Watching • Urban Wakeboarding

Until climate change becomes climate changed, until the ice surrounds us, freezes the waves, the surfers, and the sharks in place until spring, we’ll have urban wakeboarding. Badly designed and function-less moats tried to dull the shock of aging concrete towers, but now they provide an impressive location for a photo shoot opportunity when you combine wakeboard and winch. Expect more as climate change renders coastal cities uninhabitable. Oh!, in 50 years time the skyscrapers will just be obstacles for the supersonic jetski races. That is, if we have recreational time as the sea starts to come in. And in. And in. —Mike Smith, Oct. 27, 2008

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Listening • Motel De Moka

When I get stuck, when I’m uninspired and want surprise I check in with a music blog like no other. Motel De Moka wakes you up from your mid-afternoon daze, throws water on your face, then tells you their thoughts on back porch blues or the philosophical dance of motor-racing. Next to the music their writers share imagery, poetry, and thoughts. It is this method of inspiring intrigue that makes the thing they do so appealing.

It’s a cosmopolitan, cross-cultural place full of out of the way abstraction, independent music tied together with aesthetic themes; from London’s underground scene to a set of folk tunes premised with vanilla white photos and a quote from Samuel Beckett.

note: Fuck your zen garden. Get your feet in the water. Get your feet in the mud. Let’s crash all our planes in the river. Let’s build strange and radiant machines at this jericho waiting to fall.
Motel De Moka: May 28th, 2008.

Yes, Motel De Moka has it all. These small pockets of resistance are rare on the internet. Together they share music with personal, special touches and allow unexpected thoughts, images to bubble up. —Mike Smith, Oct. 27, 2008

» Listen to Motel De Moka music blog

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Listening • Fucked Up!

Herein lies hardcore rock. The flutes that open Fucked Up!’s latest album loosen up all the muscles you’ll need to react swiftly to an unexpected delivery of sweaty new heroes.

Fucked Up! recently played a 12 hour show where even Moby was involved—not so punk rock. But a marathon is a marathon, whether you run it fast and with a smile, or in a chicken suit. Similarly, I have no patience for commenters calling it hardcore for hipsters, trying to diminish something great due to the perceived crowd they draw. Let the band be judged by the audience’s craze and the transfer of energy between band and fan, not the associations that they keep.

Amongst Things You Do To Stay Sane, I nominate sweaty gigs and loud music, something especially effective as Fucked Up! overdrive so far into the left-field that breathing space harmonics arise, and you notice that there is beauty to be found here too. Twice Born is a big boost of a tune, an uplifting and aggressive reminder to take control and not hold back. I’ll be getting my sanity boost when they roll into town soon, probably in a convoy of monster trucks with a ticker tape parade. —Mike Smith, Oct. 21, 2008

» Listen to "Twice Born" at Stereogum

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Watching • Human Rights School, Gossip Girl Endorsement, Joe the VP

A human rights PSA delivered in a quasi High School Musical fashion is strangely compelling. There are no colorful songs about the status quo—it’s a boring gray reality of in-school cops, and CCTV—but we can enjoy the same ratio of school-yard hunk to out-cast girl to feelgoodness, and it’s educational!

Next thing you know the Gossip Girl cast members will suggest children have The Talk with their parents about voting for McCain (Yes—it’s below). Triple-points for the Right’s scorecard; they get to tick them off for the satire of the anti-Drug message, they can condemn them for brainwashing America’s youth, and through the inevitable causal connections, palling around with terrorists. Possibly fictional ones. Sex terrorists, perhaps.

Is nothing sacred?! If you’ve cut-it-out and kept-it you should move Gossip Girl a little further to the left of South Park Republicanism on Gawker’s political persuasions infographic—be sure to keep them far to the left of the staunchly conservative 24.

In these strange times even 24’s fictitious President Palmer endorses Obama. His message is slightly dulled on second read as he credits himself for all the side-changing Obama-cons as he drops subtle hints of a run.

“I still, even after three seasons into ‘The Unit’ playing Sgt. Maj. Jonas Blaine, I’m still asked by people on the street to run.”

