I first met Justin St Vincent via a Mike Patton live-recording swap group back in the early 00′s. At the time, he had a copy of the first Mr Bungle show I went to in London (’96), and I had very little to offer in return. Very kindly, Justin made me a copy anyway, and after a barrage of friendly Patton banter, we forged a friendship.

Justin has always been a champion of the avant garde; be it on his ever-evolving, and interesting site Xtrememusic , or on his University radio show of the same name, he’s always worn his love of exploratory sound on his sleeve.

When I heard Justin was making a book about the spiritual significance of music, based on the huge archive of interviews he’d amassed over the years, I grabbed him by the e-ear, and slung him a boat-load of questions.

Ken Eakins: Tell us the story behind Xtreme Music first, what force sent you down the path of the avant garde?

Justin St Vincent: Xtreme Music began as a radio show freely promoting avant-garde, creative, and experimental music. At this point, your readers may be interested in the original mission statement and purpose:

“On the Xtreme Music radio show we broadcast, discuss, and promote Xtreme Music, performed by highly talented, innovative, and creative musicians. We encourage a radio-friendly entrance for new listeners to explore the fascinating and intriguing world of unconventional music. In addition, we provide hardcore fans with band specials, quality live performances, rare material, and up-to-date news. This show is for anyone with an open-mind and a desire to discover for themselves the true nature of Xtreme Music”.

Xtreme Music became an award-winning portfolio of independent radio programming between 2001 and 2005. I hosted shows on both sides of the Atlantic, and achieved a worldwide listener-ship over a four year broadcasting career. It was my way of exploring experimental music, mainly focusing on the prolific musical works of Mike Patton, Trey Spruance, and John Zorn.

Mr. Bungle was the first band to send me down the path of the avant-garde. Their music opened my world to Xtreme Music, embracing the beauty and diversity of creative music throughout the world. Avant-garde music birthed my own self-discovery of unconventional music. It also opened the door for me to connect with many like-minded music fans around the world, and experience some of the greatest live performances at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, and The Tonic in New York.

The website for Xtreme Music then evolved into a music journalism portfolio when I started producing radio interviews in San Francisco, Toronto, and New York between 2003 and 2004. I started interviewing many of the musicians I admire and appreciate, and it was such a pleasure to connect with them in person, especially after several years of passionately promoting their music on the airwaves and online. (ed. This portfolio of excellent interviews can be found here)
During that time I produced artist features for Asva, Daiquiri, Don Salsa, Düreforsög, Eftus Spectun, El Douje, Elysian Fields, Fake No More, God Of Shamisen, Good For Cows, Gymnastic Decomposition, Hemophiliac, Herbie Hancock, Loop!Station, Matmos, Mike Patton Vs. Rahzel, Moe!Kestra!, Prelapse, Richard Cheese, Scott Hull, Sir Millard Mulch, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, The Bleeder Group, The Demix, The Locust, Tipsy, Trevor Dunn’s Trio-Convulsant, Tub Ring, and William Winant. I also arranged interviews with Dave Murray, David Slusser, Kaada, Neil Hamburger, and members of Estradasphere, Farmers Market, Hella, KMFDM, Mondo Generator, Mr. Bungle, Numbers,  Secret Chiefs 3, The Dillinger Escape Plan, The Scallions, and Two Foot Yard, among many others.

Xtreme Music then developed into a micro-label to release collaborative projects with Xtreme Music fans worldwide. These included two significant endeavors, a Fantômastique remix CD, and Innominat short-film DVD:

Xtreme Music also produced Special Features for website visitors. These were namely “Mike Patton Parodies” with lyrics by Cosmic Jester, “Music Recommendations” selected by Mike Patton, “Naked City Ephemera” musician testimonials, “Xtreme Cover Songs” of mutated musical mayhem, and the “Exotica History Tour” as an essential guide to Exotica music in Waikiki, Hawaii.

Under the promotional efforts of Xtreme Music, I also freely released a promotional single called “Let Me Be Your Sunlight” by Sarah Marie and Jordan Puleston, a soulfully beautiful love song written for Nova The Musical. This song was perhaps one of the transition points in my life where I started to experience that there was more to music than meets the ear.

KE: That’s quite a portfolio Justin!  I remember you giving me a CD of the radio show that you used to host, and it was great! Can you see yourself returning to the airwaves?

JSV: Xtreme Music’s radio productions were broadcast between 2001 and 2004. I’m extremely grateful because it provided me with an introduction to a career in radio broadcasting. Xtreme Music also laid the foundations for developing my interview portfolio exploring music. As much as I’d love to return to the airwaves, my main focus for the near future is on my publication projects. To keep my finger on the avant-garde music pulse, I’ll need to keep connected to Right Where You Are Sitting Now.

KE: When did you get the idea to start mixing your spiritual beliefs, and your eclectic music tastes?

The idea was birthed during March 2006 when I returned from University of the Nations in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. I wanted to develop a project that united my passions for music and spirituality, and would become a way for others to explore their faith and values. I was inspired by the possibility for people to explore music and spirituality, and had a desire to connect with many musicians and writers that I admire.

An interview portfolio provided a perfect platform for me to connect with hundreds of music-makers to consider their thoughts on the spiritual significance of music. My eclectic music tastes was an encouragement to begin reconnecting with many avant-garde, creative, and experimental music composers. I began with almost every musician I had previously had contact with through my Xtreme Music radio productions and journalist portfolio. I then branched further into the field of various musical styles from around the world.

It was wonderful to open these interviews up to musicians that were passionate about the theme, and also contact musicians that I had only recently been introduced to. I then found that so many people loved this project, that they started recommending more musicians to contact, and referring me to their friends in the music industry. The project quickly snowballed into an epic exploration of over 1000 exclusive interviews with over 1000 unique perspectives from many of the world’s most visionary musicians and writers. The idea for uniting spiritual beliefs and music tastes was a natural progression for me to develop a new positioning statement for Xtreme Music: ‘where Music meets Spirituality.’

KE: Is this where the idea for a book formed?

JSV: Yes, the project was always going to grow into a publication. After 1000 interviews, I felt that this project needed a creative outlet to become a blessing to others. I wanted the interviews to no longer be a private exploration for myself, but to become a public exploration for other music-makers and music-lovers to explore music and spirituality.

The new website started to take shape during January 2009 when I first freely published online the entire portfolio of interviews, and started promoting it worldwide. Within 4 days I had over 180,000 website hits and my web server ended up crashing due to bandwidth overload. This happened due to thousands of people downloading the PDF layout preview. I promptly switched web servers and now have unlimited bandwidth.

Throughout the follow months I monitored which were the most popular interviews, and which interviews seemed to get the greatest exposure. For the book it was a difficult selection process to finalize the 102 contributors to be included in the First Edition for print. I wanted to select well-known contributors, as well as showcasing unknown contributors that I believed brought a unique voice to the project, and deserved to be in the spotlight for the first book.

KE: How did you get artists to contribute to the project?

JSV: As much as I’d love to have met every musician face-to-face, it was just not possible for an epic project of this scale and magnitude. Many musicians have commitments on tour, are in and out of recording studios, and working on promoting their next album. My greatest opportunity to connect with them was by arranging e-mail interviews. As this is a text-based project, it meant that the musician could find time within their schedule to consider their personal thoughts on the one interview question: “What do you believe is the spiritual significance of music?”

Contributors to the project could then articulate themselves in the exact words that they felt accurately represent their own beliefs. It also meant that I could produce a brief biography, editorial edition, and layout preview ready for their approval before publishing online. 95% of the project was conducted via e-mail interviews, and the additional 5% either face-to-face or via phone interviews. This was by far the most efficient and rewarding way of producing the book, project, and website.

KE: Now I know that you’re a deeply spiritual person, and that you lean towards the side of Christianity; did you ever find it hard editing peoples writings that maybe grated with your own beliefs?

I have not always been a deeply spiritual person. For over twenty years I would have been familiar with the Christian faith, but had chosen to reject it. I would have considered myself an atheist. My conversion to Christianity occurred during December 2004. There were several events that aligned themselves to a place where I literally experienced a divine revelation of God’s love that totally transformed my life forever. That’s when I truly resonated with the Christian message of faith, hope, and love. It was through this personal transformation that I started to consider God’s amazing grace and loving forgiveness that ultimately pointed me to Jesus Christ. Although my personal spiritual beliefs resonate with the Christian faith, I am passionate about learning from other people’s beliefs, and discovering their faith and values in music and spirituality. Belief is a side of humanity that fascinates me. I’m also intrigued by mankind’s relationship to the divine and the infinite. For me, Christianity is not a religion, it’s a faith-framework for a relationship with God, people, and the world in which we live.

But let’s take this opportunity to talk about the Occult, as this is a rare moment for us to connect on the Occult themes throughout this project. I’m sure many radio show listeners and online readers of SittingNow may be interested in this important part of the book, project, and website. So I’d love to point people to the Metal Media Release, which profiles many Metal musicians.

I wanted to select one musical genre that strongly resonates with spiritual beliefs. I found this in Metal music, and the interviews featured in the Metal Edition are some of the most powerful and profound of all the editions. Here is a brief intro to the Metal Edition, freely available here: www.xtrememusic.org/metal.html

METAL EDITION provides an exciting exploration of how music powerfully impacts spirituality, and why spirituality influences music. Readers will discover sincere expressions of spiritual beliefs from the world of metal music. This portfolio includes an eclectic mix of musicians playing many forms of metal music; ambient metal, avant-garde death-metal, black metal, brutal metal, death metal, doom metal, experimental metal, funeral-doom, gothic metal, grindcore, heavy metal, industrial metal, melodic metal, power metal, progressive metal, psychedelic metal, Satanic metal, sludge metal, speed metal, symphonic metal, technical metal, thrash metal, and includes musicians from alternative-rock, avant-rock, and hardcore-punk bands. Metal Edition provides readers with an important introduction to metal music’s affinity with demonology, divination, magic, mysticism, Satanism, spiritualism, the occult, and witchcraft.

Some of the greatest revelations about music and the Occult have come from interviews with members of black metal and death metal bands. Here are some of my favourites:

“Music can open doors within the listener’s psyche and lead them to a journey into mental and spiritual realms.”
- Juhani Jokisalo, guitarist, bassist, and vocalist in Apocryphal Voice

“Music is a place of refuge from the pressures of everyday life… Music is where I find my spirituality, in the mystery, and lack of rationality in the creative process.”
- Forn, vocalist and instruments in Black Crucifixion

“Music is magic. Through the manipulation of the rules of sacred geometry, music builds a chronology (rhythm) of frequencies (melodies) …”
- Saint Vincent, guitarist and vocalist in Blacklodge

“Sometimes I have a strange feeling that Crest Of Darkness is living its own life, and I am loosing the control, but I am not afraid of this dark spirit! I am worshipping it!”
- Ingar Amlien, bassist and vocalist in Crest Of Darkness

From the beginning of this project, I never wanted religion to get in the way or exploring truth. I get a major buzz from interviewing musicians with different beliefs. Each contributor has a unique voice that adds value to this project. It was a real pleasure for me to read their perspectives, consider their opinion and discover their truth, and then learn from them. I never really found it hard to edit people’s writings that may have a different perspective than my own beliefs. The editorial process is relatively easy because I want to remain true to the original intention and important viewpoints from every contributor. Many of the musician interviews will resonate with key themes that start to surface throughout their responses. There are over 70 reoccurring themes, and during my Author Talks, I reveal the top 7 themes that seem to resonate with music-makers and music-lovers.

Throughout the 1000 interviews, I have learnt so many important points that I’ve applied to my own life and spiritual journey. After each interview, I review the response, and try to identify the core truth that the person is sharing. I then feature this as a “quotable quote” to include together with their brief biography and layout preview. These are then freely published online every month, and I save a few gems for future editions. My book series exploring “The Spiritual Significance of Music” aims to embrace the entire spectrum of musical styles, and also covers a diverse range of spiritual beliefs and worldviews. This project exploring music and spirituality has also opened my soul to an increased depth of spiritual experiences with music. I have learnt something new from every interview, and my hope is that others may discover new perspectives as well. This has taught me a lot about the importance of developing a dialogue, pursuing your passions, and enjoying the journey.

KE: The books a great achievement, where are you going next?

JSV: Thank you, this book has achieved success with it’s ability to resonate with the hearts and minds of it’s readers. I’m really excited that “The Spiritual Significance of Music” provides many music-makers with a source of inspiration. I hope the concepts and themes captured in this book will be a blessing to all the read it’s words. There are definitely some revelation moments throughout the book, and I greatly appreciate every contributor that have shared their thoughts on music and spirituality. Each exclusive interview is featured in the book for the reason that I believe they bring a unique perspective to the themes discussed, and every response shares an important truth.

Justin St Vincent is the author of 'The Spirtitual Significance of Music'

Next on the event horizon is a book series. I anticipate producing at least two more books in the series exploring “The Spiritual Significance of Music”. I’ve been greatly influenced and inspired by John Zorn’s “Arcana: Musicians On Music” book series, and I love the fact that he allows every contributor to share their authentic voice. I’m an avid fan of his book series, and I love the depth each of the musicians bring to making, experiencing, and thinking about music. I’ve contacted almost every musician that has contributed to John Zorn’s book series, and I anticipate featuring some of these incredible interviews within future editions of my books. For example, some cross-over contributors from the avant-garde, creative, and experimental music scene include Christopher Adler, Mick Barr, Theo Bleckmann, Anthony Coleman, Noah Creshevsky, Marilyn Crispell, Dave Douglas, Trevor Dunn, Scott Johnson, Butch Morris, and Z’ev. Almost all of these contributors have exclusive interviews that are freely available to download in the World Edition of “The Spiritual Significance of Music”: www.xtrememusic.org/world.html

————————————————————————————————————

Thanks to Justin for giving us some of his time, and do try and get your hands on one of his books. Justin is somewhat of a outlier in the sense that he a Christian, but really doesn’t let that get in the way of producing a really interesting, and thought provoking book!

Ken Eakins

You can get your hands on a copy of Justin’s book by clicking here.

Buy or die!

It seems that Kim Monaghan, our intrepid music reviews editor, and writer of steel has been straying away from the sitting now nest!:

‘Sitting Now regulars will no doubt be familiar with my alter ego, Daddy Tank. Well, that ego has continued to expand almost exponentially and is now too large to be contained in a couple of podcasts and some pseudo-literate review rants. My arrogance has blossomed and matured…it has become a record label.

I have encountered too many bands and musicians lurking in the half-light of the Internet, scavenging for scraps of respect and attention, while some of the utter shit that masquerades as music flourishes. This has, of course, always been the case but with the onslaught of piracy and digital downloading, good music and good musicians are at a nadir. If you are not writing auto-tuned disposable filth, and you don’t have a video fronted by a posturing day-glo imbecile, you will not sell your music.

If you feel, like I do, that an album, an EP or even a song is particularly good, and you also feel that this piece of art has made such a significant impact on you that the person who created it deserves some kind of reward, then visit http://www.daddytank.co.uk‘

The labels first offering, described below, looks to be a belter:

The first release on Daddy Tank Records is the mighty Pang with “Garden of Menace”. This amazing album has been floating around on the internet for free for a couple of years ( http://enoughrecords.scene.org/ ), and while those people who have been lucky enough to stumble across it are inevitably won over by its labyrinthine obsidian splendour, the numbers of people who have heard this album remain unacceptably low. Existing simultaneously in the genres of dark ambient, glitch and electronica, “Garden of Menace” is structurally perfect. Each individual track is endlessly fascinating, whether it is the eerie emptiness of “Hollows” or the post-apocalyptic “Dead Monism”, but the album itself is also a mind expanding and intellectually intoxicating masterpiece from beginning to end. The closest comparisons that can be made would be to Arovane, Bola and Autechre but ultimately “Garden of Menace” sounds only like “Garden of Menace”. If you like challenging, intellectual and avant garde electronic music this is a must have.

The album comes in a limited run of 200 copies, each copy will come with Pang artcard and Daddy Tank Records sticker. The first 10 copies sold will also come with a mysterious free promo item.

Mysterious? Limited?…these words are porn to a music geek. I hope you’ll join me in wishing Kim well for this exciting new project!

Now, get back to work dammit! This isn’t a bloody lounge….etc.

Ken Eakins

Isaac Bonewits with his wife Phaedra.

It is with a heavy-heart that I report the death of Isaac Bonewits. Isaac was a leading figure in modern-occultism, and a true rebel in the scene.

We had Isaac on our show last year, and he was a really nice, and funny, guy. Isaac is a man  that has actually gone out there and blazed a trail, and along the way educated and entertained all that have had the sense to listen.

Isaac’s wife Phaedra released this official statement:

Philip Emmons Isaac Bonewits, founder and Archdruid Emeritus of of Ár nDraíocht Féin: A Druid Fellowship, one of North America’s leading experts on ancient and modern Druidism, Witchcraft, magic and the occult, and the rapidly growing Earth Religions movement, died today after a short struggle with cancer.

Mr. Bonewits first came into the public eye when he graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a Bachelor of Arts in Magic and Thaumaturgy (1970). During his tenure there, Mr. Bonewits worked with many renowned professors including Nobel Prize Laureate Owen Chamberlain. The work he did for that degree became his first book, Real Magic: An Introductory Treatise on the Basic Principles of Yellow Magic (1971).

In 1983, he founded and became the first Archdruid of Ár nDraíocht Féin: A Druid Fellowship (ADF) an international fellowship devoted to creating a public tradition of Neopagan Druidry. In 1995, he retired from a leadership role due to complications from eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome. ADF has grown to become the best-known Neopagan Druid group based in North America. At his death, Mr. Bonewits held the title of ArchDruid Emeritus.

During his forty years as a Neopagan priest, scholar, teacher, bard, and polytheologian, Isaac Bonewits coined much of the vocabulary and articulated many of the issues that have shaped the rapidly growing Neopagan movement in the United States and Canada.

Mr. Bonewits was internationally known as a speaker who educated, enlightened and entertained two generations of modern Goddess worshippers, nature mystics, and followers of other minority belief systems, as well as explained these movements to journalists, law enforcement officers, college students, and academic researchers.

His personal papers will become part of the American Religions Collection at the Library of University of California at Santa Barbara.

One of his most influential contributions was the Advanced Bonewits Cult Danger Evaluation Frame (the “ABCDEF”), developed in 1979 as a response to the Jim Jones People’s Temple tragedy. It has been translated into many languages and used around the world to evaluate how dangerous or harmless an organization might be. It was the first such scale to use theories of mental health and personal growth to judge rather than theological or ideological standards.

His other books include Authentic Thaumaturgy (1979, 1998), The Pagan Man (2005), Bonewits’s Essential Guide to Witchcraft and Wicca (2006), Bonewits’s Essential Guide to Druidism (2006), Neopagan Rites (2007), and Real Energy (2007), which was co-authored with his wife, Phaedra, as well as numerous articles, reviews and essays. As a singer-songwriter, he released two albums, Be Pagan Once Again (1988), and Avalon is Rising (1992).

He is survived by his wife, Phaedra, his son from a previous marriage, Arthur Lipp-Bonewits of Bardonia NY, his mother Jeannette, his brothers Michael and Richard, and sisters Simone Arris and Melissa Banbury.

I’m sure I speak for everyone here at SittingNow in wishing Phaedra, and his family, our deepest condolences.

RIP Isaac.

Ken Eakins

Lorn's new album 'Nothing Else' is available now

Lorn is instrumental hip-hop for outsiders. While clearly influenced by Flying Lotus (Lorn is on Lotus’ Brainfeeder imprint) Lorn walks the shady side of the wonky hip-hop street. Gothic might be a touch excessive but there is something grand in the scale of Lorn’s songwriting. Straight up beats and minimal FX compliment the strong melodic aspects of this album, and it doesn’t take me long to realize that this doesn’t sound quite like anything else. Part electronica, part backpack hip-hop and part dubstep this is an experimental album in the best sense of the word. “Automaton” and “Void 1 and 2” are particularly fine and will be among a number of tracks getting hammered by DJ’s when the album is released in June.

http://www.myspace.com/lornnn

http://ninjatune.net

Kenneth Anger is a seminal avant film-maker

This is a bit insane. Kenneth Anger, occult-savant, and legendary avant garde film-maker has produced a 2 and half minute film for a fashion house. Dangerous Minds reports:

Rather astonishing news from the fashion and film world. Dangerous Minds’ favefilmmaker Kenneth Anger has released a two-and-a-half-minute film dealing with the fall/winter collection of the Varese-based house of Missoni, produced by filmmaker/Anger manager/Dangerous Minds pal Brian Butler and scored by French composer Koudlam

.

Vogue Italia‘s Mariuccia Casadio provides some details:

A man of few words, this fascinating former actor who still takes care of his appearance first filmed the settings for his film “Missoni”: mostly locations near bodies of water in the Sumirago countryside and part of Rosita and Ottavio’s garden. For the indoor sequences, he built a set in the Council Room of the Sumirago Town Hall, a basement room with a vaulted ceiling. The mood of the film and the poses and movements of Margherita, Jennifer, Angela, Rosita, Ottavio, Ottavio Jr. and all other [Missoni] family members are reminiscent of Sergei Parajanov’s “The Color of Pomegranates”, a 1968 film that inspired Anger to create his Chinese box-style storyboard.

Do yourself a favor and go full-screen with this one. And if you’re unfortunate enough to not be familiar with Anger, do yourself another favor and click one or both of the links below. You’ll be glad you did.

By Eakins

We have spoken at length about Kenneth Anger with the producer of this film, Brian Butler,  on our show. Check the interview here.

Our guest this week is Timothy Wyllie

This week we talk to former member of The Process Church of the Final Judgement, Timothy Wyllie. Timothy has recently authored a fantastic book about his time in The Process, ‘Love, Sex, Fear, Death: The Inside Story of the Process Church of the Final Judgement‘.

In this weeks episode we discuss: The Process Church, Scientology, the controversies of the Process Church, why the church continues to have an influence, Dolphins and ET’s, and much more!

The charismatic leader Daddytank returns with this weeks new disciples:

Pogo - Alice
Grnr - Howdyou
Zebras - Me U God

If you have any queries, suggestions, insults etc. Please feel free to email ken@sittingnow.co.uk.

Enjoy!

Timothy Wyllie Biography:

Timothy Wyllie is a writer specialising in the study of “non-human intelligences” such as angels. He was born in London in 1940. He moved to America in the mid-sixties and now lives in the desert of New Mexico. He had a near death experience in 1973. Afterwards, he devoted himself to the study of “non-human intelligences” (such as angels, dolphins, and extraterrestrials) using visual art, music and writing as the three main means of communication.

In 1980 he started a series of sacred landscape graphics and this led to an examination of the way graphic art can anchor spiritual information into the third-dimensional reality most typically experienced. Much of his visual work has a healing dimension, and he uses a light trance state to create either a mandala or an icon that represents the physical healing intended. His lifelong interest in telepathy inspired him to do a series of graphics designed to explore the potentials of visual telepathy and its relationship to synchronicity and the higher dimensions.

Alba Lua - The Ballad of Joseph Merrick

The Ballad of Joseph Merrick should involve the following; a group of musicians dressed in Victorian garb with sacks over their heads, topped by bowler hats. They would play atonal circus jazz and speed metal, but with trombones and egg maracas and old fashioned bike horns. At the climax of the show, the group would remove the sacks from their heads and the audience would laugh and throw rotting vegetables at their hideous features until the band leave the stage.

Sadly, Alba Lua do not seem to be aware if this and have instead chosen to jump on the increasingly irritating alt-folk bandwagon to produce an EP that is maudlin, humorless and uninspired.

Kim Monaghan

http://www.myspace.com/permanentvacation08

http://satelliteoflove.net/

Black Saturn is a talented vocalist and always comes up with something intriguing to lay over subduxtion’s industrial space hip hop, but his performance is a little anaemic on “Conquering Echo” which makes “Dreamer”(with its glitchy neurosis and slightly hostile paranoia ) the best original track on here.

That said FluiD (“Conquering Echo dancehall mix”) and Restless (“Legacy of the Ledger remix”) have both done great work on the remixes, with Restless just edging out FluiD to take the winners podium. Another strong release from Alrealon…and another free one that can be got from http://www.alrealon.co.uk/

Kim Monaghan

That'll learn her

If you haven’t heard of it before, Foursquare is a new social-network thingy that has taken the Internet by storm. Put simply, you go to a place, and you ‘check-in’. Once you check-in, a Twitter-esque post appears on your profile with your geographic location, and the details of the venue.

What’s the incentive? Good point, I don’t know either. I used the service for a while, and justified it to myself thusly; “If my other friends use it, they’ll know where I am, and come and hang out”. I soon figured out, however, that the only friend of mine that did use it, lived about 40 miles away, and was unlikely to come a join me on a whim. Needless to say, I have stopped using it.

All is not lost, however, as my favourite phone-phreakers over at The Phone Losers of America (PLA) have found a much better use for the service:

By going to search.twitter.com, you can type in 4sq.com and you’ll get a list of everyone on the planet that is currently checking in to someplace. You can even modify your search to include only local businesses. This is great for creepy stalkers who want to keep tabs on random pretty girls. A creepy stalker could jump in his car and speed to the pub for a chance to meet the girl of his dreams. Everywhere she goes.

Another use for Foursquare is for burglars to know when houses are empty. If @sexygirl535 is out having fun with her friends at a bar, then she’s not home, right? So quick, drive over there and break into her house! You know she doesn’t have roommates because she constantly tweets about how it sucks to live alone. A website called Please Rob Me has been set up for just this purpose.

And then there’s the PLA’s favorite pasttime – making prank calls to people. Foursquare is the perfect tool for this. In that search box up there, you click on the Twitter username which probably gives you the name of the person checking in. Then you click on the link in their post and you’ll have the phone number of the business they’re at. Now you can call the business, ask for that person and say something crazy to them. They’re almost always surprised that anyone could know that they’re there. It rarely occurs to them that just minutes ago they transmitted their location to the entire world.

The PLA are behind some of the most ingenious phone pranks in history, and their Foursquare staking effort is as good as ever – check it out here

The PLA have been around for a very long time, and their antics have attracted the attention of the mass media:

Click here to view the embedded video.

The PLA make an amazing podcast called PLA Radio, as well as their weekly ‘Phone Show‘, subscribe now!

Ken Eakins

Grasscut – 1 Inch / ½ Mile (Ninja Tune)

Opening tune “High Down” should be enough to win anyone over to Grasscut’s way of thinking. An intelligently combined chimera of jazz, glitchy electronica and indie-rock with a healthy regard for both those who like to stroke their beard sand those who like a tune. This is a rare combination indeed and I already love this band / man / act after one song. “Old Machines” is next up, and it’s a little like the bastard offspring of some sprightly chip tune exploits and Thom Yorke’s Eraser but with some UK garage style pizzicato and just a hint of a marching band wafting in on the breeze. As you may already have guessed, it’s probably easier for you to just listen to this than read any of my bizarre and confusing proselytizing. But that’s what I’m here for, so…

Strange archaic samples appear throughout the first two songs and “Melwater” uses the same to tantalizing effect, and the lyrics (even though affected in what seems to be becoming the standard singing voice of UK bands/artists ; a kind of drawling pseudo cockney accent ) are obtuse and poetic enough to keep you fascinated. Imagine Clark but less mental and with a singer and you’re sort of starting to get what Grasscut sound like. A near perfect fusion of electronica, jazz and indie that is melancholy, uplifting, inventive and intelligent. How fucking awesome is that ?

Kim Monaghan

They are Dios

Opening with a forbidding drone, I was expecting something sinister, but muted acoustic guitar and blissed out vocals fade in to create a sound that is unique. Well, it would be unique if it hadn’t already been done by Fleet Foxes, which is pretty much what the first song sounds like. However, “Ojay” sounds like a cross between John Lennon and Oasis in an echo chamber. This may or may not be a good thing for you, but it left me unmoved.

“Noone Is Wrong” (which sort of reminds me of the Dears) with its almost ad-hoc riffing and charmingly out of tune vocals has me warming to this band. They have a psychedelic edge and a love of weird noises and slightly broken songs (see “Toss My Cookies”) that doesn’t resemble any of the influences I have spotted so far, but most closely resembles the aesthetic of the Flaming Lips, with a dash of Animal Collective thrown in.

That said they are canny enough to write songs that are catchy and simple ( such as “Stare At Wheel” or “Tell Me Thing” ) and absolutely suitable for large radio audiences. This may be both a strength and a weakness though, as the switch between the band’s weird and normal modes could end up alienating everyone. I don’t know.

I do know that while my brain enjoyed most of this album, I was left with no real desire to rush out and buy it.

Kim Monaghan

Screenshot of hacked YouTube

Google-owned video hosting giants YouTube were hacked earlier today, and fingers are pointing at 4chan.

The social networking news-site Mashable has this to say:

Today, members of the Internet communities 4chan and and other enterprising computer whizzes hacked YouTube using a vulnerability in the site’s comment system. While the hack was used on a variety of videos, striking music videos featuring teen pop idol Justin Bieber was the most popular activity.

Twitter lit up with complaints about the problem, Google support got some concerned posts on its forum, and we received tips in our inbox. The event caused quite a Sunday-morning stir.

The bug allowed users to inject HTML (the code that most websites are built with) that could be executed on the site, whereas HTML within comments is supposed to be restricted. The hackers did everything from force pop-up messages to appear over the site declaring that it had been hacked to redirecting Bieber video pages to sites hosting pornography and malware.

Google disabled comments within an hour of the start of the attack, then corrected the exploited bug within two hours, according to a statement sent to The Next Web.

Internet community 4chan has been waging a small cultural war against Justin Bieber, and its members exploited the bug to target the artist’s videos specifically. Last week they conspired to try and send Bieber to North Korea.

**update**

Chatter on 4chan is showing further evidence of their involvement in the vandaism:

This seems, at least to me, to be the work of  a certain ‘Tetris Online playing community’ rather than the mighty chan. Time will tell, and we’ll keep you posted.

Ken Eakins

Comprised mostly of old tracks but with a few new tracks thrown in for fans, this is an intriguing selection, focus-ing on the more reflective side of Dissolved. As a hopeless fan-boy I put together a Dissolved “best of” a couple of years ago, and I don’t think there is a single track in common with this album, but I still think it’s a very successful compilation.

For more information you can check one of the other album reviews or podcasts on the site, but the easiest thing to do is get over to Binkcrsh records and buy a copy. There is yet another new Dissolved release on the horizon so consider this a chance to do your homework.

Kim Monaghan

Dissolved – Myspace - Label

Broadcast #016

***New Signal****

1. Hrvatski - vatstep dsp
2. John Baker – Vendetta:The Ice Cream Man
3. Pedestrian - Arrest the President
4. Poirier - WHA LA LA LENG
5. Big Black – Kerosene
6. Lorn - Army of Fear
7. Z’EV Vs Pita – live in Colchester
8. Bong-Ra – Terrorizah
9. Herbaliser (ft. MF Doom) – It aint Nuttin
10. Dissolved - Why don’t you make Maremire ?
11. Busdriver - Imaginary Places
12. Simple Vehicle – Dipped
13. Cleric - A Rush of Blood

If you want us to play your band/noise/whatever, drop us a line at behindcloseddoors@sittingnow.co.uk.

Peace

***Signal Ends**

There will always be more to learn about the long history of human civilisation than what we may find in the collected records bequeathed to us by the victors of battles past. In fact one only has to scrape away the loose topsoil of any period of accepted history to expose rich seams of lesser-known information that often serve to shed fresh light on the age-old questions surrounding who we are and how our cultures have evolved.

‘Western’ culture, just as we find with its counterpart in the east, is inextricably bound to a set of religious and spiritual doctrines that have exerted a profound and far-reaching influence over society. Sometimes this influence is overt and all too easy to spot; for instance, no one could deny the overweening influence of the Roman church on the last two thousand years of western civilisation. Yet at other times, certain other religio-spiritual influences may have been just as strong, even though their origins have appeared far less obvious – perhaps even from being deliberately hidden from plain view.

From the shamanic, animistic proto-religions of the early European hunter-gatherers to the highly developed spiritual systems of the druids and the ancient Egyptians, not to mention the two thousand years of social domination by the church of Rome, it cannot be denied that religion has exerted a profound influence over the way literally millions of people have thought and acted over millennia. It’s an influence that continues to this day, even if the front-and-centre position of the main western spiritual hegemony appears to be largely on the wane.

Despite the obvious links between western culture and its native branch of spirituality, the notion that there may be an ancient and living western esoteric tradition every bit as deep and essential as that found in the east has, until relatively recently, been largely the preserve of the crank or the religious maverick. In the last few years however the so-called ‘western mysteries’ have begun to gain more ground within academic circles as a legitimate area of study. Various universities in Europe such as Exeter and Amsterdam now run respected courses in Western Esoterics and slowly but surely the hidden spiritual traditions of the west are gaining the respect so long afforded to their eastern cousins.

Hidden Wisdom is a noble attempt to set out the story of what is usually referred to as the ‘Western Mystery Tradition’; an umbrella term encompassing all manner of spiritual, religious and mystical systems that fall outside the purview of the accepted dogma sanctioned by the church, from ancient Greek philosophy and early Gnosticism through to alchemy, occultism, freemasonry, alchemy and magic. Here we find the tale of the other spiritual tradition of the west; a tempestuous tale of direct contact with the divine, of beauty, suppression, torture and courage. For it is undoubtedly true that many spiritual traditions of the west have remained obscure – at least in part – due to their often violent and bloody suppression on the part of the competition.

