Zen's Arcade

Y’know what, 2011 was a pretty good year in music. There was definitely some unadultered shit released this year - the fact that Katy Perry had another 3 massive hits, anything and everything done by Lana Del Rey, the stateless standing army that are the Beliebers, the faux-outrage and pseudo-cyber bullying that followed ‘Friday’, the ironic fame and fortune that followed ‘Friday’, the fact Tyler never actually stabbed Bruno Mars in his “god damned oesophagus”, One Direction and the beginning of Tumblr-pop, Skrillex and the beginning of dubcore, Kreayshawn, Lil B, ASAP Rocky and the rest of swag-rap scene, and the amphetamine fueled ear fuck meme that was ‘Nyan Cat’.

Apart from all of that, there was some big bright spots, and across most genres. I had the pleasure of listening to some great rock, punk, hip hop, folk, R ‘n’ B, experimental and dance albums over the year. And hence this list, my 30 favourite albums of 2011. Enjoy y’all.

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Fucked Up - David Comes to Life

The third album from the Toronto punk band was, actually by far and away, my favourite album of 2011. The nearly 80 minute rock opera is as bold as it is brilliant. Fucked Up have been able to channel their classic early hardcore sounds into an expansive masterpiece without losing the genre’s characteristic raw energy or sense of purpose. 

Beginning with ‘Let Her Rest’, we are greeted with a theme that became evident in Fucked Up’s last record, The Chemistry of Common Life, that being the groups ability to put together a complex, multi-layered instrumental track. After 3 and half minutes of guitar noodling, it cuts out. A single guitar riff emerges. We have entered ‘Queen of Hearts’. The drums joins in, the guitars erupt and Damian Abraham lets loose with the album’s first lyric; “The sun rises above the factories, rays don’t make it to the street’. Boom! The album has begun and their is no looking back.

‘Queen of Hearts’ is an unashamed love song. It introduces us to the basic story of the album. David Eliade, an alienated factory worker in Thatcher’s Britain, meets and falls in love with a socialist activist, Veronica Boisson (voiced in the song by Madeline Follin of Cults fame). Veronica ignites in David a sense of purpose, a wanting for something more, a theme that drives the remainder of the album. 

Following ‘Queen of Hearts’ is a string of near perfect songs. We follow the couple’s love in ‘Under The Nose’, David’s sense of failure in ‘The Other Shoe’ and his depression in ‘Turn The Season’. These songs are quite different to what Fucked Up have produced in the past. The trademarks are still there; Abraham’s gruffed bellow, female guest vocals and harmonies, the seemingly dozens of guitar tracks. Yet the songs are generally simple. The band that has concerned much of its career jamming out extended intros, outros and everything in the middle, are now content with pumping out solid, relatively straight foward punk songs with a classic rock feel.

‘Turn the Season’ also represents a seismic shift in the album’s narrative. At the end of the song, Veronica is killed off in what we later discover was a blast from a bomb the two planted, presumably in David’s factory. From this point on, the album is substantially altered, both thematically and instrumentally. We see a return to a more classic Fucked Up sound; the songs remain short but there are more whirl wind guitars and extended jams. Abraham’s vocal is notably more visceral from this point on; much of the melody of the earlier tracks abandoned for a near uncontrollable bark. 

The middle section of the album contains the bulk of the narrative. David curses his past relationship in tracks like ‘Remember My Name’ and ‘A Little Death’. We are also introduced to some new characters - Vivian, a former partner of David’s, and Octavius, the narrator-cum-villian. The album jars back and forth, as Octavius holds David responsible for the death of Veronica. Over the course of ‘I Was There’ and ‘Inside a Frame’ we learn that it is Octavius, as the teller of the tale, that is ultimately responsible for Veronica’s death. The characters by this point have accepted their roles in the story. It’s all very meta.

