Filed under: gigs, people, punk | Tags: Brighton, post vegeterianism, Propagandhi, vegeterianism
I got to see Propagandhi performing live a couple of days ago. The concert was awesome, although I did not like the venue (Concorde 2 in Brighton). Also I did not expect to see so many people!
Propagandhi is one of the most innovative and inspired extreme bands ever. Their first album (i.e. How to clean everything) was a really powerful, energetic and innovative one, bringing together elements from different genres into a very unique blend. The second album (i.e. Less talk more rock) was an excellent album and the one in which Propagandhi found their identity. Even though it sounds pop in relation to the next albums, it still has elements ubiquitous in their career thenceforward. Lyricwise, they have some of the most thoughtfull, artistic and liberating lyrics ever, continuing the heavy legacy of bands like the Dead Kennedys. Their subsequent albums, (Today’s empires…, Potemkin…) instantly made them one of the most important bands of the 21st century (for me at least: you can see my opinion on the former in a previous post on the 15 best punk albums of north america). But canada always offered some of the most innovative and great music! Voivod, one of the pioneers of Thrash, succesfully incorporated punk elements in their music (even before Amebix!). Slaughter, one of the pioneers of death metal! More recent bands like Cryptopsy and Kataklysm (until the late 90ties) gave lessons of technical and extremely brutal death metal that noone had heard of before! When it comes to punk, suffice to say that the enormous “Subhumans” are from Canada (they released an excellent album a couple of years ago as well!), DOA, and more recent bands like the unique Ballast (a Canadian version of Post Regiment). Of course Nomeansno are from Canada, the most respectfull and awesome band ever!
Prpagandhi continue their legacy of awesome albums, with this year’s “supporting caste”. It goes down the path paved by potemkin and today’s empires. However, it is less monumental and epic in relation to potemkin. Like Today’s empires (and to less extent potemkin), it has 3 extremely brutal songs sung by (and probably written by) Tod. In the concert the other night, I was a bit disappointed he didn’t sing at all (this means, no fuck the border…). Anyway, the album is a masterpiece! I cannot choose favorite songs right now, but I can say that I have listened more to “This is your life”, “Without love”, “Incalculable effects“, “Dear coach’s corner” and “Supporting caste” .
In one of the songs (i.e. Humane meat), the topic of “post-vegeterianism” is being discussed. I didn’t know about it until I listened to the album. Apparently, it is a philosophy whereby after you come to realise that the circle of life unavoidably entails the taking of one life to support the other, then it is ok to eat meat! According to this view, even the cutting of a plant or of a fruit is murder, just like killing a cow! …
One thing at a time. About veganism. I think it is an over the top expectation to pass such a radical message about animal abuse like the one veganism tries to pass. It is very difficult to expect the human race to agree on animals frolicking around without offering something. Not that humans (and arguably men in particular!) ever offered something! They have only taken away. However, if we accept as the lower common denominator of human behaviour, the tendency to dominate and evolve on the cost of other beings, I personally can settle with a world where we use animals just for milk and eggs.
Two objections will be raised at this point: First, that animals still suffer by living in industrial unhealthy environments and by going through all sorts of chemical abuses in order to produce more. That is true, but at least they do not get murdered. Second, that even though animals may not be murdered they are still suffering throughout their lives. Fair enough. However, there are small organic farms that supposedly respect animals and they don’t mistreat them. I don’t say that I cannot live without cheese! It is just that I find it very radical and unreasonable, if we take human nature for granted.
Now, post-vegeterianism is plain silly. Yes, slaughtering a pig, listening to its screams, looking at its desperate eyes is the same as cutting a gabbage. Get a life!
Filed under: Greece, people | Tags: friendship, Greece, hanging out, music, stereo nova, to taxidi tis falainas
A short trip to greece is all it takes to convince me to try even harder to make it here (not greece). At the same time, it reminds me of the few but serious reasons why I will always miss it. These reasons don’t have to do with the place itself actually. For one thing, is the family. Secondly, it’s the friends. It is true that making friends after a certain age is difficult, if not impossible. The thing with old friends is that most rituals and norms have been developed in parallel, over the course of many years. When you loose your friends, it is very unlikely that you’ll find someone new to do the same rituals. But humans are all about adaptation right? But still, even if you develop new rituals, you still get the feeling of melancholy (at best).
