This week on Other People's Podcast we rant, rave and rap with Dan Harmon & Jeff Davis on Harmontown. Once a week Dan Harmon and a variety of other people, generally including but not limited to Jeff Davis, Erin McGathy Spencer Crittenden and Kumail Nanjiani. Dan drinks liberally and they may or may include a roleplaying section.
Who? Dan Harmon is the host of the show, Jeff Davis is the comptroller. Dan is probably best known for creating Community, Rick & Morty and Heat Vision & Jack while Jeff Davis is best known for being on Who's Line Is It Anyway and not creating Teen Wolf. Spencer Crittenden was a member of the audience who became the show's Dungeon Master.
What's This Show? In the back of Meltdown Comics in Los Angelese there is a performance space and recording studio called Nerdmelt. Once a week, usually on a Sunday, Jeff & Dan host a comedy chat show. The premise of Harmontown is that the hosts and listeners will colonize the moon, the shows are town hall meetings and Dan Harmon is the mayor of Harmontown.
That conceit was abandoned fairly quickly and now Dan gets drunk on stage and talks about race, raps about fucking your momma and brings up various funny people who then play a role play strategy game. Guests have included LeVar Burton, Bobcat Goldthwait, Greg Proops, Patton Oswalt, Jason Sudeikis, Robin Williams, Mitch Hurwitz, Eric Idle, and Steve Agee. The show is not highly structured other than at some point they will play D&D though that has changed to Shadowrun recently.
Best Way In: This is not a podcast that is for everyone. It will be appreciated most by those who love Community, secondly being a comedy fan in general because this is a genuinely funny show. Dan Harmon is a gifted storyteller and Jeff Davis is quick with both jokes and sound cues. I recommend going back to Episode One: achieve weightlessness and work your way forward. It may be an acquired taste but once you acquire it Harmontown is essential listening.
In the last post in the 'Thing Break Down' series we briefly explored why I think the U.S. election is a complete fraud. It was really all I could stomach writing at the time, but there will be a part 4 which will explore beyond the election into what an empire that breaks down looks like.
However, while I prepare that content a recent Twitter exchange has inspired me to go a bit deeper into the propaganda being deployed against an unsuspecting western populace that is at the moment obsessed with despising Donald Trump.
The fact that someone with as despicable a character as Donald Trump is running in this election should be raising a few eyebrows, and I am convinced it is no coincidence. People hate Donald Trump, absolutely hate him, with a passion. This is a hugely emotional response and I believe that the status-quo is milking that for all it's worth. When you despise someone you are not inclined to listen to evidence that may defend them, you will be inclined to believe anything and everything you hear about them because why not right? Even if it's not true so what? It's not like you'd care.
You should care though, that attitude of not critically examining incoming information even if it may oppose your emotional viewpoint provides the groundwork to layer other lies on top of it that may support nefarious agendas.
For now, though, Americans should be outraged. This totalitarian regime, engaged in what are arguably war crimes in Syria to protect its government puppet, is working to upend a democracy to the benefit of an American candidate who uttered positive comments just Sunday about the Kremlin's campaign on behalf of Bashar al-Assad. Trump’s arguments were an incomprehensible explication of the complex Syrian situation, which put him right on the side of the Iranians and Syrians, who are fighting to preserve the government that is the primary conduit of weapons used against Israel.
Very last paragraph, the author throws everything and the kitchen sink at you. Observe the language being used, the claims being made. "regime", "working to upend democracy". Much as Chris Martenson wrote in his extremely important MUST READ post on the propaganda strategy being deployed here you'd have to forget everything that has happened in the last 5 years to believe this. I'd bet that if much of this propaganda wasn't riding on the hatred of Donald Trump people wouldn't believe it.
But fuckin' Donald Trump, Am I right?
After the Newsweek article had already gained popular support the Washington Post, and The Intercept have come out with information that counters, or at least demonstrates that Donald Trump wasn't "fed the information from the Kremlin" much as the author would have you believe and that it's likely that Sputnik having realized their mistake and misinterpretation of the email removed it. The only one still running with this farce is Newsweek, but that's enough to trigger the mob (herd?) mentality needed to sew the idea that evil Russia is bein' all aggressive again.
But Sputnik either misread or misrepresented the contents of the email. The original makes clear that Blumenthal was passing along a news article — from Newsweek, by Eichenwald — and not sharing his own thoughts. (In fact, the original email suggests that Blumenthal was passing along the article because it mentions himself, if for no other reason.) This isn't a “falsification” of the email, as Eichenwald puts it, since the email is there in the batch. In the most charitable interpretation, it's a sloppy misreading of it.
At about 6 p.m. Eastern, Trump was scheduled to take the stage at a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. During his speech, he pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and said, “This just came out a little while ago.” The “this” appears to have been the alleged confession by Blumenthal that was misreported by Sputnik. The crowd, as Eichenwald notes, began to boo Hillary Clinton.
How could Trump have gotten that? He could have gotten a secret message from a KGB agent posing as a hot dog vendor in the rally arena, the two surreptitiously meeting after Trump gave the appropriate hand signal. Or maybe one of his allies, who follows Sputnik, saw the article and was like, “Hey, Donald, check this out.”
Read that Newsweek article and observe how the author insults Russia. He calls their hackers stupid, their plans stupid, like they're a bunch of fools bumbling around despite the fact that none of the claims of Russian involvement have been proven and the stupid Russians have been quite effective of halting U.S. ambitions in Syria with nearly surgical precision while the U.S. has struggled to keep their bullshit story consistent. If you need a history lesson in what has lead to the situation with Russia and Syria I'll let the Council on Foreign Relations explain it to you again (from the time before the "ISIS" narrative took hold):
Al-Qaeda is not sacrificing its "martyrs" in Syria merely to overthrow Assad. Liberation of the Syrian people is a bonus, but the main aim is to create an Islamist state in all or part of the country. Failing that, they hope to at least establish a strategic base for the organization's remnants across the border in Iraq, and create a regional headquarters where mujahideen can enjoy a safe haven. If al-Qaeda continues to play an increasingly important role in the rebellion, then a post-Assad government will be indebted to the tribes and regions allied to the Jabhat. Failing to honor the Jabhat's future requests, assuming Assad falls, could see a continuation of conflict in Syria.
