In the cut

Good piece in The Guardian today about how Genesis P-Orridge rescued a bunch of Brion Gysin and William Burroughs' cut up movies from a skip in Soho, London. The piece also suggests they are now available on DVD though the screenedgesite only lists a VHS version at present.
It's interesting to note how the techniques invented by experimental artists such as Gysin, Burroughs and Kenneth Anger have been completely assimilated into mainstream culture. In an interview in the current issue of The Wire, Anger bemoans the wholesale plagiarism of his work by MTV directors. And yet, 30 years ago the idea that the whole planet would be tuned in to abstracted, fast cut collages would have been a fantasy worthy of Burroughs himself.

New Boredoms album

In the long and complex history of Japanese Underground music The Boredoms can stake a claim to one of the longest and most complicated histories of them all. In fact, for some years now there has been doubt as to whether they actually existed at all with members going their seperate ways and Yamatasuke Eye fronting the mantric-krautrock-shuddering drumfest that is Vooredoms. The latter playing at The Arches in Glasgow last year features prominently in my personal top gigs ever list. However, Pitchfork has this, more than just hearsay, piece on what looks like a forthcoming new release by the full scale Boredoms line up. Jehovah be praised! you may wish to sing to the heavens. It's been some years since the amazing SuperAE and the frankly monsterous VisionCreationNewsun discs. If those are anything to go by, expect something along the lines of fundamentally life changing...

TouchGraph GoogleBrowser V1.01

Now here's a cool thing. Ever wish you could visualise the relationships between websites? TouchGraph does it with a Java application. Enter a url and gasp as it's links are displayed as a shifting lattice of relational points. You can then run associated google searches from the points and have them displayed in the same way. Only downside is you can't use it to navigate. This reminds me a lot of Ted Nelson's vision of a Hypertext 'docuverse'.

Information as art!

Infernal Affairs

I've got to say, the Infernal Affairs films are the best Asian movie sequence I've seen in a long time. I really liked the original, which came out in the UK earlier this year, and I was hoping they hadn't blown it (as so often happens in the east) with the obligatory sequel.

The first was a tight, complex thriller, slickly shot with an intense narrative. Apart from a slightly convoluted plot the only let down was the way it was marketed as a John Woo style bullet ballet. In fact the action was used sparingly to punctuate the increasingly tense story and those looking for an actioner in the style of Hard Boiled would have come away disappointed. This is a shame as Infernal Affairs is a sophisticated piece of work.

Thankfully the sequel doesn't let the original down. In actual fact Infernal Affairs II is bewilderingly more complex and retains a terrific hair trigger tension throughout. I'll leave the plot details to the links but suffice to say, it's gripping stuff, beautifully shot and well paced. Critics are talking about these in terms of being the Asian Godfather trilogy. I hope the forthcoming third one lives up to that because the first two are certainly heading that way.

Hayseed Dixie

I was in the Rough Trade shop in Covent Garden yesterday (buying the fantastic Lucifer Rising soundtrack of which more anon). On the shop system they were playing a side splittingly funny album of AC/DC covers done by a bluegrass band. At first I thought it was Eugene Chadbourne taking the piss but it's serious enough. I forgot the disc but I'm pretty sure the band was Hayseed Dixie . Mercifully they have samples up there so you can hear their mirth making versions of Back in Black and Hell's Bells. Don't get me wrong, they're great it really works but in a Rolf Harris does Stairway to Heaven style. Best news is they're coming to the UK this month...