In a mere few hours we'll be living in the wonderful future year 2010.
It creeps me out. Ever since 1999 I've felt like I'm living in some strangely disappointing alternate future. If we look back to when I was a kid this is certainly nothing like the future I was expecting. No space colonies, no flying cars, no nuclear holocaust, no artificial intelligence, no super advanced robots (nearly though), no VR cybersex and so forth and so forth.
In a few hours we'll be in the year where HAL9000 is reactivated and jupiter explodes and becomes a new sun, and we're not even close to an AI. Despite having microprocessors, something Clarke never dreamed of.
Anyway. Happy new year, may the future bring excitement and wonders to all of us!
The most brutal acts of violence I have seen by any cop since Rodney King. Probably even worse... This is the same police that now claim that yesterday's actions against Christiania (IE invasion) were just to stop a party from getting out of controll. The same police that peppersprayed detainees while sitting in cages.
We will be the victors in the end. And I'll tell you how I know that.
They have their police with riot helmets, tactical vests, guns, tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, LRADs, fire trucks, hand cuffs, batons, strips, cages, armoured cars. They take away our cameras, they bludgeon us, they gas us, they arrest us, they threaten us, the smear us in their own media and they attack us every time we speak our minds.
We have nothing. Nothing besides our lack of fear, of what they do to us.
That's right.
They are the ones with all the weapons, the uniforms and protection. They are the violent and aggressive ones, and they are afraid of us. Why else would they use violence?
In Denmark, december 2009, they arrested nearly a thousand peaceful protesters, in clear violation of the universal declaration of human rights, and all standards of democracy. Didn't scare anyone. The next day the protests were back on. Again the police attacked the protesters, again for no reason. Day three now, and protests are still going on, and they are still peacefull.
That's why we will win. We are not afraid of them, and once more and more people realize that the authorities live in fear of the common man, they will join us. And the police will be helpless. With all their weapons and armor, the only thing can do is scare us or kill us. And unless you kill us, we won't go away, cos you can't scare us anymore. All we need is patience. I just hope we have time.
There are a million blogs out there where people write about nothing, that is what the do what they wear. I'm gonna give it a go. Just for the hell of it. They do have thousands of readers, and I have like... four? Or something...
As always I am wearing black BDU pant's. They're very practical, and helped me transport my sick leave note from the doctor's office all the way home. These specific pants were bought at H&M's here in Oslo, and they are really comfortable. (For instance they come with button down fly, instead of a zipper.) My feet were of course enclosed in black vegan boots with steel toes, while making this journey. It aint shoes, if it can't crush a skull. That's what I always say. I got them from veganessentials.com. A very good website for people with a conscience. I am also very pleased with the black hoodie I bought on e-bay the other day. It has a nice Laibach logo and everything. Goes well with my shaved head and face. The logo is printed on in some plastic material, in silver and white, and appears sturdy. The hoodie itself is very comfortable, and fits like a glove. (A roomy glove that is, it is XL). And it makes me look very manly, or so I hear.
My outfit is not only perfectly color coordinated, but a fashion statement that says something very real about the modern day urban anarchist. It's militant, it's warm and very comfy.
Did I mention I quit my job today?
So come on, lay me down with a million readers. Make me Perez Hilton!
I have been known to be critical of the decision to award Obama with the peace prize, but this is not about that. This is about all of the people that elected him, and the people all over the world who supported him, and how naive they were.
For a long time it has been known among my friends, that I prefer the republicans over the democrats any day. Just like I rooted for McCain (not Palin though) in this last election. People have a hard time understanding this given my political stance. I am hardly a republican, to say the least.
However, I don't trust the democrats, and I certainly don't see them as furthering my world. I don't see the real difference between the two parties in any other way than that I know where I have the republicans, and I know that people aren't fooled by them. People are certainly fooled by the democrats though.
Obama spent most of his campaign talking about change, and how he was gonna end the wars and shut down Guantanamo. And I said: "No he's not." I expected him to do just what all other democrats had done before him. Fight wars, take less international responsibility and increase military engagement abroad. And he did.
I may be a cynic, but I was correct.
Obama has not been able to shut down Guantanamo. Obama has increased the number of troops engaged in combat to a level far above anything Bush ever did. Obama has not set a date for withdrawal, or even clear goals for the war effort in Afghanistan and Iraq. Obama has filled his cabinet with people from the Clinton administration, just like I said he would. Obama has made no serious efforts at real diplomacy or consolidation. He has proven (with regards to Iran in particular) that diplomacy is synonymous with threats to americans. "You do as we want, or we punish you."
Like I said: I may be a cynic, but I was correct. And I want to state once and for all. You cannot trust democrats. Traditionally they have been more aggressive, less willing to take responsibility for their actions and just as arrogant as the republicans. Kennedy invaded Cuba, increased military presence in Vietnam, Clinton involved the US in more conflicts than one can count. Some of the more well known actions were: bombing Iraq every day for eight years, bombing Sudan, bombing Serbia and firing rockets into Afghanistan. (Much good that did.) The only president that has ever used nuclear weapons in a conflict was a democrat. The list goes on. And still people say that the democrats are so fantastic and humane. I don't get it.
I know, I am anarchist, and to many of you that means I should just shut up about this stuff. I will never be pleased with any president anyway. Granted, this is true. But I still predicted Obamas foreign policy better than any of you. You all believed him when he said he would shut down guantanamo or bring the troops home.
Well. He's sent more troops, and 2009 has seen more dead US troops than any year under Bush. As well as more drone attacks and further escalation of the conflict into pakistan.
I was right. You should admit it. And I get to say:
Coca Cola has a new christmas commercial out. You know what they're like. Holidays are coming and smiling faces and lights and shit. And that terrible truck with all the bulbs. It uses more electricity than a medium sized african country, very american. Anyways. At the very end of the commercial, there's this plane flying over an unidentified part of the world, chucking packages out of the door. Down on the ground we see a pattern of lights form the words "IT'S X-MAS".
