2003 March blog

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2003, Mar 31; 11:12
  • Queer Pulp: Perverted Passions from the Golden Age of the Paperback - Susan Stryker [book, Amazon US]
    This pair of paeans to the paperback offers two diverse focuses, with some crossover. Culture historian Lupoff's heavily illustrated account traces the paperback's roots to the 1800s but focuses primarily on the era from 1920 onward, with emphasis on the many players who took the penny dreadful and morphed it into a legitimate publishing form to create empires. Stryker, executive director of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society in San Francisco, focuses on the tawdry side of paperback publishing, which in some cases was an extension of the pornography trade tailored for the reading middle class. Though some of these pulp books were penned by serious scribes trying to elevate writings with a homosexual focus into a legitimate art form, most failed to get beyond the sleazy cheap thrills for which they were intended. Many of the trashier ones e.g., Hot Pants Homo, Lesbo Lodge were so bad that they have become kitschy collector's items. Both volumes are profusely illustrated with loads of covers from the sublime to the ridiculous, making them quite browsable. Libraries needing a straight (no pun intended) history of paperback publishing should consider Lupoff's title, strangely available as a pricey hardcover, while those serving gay communities will do well with Stryker. Michael Rogers, "Library Journal" --Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc. [...]
    2003, Mar 27; 12:03
  • Bizarre [MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTION] [Magazine, Amazon US]
    Bizarre is "A Magazine About Life in the Extreme". I've been a subscriber to this British publication for over 2 years (as of this writing). ... About Bizarre: Articles about porn, weird news, murders, drug culture, conspiracies, strange television, music/book/film reviews, pop culture, cults, etc. Stuff mainstream media usually doesn't touch. It helps to be somewhat familiar with British culture, as this magazine is written in the UK, but if you're not, it shouldn't detract from your enjoyment. The magazine is worth the price, as it's a thick publication, with many articles and pictures. Although I love this magazine, I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars, as I've had probs with my magazines' delivery. As in, I failed to recieve some issues. ... --giasine for amazon.com [...]
    2003, Mar 27; 11:36
  • Everybody Dance: Remixed Dance Classics - Rhino [CD, Amazon US]
    1. Good Times [A Touch of Jazz Mix] - Chic Listen Listen 2. Rapper's Delight [The TKC Old School Future Remix] - The Sugarhill Gang Listen Listen 3. Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah) [Pal Joey Mix] - Chic Listen Listen 4. Could It Be I'm Falling in Love [Henry Street Mix] - The Spinners Listen Listen 5. He's the Greatest Dancer [Brutal Bill Mix] - Sister Sledge Listen Listen 6. I Want Your Love [Stonebridge Mix] - Chic 7. Owner of a Lonely Heart [Todd Terry Mix] - Yes 8. Runaway Love [MAW Mix] - Linda Clifford 9. Weekend [Tommy Musto Mix] - Phreek 10. Respect [One Rascal Mix] - Aretha Franklin 11. Everbody Dance [Hardhouse Mix] - Chic 12. Rock Steady [Arif's Classic Mix] - Aretha Franklin Disc: 2 1. Funky Sensation [MAW Mix] - Gwen McCrae 2. Night the Lights Went Out [Black Science NY Story, Pt. 1] - The Trammps 3. Soul Makossa [Johnick Mix] - Manu Dibango 4. Can You Move [Def Mix] - Modern Romance 5. We Are Family [Marley's Tribute to Larry Levan Mix] - Sister Sledge 6. You Are in My System [Tee's Freeze Mix] - The System 7. I'll Be Around [Simp-House Mix] - The Spinners 8. Thinking of You [Ramp Mix] - Sister Sledge 9. Just a Touch of Love [MAW Mix] - Slave 10. Twlight Zone/Twlight Zone [Nevco Rascal Mix] - Manhattan Transfer 11. Hi-Jack [Johnick Mix] - Herbie Mann 12. Sometimes [Todd Terry Mix] - Max Q
    2003, Mar 27; 11:27
  • Original Chicago House Classics - Various Artists [CD, Amazon US]
    1. Your Love - Frankie Knuckles 2. Can You Feel It - Mr Fingers 3. Love Cant Turn Around - Farley Jackmaster Funk Ft Darryl Pan 4. Do It Properly - Adonis 5. Move Your Body - Marshall Jefferson 6. Promised Land - Joe Smooth 7. Baby Wants To Ride - Frankie Knuckles W Jamie Principle 8. You Used To Hold Me - Ralphi Rosario Ft Xavier Gold 9. House Nation - The House Master Boyz And The Rude Boy Of Hou 10. Pump Up London - Mr Lee 11. Cant Get Enough - Liz Torres 12. Bring Down The Walls - Robert Owens
    Full title, 'Original Chicago House Classics'. UK compilation featuring full length 12 inch mixes from the godfathers of house. 12 tracks from the groundbreaking Trax label, 'Your Love' Frankie Knuckles, 'Can You Feel It' Mr. Fingers, 'Love Can't Turn Around' Farley 'Jackamster' Funk & Darryl Pandy, 'Do It Properly' Adonis, 'Move Your Body' Jefferson, Marshall, 'Promised Land' Joe Smooth, 'Baby Wants To Ride' Frankie Knuckles & Jamie Principle, 'You Used To Hold Me' Rosario, Ralphi & Xavier Gold, 'House Nation' House Master Boyz & Rude Boy Of House, 'Pump Up London' Mr. Lee, 'Can't Get Enough' Torres, Liz & 'Bring Down The Walls' Owens, Robert. 2002. [...]
    2003, Mar 26; 10:00
  • Scarlet Diva (2000) - Asia Argento [1 DVD, Amazon US]
    Not since Marlene Dietrich (of Blue Angel) has a woman come on the silver screen with such raw sexuality. As Lola Lola, Dietrich used men to for her own advancement and amusement; today, as woman have have made tremendous social advances, they are using themselves for their own amusement, such as Anna Battista in Scarlet Diva. If Asia Argento is course in XXX, she is an anarchist in Scarlet Diva, less of an autobiography, more of an example of 21st century voyeurism. Asia has taken all the tricks learned from her father, Dario, and using them to create a slice of life look at an actress trying to figure out what she wants -- blah, blah, blah. No one wants that type of insight about Scarlet Diva. Possible viewers just want to know if it is as sexual as the the poster teases. Oh, yes. The movie is sexual and brutal. This ain't American Pie, where sex is a nice package one can buy at Wal-mart. Sex in Scarlet Diva is shown for its many facets -- as a way to kill time, to punish, to rape, or to connect. Viewers of Scarlet Diva will be f***ed. Some will claim to have been raped but others will thank Asia for the ride. --Mark Griffin for imdb.com [...]
    2003, Mar 26; 10:00
  • Deviant: The Shocking True Story of the Original "Psycho" - Harold Schechter [1 book, Amazon US]
    Harold Schechter is a historian: he takes old files and yellowed newspaper clippings, and brings their stories to life. Deviant is about everyone's favorite ghoul, Ed Gein--whose crimes inspired the writers of Psycho, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and The Silence of the Lambs. Schechter deftly evokes the small-town 1950s Wisconsin setting--not pretty farms and cheese factories, but infertile soil and a bleak, hardscrabble existence. The details of Gein's "death house" are perhaps well known by now, but the murderer's quietly crazy, almost gentle personality comes forth in this book as never before. As Gary Kadet wrote, in The Boston Book Review, "Schechter is a dogged researcher [who backs up] every bizarre detail and curious twist in this and his other books ... More importantly, he nimbly avoids miring his writing and our reading with minutiae or researched overstatement, which means that although he can occasionally be dry, he is never boring." Also recommended: Schechter's books about Albert Fish (Deranged) and Herman Mudgett a.k.a. Dr. H. H. Holmes (Depraved). --Amazon.com [...]
    2003, Mar 26; 09:44
  • A History of News - Mitchell Stephens [1 book, Amazon US]
    First there was the spoken word, the long-distance runner, and later the wall posters of ancient Rome and China. Here is an investigation of the human need to gather and spread news, proving that the hunger for news and sensationalism wasn't born with modern technology. --Ingram via amazon.com
    Once you read this book, everything that the news media do will become clear to you. It turns out that, other than minor differences in grammar and presentation, the actual writing and distribution of news hasn't changed since the earliest days of news.
    Telling example, from the book: arguably, the very first newspaper dates back to ancient Rome, where scribes copied it onto the back of the minutes of Senate meetings that were going to the various officals outside the city. Other than the mandatory government notices, what were the three "departments" of "Annals of the City of Rome"? Crime, sports, and celebrities.
    Stephens gives example after example from over two thousand years of journalism to demonstrate what we mean when we call something "news," and why journalists write it up the way they do. The writing is a bit dry, and there were times when I was ready to concede his point but he kept hammering us with more examples, but it is seriously worth it to read this book.
    If you want to understand the news that you read, and understand why and how it got to you looking like it does, you must read _A History of News_. (And then, while you're at it, go on to Noam Chomsky's _Manufacturing Consent_.) --a reader for amazon.com [...]
    2003, Mar 25; 14:56
  • Complete Crumb: Mr Sixties - Robert Crumb [1 book, Amazon US]
    The review above says this is not Crumb's best stuff, and not to buy anything from "This Publisher." This makes NO SENSE, because Fantagraphics is publishing THE COMPLETE WORKS of ROBERT CRUMB, in order, from his early years right up to the present. Crumb supervises each release and writes the introductions to each volume. Furthermore, Fantagraphics is one of the best publishers of quality comix in the world.
    If you like R. Crumb, this collection is pretty much the best you can get. Unless you just want a "greatest hits" which is fine to. In any case, Volume 4 is my favorite collection, but there is quality stuff in each one. The review above is sort of akin to someone blasting the Riverside Shakespeare because it includes stuff like Pericles or The Two Noble Kinsman. It's the COMPLETE WORKS, guy! It contains the BEST and the WORST, but everyone will disagree about which is which. --The Great Unknown for amazon.com [...]
    2003, Mar 25; 14:20
  • The Nikopol Trilogy - Enki Bilal [1 book, Amazon US]
    The Nikopol Trilogy brings together three previously published volumes Carnival of Mortals, Woman Trap and Cold Equator all impressive works of imagination meticulously written, drawn and colored by European comics artist Bilal. It's the year 2023 and Alcide Nikopol has been revived from a state of suspended animation after 30 years orbiting Earth. In the meantime, the planet has suffered two nuclear wars, and France is ruled by the ruthless dictator J.F. Choublanc. The immortal gods of Egyptian antiquity have also reawakened to revive their rule over humanity, and they now hover above the crumbling technopolis of Paris in a massive stone pyramid/airship. Horus, the renegade falcon god, takes possession of Nikopol's body, rendering him immortal, and concocts a conspiracy to overthrow the Choublanc regime. When Nikopol cracks under the pressure of Horus's possession, he is reduced to muttering the poetry of Baudelaire while he wanders the halls of a mental hospital. "Woman Trap" picks up two years later in a war-torn London. Blue-haired news correspondent Jill Bioskop dispatches stories 30 years into the past using a device called a scriptwriter, while she takes pills to eradicate the bloody memories of men she has murdered. In "Cold Equator" the story is further complicated as Nikopol's son boards a train bound for Equator City, an African metropolis afflicted with a freezing micro-climate of minus-six degrees, but surrounded by desert and surrealistically populated by sub-Saharan wildlife. Intricate plot twists and stunning color artwork mark this work as both an extraordinary comics literary achievement and a crackling good story. --Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc. via amazon.com [...]
