Sunday, December 19, 2010

Obsolete Worlds


Obsolete World by Jeannie Paske

"There is a world tucked away behind this one. An old world made up of endless fields,distant hills and timeworn cliffs. A place where the sun is always setting. A land in which extinct slow-moving monsters and elegant gentle-faced creatures of all shapes and sizes reside. Delicately balancing their hope with despair. Reminiscent of long departed dreams and uncollected thoughts. Time stands still here, so as to let the residents gaze in solitude upon the vast, richly textured skies. Forever in search of a place to better sit and watch their world pass them by."



Beautiful images and beautiful sensibility to them. Somehow similar to the one I felt when I wanted to become an illustrator long time ago in a galaxy far away.







Friday, December 17, 2010

SCAC text follow-up

...which only metaphysics and alchemy could explain.


It kinda made my day :)

Kakav trip (meni, a pretpostavljam i njima)


Slim Cessna's Auto Club pod jelkom

pročitajte ovaj tekst i na Dokolici B92

Kako se godina primiče kraju, svi počinju da razmišljaju o onoj koja nadolazi. O planovima, o odlukama, o željama. Muzički fanovi počinju da sastavljaju neizostavne liste - najboljih albuma, najboljih pesama, najboljih koncerata u godini na izmaku, a tu i tamo se provlače želje šta bi želeli da čuju u narednoj godini. Najradije uživo, naravno.

Lično bih bila najsrećnija kada bi se pod mojom muzičkom novogodišnjom jelkom stvorio koncert Slim Cessna’s Auto Club. Ova veselo mračna, groteskno komična denverska družina već godinama važi za jedan od najboljih koncertnih bendova u SAD i to sa dobrim razlogom. Obavijeni velom njihovog šoua ne možete biti sigurni da li vam „propovednici“ sa bine žele dobrodošlicu u raj ili vam deklamuju razloge zašto bivate spovođeni pravo u pakao. U bilo kom slučaju, utisak je nadrealan, van ovog sveta.

Pokušaj kategorizacije SCAC-a je vrlo nezahvalan, a i nepotreban posao - njihov gotik-kantri-pank-gospel živi za sebe, potpuno samouvereno i ostvareno. Slim Cessna i Jay Munly su samo figurativno dva frontmena - iako smešteni u dva tela, na bini postaju čas jedna osoba, čas potpuni antipodi, čas svaki po nekoliko ličnosti. Njihovi rituali tokom nastupa su planirani samo do određene granice - van njih vlada potpuna neizvesnost. Čudna spona između dva čudna pevača ima sopstvenu volju. „Mislim da je ono što radimo mnogo manje gluma nego što ljudi pretpostavljaju. Postoji duh u živoj muzici“, kaže Slim. I zaista, teško da možete glumiti ili planirati sva međusobna začikavanja, posednuto cupkanje i naprslo koleno, a pogotovo ne možete kontrolisati oči-u-oči momente sa publikom. A njima SCAC koncerti itekako obiluju.

Često bizarni, mračni i slojeviti, tekstovi pesama po svedočenju samog benda govore „o narodu“ - o običnim ljudima i tajnama i razdorima koje u sebi nose. Zato je sigurno da je bliski kontakt sa publikom bitan za Cesnu i Manlija kao izvor inspiracije. U odbljesku pogleda bližnjeg svog vas mogu sačekati razna iznenađenja; ponekad su smešna, ponekad jeziva, a ponekad i jedno i drugo. Upravo je navedena kombinacija ono što boji kako samu muziku Auto Cluba, tako i njeno suludo živo otelotvorenje.

Isto kako se Zemlja malo pomerila iz svoje ose usled udara cunamija 2004, ubeđena sam da se slično dešava sa mozgovima publike kada ih zapljusne SCAC talas. Čak ni Jello Biafra (za čijiAlternative Tentаcles izdaju) često ne može da mu odoli, pa se i sam priključuje surfovanju -ponekad ga čineći još bizarnijim. Najbliže što su Slim Cessna’s Auto Club prišli našim prostorima bilo je kada su proleća 2009. svirali u Beču, u tom (još uvek viznom) momentu tako blizu, a tako daleko. Dok se ponovo ne odvaže na „divlji istok“, ostaje nam da uživamo u live albumu „Jesus Let Me Down“ i brišemo prašinu sa mesta ispod imaginarne muzičke jelke sačuvanog za njih i druge drage nam izvođače.


