Filed under: Recommended Listening | Tags: Led Zeppelin, les paul, jimmy page, mary ford
Micheal Jackson’ dead!? Put that shit on the front page, talk about it for days on end. Broadcast his funeral on tv, Im sure thats what he would have wanted. (Not kidding here)
One of the best Jazz guitarist of all time, the INVENTOR of the gibson Les Paul the guitar that created rock and roll! (Check out his wiki for all the other things he invented.) Who cares he could NEVER compare to the great MJ. Dont even think of putting that on the front page.
The mass media paid little attention to the death of Les Paul.
R.I.P. Or turn in your grave because your better the Micheal Jackson.
Filed under: Health, Recommended Listening | Tags: Breathe in Me by Liquid Mind, HD stereo Liquid Mind Chuck Wild soothing sleep peaceful wellness music relaxation relax stress relief massage healing recovery PTSD new age meditation sleep tips anxiety panic att
Filed under: Recommended Listening | Tags: Anarchism, anarchist, anarchy, chumbawamba, tubthumping
“When most people think of anarchist music the first thing that probably comes to mind is an image of loud guitars and shouted vocals. Similarly when most people think of Chumbawamba they probably think of a one hit wonder band who’s main claim to fame was soaking John Prescott at the Brit awards (If they even think of Chumbawamba at all). Of course anyone familiar with anarchist music know that their is more than just punk rock out there. By the same token anyone familiar with chumbawamba know that far from being a one hit wonder band they’ve been making quality music for years and their politics run deeper than just throwing water on politicians.
‘Anarchy’ is full of good well written pop songs with strong political statements. In one or two songs they do seem to get a bit too repetitive lyrics wise (I’m thinking mostly of ‘Timebomb’ here) although it dosn’t detract from the overall feel. It also does get a bit ‘out there’ at one point in ‘D’oh’ and ‘Blackpool rock’ (although it does stop this from getting too serious). But any such quibbles dissapear when you hear tracks like ‘enough is enough’ with it’s powerful anti-fascist message or the acapella folk stylings of ‘Homophobia’ and ‘Georgina’ a tale of male domination and female resentment. Overall this is a great album that I would definitely recommend getting (and according to their website chumbawamba are down with illegal downloading (although EMI might not be so understanding)”
Filed under: Recommended Listening | Tags: black thought, boosters, boots riley, hip hop, iran, iraq, outkast, pam the funkstress, picka bigger weapon, rap, shoplifting, talib kweli, the coup, tom morello, war
Note: Indicated* links NSFW
The Coup’s most recent (and apparently last) release, Pick a Bigger Weapon is arguably their best. While all of their music is catchy fist pumping funk-punk-rap, Pick a Bigger Weapon shows a depth of production and writing that excels even their previous work.
With tracks called “I Love Boosters“, “Head* (Of State)”, and “Babyletshaveababybeforebushdosomethingcrazy” (Is it us or is that very OutKast of them?) The Coup have assembled an album that is not only politically illuminating, but damn good listening
Filed under: Recommended Listening | Tags: 100 little curses, boots riley, guitar, mc, rage against the machine, rapcore, raprock, street sweeper social club, the coup, tom morello
Street Sweeper Social Club, as we told you last week, is a supergroup of sorts. Tom Morello, the guitarist/noisemaster/sane guy from Rage Against the machine, has teamed up with Boots Riley, the MC/songwriter/Socialist Mack from one of the most underrated hip-hop outfits of our time, The Coup. Though rapcore/raprock isn’t exactly unfamiliar territory for either of them, Street Sweeper manages to sound fresh even to hard core fans of either (or both) of the members previous work.
Neither Boots nor Tom have shyed away from confrontational political music, and their first single together, 100 Little Curses, shows that they aren’t about to start now.
Good stuff, eh? We give it four out of five fists-in-the-air, but your mileage may vary. Find it in your local independent record store.
