The good fellows at Untz Untz Bergen who put on the Bergen show I played have their first vinyl sampler out! It features tracks by: Telephones, Velfred, Touchable Terrence, and Solli Diskoklubb. Apparently the Norwegian culture minister Anniken Huitfeldt had to say about Velferd’s – ‘Driveby’ track:
“Man tenker seg noe veldig traust sosialdemokratisk(om artistnavnet Velferd), men dette er jo veldig kult.” “Dette er ny Velferd, en veldig god velferd, som vi trenger nå.”
In English: “This is very cool. We need Velferd NOW.”
Can’t front on that! Read more and mail order a copy here. BTW say Untz Untz a couple of times and you’ll get the onomatopoeic nature of their name and something about their tunes.
I’ve got a new I and I store front opened up. Visit the link here or above to check it out. The aforementioned new EP “Weird Animals” will be up there on Dec. 8th. It will be available in a numbered limited edition hand crafted sleeve. Perfect for a holiday gift!
It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of early post punk, synth pop or whatever you want to call the late 70’s early 80’s synth based music. I also generally like a lot of BBC productions so, when I came across this little documentary series I had to post it up here for your enjoyment. As Will Rogers said “Things ain’t what they used to be and probably never was.”
I have been into Matthew Dear’s work for a while now and amongst his different aliases I tend to like the more song oriented solo stuff for Ghostly International but his Audion stuff is really enjoyable too. His latest tour “Hecatomb” looks and sounds really innovative. It’s work like this that keeps me interested in Techno and Electronic music. I am always inspired by things that push the envelope forward and challenge our conceptions of what music should be. It looks like I won’t be able to catch this show live but the videos and stills alone are incredible!
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I’ve always had an appreciation for automobile design even though I think cars are the source of a lot of what makes modern life isolating and disconnected. Every time I’m in Europe (or even on the East coast) I feel more free and open to move around and enjoy walking and taking public transit. Walking to the bus or train station and then walking to wherever you’re going is an inherently community enhancing activity. I also think it’s an important part of why Europeans are healthier than Americans. Even cross country car trips, which I used to enjoy, are a real drag compared to a train ride and I long for the day when we might be able to take a high speed train from coast to coast. It’s a complicated issue but I can’t help feeling that the lack of a functional national rail system is an embarrassing and frustrating reality. With that in mind here is a link to the proposal for rail changes that could be coming down the pike: National rail plan. We can always hope.
Of course if you must drive, as many of us Yanks do, the automobile can be a beautiful thing. Why can’t we design them like this anymore?
