En écho, à mon top 5 laissé chez Oedipe Puprle, j'ai demandé à mes coups de coeur de l'année qu'ils me donnent leurs propres top 1 :
"Played this to death at the beginning of this year - Sounds like Ray
Keith and Autechre met in a car in Salford and made some tracks on their
iPhone..."
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Pete Swanson :
"While I have yet to hear the entire album, I'm certain that my favorite album of 2012 is going to be Scott Walker's Bish Bosch. I'm a huge fan of his work, and I appreciate that his music is based predominantly on bringing his avant-garde poetry into this enhanced sonic/cinematic/sensual realm. Being that I haven't had any time to sit with the album, and have only heard a few tracks, I'd like to suggest a reissued LP from 2012 that I've particularly enjoyed. The Seasons LP by The BBC Drama Workshop (more specifically David Cain's tape compositions and Ronald Duncan's poetry) is a fascinating album to be reissued at all. The record was created for use in classrooms to instruct children about the different months and changes in season and was backed by a composer from the BBC radiophonic workshop, who were masters at straddling the line between pop, commercial sounds and pure experimentation. On this album, the stern recitation of poetry is backed by alien tape manipulation that sounds like more traditional British folk music has been bent and twisted into new forms. The oddness of the sound is in conflict with the directness of the voice. The artists provide an aesthetically difficult piece of work to serve a functional purpose in a child's classroom. The sound is simultaneously futuristic and ancient. In 2012, the album recalls a latter era Shadow Ring in much simpler times with much more functional intent. I have no idea if this record was successful at it's intended purpose, but I find the music to be extremely rewarding.
It's a great record.. I was torn between that album and the Akos Rozmann reissue on Ideologic Organ.. both are GOOOOOOOOD.. As with foreign language records always are, I'm not sure how well the album will translate to you..... could be better or worse.. I recently had the pleasure of forcing a Catherine Ribeiro LP on one of my french friends and he was like... "You're so lucky you don't understand the lyrics.. they're extremely stupid.. but the music is very good.."
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Kalev Erickson from Archive of Modern Conflict :
"Christina de Middel’s The Afronauts is a popular choice having
already made the shortlist for the Aperture Foundation First PhotoBook
Awards during Paris Photo, and receiving the most votes from PhotoEye’s
Best Book list of 2012. I think its fair to say there has been more than
a little buzz around the book since its publication, and I was lucky
enough to get my copy in Arles this summer for it is now sold out.
Comprising of 43 pictures, typed letters and illustrations, The Afronauts recounts the story of a Zambian attempt to put 10 men, a woman and two cats on the moon in 1965. Fantastically designed throughout the book comes held together by a large elastic band, a possible final reference to the validity of a potential Zambian spacecraft?
The first letter provides the context to the story, a Mr. Edward Makuka Nkoloso, Director of the Zambia National Academy of Space Research claims “America and Russia may loose the race to the moon”. He continues to describe further details about his launch system and astronaut training methods, such as rolling down a hill in an oil drum. There is also reference to the request made to the U.N. by Mr. Nkoloso and the Z.N.A.S.R. for seven hundred million pounds to fund his fledgling space program, stating the ‘prestige’ it would provide his fledgling country. A subsequent letter in the book later states the project has ‘died a natural death’, confirming the space program never actually amounted to anything more than a pipe dream.
The photographs themselves are predominantly in colour and comprise of a square format with rounded corners, this gives a sense of nostalgia akin to the Kodachrome. Inserted also are what appear to be black and white archival press images shown full bleed, the fore mentioned typed letters and the illustrations, the first of which shows the annotated design of the N.S.A.S.R. spacesuit. All the illustrations are printed on incredibly tactile and translucent paper.
