Answer To Life

I've searched in the depths of my mind to find
The answer to life is be kind not blind
Show love above all
And your life won't be so hard no more

People may fight and make war and roar
The answer to life is make love, no war
Show love above all
And your life won't be so hard no more

I go with the gang called the Vegetable Men
I smash up the hippies whenever I can
They get on my nerves with their flowers and love
They sit in Soho while I'm in a pub
Eating minced tarts, playing my darts
I see if there's any crumpet near
I don't want nothing more than my beer

I go with the gang called the Vegetable Men
I like to kick cops whenever I can
They say that I weren't too bright at my school
But if I can beat cops I can be no fool
Breaking their bones, I'm chucking 'round stones
I'm spreading 'round fear and hate
I don't want nothing more than my beer

Breaking their bones, I'm chucking 'round stones
I'm spreading 'round fear and hate
I don't want nothing more than my beer

-Blues Section: "Answer To Life" (lyrics: Jim Pembroke)

EcLECTRO LOUNGE #21, Thu 29 Sep '05

[large image]

Huom! Päivä poikkeuksellisesti torstai!
Note! The club is on Thursday (instead of the usual Wednesday date)!

---

pHinnWeb Kommando Squad presents:

EcLECTRO LOUNGE #21

Thursday 29 September 2005
@ Apadana, Suvantokatu 7-9, Tampere, Finland
20:00-02:00
Age limit 18
Free entry!

Kompleksi DJs Mike Not & pHinn play electroindiegroove.
Guest DJs: Autobass (electro, T:re)

More info, old flyers gallery, some party pics, etc.:
http://www.phinnweb.org/eclectrolounge/

Some old Eclectro Lounge sets as MP3s and beyond:
http://www.phinnweb.org/listen

[MP3] New Kommandomixes

[large image]

NOTE: THESE MIXES HAVE BEEN REMOVED TO MAKE SPACE FOR NEW MIXES. See http://www.phinnweb.org/listen for updates.

Alexcore @ Eclectro Lounge, 27 July 2005 [MP3] (added 27 Sep '05)

Mike Not & pHinn @ Eclectro Lounge, 27 July 2005 [MP3] (added 27 Sep '05)

Mike Not & pHinn @ Eclectro Lounge, 27 July 2005 [MP3] (added 27 Sep '05)

(tracklists here)

Mike Not & pHinn @ UMF, 6 August 2005 [MP3] (added 27 Sep '05)

(tracklist here)


All soundfiles @ pHinnWeb

In all our mixes we are committed to Kommandomix Manifesto.

Finnsleaze: Additions To Jallu Covers

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



Still more additions to Finnsleaze: all Jallu magazine covers of 1971 and 1972, plus some from 1969 and 1970; with some quite stylish ones!

Jallu 12/1969
Jallu 3/1970
Jallu 5/1970
Jallu 6/1970
Jallu 8/1970
Jallu 9/1970
Jallu 1/1971
Jallu 2/1971
Jallu 3/1971
Jallu 4/1971
Jallu 5/1971
Jallu 6/1971
Jallu 7/1971
Jallu 8/1971
Jallu 9/1971
Jallu 10/1971
Jallu 11/1971
Jallu 12/1971
Jallu 1/1972
Jallu 2/1972
Jallu 3/1972
Jallu 4/1972
Jallu 5/1972
Jallu 6/1972
Jallu 7/1972
Jallu 8/1972
Jallu 9/1972
Jallu 10/1972
Jallu 11/1972
Jallu 12/1972

manSEDANse Pics

[Belgium's Schizoïde and Sickboy enjoying that special Tampere delikatessen mustamakkara ("black sausage") at the backstage of Klubi - photography: Sakke Karipuro]

Here some more pics: http://sakarik.1g.fi/ManseDanse-2005/

manSEDANse: official site

Nu Collages

[large version]

"Sedan Visual Hallucinations I" (5 September 2005) © pHinn 2005


[large version]

"Mansedanse" (7 September 2005) © pHinn 2005

Earlier

pHinnMilk Comics by pHinn (not for children)

manSEDANse Festival, 21-25 September, Tampere, Finland

A Formula For The Perfect Pop Tune

A psychologist has determined a recipe for the perfect pop tune. Dr Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, a psychology lecturer at Goldsmiths College, part of the University of London, came up with the feel-good formula:

P + Pos + T + BPM + I = S

P = Pitch
Pos = % of positive lyrics
T = Tonality
BPM = Beats per Minute
I = Images or Memories associated with the music
S = Serotonin level

"Film composers use music to intensify the mood of a scene to affect the viewer's emotions and there is a formula to this," Dr Chamorro-Premuzic said.

The article also lists ten songs which are supposed to exactly follow this formula:

1 Boo Radleys: Wake Up Boo!
2 Beach Boys: Good Vibrations
3 Jackson 5: I Want You Back
4 Beatles: Here Comes The Sun
5 Madonna: Holiday
6 Van Morrison: Brown Eyed Girl
7 The Foundations: Build Me Up Buttercup
8 Michael Jackson: Wanna Be Starting Something
9 John Paul Young: Love Is In The Air
10 The Darkness: I Believe In A Thing Called Love

Well, ahem... I'm afraid I can personally agree there only perhaps about 'Good Vibrations' by The Beach Boys; judging by these criteria maybe Abba's 'Dancing Queen' would fit in too, but then, one person's golden classic tunes are always the worst cheese for some other person... And knowing how much Finnish people always lean towards melancholia in their music, probably extremely positive lyrics wouldn't exactly make such a hit on these Northern latitudes and in "this land of thousands of grievous songs" (as the band Eppu Normaali once famously put it)...

UbuWeb Film Section in Cease and Desist Limbo

I informed you about UbuWeb relaunch. Now it seems they've gotten into trouble before they even had a chance to get it properly running. Why do I get the cynical feeling that it's not actually the artists' money that is at stake here, but of different sorts of lawyers, agents, corporate businessmen and other "middle men" who take their own cut from the artists' original work? Yeah, it's again the same dispute as with the file-sharing of music: who actually rip off the artists most, some kids who illicitly distribute their music in the Net, or their own big-ass record companies...? (Only echoing here some sentiments already made by such people as Courtney Love, I don't claim to have any proper answers of my own.)

(And as a coincidence, a funny(?) story I just found from Brainwashed.Com.)

