A Web Server In Need of Prozac

This reminds me of some people I've known...

http://aoi.ruinevil.com/

Large Number on The Electronic Bible Chapter Two

Early 2004 I conducted an interview with Ann Shenton,
ex-Add N To (X), who now runs her new project called Large Number. Large Number has soon a new split single out (with X-Wife and Hiem), with a track called 'Shy English Hitler', from the forthcoming compilation Electronic Bible Chapter 2, curated by Ann Shenton.

I just received a promo copy of the single, and Large Number's track is hilarious, like an electro update of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's title song to the 1967 film Bedazzled (a parodic anti-love song, which Cook delivers in a monotonous, deadpan voice, and which includes his classic putdown "You fill me with inertia).

And you didn't hear it from me: it is rumoured that a Finnish act called Kompleksi will be featured on some future chapter of The Electronic Bible...

---

Below you can read the press release notes that came along with the promo.

---

New Single Release

Release: Electronic Bible Split Single
Artists: LARGE NUMBER / X-WIFE / HIEM
Tracks: 'Shy English Hitler' / 'Hot Shot' / 'Crawlers'
Format: 7" Vinyl Triple A-Sided
In Shops: August 22nd 2005
Catalogue No: White Label
Distribution: Shellshock

Archangel-like, this nifty little three-tracker heralds the forthcoming Electronic Bible Chapter 2 compilation curated by Ann Shenton, formerly of analogue headcases, Add N to (X). Marc Hunter of Windsor-based independent label White Label coaxed Ann into forming Large Number as well as contributing to and overseeing production of the first Electronic Bible, a wonderful, evangelical compilation of mavericks and forward thinkers, all sharing Ann's vision of electronic music as something vibrant, human and a little bit wonky.

The album follows in the autumn from where the three tracks from LARGE NUMBER, X-WIFE and HIEM have been selected for this limited edition 7".

Large Number - 'Shy English Hitler': Pacman rhythms combined with refrains wrung out of God knows what (Ann has been known to model monosynths from driftwood, go figure...) This pre-menstrual, not-suffering-fools-gladly Julie Burchill of a track -- voice by a bloke(!?!) -- is coruscating, vituperative and sweetly sinister. Ann thinks that Large Number tracks have a cheeky perverted dwarf humour to them. This hasn't stopped the Spray On Sound album from winning audiences ranging from Radio Three to New York's most avant-garde turntables.

X-Wife - 'Hot Shot': newly recorded for this compilation, these Portuguese punkers' Feeding The Machine album has won them tour spots with LCD Soundsystem, The Rapture and the Liars. Hot Shot's monochromatic slither of industrial cause and effect features X-Wife's Joao snarling like chief Pixie, Frank Black with a glowing wire up his arse jerking to a backdrop of dentist's drill riffs astride growling synths.

Hiem - 'Crawlers': another polyphonic pearl from the Sheffield-based dynamic duo. Hiem eschew songs for sub-four minute dance symphonies. 'Crawlers' stomps, punches the air imperiously and causes an endorphin rush. For All Seeing I member, Bozz, and his sidekick Nico -- a collaborator with Pulp's Russell Senior in the lauded Vennini -- feted by the switched-on and tuned-in. Oh, and Sheffield's postal force.

The Electronic Bible Chapter 2 will feature twenty artists including Momus, Anat Ben-David and the Sheffield Stylophone Orchestra. EB1 featured contributions from Ladytron, Electronic Trailblazer and Cabaret Voltaire man, Richard Kirk, Jarvis Cocker and Large Number. A third is planned for 2006.

***

THE ELECTRONIC BIBLE: Ten Commandments

In 2001, Ann Shenton left analogue art-punks Add N To (X). After a period of recuperation, she began making electronic music under the name Large Number. Large Number's debut album, Spray On Sound -- a selection of pretty, abrasive psychedelic pop songs -- arrived in 2003, followed last year by The Electronic Bible; an evangelical compilation of those mavericks who share Ann's vision of electronic music as something vibrant, human and sligtly wonky. With Large Number about to tour and the second installment of The Electronic Bible imminent, we present -- by way of explanation and biographical background information -- ten commandments from Ann Shenton: high priestess of the alternative electronic underground... (*)

Thou shalt not flog a dead horse:

It was when the rest of the band went on tour without her, says Ann that she realised that Add N To (X) had run its course. "It had gone as far as it could without causing personal injury", she says, cryptically. "So it had to stop." They were a band of fiery characters, who enjoyed fiery times: "Being kidnapped by New York taxi drivers, meeting Mexican drug dealers, the sex, the lunacy. It was all enjoyable, for a time. But, eventually, it's like going on the same fast ride at the fair: it's predictable and you end up being sick."

Thou shalt not wear pink plastic knickers:

"Somebody told me that the definition of electroclash was, 'electronic music with a punk attitude'. We'd been trying to do that all along. Maybe if I'd worn a tiny pair of plastic pink knickers we might have got noticed a bit more. But it wasn't in my nature."

"Ego-tronic rather than electronic, too many tears for my liking", is how Ann describes the last days of ANTX. For a time, she was quietly disgusted with the whole idea of making music and being in a band. However, after a period living (with a biker gang) in Idaho, she returned to her native Windsor where Marc Hunter, who runs White Label Records, set about persuading her to make more music: "He coaxed Large Number out of me with bottles of wine".

