I Love Soweto Campagin


So the young creative circle that comes around once a month, has joined hands and come up with the "I Love Soweto' campaign. Built on the same principles as the "You make Joburg Great" campaign but with less to no budget, this campaign is made to inspire the people of Soweto to take shape of this wonderful hood_burb of ours. The Rich history of this neighborhood is built in the trenches and is seen through the sweat and tears of it's inhabitants who differ in many ways. Not in many places around the world are you bound to see a cow's head (Iskopo) being sold next to a mall that has multinational food outlets like KFC.

This is just a small snippet of the campaign that has linked up a writer, photographer, models, fashion label, stylist and a DJ. These photo's were shot around Soweto on the weekend of the 27th of March and will be officially be launched at TSJS on the 4th of April 2010.






More Pictures and the whole story line will be made available via our flickr page soon.
Shot by Uviwe Mangweni, Styled by Nombulelo Dhlomo and Mangaliso Mbitsana and Modeled by Buli & Mangstar...

04 April 2010


This being the 17th installment of TSJS, we are proud to share with you the campaign that we doing for the year. "I Love Soweto" because it's filled with vibrant character's (that's my reason). This campaign is set to see more apparel coming out the store, more collaborations with artists including some poster art to be sold at the store. So what better place to launch it than at TSJS...

The Line up is crazy with two bands and a international MC gracing our MIC's... Big Daddy Mdoo makes a come back after his short yet dope set at the last session. Khumza and Wireless_G officially back on the decks.

Live Acts
Planet Lindela (Soul and eclectic sounds)
P2dahi (Hip Hop Mc from the US)
Motlatsi (Eclectic sounds with live band)

DJ line up:
Khumza
Big Daddy Mdoo
Wireless_G

Cover charge:
R20| without thesis gear
R15| with thesis gear

Time: 12h00 till late
Venue: Thesis Concept Store

PS: Food and drinks are sold inside and should you wish to bring your own, and extra fee will be charged at the door.

More information
thesissocialjam@gmail.com
011 982 1182

Flier designed by Linda "El Toro" Nkosi

Tolerance is not Acceptance.

Readers of this blog will not be surprised by the fact that I don't support the concept of "Gay Marriage". In fact I don't support female ordination, polygamy and a lot of other social novelties which men of a more saner age would have instantly rejected. Of course the usual charge levied at me by "sensible people" who are horrified at my views is that I'm intolerant.
Homosexuals and other groups pushing a social agenda frequently bandy the term around to censure anyone who opposes the desire to fully legalise whatever social innovation they are seeking.

The virtue of tolerance is the virtue of living with people whom you don't like or disagree with. Tolerance isn't liking what you don't like or agreeing with that which you don't agree; that is acceptance. Of course, with the social innovators, these people aren't seeking tolerance, what they're wanting is full acceptance of their behaviour under the guise of tolerance. If a man wants me to be tolerant of his behaviour he wants me to leave him in peace even though I find his behaviour objectionable. What the liberal mob wants when it calls for tolerance is for me to accept without question their system of belief.

Take for example Homophobia. Whether you agree with homosexuality or not, does a man have a right to be homophobic? Or a Racist? The opinion may be disagreeable but provided a man leaves others in peace, should he be censured for holding that opinion?

Liberals of course would argue that every man has a right to an opinion, but when given legislative power they effectively nullify that right, and the way they do this is through anti-discrimination laws. Now let me be perfectly clear, society is divided into the public and private spheres, and tolerance is a virtue of the public sphere. What the anti-discrimination laws do is encroach on the private sphere. A private businessman may not like homosexuals but he is compelled to employ them. Catholics are compelled to hire and enroll Muslims into their schools under the name of anti-discrimination. Freedom of speech is effectively nullified by "Hate speech" laws, which are ostensibly designed to promote tolerance but in reality, legal mechanisms to enforce group think as Geert Wilders found out. Now I don't like Geert Wilders, but what I really hate is how any criticism of Islam is immediately characterised by the liberalised Dutch political class as hate speech and pretext for punishing Mr Wilders.

Of course, not all hate speech is hate speech. Criticism of white men(Racism) is perfectly acceptable, criticism of Christianity, especially the Catholic Church is not hate crime, but walk into any Government organisation or Media outlet and say Homosexuality is wrong or hold racist opinions and suddenly the call to punish is proclaimed far and wide. Young Carrie Prejean learned this the hard way. When asked what she thought about same sex marriages she gave this reply:
Well I think it's great that Americans are able to choose one way or the other. We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage. And, you know what, in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman, no offense to anybody out there. But that’s how I was raised and I believe that it should be between a man and a woman.
Note, she was not calling for the gassing of gays, or their beating or their imprisonment, what she was saying in a free country where people can live as they please and I, Carrie, don't agree with that lifestyle.

Well the predictable happened--and it's predictable because it has happened so many times before--Ms Prejean was pilloried from pillar to post for holding an unacceptable opinion; not for acting inappropriately or for infringing anyones rights. The parties that most openly talk about tolerance are those who cannot tolerate anyone having an opinion that differs from their own, the whole liberal/multicultural/diversity industry rose as one voice condemning Ms Prejean. Liberal hypocrisy in action.

Tolerance is a public virtue which allows people with differing beliefs to share a common public life. It however implies a private sphere in which the individual has a right to be intolerant. It acknowledges the right to hold and freely express an opinion without censure from another. More importantly it demands from others the obligation to publicly tolerate the disagreeable. This of course is precisely what the "enthusiastic" Lefties do not want, they don't tolerate anyone who disagrees with their opinion. Under the threat of punishment, they want all of us to think a certain way, or more importantly, not to think at all.

Traditionalism and Conservatism: Old vs Right.

I've been engaged in a bit of a debate over at Oz Conservative. As I have mentioned previously, I feel that the traditional views of female sexuality are wrong and the evo-bio approach to the subject is closer to the truth( I say this with caveats, because I thing the evo-bio crowd aren't completely right either). I think a variety of forces have combined to "beta-ize" the modern male; the law, the economic structure of society, feminism, etc. But one of the other forces has been cultural, and one of the major influences on culture is tradition. Now it's true that modern Western society is profoundly different now than say one hundred years ago, but we still are the products of a lot of traditional cultural baggage. And one of those factors is the traditional view of female sexuality.

Commentator Expatriot made the following comment:

Growing up I was never exposed to the core truths of female psychology elucidated by Devlin and Roissy. I didn’t get them from family, I didn’t get them from school, I didn’t get them from the media and I certainly didn’t get them from the church. I learned the truth about women not from reading Roissy or anybody else, but in the school of hard knocks—very hard knocks.

I think a lot of men have had a similar experience, and a lot of the sympathy for the Roissy/Devlin view comes not from a misogynous nature but practical experience. Frequently it's not the knockbacks, but the success with women that re-enforce this view.

The Traditionalists find this view of female nature disturbing and deny its existence in the much the same way liberals thought-filter away inconvenient truths. Although two mortal enemies; the traditionalist and the liberals share the same intellectual pathology:They are closed to facts which they find disagreeable. These are not the thought processes of Conservatism.

