They established a growing reputation in the early 00s with the albums The Storm and Delicate Flame of Desire, which combined soaring atmospheric soundscapes with heartfelt and emotionally-charged lyrics. Then in 2004, just when they seemed on the brink of success, the band disintegrated, leaving just founder/composer Ian Jones owning the name.

just when they seemed on the brink of success, the band disintegrated

After a hiatus of a couple of years, and at least one false start, Ian Jones put together a completely new incarnation of the band, which toured from 2007 onwards. This lineup dispelled any accusations of being no more than a glorified tribute band by delivering a symphonic rock masterpiece in 2010's The Gathering Light. Sadly, that band also split within months of releasing the record, leaving just Ian Jones and guitarist Enrico Pinna to pick up the pieces once more.

The third incarnation of the band gradually took shape, with multi-instrumentalist Colin Mold, vocalist Hayley Griffiths, keyboard player Cagri Tozluoglu and (for one tour at least) Matt McDonough on drums. The band booked a 15 date tour covering much of Britain, and on the 17th February the tour came to the Colston Hall 2 in Bristol.

the on-stage chemistry that was so obviously missing the last time

After the obligatory intro tape the six members of the band launched into the 'The Serpent and the Sea', one of the ten-minute epics from The Gathering Light. From the beginning there was a new energy to the band, with evidence of the on-stage chemistry that was so obviously missing the last time I saw the previous version in April 2010.

The six piece lineup saw Colin Mold swapping between violin and guitar, and the extra instrument on stage gave a lot more depth to the live sound. This made it easier to do justice to the complex arrangements of material from The Gathering Light live.

For the older songs, his violin took many of the former flute lines, while twin guitars gave a harder edge to some of the older songs. (As an aside, it's interesting that former flautist Anne-Marie Helder is now playing, amongst many other things, with Mostly Autumn and frequently playing former-violin lines on flute!)

It did take a few songs to get the sound balance right; Enrico Pinna's fluid lead guitar wasn't prominent enough early on, and the mix could have done with more keys.

a rather more operatic approach

Hayley Griffiths is a very different singer from either Rachel Cohen (nee Jones) or Lisa Fury, the two previous lead vocalists. With a background as a classical crossover artist rather than a rock singer she takes a rather more operatic approach, which gives some songs a quite different feel. She's certainly got a very strong voice and stage presence, although on occasions some of the very personal heart-on-sleeve songs, such as 'Forsaken' didn't quite have the emotional depth they needed.

The set drew heavily from The Gathering Light mixed in with favourites from earlier albums such as After the Rain and Delicate Flame of Desire. A couple of surprises were 'The Calling' played live on violin and keys seguing into 'Lagan Love' from Hayley's solo album Celtic Rose, followed by 'Our Love' from the long-deleted first Karnataka album.

The evening ended with very powerful versions of 'Your World' and 'Heart of Stone', closing the main set, and the epic title track of 'The Gathering Light' as an encore.

still enough of the same sound and feel

So, Karnataka are back, if in a new and changed form. Despite the very significant personnel changes there's still enough of the same sound and feel to justify continued use of the name. But neither is it an attempt to reproduce what had gone before.

This is a more energetic, rockier Karnataka than the previous incarnation, and it will be very interesting to see what happens when they start recording new material. In the meantime, some gigs from this tour are to be recorded for a live album and DVD.

All photos: Tim Hall
 

By deciphering how humans process visual information, researchers are uncovering new ways to improve eyewitness testimony, enhance teaching methods or increase people's ability to learn more efficiently.

Behavioral findings appear in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General (in press). Boggan and another PhD student, Chih-Mao Huang of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, had a related Journal Club paper in the Nov. 23 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. The neuroimaging findings appear in the July 20 issue of Neuroscience Letters.

Study participants viewed a series of interleaved chess game boards and faces, noting whether each presentation matched the previous game position or face. With faces, chess experts, recreational players and novices demonstrated a so-called congruency effect, considered a hallmark of face processing. But only chess experts demonstrated a congruency effect with chess, suggesting that they process chess games more holistically than less-experienced players.

Study participants viewed a series of interleaved chess game boards and faces, noting whether each presentation matched the previous game position or face. With faces, chess experts, recreational players and novices demonstrated a so-called congruency effect, considered a hallmark of face processing. But only chess experts demonstrated a congruency effect with chess, suggesting that they process chess games more holistically than less-experienced players.

In another study, the researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to map the reactions inside the players' brains when they viewed faces, chess positions, randomized chess positions and other objects. While typical brain areas associated with face recognition were not particularly responsive to chess game displays, other areas of the brain were identified that were sensitive to whether games were normal games or had pieces randomly placed about the board.

In another study, the researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to map the reactions inside the players' brains when they viewed faces, chess positions, randomized chess positions and other objects. While typical brain areas associated with face recognition were not particularly responsive to chess game displays, other areas of the brain were identified that were sensitive to whether games were normal games or had pieces randomly placed about the board.

The neuroscientists predict this newfound understanding of visual recognition will help with efforts to improve learning and increase expertise. If scientists understand how people naturally process information to reach a conclusion, they might be able to improve processing mechanisms or take other steps to help individuals make better use of information.

Source: University of Texas at Dallas

Unpredictable guitar combo pairing Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth and Boston's favourite free-noise guitarist Bill Nace. As a duo they've put forth a limited cassette only blast via Ecstatic Peace! and covered 'Fever' for an Ultra Eczema compilation so its hard to say exactly what this show will bring, but its sure to be a good one!

Tickets

Fresh from yesterday's announcement that Public Image Limited would be releasing a new album this summer, no the band confirm that they'll be headlining the Summer Sundae Weekender festival in Leicester this August. There'll be some other bands playing too, obviously, but PiL are getting everyone in a tizzy right now, so we'll give them their moment in the sun.

PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED/ KATY B/ tUnE-yArDs/ ASIAN DUB FOUNDATION/ REVEREND AND THE MAKERS/ WILLY MASON/ FRANCOIS AND THE ATLAS MOUNTAINS/ JONATHAN RICHMAN/ JUAN ZELADA/ LAZY LESTER AND FRIENDS / DAN MANGAN/ RACHEL SERMANNI/ CASHIER NO 9/ GOODNIGHT LENIN/GRACE PETRIE/ THE MAGIC TOMBOLINOS/ Y NIWL

After the success of last year’s festival, Summer Sundae Weekender are delighted to announce the first wave of artists on 2012’s line up, establishing the event once again an essential date in the summer music calendar.

The next artist announcement will be made within a month

The immersive experience is just so sense tingling and visually luscious that I expect I’ll be there every time I have a spare moment until it finishes on 5th June. (see my previous writing about her here)

The retrospective of this most prominent Japanese female artist showcases her obsessive, polka dot strewn, colourful artworks. As I navigated the show my own passion for dotty and intricate surfaces was piqued, and I became aware that I was walking around the gallery with my eyeballs as close to the canvases as possible. I wanted to zoom in, to understand and become part of these beautiful and painstaking details.

