NOW it’s viral

August 22nd, 2010

Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci albums: no one has $130 for a CD and Euros Childs understands this

April 21st, 2010

I thought that I’d heard mention of the first five albums by Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci (the greatest band ever to come out of west Wales) being re-released. One glance at Amazon proved it a was only a rumor.

The most relevant thing I did find was this petition to Sanctuary Records, requesting that the albums be made available on CD and LP. While browsing through it I spotted my own name and realized, “Hey! I signed this like six years ago!” But then I also realized that all of the albums before Spanish Dance Troupe were released on Ankst, Fontana and Mercury, not Sanctuary, and Sanctuary was gobbled up by Universal three years ago anyway.

Ankst has a few things on casette and LP, which is awfully nice of them. If you’re a Gorky’s fan, it couldn’t hurt to drop them a line and let them know that you’d be willing to buy Patio, Tatay and Bwyd Time if they invested in re-rereleasing them.

Fontana is a subsidiary of Mercury, who are themselves a subsidiary of IslandDefJam, so for Barafundle and Gorky 5, contact info is deeply, deeply obscured and possibly here.

While you’re waiting for these labels things to get done, you should go download Euros’ latest album, Son of Euro Child, for free.

“Gently all around” from Son of Euro Child:

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News Bits

April 21st, 2010

Lauryn Hill keeps on

L Boogie leaves her house for the Tanzania Education Trust NY Gala, masterfully exhibiting her still-aliveness.

Apple hates children

Keeping an iron fist clenched tightly around those eleven-year-olds who could potentially outwit them with woefully inadequate tools, Apple yanks Scratch, an app that allows kids to program their own (very simple) games, from their app store. I guess it makes sense, as the iPhone developer agreement includes the following clause:

An Application may not itself install or launch other executable code by any means, including without limitation through the use of a plug-in architecture, calling other frameworks, other APIs or otherwise. No interpreted code may be downloaded or used in an Application except for code that is interpreted and run by Apple’s Documented APIs and built-in interpreter(s).

…and Scratch, built on a programming language that predates the iPad by about 40 years, violates this clause.

Apple seems to think that, should they allow exceptions, they may not succeed in their bid to destroy Adobe Flash. John Gruber defends Apple’s position on the basis that:

...what’s Apple to do? Change the rule to “no high-quality interpreters”?

Um… yes. The extent to which this app can wreak havoc is evinced here, in animations and games with names like “The Ice Cream Truck” and “Bird Jump 1.3″.  This app made it into the market in the first place because it’s clearly harmless. The only reason they’ve yanked it is to demonstrate their unwavering and unquestionable authority, like so many insecure first-year junior high teachers who confiscate their students’ water bottles in an illogical attempt to create the illusion of control.

Grow up, Apple.

Genetic evidence that Neanderthals may have bred with modern humans

After analyzing variation in microsatellite positions, a team of physical anthropologists reports evidence that modern humans hybridized with another species some 45,000-60,000 years ago, when Neanderthals were still just hanging out. This holds up a good sight better than the ugly guy hypothesis.

Keith “Guru” Elam (1962-2010)

On April 19th, Gang Starr/Jazzmatazz founder/wizard Guru passed away after a long battle with cancer. The NY Times has a great bio up here. Would hip hop be what it is without his incredible taste? Probably not.

Guru – “Plenty w/ Erykah Badu”

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