    2003, Mar 25; 13:54
  • Emmanuelle, Bianca and Venus in Furs - Guido Crepax [1 book, Amazon US]
    This hardcover volume is the definitive collection of Guido Crepax's erotic comics. The inventive page layouts and the expressive line work are beautifully reproduced on high quality, glossy paper. There's so much wonderful material here it might even be too much of a good thing...Crepax overload. Be sure to check out the companion "O" volume, both are top-notch productions. On Taschen [...]
    2003, Mar 25; 13:39
  • The Headphone Masterpiece (2002) - Cody Chesnutt [1 book, Amazon US]
    When you put the word "masterpiece" in the title of your debut double CD, you'd damn well better be able to back it up. Thankfully, Cody Chesnutt has the goods. This precocious, sex-obsessed, spaced-out, spiritual singer is practically bursting at the seams with talent and ideas. With The Headphone Masterpiece, he delivers a homemade, lo-fi stew made of smooth funk, forceful rock, and gritty hip-hop, all topped off by the sweet-crooning voice of a great soul singer. Across 36 tracks, Chesnutt invites you into his psyche, and it's a unique journey to say the least, wending as it does from the weightiest of spiritual concerns to that morning's hard-on. So is it a masterpiece? Well, not quite. Even Mr. Chesnutt must believe that he's got better music still in him. But The Headphone Masterpiece is an ambitious opening salvo from an artist who may well take his place in the celebrated lineage that extends from Hendrix and Sly Stone through George Clinton, Prince, D'Angelo, and so on. Once he learns to harness his surging electricity, Chesnutt may offer us a true masterpiece--or even a few of them. --Marc Greilsamer for amazon.com
    2003, Mar 25; 11:25
  • Pictures: Robert Mapplethorpe - Robert Mapplethorpe [1 book, Amazon US]
    Mapplethorpe, whose name is now synonymous with controversy, was renowned for his refined aesthetic and his willingness to confront taboos. In contrast to his classical portraits, nudes, and still lifes, his sex photographs and the reactions they engendered have been much discussed but less frequently seen. Edited and designed by Levas, this compilation of images (made between 1976 and 1980) showcases 103 beautifully reproduced duotone plates and demonstrates Mapplethorpe's intimate, personal vision of homosexuality and fetishism. Interview editor Ingrid Sischy provides a brief introductory essay that concisely contextualizes the work, explaining that while they may be shocking the photos are not pornographic. "Explicit pictures of homosexual sex don't make up a huge proportion of his work, but they are its underbelly." This handsome book is a welcome addition to the 100 books and articles listed in its bibliography, offering valuable documentation of an important artist. Highly recommended for specialized collections. --James E. Van Buskirk, San Francisco P.L. Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information, Inc via amazon.com [...]
    2003, Mar 25; 11:08
  • Gaetano Pesce - Michael Webb [1book, Amazon US]
    Continuing to put great classic and contemporary design within everyone’s grasp, Chronicle Books proudly delivers the next four installments of the popular Compact Design Portfolio. Written by top design critics, these books cover modern masters whose work ranges from the cozily domestic to the aggressively avant-garde: Eva Zeisel, whose elegantly democratic housewares span a 70-year career; Ingo Maurer, who raises lamp and lighting design to a high art form; Gaetano Pesce, whose rejection of traditional good taste brought about revolutionary furniture design; and George Nelson, the impresario behind the Marshmallow sofa and other Herman Miller classics. Follow-ing the introductory essay, a visual gallery exhibits selections of the designers’ best work in photographs and sketches. Presented in an irresistible small format, this series encapsulates the life, work, and influence of the great designers of our time. --amazon book description [...]
    2003, Mar 25; 10:29
  • Domus [MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTION] [Magazine, Amazon US]
    Always hungry for new information, I once spent an entire year going to the library in the evening, after work, to read back issues of the Italian Domus Magazine. This is how I discovered many a great designer and the Clinica Barraquer (a hospital with a dark and moody art deco interior) in Barcelona. The website to Domus magazine is for registered users only. Unfortunately they ask way too much personal information so I decided against subscribing. The magazine itself does not come cheap, but if you can afford it you will be in for a monthly visual treat. www.domusweb.it [...]
    2003, Mar 24; 20:48
  • The Malleus Maleficarum of Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger [1 book, Amazon US]
    It is somewhat ironic that of all Summer's works, his translation of the Malleus Maleficarum would become what he is most famous for. Most people who would call themselves occultists in our time would, also ironically, like to see every last copy burned. What fascinates me is not only the fact that the book's survival is now ensured, but that Summers goes to great lengths to actually defend the book and the Inquisition in his 1948 introduction. It is possible that he chooses his translation's second printing for this because that by 1948, the Malleus was no longer history's most infamous book. As to the actual content set down by Kramer and Sprenger, it provides a most interesting look into the minds of fifteenth-century biblical scholars-- and at the time these were considered two of the best. The text, though fascinating, often seems to be endless, but one must understand that this was the style of the time. Though it is doubtful that an actual witch (a better word would be "malefactor") was ever punished with this book's help, it remains a wonderful look into history and I for one am glad it will be around for future generations. --abaddonvsm for amazon.com [...]
    2003, Mar 24; 09:36
  • Miami Sound: Rare Funk & Soul From Miami - Various Artists [1 CD, Amazon US]
    1. Funkadelic Sound - Little Beaver 2. Cramp Your Style - All The People 3. Funky Cat - James Knight 4. I Get Lifted - George McRae 5. Funky Me - Timmy Thomas 6. Save Me - James Knight 7. 90% Of Me Is You - Gwen McRae 8. I Love The Way You Love - Little Beaver 9. A Woman Will Do No Wrong - Helene Smith 10. Somebody Took My Baby - Joey Gilmore 11. Cadillac Annie - Clarence Reid 12. You Got To Be A Man - Frank Williams 13. Fantasy World - James Knight 14. Don't Make The Good Girls - Della Humphrey 15. Do It To Me One More Time - Joey Gilmore 16. You Got To Be A Man - Helene Smith 17. Spanish Flyer - Frank Williams
    Soul Jazz Records new release features rare and classic Funk and Soul from Miami, Florida. These tracks are from 1968-1974 and feature some of the classic tracks from Miami artists Gwen McRae, Timmy Thomas, Little Beaver alongside super-rare tracks from less well known artists such as James Knight and The Butlers, Helene Smith and Clarence Reid (also known as the adult comedy artist Blowfly!). Many of these tracks have been unavailable for over 30 years! The album also includes sleevenotes and original photos.
    2003, Mar 23; 14:21
    http://www.resonancefm.com
    Resonance104.4fm is London's first radio art station, brought to you by London Musicians' Collective. It started broadcasting on May 1st 2002. Its brief? To provide a radical alternative to the universal formulae of mainstream broadcasting. It features programmes made by musicians, artists and critics who represent the diversity of London's arts scenes, with regular contributions from Billy Jenkins, Savage Pencil, John Bisset, Mike Barnes, Matthew Glammore, Peter Cusack, Caroline Kraabel, Clive Graham, Viv Corringham, Chris Cutler, David Quantick, Art Terry, Dave Mandl, Magz Hall, Harmon E. Phraisyar, Paul Hood, These Records, Dave Draper, Reg Hall, and the Kosmische Club; special guests including Faust, John Sinclair, Santiago Sierra, Throbbing Gristle, Gavin Turk, Iroqim Theatre Co., Stanley Chapman, Shirley Collins and The Magic Band; plus numerous unique broadcasts by artists on the weekday "Clear Spot".
    2003, Mar 23; 12:30
  • Undercurrents: The Hidden Wiring of Modern Music by the Wire [1book, Amazon US]
    In a series of essays by some of the best music writers of our time, Undercurrents identifies the key concepts and underlying themes that have been hardwired into the modern era's most radical musics, ever since Thomas Edison invented the record player. The phonograph, electronics, chance operations, Futurism, Surrealism, the civil rights movement, noise, alternative tuning systems and market forces have all redrawn the map of contemporary sound. Undercurrents tracks these seismic shifts across a wide range of music including modern composition, free jazz, experimental rock and pop, Industrial, ethnic music, Techno and electronica, and looks at the extraordinary innovations and invented instruments that have passed into obscurity.
    Many of the essays in the book first appeared as a series in The Wire magazine, which since 1982 has bypassed the music mainstream in search of the most innovative, uncompromising and compelling sounds from all genres across the world. As music listeners have grown increasingly eclectic and adventurous in their tastes, The Wire has emerged as the most authoritative source on modern music. [...]
    2003, Mar 23; 12:20
  • The Wire [1 magazine, Amazon US]
    The Wire is the definitive source for infomation and thought regarding experimental, avant garde, or forward thinking music. My eyes and ears have been opened. The Wire has helped my musical tastes and knowledge evolve exponentially in the past 3 years. I consider the Wire to be akin to a scholarly journal...it's much more than you're average glossy Americanized-advertisment filled rags. This publication is a well needed antidote to today's profit driven, corporate controlled media garbage that we are constantly bombarded with. I know of nowhere else where Sun Ra, the Boredoms, Cannibal Ox, Miles Davis, Sonic Youth, the Grateful Dead, and Venetian Snares can peacefully co-exist with Kid 606, Merzbow, Albert Ayler, Tom Waits, John Cage, Autechre, and Bjork. I highly reccomend this magazine to anyone with discriminating tastses and intelligence. Well-written, and often including excellent CD's that you'll actually want to listen to, The Wire is definately worth the elevated import price, and a true journalistic treasure. --Matthew Jaworski for amazon.com
    The Wire Magazine first appeared on news stands in 1982 and over the last 20 years it has developed from a quarterly fanzine specializing in avant garde jazz and modern composition into an award-winning and widely influential monthly that covers a vast array of underground, experimental and alternative music and culture. [...]
    2003, Mar 21; 19:38
  • Go Go Goraguer - Alain Goraguer [1CD, Amazon US]
    Alain Goraguer is famous for his arrangements on the greatest albums of Serge Gainsbourg, but Goraguer was also an outstanding jazz pianist in the French tradition (Urteger, Arvanitas, Legrand...). This 24-bit remastered digipak features 16 tracks including 'Darn That Dream', 'It's Easy To Remember' & 'What Is This Thing Called Love'. --Album Description from amazon.com
    In France, Alain Goraguer is mostly known for beeing the arranger for writer Boris Vian's recordings,and also for some of french singer's Serge Gainsbourg early sessions.This reissue of a Philips LP,recorded in Paris,1956, gives us the opportunity to discover a fantastic jazz artist.Alain Goraguer is backed by two great french musicians of the fifties,bassist Paul Rovère and drummer Christian Garros,a master of brushes.They mostly play standards,a couple of french songs and two riginals by Goraguer. Until I bought this CD,some hours ago,I only knew Goraguer as a good arranger; he worked for the great writer and jazz critic Boris Vian,when Boris decided to sing his own compositions;he worked for Serge Gainsbourg,and also for Jacques Brel,and wrote the music for several movies.But I discovered that he was an amazing jazz piano player.His way of playing standards is completely original;and even if some influences appear sometimes (Garner,Powell,Wilson...),he's got his own writing,his own style,and this record is a very important record of jazz piano. You'll meet one of the great jazz artists from France.Too bad he didn't record much more as a jazz pianist ! If you love piano trio settings, this record will be a treasure for you.You'll meet a new voice,a player who could have been one of the top jazz artists . --JEAN-MARIE JUIF for amazon.com [...]
