Zen's Arcade

"Today, we should retain the same circumspection. It is a day for a dwindling number of soldiers to..."

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 21:38:00 -0400

“Today, we should retain the same circumspection. It is a day for a dwindling number of soldiers to remember fallen comrades. To deny anyone that right would be less than human. To pile on it for other reasons — and to underwrite the wars of the future with the pointless ones of the past — is a travesty of what remains genuine at the heart of the day. Don’t march with someone else’s medals. They’re not yours, you didn’t earn them, and you might not feel so good about them if you had. Unpopular as it may be, we need to keep questioning the “ecstatic myths” of war in the hope that by doing so we may actually save some — Australian, Afghan, Iraqi, Iranian — lives to come, not those that have been.”

- Guy Rundle in ANZAC Day and why we need to question the ‘myths’ of war

Cover The Night: The Kony 2012 campaign and Activism as Marketing

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 04:37:00 -0400

With April 20th having come and gone we have seen the first mobilisation of the Kony 2012 campaign, which aims for the capture of Joseph Kony, the leader of the Ugandan terrorist organisation the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Unfortunately from the perspective of supporters, reports from around the world show the protest has fizzled in a spectacular, rarely gaining more attendees to drag itself into double figures. Whilst many will contribute superficial explanations for this it actually provides a unique insight into the changing nature of activism and its limitations.

Make no mistake, the ‘Cover The Night’ events have been by all reports a dreadful failure. In Brisbane, the event managed to attract 50 people. In Sydney only 25 people attended, and the Melbourne demonstration also struggled. The Vancouver event managed just 17 people, Toronto got a dozen and the Montreal event was cancelled. Many of these protests were accompanied by Facebook events with attendees numbering well into the tens of thousands. As I write this, the initial video by the charity Invisible Children charity has received over 88 million views on YouTube, and 18 million on Vimeo.

Serious questions have to be asked on why such a massive disconnect exists between the initial hype behind the campaign and the complete failure of its mobilisation. Many will simply dismiss the campaigners and supporters altogether, labelling them as ‘slacktivists’ and committed to any image of social justice rather than serious political action. Others have already blamed the length of time between the appearance of the video and the protests, as well as the quick moving nature of social media.

But none of these explanations really explain the magnitude of the failure of Cover The Night. Twitter and Facebook played a vital role in organising people throughout the Arab Spring, allowing for rapid dissemination of information on protests and state repression. Nor is time necessarily a major factor. The video debuted only 6 weeks ago, a relatively small period of time in movement politics. For comparison, the initial Occupy Wall Street protest had inspired similar protests in 2000 cities after six weeks.

Rather, the near complete lack of activity around Cover The Night seems to reflect deep political and organisational problems with the Kony 2012 campaign. Indeed, early political criticisms of Invisible Children, the charity organising the Kony 2012 campaign, have clearly impacted its success. One of the initial interventions into the debate by sociologist Grant Oyston remains one of the best, outlining most of the reasons to oppose the group and the campaign: that Invisible Children spends very little money on direct help for child soldiers, that the LRA has been significantly weakened of late and is no longer active in Uganda, that the group openly supports the brutal Sudanese and Ugandan militaries and that military efforts to capture Kony would and already have harmed innocent civilians. Since then further revelations have harmed the campaign including the charity’s links with some of the more extreme homophobic elements of the US Right as well as repeated criticisms by African activists and victims about the campaigns implicit paternalism. It’s interesting to note here that Ugandan blogger Javie Ssovi predicted that the threat of military intervention could lead to an increase in child abduction by the LRA, which is exactly what happened. On top of this, the breakdown of Invisible Children’s co-founder Jason Russell added an element of farce to the whole mess.

However the approach to activism used by Invisible Children in the Kony 2012 campaign also provides key points for understanding how it has failed to develop as a protest. Namely because it isn’t anything like traditional grassroots activism, but is rather an exercise that more closely resembles corporate marketing.

Almost every component of the campaign reflects this. Go to either the Kony 2012 or the Invisible Children websites and you can quickly find yourself in the web store with a wide range of t-shirts and Mother’s Day specials. You can download templates for door hangers and stencils, as well as videos directing you how and what to chalk. There’s a customer service link in case you get confused when e-shopping. That’s not to mention the “Action Kit” which comes with everything you need to get active with some pre-made bracelets, posters, stickers and buttons, all cover in the Kony 2012 brand. None of this is available in stores. Maybe if you call in the next 30 minutes they’ll throw in a #stopKony shoulder bag FOR FREE!

Looking through the store there’s hardly anything to distinguish it from what you would see on any generic retail outlet. In a serious political movement you would expect democratic collectives to produce such things themselves. People participate in open meetings where they can debate how they want to frame the campaign’s arguments, how they should propagate them, what actions they will organise, who or what it will target, and how to take the movement forward. The result is that activists are intimately linked with the movement. People become united and empowered, which is what carries political movements onwards and allows them to grow.

None of this exists in the Kony 2012 campaign. People are expected to acquire everything they need from Invisible Children. Rather than encouraging people to form their own collectives and debate one another on what to do as soon as possible, Invisible Children rely on individual consumption of their products. The supporters are infantilised, mere consumers of an ideal and propagators of a brand. The campaign is in no way democratic, nor is ‘grassroots’, and in many ways it is borderline exploitative. Is it any wonder that people would have as much loyalty to the campaign as they would the latest fashion label or style given how little participation they are afforded?

Understanding the Kony 2012 campaign as mere marketing also allows us to understand many of its tactics. How else does one explain the celebrity culture fetish that surrounds Kony 2012? As Victor Ochen, the director of the African Youth Initiative Network, told The Guardian:

“This is a day when communities are trying to heal broken hearts, but Invisible Children want to plaster Kony’s face everywhere,” he continued. “People in the affected areas find it very difficult when an organisation encourages people to wear T-shirts bearing Kony’s face. How do you think Americans would have reacted if people in another country wore Osama Bin Laden T-shirts? All of this just confirms to us that they do not care about the victims and ignore their suffering.”

Surely a focus of any truly grassroots political movement would be to make strong connections with victims and African peace activists. The overuse of the Kony image makes no sense in this context, but it makes perfect sense if you’re trying to manufacture a brand.

It also helps to explains who Invisible Children aims to target to spread its message. In the initial video, it is said people should aim to influence celebrities like Lady Gaga, Rihanna, George Clooney and Ben Affleck. How this would actually help the victims of the LRA remains a mystery to me, yet support from such sources would clearly boost the profile of Invisible Children. The video also calls on people to contact commentators and politicians including Bill O’ Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Condolezza Rice and George W. Bush. To simply ignore the roles each of them played in supporting, and in the case of Rice and Bush, carrying out the devastating wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the scores of civilians killed in each conflict, highlights the complete apolitical nature of the entire campaign.

However it is important to note that the sort of political marketing used by Invisible Children is hardly an historical abstraction, but rather the latest in a clear trend towards an apolitical and corporatised form of activism. This can be seen within the ‘Make Poverty History’ campaign, which moved away from progressive calls of debt cancellation and disbanding of unjust free trade agreements, to selling wrist bands and organising music festivals. Another obvious example is Earth Hour, itself a creation of the advertising industry and with great support from the Fairfax press, aimed to create awareness of climate change through the community and business sector by convincing them to switch off their lights and non-essential items for an hour. Whilst it maybe a nice gesture, it certainly acts to distract people from the more pressing issue, namely that reducing individual consumption of electricity is likely to have little effect on carbon emissions, especially as we see record production and investment in fossil fuels by government and industry.

The trend can also be seen in mainstream political campaigning. In Australia, The ‘Kevin 07’ campaign focused on personality differences between Kevin Rudd and John Howard, distracting from the relatively minimal differences that existed between the major parties outside of WorkChoices. The result has been a demobilised base which has largely abandoned the party. The superficiality of the whole campaign was epitomised when Neil Lawrence, the man who coined “Kevin 07”, went to work for the mining industry in crafting the anti-mining tax ads that would help kill off the resource super profits tax and Rudd’s leadership. Similar is the case of the 2008 election of Barack Obama, which effectively relied on the rhetoric of ‘hope’ and ‘change’ to sell an essentially conservative candidate who has since continued much of what was started by the Bush Administration. As Noam Chomsky noted at the time:

The Obama campaign greatly impressed the public relations industry, which named Obama “Advertising Age’s marketer of the year for 2008,” easily beating out Apple. The industry’s prime task is to ensure that uninformed consumers make irrational choices, thus undermining market theories. And it recognizes the benefits of undermining democracy the same way.

………Obama’s organizers regard the network they constructed “as a mass movement with unprecedented potential to influence voters,” the Los Angeles Times reported. The movement, organized around the “Obama brand” can pressure Congress to “hew to the Obama agenda.” But they are not to develop ideas and programs and call on their representatives to implement them. These would be among the “old ways of doing politics” from which the new “idealists” are “breaking free.”

