Random raves

I've posted this for the masses on FB, but here it is for everyone else's edification - a fab compilation of Gaga mashups at the Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2010/may/07/viral-video-lady-gaga

I have to say those are the most unusual Baptists I've ever seen, the trashy Italians get granny in there and a cast of zillions - in fact, all the mashups have a cast of zillions - we have traditional (and hilarious) drag queens, Chatroulette guy is fucking awesome.

Yay for social media and easy publication of this kind of fun stuff.

(The last three items aren't Gaga-related, although the Chrome ad is amusing. Still won't use it until they have a decent ad block)

Van Oosten's rendering of the Toccata from Widor's Symphony No. 5. I like this one because the tempo is "just right" for my ears. A lot of people seem to play this too fast (ok, it's an organ toccata), and it loses expression. Ooh, and here's the finale from the 1st Symphony.

Dear fuckwits letting off crackers in the carpark out back - if any of those things fucking touch my car, I will keeeel you.

Also, the fireworks were being let off  close to my windows, and had very bright flashing light that reminded me of an exhibit at the Imperial War Museum, complete with very loud bangs, flashes of light and so on. I can certainly emphasise with the poor bastards who became shell-shocked after the constant onslaught in real wars. It's funny, I love thunderstorms - perhaps it was these morons yelling at each other at the same time that made me jump. Twice. (Although I am jumpy in general - I can have known someone for years, and have even been intimate with them, and still flinch if they touch me unexpectedly. Oh well.)

I dreamed last night, at great length, about buying veges at the street market in Lewisham (about 2k away from where I lived in Brockley, in London). God knows what that was about, other than the fact I've been eating relatively crappily for months. And that I've actually been having dreams I remember this past week, which, again, I haven't for months. I could have at least dreamed about the Borough Market, which I actually frequented more regularly (15 mins on the train), and which has better veges and everything else. I still don't forget that fucker at the Deptford Market (1½ km the other way) who sold me rotten potatoes. You don't select your own at those market stalls - you ask for 2 pounds of potatoes, and they get them for you. This particular vege trader in Deptford gave me two good spuds, and the rest were horrible. Honestly, why would you kill off future business that way? Anyway, the Borough Market was much better than the two local markets near where I lived - I still miss it.

The majority of my friends now who are around the same age as me were keen on Duran Duran in their teenage years. I wasn't one of them, really. I liked Wild Boys (um, at least partly because of the camp video with Simon Le Bon Bon being tied up and dunked into the Pool of Suspect Liquid - it still makes me smile. No, really); the key it's sung in is groovy, but that was about it. Of that era, I didn't like Spandau Ballet either. Nor Tears for Fears.  Human League I liked until Electric Dreams. Blech. I didn't like a Flock of Seagulls, but I actually like them more now, in my old age. But I did like Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Berlin (until that fucking Power of Love Take My Breath Away shite) and Simple Minds. And luurved ABC, cheesiness and all. Go figure.

[Also, can I say that the Wikipedia category for New Wave artists seems rather broad? Gary Numan, The Clash and Jane Siberry? Mind you, "New Wave" and "Post-Punk" can be hard to differentiate sometimes. Not so much women-oriented folk music, IMO.]

But I have no idea why those particular bands have come to mind this evening; perhaps I walked past a shop sometime today that was playing some Duranie track or another.

NZ On Air, the NZ govt broadcast funding agency, has spun off a website called NZ On Screen, which aims to present significant broadcast footage free on the interwebs, including full length documentaries, significant TV miniseries and even full-length movies (Patu! - an excellent doco about the protests against the Springbok rugby tour of NZ, which had an important effect on the national psyche for a number of years after).

Anyway, what I was just watching was Heavenly Pop Hits - the Flying Nun Story. Flying Nun is a record label that came out of the post-punk era (similar to Shoegaze, in essence), and certainly defined a particular kind of sound in Kiwi music. Many - but far from all, it must be said - of NZ's best acts recorded with Flying Nun. But the doco was interesting for checking out the personalities involved. I like some of Chris Knox's music, but, my god, he can be irritatingly sanctimonious. And there certainly seem to be a whole lot of men feeling butthurt about their various experiences, even over 20 years later. So, interesting doco, not just because of the music.

And I got to find one of my top favourite Flying Nun tracks evah on YouTube - Hey Seuss by the 3Ds. Not only did they make happy music, they totally epitomised the Dunedin sound, right down to the chick on bass, Denise Roughan (something about Flying Nun bands - one or two guys on guitar, a guy drummer... and the chick on bass).



ETA: Regarding my previous post on the joys of "floor" rather than "ground", any Brits want to speculate on the possible regionality of the usage?

For Take Five, by the Dave Brubeck Quartet. (Note the number of thumbs up)

I would totally have been a hepcat in those days, if there was such a thing as a dyke hepcat. Alas, I think I would have had to be have been the arty type wearing a beret and smoking cigarettes in a holder. Not sure if I could have carried that one off.

