Skokian In A African Beat

Erin Heatherton: Riding the Waves

EP of the Day, 4/30/09: The 88-No One Here

We had to wait three years for a new 88 release when they signed to Island records, but now that they've gone independent again we've been treated a new disc and now a new EP within little over a year's time. This EP consists of songs they recorded just before their Island adventure, and the title track appeared on their Island release Not Only...But Also. The original version here, though, is much better (and is the same that was heard on the TV show How I Met Your Mother). It's one of their best ballads, and was one of the few things really good from the Island record. But the allure here is the four new tracks.

The best of the batch is "If Anyone Should Call", maybe their catchiest track since Over & Over's "Hide Another Mistake". Mixing Adam Merrin's piano and Keith Slettedahl's guitar and vocals in service of a hook-filled tune is what The 88 are all about it, and this song does it just right. "Think You Broke My Heart" is another vintage 88 track with a bit of a soulful feel, and "I've Got a Name" is a fine torch song ballad. One of 2010's best EPs to date.

CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes

Lala link (as they're shutting down May 31, they're no longer allowing new embeds but if you have a Lala account already you can listen here until then)

Another failed assault on Anzac Day

Anzac Day is the day of remembrance here in Australia. It has occupied a considerable place in the national consciousness and the memorial services have grown in attendance in recent times.

It's one important tradition that the political class seem to have declared off limits. It's one day of the year when it's OK to show a little bit of national feeling and some positive regard for the older white men who served their country.

It's not that there haven't been radical attempts to undermine the day. This year, for instance, a group of academics published a book titled What's Wrong With ANZAC? They want the emphasis of Australian history to be not on the sacrifices of Australian soldiers overseas but on liberal political campaigns at home. They prefer the period in the 1960s and 70s when,

The emphasis of Australian history was ... on political and social reform, on the egalitarian Australian ethos and the shaping of a vision of a new society.

Other academics have complained that Anzac Day lacks diversity and excludes others:

Nina Burridge of the University of Technology in Sydney - said ANZAC Day glorified white males.

"It's something about male mateship in many ways to me - it doesn't celebrate the wide diversity in Australia," she said. "The very fact that we focus on Gallipoli means we symbolically exclude others, even if we don't intend to."

But so far the line has held against the more radically liberal academics. Even the generally left-leaning ABC ran a well-produced documentary series on the Kokoda campaign this year. And even the very liberal Age newspaper ran a demolition of Catherine Deveny by Richard Cooke.

I don't know much about Cooke, except that he writes for The Chaser - which suggests that he is somewhere on the left. Nonetheless, he defended the Anzacs against a ranting Catherine Deveny.

Here is Deveny in full flight:

Refuse to celebrate a glorification of war that ignores the suffering and carnage of (mostly female) civilians ... They didn't die for us but because they were risktaking testosterone fuelled men with a pack mentality ... I hate bullies, homophobes, thugs, racists, misogynists and rapists in the name of war ... Men only enlisted to fight for the money, for the adventure or because they were racist ... Bigger heroes the women who leave abusive relationships with nothing...

And Cooke's response:

I couldn't shake the feeling that Deveny was waging a senseless campaign ... The phrases were lions, but the thoughts were donkeys.

Anyone who has been to university will recognise the way those sexistracistandhomophobics string together. They're charges that can be levelled against any Western institution or tradition, otherwise masters students would run out of things to do.

Here, though, they feel as if they've turned up to the wrong argument. If anyone could put the racism, sexism and homophobia of 1940s Australia to shame, it was the Axis powers they helped defeat.

Few others have noticed the rape battalions marring Anzac Day marches, but even if we fielded a whole division of sex offenders, they would have a hard time keeping up with the Imperial Japanese Army in Korea and Manchuria.

After all, the campaign at the centre of remembrance isn't called "The Rape of Gallipoli", a distinction not lost on what used to be Nanking.