When I became saturated with the tiny circles I zoomed out, enjoying the dots from afar – small, dancing, mad things. They imparted a tickling sensation as they shimmered and faded in and out of view.

an almost hallucinatory intensity that reflects her unique vision of the world

There is a poigniant story and sense of brave adventure to Kusama’s work and life, in which she has overcome times of mental instability as well Yayoi Kusama at Tate, as many social, cultural and familial obstacles. There has been much written about her journey between Japan, New York and back again.

What I want to convey to you here is my own physical experience of the exhibition – I imagine yours will be different. I urge you to go and find out, as the way her art engages each person is quite an individual sensation.

Much of Kusama’s art has an almost hallucinatory intensity that reflects her unique vision of the world, whether through a teeming accumulation of detail or the dense patterns of nets and polka dots that have become her signature. She is renowned for her ‘environments’, large-scale installations of dazzling power that immerse the viewer.

The exhibition begins with her early paintings  from the aftermath of the war, when Kusama began moving from the distinctly Japanese style of Nihonga painting to a more avant-garde aesthetic inspired by surrealism. With a lack of materials to hand she improvised, using seed sacks from her parents business. Even at this point there were seed-like dots appearing in her artwork.

the ghosts of the polka dots haunting my retinas

The next room showcases some early works on paper, where her bold use of colour and leaning towards ‘optical illusion’ has surfaced. As I stare at one drawing of a brightly coloured, dotty-patterned sun glowing out from a black background, it appears to loom from the page. My eyes shift over to the next sun work which is a whiter circle of light,  and I see the ghosts of the polka dots haunting my retinas from the previous piece, appearing to dance atop of this new drawing.

white nets enveloping the black dots of silent death against a pitch-dark background of nothingness

The next room contains Kusama’s complusive ‘Infinity Net Paintings’, formed by drawing repetitive arcs  in white paint on a dark canvas. The result is an overly white expanse with irregularly shaped dots peeping through. Up close it is the ‘net’ – not the dots – that I focus on.  In one way, there is an immense calm and stillness about the canvases.

The white is quite monumental and meditative. The incessant structures of the pattern and the brush-marks in the paint seem to be encasing a great energy but controlling  it quietly.

As I stepped back from my position up close to the canvas, the white brush strokes dropped away and the dot’s themselves became the focus. Forming an obsessive network of patterns,  this organic visual language evokes both the micro and macro, the cosmos and the cell structure. My eyes started joining the dots (literally) and physically feeling the movement between them; the energy and momentum as they traverse the canvas like a swarm.

Yayoi Kusama has called the paintings “white nets enveloping the black dots of silent death against a pitch-dark background of nothingness”. Like the Nets, Kusama’s collage works also transform visually depending on your proximity. The large pieces are made up of airmail stickers and other every day ready made objects which she repeated ad infinitum, “until the recognisable verges on the abstract”.

my eyes feeling a little like moths flitting from one point of light to another

A most fascinating room was called ‘I’m here, but Nothing’. Pictured below, you can see that it is a darkened domestic interior, covered in fluorescent sticker spots which glow in the dim UV light. You don’t see the room or even the surfaces, but just a network of floating points of light that shift and shimmer as you perambulate. As it is not possible to focus on the objects but only on these bright spots,  I felt myself pushed into a hallucinatory experience – my eyes feeling a little like moths flitting from one point of light to another.

awestruck by its seemingly endless scale

The finale  of the exhibition came with the mesmerising and spectacular ‘Infinity Mirrored Room’: A dark, mirrored space strewn with dangling strings of tiny lights, which appear to extend back into a never ending expanse. The lights slowly fade into different colours,  creating a magical experience which is intended to allow the viewer to “suspend his/her sense of self and accompany Kusama on her ongoing journey of self-obliteration”.

I spent a long time in this immersive field, (even though the gallery staff do try to keep you moving through), and it was captivating unlike anything I’ve ever perceived. I believe Kusama wants the viewer to enter the room and get lost in its wondourousness – drawn in by it’s beauty and awestruck by its seemingly endless scale – so I advise you to spend as long in here as you can.

An experience akin to being suspended in a beautiful cosmos gazing at infinite worlds, or like a tiny dot of fluoresecent plankton in an ocean of glowing microscopic life, it was the perfect end to the show.

Further images below, and for more insight, the Tate’s first look video

Images:  Nicola Anthony

Nicola Anthony is an artist and art writer living & working in London. She seeks to discover things which make her mind crackle with creative thought. Catch @Nicola_Anthony on twitter, or her artist’s website

It's been a while coming, about twenty years in all, but PIL are now ready to release the work that they've been recording over the last year.

“The album’s done,” John Lydon told the hosts of BBC’s 6 Music morning show today. “We finished it late last summer”

It won't all come at once though. The band plans to release a four-track EP entitled Drop on April 21st (Record Store Day). That release, on vinyl, precedes a twelve-song album This is PiL, release dates yet to be announced, but likely to be May or June.

PiL live dates so far:
March 16: Southbank Centre, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, UK
Aug. 4: Blackpool Rebellion Festival, Empress Ballroom, Wintergardens, UK
 

Moving on from the electronica that brought them to the UK's attention last year, the new work is more guitar-based, and promises to be more musically confident than the understated Lovelorn.

As is traditional, the album needs some live support to whet the appetite, and get those lovely punters putting their hands in their pockets (or thumbs on 'purchase' icon). UK dates as follows:

April 11 – Manchester, The Soup Kitchen
April 12 – Glasgow, The Captain’s rest
April 13 – Southampton, Joiners
April 14 – London, Surya

Looking at the dates, and putting it all together in your head, there's one image that comes to mind: Norwich, Valentine's Day, an entire crowd of gushy lovers singing along to 'Better Off Without You'. Ironic, eh?

Next spring Summer Camp are embarking on a massive UK tour, beginning in Bristol in February, before ending up at the Scala in London, offering the biggest stages to view Summer Camp in all their sparkling, witty, tongue in cheek glory yet.

February
 
13 – Louisiana, Bristol
14 – The Rainbow, Birmingham
14 – Arts Centre, Norwich
16 – Night and Day, Man
17 – Captain’s Rest, Glasgow
19 – The Harley, Sheffield
20 – Portland Arms, Cambridge
21 – Scala, London

Its artwork featured a suited City worker admiring adventure holiday shots he’d snapped with said camera. One proposed line was “Fill Your Imaginarium”.