The album closes with the focus once again on David. The desolate anger that characterises so much of the album evaporates into a catharsis. ‘One More Night’, with its pummeling guitars and constantly shifting dynamics is the highlight of the album. Abraham is at the peak of his powers as he describes David coming to peace with his role and the course of events. We see the re-emergence of Veronica, played this time by Canadian songwriter Jennifer Castle (as if to imply a phoenix-like rise), who declares her everlasting love for David. The verified explosion of emotion that follows is a life affirming moment, as David begs for one more night with his beloved over the top of a driving beat, a signature three piece guitar wall, Castle’s angelic harmonies and an ever increasing haunting organ sound. Closing with the ‘Lights Go Out’, we meet an aging David who is content to relive the story in order to reunite with Veronica. With the instrumentation fading in the final minutes we are reunited with the guitar work that opens the album in ‘Let Her Rest’, confirming that David and Veronica will be together again, and inducing an “aww” or two in the process.

The massive meta-narrative of David Comes To Life is the record definitive component, however it is not necessarily what makes it a great album. Fucked Up had completed the music prior to writing the story. As a result the individual songs on the record stand up by themselves. The pressure to fit the songs to the story, often the  major failing of a concept album, is largely absent from the record. As a result, it is easy to relate to individual songs in isolation from the wider story. So when Abraham cries “let’s be together until the stars go out” or “never been as happy as I am today, then the seasons turned and the darkness came” or “maybe it was my fault and I deserve to be upset, maybe the price of being wrong is a lifetime of regret. So tear up my memories into a thousand little parts and give them to someone else so that they won’t tear up my heart” or “I’d go through it again. I would embrace the pain if it gave me the chance of one more glance of you in arms to hold in my dreams” - you don’t need to be trapped in a story without free will where a jealous narrator killed your girlfriend. You just have to be an ordinary human being, with oridinary emotions and ordinary experiences of love, lost, despair, hatred, more despair and hatred, and finally redemption.

Ultimately, it is Fucked Up’s raw ability and talent that shines through. Punk rock has long rebelled, nay, was founded against much of what is contained in this album. The Clash told us that “Beatles-mania had beaten the dust”. Bad Brains taught us we lived in a world where we had to “pay to cum”. Gang Of Four warned us that “love will get you like a case anthrax”, whilst deploring the idea that what happens between people should be “shrouded in mystery”. Yet David Comes To Life is as much a celebration of eternal, omnipresent love as is any Disney movie or bubble gum pop song. The self-celebrating circle jerk of 70’s concept albums helped spark punk rocks drive to make simple music, and whilst bands from The Descendents to Husker Du and yes, Green Day, have all made albums with clear plot lines, none can claim to have one as complex as David Come To Life.

Fucked Up have produced an album that is determined to defy the mediocrity that has defined punk releases for the last decade. Pop punk has been successfully bastardised and turned into a product for mass consumption. Hardcore seems to be content with throwing down in a circle pit of cliches and ever increasing machismo. The noisier and experimental forms of the genre, once a shining beacon of hope, seem to be trapped up their own arses. David Comes To Life is something new, testing the boundaries of the genre from every angle while maintaining its sincerity and authenticity. It is a snapshot of a band at the top of their game, at the top of the game. It is beautiful, it is ugly, and it is my favourite album of 2011.

When I read comments on Drum articles, I usually take the edge of afterwards by head butting a wall for 17 straight minutes. Take for example today’s article by Michael Brull on the NT Intervention and the racist and paternalist policies around income management and school attendance. This is a comment by ‘Lorraine’:

If you were a mother and your spouse drank, smoked and or gambled your money it would be a godsend to have some of it safe to spend on food and necessities. If the family does not have these problems they would also have cash to buy those items not allowed on the card. I believe all families on welfare should have a card for necessities regardless of race and then it would be a normal procedure at the supermarket. 
A little embassement for those not needing the card’s protection is a small price to pay for those women and children who no longer have to go hungry. 
Lorraine Gold Coast (pensioner)

But then there are moments of beauty. Like the reply by ‘Mulga Mumblebrain’:

Of course it should also apply to pensioners, eh Lorraine?

