#Ezra Gibbons

[lavalampstealer]

WHO’S READY TO GO⁉️⁉️🗣️⁉️

ART FIGHT!!! First year participating, I can’t wait!!! Find the goobers here if you wish >:]

[mordopolus]

Liste: Die besten Lieder 2022

Wir haben es bei dem gerade losgetretenen Listen-Zyklus wohl mit dem verschlepptesten in der Geschichte dieses Blogs zu tun, was sehr viele Gründe hat, die euch Blog-Erfahrenen da draußen wohlbekannt sind (Job, Leben, wie lange will man den Schammas noch machen), aber auch damit zu tun hat, dass sich mein Hörverhalten immer wieder umwälzt und die Tumblr-Krise (ausgerechnet, als es eine kleine, zumindest diskursive Renaissance zu geben schien?) so auswächst, dass ich quasi täglich damit rechne, dass hier der Saft einfach abgedreht oder zumindest ein Teil der Plattform einfach gelöscht wird. Irgendwo auf diesem Blog liegen Entwürfe zu Kommentaren zu dieser Pop-Krisenstimmung, hektisch in die Tasten gehauen, Textblöcke, für deren Feinschliff dann später keine Zeit mehr war. All das bremst freilich weiter, und das in einem Jahr, für das ich mir vorgenommen hatte, und zwar mitten in jenem altbekannten ach-das-muss-ich-noch-aufholen-fuck-das-sind-ja-mehr-Alben-als-ich-überhaupt-das-Jahr-über-gehört-habe-Strudel (seit 2012 liebgewonnenes Thema auf diesem Blog), einfach tatsächlich dieses Jahr abzubilden, mit all seinen Idiosynkrasien, die - so scheint mir zumindest - nun wieder stärker werden, weil Brennen Muss Die Liste! weniger Wert auf Pop-Vollständigkeit legt und ich langsam in meine Boomer-Phase komme, zumindest systematisch, historisch gesehen um zwei Generationen verzögert, denn: es geht hier um Songs, die womöglich nur die Generation Y fühlen kann, jene Zwischengeneration, die die alten Versprechen des Pop gerade noch so kennt, aber selbst eben schon in den postheroischen Jahren (Diederichsen) sozialisiert wurde (die es damals teils nur noch nicht realisiert hatten). 

Diese Liste erklärt wenig. Sie ist ein Ausschnitt eines Jahres in einer fortgeschrittenen Hörerbiografie, gerade zu Beginn wirklich knapp kommentiert, weil es oft keine großen Bögen, keine großen Geschichten gibt (hinten raus konnte ich mich dann nicht immer so gut beherrschen). Fraglich war, ob die Liste dann überhaupt einen Mehrwert hat, ob das Sortieren überhaupt noch Sinn ergibt oder sich nicht alles in Synchronizität auflösen oder gleich abfackeln soll, andererseits war dann eben auch fraglich, ob dieses Abfackeln überhaupt noch wer lesen und also mitkriegen würde, was den Sinn des ganzen Unternehmens nochmal grundsätzlich von anderer Seite in Frage stellt, aber - optimistisch gedacht - alles auch ein bisschen freier macht. Es folgen nun also unterm Strich 25 Lieder, die ich im vergangenen Jahr schlicht häufig gehört habe, zusammengekürzt nur mit leichten Bauchschmerzen - und auch das kann ja schon Grund zur Freude sein.

PS. Redigiert wurde dieses Mal nicht richtig. Wenn ihr Fehler findet, schreibt mir doch gerne eine Nachricht. Wegen Community und allem auch. Euer mordopolus

25. Burial/Exokind

Esoterisches Flöten, in der Zeit zerfallendes Brabbeln, im Kreis laufendes Drama. Burial driftet weiter ab, und vielleicht folgen nur wir Hängengebliebenen.

24. Birds Fear Death/Bodies

Aus algorithmischen Vorschlägen herangewehte Edgelord-Tränen, gekreischt über lagerfeurigen Gitarren.

23. Men I Trust/Billie Toppy

Locker getippelter Bass, weggetretene Performance, irgendwo hinten leuchten Melodien auf.

22. Pashanim/Kleiner Prinz 

Berliner Flimmern, nachlässig hingelegte Bushido-Zitate, die nicht funktionieren dürften, mich aber in diffuser Nostalgie mit sehr jetzigem Vibe erwischten.

21. Leikeli47/Zoom

Stoisch-strafend über den Beat ruckelnder Coolness-Spaß.

20. Slipknot/De Sade

Slipknot erlegen sich evtl. gerade selbst, sind dabei aber musikalisch spannend wie lange nicht. “The End, So Far” folgt auf zwei eher solide riffende Alben mit jener Fahrigkeit, die “All Hope Is Gone” zu einer herrlich gemischten Erfahrung macht, und für jedes eher halbgute stoische Kloppen gibt es hier nun wieder einen Song wie “De Sade”, dessen C-Part vielleicht ein bisschen doll stampft, dessen zwielichtiges, überzogenes, drückend-nebliges Pathos Corey Taylor aber endlich mal wieder raus aus der Komfortzone lockt. Mythisches Kasperletheater - eine unterschätzte Disziplin dieser noch immer guten Gruppe.

19. Maggie Rogers/Want Want

Album Nummer eins war ‘Jaja, Pharrell, Tränen, Alaska, aber komm schon, bei aller Indie-Pop-Nostalgie - Mittelmaß’ - und dann dies: Industrial mal wieder auf Pop gestaucht, ein schwitzig-blinkendes Video, und bei aller Entfernung von Rock eben doch genau die Form von Energie, die ein Hit übers Verlangen braucht.

18. Alice Longyu Gao (mit Oli Skyes)/Believe The Hype

Fein kuratierter Pop, unanständig gespielt. 

17. Muna/What I Want

Wieder einen Platz zurück, und dann: Apropos Verlangen, apropos Hit! Das Album war so ein bissl lau, aber dieser jauchzende Indie-Disco-Song mit elektrisch-pyrolatorisierenden Refrain konnte uns ergreifen.

16. Viagra Boys/Troglodyte

Der Dance-Post-Punk-Knüppel über den Kopf, den wir verdienen.

15. Trixsi/Sauf, ne

Melancholisch-torkelnde Getränkeschau mit Jörkk Mechenbier - ein anderes Verlangen, gerade im Mäandern auf den Punkt gebracht.

14. Björk/Atopos

Es bläst, es scheppert, Reggaeton hallt nach, vor allem greifen aber die Björkismen ineinander, alles richtet sich an der mäandernden Performance aus - und am Ende werden wir in den bloßen Rave-Furor gedrückt, erst heftig, dann heftiger.

13. GloRilla/F.N.F. (Let’s Go)

Schön billig, hüpfend, in den Flow investiert und doch mit einer herrlichen Nachlässigkeit gesegnet.

12. Korn/Lost In The Grandeur

Man muss vermutlich nicht, kann aber etwas weiter ausholen, um diese Platzierung zur erklären: Es brauchte nämlich erst ein mich mit dem Spätwerk von Korn aussöhnendes, im Frühjahr 2021 gestreamtes Konzert, um mich auf das erfreulich kompakte “Requiem” einzustimmen und dort tatsächlich einige Perlen finden zu lassen, die mich 2022 ausgiebig begleiteten - darunter das schrubbend-verzweifelte “Lost In The Grandeur” mit seiner unverhofften Alternative-Metal-Grandezza.

11. Spiritbox/Rotoscope

Mit einem Song führen Spiritbox all die Metalcore-Burschen vor, die sich so beharrlich fragen, wie das denn nun mit dem Pop und dem Krach im Zeichen der Knalligkeit geht. Di-dü! Di-dü! Di-dü! Di-dü! So, ihr Versager!

10. Casper/Fabian

Ach, verdammt: “Alles war schön und nichts tat weh” hat seine Momente, ist aber so insgesamt schon auch das langweiligste Casper-Album bislang. Die anderen Platten lebten ja stets schon davon, einen kleinsten gemeinsamen Nenner in ihrer Experimentierlust zu finden, und hier ist nun vieles wirklich beschaulich, darin aber zunächst mal nicht unsympathisch, und vor allem gibt es ja durchaus ein paar hervorragende Moment, von denen “Lass es Rosen für mich regnen” womöglich der meistgespielte, “Fabian” aber doch der am tiefsten treffende war. Nochmal Storytelling, nochmal Indie-Rap-Epos, nochmal Tod, nur dieses Mal eben nicht.

9. Sam Smith (mit Kim Petras)/Unholy

Es ist ja doch immer wieder beruhigend, wenn es mal passiert, dass einer dieser omnipräsenten Songs tatsächlich den Weg in das eigene Herz findet - und dann auch noch von Sam Smith, irgendwie immer nett, aber auch ewig wehleidig auf jene Art Pop, die da sein darf, es aber eben nicht muss. “Unholy” bot dieser ja immer schon sinister-kieksenden Stimme endlich eine angemessene Bühne, zwischen Teufelsschabernack und sexuellem Erwachen, also dort, wo wir Satanic-Panic-Aficionados uns wohl fühlen.

8. Phoenix (mit Ezra Koenig)/Tonight 

Für uns knapp-zu-spät-geborene Indie-Kids waren viele Karten ja schon gelegt; so z.B., dass Phoenix und Vampire Weekend auf ihre Art tendenziell artsy, aber hochgeschätzte Randphänomene dieses Kosmos sind. Umso schöner, dass Phoenix nun den ewig knabenhaft-zärtlichen Ezra Koenig auf ein angenehm frickelig-rauschend-knallendes Stück Gitarrenpop luden und so jenen magischen Monaten der ausgehenden 00er Jahre ein Monument setzten. 

