Possibles: Sidsel Endresen & Stan Westerhus, Boyd Rivers, Abdoulaye Alhassane Toure, Cryptopsy, Nick Waterhouse, Patterson Hood, Skyzoo,  Chris McGregor, Brother Ali (2009), Alvin Youngblood Hart, Bob Gluck Trio, Ether Net, Oddisee, Holly Williams, Dave Arner Trio, Graveola, Cyanide Pills, Trap Them, Orchestra Super Mazembe, Mark Lanegan & Duke Garwood, Inzinzac

@@@ Thirty Seconds to Mars: Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams (Virgin, 2013)  Opens up with birth and some breathy, male orgasm singing.  Strike one, I hate that shit!  Big, big production — almost soundtrack-y in its bigness.  I expect to see some big, steroided out superhero dude shot up and shit stumbling towards a hot girl and picking her up and saving her.  Second tune Conquistador, rips a Wolfmother guitar riff — strike two!  No stealing.  I’ve not heard so many whoa ho backup vocals since I crashed a Bon Jovi barbecue.  Strike three!  This record stinks.

@@@ Anciients: Heart of Oak (Season of Mist, 2013).  Off the CFUV weekly email.  I need me a little heavy music to cleanse the pallette after that regrettable Thirty Seconds to Mars.  This record opens up more proggy than metal, but I anticipate (and hope) that skulls will get crushed.  And there she blows, right on time.  Some classic riffage that segues into the double kick drum head smash.  I love it, horns up in the air you shittaz!  I love saying that with my kids but this isn’t really Satanic music — it’s heavy, quasi-operatic metal.  Check it out.  The second tune, Overthrone, gets to the mash down purdy quick.  Not my favorite style of metal, but the guitarist and drummer really push this along well.

@@@ Impetigo: Horror of the Zombies (Friendly Fire, 2013).  Let’s keep on the metal tip with this record from the Omega weekly email.  This is your thrash/throat whoop metal.  Interspersed with vocal snippets from serial murderers and generally anti-social bastards this is not the kind of record you throw on around Christmas.  Part horror movie, part post hardcore freakshow.  It appears from the Youtube clip that this might be a re-issue from about 5 years ago but it is as fresh and Satanic as the sweat coming off Dick Cheney’s ill brow.

@@@ Andrey Kiritchenko: Misterrious (Spekk, 2008) This ambient recording was recommended to me by the MOG referral machine.  The first tune, Let Oneself In, is a blend of nature sounds, slow piano single key playing, single line acoustic guitar and bells.  A tad New Age-y.  The second tune builds on the formula of the first with the addition of a bass (electric I believe) and some drums.  It’s all right, a little too light for my taste.  This clip below is not from the record, but from around the same time.

The first song on both sides of this record were too damaged to transfer.

Side 1:

Medly of Belle-Jig Songs
Working so hard
Calling on the youths of today
Old-time Calypsoes-Medley

Tobago Folk Performing Company: Folk Song Side 1

What are the odds given that was the only advertising on the front page of Politico that they would criticize/investigate/cast negative light on either General Electric or Home Depot?

Pretty slim.

What’s the cumulative effect of all the papers and major news sites taking advertising dollars and then not criticizing the actions of their advertisers?

They roll over and you get a corporate based society instead of a human based society.

The so-called “Monsanto Protection Act” — a bill that protects genetically modified seed manufacturers from litigation in the face of health risks — sneaked into law with the passing of spending bill HR 933.

GMO seed must not be safe, so it should be labelled as GMO and maybe even taken off the market.

]]> http://thecrosspollinator.wordpress.com/2013/05/22/if-gmo-seed-is-safe-why-does-monsanto-seek-legal-protection/feed/ 0 thecrosspollinator http://thecrosspollinator.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/active-music-listening-tuesday-may-21-2013/ http://thecrosspollinator.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/active-music-listening-tuesday-may-21-2013/#comments Tue, 21 May 2013 18:30:06 +0000 thecrosspollinator http://thecrosspollinator.wordpress.com/?p=20501 Continue reading →]]> YTD recordings listened to: 388
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 247
Not good music: 112
Honorable Mentions: 9
Buys: 12

Possibles: Sidsel Endresen & Stan Westerhus, Boyd Rivers, Abdoulaye Alhassane Toure, Cryptopsy, Nick Waterhouse, Patterson Hood, Skyzoo,  Chris McGregor, Brother Ali (2009), Alvin Youngblood Hart, Bob Gluck Trio, Ether Net, Oddisee, Holly Williams, Dave Arner Trio, Graveola, Safe Haven, Cyanide Pills, Trap Them, Orchestra Super Mazembe, Mark Lanegan & Duke Garwood, Inzinzac

It’s new release Tuesday so let’s dive right in to the lukewarm mainstream music pool.

