http://www.spannered.org/miscellaneous/ Music, art, film and literature from outside the mainstream bubble, a platform for writers. Spread a little mp3 love. en-gb Copyright 2007 Spannered. All Rights Reserved. Thu, 9 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT 240 http://www.spannered.org/images/skins/spannered/RSS.jpg http://www.spannered.org/ http://www.spannered.org/features/1423/ http://www.spannered.org/features/1423/ There was high attendance at this year's Detroit Electronic Music Festival — roughly one person to each of Detroit's 70,000 vacant houses. Greg Scruggs reflects on his first visit to Techno City... Tue, 03 Jun 2008 23:00:00 GMT http://www.spannered.org/features/1344/ http://www.spannered.org/features/1344/ The eagerly awaited second instalment of Dave Marcia's bovine saga. Sun, 30 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://www.spannered.org/features/1276/ http://www.spannered.org/features/1276/ Is an evening in the company of Lego dragons, a nostalgic folk musician and David Lynch enough to make one take up transcendental meditation? Not quite, says Judith Evans. Tue, 13 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://www.spannered.org/features/1243/ http://www.spannered.org/features/1243/ Spannered talks to radio activist Max Graef about the pros and pros of community radio broadcasting. Wed, 15 Aug 2007 23:00:00 GMT http://www.spannered.org/features/1231/ http://www.spannered.org/features/1231/ Who are the winners and losers in Rio’s race for global sports recognition? Greg Scruggs reports from the 2007 Pan American Games. Thu, 19 Jul 2007 23:00:00 GMT http://www.spannered.org/features/1180/ http://www.spannered.org/features/1180/ How can internet radio bring about positive change in Rio’s de Janeiro's shantytowns? In more ways that you would think, discovers Spannered. Fri, 27 Apr 2007 23:00:00 GMT http://www.spannered.org/features/1166/ http://www.spannered.org/features/1166/ A wee story inspired by seeing Peaches play live at Sonar. Wed, 14 Mar 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://www.spannered.org/features/1125/ http://www.spannered.org/features/1125/ A very happy new year from Sheila Dibnah and all the team at Spannered.org Wed, 10 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://www.spannered.org/features/1105/ http://www.spannered.org/features/1105/ Spannered cuisine commentator Ron Beverage takes two unsuspecting ladies up the Oxo Tower. Thu, 07 Dec 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://www.spannered.org/features/1124/ http://www.spannered.org/features/1124/ Gordon Ramrod reflects on a weekend immersed in the delights of the UK's historical northern city. Thu, 07 Dec 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://www.spannered.org/features/497/ http://www.spannered.org/features/497/ The British Phonographic Industry wants to extend the length of copyright currently applied to sound recordings. But such a move would impede our cultural heritage, says Becky Hogge. Thu, 02 Sep 2004 23:00:00 GMT http://www.spannered.org/features/183/ http://www.spannered.org/features/183/ Outposts of stimulating debate, or citadels of covert cockfoolery? Gerald Ras Wiener passes comment on the tempestuous world of internet message boards. Sat, 01 Mar 2003 00:00:00 GMT http://www.spannered.org/features/821/ http://www.spannered.org/features/821/ Why are dance music festivals in the UK such a damp squib? Isabel Hopwood looks to Barcelona's Sonar event for some answers... Sun, 30 Jun 2002 23:00:00 GMT http://www.spannered.org/features/823/ http://www.spannered.org/features/823/ We've all met musicians with unhealthy technological fixations. But have you ever heard a kurrawong first thing in the morning? If not you're missing out, says Australian techno producer Andy Rantzen. Fri, 01 Feb 2002 00:00:00 GMT http://www.spannered.org/features/812/ http://www.spannered.org/features/812/ The impact of the bursting of the internet bubble has seen companies dissolve overnight and the creation of a new generation of transient workers, moving from failure to failure, but being paid very well along the way. Here, a certified 'dotcom casualty' ruminates on the impact of these changes and looks at the wider picture that is unkowingly affecting us all. Sat, 30 Jun 2001 23:00:00 GMT http://www.spannered.org/features/819/ http://www.spannered.org/features/819/ Newspapers have long seen themselves as agents of justice, but not even the broadsheets know the meaning of the word, says Matt Henry. Sat, 30 Jun 2001 23:00:00 GMT http://www.spannered.org/features/820/ http://www.spannered.org/features/820/ Public, peaceful protest is one of the most powerful ways of drawing media attention to a cause. From the Greenham Peace Women to the students in Tianmen Square, when the people took their grievance to the streets, the media has taken it to the world at large. But what happens when the negative publicity generated for