You can watch it for yourself.
Now, I can't be the only one who spots the irony of this. American people drop stuff from planes, and the ground lights up. That looks oddly familiar somehow...
One year ago today Alexandros Grigoropoulos was murdered by greek Police. May he rest in peace, and may his death serve to remind us that there is no justice in this world, except the one we create for our selves.
The media may call it riots, even protests if they're trying to be objective. I call it well grounded outrage. The authorities and their hooligans can do what they want, and get away with it. And should you even try to demand some form of justice, they'll knock you over the head with a baton, shoot you with rubber bullets or tear gas, chase you like a rabid dog and terrorize you - and then they'll have the nerve to call you a menace to society.
One of my favorite films, of all time, regardless of genre and content, is a little beauty we call Hardware. The film was directed by Richard Stanley way back in 1989, and tells the story of a robot and a handful of humans. The robot tries to kill the humans, and vice versa. It sounds familiar, but this is not Terminator. While I love Terminator (the first one, and none of the sequels) Hardware is darker, dirtier, more violent, more aesthetically filmed and twice as arty. Not to mention filled with goth and industrial subculture references.
The film is based on, or atleast inspired by, a short story printed in the british comic book 2000 AD. The story titled Shok! is a spin off from Judge Dredd and concerns a combat robot that runs amock in an urban appartment. This particular robot is a souvenir from a combat between Dredd (with allies) and a large group of combat robots from World War III featured in the storyline the Cursed Earth. Dredd won of course. Like many other stories in 2000 AD. this one is very sketchy and focuses more on morbid humor, with a touch of social critique, than on artistic skills.
The film opens up with a full close up of a womans face, and flashing lights, before we see a bleak desert landscape, filmen with red filter, and even more bleak music by Simon Boswell. A lone figure, clad in post apocalyptic cowboy gear and gasmask uncovers the remains of a robot under the sand. This character, the Zone Tripper, is incidentally played by Carl McCoy from Fields of the Nephilim, one of that bands Richard Stanley had worked with during his carreer making music videos. The Zone Tripper brings the robot parts back to civilization, and sells them to a soldier named Mo. Mo in turn gives them as a christmas present to his girlfriend, the artist Jill (whose face opened the film). She uses the robots head (now painted to resemble an american flag) as the center piece in one of her artworks, and unwittingly allows it to rebuild itself. The rest of the film is mainly artsy mayhem and slaughter with a great deal of hinduistic and christian subtext. Specifically the name of the robot (M.A.R.K. 13) and images of the hindu goddess Kali, whose visage incidentally is reminiscent of the robot itself.
It sounds simple, but in fact the story is suprisingly complex. Especially considering the low budget it was made on, and the rather limited technical possibilities at the time. It's expertly filmed, and the set dressing is impressive. The television screen plays a significant role in the film, displaying scenes of torture, executions and so forth (the footage was supplied by Genesis P-Orridge by the way.) Everything is very ugly, and all the machines look broken down and used. The dressing and design really creates a world you don't want to live in. But one of the elements that really makes the film what it is, is the music. Ministry, Iggy Pop, Public Image Limited, Mötorhead, a piece by Rossini and Boswells aforementioned fantastic score. The way Boswell manages to utilize synthesizer, strings and steel guitar is truly unique. It's violent, cynical and very gritty.
Sadly the film was unavailable for quite a few years and it's only recently been released on DVD. It was worth the waith though. The DVD release also includes the original comic and a few extra scenes. Not to mention the audio commentary.
The film ends on a very pessimistic note. Jill manages to kill the robot, but Mo is killed, along with several other characters. In the very end we find out that mass production of the killer robot is about to be implemented. The robot was just a prototype, and production was halted because of problems with insulation system. However, the radio announces, problems have been sorted out. However, the fact that the robot is unable to tell the difference between enemies and friends seems less interesting. No Flesh Shall be Spared, indeed.
One interesting detail from the film that I have to mention, because it sets it apart from other cyberpunkish apocalypses is the way the robot is killed. In Terminator the robot is stopped by smashing it with a gigantic compacter. Technology to defeat technology. In this film Jill kills the robot by showering it with water, and then beating it to smitherines with a wooden baseball bat. She defeats the machine using very basic, primitive tools - and indeed nature itself. Cool huh?
All in all, it's a magnificent film, and if you haven't seen it yet it's about time. Open your eyes and your ears, and allow the film to seep into every corner of your mind.
This year's nobel peace prize went to Barack Obama, as you all know by now. I personally find this odd, mildly put. But this continues a tradition of, what I and others see as using the peace prize as a foreign policy tool on behalf of Norway. Increasingly this also extends to attempts at influencing US policies in several different fields.
In a way this started just after George W. Bush was elected, when former president Jimmy Carter was awarded the prize in 2002. At the time many observers were critical and saw the prize as a comment on the militaristic policies of the Bush administration. (In extension you can also see it as a criticism of american politics in the entire Reagen-era, which extends into the first and second Bush administrations.) Then of course there was Al Gore, in 2007. Gore of course ran against Bush in 2000, and lost (despite getting more votes). It doesn't take a genius to see that this could be interpreted as a direct criticism of Bush. Especially his environmental polices. Yesterday it was announced that Bush's succesor Barack Obama is this years winner. Apparantly he was nominated after 11 days in office, which indicates to me that his main award winning effort was winning the presidency.
I find this pattern striking, and very slanted towards a certain political party in the states, whose popularity in Norway is marked by massive support every four years when there is an election over there. Hardly any norwegian politican would even consider throwing his support for the republican candidate. Norwegians even seem to suffer from the misguided notion that the democrats are some sort of social democratic party. Considering that the democrats are to the right of the norwegian conservative party on most issues, this notion is simply amusing.
