nosleeptillmosow

Beijing 2009 // The New Beat Generation

2009-03-19T11:59:00.000-07:00

It is said that in China a generation lasts five years. The country has opened up and seen so much change over such a short period of time that youth culture is constantly evolving. Greater access to world media is now available to a youth that harbors new attitudes - a generation growing in confidence.
This evolution is impacting upon all fields of the arts in China, and in no area is this more evident than the recent emergence of alternative music.

Beijing's music scene has done in six or seven years what had happened over a 30 year period in Europe.
Quickly developing from anti-establishment focussed punk, underground music here has evolved into much deeper and richer forms.
Almost from nowhere new strands of physcedelia, experimental and progressive musics are evolving in Beijing, all sharing a fresh theme of honest, unsynical passion and a disregard for the mainstream. It is a musical environment that buzzes with similar sentiment and characteristics of early '60s California and the emergence of the beatnick generation. A collective non-mainstream sub-culture, inadvertently finding itself at the heart of something important.

Last month's Jue Festival was a case in point, showcasing just how this new generation are creating
an underground culture all of their own. A sense of burgeoining confidence permeated shows and the festival felt like a significant event. Also evident at these shows was an underlying theme of physcedelia and experimentation, another throwback from 1960s America that seems to influence a majority of Beijing's key artisits, something to which Shou Wang of Carsick Cars testifies

"You could call it New Physcedelia! "

A key figure in the city's alternative music scene, Wang is one of a phalanx of new artists that are gaining international recognition. Of his numerous projects it's garage rock band Carsick Cars that have set the precident for others to follow. Their brand of rock jangles and stomps through Pavement and Meat Puppets, trailing off into spaced out feedback drone before returning to perfectly constructed surf-pop. Probably Beijing`s best known band in the west, they've reached European audiences playing at All Tomorrow's Parties. Noise group White recently supported Einsturzende Neubarten on their European tour and is another of Shou Wang's projects. Sounding like a mash of Cornelius, The Boredoms and the popier side of Throbbing Gristle they recorded with Blixa Bargeld of Einsturzende Neubarten and produced one of 2008's most interesting noise albums.

Other notable Beijing bands include Ourself Beside Me making stripped down, physcedelic garage rock tunes with a nod to Suiside and Velvet Underground; The Molds kicking out slack and druggy rock and roll with reference to The Cramps or Johnny Kidd; and The Gar producing drawn-out streams of ..trail of dead like rock with extra ambience and drone, occasionally touching on The Jesus and Mary Chain.

The Carsick Cars frontman loyally professes to the state of things in his city's music scene

"Beijing is the most exciting place in the world right now !"

There are many aspects that could take testiment for this explosion but it can be linked to a few key cultural changes that have culminated in just the last decade. The kids that are coming of age now, making things happen, are the first generation of only children in China, the result of a government sanction impossed on almost all families since the early '80s. This has changed the cultural landscape of the country completely; in a land steeped in traditional values, Chinese youth are becoming less family centric, more international, less religious, more individual.

"I'm part of a generation that has grown up with television and computer games instead of brothers or sisters.
It changes things. You think more about yourself and what you want to do; more selfish I guess!"

Wang continues to explain how twenty-somethings are moving away from the traditional and towards the contemporary.

"Many people are not interested in religion now, we are a totally new generation with no beliefs and new attitudes. Also, we have no musical history, our parents don't even know what Rock and Roll is! so we are starting afresh, and that is an inspiring thing."

Like all great movements, there needs to be a mediator(right word?), something or someone to provide the vision and direction. In the case of the Beijing movement this role is played by independent record label Maybe Mars. The brains behind this imprint is former New York stockbroker Professor Michael Pettis, a man considered to be the godfather of Beijing's music scene.
"Now is the right time for Beijing, so many crutial elements are coming together."

Pettis moved to Beijing seven years ago and has seen the full cycle of this cultural development

"When I came to China none of my university students had any interest in music or art except for the
most sentimental and insipid Chinese and western pop. Now students listen to alternative music, read Jack Kerouac and watch underground films. In a sense it feels like we are in the US in the early sixties."

The growing confidence admist this exciting environment is a key factor in the movement's progression and as Pettis explains, it's a confidence that is changing the mindset of Beijing artists.

"Rather than simply assuming as they used to that only foreigners can create interesting and relevant music, more and more
young Beijing musicians see themselves as fully equal members of the international music scene."

It's not only within the confines of Beijing that this is making waves. The scene is receiving more and more international interest with big name producers lowering their fees and offering their services simply to be a part of it. Blixa Bargeld lived in Beijing for a year in 2006 and has been involved since. Other notable producers to work on Maybe Mars records include Martin Atkins, Wharton Tiers, and Brian Hardgroove and the American influence is set to continue with Lee Ranaldo and These Are Powers indicating strong interest in working with the label soon.

So, is Beijing the most exciting place in the world right now? The environment that is
cultivating in the clubs and practice spaces is certainly a catalystic one. Confidence is growing and a movement is being created that is gaining recognition not just nationally but globally. It seems that in 2009, all the right elements are coming together to create a new platform for musical expression in Beijing and this may prove to be historically relevant.

自由度。

2009-03-16T20:11:00.000-07:00

My life in Japan is pretty much like this everyday!

and, I love the YouTube comments...

"This. is. the. best. song. EVER"

If I heard this in a club, I'd probably take my pants off too

Fixed Gear

2009-03-16T15:37:00.000-07:00

I've been on something of a biking evolution. I started by digging up quaries in Lancashire, jumping around on a DMR trailstar; after a couple of sessions cut short by jaunts to the hospital I started downhill, which just made me shit myself everytime...I then moved to the Yorkshire Dales and explored on a Felt mtb before getting into long distance rides across Vietnam & Cambodia...but now in Osaka, I know my next bike is gonna be fixed gear...

The only way to get 'round Osaka is on a fixed gear... you can get from Yakuza hood Daikokocho up to Salaryman centric Umeda in about 5 seconds... and the bikes look fly, totally minimal, light, no brakes, one cog, neon finish...nice!

Instead of going for it all out, as in dirt jumps or downhill, fixed gear seems more subtle, controlled, technical, and you can also just flat out, go Fast!

