Um Live @ Loopfest 2003

Um live set from the

The First (International) Cambridge Festival of Looping 2003

Google Namesakes Disaster!

MFU announces new performance fee.

"No, that's right. It's a hundred and he isn't gonna budge!"

Where are they now?

Eldopa Plus

Untitled And Kalahari

Kalahari is so old it was on Autumn Clearout, first released on cassette.

Democracy Is For Pussies

Here's a very old Um song called I May Yet Live

Fowl

Chameleon

Chameleons are not the quickest of beasts, so if you catch one you can put him on your arm and he'll hang on with his claws, juddering slightly like an ancient. They're sort of infintely odd and vulnerable things, and I love 'em.

Cock Problem

Amended Blurred Photo

Bird Creature

Anarchist

Some old pics.

Transmission Failure

Yo.

Come this Thursday, beginning at 8PM GMT and ending at 10PM GMT, Pete Um and Man From Uranus will be hosting a radio show on 209 Radio, and it is here.(click on "schedule" on the menu bar and then hunt for a link to the stream, and don't ever give up)

Here is a trailer for it (the show).

If you want to email the show then do it like this: transmission@209radio.co.uk

Although the show is invisible it will be illustrative of the fact that though the Um/Uranus axis hold some common views on music (the show will play all types of music and sound), namely that it is important and GREAT, there has been some difficulty in speaking with a unified voice with regards to which of the musics is the GREAT and which is not, and splits and divisions have ocurred and although this leads to heat we also get laffs, and hope you might too. It is not the point of the show to laugh at the disagreements but it might be better than the old format of the two lads agreeing or the one old man or whatever. We hope to have guests and generally make up new stuff as it goes along and we're sorry if it's a bit loose, guy.

Please tune in if you can manage.

Life after the oil crash.

Just in case you haven't heard of Peak Oil

Blowback

From the Dissensus board:

Originally Posted by gek-opel

The rendering of Al-Qaeda into an irrational monster is a necessary slight of hand for the leaders in America and the UK, to create an enemy who fights without reason, who can never be negotiated with, which is pure poppycock. But of course, vital to allowing them to continue to pursue what amount to imperialist policies in the Middle East. In saying they must be, in effect, insane, there is an immediate closing down of any attempts to locate reasons for their activities, which whilst you may not agree with them (or view them as proportionate) do exist.

Certainly (and as any CIA analyst will tell you, "Al-Qaeda" was a term coined by the CIA in the early-1990s as a blanket description of those groups positioned in Afghanistan opposed to US foreign policy in the Middle East, with particular reference to Bin Laden's efforts to have US military bases removed from Saudi Arabia. It was never a rigidly-controlled, hierarchical, "multi-national" organisation, but after 9/11 and the Afghan/Iraqi invasions it quickly became a grass-roots spontaneous mass movement).

Chalmers Johnson, one of the best analysts anywhere of US foreign policy, briskly described the basis for asymmetric terrorism (Blowback) like that of Al-Qaeda a few years ago: "Blowback" is a CIA term. It was first invented after the CIA intervention against the government of Iran in 1953 when we overthrew an elected government there for the interests of the British and American petroleum industries. Blowback refers to the unintended consequences of clandestine policies that have been kept secret from the American public. I think it's important to stress that any policy may have unintended consequences, but here we're talking about unintended consequences of policies that the public knows nothing about, therefore, has no context within which to place them, and ends up with a daffy president going around asking, "Why do they hate us?"

Johnson: "My analysis was that the things we had done during the cold war, and the first decade after the cold war, were generating almost uncontrollable blowback. I did not, obviously, specifically anticipate anything like 9-11, but I certainly did anticipate and predict terrorist acts against Americans-military and civilian, abroad and at home-and therefore, was not particularly surprised when the attacks came on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in September of 2001. At the time, I did not think that they were necessarily Islamic terrorists; I thought they could have been from Argentina, Chile, Indonesia, Okinawa, Greece, or any number of places on earth where we have carried out clandestine activities that unquestionably generate hostility toward the United States."