Thus far, Washington seems reluctant to weigh heavily into this issue. In May 2012, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta publicly accepted al-Qaeda's presence in Syria (Guardian). And in July, the State Department's counterterrorism chief, Daniel Benjamin, rather incredulously suggested that the United States will simply ask the FSA to reject al-Qaeda. The unspoken political calculation among policymakers is to get rid of Assad first—weakening Iran's position in the region—and then deal with al-Qaeda later.
Remember that? Trump's statement that "Assad is fighting ISIS" is 100% accurate. Russia is also fighting ISIS. There is only one actor in this theatre of war that isn't fighting ISIS, and that's the U.S. and Putin takes every opportunity to point this out. There is a reason why Russian media relations have been so successful in the last few years and that is because their propaganda has a much stronger grounding in truth while the west's is sloppy and inconsistent and relies on irrational emotional drivers, like the hatred of Trump, to ensure nobody stops and thinks too hard about what it is they are being told.
You see, the U.S. doesn't have the truth on it's side regarding Russia, or Syria, what it does have however is that disgusting lump Donald Trump who is an expert actor whose best character just happens to be Donald Trump. And there is nothing Donald Trump loves to do better than play up Donald Trump. A person no one likes and says a lot of bullshit with a little bit of truth mixed in but it is these aspects of truth which the U.S. is attempting to associate with Donald Trump. Discredit Trump, and you discredit everything he has ever said, true or not. You see how that works?
This is why I said it should be no surprise that the U.S. state department is trying to tie Trump to Russia, because the anti-establishment views he is expressing are also now being tied to Russia. Suddenly now if you speak out against U.S. actions in Syria you must be a "Russian sympathizer", yadda yadda, even if you were saying the same things 4 years ago that you are today long before Russia's involvement, long before ISIS, long before "chemical weapons", or failing to convince the American people it's in their best interest to overthrow Assad. The U.S. story has changed so much over the last 5 years you'd almost think it's a different war. It's not.
The same motivations driving the war then, drive it now. The U.S. is still violating international law by operating in Syria. The U.S. is still supporting terrorists to overthrow Assad. Israel is still utilizing the war to expand their territory and cement their position in the Golan Heights - also against international law. None of this has changed.
This week Sunday Sedition focuses on Lucy Parsons. She was a labour organizer, an anarcho-communist and leading member of the International Workers Of the World also known as the Wobblies. "My conception of the strike of the future is not to strike and go out and starve, but to strike and remain in and take possession of the necessary property of production." - Lucy Parsons
She was born sometime in the early 1850's in Texas. The woman who the Chicago Police Department described as "more dangerous than a thousand rioters" went on to become a labour organizer in Chicago with her husband Albert Parsons. After her husband was martyred in the aftermath of the Haymarket Affair she continued on with her labour activism with the Wobblies.
Lucy Parsons gave fiery speeches her whole life, inspiring Studs Terkel in her 80's. She died as result of a house fire in 1942. The police promptly seized her 1500 book library and all her writings.
It's time for another week of Other People's Podcasts. This week we laugh and cringe with the Flop House. Twice a month they watch a "bad" movie and then "talk" about it.
Who?The Flophouse is hosted by three people, Dan McCoy, a writer for the Daily Show and the person who owns the equipment & edits the show, Elliot Kalan, head writer for the Daily Show and comedian Stuart Wellington.
What's This Show? Twice a month these three men gather together, watch a movie and then talk about it. It is as much about bad movies as it is pitches for a ziggy movie and words that sounds like other words. They are all very funny, charming people and have excellent chemistry together. They are quick to jump on any joke they can think of including sometimes just words that sounds like other words. They can be very silly, Elliot's improvised songs can be questionable at times, but generally they are genuinely hilarious. Sometimes they even have good things to say about movies, just usually not the one they just watched.
The Best Way In: This podcast really is more about the conversation and cracking silly jokes than it really is about the movie. There are two ways in here that are pretty common for movie podcasts, choose one that you know very well or at least have seen and start with that, then there's no worry about feeling left out of the conversation because you don't know the film. Otherwise just choose a classically bad movie and hang out for awhile.
Y/o/d/o/c/o/l/t/s is a garage rock band from Tokyo, Japan. Enter The Raw is their debut EP. Y/o/d/o/c/o/l/t/s play an on overdriven and almost completely blown out brand of garage rock. Occasionally they punk thing up with some up tempo ragers but usually these songs stay mid-tempo while covering everything in distortion. The songs are good but when everything is coated in noise & distortion there is little to do other than float along with the omnipresent thumping bass. If you're looking for some garage rock with punk influences that keeps the needle in the red Y/o/d/o/c/o/l/t/s' debut EP Enter The Raw will serve well.
Haymaker is a hardcore punk band from Hamilton, Ontario. Taxed...Tracked...Inoculated...Enslaved is their new LP courtesy of A389 Recordings. Haymaker play a particularly aggressive brand of hardcore punk verging towards grindcore, blasting through these 20 tracks of righteous indignation in under 20 minutes. Even 15 years after their first LP, the legendary It Only Gets Worse, Haymaker has lost no speed or hostility. This is the soundtrack to the oncoming apocalypse.
Vivre Sa Vie is a screamo band from Stockholm, Sweden. Demo is their debut recordings. Vivre Sa Vie play a relatively straight forward brand of screamo bringing in some elements of post-hardcore and emoviolence for moodiness & chaos respectively. War starts off with a riff and a blood curdling scream before a moment of melody and then explosion. Forever works the same idea but layers disturbingly raw vocals overtop of meandering, almost twinkling guitars before exploding. While this Demo is inconsistent there is a spark that keeps drawing me back in.
