Special Thanks to Bleeding Cool.

With the first million dollar auctions of Action Comics #1 (twice) and Detective Comics #27 selling back to back in February, 2010, I suspect we may see the first million dollar bids for comic art this week, which will only add fuel to what’s turning into a burning hot market. As time passes and old prejudices fade, I expect the gap between original comic art and traditional fine art to narrow further. After all, what’s likely to impress people more these days: an original cover to Detective Comics, or a metallic rabbit by Jeff Koons?

...a unique piece of electronic music, breaking the barriers ,and pushing forward experimental adult dance music. Speeds ranging from 23 BPM to 173 BPM...hurl the listener into unfamiliar and unconventional sound voyages, where serious endorphic changes happen to the listener, which results in a complete unusual physical and mental mind set...one is never going to be the same or listen to music in the same way ever again..

Though it’s a little more upbeat and a touch less melodic than most Shpongle tracks, a proper listen on headphones makes clear just how monumental and innovative this track actually is, and may turn out to be a harbinger of where dance music might go in future decades.  Trance lover or not, this taste of the future is well worth the ride. Thanks, Shpongle!

The artist statement is written in the same improvised, medicine man style that characterizes his singing:

I am black shadow, the man and the moon. Paint am I, I am paint. Painted Africa, painted Ethiopia, painted globe. From the center of the Earth to the pinnacle of the sky to the edges of the Universe. Words, words, words, I am words. I am paint. I am art. I am stone and I am perfect, never tell a lie.

Lee 'Scratch' Perry is one of the great artists of the last 100 years. I'm grateful he's still with us.

Perhaps most surprisingly, though, was the insight the documentary gives into the murder trial. The remarkable court footage seems to suggest that the judge had an unfair bias towards Spector by virtue of the fact that he was a celebrity, regardless of the actual evidence involved in the case (as Crime File News has well documented). The striking image of Spector’s clean white jacket which, according to experts, should have been covered in blood and tissue of the victim after firing a gun at point blank range, seems to suggest that Spector was most likely innocent of the crime (something which I didn’t believe before seeing the documentary). I suspect the reason he was convicted by the jury with extremely weak evidence was due to the eccentric appearance of Spector himself, who often looks unapologetically freakish with his outlandish suits, trembling hands and sometimes aggressive gaze, which, unfortunately, create an appearance of guilt. Nevertheless, when one sees the expert testimony of the doctors and forensics experts, one can’t help but feel that there is simply no solid evidence that Spector killed Lana Clarkson, and that, to the contrary, the death was actually the suicide of a broke, desperate actress who was heavily depressed and hooked on pain killers, as her journal and personal acquaintances attested. The uncertain evidence of Spector’s guilt resulted in a mistrial, as the jury were unable to reach a unanimous verdict (10 guilty, 2 innocent). In 2009, however, another trial was ordered -- presided by the same judge -- in which a unanimous guilty verdict was reached and Spector was sentenced to 18 years in prison for murder.

The Agony and the Ecstasy of Phil Spector is a fascinating, humorous and outrageous story that convincingly shows Spector as one of the true musical pioneers of 20th century music, a talent en par with Elvis, Bob Dylan and the Beatles, who has been shockingly condemned to spend the rest of his life in prison for a crime he most probably did not commit, a sad, but perhaps not unfitting end for a legend of his stature. This is not only the story about the life of Phil Spector, but of the tragedies and triumphs of our pop culture. One hopes his appeals are successful.

William Burroughs: "This is the space age and we are here to go" by ThePopulation

Devo: “Here to Go”

Unlike other bands such as The Smiths and New Order, I’ve continued listening to Devo, having fostered an ongoing appreciation for their songs about life in the world as I knew it, and, impressively, the songs have maintained their relevancy three decades after their original release. When news broke last year that the band had signed a landmark contract to record a new album with Warner Bros., I was fairly excited by the prospect, having never really lost interest in the band. Nevertheless, I had my doubts. They looked older, and I had a vague concern that they might be risking a unique and important legacy for a last self-indulgence in the glory days of their youth. My inherent pessimism, Devo-esque in nature, was based on the unlikelihood of their being able to match the quality and pioneering nature of their earlier work. So when I got around to listening to the band's latest creation on the Colbert Nation website where it had been streaming, I expected the worst. Much to my astonishment, however, and unbelievably, the music actually held up to my skeptical ears, and more, the album improved with each listen, until, surprisingly, I felt compelled to cherrypick individual tracks for repeated listens as I might have on one of their earlier albums. Counter to all my previous preconceptions, it slowly started to dawn on me that the band had sensationally created one of their best albums -- and – yes – believe it or not, there are actually some great songs on it. To call me shocked would have been an understatement.

Many people scoff at Devo, brushing them off as nothing more than a novelty act, but few are aware of the herculean task that they had accomplished when they first came on the scene in the late 1970s. Their charged up, dance songs about life and technology were the musical analog to J.G. Ballard’s science fiction stories that focused on the present, both of which seemed to have been deeply influenced by the Pop Art movement. Like Ballard an the Pop artists, Devo had managesd to create groundbreaking avant-garde art that was commercially accessible, an extremely rare mix. In a recent interview with NPR, Devo frontman Mark Mothersbaugh explained how they “always enjoyed the subversion of mixing fine art with commercial art” and how the Kent State massacre, at which him and bandmate Gerald Casale witnessed as art students, helped lay the groundwork for the band’s approach: "We had seen people get shot when we were in school, and we came to the opinion that rebellion and anarchy were obsolete, and the only way to change things in our culture was through subversion.” Far from selling out, commercial accessibility is an ideal for any art that is intended to be a vehicle for social change. As William Burroughs opined, “art creates new values,” and society’s establishment is never more at risk than when genuine art movements gain steam. In this respect, Devo can be viewed as a living, breathing pop art display delivering the wake up call to humanity, in style.

Devo navigated the landscape of modern consciousness and satirized it in the process, using the manipulative techniques of advertising to spread a message of subversion and dissent. Significantly, in their most recent incarnation, Devo have stuck to these very same principles, though this time, they’ve turbocharged their approach with contemporary tactics, using focus groups, hiring a CEO, and creating a reality show, among other novelties. These Trojan horse marketing campaigns are intended as strategic attempts to breakthrough to unsuspecting youths, cloaking an album of profound substance in the duplicitous gloss of the mass marketing machine. The cover to the album, as well as to the single “Fresh”, are further demonstrations of Devo’s attention to the details outside of the music itself, the images a clever mix of humour and subtle eroticism, resulting in some of the more artful album covers in recent memory.

