Something good is brewing in the small hip hop Irish scene, and the latest offering is the new project by ex-Exxon Valdez Leigh and Blake. While this is not as groundbreaking and innovative as the outstanding export of the Irish scene – Melodica deathship (who were one of Uza's best albums of 2010), this is a fine example of underground hip-hop, highly reminiscent (and, obviously, influenced) of the American tradition.
The bastard (Leigh & Blake) – The bastard (Bandcamp, 2011) http://thebastard.bandcamp.com
Paris suit yourself – I lost my girl (from: My main shitstain, Big dada 14/02/2011) www.myspace.com/parissuityourself
In an interview to interview magazine (link), bassist Marie Boye said:
"Brutality without elegance is like trying to fit a square inside of a circle... a waste of time, and a good way to render yourself ridiculous. In a more or less controlled way, we try to make the audience re-become animals while remaining ourselves at the height of their dignity".
Amen to that!
Arms & sleepers have taken a drastic change of direction in their new EP and they land firmly in the neo-classical, ambienty soundtrack territory. If you happen to be into Michael Nyman or if you enjoy staring at Anthony Hopkins in a period piece, looking thoroughly contemplative, then I guess you're in for a treat. Can't say that I'm a huge fan of that metamorphosis, but it's good to see a band flexing its muscles and embracing new projects. Kudos for trying, meh for execution.
Arms and sleepers - Nostalgia for the absolute (Expect candy, 04/03/2011)
Piano/Melancholy - "Lovers Arctic" by Arms and Sleepers
Orchestral/Dramatic - "Nova" by Arms and Sleepers
A German researcher reports a new aspect of the cognitive processing of symbolic representations. He wanted to explore the connection between words and their corresponding digits in texting. He chose digit sequences that "code" for only a single real word and words that don't require pushing the same button twice in a row. The words were divided into groups of positive (e.g. liebe = 54323) or negative (angst = 26478) meanings. Subjects were given only the digit sequences they were to dial and their cellphones' keypad had only digits on it. After having dialed the numbers, subjects were asked to describe their ensuing feelings. The general trend was that subjects enjoyed dialing "positive" numbers over "negative" ones, and the conclusion the author reached was that merely creating the digit sequence was enough to evoke the emotional effect the words themselves have. While the author uses the concept of embodiment to explain his results, my interest here is in the cultural effect of number symbols. A widespread concept in the study of cognition is called the mental number line, the idea that humans represent numbers along an imaginary line that goes from left to right, such that small numbers are connected with left representation and actions and large numbers are connected to the right hand side. It was argued that this mental number line is fundamental to human cognition, but it was obvious (and then empirically demonstrated) that this link between numbers and space is culturally based, and subjects from societies where the writing is not left-to-right do not display this link. The same goes here: one could argue for a link between numbers (the digits on the keypad) and both words and space (the location on the keypad), but that, again, would be culturally based and nothing more.
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