Nick Bertozzi Interviewed
Diving in and Coming Up: Nick Bertozzi Interviewed
Read the Bunker’s comprehenseive interview with Houdini and The Salon cartoonist Nick Bertozzi.
RIP Pimp C
Where I been these last few days? Texas hip hop veteran Pimp C, real name Chad Butler, passed away from unknown causes on Tuesday, and I just want to take the time out here to pay my respects. Though I have never been a huge fan of UGK’s, I have been digging them on-off since they had a “Pocketful of Stonez” back in 1992. Though an entertaining MC, Pimp C’s greatest contribution to the music was as a producer where he has been seminally influential, helping define what is today the Dirty South sound and surely an important influence on the greatest producers of that region, Organized Noize. Back on the streets after a 4-year prison term, Pimp C and UGK partner Bun B released the the critically-acclaimed album UGK (Underground Kingz) earlier this year.
Read Tom Breihan’s fine obituary, go check this compilation of obscure Pimp C-features, and read more from MissInfo here and here (she also supplied the photo).
Suddenly, and kinda appropriately, the catchy “International Player’s Anthem (I Choose You)” off the UGK album seems a rather melancholy tune.
Heavy Rotation: DSCM 2005
Som et supplement til lyden fra det relativt nyligt afholdte Danske SoundClash-Mesterskab 2007, som jeg linkede til i forrige uge, vil jeg lige gøre opmærksom på, at der ligger lignende optagelser fra det første danske Soundclash tilbage i 2005, hvor People’s Choice tog titlen fra Rootsman Hi-Fi pga. af en fumlefejl fra sidstnævnte i finalerunden. Det er på visse måder et endnu federe soundclash end det seneste, hvor især de to finalister præsenterer helstøbte sets. Check også denne videoreportage fra DSCM 2007, og undertegnedes billeder fra DSCM 2005.
For more Danish Soundclash goodness, go download these recordings from the first Danish Soundclash Championship back in 2005.
Image of 2/3 of Rootsman Hi-Fi; Mical Cold Ranks & Marni-Mand.
Carlsen overtager Mangismos udgivelser
Det er nu officielt: Carlsen overtager det konkursramte forlag Mangismos udgivelser på det danske marked. En pressemeddelelse er dukket op ovre på Seriejournalen; den forklarer:
“Forlaget Carlsen overtager og viderefører alle Mangismos mangaserier med undtagelse af Gravitation og BASARA. Mangismo skulle i dette halvår have udgivet et eller flere bind i serierne KARE First Love, Samurai Deeper KYO, Vampire Game, I.N.V.U., Chrono Crusade, Full Metal Panic! og Hellsing. Carlsen føjede selv endnu en titel til deres manga-sortiment i november, nemlig serien Chobits.”
Fint at konstatere, at de fleste af serierne føres videre, men også bekymrende, at Carlsen nu er den eneste udgiver af asiatiske tegneserier i Danmark. Med sammenlægningen af Egmont og Bonnier/Carlsen administreres førstnævntes noget ynkelige mangaportefølje nu også fra Pilestræde. Ærgerligt at konstatere, at et energisk og ambitiøst foretagende som Mangismo ikke kunne klare vilkårene på de, trods mangaens forfriskende succes de seneste år, små og lunefulde skandinaviske markeder. Carlsen leverer ekspertise og kvalitet, men det er unægtelig problematisk at de nu på dette væsentlige område er de eneste.
Danmark i fladskærmens tidsalder (og den borgerlige anstændigheds svigt)
Danmark i fladskærmens tidsalder (og den borgerlige anstændigheds svigt)
T. Thorhauges kommentar til resultatet af det nyligt overståede folketingsvalg.
Who Drew the Original Spider-Man?
Who Drew the Original Spider-Man?
Morten Søndergård’s analysis of the very first Spider-Man stories provoked an interesting debate involving several of the foremost experts on artists Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby, as well as early Marvel.
Heavy Rotation: DJ Vadim & Friends
Been peeping the podcasts of Ninja Tune stalwart and beatmaker extraordinaire DJ Vadim these last few days. Go check it out — the mixes are great, and so is the soundclash with beat maestro DJ Krush, and the Soundcatcher release party concert. Also, be sure to cop both last year’s One Self album, Children of Possibility, and this year’s Soundcatcher. They’re both top notch positive hip hop with a conscious edge.
Ild indeni
Det er nu et par måneder siden Natasjas posthumt udsendte danske debutalbum I Danmark er jeg født udkom, og det står på ingen måde svagere, nu tragedien er kommet lidt mere på afstand. Tværtimod. Man aner konturerne af en klassiker. Et album, der med fintindstillet fornemmelse fanger sin tid og samtidig anbringer sig i dens forlængelse.
Således er åbningstracket “Ildebrand i byen” et veritabelt anthem for den danske reggaescene før og især nu, leveret med pondus af en af dens mest vitale veteraner gennem tiden og båret frem af en hårdtpumpet Pharphar-produktion garneret med gashorn. Før havde vi Bikstok Røgsystems fornemme “3 stks tøj”, men det her brænder igennem på et mere grundlæggende niveau. Natasja sender skud til scenens vigtigste spillere og bekræfter sine egne ord om, at det efterhånden skulle være sat på plads, at dansk reggae giver den gas. Pharphar selv giver sangen en bevægende subtekst i hvad der lyder som et posthumt indspillet vers, hvor han opregner hvad der sker i den danske dansehal og forsikrer, at Natasja vil han aldrig glemme.
Linkage: Japanese Film Treasures
Via Dirk, I was made aware of this archive and pointed in the direction of the classic films by Akira Kurosawa they have available for download, entirely legally. Hop to it — Ikiru and Rashomon are full-blown masterpieces, containing some of the great moments of the art form. Sanshiro Sugata is Kurosawa’s first film and an incredibly impressive debut at that. There is the marvelous scene of Sugata, the judo student protagonist, experiencing enlightenment looking at a lotus flower from a pool (pictured), and a stunning showdown sequence with drifting shadows at the end. Stray Dog is a tense big city drama of a conscientious cop, played by the great Toshiro Mifune, looking for his gun which is stolen from him in the first sequence. A great premise, executed with bravour. They Who Step on the Tiger’s Tail is another early work, which I haven’t seen, but now will.
Also, if you haven’t already done so, go download the free PDF of Ozu and the Poetics of Cinema, David Bordwell’s authoritative monograph on that other great Japanese master, Yasujirô Ozu. Bordwell’s one of our great scholars of cinema and a fantastic writer to boot. What are you waiting for?
Rap vs. Rap
Thoroughly entertaining to see hip hop legend KRS-One expound on how he admires Kanye West, but really feels 50 Cent a whole lot more, in this AllHipHop interview from the VH1 Hip Hop Honors show back in October. This is one of the people most fully immersed in hip hop culture, but this really shows how conservative this great innovator has become.
True to form, and invoking his by now classic terminological distinction (“rap is something you do, hip hop is something you live”), he emphasises the importance of originality, but in the same breath stresses the importance of keeping your eye at street level, if what you want to do is hip hop and not just rap. And his example of someone who’s doing this? 50 Cent! One of the worst no-talent hacks to reach the top of the pile in years. An emcee who’s just as much about business as Kanye and the ‘ringtone rappers’ KRS here warmly gives their due as money-makers but dissociates from hip hop. Talking about the ‘competition’ between 50 and Kanye, KRS laments how sales, once again, are used as a measure of success, but, uh Kris, do you remember who started that nonsense, said he would stop recording albums if he ‘lost’, and kept it going right up till the very end?