When selecting an alias for his artistic persona, Paul Kidd chose the name of the flame resistant material, Nomex. A protective shield suggesting indestructability, it appeared an apt moniker for someone who liked to “keep it cryptic” and push the limits of both his art and in his own life with an intense fervour. For those of us who knew the man behind the name, that this great force has been extinguished is hard to comprehend. However, his music endures and what I write here is a personal attempt to connect the life of Paul – my great friend, collaborator and partner for over a decade – with the compelling body of work he leaves behind.

With a new reprint of datacide sixteen, all issues starting with number 12 are now back in stock.

The reprint of our book with issues 1-10 titled Everything Else Is Even More Ridiculous will f-i-n-a-l-l-y be back in stock soon as well.

The new issue datacide nineteen is in preparation and will appear this summer.

From now till the end of June we are offering two special deals via the Praxis Store including back issues and the upcoming new issue. You can choose between receiving issues 16/17/18 now and number 19 when it comes out for only 20 euro including international shipping. Or receive issues 12-18 now and number 19 when it comes out for only 35 euro including shipping.

Got those already? Then please consider taking out a subscription or make a donation!

It’s that time of the decade, kids, and once again the Ugandan electoral spectacle shows how to put the “fun” back into dysfunctional!
Here’s a rough guide to the dynamics of central Africa’s most exciting, explosive and explicit post-colonial state.

Dramatis Personae:

Yoweri Kaguta Museveni
• elderly president/autocrat;
• has held the presidency since 1986, when he took power in a civil war;
• is conservative and reactionary, ruling largely through a deep-rooted form of political patronage;
• immensely popular in rural areas and with many people over 30;
• may genuinely win the election, but is being so mean and violent in the run-up, we can be forgiven for thinking he actually fears losing this time.
• Music Skills: Terrible, with ponderous hit single “Do You Want Another Rap?”
• Catchphrase: “I will eat my enemies like samosas”

Robert Kyagulani, aka Bobi Wine
• handsome, young-ish Dancehall superstar (it’s a bit like Shaggy running for the US presidency);
• has been MP since 2017, and founder of the immensely popular “People Power” movement in Uganda;
• is broadly socialist in his speech, but has yet to articulate a coherent ideological position or set of policies;
• immensely popular with the youth and unemployed (which is most Ugandans) and Dancehall fans;
• may possibly win more votes than Museveni, and has the incumbent more than a little worried.
• Music Skills: One of the best pop artists in Africa, mixing traditional instruments with digital beats and on-point social messages, e.g. “Kyarenga”
• Catchphrase: “We are removing a dictator”

This little summary aims not to repeat the details you can find on Wikipedia or in the news. Instead, I wanted to take you on a little trip behind the headlines.

After being briefly out of print, Datacide Eighteen in available again. Get your copy now, or ,even better, consider taking out a subscription!

Datacide Seventeen is now back in stock. After a few months out of print this issue has been reprinted.

Main features of this 17th issue of the magazine for noise & politics are Jo Burzynska’s interview with Cosey Fanni Tutti titles Memoirs of a Woman of Extreme Pleasures, Howard Slater’s article on Third Cinema Unparaphraseable Life, as well as the first English translation of Boris Souvarine’s Black October from 1927 about ten years of the Russian Revolution, here reprinted 100 years after the event. Plus many other contributions well worth reading.