This highlights the worst feature of activism as marketing. Not only does it alienate people from campaigns by disempowering them, making campaigns unsustainable, but it is also bound to uphold the values and opinions of the status quo. This sort of marketing can only be performed by the type of large professionalised NGO’s that can afford to run these types of expensive campaigns. They require the support of wealthy donors and large advertising agencies, all of which perpetuate only the dominant privileged ideologies. Hence why agencies like Invisible Children support Western military intervention rather than respecting the agency of African peoples.

The ultimate irony of the Kony 2012 campaign is that it has occurred shortly after the recent explosion in true democratic grassroots movements worldwide. From the Arab Spring, to the Indignants movement of Spain, to the Occupy protests, the World is once again seeing mass mobilisations that arguably haven’t been seen since the early opposition to the Iraq War. Importantly, the demonstrations in Tunisia and Egypt, where long term dictators were forced to step down in a matter of weeks, show the power that true democratic movements have to lead to the betterment of ordinary people, something no amount of marketing can ever provide.

Visible Children: We got trouble.

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 04:47:49 -0500

Visible Children: We got trouble.:

visiblechildren:

You do not need to ask my permission to share this. Please link it widely. For those asking what you can do to help, please link to visiblechildren2.tumblr.com wherever you see KONY 2012 posts.

I do not doubt for a second that those involved in KONY 2012 have great intentions, nor do I doubt for…

What A Real Climate Policy Would Look Like

Sat, 03 Mar 2012 21:58:00 -0500

Realised I’ve posted close to nothing here recently so I thought I’d let y’all in on an article I wrote for the Sydney University Climate Action Collective, of which I am a member. It’s shorter than most of the stuff I write on here, and an even *shorter* version appears in our Zine. Enjoy!

In Australia, the majority of carbon emissions are produced by the burning of fossil fuels, mainly coal and gas, to generate electricity. When adding in the emissions from transport fossil fuel usage amounts to 70% of Australia’s national greenhouse gas emissions. A rapid transition away from fossil fuels must be the most crucial aspect to any plan to fight climate change.

Renewable energy technology is quickly reaching the stage where it can replace fossil fuels. A 2010 report by the non-profit group Beyond Zero Emissions in conjunction with the University of Melbourne estimates that Australia could generate all its electricity needs by 2020 with renewable energy technology that is already available. Under the plan, 40% of Australia’s electricity would be generated by wind farms placed strategically around the country to ensure baseload power. The remaining generation would be provided by concentrated solar thermal power plants. The plants consist of thousands of mirrors that concentrate heat energy from the sun on a single molten salt tower. The salt can in turn be used to generate steam for use in turbines, as well as being stored for 17 hours, allowing for the generation of electricity well into the night or during cloudy days.

Such plants are already in existence around the world. The best example is the Gemasolar plant in Spain. Opened just last year, the plant has already generated electricity continuously for 24 hours, and is able to run consistently during the peak demand period between noon and 10pm.

The Beyond Zero Emissions plan is estimated to cost $370 billion over ten years, averaging about 3% of GDP a year. Whilst this would clearly be a very large expenditure it would still be within the amount that was spent to put Nations on a war-footing during World War 2, or what has been spent to bailout banks during the global financial crisis. Importantly it requires government intervention. Renewable energy technology is prohibitively expensive to the private sector, with little short term profit to be made. Yet the only way to reduce the cost is with a massive rollout of renewable energy infrastructure, which would bring with it experience and mass production. Only the Government and the Public Sector would be able to provide such investment.

Not only is renewable energy required to fight climate change, but a series of infrastructure is required to reduce emissions. A new grid would have to be planned and constructed to connect the new power plants to places of production and residence. Houses would need to be retrofitted with insulation and solar water heating. A massive upgrade of electrified public transport is needed to reduce reliance on automobiles, trucking and even aeroplanes. City planning would need to be used to increasingly integrate rural and urban centres to reduce unnecessary transport. All these elements necessitate central coordination and funding which could only come through the Government.

Instead of implementing such a program, the Gillard Government is relying on market mechanisms to drive the climate agenda. The $23/tonne carbon price is generally accepted as being too low to make renewable competitive. Even if the price was higher it would not deal with the structural disadvantageous that renewables face, such as the lack of an adequate grid. Government investment in renewable energy is based on the existence on private sector funding, further tethering public funds to the will of the market. In contrast, the Government is content in providing $12 billion per year in subsidies for fossil fuel use.

Rarely is the hypocrisy as clear as in the recent decision by the Federal Government to withdraw funding to the Moree Solar Farm on the basis that it failed to attract outside finance, whilst extending a $100 million grant to the HRL coal plant in Victoria. On top of this is the Liberal State Governments in both NSW and Victoria, which have recently passed legislation to severely restricting the construction of wind farms.

Despite the urgency with which climate change presents itself, both sides of politics refuse to deal with the crisis. Whilst the Coalition continues to wink at denialists, the ALP maintains its support for market based false solutions. What is needed now is Government investment and intervention to ensure the closure of the fossil fuel industry, with a massive ramp up of renewable energy technology in a democratic and equitable way.

So this is the news story of the year: “Las Vegas Grindcore Band Interrupts Newt...

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 06:40:04 -0500

So this is the news story of the year: “Las Vegas Grindcore Band Interrupts Newt Gingrich”.

A rally for Republican Party nominee Newt Gingrich in Las Vegas on Thursday morning was interrupted by local Nevada grindcore band Traumatic Anal Devastation. Apparently the band members showed up outside the rally, plugged their instruments in, and generated what Gingrich staffer Terry ‘The Stick’ Foley called “the sound of a tank driving through a minefield.”

Police showed up and pulled the plug on the band after about five minutes (twenty songs). Singer for the group Chip “Gravelthroat” Corbin said the impromptu performance was a political statement based on the band’s agenda for equal rights, animal rights, and support of anti-war movements across the world. When asked how his band’s name reflected its political beliefs, Corbin stated “Traumatic Anal Devastation is obviously metaphorical for the way the government and capitalism has continually raped the public at-large.”

When asked how people were supposed to understand the political nature of the lyrics given the undecipherable delivery of them, Corbin responded “Huh? What do you mean?” No reports of hearing loss or more than usual psychological damage from the Gingrich supporters who were present.

Beautiful. Can’t say I’m the worlds biggest Grindcore fan, but here’s some Nails to celebrate.

15 Love Songs You Probably Shouldn't Play On Valentines Day

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:44:00 -0500

Seems we’re approaching that time of year again. Valentines Day. The day where young teenaged couples pledge their undying love for one another only three weeks before breaking up and never speaking again. The day where florists and Hallmark card writers can finally take their families out for a night of expensive Chinese food. The day where professional misanthropes clog up social media sites with how much they hate everyone. A day where hundreds of horny loners descend on “Singles Parties” for a night that will live on in drunken, veneral disease ridden-infamy. A day where the vast majority of normal people carry on their lives with little notice nor care for the melodrama going on around them.

But more than any of this, Valentines Day is another pointless holiday that allows bored bloggers to make even more pointless lists. And what’s more pointless than a list of bad love songs posted a week before Valentines Day? Nothing I tells. NOTHING!

After all, most love songs are pretty disturbing. People still romanticise The Police’s ‘Every Breath You Take’ despite the fact it is clearly about a stalker. ‘Summer Nights’ seems to have some rape allusions. Not to mention ‘I Saw Her Standing There’, a rare insight into Paul McCartney’s debaucherous ephebophilic mind.

Surely none of these songs should be played on Valentines Day, and if you did play these songs, why not go all out? Why not celebrate those songs that are deliberately disturbing? And so here you are, my 15 picks for love songs that probably should not be played on Valentines Day.

BEWARE: SPOILERS AHOY!

15. Poison The Well - ‘Nerdy’

I was told at a party several years ago that bands like Poison The Well made my taste in music “pussy repellent”. Shame, because corny lyrics like “Why do you’re eyes paralyse me? What makes me feel this way?” and “Don’t dull away, hold my hand”, means Poison The Well could easily make a decent bubblegum pop band if it weren’t for all the palm muted bar chords and double kicks.

14. Public Enemy - ‘Pollywanacraka’

A love song by Public Enemy? What is this? Look, it’s ok, because ‘Pollywanacraka’ is a 4 minute spoken word jam from a baritone Chuck D that deconstructs interracial relationships, examining insecurity, communal prejudice, class hatred and racial identity. Probably not the best mood music, but a good song nonetheless.

13. Black Flag - ‘I Love You’

Here’s another group with an unexpected love song. Though it’s pretty clear from the opening lyrics that this isn’t a typical love song: “I put my fist through the door, I hate myself for you”. Pretty dedicated right? Indeed, the guy is so dedicated to his partner that he stabs her to death so she can never leave. Probably explains why Rollins never got married after all these years.

12. Elvis Presley - ‘Kissin’ Cousins’

Elvis’ endearing ode to familial relations. The song is actually pretty fun when you look past the whole, you know, incest part. Though as someone who passed a third year Evolutionary Genetics course I can say that his excuse that “We’re all cousins….because we’re children of Adam and Eve” does not make macking on with your relatives “all right”.