7. Tate McRae/She’s All I Wanna Be

Wir waren Tate McRae ja schon länger erlegen, aber dass sie nun auch noch das aktuelle, aus dem Herzen des Chart-Pop stammende Pop-Punk-Revival meistern musste, mit freundlich-bestimmten Gitarren und knalliger Snare und sich schlängelndem Refrain und diesem herrlichen kurz-vor-rauchigen, leicht weggetretenen Schnurren, besiegelte das Fantum auf ewig (fürs Erste zumindest).

6. Lykke Li/5D

Eine Freundin verlässt Deutschland, und wir Anderen stehen vollkommen entkräftet am Bahnhof Hamburg Harburg, in meinem Kopf neue Musik von Lykke Li, deren schönstes Lied mich später auch dank seines Musikvideos endlos im Kreis schicken sollte. Alle anderen winken längst ab, doch wir traurigen Hängenbleiber können uns freilich kaum irgendwo schöner in unsere Schwermut fallen lassen.

5. Paramore/This Is Why

Die Bloc-Party-Werdung der Gruppe Paramore ist mittlerweile längst historisiert und in Rankings einsortiert, die Faszination dieses sich langsam aus der Isolation emporschlängelnden Songs lässt sich so aber freilich kaum erklären. Da war nun endlich wieder diese Band, angenehm knochig, mit knappen Zeilen aus der Gegenwart, die eher auf ein Gefühl zielten - was die Intellektualisierungsversuche ebenso wie ihre notorische, lästige Abstrafung beide verpassten. Und im Grunde handelt der Song ja genau davon - der Müdigkeit von Meinungen, dem Bedürfnis, einfach drinnen zu bleiben, auch im übertragenen Sinn. Soll man freilich nicht machen. Auch davon erzählt der Song, mit seinem Groove und weltumspannenden Refrain.

4. Yung Kayo (mit Yeat)/Yeet

Energisch-wirr-blinkende Hymne an einen Typen, der gerade Signature-Rapper wird und hinten raus selbst noch in den Song stolpert, halb benommen, halb von der Energie umgerissen, aber freilich nur scheinbar. Perfekt pointiert in seiner Ziellosigkeit.

3. Paula Hartmann/Babyblau

Ich weiß ja auch nicht, wohin mich dieses spezielle Fansein führt. Das Album wirkte wie eine verpuffte Chance, die Songs waren dennoch gut - und dann summte Paula Hartmann auch noch dieses lockere Stück Sommerluft in unsere Herzen. Weiter muss es vielleicht gar nicht gehen.

2. My Chemical Romance/Foundations Of Decay

Wir taumelten nachts aus der Lanxess Arena in die Wohnung eines Unbekannten, die ein Freund gerade bewohnte, euphorisiert von Dua Lipa, und als ich den Laptop aufklappte, war da dieser absolut mysteriöse Song. My Chemical Romance, nun also nicht nur live wieder da, sondern auch mit neuem Song - Ankündigung eines neuen Albums? Fünf Minuten, alles bisschen leise, vor allem der Gesang; nicht matschig, aber eben auch sicher nicht differenziert - ein verschollenes Demo? Aber aus welcher Schaffensphase soll das sein? Gruftig klang es, auch geschrien, teils gehaucht, insgesamt getragen, irgendwie pompös, aber allein qua Produktion halt dem Vorbeirauschen geweiht. Spätestens live wuchs dann die Gewissheit, dass der Song neu und durchaus als Geste gemeint war, gerade dank der wieder mal ausgesprochen selbstreferenziellen Lyrics. Und wie ich da so rätselte und den Song dann doch immer wieder hörte, wuchs er mir mit seinem verhinderten Pathos, der verbauten Verzweiflung, dieser wunderbar muffigen Kelleratmosphäre doch arg ans Herz.

1. Kendrick Lamar (mit Beth Gibbons)/Mother I Sober

Die Geschichte geht irgendwie so: Ein Wochenende im Sommer 2022, eingeklemmt zwischen einer Hochzeit und einer Taufe, in einer mir sehr vertrauten Wohnung; ich höre das neue Kendrick Lamar Album, das - wie sollte es auch anders sein - komplett von Diskurs und Meinung und Lektüren zugedeckt ist, ganz zu schweigen von dem Gewusel, das darunter passiert. Es ist ein Auf und Ab mit dieser Musik, ihren Reden zwischen Esoterik und Mental Health, den wirren Anspielungen, auch wieder dieser Musik zwischen Raffinesse und karger Geste, aber es gibt da eben diesen einen Song, der ja zuvor schon aus der notierten Tracklist herausragte, allein weil da eben einer der raren Gastauftritte von Beth Gibbons versprochen wurde, und so zerschmetternd der Song war, den Kendrick irgendwie benommen, vielleicht auch eher fiebrig, fast verlegen, mit heiserer Stimme, teils auch um den heißen Brei herum uns entgegen rappte, so unwiderstehlich war er auch auf eine Art, angefressen zwar von dem ganzen Drumherum, den Leitmotiven und familiären Samples, aber mit Klavier und angespanntem Lamar und der ebenso geisterhaft-entrückten wie ganz konkret, als Körper zittrigen Gibbons doch so fraglos einnehmend, dass sich schnell herausschälte: Kein Hit des Jahres wird diesen Song, der mich in Schleifen umwickelte, überstrahlen können.

[newmusickarl]

Mercury Music Prize 2024: Ranking The Contenders

My favourite time of year has arrived – the season of the Mercury Music Prize. Back in July, the twelve albums nominated for the 2024 prize were revealed and, as ever, served up a highly diverse and eclectic list of some of the best British and Irish music released over the last 12 months. Each of these nominated records is now vying for the prestigious title of Album of the Year, the overriding criteria for which has greatly deviated throughout the award’s history.

In terms of the competition, last year felt like a big watershed moment. With myself and many others previously writing off the jazz nomination as soon as the annual shortlist is announced, Ezra Collective’s pleasantly surprising victory set a new precedence for the prize – any album can win. Not only that, but this year’s Mercury Prize shortlist presents arguably the most open contest for some years, making it almost impossible to predict. But hey – let’s try and predict it anyway!

As I do each year, I’ve now listened to all 12 albums and tried to rank them based on what I think are their chances of winning. To be clear, this is not a “Worst-to-Best” countdown – this ranking is based solely on how likely I think they are to win the overall prize.

To determine this, I’ve considered:

The impact and artistic achievement attained by the album

The popularity of the artist

The level of critical acclaim the album has received

How similar albums have fared over the years

All clear? Good!

Without further ado, here’s my final thoughts and analysis on this year’s nominees.

12. Lives Outgrown by Beth Gibbons

The debut solo album from the Portishead frontwoman is an absorbing work, a heavy listen that can be tricky to love at first but will eventually win you over. It’s certainly won the critics over too, becoming one of the most positively reviewed albums of the year thus far.

So why bottom of the list? Well for me, Beth has several factors working against her. Firstly, she’s a well-established artist who wouldn’t gain much from earning Mercury Prize recognition this late into her career. Secondly, and most importantly, she’s a former Mercury Prize winner, having lifted the trophy with Portishead’s Dummy back in 1995.

There’s only ever been one two-time winner in the prize’s history (PJ Harvey for those wondering) and at this juncture in her career, I personally don’t see Beth becoming the second person to achieve this feat – particularly given the strength of some of the debutants on this year’s shortlist.

11. Bad With Names by Corto.alto

Having already been so familiar with a lot of the records on this year’s shortlist, this debut from Glaswegian multi-instrumentalist Liam Shortall has been my favourite discovery through this year's prize. Recorded in his bedroom, it’s a mesmerising collision of jazz and electronic music that is genuinely unique and pulls you back in for repeated listens.

However, why it is so far down on my list is mainly due to Ezra Collective winning the prize last year. Whilst this album from Corto.alto isn’t solely a jazz project, of all the records on the list it is the one that falls the most into that genre. While Ezra Collective historically bucked the trend last year of jazz records never prevailing and winning the overall prize, another longstanding trend is that Mercury Prize wins rarely come from the same genre in back-to-back years. So, with a jazz record taking home the trophy last year, it makes me think the judges will go in a different direction in 2024.

10. On Purpose, With Purpose by Ghetts

The fourth studio album from the acclaimed, MOBO-award winning rapper, On Purpose, With Purpose is an ambitious project that showcases Ghetts' prowess for strong storytelling and cutting social commentary. It also features a stacked list of collaborators, including Mercury Prize alumni Kano and Sampha.

Now Ghetts is one of the few artists on this year’s shortlist who has been nominated for the Mercury Prize previously, having been shortlisted for the 2021 prize with Conflict of Interest. While recent history would suggest this could work in his favour (Little Simz and Michael Kiwanuka both won on their second and third times of trying), I feel this is a weaker effort compared to Conflict of Interest. Not only that but it seems fans and critics agree, with this album one of the lowest scoring on review aggregate site albumoftheyear.org. With this being the case, this is one I am filing under unlikely to win.

9. Early Twenties by Cat Burns

Talk about sneaking in there – this debut album from British singer-songwriter Cat Burns was released on the 12th of July this year, the final day for eligible entries into the 2024 prize. Obviously the judges would have listened to it before that date though, and they were clearly taken in by the record’s uplifting pop melodies and soul-baring lyricism.

Now, there actually isn’t too much working against Cat Burns when it comes to winning the overall prize. It is a debut album which always fair well and she’s also had good success in recent years with critic-led awards, having come fourth in the BBC Sound of 2023 and earning three Brit Award nominations just last year.

However, with the late release date you do wonder if the album would have had chance to make an impact on the judging panel in the same way as some of the other records on this list. Additionally, the album hasn’t had too long to make an impact culturally on the wider music world either, which leads me to think this is another album that is unlikely to prevail.