Krimewatch is a four piece female fronted hardcore punk band from New York City, New York. Demo is their debut recordings. Krimewatch play a straightforward, no frills brand of hardcore punk that has found a home in NYC for a long time now. When the band is firing on all cylinders they produce some fiery, riff focused hard hitting hardcore punk. The closing two songs, No Sympathy and Peach Generation make me want to hear where this band is going. Krimewatch's demo is a good starting place for some powerful hardcore punk.
Dauðyflin is a female fronted punk rock band from ReykjavÃk, Iceland. Members of Dauðyflin have also played in Börn. This demo is their debut recordings in preparation for a proper debut EP released in July. Dauðyflin play a stripped brand of hardcore punk content to generate distortion and noise while thumping and flailing through these songs. Whether the raw, lofi feel of this recording is a purposeful choice or a by product of the recording process remains to be seen. Dauðyflin have laid out a statement of intent, play it loud like it's supposed to be played.
Aedh is an atmospheric black metal band from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Au-Delà des Cendres is their debut LP courtesy of Werewolf Promotions following one independently issued demo and one courtesy of Dying Sun Records.
Aedh is the result of one man producing traditionally icy, demonic & blistering black metal that coats itself in layers of cold noise & field recordings. If you like black metal complete with the pained screams of the damned and diabolical guitars summoning arctic fury this will scratch that itch. Thanks to TakeMetal for pointing this out.
This week's Sedition Sunday focuses not on an individual but on a group, Mujeres Libres (Free Women). Mujeres Libres was an anarcho-feminist collective formed in 1936. Their ideological basis was what they called the "double struggle", that women's liberation and the revolution would go hand in hand. They organized themselves to assert their voices in the revolution and to ensure that the revolution would carry their voices. Today's book Free Women Of Spain: Anarchism And The Struggle For The Emancipation Of Women is written by Martha Ackelsberg.
You can purchase the book from AK Press here. What follows is from the AK Press page: cowards don't make history; and the women of Mujeres Libres (Free Women) were no cowards. Courageous enough to create revolutionary change in their daily lives, these women mobilized over 20,000 women into an organized network during the Spanish Revolution, to strive for community, education, and equality for women and the emancipation of all. Militants in the anarcho-syndicalist CNT union, Mujeres Libres struggled against fascism, the State, and reaction; and the less than supportive attitudes and concerns of their male comrades. Martha Ackelsberg writes a comprehensive study of Mujeres Libres, intertwining interviews with the women themselves and analysis connecting them with modern feminist movements. This new edition includes additional research Ackelsberg carried out for the Spanish language edition, together with a brand new introduction written in the light of the new social movements, and resurgence of anarchism, post-Seattle..
Martha Ackelsberg is is a Professor of Government and a member of the Women's Studies Program Committee at Smith College, where she teaches courses in political theory, urban politics, political activism, and feminist theory. She has contributed to a variety of anthologies on women's political activism in the United States
Altered Dead is a two piece death metal band from Victoria, British Colombia, Canada. Altered Dead is their debut LP. Formed in 2013 Altered Death play a straight forward brand of death metal citing Grave, Death Breath & Autopsy as guideposts. There is nothing revolutionary or unique being done here but when you're this crushingly heavy and demonic who needs to reinvent the wheel? If you need some new but faithful to the old school death metal Altered Dead's Altered Dead will scratch that itch. Thanks to TakeMetal for pointing this out.
It''s time for O.P.P again, that's right, Other People's Podcasts! This week the focus is on Greg Proops comedic monologue based show, The Smartest Man In The World.
Who? You might know Greg from Whose Line Is It Anyway, he's the one usually wearing a suit. He has also been performing standup comedy & improv for over thirty years at this point and is truly a master of both art forms. Starting in October 2012 Greg Proops has been recording a podcast called The Smartest Man In The World. When the Proopcast is not being recorded at Bar Lubitch in West Hollywood it follows Greg's travels around the world at various comedy festivals.
What's This Show? I quite enjoy the show but I will admit my listenership has waned over time. Greg is very funny and I agree with everything I've heard him say politically. He is as insightful as he is verbose and pedantic and he ensures his point is made. He calls this the boring preachy part, I like to think of it as a very acerbic news report. The proper way of describing this show is to say that Greg conducts a comic monologue on various topics including but not limited to funk music, feminism, classic literature and left leaning politics. And as high minded and intellectual as this sounds keep in mind Greg continues to be self aware, drink vodka the entire time and comment on the show as it is happening.
The Best Way In: The Proopcast can be a little tricky to get into if one is not already a fan of Greg Proops, funk music or baseball. Imbibing a substance of some kind, be it a "vodka flavoured vodka" as Greg is so fond of requesting from the stage or fat ol' joint, is recommended but not required. I would recommend some time when your brain does not need to be focused on anything and just listen to Greg rant and ramble hilariously on stage. The other way in that I've heard is while your body is doing something active but your mind is free, washing the dishes or working out, put the show on and drift in and out while your body does it's thing and Greg does his from the stage.
Amnesian is a grindcore band from Victoria, British Colombia, Canada. Amensianis their third LP after forming in mid 2013. They play an experimental, aggressive and metallic brand of grindcore. For a three piece band Amnesian generate an impressive amount of chaos with multiple vocalists and songs that change direction and riffs on a dime. This band sounds like a super heavy metallic hardcore punk band shoved in a blender and turned on liquefy. Highlights include Veiled By Hexes, Mire & Craters. Thanks to Dead Air At The Pulpit for pointing this out.
Gene is a punk rock band associated with the KCrew from Kansas City, Missouri. Assid Head and Black Sheep are two slabs of overblown, weirdo punk rock. The guitars are thin and tinny but pull of some great solos while literally everything else is covered in a layer of noise. Assid Head reminds me of the Coneheads with their manic energy while Black Sheep starts with a hint of surf rock before exploding into more noisy punk.
Negative Standards is a hardcore punk band from Oakland, California. Fetters is their debut LP. Members have also played in Acts of Sedition, Reivers, Pills, Akatharsia, nasty.dilemma and Exhaaust. Expect downtuned hardcore punk saturated with doom and covered in crust.