the activists is greater than the exposure they seek for their cause? Sat, 31 Mar 2001 23:00:00 GMT http://www.spannered.org/features/826/ http://www.spannered.org/features/826/ It's all becoming a bit boring, says Dave Stelfox of electronic music. But nothing a good dose of bad behaviour, stupidity and all-round irresponsibility can't fix... Sat, 31 Mar 2001 23:00:00 GMT http://www.spannered.org/features/824/ http://www.spannered.org/features/824/ What's the difference between a musician and a plumber? Metallica and Tom Magic Feet reach different conclusions... Thu, 01 Feb 2001 00:00:00 GMT http://www.spannered.org/features/829/ http://www.spannered.org/features/829/ Matt Henry travels to the imaginary Island of Hiraeth to find out if global capitalism is really a good thing. Thu, 01 Feb 2001 00:00:00 GMT http://www.spannered.org/features/830/ http://www.spannered.org/features/830/ Ten years ago, a distinguished American journalist predicted that 'By 2000, all the media in the world worth owning will be in the hands of a half a dozen giant companies'. As we enter 2001, Matt Henry looks into the impact of the concentration of ownership on the journalistic enterprise. Thu, 01 Feb 2001 00:00:00 GMT http://www.spannered.org/features/831/ http://www.spannered.org/features/831/ So, you're a DJ, desperate to reach the dizzying heights of success? Read our guide and you’ll learn all the moves you have to make to climb the greasy pole of success. Thu, 01 Feb 2001 00:00:00 GMT http://www.spannered.org/features/822/ http://www.spannered.org/features/822/ Tom Magic Feet calls into question the existence of the MOBO Awards. Fri, 01 Dec 2000 00:00:00 GMT http://www.spannered.org/features/806/ http://www.spannered.org/features/806/ The history of the application of sound in warfare is, by its very nature, cloaked in secrecy and misinformation. Much of what seeps out into public perception has been filtered through government agencies who, understandably, have a vested interest in protecting such covert and often 'black' weapons programmes, and the sensationalist columns of the underground press, whose flirtation with the subject spans at least two decades. Any attempts by myself or others to verify certain 'facts' is relatively futile. We report what we hear. Possibly the first mention of sonic warfare is the now much-cited 'Walls of Jericho' scenario — a biblical story which no doubt many of us are familiar with. The walls came tumbling down after the synchronised blast of trumpets and voices rendered it unstable. However, it is only recently that sound has seriously been considered as a valid medium for destruction. Human beings respond to certain categories of sound in a number of complex ways involving auditory perception and psycho-physiological response mechanisms rendered through the brain. Certain species of sound above (ultrasound) or below (infrasound) the levels of human auditory perception would theoretically prove most effective within the crucible of warfare. During the Vietnam conflict in the early 70s, the US military experimented with a structured programme of psychological warfare, dubbed the Urban Funk Campaign. A sonic weapon known as the 'Curdler' or 'People Repeller' was employed to disrupt unruly crowds, and generally irritate the enemy during the night. Audio frequency oscillators were mounted on helicopters, and blasted frequencies at 'Charlie', ranging from 500-5000 Hz at an amplitude of 120dB – equivalent to the roar of a jet engine at close quarters. This was a highly effective panic-inducing weapon, which was also reputedly deployed during the height of the Northern Ireland conflict. The Urban Funk Campaign also employed an 'audio harassment' programme, Wandering Soul, in which recordings of eerie sounds said to represent the souls of the dead were played through the night in order to spook the superstitious enemy. Despite eventually realising that they were hearing a recording beamed from a helicopter, the enemy snipers could not suppress the fear that their souls would some day end up moaning and wailing in a similar fashion after death. Urban Funk Campaign was also putatively responsible for the 'Squawk Box' – a device which the British MoD denied existed, although authorities in Lisburn confirmed the existence of the Curdler, which they claimed was in storage, but never used. The Squawk Box was a developmental weapon initiated by a joint military/civilian group of scientists and technicians working in secrecy and with a high degree of autonomy in Lisburn (New Scientist, Sept 1973). Mounted on a Land Rover or similar carrier vehicle, this device housed in a 3ft cube was able to emit two marginally different frequencies (eg 16,000 & 16,002 Hz). These component frequencies, their sum and difference, produced a subsonic harmonic of 2Hz (infrasound). It's effective beam was so small and directional that it could target individuals, producing 'spooky' psycho-physiological