@@@ Magical Cloudz: Impersonator (Matador, 2013).  An electronica record from Matador.  Opens up with some vocal loops, slow and interesting.  And on top of that comes a low, strong projecting male Nick Cave-y kind of voice.  And that’s it for that.  I like the loops, I don’t love dude’s voice.  Second tune, This is Magic, is not.  Just kidding.  Church organ and dude’s voice singing about meaningful things.  I’m not connected to this music, maybe I’m dead inside or maybe the music isn’t that compelling and up its own butt a tiny bit.  I do appreciate the sparseness of the material and I know a lot of folks like this flow so check it for yourself.  I would rather listen to No More Shall We Part by Nick Cave.  Awesomeness right there, I tell you.

@@@ Beth Hart and Joe Bonamassa: Seesaw (J&R Adventures, 2013).  First tune, Them There Eyes, is a big band/blues hybrid as Bonamassa gets to do his solo amidst a flurry of horn bips and bops.  The recording is a bit bright for my taste — I prefer my blues records thicker.  The second tune, Close to My Fire, is a classic torchburner blues ballad/love song.  Hart has a nasal tinge to her singing that is pleasing while her voice doesn’t give me the shivers.   The third tune is a cover of Nutbush City Limits which I’ve clipped below.  I wish Hart’s voice had more weight to it and I wish Bonamassa had a slightly cleaner classic blues tone, but that’s just me.

@@@ Willy Moon: Here’s Willy Moon (Cherrytree/Interscope, 2013).  In the MOG machine deceptively labelled as indie/alternative.  This is mainstream pop by a male bimbo, a mimbo as they used to say on Seinfeld.  Moon’s voice is all right with good energy, but he doesn’t have much (if anything) to say.  If you enjoy the feeling of empty cliches washing all over you you will love this record.  The gospel tinge is interesting but there’s no follow through to give the record more weight.

@@@ Saturday Looks Good to Me: One Kiss Ends it All (Polyvinyl, 2013).  Opens up with the tune One Kiss, a blurry and mopey indie electronic affair.  Oh boy, I’m feeling bogged down already.  Second tune goes hard twee pop — tambourine, sweet female vocals, lots of reverb and jangly guitars.  Songs are decent while not super memorable.  This isn’t really my cup of tea but check it out for yourself.

@@@ French Montana: Excuse My French (Bad Boy/Interscope, 2013).   Some more mainstream hip hop from the P. Diddy mothership.  When did the big hip hop records get so symphonic and cheesed out?  A rapid and unwelcome loss of funk.  The first tune, Once in a While, is about a cold blooded murder and it is mad dramatical.  Mr. Montana, who I will refer to as Frenchie has good energy on the mic with a thick tongued delivery.  I’m feeling degraded, not uplifted.

A New York public television outlet, WNET, went to great lengths to placate conservative industrialist David Koch as PBS aired an Alex Gibney documentary on income inequality that focused on the conservative billionaire. The president of WNET called Koch and offered to let him film a roundtable discussion that would air after the documentary, among other conciliatory gestures. The controversy reportedly also prompted PBS to back off another Koch-focused documentary in the pipeline. All the placation didn’t work: Koch resigned from his position on WNET’s board and reportedly canceled a large donation.

Not surprising, but I wonder if the PBS president feels like he did his best to blow Moneybags Koch and it didn’t work.

Overall, a cheap and tawdry affair.

I can’t wait for the Koch brothers to die — the world will be a much better place when they do.

Many current and former Bloomberg employees say they have been told the company keeps a record of every action taken on a terminal, whether by staff or outside customers, in a practice known as keystroke logging. The data are closely held within the company but can be used for everything from assisting customers with their machines to investigating employees for violations of their confidentiality agreement.

