Katharsis Mar. 3 '08

Show archived here.

Some of this week’s musical selections were, in mood at least, a musical response to the disappointing Alberta election results. The Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta, a party whose policies, actions & inactions over their 37 years of uninterrupted rule have proven them to be neither remotely progressive nor conservative (except when it comes to conserving their own power and entitlements) won a huge majority in the Legislature. The Conservatives have again been propped up by only 53% of the 41% of eligible voters that bothered to cast a ballot. Some mandate. With the already hugely disadvantage opposition parties being further decimated and shut out, democracy appears to be in serious trouble here. Thanks to the collective apathy and wilful negligence of the majority of the people living here, we can look forward to another 4 years of neglected and inadequate public infrastructure, education & healthcare and unfettered corporate-sponsored desecration/exploitation of the environment while money and natural resources flow out of the province. At this point Alberta is nothing more than a petro-fueled cash machine. Corporations and workers come here, extract as much as they can and leave, while investing as little of themselves as possible. When this oil-fueled boom is over we will be in a sorry state. In this land of greed and oil where the vast majority appears to be completely brainwashed, blinded by ideology, bound by tradition, or corrupted through personal or business connections to the PC party, it’s every man woman and child for themselves. With the way things are going here, how much longer will we even have the freedom to express such dissent?

The music: Thee Silver Mount Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-La-La Band, Hills Like White Elephants, 65 Days of Static, Remote Kid (Remixed by Morgan Greenwood), Bitcrush, Tim Hecker, Arrington de Dionyso and Bryce Panic, Tarentel, White Rainbow, Atlas Sound, Burial, Murcof vs. Hugo Amezquita, Lali Puna, Unrocognizable Now, & Bedhead.

The show recording is in .ogg format taken directly from the cjsw stream. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to share the files (Badongo, vs. Megaupload, vs. ???? The files are usually in the 140MB range so my options are a little more limited. Some of the free file hosting services are less cumbersome to use than others (ie. have shorter waiting times, less restrictive download/upload limits, faster uploads/downloads, don't split up the file, no pop-up ads, etc.). Feel free to comment with any suggestions.