bruising, crushing monster, with phasing basic channel style chords emerging in a different key to everything else and dislocating the entire feel of the track, a wobbling root-note battering away hidden in the middle of the mix, and lots of work on the normal first and fifth notes fighting against the phasing chords in the dislocated semitone. The drum programming builds and builds as the track progresses and become more and more insistent, and the more it goes on, the more you want to leap to your feet and close your eyes. Heavy and claustrophobic, this is another Rei Loci stunner.

All in, it's a fantastic release, with three contrasting and complimentary techno soul styles, all hugely playable (how often does that happen on a 12" these days?), and all executed near-perfectly. Highly recommended.