Anway, let's take a look at the people awarding the prize, and the picture will become even clearer. (Do also remember that the member's are chosen by the norwegian parliament itself.) The leader of the commitee is a Thorbjørn Jagland, a former politican for the norwegian labour party. In fact, he is a former prime minister, former leader of Labour, former minister of foreign affairs and so forth. Today, the day after voting on the nobel peace prize he is also set to take the chair as secretary general of the Council of Europe. Hardly a neutral observer. The next member of the commitee is Kaci K. Five. She is the former leader of the consercative party in Norway. Another former politican, who served several terms in the norwegian parliament, where she was a member of the committee on foreign affairs. Then there is Sissel Rønbeck. Another former politican, and this one also a labour politician, with three terms in the norwegian parliament and two years as leader of the Labour party's youth movement. The fourth member is the least conspicous one, having only served a single term in the parliament, for the ultra right wing progressive party. Still, another politican. The fifth, and last member more than compensates however. Ågot Valle having served three terms for the socialist left party, as a member of the foreign affairs committee for two of these. Among the three stand in members of the committee, we find a former minister of foreign affairs (who also served as ambassador to the United states for six years), and two former parliamentary politicans.
With such close ties to official norwegian political life I guess it would be safe to say that the prize is not beyond criticism. In fact I would go as far as saying that it seriously detracts from the prize's legitimacy and credibility. This year's award of course marking the apex in a string of obviously political awards. It is saddening to see how Alfred Nobel's original intention has been hijacked by state interests.
And now I'm not even touching the important subject of whether this year's laureate actually deserves the prize. That is a whole other blog, and a rather lengthy one at that. But shortly put: when your police uses rubber bullets against peaceful protesters, you don't deserve an award, you deserve to be deposed.
You know your mind is screwed up when you wake up from dreaming about your blog. Especially when you spend as little time on it as I do. The post I dreamt about was about hardcore techno, and I figure that's a good reason to write a blog about just that. So put on your headset and fire up soulseek/last.fm/spotify or whatever, and get ready.
Way back in 1992 I was first subjected to the roots of hardcore techno. We are of course talking about Human Resource and the track Dominator. You've probably heard it. It's a really cool track, with nifty vocals and a really fantastic synthesizer track. Their album Dominating the world was very much an example of what was going on in the techno scene at the time, but with one very important innovation that was to crystalize the early hardcore style: the hoover. No, not the thing you use to suck up dust from your filthy floor, but a synthesizer sound. Put on nearly any hardcore track, and you'll hear it. It sounds like something halfway between a lazergun from the fifties, an angry wasp and a vacume cleaner (hoover for the brits).
Soon after hardcore techno proper was born, and a flurry of styles (all sounding more or less the same) was fronted by artists with such fascinatingly mature names as DJ Fistfuck, the Speedfreak, the Nightraver and so forth and so forth. Cities like Frankfurt, Berlin and perhaps most of all Rotterdam became synonymous with a very loud four on the floor beat and scratchy hoover-synths. The louder and faster the better. The various styles were represented mostly by a number of different compilation series: Thunderdome, Razorshock, Terrordrome, the Best of Rotterdam Records, Nightmare in Rotterdam (and similar) and others whose names elude me at the moment. The hardest was ofcourse the various compilations from Rotterdam Records, whose style was also the most eclectic. The wonderfully humorous poing from Rotterdam Termination Source was one end of the scale, while extremely angry and noisy techno was on the other end.
Every other month or so the various forms of hardcore picked up another five bpms to their average speed, and got more and more crystalized in terms of genre. Suddenly you had gabba (gabber to the brits, utlizing the hoover sound), Happy Hardcore (mostly fronted by Technohead and Scooter) and whatnot. Hardcore was really happening at the time, and more and more acts appeared on the scene. The Thunderdome compilations went completely overboard and released new comps in tempo you can't imagine. And the music tended more and more towards happy hardcore and simplistic childish hooks.
I kind of lost interest, especially since I absolutely abhorred happy hardcore. The kid who used to run around town spray painting "hardcore will never die" on various walls in his little shithole town got off the hardcore bus.
That is untill a few years later, when a chance visit to my favorite record shop in Oslo had me laughing with disbelief for days. I was under the impression that hardcore was very dead, and that noone over 18 would ever listen to that stuff, except for as nostalgia, when I heard 180bpms worth of "boomboomboomboom!! I'M GONNA FUCK YOUR MOTHER!!! Boomboomboomboomboom!!" Out of the speakers at this aforementioned record store. I had been subjected to power noise for the first time, in the year of our lord 1999. While power noise can be alot of things a great deal of it quite simply a less childish variation of old skool hardcore techno. Quite hysterical to think of actually. These two styles had existed side by side throughout the nineties, but while hardcore attracted ravers with umpteen colored baby suckers in the gabs, power noise attracted goths and "rivetheads". I never did find out what that track was, but I ended up byuing a few records by other power noise acts. They range from the really good stuff (Imminent [pictured], Noisex, Converter, NKVD) to absolute crap (Terrorfakt, Iszoloscope). Power noise is of course fronted by the flagship event Maschinenfest every year.
But hardcore wasn't entirely dead in its own right either. There were these little cells operating out of backwater towns practising a style known as break core. The local act Sunjammer is particularly worth checking out. To me it sounded like hardcore with slightly better production values and sometimes more interesting beats, and also something called speed core, apparantly a grandchild of nordcore. (All these cores are making my head spin. Which is kind of cool.) M1dy, the albino from Tokyo (pictured), is a prime example of doing the right thing at 350bpms. Many of the people who paved the way for hardcore in the early days are still active. Rob Gee, Human Resource, DJ Paul Elstak, and whole lot of other guys. Even Rotterdam Records.
