Gina Rinehart is a Fucking Cunt

LIN · GUA · LUC · ERE  noun \ˈliŋ-gwə-lüs-ər\

            plural lingualux

 Definition of LINGUALUCERE

1. To discover that a previously conceived, seemingly-original idea is in fact a well established concept.

Examples of LINGUALUCERE

 · After teasing out the minutiae of my philosophical attitude towards meat-eating I had the worst lingualucere and realized it was just Speciesism rebadged.

VI · VID · ES · CITE  noun \ˈvi-vid-i-ˈsīt\

            plural vividescites

 Definition of VIVIDESCITE

1. The extreme frisson experienced when remembering a dream.

Examples of VIVIDESCITE

· I woke in a sweat from and panicked with the vividescite of remembering my dream from the night before. 

I’m thinking that this will be the first of a series of intermittent riddim history posts, describing the genesis and progression of my favourite instrumental tracks.

I know i’ve already posted about Sugar Minott’s Oh Mr. DC, but this riddim is just too good and deserves another look in.

Prince Buster originally penned the tune Shaking Up Orange St to this riddim in 1966, a classic Jamaican paean to Buster’s undeniable talent, ability and confidence.

For over a decade the riddim remained unused, gathering dust in the vinyl holsters of the Island’s selectas, until 1978 when Sugar Minott released Oh Mr. DC. His sweet, mellifluous voice takes the tune to the next level, reworking the backing track and incorporating some of Buster’s best lines in describing to the local constable the pressures of trying to provide for his family by selling sensimilia. Minott’s cut is soulful, classic reggae, dropping hard on the three and highlighting the injustices of Jamaica’s drug policy and the struggles of just getting by. 

Once recognised few great riddims stay hidden for long and Pressure and Slide was no exception. Within three years new cuts were being made across the Island culminating in Yellowman’s Two To Six Supermix a super slowed down raga jam from King Yellow, all bravado and cocksureness. But the riddim only reached its apex in 1985 when reworked entirely on the now ubiquitous Korg synthesiser. Pressure and Slide exploded with Beres Hammond’s internationally successful What One Dance Can Do, tons of new artists soon composing stellar renditions over this classic beat. Johnny Osbourne’s Rock-A-Dub (my personal favourite) is a call to arms while Sugar Minott even has another crack with Cool Down. The riddim was bigger than ever and the bass is just that quintessentially early dancehall sound, more prominent and powerful than anything heard before or since. 

Pressure and Slide was mixed up and altered many times over the next two decades with numerous artists cutting tunes (i’d be remiss not to mention Anthony B’s Cut Out That which almost inconspicuously appropriates Percy Mayfield’s Hit the Road Jack!). Finally, a brand new (albeit slightly cheesy) remix of the tune was realised in 2004 as the Pressure and Slide/Invasion riddim. Named after the eponymously titled Capleton song which despite the over the top backing track gives every other artist who has worked with this song a run for their money.

The history of Pressure and Slide is not just the story of one riddim, it is a microcosm of Jamaican music in general. The effortless shift from rocksteady to reggae then dancehall akin to the transition music has experience in Jamaica. It highlights the fluidity of genres on the Island and the expectation that artists be attuned to its natural progression. It is a unique quality of Jamaican music that instrumentals nearly 50 years old still retain their pertinence and influence. It shows the importance Jamaican musical history plays in the contemporary culture and the true knowledge and respect Jamaican artists have for the music which has preceded them. Pressure and Slide is not unique, there are hundreds of great riddims available which deseve recognition and in their reuse and appropriation are never forgotten. 

Been slack as, due to a couple of recent additions in my life. I won’t bore you with the details, but they’re incredible and my life is so much richer because of them. I praise Jah everyday now for the gifts he has bestowed upon me. 

Consequently, i’m riding a lot more (1) and potting plants every second day (2) which means i’ve been completely neglecting this blog. But university’s just around the corner and procrastination will once more become the norm, so expect to see a great deal more of me. Here’s what’s exploading my cerebellum at the moment. 