From http://www.ubu.com/film/:

September 15, 2005

Dear Friends,

We relaunched UbuWeb on September 14th with over 150 avant-garde films in digital formats for your viewing pleasure. Within hours, we received several hostile letters from representatives of filmmakers -- all lawyers and business people, not the artists themselves -- issuing cease and desist letters and threatening lawsuits. Every time, it seemed, we opened our inbox yet another appeared. We had little choice but to obey and as a result, we have iced the section -- for the time being.

We never intended UbuWeb to take any money out of the pockets of these artists; rather we feel that simple exposure to even the most degraded, corrupted, miniscule, and compressed .avi would increase interest and exposure to avant-garde film, a field whose audience has long been in decline. Our idea was to make accessible the generally inaccessible, with the hopes that should you desire to see the film in all its glory, you will make your way to the nearest theatre showing them (although there are very few) or find better copies on DVD. UbuWeb was never meant to be a substitute for the experience of viewing a film; it was meant as a teaser, an appetizer, until you can get to the real thing.

However, the real thing isn't very easy to get to. Most of us don't live anywhere near theatres that show this kind of fare and very few of us can afford the several hundred dollar rental fees, not to mention the cumbersome equipment, to show these films. Thankfully, there is the internet which allows you to get a whiff of these films regardless of your geographical location.

Obviously, certain members of the film community did not share our sentiments. They would rather keep these jewels to themselves or a select few huddled in dark rooms.

One complaint read "Kenneth Anger is penniless and living in a shack, yet you are making his films available for free and taking money away from him?" To which we reply: if the current system of avant-garde film distribution was working so well, why would the great artist Kenneth Anger be living in a shack and not a mansion? Is this really a system to hold on to? Obviously, something isn't working. If they really cared about Kenneth Anger, they would hope to expose his arguably-forgotten work to a non-geographically-specific digital savvy audience via the radical distributive possibilities of internet. Guaranteed, Mr. Anger would see his royalties soar as a result.

UbuWeb doesn't charge money, nor does it make money, nor does it take money. The idea that our efforts in any way would enrich ourselves is preposterous. UbuWeb has been performing its version of community service for ten years without making a penny.

We'll be back with our film section. Just give us some time to sort through permissions, paperwork, and other sordid details. To be continued...

All the best,
UbuWeb

Ubuweb Relaunch

Here is a treat for all you culture vultures:

[forwarded message]

__ U B U W E B __
ubu.com

----------------------------
RELAUNCH :: Fall 2005
----------------------------

A Bump in the Road: After a long summer of rebuilding, UbuWeb is back. Thanks to all our viewers who kindly encouraged our return. We'd also like to thank our new partners for making it all possible: WFMU, PennSound, The Center for Literary Computing, and Artmob. With our expanded bandwidth and storage space, you'll find a wealth of new media files, particularly in our Sound and Film sections (see below).


--- RECENT FEATURES ---

UbuWeb Films: UbuWeb now hosts over 150 avant-garde films in various formats for download by: Kenneth Anger, Samuel Beckett, Jordan Belson, Joseph Beuys, Robert Breer, James Broughton, Luis Buñuel, John Cage, Raashan Roland Kirk, Henri Chopin, Rene Clair, Guy Debord, Marcel Duchamp Viking Eggeling, Ed Emshwiller, Oskar Fischinger, FluxFilms, Robert Frank, Ernie Gehr, Henry Hills, Isidore Isou, Joris Ivens, Ken Jacobs, Dimitri Kirsanov, Peter Kubelka, George Landow, Fernand Leger, Len Lye, Gregory Markopoulos, Jonas Mekas, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Robert Morris & Stan VanDerBeek, Otto Muehl, Yoko Ono and John Lennon, Nam June Paik, Artavazd Pelechian, Robert Rauschenberg, Man Ray, Hans Richter, Walter Ruttmann, Carolee Schneeman, Richard Serra, Situationist International, Harry Smith, Jack Smith, Kiki Smith, Robert Smithson, Michael Snow, Ladislaw Starewicz, Ralph Steiner, Franciszka and Stefan Themerson, Edgard Varêse and Le Corbusier, Dziga Vertov, Rene Vienet, and James and John Whitney, amongst others. (SEE OUR FULL LIST BELOW)

Music With Roots in the Aether: A seminal series of interviews and performances concieved and realized by Robert Ashley in 1976, consisting of 14 hours worth of video and audio. Subjects and performers include: David Behrman, Philip Glass, Alvin Lucier, Gordon Mumma, Pauline Oliveros, Terry Riley, and Robert Ashley. Robert Ashley says: Music with Roots in the Aether is a series of interviews with seven composers who seemed to me when I conceived the piece-and who still seem to me twenty-five years later-to be among the most important, influential and active members of the so-called avant-garde movement in American music, a movement that had its origins in the work of and in the stories about composers who started hearing things in a new way at least fifty years ago."

The Charlotte Moorman Archive: UbuWeb is proud to host the audio archive of Charlotte Moorman (1933-1991), containing hours worth of unreleased works and collaborations by Nam June Paik, John, Cage, Earle Brown, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Terry Jennings, Toshi Ichiyanagi, Jackson Mac Low, David Behrman, La Monte Young, Sylvano Bussoti, George Brecht, Dick Higgins, Giuseppe Chiari and others. The
selection is curated by Stephen Vitiello, with special thanks to Barbara Moore / Bound & Unbound.


People Like Us: The Complete Recordings 1992-2005 UbuWeb now hosts the complete works of the UK-based People Like Us. The brainchild of Vicki Bennett, these hundreds of MP3s feature solo works and collaborations with Matmos, Negativland, Wobbly, The Evolution Control Committee, Ergo Phizmiz, Irene Moon, The Jet Black Hair
People, Xper. Xr., Messer Chups, Kenny G and Tipsy.

Christof Migone: Montréal-based Migone is a multidisciplinary artist and writer. His work and research delves into language, voice, bodies, psychopathology, performance, video, intimacy, complicity and endurance. UbuWeb is pleased to present an audio retrospective of Migone's work, both solo and with collaborators. Also featured here
are numerous writings by Migone, including a book-length work, La première phrase et le dernier mot, which is comprised of the first sentence and the last word of every book in Migone's library.