effects such as panic, vomiting, and seizures. It is worthy of note that infrasound is particularly effective in the arousal of fear or anxiety. The experience of auditory stimuli is a function of the nervous system. We are culturally conditioned to interpret sounds, and recognise them, which is why we are roused to anxiety by an experience we can neither interpret nor dismiss as 'noise'. The very fact that infrasound can be 'felt' but not heard creates a frustrated perceptual impulse. Anxiety can only be resolved by attaching it to an object or cause. In the absence of either, we tend to create one, and in most instances we create a supernatural or preternatural one. We have spoken so far about psycho-physiological effects of sound as a weapon – but what about the purely physical effects? Going back to our Walls of Jericho scenario, the phenomenon of resonance can potentially be amplified to cause destruction. The opera singer, Caruso, was able to shatter wine glasses with a single note sung at the sympathetic frequency of the glass. In theory the same phenomenon could be created synthetically. In the early 1970's, acoustic engineer Vladimir Gavreau was experimenting with infrasound weaponry. Now the stuff of infrasound legend, Gavreau was responsible for the construction of a giant 6ft whistle, powered by compressed air, which reputedly scrambled the inner organs of it's unfortunate operator (a phenomenon known as 'cavitation', where the internal physiology was fatally resonated). Distraught, Gavreau ceased his experiments, but left behind plans and models for highly sophisticated, directional sound cannons, which were apparently seized by the French authorities. In a recent conference with Dr Guy Peter Manners, Professor of Cymatics (a form of sonic therapy), I happened to enquire about his knowledge of Gavreau. It appears that what I had previously assumed was legend was almost certainly true. Although Manners was reluctant to divulge details, he informed me of certain facts which cannot be repeated here as they would breach the conditions of the Official Secrets Act. Manners also informed me of experiments which he had first hand experience of in wartime Germany, where sonic weapons were being developed under a highly classified strategy initiated and financed by Hitler's government. Once again, frustratingly, I cannot release such information for at least two more years, but a separate source reveals the fact that the Germans were pioneering a sound-based weapon known as the 'Luftkanone', developed at Talstation Lofer. This was a parabolic device which, although untested on humans, was apparently... 'capable of killing a man with sound pressure in about 30-40 seconds. At greater ranges, although not lethal it would be able to disable a man for an appreciable length of time. Vision would be affected, and low-level exposure would cause point sources of light to appear as lines.' Frequent enquiry on the internet has revealed that the US government, in partnership with specialist agencies, are working on a programme of 'non-lethal' weapons systems designed to disable but not destroy enemies. In a recent conversation with a physicist at Sandia National Laboratories, I can confirm that infrasonic weapons are still a viable option, although it comes very low on a list of alternatives due to it's cumbersome nature, and the lack of an effective, and powerful amplification system. This leads us neatly into a slightly more sinister, and perhaps more unreliable subject, which probably warrants an article on its own – HAARP. Conspiracy theorists in their droves are seeing this project (an acronym for High Frequency Active Auroral Research Project) as the target of their vitriol. HAARP was initiated by the US government (again!) for a variety of applications, particularly to enhance global communications. A cursory glance at the HAARP web site will reveal all manner of well-intentioned projects and applications for this 'Ionospheric heater' – an array of bizarre looking antennae situated in the back end of Alaska. However, conspiracy theorists claim that the project (reputedly influenced by Tesla technology) has a more sinister intention, and recent investigations highlight a concern that this array can potentially beam EM (electromagnetic) pulses at aircraft, and melt engines, disrupt communications, and destroy life from the upper atmosphere. Although I remain sceptical, I do acknowledge the fact that mankind (and particularly the US military!) has a tendency to use technology to adverse effects. HAARP appears to feed the post cold war paranoia of a suspicious public. Conversely, there is sufficient evidence from radio hams that the Russians were experimenting with ELF (extremely low frequency) toys at least two decades before HAARP. Radio hams reported ELF clicks from a Russian source being beamed into the US via the airwaves. The Russians were blamed for weather manipulation, mind