My Favorite Things: 2wo - I am a Pig Video directed by Chi Chi LaRue

"I am a Pig" is a song by Rob Halford's ill-fated attempt at industrial rock known as 2wo. It was released in 1998 on the bands sole album titled Voyeurs. It was also the only song that managed to get a video. And what a video that was - it was directed by Chi Chi LaRue of all people. Hooray! (if you know what i mean).  

For those of you who don't know Chi Chi LaRue - he's a porn director extraordinare. He's a big figure in a drag community and usually works in gay and bisexual genres. And he's not a usual porn director who just turns the camera on and captures the thing - far from it. His films are one of the few really engaging experiences because of the ways he uses long takes and tricky editing to evoke excitement. He is actually trying to tell stories through physical intercourse - something akin to pro wrestling ring psychology. I guess he is the only person in porn who actually tried to do the film according to Soviet Montage Theory heavily leaning on Eisenstein's Montage of Attractions and Kuleshov Jedi Mind Tricks... Well, i did my homework. Ok? 

While the video for "I am a Pig" is commonly perceived in mainstream as a some kind of a "sleazefest" - it is basically just some stuff that usually happens at the fetish parties presented in a digestable form of a highlight reel. You get "this" and "this" and "this" and also "that" and "that" too "if you want". It is a riff of traditional cock rock videos. But it is subversive in a very different way than it seems on the surface

As Halford said in the interview back in the day - the song was about public and private sides of personality and the video was intended to show it in a tricky manner. But there's nothing outraging even if your overthink it - just people hanging out and having fun. You have somebody in a cage; midgets with whips; people with their mouths gagged; pals in the gas masks; scenes of foot fetish; someone's getting tickled probably; LaRue doing whirling around; some boot licking; temptation resistance; oh, hi Janine Lindemulder (no ice dildo though), nice to see you; threesome flirting; i guess there must be some edge play hidden somewhere; some sweat licking; dancing of course and some people just staring at others who do something. And then in the very end of the video - there's Our Man Rob looking like Nosferatu with the saddest eyes in the world for some reason - he looks at all this with that particular uncertainty that you might get if you're puzzled enough. 

But it's the editing that makes this video work. LaRue gives you the basics - the flow of images, parts of something without revealing the whole thing - and your brain does the heavy lifting and fills the gaps. The effect depends on performance but it is designed to make you think of something arcane and potentially obscene via association. Or not. It is most non sequitir - it can go anyway you way. In fact it is not as much a viewing experience as a momentary thought experiment - how far you can take it. There is so much visual information to chew and it is edited in a way to achieve some sort of sensual overload. It goes way too intense - you gotta adapt to perceive it. It bursts almost a DADA level of visual noise.

It breaks away from any form of narrative into semi-abstract realm - it's like Len Lye or Stan Brakhage or Joseph Kornell shapeless inert flicks - just with other kind of images.

Yes, and i've been overthinking all the way.

BSPH: Adriano Celentano - Prisencolinensinainciusol

Here's a controversial confession. I was a big fan of Adriano Celentano when i was a kid. He always seemed to be grounded and believable even though he always played an amped up version of himself and his films were mostly braindead monstorocities (but there was also magical "Bluff" directed by Corbucci and co-starring everawesome Anthony Quinn) - he is kinda like Dwayne Johnson. For reasons unknown he radiated such deeply awesometacular charisma he could literally spat out nonsense and remain otherworldly cool. Speaking of nonsense...

"Prisencolinensinainciusol" is a song by italian multi-faceted artist Adriano Celentano. It was released in 1972 on an album titled "Nostalrock". It was a big hit for Celentano scoring No. 1 spot in Italy and numerous chart entries all over Europe coupled with critical acclaim. This is more amazing because it is a gimmick song. It sounds like a regular rock song but actually is warped experimental song written in faux English. This combination makes it brilliant in every way. 

Bil Sabab Power Hour: Miles Davis - U 'n' I

"U 'n' I" is a composition by Miles Davis recorded for his 1983 album "Star People". It is one of the rare examples of Davis playing relatively straight. "U 'n' I" is arrestingly charming and brisk. For "Star People" Davis decided to keep things simple - all tunes have concise bodies around them and the melodies are relatively discreet while the solos are performed in a spotlight manner - no blanket tugging - "U 'n' I" is perfect example of this approach. The result is a lot of space in the music - you can hyperventilate inside this structures. "U 'n' I" feels massive. But it is unusually easily digestible. 

There is clear rhythm pattern with no jumping around, there is distinct, almost old-school be-bop, melody without twists and turns colored by inventive back and forth with guitar and a little shout-out with soprano sax. It is laid back and shuffling, cool, mildly tempered jazz fusion tune with rippling chords and funky stabs ready to grab you by the throat and baptize in the mood for something-something. It is also one of the catchiest late-period Miles Davis pieces. "U 'n' I"  feels right even though the melody is childish by Davis' standards. 

In its core "U 'n' I"  is a sound enactment of taking a walk with somebody you love. Stroll hand in hand, no bullshit (just because). There are two main voices - trumpet and guitar. They talk about everything and nothing in particular, going round and round, basically looping, phasing sometimes, curdling in their thoughts and bumbling all the way. 