Now, I’m the first to admit it’s not an everyday word. Some might even say it merits a place on the next Call My Bluff series. But what is true is (1) it means home of the imagination – which the digitally captured memories should stimulate, (2) it’s a power word placed to draw the reader in, plus (3) imaginarium appeared in the title of a 2009 Hollywood movie starring Johnny Depp and the late Heath Ledger.

I was however shot down and mocked for suggesting “not an actual word” by the clients Mr and Mrs Fancy Bottom (not their actual names).

Well, excuse me for using the English language.

My point is (and you thought this was just a rant), offering colourized options for a client’s message is the copywriter’s role. And every now and then one will make it through to enrich a campaign – like “Philtrum” did in this 2002 BT epic. Enjoy.

Read more of James McConachie's Trace Elements.

Saturday 2nd of June – London, Field Day www.fielddayfestivals.com/tickets/
Tuesday 5th of June – Leeds, Brudenell http://www.brudenellsocialclub.co.uk/
Wednesday 6th of June – London, XOYO http://xoyo.co.uk/
Friday 17th August – North Yorkshire, Beacons Festival http://www.greetingsfrombeacons.com/
Saturday/Sunday 18/19 August – Brecon Beacons, Green Man Festival http://www.greenman.net/

Try not to get too paranoid. Cruise missiles used street mapping technology to pinpoint targets in the first Gulf War, which is a small solace for those of us with imaginations whetted by too many Philip K. Dick books or school debating teams. Technology: our servant or our master?, etc.

Freaky, perhaps scary. Definitely likely to be turned to sinister purposes. The little dudes are nano-cute though....

Experiments performed with a team of nano quadrotors at the GRASP Lab, University of Pennsylvania. Vehicles developed by KMel Robotics.

The western Europe that, having drank 10 cans of Tennants Super, thinking it can take on the developing world as a fourth sector-based economy, is now
realising that two decades have gone by, and it’s being pulled by the hair into the back of a police van owned by Rupert Murdoch, Goldman Sachs and a bunch of Chinese businessmen.

It seems that this musical generation, which has been upstaged by its bigger brothers of D&B, Techno, House and all previous electronica, has now found its feet, and is starting to bud its own fruits. This is where Proxima comes in.

Proxima hangs off drum & bass's coattails. He is a cousin of Icicle (on Shogun Records - which is home to a household name in DJ Friction) and is billing below Noisia, Bare Noize, Audio, Black Sun Empire, and his fellow club night resident DJ Nymfo at Blackout (at Effenaar on 31/03/12 in Eindhoven). Proxima is not really a dubstep DJ, so why is he trying to become one?

I’ve listened to these two tracks a lot. And I mean a lot. I’ve have had trouble getting into the grittiness of them. I think it’s because they aren’t gritty.

Listening to Proxima’s previous collaborative work: fairy dusted, techno-based, funky house co-produced with PIRO (another Dutch export based in Eindhoven) you realise why Proxima’s basslines in Formal Junction are more of a slightly overweight fat-roll in the dubstep waistspan.

Formal Junction’s fat-rolls belong to a late-20’s professional that goes to the gym once a week but just can’t be arsed, and who prefers to dance with his feet not his body. Not a fat roll belonging to a council estate, McDonalds eating, carries a knife, wears a wife beater, hard fat man that doesn’t give a ..., and who prefers to stick his feet through the floor than prance about.

Formal Junction’s basslines are different. They are quirky and welcoming, like the red light and scent of high quality ganja or a bike that cycles backwards.
Maybe this is why Proxima’s resident club night is called ‘Breek’ - a derogatory slang term for a pretty female who’s promiscuous and likes to get around.You get that feeling from this record.

It sounds popular, it sounds marketable, it sounds like a dubstep bleek that crosses across formal electronica boundaries, and this is probably why I’ve been asked to write about it.

the track has a limited ability to turn on you with a deft touch of subbass

Formal Junction is like Proxima has produced a soundtrack for Zool, for lemmings to follow. But then again, it isn’t all bad. Especially as the track has a limited ability to turn on you with a deft touch of subbass, and produces sounds that remind you of Jaws taking a bite out of that rather attractive naked young lady, but more like a chiuhuahua nibbling on your ankle. This is the Proxima that you feel should be brought to the fore and let rip, not cocktails in the air ambient ‘its so fucking wild in here, omg’ cleanliness.

Within this subbass, Proxima gives some funk to a genre that was born under the flag of stomping tunes, and licking spilled ketamine off park benches as you’ve just realised you resemble a tranquillized rhinoceros, having forgotten you meant to snort the shit.

transient wind-farmed funky Dutch bass

Proxima lacks rawness in fossil-fuelled energy, but in 'Formal Junction' and 'Grunge', he gives us something else, namely transient wind-farmed funky Dutch bass that make you want to roll your hips, chest, and shoulders next to a prospective mating partner.

This is not a bad thing. But don’t call it Grunge or dubstep. It is not grungy, it’s clean and innocent, like it has been produced by someone who has had a jacket thrown over puddles for them on the way to the venue. Proxima’s 'Grunge' if anything, is a ‘wind down and carry on’ track.

A sort of sobering up sound that plays devil's advocate when one is starting to clarify the night that has just ran on. It doesn’t make an impact, it would fit perfectly just before you realise that it’s the end of the night and everyone’s starting to leave.

Dubstep should be more: ‘fuck you, I will take Cinderella to the ball and let her try my goodies when she will inevitably ask for them’, and then continue to enjoy a night of conjoined sweaty head-kaning, and Proxima’s sampled techy voices will not give you that.

Proxima doesn’t make sounds of the ‘fuck you’ dubstep generation, because that isn’t his mould. Proxima is making dubstep tourism tunes from a dying scene that is drum and bass, a scene that is trying to catch the next wave. And within dubstep there is obviously the belly fluff that is kicked out in the form of Skrillex and the corporate like, but it sells I suppose, and so will this.

raw flesh  torn off the underbelly of a generation

Dubstep is the raw flesh  torn off the underbelly of a generation hung out to dry, and musically should represent this accordingly. What dubstep should not be is a corporate breek, the pretty and marketable product that is rapidly becoming.

Dubstep makes you want to strap your goodies to your scrotum and hug a speaker all night long. It seems that you get thrown out of clubs for that these days. Luckily, Proxima's music doesn’t have the balls for that, so no worries there.

cocktails and cologne have replaced the salty sweat dripping off the ceiling

Dubstep is now trendy to a point where high-heels, cocktails and cologne have replaced the salty sweat dripping off the ceiling, tins of Red Stripe, and drug culture. It has now become socially respectable, like the prescribed vallium your mum takes by the dozen and the bottle of wine your dad drinks every night.

So if you like squeaky clean, wind-powered dubstep that is here for the wave, go and get yourself a nice bleek piece of vinyl out on the 26th March.

On Tempa Records.

