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VIDA DE-sign by Michael Buckingham, aka Mick Muttley

Dear friends (yeah really, one of those) I have become a women's wear designer for VIDA! http://shopvida.com/collections/voices/ ...

Monday 24 June 2013

SubVersion Stop 197: 30 Months To Save The World

Dear Avaaz community,




This may be the most important email I’ve written to you. Scientists have found that vast areas of Arctic sea ice are disappearing, accelerating the destruction of our planet -- it is a climate tipping point and we CAN stop it, if we act very fast, and all together. We have 30 months until the biggest climate summit ever. To win it, we need to blast out of the starting gate. Click below to pledge a donation to help us get there: 

This may be the most important email I've ever written to you.

Scientist Julienne Stroeve has studied Arctic ice for decades. Every summer she travels north to measure how much ice has melted. She knows that climate change is melting the ice fast, but on her last trip, she couldn't believe what she saw. Vast areas of Arctic ice have disappeared, beyond our worst expectations.

This is what the experts warned us about. As the earth warms, it creates many "tipping points" that accelerate the warming out of control. Warming thaws the Arctic sea ice, destroying the giant white 'mirror' that reflects heat back into space, which massively heats up the ocean, and melts more ice, and so on. We spin out of control. Already this year -- storms, temperatures -- everything is off the charts.

We CAN stop this, if we act very fast, and all together. And out of this extinction nightmare, we can pull one of the most inspiring futures for our children and grandchildren. A clean, green future in balance with the earth that gave birth to us.

We have 30 months until the Paris Summit, the meeting that world leaders have decided will determine the fate of our efforts to fight climate change. It might seem like a long time - it's not. We have 30 months to get the right leaders in power, get them to that meeting, give them a plan, and hold them accountable. And it's us vs. the oil companies, and fatalism. We can win, we must, but we need to blast out of the starting gate with pledges of just a few dollars/euros/pounds per week until the summit -- we'll only process the donations if we hit our goal. For the world we dream of, let's make it happen: 

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/30_months_en_ld_rb/?bPanzbb&v=26238

Fatalism on climate change is not just futile, it's also incompetent. The hour is late, but it is still absolutely within our power to stop this catastrophe, simply by shifting our economies from oil and coal to other sources of power. And doing so will bring the world together like never before, in a deep commitment and cooperation to protect our planetary home. It's a beautiful possibility, and the kind of future Avaaz was born to create.

Facing this challenge will take heart, and hope, and also all the smarts we have. Here's the plan: 

    1. Go Political: Elect Climate Leaders  -- 5 crucial countries have elections in the next 30 months. Let's make sure the right people win, and with the right mandate. Avaaz is one of the only major global advocacy organizations that can be political. And since this fight will be won or lost politically, it could be at some points just us vs. the oil companies to decide who our politicians listen to.

    2. Make Hollande a Hero -- French President Francois Hollande will chair the Paris summit - a powerful position. We have to try every tactic and channel -- his personal friends and family, his political constituency, his policy advisors -- to make him the hero we need him to be to make the summit a success.

    3. Take it to the Next Level -- The scale of this crisis demands action that goes beyond regular campaigning. It's time for powerful, direct, non-violent action, to capture imagination, convey moral urgency, and inspire people to act. Think Occupy.

    4. Out the Spoilers -- Billionaires like the Koch brothers and their oil companies are the major spoilers in climate change - funding junk science to confuse us and spending millions on misleading PR, while buying politicians wholesale. With investigative journalism and more, we need to expose and counter their horrifically irresponsible actions.

    5. Define the Deal -- Even in the face of planetary catastrophe, 195 governments in a room can be just incompetent. We need to invest in top quality policy advice to develop ingenious strategies, mechanisms, and careful compromises so that when the summit arrives, a critical mass of leaders are already bought in to a large part of the deal, and no one can claim that good solutions don't exist.
We need tens of thousands of us to pledge small donations to blast out of the starting gate on this plan. The amount doesn't matter as much as much as the choice - to hope, and to act:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/30_months_en_ld_rb/?bPanzbb&v=26238

At the last major climate summit in Copenhagen 2009, we played a pivotal role in German and Japanese 'climate' elections, in shifting Brazilian policy, and in helping win a major global deal on financing, with rich countries promising $100 billion per year to poor countries to help them address climate change. Back then, Avaaz was 3 million people. After Copenhagen, we reflected that we needed to be a lot bigger to meet the challenge posed by climate change. Now, we're 23 million, and growing by 1 million per month.

