January 12, 2007 – The Designer Monologues

January 12, 2007

The “Surge”….towards Iran.

Just in case you’ve missed it (and the pathetic excuse for a national media in this country is doing it’s level best to make sure that you do):

Part of the “surge” of troops, supposedly to ensure security in Iraq, includes a Patriot Missile battery from Fort Bliss, TX. Patriot Missiles, for those of you who haven’t figured it out already, being somewhat useless in defending against small-arms fire, rocket-propelled grenades, mortar attacks and IEDs….which is what we’re facing in Iraq. They are, however, great for use against intermediate-range ballistic missiles….of which Iran has quite a few.

Second: Bush just appointed Admiral William J. Fallon as General Abizaid’s replacement as head of CENTCOM. Kinda odd that they’ve placed a Naval officer in charge of two ground wars (Afghanistan & Iraq), isn’t it? Even ABC news called the appointment unusual. However, consider Fallon’s resume. He’s a naval flight officer. He flew combat missions in Vietnam, commanded an A-6 Intruder squadron, a carrier air wing and an aircraft carrier. As a three-star, he commanded Second Fleet and Strike Force Atlantic. Any operation against Iran will be a combined air and naval bombardment.

Third: Bush is moving another carrier strike group into the Persian Gulf. Because, as you know, Aircraft Carriers and their battle groups are notoriously effective against insurgents.

Are you seeing it now?

January 12, 2007April 19, 2010

Mash-up Fans….

If you’re into mash-ups, you can download Best of Bootie 2006, a collection of the year’s best. A zip file of the mp3s, along with CD art, is available at the linked site.

Some really good stuff — some of which has appeared in my Friday Music posts this year (including “Careless or Dead”, the Wham/BonJovi mash-up; and “Crazy Logic”, the Supertramp/Gnarls Barkley mash-up).

January 12, 2007April 19, 2010

Friday Music

Back at it…

First up is an instrumental piece that I wrote over the past week. I was experimenting with a less-electronic sound. I’m very pleased with what I feel is a very “New Order-ish” guitar tone. @nubis – “Shimmer.”

I was first hooked in by the name of the band: Butch Walker and the Lets-Go-Out-Tonites. But rather than what I expected to hear (smoking rockabilly lounge-y stuff), what I got instead was a damn near perfect pastiche of T-Rex, circa 1973. The guitar riff and backing vocals are a shameless homage to “20th Century Boy.” Plus, the song title is great. Butch Walker and the Lets-Go-Out-Tonites – “Hot Girls In Good Moods.”

Another take on a recognizable sound, this time the early to mid sixties girl-group vibe…and again, another absolutely nifty song title. Johnny Boy – “You Are the Generation That Bought More Shoes And Now Get What You Deserve.”

This is pretty cool. It’s a Jamaican dub version of Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five” — I’m surprised how well it manages to adapt to the style: Val Bennett – “The Russians Are Coming.”

My friend has been doing some really excellent electro-industrial. Here’s a nifty SF piece. The lyrics, translated from German: “The year is 2076. The age of artificial intelligences and machine-men has dawned. Robot armies fight the wars of the future and electronic brains reign over states and multinational corporations. Already, the machines have more rights than the humans. We need Power! Give us Power!” Electronic Body Confusion – “Strom”

Shifting gears — I was a big fan of Level 42 in the 80s. Here in America, they’re considered a one-hit wonder, with “Something About You” being pretty much all anybody over hear ever heard from them. So, for my fellow Americans, here is an example of the sort of stuff you missed — here’s another single from the same album, which hit big overseas, but not here: Level 42 – “Lessons In Love.”

For fans of trip-hop and chillout music, here’s another sterling entry from one of my favorite acts: Thievery Corporation – “Holographic Universe.”

Goth makes me laugh sometimes with it’s earnest overwroughtness. Here is a track that tries so hard, both in subject matter and in instrumentation, that it just makes me smile. Who’s a cute little creature of darkness? You are! Yes! Woodgy-woodgy-woodgy! Vampire Division – “Demonica”

Enjoy.