Telemachus sneezed

Pull-the-carpet-from-under-you... is it hip hop, trip hop or some new thing we need some lame journo sub-genre name for? Anyway, I'm fucking loving this. Thanks to the last decent music writer to come from the Melody Maker/NME axis of evil, Neil Kulkarni, for pointing the way. Read his blog. It makes me not hate music. And also realise I've been ignoring way too much great stuff these last few years.




http://www.kilamanjaro.co.uk/

all governments are liars, thieves and murderers

Every drop of blood that falls

I had to share it with you all

Pain's not pleasure it just hurts

I wept these tears into the dirt

Though I shared it with you all

Men like me have far to fall

I gave you all

Not so much prescience, as something that's always been true

Economic forecast soothe our dereliction
Words of euthanasia, apathy of sick routine
Carried away with useless advertising dreams
Blinding children, life as autonotomes

NatWest, NatWest-Barclays-Midlands-Lloyds
Blackhorse apocalypse
Death sanitised through credit
NatWest, NatWest-Barclays-Midlands-Lloyds
Blackhorse apocalypse
Death sanitised through credit

Barclays iron eagle, "33 injection"
Sold to advertisers, computer execution line
They give and take away, repossess and crucify
The more you own the more you are, lonelier with cheap desire

NatWest, NatWest-Barclays-Midlands-Lloyds
Blackhorse apocalypse
Death sanitised through credit
NatWest, NatWest-Barclays-Midlands-Lloyds
Blackhorse apocalypse
Death sanitised through credit

Prosperity - exports for Pol Pot
Prosperity - Mein Kampf for beginners

NatWest, NatWest-Barclays-Midlands-Lloyds
Blackhorse apocalypse
Death sanitised through credit
NatWest, NatWest-Barclays-Midlands-Lloyds
Blackhorse apocalypse
Death sanitised through credit

the other best song ever

certainly the best band ever, if we can count Cravats/Dada Cravats Laboratory/DCL Locomotive/The Babymen/The Very Things as one multi-headed creature, and I'm going to, whether you like it or not

 

YOU EAT YOUR STODGY GOO AND YOUR TEETH GO BAD
YOUR BREATH SMELLS OF CIGARETTES AND THAT'S TOO BAD
YOUR DADS DRIVE MARINAS DOWN CUL DE SACS
WHILE YOUR SONS CREEP AROUND IN THEIR PLASTIC MACS

I HATE THE UNIVERSE

HAD IT UP TO HERE WITH THE HUMAN RACE
SWALLOW MY PRIDE, SUCH A BITTER TASTE
BEEN CAGED UP AND TIED DOWN TOO FUCKING LONG
THE PRESSURE SO GREAT CAN SO MANY BE WRONG?

I HATE THE UNIVERSE

2 MILLION YEARS AND WE REACH THIS PLACE
TURN AROUND AND STARE IT IN THE FACE
IF I DESPISE FOR TOO LONG,IT'LL BE TOO LATE
BUT RIGHT AT THE MOMENT ALL I CAN DO IS HATE

I HATE THE UNIVERSE

You're my only friend, you don't even like me (THE best song ever)

the best song ever written and performed by humans
teen angst never summed up more succinctly than the chorus to "My Pal" by God
and that there singer? 17 at the time. damn, man

 

 to be a partyhead
something I could never do
I don't like no one
except for you

you're my only friend
you don't even like me

come on over to my house
I got a plan for you
you're not gonna come
but I want you to


you're my only friend
you don't even like me

one of the bestest songs ever

Saw this on Snub TV in 1989. Already like a bit of REM and a lot of indie, but this was instrumental in steering me towards music that was a tad less "raggghhhh fuck the government", as well as being a fucking spine-tingler of epic proportions.

sitting watching clouds go by
falling across a very wide sky
it's the night of the chill blue
and i'd like to say how I love you
but it's all been said in other songs
and if i try to say it new
then i'll say it wrong
so I think of you, the only one
i wish that it was just us two
but it's you and me and us - that's three
 twinkling stars over foreign lands
silent camel train on desert sands.
 Its the night of the chill blue
and I hope to god you feel this too

now I am become death

The Way of the Samurai is found in death.
 Meditation on inevitable death should be performed daily.
 Every day, when one's body and mind are at peace,
 One should meditate upon being ripped apart by arrows, rifles, spears, and swords, being carried away by surging waves,
 Being thrown into the midst of a great fire, being struck by lightning, being shaken to death by a great earthquake,
 Falling from thousand-foot cliffs, dying of disease or committing seppuku at the death of one's master.
 And every day, without fail, one should consider himself as dead.
 This is the substance of the Way of the Samurai.
 — The Hagakure

Now I Am Become Death




This is a war universe. War all the time. That is its nature. There may be other universes based on all sorts of other principles, but ours seems to be based on war and games. All games are basically hostile. Winners and losers. We see them all around us: the winners and the losers. The losers can oftentimes become winners, and the winners can very easily become losers. "The War Universe", William S Burroughs

the essential truth about government

"Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action. " -- George Washington

www.gunsanddopeparty.com/


 

Who's driving?