In the battle for the hearts and minds of the faithful, the book argues, there has been remarkably little to be found in the way of compassion exhibited by those professing to embody that divine gift through the practising of the Christian faith. In point of fact (we are reminded constantly) more death and destruction has been meted out in the name of the ‘gentle Jesus’ than by any other religion. A jealous God, it would appear, begets a jealous faith and in its quest to remain the sole religious authority in the western world, the church has historically stopped at nothing to ensure the silencing of any voices which may offer an alternative to their own particular brand of salvation.

In this book the author Tim Wallace-Murphy presents an alternative viewpoint on the long and fascinating history of the western world by focusing on its mystery traditions and leading the reader on a tour through hidden history – one that wasn’t written by the victors. In a way, this is both the book’s greatest strength and its greatest weakness. The reader is left in no doubt whatsoever of Wallace-Murphy’s standpoint, whose near shrillness in his frequent condemnation of the church eventually serves to weaken his case – even to those readers who may agree wholeheartedly with his viewpoint.

While on the whole the book is pretty well-written and researched, the grinding of Wallace-Murphy’s personal axe is a just a little too overbearing a little too often. The reader is left at times with little or no room to draw their own conclusions since one is already being presented so strongly; ie: that the hidden traditions of the west are more beautiful, profound and ultimately legitimate than anything that can be offered by the villainous and morally corrupt church. While this may or may not be true, Wallace-Murphy frequently spends more time engaged in invective against the persecutor than actually explaining why he holds the opinion that he does about those who have endured so much persecution for their beliefs.

There is also the issue of misappropriated terminology. For instance, in an early chapter the reader is introduced to the concept of ‘gnosis’ in a discussion of ancient druidism – a tradition which used no such term as far as is known, yet when the author begins to discuss the early Christian Gnostics, no explanation of what the term ‘Gnostic’ actually means is offered. We are left then, wondering exactly who this book is aimed at since specialised terms are used but never satisfactorily elaborated on, while little or no new information is being offered that could not be found elsewhere in books that frankly render this volume largely redundant. Had The Elixir and the Stone by Richard Leigh and Michael Baigent, or Jonathan Black’s Secret History of the World not already been written, there might be a real place for Hidden Wisdom, but in the opinion of the present reviewer, these two other books treat the same subject in a much more balanced and dare I say it, scholarly fashion.

That is not to say that Hidden Wisdom is not without its merits. It offers an easy to read and in places fascinating look at one of the most neglected subjects in western culture and any additions to the body of work exploring western esoterica are to be applauded. If however you want a primer on the subject, it has to be said that better books already exist. If on the other hand, matters hermetic are your thing, Hidden Wisdom may well prove worth a look. But if you’re searching for – as the book’s strapline boldly announces – the Secrets of the Western Esoteric Tradition, you may find yourself rather disappointed at what you find within its pages.

Adrian Dobbie

http://hidden-wisdom.com

Buy ‘Hidden Wisdom’ at Amazon

Burn it!!!

Lady Gaga for the cool kids, FUJI MINX, has felt the firey hand of Google Justice. The new video, ‘The Music Made Me Do It’, has apparantly been taken down by the Googs owned YouTube due to ‘inappropriate content’ which apparantly is a ‘terms of use violation’. The video depicts Miss Minx as a catholic nun, and a Baphomet-like green demon:

“YES… After 11,943 views (103 likes, 1 dislike) in LESS THAN 6 DAYS, “The Music Made Me Do It” video was taken down because of it’s Anti-Pope message and it’s content deemed “inappropriate”. Apparently free-speech is inappropriate if you aren’t coming from a major record label who can pay youtube money, like Marilyn Manson or Lady Gaga. And it doesn’t matter that you are talking about someone who is condoning child molestation. AND it doesnt matter that we only got 1 dislike. Well fret not. We are uploading the UnCensored video to vimeo and it will be up shortly. Please help pass the new video around as soon as it’s up. xxx, Gv”

Below if the uncensored video, be warned, it has painted breasts…so make sure you watch it on your iPhone instead of your work moniter:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Wow, that is the coolest Baphomet I have ever seen! It’s hard to tell right now if this is just an engineered publicity stunt, or a real case of censorship. We’ll just have to wait and see if the advertising giant (that’s what Google are don’t forget), release a statement.

I wonder if YouTube would take down videos of that rat-faced scoundrel The Pope, I don’t know anout you, but I find his racist, sexist, anti-humanist messages way more offensive.

In the mean time, enjoy the green boobies.

Ken Eakins

Fresh from reviewing the Binkcrsh compilation on which Simple Vehicle featured, I was curious to give this album a listen. The austere packaging is a strong visual clue to the kind of music contained within, and whilst I love this kind of abstract electronica, it may not be for the casual listener.

Abstract samples and heat-haze drones create the mirage of music but when the ear tries to latch on to anything solid, it drifts away to be replaced by something else.

Autechre are clearly an influence on Simple Vehicle’s sound (with song titles such as “Tiltuu” and “Lterde 2.3”) and anyone who likes them will appreciate the level of thought that has gone into this release.

Kim Monaghan

http://c67.org/binkcrsh/

What?? This guy seems legit!

seriously!

The most annoying one is the ‘three-drains’ ritual. Stop me if you’ve already heard of it. If I step on a collection of three drains in the street (joined), then I am in the ‘bad-luck  zone’ and awful things will occur; however, if I step on two drains, it cancels it out the bad luck, and I am fine to go about my business.

Utterly stupid, I know. But what are superstitions, and do they have any tangible effect on the performance of a practitioner?

A recent study by Psychologists Lysann Damisch, Barbara Stoberock and Thomas Mussweiler of the University of Cologne, empirically tested the effectiveness of superstitious sayings, actions, and charms in a scientific setting. The researchers wished to examine if the belief in these superstitious practises, would in any way improves the effectiveness of the believers. The test was broken down into four micro-tests.

For the first test, the subjects were randomly given either a ‘lucky golf ball’, or a ‘normal’ golf ball, and then given a golfing duty to perform.

In the second test, the subjects were given a cube containing 36 ball-bearings, and 36 holes. The fairly standard motor-dexterity test, in which the subjects must match the balls in the holes, was preceded by one of the researchers letting a random selection of the subjects know that they had done the German equivalent of ‘crossing their fingers’ for them (‘pressing thumbs’ in Germany).

In the third test, the subjects were asked to bring along their own lucky charms. The researchers then took away the charms, claiming that they would ‘photograph’ them for their records. A random 50% selection had their charms returned, and the remaining half had their charms withheld. The subjects were then asked to fill out questionnaires. The questionnaires asked the subjects how confident they were that they would be able to successfully complete their next task. The task in question was a card-based memory game, in which the subjects were asked to attempt to match cards that were faced down.

Finally, the subjects were asked again to fill out a questionnaire, and again to allow the researchers to ‘photograph’ their provided lucky charms. Again, the researchers gave back 50% of the charms, only this time the subjects were given a selection of 8 letters, and were asked to form as many words as they could out of them. In this test, however, the group were also asked to set themselves goals with the anagram.

It’s worth pointing out that the subjects that did not receive the ‘superstionised’ prompts (the lucky ball, the pressed thumbs, or the return of their charms), constitute a ‘control group’. A control group is a standard in scientific testing, allowing a researcherto minimise the influence of other variables when attempting to study a single variable – in this case ‘the effects of superstition on performance.’

Interestingly, the results of all four micro-tests showed that superstition does seem to boost effectiveness in believers. Those with the ‘lucky’ golf balls performed far better than those in the control group. The group that were encouraged with pressed thumbs were far more efficient than those that were not. The final two tests showed that those not in the control group were more confident with both their performance, and in their speculation, and self-set goals.

The test in itself not only shows us that superstition can be activated by either a pre-set belief, but also by outside influence (the pressed thumbs, the golf ball el al). Most interestingly, the test shows us that superstition itself seems to boost performance in believers.

So, what does this say about my drain hopping? Very little annoyingly. That said, the researchers are planning on testing ‘bad-luck’ superstitions next. So maybe I’ll get more joy from that.

Until then, you’ll see me hopping around high streets like a demented human bunny, desperately seeking two-drains.

read ‘Keep your Fingers Crossed! How Superstition Improves Performance‘, via Sage Journals Online, or from your local academic library that stocks the ‘Psychological Science’ journal.

Ken Eakins

However it’s stripped down strength is also it’s Achilles Heel as you hear everything on the first listen. Depth is non-existent on this record and I’m pretty sure that most of the sounds are lifted straight from a Casio keyboard and a Roland 909, which gave me the odd sensation that I was listening to a rave in a computer game.

That said I will certainly be bashing the fuck out of crazed tunes like “Get Crazy” and “Enemies” while studiously avoiding midi rubbish like “90’s Backyard” and “Coco Drunk”.

Kim Monaghan

http://www.myspace.com/poiriersound

http://www.ninjatune.net/home/

Thomas Masaryk has been charged with first-degree murder in the bizarre case, but he plans to plead innocent under a 500-year-old Transylvania law that says it’s not murder to kill a werewolf.

“We’ve obviously got to prove the victim was a werewolf to take advantage of the law,” Masaryk’s attorney told reporters. “My client and I feel sure we can do that. We’ve got his personal testimony and the eyewitness account of a priest to back us up.”

Not a man to jump to conclusions, Masaryk recruited a nearby holy-man to witness the shooting:

Father Batistei told reporters, “It’s true. I heard the man threaten to kill Mr. Masaryk and saw him change before my eyes. Hair sprouted on his face and hands and fangs grew right out of his mouth. His eye glowed fiery red – and he began to grown and moan like a caged beast.”

Masaryk put a stop to the horrifying transformation with a single shot from a .38 caliber revolver.

The bullet he used to kill Serghiescu had been made from a silver crucifix that reportedly had been blessed by the Pope.

Read the full story over at Our Strange World

Ken Eakins

(Thanks for Ollie for sending this to me)

To get the low-down on werewolves through the ages, check our interview with Bob Curran.

Berry Weight keep it minimal

Berry Weight is a collaborative effort between Canadian and Swiss musicians Apewok and Stab. It is mainly instrumental hip-hop but depth and personality are added in capacious amounts by singer Astrid Engberg (whose voice is sultry and wistful) and clarinetist Kledsy Jy (bringing back the clarinet in a big way) whose contributions make an indelible impression.

The general tone is laid back and slightly melancholy while production is flawless. This is exactly the sort of album you want to play when you are either recovering from a hangover or trying to impress someone so they’ll sleep with you. In fact the only fault I can find is the mid-song rap from ASM (on “The Lotus”); which is frankly comical and disturbs an otherwise great song.

It may not feature on any of the hipster lists of albums this year (indeed at times it’s like this album has been teleported in from the early nineties) but unlike an awful lot of music that is “forward thinking” you might actually want to listen to this more than once.

Kim Monaghan

http://www.berryweight.com

http://www.myspace.com/berryweight

Click here to view the embedded video.

Advertising his talks, whilst ripping homeopathic medicines at the same time…he hasn’t lost it!

Ken Eakins

(Thanks to Burke for spotting this)

You can check our interview with James Randi on the podcast, here.

Through a series of flashbacks, combined with video-diary and archive footage, the Invisible Forest follows a period in the life of theatre director Alex (played by actual director Antero Alli) as he leads his theatre company into a forest to engage with his ‘paratheatrical’ method. During this time he is repeatedly confronted by the bizarre ghost of surrealist French playwright Antonin Artaud, who attempts to instruct and enlighten Alex on the principles of his Theatre of Cruelty, the central theme about which this film revolves. In a sumptuous and Luciferian ‘heart of darkness’ narrative the director, Alex begins to question himself, while about him, his troupe externalises expressions of the strange mythic breakdown he is undergoing.

At first glance this film appears too clumsy to be pretentious. Then a double-take occurs and one realises that the film is far from clumsy, and certainly not pretentious in what it seeks to deliver. It is undeniably naive on certain cinematic qualities that, in their own way, serve to draw us towards the meat of what is important to the film: the exploration of certain metaphysical ideas through a practice of, performance; living mysticism in the body of expression. It is in the cinematic naivety that some of refreshing vitality present in live performance, really shines through. It is raw, it is impulsive, and it is rarely crystal clear. And therein lies the spirit of Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty.

I shall be honest – and try to set a precedent by this. Watching it with a critical eye it is easy to shoot holes in this film. So why did I find myself enthralled, buoyant and persistently impressed by The Invisible Forest?

Like some of the most powerful films, it is precisely because it is not a ‘straight-forward watch’ that it begins to creep inside you. It soon appears the apparent problems with the The Invisible Forest, or with my relationship with the film, are reflections of  its deliberately discordant elements throughout. So, rather than list the things I like about this film, I am going to consider what appears to be its problems, and why I actually like them.

Perhaps the first thing one notices when watching the film is the discordant and jarring use of different cameras and film. Whilst the clear visual difference between Super-8 and digital Hi-Def is unashamedly brutal, and not a happy marriage. Each camera type is wed to a different narrative thread, allowing us to visually distinguish these strands, that we can both maintain an awareness of the continuity of each strand, whilst giving us the distance to contrast one against the other.

It is during my consideration of this juxtaposition, that Alli’s character, Alex, describes the work he and his troupe are engaged with: to juxtapose discordant monologues and dialogues from Shakespeare, in an exploration of collision and coincidence. This is essentially what is being paralleled by the camerawork: content and structure exploring a key tenet of Artaud’s 2^nd manifesto of the Theatre of Cruelty:

“These means, consisting of differing intensities of colour, light or sound, using vibrations… bringing tonality into play, can only achieve their full effect by using discords.” – Artaud

It fast becomes clear that not only is this film being used as a medium for the direct, in-character, discussion of ideas, but is, as a medium, being used to explore the connotations of Artaud’s ideas, pitching divergent elements against each other to create a vivacity through constrast and sensation.

In this, his latest film, Antero Alli plays the lead rolst each other to create a vivacity through contrast and sensation.

Through the juxtaposition of film mediums, we cannot help but be made aware of the presence of the camera, and consequently, the cameraman. Such awareness recalls certain jaw-dropping twists in Lynch’s Inland Empire, and Jodorowsky’s Holy Mountain, with whom this film shares intellectual and sensory sympathy. In both films, as with Alli’s Invisible Forest, we are brutally reminded we are watching a film, and yet in all three there is a continued seduction into the world of the film, creating a unique tension between immersion and dissociation.

This tension and juxtaposition is taken further in the realisation much of the footage we are watching appears to be extracted from archive footage of Alli’s real-life troupe engaged in rehearsal, exploration and experimentation.

The barriers between fictional narrative and apparent real life are blurred. Is this life-imitating-art, or art-imitating-life-imitating-art? The answer to this conundrum leaps out from the pages of the manifesto of the Theatre of Cruelty: “… there will be no distinctive divisions, no gap between life and theatre.”

Antero Alli’s performance during the therapy scenes is radiant. The subtlety in the largely improvised performance is utterly convincing. Are we watching Alex the fictitious director, or Alli’s the actual director? And this seems to be the crux of these parts in the movie. The film is a strange Schrodinger’s Cat, occupying two mutually exclusive states at the same time: it is both real and fictitious. Alex is the creation and extension of Antero: Life and Theatre are the same thing. It’s all real; it’s all made-up.

Not all of the performances are as beautifully ambiguous as Alli’s. Again the jarring juxtaposition forcibly confronts us, insisting we do not forget we are watching a fictitious film about a troupe of actors, played by a real troupe, who are at times acting, at other times that are acting not-acting, whilst at other times they are just plain not-acting. This juxtaposition is no where better exemplified than when a Luciferian character (James L. Wagner) amidst the boughs of a tree, rants and raves about the void in a most outrageously overly-theatrical fashion only to reach the end of his speech and, pausing, allows a transformation to cross his face that speaks of a sublime vision of reality, so touching, so authentic, it might have only been made possible by contrast with the previous melodrama of the scene.

Furthermore, we are not seeing the portrayal of training as we might expect to see in a Hollywood montage, but footage of real people, genuinely engaging with the work. In this space, so closely identifiable with the Invisible Forest from which the film takes its name, in which non-linear space the film is set, we are continually assailed with layers of ambiguity and discordance, with Artaud’s vision for theatre and its essentially aggressive means, being launched upon us. We cannot be a simply passive viewer, but must become embroiled in personal reflection and interpretation. Again and again, any apparent naivety only serves to reveal the authenticity of the intent behind these facets of Alli’s work and ideas.

Following in Grotowski’s path, and in a strange sympathy with Esoteric and Occult traditions, much of Alli’s work and the training of his actors is not concerned with the staging of shows for the entertainment of an audience: it is about personal exploration and development of the actor and their body into a tool for personal initiation. As we watch the film, we must bear in mind this very quality is inescapable for those performing within the film – much of what we are seeing is real people engaged in real training.

The film is the performers equivalent to the magicians grimoire. It is a vehicle for the explication of ideas that are useful to the actor exploring the metaphysical application of this artform. It encodes and encapsulates essentially aphorisms dealing with the location of the self in the world, and the medium of acting or performance as a means of instigating and realising transformative actions. Like the best magical grimoires, they are largely inaccessible without the reader, the magician, investing something of their own time and energy: this is the diabolic pact. Nothing of this films intrinsic value is given freely; it must be worked at by the viewer; it requires attention, acceptance and reflection. And in engaging with that work, we are in a way becoming complicit in its mission, and the pact is signed.

It is not the film of an accomplished filmmaker, and I am not sure it’s supposed to be working towards that end. This is not a filmmakers film, exploring the territory of cinematic possibility – it is not concerned with that. Rather, it is an idea-driven film depicting individuals exploring themselves through performance. It is a rare insight into the performative and theatrical – paratheatrical – attitudes, physicality and meta-physics of an ostensibly live genre, audaciously captured on film with remarkable sensitivity.

Ulysses Black

The Invisible Forest, and other films by Antero Alli are available on DVD from Antero’s site.

You can check our interview with Antero Alli on our podcast here.

"We do know who you are"

Now, if I was someone who liked winding up conspiracy theorists, what would be the worst ad campaign I could make?

Hmmm, how about a ‘Big Brother-meets-Hal-from-2001-ad-that-pretty-much-confirms-the-stigmatised-belief-system-of-every-Alex-Jones-fan-boy-and-Bohemiam-Grove- obsessed-’truther’-out-there’?

yeah, that would probably do it:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ken Eakins

(via:Disinfo.com)

Broadcast #015

1. Sax Ruins – Korromda Peimm
2. Daniel Johnston – Spirit World Rising
3. Cannibal Ox – Vein
4. Iron Monkey – Web of Piss
5. Foals - Glaciers
6. Jesu - Friends Are Evil
7. The Lapse – Infinte Me
8. Lou Barlow - Gravitate
9. Lunar Abyss Quartet – Phova
10. Secret Chiefs 3 - Labyrinth of Light
11. Slint - Pat
12. Tom Vek - You Set The Fire In Me
13. Iron Lung – Care For The Machine

If you want us to play your band/noise/whatever, drop us a line at behindcloseddoors@sittingnow.co.uk.

Peace

***Signal Ends**

Mondo Cane - available May 4th

There is surely no greater joy in life than being given an advance copy of the new Mike Patton album ? If there is I don’t know what it might be. This album has arrived as a complete surprise to me,and as my finger alights on the play button I wonder which Mike Patton will it be ?

The album opens with “Il Cielo In Una Stanza” …rumbling thunder and mildly sinister strings bring portents of evil. Maybe this is another Delirium Cordia ? Oh … hang on what’s this ? Mike’s singing in Italian. And if I’m not mistaken he’s been possessed by Phil Spector. It appears from this first song that we’re getting lothario crooner Patton this time around. And on the evidence of this first song that’s not a bad thing at all.

credit - frame26.com

“Che Notte” is a slice of Sixties psychedelia meets film noir. Imagine Patton doing incidental music for the Keystone Cops… all vaudeville piano and duck whistles and bongos and trumpets … crazy but a lot of fun. “Ore D’Amore” is like the theme tune from a cheap knock-off of a Bond film, and despite not knowing a word of Italian I am fighting an urge to sing along in an overly dramatic fashion.

“Deep Down” is another short, but sweet, piece of movie music. It is actually kind of a pleasure to hear Mike just sing without a single gibber, screech or moan anywhere to be heard. Part of me is afraid to relax because I am expecting some “Adult Theme For Human Voice” -style madness to erupt at any moment. “Quello Che Conta” is spaghetti western through and through, the kind of bombastic ballad that would work nicely with footage of craggy-faced men, chewing cigars on horseback, while the women-folk weep. “Urlo Negro” finally shatters the calm with a lo-fi tribal intro that might be played by punk rock American Indians on the warpath, before turning into an aggressive and slightly sci-fi piece of surf music.

Three Patton's...I'm actually scared of this prospect

“Scalinatella” opens with footsteps and some flamenco guitar before gently taking shape as an acoustic lullaby that is mainly pretty but slightly twisted. “L’Uomo Che Non Sapeva Amare” is a little like an off-cut from the “A Perfect Place” soundtrack, which suddenly makes me realize that this album isn’t quite as unprecedented as I first thought, but is actually sort of a progression from that soundtrack, at least conceptually if not in terms of sound. “20 KM al Giorno” opens with the inimitable sound of the Jews harp leading us on the audio equivalent of a sweaty bus journey, with Mike as our gurning, salacious conductor. One of my favourite tracks on the album so far.

“Ti Offro Da Bere” is short and sweet like everything else on the album being reminiscent of a distant cousin of “To Dream The Impossible Dream”… but in the seventies with a big moustache. And so, in an impossibly short time, we come to the last track “Senza Fine” is a husky, violin-led waltz which bids farewell to the listener by grabbing your hand and kissing slowly but passionately all the way up the back of your arm…whether you want it to or not.

I don’t know if this is an album of Mike Patton originals or covers of movie themes, or what it is, but it is the first album he has ever done that you could play to your Mum or girlfriend and they would actually like it. They might even love it. A perfect summer pop record. From Mike Patton. What is going on ?

Kim Monaghan

http://www.ipecac.com/

ChatRoulette is Serious Business

I’ve been monitering chat roulette this week because I can. Unsuprisingly, I can confirm that I have seen more male offal than an in-demand-hardcore-porn-star.

Luckily for me, and the rest of the world that doesn’t want to spend their time watching some dude from Montreal masturbate, I have tracked down some videos that demonstrate some more original uses of ChatRoulette; here’s my top three:

1.) PianoChatRoulette

2.) Lady Gaga – ‘Telephone’

(thanks to Jenn for this one)

3.) Fake girl gets epic amounts of ‘shoe on head’

If you spot any funny vids, let me know at kenATsittingnow.co.uk.

Ken Eakins

guess how many tracks are on this release?

Binkcrsh are a laudable record label fighting the evils of piracy and the death of physical music media by nurturing eccentric and under-appreciated electronic artists. This is the most recent compilation and it is an interesting insight into the Binkcrsh philosophy.

The opening track is “7.63 x 54” by Andrey Nikolayev. A mean modulated bass line stitches together an expedition through industrial drill’n’bass that manages to be a lot friendlier than that sounds. The Turdboy remix of “Untitled” by Newt is of the 8-bit school of sound but doesn’t limit itself exclusively to Gameboy noises, which makes it a lot more listenable but I’m not sure “Turdboy” is the most appealing artist to get your remix work done by. Internal Pudding’s “Swayed Test” is bassy electronica with glitchy beats that evolves into a well-produced and slightly dreamy tune that lives somewhere between Warp and Flying Lotus.

The comically named Toyz’r Me with “Whorelando Blum” (…) should not be underestimated on the basis of his rubbish naming skills, because he is pretty adept at finding interesting noises and has put together a taut and effective piece of electronica made out of them. “Archos” by Dissolving is pretty electronica with confidently engineered beats that has echoes of E.U and Fibla and is one of the most accessible tracks of the album so far. James W.W. “Meshes” takes a loop and drum pattern and overlays a bunch of reverbed stabs to create something that sounds ok but lacks any real identity. Esa Ruoho “Whinnye” takes deceptively simple drum and synth sounds and creates an old school elctronica movie soundtrack that is as warm as it is subtle. Phonemonkey “Megadogcrackmonkey” is a mega-glitchy, drill’n’bass tune that actually bothers to inject a synth melody rather than just try to blow your mind with a million different noises, but is a little too busy for my tastes.

The scintillatingly named Turdboy goes all rave with “Mega Flush” which mixes familiar old school drum breaks (Incredible Bongo Band and Funky Drummer) and classic rave synths to produce something between nu and old rave that is weirdly authentic…like it’s been shipped in from 1993. Simple Vehicle “Dipped” is a minimal slice of electronics that revels in the art of knob twiddling to bring colour and depth to a childishly simple tune that is one of the highlights of the album. Dissolved is awesome. Go and buy everything you can find of his and tell him he rules. This is my entirely objective and un-biased judgement.

Dalezy “God Is Dog” is almost comical in its heavy handed use of …relevant samples but is too well produced and dance-able to dismiss as comedy music. James W.W re-surfaces with “So You Edit”, glitchy house that is abstract enough to draw in the snobs but would be a dancefloor winner, especially when the root sample from Adamski’s “Killer” turns up. Yes…Adamski. Jimmly 7 is a low tech electronica record that utilizes effects to tricky up its sounds for the modern ear but is a somewhat slight offering in terms of melodies. Iqtu “Quandry” sounds a little like the end music from some surreal Nintendo puzzle game initially, until a booming bassline arrives and translates the whole thing from wacky Japanese to sticky L.A. The Bagpiper fittingly enough closes the album with “Duvet Suit”. Terrible artist name but weirdly appropriate track name it sounds like Autechre remixed by the Radiophonic Orchestra. Weird, unsettling and should definitely be played over the top of an episode of Dr.Who.

Albums full of unknown artists on unknown labels are massively imposing. In my opinion this is because more often than not you will be lucky to find a single average artist, let alone anything genuinely good. This compilation has at least six or seven tracks that are good to great meaning it would not only be worthwhile chasing this album down but also investigating Binkcrsh Records pretty thoroughly.

Kim Monaghan

Binkcrsh Records

I want to advertise during Bill O'Reilly

We often discuss the posibillity of web-content producers getting a chance to ‘compete with the big boys’ – aka, the mass media – until recently, this seemed like a ridiculous proposition. However, the rise of Internet shows like Diggnation, and the TWIT Network are starting to show us all that this seemingly unreachable goal may soon be a reality.

The guys over at Slate V have taken it a step further, by utilising a new Google service called ‘Google TV Ads‘, in which you can purchase 30 seconds of airtime on national TV networks for as little as $100. Check it out:

Hmmm, don’t we have a new Internet TV show coming out soon?

Ken Eakins

Our guest this week is Arthur Goldwag

This week I talk to one of my new favourite authors (and guests), Arthur Goldwag. Arthur is the author of the recently published ‘Cults, Conspiracies, & Secret Societies: The Straight Scoop on Freemasons, The Illuminati, Skull & Bones, Black Helicopters, The New World Order‘, a fantastic book that I recommend to anyone that wants to be introduced to these fascinating topics in a more logical, and non-bias fashion.

In this episode we discuss: The mindset of conspiracy theorists, why the Freemasons are blamed for everything evil in the world, how L. Ron Hubbard’s rise to power baffles us, some of the weirdest cults out there, and the age old question: is Lady Gaga a puppet of the Illuminati?

It’s no conspiracy that an episode of SittingNow cannot function without Daddytank evoking some of the best oddball and experimental music for your listening pleasure. This weeks puppets of the Illuminati are:

Island In The Sky – The Jekyll You Hyde
Super Adventure Club – 17th Century AOSS
Hangin’ Freud- Swamp

If you have any queries, suggestions, insults etc. Please feel free to email ken@sittingnow.co.uk.

Enjoy!

Arthur Goldwag Biography:

After attending Kenyon College and Brown University, Arthur Goldwag worked in book publishing for more than twenty years, including stints at Random House, The New York Review of Books, and Book-of-the-Month Club. He now freelances full time.

The author of THE BELIEFNET GUIDE TO KABBALAH (Doubleday, 2005), ISMS & OLOGIES (Vintage, 2007), and CULTS, CONSPIRACIES & SECRET SOCIETIES (Vintage, 2009), Arthur is also a contributing editor at Scholastic’s STORYWORKS magazine, where he writes stories, plays, and essays for children. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife and two sons.

Goodnight Sweet Prince

Over the years video games have become much bigger deals to geeky types like me. Immersive gameplay, the ability to play against other real players across the globe and to not have to wait for your unreliable mate to come over with his other controller; these are things that are important to us – I mean come on… Street Fighter 4 multiplayer…nuff said.

Unfortunately, there has been a casualty in this development – the 21st century Luddites if you will -evil gameless buffoons out to smash and destroy this beautiful technological advancement. The threat is real, and precautions need to be taken.

I am of course talking about your partner! That’s right, that girl or boy  has it in for your Xbox, gives the evil-eye to your PSP, and hates the air that the fan from your PC blows in and out each second.

Somehow, these mindless Mario-haters have mastered the tubes enough to make these dastardly propaganda videos. Watch and take note, this is only the beginning:

OH NO SHE DITENT!!

I’m sorry to have put you through that, but you needed to see it. This isn’t the only case on the Internets of game-related butchery:

Click here to view the embedded video.

let this be a warning to us all. Cage your PC, protect your console, and hide your handhelds, because they are coming for us all!

Ken Eakins

The Qemists

The Reso remix is a fucking corker. Nasty skittering beats bring you to a giant bassline climax that sounds like a mic in a tumble dryer. Production heavy it may be, but it’s pretty effective, and when the trance-y breakdown drops you into a massive dubstep nightmare world, the dancefloor in your mind will get pretty hectic. Must hear more Reso.

The first minute of the club mix, however, is pretty challenging. At first I thought it was that bloke who sang “Chocolate Rain” but then it all goes mental drum’n’bass style. And as someone who knows their drum’n’bass pretty well (and is quite snobby about it) I have to award a score of “Meh” to this mix. It’s more Pendulum than Dillinja (that’s not a good thing) and it made me think of spotty kids in cars drinking cider (This is also not a good thing.)

The actual Qemists edit doesn’t do much more for me than the Club mix either, bearing in mind Bad Company were doing shit like this a decade ago and better too, without scattering half-arsed vocals all over the place. But…seriously…get the Reso remix. It’s so exciting it makes your face gyrate.

Kim Monaghan

http://www.ninjatune.net

http://www.myspace.com/qemists

Broadcast #014

1. Zilla - Aragami Style
2. Rapeman - Steak and Black Onions
3. Funki Porcini – 3rd Man
4. Emika - Double Edge
5. The Infesticons – Kick Anthem
6. Juice Aleem – First Lesson
7. John Barry – A Man Alone
8. Com.with – Sly
9. Unsane - This Stops At The River
10. Cybercrime - Chew The Fat
11. Venetian Snares – Abomination Street
12. Scuba - You Got Me
13. Reso - Armored Core

If you want us to play your band/noise/whatever, drop us a line at behindcloseddoors@sittingnow.co.uk.

Peace

***Signal Ends**

Ok..What have you got for us this time?

Ok I admit it. I am a huge Doctor Who fan. I know a lot of people say that kind of thing about current geeky ‘in-things’, like: “oh yeah Star Wars, I love that R2-Threedeetoo guy”, but when I say fan I mean FAN.

I’ve spent the majority of my life being a fan, in fact, one of my earliest memories was the 4th Doctor (Tom Baker), regenerating into the 5th (Peter Davison). I remember being genuinely upset for a few months and then Davison took on the role and became (and remains) my favourite Doctor. I’ve been to conventions, met every Doctor that was still alive (up to the 7th at least), and I have a large Tardis and Dalek in the SittingNow office. So there.

Anyway, I digress.

The Doctor's new Scarlett lady ... nice

Tonight, just now in fact, the BBC broadcast the first episode of the new series starring the new Doctor Matt Smith. To say I was a little nervous this week is an understatement. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Whenever a new actor takes on the role, it’s a very nervous time for me. I normally end up going back and re-watching the first few episodes once I’ve adjusted, so that I can watch it as a ‘Doctor Who’ episode; this time however, it was different.

For some reason I felt immediately at ease with Smith’s Doctor, he felt familiar. This is no mean feat; in the past when a Doctor regenerates it’s normally up to an already established  character (companion, Lethbridge Stewart, et al) to carry the watcher back into the fold and believe that the new guy is our good old Time Lord. (Remember Tennant’s first episode, he was pretty much asleep for the whole thing.) This time round, however, it only took (somewhat ironically) about twenty minutes before I sat back and started watching what I recognised as a great episode of Doctor Who.

It seems that I am not alone in my my opinions. Once the episode concluded, I fired up tweetdeck and started a #Doctor column to see what my fellow netizens thought, and surprisingly, they all seemed to agree.

So this season then – armed with what promises to be a great new team – we have Daleks, Cybermen, Silurians, Vampires, and loads more. Bring it on Doctor number eleven! I can’t wait.

Ken Eakins

If you missed it and you’re in the UK, you can watch it for free here (BBC iPlayer).

Our guest this week, Dr Bob Curran

Finally, the triad of classic beasties have been covered on SittingNow! First we brought you Vampires, then we gave you Zombies, this week we present you with a show about Werewolves!

When it comes to discussing these iconic monsters, there is no better speaker than our old pal Dr. Bob Curran. Dr. Bob recently released his latest exploration of the mythological world in his fantastic book ‘Werewolves: A Field Guide to Shapeshifters, Lycanthropes, and Man-Beasts‘.

In this week’s episode we discuss: The historical origins of the Werewolf myth, the Werewolf in classical literature, The Green Man, what do these mythological beasts tell us about ourselves, American folklore, and much more.

