Fragments of The Clash, Part II
If you look closely, the Hasid is wearing creepers. 5 Euros, Boxhagener Platz market, Berlin.
Note the Guns of Brixton quote, lower left hand corner. Squat wall, Friedrichshain, Berlin.
Click here for part one.
Archived entries for Punk
Fragments of The Clash
Still a member of the opposition. The door of our neighborhood squat. Milan, early December.
Berlin comparisons are warranted. Visually, the district is on fire. San Lorenzo, Rome, 12/28.
Rage Against the Washing Machine
You can always count on Vance Galloway for a memorable photo. From Sonic Youth’s Sensational Fix exhibit, which ended a three month run in Saint-Nazaire, France, on September 7th.
Israeli Punk
The best band names are frequently found in hotel bathrooms. Mitzpeh Ramon, Sukkot, 2006.
No Need For Translation
Our neighborhood Christian resource center. In Spanish, "Llamada Final" means "Final Call."
A block south, local proponents of secularism let their their feelings about religion be known.
Noise Annoys
When I first heard San Antonio’s Fearless Iranians from Hell, I thought they were terrible. Just another thrash band, with predictably bad metal leanings. But, twenty years later, the project’s singularity is painfully obvious.
Faux-Middle Eastern hardcore, featuring the bass playing of an ex-member of the Butthole Surfers on the late, great Boner label, I played this hilarious 1986 EP back to back this morning with Muslimgauze, and it made a whole lot more sense.
While I’d argue that the concept is definitely stronger than the execution, one of the great things about punk has always been that as a form of critique, given the right context, sometimes a good idea is all that’s really required.
Blast From the Past
It’s finally out, and boy does it look good. Strolling through the Haight yesterday, Jennifer and I stumbled upon the brand new edition of the Punk Planet interview collection, We Owe You Nothing, at the appropriately DiY, volunteer-staffed Bound Together Books.
Featuring several new interviews conducted between 2001 and 2007, We Owe You contains six pieces I acquired for PP back in the day, including interviews with Steve Albini, Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore, Negativland, Team Dresch’s Jody Bleyle, Outpunk’s Matt Wobensmith and Black Flag.
Toronto’s Eye Weekly reviewed the collection on the 9th, together with former Punk Planet Associate Publisher Anne Elizabeth Moore’s excellent Unmarketable. Putting Anne’s book in the mix not only was smart. It also explains why PP remains essential to understanding the zeitgeist.
On the Radio
Wednesday at noon, former Political Asylum singer and AK Press founder Ramsey Kanaan will be hosting an hour-long discussion about the political legacy of The Clash on Against the Grain, courtesy of Pacifica flagship station KPFA, 94.1 FM in the SF Bay Area, and everywhere else, online.
Ramsey’s guests include yours truly and Craig O’Hara, the author of The Philosophy of Punk: More Than Noise, a new edition of which is scheduled to drop in the new year. If you’re interested in the band, in punk, or in how music and politics collide, we pretty much cover it all.
Year End Top Ten: Music
2007 was an astounding year for dubstep and Indo-Arab impacted American hip-hop. Chicago’s long gone Los Crudos finally made it back into print, while baile thug funk and Tuareg guitar rock reminded worriers about the world music category that it’s not just about happy natives penning primitive campfire songs. Thumbs up to Pressure Sounds for putting out the best dub reissue of the year. As usual, Sublime Frequencies outdid everyone by coining the term ‘jihadi techno.’
In light of these observations, here’s what we played the most:
Burial, Untrue (Hyperdub)
The Revolutionaries, Drum Sound (Pressure Sounds)
Los Crudos, Discography (Lengua Armada)
Oh No, Dr No’s Oxperiment (Stones Throw)
Shackleton and Appleblim, Soundboy Punishments (Skull Disco)
Tinariwen, Aman Iman: Water is Life (World Village)
Madlib, Beat Konducta India (Stones Throw)
Omar Souleyman, Highway to Hassake (Sublime Frequencies)
Various Artists, Box of Dub Volume II (Soul Jazz)
V/A, Proibidao C.V: Forbidden Gang Funk From Rio de Janeiro (Sublime Frequencies)
Publication Party
The new issue of Other is officially out. Though I’m running a little late posting this terrific postcard, (the release party took place a couple of weeks ago), we finally had the time to scan a copy.
A contributor (and sometimes contributing editor) to this great, freethinking mag since it was first launched, there’s a piece in the current issue by me, about my years editing the late Punk Planet.
For the first time since 2003, when I served up a really loud noise set for a bunch of tranny friends at a local hair salon, I brought my Macbook and MIDI controller to the Other party and played DJ.
Speaking of Punk Planet, Paul M. Davis posted his article on the distribution crisis that triggered PP’s collapse to the magazine’s website. Click here to read his analysis. It’s from the very last edition.