... If you form an opinion for a living, and you form a contrarian one, you can't shape it just to make Andrew Bolt angry - it has to contain something more than your own raw, visceral reaction to something you don't like. Otherwise, it's just a prejudice.

I'll speculate a bit here and interpret the Deveny versus Cooke debate as follows. Let's say you have liberals like Catherine Deveny who are all too successful in attacking and weakening their own Western societies. That then puts liberal Western societies at risk, leading others who identify as liberal to turn their fire on the likes of Deveny.

Anyway, I did enjoy Cooke's response to Deveny. There's much more he might have added, and perhaps this can be discussed in the comments (e.g. the claim that women suffered as much in war as men doesn't hold up well when it comes to the Australian experience of war in the twentieth century).

Altamira: Streetstyle Mania

Arlenis Sosa, Constance Jablonski, Irina Lazareanu, Josefin Hedstrom, Lindsey Wixson, & Liu Wen

Captured by the lens of Craig Arend

Two for Thursday, 4/29/10

Phil Ayoub-Arrivals and Departures. One of the very first discs I featured on this site a little over four years ago was Phil Ayoub's debut disc Schoolbus Window Paper Heart, and he's finally caught up to us with the followup, Arrivals and Departures. The disc's name comes from the fact most of the songs were written while Ayoub was traveling, but it's not some woe-goes-the-traveling-musician album. Instead, it's the kind of bright, radio-friendly pop/rock Ayoub gave us the first time around, once again produced by David Gray sideman Tim Bradshaw. Standouts include "The Bearded Lady", which brings Limbeck to mind; "Get Out (Live a Little, Love a Lot)", one of the catchiest odes to getting out and seeing live music ever written; the gorgeous nostalgia-for-the-70s ballad "Basement"; and the midtempo gem "Flowers at Work". Also of note is the rave-up "Bad Habits", in which Ayoub channels Ike Reilly. Ayoub's an artist deserving of a wider audience, and here's hoping Arrivals and Departures marks his arrival.

CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes

Graydon-Graydon. A little over a year ago I called your attention to a pair of excellent EPs from an LA artist named Matt Miller. Since then, Miller has formed the band Graydon, and their debut full-length is a power pop delight. "You + Me" is a killer opener, reminiscent of Locksley; "What Can You Do" uses slide guitar and horns to conjure up a sound that could be described as George Harrison meets The Format; the piano-based "Anytime at All" sounds like an Oasis/Jack's Mannequin teamup, and "Running Back to Me" has a bit of Jellyfish about it. Managing the feat of sounding classic yet modern, Graydon should be a force to reckon with in the power pop community.

CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes

Adriana Lima: Purple Haze

Alien arrivals?

Well it's overly fatalistic but it does suggest the fact that we have a political class which runs society along lines which are alien to most of the population.

Cobra Galore

Ex-clusive (Charm)









Spotlight (Top Rank)









Venom (Greensleeves)









Gold Mine (Ujama)









Mad Cobra (Spiderman)









Bad Boy Talk (Penthouse)









Merciless Bad Boy (Sinbad)









Hard To Wet Easy To Dry (Shang Muzik)









Step Aside (Sky High)









Words Of Warning (Heartbeat)









Sexperience (Critique Records)









Milkman (Capitol Records)









Your Wish (Culture Press)










Exclusive Decision (VP Records)










Helta Skelta - courtesy of Prezza










Sniper Way - courtesy of Prezza








Gold (Charm - compilation)










Beenie Man meets Mad Cobra (Shocking Vibes)









Beenie Man & Mad Cobra - Heavy Weight Dancehall Clash (Fuel)









Additions are very welcome.
Many thanks to SUNNYSIDEUP and PREZZA for the crucial contributions !