Alcoholic drinks aren't generally put into the category of health food, but in some cases they might be just the cure for nasty parasites. That's according to a study published online on February 16 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, showing that fruit flies will actually seek out alcohol to kill off blood-borne parasitic wasps living within them.

The discovery offers some of the first evidence that alcohol might be used to fight infection, the researchers say.

"We found that environmental alcohol protects fruit flies from being parasitized by wasps, and that, even after being infected, fruit fly consumption of alcohol leads to death of the wasps growing within them," said Todd Schlenke of Emory University. "Surprisingly, fly larvae actively seek out ethanol-containing food when infected, showing they use alcohol as an antiwasp medicine."

Wasp mothers will lay their eggs in fruit fly larvae. Their young hatchlings then eat the flies from the inside out. Fortunately for flies of the species Drosophila melanogaster, they have developed a tolerance for alcohol over evolutionary time, a necessity for a life living in and feeding on rotting and fermented fruit.

"D. melanogaster has a special ability to tolerate high levels of alcohol," Schlenke said. "It seemed possible that this ability might protect the flies from generalist parasites." In fact, those parasites might have even helped push the flies toward an alcohol-drinking existence, he added.

It is tempting to think that the findings in flies might have application to other alcohol-drinking animals, including humans, the researchers say. Until now, the notion that alcohol consumption might cure human ailments—particularly stomach infections—has been the stuff of online chat sites and not the scientific literature, they note. As a simple first test, they suggest that ethanol could be added to parasite cultures in the lab to find out what sort of effect it might have.

Source; Cell Press

Wikipedia, is a consensual tool where people build myths, there are facts and it's how we choose to arrange the facts that decides how  the myth is built. Sometimes the facts are huge and only allow minor interpretations, but usally there are hundreds of small facts that can easily be manipulated through scale and omission allowing anything to be said

...but only to people on the same scale as yourself. 

"Saxon are an English heavy metal band, formed in 1976 in Barnsley, Yorkshire.

As front-runners of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, they had 8 UK Top 40 albums in the 1980s including 4 UK Top 10 albums.

Saxon also had numerous singles in the Top 20 singles chart.

Between 1980 and 1987 Saxon established themselves as one of Europe's biggest metal acts, they also had success in Japan and in the USA. In Japan, the single "Motorcycle Man" stayed in the charts for over 5 months. They still tour regularly and have sold more than 13 million albums worldwide." 

These are the wiki-facts about a band, to Madonna these facts and Saxon may well be meaningless, to the Saxon fan they form the background myths that can frame a gig experience of total revelation.

To empathise with Saxon, to know Saxon, to channel Saxon into your own consciousness... these facts can allow you to feel the road miles speed underfoot, feel the white frayed edge of denim twirl between your fingers, and let tinnitus quieten with the world to deafness. But they can only give you half the story. 

Looking at Saxon now, seeing them onstage, you get a sense of how and who Saxon are.  A zenlike nowness of everful becoming. Mindfull flowering of non-existence and complete awareness.

The arrows arch and the cat meows. The beast inside the inked breast, and a leather jacket for a pillow. Carl B. Batson took the pictures and I've been reading Don DeLillo.  

In this case pirate shirts, pirate-based drinking and pirate-themed metal. It's salty and juvenile [insert analogy here] and could just be thing to blow away the vestiges of the winter malaise. 

----

Press Release: Coming off the heels of their appearance in the Bohemia tent at Sonisphere Knebworth 2011 which was described by those present as one of the highlights of the whole Sonisphere weekend, Scottish pirate metallers Alestorm have announced a UK wide tour to take place in February 2012. The band will be touring in support of their latest album entitled “Back Through Time” which was released earlier in 2011.

“Greetings dudes! In February 2012 we’ll be hitting the road for our biggest headlining UK tour EVER, including our first ever shows in Ireland! Along with us will be our Australian buddies Claim The Throne, who are really good at getting drunk. Get your arses down to the show, or we’ll kick your ass. I know where you live.”

.02.2012 Plymouth

05.02.2012 Stoke-on-Trent

06.02.2012 Sheffield

07.02.2012 Bristol

08.02.2012 Southampton

09.02.2012 Manchester

10.02.2012 Glasgow

11.02.2012 Belfast

12.02.2012 Dublin

13.02.2012 Leicester

14.02.2012 Brighton

15.02.2012 Wrexham

16.02.2012 Leeds

17.02.2012 Wolverhampton

18.02.2012 London Islington Academy. 

Alestorm tickets - here

As people seek healthier dietary regimens they often turn to things labeled "organic." Lurking in the background, however, is an ingredient that may be a hidden source of arsenic—an element known to be both toxic and potentially carcinogenic.

Organic brown rice syrup has become a preferred alternative to using high fructose corn syrup as a sweetener in food. High fructose corn syrup has been criticized as a highly processed substance that is more harmful than sugar and is a substantial contributor to epidemic obesity. Unfortunately, organic brown rice syrup is not without its faults.

Dartmouth researchers and others have previously called attention to the potential for consuming harmful levels of arsenic via rice, and organic brown rice syrup may be the latest culprit on the scene.

The results were alarming. One of the infant formulas tested had a total arsenic concentration of six times the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) safe drinking water limit of 10 parts per billion (ppb) for total arsenic. Cereal bars and high-energy foods using organic brown rice syrup also had higher arsenic concentrations than those without the syrup.

The results were alarming. One of the infant formulas tested had a total arsenic concentration of six times the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) safe drinking water limit of 10 parts per billion (ppb) for total arsenic. Cereal bars and high-energy foods using organic brown rice syrup also had higher arsenic concentrations than those without the syrup.

Jackson and his colleagues purchased commercial food products containing organic brown rice syrup and compared them with similar products that didn't contain the syrup. Seventeen infant formulas, 29 cereal bars, and 3 energy "shots" were all purchased from local stores in the Hanover, N.H., area.

The amount of inorganic arsenic, the most toxic form, averaged 8.6 ppb for a dairy based formula and 21.4 ppb for a soy formula.

This is of concern because these concentrations are comparable to, or greater than, the current U.S. drinking water limit of 10 ppb, and that limit does not account for the low body weight of infants and the corresponding increase in arsenic consumption per kilogram of body weight.

With recent news coverage of the potential for rice to contain arsenic, educated consumers may be aware that cereal/energy bars containing rice ingredients could also contain arsenic.

Jackson and his colleagues conclude that in the face of the increasing prevalence of hidden arsenic in food, and the absence of U. S. regulations in this area, "there is an urgent need for regulatory limits on arsenic in food."