Fall 2005 :: NEW ADDITIONS

Samuel Beckett Film, 1965, 170.0 mb (MPEG)

Glenn Gould Radio Broadcasts and Radio Plays, 1967-1981, MP3

Furious Pig I Don't Like Your Face (1980) MP3

Michael Snow Sinoms (1989) MP3

Derek Beaulieu an afterword after words: notes towards a concrete poetic
(PDF)

Group Ongaku Music of Group Ongaku, 1960-1961 (Takehisa Kosugi, Syuko
Mizuno, Mieko Shiomi, Yasunao Tone), MP3

John Cage & Raashan Roland Kirk Sound, 1966, 309 mb (AVI)

Öyvind Fahlström Manipulate The World! (1963) and The Holy Torsten
Nilsson (1966) MP3

Lasry-Baschet Chronophagie "The Time Eaters" (mid-1960s) MP3

Mairead Byrne Some Differences Between Poetry & Stand-up Comedy, 2004
(PDF)

Carlfriedrich Claus Lautaggregat (1995) MP3

DJ Food Raiding the 20th Century - Words & Music Expansion (starring
Paul Morley and a cast of thousands) (MP3)

John Lennon & Yoko Ono Erection, 1971, 180.7 mb (MPEG)

U B U W E B :: Films

Kenneth Anger
Invocation Of My Demon Brother, 1969, 133.8 mb (AVI)
Invocation Of My Demon Brother, 1969, 110.0 mb (MPEG)
Kustom Kar Kommandos, 1965, 17.1 mb (AVI)
Lucifer Rising, 1970-1981, 321.6 mb (AVI)
Puce Moment, 1949, 42.7 mb (AVI)
Scorpio Rising, 1949, 194.8 mb (AVI)
Eaux D'artifice, 1953, 109.4 mb (AVI)

Samuel Beckett
Film, 1965, 170.0 mb (MPEG)

Jordan Belson
Allures, 1961, 46.0 mb (AVI)

Joseph Beuys
Sonne Statt Reagan, 1982, 4.0 mb (MOV)

Robert Breer
A Man And His Dog Out For Air, 1957, 19.2 mb (MPEG)

James Broughton
This Is It, 1971, 174.5 mb (AVI)
The Gardener of Eden, 1981, 149.1 mb (AVI)

Luis Buñuel
Un Chien andalou, 1929, 322.9 mb (AVI)
Un Chien andalou, 1929, 156.1 mb (MPEG)

John Cage
4'33", BBC, 2004, 38.5 mb (MOV)

John Cage and Raashan Roland Kirk
Sound, 1966, 309.0 mb (AVI)

Henri Chopin
Henri Chopin at Home, undated, 13.9 mb (MOV)
Henri Chopin Performance, undated, 19.3 mb (MOV)

Rene Clair
Entre'act 1924, 249.8 mb (AVI)

Guy Debord
In Girum Imus Nocte Et Consumimur Igni, Part 1, 1978, 345.3 mb (MPEG)
In Girum Imus Nocte Et Consumimur Igni, Part 2, 1978, 580.6 mb (MPEG)
Refutation of All Judgments, 1975, 217.1 mb (MPEG)
Society of the Spectacle, Part 1, 1973, 456.3 mb (MPEG)
Society of the Spectacle, Part 2, 1973, 422.9 mb (MPEG)

Marcel Duchamp
Anemic Cinema 1926, 26.1 mb (AVI)

Viking Eggeling
Symphony Diagonale 1924, 16.5 mb (AVI)

Ed Emshwiller
Sunstone, 1979, 17.8 mb (AVI)
Thanatopsis, 1962, 37.3 mb (AVI)

Oskar Fischinger
Allegretto 1943, 20.3 mb (MPEG)
Komposition In Blau 1935, 36.8 mb (MPEG)
Motion Painting Screener 1947, 87.6 mb (MPEG)
Muntz TV Commercial 1952, 14.0 mb (MPEG)
Studie Nr. 6 1930, 3.3 mb (MPEG)
Studie Nr. 7 1931, 3.5 mb (MPEG)
Studie Nr. 9 1931, 43.5 mb (MPEG)

FluxFilms
[Please note that all FluxFilms are in the MPEG format.]
01: Nam June Paik - Zen For Film (1962-64), 141 mb
02 Dick Higgins - Invocation of Canyons and Boulders (1966), 5 mb
03 George Maciunas - End After 9 (1966), 12 mb
04 Chieko Shiomi - Disappearing Music for Face (1966), 115 mb
05 John Cavanaugh - Blink (1966), 25 mb
06 James Riddle - 9 Minutes (1966), 113 mb
07 George Maciunas - 10 Feet (1966), 6 mb
08 George Maciunas - 1000 Frames, (1966) 6 mb
09 Yoko Ono - Eye Blink (1966), 7 mb
10 George Brecht - Entrance to Exit (1965), 70 mb
11 Robert Watts - Trace #22 (1965), 33 mb
12 Robert Watts - Trace #23 (1965), 32 mb
13 Robert Watts - Trace #24 (1965), 16 mb
14 Yoko Ono - One (1966), 51 mb
15 Yoko Ono - Eye Blink (1966), 10 mb
16 Yoko Ono - Four (1967), 58 mb
17 Pieter Vanderbeck - Five O'Clock in the Morning (1966), 55 mb
18 Joe Jones - Smoking (1966), 54 mb
19 Erik Andersen - Opus 74 Version 2 (1966), 17 mb
20 George Maciunas - Artype (1966), 29 mb
22 Jeff Perkins - Shout (1966), 23 mb
23 Wolf Vostell - Sun in Your Head (Television Decollage) (1963), 73 mb
24 Albert Fine - Readymade (1966), 34 mb
25 George Landow - The Evil Faerie (1966), 4 mb
26 Paul Sharits - Sears Catalogue 1-3 (1965), 8 mb
27 Paul Sharits - Dots 1 & 2 (1965), 7 mb
28 Paul Sharits - Wirst Trick (1965), 6 mb
29 (unnumbered) Paul Sharits - Unrolling Event (1965), 2 mb
29 Paul Sharits - Word Movie (1966), 39 mb
30 Albert Fine - Dance (1963), 30 mb
31 John Cale - Police Car (1966), 15 mb
36 Peter Kennedy & Mike Parr - Flux Film 36 (1970), 27 mb
37 Peter Kennedy & Mike Parr - Flux Film 37 (1970), 17 mb
38 Ben - Je ne vois rien, je n'entends rien, je ne dis rien (1966), 77 mb
39 Ben - Le Traversee du port de Nice a la nage (1963), 34 mb
40 Ben - Faire un effort (1969), 25 mb
41 Ben - Regardez-moi, cela suffit (1962), 70 mb