8. Who Am I by BERWYN

Like Ghetts, British rapper, producer and songwriter BERWYN is another artist who has been on the shortlist before, having also been nominated in 2021 for his impressively raw mixtape, Demotape/Vega. Now back with what is being billed as his debut studio album, WHO AM I is a powerful force that is as lyrically spellbinding as it is emotionally impactful.

However unlike Ghetts, BERWYN for me actually has a lot pulling for him. Again it’s another debut, he’s a previous nominee and rap records have typically done well in recent years (see wins from Little Simz, Dave and Skepta). So why is it only 8th on the list I hear you ask? Well, I think it simply boils down to there being some stronger records on this list that you can argue are more deserving. Whilst a BERWYN win (or a BER-WIN if you want to be cheesy) is certainly possible, my gut tells me its also improbable given the strength of the field.

7. Black Rainbows by Corinne Bailey Rae

A record that made my own year-end list back in December finishing an impressive 16th, Black Rainbows is one of the most acclaimed albums on this year’s shortlist. Inspired by an exhibition on Black history by artist Theaster Gates at the Stony Island Arts Bank in Chicago, the album is a mesmerising collage of eclectic sounds that range from soul and R&B to frantic garage rock and sprawling electronica.

Corinne is also a previous nominee, having had her sophomore record The Sea shortlisted for the 2010 prize. Given the love and acclaim Black Rainbows has received too, it wouldn’t be too surprising to see Corinne announced as the winner on the night.

However given the other nominees, my gut instinct says the judges may favour a newer artist, with Corinne almost in the same category as Beth Gibbons as already being too well established at this point. Whilst a Mercury win would certainly be deserving, my instincts are telling me this likely won’t be Corinne’s year.

6. When Will We Land? by Barry Can’t Swim

An album I’m personally a massive fan of and would love to see win tomorrow night. When Will We Land, the debut from Scottish musician and producer Joshua Mainnie AKA Barry Can’t Swim, is a vibrant and joyous experience like no other. Filled with a globe-trotting mix of sonic influences and textures, it is an incredible debut that has cemented Barry Can’t Swim as a household name in the electronic music world over the last year.

Now much like jazz albums, electronic records are good at getting nominated, but rarely do they win. In fact, you have to go all the way back to James Blake’s win in 2013 for Overgrown to find the last triumph from the popular genre. So not only is an electronic record long overdue a win, Barry’s debut has had such an impact in the space, not just for him but for the genre on the whole, it would be a well-received victory.

That said, as much as I would love Barry to walk away the overall prize winner, I think his chances are sadly fewer than some of the others on this year’s shortlist.

5. Silence Is Loud by Nia Archives

We’re into the real contenders now and this debut from record producer, DJ and singer-songwriter Nia Archives is certainly in with a chance. Heralded for its groundbreaking fusion of Jungle and Britpop with sincere lyricism at the heart, it’s an album that is truly unlike any other released in 2024.

With Nia such a trailblazer and pioneer for this Jungle revival that British music is now seeing, not just bringing the genre back to the fore but moving it forward as well, you have to wonder if Nia will get the nod in the same way Skepta won in 2016 for Konnichiwa. While that was arguably not the best record on the shortlist that year, it seemed like the judges were keen to recognise Skepta’s impact on the British rap and grime scene, helping to really bring it to a worldwide audience. I could easily see this reasoning repeated and with Nia’s record a debut too, it’s definitely one of the frontrunners in this very open contest.

Again, the only thing working against a Silence Is Loud win is the impact and quality of the others on the shortlist.

4. Brat by Charli XCX

An album that needs no introduction at this point. Let’s face it, has there been a British record in the last five years – or even decade - that has had as big of a cultural impact, in such a short space of time too, than Charli XCX’s Brat?

Although only released in June, the album has already cemented itself as one of the defining albums of 2024, and indeed the 2020s. From the iconic green artwork that has inspired festival fashion to instantly iconic lyrics entering the internet zeitgeist, to even politicians using the album’s lore in their political campaigns - the last few months have truly been a “brat summer”.

As we look ahead to tomorrow, Brat is currently the bookie’s favourite to take home the prize. In any other year, I would discount Charli simply for being too commercially successful and the judges tending to favour lesser-known artists when it comes to granting the overall prize. While I still ultimately think that will be the case, there is also a part of me that thinks the judges may see the impact of Brat and think it would be crazy to not award it the title of Album of the Year. In addition to this, Brat has received extreme acclaim too from critics, so it would be an incredibly popular win.

Back in 2006, Arctic Monkeys had the fastest-selling debut album ever at that time and as a result, would go on to win the Mercury Prize that year. Commercially successful albums winning when they’ve achieved cultural significance isn’t unheard of throughout the history of the Mercury Prize, so don’t be surprised if Charli walks away with it tomorrow - despite being one of the biggest popstars on the planet right now.

3. Prelude To Ecstasy by The Last Dinner Party

Speaking of fast-selling debuts, upon it’s release back in February, Prelude To Ecstasy became the UK's biggest first week-selling debut album in nine years. Considering the buzz surrounding it, this came as no surprise as there are few bands as vehemently discussed as The Last Dinner Party. Yet in many ways they still feel slightly underappreciated, often criticised for the wrong reasons. When you focus on the musicianship of the record itself, there are few debut albums as anthemic, as dazzling and as accomplished as Prelude To Ecstasy.

Much like Brat, The Last Dinner Party’s debut feels like one of the defining records of the last 12 months and although also commercially successful, you could see the critic darlings crowned the overall winners for that reason. They are also less established than Charli, so may feel like a compromise as they are still technically a “new” artist. However, you also feel the judges may recognise awarding the London quintet the overall prize may sadly have an adverse effect, leaving them prone to more criticism and intense scrutiny from their naysayers.

This again makes me think the judges will ultimately go in a different direction, but personally I think this record deserves all the praise and awards in the world. Without a doubt, one of the year’s finest albums.

2. This Could Be Texas by English Teacher

Into the top two then and now we have arrived at the two albums I think have the best chance of winning the overall prize tomorrow. One is a choice of head, the other is a choice of heart. 

If I’m going with my head, everything points me in the direction of this debut album from rock quartet, English Teacher. Hugely acclaimed, particularly by the British music press, it’s an album that has captivated due to it’s soaring originality, poetic lyrics and broad eclecticism. In fact, when you look at the genres that typically make up the Mercury Prize shortlist each year – rock, jazz, electronic, pop, soul, R&B, folk, punk and post-punk – This Could Be Texas has a little bit of all of that.

This for me is a record tailor-made to win the Mercury Prize. It is a debut album, from a band that is still up-and-coming, that would benefit massively from the greater exposure, and an album which will surely tick a lot of boxes for the diverse music tastes on the judging panel.

It’s also interesting to note that there is a strong Leeds/Bradford contingent on this year’s shortlist, with a quarter of the artists nominated heralding from the area – which makes me think the winner is likely to come from one of those three albums. So, if you’re a betting person and are still trying to decide where to put your money, my head says English Teacher’s debut is the album to back.

1. Crazymad, For Me by CMAT

But that is what my head says, my heart says something different. While a good part of me thinks English Teacher is the one to prevail tomorrow, the one I am really rooting for is Crazymad For Me by Irish singer-songwriter, Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson – AKA, CMAT.

Having finished as my 12th favourite Album of 2023, it’s a record that I still find myself frequently returning to almost a year later. In fact, if I was to redo that list today, it would be in the Top 5. This is because with each new spin it feels more and more like a modern classic, with songs like California, Rent, Where Are Your Kids Tonight and, of course, Stay For Something, all timeless in nature.

It’s not just me with a great affection for this record either. It’s another album that has seen huge love and acclaim over the last year, even getting nominated for the Irish Choice Prize back in March. Which brings me onto another important point regarding CMAT’s album within wider Mercury Prize folklore, and that is the fact that an Irish artist is still yet to win the overall prize. That’s right, despite plenty of nominations throughout the 30+ years it has been granted, an Irish artist is still yet to take home the coveted Album of the Year title.

So, with a jazz record finally winning in 2023 and bucking the long-standing trend, surely it is time for an Irish artist to be recognised as the overall winner. At a time as well where Irish music is thriving – just look at recent albums from the likes of Fontaines D.C., Kneecap, Sprints, NewDad and The Murder Capital, to name just a few – it feels like the right time. With CMAT’s incredibly infectious and warm personality, as well as her clear love for music, performing and mastering her songcraft, I couldn’t think of a more deserving person and artist to make this little piece of history.

That’s my thoughts anyway ahead of the annual ceremony tomorrow night; I guess we’ll soon find out as always just how close – or not close – I was with my predictions. Best of luck to all the artists and as ever, I look forward to watching!

Watch the 2024 Mercury Prize be presented on BBC Four tomorrow night from 8pm.

[eretzyisrael]

No Jews attended opening of renovated Ben Ezra synagogue

A  restoration project undertaken in 2022 by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities culminated in a grand opening with Egyptian dignitaries of Cairo’s Ben Ezra Synagogue – site of the Cairo Geniza –   at the end of August 2023. There were no Jews in attendance for the opening: Egypt is more interested in encouraging tourism than in restoring cultural ties with the Egyptian-Jewish diaspora. Meanwhile it bans access to historical records and has aggressively seized a Geniza discovered in 2022. Must-read by Kate Fitz Gibbon in Cultural Property News (with thanks: Boruch)

Interior of the Ben Ezra synagogue: the Cairo Geniza was discovered in the attic

The Ben Ezra Synagogue is located in Fustat, in Old Cairo. Originally founded in the 9th century CE, it is considered the oldest synagogue in Cairo. The current building dates mostly to the 1890s; the synagogue has been partially destroyed and rebuilt several times over the centuries. The synagogue has been restored more than once and has served as a tourist destination in Cairo for years. Visits are expected to increase after the current rehabilitation of the synagogue.