Source: Dartmouth College dartmouth.edu

]]> 2012-02-18T14:38:30+00:00 http://www.trebuchet-magazine.com/index.php/site/article/a_journey_to_the_end_of_empire/ http://www.trebuchet-magazine.com/index.php/site/article/a_journey_to_the_end_of_empire/ #When:06:14:16Z It Is Always Darkest Right Before It Goes Completely Black

"When the poet stands at nadir the world must indeed be upside-down. If the poet can no longer speak for society, but only for himself, then we are at the last ditch.”— Excerpt from, The Time of the Assassins, a study of Rimbaud, by Henry Miller.

But the raging soul of the world will not be assaulted without consequence. Mind and body are intertwined and inseparable from nature, and, when nature responds to our assaults, her replies are known to humankind as the stuff of mythic tragedy and natural catastrophe.

"When the poet lives his hell, it is no longer possible for the common man to escape it."— ibid.

But take heart. As the saying goes, it is always darkest right before it goes completely black.

Rejoice in this: Seeds of futurity require the darkness within soil to dream.

"To go into the dark with a light is to know the light. /To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,/ and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,/ and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings."-- Wendell Berry, To Know The Dark.

What "tangible" and "constructive" things can a poetic sensibility contribute to everyday existence? Here's one: The atomized denizens of neoliberal culture are in dire need of a novel yet durable sensibility, one bearing the creativity and stamina required, for example, to withstand the police state rebuffs inflicted by the ruthless authoritarian keepers of the present order…as is the case, when OWS dissidents initiate attempts to retake, inhabit, and re-imagine public space.

if the self is not saturated in poetry, one will inhabit a dismal tower

Yet, while it is all well and good to be politically enlightened, approaching the tumult of human events guided by reason and restraint, if the self is not saturated in poetry, one will inhabit a dismal tower looking over a desiccated wasteland.

The crackpot realist’s notion that poetry has no value other than what can be quantified in practical terms emerges from the same mindset that deems nature to be merely worth what it can be rendered down to as a commodity. The trees of a rain forest can be pulped to paper cups. A human being is only the content of his resume.

The underlying meaning of this sentiment: The value of one's existence is derived by the act of being an asset of the 1%.

Resultantly, the tattered remnants of the neoliberal imagination (embodied in lofty but content-devoid Obama speechifying and the clown car demolition derby of Republican politics) spends its days in a broken tower of the mind, insulated from this reality: The exponentially increasing consequences (e.g., economic collapse, perpetual war, ecocide) created by the excesses of the present paradigm will shake those insular towers to theirs foundations, and, will inevitably caused the structures to totter and collapse.

The bells, I say, the bells break down their tower;
And swing I know not where. Their tongues engrave
Membrane through marrow, my long-scattered score
Of broken intervals...And I, their sexton slave!

 -- Hart Crane , excerpt from The Broken Tower

We have been "sexton slave" to this destructive order long enough; its lodestar is a death star.

In polar opposition, a poetic view of existence insists that one embrace the sorrow that comes at the end of things. The times have bestowed on us a shuffle to the graveside of our culture, and, we, like members of a New Orleans-style, second line, funeral procession, must allow our hearts to be saturated by sorrowful songs.

a poetic view of existence insists that one embrace the sorrow that comes at the end of things

Yet when the service is complete, the march away from the boneyard should shake the air with the ebullient noise borne of insistent brass.

"Often we're not so much afraid of our own limitations, as we are of the infinite within us."--Nelson Mandela (from an interview from his prison cell, conducted by the late Irish poet and priest, John O'Donnahey)

In this way, we are nourished by the ineffable, whereby unseen components of consciousness provide us the strength to carry the weight of darkness. Therefore, to those who demand this of poets: that all ideas, notions, flights of imagination, revelries, swoons of intuition, Rabelaisian rancor, metaphysical overreach, unnerving apprehensions, and inspired misapprehensions be tamed, rendered practical, and only considered fit to be broached in reputable company when these things bring "concrete" answers to polite dialog.

I ask you this, if the defining aspects of our existence were constructed of concrete, would not the world be made of the material of a prison?

Phil Rockstroh is a poet, lyricist and philosopher bard living in New York City. He may be contacted at: phil@philrockstroh.com. Visit Phil's website or at FaceBook.

Part 2 of this essay will be printed Saturday 25th February (2012).

Sidebar Image: Damian Brandon / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Mark Braby and Shaun Hendry present the latest in an ongoing series of genuinely alternative after-office live entertainments. Admission is free to members (show your membership card) otherwise sign in for membership. Donations, to the performers, will be sought.

Those who will perform for you (in no particular order):

Brainer - 'extensively derivative, often anachronistic and sometimes puerile' said the Wire in 2009; 'ouch! did that hurt?' said Scaledown in 2010...concussion is the new percussion.....welcome back Brainer.

Fiona Sally Miller - a swift return for this charming troubadour who will be pedalling to great effect her wonderful musical wares, including tracks from her soon to be released 10" EP on Vacilando '68 Recordings.

Beeching's Axe - An improvised train-wreck of archive steam railway sound recordings and live electrified guitars, attempting to reflect aspects of a pivotal moment in British transport history. Featuring Kevin Younger and Mark Braby.

Roshi featuring Pars Radio - Iranian/Welsh Roshi returns with her beautiful mix of exotic electronica, folk and the ethereal.

Jude Cowan Jude returns to Scaledown with her inimitable take on the week via Reuters and song.

The Happy Couple - You like cigar box guitars? you like banjo? You like jew harp? You love The Happy Couple!

7.00pm to 11pm
The King and Queen,
1 Foley Street,
London
W1W 6DL

Google Maps view of the venue

FaceBook's use of a derogatory target keyword, as exposed by media commentator Darren Hemmings in MusicAlly here, is a new low in the online media race to make money at the expense of established ethics.

Still, the world's youngest billionaire has to keep those dollars coming in, doesn't he?

OR

Perhaps we're just indulging in social media's favourite pastime - demonstrable outrage. In the same way as the words 'nigger' and 'queer' have been appropriated, rebranded and redefined by the very groups who have had those terms hurled at them in spite, 'faggot' is open to interpretation. Of the graphics above the second shows the interface where the user, designing their advertisement, inputs their terminology. 

FaceBook's part in all this is unclear, but it is perfectly possible that the intervention of the autofill on inputting 'fagg' is as much to do with previous patterns of user self-identification (even if the terms used are unacceptable to many), than any culture of homophobia in the FaceBook offices.

Tangled and tense times indeed, but at least there's a dialogue. Beats stringing people from trees.

A spring release, followed by the summer festival circuit - once the record's out the band can relax a bit, safe in the assumption that there's not much can be done to sales or profile at such a late juncture. The fans either want the record or they don't.

And want it they should. Chapter Two: Konstellation Neu is as overblown and blousy as the title suggests, but glorious in equal measure. Disoriented, pleasantly confusing, washed-out, and pleasingly bonkers: the album is deft and mathematically precise in its tonal explorations and vocal harmonies. It will meet with approval.