    2003, Mar 21; 19:26
  • Fantastic Planet (1973) - René Laloux [1DVD, Amazon US]
    Based on French science fiction novelist Stefan Wul's Oms en Serie ("Oms by the Dozen"), René Laloux's La Planète Sauvage (its title changed to Fantastic Planet for the U.S. release) paints an animated tale of humans kept as domesticated pets by an alien race of blue humanoid giants called Traags. The story takes place on the Traags' planet Ygam, where we follow our narrator, an Om called Terr, from infancy to adulthood, when he escapes his subjugation with a Traag learning device with which to educate the savage Oms and incite them to revolt. As a French-Czech [Roland Topor] coproduction, this story had much resonance for its makers as an allegory of Czechoslovakia's invasion by Soviet troops in the late '60s, and had to be completed in Paris due to political pressure. While the story does not distinguish itself in the annals of science fiction, the imagination invested in the surreal backdrops, with its eerie creatures and landscapes, does. The animation technique--moving paper cutouts across backgrounds--contributes to the overall feeling of other-worldliness. Fantastic Planet won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival in 1973. Included on the DVD are three early short subjects by Laloux showing his evolution toward Fantastic Planet. You have your choice of audio: French with English subtitles, or English with English subtitles. But choose the latter so you can see how much the subtitles are cheating you. --Jim Gay for amazon.com [Soundtrack is by Alain Goraguer, frequent collaborator of Serge Gainsbourg and the movie was produced by Roger Corman] ----Jim Gay for amazon.com [...]
    2003, Mar 21; 11:54
  • Neurotica: The Darkest Art of J.K. Potter - J. K. Potter, Lydia Lunch (Introduction) [1 book, Amazon US]
    A woman's belly becomes a mouth, protruding a tongue that becomes a shark. A toothy demon named Gropius manhandles a breast. Zoomorphic, liquescent distortions of naked human flesh. This is the world of J. K. Potter, whose eerie black-and-white photomontages have illustrated tales by H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Ramsey Campbell, Dennis Etchison and many other writers of the macabre. Neurotica is a gorgeous 128-page collection of the darkest of Potter's work, including several portraits of performance artist Lydia Lunch and a striking semi-nude/nude series of writer Poppy Z. Brite. Afterword by Potter describes his "low-tech garage artist" techniques. [...]
    2003, Mar 21; 09:28
    Yesterday was Lee Scratch Perry's birthday. He turned 67. [...]
    2003, Mar 20; 11:39
  • Bettie Page: Bondage Queen (1998)[1 DVD, Amazon US]
    "...Cult Epics presents on DVD the complete volumes of the bondage, fetish and cat-fight films featuring Betty Page and other glamour girls." Betty Page first became popular in the 1950's when magazine store owner Irving Klaw began selling photos of pin-up girls for 5 cents each. Before long, certain patrons began requesting cheesecake and bondage photos. It was then that Irving Klaw started his studio, using models like Bettie Page, and burlesque dancers like Baby Lake, Tempest Storm, Blaze Starr, and of course Lili St. Cyr. After being accused of being a pornographer by the government, Klaw burned over 80% of his collection. "...Betty Page, famous for her pin up modeling appeared in these bondage short films. These unique classics are the first film sources of today's fetish and SM scene and appear nowadays surreal, tender and joyful." Excellent source of images for any serious collector of Betty Page or historical erotica. --Tony Crosgrey for amazon.com [...]
    2003, Mar 20; 10:44
  • Smile ID: Fashion and Style: the Best from 20 Years of ID (Taschen) - Terry Jones [1 book, Amazon US]
    The year 2000 marks issue 200 and year 20 for i-D magazine. What better way to celebrate than make a book? As founder and editor-in-chief Terry Jones writes, "A cross between a menu and a diary, Smile i-D maps the magazine's journey beyond the veneer of regular fashion." Now that most of us consider i-D a household name, it's interesting to be reminded that 20 years ago, street fashion was a nascent concept. Finding music and street culture more interesting than the traditional fashion world, Terry Jones abandoned his post as Art Director at British Vogue in 1977 to embark on a journey that has revolutionized not only the world of fashion magazines, but arguably fashion itself.
    Blending fashion and social documentation, early issues of i-D (major collector items now) were 40 pages stapled together which sold for 50p. Journalistic in spirit and revolutionary in form, the magazine sought to show the world the gritty, real side of fashion as seen in the streets of London- kilts, mohawks, safety pins and all. When newsagents hesitated to sell i-D because of finger injuries resulting from the staples, early supporters helped by selling issues from the trunk of a Cadillac. Lots of teamwork and innovation brought i-D to the forefront of contemporary fashion culture and today it can be found at newsstands practically everywhere on the globe (minus the staples).
    Smile i-D incorporates a single spread from each issue of the magazine thus far. Watch out for the stars who appeared here before the rest of the world even knew who they were. And don't forget to check out the Madonna cover from issue 14: why is the mole on the wrong side of her face? You'll have to read the book to find out. --Book Description [...] [...]
    2003, Mar 20; 10:44
  • Out of Nowhere (2000) - Jimi Tenor [1 CD, Amazon US]
    Out of Nowhere is the fifth album from Finland's most flamboyant export, Jimi Tenor. Fans of Tenor's sleazy/easy electro cabaret (imagine Soft Cell crossed with Frank Sinatra) won't be disappointed by this latest offering, but they may be perplexed at first. Jimi has undergone a conversion; he has discovered orchestras. The album opens with a return to Tenor's more experimentally inclined roots, a four-minute pastiche of contemporary composers, including Ligeti. John Barry this ain't; "Hypnotic Drugstore" even wheels out a sitar for some exotic fusion funk. Luckily, it also contains one of Tenor's bona fide top-class pop tunes. There are plenty more--the gruff, broody groove of "Blood on Borscht," the avant-disco of "Spell," the dreamy sound of "Better Than Ever"--all graced and enhanced with Tenor's new-found adventurous orchestral toy. This is clearly an accomplished album, Tenor's best yet. --Amazon.co.uk
    2003, Mar 19; 22:36
  • Punky Reggae Party: New Wave Jamaica 1975-1980 - Various Artists [1 CD, Amazon US]
    1. Milk and Honey - Lucy Lizzard 2. White Belly Rat - Lee "Scratch" Perry 3. Up Park Camp - John Holt 4. Mr. Cop - Gregory Isaacs 5. Natural Mystic - Bob Marley & The Wailers 6. Cool Rasta - The Heptones 7. Sons of Slaves - Junior Delgado 8. Key of Keys 9. Rockers (Nuh Crackers) - Glen Washington 10. (Under) Heavy Manners - Prince Far I 11. African Dub - Silvertones 12. Three Piece Suit and Thing 13. Uptown Top Ranking - Althea and Donna 14. Hand Cuff (Hey Mr. Babylon) - Gregory Isaacs 15. Tell the Youths the Truth - Jimmy Riley 16. Danger in Your Eyes - The Mighty Diamonds 17. City Too Hot - Lee "Scratch" Perry 18. I Love Marijuana - Linval Thompson 19. Slum (In Dub) Disc: 2 1. Man Next Door - Dennis Brown 2. Marcus Say 3. People Got to Know - Sugar Minott 4. Barber Saloon - Mikey Dread 5. Cross Over - Junior Murvin 6. Lightning and Thunder - Bim Sherman 7. You're No Good - Ken Booth 8. Kingston 12 Tuffie - The Morwells 9. Born Free - Black Uhuru 10. Pope Paul Dead and Gone 11. Liquid Horns - Vin Gordon 12. My Mission Is Impossible - The Viceroys 13. Babylon Wrong - Ashanti Waugh 14. Neckodeemus - The Congos 15. Raiders - Junior Delgado 16. Rob and Gone - Barrington Levy 17. Throne of Blood - Prince Jammy 18. Mr. C.I.D. - Barry Brown 19. Money in My Pocket [12" Mix] - Dennis Brown
    Trojan was the original cool ruler of British reggae labels. In 1967, founders Chris Blackwell and Lee Gopthal began to license the then-exotic dance tunes from visionary Jamaican producers Duke Reid and Coxsone Dodd. Eventually, all of the island's key producers came on board, notably Lee "Scratch" Perry during his close collaboration with Bob Marley and the Wailers. The label went on to introduce Jamaican music to a generation of white British fans, helping to set the foundation for punk rock's embrace of reggae in the Seventies and Eighties. Now a reissue label, Trojan has switched to theme collections that offer lesser-known material in two-CD sets and budget-priced CD boxes [...]--Rollingstone.com [...]
    2003, Mar 18; 14:12
  • Best of Bizarre - Eric Kroll [1 book, Amazon US]
    This book is a compilation of historical "Bizarre" magazine black & white photos and sketches of fetish women in various attire. The body type is always the same stylized extreme hourglass, large conical breasts, a tiny waist and round (rear). I was expecting something a little more diverse, given the title, and didn't know that in this case "Bizarre" was more of a title of a source magazine than a description of the book's contents.
    In some of the sketches you can see the form become so stylized that the arms are not even bound behind, but removed, and sometimes the shoes and hands have the same shape. You can see that the R. Crumb the cartoonist may have read these magazines, and took it to a new extreme.
    To me the pictures are endless slight variations on a theme, in other words in the first pages interesting, but in the end, boring. You really have to be a fan of this style to do more than flip through the book. --ripcode for amazon.com [...]
    2003, Mar 18; 14:12
  • Joseph Beuys: Mapping the Legacy - Gene Ray [1 book, Amazon US]
    This is an excellent book out of the 12 I've consulted for my final year dissertation, when I ordered if from Amazon I was torn between this one and the Adriana "felt hat: A life told" but the costumer reviews put me off. Having read Adrianas "JB the art of cooking" from the library, buying this book from editor Gene Ray was certainly the best way to go. The book is similar to, but more accessible than, the Critique of Beuys from the tate series. It contains however, the vital "Twilight of the Idols" by benjamin Buchloh which, if nothing else reveals some of the misconceptions and horrors that beuys provoked...but it offers another article by Buchloh, written 20 years later that acts almost as a retraction. the presentation and the much needed balance of argument makes this book an absolute must for anyone, from any level of understanding to purchase. A great, essential read on Joseph Beuys. --francesca cambridge for amazon.com [...]