Since the number of Jews remaining in Egypt can now be counted on one hand, the Sisi government’s focus is exclusively on promoting foreign tourism, not on restoring cultural ties with the Egyptian Jewish diaspora. Cairo’s Jewish population numbered almost 50,000 before the 1956 and 1967 wars. The forced emigration of the vast majority of Egyptian Jews in the mid-20th century left the Ben Ezra synagogue deserted and dilapidated for decades.

For its re-opening as a tourist site, the synagogue has been cleaned, its ceiling repaired and its lighting and wall decoration restored. The synagogue is not intended for worship, but to be seen as a relic of Jewish history in Egypt.

Tourist travel to Egypt underwent a significant drop in popularity after turbulence of the Arab Spring and the violent crackdowns that followed. It has still not recovered, but rather than learning from the travel industry’s dictum that “democracy promotes tourism,” the Egyptian government appears to hope that building museums and promoting new venues will distract the world from its authoritarian rule. Notwithstanding Egypt’s appalling human and civil rights abuses against political dissenters and multi-year prison sentences given to TikTok-ing teenage girls for “violating family values,” Egypt’s government has made conciliating gestures in some areas of culture. One is to encourage cooperation between Egyptian authorities and foreign Jewish heritage organizations dedicated to restoring ancient sites and cemeteries.

Egypt’s on-again off-again support for restoration of Jewish heritage in Cairo demonstrates both its government’s interest in promoting Jewish tourism to Egypt and its marked reluctance to commit to a more significant commitment to allow researchers and scholars access to the Jewish community’s historical records.

In the last decade, a number of Jewish sites have been refurbished and restored – with the approval of the Egyptian government but with much of the funding coming from the USA.  The Egyptian government not only cooperated in the restoration but also provided much of the funding for cleaning and restoring the Eliyahu Hanavi synagogue in Alexandria and most recently, the Ben Ezra synagogue in Cairo.

The newly restored Ben Ezra is known worldwide as the original holding place of the Cairo Geniza, discovered in an attic in the women’s section, the most private in the synagogue, in 1896. The term Geniza designates a repository of discarded writings. According to medieval Jewish tradition, no writing that contains the name of God should be destroyed by fire or otherwise; it should instead be put aside in a special room for perpetuity or buried in a cemetery. (…)

The refurbishment of two synagogues is a welcome move – but one tinged with bitterness when looking to the decades of past vandalism and deliberate destruction of Jewish cemeteries and places of worship. The importance of the known Geniza records to scholarship in the last 100 years also points to the depth of loss of another potential treasure trove of information when Egyptian authorities seized a newly discovered Geniza from a Jewish cemetery in 2022 – a treasure whose whereabouts remains unknown.

The story of the lost Geniza begins with how decades of neglect of Jewish synagogues and cemeteries in Egypt inspired foreign activists and historians to extraordinary efforts to retrieve and preserve what remains. Prof. Yoram Meital of Ben-Gurion University’s Middle East Studies Department has been active in helping Cairo’s Jewish community to restore cemeteries and places of worship. He has expressed appreciation for the Egyptian government’s support of restoration and cleanup of Jewish sites, saying that the government’s attitude has much improved under the Sisi regime. He told Israel’s Haaretz News Magazine that, “conserving Jewish heritage as part of Egypt’s heritage depends on the wide support of Egypt’s government and society.”

The position of the Jewish heritage workers volunteering in preservation projects in Egypt today is that in principle, Jewish items should remain in Egypt. The Egyptian government has remained rigidly tied to this position, and even Torahs are listed in an Egyptian agreement executed by the U.S. State Department that blocks imports of Torahs taken from Egypt and requires returning them to its government. Jewish and Christian ritual objects, including antique Torah scrolls, tombstones, books, Bibles and religious writings are covered under these agreements.

Meital has also said that the volunteers understand that restored synagogues could be used as public community centers, “on condition that they don’t change anything having to do with artifacts and architecture.” This perspective is controversial among Egyptian Jews in the diaspora, for whom Jewish religious objects should belong to Jewish communities and a synagogue is exclusively a place for worship and study.

Without the efforts of the Jewish volunteers and that of Egyptian supporters who share concerns for preservation, almost all Jewish religious heritage, whether synagogues or cemeteries, would be at risk of destruction through neglect or appropriation. Meital says that he and others working to restore synagogues have recovered over 1000 books from disused buildings, “strewn all over the place.” They also found a metal container in the cellar of a Cairo synagogue filled with records of the entire Ashkenazi community in Egypt. Their most important find was in a Karaite synagogue in Cairo, a manuscript of the Bible written 1,000 years ago. The project hopes to establish a library in Cairo to hold all the materials they have collected and are now documenting, but for now, the finds are being held in a “safe location.”

Meital’s main focus has been to photograph and document in detail the existing conditions, any inscriptions, architectural forms, or remaining ceremonial objects in old Jewish sites in Egypt for a comprehensive database. Meital says that there are 16 known synagogue buildings in Egypt – 13 of these are in Cairo. A number of cemeteries were deemed abandoned by surrounding communities and simply used as garbage dumps. Meital described how the Bassatine cemetery was so covered in trash that 250 truckloads of garbage were removed before tombstones could be cleared and righted, gates to tombs reinstalled, paths cleaned and restored, and graves polished. However, not all has gone smoothly with that renovation.

The renovation project at the Bassatine cemetery was originally inspired by Magda Haroun, one of handful of Egyptian Jews remaining in Cairo today and a staunch supporter of the preservation of Jewish history. The cleaning and restoration of the cemetery was approved by Egyptian authorities and paid for by American Jews and other sponsors. However, the authorities’ attitudes have not been entirely supportive.

In 2022, members of the Jewish community were working to clear the tons of old tires and rubbish from the Bassatine cemetery in Cairo when a Geniza – a buried storehouse of religious, family, and economic records – was discovered buried in the cemetery.

While the Jewish sponsors of the restoration have insisted that all finds from Jewish buildings and cemeteries will remain in Egypt, and only asked to be able to safely preserve them there, Egyptian authorities aggressively took possession of what appear to have been thousands of records in the buried Geniza.

As soon as the news of the Geniza’s discovery spread, the government’s Antiquities Authority broke through a cemetery wall and interrupted their removal by the Jewish community. The Jews present pleaded that at the least, a rabbi should oversee the dismantling of the relics of their community, but they were ignored. Government agents threw the records into 165 plastic sacks, loaded them onto trucks and took them away.

No access has been granted since. All information about when the records in this Geniza were made, their contents and the light they could shed on the historical community remains unknown. Sen. Gary Peters, a Michigan Democrat, has urged the Biden administration to protest the seizure of records that rightly belong to Egypt’s Jewish community. It is not known whether the U.S. State Department has made a serious effort to reclaim these records for Egypt’s tiny remaining Jewish community – or sought greater access for the world’s scholars. The Egyptian government has also remained silent on what has been done with this lost Geniza.

Read article in full

[louisupdates]

A lucky collector will be able to purchase one of Louis’ white label vinyls through auction to benefit the Brit Trust. [Article]

The White Label Auction in Aid of The BRIT Trust – the world’s only known auction of “white label” test pressings – takes place next week on Tuesday, 6th June 2023. This year it will have more than 200 lots of highly collectible ‘white-label’ test pressings – the most offered in the four editions of the auction to date since it began in 2019.

The online/on-site auction is once again being hosted by music memorabilia and vinyl records specialists Omega Auctions from their Newton-Le-Willows (Greater Manchester) base. The full catalogue can be accessed here.

Fans and collectors can bid from a huge selection of white label test pressings that rarely come to market, with some even signed by the artists such as The Cure, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, New Order, and Wilko Johnson.

The UK’s record labels led by Universal Music UK, who founded the event with the BPI, along with BMG, Domino Recordings, Cherry Red, Sony Music Entertainment UK, Warner Records and others, each year join forces to curate a broad selection of white label auction lots to raise funds for the vital work of music industry charity The BRIT Trust – which promotes education and wellbeing through music and the creative arts to support causes that include the BRIT School and Nordoff and Robbins.

In January the BPI reported that vinyl albums had recorded a 15th year of consecutive growth in the UK, with over 5.5m LPs purchased in 2022. This rising demand for vinyl has in turn resulted in a growing archive of white label test pressings – so called because there is no sleeve artwork at this early stage – which record labels produce ahead of the full release of an album to ensure its audio quality. With only a handful produced, these first-off-the-press copies are snapped up by collectors on the rare occasions they become available, as evidenced by the huge interest in the three White Labels Auctions to date, which between them have raised around £100,000.