Never one to miss out on a good monster hunt, famous musical monster hunter Daddytank returns with his infinite supply of silver bullets. This week’s full mooners:

Black Saturn vs Subduxtion – Conquering Echo
Berry Weight – The Day Nothing Happened
Inkog and Mr. Gone – Seven

If you have any queries, suggestions, insults etc. Please feel free to email ken@sittingnow.co.uk.

Enjoy!

———————————————————————————————————————–

Dr. Bob Curran is a native of Northern Ireland, born and raised in the Mourne
Mountains area of County Down, a region steeped in folklore and legend.
Throughout a varied life, he has worked in many fields—as a gravedigger,
professional musician, journalist, and civil servant. He is now a history teacher
and well known throughout Ireland and beyond as a writer and broadcaster. He
has written extensively, in English and several other languages, on various
aspects of history and folklore and acted as advisor to the Cultural Committee of
the Northern Ireland Legislative Assembly. He currently lives in Coleraine,
County Derry, with his wife and family.

Emika's Double Edge Single is released May 10th

A deceptive little number this one. On the album version a melancholy eastern tinged melody, and a glacial glitchy vocal, give way to a rumbling dubstep pounder. The female vocal is nursery rhyme simple, and when combined with the cavernous bass-line and almost subliminal sci-fi bleeps and squelches, she creates an icily beautiful sonic landscape that manages the elusive task of making you nod your head; but use it too. Excellent stuff.

The Pinch remix is a more straight up dubstep mix, with beats right up front. Great throbbing bassline and some tasty squelchy noises, but the vocals only appear as little stabs here and there. It’s like the brothel version, but that’s intended as a compliment. If you’re partial to a bit of dubstep then the remix is nice but the original version is a much broader and more impressive tune. Well worth a listen when it appears on May 10th.

Kim Monaghan

http://www.myspace.com/emikamyspace

http://www.ninjatune.net/home/

Death of London like to pretend they are standing on framed art

I know nothing about this band so when “Eat It Baby Horse” rocks it’s way into my ears I am pleasantly surprised, as I was expecting some gloomy drone from the name.

Instead you get simple balls out metal, nothing too complex, but loud and with a memorably scary whispered refrain near the end. Two minutes and seventeen seconds of headbanger-y.  “Lovvers in Dutcht” is more of the same with full on riff-age and some suitably shouty stuff going on over the top. They include a cheeky little guitar drop-off in the middle, where you think it’s stopped but then “Bleurgh !”… quiet then loud, but done with panache.

“This Is Japan” is great, with a rolling riff that reeks of dead cowboys, and a host of little touches that mark them out as something more than just another metal band, not least of which would be the variety and strength of the vocals and impressive musicianship. “Kiri Kiri Kiri” is more sweaty adrenal fun and like all of their songs so far it comes in, makes a bit of a mess while shouting and pulling muscleman poses, then leaves before it gets old. They have songwriting skills but they also have the chutzpah to not drag it out unnecessarily. Kudos. Final track

“Psychopsychicsidekick” (as well as being awesomely named) is a glowering final gurn from the band, with a noir-ish slant and a definite blues tang. After listening to this I struggle to name any obvious influences but would ask you to imagine AC/DC as possessed by Josh from Q.O.T.S.A but chewing on a gorilla’s pineal gland.

Kim Monaghan

http://www.myspace.com/deathoflondon

http://www.functionrecords.com/

Doing it Trooper stylee

Doing it Trooper-stylee

I’m normally the first person to poke fun at parodies, they are normally horrible. Nothing actually annoys me more than people taking Lonely Island clips and remaking them…no not remaking actually, ‘making terrible’ would be a better definition.

Occaisonally, however, parodies are great. Here’s a good example:

“You’re welcome Obi-Wan … I made you a ghost” – genius!

Ken Eakins

Burroughs' was an early adopter of the iPod

If, like me, you’re a big fan of William Burroughs, then you’ll have heard him bang on (a lot) about cut-ups. He borrowed the idea from another very cool guy Brion Gysin, and together they paved a new path for experimentalists to explore the randomness of the universe. Now it seems some uncovered tape cut-ups are being exhibited in London:

28th May – 18th July 2010

Dead Fingers Talk is an ambitious forthcoming exhibition presenting two unreleased tape experiments by William Burroughs from the mid 1960s alongside responses by 23 artists, musicians, writers, composers and curators.

Few writers have exerted as great an influence over such a diverse range of art forms as William Burroughs. Burroughs, author of Naked Lunch, The Soft Machine and Junky, continues to be regularly referenced in music, visual art, sound art, film, web-based practice and literature. One typically overlooked, yet critically important, manifestation of his radical ideas about manipulation, technology and society is found in his extensive experiments with tape recorders in the 1960s and ’70s. Dead Fingers Talk: The Tape Experiments of William S. Burroughs is the first exhibition to truly demonstrate the diversity of resonance in the arts of Burroughs’ theories of sound.

listen to your present time tapes and you will begin to see who you are and what you are doing here mix yesterday in with today and hear tomorrow your future rising out of old recordings

everybody splice himself in with everybody else

The exhibition includes work by Joe Ambrose, Steve Aylett, Alex Baker & Kit Poulson, Lawrence English, The Human Separation, Riccardo Iacono, Anthony Joseph, Cathy Lane, Eduardo Navas, Negativland, o.blaat, Aki Onda, Jörg Piringer, Plastique Fantastique, Simon Ruben White, Giorgio Sadotti, Scanner, Terre Thaemlitz, Thomson & Craighead, Laureana Toledo and Ultra-red, with performances by Ascsoms and Solina Hi-Fi.

Inspired by the expelled Surrealist painter Brion Gysin, and yet never meant as art but as a pseudo-scientific investigation of sounds and our relationship to technology and material, the experiments provide early examples of interactions which are essential listening for artists working in the digital age.

In the case of the work in the exhibition the contributors were asked to provide a “recording” in response to Burroughs’ tape experiments. The works, which vary significantly in media and focus, demonstrate the diversity of attitudes to such a groundbreaking period of investigation.

Now this I am looking forward to.

Ken Eakins

FIGHT!

Ever wanted to beat the shit of Jesus as Budda? Ever thought of getting through the gospels in just tens seconds? Well, you’re in luck, Molle Industria have your back. Click on the image above to play the excellent ‘Faith Fighter’, or if you’re feeling like some high-speed side scrolling religious action, click below to play ‘Run Jesus Run’.

run!

Do make sure you have a look around the rest of the site, where you’ll find such classics as ‘PedoPriest’, and ‘Everyday the same dream’ a shot existential game about alienation…fun times.

Ken Eakins

Season 2...bigger...better...well, it's actually the same.

1. End – To Hell with Everyone
2. Shrinebuilder – Pyramid of the Moon
3. Popol Vuh - Aguirre II
4. Jean-Marc Zelwer – Manege
5. Crooked Mountain, Crooked Sea – Any Port In a Storm
6. Quicksand - Can Opener
7. MGR- IV
8. Skat Injektor – Do Her, Fuck Her
9. Ruins - Wanzemvherrg
10. Bonobo - Karina
11. Sebadoh - Punching Myself In The Face Repeatedly, Publically
12. U.S Christmas – The Scalphunters
13. Dev/Null – Grind 2

If you want us to play your band/noise/whatever, drop us a line at behindcloseddoors@sittingnow.co.uk.

Peace

***Signal Ends**

This weeks guest is Antero Alli

This week we delve back into the realm of reality hacking with our guest Antero Alli. Antero has been involved in the study of the 8 circuit model of consciousness for many years now, and has authored two books on the subject. Antero is also involved in a unique consciousness experiment called ‘Paratheatre’, in which initiates and researchers experiment, and more importantly, experience consciousness change.

This week we discuss: The 8 circuit model of consciousness, Timothy Leary, Paratheatre, the difference between reading about a ritual and actually experiencing it, and much more.

Not one to miss out on some consciousness change, Daddytank returns with his musical implements which he calls MySpace Heroes. This week’s objects of musical expression are:

Perhaps Contraption – Hard Cutlery

Heat From A Dead Star – Seahorse Seafish
Haunted Stereo - Lock The Doors

f you have any queries, suggestions, insults etc. Please feel free to email ken@sittingnow.co.uk.

Enjoy!

Antero Alli Bio:

Simon Green returns his fourth album under the moniker of Bonobo.

What is immediately apparent when listening to Black Sands, is the apparent compositional skill of Simon Green. Where Dial M for Monkey and Days to Come were  great beat records, Black Sands seems to be heading to a totally different musical landscape.

Album openers Prelude and Kiara evoke scores to some of the great Japanese thrillers of the 60s and 70s, ripe with lush strings and a moody piano that transition into beautifully composed breakbeats and glitchy vocal snippets. Kong and All in Form feel a lot more like previous Bonobo offerings, but coated in a new focused and real-instrument-heavy gloss, that didn’t seem as apparent in earlier releases.

The vocal talents of Andreya Triana are very well placed in this record, a change from the more snappy style of previous collaborator Bajka. Triana’s dazed style fits neatly with Green’s jazzier feeling pieces like the excellent The Keeper, adding a nice narrative to the exotic and rich instrumentals.

Simon Green has leap-frogged from a really decent beat-maker, to a really quite impressive composer in a very short period of time. which leaves  you wondering where he’ll take us next. Black Sands sidesteps expectations – as well as clichés – to provide a really rich and inventive instrumental tapestry that you really should spend some serious time checking out.

Ken Eakins

Black Sands is released via Ninja Tune on the 29th March.

Bonobo Site & MySpace

Click here to view the embedded video.

]]> http://sittingnow.co.uk/2010/03/22/bonobo-black-sands/feed/ 0 http://sittingnow.co.uk/2010/03/21/national-geographic-puts-lsd-under-the-microscope/ http://sittingnow.co.uk/2010/03/21/national-geographic-puts-lsd-under-the-microscope/#comments Sun, 21 Mar 2010 22:58:30 +0000 Ken http://sittingnow.co.uk/?p=2056

That's enough acid to send an army insane!

National Geographic‘s ‘Explorer’ series are examining the myths and effects of LSD:

LSDs inventor Albert Hofmann called it “medicine for the soul.” The Beatles wrote songs about it. Secret military mind control experiments exploited its hallucinogenic powers. Outlawed in 1966, LSD became a street drug and developed a reputation as the dangerous toy of the counterculture, capable of inspiring either moments of genius, or a descent into madness. Now science is taking a fresh look at LSD, including the first human trials in over 35 years. Using enhanced brain imaging, non-hallucinogenic versions of the drug and information from an underground network of test subjects who suffer from an agonizing condition for which there is no cure, researchers are finding that this “trippy” drug could become the pharmaceutical of the future. Can it enhance our brain power, expand our creativity and cure disease? To find out, Explorer puts LSD under the microscope.

(via: National Geographic)

In the virtual world between us, we’ve slaughtered a few hundred thousand of the suckers. In the real world, however, how would we fare? Look no further thanks to Game Informer:

(via: Gameinformer)

Ken Eakins

Pranked again...you'd think they would have got wise to this by now

From Yahoo News,

‘WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — A Walmart store announcement ordering black people to leave brought chagrin and apologies Wednesday from leaders of the company, which has built a fragile trust among minority communities.

A male voice came over the public-address system Sunday evening at a store in Washington Township, in southern New Jersey, and calmly announced: “Attention, Walmart customers: All black people, leave the store now.”

Shoppers in the store at the time said a manager quickly got on the public-address system and apologized for the remark. And while it was unclear whether a rogue patron or an employee was responsible for the comment, many customers expressed their anger to store management.’

I doubt this is the PLA, but I love it when people get up in arms about a blatent prank (even if it is a bit risque in this case):

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ken Eakins

...I know...

Brutal-Koala-Jedi-Action seemed relevant to this post

Here we go again:

The Australian Human Rights Commission has threatened legal action against a widely read but controversial US-based website over an article that encourages racial hatred against Aborigines.

But online rights group Electronic Frontiers Australia said trying to stamp out the deplorable content would only create the “Streisand” effect, whereby an attempt to censor online content only brings more attention to it.

The same page was in the news in January when, in a rare move, Google Australia agreed to remove links to the article from its search engine following legal action from Aboriginal man Steve Hodder-Watt

Once again ED is attacked, and once again people miss the point of the site.

The Internet really is srs bsns.

(via Sydney Herald)

Ken Eakins

]]> http://sittingnow.co.uk/2010/03/17/australian-human-rights-commission-attempts-to-block-encylopedia-dramatica/feed/ 0 http://sittingnow.co.uk/2010/03/15/mego-aleister-crowley-yes/ http://sittingnow.co.uk/2010/03/15/mego-aleister-crowley-yes/#comments Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:37:55 +0000 Ken http://sittingnow.co.uk/?p=2033 Words cannot describe how much win is in this picture:

Imagine finding that in your Christmas stockings!

From Mego action figure obsessed megomuseum.com:

Here’s a fascinating cult icon, Aleister Crowley. He was a famous occultist who was followed by Led Zepplin guitarist Jimi Page. He inspired the Ozzy song “Mr Crowley”.
I hoped to capture some of the mystique and intrigue of this person in the figure. I think he looks pretty creepy. Awesome box by Toyroom! This one gave me goosebumps.

I’m not sure if you can buy the plastic Great Beast 666, but I want three!

Ken Eakins

(via: Dangerous Minds)

Hitting your screens this May

So we finally took the plunge – after a year of planning and debate – and announced our new SittingNow TV show. The show will initially be available on the site, and via online distros like iTunes, YouTube, and Vimeo, and then later will appear on a channel to be announced later in the year (confusing I know).

Anyway, check out this ‘teaser’ intro, and let us know what you think!

Ken Eakins

Quit dreaming like a pussy!

One of the better shows on the web, The Viking Youth Power Hour adds some well-needed edge to the handful of podcasts out there that deal with subjects like Magick, alternative media, consciousness-change, and of course – drinking lots of whiskey.

Over the last five or so years the Vikings’ have treated us to a kind of audio-vision-quest, exploring the outer-reaches of hard alternative living, and have been kind enough to take us along for the ride.

The Vikings would occasionally bring along some really cool guests, some of which will recognisable to listeners of our show, and even taking to the road to broadcast from Burning Man.

The podcast seems to be on hiatus at the moment, the last show released well over a year ago now. Sadly, their excellent site also seems to be down, I assume infested with spammers and web-nasties (I suddenly recieved a load of viagra messages from their forum last month).

Luckily, at least for now, their shows are still available on iTunes, and their RSS feed is still alive and kicking. Go get EVERY show, start at the beginging, and quit dreaming like a pussy!

Ken Eakins

Haunted Stereo

“Lock The Doors” starts on a kind of alt-country bluegrass vibe but with a tinge of Nick Cave melodrama. It develops into a quite muscular sort of disco-folk groove (I couldn’t have imagined such a thing either until I heard this) with minor chords and spookiness much more of a concern than chewing straw and putting your finger in your ear. It climaxes somewhere in the territory of indie rock but with a particularly well paced and  (dammit, I wasn’t going to use this word) haunting fiddle and piano. This is a great song and it has you nodding your head from about half way through until its adroit conclusion.

“On A Pin” starts intriguingly with a tightly wound drum and bass line (not drum’n’bass) with delicate accompanying banjo, piano and fiddle parts, but rather than utilize the male vocalist who does a perfectly reasonable job on “Lock The Doors”, they have handed lead vocals to a lady. Vocals are where a lot of bands live or die for me, and while I had no particular objection to the male singer, the female singers voice is a little earthy, a little too trad-folk for me. When you pair this with the fact that the intro to “On A Pin” suddenly seems to devolve into a fairly bog standard bit of pub rock/folk, I suddenly found myself in the position of loving and hating the band at the same time. They do rescue this song at the end when it becomes a fairly lovely piece of instrumental folk rock and I even began to warm to her vocals on the acapella section.

In conclusion, I would definitely advise people to listen to this band. I think they will divide opinion, but if someone like me who feels nauseous at the mention of alt-folk can actively enjoy this finely named band then there’s definitely something for everyone. Make up your own mind by listening :

Kim Monaghan

http://www.hauntedstereo.co.uk/

http://www.myspace.com/hauntedstereomusic

Double A-side single On A Pin / Lock the Doors is available via Sotones Records on May 17th 2010

Skat Injector - classy!

Masked bands remind a little of the Star Trek ‘rule of evens’. The popular myth is that the even-numbered Trek movies are the better ones. This sort of works, ‘The Wrath of Khan’ (the second one) being a good example. How does this relate to bands with masks? It doesn’t really, it’s just that the first band I can think of that wears masks are Mr Bungle, and they are brilliant. The second band I can think of are Slipknot, and they are ear-rapingly shit. The third band I can think of are Skat Injector, and they are really good. So, with a masked band, I guess it’s the ‘rule of odds’…fitting really.

Skat Injector are not the usual type of band that ends up in the SittingNow mailbag. For a start, most of them don’t include song titles like ‘Her Mangled C**t’. This, coupled with the fact they’re called ‘Skat Injector’, should give you a pretty decent insight into the type of band we’re dealing with today.

So, to the music then. Do Her, Fuck Her sounds a bit like ‘What’s he building in there‘ era Tom Waits, presented by a paedophile Walt Disney after a night on valium and vodka; a good start. ‘Jack ‘n’ Bullets’ is a grind-synth-gabba nightmare; imagine if you mixed early Throbbing Gristle with Agoraphobic Nosebleed, and you’re kind of there.

The aforementioned ‘Her Mangled C**t’ is just a bit mental really. It’s hard to tell if the growler is actually saying anything, or just scatting like a crack-addled hooker. The narrative is accompanied by insane blast-beats and glitchy howls that would probably scare even the most hardened free-party-gabba- enthusiast. Finally, ‘Seagulled Catamite’ is just a bit scary; I kept imagining a Dalek holding Merzbow at ransom, forcing him to play his music – but 100 times faster!

Skat Injector are doing as all a favour by growing a pair and pushing speedcore/grind to its logical extreme. Don’t expect nicely produced break-core either, it’s more like the musical equivalent of Goatse, only you’ll want to actually re-visit this. Excellente!

Ken Eakins

Check Skat Injector on Myspace

and keep an eye on Hirntrust Grind Media, and Free Thinkers Union for the 7″ releases of tracks reviewed.

]]> http://sittingnow.co.uk/2010/03/05/skat-injector-review/feed/ 1 http://sittingnow.co.uk/2010/03/03/heat-from-a-dead-star/ http://sittingnow.co.uk/2010/03/03/heat-from-a-dead-star/#comments Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:57:55 +0000 Ken http://sittingnow.co.uk/?p=1992

Awesome hair!

This unwieldily named band might at first listen appear to purvey shabby garage rock but there is more to them than scruffy strumming. Touches of shoegaze, touches of indie and touches of pop rock all blend together into charmingly simple and warm songs with decidedly wonky corners. Odd chords, touches of piano or atonal violin stabs take the right angles off otherwise well constructed songs, adding a mysterious and obtuse slant that I appreciate.

The bands that might get listened to round HFADS house ? At a guess Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine would feature but this is not immediately apparent in any one song, but over the course of listening to the album. These are songs written for love rather than the prospect of becoming hugely succesfull but the enthusiasm they exude is infectious and based on this initial outing the band certainly deserve some attention.

Kim Monaghan

http://www.heatfromadeadstar.com/

http://www.myspace.com/heatfromadeadstar

Get the album on iTunes - clickety click

I must admit to being a little nervous about how I would find Crooked Mountain, Crooked Sea. When I first saw the name I let out an internal groan. I imagined a band that would release a two-track EP, with two twenty minute long Mogwai-esque snore-fests. Luckily my fears were almost instantly put to rest when I was instead faced with five tracks, all no more than 3:01 long…phew.

My luck increased more when, instead of a pretensious two-note-a-thon, I instead got a really enjoyable three minutes of classy, dare I say, slightly anthemic rock. I can’t quite put my finger on it, I’m almost reminded of Adam Ant when he was actually good.

‘Eyes Turned Inwards‘ starts off very subtely, before blasting into some nice Slint sounding riffage. It’s very easy to overplay this kind of start/stop ‘call and response’ style of playing, luckily they use it sparingly as a nice interplay between the emotional highs and lows of the song writing. ‘One Hundred Yards Into the Desert‘ does the same, using the jagged guitars sparingly, giving preferential treatment to interesting song hooks, it reminds me a little of Sweep the Leg Johnny, sparing with early Montanna Pete.

‘You’ll Get Used to Me’ takes a more epic, slow-paced stance, replacing post-hardcore guitars with nice emotional build-ups, and decent howling (a rare thing). Finally, ‘Johnny Forger‘ takes an almost ‘this is what we’ve learnt so far’ approach, and blends all of the above into two minutes of really-good-song-writing-meets-spazzy-niceness.

Overall I was nicely suprised by this EP. It’s always good to hear a band take a potentially stale genre of post-hardcore, and make it sound new and exciting again; recomended.

Ken Eakins

http://www.myspace.com/crookedmountaincrookedsea

http://www.apresvous.co.uk/crooked-mountain-crooked-sea

]]> http://sittingnow.co.uk/2010/02/24/crooked-mountain-crooked-sea-its-the-falling-that-counts-not-the-landing/feed/ 0 http://sittingnow.co.uk/2010/02/22/perhaps-contraption-%e2%80%93-sludge-tripe/ http://sittingnow.co.uk/2010/02/22/perhaps-contraption-%e2%80%93-sludge-tripe/#comments Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:33:06 +0000 Ken http://sittingnow.co.uk/?p=1979

Do Want? Click here for details.

This wonderfully named band and album hail from the UK; which is immediately apparent as the singer makes no effort to sing in the cod transatlantic English that taints so much homegrown music. This adds greatly to the appeal of the album, not because I am a relentless jingoist but because it makes it sound so much more progressive and eccentric; two of its best features.

The band describe themselves as being influenced by many wonky rock luminaries but the two most apparent influences that come to my mind are Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and Frank Zappa, with Zappa’s lyrical madness and SGM’s convoluted addiction to time changes. Throw in a whiff of English whimsy here, a dose of noise and puerility there (and prodigious musical talent) and you have an album that surprises and confounds. Emotional depth and ethereal flute playing give way to chicken impressions and shouting, but melody and song structure are always there. Well maybe not in the 4 second long “Fairly Old Curtains” but you get my point.

The album is impressively presented too, with a wealth of Victorian era pamphlet-eering to accompany the album as it plays (a sort of mini slide show for your iPod) and lyrics that pop up over the artwork too, something I have never seen on other albums. Any minor niggles I have about production on this album pale into insignificance beside the achievements on display, so if you have an hour to spare and some internets to spend go and download this album.

Kim Monaghan

http://www.perhapscontraption.co.uk/

http://www.myspace.com/perhapscontraption

I dunno man...get a girlfriend or something?

This was just too weird to not post here. From The Consumerist:

Going from strip poles to iron bars in one night, a Consumerist reader says he got tossed in jail when he refused to give a strip club his thumbprint. Their ATM was broken so he had to pay his tab using a credit card cash advance. The club demanded a thumbprint and he refused, so cops that were already there threw him in jail. Was this legal?

Our intrepid reader writes, “I was at a “gentleman’s club” in downtown Detroit and their ATM didn’t work so I had to get a credit card cash advance on some moneys owed on my tab.

They charge a premium for this obviously but I just wanted to pay up and go (about 160 bucks). It was the end of the night and police were there already for whatever reason. They ran my card (with my photo ID in hand) and came back asking for a thumbprint. I thought this was absurd and declined. Well the two uniformed police stroll up and side with the bouncers and say surrender the thumb print. I refuse. They say they’ll arrest me if I don’t. I still refuse and I am taken in for disorderly conduct. Everything was later dropped but still this all felt terribly fishy.

I owed a girl for a few dances (I told her I would need to hit the ATM if I was going to get a dance when she approached me) and drinks for me and a friend (those add up fast at nearly 9 dollars a pop). They wouldn’t put the dances on the bar tab and basically made me use their cash advance (not the bank’s) system where you pay 20% to the club to front you cash. The advance fee, dances and drinks all came to something in the neighborhood of the 160. I had about 4 failed pings to the ATM the next day that vanished from my online bank statement a couple days later. Everyone was paid what they were owed in full.

I had to spend a night in jail which was obviously uncool; the lawyer I spoke to said it might be more trouble than it’s worth and pursuing it would be more a matter of principal. Sometimes righteousness isn’t very cost effective, I guess.

I must also confess that I had a couple adult beverages that night but it was made very clear to me that the ultimatum was “thumb print or jail”. I returned to get my credit card from the bar and an employee reiterated that, “all you had to do was put down your thumbprint!” The cops even took a moment to relish in mocking me when I said I know my rights and said I’d call the ACLU. He must have had a change of heart because when I arrived at court none of the police paperwork had been filed and I was free to go.

Mostly, I’m curious about the legality of giving my thumbprint to any CC merchant that wants it. I tried very hard to look into this and couldn’t find much info.”

What do you think? Legal? Abuse of power? A right not worth fighting over?

Ah well, there go my plans to see the Star Wars strip nights in LA.

Ken Eakins

Night of Pan in London

Brian Butler, the guest of our latest podcast (see the frontpage), is screening his new film ‘Night of Pan’ for free at London’s Horse Hospital tomorrow night.

As well as an appearance by Butler himself, the film features seminal film-maker Kenneth Anger as the Magus, and Buffalo 66′s Vincent Gallo as Pan.

Brian will be performing live music on the night with Death in Vegas’ Richard Fearless, who will also be DJing the event.

Check this mini-version of the film:

Click here to view the embedded video.

The event kicks off at 7:30, admission is free, but we recomend getting there early to avoid disapointment.

The Horse Hospital : Colonnade, Bloomsbury, London WC1N 1HX

Ken Eakins

This weeks guest is Brian Butler

This week we venture back into the worlds of the Occult, and film-making. Brian Butler is a film-maker, Magician, and colleague to legendary director Kenneth Anger.

In this weeks episode we discuss: Jack Parsons and his magickal journey, The Night of Pan, Kenneth Anger, and how the occult can influence the film-making process.

Brian is screening his new film ‘The Night of Pan’, as well as performing live music with Death in Vegas’ Richard Fearless in London this week, make sure you don’t miss it – the event is free, and you can get more details here.

Daddytank returns with his excellent MySpace heroes (which for some reason includes a rant by Alex Jones); this weeks heroes are:

Wakamiya - Pretty Pretty
Waiting Life – It’s In Your Court
Wally Quid – Nebula

(more links when I get sent them)

If you have any queries, suggestions, insults etc. Please feel free to email ken@sittingnow.co.uk.

Enjoy!

Brian Butler Bio:

Brian Butler is a musician, writer, and filmmaker living in Los Angeles.

He has written on occult related subjects for numerous magazines including Dazed and Confused and Tease. His writings have been published in books such as Disinformation’s Book of Lies, which features his “Wormwood Star” article on life of Jack Parson’s wife and muse Marjorie Cameron. He has appeared on television internationally as an expert on the occult. He recently worked as a consultant for Showtime Networks Development on the biopic of Jack Parsons.

He directed, wrote and produced the documentary Raising Lucifer: Story of a Cursed Film (2008), which deals with the production of Lucifer Rising, and features an exclusive interview with Manson family murderer Bobby Beausoleil from prison. Other film projects include documentary segments for the Disinformation DVD (2004) such as Satanism, Rocket Boy and Uncle Goddamn. Butler also produced and edited the Kenneth Anger film Ich Will! (2008)

He has recorded and or performed music with artists such as VON LMO, Rozz Williams (Christian Death), and Moving Units. Current music projects include the experimental Clouds Without Water and Technicolor Skull — a multimedia performance collaboration with Kenneth Anger, which premiered at Donaufestival in Austria on April 30th, 2008 and has subsequently toured Europe at such instutions as the National Museum of Art in Copenhagen and The Serravales Museum in Portugal.

Recent film projects include producing the Kenneth Anger film Brush of Baphomet (2009) and directing the short “Night of Pan” which features Vincent Gallo and Kenneth Anger and has screened all over the world including the Cannes Film Festival, the Athens Biennale , and the Festival Internazionale Del Film Di Roma.

DO WANT...on Verizon!

4chan site owner m00t has posted to the 4chan blog, and Twitter, that Verizon wireless, are blocking both in and outbound web-traffic to 4chan.

Unlike a recent scare involving AT&T last year, m00t believes that this time it’s for realsies, from the 4chan blog:

Over the past 72 hours, we’ve been receiving reports from Verizon Wireless customers having difficulty accessing the image boards. After investigating, we found that Verizon is dropping traffic to/from boards.4chan.org, only on port 80 (HTTP). No other subdomain/IP/port is affected, which leads us to believe this block is intentional. A call was placed to their support staff last night, and we were told that the ticket would not be looked at until Monday at the earliest, and: “You’ll need the customer to call to request it be unblocked…”

Note: Users with mobile browsers that proxy (BlackBerry, Opera) won’t necessarily have issues accessing the boards.

We’ll watch this story with interest as it unfolds, as it could point to the first in what some belive to be an upcoming war for Net Neutrality.

Ken Eakins

He is correct. Pic 'Tanya N'

Anonymous, the masked protesters that have spent the last two years protesting the Church of Scientology, have responded to a creepy Today Show report on the aid-work being conducted by the Church in Haiti.

Anonymous, best known for their masked street-protests, have responded by issuing the following statement (sourced from Gawker):

Hello [audience]. We are Anonymous.

We wish it it were under more favorable circumstances that we have chosen to address the world. However, after the demonstrably inaccurate interpretation handling of the victims of the Haiti earthquake as per the work of the Scientology ‘Volunteer’ Ministers, Anonymous could not remain silent.

The Volunteer Ministers are volunteers only in name. Their self-proclaimed humanitarian efforts have been shown to be harmful and self-serving time and time again. In the wake of the September Eleventh attacks at the World Trade Center, they impeded the work of the New York City Fire Department, and falsely claimed to have been given a reward for their efforts. These efforts involved little more than handing out pamphlets for the works of L. Ron Hubbard, while intentionally hindering the work of mental health professionals aiding the victims.

This same pattern of self-promotion at the expense of victims of disasters does not end there. Following the tsunami at Sri Lanka, the Volunteer Ministers attempted to convert the vulnerable and suffering victims into their cult, promising them aid and salvation at the expense of their livelihood***. These actions were repeated following the terrorist attack at the Ramada Inn in India*** and the Subway bombings in London, England.

In short: Scientology does not see a disaster as a tragedy, but rather, as a business opportunity.

First-hand accounts [[LINK TO GAWKER ARTICLE]], condemnations from legitimate aid groups [[SCREENSHOTS OF ARTICLES]], and even leaked documents from Scientology’s corporate heirarchy itself [[SCREENSHOTS OF DOX]] all confirm the cowardly and parasitic nature of the self-proclaimed Volunteer Ministers.

The very same self-serving, opportunistic proselytizing has been taking place in Haiti. Scientology has taken every opportunity to release their own manufactured press releases, taking credit for the work of legitimate relief groups. They arrived completely unprepared [[SCREENSHOTS OF THE COWBOY BOOTS REPORT HERE]], and were told to leave by the United States military [[SCREENSHOT HERE]].

An untrained Scientologist was alleged to be assisting a surgeon, using tools that had not been sterilized. This is blatant medical malpractice. John Travolta has also left several trained medical professionals behind at an airport, instead making it his priority to bring untrained Scientologists into the country with the sole intent of disseminating L. Ron Hubbard materials to an already vulnerable and suffering population.

Know this, Scientology: We are watching you. With every move you make, every victim you exploit, and every piece of choreographed propaganda you release into the mainstream media, the public already knows the truth about your organization. You are not fooling anyone, and no amount of proselytizing will change this. You have already been convicted in the court of public opinion. It is now only a matter of time before you are convicted in a court of law.

We are Anonymous.
We are Legion.
We do not forgive.
We do not forget.
Expect us.

Anonymous begun their campaign in Feburary 2008, after a spat with the Church over the now infamous ‘Tom Cruise Address’ internal promotion video being posted onine.

Ken Eakins

Click for further details

Digital Nation – a PBS Frontline documentary I’ve been working on for, gosh, two years now – is finally airing this coming Tuesday evening, Feb 2, at 9pm on pretty much all PBS stations in US. (I know: that’s during the Lost premiere that even Obama feared going up against. But you can Tivo Lost, watch us live, and watch Lost after without the commercials.) For those of you outside the viewing area or without TV’s, you can watch the whole thing anytime from broadcast onwards by going to http://pbsdigitalnation.org.

The entire doc is now availble to watch below. It’s very good (if there is a problem with Part 5, goto the site for Digital Nation, and select part 5 in the included player):

Click here to view the embedded video.

Meanwhile, I’m happy to announce that Frontline has agreed to let me host a series of Roundtable discussions following the broadcast. One per month, with invited guests and running commentary from you. (I’m shooting for something like the Talmudic format Steven Johnson used for Feed magazine – still the best threaded dialogues I can remember happening online between a central conversation and the general public. With any luck, these Roundtables will be the next main thing I’m doing – and I really do need quality conversation to happen there to keep it alive.

The above clip – Patrick Stewart on Twitter, the iPhone, and his passion for gaming – is not in the show. But it is an example of the kind of conversations and guests we’ll be having in the Roundtables – both by text and video.

Doug has produced two other great documentaries, The Persuaders and The Merchants of Cool, which you can also watch free (follow links).

Ken Eakins

(Source: Rushkoff’s Site)

Douglas Rushkoff has also appeared on our shows, Open Source Reality with Douglas Rushkoff, and What Happened to the CounterCulture, check them out.