11. The Velvet Underground - ‘The Gift’

Written by Lou Reed for a University assignment, ‘The Gift’ tells the story of Waldo Jeffers, who is trying to keep his long distance relationship with Marsha Bronson alive. Walter, broke and lovesick, decides to mail himself to Marsha. All very romantic until Marsha stabs the package with a box cutter, slicing straight into Waldo’s head, killing him instantly. Oh yeah, and she was cheating on him the whole time. All in all somewhat less sweet than ‘Pale Blue Eyes’.

10. Dizzee Rascal - ‘I Luv U’

Another ironically titled song, because ‘I Luv U’ is a tale of a young relationship kept together by nothing more than material circumstances, jealousy, suspicion, competition and sexual exploitation. Combine this with a young Dizzee’s visceral flow and a classic grime beat and it’s unlikely you’ll get a dancing partner for the Singles Ball.

9. Broken Social Scene - ‘Anthem For A Seventeen Year Old Girl’

Ok this is just a sad song. It opens with “You used to be one of the rotten ones and I liked you for that. No you’re all gone, got your makeup and you’re not coming back. Can’t you come back?”, but closes with “Park that car, drop that phone, sleep on the floor, dream about me”. Don’t you see! He won’t dream of you. He doesn’t love, he never will. HE’LL NEVER TREAT YOU RIGHT. I’D TREAT YOU RIGHT THOUGH. OH GOD, NOW I’M CRYING AGAIN. HAPPENS EVERY TIME. GET IT TOGETHER, MAN. GET IT TOGETHER!

8. Gang Of Four - ‘Anthrax’

If you manage to navigate your way through the opening minute-and-a-half of guitar feedback and drone you’ll discover ‘Anthrax’ is a crowning achievement of the English post-punk scene. Half song, half spoken word piece, it is a rational deconstruction of the love song with Andy Gill concluding “don’t think we’re saying there’s anything wrong with love, we just don’t think what goes on between two people should be shrouded in mystery”. And let’s not forget the “Love will get you like a case of Anthrax, and that’s something I don’t want to catch” hook. Ok, so no one would ever actually play this song on Valentines Day. Fuck you, it’s a good song.

7. Bruce Springsteen - ‘Atlantic City’

In someways this is typical Springsteen; boy meets girl, boy and girl live in terrible environment, boy promises girl to get her a better life. The main difference is that in this case, the boy is forced to work for the mob to do so, pushing him into an existential wasteland where death is around every corner. Well, at least her hair is up pretty.

6. The Jesus and Mary Chain - ‘Just Like Honey’

Y’all know that final scene in ‘Lost In Translation’? Where Bill Murray runs through a crowded Tokyo to get to Scarlett Johansson and says something that everyone pretends is a mystery even though it’s clear as fucking day that he tells her he loves her? Yeah well this is the song that starts playing at the end of the scene. Pretty sweet right? That’s until you discover that Jim Reid is actually graphically detailing sex with an ex-girlfriend, with a particular focus on his reluctance to go down on her. So yeah, there you go.

5. Woody Guthrie - ‘Hard, Ain’t It Hard’

There’s a few different versions of this song but they all tell the same tale. The relatively generic hook of “Ain’t it hard to love one that never did love you” covers up a story of a man who has fallen in love with another man who happens to sleep with all the women in town, before murdering him out of jealousy. That’s pretty radical by today’s standard, let alone when Guthrie played it in 1941.

4. The Smiths - ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’

Fairly standard addition to the list, I would’ve thought. Only Morrissey would complicate a lovely late night drive with thoughts of getting run over by a double decker bus or a ten ton truck. Some trivia, the title lyric was originally “there is a light in your eyes that never goes out”. Pretty cheesy. Luckily, they decided to stick with the abstract one-liners and the death fantasies.

3. Atlas Sound - ‘Shelia’

Fans of either/both Atlas Sound and/or Deerhunter would know that singer-songwriter Bradford Cox’s music is pretty much always depressing. So ‘Shelia’, with its sunny instrumentation and tale of aging love seems like a nice reprieve. That’s until you learn that the couple fear dying alone and that there fear is the only thing keeping together. Good going there, Bradford, you had us there for a second. I’m sure that the songs final lyric “we’ll die alone together” will be belted out at dates across the nation.

2. Iggy Pop - ‘Tonight’

Ironically placed on Pop’s breakthrough solo record Lust For Life, ‘Tonight’ follows Pop as he convinces his partner, dying from a heroin overdose, that “everything will be alright tonight”. On a brighter note, the song was covered by David Bowie and Tina Turner in 1984, where the drug references were removed and the song put to a reggae beat. That cover did not make the list, because it is shit.

1. the Mountain Goats - ‘Going To Georgia’

“The most remarkable thing about coming home to you is the feeling of being in motion again. It’s the most wonderful feeling in the world”. Fairly innocuous beginning. That is until you realise the protagonist has got a gun and only moments away from shooting himself. That is until his love walks in: “The most remarkable thing about you standing in the doorway is that it’s you, and that you’re standing in the doorway”. She takes away the gun and he no longer feels like dying. I don’t know about y’all, but I like that. ‘Going To Georgia’ is completely fucked up, but in typical Mountain Goats fashion it is lovable and listenable, and in no way playable on Valentines Day, but it’s worth a try.

The Tent Embassy Protest - A Lesson in Overreaction and Social Context

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 22:05:00 -0500

The Tent Embassy Protest - A Lesson in Overreaction and Social Context:

The kind people over at The Overland Literary Journal have cross-posted my piece about the Tent Embassy protest. Click the title to read it if you haven’t already, or if you just want to read it again. I won’t judge.

lifeisliterallylimited: ‘Straya Day mate.

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 02:48:38 -0500

lifeisliterallylimited:

‘Straya Day mate.

The Tent Embassy Protest - A Lesson in Over Reaction and Social Context

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 23:37:00 -0500

The Australia Day Tent Embassy Protest - was it one of the Nation’s gravest political security threats? A bit of an over reaction? A media beat up perhaps? Or was there something deeper going on….

The protests were sparked by comments made by the Opposition Leader Tony Abbott that those at the Tent Embassy “move on” after celebrating its 40th anniversary. Some 200 activists from the Embassy traveled to a nearby ceremony honouring emergency service workers, which was attended by both Abbott and Prime Minister Gillard. After several minutes of chants and window banging, the Prime Minister’s security team decide to bundle both Gillard and Abbott out of the ceremony, where Gillard tripped and lost a shoe in the drama. Both leaders were put into cars, allowing for their departure.

It didn’t take long for the moral panic to begin. The protests were “violent” and a “shame” on the Nation, lead by an “angry mob”. Countless column inches were taken up with estimates of how far the protests had sent back the cause of reconciliation. Was it 5 years? 10 years? 20 years? Some went even further. David Penberthy called for the closure of the Tent Embassy, as did Menzies House, apparently seeing no conflict between that and their defence of the free speech rights of Andrew Bolt last year. Speaking of Bolt, he saw fit to use the protests as an excuse to call an end to reconciliation altogether. As Amber Jamieson noted in Crikey almost every major paper led with the image of a clearly frightened Gillard in the arms of personal security accompanied by headlines like “Prime Threat” or the offensive appropriation “Sorry Day” (I’ll come back to that). Laurie Oakes seized on a handful of vile comments to label all those involved in the Tent Embassy as “morons”. Bob Carr had my favourite piece, seemingly having a brain haemorrhage and going on a bizarre red-baiting rant:

Anyway here we have again the bankruptcy of the old Leftist approach: throw a demo. Every time some respectable body does this – the ACTU or Unions NSW or a pro-refugee group – the same thing happens: on the street the extremists take over. The Trots love a blue, “the worse things are the better they are” and by radicalizing everyone and breaking heads it all hastens the World October, onto revolution, comrades.

Must have been pretty bad right? The black hordes attacking our first female Prime Minister like a scene out of The Birth Of A Nation, right?

Well eyewitness accounts come across quite different to those of the commentariat. Melbourne based writer Wil Wallace was able to interview Embassy activist Sam Castro, who gave a very different account of the days events:

The morning started with speeches being made at the Tent Embassy on a range of subjects until one person stood up and explained to the crowd that Tony Abbott had remarked to the media that he believed the Tent Embassy was no longer relevant and should be packed up and moved on; information had just come through that Tony Abbott was at The Lobby, a restaurant near the Old Parliament House, and the suggestion was made that the group should go there and ask Abbott to talk to the crowd and explain himself.

A contingent of about 100 protesters made their way up the road to The Lobby and surrounded it. Though they were loud and noisy they were non-violent. Security blocked the protesters from getting close to the restaurant for a while but it didn’t take long for a few protesters to break the line and soon the rest had gotten close up against the restaurant’s walls. As the walls of The Lobby are made of glass the protesters could look in and see Mr Abbott and the others pretending not to hear them and, after about ten or fifteen minutes Julia Gillard’s white jacket was recognised and the protesters realised that she was in there along with Mr Abbott.

The conduct of the police and security team is also notably different in Castro’s account:

As more protesters made their way to the restaurant, the riot police charged out the doors, practically dragging Ms Gillard along, while the onlookers began to shout “where are you going?” and “why won’t you talk to us?” As the cars drove off, some people threw plastic water bottles and water at the cars.