White label test pressings by the following artists:

Arcade Fire / Beth Gibbons, Portishead / Black Grape / Blind Faith / Blossoms / Brian Eno / Bryan Ferry / Budgie / Buzzcocks / Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa / Calvin Harris, Katy Perry & Pharrell Williams / Calvin Harris & Sam Smith / Camel / Caravan / Celeste / The Charlatans / Chemical Brothers / Christy Moore / Corinne Bailey-Rae / Cream / The Cure / Daryl Hall & John Oates / Deep Purple / Derek and The Dominoes / Dexy’s Midnight Runners / Diana Ross / Dio / Dirty Pretty Things / Donovan / Doves / Duffy / Dusty Springfield / Ed Sheeran / Emeli Sandé / Eric Carmen / Eric Clapton / The Ethiopians / Eurythmics / The Fall / Fairport Convention / Frankie Goes To Hollywood / ightened Rabbit / Gary Moore / Gaz Coombes / Genesis / George Ezra / Graham Parker / Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five / Gregory Isaacs / Helloween / Inspiral Carpets / Iggy Pop / J Hus / Jacob Collier / Jake Bugg / The Jam / Jamie T / Joe Cocker / John Martyn / John Martyn & Beverley Martyn / John Mayall / Joni Mitchell / Julian Cope / Justin Hayward and John Lodge / Karl Hyde / Kate Nash / Katie J Pearson / Kelis / Kid Creole / Kings of Convenience / Koffee / The LA’s / Laura Marling / Level 42 / Led Zeppelin / Lindisfarne / Linton Kwesi-Johnson / Louis Tomlinson / Ludovico Einaudi / The Lumineers / McAlmont & Butler / Madness / Manic Street Preachers / Marianne Faithfull / Mark Ronson & Miley Cyrus / Mark Knopfler / Meat Loaf / Melt Yourself Down / The Members / The Mighty Diamonds / Mike and The Mechanics / Mike Oldfield / MJ Cole Moby / Monty Python / The Moody Blues / Motorhead / Mott The Hoople / Nathaniel Rateliff / Nazareth / Neneh Cherry / New Order / Nicholas Briteli / Noah and The Whale / Nothing But Thieves / Nova Twins / Orchestra Manouevres in the Dark / Pale Fountains / Paloma Faith / Paul Weller/ Penguin Café Orchestra / Pete Townshend / Pete Townshend and Ronnie Lane/ PiL / Pulp / Quincy Jones / Rag ‘n’ Bone Man / Rainbow / Rhys Lewis / Richard & Linda Thompson / Rick Wakeman / Rizzle Kicks / Robbie Williams / Robyn / Roger Waters / Ronnie James / Rory Gallagher / The Ruts / Sam Cooke / Sandie Shaw / Sandie Shaw & The Smiths / Sandy Denny / Scissor Sisters / The Scorpions / Scott Walker / Selecta’s Choice Series / Sex Pistols / Shed Seven / The Silvertones / Simple Minds / The Skatalites / Sparks / The Slits / Soul II Soul / The Specials / The Spice Girls / Squeeze / Status Quo / Stereophonics / Steve Winwood / The Stone Roses / Supertramp / T-Rex / Tame Impala / Tangerine Dream / Teardrop Explodes / Tears For Fears / The Teskey Brothers / Therapy? / Thin Lizzy / Tom Speight / Travis / UB40 / The Undertones / Underworld / UNKLE / The Vaccines / The Vamps / Van Morrison / Various: Blue Note / Various Folk / Various Dance - John Morales and others / Various – Little Big Lies / Various – NOW Yearbooks 1980 - 1985 / Various – The Wanderer / Various – Soul / Various – Sound of the Suburbs / The Verve / The Wedding Present / The Who / Wilko Johnson / You Me At Six

See here for full Omega Auctions catalogue list of featured titles.

[las-microfisuras]

Mientras tanto, la tía Ada Doom permanecía en sus dependencias en la planta superior...sola.   

  Había algo casi simbólico en su soledad. Ella era el corazón, el núcleo, la matriz de Cold Comfort; el centro de gravedad de la casa...Y estaba, como todos los corazones, definitivamente sola. ¿A que nunca se ha sabido de nadie que tenga dos corazones? Pues eso. Sin embargo, todas las vibrantes oleadas de pasión, celos y lujuria que palpitaban a través de toda la casa, como si fuera una tela de araña, convergían finalmente  en aquella soledad primordial. Y ella se sabía realmente el corazón de la casa...Y definitiva, irrevocablemente sola.     

Los suaves vientos de la primavera acariciaban la vieja casona. Los pensamientos de la anciana se encogían amedrentados en la cálida habitación donde permanecía en completa soledad...No deseaba ver a su sobrina...No, mantenedla alejada de mí...    

  Inventad alguna excusa. Cerrad las puertas. Lleva aquí un mes y todavía no la has visto. ¿No crees que le parecerá raro? Deja caer indirectas; dice que le gustaría verte. No quieres verla. ¿Qué te ocurre...? ¿Por qué te emocionas de ese modo cuando te hablamos de ella? No querrías verla. Tus pensamientos vagan dando vueltas por toda la habitación, como animales adormilados que se restriega contra los muros. ¡Qué irritante resulta este viento cálido de la inminente primavera...!  

     Cuando eras muy pequeña...tan pequeña que el soplo más ligero de la brisa te levantaba la pequeña faldita con miriñaque y te tapaba la cara...viste algo sucio en la leñera... 

      Nunca lo olvidarías.      Nunca le dirías nada a mamá. Podías oler, incluso ahora, el betún dulzón con el que mamá siempre se limpiaba las botas...Pero lo recordarías toda tu vida.

      Eso fue lo que te hizo...diferente. Eso...lo que viste en el cobertizo de los aperos...convirtió tu matrimonio en una interminable pesadilla para ti.

     Sin embargo, nunca te importó lo que aquello pudiera parecer a tu marido...    

     Y por eso te había dado tanto asco traer a tus hijos al mundo. Incluso ahora, cuando tenías setenta y nueve años, no podías soportar ver pasar una bicicleta frente a la ventana de tu dormitorio sin sentir arcadas en la boca del estómago...En el cobertizo de las bicicletas lo habías visto, una cosa sucia, cuando eras pequeña. 

     Por eso te quedabas encerrada en esa habitación. Ahí habías estado metida durante veinte años; luego Judith se había casado y su marido había venido a vivir a la granja. Habías huido de ese mundo, tremendo y terrorífico, que se hallaba fuera de esas cuatro paredes contra las que tus pensamientos se restregaban como bueyes soñolientos. Sí, a eso se parecían tus pensamientos. ¡A bueyes! ¡Exactamente como bueyes eran!

     En el mundo exterior había graneros donde podían ocurrir cosas sucias. Pero allí, en tu habitación, nada podría ocurrir. Y eso era lo que querías. Ninguno de tus nietos podía abandonar la granja. Judith tampoco se iría. Ni Amos, tampoco se iría. Caraway no se iría. Urk no se podía ir. Seth no se podía ir. Micah no se podía ir. Ezra no se podía ir. Mark y Luke no se podían ir. Harkaway se podía ir alguna vez, porque él se encargaba de ingresar las ganancias de la granja en el banco de Beershorn todos los sábados por la mañana. Pero los otros no se podían ir nunca.

     Ninguno de ellos debía salir y enfangarse en ese mundo, grande y sucio, lleno de cobertizos en los cuales podrían suceder cosas desagradables que podrían ver niñas pequeñas.

- Stella Gibbons, La hija de Robert Poste. Impedimenta. Traducción de José C. Vales.

- Wynn Bullock, Woman and Thistle, 1953

[finishinglinepress]

FLP POETRY BOOK OF THE DAY: THREE POEMS by Reginald Gibbons

On SALE now! Pre-order Price Guarantee: https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/three-poems-by-reginald-gibbons/

THREE POEMS includes a reminiscence and imagining of my mother’s #life when she was young, and later (“Mōdor: An Elegy”); the poem “Mother Tongue” is a romp—satirizing with energetic language the purveyors and accomplices of lies, rage, aggression, sedition, uprisings, illegality, fanaticism, and toadyism; “Elegy” is an interweaving of the story of a friend of my youth who died too young—a narrative in fragments that are interleaved with short passages from Ezra Pound’s Cantos, a book that my friend and I found dazzling, strange, daring, inventive, unpleasant, very wrongheaded, and (poetically/artistically) unprecedented.

Reginald Gibbons was born in Houston and grew up there. His novel Sweetbitter won the 1995 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and the Texas Institute of Letters Jess Jones Award for Best Novel, and was reprinted in paperback by Penguin, and then by LSU Press, and again in 2023 by JackLeg Press. Gibbons’ two books of short/”flash” fiction are Five Pears or Peaches (out of print) and An Orchard in the Street (BOA Editions, 2017). He has published eleven books of poems, including Creatures of a Day (LSU), which was a Finalist for the National Book Award, and has won other awards, as well as writing fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the NEA, and a Fulbright fellowship (Spain).

PRAISE FOR THREE POEMS by Reginald Gibbons

The three poems that comprise Reginald Gibbons’ new book, Three Poems, cover an enormous ground of personal and public history and an extraordinary variety of poetic styles, forms and conventions ranging from a poignantly ambivalent, meditative reckoning with the vexed and thwarted life of the poet’s mother, to a hilarious yet infuriated syllabic rant to the mother tongue about Donald Trump—the great linguistic as well as moral/political degrader/grifter of this terrifying moment of American history—and finally a memoir-like elegiac series of heart-wrenching glosses Gibbons weaves through a volume of Ezra Pound’s Cantos, about an old friend of the poet’s and the political hopes and literary aspirations they once shared. This is a rich, wild, gorgeously surprising volume from one of our very best and most accomplished poets whose poems are more inventive, unpredictable and urgent than ever before.

–Alan Shapiro, William R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor of English and Creative Writing University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3520

Reginald Gibbons’s Three Poems is a book of great themes greatly realized: the vexed relations between mother and child; the dynamics of memory; love’s tender inflexions; anger’s tenacity; the dire instabilities built into our democracy and the poisonous presence of Donald Trump and his kind. Gibbons, one of our finest poets, meets his themes with righteous inquisitiveness, wit, and fury.

–W. S. Di Piero

As the Enlightenment seemingly burns to ashes before our eyes, how remarkable to come across the deep, learned lucidity of this book. Three poems, three elegies: one for a mother, one for the republic, and one in memory of a shared past built upon books and hope and commitment to moral virtues, which is to say an elegy for youth itself. Combining memoir, eulogy and diatribe, THREE POEMS reminds us again of Reginald Gibbons’ intellectual distinction and poetic mastery.