And, people over 18 can certainly listen to hardcore, and not be embarassed. The crappy happy hardcore days are over, and with it most of the short lived acts that were in it for the rage of it. Hardcore has matured in a way, and has found its own little niche.
October first 2009. It's been sixty years since Mao came to power today. The chinese people has my sympathies, as well as all others living under the yoke of dictatorships. Chinese or otherwise.
May the next sixty years bring you closer to freedom, rather than the oppression you have faced so far.
I am wondering. These two specific politicans were voted into office on policies guaranteeing better conditions for human rights, more democracy and so forth and so forth. In direct opposition of what the world saw as evil regimes in fact.
And here they are, standing next to each other at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh, USA. A shining beacon of democracy, and the streets are filled with thousands of police in darth-vader-gear. Rubber bullets are flying through the air, tear gas slowly drifting down the streets, protesters arrested and put in unmarked cars by people in military uniforms, students being beaten and street dances broken up. Kinda looks a bit like China all of the sudden, doesn't it? In all this I can't help thinking of the lyrics for the Who's Won't get fooled again. "Meet the new boss, same as the old one".
Boy, you sure got fooled again didn't you? And it won't be the last time.
The police and politicans are here to protect and serve the rich, not you.
The United States of America, supposedly built by the poeple and for the people, practises a most foul, unfair, barbaric and abominable tradition of murdering its poor and undesirable. I am talking of course about death penalty, capital punishment for those of who are unwilling to face the facts of the more proper term. Death penalty. State sanctioned sterilized killing, in the name of justice.
It's despicable, and it's a complete failure in every way but the meat processesing.
As crime prevention it is not just a failure statistically, but because it extende the very crime it purports to hinder: the murder of human beings. There are no statistics that can show that death penalty reduces the prevalence of violent crime - or any other crime for that matter. Absolutely none.
Morally it is a bankrupt practice based on misguided interpretations of ancient religious texts demanding an eye for an eye. Not only does this form of moral logic end up demanding the death of the executioner as well, but it reduces the sanctity of life to mere math. The Bible, that these reactionary retards hold so dear also teaches forgiveness. They would do well to focus a bit more on the "let he who is without sin..." part of this archaic text and less on the killing and maiming. Though the killing and maiming is the more entertaining part of the Bible, it is also the less productive.
Judicially death penalty is also problematic in the sense that it makes reform entirely impossible. Both socially and individually. It is revenge, and has nothing to do with fairness, rationality or societal needs. Rather it is cruel and arbitrary. As supreme court justice Thurgood Marshall so eloquently put it in 1990: "When in Gregg v. Georgia the Supreme Court gave its seal of approval to capital punishment, this endorsement was premised on the promise that capital punishment would be administered with fairness and justice. Instead, the promise has become a cruel and empty mockery. If not remedied, the scandalous state of our present system of capital punishment will cast a pall of shame over our society for years to come. We cannot let it continue."
Killing is killing. Calling it punishment makes it no different from the act of murder. The result is the same: a life is cut short, and will never reach its full potential.
Thinking the convicted Romell Broom in his cell on death row, allready having suffered the anguish of the executioner's intent to murder him once, I can only find solace in the fact that his maltreatment serves the higher purpose of shedding light on this disgusting affair. I am personally very powerless to do anything but talk, or write, but we know that things can change when people write, and maybe one day Ohio will take its rightfull place among civilized parts of the world. I am also reminded of the story of another man who was murdered by the state, for the crime of murder. His name lives on with us still, and monuments have been built and songs been written in his name. His ashes have been spread around the world, and his name will forever mean "framed and murdered by the government". I am talking of course about Joe Hill. Take a few minutes to read the lyrics to the song Pete Seeger and Paul Robeson wrote about him, or better yet, listen to it. Murdering Hill did not kill him, and murdering Broom will not kill violent crimes. Only reform can do that.
(Lyrics below the video.)
I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night, alive as you and me. Says I "But Joe, you're ten years dead" "I never died" said he, "I never died" said he.
"The Copper Bosses killed you Joe, they shot you Joe" says I. "Takes more than guns to kill a man" Says Joe "I didn't die" Says Joe "I didn't die"
"In Salt Lake City, Joe," says I, Him standing by my bed, "They framed you on a murder charge," Says Joe, "But I ain't dead," Says Joe, "But I ain't dead."
And standing there as big as life and smiling with his eyes. Says Joe "What they can never kill went on to organize, went on to organize"
From San Diego up to Maine, in every mine and mill, Where working men defend their rights, it's there you'll find Joe Hill, it's there you'll find Joe Hill!
I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night, alive as you and me. Says I "But Joe, you're ten years dead" "I never died" said he, "I never died" said he.
Despite my ovious interests in both politics and history this is not going to be a blog about the oral constitution of the Irriquois, even if it sounds very exciting. No, this is about a band I had forgotten.
Oral Constitution was a sort of industrial/goth/neo folk band from Haugesund, on the west coast of Norway. They existed from 1992-1997 and managed to put out several albums and an E.P., as well as being remixed by Genesis P-Orridge. Their apex, atleast in terms of attention came with the album Høgdapreik ("talking about Høgda" in English), which took a great deal of inspiration by the infamous norwegien telephone terrorist Svend Høgda. Høgda became a national celebrity for a flurry of telephone activities in the nineties. He called in false alarms to the police, ordered caskets for various people and other such things. He ended up in jail for it, and Oral Constitution managed to stirr some controversy by dedicating an album to his activities.