Friday, December 3, 2010

Handsome Furs u Gun Clubu


Kako su Zgodna Krzna poklonila himnu jednom Belom Gradu.

Kanadski elektro indie dvojac Handsome Furs je uspeo da uradi za naše koncertne pojmove nepojmljivu stvar - da izgradi publiku gotovo od nule. Od nekoliko desetina stidljivih posetilaca prvog koncerta jeseni 2008. do punog, glasnog i razdraganog Gun Cluba 2. decembra 2010. Uspeh je više nego zaslužen i predisponiran neverovatnim nastupima benda, njihovom harizmom i iskrenom ljubavi prema prostorima istočno od Gvozdene zavese i prema Beogradu - po sopstvenom priznanju jedne od omiljenih im destinacija. Izašli su na binu puni energije i iskrenog entuzijazma, a ta osećanja su se samo pojačavala kako je veče odmicalo. Predivno je videti dvoje muzičara koji su jednako uzbuđeni zbog publike koliko i publika zbog njih - stvara se neraskidiva veza koja je u malo više od sat vremena sposobna da proizvede enormne količine pozitivnog naelektrisanja.

Led večeri je probila domaća podrška Lula Mae, pomalo bojažljivo i nesigurno - što je potpuno razumljivo s obzirom na to da iza sebe imaju tek jedan EP i ne mnogo koncertnog iskustva. Bio bi usiljen i verovatno nepošten zadatak ocenjivati ih u ovom ranom stadijumu. Njihov minimalistički, melanholični elektro-akustični zvuk je po tempu kontrast onome što su doneli Handsome Furs. Osetni su uticaji engleskih elektronskih ambijentalaca, poput Piano Magic iz srednje faze, no servirano na laganiji način, sa delikatnijim senzibilitetom. Na bini su živopisni i činjenica da im je stalo do onoga što stvaraju se svakako oseća i na kraju pobeđuje tenziju. Nadajmo se da će još uvek nežna klica Lula Mae nastaviti da raste u dobrom pravcu - da će pustiti svoj kreativni potencijal da nesputano teče, da će postati svoja i da neće upasti u zamku koja mori mnoge domaće bendove - da usled težnje za uklapanjem u određeni šablon počnu da jure sopstveni rep.


Nedugo potom, snažne ovacije su dočekale izlazak Zgodnih Krzna na binu. Energijom koju poseduju, Den Bekner i Aleksi Peri bi mogli da istope glečere na polovima mnogo efikasnije i od najsurovijih klimatskih promena. Bitovi koji sežu od osmobitne elektronike do industriala i koje Aleksi stvara kako mašinama, tako i sopstvenim bosim stopalima, gitarske žice koje vibriraju od jednostavnih melodičnih rifova do drona, Denov srčani vokal i esencija pravog, nenašminkog panka jednostavno teraju telo na pokret, a onaj najznačajniji nam grudni mišić na ubrzan rad. Wolf Parade su možda (bili) velike zvezde indie scene, ali HF su tvorevina gde Den Bekner zaista sija. Jaka hemijska veza koja vlada između mladog bračnog para na bini u svoju mrežu jako brzo hvata i sve ispred njih. Ne možete pobeći, jer ona premošćuje sve prepreke. Den je preksinoć u Ljubljani ozbiljno povredio nogu, međutim ni ona nije mogla da miruje - električni talas nosi i izvlači ono najbolje iz svega, tako da je bol ostao marginalizovan, a šou potpuno neoštećen.


Imali smo priliku da čujemo dosta novih pesama sa predstojećeg albuma i zaista obećavaju. Apsolutno su na tragu prethodnog rada, ali su još strastvenije, eksplozivnije i čvršćeg ritamskog kostura - kao da se stari HF zvuk tokom svemirskog putovanja očešao o Deutsch Amercanische Freundschaft. Nova iskustva su im sigurno otvorila nova vrata percepcije - nemirni kakvi su, HF su u prethodnih godinu dana obišli najveći deo istočnog sveta kojim su fascinirani (fino zabeleženo u CNN specijalu „Indie Asia“) i to im je očigledno podarilo novi naboj. Tako je jedna od novih pesama posvećena muzičarima Kine i represivnoj kineskoj politici vezanoj za bendove. Uz muziku HF se možete veseliti, ali ona često poseduje i mnogo ozbiljniju skrivenu notu, mračnu koliko i svakodnevica. Jer oni ne doživljavaju stvari olako.


