John Eden: BM Box 3641, London, WC1N 3XX, England UK
Archive for the ‘books/zines’ Category.
Including:
Alexis Wolton – Tortugan tower blocks? Pirate signals from the margins (an intriguing survey of pirate radio in the UK)
Christoph Fringeli – Hedonism and Revolution: The Barricade and the Dancefloor (“Will true pleasure only exist after the revolution, or will it be indispensable to lead to the revolution?”)
I’ve now got a few copies of the latest issue of Datacide for sale or blag.
Hit me up over the usual channels if you want one. Or if you don’t know what the usual channels are, drop me an email!
I’ve had a chance to read it now and am happy to confirm that it’s excellent.
Fanzine of the week #4
Available in print - and online as a free/donation pdf. (and from Amazon)
“We demand that the goth scene be more than a black-clad reflection of mainstream society”
I’ve written about goth on here before and it’s something that still appeals to me in many ways, although you’re unlikely to catch me wearing eyeliner or crimping my hair. Anarchism has also had an influence on my political (and other) thought and activity, although again I wouldn’t call myself an anarchist these days for a whole host of reasons which are probably best left for another time.
Graceless‘ radical/decadent/anarcho approach to goth interests me, recalling the early eigthies London of Alistair Livingstone’s “Subway surfing anarcho goths” and many of the reminiscences over at Kill Your Pet Puppy. I have a fascination with subcultures that are about more than fashion, and the attempt here to either highlight an ideological undercurrent in goth (or to inject one into it?) is intriguing. Certainly most of the books/mags etc on goth that I’ve ever seen have been largely about flogging music or clothes (or expaning the marketplace within in which that takes place by reinforcing the goth identity?).
Graceless is well written and looks great. At over a hundred pages this debut issue is going to take some time to digest properly. There are some interesting interviews with people like Jarboe and Attrition (as well as acts which were new to me) and some cool features as well. I haven’t read it all yet, and I focus below on articles that made me think, which of course will be the ones that I have disagreements with.
Decadent Politics covers the poetic, visionary and utopian I guess. It posits decadence as being anti-fascist, which is interesting (and certainly believable if you look at Wilhelm Reich’s The Mass Psychology of Fascism on sexual repression etc):
“Today there are those that say fascism is simply fashion, that to strut around in a SS uniform and festoon our lace with the Nazi death-head skulls is meaningless and should cause no concern. Saying this is to ignore what they represent on a symbolic level. We would never wear a McDonald’s golden arches to a goth club because it represents mass conformity. So does the iron cross. The zombies wear business suits, and they are not satiated only with the brains of the living; they also hunger for our hearts and souls.”
A radical’s guide to spooky music is an interesting overview of the bands and artists who the author feels represent “radical goth”, including Coil, KMFDM, Bauhaus and Joy Division. A lot of the lyrics and politics quoted aren’t about things I am especially interested in: animal rights, non-specific rebellion, anti-consumerism, anti-americanism. But it’s probably a bit much to expect the goth subculture (or one aspect of it) to develop identical politics to my own. As manifestos go this is an interesting drawing together of various tendencies in goth that certainly demonstrate that it is far from apolitical.
I am quite wary of political activists who over-identify with subcultures these days. I think “identity politics” is a trap which divides people and can lead to situations where cultural signifiers like music (or even ethnicity and sexuality) are seen as more important than people’s relationships with each other and their experience of capitalism where they work or live.
However, the flipside of this is that a purely political approach in which you only talk to people about, say, the conditions on their housing estate, or cutbacks at their workplace can come across as a bit robotic. So there’s a balance to be struck between the (sub)cultural and the political, which is increasingly difficult to achieve as culture fragments into more and more niches. As Steve Goodman and Kodwo Eshun pointed out, the “long tail” posits a society where there is less and less communal experience and more and more instant individualised consumer gratification.
Subcultures have a role to play in changing the status quo, and goth’s outright promotion of androgyny and gender equality is all for the good (although hardly universal, as the article here about “goth misogyny” and “pick up culture” at some goth nights makes clear). I guess what is missing is a fully developed critique of how capitalism operates as a set of relationships, of the system rather than some of its manifestations (war, hunger, etc). But it’s not like any other music/fashion based subcultures have that.
There’s a fair bit in Graceless about Goths and their place in the anarchist scene. As someone who has had gothic tendencies and has some sympathy with parts of anarchism this all seems a bit too confining. I find the worlds of info-shops, squats and goth clubs quite alienating these days, despite being interested in them as social phenomena (and in the ideas which circulate in them). I suppose hanging around in places like that helped me develop my ideas and a sense of who I am, but I think people are kidding themselves if they reckon that havens for alternative fashion are going to play a useful role in mass struggles. Indeed there are a few passages in Graceless which abhor mass culture, the mainstream and suit-wearing “zombies” (see quote above). Contributors have mixed feelings about Marilyn Manson, but Lady Gaga (arguably the most visible current example of the gothic aesthetic, albeit not sonically) is conspicuous by her absence.
