1. Lonnie Holley - "I Woke Up In A Fucked Up America"
2. Las Ketchup - "Aserejé"
3. QUADRY - "Nowhere To Be Found (feat. Ida'ye)"
4. Weval - "Gimme Some"
5. Girls Rituals - "Black Cloud"
6. Chassol - "Little Krishna & The Girls"
7. Sebastien Pynasco & Orchestre Black Santiago - "Sadé"
8. Cabaret Voltaire - "Silent Command"
9. Naked City - "No Reason To Believe"
10. Silver - "Wham Bam Shang-A-Lang"
11. Träd Gräs och Stenar - "I Can't Get No Satisfaction"
12. Hugh Masekela - "Getting Fat In Africa"
13. Cerrone - "In The Smoke"
14. Vulfpeck - "Love is a Beautiful Thing (feat. Theo Katzman & Monica Martin)"
LISTEN
INFO
It seems a lot of news outlets have moved past the military occupation of the border for their daily news cycle. Even the Rio Grande Valley's local stations have moved onto more pressing news, like celebrating George H.W. Bush, one of the many war criminals to have held the office of the president. I don't blame the media for moving on from the military occupation of the border; it's much harder to sell a story about the troops if all they're doing is getting fucked up at the local Buffalo Wild Wings and laying waste to the surely swollen patriotic arm of the Tinder community. At the same time, I'm disappointed to learn that one station in particular, KGBT (Channel 4 News) in Harlingen (about 30 minutes from McAllen) is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, the largest telecommunications conglomerate operating in the United States, and also the culprit behind regular "must-run" segments pushing conservative perspectives on topics of the day. Case in point: this recent spot defending the use of tear gas on immigrant children. This is especially harmful in cases of people who turn to their local news to understand the world, and get fed this warped perspective instead. Literally, the definition of fake news. But I digress.
There are a couple of things that are on my mind as of late. First of all, I've been feeling the weight of the torrential downpour of content being thrown at me every day. The interconnection of things has me exhausted. I was watching a video earlier today on YouTube that collected clips of Nirvana's appearances on MTV's 1992 Video Music Awards. More than just their performances, the video also contained interviews and peripheral appearances on the program by the band. I had never seen any of these clips before, but I was familiar with their mischievous antics and rebellious gestures on stage (perhaps even chaotic through the eyes of the network?) from their part in the music documentary 1991: The Year That Punk Broke along with a few bits of footage I've seen of the band through various outlets growing up.
(1991: The Year Punk Broke)
Anyway,
I marveled at the disconnect of things. No
one had a cell phone. No one was lost in a texting or scrolling hole or
snapping shots
of the group's performances. Everyone (I assume, though I may be wrong)
is left to operate on everything that they know up to that point in
time. No one can Google something in the moment. No one's tastes and
tendencies are being monitored and predicted through the microphone of a
small device in their pocket which they have on their person at all
times. I mean sure, the networks could track ratings and demographics to
a
certain degree (perhaps they were simpler then?) but they still had no
clue how far their efforts would extend in the not-so-distant
future--the endless well of information, the veritable fountain of
youth sitting in a stream of metrics willingly divulged by the gullible
youth of
the world who are just trying to connect with one another and find
clues as to who the hell they are and how they should feel about things,
including--and most importantly--themselves. Little do they know the
reflection they
see in their respective black mirrors is a distortion, a
shadow self composed of corporate greed masked by whatever face
their metrics tell them they need to wear that day. No, at that point in
time, the wealth of information that made up a person's interests,
their personality, their lived experiences...that could still be a
secret. There was no pressure to put all of ourselves into the internet,
depositing every thought and impulse we have to our social media
accounts, and letting our mental wallet run dry, so to speak.Now, I don't mean to romanticize the sunset period of the pre-Internet era, but the more I think about the differences between the world at that time and in it's present state, I can't help but be so confused and dismayed at how things have progressed. The Internet once felt like the last refuge available to people who wished to escape the world of corporate greed, away from all of the consumerism of mainstream music (no matter it's creative caliber). When it first arrived on the scene, it provided arguably the greatest resource for communication the world has ever known, and in a form that could be shaped and refined by it's users. A blank canvas. It bred nothing but innovation for a long time, and perhaps in that innovation, it reached a point of no return. Once it began changing how countless industries worked, it was only a matter of time before said industries would try to make the internet work to their advantage. Now, the corporate world has immersed itself in every window we open on our phones, computers, tablets, with every word we speak into our Alexas and Siris revealed to come with a price tag. All content is branded content, including our own. Whether or not we put work into our respective 'brands' determines our viability as content creators (a job that comes free with every smart phone and pays us nothing) and when the primary modes of communication between people are through content creation, the only way we are able to meet this very basic human need is by serving the role of cog in this large perverse machine.
As you can probably tell, there are a lot of anxieties I have about the world and the way it has been operated. I think it's doing more harm than good, and am personally feeling the effects of it. As mentioned on the episode, I will be taking a social media sabbatical for the foreseeable future. I don't know how long this period will last, but I am going to actively try to sever the bond I have with my social media accounts. One way I will be doing this is by pouring most of my thoughts into these blog posts every week. If you regularly listen and read these, I appreciate you so much. I will not be reliably reachable via Facebook or Twitter, but I will still be active on Instagram, and of course, I check my e-mail every day, so you can also reach me that way. I will strive to live offline as much as possible, and should you wish to do so as well, I encourage you to reach out if you need support. We all do eventually.
I'm reminded of DEVO's primordial art film, 'The Truth About De-Evolution". Some of the language is dated for sure, but that's to be expected: it's 42 years old. The stuff they've been writing about is still very relevant today. While it may have been easier for the public to ignore in the 70s, thanks to the interconnectivity of today, we now know what's going on, and are powerless to do anything about it if we continue to play a part in said large perverse machine (LPM).
(The Truth About De-Evolution, 1976)
And now for brand-related information:Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, and leave a comment if you're so inclined. No pressure either way. I do this because I love it. If you share my enthusiasm, you are encouraged to share that with me.
con respeto,
Ferrerito Rocherito over and out.
Insta: @u_punk (personal: @fuchitsucio)
E-mail: uupunk@gmail.com
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