Netil Radio Weekly
#069
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It Takes Time Review Corner
Words
Hello and welcome back,
We all know that feeling when we are impassionately excited about something we know it’s working from our own past experience – we fervently encourage others and then we look around and feel like John Travolta in the legendary meme.
Anytime I talk about the importance of resistance to protect our rights, my British friends look at me with adoration in their eyes, but I can sense that they don’t really understand my passion for the issue. And I'm trying to understand them – because I know that they’re aware of the situation, they are smart, creative and they definitely understand the concept of active citizenship. People volunteer, and support causes, every issue has its petition and millions of people are signing them. And those two quiet opposite characteristics created my personal joke about the country I live in: the United Kingdom of Petitions.
Jokes aside, we can see it’s oversaturated right now. Unions are fighting for workers’ rights with the populist government to save the institutions in decay, while the rest of the public is standing by with their phones expressing solidarity. If this is not a perfect scene from an imaginary new series of Monty Python, I’m not sure what else can be.
The wave of industrial action is the biggest in the last 100 years, the government is responding the only way aspiring autocrats can, the most important institutions (that we all need to function) are falling apart and… There is not one call for a general strike from anyone. Not from our community leaders, or opposition politicians, not from independent journalists or artists… It’s literally a John Travolta meme moment.
Let me ask a question: what has to happen to make people, British citizens, unite and fight for their rights? It’s not a pleasant question, because in my country, Slovakia, a journalist and his fiance had to be murdered to move society. I strongly believe that such a thing will not happen here. I believe that we are stronger than corrupt politicians catching their last breath.
To break the comfortable apathy and encouRage my fellow British citizens, here are five reasons why community leaders, journalists, artists, opposition politicians – anyone and everyone – need to organise a general strike:
The wave of industrial action might be the last one in the long term future according to the proposed bills. This one, this one, or this British speciality.
All institutions are in decay, underfunded, understaffed not functioning properly
The UK loses 32% of its corporate tax revenue because of these tax havens (click on country)
A lack of ambition when it comes to collecting the taxes so much needed to fund public services
Corruption is becoming institutionalised and the enforceability of the law is… Very low
The list could be much longer, but these five reasons are the key. And if Andrew T can experience functioning institutions in Romania, why not let him do the same back home. Here is your favourite soundtrack for the times of resistance and falling billionaire fortunes. Wish something…
Thank you for reading and stay connected
Miro
Coming Up
✧ New resident Izzi is starting her journey with BingleBeats on guest duties - today 5-7pm ✧ Alpha Fett Baby is joined by the elusive Corcrán in today’s Platforms show - 7-9pm ✧ S T A R S will take over of COLOURWORXX while Cath is away - Friday 1-3pm ✧ Marie Garaccio will do the same for Sassy - Saturday 1-3pm ✧ But before that, “new year new start” for Smart brothers, focusing the show on their personal project Sunda Arc. Do not miss this one - Saturday 11am-1pm ✧ The Apogee Show has a new slot on 3rd Monday 7-9pm ✧ Same goes to Fear of Music which is moving to 3rd Tuesday 10pm till midnight ✧
Full schedule here
It Takes Time Review Corner - January 2023
By Tony Poland
Jabu - Boiling Wells (Demos '19-'22) - Do You Have Peace?
The first of several releases covered this month that popped up in the latter stages of 2022, here we have a collection of demos, sketches and vignettes from the Bristol collective Jabu. Stitched together like a proper mixtape and sequenced with aplomb in a manner befitting of seasoned radio DJs, Boiling Wells consists of roughly 50 minutes of musical experiments ‘from the ‘hinterland between records.’ I hope this means that there is a new Jabu record on the way because their last album, Sweet Company, was a real joy.
Reading the brief release notes on Bandcamp you get the feeling Jabu were not so sure of the music contained here but let's just take this as artistic modesty because this is a delightful and rewarding listen. The trio of Alex Rendall, Jasmine Butt & Amos Childs establish a lowlit moody vibe from the off that is a joy to get lost in over and over again. I guess you could say this sort of release is perfect for the ‘streaming era,’ but as one Discogs commenter states effusively, the music here deserves a vinyl pressing! To these ears, Boiling Wells is quintessential Jabu and a fine introduction to the band for anyone unfamiliar.
Various Artists - it wasn’t really me - Knekelhuis
This recent compilation from Dutch label Knekelhuis piqued my curiosity due to the presence of South Korean duo Salamanda. Their vibrant, colourful style of productions can veer between tricky, knotty percussive 100bpm club jams and otherworldly, mutated ambience and has become a firm favourite at TP HQ. Do check their 2022 LP, Ashbalkum, for the Human Pitch label. This seemed quite distinct from the brash industrial-tinged synth and electro and archival NED-wave I had pigeon-holed Knekelhuis with since their inception in the mid-2010s.
Such curiosity was rewarded not only by ‘Drink Wisdom,’ Salamanda’s twinkling contribution which evokes the hypothetical situation of John Hassell reworking Geinoh Yamashirogumi’s classic score for Akira, but the compilation as a whole. Chicago act Purelink, Knekelhuis regular SSIEGE, Club Chai’s Lara Sarkissian and the mysterious Civilistjävel! are among those invited to indulge in some introspective ‘rustic gloom.’ it wasn’t really me has made me want to investigate the rest of the label’s more recent output and is perfect music for mooching around a murky London on a cold January afternoon with an edible working its magic.
Bookworms - dyslexia 3.5 - self-released
Listening to this album from Bookworms has me pondering what exactly I’ve done with my life in the intervening decade since I was introduced to his music on that Love Triangles/African Rhythms 12” on LIES White Label back in 2012. Has it really been that long???!! Anyway, dyslexia 3.5 is one serious release, coming at the end of a 2022 when Bookworms put out quite a lot of music. It dropped in unassuming fashion and without fanfare, as so much good music does nowadays, on the Bookworms bandcamp late into December so it was easy to miss. So glad I caught the bandcamp email on this one!
I don’t listen to techno-adjacent sounds as much as I once did; mostly because I don’t DJ (badly) in clubs anymore or pretend to be a music critic anymore but the opening track ‘Citric Acid’ had me hooked! A deep, off the cuff, techno cut that veers all over the shop, driven by the same loose rhythms that I found so appealing in that aforementioned LIES record ten+ years ago. Fans of Terrence Dixon’s deep brand of techno will find a lot that resonates on dyslexia 3.5, but this is not the only style adopted here. There are also some really involving deviations into smudgy, intricate beatdown, unnerving ambient and stretched out dubbbbbb-technooooooo.
That’s all for this week, stay tuned
NR team
London’s community voice, broadcast live from a converted shipping container atop of Netil Market - project facilitated and supported by Eat Work Art