I suppose this is really getting into similar territory to two articles about anarchopunk I’ve republished on my website:
That said, I can of course completely understand why retreating into / immersing yourself in subcultures is a good and necessary thing for some people. If you’re one of a handful of freaks in the bible belt then there must be an incredible feeling of solidarity and self-empowerment if you start your own DIY Goth Night (as one contributor did, smack bang in KKK country). The murder of Sophie Lancaster is chilling reminder of the sort of intolerance people who dress a bit different can face out there in small town England in the early 21st Century.
Your Goth Is Dead: The Rise And Fall of Goth In America is a nice overview of the developments of the subculture in the nineties, including goths being seduced by rave and ironic self-mockery which is I suppose the antithesis of the playful po-faced strategies of the eighties.
Some of the most rewarding pieces in this issue stretch the definition of Goth backwards in time – Dressed To Kill: Illegal Dandyism looks at youth cults like the Zazou and Edelweiss Pirates, whose fashion sense shocked the totalitarian regimes they lived under, and provided them with enough reason to take on fascists physically as well as culturally. There are also some intriguing investigations into the Darker Side of Victorian Children’s Tales and German expressionist cinema during the rise of Nazism.
As I said above, I’ve mainly concentrated here on my differences with Graceless. That strikes me as being more interesting thing to write about than saying “it’s great!”, which it most certainly is. It’s made me ruminate on a lot of good stuff and I’m very happy that they’ll be including a contribution from me in the second issue. If you’re interested then you’re probably already reading the magazine itself instead of ploughing though my waffle here.
Fanzine of the week #3
With 64 pages, this is the biggest issue of Datacide yet!
It also includes a contribution from me. No time for an extensive review, but all of the material here is well up to the usual high standard.
FEATURES
Christoph Fringeli – “Hedonism and Revolution: The Barricade and the Dancefloor”
Stewart Home – “Dope smuggling, LSD manufacture, organized crime & the law in 1960s London”
John Eden – “Shaking the Foundations: Reggae soundsystem meets ‘Big Ben British values’ downtown”
Alexis Wolton – “Tortugan tower blocks? Pirate signals from the margins”
Neil Transpontine – “Dancing before the police come”
Christoph Fringeli – “From Subculture to Hegemony: Transversal Strategies of the New Right in Neofolk and Industrial”
Nemeton – “From Conspiracy Theories to Attempted Assassinations: The American Radical Right and the Rise of the Tea Party Movement”
R. C. – “How to start with the subject. Notes on Burroughs and the ‘combination of all forms of struggle’”
Matthew Fuller and Steve Goodman – “Beat Blasted Planet. An interview with Steve Goodman on ‘Sonic Warfare’”
Terra Audio – “Free Parties”
Gorki Plubakter – “This is the end… the official ending”
FICTION
“Sonic Fictions” by Riccardo Balli
“Digital Disease” by Dan Hekate
“Infra-Noir. 23 Untitled Poems” by Howard Slater
“Office Work” by Matthew Fuller
PLUS
Record Reviews
The Lives and TImes of Bloor Schleppy
Charts
ORDERING
Available now for EUR 4.00 incl. postage – order now by sending this amount via paypal to praxis(at)c8.com, or send EUR 10 for 3 issues (note that currently only issues 5, 7 and 10 are still available, but you can also pre-order future issues.
I had to overhaul the uncarved shop.
Someone hacked my site through the old shop and installed a phishing scam on uncarved.org. Basically a load of faked bank webpages were on there.
I’m not quite sure what to think about that. I’m not keen on people preying on the naive and vulnerable, but it’s not clear to me if the banks end up suffering from these scams or their customers.
(If you ordered anything from the old shop don’t fret, none of your bank details or anything serious were stored on the site).
Basically I agree with Martin on this one – there should be more people robbing banks in the traditional way and less of this computer-based tom-foolery. Same goes for music – in the olden days people had to stuff LPs or CDs into their trenchcoats if they wanted to hear stuff for free. Or at the very least have some decent mates to tape things for them.
Which is a slightly unusual way of introducing a top ten showbiz bank robbers:
1. The Bonnot Gang, 1911-1912
French anarchists who were the first to use cars for their getaways. The book about them is full-on, I can recall a few accounts of bitter sectarian in-fighting, including a rival sect’s printing press being smashed up.
This tradition is allegedly being kept alive by Italian insurrectionist anarchist Alfredo Bonanno who was arrested at the age of 70 in 2009 for robbing a bank in Greece. My recollection is that there was some doubt about whether he actually did the deed.