Conservatism, first and foremost is about living in the truth and about being open to the truth, closed minds are not conservative. Now the liberals may argue that they too have open minds, but difference between Liberals and Conservatives are:

1) Liberals are only open to facts which they find agreeable.
2) By rejecting pertinent yet--ideologically repulsive facts--their policy and responses are ineffective and bear no relation to reality.

Take for example a favourite liberal cause: Condoms in the battle against AIDS.

Uganda is one of the few African countries to have recorded a decline in the rate of AIDS. It's program ABC-Abstinence, Being faithful, Condoms-- but with a big emphasis on the first and second points seems to have been remarkably successful despite the rest of Africa recording higher rates. Of course, to the liberal mind these results are "confusing" and "more research" needs to be done into the matter since this policy goes against the liberal shibboleth of sexual promiscuity. It's only confusing to a man who doesn't want to see. Screwing around with less people means less risk of infection. That's logic, not ideology. But in the presence of overriding ideology: Logic be damned.

Traditionalists likewise share a similar thought process. The old ways were the best the new ways are simply wrong, end of story. Facts which were inconvenient with the Traditionalist vision were simply ignored. It's this attitude which probably explains the inability to defeat liberalism culturally. Traditionalists prefer to live in the past rather than the real world: Life is lived in the real world. Traditionalistc share some of the views of Conservatives but do so with the thought processes of Liberals.

I'm not saying the Traditionalists are completely wrong. A lot of traditionalism is worth supporting because it's right, but what Traditionalists need to recognise is that our forefathers did not have all the answers and based the order of their societies on the information available, changing their minds according to changed facts; at the same time incorporating the knowledge of the past where it didn't contradict : They had intellectual flexibility and open minds, something traditionalists in general aren't known for.

It's my opinion that the conservative movement needs to treat Game as a serious phenomena. Game does not need to be anti-family or anti-Christian. Athol Key's site gives us a glimpse into how such a synthesis could be made.(He is not Christian and I don't agree with all his points, but hey, at least He's thinking).

It's my belief that Game and its insights will eventually be part of a Conservative revival, despite the opposition to the Traditionalists. Why? Because it remasculates men and provides a antidote to the poison of Feminism. Game is not the answer to all of Liberalism's ills, only part. Liberalism is a hydra and Game affective against only one of its heads.

Who Would Have Guessed.........

Turns out that Phil Jones(of shonky climate "science" fame) wasn't really that different after all........(Hat tip, Watts Up With That)

Reminds me of my previous post.

Beta Movie.

Ok, let's set the scene.

The guy carrying the tree is our nice guy.

The girl in the hospital bed has just had an abortion. Her bad-boy boyfriend, who knocked her up, left her when he found out she was pregnant. Nice Guy, who had secret crush on the girl, came to her aid and hocked his prize possessions--which he slaved to get in the first place--to pay for the abortion.......

It's like watching a train crash.




It was a cheesy movie, but it really deserves more commentary in the conserve-o-sphere.

"Alternative Lifestyles"

A great article in the New Republic. Read it here.
Dalrymple says pretty much the same thing.

Dalrymple speculates as to why people take drugs(do dumb things):
....In other words, whatever caused them to commit crimes in all probability caused them also to take heroin: perhaps an adversarial stance to the world caused by the emotional, spiritual, cultural and intellectual vacuity of their lives.
That last bit is probably pertinent to the previous post

Tupac?

In Case You're Wondering.................

On the charges frequently thrown at conservatives is that their choices in life are a product of preference or an inability to see another's point of view. Many of the liberal Left are convinced that we just "don't get it" and that deficiencies of intellect or character are what give a man a conservative point of view.

This may be the case for some conservatives, but not me. Whilst I've always found the intellectual underpinnings that form the foundation of the left wing view of the world pathetically weak, some of them do resonate. For instance, though I know it is wrong, atheism is attractive. Also, the allure of Hedonism is also quite compelling. If I were to describe my "natural default mode" it would be that a of highly cynical skeptical hedonist; someone perhaps "harder" are more opportunistic than Roissy.

When you combine "the faith" with that type of mindset what you get is a fair amount of questioning and doubt. In my early days of proper religion, I'd often wonder if I made the right choice, or if the people who lived the libertine care free existence were actually having more fun than I was. The pleasure of the libertines was self evident as the barrenness of my ascetic existence. Religion in University was not "joyous", in fact it was lack of joyous. A man who wants to live the Religion gives up a lot; and it's a lot to give up when the arguments at the time are purely intellectual, the pleasures of the flesh real. I'm convinced that God has a sense of humour. Giving a man religion whilst in an ocean of nubile females has more the quality of a comedic act rather than a serious test of character by a humorless examiner.

I think it was Blake who said "Oh Gallilean, the world has gone pale with thy breath". This snippet, which I picked up in Chesterton, resonated powerfully with me; especially in university. In the world of my young adulthood I often felt that I was a member of the boring team. The lefties were having more fun than I was. Being good was no fun.

This sentiment of mine gradually became dispelled as I practiced medicine and came into contact with people from different walks of life. Doing some back of envelope calculations, I imagine that I have had approximately one hundred thousand consultations with patients in my clinical career. That much contact certainly does leave impressions, impression which over time have strengthened my view of my religion and disabused me of any illusions of who was having more fun. It was the lefties who straightened my belief in God.

Some things I've observed in my clinical practice over the years:

1) For all their freedom from social constraints, lefties actually seem less happy than conservatives. This is not my opinion, this is something I have observed. It's something I continue to observe and one of the biggest proofs that their world view is wrong and personally unappealing. People who are miserable always hope that a change in circumstance will improve their lot, I imagine that's why liberals are Utopians.

2)Whilst lefties seem to have more sexual encounters with different people, if the hook up culture was giving them personal happiness, they certainly didn't show it. Their relationships with their partners were never "clean". There were always issues of some kind or another. Loneliness seemed to permeate the liberal's existence even when they were in a relationship.
With conservative couples you always got the impression that they were a "unit" even if they hated each other. With liberals, the parties always seemed separate event though they were officially a couple.

3)As a group they're were a miserable and hateful bunch. When conservative patients disagree with me, they tend to be polite. Liberals tended to become very aggressive. My most aggressive and intolerant patients tend to be liberals and New Age Spiritualists. Now the fact that people disagree with me is not the issue, it's how they disagree with me. Personal venom and invective seems to be a feature of the liberal character.

4)Children of liberal parents are badly behaved, the kids of right wing parents much better.

5)Proletarian lefties are generally happier than their better educated lefty overlords, who generally as a group, are miserable and boring. Amongst a group five conservatives you're likely to get five opinions, amongst a group of five liberals only one.

6)Liberal girls do it because they have to, conservative girls because they want to. Conservative girls tend to be prettier.

7)Conservative women generally were happier, more confident and had less "issues".

8)Conservative men are both physically and psychologically manly: the more liberal a man, the less manly he is.

9)Liberals are more artistic and dress better than conservatives.

10) Liberals are have better theoretical education than conservatives, but worse practical application of that education. They might be able to describe the workings of a locust liver but be unable to manage their day to day financial affairs.