“Sumthin’”:

As an album, Something for Everybody is a tightly produced, solid release from start to finish, both musically and lyrically, although there are at least three really great songs worth highlighting that rank alongside the best work in their entire catalogue. “Sumthin’”, after which the album is named, is the most exciting, with its upbeat rhythms, cool melodic synth stabs, and charged lyrical references to cable news media memes. Lines such as “I’m the leader of the Western world / The big decider in the neighborhood” and “I have to fix it like it’s just like new, / but the bankers tell me no can do” speak to current events in the news in ways that you simply don’t hear from other bands. The final verse is an even more direct example of the band’s concern with contemporary themes, reminiscent to Gerald Casale’s politically charged and almost completely ignored project from the peak of the Bush era, Jihad Jerry (of which we wrote about when no one else cared): “Psycho pundits keep on fanning the fire / Spin the story than they call ME a liar / Telling me how I should do my job / Dropping crumbs for the angry mob / Al-Queda and the Taliban / Fundamentally way out of hand / I keep trying to turn it all around / But the New World Order wants to take me down”.

“Later Is Now”:

The visionary “Later is Now” is probably the most unexpected accomplishment of the album, an activist anthem that has all of the energy and edge of their earlier work, but which has an unusual optimism that reveals a more mature and wiser Devo. Not only have the band equalled their earlier work in this song, but, in some respects, they’ve actually surpassed it. Twenty years later, it seems as if the band has come to terms with their own mortality in a way that isn’t present in their earlier work. “Later is now / Sooner or later / Everyone gets it right / Later is now / Sooner or later / Everything comes to light / Later is now.” This isn’t the sarcasm and irony of “It’s a Beautiful World” and, frankly, much as I love the bitterness of that song, it’s a welcome change. If there were ever a song to play at a protest this year, this would be it.

“No Place Like Home”:

Unbelievably, the band are able to follow up the epic “Later is Now” with the most sublime track on the album, “No Place Like Home”, a sobering requiem to the idea of the home, both in the sense of the planet as a whole, as well as the people with whom you share a roof. The gorgeous, haunting melody lives up to the humorous vocoded introduction, “A song of truth and beauty, for you...” and builds into a massive crescendo of melody and philosophic introspection. The poetic lyrics climax with the heartbreaking, beautifully crafted lines: “Can’t have a rainbow, without the rain; / Can’t have a painting without the pain, / Can’t have a lover, without the love leaving with them; / There’s no place like home, no place like home, to return to.” Powerful stuff.

In this release, Devo have shown themselves to be profound moralists, as they have in all of their previous albums. At the beginning of the BBC documentary “Another Green World”, Brian Eno explained how today’s music is different from the past, because there’s no sense of ideology attached to it. With their return, Devo have reintroduced political ideology back into pop music, and, in the process, given the counterculture (much as that might seem an outdated term in the age of the Internet) a much needed shot in the arm, reviving it from a decade long slumber with the fading of the rave scene at the end of the 1990s. The band’s creation of an album of comparable quality with their earlier incarnation -- something which almost never happens -- is a testament to their authenticity and conviction as true artists. They’re the real deal. Maybe focus groups under the right direction really are the way to go.

The documentary begins with a wide array of obscure video clips showing politicians and policy makers discussing the 'new world order' in various public forums, which, to Bermas’ credit, is probably the most comprehensive compilation of the phrase's usage on video. The overview effectively demonstrates that the term has, in fact, been the subject of much discussion among top policy makers since George H. Bush’s heavy promotion of a ‘new world order’ near the end of his term in office, which is particularly evident in rare footage of a commencement address he gave at Maxwell Air Force Base where it figures as one of the main themes. Despite this groundbreaking research, the interpretation of the material disappoints, as it seems as though Bermas is using the footage as evidence for the existence of a conspiracy, rather than making a genuine attempt to understand how the term is being used in its various contexts. For example, at times the term is used literally as a compound common noun without capitals, describing a world in which there will be a realignment of power e.g., "A new world order is taking shape", while at other times it is used as a proper noun with capitals, as if it was a formalized group of people that represented a specific ideology e.g., "The New World Order is taking over". For Bermas, there are no shades of grey; the use of the term 'new world order' is evidence in itself for the existence of a conspiracy, regardless of its context. This is tantamount to confusing a small ‘r’ republican with a big ‘R’ Republican, which, though loosely related, mean completely different things. Ironically, by blending all the different usages of the term 'new world order' into one narrow conspiratorial definiton, Bermas manages to further obfuscate the already ambiguous term, rather than clarifying it.

Another example of loose analysis is the often misinterpreted TIME “Person of the Year” designation, a title assigned to the world’s most influential individual in a given year, regardless of moral considerations of whether their influence was considered good or evil. Nevertheless, the conspiracy crowd often misinterprets the title as a "Best Person in the World" award, which supports the narrative in which they've been intellectually invested, pointing to the apotheosizing of Hitler and Bernanke as evidence of TIME's involvement in the global conspiracy.  And for all I know, TIME is in on a global conspiracy, as William Burroughs believed, and perhaps they are even trying to use the "Person of the Year" award in a subliminal manner; but the apparent ignorance of the nature of the title unnecessarily discredits the conspiratorial viewpoint. If this conspiracy is as serious as the conspiratorialists are leading us on to believe, it's time to get a little more scrupulous about the accuracy of what is being discussed.

Midway through the documentary, the narrative begins to lose its focus, straying into themes such as global warming and overpopulation, branding all public figures with any concern for either issues as evil in intent. Never do the conspiratorialists address the problem of whether there actually are too many people to sustain the current levels of resource use on the planet. Nobody wants a china-like one child system, and most of us want a world with as much freedom as possible, but rational individuals should be allowed to ask these kinds of questions without being branded eugenicists, elitists, or even sexual deviants as is inferred in this film. What if there are too many people to sustain and feed on this planet? Are we supposed to ignore this question? The very mention of the issue is enough to be branded, tarred and feathered with the conspiracy crowd. This gross oversimplification and dogmatic approach to serious concerns, again, unnecessarily discredits many of the legitimate questions -- such as the role of the Federal Reserve and government overreach -- that the movement has. Unfortunately, there seems to be a widespread near-religious submissiom to dogma in the movement, which, frankly, seems all too similar to the strong adherence to Christian dogma to which many conspiracy theorists ascribe. It's no accident that both conspiracy theory and Christian fundamentalism share a strong susceptibility to apocalyptic fantasies of the coming end of the world in one's own lifetime.

Upon review, most fair minded people would admit that there is, in fact, a 'new world order' crowd, which is, in large part, comprised of member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission and even the Bilderberg group. The question remains, however, as to how unified their agenda is, as well as the nature of their intentions. Are they diabolical perverts maniacally driven to dominate and enslave the world, as Bermas suggests, or are they simply a group of forward looking internationalists, attempting to usher the world into a more enlightened era, free from war, by means of world government. The truth, I suspect, is somewhere in-between. Reality is much more complex than the black and white world of the conspiratorialists; on the other hand, the intentions of politicians and those that fund them are not as benevolent as the mainstream media would have us believe. As is often the case, the reality is mixed. Thomas Jefferson, one of the great leaders of liberty and freedom on this planet, also had slaves. Painting world government and all the competing interests of the global elite with one broad brush will lead to over-simplified answers and inadequate analysis. If the current globalist agenda presents a threat to our individual freedom, as I suspect it does, it's time we adopted a more rigorous interpretative approach, one which admits it doesn't have all the answers, which is more skeptical of its own assumptions, and which is open to -- and even encourages -- self-critique.