Cristina de Middel’s
photographs range from the subtle and suggestive – a possible footprint
in left in the dirt? Potential galaxies represented by the remains of
squished mosquitoes on a blue wall, to the quite literal – a
stereotypical alien appears subject to an autopsy. Her photographs are
playful and have an effeminate quality rarely afforded to such a macho
and masculine subject as space travel, where wonderfully colourful
African print space suits adorn man and cat alike. One of my favourite
images features a cat equipped with spacesuit apparently in zero G
training, but it is the collective quality of all the images that really
appeals to me, and the fantastic story itself. There is a sense of
honesty found within the deception, where I am reminded of my own
childhood dreams of wanting to be an astronaut.
Comparisons may be drawn to the work of Joan Fontcuberta, in particular the Sputnik series (1997) where evidence was fabricated that the Soyuz 2 spacecraft was crewed by cosmonaut Ivan Istochnikov. However The Afronauts does not attempt to directly deceive, instead it appears to be about storytelling and the recounting and embellishment involved in the process, we view the story courtesy of the imagination of the author while encouraged to use our own to be complicit."
"Christina de Middel’s The Afronauts is a popular choice having
already made the shortlist for the Aperture Foundation First PhotoBook
Awards during Paris Photo, and receiving the most votes from PhotoEye’s
Best Book list of 2012. I think its fair to say there has been more than
a little buzz around the book since its publication, and I was lucky
enough to get my copy in Arles this summer for it is now sold out. Comprising of 43 pictures, typed letters and illustrations, The Afronauts recounts the story of a Zambian attempt to put 10 men, a woman and two cats on the moon in 1965. Fantastically designed throughout the book comes held together by a large elastic band, a possible final reference to the validity of a potential Zambian spacecraft?
The first letter provides the context to the story, a Mr. Edward Makuka Nkoloso, Director of the Zambia National Academy of Space Research claims “America and Russia may loose the race to the moon”. He continues to describe further details about his launch system and astronaut training methods, such as rolling down a hill in an oil drum. There is also reference to the request made to the U.N. by Mr. Nkoloso and the Z.N.A.S.R. for seven hundred million pounds to fund his fledgling space program, stating the ‘prestige’ it would provide his fledgling country. A subsequent letter in the book later states the project has ‘died a natural death’, confirming the space program never actually amounted to anything more than a pipe dream.
The photographs themselves are predominantly in colour and comprise of a square format with rounded corners, this gives a sense of nostalgia akin to the Kodachrome. Inserted also are what appear to be black and white archival press images shown full bleed, the fore mentioned typed letters and the illustrations, the first of which shows the annotated design of the N.S.A.S.R. spacesuit. All the illustrations are printed on incredibly tactile and translucent paper.
Cristina de Middel’s
photographs range from the subtle and suggestive – a possible footprint
in left in the dirt? Potential galaxies represented by the remains of
squished mosquitoes on a blue wall, to the quite literal – a
stereotypical alien appears subject to an autopsy. Her photographs are
playful and have an effeminate quality rarely afforded to such a macho
and masculine subject as space travel, where wonderfully colourful
African print space suits adorn man and cat alike. One of my favourite
images features a cat equipped with spacesuit apparently in zero G
training, but it is the collective quality of all the images that really
appeals to me, and the fantastic story itself. There is a sense of
honesty found within the deception, where I am reminded of my own
childhood dreams of wanting to be an astronaut. Comparisons may be drawn to the work of Joan Fontcuberta, in particular the Sputnik series (1997) where evidence was fabricated that the Soyuz 2 spacecraft was crewed by cosmonaut Ivan Istochnikov. However The Afronauts does not attempt to directly deceive, instead it appears to be about storytelling and the recounting and embellishment involved in the process, we view the story courtesy of the imagination of the author while encouraged to use our own to be complicit."
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Eric Vieljeux, boss de 13e Note Éditions :
"Vous savez peut-être que l'on est fana d'un genre à la croisée de l'investigation journalistique et du reportage d'une certaine qualité littéraire à objectif parfois contestataire.
A travers Hunter S. Thompson, qui l'a partiellement incarné, le genre gonzo a été vulgarisé. Charles Bowden, Mike Sager, Evan Wright et Mark Bowden sont des auteurs géniaux qui ecrivent dans cet esprit et savent raconter une histoire.