Upravo zbog činjenice da ono što rade shvataju suštinski ozbiljno, u očima im se ogledala zahvalnost prema činjenici da su ponovo u Beogradu. Najveći dokaz i najlepša oda tome je pesma White City. Pojavila se na albumu Face Control koji je izašao ubrzo posle prvog beogradskog nastupa, u kratkom obliku, kao neka vrsta teasera. Pod utiscima svega što su upili ovde pustili su je da raste i razvija se, a sinoć smo imali čast da čujemo njen poslednji evolutivni stadijum. Beograd je dobio svoju prvu indie himnu! Izbor starih pesama je bio takav da se kao „lego“ uklapao sa novim materijalom, a tu na radost publike bili i hitične Evangeline, Radio Kaliningrad, Dead + Rural...

Obitavanje Handsome Furs na ovim prostorima se pretvara u lepu tradiciju na veliko zadovoljstvo svih uključenih strana. Beograd, koji konstantno biva zapljusnut naletima reanimiranih ili nepopravljivo mrtvih bendova, za promenu je imao dragocenu priliku da čuje nešto istinski živo. I ne samo to - imao je priliku da kroz dve godine i tri nastupa prati razvoj benda i zapravo učestvuje u njegovoj evoluciji. Handsome Furs nikog prisutnog nisu mogli da ostave ravnodušnim, zato što je „ravnodušnost“ antipod onoga što oni jesu - požrtvovani, darežljivi, strastveni, sa neverovatnom gladi za životom. Jer sve što oni žele je - sve.


Foto: Reakcija
Galeriju fotografija sa koncerta možete pogledati ovde.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

The Kill Devil Hills - Belgrade interview

Intervju na srpskom možete pročitati ovde (B92)

Prikaz BGD nastupa

“You give up the control over to the road itself”

In the days between October 19th and 24th, Belgrade, Zrenjanin, Smederevska Palanka (Serbia), Velenje (Slovenia) and Zagreb (Croatia) came under an unexpected Australian desert storm. Instead of dust, it carried at the same time melancholic and sonic guitar and fiddle sounds, “served” in the manner that goes somewhere between blues, folk, garage rock and post-punk noise. The Kill Devil Hills are one of the bands of the Earth’s driest continent whose career is steadily going upwards. Up until this date, they’ve released 3 albums: Heathen Songs (2004), The Drought (2006) i Man, You Should Explode (2010); every one of them has a specific atmosphere and brings new elements in the game. KDH have a really unique music expression; sure, your ear could catch some familiar strains of sound - traditional folk tunes, guitar skills and strength like that of The Drones or The Beasts Of Bourbon, the americana melody and some of the Nick Cave & Bad Seeds darkness, but esencially their sound is their own, authentic. What gets under the skin the most is perhaps the sensibility - KDH have found „that thin line between beauty and savagery“. By following their own music instincts, they came under the radar of serious international critique - The Rolling Stone magazine called their latest album Man, You Should Explode „one of the best releases of 2010“, and had forseen their breakthrough on the international scene. The magazine’s words came true - this fall KDH jumped over the oceans to have shows in Europe, and they’ve really warmed it up. And thanks to Bad Music For Bad People, they’ve also reached the Balkan soil.

Between the two Belgrade shows, on October 20th, frontman Brendon Humphries, guitarist Steve Joines and bass player Ryan Dux and myself discussed their tour experiences, Australian climate, acoustics and electrics, the beauty Belgrade women and of course - Nick Cave.

So this is your biggest non-Australian tour yet?

Brendon: We did a short tour to Australia and Canada about 3 years ago. It was a bit strange - quickly put together. This is our first time in Europe and we’ve been working on this particular tour for some time now, to get a grant from Australian government, because it’s obviously expensive to come from Australia. It was difficult to organize, but maybe that’s why we’re loving it so much.

What’s your impression on your European shows so far?

Steve: In the Basque area of Spain we had a fair crowd. Though all the gigs have been good, regardless of number of people attending.