Beginning a respectable 10 minutes after the 7:30pm show time, the three musicians took the stage to grand applause from an adulating crowd. From the very outset, though, things looked strange. Laurie Anderson and John Zorn seemed fairly together when they walked to their designated performance areas, but Lou Reed looked like he had something wrong with him, walking in a slow, gingerly manner across the stage, as if he was either suffering from a sinus infection or succumbing underneath the weight of an enormous ego -- it was difficult to tell. When he finally got to his chair, he hunched over his guitar in what looked like a hideously uncomfortable posture. As Reed took his time  setting up, Zorn and Anderson were looking over at him quizzically, as if they were waiting for some form of communication from the elderly rocker, who was looking all of his 68 years on the planet. Finally, without looking up, he unleashed a drone from his guitar, which, again, seemed to confuse them, though within a minute or so, they had joined in alongside the noisy, feedback driven guitar squelch.

Within perhaps a minute or two, it became clear that the first performance was going to be more in the style of Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music than in the songs that made him and his wife famous. The folks who had come to see “Walk on the Wild Side” were going to get a little more than they had bargained for, though it shouldn’t have been all that surprising considering Reed and Anderson were sharing the bill with John Zorn, a musician who has built his career on experimental, avantgarde jazz improvisation. After the first song, which lasted about 10 minutes, the crowd applauded, though without the enthusiasm one might expect at such an all-star show, yet not all that unexpected either, considering the challenging nature of the music.

Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson and John Zorn Performing at the Montreal International Jazz Festival pt. 1 by ThePopulation

When the second piece began, it became increasingly clear that the drone improvisation shtick was what was on offer for the evening’s entertainment. I suspect that the trio’s working concept was to choose a note for each track around which each of the three experienced musicians would riff off of until the piece resolved itself on its own accord. Though it’s just speculation, I imagine there would have been some progression along a musical scale over the course of the night, which may have had a fairly interesting affect. Things never reached that point, however, as a man booed at the top of his lungs when the second song ended, beginning a sequence of events that led to the night’s unravelling. As the audience finished clapping, he yelled out once more, “BOOOooooo!”, at which point John Zorn yelled back, “If you don’t like it, you can F--- off!” which generated some applause and whistling in support. In the sound clip below, you'll here audience members jeer the performers in-between tracks and a barely audible John Zorn telling the man off followed by a second burst of applause:

Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, John Zorn Booed at Montreal International Jazz Festival by ThePopulation

Unfortunately for Zorn, the unintended consequence was that he had told about half the crowd to F-off, as many were ill-prepared for the experimental noise show. Personally, I found Zorn’s outburst a little unclassy, much as I might sympathize with what he was saying. I also found it a little surprising. From my own perspective, I found it invigorating to hear a crowd get upset about an art piece and I began telling my companion how glad I was that we had decided to attend what was becoming a sensational show. Boccioni’s Riot in the Galleria passed through my head, and I had mixed feelings of excitement and surprise that people still had the gumption to tell artists to shove it. The night had transformed from a well performed, hipster improv show to a serious happening.

Montreal Meltdown: John Zorn Tells Unruly Audience Member to 'F--- Off' by ThePopulation

When the third track continued in the same style, it had become too much for many in the audience, which -- amazingly -- proceeded to purposefully cut  the song off early by applauding before it had even finished. At that point, there was a clearing of about 100 people from the theatre, while more audience members joined in on the jeering. Visibly frazzled, except for Lou Reed who was either too cool to care or suffering from some sort of ailment -- again, it was unclear which -- the trio huddled together for a small discussion, and -- shockingly -- bowed to the audience and exited stage left. Of course the people in the audience, having spent anywhere from $60 - $100 for tickets, gave them a standing ovation, cheering as loudly as they could, hoping they might return after playing for a mere 30 minutes. And, after 5 minutes or so, the musicians had returned to the stage and began a new drone, but this time over a more melodic chime hook that Anderson had stored in one of her keyboards. Unfortunately, the audience had become unruly at this point, one girl yelling “O Superman!” after they had already begun playing, a reference to Anderson’s 1980 hit and a microcosm of the entire misunderstanding that had occurred between the audience and the performers. As they played, it became painfully more obvious that the mood had been destroyed, and that they had been caught unprepared by what had transpired, their improvisations becoming less open and risky, Zorn’s screeching saxaphone sounding more and more like the vicious screams of a dying animal (which actually sounded pretty cool).

Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson and John Zorn Performing at the Montreal International Jazz Festival pt. 2 by ThePopulation

As the fourth song finished, Laurie Anderson began drifting off-stage, half bowing as if to let her fellow musicians know that the night was over and, after a few awkward seconds, they managed to get together for a final group bow before fleeing from the stage, Lou Reed trailing at half speed. Though I disagreed with the rude reaction of the crowd, I nevertheless felt that their premature ending of the concert betrayed a lack of conviction in their art. If you’re going to make difficult avant-garde art, you should be ready for an adverse reaction.  If they really thought their show was going to knock our socks off, why wouldn’t they take the opportunity to prove the other audience members -- about 75% of the crowd -- right.  I couldn't help feeling that their early departure was somehow an indightment of the avant-garde, an exposing of its own spiritual -- and perhaps even intellectual -- weakness. Their overly defensive reaction seemed to betray the conformist yuppee comfort of living in their own little New York bubble, rarely facing criticism of any kind, much less about their music. One wonders where the trio goes from here.

Having a solid track record for quality and innovation, Propellerheads release of the ReBirth iPhone app is cause for excitement in an industry that loves its toys, particularly considering the number of increasingly professional music making apps that have been released since the introduction of the iPad, a device likely to revolutionize music production in the coming years.  Sadly, it seems that the attention to detail and user experience that characterized their desktop software was uncharacteristically overlooked in their first iPhone app, almost as if they had contracted out a third party to do the job for them.  The sound itself is as good as the original software and no cause for complaint, but the interface borders on unusable. 

The first thing one notices upon launching the app is how similar it is to the original software, as if the developers had literally cut the application out of a PC and pasted it into an iPhone.  The proportions of the iPhone being different from a computer monitor results in a cropped view of the interface, with an awkward looking wooden frame pushing the TR-909 right off the screen. Aesthetics aside, the lack of adaption to the iPhone makes for a laborious user experience, as the control knobs are extremely small, requiring one to zoom in on a given device to make an adjustment, and sometimes requiring two to three attempts to select the right parameter, creating an experience that is choppy, difficult and seemingly unresponsive.  This might have been the end of the world had the navigation been smoother, but, surprisingly, there is no touch scrolling, so moving around the interface is cumbersome.  Instead, one is forced to double click to zoom in on each device, with no easy means of zooming out, prohibiting a quick workflow for laying out ideas.  So it was a little mystifying to read an interview with Propellerheads CEO Ernst Nathorst-Böös in Create Digital Music, stating how much effort they had expended to create a fluid user experience:

We worked hard on the navigation, the zooming and panning, to make it feel natural. It was hard since there are so many controls on the screen (look at the 808!) and you need to move around quickly and fluently while never risking changes to the document. I really like how it turned out.