I know a load of guys that are into doing tricks...but I stumbled across this girl (?) on youtube. Some strange gender blurded show, akin to a performance from LV's Circus Circus, to the equally unnerving tones of uncle frank

Hostage Scare

2009-03-15T08:19:00.000-07:00

Here is my mate Sanj...He's an absolute g, and was part of the recent hostage scare in Rio. He didnt seem that phased...

"7 armed guys came into our hostel and held everyone hostage. everyone shit themselves, i was so pissed i slept through the whole thing. will tell you all when i meet ya."

Bertie Heritage (what a name!) was a bit flustered

"They asked me to tie up my friend Rollo with tape, and then they tied me up with tape." source BBC

Orix Buffaloes

2009-03-08T04:24:00.001-07:00

Here is Matsuoka Yoshinori, president of Orix Buffaloes, taking a picture of my homes Jess and Dan.

Jess and Dan are both total sound Gaijin and Matsuoka is like our best mate now!
Yesterday, we met him outside the takoyaki dome (I know its not called that..what is it?)... we were nailing cans of chu-hi before the game, getting a baseball buzz going when Yoshinori-san started chatting to us in the most excitable and friendly way before taking us into the ground for free, down to the pitch (I know its not called that...what is it?)and getting us into these awesome seats right behind home plate / base (?)

Baseball is now Japan's most prized foreign import, after the quarter pounder, the HummV and fixed gear bikes...

Anywho..its was a funny drunk day of shouting and chanting in Japanese, banging sticks together and letting go of balloons... then Matsuoka gives me his personal mobile number "anytime you wanna see a game, let me know!" what a guy...

We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out in triangle park in Shinsaibashi - where skaters and homeless guys hang out in the midst of flash neon J-pop big-screens, being lapped by suped up bikes and hi-performance cars...good day out!

Osaka

2009-03-05T20:30:00.000-08:00

Hi, so I got a visa, gaijin card, flat, job, phone, girl, bank account, jap lessons and, just today, an internet connection...sugoi! busy month...and ive just figured out how to take photos on my fone and email them to this blog which is ace!!

I've also been helping Chop and Jake with Behemoth zine - first issue was out last week.

this blog recommends Georgia coffee - the emerald mountain blend

Beijing - the last commie playground

2009-02-04T07:41:00.000-08:00

So, getting to China like every other time I've landed in Asia was like leaving real life behind. This time, more than happily leaving the all too real environs of Russia behind.

The first stranger that talked to me didn't try to mug me or hook me into some desperate scam but helped me find my way in this city - the dusty metropolis of Peking. "Look after your bags, but here its not too serious." This stranger's words immediately told me I was going to enjoy Beijing.

My host for the first week or so was Ai Hong AKA Ai Kill U AKA Ai Rock! .. a creative B town upstart, one of the few of her mates who hasn't somehow become psuedo-famous this last year... Beijing is high profile it seems. She's an internet junkie and speaks English better than her native tongue, typically of her generation she is perpetually looking to the west and is moving to Wales, of all places, this year to study.

We took bike rides around Hutongs and got amazing food in the back alley cafes of Drum tower district. I met her thru CS and this is how I was introduced to what turned out to be a huge network of expats in the city; and these guys have got it EASY!

The life of these expats pissed me off at first 'cos it seemed that all that was going on was a load of cultureless knobs getting smashed and generally behaving like university freshers well into their 30s... which is gay as fuck.
BUT things turned out to be much more interesting, I met a bunch of great guys and girls, (see below) and I met a couple of good value Americans that actually changed my mind about yanks ... ha!

Beijing is one big playground, especially for westerners. Things are pretty lax with regards illicit recreation, its easy to get money here ( I was offered a job as an online editor and I wasn't even living there!). Its no wonder people get stuck here.
And now considering the place is at least superficially clean since the Olympics...B-town makes for a lot of fun!

After digging a bit and being grilled about politics in Russia, I wasn't about to delve too far into the Chinese set up. I was happy hanging out with the expat party and as the last commie establishment, the city was a surprisingly liberal feeling place.

That said signs of totalitarianism are more than visible. [pics]

Design for life advertising. social mind fucking. selective news. and totally overtly nationalist propaganda are so blatant its almost funny. On the tube on way merry way to Shanghai the LCD screens switched between a death penalty criminal trial and an idealistic looped video of a model Chinese couple meeting on the tube and getting married in Christian attire.

You can read the speel I wrote about the music scene in Beijing to hear about the slackening of web restrictions and the opening up to foreign culture. I kicked it with the Maybe Mars label cohorts for a new music festival. Most people were absolute sound boys and I had a lot of fun posing as a guardian music blogger. Ooops!...

All in all, Beijing was a difficult place to leave after hanging out with Chinese phsycedelic rock bands, gay Filipino fashion bloggers, and american fixed gear people. It was like being a fresher again, getting smashed everyday with new friends. Its so cheap (like 50p for a 40ounce beer! and a quid for the best noodles you ever had!) relatively safe, and the music scene is actually awesome that if you spend 4 weeks in wudaoko, santilun, drum tower or any of the other slightly shady, slightly debauched districts of the red city you may well meet your own Beijing best mates.

[post portraits of the CS beijing lot]

Beijing skyline

2009-02-01T10:06:00.000-08:00

New year's morning 2009

transiberean cop-out

2009-02-01T09:54:00.000-08:00

I bottled it and paid for a flight from Moscow to Beijing
I looked down at the thicks of siberia and thought "Fuck that"

Melt Banana

2009-01-24T06:18:00.000-08:00

aa, so desu ne?.. its true. I got to Japan in good shape. I had to get a makeover.. I was sick of looking like a mindless hippie bum... my new coat is neon Orange, its ace!

Here is the best band in Japan as far as I know... If I find out any different I'll let you know

Tyujik live!

2009-01-22T03:29:00.000-08:00

Hi, so Hemleko from this russian mag Tyujik has put that thing I wrote about Moscow on their site... at first I thought I was going to be hacked down by KGB rats in Osaka town but so far, so good... I think they're happy with it..

If you can read cyrillic go to their site.
it looks pretty interesting

the article is here

On a Ragga Tip!