    2003, Mar 18; 13:56
  • Dada: Art and Anti-Art - Hans Richter [1 book, Amazon US]
    "Where and how Dada began is almost as difficult to determine as Homer's birthplace," writes Hans Richter, who was associated with the movement from its early days. Here, through selections from key manifestos and other documents of the time, he records Dada's history, from its beginnings in wartime Zurich to its collapse in the Paris of the 1920s. Dada led on from Expressionism, Cubism, and Futurism, and in turn prepared the way for Surrealism. It was enlivened by bizarre and extravagant personalities, notably Tristan Tzara, Francis Picabia, Hans Arp, Kurt Schwitters, Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, and Man Ray, whose contributions are fully discussed. The spirit of Dada reappeared in the 1960s in movements such as Pop Art, which are surveyed in the final section. --amazon.com
    The late Hans Richter was well known as both a painter, a filmmaker, and sire of the Dada movementborn in Zurich around the time of the First World War. Here, through selections from key manifestos and other documents of the time, is Dada's history, including its "death" in the 1920s and reincarnation during the '60s. Hans Richter died in 1976. 179 illus. 8 in color. --Ingram [...]
    2003, Mar 18; 13:43
  • Ascension - Glenn Branca [1 CD, Amazon US]
    This album dates from 1981 but time has been and will continue to be very kind to it I believe. A bass player, a drummer and four electric guitarists have loosely/tightly constructed 5 instrumental tone poems. The first three seem provincial, like quaint by-products of living in harsh New York City at the time. They are telling of things like the evolution of rock music, the stock market, period angst and spiritual bankruptcy of NYC, etc. But it is the last two of the five, which comprised the original 99 Records LP second side, that grant the real reward and go beyond the branding of "culture", a feat accomplished only by masterpieces. Track four "Light Field [In Consonance]" and five "The Ascension" describe an important destination and the arc of its journey there. They are unmistakable to any person who has ever suffered in trying to grow. Light Field is a glimpse of that promised land to come, which smiles with the light of six suns, so turn it up real loud! "The Ascension" describes a path of time that can be imagined and re-imagined over and over again. This travelogue can be given one of a variety of new names every time. A few suggestions: the birth canal saga, the crucifixion, the midlife death, the transmigration of soul, an overview of the 14th century, or, the walk to the store to get bread. These final tracks are exceptionally ecstatic musical objects, suitable for aesthetic contemplation but better for deep personal catharsis. By combining multiple guitars in chiefly major keys, Branca creates a sonority that had never been heard before, and rarely heard since. In the fever of spiritual climax, this sound feels like a thousand church bells dissolving all matter into clear light; the entire idea of studio vanishes. It may sound merely like six guys trying to get symphonic in the early auditions. But given time, the code of soul truth slowly emerges, and this truth feels nourishing, all too true, all too real, an accurate metaphor for how hard it is to grow, to advance in a human body, at just about any point of passage. It transcends NYC and steps into the kind of holy land that is reached only by certain practitioners of Indian classical music and certain composers of large choral oratorios. Sound over the top? Check it out, the possibilities are endless. Compact, efficient, plastic and enduring. --Yves Latorte for amazon.com [...]
    2003, Mar 18; 13:09
  • Fluxus - Thomas Kellein [1 book, Amazon US]
    This magazine-sized volume on the nature of the group Fluxus, termed a "catalog," contains two essays by recognized experts and 189 selected works illustrating 145 international neo-Dada intermedia objects, boxes, editions, artistic happenings, and musical performances orchestrated by Fluxus's founding father, George Maciunas. From his 1961 founding of the group until his death in 1978, Maciunas conceived of this variable international association as a drastic alternative to crass, materialistic "high art" and the fame afforded egocentric artists. Everybody was declared his or her own artist, and works were developed and disseminated through exhibitions, publications, mass-produced objects, "products," paper or boxed editions of cheap Fluxus items, photos, and films. Ironically, perhaps, many widely recognized artists did emerge from Fluxus (e.g., Yoko Ono, John Lennon, Nam June Paik), but none could match the "complex genius" of organizer Maciunas, who was "driven by a utopian vision of a new art and a new society." Recommended for larger contemporary art collections, especially for the bibliography.--From Library Journal Copyright 1995 Cahners Business Information, Inc [...]
    2003, Mar 17; 20:26
  • Angry Women in Rock - Andrea Juno [1 CD, Amazon US]
    This book takes off where Gillian Garr's 1992 She's A Rebel leaves off, and is a perfect companion volume for that great book. It features interviews (that read like thoughtful essays) with Joan Jett, Kathleen Hanna (Bikini Kill), Valerie Agnew (7 Year Bitch), Lois Maffeo, Naomi Yang (Galaxie 500), Kendra Smith, Phranc, Candice Pederson (K Records), Bettina Richards, Chrissie Hynde, and June Millington (Fanny, the "Godmothers of Womyn's Rock"). --amazon.com [...]
    2003, Mar 17; 18:48
  • International Affairs (2003) - Vikter Duplaix [1 CD, Amazon US]
    After putting together one of the most critically well-recieved mix CDs a year ago (no small feat in this DJ-saturated time), Philly-based producer Vikter Duplaix steps out from behind the mixing console and takes to the microphone...and the guitar, the drum set, the electric piano and the cool little egg-shaped percussion shakers. You could tell from Duplaix's "DJ Kicks" mix that his interests were diverse and decidedly world-wide in flavor, and his debut full-length record doesn't pull any punches in an attempt to sell more units. The album is daring and brave, and easily the R&B record to beat this year so far, just not for all the static, traditional reasons.
    Labeling "International Affairs" as an R&B record is problematic. Sure, there's plenty of soul here and the guy has worked with more than enough R&B acts to build cement his reputation as a great funk accessorizer. But once you actually play the thing? From the first sixty seconds you know that you're in for something just a touch out of left field. The first track - the aptly titled "Departure" - is an African drum rhythm with African singing on top that goes on long enough to make you wonder if you bought the right CD. This is only compounded by the primarily house track that follows, "What We Want", which certainly doesn't sell the CD since it's not one of the album's strongest tracks either.
    By track 3 ("Lust For Life") the electro-funk really kicks in, Duplaix figures you've passed the intiation, and we're getting the album we expected. He's not the best singer in the world but it's not like listening to a Babyface record, where you can picture just about anybody else singing the songs because you know the cat's primarily a producer. It's more like listening to a Sade record: sure, you can name better singers than the Queen of Sorrow all day, but NOBODY ELSE has any business singing those songs but Sade. These tracks are all Vikter's and the boy's got skills enough to know where his limits are and hit the right notes when it's important to do so, letting the music speak for itself for the most part.
    I'm shocked that, with his lyrical content so firmly fixated on the subject of love, that there's only one hardcore ballad on here and it isn't the strongest track (the okay "Late Night Rendezvous"). The middle of the album soars and while it still bounces a little from genre to genre, his flavor is still set dead center in the work. --Scott Woods for amazon.com [...]
    2003, Mar 17; 18:42
  • The Baffler Magazine #15: Civilization with a Krag [1 Magazine, Amazon US]
    In this Issue, Baffler content providers ponder what happens when the mundane things of everyday life-dolls, sports, restaurants, pop music, museums-are given over to the "concept" people to make really big. The results are quintissentially American, and include visits to the Super Bowl, American Girl Place, an Objectivists-owned haute-cuisine joint, and Frank Gehry's McGuggenheim. --amazon.com
    2003, Mar 17; 18:39
  • Mastercuts Urban (2003) - Various Artists [1 CD, Amazon US]
    1. Gravel pit - Wu Tang Clan 2. Ante up - MOP 3. OST - People Under The Stairs 4. Oochie wally - Nas 5. Pass the Courvoisier - Busta Rhymes 6. Ms Jackson - Outkast 7. Smash somethin' - Adam F & Redman 8. Worst comes to worst - Dilated Peoples & Guru 9. Code of the streets (Kenny Dope mix) - Gang Starr 10. Give it up - Jay Dee (1) 11. Thelonius - Slum Village 12. Touch me tease me - Case & Foxy Brown 13. Music - Sermon, Erick & Marvin Gaye 14. Eye to eye - Amp Fiddler 15. Doo wop (That thing) - Hill, Lauryn 16. Rose is till a rose - Franklin, Aretha 17. Right here - SWV 18. Wish I didn't miss you - Stone, Angie 19. Testin' me - Everett, Peven 20. You know what's up - Jones, Donell & Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes 21. Deja vu (Uptown baby) - Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz 22. Body movin' - Beastie Boys 23. Bad boy for life - P. Diddy & Black Rob/Mark Curry 24. Brighter day (DJ Spinna remix) - Jordan, Ronny & Mos Def 25. Witness - Roots Manuva 26. Kik off - Blak Twang 27. 93 till infinity - Souls Of Mischief 28. Get yourself up (Pete Rock mix) - KRS-One 29. Amongst the madness - Nextmen 30. Good girl gone bad - Herbaliser & Wildflower 31. All I ask (DJ Spinna remix) - Rae & Christian 32. Creep - TLC (1) 33. Getting in the way - Scott, Jill 34. Brown sugar - D'Angelo
    2003, Mar 17; 18:33
  • Edits By Mr K (2003) - Danny Krivit [1 CD, Amazon US]
    Classic club tracks galore -- all remixed by the godlike hands of the legendary Danny Krivit! Danny was part of the New York scene back in the day, and he was around in the clubs working when most of these gems first came out -- and was also forward-thinking enough to figure out the art of remixing when few others were giving it a try -- taking already-great tracks, and opening them up even more with a fantastic approach to space and rhythm! This set's a stunning collection of his best work in the remix department, and presents 10 gems from the glory days of the disco dancefloor -- all served up with a great set of notes that features photos, details on the mixes, and some very interesting reflections from Danny. An essential set -- both for the novice and the longtime collector of such rarities -- with remixes of "Catch The Rhythm" by Caress, "Where Is The Love" by Betty Wright, "Love To The World" by LTD, "You Got Me Runnin (Breakdown edit)" by Lenny Williams, "Dance To The Music (medley)" by Sly & The Family Stone, "Give Me Your Love" by The Sisters Love, "I Can't Stop Talking" by Genie Brown, "Koke" by Tribe, "Bra" by Cymande, "Ask Me (re worked)" by Ecstasy Passion & Pain, and "No One Gets The Prise (re-edited Jimmy Simpson rmx)" by Diana Ross.--dustygroove.com [...]
    2003, Mar 17; 18:21
  • Re-Release - Ananda Project [1 CD, Amazon US]
    Previously only available in Japan, 'Re-Release' is a masterfully remixed version of their debut album, featuring remixes by 'Lil' Louie Vega, Blaze, King Britt, Kyoto Jazz Massive and more. King Street Records. [...]
    2003, Mar 17; 08:51
  • Chapel Road (Kapellekensbaan) - Louis Paul Boon [1 book, Amazon US]
    A complex but very rewarding book. There are 3 story lines, all at different times in history, but all set in the same part of Flanders, in Belgium, and all portraying a similar image of injustice and despair. Although they may seem unrelated, the attentive reader will soon discover the links. It is one of the most important books of contemporary Belgian Flemish literature. However, readers who dislike modernist may want to stay clear of this one. Personally, I do not care much for modernist fiction, but for Louis Paul Boon I am willing to make a big exception, as this is an exceptionally warm and at times humerous book --This text refers to the Paperback edition. --A reader from Cairo, Egypt for amazon.com [...]
