August 12, 2008

New Music From Around the Blogs: Franz Ferdinand, Joanna Newsom, Saul Williams, DJ Excel

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Franz Ferdinand finally have a complete song for us to listen to at their website, although they want your e-mail address for the privelige. “Lucid Dreams” hums along pleasantly enough, at the tempo of “Take Me Out” but without the brain-seizing hooks. Hey, I think I can embed their player, so you don’t have to go here. (For fans of: Gang of Four, Buzzcocks, songs that mention Ithaca)

Via No Words comes good news for everyone into harps and stuff: a new Joanna Newsom song! Granted, in this working version of “Heart to Task,” the recording is terrible and I think you can actually hear someone sneeze. Unfortunately, proving the rabid intensity of Newsom fandom, the bandwidth limit has already been reached for the mp3, but you can still stream it here. (For fans of: Björk, CocoRosie, Narnia)

After the jump: Niggy Tardust puts feathers in his hair, and DJ Excel makes Baltimore mellow out.

AudioPorn Central has the video for the new Saul Williams track, “Convict Colony,” and it’s as nutty as you’d expect, sounding like Living Color mixed with Aphex Twin, illustrated with neon-colored imagery of explosions. Hooray! (For fans of: Nine Inch Nails, Aesop Rock, blowing stuff up)

Government Names keeps us in the B-more loop with an oddly mellow number from DJ Excel. “All Nite Long” has the thumping, syncopated bass drum that’s standard around those parts, but layers a lilting ’80s keyboard melody over the top, and the result is both energetic and thoughtful. (For fans of: DJ Blaqstarr, Burial, Lionel Ritchie)

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

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