Rhythmically it is based on laidback, relaxed walking patterns. You have legs and lungs and heart sometimes almost bursting out to the forth. Sometimes the step is a little bit too fast and then tries to make it up by slowing down a bit and somewhat stumbling. It feels a swingy as if you're nearly overwhelmed with the flush of feelings but still in control. The resulting groove is infectious - Al Foster and Mino Cinelu do the cool funky cat walking tall strut like no one else while Marcus Miller' bass is dancing around. It transcends the whole thing. Miles Davis and Mike Stern' are playing off each other doing parallel narratives - trying to calculate all possible moves of each other and attempt to hit a preemptive strike. But they never do it. It is unsettling in some way. The resulting melody is irresistible. It sticks, it gets in your head - whirling and curling and you can't help but utter-mumble it every time you take a walk.  

Unlike uncertain, careful and overly reasonable stuff from "The Man with the Horn" - "U 'n' I" reeks with quiet and understated confidence. This time Miles Davis knows exactly what he wants to do and he goes for it. The whole thing is like something not exactly comprehensible but very distinct. It moves towards you but kinda not but it feels like there is something going on and it is immensely cool. It defies certain rules of composition for sake of more abstract and angular approach. It goes circles with minimal variations ending up being completely different. 

That's how you make an awesome jazz tune. 

Just imagine

Beekeeper's Flytrap

UTSANGA REMIX RAMPAGE is on!

Utsanga.it is the Flying Dutchman of experimental lit zines. It always comes out of nowhere, gives you RKO and smacks you right in the face as if it was a final solution. You feel different after that. And i'm writing it as a reader not member of editorial staff. With every issue Utsanga.it manages to blow your mind to pieces then gather those pieces together and blow them up into even smaller pieces - up until things go down to atoms. Because that is what experimental art zines are supposed to do. It is not about being nice and cheerful. It's about total annihilation of rational thought.

Bil Sabab Power Hour: Miles Davis - Chocolate Chip

"Chocolate Chip" is a composition from Miles Davis' final album "Doo Bop". It is unusually upbeat and straightforward jumpy funky piece with a melody so sticky it will shape the rest of your life just because. It can go on forever and that is fine by me.

"Chocolate Chip" is a standout track on "Doo Bop". Unlike the majority of the album which is a series of rather drowsy, unfocused and quite uncertain steps that should've been a dance - "Chocolate Chip" is extremely focused and fired-up. It drops the sentimental impressionist feel which dominates the album and winds up in "Davis full swing". It is more like his 70s stuff but streamlined and made "nice".

The melody is extremely catchy albeit simple (it stands beside "U'n'I") - it is busy zigzagging and moving around with occassional pa's here and there. It bobs and weaves and struts and lopes. It begs to be performed in scat by Jordan Williams or Al Jarreau. It has this uber-cool vibe that makes me feel good by the sheer force of groove. The beat is just right, keyboard fills in the second part bring a different shades. The beat is pure oldschool hip-hop reminescent of new jack swing but is stripped of its tackiness. Bass back and forth with muted horn stabs in the chorus parts are like a transition to the next level. Miles blows his way through the groove. And then after another chorus turn he doesn't play. As if he was just listening to the thing and enjoying it. He returns after the break with another splash of melodies and electric piano flourishes. Then things settle down for one more turn before fading out.

"Doo-bop" was masters final tour de force. Released in 1992 it was a culmination of Davis' continuing interest in sound and style of then-modern pop music - the Minneappolis sound, New Jack Swing, R&B and Golden Age hip-hop productions in particular. He collaborated with Easy Mo Bee (who later produced bulk of Notorious BIG debut "Ready to Die") and managed to prodice a weird beast which not really a jazz, not really a hip-hop - it is more like then-emerging trip-hop with a twisted tinge of wicked easy listening. Basically it is an upgrade of his signature cool jazz style but even more impressionist. It is almost a cloud steam you happen to walk in and the wind sweeps it away.

You gotta respect Miles Davis for his fearless aesthetic development. He was all about MAKE IT NEW and for every record he was bringing himself to a breaking point and somehow managing to reinvent himself and come back with such a bang you could only say "WOW!" or "WHOA!".

My Favorite Things: Martin Arnold - Passage a L'acte

"Passage a L'acte" is an experimental short film by video artist Martin Arnold. It was released in 1993. It is a remix of a scene from a 1962 screen adaptation of Harper Lee' seminal novel "To Kill a Mockingbird". It takes out of context a morning kitchen table breakfast scene and makes it something completely different. 

Martin Arnold (Hey, Arnold!) turns the scene into ominous but convoluted, dizzying and terrifying exploration of interpersonal relationship within a family by means of continuous stretching and pulsating repetition. Curiously, it is not a comment on "To Kill a Mockingbird" in any way. It just takes one particular scene as a source in order to make something of its own. Arnold wanted to take "better known" domestic moment in order to secure engaged attention from the viewers. 

The original bit runs for about 10 seconds - Finch family had gathered around the breakfast table, children prepare for the first school day of the year. Father demands that his young son would not leave the table until his sister has finished eating. End of episode. Within the film it is barely significant. Just another brief showcase of character interaction - a family in complete harmony with one another. "Passage a L'acte" takes certain bits of that scene and transforms them into a setpieces of their own - stretching it up to 12 minutes thus creating weird rocking motion coupled with explosions in composition.

The annihilation of original continuity completely defamiliarizes the scene. The resulting narrative is constantly starts and stops. It is stuck, repeated and reversed and repeated once again. This stuttering is staggering in its scope. And because of that new narrative shows occurs. Unlike the original scene it is not that nice. It is disturbing. It shows concealed tension.

"Passage a L'acte" turns a breakfast table scene into a microcosm of the family. It renders the scene nonsensical but repetitive patterns expose the suppressed underbelly of the relationships between its members. At first scene starts to look utterly bizarre in its new warped continuity but then it starts to make sense. There is a pattern. Halts and repeats of every instant mark intense passage of time - it's a matter days and weeks, possibly month compressed. It is fair to say that time truly flies in "Passage a L'acte". 

