Sunday, December 12, 2010

I HATE MOVING

But Flying Lotus is helping.

Flying Lotus - Kill Your Co-Workers from Warp Records on Vimeo.



One of these days I will find the place I can stay in for a while, you know? But who wants to be stuck in the same place forever? If you understand what I'm talking about, maybe we should talk about living together...

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Amazing Bollywood Youtube Videos and the Amazing Comments People Post About Them


From the film Jaanbaaz, Sri Devi performs the song "Har Kisi Ko Nahin Milta" ...I have recently been doing some deep youtube research on the subject of the Illuminati and its use of popular figures in the entertainment industry to corrupt the people of the world and steer their souls towards satan, or whatever...But I had not been exposed to any international examples of Illuminati subliminal manipulation...Until now:



ssehram
2 weeks ago
The Vatican Snake in RED... The WOMAN in
red... DEVIL.... This how India was "OCCULTED" by Illuminati Zionist from
Zionist Devils...  You got what you asked for guys.. enjoy.. War, cigars,
Drugs, Adultery, Alcohol, Music- worse than drugs and Psychotoc Diseases... end
is already here... The few who follow The Right Path still HOLDING guard...

ssehram
2 weeks ago
SRIDEVI ... is definitely an ILLUMINATI
plant.... looks NOT Indian but a SUBLIMINAL "indian" name "sridevi".... how
could we get this DUPED? The Woman is Totally.. ILLUMINATI clone.... Totally
"European Nazi Zionist Clone"... DUPED.. on Big Screen..!!!!!!!!!!!


A truly chilling insight, Mr. Sehram. It is the brave souls such as yourselves who open our eyes to the evil practices of those who would wish to plant demonic imagery in our minds. What's even more commendable is that you have completely eliminated the possibility of missing the message, by deliberately emphasizing with quotations several phrases such as the harrowing: "European Nazi Zionist Clone." Totally.


Although I have a feeling this 1996 film called Dushmun Duniya Ka is not nearly as sweet as this clip from it (and really couldn't make much sense if this is a real clip from the movie), the track is nothing less than tight in all of its chill-dub-psych-funk stoniness. The comments however, have sparked a vague interest in the film's plot, which from what I can gather is a dude's struggle to quit smoking weed.


smartom1
1 year ago 4
this song was played atleast 100
times in a day by us in 1996 ...we were all lost in the world of nasha and is
was duva duva all the time but now when I watch it i realise the reality how
bad is drugs its ok just to taste it for fun but friends pls dont continue pls
quit drugs...overall an awsome song understand the meaning and quit drugs right
now and everything will be fine its possible to quit yes its possible

1298086
6 months ago
smoky time song...cant
forget


This clear contrast of sentiment speaks to the tendency of internet commenters to argue and bicker behind user names and avatars with the rage of a blasphemed deity. One friend pointed out to me the severity of this rage when he likened a furious anti-haters rant by recording artist Dam Funk at a recent concert to a "youtube comment reply." The examples are plentiful; I urge you my friends to simply bring up some of your favorite youtube videos and scroll down through a few comments, or just surf some random videos and see how much more entertaining they become.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Oscar Wilde

Actors are so fortunate. They can choose whether they will appear in tragedy or in comedy, whether they will suffer or make merry, laugh or shed tears. But in real life it is different. Most men and women are forced to perform parts for which they have no qualifications. Our Guildensterns play Hamlet for us, and our Hamlets have to jest like Prince Hal. The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast.

-Lord Arthur Savile's Crime

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Pieter Hugo's Nollywood



In preparation for a DJ set of afrobeat I'm doing at Barbarella(upstairs at the Barbary) I randomly stumbled upon the work of this South African photographer who photographed actors of the Nigerian film industry in costume and makeup, but in bleak and decayed urban settings rather than on an actual film set.

Nollywood is the third largest film industry in the world, releasing between 500 and 1 000 movies each year. It produces movies on its own terms, telling stories that appeal to and reflect the lives of its public: it is a rare instance of self-representation on such a scale in Africa. The continent has a rich tradition of story-telling that has been expressed abundantly through oral and written fiction, but has never been conveyed through the popular media before. Stars are local actors; plots confront the public with familiar situations of romance, comedy, witchcraft, bribery, prostitution. The narrative is overdramatic, deprived of happy endings, tragic. The aesthetic is loud, violent, excessive; nothing is said, everything is shouted.

A lot of comments were posted on the blog I found this on calling the work 'exploitative' and 'distasteful' but I'm really digging the extreme horrific imagery with the post-apocalyptic looking backgrounds found somewhere on the streets of Enugu.


Hugo gained some notoriety for another exhibit called "The Hyena and Other Men" depicting a group of Nigerian street performers with Hyenas on chain leashes who had been mistakenly labeled by a Nigerian newspaper as "bank robbers, bodyguards, drug dealers, debt collectors."


Here is what Hugo has to say on his website about the reaction to this series:

Many animal-rights groups also contacted me, wanting to intervene (however, the keepers have permits from the Nigerian government). When I asked Nigerians, “How do you feel about the way they treat animals”, the question confused people. Their responses always involved issues of economic survival. Seldom did anyone express strong concern for the well-being of the creatures. Europeans invariably only ask about the welfare of the animals but this question misses the point. Instead, perhaps, we could ask why these performers need to catch wild animals to make a living. Or why they are economically marginalised. Or why Nigeria, the world’s sixth largest exporter of oil, is in such a state of disarray.

