Sonic Overload 8/15/11

Last week, I didn’t get a chance to prepare any material regarding the rioting and civil unrest in London and cities in the UK the weekend before last and continuing into the week. If I’d known at the time of taping last week’s show, that would have been a different matter. This week’s show begins with some audio from a BBC TV report broadcast after the violence commenced. It presents the events but also attempts to find underlying reasons, beyond the police killing of Mark Duggan in Tottenham.

There’s only so much I can convey in a two or so minute clip (as well as in this space) but it’s worthwhile to get away from the mainstream media accounts and find reports that contextualize the events. This isn’t to condone the acts of violence, looting, etc but it’s important to take a step back and see the whole picture.

Today’s first song, “Ghost Town,” came out in 1981 while Britain was under the vice grip of Margaret Thatcher with her right-wing policies that led to economic anguish for many people. It’s happening again with the new right-wing Prime Minister David Cameron and his slashing of social programs. Sound familiar? Maybe the teabaggers in this country will take a look at how “austerity” measures create problems for the less-privileged, most-vulnerable members of society. On the other hand, given their worshiping at the altar of Ayn Rand, it could fall on deaf ears—until it happens to them.

To listen, left click for streaming, right click to download the files

Sonic Overload 8/15/11

TRACK 1

SPECIALS-Ghost Town (Chrysalis)

HOLLYWOOD-Fire & Grits (Big Neck)
A FRAMES-Police 1000 (S-S)
FUTURES-Trance Again (Answer)
WHATEVER BRAINS-The Fisher (Sorry State)
WHITE WHALE-Widow’s Peak (Big Neck)
CANADIAN RIFLE-Climbing Down From The Crane (Residue)

SHAVED CHRIST-Tender Youth (demo)
SOCIAL CIRCKLE-No I Won’t (Side Two)
WASTE MANAGEMENT-No Way Out (Painkiller)
DOUBLE NEGATIVE-Writhe (Sorry State)
NO CLASS-Tired, Bored, Angry, Violent (Deranged)
OLDE GHOST-Fatalists (Handstand)

TRACK 2

TEEN IDLES-Fiorucci Nightmare (Dischord)
NIP DRIVERS-Tang (Taang)
DEHUMANIZERS-Can’t Sleep (from “Apathy... Never!,” Over The Top)
NO PIGS-Down (from “Emma,” Mordam)
HERESY-Follow Suit (In Your Face)
THE WHO-My Wife (MCA)

SMART COPS-Realta Cercami (Sorry State)
NEO CONS-Rent Controlled (Deranged)
SLOBS-Technophile Society (Cowabunga)
SHITTY LIMITS-Selling Point (La Vida Es Un Mus)
TERMINAL STATE-All In My Head (Deranged)
DARK AGES-Out Of This World (Sorry State)

FORGOTTEN REBELS-Elvis Is Dead (Star)
TALES OF TERROR-Hound Dog (CD Presents)
RIPPER-Razor’s Edge (Black Water)
CRIMINAL DAMAGE-My Escape (Feral Ward)

TRACK 3

AUS-ROTTEN-The System Works For Them (Tribal War)

AVON LADIES-Today’s Forecast (demo)
HOMOSTUPIDS-In The Basementman (Fashionable Idiots)
DAILY VOID-New Breed (Sacred Bones)
THE SIOUX-Doppelganger (213)
MIKA MIKO-Johnson R. Cool (PPM)
BUSH TETRAS-Cowboys In Africa (ROIR)

ART YARD-The Law (Ride The Snake)
URINALS-Sex (Warning Label)
ANGRY SAMOANS-You Stupid Asshole (Triple X)
MIGHTY IONS-Time To Get Outta This Place (Dino)
CIRCLE JERKS-What’s Your Problem? (Frontier)
FU’S-Boston’s Finest (Taang)

TRACK 4

JESUS LIZARD-Bloody Mary (Collision Arts)
RYE COALITION-The Higher The Hair The Closer To God (Gern Blandsten)
GIT SOME-Fabric Eyes (1-2-3-4, Go!)
CROSS STITCHED EYES-Suffer (Alternative Tentacles)
SELBY TIGERS-Snoball (Hopeless)
VACUUM HEADS-No Way (demo)

TSOL-I’m Tired Of Life (Frontier)
NNB-Slack (Wave 7)
CHRISTMAS-Dig We Must (demo)
STEREOLAB-The Light Will Cease To Fail (Slumberland)
COLIN NEWMAN-& Jury (Beggars Banquet)

FLASH AND THE PAN-Walking In The Rain (Epic)