New Tweet tonight from Chieftan Mews containing a Youtube Video link to Flying Over San Jose (BBC2 1975-1976).
Uploaded in 2008 Youtube gives the following description of the file:
This tape was introduced in May 1975 as a new tape and was later twinned with Cheers! to form its later replacement, Five Spanish Dances, which was launched in December 1976. This tape was composed by the Simon Gale Orchestra and included some of the tracks later to be used on Summer Sunny Holiday and Melancholic Rock, and was the first tape to be launched on BBC2 after the decision was made to reduce trade on the channel in favour of a lunchtime closedown in order to save the BBC money and power from January 1975.
According to comments on Youtube Chieftan Mews had previously linked to this video in a Direct Message to a fan six months ago.
Test 3 comes from this being the third TestCard video Mew’s has tweeted over the past two years, the previous ones where on May 15th 2011 (
nth I jot Or is a tricky one that appears to have a maths feel.
Nth is a term used for the largest number in a series of ordered numbers.
I is 1 in Roman numerals or may simply be i as an unknown interger.
The Phrase Finder has the following history for the world jot:
A jot is the name of the least letter of an alphabet or the smallest part of a piece of writing. It is the Anglicized version of the Greek iota – the smallest letter of the Greek alphabet, which corresponds to the Roman ‘i’. This, in turn, was derived from the Hebrew word jod, or yodr, which is the the smallest letter of the square Hebrew alphabet. Apart from its specialist typographical meaning, we still use the word jot more generally to mean ‘a tiny amount’. Hence, when we have a brief note to make, we ‘jot it down’.
Or is often used in maths to determine a Boolean operation where one can either be true or false.
It could also be a reference to Or Records a London based independent record label founded in 1998 who specialized in Electronic and Experimental Computer Music including a two edition of their own computer music audio magazine in 1999 featuring Aphex Twin and others. You can still order it from Touchshop for £6.00 plus postage.
Mew’s tweeted a the following photo taken of the Amnesiac special edition book released in 2001.
He had used what appears to be Microsoft Paint to remove the words RADIOHEAD, Amnesiac with the spray paint tool.
The modification date on the image tells us that it was done at 7:55 AM(GMT) on Monday the 6th of February 2012.
Below where it’s printed Radiohead, Amnesiac there are two date stamps for ’06 FEB 2012′ matches the exact date the message was tweeted. No doubt a co-incidence that the band was still together on the date in question.
This was one of a number of ‘fake’ return/due dates stamped on the book borrowing slip. According to Follow Me Around the day and month was chosen to signify someone’s birthday.
The key word however is found above the photo where ‘REQUESTED/CARACHRESIS’ is written in ink. You can see it here:
Carachresis comes from the greek word ‘κατάχρησις’ included in the tweet. Wiki provides the following definition:
“misapplication of a word, especially in a mixed metaphor” according to the Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. Another meaning is to use an existing word to denote something that has no name in the current language.[1]
Compare malapropism and solecism, which are unintentional violations of the norms, while catachresis may be either deliberate or unintentional.
He once again makes a reference to the Ziggurat (www.the-ziggurat.com) along with ‘Jello Spider’
Catachresis College is the name of a school invented by Stanley Donwood and set to be in ownership of the Amensiac book. The name also appears as part of the Zigguration Tests taken by the band that was awarded to the winners of the Waste Game which are copywrited c. 2002 W.A.S.T.E. Board of Catachresis on the last page of the test.
Catachresis also appears as part of the title of the Autechre song ‘Lentic Catachresis’ from the album Confield released on 30 April 2001 a little under two months before Radiohead released Amnesiac.
Jello is an American brand name for what in the UK is called ‘Jelly’ (and to answer the obvious question ‘Jelly’ in the UK is called Jam or Preserve).
or simply a ‘Catachresis’ description of what the Ziggurat looks like ( A spider made of Jello ).