2009-01-19T04:32:00.001-08:00

So, I'm off to Japland tomorrow fingers crossed... I'm jumping on the 48 hour sea princess, bound for the promised shores of Osaka town. I heard that the Rasta look is big in Osaka, which is kind of lucky..

You know when you've been neglecting things when your hair starts turning into actual dreads! At least I'll fit in with the Osaka boys
1 minute makeover: 1 wooley hat. Sorted.I will actualy write about traveling soon

working the media

2009-01-15T23:56:00.000-08:00

So, Bryanboy.com have done a feature on me...Ha, well not really, I just look like an unkempt British boy who's been on the road too long
See it here

going global

2009-01-13T09:03:00.000-08:00

I didn't realise people read this in every continent!
think I better start writing some better stuff

peterkowalczyk.com

some photos taken in China

2009-01-10T22:51:00.000-08:00

I stayed with Ai for the first week or so here. She's half zombie

Here's my Beijing office in Widoukou district // props to Brad and his sweet apartment

Taito gaming

2009-01-10T22:31:00.000-08:00

Taito gaming in Beijing is massive! Pick any night to walk down the main drag Wangfujing Dajie, and you can call into Taito centres actually full of people punching, throwing, shooting, racing and shouting at big neon machines!

Biggest party in China?

2009-01-10T21:17:00.000-08:00

If you're in Beijing and have spent a few too many nights out with philipino toy boys and raucous french english teachers, an afternoon at the temple of heaven park may be just what you need. A park who's ancient Ming period architecture and spirtual importance is pretty affecting. I walked for an hour, doing some soul clensing when I came across the biggest party in China! Who knew this was where all the locals kicked it on saturday afternoons?No one thinks twice to having a little waltz in the middle of the road
This dance group nailed Madonna's 'hey mr DJ' and 'D.I.S.C.O'
These guys were on another level, doing some slow motion YMCA
Then everyone got down to a serious game of shithead

Chinese cuisine

2009-01-10T09:24:00.000-08:00

If you ever find yourself in China, the food is amazing. Take, for example KFC.I had christmas dinner there with Ai. We had zinger towers, mashed potato and iced-tea. was divine

Fast food marketing in Beijing is so harsh and in your face you can't leave your apartment without walking right into 12 foot billboards advertising cow burgers; it's really effective! Check this mouthwatering poster, it's like food porn

Talking of food and sex. Check this Chinese MacDonald's ad that was eventually banned for being too erotic. Feel The Beef!
but what is that blue stuff at the end? looks rank

Jue festival tonight was Big!

2009-01-10T09:22:00.001-08:00

Ourself Beside Me

Gar

I'm in Beijing and Shanghai for Jue Festival for the next week or so; tonight's show was absolutely big! I've read bits about Beijing's music scene, but its all bullshit - everyone gets mis-quoted and every writer hypes the censorship thing; in reality, everything that is happening in Beijing right now is the result of China opening-up and Mao's first generation of internet-friendly, only-children are coming of age.

I chatted to a load of the bands tonight. My translators were "jeff" from Carsick Cars and Zheng Changyu from the Maybe Mars label, both are total soundboys by the way! Maybe Mars is organising all this trippy pop noise into a scene of sorts and Carsick Cars are the biggest band in China; there's no other way of putting it

Carsick Cars

http://www.mediafire.com/file/zynmhlnr2y2/gbgbgb.mp3&playerID=10&bg=0xFFFAF0&leftbg=0xFFC0CB&lefticon=0#5588aa&rightbg=0xFF69B4&rightbghover=0xFF69B4&righticon=0xB03060&righticonhover=0xFFFFFF&text=0xFF69B4&slider=0xBA55D3&track=0xFFFFFF&border=0xFF69B4&loader=0xFF83FA&' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' wmode='transparent' height='40' width='290'>

Chinese Law enforcement

2009-01-09T09:41:00.000-08:00

For me, Asia isn't really like real life..everything is more fun and inconsequential...Also, Chinese police are so much cooler than Russian ones. I can't tell you how happy I am to be in China, after my Siberian saga.

I've had a few run-ins with the police in Beijing, remenants of communism remain in China, for example, as a tourist you always need to be registered and accounted for - Beaurocracy rules - but things are not as stiff as their soviet counter parts, just check this asian prison video if you need convincing

Superman tha' Hoe

Your Child is Going Dumb

2009-01-09T09:34:00.000-08:00

One of the best things about visiting China, is the ex pats. I've been hanging around with a load of them, and have stumbled across the soundest bunch of americans. Other than talk about single speed bikes and peanut butter, I've also been warned about ghost riding...take heed

TWITTER

2009-01-07T09:29:00.000-08:00

Does anyone actually use this?

I'm meant to be getting some sleep before heading to the Great Wall but I just spent half an hour setting up my free twitter account. What's happening to me? I need to get off the internet

Moscow

2009-01-05T10:15:00.000-08:00

Anti-Glamour in the Moscow underground

Kids in Moscow are clubbing together, building an underground scene that rejects the ultra-consumerism of modern Russia. This reactionary DIY movement is manifesting itself into something quite positive, however, being Russia everything has its volitile elements.

Music being created and played-out in the back street clubs in Moscow is varied. I was there for a week and found new ideas in electronica, "crunch" grunge, intelligent hiphop, "crust" punk, 8-bit breakcore; At first glance there seems to be no cohesion here but people are starting to work together.

813 is making a special brand of spaced out electronica, using Reason and old Portishead records. He tells me about their un-named collective and invites me to a show. Things start off with 4 hours of harsh west coast style HipHop, with inaudiable Russian strewn all over it. The night is exciting at the least, and I take a load of photos from the stage and speaker stacks. The crowd is mental for rap music, and when it stops and the new trippy beats of 813 start, a riot ensues!

"It's a collective, these kind of things happen"

Previous bands and wannabe MCs from the crowd storm the stage and rap indeciferably over his music. 813 unplugs his deck and laptop and we all jump in a taxi... "It's a bad atmosphere in there..." "I'm not gonna play with that.." It's a stramge line-up to put 813's future beats after 4 hours of straight down the line street hiphop but he's pretty calm about it all..."I only played as a favour for a friend..."It's a collective, these kind of things happen..."