Brendon: We had our first two albums released by Bang! Records from Spain. They release some Australian music for Europe, so I think that the places those albums reached the most have been really receptive - France, and then of course Spain. Bang! Records are based in the Basque country, so the support there was great. In some shows there were almost 200 people. On the other hand, there were places in Germany where we played for like, 10 people. But those were mostly small, private clubs, illegal clubs, so it was cool - I don’t think there was a show that was “stupid” or a waste of time. There are probably some places that we wouldn’t like to go back to again, but it’s all been a learning experience. And Serbia is a really pleasant surprise. In every way.

But it’s been (physically) hard getting to here, right?

Steve: Oh yes. We had a broken tire somewhere near Trieste, Italy and it was impossible to find somebody to fix it on Sunday there. We finally fixed it in a little town in Slovenia the next day, and the guy who fixed the tire actually knew about the band! So it was quite a shock.

Brendon: We have to put him on the door list when we play in Slovenia, because he helped us so much.

The thing that is noticeable in this region (and beyond) many people tend to think that all music that comes from Australia is somehow closely connected or comparable to Nick Cave. What are your thoughts on that?

Steve: Ridiculous! Nick Cave is just one part of Australian music.

Brendon: I’m probably the only person in the band who is a huge Nick Cave fan. Not so much anymore, but twenty years ago when I discovered his music it was probably my favorite stuff. But there are other great Australian bands, like The Beasts Of Bourbon... I’m a huge fan of Australian music and I think probably listen to that than the other guys. But in my mind we’re influenced as much with American music - Neil Young, or Bob Dylan as with Australian music. American style of music influenced a lot of Australian bands, and you get stereotype of Nick Cave to be most successful. He’s an example of someone in Australia taking that sort of stuff and becoming internationally recognized for it. But no one in Australia gave a shit about Nick Cave until Kyle Minogue got into his fucking song!

Steve: The biggest with Nick Cave is that his old music has particular rawness to it which I think runs through Australian music. Like the Beasts Of Bourbon, and other Australian bands - it’s very raw and real, basically pub music.

Ryan: I like Nick Cave, but his success in Europe is probably due to marketing. And indeed, many of our interviews or posters have something to do with Nick Cave.

Brendon: We’re know The Bad Seeds and are aware of that they’re big in Europe. I guess that mentioning us as being similar could be useful sometimes. I think there are elements of our music that are similar, but I hope there are quite different as well.

What music influences do you recognize in your own work?

Brendon: The thing about the band is that we’re not all interested in the same music. Actually, we often hate each other’s taste in music.

Steve: I think that’s actually important for our band. And for example, Brendon and I did a show together, must be twenty years ago. We didn’t actually know each other and we played in different bands. I was in a metal band, and he was in something I considered a goth band, so that’s where we come from *laughs*.

Brendon: He was listening to Slayer and I was listening to Joy Division or something. Somewhere in the middle of everything you get folk music and you could define what we do as folk music. Some really common examples of what we all share would be Neil Young, Rolling Stones, Johnny Cash, Tom Waits maybe. Also, lots of old blues and country, Hank Williams for example. Then, there is some metal. I listen to a lot of folk, Americana stuff... Ryan is a big Creedence Clearwater Revival fan. But I don’t actually listen to a lot of music. I find that I spend most of my musical imaginary life listening to our music and working on our music. Seriously. I get bored with listening to other music, I’m more interested in making our own I suppose.

Ryan: Rick Rubin, American recordings, all that stuff too.

I can’t shake the feeling that your music carries a piece of atmosphere of the dry, harsh Australian climate. Is that just in my mind or...?

Steve: Well, I guess it must be there somewhere. Cause we sure have a dry climate.

Brendon: I don’t think our music is really urban. It’s not kind of inter-city rock thing. For example, we recorded The Drought in the countryside, and we definitely all love the raw environment, I guess that it inspires us and makes us feel good, simple as that. Also, maybe that’s the key, in Australia we spend a lot of time driving because of the geography, the vast empty space. I always love the albums which I can put on when I go for a long drive. That’s my favorite music and most of the time I listen to music at all is when I’m driving. I always keep coming back to certain albums. So to me it’s always wanting to have that sort of album you can listen to in a car.

Steve: My first job out of high school included a lot of driving through the desert. I was driving and driving for miles, listening to Neil Young’s Harvest, and just loving it. It was fitting in perfectly.