Main Street, we can only presume. And knowing their expertise in the world of international finance system and political affairs, they’ll certainly indulge my 2016 wish: Ex-fictious attorney Fred Thompson vs ex-fictious-President Palmer vs fictitious-plumber Joe, please.

Though, if a plumber did run for office, we’d be up to our necks in strangely persuasive analogies regarding refitting, unclogging the piping in Washington—to which we, in conventional style, would nod, ponder, weigh in unconvincingly, eventually agreeing with his expert analysis and handing over our money. We would only realize two months after the election that dependable, really smart politicians are essential when a country needs saving. Not cowboys…or cowgirls. —Mike Smith, Oct. 20, 2008

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Listening • Songs of the Sacred Harp

Folk music isn’t all bearded backwoodsmen and bohemian activists. Traditionally, American folk music has been a joyous and mesmerizing thing—beatniks and ’60s folk revivalists take note. Sacred Harp is a type of Southern spiritual music in the folk tradition, named after the sole sacred instrument used in the performance, a voice box. To these spiritual roots, contemporary folk musicians should really pay attention: to hypnotic lyrical spirituality.

Disc one of the soundtrack to a film telling the story of the Sacred Harp, Awake, My Soul, comprises songs sung a cappella, in the traditional form. The other disc has contemporary folk musicians reimagining Sacred Harp songs. Sam Amidon applies his precious and breathy folk to traditional song “Kedron.” Compared with the original there is a huge difference, but it’s their similarities that may be missed. Sam Amidon’s recording is more immediate, perhaps more haunting in its quick passing. A performance of the original version from Old St. John’s Historic Church, Rutherdfordton, N.C. is a different experience all together but both versions share the same roots, and similar intentions—music intended to elevate the listeners beyond everyday experience, reminding them of tradition and spirit, whatever shape or form it may take.

I tremble, lest the wrath divine,
Which bruises now my wretched soul,
Should bruise this wretched soul of mine,
Long as eternal ages roll.
—from “Kedron” by Sam Amidon

 —Mike Smith, Oct. 17, 2008

» Listen to "Eternal Day" by Henagar Union Sacred Harp Convention and "Kedron" by Sam Amidon at Shake Your First

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Watching • Chromeo & Juliet

Intimate relationships with computers can get a little too much, even for your most progressive electro band. Chromeo, below, take part in a strangely familiar reality show, complicating matters. P-Thugg and Dave 1 share their experiences, as the digital Juliet gets between them. “I’m just in love with the hottest piece of hardware on the East Coast,” Mr P-Thugg shares in a vocodered voice I wouldn’t wish upon anyone. Dave 1 calls a band meeting and tries to get to the root of the problem. Juliet would be better off with HAL, her motherboard insists. —Mike Smith, Oct. 16, 2008

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Listening • From Our Own Correspondent

I do not enjoy unarmed combat with the irrepressible background noise machine that the media starts up at every opportunity; nine pundits on one screen, immediate and inevitably colorless analysis, instant positive/negative approval graphs. That’s why “From Our Own Correspondent,” a BBC podcast and radio show, is so good.

It’s nice to sit back and hear smart, individual perspectives that are not provocative, unnecessarily opinionated, or ephemeral—whether it’s learning about Turkish foreign policy from a local train journey, how beer reveals signs of normality and hope returning to the Congo, or an observation on the Madagascan dance of the dead.

Each week they present five or six short, subtle, and rich observations with a realism that has to be delivered in long form. You won’t find it in one-minute news broadcasts, live-blogging, or 140-character Twitter updates: I want light to be shed, not vowels or spirit. In the mornings—when music is too harsh, the news is yesterday’s, and the beats don’t match my steps—I turn to this podcast for reflection, humanity, and life.

On the effect of the financial crisis in Memphis:

As a journalist, over the years, you get used to meeting people in extremes…often they seem glad to tell you their story, you learn not to be affected by their distress, to keep your emotional distance. Sometimes this proper detachment fails and the human being in you prevails.

