Fuck

So, I 'played' football for the first time since school basically this afternoon. What better way to spend a crisp, delightful Sunday afternoon in South East London? I went into the cage thinking that even though I do literally no exercise at all my natural litheness would stand me in good stead. How wrong I was. I felt like this guy, minus any ability:

so yeah, might give this exercise thing a bash. Well, I won't because I'm pretty content with eating pizza 5 times a week and drinking lager. 

R KELLY – MISUNDERSTOOD GENIUS

We all have topics of conversation that repeatedly come up after a few drinks. Mine include Motown (“Oh God, music will never get better than this!”), the work of Shane Meadows (“He just seems really down to earth, top bloke, having a pint with him would be rad!”) and, predominately, trying to persuade people that R. Kelly is a genius rather than a slightly grubby R’n’B star.

Earlier in the decade Kelly was accused to recording himself having sex with an underage girl. Not just regular sex though, oh no. The video allegedly showed him urinating on her. This is possibly why my argument rarely wins people over. Even though he was found guilty on all 14 charges it is hard to erase the case from the memory. And of course we must remember that back in 1994 he married the sadly deceased singer Aaliyah. When she was fifteen. And R had known her since she was twelve. However, I feel that as hard as it can be to do so, we have to separate the personal life from the material the artist produces. People still love  Annie Hall and Chinatown regardless of the directors predilections, right?

Whatever you think about his music, it’s impossible to deny the fact that Robert Sylvester Kelly is one of the most fascinating characters in music today. He has managed to ride the waves of controversy that have dogged his career and still remains one of the biggest selling artists in America today. One of the most interesting things about him professionally is his willingness to reveal so much about himself. I remember reading an interview with him in Q magazine a few years back when he discussed the trouble he has in living with the R. Kelly persona that he has created. He said that sometimes he didn’t want to be this sex-loving, club-hopping star bur wanted to ‘just be Robert, the God loving family man (Kelly has three children from his marriage which dissolved at the start of the year). His songs mainly come in two flavours: the upfront sex fueled club banger and the introspective, almost embarrassingly open quiet ones. It’s the former category that appeals to me; if we take it that 95% of all pop music is, and always has been, about sex, then R. is the undisputed king of pop (as we live in the post-Jackson age someone has to take the title). No one writes about sex like he does. This is a man who has songs called ‘Sex Planet’, ‘Good Sex’ and ‘Bangin’ the Headboard;’, a man who sings lines like ‘Girl, I got you so wet it’s like a rainforest/Like Jurassic Park except I’m your sex-a-saurus baby’. You sense that this is a man who does not find sex shameful in any way; rather he is someone who embraces and celebrates everything about his own sexuality. I can’t think of another singer who would holler the line ‘We’re like two gorillas in the jungle baby makin’ love’ in such a matter of fact, un-ironic way.

When I raise the Kelly topic I’m often accused of having an ‘ironic’ liking of him. This is a concept that I don’t fully understand as I don’t subscribe to the notion of guilty pleasures. Irony, in this sense, is something that we use to create a sense of distance between something that we like but feel like we shouldn’t. We feel above the subject, as if our liking of it validates it somehow. There is nothing ‘ironic’ about my love of what is Kelly’s undoubted masterpiece, Ignition (Remix). The song, like so many others in his vast back catalogue, is about going out, having fun and, eventually, having sex. It is, and I have to admit at this point that I’m prone to hyperbole, one of the most joyful three minutes of music ever made. Ignition sounds like every good memory you have of nights out with friends condensed into one blissful sequence that doesn’t end with a hangover. From the moment Kelly intones that he ‘doesn’t usually do this…’ to the moment the vocal drops out and an almost celestial synth line waltzes in and out of the mix, it is a paean to joy. It’s also the last great song to hit the number one spot in the charts (though, in fairness, Yeah! By Usher comes close). Ignition (Remix) cemented Kelly’s position as master of the intro. His other great intro comes from the 1994 smash Bump n’ Grind, when he tells the girl he’s wooing that whilst his ‘mind is telling him no’ his body, his body ‘is telling me yes!’. The conviction in his delivery is almost frightening.