–Campbell McGrath

In Three Poems, Reg Gibbons gives us a trio of intense experiences. In the first, an adult son reckons with the losses and disappointments that made his mother the woman she was, above and beyond her maternal role; while in the second, a highly energetic cascade of quatrains addresses a different mother, the English language, his “mother tongue.” In the third, an elegy that defies easy categorization, Gibbons mourns a complicated friendship forged in shared love of poetry, by inventively intertwining his memories with chance lines from the specific copy of Pound’s Cantos that passed between the two men. This work stays with you, haunting.

–Evie Shockley

Please share/please repost #flpauthor #preorder #AwesomeCoverArt #poetrybook #read #poems

[frank-o-meter]

I’m not surprised by the low RT score for Zack Snyder’s “Rebel Moon”.

His cult following is undeserved. His films have been very uneven and excessively violent.

“300” (2007) - I liked it. It capture the look and feel of Frank Milker’s comic series. Sure, it had graphic violence and the acting was bombastic but so was the writing of the comic. (61% RT score)

“Watchmen” (2009) - Snyder achieved what many thought was impossible. Over all I liked it but it was very violent. Later when I compared it to Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons opus, I realized how much Snyder increased the violence. Events in the comic that were shown at a distance, Snyder rubbed them in your face. (65% RT score)

Sucker Punch (2011) - it has already been announced that Snyder would direct Man of Steel, when this came out. I got worried because Sucker punch was a shitty mess. No surprise it received a 22% RT score.

DC Comics Universe (2013 - 2017) - the major problem with all the DC films he directed is that they were way too violent. In MOS (56% score) we were told Superman represent “hope” but Snyder never showed us; instead wherever Superman went, massive destruction followed. BvS (29% score) The World’s Greatest Detective became Lex Luthor’s stooge. And JL (39% and 72% scores) it was a mess before Joss Weadon.

The best things Snyder contributed to the DC movie universe was the casting of Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa, and Ezra Miller (yes him too).

[theam-cjsw]

The AM: July 29, 2024

2024 has been a fantastic year for music so far. This week's episode takes a stroll through 30+ albums released in the first half of the year, from ambient to jazz and psychedelica—check out the rest of the list in the full blog post at Wander Lines.

This is also the last AM with Peter at the helm for the next month. Syf from Acheulean Age and Emily R from Greenhouse will be filling in for August, so you'll be in good hands. Enjoy and see you in September.

Listen at cjsw.com or use the embeds below.

Hour One:

A Treasure Chest Ariel Kalma, Jeremiah Chiu, Marta Sofia Honer • The Closest Thing to Silence

Get Some Rest Ezra Feinberg, featuring Mary Lattimore • Soft Power

Matsutaké Caméra • Caméra

Cutting and Layering Osmanthus • Between Seasons

Insecurities Shabaka, featuring Moses Sumney • Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace

Burnt Likshen Ayal Senior • Ora

Poeira Sam Gendel, Fabiano do Nascimento • The Room

On the Surface Bilal Nasser • How Can We Say Nothing

The Quarrel Geotic • The Anchorite

Flatland Buildings and Food • Echo the Field

Theme for Feeling Drunk and Cool Easy Idiot • Stock Music II

Cyclotron Temporal Waves • Temporal Waves

Hour Two:

Peace Piece Organic Pulse Ensemble • Zither Suite

Distance Learner Fuubutsushi • Meridians

Gloaming Way Circles Around the Sun, Mikaela Davis • After Sunrise

Bebaynetu The Sorcerers • I Too Am A Stranger

Floating on a Moment Beth Gibbons • Lives Outgrown

Lost in the Woods (Paranoia) Project Gemini • Colours & Light

No Mast Loving • Any Light

How Can I Possibly Sleep When There is Music (a response to Ryōkan Taigu) Luka Kuplowsky • How Can I Possibly Sleep When There is Music

Lugar Lau Ro • Cabana

Overwhelmed and Unprepared Unessential Oils • Unessential Oils

the wildflowers are upon us OHMA • On Loving Earth

Hour Three:

What's It Going to Take Cindy Lee • Diamond Jubilee

Fly! Little Black Thing Yu Ching • The Crystal Hum

Moon Retep Folo, Dorothy Moskowitz • Afterlife Album

Rue du Repos Bibi Club • Feu de garde

Hex Jon McKiel • Hex

Distant Dream Magic Fig • Magic Fig

Crushed Velvet Molly Lewis, featuring Thee Sacred Souls • On the Lips

Better Hate Jessica Pratt • Here in the Pitch

Bot for Teacher Eye of Newt • Stay in Your Lane EP

Cold Water In My Tea ROY • Spoons for the World

Fields of Grass / 9 Is the End (It's Over) Psychic Temple • Doggie Paddlin’ Thru The Cosmic Consciousness

[absurdthirst]

know any good slow burn ezra fics?

@concussed-to-pieces has as amazing slow burn with Ezra called To Tell You The Truth. Their MasterList is here.

Moonbeams on AO3 is amazing. It’s a werewolf Ezra

Waxing Gibbons by @chews-erotically is stunning and their MasterList is here!

Those are the slow burns that I can think of offhand.

[faedawayyy]

FAES UPDATED FANS

TEDDY SULLIVAN - @.stuckwithteddy (23)

a devoted and well known fan in the st judes community

RARELY misses an event and is known to get a lot of attention

opinionated and invested in all st judes dramas and theories 

STAN LIST 

- ruby - little mix (roxy bias)  - ezra  - kobi  - clyde  - dom  - alani  - riley  - daveed 

ESME RHODES - @.esmerhodes (24) 

 another devoted and hardcore stan, has no boundaries 

ruthless in defending her faves and dragging others 

doesn’t care for projects as much as tea 

STAN LIST 

- lexi  - arabella  - rosalie  - trystan  - danny  - blair  - dwight  - imogen  - yulia 

SAVANNAH KINSEY - @.savannahohnana (17) 

one of the younger stans 

suffers from anxiety and needs support from friends to meet people 

has attachments to specific celebrities bc she gets bullied irl

STAN LIST 

- dallas - soraya  - christelle  - kun woo  - charlie   - cameron  - oliver  - persephone 

KAY GIBBONS (27)

queer

an OG fan. she knows she’s getting too old to be in the fandom but can’t leave it alone because lbh, it’s fun LOL

MASSIVE CONSPIRACY THEORIST. LIKE HELP PLEASE. 

loves shipping wars but doesn’t take anything too seriously 

stans everybody tbh and my fave stan ngl.

STAN LIST 

- holly  - theo  - wesley  - joe  - lorelai  - seo jun  - duyi  - disney  - philip

ALANA CLAIRE (22) 

super fan, she’s a low profile instagram model but is desperate to be known more 

has a good heart but will definitely hog the attention of her faves if she has to 

absolutely in love with st judes in general and wants to go there but knows she probably won’t make it 

has been in ruby’s music video 

STAN LIST 

- margo - ruby  - jiwon  - elodie  - madison  - athena  - zelda  - mallory 

TOBY DRAKE (34) 

not in the fandom clique, if that makes sense...like he doesn’t hang around with teddy, alana, savannah etc. but is at every event 

definitely has an infatuation with st judes students and is fascinated with the lifestyle 

he is definitely a stalker. there have been a few police investigations into him but he’s never proven to do anything horrible. 

i just wanted to use adam. leave me be. 

STAN LIST - he kinda stans everyone but!! 

- felicity  - ava  - scarlett  - delilah  - sawyer  - mackenzie  - phoenix  - janey  - clover 

[euphoriepudding]

Part I  ...and the second half. May I also introduce: Miss Siona Longbottom portayed by Jane Levy Mr. Anthony MacMillan portrayed by Fionn Whitehead Mr. Derrick Salazar Nott portrayed by Ezra Miller Mr. Cassian Ollivander portrayed by Callum Turner Miss Medea Rosier portrayed by Ella Yelich-O’Connor (Lorde) Mrs. Amalthea Selwyn, neé Gibbon portrayed by Felicity Jones Miss Rebecca Shafiq portrayed by Noomi Rupace Mr. Sixten Travers portrayed by James Franco

[tikkunhayam]

🎶 EZRA

MY BOY LOVELY JEWISH BLUEBERRY SPACE SON!!!

Actual answer: Glitter and Gold by Barns Courtney

Do you walk in the valley of kings?/ Do you walk in the shadow of men/ Who sold their lives to a dream?/ Do you ponder the manner of things/ In the dark/ The dark, the dark, the dark

The screaming gibbon in my brain that has literally planned out and even written a few lines for a Free Willy AU I will never write: Will You Be There by Michael Jackson

But they told me/ A man should be faithful/ And walk when not able/ And fight till the end/ But I'm only human/ Everyone's taking control of me/ Seems that the world's got a role for me/ I'm so confused will you show to me/ You'll be there for me/ And care enough to bear me

[tobysplacetoland]

Thanks for tagging me! @spaaleb

Rules: Choose any three fandoms (in random order) and answer the questions, then tag 10 people you want to know better

Pretty Little Liars, PLL books, How to Get Away With Murder

The first character you loved:

Emily Fields

Aria Montgomery

Wes Gibbons

The character you never expected to love so much:

Mona Vanderwaal

Noel Kahn

Conner Walsh

The character you relate to the most:

Toby Cavanaugh

I am book Emily

Oliver Hampton

The character you’d slap:

Alison Dilaurentis

Ezra Fitz

Frank

Three Favorite characters (in order of preference):

Toby Cavanaugh, Spencer Hastings, Paige McCullers (I know, I’m the worst)

Emily Fields, Aria Montgomery, Courtney DiLaurentis

Wes Gibbons, Oliver Hampton, Michaela Pratt

A character you liked at first but don’t anymore:

Alison DiLaurentis

Wren Kim

Laurel Castillo

A character you did not like at first but now do:

Paige McCullers (sorry)

Melissa Hastings

Asher Millstone

Three OTPs:

Spoby, Paily, Vandergomery

Noel/Aria, Hanna/Mike, Emily/Jordan

Coliver, Waurel, Michaela/Asher

Don’t feel obliged to do this:

@rosewoodatmidnight @themarinaalexis @thebestplltheories @lying-little-legend @pllfanatic @hannavandermariin @fuckyeahprettylittleliar @pllguy @potterhead1117 @00746602

[nooradeservedbetter]

Not to put too fine a point on it, Daniel Swift’s piece, Hanging Out With the Italian Neo-Fascists Who Idolise Ezra Pound, is appalling. It is the careless journalism of someone who, knowing little Italian and even less about Italian politics, has conversed with fascists and regurgitated whatever they told him. The result is a completely distorted representation of what the group is about and how they operate.