Plebeian Grandstand is a punk rock band from Toulouse, France. False Highs, True Lows is their third LP. Plebeian Grandstand play an incredibly abrasive & chaotic brand of hardcore punk also throwing in mathcore, black metal and all the noise you can handle. They describe themselves as a "dissonant and asymmetric blend of black metal, hardcore rage and apocalyptic atmospheres." They fit right in with the rest of the Throatruiner roster.
Flatbush Zombies are a hip hop trio from New York City. 3001: A Laced Odyssey is their debut LP. Flatbush Zombies are part of a new wave of East Coast rap, the beats are intense, the flows are on fire and overall this is essential listening. One of the few hip hop groups doing something interesting with a focus on drugs, the others being $uicidieboy$ and EASTRN▽SUNS.
Blossom is a two piece metallic hardcore band from Kingston & Belleville, Ontario. Weight Of The World is their debut EP garnering comparisons to bands like Jesuit, Torn Apart and Turmoil. Blossom play a heavy, metal tinged brand of hardcore incorporating post-hardcore and left the clean vocals at the door. Highly recommended, Thanks to Dead Air At The Pulpit for pointing this out.
Blood Pressure is a hardcore punk band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Need To Control is their debut LP. Members have also played Direct Control, Government Warning, No Time, Sickoids, Mercy Killings, Masakari, & Heartless. Expect raw, blown out hardcore with lots of gruff shouts and a touch of d-beat for flavour. Thanks to Cut & Paste for pointing this out.
$uicideboy$ is a rap duo from New Orleans. DIRTYNASTY$UICIDE is the third of four EP's they have released in 2016 so far, a collaboration with another rapper/producer Germ. $uicideboy$ create a drug fueled brand of hip hop. The beats are one of my favourite things about $uicideboy$, they find the sweet spot between complete fire that a rapper can just rampant over and being ethereal, light cloud rap style beats. $uicideboy$ is one of the few rappers I've heard that openly talk about their addictions, mental health issues alongside occult references, graphic violence & drug dealing and an overarching satanic influence. Given that DIRTYNASTY$UICIDE is $uicideboy$'s third of four EP's they've released this year it is remarkable how consistent and great it is, there isn't a weak song on this EP. Highly recomended if you're into dark, occult music.
.gif from god is a six piece hardcore punk band from Richmond, Virginia. Members have also played in Caust, Cage You Call A Chest, Kaoru Nagisa and Truman. ....defragmented....reformated is their debut LP. To call .gif from god simply and only a hardcore punk band is reductive, the band finds themselves at the crossroads of post hardcore, emoviolence and grindcore all wrapped up in layers of noise and distortion with some bleeps and bloops like sprinkles on top.
As soon as a song establishes itself there is a breakdown or a transition or an explosion and the song turns on a dime from electronic bloops & bleeps to emoviolence like explosions of screams and guitars. This album will be off putting to a lot of people but for those who crave chaotic and explosive hardcore punk this album is crucial. The easiest way in is probably the songs Rats, it showcases everything .gif from god is capable of wrapped around a more standard song structure. Other highlights include Technology will kill you 111111; empty grave, shallow mind; i'm still alive but my head is full of shit; maybe none of us understand what we have lived through and self pwnage for a narcissistic nutjub.
If you find yourself in need of some noisy, chaotic, emoviolence and grindcore influenced hardcore punk .gif from god's ...defragmented,..reformatted will scratch that itch, Many thanks to Open Mind/Saturated Brain for pointing this out
Amnesian is a three piece grindcore band from Victoria, British Colombia, Canada. In advance of their 2016 self titled LP they released this cover of a classic Queens Of The Stone Age song. There is very little of the grindcore Amnesian present, the focus is on bone crushing heaviness and an admirable commitment to the original song. It has wet my appetite for their new, self titled LP.
Cheap Appeal is four piece punk band from Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada. Demo is their debut recording. Members of Cheap Appeal have also played in Lush Vegetation, Big Crux and Vacant State.Cheap Appeal play a brand of punk rock that takes a nod from hardcore and a nod from from more melodic, garage style punk rock, The singer has a classic gruff, aggressive shout while still managing to be at least slightly melodic. The band behind him play a distinctly melodic but still fast & aggressive brand of punk that is somehow as catchy and full of hooky riffs as it is angry and fuzzed out. If you're in need of some short, fast & angry melodic punk Cheap Appeal's demo will serve well.
Anxiety is a hardcore punk band from Glasgow, Scotland. MLP Anxiety is their new LP courtesy of La Vida Es Un Mus Discos. Anxiety play a relatively straightforward brand of hardcore punk, recorded in what sounds like a dank cave. Everything is then covered in layers of noise and distortions with some black metal flourishes to really drive home the dark, cold, chaotic atmosphere. If you're looking for some weirdo hardcore punk that never pulls any punches Anxiety's MLP Anxiety will serve well.
Bullnettle is a three piece punkish garage rock band from Portland, Oregan.Bullnettle is their debut LP, released by Dirt Cult Records. Members have also played in This is my fist!, The Beauty Shop, A.C.P, Manipulation, The Mushuganas, Ambition Mission, The Blackouts, The Arrested and The Ian Nose Project. Bullnettle play an energetic brand of lofi garage rock that would have fit nicely on college rock playlists when that still meant something specific. Everything, including lead singer Annie Saunders' vocals are wrapped in fuzz but generally stays on the melodic side. Annie has a great urgent but still melodic shout that she puts to great effect while distortion envelopes the driving rhythm section. Highlights include Animal Farm, No Grit, The Ditch, Ghosts and Red Dog.
Arms Race is a five piece hardcore punk band from London, UK. New Wave Of British Hardcore is their new LP courtesy of La Vida Es Un Mus in Europe and Painkiller Records in the USA. Arms Race play a no holds barred, no shits given, everything turned up to 11 brand of hardcore punk. With the average song just over a minute and a half Arms Race are experts at cramming riffs & moments into these hardcore punk jams. If you're looking for a whirling dervish of a hardcore punk band to provide the soundtrack for the utter destruction of everything around you, Arms Race's New Wave Of British Hardcore LP will serve quite well.