Overt repetition of sounds and body movements shows profound absurdity of it all. Every spoken line is stultifyingly repeated over and over again until it shreds any meaning it must bear (here's a transcribed snippet from IMDB). It is nothing more than unintelligible barks and yelps. "Yes" can morph into "byah", "weh", "bam", "jam" or "haffa-now", "flupper", "patoot". The characters are stuck twitching in pointless loops back and forth without any resolution. This stutter is a showcase of a repetitive nature of everyday activities. It evokes untapped evergrowing frustration.  

Such narrative can be jarring, tedious and comedic in the same time. Think about it. Woman sits with uncanny smile on her face possibly trying to keep her act together, man reads the paper as if he was performing a dance with his eyes and head. Then boy gets up, open and closes the door many-many times. The repeated bits of slamming are distorted to the point it sounds like a machine gun offense. Subsequent dropping of a fork is also transformed into surrealist sonic dance composition. Originally just a snarky smirk from the girl is now transformed into rhythmic guttural noises. Kiss on a cheek through numerous repeats turns into grinding chomp. These volleys of sounds are like retaliating onslaught of woodpeckers. 

  

"Passage a L'acte" is a testament on flexibility and versatility of film as an artform. It shows how far it can be taken in terms forms. It can be transformed in a variety of ways and every time it will be able to forge something completely new - another narrative or way of perception. It is important to 

My Favorite Things: Marco Brambilla - Sync (2005)

"Sync" is a short video by conceptual artist Marco Brambilla (AKA the director of "Demolition Man" and Kanye West' "Power" motion painting video). It was released as a part of anthology film "Destricted" in 2006 and holds the questionable glory of being the most interesting piece of the bunch from the formal standpoint. It is an expirement that manages to make its point and entertain in the same time.

In its core "Sync" is an exploration of a love story. To be exact - it is about culmination of a romantic relationship in moving arts - a love scene. It is intentionally generic. Predictability of scenario makes it easy to follow. And that's the point. It is derivative and formulaic because it works. The way it is made makes it substantially different from the other depictions and brings it to the new level.

"Sync" is compised of thousands of little pieces from different movies, mainstream and adult, edited together at incredibly fast rate (you can even spot a frame from Peter Greenaway's underseen "Pillow Book" in the beginning) to form some sort of ultimate love scene. It is defamiliarized catalogue of various elements that constitute typical love scene. Nevertheless because of use of match cuts and rhythmic montage - it is coherent and cohesive. Another important detail is that it is accompanied by elaborate drum roll that ties it all together, underlines and organizes what is going on beat by beat. Drum roll guides the viewer. It builds tension and expectation - but ultimately it fizzles out to nothing. 

Needless to say it is pointless to identify what bit comes from which film. You can do it but it will distract from the real thing. It is designed to be familiar but intense enough to cause sensory overload to the point it makes no sense to perceive it as it is but to interpret it  (cue "It's all too much" opening twang). "Sync" unleashes an avalanche of similar bits matched together into a seamless stream. Technically - it is a supercut. "Sync" is divided into clusters - kissing, hugging, carresses, intercourse in various positions, body detail shots, orgasm reactions, cumshots, etc. But there is no immersion. It just slides on top. The many images add more of the same to the point heavy juxtaposition oversaturates perception and turns it all into abstract stream of samples in a new composition that tells vastly different story. While watching you can't even notice what is really going on. There is a catch. Several parts of the video are repeated almost beat by beat by different frames from the same scene and at some point the whole thing seamlessly starts to move backwards ending on the same frame from the "Pillow Book" it started. 

By reiteration of generic elements "Sync" manages to dissect the way love scenes as a concept are stripped of its original emotional substance and thus commodified, banalized and standardized. It is a critique of cliched and lopsided depiction of a love scene which is devoid of engaging specifics. It is a showcase of genericism for sake of a cheap pop. In that way "Sync" is a story of how content submits to easily digestable bland form and thus renders itself unremarkable.

And that is truly horrifying.

P.S.: Just in case if you're wondering - here's the list of film i've identified in no particular order. There is definitely more:

• Pillow Book 1996
• Moulin Rouge 2001
• Dressed to Kill 1984
• One Night Stand 1997
• Ninth Gate 1999
• Solaris 2002
• Leaving Las Vegas 1995
• Sin City 2005
• Urreversible 2002
• Crash 1996
• Showgirls 1995
• When I will be loved 2004
• Lost Highway 1997
• Last Tango in Paris 1972
• Quills 2000
• Altered States 1980
• Cape Fear 1991
• 23 palms 2003
• Possession 1981

BSPH: Vangelis - The Dragon

Everybody knows Vangelis. The guy who coined a melody for Ween's "Japanese Cowboy", of course! And "Blade Runner" - dada-dada dada-dada dada-dada dum-dum dum dum dum... But how about taking a look at the composition from the past so deep it's cold outside? Right on!



"The Dragon" is a composition by Vangelis recorded in 1971 and released in 1978 on an album of the same name. It is an odd piece in Vangelis catalogue. In fact - it is not even officially released - the 1978 album was a cash-in bootleg. Vangelis himself disowned it and characterized as "bad" because it was never really finished. What you can hear is a sketch. A starting point, something meant to be developed but ultimately left undone.

But that doesn't mean we have to dismiss this composition. It is what it is but it exists and deserves a listen. It is one of the most unusual and downright strange things Vangelis had ever composed.

