Konx om Pax video for 'Viper'

Martyn - Viper (Brainfeeder) from Konx-om-Pax on Vimeo.

The track was released about a month ago, and I still cannot get enough of the video (the track ain't bad either).  It's the usual hallucinomorphic anime from Mr Om Pax, which you may be familiar with from his work on Hudson Mohawke's 'Joy Fantastic' a couple of years back.

Konx Om Pax also runs display copy, and spins the odd record in The Ivy.

Remember kids; winners don't do drugs.

Two excellent Rave docs

Check these out quick before I repost them on Dangerous Minds with expanded text. They're two different BBC documentaries about rave culture, the first a World In Action special from 1988 (some of this footage has been widely circulated, such as two old cockney ladies talking about flashing lights), the other a BBC North production form 1992 following the set up of a legal rave in a field near Newcastle.

Coming from the BBC, both these programmes contain a typically patronising voice over, but it is interesting to note the difference in tone in both shows. The earlier World In Action special, while coming form 1988, has a more balanced approach, with even a spokesperson for the police admitting that ecstasy use is not that widespread, certainly not as much as the press suggest. The "Rave" programme, even though it is covering a fully legal, licensed rave, is more obviously influenced by an anti-rave/anti-drug press bias that the figures in the show feel they have to counteract.

This being the late 80s/early 90s there are some BAAAD clothes on display, and of course the music is pretty damn aweosme:

WORLD IN ACTION "A Trip Round Acid House" 1988 Part 1



WORLD IN ACTION "A Trip Round Acid House" 1988 Part 2

WORLD IN ACTION "A Trip Round Acid House" 1988 Part 3

BBC North "Rave" 1992 Part 1



BBC North "Rave" 1992 Part 2

BBC North "Rave" 1992 Part 3

High on Crack Street

Made for HBO in the early nineties, High on Crack Street: Lost Lives in Lowell saw documentary makers Maryann DeLeo and Richard Farrell follow a small group of crack addicts for 18 months in the depressed town of Lowell, Massachusetts. Its atmosphere enhanced by a plain shooting style and the yellowed hues of video, the film ably depicts its characters floating in the limbo of addiction.

Dickie was a young boxer with a promising career before it was curtailed by crime and addiction. He did, however, go on to coach his brother Mickey on to success, and these two characters are soon to suffer the indignity of being portrayed by Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg in The Fighter, which is released in February. Check out the full documentary below:

Watch more free documentaries

Cocaine Corn Circle

"A driver who was high on cocaine destroyed an entire cornfield in an attempt to escape from the police.
Four police cars were destroyed before the 35-year-old crashed into a ditch and was arrested, near the village of Dussen in the south of the Netherlands."

From Dizzy Dee.

The Scheme on the BBC

There's a new reality show on BBC Scotland that is causing quite a stir - it's called "The Scheme" and details life on a housing estate in East Kilbride. By "quite a stir" I mean it's getting a lot of people tweeting, blogging, kicking up a fuss and most of all laughing.



Is this a good thing? I don't know for sure but I don't think so. I have only watched the first episode (which was very hard to watch actually, even more so than some so called horror films) and the whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth. Yes, it WAS funny, but also the worst kind of schadenfreude. I don't think I will be going back for more, and I don't think this is an honest or accurate depiction of life on a housing estate. Of course, we know now that "reality TV" is pretty far from actual reality, but The Scheme shows just how low editors and producers have stooped for the sake of getting ratings.

Our friend the writer Kerry Ryan has reviewed the show on her blog, and put into words what it was that I felt while watching the show. "Poverty porn" indeed. Read Kerry's review of the Scheme here.