Australians May Get Their Own SOPA

Filmed between 2011 and 2014 in Sydney, Melbourne, Berlin and New York 'Cutback' includes interviews with Australian artists discussing their work, motivations and frustrations.
More interviews and material
HERE
I went to see this great film last night at the world premiere (Sydney doesn't count.) 
My thanks to Rachel and the Invurt crew for the invite

Filmed between 2011 and 2014, the CUTBACK documentary project features interviews with more than 40 Australian artists as they discuss their addiction - which is street art and graffiti. Artists discuss their approach to their work, artistic motivations, and frustrations.
CUTBACK is a multi-platform web and feature documentary produced by Rachel Bentley, exploring street art and graffiti in the urban environment
Off to check this out...

Silver X is a 26-year-old South Sudanese musician who wrote the song "Let's Stand Together." He was displaced from his home in Torrit, South Sudan with his family in 2000. Four years ago he returned to his birthplace from a refugee camp in Uganda to launch his music career and help jumpstart South Sudan's burgeoning music industry

An Oral History of the First Cyberfeminists

"Worse still is the whole TED talks phenomenon, which offers the intellectual equivalent of diets in which someone can lose 10 pounds in two weeks without giving up ice cream sundaes or pizza. In just 18 minutes, a person can be exposed to breathlessly earnest genius -- a slickly marketed brand of chicken nuggets for the brain. The talks enable non-scientists and non-technologists to feel smart, but that is not the same as actually being smart or, alternatively, feeling dumb in the way that hard ideas sometimes make you feel -- and should -- when you first encounter them."

- David Rothkopf

“Oh the irony of Tony Abbott playing a gender card. He spent three years criticising Julia Gillard for speaking about women’s issues and the treatment of women, condemning her for talking about the treatment of women, and then he plays the gender card. The longer you stay in and around politics the less you’re surprised about the way the wheel turns.” - Craig Emerson 

Would he have attacked Julia Gillard if her name was spelled J-U-L-I-A-N?

What it was like to be an asylum seeker looking for protection in Australia in 2014

Factory Floor last night...no live vocals, no live guitar and no live drums. Wish I'd known before shelling out 40 bucks

Why Robert Wyatt’s wife Alfie is his most important collaborator

Heading off to see this mob tonight in Melbourne

An Oral History of ‘Boogie Nights’

The Art of John Balance Collected - Bright Lights and Cats With No Mouths

New improved source coming soon

Shane truly is one of the most powerful of writers

The music on this mix comes from compilation CDs from market stalls in Marrakech, and from street musicians selling their own CDs, as well as my own field recordings of dawn and dusk prayer sounds and general Medina music/noise. Some of the music comes from the Gnawa tradition, and the low lute-like instrument you hear on some of the recordings is the Sintir or Guembri (or Gimbri or even Hejhouj), a three stringed skin-covered bassy instrument. My favourite music collected here is the opening piece (after my short field recording ends) which is performed by an unnamed (on his CD-R) musician who was playing whilst I walked down a narrow backstreet one evening on a recent visit. Despite no name, song or title information being printed on his CD-Rs he had for sale, I recently found this footage of him: and this also, where he performs the same music but in a different key. What do you think?
I also very much like the second piece, known as Maquamat, attributed to Musique Douce (which may just be the CD name), for it’s combination of soft keyboard sounds and drum machine (all in the same keyboard I imagine) along with the Oud, another lute instrument. I hope you enjoy this mix. Sorry there is not much in the way of information about performers or song names, dates of recording etc
Via

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Bizz Atv – Negative People(DJ Spoko Remix)
Fantasma – Sefty Belt ft. JOSIAHWISE IS THE SERPENTWITHFEET
DJ Spoko – I Remember ft. G Dog
DJ Spoko – Chitahuri Dance
DJ Mujava – Township Funk
Tribal Warriors – Lerato ft. Noeli
Tribal Warriors – In The Heart Of The Nite
DJ Spoko X Lafawndah – I Lost My Fear
DJ Spoko X Massacooramaan – Feathers of the Phoenix
Dubbel Dutch x DJ Spoko – Sweat of the Dragon
Aero Manyelo x DJ Spoko – Rapoka

Following a discussion about film censorship with British broadcaster Melvyn Bragg while they worked on The South Bank Show, Russell was challenged by Bragg to create a film which Russell himself would want banned. A Kitten for Hitler was the result of the process that followed. After Russell sent Bragg an initial draft, Bragg responded "Ken, if ever you make this film and it is shown, you will be lynched."
A Kitten For Hitler

Via

America’s shame and disgrace

The Secret to Getting Top-Secret Secrets

Via

Abbott Government’s legislation makes Australia a rogue state regarding international law and human rights

HERE

HERE

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It's not an internet filter, it's a website efficiency dividend.
— Josh Taylor (@joshgnosis) December 10, 2014

Ultimatum issued to ISPs in Abbott government's online piracy crackdown

Pirate Bay sets sail for Costa Rica following Swedish raid

Oxytots

Robert Crumb on the Death of Authentic Rural Music

The Torturer's Toolkit

Possibly the Worst Drug Infographic ever

Kalan Sherrard has featured on this blog before. Remember this?
Anyway this time the charge is “extract[ing] a fake penis from his pants.” at Art Basel in Miami.
You can read about it HERE

Here's a mix I did for "Mixfluences" on B. Traits' show for BBC Radio 1. I could have gone back to industrial funk and new wave, but instead I decided to go for tracks that influenced me around the time I discovered house music 'til a few years after my success with "Chime". It was an interesting time, as it was very much a new art form made by beginners in the field all bouncing off of each other. The mix starts with The KLF from before "Chime", ending up with Hyper On Experience, whose influence showed up on Snivilisation.