Chamers Johnson continues:

First of all, I think the obvious thing right now is our mistaken reaction to 9-11. It became almost taboo in this country after 9-11 to even ask what the motives of the attackers were. The public has now been so confused by lies from our government that they believe Saddam Hussein was the one behind it. Of course, we know he wasn't, and since there is no evidence that he could have been, the people have gotten that idea only from listening to the disinformationthat comes from the White House and the Pentagon.

September 11th was not an attack on America's values or America's democracy or America's wealth. It was an attack on American foreign policy and there were some fairly obvious things that should have been done at once which would have defused the situation. First, we should have withdrawn the troops at once that we had based in Saudi Arabia. Since the first war with Iraq in 1991, they were just exacerbating the situation rather than serving any real function. Second, we should have said that we do support the continuity of the state of Israel, but we do not support Israeli Zionist imperialism. And that until the settlements in the West Bank are closed-which are a cancer working on Israeli society in a destructive manner-we're going to cease our continued bankrolling of Israel, both financially and militarily. Last, we should have instituted at once a crash program of fuel conservation that could have easily eliminated our dependence on Persian Gulf petroleum imports.


We didn't do any of those things. Instead, we set out to use our massive military power against two peculiarly puny and defenseless targets-Afghanistan and Iraq-producing untold misery. This will without question generate and recruit more people committed to the idea of attacking the United States.

The Department of Defense has said for years that nobody can meet us militarily except in one of two ways: one, with the use of nuclear weapons, which would deter us; and the other is what they call, in typical Pentagon jargon, "asymmetrical warfare," meaning the weak attacking the super powerful via terrorism. There is every reason to anticipate that we will have more terrorism as we increasingly sink into the two quagmires that we have created in Afghanistan and Iraq.

A Note on Johnson: Chalmers Johnson served in the Navy during the Korean War. He earned his Ph.D. in political science at UC Berkeley and taught there and at UC San Diego until 1992. He served as chairman of the Center for Chinese Studies and was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Chalmers Johnson is president and co-founder of the Japan Policy Research Institute (www.jpri.org). He has written numerous articles and reviews and twelve books on Asian subjects, including, Peasant Nationalism and Communist Power, MITI and the Japanese Miracle, and Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire. His latest book is titled, The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic.

Bumskipper 7 released today.

Bumskipper # 7 sleevenotes by Pete Um

1. Sound

The central chunk of lyrics for this were sourced from a schoolgirl’s biology exercise book. Her homework was to explain what sound consists of and how we hear it. As soon as I mentioned schoolgirls Man From Uranus popped over to donate some keys. Thanks Phil.

2. Get Out Of (Dodge)

This is a cowboy song. You can almost hear him slopping around in the saddle. There is neither rest nor welcome for him or his horse, but this way of life has its own rewards.

3. Blessing For Cervix

Some off the cuff looping action meant to bless cervixes for luck.

4. Water Buffalo

We used to have a buffalo’s skull next to the pool. I’m guessing you didn’t.

5. Ambulance.

This one’s been hanging around for ages and should have been on Giraffe Outtakes, chronologically speaking. Mortality/hypochondria/fear of flying etc. It takes place in an airport departure lounge.

I can’t help myself

I’ve fallen on my shoulder

On airport seating

I’m mortal at Mach 2

And I need somebody

Like you, to help me out

Come closer as I breathe,

My last words to you:

Ambulance…ambulance…

Etc

6. They Made Me Market Myself.

The trouble with art for art’s sake is that it’s virtually impossible, in practical terms, for various reasons. Art and money are like an old married couple who loathe each other, but cannot separate.

7. Big Weight (Can’t Travel About).

For some reason it sounds like I’m saying “Big Pete, can’t travel about…” which is true enough. This is one of those generalised, non-specific, bear-with-a-sore-head type of Um songs about the fuckedness of the Um situation. The Kate is Tunstall.

8. Insurgents.

The video for this would be filmed from the back of a speeding pick-up truck on an Iraqi highway, with occasional passing vehicles.

9. Foreign Boy

Some plain-speaking, or moaning, I suppose. That’s Christoforou at the start!

10. Don’t Lose Your Shape.

Be true to thyself, and be good to yourself too.

