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Mayl
June
2010
FREE
Editor: Ben Rackstraw

Art: Charlie Levine

Writers: Sarah Collinson, Ed­

ward Greenflngers, Charlie
Levine, Lillian Petersen, Ben
Rackstraw, Josh Rackstraw, Sam
Wallace.

Can you think of something to )10 VOID VOID VOID

say? Let us know.
titsbrainsballs@googlemail.com
'The UK computer games industry contributes over
£1 billion to our GDP, and software sales world­
wide are forcast to top $26 billion this year. That's
the GDP of Yemen . But how does this level of sue­
ces sit with growing calls to classify games as an
art form? Josh Rackstraw investigates,

l'Ioea,red on The Culture Show this month discuss­

the phenomenon of computer games as
He built a section of his exploration around
Arcangel's Cloudscroll. in which the
~IDlclve,r is invited to the hacked world of Super
IIVlono Bro s. Arcangel has removed much of the
l d,etclil from the original game: there are no ob­
llstacles or scenery in CroudscroJJ. There aren 't
n any baddies. There isn't even a Mario or
Arcangelleft only the clouds, which scroll
right to left. I completed it in less than two

PereHi said that "playing/watching [c1oud­

is strangely intense/pointless... [this] is
be not that dissimilar from playing Mario
the first place" Jacques PereHi, who has
rly never played the original Super Mario,
perhaps missing the point. It was fun. You
d interact with the NES version . There was
 ~~--~a~cha~
lIe:n:g~
e----~---
involved. You can't interact with
paintings. You're not even allowed to touch
the art in most galleries. I don ' t disagree
with Peretti that Cloudscroll is art. I just don't
think it is a game. Games have an interactive
element. Games involve a challenge.
So did Jacques get it wrong? Is there a
gulf between computer games and art, with
games that cross the boundary losing their in­
teractivity and games that don't remaining a
"world of Aesh-eating zombies and snails who
mutate into shopping trolleys and then get
'traded for trinkets in order to become more

zombies?"
Well, no. Aside from digital dexterity,
many computer games involve the kind of in­
tellectual explosion, inspiration, and engage­
'ment with moral dilemmas that we associate
with the best of other forms of art. Even the
blockbuster BioShock, set in a underwater
utopia in which human ills are solved through
morally questionable experiments in genetics,
has the issue of stem cell research at its heart,
as suggested by the game's author Ken lev­
ine, yet approaches this in a ruined Art Deco
setting with the defenders of the research
 portrayed as
powerful but clunking giants.
That's a recent and high profile example,
but there have been many independent art­
ists making computer games since the 80's.
Take, for example, Jeff "yak" Minter. Most
famously, Minter was responsible for 1991 ' s
Llamatron, probably the first llama themed
shoot~m-up . More recently, Minter created
the non-game music synthesis toy Neon for
the Xbox 360. Playing with Neon is a bit like
controlling a Windows Media player visu­
alization, and is heavily inspired by 1960' s
psychedelia. Minter has been making th is

~----kind of "com­
puter toy" for several years.
Selective though they may be, these ex­
amples from opposite ends of the scale show
that the potential for computer games as
art is incredible. The possibilities for interac­
tion; a history of graphical styles, many with
strong emotional resonances; and the democ­
ratization of production through the growing
ease of creating and distributing games all
suggest that the next Tate Modern might be
°0 box of plastic and circuitry in your living
room.
 In the capitalist world we are defined by the
things that we buy, and few things are more
important for creating a sense of identity as
clothes. Sarah Collinson and Sam Wallace
look at the contrasting identities constructed
by high heels.