More awesome than 10 awesome things!

Now, I know that you might be asking yourself “hey Ken, isn’t this site meant to be about underground and weird stuff?”, and normally, I’d reply “yes you’re right sir/madam”.

However, I’ll make an exception in two cases: 1.) MacGyver, and 2.) The Lonely Island. SO, if you like both Macguyver AND The Lonely Island, this trailer is one-stop-shopping:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Need more proof of the awesome directing talents of the Lonely Island’s Jorma Taccone?:

Click here to view the embedded video.

That’s a fantastic facial-hair/cardigan combo there Jorma!

Ken Eakins

Check here for updates on this work of genius

Bit larger than your average iPhone

VJ Fader, a fan of OTT club technology it would seem, has created the ultimate tactile trance-orientated portable touch screen…thingy. I say ‘thingy’, as other than a (very cool) toy, the faderTouch 3.0 is pretty pointless as a device, but very cool as a piece of art.

Fader is a fan of using visual art to stimulate musical output in new and innovative ways. Personally I think 1:44 is pretty cool sounding:

Click here to view the embedded video.

This isn’t the first time I have encountered Fader’s work. He also simulated a very Wilsonian ‘Processing Interactive Sequencer’.

Click here to view the embedded video.

…and this crazy ‘Orb’ exhibit.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ken Eakins

Check DJ Fader on Vimeo and Myspace

Weird Weekends happen here!

The Centre for Fortean Zoology is the only professional, scientific and full-time organisation in the world dedicated to cryptozoology. We’ve had the pleasure of speaking to one of its founders Jonathan Downes on our show, and after listening to him explain some of the research conducted by his team, you can only be awed by the effort that goes into what they do.

Now the CFZ need your help to stay afloat. They are a non-profit making organisation, and none of its directors are paid for all the effort they put in, I’ll let Jessica explain what you can do to help:

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Weird Weekend is a really unique event, and we at SittingNow WILL be attending this year (the gods have stood in our way previously), so make sure you get your tickets, and find some way to help keep this fantastic and unique organisation alive and kicking.

Ken Eakins

The guys over at Unreality have compiled some great examples of these head-spinners:

I’m sure there are some even better ones, if you know of any, let us know!

(source – Unreality)

Ken Eakins

Our Guest this week is Roswell expert Dennis Balthaser

It’s been a while since we’ve visited the realm of UFO investigation; so we felt when we did return, we would need to bring along a true expert in the field. Luckily for us, we found just that in Dennis Balthaser.Dennis actually lives in Roswell New Mexico, and has been studying the famous ‘Roswell Incident’ for many years. He has appeared on countless television and radio shows, and is often published in UFO Magazine.

This week we discuss: The Roswell Incident, Dulce underground base, Area 51, The state of Ufology today and much more.

As if tipped off to the incident; Daddytank, and his army of musical flying saucers attack this week come in the shape of:

Hills Like White Elephants – Foundation

Vector Trio – The Road To Solola

Vaetxh - Clipper

If you have any queries, suggestions, insults etc. Please feel free to email ken@sittingnow.co.uk.

Enjoy!

Dennis Balthaser Bio:

As a young man, Dennis Balthaser would look into the night sky and wonder at the secrets it held. Some years later Dennis bought a book about UFOs and his wonder turned to investigation. Today he has a library with over 90 books in reference to ufology.

Dennis served 3 years (’59-62) with the United States Army in the 815th Engineering Battalion.

After some 33 years in Civil Engineering, Dennis retired from the Texas Department of Transportation in 1996. Having been keenly interested in the Roswell Incident of 1947, Dennis decided to move to Roswell, New Mexico, to pursue his avocation: Ufology.

Initially Dennis worked as an Engineering Consultant in Roswell, volunteering his time at the International UFO Museum and Research Center on weekends. Nine months later he resigned from the engineering firm, assuming the duties of IUFOMRC Operations Manager. He served on the Board of Directors and became the UFO Investigator for the Museum as a full time volunteer from 1996 until 1998, then began his research as an independent researcher.

Due to his love of ufology, his dedication and his exhaustive work, Dennis is regarded as a leading investigator and ufologist by his peers, communicating regularly with such well known researchers as Stanton Friedman, Frank Warren, Scott Ramsey (scottr@ExpressWireServices.com), and others in their quests to find the truth.

Dennis is a Certified Mutual UFO Network Field Investigator, a member of Great Pyramid of Giza Research Association, and belongs to several ufology organizations.

Carroll Poke Runyon explains Goetic Magick

Ignore it’s 70′s/80′s cheesiness, and this series is quite a find!

Goetic Magick is something that we have discussed with Lon Milo Duquette on one of our shows, but sometimes I think that you really need to see some of this stuff in practise to truly appreciate that it can be done.

The host, Carroll Poke Runyon aka Frater Thabion, does a pretty decent job of explaining some of the key ritual techniques (and pimps his companion book ):

His background in occult study and practice is extensive: in 1970, following a near-death experience, and a mystic vision, he became the founder of The Ordo Templi Astartes (O.T.A.). which is now America’s oldest continually operating Ritual magick Lodge. In 1980 Runyon received his Master’s Degree in cultural anthropology from California State University at Northridge, specializing in Magick. After graduate school he went through all the degrees of Freemasonry in both the Scottish and York Rites

The videos appear in 7 10 minute parts, and are quite extensive. Enjoy:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ken Eakins

]]> http://sittingnow.co.uk/2010/01/21/goetic-magick-explained/feed/ 1 http://sittingnow.co.uk/2010/01/20/secret-bible-codes-used-on-weapons-in-afghanistan/ http://sittingnow.co.uk/2010/01/20/secret-bible-codes-used-on-weapons-in-afghanistan/#comments Wed, 20 Jan 2010 22:11:39 +0000 Ken http://sittingnow.co.uk/?p=1874

Killing in the name of...

The Daily Mail is reporting that shocked troops in Afghanistan have discovered bible codes on the sites of their rifles:

The sights for the Sharpshooter assault rifle, bought this week to boost the fight against the Taliban, are etched with the characters JN8:12.

This is a reference to chapter 8 verse 12 in the book of John, which reads: ‘When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life”.’

Bible Code

The Ministry of Defence said last night it was ‘not aware’ of the biblical markings on the 400 Advanced Combat Optical Gunsights, bought as part of a £1.5million package.

Critics said references to New Testament scriptures could be used by extremists to persuade Afghans that UK forces see their work as a crusade.

LibDem defence spokesman Willie Rennie said: ‘It’s pretty shoddy that the MoD missed this.

‘It may be used by some of our enemies as evidence to convince its followers that we are engaged in a religious war between Christianity and Islam.’

The equipment was produced by U.S.-based Trijicon, which was founded by a devout Christian.

Truly killing in the name of…

Ken Eakins

(via The Daily Mail)

Broadcast #009

Broadcast #012

***New Signal****

1. Bronius Kutavicius – Oh You Green Grasshopper
2. Polar Bear – Argumentative
3. Itchy Tasty – Je Je Je Pa
4. The Murder of Rosa Luxembourg – Infernal Music
5. Giacinto Scelsi – One, from Quattro Pezzi per Orchestra
6. Brian Butler – The Great Orm
7. Modified Toy Orchestra – This Is The Monkey
8. Yppah – Bobbie Joe Wilson
9. Hella – Madonna Approaches
10. These Arms are Snakes – Red Line Season
11. Movietone – Useless Landscapes
12. YOB - Burning the Altar
13. Gershon Kingsley – Fur Allisse

If you want us to play your band/noise/whatever, drop us a line at behindcloseddoors@sittingnow.co.uk.

Peace

***Signal Ends**

pic via - biccebitesbyhazel

Ever had problems explaining Bob Dobbs and Discordianism in court? Then watch this video we dug up on the tubes:

Click here to view the embedded video.

From the video blurb:

The incredulous defendant is required to explain the Subgenius spoof webtoy for declaring a Short Duration Marriage, the Shor-Dur-Mar. We have a sworn & witnessed reading of a reply from the recipient of the joke email generated when you fill out the Subgenius Form. This was then construed by the State as a real wedding.

After doing a little research, it would seem that the defendent is one Sondra London, who is described on Wikipedia as ‘The Queen of Serial Killer Groupies’. The case appears to be either in defense of, or providing ‘expert testimony’ for Danny Rolling, aka The Gainesville Ripper.

Talk about reality being stranger than fiction!

Ken Eakins

That's one way of collecting bounty I guess

I suppose that's one way of collecting bounty

LA is known for some of it’s more obscure attractions. This, however, is a work of genius:

Saturday night, downtown club Bordello temporarily transformed itself into Mos Eisley Cantina for a night of Tatooine-styled shenanigans helmed by Devil’s Playground. Star Wars Burlesque reimagined a host of beloved characters from the film series — from the sexy to the androgynous to the grotesque — as scantily clad female performers, with locals On Blast assuming the role of cantina band. Check out the cast of characters below.

The dream of so many boys.

One day I’ll goto a Star Wars strip show…one day.

Ken Eakins

(Source: LA Weekly, Pics: Shannon Cottrell)

Vincent Gallo in 'Night of Pan'

Vincent Gallo in 'Night of Pan'

Wow! This is quite a combo:

“Night of Pan” is a seven and a half minute film featuring film auteur Kenneth Anger and actor Vincent Gallo. The film has been screened in various versions internationally – Beijing, Lisbon, Cannes, Athens, Rome, Berlin and elsewhere, but never in Butler’s base, Los Angeles.

In the film, Anger, Gallo, and Butler depict an occult ritual that symbolizes the stage of ego death in the process of spiritual attainment.

Brian Butler is a multidisciplinary artist who creates works around dark magical themes. He had worked extensively as a producer on director Kenneth Anger’s recent work. Additionally he has written for Dazed & Confused and performs along with Anger in the band Technicolor Skull.

Click here to view the embedded video.

(Source:Brian Butler & Dangerous Minds)

"Urgh, last night was messy, I drank loads of wine, did a mountain of coke, and tattooed my eyeball."

"Urgh, last night was messy, I drank loads of wine, did a mountain of coke, and tattooed my eyeball."

Ok, so I can get my head around people inking their body, it’s a control thing, you are showing the world that you truly own your body. Although I am tattless, I can appreciate this concept.

What I can’t quite wrap my head around, however, is the need to tattoo your freaking EYEBALL!…yeah…I said EYEBALL!!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Why would you want to spend the rest of your time on earth looking like you had a really heavy night? Also, I don’t think these perps realise that if they rob a bank, mug someone, or basically commit any crime; identifying them will be reeeeallly easy. Dumbasses

Ken Eakins

Good plan!

Good plan!

Nosferatu D2 are two brothers from Croydon who deliver engagingly sloppy songwriting that projects mid 90’s US lo-fi through a prism of distinctly English melancholy. The guitarist/vocalist has a charmingly downbeat selection of lyrics delivered as though slightly drunk and he is backed by his drummer brother, who is armed with colourful array of fills and tricks that make this two man band sound like at least three.

Whilst listening to Nosferatu D2 I thought of Sebadoh and how Arab Strap might have sounded if they’d taken coke to make their records rather than Special Brew. Tracks like “2 People,0 Superpowers” and “Mojo Top 100” are an excellent place to start listening to this band with some of their funniest and most clever/banal lyrics and also some excellent and charismatic musical flourishes.

I suspect that this band will stand or fall on the strength of their live performances and if they ever make it up to Birmingham I’ll be sure to go and catch them. Go to http://audioantihero.com to buy the album or download your free copy of their super festive Christmas single “It’s Christmas Time For God’s Sake”.

Kim Monaghan

Nosferatu D2 on Myspace

Click to download full issues

Click to download full issues - Paraphilia IV Cover © 2010 John Coulthart

Paraphilia Magazine is one of those cool publications that you wished you’d stumble upon more often. A kind of art/avant/underground aggregator, published in a true magazine format, the mag is really coming into its own. I caught up with editors D.M. Mitchell and Dire McCain to get a bit more insight into the project:

1)  Tell us how Paraphilia Magazine came into existence. Díre: We’ve recently come to realize that PARAPHILIA has been in the works for the duration of our lives, but it didn’t begin to materialize until late 2008, when Dave and I were simultaneously struck with the idea amid a conversation one day.  It honestly started out as an impulsive leap that was driven by our deep dissatisfaction with the publishing industry.  Once the idea was germinated, we set out to make it a reality, by bringing in several of the absolutely brilliant people we’re surrounded by, who were gracious enough to donate material for the first issue.   And the rest, as “They” say, is history… 2)  What’s the ‘mission statement’ of the site and magazine? Díre: It’s difficult to pin down or summarize, but basically, we want to provide people with a venue where they don’t have to check themselves, where they won’t be censured or unjustifiably censored, where the almighty dollar doesn’t call the shots, and where they can find other like-minded souls nestled within our pages.

3)  Do you only publish online, or can we expect some hard copies of the mag?

© 2010 Sid Graves

Dave: Our original intention was to make the magazine a free publication. Only that way could we really stick to a non-elitist, non-stratified and uncensored programme. If we started making hard copies of it, we’d need to start charging for it simply to cover costs and that introduces all sorts of conditions that would totally change the direction. For starters, we would need to be more selective of the contents in terms of ‘salability’ and favour using more people who are already commercially established. We’d need to pay contributors and some contributors, being already professionals, would want more than others. At the moment, the magazine is like a playground for people where they can go crazy and do all the things that other publications might not let them do, in terms of style and content. We’ve toyed with the idea of making them retrospectively available as printed versions but have ditched that idea. Maybe we’ll do a sort of ‘Best Of’ at some point.

4)  How have the ‘netizens’ (I hate that term, sorry) taken to the site and mag?

Díre: Well, it’s been ten months since we launched PARAPHILIA, and so far, the response – from both readers and contributors – has exceeded our expectations tenfold.

Dave: I think we’ve hit the right combination at the right time. It’s incredibly gratifying.
5)  What inspired you to start selling books on the site? Are these your own releases?

Alex in Wonderland

Alex in Wonderland - © 2010 Sid Graves

Dave: We haven’t started publishing out own books as yet, but we will be doing in 2010. I’ve been involved in publishing since around 1991 doing work for Creation Books, Savoy Books and my own press for a while – Oneiros Books. People still want books and I believe a lot of them want something new and inspiring.  I’m confident that they don’t want to keep reading just the same old stuff from JK Rowling and Dan Brown. Not that I’m knocking either of those authors, but it’s true that most authors taking their work to publishers are being asked to write ‘something like Harry Potter’ or ‘something like the Da Vinci Code’.  Most books nowadays are churned out by big companies which are run by very unimaginative people who operate their businesses like sausage machines.

The ‘BOOKS’ page on our site at the moment is to promote books put out by independent presses, or simply individuals, stuff that is normally frowned on as ‘vanity publishing’ but which I see is the only area currently that is producing much that I’m interested in.

6)  I see you recently had a conversation with James Williamson, can we expect more audio from you guys?

Díre: That particular audio was comprised of the unused portions from the extensive article on James Williamson that’s featured in PARAPHILIA V, which can be found here:  http://www.paraphiliamagazine.com/magazine.html

We actually recorded two and a half hours of conversation that night, and rather than scrap the “leftovers” we decided to run it as a webcast.   Dave and I thought it would be interesting, since the magazine and some of its players are a featured topic of discussion.   The other motive was to give the fans a more complete picture of James – who really is a lovely, personable, easygoing soul – by giving them an opportunity to hear him rather than relying entirely upon the written.

There are currently a couple of tracks on the site that are related to material included in PARAPHILIA V.  Once the new music quarterly is up and running, we hope to feature more.  Not sure about more audio conversations, interviews, etc, but since we’re open to just about anything, the possibility definitely exists.

7)  What’s the future of the project? What can we expect to see in the near future? Dave: Dave: More issues of the magazine (including a new quarterly publication devoted to music), a lot of books, maybe some graphic novels, some music, a lot of madness, and hopefully a lot of fun for everyone involved. We’re not into ‘Serious’ culture (with a capital ‘s’ and a big frown).  We hope people simply enjoy what we’re doing as much as we are ourselves.  If we stop enjoying it, then it’s time to rethink and maybe change direction.

Dire: And of course, we intend to maintain our kamikaze mindset and delusional optimism, both of which have guided us from the get-go.

Ken Eakins

Broadcast #009

Broadcast #011

***New Signal****

1. Hatebeak - God of Empty Nest
2. Matmos – Spondee
3. Munly & The Lupercalians – Grandfather
4. Oxes – Half,Half and Half
5. Lightning Bolt – The Sublime Freak
6. Pre - Nope Fun
7. Chamber of Sorrows – An Angel Shall Watch Over Me
8. The Lonesome Organist – Blue Bellows
9. Virus - Road
10. Wolfmangler - The Death of Geryon
11. Bob Log III – Clap Your Tits
12. Grails – Reincarnation Blues
13. Girls Against Boys – Learned It

If you want us to play your band/noise/whatever, drop us a line at behindcloseddoors@sittingnow.co.uk.

Peace

***Signal Ends**

Silver Mount Zion look like they might drink Kool Aid at any point

Silver Mount Zion look like they might, when ordered, drink Kool Aid at any point

I first listened to (breathes in) “A Silver Mt. Zion Orchestra and Tra-La-La Band” (breathes out) a number of years ago when someone recommended them to me, mainly because they were partially composed of members of Godspeed You Black Emperor ! Now GSYBE! were then, and are now, one of my favourite bands so I was expecting a lot.

But I found both SMZ and another offshoot band “Fly Pan Am” to be disappointingly bland, so I was quite interested to see whether things had changed. Well, they’ve dropped the “Tra La La Band” part of their name, so you can actually say it on one breath (this is a boon in commercial terms).

They also appear to have picked up the torch so tragically dropped by GSYBE! after they “went on hiatus” (pffft), at least in appearances, but epic guitar and string parts take a long time to go nowhere.

In some ways they sound like a Godspeed cover band but with the terrible flaw of having a really irritating vocalist. To be fair the songs that he doesn’t appear on are a lot more palatable, but this album is full of hot air as far as I’m concerned. Maybe if I’d never heard GSYBE! I could have a more fair and balanced view of this release but I have, so I can’t.

Kim Monaghan

Silver Mount Zion on Myspace

ZOMG!!!11!11!11one

ZOMG!

The modding culture is pretty much one of the geekiest, niche, yet super-cool communities out there. However, for this installment of Countertech I have tracked down a mod  to end all mods.

I’ve admited freely in the past that I am somewhat of a Star Wars nerd, and if you listen to our shows you will also know that computer games are often the cause of late episodes. So, imagine my shock when I found this badboy.

That’s right people, using a 1979 Kenner Millenium Falcon, a original Xbox, and epic amounts of win, the Major Leauge Mods team have finally combined two of our greatest geeky pasions! Not only that, they have given away the instructions for free in a amazingly detailed PDF.
If you need some help, the guys over at Instructables have added additional pics and videos to help you on your way.

Check out some of the pics below, and get modding:

The finished product

The finished product

Make sure you check out the PDF (linked above), before attempting this at home

Make sure you check out the PDF (linked above), before attempting this at home

Ken Eakins

This weeks guest is author Jim Marrs

Our Guest this episode, Jim Marrs

We take a break from the recent onslaught of occult-related episodes, and delve head-first into the world of conspiracy theory with legendary author Jim Marrs. Jim is the author of the New York Times bestseller ‘Crossfire: The plot that killed Kennedy‘, Above Top Secret, The Sisterhood of the Rose and many more.

This week, we discuss: Did the Nazis ever really go away, Who killed JFK, was Lee Harvey Oswald a Patsy or the lone gunman, and much more.

Joining Ken is SittingNow veteran Jacob ‘JW’ Williams, a man plauged with questions about the Kennedy assasination. One such question, “was Kennedy’s door open?”, is now available for your digestion:

Jacob's eagle-eye spotted this

Jacob's eagle-eye spotted this

As regular listeners know only too well, there is a plot hatched by ourselves each week, and our lone gunman, Daddytank, has a 3 shots of music for you in the shape of:

Ubertweet - I’m Not Dreaming Of You
U-bahn – Camphor
ùƒØ!))))) – Bloody Murder

If you have any queries, suggestions, insults etc. Please feel free to email ken@sittingnow.co.uk.

Enjoy!

Jim Marrs Bio:

Jim Marrs was born in Fort Worth. After graduating from University of North Texas he joined the United States Army. On his release in 1968 he joined the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He served as police reporter and general assignments reporter covering stories locally, in Europe and the Middle East. After a leave of absence to serve with a Fourth Army intelligence unit during the Vietnam War, he became military and aerospace writer for the newspaper and an investigative reporter. Marrs began to take an interest in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. After interviewing several members of the Dallas Police Department he became convinced him that the Warren Commission was a cover-up. Marrs continued to investigate the case and interviewed several important witnesses as well as city and county officials.

In 1976 Marrs began teaching a course about the assassination for the University of Texas at Arlington. He left the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 1980 and worked as a freelance journalist while continuing to investigate the death of Kennedy. Marrs eventually became convinced that Lee Harvey Oswald had been set up by the government and in 1989 he published Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy. Published to critical acclaim and reached the New York Times Paperback Non-Fiction Best Seller list in mid-February 1992. It also became a basis for the Oliver Stone film JFK and he served as a chief consultant for both the film’s screenplay and production.

Since 1980, Mr. Marrs has been a freelance writer, author and public relations consultant. He also published a rural weekly newspaper along with a monthly tourism tabloid, a cable television show and several videos. Beginning in 1992, Mr. Marrs spent three years researching and completing a non-fiction book on a top-secret government program involving the psychic phenomenon known as remote viewing only to have it mysteriously canceled as it was going to press in the summer of 1995. Within two months, the story of military-developed remote viewing broke nationally in the Washington Post after the CIA held a press conference revealing the program but putting their own spin on psychic studies. Psi Spies is now available from JimMarrs.com.

In May, 1997, Marrs’ in-depth investigation of UFOs, Alien Agenda, was published by HarperCollins. Marrs has been a featured speaker at a number of national conferences including the Annual International UFO Congress and the Annual Gulf Breeze UFO Conference. Publisher’s Weekly described the book as “the most entertaining and complete overview of flying saucers and their crew in years.” The paperback edition was released in mid-1998 and has since become the best-selling UFO book ever in the United States. Beginning in 2000, he began teaching a course on UFOs at the University of Texas at Arlington.

In early 2000, HarperCollins published Rule by Secrecy, which traced the hidden history that connects modern secret societies to the Ancient Mysteries. In 2003, his book The War on Freedom probed the conspiracies of the 9/11 attacks and their aftermath.

Other books by Jim Marrs includes Inside Job: Unmasking the 9/11 Conspiracies (2004), Terror Conspiracy, The: Provocation, Deception and 9/11 (2006) and Rise of the Fourth Reich (2008)

Lightning Bolt pretending to be gnomes...wrestling gnomes!

Lightning Bolt pretending to be gnomes...wrestling gnomes!

About two hours before this gig I started to make involuntary noises and exhibit facial tics. I think it was a result of being way too excited about seeing Lightning Bolt. It is a very small venue but Capsule have done a beautiful job (as usual) making the place look great. I notice immediately that this has something in common with every other gig I go to… almost everyone there has a beard and glasses. I have glasses but damn my hormones for not being manly enough to grow a beard. Maybe one day.

Pete Prescription

Pete Prescription

Pete Prescription – We arrived part way through Pete Prescription’s set. It was confusing as it veered from happy hardcore covers to guitar infused twitchy electronica. I wasn’t entirely sure about the happy hardcore (I’ve done my time there thank you) but the other stuff he was doing was pretty good and worth checking out. The only problem I could see was that as a one man band with a lot to do he couldn’t engage with the audience at all. Hence a pretty flat live show but good for the ears.

Tweak Bird

Tweak Bird

Tweak Bird – Another band I have never heard of but someone said the words “progressive rock” as they took to the stage so I was happily expectant. Or expectantly happy. Not sure which.

There were progressive elements to what they were doing (gongs and synths) but at the core this band were 70’s heavy rock through and through, right down to the hair and beards. Enjoyable but not overly memorable, I will though make an effort to listen to some of their music.

Lightning Bolt - looking happy as ever

Lightning Bolt - looking happy as ever

Lightning Bolt – Regular readers might know how I feel about Lightning Bolt. If you’re not a regular reader, suffice to say I nurse a continual and substantial hard on for this band at all times of day and night, and this was my first proper chance to see them live (excluding the Release The Bats fiasco). Ever since seeing the awesome “Power of Salad” live DVD, I realised that seeing Lightning Bolt live was the only way to fully appreciate them and that was proved to me in no uncertain terms. I have never worn earplugs to a gig before but I had heard that they are an essential when watching Lightning Bolt due to the fact that they play VERY, VERY LOUD. VERY, VERY LOUD INDEED.

The next hour passed extremely quickly. I heard “Colossus” and “Nation of Boar”. I heard something off Hypermagic Mountain and Ride The Skies. I heard some tracks I have never heard before. Just as my face began to hurt from grinning they finished. I was confused. I don’t think I have ever been less prepared for a gig to finish.

I regularly tell people that Lightning Bolt are the best band in the world but I never get a chance to tell people why, usually because they walk away or stare at me blankly. Their “songs” are not really specific to any genre, their playing is unique. It’s like they are channelling everything good and primal in music then fine tuning it by playing it at volumes that transcend simply listening. When you add the little touches like Brian C’s mask mic, and Brian G’s hybrid bass / banjo you have … well something special. The sheer joy that transformed the grumpy, stand off-ish audience of bespectacled and bearded thirty somethings into an actual mosh pit was really quite touching and I look forward to seeing this band again as soon as possible.

I would just like to say a big thank you to the two girls who run Capsule. This gig was part of their tenth birthday celebrations, and as part of the décor at the venue they had a list of all the different events and gigs they have put on over this time. I didn’t really realise how good their taste has been, or how many of their things I had been to, but it is fair to say that their efforts have made Birmingham and the world of music much better place. Long may they continue.

Kim Monaghan

Thanks to http://www.katjaogrin.co.uk/ for photos.

laaaaame!

Goodnight Sweet Prince!

Urgh. So, one of the best live gig video sites on the net, http://www.fabchannel.com,  has closed down. I first discovered this amazing gem of a site a few years ago when looking for Bright Eyes concert footage (I was trying to prove they were crap both on album AND live). When I stumbled on FabChannel, I found a rich wealth of amazing shows featuring everyone from These Arms Are Snakes, to Girls Against Boys:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Back in March, the site ceased to exist.

Thankfully, because I hate it when sites don’t do this, site owner Justin Kniest has posted a massive blog entry outlining the reasons for the end of the site:

Fabchannel and the record Labels

No money means no content. That is the way the labels (major and independent) look at potential partnerships with internet companies. Even when it is obvious a service provides added value in promotion and sales, the mantra stays the same: no money, no content. Even when a service invests substantial amounts of money in creating high quality concert footage and an award winning platform to show it to the world, the mantra stays the same: no money, no content.

When you look at it from a label point of view it might even look logical. Their businessmodels have been hammered the last ten years by decreasing CD sales. Their radio, TV and newspaper partners are not doing their promotional job as they used to. And last but not least: the majority of consumers are now downloading tracks for free. All bad things for companies that invest in recordings of artists.

So the most important feature that new partners have to have is: MONEY. Money to counter the decrease in CD sales. Promotion has turned into a dirty word. MTV for example got big and wealthy by showing videoclips paid for by the labels. So now these labels think: We will not let that happen again. From now on everybody who wants to become a mediapartner online is going to have to pay upfront to even start!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Growing up
Around 2007 it became obvious that we would have to start making some serious money on our own in order to survive. Subsidies were not going to be there forever and labels, collective rights agencies and publishers started seeing the commercial potential of the internet. That meant that for only showing the concerts we would have to pay a minimum amount per click to collective rights agencies and labels. So we had to come up with a plan to cover all of our cost without the help of subsidies.

First we looked at selling the concerts. A lot of our viewers mail us that they love our videos and want to have them as download or DVD. We pitched that idea to the labels, but not one of them saw it as an interesting businessmodel. And we do not have the rights to sell them ourselves. We need their approval.

We also did a lot of research on subscription models. The most important result from our research was that we did not have enough and appealing content to justify a subscription model that would cover our costs. If you have to pay 10 Euros per month to watch a concert archive and live webcasts you would want to see the big names too, right? Also we would have to lock up our archive which would seriously hinder the promotion of our upcoming bands. In the early days when we asked visitors to sign up to see our streams, 80% of them did not. We did not want to lose the thing we had going for us, promoting the bands that needed it.

As we do not bring in enough money to keep our service going we had to make very hard decisions. Of course we wanted to keep the archive online for you, but the cost of running the service is just too high and our money runs out. Even without us around, the money we have to pay collective rights agencies for showing the archive is way too much. And we will get sued immediately when we let you download the concerts from our archives for free.

We still believe in the concept we created. It worked as a promotional platform in the days CD’s were sold and it works today as a powerful promotion/sales platform. All of your warm replies made that even more obvious. But we also believe the next few years will be getting even more difficult as companies are forced to decrease their spendings on advertising and sponsoring. When on top of that the most important players in the music industry still don’t see what we bring to the table, nothing we can think up will help. We are fully dependent of them for recording artists.

So, goodnight sweet prince, you will be sorely missed.

Ken Eakins

img01

argh!! it's the future!

It often said that Science Fiction author Phillip K. Dick was somehow channelling the future when hammering out his dark-future classics like ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep’ (aka Blade Runner), and ‘We Can Remember it for you Whole-Sale’ (aka Total Recall). So once again I bring you another ‘from page to reality moment’, all the way from Japan.

Japan Today is reporting that Japanese retailer Sogo & Seibu, as a special new years sales event, will be offering two robots made to look like the people who buy them. The eerie simulacras will cost the lucky consumers $225,000.

The company will be recruiting Kokoro to manufacture the robots. The company were made famous last year when they exhibited their ‘Actroid Der‘ at various events. One model of the robot even appeared in a Japanese TV advert:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Sogo & Seibu are not planning on continuing the sales of the robots as a regular feature of the store, however, they have said that they may consider another sale of two more robots drawn from a lottery.

Ken Eakins

]]> http://sittingnow.co.uk/2009/12/15/1761/feed/ 0 http://sittingnow.co.uk/2009/12/15/japanese-stripper-clock-has-girl-for-every-minute/ http://sittingnow.co.uk/2009/12/15/japanese-stripper-clock-has-girl-for-every-minute/#comments Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:19:56 +0000 Ken http://sittingnow.co.uk/?p=1751

seasonal

seasonal

Ok, I know this is explotation, but at least it’s original!

The clever peeps over at Japanese site http://www.avtokei.jp/ have taken a pic of a Japanese lady holding up the time for every 1440 minutes of the day! The twist is, the girls strip-down to their undies.

so

so

original

original

Be warned, so of this site isn’t safe for work. But, it is strangley addictive!

Ken Eakins

Almost 'throwing some horns', which would be handy at metal shows

Almost 'throwing some horns', which would be handy at metal shows

This week, Italian scientists announced that in a month-long experiment conducted last year, an amputee’s nervous system was attached to a mechanical hand disconnected from his body.  The man, Pierpaolo Petruzziello, was not only able to move the robotic appendage, but was apparently able to receive feedback and feel sensations from the hand.  From the Baltimore Sun:

Click here to view the embedded video.

This story is not unlike last year’s story of mechanical-arm-moving monkeys, in which electrodes were wired directly into the brains of monkeys, allowing them to learn how to move remote robotic arms to reach and grab for tasty treats.  The main difference, here, of course, is the proof-of-concept that we can do the same thing with the human nervous system.  This reminds me of my favorite Marshall McLuhan quotes (from Understanding Media, 1964):

• The human subject need not be an amputee in order to be a cyborg.  Any person can be jacked into a robotic appendage and be trained to move it around at will.
• The appendage need not be a robotic hand, or even analogous to an existing biological appendage.  There no reason, theoretically, that a human can’t be jacked into a robotic car, or a robotic plane or a robotic space cruiser, and learn to control it.  Forget the dangers of embodied artificially intelligent brains, we are now able to embody human consciousness into any arbitrary robotic form with appropriate sensory feedback.
• All of this can be done at a distance.  A robot can be embodied with human consciousness remotely across any arbitrary distance.

Joe McFall received his undergraduate degree in Linguistic Anthropology from Emory University in 1998, and went on to receive two Masters degrees, in Linguistics and Artificial Intelligence, from the University of Georgia in 2005 and 2007. He holds a lifetime interest in culture and counterculture, fringe science, paranormal, alternate history and conspiracy theory. He works as a software developer and lives in Atlanta, GA. He is also, alongside our buddies Raymond Wiley and Austin Gandy, one of the hosts of Disinformation the Podcast, Disinformation World News, and OutThere Radio.

How To Deal With Speeding Offences

I can hear feet hitting pedals from here

I can hear feet hitting pedals from here

Firstly, it is my belief that there shouldn’t be any speeding restrictions on the roads, merely guidelines.

Okay, so that may sound somewhat controversial and irresponsible, but personally I think it would be a much more healthy society if people learned to take responsibility for their own actions. For example, imagine a world where speed signs such as “20” actually meant “it is advisable that you travel at 20 mph in this area, otherwise, if you go over that limit and accidentally kill someone, you’ll be taken away and executed.”

With that kind of law in place it’d be interesting to see how many people are brave enough to break the speed limit then.

“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” is the only phrase I like from the Bible and the only one that makes any sense to me. However, in this fucked up and dumbed down Christian society it seems we are to be treated like retarded children, wrapped up in cotton wool, with every measure put in place to diminish personal responsibility and make life difficult and awkward for everyone involved. Not only is it against the law to travel over 20 mph in many built up areas, but it’s virtually impossible without buggering up your vehicle’s suspension whilst driving over a series of speed bumps that look like a range of Munros.