11. Cockertone.

This was entirely created in the back of a Bedford Auto Sleeper camper van on a very hot day. Syd on vox and disingenuousness.

12. Our Shared Toilet.

You know how objects can begin to stand for ideas, and how when you’re taking a leak you end up staring at the same thing each time, like the cover of a magazine, and it becomes a bit wearisome?

13. The Man Who Lived Too Slow.

Been smoking too long.

Chin Me Right Round

He's The Greatest Dancer

Something kind of spooky about this, possibly to do with the fact that you can't make out the details of his face, and the fact that the sonics all seem to be coming from outside, and the fact that it seems to be in a loo, and the fact that a couple of the guy's moves are just so uncannily good.

Oh, and his ARMY t-shirt.

Ghost

My brother made a few of these ghosts for me when he was a little lad, and I still treasure this chap. The bit coming out of his head is just for attaching to things.

Still Clueless

Clueless Safe Sex Packet (reverse view). As I say, that stain is completely unrelated to safe sex, or any kind of sex.

The Clueless System

Remember Clueless? This little freebie had a condom inside, but all that gunk you can see in the packet is ...like, some totally unrelated mess that's been hanging around in the drawer with the thing for some years.

Anybody give me a little potted history of Clueless at the time and since?

Ram Jam

I'd never heard of this guy before but he seems to be a big man in reggae. This is how DJs should be, I reckon.

Pete Um signs to DHR.

Some rather hardcore Um live in Hamburg.

Pete's demo hell

So, when Shebeen Arts and Music was around I was the guy who listened to the demos, and then wrote unkind reviews. They still exist somewhere, I believe.

Dimebag.

I had this advert on my shelving unit for years without knowing who this guy was, and then someone shot the cunt.

Attack Of The Clones

No, I'm not mucking about. I do have multiple copies of the same large Damon Albarn sticker.

Traditional Warehouse Experience

Old Rave Flyers

Commodore Tape

Inside was a recording of someone (not me) jamming solo electric guitar followed by a live recording of Nirvana.

Shebeen Arts & Music

I was talking with someone the other day and they were remeniscing about when Stan ran the Boat Race, for fuck's sake.

So, lest we forget, for a little while Cambridge had a music venue run by a worker's co-op, staffed by volunteers.

Saff Cassette City

The Saffs?

Autumn Clearout.

Been trying to reorganize my room so's that it's less of an RSI-inducing rabbit warren. I keep finding old bits and pieces of this and that.

Hofman, anyone?

Brap.

Sorry if people are getting fed up with recycled Prancehall gear but this shit is quite funny.

If you go down to the woods today, you'd better know what you'd like...

He knows it.

Check my bro's new band:


http://www.myspace.com/moustashtheband

here also...

Late Night Stuff

Gaz's

Mayday

Hip like this...

Thanks Claire.

Collab With Son

Page From Notebook

Ignore the date. More like 2003 or 2004.

Killer Chicken

I have RSI. I'm not supposed to use a mouse or keyboard or sit at a computer. It's a real bummer.

Noel Edmonds Is A Legend

This flyer caught my eye whilst I was trying to psych myself up to perform in front of a load of APU students the other night, and it didn't really help.

Perhaps I should film myself walking a wheelbarrow full of manure through the Grafton Centre shouting "horseshit!"

When yr 14-16

About a month ago I drank a bottle of wine and found myself Googling for my African Secondary School. That whole period of my life stopped dead in 1986 and the further I get away from it the more unanchored and weird I feel about it, because there's just no continuity - nobody I know shares the experience, and although I did go back once in 1992, I met next to nobody that I'd known while I was there. I even felt it would be too weird to try. In fact I saw a girl from my class in the chemist and it kind of made me freak out. I couldn't possibly have introduced myself. It would have been like a ghost going up to shake hands. Anyway, me signing the guest book with my email has resulted this week in every other sender's name in my inbox being one that I shared register space with in the period 1984-1986, and it is mucho bizarro, I can tell you.

It's funny, but I recall all the people in the snap above as being more or less adults.