"The Dragon" is long and brooding stomp with some eastern stylings. It is composed in epic fantasy medieval style. It is very much like very-very drawned-out composition of Vangelis former Aphrodite's Child - just bigger, longer and more about the journey than a destination. The length of "The Dragon" is its defining feature. It goes and goes and goes. It moves forward relentlessly. This makes a lot of space for musicians to play off each other occassionally returning to a central theme before bouncong back to another soloing bout.

It is a broad strokes composition written from a bird's eye point of view. It is something like a conqueror's rampaging march retold in one digestive bit. Menacing and swaying. This makes the arrangement overcroaded - instruments literally fight for the spotlight. Everything is big and pushed to the forth and there is rather distinct void in the background. This evokes unease.

Even though it is a jam-session - it is neatly structured. Bleating fuzzy bass keeps the things close to the ground (and instantly reminds you of Frank the Goat) and tight while combined efforts of  drums and acoustic guitar make a steady propulsive groove.

On top of it - the strings are dancing like the flags of the marching army (with slight unmistakable Bolero flavour). They are lashing and slashing with that particular swish through the air. Then comes a battle sequence of sorts in a form of back and forth solo of heavy wah-wah'ed guitar and violin. They clash before guitar takes over for a while and then violin comes back whirling around guitar and tossing it off its feet - making it run away delirious and scheming a vicious comeback. Each bout is more intense. You get the notion that violin is trying to reason demented guitar. This bout runs through the whole composition. It transforms the beat: makes it thicker and more thunderous but also disorienting. Sometimes it moves along steadily and then it suddenly starts to overrun the rest as if trying to escape from this rattle and hum. Or it is trying to scare away hungry mosquitos who buzz around the would-be victim in the night. If that's the case - then it is severely glorified.

Rhythmic patterns of "The Dragon" are drawing a tapestry of endless lacing of the everlasting shoe with a sentient whip in futile but annoying attempts to slip away. It is repetitive in a mesmerizing way. According to Giorgio Gomelsky, who produced the sessions, the idea was to find certain kind of grooves via extensive jamming - grooves that can performed with minimal dynamic variations that will make a trance-like beat colored by tactical use of improvisation on top of it. The result will be like a boiling water - the proceedings stay more or less the same but nevertheless it is everchanging. And the whole thing evaporates in your head where it can fully blossom.

Funny thing happened while i was vacuum cleaning

As you know i'm a little bit out of dayjob. That means my apartment got a chance to be cleaned up after several month of acting as a place where i can fall to sleep. Always look at the bright side of life! Right? Before starting THE GREAT CLEAN-UP I was listening to some Scott Joplin records. Because i thought of The Sting and felt a bit nostalgic and needed a fix. I'm sentimental if you know what it mean. After the need was satisfied i got up to do the thing.

However i forgot to close the tab. And so YouTube autoplayed at random for some time. While i was deep into noise concert of mine - vacuum cleaning the carpet which looked like a battleground of cut hair, nails, dust, pieces of food and other unidentified stuff including fluff of unknown origin. After i have finished exercising power over vacuum cleaner (Tintern Abbey song review coming soon) - i was surprised to hear The Cult. I was even more surprised when i've found the whole sequence of events. 

BSPH: AC/DC + Dead Can Dance + David Lynch Twin Peaks Thought Gang - The Pink Jack Mash-up

"The Pink Jack" is a mash-up song produced by Wax Audio for the "Mashed in Plastic" tribute album. It was released in 2008. The album was a mishmash of various producers doing their best Lynchian mash-ups with various degrees of success. Usually it was completely unremarkable unjust "meh" that was all over the place with appropriate samples tacked on. It was trying way too hard be LYNCH-Y enough to pass through. However "The Pink Jack" was different. It was a real deal. Now it is fair to say that "The Pink Jack" is probably the best what "Mashed in Plastic" has to offer. It is "that's how you make a mash-up" kind of song.

BSPH: Harry Crosby - Photoheliograph

This is "Photoheliograph", a poem by Harry Crosby. It was first published in 1928 in a poetry collection titled "Chariot of the Sun". Harry Crosby was an interesting kind of person. Spoiled rich boy with magnetic charisma, eminent taste, uncanny sense of style, mystical edge and that sacramental nag-gnaw - he was one of the stranger fellas of the "make it new" age. He loved women, alcohol, higher states of mind and was basically an epitome of 20s poet self-destructive behavior. He was also founder and editor of Black Sun Press which published such luminaries as Ezra Pound, Hart Crane, James Joyce, D.H. Lawrence and even Ernest Hemingway.

Four random words in a row

Ginger flattening eyetooth blackout

BSPH: Catholic Discipline - Underground Babylon

Let me tell you about the song that sounds like the best thing ever.

"Underground Babylon" is a song by the band Catholic Discipline. They were an odd new wave / post-punk outfit from LA captured in its ragged glory in Penelope Spheeris seminal punk documentary "The Decline of Western Civilization". In fact - their performance was the best thing in entire film (which is saying something because there are also bands like Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Fear, X and Germs taking down the house) - but Catholic Disciplne stole the show as if it was their goddamn job. Their performance was epic, no less. 

Their name comes from one the Bessy's dayjob occurrences - he found the words "Catholic Discipline" written in the bathroom in "dripping red letters". The band consisted of members of various LA groups who were hanging out together in 1979-1980 - most notably Phranc then of Nervous Gender on guitar, Craig Lee of The Bags on drums, pre-El Vez Robert Lopez (yep) on keyboards and others. And then there was one and only Claude Bessy aka Kickboy Face, editor of Slash Fanzine and the middleman for everyone and everybody - giving hell as if it was his last stand. They all gathered to play music in a different manner than usual - explore that misty something-something. 

