“The Words That Maketh Murder” is the single from PJ Harvey’s new album Let England Shake which will be released on February 15. Of what I’ve heard of the album so far, this is sounding like Harvey’s best work in years. I do so want to love it.
Rough Trade has released “The Words That Maketh Murder” on 7 inch vinyl. Got a turntable? Get the single here.
Shot in New York City in 1986 by Dutch filmmaker Bram van Splunteren, Big Fun In The Big Town contains a motherlode of amazing footage of Schoolly-D, DMC, Grandmaster Flash, Biz Markie, Jam Master Jay and more.
Check out Doug E. Fresh beat-boxing Kraftwerk’s “Tour de France” on a Harlem street corner.
I look at the new rock ‘n rollers…it’s a shame what they did to it, and I hope that rap don’t go that same route – where they take the rawness away…just then make it too pretty! I don’t think rock ‘n roll was meant to be pretty. Rock was meant to be bad – just like rap” - Schoolly-D
In English with Danish Dutch subtitles.
This shit is golden.
A peek into the future of the Internet as featured on a mid-1960s episode of the BBC’s Tomorrow’s World.
“Every home will have its own terminal plugged into a central brain.”
Well, well, well, at long last the LA City Council has actually done something I can respect: On January 5th, they adjourned a meeting early in honor of the passing of Don Van Vliet, AKA Captain Beefheart and presented this certificate of (??) at the recent Beefheart symposium in Los Angeles.
I guess any excuse to get off early with that lot, but the sentiment is appreciated (and at least they weren’t at work further messing up the medical marijuana situation in the city!)
This track “Chance” by Joy Division popped up on You Tube today - it’s listed as an “Unofficial Release - from the Piccadilly Radio session 4th June 1979.” “Chance” is an early version of the song that would later become “Atmosphere”.
According to Shadowplay a website dedicated to all of Joy Division’s recordings, the lyrics to “Chance” vary from “Atmosphere”:
“Chance”
Walk in silence
Walk away in silence
See the danger - always danger
Endless talking - life rebuilding
Don’t walk away - face the dangerWalk in silence
Don’t walk away in silence
See the danger - always danger
Rules are broken - false emotions
Don’t walk awayPeople like you find it easy
Always in tune - walking on air
They’re hunting in packs
By the rivers, through the streets
It may happen soon
Then maybe you’ll care
Walk away
Walk away from danger
“Atmosphere”
Walk in silence
Don’t walk away in silence
See the danger - always danger
Endless talking - life rebuilding
Don’t walk awayWalk in silence
Don’t turn away in silence
Your confusion - my illusion
Worn like a mask of self-hate
Confronts and then dies
[or on the Effenaar live version:
Corrupts and then dies]
Don’t walk awayPeople like you find it easy
Naked to see - walking on air
Hunting by the rivers
Through the streets, every corner
Abandoned too soon
Set down with due care
Don’t walk away - in silence
Don’t walk away
The Piccadilly Radio also version has the following additional words:
I’m - I’m just crossing the line - just crossing the line
Trying to get back - right where I was
Back where I was - see me crossing the line
Don’t walk away—
Peter Hook allegedly claimed “Atmosphere” was Joy Division’s best song, not surprising then that it was voted the Greatest Song of the Millennium by listeners to the late and lamented John Peel’s BBC radio show.
Bonus clips of ‘Atmosphere’ and ‘Digital’ after the jump…
No comment…
Rep. Darrell Issa, the ultra-conservative Republican congressman from California who will lead the House’s investigations of the Obama administration, has pledged to do whatever he can to obstruct, distract or embarrass the President, because he can. Darrell Issa is the same multi-millionaire politician who bankrolled the successful effort to recall former California governor Gray Davis back in 2003. Sadly for the un-charismatic Issa, who spent a cool million on the recall campaign, Arnold Schwarzenegger stepped in and cock-blocked him. Cold.
Although it was obvious to everyone that Schwarzenegger had caused Issa to drop out of the race, Issa nevertheless strenuously (and unconvincingly) denied this while ceding his dream to become the governor to the former body builder and movie star. At the press conference announcing his decision to withdraw, the foolish looking Issa cried like a little girl. It’s the kind of appearance that’s hard to live down in the age of YouTube (see below!)