Specifically, after enduring the inter-band tensions that typified ANTX's stormy gigs, Ms. Shenton was shit scared of playing live: "I was scarred, like a Battersea dog". However, a series of dates with Chicks on Speed, as support to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, jolted her out of her fear. After being bottled off every night -- "One night, I had a whole bottle of Baileys thrown at me, abot 60 bottles of beer and a bag of shit. Although, the bag of shit hit a security guard -- Ann reasoned that: "Nothing could be that bad again". Large Number gigs may still be fraught with exploding equipment, etc., but at least no one is hurling turds at the stage.

Thou shalt ignore London:

"In London everybody's wondering what shoes you've got on, rather than what music you make."

Thou shalt love Moog as yourself:

Despite once having made a scale model of a Moog out of driftwood ("It looked shit."), Ann insists she doesn't fetishise old keyboards. Nor is she an outright analogue puritan. Large Number occasionally utilise computer technology in the studio. However, she does still LOVE the warmth and idiosyncracies of pre-digital synthesisers: "No one keyboard sounds the same as the next one, that's what I love about them. And they get knocked about, they have battle scars -- character".

Thou shalt embrace humanity: "You know when we talked about electroclash, and all these 'I am a robot and I'm going to fuck you' songs? Well, with Large Number, I wanted to avoid all that. I felt that with 'Metal Fingers In My Body' that ANTX had already covered that ground, so I wanted to do something which was more playful, colourful and organic". The resulting album, Spray On Sound was every bit as individual and engaging as that suggests. A record as merry as it is machine-drived, it sounds like Syd Barrett collaborating with Ladytron; pastoral banjo-flecked passages intercut with Krautrocking, synthetic spasms withing this dreamlike fug, where such eclectism makes perfect sense. Importantly, it is an avant-garde record which is not weighed down by a sense of its own intellectual importance. "Christ no", mutters Ann.

Thou shalt disrupt the process:

Normally, when bands record, they go to studios; horrible, shitty, claustrophobic studios in major cities where, if you step outside for a fag, you get accosted by junkies or session musicians. Instead, Spray On Sound was recorded in a rural holiday cottage (where Large Number had to pretend, to the owner, that they were a BBC sound crew recording local birdsong): "Being in these odd places feeds into the music", says Ann. "Recently, I've been recording bits at a friend's house and consequently the songs [see the 'Shy English Hitler' single] have a totally different personality; a cheeky, perverted dwarf humour to them. There isn't any of this beautiful, orchestral, walking through fields looking at bunny rabbits thing".

Thou shalt experiment:

... with your hobbies. Ann has recently brewed some cider, which turned into wine. Or was it brandy? Anyway, it was a public health threat. Friends have also recently given her a batbox and a beehive, to nurture her interest in nature. Elsewhere, Ann edits The Dedworth Echo, a pretend local paper (in the style of The Framley Examiner) which, when she distributed issue one around Windsor: "Many people thought it was for real".

Thou shalt not worship false idols:

"A whole generation of people think that electronic music equals Kraftwerk, as if they invented this forward-looking way of thinking music. But a lot of this music begins with what was happening at the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop in the 1960s, when they were looking towards NASA and new technologies, when the future looked all shiny and unknown. That's my favourite part of electronic music history".

Thou shalt spread the word:

The second volume of The Electronic Bible (feat. Momus, Hiem, Sheffield Stylophonic Orchestra, Anat Ben-David, etc.) will be released in September, while Large Number will tour, with full band, around the same time.


(*) Ann Shenton is not a qualified priestess and she does not run her own electronic cult. It's just a joke. Partly because the compilation series is called The Electronic Bible, but because standard biographies are very, very boring.

More on the Philosophy of Kommandomixing

Kommandomix Manifesto

Not all of us have huge budgets to spend on coolest brand new vinyls, but have to rely on our earlier record collections that have been accumulating along the years. And mixing "live" at a club with mixers and monitors that, more often than not, tend to be faulty in some way and with an additional burden of having about a billion other distractions (drunken punters bothering and harassing the DJ, etc.) constantly going around you, it's hard to be immaculate in your beatmatching even for a more accomplished DJ. Of course it's easier in the peace and calm of your own home (especially if you are computer-assisted). So you have to find other ways out: therefore kommandomixing.

Using military metaphors is not an accident: I think arranging clubs and playing records there can be called a sort of warfare -- you advance, retreat and improvise according to the situation, take the terrain into account, try to find out who your allies are, and do your best to predict beforehand the movements of your adversaries. Read Sun Tzu and Clausewitz.

See also:

Discophrenia

Happy Hitler Baby Doll Shirt

I'm speechless...

EcLECTRO LOUNGE #17 on Wednesday 27 July 2005

[large image]

EcLECTRO LOUNGE #17
Wednesday 27 July 2005
20:00-02:00
@ Apadana, Suvantokatu 7-9, Tampere
free entrance!
age limit 18

Kompleksi DJs Mike Not & pHinn play nu & old electro, IDM, techno, Detroit, new wave, disco, ambient, synthpop, funk, acid house, old skool hiphop, EBM, new beat, spacepop, retro...

Guest: Alexcore (Slavic Walkmen, T:re) - IDM etc.

***

Previous Eclectro Lounge DJ sets as MP3s

Kompleksi's debut 7" still available

Info, old flyers, party pics, sets

***

And Kompleksi DJs Mike Not & pHinn also at UMF festival 6 August 2005! (@ Kåren's Pub, Turku)

[MP3] Three More Eclectro Lounge DJ Sets for pHinn's Birthday

Mmmm, guaranteed pHat beats!

