Down by a café,
we spoke in each others' language
and forgot by the next day.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Poem
Random poem for a random blog.
Remember (Christina Rossetti)
REMEMBER me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go, yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you plann'd:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.
Remember (Christina Rossetti)
REMEMBER me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go, yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you plann'd:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
der tod im juni...
"As pilgrims here, we sometimes journey
To who know what; to who know what?
Come and sing this simple story
That god forgot; that life forgot
'Cause don't you know god is disabled?
He is disabled, he is disabled...
Clouds may gather all around you
But he is disabled...
He's no friend to the friendless
And he's the mother of grief
There's only sorrow for tomorrow
Surely, life is too brief
Surely, love is too brief..."
"Short" Background: Death In June is, arguably, the forefather of the neofolk scene - to the point where Douglas Pearce (brainchild and the only constant of the group since the 80s or so) has been joked about tongue-in-cheek fashion for songs consisting of only a one or two chords with spoken word layered. At any rate, DIJ's main controversy arises from the odd fascination with symbolism and lyrical allusions towards the NSDAP and Germany in that era - the name itself is an allusion to the Night of the Long Knives (the death of Ernst Roehm).
It would be easy to able Death In June a neo-Nazi band at this point; however, Pearce is openly gay and has played in Israel to a significant crowd; along with displaying an Israeli flag on his website for a while in apparent commemoration of the concert, Pearce's true connections to white supremacist ideology and/or to any neo-Nazi scene are at best highly doubtable. Of course, this discounts the fact of the Sparta-esque homosexuality of the entire SA division, and other various trivia, which brings a heavy ambiguity in the work of DIJ. His fetish with Nazi symbols (the Totenkopf, SS division insignia, and runic symbols have featured in album art before), however, are another matter in concerns to political orientation, and seemingly belongs towards the larger picture of the intersection of art and politics rather than true fascistic uprising, or what have you.
Commentary: Song text is lifted from "He's Disabled", off DIJ/Pearce's album But What Ends When The Symbols Shatter?. Text is derived from a Jim Jones (ref.: Jonestown mass suicide) gospel album titled He's Able, released 1973. The title is an obvious play on the original title song and is a re-interpretation, and along with other songs on But What Ends..., demonstrate affinity for subverting the People's Temple songs in a style reminiscent of Laibachian intervention. Another good tune from DIJ is a collaboration with Der Blutharsch, entitled "Many Enemies Bring Much Honour".
Sources: I don't quite remember, but it includes everything2 and, of course, Wikipedia once more for the broader introduction. There is also a great piece contra to DIJ supporters and fans that is interesting to read; see Stewart Home's riposte to the supposed enjoyed "ambiguity" of DIJ imagery, along with his essay on Sol Invictus and Boyd Rice.
To who know what; to who know what?
Come and sing this simple story
That god forgot; that life forgot
'Cause don't you know god is disabled?
He is disabled, he is disabled...
Clouds may gather all around you
But he is disabled...
He's no friend to the friendless
And he's the mother of grief
There's only sorrow for tomorrow
Surely, life is too brief
Surely, love is too brief..."
"Short" Background: Death In June is, arguably, the forefather of the neofolk scene - to the point where Douglas Pearce (brainchild and the only constant of the group since the 80s or so) has been joked about tongue-in-cheek fashion for songs consisting of only a one or two chords with spoken word layered. At any rate, DIJ's main controversy arises from the odd fascination with symbolism and lyrical allusions towards the NSDAP and Germany in that era - the name itself is an allusion to the Night of the Long Knives (the death of Ernst Roehm).
It would be easy to able Death In June a neo-Nazi band at this point; however, Pearce is openly gay and has played in Israel to a significant crowd; along with displaying an Israeli flag on his website for a while in apparent commemoration of the concert, Pearce's true connections to white supremacist ideology and/or to any neo-Nazi scene are at best highly doubtable. Of course, this discounts the fact of the Sparta-esque homosexuality of the entire SA division, and other various trivia, which brings a heavy ambiguity in the work of DIJ. His fetish with Nazi symbols (the Totenkopf, SS division insignia, and runic symbols have featured in album art before), however, are another matter in concerns to political orientation, and seemingly belongs towards the larger picture of the intersection of art and politics rather than true fascistic uprising, or what have you.