DayxNight is an electronic producer from Canada. Evoke is their debut LP. If Air was less focused on songcraft, more on on experimenting with textures and sounds to create chilled out, ambient heavy sparse electronic soul it would sound like this.
Bleeding Gums is a four piece punk rock band from Chicago, Illinois. II is their debut LP. Expect straightforward hardcore punk rock. The songs are good while the distorted, blown out production hurts but shouldn't matter too much if you're into hardcore.
Black Vice is a black metal band from Austin, Texas. Rituals Of The Anti-Cosmic Doctrine is their debut LP. Expect straightforward, no frills, lofi black metal.
Birthday Noose is a punk rock band from Akron, Ohio. Noosifer is their new LP. Expect a fuzzed out brand of punk that throws back to the psychedelic, reverb soaked 60's.
This week in the Sunday Sedition the focus is on Emma Goldman and her collection of writings, Anarchism & Other Essays. Initially published in 1910 by Mother Earth Publishing it consists of twelve essays on subjects as diverse as prisons, education and patriotism. While some of it has not aged as well as other parts it is essential for Anarchsim: What It Really Stands For. Ebook here, online text here and audiobook here
Emma Goldman was born in what was the Russian Empire, now Lithunaia, in 1869 and emigrated to the US in 1885 where she ended up in New York eventually joining the emerging anarchist movement. She was a fiery speaker and writer, was jailed at various times, accused of inciting a riot and advocating for women's birth control. She was deported from the US in 1919 first to the Soviet Union where she became disillusioned with the USSR.
Gillian Carter is a screamo band from Palm Bay, Florida, USA. Dreams Of Suffocation is their fourth LP. Expect screamo with an experimental bent, incorporating ambient sounds and unexpected instruments to create intense, compelling & slightly chaotic screamo.
O.P.P is one of our new segments here at Project:Burnt, it stands for Other Peoples Podcasts. Each week will feature a review and recommendation of an excellent podcast. Most of them will be comedy but there will also be a focus on documentary storytelling and public radio.
The Show: This week the focus is on Stop Podcasting Yourself or SPY. SPY is a chat show from Vancouver, BC, Canada hosted by comedians Dave Shumka & Graham Clark on the Maximum Fun network. Each week they have a funny person, sometimes a local comic, sometimes a nationally known comic in town and sometimes an internationally known comedian in town for a series of shows or a festival. This is one of those shows where the hosts have such excellent charisma and know how to have engaging conversations with their friends. It feels like you are just sitting in the corner listening to these funny people talk about the most ridiculous things and then some overheards.
The Way In: The best way in would be to search for a standup comic that you are a fan of and start with one of those episodes. I would highly recomend starting withing any of the Paul F. Tompkins appearances, he is hilarious and has a great relationship with Dave & Graham. Once you get into it you will probably go back and listen to every single episode in order like I am currently. Until then, start with Charlie Demers, Ivan Decker, Erica Sigurdson in terms of locals, Dana Gould, Andy Kindler, Reggie Watts & Brent Butt for more well known comics.
Frankie & Jimmy is a two piece delta slide blues band from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, Death Letter is their latest EP. Frankie & Jimmy play an energetic brand of delta blues. The guitar playing is fairly straight forward, foot stomping delta blues while the singer works on losing his mind while working out these classic songs. Jimmy covers his vocals in a layer of distortion that only serves to amplify the eccentric, punked up energy of Frankie on the acoustic slide guitar. Is this what happens when punks listen to and start playing the blues?
Death Letter serves to show two sides of Frankie & Jimmy. They blast through Death Letter and Sweet Home Chicago with a demented, foot stomping energy leaving on gasping for air. The EP closes out with a lackluster, full band cover of St, James Infirmary. It's not that the playing is bad, the band keeps up the standard they've set but the final song seems to lack to the energy and verve the first two songs did. If you're looking for a young, eccentric blues band to keep your eye on, Frankie & Jimmy will serve well.
SXXN is a Canadian producer of experimental electronic music. Alive is his new EP. Alexander Venesoen describes his work as an "experimental...darker...outlet for me. Truth isn’t a factual thing...For me it’s about communication. I really enjoyed making this, hope you get some enjoyment out of it too."
Nanette is a three piece screamo band from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Disempower is their second EP, follow up to 2015's Living Fossils//Low Morale. Be prepared for some mathy, emo post-hardcore.
Blodad Tand is a three piece hardcore punk band from Sweden. Control Alt Delete is this groups debut EP, released by Dirt Cult Records, but far from their first endeavaour as members have also played in Regimen, Commitment Crew, Skitsystem, Martyrdöd, Blisterhead and Another Year. Blodad Tand play a stripped down but still hard hitting brand of hardcore punk. The guitars don't need huge amounts of distortion or noise to hammer the riffs home. The singer has found the sweet spot between sounding like a snot nose punk, spitting venom and a more emo, gut wrenching shout. There is nary an ounce of fat on this EP, each song bursts into existence, slams riffs into your ears and is gone almost as quickly, They blast through these 5 songs in just over 10 essential minutes. Here's where I would list my favourite songs but there's no need when every song on an album is great.
Malos Modales is a four piece punk band from Monterey, Mexico. Cronicas Terrestres is their debut EP courtesy of Drunken Sailor Records. Members have played in División Minúscula and She’s A Tease. Expect three chord garage style punk pop.
Scolding is a five piece hardcore punk band from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Scolding is their debut EP. Scolding play a dark brand of hardcore punk with influences coming from both crust & d-beat. Facebook
Crime Department is a two piece experimental punk band from New York City. They have released two EP's this year, Bad Sex & Physical Wi-fi. Crime Department are aiming at "putting the punk back into Daft Punk" and consist of Officer Salad and Deputy Bag. Both of these EP's where mixed and mastered by Will Killingsworth at Dead Air Studios.