It's pHinn's birthday today; in occasion we serve you three Mike Not/pHinn back-to-back DJ sets from the Eclectro Lounge club of 8 July 2005:

Mike Not & pHinn - back-to-back set I @ Eclectro Lounge, 8 July 2005 [MP3]

Mike Not & pHinn - back-to-back set II @ Eclectro Lounge, 8 July 2005
[MP3]

Mike Not & pHinn - back-to-back set III @ Eclectro Lounge, 8 July 2005
[MP3]

Tracklists here

In all our mixes we are committed to the Kommandomix Manifesto.

All soundfiles currently available through pHinnWeb.

Oz Magazine Cover Gallery

[Skip this entry if you are under 18 years old.]



Here you can see the cover gallery for the legendary late 60s/early 70s UK underground magazine Oz, spotted from the blog of mighty Jahsonic! And here (click "Library") you can see scanned contents of Oz magazines in their entirety: chockful of stuff -- articles, photographs, psychedelic and provocative artwork -- that will blow your mind, baby!

The acclaimed 60s UK underground insider and historian (Barry) Miles writes in his Hippie:

On Wednesday 23 June 1971, at court number 2 at the Central Criminal Courts of the old Bailey in the City of London, Britain's longest obscenity trial got under way. The three defendants -- Jim Anderson, Richard Neville and Felix Dennis -- were charged with having 'conspired with certain other young persons to produce a magazine' that would 'corrupt the morals of young children and other young persons' and had 'intended to arouse and implant in the minds of these young people lustful and perverted desires'. There were four other charges to do with publishing 'an obscene article', possessing copies of the magazine, sending it through the postal system and so on. The trial was a farce -- the contents of the magazine were so tame that the Soho sex shops would not have stocked it. In reality it was an attempt by the authorities to curb the growth of the underground press and to stop the spread of pernicious ideas about sexual freedom, the rights of school children and other hippie notions.

Oz had previously published a Homosexual Oz, edited by homosexuals but aimed at the usual Oz readership. The Women's Liberation Oz was edited by feminist author Germaine Greer but distributed to Oz magazine's usual underground readership. There had even been a Flying Saucer Oz, edited by people who believe in such things. The School Kids Oz was edited by school kids, but aimed at Oz's usual readership. The court, of course, thought that they were aiming the magazine at children, which was the main reason given for the case. Richard Neville represented himself. He told the jury, "One of the reasons we invited adolescents to edit this special issue of Oz was to combat the tendency for everyone to try and shut them up. We were interested in what they had to say. But we didn't want to be like the headmasters who censor everything they don't happen to agree with... Oz 28 is the result of this experiment. School Kids Issue, it says on the cover -- which means of course, the issue edited by school children, not aimed by others at them."

They advertised for school children between the ages of 14 to 18 to come and edit Oz, offering them freedom from editorial interference. Mostly they wrote about the iniquities of the school system: arbitrary punishments, vindictive teachers and grading systems. Being school kids, there was a lot of smut, including a collage of Rupert Bear with a huge phallus that had been taken from a Robert Crumb cartoon and stuck on him.

The trial result could be easily predicted. Judge Argyle made life as difficult and worrying as possible for the defendants, from not allowing an adjournment when their barrister dropped out, to remanding them in custody for social, medical and mental report before he would pronounce sentence. The defendants' long hair was forcibly shorn in prison. They were given 15 months each, and Neville was to be deported back to Australia, his birthplace. Once more the law was shown up and, once more, an appeal was needed to overturn the sentences and set the Oz Three free.

Oz Magazine @ Wikipedia
The Rupert Bear Controversy

Some July 2005 Radio Play For Kompleksi

Kompleksi's 7" has been played by Timo Kaukolampi (of Op:l Bastards/And The Lefthanded/Annie fame) on Radio Helsinki, 20 July 2005:

20.07 1700-1900 / Kaukolampi Timo

FOUR TET: No More Mosquitoes
KANABIS THE EDIT ASSASIN: Walk under a full moons light
STEVENS CAT: Was dog a doughnut
ZODIAC: Pacific
FUN FUN: Happy station
KANO: Holly dolly
UNIVERSAL ROBOT BAND: Barely breaking even
PARRIS MITCHHELL: The Worm
TUOMO ILARI PURANEN: Diga dab
J.O.Y.: Sunplus (dfa version)
KORNIQ CYLINDERS: Carousel
COMTRON: Evil OS(tm)
TWO LONE SWORDSMEN: Formica fuego
HOME VIDEO: Citizen
KOMPLEKSI: Lal lal lal
TRIO TETRIS: John Deree - Astronaut
THE GAY MC: Boys
TOTALLY MIX 2003: By Annie & Disko-Timppa

Also Kompleksi's 'Moscow 1980' has been played by Skillsters (DJ Infekto & Okke Komulainen) on their YLE X radio show, 4 July 2005:

Skillsters 4.7.
Cold Crush Brothers: Fresh, Wild, Fly & Bold (Strictly Bizness)
DJ Cash Money & Marvelous Marvin: Ugly People Be Quiet (Sequence)
Special K: Special K Is Good (Strictly Bizness)
Jackson 5: I Want You Back (Z-Trip Remix) (Motown)
Amerie: Talking About (white label)
Princess Superstar: Coochie Coo (K7)
Stanton Warriors: Steal The Pressure (Punks)
Bassbin Twins: Ruffest (Distinctive Breaks)
Stabilizer: Unbreakable (Napt Rmx) (Plastic Raygun)
Mandela & Sisulu of the Blacklover88rs: Waterbong Funk (Ramp)
Hunch: Is This The Place? (Clean Up)
Shout 4: Can't Satisfy Her (white label)
Pendulum: Tarantula (Breakbeat Kaos)
J Majik & Wickaman: Now It's Over VIP (Infrared)
Krome & Time: The License Remx (Tearin Vinyl)
Kompleksi: Moscow Nineteen Eighty (Lal)

Earlier

Photos from Underground Disco II Party + pHinn's Lost Headphones

Here are some photos from Saturday's Underground Disco II party by Sakke Karipuro. It was fun to see people frolicking in the foam, though the weather was in fact quite chilling -- hope too many people didn't catch cold!