    2003, Mar 17; 08:35
  • T.A.Z. the Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism - Hakim Bey [1 book, Amazon US]
    "Chaos never died," declares this collection of post-postmodern "broadsheets of ontological anarchism." "They lied to you, sold you ideas of good and evil, gave you distrust of your body and shame for your prophethood of chaos, invented words of disgust for your molecular love, mesmerized you with inattention, bored you with civilization and all its usurious emotions." Hakim Bey's calls for a response rooted in "poetic terrorism" are definitely not for the philosophically staid or squeamish, advocating "black magic as revolutionary action" and "a congress of weird religions." But his elaboration of the idea of the Temporary Autonomous Zone, intentional communities that live outside the law, offers a captivating notion of hedonist radicalism for the eve of the 21st century. T.A.Z. is provocative, at times obscene, but it also proves that the avant-garde can entertain as well as challenge. --Ron Hogan for amazon.com
    2003, Mar 16; 12:11
  • Folktronic (2001) - Momus [1 CD, Amazon US]
    Whatever goes on in music, whichever genres rise and fall, you can always rely on Momus to be there in the background, cackling madly and intriguing/annoying the world with his latest collision of sounds. Having played the intense folk-merchant and the shabby traditional troubadour, this laconic and challenging New York-based Scot (real name Nicholas Currie) has turned to electronica for Folktronic. But, being Momus and fancying himself as a "minor god of mockery," he chooses to mix this shiny new form with the centuries-old tunes and rhythms of America, Ireland, and his native Scotland, as well as the dockside shanties and vaudevillian choruses of his early career. The result is a strange collage that's sometimes silly, often hilarious, and usually interesting. The opening "Appalachia" sees him dreaming of his "electronic mountain girl" over pattering percussion, sampled banjo, and tacky, Stylophone-style organ, while "Mountain Music" is a pointed and lyrical essay on the origins of U.S. folk set to a weirdly subdued hoedown. Throughout, Currie proves himself (once again) to be a witty social commentator and an able comedian, his insights allowing us to forget the music's occasional descent into cheesy Frank Sidebottom territory. --Dominic Wills for Amazon.com
    2003, Mar 16; 10:56
  • The Neverending Story - Michael Ende [1 book, Amazon US]
    When I asked one of my German friends about their classical literature, she pointed me to "Die unendliche Geschichte" by Michael Ende. First of all, I would recommend anyone fluent in German to read "The Neverending Story" in its original German version. The story revolves around a young boy, Bastian, who feels himself an outcast of the real world. He steals a book -- surprise, surprise -- called "The Neverending Story." What Bastian discovers is a land created through the power of imagination and fantasy. To save Fantasia from destruction by the Nothing, Bastian must enter the world of his own fantasy. The price of creation, however, is high. For each wish grants Fantasia new life and takes from Bastian his memories of reality. Bastian is reluctant to seek a way back home but must travel through Fantasia in search of the Child Empress. Along the way, Bastian must learn to bridge the gap between reality and Fantasia or risk losing all of his memories forever. Only by bridging this gap is Bastian able to make reality and Fantasia fit for human compassion, dreams, and hope. Humanity is indeed defined by man's ability to perceive with idealism and practicality. --Henry B. Odom IV for amazon.com
    2003, Mar 16; 09:35
  • Ecofascism: Lessons from the German Experience - Janet Biehl [1 book, Amazon US]
    From the introduction: "For many...people, it may come as a surprise to learn that the history of ecological politics has not always been inherently and necessarily progressive and benign. In fact, ecological ideas have a history of being distorted and placed in the service of highly regressive ends--even of fascism itself." This theme is discussed in the two essays presented here: "Fascist Ideology: The Green Wing of the Nazi Party and its Historical Antecedents" and "Ecology and the Modernization of Fascism in the German Ultra-Right." Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or. [...]
    2003, Mar 16; 09:09
  • The Murray Bookchin Reader - Murray Bookchin [1 book, Amazon US]
    Murray Bookchin was born in New York City on January 14, 1921, to immigrant parents who had been active in the Russian revolutionary movement in tsarist times. Very early in the 1930s he entered the Communist youth movement--first the Young Pioneers, then the Young Communist League--but by the late 1930s became disillusioned with its authoritarian character. Deeply involved in organizing activities around the Spanish Civil War (he was too young to participate directly), he drifted away from the Communists in 1937 because of their counterrevolutionary role in Spain and the Moscow trials. After the Stalin-Hitler pact of September 1939, he was formally expelled from the Young Communist League for "Trotskyist-anarchist deviations." As a young man he worked as a foundryman and became active in union organizing in northern New Jersey (a heavily industrialized area at that time) for the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). He was sympathetic to and active with the American Trotskyists, but several years after Trotsky's death in 1940, he became increasingly disappointed by their traditional Bolshevist authoritarianism. http://www.social-ecology.org/about/faculty/bookchin.html [...]
    2003, Mar 14; 09:48
  • Vengo (2000)- Various Artists [1 CD, Amazon FR]
    1. A Mi Nina Rosa Alba(Tomatito) 2. Naci En Alamo (Radio Edit)(Pisa Remedios Silva) 3. Arrinconamela(Gritos De Guerra) 4. Calle Del Aire(La Caita) 5. Techno Del Rey (Instrumental) 6. Flamenco Soufi(Tomatito;Sheik Al Tuni) 7. Buleria(Gritos De Guerra) 8. Apparition(Groupe Jose) 9. Lloro Por Tokyo (A Capella)(Coneja Maria La) 10. El Moro(Gritos De Guerra;Erguner Kudsi) 11. Madad (Chant Soufi)(Sheik Al Tuni) 12. Chant Du Baptème (Buleria)(La Paquera De Jerez) 13. L'arbre Du Duende(Bobote) 14. Chant De La Douleur (Seguiriya)(La Paquera De Jerez) 15. Sawwah(Benhmad Mostafa) 16. Mecanique Garage (Instrumental) 17. Naci En Alamo(Pisa Remedios Silva) [...]
    2003, Mar 13; 11:49
  • Chaos: Making a New Science (1987) - James Gleick [1 book, Amazon US]
    Few writers distinguish themselves by their ability to write about complicated, even obscure topics clearly and engagingly. James Gleick, a former science writer for the New York Times, resides in this exclusive category. In Chaos, he takes on the job of depicting the first years of the study of chaos--the seemingly random patterns that characterize many natural phenomena.
    This is not a purely technical book. Instead, it focuses as much on the scientists studying chaos as on the chaos itself. In the pages of Gleick's book, the reader meets dozens of extraordinary and eccentric people. For instance, Mitchell Feigenbaum, who constructed and regulated his life by a 26-hour clock and watched his waking hours come in and out of phase with those of his coworkers at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
    As for chaos itself, Gleick does an outstanding job of explaining the thought processes and investigative techniques that researchers bring to bear on chaos problems. Rather than attempt to explain Julia sets, Lorenz attractors, and the Mandelbrot Set with gigantically complicated equations, Chaos relies on sketches, photographs, and Gleick's wonderful descriptive prose. --From Book News, Inc, amazon.com [...]
    2003, Mar 12; 21:12
    Have a look at an Ebay.com feature I discovered. When this 6 line piece of code is inserted into your webpage, it displays a selection of ebay listings of a particular ebay category. The categories can be easily changed manually and the list can be sorted on 4 different criteria. One of the nicer applets I know of. [...]
    2003, Mar 12; 19:37
  • Best of Sourcelab (2003) - Various Artists [1 CD, Amazon US]
    1. Espece Funk - DJ Gilb'r 2. Modulor Mix - Air 3. Nuphunk - Daphreephunkateerz 4. Bad Vibes - Motor Bass 5. Ecouter Fumer - La Chatte Rouge 6. Mandrake - Alex Gopher 7. Hunt One Connection - Main Basse Sur La Ville 8. Musique (Long Version) - Daft Punk Disc: 2 1. Gordini Mix - Alex Gopher 2. Casanova 70 (Brendan Lynch Remix) - Air 3. Mondorama - Chateau Flight 4. Power Sandwich - I Cube 5. Post It - Scratch Pet Land 6. Jean-Jacques Et Les Dauphins - Le Tone 7. Sunshine - Mozesli 8. Paris Acid City - Black Strobe
    Classics from 1995 to 1997 from Air, Alex Gopher, Daft Punk, I Cube, Black Strobe and more. Gatefold sleeve. Astralwerks. 2002.
    2003, Mar 12; 19:37
  • Sourcelab, Vol. 1 - Various Artists [1 CD, Amazon US]
    This perticular Source Lab collection is their best; It goes through from slow Raggae dubs to a trip-hop style, some D&B and a little funky house. If you are familiar with the othe Source compilations, this one has more organic samples rather then digitized to become unrecognizable. There are songs on here that will definately make a mix tape every time. Cheers! --copper_tone for amazon.com
    2003, Mar 11; 11:55
  • The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959) - Ornette Coleman [1 CD, Amazon US]
    On this highly influential 1959 album, Ornette Coleman's unique writing style and idiosyncratic solo language forever changed the jazz landscape. On classics such as "Lonely Woman," "Congeniality," and "Focus on Sanity," Coleman used the tunes' moods and melodic contours, rather than their chords, as a basis for his improvisations. In so doing, he opened up jazz soloing immensely and ushered in new freedoms--both individually and collectively. Lest these innovations sound too dry or abstract, it must be noted that both Coleman and trumpeter Don Cherry play with a deep-felt emotion and joy that is as infectious today as it was then. This is truly an essential jazz recording, marking the end of one era, providing the blueprint for the next. --Wally Shoup for amazon.com [...]
    2003, Mar 11; 09:02
  • Re/Search #4/5 : W.S. Burroughs, Brion Gysin, Throbbing Gristle - V. Vale [1 book, Amazon US]
    The W.S. Burroughs photo in this issue was the late Dr. Timothy's favorite of Bill Burroughs--the great one with the gun in his hand. This alone is worth the price. Great photo, especially with the interview of Burroughs and the part about the murder of wife Joan in Mexico City. "There are no accidents" Burroughs liked to say all the rest of his life, after the 'accidental' shooting of Joan. -- a reader for amazon.com [...]

    "Interviews with pioneering cut-up artists William S. Burroughs, Brion Gysin and Throbbing Gristle . . . proposes a ground-breaking, radical cultural agenda for the '80s and '90s." -- Jon Savage, London Observer


    2003, Mar 10; 21:34
  • Eros in Hell: Sex, Blood & Madness in Japanese Cinema (Creation Cinema Collection Vol. 9) - Jack Hunter [1 book, Amazon US]
    An illustrated guide to Japanese exploitation cinema. Profusely illustrated with over 200 explicit and rare photographs, Eros in Hell comprises a unique guide to the most prolific, fascinating and controversial underground/ alternative cinema in the world. --Book Description

    This is a highly distressing book. For as much information as the reader discovers, the sense of lacking mounts, creating more questions than this book has means, or intent, to answer. It is best to think of Eros in Hell as a primer for the reader interested in getting a taste of extremism in Japanese cinema. The high points of the book include the chapter on Koji Wakamatsu and the "underground" films of Shinya Tsukamoto, Shojin Fukui, et. al. Meanwhile, the rest of the book founders under the weight of excessive footnotes¹, goofy interviews of Japanese filmmakers by Parisian photographer Romain Slocombe² and a pedantic chapter covering the minutia of Nagisa Oshima's AI NO CORRIDA (IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES).
