Raise your Flag !!

This was Björk, in Shanghai, shouting "Tibet, Tibet" in front of thousands of Chinese fans.



Newspapers write that she upset Chinese fans, that people fled the area, shocked by what she said. They should know better than always following those who are in power. Look at the video: people are singing with her, and writing that they did not understand her words - simply the word "TIBET" shouted three times at the end of Declare Independence is ridiculous.

Of course, only those who wanted to criticize her act were allowed to express their opinion in China. China is not the land of free speech. Think of Hu Jia, and many others.

First Japanese pics

Hmm, these are the first pics from my Japanese trip. It is some pics from two shows in Tokyo with local Japanese noise / post-rock / punk / hardcore bands. It was great !!

First look at some pics of Oh my God You've Gone:

or this one:


I bet you wish you were there too...

Japan noise

OK, I've not uploaded my Japanese pictures yet (hmm, maybe you don't care..).

Look at this gig video of the Japanese noise band Oh My God You've Gone:

I saw them at Tokyo Antiknock August 9. They're weird (but that's great).

The bassist really looks like a little girl. Her bass is almost bigger than herself, but don't dare to laugh, you should see her using it !! Dressed in white, her hair mostly covering her face, don't you think she looks a bit like Sadako ? Sorry no offense meant.

Like it ? OK, this one is even better:

Some news

Hmm, I haven't uploaded my pics from Japan yet, hope I will be able to do that before end of Week-end (this is the wedding of one of my best friends today...).

However, nice prospects for the upcoming months:

• Vorkreist + Blacklodge + Horna at Paris Le Nouveau Casino on September 8.


• Gallhammer in London on September 23.


• Gorgoroth with Akrhon Infaustus in Paris Locomotive on November 20.


• Unleashed in Paris Elysée Montmartre on December 2.

By the way, I was at the Rock en Seine Saint Cloud festival yesterday, and it was cool (and no rain, even if there was some mud). Best bands were (for me): Dinosaur Jr., Mogwai, The Hives, Emilie Simon, and UNKLE. Sorry, Arcade Fire was crap for me. As you can see I'm not only listening to metal and hardcore ;-)

Polysics & Shit and Shine

I was at the free Polysics show, two weeks ago during the Villette Sonique festival outdoors, in Paris La Villette. Just before them, that was Shit and Shine, four drummers (!!) and two bassists for a heavy metallic jam (this was not heavy metal in the traditional meaning of the term, but yes it was metallic and yes it was heavy).

You really should see Polysics on stage once, they are really crazy, they are between punk (Japanese, this is energy without the no future stanza, and without the safety pins), synth, videogames, and manga, all of that toppled by an everlasting energy !!! With their outfits, their attitude, and their looks, their gigs look also a bit as artistic performances (without the yawns).

I've shot a lot of pics of them, I just couldn't stop, I was at merely 10 cm from the stage and they fed me (and others) with their eccentric energy.

The whole set is here. I propose you look at them while hearing I My Me Mine, for example, to be in the mood (hum, this stuff could not be further apart from jazz).

Polysics again

For those of you who live in Paris or around, Polysics, the crazy Japanese Punk / Noise / Synth / whatever band will be in Paris next Sunday (approx. 19 h) during the Villette Sonique festival outdoors, in the Parc de la Villette. The show is free and will take place at the "Scene du Belvédère" (see here for the map).

Return of J-Pop

I decided to post this after having experienced some difficulty to behave in the subway this morning, while listening to Now Is The Time.

Yes, Polysics, the Japanese J-Pop are back here, and as crazy as ever. Enjoy (but don't click below if you have some heart disease, it could kill you).

And don't ask me to translate anything. Seriously, do you care ?

The decline of the corporate music industry ?

With a question mark, of course...

If you understand French, check this article on the well-known French newspaper Le Monde. The music industry (in short, the trust of Universal, Sony-BMG, EMI and Warner) is complaining about illegal downloading of music, and decline of sellings. But lets look at some facts :

• there are only 200 independent sellers in France, to compare with 550 in 2004


• Universal, Sony-BMG, EMI and Warner trust 80% of sellings, but only 20% of the references


• people still prefer to buy real CDs than to buy albums on the net (95% of musics sellings in 2006)

I can add to that bunch of facts that experience of small bands tell that the big companies don't care about making them grow, they want fast, hard cash.
Not forgetting Digital Rights Management, which ironically denies any rights to the listener about what he just bought. So maybe they get what they deserve.

But obviously, this is an old problem.


Don't you judge a book just by the cover
Unless you cover just another
And blind acceptance is a sign
Of stupid fools who stand in line

Like
EMI
EMI
EMI
Ha ha ha

Funnily, the Sex pistols were signed by EMI, who was the biggest label at this time, but were dropped 3 months later, because of their song Anarchy in the U.K....

J-Pop bubble-gum

Found on tony pierce blog, this is Polysics, a crazy energetic punk / J-Pop band.

Don't destroy the furniture by jumping everywhere, and don't tell me you also want to wear those ridiculous orange outfits, surely you know better...

The Desert Island Challenge

Shamelessly copying jimini, I also uploaded 24 album covers for the Desert Island Challenge on flickr.

OK, here is my list :

• Franck Black : Teenager of the Year. In my opinion, his best album as Franck Black, and maybe even better than his pixies albums (don't throw garbage at me, please...)


• Rachid Taha : Made in Medina


• Primal Scream : XTRMNTR


• Asian Dub Foundation : R.A.F.I


• PIL : Metal Box. With this, I don't have to add Never mind the Bollocks...)


• Miles Davis : Jack Johnson. Yes, I also like jazz music (or maybe Miles Davis music, who knows ?)


• Sonic Youth: Experimental Jet Set, trash and No Star


• Lou Reed : New York. The dark side, AIDS, Latino gangs, etc...


• The Beastie Boys : hello nasty

And now, some more extreme stuff :

• Ministry : Filth Pig. Fans tend to dislike this one, I don't know why...


• Lars frederiksen and the Bastards : Rancid leader remembers his early years (it is punk at its best)


• The Stooges : Fun House !!!!!!!!!!


• Cursed : One


• Slayer : Reign in Blood


• Atari Teenage Riot : 60 seconds Wipeout.


• Aes Dana : Formors. Excellent French Celtic Black Metal band


• Destroyer 666 : Phoenix Rising : Yes it is Death Metal, but if you hear it without preconceived ideas you will find that good Death metal is not about noise, but about music (OK, loud enough !!)


• Venom : Black Metal


• Unleashed : Where No Life Dwells


• Converge : You Fail Me


• Vorkreist : Sublimation XXIXa : Excellent French Death Metal band


• Satyricon : Now, Diabolical.


• Carpathian Forest : Fuck You All !!


• Helmet : Born Annoying

There are so many more albums I would have liked to put here, but there was only room for 24. I will still be able to blog about them.