This bass, is insane, i’ve listened to reggae/jamaican music for nearly 10 years (intently for closer to five) and and even by those standards this bass is big enough to make even the strongest ears crumble. 

†  dowload g-isaacs’s best of here  √ 

The best outcome for the world may well be the worst result for the USA. That’s the vibe i’m getting from Republican Congressman and GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul. Whilst intent on abolishing fundamental government infrastructures he considers part of the encroach of ‘Big Government’ including the Department of Education and the Internal Revenue Service he is also determined to see the US return to its non-interventionist roots, no longer interfering “militarily, financially, or covertly in the internal affairs of other nations”.

Incase that didn’t quite encapsulate the crazy contradictions inherent in RonPaul here is a list of shit he would like to see happen if he were president.

The removal of the Cuban embargo.

The complete elimination of income tax. (!)

The nullification of Roe Vs. Wade.

An end to the War On Drugs and the criminalisation of addiction.

A return to the Gold Standard. (!)

The cessation of what he has defined as federal use of torture under the PATRIOT Act.

The decriminalisation of prostitution.

The immediate withdrawal of all troops from Afghanistan.

The consequences for Americans should this ‘intellectual godfather’ of the Tea-Party movement succeed are unfathomable. A ‘first world’ powerhouse without any of the safeguards so associated with progress. No healthcare net at all, none, zero taxation on the wealthiest sections of society and finally the once-sacrosanct legal monopoly of the US Post to deliver mail opened up to private competition. It’s a crazy hyper-super-nuts kind of laissez faire capitalism the likes of which has never been seen before. The results, however, are fairly predictable,  extreme wealth pooling in the upper income strata while the poorest sections of society are further exploited as working regulations get stripped back to allow full penetration by the free-market. Gross.

Meanwhile, Afghanis, Cubans and detained ‘Terror Suspects’ could probably breathe a collective sigh of relief, as, US troops are withdrawn from their home towns, sanctions lifted from their countries and dogs inside their cells muzzled. I’ve never thought the apocryphal Chinese curse ‘may you live in interesting times’ was much chop (i’d much rather be scared than bored) but if this guy comes up trumps in 2012, it will almost certainly have made this saying redundant. 

interesting how reggae can make even the most fucking moribund stuff sound fantastic.

RIP Carlo Dellora

1989-2012

So ‘Hitch’ is dead. No, not the star of the eponymously named romantic-comedy we all wished had never left Bel-Air, but the portly journalist and unparalleled polemicist who never once fled from a fight. Oesophageal cancer at the age of 61. I only started getting into his work in the last couple of years, but fuck, he was inspiring. Uncompromising, unequivocal and willing to say things others would have avoided for propriety’s sake or straight fear. His targets were often those protected by their faith or title: Mother Theresa, Father Jerry Falwell (“if he had been given an enema after his death he could have been buried in a matchbox”) and Henry Kissinger, Hitch could never be accused of being an opportunistic pugilist.  

Many of my own friends and innumerable commentators I respect dismissed Hitchens as a neo-conservative, sexist, imperialist and capitalist patsy. While I don’t really want to get into a slanging match about the ‘New Left’ forsaking old principles these pithy characterisations do little to adequately convey the breadth of Hitchens’ political constitution. He loathed superstitious extremism, ‘capricious lawmaking’ and the inequality of contemporary politics. He was a champion of reason, enlightenment principles and the right of all to live free of persecution and fear. It was not just that he detested religion as an affront to both reason and secular democracy but that he genuinely believed that faith was the primary source of the world’s misery.

If I can mount one criticism (and there are no dearth) against Hitch it is that perhaps he allowed his own passion and ‘desire to be vindicated’ to cloud his judgement. This was evidenced in his fucking bizarre support for the War In Iraq as some sort of military countermeasure against the threat of ideological Islamic extremism. At times he could be carried away by the message and end up ignoring the practical outcome (see, why women aren’t funny, yes, hilarious, but in classic Hitch form responsible for losing about half his readership). No prisoners, no quarter. He always maintained that people should be able to write what they want without fear and goddamn it if he didn’t live up to his own expectation.