Albeit having its frictions, the scene is producing some interesting stuff.

Did 777minus111 start 8-bit music in Russia? "I guess you could say that, yeah!"
"I had no idea that this was going on elsewhere... I started this night and released some records and it suddenly became popular." He runs Children of Dos label and the MicroRave club night. Check them out. I asked him about other 8-bit labels in Europe, like Dex and the city from Riga. "Yeah, I know those guys, I have just asked Kodek from Riga to play here." It's like one big 8-bit trans-european family.

Did you start Russian 8-bit?
"you could say that, yeah!"

I caught him after a 3 day party in St Petersburg, so we had a pretty relaxed chat in MacDonalds at about 1am, I took some photos then hit the sack. "Do I look like I'm on MDMA?" Frankly Yeah. Whats next? "8 bit in Moscow has become a fashion. It's not fun anymore. I'm starting to develop breakcore here and get away form this fashion clubbing thing."

(813 on the right)

813's spaced out beats and creative sampling is really individual and he also shares this anti-trend attitude. My favourite Russia souvenier by far is the CDR he gave me with all his albums, videos and programs! mint

"we live in a police state, of course I want to get away from that."
These guys are from Obraza.Net, a project with pretty hardcore ideals and ambitious plans. "We live in a police state, obsessed with consumerism, so of course I want to get away from that." I ask about politics. "This doesn't effect me. I live outsifde of this stuff. I don't depend on them." Obraza.net is the name that a lot of projects go under, for example their own design company, the independent housing they've "sourced", and a magazine.

"Russia's good...when it's cold your brain works like a super hero"

Zapiski Neizvestnogo is their HipHop indentity. They rap about "the shit of Russia" but are also quite nostalgic for their country. "I see so much that is wrong with the captial, and all the money, but I want to live here." Why? "People help each other in Russia. We put this magazine together with no budget, friends gave us resources, and ten people worked for a month for no money." Their other reasons are a bit more leftfield. "Russia's good because when its cold your brain works like a super heroes'. When you know that if you dont eat and stay warm you'll die, that keeps your brain sharp!" Their plans for the future are to set up a youth hostel in the middle of siberia and live outside of Rusian dictatorship. Godspeed sirs!

"Everything has already been said, everyone knows how fucked it is here.."
Anti-fashion and glamour is the theme of this scene and this is the motivation for the rusty pop inprint. A label run by these guys, who also make up grunge band Mad Pilot. Everything is produced by themselves, its as DIY as it gets. We went for some whiskies, took some photos outside the Mikovski monument, and I found they harbour unexpectedly patriotic motives. "We're not political, everything has already been said. Everyone knows its fucked up here. We want to make something positive, something Russian, for Russia and develop this movement in Russia." They aren't politcal guys but instead have chosen to concentrate on recording and releasing a slew of sold out records, all fitting into their own pseudo-genre Crunch. "Crunch isn't really a sound but its an idea. We dont want to make average music and sing about Putin. Crunch is only about making good music for Russian kids, and forgetting about the nonsense."

"...you can achieve a lot more with a collective"

Moscow kids have their minds in a good place I reckon, and with these new underground parties getting everyone together who knows how far it will go?
"We're not just doing a band, were developing a movement, you can achieve a lot more with a collective."

So, if club fighting and genre frictions are kept at bay, this collective of disperate musics could make something great out of the grim environment of the Moscow underground.

go back to features

Dear Diary # 2

2009-01-05T10:14:00.000-08:00

December in Tallinn is more festive than Santa's actual grotta on xmas eve. You can't move for mulled wine, pine tree, exposed oak, wooly hats & gloves, cobbled streets, church bells & carol singers. Jumping from the harsh city lines of Riga to the homely village feel of Tallinn was Cosy.
I was staying with Simon at the HQ of this non-governmental organisation, overlooking the main square. Props! to Anu, Rasmus, Tonis, Birgit, Simon, Juksuur fam, Beta mag fam...During 4 nights in town we partied under the cobbled streets, saw new movies at Tallinn's film festivals, made hot sandwhiches in welcoming appartments, hung out with new friends in frosty streets and parks and basically, I didn't ever want to leave.

Whenever talk became serious it was forewarning me about the trip ahead. I got to Estonia cautious of Russia but I pulled out of Tallinn bus station feeling unprepared, nervous and pretty fucking vunerable! but getting back to exactly how cool Tallinn is...the four days I spent there was like the most welcoming and homely long weekend ever

Black Masquerade / Latvian dark arts

2009-01-05T09:02:00.000-08:00

This is Davis, a jewelry designer from Riga. He makes pieces with ancient pagen symbolism dating back earlier than the 12th century, and in a city that buzzes with western international influence, his work represents The Historic and draws on patriotic sentiment. We had a few beers in some old style beer hall in Riga old town and we talked a bit about the EU and black metal.

As part of the black masquerade dark arts movement Davis' work draws from historical text and pagenism and also more recent national events that have any patriotic relevence.

"It's important not to forget who we are. "Everywhere I look, we're becoming more and more generic and I think my work is a way of holding onto some identity.

This guy is the real deal. We talked for about two hours, throughout which he chain smoked these awful things called Black Iris that were about 10 times worse than marlboro (10g niccotine 0.5g tar 10g whatever else is in them)

His favourite band is skyforger "a must in Pagen Metal" according to VIKING BLOOD magazine. ha! Their myspace quote is "Nothing Is Forgotten, Nothing Will Be Forgotten!" harking back to historical Latvian onoings and fantastical battles in which warriors kill everyone who doesn't rep the baltic homelands.

I ask him about the Pagen thing and why he has two a4 sheets of symbols in his bag. "Its not important what these symbols mean. "here is sun, moon, star, man, women, etc...thats not interesting...but keeping these symbols in use is important. They remind us of more wholesome times. They can remind us of our history and this is important, now more than ever.

He's a pretty passionate guy with convincing sentiments. He also tells me his pieces sell for hundreds of pounds which has got to be pretty motivating. They sell because "they are latvian, they are rare, no one makes things like this anymore." He says he doesn't even have to market the stuff, he just has a steady stream of customers that share these feelings of patriotism and love of the dark arts.

