So… upon consideration I have arrived at the conclusion that I don’t have enough time to do what I want/need to be doing. I guess the obvious thing to do would be to streamline my schedule by pruning off a few less-essential activities. However, I’ve somewhat foolishly decided to add on more responsibilities, and prune sleep in order to accomplish all these things, down to less than 2 hours per day. The real question is how long I can sustain it without going literally insane, wherever that might be.
So I’ll be testing out a system of PolyphasicSleep. This is a system of taking strictly scheduled naps throughout the day, in my case for 20 minutes every 4 hours. Basically the idea is that over time, (around 2 weeks), your body will adjust to the new schedule, given that it is rigidly adhered to, and will start skipping the first few stages of sleep and go straight into REM sleep, which is apparently the only one you really can’t do without.
My sources tell me that on the normal 8ish hour sleep schedule, one only gets about 1.5 hours of REM spread throughout, whereas with this polyphasic schedule I should eventually be getting close to 2 hours of REM per day. Supposedly this means that I will feel healthy and alert after my body adapts to the major slap in the face. So I’m looking forward to 2 weeks of dangerously spaced out delirium, during which I should begin posting here regularly again. :D?
The music of John Jacob Niles fills my mind with pictures and questions. His voice is from another world, singing somewhere between hymn and howl, it breathes real life into his subjects. His song comes from misty peaks and musty cabins. With dirt ingrained in its deftly roving fingers it weaves stories of lords and ladies, of gallows, gambling and lonesome riverside roads, wanderlust, tragedy, and revenge; of tales that were told when old wives were young.
Many of his songs are rooted in Appalachian folklore; forged in the mountains I grew up not terribly far from. He died in the year I was born, having seen many of the same things that I would soon come to know, yet somehow it’s hard to fathom our worlds even being connected.
Living in a place for a long time will almost invariably blunt your appreciation of its special beauty and personality. Listening to those scenes through the songs of John Jacob Niles is like seeing them for the first time. They can be mysterious and enchanting, and they still have secrets to share.
Unfortunately most of his work is not widely available, (just those two cd’s above) so you’ll have to look for online auctions or local record stores, but it’s totally worth it in my opinion.
Here is some interesting architecture from Kengo Kuma & Associates. It’s a combination of natural elements with geometric repetition and optical illusion. I think if you were there, the shadows and reflections would sort of make it look like two different worlds were connecting. I bet it makes interesting sounds in a strong breeze too.
Still working on part 2 of that hiphop thing. Extra busy with job stuff currently, but that should be slowing down soonish. I’ll have some submissions and new bands coming up after the break as well…
I’ve been sitting on this for a couple of months, waiting for the owner of the site to respond to my emails. Maybe his address is no longer valid, or my emails are getting filtered, but no response so far. I wanted to mirror his site on mine, and do English translations of his comments on each picture, but I haven’t heard from him to get permission, and I think this stuff is way too good not to be seen so I’ll just give you the link.
This is the largest collection of “urban ruins” pictures I have ever seen anywhere, and they just happen to be from Japan which pleases me to no end. They range vastly, from abandoned amusement parks, to refineries, to apartment blocks, to hospitals, schools, bowling alleys, and on and on and on. Not only are there tons of pictures, but they are all soulfully taken, with love for the environments and plenty of feeling. These kinds of things really give me that craving for exploration and discovery. I want to go to all of these places, and soak in their history. I want to understand the lives they lived, and the lives that were lived in them.
There are some gorgeous pictures in here, he even went to Gunkanjima, which was the subject of one of my first posts!
Click (tsugi he) to go forward and (modoru) to go back.
Being rather interested in linguistics, I can’t help but find hip hop/rap in different languages to be quite intriguing. It’s very impressive how far the genre has travelled in such a relatively small period of time, and how people are adapting it to their own societies and cultural elements. Who would have thought? I really have no clue what most of these people are saying but a good subwoofer and an open mind will probably help you to enjoy them. If all else fails you can just imagine that they are talking about rolling on dubs and imbibing malt liquors.