Alors pour répondre à votre question, parce que j'ai vraiment pris la mesure de son travail après sa mort survenue en décembre 2011, j'aimerais citer Christopher Hitchens, "Hitch", pour l'ensemble de son travail formidable, argumenté, remarquablement écrit, plein d'esprit et on ne peut plus polémique. Et bien sûr trop peu connu en France. Il était temps de déboulonner Kissinger et Mère Théresa entre autre, emblématiques d'une majorité bien pensante, et de lever le voile sur des évènements importants qui ne se sont jamais passés comme on nous l'a laissé entendre, le massacre des Kurdes, Chypre, Timor, le Chili, le Vietnam etc. Enfin d' aborder d'une voix neuve sans concession aucune la religion, Dieu ou la mort, thèmes récurrents de notre société."
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Zoé Beausire :
"J'ai découvert Maja Forsslund lors du mois de la photo à Berlin, elle avait une expo chez Kominek. Je trouve sa série AKT très belle, ces corps sortis de leur contexte deviennent totalement surréalistes. On ne sait plus où se situer. Sommes-nous en présence de références à la peinture classique, en face d'une scène de théâtre ou assistons-nous à d'étranges scènes domestiques à la dramaturgie exacerbée ?"
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Eric Vieljeux, boss de 13e Note Éditions :
"Vous savez peut-être que l'on est fana d'un genre à la croisée de l'investigation journalistique et du reportage d'une certaine qualité littéraire à objectif parfois contestataire.
A travers Hunter S. Thompson, qui l'a partiellement incarné, le genre gonzo a été vulgarisé. Charles Bowden, Mike Sager, Evan Wright et Mark Bowden sont des auteurs géniaux qui ecrivent dans cet esprit et savent raconter une histoire.
Alors pour répondre à votre question, parce que j'ai vraiment pris la mesure de son travail après sa mort survenue en décembre 2011, j'aimerais citer Christopher Hitchens, "Hitch", pour l'ensemble de son travail formidable, argumenté, remarquablement écrit, plein d'esprit et on ne peut plus polémique. Et bien sûr trop peu connu en France. Il était temps de déboulonner Kissinger et Mère Théresa entre autre, emblématiques d'une majorité bien pensante, et de lever le voile sur des évènements importants qui ne se sont jamais passés comme on nous l'a laissé entendre, le massacre des Kurdes, Chypre, Timor, le Chili, le Vietnam etc. Enfin d' aborder d'une voix neuve sans concession aucune la religion, Dieu ou la mort, thèmes récurrents de notre société."
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Zoé Beausire :
"J'ai découvert Maja Forsslund lors du mois de la photo à Berlin, elle avait une expo chez Kominek. Je trouve sa série AKT très belle, ces corps sortis de leur contexte deviennent totalement surréalistes. On ne sait plus où se situer. Sommes-nous en présence de références à la peinture classique, en face d'une scène de théâtre ou assistons-nous à d'étranges scènes domestiques à la dramaturgie exacerbée ?"
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Kid606 :
"Fav book I read is A Heart Blown Open the true story of one of the
biggest LSD manufacturers in america who turned into a zen monk with
lots of amazing twists and turns in between, very humbling, bold and deeply honest hero's journey that I learned a lot from.
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DMX Krew :
"My favourite film this year was Holy Motors because it made me ask more questions than it gave me answers."
Super ces tops !
RépondreSupprimerMais t'as deja fais le tien sans attendre le nouveau burial ?
kaspar
j'ai bien fait de ne pas attendre.
SupprimerIl a bon goût ce Pete Swanson (i.e Scott Walker). D'ailleurs, je lui en ai parlé à Scott de Pete, lui indiquant que ce denier était un grand fan. SW était navré de ne pas connaître Yellow Swans et cette nouvelle génération de noisists... Ceci dit, il m'a dit qu'il mènerait l'enquête sur son vieil ordi en rentrant chez lui...
RépondreSupprimer