Their music has been compared to Current 93, Diamanda Galás and Death in June. Personally I see the Current 93 and Diamanda Galás comparisons as especially relevant. Early Current 93 in particular. It is dark, experimental, playfull, psychedelic and strange. Their first EP Bibelpreik ("bible talk") is certainly their finest work, showing musical affinities and a level of concentration I can't hear in the rest of their work. Granted I have not heard everything, but while this first E.P. is restrained and consistent in mood the other tracks I have heard certainly fall more in the psychotic maniacs-category than mood music. I would recommend bibelpreik to anyone who appreciates Current 93. But it's not a simple copy, there are elements of old school goth in there as well. There are other elements in there as well, even ambient, but there are certainly enough musical similarities to grant a comparison. Except that it's actually darker than Current 93, and more primitive.
Luckily for you I have even managed to track down a copy of this E.P. Floating around in cyberspace, courtesy of this blog. Note that I did not upload this .zip or chose the medium for upload so I take no responsibility for it whatsoever. But judging from experience it should be entirely safe. Click this link to go to the .zip.
Certainly there are good tracks on their other releases, but the production is somewhat inconsistent. Tracks like Für Åse is great, while Galloping Negroes is just silly, with the Stomach Composer somewhere in between. In general the folkish and goth tracks are good, while the more industrial inspired tracks are not so well executed. If you stumble upon something out there, you should certainly give it a chance however. Chances are you haven't heard many bands like them before. However I feel an obligation to point out that the female singer (as opposed to the male singer) has an accent from the other side of the moon or something. And neither the male or the female singer can actually sing, nor is the guitar playing exactly excellent in any way - but I guess that's quite common in this kind of music. It might be an aquired taste...
I just finished watching a documentary about rave, and rave culture. Pretty much of it was mediocre, and served only to trigger my nostalgia about the early nineties, but there bits of it that were very interesting. Mostly those bits containing Genesis P-Orridge. The film is called Better Living Through Circuitry, and you should be able to dig it up somewhere, download and watch.
One of the things GPO said, was that while the punk movement had been about seizing the means of production, techno was about the means of perception as well. It was a really good way of drawing out the essence of, atleast part of, the techno movement as I had known. It also got me thinking of something Pascal from Resistance D said in an interview (atleast my mind remembers it this way, but I could be wrong). He claimed that techno was about taking all those sounds you hear around you every day, such as the hum of the refrigerator, the cars, street lights and what have you, taking control of them and using them to cope with reality. Sampling enables someone to appropriate a part of reality one is usually a passive recipient of, and turn it into creativity. A truly reality altering practise.
When I read this, so many years ago back in 1993, in fact just before christmas, it really got me thinking. I had discovered techno not long before, and I didn't understand just why the crude electronic sounds and thudding beats made me feel alive in a way current pop music (including the pre-digested grunge and metal) could. But this statement was as good an explanation as any. I clearly felt frustrated by the way school and society wanted me to be passive and live my life the way they expected, and I often said that techno makes me feel good, because society wants me to be a machine. But in fact techno was making me feel like the opposite of a machine.
And this is what GPO is talking about. Music as a magickal means of controling your reality and environment. He is ofcourse not just inspired by deconstructionist thinking on this subject, but also by Aleister Crowley himself. GPO and TOPY/TOPI is all about magick, as we know, and seeing reality as in a flux. By altering the way you see reality and respond to reality you gain power over it on some level. In the film he also states that taking over various corporate logos and placing them in a different context "emasculates their power over you", and this statement could be carried over to anything mostly, as I see it.
The music industry is out to control you. Not in the brain washing way, but in the "buy our records, listen to them passively, buy more records" (or files as it's starting to be). The record industry doesn't like it when you start making your own shit and giving it away for free, because it takes away their power over you. The goverment is out to control you too, and they're more than happy to share that control with the record companies. The key element is that you remain passive, go to work, generate economic growth and consume. If people stop doing that reality would collapse. Reality meaning our current mode of capitalist, statist, collectivist, hive society. By grabbing the means of perception for your own pleasure, and sharing in with your friends you create a new reality, and one that suits you more than the one you are being fed.
Unfortunately most people are not very conscious when they create music. They see instruments as instruments, and tracks as tracks, and records as a product. The fail to see music as magick. And all music is magick, whether you are aware of it or not. Music, not just techno, but all music, is an emotional highway of subconscious communication. What you put out in your music, you put into someone (most of all yourself).
As I was into techno, and the whole DIY spirit that came with it, many years ago, I am now also painfully aware of how the superficial trade marks of that movement has become fashion and mass culture (passive). More than anything this so called new rave fashion has highlighted this change. It's quite strange to me, cos I see the smiley t-shirts, and I think "yeah, fucking acid house man" and these kids just wear them cos everyone else is wearing them. Getting old is painful. :)
But there's hope. What techno was about back then is now bigger than ever. People have the means of production so firmly in their hands, and the next step is for them to realize that they hold reality between their fingers. Don't just recieve, transmit! And it's actually happening, with blogs, mp3, p2p, vsti, podcasts, webradio, webtv and so forth and so forth. It's not just for people who get an erection from TB-303 bleeps anymore (or the hippies, punks and beatniks before them).
Get conscious, get powerfull. I guess that's the bottom line.
The troll you see on the picture is Anne B. Ragde, norwegian hack writer, and media personality. Why is she there, you say? I'll tell you why.
A new ad hoc movement of culture peddlers is festering in the norwegian public these days. A petition with 1600 signatures demands that norwegian politicians do more to stop illegal distribution of intellectual property. Ragde is one of them, and one of their most visible contributors as such. They were on the boobtube yesterday, and when I woke up today the troll was rearing its fuzzy head in the various newspapers too.
