Give me Cash for my CDs

Selling Some CDs to buy a new laptop, all for a fiver each except for the Circle one which has been used only once and is as good as the day I bought it (£7 quid):

Band Of Horses-Everything All The Time
Woody Guthrie-The Ultimate Collection
Woody Guthrie-The Legendary Woody Guthrie
Kayodot-Blue Lambency Downward
Inner City Sound- Australian Punk And Post-Punk : comp. with Birthday Party, *** *** etc. (also comes with ‘family tree’ diagram)
Don Caballero- World Class Listening Problem
Mclusky-Mcluskyism
Interpol-Antics
Oneida-The Wedding
Fairport Convention-Heyday (BBC recordings from the 68-69 era)
Mono-Under The Pipal Tree
Sigur Ros-Takk
Susumu Yokota-Magic Thread
Icarus-I tweet the birdy electric
Efterklang-Tripper
Circle-Tyrant
Hero of a hundred fights- The Cold
Spiritualized- songs in A&E
Richard and Linda Thompson- The End Of The Rainbow

mmm…accumulation of capital….

Therefore: Communism

These are spooky, weird paranoid eerie times. Since 9/11 the world has been topsy turvy- global warming has set in apace, oil and civil liberties have been running out and we face an uncertain future for the human race. In these darkest of times there is more need that ever for certainty, there is need for a pure, guiding vision for the human race. Well, help is at hand- time for glorious Marxist Historical Dialectics to shine once again.
By way of proof that all history is indeed invariably marching on the side of the great proletarian revolution I present you with a game ‘thought exercise’ called “Therefore: Communism”. Its super easy. Just take any famous quote or statement and add “Therefore: Communism” to the end of it. Take these examples and note how each of them makes much more sense in this glorious new context! Let the fun ‘reeducation’ begin!

“Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement, therefore: communism.” (C.S Lewis)

“My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness. Therefore: Communism”
(Dalai Lama)

“While I take inspiration from the past, like most Americans, I live for the future. Therefore: Communism”
(Ronald Reagan)

“Hence it comes about that all armed Prophets have been victorious, and all unarmed Prophets have been destroyed. Therefore: Communism”
(Niccolo Maochiavelli)

“And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country. Therefore: Communism”
(John F. Kennedy)

Yeah, I’m bored.

Footnote: this rather absurd thread was inspired by this http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4427&page=0 article on North Korea. Maybe not Communism, then.

V!H!S!

Hauntautological

An excellent chap by the name of Dave Bell recently posted this excellent blog entry on the general concept of ‘Hauntology’ and his comrade Eric’s moving tape recordings. This put me in the mood to write what will hopefully be a neat little post about one of my favourite objects:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmUdCfZSkEE

Most people who grew up in the National Curriculum probably have recorders as their earliest contact with a ‘proper’ musical instrument. The dominance of these instruments in that Arthur C. Clarke-Kubrick-2001-Zarathustra moment of subconscious-burning that is the first few coherent notes you produce on a musical instrument can’t be underestimated. This is the point at which one moves from the percussive agitations and expressions of the earliest years (think Fisher-Price keyboards and glockenspiels) in which one reacts to the sounds being made, to the understanding that music is something that reacts to you, and can be made by you. Perhaps its self-indulgent exceptionalism, but while I shared this affinity for Recorders, for me, it was always the Chord Organ, what was probably a Magnus Chord Organ that did it.

I used to play one of these in the loft of the last house my parents shared before they split up. I don’t remember much from that time, and indeed I didn’t remember the Organ brand specifically (I think it was a Magnus though). It didn’t make it to the new house, as far as I’m aware. I spent a long afternoon once when my mum was out the house poking around the new loft all the while missing the old, semi-refurbished sweet-musty loft in which i used to fiddle the keys. The loft itself has less relevancy than the organ itself.

The organ was old, dusty, with a 1970’s-style brown shell, labelled keys and the chord buttons stuck. The air pumped through the reeds came out with a delightful semi-mechanical oaky smell. The sort of smell that wine critics get ‘urges’ about. I used to fight my brother over who got to push the keys. His instrument-hogging days probably started here and continued right on through to this day. Plasticy, unreliable and dusty, but priceless.

Anyway, if I ever had an ounce of musical talent, I’d love to do a Rainbow in Curved Air style piece using these.

A Rainbow In Curved Air – Terry Riley

Perhaps incorporating some sounds and shapes accordingly, using some of the techniques of  voice/musical interplay found in Steve Reich’s Different Trains or Charles Spearin’s Happiness Project album.  I recently ran into a chord organ at the price of $60 CAD in a second-hand store in Ottawa. I’m still tempted to buy it. Obviously transporting this back to blighty is a no-go and its sad to be so close yet so far. Of course, were I to buy it, the experience would most likely be a pale shadow of what it once was.

Anyway, Dave’s comments about grandparents houses (spot on by the way) reminded me about other experiences many people share in terms of memory, but perhaps don’t discuss. Most of those in polite society don’t often talk about these things, and when we do its in a reserved or restricted way. While its all goes a bit Freudian here, the process of discussing the past, and the objects we associate with it,  is often a liberatory process, not just from ourselves, but from rootless opressive external forces as well. Call it ‘Hauntology’, or whatever you like, at them end of the day we need more of this to keep us all collectively sane.

Hi, How Are You?

So this is my new blog guys. I’m generally of two minds about blogs but I decided this would be a nice way of telling everyone what I’m up to without having to blah on at each one of you.