TIMELESS SPIRAL: Michael Hawley's Favorite New Music 2011 Video Playlist

Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks: "Senator"



R.E.M.: "Mine Smell Like Honey"



R.E.M.: "Alligator_Aviator_Autopilot_Antimatter"



Beth Ditto: "I Wrote the Book"



Hunx and his Punx: "That's the Curse of Being Young"



PJ Harvey: "The Words That Maketh Murder"



PJ Harvey: "Written On the Forehead"



Fountains of Wayne: "Someone's Going to Break Your Heart"



The Go! Team: "Secretary Song"



Beastie Boys: "Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win"



Rye-Rye (feat. M.I.A.): "Sunshine"



Thurston Moore: "Circulation"

Read more »

Michael Hawley, Timeless Spiral,

{[['']]}

TIMELESS SPIRAL—Tommy James & the Shondells

As current and necessary as the Occupy Wall Street movement feels, it likewise conjures up a certain nostalgia for the protests characteristic of the late sixties, which in turn engenders conflicted feelings within me. As much as has changed in 40+ years since I was an idealistic teenager of the counterculture, my jaundiced eye isn't convinced these changes have been for the better. They certainly don't meet the promise we expected of change at the time. Then again, could they ever? Inversely, if anything hasn't changed it is precisely the constant need for the role of the citizenry to remain vigilant and to redress social injustice. Thus, I am in full solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement and praise each and every foot soldier on the streets of America, even as I harbor deep concern that the very forces of social protest that once proved so effective in decades past have somehow become co-opted by the corporate forces they now oppose.

Whenever I desire change, I turn to the music that informed the activism of my youth, even as I understand that much of this music was engineered to cater to the spirit of the time with its lyrical emphasis on the role that recreational drug use played in altering entrenched attitudes. But it's the feeling that things can change that I have to hold on to, all these years later when—more than ever—dark forces seek to bankrupt the light. One of the predominant anthems of social change from the late '60s was "Crystal Blue Persuasion" by Tommy James & the Shondells and, listening to it this morning, the song struck me as one of those echoes that ripple out from one period of significant change to another. May the persuasive power of popular protest endure forever.

"Crystal Blue Persuasion" (1969)



"Crimson & Clover" (1968)



"I Think We're Alone Now" (1967)



"Gettin' Together" (1967)

Read more »

Occupy Wall Street, Timeless Spiral, Tommy James and the Shondells,

{[['']]}

TIMELESS SPIRAL: DIAMANDA GALÁS

"My World Is Empty Without You" (live in St. Johann/Tirol; 11/15/97)



"I'm Going to Live My Life" (live in St. Johann/Tirol; 11/15/97)



"Gloomy Sunday"



"Let My People Go" (Night Music live performance)



"I Put A Spell On You" (Live)



"You Must Be Certain of the Devil" (especially when it comes to male vanity, which is as diabolical as it gets!)



Recoil - Strange Hours (feat. Diamanda Galas)



"Exeloume: The Divine Punishment" (used in The Last King of England)



"Let's Not Chat About Despair" (Photo montage)



Diamanda Galás & John Paul Jones: "Do You Take This Man?"



Diamanda Galás & John Paul Jones: "At the Dark End of the Street" (mixed with scenes from Wong Kar-wai's In The Mood For Love)



Diamanda Galás & John Paul Jones: "Skótoseme" (live 1994, with a young Jon Stewart as host)



"Scream of Love"



"Judgment Day" (Live)



Jonh Zorn & Diamanda Galas-Metamorfosis (La classe operaia va in paradiso): from the album Big Gun of Jonh Zorn with a collaboration by Diamanda Galas. This includes scenes from the movie Begotten.

Read more »

Diamanda Galás, Timeless Spiral,

{[['']]}