Can art be a vehicle for political change? Yes, I assume that a large part of Blair’s appeal (like Kennedy’s) is aesthetic, just as a large part of the Nazi appeal lay in its triumph of the will aesthetic. I suspect that many of the great cultural shifts that prepare the way for political change are largely aesthetic. A Buick radiator grille is as much a political statement as a Rolls Royce radiator grille, one enshrining a machine aesthetic driven by a populist optimism, the other enshrining a hierarchical and exclusive social order. The ocean liner art deco of the 1930s, used to sell everything from beach holidays to vacuum cleaners, may have helped the 1945 British electorate to vote out the Tories. -JG Ballard interview

What I don’t like about most pop albums is also what I don’t like about sugar. I feel elated for a while, but then the inevitable crash arrives and I swear it off for good. And though I always end up coming back for more, I can’t say that sugar sustains me. What I like about certain pop albums is when there’s something sickly at their core: Once the saccharine high wears off, I can still explore the muck and the sour, which do sustain me, and keep me intrigued. -Carrie Brownstein

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” Jazzy Itteration ”

01. Eve Risser – Line
Around Robert Wyatt (Bee Jazz, 2009)
02. Dj Krush – Into The Water
Krush (Shadow Records, 1995)
03. New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble – Naima
Low Blow (Grover, 1997)
04. Pan•American – for ”aiming at the stars”
white bird release (Kranky, 2009)
05. Vidulgi OoyoO – Murmur’s Room
Aero (Fargo, 2008)
06. Jurassic 5 – If You Only Knew
Power In Numbers (2002)
07. Anita O’Day – Little Girl Blue
Anita O’Day and Billy May Swing Rodgers and Hart (1960)

note: One of those list. Choose several songs, put it inside mental blender and see what list comes out. I started with thinking, can I make some sweet pop list that doesn’t offend the “Lexus generation” listener of NPR (long story), but yet couldn’t possibly be aired on NPR. Not in this mix at least. But yet the list should make sense. What is something futuristic that is made out of known popular style. So, this is a straight forward jazz list, but in various recent pop manifestation. Almost holding up together. And I hope it’s pop yet not exactly mundane. I particularly like NY Ska rendition of John Coltrane’s Naima. The rest are standard MdM sound. cheers.

image: gonzalo_ar