Their argument ofcourse is entirely economic. Understandably so. These people have long since stopped producing for the pure passion of it, and "are only in it for the money" as Zappa put it, ever so honestly. They have especially selected the norwegian liberal party as their opponent, as well as the Socialist Left and Red, while citing that only the conservative party has been clear in the defence of traditional copyright laws. It's quite ironic that these people, whom by norwegian standards can probably be considered intellectuals should wheigh their support in favor of their traditional oppononents. Norwegian intellectuals and culture workers are traditionally quite left leaning. But lately we have seen that the classic division between left and right is becoming blurred, especially with regards to this subject, and integration/immigration. (Amusing really. It is becoming increasingly evident that whether statism is left wing or right wing, doesn't really matter that much. The real issue at hand is fear of the individual's opportunities, and rights, to self expression. But that is a different blog waiting to happen.)
Anyway, copyright. My sympathy for these people, and their self rightous indignancy is next to none. I personally chose to give away all the music I make, and anything else I should happen to create. It enriches culture because it provides a low threshold access point to expressions, and contributes to a dynamic cultural development. If you like what I do, you can use and spread it, and even create your own works with basis in mine. But these statist/capitalist propertarians don't really care about that. It's jost a job to them. Their hours are capital, in the marxist sense, not a way of furthering human development, be it social or otherwise. I chose to work full time in order to maintain an income, and produce music in my spare time. These retards are unable to do that, or atleast unwilling. Of course I cannot demand, or expect, that all people should view all their actions in a larger ideological perspective, but I can certainly look down on them for their lack of long term perspectives and insights.
I can see their argument, in the sense that they want some sort of compensation for their efforts. But it falls short of any real logic, besides an exclusively materialistic one. Their compensation should be access to a rich and free culture. But I guess money is more important to them than any sort of cultural experience. But what can you really expect from hack writers and musicians whose highest aspirations are to be picked up by a Coca Cola comercial?
I have the strain of influenza commonly known as swine flu. Came down today, after my girlfriend caught it a few days ago.
And people, I'm not going to die. Well, not today anyway, and not from this. Nor am I a victim of evil illuminati, or similar organizations. I am not being sacrifized to prepare the general populace for mass deaths. I am not being used as milking cattle by the pharmaceutical companies.
I just happen to have caught a fairly mild virus. It's similiar to virus infections I happen to catch about every other year, except that this is even less lethal.
Despite this people seem to have gone stark raving mad with conspiracy theories and media panic, and other such nonsense.
Piledriver is not just a fun social activity, if your girlfriend is feeling acrobatic, or a machine that punches columns into the ground. Nor is it just a way to hurt your wrestling partner. It's so much more than that.
Many years ago, by mere chance, I discovered a band from Oslo named Piledriver. (Not to be confused with the rather infantile canadian metal band by the same name btw.) At the time I was 15 years, and Piledriver was some of the heaviest music I had ever heard, and in addition it had the digital edgy drum beats I so craved at the time. Piledriver managed to combine naive synthesizer melodies, dry unemotional drum beats and punk guitars in a most abbrasive way. The uniquely hard core aggression of Are Kleivans vocals completed the package. I remember all too well when they played in Arendal, in 1996. I have never since taken out so much energy in one evening, and I certainly had the black and blue marks on my body to prove it. Thinking back now, as an over the hill guy with a growing belly and gray streaks, I wonder how I survived. Absolutely one of my best musical memories.
Their name was an obvious reference to the way their drums sounded more or less like the industrial machine by the same name. Piledriver started out sometime in the first half of the nineties and released a very dark 7", before finding their unique style and releasing three full length albums and participating on several compilations. They also collaborated with Egil Hegerberg on his anti tagging song, and toured with the most superfluous hip hop act of all time. Sindre Goksøyr also played in the seminal norwegian "dønk rock" band Gluecifer for a while, before they turned into a pop group. They dubbed their way of playing "dunder disco" (thunder disco) and mixed equal doses of anger, humor and great music.
When I first started making music on my own several of the tracks contained obvious references to Piledrivers way of arranging music. I used high pitched repetitive melodies over industrial drums, but without the guitar and vocals. Unfortunately (or perhaps not) all these tracks have been lost by now. But still, Piledriver was one of the first underground acts I heard, and I still love their music.
If you like industrial metal or hardcore Piledriver is worth checking out. Probably not too easy to find though. Piledriver remains one the least known treasures of the norwegian hardcore underground, and as industrial metal goes I don't think most people in the scene have discovered them at all. Hopefully, this will be rectified at some point. Sadly however, they disbanded in 2002 and there isn't much hope for a reunion.
It's not often I would call upon you to purchase music for money - even though there is nothing wrong about doing just that, but this time I have a real treat for you. It's part one of a Sleepchamber tribute, where all the proceeds, and I mean all, go to freethebears.org. 8$ (pluss shipping) is not much, and you're helping an endangered (and fantastic) species by spending it. In return you get a cd packed with wonderful cover versions of sleepchamber material, titled That's Romance. I have allready heard the material and it's certainly worth the money. (Especially the tracks by Batcheeba and Grammal Seizure.)
Hipp Priest is a guitar based noise duo from Norway, consisting of Jubal Death and Death States. Well, I'm not sure if it's really noise, but I don't know what else to call it. Their myspace page says Psychobilly/death metal - but that is most assuredly a result of their somewhat strange sense of humor, not the music.
Their tracks range from toned down guitar textures, to ear wrenching overdrive, all with a humoristic twist that constrasts starkly with their rather dark soundscapes.
Many years ago, when I was in secondary school, our teacher showed us a film called the Wave. Many of you may have heard of it, or even seen it. It's about a school teacher who more or less unwittingly manages to create a fascistoid movement out of his students, in an attempt to demonstrate just how a totalitarian regime arises. It has recently been remade as Die Welle (2008), but assumptuous as I am, I hazard a guess that the original still packs enough heat to be worth your attention. Despite being from 1981.
The film is even based on a real event. How much of it is dramatized I don't really know. Regardless it's a decent exploration of the dynamics of a totalitarian movement. Expecially its analysis of how the movement can supplant other needs for some people, who otherwise wouldn't fit in. (You can read more about the real life experiment at wikipedia.
