Taking some classes at Handsome Boy Modeling School

So, I listened to the new Handsome Boy Modeling School album, White People, today. I really liked So...How's Your Girl? It's not my favorite of Dan the Automator's albums, not as strong as Lovage, Deltron 3030, but it's probably stronger than Gorillaz. Anyway, there's not that much continuity between the two albums, because White People is mainly about spotlighting guest artists.

Del tha Funkee Homosapien returns on the track, "The World's Gone Mad," which is a really interesting mix of rap, reggae and rock. Some other standout tracks are "I've Been Thinking," "Breakdown" and "Class System," with Julee Cruise of Twin Peaks fame. Julee's track is probably the best on the album with some great, socially conscious lyrics, and a lot of the feeling of Automator's Lovage.

I love the fact that this album bounces between so many different styles. It's a hip hop album in theory, but it's got elements of all genres. I suppose a critique might be that it doesn't have any cohesion whatsoever, but all the tracks were pretty good, so I'm not complaining. Judging only from one listen, I'd say my biggest complain about the album is the rap side is lacking a bit. Del has a great verse, but there's nothing on the level of "The Projects" from the first album. Still, it's a really strong album, possibly even better than the original semester with Handsome Boy.

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So, there was an election

George Bush got reelected, which annoys me. It implies that the vast majority of people out there in the middle of the country completely ignored what he did as president and voted for him because he’s religious, and has “moral values.” He’s reactionary and the president should be guiding us into a new age, a better age, and Bush is only bringing us down. Humanity’s destiny is the stars, both literal, as in space, and metaphorical, as in the upper reaches of our mind. Bush is only pulling us down, trapping us in thousand year old conflicts, and not allowing science to move forward. Not that Kerry would have been a great leader necessarily, it’s just he wouldn’t get us embroiled in an unnecessary war, like Iraq. George Bush has a vision for the country, but it’s an awful vision, I want a president with a vision of a better country and a better world, not through fighting, but through the spreading of love and knowledge.

However, the whole thing seems impersonal and removed from me. History makes it easy to see trends, but when you’re living something, you don’t really become aware of how things work until you look at it in retrospect. A better world is easily within reach, and hopefully this is just a momentary step back before an explosion into a new world of higher consciousness. This division in the country recalls The Invisibles. Bush is essentially an archon, he’s a force for stagnation and violence. He’s not evil, just misguided. What his policies are doing is preventing us from moving forward because we’re caught up in this war in Iraq, and trying to curb the momentum of freedom in social issues. But what his presidency has done is create a whole group of people who are so disgusted by him that they have become active in trying to change things, overthrow the archons and make a better world. What the invisibles are trying to do is change the world and make it better, more forward thinking. It’s essentially a dichotomy between fear and hope, the conservatives fear a new world, while progressives are hoping to build a new and better world.

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