Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Radio & Music >

The Coup

05:43 / 10.12.01

Okay, it is really starting to drive me crazy that I can't find a copy of Party Music in Melbourne. So if any of you lovely overseas types has a copy and wants to tape it for me, I will gladly reciprocate with a package of appealling goodies and massive, soul-squashing quantities of love and good vibes.

Or we could just talk about them - a great, hilarious anticapitalist rap group. The quote that has pushed me over the edge into 'maybe i should get a credit card solely so i can order the album off the net' territory is the following, from a rhyme boots wrote for his daughter:

quote: Tell your teacher I said princesses are evil
How they got all they money is they killed people.

How fucking cool is that? I think I'm in love.

Regrettable Juvenilia

21:02 / 06.01.02

You know, I can't find a copy of this in any of the good (ie reasonably priced) music shops in London either. I refuse to pay £17 for a copy from HMV, but equally I think I'd feel bad about burning a copy from MP3, as The Coup are surely more deserving of my cash-money than most...

So anyway, meantime I have a couple of tracks on a mix CD, and they're fantastic. Like Outkast crossed with Public Enemy except funkier and smarter and more p*l*t*c*l... my favourite has to be 'Ride The Fence' at this point. "I'm pro-Zapatista, pro-Cuba Libre..." An unashamed party anthem about the need to stop equivocating and take a stance? Yes please. "You can't do shit if you ride the fence." Love the way the verses are part straight-up lists of all the things the band are 'pro' and 'anti', but also full of wordplay and such.

Shit, maybe I will pay the £17...

No star here laces

21:19 / 06.01.02

Welcome to my world.

If you want an album on vinyl you're talking £20 a pop for hip hop plates. If you were really committed to music you'd think nothing of it. (or you'd get it sent you for free...)

21:30 / 06.01.02

I finally found a copy about 2 days after my post. The first two tracks - Everythang and 5 Million Ways to Kill A CEO - are awesome, as good as anything that came out last year. Huge, funky songs that live up to the double-play of the title, Party Music (esp. Everythang, which is probably my song of the year - "Every cancer is a homicide, every boss better run and hide, every human is some kin to black, every visa got a pin to crack, every verse is from the cardiac, every search is involuntary, every inmate wants commissary, every bank note is promissary" and other equally magnificent lyrics) The rest have, mostly, good lyrics but are far too rootsy musically - it makes me think of Arrested Development (or what I half-remember them sounding like, back when I liked them in high school). It's like they're trapped in that oh-so outdated lefty idea that machine music is reactionary, that synthetic rhythms are alienated and folk traditions are authentic, progressive, blah.

I would say save the $17 (sorry, my keyboard doesn't do pound signs), or get one of their older albums, pick up the 5 Million Ways single and I'll send you Everythang on a mixtape sometime.

21:34 / 06.01.02

Oh, and move to Australia before you lot start complaining about music prices. Regular CDs are $30, but if you're lucky you can find most stuff between $20 and $28, unless it's even remotely obscure (i.e., impossible to get decent dancehall stuff for less than about $35); hip hop LPs don't come much under $40.

21:57 / 06.01.02

and the current rate of exchange is something like $3 to £1, right? that's cheaper than here.

quoterincesses are evil

princess kooky has never denied being eeevil.

The Return Of Rothkoid

10:09 / 07.01.02

Flyboy: look on Kelkoo for it. (it's a comparison engine) Party Music is available (including postage) for £12 from Onlinepop.co.uk (£12.02 to be precise) and Musica.co.uk.

Kooky; in my experience, it ain't cheaper. Assuming you can find somewhere with the range, it is more expensive in Oz. My purchasing habits since I've been in the UK are testament to that.

10:41 / 07.01.02

if that rate of exchange is right, then $30=£10. and i don't know of many places that sell cds that cheap, apart from mr cd in berwick street.

The Return Of Rothkoid

10:50 / 07.01.02

The exchange rate's worse than that at the moment. It's roughly £11. The £17 that Flyboy mentions would roughly fit in with the cost Crunchy mentions for hip-hop LPs. (Unless you're buying old rereleases of PE, that is.)

You also have to remember that most new-release CDs in Australia that retail for that much are the equivalent of the ones you buy in Woolworth's here. If you want anything decent - or imported - you can expect $35 for starters. While it might've changed since I was last home, the domestic releases schedule ain't great. The UK is more expensive in some respects, but it's insanely cheap in a lot more; especially considering the wider range that's available here. And online purchasing makes it a lot cheaper; the online shops (well, shop, really) I've used in Australia don't tend to be any cheaper than buying from a chain. Not that there's really any good chains to speak of; you're stuck with teh RedEyes and Gaslights of the world to get anything that passes muster.

But then, my new purchases are indeed raresque. Unless it's something that's been out for a while, that is. If you like classical music over here, it is hellish, as new classical stuff on decent labels goes for around £16. Hmm. Fucking ECM.