Admittedly, there are lots of controls, but it’s hard to imagine a more obtuse user experience than they currently have.  The whole thing seems rushed, as if Propellerheads had submitted the app to Apple as soon as they had the first working prototype.  Adding to these drawbacks, the image quality deteriorates upon zooming in, revealing lo-fidelity graphics, which makes it difficult to read the labels.  This might not have been such a big deal had the app not cost $6.99, but for that price, cutting corners like this will simply lead to a bad reputation, particularly considering the gorgeous apps being released by Korg and Akai.

Many of the app’s shortfalls could have been avoided had the developers harnessed the unique touch capacities of the iPhone OS rather than sticking with the older, computer monitor and mouse, Windows based paradigm.  Having a multi-screen interface that dedicates a single window to each device, as well as enlarging the buttons to increase ease of use would have gone a long way towards creating a more user friendly interface. Re-imagining the placement of the pattern sequencer and effects sections would have also helped to reduce clutter, perhaps giving each their own separate windows.   Admittedly, this would have disrupted the visual emulation that the software has succeeded in reproducing and required a slight re-proportioning of the devices, but the benefits would have far outweighed the cost, turning an unpractical, but visually accurate app into what could have been one of the hippest, must have apps in the App Store.  Propellerheads needs to fix this ongoing PR disaster and do it fast, as their credibility in what’s going to be a huge market is taking a massive hit.

The demand for a device like ReBirth on the iPhone is evident by the amount of music making applications available in the App Store, and it seems Propellerheads are squandering a royal opportunity to make a good first impression.  At its current price (Korg’s i-Electribe is $7.99), this seems more like a cash grab than about building a credible foothold in the booming music production app market.  Bringing ReBirth to the iPhone was a great idea, but because its user interface was not at all adapted to the iPhone, its execution failed miserably.  Hopefully in future versions, Propellerheads will update the product in a manner that does justice to the original software.

Perry opens with “Soul Man” a subtle and gorgeous lounge-dub track, complete with ultra-slick snake tongued basslines, house piano, and backup women vocalists.  The second track, “Medusa”, takes on an epic format that has become standard fare for Perry that his fans will recognize, a lyrical improvisation on a given theme, drifting into a kind of deep trance groove accompanied by a massive bassline for over 10 minutes.  The affect is of going on a dark night of the soul through the swampy spiritual jungle of the unconscious mind.  Born Free and The Next Room’s production really stands out in this track, though it’s impressive throughout the whole release, employing many of the techniques pioneered by the Mad Professor, while maintaining a sound distinctly their own.  The high-fidelity distortion in particular made the whole production sound new and updated for 2010.

The EP climaxes with the third track, “Forgiveness,” one of the deepest tracks I’ve heard Perry make since the mid-90s.  Admittedly, I haven’t listened to everything he’s released this decade, although this release makes me want to take a second look.  Opening with “The gift of God is eternal life”, Perry declares “the way to life is forgiveness”.   The track traverses several spiritual summits, the most sublime to my mind were the lines that seemed to diagnose the sickness of our society far more accurately than any psychologist or psychiatrist ever could: “Deliver us from cocaine / Deliver us from pain / Deliver us from shame”.  These moving lines seemed to penetrate right to the spiritual illness of our society, egoism, fuelled by the soul killing drug cocaine.  In this respect, Perry shows himself to be a true doctor of the soul, whose music is meant to heal and give hope to the spiritually lost.

The last two tracks are two versions of a song called “Mr. Upsetter", credited to Born Free though still "featuring Lee Perry". In these light hearted, soulful tracks, Perry gives voice to his own interlocutor who responds to the question: “Do you want to know me?” with “Yes I do”, creating a heart warming song with a really great vibe.  Again, this is music for healing souls. 

Overall, despite its deep messages, the album has a nice lightness which I've come to associate with the musical zeitgeist of the last few years, a light hearted response to the heavy techno minimalism of the 1990s. One might think of it as a musical equivalent to the multicolored paint-splotched Apple ads of the last couple of years.  What I find truly remarkable, however, is the fact that this 74 year old man, who’s already proved himself as one of the greatest and most influential musical geniuses of the 20th century, is reinventing himself once again. In my view this gives the religiosity of his music an unusual credibility, as it demonstrates the reality of a man who’s truly inspired, evoking Plato’s notion of “divine madness” from the Phaedrus:

If anyone comes to the gates of poetry and expects to become an adequate poet by acquiring expert knowledge of the subject without the Muses’ madness, he will fail, and his self-controlled verses will be eclipsed by the poetry of men who have been driven out of their minds.

And by some force, it seems as though Perry is in a constant state of inspiration.  One wonders if he writes down his lyrics at all or if it’s all rattled off from the top of his head (I suspect the latter).   I’ve long maintained that Perry is the closest thing our world has to a living prophet, and this release reconfirms this notion in my mind. One of Perry’s great contributions is that he reminds us that the soul is real, the beauty of his art acting as both evidence and proof.  It seems clear that to Perry music and poetry is an expression as well as an affirmation of the divine.

More Mr. Upsetter! More!  The world needs you.

From what I can see, this is an idea in its embryonic stage, a great starting point from which to explore what makes comic covers from that era so visually impactful and what that might say about modern forms of visual communication.  But I feel like Todd has stopped short.  He hasn’t quite dismantled the format and reinterpreted it from a 2010 perspective.  As a result, the works suffer from an overreliance on the creativity of the original comic artists, leaving one feeling somewhat empty-handed after the novelty has worn off. The artist applies typical visual arts motifs that we’ve often seen in galleries and museums, but without any substantial analysis or commentary that separates the paintings from the original works in a significant way.  These are paintings that were conceived to look like art, rather than challenge the viewer to see something new in a familiar form.  It's a good start, but I think Todd needs to take it much further to deliver on its potential.  Conceptually, this is a sketch, not a finished product.

After a short break, AIR took the stage at 9pm to great excitement.  Dressed in white tuxedo shirts and matching ties, the perfectly fitting clothing was a slightly relaxed version of Kraftwerk's no nonsense look.  Their demeanor was towards the affectless but still warm, similar to how one might describe their music.  The performance opened with "Do the Joy," the first song from Love 2 (2009), AIR's best album in my opinion.  They played two more tracks from the same LP and the melodies got the crowd moving.  From that point on, they mixed it up between classics and more recent songs.  Considering the fact that there were only three musicians on the stage (including the live drummer), it was impressive to hear so much sound being generated from so few people, and yet there was never really a sense that they were using computers; even the samples they played seemed to be triggered on the fly from synthesizers.