control, and other unexplainable atmospheric events. Because of the nature of the repeated clicks, the Russian project was dubbed 'Woodpecker'. Truth, misinformation, or paranoia? Eldon Byrd of the US Naval Surface Weapons Centre who controlled the US Non Lethal Weapons programme in the early 80s, confirms that ELF and electromagnetic devices are feasible – but it appears that yet again, all details are contained within the secure 'black' world of hidden research projects. The US Department of Justice report on ELF weapons disclosed that sustained exposure to ELF radiation can produce nausea or disorientation. One researcher subjected animals to ELF radiation through implants, and feels that similar results can be produced from afar without implants. Russian scientists have already claimed to be able to induce sleep from afar (electrosleep) by similar methods. Doubtless, more information on sonic weapons will come to light as information becomes declassified. It would appear overall, that the impracticalities of certain sonic weapons systems far outweigh more sophisticated counterparts... I wait to be surprised! Special thanks and acknowledgements to Joe Banks (Disinformation), Amok Journal and Dr Guy Peter Manners for direct and indirect help with this article. ^ Illustration by Boo Cook Sun, 30 Apr 2000 23:00:00 GMT http://www.spannered.org/features/61/ http://www.spannered.org/features/61/ ‘We call ourselves 'culture jammers', the advance shock troops of the most significant social movement of the next twenty years.’ Sun, 30 Apr 2000 23:00:00 GMT http://www.spannered.org/features/181/ http://www.spannered.org/features/181/ SZA reports on how the UK’s once anarchic festival circuit has become dominated by brewery conglomerates and big business. Sun, 30 Apr 2000 23:00:00 GMT http://www.spannered.org/features/816/ http://www.spannered.org/features/816/ We are officially at war. I am not talking about glorious, painful and messy warfare that has defined our historical conception of conflict over territory and economic gain. The conflict in question is a defining feature of the information age. Your mind is at stake. Confused? You should be. The battle lines have been drawn up. The human mind defines the territory. Information warfare defines the age. Your beliefs may not be your own. Visionary thinkers have warned us about the encroaching dangers of information warfare. In the past, warnings about misinformation missiles and propaganda bombs have been discounted as sci-fi informed futurist paranoia. However, as we tiptoe through the debris of millennial hype, a new picture emerges. The conditions of information warfare have been accepted by a White House affiliated US Government think-tank. The Rand Institute has argued that the information revolution is propelling power towards new non-governmental alliances and networks of civil organisations, leaving traditional nation state power bases in the cold. The authors of the Rand Institute report refer to the situation as a ‘netwar’: 'Information-related conflict between nations or societies. It means trying to disrupt or damage what a target population knows, or thinks it knows, about itself and the world around it. A social netwar may involve propaganda and psychological campaigns, battles for public opinion and for media access and coverage.' The militaristic tone of the report suggests that information warfare is being taken extremely seriously as the possible style of future conflicts. The battle to control information and manipulate the media has always been an integral cog in the war machine. Crude Iraqi propaganda and high tech allied media spin were defining features of the Gulf conflicts that scarred the nineties. Interestingly, it is worth remembering that the catalyst for conflict was a dispute about restricting information. In Russia, the authorities have gone to extreme lengths to control news of their current war. The disturbing fate of Radio Liberty’s war correspondent, Andrei Babitsky, symbolises the worst of Russia's crackdown on media coverage. He spent weeks reporting from inside the besieged Chechen capital for the US-owned radio station, and repeatedly contradicted the official line taken by the Kremlin. He has recently, in accordance with the traditional Stalinist approach, been ‘removed’. When foreign journalists requested a visit to the war zone, the military press officer told them: 'What’s going on here is none of your business. You wouldn't like it if we demanded to see what you get up to in your bedroom.' But the question remains: who is shafting who? In Lebanon’s capital of Beirut demonstrators have fought back against media misrepresentation. Angry at what they see as bias in CNN’s coverage of Israeli attacks on Lebanese and American support for the attacks, 6000 demonstrators clashed with riot police and actually attacked CNN studios. Closer to home, the Northern Ireland situation has had more spins than a Jeff Mills set and has been rendered far too complex an issue for most people to embrace with insight. And maybe that’s the point. Ponder a lyric from iconic eighties punk outfit Culture Shock; ‘Northern Ireland situation / war within a single nation / no one thinks of it as war / cos that's what televisions for.’ Almost every piece of history we haven’t directly experienced has been altered by the time it reaches us, and in the High Court, history itself is currently on trial. The controversial historian, David Irving is questioning accepted beliefs about the Holocaust. He admits that some Jews were treated badly by the Nazis but denies that they were killed in gas chambers at Auschwitz, denies that Hitler directly ordered their slaughter and denies that their were any systematic plan to destroy European Jewry. Famous concentration camp footage and film of bodies being bulldozed into pits is not reliable evidence for Irving. In a scene that could have come straight out of the satirical current affairs programme Brass Eye, but would have inevitably been banned for being insensitive, Irving claims that the victims were not gassed but died of 'natural causes' and that the infamous gas chambers did not exist. If an individual can dismiss the testimony of tens of thousands of witnesses, where does this leave history? After all, Baudrillard has argued that the Gulf War never happened, some say the first lunar landing was fabricated in television studios and Overload has acquired hard evidence that proves beyond reasonable doubt that Rome was built in a day. If some of the most shocking imagery of the twentieth century can be written off as poppycock, how the hell can we trust anything we see, hear or believe? In our sophisticated media savvy society where everything is subject to spin, it is clear fascism doesn’t come knocking at your door wearing jackboots and sporting a pencil moustache. In Austria’s current political climate it wears a smart suit and kisses babies. In England: Neighbourhood Watch, CCTV, Shop a Benefit Fraud and Rat on a Rat poster campaigns. Everywhere you turn Little Brothers are watching you. Keep ‘em peeled and remember, in the words of Michael Howard on the merits of the 1994 Criminal Justice Act, ‘normal people have nothing to fear...’ Wed, 01 Mar 2000 00:00:00 GMT http://www.spannered.org/features/827/ http://www.spannered.org/features/827/ 'Future shock could be the most important disease of tomorrow', wrote Alvin Toffler more than thirty years ago. I get future shock in my home town, in the cement garden of England... Wed, 01 Mar 2000 00:00:00 GMT http://www.spannered.org/features/836/ http://www.spannered.org/features/836/ It probably doesn't say much for my standing as a fully integrated member of society, but the most intense, enduring and exciting relationship I have ever enjoyed has been with an ever-growing collection of plastic and cardboard. Stacks of seven, ten and 12-inches, little silver discs and spools of electromagnetic tape chart my entire existence. Summers of love and winters of discontent: they're all there, burnt on my brain and encapsulated in sound. In short, my whole life is an open gatefold sleeve. Running a close second in my affections, is music writing. Unfortunately, this is a rather more dysfunctional situation. Thinking back, I remember when it was possible to pick up a magazine once a week and KNOW that you were going to get something worth bothering with. Believe it or not, I actually used to look forward to Wednesdays. The best day of the week: running down to the newsagent and loading up on mags, holing up in my bedroom and poring their smudgy pages. Reading about records then was almost as good as buying them. The simple reason for this was that the writers were good and cared about what they were doing – in other words the absolute antithesis of their present-day counterparts. It's getting to the point where the music press may as well do away with journalists altogether, simply taking their stories direct from the record companies and PR firms. After all, such a move would both save money and radically streamline the editorial process. No longer would editors have to find idiots willing to read – and subsequently prostitute themselves, regurgitating in their entirety – press releases extolling the non-existent virtues of Modjo or Layo and Bushwhacka. They could cut out the middle man and no one would ever notice. So where did it all go wrong? Well, it is a widely accepted fact that the inkies' day is well and truly done now that Melody Maker has closed and NME continues to plumb hitherto unimaginable nadirs of bad writing. (Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit – saviours of music? For fuck's sake, I preferered it when they were bigging up Daphne & Celeste.) However, no one is ever willing to break with convention and point out the failings of our peers in the 'specialist dance press'. This is a major problem as