I' m not a heel wearer - I can't take Despite adamant friends insisting
the pain - and such commitment to that walking in heels is analogous to As he tip-toed on glass she donned

this type of pedi-torture leaves me
perplexed. Heels seem to contra­
vene the very purpose of footwear.
Dancing is restricted to a casual foot
tap/hip jive and they impose a style
walking across a field of marshmal­
lows, I remain dubious. Recently,
when pulling some serious shapes
on a dancefloor, a girl begged my
friend to let her wear his shoes so
she could dance properly for a bit.
his brogues. She had knowingly
sacrificed freedom of movement for
extra inches and calve definition.
But this isn 't even a snazzy night
out in your glad rags, this is for the
workplace.
 S T Y L E SA FARI

• •!!!!IIIII, L ea t

air hostesses are condemned to

hobble along narrow plane aisles

dodging empty peanut packets, as
well as shop assistants at Harrods
and female bartenders at places like
Bungalow 8 in london.

Bearing in mind that, whilst such

Remarkably, heels are actually en­
forced as part of an official female
dress code at some places of work:
policies are clearly sexist, enforced
long term wearing of high heels
can also cause some real damage
leagues were 'killioy fashion police'.
- chronic backache, knee pain and
The media's coverage of the mo~on
arthritis, putting seven times more
was misleading, the Guardian and
pressure on the ball of the foot than
Daily Mail' s wording implied that
flats. And I thought chaffing bunions
women would be forced into wear­
were enough to complain about.
ing flat shoes. Tory MP Nadine Dor­
ris, who scorned the concerns, even
last year delegates at the Tue
accused the Tue of being'overtly
conference backed a motion that
sexist', by telling women what to
required employers to carry out risk
wear. Which it wasn't doing . Quite
assessments about workers' foot­
the opposite .
wear. This would, mean that women,
on the ground s of both equality
and health and safety,. would have
a choice of footwear. Seemingly
simple, but the response was surpris-­
ingly negative. One delegate who
opposed the motion said his co~

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Where does this pro-heel antago­
nism come from? A quick poll of
heel wearing comrades revealed
the same kind of attitude . The extra
height gives the feeling of authority
and power in a workplace created
by men, for men. They feel it gets
them noticed. Perhaps it does, but
is it for the right reasons? They put
more emphasis on sex appeal than
brains. It seems odd that at the same
time as crippling a woman, making
her vulnerable and immobile, nine
inch heels imbue her with a sense of
power.
Women have been eyed sceptically
for slipping on stilettos, as if it's
clear they don't really want to wear
them but have just mistaken their
own desires for misogynistic beauty
standards and patriarchal social
conditioning. Part of the sex appeal
is this vulnerability. Surely, then, the
sense of power is just an illusi'on.
Perhaps it reassures men that they
are the ones in control. By wear­
ing high heels a woman signals to
a man "You are the boss . It is your
approval I must earn".
Far from 0 simple fashion acces­
sory, high heels embody complex
paradoxes - sexuality, vulnerability,
subordinating yet seemingly empow­
ering . So thoroughly accepted by
both genders as normal, their use is
rarely questioned . It's time it should
be. Step down from your heely
heights and try life in the Aat lane .
The tolerated pain alone brings new
meaning to the term ' fashion victim ' .
abgvB49.portfolios.cutlines.org
,'"

 S T YLE SAFARI

Ah, shoes. Actually na, not shoes

in general, after all who gives a
fu ck about men's shoes, or indeed,

a kitten heel? Nobody that's who.

We know that the only thing worth
talking about, writing about, and in
extreme cases displaying in a glass
display cabinet, are high heels. The
more vertiginous and outlandish the
better.
As you can probably tell, this is a
love letter to the heel, be it spiked,
stacked or wedged, as long as
they're 3" plus then I salute them. In
this case boys and girls, size really
does motter.

Why high heels? Well, firstly walk­

ing in them is an art form and ought
to be eligible as a legitimate entry
on a CV. The concentration it takes
to look as though one is effortlessly
gliding along, is on a par with Zen
meditation - the practice of focus­
ing your body on one repetitive
task, freeing your mind to consider
other spiritual and worldly matters.
Admittedly most practitioners prefer
raking gravel into weirdly pointless
swirly patterns, but each to their
own. This explains why I can often
be seen tottering along in a 5" con­

cealed platform heel [Brown leather.