Generally speaking Crime Department play a noisy brand of punk rock unafraid of electronic or sythesized sounds. In practice that means a base of driving punk rock that is is then caked and covered in distortion, samples and various electronic bloops and bleeps. There is very little information available other than the bandcamp page but apparently one of Crime Department people played in Adorno.
Crime Department blasts through 4 songs, three originals and one cover, in under 11 minutes leaving the listener a little confused as to what exactly just happened. Bad Sex leads off with the hard rocking, breathless punk rock jam that is Hospital Art, full of energy and covered in layers of distortion. Snooze closes out the first EP, a very funky bass line and acoustic guitar fight the samples and noises before the song erupts into a frenzy of synths, pounding drums and call & response vocals.
Physical Wi-fi leads off with the title track, a riff heavy jam with an noisy, synth background and just enough cowbell while closing things out with a cover of the Saint's classic (I'm) Stranded.
Crime Department does not seem concerned with adhering to genre standards, just pumping out excellent synth based punk rock jams.
Welcome to the Sunday Sedition. Each week there will be a piece of political news or a link to a political ebook/pdf. This week is Peter Kropotkin's autobiography Memoirs Of A Revolutionist.
Peter Kropotkin (1842 - 1921) was a Russian geographer, economist, activist, philologist, zoologist, evolutionary theorist, philosopher, writer and anarchist. He is perhaps most well known for his theory of Mutual Aid, that cooperation is more successful evolutionarily speaking than compeititon. He was born and raised in a well off family and could have become a noble person at the court. Instead he rebuked all that and became a scienttist, anarchist and revolutionary.
Class Zero is an experimental post-punk project from Germany. Desinteressierte is their debut EP. Expect home recorded garage esque darkwave. Thanks to iamtheleastmachiavelian for pointing this out.
Naileater is a five piece hardcore punk band from Innsbruck, Austria. Chains is their debut EP. Naileater play an aggressive, crusty brand of d-beat focused hardcore punk. There are no wasted moments or breaths on this EP, everything hits as hard and heavy as it can, creating an intense atmosphere of heavy, dark, crusty hardcore. To be clear, if you don't have a penchant for slammingly heavy and oppressively dark, crusty hardcore then there's not much here for you. This record is long on pounding riffs and oppressive atmospherics. Here's where I would normally list my favourite tracks but there's no need when an album is this consistent, each of these four songs is essential in their own right. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Dead Air At The Pulpit for pointing this out.
JFM is the stage name of canadian electronic sound manipulator Jesse Frank Matthews. 'Bo is his new EP. Expect "fractured, lo-fi mutations, from submerged House to tape dub and beyond"
Jeff Collins is a singer songwriter from Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada. Colors is his 2016 LP. He also performs with a band under the name Mother Upduff. Expect eclectic, psychedelic americana complete with cello, sax and sitar.
Nanette is a three piece screamo band from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Living Fossils//Low Morale is their debut EP. Be prepared for some mathy, emo post-hardcore.
Aesop Rock is a producer and rapper based in Portland Oregon, his new LP, The Impossible Kid, is his seventh solo LP. Facebook. Twitter. Official site. This is Aesop's network television debut.
Yo La Tengo is an American indie rock band, they released their fourteenth studio album Stuff Like That There, in 2015. Facebook. Twitter. Official site.
C.C.T.V. is a punk rock band from Northwest Indiana. C.C.T.V. is their debut EP. There isn't much information as there doesn't appear to be an official web presence. According to Discogs members also play in: Big Zit, C.C.T.V., Carbonleak, Gun (13), Like Bats, Ooze (7), Pukeoid, Raw Nerve, Scabs (2), Wild Injuns, D-Boys (2), Shitkickers, United Positive Squadron, D.L.I.M.C., Gordon Spicer Band, Guinea Kid, Hardcore Contest, Hot Beef, Liquids (2), Night Fever (4), Public Assault, The Coneheads, The Outs, Voice Of Reason (4), Wasted Effort (2), Z-Turds.
The two best tracks are Anxiety and Paranoia, the latter is a hard driving, riff focused energetic song with squeeling keyboards while the former has a more wiry and danceable riff with the same off kilter, nervous energy. Quiet is perfectly good but nothing spectacular and Mind Control never gets its act together to be more than an oddity.C.C.T.V. play the a very similiar brand of weirdo punk rock to Coneheads. The guitars are high pitched, sounding like they are wound as tight as they can go, the drums and bass pound out a hyper rhythm while the singer floats above melodically.
If you are looking for some weirdo, Devo influenced hyper punk rock C.C.T.V.'s self titled 7" will serve well. Thanks to Cut & Paste for pointing this out.
Deathsticks is a self described garage noise rock band from Whitby.
BSHC or Bullshit Hardcore Band is two dudes and a drum machine playing jammy lofi punk rock.
Slægt is a four piece blackened metal band from Copenhagen, Denmark. Beautiful And Damned is their sophomore LP. Beautiful And Damned is consistent from beginning to end regardless of the genre Slægt is playing in. Slægt play a brand of metal mashing together demonic black metal vocals, epic thrash metal riffs and a sense of evil and doom from black metal that combines into a compelling, surprisingly melodic heavy metal. The one exception is the acoustic, instrumental ballad Church Of The Night. It is a downright pretty acoustic song that has no relationship to the metal that surrounds it. The highlight for me is the opening track Move In Chaos, it doesn't feel like it's nearly seven minutes long. The riffs come hard and heavy, the vocalist is in top, demonic form and the whole song coalesces into a nearly out of control blackened thrash whirlwind. If you're looking for some black metal with thrash riffs, Slægt's Beautiful And Damned will serve well.
A City Sorrow Built is a three piece skramz band from Ubud, Republic of Indonesia. Ai is their debut LP. A City Sorrow Built play a chaotic brand of screamo with an infusion of post-rock. At first these rather disparate genres are slammed together with no subtlety, just transition from noisy skramz into calm, beautiful post-rock. By the time the LP ends these two disparate styles have found a way to coexist, the sum becomes greater than the two parts. When added properly and done well some elements of post-rock can give these post-hardcore songs space to breathe.