Glorious.

Time to get in on this list thing. Here’s the 25 songs that made 2011 for me. Enjoy, y’all.

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So first there was the lock out of unionised workers by Qantas, followed by the undercutting of strike action by Fair Work Australia. Then Baiada used Police and private security thugs in an attempt to break the workers picket line, but ultimately failed, with workers winning better pay and conditions. Not to forget that the Victorian Government were secretly planning to lock out Nurses in response to any industrial action they may take.

Just last week POAGS, a stevedoring company owned by the notorious Union buster Chris Corrigan, locked out workers engaged in protection industrial action and broke the picket line by flying in scabs using helicopters. Now Schweppes has locked out workers indefinitely in the run up towards Christmas. 

Despite all this, the Right continues to bleat that current industrial legislation is too tough on employers. Take the comments of Liberal Senator Eric Abetz:

[the] announcement that Schweppes in Australia will lock out 150 of its workers after rolling industrial action shows that there is a bigger problem with the Fair Work Act.

For Abetz, the FWA doesn’t grant enough rights for Bosses to break the industrial action of workers. But wait, it gets better:

We were told that Qantas’ actions were ‘extreme’ and showed ‘employer militancy’. Clearly there is a bigger problem where the union bosses are pushing for unrealistic demands and employers are being forced to take drastic action in response - and all the time not a single word about productivity.

Those damn radical Qantas workers and their unrealistic demands, such as moderate wage rises, the protection of safety conditions, reduced outsourcing and good faith bargaining. How was Qantas meant to pay for such demands at a time where it was making a 2010-2011 profit of $552 million? Qantas is seemingly strapped for cash at the moment, especially after it spent $20 million a day when it grounded flights, gave away another $20 million in free flights to customers as an “apology” for the delays, not even mentioning the $500 million Qantas plans to spend in order to expand into the Asian market. Yes, those Union demands are pretty unrealistic.

But clearly the problem is much larger than Qantas. Surely all employers are being held hostage to the ruthless demands of the Unions. After all, the bosses have only enjoyed 25 years of increasing their profit share:

This is what a wages breakout looks like.

Not too mention that Unions don’t even care about productivity increases, which have only outstripped wages growth for a quarter of a century:

This is what stalling productivity looks like.

And so we see what the true context of current labour struggles. For the last three decades, employers and corporations have seen massive gains in their profits, whilst workers have seen far slower, even if still growing wages. The result is that Australia has become a vastly unequal society, with all the signs showing that inequality will continue to rise. During this time, employers and Governments have become increasingly antagonistic towards unions and their members, as Bernard Keane explained in Crikey:

Let’s be clear about the long-term business agenda in Australia regarding industrial relations. It’s an agenda aimed not at improving productivity — as I and others have incessantly showed, the last round of IR reform led to a drop in labour productivity — but a more self-interested one aimed at reducing labour costs and neutering unions.

Business is quite tolerant of trade unions, as long as they do nothing that inconveniences business or increases labour costs. They can even be a useful form of alternative pressure on governments when industries set about rent-seeking. Neutered unions are quite acceptable. Real ones, that aggressively represent the interests of their members, aren’t. And ones that actually take industrial action, in particular, are regarded as outright enemies of business.

This is the ultimate thrust of IR reform — to pathologise industrial action, however legal, however justified. The point is to frame the right to withhold labour as an illegitimate form of economic vandalism, no matter what the circumstances.

Smelling a weak Government, the business community and the political right can sense an opportunity to renew attacks on the ability of workers to organise after the dramatic defeat of WorkChoices. Indeed, the inability of the ALP’s own legislation to protect workers from outrageous lock outs and attacks by bosses displays their own ineptness in combating the bosses.