Prada. Swoon) looking slightly

perplexed. Obviously I am consider­
ing the political dynamic between
the west and Russia since the fall of
the U.S.S.R.
 STYLE S AFARI

Lea l h e r
ShO e-5,
£as
'\s( For the serious shoe connoisseur,

the shoe shop is the church of our

Yes they ca n hurt, but as Ja Rule
particular religion. Upon entering,
so winningly noted, love is pain.
the pilgrim pauses briefly to genu·
It' s almost a badge of hon o ur, and
f1ect at the 'STATEMENT SHOE' ,
a so urce of competition with my
whic h to kes centre stage of the
fellow femmes, a statement of how
display area . Religious observances
tough we are. Pounding the mean
complete, we cast our gaze around
streets in 5 inches is not for the faint
the shelves, dismissing the ugly, the
hearted and should be admired. In
pointless, and the sports shoe (shud.
fact, w hy don't we see high heeled
der). Our on ly want is the jewel in
competitive events in the O lympics?
the shoe shop crown· th e high heel.
That's discrimination right there. As
Roll up, roll up, ladies and gentle.
every WOmen w ho's been in th is po­
men, such sig hts you've never see n
sition will aHest, running for the bus
before! Marvel at the heel heig ht,
in a stiletto is an art, nay, an athletic
gasp at the buHer soft leather and
triumph of feet over uneven paving,
w himp er with joy at the range of
and the stealth threat of the errati. uO l.
~j EI
colours available in every style. The
cally paced tou rist.
best part is the secret flush of pride
(not a sin in my religion) when the
I' m sorry, but you just can ' t get
shop girl approves of you r choice . A
worked up about Aats. I've tried and
benediction indeed . Impressing the
frankly they' re boring . It can't be
fast moving, uber.trendy shop girl
helped, I have to say it· Aats are for
is not easily done. She's seen bad
pussies. Yup. Really. It's like wan ting
shoes happen to good people, she's
to drink champagne, but ending up
seen trends come and go, and, she's
with lambru sco. Overly sweet, easily
seen a lot of Uggs. She's a tough
accessible, and liabl e to leave you
cookie, she won ' t be easily broken,
fee ling bit funny.
so when yo u get the nod of approv·
01 you know you ' ve made it baby.

hHp: / /une londonienne.blogspot.

com/

Charlie Levine on one of the
more interesting corners of the
Bullring.
Created in Birmingham (CiB)
is a phenomenon that I have
watched grow and grow over reo
cent years. The Birmingham
scene is an intense and serious
one and CiB is the key player.
They have been informing peo­
ple of cultural happenings and
offering interesting local tit bits
to their readers since December
2006. Founded by Pete Ashton
and now edited (luckily once
again after a short break) by
Chris Unitt it is the place to see
and be seen.
And now CiB have gone a step
further; they have been fortunate
enough to have been offered
a retail space in the Bull Ring
Shopping Centre opposite the
Apple Mac Store. Here they
promote and sell local artists,
musicians, doodlers and writ­
ers. It is a space for commercial
use, getting local artists work out ,R E
- ,.-­
there in a very busy and public
realm, it is also going to be used
for talks, readings, performanc­
es, discussions and happenings;
a space for artists run by artists.
• Although the need is there for
such an independent and sympa­
thetic commercial space for the
arts in Birmingham there is a fear
over its sustainability and longev­
ity. On their blog the CiB shop
are asking their audience and
'Many people have said "it's
about time Brum had something
like this" but if we're to have this
continue in some form we need
to identify exactly what "this" is
and explain why Brum needs it
to those with the power to make
it happen .' '
What is the ' it' that this shop
has and offers? And how can
we verba lise the 'it'? Chris and
Pete ask you to send a para­
graph or two trying to put into
words what they do and why
~--
we need it and email it over to
createdinbirmingham@gmail.
com and I have been struggling
myself to describe what gap it
is they fill and why Birmingham
relies on project;like this to keep
the city vibrant and make the
arts more visable to the general
public. They offer the window
shopping audience a chance to
engage and respond to the arts
in Birmingham as well as the,
retail Mecca that is the Bull Ring.
The CiB shop is in a familiar
place, offering a familiar service
with objects that would only be
encountered in a white cube or
dusty artist run space or studio;
the mountain has gone to Mu­
hammad .
http://cibshop.wordpress.com/
http://www.createdinbirming­
",.s;
2 0. ham .com/
http://curatorcharlie.blogspot.
com
T B, B have asked editor and
shop owner Chris Unitt for a little
insight into his world.