What would otherwise be a fast, chaotic attack gets slowed just a touch and melody is allowed to emerge from the noise. Songs like Duka/Cita & Pelangimu still hit as hard, powered by a slow burn instead of an explosion. Where the post-rock elements really fail and stick out like a sore thumb is in the slow, overly beautiful and melodic intro and interlude.
Compare the transitions between the first three tracks to the suite of epic screamo towards the end of this LP. Dua Puluh is calm, beautiful post-rock with voices emerging out of the mist, Hati/Salju slams into a post-hardcore explosion and an early highlight before giving way to Suaramu and more beatific, melodic post-rock. On tracks four through seven, Datang/Pergi-Hitam/Putih-Pelangimu and Duka/Cita, A City Sorrow Built focus on combing the post-rock and the screamo elements of their sound and they find the happy medium between the two creating some of the best post-rock inflected screamo I've heard in awhile. If you're looking for a band that can pull of both screamo and post-rock while remembering the essential elements from both, A City Sorrow Built's Ai will serve well.
Numbskull Action is a three piece garage punk band from Woking, UK. Action & Reaction is their second LP, a follow up to their 2012 debut All The Action. Numbskull Action play a drunken, fuzzed out brand of garage rock. Songs about getting messed up, bad driving and more drinking. Reminds me a little bit of The Libertines in their more unhinged, punked up moments and also Black Ladies a weirdo, catchy punk rock band fronted (?) by Jaime Paul Lamb. These songs have an excess of drunken punk energy and they have the garage levels of distortion down pat, the only thing they are missing is some well placed gang backing vocals and some woah-oh-oh's. Highlights include Bad Advice (It's Not Nice); It's Alright (If You Wanna Fight); I Don't Know Your Name; A.F.O.T.G.S.; TV Commercial & I Smell Clutch.
Accidente is punk band from Madrid Spain. Formed in 2010 Pulso is their third LP, followup to 2014's Amistad Y Rebelión (read my review of said previous LP here). In the two years since the last LP Accidente has improved in nearly every way but especially in terms of songwriting and recording/production. Pulso comes exploding out of the gate with the excellent title track setting a high water mark early on. This LP expands on everything that I loved about Amistad Y Rebelión, high energy, danceable punk rock with a message. Accidente are experts at balancing the need for aggression, speed & energy with melodic vocals and inspirational & political lyrics. Here is where I would list my favourite tracks but when it's basically every song on the LP there's no point.
Divers is a punk rock band from Portland Oregan. Achin' On is the follow up to 2015's LP Hello Hello. The b-side is a cover of legendary Portland band Dead Moon.
I haven't written anything since the election on October 19th. I felt it pointless, Canadians were too obsessed with false victories in the political spectrum. "Defeating Harper" and the sort even though really the public has just once again been manipulated into doing exactly what was desired as I wrote about during the federal election breakdown 4 part series last year. Such as it is the honey moon has worn off and no amount of fancy public relations can hide the effects of the great deflation, and new bosses that look a lot more like the old bosses each and every day.
Look around folks, just.. look around.
The world is sinking into chaos.
Here at home Canadians are bickering about pipelines and other useless drivel as the elephant in the room goes unmentioned. The "west vs east" divisive lines I don't think have ever been so prominent in my life time. In many extreme "right-wing" circles there's even been talk of separation; silly of course but still, it's new. Or old, depending how you look at it. Articles like "It's raining schadenfreude on Calgary and Alberta" actually exist. The more the economic situation deteriorates, the worse the baseless finger pointing will become.
"It's the NDP". "It was the Conservatives". "It was Justin, and his hair".
You all need to just stop and think for a minute.. just what is it you expect to happen?
The great deflation is going to be a very trying time for a lot of people. Here is a portion of what I wrote early last year on the great deflation:
The majority of the world economy is now supported by near zero, zero, or negative interest rates. Seven years on from the peak-oil induced "great recession" central banks are finally out of ammo. Inevitably this situation can not last forever and with the Saudi's pushing the collapse in oil price the stage has been set, and in fact the play is already in the first act, for deflationary spiral the world has never seen the likes of before because the world has never seen a fiat asset bubble of this size before.
The expected benefit economists are expecting from lower oil and gas prices are not going to materialize as the middle class which is the primary driver of this trend has been crushed by unaffordable consumption and debt accumulation. The easiest path for this excess wealth to take is towards paying down debt which in itself is inherently deflationary and will only contribute further to the deflationary spiral we've entered.
The artificial deflation of oil is having a direct effect on the outlook for oil related employment and income which both Canada and the U.S. have been completely reliant on for wealth generation. The entire myth of the current "U.S. recovery" which Canadian economists are banking on is essentially based on the economic performance of the shale oil industry prior to the collapse in price (you'll remember the latest U.S. recovery narrative was originally about the boom of shale oil) which is no longer valid. Without the high incomes oil related jobs provide the unaffordable asset bubbles become completely unbalanced. This is why the Bank of Canada is citing mitigating the effect of low oil prices (lower inflation) as the reason for lowering interest rates while effectively ignoring the increase in inflation high oil prices represent. They are selectively interpreting the situation to service their own needs of maintaining the credit markets.
No amount of low interest or free currency can ever hope to make up for the loss in energy bounty as a result of peak oil and the focus on low EROI energy production though as currency is not wealth itself but the representation of wealth, it has an end of life and this is where C51 becomes very important for the status-quo.
It's now one year later, was I right?
The divisive environment in Canada is being driven, and I believe purposely fomented, on a false pretence; that if only we will build pipelines, if only people will stop talking badly about the oilsands, if only, the Canadian economy will come roaring back to life. That the job losses will stop, and the jobs return. It keeps the focus, and the arguments, and the finger pointing around a single topic: pipelines, and not say the more important topic we should be talking about: are the oilsands even viable to produce at any price?