• Ex-clusive (Charm, 1991)
• Bad Boy Talk (Penthouse Records, 1991)
• Spotlight (Top Rank, 1992)
• Bad Boy Talk (Penthouse, 1992)
• Merciless Bad Boy (Sinbad, 1992)
• Hard to Wet, Easy to Dry (Columbia Records, 1992)
• Goldmine (RAS Records, 1993)
• Mister Pleasure (VP Records, 1994)
• Venom (Greensleeves Records, 1994)
• Step Aside (VP, 1994)
• Your Wish (Culture Press, 1994)
• Exclusive Decision (VP Records, 1996)
• Sexperience (Critique Records, 1996)
• Milkman (Capitol Records, 1996)
• Cobra (Artists Only Records, 2001)
• Exclusive (Charm, 2003)
• Words of Warning (Heartbeat Records, 2004)

Adriana Lima: The Time is Today

Fashion icon and super-model Adriana Lima is BACK in front of the camera and partnering with acclaimed fashion photographer Russell James for her first ever Live Stream event. Lima and James will stream from the set of her photo shoot for James’ ongoing “Nomad Two Worlds” project, which is dedicated to preserving indigenous rights and creating awareness for child health research. Lima had been on hiatus from the modeling world for 9 months following the birth of her first child.

Broadcasting live from New York City on Wednesday, April 28th at 6PM Eastern Time, the duo will team up to give viewers an up-close and personal look behind the scenes of a real time art shoot, while James will narrate some of the insider secrets of what it takes to successfully execute a such a project.

The live streaming photo shoot will also mark the World DipTrax video premiere of Benny Bennassi’s remix of the Jimi Hendrix classic “Purple Haze”, also starring Adriana Lima and directed by Russell James. The red hot video showcases the intense workouts Lima used to get her body back in supermodel shape.

Viewers will have a chance to participate in the stream by asking questions to Adriana via Ustream’s Social Stream. Adriana will react to questions from viewers in real time. 

Location: Official Adriana Lima Facebook
RSVP/Additional Details: Russell James UStream
BONUS ANNOUNCEMENT: AdrianaLima.com is now open!

Caroline Ribeiro, Gracie Carvalho, & Emanuela de Paula: Brazilian Fever

Cover of Vogue Brazil May 2010 (35th Anniversary Issue)
Ph. Gui Paganini

Yulia Leontieva: In the Sun

"Burning from the Inside" (For Dossier Journal)

Ph. Andrew Kuykendall // Stylist: Julie Williams

Adriana Lima: The Return

Full video premiere of "Purple Haze" will take place at 6 p.m.
(New York/Eastern Timezone) on Wednesday, April 28th
Followed by a live photoshoot/UStream interactive chat with Adriana
Location: Official Adriana Lima Facebook
RSVP/Additional Details: Russell James UStream

CD of the Day, 4/26/10: Brett Harris-Man of Few Words

Here's my favorite "find" of the year so far. While high-quality albums from known quantities are always appreciated, there's nothing like discovering great music from someone you've never heard of. Harris is a definitely a pop craftsman first class, and this is an assured full-length debut for the singer-songwriter from Durham, North Carolina.

The infectious "I Found Out" sounds like a combination of David Grahame and Jeff Lynne, "Mansfield" is a bouncy piano-based number with some brass backing and a 70s pop sheen, "Drop the Needle" is a Beatlesque ballad, and "So Easy" would be a hit in a parallel universe where melody still ruled the charts. Plus, it's a good sign when the last three songs are as good as the first three: "Too Late" is another midtempo winner, the title track is fine ramshackle pop, and closer "Over and Over" is a wonderful jazz-tinged number you could see someone playing in a cocktail lounge. While Harris may be a man of few words, here's hoping he isn't a man of few albums.

CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes

Lindsey Wixson: Still Doll

(Watch full version here)

"34, Avenue Foch"

Miu Miu FW10 Video by Willy Vanderperre

Junior Demus - Welcome

Bounty, here you finaly have it ...
On the Vibes Promotions label, so produced by Harold 'Papa Biggs' McLarty. On this 1988 release all tracks are played by Tony Asher. This album has 'VIBES 008' matrix. Does anyone have some info about the label/producer?