On one road in Afghanistan:

But how strange that when the Taliban were in government, I myself used to drive along this road, and now, I am hiding in the back seat with my face covered. What a topsy-turvy place Afghanistan has become. Eight years ago, the problem with driving to this region was the road itself. Vast potholes had eaten up most of the tarmacked road surface and you had to drive through clouds of dust or, in winter, churn through mud. Since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, the road has been rebuilt. It is faster, smoother, and sleeker, but security is now grim and this summer, it has become a lot grimmer.

 —Mike Smith, Oct. 9, 2008

» Listen to "From Our Own Correspondent"

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Watching • Don’t Call It a Bailout

I think about the bailout and imagine a Wall Street investor flailing about in a kids’ splasher pool crying ‘cause the big-boys pushed him in. The latter-termed Rescue Package makes me imagine a coast guard descending from a helicopter regretting the stupidity of those stranded in sea of bad debt. Foreclosure has less resonance. But, as SoCal Connected reports, foreclosure means money for crews emptying foreclosed homes and for the guy who spray-paints lawns green, giving empty houses “curb appeal.” No one’s really happy about it, even the removal crew kingpin agrees: “This is a disaster… This is not something we are excited about.” There are unexpected consequences of Wall Street’s negligence—California’s foreclosed homes come with neglected backyard pools, a breeding crowd for mosquitos, and the West Nile Virus.

But don’t worry: Hipsters will save our economy. —Mike Smith, Oct. 10, 2008

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Watching • Punk Ghandi, Aragorn’s Pax Americana, Palin the White Witch

Bono is blogging about bureaucracy, manga comics, and celeb spooting, tag-teaming Jeffrey Sachs, beating world poverty and global injustice with a steel-chair on a blog for The Financial Times. At the same time ‘Lil Wayne is blogging about sports for ESPN. After a decade with the internet, the cognitive dissonance is there still there—especially in the viral video world. Celebrity columnists are not unusual, and ads always want to shock, but across the internet, the playing field has been levelled. Or maybe there was a pitch invasion. And as we invade the space, celebrities must do more to get noticed. And this stuff in these places just seems weird. A little equalizing, I guess.

Snoop D-O-DOUBLE-G, represent the Punjabi.” sings the title track for the film Singh is Kinng (the extra ‘n’ is there for superstitious reasons). It’s looks like a strange and wonderful film. And thanks to global culture, a waning tide does indeed sink all ships in a film taking its cues from Frank Kapra and, er, Jackie Chan.



So, who knew Sir Bin Kingsley, an Oscar Winning portrayer of Ghandi does a mean Minor Threat impression? The video—crowd an all—it’s not part of any huge campaign or stunt, it’s not a sketch, it’s not topical: the web has eyes that wants to see things like this, Sir Ben brings Shakespere to straight-edge, Mean Magazine get a bit of promotion at the end, fine by me.



Aragorn, son of Arathorn, House of Isildur? The rightful heir to the throne of Gondor! Your voice, Howard Zinn’s graphic-novel version of A People’s History of The United States. Wired. Though in a post-conflict, post-modern world, all we want to know is which character-class is going to persevere? Log in now! (Buy yourself a nice office chair; slight back-pain and RSI are the new trench-foot of the digitial-conflict world.)



You forget it was Aragoran, didn’t you! I knew you had it in you. It’s good isn’t it. As someone who’s never read A People’s History, it’s the sort of introduction that has benefitted from the name attached to it. I ordered it straight away.

We know, as Pat Buchanan has told us, that John McCain isn’t going to be a peace-time president: 100 years in Iraq, etc. But this is the Age of Men, not wizened Ork-Dwarves. To win it for Gondor Obama should really be focusing on the votes of the Shire folk. Mordor isn’t much of a battleground state in this age.



Now then, Sarah Palin The White Witch of the Hockey Arena is probably hiding in Narnia blaming Intelligent Warming for melting her ice palace, and disrupt hunting with/for polar bears. Oh no, silly me, there she is, on the Disney Channel—where she belongs.



Order is restored. —Mike Smith, Oct. 9, 2008

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