If I haven’t converted the person listening to me by droning on and on about Ignition (Remix) then I play the trump card: Trapped in the Closet, his 22 part hip-hopera. Trapped can easily be viewed as an absurd, pointless, repetitive mess that cannot sustain its narrative for long enough to make it watchable. This is, frankly, a load of rubbish. Trapped in the Closet is one of the defining pop-culture artifacts of the decade. It is in fact a lovingly crafted piece of drama that manages to be incredibly amusing whilst being knowingly silly. It is to Kelly’s credit that this knowingness does not become irritating at any point.

The plot is far too labyrinthine to be turned into a pithy synopsis, but essentially it deals with issues of fidelity, homosexuality, identity and masculinity. Set it in Spain, swap Kelly for Javier Bardem and you’ve got a Pedro Almdovar film. Incidentally, Trapped… shares Almodovar’s fetishization of the telephone. The characters sing-talk their way through a series of hilariously convulted and bizarre situations that involve gay couples, wife swapping and midget strippers. It’s the sheer oddness of the piece that makes it such compulsive vieiwing. Admittedly, some moments when seen in isolation, such as the infamous moment where it’s revealed that there is a man in the cupboard and that man is a midget, which seem laughably bad, but when viewed in order these moments of utter strangeness become oddly plausible.

At several points R. Kelly, who plays the central character Sylvester and several others (including an old drunk and ‘Pimp Lucious’ whose name tells you all you need to know about the character) interjects and comments on the events. This breaking of the fourth wall is obviously a reference to dramatist Bertolt Brecht’s alienation techniques as well as Austrian director Michael Haneke’s classic 1997 film Funny Games. These interjections exemplify the blurring of fiction and reality within the piece that make it so great. The characters are constantly trying to ascertain what exactly has happened to the other characters and work out possible outcomes. There’s even an utterly abstract commentary section wherein R Kelly is sat in a chair pretending to watch the episodes whilst he talks about them as if they were real. He goes on to claim that people often ask him if it’s based on his own experiences and he says that whilst it isn’t it ‘takes a few chapters from real life,’ a statement that makes me realize how mundane my own life is.

Homosexuality is a theme not often explored in the world of ‘urban’ music and it is admirable that Kelly makes two gay characters, Rufus (a pastor) and Chuck (a deacon) two of his main characters. They are not presented as camp but as two ‘normal’ men who fell in love with each other but have to keep this love secret because society would not, they feel, accept it. The fact that both men work for the church adds an interesting frisson to the relationship.

Ok, enough theorizing. The main reason why I love Trapped in the Closet so much is because it’s laugh out loud funny. There are too many good moments to mention but personal highlights include: Sylvester stopping his wife from having sex with because he’s got a cramp in his leg, the rhyming of ‘Rufus and Chuck’ with ‘what the fuck’ (I should mention that the swearing in the piece is absolutely exquisite; every ‘fuck’ and ‘motherfucker’ is a work of art) and the midget literally crapping himself in terror.

Trapped in the Closet is the work of a man who, seemingly, does not care what people think of him. It is an irresistible hour and a half that confirms R. Kelly’s place as one of the most important pop-culture figures working today. Just try not to think about I Believe I Can Fly.

JOSH BAINES

It's been a long time
I shouldn't have left you
Without a dope beat to step to.


Hi! So, I've been back in london for a few weeks now and everything (pretty much) is going swell. I'm determined to write more in general this year so if anyone wants to collaborate on a zine or whatever just get in touch.

Saw this today:

Seizure by Roger Hiorns.

It's amazing.

Action Biker - Farrah

This is nowhere

 

The Mountain Goats - Going to Georgia

Self Indulgent List Making

In response to the Pitchfork list, here's my top 100 tracks of the decade. 500 is overkill really and 50 is too little. So, yes, I could have gone for 250 say, but no, 100 will do me. Reading these lists always makes me wonder how much thought actually goes into them: why is the 465th best track of the decade better than the 466th etc. So in the spirit of this, I'm basically making the list up as I go along until I get to the top 30, which I will actually have thought about properly.