    For readers with more than a passing interest in the Japanese New Wave Cinema, I recommend picking up David Desser's Eros plus Massacre (named after Yoshishige Yoshida's film). Hampered by its aggressively wide scope and passive acceptance of misogyny, Eros in Hell does a terrific job of stressing the need for a comprehensive look at the radical reaches of Japanese Cinema. (ISBN: 1871592933)
    ¹ All of the footnotes in Eros in Hell would work much better if integrated into the text.
    ² Slocombe is best known for his photographs of Asian girls in bandages and, apparently, he feels a need to bring up his fetish with everyone to whom he speaks. -- impossiblefunky for amazon.com [...]


    2003, Mar 10; 20:39
  • Laure: The Collected Writings - Jeanine Herman [1 book, Amazon US]
    Laure's writings which were previously only available in French (pub 1977) are now gathered in this spellbinding volume. Her sickly life and early death (aged 35) make for dark, tightly written meditations on mortality, life and love. her love affair with writer Georges Bataille makes for compelling reading as her desperation at being sick with TB makes her cling to him more. The biographical sketch also sheds light on a key unrecognised figure in the Paris / Surrealism 30s scene. This was a charismatic woman who not only appears in Bataille's fiction buut also on Blanchot's Death Sentence. A must have for any french literature fans. Beautiful stuff. Much loved by the late Kathy Acker. --dammarie@aol.com for amazon.com [...]
    2003, Mar 10; 20:32
  • Georges Bataille: An Intellectual Biography (1987) - Michel Surya [1 book, Amazon US]
    Michel Surya is a writer, philosopher, editor and director of the journal Lignes. The French edition of this book was awarded the Prix Goncourt for biography.

    It was a life of extreme solitude and, ultimately, disappointment. He never became the respected writer he dreamed of becoming. As Surya points out, Bataille was envious of André Breton's celebrity and covetous of his position as leader of the Surrealists, yet he refused to join them, preferring to carp from the sidelines. Breton thought he went too far in embracing filth and corruption. "Mr Bataille loves flies," he said. "Not we." So Bataille remained on Surrealism's fringes, a buzzing fly that would not go away.-- Ian Pindar

    there were several Georges Batailles. There was the controversial author who wrote about eroticism and death. There was the elegant librarian at the Bibliothèque Nationale, unfailingly courteous, with "lovely blue eyes". And there was the philosopher who nurtured the idea of writing an impossible "universal history", elements of which are traceable in Sovereignty and, surely his most impressive work, The Accursed Share. --Ian Pindar [...]


    2003, Mar 10; 09:45
  • Image, Music, Text - Roland Barthes [1 book, Amazon US]
    Roland Barthes, the French critic and semiotician, was one of the most important critics and essayists of this century. His work continues to influence contemporary literary theory and cultural studies. Image-Music-Text collects Barthes's best writings on photography and the cinema, as well as fascinating articles on the relationship between images and sound. Two of Barthes's most important essays, "Introduction to the Structural Analysis of Narrative" and "The Death of the Author" are also included in this fine anthology, an excellent introduction to his thought. [...]
    2003, Mar 10; 09:26
  • On Photography (1977) - Susan Sontag [1 book, Amazon US]
    Winner of the National Book Critics' Circle Award for Criticism (1977), this is "a brilliant analysis of the profound changes photographic images have made in our way of looking of the world and ourselves over the lost 140 years."-Washington Post BOOK WORLD

    Photography, probably more than any other medium, is emblematic of the nature of modern Western society. Photographs are concerned chiefly with appearances, they are deceptively nuanced but essentially narrow, yet somehow they find great breadth in their mechanization and ubiquity. And, like our society, they tend towards an ultimate reduction of the dimensionality of time. Through photographs the past blends into the present, flattening into an omni-present "now" in which history loses its philosophical weight as it increases in familiarity. In a sense photographs are the ultimate invention of a humanist-capitalist society: they provide the commodification of memory itself! And like the society which originated them, they provide equal portions of help and harm, of truth and of fiction; they have undeniable value, but they also result in a certain loss of innocence, and of deeper values.
    The six essays in this book (all of which were originally published in the New York Times Review of Books) provide a critical evaluation of these themes. Ms. Sontag is concerned with what she sees as the cheapening of experience that the proliferation of photographs in our society has caused. She argues that photography has enshrined a superficiality of experience and contributed to the overvaluation of appearances to a point where image has (subconsciously) replaced reality as reality. In many ways this shift in our modes of cultural perception is shattering; it is also completely inevitable and irreversible. As an example: who after seeing Ansel Adams's stunning photographs of Yosemite could help feeling slightly underwhelmed when experiencing the real thing? Certainly, Yosemite in person retains a certain cachet simply for its "bigness", but the mystique, the mysticism of the Adams photo is going to be missing from most people's experience of the real place. The image genie is out of the bottle... and Sontag is here to tell us that we have to live with the consequences of its release. On Photography is a lengthy exploration of the implications of the genie's (photography's) work on society. The book is full of insights into the meaning of an image-saturated society, but you won't find many conclusions at the end. It is, as a good work of criticism should be, a collection of numerous deep and provocative statements with few prescriptions. Sontag leaves it up to you, the reader, to sort out the pieces for yourself.
    In fact, one of the things I found most interesting about the essays was that although Ms. Sontag evaluates many of these societal trends she doesn't seem to have a strictly negative response to any of them. Her attitude seems to be that if, for instance, the easy availability of images of Half Dome makes us enjoy Half Dome itself somewhat less, that rather than stopping looking at pictures of Half Dome or photographing Half Dome we should instead re-evaluate what experiencing Half Dome really means to us. Since we've invented a new society, and new ways of looking at society and nature, it's requisite upon us that we also invent new ways of understanding our experience of life and society. I actually agree with her on this: it's okay to wax nostalgic about the idyllicism of life before the advent of the image-saturation that we have today, but there's no way to go back to that idyllic society. Our time would be better spent in learning to deal with (and shape) our present society than in trying to shift back to an older, now completely lost, ideal of society.
    Sontag wants photographers to reach a deeper understanding of the implications of their work. She's not asking the photographer-reader to put down his camera and take up a brush or pen instead, but she is saying that without some grasp of the meaning of photography to society photographers are not very helpful or socially desirable creatures. One of the points that she makes, touching on this, is that our traditional understanding of photography in relation to the other arts is flawed. Photography itself isn't actually an art-form, like painting or music. Or in her words, "Like language, it is a medium in which works of art (among other things) are made. Out of language, one can make scientific discourse, bureaucratic memoranda, love letters, grocery lists, and Balzac's Paris. Out of photography, one can make passport pictures, weather photographs, pornographic pictures, X-rays, wedding pictures, and Atget's Paris." Artistic photography without theme, photography without intent, is about as valuable as fiction without characters or plot. Photographers persist in photographing meaningless objects and minutiae, simply because this is what the "great" photographers have done, instead of trying to draft their own statements and follow their own visions. (Curiously, Edward Weston's photographs of his toilet are actually art; however, my pictures of my toilet would not be art, because I cannot photograph my toilet with any understanding of the meaning of these photographs, and so cannot have any pretensions towards the artistic value of these photographs.)
    I believe that anyone who photographs should read this book, whether they merely take casual photos while on vacation or are pursuing photography as their career. We all need to reach an understanding of the act of picture-taking, because only with some sort of understanding can we give our work a sense of direction. And only with direction can photography become more than cultural noise, desensitizing us through over-exposure to cliches and making banalities out of the profound. --Hans Friedrich for amazon.com [...]


    2003, Mar 10; 08:38
  • Artificial Paradises (1860) - Charles P. Baudelaire [1 book, Amazon US]
    At the time of its release in 1860, Baudelaire's "Artificial Paradises" met with immediate praise. Beautifully wrought, this portrait of the effects of wine, opium, and hashish on the mind captures the dreamlike visions that the author experienced during his narcotic trances. [...]
    2003, Mar 09; 23:00
  • The Hours (2002) - Philip Glass [1 CD, Amazon US]
    How better to score a movie that takes place in three tangentially related time periods than with music that strives for timelessness? The hallmarks of Philip Glass's minimalism serve The Hours well. The film, based on Michael Cunningham's novel, tells the stories of three women--Virginia Woolf in the early 1920s, a housewife just after World War II, and a book editor in the present--whose days relate in different ways to Woolf's novel Mrs. Dalloway. Yet rather than construct a sonic montage of these three time periods (perhaps some Ravel for Woolf, some Max Steiner for the housewife, some Enya for the editor), Hours producer Scott Rudin turned to Glass, a contemporary-classical composer who has had a substantial side career in film, most notably with Koyaanisqatsi. The familiar Glass sounds--the endlessly layered violins, the static melodies, the glacial rhythms--all lend a consistent aural foundation to a story that moves fluidly back and forth in time. The music is scored for orchestra, string quartet, and piano. Those plentiful strings lend a thick cushion, a triumph of tonal suspension, for the piano part, which Michael Riesman plays coolly, emphasizing what are often single notes separated by thoughtful silences, as well as short sets of scales cascading in slow motion. Not only will these compositional themes be familiar to fans of Glass's work, so too will several of the melodies. Some sections of the score are derived from his albums Glassworks and Solo Piano and from his opera Satyagraha--which, incidentally, involved the stories of three legendary men active in different eras. --Marc Weidenbaum for Amazon.com
    2003, Mar 08; 10:49
  • Diane Arbus: An Aperture Monograph (1972) - Diane Arbus [1 book, Amazon US]
    Diane Arbus: An Aperture Monograph was originally published in 1972, one year after the artist's death, in conjunction with a retrospective of her work at the Museum of Modern Art. Edited and designed by Arbus's daughter, Doon, and her friend and colleague, painter Marvin Israel, the monograph contains eighty of her most masterful photos. The images in this newly published edition, marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of the collection's original publication, were printed from new three-hundred-line-screen duotone film, allowing for startlingly clear reproduction. The impact of the collection is heightened by the introduction, which contains excerpts of audio tapes in which Arbus discusses her experiences as a photographer and her feelings about the often bizarre nature of her subjects. Diane Arbus's work has indelibly impacted modern visual sensibilities, evidenced by the intensely personal moments captured in this powerful group of photographs.
