According to this, the sirens were “dangerous bird-woman…portrayed as seductresses in Greek mythology.”
They were known for their beautiful voices that would lure sailors to their death. Odysseus was one of the only ones to get away with hearing them, and he had to do so by having himself tied to the mast of a ship and plugging his crew’s ears with beeswax so that they couldn’t hear the sirens while they sailed by them.
Anyways, here’s a collection of modern-day sirens. Disco sirens, if you will. You’ll be tempted, but not to the extent that you’ll need to put beeswax in your ears.
In order: my desk at the school where I worked (note the bottle of Pocari Sweat), a typical school lunch (bagged udon, processed squid-rolls, milk) and a bizarre building in my neighbourhood in Okegawa (Saitama Prefecture, just outside of Tokyo).
Just take a second and look at that last picture: what the hell is that structure on top of the building with the stairs leading to it? It can’t be an elevator mechanical room -that building is only a few stories tall, and I don’t think it had an elevator. Did someone live up there? If so, awesome apartment.
Anyways, here are some more sugary-sweet J-tunes from Pizzicato Five. I don’t actually think they are all that popular in Japan, but have a listen anyways.
This is pretty much what I wish my life was like. I have a feeling I’ll have to travel farther than the closest star to Earth to find anything as cool as six-limbed gorillas and space babes.
You know what is messed up? If her Myspace page is anything to go by, she’s really into horses. Emperor Caligula was also into horses, and went as far as trying to make his horse into a priest and a consul (rumor has it he also turned the palace into a brothel).
Anyways, Little Boots reminds me of Goldfrapp who, it appears, is also into horses.
I just copped this new K-Os track from Claudio’s new blog. As he says, it is indeed looking for a remix and I’m sure will pop up before the album comes out.
Anyways, since K-Os is from the T-dot and we’re getting weather in the minus thirties today enjoy this track and the this icy picture of Toronto that I took and be glad you aren’t here.
East of LA has another K-Os track from the new album here.
William Gibson’s Neuromancer has always been one of my favorite books
Near the middle, the main characters, Case and Molly, end up on an orbital colony that had been populated by a group of reggae-loving welders. Case is a hacker, Molly his cyborg captor/guardian angel.
The two surviving Founders of Zion were old men, old with
the accelerated aging that overtakes men who spend too many
years outside the embrace of gravity. Their brown legs, brittle
with calcium loss, looked fragile in the harsh glare of reflected
sunlight. They floated in the center of a painted jungle of
rainbow foliage, a lurid communal mural that completely cov-
ered the hull of the spherical chamber. The air was thick with
resinous smoke.
`Steppin’~ Razor,’ one said, as Molly drifted into the cham-
ber. `Like unto a whippin’~ stick.’
`That is a story we have, sister,’ said the other, `a religion
story. We are glad you’ve come with Maelcum.’
`How come you don’t talk the patois?’ Molly asked.
`I came from Los Angeles,’ the old man said. His dread-
locks were like a matted tree with branches the color of steel
wool. `Long time ago, up the gravity well and out of Babylon.
To lead the Tribes home. Now my brother likens you to Step-
pin’~ Razor.’
Molly extended her right hand and the blades flashed in the
smoky air.
The other Founder laughed, his head thrown back. `Soon
come, the Final Days… Voices. Voices cryin’~ inna wilder-
ness, prophesyin’~ ruin unto Babylon…’
`Voices.’ The Founder from Los Angeles was staring at
Case. `We monitor many frequencies. We listen always. Came
a voice, out of the babel of tongues, speaking to us. It played
us a mighty dub.’
I know more about cyberpunk than anything dub- or reggae-related, so I could be totally off on what I think space dub would sound like. The Persian Prince says that dub is “an off-shoot of reggae that involves remixing or revising existing songs into instrumental or mostly instrumental versions by increasing the low-end and removing all or most of the vocals.”
Either way, I’ve been playing a lot of Halo 3 with Claudio lately and my next life goal is to get the Steppin’ Razor achievement. Suitably named, it involves getting a triple-kill with the energy sword in a ranked multiplayer match.
I used that picture of Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost In The Shell because if anyone is Cybernetic Steppin’ Razor, it’s Motoko. File this post under Ninjas as well, because you just know Steppin’ Razor is just rasta slang for ninja.
You can read the full text of Neuromancer here or buy it from Amazon here.
Then check out Thievery Corporation and Death in Vegas
Also, just because 199x loves the Disco Villains right now, here’s their little treatment of N*E*R*D’s Rock Star. I thought it went well with the Subdelux track. You know, thematically.
When I was living in Japan, I somehow came across this songstress named Takako Minekawa, and I especially like her track called Cloud Forest (and remember once hearing a really good remix of it by, I think, Kid Koala - if you’ve got it, let me know).
Enjoy it, then befriend her on MySpace and know that hers is the voice that you hear saying ‘Playstation’ at the end of the all the commercials for that system. How’s that for trivia?
I was going through photos that I’d been tagged in on Facebook the other day (you know, to de-tag any controversial ones) when I came across this classic one in the album of some guy named Scott Ramsay.
I don’t know who he is because I can’t access his profile, but I’m glad someone tagged me in this photo.
It is from a charity event called Bukavu that was raising money for some sort of African-related cause. The entire event was safari-themed. I was never clear on the exact details, but I knew that my $75 ticket entitled me to open-bar privileges and a swag bag.
It was a good night - Tzero and I drank Amarula until someone puked all over the inside of the bar. (It wasn’t me)
Anyways, check out this remix of a Rockland track by NONEWYORK (you can listen to the original over at The Docking Station)
Rockland - You Can’t Stop Californi Yee (NONEWYORK Remix)
They’ve got some other good tracks on their Myspace - give ‘em a listen.