And here you can see DJ(?) pHinn himself spinning records.

I had fun; the only sad thing is that I lost my headphones (not the ones you can see me wearing on the pic, though). Since the other guys had brought their own headphones, I had no need for my own, so I just left them in a gray plastic bag on a monitor -- and of course someone had to snatch them up! So, if that person or one of his friends happens to read this, please be an honest person and return them to Tampere's Voltti Records store, and no questions will be asked...

Playlists here.

Lolly Pop/Telephone! interview @ pHinnWeb

http://www.phinnweb.org/5HT/interviews/lollypoptelephone/:

"July 23, 2005 -- Hailing from Minnesota's St. Paul (together with Minneapolis one half of the Twin Cities), comes electro chanteuse and Telephone! front girl Lolly Pop. With a smash dance track ('Elevator Operator') on the recent Twin Cities Electropunk Vol. 2 compilation, and a solo album (Glamorous Life) in the works, life has never been sweeter. Collaborating with UK producer Ricardo Autobahn, Pop has just finished covering Prince's (the Twin Cities' best known son) 'Controversy', from his 1981 album of the same name (you can hear the Pop + Autobahn as an MP3 here.) Ladies and gentlemen, get ready to take a bubblebath with Miss Lolly Pop!"

Mass Production vs. Collector's Edition - Workshop

Mass Production vs. Collector's Edition

The Qompendium World Tour Collector's Edition
by Kimberly Lloyd & Alex Murray-Leslie

Offset magazines were yesteryear. Today, more limited, well-crafted and assorted publications catch l'air du temps. It is no longer about information but rather how information is packaged and what commodities are made available with it. In this World Tour Collector’s Edition Workshop with a total of six destinations, the first stop will be CMYK in Barcelona, which will also mark the birth of another new magazine project by Kimberly Lloyd, co-founder of M Publication.

An entirely fresh magazine concept will be introduced during this 6-hour workshop, giving the attendees insight on the techniques of producing a Collector's Edition with definite marketable potentials. The workshop is designed around the interaction and contribution of the attendees. Participating in branding, editorial grid, developing content and judging in the pre-selection of the content; gaining insight on how the bits and pieces become an epitome of fine art work. Get to know the entire range of paper, materials and creative work applied in the collection, from
offset to screen printing, from sown pieces of textile to hand-brushed aquarelles and more.

Only 100 - 200 units will be produced worldwide, all handcrafted, screened, certified and approved by a committee of participating collaborators together with the attendees. The final product will be made available for sale by distributors of leading museums, art fairs, bookshops, and boutiques world wide.

Leading Director
Kimberly Lloyd (M Publication)
In collaboration with M-real and Corbis.

Leading Co-Curator
Alex Murray-Leslie (Chicks On Speed)

Attending Collaborators
Roar Sager Creative Director _ Made
Jule Hass Creative Director _Panatom
Saul Taylor Creative Director _Winkreative
Ramon Fano Publisher _Neo2
Anoush Abrar Photographer
Antonio Macarro Photographer
Viagrafik Illustrator
Tobi Röttger Illustrator
Johnny Dog Day Illustrator
Bernat Lliteras Illustrator
Silvia Prada Illustrator

Holger Oppolzer Post production

Requirements
Infinite creativity and open mind.
Skills ranging from illustration techniques, to digital or analogue photography, cutting, sewing, painting and pasting, to art direction and photography selection.

Limited attendants: 35 - 40
Rate: 120 EUR

[MP3] New Eclectro Lounge Mixes Now Online

"We are Kommando Girls, and if you think this is a sexist image, we will whack you with the collected works of Andrea Dworkin!"

Listen to new MP3 DJ sets from the Eclectro Lounge nights: electro, IDM, disco, new wave, indie/retro pop, funk, dub, EBM, etc.

pHinn - set I @ Eclectro Lounge, 29 June [tracklist]

pHinn- set II @ Eclectro Lounge, 29 June 2005 [tracklist]

Mike Not - set II @ Eclectro Lounge, 29 June 2005 [tracklist]

Mike Not & pHinn - back-to-back set I @ Eclectro Lounge, 8 July 2005 [tracklist]

Lasso800 - IDM set @ Eclectro Lounge, 8 July 2005 [Lasso800 image]

---

In all our mixes we are committed to the Kommandomix Manifesto

All soundfiles currently available through pHinnWeb

Slavic Walkmen Does UNDERGROUND DISCO II

[see the flyer here]

Slavic Walkmen Does UNDERGROUND DISCO II
- Sex, Foam and Disco Roll!

Foam party!
Saturday 23 July 2005
22-04
@ Klubi, Tampere, Finland
tickets 3 EUR

Foamjays:
El-Allu & Go-Go Janne (Limudisko, H:ki)
pHinn & Mike Not (Kompleksi/Eclectro Lounge, T:re)
Alexcore & Lasso800 (Slavic Walkmen, T:re)

Earlier

New Additions to Finnsleaze

[Skip this entry if you're under 18.]