Your first album Heathen songs, has that feel of vast desert spaces particularly...

Brendon: I think that it’s the fact that was recorded live, with few overdubs. It’s that mentioned rawness again. I think we all go for that organic sound. Many Australian bands record in that matter. You always get a more tangible feeling for it - you can sort of touch it, smell it.

That’s the thing - all of your three albums have different feeling and atmosphere to them. The first was raw and acoustic, The Drought was louder and more layered, and finally your latest album is more rock, guitar-oriented. In the same time, your live shows became louder and more sonic experiences. It’s like there was a some sort of click that brought that change. When and how did that happen?

Brendon: In 2008. we really changed the band. Our line-up changed; the bass player and the mandolin player left the band - got kids and various other reasons. We wanted to get a bass player that was more rockery, so Ryan joined the band. I bought electric guitar. We started as an acoustic band, became acoustic band that played fucking loud and it sounded like shit. So we decided to adjust our sound a bit.

Steve: Also, with acoustic instruments we started being shoved in a particular corner: “folk music”, “cowboy music”... And I think many people started seeing us as a parody of “cowboy music”. We were offered a lots of blues and roots shows and kind of got stuck in that blues/roots territory. It’s how people define you: if you’ve got acoustic guitars you’re folk or country. Everyone just wanted to get away from it.

So Ryan, how did you get aboard?

Ryan: Alex (Archer, violin player) called me up. I played some shows with The Floors in Western Australia and he asked me if I can fill in. I learned the songs and played the next gig, and then the next gig, and than the next gig and I said “Well, I might as well stay now”.

Steve: It actually started with an idea that Ryan was getting paid. Then we asked him if he wanted to be in the band, and he said yes, which was foolish - cause it means that the pay stops *laughs*

Ryan: And now I’m broke!

Unlike some artists, you guys have real day jobs supporting you. How do you balance your regular lives and your music lives? Does the work you do builds into your music?

Brendon, Steve, Ryan: Yes!

Brendon: I think it’s the fact that everyone has everyday lives... Also it’s money. We all work to subsidize, we don’t make a living out of the music. Sometimes it’s hard doing all this, because you’re working all week and you have to play a show in the end.

Ryan: It’s like two full-time jobs.

Steve: I remember one point when we were all working full time and rehearsing and gigging an awful lot. It was hard for a long time, but we do it cause we love it. It’s the yin and yang of balancing the work and music.

Do you miss your daily routines while touring? How difficult is it to adjust?

Steve: Well I think that we all miss clean clothes. And simple things too.

Brendon: What’s really cool, when you’re working and playing shows you’re changing hats, which takes a certain amount of energy. And what I’ve always loved about touring is that your job is simply to go from place A to place B to place C and play shows. You stay in contact with people, you do some business or e-mail people, but your responsibilities are only that. I find that strangely relaxing. You give up the control over to the road itself.

You all are involved with a number of side projects. One would get the feeling that the Western Australia's music seen is pretty lively?

Brendon: We joke about Western Australia because it's relatively small and isolated, that there's about a thousand bands and thirty musicians playing in them.

Steve: I think Alex, our fiddle player, was in six bands at one point.

Brendon: We've played a lot in each other's work, and of other friends that we've known for a long time. I think that's pretty normal and it's actually cool when you jump in on someone's project to do a bit of recording to it. Steve and I used to play in a band called The Gutterville Splendor Six. That was a band that kind of spawned KDH. Working with The Drones was important for my musical passage and it really changed the way I saw music.

That brings us to the question how KDH got together at all?

Brendon: I had a girlfriend who was born on August the 7th. We broke up, but she knew Steve who was also born on August the 7th . So I kind of swapped him for my girlfriend. It was an astrological swicheroo (laughs)

Steve: She suggested to Brendon and to me that we should get together, cause we'd like each other's songs. And we did. I don't really know if we had any intention, or any idea of where we'd go or what would happen... But we made ourselves an area to play the songs that we'd both probably play at home on our verandas after gigs with other bands. The really honest music.

Brendon: When we started this we said “Ok; we both played in bands for years, carrying heavy shit around - amplifiers, drums, base boxes, so let just keep this really simple - two acoustic guitars and that's it”. We failed that experiment, but that's the intention we started with - just to keep it really simple and gentle... I think there's still that element in our music, but we kind of got a bit bored of the acoustic sound. That became a limit rather than freedom. You sort of start chasing your own tail.