Californians have long known of Darrell Issa’s questionable past. When he first ran for office in 1997, there were reports of things like Issa firing someone with a gun, multiple accusations of car theft and allegations that he burned down his business after upping his insurance premiums. Issa denied the allegation of arson and blamed the thefts on his brother who served time in jail while Issa went on to make millions (he’s the richest man in Congress, worth $250 million) from “The Viper” car alarm. (Sweet irony, huh? It’s even Issa’s own voice saying “Please step away from the car.”)
Now that he’s attained a higher rank of sleazy prominence as the new witchfinder general of the GOP, the rest of the country needs to take a closer look at Darrell Issa. This article from The New Yorker is a great place to start:
Issa didn’t even win the Republican primary. Although he outspent his main opponent, Matt Fong, the state treasurer, by some nine million dollars, he lost by five points. His campaign fell apart after a burst of investigative reporting raised serious questions about his honesty and his past. Many politicians have committed indiscretions in earlier years: maybe they had an affair or hired an illegal immigrant as a nanny. Issa, it turned out, had, among other things, been indicted for stealing a car, arrested for carrying a concealed weapon, and accused by former associates of burning down a building.
In May of 1998, Lance Williams, of the San Francisco Examiner, reported that Issa had not always received the “highest possible” ratings in the Army. In fact, at one point he “received unsatisfactory conduct and efficiency ratings and was transferred to a supply depot.” Williams also discovered that Issa didn’t provide security for Nixon at the 1971 World Series, because Nixon didn’t attend any of the games.
A member of Issa’s Army unit, Jay Bergey, told Williams that his most vivid recollection of the young Issa was that in December, 1971, Issa stole his car, a yellow Dodge Charger. “I confronted Issa,” Bergey said in 1998. “I got in his face and threatened to kill him, and magically my car reappeared the next day, abandoned on the turnpike.”
What reason other than money—and lots and lots of it could explain how a creep like Darrell Issa came to have such an outsized influence over American politics?
Read more: Don’t Look Back: Darrell Issa, the congressman about to make life more difficult for President Obama, has had some troubles of his own (The New Yorker)
Top Ten Darrell Issa “Hall of Shame” Moments (Daily Kos)
Below, Darrell Issa crying his eyes out at a press conference in 2003 announcing that he was pulling out of the governor’s race after spending more than a million dollars of his own money (but it had nothing to do with Arnold, yeah right, you big crybaby) Tears start at approx. 7:30:
Thank you Michael Backes of Los Angeles, California!
In terms of political philosophy, reggae has leaned largely towards Marcus Garvey, Paul Bogle, Malcolm X and the Black Panthers. Here are a couple of exceptions, salutes to the man who we celebrate today in the U.S.
First, “Martin Luther King” by Max Romeo from Reconstruction, his 1979 follow up to his landmark album War Ina Babylon.
Here’s “Martin Luther King”, one of the tracks on studio wizard Scientist’s 1983 album International Heroes Dub with the Forces of Music band. Other track titles include “George Jackson”, “Ho Chi Minh”, “Malcolm X” and “Desmond Tutu”...
This has to be one of the most frightening things I’ve seen on the Internet in quite some time. Make it stop!
(via TDW)
In 1978, at a time after the end of the Sex Pistols, but before Public Image Ltd. was formed, John Lydon gave an actual friendly interview to Janet Street-Porter. Cheerful, not at all rotten Mr. Lydon—seen here looking even more Dickensian than usual in a top hat he says he purchased at Disneyland—discusses how he’d like to see Malcolm McClaren dead, how he made no money whatsoever from the Sex Pistols and he touches ever so briefly on his recent trip to Jamaica, where he’d been scouting reggae talent (and meeting some musical heroes) for Richard Branson’s Virgin Records.
Lydon also reminds us that tickets for the USA Sex Pistols tour cost two bucks!
I echo the sentiment of my friend and label-mate, Shannon Fields when he asks, “Will one of my Japanese friends please tell me what this is all about and what Jim is doing? Thanks!”
O’Rourke is one of the most consistently interesting and talented composers of the last few decades and it’s inspiring to see the way he’s constantly learning and branching into potentially uncomfortable new creative situations. Check out the fluent Japanese on this guy !
With thanks to Shannon Fields