Unfortunately the band didn't last long enough to capture their delightful havoc on the proper record - it's natural when you just want to play some music and don't give a damn about such stupid things as commodification of your output for sake of vanity bullshit like fame and fortune. So - aside from ragtag better-than-nothing but hard to find 2004 "Underground Babylon" compilation - "The Decline of Western Civilization" is the only place where you can find their songs in good quality. The fact that we have at least that is already a miracle all things considered. But this is so unfair you might get angry and unable to cool it down... But back to the song.

"Underground Babylon" is an understated epic. It is a punk manifesto of sorts. In its core "Underground Babylon" is a song about a hangover - bound for glory. The protagonist had finally came to senses after the long and winding and rather rough party night (left for your imagination). He doesn't remember what happened exactly but he knows it definitely was quite fun. He then finds a phrase "Babylon Must Fall" written on the mirror with a lipstick and wonders who might did that but not very much, headache creeps. After cleaning up he lays down and succumbs to his thoughts and unintentionally reflects on his life. That thing happens sometimes, it is part of the hangover "fun"-program. He comes to a conclusion that he "regrets" "nothing" - because why bother with such things. Unlike all those "dumbfucks with bland little brains and bland little dreams" - he goes beyond, makes it new, experiments with fear, tastes guilt, tastes death, stands by his doom with nothing but dare...  Because why not? After all - nothing really matters.

It sounds big, jagged, buzzsaw angular, razor sharp in a loving embrace of a subliminal melody entwined with this unmistakable zero-fucks steamroller groove and headache whirling clanging guitar and keyboard combo doing their best impressions of irritating imaginary flies and floaters truly madly deeply in love with bananas. It feels like a culmination of something you have no idea what it is but you feel its immense gurgling shine burning you.

And after listening to it - you feel a little bit lighter.

Bil Sabab Power Hour: Toy Love - Frogs

Sometimes the song just comes to your life and never really goes away even though there is no reason for it to stay. This is how it happened with me and this song.

"Frogs" is a song by a New Zealand punk band Toy Love. I first heard it on a Bomp! anthology many years ago but it was originally recorded in 1979 for seminal New Zealand punk compilation AK79. To this day every time i listen to it - i get the a rush of blood to the head. It is truly intense.

"Frogs" is a "charge of a light brigade" kind of song - straightforward, no-bullshit, exhilarating and epic in the same time. When you hear the song you think "no shit!". It is tough as an avalanche of watermelons - going backwards. As the band leader Chris Knox recalled years later he "tried to imagine the terror of a young girl whose sighting of said amphibians raining from the skies is roundly scorned by authority figures and peers, leading to a complete mental collapse."

The song blasts you off and pummels you to the pulp just because. It is brooding, stomping, crushing extravaganza of guitar, voice, bass, keys and drums. It pounds you to the ground making you believe you're a tree and that's the way it goes. It sounds like a circus with a sisters of mercy rolling in a Hellraiser movie. It crashes everything in sight, then pulls it all together in a ball, jumps on top laughing mad to kick its way deep inside in order to soothe the urge to rock. All while disrupting your perception of reality forever.

"Frogs" is somewhat similarly structured to The Stooges "Sick of You". The intro is purposefully mellow but eerily menacing and then the whole thing turns into relentless onslaught. This song is like experiencing the whole scope of the universe in one gulp - all too much. And that's why it is great.

Rhythm section is like a train - it moves forward with no mercy, you can almost hear the crunching sounds of the bones. Guitar is like a chainsaw that cuts air and turns the whole thing into a bloodbath (you heard right - Toy Love makes the air bleed) while keyboards are like the thing from another world - cold and remote harbinger of doom. There is a fill with a little playful menuet in the middle of the song that comes out of nowhere making feel lost and touched by some kind of tentacle.

Toy Love are stuff of legend in New Zealand - kinda like The Stooges spliced with The Damned except way tougher. If you dare to listen to their anthology you will probably describe it "raw, brutal, rough and bloody". This is punk rock music that is dead set to "shoot, knife, strangle, beat and crucify" the mind - it really pushes listener to the limit without going overboard with noise. No sissy pussy larva lambda.

Bil Sabab Power Hour: Тартак - О-ля-ля

You know i'm from Ukraine - the land where Ween songs are reality. It's fun to be here 'cause it absolutely sucks. I hate it here. But there are some stuff worth sharing. Like this song.

"O-la-la" is a song by ukrainian hip-hop alt-rock band Tartak. It was released on their long-overdue debut album "Demo_graphic explosion" in 2001 but the video for the song was rolling the airwaves since at least 2000 and the song dates back to 1997.

"O-la-la" isa song about the most important thing - maladies of modernity. Or what Nathan Rabin might call "INEXORABLE HORROR". Protagonist feels a certain kind of unease. The one that is completely existential and utterly superfluous. Because he's a sensitive kind of person. Also known as a whiny wimp. Things are changing at starfish fight pace and nothing makes any sense. And he tries and he tries and he tries to make something out of it but no no no. He can't get no satisfaction. Nothing makes any sense anyway and that makes him very sad. He feels helpless. That's why finds some solace in drugs and sloth and sometimes hapless pointless shopping. Basically he just lives out his days without an effort - just being pitiful and rather spiteful. Despite all his rage he's still just a rat in a cage. And so on. Despite the song being rather old - it's topic is still not a relic of the past. And that hurts.