But in the run-up to release, things are tense. Faced with the culmination of months or years of recording, then having to entrust that huge emotional investment to the bitter scrutiny of failed-musician-professional-cynics (music writers) is daunting. Which is why it's always best to suck up a bit. Core members Justin and Aid Burrows know the routine. Be fawning, flirt a little. Giggle, simper and flutter. In the music industry in 2012, publicity is oxygen - make sure you lick the hand that feeds.

Alternatively, recognize it all for the sockfull of toss that it is.
Guess.

Trebuchet: Signed to a German label, and hailing from various bits of the UK, you're not one of those bands that all met up in a garage after school. How did you get together? How often do you get together? And who's got the most revolting habits?

The British Expeditionary Front [BEF]: We got together first and foremost due to our mutual love of Physics and Science in general. I believe there are no fewer than 4 postgraduate degrees (in various Scientific disciplines) in the larger family of The B.E.F, with one member training as a mission specialist for The European Space Agency at one point in his career.

Between this scientific love-in and other stuff we found that we also shared a vague passing interest in music, thus the band was formed. We rarely get together, due to our geographical differences and awesome skills of procrastination.

It's not that we don't like each other, it's more of a "shall we do a big get together? Ermm, probably not. We've got more interesting cool shit to be getting on with and I'm already two seasons behind schedule in my West Wing box set, so lets pass and pick it up another time."

I'd say Aid (Singer) has the most disgustingly revolting habit of all the members. It's his blatant use of pure logic. He's just crawling in the stuff. Ewww. It's pathetic and it makes my skin crawl just thinking about it.

Justin and Jim are bigger than me, so assume they've got more of the stuff to do with decay, rot, revolt and renew

Aid Burrows: Decay and rot are a natural part of the human condition, them bacteria types work habitually. Justin and Jim are bigger than me, so assume they've got more of the stuff to do with decay, rot, revolt and renew. It's a numbers game.

Sadly I have no such scientific academic endorsement, although I would say we got here through a sort of professional curiosity, which is sort of the same thing. Although without the solid foundation of actual knowledge. Shameful really what with this being the information age and all that. It's on the to-do list - boxsets be damned.

Trebuchet: There's a lot of mention of prog and electronica surrounding the new album. Nevertheless, it opens with a track that sounds much more like Surf's Up-era Beach Boys. Who sings the high Al Jardine stuff, and who gets the bassy Carl Wilson lines? Or is the recording process completely different to that?

BEF: Those there mentions of 'Prog' and 'Electronica' surrounding the album are on the whole justified, but in some ways lack definition. I'd say we're more of a 'Electronically choral indie band with aspirations' but alas the acronym 'ECIBA'  sadly would never wash with the modern musical journalistas of the blogospherical planet earth. And it's not Dubstep enough for you pesky kids nowadays with your 'E4 +1's' and your 'Games Consoles' and 'Fax Machines' etc, etc...

The recording process for us is pretty straightforward and in no way democratic

Good call on the Beach Boys though, I reckon Aid (Singer) probably robbed that melody off a Beach Boys record, he just hasn't come clean yet.

The recording process for us is pretty straightforward and in no way democratic. We take turns in playing Autocratic totalitarian despot dictator, then at the end of the album session as a whole we step back and review who was the best Autocratic totalitarian despot dictator and whoever tots up the most baddie points wins. I won Chapter 1 (fair and square too) and I think I'm in with having a shot at keeping hold of the title on this album ,but Aid (singer) could easily still pip it at the last. He's a sneaky fucker, that Aid.

AB: I narcissistically and megalomaniacally sang the low bits, the middle bits and the high bits. However, Hayley did step in and sing the really high bits. Justin made that happen I reckon, just to clip my wings.

Trebuchet: Whatever happened to men singing? The album has a pre-indie aesthetic that brings some of the really slick pop vocals of the 80s to mind. Landfill indie seemed to kill off actual singing, unless it was of the football-terrace anthemic type. You guys seem to enjoy it though. Any of you got male voice choir backgrounds?

BEF: I'd like to give Aid all the credit for bringing real life singing back into popular beat combo music but I can't because it was entirely my idea in its entirety.

I told him every note to sing, and when he didn't sing it right I just got the computer to fill in the gaps

He might chip in and say "It was me, I've always loved how Hadley rocked the smooth velvety vocal triumph of Spandau to the Max" or "Michael McDonald moves me, like here right in my heart, fo real yo. Fo Real." But it's simply not true. I told him every note to sing, and when he didn't sing it right I just got the computer to fill in the gaps as it were. Easy peasy.

We do really enjoy the style that I created entirely on my own which I impressed upon our glorious 'Lead Singer'...

AB: Well, well, well, I aint thought about those old choir days for quite some time. Back in school we had a 'choral group' (non-gender specific admission). Irrelevant fact -  I thought it was just part of the music lessons, but I now see it must have been extra curricular, cos we went and sang at the Parr Hall (we got to hold these plush red leather backed songsheet folders - happy days!). I believe our vocal message was probably something mildly indoctrinating and explains the occasional night terror.

Trebuchet: Erased Tapes is becoming legendary for its quality control, although it's not a label that's mostly associated with songs as we know them - vocals, guitars, drums etc. What's the aspect of The British Expeditionary Force that you think makes the band fit in with all those new-classical instrumental acts?

BEF: Erased Tapes is indeed becoming quite legendary for it's quality control. But I think the best thing about that label and ethos is the fact that I know that Das Bobby Raths' (Erased Tapes Uber Boss) favourite band of all time is - Free.

Free are responsible for one of the greatest records ever made Free - Free (1969). It's here that we can disseminate where the aforementioned quality control comes from. It comes from Free.

'Number of synths = Number of awesome hit mega-songs'

You see, some labels chase down fruitless wanky indie bands based on variables such as "hair' or 'Proximity to East London' or 'Number of synths = Number of awesome hit mega-songs' but Das Bobby Raths has kept it classy by using his greatest musical love as his guiding light. The British Expeditionary Force fits into this ethos for two reasons:
Firstly, we we're there at the start so he kind of actually has to keep putting our records out. Secondly, everyone else on the label for the first reason should fit around The British Expeditionary Force.

AB: I think there's something of a loose theme surrounding the Erased Tapes crew and that's soundtracks. Everyone seems to have a cinematic slant of differing ranges. Let's not be stupid, with this many channels it's where the money is.

Trebuchet: Is it intimidating having Nils Frahm master the album? The man seems to have the proverbial dogs' ears. Any uber-pracktikal input from him on the album, or just technical stuff?

BEF:I wouldn't say it was intimidating having Nils master the record. The kid has mega ears and is my own personal favourite music making person at the moment due to his last two records being fuckinghellaamazinguberskillfulsoulfulinstantclassicalneoclassics kind of records.