Gregory Isaacs - Can't Stay Away

Fattis Burrell production

Gregory Isaacs - Hardcore

even if you're not a big Gregory fan, you better listen this album...

Produced by: E.J. Robinson
Musicians: Steely & Clevie, Danny Brown
Engineer: Mikey Riley
Recorded & mixed @ Dynamc Sounds

Summertime

Next Campaign // Summer 2010 // Ph. Ben Watts
Featuring Amy Hixson, Emanuela de Paula,Olga Maliouk, & Rehka Luther

And this person wants to transform all of you men!

This is a story with an extraordinary ending, so please bear with me and read all the way through.

It begins with a man named Robert Connell. Back in 1995 he wrote a book called Masculinities. There wasn't much that was new in the book. It consists mostly of standard patriarchy theory: the idea that masculinity is a construct and that it provides men with a "patriarchal dividend" at the expense of women. Therefore, social justice requires the deconstruction of masculinity.

But how to do it? Connell argues in Masculinities that there are many masculinities but that one is "hegemonic". This is an idea borrowed from Gramsci. It means that there is one form of masculinity which manages to get itself accepted as authoritative and that through this the existing values of society are upheld.

Therefore, there cannot be transformative change until the hegemonic masculinity is deconstructed. But Connell recognises that a sense of masculinity is embedded in the male personality and that it is formed in part through bodily practices (such as sport).

So what's required is not just a change in patriarchal institutions. What is needed is a change in the male personality and bodily practices. Men need to be degendered in body and in personality.

Connell's book was highly successful. He became the world's leading theorist of masculinity. The charity Oxfam, for instance, believes that its role is to secure gender equity by transforming masculinity throughout the world. The information on its website is clearly drawn from Connell's work:

Throughout the organization, we will base our work on a common understanding that gender equality is key to overcoming poverty and suffering.

[this requires a consideration of] the invisibility of gender issues to most men and the notion of the ‘patriarchal dividend’ (i.e. the privileges that all men draw upon simply by virtue of being male) ... the dominance of specific forms of (‘hegemonic’) masculinity; how masculinities are actively constructed; the costs associated with masculinity for both men and women; and the dynamic nature of masculinities over time.

‘Hegemonic masculinity’ is a concept that draws upon the ideas of Gramsci. It refers to the dynamic cultural process which guarantees (or is taken to guarantee) the dominant position of men and the subordination of women.

Again, just to illustrate how serious Oxfam is about transforming masculinity here are some additional ideas from its website:

Oxfam’s approach to poverty – the importance of gender analysis

The study highlights the importance of coherent gender analysis … Gender analysis is central to Oxfam’s understanding of the root causes of global poverty … if gender relations are to be transformed …

Changing masculinities, changing men

… masculinities are actively ‘produced’ by individuals, rather than being programmed by genes … It is sometimes argued … that being ‘natural’ masculinity is impervious to reform. But our research demonstrates the reverse … Clearly there are risks involved in attempts to reshape masculinity …

Again, Connell is the most frequently cited authority in this document written for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The document reminds readers that the UN has called for a "transformative change" to achieve gender equity. Masculinity, it is claimed, stands in the way of "progress" toward a new world order of centralised, global government and increasing ethnic diversity:

In effect, masculinity becomes a rhetorical currency by which opposition to global integration, state centralization and increasing ethnic heterogeneity can be mobilized. (p.4)

It is Connell who is again looked to as the expert authority on the matter:

Typically, as Connell notes (1998: 17), “hardline masculine fundamentalism goes together with a marked anti-internationalism”. (p.4)

So Connell managed to become an international authority on masculinity, or at least the deconstruction thereof.

But this is where we get to the dramatic twist in the story. In his book Masculinities Connell anticipated that the aim of degendering men in their bodily practices and in their personalities would arouse opposition.

In particular, it would arouse the fear that a process of degendering men would turn men into women:

If the problem is basically about masculinity, structural change should follow from a remaking of personality. (p.230)

...emotional turmoil and guilt feelings ... are a measure of the resistance even in favourable circumstances. In other circumstances the project will be rejected out of hand as an attempt to turn men into women.