Robert Frank
Pull My Daisy 1959, 188.8 mb (AVI)

Ernie Gehr
Serene Velocity 1970, 149.8 mb (AVI)

Henry Hills
Gotham, 1990, 6.9 mb (MOV)
Kino Da, 1981, 5.6 mb (MOV)
Money, 1985, 47.2 mb (MOV)
Radio Adios, 1982, 34.3 mb (MOV)

Isidore Isou
Venom and Eternity 1951, 763.2 mb (MPG)

Joris Ivens
Regen 1929, 160.0 mb (AVI)

Ken Jacobs
Blonde Cobra 1963, 438.9 mb (AVI)

Raashan Roland Kirk and John Cage
Sound, 1966, 309.0 mb (AVI)

Dimitri Kirsanov
Menilmontant 1924-25, 350.0 mb (AVI)

Peter Kubelka
Unsere Afrikareise 1966, 50.4 mb (WMV)

George Landow
Remedial Readingprehension 1970, 56.4 mb (AVI)

Fernand Leger
Ballet Mécanique 1924, 52.0 mb (AVI)

Len Lye
A Color Box 1935, 30.5 mb (AVI)
Free Radicals 1958, 27.4 mb (AVI)
Particles in Space 1966, 21.6 mb (AVI)
Rainbow Dance 1936, 39.7 mb (AVI)
Trade Tattoo 1937, 54.3 mb (AVI)

Gregory Markopoulos
Sorrows 1969, 150.0 mb (AVI)

Jonas Mekas
Hare Krishna 1966, 99.9 mb (AVI)

Laszlo Moholy-Nagy
Lightplay: Black-White-Grey (excerpt) 1932, 99.9 mb (MOV)

Robert Morris & Stan VanDerBeek
Site (excerpt) 1964, 19.2 mb (MOV)

Otto Muehl
Manopsychotisches Ballett, Part 1 1970, 141.1 mb (AVI)
Manopsychotisches Ballett, Part 2 1970, 72.1 mb (AVI)

Yoko Ono and John Lennon
Erection 1971, 180.7 mb (MPEG)

Nam June Paik
Electronic Moon No. 2 1969, 38.1 mb (MP4)
Videotape Study No. 3 1969, 31.1 mb (AVI)

Artavazd Pelechian
Les habitants 1970, 85.0 mb (AVI)

Robert Rauschenberg
Linoleum (excerpt) 1967, 27.8 mb (MOV)

Man Ray
Emak Bakia 1926, 313.8 mb (MPEG)
Le Retour à la raison 1923, 46.2 mb (MPEG)
L'Étoile de mer 1928, 277.4 mb (MPEG)

Hans Richter
Everything Turns Everything Resolves 1929, 31.5 mb (AVI)
Filmstudie 1925, 32.3 mb (AVI)
Rhythm 21 1921, 6.5 mb (MOV)
Ghosts Before Breakfast 1928, 60.5 mb (MPEG)
Rennsymphonie 1929, 138.6 mb (MPEG)
Rhythmus 23 1923, 58.3 mb (MPEG)
Zweigroschenzauber 1929, 47.4 mb (MPEG)

David Rimmer
Variations On A Cellophane Wrapper 1971, 149.2 mb (AVI)

Walter Ruttmann
Lichtspiel Opus I-4 1971, 34.3 mb (AVI)

Carolee Schneeman
Fuses 1965, 217.9 mb (MPEG)

Richard Serra and Carlotta Schoolman
Television Delivers People 1973, 98.3 mb (AVI)

Situationist International
On The Passage of a Few Persons Through a Rather Brief Period of Time
undated, 432.9 mb (AVI)

Harry Smith
Early-Abstractions 1941-57, 496.3 mb (MPEG)
Heaven-and-Earth-Magic 1950-1960, 667.4 mb (MPEG)
Late-Superimpositions 1963, 285.8 mb (MPEG)

Jack Smith
Flaming Creatures 1963, 390.8 mb (AVI)
Normal Love 1963, 704.7 mb (AVI)
Scotch Tape 1963, 70.1 mb (AVI)

Kiki Smith
Jewel (excerpt) 1997, 31.3 mb (AVI)

Robert Smithson
Spiral Jetty (excerpts) 1970, 23.9 mb (AVI)

Michael Snow
Prelude 2000, 25.8 mb (AVI)
Presents 1981, 772.8 mb (AVI)

Ladislaw Starewicz
The Cameraman's Revenge 1912, 143.2 mb (AVI)
The Insect's Christmas 1913, 51.6 mb (AVI)

Ralph Steiner
H20 1929, 99.1 mb (MPEG)

Franciszka and Stefan Themerson
The Eye and the Ear 1944, 97.1 mb (AVI)

Edgard Varêse and Le Corbusier
Poême électronique 1958, 84.2 mb (MPEG)

Dziga Vertov
Kino Eye 1924, 699.9 mb (AVI)
Three Songs About Lenin 1934, 700.0 mb (AVI)

Rene Vienet
The Girls of Kamare, Part 1 1974, 440.5 mb (MPEG)
The Girls of Kamare, Part 2 1974, 431.9 mb (MPEG)

James Whitney
Lapis 1966, 131.3 mb (AVI)

James and John Whitney
Five Film Exercises 1943-44, 83.4 mb (AVI)

Zubi Zuva
X Suite Europe Live undated, 40.3 mb (AVI)

----------------------------
RELAUNCH :: Fall 2005
----------------------------

UBUWEB IS ENTIRELY FREE

__ U B U W E B __
ubu.com

Eclectro Lounge #20

[click for larger image -- this is Dorothy Stratten from the 1980 low-budget sci-fi flick Galaxina: Stratten was an ill-fated Playboy Playmate of the Year who was murdered by her husband.]