Video is basically literal depiction of the song in low-budget general terms. It is "Life is what you make it" story with an apparent struggle of light and dark sides. No mention of social inequality or other beacons of reality though. Also - the song sounds as if the guy was talking french. I'm noting that because one of my teachers in school actually tried to convince everybody that it was actually sang in french. I still remember the horror of realizing that that person is fucking dumb. I felt anxious for a while and had no idea what to do next with this knowledge.

Musically "O-la-la" is straightforward but mean alt-rock tune with some tasty breakbeat in the backbone, some fat melting guitars and lightning fast intense flow of rapping. The groove is like a grinder of reality that turns you into a minced meat once in a while. Guitar work is particulary to-the-point. It really sounds like roaring depression the grabs your throat and chokes you only to slam against the floor at the last moment. Guitar solo is especially desperate. It is recursive neverending whirl that just goes on and on - sucking you dry and turning you inside out.

Tartak is a strange case of a band slowly devolving from progressive sounding socially conscious force of nature into radically unremarkable shell of itself with heavy reliance on lame jokes and hoo-ha imagery. But they started strong - their debut is all-killer no-filler kind of album. After that they had a cool spot here and there, tried their best to remain relevant but slowly and surely turned into politically-correct nothing-special middle-of-the-road drab that is kinda there but no one cares about it. Well, that's called "vae victis", bro.

Here's a video of early Tartak line-up performing early more laidback version of the song on Chervona Ruta festival in 1997:


I remember this song playing on TV almost every day and i liked it so much i even tried to mimic the flow of the frontman. It sounded fresh. It still hold up pretty well. It's a great example of then-thriving ukrainian hip-hop with clear-cut narrative with sly social commentary augmented greatly by rich and diverse vocabulary of frontman Oleksandr Polozhynskiy. Damn, that man had some style. For a while i thought that he must be something like ukrainian equivalent of Henry Rollins - big imposing angry dude who says it best.

Give it a listen and go on with your life.

P.S.: Few years later - i guess it was 2004 or 2005 - the band went out of their underground shells and recorded Christmas-themed cover of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit". 

CATTYWAMPUS BUMFUZZLE: TARADIDDLE!

So - Prophets of Rage is a thing that exists, apparently. There are formerly respectable people involved. But they seem to be unaware of the fact that they're a bit obsolete in their message and intent. But i don't care. It's none of my business. No offense to Prophets of Rage.

IMHO, Tom Morello is good at making various odd guitar sounds and bad at writing actual songs. He's no Steve Stevens. So - why wouldn't he actually focus on various odd guitar sounds instead of writing painfully bad songs? I mean - man gotta know his limitations.

This photo was the tipping point of pointlessness. Come on! It is ridiculous. It begs to be memefied. I thought about it for a moment and then it struck me - i need to look at the dictionary - there is something that can explain it all. And i looked and i looked and i looked at the words in the dictionary - desparate to find the one that can describe this particular kind of disengaged irritation. And that i saw the word "TARADIDDLE". And i knew this is the word. It means "bullshit". But it wasn't enough for me. This picture needed a phrase, not a single word - some sort of a spell that will transcend it to another level.

And so i started to surf through the dictionary all over again. I looked everywhere, every type of word, every dialect, every slang, every argo, every tech-term - and there was nothing to back TARADIDDLE. I was frustrated and exhausted by the whole affair. And then i started to mash "Random word" button to see what will come out. And i kept doing it for another hour. In the end i was so frustrated i wanted to cry. There was nothing worth attention - no weird words happened throughout my search. It is ridiculous - is it because of biased search engine? I clicked on "Random word" one final time and the word "CATTYWAMPUS" came out. ANd that was it. THat was the word i was looking for. I was so happy - all the exhaustion and frustration disappeared. But then i was scared by thought that i will need to repeat the whole operation to find another word. But then i thought "i only need one word and i have nothing else to do". And then clicked on the button and the word "BUMFUZZLE" came out. And for a moment i was the happiest person on this pitiful planet.

I had a phrase to accompany that image. .

CATTYWAMPUS BUMFUZZLE: TARADIDDLE!

CATTYWAMPUS BUMFUZZLE: TARADIDDLE!

CATTYWAMPUS BUMFUZZLE: TARADIDDLE!

CATTYWAMPUS BUMFUZZLE: TARADIDDLE!

LET'S PUT SUM.IN.UA INTO WAYBACK MACHINE!

I'm a kind of person who has quite a relationship with all sorts of dictionaries. I love reading dictionaries. I like to learn meanings of random words for no reason at all. That's my kind of fun.

Recently i was trying rewrite one little poem in Ukrainian. I wanted to make a bit more sophisticated in terms of word use. My intention was to mix words from different dialects of Ukrainian so it would add another layer narrative by jumping from one territory to another. I wasn't my computer so there was Lingvo to back me up and didn't had access to any of my paper dictionaries. So i was using SUM.IN.UA. It is a dictionary of modern ukrainian. To be honest it is not that modern anymore but that is the best we have at the moment since new dictionary of modern ukrainian language is a bit caught in the turnaround deep in the development hell.

So - i wanted to find a meaning of particular word and instead moving to the page of the word i get ERROR 503. And i think "Sweet jumping George O'Twang! What!? Why?". I got hot instantly and was very frustrated by this sad event. The fury i felt was severe. I've tried to refresh the page numerous times and every i got just another ERROR 503. Finally it struck me - "i need to go to the Wayback Machine!". Because this site is very important so it is probably archived very well and i can find a copy of a page i need there. And so i go to the Wayback Machine and insert the link i need - and i get nothing because this particular was never archived. It was depressing to say least. And then looked at the archival stats of the whole site and it was like 50 pages or something. 50 pages of a dictionary with several hundred thousand words. It is mindnumbing. It makes you think this: "Eh... ... ...Vavoom Snikt Bamf!" and then you experience the void in your soul that will never go away.