But I digress.

Personally I have no problem with 20 mph zones in built-up areas where kids might be playing. What I object to is hidden speed cameras on the motorway, specifically set up in such a way that you can’t help getting nailed if you drop your attention for a single second.

grrr

grrr

You all know the scene. You’re cruising down some duel carriageway at 70 mph when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, there’s a temporary 50 sign slapped up with a white unmarked van parked in the lay-by several yards after it. You slam the breaks on, almost losing control of the vehicle to try get from 70 to 50, but it’s too damned late. The white van is a mobile camera unit and you’ve just been nailed for three penalty points and a 60 quid fine on top of it, just to piss you off further.

But, the reality is that it’s not really about pissing you off, it’s about the government milking motorists for revenue.

According to a recent Telegraph article, speeding tickets are earning the treasury £250,000 every day, with the intention of making £88 million a year without any apparent impact on road safety whatsoever.

My own advice is to do what I did and replace your car with a bicycle. That way you can completely ignore all the rules, skip lights, bounce onto pavements and cycle home hammered whenever you want.

With a bike you have no registration number, and if the fuzz see you doing something illegal, you can give them the slip real easy down some side street that is too narrow for a car and too fast for the foot patrol.

But it ain’t easy getting rid of your car in a country that has deliberately piss-poor public transport. So, you now know you’ve just been caught by a speed camera. What the hell are you going to do?

Well, the first thing you should expect is a Notice of Intended Prosecution to arrive through your letterbox.

This should arrive within 48 hours and will tell you that “In accordance with Section 1 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act, 1988,” you have been given notice that “it is intended to take proceeding against the driver of the after-mentioned motor vehicle.”

The first thing to note here is that you have not actually been prosecuted for anything yet and that it is an Alleged Speeding Offence and a Notice of Intended Prosecution.

In other words they need you to admit your own guilt.

How do they do this?

By providing you with a form where you basically sign your name saying that you were indeed the driver of the vehicle and that you did indeed commit the offence.

So, lesson number 1 is to take the Notice of Intended Prosecution and throw it out with the trash. If it comes by Recorded Delivery, hand it back to your postman and tell him to return it to the sender. Don’t give him any reason, you are not obliged to accept a Recorded Delivery and are not responsible for any mail that comes through your door. Remember, ignorance isn’t a crime in this country…yet.

Now, I know the notice will have some scary words written in it like “£1000 fine” “Procurator Fiscal” and “6 penalty points.” But quit being a big girl’s blouse and grow some balls. Phrases like “failure to fill in this form is an offence under Section 172 of the Road Traffic Act 1988” are only there to frighten you. If you do not respond to the notice in 28 days they will merely send you out another one like this:

—–

Dear Sir/Madam,

ALLEGED SPEEDING OFFENCE

I refer to the after-mentioned vehicle, which was detected by Speed Camera equipment exceeding the statutory speed limit at the time, date, and location, specified below.

PARTICULARS OF ALLEGED OFFENCE

Time of Offence : XX:XX Hrs

Date of Offence : XX-XXX-200X

Location of Offence : XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Make / Model of Vehicle : Ford (UK) Fiesta

Registration Mark : SXXX XXX

Speed Limit Applicable : 60 Miles Per Hour

Speed Detected : 70 Miles Per Hour

Contrary to Section 89 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984

On XX-XXX-200X a Notice of Intended Prosecution, together with a Form B requiring you to supply the name and address of the driver was sent to you by Royal Mail.

To date no reply has been received, I would therefore be grateful of a response as a matter of urgency in order that this enquiry can be progressed.

I have enclosed a further Form B. Failure to complete and return this Form within 14 days WILL result in the matter being passed to the Police for direct enquiry and report as necessary.

FAILURE TO SUPPLY THESE DETAILS RENDERS YOU LIABLE TO PROSECUTION.

[signature]

On Behalf of the Chief Constable.

—–

Okay. Now, I’m not admitting that I actually threw away my first Notice of Intended Prosecution but they need to prove that you received it. So, now it’s time for you to grow even bigger balls. It’s been over 14 days since the alleged offence and if you play your cards right and correspond in a similar manner as I am about to show from my working example, you will get off with this scot-free.

—–

Dear Sir/Madam,

Further to your letter of XX-XXX-200X – I’d like to first of all state that it is not my intention to delay the enquiry into this alleged speeding offence, however, there are a number of issues concerning it which renders me unable to fill in Form B which you supplied.

Firstly, your letter states that on XX-XXX-200X a Notice of Intended Prosecution was issued to me by Royal Mail. This notice was never received by me and your letter of XX-XXX-200X was in fact the first of me being aware that there were any allegations of an offence. Can you confirm that the notice was sent? Was the letter sent by Recorded or Special Delivery? If so I’m sure the letter can be tracked. Living in a block of flats, I have often found that mail can be delivered to the wrong address.

Secondly, given that it has now been almost two months since the alleged offence, I am unable to recall if my vehicle was or was not in the area during that time. Being a keen hill-walker I am often in different areas of the country on my weekends, but cannot recall for certain where I was that specific weekend due to the time that has passed since then.

Please understand that before I can accurately fill in the form, I need to know if I was in that area and if I was driving the vehicle, as sometimes a friend will take a turn at driving if long distances are being covered that weekend.

Your notice states that Speed Camera equipment was used to detect the speed of the vehicle. Can you provide me with photographic or videographic evidence to determine if the vehicle was in the said area and preferably who was driving at the time?

Since receiving the Notice of Intended Prosecution I also decided to seek legal advice given that I am concerned about this being the first of me learning of the alleged offence. From what I was told, in order for the notice to be valid it must be issued within 14 days of the alleged offence. The reason for this, as I understand it, is to serve the notice whilst the alleged offence is still fresh in the memory of the potential defendant. However, apparently even if I have not received the notice within 14 days it may be still valid if it has been posted within that 14 day period. Please can you provide proof that the Notice of Intended Prosecution was sent and preferably proof of its reception, either through Recorded or Special Delivery tracking. Royal Mail should be able to provide this information and I am more than happy to look into it myself if you can provide me with the tracking number of the notice.

I look forward to having this matter cleared up quickly without any negative repercussions and can only accept responsibility when the evidence I have requested has been supplied to me.

Regards,

George T. Mortimer.

—–

Dear Sir/Madam,

ALLEGED SPEEDING OFFENCE

I refer to our correspondence relative to the after-mentioned vehicle, which was detected by Speed Camera equipment exceeding the statutory speed limit at the time, date, and location, specified below.

PARTICULARS OF ALLEGED OFFENCE

Time of Offence : XX:XX Hrs

Date of Offence : XX-XXX-200X

Location of Offence : XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Make / Model of Vehicle : Ford (UK) Fiesta

Registration Mark : SXXX XXX

Speed Limit Applicable : 60 Miles Per Hour

Speed Detected : 70 Miles Per Hour

Contrary to Section 89 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984

I am in receipt of your letter of XX-XXX-200X.

The initial Notice of Intended Prosecution was sent out from this office on XX-XXX-200X. A Certificate of Posting is held on file for this offence, should it ever be required for Court purposes.

The videographic evidence for this offence is rear view of the vehicle and would therefore not be of any help in the identification of the driver. However the purpose of the camera is to identify the vehicle, this it has done. It is your responsibility to identify the driver, under terms of Section 172 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. Failure to do so is an offence separate to that of speeding.

I enclose a further Form B for completion.

Yours faithfully,

[signature]

On behalf of the Chief Constable.

—–

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for your prompt response of XX-XXX-200X.

Whilst I appreciate that you may indeed have sent out an initial Notice of Intended Prosecution on XX-XXX-200X, it doesn’t change the fact that I did not receive it. As stated in my previous missive, the first of me hearing about the alleged offence was in your letter of XX-XXX-200X.

I also appreciate that whilst a Certificate of Posting is held on file, it doesn’t exactly guarantee reception of the aforementioned Notice. Proof of posting is hardly proof of reception, and one would have thought that a Royal Mail Recorded or Special Delivery service might have been more appropriate for tracking the item in question.

I understand, however, that you may not be aware that I live in a tenement block where 7 other flats come under the same address as my own. Mail can often be delivered incorrectly and a system for tracking something as important as an Intended Prosecution would have been advisable if the Safety Camera Dept wanted to ensure that the charge remain valid by guaranteeing delivery to my address within 14 days.

Since this has not occurred and you state that the videographic evidence for this alleged offence is the rear view of the vehicle, I am afraid that this doesn’t particularly help me recollect my exact whereabouts on the day of this alleged offence. To be quite honest, I’m not sure where I was at all that whole specific weekend, however, I will point out that it is extremely rare for me to use the road that the alleged offence took place on at any time as I much prefer driving the more scenic country roads.

Whilst I appreciate that the purpose of the camera is to identify the vehicle and that it is my responsibility to identify the driver, I think anyone would have difficulty trying to recall their exact location and interactions two months ago on a specific date and time. Are you sure, for example, that the camera has picked up my registration plate properly and that an error has not occurred? For all I know it could be another vehicle with forged plates.

I do fully understand your point that it is an offence not to identify the driver, but I would also think that it is equally an offence to give false information based on a guess at best.

As I’m sure you understand, I now find myself between a rock and a hard place with this matter and don’t know how to respond other than by truthfully explaining my predicament. It is honestly not my intention to withhold information, but if I am unable to recall that information then what on earth do I do?

To be honest, I feel a little like I am being pressured into accepting this charge when I don’t think it is at all fair given that I cannot genuinely recall my whereabouts that weekend.

As a result, it is with regret that I cannot fill in the Form B that you requested as I would be afraid of giving false information based on an assumption.

I hope this helps and once again I’d like to emphasise that it is not my intention to stall or delay your enquiries into this matter.

Yours faithfully,

George T. Mortimer.

—–

Dear Sir/Madam,

ALLEGED SPEEDING OFFENCE

I refer to our previous correspondence relative to the after-mentioned vehicle, which was detected by Speed Camera equipment exceeding the statutory speed limit at the time, date, and location, specified below.

PARTICULARS OF ALLEGED OFFENCE

Time of Offence : XX:XX Hrs

Date of Offence : XX-XXX-200X

Location of Offence : XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Make / Model of Vehicle : Ford (UK) Fiesta

Registration Mark : SXXX XXX

Speed Limit Applicable : 60 Miles Per Hour

Speed Detected : 70 Miles Per Hour

Contrary to Section 89 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984

I am in receipt of your letter of XX-XXX-200X.

I enclose for your attention ‘stills’ taken from the videographic evidence. I also enclose a further Form B for your attention.

Failure to receive completed Form B by XX-XXX-200X, will result in this matter being passed on to your local Police for direct enquiry and report to the Procurator Fiscal.

Yours faithfully,

[signature]

On behalf of the Chief Constable.

—–

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for your prompt response of XX-XXX-200X and for supplying ‘stills’ taken from video footage of the alleged offence. Whilst this is much appreciated, it doesn’t really clear up the matter and I would in fact suggest that it only adds further to the ambiguity of this incident.

I will therefore hereby outline my concerns in bullet points as follows and suggest that if you are still not satisfied with my honest answers then perhaps it would indeed make sense for you to pass this matter on to my local Police who can then highlight this incident to the Procurator Fiscal. I personally would welcome this as a positive step in the right direction and hope that it would allow us to get to the heart of the matter.

Here then follows my main concerns:

• Whilst the ‘stills’ do indeed show a vehicle similar in colour to my own, the registration number is extremely grainy and not at all clear. I would have thought that a crisper image would have been required to pinpoint the vehicle as being my own. My initial thought is that the first character of the registration plate is a “G” (and not an “S” as assumed) and that the sixth character is not even discernable at all. Given the difficulty in discerning these characters, I do not see how one can be certain that the other characters are interpreted correctly either.

• No driver is visible in the ‘stills’ therefore if it were my vehicle (which I don’t think it is) I am still unable to recall who may have been the driver, let alone why my vehicle would be on a road I generally avoid.

• The make and model of the vehicle is not clear from the ‘stills’. Whilst one would be initially inclined to assume this is a Ford Fiesta, it might equally be a Mazda 121 which is essentially identical to a Ford Fiesta with but Mazda badging.

• Your second photo shows the vehicle alongside two other vehicles to the left. It is therefore impossible from the photo to determine which of these vehicles is travelling at 70 mph.

• Given that it has been over two months now since the alleged offence, I am no further forward to recalling my whereabouts at the time. Whilst I appreciate that you may have proof that the Notice of Intended Prosecution was posted to me on XX-XXX-200X (and I have no reason to doubt that it was) I can quite categorically state that the Notice was never received by me. Therefore, the legal requirement of issuing a Notice of Intended Prosecution within 14 days has not been met and as a result I believe you are legally unable to proceed against me.

Whilst you have highlighted that it is an offence for me not to identify the driver by filling in the Form B that you supplied, I’d like to highlight that I don’t think it is lawful that I should be pressured into giving unascertained information simply to aid the Police in their intended prosecution. Whilst the vehicle looks similar to my own, I cannot recall being in that location, at the designated date and time, and for me to tell you that I was out of fear of reprisal would require that I lie on a legal document. I am not happy about making a vague assumption of this kind, therefore I would much prefer if the matter was either dropped or handed to the Procurator Fiscal for examination.

I hope this clarifies the matter and trust that the appropriate course of action will be taken.

Yours faithfully,

George T. Mortimer.

—–

And so ended any further communication from that specific constabulary. Whilst this working example clearly highlights a number of issues concerning my own case in this matter, the important thing for anyone to remember when confronted with a Notice of Intended Prosecution is what is stated on the 5th bullet point of my last letter: the legal requirement of issuing a Notice of Intended Prosecution must be within 14 days of the alleged offence.

End of story.

George T. Mortimer is the editor and webmaster of the amazing Media Underground, as well as being the author of The Probationer’s Handbook, and The Key of it All. In each article, Mort will be teaching you ways of keeping ‘The Man’ on his toes’, and all from the comfort of your home.

]]> http://sittingnow.co.uk/2009/12/06/mortimer%e2%80%99s-guide-to-armchair-anarchy-5-how-to-deal-with-speeding-offences/feed/ 4 http://sittingnow.co.uk/2009/12/01/obama-fears-robot-uprising/ http://sittingnow.co.uk/2009/12/01/obama-fears-robot-uprising/#comments Tue, 01 Dec 2009 21:36:00 +0000 Ken http://sittingnow.co.uk/?p=1723

"We didn't listen!!"

"We didn't listen!!"

At an event hosted for young inventors, US President Obama voiced a threat to impending…and it is impending…robot menace. From Weekly World News:

President Barack Obama started his “Educate to Innovate” campaign, which aims to improve the science, technology, engineering and math education in public schools.

Part of the initiative is to invite winners of national competitions to attend an annual White House Science Fair, as a reward to the young people who may be future American leaders in science.

While speaking to a room of young mathletes and robot designers, Obama made sure to emphasize another reason for his plan, notably the threat of the robot uprising:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Keep an eye on dem robits!

Ken Eakins

demons

You're Smiling Now, But We'll All Turn Into Demons

I’ve been wrestling with this review for a while now. I was going to just run to the keyboard and proclaim this as, “Not only the best album by ‘The Demons’, but also the best album this year,” but I stopped. I decided to give it a fair listen. I like to be really well versed in an album before I make such claims these days. This requires listening to it in different situations, like a kind of real-life soundtrack. I know it sounds stupid, but that’s how I rate ‘important’ albums, by how it filters into every-day situations, and how it ‘feels’…man.

This is, I think, the forth album by You’re Smiling Now But We’ll All Turn Into Demons, and their age is starting to show. I don’t mean that in a bad way; in fact I mean quite the opposite. I’ve always felt that the band have struggled to admit their addiction to huge Big Muff ridden riffs in recordings, and this album, like a junkie that’s been through a tough-love session, is their ‘coming-out’ record.

Opener ’2009′ aurally punches you in the face with a super-fuzzed catchy riff, and we’re off. There is a familiarity present for any old fans, yet a nice  amount of confident and spacey solo work that surprises. Feeling comfortable with the opener, ‘Nervous/Alive’ suddenly throws a huge curve-ball. A fantastic ‘old-school-done-right’ riff is picked up and thrown into a huge psyche-rock vortex, and spat out the other side magically charged. Feeling a little shaken, you are then thrust into the drone-ridden-epic ‘Alpha and Omega’. It’s this track where you really notice how well the vocals sit alongside the music, and how much the band really have embraced the fuzz!

‘The Recidivist’  returns to the krautrock-soaked catchy riffage of the opener, and then turns off into what feels like a two-parter reinterpretation of a Brion Gysin exhibition in ‘Out of Focus’ and ‘Jammin’ on the 13th Floor’. Singer Richie’s vocals really take on a new focus, gelling perfectly with the mood of the music. ’Great Shakes Baby’ purposely forces you to nod your head along to the rhythmic drumming, and amazing wah-work, but it is the next track that ‘seals the deal’ for me.

‘Cruikshanked’ is, put simply, great song-writing. The riff feels oddly familiar, yet is so clearly the  Demons. The vocals, one again, mesh perfectly with the music leaving an oddly intense feeling to the song. It then breaks off into a fun attack of sonic pleasure, returning for a second wave of intense, yet held-back riffing.

‘Prismatic Reflections’ almost feels like a bonus record. 18 minutes of truly spacey sounding, dare I say, ‘Desert Rock’  (odd, as they hail from the coastal town of Portsmouth). On completion of the track, you feel a bit like you’ve been through some kind of occult ordeal, up ‘The Holy Mountain’, or a part of an initiation of sorts.

This record feels like the album the Demons have always wanted to make, and I’ve always wanted to hear. So then, in closing: “This is Not only the best album by ‘The Demons’, but also the best album this year.”

Ken Eakins

Check YSNBWATID on Myspace, buy the record here.

]]> http://sittingnow.co.uk/2009/11/30/youre-smiling-now-but-well-all-turn-into-demons-contact-high/feed/ 3 http://sittingnow.co.uk/2009/11/30/micheal-moores-open-letter-to-obama/ http://sittingnow.co.uk/2009/11/30/micheal-moores-open-letter-to-obama/#comments Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:11:04 +0000 Ken http://sittingnow.co.uk/?p=1709 In an open letter to American President Barack Obama, activist and documentary film-maker Micheal Moore warns that a public opinion backlash could wipe out Obama’s ‘JFK-like’ adoration in the United States.

In a reaction to the, assumed, annoucement planned for tomorrow by Obama, Moore pleads for a change of tactic:

Micheal Moore signs what a lot of Americans will probably be thinking on Thursday

Micheal Moore signs what a lot of Americans will probably be thinking on Thursday

An Open Letter to President Obama from Michael Moore

Monday, November 30th, 2009

Dear President Obama,

Do you really want to be the new “war president”? If you go to West Point tomorrow night (Tuesday, 8pm) and announce that you are increasing, rather than withdrawing, the troops in Afghanistan, you are the new war president. Pure and simple. And with that you will do the worst possible thing you could do — destroy the hopes and dreams so many millions have placed in you. With just one speech tomorrow night you will turn a multitude of young people who were the backbone of your campaign into disillusioned cynics. You will teach them what they’ve always heard is true — that all politicians are alike. I simply can’t believe you’re about to do what they say you are going to do. Please say it isn’t so.

It is not your job to do what the generals tell you to do. We are a civilian-run government. WE tell the Joint Chiefs what to do, not the other way around. That’s the way General Washington insisted it must be. That’s what President Truman told General MacArthur when MacArthur wanted to invade China. “You’re fired!,” said Truman, and that was that. And you should have fired Gen. McChrystal when he went to the press to preempt you, telling the press what YOU had to do. Let me be blunt: We love our kids in the armed services, but we f*#&in’ hate these generals, from Westmoreland in Vietnam to, yes, even Colin Powell for lying to the UN with his made-up drawings of WMD (he has since sought redemption).

So now you feel backed into a corner. 30 years ago this past Thursday (Thanksgiving) the Soviet generals had a cool idea — “Let’s invade Afghanistan!” Well, that turned out to be the final nail in the USSR coffin.

There’s a reason they don’t call Afghanistan the “Garden State” (though they probably should, seeing how the corrupt President Karzai, whom we back, has his brother in the heroin trade raising poppies). Afghanistan’s nickname is the “Graveyard of Empires.” If you don’t believe it, give the British a call. I’d have you call Genghis Khan but I lost his number. I do have Gorbachev’s number though. It’s + 41 22 789 1662. I’m sure he could give you an earful about the historic blunder you’re about to commit.

With our economic collapse still in full swing and our precious young men and women being sacrificed on the altar of arrogance and greed, the breakdown of this great civilization we call America will head, full throttle, into oblivion if you become the “war president.” Empires never think the end is near, until the end is here. Empires think that more evil will force the heathens to toe the line — and yet it never works. The heathens usually tear them to shreds.

Choose carefully, President Obama. You of all people know that it doesn’t have to be this way. You still have a few hours to listen to your heart, and your own clear thinking. You know that nothing good can come from sending more troops halfway around the world to a place neither you nor they understand, to achieve an objective that neither you nor they understand, in a country that does not want us there. You can feel it in your bones.

I know you know that there are LESS than a hundred al-Qaeda left in Afghanistan! A hundred thousand troops trying to crush a hundred guys living in caves? Are you serious? Have you drunk Bush’s Kool-Aid? I refuse to believe it.

Your potential decision to expand the war (while saying that you’re doing it so you can “end the war”) will do more to set your legacy in stone than any of the great things you’ve said and done in your first year. One more throwing a bone from you to the Republicans and the coalition of the hopeful and the hopeless may be gone — and this nation will be back in the hands of the haters quicker than you can shout “tea bag!”

Choose carefully, Mr. President. Your corporate backers are going to abandon you as soon as it is clear you are a one-term president and that the nation will be safely back in the hands of the usual idiots who do their bidding. That could be Wednesday morning.

We the people still love you. We the people still have a sliver of hope. But we the people can’t take it anymore. We can’t take your caving in, over and over, when we elected you by a big, wide margin of millions to get in there and get the job done. What part of “landslide victory” don’t you understand?

Don’t be deceived into thinking that sending a few more troops into Afghanistan will make a difference, or earn you the respect of the haters. They will not stop until this country is torn asunder and every last dollar is extracted from the poor and soon-to-be poor. You could send a million troops over there and the crazy Right still wouldn’t be happy. You would still be the victim of their incessant venom on hate radio and television because no matter what you do, you can’t change the one thing about yourself that sends them over the edge.

The haters were not the ones who elected you, and they can’t be won over by abandoning the rest of us.

President Obama, it’s time to come home. Ask your neighbors in Chicago and the parents of the young men and women doing the fighting and dying if they want more billions and more troops sent to Afghanistan. Do you think they will say, “No, we don’t need health care, we don’t need jobs, we don’t need homes. You go on ahead, Mr. President, and send our wealth and our sons and daughters overseas, ’cause we don’t need them, either.”

What would Martin Luther King, Jr. do? What would your grandmother do? Not send more poor people to kill other poor people who pose no threat to them, that’s what they’d do. Not spend billions and trillions to wage war while American children are sleeping on the streets and standing in bread lines.

All of us that voted and prayed for you and cried the night of your victory have endured an Orwellian hell of eight years of crimes committed in our name: torture, rendition, suspension of the bill of rights, invading nations who had not attacked us, blowing up neighborhoods that Saddam “might” be in (but never was), slaughtering wedding parties in Afghanistan. We watched as hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians were slaughtered and tens of thousands of our brave young men and women were killed, maimed, or endured mental anguish — the full terror of which we scarcely know.

When we elected you we didn’t expect miracles. We didn’t even expect much change. But we expected some. We thought you would stop the madness. Stop the killing. Stop the insane idea that men with guns can reorganize a nation that doesn’t even function as a nation and never, ever has.

Stop, stop, stop! For the sake of the lives of young Americans and Afghan civilians, stop. For the sake of your presidency, hope, and the future of our nation, stop. For God’s sake, stop.

Tonight we still have hope.

Tomorrow, we shall see. The ball is in your court. You DON’T have to do this. You can be a profile in courage. You can be your mother’s son.

We’re counting on you.

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com

Re-printed verbatim

Ken Eakins

don1

Our Guest this week, Donald Michael Kraig

We continue our occult exploration this week with seminal author Donald Michael Kraig. Donald is the author of the best-selling titles: ‘Modern Magick’ and ‘Modern Sex Magick‘, and has recently authored his first novel ‘The Resurection Murders‘. This is our longest interview to date, kept at its almost full original length because we enjoyed Don’s company so much.

This week we discuss: Being a ‘modern magician’, Sex Magick, Tantra, Initatory orders, Occult novels, secret rituals of certain orders, how a magickal order should survive the information age, and much more.

I am joined this week in the palacial SittingNow studio by new  co-hosts Cameron Leonard-Schroff, and Paul Powney.

As is tradition and lore in the ancient ways of SittingNow; Frater Daddytank and his secret order of underground musicians perfom their musical rites, this weeks noise-niks are:

The Jack Parsons Project – Corinth
Factura – Piano Exp 2
Karakoid - Too Much Space (Factoid Remix)

If you have any queries, suggestions, insults etc. Please feel free to email ken@sittingnow.co.uk.

Enjoy!

Micheal Donald Kraig Bio:

Donald Michael Kraig graduated from UCLA with a degree in philosophy. He has also studied public speaking and music (traditional and experimental) on the university level. After a decade of personal study and practice, he began ten years of teaching courses in the Southern California area on such topics as Kabalah, Tarot, Magic, Tantra, and Psychic Development. He has been a member of many spiritual and magical groups and is an initiated Tantric.

]]> http://sittingnow.co.uk/2009/11/29/episode-32-modern-magick-with-donald-michael-kraig/feed/ 3 Donald Michael Kraig,Modern Magick,Resurection Murders,Sex Magick,Tantra - We continue our occult exploration this week with seminal author Donald Michael Kraig. Donald is the author of the best-selling titles: 'Modern Magick' and 'Modern Sex Magick', and has recently authored his first novel 'The Resurection Murders'. We continue our occult exploration this week with seminal author Donald Michael Kraig (http://www.llewellyn.com/author.php?author_id=2377). (file:///C:/Users/Ken/Desktop/DMK.jpg)Donald is the author of the best-selling titles: 'Modern Magick' (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Modern-Magick-Llewellyns-High/dp/0875423248/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259360757&sr=8-1) and 'Modern Sex Magick (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Modern-Sex-Magick-Lessons-Liberation/dp/1567183948/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259360799&sr=1-3)', and has recently authored his first novel 'The Resurection Murders (http://www.resurrectionmurders.com/)'. This is our longest interview to date, kept at its almost full original length because we enjoyed Don's company so much. This week we discuss: Being a 'modern magician', Sex Magick, Tantra, Initatory orders, Occult novels, secret rituals of certain orders, how a magickal order should survive the information age, and much more. I am joined this week in the palacial SittingNow studio by new  co-hosts Cameron Leonard-Schroff, and Paul Powney. As is tradition and lore in the ancient ways of SittingNow; Frater Daddytank and his secret order of underground musicians perfom their musical rites, this weeks noise-niks are: The Jack Parsons Project (http://www.myspace.com/thejackparsonsproject) - Corinth (http://www.myspace.com/thejackparsonsproject) Factura (http://www.myspace.com/factura) - Piano Exp 2 Karakoid (http://www.myspace.com/karakoid)- Too Much Space (Factoid Remix) If you have any queries, suggestions, insults etc. Please feel free to email ken@sittingnow.co.uk. Enjoy! Micheal Donald Kraig Bio: Donald Michael Kraig graduated from UCLA with a degree in philosophy. He has also studied public speaking and music (traditional and experimental) on the university level. After a decade of personal study and practice, he began ten years of teaching courses in the Southern California area on such topics as Kabalah, Tarot, Magic, Tantra, and Psychic Development. He has been a member of many spiritual and magical groups and is an initiated Tantric. WSH Media no 1:40:16 http://sittingnow.co.uk/2009/11/29/true-hero-revealed-in-sweden/ http://sittingnow.co.uk/2009/11/29/true-hero-revealed-in-sweden/#comments Sun, 29 Nov 2009 01:58:01 +0000 Ken http://sittingnow.co.uk/?p=1701 Our one quest, our guiding light in doing SittingNow is to bring you truth. No scratch that, our true goal is to bring you the TRUE TRUTH. That’s two truthes in one, and thus, twice as good!

Now it seems that the Swedish, a nation known for the tracing of true truths, has finally come round to our way of thinking:

PraBob

Ken Eakins

from what?

from what?

This is a really good album. I wish I could stop there and have done with it but my editor doesn’t appreciate six word reviews. I like pithy, but … Shield Your Eyes are a hugely talented band. Not just in the conventional sense (ie: able to play their instruments) but Stef the singer / guitarist writes a pretty mean tune too. Imagine a collision between math, screamo and blues with pop sensibilities … no I can’t do that either but that’s what makes this band so refreshing, they’re created a sound that is (as far as I know) virtually unique.

Stef (the singer/guitarist) has a fascinating voice. Described as ugly/beautiful in the label press release, I find myself agreeing. At time it is almost comical how cracked and off-key he becomes but it is always a central part of every song and is always an asset. His trademark guitar sound is present throughout and works in much the same way as his voice, a combination of chaos and control that makes their music so exciting.                Henri (the drummer) is a source of constant amazement. In a world where you have drummers like Chris Pennie and Brian Chippendale, to still find someone’s drumming amazing is a pleasure. He injects a (dare I say it) avant edge to the band, with his furious and complicated drum lines, but he is not set on one mode and he is able to blend into the background on some of the slower and gentler songs. What I am trying to say is… ‘nuff respec’.

They have recently lost their original bassist but he did play on this record and while I struggle sometimes to locate the bass on both this record and the old one, in some ways that is the mark of a job well done. The drums and bass work so well together in providing a platform for Stef’s vocals and guitar, that it is hard to pay attention to the other things going on, even if they are pretty damn good.

Check 'Shield Your Eyes' on Myspace

Check 'Shield Your Eyes' on Myspace

The album is not a huge leap from the debut “Shield Your Eyes” in terms of sound, but the songwriting has come on hugely. Out go the experimental noisy bits and the band just get on with playing the songs in a semi-straightforward fashion. Apparently, the band recorded this in three days and that spontaneity has paid huge dividends on the album. There are so many songs on this album that deserve individual attention but that would make me feel like I was doing down the songs I didn’t mention but “Sergeant Major Lonely and Queen Bee Sadness” and “Oranges” are particularly noteworthy for their bitter-sweet melody. “Ultra Soul” is the band in noisy and contentious mode. “Torn Apart On Details” is almost balladic and is the song that you could play to trick your Mum into listening to them. It is also a great showcase of Stefs voice and guitar skills. “Limerick” is more like some of the tunes on the first album, hectic and fidgety. “Time On You” is a neat little song that contains some of the most charismatic vocal work. “Bad Tooth Warehouse Boogie” is probably my favourite song on the album, a sort of wonky blues boogie that has a brilliant and incendiary middle section that forces you to pay attention to it because it’s having so much fun. “Mort aux Ours” is another balladic little thing and a bit of an oddity as its just a fairly straight voice and acoustic number, but very soulful and sweet. Closing song “Sandy” is a bit of an epic and I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again. This band should be a raging success. If they’re not coining it in in the next five years then I’m going to chop off my ears and replace them with something more useful, like some handles or lamps or something.

Kim Monaghan

Check Shield your Eyes on Myspace, and Saddam Hussein Records

This is a terrifying concept

This is a terrifying concept

This week, IBM scientists and their university partners announced a breakthrough in cognitive computing research: the simulation of a brain the size of a cat’s.  Using 144 terabytes of RAM and almost 150,000 processors, scientists were able to model a neural cortex with 1 billion simulated neurons and 10 billion synaptic connections.  The researchers have subsequently been awarded $16.1 million for completion of phase 0 of DARPA’s SYNAPSE project.  The goal of SYNAPSE (Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics), according to DARPA, is “to develop electronic neuromorphic machine technology that scales to biological levels.”  In layman’s terms, their goal is to put simulated brains onto microchips.

Sleep easy tonight dogs, for tomorrow...

Sleep easy tonight dogs, for tomorrow...

While a disembodied brain on a microchip is itself interesting as an object of study, the real question is: what happens when this brain is embodied?  The unstated intention of the SYNAPSE project is the embodiment of simulated mammalian brains into robots.  Before we lose ourselves to rapturous visions of snuggly pet purrbots, we should consider the possible range of behaviors of not only the feline brain, but of mammalian-size brains in general.  Cats are predators, as well, after all.  The brain controls an animal’s body and behavior, and much of its function would be superfluous to a robotic replica (presumably, for example, these robots would not able to mate and multiply).  If individual behaviors can be added and removed willy-nilly, then any given mammalian behavior could be isolated and reproduced onto a microchip.  Feline predation is just one possibility, and a scary one at that.  Imagine hordes of 14ft-tall steel tigers rampaging through your suburban neighborhood, programmed with insatiable hunger and an instinctual urge to maul and devour bipeds (did I mention that robots can be carnivorous?).

The presentation of this cortical simulation as the equivalent of a feline brain lends an aspect of cutesyness to the project, but this cutesyness, of course, is just a facade.  It allows us to envision it as something benign.  Right now, there’s no harm in a disembodied brain with no behaviors sitting on a hard drive in Livermore, CA, being trained to distinguish images of corporate logos to the awe of of fawning scientists.  But what happens when they let the cat out of the bag (sorry)? Such a virtual brain could be trained with any given set of potentially distasteful behaviors and embodied in a machine of practically limitless size and strength.  This is a DARPA project, after all, and as much as we might want snuggly purrbots, we should be aware that what we might get is marauding swarms of giant predatory killbots.