2. John Dillinger, 1933-1934
Didn’t he rob 23 banks or something? William Burroughs was keen on him: “To John Dilinger in the hope that he is still alive“.
3. Bonnie and Clyde, 1931-1934
Exerted an almost tectonic pull on everyone from Serge Gainsbourg & Brigitte Bardot to Papa Levi. Inspired that whole Thelma and Louise live fast die young, roadtrip kind of vibe.
4. Ronnie Biggs, 1963
Punk icon recently discussed here.
5. Red Army Faction / Andres Baader & Ulrike Meinhoff, 1970-1972
Sports cars, flashing their tits to the PLO, bombs aplenty. Punk, and yet so very serious and so very very wrong.
6.The Covenant Sword And The Arm of the Lord, 1980s
Extreme right wing “Christian Identity” cult which robbed 19 banks in 8 US states in one month. They apparently spent all the money on guns, displaying a typically fascist lack of imagination. Included here because Cabaret Voltaire named their 1985 album after them.
7. Patty Hearst, 1974
“Death to the fascist insect that preys on the life of the people!”
Sixties pin up! Rich girl turns insane maoist terrorist! Locked up and then pardoned by philanderer Bill Clinton! Acts in John Waters movies!
8. Chelembra Bank Robbery, 2007
80 million rupees in the back of the van. Our anti-heroes took over the restaurant under the bank. Then drilled a massive hole through to the vault under the guise of renovating it.
If that isn’t mad enough, the whole scheme was inspired by a Bollywood movie. Respect.
9. The Geezer Bandit, NOW
For the name alone, really. This guy is apparently in his SEVENTIES and has been expropriating the expropriators in Southern California. He’s done 13 banks, including one on the 28th of January this year. Apparently has inspired facebook fan pages and also at least one copy cat robber. Also rumoured that he’s a young man in a rubberised Scooby Doo villain mask?!
10. Unknown: Central Bank of Iraq, 2003
The day before the United States began bombing Baghdad, nearly US$1 billion was stolen from the Central Bank of Iraq. This is considered the largest bank heist in history. Opportunism or what?
ANGRY BIRDS GOLDEN EGG BRIGADE BONUS LEVELS:
Rubbish bank robbers:
They were trying to put it back?!
Not actual bank robbers:
Rob Da Bank – festival organiser
The Blaggers – anti-fascist Oi band, who became “ITA”.
Fanzine of the week #2
Over 50 pages of leftfield guitar-based music, good attitude with tasty DIY layout and graphics.
The Ramleh interview is especially good, focussing just as much on their underrated guitar work as much as power electronics. They also ask Ramleh mainstay Gary Mundy about Croydon and dubstep artist Burial – a nice fresh approach.
The interview with Bruno Wizard of proto- UK punks The Homosexuals is a bit “all over the place” largely due to Bruno’s exuberant personality, but that makes for a much better read than the usual band interview.
“Suggested listening circumstances for the unemployed single male” is a nice feature and I also enjoyed the articles on “Geocaching” (GPS enabled treasure hunt / derive) in Hackney, “Mixtape Wars” (in which three people do compilation tapes and comment/disrespect on each other’s) and the rant on punk/hardcore record collecting.
I was less bothered about the other band interviews because I’d never heard of them… maybe I should investigate…
Fanzine of the week #1
I like dancehall and I like fanzines, so this was always going to go down well in my little corner of the world.
Hand printed, 28 pages, put together by a gang of young ‘uns who lurk about North East London – this is well worth your attention. There’s a palpable feeling of fun here, people writing about the music that they love.
The debut includes nice interviews with Natalie Storm, Wrongtom, Serocee and Mr Lexx. Plus some ziney features on kung fu tunes, apocalyptic imagery in reggae, Heatwave’s noughties riddim chart, a Soca commuting soundtrack and more. I wasn’t especially bothered about Kalbata running down the various bits of kit in his studio, but I guess that might be a must-see for producers out there.
A range of t-shirts is promised, and the associated blog and club night are already here.
1. Launch party for new bashment zine No Ice Cream Sound:
Shimmy Shimmy is proud to launch the first issue of its dancehall print zine ‘No Ice Cream Sound’ on the 17th January….here’s a little sneak peak of what’s in there:
Interviews with Mr Lexx, Natalie Storm, Serocee and Wrongtom, features on up to the time and vintage dancehall, an exclusive chart from The Heatwave…and much more!!
