The Null Device
2000/11/3
Various underground musician types, including Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys, Hal Willner (wasn't he in the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy?) and David Was have thrown their weight behind the campaign of third-party US presidential candidate Ralph Nader, by putting beats to his speeches, making some quite respectable spoken-word tracks. Worth checking out even if you're not American. (MP3s)
New products on the market: dot-com Monopoly(TM), Guinness-flavoured naan, and from rubber-chicken emporium Archie McPhee, the Linux Voodoo Penguin.
What punk has devolved to:
Despite the rebellious punk image they try to project, they are as harmless as three toddlers, and their songs are essentially poppy nursery rhymes. They may have the amps cranked up, but with their corporate sponsorship and bubblegum sound, the only thing they really have in common with punk is a fast tempo.
Enema of the State sounds like the type of album title the Clash would have come up with. But the press release doesn't hint at political undertones and, given the band's slapstick videos, the logical conclusion is that it's just another in a long line of toilet jokes. Is there anything political in the title? "Not really, but we'll totally claim that there is just because we want to sound like we know what we're talking about."
Listening to Far & Wide on 3RRR now. I suspect I'm going to have to get Broadcast's Extended Play 2.
I Hate Music seems to be back online. It hasn't been updated for some weeks, but at least it's up...
One carcinogen for another: According to the British Medical Journal, mobile phones are replacing cigarettes as a teen lifestyle accessory.
"Smoking may become seen as old technology, with the bright new world of text messaging, e-mail, WAP, and 3G phones becoming the new aspirational gateway to adult life."
I woke up this morning and heard on 3RRR, in the usual vaguely lefty Friday-morning talkback programme, that there was a strike at the generators, and electricity restrictions on top of that. By the time I had gotten into the city, the restrictions were lifted.
DJs are the rock stars of the new millennium: A piece on superstar DJ Paul Oakenfold (you know, the clever chap who first connected the rave scene with lad culture by marketing his label as a "football club"). Interesting to note that he is releasing a remix of something by Dead Can Dance; wonder what...
No great surprise: The Napster/BMG deal will abandon MP3 and use the proprietary SDMI format instead. Which means you can forget about downloading the latest Babyface ballad onto your Linux box. Meanwhile, recording behemoth Universal is playing the Bad Cop, a role it is no doubt familiar with by now.