11) Conservative people "lived" their lives better than liberals. What I mean here is that their lives seemed more fulfilling and less drama filled.

12)When liberals did "fun" things, they seemed to have less fun than conservatives. I can't explain why, it's an impression that's been formed.

Once again, these are things that I observed and they are impressions that firmed with experience and time. They are not the product of any statistical study. I do believe that I'm fairly objective about the matter.The one thing that contact with liberals has proven to me is that whatever makes up a liberal's "headspace" it certainly doesn't seem to lead to happiness in the real world. I don't worry any more about missing out on the "fun" by being religious. Just in case you were wondering.

(Note by Conservative, I mean Social Conservative not Social Liberal)

And as if on que..........

A young lady presented to my rooms for a consultation. She was concerned about a lump on her neck and wanted my opinion on the matter. The lady in question was young, very attractive and intelligent. A solid 8.

After examining the girl and reassuring her that the lump was most likely benign. The lump itself was trivial in size and suspected that the woman in question may be suffering from a small amount of anxiety. I questioned her about her life and circumstances and sure enough, there was a fair amount of anxiety. The main stressors in her life seem to center around her work (the issue had just resolved) and her relationship with her partner.

What became apparent when talking to her was that the main issue was her partner. She was troubled that whilst he was a good man she lacked desire for him. Her brain was in conflict with her emotions. Some choice comments made by the lady (from recollection)...

"I'm the one making all the decisions"
"He never makes one(decisions)"
"He always lets me have my own way"
"He's really good to me."
"Sometimes I feel like I'm looking after a child"
"He has no ambition"

Now I have known this lady since she was an adolescent. She works two jobs, not because she has to, but because she has ambition. She has put herself though university under extremely trying circumstances and I have a reasonable knowledge of her personal life to be able to safely claim she was not wanton. It was apparent when talking to her that she did not want to leave this man but she was finding him increasingly unattractive. She was smart enough to realise that he was a good man but perplexed as to why she increasingly did not like him. Astute readers will immediately recognise the character flaw in the man.

I spoke, "I imagine that what you want is a man who can sometimes make the decisions for you and sometimes disagree with you. I imagine that you're pushy and want to have your own way a lot and I imagine you can get pretty much get your own way......."

She: "You know I've got more balls than nearly all of the guys I meet"

Me: "I imagine you do, you'd put up quite a fight if challenged, I imagine you can be quite bitchy and immature at times. What you need is a man who every now and then can boss you around, put you in your place but still look after you best interest. Someone who leads the way. Your partner is acting more like a girlfriend and not a man and that's why there's diminishing sexual attraction."

She looked at me with combination of amazement and shock. I spoke to her a bit about Alpha and Beta theory, and stated that what she wanted was a Gamma male. Now the interesting thing about this young lady is that she studied quite a bit of Feminism in University. I once chided her for adopting the dress habits of the hairy armpit brigade and reminded her to dress like a lady. Indoctrinated in the concept of innate gender asexuality she was initially resistant to my opinion. For a while I thought I wasn't getting anywhere until she said;

"Can I bring my partner in to talk to you"?

Physicians dilemma. Game theory is not an accepted mainstream theory and its certainly a politically incorrect body of knowledge. If her relationship was to implode after taking my advice I could be censured for practicing unorthodox medicine. Still her relationship is doomed if things stay as they are, and nearly certainly doomed if she accepts mainstream psychological therapy.

(Details of the story are true but others have been changed to preserve patient anonymity)

Gamma Man.

One of the blogs I like most to frequent is Ferdinand's. His In Mala Fide blog is perhaps the best pop conservative sites out there. The term Pop Conservative is not meant as a slight, it's likely to be far more influential that a highbrow blog since it adopts a style that the average man can appreciate. I like his site not because he mentions my blog, but rather he promotes other blogs which are far more interesting than mine. One that has caught my eye and has impressed me no end is Athol Kay's, Married Man Sex Life. Really, although the blog title might be a bit off putting--he really should call it Wife Management 101--the blog is definitely worth the read. Why? Because Athol "gets" the big picture.

The Roissysphere tends to view relationships as purely sexual. A man status and happiness are measured by the quality of the lay. A man banging 10's is more Alpha and happier than a man banging 8's. While there is a great deal of truth to this in high school, in reality adult relationships need much more than simple sexual attraction. That's not to say that sexual attraction is not important--social conservatives please note--rather grown ups tend to want other things as well: stability, friendship, love etc. Neil Strauss, the populiser of Game realised this; his own relationship with Lisa Leveridge failed. He could pull in the hotties but it appears he couldn't keep them.

The curious paradox is that what seems to keep relationships going long term is a combination of both alpha and beta traits. A man has to possess characteristics which both turn a woman sexually on and turn her off. In Roissy's taxonomy of men, the males are divided into Alpha, Beta and Omega. But Roissy only measures by the ability to get laid. Instead Athol Kay--who is focusing on long term relationships-- builds on this and proposes the Gamma male:
(I've shamelessly borrowed this image and text from his site. It's brilliant)

The Omega Male is easiest to dispense with. He’s just devoid of positive qualities and only the most desperate of women would desire to mate with him. Even then he’ll likely need up being supported by her to some degree. Avoid him.

The pure Alpha Bad Boys certainly do pull the women, but the relationships tend to be short as eventually the women become uncomfortable with the lack of comfort building support. There’s plenty of excitement, and sizzling sex as the attraction is definitely there for her, but she knows from the beginning its not going to last, but she is drawn to him anyway.

The pure Beta Nice Guy also pull women, but they pull differently. They “make sense” on an intellectual level and they are very comfortable to live with. More than likely they are too comfortable, and the woman tends to want to see a display of dominance of some sort before she becomes fully attracted to him. Ultimately the nice guys are just too sexually boring to women to remain completely focused on one. Queue the “I love you, but I’m not in love with you speech”. What is often seen in young women is ping ponging between bad boys and nice guys – she gets a dose of crazy sexual attraction from the bad boy, but then she needs the comfort building and she seeks it from a nice guy, and then the cycle repeats over and over until the music stops around age 35 and she’s scrambling to find a chair anywhere.

The ideal is the Gamma Male. Not often talked about, but they are out there. Usually a Gamma is an Alpha Male that “grew up” and toned down the antics slightly and started being socially conscious and more of a team player. Or they started as a Beta Male that “grew a pair” and started bumping back on the rest of the world rather than just taking it lying down. Either way works as a route. Like Jean-Luc Picard, Gammas use diplomacy but when required to they will respond with adept force. Mostly they are consciously aware of both their own natures, and the needs of women. They adjust on the fly to the situation, sometimes hard, sometimes soft. Gamma’s are the true ideal, but I think the Alpha and Beta terms are so ingrained, that it is simply easier to broken record the idea that if you’re too Alpha the solution is to add Beta, and if you’re too Beta the solution is to add Alpha. You already know what your weak area is. Work on that for easy gains.
A couple of points. Firstly, these are pretty astute social observations and they square up with what I see in practice. Implicit in Mr Kay's observations are that women are sexual beings and that there is a sexual dimension to normal male female relationships. Secondly, for a male, being "nice" alone just doesn't cut the mustard as a woman needs a sexual dimension to the relationship for it to go anywhere; women are inherently sexual beings. Religious conservatives please note, sexual desire isn't something that "foreign" to the female ideal, it's part and parcel of the female package. The romantic meme, that the way to woman's virtue is via the path of "niceness", flaunts real world observation and is not congruent with reality. Finally, when women are asked what type of guy they like, a nice guy is usually the answer. What they of course mean is a nice guy who makes them hot and horny.