Mastering was the only thing left that he could really do for the record, which, let's face it, is just turning it up and down until it sounds good

I lost the stems for the whole of this record on purpose so he (Nils) couldn't mix the record in its entirety, and thus uncovering me as the charlatan and blagger that I am when it comes to making records.  Mastering was the only thing left that he could really do for the record, which, let's face it, is just turning it up and down until it sounds good and then maybe playing with the treble and bass buttons.

But as it happens he did an ace as fuck job and made the record that extra 0.5 percent awesome. Hopefully he'll be chipping in on the next album. Have you ever heard him play a slap bass solo? He slaps the bass like a motherfucker. Different class indeed.

Trebuchet: 'Konstellation Neu' has some gorgeous harmonies and a wistful style. Funny, because in other ways it's a bit glitchy and twisted. How did that come about? It's a very different take on the usually clinical glitch approach.

BEF: 'Konstellation Neu' sounds the way it does because I can't play the piano properly. I was pissing around with the chords to put an idea down and couldn't be fucked to practice anymore so I just sewed all the  listenable chords together into a 'song' and then sent it to Aid. If you listen closely you can hear how long it takes me to resolve the chords at the end.

it just took me that long to work out what the chord was that would resolve all the other chords I'd been hammering out all afternoon

It may sound like I'm leaving such a lengthy sustain to add drama or character to the song...I'm not, it just took me that long to work out what the chord was that would resolve all the other chords I'd been hammering out all afternoon. The joys of computation eh?

Aid's vocal awesomeness rules that song with an iron fist. Damn that kid.

AB: Justin's such a sweetie. I will now cancel that hit out on him.

Trebuchet: 'Where You Go I Will Follow' is another multi-layered moody track, with what sounds like a live drum track. You have two percussionists, do you always use them, or sometimes programme the beats?

BEF: We have two drummers and I guess one of them could double as a percussionist... the other one would probably take offence to being called a percussionist as he's a proper musician drummer type dude with mad skills on the drums.... We try to use as many people as possible to be honest, as this means less work for the core members and ultimately gives us a lot more to take credit for in return. I think the equation speaks for itself here -  (X) Less actual work + (Y) Take more credit =  (Z) muchos happiness.

We do program beats too, but not in the way say, Tinie Tempah or any other of Mr Tempah's contemporaries would. I tend to use them underneath the real shit.

Trebuchet: How about building the songs? The vocals sometimes seem mixed as if they're an instrumental component to fill the picture, they don't always take precedence over the rest of the parts. Do you start with lyrics and try to build a song around them, or some other process?

BEF: The vocals in most modern music of a pop nature tend to have massively overstated emotionally barren qualities, and are thrust right up in the mix all the way up to makers nameplate. I'm not that big a fan of this technique, it's a bit 'rapey' on the ears.

Aid has a really warm tonal quality to his voice that fits really snug and comfortable wherever you put it. It's very amiable. It's equally at home just being all understated and whimsical as it is being sat on top of the instruments, lording it over them like some painfully pleasant Downton Abbey-like character, all up in your face and highbrow but with manners and a sense of decency.

I'm not that big a fan of this technique, it's a bit 'rapey' on the ears

AB: By the time I get to hear a tune Justin has already nailed a pretty decent mood with it. Coming fresh to it I get a sense of imagery straight away. That forms the basis of the lyrical content. So I get a sort of tag line or poster title that ends up being the main drive of it.

The rest of the lyrics are me elaborating on the poster title, so for example 'starring such and such, coming to cinemas soon' to carry the filmic notion a bit. As long as you walk away mostly remembering the tag line or the gist of it I consider it job done.

Trebuchet: OK, so mood and imagery are starting points. What about structure? On 'End Music', for example, the song structure is less verse/chorus/verse than build, drop, breakdown. That's more of a dance music structure, or is it more prog? The vocals are all harmonies and descants and seem to be used as a much more textural, atmospheric tool than the usual idea of verses/lyrics. Why's that?

BEF: End Music is different as it as more of a, dare I say, 'dance' like arrangement. This was not intended at all as I started out with a Neu! / Krautrock sensibility in mind for it, then I got really really really fucking bored and whacked a load of nonsensical beats and synths on there until I used all the tracks in Pro Tools, in a vein attempt to hear it 'kick off'.  It was then left to Aid to pick up the pieces and rein it in. I guess his repetitive vocal motif just seemed to be the most viable way forward with the track. On a more subliminal level I think he probably got to the same point as me with it and then went "Fuck it, that'll do."

I think it's fine to add the occasional mantra in amongst the chaos

Das Bobby Raths (Erased Tapes Uber Boss) once called me up about this song and asked where the version was that 'Kicked off' more...I think he made it up and was actually trying to trick me into revisiting it on a mix level. I said "I dont know". I actually did know, but my mate Chris said the current version is "Fucking Ace" so we kept it.

AB: Raising it back to the liminal I hope this is touched upon with my dodgy poster analogy. I think it's fine to add the occasional mantra in amongst the chaos, something to cling to while Justin plays sonic buckaroo.

Trebuchet: There's a lot of production on the album, is it possible to re-create it live?

BEF: I think it is possible. What are you an American or an American't??? Or Welsh or something??? Jeez man give us a frikkin break here already! In no way will it be difficult difficult lemon difficult.

AB: Justin, look at the state of your pupils! Sort it out! It's going to be rock hard. Massive speakers and volume will help. I think we could do with a guy on pyrotechnics just for that extra pizazz.

Trebuchet [Backing off...]: 'Strange Aftertaste' is a real epic, with a lovely contrast to the rest of the album. It's all quite sudden the way it goes from cold, electronic soundbed/warm vocals to a lavish goth operetta, all 'This Corrosion' choirs and 'Tower of Strength' guitars. It's overblown and pretty self-indulgent, but it's absolute bliss to listen to. What brought that on?

BEF: Do you remember the episode (I think it was 6 /or 7) in Season 1 of hit drama Dawsons Creek? The one where our favourite foursome were trapped in a detention, kind of like a riff on John Hughes' 1985 'classic' The Breakfast Club? Well, in that episode we got our first taste of Abby's devious ways which lead to a game of 'Truth or Dare' that forced everyone to reveal their hidden fears and desires.

It not only gave us one of many many loveable and Epic Joey & Dawson moments but it also let Joshua Jackson's Pacey character really stamp his  unique quality and depth as a personality with his hilarious Meta-reference to The Mighty Ducks series (which he starred in).

It really is classic 'Creek'. 'Strange Aftertaste' is very much like this. Vintage Van der Beek. I bet you cried at the finale didn't you?

Trebuchet: I cried when Joey married Tom Cruise.