Some recent additions to the Finnsleaze page, collecting cover images from the 1950s to 70s Finnish men's magazines. In their own time usually shamefully hidden under the mattresses and other secret stashes, and so far overlooked in most cultural histories, I think these magazines provide an interesting alternative view to their era and perhaps its more sordid underbelly; not to mention their undeniable sleaze/trash nostalgia these provide for us now.

Cocktail 15/1970
Jallu 5/1972
Jallu 7/1972 - one of my favourite cover images with a slightly surreal atmosphere
Jallu 11/1974
Kalle 1/1974
Kavalkad 22/1968 - this one is from Sweden, and another favourite of mine with great striking pop colours, and I love her boots too!
Mies 9/1973
Nyrkkiposti 8/1971 - might this be another variation of the old theme "Eve in Paradise?" In that case I didn't know the Serpent had a twin brother!
Nyrkkiposti 11/1974
Onni 3/1981
Onni 1/1977
Ratto 11/1974
Ratto 12/1974 - uh, any more cover images like this, and I will have a stroke!
Urkki 6/1979
Urkki 7/1978

Kompleksi review in The Wire

"Because he is Finnish and associated with one of the nation's greatest record labels, hopes were pretty high for Kompleski's [sic] (I Ain't No) Lovechild/Moscow 1980 (Lal Lal Lal 7"). But it's kind of tough to get behind the hardcore electronic cheese of this single. The primitivism of the electronics is somewhat endearing on "Lovechild", but the vocals and the specific poofing electronics on "Moscow 1980" are just too close to BEF pop to raise much excitement. Maybe you just have to be there."

- Byron Coley, The Wire, August 2005, p. 62

Earlier

Bummerfest

In the town where I live there's an annual "city rock festival" held every July. Let's call it here with the name Bummerfest. Year after year, Bummerfest celebrates its complete lack of imagination and total mediocrity with its choices of performing artists; apparently as its only intention to milk in as much money as possible from the audiences, who don't obviously demand much except their cosy alcoholic stupor in sunshine, listening to the same boring local rock bands who constantly tour in this town and every other rock festival in this country anyway. Bummerfest is as imaginative and fresh as a lukewarm, stale and overpriced beer one has wasted hours lining up for at a crowded bar counter.

I spent 90 minutes myself last Saturday night queuing up to my regular club. Some people wouldn't just accept having to join the end of long line of people waiting to get in, so they did their best to sneak in to the middle of queue, with the excuse of talking to their friends there, or anything like that. Naturally, some people who had already been standing there in line for ages didn't accept the nerve of these people, and there was some aggressive shouting and exchange of angry words.

Now, I consider myself a patient person so I didn't really mind (too much) having to queue up for an eternity; besides, I've got a VIP card to this club in question (the only one I own, and I have actually worked for that by my DJing and arranging clubs etc., unlike some other VIP card owners who have been just lucky to know someone in the "inner circle"), so I can pass the queues in normal weekends -- except for this night of Bummerfest when the VIP cards were not good, obviously to make more money for the festival as entrance fees.

So, in some sense of poetic justice, I felt it was only right for me, at least one Saturday night a year, to experience what the ordinary, non-VIP card-owning punters have to go through when they've got to stand in these lines for hours to get in and pay their entry fee. That doesn't mean I would have enjoyed it. But that's how this society works, isn't it? Through the elites, hegemonies and hierachies. You are either among the privileged, or then you are not. I guess being fair has got nothing to do with it.

See also:

We Are Cattle

Superdickery

The silliest comic book covers and frames from the Golden and Silver Ages of DC Comics, Archie Comics, et. all; with Superman, Batman & co.:

http://www.superdickery.com/

See also:

pHinnWeb's Comics Links

Eclectro Lounge #16: A Search for a Missing Stylus

The beginning of this night was marked by bad luck. Someone had broken again the stylus of the other SL-1200. Since the truth, even at its best, is a flexible entity, we don't go as far as to speculate about the identity of the guilty member, who did not even have the decency to report of this misdeed to the Iranian management of Bar Apadana -- only state that it was certainly not us behind this act of corruption, cross my heart and hope to die, goddammit; additionally wishing the karmic fist will hit this mysterious delinquent back at some stage in the future. What ensued was a frantic search around the town for a replacement stylus. Mika had had a bad day earlier on, and I decided to embark on this quest before Mr. Not was going to arrange a mass murder at Apadana, or at least, redecorate the venue with a sledgehammer or some other instrument of demolishing nature.

During my walk I had good time to think, and I decided that it is obvious that there is nothing we can do to avoid chaos in this life but we can do our best to minimise its effects, whichever way we only can. Perhaps it's our reactions to chaos that differ. It's easy to become desensitised when enough bad luck continually befalls you. Personally, I've noticed that I either start to panic under stress situations, or then my mind starts to work in a cold and calculating way, like a machine. Is there a danger that one starts to gradually lose one's earlier sensitivity -- and as a consequence, even humanity -- the more one becomes faced with situations creating great emotional stress (for example loss, grief, personal failures in work and personal life, such as unrequited love, humiliation in social situations, shame)?

The stages of my trek were, to say the least, tragicomical (now when writing this, more comical, but in the time more of a tragic nature).

Since Mr. pHinn is probably the last Finn who does not yet own a mobile phone, he had to make another walk back home to make a call to Mr. Riku "Rufus" Järvinen of Voltti Records , and inquire if Mr. Järvinen could perhaps provide with the missing stylus. This usually kind and helpful gentleman of record retail sales regretted to inform me that unfortunately he could not be of assistance in this case, but suggested that perhaps Mr. Sami Koivikko, a local recording artist who he was visiting at the moment, might be able to help.