I haven't written about the latest Eclectro Lounge nights, the reason being simple: there is not much to say which would be of great interest or not merely repetition of what has been said about our earlier "parties". However, here are two single and separate incidents about the previous nights or their preparations, as a sort of an uncoherent stream-of-consciousness reminiscences:

First incident: I am at the public billboard of Koskipuisto sticking up ads for one of the nights of ours when this female employee of the City of Tampere's Park Department (as I guess), in T-shirt and glaring orange trousers of overalls, arrives to me and tells me that: "Ihan vaan vihjeenä..." ("just as a tip") that they are are going to photograph and report to the police all the event posters that are found at the lampposts and other unsuitable places (that is, other than public billboards). Annoyed by being treated as a potential criminal like this, I duly inform this young lady that I have never attached our posters anywhere else but to the legitimate billboards, and they'd better search for people doing misdemeanours such as this somewhere else. I don't know if this young woman is a zombie or what, but she is as if she doesn't actually listen to a word I say. "Ihan vaan vihjeenä..." she keeps repeating like a record player stylus stuck in one place. After she's gone, I find the whole situation totally preposterous: I think the local police probably has enough work in their hands already and with real criminals, than having to chase for some event organisers who have stuck their posters to the places where they should not be. And don't the City employees actually have anything else to do than to snap photographs? Is this another example of the City (heh) of Tampere's famous "zero tolerance" policy? Small towns breed petty minds, it seems.

Second incident: I'm spinning records at Eclectro Lounge one night when this totally unknown blonde and bearded young guy comes to me. I listen flabbergasted as he tells me that he'd like to play some records now because they are "similar" to the stuff that we have spinned there. I tell him that it's not possible now (besides, we have agreed well beforehand about the nights when our guest DJs are supposed to play), but this guy just keeps insisting and whining. This makes me lose my temper and get me into my fascist "fucking-freaks-get-off-me" mode, and I tell him to go to a very hot and sulphurous place familiar from the world religions and mythologies. Gladly the freak (who has probably enjoyed some other intoxicants than alcohol) gets away before I have to recourse into physical violence. With certain general fuck-ups in my life lately, I'm already tense enough as it is and I don't need any more extra pushing. (Well, probably you are right if you say it's very hard for me to actually subscribe to the PLUR mindset, and I don't believe real love for people can be created by illicit chemicals, anyway. I Ain't No Lovechild.)

Well, about the Eclectro Lounge of Wednesday the 14th of September, 2005 AD, the "manSEDANse Warm-Up Night" when we had Sire of Grayframe and Lasso800 of Slavic Walkmen as guest DJs. First a writer for local Aamulehti paper's Valo weekend supplement was supposed to interview yours truly at Apadana club where our Eclectro Lounge nights take place, but he couldn't make it because of some clashing schedules. Then we heard that the next scheduled night of ours, 28 October, was already booked to someone else: the guy taking care of Apadana's booking had quit working for the club, of which I was not really aware and which was mainly why this mix-up had taken place. Gladly 29 October was still available for us, so we could book that night.

Finally, the rain and storm took their toll with our potential clients, so there was only a handful of people present and we had to call it quits already at midnight. And Mika was not exactly delighted when he heard that our food and drink policies had been changed from what we have been first promised (by a person other than Abbas himself, the Iranian manager of Apadana) when we started the Eclectro Lounge nights last February. So, all your normal snafus in one night. Well, Mr pHinn -- who still naively believes in the Finnish myth of sisu -- doesn't give up but gladly keeps hitting his thick skull to the brick wall. Yes, all this trés interesting, isn't it? Oh, how I love to whine.

The tracklist here.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

The Sperm featured @ WFMU's Blog

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2005/09/adventures_in_t_2.html, linking also to pHinnWeb's Finnscene: The Prehistory page.

There is also a 16:09 MP3 of The Sperm's 'Heinäsirkat' from their only album Shh! ("Locusts"):

http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/WB/The_Sperm_-_Heinasirkat.mp3

(mpeg video) Syd Barrett/Pink Floyd: 'Jugband Blues'

http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/KF/0509/movies/syd_barrett_pink.mpg

I found this through WFMU's blog: a 3:21 MPEG video of Syd Barrett with Pink Floyd performing 'Jugband Blues' from Saucerful of Secrets (1968), Syd's swansong with Floyd. Suffice it to say that I was enthralled...

It's awfully considerate of you to think of me here
And I'm much obliged to you for making it clear that I'm not here.
And I never knew the moon could be so big
And I never knew the moon could be so blue
And I'm grateful that you threw away my old shoes
And brought me here instead dressed in red
And I'm wondering who could be writing this song.

I don't care if the sun don't shine
And I don't care if nothing is mine
And I don't care if I'm nervous with you
I'll do my loving in the winter.

And the sea isn't green
And I love the queen
And what exactly is a dream
And what exactly is a joke.

Stills from Syd/Floyd videos

Earlier

John Peel: Getting Older and Still Getting Into New Music

[John Peel: you can be an old fart, but you don't have to be a boring old fart!]

One person I admire very much -- and also look up to as a role model in what I'm trying to do myself -- is the late British radio DJ John Peel. He started his career during the early 60s beat era and then became one of the most prominent voices in the 1960s UK musical underground with his radio shows such as Perfumed Garden. John Peel was born in 1939 so he wasn't exactly a young turk any more even in those days.

And to the late-60s musical era Peel might have as well stuck for the rest of his life, just keeping playing his hippie music favourites for his aging peers as a nostalgia act, but instead, he preferred to go on. He kept up with was happening in the musical underground -- punk, alternative, indie, electronic dance music, you name it, and without prejudices and getting stuck to any purist ghettos -- all the way to October 2004 when he sadly passed away. All this time championing new music and acts, spreading the word about them to people, constantly seeking for what is fresh and innovative. My intention here is not to pay lip service, only to show that a person can go on musically even after that dreaded milestone of thirty years of age.

Dadrave and Getting Older

Last weekend they had here in Tampere an event called "House Nation - The Resurrection". I wasn't there, so I'm not going to comment its musical content in any way whatsoever, but why did the words "flogging", "dead" and "horse" occurred to me when I heard about this? As the name indicates, this was a rehash of the popular House Nation parties about a decade ago. Yes, it's the nostalgia time for the ravers of 1990s. We already have "dadrock" (a.k.a. "classic rock" of the "heydays" of the 1960s and 70s: your typical nostalgia for the Zeppelins, The Whos, The Stones, etc.) -- now enter "dadrave".

Were you a PLUR-infested happy raver in the golden days of early 90s and its illegal warehouse parties, smileys and stupid MDMA-fuelled grins filled with love for everyone and everything? Now ask a permission from your missus and kids for a night out with the boys, try on your old smiley T-shirt (even if it's too tight these days for your potbelly), lovingly tap your balding pate and on you go. C-Tank forever!

Usually people stop listening to any new music after they have turned 30, preferring to stick to the records of their teenage years and their young adulthood. If you're a teenager or twenty-something now, hold on to every moment because you're going to re-live them for the rest of your lives in the form of nostalgia. (Personally, there's no way I would miss my own 1980s or especially 1990s, the recollections of which are mostly darkness to me.)

