Hey, would love to reply, but the comment didn't appear on Souciant. Holler!

We're always looking for more stories in this area. I grew up reading British newspapers, and still follow them, as an adult. The news media in the UK is in terrible crisis, despite having better dailies than the US.

My favorite use of synths is when they're understated, or don't sound like synths. Mouse on Mars' late 1990s releases, for Thrill Jockey, are a great example. They introduced me to Nord synths, which remain a favorite. I like Dave Smith Instruments synths, too. The Evolver is a gem.

That's a good point, even though Femen turned out to be a bit of a con job, gender-wise. (And I say that very much enjoying Femen's interventions.)

Those are all good criticisms. I often find that with flyers like these, they are heavier on polemics than analytical precision.

Thanks for the comment. Yes, I think that's entirely fair.

Thanks for your comment, Russ. yeah - that's the paradox of this portrait. It'd be hard to imagine such a protest in the US. That's Italy.

My pleasure. They were a fixture in the Bay Area during the Nirvana-Green Day period. Same generation of bands.

Heh. Well, Berlin is a leftwing paradise, in a lot of ways. For everybody. But it's still part of the former East, which, has not gone away, either politically, or culturally. It's a fascinating mix.

Barchiators - I'm in agreement with Paul Mutter. I don't see anything negative in his writeup. It's very nuanced, and appreciative, but careful to point out the limits of Polandball's irony, at the same time. The article even ironizes itself, to a certain degree, in the spirit of the meme, IE the title, and images shown. No Gawker here.

Absolutely. The original Ruts were great. They haven't lost any of their relevance, either.

You definitely summed things up, for a lot of people. I can't imagine a better way to explain what it means to be alienated by Obama. What astonishes me is the President's aloofness. Does he not get it?

Well-said. Yes, it's just a cover for the usual nonsense. I'm appalled that so many Americans continue to support it, though. The polls remain unfortunately in the program's favor.

Y, they're as old as the skinhead movement itself.

Here in Europe, Fred Perry is still a big deal. Mod-types still sport them, as do anti-racist skins (SHARPs) and the neo-Nazi, white laces crowd.

Yeah, there are legitimate genre distinctions to be made. Crust punk is really an update of what was once called thrash, albeit with a D-beat emphasis a la Discharge. I hear more early Motorhead guitar harmonics than I do soloing, in the selections Magadh made, with the exception of the Werhmacht piece. I never liked those guys - saw them once with Slayer, in 1988. Portland never did speed metal well.

Yeah, it was a great show. My favorite Slayer LP is South of Heaven. If I remember correctly, there was a little bit of that record in the mix too.

I'm so sorry to hear about the NPR bit. I stopped listening to All Things Considered years ago, for exactly those sorts of reasons. It's a dreadful situation, and ought to be one of those "the buck stops here" moments with the American public. Something is terribly wrong. The Tea Party, obviously, is not the answer. Nor is letting the military run rampant over American liberties.

Hah, that's a good and familiar story. I think it's a universal one, too, or at least close to such. No, I haven't seen The Visitor. But I will check it out, now.

I live in Berlin myself, and have spent a fair amount of time in Austin. I made a few records there with my old band, the Christal Methodists, in the 1990s, and have returned a few times since. I think the bottom line is that parallel industries and music scenes aside, Austin is simply more wealthy. Exponentially so.

Berlin doesn't have any industry, whatsoever. WWII wiped it all out, and it hasn't been revived since the wall fell, in 1989. It's just government and the arts. The city government looks to US cities, like Austin, and Portland, where there are thriving digital scenes, and imagines that this would be the fastest and most complementary way to revive.

IBID on your third paragraph, especially.

Hah, yes. Thanks! My handle was Khmer Ribs. I co-founded the band at Reed College, with Shrimpy Skampers (Patrick Burkart.)

Yeah, I do think it's unrealistic. Most state investment in east Germany goes towards infrastructure building and unemployment, due to the region's continued need for post-communist rehabilitation.

The German government would have to change priorities, and reinvest equally in the private sector to make things work. That's not going happen any time soon, I wager.

As ultras tend to be in Europe, too - on the right.

Yes, I think that critics of Israeli policy, abroad, have often misunderstood the domestic value of international condemnation to the Israeli right. Particularly those currently heading up the country's political leadership.

Yes, that's exactly the problem with this kind of commemoration. It represents a much less complicated history than what actually transpired. It makes for great public art though.

Thanks for the comment. That Apple piece is atrocious too. Yes, it's all enough to make one want to retreat to telexes and vinyl. The digital is overdone.

Your last line just nails it. Absolutely!

Arizona can be an extremely lawless place.

Well, Iranian students very much fueled the Green Revolution four years ago. Their efforts came to naught, as the government crushed the uprising. My sense is that any education abroad is subversive in this context, and that this has longterm domestic consequences.

State repression in Iran is fierce. The problem is that the West, I think, gives license to it, which the authorities run with.

Yes, absolutely. I couldn't agree more. In America, politics has become something of an ideology, in the traditional sense of the word: a means of disguising what is otherwise a failing democracy.

Charlie Bertsch is great. American political commentary, like this, is his forte.