The use of a American rather then English word could be a reference to what was Radiohead’s upcoming Tour which started in America on the 27th of February 2012.
He signs off the message telling us to “Stay detuned. ?” however the use of a question mark instead of the usual EOT is suggestive that he isn’t sure of what is to come.
Interestingly I managed to quickly tweet Mew’s back with the meaning of Carachresis,
@ElMuggs: @ChieftanMews Catachresis (from Greek κατάχρησις, “abuse”) is “misapplication of a word, especially in a mixed metaphor
within seconds he had deleted the post on both Twitter and Facebook.
It’s possible he found the correct answer he was looking for?
@ChieftanMews: If Mews were to fall in love, Mews would make you a mix-tape like this for when the trains stop running on time http://tinyurl.com/3m6lfr3 ␄
In a tender moment Cheftan Mews offers a link to a recent mix-tape from All Tomorrow’s Parties curated in part by Portishead made to advertise the I’ll Be Your Mirror’ music event.
Mew’s claimed on The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time that “All my love is used up… On me.” and in a DM where he stated “My initials are carved in a tree = CM loves CM.” suggesting that he has indeed fallen in love… with himself.
The final part about the trains appears at first to be a joke, after all when has a major train system ever run on time? The phrase does pop up in a comment posted to a news item on A Tangled Web “a dissenting review of contemporary British & American politics” about Greek protesters joining the worldwide ‘Day of Rage’ protest against capitalism, inequality and the economic crisis. The post was made on the 3rd of June, three weeks before Mew’s comment.
The link itself takes you to All Tomorrow’s Parties where you can stream and download a free mixtape Curated by Portishead & ATP from Soundcloud.
The website also gives the following information about a event taking place from September 30 – October 2nd 2011:
From September 30 to October 2 2011 in Asbury Park, New Jsery, All Tomorrow’s Parties will present the first I’ll Be Your Mirror USA event, which will be curated by the mercurial Portishead (who headline the Saturday and Sunday) and ATP. Acting as sister events to the world famous ATP Festivals which usually take place in holiday resorts, I’ll Be Your Mirror is a new series of artist curated music, film and art events taking place in cities worldwide.
As well live performances from all of the artists in the mixtape below (+ others), the event will also feature DJs, Criterion Cinema, a Laphams Quarterly Literary Stage, an exhibition from Shepard Fairey, Quality Food Stalls and more…
Radiohead teamed up with Clive Dreamer of Portshead in 2011 for their live performances of The King of Limbs.
In 2008 a video was uploaded to Youtube of Jonny Greenwood and Thom Yorke playing a cover of The Rip backstage at a concert in St. Louis, you can watch it here.
( Source: All Tomorrow’s Parties )
Sadly the Soundcloud widget on the ATP Page no longer works so you’ll just have to use your imagination, the tracklist was:
00.00 Up With People – Oneida
07.45 Machine Gun – Portishead
12.24 Ice Cream (feat. Matias Aguayo) – Battles
17.02 Two-Headed Boy – Neutral Milk Hotel
21.27 Cervantine – A Hawk And A Hacksaw
27.16 Wakeman’s Air – Chavez
31.35 In Your Area (feat. Planet Asia) – DJ Peanut Butter Wolf
34.03 Pizza Mind – DD/MM/YYYY
38.21 She Is Beyond Good And Evil – The Pop Group
41.41 Metal Arms – Hannibal Buress
44.13 My Pal The Tortoise – Thinking Fellers Union Local 282
46.59 Steady As She Goes – Shellac
51.01 Totally Tween – Foot Village
54.46 Go Outside – Cults
58.05 Kollapz Tradixional (Thee Dirty Olde Flag) – Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra
1.04.10 I Go To Sleep – Anika
1.07.27 Father Midnight – Earth
1.19.31 Party Intellectuals – Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog
1.25.15 San Pedro – Mogwai
1.28.37 Behold A Marvel In The Darkness – Deerhoof
1.32.05 I Know – Beak>
1.37.01 Walk – Rory Scovel
1.41.45 Cryogenics – JG Thirlwell’s Manorexia
1.44.50 No Words/No Thoughts – Swans
1.54.08 There Is A Wind – The Album Leaf
1.58.46 Colin Stetson – The Stars In His Head (Dark Lights Remix)
2.04.15 Tunnels – People Of The North
2.10.43 Population Control – Company Flow
2.15.08 Industry – Thought Forms
2.19.13 Give The Drummer Some – Ultramagnetic MCs
2.22.55 Lying – Factory Floor
@ChieftanMews: I am stuck in here with some juicy footage: http://www.the-ziggurat.com – Please call a medic or psychiatrist for me immediately. ␄
Jul 10, 2011:
@ChieftanMews: RT: @heidybloom: @ChieftanMews you were edited out of the final cut, mews! Should I call a medic?