At this point things began to get fairly nasty; one protester was knocked into the rose bushes and one gigantic cop started brandishing a can of tear gas or capsicum spray (reports differ on this point) in people’s faces and shoved Sam, another girl and a female photo-journalist in the head. When Sam told him to calm down he reportedly bared his teeth and grinned so widely his eyes nearly popped out of his head; to many on site it was fairly clear that the officer was barely under control.

This account is supported by-and-large by another Embassy attendee, Amy McQuire, who detailed her experience in Crikey, as well as organiser Mark McMurtie. Writing in The New Matilda, Ben Eltham noted that 3AW’s reporter on the scene, Michael Pachi, reported that the “violence” was in fact mostly loud chanting, whilst participants again reiterated that they only wanted Abbott to make a speech to the crowd. While these claims are obviously subjective, the authors at least have the benefit of actually having been there, something not shared by Penberthy, Bolt, Oakes or Carr.

On top of these accounts is the video of the event. Judging by footage provide by NineMSN, it’s pretty obvious that no protestor ever came close to either leader, and that the only civilians that did were those involved in the media.

Whilst protestors were banging on the restaurant windows, this video shows that it was still far short of anything violent.

Indeed, the only video evidence of physical violence is that committed by the Police, as was claimed by the eyewitnesses mentioned above. Footage shows police inciting and threatening demonstrators and the media, punching protestors and repeatedly ignoring complaints of abuse.

Considering all of this, it’s difficult to see how the protestors formed a credible threat to either Gillard or Abbott. After all, not a single person was arrested at the protest, and as of yet, no one has been charged with any crime. That says a lot about the nature of the demonstration, especially when you consider 20 people were arrested during the crackdown on Occupy Melbourne, which was no where near any National leader.

The reaction to the Tent Embassy protest, by Gillard, Abbott, the Police and the Media provides a uniquely raw glimpse at how the powerful view and treat Aboriginal Australians. Firstly, serious questions have to be asked about why neither Gillard nor Abbott made any attempt to address the crowd. After all, that’s what Anthony Albanese did when a 500-strong crowd (i.e. well over twice the size of the Tent Embassy protest) confronted him outside his Marrackville office in September 2011 over his comments about the Convoy of No Confidence.

Then there is the question of whether the actions of police and security were even necessary. It is difficult to claim the protestors represented any clear physical threat to either Gillard or Abbott. The threat was at least no greater then the aforementioned Albanese protest, or another recent action against Immigration Minister Chris Bowen by Refugee adovcates. Neither protest attracted any where near the amount of Police attention as did the Tent Embassy action.

But then again, it’s not like the Police have the best relationship with the Aboriginal people. Earlier this month saw the death of Terrance Daniel Briscoe, a 28 year old Aboriginal man, within Police custody in an Alice Spring gaol. The official reason given by the Police, that Briscoe had sustained a head injury prior to being locked up, amounts to little more than gross negligence on the part of the Police. Sadly, Briscoe is just one of almost 300 Aboriginal persons who have died in custody since the deaths in custody Royal Commission in 1991. As Igna Ting has reported in Crikey, deaths in custody have risen by 50% since 1991 despite some $400 million dollars being allocated to implementing (some) recommendations of the Royal Commission. Between 2000 and 2009, Indigenous incarceration rates increased by 50%, whilst non-Indigenous rates increased by 5%. The proportion of Indigenous people in prison system has nearly doubled since 1991, going from 14% to 26%, whilst remaining just 3% of the population. Indeed, based on the raw statistics, Australia imprisons Aboriginal men at 5 times the rate Apartheid South Africa gaoled Black men.

And this brings me to my main point. In almost all the coverage of the Tent Embassy protest, there has been a deafening silence about the social context it undeniably exists in. The fact is that the Aboriginal people have faced historical and systematic racism that continues to have consequences and is still well and truly alive. Is it really a surprise that this occurred on Australia Day? Despite the best efforts of nationalistic apologists, it still marks the day of the initial invasion of the Aboriginal people, sparking well over a century of attempted genocide and assimilation, all for the cause of starting a massive penal state. That might just be a little offensive.

Similarly, little was said about the present day attacks on the Aboriginal people, the clearest example being the bipartisan Northern Territory Intervention. Started in 2007, the Intervention consists of a serious of policies implemented in 73 remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory. There is little evidence to suggest the policies have helped these communities at all, but are more likely to have driven the people further into poverty and stigma.

Efforts to build housing have been notoriously slow, with up to half the funds eaten up by administration. Even with the program beginning to get on track, it is unlikely the Government will meet is occupancy rate (9.3 people per dwelling) without massive waste.

Social funding is being concentrated into “growth hubs”, effectively forcing people off their land despite the known health and social benefits of living on one’s homeland. School attendance has decreased in prescribed areas due to poor facilities, job cuts and the abolition of bilingual education, and despite the use of punitive welfare measures.

On top of these failures comes income quarantine. Those receiving welfare payments automatically have 50% of their income withheld and placed onto a “BasicsCard”, which can be used to purchase necessities at selected stores. The evidence suggests that the BasicsCard has had no effect on consumption patterns of food, soft drink or cigarettes. The cards can only be used in major supermarkets, hence many locally owned small shops have gone bust, whilst forcing people to travel long distances at great costs to shop in the larger towns. There is also evidence to suggest that people are pressured and humiliated into accepting the BasicsCard when they no longer have to. A study of Aboriginal women using the BasicsCard found people were generally confused about why they had been put under income quarantine, that they felt a loss of “respect and dignity”, that they believed Centrelink staff often had paternalist views of Aboriginal People and that many women had stopped reporting abuse out of fear of further quarantining. Income quarantine also uses massive amounts of funds that could be used for social services, with estimates that its administration costs almost 9 times the amount spent on aiding the unemployed find a job.

The NT Intervention has sparked serious and significant declines in the living standards of the prescribed Aboriginal communities. Under the intervention suicide and self harm, incarceration and child removal have all increased. Is it any wonder that the Intervention is opposed by Elders across the Northern Territory as well as the United Nations. Yet despite all of the failures associated with the Intervention and the stigma it breeds, the Government is committed to see it last for at least another decade under the “Stronger Futures” name. Indeed, income quarantining is planned to be rolled out around the country.

I mention these things because they must be acknowledged to understand what happened on Australia Day. The Aboriginal community continues to suffer the consequences from historical dispossession. Dispossession from the land, their culture, their wages and their families. Hence we have “the gap”, the massive disparity that exists between Indigenous and non-Indigenous persons in terms of wealth, education and health.

But the social context goes further than that. What the Northern Territory Intervention shows is that attempts to assimilate the Aboriginal people continues until this day. As a consequence, the racist and paternalist attitudes that justify policy responses like the Intervention are legitimised, strengthened and reproduced. This is especially the case when elements of the media are so explicitly racist. Take Mark Knight’s cartoon in the Herald Sun the day after the Tent Embassy protest, which uses genocide as a punchline. Or the aforementioned “Sorry Day” headlines; because losing your shoe is apparently on par with remembering the thousands of children stolen from their families. Both things are fine if you think the suffering of people based on their race is so insignificant that it can be laughed at or dismissed entirely.

The harsh truth is that those in power, be they the Police, the Media, or Politicians, have consistently and actively disadvantaged the Aboriginal people ever since “settlement” in 1788. That’s why the Tent Embassy still exists. It’s also why Tony Abbott’s comments were so offensive and able to arouse such fury so easily, because 40 years after the first Tent Embassy, Governments (and their megaphones in the Media) are content with rolling out policies that do so much damage to Aboriginal communities.

In such a context, is it any wonder that the protestors would be so angry and maybe, sorta, kinda actually didn’t at all harm our Nation’s leading Politicians? The fact that an action where protestors attacked no one and caused no property damage yet can still be labelled as violent displays a distinct authortarian political outlook on the world. While the commentariat cries crocodile tears for the state of the Nation’s political dialogue and the “dignity of the Office”, we should remember that these same centres of power have shown little to no respect for the Aboriginal people.

"Pseudo-populism and antielitism function as fake consensus-builders. For-profit universities claim..."

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 02:52:42 -0500

“Pseudo-populism and antielitism function as fake consensus-builders. For-profit universities claim to be “antielitist” even as they extract profits from federally funded student loans, taken out by the poorest and most marginal students to pay for a credential. Maybe we can finally abandon the pseudo-politics of academic antielitism in the face of contemporary economic upheavals. Maybe we are seeing a turn away from these rhetorical dead ends and back to bread and butter issues about exploitation and expropriation.”

- Catherine Liu in Antielitism Left and Right

Photo

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 04:30:18 -0500

Internet Hugbox: The costs of a law and order auction

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 08:34:35 -0500

Internet Hugbox: The costs of a law and order auction:

phetdreams:

If you’ve lived in NSW at an election, you’re probably used to the consistent scaremongering of both parties participating in a law and order auction. One will promise legislation that will ‘better tackle yobs’ the other will say they’ve budgeted an increase of hundreds of officers to enforce the…

"Rightwing populism is not merely transparently “representative”: rather it seeks to..."