Steve: The way band came was pretty organic too. We both had known our drummer, Gibbo (Steve Gibson, regular drummer for KDH, but absent on the European tour), not really well, but we had a similar idea what we wanted of drums - which was hand drums. So Gibbo came along. We did a show one night, and one guy (Justin Castley, former bass player) approached us and basically just said “Do you want an upright bass player?”. So he came along too. And then Alex rang me one night and said “I heard that you fuckers are playing in Hyde park. I'm comin' and I'm bringing a violin”. He's been at a band ever since *laughter*.

The way Alex plays his violin is really stunning.

Actually he didn’t play violin before he met us. I had to kind of pressure him to join the band. One night after we met him, we played some songs in his shed and he pulled out a violin and just started playing. I said “That was great. Love it. You’re in the band”, and he was like “I can’t fuckin’ play that thing!”. I kept calling him every few months, then I gave him our demo, and he actually taught himself to play. “6=5” was the first song he learned to play on a violin. He created his own style of playing that came specifically from the songs that we are playing. He also plays piano, guitar, clarinet... He’s an amazing musician.


It was hard for you to imagine that you'll end up playing in the Balkans. Now you're here, what are your impressions of Belgrade?

Steve: We love it. Honestly, this is my favorite city of all that we've been to. Hands down.

Brendon: It's actually hard to explain why, but we feel really comfortable here. I think that we haven't had any expectations - I read about it a bit through years, and have friends that are from here, but I couldn’t make any guesses

Steve: Maybe it's because it's not so touristy, like other big cities. Good food too, and the women... Belgrade is number 1 place we've been to for beautiful women. And the rain is nice, cause we don't get a lot of it at home.

And the club and the crowd? Though Zica is a small place, the atmosphere was great. You saw that everyone's was singing along to Drinking Too Much.

Steve: Realizing while you're playing that people are actually singing the songs is a great surprise! And I think that all of us prefer that dingy, smokey type of space. It's more intimate.

Brendon: We usually prefer smaller environments, rather than being removed from the crowd. It's better playing in a small space that's full rather than in a big one that's empty. So I think it suits us at this moment.

You really put on an amazing performance - no person left the club cold-hearted. It's like your songs unravel themselves live and often get a different final shape...

Steve: There's a difference between us live and recorded, definitely. The songs are not so rigid and we allow them to move and change. Stuff we made five years ago and play live now - it sounds different. Sometimes you wish you could record them again.

But your experimenting is not pretentious - it just flows naturally. And the people feel it and that's why they react so well.

Steve: I think it comes from us being together for a long time. For example, “Brown Skin” we played last night, I don't think we played that song in I recon, six years. Something new always happens.

Brendon: We're aware that it's a long way; It's a different culture, it's a different type of music. So we've been really surprised by reactions in Spain, France and finally in Serbia... People know our stuff and actually care about it. We feel really privileged.


Hipermarket OST

pročitajte ovaj tekst i na Dokolici B92


Elvis je živ negde među rafovima...



Hipermarketi. Mesta gde možete jeftino kupiti sve što mislite da vam treba, pod uslovom da ste spremni da žrtvujete sate i sate života vrteći se po beskrajnim rafovima nakićenim akcijama, popustima, gratisima i nebulozama. Zdanja koja više liče na ogromne magacine nego na prodavnice predstavljaju Meku za džabolovce („bargain hunters“) - ljude koji potrošnju vide kao ekonomski ples, a uštedu kao njegov najelegantniji pokret. Štedeći dinar po dinar i gomilajući gratis proizvode ispunjavaju svoju životnu misiju. S druge strane, tu su zaposleni - potpuna suprotnost što se tiče količine hiper-elana, umorni od gužve, neonskog svetla, repetativnog posla i malih plata. Magacioner bahato baca dobara punu kutiju, čistačice se svađaju na koju je red da počisti ono što se iz dotične kutije prosulo, kasirke jedva čekaju da nekoga optuže za krađu, a promoterke se šizofreno čas smeškaju kupcima, čas reže jedna na drugu.


