Word The Cat

CDr from a rave. label is sai-lent. tracks from 2007. osaka based producers. ggl shows a couple of local stores where you can buy.

RHy-s - on-2

one of the biggest group (self-)deceptions carried out by people who write and think about music is that there is something called progress that goes hand in hand with something else called innovation. this deception persuades people that a piece of music has some sort of objective value - the same trick is often used to persuade people to go into debt so they can own a plasma screen/blu-ray player/nuclear deterrant.

what this way of thinking conceals is that the only value a musical thing holds that can hope to be objective (by achieving some sort of effect external to the creator’s psychology) is its use value. this value does not lie in the thing itself, but in the use that is made of it.

the only use made of a lot of music is to keep journalists and other industry people in a job.

the imitation of this model by unwaged music writers (like me and possibly you) only serves to uphold it by giving it some sort of naturalised legitimacy.

this model also frequently ignores the idea that music which wasn’t made in the last 5 minutes can also do things to the listener (and be useful in other ways) that new releases reach for and fall short of.

anything you do has probably been done before, but this only matters if you put undue stress on having to do something new.

of course signifiers such as ‘ahead of their time’ and ‘lost genius’ can come into play here, but this only holds up if you think time is a) moving along a graph of increasing novelty b) something you can be lost from.

here is some new music and some old music (not in that order).

M:I:5 - untitled 8 (from ‘Maßstab 1:5′ released in 1997 and found via this useful place)

micoland - deeper than skin (from 2008. full free release here. _space)

the credits for the final part of the sarkozy and bruni story. Mr. Stelfox’s piece on a producer named Mosey also seems relevant.

grouper - invisible (hyperbole and end of year lists are rubbish. this track is from one of the least rubbish records i’ve heard this year)

Pattie Bligh - Brother The Point (2562 Remix) (samiyam remix on the flip)

kid606 - you can’t stop a stepper (new record out this week… space)

Letters Letters - In a Way (guitars whine thru montreal drum machines… space)

Gulewar II de banjul - Cheddo (superb gambian via aduna)

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can you tell which is the evil twin?

linkdumping… (dutch and related)

aura(-)theft goes to suriname and brings back a lot of information & images… and a very fine mix…

andy moor leads a discussion at mute magazine on world music, blogs, taxi distribution, konono no.1 and ethiopian music.

“The whole emphasis on the west stealing and looting the culture of africa seems to overlook the fact that the theft and influence always move in both directions, and what a great thing that is…”

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manele akon cover. as ever via manele fm. cuddly toys.
Minodora - Nimeni nu vrea sa fim impreuna

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ps

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vice versa. nobody wants to see us together. stone herons.
Ionut Cercel - Mai saruta-ma odata

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opening sequence: Carla in bed sleeping. a beam of sunlight across her closed eyes. she screws up her face then opens up her eyes. shot of a chandelier above the bed - the light from the bulb begins to fade as sunlight overtakes the room. shot of the window, curtains tugging in the breeze. Carla levers herself out of bed and leaves the room. In the corridor a tiredness comes upon her. she puts one hand to the wall to steady herself and opens her mouth to speak.

—-

opening credits (in silence):

a slow pan along a table covered in chiffon scarves. the figures on the price tags get progressively smaller as the camera pans along. pan up from the shop floor to the large glass storefront. the glass is tinted with images of male models smartly dressed each wearing a chiffon scarf variously around their head, around their neck or over their nose and mouth. a brick suddenly flies through the window towards the camera. the brick is tied to a live chicken. the trajectory of the brick brings it into contact with something revealed to be a tripod as the camera buckles and falls from its perch. with the camera now lying prone on the ground, the chicken hops around in front of shot as the remains of the store front snap and peel behind.

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Exterior, Daytime. a static shot of a golf course. we hear speech off camera. it gets louder as Nicolas enters shot. he is shirtless, wearing an LAPD baseball cap and deck shorts. he is accompanied by his son Jean, full of zeal. Jean wears a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up over pierre cardin suit trousers. The conversation comes into focus:

Nicolas: “… you see it really is a remarkable place - they call it the manhattan of the south, the jewel in Surrey’s crown”
Jean: “I see”
Nicolas: “The model may be imperfect, but I’m imperfect myself”
Jean: “… [phone rings] wait, I have a call”

A helicopter passes overhead, masking the sound of the conversation. Jean hangs up.

Jean: “Sorry papa, you were saying…”

they wander to the right, out of shot. the image left behind begins to be erased with pixels of the golf course being replaced by absent black space. first the grass disappears then the sky begins to darken.

—-

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sharp cut to Carla in her record company’s office. gold discs hang on the wall. the view from the window looks directly into another building which contains the same office with the same meeting taking place. Carla’s head rests at a disturbingly sharp 90 degree angle, her neck bent completely to one side. a bead of oil rund from her upturned ear down her neck and onto her chest. the CEO is talking. out of his mouth comes not his voice, but the audio track from Carla’s appearance on Later with Jools Holland… he speaks in Jools’ voice, then Carla’s. at the sound of her own voice Carla twitches. meanwhile, in the building opposite, the blinds are slowly lowering. when they have finished and the window is completely covered the blinds in this office (the office containing the camera) also begin to drop. as the same time as they are falling, the black pixellated absence begins to climb the window of the building opposite. it spreads horizontally. as the blinds in this office reach the halfway point of their descent the absence meets them and begins to spread to this window, moving upwards to the rail at the top of the window.

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commercial break.
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spam. there is an end in sight. is it a depression? no BailOut for WallStreet. recession proof. the future looks bleak. most trusted brand gives strong recovery. the light at the end of the tunnel may well be an oncoming train. (30 seconds)

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in favour of reality: a political message against fantasy and empire (this message brought to you by “Russian Brides” and “Meet Military Singles”) (60 seconds)
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new series of minder (5 metres)

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return to programming
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close up of nicolas and carla’s unnamed son. he opens his mouth. image flickers. fast montage:

screeninafieldlonggrassabirdshitsonthescreen.
fuzz.
overheadviewofcandlescamerashiftsinfocusaratintheforeground.s
acredheartbacklitlikeapictureofawaterfallinanindianrestaurant.alin
ediagramoraflowchartoriginatingverticallyfromasinglebox.davidbec
khamontopofablownopenlondonbusatthebeijingolympics.exteriorsh
otcameraswingsthroughtheairtoalightona10thfloorbalconyanunsee
nhandtakesdownthewhitecurtainsandreversesthemtoblack.interior
awoodensteamshackunderpaintedauroraceilingastuffedwolfturnssl
owlymouldyontheroof.redantsswellingonaforestfloor.darkinteriorac
reakofafloorboardapalefigureinfrontofshotturnsanxiously.twohands
holdingeachotheronabluecushion.calmoceanscapeundercloud.ther
earewarningsofgalesinsouthutsire.

—-
closing credits:

thank you for watching. there will be no second series.
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actual credits to follow