AB: Here we have a fine example of distraction because it's all getting 'a bit real' for Justin. The truth is Justin cried. He cried a lot. He cried all the expendable juices from his person. He was a mess. But it was cathartic.

It is surprising that just as you think it's gotten as big as it will get, it steps up another level. Personally I think it could benefit from an additional tambourine.

Trebuchet: You guys are brothers, is that a help in a band? Being able to yell at each other, or point out when the other one's being an arse. Or are there more symbiotic advantages?

BEF: Luckily we get along. We're twins so we have that ever so documented sixth sense type fandango going on. It's a strange phenomenon but works like a fucking treat in a live band scenario.

If I'm thinking "fucking you know what? it would be fucking immense if we took it to the bridge right now" (when in the middle of kicking out the jams) then I know I dont have to actually stop the band and explain this feeling and take it from the beginning of the track, adding the bridge. I can just tune into my almost Vulcan-like ability to reach into my brother's brain and make it so. This shaves countless precious seconds and minutes off any rehearsal, resulting in more time to do other interesting shit.

Trebuchet: OK, speaking of other interesting shit, there is an aspect of the music that seems very visual, like it as made with certain imagery in mind. When you record music do you approach it 100% musically, or is there slippage from other parts of the imagination?

Bands are for fucking wasters and people who weren't fit enough to be athletes or footballers

BEF: There's muchos slippage. We make music video's and short films as our trade under the name handheldcineclub, so I reckon theres probably a whole lot of visual processes going on when crafting tuneage.  Plus, let's face it, films are loads cooler than bands. Bands are for fucking wasters and people who weren't fit enough to be athletes or footballers, and people who don't have the mental stamina to cut it on the Academic route.

I'd say most of the inspiration in The BEF comes from visual stimuli, whether that's some film stuff, computer games or porn. We'd also have to be proper musicians in order to approach it 100% musically, and real musicians are fucking nerdlingers with no social skills and pushy parents, who live their failed lives by punishing their kids with gruelling practice schedules, exams etc.,  ultimately resulting in a lifetime of unhappiness and social awkwardness for all involved.

real musicians are fucking nerdlingers with no social skills and pushy parents

Trebuchet: [Nods warily] Your last album wasn't recorded with all the musicians together, but came bit by bit through separate sessions and then mixed. It's efficient, but unlikely to spark band-democracy or spontaneity. This album is different. How do the two approaches compare?

BEF: Spontaneity has it's place, and thats usually what bands (from NYC) who are winging it say to describe their lack of skills and craft. Those same bands will probably wear really shit tight faded jeans, the most ironic t-shirts ever made and have hair that covers one side of their face and live in squalor out of choice to hide their upper middle class upbringing. They'll also rarely ever buy their own cigarettes, what the fuck is that about?

really shit tight faded jeans, the most ironic t-shirts ever made and have hair that covers one side of their face

Democracy in bands doesn't really work, and usually ends up in long building periods of passive aggression, before bands break up citing musical differences, leaving a cliffhanger ending to which the band could get back together later down the line for a lucrative reformation. I'd say the way we did this record was better for us, but it was a lot easier the other way, as this album required travelling and face to face communication.

Trebuchet: You're playing The Great Escape at Brighton this spring, as are a number of Erased Tapes acts. Do you all hang about together or is it a more theoretical link?

Olafur was on the Skype 4-way from fucking the land of the Elves and trolls

BEF: We're like the Biggest Happiest Family Ever. Just the other day when I was over in Berlin, Das Bobby Raths (Erased Tapes Uber Boss) called me up and was like "Yo, Justino! what are you doing man?" and I was all like "Nuttin, just kicking back, watching the game, drinking a Bud.." then Nils joined the conversation and he was all like  "Wasssssssuuuuuuuuuuppppp" which made Das Bobby Raths start being all  "Wassssssuuuuppp"  then Olafur was on the Skype 4-way from fucking the land of the Elves and trolls and shit being all like up in our faces and shit like  "Wasssssuupppppppppppppppppp" and then Winged Victory sent an email to everyone at the same time which was them in fucking Paris getting there eat on or some shit being all like "Wassssssssssuuuuuupppp."

Thats just how shit goes down at Erased Tapes. Daily. So yeah, I can imagine Brighton being like the fucking greatest Spring Break ever or some shit.

AB:  On another note I reckon that typical day would go down great as the basis of a potential light ale commercial. Enough time has passed to have allowed the idea to blossom into a retrospective, banded by the wise rings of experience.

Trebuchet. Right. Are your songs simple, would you say, or complicated, multi-layered epics? Would you be able to strum them around a campfire, or does that miss the point completely?

BEF: In a live scenario for me personally they are a piece of piss. The reason for this is that I have the foresight to not make life hard for myself down the line. So generally although the songs may sound quite complex in their structure / sonics / production etc., they're generally not in the bigger picture. The way I see it is, why the fuck would I make life hard for myself when playing in front of people?

n front of an audience you just look like a fucking chump if you cant play your own tunes

It's ok making mistakes in the studio because you just go again until its right or sample someone else and alter it so nobody knows you stole it etc, but in front of an audience you just look like a fucking chump if you cant play your own tunes. Thus I tend to write stuff that I can stand on stage and play 3 or 4 chords max, then I can make it look like I know what the fuck I'm doing when we play live. It's when you add layers and musicians that the complexity starts...all that counterpoint and musical bollocks.

Like P Diddy says... 'Mo Money, Mo Problems. He's so right isn't he?

AB: Word.

Trebuchet: How does the album work live, have you played it out much yet?

I'm hoping for at least 2 / 3 confirmed cases of shitting in pants plus a smattering of people crying

BEF: The Great Escape will be the first outing for The British Expeditionary Force as a live thingy since probably 4 years ago or something. It was pretty awesome the last time, mostly because we're louder than everyone else due to having two drummers and a bunch of musicians filling in every possible frequency available. So in that respect the album will work a treat live. If we dont have a sissy front of house person bitching about his / her PA then maybe some people will actually shit in their pants (arty pants as its an Erased Tapes night) due to us hitting those frequencies. I'm hoping for at least 2 / 3 confirmed cases of shitting in pants plus a smattering of people crying sprinkled with various dubious pissy wet patches.

Trebuchet: Any plans, comments or promo stuff you want to add?

AB: Thanks very much for listening to the album properly and giving us some genuinely perceptive questions that have allowed us to bounce around a few ideas. There's a lot we want to say, there's a lot we want to convey. We hope after a while that which is really meaningful blooms, that the essence is in the distillation. That the order from the chaos is useful and ultimately shows connectedness to one another. As the Beach Boys once said, 'we wish everyone maximum love vibes'.

Chapter Two: Konstellation Neu out soon on Erased Tapes. Pre-Order