What you reading

https://www.stereogum.com/2292635/neil-young-pono-10-years-later/columns/sounding-board/

Got the Jesus and Mary Chain book for xmas. Really looking forward to getting stuck in!

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Yeah I’ve not started it yet I’ve still got one on the go!

Whilst the wild Atlantic wind batters my wee cabin

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List of resources for non-Zuck/Elon related apps etc:

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Why do they do it?

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A message from On-U Sound:

Amongst Lynch’s many creative achievements was his inspired use of “Far Away Chant” by African Head Charge in a particularly disturbing scene in the 1990 film ‘Wild At Heart’, the ‘My Life In A Hole In The Ground’ track slowed down to the point that Adrian Sherwood and Kishi Yamamoto scarcely recognised it when viewing it the film in the cinema.

In his book ‘Oceans Of Sound’, David Toop writes:

“The New Orleans torture Scene conjured in hallucinogenic close up by David Lynch in Wild At Heart: a slowed-down Adrian Sherwood production—“Far Away Chant” by African Headcharge—adds further dimensions of hoodoo otherness to Lynch’s trademark shade world of sexual violence, Prince Far I’s warping sandblast vocals rising up from the catacombs … in this unholy place a steady throb of Rastafarian repeater and funde drums somehow twisted in the unconscious to draw on archaic fears, fear of voodoo, fear of the primeval occult…”

Watch a clip from ‘Wild At Heart’ featuring the warped sounds of African Head Charge below.

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Utter madness :expressionless:

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Nice piece on the Democrats:

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This reminded me of all those “why we need Corbyn” pieces that led Labour down a dead end for years. Lots of valid criticisms of the stale and absurdly old democratic leadership, but no more solutions than “be more progressive” and “be for young people”. Both of which ignore two elephants in the room - being more progressive is a great way of piling up votes in progressive areas but does it win white working class voters in Michigan (where the current Dem Governor of Michigan has done very well in winning those votes by focusing on bread and butter issues not … Israel, which was inevitably mentioned early in this piece) and secondly lots of young people aren’t progressive.

IMO Harris was a pretty terrible candidate parachuted in absurdly late as a result of Biden’s ego, running a weird campaign of celebrities and warnings about democracy at a time when lots of voters were more worried about inflation and immigration. You can’t just ignore those issues and hope to win. I’m rambling :joy:

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You’re making sense, not rambling.

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At the dentist killing time-Armando Ianucci in GQ

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:point_up: This is bang on. Biden’s refusal to announce that he was standing down at least a year earlier set the mould for a disastrous campaign. Didnt allow time for a decent candidate to emerge and to distance themselves from the Biden era. Didnt engage with people who were angry about prices and got caught up in too much identity politics. The Democrats were not unusual in being incumbents who got booted out after a few years of difficult economic times, but how they respond now and how they react to Trump could have long-term consequences for the US.

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It’s incredible that there were still serious people suggesting he could run again after that insane debate performance. Or even before it! He should have taken the mid terms as a win and announced then he wasn’t running again. He still had a majority in the Senate and could have focused on two years of delivery without all the “will he, won’t he” distractions. Politicians and their fucking egos though. Harris “friends” even suggesting she might want a second go.

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The Democrats never wanted to be in power. I’m convinced of it. See Also Labour. Dems did nothing to address the concerns of working people, however reprehensible their views, they just didn’t reach out. Same as Labour. I’m pretty confident we’ll see a right wing populist coalition take the next GE.

Not sure I agree here. I think both Democrats and Labour want power but they’ve traditionally been less cynical/ruthless/single-minded than their opponents, the GOP and Tories, in pursuing that power. Labour’s lack of ‘vision’ or ambition before the election reflected their absolute paranoia of losing again and being out of power for another 5 years. They played it safe and have boxed themselves in now and failed to seize the initiative to do really bold things. It’s a shame but it’s still salvageable if, and it’s a big if, they can start turning the economy round, get houses and green energy infrastructure built, and do something about NHS waiting lists.

People - with reprehensible views or otherwise - will judge a government on the economy first. That needs to be the prioirty. Only a few great politicians can take the argument to those with views they disagree with and convince them that a different approach is the right one. Blair was capable of it for a while, but I’m not sure that Starmer can do it on immigration. In the absence of that ability, he’ll need to see the economy starting to pick up and people might give him some credit.

I don’t really know enough about US politics to offer much useful to the Democrats but the author of the article we’re discussing wasnt wrong when he said that “wealthy geriatrics” of the Democractic leadership need moving on. Anyway, I’m rambling now.

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Found this by sheer accident Googling for a decent coffee shop in the area - but lucky I did - it’s really interesting.
Music, youth culture, architecture, history, jazz, London - it’s all here:

https://medium.com/walk-on-the-wild-side/1-kingly-street-the-cats-whisker-ce370e980a3b

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That’s fascinating, thanks for posting. I didn’t know anything of the history of the area despite Kingly Street being the site of many a messy mispent night.

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having watched more than a few people age quickly i tend to think that biden, around the months of the midterms, didn’t feel the fatigue or note the decline. a year later, it was decision time on running/campaigning and nobody had a decent backup plan. from there on out, he was physically going downhill quickly, but probably didn’t have reason to believe his opponent would appear any healthier (or re-electable, what with mountains of legal trouble). shitty timing, biden got REAL old in a span of about two years.

the ego was certainly part of it, but staying the course and hoping for the best probably looked like a safer option than setting up an open convention and letting the democrats take policy shots at each other, while the republicans have nothing on the schedule but take shots at the democrats. again, bad timing, but it’s one of the reasons trump came out and worked as hard as he could to slaughter any potential challenger on his own side.

it hardly matters now. the saddest part is that there are very few potential future winners on the left. if the democrats run gavin newsome in 2028, it’ll be evidence that they’ve learned nothing.

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