Filed under: Recommended Listening | Tags: bill o'riley, fox news, hip hop, kieth olberman, midnight club LA, nas, rap, sly fox, va, violence, virginia tech
Just one track today folks, but I think it is an important one. However before I go any further, I think I should clarify that I might have some beef with Nas. Not only does my hip-hop taste lie with the less main-stream, but he straight up dissed me. Ok, well not exactly, but I did pay for those tickets so who is he to decide he doesn’t want to preform. Anyway, here goes.
Sly Fox is a diss track off of Nas’ most recent untitled release. Aimed straight across the bow of Fox News after Bill O’Riely protested Nas’ involvement in a free concert for Virginia Tech after the tragic shooting.
What was Mr. O’Riley’s reasoning here? He used excerpts from Nas’ works (such as “Shoot ‘Em Up”, “Get Yourself a Gun”, and “Made You Look”) to paint a picture of Nas as an individual who advocates violence, then pointed to the fact that Nas had a prior record for gun possesion. When it was observed that O’Riley had cherry-picked examples from Nas’ work, largely ignoring the theme of his other work, O’Riley ended the conversation in his typical pompous fashion.
As Jay-Z knows, Nas isn’t one to take things lying down. In an interview with MTV News Nas had the following to share:
He doesn’t understand the younger generation. He deals with the past. The people he represents are Republican, older, a generation that has nothing to do with the reality of what’s happening now with my generation. … He’s not really on my radar. People like him are supposed to be taught and people like me are supposed to let niggas like him know. I don’t take him serious. His shit is all about getting ratings or whatever. I wouldn’t honor anything Bill O’Reilly has to say. It just shows you what bloodsuckers do: They abuse something like the Virginia Tech [tragedy] for show ratings. You can’t talk to a person like that.
But that wasn’t enough for Nas. In 2008 he released his untitled album, including the track Sly Fox, a direct assault on O’Riley and his corporate masters.
All in all, the song isn’t terrible. stic.man from street tested PIC approved revolutionairies dead prez produced the track, and while it isn’t the best song I have ever heard, it also isn’t the worst. But it does make you wonder. How genuine is this track? Does Nas actually advocate a new social order, or is he just cashing in on “revolution chic”? And what is “the Matrix doctrine” anyway?
Filed under: Downloads, Law Enforcement, Recommended Listening, Video | Tags: 2006, 60's, aa, addiction, alanon, Anarchism, anarchist, anarcho-punk, anarchy, campus, children, cigarettes, coffee, cops, education, erik petersen, folk, folk punk, gentrification, god, gratitude and thanks, hippies, homes not bombs, mischief brew, philadelphia, play with matches, police, police brutality, punk, radical, riot folk, save a city, sds, skateboarding, sncc, songs from under the sink, thanks bastards, unschooling
My apologies for another late music review, however my intended source for this week is experiencing some technical difficulties.
Hailing from Philadelphia’s admirable anarchist community, Mischief Brew is an end product of what started out as folk-punk powerhouse Erik Petersen’s solo work.
While three years old, the fact that “Songs from Under the Sink” is not only still worth listening to but actually pleasurable is a testament to the craftsmanship of the group as well as Erik’s skills as a songwriter. Also impressive is the fact that from either a folk background, or punk, every track on this album is something you can relate to. Personally, every time I listen to this album I change my mind as to whether it is fairly categorized as folk-punk or punk-folk.
The opening track, Thanks, Bastards! is that staple of any anarcho-punk setlist, the police brutality song, actually fails to be predictable. Rather than the trite “Cops suck, boo police yay skateboarding!” tone that many of these songs take, Mischief Brew instead engages the listener to contemplate the real life changing power the police have. Suffice to say that Petersen is of the opinion that the tighter the pigs make their fists, the more people come pouring out of the system desperate for a change.
“Save a City …” is a song about community organizing against gentrification,
“Coffee, God, and Cigarettes” is a tongue-in-cheek piece about addiction, and “Children Play with Matches” addresses the silly idea that we of all people can teach children anything of value.