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:47:19 -0500

“

Rightwing populism is not merely transparently “representative”: rather it seeks to create the division that it articulates. Societies divided along multiple lines are simplified into a dichotomy between “the people” and its other. The working class is redivided into the hard-working taxpayer and the slothful undeserving poor, with the former subsumed into the “people”, the latter into its other. The people are then construed as a “middle” whose sovereignty has been abused by bureaucrats, tax-avoiding plutocrats, criminals, protesters and clamourous minorities alike. Thus, Wallace complained that “middle America” was squeezed between the “silk-stocking crowd” and the poor and criminal.

The “middle”, thus defined, is a depthless discursive entity: “the people” supposedly bracketed by the term share little by way of work, culture, housing, education or daily experience. They are united only by what they oppose. Nonetheless, this type of appeal would underpin Ronald Reagan’s attempt to forge a Republican majority. In the same way, Powellism would pass into mainstream politics in the form of Thatcherism, which championed a squeezed “middle England” of hard workers against a bossy state and the grasping poor: a form of politics characterised by Stuart Hall as “authoritarian populism”. Since then, capturing the “centre ground” has often meant genuflecting to an incorrigibly reactionary “middle”.

”

- Richard Seymour in ‘Authoritarianism and free market orthodoxy in Liam Byrne’s welfare ideas’

30 Albums for 2011

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 01:07:54 -0500

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.

30. Radiohead - King Of Limbs

Seems to me that this album was met with a universal - “oh, really?” when it was released earlier this year. And yet, I see it popping up on a lot of end-of-year lists. No it’s clearly not their best, but what can you expect? If you aren’t filled with a greater peace after the guitar noodling of ‘Separator’ than there’s something wrong with you, not Radiohead.

29. The Vaccines - What Did You Expect From the Vaccines?

If I understand this correctly, The Vaccines are one of the bigger buzz bands in England. Anointed by the ever-relevant (sarcasm) taste makers at NME, their debut fell a little flat amongst the British music press. Thankfully, I was able to enjoy What Did You Expect… without the overseas hype. And whilst their Beatles-cum-Ramones-cum-Jesus and Mary Chain style may induce some rolling of some cynic’s eyeballs, you can’t argue that tracks like ‘If You Wanna’, ‘Norgaard’ and the album’s closer ‘Family Friend’ get stuck in your head like no other songs in 2011. For some, that’s not enough. For others, it’s too much. For me, it’s just right.

28. Mariachi El Bronx - Mariachi El Bronx II

Hardcore punk band creates a Mariachi side project. All fun and games, right? Maybe not. II is the product of a band that takes themselves very seriously. With instrumental songs, slower tracks about death and a chopping and changing of styles, Mariachi El Bronx are showing themselves to be quite versatile and talented. Of course the overly dramatic love songs remain (see ‘48 Roses’ and ‘Revolution Girls’), but they compliment the groups sound well. I am a massive Bronx fan and I’m very biased picking this, but II is just a fun and harmless collection of songs, and in the end, what more can you ask from an album?

27. Battles - Gloss Drop

The departure of your lead singer is usually not a good sign. Add to that the pressure of producing the follow up to one of the most critically acclaimed debut albums of the last decade. Apparently the challenge isn’t big enough for Battles, who continue to seamlessly merge rock, dance and experimental influences into something that is entirely enjoyable and without pretension.

26. Nicolas Jaar - Space Is Only Noise

The debut album by this American producer harks back to the early ambient works of acts like Aphex Twin, the main difference being that this album is even more minimalist. With obscure film references, Ray Charles samples or seemingly random saxophone solos, Jaar has created a form of electronic music that seems to resemble free jazz more than it does traditional dance music.

25. WU LYF - Go Tell Fire To The Mountain

I once heard a description of WU LYF as “just an indie band with screaming”. It basically holds true, but WU LYF are definitely more fun than the blurb suggests. The Edge-like guitar work and heavy organ use give the record depth, but the active rhythm section and mass gang vocals on tracks like ‘Spitting Blood’ keep the record jumping. Whether WU LYF are in it for the long run will remain to be seen, yet for now they add a good dose of fun to an increasingly pretentious scene.

24. James Blake - James Blake

It’s hard to find a more buzz-filled act in 2011 than James Blake. Throughout the his debut LP, Blake displays an ear for texture and subtlety that is rarely matched by any producer, let alone someone of his age and experience. He is equally capable of making others’ songs his own, as is the case on ‘The Wilhelm Scream’ and ‘Limit To Your Love’, as he is able to produce his own challenging pieces of electronica like ‘Unluck’ and ‘I Mind’. In one album Blake has managed to bridge together fans of intelligent dance music with fans of sensitive pop music (think Bon Iver). Is it any wonder he got so much buzz?

23. Touche Amore - Parting The Sea Between Brightness And Me

Any band singed to Deathwish Inc., the record label of Jacob Bannon of Converge fame, is bound to be good. Touche’s second album confirms this. The band produces what truly is emotional hardcore, with vocalist Jeremy Bolm sounding like he is on the verge of a mental breakdown on each track with lyrics like “it’s become clear that what keeps me here, is that sense of failure and other nightmares”. Add to this the driving instrumentation, especially Elliott Babin’s frantic drumming, and you have a winning combination.

22. Cults - Cults

We all like to piss on pop music, don’t we? The lack of originality, overuse of cliches, the superficiality etc. The fact remains that to create truly great pop music, something so simple that it can sit in a the pocket and stay there, is a pretty hard thing to do. Cults is a nostalgic pop music love-fest. It’s not like the ideas here are all that new or daring, much of it dates back to the 50’s. It’s just that they are executed so well. Anyone that argues that “Go Outside” or “Oh My God” are anything less than pop genius is a straight liar. On top of this is Madeline Follin, the only person who could sing of a stockholm syndrome romance-like on “Abducted”, then back it up with a line like “I could never heal myself enough….so fuck you”.

21. Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring For My Halo

Kurt Vile’s fourth album is the definition of chill. So much so it became my go to music for late night bus/train trips. As a result I’m conditioned to fall asleep upon hearing ‘On Tour’. When I do fight this conditioning I am rewarded handsomely. Over just ten tracks, Vile hovers between folk and psychedelic influences. His guitar work is a stand out with the uber-catchy licks on ‘Jesus Fever’, and the return of the “cool” guitar solo on ‘In My Time’. His slurred delivery seems to say “I’m too cool to sing, what of it?” The result is a classic indie rock record, that cares little for what you think.

20. Frank Ocean - nostalgia, Ultra

Any honest measure of an artist’s success would show that 2011 was the year of Frank Ocean. Beginning the year as the little known sole R ‘n’ B act in the Odd Future collective (who, lets face it, were no where near as popular at the start of the year) to ending it with a major record deal and being one of just three guest artists guesting on Watch The Throne with Kanye West and Jay Z. That’s a massive leap, and it’s all due to nostalgia, Ultra. It’s a classic R ‘n’ B album. The smooth beats allow Ocean to show off his vocal talents in full. He also differentiates himself with his superb, and often quite dark songwriting. Whether he’s recounting a drugged-out hook up in ‘Novacaine’, or describing his melodramatic suicide in ‘Swim Good’, Frank Ocean remains one of the years best new talents.

19. Iceage - New Brigade

This is what I imagine Mars sounds like. Cold, cruel, unrelenting and fucking noisy! The fact that the band is made up of Danish teenagers fresh out of high school makes it even more remarkable. New Brigade is characterised first and foremost by dirty noise-punk. There is a verified hurricane of guitars on the title track, while the drums on ‘Count Me In’ are headache inducing. There is the occasional catchy moment, like on ‘Remember’ or the brilliant closer, ‘You’re Blessed’, but they are few and far between. The only reprieve is frontman Elias Ronnenfelt’s vocal which is consistently indecipherable and apathetic. Though after a while even that becomes scary - “how is he so calm? What is he planning?!”.

18. The Roots - Undun

When you get the Undun CD you are greeted with a sticker informing you that the album is an existential retelling of the life of Redford Stevens. Intimidating to say the least. Yet what The Roots have created is an album that is highly listenable even with a dense and dramatic story line. All the things that make the group so great are here - Questlove’s flawless production, Black Thoughts insightful and underrated lyricism, the verses and vocals of long time collaborators like Dice Raw, Phonte, P.O.R.N. and Bilal. Yet Undun at no point feels like it’s treading worn ground, a testament to its great songwriting. Considering this is the groups 11th studio album, produced 18 months after their last output (the instant classic How I Got Over), all whilst the group performs as the house band for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon - Undun is further proof that not only are The Roots one of the hardest working groups of the last two decades, but one of the best.

17. Trash Talk - The Awake EP

There’s a reason Keith Morris loves these guys. They are a classic hardcore punk band with the benefit of modern production. Frontman Lee Spielman and bassist Spencer Pollard’s vocals bounce off one another with venom, dropping classic hardcore lines like “I am your hammer and sickle, I am your ball and chain, I am your brain on drugs” and “I don’t care where you’re going I just care that you’re gone”. This is the sound that an alienated, bitter and sexually frustrated 15 year old me was looking for, and it is what an alienated, bitter and sexually frustrated present me is still looking for. Trash Talk seems to have filled that void.