Though both frontmen had strong stage presences, one couldn’t help but be particularly impressed by the keyboardist moving between at least four synths, often playing two at once and singing simultaneously.  Most of all, he made it look totally effortless, giving the impression that this is something he's been doing from a very young age. Another charming aspect of the show was the technician who would appear between songs to reprogram the analog synth (what looked like a Korg MS-20), a testament to the power of these pre-digital boxes, as it was easily the most prominent sounding instrument in their sonic arsenal.  Most of the songs were sung by the keyboardist, though the bass player led on a couple of tracks.

Overall, it was a fun and cool concert (well worth the price) and it had a nice lightness about it.  Perhaps because of the low cost and the fact that it was on  a weeknight, it had a sense of being a no big deal, fun night on the town, a kind of innocence that's often lacking at the bigger shows.  They ended the main set with “Kelly Watch the Stars,” while a game of Pong poetically played on the large videoscreen in the background.  Interestingly, they opened the encore with a song they composed for the Virgin Suicides soundtrack, which they dedicated to Kirsten Dunst who was in the audience (see video below). 

The encore finished with classic hits from Moon Safari, “Sexy Boy” and “La Femme D’Argent”.   They bowed, waved goodbye and the Montreal crowd gave them a hearty send off.  It’s worth mentioning how the staff at Metropolis sped people through the coat check and onto the street with lightning-like efficiency, something you really appreciate when you're one of a few thousand people that all want the same thing.  My friend and I took a taxi home, and, amazingly, when I got back and looked at the clock on the stove, it was only 10:59pm.  Not bad for a Monday night.

The interface is refreshingly simple, divided vertically into two half sections that display a visual representation of the waveform of each track.  Along each side are the basic controls to load a new song, speed it up or slow it down, adjust its EQ and volume, and even apply a nice sounding filter.  In the middle column between the two tracks, there are options to open menus that can set a cue or a loop, as well as adjust the play position of a track in order to help synchronize them (a very useful tool, of course).  In addition, there is a button for the general settings, where one can import and trigger samples and configure the crossfader and overall speed of the mix.  Though this might sound like a lot of options, it’s actually quite pared down compared to most DJ software, which is one of its biggest selling points.  The manual is only three pages, and it can more or less be mastered in an afternoon, which is not to be understated. 

As far as the overall mixing is concerned, it has a nice solid feel.  It plays the tracks at different pitches very smoothly and changes pitch with precision, giving it a substantial foundation to build from in future updates.  Its biggest drawback, however, is the fact that you are forced to mix visually using the digital waveform, rather than the traditional cue on headphones.  Of course, this is a limitation of the iPhone itself, as it only has 2 channels for stereo output (left and right), rather than the four that are required for traditional DJing.  Amidio provides an option for those who want to buy a splitter cable that will output 4 channels, but the result ends up in a mono output to both the house speakers and the headphones.  It’s a smart solution, but, ultimately, this prevents the application from being a truly professional alternative to a traditional DJ setup. 

Nevertheless, if you enjoy DJing, this is a great buy.  I found the visual mixing to be surprisingly easy to learn, and the program remembers the pitch you last used on a given track, meaning that you don’t have to repitch a song every time you play it (as long as you use the same tempo). Its greatest function from my own point of view is its ability to act as a sketchboard for testing mixes out, in a fun non-cumbersome manner.   In this regard, it’s a great tool and less physically demanding than playing records and cds, which takes more energy than people might realize.  This is a fully portable DJ rig you can use in bed, on the beach, in a bus or wherever you might find yourself, and, in this respect, it’s a remarkable accomplishment. 

Snyder's attempt to adhere as closely as possible to the actual work, at some points becomes impossible as well.  Had they not been such crucial aspects of the original storyline, it may not have mattered so much, but they were.  The comic in a comic "Tales of the Black Freighter" and Doctor Manhattan's simultaneous view of time depicted as alternating panels between the present and the past, to name two examples, are elements of the storyline that exploit the comics medium itself, and produce results that are unique to it.  This is one of the traits that make Moore a writer who can can transcend the juvenile reputation of the comic book format.    

Another problem was what was left out. One of the most sophisticated parts of the comic is near the end where Moore portrays Ozymandias, "The Smartest Man in the World," in front of a wall of TVs discussing the merits of Burroughs' cut-up method and using it to decide what investments to make for his large fortune.  Fittingly, this groundbreaking aspect of the comic -- tying the medium to a significant 20th century art movement -- was left out of the movie.  Not to say I'm not relieved.  I could just imagine all the comic geeks starting to employ the cut-up method without knowing the historical significance of the technique, which can be traced back to the surrealists and Lautreamont.  The movie would have been richer for including this scene, but, again, I'm glad it didn't (Beware the DVD...)

Finally, the music was inadequate.  Bob Dylan was used  three times.  "All Along the watchtower" made sense, as it was quoted in the comic, but "The Times they are a Changin'" in the opening scene  and the "Despolation Row" cover that play at the end of the movie displayed a total lack of imagination, in my view (as well as a misinterpretation of the vibe of Moore's work).  Another great part in the comic that was left out of the movie is when Ozymandias is discussing the new Dub music coming out of Jamaica (not bad for a comic that came out in 1986).  Why wouldn't Snyder include some dub in the movie, perhaps when Ozymandias is introduced?  No doubt a great opportunity was lost.  But frankly, looking at Snyder, one gets the sense that he's be hard pressed to say what dub music is. Again, I'm kind of glad it never showed up.

Having said all this, I don't think the movie was horrible, it just wasn't that great.  The Dark Knight was a much better movie.  I suspect people that haven't read The Watchmen will enjoy the movie more, though, as the original storyline is so exotic, even a distant echo of it is still an echo of a powerful poetry. 

So without further ado, No Line on the Horizon, track by track:

"No Line on the Horizon" --  Maybe it's just me, but I can't help hearing Siouxsie and the Banshees' "Kiss them for me."  The track opens with some nice Brian Eno chords, reminiscent of Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy, but the lyrics seem weak, particularly the "no, no line..." in the chorus.  Overall, the track sounds more like a jam session with the kernels of several tracks pasted together.

"Magnificent" --  Easily the best song on the album. Had they opened here and progressed from this point, it might've been the album we were hoping for.  Very moving and good lyrics (apart from the title of the song, which seems a little literal). Otherwise, a pioneering track.  The Edge does outstanding work, as does bassist Adam Clayton, who is in large part responsible for the track's enigmatic melody.  Drums excellent, too, of course.

"Moment of Surrender"  -- A continuation of the U2 sound of the last decade: slow, faith based crooner rock for the Adult Contemporary charts.  The evocation of an ATM machine is a nice modern image, but the overall tone is a little conservative.  An attempt at making a wisdom track, but failing from a lack of inspired melody.  Saved from being a total throwaway by Brian Eno's drones and synth harmonies. 