OK then. What shall we do now? Shall we buy a new guitar? Nah! I'm gonna put SUM.IN.UA in its glorious entirety into Wayback Machine. I will put certain amount of pages every day and i will do it until i will run out of pages to archive. That is my new version of fun.

LET'S PUT SUM.IN.UA INTO WAYBACK MACHINE!

My Favorite Things: Louis Phillips

Sometimes you can stumble upon something that otherwise you might not even notice. Sometimes it happens that way. And it kicks you right in the gut as if it was exactly what you need at the moment.

This is one hell of a wordplay from great Louis Phillips:

"Robinson Caruso -- novel about an opera singer stranded on a desert island."

The more i think about it - the more i like it.

Bil Sabab Power Hour: Pantera - Avoid the Light

"Avoid the Light" is a song by seminal heavy metal outfit Pantera.  It was released in 2000 on the Dracula 2000 soundtrack. It was a time when movies had tie-in soundtracks jam-packed with some rather inspired choices (the very same soundtrack contained modern Slayer classic "Bloodline" and System of a Down rendition of Berlin's "Metro") mixed with some utterly unbearable filler in a form then-unescapable post-grunge and nu-metal schlock. 

It was a very complicated time for the band. They came out of extensive hiatus due interpersonal tensions and drug issues and started recording what was to become their final record "Reinventing the Steel" which was rather underwhelming all things considered. That's why "Avoid the Light" got lost in the shuffle and was quickly forgotten. It was never released outside of Dracula 2000 soundtrack (except for the accompanying single for the album boxset released in 2015). Today it is fondly remembered by the few and sometimes mentioned in general overviews and soundtrack reviews. It is truly one of the best Pantera tunes - but it is still on the margins of their canon - even more than their dreadful "80's" era. It is quite unfair.

Listen to this song. It is amazing piece. "Avoid the Light" is a master-class of multi-layered songwriting. It is a vertical slice of Pantera's style. It contains everything that made them tick - twisted soulful tunes combined with hard-edged aggressive power-chord takedowns and intense rhythms paired with expressive soloing and colored by dynamic shifts and uncanny technical equilibrism. Basically every trick of their book is in this song (except for Seth Putnam, duh).

It builds up gradually and moves naturally. Every part of the songs adds something new - everything moves forward. From gothic arcane acoustic intro to the heavily distorted first part of the verses to disorienting whirling second part of the verses to the tragic stabilizing and somewhat stilted choruses to emotional interlude which sums up the story to truly operatic solo which basically tells the whole thing from the different perspective. It is impressive to say the least. 

The guitar work is exceptional even by Dimebag Darrell standards - so many different techniques are used - you have pitchshifting squealing, digital manipulations, walls of distortion, acoustic fills, dramatic soloing. Drum pattern is also very dynamic - ranging from thundering stomp to bone crushing blasting double bass to simple 4x4 backbeat. Phil Anselmo's vocals are quite diverse and more akin to things he did on his side releases - there are some backwards talk, extensive double tracking, shrieks and growls combined. Bass line keeps it all together in a really tight knot - it adds up a lot to the guitar solo in the middle and gets some tasty fills here and there all over the song.

"Avoid the Light" is exceptional song that is criminally little-known. It deserves more exposure and i hope this little post will help. 

Just do it

BUTTONHOLE STITCHING

My Favorite Things: All you need is simple typographic rendition of "Moo" two times

Surfing through old literary magazines is fun. You can find all sorts of great stuff. Some old stuff by writers you know  or just casually discover something exciting at every corner. You can read opinion pieces on then-current events that were definitely overblown, you can read reviews of the books you will probably never read (unless they're on Eclipse or Ubu or Archive.org) and then you can stumble upon something that will make feel stuck in the moment long past. 

Bil Sabab Power Hour: Revolting Cocks - Gila Copter Version 2

Sometimes if you dig deep enough - you may find a gem. Revolting Cocks catalogue is a treasure trove of gems.

"Gila Copter" is a blast of a hypnotic whirls. A monotonuos stomper with a catchy riff and preaching tirade about everything and nothing in particular from Saint Timothy Leary. He delivers the message in his usual style although it is presented as a intervention inside your head. However it is a little bit underwhelming in terms of meaning - mostly it is just general ramblings. They sound good because the groove is on but otherwise - it is rubbish. However, there is an alternative version of the song - also known Version 2 - released on "Crackin' Up" single. It is way better than the album version.

Basically it's a short primer on Leary's key concepts. Around the same he released seminal educational video "How to Operate your Brain" which was made in the same style but with acid shiny cyberdelic visuals by RetinaLogic. So this song is a teaser of sorts. Since there are no transcribed lyrics for this song, let me provide with a short retelling of all major messages:

• There are One Hundred Billion Galaxies in the Universe
• Basic nature of the universe is chaos
• Chaos is good.
• You must learn to design chaos
• Human brain contain one hundred billions of neutrons. Each neutron has thousands of connections to every other neutron
• There are more connections in the human brain than there are atoms in the universe
• Basic nature of the human brain is chaos.
• Function of the brain is to design reality
• You need to learn to operate your brain. Operate your eyeballs.
• Eyes are windows of your brain and your soul
• Your brain loves light. It feeds on light. Your eyeballs are hungry for light. Turn to the light. 
• Human brain looks through the windows of the eyes. Brain loves to look through.
• Illumination - Revelation.
• Who controls your eyeballs - controls your mind, your brain

While it is not all that revelatory - it is positively inspiring. Leary is not a greedy preacher who says stuff to use you. He's a kind of man who knows he can't actually lead you to any kind of revelation but he knows how he got his own and so he shares his experiences hoping that it might you in your journey. And this is a good thing.