16. Bomb The Music Industry! - Vacation

Last year my guilty pleasure was Motion City Soundtrack’s My Dinosaur Life. This year, Bomb the Music Industry! takes that titled, but I’m proud of it. I’m proud to like something that is so unnecessarily bombastic. I’m proud to like something that has gang vocal sing-a-long’s. I’m proud to like something that has an excess of guitar tracks, synth breaks, horn sections and glockenspiels. And I’m proud that is shamelessly pushed threw a pop punk filter. Why? Because it’s fun! Very fun! Too fun. So when Jeff Rosenstock says “when I show up at 6 am, I hope somebody lets me in. I know I’ve been gone a long time, but you know I’m still your friend” I will say “I know you are Jeff, come in”.

15. Veronica Falls - Veronica Falls

The bolter in my list.

This British four piece play a simple form of shoegaze pop. Their debut self titled record is desolate and lonely, but beautiful at the same time. Often compared to record label contempories, The Pains At Being of Heart, for their prominent boy-girl duel harmonies, Veronica Falls play a more stripped down, pop-orientation form of shoegaze, similar to how I imagine the Velvet Underground would have sounded if they followed My Bloody Valentine.

Yet unlike many of these bands there is no distortion, or delay effects or even cymbals, giving the band a fragile sound. The soundtrack is the perfect compliment to the band’s lyrics, which tend to revolve around desire in an innocent and sincere way. One can’t help but feel for the protagonist in ‘Come On Over’ with lines like ‘Hey, it’s getting colder. Come on over, until the summer, until we’re older. Old forever”.

With an innocent sense of love and lost, Veronica Falls sounds like the indie pop equivalent of Lost In Translation. It isn’t perfect, nor is it the most consistent record I’ve ever heard, but it is endearing - and what more can you ask from an album?

14. The Mountain Goats - All Eternal Decks

This is singer-songwriter John Darnielle 13th record under The Mountain Goats moniker (the 8th since the Mountain Goats became an actual band). As a result of his prolific song writing, Darnielle has produced a dedicated following over the last 17 years, strengthening his fanbase particularly over thet last 10 years.

All Eternal Decks is yet another strong Mountain Goats release. Darnielle again shows his genius by doing little to do a lot. The instrumentation is simple, usually just piano, acoustic guitar, bass and drums. The vocal is characteristically out of key, one of the most endearing parts of the band’s music for fans. The lyrics are typical Darnielle - simple stories, soaked in imagery that seem to hit the most basic of nerves. Even when he’s discussing the victims of vampires on the opening track, there is a genuine sense of sorrow and frustration. Tracks like ‘Estate Sale Sign’ and ‘For Charles Bronson’ are a reminder of why so many love the Mountain Goats, one a bitter recount of a couple going through a divorce, the other, a tale of pure optimism that reminds you to “set your sights on good fortune”.

If you aren’t a fan of the Mountain Goats, or at least predisposed to liking their brand of indie-folk, I don’t know if All Eternal Decks is the album for you. But for those seeking simple story telling with a distinctive DIY feel, you can’t go further than this record.

13. Andrew Jackson Jihad - Knife Man

Apart from having the fucking BEST band name in the world, it just so happens that Andrew Jackson Jihad make some great music. The folk-punk’s fourth full length album is a very entertaining battle between cynicism and sincerity.

Dark humour is the order of the day on Knife Man. For christ’s sake the album begins with the line “the Michael Jordan of drunk driving played his final game tonight”. Frontman Sean Bonnette tell’s stories about men leaving their wives to hang out poolside and “scope out the talent”, the homeless being kept dependent on “the Saints” by being fed high-fructose corn syrup and how he’s hero told him never to write a sad song because it will send him broke.

At times Bonnette turns his razor sharp insight on himself. Sometimes with wit (providing the albums best line: “the first month after you left, I drank and jerked off ‘til I slept”) but often in genuine reflection. The closing song, ‘Big Bird’ is five and half minutes of Bonnette confessing his deepest fears, ranging from a fear that his dog doesn’t love him to a confession that his mothers cancer and his grandmothers “dying arm” terrify him.

In many ways when Bonnette confesses that it is “harder to be yourself then it is to be anyone else” he effectively wraps up the album - under all the cynicism and disdain, there is a simple honesty. And like any good comedy movie, it’s this heart that makes Knife Man special.

12. Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx - We’re New Here

I was not confident about this album at all. I’m not a The xx fan, there, I admit it. On top of this, the source material, Gil Scott-Heron’s I’m New Here was easily one of the best of 2010, with an ageing Scott-Heron crooning over quite unique production, lost some where between hip hop and intelligent dance music.

I will gladly eat my words. Jamie xx, who showed consistently over 2011 that he is an immensely talented producer, runs a delicate tight rope between stamping his authority on the record whilst protecting and respecting Scott-Heron’s work. What he produces is a thorough re-imagination of I’m New Here. He produces an ambient reworking of the Scott-Heron classic ‘Home’, while the dark dubstep beat on the track ‘NY Is Killing Me’ serves to enhance the paranoia of the original material. Closing the album with an almost 90’s dance remix, ‘I’ll Take Care Of U’, Jamie xx concludes his work with his talents on full display.

To the great loss of the music world, Gil Scott-Heron passed away on May 27th. He left behind a superb back catalogue that helped form much of modern hip hop and beat poetry. Perhaps the best thing that can be said about We’re Not Here, and Jamie xx’s production, is that it stands up beautifully against Scott-Heron’s past work. While Scott-Heron is no longer with us, We’re Not Here will remain as a testament of one of the previous generation’s greatest artists, and one of this generation’s brightest talents.

11. Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost

Girls are a band that are maturing at a lightning pace. Their debut record Album was a pop pleasure. The release last year of the Broken Dreams Club EP showed the band leaving behind much of their light tone in favour of a more serious, even if still poppy sound.

Father, Son, Holy Ghost continues down this path, but a rate no one could have predicted. The old Girls, the band fascinated with simple 50’s and 60’s pop is still here on tracks like ‘Honey Bunny’, ‘Magic’ and my favourite, ‘Love Life’. But there is a new Girls here, one that is obsessed with the epic. They can be found on the Zeppelin-esque ‘Die’, the near 8 minute long marathon ‘Forgiveness’, and the debut single ‘Vomit’. These tracks show a willingness for Girls to expand, trekking into more classic rock and psychedelic sounds. These influences have always been present, but never in such a bold and textured form. Complimenting this new sound is some of the best production found on a rock album in years.

For their sophomore record, Girls have produced an album that is simultaneously familiar, yet new. They wear their influences on their sleave, but filter them through the nervous and delicate temperament of Christopher Owens, making the album a definitive Girls record.

10. Big K.R.I.T. - Return of 4eva

A big hit amongst hip hop fans in the know, Big K.R.I.T.’s second mixtape provides a guide on how to make a great rap record. Great beats with smooth soul samples, a strong bass drum, catchy hooks, intricate verses and a flow that knows when to go and when to stop. Sounds a lot easier than it actually is, and that’s what so great about Return of 4eva - K.R.I.T. makes it sound so easy.

Over the course of 21 songs, the record is remarkably consistent. The opening tracks, from ‘Rise and Shine’ to ‘Sookie Now’ is one of the best starts to album in 2011. From these initial tracks, K.R.I.T. provides some more insightful tracks in the form of ‘American Rapster’ while still providing some more straight southern hip hop in the form of ‘Made Alot’ and ‘Time Machine’ (where Charmillionaire provides one of the best verses on the album). Towards the end, a more socially conscious agenda shines through, especially with the masterpieces ‘Another Naive Individual Glorifying Greed and Racism’ and ‘The Vent’.

The album wraps up with a remix of the 2010 track ‘Country Shit’, featuring none less than Ludacris. Cynics are likely to having an eye ball rolling competition at this point, but it proves that K.R.I.T. can still have fun and put together a great pop rap song. And that basically sums up the album - it may not necessarily be the most original sound, but K.R.I.T. does it so well that it can’t be ignored, and that’s hard to do.

9. OFF! - First Four EP’s

16 songs, 17 minutes. Keith Morris on vocals. Former members of Red Kross, Rocket From The Crypt, Hot Snakes and Burning Brides on bass, drums and guitar respectively. Longest song is 93 seconds. 45 minute headlining shows. Songs like “Full OF Shit” and lyrics like “I’m standing in the shadows and I’m pissing in the punchbowl”. Of course this on my list!

Note: observant readers will note that the vinyl and download versions of this album was release on December 14th, 2010, hence cannot possibly be on my list. I would like to remind those readers that the CD version was released in February, 2011, hence making it eligible for my list. Even more observant viewers will note that other albums on my list, like Frank Ocean’s Nostalgia, Ultra and Big K.R.I.T’s Return of 4eva, weren’t physically released but were simply online mixtapes, hence making a mockery of my selection criteria. I would like to remind said readers that this my ~~fucking~~ blog and I’ll put whatever ~~fucking~~ albums I want on my ~~fucking~~ 2011 list.