It seems to me like the real purpose of the work is to pay cultural homage to a group of people often made out to be monsters. Maybe this guy is in a way exploiting the economic woes of a struggling nation but hey, isn't a lot of good art exploiting something?

Monday, July 26, 2010

Nite Market

A mix I put together of party music from faraway lands. Feel free to download so you can listen to it in your car on the way to the beach or jam it at your bbq.

NITEMARKETmix by shinjo

1. Asha Bhosle - "Dum Maro Dum"
2. Black Blood - "a.i.e (a'mwana)"
3. Armando Trovaioli - "Quante Bella Giovinezza"
4. Khong Khao Noi Mea Ka 99 - "Crazy Song"
5. Super Eagles - "Love's a Real Thing"
6. Bzunesh Begele - "Tegel Nèw"
7. Asha Bhosle - "Lekar Ham Diwana Dil"
8. Fela Kuti - "Ye ye de smell"
9. Chaba Zahouania - "Goulou Limma"

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Summer Blues


The last show I put together at the Woodstove was for some great people who just moved to Philadelphia called Blues Control. So glad to finally have them on a bill. I was also super psyched to have Hot Guts and Serpents of W.I.S.D.O.M. from the Badmaster fam and Brooklyn's PC Worship on Shdwply. Huge thanks to Sofie Hodara for making a great poster.

Currently working on finding a new place to live and of course Volume 6. Updates soon! Hope everyone has a great 4th of July Weekend...

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Concrete et cetera

So there's this guy Marshall. Marshall is a friend of mine. He lives in this place called VWVOFFKA, which is also a DIY gallery on Frankford Ave. They are doing this neat show for the month of june all about Concrete Poetry. Instead of trying to explain what that is I will paste Marshall's own words (straight from the facebook invite) as I often do when I post about events on here.

Here at VWVOFFKA, June is the month of concrete ideas, visual word balance, and asymmetric semantics. This month's exhibit pays tribute to the Concrete Poetry movement that took the English language by storm, forcing words off the pages and spewing them into the focal point of physical reality. But that was born over half a century ago. Now along with the advent of new technologies, the pen is in a different hand, bringing new light to the fluidity of language. Concrete, et cetera will include works by Masha Badinter, Claire Buchanan, Sofie Hodara, Marshall James Kavanaugh, Ingrid Pimsner, Steve Streisguth, and Jenna Wilchinsky.

Also special live performances by:
Ghosts of Pasha http://www.myspace.com/ghostsofpasha
Dark Surfers & the yawns http://www.myspace.com/chrisyaple
+1 more tba

Refreshments will be provided. Opening is on Saturday, June 5th, 2010 and starts at 6pm. Join us!

Our gallery hours are as follows, in case you miss the grand opening reception:
Wednesday 11am-2pm
Saturday 12pm-5pm
Sunday 12pm-5pm
The gallery is at 2037 Frankford Ave right next to Perpetua. Copies of the 4000 Flavors Poetry issue will be on hand.

You may have noticed this is my first post since Feburary, which is indeed a shame. I wish I could say that I had a good reason for that, but looking back on the time since that last post, I'm not quite sure where it all went. Maybe part of the reason is that there is sometimes an overwhelming amount of things happening to post about. To be honest not a whole lot has happened in 2010 that I have been psyched about. But for those of you who are reading, please bear with me, I will surely have some things to tell you about very soon.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Florida in the Midwest




I'm spending the next two weeks helping out my friend Dan's band from Brooklyn called Florida with a tour through the midwest. The tour is to support their new 7" on Shdwply records called "Haunted House." I did a small tour with them over the summer for their "Icarus" 7".

Here is a link to download the new 7"

All of the shows are with the Minneapolis psych pop band Velvet Davenport. The tour starts tonight in Chicago, then heads east for a couple shows in New York and one in Philly before swinging back around and finishing up with a final show in Minneapolis with Harry Merry from Holland.

I set up the philly show at Danger Danger Gallery, which my other band, The Spooks, will also play. I also asked Nymph from Brooklyn and Philly's Ideath(Russell from Man Man, Buffalo Stance, Columboid, Icy Demons, Coyote, Lewis & Clarke, etc...) to play. It should be an awesome night, here is the flier that a friend of mine named Dan Hughes put together.

Last week before the tour started we went up to Vassar College in Poughkeepsie NY to do a show with Sore Eros and Teeth Mountain. Before the show we did a live set on the Vassar radio station, WVKR. Listen to the session here.

It's pretty exciting to be on the road with these rad bands but I am looking forward to getting home and sleeping in my bed again. Not to mention getting back to work on the next issue of flavs, which will hopefully be ready by april.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

End of Days, Why Not You?


Mississippian R. Cole Furlow a.k.a. Dead Gaze just sent me a link to his newest tape, titled "End of Days, Why Not You?" My last post was a video for the track "Back and Forth." The song makes me think of Animal Collective playing Beck all lo-fi'd out. I tried so hard to get a show together with them on my band's recent tour down south but nothing ended up happening which is a giant shame. Hopefully I will get to see them at SxSW in March if things work out. I'm also hoping to get them to come up to philly some time in the near future, so look out.

This might not be up for very long, so move quick.