    2003, Mar 08; 10:47
  • Witkin - Joel-Peter Witkin [1 book, Amazon US]
    At the age of 6, Joel-Peter Witkin witnessed an automobile accident in which a little girl was decapitated, her head rolling to a stop at his feet. This experience may have had a bearing on his lifelong obsession with the macabre, but does little to prepare the viewer for his bizarre photographs of hermaphrodites and other human grotesqueries. Imagine the fruits of a collaboration between Diane Arbus and Federico Fellini that might be rejected for being a little too extreme. Imagine what Larry Flynt might publish for residents of the Twilight Zone. Two of the milder images: the disembodied, almost skeletal heads of two gnarled old men locked in an intimate kiss; and an obese woman in a cone-shaped mask, breast-feeding an eel. --amazon.com
    2003, Mar 08; 10:40
  • Ren & Stimpy Show: Have Yourself a Stinky Little Christmas (1991) - Vincent Waller, John Kricfalusi [1 VHS, Amazon US]
    "The Ren & Stimpy Show" is a great cartoon, and it's more than a dog fight or a cat fight. It's about a chihuahua, and a cat, and those fake commercials they make on "Ren & Stimpy", they are excellent, and Powdered Toast Man is funny, including that he flies in the air backwards, that's why this cartoon sounds like it should have ***** (5 out of 5). --Chiedu Ufoegbune for amazon.com
    2003, Mar 08; 10:34
  • Muybridge's Complete Human and Animal Locomotion: New Volume 1 - Eadweard Muybridge [1 book, Amazon US]
    "Of all the great pioneer-innovators of the 19th century, perhaps the least known is Eadweard Muybridge."
    "Of all the great turning points in scientific, technological and artistic thought, undoubtedly the least known (because it has effectively, never been published) is Muybridge's eleven-volume pictorial treatise of human and animal life in motion."
    "100 years after completion, this rarest of all photographic series (only 37 sets still extant, most of them incomplete) is finally published complete and accessible to a wide public, in three volumes of 20,000 photographs. Twenty years of devotion and invention, patience and insight, plus $50,000 and 100,000 negatives, culminated in the quintessential study of the moving figure. Muybridge had created an encylopedic anatomy of motion, unique in its day and unsurpassed in ours."
    "The photographs consist of a series of movements shown in stop-motion sequence: 781 plates (each plate is a two-page spread) of nearly 300 separate actions split into as many as 50 individual shots per action. 532 of the plates show clothed and unclothed men, women and children engaging in a wide variety of typical actions and activities." [...]
    2003, Mar 08; 09:04
  • Dada: Art and Anti-Art (World of Art) - Hans Richter [1 book, Amazon US]
    "Where and how Dada began is almost as difficult to determine as Homer's birthplace," writes Hans Richter, who was associated with the movement from its early days. Here, through selections from key manifestos and other documents of the time, he records Dada's history, from its beginnings in wartime Zurich to its collapse in the Paris of the 1920s. Dada led on from Expressionism, Cubism, and Futurism, and in turn prepared the way for Surrealism. It was enlivened by bizarre and extravagant personalities, notably Tristan Tzara, Francis Picabia, Hans Arp, Kurt Schwitters, Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, and Man Ray, whose contributions are fully discussed. The spirit of Dada reappeared in the 1960s in movements such as Pop Art, which are surveyed in the final section. --book description [...]
    2003, Mar 07; 00:06
  • Dancin in Outer Space - Atmosfear [1 CD, Amazon US]
    1. Dancing in Outer Space 2. Outer Space 3. Motivation 4. Extract 5. Alternative II 6. Xtra Special 7. Duende 8. Interplay 9. Return of Ib 10. Dancing in Outer Space [Fon Force Remix]
    I was very glad to see this album on amazon as i was a huge fan of the early eighties album "en trance" but my tape of it is getting sadly stretched from overplay. I think the best way to descibe this would be to say that it's classic early eighties british jazz funk from the school of bands such as light of world, shakatak and incognito BUT with a still contempory sound especially in the drums and ambient synths department. The overall musician-ship is suberb with trilling guitar licks, occasional piano leads and some of the best bass guitar work i've ever heard (checkout "interplay"). The lack of vocals on a lot of the tracks may put some people off but who wants to hear corny/cheesy pop words or soppy love songs anyway. If you like british jazz funk such as the aforementioned bands you'll love this. -- peter battersby for amazon.co.uk [...]
    2003, Mar 06; 20:48
  • Classic Disco - Various Artists, Mastercuts series [1 CD, Amazon US]
    1. Vertigo/Relight my fire - Hartman, Dan 2. Can't live without your love - Jones, Tamiko 3. I need you - Sylvester (1) 4. This time baby - Moore, Jackie 5. Disco nights - GQ 6. Sure shot - Weber, Tracy 7. Body music - Strikers (1) 8. Delirium - McGee, Francine 9. Casanova - Coffee 10. Shame - King, Evelyn 'Champagne' 11. Do what U wanna do - T-Connection 12. I hear music in the street - Unlimited Touch [...]
    2003, Mar 06; 20:48
  • Songs of Almodovar - Various Artists [1 CD, Amazon US]
    I'm chinese. I don't even speak Spanish. But I have been driven by the beautiful music here to learn the language. The pain, joy, human experience conveyed in the music make me wanna sing, cry, vamp...life in its multitude of histrionics is beautiful! Songs no. 1 and 2 are my favorite songs! Song no. 15 is way more hopelessly depressing than Jacques Brel's versions-I love it! The coarse voices, Spanish guitar, images of Almodovar's stories...As an Almodovar fan I have been searching for this CD- a compilation of the music in his films in stores but to no avail..when I saw it on line. I bought it immediately. I am happy with this purchase. I am in happy melancholia over these songs. --Jzin Teng for amazon.com
    2003, Mar 06; 20:44
  • Do Me Right//You Want It You Got It - Detroit Emeralds [1 CD, Amazon US]
    The Detroit Emeralds enjoyed great success and popularity, especially in the Ohio/Michigan area. I am unsure of the overall sales of this album, but can attest to its popularity in Ohio. ..The hottest cut is probably Feel the Need. Feel the Need has some hot vocals that harness a raw, R&B quality that is unforgettable. The horn section (unknown-I no longer have the album and was young and carefree, so I am not sure if it was the band or studio group with the horns). Nonetheless, the horns are hot and the driving rhythm will not disappoint. The woman depicted on the original LP cover was a real knockout!! --mmaurer@tusco.net for amazon.com [...]
    2003, Mar 06; 20:36
  • The Tel Quel Reader - Patrick Ffrench [1 book, Amazon US]
    "The Tel Quel Reader provides an accurate representaion of poststructural theory and its earnes and passionate commitment to the fields of science, art and yes literature.." --David Clippinger
    "This collection includes the most important essays and gives an excellent picture of Tel Quel's work and evolution over time." --Fredric Jameson, Duke University
    2003, Mar 06; 11:03
  • Luc Tuymans - Ulrich Loock, Juan Vicente, Nancy Spector, Luc Tuymans [1 book, Amazon US]
    This book on Luc Tuymans is an excellent introduction to the strange world of this internationally reknowned Belgian Painter. What is it that stirs up the bizarre fascination of cognoscenti for this artist? At the very least, it is attributable to the deeply psychological expression that this artist conjures from his sometimes murky palatte, as well as his subject matter. He addresses these ideas in relation to living as an artist in this modern world and a Freudian psychoanalysis of history that seems all to prevalent in this information age; including, everything from the New York art world as evidenced in his painting "Heritage", which alludes to Jasper Johns flag painting and the Holocaust in paintings like "Our New Quarters". This artist also takes these issues to subjects like the body, which through his investigation and isolation of its various parts he formulates the queerness that follows a banal rendition of the functions of that space. In addtion, as a psychoanalytical historian this artist attempts to fuse the mundanity of the conscious world with the fanatsy of the world of dream, which always seems to be off center, and could be related to the work of Alex Katz and Robert Gober. At any rate, this book provides an excellent insight into the world created by Luc Tuymans, and comes highly recommneded by art lovers and aficianados alike. --A reader from United States for amazon.com [...]
    2003, Mar 05; 13:40
  • Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays (1957) - Northrop Frye [1 book, Amazon US]
    [...]The book begins with a "Polemical Introduction". Here, Frye makes an argument that is at once simple and profound. For too long, he claims, literary criticism has revolved primarily around matters of taste, with critics pronouncing judgement on the relative merits of different authors and works. Frye believes that this has prevented literary criticism from really coming into its own as a serious scholarly activity-- and he wants to make literary scholarship a genuinely scholarly subject. The way to do this, he argues, is by eschewing any criticism whose goal is to attribute "merit" or "value" to works-- to say that they are good or bad. Instead, the true literary scholar needs to see himself as a scientist and to survey the field of literature as a whole, taking it on its own terms, and describing what seem to be the basic principles, structures, and unstated "laws" governing it. An important point here (and one that I think is especially compelling) is that Frye insists that literary scholarship needs to derive its understanding of literature from literature itself-- and not from other fields like psychoanalysis (e.g. Freudian/Jungian interpretations), from history (biograhical criticism), politics (Marxist criticism), etc. "An Anatomy of Criticism", Frye states, is his attempt to do just that-- to derive a theory of literature (or rather four complementary theories of literature) from literature itself, taking into account that literature, understood broadly, is work consisting primary of words, arranged in such a way as to create structures such as we call plots, characters, images, themes, etc. [...]
    2003, Mar 05; 11:54
  • Exile on Main Street (1972) - The Rolling Stones [1 CD, Amazon US]
    From the swaggering frustration in the first song ("I only get my rocks off while I'm sleeping," Mick Jagger sings in the hyper "Rocks Off"), the Stones speed through familiar neighborhoods of country, blues, and R&B on Exile. They never even bother to stop when they've crashed into something. They don't leap into new worlds so much as master the old ones, turning Slim Harpo's blues obscurity "Hip Shake" into a harp-and-piano steamroller and setting spines a-cracking in "Ventilator Blues." Both "Tumbling Dice" and Keith Richards's "Happy" have become hits, but the 1972 album is most notable for its overall murky adrenaline. --Steve Knopper for amazon.com [...]
    2003, Mar 03; 21:13
  • Sampled (2000)- Various Artists [2 CD, Amazon US]
    1. Troubled So Hard-Vera Hall 2. Take Yo' Praise-Camille Yarbrough 3. It's Ecstasy When You Lay Down Next To Me-Barry White 4. I Got The..-Labi Siffre 5. Old Cape Cod-Patti Page 6. The Magic Number-Bob Dorough 7. Woman Of The Ghetto-Marlena Shaw 8. Think (About It)-Lyn Collins 9. Funky Drummer-James Brown 10. Who Is He And What Is He To You?-Creative Source 11. Chase The Devil-Max Romeo And The Upsetters 12. Why?-Carly Simon 13. Superfreak-Rick James 14. I'm Coming Out-Diana Ross 15. Good Times-Chic 16. Rose Royce-Is It Love You're After? 17. Musique-Keep On Jumpin' 18. I Can't Go For That-Hall & Oates 19. Buddy X-Neneh Cherry 20. Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime-The Korgis 21. Love Is You-Carol Williams 22. Fate-Chaka Khan 23. Let Me Down Easy-Rare Pleasure 24. Soup For One-Chic 25. Reach Up-Toney Lee 26. Expansions-Lonnie Liston Smith 27. Celebration Suite-Airto 28. The Beat Goes On-Buddy Rich 29. Sliced Tomatoes-Just Brothers 30. Bring Down The Birds-Herbie Hancock 31. Soul Bossa Nova (Original Mix)-Quincy Jones 32. Sway-Rosemary Clooney 33. Ain't There Something Money Can't Buy-Young Holt Unlimited 34. Grandma's Hand's-Bill Withers 35. Hercules-Aaron Neville 36. Ike's Rap II-Isaac Hayes 37. Be Thankful For What You've Got-William De Vaughn 38. Cantaloupe Island-Herbie Hancock 39. Is It Because I'm Black-Sly Johnson 40. Stratus-Billy Cobham
    This is a great compilation of rare tracks that have been sampled by the great and not so great (Moby, Fatboy Slim, Robbie Williams, LL Cool J, Gang Starr, Massive Attack - who get 2 (1) entries!), from old-skool disco (Musique, Carol Williams, Creative Source), reggae (the Prodigy-sampled Max Romeo's Chase the Devil), blaxploitation-style jazz and funk (Lonnie Liston Smith, Young Holt Unlimited, Herbie Hancock, Marlena Shaw) , to cheesy 50's songs (Patti Page)!