8. SBTRKT - SBTRKT

I may not be “down” with the “kids”, but it seems to “me” that this record came from nowhere to become a favourite for many people. So a little background, SBTRKT is Aaron Jerome, an English producer/DJ. He wears masks on stage and tries to separate himself from the music as much as possible (hence the name - i.e. subtract).

The search for anonymity is buried within the producer’s debut LP, as Jerome’s impeccable beats are paired with guest vocalists Jessie Ware and Sampha. The result is a set of very impressive pop songs that combine soulful vocals with easy house/lounge-esque form of dubstep. The album provides some great dance tracks in the form of ‘Wildfire’ and ‘Pharoahs’, whilst maintaining a rare sincerity on tracks like ‘Trials Of The Past’. At the same time, instrumental tracks such as ‘Ready Set Loop’ and ‘Go Bang’ prove Jerome’s production is all you really need.

In a year where producers around the world tried to cram as much wub into tracks as could be physically programmed, the contrast with this album can not be overstated. Far more interested in atmospheres and subtlety, I predict SBTRKT will become a benchmark for dance records for sometime to come.

7. Death Grips - Exmilitary

With a band name like ‘Death Grips’ and an album name like ‘Exmilitary’ you have a lot to live up to. How do you even open an album like that? Well with a Charles Manson sample of course! Then you boast of how evil and selfish you are on a satanic-tinged track entitled ‘Beware’.

Exmilitary is the debut mixtape from the hip hop act. Made up of experimental producers Zach Hill and Andy Morin, as well as a man known only as MC Ride on vocals, the trio have produced a disturbing, uncomfortably energetic and ultimately brilliant album.

For the most part, Exmilitary seems like a battle for who can be the most outrageous. Ride basically screams every lyric, yet can still keep a mean flow. Whether he’s describing drugged-out sex rampages on ‘I Want It I Need It (Death Heated)’, or yelling nonsense countdowns like “Triple 6-5-forked tongue!” on ‘Takyon (Death Yon)’, Ride remains convincingly terrifying, like a young DMX before he started barking like a dog on every track. Meanwhile Morin and Hill produced some of the most complex and original beats of any hip hop record in sometime. Distinct dubstep, noise, southern hip hop and even punk influences are found on most tracks (the track ‘Klink’ even samples Black Flag’s ‘Rise Above’).

Exmilitary is out there, but familiar enough to remain fun. In a year where the Odd Future collective dominated discussions about hip hop, Death Grips provide an in-your-face and refreshing take on the genre. It’s possible they will eventually just become a novelty over time, but for now they are doing something that is new, and it’s exciting.

6. Shabazz Palaces - Black Up

As Sub Pop’s first ever hip hop act, Shabazz Palaces was always bound to produce substantial interest. Their debut record, Black Up provides ample justification for the hype. Consisting of MC Ishmael Butler and producer Tendai Maraire have produced a daring piece of music.

The most immediate feature is the production. Massively heavy on the bass, but with little bass drum of snare, it is indeed a bizarre record within modern hip hop. Many of the songs don’t actually maintain a single beat throughout the song, slowing morphing into something completely new through the track. Butler’s vocals are often kept low in the mix, often with substantial voice modulation. As a result the whole record has a dream-like atmosphere, hard to pin point and keep down.

In fact, it’s rare that the Black Up ever strays into a more mainstream form. There are some great hooks but they are fleeting. What seems like the most conventional track, ‘Swerve… The Reeping Of All That Is Worthwhile (Noir Not Withstanding)’ abandons any chorus in favour of an extended neo-soul section.

The result is a groundbreaking hip hop record. One that isn’t interested in bravado and would-be club hits, but would rather explore the musical space and test how far it can subtlety push the boundaries. Whilst ‘Indie-Rap’ has been around for years, this record provides and fresh and almost deconstructionist view of hip hop that hopefully will grow and evolve over the next few years.

5. tUnE-yArDs - w h o k i l l

In spite of their consistently frustrating spelling. the tUnE-yArDs make some pretty damn good music. w h o k i l l, the acts sophomore record is a testament to the fact. The record is art-pop in the truest sense of the word - with great hooks and melodies it seamlessly transitions into free reign horn sections, polyrhythms, samples of door and draws opening and closing, and of course, Merrill Garbus’ famous vocal loops. At the same time, Garbus & co. incorporate multiple styles with little effort, with clear funk, dance, hip hop, afrobeat and folk.

Added to this is the fearless political agenda behind the record, which adds substance, in contrast the usual superficial themes found on similar records. The album opens with a clear shot against nationalism with the line “My Country ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, how come I cannot see my future with in your arms?”. Garbus goes on to blast police brutality in ‘Riotriot’ and ‘Doorstep’ before closing the album on ‘Killa’, a catchy indictment on modern gender and race relations.

The culmination of all these factors make w h o k i l l a truly fascinating album. Garbus is able to incorporate important subjects and some quite radical instrumentation, while abandoning many parts of traditional song structure, and still produce an album that is catchier and more entertaining than most standard pop records. Perhaps the greatest achievement of the record is that remains authentic, not caught up in its own importance as is the case for most art-pop record. Look, it’s just fucking great. Go get it.

4. Bon Iver - Bon Iver

The story behind Bon Iver’s debut record For Emma, Forever Ago is one of legend. Singer-songwriter Justin Vernon, recently dumped by his girlfriend and ill with glandular fever, hauls himself away in a cabin in Wisconsin during the middle of winter. At some point he thinks “hey, might as well make an album while I’m up here”. With little more than his vulnerable voice over delicate guitar playing, and quite a bit of heartbreak on every track, what he produces is a defining piece of minimalist folk music, one of the best albums, let alone debuts, of the noughties.

The obvious question then becomes - is For Emma… great because Vernon himself is a great songwriter, or is it a product of its context? A hipster variant on nature vs. nurture if you will.

So they’re was just a little bit of pressure on this album, the oh so often cursed sophomore record. So how do you differentiate it from a record like For Emma… without alienating all you fans? Well firstly, Vernon maintains his style of songwriting and for most part his vocal (give or take a few baritone moments) that are sure to remind people why the love the act in the first part. Lines like “once I knew I was not magnificant” will recapture all those fans that fell for lines like “now all your love is wasted? Then who the hell was I?”.

The major difference here is clearly the instrumentation. For the most part, Bon Iver has left much of the minimalist style behind them for a more layered and textured sound. The appearance of Colin Stetson’s distorted bass saxophone during ‘Minnesota, WI’ provides one of the most surprising and rewarding musical moments of the year. They even drop some mad beatz on ‘Michicant’! Well, as mad beatzy as you can get on a Bon Iver record. From the big crash cymbals and multiple guitar tracks in ‘Perth’, to the country riffage of ‘Towers’, to the Tear for Fears-esque synths of ‘Beth/Rest’, the record marks the beginning of Bon Iver as a true band, rather than just Vernon’s pseudonym.

So to the short answer to the question I posed at the beginning is this - it’s Justin Vernon. It’s Bon Iver. The group is more clearly more than what is going on around them. Many acts try to make a stylist jump between their first and second albums, most fail. Bon Iver have succeeded.

3. La Dispute - Wildlife

Post-hardcore has long been on the downfall, cursed by to me bands who are content to mass (re)produce the sounds of previous acts with little to no new creative important. Those bands that do try and push the boundaries have often fallen into the trap of producing increasing machismo music, haunted by breakdowns and Drop-D tuning.

From this fuck-fest emerges La Dispute and their sophomore full length record, Wildlife. The album is a glorious display of originality that enables it to bust through the mediocrity that surrounds it. The band crafts some of the most interesting and dynamic instrumentation found in modern hardcore, leaving behind the cliches in favour of gradual rises and falls, with seemingly little to no traditional song structure.

However, the big star here is front man Jordan Dreyer. His delivery, which is comprised of spoken word occasionally broken up by more traditional screaming, remains unique even if it deviates little from previous La Dispute releases. Instead it is his songwriting that allows Wildlife to shine. From pain of a town falling apart due to economic recession on tracks like “St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church Blues” and “Safer In The Forest/Love Song for Poor Michigan”, to the feeling of abandonment in “Edit Your Hometown”, to the tragic characters on “King Park”, “Edward Benz, 27 Times” and “I See Everything”, Dreyer produces a fully fledged investigation of human suffering. The world he paints is one where there is no universal justice, no God, Karma or greater good. Lyrics such as “Can I still get into Heaven if I kill myself? Can i ever be forgiven because I killed that kid? I swear it was an accident it wasn’t meant for him” or “January 19th, we buried our son today. Our youngster child, and while his death was ugly we must not let it scare us from God” may be a serious downer to say the least, but they are vastly more interesting than the general “my ex-girlfriend is slut and I want her to die” that characterises modern hardcore.

As emotionally heavy as it is, Wildlife is a fascinating work of art, one that will stay with you for some time. The initial comparisons to Fugazi, At The Drive-In and Refused that accompanied La Dispute are beginning to show their value, as the band displays that they are clearly one of the most talented, original and promising hardcore bands. Let’s just others take up their challenge and begin breaking down the cliches.