I awoke in a sweat from the American Dream
They were loading the bomb bay of the iron bird
Giving their blood to the Doomsday Machine
I screamed into the wind my goodbye to the world

It was dark in the desert so we walked through the night
The vessel was waiting where we had been led
An awesome machine to tear through the sky
The last exodus from the land of the dead

We are swimming in the lunar sea
Drowning in insanity
Look to the shore you will see
Your leaders were lying
Nobody's driving!

Upon the horizon is the earth I once knew
Now a red ball of light suspended in space
So we erected a stone on the shore of the sea
As a grim epitaph to the lost human race

We are swimming in the lunar sea
Drowning in insanity
Between the devil and the deep blue sea
Our world is dying
And nobody's driving!

please sir, may i have some more

I'm not given to stereotypes much, but the notion that the Tories are a shower of self-serving poshboy cunts who don't give two shits for those less well off than themselves is getting more and more difficult to dismiss.
Not content with making backroom tax-dodging deals with the very useless twats who caused the recession, or with siphoning money from the benefits system into the coffers of foreign private enterprises, or with instigating a culture of outright hatred of the poor, disadvantaged and ill, the likes of Iain Duncan Smith are now flat-out voicing their previously thinly-veiled contempt for the rest of us.

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/318425

The ultra-authoritarian, "do as we say, not as we do" position has never been stated more clearly.
“How far do you want to go with the idea that you can choose to do exactly what you want?”, the disgusting, bald, supposedly-Christian, waste-of-oxygen wanker snarled at disabled people who'd been making something of themselves via working for Remploy. As if the disabled didn't face enough obstacles without being spoken to like misbehaving children, and reminded that they should just do what their superiors tell them to without question.
"Fuck off and stack some shelves for the benefits you've paid for, at less than a living wage, be grateful and shut up" is the message of this vile, spiteful, greedy, inhumane, inhuman government. As if any of them would know real work if it crawled up their over-privileged arses and died there.

The only message we can give them is one of total resistance. Just say no. Don't buy into their hateful lies, their smug, condescending doublespeak and spend as much energy as you can on reminding your own MP just who they're supposed to represent.
I don't advocate violence except for in self defense, but now it feels very much like our selves need defending. These hypocrites laud revolutions in other countries that throw off oppressive regimes, well, just because the UK isn't yet a totalitarian state, doesn't make their oppression any less real. Their entire ethos boils down to "might is right" (as anyone who has dared to test their power will know, or even passing newspaper vendors, they can murder you with NO consequences), so we have to be different, we have to maintain our humanity in the face of a dehumanising system that wants nothing more than for the rest of us to be docile, robotic, worker-drone consumers who're grateful for what we're they allow us to have. Fuck that and fuck them.
Fuck them where they breathe.

who's driving your brain?

an Uncle Bob habit I find useful is realising which "you" is in charge of your brain at any one time: the rationalist, the magician, the solipsist, the egotist, the artist, etc
if you think you're only one thing all the time, you'll struggle with the attendant cognitive dissonance, and you will probably become just one thing all the time, which is no way to deal with reality
thinking that you're a rationalist is to deny everything else you are; rather like stating that an apple "is" green, while ignoring that it is also (mostly) spherical, sometimes red, a fruit, nutritious when ingested, etc.
also, if you observe humans for any length of time, one thing you will observe is that they are rarely completely rational. now, remember that you belong to the set of all humans and apply that to yourself. because it's always easier to see in others. our own biases are too close to our nervous system & related senses for us to notice.

Amebix "Sonic Mass"

I am not a reviewer, I find music journalists' endless egotistical twaddle rather tedious, but Amebix so exceeded all of my expectations with their reunion album that I was moved to scrabble together a review.


This is the great work.