Joe McFall

Joe McFall received his undergraduate degree in Linguistic Anthropology from Emory University in 1998, and went on to receive two Masters degrees, in Linguistics and Artificial Intelligence, from the University of Georgia in 2005 and 2007. He holds a lifetime interest in culture and counterculture, fringe science, paranormal, alternate history and conspiracy theory. He works as a software developer and lives in Atlanta, GA. He is also, alongside our buddies Raymond Wiley and Austin Gandy, one of the hosts of Disinformation the Podcast, Disinformation World News, and OutThere Radio.

lips 2

That is a lot of confetti!

So this is the third time I’ve been to see The Lips now, which makes me a groupie I guess. I managed to miss most of the support act “Stardeath and White Dwarfs” only catching their charismatic cover of “Borderline” by Maddona. That’s right. I’m not sure how I feel about that. I think I might be a bit too old to find Madonna covers funny.

lips 1

The Wayne Coyne crowd-protection ball 3000™

After a bit of rabble rousing from the roadies Wayne took to the stage to give us a quick warning about strobe lights and also to warn those in front about his imminent stroll through the crowd in an enormous inflatable hamster ball. This took some of the joy out of the moment when he did actually crowd surf in his ball, but only a little because the sight of a grown man getting so much pleasure out of such a simple act was truly heart-warming…especially when he was “birthed” out of an enormous LED vagina.

So to the strains of “Race for the Prize” and accompanied by giant balloons, confetti bombs and dancing fan-imals another Flaming Lips show kicks off. And it occurs to me that every Lips show I have ever seen has kicked off with “Race for the Prize”. Now don’t get me wrong it’s a great song, and they always perform it with love and care and enthusiasm, but as other songs “The Magician”, “Yoshimi” whizz past, my sense of déjà-vu grows stronger. They have played almost exactly the same set every time I have seen them and that’s over a period of five years, mostly culled from “Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots”, “At War With The Mystics” and “Soft Bulletin” (with a few oldies or covers thrown in). Now, for a band that has been going since the 80’s, this represents a very limited selection of their music. It was a pleasure to hear “She Don’t Use Jelly” and also the three new songs from “Embryonic” (which I thought were very good) but I was under the impression that this was the tour to support “Embryonic”. Is it unreasonable to think that they might have played most of the album?

More glitter...I hope it doen't get caught in the keys!

More confetti...I hope it doen't get caught in the keys!

The vague sense of disenchantment I felt was exacerbated by the exponential increase in the power of the cult of Wayne. I like Wayne Coyne, I think he writes great songs, he’s witty and funny and somewhat of a polymath. But sometimes, Wayne, we would like you to play a song without talking for ten minutes before and after. Sometimes, Wayne, we would like you to finish a song without going through the whole thing again (accapella) demanding a round of applause at the end of every verse. Oh and most importantly, I don’t mind singing along with you (begrudgingly), but I do draw the line at being implored to do peace signs. I’m not pro-war, I’m just anti-being bossed around at gigs I’ve paid £20 for.

I think everyone should see the Flaming Lips live at least once. They are an exceptionally positive and fun band to see live, and showmanship is what Wayne Coyne is all about. But I came away from this gig with the definite feeling that I wouldn’t bother to go and see them again until they take a more experimental approach to their live sets.

Kim Monaghan

Our Guest Mitch Horowitz, click here to buy the excellent 'Occult America'

Mitch Horowitz, Author of 'Occult America'

After a pretty lengthy break from the world of podcasting, we return with a real 90 minute treat!

This weeks guest, Mitch Horowitz, is the author of the excellent new book ‘Occult America: How Mysticism Shaped our Nation‘. Mitch has held a lifelong interest in the Occult and Supernatural, and after pursuing the subject for as long, naturally, became the editor of one of the largest publishers of Occult and Supernatural works Tarcher/Penguin.

In this weeks episodes we discuss: Freemasons, Mesmirism, Theosophy, Astrology and the dark side of American occultism.

Daddytank and his army of flying (musical) monkeys return this week in the shape of:

Memories of Tree’s – Snakes and Headaches

Diamond District – I Mean Business

Vlooper – Muzungu

Enjoy!

Mitch Horowitz Bio:

Mitch Horowitz is a writer and publisher of many years’ experience with a lifelong interest in man’s search for meaning. The editor-in-chief of Tarcher/Penguin in New York, he is the author of Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation (Bantam, September 2009).

A frequent writer and speaker on metaphysical themes, he has appeared on CBS Sunday Morning, Dateline NBC, The History Channel, The Montel Williams Show, All Things Considered, Air America Radio, and Coast to Coast AM. He has written for U.S. News and World Report, Parabola, Science of Mind, the Religion News Service, and the popular weblog BoingBoing.

At Tarcher/Penguin, Horowitz has published some of today’s leading titles in world religion, esoterica, and the metaphysical. He has also published notable works in philosophy, social thought and politics. His recent titles include Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity by David Lynch; 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl by Daniel Pinchbeck; The American Soul: Rediscovering the Wisdom of the Founders by Jacob Needleman; The Secret Teachings of All Ages: Reader’s Edition by Manly P. Hall; and Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush’s War on Iraq by Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber.

I was made aware of director Tawd B. Dorenfeld fairly recently when I watched the psychedelic, stop-motion animation thing he directed for the recent Secret Chiefs 3 live DVD. It was an enjoyable selection of baffling imagery to occupy my eyes while I listened to some Secret Chiefs 3 stuff that did not make the actual DVD.

The Anna Cabrini Chronicles is a quartet of short films dealing with madness and suicide, scored by Secret Chiefs 3 Trey Spruance … sounds encouraging doesn’t it? I would normally do a detailed appraisal of the individual films, then a round critique of the whole. I find it a little bit difficult to do either in this case because it’s such a disjointed affair. The “stories” involve a selection of people doing battle with personal demons which are dealt with in a highly stylised and figurative fashion, which makes it difficult to discern what is actually going on. This is a device which he uses very successfully in some respects, as the finished product is definitely tinged with madness. Stop motion illustration, rapid fire edits, strange angles, bursts of very loud and disorientating music. All of this and more combine to create a film that is certainly unsettling and memorable. But is it any good? In my opinion it is strangely average. There is no real narrative thread and not much in common between the films. His success in making them look and feel “crazy” is inversely proportionate to his success in making a film that you actually enjoy.

I bought this mainly because I am an obsessive record nerd, and the score by Spruance was the hook that got me. It features some unreleased material, but only in snatches throughout and there is an abundance of familiar Secret Chiefs stuff on there too. Mostly the music and images work well together but there is occasional incongruity too and I can’t help feeling that the film would have been more successful if it had utilised other music in addition to Secret Chiefs. In short, this is for uber-Spruance fans only.

Kim Monaghan

Click here to view the embedded video.

lady_gaga_photographer_diesx

Never get in a 'stare-out' contest with Lady Gaga

This is so weird, it had to be re-posted. Especially as SittingNow regular, Austin Gandy, had reported on a similar occurance invoving Gaga. From WeeklyWorldNews.com

NEW YORK, NY – A paparazzo dropped dead after taking a photo of Lady Gaga!

Lady Gaga is a pop star who has become as famous for her outfits as she has her music. She wears a new and often bizarre outfit for every single event she attends, making her a prime target for celebrity photographers.

On Monday night, Lady Gaga attended the ACE Awards in New York City. Photographer A.J. Solkaner immediately took a photo of the singer, her face obscured in a spooky black veil.

lady_gaga_photographer_dies2

BURN THE WITCH!!

But just minutes later, he collapsed on the red carpet! He was rushed to Bellevue Hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival. Philip Vaughan, the owner of ACE Pictures which Solkaner worked for, confirmed he died of a heart attack.

Solkaner was only in his 50s. Vaughan said that the photographer “was very well liked, he was very well respected … He was a real photographer and he did it because he loved it.”

Brian Lamb, another photographer working the event, said, “By the time I saw him, he was already blue and people were starting to give him CPR.”

Was this a freak coincidence? Or something more sinister?

Ken Eakins

SFW kthxbai!

SFW kthxbai!

Ever been at work and tried explaining what Pedobear is to a colleague? It’s pretty difficult (trust me). Googling the cute little scamp will often bring on a torrent of abusive images, or just straight up pr0n. 4chan and Encyclopedia Dramatica are both out of the question, so where do you turn?

Whatport:80 is your man! It’s basically ED, but edited so it still contains delicious lulz, but presented in a more verbose and work-ban-hammer-friendly format. So go and ‘meme-explain’ to your hearts content, without the worry of being branded as a perve/pedo/anonymous (highlight where appropriate).

Anyway, someone tell me where I can one of these badboys:

DO WANT!

DO WANT!

Ken Eakins

Broadcast #009

Broadcast #010

***New Signal****

Blakfish – Ringo Star: Second Best Drummer in the Beatles

Maths - Culpa

Zapp - More Bounce To The Ounce

The Scrags – Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Shield Your Eyes – Oranges

David Shire – End Theme (from The Taking of Pelham 123)

Stellar Auditorium – An Epitaph of 10000 years

Skream – Metal Mouth

Fickle Public - Rock your Voddy

Easy Hips – Dinner for two? No, thank you, Mr. Woo.

Defunkt Dialekt – 1138 Original

Berry Weight – Heart Shaped Rock

Cutting Pink With Knives – Hey Cowboy

If you want us to play your band/noise/whatever, drop us a line at behindcloseddoors@sittingnow.co.uk.

Peace

***Signal Ends**

jacoby1

Interesting choice of logo...

If you’re interested in the 2012 subject, it has likely crossed your mind at least once. You may even of typed in your browser. If you did, it used to simply tell you that the domain was not for sale (and they must have had numerous large offers!).

Recently this has changed and the site actually displays no message but is now appearing in Google natural search results. Amazingly for a site that has no actual content it currently sits at over 350,000 in the Alexa site ranks. For those unaware of rankings, this would be something most sites can only dream of even after expensive SEO and e-marketing projects. So clearly the owners want the site to now start being ranked for some reason.

My bet is that whatever content they intend for this domain is not to many months away now, it has to be pre-2012 to make it worth them holding the site for so many years. Also, they have had it registered for 14 years without posting anything more than a brush off message.

14 years.

So who does own the domain and what interests may they represent? Get ready to stumble into a real life ‘Lost’ style mystery scenario.

One of the other sites registered by the owners is http://aquathought.com that is the site for the Aqua Thought Foundation. The main purpose of this organisation is to make a breakthrough in communication with dolphins.

jacoby

Kind of reminds of the 'Millennium Group' in some way...

Another site of theirs is learningsoft.net that markets a type of handheld computer designed for educating students. The title of the tool is the Indigo Learning System and on the screens in the picture are the Great Pyramid of Egypt and a whale.

Both sites however seem to track back to funding and ownership by the Jacoby Group http://www.thejacobygroup.com who display images of both the Indigo System and human dolphin interaction on their home site. Ostensibly they appear to be a real estate, energy, education and healthcare group of companies with a very strong green theme to their company profile. Noticeable too is a slightly esoteric company logo of the planet Earth within a form of Yin-yang design.

In an interview Mr Jacoby mentions his ability to see opportunity where others do not. We can assume that holding the 2012.com domain from 1996 to present is part of that thinking. It is worth bearing in mind that Sony would have paid a very hefty sum for the domain in respect of marketing their upcoming film of that name. Obviously the owner feels he has a better use for it, or can make more money from it further down the line as the year approaches?

I can’t help but wonder whether the Dolphins advised them to buy the 2012.com site years before the subject was widely (or even moderately) well known. Could it be that the Dolphins are getting ready to give their message for 2012 to mankind?

Perhaps it is not Mr Jacoby running the company at all…

This domain is not for sale.

Please do not call, write or send email.

Thank you.

Bruce Fenton

Bruce Fenton is a prodigious online writer and practioner of several mystical traditions ranging from neo-shamanism to Tibetan Buddhism. Formerly a proffesional intunitive reader and healer. His most popular articles and interviews can be found by visiting him at his site 2012-Rising.

Yeeeeeaaahhh!!!...wait, what??

Yeeeeeaaahhh!!!...wait, what??

If you haven’t already guessed from our inane banter on the shows, and the odd references to zombies, we’re really big geeks here at SittingNow towers…especially Kim, he’s way worse than me.  So, it will probably come as no suprise to learn that we are pretty excited about the new Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City, hitting stores (and my Xbox) in a couple of days.

Now, with story subtitles like ‘The Ballad of Gay Tony, I assumed that this latest edition would be a little bit more off-kilter than the previous offerings, however, I don’t think anyone expected it to be quite this odd:

Wait…what?…I don’t……what?

Does that even have anything to do with GTA? Are there even cars in it? Can I get a review copy of Princess Robot Bubblegum please? I suppose I shouldn’t be too dumbfounded by this trailer, It seems all video games have emplyed acid-head marketing people:

I need to lie down…

Ken Eakins

interface

"I'll just add you to my contacts..."; photo credit, Lyn Barry

We’ve all seen it; and we all want it! I’m of course talking about that badass software Tom Cruise uses in the movie-adaptation of Phillip K. Dicks’ Minority Report! You know the bit I mean: whilst searching for potential murderers, Cruise uses fragments of movie files, extracted from the future visions of the Police departments ‘Pre-cog’ division, and zooms, rewinds, and manipulates them on a giant iPhone-like mid-air touch surface…DO WANT!

Well, it would seem that M.I.T. media lab’s Pattie Maes is also jonesing for some of this tech:

From H+ Magazine:

Maes has a passion for empowering people by providing “fluid interfaces” that bring materials to digital life — books, clothes, sticky notes, portraits, walls, tables, and so on. The world she envisions magically responds to you with information where and when you need it, “enabling insight, inspiration, and interpersonal connections.”

Pattie Maes. Photo credit: MIT Media Lab

An associate professor in MIT’s Program in Media Arts and Sciences, she founded and directs the Media Lab’s Fluid Interfaces group. She holds bachelor’s and Ph.D. degrees in computer science from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium. Her areas of expertise are human-computer interaction, intelligent interfaces, and ubiquitous computing.

In the late nineties, Maes founded Firefly. The company developed technology widely in use on the Internet today that assesses buying and browsing habits of users and then offers purchase recommendations. Microsoft bought Firefly for a rumored $40 million in 1998. Maes has been listed on Newsweek’s 100 most important people to watch, the World Economic Forum’s 100 people to listen to, People’s 50 most beautiful people, and the Association for Computing Machinery’s 15 most perspicacious visionaries.

In addition to Pattie, the Lab’s luminaries include Marvin Minsky (the “father of AI”), Deb Roy (Cognitive Machines), Edward Boyden (Synthetic Biology), and Cynthia Breazeal (Personal Robots), to name just a few.

Quite an academic powerhouse! If you want to read more about this ‘game-changing’ tech, our buddy Ken ‘R.U.Sirius’ Goffman’s excellent publication H+ Magazine hooked up with Maes for a great interview, that delves further into this futuristic, yet affordable technology; with instuctions on how to build your own device (it even inlcudes the software).

Ken Eakins

says Leahy: “For a while now I’ve been interested starting a blog, but I was never sure what I had to say was interesting enough. That, and there are countless blogs around about nothing and probably some blogs about those blogs.

Where do we go from here then? Well, I go down the road that some say I’m best known for… Puns.”

“It’s got to the point now, where friends of mine (when on holiday, usually) might see shops adorned with elaborately painted puns on their facade, take a photo of them, pop them on Facebook and then tag ME in the photo! I’m hundreds of miles away watching Seinfeld in my pants. I’m certainly not infront of their camera(s).”

Well, It’s a dirty job, but punones got to do it (OK, I’ll stop now!!). If you have any snaps to send to Sean, drop him a line at sean@thepunningman.com and add the web’s most singular source of pun!

Ken Eakins

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George Orwell couldn’t have dreamed this up; from IT Pro:

IBM scientists are working on ambitious research where nano-sized holes will be drilled into computer chips and DNA passed through to create a ‘genetic code reader’.

IBM said that experts from nanofabrication, microelectronics, physics and biology are working together to master a technique where a long DNA molecule passes through a three nanometer wide hole (a nanopore).

As the molecule passes through the nanopore one unit of DNA at a time, an electrical sensor can ‘read’ the DNA.

The challenge of the silicon-based ‘DNA Transistor’ would be to slow and control the motion of the DNA through the hole so the reader could decode what is inside it.

IBM claimed that if the project was successful it could make personalised genome analysis as cheap as $100 to $1,000, and compared it to the first ever sequencing done for the Human Genome Project, which cost $3 billion.

For any doubter out there, ‘Big Blue’ has released a video of its own discussing the possible implications, and some of the processes involved:

Interesing, and slightly scary, stuff!

Ken Eakins

Returning to the source?

Returning to the source?

“I’ve attached photos of my most recent knit graffiti. I tag my knit bombs with bright yellow tags – one side has an eye on top of a pyramid with a red line running through it ( Anti-Illuminati) and the other side has a quote from Schrodinger’s Cat or Illuminatus!”

treescarf

Knit-bombing with a Discordian twist

Now, I have to admit, this is the first case of ‘Yarn Storming’ I’ve ever encountered, so I rushed to YewTube and unearthed this expanatory morsel:

Thanks for that Jo, keep up the good work and Hail Eris!

Ken Eakins

cats

Cats and Cats and...Chickens?

‘Cats and Cats and Cats‘ have been, apart from anything else, off many people’s radars for the last couple of months. Their 2007  release, the critically acclaimed split EP with ‘This Town Needs Guns‘, was a push for the Staines collective that really helped their increasing popularity. Now though,  after many months,  the band are  ready to expose audiences to blinding new material, and a sneaky peak of what a full album will sound like.

The single, ‘Oh Boy!’, Is just a little taster of what we will see from the band in the near future, and I must say it’s very exciting. Keeping very much to their early roots but still being as diverse as ever; immediate comparisons would be to the likes of ‘Of Montreal‘ and ‘Tilly and the Wall‘, with their subtle use of atmospheric folk -like crescendos. The single includes two songs  both containing the word ‘boy’ in the titles (hence the single title), and a remix by ‘Maybeshewill‘.

Absolutely brilliant off the wall melodies, and great use of multi-instrumental build ups, combine well with their use of post-rock-type atmospherics, that are  benefited further by the duel vocals of Eve and Ben. Disjointed rhythms that change quickly from soft to loud in a matter of seconds were what really brought my ears towards the group in the first place, something not too far from aspects of ‘Arcade Fire’ and ‘Broken Social Scene’ , and I’m glad they have kept some of  their best aspects for this new material.

In a sense Cats and Cats and Cats have never sounded so great, and this should be a year of  renewed success , if this new material is anything to go by.

Make sure you get the new single ‘Oh Boy’ when it’s released 19^th of October, a must for new and old cat fans.

Mazz Gambardella

Cats and Cats and Cats on Myspace

It just seems...icky!

It just seems...icky!

I think this guy may have taken his apparant obsession with the classic Arnie flick ‘Junior’ a little too far, SFGate reports:

Ragnar Bengtsson, a 26-year-old student at Stockholm University, is regularly breaking out a breast pump to induce lactation. Bengtsson is the father of a 2-year-old child, but he has no plans to nurse his toddler. Rather he wants to breast-feed future children and inspire other dads to offer their breasts as a way to bond with their children at earlier stages of development.

“Anything that doesn’t do any harm is worth trying out. And if it works it could prove very important for men’s ability to get much closer to their children at an early stage,” Bengtsson told The Local, an English newspaper in Sweden.

The story was major headline news in the Nordic country, and now it’s making the rounds on all the parenting blogs. The story will probably continue to escalate as Bengtsson’s efforts will be documented by Swedish TV8. Also, he maintains a blog on the station’s Web site.

Personally, I’m still not convinced this isn’t some kind of elaborate Nordic-hoax, though the Tubes never lie:

Fearless of ridicule, Bengtsson doesn’t mind where he lactates:

“I’m going to have to pull out the pump during lectures,” he told The Local. “But really it doesn’t bother me if it makes people uncomfortable. If they have issues with it that’s their problem.”

I suppose, in some respects, it’s only fair that men get a bit more involved in the parenting process…but it just feels inherantly wrong, on a utterly superficial level to me…ick!

amirite??

amirite??

Ken Eakins

LB_press_indoor

Lightning Bolt, with some masks and stuff

Firstly, I feel I should state that this cannot and will not be a fair and unbiased review. Asking me to review a Lightning Bolt album is like asking a small child to review an ice-cream or a dog to review a bone. I walked into my second favourite record shop one day and they were playing ‘Hypermagic Mountain’. I stopped and all expression fell from my face as all the blood rushed from the non-vital parts of my body (brain, lungs etc) to my ears. I said: “What the fuck is this and why don’t I own it ?”, and a beautiful relationship was born.

Little did I know that ‘Hypermagic Mountain’ is actually the weakest of the three albums that I was soon to own, (I tend not to count the yellow album, or ‘Lightning Bolt’ as some call it, because it’s unlistenable) but it was more than good enough to stir me to go and get ‘Ride The Skies’ and ‘Wonderful Rainbow’ as soon as I could. Suffice to say that the moment I heard ‘Thirteen Monsters’ and ’2 Towers’ from those records will live with me forever. Lightning Bolt became the most important band in the world for me and ‘Earthly Delights’ is a definitive rap on the knuckles for anyone attempting to steal their crown.

Opening the album is ‘Sound Guardians’. A swampy-redneck riff explodes out of the altitudinous opening, ‘Singing Brian’s’ echo-y madman lurks to keep things off centre, and then things descend into a morass of stop-start riffing and Herculean drumming that constantly re-evaluates itself, walking the line between smug intellectual athletics and violent aggression. ‘Nation of Boar’ rushes straight at you, brandishing a riff that isn’t really a riff, more of a threat. The song is propelled from low-end aggression into an interlude of majestic drums and hammer-on frenzy that sounds like the overture that Ming the Merciless never had, but richly deserved. The track snowballs into a crude, primordial musical sludge from which rises… a guitar solo? No, not a guitar solo, but a very trebly bass part that is the cherry on this beast of a cake. There is a depth to this record that the band did not have on ‘Hypermagic Mountain’ and did not need on ‘Ride The Skies’ and ‘Wonderful Rainbow’.

Preorder! Do it!

Preorder! Do it!

‘Colossus’ begins life as a slow, bass rumble with tweet-y vocal adornments that herald a shift into a second gear which consists of a simple, but incredibly wholesome bass-line, while ‘Singing Brian’ gibbers anthemic nonsense. This suddenly ramps up into a face off between a totally compulsive drum line and an insanely simple but monolithic riff that gets more and more exciting until it literally explodes. Fucking awesome. How on earth this isn’t the last song on the album, I don’t know, but I am already sold on this album and I haven’t even reached halfway. Then ‘Sublime Freak’ comes on and .. by God… I appear to have shit myself. A pounding 4/4 kick drum of almost mystical resonance is married to a euphoric riff so full of optimistic joy it’s disgusting. A band this heavy shouldn’t be this happy. The vocal line on this is, yes, you guessed it, echo-y shouting, but very melodic and when teamed up with the insistent, rolling (almost tabla-esque) tom playing, it is a deeply special tune. The ‘solo’ is a strange, screechy noise that sounds a little like a Bollywood sample that has been seriously fucked with, which stutters and loops over the middle of the track. I don’t know what it is but it is a fitting fanfare for this exotic and beguiling gem. The first half of this album is escorted off the premises by ‘Flooded Chamber’, an eccentric and noisy track that sounds like a possessed Islamic bulldozer chasing neurotic budgies round a haunted birdcage. It fucking well does.

The second half of the album is introduced by ‘Funny Farm’ which is another strange creature, sounding like a pyschedelic hoe-down that is occasionally interrupted by, well, um.. Lightning Bolt. It is a schizophrenic track, but a totally functional one, equal parts heavy-riffing and bouncy jiggery-pokery, with a little slice of ‘Drumming Brian’ at the end that shows just exactly how fucking good he really is. As a counterpoint to this, ‘Rain On The Lake I’m Swimming In’ shimmers into view, a simple guitar-y sounding riff (obviously dripping with sustain, reverb etc) with ‘Singing Brian’ pretending to be a trumpet. Or a bee. Or something. Nice.

I start to panic because there’s only two songs to go, and part of me almost hopes that they’re bad ones, just so time goes a little slower. But typically enough ‘SOS’ just happens to be the ‘Raining Blood’ of Lightning Bolt’s career. Terrifying squeals of feedback give way to the sound of a gigantic thuggish mess that wants your ears to wear round its neck as a trophy. Melodramatic vocal and instrumental flourishes keep you unsettled and thirsting for more, while immense blasts of galactic bass feedback, in a variety of flavours, make you wonder how many guitars ‘Bass Brian’ is actually playing, and whether or not they are really a mile long and made of plutonium. Superb.

So now it’s just ‘Transmissionary’ between me and the end of the album. The joy of listening to this fantastic album is mixed with a little sorrow, as I realize that I am as far away from a new Lightning Bolt album as it is possible to be. I chide myself for being silly and prepare to adopt the ‘Transmissionary’ position. And I am in heaven. This is the essence of Lightning Bolt. A Neanderthal bassline distilled from crude adrenaline, drumming of exquisite control and immeasurable depth and a shouted refrain that joins the two instruments together into a sound that cannot have been constructed only unearthed, like some miraculous relic. This epic opening gambit slowly descends into one of the rudest and sludgiest things I have ever heard, with a bassline that would melt babies and meticulously applied touches of echo that made me wince with pleasure. This is going to fucking kill live and it slowly dawns on me that this is better than ’2 Towers’. This is better than ’13 Monsters’. This is the sound of the best band in the world at their peak.

Kim Monaghan

www.loadrecords.com

http://www.myspace.com/laserbeast

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Opening track “Indifference” is menacing and vaguely futuristic, with crisp rolling drums, glitchy, faded synths and industrial samples that all work very well together to create a tune that is dance-y enough to be Dubstep but clever enough to be Electronica. Melody is scarce but mood abounds and it is well produced. A great opening track to the album and my appetite for dark, clanky sounds was well and truly whetted.

Second track “The End Result” kicks off with some frazzled sounding synths and more sci-fi samples, piquing my interest. Then some familiar sounding beats arrive, I realize that the reason I am enjoying the sounds on this EP are because I used a lot of them myself. This is a Reason album, by which I mean that it was composed, at least partly, on Reason 3, the awesome all-in-one music package from Propellerhead. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it is disconcerting to hear so many distinctive sounds from my own pretty cruddy EP used in someone else’s music. Then I hit my second problem, the intro to “The End Result” segues into …well nothing really. It just keeps going with no real melody, nothing to latch onto. It sounds good, but there’s not really a song or tune in there.

“Forewarning” is a similarly slow-paced tune, that is again in dubstep territory but with a weak bassline and sparse drums, there is little atmosphere and again we are lacking anything like a memorable melody. This is very loop based and while that can work very well, this feels like a backing track. It sorely needs a point of interest, which a metallic sounding synth line and some obscured vocal samples don’t really provide. It also repeats its one idea for the duration of the 4 minutes and 44 seconds of the track.

sub 1

.

Track four, “Fluid”, is more of the same in a vaguely industrial style. There are nice sounds but the track lacks identity, and this lack of anything for the ear to grab hold of means it is easily forgettable. The track is not aided by plodding industrial beats, a surprising dip in Subduxtions quality control, because one thing he does very well with Black Saturn is beat construction.

Fifth track “Disconnekt” starts out with a shifty beat and some neat 80’s synth, but yet again there is barely a nod to the idea of a tune, and once you’re a minute into the track you’ve pretty much heard everything that it’s going to do. It would make great incidental music, but if you’re entire attention is focused on it, there really is very little substance.

Penultimate track “What Is War” appears and I realize that the initial rush of excitement from “Indifference” seems a long time ago, and I am starting to think about what I want for dinner. Despite Subduxtion’s good ear for production values and cool sounds, this release is not holding my attention. So it makes the exciting and relatively fast paced “What Is War” a blessed relief when it shows up. Glitchy, drill’n’bass style beats are teamed up with bursts of static and distant space-battle synths to create something that ruffles my ennui.

Final tune “Syntetic” walks down the same road of post-apocalyptic robot nightmares as the rest of the album, with shimmering droney-synths and sub bass being well complemented by crackle and pop beats that are barely there, but give a neat structure to something that would otherwise sound like a field recording of an oven in the future

It redeems my opinion of this album, although it suffers from some of the same flaws, ie: over reliance on loops and a lack of melody, with mid-tempo being the only tempo. In his work with Black Saturn (which I thoroughly enjoy), the vocals fill in all the gaps, resulting in some memorable and exciting tunes, but at present Subduxtion on his own is still a developing sound, albeit one to keep an eye on.

Kim Monaghan

check  http://www.myspace.com/subduxtion for more

Awww, someone call wine won won for a wambulance

"I wanted to be in Brutal Legend; not this wank!"

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m no Kurt-hugging, Nirvana T-Shirt wearing, Kitty Pettin’, Fower Sniffin’ etc…but I used to be, and this hit me where it hurts!

I know the mainstream media has been covering this for a while now, but it wasn’t until I actually saw it…

Although I usually find Everett True‘s opinions to be utterly vacuous these days, this time he pretty much summed the situation up perfectly:

Grohl and Love sanctioned this one for the new Guitar Hero. So respect due to Grohl and Love then. Fucking corporate cock-sucking memory-destroying fret-wanking MTV-supporting fame-chasing money-grabbing grave-turning publicity-loving vacuous spoiled jaded cunting rock whores.

Well said True! Generally, I don’t believe a word that comes out of the Medusa-headed mouth of Courtney Love. But, for some reason, I do this time…maybe it’s the badly spelt Tweets?

FOR THE RECORD I DID NOT APPROVE KURTS AVATAR FOR GUYITARHERO5. i think Kurt would despise this game alone let alone this avatar this is NECROPHILIC this is VILE please address all calls to my lawyer Kieth Fink Esquire who is FURIOUS And to my Publicist Rogers and Cowa

Indeed!

Ken Eakins

**EDIT***

Activision, have since stated they have a document confirming Courtney’s agreement in the game … I hate her still

]]> http://sittingnow.co.uk/2009/09/17/courtney-love-is-right/feed/ 2 http://sittingnow.co.uk/2009/09/10/offset-festival-review/ http://sittingnow.co.uk/2009/09/10/offset-festival-review/#comments Thu, 10 Sep 2009 19:58:25 +0000 mazz http://sittingnow.co.uk/?p=1415

Rolo Tomassi - Source:http://photos.offsetfestival.co.uk/

Rolo Tomassi - Source:http://photos.offsetfestival.co.uk/

Some of you may have not heard of Offset Festival. I hadn’t heard of it  until a year ago, it’s a music festival supported by Artrocker magazine in Essex just above the M25. But when I saw the line up for this year’s event I told myself I had to go. The line up was perfect for me and it would be good to go back to a festival again after 4 years. Offset’s size was what I marvelled at the most, because it was so small. It was perfect for me. No crowded stages, no lines for toilets or food. The food by the way was excellent, no greasy burgers or chips, a lot of quite healthy food all weekend. The camp site as well was unreal, again because of it’s size. So very small it was great, my favourite part of camping was when waking up about 4am there was not a sound. Now distant voices of screaming and shouting, everyone was asleep it was brilliant. Anyway most of my time I spent around the Hardcore Tent which is where my main musical-interests laid in wait. But I did have a wonder around to see others, most of which  were rubbish indie bands.

These bands could be your life

These bands could be your life

EASY HIPS (6/10) were to take the role as first band to play on the Hardcore stage of this year’s Offset Festival. Easy Hips, youthful in their looks, displayed a tremendous amount of energy; their very off-kilter sporadic noise was a great way to start the day off ,in this varied line up. As it was their last show for a very long time, the drummer proceeded to jump into the crowd with no pants or trousers on and continuously started jumping into and onto people. Hilarious. RUN, WALK (6/10) were on next, again a very young band. A two piece drum and bass collective. They were quite messy at times. But this represented their overall presence really. Indeed very quirky, and also quite trashy as well. Just makes it even more impressive by their age. I then made my way quickly to the main stage to catch the rest of BLAKFISH (8/10) who really were quite impressive on the main stage. The reason why is because from what I gathered the main stage mostly consisted of ‘Artrocker type indie bands’. But Blakfish stood out like a beautiful sore thumb. Absolutely catchy riffs with great melodies and memorable choruses. Also displaying addictive harmonies, without losing any of their punk aggressiveness. Blakfish, since their ambitious start, have really matured (not literally of course) into a band that really takes sure confidence on large stages now; as well as not letting the crowd become bored for a single second. This included climbing up the rafters and mooning the whole festival, courtesy of Thomas Peckett. Amazing.