2. PJ Harvey - Let England Shake

Along with Bon Iver’s self titled record, Let England Shake has been anointed as a critics favourite in 2011. And with good cause. On her 10th studio album, Harvey takes on no less than the subject of war and nationalism from seemingly every conceivable angle.

Opening with the title track, Harvey leaves us with in no uncertain terms about how she feels about he home country - “England’s dancing days are done. Another day, Bobby, for you to come home and tell me indifference won”. It’s a theme she returns to throughout the record. In “The Last Living Rose” she paints a scene of England in free fall - “Let me walk through the stinking alleles, to the music of drunken beatings. Past the Thames, river glistening, like gold hastily sold for nothing”. The conflict between her love and hatred for the country and what it has become is born out in the emotional climax of the album, ‘England’, where her shaken, vulnerable voice (aided with some tortured vocal overlays) conveys both a beauty and sadness that reflects Harvey’s own struggle with patriotism.

But it is in the songs based around war that the album really takes of. Harvey spent much time prior to recording the album researching the occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan. As a result, Harvey is able to create in depth and fascinating stories without compromising the great songwriting. Only Harvey can turn lines like “I’ve seen and done things I want to forget” and “What if I take my problem to the United Nations?” into sing-a-longs, as she does in ‘The Words to Maketh Murder’. Not content with just the soldiers point-of-view, Harvey also recounts the tales of the victim in ‘The Glorious Land’, blasting the US and Britain for profiting from the destruction of nations in the albums most haunting moment - “What is the glorious fruit of our land? The fruit is deformed children”. The significance of such a song cannot be overstated considering much of the the last decade was spent on propaganda that has actively ignored the effect of war on civilian life and apologised for imperial conquest.

The albums closing tracks, ‘Hanging In The Wire’, ‘Written On The Forehead’ and ‘The Colour Of The Earth’ provide the record with a surprisingly peaceful ending. The gentle instrumentation of the tracks provide somewhat of a cushioned landing after the emotional riot that is the first two-thirds of the album. However the the tales of people jumping into sewage filled rivers to escape fighting, or having to leave your best friends body upon a hill, because to rescue him would mean certain death, reminds that there is no peace.

In a year were England suffered and ongoing recession, increased austerity and riots, and after a decade of endless war, it seems logical that an album was inevitably going to be release that dealt with the collapsing of a nation (or nations). The threat being that such an album may get so caught up in a message that it would fail to investigate the subjects with the depth it deserves.

Harvey has managed to avoid such a misstep to create what truly is a masterpiece, the most consistently brilliant record of 2011, and if I was an honest and objective reviewer - the best album of the year. Unfortunately, my reviewing is hideously biased, hence Harvey does not claim number 1. But feel rest assured, Let England Shake is a record that will be talked about, and listened too, for many years to come.

And so what is number one? Well it’s right here.

And My Album of the Year Is.....

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 01:06:59 -0500

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.

Comments

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 22:11:00 -0500

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.

25 Songs for 2011

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 04:58:00 -0500

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

25. The Horrible Crowes - ‘Sugar’

Oh Brian Fallon, I’d love you.

24. Iceage - ‘You’re Blessed’

They’re only 17, does that make you feel insignificant?

23. Veronica Falls - ‘Come On Over’

This is just a sweet song. Nothing smart to say here.

22. James Blake - ‘The Wilhelm Scream’

Break me off a piece of DAT BASS!

21. Persian - ‘Feel Da Vibe’

A chill song in 2011 or the CHILLEST song of 2011?

20. Das Racist - ‘Michael Jackson’

19. Nicki Minaj - ‘Super Bass’

Fuck you, it’s a good song.

18. Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx - ‘I’ll Take Care Of U’

Thnk U 4 this.

17. Atlas Sound - ‘Mona Lisa’

16. The Mountain Goats - ‘Real Estate Sign’

15. Tyler, The Creator - ‘Yonkers’

When he’s not obsessed with rape, Tyler can actually be a visceral, honest and brilliant emcee.

14. Jamie xx - ‘Far Nearer’

Jamie xx’s second appearance on the list and for good cause.

13. Fucked Up - ‘Queen Of Hearts’

Any song that turns the line “she placed it in his hands, well they must have seen the sparks. Neither understands, what just happened to their hearts” into a shout along deserves to be on this list.

12. Cults - ‘Go Outside’

11. Battles - ‘Ice Cream’

An experimental song that is actually fun!

10. SBTRKT - ‘Trials Of The Past’

9. Raekwon & Nas - ‘Rich & Black’

Raekwon’s line “I run with Generals that flash uzis in interviews” would be my pick for lyric of the year if Nas didn’t follow it up with “Timbs, yellow like the hair on a Malibu surfer. Yellow like my Harry Winston glistenin’ arm, B. Yellow like New York City piss stained concrete”

8. The Throne (a.k.a. Jay-Z & Kanye West) - ‘Murder To Excellence’

7. Kurt Vile - ‘Jesus Fever’

Vile uses that old trick of covering up an ode to isolation with the year’s catchiest guitar lick.

6. Nicolas Jaar - ‘Space Is Only Noise If You Can See’

There is something about the New Order-esque synth riffs that makes this the most hypnotising song of the year.

5. Toro Y Moi - ‘New Beat’

“Riding the chillwaves”.

4. St. Vincent - ‘Cruel’

3. Frank Ocean - ‘Swim Good’

Frank Ocean has a broken heart, he is hurdling towards the ocean and it is amazing!

2. tUnE-yArDs - ‘Bizness’

1. PJ Harvey - ‘The Colour Of The Earth’

Over 40 minutes, PJ Harvey’s Let England Shake intricately and boldy challenges the ideologies and myths that help perpetuate violent nationalism and war. With more depth and understanding then many essays on the subject, Harvey is able to walk a delicate tight rope; outraged at the effects war has on the innocent, occupied civilian populations, as well as sympathising with those who are tasked with carrying out hideous acts in the interests of the State.

The album closes with ‘The Colour Of The Earth’. It’s simple percussion and duel vocal (shared by PJ and former Birthday Partier/Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds-er, Mick Harvey) give the track a traditional folk feel. The nostalgic atmosphere plays into Harvey’s narrative, which is based around the experiences of ANZAC soldiers during the Gallipoli campaign. It tells the story of a soldier who can hear his best friend as he is killed in battle, all the while being powerless to stop it. The protagonist is ultimately forces to leave his friend’s body on a mountain, unable to give him a dignified send-off.

The power of the song lies in the stark contrast between it and the image that surrounds “our side” in war. That is, the image of the glorious and noble death of the soldier. This is particularly true during ANZAC commemorations which are drenched in jingoist militarism. In comparison, Harvey paints a far less mythical image; one where soldiers are killed in almost mechanical ways and are quickly forgotten by all except those who they were closest to. In the end the song is a tale of human fragility, a reminder that there is no glory in war, only suffering and death, and in a morbid way, my favourite song of 2011.

With the death of Kim Jong-Il one must ask - won’t someone...

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 06:53:00 -0500

With the death of Kim Jong-Il one must ask - won’t someone think of the Sparticist League?

WON’T SOMEONE THINK OF THE SPARTICIST LEAGUE?!

With Our Brothers and Our Sisters - Labour Stuggles and Lock Outs

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 06:21:00 -0500

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.

"Those hailing Hitchens’ greatness are engaged in a very public, affirmative, politically..."

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 02:50:05 -0500

“

Those hailing Hitchens’ greatness are engaged in a very public, affirmative, politically consequential effort to depict him as someone worthy of homage. That’s fine: Hitchens, like most people, did have admirable traits, impressive accomplishments, genuine talents and a periodic willingness to expose himself to danger to report on issues about which he was writing. But demanding in the name of politeness or civility that none of that be balanced or refuted by other facts is to demand a monopoly on how a consequential figure is remembered, to demand a license to propagandize — exactly what was done when the awful, power-worshipping TV host, Tim Russert, died, and we were all supposed to pretend that we had lost some Great Journalist, a pretense that had the distorting effect of equating Russert’s attributes of mindless subservience to the powerful with Good Journalism (ironically, Hitchens was the last person who would honor the etiquette rules being invoked on his behalf: he savaged (perfectly appropriately) Mother Theresa and Princess Diana, among others, upon their death, even as millions mourned them).

There’s one other aspect to the adulation of Hitchens that’s quite revealing. There seems to be this sense that his excellent facility with prose excuses his sins. Part of that is the by-product of America’s refusal to come to terms with just how heinous and destructive was the attack on Iraq. That act of aggression is still viewed as a mere run-of-the-mill “mistake” — hey, we all make them, so we shouldn’t hold it against Hitch – rather than what it is: the generation’s worst political crime, one for which he remained fully unrepentant and even proud. But what these paeans to Hitchens reflect even more so is the warped values of our political and media culture: once someone is sufficiently embedded within that circle, they are intrinsically worthy of admiration and respect, no matter what it is that they actually do

”

- Glenn Greenwald in ‘Christopher Hitchens and the protocol for public figures’.