Enough yabbering. It's not very long, and you really should take the fifty or so minutes it takes to watch it. Here it is, in all its glory, courtesy of Youtube:
It's election time in Norway, and as you all should know by now: I am an anarchist. I am opposed to the state, and I seek to abolish it. However these goals are not entirely realistic, not in my lifetime anyway, and thus people seek to influence me to vote for some party or another in this election. As they have done so many times before. I certainly see their point: it would be nice to be able to participate in some way to make the world a better place.
Let's sum up the status quo of norwegian politics.
Norway is a parliamentary democracy with a puppet king. The power lies with the parliament, and it's power is divided among (currently) seven political parties. Three of these have allied themselves and formed a majority government. The Socialist Left Party, the Labour Party and the Center party (rural interest party really). These three parties have highly varied ideological platforms (no you dumb yankees, not all socialists are the same), ranging from semi revolutionary socialism, via centrist eurosocialism to reactionary isolationist nationalism. It's a small miracle how they manage to work together. The opposition, consisting of the remaining four parties contain the Christian conservative party, the Social Liberal Party, The Conservative Party and the right leaning populist Progress Party (liberal party as they would call themselves - and again for the yankees, look up Milton Friedman and liberalism. You'll see that what you call liberal is a far pitch away from historical liberalism). In addition we have two smaller parties who might win a seat in the coming election: a communist party called Red, and the Coast party, a strange party whose single real issue seems to be killing more seals and whales.
In reality, post election Norway will one of two governments: a collaboration between the conservatives and right wing populists (with a serious racist policy attached) or a the current coalition (which includes the wolf killing center party and the quite racist labour party). Fat chance I'll support any of those. So, how about the smaller parties? Christian Conservatives? No, not likely. Liberal party? Not really. They have an anti urban platform, are euro-sceptical, support ambigious nationalist language policies and are generally strange. Communists? I'd rather emigrate? Whale killers? Hahahaha.
I can't vote for any of these idiots. Even if I wanted to vote my choice would be between nine evils, out of which even the smallest evil is such a far cry from anything I support that it would burn an eternal stain on my very soul. All of these choices will make the world a worse place to live in, and I can't support that.
I'd rather have an unblemished moral than support any of these filthmongers. Retardcracy is for retards.
When I saw Alien Sex Fiend some time ago they were supported by a local band called Kidz on Fuzz. A charming duo with a highly energetic style of performance. It was truly fascinating. Very old skool and diy. Not to mention having one of the most gender ambigious vocalists I have seen this side of y2k. Kudos for that.
The two of them have now released a single of sorts. I say 'of sorts' cos it's free, in the monetary sense, and available for download.
The Single has four tracks, two original and remixes of said two tracks. Both by Her Ethic. While the two original tracks are well enough on their own (primitive, dancy, sexy and minimalist) the two remixes are the most interesting part of the deal. Especially the forest fire remix, being the most industrial of the tracks. (I find myself raving, and that has to be good.)
Go listen to it, and perhaps even download it. It's not as interesting as their live performance, but certainly worth a listen, if you're into that kind of shit.
And of course, kudos for spreading the music for free. Free Culture is the Future.
Today I have joined the norwegian Pirate Party. Guess I have to renounce my claim at anarchism then. :P
Anyways: piratpartiet.biz - the norwegian homepage. Membership is free, but you can donate. The goal is to reach 5000 members, in order to participate in the national election next year. For the first time in my life I will vote, hopefully. I will vote against privacy intrusions, both by the authorities and the corporations, I will vote against copyright and patents and I will vote for freedom of speech, free thought and free culture.
It was exactly twenty years ago today that my belief in authority died. It had been suffering for quite some time, and it was better off dead. But the way it died was traumatic.
The late eighties were troubled by uprisings and protests and general political chaos around the entire world. Even Norway had its share as neo nazis clashed with left wing extremists and anarchists, and the police between them with horses and long hard batons. But this was not how my belief in authority died.
Communism was skipping along on one wounded leg, and though the Berlin wall was still going to stand there for another five months and five days, we all knew what way things were heading. And we were right, mostly, withing two years the soviet union and all its european satelites (barring one) had changed regime and was turning towards democracy. The general idea was that communism was over.
But not so.
In China a large number of disparate organizations, mostly run by students, had been assembling all over China. Their demands were as disparate as the number of participants, but in genereal they demanded reform. The protests lasted for several days, and here in the west we thought that the end had come to Deng Xiao Peng and his tyrranical cohorts. Evidently they also feared this, and they had very little scrouples about calling in the army. The results were thousands of dead students. Nobody knows how many. The chinese authorities claim somewhere in abundance of 200, while other sources generally range from somewhere over 3000 to as much as 7000. With perhaps as many as 30,000 wounded.
And what did our governments, parliaments and diplomats do? Generally speaking not a thing. In the twenty years since they have done even less. Half assed mentions of human rights aren't much worth in the face of the potentially largest consumer market in the world. It's shamefull. Politicians talk about ideals, but when push comes to shove what really matters is employment and taxation, and their own salaries.
I remain an optimist in some way, but I know now that the state will oppose change by any means it has at its disposal. The state is hardly ethical when it comes to survival. I also know that change is likely to be slow and arduous. But still, I know that change is inevitable. We cannot let our children and grandchildren be subjected to people that massacre students, or idly stand by as its done.
"Smash the control images, smash the control machine." WSB
Today is May the first, an historic day with emotional content - for those who know that is. The day has been thoroughly appropriated by state socialists, to the point where it only gives rise to dull disgust and half assed protests on my behalf.
This day was never their day, but like all other symbolic aspects related to socialism the statists abused it, and took it over. Even to the point where their governments, totalitarian and democratic alike, elevate the first of May to a national holiday. What? This international day of anti-authoritarian protest has become a symbol of nationalism, celebrated with national flags? Indeed.
