Ethics in red

Part of my occasional "Bands photographed from awkward angles whilst bathed in the colour red" series ...

The Ethical Debating Society: Power Lunches, London 23/10/14

Sturm und Drang, Noisepod #1 (Oct 2014)

Sometimes, just sometimes, one is in a troubled mood. A mental state of deep turmoil or pent-up tension. Then, as any weather-beaten soul will tell you, it's a fine line between grabbing your semi-automatic or reaching for some soothing music.

As ever, I recommend the latter. In fact, I say put down that Heckler & Koch and ... check out some Sturm und Drang.

1: Classhole, Full of hate 
2: PISS, Tight jeans 
3: The Love Below, Let them eat shit 
4: Eyehategod, New Orleans is the New Vietnam 
5: Death Pedals, Sharks vs Jets 
6: Death Grips, You might think he loves you for your money ... 
7: Attributable to human error 
8: Lot Lizard, Puddle 
9: Corrupt Moral Altar, Politics is a bargain between beggars 
10: Death Of London, This is Japan 
11: Withdrawal, Guardian angel 
12: Surf Nazis On Ecstasy, Masturbation vacation 
13: Cut you up 
14: My Therapist Says Hot Damn, Fuck yeah vodka!
15: Defeat, Sore of life 
16: Titz, あほぼんめ 
17: Left For Dead, Kept in line 
18: Good Throb, Mummy I'm ugly 
19: The voice of America 
20: Pharaoh, Spared 
21: YAITW, Psychopathy 
22: Pissed Jeans, Bathroom laughter 
23: Mass Grave, Compensation 
24: Henry Fonda, Mainstream media killed all my friends 
25: Empire Of Rats, Untitled 
26: Will have offended many people 
27: Street Cheetah, Heroin sunrise 
28: Hoax, Sick punk 
29: Voidhammer, First in line 
30: Divorce, Dissatisfaktionpaqued 
31: Homewrecker, Chained hanging victim 
32: Kill me 
33: No One Survives, Fuckin' pigs 
34: Dead Elephant, Stag party 
35: Weekend Nachos, Watch you suffer 
36: Heck Tate, Porcelain dogs 
37: The Ridiculous Trio, Not right

I told you punk wasn't dead ...

I ain't nothin' but an Elvis stencil

Much more competent, Podcast #110 (Sept 2014)

If you're a regular reader of these precious pages, you'll know that I champion the uncheered, boost the barely-mentioned and sensitively encourage the easily-overlooked. Oh yes I do. And part and parcel of this selfless service, this work on behalf of the community and for the public good, is that I celebrate amateurism. The half-baked is my favourite dish.

Yeah, yum yum. But if you reckon all my earlier podcasts have been ... er, unlistenable rubbish, fear not. Because, this one is much more competent.

1: Love King Michael Farsky USA, Dancing with the girl I love 
2: Eltron John, L’Homme à la caméra 
3: Why do politicians …? 
4: CKZ, Digital scratch 
5: John Henry Barbee, I heard my baby 
6: Aabzu, Perfect zombie 
7: Lord Snow, ? (Stuck On A Name Studios, Nottingham 27/9/14) 
8: Schemawound, The dogs of corporate America 
9: Hilliard Ensemble, Domine ne in furore tuo (De Lassus) 
10: Earl Sixteen, Cheating 
11: Much more competent 
12: Emily C Smith, Fight against you 
13: Kraus, Cardigan in cashmere 
14: The Non-Nonconformists, Oh no (Windmill, London 2/9/14) 
15: Elijah, Mount-Ziondom 
16: 808s And Greatest Hits, Vieille flame feat. a fantastic reprise 
17: Stine Janvin Motland, Late breakfast 
18: Neoroleptic, Antigona/Ismene variations 5 
19: Get infected and die 
20: Uncle Woody Sullender & Seamus Carter, Vanguard blues 
21: Dr Peabody, Derek Jarman in his garden (Windmill, London 2/9/14) 
22: King Imagine, Mivina 
23: Larry Marshall/Sound Dimension, Throw me corn (version) 
24: Homeshake, Noitatidem cimanyd (extract)

Joyriding: you are the passenger

Another animadversion on noise.

I was cruising through the industrial badlands of my old West Midlands hometown last night, the car stereo cranking out some as-loud-as-I-could-stand-it reggae, when ... I had the following thought.

Why is it that some people - people who like music or at least profess to - appear unable and unwilling to listen to music at loud volumes? It's something I've noticed with passengers in my car. It's always "Turn that down, will ya?", five seconds into the bloody journey. Er, right. Is it something about being in the confined space of a car with loud music? Is it MY music? Is it that they're desperate to have an in-depth conversation without the slightest distraction? What?

I dunno. I think I'd genuinely like to be a passenger in a car belting out some decent-ish music at loudish volume levels. Isn't this what car ownership is all about? Haven't these people ever listened to Jonathan Richman?  And ... thinking about it, I've noticed that one or two fairly regular occupants of my passenger seat DO groove (a little) to the in-car sounds and don't immediately start in with this frowsy "can we turn it down?" stuff. 

Hmm. I reckon it boils down to this: people who genuinely like music are happy (happier?) with it loud; people who don't really like music all that much (and maybe just masquerade as music types) don't. Kinda simple. 

According to Luigi Russolo, the Italian Futurist, so-called noise pollution is the "intolerable corruption of human space", and judging by the violent reaction to his intonarumori experiment, I guess he knew what he was talking about. The art of noise, eh? Despite my own occasional contact with intolerably loud live performances (one or two Neils Children gigs spring to mind), I continue to welcome ... er, acoustically-challenging music. 

Senti! Russolo preparing his in-car stereo, c1917

In the old saying, noise annoys, but actually people griping about the car stereo being too loud for them is my own pet annoyance. Think yourself lucky you're not in one of those window-shaking sound-systems-on-wheels I regularly hear (and feel) passing through my neighbourhood in east London. So next time you want a lift in my car, do the following. Put your seat-belt on, keep your mouth firmly closed, and ... feel the noise.

Classical music and other noises for dogs

Noise annoys, and all that, and, as this poor dog knows only too well, there's nothing worse than a badly-tuned violin ...

Anyway, here - in another place, with more decorous lighting and better toilet facilities - I harp on about the beauty of noise, not forgetting noise of a classical variety. Scrape, scrape, scrape ...