Climate change is the ultimate global collective action problem, requiring cooperation from every government in the world. And Avaaz is the ultimate collective action solution, with millions of us united in common vision across every nation. This is our time, to build a world for our children that’s beauty matches our dreams. Let's get started.

With hope and appreciation for this amazing community,

Ricken and the entire Avaaz team


MORE INFORMATION:

With Arctic sea ice vulnerable, summer melt season begins briskly (The Christian Science Monitor)
http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2013/0501/With-Arctic-sea-ice-vulnerable-summer-melt-season-begins-briskly-video

Arctic sea ice levels to reach record low within days (Guardian)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/aug/23/arctic-sea-ice-record-low

Five Reasons We Need a New Global Agreement on Climate Change by 2015 (Switchboard NRDC)
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/jschmidt/five_reasons_we_need_a_new_glo.html

The Doha climate talks were a start, but 2015 will be the moment of truth (The Guardian)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/10/doha-climate-talks-global-warming

Arctic sea ice melt disrupts weather patterns (NBC News)
http://science.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/30/18631374-arctic-sea-ice-melt-disrupts-weather-patterns?lite

The Arctic Ice “Death Spiral” (Slate)
http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/05/28/arctic_sea_ice_global_warming_is_melting_more_ice_every_year.html

Saturday 22 June 2013

SubVersion Stop 196: Greg Haines - Where We Were (Denovali)


This is officially the closest I've come to describing an album both Detroit Techno and Dub integrative. Augmented with wistful keening and wakening from handiwork to stretch and shape synth-based composites, with piano, vibraphone and delay effects, the one who could transcendentally introspect this deeply as to unwravel a whole new persona to the audience, is Greg Haines.

Greg has been known to Fluid Radio regulars, literally, on the regular. This is no shock when you take the opportunity to listen to his music, full to the brim with emotion, soulful hacking at the barracks of unconsciousness and spilling over of lifeblood from every interpolative stance. That interpolation is no less present than on "Where We Were", a seeming questioning-of-context title, a fromage frais of differing starts and stops, curves in the "Tablula Rasa" so to speak, of his Arvo Part, Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze influences.

More influences spill out hitherto in the press - King Tubby, Lee Scratch Perry, Rhythm & Sound. Haines has taken all his Modern Classical training: writing scores, writing for other musicians, writing with an "other" in mind, and another cause...to this, a nothingness. But at the same time, a something more - a pure expression of himself, in solitude, in the comforts of his own studio, to be what he truly wants to be, without pretense, without the surfeits of touring stresses, impacts, whether he'd like it or not, have subconscious direction on him.

From the off "The Intruder" marks out the spellbinding piano of classic Haines, but adds new touches, like the synthesizer you might hear on an art Pop record, or something from 80s New Order. A common leitmotif: syrupy and condensing diamel dynamics, brought into dystopia, like stifling a sneeze - then sent for an LSD-ish loop, a kaleidoscopic psychedelia, as if the components had reinforced glass backing them up. The personally enshrouded attitude the pieces seem to take, so much so that it is confessed that Peter Broderick's string section was left on the cutting room floor, solidifies the individuality Haines has greater pursued as his career has progressed.

Clearly a logical progression by way of quasi-extension from the performing arts and dance industry, it's nevertheless clear Haines couldn't have made a record like this at 18 years of age. 2006 was a long time ago, and it is thrilling to hear how he has matured. Flickers of vibraphone on piano that strays over two octaves for "The Intruder" sets the newly founded Haines polyrhythm aesthetic to Pink Floyd footwork - still the Modern Classical tropes remain. "Something Happened" introduces more electronic texture which sounds like GAS' Wolfgang Voigt munching a bag of Walkers crisps while trapped in a busy elevator listening to Greg and Danny Saul's Liondialer project.

