Solecast w/ Drowning Dog & Malatesta on Anarchy, Radical Culture and Life In Europe

From Solecast

In this episode of the solecast i speak with anarchist rap innovators Drowning Dog And Malatesta.  As far as I know them and Test Their Logik are some of the first rappers to come out and really rep anarchy front and center.  They’ve been making music together for about 2 decades and have self released a number of ground breaking records, like Got No Time  , Black Cat  and their most recent “Sick Of This Shit”  

Now living in Berlin by way of Italy and San Francisco we have an awesome in depth and highly informative  conversation about a myriad of topics.  The main thrust of our conversation is how their music relates to anarchist politics and radical struggle and what they’ve learned and seen living and traveling in all these different places.  We talk about the importance of food, of multi generational spaces and why its important to have a more romantic view of daily life.  We talk about the legacy of radical struggle and squat culture in Europe and some of the complexities of it.  They highlight some of their favorite revolutionary projects they’ve encountered, talk about the pitfalls of fetishizing struggles elsewhere without considering context and most importantly how they approach their art and what its origins are…

Check out their music on bandcamp and follow Drowning Dog & Malatesta on twitter.

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"Now living in Berlin by way of Italy and San Francisco we have an awesome in depth and highly informative conversation about a myriad of topics."

You mean like privileged hipsterism? I guess that yeah, in Italy hipsters are a natural part of the urban environment, given the ultra-sassy, artsy pop culture. But like, you're caught in the spectacle if you can't go outside of the stage and talk about daily life anarchy, and also are wasting a lot of what anarchy has been -probably still is- outside of its performative representations. I mean, artsy kids were setting up concerts in a building occupied by liberals in downtown Torino, but not matter their apparent liberalism they KNEW it was also about letting like me make their way inside their house for a random chat with artists around the table. Abolition of privatizing/restrictive gimmicks, that's what it's about, ya! But I'm pretty sure that's got nothing to do with the San Francisco way. Some NA libs or even punk kids don't get what they're into when in Euro squatter hoods. They think it's just their Bay Area or NYC scenes sprawling back to East Berlin or Italia or maybe even Exarkhia. Context, brah!

"letting drifters like me"

they diffuse a lot of ego mania and keep everyone right sized. For some reason Americans tend to shy away from this useful and practical accessory but this is one thing Euros get right.

is a show about dropping civilized people into the wilderness and believe me its not pretty. I don't think culture shock is the best way to learn primitive survival skills slow and easy baby steps is the way.

Throw 'em in the deep end is the spontaneous non-authoritarian way, of course with safety nets provided for those needing a more gradual path navigating the Abyss.

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