perversely this self-proclaimed bastion of cutting-edge counter culture is collapsing under the weight of its own ineptitude and self-importance. Indeed as respected writer Simon Reynolds recently posited in an interview with San Francisco's consistently excellent XLR8R magazine: "The thing is, because writers still see this scene as underground, they feel like there is some obligation to be totally supportive. You hardly ever get a bad review . . . The media is totally compromised." When dance music culture was in its subterranean stages, such unquestioning support was necessary to create a sense of community and inertia. However now that electronic music, in its many forms, has taken over the world, such a cretinous attitude is far from constructive, leading to an unquestioning non-culture in which crass banality is the norm. Amid the rave reviews and 'Caner of the Week' competitions it is rare to see the faintest glimmer of real criticism or cultural analysis, as though intelligence and talent are undesirable qualities in modern-day music crit. In fact, as a veteran journalist friend said to me recently: "Publishers have taken Loaded magazine as the model they want to follow, with its irreverence and lad mentality, but employed writers and editors who would be lucky to get a job freelancing for Front!" This sense of macho stagnation is widely agreed upon, with Kodwo Eshun stating in the introduction to 1998's sonic futurist manifesto, More Brilliant Than The Sun: "[Dance] press writing [invokes] a white Brit routine of pubs and clubs, of business as usual, the bovine sense of good blokes together. You can see the whole British dance music press – with its hagiographies and its geographies, its DJ recipes, its boosterism, its personality profiles – constitutes a colossal machine for maintaining rhythm as unwritable, ineffable mystery. And this is why Trad dance music journalism is nothing more than lists and menus, bits and bytes: meagre, miserly, mediocre." The journalistic boys' club is far from an abstract concept, it is real and affects the way music is written about, who ends up on the cover and gets the reviews, and ultimately which writers work. In the current climate where most publications share the same journalists, features and target audiences, it is arguable that the UK market could be easily sated by a single generic publication, trotting out the usual turgid cobblers under the same old bylines. This stranglehold of a select few on the UK media stems from a number of factors. Firstly, the relatively poor rates of pay offered to freelancers make it impossible to survive while working for one magazine. This inevitably leads to writers spreading themselves too thinly, turning in ill-thought-out, badly written copy to keep the bills paid. Secondly, writers and editors are no longer willing to take chances. Due to growing pressure from publishers to increase sales and advertising revenue in an already saturated market, there is little currency in dissenting opinions from uncontrollable contributors (after all, saying the wrong thing at the wrong time could cost a publication dearly in terms of ad space). Thirdly, and most importantly, in the current climate, thanks to the restrictions placed upon writers and the pitiful remuneration, many capable journalists are moving on to other careers, or writing for free 'zines and websites. The shortsightedness of most publications' editorial policy makes a mockery of the freelance journalist's role as musical explorer and cultural tipster. Hence the lack of coverage of quality innovative music. While I personally would far rather read about Kid 606, Susumu Yokota or Vladislav Delay than Rui Da Silva, this is not solely confined to fringe-interest releases. Hell, the once mighty Jockey Slut resolutely refuses to cover UK garage. Widely regarded as the most credible dance music magazine in Britain, you would have thought the now Shoreditch-based rag would be rushing to cover this innovative form of dance music. No chance. So, are the likes of Wookie, El-B and M Dubs really of no value whatsoever? Or is it just their working-class, inner-city connotations that make them irrelevant? In fact this curious mix of snobbery, arrogance and ignorance appears to be at work in editorial offices across the country. “Never overestimate your readers' intelligence,” is one thing I've heard said. But, reading between the lines, it is easy to interpret such statements as meaning: “Well, if I, in my exalted position of editor of such and such a magazine, don't know about this, then how can you expect our poor provincial proletarian readership to understand?" Well, all I can say is don't let them treat you like suckers. Vote with your feet. Log on to a decent website. Be discriminating in your choice of reading material, and if you're still disillusioned, why not do it yourself? After all, you couldn't do a worse job, could you? Tue, 01 Feb 2000 00:00:00 GMT