The first thing I yearned when in greece was to go to Athens for records with my friends. I got a re-issue of the Impetigo album ‘Horror of the zombies” which is excellent! I also got the second Agent Orange album (This is the voice) which kicks ass! I saw, after more than a year, all the slimy record store owners with their over-inflated prices and laughed and I saw a town packed with cops.
Most importantly, I spent each single night listening to music and consuming junk food with my friends. That is the single thing I miss most about greece. Hanging out and listening to music. Things that take me back to high school when music was everything that mattered. Though I don’t thing it ever stopped being for me. For these reunions, some records are “a must”. Wolverine Blues or Clandestine or anything swedish for that matter. Most of the time we don’t talk. We communicate with the eyes. We let the music do the talking. The music will say how much we have missed each other, how some things in life will survive despite the distance and manage to bloom inside the filth of the city.
Στην πίστα του αεροδρομίου έχει νυχτώσει
ένα εκατομμύριο αστέρια φωτίζουν οτι μ’ έχει πληγώσει
ένας φίλος μου απόψε εγκαταλείπει αυτή τη χώρα
κατα βάθος λυπάται μα δε βλέπει και την ώρα
που η ζωή του θα αλλάξει
όταν τ’ αεροπλάνα πετάνε, η γη απλώνεται και οι άνθρωποι ξεχνάνε …
Filed under: people, popular music | Tags: army dreamers, death breath, drean theater, hounds of love, Kate Bush, never for ever, the kick inside
I’ve been listening to Kate Bush only since 2007. From the first few months, though, she earned a place among my favorite artists. She is one of the artists I both adore and envy, because her compositions are so beyond me! I could never write songs like Kate Bush does! I have never heard of anyone else writing songs like she does. I surely have never listened to anyone singing like she does. I only have Bush’s five first albums, but I think that they are enough to write a small oblation for her.
The first album I listened to was “Never Forever” (1980). I primarily got drawn by the picture in the cover of the album. It is definetely one of the best covers ever. I am also sure that it is where Nicke Andersson borrowed the concept for the first “Death Breath” album. I was familiar with the song ‘Babooshka’. However, when I carefully listened to it I realised that it resembled a lot one song from Dream Theater’s ‘Images and Words’ album. The song was ‘wait for sleep’, writen by Kevin Moore. I only like this album from dream theater, and from other albums I only liked the songs Moore had written. However, to my surprise I realised that the style of Moore is similar to that of Bush. I don’t know whether he copies Bush or anything, I just point out the resemblance. The song that amazed me was ‘Army Dreamers’, because of Bush’s 
beautiful singing, the orchestration, the lyrics and the amazing chorus.
The second album I bought from Bush was her first one (i.e. The kick inside, 1978). An amazing album written when Bush was a teenager(!), contains some of the best songs ever. Inspired compositions and dreaming melodies like ‘moving, ‘the saxophone song’, ‘wuthering heights‘ and more rock oriented songs like ‘James and the cold Gun’ or ‘Kite’. From the fabulous opening track, one comes across Bush’s extremely flexible voice, weaving its way through the complex theatrical melody. Throughout this album, strange and unconventional melodies render the listener unable to grasp its beauty with the first hearing. On the contrary, it requires attention and intentness.
Next, I bought ‘The Hounds of Love’, considered by many as her best album. It has a more pop production
and is less complex than her previous works. However, it contains some phenomenal songs such as ‘Cloudbusting’, ‘Running up that hill‘, ‘Mother stands for comfort, and so on’. The second side of the album has a different style than the first one, a more instrumental and theatrical one. A greek composer has stolen one of the melodies off the song ‘Cloudbusting‘. The song is “moira mou egines” sung by Andrianna Mpampali, and you can check the resemblance yourselves here.
The other two albums, ‘Lionheart’ (1978) and the weird and wicked ‘The Dreaming’ (1982), are the ones I have listened to less. Unfortunatelly, due to my superficial relationship with pop music, I have no idea to what extent she has influenced her peers, or any female artists who continued her legacy.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: obvious, Tiamat, vancougar, vote for love