Ali šta je ono što spaja sve strane zatočene u džinovskoj džabolovačkoj kutiji? Pa to što svi posle nekog vremena počnu da pevuše iste pesme. Naime, pošto i kupce i radnike valja malo relaksirati, svaki hipermarket ima svoj odabrani muzički repertoar, svoj oficijalni saundtrek. Da bi ispunio navedene zadatke, saundtrek mora biti odmeren - pesme moraju biti poznate i hitične; vesele, ali ne histerične; nešto što znate napamet čak i ako vam je zamagljeno kako se stvar zove i ko je izvodi; nešto zaglavljeno u svačijoj podsvesti. Deo jedne tipične „hiper-liste“ izgleda ovako:

Eagles - Hotel California
Duran Duran - Come Undone
Foreigner - I Want to Know What Love Is
En Vouge - Don’t Let Go
Falco - Rock Me Amadeus


Ono što je još umobolniji problem hipermarket OST-a od činjenice da na njemu obitava Falco, jeste da obično postoji samo jedna plejlista. Izbor od 20-ak jeftinih „evergrinova“ se ponavlja u beskraj, istim redosledom. Svakog dana, non-stop. Vaša kupovina ili smena traju satima, tako da ćete pesme prinudno slušati po više puta. Neke stvari imaju primat - tako recimo u jednom od beogradskih hipermarketa Suspicious Minds Elvisa Presley-a zauzima čak 3 mesta na malenoj listi. Dva koraka ispred ostalih po frekvenciji ponavljanja, pretvara se u svojevrsnu himnu. Kralj je svuda Kralj, pa tako i među rafovima.


Dok vam u ušima odzvanjaju meki zvuci do ljigavosti romantičnog hita, gotovo možete videti Elvisov duh kako đuska između Alkoholnih pića i Kozmetike. Da li Kralj pomaže vernim kupcima da guraju preopterećena kolica? Da li im šapuće gde se kriju najpovoljnije akcije? Da li promoviše izbeljivače za veš u svom besprekorno belom kostimu? Da li se po potrebi pretvara u nasmejanu kasirku koja na kraju kupovine izgovori čuveno „Thank yooou, thank yooou“?

Na neki način, ponavljanje Suspicious Minds nosi određenu simboliku. Hipermarketi su oličenje američke kupoholičarske megalomanije koja se nametnula čitavoj planeti, slično kao i Elvisovo carovanje rokenrolom. Američka kultura dominira Zemljom, a uskoro će dominirati i kosmosom - jer ako Elvis nije mrtav, već živi na Mesecu kao što neki pretpostavljaju, to samo sigurni prekusor nicanja zemaljskih hipermarketa na sivom tlu našeg vernog satelita. Kada je reč o modernom Zemljaninu u raljama materijalizma, početni stihovi “We're caught in a trap / I can’t walk out / Because I love you too much baby“ itekako imaju smisla. Svako od nas krije malo Elvisa u sebi.


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Veliki umovi nose veliku potrebu za utapanjem u alkoholu?


Temeljna i dugoročna američka i ništa kraća britanska socijalna studija iznele su na svetlost dana zanimljive i neočekivane podatke - da bistrija deca imaju veći potencijal da kao odrasli pomute um alkoholom. Na prvi pogled ovo ne deluje smisleno, jer je najčešća slika pijanca neko crvenog nosa, „sa pola mozga“ i bez prebijene pare. No svet kakav je danas je mnogo komplikovaniji od nekih starih stereotipa.

Korelacija inteligencije ispitivane dece i unosa alkohola u njihovim 20-im, 30-im i 40-im godinama života u V. Britaniji (izvor: psychologytoday.com)

Ovi izveštaji su izazvali pravu bujicu slobodnih hipoteza u internet univerzumu i blogosferi, a sve pokušavaju da objasne kako je došlo do razvoja ovog fenomena. Zašto bi inteligentni ljudi bili skloniji upotrebi jedne na duže staze „nepametne“ supstance? Koja može ozbiljno ugroziti zdravlje, kao i funkcionisanje samog mozga? Mogu se pročitati različita mišljenja. Recimo, evoluciona psihologija tvrdi, između ostalog, da je veća potreba za alkoholom kod inteligentnijih odraz „evolutivnog razvitka“ ove populacije - put od trulog (fermentisanog) voća do proizvedenog pića uključivao je razvoj nauke i tehnologije, pa autor dolazi do zaključka da su oni koji su doneli alkoholna pića civilizaciji morali biti inteligentni; drugi hipotetišu da „pametnija deca imaju potrebu da kada odrastu, nadoknade sve ono što su propustili u mladosti zbog pritiska u školi“, kao i da je veća verovatnoća da pametni klinci završe na boljim radnim mestima, a bolja pozicija znači više odgovornosti - samim tim i više stresa. Raniji britanski podaci već su doveli u vezu inteligenciju, poslovni angažman i unos alkohola.