A song which is personally significant is “Gratitude and Thanks”. Addressing the significance of those “who had the courage to reach and rise and stand” to modern activism. While it is easy to dismiss the radical campus culture of the 60’s as failed and soulless (ever since it’s been commercialized) we can’t forget that we owe much of our resources today to their hard work and determination.
Filed under: Environmental Activism, How-To, Organizer Resources, Recommended Listening | Tags: alf, animal liberation front, crimethinc blog, earth liberation front, elf, secutiry culture: the puppet show
Earth First! is doing a tour across the United States. Part of the tour consists of a puppet show teaching basic security culture skills. I wont post the whole article here, but you can read and download the audio of the show on crimethincs blog. Theres lots of good tips for avoiding gestapo swine.
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Filed under: Anarchism, Anti-War, Capitalism, Downloads, Recommended Listening, Video | Tags: against me!, Am, Anarchism, anarchist, anarchy, aol-time warner, baby i'm an anarchist, don't lose touch, free bird, lynyrd skynyrd, Music, new wave, punk, rock, sell out, sire, stop, tom gabel
Against Me!’s newest release, New Wave, is an interesting point in several histories, punk music, anarchist culture, as well as rock at large, just to name a few. Coming out of the early stage of the band’s signing to Sire Records, a wholly owned subsidiary of corporate monolith AOL-Time Warner, New Wave was welcomed into a world of controversy. AM! had been accused by a number of hard(er) core fans of selling out since the band started to achieve some level of commercial significance. Looking at their older material it is easy to see why.
Here we have an example of early AM!, Walking Is Still Honest off of their first demo Vivada Vis!
And now one of their later peices, “Don’t Lose Touch”. For some context: this video played on MTV.
Don’t lose touch indeed.
The contrast between the early material and late material may seem sufficient reason to worry about this album. But you consider that this band, signed to a label owned by media conglomerate Time Warner, once released the following song you really begin to wonder what is going on.
Against Me! is clearly a mystery wrapped in an enigma. But what of the music! This is supposed to be an album review, not a critical assessment of AM!’s “sellout” status”. Well fear not, loyal readers, for New Wave abounds with sounds!
Opening with the title track, the album takes a more introspective and thoughtful path than long time fans of Against Me! will expect. However this isn’t a personal introspective, or even about the four memebrs of the band. If we keep in mind that to this day the members of Against Me! still identify as anarchists, we can see that the band is raising some valid questions about our attitudes as a community, in fact challenging “true” anarchist, who have historically been quick to criticize AM!, to disagree with what they are doing. A lyrical excerpt:
We can control the medium.
We can control the context of presentation.
Is there anybody on the receiving end?
Reaching out for some kind of connection.We can be the bands we want to hear.
We can define our own generation.
Is there anybody on the receiving end?
Are you ready to brave new directions.
Well then. If we keep this message in mind, this idea that rather than complaining about the state of modern contemporary music we should fix it, that is an absolute breath of fresh air for the anarchist movement. After “New Wave” challenges us to do rather than say, “Thrash Unreal” offers intelligent discussion on the modern perception of the good life, and “White People for Peace” questions both the sincerity and the tactics of the disgraceful remnants of the anti-war movement in this country.
With this in mind, I say openly and with complete sincerity, as an anarchist I am a fan of New Wave. The album expands our horizons, offers constructive criticism, and much like “12 Crass Songs” could serve as a gateway album leading those with “pedestrian” politics to objectively consider anarchism for the first time.
That said, I am not going to give AM! a pass on being sellouts. Last time I saw them live they didn’t even play “Baby, I’m an Anarchist”. Tom I know your art is important to you and it shows. I also understand that playing the same damn song night after night can get tiring. But it is THE Against Me! song. Seeing you live without hearing “Baby, I’m an Anarchist” is like seeing Lynyrd Skynyrd without hearing “Free Bird”. Suck it up and play for the fans!
(And yes, that was weak)