Bil Sabab Power Hour: How to make new NEU! album?

You never know what stream of consciousness can bring you at any given moment. But you know you can work it out in an unexpected way somehow. Here a little example of mine.

Imaginary collage film

I really like imagining parts of films tied together into something. I call it thought collages.

I don't do them for real because Internet is already full of supercuts and it takes too much time to make something this useless. I'd better just do my own film instead. But as a thought experiment - it is as good as it gets. 

How it works. 

The order of the films on the list is the structure of an imaginary film. First film on the list is the opening sequence, second is second, etc. 

Basically any scene from the film can be taken and put into place - it all depends on particular taste and peculiar smarm. 

Here it is:

• Christopher Smith - Triangle 2009
• Andrew Shortell- Psych:9 2010
• Vladan Nikolic - Zenith 2010
• Isaac Florentine - Ninja 2: Shadow of a Tear 2012
• Jack Heller - Enther Nowhere 2011
• Evan Kelly - Corridor 2010
• Guiseppe Capotondi - Double Hour 2009
• Robert Pratten - Mindflesh 2008
• John Hyams - Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning 2012
• Mitchell Lichtenstein - Teeth 2007
• Benson\Moorehead - Resolution 2012
• Russell Mulcahy - Give 'Em Hell, Malone 2009
• James Ward Byrkit - Coherence 2013
• John August - The Nines 2007
• Jamin Winans - Ink 2009
• Quentin Dupieux - Rubber 2010
• Shion Sono - Why don't you play in hell? 2013
• Michelangelo Frammartino - Le Quattro Volte 2010
• Neveldine\Taylor - Crank 2006

My favorite things: Rooster attacks, kills and eats Cobra

A BIT OF REALITY.

This is rather puzzling moment in my life. I'm in a place which is very unfriendly to me to say the least. I'm in the NGO which deals with Judicial reform and it doesn't really seem like they really want me to be here. Or to make difference in their field. I guess they just want to hang out on grants and i'm kinda irriting in my overzealousness to do something. And so i'm sitting here - getting treated like a fucking piece of shit who don't belong here for no reason at all. Why people are so mean? It is not fair. I'm not fucking with them, i'm not screwing their work, i'm not bullying anybody - i'm doing my job and the workload doesn't leave much space for extra activities. I'm writing this because there is nothing for me to write about at the moment. I need to write this down because i can't keep it inside of me anymore.

Basically the only thing i really can do is writing - that means my career opportunities are rather limited. I was hired to write stuff. Because i know how to write an awesome article. But there is a catch. I can't write a good article if you mess with me the hard way. I can't read anybodys thoughts and i trust my gut when it comes to writing - thats the way i am. I'm doing it for long enough to be confident in my skills. But then over and over again i get discouraged and plain shamed for my writing skills as if i was a first-year student interning. Why? I wasn't the only person to apply to position - i guess there were many others who were a better fitting for it - but i got the position and then something strange happened because the whole team is acting hostile towards me. As if i was brought in as a result of executive meddling. I keep hearing "You know nothing", "You don't get it", "This sucks, rewrite it again" -  that's rude. I may be new to the topic but i'm no stupid. And if asking something you can at least point me out where i can look it up. You don't need to remind that i don't belong here every moment.

Why the hell should be in such unpleasant place? Why the fuck should i tolerate such attitude? Down with it. Watch this video:



This is my pep talk of the day. Rooster got intimidated by the cobra. And what was his reaction? Just bite dat mofo, lay smackdown on him and then eat him because being bully is bad for life. Kinda like that.

Zur-En-Arrh Transmission: Assorted list of poems

some good poems:

• Robert Frost - The Sound of the Trees
• Lorine Niedecker - Poet’s work
• Carl Sandburg - Li Po and Lao Tse Come to Nebraska
• Frank Lima - This Is a Poem About My Life
• T.S. Eliot - The Boston Evening Transcript
• Rae Armantrout - Anti-Short Story
• Charles Bernstein - Questionnaire
• Diane Wakovski - Dancing on the grave of a son of a bitch
• Denise Levertov - Clouds
• Ezra Pound - Middle-Aged: A Study in an Emotion
• Hart Crane - Chaplinesque
• Basil Bunting - The Word
• Carl Rakosi - In What Sense I Am I
• Anne Waldman - Makeup on Empty Space
• William Carlos Williams - Complete Destruction
• Kenneth Koch - The Magic of Numbers
• Ron Padgett - Talking to Vladimir Mayakovsky
• Charles Bukowski - Small Conversation In The Afternoon With John Fante
• Diane De Prima - An Exercise in Love
• Richard Brautigan - December 30
• Barbara Guest - Barrels
• Lew Welch - Circle Poems
• Louis Zukofsky - The Old Poet Moves to a New Apartment 14 Times
• Ted Berrigan - People who died
• Aram Saroyan - Lighght
• George Oppen - Five Poems about Poetry
• Eugen Gomringer - Silence
• Tom Clark - Terminator Too
• Charles Reznikoff - Domestic Scenes
• Kenneth Patchen - The Murder of Two Men by a Young Kid Wearing Lemon-colored Gloves
• William Carlos Williams - A Portrait of a Woman in Bed
• May Swenson - Analysis of Baseball
• Alice Notley - The Ten Best Issues of Comic Books
• Ezra Pound - Pagani's, November 8
• Robert Creeley - The end