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Saturday, October 31, 2009

Nick Drake: A Skin Too Few

Nick Drake A Skin Too Few - The Days of Nick Drake documentary from Daniel Elias on Vimeo.

Nicholas Rodney "Nick" Drake (19 June 1948 – 25 November 1974) was an English singer-songwriter and musician best known for his haunting, acoustic, autumnal songs. His primary instrument was the guitar, although he was also proficient at piano, clarinet and saxophone. Although he failed to find a wide audience during his lifetime, Drake's work has grown increasingly more well-regarded, to the extent that he now ranks among the most influential English singer-songwriters of the last 50 years.

Drake signed to Island Records when he was 20 years old and released his debut album, Five Leaves Left, in 1969. By 1972, he had recorded two more albums—Bryter Layter and Pink Moon. None of the albums sold more than 5,000 copies on their initial release. His reluctance to perform live or be interviewed further contributed to his lack of commercial success. Despite this, he was able to gather a loyal group of fans who would champion his music. One such person was his manager, Joe Boyd, who had a clause put into his own contract with Island Records that ensured Drake's records would never go out of print.

He suffered from depression and insomnia throughout his life, and these topics were often reflected in his lyrics. Upon completion of his third album, 1972's Pink Moon, he withdrew from both live performance and recording, retreating to his parents' home in rural Warwickshire. On 25 November 1974, Drake died from an overdose of amitriptyline, a prescribed antidepressant; he was 26 years old.

There was residual interest in Drake's music through the mid-1970s, but it was not until the 1979 release of the retrospective album Fruit Tree that his back catalogue came to be reassessed. By the mid-1980s, Drake was being credited as an influence by such artists as Robert Smith and Peter Buck. In 1985, The Dream Academy reached the UK and US charts with "Life in a Northern Town", a song written for and dedicated to Drake. By the early 1990s, he had come to represent a certain type of 'doomed romantic' musician in the UK music press, and was frequently cited by artists including Kate Bush, Paul Weller, The Black Crowes, and Elliott Smith. Drake's first biography was written in 1997, and was followed in 1998 by the documentary film A Stranger Among Us. In 2000, Volkswagen featured the title track from Pink Moon in a television advertisement, and within a month Drake had sold more records than he had in the previous thirty years.

Tibet ཊིབེཏ་:'Graffiti & the City' Lhasa 2008

Will Oldham is Near God


Palace Brothers on MUZU.


Palace Brothers: You Will Miss Me When I Burn


I See a Darkness (Live)


I am Goodbye


Bonnie 'Prince' Billy "Beast For Thee" 6-14-04

matt | MySpace Video

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy "Beast For Thee"

Will Oldham, a.k.a. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy (born 24 December 1970 in Louisville, Kentucky), is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. From 1993 to 1997 he performed and recorded under variations of the Palace name, including the Palace Brothers, Palace Songs, and Palace Music.
Will Oldham is known for his "do-it-yourself punk aesthetic and blunt honesty,"[1] and his music has been likened to Americana, folk, roots, country, punk, and indie rock. He has been called an "Appalachian post-punk solipsist"[1], with a voice that has been described as "a fragile sort-of warble frittering around haunted melodies in the American folk or country tradition."[1]

Will Oldham first performed and recorded under various permutations of the Palace name, including Palace Brothers, Palace Songs, Palace Music, and simply Palace. Regarding the name changes during this period (1993-1997), Oldham said:
“ Well, I guess the idea is that when you have a name of a group or an artist, then you expect that the next record, if it has the same name, should be the same group of people playing on it. And I just thought we were making a different kind of record each time, with different people, and different themes, and different sounds. So I thought it was important to call it something different so that people would be aware of the differences.[2] ”

Beginning in 1998, Oldham has primarily used the moniker Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, which draws inspiration from several sources:

“Yeah, the name has so many different references that it could almost have a life of its own. Bonnie Prince Charlie has such a beautiful ring to it, and I was very conscious of appropriating that mellifluous sound. And I was also thinking about the name Nat King Cole. But it wasn't until later, and this may have been subconscious, that I remembered that Billy the Kid was William Bonney or Billy Bonney.”


Oldham has explained that "the primary purpose of the pseudonym is to allow both the audience and the performer to have a relationship with the performed that is valid and unbreakable."