So, it was cool to meet this guy in Riga and cool to hear some different ideas about this city that is warping into the generic european blueprint as I type

Russian democracy

2009-01-05T08:53:00.000-08:00

Выборы! Выборы! Кандидаты - пидоры!
translates to Election! Election! the candidates are all faggots!

It's fair to say that Russia is one of the most hyped places in the world. I cant think of anywhere else that differs so much between public facade and underlying reality. A coutry from which all high quality goods are exported, posturing the place as a leading world power whilst leaving quality of life shot and people feeling disenchanted. I found this to be the concensus wherever I travelled in the country. I heard things like "Putin's too busy impressing and intimidating Europe..."it's like the government is the Empire and the russian people are just the colony."

This distance between people and governors is explicit. In 2008 Putin extended the term for a president from 4 to 5 years with no public consideration and other Russian Democratic decisions have been even more of a piss take

Last year's staged elections saw 3 unknown dummy candidates facing Medvedev, one popular Biology lecturer turned wannabe president had a fatal accident days before the voting, then everything went ahead after Putin refused any independent EU monitoring of precedings. Maybe everything was legit (?)

My friend and excelent host in Moscow, Marina, has had her fair share of Russian Democracy. While the elections were on, posters were pinned everywhere reminding students to vote to "avoid any complications with your accomodation." Basically translating to Vote or loose your flat.

Marina being a good comrade turned out to vote and drew a big cross and a cartoon bunny rabit on the voting slip. She also blogged about the whole accomodation scenario.

About a day after she posted her blog it was removed form the internet. she was emailed with a warning for her "foul language" and just as I left moscow she received a letter asking her to visit some offices with regards her university accomodation...

Her boyfriend Sergei (and other half of their band jazzator) has had enough and wants to move to Netherlands, or Sweden or anywhere. "I need to get out of this country man. This Russian democarcy, I dont believe in it. It doesn't work...I just wanna be as cosmopolitan as possible..,"

The Soviet curse that still hangs over Russia is not likely to fade anytime soon, it seems ingrained in the county's official policy. For example, some French friends of Marina's were refused Visas last month for no reason at all. This country is a complex and difficult one, and it builds up this reputation deliberately. In Russia, a country where Nielsia (not possible) is more useful than Mojnia (possible)everything is made difficult; a country that's still closed, running its own race against the international community, rather than opening up.

Dazed&Confused

2008-12-27T00:26:00.000-08:00

January issue's out now. Check it out for Chop's article on bassline. I took some photos for it....

Dear diary # 3

2008-12-22T09:37:00.000-08:00

"This is Russia. We're used to living in hard times."

So I got to Russia in a state of ultra vigilence and, its fair to say, paranoia. Russia is a complicated country; powerful and reckless. On the border of Europe and Asia, the area in which St Petersburg and Moscow reside is one of the most unpredictable and undefinable parts of the world.

I was introduced to The Russian Federation by the large, bleek and icy-cold stone of Stalin's Neo-Classically designed St Petersburg. To me this place was intimidating, even Doesteovsky described it as unnerving and aggresively built. So I spent some time in the city, exploring back streets to find some bars that I'd read about, walking along side semi-frozen canals putting myself in Raskolnikov's shoes for long afternoons. Every now and then I might risk a few photos, nervously at first for fear of some kind of KGB interogation. I had my wallet stolen on the metro, spent some time waxing beaurocratic with the consulate and generally had a hard time during my first week in the motherland.

"You think you understand Russia? You will never understand." - Piotr tries to explain his country

This place is hard work. I found Stirka40, this poetry venue - come laundrette that sounded cosy and hippyish. but even there I ended getting into pyseudo - transendental chat about the divide between europe and russia, and how the latter can never be understood without the tacit historical meanings that are interwoven into the language russian itself. Piotr is a serious guy "You think you understand Russia? You will never understand." Heavy stuff indeed, but after a few of these conversations I soon came to a conclusion of my own that Russia is all Hype. So much politick and PR posturing surrounds this place and even the people hype things up through a kind of backwards machismo. I've been warned about murders, lawlessness and deprevity of Siberia but personally I've found pretty amazing friendship here. I found as soon as I met someone they were ready to help me out and I began to relax. Piotr in Strika40 however, kept me on my toes and warned this isn't Europe "You're in a Asia now." His English is bad but he's an inteligent guy. He goes on. "There are easier ways to suiside than to visit Russia alone. This place is out of control, people only look after number one."

"There are easier ways to suiside than to visit Russia alone" - Piotr exaggerates about his homeland

In St Pete's I lived with some of the city's economists who had interesting attitudes towards the credit crisis. "This is Russia. We're used to living in hard times." Social musings are boring to the people I met, they know its shit but its where they're from and where their friends are.

The Soviet period has been written and rewritten about so much that it's becoming cliched; but this epoche still plays a defining role in the Russian character. As we cooked eggs in Marina's appartment we listen to pretty awful stadium rock like KNHO, Dr Kinchev, Igor Letov...and its the lyrics of these songs that point out and praise the collective Russian spirit for staying strong in hard times. The simultaneous humiliation and pride of this era is something which is deep within the make up of these hardy types.

"This music is in my blood, you know." - Marina is as St Petersburg as it gets

I was anxious to get on the night train to the capital and to try to get to grips with this country that had so far made it clear that I wasn't welcome. I sat opposite some dark eyed lady with the posture of someone who knew they were hot. It wasn't long before we were getting drunk and having a russo-anglican chat with her and the rest of the Channel One news crew. A strange bunch of hot girls and gay guys that ended with them licking each others faces and kissing. Who knew that Russian TV was so incestuous. So, feeling pretty perplexed and unslept I stepped out into the city of Moscow.

Dear diary # 1

2008-12-22T07:36:00.003-08:00

Latvia is becoming more and more European by the second. As I walked around talking pictures of graffiti I could be pretty much anywhere in Central Europe. I met a lot of young people in the city, and we could talk pretty much endlessly about our mutual interests and cultural references. Nice and easy

The big issues among latvian youth were the economy, EU funding dissappearing, and the older generations still under a kind of Soviet trance not speaking out and making the necessary political changes happen. So, its a strange time for the younger generation in this city. A generation that aren't yet old enough to control things, frustratedly creating there own nightclub niches; but ultimately at the whims of the arrival of the Euro and the loans, credit cards and debt that has already hit and pretty much crippled the youth of the city.

