Monday, November 30, 2009

Seething observatory

This actually came in for Noughties By Nature but didn't strictly count - can't remember why not now - but as we've got a bit of time to spare, as they used to say when recorded shows unaccountably underran on ITV, and it's worth writing about we hand over to Jamie Woods:

On the 24th of June, 2009, one of the finest music writers ever died. The tributes paid to Steven Wells by his fellow writers, performers, friends and fans were heartbreakingly beautiful. And then yesterday, November 24th, I heard this song, written by Akira The Don, a.k.a. Adam Alphabet, a friend and colleague and huge fan of Swells. It’s the lead track from a Swells inspired mixtape that Akira The Don has made, and it’s not out of place amongst the Atari Teenage Riot, The Clash, NWA, Elastica, Shampoo, and Steven ‘Seething’ Wells himself.

And it’s the perfect tribute. It’s PUNK and NOSTALGIC and POLITICAL and ANTI-BNP: equal parts sentimental, funny and inspirational. The internal rhymes and alliteration and relentless delivery nod to Swells’ punk poetry, while the plea to ‘lob a brick at [Nick] Griffin… Gordon [Brown] and for Cameron’ in his name is a call to arms of the highest order. Swells’ unique writing style is celebrated in the glorious ‘CAPS LOCK down and all guns blazing/ Wield typewriter like Berrata’ – it was of course his ‘weapon of choice’.

In this post-post-modern age of sampling and mash-ups and X Factor cover versions and re-writing of music history: a – we must never forget what came before, the music magazines we grew up with, and the bands and writers that filled them; and b – this is therefore a spot-on and deserved celebration and heartfelt love song to the greatest music writer of his, our, generation.
TITS OUT TEENAGE TERROR TOTTY! TITS OUT TEENAGE TERROR TOTTY! TITS OUT TEENAGE TERROR TOTTY! TITS OUT TEENAGE TERROR TOTTY! TITS OUT TEENAGE TERROR TOTTY! TITS OUT TEENAGE TERROR TOTTY! TITS OUT TEENAGE TERROR TOTTY! TITS OUT TEENAGE TERROR TOTTY! TITS OUT TEENAGE TERROR TOTTY! TITS OUT TEENAGE TERROR TOTTY! TITS OUT TEENAGE TERROR TOTTY! TITS OUT TEENAGE TERROR TOTTY! TITS OUT TEENAGE TERROR TOTTY! TITS OUT TEENAGE TERROR TOTTY! TITS OUT TEENAGE TERROR TOTTY! TITS OUT TEENAGE TERROR TOTTY! TITS OUT TEENAGE TERROR TOTTY! TITS OUT TEENAGE TERROR TOTTY!



Stream and/or download at Akira's site

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