It follows that a degendering strategy, an attempt to dismantle hegemonic masculinity, is unavoidable.

The degendering strategy applies not only at the level of culture and institutions, but also at the level of the body - the ground chosen by defenders of patriarchy, where the fear of men being turned into women is most poignant. (p.232)

What we are moving towards is indeed "something rich & strange"; and therefore, necessarily, a source of fear as well as desire. (p.234)

The reason I highlighted these passages is this: Robert Connell is no longer legally a man. He has, it seems, had sex change surgery, legally changed his identity, and transformed himself into Raewyn Connell. Below is a photo of the radically transformed Robert Connell.

Given that Robert Connell took this drastic step, I think we're entitled to ask some questions.

Did Robert Connell always feel conflicted in his own masculinity? Does this help to explain his feeling of estrangement from mainstream masculinity? Or his repeated claims that men needed to change their bodily practices to more feminine ones of nurturing babies?

Or did the theory itself push Connell to view masculinity as so malignant that it had to be physically cut away?

Or did the theory, with its emphasis on the bodily transformation of men, lead Connell to arrive at the radical solution pictured on the left?

At any rate, the idea that the great project of liberation is to degender men's bodies and personalities, is associated in the case of its founder with a result that won't appeal to too many men.


Hat tip: Paul Elam

Masha Novoselova: Desert Conqueror

"Warrior"

Marie Claire Italia // May 2010 (Select images)
Ph. Rennio Maifredi // Stylist: Laura Seganti

Two for Thursday, 4/22/10

Secret Powers-Lies and Fairy Tales. If someone told me back in the late summer of 2008 that a new power pop band would emerge and have three great discs out by the spring of 2010, I'd be skeptical. But damned if Shmedley & crew are back with their third disc in about 18 months that's a must-listen. For those unfamiliar, Secret Powers is led by Ryan "Shmedly" Maynes and they serve up high-grade Jellyfish/ELO-influenced pop. Lies and Fairy Tales is no exception. "Orange Trees" was the best track on their previous release, and here things stay in the citrus family with the leadoff track "Tangerine", a hooky number that closes with a "na na na na" refrain and is downright infectious. The hits just keep on coming: "I'm So in Love" is a bouncy Beatlesque bit, "Riding the Shark" (as opposed to jumping it, which these guys are far from doing) is a manic rocker that doesn't quit, while the trippy piano-based "Cows" is udderly delightful. And don't overlook "Opening Band", a wry look at the music biz. I look forward to their next disc, and glad I probably won't have to wait too long. (By the way, they've finally embraced digital distribution, so I can embed from Lala and give you an iTunes link. Now they just need to get the first two available that way.)

CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes

Knit Delicate-Fulton Hill. As anyone who's read this blog for more than a little while knows, I'm a sucker for bands that can mix power pop and alt-country. And this band from Wisconsin sure knows how to weave a pop tune with a slight twang, as they follow up Pressed, their debut and one of 2007's more overlooked gems. Sounding like the Gary Louris-led version of The Jayhawks mixed in with a little Rich McCulley, they even mix in a little Big Star on the opener "Really Shouldn't Say Those Things" and the brilliant "When I See You". Other standouts include "Love is Not Democracy" and the pop sheen of "Had a Chance", in which they channel America. And they love punny references as much as I do, otherwise they wouldn't have a track called "Spin Cycle" on the disc.

CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes

Sir Tommy's 1990s All Stars Volume 2

Showcase one riddim album from Sir Tommy's, All Stars Volume 2. enjoy!

Liu Wen: Nostalgia

The Beautiful Ones: Redux

Louis Christopher // Ambiance

Hannah Johnson & Josefin Hedstrom

R'el Dade

Exclusive pictures from photographer Louis Christopher's exhibition last night at Envoy Enterprises Gallery. The show featured photos & outtakes from The Beautiful Ones.