I was there for three days. My host was Linda, a budding theatre director and part time baby sitter for the U.S ambassador. In the evenings we hung out in the old town bars, chatting to a cross section of characters from gothic pagens to anechist punks, 8-bit loving radio producers to super entrepreneurial club promoters. Everyone had an opinion on the crisis but the evenings in the old town more about cozying up in some timber clad bar, listening to old 7"s and getting through a few local brews.

When I joined a Moscow thrash punk band

2008-12-17T12:43:00.000-08:00

I went along to choco boy's practice today to listen to some of the best 60 second punk songs I've heard in a while...so, the drummer got too drunk and he is still missing as I write...anyway, I stood in for him. We also got drunk and stoned and ate dried fish and we wrote two new songs that'll be on their next record...look out for that one.. (upload videos of practice..photos..)

www.myspace.com/chocoxboy

another day in Russia

2008-12-12T23:33:00.000-08:00

another guy commits suiside.

58,000 Russians kill themselves each year, its the #2 cause of death after heart disease. This guy jumped from his 5th floor window onto the pavement about 20 seconds ago

Hip Hop Pimp Shop

2008-12-12T11:04:00.000-08:00

This blog is proud to be affiliated with Hip Hop Pimp Shop, St P.

MacDonald's is so good

2008-12-12T10:58:00.000-08:00

MacDonald's restaurant have half saved my life on uncountable occasions in Russia. They are like minature british consulates dotted around each city. I am well pro Macdonald's now. You just give them 41 roubles, they give you a coffee and your safe & warm & sat down and stuff. Not tried this "porn burger" yet tho (top centre)

St Petersburg housing estates

2008-12-12T10:39:00.000-08:00

St petersburg is big. Its just smaller than London in square footage, but this is mostly housing blocks. Scarily uniform rows of housing that stretch as far as you dare to look. Above are some kids kicking a football around somewhere admist the concrete expanse of Lenin's city

Russia was grim in the 90s

2008-12-12T08:34:00.000-08:00

Here's a video of one of Russia's greatest exports, comtemporary electronic music band EU. In this project they play with probably the meanest man in the world, a product of the 90s in Russia where things were even more out of control than they are now. Just a regular guy from somewhere in the sticks singing about going to Euro vision and killing everyone cos 'russia is best'

Look at the presenters, hating every minute!

Tom Waits turns 59

2008-12-12T05:36:00.001-08:00

Celebrating Tom Wait's 59th birthday in an Estonian community bedsit playing poker and getting drunk seemed pretty fitting

These are Divine !

2008-12-12T05:26:00.000-08:00

When I met: a wanted Belerussian drug trafficker

2008-12-12T05:24:00.000-08:00

Meet Yuri. This guy is on the run from the Belerussian authorities. He's recently moved to Riga from Amsterdam and become a part of the Fuck For Friendship fam. We spent a fast afternoon on Riga trams visiting various collectives...he's a pretty secretive guy but he gave away enough information to feature in the Riga article coming soon...

It snowed in St Petersburg

2008-12-12T03:26:00.000-08:00

When I met: my Leningrad namesake

2008-12-12T03:06:00.000-08:00

I met Piotr in Stirka40. I had gone to do a glassy eyed report on this cafe/laundrette/venue but quickly got into finding out just how foreign Russia really is ... I'm writing something about Russia at the moment, but the gist of this conversation was that:

"Russia is the Wild West
"This is not Europe, "this is a Asia &
"There are easier ways to suiside than travel alone

OK. Thanks for the advice Piotr!

When I met: The world's greatest Depeche Mode fan

2008-12-12T02:30:00.001-08:00

Here is Dan Buinenko. He works as barman at Depeche Mode Bar in Tallinn 6 days a week! He's worked here for 7 years and he loves Depeche Mode. He watches live DVDs all day long and his favourite song is Walking in thy shoes. I'd just finished my pint and headed for the door when he shouted across "Hey man! you know,.. I love Depeche Mode!"

When I met: Mormon missionaries in Estonia

2008-12-12T02:15:00.000-08:00

So, Elder Melton took me up to the 4th floor of the Mormom HQ in Tallinn and I was officially inaugorated. With his assistant, he had me reading excerts from the book of Mormon and we watched a 25 minute video about how a 3rd testiment of the bible was actually found by a guy, Joseph smith, 160 years ago in New York City (?) So these guys have been traveling for 2 years, they are allowed one email a week and two phone calls a year. They go around speaking in English, Latvian, Russian, Estonian about their book to anyone who will listen. Apparently over 20% of the CIA are former mormon missionaries

Foto series'

2008-12-12T02:08:00.001-08:00

So, I was gonna put up some photo series' Soviet stuff and fit girls with shit jobs but I lost that camera, so forget about that

When I met: a confused nihlist Porno Punk

2008-12-12T02:01:00.001-08:00

So I met Alexandr in Leningrad, a commie nostalgia bar in Riga where guys in misfits t-shirts drink and rant about being anarchists one minute and complain about nihlist punks the next. We found mutual understanding by continuously shouting "EGG RAID ON MOJO!" as loud as possible. It was a fun night. Here is an insight into Alex's existential philosophising about punks in 2008

"How can they say 'no future, no future' when they buy two crates of beer...They think about the future!"