Amebix were always a special band to me. “Who’s The Enemy?” and “No Sanctuary” were lo-fi, finding-of-feet sketches. The “Winter” single sounded unearthly and was the point at which they started to sound like their own band, with their own voice. Yes, their influences are worn on their sleeves for all to see, but it’s sheer force of personality which makes them more than the sum of their influences. Ostensibly about braving the winter season in run down Bristol squats, with little to no money, it sounded like an evocation of The Winter to end all winters, an eternal state of suspended animation, a frozen anti-apocalypse, veils too cold to be lifted. “Arise” and the (until recently) massively underrated “Monolith” were paths away from the stifling straightjacket of anarcho/crust punk. As necessary as it sometimes is to shout “fuck the system”, there is no art there. No connection. Amebix always seemed to me to be striving towards communicating something much larger, more fundamental, and with “Sonic Mass” - after a 2 decade break, after “the well ran dry”, as Rob Miller put it in the Amebix DVD “Risen” – they have achieved just that.

The crusties and anarchopunk leftovers will likely hate “Sonic Mass”. But they never got it in the first place. Amebix was always a personal gnosis. As Rob “The Baron” growls here (and, I don’t think his voice has ever sounded better, both on the growling, snarling and cleaner singing), “Distillation, revelation”. The old tagline “No Gods No Masters” still rings through everything they do, but then, why songs about revelation, “I am the Logos, called again”, “Mithras, Dionysius, Osiris, Adonis”? Do you fucking get it yet? Regardless of what you believe, atheist, theist, deist, agnostic; you should realise the power, meaning and necessity of our human myths, archetypes, rituals. They have long spoken of self-realisation, of finding and knowing your own true self and strength. “No Gods No Masters” is a rejection of all dogma, not of all Gods. You never know who you’ll need on your side in this life.

This isn’t punk, and it’s only barely metal via surface detail. The stinking old crusties may think this is not the Amebix they loved. They, too, were concerned only with surface. This is Amebix through and through, more world-weary, maybe, and possibly a tad sentimental in places, but wiser, more mature, more measured. This is also very human music; like that twattish ego-in-wraparound-shades Bono, the Miller brothers deal in universals. Unlike him, they realise that old Taoist adage that “the way that can be spoken of is not The Way” (or, as Bruce Lee put it, “It's like a finger pointing at the moon. Do not concentrate on the finger or you will miss all of the heavenly glory!”). They offer hints and pointers towards that which is but cannot be held by cages of words.

Although they released the last track “Knights Of The Black Sun” as a collectible teaser for the album, this really is a cohesive whole. Each track works on its own, but taken together it forms a journey of revelation. From the seemingly laid back Joy Division-esque opener “Days”, we hear a voice tinged with melancholy from the struggle of life. It may seem strange to open your first album in almost a quarter of a century with something so laid back and, almost, ballad-like, but sometimes the question which needs answering is, “how did we reach our starting point?”
“Days” speaks unspoken volumes of battles won, struggles overcome, a sadness but also a pride in reaching this point and the knowledge that only age can bring, that good or bad, each day is a unique treasure to be learned from. Life will try you and scar you, but you only get one chance at it.

“Shield Wall” is a short, pounding, instrumental, a declaration of, if not war, then of standing one's ground. Roy Mayorga proving his worth (as he has with the huge-sounding production job) with clattering tribal (generic term for those of us who know nowt about drumming) beat. Staring down the present, daring the future to throw at you what it will.

“Ba – Ra – Ka”, the invocation opening “The Messenger”, an ancient greeting, various alchemical references are called, with a typical – but huge sounding thanks to a production that has never before graced an Amebix recording – chugging riff and precise percussion. A melodic refrain rings out, “We saw the light… between the moon and the sun”. This is the work the wise man will see. This song (and, indeed, the whole album) is a mirror, if a monkey looks in, no philosopher looks out.
Our magick, our alchemy, is our lives. That is our great work.

The narrative threads along into “God Of The Grain”, referring to the similarity in many old myths (Mithras, Dionysius, Osiris, Adonis, Jesus). As I said before, you don’t have to be religious to realise the importance, value and need for myths. They are part of our human story and tell us things about ourselves that science cannot. The political philosopher John Gray recently had a piece published on the BBC discussion website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14944470), concerning science/rationalists/atheists’ inability, or refusal, to recognise the value of the very myths (and human need for ritual) that Amebix are referring to here. Although generally a “fan” of Gray, I think he’s barking up the wrong tree with that argument. We can accept the reality, or lack thereof, of the basis of myths, while understanding their power and our own need for them. One can learn from any and every myth, legend or worldview, without necessarily believing that they are based on actual events.