Rhythms change up, stature is questioned, all creating an excellent entry into the record's standout, "So It Goes". This is where the regulation of "Where We Were" undergoes the most trans-formation. A soaring synth, multilayered like a painted seashell, she plays a major key then returns to a filtered slumber. The 80s reminiscent interlude style of "Trasiemo" sheds its melody like a re-cast tear. Whereas "Habanero" is perhaps the most innocent Detroit and dub Techno amalgam out there at present. The finale, a version of "Habanero", breathes ancient breaths into an echo chamber like vacuum particles from a Mike Oldfield "Tubular Bells" - with cheese and Rioja condiments - manifesto. The art of utopia/dystopia juggling down to a doomed art.

Yet there is no brutal reality with "Where We Were", like lambs silenced for non-vegan dinners. Like a lamb, too, Haines develops his own insulating coat at an astonishing rate. His use of illusive metre on tracks such as "The Whole", and 3 years back, "Until The Point Of Least Resistance", allude to anything but a composer going through the motions. Instead, it creates a formal post-iconclastry that destroys genre boundaries by sucking the detritus into a hoover and being left to live a life as compost - then, new musical notation.

"Where We Were" is a magnificent album, free of pretense, stuffed with more minute pleasures that become significant revelations over time. It all adds to the special body of work Greg has accumulated 2006-2013, and luckily for the collectors and completists among you, Denovali have issued a 3CD, 5LP retrospective at the same time. Meeting Greg for my first concert promotion in May 2010 was eventful, but it would seem there's no better place to listen to a Greg Haines record than in the comfort of your own space. Incredibly recommended.

Purchase: Digital Release

SubVersion Stop 195: Subvert get-together? Subtle Audio / Bustle Beats Limerick launch gig, Saturday July 27th 2013


Originally posted by Code on Subvert Central
 
I've been living in Canada for the last 2 and a half years but I'm heading home to Ireland next week to see family, friends and all the rest of it

Of course, while I'm there, I thought it would be nice to put on a night to mark arrival of several new releases on Subtle Audio / Bustle Beats and hopefully make the line-up tempting enough to get some of the UK / European crew travelling, it's been a long time since I've seen some of you c**ts

So, here's the carrot(s):

When ? Saturday July 27th, 10pm till late

Where ? Dolans Warehouse, Dock Road, Limerick City

What ? Subtle Audio presents BUSTLE BEATS - LABEL SHOWCASE

Who ? EQUINOX (Scientific Wax) ... ENJOY (Subtle Audio / Bustle Beats / Omni Music) ... CODE (Subtle Audio) ... DEEP CUT (Nu Killa Kru) b2b K3BEE (Syncopathic)

How loud ? Plenty. Void Soundsystem being hired for the night.

Nearest airport ? Shannon (15km) ... then Cork (1 hour drive) ... then Dublin (2 hour drive)


Also worth mentioning that there is a weekend long festival of hip-hop/graffiti/breakdancing on in the city that weekend. So there should be some nice workshop / early gigs on aswell. I know this lady VOICE is in town (alongside DJ P.U.D.G.E from LA) ... check this album : http://voicey.bandcamp.com/album/voice-presents-cutz

Just thought I'd post this to let any potentially interested parties know - with just over 5 weeks left before the gig, flights will need to be booked pronto to save the $$$

So, yay / nay ?