Low oil prices has simply provided an excuse to speed up this process and not take the blame. What little blame has been remaining and not directed at the Saudi's has been kindly redirected towards the new NDP government by the always helpful and awfully plentiful "grass roots" movements that for some reason always seem to have ties back to industry.
It should be noted that all around the world the oil situation isn't exactly good. The deal to "freeze production" between the Sauds and Russians should be of particular interest for those who understand the geopolitical game at foot here. As I wrote last year an informed Twitter follower informed me that the Saudi's were not working against the Russians, but were working with them. This new deal, which is not a deal I should point out between the Saud's and so-called 'Saudi-America', continues to fit the grand story of global divestment out of the USD. Divestment which is becoming so noticable that even the National Post wrote something about it.
It is a chilling statement from an expert on both gold and China. But he is speaking the truth: In a G2 world (the United States and China), he who is the piper calls the tune, and China holds a US$2-trillion mortgage on the United States and is not happy. This country, along with others that lend money to the United States, such as Saudi Arabia, will determine the value of the U. S. dollar and gold. And they have spoken. They are not buying more U. S. treasuries and are buying gold as a new asset class. China announced that it was doing so quietly, and recent reports are that the Saudis and others have been buying bullion and hocked gold jewellery from around the world.
The only way is up for gold prices because the United States, which backstops the International Monetary Fund, the world's lender of last resort, has had to become its own lender of last resort.
Washington has cranked up the printing presses in an unprecedented way, replicating the behaviour of its spendthrift corporations and consumers. This year's budget is US$3.5-trillion, bigger than any in history.
And as Ing points out, the "bi" in this bipolar global economy is China. Beijing has not only started to hoard gold but has continued to talk up a new reserve currency concept to replace the U. S. dollar. The only reason the Chinese and others don't dump U. S. dollars is because it would be like shooting themselves in the foot.
Inflation, on top of excessive money supply dilution, will (unless mitigated by growth or stoppage) reduce the dollar's value. Ing estimates that the printing of money to bail out banks, autos and the U. S. economy will create a catch-up in gold bullion prices: "Gold should be US$9,000 an ounce to cover the [current and projected] U. S. monetary base," he says.
China has become the world's fifth-biggest gold hoarder, in addition to being the world's biggest gold producer (through its government-owned mining companies). I also suspect that China is behind the political sabotage in Mongolia, to its north, which has for five years prevented Ivanhoe Mines of Vancouver from producing gold and copper from its massive discovery.
Clearly, China also has been dis-investing from the U. S. dollar by getting slowly into hard assets (stock, commodities or ore bodies), which I have written about. This concerns Washington, which is why Hilary Clinton, U. S. Secretary of State, made her first state "house call" in Beijing to make nice with America's first mortgagor.
At that time, and publicly, too, China warned the United States about its dollar woes, while suggesting a basket of currencies to replace its pre-eminence. These scary pronouncements were followed by an announcement in Washington a few weeks ago that there would be a massive U. S. Treasury buyback of U. S. bonds. Put another way, the Chinese and others aren't buying anymore so the surpluses are being mopped up by putting more on the taxpayer tab.
It is an irreversible trend that China and others will continue to disinvest and diversify out of U. S. dollars, and that inflation will further impair the U. S. dollar's value. That's because the U. S. monetary/economic rescue is simply Washington's version of the excesses and over-leveraging that led to the need for a rescue in the first place.
Speaking of gold, Canada just recently sold half it's reserves. Yes, that's right. Half. So whatever the government "deficit" is you're hearing about these days, add half our gold supply to it.
“The producers of those high-cost barrels must find a way to lower their costs, borrow cash or liquidate,” the minister told a business audience in Houston during a speech at the IHS Ceraweek event on Tuesday.
“It sounds harsh, and unfortunately it is, but it is the most efficient way to rebalance markets. Cutting low-cost production to subsidize higher cost supplies only delays an inevitable reckoning.”
You must understand what he is really doing: he is calling North American oil production out on it's bullshit. And worst still he shows the real target: the banks. Borrow more, he says. But he knows these oil companies can not borrow more, and that their hedges are now expiring, and that the defaults are about to start rolling in.
Peak oil.
I've seen a lot of people talking about peak oil lately. It's pretty amusing. Apparently we beat it. Because the world is producing excess oil apparently all the peak oil theory is junk. Nevermind that were producing much of it at a loss. Nevermind that for almost an entire decade now we've been talking about "the recovery". Nevermind that for the first time in modern economic history banks around the world are having to introduce negative interest rates which our own BoC has even discussed. Just never. Fucking. Mind.
That will be the first time since 1986 that upstream investment has fallen for two consecutive years, the agency said, warning that the collapse could be storing up problems for consumers further down the track.
"It is easy for consumers to be lulled into complacency by ample stocks and low prices today, but they should heed the writing on the wall: the historic investment cuts we are seeing raise the odds of unpleasant oil-security surprises in the not too distant future," said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol on Monday.
So. Who can guess what comes next after the great deflation? Anyone? Bueller?
Once the defaults really get rolling and work their way thru the banking system all confidence in oilsands and shale production will be destroyed. The levels of investment weve seen will not be returning. Ever. EVER. I really want that to sink in. When I discussed Alberta's new permanent reality, I really did mean permanent.It will be when the damage is done that the Sauds, along with Russia, and their partner China will finally give North America exactly what we've been asking them for: they'll turn off the taps. And all hell will break loose. This is how they will put the final nail in the coffin of the U.S. dollar.
By turning off the taps the price of oil will rise very rapidly, lacking it's own production North America will be forced to buy foreign oil in whatever currency they choose. They will not be choosing the U.S. dollar. This will also be the start of true hyperinflation in the U.S. as the energy shortage quickly adds pressure to deflation and they are forced to print more and more currency (borrow it from private banks at interest that is) to simply get life's necessities.
It's not a pretty picture but unless the people all around the world stop pointing fingers, making baseless accusations, and petty demands and stop just long enough to realize we've all been had, these forecasts, like my previous ones, will quickly be upon us. Just look around.
