How’s this killer summer treating y’all? Me, I just combined business with pleasure by taking the family on a roadtrip to Cornwall, to pick up a massive purple 6x12” speaker cabinet that I’d had built by a tattooed Cornish metal dude who lives down on The Lizard, the mysterious almost uninhabited upland situated at Britain’s southernmost point. Best of all, Dorian and I got to revisit the all-white quartz stone circle at Duloe for the first time in over a decade. With its small diameter and tall gnarly pillars, Duloe really bears no resemblance to any other Cornish circles, most of which generally feature around nineteen low stones set in wide diameters. And it’s tempting to see this unique place as some kind of judgement seat, especially as the stones stand on high flat ground, equidistant between the East Looe and West Looe rivers.
The night before we left, Dorian and I travelled to Bristol to watch Thrones’ show at The Croft, and pay our respect to the mighty Joe Preston, who walked out on stage bearing a massively rock BC Rich Bich bass and proceeded to blow our collective minds with his deeply adventurous programmed doom. Many times have I attempted to write about Mr Preston via an Album of the Month for such Thrones albums as SPERM WHALE and DAY LATE, DOLLAR SHORT; his epic Melvins solo album also remains a favourite. But Joe Preston’s place in the Heavy Rock Pantheon is just so ubiquitous, so very locked within his own culture that I’ve not yet been able to reach his amazing muse with words alone. Mr Preston, it was a real honour to meet you and I shall certainly continue to try…
Hey, what about all this shit Hezbollah has been stirring up for the Lebanese with their wild random shooting of rockets into civilian areas of northern Israel? These parasite assholes – who were supposedly kicked out of that neck of the woods two years ago – certainly knew what they were bringing down on the poor Lebanese; and what an outrageous Israeli response! I don’t know about you, but I think the Israelis are way way out of control this time. They can say all they like that they’ve told these villagers to leave for their own safety, but where are the southern Lebanese gonna go? Bombed in your beds or bombed on the road, what kind of choice is that? I’ve always believed that Israel’s right to rigorously defend its borders is stronger than other countries purely because of its geographical position right in the middle of peoples who wish to annihilate them. But whether or not they like it, Israelis must accept that they are the ambassadors of the worldwide Jewish Diaspora, and foul racists are always looking for an excuse to blame Zion. As a democracy, Israel has to be seen to be erring on the side of caution, or risk the wrath of their supporters in so-called Christendom. And you know how capricious Western liberals can be – many are such hippy doormats that they’ll support Islam’s most extreme racist chauvinist pig homophobes just to be contrary and because their own sorry white asses are comparatively safe.
Aluk Tolodo 7"
Kieran Hebden & Steve Reid
ALL NIGHT RAINBOW SHOW
Taurpis Tula's STEEL RODS BRUISE BUTTERFLIES
And now I shall clear off. Maybe I’ll see a few of you at the Beautiful Days festival in the middle of the month, where I’m contributing a solo set. Until then, stay alive and survive in the heat, and don’t let non-motherfuckers grind you down.
U-Know!
JULIAN OF YATESBURY (The Very Reverend Son-of-a-bitch)