After another long and sweaty walk from my home at Näsilinnankatu to Yliopistonkatu where Mr. Koivikko's residence was located, I finally received a small crimson-coloured case containing that long-mourned-for stylus from the artist himself -- God bless his heart, or whatever metaphysical higher entity might or might not be out there. After I had finally sojourned back to the premises of the Iranian Kitchen Apadana, I found out to my bemusement, after the fashion of best theatre of absurd, that my personal quest had been ultimately futile. Namely, Mr. Sakari "Sakke" Karipuro had meanwhile managed to receive the missing stylus from a local DJ called Maurice...

After that, there is not much to report about this event. A million different things still crossed my mind, the less said about them, the better. In any case, DJ Art Barf-Uncle played another weirdo set consisting of cosmic Krautrock/avant/noise stuff combined with cheese disco and old FinnHits. You can see the tracklist of Mike Not and yours truly here. Sakke also took some photographs which you can see here.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Bureau of Public Secrets

Bureau of Public Secrets is an interesting American Website publishing texts from the Situationists and like-minded thinkers, such as the late Kenneth Rexroth, Ken Knabb, et al. Here's the latest posting from BOP Secrets:

Kenneth Rexroth's "THE MAKING OF THE COUNTERCULTURE"
http://www.bopsecrets.org/rexroth/essays/counterculture.htm

Writing at the height of the counterculture in the late 1960s, Rexroth looks back at its origins and development, stressing the radical aspects underlying its more visible and superficial features.

"Although all the literary editors and the academicians were busy telling the world in the early fifties that the age of experiment and revolt was over, a very few critics, myself amongst them, had begun to point out that this slogan alone showed how complete was the breakdown of communications between the generations. Under the very eyes of the pre-war generation a new age of experiment and revolt far more drastic in its departures, far more absolute in its rejections, was already coming into being..."

* * *

Texts of related interest at the same website:

"Disengagement: The Art of the Beat Generation" (Rexroth)
http://www.bopsecrets.org/rexroth/beats.htm

"Beginnings of a New Revolt" (Rexroth)
http://www.bopsecrets.org/rexroth/newrevolt.htm

"Subversive Aspects of Popular Songs" (Rexroth)
http://www.bopsecrets.org/rexroth/songs.htm

"Rexroth's San Francisco" (series of articles on the San Francisco Renaissance, the Beats, Haight-Ashbury, and the new rock music)
http://www.bopsecrets.org/rexroth/sf/1975.htm

"On the Poverty of Student Life" (situationist critical examination of sixties youth rebellions)
http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/poverty.htm

"On the Poverty of Hip Life" (Ken Knabb et al.)
http://www.bopsecrets.org/PH/hippies.htm

"Critique of the New Left" (Knabb et al.)
http://www.bopsecrets.org/PH/newleft.htm

"Berkeley in the Sixties" (chapter from Knabb's autobiography)
http://www.bopsecrets.org/PS/autobio1.htm

CoS Exhibition @ Kunstraum Innbruck

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Der soziographische Blick 9

CHICKS ON SPEED (AUS/D/USA) – "It's not what you think, it's the way you look!"

July 15 – August 13, 2005
@ Kunstraum Innsbruck, Austria

This new collection of new COS stagewear is a reaction to the boring and a celebration of the elaborate, including eccentric costuming, fantasy shoewear, convulsing in an investigation of unexplored femininity on stage. Chicks on Speed cannot buy what they need to wear on stage in mere mortal shops, therefore they have created unfashionable designs and everlasting classic concepts, to cater to their repertoire of multimedia extravaganical, electronic pop music on stage needs. The collection is a reflection of Chicks on Speed's recollective memory; of world tours, people and places and rock and roll living! It's an exhibition of mistakes processes and imperfection in progress. The core of the exhibition will be a collection of new COS shoes, 40 pairs and two sets of new elaborate stage outfits, including Chum Sang dresses from China... and Mad Max-inspired, chain wielding shammy disguises, plus a documentation of the making of the collection.

***************************************************

KUNSTRAUM INNSBRUCK
Maria Theresienstr. 34 Arkadenhof
A-6020 Innsbruck
T +43-512-584000
F +43-512-584000 15
office@kunstraum-innsbruck.at
http://www.kunstraum-innsbruck.at/
Di-Fr 11-18 Sa 12-17 So/Mo geschlossen
Eintritt frei!

Email Forwarding Amounts to Ritual Gift Exchange

Email forwarding amounts to ritual gift exchange:

"Forwarding a quirky email or an amusing link or video attachment to colleagues may seem innocent enough, but it is the modern equivalent of ritual gift exchange and carries with it similar social implications, say US researchers.

Email forwarding is a familiar part of modern email communications, and has spawned many an internet phenomenon, the Star Wars kid, the Numa Numa dance, and Oolong the rabbit to name just a few.

Benjamin Gross at the University of Illinois, US, and colleagues studied email forwarding behaviour by conducting informal interviews among email users. He says forwarding emails plays a vital role in constructing and maintaining modern social ties, despite the phenomenon receiving scant attention from social scientists.

Forwarding a genuinely amusing or interesting link to a friend, for example, shows that you are thinking of them and are aware of the sort of content they like, Gross says. But passing an irrelevant or out-of-date link on to contacts can be annoying, thus lowering the sender's social status in the recipient’s eyes."

Tonight: Eclectro Lounge #16

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EcLECTRO LOUNGE #16
Wednesday 13 July 2005
2000-0200
@ Apadana, Suvantokatu 7-9, Tampere
free entry!
age limit 18

May the pHunk be with you!

