MEDIA ROOTS – Let’s embrace the harshness of winter, using its solitude to dream of a less troubled future while aspiring peace come the crispness of spring. My eleventh music set for Media Roots Music is dedicated to the qualities of empathy and compassion. As humanity prepares to celebrate the holidays and holy days, may this music help us take on life’s challenges with robust hearts, rid of fear.
With Love as Law,
Akkad the Orphic Priest (ATOP)
All the featured music on the mix can be found through searching discogs.com or by emailing me: [email protected].
Artist List:
Ayshay – Warn-U Alva Noto – uni dia Black Devil Disco Club – Cosmic Rays Robedoor – Afterburners Dauwd – Ikopol Kuedo – Scissors Martyn – Bauplan Slugabed – Sun Too Bright Turn It Off Bjork – Nattura Laurel Halo – Metal Confection Water Borders – Bad Ethos Ital – Only For Tonight (instrumental) Patten – Ice Barn Owl – Void and Devotion Harald Grosskopf – Transcendental Overdrive Forma – Forma 237B Clams Casino – Natural Gang Gang Dance – Romance Layers
MEDIA ROOTS— Plaintive ripples of harp-like plucked string
sounds of Björk’s invented gameleste set the aural stage for the Icelandic
singer in Biophilia, her eigth studio album. ‘Moon‘ is a gentle opener, and tesla coil rhythms reminiscent of slightly
softened saw-wave synth sounds follow with ‘Thunderbolt‘ procession, ushering
the listener into Björk’s latest opus.
The literal
and metaphoric are then joined with sculptures of sight and sound in ‘Crystalline‘.
‘Crystalline’
In the
post-Napster, post-Bit Torrent world, when record companies reel from the
digitisation of music, Björk continues to engage listeners on multiple levels and
keep them wanting the full package beyond the downloaded mp3.
With Biophilia, Björk delivers a musical
experience which functions as a living multimedia art installation. The ‘ultimate edition’ of the album comes
replete with thematic imagery, stories to each song, and more. Ever the forward-thinking artist, Björk
embraces modern app tech and user-interactivity, such as the iPad suite,
allowing listeners to easily remix and re-imagine her music. Biophilia,
Björk revealed, was “partly composed on an iPad.”
Björk
once noted, in response to criticisms of electronic music being soulless, that if
it didn’t have soul, it’s because one didn’t put it there. Björk shows us just how much humanity
electronic music can embody.
“Cosmogony,”
like much of this album, is a truly ambitious exploration of human existence, a
sensory exploration of the inner and outer universe.
Biophilia deserves mindful listening, challenging the
listener to empathise, as in “Hollow,” with its fugue-like vocal swirls and
pedal-point organ-synth tones, before reaching its electronic
climax propelling forward continuity of DNA.
“Now come forth, all species,” sings Björk biophilically.
Here, the
journey of life means flourishing and affliction. “Virus,” gently and rapturously reminds us of
the reciprocity of living bonds. “Like a
virus, patient hunter / I’m waiting for you, I’m starving for you / My sweet
adversary.”
One may
recognise signature phonologies, as in “Dark Matter.” But sheer conviction intertwined with tonal
musicality has always made Björk’s songs function despite unconventional
phrasings, which accommodate unusually expressive lyricism.
Some
listeners may complain Björk’s ‘artiness’ is too much or that she’s tried too
hard to prioritise ‘abstraction’ over ‘songs’ or sing-along ‘pop songs.’ Yet, this offering requires time
to grow on the psyche. As an ever-evolving
artist, Björk takes risks that pushes boundaries.
“Sacrifice”
is an example of pushing the tone poem form, inversely punctuated with familiar
reassurances of rhythmic regularity, impelling listeners to reconsider the
comforts of the familiar and our own self-imposed limits as listeners.
From the
high-energy whirlwinds of “Mutual Core” and “Náttúra” to the meditative counterpoint
of “Solstice,” Biophilia glides
across and through realms of living energy, form, and motion.
The fact
that Björk has largely self-produced Biophilia points to the crystallisation of her artistry, whilst maintaining her unique integrity.
We bear witness to an adventurous and seasoned artist throwing down. With Biophilia,
Björk reaches, quite successfully, for new ground, new planes, and new
dimensions.
MEDIA ROOTS– This set is dedicated to all those protesting in cities worldwide in participation of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Almost all of us desire to be free from the rule of outside forces, especially an elite few. Movements like Occupy Wall Street is a good beginning to demand liberation from a system that no longer represents us.
If We The People use our collective voice to follow in the example of the great non-violent leaders before us, we can overcome any oppressive regime that stands to keep us enslaved. Let the people rule, as we were meant to.
All the featured music on the mix can be found
through searching discogs.com or by emailing me: [email protected].
Akkad the Orphic Priest aka ATOP
Artist List:
This Heat – Cenotaph Heroic Doses – Blank Ship Battles – Wall Streeet Seely – Exploring the Planets Yeasayer – Love Me Girl Balam Acab – Apart Sioxsie and the Banshees – Night Shift Myrrh Ka Ba – G666 (Indica Deeper Edit) Fitz Ambro$e – remixed track by Cygnus Rustie – City Star Throwing Snow – Sanctum King Midas Sound – Goodbye Girl (Kuedo rmx) Teeth – SW Walls – Ecstatic Truth Tropics – Parodia Flare Seesaw – Stone Steps Nautiluss X Lord Skywave – Bleu Monday Sully – Let You Plaid – Eye Robot Moon Wiring Club – Trapped in Four Dimensions Bill Callahan – America!
MEDIA ROOTS- Kevin Martin is a songwriter based in San Diego, CA that identifies his music as ‘throwback pop’, combining his love of performance flair with vintage piano-pop stylings. His song ‘TV News’ was written as a result of his waking up to corporate media brainwashing.
Kevin Martin performs ‘TV News’ outside of the Civic Center at Occupy San Diego.
KM: Television had
become a part of my conscience– it told me what to think
and how to think it. When I was watching it the most, I felt completely
divided within myself. The moment I connected this inner division to my mass
media consumption, I wrote the song ‘TV news’.
The corporate media
surpressed its coverage of the Occupy Wall Street
movement for weeks, and when it did cover the mass protests it
either downplayed them or cast them in a negative light. I decided to perform ‘TV
News’ at Occupy San Diego and hope this video will help inspire others
to join the movement.
CRAVE ONLINE– We’ve been hearing bits and pieces of this Radiohead remix album over
the past couple of months, with new singles from the band ushering out a
few of them at a time. Among the featured mixers on the record are
appearances from Modeselektor, Jamie xx, Caribou, Four Tet and several
others, making for an odds-and-ends collection of wildly varying
interpretive spins on the beloved band’s most recent album.
The full remixes set, “TKOL RMX 1234567,” is now available for streaming below.
Artist List:
Björk
once noted, in response to criticisms of electronic music being soulless, that if
it didn’t have soul, it’s because one didn’t put it there. Björk shows us just how much humanity
electronic music can embody.
This Heat – Cenotaph