His eloquence was unparalleled and even with such poignant inspiration combining the best parts of his eulogies would not come close to replicating his effortless wit or caustic irony.

Martin Amis wrote, “My friendship with the Hitch has always been perfectly cloudless. It is a love whose month is ever May” and though few knew him let alone drank with him, his words remain the warmest part of summer.

Semper Sic Tyrannis.

13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011

 

Here’s a post i made from my facebook account regarding striking poultry workers at a Baiada chicken factory in Laverton. I thought about re-writing it to be more up-to-date, especially given that the National Union of Workers has since secured  employees virtually all their demands, but for background information it sets the scene for what was a lengthy and grueling fortnight for striking workers.

“For the past week or so poultry workers at the Baiada chicken factory in Laverton have been on strike, picketing against some truly fucking grotesque working conditions. 

Last year Sarel Singh was sucked into a machine he was cleaning and decapitated, shocked workers were given less than hour to take in what most of them had witnessed before being told to get back to work and clean up the body themselves. Singh, was murdered (don’t fight me on this one because however you fucking look at it, it’s murder) as a result of Baiada’s unscrupulous drive to cut costs, maximise profits and forgo safe working conditions.

But that is not why this strike has been called, these workers are only after assurances that their jobs are safe. Not safe from violence, harm or decapitation but safe from sham contracting, cash paid workers, over-casualisation and piece rates. 

Workers are demanding an end to unethical and unlawful employment practices in the poultry industry and this is where Sweet Teens come in (the band, THE BAND).

Thanks to Tom and I’s longstanding membership of the Union Bosses Union of Victoria (a sub-brach of Militant Unionists Union of Australia MUUA) we were chosen from amongst thousands of better bands to play tonight at the picket line. I think things kick off around 6 and other bands include Legends of Motorsports [ed. they did not in fact play] and @plus more to be announced. 

Baiada have declared that they will “go to war” with workers if they strike, if so, we will provide the music for when we win.

so we’ll march day and night by the big chicken tower

they have the poultry but we have the power.

-20/11/11

Last week about 100 Melburnians had the privilege of watching roots legends, The Congos, play to a cramped record store in Fitzroy. Displaying classic Jamaican antipathy towards punctuality, we waited for the Congos to arrive, the Mista Savona Band filling the gap with staid, instrumental, Northcote Reggae, the kind you find slightly overweight, white, dreadlocked people dancing to at a suburban school fair.

Then, to a flurry of applause, in stormed the Congos. Now, for four guys pushing 70 you’d expect a pretty sedate performance, however, these guys really pushed it. Their harmonies were spot on whilst Cedric Myton, moved like a man half his age, each member contributing some humour and levity to the set, joking between songs, and revelling in the chance to be there. Their four part harmonies just lifted the entire performance from background music to enthralling, entertaining classic roots reggae. 

Nuff respect to the Congos for doing something like this for free and as much as i might find them boring, to the Mista Savona band who obviously knew exactly what was up. Big ups to Northside records too for hosting the whole thing and giving people an opportunity to see some mint reggae on a friday afternoon. 

If you haven’t heard the Congos’ “Heart of the Congos” album i definitely recommend it. Even if you’re not a mad roots fan (like me) this album will still offer you something, from some stunning vocal arrangements to classic Perry madness behind it all.

!download it here!

(7.14)

Really been slamming this riddim, originally dropped by Alton Ellis and the Flames in 1967 with cuts by Duke Reid, Johnny Osbourne and dubs from U-Brown and U-Roy, plus in my opinion the pick of the bunch by Brent Dowe. The original is classic rocksteady, that picking guitar line telling you all you need to know about the genre, and why it inhabits a great place somewhere between mellow-mood reggae and straight up ska.

The tune’s a scorcher, no surprise then that Ellis reworked it into a twisting banger during the English Northern Soul craze of the late 60s. Sometimes i wonder how long i can keep plumbing the vaults of Jamaican music for great songs before the quality dries up, but then something fantastic like this shows up almost out of nowhere and i start to doubt that it ever will.

RIP

(Source: radiorevolt.no)