I’m pretty busy with work recently, so I’ll just give you the guts of what I gots without a whole lot of jibba jabba:
I really like the mood of the subdued background instruments in this titular track, it feels like walking through some extravagant underground cavern. There are other samples here.
“In recent years the X Plastaz have become known for being the first hiphop crew to use Maasai music and culture in their performance. Maasai singer Yamat (also known as Merege) is now a full member of the group who has joined on tour and in the recording studio.” Very cool.
“…their lyrical content, though pro-Israel, is not militant or anti-Arab and has no specific political agenda, though it is sometimes described as right-wing. With occasional Arabic lyrics and songs like “Peace in the Middle East”, they take a stance that can be described as desirous of a better future but unapologetic about the present.” Nice mixing in of traditional instruments and chanting.
“(“Fat/Phat Bread”) from Hamburg, one of the first successful German hip-hop groups. Their raps are usually humorous and of late they have experimented with different crossover sounds.” Fun. German. Hip Hop.
“The third album from French hip-hop artists, produced by DJ Sek, Alsoprodby, DJ Duke, Diesel & Manu Key. Oxmo has sold over 300,000 units of his previous two albums in France.” This song features Casioesque opera-vocals.
You Can Make Our Album Yourself ! Fuck Record Labels ! Fuck Fat and Dumb Producers ! On this page you can download the full version of “Not For Amerika” album in mp3 and original design for it, which you can print out on any printer. We don’t need your money for our music – listen free !
Download the other songs here. Thanks guys. I like the creepy nursery-rhyme-sounding chorus. Most of the other songs are a bit more “normal” sounding.
All songs are now also available in a solitary zip file, if that tickles your fancy. And that’s about it, more to come in part II (Probably Greenlandic, Icelandic, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Polish, and Hungarian). What do you think?
Upon perusing the frenetically updated GorillaVsBear, I was exposed to the realization that here on the SXSW site there are now hundreds and hundreds of mp3s. If you dared to dive into them I would be willing to bet that you would find some very interesting bands. I got about 260 yesterday and I only scratched the surface. If you are exceptionally brave and well-connected and you decide to check them out, feel free to comment and let me know which ones are exceptionally great.
In other news, I am working on an extra-large multi-part foreign-language international hip hop post, part one of which will be up by the weekend. So if that sounds interesting to you stay tuned, and feel free to give obscure recommendations.
A little while ago the always brilliant Saidthegramophone had a contest to win the new Cat Power Album. It was a lovely idea: Write a rhyming couplet for a fictional song entitled: “Bluebird Liquor and Black Crow Wine”. There were a great many excellent submissions, (somehow I made it to 4th place and won a poster), and now some of them are being used as lyrics in a no-longer-fictional song that already has 2 remixes!
Artist: Bloodthirsty Butchers
Song: Gokigen Ikaga (???????)
From album: Banging the Drum
Genre: Post Epiphany Punk [Buy this album][Site (jp)]
These guys have played with Rage Against the Machine, are friends with Beck and Fugazi, and have a split 7″ with Rocket from the Crypt. I guess this means that you might know of them, but just in case you don’t, here is a good song of theirs. And don’t let the name scare you away, the Bloodthirsty Butchers are really quite friendly.
Here we have a guitar and bass that are good friends. They seem comfortable with one another and talk to each other in glowing tones that are relaxed but opinionated. In the foreground we have a voice that has just come to terms with itself and is releasing all of its pent up feelings -almost yelling them- from a mountaintop, into the sky or at it.
Welcome to the Red Ruin blog archive. Through this site we wanted to share our discoveries with you. It isn't currently being updated, but someday that may change. We still monitor comments and emails, so feel free to participate.
The main purpose of this site was to facilitate the awareness and exposure of foreign music, art, cinema, and culture to a global audience. Through exposure, the artists will hopefully accumulate fans in places they couldn't have reached before, which will inevitably benefit them financially. However, if you are the copyright owner of any material displayed on this site, and wish it removed: Please contact me, and it will be done post-haste.
(tsugi he) to go forward and 
(modoru) to go back.
. It was a lovely idea: Write a rhyming couplet for a fictional song entitled: “Bluebird Liquor and Black Crow Wine”. There were a great many excellent 
