[MISC] Itchy and Scratchy Medley

Hell yeah..finally!
I might have killed somebody for this 15 years ago ... 

[Music] Qunabu - Netlabel

Soft waves and pulses of delayed minor chords are slowly reaching my ear today from poland. Qunabu ist the name; Ambient, Dub and Minimal the music of this polish netlabel. Peter Kirn wrote a post last week that made me have a look at Qunabu. Up to now, I listened to two releases which broadly cover the aforementioned styles.

Soft, relaxing music...

For free..

Creative Commons, Baby!

For more info check this article on CDM (which includes an interview with the founders), for their music visit their archives right here or under the netlabel tab of their homepage.

[Music] Wigwam - Fairyport (1971)

Wigwam is a finnish progressive rock band formed in 1968. I recently stumpled upon their album Fairyport, which was released in 1971 on Love Records (but recorded in '68). Great progressive stuff. Exactly what I associate with progressive rock music. Epic arrangements, folkish sounds, wonderful melodies and so on.

Great musicians also, as far as I can judge that aspect. I especially like how they manage to integrate all the styles from jazz to folk to simple rock/blues without ever losing that mystique touch in their music. Positive shit. I postet the first track of this record, Losing Hold, on the bottom of this page. It gives you a good idea how they sound. Find their homepage here. The Discogs page for this release right there.

 

[MISC] Timothy Leary - How to operate your brain

 BORN     Timothy Francis Leary
                  October 22, 1920
                  Springfield, Massachusetts, United States

 DIED      May 31, 1996 (aged 75)
                 Los Angeles, California, United States
 ALMA     University of Alabama (B.A. degree in psychology in 1943)
 MATER   Washington State University (M.S. in psychology in 1946)
                  University of California, Berkeley (Ph.D. in psychology in 1950)

 SUPER    Psychological use of LSD

 POWER


Timothy Leary is no stranger to most people involved in arts, music and/or drugs. Personally I don't know that much about him. He's regarded to be the pope of LSD. Also, I heard he's somehow associated to many artists like Devin Townsend (Strapping Young Lad) and Robert Anton Wilson (the author of the Illuminatus Trilogy). Reason enough to find out more about this character and his works. Later. For now I just wanna put up a clip I found on YouTube by chance. Cool, yet wicked stuff. I have no clue what intention Leary had when he made it. If you're interested you can start your search on Leary's Wikipedia page.

[TV Shows] THE WIRE (written by Richard Price)

For me The Wire is simply the most authentic TV Show about ghetto life and police work I've seen so far. It shows the Baltimore drug scene from the eyes of gangsters and police. It doesn't glorify either side, no, it more or less shows the deep chasms each side holds for the respective players. Here's what IMDB got about the Wire.

 

A note on the language: I have to admit that I've never watched a TV show that was so hard to understand as this one. So for me this wasn't too relaxing to watch, but a good exercise in training my (american) English. Definitely not recommended, if you're not used to watch movies in English. 

Did anybody reckognize Leo Fitzgerald from the 90s classic KIDS in the last clip?

[Books] But Beautiful - A book about jazz (by Geoff Dyer)

But beautiful. Also special. Dangerous, maybe. Made me do things. Made me push my (musical) acting and thinking, too. Just check the infos I am posting here via video and reviews, paperback and so on. It should be enough to get a good idea about this book. I strongly suggest reading it in English as the original dialogues probably cant be translated too well. And I especially have to think about a dialogue between Charles Mingus and who was that again..Ben Webster? Yeah I guess so...Fucking hilarious..I was literally lying in bed, laughing out loud for about 5 minutes. Every new line making me laugh again...

 

'You dig them eggs, Mingus?'

'Yeah, I dig them eggs!'

I found a video by the Author Geoff Dyer. Cool Stuff. Cool author. I'll definitely check out his other books. Above the video I will put some editorial reviews. Enjoy. Buy here.

"May be the best book ever written about jazz."--David Thomson, Los Angeles Times

In eight poetically charged vignettes, Geoff Dyer skillfully evokes the music and the men who shaped modern jazz. Drawing on photos, anecdotes, and, most important, the way he hears the music, Dyer imaginatively reconstructs scenes from the embattled lives of some of the greats: Lester Young fading away in a hotel room; Charles Mingus storming down the streets of New York on a too-small bicycle; Thelonious Monk creating his own private language on the piano. However, music is the driving force of But Beautiful, and wildly metaphoric prose that mirrors the quirks, eccentricity, and brilliance of each musician's style.

Theophilus London - Flying Overseas