orbis quintus

I’ve been wanting to post this for a few days, but i never know what i want to say about, and when i want to listen it it, it often gives me a headache. This is fearsome, visceral stuff, and it leaves me in giggling fits when it hits at the right time. I simply couldn’t figure out where to direct the hysterical rage in evoked in me though, but now i have a good hint.

Frog Eyes “The Fence Feels Its Post” I didn’t get the Nick Cave comparisons until this song. Put him and David Thomas in a barrel of crabs, and let them gnaw their way out.

Frog Eyes “Ship Destroyer” The rawness and passion that fucker Eddie Vedder could never ever deliver, even while rolling naked in broken glass with a red-hot poker thrust in his groin.

Frog Eyes ” The Oscillator’s Hum” For some ungodly reason, this song feels like it’s in the tradition of “Life on Mars?”

tripped mushrooms on sunday, here’s what i learned:

dungen’s ta det lugnt really opens up when stoned. it sounds awesome. what i thought was a good record is a great record. it jacked off my brain.

damien youth sounded exactly the same. i think this may be due to the fact that i’m so familiar with his music. if psychedelics force you to listen close, what happens when you already do?

the skygreen leopards’ one thousand bird ceremony bores me. there’s nothing wrong with their music, but there’s nothing that stands out either. could be a slow burner. or maybe just a burn and sell. time will tell.

it’s funny how drugs sometimes force your neurosis to go left or right. if you have a problem, it’ll be on your plate. take a bite or tell the waitress to bring you something else. my juvenile home job magically went left and now i have weekends off. a phone call from the man, a meeting, and resolution – all within a pupil cycle. killing messengers seems to be all the rage these days. good thing i flew the coop before they tagged me.

“must not sleep, must warn others.”
-aesop rock

Full story here.

In a statement directed at Muslim pilgrims, the leader of Iran reaffirmed Salman Rushdie’s status as an apostate whose life is forfeit.

“They talk about respect towards all religions, but they support such a mahdour al-damm mortad as Salman Rushdie,” Khamenei said.

In the Sharia, or Islamic law, “mortad” is a reference to someone who has committed apostacy by leaving Islam while “mahdour al-damm” is a term applying to someone whose blood may be shed with impunity.

In his hajj message, the full transcript of which was carried by the state news agency IRNA, Khamenei made no further reference to Rushdie.

The original fatwa was issued in 1989. There is a bounty on Rushdie’s head that well exceeds 1.5 million dollars.

At the risk of sounding flippant, it was news of the fatwa that made me pick up and read The Satanic Verses.

This story is odd enough to quote in full (from MSNBC):

LONDON – An 1892 book that predicted bullet trains, driverless golf carts, televisions and digital watches sold for 1,200 pounds ($2,240) at auction on Saturday.

Its author, Scottish professional golfer Jack McCullogh, also predicted women would start dressing like men and do all the work while the menfolk took to the golf courses full-time.

His little-known book, “Golf in the Year 2000 or What Are We Coming To” by McCullogh under the pseudonym J.A.C.K., was bought by James Espinola, an American collector of golf memorabilia.

“This book is a cross between Nostradamus and the tale of Rip van Winkle because the main character goes to sleep on March 24, 1892, and wakes up on March 25, 2000, to find all these amazing changes,” spokesman Philip Gregory of auction house Lyon & Turnbull in Edinburgh said before the sale.

Driverless golf carts became a reality in the 1980s, Japan’s bullet train went into operation in 1964 and digital watches were all the rage in the 1970s.

McCullogh even predicted international team golf competitions like the Ryder Cup which was first played in 1927.

Don’t tell me that selling used and rare books is not lucrative.

Alberto Gonzales might get in more trouble for covering up a Bush DUI than writing legal counsel advising torture’s A-OK. What kind of screwed up world is this?

The State of California wanted it… the British public raised the money to keep it. It is the Macclesfield Psalter, a 14th century codex that contains both the psalms and “outrageously bawdy jokes”. It will go to the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

No comment from either the Getty Museum or Gov. Schwarzenegger.

So what’s the big deal?

The psalter came to light two years ago when Sotheby’s was valuing the Earl of Macclesfield’s library. Only two comparable manuscripts are known: one in the British Museum, the other, in France, pulverised by bombing during the first world war.

Full article here.

I just got this album by the Professionals the other day, and before i even listened to it, this ILM thread appeared, Taking Sides: “Public Image” by Public Image Ltd. vs. “The Magnificent” by the Professionals. I know that PiL is the more admirable band, the one with all of the artistic credibility and looming shadow, but damn it, i think i really like the Professionals now. I’m not trying to be contrary or even saying that i like this band better. It’s just that i’m realizing that the Professionals sound just like Cheap Trick covering the Stooges. How could i not enjoy that? It’s so ridiculous of a combination that there’s no way that i could not get into it.

The Professionals “The Magnificent” Could he be trying any harder to sound like Robin Zander? I’m not saying that he’s doing it well, but with the combo of phrasing and effects, it’s no convergent evolution.

The Professionals “Payola”

The Professionals “Northern Slide”

Actually, i’ve found that i quite like this band, even though i’ve avoided them for years for their reputation.

Update: Whoops. i left off the song that made me think Cheap Trick crossed with Stooges. All of these come across as straight Cheap Trick. That other one is “Friday Night Square” but i’ve posted enough already.