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The volcano meant we were stuck in France
- but no ash cloud could disrupt an inves­
tigation into the local music scene _ Ben
Rackstraw looks into two of Nantes' musical
1110 years ogo, maybe not so much,
but now you walk around and it's
reggae party here, reggae party
there. The kids like house, but most
people listen to reggae ." The owner
of a sandwich shop on the Rue du
Mar.lchal Joffre, Nantes . He's not
wrong; flyers for reggae nights fill
shops down the thin cobbled streets
of the old city. Much of daily life
here is soundtracked by the party­
time.fr web radio station , broadcast­
ing reggae and roots music out of
Paris, and local reggae heroes Truth
and Right.
One of the reasons behind the
growth of reggae soundsystems in
this city over the last decade is Ras
Abubakar, who set up Gate
Music - a well regarded Ntmt,es­
based reggae label- in l<?~:-VII,,---'
caught up with him in Oneness
Records, the record shop he runs
on Rue du Manlchal Joffre. Here he
explained that much of the reggae
culture here comes from immigration
from the West Indies, and his label,
along with their house band, bring
artists from around the world to
record here. This meant that, along­
side purchases of Beastie Boys'
Check Your Head Curtis Mayfield 's
Superfly, I managed to pick up a
Zion Gate record featuring a singer
from Birmingham. 6 hours in Nantes
and already I' ve got a little taste of
The guy in the sandwich shop said
that the kids love house, but all we
could find was an electro night - so
we went to see if they like that too _
Turns out we were right, the Bloody
Beetroots show was packed full of
Iycees, roughly 16-18 year-olds from
the city's colleges_ This meant that
not only was the bar empty, but the
crowd inside the cavernous Halle de
la Trocardiere were bouncing off the
The band are much heavier live
than their plethora of remixes and
last year's Roborama would sug­
gest - they even re-brand themselves
Bloody Beetroots Death Crew 77
when they go on tour, adding a
drummer to therr ~ne up_ Adding
to the surprise heaviness is the
vaudeville of the Venom masks (the
character from Spiderman, not some
kind of poisoning facewear) the duo
wear, as they Ait between guitar,
bass, synths and microphone _
Tunes from the album sounded like
real hits, although they're played
regularly at Custard Factory nights
they're given new life live, with 'Cor­
nelius', 'Butter', 'Warp l and 'House
No _ 84 ' (previously featured on this
blog) going off_ Add in a cover of
the brooding 28 Days later Theme,
a melodramatic bit of Bach's Tocata
and Fugue and the PHENOMENAL
'We Are From Venice' (see below)
Beetroots managed to cement their
place amongst the best live dance
acts in the world .
Chatting at the end, Axwell, an
18-year-old Iycean, said "Justice,
SebastiAn, Crookers ... it is very
exciting". easy to soy if you 're 18,
wearing Prada glasses and go to a
posh secondary school but keep it
real at Electro nights in the ghetto
end of the Reze - but that was no
barrier to my realisation that as
ropy as my French might be, the
only phrase I really needed to know
was IIi' aime Ed Bonger".
lifeinRashback_blogspot.com
LIVE MUSIC IN BIRMINGHAM
Introducing are a-~ine-piece
band that play DJ Shadow's
Endtroducing (released in 1996,
the first album to be composed
entirely of samples - cheers, the
Guinness Book of Records) live,
recreating every drum loop,
esoteric vocal sample and the
famous organ solo with aelual
instruments. An impossible task?
Ben Rackstraw saw them at
the Hare and Hounds in King ' s
Heath to see that it can be done.
The night opened with a call
for a round of applause for DJ
Shadow - and this was a sign
of the good humour with which
the band approached their task.
Despite looking like a colleelion
of detail-loving music obsessives
(and in this 'zine, that' s not an
insult) they weren ' t hung up on
the subject matter and played
with laid-back Rair. Because
of this, the jazzier side of the
record came through and the
odd little vocal parts, running the
risk of sounding twee and an­
noying, came off as geekily cool
- especially the "one of them has
eyes as big as Jolly Ranchers.
Beautiful girl" part in the untitled
sixth track.
There wa s a special mention
for drummer Mike Reed at the
beginning of ' Stem/Long Stem ',
and he really deserved it. It will
be clear to anyone with more
than a passing acquaintance
with Endtroducing that this is a
OAZE(
projeel that lives or dies on the
quality of the rhythm section.
Fortunately Introducing have
nailed it; Reed was amazing , as
w~s bassist Rob Pollard, driving
the songs forward with technical
brilliance and exactly the right
vibe.
The set seemed to shed new light
on the differences between live
and recorded music . Ind ividual
parts held the attention more,
giving up previously unnoticed
details like little repeated sec­
tions and cool beats. Sparser
sections also seemed for more
interesting than on the record.
Live music, as it ' s no real surprise
to be reminded, hold s the atten­
tion more powerfully, with has
a sublime energy lacking from
anything that is tied down to end­
less repetitions from a medium of
your choice. There's something
about a group of people sharing
a room with you and hearing the
responses to what they' re do­
ing ... people fashioning some­
thing that wouldn ' t exist without
their prescence, and will never
exist again in the same form
beyond the moments that you
are sharing ... a feeling amplified
through the uncanny experience
of music both totally familiar and
new and exciting ... these are the
reasons that make what Introduc­
ing ,a re doing pretty special.
lifeinAashback.blogspot.com
/