The Roissysphere has popularised the notion of the Alpha male. And really, if a life of Hedonism is your goal then that's all you need. Because it's quite apparent that women--when freed from social mores--are just as superficial judges of character as most men are. In our current bathhouse culture, women are more likely to be motivated by their loins than their heart in the choice of a bed mate, especially when drunk. So if your aim is to bed as men women as you can, being Alpha is all that matters. The Beta traits, the traits that are the foundation of lasting love, domestic awe, industry, prosperity are unnecessary. But if these things matter to you, then your going to have to cultivate both alpha and beta traits you're going to have to strive to be a gamma male.

Really, nice guys don't finish last. It's nice guys without alpha traits that finish last.

Read Athol Kay's blog. Its very very good.

(N.B. I don't agree with everything he says, I disagree with his pharmacological opinions i.e how the pill works and the use of anti-depressant medication, but his understanding of psychology in my opinion is spot on.)

20 BEST BROKEN BEAT




In the late 90s a movement began in West London that was to inspire a new direction in dance music.

Though this movement was never acknowledged in the mainstream music press, never had a crossover chart single, and never truly transcended its community roots, there was a unique alchemy at work – a fertile moment in UK music where a group of friends began to experiment with new cadences, rhythms and distilled influences, meticulously crafting a new genre.

Though “Broken Beat” was never a tagline that the producers anticipated, and one that they often publicly resisted, those two words would come to represent the scattered rhythms, rolling bass-lines and soaring changes that were inherent to this new music. Prior to the mid-2000s, only one tiny divider in Soho’s Sounds of The Universe store, marked “West London”, and one primitive website, that of Goya Music Distribution, were the sum total retail outlets of this sound. The music was heard only at a club night called Co-Op, originally based at the Velvet Rooms, and in later years, at Plastic People, and like many cultures rooted in the Jamaican soundsystem tradition, what was heard there differed enormously from what was released – dub-plates, alternative versions, beat experiments, all united in their emphasis on heavy bass, staccato drum machine rhythms and soulful feelings. Walking into Co-Op for the first time felt like experiencing a glimpse of the future – hand-held laser pens swooped over a frenetic dance-floor, illuminating clouds of collie smoke like sniper sights scouting a post-apocalyptic battlefield, whilst a toy dub siren rang out from the booth, and IG Culture’s deep Jamaican accent punctuated the pounding rhythms – “it’s a Co-Op thing, it’s Co-Operation – if you ain’t here to dance you can go home now.”

Many of the producers who created Broken were dance music veterans, who worked hard to keep the focus on the Co-Op club, keep the music played there ever-evolving, and collectively resist any temptation to fall into a comfortable template. In this sense there was a manifesto about Broken Beat which was specifically informed by past experiences. A sizeable number came from an ex-Reinforced records background – the legendarily aloof jungle and d’n’b label run by 4Hero’s Dego and Marc Mac (pictured above) – such as Seiji, Marc “G” Force, Domu and Colin Lindo. Others came from a house music background, like Phil Asher of Restless Soul, Orin ‘Afronaught’ Walters or Darren ‘Daz I Kue’ Benjamin. One central element of the sound was Kaidi Tatham’s keyboard playing, a virtuoso jazz-funk musician who had been part of The Herbaliser in the mid-90s.

UK soul was represented in the contributions of Demus from the Young Disciples and IG Culture, whose career arc had taken in early UK hip-hop and projects for the likes of Island records. Mark De Clive Lowe, Alex Phountzi and Dave ‘Zed Bias’ Jones also played major roles and the best known outfit was doubtlessly Bugz In The Attic, a cooperative production “super group”, whose signing to V2 was about as close as Broken Beat ever came to cracking the mainstream. Beyond this the network extended worldwide, resonating in releases on a fledgling Rush Hour distribution in Amsterdam, the work of Italy’s Volcov, Germany’s Jazzanova, and Inverse Cinematics (now known as Motor City Drum Ensemble), Japan’s Jazzy Sport records and more.

Broken Beat was as diverse as its parentage would suggest – the arrangements, beats and tempos could vary drastically between releases. With this in mind it’s hardly surprising that many people couldn’t work out what Broken Beat actually was – or is – until the mid 2000s when a characteristic groove eventually emerged. The mindset and the culture was eclectic from the outset, it was vibrant, afro-futuristic dance music for 21st century b-boys and girls. Its roots were in the scientific soul of the Mizell brothers, the afro beat rhythms of Tony Allen and Fela Kuti, the electro funk and boogie of the mid 80s, the spiritual jazz of Sun Ra and Norman Connors, the soulful techno of Juan Atkins and Derrick May. But the execution and production was grounded in MPCs, SP1200s, the hand-me-down samplers of the hip hop and jungle golden eras, which gave the drums a raw, choppy rhythmic feel – hence the “Broken” tag. Though Goya Music Distribution sadly shut down in 2007, taking down many of the better labels with it, it certainly feels like some of this tradition – in particular the stripped down and syncopated drum sounds, and eclectic approach to fusing genres – continues to live on today in the sound of UK funky.

Be sure to download our recent FACT mix from broken beat hero Seiji. The majority of the tunes in this list aren’t available to listen to on the internet, but this mix by Onda Sonora includes several of them, and gives a good flavour of how the genre was back in the day.


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01: COLD MISSION
‘DRUG STORE RUDE BWOY’ (NU-ERA REMIX)
(REINFORCED 12″, 1996)


4hero aka Dego and Marc Mac have laid the foundations of so many important genres that it almost boggles the mind. Nu-Era was a 4hero alias, later known as Marc Mac’s solo pseudonym, most associated with the beautiful and rare broken techno LP Beyond Gravity. On the flipside of this Cold Mission 12”, released at the height of dnb’s popularity, Nu-Era take an odd left turn and slow down the driving groove, syncopating and stuttering the rhythm back to front, early and late. It may seem trivial in 2010 but this is how new directions are formed – many subsequent releases on Reinforced by the likes of Nubian Mindz and Seiji and G Force also dabbled in these same waters, setting the stage for the aesthetic of broken – an experimental, slower, more dancefloor-orientated cousin of jungle. It’s fair to say this remix was at least 10 years ahead of its time, a prototype for what was to come.


