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When I think cartoon supervillian my mind turns to Marilyn Manson.
When I saw the title of the new album, when I saw the first video… well. I mentioned The Holy Mountain recently, its appearance here is just one of the synchronicities of late.
Then we have its Heraclitian refrain:
become become
become become
be be be become
As he told Vanity Fair:
I’ve been thinking about the transition I had to go through to start making music. [Before starting the band] I went to Kinko’s with a drawing I did of myself. I printed [it] up myself and put the flyers on cars. I did not even have music created. But that confidence, or arrogance, led me to end up having to make music.
Reminding us that you never meet the same villain twice.
Especially when he takes the form of the Evil Magician:
As he told CNN:
In any story, the villain is the catalyst. The hero’s not a person who will bend the rules or show the cracks in his armor. He’s one-dimensional intentionally, but the villain is the person who owns up to what he is and stands by it. He’ll do the things that are sometimes morally questionable, but he does it because it’s his nature to do it and it doesn’t fluctuate. It’s the fable of the frog and the scorpion, all those stories that just say, whatever you’re going to be, stick to it in confidence. Don’t waver or life will f*** you over.
Finally, what better than an image of the man by the villain himself:
When Johnny Cash covers a song it becomes the original. This is not magic, this is SCIENCE!
Ayshay (Fatima Al Qadiri)
I’ve been obsessively listening to Ayshay since discovering a video of hers, so far the only one, on a friend’s Facebook wall.
Born in Senegal, raised in Kuwait and currently based in Brooklyn, New York; her music is about what you’d expect given that.
Am I the only one detecting a J-Horror influence?
I hope she releases an album soon. You can find two tracks as mp3′s here. There’s more on her MySpace page.
iamamiwhoami
Brief mystery of the internet that having been solved in no way detracts from her spectacular sound.
As far as I know she isn’t signed to a label, you just buy her tracks (a new one each month so far) on iTunes and Amazon. Or watch the amazing videos and teaser clips on her no-frills YouTube channel.
Genius marketing for amazing music. Direct to her fans. Her equally minimal Facebook page is full of dedications and praise from them.
Apparently about to perform in concert for the first time.
Fever Ray
No mystery here, it’s Karin from The Knife in an equally amazing project. Her live performances are legendarily shamanic; herself barely visible amongst smoke and laser show. No wonder Skin Graft Design chose them as the soundtrack for their LA Fashion show this week.
I hope 2011 gives us more. I would kill to see Fever Ray and iamamiwhoami tour together.
Die Antwoord
The South African rap-rave stars that swept that internet at the beginning of the year. At first no one could work out if they were the next Borat or genuine.
While the haters were stuck questioning their authenticity, the rest of us were doing musical drive-bys and learning to swear in Afrikaans.
I can’t wait to see them at the Big Day Out next year. Definitely at any sideshows they put on. (Watch out, they’re notorious for throwing real secret gigs).
