Free seeds or Free trade?

In their urge to please the World Trade Organisation, major multinational corporations such as Monsanto and commodify everything (and anyone?) in the name of that holiest of holy, Free Trade, the Swedish government, through the Ministry of Agriculture, now wishes to impose even stricter regulation on so called "free seeds". The explicit aim, other than simply adopting policies decided in the EU, is to promote agricultural biodiversity by making it easier to sell seeds to "hobby farmers" within the European Union. It's interesting to note that the way to make things easier for "regular people" generally means "getting more restrictions", whereas to make things easier for "corporations" generally means "removing restrictions".

SMP - Coda (2010)

A veritable "jack in the box", Jason Bazinet has worked with industrial giants like Chemlab, 16volt and Front Line Assembly as a drummer - most recently on the 2010 Midi Ghetto Tour in the US and Canada and FLA's (mostly) European 2010 tour. Even going so far as to do three drum-gigs a night for most of the Midi Ghetto Tour (16volt and Chemlab, and also filling in for Left Spine Down). In addition, he's involved to greater and lesser degrees with 64K, Monicom, The Crills as well as the elusive and enigmatic Loyal Opposition. It would be easy to forget he's also founder, only constant and currently sole member of SMP (Sounds of Mass Production) - the coldwave/industrial rock-rap crossover hybrid of a monster. Formed in the early 90's, SMP debuted with Stalemate on the (in-)famous Re-Constriction in 1995 and has since gone on to release four more full-length albums, two remix albums, one mixtape and too many collaborations and remixes to count. Needless to say, the news of a new album in the works got me all kinds of excited - especially since Bazinet announced that 2008's remix album Pissing on the Legacy would be the end of SMP.

Mortiis - Perfectly Defect (2010)

With his roots as bass player in the black metal band Emperor, Mortiis has come a long way over the years. From the first instrumental ambient/darkwave solo albums (as well as side projects Vond and Fata Morgana), to the synth pop/electro-industrial styling of 2001's The Smell of Rain (which saw Mortiis picking up the mic for the first time) and the harsher industrial rock of 2004's The Grudge (by which time "Mortiis" had turned into a full-blown band, rather than being the solo outfit of Håvard Ellefsen). It's now been three years since the release of Some Kind of Heroin, the remix version of The Grudge. During those years Mortiis (as a band) have been touring, working on new material and Mortiis (the frontman, Håvard) has shed the last parts of the mask he'd been wearing since way back in the day. In part as a gift to the fans, and (I suppose) in part as a teaser for the next full CD (The Great Deceiver, slated for an early 2011 release) Mortiis has released Perfectly Defect online.

Better for whom?

It is a commonly held misconception that we need to pursue further advances within the field of genetically modified crops and livestock in order to come to terms with the problem of feeding an ever growing human population. Beside the obvious - we have no idea what the effects of these genetically modified organisms are on the local and global ecosystems - this argument fails to acknowledge the real problem, which is one of distribution of resources and, consequently, power.

Optimize rather than maximize

By now it should be obvious to most that our current way of life is deeply and fundamentally flawed and unsustainable. We desperately need to change our policies and guiding principles if we as a species are to have a future on this planet. I believe a big part of the problem lies in the way we view the world and our place in it - rather than considering it a collection of discrete objects to be claimed in the name of private ownership, we ought to consider the world as the interconnected web of life that it is.

Society Burning - Internal Combustion (2010)

What better way to get started than with a review of Society Burning's Internal Combustion? The first new album of theirs in 13 years - not counting the 2009 releases of State.of.Decay, originally set for release in 1994, or the remastered and expanded Entropy.Lingua.Reloaded - sees the welcome return of Boom, Dave and Twitch. Formed as The Watchmen back in 1991 (hey Dave, still waiting for those Watchmen tapes man), settling for Society Burning a year or so later, these guys put out some of the defining coldwave/synth rock music of the 90's alongside other legendary acts such as Hate Dept., Chemlab and 16volt. Always with a heavy cyberpunk vibe both musically and lyrically. Their latest album picks up where 1997's Tactiq left of, bringing their music into the 21st century without losing anything of what made them so great in the first place.

Re:load and re:aim

It's been well over a month since the Swedish general elections (and also since my last post here), and corporate greed continues unabated with the "victory" of the right-wing alliance over the red-green coalition. The elections also saw a racist nationalist party enter parliament. We're set for four more years of dismantling of what remains of our solidarity and social welfare, four more years of policy aimed towards making the rich richer, at the expense of those most in need of help and support.