When you get older, it's easier to stick to what is cosy and comfortable, tried and true. Your body cannot take similar punishment as it did when you were younger: no more all-night partying out on the tiles with legal or illegal stimulants. Instead you prefer a good book, slippers and sleeping in your warm bed. You find yourself getting more conservative in your general outlook and curse the teenagers, who appear to you more rude, obnoxious, shocking and out of control every year. In other words, you're getting to be more and more like your parents ("In my youth we had no...") and forget you were exactly like those kids once.

I'm both sad and glad of the fact that I never exactly had a chance to be "young": my life was never what you could call wild and reckless, I always kept a certain distance to what my peers were doing even when participating in some of their activities. When you start to think of it, it was probably sad about all the fun that I missed, but even then, all this is very relative. I'm still that way now about being in an outsider position, and this is why I'm glad about it when I'm getting older: the people of my own age group have their families, their mortgages, their rat race, their increasingly growing conservative views, while I find myself almost totally out of that game.

I was a good, silent kid at school, I never revolted or caused any trouble or defied rules. That resistance only came later on, with the painful realisation of my mental well-being being downright threatened by having to adjust to certain facts usually taken for granted in society (the route of getting oneself an education, getting a job, getting married and so on): it never worked for me, only made me feel there's something terribly wrong with me, having to pursue that route everyone else was taking. I admit I'm only an armchair anarchist; you will never see me at demonstrations or on barricades, but there are still ways for me to question the way people do things, try to shake their self-indulgent comfortability and barren mental landscapes, just at least a little bit.

I'm still hungry for a change, I'm still a non-conformist. I still refuse to dwell in my past glories, since honestly, I can't see many of those existing. The future is unknown and uncertain, but even taking a road into the unknown is better than to get stuck in a rut.

(PDF) "Hands Create Radio Music": An Early Theremin Article

http://pulpgen.com/pulp/downloads/getpdf.php?id=706

Hands Create Radio Music
H. Winfield Secor
Science and Invention, December 1927

Here we have a description of that pioneering electronic instrument, the theremin, named after its inventor. What does this have to do with the pulps, you say? Well, the theremin was used heavily on Bernard Herrmann's soundtrack for THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. And that film was based on on Harry Bates' FAREWELL TO THE MASTER from Astounding Science-Fiction, October 1940. Alright, so that's a little convoluted, but when did we ever need a good reason to expand our interests? (Includes color cover)

The main site can be found at:
http://pulpgen.com/pulp/downloads

Thanks to Juri for the tip.

The History of Electronic Music @ pHinnWeb

Finnsleaze: New Additions

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



Some new additions to Finnsleaze...

Erotica 5/1982 & 10/1985

Jallu 6/1966
Jallu 1/1973
Jallu 2/1973
Jallu 3/1973
Jallu 4/1973
Jallu 5/1973
Jallu 6/1973
Jallu 7/1973
Jallu 8/1973
Jallu 9/1973
Jallu 10/1973
Jallu 11/1973
Jallu 12/1973
Jallu 1/1974
Jallu 2/1974
Jallu 3/1974
Jallu 4/1974
Jallu 5/1974
Jallu 6/1974
Jallu 7/1974
Jallu 8/1974
Jallu 9/1974
Jallu 10/1974
Jallu 11/1974
Jallu 12/1974

Kalle 1/1981

Nyrkkiposti 4/1971
Nyrkkiposti 7/1971

Pimut 1/1971

Urkki 10/1976

VIP 8/1970

***

As related material, Juri got recently to his blog some cover illustrations from the 1970s Finnish translations of some famous erotic novels:

Matti Louhi's erotic covers
The Divine Marquis
Apollinaire

Anarchy In, Erm, Germany

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



http://www.kotzreiz.de/wahl/wahlspot.mp4
or
http://appd.goerres-kompakt.de/wahlspot.wmv
or
http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/KF/0509/wahlspot.mp4
and
http://www.appd.de/wahlspot/wahlspot.php

Anarchist party's TV ad offends viewers
Wed Sep 7, 2005

BERLIN - A fringe German anarchist party has outraged national television audiences with its election campaign television spot -- a video montage of booze-fuelled chaos, syringe needles and men cavorting with topless women.

An estimated one million viewers watched the German Anarchist Pogo Party's already heavily censored political broadcast when it was shown for the first time Monday.

Rather than offer any presentation of policies, the party's campaign spot spliced together scenes of debauched revellers smashing furniture, pouring beer down each other's throats and groups of couples kissing and groping each other, all set to a frantic heavy metal soundtrack [to me it sounded more like a punk version of polka, with accordion and all -pH].

As an officially registered political party, the Hamburg-based APPD, which sells t-shirts on its Web site that proclaim "Arbeit ist Scheisse" ("work is shit"), is entitled to free television air time for its advertisements.

Karl Nagel, campaign manager of the APPD told Reuters on Wednesday that the party will continue to run the ad.

"The next broadcast is scheduled for Monday night," he said.

However, he said the broadcasting authorities may insist they remove scenes featuring needles, which he said depicted people taking a blood sample and not intravenous drug abuse.

German newspapers say the party's roughly 750 members would not have any discernable impact on the September 18 parliamentary elections.

More:

Indymedia UK
Wikinews

***

Too bad the political scene here in Finland is much more boring. As far as it goes here is a local racist/extreme right-wing bigot/village idiot spreading fake nude pics of our President on his Website (no, I won't give you the original URL where I found this hilarious(?) "pin-up" because people like that don't deserve any more publicity) -- some people do have interesting sex fantasies, though. Anyway, here's for all you real Fennophiles:



Earlier

New World Orleans: Microcosm for the "New America"

New World Orleans: Microcosm for the "New America"
Special report on the elite police state takeover by Steve Watson:

http://www.infowars.com/articles/new_orleans/new_world_orleans.htm

If it keeps on rainin', levee's goin' to break,
If it keeps on rainin', levee's goin' to break,
When the levee breaks I'll have no place to stay.

Mean old levee taught me to weep and moan,
mean old levee taught me to weep and moan,
Got what it takes to make a mountain man leave his home,
Oh, well, oh, well, oh, well.

Don't it make you feel bad
When you're tryin' to find your way home,
You don't know which way to go?
If you're goin' down South
They go no work to do,
If you don't know about Chicago.

Cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good,
Now, cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good,
When the levee breaks, mama, you got to move.

All last night sat on the levee and moaned,
all last night sat on the levee and moaned,
Thinkin' about me baby and my happy home.
Going, going to Chicago... Going to Chicago... Sorry but I can't take you...
Going down... going down now... going down....

- Memphis Minnie: 'When The Levee Breaks'

--

pHinnWeb Conscience Links: badly updated, but I do what I can...

manSEDANse Poster...

... can be seen here.

manSEDANse 2005 festival

Recalling "Germany Calling"

Here is Part One of David McConnell's article commenting the late Ian MacDonald's "Germany Calling", a critical outlook on Krautrock, which appeared in New Musical Express in 1972-73. David McConnell originally provided this article for pHinnWeb back in 2000, but now he has come up with a revised and illustrated version.

Pissis

[Finnish winter does not stop a typical pissis from practising her alcohol-fuelled outdoor activities]

Pissis is a derogatory Finnish term for a teenage (or at least young) girl with heavy make-up, for example, stripes dyed to her hair, cheap earrings and other inexpensive "bling bling" gear, Burberry scarfs or the ever-present tops, Eastpak backpacks, tight jeans (usually Miss Sixty) and with strings underneath showing, of course.

Stylistically pissis is often a cheap imitation of Britney, Mariah, J-Lo, Paris Hilton or any current MTV R&B princess. Pissis is a sort of Finnish version of American white trash bimbo, who talks loud and obscenely in youth slang; every second word being "vittu" or "vitun", or "siis" ("so") or "oikeesti" ("really") or "siis oikeesti", and smokes and drinks heavily.

The very term "pissis" comes from the fact that a stereotypical pissis does not have a shame to urinate in public: a typical pissis goes out with her friends on Friday night, drinks a lot of cider, and as a consequence of heavy drinking has to relieve her bladder in any nearby bush or stairwell. At the end up of the night a pissis is so drunk and pissed (sic) that she cries bitter tears with make-up smeared all over her face: "Boo-hoo, no one loves me" (and so on).

These days "pissis" is increasingly used to describe any aspect of culture which is cheap and trashy; for example such glaring gossip magazines like 7 päivää are called "pissis-media".

Links in Finnish:

Pissis @ Wikipedia

Pissismi

Pissis @ Ylioppilaslehti

The Problems of Criticism

(Seppo Heikinheimo, the feared Finnish classical music critic who eventually committed suicide)

Lately I've faced some problems one has when giving and receiving criticism. There are both constructive criticism and unconstructive criticism. Unconstructive criticism is a confused mix of one's personal and subjective prejudices, biases, ignorance, frustrations and even aggressions; hardly ever giving valid arguments except those based on qualities mentioned above, and inclined to create crass generalisations and of fallacious logic. And, if possible, managing to even contradict oneself as often as possible.

Constructive criticism would require as its premises understanding at least a bit of the backgrounds and history, current scene and context. I'm not a fan of any of those current metal scenes myself, for example, but I restrain to make any comment of them, because being an outsider to that scene I have no means to understand or assess the meaning or even importance to someone, an insider, who has grown into it and derives a lot of personal sense of purpose from it.

I think a constructive critic should be able to weigh both the pros and cons of the work that are under his/her assessment and be able to place it to its appropriate genre(s) when considering the execution of its form (is it meant to polished or non-polished, e.g. progrock vs. lo-fi indie; work of an art school gradute vs. outsider art, professional vs. amateur, etc.)

And how should you assess a work of someone coming from your own peer group? Are there any other choices than to join in the mutual back-patting society? Or alternately, if you don't happen to like this person, kick the shit out of his/her work? Being impartial and objective is very hard.

Feedback: Kompleksi vs. Citizen Omega's 'No Alternatives'

A person called "_U" sent a comment on Kompleksi vs. Citizen Omega's 'No Alternatives' MP3; from Platinum:

"jaa.. ok, tää on demoraita eli sen mukainen palaute: raitamiksaus ei toimi sit yhtään. Onko tarkoitus korostaa vain ärsyttävää voksua ja jättää rummut jonnekin taustalle ja kulunutta bleepbeissiä nostaa esiin muiden kustannuksella? Oikeesti jo kelasin et tän biisin on pakko olla joku trollimainosbanderolli sillä tää kuulostaa erityisluokalla olevien ala-asteikäisten tekeleeltä (kaikki kunnia toki heitä kohtaan). Vokaaliraita on jotain aivan järkyttävää, rummut mitäänsanomattomat, bassokuvio *sigh* niin kulunut saundeiltaan ja pari pientä kikkaa siellä täällä... haloo? Kuuluuko? :)

Kunnioitus toki teitä kohtaan, tää ei oo henkilökohtaista, tää on vain subjektiivinen palaute ilman henkilökohtaista referointia :) Itse en vain oikein ymmärrä et mikä tässä biisissä on se juttu? Missä tätä kuuntelee? Jossain törkeessä psykoosissa? Ja mikä v*ttu tää biisi oikeesti on? Tää kuuluis mikseri.nettiin :)

Huh huh."

And another comment by Superflyer:

"Mun mielestä _U antoi varsin rakentavaa palautetta

1.) miksaus ei toimi (vokaalit liian kovalla verrattuna kuulumattomiin rumpuihin)

2.) Vokaalit huonot

3.) bassolinja huono (voisi olla monipuolisempi)

4.) kappale on tylsä koska ei ole kikkoja

Siis 10 kertaa rakentavampaa mitä yleensä, tyyliin (jees hyvää caccaa)

Piti itsekkin kirjoitella biisistä tänne, koska tää kolis muhun ainakin paremmin mitä_u:hun, mutta duunin verkkoliikenne sanoi juuri submit hetkellä itsensä irti, joten se palaute hävisi bittiavaruuteen. Tässä kuitenkin jotain referaattia:

Mielestäni ideatasolla biisi on hyvä, vaikkakin vokaalien "erikoinen" toteutus hieman häiritsee, noh makuja on monenlaisia. Mielestäni semmonen Depeche Mode:mainen kasari tunteilu sopis paremmin. Soundit on ihan hyvät ja biisin rakenne kaipaa jotain elävöintiä. Melodiat on hyvät varsinkin bassolinja on kova :), vaikka niihinkin tietty kaipais jotain vaihtelua. Ja punkkia saa aina olla enemmän ;-)

Suurimmaksi ongelmaksi kuitenkin nousee seikka, että biisiä ei pahemmin jaksa kuunnella loppuun asti."