When I met: DJ kone

2008-12-12T01:53:00.000-08:00

Here is Latvian miminal house producer DJ Kone getting a hair cut from Ania. She's flying out to NYC to sing on Jimmy Edgars new record soon and Kone is basically killing it in his new studio. We were hanging out for a day and later on Kone played this awesome funk and jazz set at Cuba. Good times

Riga goes Ragga

2008-12-12T01:44:00.000-08:00

Here are my homes Crystral Sound System...they're probably the most positive guys in Latvia. When they're not making ads for Red Bull or working on Latvian World War II nostagia movies, they run one of the funnest bashment parties in the Baltics. We had green tea, listened to european Ragga and spoke about the club nite climate in Riga. Feature coming soon

b-line nights in Bradford

2008-11-01T19:12:00.000-07:00

Passion

2008-11-01T11:07:00.000-07:00

Spodní Prádlo // Behemoth zine

2008-10-23T17:49:00.000-07:00

Got in The Guardian...sweet

2008-10-20T14:56:00.000-07:00

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Njcy48iRM0w/SPz-xooO-PI/AAAAAAAAA2s/qQZLnkTxVQM/s1600-h/Scene+and+heard-+Get+ready+for+aquacrunk+-+Music+-+guardian.co.uk_1224520598624

Got in Vice again...sweet

2008-10-20T14:53:00.000-07:00

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Njcy48iRM0w/SPz-QbbGKxI/AAAAAAAAA2k/WHzISi54mzI/s1600-h/Vice+Magazine-+POLAND+-+JAROCIN+FESTIWAL+WEMEMBERED_1222679101919

TS7 in Wrose // Behemoth zine

2008-10-13T08:24:00.001-07:00

Bar Features: Budapest

2008-09-04T17:38:00.000-07:00

So, I met Ian in a bar on top of a supermarket in his current hometown Budapest, we had some drinks and a smoke and went for a walk. We were around the Jewish district and found this place behind some huge stable doors, the bar of which was set into the remnants of a 1800s town house. The walls are covered with either Commodore 64 and Atari spare parts, upstart photography and strange stenciled graffiti. The bar was made of wood and looked fairly temporary. We found a few of these places, they seem to pop up and disappear faster than that crap 'Spud U Like' franchise. They develop out of nothing but necessity, and are shut down to make way for new apartments. Indeed, the first one we were in already had scaffold in place and plaster board up, ready for construction. Despite being pretty fucking derelict, these places are full of Martini drinking scenesters. The bars last a maximum of 9 months, before the bourgeois loose interest and the builders move in.

(I think this one above is meant to be Burt Reynolds kissing a magic ring)

We get kicked out of a few of these places before deciding to settle in a no frills 'sorhor'(beer place) where the tables without sick on are best and the prostitutes are friendlier. Maria, a former "dancer" from Vienna, even did a photo shoot for me. It made her feel young. It made me feel a bit weird.

Product placement

2008-09-04T17:37:00.000-07:00

Some Eastern European entrepreneurial gems

In Budapest you can get instant Smack
"just add meats, vegetables, stock and seasoning for a complete, hearty meal."

In Cologne you can get cans of actual Coke
Have a look at the trailer on the website.
If this actually works it'll have indie A&R people and fidget house promoters talking even more shit than normal. 'Trans-Atlantic blow' is a right tune though

Flingern Sud post 1980

2008-09-04T17:35:00.000-07:00

So, Düsseldorf's anarchist punk scene has gone underground or maybe they all just got jobs. Either way, the Flinger Sud district is now a segregated ghetto of various nationalities of Roma people, keeping themselves to themselves, getting fucked up in the comfort of their own squat. Any community here has long gone and the council doesn't want to know whats happening this week or any other.

Its a shame because this month local artists have managed to blag some scaffolding from somewhere and are turning Kierfernstrasse into a crazed scene like something out of Trap Door. I spoke to some guys covering a building with giant insects and they pointed me in the direction of the man behind the operation.

He's an elusive chap and didn't want his picture taken. I think he was meant to say he was a 'professional' but I took this to mean that was his name. The Prof and I had a quick chat about all things Flingern.

The Prof is an aging stalwart of the street arts scene. He's worked all over South America but says no place has been more difficult than Flingern. In the 80s this project would have been an amazing event. Every squat was vacated by artists, bands, writers...a fresh movement of youthful political reaction, post world war II.

The people who choose to live here now don't want to be part of a collective. They don't wanna write anarchic punk music or create art installations. They just want to make enough money to live and in a lot of cases, enough to score crack. They don't care what random shit is getting painted on their houses, I doubt if some of them will even notice.

This project has had no support from the government and the whole area has been pretty much disowned by the local authorities. Its a testament to the Prof and his band of artists that anything has happened here at all.

The scaffolding is being repossessed at the end of the month and the Prof is organising a street party to celebrate the work they've done. Maybe it will tempt some of the locals to actually socialise. Probably not.

Flingern Sud 2008 is the ghost of anarchist Düsseldorf

"KRINGS featuring PIP"
I wish those guys were in when I was there..5 different wires into each satellite dish "Smash G8""Fuck Nazi Scum"

Melancholy Dusseldorf

2008-09-04T17:29:00.001-07:00

Coming soon

Jarocin Festiwal

2008-09-04T16:20:00.000-07:00

My Polish cousin, Paulina, sent me some bootleg cassettes from the 1980s, recorded on someone's tape recorder at some metal festival in communist era Poland. This was apparently the only way this music could be distributed at the time. This was my first taste of Jarocin festiwal.

Among the Warsaw pact countries of the 80's, the only way to access alternative metal and punk music was at Jarocin, a little back-water near Poznan. This festival, previously known as Ogolnopolski Przelghad Muzyki Mlodej Generacji w Jarocinie (All-Polish review of music of young generation in Jarocin) was supposedly organised by the Soviet regime to allow the kids to let off some steam. And it worked.
(check out our friend relaxing in the campsite after a set from KWADRAT !)

The festival became more and more dangerous each year. The presence of the commie militia created a bad atmosphere and the punks and metalheads, Warsaw people and Krakow people, turned on each other. The fighting was expected and everyone just got on with their own business, like these guys.
Since 1993 though, Jarocin has become a nostalgic legend. Following the colapse of the USSR, the kids have no longer felt as strong a need to revolt and as I've discovered have decided to settle down and start families. Local authorities have tried to re brand, re market and resurrect the event with little success. Ask any 30 something in the eastern bloc today and they'll tell you, post red army Polska has lost it's charge.
KAT live at Jarocin1986
Described in Polish as "...satanic thrash metal or die! True legend from Poland!"