After I went back to the Hardcore Tent for ATTACK! VIPERS! (7/10), passionate post hardcore done amazingly well. The sound on stage was heavy and intense. Vocalist Joe Watson really takes to the stage like a fish to water, moving around being the personification of their sound by showing absolute passion for what he was doing. I really enjoyed their use of Envy-esque chords in songs like ‘Atlantic Hearts’. Really pays homage to passionate hardcore music. On the main stage GOOD SHOES (7/10) played to quite a large crowd. Good Shoes’ quirky Pavement-like sound really was quite a relief for me. The melodies were happily obscure, and were great to dance to; an all around great act. But Good Shoes couldn’t compete with PULLED APART BY HORSES (10/10); what can I say? Just wow! Pulled Apart by Horses just seem to have the perfect package. Riff-tastic rock n roll with an on stage presence that can’t be matched. They were all over the shop, their spasticated moves only reflected the creativity of their music. Honestly E=MC Hammer was an absolute belter during their set. Absolute fury for 3 minutes, it was like a horde of Hell’s Angels raping and pillaging the whole festival. I then went back to the Hardcore Stage to see THE TUPOLEV GHOST (9/10) who were displaying erratic and often quite bleak indie-hardcore. These guys are going to get big soon with a sound like this. Driving guitars, huge sounding drums. And at points some catchy hooks. What I liked about Offset’s Hardcore Stage was it’s fantastic variation, and The Tupolev Ghost were one of the stand out bands of this stage today. Fantastic.

The Attack Vipers!

The Attack Vipers!

I went back to the Main Stage to catch FUTURE OF THE LEFT (8/10), the ex-Mclusky 3-piece. Future of the Left displayed a ridiculous amount of energy and force throughout their set, Most of which had great sing-a-longs like, ‘Manchasm’, and ‘Small Bones Small Bodies’. Punching bass and very forceful vocals from the part of vocalist Andy “Falco” Falkou, which made their set one of the highlights of today. Now quite drunk I stumbled into another tent where I saw FRIENDSHIP (5/10) perform, 2-piece bass heavy pop was something I heard a lot of good things being played, but being next to the speakers my ears were audibly raped. The sound in this tent for Friendship was everywhere, so it lost it a bit for me. Even hearing ‘Graveyard Shift’ didn’t have the same effect. Shame really; but still a great set, really lively and a definitely crowd pleaser. EYES OF A TRAITOR (1/10) I saw a bit of on the Hardcore stage and now I was getting pretty tired. Unfortunately EOAT seem to be just another run of the mill death-metal-core band. I was pretty bored by them. So I went to see THE FUTUREHEADS (10/10).

Whatever you think about The Futureheads they write some catchy songs. And everyone at Offset found that out. Their whole set was full of crowd pleasers, and was a great way to end the main stage for me. Completely energetic ,and I think a crowd favourite when they finally played ‘Hounds of Love’ which had the whole festival screaming ‘And I’ll throw them in the lake!’. Tremendous power-pop-friendly indie that would leave any man or woman tapping their feet. I then made my way back to the Hardcore tent for DEVIL SOLD HIS SOUL (10/10). Devil Sold His Soul performs an epically blissful thirty minutes of absolute audio onslaught. Large soundscapes, slow riffs and ballistic stage presence. The crowd warm very well to the 6-piece by provinding one of the biggest pits today. Highlights of their set were the epically beautiful ‘Crane Lake’ and massive numbers like ‘Like it’s Your Last’ really were phenomenal. The best way to end the first day of absolute chaos in this tiny little tent.

Day two and CROCUS (7/10) were probably not the best cure for a hangover after the first night. The screamo 4-piece blast their way through all their songs, jumping around like fucking lunatics. Crocus are another band that I have been absolutely impressed with lately as they’ve really become an impressive collective with a fanbase to match as songs like ‘When Your Own Heart Asks’. Absolutely impressive. AZRIEL (1/10) unfortunately didn’t impress the same effect on me. The band have been around the hardcore/metal scene for a good few years now. I can imagine in one point in their career they were going to peak and make it as a well-remembered metalcore band. Now it seems they missed that years ago, and their set is hollow and stale. There was nothing worth remembering, which is a shame because at one point I remember they were a force to be reckoned with, now they are not.

After though was a bit of a sigh of relief as HOLY STATE (7/10) approached the stage as a bit of fresh air. Holy State have a very driven sound similar to early post-punk of the 90′s, which was a definite positive for me, the only thing I would say was that much of their set is quite samey, but this isn’t always a bad thing. Their songs flow really well, and have a driving force that made the set memorable for the day. MATHS (6/10) were up next, and much like Crocus they provided a much needed dose of erratic passionate screamo. The band dropped in some material from their new album, which sounded fantastic. Maths are fast, heavy and everything inbetween, and their set at Offset really displayed what Maths do so well: Play fantastic songs. TUBELORD (9/10) were a band I was too excited to see, and it seemed I wasn’t the only one. For an unsigned band like this the tent was rammed with people. Tubelord played a short but sweet set full of jingles and sing-a-longs. as well as a preview of their new album, being released via Hassle Records. A great show with mosh pits and eagle masks. I’d imagine Tubelord will follow the same success that Biffy Clyro did. Their use of complex and irratic post hardcore with brilliantly written songs, will make Tubelord a force to be reckoned with.

On my way back to the Hardcore tent I  awaited THROATS (9/10), and I think I can honestly say that they owned that crowd during their twenty or so minutes on stage. Their set was messy, the sound was everywhere, but it seemed like the culmination of years and years of playing in shit pubs. It was Throats time to shine, and they did. The crowd was more than happy to give them the show they wanted:Pits, stage -dives, crowd-surfing-dwarfs (editor: orly?). Viva la Throats!! My last trip to the main stage found me catching DANANANANAKROYD (8/10) who were very loud, and had some real dancey numbers. The two vocalists work together really well within their live show, and also within their music, but I felt the two drummers really were quite redundant. With favourite songs like ‘Black Wax’ you can’t go wrong,  and Dananananakroyd had the crowd eating out of their hands, and for good reason, they were lively and a definite fan favourite.

ROLO TOMASSI (10/10) were to become the last band I saw at Offset, as my fatigue was really setting in to the point of collapse. I hadn’t seen Rolo Tomassi in 3 years, and what a change. The band have become ‘that band’, that band in the sense as when people talk about how good they are, they aren’t over exaggerating or hyping them. They are that good. They still have kept that sheer brutalily, and also that erratic post hardcore mentality. But now their sound is way more refined. So much violence in a tent must mean the show was good. Rolo Tomasi played more of their album, along with a new song called ‘Party Wounds’ and also some old favourites. They were tight and they could stop on a dime ;that’s how refined they are. Probably the best and only way to end my weekend here at Offset. If the line up is as good as it is this year, there’s no way I won’t go next year.

Mazz Gambardella

How Stanford the CIA/NSA Built the Valley We Know Today

How much does an average Googler know about the history of the place he works in? Silicon Valley. Come and test your knowledge. I have seen this talk and I assure you -even seasoned Silicon Valley veterans will find this story interesting. Silicon Valley entrepreneur Steve Blank will talk about how World War II set the stage for the creation and explosive growth of Silicon Valley, and the role of Frederick Terman and Stanford in working with government agencies (including the CIA and the National Security Agency) to set up companies in this area that sparked the creation of hundreds of other enterprises.

Interesting stuff! Thanks again to Eric for sending us this. If you want to shove something our way feel free to email kenATsittingnow.co.uk, and we’ll gladly take it off your hands!

Ken Eakins

080909top2

"Hey Alex, I was thinking when I meet Obama I'll use my serious business face!"

A few years ago Charlie Sheen, Hollywood golden boy and ex-hubby of big-boobed-mentalist Denise Richards, came out of the closet…as a conspiracy theorist (wait, didn’t I write this article already a couple of posts down?) Anyway, Sheen fessed up to being  a ’9/11 truther’ on the right-wing evangelist hub, The Alex Jones Show, shocking the main-stream media, and thrusting Mr Jones into the lime-light giving him the chance to deafen the poor audiences with a two minute rant.

Now, this is ok with me. Charlie Sheen seems like a decent chap, and, although I often disagree with his right-wing-Christian-isolationist-propeganda, Alex Jones is  an entertaining career-conspiracy theorist, and often brings up some interesting points about crooked people in positions of power. I don’t even mind the, frankly, gut-churning cheesy rants and crazy faces he pulls on a weekly basis:

The Alex Jones Crazy-Face-2000™

The Alex Jones Crazy-Face-2000™: use only when confronting the Illuminati, or fans that dare question your actions online.

Today, however, my patience with Mr Jones, and his blatent self-promoting, profiteering hokem, finally expired. On Sunday, I was told that Jones had a revalation that was so important that ‘”If I disapear, I have made arrangements that  this information gets out“. A dramatic statement by any measure. So earlier, I was lurking my usual online haunts, and a friend reminded me of Jones’ claim. I rushed to infowars.com, and was hit with a sudden rush of excitment, had this really happened?:

‘Reported by Charlie Sheen
Infowars
Tuesday, September 8, 2009

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with our 44^th President of the United States of America, Barack Hussein Obama, while he was out promoting his health care reform initiative. I requested 30 minutes given the scope and detail of my inquiry; they said I could have 20. Twenty minutes, 1200 seconds, not a lot of time to question the President about one of the most important events in our nation’s history. The following is a transcript of our remarkable discussion.’

What follows is a transcript, written by Sheen, of the discussion with President Obama.  Now, regardless of your opinions on the 9/11 truth movement, and conspiracy theory in general, it’s kind of impressive that Sheen managed to get close enough to the most powerful man in the world for more than a handshake. The conversation transcript contains a lot of the usual blow-by-blow evidence we’ve all heard time and time again, but there’s a bigger problem...it’s a total hoax!

You’d be forgiven for not realising this, as there was NO disclaimer on the infowars version of the article, and to top it off, if you did question the validity of it, your comment would be CENSORED by the ‘Jones Web Gestapo’…hmm, now where have I heard some Texan idiot ranting about this kind of behaviour before?

***Edit***

The guys at AboveTopSecret, much to Jones’ detriment I imagine, have the original for all to see here

***

But what really makes my blood boil here isn’t the fake interview, it’s the advertising! That’s right folks, littered throughout the ‘interview’ and related posts on his sites, Jones has added banner-ads to his upcoming Obama-basher, ‘Fall of the Republic‘.

Whoops, how did that advert get there?

It’s one thing to censor your fans, but to treat them like idiots as well is going too far in my books. This is nothing but a publicity stunt to sell more DVDs and website subscriptions. Shame on you Alex jones, at least some of your brain-washed cult have seen the light:

‘Not Cool

jones just lost a listener. this behavior is extremely shady. three comments have been censored. this interview did not happen. it is a literary device. i don’t know what is up with jones putting this up like it is real. there’s going to be alot of angry prison planet readers in about a half hour. they just made a bunch of fools of us all. thanks alex.’

‘Long-time supporter

The day a fictional story is hyped as the “biggest development in the truth movement” is the day I cancel my membership to Prison Planet (immediately). Goodbye AJ.’

‘Ciaran Says:

What the hell? Not only was this ridiculously disappointing but now most of the people here didn’t bother reading the author’s note, which was conveniently left at the bottom!’

"I WAS USING THEIR OWN WEAPON AGAINST THEM...really"

Blah Blah Blah...prisonplanet.com...Blah Blah Blah.

Jones has claimed on todays Alex Jones Show, that he was merely creating his own ‘Psyop-style’ operation to create more awareness of his website and DVDs the 9/11 truth movement, and that we in the ‘alternative media’ are bastards for twigging onto his blatent profiteering ‘jealous of his connections to Charlie Sheen’.

No Alex, we just don’t like seeing people that you have shouted into submission over the last few years, being played like fools; and then watch you act like a little baby by altering both of your sites AFTER THE FACT, censor your fans comments that PAY to hear you bleat through a bloody bull-horn and advertise fear-inducing products like ‘E-Foods’…now take your bull-horn and shove it up your ass!

Ken Eakins

]]> http://sittingnow.co.uk/2009/09/09/alex-jones-and-charlie-sheen-hoax-the-911-truth-movement-to-sell-dvds/feed/ 19 http://sittingnow.co.uk/2009/09/07/people-of-walmart/ http://sittingnow.co.uk/2009/09/07/people-of-walmart/#comments Mon, 07 Sep 2009 11:23:52 +0000 Ken http://sittingnow.co.uk/?p=1381

A brave reporter from Peopleofwalmart.com

A brave reporter from Peopleofwalmart.com?

Ahhh Walmart, how I miss  you and your super low prices! Our alternative here in the UK, ASDA, is similar in many ways (they recently became ‘Part of the Walmart family’), but it does lack some of the blatent freaks one can fiind wandering the aisles of its bigger brother.

Thankfully, I don’t have to travel all the way over to ‘Middle-America’ with my ‘Freak-Capture-2000′ app for the iPhone. Instead, the Internet patriots over at peopleofwalmart.com are, like brave pith-hat-wearing explorers, capturing these odd-balls in their natural enviroment, and uploading them for all to examine.

Some highlights:

"Every man has an NFL jersey AND short pink shorts in their wardrobe, right? Pennsylvania"

"Every man has an NFL jersey AND short pink shorts in their wardrobe, right? Pennsylvania"

Do you see the flame shoes buddy? That means I will not think twice about karate chopping you!

"Do you see the flame shoes buddy? That means I will not think twice about karate chopping you!"

"Oh, you want to take my son for a ride in your van? Ya sure i don’t see a problem with that."

"Oh, you want to take my son for a ride in your van? Ya sure i don’t see a problem with that."

"Seriously guys, its an Indian symbol for good fortune"

"Seriously guys, its an Indian symbol for good fortune"

Oh Americans, how we mock thee. Of course, here in the UK, we’d never breed such weirdos. No, we’re all pipe-smoking, tea-drinking, debonair types i’m afraid:

or not...

or not...

Ken Eakins

Broadcast #009

Broadcast #009

***New Signal****

1. Melt Banana – Cat Brain Land
2. Wounds - Pyramids
3. Aaron Spectre (Mochipet Remix)- Botan Ricecore
4. The Locust – Who Wants A Dose Of The Clap
5. Run, Walk! - 3,5,10
6. Pecs in a Chain – Pervs on a Scrollbar
7. Kramer vs Kramer vs Godzilla – Toymaz
8. Copy Haho – Pushing Pull Ups
9. Epideme - Threatenings
10. Mice Parade – Tales of Las Negras
11. Mimas - Cats on Fire
12. Wild Stallions – Captain Metalcore
13. Melvins - Lee Renaldo Remix –  ’EggNog Trilogy” i)She’s Ivanhoe ii)Cancer iii)Inebriated – Lee Ranaldo’)

If you want us to play your band/noise/whatever, drop us a line at behindcloseddoors@sittingnow.co.uk.

Peace

***Signal Ends**

Not a picture I ever expected to be posting to SittingNow...urgh

Not a picture I ever expected to be posting to SittingNow...

This is starting to become a trend. You’re a pop-star, you’re bored, you spend an inordinate amount of time online (probably vanity-searching your own name), and you stumble upon…let’s say Above Top Secret…and all of a sudden you know ‘the Truth’. So what do you do next? The only thing you know how to do…publicise your amazing discovery!

Now, we know that this hasn’t always gone so well for other well-known would-be prophets of the New World Order. Former footballer and TV pundit David Icke, for example, suffered a painful humiliation at the hands of the BBC’s Terry Wogan…twice. Infamous MI5-bean-spiller David Shayler decided he’d found the truth, that he was the son of god, was duly hung-drawn and quartered, and did what any self respecting former government spook would…became a transvestite.

More recent recruits to world of ‘Celebrity Conspiracy Land’ have included Rosie ‘O Donnell, Robie Williams, and most recently,  Jim Corr. “JIMM ‘THE CORRS’ CORR?…really? ” I hear you ask. Really:

There’s something almost cute about his lateness to game with some of this stuff, but what the hell. I just hope we can expect a ‘New World Order’ themed Corrs album in the coming months, perhaps with guest vocals by Alex Jones…I think I just created the perfect super-group!

Ken Eakins

]]> http://sittingnow.co.uk/2009/09/04/jim-corr-popstar-heart-throbconspiracy-theorist/feed/ 6 http://sittingnow.co.uk/2009/08/31/alesiter-crowley-returning-to-the-big-screen/ http://sittingnow.co.uk/2009/08/31/alesiter-crowley-returning-to-the-big-screen/#comments Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:58:26 +0000 Ken http://sittingnow.co.uk/?p=1360 I just spotted this on Lashtal, it’s old, but split my attention somehow.

Bronson filmaker Nicolas Winding Refn is planning a new Aleister Crowley movie. Let’s just hope that he does a better job than some of the more recent efforts.From Fangoria:

Nicolas Winding Refn - Considering Crowley

Nicolas Winding Refn - Considering Crowley

“I’m a massive fan of filmmaker Kenneth Anger,” explains the Danish filmmaker, who’s currently finishing off his new horror/fantasy VALHALLA RISING. “His work, like INAUGURATION OF THE PLEASURE DOME and INVOCATION OF MY DEMON BROTHER, informed the look and tone of BRONSON to some degree, and I was going through my Anger book collection to see if there was anything missing. I found ‘The Aleister Crowley Scrapbook’ by Colin Wilson, in which Anger speaks about the villa in Cefalu, Sicily where the infamous British occultist played a lot of his black magic sex games.

“So imagine my surprise, while leafing through it, to come across a picture of Crowley as a young man, the spitting image of Tom Hardy! Immediately it started me thinking about applying the same logic to a film on Crowley as I had on BRONSON. Bronson’s frustration was all about his inability to express himself through violent celebrity; prison finally transformed his aimless life into that of a sensitive artist. Similarly, Crowley finding himself through drugs, astrology, black magic and bisexuality could become another fascinating metaphor—to explore the concept of what it means to the British in terms of eccentric hedonism.”

Crowley magicking it up!

Crowley magicking it up!

The recent UK chiller CROWLEY (a.k.a. CHEMICAL WEDDING) took cues from the occultist’s life to tell a contemporary story of possession, but Refn is aiming for more of a twisted biographical piece. “I am not knowledgeable at all about Crowley’s life,” Refn admits, “and I will need a good writer to put all these ideas in formation. But the moment I called Tom and suggested the project, he didn’t hesitate to say yes. His only question was, ‘When do we start?’ We had a great working relationship on BRONSON, and finally, after many years of trying to break through, I believe he’s now on his way to real stardom. I couldn’t think of anyone better to play the young Crowley. I have no title as yet, and will not be able to get around to it until after the proposed PUSHER 4 at least. But there’s definitely a far-out, sexy, trippy, horrifying movie to be made out of this notorious, Satan-worshipping cult personality. Think Charles Manson times a billion, and that’s what I want to depict on screen.”

Ken Eakins

hmmm…

Ken Eakins

You'd never believe the Church of Satan considered this guy a heretic!

.

We finally did it, we reached episode 30! To celebrate the ‘big 3 0′ we decided to invite back co-hosts Raymond Wiley and Austin Gandy to get the proceedings in full swing, and booked a guest that we’ve been hankering after for a while now. To top this off, we also recorded the show live (something we plan to do from now on), and our audience gave us some great questions!

The guest in question, Isaac Bonewits, has had a fantastically rich career in occultism. From becoming the ArchDruid of  the RDNA, to helping reconstruct the ‘Caliphate’ branch of the OTO, Isaac gives us a fantastically engaging, frank and often funny, interview.

Discussed this week: Why Neo-paganism appears to be changing, How to get thrown out of the Church of Satan by Aton Lavay, being awarded the only recognised academic degree in ‘Magic’, the effect of ‘crud’ on estoterism, and uncle Aleister.

Of course, no show would be complete without a musical interlude from the amazing Daddytank and his chorus of noise! This weeks entertainers:

Each Paw Gremlin Small – IIIsey

e.r.o.d.e – R03

Early Paintings - Fundamentalist

We’ll keep you posted on the site for when we’re doing the next live show. You can also follow site developments on Twitter, just follow @sittingnow

enjoy!

Isaac Bonewits Bio:

Bonewits, P. E. I. (Isaac) (1949–?) One of the brightest and most colorful figures of the Neopagan movement, Philip Emmons Isaac Bonewits is best known for his leadership in modern Druidism. He is a priest, magician, scholar, author, bard and activist, and has dedicated himself to reviving Druidism as a “Third Wave” religion aimed at protecting “Mother Nature and all Her children.“

Bonewits was born on October 1, 1949, in Royal Oak, Michigan — the perfect place, he likes to joke, for a future Archdruid. The fourth of five children (three girls, two boys), he spent most of his childhood in Ferndale, a suburb of Detroit. When he was nearly 12, the family moved to [Southern California, first on the actual beach of Capistrano Beach, later to] San Clemente, California.

From his mother, a devout Roman Catholic, Bonewits developed an appreciation for the importance of religion; from his father, a convert to Catholicism from Presbyterianism, he acquired skepticism. He bounced back and forth between parochial and public schools, largely due to the lack of programs for very bright students — his I.Q. was tested at 200.

His first exposure to magic came at age 13, when he met a young Creole woman from New Orleans who practiced Voodoo. She showed him some of her magic and so accurately divined the future [and so successfully performed spells] that he was greatly impressed. During his teen years, he read extensively about magic and parapsychology. He also read science fiction, which often has strong magical and psychic themes.

In ninth grade, Bonewits entered a Catholic high-school seminary. He soon realized, however, that he did not want to be a priest in the Catholic faith. He returned to public school and graduated a year early. After spending a year in junior college to get foreign language credits, he enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley in 1966. At about the same time, he began practicing magic, devising his own rituals by studying the structure of rituals in books, and by observing them in various churches.

His roommate at Berkeley, Robert Larson, was a Druid, an alumnus of Carleton College, where the Reformed Druids of North America (RDNA) had been founded in 1963. Larson interested Bonewits in Druidism and initiated him into the RDNA. The two established a grove in Berkeley. Bonewits was ordained as a Druid priest in October 1969. The Berkeley grove was shaped as a Neopagan religion, unlike other RDNA groves, which considered the order a philosophy. The Neopagan groves became part of a branch called the New Reformed Druids of North America (NRDNA).

During college, Bonewits spent about eight months as a member of the Church of Satan, an adventure that began as a lark. The college campus featured a Spot where evangelists of various persuasions would lecture to anyone who would listen. As a joke, Bonewits showed up one day to perform a satirical lecture as a Devil’s evangelist. He was so successful that he was approached by a woman who said she represented Anton Szandor LaVey, the founder of the Church of Satan. Bonewits attended the church’s meetings and improved upon some of their rituals but dropped out after personality conflicts with LaVey. The membership, he found, consisted largely of middleclass conservatives who were more “rightwing and racist” than Satanist.

Bonewits had intended to major in psychology but through Berkeley’s individual group-study program fashioned his own course of study. In 1970 he graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in magic [and thaumaturgy], the first person ever to do so at a Westem educational institution. He also was the last to do so in the United States[?]. College administrators were so embarrassed over the publicity about the degree that magic, witchcraft and sorcery were banned from the individual group-study program.

The fame of his degree led to a book contract. In 1971 Real Magic was published, offering Bonewits’ views on magic, ritual and psychic abilities. A revised and updated edition was published in 1979 and reissued in 1989.

In 1973 Bonewits met a woman named Rusty [Elliot], a folksinger in the Berkeley cafes. They moved to Minneapolis, where they were married, and where Bonewits took over the editorship of Gnostica, a Neopagan journal published by Carl Weschcke of Llewellyn Publications. He gaveGnostica a scholarly touch and turned it into the leading journal in the field. But the job lasted only 1 1/2 years, for the editorial changes resulted in the loss of many non-Pagan readers, who found the magazine too high brow.

Bonewits remained in Minneapolis for about another year. While there he established a Druid grove called the Schismatic Druids of North America, a splinter group of the RDNA. He also joined with several Jewish pagan friends and created the Hasidic Druids of North America, the only grove of which existed briefly in St. Louis, where its membership overlapped with that of the Church of All Worlds. In 1974–75, Bonewits [partially] wrote, edited and self-published The Druid Chronicles (Evolved), a compendium of the history, theology, rituals and customs of all the Reformed Druid movements, including the ones he invented himself.

[During this same time] he also founded the Aquarian Anti-Defamation League (AADL), a civil liberties and public relations organization for members of minority belief systems, such as the Rosicrucians, Theosophists, Neopagans, Witches, occultists, astrologers and others. [See The Aquarian Manifesto.] Bonewits sought to convince such persons that they had more in common with each other than they realized. By banding together, they could effectively fight, through the press and the courts, the discrimination and harassment of the Judeo-Christian conservatives.

Bonewits served as president of the AADL and devoted most of his income — from unemployment insurance — to running it. The organization scored several small victories in court, such as restoring an astrologer to her apartment, after she had been evicted because a neighbor told her landlord that her astrology classes were “black magic seances.” In 1976 Bonewits and Rusty divorced, and he decided to return to Berkeley. The AADL disintegrated shortly after his departure.

In Berkeley, Bonewits rejoined the NRDNA grove and was elected Archdruid. He established The Druid Chronicler (which later became Pentalpha Journal) as a national Druid publication in 1978. He attempted to make the Berkeley grove as Neopagan as the groves in Minneapolis and St. Louis, which caused a great deal of friction among the longtime members. After a few clashes, Bonewits left the organization. Pentalpha Journal folded.

[Also in 1978 , he researched and wrote Authentic Thaumaturgy, essentially a rewrite of Real Magic for players of fantasy role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons. It was published in booklet format, shown left, in 1978 and 1979 by The Chaosium, publishers of the Runequest and Call of Cthulu games. “A.T.” became highly influential in the RPG community, even though no more than 1,000 copies were ever printed. Many years later, in 1998, he published a dramatically expanded and updated edition, shown right, for Steve Jackson Games, which released it as a large trade paperback. Excerpts from this new edition can be foundhere.]

In 1979 he married for a second time, to a woman named Selene [Kumin]. That relationship ended in 1982 [after a brief stay in Santa Cruz, California, where he worked as a typesetter]. In 1983 he was initiated into the New Reformed Order of the Golden Dawn [the San Francisco Bay Area’s best known, and stereotypically “eclectic,” Wiccan tradition]. The same year, he married again, to Sally Eaton, the actress who created the role of the hippie Witch in the Broadway musical, Hair. [During the early 1980s, Bonewits and Eaton were heavily involved in the California revival of the Ordo Templi Orientis, or “O.T.O.,” best known for its most important historical figure, Aliester Crowley.] They moved to New York City in 1983 where Bonewits met Shenain Bell, a fellow Neopagan, and discussed the idea of starting a Druidic organization.

The fellowship, Ár nDraíocht Féin (“Our Own Druidism” in Irish Gaelic), was born as a fresh Neopagan religious organization with no ties to the ancient Druids or to the RDNA, which by this time was apparently [but not exactly] defunct. Bonewits became Archdruid, and Bell became ViceArchdruid.

In 1986 Bonewits and Eaton separated, and he moved to Kansas City for several months, where he worked as a computer consultant. He then returned to Berkeley but could not find work in Silicon Valley, which was in a slump [they had a glut of unemployed technical writers at the time]. He moved back to the East Coast, to Nyack, New York, near Manhattan, in November 1987, with his intended fourth wife, Deborah Lipp, a Wiccan high priestess [and married her in 1988]. He continued work as a computer consultant and worked on the building of Ár nDraíocht Féin. He also began work on a book on the creation, preparation and performance of effective religious rituals [finally published as Rites of Worship: A Neopagan Approachin 2004 and as Neopagan Rites in 2007].

[From 1988 through 1995, Bonewits and Lipp were partners (along with several others across the continent) in making ADF the largest and most successful Neopagan Druid organization in North America, with legal standing and tax exempt status in the USA. For most of this time, they were also partners in running a Gardnerian Wiccan “Pagan Way” group and then a coven in New York and New Jersey.]

[1990 saw the birth of Bonewits’ first known child, Arthur Lipp-Bonewits, at their home in Dumont, New Jersey. Arthur quickly became known among East Coast Neopagans as an intelligent, self-aware, and hyperactive child. 1990 also saw, however, a serious blow to Bonewits’ health, when he began showing symptoms of a newdisease called Eosinophilia Myalgia Syndrome, caused by chemically contaminated L-Tryptophan tablets manufactured in Japan and consumed by tens of thousands of Americans in 1989. This multisystemic disease caused Bonewits an increasing inability to perform his secular or Archdruidic duties, leading to his loss of employment in 1992 and his resignation as Archdruid of ADF, and assumption of the Archdruid Emeritus title, on January 1, 1996.  In 1997 and 1998, Bonewits began to show signs of recovering from the disease’s worst effects, except for relapses in the winter months, but by this time the disease had also caused severe damage to his marriage with Deborah, and in 1998 they separated.]

The “10–year gap.” Bonewits has discovered, he says, a “10–year gap” between many of his views and their acceptance among Neopagans. In 1973 he was the first Neopagan to state publicly that the alleged antiquity of Neopagan Witchcraft (Wicca) was “hogwash.” The Craft, he said, did not go back beyond Gerald B. Gardner and Doreen Valiente [Now he is willing to push it all the back to the 1920’s. See Witchcraft: A Concise Guide]. Bonewits was held in contempt by many for that, yet by 1983, Neopagans generally acknowledged that Neopagan Witchcraft was a new religion, not the continuation of an old one. The Aquarian Anti-Defamation League was also ahead of its time. In 1974–75, Neopagans were not ready to admit that they needed public relations and legal help. By a decade later, a number of such organizations were in existence.

Around 1985 Bonewits began regularly discussing the need to provide social services for domestic and personal problems and drug dependencies. Neopagans, he points out, represent a cross section of the population, and such problems cut across religious lines. Bonewits estimates that as many as 80 percent of Neopagans come from “non[‘dys-’]functional family” backgrounds. Neopagans, he observes, are brighter and more artistic than average, but also, therefore, “more neurotic.” [He now thinks much of it may be related to “Aspergers Syndrome”] The community has been quick to address these social issues with programs [such as various “Pagan 12-Step Programs”].

Bonewits also began lobbying for financial support for full-time Neopagan clergy (the priesthood is essentially a volunteer job), but the idea fell on uninterested ears. In 1988 Bonewits was pursuing a goal of buying land and establishing an academically accredited Pagan seminary. [As of 2006, there are dozens of Pagan-owned land sanctuaries, and a few Pagan seminaries earning accreditation from the national accreditation agencies. Alas, ADF is not among them, though a couple of ADF groves own their own land. A few Neopagan clergy have managed to obtain employment via the Covenent of Unitarian Universalist Pagans (CUUPS) as UU ministers.]

[On July 23, 2004, Isaac was handfasted to ceremonial magician, Wiccan priestess, and early member of CUUPS, Ms. Phaedra Heyman. On December 7th of 2007, Isaac and Deborah were legally divorced and Isaac and Phaedra were wed on December 31, 2007. They now reside in Rockland County, New York, and have recently written a book together: Real Energy: Systems, Spirits, and Substances to Heal, Change, and Grow (New Page, March 2007).

Wow, someone give that guy some heroin or something…

Ken Eakins

Rawk!

Rawk!

This is the first release from the band and it is a short but delicious slice of what Dillinger Escape Plan would sound like if they were British. All the tracks are short and opening number “Small Town, Big Mouth” is under two mins of hardcore math-metal. Or metal math-hardcore. Whatever connotation you prefer, its fierce and sounds like something Dillinger Escape Plan would have recorded between “The Running Board” and “Calculating Infinity”. Full on riffing, gives way to time change, back to riffing (complete with semi-jazz licks that charge up and down the fretboard a la D.E.P).Slow heavy bit. End.

With a barely perceptible gap, all of a sudden were listening to “Shit Eating Grin” with more insane thrashing that suddenly gives way to a treble- jazz-y break that’s so Dillinger its ludicrous. This band is very talented and I like what they do, but it is impossible to listen to this EP without the “D” word coming up in my mind every 30 seconds. Normally this makes me consign bands to the copycat bin but it is more like Chronicles Of Adam West have taken the Dillinger sound and explored it for its full potential, rather than slavishly copied it. The little riff at the end of “Shit Eating Grin” that gives way to a quick burst of TV like white noise confirms for me that this band would be making music like this even if Dillinger did not exist… it would just have taken them longer to get there.

Click to Buy!

Click to Buy!

The technical abilities of the drummer and guitarist are a huge asset to this band giving them the ability to keep up with the best that Dillinger have to offer (although the drumming never quite makes your jaw fall open in the way that the Dillinger drummer did). That said they don’t show off unnecessarily, and songwriting is never far from their minds, as the delicate riff which makes up the body of “The Applicant” shows. I haven’t forgotten about the bassist, it’s just that it seems that bass has to be virtually subliminal on these kind of records nowadays. And the vocal…. well anyone can sound like Renwick in solitary confinement if they really want. This is not an insult, as the vocal is perfectly “in tune” with everything else going on. It’s just not what your mum would like that’s all.

“Corvus et Lupus” begins with what sounds a little like the intro to “Cape Fear” (as done by Fantomas), but it swiftly switches to a slow and sure mosh-up interspersed with bursts of what sounds like the whole band being thrown down some amplified stairs. It’s a bit like answering the door while still sleepy, being punched in the face by an angry skinhead and then having it soothed better by a lovely lady. Confusing but memorable.

“Showcat” starts off all post-rock and sweet, and yet again I am impressed by their ear for a good riff. This is the sort of tune that can entice in naïve listeners before raping their ears with the vicious, spiralling madness that the track becomes, after a cheeky little moment of guitar-lickery mid-song. The track tumbles over itself to bring the track and EP to a thoroughly satisfying conclusion.

I like this band and for a pretty paltry price the EP is available from http://www.holyroarrecords.com/

Kim Monaghan

Elegy really was only the tip of the iceberg though, Zorn covers a huge amount of bases musically, from Thrash Jazz, to improv, to Jewish compositions, to pieces for suprano (and many many others). I actually think if you were to sit back and absorb the days worth of music in this mans ouvre, you might possibly go mad:

Zorn very rarely does interviews, which to me, adds even more ‘mystique’ to the mix. The problem with this, however, is the ‘need-to-know-every-detail-about-this-music’ side of me is left vastly unsatisfied. Sure, you could argue that Zorn’s label Tzadik’s recently released ‘A Bookshelf on Top of the Sky’ DVD covers a lot of bases; BUT I NEED MORE.