There was some fitting St
Patrick 's Day fare from North­
ern Ireland ' s Two Door Cinema
Club at Academy 3 last month
and , eVen though most of the
audience looked too young to
have been on the Guinness,
they weren't acting like it, There
is little adoration as powerful as
the adoration of 16 year-olds
hold for their favourite band,
but over some serious hand­
claps and word-perfect sin­
galongs it sounded like this lot
might have made a poor choice
when preparing their tunes for
time on the road,
Birmingham is hardly known for
great audiences at gigs, but a
new generation in the surpris­
ingly well lit Academy 3 suggest
that the future might be differ­
ent. Bouncing from the opener,
singing throughout most recent
single 'Undercover Martyn ' and
hardly stopping for breath until
the encore, the atmosphere was
frenetic , An especially ener­
getic welcome was reserved
for 'What You Know', yet to be
released but all over the Hype
Machine, and surely pencil­
led in to the immaculately kept
Moleskine diaries at Kitsune
HQ,
Sadly, though, the sharp syn­
thesi:zed drums of the band 's
recordings have been replaced
by an actual human being - an
attempt, the press release as­
sures us, to bolster their live
sound . However, cool electronic
drum sounds complement their
art rock perfectly, and familiar­
ity with their recordings made
last night's live drumming sound
messy. This was especially true
of ' Costume Party' which, after
the intro, had the synth and gui­
tar parts so low in the mix that
they drowned under splashy
cymbals.
Because of this, the live show
straddled indie dance a little
uncomfortably and there was
III
a silent but concerted willing
coming from our section of the
crowd towards the band , tuning
their guitars through the great
wash of electronic sound that
introduced the encore, to just
put them down instead. Unfor­
tunately psychic abilities are
no more advanced in Bangor
than it is in Birmingham and
they launched into yet another
arch dance tune deformed into
something you would hear in
the main room at Propaganda .
The closer was 'I Can Talk '
which, despite having an intro
that has dined out with Del­
phic' s 'Doubt', finally sounded
like the band promised by their
debut album , The band are set
to explode all over this sum­
mer's festivals, but they might
be wise to rethink what they of­
fer as a live act before they go
out to win any more fans.
lifei nRa sh bac k. blo gspot,com
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