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02: MISA NEGRA
SPIRITUAL VIBES
(PEOPLE 12″, 1998)

When this dropped in September 1998 it’s doubtful that many stood up and took notice. ‘Spiritual Vibes’ is a humble slice of what the B-side describes as ‘Afro Boogie House’, presumably because no better descriptive genre terms have been coined at this point in time. Misa Negra were Daz-I-Kue on production, and Kaidi Tatham on the keys, whilst a remix dub by Orin “Afronaught” Walters fills up the A-side. Whilst by no means as sophisticated as their later work as a group, Spiritual Vibes sets the tone for their Bugz In The Attic collaborations to come. There’s an inherent musicality about this 12”, and a quirkiness in the rhythms – the Afronaught dub starts half time and doubles over on itself. Bell trees, shells and shakers abound, reminiscent of spiritual jazz classics like Norman Connors’ Dark Of Light, whilst Kaidi’s voice echoes over the beats, whispering “Spiritual.. Vibes..” It’s an off-the-wall blend but it works – deeply reflective, brooding, partly melancholic, but heavy as lead and custom built for a system. The eccentric, almost childlike approach with which influences are mixed and blended here, is the very embodiment of what broken stood for in its infancy.


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03: NEON PHUSION
THE FUTURE AIN’T THE SAME (AS IT USED 2 B)
(LAWS OF MOTION LP, 1999)

Neon Phusion are Alex Phountzi, Kaidi Tatham and Orin Walters. ‘The Future..’ is an early broken album with a live mood, doubtlessly the result of many blazed jam sessions. It’s a great example of the melting pot of the time, the optimism of the music, the fall out of drum and bass. You can liken the vibe to jungle at the end of its jazzy period – the feel is blissed out, heavily influenced by the space funk of the 70s but still rooted in driving percussion. ‘Timecode’ is an early take of Orin’s ‘Transcend Me’ with a Headhunters theme to it, whilst ‘Kulu Macu’ has an Afro-Brazilian touch, and raw beats come in the form of ‘Hot Ice’. Annoyingly, the dopest track – the title track ‘The Future Ain’t The Same (As It Used 2 Be)’ – is only ever found on the CD version, along with some other killer bonus material. In that form it’s a particularly quality listen a decade later


04: VARIOUS ARTISTS
COOPERATION VOL. 1
(COOPERATION RECORDINGS 2X12″, 2000)

This is an excellent compilation of tracks from the scene at the time, with an number of exclusive beats on it. What’s striking about this is how diverse it is – from soft Brazilian lullabies, fusion licks, to harder broken, house and techno, as though no manifesto has been yet been formed. Here some of the finest of the era are nicely collected, including the likes of Seiji and G Force’s ‘Chase The Ace’, Phil Asher’s ‘Phoojun’ and Neon Phusion’s ‘Timeless Motion’, one of the absolute best tracks of the genre ever, worth also tracking down on a separate Laws Of Motion 12″. Raw drum breaks, swirling synths and a quality which some would now call “wonky” abounds. There is also the sound of imagination and cooperation defying the limitations of bedroom studios.


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05: VIKTER DUPLAIX
‘MANHOOD’
(GROOVE ATTACK 12″, 2000)

“I want to know, what you taste like / Taste like in the dark” croons Vikter Duplaix over this classic disjointed rhythm. Though Vikter is a soul singer from Philadelphia, his work was first embraced and played to death by the West London movement, including Critical Point’s ‘Messages’ on MAW records, ‘Sensuality’, and ‘Looking For Love’ (which had a Bugz In The Attic remix on the 12”, and became a latter day Co-Op anthem). The critic’s choice is still ‘Manhood’ though, the first single after ‘Messages’, which innovates from the first bar to the last, and still gets revival plays today, an edgy slice of hi-tech soul production with the innate catchiness that exemplified the scene at the time. The transposed Detroit chord that cycles through the changes, and the stop and start rhythm were oft-emulated but never surpassed, and the vocal, at once kinky, sexual and even a touch romantic, always got the bodies going on the floor. It’s also worth checking out the RIMA version on the follow up remix 12”, much overlooked due to the intense popularity of the original, but still compelling and fresh today…


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06: SON OF SCIENTIST
‘THEORY OF EVERYTHING’ / ‘ION STEEL’
(MAINSQUEEZE 12″, 2001)

The Son Of Scientist is IG Culture, whose formidable and charismatic persona reigned over the proceedings at Co-Op. IG’s chops as a producer are rooted in years of experience behind the boards, which he puts to great effect on this excellent 12″. ‘Theory Of Everything’ is as the title suggests, a holistic approach to beatmaking – all sorts of perverted clicks and distortions rise over the beats on this record, along with the rich Prophet strings of 80s electro, as though thrown together, but then sculpted into place. There isn’t a satisfying way to describe what this fusion is, it has to be experienced, and sounds even madder now than then – but it still manages to remain funky despite its harshness. Flipside ‘Ion Stee’l is also ace, with a filthly garage bassline and an awkward time signature. You can feel IG’s sense of humour in this mess, as well as his love for crafting immaculate soundsystem bangers.


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07: KUDU
‘SPACE’ / ‘TRANZIT’
(BITASWEET 10″, 2001)

Quitely revived by Kode 9 on a mixtape I heard somewhere last year, ‘Space’ by Kudu is nothing if not a disturbing listen. The ascending synth lines creep up the spine, and many of them have a vocal quality to them, as though the circuits are trying to communicate. This was the work of Mark De Clive Lowe, Domu and Seiji in collaboration, and is a good example of the freaky psychedelic quality that many bruk tunes have. The drums skip and stutter satisfyingly, but the funk is somehow retained, despite the artificial sound textures and machines at work.


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08: DOMU
‘SAVE IT’
(2000 BLACK 12″, 2001)

“I was 23 when it came out” Domu says of ‘Save It’, “And I remember feeling on top of the world every time it was played”. ‘Save It’ was not Dom’s first release, but it was certainly the tune that catapulted him into successful years of international touring, remixing and producing at the height of his career. “There’s always something you’re giving away,” sings Face, “So save it!” – leading us to assume the lyrics are about the popular attitude in the scene of being aloof and shutting your gob, rather like the message of Seiji’s ‘Loose Lips’. This is Domu at his most accessible – smooth Rhodes changes and a hooky ARP Odyssey bassline make this track an instant earworm inducer. One thing that is innovative about the record is the “early” clap, which gives the groove an awkward anticipatory feel, a pattern that was much imitated but rarely matched in broken’s later years.


09: AFRONAUGHT
‘TRANSCEND ME’
(APOLLO 12″, 2001)

If there is one broken beat anthem everyone can agree on, it’s ‘Transcend Me’ by Orin Walters. It’s a simple but effective blend – the Harvey Mason drum break from Weather Report’s classic Sweetnighter LP is sliced and diced into a million bits on an MPC3000 and re-sequenced to give the sensation that the drums are grooving in suspended animation, filled with infinite rhythmic variation. In the background, a filtered Kaidi Tatham rhodes part swells and burbles, meowing like a hungry cat that hasn’t been fed for days, until finally the song reaches a crescendo and Melissa Browne’s dreamy vocals glue the disparate elements together. At 7 minutes 55 seconds, ‘Transcend Me’ shows that Co-Op was not about the three-minute pop song – only there could something as astral, otherworldly, disorientating and spiritual as this become a seminal party tune.