In honour of the sweaty Bummerfest opening night, Kompleksi DJs Mike Not & pHinn play nu & old electro, IDM, techno, Detroit, disco, new wave, ambient, dub, synthpop, funk, acid house, old skool hiphop, EBM, new beat, spacepop, retro...

The special guest DJ:

Art Barf-Uncle (Mental Alaska/Avarus/Hetero Skeleton, etc.)
- the primus motor of "New Weird Finland" scene plays psychfolkkrautFinnhits80ssleazediscospacesounds! Space is the place! Weirdness guaranteed! Summer is grazy!

***

Earlier Eclectro Lounge DJ sets to be heard as MP3s at:
http://www.phinnweb.org/listen/

Kompleksi's debut 7" still available:
http://www.phinnweb.org/kompleksi/releases/

Info, flyer gallery, party pics, etc.:
http://www.phinnweb.org/eclectrolounge/

***

Forthcoming Eclectro Lounge nights:
Wednesday 27 July 2005 (guest: Alexcore, Slavic Walkmen, T:re)

***

And Kompleksi DJs Mike Not & pHinn also at UMF festival, 6 August 2005! (@ Kåren's Pub, Turku) http://www.uudenmusiikinfestivaali.org/

Japanese Ads

A blog for "pop-culture art games tech Japan":

http://octopusdropkick.net/

Eclectro Lounge #15

Finally, the long-awaited(?) "Le Weekend Special" for Eclectro Lounge, though I have to say that as far as the amount of audience present, the night was "only" OK. Mike Not and me played this time "back-to-back", meaning we spinned only short sets in turn. The musical order of this night consisted of dub reggae, new wave funk, '88 UK house, a bit of old skool hiphop and synthpop, vintage acid house and more recent girlie-girlie electro pop. Some of it was horrifyingly "popular" (a couple of people even danced which has been unfortunately rare at our nights), so not much for underground electro headz this time either, but I didn't see too many of those people around, anyway. And oh yes, Lasso800 of local Slavic Walkmen posse played as a guest DJ a nice set of cool IDM.

Lately I've become more and more into "megamixes": they were a sort of remix medleys of different dance tracks mixed rapidly together -- and often featuring some funny sounds, speech samples and music from old movies and TV shows, etc. -- which were still in vogue in the 80s, but I haven't seen too many of those around lately. Mike Not has played at Eclectro Lounge some great old megamixes with such artists as New Order or Sigue Sigue Sputnik, and I too have some "Beatbox" remixes of Danish origin from the 80s (I played DJ Jack's '88 UK house mix myself). Does any of the current artists still do megamixes, and if so, where to find them? For example, I'd sure love to play a megamix of new electro myself!

The tracklist here.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Jim Thompson: The Getaway

The blurb of Jim Thompson's The Getaway (1958):

"The story of a bank robbery and its aftermath, of cross and double-cross, told with the unflinching eye of America's greatest crime writer.

When it comes to pulling off the perfect bank job, Doc McCoy wrote the book. But with a partner like Rudy Torrento, who is not only treacherous but insane, and a wife who is still an amateur, McCoy has forgotten something: when the crime is big and bloody enough, there is no such thing as a clean getaway."

Doc McCoy is a psychopath of charming type (and a typical "Right Man" too?), who doesn't flinch to kill anyone trying to get on his way. One can claim he even has a hypnotic hold on his wife Carol, an ex-librarian gone bad. Rudy Torrento, a psychopath of nasty type, is a gruesome end result of lifetime abuse. They leave behind them a trail of corpses, Thompson's hard-hitting prose depicting the unfolding events bleakly but with a great psychological eye.

Filmed by Sam Peckinpah in 1972 starring Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw. Thompson -- also called "the Dostoyevsky of dime store novel" -- himself was initially hired to adapt The Getaway, but was subsequently fired by star Steve McQueen who deemed his style too depressing (in the film Doc and Carol are more romantic villains à la Bonnie and Clyde than Thompson's original murderous and calculating psychopaths). As result, the film is still an entertaining action movie, but misses the real grist of Thompson's novel. Cathi Unsworth writes in the Bizarre magazine: "The Getaway, the novel, begins as a routine caper and ends, steeped in a sense of Biblical retribution, with its bank robber protagonists Doc and Carol McCoy trapped in the Mexican purgatory of El Rey, having previously lain low in underground caves and a room made from shit. It wasn't an ending McQueen was likely to relish."

Excerpts from the book:

Flight is many things. Something clean and swift, like a bird skimming across the sky. Or something filthy and crawling; a series of crablike movements through figurative and literal slime, a process of creeping ahead, jumping sideways, running backwards.

It is sleeping in fields and river bottoms. It is bellying for miles along an irrigation ditch. It is back roads, spur railroad lines, the tailgate of a wildcat truck, a stolen car and a dead couple in lovers' lane. It is food pilfered from freight cars, garments taken from clotheslines; robbery and murder, sweat and blood. The complex made simple by the alchemy of necessity.

You cannot do what you must unaided. So throughout your struggling, your creeping and running, your thieving and killing, you are on the hunt for help. And if you live, you find it, sooner or later.

Doc knew people; and having been born among them, he knew this kind very well. Their existence was centered around existing. They had no hope of anything more, no comprehension that there might be anything more. In a sense they were an autonomous body, functioning within society which was organised to grind them down. The law did not protect them; for them it was merely an instrument of harassment, a means of moving them on when it was against their interest to move, or detaining them where it was to their disadvantage to stay.

Doc knew them well. He knew how to talk to them.