"Unknown Caller" --  A much more inspired track thanks to the melody in the chorus. Risks are rewarded, though some of the moments seem like filler while Bono finishes what he needs to say.  Use of the password is another nice modern image for the web age, whether its was meant in that context or not.

"I'll Go Crazy if I Don't Go Crazy Tonight"  -- A really weak track -- can't help but feel like it was written by Bono, and the band is humoring him.  The music seems to be windowdressing for Bono's weak composition.  This songs is all about Bono and it shows.  The chorus tries to rescue the track, but can't turn things around.  

"Get on your Boots"  -- A total disaster. Should have never been released.  There's potential in the Edge's brilliant guitar work and the overall Eastern feel of the track, particulalry in the chorus, but Bono completely destroys this track.  It's like he thought he was singing Vertigo, and the "You don't know how beautiful you are" chorus sounds like it took a page out of the Coldplay lyric songbook.  Finally, the "Let me in the sound" vocal near the end just says it all -- like a message from Bono's unconscious, pleading to maintain his identity in a band that has evolved beyond his ability to lead.

"Stand up Comedy" -- Bono's meddling continues.  U2 does the blues, Led Zeppelin style.  Again, the Edge tries to rescue the track in the chorus, but Bono keeps letting out stink bombs, forcing his role as lead singer, completely overdoing it and betraying his age.  He seems reluctant to let the rest of the band shine.  A mess.

 "Fez -- Being Born"  -- This track starts with echoes of Bono singing "Let me in the sound" from "Get on your Boots" and moves directionlessly, until the track begins anew.  The music seems to lack cohesion, a continuation of Bono's identity crisis, unfortunately.  Eno comes in for a save halfway through, but is overwhelmed by Bono's stubborn clinging to the original track.  Sounds like another jam session.

"White as Snow" --  Can't help but feel like the Edge wrote this one.  Beautiful melody. This time it seems Bono's weak lyrics are the window dressing. Eno's allowed to shine as well.  Bono almost sabotages the track in the middle eight, but runs out of time and opportunity. Great track.   

"Breathe" -- An interesting composition, one of the few where the band seems to function as a unit.  The machine is oiled, the melodies, unpredictable.  The middle eight is less interesting and the chorus is bland.  Nice keyboard work keeps things moving, though.

"Cedar of Lebanon" -- The beginning seems to be a direct lift from Brian Eno and Harold Budd's beautiful 1984 ambient album The Pearl.  A sombre track, with a touch of alcoholism and transcendence.  A melancholy, poetic ending.

The good:

The bad:

"Everything That Happens Will Happen Today" is their first collaboration since 1981's "My Life In the Bush of Ghosts," an album of sample-based music electronic that was groundbreaking and exciting and still sounds fresh and innovative in the 21st Century. Byrne and Eno have a lot to live up to. So how is "Strange Overtones?"

"Strange Overtones" does not disappoint. The song is excellent, wonderful, beautiful, invigorating. Eno's music is lush and poppy, reminiscent of some of his Talking Heads work as well as his collaboration with John Cale, "Wrong Way Up," but brought up to date. Funky, mid-tempo rhythms begin the song and anchor it throughout in a down-to-earth way, and occasionally there is a powerful, but simple guitar. Byrne's singing voice is wistful, humane-- a more self-assured version of the Byrne from "I Know Sometimes a Man Is Wrong." He hasn't sounded this good in years. And of course there are plenty of classic Eno-style layered vocals-- dozens of Davids (and maybe even some Brians?) harmonizing with themselves. The earthy rhythms and almost transcendently detached vocals compliment each other perfectly.

"Strange Overtones" is an unrequited love story. The lover separated from his love by a wall, uses her sounds to complete himself. It seems sad, but there's also some hope-- a melting snowball provides a naive metaphor for the possibility of connection. And, even if our hero never achieves a direct connection with his beloved, ultimately maybe some sort of connection has been achieved-- over distance, a romance of anonymity where the object of love never even realizes who her lover is. Or that she even has a lover. Maybe the love for her that he feels inside himself is enough.

Of course, maybe things aren't that simple. Some of Byrne's lyrics undercut the romantic angle of the song, among them the idea that "a heart is not enough" and the presence of some undefined "strange overtones in the music you are playing" that could imply the existence of the naive 21st Century romance-under-erasure, or perhaps signal a much more sinister side to our hero. Byrne's lyrics, even when they seem naive and innocent, often repay deep reading.

All this of course makes "Strange Overtones" seem overly intellectual -- which it isn't. Sure, it's a very intelligent song, but it's also immediately accessible, inviting, and even kind of sweet. Byrne's lyrics are magical and Eno's music and production are excellent. And if the rest of the album is half as good as this song, "Everything That Happens Will Happen Today" will be the album of the year. If the rest of the songs are as good or even better, it will be the album of the decade.
 

The pioneer of this sensationalistic, black humour style was EC Comics' Publisher William Gaines, whom inherited the EC comic book company after the sudden death of his father Max in 1947. Under Bill's stewardship, EC Comics changed its name from Educational Comics to Entertaining Comics, and, shortly thereafter, began publishing science fiction, horror, romance, war and crime comics, as well as the now iconic MAD Magazine. Due to the bold originality, gruesome stories and unusually detailed art, the company achieved a high degree of success in a relatively short time period, employing legendary comic artists such as Wally Wood, Jack Davis, Frank Frazetta and Graham Ingels. Whether it was supernatural, criminal or tragic, the comics often had an edge, which seemed to speak to a newer, younger, deliquent America.

So popular were the comics, that they were eventually subject to hearings before the US Congress, largely in response to the work of Dr. Fredric Wertham, who had been a fierce opponent of the stories of crime, violence and the supernatural in comic books. Wertham, a German psychiatrist living in America, published two papers in 1948 entitled "Horror in the Nursery" and "The Psychopathology of Comics," as well as the damning 1954 book, Seduction of the Innocent, all of which listed comic books as a major contributing factor in juvenile delinquency.

In response to increasing pressure, Gaines spearheaded a committee of publishers to restore the medium's reputation. This resulted in the establishment of the Comics Code Authority (CCA), which, ironically, Gaines refused to join, believeing it had become a vehicle of censorship. And he was right. The CCA acted as a self-censoring board for the comics industry that required all content be approved prior to publication in order to bare its stamp of approval. The CCA now had power to refuse any content it deemed improper, thereby killing the comic's distribution.

Sadly, it was not long before EC Comics went out of business, unable to survive the stringent conditions placed upon the company by the CCA. There's evidence that the board was directly biased against EC Comics as well, banning the words "weird," "terror" and "horror" from comic titles, which were present in the some of EC's best selling comics. Interestingly, MAD Magazine was not subject to the same restrictions that had been placed on the comic book medium because it was in the magazine format.