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10: DA ONE AWAY
‘TRASH DA JUNK’
(MAINSQUEEZE 12″, 2001)

“We live in the funk / trash the junk / now what have we done”. It’s a simple hook line, but it was so effective in the way it works with the drum pattern. Like “Save It”, “Trash The Junk” is all about the anticipation in the groove, the snare seemingly skipping ahead of itself in a delightful way, whilst the melody, changes and vocal sporadically interrupt the drums at the start of the bar. “Trash” is odd, whimsical and experimental, it’s hypnotic in the way in which it loops and builds, until eventually Kaidi’s jazz changes emerge to lift our spirits, and the track erupts with analog synth colours. Another masterful Dego production, it’s well worth flipping this over to indulge in the more minimal and hard edged 808 dub on the flip, which still hits hard and fresh enough to contend with any “funky” dubplate today.


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11: MARK FORCE
‘GYPO’ / ‘40 DAYS’
(BITASWEET 12″, 2002)

Mark “G” Force is perhaps one of the lesser known broken innovators – despite a large and varied discography that included progressive collaborations with Seiji in the Reinforced era, and numerous heavy dubplates during the noughties, he is still under-repped and underrated today. ‘Gypo’ is one of those tunes that many will recognise even if they don’t know the title. It’s an odd one that stops and starts, literally 2-step in that it has two parts to the groove – half garage bounce a la Maddslinky, half boogie a la Central Line, with a bassline that’s just nasty. And that’s about it – instant rewind at Co-Op as soon as the b-line dropped, and a crowd screaming for the heavy groove. As with many of these 12”s, the critics choice is on the flipside – ‘40 Days’ is a beautiful slice of home-made boogie that wouldn’t sound out of place on the People’s Potential label if it came out tomorrow. The force has always been strong with Mark, and this still stands the test of time, totally relevant to the post-garage, post-dubstep scene of today.


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12: SEIJI
‘LOOSE LIPS’ / ‘3DOM’
(BITASWEET, 12″, 2002)

Of all the tracks of the Goyamusic canon, ‘Loose Lips’ is perhaps the most well-known amongst casual listeners, and the one that crossed over to the widest audience. The heart of Loose Lips is a stripped down groove – a chopped drum break with Pierre Henry siren noises that echo away in the background, and in all honesty, not a whole lot else. The pattern in itself is noteworthy though – this was Seiji’s innovation, a double snare that emulates a Salsoul double clap at 130 bpm, a signature pattern often used in his work that followed. What makes the track so recognisable is Lyric L and her fast, high pitched voice rhyming with ease – “Loose lips, sink ships, flip scripts drama-tics” – repeated like a mantra for the length of the record. Easy to sing along with, or even shout along with, particularly if you’ve got a beer in your hand. The b-side ‘3dom’ is the real favourite though – hard to describe exactly why it’s so good, I guess it must be the hooky 5 note melody that leads it along. When Eve and Benga’s ‘Me and My’ blew up last year, it felt like ‘Loose Lips’ had set the stage for it seven years before.


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13: AGENT K
FEED THE CAT
(LAWS OF MOTION LP, 2002)

Kaidi Tatham was the jazz virtuoso lynchpin in the Cooperation movement. Doubtlessly, most of the records listed here would not have existed if it wasn’t for Tatham, whose ability to improvise on countless instruments will leave you dumbfounded if experienced in the flesh. A masterful flautist, percussionist, keyboard player and more, it’s his signature changes, based on the styles of jazz greats like Herbie Hancock and Harry Whittaker, that take all the records he plays on to another level of harmony. Despite leading on countless sessions for his numerous friends and collaborators, Kaidi only received praise in his own name for a couple of anthems – the best known of which is ‘Betcha Did’, a heavily orchestrated work that sounds like the Mizell brothers playing at double their normal speed. On Feed The Cat, Kaidi finally got to helm his own album, and the results still sound compelling today – the title track, with its classic, richly textured UK boogie feel, pre-empted Dam-Funk’s revival of the genre by almost a decade. Elsewhere Kaidi fuses spiritual jazz, Brazilian rhythms and analog electronics, with such purity of intent and richness of execution that this surely will be a collector’s item in years to come



14: 4HERO
‘HOLD IT DOWN’ (BUGZ IN THE ATTIC REMIX)
(TALKIN’ LOUD 12″, 2002)

This gem was where it all kicked off for Bugz In The Attic – a collaborative production outfit comprising Orin ‘Afronaught’ Walters, Paul ‘Seiji’ Dolby, Kaidi Tatham, Daz-I-Kue, Alex Phountzi, Cliff Scott, Mark Force, Matt Lord & Mikey Stirton. That’s a lot of folks crowded round one computer and one MIDI keyboard, and for those interested, no they did not all work on every track credited to that name. The ‘Hold It Down’ remix is the anthem that made them, however – as good as the 4hero original is, the remix takes the mood up a gear. It’s accessible enough to be pop, and has boogie at the very core of the beat, but the genius touch comes half way through, when the chords change and the lush vocals of Lady Alma overwhelm the mix. This 12” was very sought after at the time, due to multiple pressing delays, and even though it might be too rich and saccharine for today’s dancers, it’s a testament to a production team that were on fire in the studio, and such have been the recognized successors to Loose Ends and Soul II Soul in the UK soul canon.


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15: NEPA ALLSTAR
‘THE WAY’
(SURPLUS 12″, 2001)

Tony Nwachukwu is another fringe character in the UK soul scene who was co-opted into the Co-Op movement, now better known as the founder of CDR/Burntprogress. Though perhaps not as core a member as the West London lads, Tony’s relationship with the scene dated back to his co-production of Attica Blues with Charlie Dark, and together they ran the successful Blueprint Sessions clubnight at Plastic People around the same time as Co-Op first opened its doors. ‘The Way’ is one of those one-offs that slotted in perfectly to the mood of 2001. Tony always favoured a more techno-orientated approach to production, and this record stutters along with a heavy mesh of analog bass and drum machines ticking away, whilst a chopped up sample of Brainstorm tells us “I can show u the way”. It’s the sophisticated engineering that makes this track, with the best bit being the jokey sample of a certain classic mobile ringtone in the breakdown.


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16: COUSIN COCKROACH
‘THIS AIN’T TOM ‘N JERRY / ‘HANDS OFF DA CONTROLS’
(BITASWEET 12″, 2002)

The better broken tunes tend to fall into one of two groups – either they are richly layered, colourful, soulful, and steeped in the lush over-production language of boogie funk, or alternatively, just stripped down dubs which propel the dance through rippling sine wave bass and thudding kicks and snares. Cockroach falls firmly into the latter group, and of all the bass-heavy dubs, is probably the best. Produced by Dego, the name ‘This Ain’t Tom N’ Jerry’ pokes fun at the hardcore records he and Mark produced under that alias in the early 90s. Despite the in-joke, both sides of this sound like they were made with left over samples from that era, a rumour which is unsubstantiated with the author. There’s nothing to dislike here, just two sides of the baddest, most ear splitting stripped down bass and drum you can hear this side of King Tubby played at the wrong speed. The Jammy’s vocal sample says it best – “this one a badbwoy choon!”.