Here's Anita O'Day singing Sweet Georgia Brown from Jazz On a Summer's Day. Love the outfits, most definitely including Miss O'Day's.

Ella doing Summertime. There really are no words, other than OMFG.

Dakota Staton with Willow Weep for Me. Alas, not a real clip, but I can't leave her out of a discussion on jazz.

I'm not a huge fan of Nina Simone in general, but some of her tracks just make the hair stand up on the back of your head, like I Put a Spell on You. And who doesn't like My Baby Just Cares for Me or Black is the Colour of My True Love's Hair.

In other non-news, I made myself a roast chicken as a treat last night - I haven't cooked one myself for years, and meat thermometers really do make it brainless. Also, I make the best fucking gravy, if I do say so myself - I've never used a packet and I never will. Also, lunchtime BLTs made with happy pig bacns and afghan plum chutney (which I am still eking out) are just fab.

Om nom nom nom.

Meh, I've done very little of the work I intended to this weekend. I did some reading, set up a couple of wikis, and helped one of my fellow students with a piece of software. I have to write an essay outline, which is assessable, and I'm having very little inspiration at the moment. The topic I've chosen relates to power in organisations, and can also encompass "empowerment". While I'm very tempted to go on a rant about how empowerment is very often used as a cheap "stroking" technique used to make workers feel engaged in their work, or, equally bad, ends up throwing a bunch of additional requirements onto people without their having the skills and resources to adequately discharge them, unfortunately, the essay question doesn't have quite that latitude (although I'll allude to some of that).

When it comes to power in the workplace, I'm all in favour of workers owning as much of it as they can (and by "workers", I include such non-typical categories as non-executive management). There are two issues with it, though, in terms of the areas where more self-management is devolved to workers. One is that many people are not enculturated to want it (or, they're psychologically averse to it, for whatever reasons), unless they specifically want to get into management. "Too much responsibility." "Why should I do my manager's job?" "It makes me feel insecure." "Who gets the blame when something goes wrong?" "Why should I do more work that I'm not paid for?" The second, and much more pertinent issue, is that not much real power (including resourcing, strategy, etc) is devolved to workers, even in incremental ways. Heh, this is even true for middle management in our organisation (and I really wonder what their function is sometimes). This is hardly a surprising issue, given the setup of most enterprises, and, in a more general sense, our being accustomed to hierarchy and top-down management.

While it might be easy to assume that nothing much will fundamentally change in that area, think of the changes our societies have gone through in the last few hundred years. We no longer believe that the monarch is directly anointed by God, nor do we believe our rulers have absolute rights over our lives. We believe in the notion of individual rights (which is a pretty recent innovation). Companies have also dramatically changed in the last couple of hundred years. You are not supposed to run businesses on slave labour. People must be paid in money and not kind, have reasonable time off, and so on. These kinds of things are enshrined in law, but the law was made because people's attitudes to exploitative and even paternalistic company cultures changed.

Then there are cool trends like the "recovered factories" in Argentina (after the early 2000s peso crash) and elsewhere. These businesses are run by the workers themselves as co-operatives. I find those kinds of enterprises fascinating.

My god, this is the most thinking I've done all day. I discovered dubstep.fm's online stream today (the "iTunes/Winamp" aka .pls stream plays in VLC -192kbps works for me), and I've been listening to that while staring at VLC's "goom" visualisation. No drugs involved either, except Neurofen.

...OMG, I just found out that one of my favourite groups evah, Red Snapper, has a new album out, A Pale Blue Dot. I've been listening online, and while it's not as compelling as some of their earlier music, it's still decent. They've always been in the trip-hop/acid jazz area, but this album is definitely more into the downtempo acid jazz area (but not as anodyne as some of that stuff can be). ETA: I'll revise that last comment, because I said that before I listened to the third-to-last and final tracks. ICK. God, it looks like I won't be buying this one. I'll have to do a post on their greatest hits shortly.

Someone - "Kutiman" - has done the most coolest of jobs mashing up YouTube user-created music clips into funky sounds. The first one (The Mother of All Funk) is funk-rock, complete with brass, guitar solos, harmonica, and theremins. Then there's a dub track with real drums, double bass, trombone, melodica (of course), funky electronic effects, and a groovy vocal (not the pastafarian, although he's hilarious) and xtra bonus gadgets! The third track is a groovy downtempo breakbeat number reminiscent of Red Snapper (double bass, bongos, piano), and just the perfect vocals (the melodic and rap parts). And a wind quintet, assorted keyboards. The fourth track is full-on d&b with a 3-manual church organ, OMG GADGETS, and a bouzouki. Very reminiscent of Venetian Snares! Fifth track is bossa nova with Hammonds of hilariousness, awesome vocals (with a chick of hotness singing them), a jew's harp, a vibraphone (oooh yeeeah), a recorder, and assorted gongs. Sixth is a downtempo r&b-ish kind of track, but pretty pleasant. The last one is a very skillfully-repurposed emo-chick's bluesy warblings, with a nice flute solo, giant windchimes and a harp. Anyway, check out ThruYOU - the 8th track is Kutiman explaining his process. Yay!