The building in which Swift's interview takes place, which CasaPound militant Adriano Scianca's claims they are 'occupying', was in fact bought for them in 2012 by none other than the Mayor of Rome, using €11.8 million of local government money. The Mayor at the time was Gianni Alemanno, a man steeped in the history of Italian fascism: a leading member of the Italian Social Movement (MSI - the postwar reformation of Mussolini’s Fascist Party) and later the far-right National Alliance; even his wife, Isabella Rauti, was the daughter Pino Rauti, ex-leader of the MSI whose name crops up in relation to numerous cases of far-right terrorism, including the 1969 Piazza Fontana bombing.

Gianni Alemanno’s son, Manfredi, would follow in his father’s far-right footsteps: in 2011, he put himself forward as a candidate for student elections at his college for Blocco Studentesco, the youth wing of CasaPound. Two years previously, after throwing Roman salutes and getting into a fight at a party, Manfredi was protected from prosecution by police with connections to his dad.

So the idea of these guys as a plucky, if rough-round-the-edges, group of rebels doing their bit for the community against all odds is laughable. They’re a far-right gang with links to both fascist terrorists and the highest echelons of Italian politics.

More interestingly, however, is how Swift depicts the group’s activity: they “arrange conferences” on Ezra Pound, the modernist poet they are named after; they house “20 homeless families”; “they collect used syringes from parks in poor neighborhoods”; “they clean bike paths”. The only mention of violence comes from a “CasaPound supporter” who, in 2011, killed two Senegalese traders in Florence. From this description, the impression is of a group engaged in cultural activities and local volunteering albeit with the odd wayward sympathiser.

And yet, the reality could not be further from the truth. To cite some examples from this year alone: in February, a group of at least 15 CasaPound militants attacked one young man after he posted a meme mocking the group on Facebook. Over the summer, uniformed CasaPound members prowled the Central Italian seaside, harassing migrant beach vendors and forcing them to leave. And even last Tuesday, the very day Swift’s article went on the Lit Hub website, Roberto Spada, related to the Spada crime family thought to control Ostia, on the outskirts of Rome, brutally assaulted a journalist who had been asking him about his support for CasaPound.

So it’s curious that for an organisation for which racism and violence are such frequent features of their activity, that so little mention would be made of that racism and violence. When Swift mentions CasaPound are housing “20 homeless families who have nowhere else to go,” he neglects to mention the proviso on which that charity is based: whites only. The ethno-nationalist underpinnings don’t get a mention and it is (to be charitable) frankly bizarre why this is so.

Even more bizarrely, Swift spends less time talking about the violence and racism of a notoriously violent racist group than he does talking about how much he enjoyed their restaurant.

Quote:

At a corner we meet a couple of other men—beards, clipped hair, grins—and we duck into the shade of an open-fronted restaurant. It looks like any other in Rome—white tablecloths, photos of minor celebrities who have eaten here—except all the waiters have tattoos up their forearms, and except that at the end, after cold antipasti, a heavy tagliatelle all’Amatriciana with fat nuggets of bacon swimming in the sauce, red wine from a carafe, bitter brown digestivo, and coffee, no bill ever came. What we are doing, Seb tells me as we eat, is not connected to money.

Waiters with tattoos, fabulous food, fine wine. And what’s this? No bill? These fascists are generous as well as cultured! Il Duce, you're really spoiling us!

Reading the article, it seems Swift is bending over backwards to sanitise the reputations of as many fascists as he can. Swift discusses Pound's Canto 72, written as the Nazi-backed Republic of Salò was in a state of collapse and where a dead fascist general says "I don't want to go to paradise, I want to continue to fight. I want your body, with which I could still make war". While noting Canto 72 has often been seen as the "smoking gun" of Pound's fascism (with good reason, in my opinion), Swift is "not sure", claiming to see "odd hesitations" in the poem. What these are, he doesn't say. But it's worth highlighting Mark Ford's point that as late as 1956 Pound was still spewing fascist bile, writing that “the fuss about ‘de‑segregation’ in the United States has been started by Jews”. Of course, Swift knows this. What's utterly baffling is why he doesn't point this out in his article.

And yet, you can’t help but feel Swift's article is based around what he feels is the ‘novelty’ of the situation; but that novelty is actually based on two entirely false premises. First, the idea that fascists are the working class, the downtrodden masses. And second, that the working class lack the culture to read (let alone write) literature.

Both premises are obviously and demonstrably false. Swift says he wasn’t expecting CasaPound’s “high-mindedness”; yet, fascists have always found support among artists and intellectuals. Gabriele D’Annunzio and Luigi Pirandello, two of the most famous Italian writers of the twentieth century, were both fascists from wealthy backgrounds.

Equally, the idea of the working class as some uncultured blob is also false. Working-class people not only appreciate literature but have produced a wealth of it; whether Elio Vittorini, anti-fascist resistance fighter and son of a rail worker, or the Proletarian Literature movement in Britain which produced writers like James Barke, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, James Hanley and George Garrett.

So what we have with Swift’s article is an academic who was pleasantly surprised by the "high-mindedness" of some fascists when he should know that the 'high-minded' (or at least a section of them) have always been drawn to fascism.

And when he imagined their 'low-mindedness', who do you think he was expecting? Not posh students with links to Rome's political elite (a very real element of CasaPound’s demographic). No, he was expecting working-class men with sloping brows and dragging knuckles who could hardly string a sentence together let alone have opinions about poetry.

Ultimately, Swift seems to have really taken to CasaPound. He “warmly” shakes hands with Scianca after their interview and they agree to exchange copies of their books. Later, describing the farewells at end of his meal, he says,

Quote:

As we stand to leave I offer to shake hands with the waiter and he reaches out his right hand, with the tortoise on the forearm, and he grasps my arm just above the wrist, and smiles. We are close, this waiter and I; and for that instant bound in a frozen gesture, and even as it was strange and abrupt, it was also familiar. This is the Roman handshake I had read about.

It’s clear from these quotes that CasaPound’s activists are supposed to be sympathetic characters in Swift’s story; their benevolence has been amplified, their vices turned all the way down. The absolute wanton irresponsibility of an article like this when far-right nationalism is seeing a surge in popularity across Europe and North America is abundantly clear but perhaps some people need it spelt out for them: fascists are in a coalition government in Austria; they have entered German parliament for the first time since the war; they are killing people on trains and at demonstrations and have set up militias in America; their extremism is increasingly turning into the talking points and policies of mainstream politics. Now is not the time to be writing puff pieces about how charming they are and how interesting their take on Ezra Pound is.

At one point Swift declares, “I wanted them to like me.” After his glowing write up, I have absolutely no doubt they will.

[agape-philo-sophia]

Christmas & It’s Esoteric Significance. Santa Claus, an Esoteric interpretation.

Christmas & It’s Esoteric Significance

The exact date of Jesus’s birth is a matter of debate, but it is generally acknowledged that it was not December 25. That date was adopted most likely in the fourth century CE (Christian or Common Era). That date was chosen, according to Gibbon (Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire), by early Christians because it coincided with the culmination of the Roman festival of Brumalia, celebrating the birth of Bacchus (Dionysus). Bruma is an ancient Latin name for the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice, which the Julian calendar fixed on December 25. It was also the traditional date of the birth of Mithra, the Invincible Sun. In either case, it enabled Christians to avoid attracting unwanted attention to themselves and consequently persecution. Not all early Christian communities adopted that date; one historian is quoted by Annie Besant (Esoteric Christianity, p. 110) as re¬porting that “one hundred and thirty-six different dates” were “fixed on by different Christian sects”. Leadbeater suggests that the actual date may have been “sometime in the spring” (Inner Side, p. 9).

Whatever the reason for choosing December 25, that date is esoterically appropriate. For one thing, associating the birth of a world teacher with the rebirth of the Sun (symbolic of our spiritual Self) relates Christianity to the esoteric doctrine of the descent of the second person of the Trinity into matter to begin the long evolutionary journey of unfolding consciousness in ever more sophisticated forms. It is also claimed by some psychics, such as Dora van Gelder [Kunz] (The Christmas of the Angels) that there is a special outpouring of energy upon the world at this time.

Leadbeater further states that the story of wise men being guided to the birthplace by a star is symbolic of an event in the expansion of consciousness called the First Initiation, when humans begin to develop their inherent spiritual powers. It is said that a star appears in the psychic realm over the initiate’s head at that time. The Magi may represent either the acknowledgment of the new initiate by other initiates or, considering the traditional gifts of the Magi, the purification of the vehicles of the initiate’s personal consciousness: myrrh for physical, frankincense for emotional, gold for mental. Many people experience Christmas as a greater feeling of brotherhood, peace, and love (Leadbeater, Inner Side, pp. 27-32).