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17: DALUNARTIKS
‘HIGHER’
(ARTHROB 12″, 1998)

Daz I Kue is the drum scientist behind many of the Bugz In The Attic tunes – Dalunartiks was a an early project with Alex Arnout which retained a raw hip hop feel, but at dancefloor tempo. ‘Higher’ has a B-boy quality, with Apache congas and horn stabs, whilst the drum groove is old-school but futuristic. The lush drop that follows the build is where it gets going – smooth Detroit pads meet gospel vocals to take it, literally, Higher. Essential because it blends a dusty crate quality with garage-style vocal chops and beats, and yet Daz’s signature afro funk is still all over it.


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18: BLAKAI FEAT. BEMBE SEGUE
‘AFROSPACE’
(SCHTUM 12″, 2005)

The most recent record in this selection, and one of the last of the golden era of Goyamusic. Schtum was Mark Force’s label. Here he collaborates with Bembe Segue, one of the first ladies of Co-Op, who vocalled a vast number of the genre’s records. Bembe’s style is part Ursula Dudziak, part Tina Turner, ‘Afrospace’ a swansong to the Co-Op feeling. Her words “Something was missing from deep within, I’ll survive”, empower a groove that is reflective and fractured. The remix by BITA whizkid and technical specialist Matt Thylord finds a space between boogie and garage and hits harder. A latter day classic.


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19: QUANGO
‘LET GROOVE COME’ (CO-OP MIX / CO-OP DUB)
(PEOPLE 12″, 2002)

Produced by IG Culture and featuring Eska Mtungwazi, one of the finest jazz singers to emerge from the broken beat scene [today she works mainly with Matthew Herbert]. Eska and IG collaborated frequently on his New Sector Movements project and solidified a rapport on record that was breathtaking at times. The Co-Op mix of ‘Let Groove Come’ is definitely one of their most accomplished, and feels like suspended animation on the dancefloor. It hits with a jerky drum pattern, rugged in the extreme, but Eska clears the air around it with her pitch perfect harmonies, like a breeze blowing through the speakers. The rougher Co-Op dubs of many of the tracks listed here were often never released, and only ever heard at the club, which could be frustrating when trying to track them down. Fortunately, this one made it to vinyl.


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20: KAIDI TATHAM & DEGO
GOT ME PUZZLED
(2000 BLACK 12″, 2003)

And finally, the creative peak of Dego and Kaidi, the Gamble and Huff of broken beat. This one a certifiable anthem, played constantly and yet still not played out. From the moment the rich Juno pads open the track, it’s a showstopper, a slickly engineered recording, a virtuoso performance from Kaidi Tatham, and Dego at the top of his production game. Clearly this took a while to craft, as hinted at by the inscription “Big shout to Seiji & Mashi, it’s 5Dom l A.” This is built for the Plastic People sound system. The chorus has a gospel feel, the backing track is pensive and yet optimistic, electronic but still warm. The rhythm shuffles into infinity. This is the genre’s musical message personified

Springfield Tenants Union


Housing Problems got you down?

Did you Know:
No one can evict you except a Housing Court Judge.
You have a right to live in safe and sanitary housing.
Landlords are forbidden by law from retaliating if you complain about bad conditions.
Tenants have RIGHTS as well as RESPONSIBILITIES, but it can feel scary to act on your own.
Arise for Social Justice is building a Tenants
Union to tackle problems such as substandard housing, freedom from harassment, and the lack of affordable housing in Springfield.
JOIN US! The next TENANTS UNION meeting is
March 17th, 2010 6:00 pm
467 State Street
Springfield, MA
For more information call 413-734-4948 and ask for Liz or Lamont.


Los problamas de Vivenda te tiene mal?

Nadie puede desalojarlo a usted, excepto un Juez de la vivenda.
Usted tiene el derecho a vivir en una vivenda segura, y sanitaria.
Landlords estan prohibidos por la ley tomar la decision de tirarte
ala caye situ te quejas de malas condicionesde de tu apartamento.
Los inquilions teine derechos asi como responsabilidades, pero se puede sentir miedo de
actuar por su cuenta.
Arise for Social Justice esta haciendo una asociacion de inquilinos en Springfield para hacer frente a problemas de vivenda precaria, la libertad, y la falta de vivendas accesibles en Springfield.
Liz or Lamont 413-734-4948
March 17th, 2010 6:00pm
467 State Street
Springfield, MA

But Honestly,.....I'm Not Like Those People.


Recently, the local paper ran an interesting article on a woman's regret on getting tattooed. Whilst the local paper is not of any real quality, (English readers, it mirrors itself on The Guardian) every now and then an insightful article slips past the censorious eyes of the liberal editors.

Now, like any person with half a brain I deplore tattoo's. Their widespread acceptance amongst people who should know better is proof of middle class prole drift.

I have always considered them declasse, no matter how artistic. The presence of one on a girl, no matter how small or discrete was immediate deal breaker. Not just because tattoos were the mark of the society's dregs but more so because it was character revealed in action. What a tattoo said about a man/woman was not only about what type of man he was, but of the type of man he had shown himself to be. Now it is true that people change over time, and that everyman is capable of all vices, but we presume a man of good character until he has proven otherwise. The tattoo is a permanent mark of bad judgement.

Milday's Tattoo Tells a Very Different Story
Initially, my partner at the time agreed that we should take the plunge together on my 30th birthday. In those days, tattoos were still mostly the preferred accessory of sailors, wharfies, prisoners and the like, but I figured that it was OK to get a tattoo as long as you didn't look like a person who would have one.

and

Fast forward again and I am picking my daughter up from school. At the school gate, the only other people with tattoos are fat and toothless and complaining about the price of fags.

I suddenly realise that I am a member of a club that I did not intend joining.

These days, my tattoo has faded, just like my desire to be as daring and alluring as Milady.

Like every other fashion choice you make, tattoos tell people at lot about you. But sometimes they tell people who you were, rather than who you are.

I found this article interesting on so many levels. Firstly, the author is at pains to ensure that while she adopts the mark of the declasse, she herself is not. Ummm....No. You see, from the vantage point of the unmarked there are only two types of people: Those tattooed and those not. Secondly, she sees a distinction between herself and the fat,toothless hags she clearly despises. I wonder if the other women sporting tattoos were slim, rich and well dressed whether she would complain about belonging to that same group. The problem with this woman is not that she has changed, rather it's the group that she now aspires to has. She's still the same person; an impulsive egotist still concerned about her social status.

Theodore Dalrymple does a wonderful demolition job on the tattoo culture, far better than I can. But in the end, he comes to the same conclusion I did when searching for a mate; the tattooed are best avoided as their self inflicted brand is an outward sign of character flaw.

Note: There are very limited exceptions to the above post. Certain traditional cultures made them part and parcel of group identity.







DANCEHALL: 12th March

What Next?

Hollywood once had a modicum of class, even if most of it was manufactured. Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Eve Marie Saint, Gregory Peck and Jimmy Stewart had a certain degree of dignity and style. Today Hollywood has no class, more and more the "stars" resemble privileged rednecks and skanks. I don't think I could every imagine Audrey Hepburn getting herself vajazzled. On the other hand Jennifer Love Hewitt has. I suppose it's the perfect accompaniment to the "tramp stamp". The pornification of culture, especially female culture, continues. The prole models lead the way.

