Comments on: Political Pakistani Punk vs. Psychedelic Post Punk

By: blondewithglasses

blondewithglasses — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 22:08:05 +0000

first, thank u for the reviews. ima definately gonna go out and spend some money on this stuff. Hope it is as good as your writing describes … or is it now going to be like reading a book and then seeing the movie.

“Ultimately, what is punk rock is as impossible as trying to figure out what is America or what is Islam: there are some vague general principles but ultimately self-identification of adherents is the only way to make the determination.”

ahhhhhh, old school here is wondering when identifying one’s self as an adherent of punk rock became acceptable. if ever someone labeled themselves as “punk”, non-conformists retorted with words like “poser” and for anything commercial “sell-out”.

i still cringe today when i hear someone say “back when you were punk”, funny thing is that I may look normal on the outside, but nothing has changed on the inside. and these “normal” individuals would still today describe me as a-typical and non-conformist.

i think old-school would agree more that it is like sufism where one will not say that they are “sufi” but that they are trying to follow “the sufi path” because one cannot be certain that they are “sufi”. iotw, both are labels on lifestyles.

That was just a rambling fyi for your non-punker self

Oh, and reading your review, you seem like you would fit in fine with the sub-culture of no labels.

By: buzzkill

buzzkill — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 06:47:57 +0000

Interesting reviews. West meets East and East meets West. I wonder if the irony of slamming the West in the East with a Western Motif is lost on The Kominas. And it looks like Jame Gumb from Silence of the Lambs dancing on Black List’s album cover. I hope that wasn’t intentional. Dark Wave tunes for the psychopathic murderous wannabe transexual.

By: Ali Eteraz

Ali Eteraz — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 04:12:57 +0000

How about not trusting Wikipedia dude. Basim’s been writing for Guardian from Lahore. Plus my article notes that they LEFT the US and MOVED to Lahore. This is the sentence in the article: “The more assured flame-throwing in Wild Nights came about because The Kominas decided to leave the U.S. and relocate to Lahore, Pakistan.” The problem with new media is readers who talk before reading. =)

Also: How about the fact that Wikipedia is not old media. It is written by individuals. It is in fact, amg, new media. You should comment more. I need more laughter.

Finally as for “indigenous sound” — You mean how Ali Azmat, formerly of Junoon, and the other Pakistani rockers are constantly touring UK and US and launching their albums here? Real indigenous that! I bet you didn’t even listen to a single track on The Kominas album before coming in here and setting yourself up as some kind of arbiter of “real” Pakistan. Fact is being Pakistani has been fluid ever since massive immigration started in the 60’s. Don’t live in such a black and white world.

By: ifaqeer

ifaqeer — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 03:52:15 +0000

The Kominas are Lahoe-based?

I happen to know people who live in their neighbourhood (or one of the band members’), but here’s a quote from the Wikipedia:

“The Kominas (Urdu: کمینہ ) (In Urdu and Punjabi, Kamina means bastard) are a Punjabi taqwacore punk band from the suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts. ” [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kominas]

I guess that’s why old media had fact checkers.

But then, understanding of Pakistan and the Muslim world (not to mention the rest of the non-Caucasian world) is not a strong point, even in the alternative media/blogosphere in the US.

What can one do but shake one’s head…