Sir James George Frazer, in his Golden Bough, suggests that Christmas was borrowed directly from Mithraism and points out that many pagan cultures in the northern hemisphere celebrated festivals at this time of year. It was close to the longest night of the year, and for agrarian societies the approaching lengthening of daylight was important for growing crops, thus for sustaining life. Various tribes then engaged in rituals to ensure fecundity. The association of the rebirth of the sun with the astrological sign of Capricorn at that time of year reinforces the association with fecundity.

The traditional Christmas story of the Nativity derives mostly from Matthew’s Gospel; only Luke makes any other mention of it, adding some extra events, such as the Magnificat, Mary’s song about her soul praising the Lord. Because the account in Matthew is very dramatic, one would expect the other Gospels to have included it, especially the slaughter of all new-born Jewish males. Since no contemporary historian, such as Josephus, mentions that event, it must be of esoteric, not historical, significance. A possible interpretation is that Herod represents our habitual consciousness, which seeks to retain its control over the expanded consciousness of the initiate by trying to destroy the new spiritual influences.

According to some Theosophical writers, the historical Jesus was born by the normal means of conception about 105 years BCE (before the Common Era). His parents, poor, but well-born and spiritually developed, belonged to one of the mystery schools of the time. His Jewish name would have been Jeshua, later Romanized as Jesus. A somewhat different account of his birth is given in Talmudic sources, especially the medieval Toledot Yeshu, quoted as historically accurate by H. P. Blavatsky in her various writings, although seriously questioned by some noted scholars. This account is also repeated by G. R. S. Mead in his book Did Jesus Live 100 B.C.? (1903). HPB gives Jesus’ name variously as Jehoshua ben Pandira (CW 8:189, 204, 380) or Jeshu ben-Panthera (CW 4:361), his birthplace as Lud or Lydda (CW 8:189), his mother’s name as “Stada (alias Miriam),” and his father’s name as Panthera, “a Roman soldier” (CW 4:362). Hence, she states, he “was not of pure Jewish blood, and thus recognized no Jehovah” (SD 1:578). HPB states that he lived from 120 to 70 BCE (CW 4:362) and was a disciple of Rabbi Jehoshua ben Perahiah, his granduncle and fifth president of the Jewish Sanhedrin after Ezra, with whom he fled to Alexandria, Egypt, during the persecution of Jews under Alexander Janneaus (the Maccabean King 106-79 BCE). She adds that it was there that Jesus was initiated into the mystery school which caused him to be charged with “heresy and sorcery” upon his return to Palestine (CW 4:362), stoned to death (CW 8:189), and his body hung upon a tree outside the city of Lud (CW 4:362).

There are, then, inconsistencies both within and between the two main Theosophical accounts of the birth and life of Jesus. But however one attempts to reconcile them, it is evident that both the historical account and the esoteric interpretation of the Biblical story of Christmas in Theosophical writings, are at considerable variance with orthodox Christian theology. And whatever the actual facts may have been, they do not minimize the importance of that story both as wonderfully inspiring, as full of rich symbolism, and as a model for our own spiritual development, the awakening to the power of universal love in our hearts.

Santa Claus, an Esoteric interpretation.

All down the ages there have been stories of fairies, gnomes, mermaids, naiads and fabled characters galore.

The ancient Norsemen, Dutch, Huns and all the oriental races possess literature prolific with allegories, parables and fables built around the wonders and physical and chemical operations of the human body.

The birth of the monthly seed is the basis of the Mother Goose Stories and similar tales in all lands.

Santa Claus, or Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of seafarers, virgins and children, is the bearer of gifts to children on Christmas eve.

Of all festivals celebrated all over the known world, that held in honor of Santa Claus ranks as first in the hearts of all humanity, old as well as young. This in itself is a most significant fact.

It is time that the truth in regard to this age long custom be made known to the world, time that its real and true significance be understood. Then will it be truly celebrated, for it will have become an inward process, as well as an outward observation.

Parents, from time immemorial, have explained to their children that the presents which they found in their stockings, when they jumped eagerly from their beds in the morning, were placed there by a mysterious person called “Santa Claus.” No one saw him come, no one saw him leave, but he left unmistakable evidence of his visit.

Some children ask many questions in regard to this mysterious “person,” and when they become too insistent the ingenuity of parents is sorely taxed to give satisfactory answers. There comes a time, however, when they must have the Santa Claus “myth” explained to them, and it is then that their deep childlike trust and confidence in their parents receives its first shock. Thereafter they commence to doubt their parents, to question their veracity, and many tears have been shed, because, after all Santa was not a “really, truly person.”

THERE IS A SANTA CLAUS, IT IS A PHYSIOLOGICAL FACT, and IT does “SECRETE” the most “holy and wonderful gift” or substance in the body of every individual. Those who understand it who receive it in the right spirit have “Become as little children.”

“As above, so below.” As in the Macrocosm the universe, so in the microcosm-man.

Can anyone think for one moment that the parables, fables, allegories and myths that have come down to us through the ages have no basic foundation? They, as well as the fast days and feast days are founded on great esoteric truths. Otherwise they would have ceased to be.

The Great Hierarchy that rules the Universe see to it that nothing is forgotten that needs to be remembered.

Santa Claus, or Saint Claus, is derived from the same root word as “claustrum,” from which “cloister” is also derived. Claustrum means a barrier, a covered place, seclusion. Cloister is referred to as a place of seclusion, and more especially as a place of seclusion for something holy, something dedicated to divinity.

There is a Saint Claus, or Claustrum within the cerebrum, and whoever gave it that name knew why they did so.

The suture of the skull is the point where the bones meet. We can very easily see this place on the head of infants, as the sections are not then drawn closely together, and the vibrations of the brain can be both seen and felt.

In Sanscrit this is called “The Door of Brahm,” for it is the apperture through which the Ego, or Spirit leaves the body. It is also the chimney of Santa Claus. The vertebrae as a whole is called the “stick of Brahm.”

Directly underneath the “door of Brahm” is a triangular shaped body named in physiology the “Island of Reil.” This is the place where “John” was when “he” looked back and saw the wonderful vision of the regenerated man in the “Isle of Patmos” This island is the central lobe of the cerebrum, and is also called the Pole; hence, the Island of Reil is the North Pole of the body, and is, as we well know, the imperishable, sacred land.

In Santee’s anatomy of the brain and spinal cord, we find that this island is “situated in the medial wall of the lateral fissure of the cerebrum, between the frontal, parietal and temporal lobes, whose growth, after the fifth month in utero, gradually covers it over. At the end of the first year of extrauterine life, it is entirely concealed by temporal, parietal and frontal parts of the operculum” cover or lid. Thus we see that Mother Nature has taken great pains to conceal this sacred center.

Underneath this island, and directly in a line with the Optic Thalamus lies the Claustrum, but separated from it by yet three other bodies.

The claustrum is a thin sheet of isolated gray matter, found just medial to the Island of Reil. Santee says it “is a sheet of peculiar gray substance, and is made up of fusiform (spindle shaped) cell-bodies.” It is from this claustrum that contains yellow substance within its outer grayish exterior, that the wonderful, priceless OIL is formed that flows down into the olivary fasciculus, “descending with the rubrospinal tract through the reticular formation in the pons and medulla to the lateral column of the spinal cord. It terminates in the gray matter of the spinal cord, probably giving off collaterals to corresponding nuclei in the brain stem.” Santee. This is the OIL, the precious gift of which the Bible speaks, “Thou anointest my head with oil.”

And not only is there oil manufactured within this special laboratory of the brain, but there is actually an olive tree, which bears actual olives so named in any anatomy. The two olives are two infinitesimal eminences on either side of the medulla, with the Pyramid between.

They are one-half inch in length. It is found well developed only in the higher mammals. They are RELAY (Santee) stations between the cerebrum and the cerebellum and between the spinal cord and the cerebellum.

This oil is the most sacred substance in the body it is the quintessence of gold the “Gold of Ophir” most truly a rare gift. Globules of oil are found in the vital fluid, the semen, and when the prodigal son has wasted his substance, he finds that it takes a long time to replace the deficiency and make good the looted bank account.

This wonderful oil is the secret work of the immaculate Virgin, Mary (or Mare) “represented by the sign Virgo. In chemistry we find that sulphate of potassium is the mineral salt, which, uniting with sulphur and oxygen, manufactures the oil. We find that this salt also crystallizes out from the mother-liquors of sea water and salt springs. People born under the sign Virgo, if they have become deficient in this salt suffer from dryness of the skin, and baldness. We can also understand why draining of the vital fluid - living in excesses, will also produce baldness. If there were no oil in the body, the skin would become harsh and dry.

The story of the wise virgins who had their lamps trimmed and filled with oil is given to emphasize the necessity for the presence of oil in the body, for they cannot go out to meet the "bridegroom” unless their lamps are burning. “The lamb is the lamp thereof.”

The olives, which contain the oil, are the reservoirs the relay stations, of course, which furnish the oil for the lamp, the pineal gland, at the top of which is the flame or eye. When the Kundalini, the serpent fire that lies concealed within the sacral plexus is awakened, burns up the dross within the spinal cord, and reaches the conarium, it sets fire to this oil and thus lights the “perpetual lamp,” which “Gives the light to the whole house.”

Santa Claus is thus the giver of the supreme gift in the human body, the oil for the perpetual lamp the gold of Ophir, the quintessence of richness.

A total lack of oil in the body will, in itself, cause death.

Santa Claus brings his gifts when the Christ-mass is celebrated.

The Greek characters that stand for Christ are X P I, and the word itself (Christ) means oil, in Greek. The seed is the bread of life, and when anointed with oil (Christed and crucified) become the Christ-mass the bread, eaten in the Father’s Kingdom.

Thus we now clearly understand the meaning of Santa Claus and his Christmas visit with gifts to the children.