Ode to Anthony

One of my favourite singers and artists of all times might just be Antony Hegarty. Part of the group Antonty and the Johnsons. There is much to say about this man, his character and persona. Aside from stating the obvious, that his art is coloured by him being queer and sympathetic to transgendered ideas, he is quite the opposite of a simplistic character and artist.

That's probably what I like the most about him.

Perhaps he is mostly recognised by his seminal duet with 80's pop figure Boy George, but although You are my sister is a very beautiful portrayal of family love, the same album that saw that song also had songs about emotional abuse, all layered around deep anti-modernistic themes of spirituality. No wonder he attracted the attention of outsider art promoter and musician David Tibet, who released Anthonys first album through his own record label. This song below is not from that time though, but rather part of one of Hegarty's later albums, where he has matured into a artist of rare emotional impact.


The above video is very much open to interpretation. Not unlike his lyricism. To my eyes it's clearly about death. The time of tragedy and staunch opposition of the inevitable fact. The time where we see a complete absence of comfort. The words are mournful. What comes in the hereafter?

The second video I'd like to include in this very short blog-post is at least is a very strong combination of pagan and Christian imagery. It does however contain some nudity and the dance might be interpreted in a sexual way, which is enough to grant it a 18-year old recommendation by Youtube. If you ask me there is a whole lot of more destructive and violent videos out there that I'd rather not younger audiences see, which makes this danceful portrayal of nudity pale in comparison. I partially believe that the numbing pro-consumer culture is making us afraid the impact of art, the more mundane explanation though is that you can see a woman’s nipples (sort of).


To understand more about this man, one might want to read this interview in The Guardian from 2009. I like how he seems sincere and genuinely upset about what we are doing to the environment. Like we should all be. Judging by our inability to change our way of life into a more green and sustainable way of living, I believe that voices such as his are very much needed in the years to come.

I'm on the Tube

Apparantly my song 12 O' Clock is now out on Youtube. Such a nice surprise. I feel honored, so I decided it would be perfect for this blog too. The user Lemonodo seem to have taken it to him to create lots of these kinds of videos to songs issued under a Creative Commons license, there's plenty more to watch via his profile. Joy!

Techno Homelessness

More of the style of music I tend to listen to nowadays. This time Copenhagen duo Lulu Rouge with their video for Bless you, released in 2008. I didn't see it until the other day, and safe to say: I was blown away by their artistic vision. I immediately found someone on Discogs who sold the album, and got him to ship it to Sweden.

The video in question centers around a young homeless boy whose situation is despited in an unnamed metropolitan city. It is not for the faint of heart. But seeing how much culture has become numbing and basically for entertainment purposes only: I believe that we need more videos such as this one. This is everything but panem et circenses / bread and circuses.

Hobby Industries

There's a lot of hobbyists who create their own music videos of other artist's works. Searching Youtube or Vimeo gives you a lot of these videos. This whole DIY cultural phenomena is quite fascinating to my mind. I was actually happy to see some of my own songs out out on Youtube, one of which someone took the time to create a collection of images to go with.

Here are two of hobby created favorite music videos for the moment being. The first being a documentary images from National Geographics to go with Extrawelt's remix of Minilouges The Leopard. The other being Kollektiv Turmstraße's song Tristesse mixed with one of the short stories of Disney's Fantasia 2000.

Nine minutes and forty-four seconds

If there there is a song I adore in all its simplicity it is Ame's techno classic Rej. I blogged about it before while writing something about the primitiveness of techno. Fortunatly there are two reinterpretations on the original theme, one which is even better then the original. German (super)band Sonar Kollektiv Orchester outdid themselves when they recorded this take on Rej. Available for purchase on the german label aptly titled Sonar kollektiv as well.

So enjoy the ride which stretches for 9 minutes and 44 seconds.

Animating the Sand

This performance is captured from the tv-show Ukraine's Got Talent. The portrayed artist Kseniya Simonova art is something called Sand animation. When I saw this I was speachless. Needless to say she went on to win tv-show in question - personally I hope that her art will continue to blossom for many years.

Entering Vindelkroken

Mining for minerals and ore in a natural reserve. Taste the words and reflect upon that notion for a short while. This is what mining company Blackstone Ventures wants and has acquired prospecting rights to, in the northernmost parts of Sweden. They will soon start to drill for minerals near the Sapmi summer village Vindelkroken.

If you wish: watch this short video created by independent documentary creator Stéphane Lombard.

The legalities are complicated and I have read about the company using juricial loopholes to be able to prospect the area, but no matter the legal sides and turnabouts, I really hope that they will not be able to continue this project.

Syterskalet - Used here under a Creative Commons license, originally from Wikipedia.

I am not alone in this notion. Communities of people with Sapmi background and culture, being an indigenous culture which inhabits the northern part of Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia, are largely against mining in their traditional area of living.

Parts of the Sampi's historical way of making a living for themselves has been trough herding reindeer's. There are claims being made that mining would disrupt the animals natural habitat and also change what has this far been left untouched.

I am writing this because I think it's shady at best to start industrial projects in natural reserves, there is something I believe that many people would recognize as wrong on a very fundamental level.

I also believe that values which includes a support of biological diversity and the preservation of the beauty of the natural habitat needs to be strengthened, so that there is a balance between industrialization and biological sustainability.

Song of the Day

Amy Winehouse - Love Is A Losing Game lyrics

Amy Winehouse - Love is a Loosing Game
So true.

Daft Skills