Podaci su intrigantni, ali spekulisati je nezahvalno - evolutivna psihologija je za sebe još uvek na klimavim temeljima; i ko može da tvrdi da većina inteligentnih ljudi mora da „upinje“ u školi ili da će uopšte završiti na dobrim poslovima? Ne možete znati koliko je pijanac-beskućnik ispred dragstora bio pametan i emancipovan pre nego što je otpočeo svoj alkoholni staž. Međutim, jedan zanimljiv članak vreba na Food&Wine blogu. Ono što ga čini specifičnim je da se autor ne izuzima iz analizirane grupe, već sebe smatra delom nje. Tekst pomalo superiorno obojen - „mi inteligentne šljokare pijemo da bi smo tolerisali druge”, ali s druge strane ima solidnu dozu iskrenosti i ličnog doživljaja. U kratkim crtama, objašnjava da alkohol inhibira rad određenih receptora u mozgu sa jednom svrhom - da otme volan vašem mozgu, opusti vas, a potom ostavi da pričate (i pravite) gluposti. Prosto - u socijalnim situacijama možete biti napeti, anksiozni ili neraspoloženi jer smatrate ljude i razgovore glupim i dosadnim, nalazite u neprijateljskoj sredini, niste zadovoljni sopstvenom ličnošću u datoj situaciji, ili ste preopterećeni i jednostavno ne želite da imate jasnu sliku šta se oko vas zbiva. Ono što vam nabija osećaj tenzije je upravo vaš vredni, pametni mozgonja, koji vas zasipa informacijama koje ne želite, a koje bi manje oštroumnoj osobi možda ostale van domašaja. I jednostavno ne možete da ga ućutkate, osim ako ga ne utopite u čašici. Ili pet... šest... sedam...

Ono što se ne spominje je činjenica da su mnogi inteligentni ljudi izrazito emotivno osetljivi. Ispoljavali to ili ne - imaju istančan osećaj za ono što se dešava u njima i van njih. A kada je oko vas mnogo ljudi i mnogo stranih upliva, ovo može da bude uznemirujuće, čak i zastrašujuće. Dovoljne količine alkohola proliće se preko mnogih finih sinapsi između vaših neurona čineći vas manje osetljivim, a više nemarnim i bezbrižnim. Takođe, inteligentna deca su ekstremno osetljiva na ono što im se dešava tokom odrastanja - upravo zato mogu razviti nesigurnosti i psihološke ožiljke koje će ih kasnije naterati da posegnu za alkoholom.

Naravno, vaše trenutno „blagostanje“ platiće vaša jetra, krvni sudovi, želudac, nervi i sam mozak. Jer svaki put kada pijete toliko da se ne sećate šta se dešavalo, mozak doživljava mini-oštećenja, koja se vremenom gomilaju - jer nervne ćelije su jedne od retkih u našem organizmu koje se ne obnavljaju. Kada „ubijete“ određenu količinu, vaše telo ne može da stvori nove. A to ostavlja trajne posledice na logički aparat, pamćenje, koncentraciju...

Pitanje „ko koliko pije i zašto?“ svakako je kompleksno - uključuje mnoge psihološke, socijalne i kulturološke aspekte (kako li bi studija prošla kod nas ili u Rusiji?). Ako mnogo pijete ne mora da znači da ste mnogo pametni, a definitivno ne znači da ćete postati išta pametniji. Naprotiv. Međutim, ovi podaci bacaju novo, intrigantno svetlo na problem zloupotrebe alkohola, kao i na dublje društvene probleme - kakvu podršku društva imaju njegovi najbistriji članovi ako se sa problemima nose na ovakav način? Kao da se blagoslov pretvara u kletvu. A ako i sami pripadate pijanim pametnicama budite svesni da ne pijete da zaboravite, već da zaglupite i lakše skliznete u glavni društveni tok, kakav god on bio. Da li vam to zaista odgovara?