“Visitation” has received some flack as a “filler” track, but I feel it to be an important part of the album’s meta-narrative. Utilising a spoken narrative from (I think) the brothers’ uncle, it speaks of “I was never young, and neither were you”, of some sort of ‘contact’ or revelation/personal gnosis experience, of being careful of what one wishes for. We don’t find out the nature of the contact, but as with “God Of The Grain”, the signs are there, “You know me”. We may never be able to fully express that one objective truth which lies at the heart of all our stories, but we, ultimately, know it.

“Sonic Mass Part 1” is another change of pace, a mostly acoustic lament, “when will we be released?” From what, I do not know, but I never thought mandolins on an Amebix album would fit in!

“Sonic Mass Part 2” is the polar opposite, a storming thrasher, with bellowing “aaahhhhh”s leading into a typical Amebix chugger, but with little embellishments they would never have had the confidence to try before. Hinting at things eastern, maybe Islam? I hear the call to prayer. By cleverly keeping their lyrical hints just vague enough, you’re hooked into imagining what is unsaid.

“Here Come The Wolf”… Tennyson-referencing, about those who come only to destroy us. Chiming, melodic with catchy refrains, “They dream revenge”, still drenched in ye olde teufelkunst, that darkness with a hint of possible salvation through self-affirmation. Amebix were never for the darkness they described, but the ways out of it which they hinted at over and over.

“The One”, also, is pretty tuneful, a building, keening cavalcade of rolling drums and a simple guitar motif, as the Baron points out what should be obvious, “all sense of separation, this is your illusion”. Once we forget from whence we came, we no longer know who we are and have no chance of figuring out where we’re going.

“Knights Of The Black Sun”… for many the first track we heard. I liked it at first, but after hearing it in it’s place as album-closer, and with the benefit of lyrics (I received no lyrics sheet with the vinyl, but they’re available, for “Knights" at least, on the official website), I can feel it’s true power. A real builder, starting fairly mellow, and with the melancholic edge that a few of the other songs have, it eventually grows into a thunderous acclamation of freedom. The only chains that restrain our freedom are mental, and once we realise that, no one can enslave us. I’d go so far as to describe it as rather beautiful and moving in its skilful intertwining of both metaphorical and realistic imagery.

Additional praise must be given to Roy Mayorga’s contribution here, far beyond just the drumming. The production and various samples/keyboards really help to bring the various threads and sounds of these songs into one cohesive whole. And, according to recent interviews, the reformation would not have happened without his input.

Wishing for an “Arise” part two - rather than this complex (yet simple, such is the old Amebix power), huge, very human piece of art – would be an infantile response to the return of this band.
We had no right to expect anything this great; surely they’re a bunch of crusty old has-beens whose influence extended way beyond their initial impact, only after their collapse.
But, 2 decades of forging swords in the shadows of Skye’s mighty Cuillins has kept The Baron in touch with the atavistic spirit which has infused all of Amebix’s greatest works. The well which was dry is once more abundantly overfull with inspiration.

The power, most assuredly, remains.



Desperation took us down
Uneasy lies, the head
That wears the crown
You can't see it

I saw the mourners passing by
These wicked men
Beneath the sulfurous skies
Oh what can it mean?

Every bell is silent here
The hands of clocks are bound
And time itself has stopped
Can you feel it?

The birds are frozen in their flight
Trapped within the thunder light

A storm is rising
A voice within the winter halls
Some great secret from these careless lips will fall

A star on our horizon
See you gods forgotten son
Lies broken and alone
Searching for a father,he has never known....

From Dresden's blazing skies
To the bloody wash of dawn
I saw the beast arise
And climb upon the throne

And fallen angels weep
And long for peace, for home
Whilst far beneath the ice they sleep
These dark knights of the black sun

And on the stormlashed mountain high
I found the hidden book
On the altar of the wretched prince of lies

And I broke apart the graven seal
And these seven words I read
Rejoice, the great god Fear is dead

So from the rooftops call it out
You were always free
Yes from the rooftops call it out
And ever may you be

www.amebix.net

www.easyaction.co.uk/detail/AMBEA002LP

You know we're screwed when David Icke is making sense

THE PROBLEM...

THE SOLUTION...

Atossers

Not only do ATOS "Healthcare" (sic - should be 'Moneycare') ruin the lives of ill and disabled people, denying them benefits from the system they've paid into all of their working lives, whilst siphoning off hundreds of millions of taxpayers' money into non-UK coffers, they also hate freedom of speech and attack anyone who stands up for their victims.

http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2011/08/21/atos-oppressors-free-speech/

So, should you find yourself out of work because of illness, and find that you have been deemed able to work by some shill scum doctor whoring themselves to this Tax-thieving machine, don't complain about it, or they'll come after you.