Friday, October 30, 2009

The Block











A brief history of The Block in Redfern, Sydney, including a talk and rally and details of the ongoing struggle of indigenous people in the area.


The Block: Lives, Plans & Futures
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Thursday, October 29, 2009

The Magic Carpathians & Ula Stosio, Jan Kubek, Andrzej Widota


Part 1


Part 2

Anna Nacher Marek Styczyński - The Magic Carpathians & Ula Stosio, Jan Kubek, Andrzej Widota.
Music from - acousmatic psychogeography- & - sopatowiec session : gharana - 2009.

Deadly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Dance


Once a year, in Laura (Queensland Australia), some Aborigines and Torres Strait tribes from Cape York and beyond meet for 3 days of traditional music and dancing.

Yidinyji Aboriginal Dancers, Cairns region
Performance of Yidinyji men and boys, from the Cairns region. They carry the large wooden shields, typical of the rainforest Aboriginal groups of this region. In this dance the traditional making of fire is depicted; at the Laura Aboriginal Dance Festival, Cape York, in Far North Queensland, Australia.


This 1988 film shows some of the songs and dances of the Lardil people of Mornington Island and the Borroloola community. Of particular interest is the use of the overtone note in the didgeridoo accompaniment. The sugarbag (Wild Honey) dance with didgeridoo accompaniment is one of the more popular dances performed by Aboriginal groups in Queensland, NSW and Victoria today.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Tribal Voices campfire jamming - Sept '97



150 members of the Tribal Voices Collective gathered near Tiverton in September 1997 to record their songs. Here some of them are jamming around the campfire after dinner one evening.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Today has been R. L. Burnside Day at My Place



Been listening to the rough country blues of Mr R. L. Burnside all day.









R. L. Burnside (November 23, 1926 – September 1, 2005), born Robert Lee Burnside, was a North Mississippi hill country blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist who lived much of his life in and around Holly Springs, Mississippi. He played music for much of his life, but did not receive much attention until the early 1990s. In the latter half of the 1990s, Burnside repeatedly recorded with Jon Spencer, garnering crossover appeal and introducing his music to a new fanbase within the underground punk blues music scene.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

The smiths southbank show 1987



The Smiths & Morrissey documentary the rise and fall of the Manchester band The Smiths. (50 mins)

Alan Watts Animated, by South Park Creators


"I just want you to enjoy a point of view which I enjoy"

Alan Watts describing a view which he enjoys. Souther Parkers illustrating.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Fall on Your Sword


Shatner Of The Mount



Tangerine


Powerless Man


Captain Kirk has Taken too Much Acid

Fall on Your Sword

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara - Soul Science



Justin Adams and Juldeh Camera live at the 'Croft' in Bristol. filmed and edited by Tom Swindell.

Mulatu Astatke & The Heliocentrics LIVE



Red Bull Music Academy & Karen P's Broad Casting Presents...
MULATU ASTATKE & The Heliocentrics
Live from Cargo, London
17th April 2008
ulatu Astatke - Vibes and Percussion

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

9 by Shane Acker



9 is a computer animated short film by Shane Acker released in 2005 as a student project. Tim Burton saw the film and was so impressed by its artistic vision that he went on to produce an almost feature-length adaptation called 9 (2009), directed by Acker and distributed by Focus Features.

9 is a sentient rag doll who appears to be the last of his kind, living in the ruins of a decaying, post-apocalyptic Earth. He is first seen making simple constructs out of detritus - a swinging armature of scrap metal, an upright book with string tied around it, and a dummy rag doll full of tar, though the purpose behind these things is unclear.

Hunting 9 relentlessly is the Cat Beast, a mechanical monster wearing a cat's skull for a head. It appears to be guided by a small glowing talisman which it holds in its claws.

Sitting quietly, 9 stares into the mirrored surface of his own strange talisman and has a flashback...

Once he searched the ruins with 5, an older, grumpy, one-eyed rag doll. They gathered useful bits and pieces and stored them in the cloth linings of their own skin. With 9's help, 5 was able to salvage a lightbulb and operate it using pieces of wire. 5 gave the functional bulb to 9 for safe-keeping.

Almost immediately after, 5 drew the mirrored talisman from inside his chest. It glowed green, warning of danger. 5 gave the talisman to 9 then pushed him into cover. Extending a homemade folding spear, 5 stepped out to confront the threat. But the Cat Beast circled behind him and snatched him up with a metal pincer, shearing off his right arm. Though he struggled, 5 could not break free, and the Cat Beast sucked 5's soul out through his mouth using its talisman. Horrified, 9 escaped in panic, almost giving away his location to the Cat Beast by scraping the light bulb against a rock.