Another example of this tradition of American pop, black humour is the Wacky Packages trading cards. First released by the Topps trading card company in 1967, the cards spoofed various American products with a fiendish spirit that leaned toward the creepy and weird. Nevertheless, the formula became an enormous success, briefly outselling the Topps Baseball card line in the 1970s. Like EC, the cards had beautiful artwork and smart puns, which appealed to kids and teenagers. This spirit has been a part of our Pop culture for over four decades, and arguably laid the groundwork for humour displayed in shows like Beavis and Butthead and The Simpsons.

In 2004, Topps relaunched the Wacky Packages series and have released a new edition every year since. Unfortunately, they don't seem of the same quality as the older series. Though, in February 2008, Topps will release the Wacky Packages Flashbacks series, featuring some of the more popular cards from years past.

Today, however, is the era of the Hollywood Zombies. These cards speak to our current trash tabloid, celebrity culture in a way that Wacky Packages can't, as their focus is on iconic personalities, rather than iconic products. The cards are brilliantly designed and the writing is hilarious. Like Wacky Packages, the images on the cards are painted, giving a sense of depth and quality to the cards.

On the front, the image of a zombie celebrity covers the entire card with a small logo in the top corner and a scary version of the icon's name like "Oprah Winfreak" and "Melt Gibson" written on the bottom, The back of the card contains a parody of an American news outlet like "Entertainment Freakly" and "The Hollyweird Reporter," or a tabloid website like "TMZombie." A headline and a satirical, zombie inspired write-up fill out the back of the card. Another small but significant detail that makes the cards particularly contemporary is the placement of the website address on the back.

Admittedly, to buy Wacky packages these days is an exercise in nostalgia, but to buy the Hollywood Zombies cards -- this pokes fun at the very heart of our MSN culture, engaging with the looming icons in our collective minds the world over. And in this respect, the cards are subversive. There's something about Tom Ooze, flesh rotting, jumping up and down on a casket, or Paris Hellton walking straight out of hell onto the red carpet that speaks to today's individuals who are incessantly force fed our celebrity culture. Thanks to the Hollywood Zombies cards, the tables have been turned. We morbidly enjoy the decrepit celebrity corpses dangling in horror, bodies falling to pieces, after having been endlessly paraded in front of our eyes in grocery store lineups and the ever pervasive mass media.

Like EC and Wacky Packages, the Hollywood Zombies trading cards are quality. The ghoulish artwork is both risque in content and well crafted technically, while the writing cuts deep and is genuinely funny. Importantly, the cards are priced reasonably, retailing for about $2-3 for a pack of 7 cards. It's great to see a resurgence of a great American tradition that can be appreciated from Baghdad to Shanghai and the world over.

His recent project, One Man Spaceship, is another example of how Mills is able to produce techno that sounds as contemporary in 2007 as it did in the eary 90s, unlike many other techno artists who seem to be stuck in the previous decade. Going to the club these days often often feels like a rehash of the 1990s, which, in my opinion, counteracts the whole futuristic vision of techno music.

On his website, Mills describes the concept of the One Man Spaceship in his trademark cryptic writing style:

The "One Man Spaceship" project pays tribute to people who exceed beyond what is expected of them or of the normal and predicatable way. One Man Spaceship observes the art of barrier-breaking and the deep solitude of transgressions into unknown and uncharted territories.

In this process, it is common to distance and lose those that are nearest and dearest to you. It is a special isolation that develops due to the extreme focus on a ideology and perspective. This sacrifice is sometimes necessary as the objective is larger than life itself.

The hauntingly alien melodies and innovative rhythms of the album make this one of Mills' best efforts of a long list of great albums in a distinguished career as a DJ and musician, one truly worthy of the year 2006 when it was released. Brilliant energetic tracks mix with subtle ambient ones that displays Mills' mastery of his art as well as a brave naivete that have come to be the hallmark of the Modern of the last 100 years as seen in Warhol, Dali, Ballard and Burroughs. It is an artwork that represents more a vision than an album, engaging in as much poetry as one would find in any painting of the last 10 years.

It is Mills' innovations as a musician and DJ that have helped contribute to the notion of DJing as a legitimate art form which can be thought alongside of the experience of visual art. Interestingly, techno, like Pop art, has the ability to share that precious space that great artists have sought to occupy where the sophistication of the avant-garde fuses with mainstream accessibility. In interviews, Mills has long argued the point that DJs be considered in this regard.

It's not easy being futuristic these days with our iPhones and technological wealth, but Mills has managed to achieve this once again, demonstrating how techno, still, can be as relevant as anything one would confront in a modern day art gallery. Matter of fact, chances are one would be more affected listening to Mills.

Limbaugh's success is in large part due to his inspired sense of humor, based on what he calls illustrating absurdity. Many of his classic criticisms of the American Left can be seen in Chris Hiers exceptionally brilliant painting on the cover of June's Limbaugh Letter, a 16-page glossy magazine that is available by subscription from Rush Limbaugh's website.

The setting of the painting is on a beach with a muscular Rush Limbaugh acting as the lifeguard, looking down with introspective contempt at prominent Democrat politicians portrayed in various forms of baffoonery. Nancy Pelosi, wearing what's supposed to be a peace sign on her t-shirt but is actually a Mercedes sign, -- represents the morally indignant, yet intellectually bankrupt leftist who has good intentions, but really doesn't have a clue. Hilariously, she is also wearing the American flag in the form of a towel, with the stars and stripes covering her behind, meant to signify the unpatriotic, anti-Americanism that Limbaugh often identifies with the Left.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, wearing a tie-dyed t-shirt, kicks sand into the face of the statue of liberty. To add to the callousness of the act, he is looking off in another direction, lacking awareness as he holds a trivial looking conversation with Nancy Pelosi.

In the background in their satellite van lurk the Drive-By Media, which, if looked at closely enough, are spreading a hail of bullets into the water towards the horizon. The beach umbrella on the the right, marked with the logos of the major network and cable news channels, is placed nearby to show the collusion of the so-called "Drive-Bys" with the Democratic Party, a charge Limbaugh often makes of the "liberally-biased" media.

In the foreground, an infantile looking Barack Obama hugs a sand castle replica of the White House, which Hilary Clinton cunningly sculpts with the look of an all knowing matriarch. John Edwards, whom Rush cruelly refers to as "the Breck Girl," looks on longingly at the power he so desperately craves fall through his hands with an anxious and unsettling smile. Written in the sand nearby is what Limbaugh claims is the Left's mantra, "Bush Lied," with two feet nearby absurdly sticking out of the sand.

Last, but not least, is "Algore," buried up to his neck in the sand, looking smugly at the viewer of the painting, a personification of the stereotypical arrogant liberal, knowing better than everyone else. Symbolically, he is placed directly underneath Limbaugh's lifeguard chair almost as if he's plugging the toilet upon which Rush sits.