To ATOS and the vermin who work for you: FUCK YOU WHERE YOU BREATHE, SCUM.

the most apt song I could think to post

Let some light shine on the poor and the shy and the ugly ones
It's burning in my eyes again they aren't angry
Because we're dancing with the devil in the pale moonlight
And I can try to put it right and we ought to pray
Cause we're dancing with the devil in the pale moonlight
And I will try to put it right and we wait for daylight
We're moving along with sad sad sad songs
And I don't like the raining and they aren't moving with the times
And I can't beat the walls you build you build buildings
Because we're dancing with the devil in the pale moonlight
And I can try to put it right and we ought to pray
Cause we're dancing with the devil in the pale moonlight
And I will try to put it right and we wait for daylight
Cause we're dancing with the devil in the pale moonlight
And I will try to put it right and we wait for daylight
Live die on your faith live life on your days
It's burning in my eyes again they can't take the spark from my eyes
We can't kill the light that shines which burns it's burning
Because we're dancing with the devil in the pale moonlight
And I can try to put it right and we ought to pray
Because we're dancing with the devil in the pale moonlight
And I can try to put it right and we wait for daylight
The meek shine in Heaven, nothing if no misery
Unevolved doesn't mean the same and we ought to pray - light
Because we're dancing with the devil in the pale moonlight
And I can try to put it right and we wait for daylight

Worried?

If you are worried that you may be an anarchist and need to report to your local re-education camp, so that you can be trained to love money above all else and hate foreigners, poofs and poor people, then there is a quick and easy test you can take:

http://www.spacehijackers.org/amIananarchist/index.html

Opposition to oppression is terrorism

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jul/31/westminster-police-anarchist-whistleblower-advice

Do you know of any policeman in your neighbourhood?
Sometimes these enemies of freedom try to pass themselves off as humans.
BEWARE! Policemen can seriously damage your liberty and stifle your right to complain about being oppressed and exploited by capitalist scum who take everything and give nothing.
If you know of any policemen, report them immediately to your nearest Anarcho-Syndicalist.

The desperate crying wail of the clueless Tory, I'm-alright-Jack-so_fuck-everyone-else, cunt

</retarddailyfailvoice>"If you can post on the internet, you can work. I know someone who had *insert ailment* and they're working, so you can work"</cuntvoice>
And a myriad variations upon.

I've always thought that, "of which ye do not know, ye should keep thine ignorant fucking mouth shut about". Unfortunately, the ethos of the Daily Fail-reading tory tosser who only cares about himself and anyone fortunate enough to never require a return on their National Insurance, is the opposite of that.
Free Speech
For The Dumb


(by the way, if any of the 0 people reading this know of any job vacancy which requires as much effort as posting a few words on a blog every few days, and also pays a decent living wage, please do let me know)

Timothy Leary quotes...

'To describe externals, you become a scientist. To describe experience, you become an artist. The old distinction between artists and scientists must vanish. Every time we teach a child correct usage of an external symbol, we must spend as much time teaching him how to fission and reassemble external grammar to communicate the internal. The training of artists and creative performers can be a straightforward, almost mechanical process. When you teach someone how to perform creatively (ie, associate dead symbols in new combinations), you expand his potential for experiencing more widely and richly.'

'"Turn on" meant go within to activate your neural and genetic equipment. Become sensitive to the many and various levels of consciousness and the specific triggers that engage them. Drugs were one way to accomplish this end. "Tune in" meant interact harmoniously with the world around you — externalize, materialize, express your new internal perspectives. Drop out suggested an elective, selective, graceful process of detachment from involuntary or unconscious commitments. "Drop Out" meant self-reliance, a discovery of one's singularity, a commitment to mobility, choice, and change. Unhappily my explanations of this sequence of personal development were often misinterpreted to mean "Get stoned and abandon all constructive activity."'

'The universe is an intelligence test.'

'Monotheism is the primitive religion which centers human consciousness on Hive Authority. There is One God and His Name is _______ (substitute Hive-Label). If there is only One God then there is no choice, no option, no selection of reality. There is only Submission or Heresy. The word Islam means "submission". The basic posture of Christianity is kneeling. Thy will be done. '

'Each religion has got their own way of making you feel like a victim. The Christians say "you are a sinner", and you better just zip up your trousers and
give the money to the pope and we'll give you a room up in the hotel in the sky'