Commentary: Song text is lifted from "He's Disabled", off DIJ/Pearce's album But What Ends When The Symbols Shatter?. Text is derived from a Jim Jones (ref.: Jonestown mass suicide) gospel album titled He's Able, released 1973. The title is an obvious play on the original title song and is a re-interpretation, and along with other songs on But What Ends..., demonstrate affinity for subverting the People's Temple songs in a style reminiscent of Laibachian intervention. Another good tune from DIJ is a collaboration with Der Blutharsch, entitled "Many Enemies Bring Much Honour".
Sources: I don't quite remember, but it includes everything2 and, of course, Wikipedia once more for the broader introduction. There is also a great piece contra to DIJ supporters and fans that is interesting to read; see Stewart Home's riposte to the supposed enjoyed "ambiguity" of DIJ imagery, along with his essay on Sol Invictus and Boyd Rice.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
la folie verte
"I am the Green Fairy
My robe is the color of despair
I have nothing in common with the fairies of the past
What I need is blood, red and hot, the palpitating flesh of my victims
Alone, I will kill France, the Present is dead.
Vive the future...
But me, I kill the future and in the family I destroy
The love of country, courage, honor.
I am the purveyor of hell, penitentiaries, hospitals.
Who am I finally? I am the instigator of crime
I am ruin and sorrow
I am shame
I am dishonor
I am death
I am absinthe..."
Background: Absinthe was a popular drink of the fin-de-siècle ($20-word for the 19th-20th century transitional years); prohibitionists in France and elsewhere targeted it at the turn of the century for supposedly containing high levels of thujone and for apparently causing psychosis and crime. It has now been shown that absinthe does not nearly contain enough of the chemical to cause hallucinogenic effects.
Commentary: Above is a song written about la folie verte (derived from archetypal absinthe's color); the text may have been created by an anti-absinthe group. It features prominently as the main text in Blood Axis's "Absinthe" (great song!) in The Gospel of Inhumanity - a controversial album, artist, and scene at any rate - and in a later collaboration tune with Les Joyaux De La Princesse, a fellow martial industrial/dark ambient/neofolk/what-have-you-genre artist, in a recycled song in Absinthe, La Folie Verte. Opinionated aside (as if this post isn't): LJDLP's "L'Allemagne Année Zéro" is a wonderful example of dark ambient music.
Sources: FluxEuropa, AbsintheFever, and, of course, for all your amateur writing needs, Wikipedia.
[Will lift to own page later for reference. Back to your regularly scheduled programming...]
My robe is the color of despair
I have nothing in common with the fairies of the past
What I need is blood, red and hot, the palpitating flesh of my victims
Alone, I will kill France, the Present is dead.
Vive the future...
But me, I kill the future and in the family I destroy
The love of country, courage, honor.
I am the purveyor of hell, penitentiaries, hospitals.
Who am I finally? I am the instigator of crime
I am ruin and sorrow
I am shame
I am dishonor
I am death
I am absinthe..."
Background: Absinthe was a popular drink of the fin-de-siècle ($20-word for the 19th-20th century transitional years); prohibitionists in France and elsewhere targeted it at the turn of the century for supposedly containing high levels of thujone and for apparently causing psychosis and crime. It has now been shown that absinthe does not nearly contain enough of the chemical to cause hallucinogenic effects.
Commentary: Above is a song written about la folie verte (derived from archetypal absinthe's color); the text may have been created by an anti-absinthe group. It features prominently as the main text in Blood Axis's "Absinthe" (great song!) in The Gospel of Inhumanity - a controversial album, artist, and scene at any rate - and in a later collaboration tune with Les Joyaux De La Princesse, a fellow martial industrial/dark ambient/neofolk/what-have-you-genre artist, in a recycled song in Absinthe, La Folie Verte. Opinionated aside (as if this post isn't): LJDLP's "L'Allemagne Année Zéro" is a wonderful example of dark ambient music.
Sources: FluxEuropa, AbsintheFever, and, of course, for all your amateur writing needs, Wikipedia.
[Will lift to own page later for reference. Back to your regularly scheduled programming...]
Sunday, March 2, 2008
and now, poetry.
I have eaten and which Forgive me- William Carlos Williams. "This Is Just To Say"
the plums you were probably they were delicious
that were in saving so sweet
the icebox for breakfast. and so cold.
(...achtung, kameraden!
der sturm ist los...) [faux-deutsch, &c.]
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