Lord Charles discusses Grimsby

From what I can tell this is the most watched video on my YouTube, or definitely in the the top 5 anyways. Charlie is a funny guy. You'll be pleased to hear that he has recovered from his unlucky bout of denge fever.

I did a birthday song for Charlie once. I should upload a few of the birthday songs 'cos I don't release them, obviously.

Been getting very into my MPC of late.

Huh?

WTF?

YESTERDAY I WROTE SOME LIGHTHEARTED SHIT ABOUT THE PROS AND CONS OF MYSPACE ON MY MYSPACE BLOG AND BY THE EVENING MY ACCOUNT HAD BEEN DELETED...

SURELY...?

Um Discography Part ?: Um For Middle Class (Inner sleeve)

Was it a LEAPS night that PE played at Cafe Afrika? I recall Stu sat with his benevolent-looking Ma and Pa, heckling the fuck out of some sorry-assed chancer...

Um Discography Part ?: Um For Middle Class (back cover)

Stu Calton did all the artwork for this fairly limited release of ten copies, although art is credited to "Lee Crisp", who I believe was a girl that Stu fancied at school.

Ho-hum, this just makes me think about the fact that I haven't written about Pence Eleven yet, and the whole Middle Class/Fenland Hi Brow thing.

NP: Bitches In Winter

Oh yeah, Pollywood is actually called Pollywog. I like little fucked-up details like this.

Comment t'appelle tu?

And I stole this from the ever-amusing Prancehall.

Hey, I changed the settings so anyone can leave comments! Anyone! Anyone at all! Even you.

The Artist's Pain

Although I'm getting quite used to using my other hand to control the mouse, any kind of computer use still equals pain, and that pain lingers after I have stopped using a computer. I am surmising from this that if I want to avoid pain then I have to avoid computers. However I might as well become a fucking monk or something, so...

So Where Is He?

We were talking about the rumours that Osama Bin Laden is dead the other night. Dave advanced the theory that he is very much alive and well, living in America just like James Brown, has had extensive plastic surgery so he looks like the guy above, and drives around listening to Kool Keith's Kiss My Ass.

Here's another old Um tune that ain't nothing:

Um: "GAW" MP3

I think it's on Um For Charity or something.

Um Discography Part ?: An Audio Obstacle Course (disc)

This was the old disc itself. I got that photo from the Trickster, 'cos he stole it from where he used to work. It was also used somewhere for my albm for Burning Shed.

I understand that these discs don't really play too well anymore. A while ago I ripped all the files onto my hardrive for safekeeping, but then my hardrive died...

Um Discography Part ?: An Audio Obstacle Course (inner sleeve)

This was the inner sleeve. I really like this shot because the colours are so nice and the whole thing looks so composed, plus I'm eating a real meat and two veg kind of dinner, but the truth is I was really pissed off when this shot was taken. I was ill and Mad Andy burst in with his camera and starting snapping away like it was all about him and nothing about me, and I got fucked off with him.

Um Discography Part ?: An Audio Obstacle Course (back cover)

And I forgot the back cover of An Audio Obstacle Course too. My apologies.

Um Discography Part ?: Autumn Clearout Vol. 2 (back cover)

Oh yeah, I forgot to post the back cover for Autumn Clearout Vol. 2. How remiss of me.

I'll be back.

Off to Cornwall tomorrow, but I'll return I guess. Looking into how to upload MP3s without making potential downloadees negotiate the MEGAUPLOAD interface. Yeah.

Um Discography Part ?: Um For Middle Class (front cover)

At some point around this time I read about this interesting-sounding band from Wisbech in The Wire, which seemed a bit unlikely. Next thing I know Jason Freeboy is collaring me and saying "I've been sent this weird CD from Wisbech that I ought to pass onto you..."
I was like: "Is it Pence Eleven?"
I told Mad Andy about it, and I think he even sent a postcard to Nathan, but somehow a link was forged, and in next to no time we were some kind of pals and I was sending a CD of random speculative stuff for an Um release on Middle Class Records. And then extremely quickly after that it was released pretty much the the same as I'd sent it, even though it was more or less all strange reel-to-reel stuff, and even though there were only 5 or 10 copies