K-Punk

luka

Well-known member
It wasn't very big. Just a capital letter K. I remember it being studded with imitation diamonds but perhaps I'm embellishing. Craner can you remember?
 

luka

Well-known member
http://k-punk.abstractdynamics.org/archives/003282.html

JUNE 14, 2004
OLIVER, BETTER THAN THE PAPERS AS EVER
Oliver comes up trumps again with a discussion of the House of Saud.

This more than ever reinforces my conviction that energy is a security issue. Energy has been kept peripheral to the mainstream political agenda by the perception that it is (merely?) an ethical matter, (and therefore) a luxury, not as immediately pressing as defence or economic issues. The American oil lobby, with Bush as their figurehead, have been of course happy to encourage this perception. Yet this is all short-termism, capitalism's most persistent vice. In thirty years, the oil will run dry. What then?

Also, I think opposition to the alliance with the Saudis is something else that Paul Wolfowitz has in his favour. My understanding was that Wolfowitz, along with a number of advisers to Bush Jr, have long warned about the dangers and the undesirability of cosying up to the House of Saud. It's the group surrounding Bush Sr who favour a continued alliance with the corrupt dynasty.

btw an entreaty, in the vain hope that someone in the mainstream media is out there capable of acting upon it: someone please employ Oliver as a columnist. Look at these piece: like all of his political writing, it's spectacularly well-informed and researched, eloquentlly and eruditely written, and advocates a unique opinion. All of this while he works full-time in a fucking bookshop!

Posted by mark at June 14, 2004 05:51 PM | TrackBack
 

luka

Well-known member
http://k-punk.abstractdynamics.org/archives/004051.html

Craner on Canary Wharf. (Permalinks a bit screwed.. scroll down to Wednesday, August 25, 2004 entry....)

In addition to everything else Oliver does so well (the incisive political analysis, the eyes-off-the-road enumeration of the teeming fauna and flora hidden in plain sight of the metropolis, is there a better writer on the slick appeal of Oed-I-pod consumerism and haute couture, of sad-eyed beautiful city girls? Like Baudrillard, Oliver has an innate understanding of the weakening seduction of glamour, of its feminizing allure... (btw Alderman Undercurrent, I blame Oliver for starting the cult of the sublime Nadine... lol) Nothing could be further from the blurry videodrome-fed monkeymatic pornoperception of the Lad (Localised libido Andro-iD) than this ultra-detailed microperceptive poring over - subordination to - the ice-cold unyielding 'serpentine sleekness' mother of pearl 'high brow holy soul shimmering melancholy' of the Masoch/ Ferry Femodel. (And what happens when the Newtonian Model speaks? Why the object becomes a femachine: Grace Jones, the anorganic, anti-oedipal non-neurotic neurobotic body through which all of k-punk passes...)

Of course, Oliver's elegantly turned out Prada and Agent Provacatuer sales assistants, catching moments amidst urban business to smoke and look melancholy-beautiful, are as much a part of the city's wildlife as the cormorants and the herons haunting the Thames...
 
“And there was an underlying generosity to it, too, to be fair — all that ferocious canon-forming was also an act of generosity, of a sort — ‘here are all these amazing things, why would you settle for anything less?”

This is the best bit in that piece. I’d read a few paragraphs earlier and walking home had the idea circling about kpunk’s generosity, the amount he put out, the commitment, and an absolutely thrilling conviction.

When I encountered him on here I thought he was a bit shrill, lacking humour, hectoring. Dismissal of the office when I was obsessed, dismissal of dubstep when I was obsessed didn’t help. But he created a lot of space through the attention he gav, his criticism was productive as touched on in that piece. This matters… take it seriously, engage.

I was in awe of his blog when I first read it. He was able to articulate things I had felt in ways I couldn’t. Broad scope writing that invited you in without dumbing down. Those ideas around a kind of challenging pop education make sense. There were awkward and daft and nonsensical bits but that’s why it was vital.

So much writing, criticism, theory these days is so careful and couched in caveat, conscious of judgement. lots of qualification based on identity etc. I think a lot of the time this is sold as self-awareness and its well intentioned and necessary but what was thrilling about his stuff was the reach and conviction, some ferocity

The vampire castle essay was fucking brilliant imo. And brave, motivated by his repulsion at his own inaction in the face of left moralising. the fact he went for it despite that fear of being on the wrong side is why it’s so good, that’s the main lesson.
 

craner

Beast of Burden
The thing that a lot of people don't realise or remember about Mark, particularly those who only came across the Capitalist Realist version, is that part of him wanted to be a pop star. The medallion dated to a moment when he almost convinced himself he was one. It wasn't just the medallion, he developed a look. The model was John Foxx, but it also looked slightly Gary Numan. It was a brief phase, I think, back end of 2004 into 2005, but it definitely happened. I don't think I hallucinated it.
 

catalog

Well-known member
It actually makes perfect sense when you think about it, that he would have that aspiration, as he had faith in culture, in art, and if you think a lot about culture and art, you naturally want to have a go in some way. Like, most good critics, before they become critics, theyve had a go in some small way. Its to be expected. All the various techy people in the music biz, theyve all had a go.

Just a bit surprising that he would have a medallion (maybe its that word though, would ‘chain’ be a better one?). But in some ways it all fits and is quite humanising in a way.
 

catalog

Well-known member

interesting mix - there's a good 80s postpunk vibe one about 20 mins in. very arty mix is suppose, i can imagine going into a white cube and laying on a smelly beanbag and listening to it really loud. what do people think of mark leckey huh? perhaps this is the wrong thread, but i like him, i keep an eye out, even though i've not seen much of his live stuff. i like that fiorucci vid. and i like how he's from the north and is into motorway bridges.

there's a tumblr for kpunk stuff by the way, https://4kpunk.tumblr.com/ which is where this is from.

i wonder if that goth-something guy who did a few posts here mentions the medallion in his book??
 

catalog

Well-known member
any updates on the book jenks? i'm thinking of buying it, he's doing a lot of promo things for it, it sounds like a good un. the wire didn't like it, that makes me think it's probably worth buying.
 

jenks

thread death
any updates on the book jenks? i'm thinking of buying it, he's doing a lot of promo things for it, it sounds like a good un. the wire didn't like it, that makes me think it's probably worth buying.

Sorry - I keep picking it up but my attention span for that kind of thing is shot at the moment - i will give it a try when my head isnt totally fucked.
 

catalog

Well-known member
The one from like 17 min to 21? I dunno the song but surely that's Gen P Orridge singing appropriately enough.

yeah sorry rich, i didn't see this from you. yeah, that's the one i like. i can tell now that its gena as well. yeah, that's a good tune. throbbing gristle innit, persuasion
 

catalog

Well-known member
Sorry - I keep picking it up but my attention span for that kind of thing is shot at the moment - i will give it a try when my head isnt totally fucked.

oh no worries. i listened to the podcasts and theguy sounds pretty interesting to me, so i'll probably order it. he very very briefly mentions dissensus in the longer podcast, talking about mark's idea of dialectics (thesis, antithesis, synthesis) and how constant honest dissensus is very important. if you wanna truly create the new, you have to be prepared to entertain the opposite proposition to yours, is what i'm taking from it. so basically arguments are good, as long as they are productive, not just trolling and fucking someones head cos you know you can
 
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