Jul 12, 2011:
@ChieftanMews: @nigelgod that buck, took me out of the final cut so I took Supercollider & some juicy footage before being banished to the Zigg. Stuck.Help
These are the first of a series of ongoing tweets where Chieftan Mews states that he was stuck in the Ziggurat with footage taken from The King of Limbs – Live From the Basement.
He accuses Nigel Godrich of removing him from the film and reviles that there is a performance of Supercollider missing from the version shown on television and online. This later proves to be correct when on November 9 Radiohead released The King of Limbs – Live From the Basement on Bluray/DVD with Supercollider as a bonus feature.
http://www.the-ziggurat.com is the web address for The Byzantine Ziggurat a abandoned part of the Radiohead website.
The Memory Hole on Radiohead’s Website describes it as thus:
This was the Strategic Defence Initiative. A ponderous structure stuck in hyperspace which we are not sure what to do with at the moment. But one day, it’s time will come, of that there is no doubt.
Since 2008 it simply contains a looped flash video of coloured blocks that was used as the background for InRainbows.com which hosted the ‘pay what you want’ store for In Rainbows. As of May 2011 the site is no longer available but you can view it here via the Web Archive.
On August 1st Servo uploaded a copy of the video from The Ziggurat to youtube and posted it to Chieftan Mew’s wall on Facebook.
Screenshot of Mew's Reply to a question on Facebook, August 1st, 2011.
Chieftan Mews replied on the 3rd of August with the following message:
My face emerges at the 30 second mark at the lower/central portion of the screen and then disappears a short time later. Please call a plumber or a lumberjack immediately.
( The Lumberjack is probably a reference to a classic Monty Python Sketch entitled The Lumberjack Song which continues the ‘Woods/Trees’ theme. For any poor souls who have never heard it you can watch it on youtube Here. )
Mews replied again to another fan with more details on the 5th of August:
Chieftan Mews I emerge from there, yes. A little more to the left of your red square and to the bottom at the 0:36 mark specifically.
5 August 2011 at 04:41
Chieftan Mews
5 August 2011 at 04:41
The link takes you to 0:36 in the video Servo uploaded to Youtube
Screenshot of 0:36 in The Zigguart video as posted to Youtube by Servo.
Looking to the bottom-left part of the screen you can see the shape of a head (The dark blue is hair and green for the face)
Starting from the 5th of August 2011 Mews sent a series of weekly tweets counting down from #10/10 to #1/10
On the 7th of October Mews tweeted that “Like you, once again, I am a free fugitive of life.” and followed by the statement that he had been “set free by Supercollider.”
Recently in January 2012 a link to the Ziggurat was added to Dead Air Space’s list of Links with the following note:
Servo claims that the film loop on The Ziggurat has been changed and is different to the version he posted to Youtube and Facebook last year as it no longer contains the face at the 36 second mark. You can read his theory on this here at Ims Menoo.
The Byzantine Ziggurat itself has a long and interesting history.