In may 1886 several striking workers had gathered in haymarket square in Chicago, to protest against appalling conditions imposed on them by the capitalists. It was a part of a proposed general strike, that gathered perhaps as many as 500,000 supporters in cities all over the United States. 40,000 of these were on strike in Chicago. Naturally the capitalists and their mercenaries feared for their money and system - as well as their lives. They were met with strike breaking, pinkerton men and armed police. As a small group of strikers attacked a group of strike breakers police fired indiscriminately at the crowd. (Sounds familiar?) Six strikers were killed.
They day after, workers met at Haymarket Sq., some of them armed. Police came and started "dispersing" the crowd. That is attacking people. A bomb was thrown at the police, and they opened fire again, and kept shooting for five minutes. Police reports in the Chicago Tribune even state they fired so wildly around them that several police officers were wounded by friendly fire. There are reports that some strikers fired back, but it has been establised that most police were injured by their own. As for the bomb, to this date noone knows who threw the bomb, and there is even speculation that a pinkerton man was responsible. Hardly likely, but I wouldn't be shocked. That kind of stuff still happens. I believe a worker threw the bomb, with ample reason, considering the incident from the day before. Even though I do not support or condone such violence I would be hard pressed to condemn it, given the situation.
The results were clear: more than fifty dead workers as well as several injured on both sides. After the entire affair eight anarchists were trialled, and four were executed. One killed himself in jail.
That is why we commemorate may day. Not because of Marx, not because of Gramsci, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Gro Harlem Brundtland or Tony Blair. Not for communism, social democracy or democratic socialism, but because of anarchism. Real socialism is about freedom and protest against authorities, not lying, cheating and oppression in the holy names of Marx and Engels. Granted, the day was inaugurated by the Second International, but the people they chose to commemorate were anarchists. Communists have never been above using whatever means they have at their disposal to further their own cause. The victims of their anti-anarchist terror under Trotski's Red Army, or in the spanish civil war can testify that they didn't stop at symbols either.
Pirate Bay has lost the first round of trials in Sweden, in what is appearantly, and expectedly, a sham of a trial. IFPI has demonstrated that bullshit walks and money talks yet once again. By getting the results they quite simply purchased from corrupt, eager to please, politically controlled courts, they have shown us exactly what "democracy" and "rule of law" means.
In short: might makes right, and screw the common man.
Anyhow, this impotent ruling has no practical bearing on anything. Even if the appeals should uphold the ruling (and there will, presumably, be quite a few rounds of appeals), file sharing cannot be stopped by shutting down a single service. Worst Case scenario: it forces file sharing underground, and the four heroes behind Pirate Bay are sacrificed on the altar of corporate appeasement - casualties of war. To IFPI it's a pyrrhic victory, if that even. It's a demonstration of how much the capitalists are powerless before freedom of information, despite having the purchasing power to bribe Sweden's judicial ring leaders into submission. This powerlessness is even something they have themselves unwittingly unleashed and sponsored. Irony is a sweet fruit when it's doled out so poetically.
This entire farce has reminded me of how the internet was back in the olden days. Comercial content was shunned and using the internet to promote your products could result in mailbombing. It was a place for freedom, games, nonsense and underground groups, not just porn and online poker/shopping. People created content because they wanted to, not to spread your cookies and make money. While the internet has been largely appropriated by comercial interests since then, it's still a super highway for free thought. Thank you IFPI for reminding us just how much we have acheived, and fuck you very much. The internet isn't for you capitalists, conniving, parasitic thieves that you are, it's for us. Your filthy money can't change that.
Anyway, enough of this ranting, I have some inspiration I wish to share: I wish to point your eyes towards the Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace. 15 years ago, when the internet was still largely free from capitalists, a former acid rocker wrote this little piece of political clear sightedness, and it's still worth a read. If we can bring down the record companies and Hollywood, we can bring down the whole fucking house. Not over night, but it might still happen.
Information wants to be free, and as long as it's unfree so are we.
While I realize that their motivations are as varied as the number of participants itself, I would still like to state my support for the demonstrations in London today.
Keep the authorities on their toes! Keep it going!
It's a book about how to make and publish music on your own. Not fucking hard these days, grab a mic and a computer and put it on myspace under "experimental"... But anyways, learning from experienced people is always a bonus. ;)
Thought I'd post this excellent documentary on D.I.Y. culture here. This is what counterculture is about: the freedom, will and opportunity to create your own culture, rather then the predigested commercial nonsense we are continually spoon fed. The documentary contains interviews with several legendary underground culture-providers from the NYC area. The film is in eight parts and was uploaded by the filmmaker himself. :)
The gulf war was only a starting point and EBN consciously used media and military technology in their counter cultural assault on consensual reality. Their onslaught hit a nerve in the general public, and soon after the comercialist populists in U2 hired them to help create the stage show for the Zooropa tour and other visuals.
Not only were they radical though, they were also radically talented. In a style reminiscent of Public Enemy mixed with Negativland they constructed landscapes of political soundbites, military jargon, media snippets and funky beats. Their album Telecommunications Breakdown (1995) is an instant classic, and your collection should not be without. Download it (or buy it) and listen to it a few times. That's the least you could do.
I'm going to leave you with a link to my favorite track, by way of youtube, Electronic Behavior Control System, a track that expertly shows off their method. You gotta love the way they mix Clinton, Bush and Perot into a single unit.(long intro)
Historian and librarian by training, nerd and musician by lack of taste. My blog is highly eclectic ranging fra symbol analysis to blatant anarchism, nerdy chit chat and so forth. As a historian I am mostly concerned with myth complexes, symbolism and rituals in nationalist contexts.
It's time to celebrate some revolutionary heroes again. This time, EBN, Emergency Broadcast Network.
