CONTEMPLATION OF ACTION

 

destruction-grid

[image: R. Alkadhi]


Amid loose gravel and stray shoes, stains and rubbish, Action sees a grid parsing an Iraq in miniature. Within that microcosm, people wander around as if in a daze, pointing, staring, contemplating in silent disbelief. Action observes these miniature people, some of whom may in turn bend down to study the atrocities on the ground below them. – Rheim Alkadhi, Contemplation of Action

& memories pried from decades-old shellac give rise to an equally real & mythopoetic Baghdad as the one Rheim documents

[audio:Kementchedji_Alecco_Taqsim.mp3]

Kementchedji Alecco – Taqsim

from Give Me Love: Songs of the Brokenhearted – Baghdad 1925-1929. This article opens a window on this music. In a short time a city can swing from open to closed, from something fluid & made of multiples to occupied, divided, entrenched. What awaits us?

bagdad

edit: Rheim just directed my attention towards this excellent post, which has more Iraqi shellac and explains why the Honest Jon’s comp sounds so good:
“For those who are wondering, 78rpm masters have shockingly less surface noise than the final product, the mass-produced gramophone record copy of the master, which often contained loads of garbage, or filler, along with the shellac – Paramount Records used sand and cement in their mix, for instance, making virtually all of their records sound like crap. . . Very few companies exist which still have accessible masters or clean file copies of their original 78s, much less are willing to work with a small label for a release.”

GO GO GO

[audio:13 – Don’t Stop Go! (Produced by Koolade).mp3]

Izza Kizza – Don’t Stop Go! (prod. Koolade)

Koolade is from Croatia! i played in Zagreb (his hometown) once. People asked smart questions. Our hotel stood next to ‘Colonial Cafe’, lil negroes as the logo. After our party there was a rave that i didnt go to – they said there was a big rave scene — it sounds like Koolade might have dipped in from his super duper synths.

from Kizzaland, a free Izza Kizza mixtape by Catchdubs!

USMAP

[US states renamed for countries with similar GDPs]

A SONG ABOUT FLOWERS OF THE VALLEY

paav

Esoteric romantic mysticism and darkness floating over deep-sea-level of the christian mind.

their own words get it right, why bring in more description when what we crave is experience?

[audio:Paavoharju_Italialaisella Laivalla.mp3]

Paavoharju – Italialaisella Laivalla
from the album Laulu Laakson Kukista

…and at another edge of Europe, rembetika, Paavoharju’s inverse, which also touches, even as it slumps forward. The dogma of addiction. Songs in 9.

[audio:A_Kostis_Stin_Ipoga.mp3]

A. Kostis – Stin Ipóga (In the Basement)

from Mourmoúrika: Songs of the Greek Underworld 1930-1955