Catch Steady Rock Live this Sunday



Here is the biography taken from his website:

Steadyrock! - As Agent Provocateur in Musiocracy


As 2009 heads into its final stretch comes an album that’s instantly headed into best of the year territory.
The record in question is the long-awaited full-length release from Steadyrock! – a Mozambican-born, South African-living singer and songwriter who’s been the region’s best kept music secret for the past few years, beloved by a small but ever-growing band of fans.
Titled Steadyrock! As Agent Provocateur in Musiocracy, the 13-track album has it all: banging club tracks, radio ready hits, lyrics of love and unity, scorching summer songs – all held together by Steadyrock’s warm, easy voice.


That Steadyrock! has the goods to catapult into the mainstream and make an impact on a much wider spectrum of music fans is no mystery to those who’ve seen ‘White Wedding’, one of the most successful South African films in recent memory.

It’s Steadyrock’s song ‘My Favourite Song’ that opens the film, and four of his tracks are featured on the soundtrack album - his expansive, inviting songs tracking the emotional journey taken by the characters in the quintessentially South African romcom.


‘My Favourite Song’ makes an appearance on Agent Provocateur in Musiocracy, drawing a link between the film and Steadyrock’s debut full-length album – as well as with his 2008 record, ‘One World Citizen’ which is where Steadyrock! first debuted the cut.


The latter album was independently-released by Steadyrock! and became something of a treasure for music fans who were smitten by the live shows that have seen Steadyrock! play, either acoustically or with his band, at the likes of Oppikoppi, Old Mutual Encounters, and many other high-profile bills.


Now, with a freshly inked distribution deal with Electromode in the mix, Steadyrock’s enormously listenable mix of reggae, folk, rock, dancefloor, Afro-groove music is finally being made available to a much bigger audience.


‘One World Citizen’ earned Steadyrock! some substantial critical acclaim so it’s no wonder that several songs off it have been included the new record, among them ‘My Favourite Song’, ‘Nothing Compares2 U’, ‘Rock On’ and ‘The Best Days of My Life’ – all re-recorded and freshened up to deliver something new to even those fans who’ve been tracking Steadyrock’s recorded career for the past few years.


To add to this, the album’s new songs come with a charged energy that easily reveal Steadyrock’s versatility.


‘Out of the Storm’, for instance, is a rock-guitar suffused number that’s a revelation for those who’d had Steadyrock! pegged simply as an Afro-reggae artist. On this standout track, Steadyrock! and MXO let their voices take flight in the most affecting way, providing a perfect foil to the electric guitar that drives the music. Also adding a new dimension to Steadyrock’s arsenal of music talents is “She Ain’t Talking To Me” featuring Sgebi on a song that can easily give the likes of Justin Timberlake a run for his money and is a surefire radio hit. It’s the same with “I’m Back” featuring Mpho-Za - a song that puts the groove right to the fore, showcasing Steadyrock’s innate feel for a song, be it instantly commercial or critic-pleasing material.


Indeed, it was Steadyrock’s songwriting ability that saw him sign a deal with Sony ATV South Africa late 2007.


“In many ways that was a turning point for me,” Steadyrock! reveals. “I had been playing with other people, just trying to hustle a living out of playing live music but always believing that songwriting is where my real abilities lie. When Sony ATV offered me a deal based on the strength of my songs it was really the green light for me to focus on my original material and solo career in earnest.”


Until his Sony ATV deal, Steadyrock! – born Ivandro Jadir Jacinto, into a Mozambican family of musicians – had been riding under the radar for most of his music career, working with many best-selling artists as a songwriter, producer, and guitarist and performing as part of a duo. In fact, until his partner in a live duo unexpectedly left, Steadyrock! had never considered a solo career, let alone one where he took mic duties.


But, as is evident on ‘Agent Provocateur in Musiocracy’, Steadyrock! is a solo artist of real substance, capable of writing songs that are eclectic enough to appeal to a diverse fanbase but never ever straying out of the signature style that he’s has created over the past few years.


‘My Favourite Song’ featuring Cosmiq is a perfect example of this. The song is easily identifiable as a rock-reggae number but Spanish Fly’s propulsive bass and Kgosi Lethojane’s jaunty piano play off Steadyrock! and Cosmiq’s gorgeous vocals to create a song that lives up to its own billing (and is the subject of a really top-drawer video that’s already in rotation on Channel O and MTV Base).


‘Rock On’ - which has also been recast on Agent Provocateur in Musiocracy - features another sorely underrated talent MXO, and now is elevated into a dancefloor stomper with the inclusion of country-rockabilly guitar and some sci-fi-worthy effects. MXO’s easily identifiable rough-hewn vocal also appears on ‘Out Of The Storm’, yet again proving Steadyrock’s intuitive sense of just what singers and musicians may help him best serve the songs. The choice of PO Box of Kwani Experience to join in on ‘Life’s Wonderful (Africa Unite)’ is inspired, adding power to Steadyrock’s ability to sing about social issues and the need for unity in a way that’s never cloying or contrived.


But the skilful deployment of a brace of talent creative collaborators (including co-producers Mpho-Za, Omen and Badman) doesn’t for an instance mean Steadyrock! needs assistance to grip the attention of music fans. Just listen to ‘Good Old Days’ and ‘The Best Days of My Life’ and you’ll waste no time in joining with the Steadyrock! faithful in believing in this singular artist’s wondrous talent that’s’ equal parts songwriting, singer, guitar and performer,
Over the past few years, there’s been an army of believers who understand Steadyrock! has what it takes to become one of southern Africa’s most important artists.


“What has also played a role in building my confidence has been the love I’ve received from musicians, after I’ve played on the same bill as them,” Steadyrock! confides, giving an inkling of just how positively this artist is viewed by his peers. “It’s also been amazing working with so many different people over the years, and being able to play live on so many different bills. All of this has fed into the songs and production you hear on the new album.”


He’s already written material for the likes of actor-singer Emmanuel Castis as well as MXO and others, and alongside his music in ‘White Wedding’, Steadyrock! also contributed music to the recent docu-movie, Hidden Heart – Story of Chris Barnard and Hamilton Naki.


As a songwriter, Steadyrock! is prolific, with a catalogue of over 100 songs he’s written over the years. “I’m always writing,” he says. “There’s hardly anything more satisfying to me than creating something that affects people emotionally, and spiritually.”
Thankfully with the release of Steadyrock! As Agent Provocateur in Musiocracy at least some of those songs are to get a more mainstream airing on an album that’s, hands-down, one of 2009’s best.


STEADYROCK! As Agent Provocateur in Musiocracy tracklisting:
1. Nothing compares 2 U
2. Life’s Wonderful (Africa Unite) Feat- P O Box From Kwani Experience)
3. I’m Back Feat: Mpho-za
4. Rock On Feat- MXO
5. P.I.G ( Psychologically Independent Girls)
5. Good Old Days
6. Out of the Storm Featuring MXO
7. She Ain’t Talking To Me Feat- Sgebi
8. Good old days
9. Set the roof on fire
10. Best Days
11. People of All Colors
12. My favorite song Feat COSMIQ - Movie Soundtrack (The white wedding)
13. Woman