Dezerter - Berdel at Jarocin 1982

Zbombardowana Laleczka at Jarocin 1985

Miss Poland 2008 + the 5 year plan that went wrong

2008-08-20T07:02:00.000-07:00

Coming soon

Bratislava says Ciao

2008-08-20T05:01:00.000-07:00

Health and safety issues aside, having your head out of the window of the train to Bratislava is good fun. Following the glacial planes along the route of the river Vah, untouched Slavic towns crop up as frequently as communist industrial sprall, but its mostly just land. Open space.

Slovakia has been fucked around a fair bit in the 20th century but for every occupancy, proud nationalist rebel uprisings have emerged. It's to these movements that the countries people relate, this hardiness is advertised wherever possible in the land marks and natural monuments named after rebel militia men and national insurgents. These heroes could be rural Slovakia's Posh and Becks.Across the country there are clues of this same sentiment amongst the kids. As Russia begins to throw its weight around the former USSR, anti commie tags and stencils can be seen and they look pretty fresh.

I share my train carriage with a grandfather and granddaughter who live somewhere out in the sticks near Ruzomberok. The girl plays with a fashionista Barbie and sings western pop songs, while the grandfather reads the local rag advertising the arrival of the long awaited Euro.

All this inertia comes to a head at Bratislava, where any comparisons hark back to the Mediterranean rather than anything under the iron curtain. In the city, the medieval histories present still in Krakow have been blow away by pop culture, image consciousness and trends. Our day to day greetings have shifted from a very Eastern "Djzin Dobre" to a typically Italian "Cioa".In a coffee shop somewhere near the tourist epicenter I pick up a copy of Pravda (The Truth) the old Marxist propaganda rag that Trotsky started to promote his revolutionary ideas. Today's copy has an interview with Whitney Housten and an advertorial for breast implants. New Europe indeed.

No commentary on Slovakia would be right without a heads up to the women. I have to bite my fist as the girls fetch my beers in the afternoons, but its the flyer girls that cause the most problems. For my thoughts I'll go straight to hell. First prize goes to Michaela, the girl handing out free Yellow baseball caps outside Tesco. She works for a company advertising PVC windows and tiling materials. I stumble through a conversation, she replies "I work for this firm, the hat is yours to keep." We swap email addresses. I'll have to write through one of those translation algorithms. I'm half in love.

Anti Fascism in Austria

2008-08-18T15:11:00.002-07:00

Vienna is an imposing place, pretty unwelcoming. Getting lost on the way to the hostel reveals that the hasburg architectural style stretches far into the suburbs. This grandeur spreads out, albeit in more lived in style, into the Turkish districts of smokey bars and kebap houses; it spreads through the Serbian/Balkan districts, the social housing areas where even the ugliest set ups are hidden behind tidy one way glass; it also follows right into the heart of the tourist epicenter.

The one uniform factor between the many characters of the Vienese backstreets is the graffiti. There are, of course, the typical rants of "No Justice No Peace = Fight the Police" and "No more church, No more Fear" but digging a little deeper reveals that this historically conservative, right leaning, traditional even racist empire has a fresh face. Anti Fascism. It's like the trendiest buzz word to speak or stencil among the kids of Vienna, which has got to be a good thing. There is even an anti fascist festival happening next month. Suprising to think that it was less than 80 years ago that the Austrian public actively encouraged and promoted Hitler's National Socialism.
I'd just come from the East and everything here is three times bigger, three times as classy and three times the price - with that comes a lifestyle that is very easy to get sucked into and I immediately begin to act more sirly. We have coffees on the Ring Strasse and generally behave like bourgeois gents. We check out the Yamahas, Ducattis, Mercedes that lap the ring roads - driving not in the crazed 65mph kamakazee way as in Moscow - but in a showy, typically Austrian style.
In the evenings we get drunk in the beer garden at Hostel Ruthensteiner. We play shithead, lifesize chess and jam blues piano in smokey bars. One night we were supping espressos outside pool halls in the Balkan district when the evening businesses opened up. We had ladies in pink bikinis strutting around their turf like those flyer people handing out 2for1 subway vouchers. I tried to get some photos but the man who looks after these girls didn't take too kindly to it. This is the best shot I could get.
(Brodie looking a bit coy, with club Fantasy in the background)

Back at base I have my own typically Vienese experience with Jenny Brindisi; an adopted american, born in china, of japanese upbringing, recently moved from geneva. A princeton graduate with so many options and potential that there's no place to land. We walk amongst the Turkish quarter, make out in the church yard and share a shower. I reluctantly ask her to speak some French, she does. And in true Viennese style we go our separate ways. We plan to meet in ten years, like some crap 80s girl film that I haven't seen, but Why not? such is the romance of the city.

Functional appeal in Poprad

2008-08-18T14:20:00.000-07:00

Stary Smokovec could be Geneva, Andorra, Swiss Alps, Vancouver, any generic ski resort. The Grand Hotel costs over £100 per night but in Poprad, 15Km away the communist issue dorm alloted to us costs less than £7. We crossed the Slovak border through passport control, over a footbridge and into the country without passing a single soul. Seems that border formalities have opened up since the free trade deals started leveling out across the new EU. The obligatory ID cards (that must be carried by all Poles) do not need to be shown this afternoon.

Poprad emerges out of vast plains of corn under the shadow of the high Tatras. The station is a brutal construction, a bold statement in the plain flatlands beneath the Slovakian mountains. Inside, the design is still waiting for modernist recognition and the locals who frequent this place pay no attention to the details. 8am, we get coffee with sugar and extra sugar, while weathered gents opt for beers. One hurried sir storms in, smacks some coins on the bar top and quickly orders two drinks. One, a big glass of rich coffee that looks like Marmite and a large vodka. Before the bar lady turns back from the till, the glasses are empty and the man is gone.

The town is a Soviet monstrosity from the perspective of the bus station and the suburbs are classically brutal and uniform. Our hostel, Domov mladeze is an emotion-less commie filing cabinet with purely functional appeal. Everything in it's right place. As you walk into the steel box that creaks up to the third floor, this building feels 100% Socialist.

Good day comrade. A warm welcome hangs on the wall of our room "Ustav Na Vykon Vazby v Levoci" A Slovakian paramilitary calendar reminding us just who's in charge