Sunday 16 June 2013

SubVersion Stop 194: Muttley - Importance Of Being Modest (June 2013)

SubVersion Recommends Muttley - Importance Of Being Modest (June 13 - Grouper, Bat For Lashes, Foci's Left et al)

http://www.sendspace.com/file/2bhfgl

An hour long mix, motored by the two tracks Grouper - "Sleep" and Steve Roach - "Soul Tones". These tracks last 51 and 45 minutes each on their own, but are blended together for the remainder 25 minutes of the set; after the tune-switching-and-shapeshifting has settled, basically. Before that comes great, real crushingly deep ambiences from Octal Industries ("Drofn#1"), drones from Library Tapes and Christopher Bissonnette, then Bat For Lashes first album "Fur And Gold" mixed with Foci's Left (me) and Mike Twelve's "Decompress The Magnet" piece. The climax before succulent drifts is Greg Haines' magnificent "So It Goes" on Denovali, which I will link written material for once my Fluid Radio review has been published.

Odd, involving, but always interesting and absorbing, "(The) Importance Of Being Modest" is based on the counterweight idea that to appreciate space, you have to be exposed to enough busy atmosphere for the gradations to make a real difference. In consistence lies the ability or inability to be modest about your demands of this space, or lack thereof. It's dovetailed in.

So I permissively hope you enjoy the mix as much as I did creating it!

Mick

Tuesday 4 June 2013

SubVersion Stop 193: Fushara Biography (for www.wikipedia.org)

Thushara Goonewardene (born 6th October, 1980) is a UK based Jungle, Techno and leftfield Drum & Bass producer, who also DJs when he thinks the time is right. The focus on thinking translates to a kind of thinking man's Electronica, populated by dense rhythm sections, microsound collage, interspersed with directional glitches, twists and turns for the listener to follow.

Early Influences

Thushara's influences for Drum & Bass come from listening to it while at school, along with Rock and Metal, and afterward in his London upbringing, where he gravitated to contemporary Classical and Ambient music by way of Vangelis, Helios and Max Richter. Prodiguous producers including early Adam F, the Reinforced Records camp, and early Technical Itch won the day at the time in D&B terms. His experiences working in the studio proper came from his days with Lab Creation, meeting James Shiva, and their previous Pressure parties. This was where Thushara found out how the music sounded through professional monitors and the studio process as a singular experiential entity.

Origins


Thushara's breakthrough release was on the well-respected Plain Productions in 2007, with "Rising" the A side. This, his debut EP, garnered him attention across the more subversive end of the scene, being promoted on the Subvert Central forum, and reaching label owners with a Starfrosch collective of listeners. Thushara was initially pushing chopping his breakbeats heavily - as opposed to letting things roll out - a technique he turned inside out as time progressed. 2010's "The Painting Space Vols.2 & 3" on Pinecone Moonshine saw Thushara contribute two tracks: "Reaching Out" and "Why So Serious?", typified by basketball bass bounce, detailed layering and off-kilter harmonics.

Being inspired from the realms of Technicality club nights in London and newer nights like Rupture, with a Phil Source classics set noted in his Kmag interview in 2011, the focus remains dancefloor friendly drums, but the playing field with a Fushara tune is open wide to accomodate all areas. And it would seem the reliance on textural utopia/dystopia juggling, as an extension of his suburban life in London and Sheffield, gives a neat flexibility to Fushara's production style. This flexing of opposites is also atypical of Thushara's work as Fushara - at once organic but mechanical on tracks like "Ambient Locomotion", from his debut album "Tales From A Concrete City", released on Canadian imprint Make:Shift, with Detroit synths to match this pulsation - he's capable of versatile shape-shifting when the groove has been laid down.

On one hand, Thushara's tendencies with drum breaks are firmly rooted in finding an all-important groove to base a track around. On another, his abilities with basslines and atmospherics sets him apart from more conservative beatsmiths, and his route to completion is never tried and tested.

Work In Progress

Thushara's latest album is the more two-step friendly "Through The Doors To Oblivion" on Omni Music. The correlation with artistic evolution and diversity are things Fushara as a producer is keen to work on, never resting on his laurels of success - see his remix of Justice's "Sanur" - within the (sub)culture of leftfield Drum & Bass as it relates to Jungle and back again. Now set to release "Creep" on the Anchorage Sound compilation alongside promising deeper sounds stalwart Nuage, Good Looking Records' Rantoul and Pinecone Moonshine's Ibunshi, the future looks one of new found lands, new found sounds in Thushara's world.