9 is woken from the memory by the warning green glow of the mirrored talisman. Taking the light bulb, which he has attached to the end of a staff, 9 flees into a ruined house. The Cat Beast follows and we see that it has not just taken the other rag dolls' souls: it also wears their numbered skins like a garment. The number 5 shows prominently on its back.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

i am Yoour Social Media Guru



This could offend you if your are either working as a social media consultant or are offended by course language.

Machinima Visual Sounds


Burning Life 08
A machinima featuring many of the artists work from Burning Life 08, the virtual equivalent of the Burning Man festival, which is held in Second Life every year. More information here : http://burninglife.secondlife.com/


The Born Again Pagans
Live performance of "The Born Again Pagans" filmed on October 8, 2009 in Second Life®

More info about The Born Again Pagans at http://www.myspace.com/thebornagainpagans

To find out more about Sound'r visit http://www.soundr.net

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Memories of Byron



In 1989 at the age of 20 I hitchhiked the 200kms to Byron Bay, Australia from my university town of Toowoomba.



I and my friend Ben were on our way to see Canned Heat. We had about sixty dollars between us and a bag of good dreams. We got to Byron Bay and spent the days hanging out in the park or on the beach. We discovered that the main members of Canned Heat were all dead (Wilson and Hite). As well tickets to see them were thirty dollars each. Way too much for us. So we slept in the park along with a group of art students from Brisbane (among others) and spent our days just hanging out in the street or on the beach. We met a German sitar player named Sangeet, who played in the street and lived in his station wagon. Hours were spent free listening to his drone and tones.

We ate once a day, a vegetarian burger from the same organic cafe at midday. We spent two weeks in Byron, until the money ran out and we hitched home. It was a turning point in my life, I am just not sure in which direction.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Sabar, African drums (Gambia)



Amazing drumming and dancing from Gambia in Stockholm.

Monday, October 12, 2009

MELVINS - A History Of Bad Men (Norway, 2007)



Light up and sit back. Gaia is screaming.

Friday, October 09, 2009

John Lee Hooker


Live 1965 At American Folk Blues Festival


John Lee Hooker - It Serves Me Right to Suffer


John Lee Hooker - Mercy Blues (1948)

John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an African American singer-songwriter and blues guitarist, born in Coahoma County near Clarksdale, Mississippi. Hooker began his life as the son of a sharecropper, Will Moore, and rose to prominence performing his own unique style of what was originally closest to Delta blues. He developed a half-spoken style that was his trademark. Though similar to the early Delta blues, his music was rhythmically free. John Lee Hooker could be said to embody his own unique genre of the blues, often incorporating the boogie-woogie piano style and a driving rhythm into his masterful and idiosyncratic blues guitar and singing. His best known songs include "Boogie Chillen" (1948) and "Boom Boom" (1962).

Hooker's life experiences were chronicled by several scholars and often read like a classic case study in the racism of the music industry, although he eventually rose to prominence with memorable songs and influence on a generation of musicians.

Monday, October 05, 2009

Derek Jarman - William Burroughs - Pirate Tape


1982, UK, 16 minutes, Color

Original soundtrack: Psychic TV

Cast: William S. Burroughs

Production: James Mackay

Originally filmed on Super 8, reprocessed 'skip frame' shots of William Burroughs in London are accompanied by a looped repetition of him uttering a single phrase. 

Mari Boine



Mari Boine, previously known as Mari Boine Persen, is a Norwegian Sami musician known for having added jazz and rock to the yoiks of her native people. Boine (born 8 November 1956 in Finnmark, Norway) grew up amid the Laestadian Christian movement as well as amidst discrimination against her people. She was asked to perform at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, but refused because she perceived the invitation as an attempt to bring a token minority to the ceremonies. Gula Gula (first released by Iđut, 1989, later re-released by Real World) was her breakthrough release, and she continued to record popular albums throughout the 1990s.



Thursday, October 01, 2009

Stone Roses


Begging You

Close your eyes and shake your head...its 1994 again and everything is alive. From the cells in your toenails to the faces in the sky.....


Live in Blackpool 1989.