Kompleksi Review @ Blastitude

A review from http://www.blastitude.com/18/7s.htm:

KOMPLEKSI: "(I Ain't No) Lovechild" b/w "Moscow 1980" 7-inch (LAL LAL LAL)

Right now all of the American trustafarians who read Arthur 'religiously' with a little Wire on the side and who mail-ordered this 7-inch are scratching their new beard going, "Hey, this ain't psychedelic free folk!" That's because it's creepy euro synth disco! The grooves are corny and the singing is awkward, but it is charming -- especially those wildcat yelps on the "Lovechild" turnarounds -- and Irwin Chusid will probably play it on his show. "Moscow 1980" is a more wistful synth pop number -- I detect a Limahl influence -- that starts with a sample of Jimmy Carter laying down the law about a certain Olympic boycott. And it proceeds to go on for over 6 minutes of heartfelt monotonous Limahlian glory! At the very least, it's quite a change of pace for Lal Lal Lal... no mention of it over at Volcanic Tongue yet... -L.D., Blastitude

Eh, Kompleksi are not actually influenced by Limahl (the headman of early 80s "new romantic" pop band Kajagoogoo and of subsequent solo career), but that's an interesting thought... Maybe we should cover 'Too Shy'? (Or then, maybe not.)

Kompleksi are also on Blastitude's playlist:

August 23, 2005
Kool & the Gang "Electric Frog Part 1" (De-Lite)
Allman Brothers Band "Revival" (Atco)
Gays in the Military "Hips Or Lips?" (Gulcher)
Silver Daggers "Not Sleeping At The Library" (Not Not Fun)
Fricara Pacchu "Bella is a Beast" (Lal Lal Lal)
Velvet Underground & Nico "European Son" (Verve)
Endless Boogie "Siberia Live" (Dolor Del Estamago)
Pissed Jeans "Hitler Was A Nazi" (Warm Freedom of Tongue)
Major Stars "Black Road" (Twisted Village)
Richard Youngs/Alex Neilson "A Boat Among Whales" (HP Cycle)
Enos Slaughter "The Best Not Solo Solo" (Tequila Sunrise)
Angel Corpus Christi "Dream Baby Dream" (Gulcher)
Angel Corpus Christi "Theme From Taxi Driver/New York New York" (Gulcher)
Sun City Girls "Prisoner of Mold" (Abduction)
The New Flesh "Friend of Mine" (Maelstrom)
Emperor "Towards the Pantheon" (Candlelight)
Psi "Bhoiler" (Evolving Ear)
Alu "Sie kriegt alles was sie will" (C.I.P.)
Strangulated Beatoffs "Beat It" (Apop)
Kompleksi "Moscow 1980" (Lal Lal Lal)
Hall of Fame "Superstring Theory" (Lal Lal Lal)
Leonard Cohen "Paper Thin Hotel" (Columbia)
Gary Higgins "I Pick Notes From The Sky" (Drag City)
Warmer Milks "Penetration Initials" (Mountaain)

Earlier

Tao, the Russian Way

Here is the strangest Website I have seen for a while. Obviously it's about the Yin and Yang symbolism of Chinese Taoism, with chockful of mathematical formula (obviously related -- both mathematics and Russian language are out of my personal range); plus also satirical images of the US presidents Clinton and Bush, pin-up pics(?), ufos and paranormal phenomena. So, what is this all about...?

[MP3] New DJ Sets from July 2005

New MP3s of July 2005 DJ sets, added to pHinnWeb on 29 August 2005:

Lasso800, Sire etc. - IDM & drill'n'bass set @ Slavic Walkmen Birthday Party, 20 July, 2005

pHinn - set I @ Eclectro Lounge, 27 July, 2005 - tracks:

Aphex Twin: Polynomial-C
Stressi: Omat karnevaalit
Lisa Carbon & Friends: The Only Virtual Computer Jazz Sounds Like Preset Rhythm
Club Telex Noise Ensemble: CTNE (Andrew Duke mix)
Roxanne Shante: Def Fresh Crew
Awesome Foursome: Monster Beat
Key-Matic: Breakin' In Space
2 Live Crew: What I Like
Brothom States: Naeae Elektor
Decal: In Defense of Loyalty
Optic Nerve: Vortex
Volsoc: Needleintuit
Egyptian Lover: Egypt Egypt
Dr Jeckyll & Mr Hyde: Butt Naked

Mike Not - set I @ Eclectro Lounge, 27 July, 2005 - tracks:

Isaac Hayes: Groove-A-Thon
Organized Con Funk Shun: Funky Things On Your Mind
Leroy Gomez: Get Up Boogie
Eruption: Runaway
Eruption: I Can't Stand The Rain
Baccara: Yes Sir, I Can Boogie
Sunshine: Take It To The Zoo
Superman (Movie Theme)
OhGr: Shite

pHinn - set II @ Eclectro Lounge, 27 July, 2005 - tracks:

Blues Section feat. Kirka: Avaruuslaulu
Bangkok Impact: Masters of the Universe
Dynamix II: Give The DJ A Break
Sigue Sigue Sputnik: Love Missile F1-11 (Extended)
Judas Priest: Turbo Lover
Dingo: Levoton Tuhkimo
Chicks on Speed feat. Peaches: We Don't Play Guitars
Prince: Dirty Mind

All soundfiles currently available through pHinnWeb.

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

pHinnWeb Chart September 2005...

[large image]

... is here.

Yes, progressive rock hell. We seem to live the ages of some sort of progrock rehabilitation: Mojo magazine recently published a special issue dedicated to these bands of the 1970s, also featuring some of the latest arrivals like Mars Volta. Just out of curiosity, I wanted to find out how this stuff by Yes and Emerson, Lake & Palmer sounds. I think there are great bits and pieces, especially if you're a fan of old analogue synthesizers like me, but personally I would have edited a lot of these tracks with a heavy hand. For example, ELP's 'Barbarian' from their first album sounds really great with its nasty, menacing Hammond organ, until it gets to its neo/pseudo-classical B part, which sounds like a piano lesson of an over-exited teenager who's convinced of his virtuoso genius. But of course, cutting up and shortening these tracks would be a sacrilege for any real prog fan, who wants to have their over-long solos and a million tempo changes and different parts in one song. And the lyrics of Yes are absolute nonsense.