Her mind moved around and around the subject, moving with a kind of fuzzy firmness. With no coherent thought process, she arrived at a conviction -- a habit with the basically insecure; an insecurity whose seeds are invariably planted earlier, in under- or overprotectiveness, in a distrust of parental authority which becomes all authority. It can later, with maturity -- a flexible concept -- be laughed away, dispelled by determined clear thinking. Or it can be encouraged by self-abusive resentment and brooding self-pity. It can grow ever greater until the original authority becomes intolerable, and a change becomes imperative. Not to a radical one in thinking, that would be too troublesome, too painful. The change is simply to authority in another guise which, in time, and under any great stress, must be distrusted and resented even more than the first.

Links:

Jim Thompson @ Wikipedia

The Killer Beside Me: The Jim Thompson resource page

Jim Thompson @ kirjasto.sci.fi

Jim Thompson @ eskimo.com

Some reviews @ Amazon

Jim Thompson @ Bizarre

Earlier

And more

Are Terrorists Into Numerology?

7 July 2005 = 7/7/2005 = 7 + 7 + 7 (2+0+0+5=7)

BBC News

Kompleksi's 'Moscow 1980' @ Bill Zurat playlist, WFMU

Bill Zurat of WFMU (USA) has played Kompleksi's 'Moscow 1980' on his 4 July 2005 radioshow. See the playlist here.

Earlier

Eclectro Lounge: Le Weekend Special on Friday!

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EcLECTRO LOUNGE #15 - LE WEEKEND SPECIAL!

Friday 8 July 2005
2000-0200
@ Apadana, Suvantokatu 7-9, Tampere, Finland
free entry!
age limit 18

Kompleksi DJs Mike Not & pHinn play nu & old electro, IDM, techno, Detroit, disco, new wave, ambient, synthpop, funk, acid house, EBM, new beat, spacepop, retro...

Special guest DJ: LASSO800
- The sailing IDM cowboy of Slavic Walkmen [T:re]!

***

Previous Eclectro Lounge DJ sets can be heard as MP3s at:
http://www.phinnweb.org/listen/

Kompleksi's 7" still available:
http://www.phinnweb.org/kompleksi/releases/

Info, earlier flyers, photos, sets:
http://www.phinnweb.org/eclectrolounge/

***

More forthcoming Eclectro Lounge clubs:

Wednesday 13 July 2005 (guest [tbc!!!]: Art Barf-Uncle, Mental Alaska/Avarus, T:re)

Wednesday 27 July 2005 (guest: Alexcore, Slavic Walkmen, T:re)

***

And Kompleksi DJs Mike Not & pHinn can be also heard at Turku's electronic music festival UMF on Saturday´6 August 2005! (@ Kåren's Pub)
http://www.uudenmusiikinfestivaali.org/

The Great Food Wars (=Farce): Finland Vs Italy & France

"Silvio Berlusconi or Jacques Chirac: who is the bigger fool?"



Finnish evening paper Iltalehti on 6 July 2005: "Vote: who's the bigger fool: Berlusconi or Chirac?"

'Playboy' Berlusconi irks Finland

Berlusconi says he used "playboy skills" in contest with Finland over Food Authority

Finland summons Italian ambassador after Berlusconi bashes Finnish food

Italian PM's criticism of Finnish food leads to talks with ambassador

Times rebuts Chirac's Finnish food slur

Now Chirac also Mocks Finnish Food

French diplomat doubts truth of reports of Chirac's comments on Finnish food

Hands off the Finns: they're all right, Jacques

Mogdax & Made In Italo Records

Dax DJ of Italy, familiar from Family House and some earlier contributions to pHinnWeb Chart, is involved with Made In Italo Records, with their first vinyl featuring 'Jack Ibiza' trax! You can download it from http://www.mogdax.info. And you can check out their live set at http://www.andreatoniolo.com/test/mogdax/.

---

MOGDAX made in italo

(fact 1)

A1: jack ibiza 8:26
B1: black side 7:09
B2: jack ibiza (acappella) 1:00

MII 001 US
copyright 2005 www.mogdax.info
label management: Fabio Carniel
trax written and produced by MOGDAX
Maximiliano Faccio “MOG” and Dario Bedin “DAX DJ”

licence/feedback: info@discomix.it

order: http://www.uniquedist.com/

info/booking: mogdax@mogdax.info

Eclectro Lounge #14

Finally a couple of words about Eclectro Lounge #14 last Wednesday, though there's not much to tell. Previous night's DJ had managed to destroy the stylus of one of the Technics SL-1200's of Apadana, so we had to wait with Mike Not for DJ TT to bring his own stylus before the action could start in earnest. The night itself was an OK success, though I wonder if I personally succumbed to too much DJ whoring and played too many audience-pleasing "hits" (see the playlist here). The funny thing, though, was that people seemed to like it, since those folks who had arrived there early evening also stayed in and never ran off. This way lies decadence for DJ pHinn...?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

[MP3] Listen to New Eclectro Lounge Mixes Online

DJ Sakke - ambient set @ Eclectro Lounge, 15 June 2005

DJ Matias - IDM set @ Eclectro Lounge, 15 June 2005
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pHinn - electro set @ Eclectro Lounge, 15 June 2005
[tracklist]

DJ Autobass - electro set @ Eclectro Lounge, 15 June 2005
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DJ Mike Not's mini-set @ Eclectro Lounge, 15 June 2005


Eclectro Lounge

In all our mixes we are committed to the Kommandomix Manifesto.

All soundfiles currently to be heard through pHinnWeb

pHinnWeb Chart July 2005...

... can be found here. Again, thanks to all record labels and artists who have kindly sent their promos.

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