Whatever your political stripe may be, one has to give credit to Limbaugh for single handedly creating an absurd idiom of the Left. Chris Hiers should also be congratulated for so brilliantly portraying Limbaugh's humor in visual terms. Of particular quality is the composition, the facial expressions and body language of the portrayed personalities -- one is tempted to call him a modern day Hogarth. To say the left has a lot of catching up to do would be an understatement.

In all of his interviews, conversations and fiction, as in these two collections, Ballard’s main preoccupation is with the present. What distinguishes Ballard’s commentary is his focus on the underlying narratives at work in everyday life, whether he is interpreting a traffic light or 9/11. As a young man, he was a voracious reader of Sigmund Freud and for a while considered becoming a psychoanalyst, studying medicine for 2 years at Cambridge. His output spans half a century and includes over 25 novels and short story collections. The precision, creativity and acuity of his cultural commentary have few parallels, ranking alongside that of American critic Camille Paglia.

Because Ballard’s narrative tone is often speculative in nature, Quotes uses material from both his fiction and non-fiction, while J.G. Ballard Conversations is a collection of rare and recent interviews that elaborate on many of the themes found in Quotes, which range from politics and terrorism to the visual arts, economics and science. As usual, Ballard demonstrates that he is a man who is deeply engaged with the world he lives in as well as the debates of our time. But perhaps more than anything, these books record the thoughts of one of the world’s most exotic intellects.

As a Surrealist, Ballard uses disparate references in new contexts as a means of penetrating to the underlying narratives of society. The following excerpts taken from RE/Search Publications recently released J.G. Ballard Quotes and J.G. Ballard Conversations are an overview of how Ballard sees the world and where it is going:

People seem to enjoy being infantilized. The future before us is a nightmare marriage between Microsoft and the Disney Company, the most juvenile fantasies brought to us by the most advanced communications technology.

In the UK newspaper The Independent, Ballard examines the more subtle aspects of societal control in the 21st century:

No longer will it be Orwell’s vision of a boot stamping on a human face. We’ll have something highly subservient and ingratiating, where the tyranny is imposed for our own good … The New Totalitarians come forward, smiling obsequiously like headwaiters in third-rate Indian restaurants, and assuring us that everything is for our benefit … So one gets this smiling tyranny, which is something my characters rebel against.

A quote from 1997 anticipates the increasing influence of government on peoples’ lives and the paranoid results:

In a sense we’re policing ourselves and that’s the ultimate police state, where people are terrified of challenge.

Of particular interest are Ballard’s reflections on 9/11 and its aftermath. Far from being a rehash on a subject where everything has been said, Ballard offers some unique insights into the nature of the attack as well as of the post-9/11 world in general. When asked his opinion on the event, Ballard is careful to mention that he has been a “lifelong admirer of the U.S.” presenting only “one European’s perspective on it.” Characteristically, he analyzes the events in psychological terms:

11 September, in addition to the enormous human tragedy, was a raid on the collective unconscious of the Western mind.

The psychology of the hijackers themselves is also scrutinized:

What is so disturbing about the 9-11 hijackers is that they had not spent the previous years squatting in the dust of some Afghan hillside with a rusty Kalashnikov. These were highly educated engineers and architects who had spent years sitting around in shopping malls in Hamburg and London, drinking coffee and listening to their muzak.

In an interview, Ballard discussed the emotional reaction of the event and how it has marked a general shift towards the irrational, which he believes has been taking place for several years now:

There’s a sense that, not only the United States in particular, but all over the world there’s a move towards the irrational. You see this in the racist political groupings you find in Eastern Europe now, and in a country like France, for example. Instead of appealing to the reasonableness in men and women, there’s an open appeal to the unreasonable, to the irrational. And it’s devastatingly successful.

This is of particular concern to Ballard, as he believes that it was the appeal to psychopathic strains in the unconscious which enabled the rise of Hitler’s Nazi Germany:

They worshipped him as you would worship a religious leader—faith alone was enough! Even as the walls came tumbling down and disaster was on all sides in 1945, they still believed ... because belief was what had sustained them from the beginning—not reason.

A character in his 2003 novel Millennium People describes how

A titanic battle is about to begin, a Darwinian struggle between competing psychopathies. Everything is on sale now—even the human soul has a barcode.

In Ballard's 1996 novel Rushing to Paradise another declares:

Science and reason have had their day; their place is in the museum.

From the outset of his career, Ballard has acknowledged the influence of the visual arts on his work, particularly that of the Surrealists. His essay “The Art of Salvador Dali” is arguably the best summation to date of Dali’s work and its relevance. He attended the first Pop art show at the Tate gallery in London in 1956, and viewed the science fiction short story as the literary equivalent to the Pop art painting. Ballard’s expresses his appreciation of the visual arts in a 2003 interview:

I didn’t see exhibitions of Francis Bacon, Max Ernst, Magritte and Dali as displays of paintings. I saw them as among the most radical statements of the imagination ever made, on a par with radical discoveries in neuroscience or nuclear physics.

His commentary on today’s English artists is striking:

I see the young British artists of the past ten years or so from a different perspective. They find themselves in a world totally dominated by advertising, by a corrupt politics carried out as a branch of advertising, and by a reality that is a total fiction controlled by manufacturers, PR firms, and vast entertainment and media corporations. Nothing is real, everything is fake. Bizarrely, most people like it that way. So in their installations and concept works the young artists are rebelling against this all-dominant adman’s media-landscape. They are trying to establish a new truth about what an unmade bed is, what a dead animal is, and so on. Our mistake is to judge them by aesthetic criteria.

The relationship between art and media has long fascinated Ballard. His novel Crash can be viewed as the literary response to Warhol’s Disaster paintings, and there is a general Pop spirit in his work, fusing the Avant-Garde pronouncement with an accessible writing style. Today, he sees the mass media as having fused with Pop art:

The mass media have turned the world into a World of Pop Art. From JFK’s assassination to the war in Iraq, everything is perceived as Pop Art. Nothing is true. Nothing is untrue.

In the tradition of the Surrealists, Ballard believes that it is up to the imagination to remake reality in a way that gives it meaning, and as such, sees this as art’s primary function:

Art exists because reality in neither real nor significant.

So what is Ballard’s prescription for the society he has examined?

One has to immerse oneself in the threatening possibilities offered by modern science and technology, and try to swim to the other end of the pool.

Both books are beautifully bound with the usual high standards associated with RE/Search Publications. V.Vale, a pioneer of self-publishing in the West, began his foray into publishing on a $100 investment from Allan Ginsberg in 1977 while working for City Lights bookstore in San Francisco. Vale’s unique library has since provided an anthropologist’s journey and collection through the countercultural movement from Modern Primitives to The Industrial Culture Handbook. In many ways, more than anyone else, Vale has pointed out the web of influence that exists between Punk and New Wave – embodied in bands like Joy Division and Devo – and writers such as William Burroughs and J.G. Ballard. J.G. Ballard Quotes and Conversations as well as the historic back catalog of RE/Search publications are available from Vale’s website.