Thankfully, on one of my trawls of the Internets looking for interesting things, I found this excellent Q&A with the man, which I hope you’ll enjoy as much as I did:

***If this isn’t working in your browser (it’s archive.org, cmon), you can watch it here***

Ken Eakins

Sigil Business!

Sigil Business!

Sometime in early 2009, I was approached by a person about creating a sigil to help him get more business. While I’m personally of the belief that if you want something, you should do it yourself, I was also intrigued by his request, partially because I was in the process of working to get more clients for my own business ventures. However, as I thought about it, I realized I wanted to do something magical that worked for more than just one or two businesses, and had more of a positive effect for people in general.

I took this request to a group of other magical practitioners I work with on a regular basis. We started out by asking ourselves what the best method of delivery was. Should we  use a sigil that we could give out to people, or should we work some kind of ceremonial magical working and then share that working with others, or should we work with a deity or daemon of wealth? We discussed all of those possibilities and ended up rejecting all of them for various reasons.

Another concern we discussed what exactly what we’d focus that’d really be representative of economic activism. We didn’t feel that helping corporations to be economically healthier was really benefitting everyone, and also felt that magically prompting people to spend money was both unethical and not a definite solution to the poor economy.

The more time we spent discussing what would be a viable form of economic activism, the more we realized that it was very hard to come to a group consensus about a magical act that all of us could be comfortable with. However one theme that consistently came up was that any magical work we did needed to incorporate the theme of collaboration in it, the idea that people would actively help each other out and work together.

Eventually we decided that we would create a networking entity; specifically an entity which would help people network better. While the stereotypical image of a networker is a person holding a business card in one hand and a drink in the other, the reality is that a networker is someone who is focused on creating quality relationships with the people s/he knows and finding out what each person needs, while matching him/her up with someone who can meet that need. In essence, the very quality of collaboration that we’d agreed on, and an essential ingredient in really building up a community.

The next step was to create an entity. We decided to use a technique where the entity would tell us it’s naming using a pendulum and letters. One of us would use the pendulum and be guided by the entity, while the rest of us put our energy into the creation of the entity. This was a fairly exhausting method for determining the entity’s name, especially for the person using the pendulum, but we also thought it was a useful way of introducing ourselves to the entity, while also creating it. Eventually we did get a name: Zi Fupsekip Vosri. It actually rolls off the tongue fairly well, and the image that came to mind was of some Eastern European person in a suit, with a pleasant smile and an eagerness to help others and collaborate.

Having the name wasn’t enough. We also needed a message from this entity that embodied what it had to offer and a symbol that embodied the concept as well as a method of transmission by which we could share the entity. The method of transmission we decided on was to create a business card format. Because business cards are used as a transmission of a person’s information we thought this might be a successful way to share the entity with other people.

On the front of the card we placed the name of the entity, and a symbol that represented networking, the bringing together of many different connections to form a pattern of success that could be shared to the benefit of everyone. We wanted the concept of networking to focus on success, regardless of whether it was monetary or bargaining or some other form of success, so we came up with a phrase: Mutually Assured Prosperity, Inc(arnated): Wherever people meet to create  abundance. The idea being that if people met to share and collaborate this entity would be there, helping them to do that, as well as encouraging the possibility of other opportunities. On the back of the card we provided further details about what Zi Fupsekip Vosri does and how to feed Zi Fupsekip Vosri (simply pass out the card to other people).

All it takes to activate Zi Fupsekip Vosri is passing out the card. We’ve already put together a small batch of cards, and more will be sent to a professional printer so that we can start passing them out to our local community. The best thing about this card is that it can be a conversation starter, which is the spirit of true networking. Passing the card provides the opportunity to explain what the card is about, but also will provide you the opportunity to find out more about the people you are meeting. Remember to ask the phrase, “What do you need?” It’s a powerful phrase that will allow you to find out what someone else needs and start figuring out who you know that can help this person. And of course, don’t be shy in sharing what you need. You never know who that person is connected to, who could help you!

Below are images of the front of the card and the back of the card. I invite readers to create their own cards and share Zi Fupsekip Vosri with the people they know and don’t know. Network, collaborate and share, and through that create an act of economic activism that helps everyone as opposed to only a few.

ecactivism2

rear of card

I would like to thank Innowen, Cobalt, Rowan, MM, and Bill Whitcomb for their help and participation in creating this entity.

Taylor Ellwood

Nothings permanant, not even death. I’m really excited about any film that has Tom Waits as the Devil! Here’s Mr Gilliam on the movie:

You don’t really have to be a massive fan of video games to enjoy PP, but it does help. The series, which began in 2004 and has three million viewers, has been on a railroad of misfortune in recent months, begining with the death of Troy Dixon (the character T Bag) and followed by an apparant nervous breakdown by the shows star Jarret Cale, so it’s great to finally have some good news from them.

If you’ve never heard of the show, check all the episodes for free here, in the mean time, check this classic moment:

**Edit**

The showtime.ca blog has revealed some more of the plot of the TV series:

“If you’re new to the fold, then you need to know a few things. First, it’s pronounced “ownage”. Second, the series details the exploits of Jeremy (Jarett Cale), a 26-year-old gamer whose obsession with the Internet and gaming culture is rivalled only by his total lack of social graces. (In other words, he’s an “indoor guy”.) Behold, Jeremy:

The series, which premieres in 2010, finds Jeremy at a crossroads: if he is to maintain residence in his mother’s basement, then he’ll need to get a job — and getting a job means stepping out of the gaming world and back into reality. With that in mind, Jeremy starts his own rock band, becomes a video game tutor, and attempts to socialize with his co-workers at a grocery store.”

Broadcast #008

Broadcast #008

***New Signal****

1. The Red Crayola – Hurricane Fighter Plane
2. Knifehandchop – Break Your Speakers
3. Worriedaboutsatan – Evil Dogs
4. A Hawk and A Hacksaw – The Moon Under Water
5. Black Cobra – One Nine
6. Fuck Buttons – Bright Tomorrow
7. Flying Lotus – Interference
8. Rotator – AERODYNAMIT PUNX
9. Adebisi Shank - Oyasumi
10. Jason Lyttle – I am Lost and the moment cannot last
11. Knut – Wyriwys
12. Kid Pang – Capt. Fidanza
13. Brazillian Girls – St Petersburg

If you want us to play your band/noise/whatever, drop us a line at behindcloseddoors@sittingnow.co.uk.

Peace

***Signal Ends**

A Gliding Frog

A Gliding Frog

350+ new species have been discovered in the Himalayas!

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Villagers in Nepal flock to worship newly born malformed infant as Hindu god.

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Quick way to riches: photograph the Israeli mermaid!

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Home sellers seek help from St. Joseph.

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Newscientist.com writes on why humans can talk and chimps can’t!

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Ethics of moose chasers are put into question.

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A cyclist carried an alligator on his back until apprehended.

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Taxidermy squirrels! Beautiful!

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Missing condiments inspire a woman to attempt to run over a KFC employee.

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Manson “family” apparently haunted years later.

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Man arrested for making over a hundred prank 911 calls.

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Mouse builds nest from $20 bills in ATM.

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The Nurse of the Year, was not really a nurse after all!

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Obese inmate hides a gun within flabs of flesh!

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Attention! New UFO hotspot!

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A roundup of weird holidays from around the world.

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677 post offices to close. GET OFF THE INTERNET AND SEND A LETTER! IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!!!!

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Men struck in the shoulder by a piece of an airplane.

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Parents have public brawl about which gang their toddler should join.

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Man fined for hypnotizing his date.

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Lady Gaga, clearly an Illuminati puppet.
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“Stereotypes persist even where immigrants don’t.”

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Apparently, an IQ test proves dogs are as smart as toddlers.

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Read all about Afghanistan’s biggest blogger!

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Tutorial in case you need to know how to write an EPIC Amazon review thread.

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And, a mathematical model for surviving a zombie attack!

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How about a mathematical model to help you choose a wife?

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Woman lights herself on fire in a mall!

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An elephant named “Five” plays the harmonica.

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Man to spend 21 days in jail for shooting out a cat with bow & arrow.

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Tallest dog in the world dies!

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Frank, the childless man, no longer has to pay child support.

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Angry woman throws empty cup at the Mona Lisa!

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Groping Minnie Mouse is just not accpetable, ok?

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Claire Lumiere

Keith doing his thang solo at the Amplify Festival last year

Keith doing his thang solo at the Amplify Festival last year

I first heard of Keith Rowe back in the late 90s when he co-formed the remarkable ‘MIMEO‘ ensemble. MIMEO’s music was, in my humble opinion, a bit hit-and-miss; though, when it worked, it really worked well.

When I played some of Keith’s compositions to a friend, he asked me what it was that seperates this music from some of the great ‘drone’ out there? The answer is that Rowe has carved his own way of manufacturing the sound, using a very analogue, and really quite unique method.

I’m not sure where this video originates from, but below is a very well put together introduction to a very unique and innovative artist.

Ken Eakins

nit-1

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I always think it’s a good sign when iTunes identifies albums genres as “Unclassifiable” as happens with this one. It is a fair point in this case as I would really struggle to define exactly what field these guys operate in. Opener “The Taste and Stink of Old Coins” throws you right in at the deep end with erratic guitars and drums that fall in and out of sync with each other. This might sound awful but it creates a sort of organic sound that is obtuse but compulsive. Vocals first appear as a Mark E Smith mutter but quickly develop into “scorched throat” shoutiness that is the only sensible vocal style to adopt with such fractured sounds. Second track “Gukurahundi” opens with spare picked guitar lines that are fleshed out with a driving but slightly off centre drum roll / beat, with some more background muttering that is effective but subservient to the music. This all leads to a manic face off between guitars and drums that vie with each other for attention but keep any kind of denouement well in hand. There are elements of Dillinger Escape Plan (without the blind ferocity) in the circling mathematical nature of the track. Its all about delayed gratification, which finally stars to arrive three minutes in with a sort of morse-code, disco-punk, mid-section of epic proportions which fades away into lo-fi jazz noodling. By the way lo-fi jazz noodling is a good thing, if you were wondering. Third track “Needs” really highlights the percussive nature of Nitkowski’s music, with their excellent drummer providing a lot of the structure to the music, which is then fleshed out and driven onwards by the guitars. It is incredibly asymmetric music, always chasing its own tail and fearful of anything like repetition or obviousness. Verse-chorus-verse this is not. Fuck knows how they would play it live.

All a blur

All a blur

At this point we are given a quick breather with “Mutha Terracist” one of those “lets muck about and see what funny noises we can get away with” tracks fashioned from some field recordings and simple studio wizardry. Not much to say about it but it did give my overworked brain a chance for a rest. “Two Above Zero” appears after this, shimmering with heat haze and a simple but exotic guitar line that made me rock back and forward like a mentaloid. More sparse vocals from the Mark E Smith school of thought appear about half way through, and lead us into a skewed and aggressive conclusion. “Rev Kid Perv Rap” sets out with what seems to be the Nitkowski trademark sound; syncopated guitar and drum parts that slowly build into the song proper with more lopsided guitars and whizz-kid drumming, but it seems to lack some of the direction of the other tracks. Maybe six minutes of this is just too much and my old and frazzled brain did not have enough RAM to cope, but this track never seems to coalesce into a satisfying whole, opting to remain a series of fascinating components.

A member of Nitowski imortalised in an etching?

A member of Nitowski imortalised in an etching?

Our second interval then appears in the form of the neolithic “Scrubbers”. The shambolic metronome approach is applied to a track that bumps along with a tom, kick and rimshot teamed with a minimal “air” synths. Simple, odd and fun. Next song “The Beveridge Report” is the track that introduced me to the band and it is a great starting point, showcasing all the things that they are good at to full effect. Atonal and racked with ADHD, it is a neurotic and slithery track that would still allow a good mosh for audiences that pay attention. An epic mid-section with truly pained sounding vocals and then all of a sudden were noodling again. Short and sweet, brash and memorable.

More classic song titles with the awesomely titled “Bite My Tongue And Do It For The Dogs” which really does sound like they threw the singer down a well for a week before lowering him a microphone. I hope he’s alright. While I have enjoyed everything thrown at me, it occurs to me that by this point in the album I am becoming slightly exhausted. It is music that requires constant attention to really extract the best out of it. Casual listening is not an option and my ears are starting to tire from the effort. “Alabaster Drive” is another entirely competent slab of twitching-muscle, art-rock but something has just occured to me. It seems like this band do not have a bass guitar. I could be wrong, but if I’m right they’ve managed to create a really full and memorable record on just two guitars and a set of drums and I didn’t even notice till the end of the last proper song. I think that makes me pretty fucking cloth-eared for someone who fancies themselves as a critic. Final track “Get A Job” is another slice of field recording and messing about with instruments that tails off with a funereal organ.

I really enjoyed this album. It is challenging without being pretentious, aggressive without being meat-headed and everything about it from the artwork to the pacing is pretty much perfect. It is maybe a little jumpy in some respects, and I suspect that the average Nitkowski gig might be a little bit of a bearded sausage-fest, but this band should be watched. If the world doesn’t suddenly implode in the next twenty minutes then they should have a very interesting and critically lauded career. Will they sell many records? Who knows, but they fucking should.

Kim Monaghan

Nitowksi on Myspace

Function Records

http://functionrecords.com

http://functionrecords.com

This 4 track eponymous EP is the first release by the band but they were together under a different name prior to this. Opening track “Am I Awake” begins with sweet and melancholy sounding guitars which are layered upon each other until joined by a simple piano line and solid but decorative bass and drums. It is at this point I hit my first snag, when the somewhat indie-ish vocals come in. As soon as the vocals come in, I turned off. Not because they are poorly done (although to my ears it is sung in a somewhat affected indie-kid style) but simply because I didn’t like them. This is obviously a bit of a problem when reviewing the EP, so having made my point about the vocals, I’ll stick to reviewing the rest of it. The song moves from melodic languor to a slightly out of place post-rock interlude, which then fades back into the opening verse accompanied by a well judged kids xylophone.

“Danger Danger” kicks off with an interesting riff that seems to come from somewhere between post-rock and power pop. Accomplished instrumental work piles on the professional pounds and despite not being musically to my taste, they are obviously a well practiced band who know their instruments and the sound they want to get from them. I would have to give particular credit to the drummer who seems to enjoy inserting little percussive flourishes in throughout which really add to the solid sound of the band.

“A Calendar Year” has more layered guitars and a drum driven intro. It occurs to me that high production values abound on this EP, if in a somewhat Spartan way. Simple studio techniques have given a fragile, minimal feel to the EP, but it also occurs to me at this point that the band is quite serious. There isn’t much respite from this and while I applaud bands taking music seriously, this EP is starting to make me think that if the band were going to film a video for one of these tracks, it would probably feature some of the following: leaves blowing about, empty beaches in winter and/or slow motion. Their quiet / loud / quiet approach is well handled but somewhat formulaic and the first similarities start to form in my mind; that the band are a sort of English Sigur Ros (minus the eccentricities and reverb) meets Explosions In The Sky (but with unnecessarily elongated vowel sounds).

“Leave Us Here” digs out the kids xylophone again but I’m starting to get the riffs muddled up. All this low-key, post-rock shoe-gazery is starting to become one in my mind. Thankfully the intro settles into an interesting and distinctly stylish verse which, after a quick burst of acapella “ba ba ba-ing” leads to the main body of the track which is propelled along by emotional instrumental work and some strangely exciting handclaps. This is the band operating at their best and all of a sudden you can see them headlining at Glastonbury or some such “music” festival.

This band is good. It is a pity I am utterly unmoved by their music. They have taken very few if any risks with this record and it strikes me as a record that has been strategically planned to attract as many listeners as possible by filing off any rough edges. There is nothing wrong with this, but personally, I want to listen to an album and come away feeling drained, disgusted or exihilarated. Not wanting a cup of tea.

Kim Monaghan

http://functionrecords.com

http://www.myspace.com/ofrosenberg

Pic - http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjacques/

Rev. Ivan Stang

Praise ‘Bob’, We return in a week shaped week (for a change), and who better to fill your sound cavity for this weeks show than this weeks guest?

BEHOLD! High Weirdness by email, in which we, together with the most holy Rev. Ivan Stang, discuss cults, pagans and other weirdness.

BE TURNED ON! by possibly the first ever mating call of the Subgenius captured on a earthly recording device.

PRAISE ‘BOB’! as we discuss, X-Day, The Starwood Festival,  no-good-no-Bob-niks, 9/11 truthers, Isaac Bonewits, SATAN, and of course J.R. Bob Dobbs.

The right honourable Daddytank returns from the soundmines, tools in hand, to deliver another astounding MySpace Heroes. This weeks solid-gold prospects:

Zano Bathroom – Live and Direct
Cubist Upshot – Resonants III 
Curios – The Tiling Song

See you ‘next week’…and don’t forget to enjoy!

PRABOB

Ivan Stang Bio:

Rev. Ivan Stang, born  August 21, 1953 in Washington, D.C., raised in Fort Worth,Texas, and attended the St. Mark’s School of Texas. He is best known as the author and publisher of the first screed of the Church of the SubGenius. He is credited with founding the Church along with his pal Philo Drummond in 1979, though Stang himself denies this and claims the organization was founded in 1953 by J. R. “Bob” Dobbs. Since the publication of the first SubGenius pamphlet in 1980, Stang has embarked on a worldwide crusade (spanning at least three continents) to promote the Church. In May 2006 he finished writing, editing and designing a new SubGenius book for Thunder’s Mouth Press, ’The SubGenius Psychlopaedia of Slack: The Bobliographon’. He has appeared on several national radio and television shows, including the The Jon Stewart Show on MTV. Stang is an instructor on the faculty of the Maybe Logic Academy. Both he and J.R. “Bob” Dobbs appear as characters in John Shirley‘s science fiction novel Kamus of Kadizar: The Black Hole of Carcosa.

“Nearly 40 years ago, in August 1969, Charles Manson and his commune of followers, known as “the family,” embarked on a gruesome killing spree in California.

The crimes were followed by a sensational trial in which Manson’s followers — several of whom were young women from middle class families — were convicted of murder and sentenced to death. (The sentences were later commuted to life in prison.)

The trial was one of the first big media trials of its kind. Filmmaker John Waters remembers attending it in an effort to find out how Manson’s followers could have acted the way they did.

“I wanted to figure out what happened and how these kids, who were very much like my friends from my neighborhoods … ended up doing something [like this],” he tells Madeleine Brand. “It always fascinated me how these people under the control of one real madman could do this.”

Waters, who later went on to direct Hairspray and Pink Flamingos, admits that he saw certain similarities between himself and Manson’s followers. Like the cult members, Waters describes himself as a 1960s radical who took LSD and thought the end of the world was coming. But he adds that unlike the Manson family, filmmaking provided him with “an outlet for all the anti-social, angry thoughts I had all the time.”

Leslie Van Houten

Leslie Van Houten was a teenager when she met cult leader Charles Manson. She is serving a life sentence for her participation in the murders of Rosemary and Leno LaBianca. Getty Images

Over the years, Waters returned to the Manson story, at one point contacting “family” member Leslie Van Houten in prison in an attempt to interview her for Rolling Stone magazine.

Van Houten, who was 19 at the time of the murders, refused to comment for Waters’ article. She said she had no interest in being in a magazine for what she had done, and that she was greatly ashamed by it. Nonetheless, she and the director struck up a friendship.

“[Van Houten is] well read. She’s smart. She cares about people,” Waters says of the woman who has spent the past 40 years in prison for the murders of Rosemary and Leno LaBianca.

Waters says he was so inspired by Van Houten’s patience — she has been denied parole 16 times — and her intelligence and remorse that he devoted a chapter to her in his upcoming book, Role Models. He recently posted an excerpt of the book in which he argues for Van Houten’s release on the Huffington Post.

Waters admits that his position isn’t popular and acknowledges the gruesome nature of the murders, but he adds: “Leslie has taken responsibility, and she has followed the rules — the rules that they have told her to follow to get parole. … She’s the poster girl for the California prison system.

“I do believe in rehabilitation,” he says of Van Houten.”

Broadcast #007

***New Signal****

If you want us to play your band/noise/whatever, drop us a line at behindcloseddoors@sittingnow.co.uk.

Peace

***Signal Ends**

This...feels...weird

This...feels...weird

Watch untill the end of the 9 minutes…why?…ROVER

I have to admit, when I just watched this, I rolled my chair back from my screen and though, “they did it…they actually remade the The Prisoner”.

For those that don’t know the original, RUN to your local DVD store, friends house, ropey blog that has downloadable versions and watch the hell out of it!

The Prisoner teleported television audiences from the normal mindless, often kitch action flick, to a reality bending, politically significant (to this day), surealist, piece of post-modern art:

Ken Eakins

.

After the most month-shaped week in history, we return to game with a great new episode of SittingNowish delights. This weeks guest, the fantastic Rodney Orpheus, gives us a great interview about the infamous Aleister Crowley. Discussed: Magick, The Abbey of the Thelema, The Ordo Templi Orientis, The A∴A∴, why Crowley is still so revered, Doing thou will, and our plot for a strange Victorian porn film.

Hyde to Kim’s Jekyll, Daddytank, returns with a nostalgic, but great MySpace Heroes. This weeks Musikal weapons:

Twiggy and the K-Mesons : Preset Love
Yellow Then Blue : The Black Rose
Raleigh St Clair : Alphabet

Books recomended by Rodney:

Perdurabo: The Life of Aleister Crowley & The Eye in the Triangle: Interpretation of Aleister Crowley

Rodney’s own fantastic book:

Abrahadabra: Understanding Aleister Crowley’s Thelemic Magick

Don’t forget to give us a review on iTunes when you have a spare 2 minutes, we’d really appreciate it.

Enjoy!

Rodney Orpheus’ (impressive) Biography:

Rodney Orpheus was born in Northern Ireland, and in the past years has lived in Hamburg, Germany and Los Angeles, California. He currently lives in The Cotswolds in England.

For the past twenty years Rodney has been well-known as a musician, record producer, and author. He lectures frequently at colleges and music business events, where his ability to present highly technical matters in an entertaining, understandable style has made him very much in demand.

Rodney has acted as a consultant with many of the top companies in the music instrument industry in the past years, most notably with Steinberg and DTS, as well as writing a regular monthly column for Computer Music magazine and running the ground-breaking musicians community at mi7.com

After the release of his seminal band, The Cassandra Complex’s first records Orpheus spent several years touring Europe, originally basing himself in Aachen, Germany, where he joined Ordo Templi Orientis. Orpheus had been studying the works of Aleister Crowleyand other occult authors since his teenage years, and previously had been founder and editor of the UK occult newspaper Pagan News along with Phil Hine. While in Aachen he began work on the book Abrahadabra, published originally by Looking Glass Press in Sweden, later republished by Weiser Books. The book has been described as “a significant contribution to the field of thelemic, or Crowleyan if you will, magick.” and “one of the very few competent and readable introductory texts to Thelemic magick.”

He still also occasionally gets time to play with The Cassandra Complex on stage and in the studio. He is currently completing work on his second book.

nuff said!

Ken Eakins

Go Pedobear Go!

Go Pedobear Go!

Is this the begining of the end for true Internets justice? Well no, but it’s an interesting story anyway. From m00t the master of 4chan and the 35th most influential person in the world:

“Here’s what happened:

moot: Influential

moot: Influential

For the past three weeks, 4chan has been under a constant DDoS attack. We were able to filter this specific type of attack in a fashion that was more or less transparent to the end user.Unfortunately, as an unintended consequence of the method used, some Internet users received errant traffic from one of our network switches. A handful happened to be AT&T customers.

In response, AT&T filtered all traffic to and from ourimg.4chan.org IPs (which serve /b/ & /r9k/) for their entire network, instead of only the affected customers. AT&T did not contact us prior to implementing the block. Here is theirstatement regarding the matter.

In the end, this wasn’t a sinister act of censorship, but rather a bit of a mistake and a poorly executed, disproportionate response on AT&T’s part. Whoever pulled the trigger on blackholing the site probably didn’t anticipate [nor intend] the consequences of doing so.

We’re glad to see this short-lived debacle has prompted renewed interest and debate over net neutrality and internet censorship—two very important issues that don’t get nearly enough attention—so perhaps this was all just a blessing in disguise.”

DONATE!

DONATE!

So, all is cool in the world of Internet censorship. Something that is not cool however, Encyclopedia Dramatica (a totally unreleated site…amirite?) is in finiancial dire straits again, and needs your help. If, like me, you spend a large amount of your day loling at fools, then dig deep and keep this amazing show on the road! If my words of encourgement don’t spur you into action, then this smug twat will have to STFU:

OMG I HATE THAT GUY!!!

Ken Eakins

"is that the last bid?...going...going..."

"Is that the last bid?...going...going..."

From the Guardian.co.uk:

“A plot of land once owned by the self-proclaimed “most wicked man in the world” has been put up for sale, attracting interest from rock stars, developers and disciples of the dark arts. Boleskine Bay, on Loch Ness at Foyers, was part of an estate renowned at the start of the 20th century as “a centre of black magic, evil and sorcery” under the ownership and influence of satanist Aleister Crowley.The “Beast of Boleskine”, who died in 1947, owned Boleskine Estate between 1899 and 1913, during which time he tried to smother the Highlands in black magic by coaxing out the forces of evil.

The estate, once the home of millionaire rock star Jimmy Page, has been linked to a number of incidents over the years, including at least two violent deaths. As well as black magic rituals to invoke the four princes of evil, Crowley and his devil-worshipping followers used the estate to make talismans and offered animal sacrifices to Satan.

"Paper..rock......rock..."

Guardian 'fact' #1:"As well as black magic rituals to invoke the four princes of evil, Crowley and his devil-worshipping followers used the estate to make talismans and offered animal sacrifices to Satan."

“The demons and evil forces had congregated round me so thickly that they were shutting off the light. It was a comforting situation. There could be no more doubt of the efficiency of the operation,” Crowley wrote of his experiments at the estate.Now, a 1.9-acre plot on the former estate has been put on the market for £176,000 with planning permission for a three-bedroom log house, and 140ft of the Loch Ness foreshore.

“There’s been a great deal of interest in the plot because of the Crowley connection. We’ve had various enquiries from all over the place. People do tend to be interested in things that are sinister, but we’ve also had enquiries from people who just want a base in the Highlands with some nice views over Loch Ness,” said Kevin Maley, of Inverness agents Strutt and Parker.

“The house and plot are owned by different people. The plot has been in the same family for the last 40 years, but the owner has decided it’s time to go. It’s an unusual one in that it’s being sold with planning permission for a log cabin in the middle of nowhere, but it would make a perfect holiday cottage,” he said.

The estate agents’ brochure claims the area is perfect for fishing, shooting and hunting, an activity also favoured by Crowley, who took his pack of bloodhounds on manhunts across the estate.

Crowley and his disciples used drugs, sex and blood sacrifices of goats and cats during debauched rituals. The black magician also took pleasure in the suffering that his sinister practices apparently brought to local villagers. He bragged about how an employee of the Boleskine estate got drunk one night – after 20 years of abstinence – and attempted to kill his wife and children.

The family of Crowley’s lodge keeper, Hugh Gillies, also suffered a series of tragedies. First his 10-year-old daughter died suddenly at her school desk and a year later his 15-month-old son died of convulsions on his mother’s knee. Such is the reputation of the white-stoned home of sorcery that during his three years in residence, at the beginning of the 20th century, the villagers of Foyers avoided the estate at all costs. Although Crowley died penniless in 1947, the years have not erased the memories of his association with the Scottish Highlands home. Visitors to the estate have reported seeing lights flashing on and off by themselves, windows shattering and a chair which belonged to Crowley moving on its own.

In 1960 the then owner of the house, Major Edward Grant, shot himself in the bedroom which had been used by Crowley for some of his satanic rituals. Jimmy Page, in a 1975 interview, said: “The estate was owned by Aleister Crowley but there were two or three owners before Crowley moved into it. On the site of the house there was also once a church that burned to the ground with the congregation inside.” He said: “Strange things have happened in that house which have nothing to do with Crowley. The bad vibes were already there.”

As per usual, some adjustments of the truth there; but if anyone’s up for it, I’ll gladly throw in a few pounds!

Ken Eakins

Win the entire series...read on

Win the entire series...read on

How does visionary art help us create community? How can you express your creative truths and engage with visionary culture to help transform the world? Join acclaimed author Erik Davis for the Evolver Intensive teleseminar series: “Forging Community Through Visionary Art” — 4 telephone interviews by Erik with featured guests: visionary painter Alex Grey, ritualist and filmmaker Antero Alli, neo-tribal festival producer Jen Zariat, and the legendary Larry Harvey, founder of Burning Man.

These calls will offer practical steps you can take today – on the personal, local and planetary levels – that you can integrate into your life so you can make a difference in our world.

Not only will you participate in these calls, you’ll have the chance  to ask the questions about the things that most challenge you. To learn more, go here

The first two people to email competition@sittingnow.co.uk, get this series for free!

Ken Eakins

cs-1

.

Subduxtion writes futuristic electro / hip-hop and Black Saturn writes spacey meta-rap. They have worked together on other projects previously, including a full length album “Future Kingdom” (Alrealon Music) and an EP on Brainsodomy (“Future Noise”). This release is quite different in tone from the Future Noise EP (which was darker and more sci-fi) having an almost pop feel with tinges of 8-bit lo-fi sensibility. It is also a concept EP, telling the story of “Metalman – the first afro-alchemist”, but don’t hold your breath on that front though because I’m damned if I can discern any kind of story from whats going on.

The beats are sparse but motive, giving plenty of room for the occasional synth stab and melodic flourish, but minimal seems to be the order of the day. This, in combination with the slightly retro feel of the production, has given the music a very original but slightly odd feel which is enhanced by restrained approach to vocals taken by Black Saturn, a talented rapper who is obviously influenced by the likes of Beans, Kool Keith et al. He has a nasal, high pitched delivery which is distinctive and unexpectedly appealing and also has a fondness for polysyllabic vocabulary which is frowned on in conventional rap but is one of the best features of so called “genius rap”. However, it feels like his vocals have taken second place to the music for this EP, and in my opinion there is almost too little going on at times.

I enjoyed this EP but it seems to lack a little weight in some way. I really like “Metalman Speaks” and “Recluse” but the other tracks didn’t leave too much of an impression . There is nothing I can point to specifically but the tracks fail to impress themselves on me as immediately as, say, tracks like “My New Spacesuit”on the “Future Noise” EP. On the positive side, this duo are creating a strong and unique identity for themselves with neither artist resorting to tried and tested cliché. This kind of experimentation will give rise to unpredictable results, but it will also be a lot more likely to get them noticed in the morass of music on the internet. To make your own decision go to http://www.archive.org/details/CosmicSorcery to download the EP for free. Finally, I am happy to report that “Metalman Speaks” will be played on BBC Radio 6 in the near future so it looks like they might already have won the first battle, if not the war.

DaddyTank

]]> http://sittingnow.co.uk/2009/07/23/black-saturn-vs-subduxtion-%e2%80%93-cosmic-sorcery-ep/feed/ 2 http://sittingnow.co.uk/2009/07/19/weekly-weird-news-24/ http://sittingnow.co.uk/2009/07/19/weekly-weird-news-24/#comments Sun, 19 Jul 2009 00:15:52 +0000 Claire http://sittingnow.co.uk/?p=1189

Frankenstein morelike!...amirite?

Frankenstein morelike!...amirite?

This robot has taught itself to make facial expressions.

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Apparently, someone at Google is a litle gaga over Zelda.

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A mother and her son are getting burned for setting his girlfriend’s corpse ablaze.

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Teacher crushed to death for falling asleep drunk on a Friday night in a Brighton bin lorry.

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Toxic substances aids birds in seeing Earth’s magnetic field.

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A genie in Saudi Arabia is being taken to court.

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“Lobsters are individuals, too!” cry animal activists in opposition to a live-lobster-crane-game.

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Apparently, fetuses have memory.

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Girl falls down a manhole while texting.

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Kids make a fake UFO video.

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Why does it always happen at Waffle House?

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The all-pet airline, Pet Airways, is ready to take flight!

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Swimming with swine?

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Free AK-47 with purchase!

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A Swedish tattooed gang of women molested a 50-year-old bicylist.

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The BBC satisfies your curiosity on how to dismantle a nuclear bomb!

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Man’s rubber-exercise-ball-slashing fetish is becoming problematic…

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Telegraph.co.uk does a quick run down of human nature survivors! Incredible!

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This man, for instance, spent 300 days living on his own on an island.

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The 11 Most Obscure Online dating sites list might be for you if eharmony just isn’t cutting it.

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Apparently, Nancy Pelosi HATES Michael Jackson.

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Check out this website for the eternal moonwalk.

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What to do with all the hippos?

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Attention! Discounts to cyclists at the German brothel!

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Turtles slow the pace at the JFK airport, delaying flights for over an hour.

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Cats really DO control humans!

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Go ahead, SWEAR! It’s good for your health.

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Penguin gives ex-gay-partner the cold shoulder and moves in with Linda.

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Woman marries her dog because it reminds her of her deceased father.

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Honking for peace can get you a ticket.

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Because there’s never enough insensitive humor to go around… enjoy the Helen Keller simulator.

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Just so you know, “the economy made me do it” is NOT good enough to get away with robbing a bank.

Claire Lumiere