    Loads of snippets these songs have turned up on dance, pop, and hip-hop tracks...yes even the infamous (and litigious!) Funky Drummer by James Brown is here!
    Really the shocking thing is how much better most of these songs are than the modern sampled versions, and how much they use these songs as a 'crutch' and rely on their relative obscurity of mainly black artist originals...I mean Rockafeller Skank by Fatboy Slim IS Sliced tomatoes by the Just brothers, with an annoying shouty vocal and modern drums. Nothing original there, but the track the sample's taken from is great funky ska-inflected surfer style groove. And Moby's lifted whole vocal segments from Troubled so hard by Vera Hall for his 'Natural Blues'. What's the originality in stealing whole chunks from a emotional spiritual/gospel tune with no backing music?!?
    Other standout tracks are Marlena Shaw's 'Woman of the Ghetto' (sampled for Blueboy's 'Remember Me' which cruelly took all of the black-power politics OUT and used the ding-ding-ga-ding vocal!), Ain't there something money can't buy by Young holt unlimited, sampled by Gang Starr's Love sick, but an equally or better track...and much more political than the hip-hop track.
    Take Yo' Praise by Camille Yarbrough, again ripped off by Fatboy Slim for the vocal to 'Praise You', the only redeeming feature being that he's brought to our attention a great track that otherwise may be overlooked...Soup for One by Chic which became the ultra-cheesy Lady by Modjo, and Expansions by Lonnie Liston Smith, for which the bass groove was taken for the equally sample-political 'Talkin' all that Jazz' by Stetsasonic...
    The one thing that does amaze is the tiny loops that go to make up whole songs, and for this I think there is some originality, rather than Fatboy's and Moby's lifting of whole vocal riffs: that filter-disco-groove that made Stardust's Music Sounds Better with You so cool is actually a tiny snippet from Fate by Chaka Khan, and similarly an amazing usse of a miniscule sample is Spiller's Groovejet which uses a tiny intro bit and congas from the disco-soul of Love is you by Carol Williams. This kind of reconstruction I can see some worth and skill in, like Black Box totally recreating another track from Loleatta Hollaway's Love Sensation; actually an amazing technical (if dubious) task.
    I'd highly recommend this double CD set: the sum of the whole of this compilation equals much more than all of the more famous tracks put together.
    These tracks and artists deserve much more recognition than a 2-second riff...it's ideal for sample trainspotters, but it's not an academic exercise as the original tunes are so great that ANYBODY should have this. --timbearcub / tim baker for amazon.com [...] [...]
    2003, Mar 03; 21:09
  • Put Your Phazers on Stun Throw Your Health Food Skyward (2002) - Earl Zinger [1 CD, Amazon US]
    [...] [...]
    2003, Mar 03; 20:18
  • Electric Circus (2002) - Common [1 CD, Amazon US]
    Rock & roll has grabbed Common by the neck and given him a good shake. With its heavy, multilayered sound, Electric Circus is steeped in the Chicago-born and Brooklyn-based rapper’s newfound love for Pink Floyd, Traffic, and, above all, Jimi Hendrix. But, like many new converts to anything, Common goes a little off the deep end. His ambitious quest to expand the boundaries of hip-hop is crammed to the gills with a thousand motifs and is a little too busy to be a complete success. Perhaps not surprisingly, Common’s rhymes (sample lyric: "my mind screams like Al Green to stay together!") take a distant second place to the complex musical landscape he’s fashioned. In addition, a sidereal array of vocalists (including Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier, Mary J. Blige, Jill Scott, Cee-Lo, Bilal, and Common’s main squeeze, Erykah Badu) and musicians (Prince, Bobbi Humphrey, Nicholas Payton) add to the sonic density. All in all, Electric Circus mightn’t strike the universal chord that Common sought, but it’s a bold, elaborate project that's definitely worth a listen. --Rebecca Levine for amazon.com [...]
    2003, Mar 02; 21:23
  • Before She Met Me (1982) - Julian Barnes [1 book, Amazon US]
    Julian Barnes is very funny - deceptively so. Beneath the veneer of humour runs a vein of bitterness and pathos.His characters, the actions they perform and their conversations are so lifelike that I feel as if I'm eavesdropping.Some of their doings are shockingly true to life. A man leaves his wife and marries his mistress. He is totally obessed with his new wife and when his possessive feelings are triggered by the manipulative tricks of his ex-wife. the downward journey leads inexorably to it's extreme conclusion. Throughout the book, I experienced a feeling of dread. I so much wanted him to redeem himself and the situation. Jealousy is an all-consuming emotion and Julian Barnes captures it perfectly. -- a reader for amazon.com [...]
    2003, Mar 02; 12:01
  • Adaptation - Carter Burwell (2002) [1 CD, Amazon US]
    Adaptation reunites Carter Burwell (of Coen brothers renown) with director Spike Jonze and writer Charlie Kaufman, the creative team behind 1999's Being John Malkovich, with equally noteworthy results. Although selections like "The Unexpressed Expressed" lean heavily on romantic strings, Burwell's harmonic progressions rarely culminate in obvious resolutions, mirroring the frustration of the film's protagonist, a screenwriter struggling to translate a nonfiction work into a workable screenplay. Less predictable timbres propel other cuts--"The Evolution of Evolution" marries kalimba and steel drums to Duane Eddy-style twang guitar and sly bass licks--and, as with Malkovich, the music of Adaptation often feels as though it were emanating from the murky ocean depths or the mechanized bowels of Big Ben. The disc is book-ended by Fatboy Slim's mercifully low-key "Adaptation" remix (essentially the vibraphone and harp vignette "The Writer and the Crazy White Man" plus a drum loop), and the Turtles' 1967 hit "Happy Together," a somewhat incongruous conclusion to Burwell's dark, riveting score. --Kurt B. Reighley for amazon.com
    2003, Mar 02; 11:51
  • Don't Try This at Home - The Steve-O Video (2001) [1 DVD, Amazon US]
    In this uncensored collection of pre-Jackass amateur videos that's not even remotely for the squeamish, Steve-O, one of Johnny Knoxville's more fearless lieutenants, snorts hot curry up his nose, shoots a firecracker out of his behind, becomes a human dartboard, sets his hair on fire, jumps off bridges from atop moving cars, and commits other atrocities we cannot even dare hint at here (a "Career Ender" segment is obscenely graphic). "We don't know how you did that," one impressed, albeit shocked, onlooker states at one point. A more accurate statement might be, "We don't know why you did that," to which Steve-O has a ready answer: "I want to be remembered forever." See? What's to understand? --Donald Liebenson for amazon.com
    2003, Mar 02; 09:59
  • The Idea of Decline in Western History - Arthur Herman [1 book, Amazon US]
    In this ambitious and eminently relevant work of popular intellectual history, Arthur Herman, the coordinator of the Western civilization program at the Smithsonian Institution, makes a broad survey of the literature of cultural decline and a scatter-shot retort to the purveyors of doom and gloom. Herman attempts to right the balance unset by panicky prognosticators who either decry the defeat of Western values or herald the bankruptcy of Enlightenment idealism, despite the unparalleled worldwide ascendance of market economics, universal human rights, and representational, constitutional government. Herman is at his best when making erudite replies to today's ill-informed peddlers of doom and gloom. But when he starts attempting to trace the history of "declinism," to philosophers from Frederick Neitzche to Martin Heidegger, and writers from Henry Adams to Robert Bly, his accusations often fall wide of the intended mark. His assaults on Jean Jacques Rousseau and W.E.B. DuBois will appear particularly unfair to those familiar with the works of these men, though readers who trust in Herman's abbreviated accounts of their thinking will be unknowingly misled. The "Great Ideas" framework Herman defends in the pages of this book ought to prize the close reading of important texts as much as it seeks to protect a sacrosanct canon or a static notion of prized ideals. Great ideas after all stand up to close attention. Herman's book conveys a confidence in the values of the Western tradition, but in making its argument, it inspires a casual disrespect from the works of other arguably great thinkers and artists based on Herman's swift survey--a dubious achievement and troublesome side effect of this challenging book. --amazon.com editorial
    2003, Mar 02; 09:22
  • Culture Industry - Theodor Adorno [1 book, Amazon US]

    TOC
    Introduction 1. On the Fetish Character in Music and the Regression of Listening 2. The Schema of Mass Culture 3. Culture Industry Reconsidered 4. Culture and Administration 5. Freudian Theory and the Pattern of Fascist Propaganda 6. How to Look at Television 7. Transparencies on Film 8. Free Time 9. Resignation [...]
    2003, Mar 01; 22:09
  • On Love (1993) - Alain de Botton [1 book, Amazon US]
    A tour-de-force pleasure of a first novel that takes a conventional love story and textures it with philosophical ruminations, ironic subtitles, and various sorts of playfulness, including pencil drawings. The narrator, on a flight from Paris to London, meets Chloe in the first chapter, ``Romantic Fatalism'': ``The longing for a destiny is nowhere stronger than in our romantic life.'' In each ironically titled chapter to follow (``Marxism,'' ``Beauty,'' Skepticism and Faith,'' etc.), the paragraphs are numbered, as de Botton develops his disquisition upon love and its limitations. Apothegms abound: ``If the fall into love happens so rapidly, it is perhaps because the wish to love has preceded the beloved....'' The narrator falls for Chloe, but even at the beginning, dishonesty enters the picture: ``What sides of myself should I release?'' The narrator, in fact, is a prevaricator, leaving the relationship to speculate upon various matters: ``Few things can be as antithetical to sex as thought.'' Soon enough, disillusionment sets in: Chloe, trying to read Cosmo, tells the narrator to turn down the ``yodeling.'' It's Bach. ``Understanding Chloe, I was like a doctor, passing hands over a body, trying to intuit the interior.'' Understandably, Chloe tires of such a creep, and the two practice ``romantic terrorism.'' (``Is there anything wrong?'' ``No, why, should there be?'') Chloe, unfaithful, leaves him to contemplate suicide--and ``The Jesus Complex''--before he finds Rachel and the whole thing starts again.... A dissertation/novel on romantic narcissism that's both intellectually stimulating and emotionally touching. A very promising debut. (First printing of 25,000) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates [...]

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