That was a reward for finishing my latest and greatest reading review on a journal article called "Why is it so hard to be fair?"

( excerpties )


I love those reasons for not behaving fairly (well, I think they're crap, but it's illuminating. I do sympathise with the last one!). Honestly, that kind of stuff is like throwing me into a lolly shop and saying "Go to it". I've never understood people who say things like "I can't be bothered with politics". The decisions that people make, and that includes the ones they supposedly make on your behalf, directly affect our lives. And knowledge is power.

It's kind of ironic that this Organisational Behaviour class is incredibly stimulating - if hard work - where the Information Systems in Organisations is comparatively meh (although it is interesting background). Of course, the latter isn't helped by a tutor who obviously knows his stuff, but who dithers. Hopefully it'll pick up soon.

I've been compiling a list of late-80s/early-90s dance music - more on that another time - but I wanted to post up a few indie tracks from earlier in the 80s that I love love.

Echo and the Bunnymen - Killing Moon (live clip)
The Cure - Lovesong and a live clip of Pornography (love to see one of their concerts one day - Robert Smith is still pumping it out)
Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart (must see the movie)
Soft Cell - Tainted Love (the spacey video)
And some kiwi goodness with The Chills - Love My Leather Jacket (YEAH) and Pink Frost
And, holy shit!, Look Blue Go Purple, a feminist women's band, who played good music (although excessively girly vocals, c'est la vie): Circumspect Penelope and Cactus Cat (poppy, and I didn't like it so much, although I had the EP. Where is all the music I've lost over the years?). Their best song, IMO, was As Does the Sun (probably due to the instrumental break in the middle). Oooh, MySpace! It's there.
And just as an oddity, a Japanese cover of a song by Dead Famous People (another kiwi women's group), Postcards from Paradise. Horrible sound quality (and lead vocal, although DFP's vocalist, Donna Savage, was nothing to write home about), but I'm boggled. Simply boggled.

DFP's best song was called "Traitor to the Cause": "When you look at me, then I remember this. When you make the tea, it tastes like weasel's piss. .... When I look at you, I feel so sick inside. ...Who would ever've thought you'd turn out to be het. Don't ever come round my house again. You were wrong if you thought we could be friends." They also had the grooviest drummer, Robin Tearle, who could arm-wrestle anyone into submission. :-)

And just to give a bit of context to NZ in the early 80s, a TV skit by McPhail and Gadsby (popular comedians) featuring the "lady MPs" - McPhail is playing Marilyn Waring, who was instrumental in forcing a change of govt in 1984 when she crossed the floor on a debate on nukes (and later came out as a lesbian), while Gadsby is Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan, in the blue frock.

And here's a clip with a bit of Karen Hay, who introduced the late-night music show, Radio With Pictures, that first exposed me to all that groovy Brit and indie kiwi stuff. The clip also features the Topp Twins, NZ's famous lesbo twin comedy and country and western stars (no kidding, they have had a number of variety shows on TV, and numerous tours around the country), but whose music I really loathe (except for their early political non-C&W stuff). Hey, they're out and proud and do drag. Good on them.

While I'm on the topic of Beethoven and possible musical clichés (which turn out not to be clichés when executed marvellously), YouTube is just great, isn't it?

I found Brendel's rendition of the Moonlight Sonata, although why someone hasn't uploaded movement 2 yet is beyond me. Mov. 1 (that bit nearly 3 minutes in until it returns to the main theme, OMG) & Mov. 3.

Now, by way of contrast, a live performance from Wilhelm Kempff. He must have been in his late 70s or 80s when this was filmed, and while there are a few tiny slips of the fingers, it's still most excellent. Mov 1, Mov 2 and Mov 3.

I do prefer Brendel, and I must get hold of some of his Beethoven recordings, which have apparently been remastered by Phillips. And just for a bit more goodness, the 3rd movement of the Apassionata. I dunno, what can you say.


PS. There's also the 3rd movement of Waldstein on YouTube, but I don't like that piece so much in general.

Traditional Japanese hard rock?

It's just a shame they couldn't work in the taiko drum (and I'm sure Deep Purple probably also feel that omission in their performances), but one of the vocalists during the chorus, um, rocks.

ETA: Some gnarly taiko action, so we can all see what kind of opportunity has been missed. :-)

Also, Pacific peoples and their drums, eh? Wonderful stuff.