Sheer Hellish Miasma - Rock As Pure Energy, Live

I have been listening to three key archival releases recently of three seminal rock acts of the past 3 decades. There are 3 things which hit me whenever I press play on my player and the first noise emits from the speakers which cause the membranes covering the cones to tremor and shake involuntarily for the next hour or so. First, the 3 CDs are about the pure manifestation of rock as catharsis, to purge oneself of the decadent and materialist grime which we have been accumulating since birth; secondly, rock as disruption, to upset the status quo of the current staid music scene of the moment, to shake everyone up; and lastly, rock as molten energy released by a group of individuals cohering together for that brief moment on stage. We are talking about rock as transcendence basically.



Even if we discuss the three groups in more or less conventional rock instrumentation of guitar(s), bass, drums and human vox, we are actually witnessing rock as avantgarde's drive towards excess and ecstasy. The Stooges, Harry Pussy and the various Grindcore/Earache bands at the BBC epitomise rock's ability to move millions in the first place since the 1950s. But the 3 groups took it one step further by pushing rock upwards to volcanic release of human psychic and physical tension.



I regret to say that, today, I can't seem to find such energy in rock. I am of course not being retrospective for the sake of it as we all understand that even back in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, it was difficult to find rock bands similar in calibre of the three above-mentioned. But I am looking forward to see the rise of another rock act who can show me the way in the new decade of the 2010s.

3 Essential Live Recordings:
1. The Stooges - You Don’t Want My Name You Want My Action: 1971 The Missing Link

2. Various - Grind Madness At The BBC: The Earache Peel Sessions

3. Harry Pussy - You Will Never Play This Town Again

Icon of The New Left: Slavoj Zizek

Have been reading Zizek recently and will be delving into a few more of his books in the coming months. A controversial modern-day leftist philosopher who basically holds no bar in all aspects in modern society, Zizek writes like a true left-wing polemicist. He was born in the ex-Yugoslavian state of Slovenia, today an independent nation (Laibach is from there though they would prefer to be known as from NSK of course), a former member of the Yugoslavian Communist Party and he is a full-fledged Left-wing ideologue, just like Alain Badiou from France. I dont totally agree with all he proposes but I do agree that in today's world we urgently need to warn others about and be critical about the behemoth self- serving and all-consuming monstrosity called neo-liberal capitalism. He uses, quotes and critiques films, poetry and books as well as bridging the gap between high and low culture by his selection of materials he dissects in his prose. Inspiring but dangerous. However there is one major irony here: if not for the fact that we are living under the hegemonic neo-liberal world order with all other alternatives discredited since the fall of the Berlin Wall (except maybe for religious fundamentalism), people in authoritarian capitalist states might not get to read his books. New Left's confrontational stance might have been curtailed and censored by the authorities if we were still living in a Cold War-like millieu. But anyway, it is good that there is someone like him out there making some NOISE...