A Ziggurat is a massive structures built in the ancient Mesopotamian valley and western Iranian plateau, having the form of a terraced step pyramid of successively receding stories or levels. Wiki also gives the following:
Notable ziggurats include the Great Ziggurat of Ur near Nasiriyah, Iraq; the Ziggurat of Aqar Quf near Baghdad, Iraq; Chogha Zanbil in Khūzestān, Iran; and Sialk near Kashan, Iran.
According to Herodotus, at the top of each ziggurat was a shrine, although none of these shrines has survived. One practical function of the ziggurats was a high place on which the priests could escape rising water that annually inundated lowlands and occasionally flooded for hundreds of miles, as for example the 1967 flood. Another practical function of the ziggurat was for security. Since the shrine was accessible only by way of three stairways, a small number of guards could prevent non-priests from spying on the rituals at the shrine on top of the ziggurat, such as cooking of sacrificial food and burning of carcasses of sacrificial animals. Each ziggurat was part of a temple complex that included a courtyard, storage rooms, bathrooms, and living quarters, around which a city was built
The Byzantine Empire (or Byzantium) was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centered on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the “Roman Empire” (Greek: Βασιλεία Ῥωμαίων, Basileia Rhōmaiōn)[2] or Romania (Ῥωμανία) to its inhabitants and neighbours, it was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State and maintained Roman state traditions.[3] Byzantium is today distinguished from ancient Rome proper insofar as it was oriented towards Greek culture, characterised by Christianity rather than Roman paganism and was predominantly Greek-speaking rather than Latin-speaking.
“The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume II” Appears on Page 2 of the Amnesiac Book.
During the Hail To the Thief era The Byzantine Ziggurat looked like this:
The Byzantine Ziggurat cia. 2005 via the Web Archive
Logging in you where provided with a chatroom as part of digital-landfill.co.uk which today also shows the In Rainbows video loop.
Before 2005 The Byzantine Ziggurat was home to the Waste Game which was online treasure hunt of sorts for Amnesiac containing 3 chapters of which only the first two where ever run. A record of the game can be found at Waste-Game-News.com Mike gives the following introduction:
What is the “Waste Game” or the “Byzantine Ziggurat?” It all started like this. At the time, Radiohead had put up a new website, and this was a page called the Byzantine Ziggurat. People were freaking out about how to figure out the password.
And by freaking out, I mean some were going totally out of their minds. I was one of them. I started keeping a copy of everything to do with the game, as did others, some of which helped me collect stuff, and this website was born. While the game was still going, this site helped others keep track of the latest news.
the waste game (Byzantine Ziggurat) was designed and executed by Radiohead,
Stanley Donwood, and many other associates.
..Sounds rather familiar doesn’t it?
Surprisingly it seems the game had two winners! Waste Game News describes the Chapter 2 Prize Kit as including “a Certificate of Byzantine Zigguration signed by the band, two posters, a backstage pass from the 2001 Oxford show, Zigguration Tests taken by each member of the band, and a video of the 2001 Dublin show.”
The Zigguration Tests where a written exam written by Stanley Donwood and apparently administered by Mel from W.A.S.T.E. All five band members sat them but only Ed’s exam paper has been made public. You can check it out Here along with photos of the rest of the prizes.
As of May 2005 Radiohead no longer maintains the waste-game.com domain name, it appears that Chapter 3 titled ‘Playing Zeus’ morphed into what was to become The Scrapbook on the Radiohead website as Mike states that in a conversation with maxk from W.A.S.T.E on April 5 2003 that Chapter 3 was to have 2,700 rooms(pages). There’s quite a few old websites from fans who where working to solve the game so best bet is to do a web search for ‘The Byzantine Ziggurat’.
Greek Mythology has been a reoccurring theme for Stanley Donwood’s artwork since 2000 and Mew’s has used Greek in a tweet (My bucks, must I go out on a limb here and say more is revealing at Ελληνική οδός? That man: ims menooo! Juicy pre-watching. Beware you not!) relating to Stanley.