To celebrate we’re having a launch party at Passing Clouds on Thursday 13th January with a brilliant line-up:
Please see the flyer above (it’s also the cover of the zine), and the link to the Facebook event is here. If you require any further info, or you want to be put on the list, please don’t hesitate to get in contact. Feel free to blog, share…whatever you feel!
www.shimmyshimmy.co.uk
www.twitter.com/itsthelarge
www.soundcloud.com/the_large
2. Remembering the New Cross Fire 30 Years On
On Sunday January 18, 1981 a devastating house fire killed 13 young black people during a birthday party in New Cross, South East London. The black community accused the London Metropolitan Police of covering up the cause, which they suspected was an arson attack motivated by racism. The protests arising out of the fire led to a mobilization of black political activity, but nobody has ever been charged in relation to the fire.
Kwame Kwei-Armah hosts this event to mark the 30th Anniversary of the New Cross Fire incorporating music, film, spoken word and discussion to remember the young lives lost and the impact the New Cross Fire has had on the lives of Britons today.
The event hopes to be an inspiring and uplifting remembrance with contributions from Alex Pascall OBE, Professor Gus John, Menelik Shabazz, spoken word from Courttia Newland, El Crisis and Albany Associate Artist Zena Edwards and music from The Queens of Lovers Rock Carroll Thompson and Janet Kay.
http://www.thealbany.org.uk/event_detail/602/Events/Remembering-the-New-Cross-Fire-30-Years-On
The New Cross Fire was also remembered in a number of reggae songs, as documented by Transpontine.
I previously looked at the legendary Boots Sex Dread record with my “Keith Allen in Gay Rasta Scandal” piece. Thanks to all the lovely people who left comments, especially Bryon Coley for clearing up the details of how Sex Boots Dread ended up in the film “Bully”.
That left a few loose ends open, which the nerd in me still felt a need to eliminate.
Ray Roughler Jones – Drowning On Dry Land (Bone/Tangent Books, 2010)
I covered The Roughler fanzine (and the West London eighties counterculture it was part of) in the previous post. Ray’s autobiography is an OK read, charting his working class upbringing in Swansea and involvement in the Ladbroke Grove scene of the eighties and beyond. He’s been through the mill a bit and has a nice line in self-deprecation, especially where his drink problem and mishaps with the ladies are concerned. Mr Roughler is an accomplished storyteller, a skill obviously picked up from spending so much time in the boozer. There are a lot of guest appearances from various personalities like Joe Strummer and Class War’s Ian Bone. Indeed, Ray even gets involved in their infamous “Rock Against The Rich Tour” in 1988.
There is perhaps a little too much on being dysfunctional (which is at least entertaining) and the ins and outs of the Warwick pub (including its cricket team!). But Ray is eminently likable and the book is a page turner as well as being an interesting document of (ahem) anglo-welsh working class culture throughout the last half of the twentieth century.
Oh yes, and he also definitively names Keith Allen as being behind “Sex Boots Dread”
“Drowning on Dry Land” is available direct from Tangent, who also published Ian Bone’s autobiography “Bash The Rich”. I picked up my copy from Housmans, one of London’s few remaining independent/lefty bookshops.
Keith Allen – Grow Up (Ebury Press, 2008)
I said I couldn’t be arsed to read this last time, but then I spotted a copy leering at me on the shelves of my local library, so I gave it a shot. I’ve skipped through it but ended up reading a whole lot more than I intended to. Yes, Keith Allen is an egotistical cock, but he doesn’t pretend to be anything else here and he’s pretty funny with it.
Gems include getting nicked for rioting at the Notting Hill Carnival and then returning home to be ignored by his middle class socialist flatmates while they discuss the finer points of revolution, slagging off various alternative comedians, shameless affairs, smashing up a private members drinking club (he wasn’t a member), and pissing into a coffee cup whilst onstage (with his Mum and Dad in the audience) – and then drinking it. And that’s just a few highlights from the late seventies and eighties chapters.
A full account of “Sex Boots Dread” and its origins as a character of Breakfast Pirate Radio is given. I won’t spoil it for you (it’s pages 256-259 in the edition pictured above) but it includes a hilarious account of the tracks being played to a bunch of black yoot in the Rough Trade shop. Keith also reckons the tune sold 8,000 copies in San Francisco which I think is suspect (where are they now?).
And finally, some good news for vinyl fetishists whether straight, gay or whatever:
Someone has taken it upon themselves to bootleg the record on a pink vinyl 7″.
I’ve not been able to get hold of one, so I have no idea about the quality – given its illicit nature I think the best to hope for would be a recording of the original record, but the worst case scenario is that it’s been ripped off an mp3 or youtube or something. If you find one, let me know!
Pseudo Gay Rastas Part Three will appear in the fifth issue of Woof(t)ah.
It’s the 2010 London Anarchist Bookfair this Saturday.
I’ve given it a miss for a few years now (which is fair enough given that I’m not an anarchist!), but might tag along this time to pick up a copy of the new book on Anti-Fascist Action which is being produced in time for the occasion.
In the evening some friends of mine are organising the first in a series of benefit gigs for a variety of causes:
It will be good.