This reality reinforces the importance of these current high profile labour struggles. The fight to maintain dignified conditions for workers is one that has always existed both inside and outside the Parliament. Whilst the lock outs represent an attack on collective power of workers, it also displays the clear conflict that exist between the owners and managers, and those who work for them. Furthermore, it opens up a space for the wider community to become involved, as was the case at the Baiada picket. The result is the possibility of building a broad base coalition of workers, unionists and community members that not only can defend proper working conditions, but are absolutely necessary in achieving that end.

Jeff Sparrow has a great piece on The Drum today (that everyone should read) discussing right wing commentary and its ties to extreme right terror attacks.

One of the most interesting aspects to the piece was a series of comparisons between Islamicphobic commentary and the old anti-Semitic writings found in the Nazi journal, Der Stuermer. The list was compiled by journalist Colm O Broin over at his blog, and is as follows:

Muslims/Jews have a religious duty to conquer the world.
”Islam understands its earthly mission to extend the law of Allah over the world by force.” Robert Spencer.
”Do you not know that the God of the Old Testament orders the Jews to consume and enslave the peoples of the earth?” Julius Streicher.

The Left enables Muslims/Jews.

“The principal organs of the Left…has consistently been warm and welcoming toward Islamic supremacism.” Robert Spencer.
”The communists pave the way for him (the Jew).” Julius Streicher.

Governments do nothing to stop Muslims/Jews.

“FDI* acts against the treason being committed by national, state, and local government officials…in their capitulation to the global jihad and Islamic supremacism.”(Freedom Defense Initiative, Robert Spencer/Pamela Geller organisation).
”The government allows the Jew to do as he pleases. The people expect action to be taken.” Julius Streicher.

Muslims/Jews cannot be trusted.

“When one is under pressure, one may lie in order to protect the religion, this is taught in the Qur’an.” Robert Spencer.

“We may lie and cheat Gentiles. In the Talmud it says: It is permitted for Jews to cheat Gentiles.” From The Toadstool, children’s book published by Julius Streicher.

Recognizing the true nature of Muslims/Jews can be difficult.

“There is no reliable way for American authorities to distinguish jihadists and potential jihadists from peaceful Muslims.” Robert Spencer.
”Just as it is often hard to tell a toadstool from an edible mushroom, so too it is often very hard to recognize the Jew as a swindler and criminal.” From The Toadstool, children’s book published by Julius Streicher.

The evidence against Muslims/Jews is in their holy books.

“What exactly is ‘hate speech’ about quoting Qur’an verses and then showing Muslim preachers using those verses to exhort people to commit acts of violence, as well as violent acts committed by Muslims inspired by those verses and others?” Robert Spencer.

“In Der Stuermer no editorial appeared, written by me or written by anyone of my main co-workers, in which I did not include quotations from the ancient history of the Jews, from the Old Testament, or from Jewish historical works of recent times.” Julius Streicher.

Islamic/Jewish texts encourage violence against non-believers.

“And slay them wherever ye find them, and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution is worse than slaughter… — 2:191.” Koranic verse quoted by Robert Spencer on Jihadwatch.org.

“And when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally: men and women and children, even the animals. (Deuteronomy 7:2.).” Biblical verse quoted by Julius Streicher in Der Stuermer.

Christianity is peaceful while Islam/Judaism is violent.

“There is no Muslim version of ‘love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you’ or ‘if anyone strikes you on the right cheek turn to him the other also’.”Robert Spencer.

“The Jew is not being taught, like we are, such texts as, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself’, or ‘If you are smitten on the left cheek, offer then your right one’.” Julius Streicher.

Muslims/Jews are uniquely violent.

“(Islam) is the only major world religion with a developed doctrine and tradition of warfare against unbelievers.” Robert Spencer.

“o other people in the world has such prophecies. No other people would dare to say that it was chosen to murder and destroy the other peoples and steal their possessions.” Julius Streicher.

Racism; same lunatic beliefs, just cut and paste the people.