100. The Mountain Goats - The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton
99. Ludacris - Southern Hospitality
98. Broadcast - America's Boy
97. Gotye - Hearts A Mess (SuperMayer remix)
96. Joker - Gully Brook Lane
95. Suburban Kids with Biblical Names - Loop Duplicate My Heart
94. Wavves - So Bored
93. Safety Scissors - Sunlight's on the Other Side
92. Xiu Xiu - I Luv The Valley OH!
91. Three 6 Mafia - Stay Fly
90. Baby Cham ft Akon - Ghetto Story (Remix)

89. Neon Neon - I Lust U
88. The Tough Alliance - Silly Crimes
87. Plus Device - Body Heat
86. R Kelly ft T.I. and T. Pain - I'm A Flirt (Remix)
85. Pet Shop Boys - Love etc (Gui Boratto Remix)
84. Zombi - Sapphire
83. International Pony - Our House
82. Chromeo - Bonafide Lovin'
81. The Whitest Boy Alive - Courage
80. Junior Boys - More Than Real

79. T Pain ft MJG, 8 Ball, R Kelly et al - I'm In Luv Wit A Strippa
78. Ricardo Villalobos - Easy Lee
77. Dakar - I've Got That Feeling
76. Nelly - Hot in Herre
75. The Dismemberment Plan - A Life of Possibilities
74. Washed Out - Feel It All Around
73. Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - New Years Kiss
72. Maps & Atlases - Witch
71. Sparks - Dick Around
70. Lindstrom - Another Station (Todd Terje remix)

69. Lil Wayne - 3peat
68. Cornelius - Drop
67. Broken Social Scene - (7/4) Shoreline
66. DJ Koze - I Want to Sleep
65. Sally Shapiro - Anorak Christmas
64. The Game - Dreams
63. Kelly Clarkson - Since U Been Gone
62. Iron & Wine - The Trapeze Swinger
61. El Guincho - Palmitos Park
60. Pinback - Afk

59. Noze - Remember Love
58. Kings of Convenience - Toxic Girl
57. Justin Timberlake - My Love
56. Justice - Let There Be Light
55. Hot Chip - Boy from School
54. Electrelane - To the East
53. The Blow - Fists Up!
52. Midlake - Roscoe (Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve remix)
51. LCD Soundsystem - Get Innocuous #
50. Those Dancing Days - Hitten

49. Annie - Chewing Gum
48. The Research - Lonely Hearts Still Beat the Same
47. The Artful Dodger ft. Craig David - Re-Rewind
46. Belle and Sebastian - I'm A Cuckoo
45. Low - Just Like Christmas
44. Jay-Z - I Just Wanna Love U (Give it 2 Me)
43. Daft Punk - Digital Love
42. Jens Lekman - A Postcard to Nina
41. The Mountain Goats - San Bernardino
40. Herman Dune - This Will Never Happen

39. Missy Elliott ft Ludacris - One Minute Man
38. Kings of Convenience - Misread
37. Golden Boy and Miss Kittin - Rippin Kittin
36. Hekio Voss - I Think About You
35. Benga and Coki - Night
34. Rufus Wainwright - Tiergarten (SuperMayer remix)
33. Sweet Female Attitude - Flowers
32. Camera Obscura - Teenager
31. Closer Musik - Maria

30. Cut Copy - Saturdays

29. Wayne Wonder - No Letting Go
28. Dr Dre ft. Snoop Dogg - The Next Episode
27. Aeroplane ft Kathy Diamond - Whispers
26. Gui Boratto - Beautiful Life
25. Larry Heard and Mr White - The Sun Can't Compare
24. The Strokes - Hard to Explain
23. Of Montreal - Nonpareil of Favour
22. Ada - Each and Everyone (Blindhouse)
21. Mlle Caro and Franck Garcia - Always You (Ewan Pearson Remix)
20. Animal Collective - Fireworks

19. Phoenix - If I Ever Feel Better
18. Belle and Sebastian - Wrapped Up In Books
17. 50 Cent - In Da Club
16. Jonathan Richman - Springtime in New York
15. Ada and Erlend Oye - Luckycharm/Intuition
14. Kanye West - Love Lockdown
13. The Walkmen - The Rat
12. Jens Lekman - Maple Leaves
11. The Mountain Goats - No Children

10. Dntel - (This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan (Superpitcher's Kompakt Remix)
9. Hercules and Love Affair - Blind
8. Animal Collective - My Girls
7. R. Kelly - Ignition (Remix)
6. Daft Punk - One More Time
5. UGK ft Outkast - International Players Anthem (I Choose You)
4. The Avalanches - Since I Left You
3. Jurgen Paape - So Wiet Wie Noch Nie
2. Of Montreal - The Past is a Grotesque Animal
1. Panda Bear - Bros

Hmm

This photo is eerily depressing.