I’m not sure if you could call this anything but social control.

The sad bit is that the 9/11 attacks and fearmongering has made this sort of social control acceptable with parts of our population asking for it!!

And has been repeatedly pointed out, the Bloomberg ‘thesis’ that stop and frisk makes New York City safer has not been confirmed by data.  It’s just the hot air from a short, controlling, municipal dictator.

As JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM)’s Jamie Dimon prepares for a vote tomorrow on whether he should keep his chairman and chief executive officer titles, he may take comfort knowing most of his biggest shareholders are led by men with the same dual role.

Let’s all be grown up and speak openly about the corruption of corporate America.

If I lost $6.5+ billion I would expect to be thrown out on my ass.  The idea that King Dimon, narcissist to end all narcissits, doesn’t just take his ass whoopin’ like a man and go get a job somewhere else is beyond me.

“I said, ‘Wow! That’s amazing! All these people gonna be eatin’ me,’” he said to the camera. “Oh that’s so hot! A hot dog with mustard and relish! That’s better than Anthony Weiner!” he added, making a pun on one of his potential rival’s names. “Hey–I didn’t say that! I love you guys!”

In a letter to Mr. McMillan, Papaya King’s Blake Gower stressed just how much the hot dog shop has in common with the perennial candidate and activist who shot to fame following his unforgettable appearance during the great 2010 New York gubernatorial debate, where his slogan, “The Rent is Too Damn High!” made waves.

I think ‘The Rent is Too Damn High!” guy would be perfect as the next mayor of New York City.

Bring it on.

Possibles: Sidsel Endresen & Stan Westerhus, Boyd Rivers, Abdoulaye Alhassane Toure, Cryptopsy, Nick Waterhouse, Patterson Hood, Skyzoo,  Chris McGregor, Brother Ali (2009), Alvin Youngblood Hart, Bob Gluck Trio, Ether Net, Oddisee, Holly Williams, Dave Arner Trio, Graveola, Safe Haven, Cyanide Pills, Trap Them, Orchestra Super Mazembe, Mark Lanegan & Duke Garwood, Inzinzac

@@@ Fat White Family: Champagne Holocaust (Trashmouth Records, 2013).  On the same Quietus best of 2013 record so far, this is the most interesting music I heard today.  The Quietus seems focused on pointing out this music’s drugged out sound, and I hear it, but I hear a celebration of sloppiness.  Oh, hold on a minute, here comes the strung out thing.  The record is getting more sedated and more tiresome as it continues.  The tune Who Shot Harvey Oswald is annoying.  Oh well, it could have gone either way and it didn’t go my way.

@@@ The Knife: Shaking the Habitual (Mute, 2013).  Opens up with the tune A Tooth for An Eye, which sounds like an electronica/world music hybrid.  It sports a sort of pointillist sonic approach with percussion and melodic instruments popping out of the mix and dropping back.  It’s very Peter Gabriel-esque which is a compliment.  The second tune Full of Fire, appears to more electro.  I found this on a best of 2013 list so far over hear at the Quietus, and while I dig the arrangements I’m not super into the singer.

@@@ Goldblade: The Terror of Modern Life (Overground, 2013)  I saw a feature on these guys over here at the Quietus.  This is mostly an old school punk record in the Orange County California power chord tradition with the sardonic British lyrical bent and some more guitar melody than your typcial Cali-NOFX stuff.  He seems like a very cool person and totally into what he’s doing.  I’m not a fan of this style of punk — I prefer the freakier SST style.  Obviously, your mileage may vary and check them out for yourself.

@@@ Kisses: Kids in L.A. (Cascine, 2013)  A new release from the MOG new release page last week.  Opens up with an ambient cloud and then brings out the Mister Softee gated snare, 1980′s krautrock sound.  Male singer dreamy and imploring, guitars clean with some shine, beats square with an abundance of drum machine hand claps.  Not my cup of tea.

@@@ MS MR: Secondhand Rapture (Columbia, 2013).  Boy the large labels are on the female fronted waif-tronica like stink on the proverbial monkey.  Slick production with epic reverb tails and big beats, the emphasis here is more on the sound than the message.  Lyrics are pretty standard fare with a lot of oh-whoas and who-hoos.  Cotton candy for your ears.