change of state

For the record, and contrary to my more extremist instincts, I do in fact believe that incremental changes are meaningful and worth celebrating. The quantitative can decisively shift towards the qualitative, as the effects of many dispersed, tiny actions accumulate over time, slowly but surely chipping away at the defences of our enemies until the point at which they reach a critical mass and the whole edifice comes crashing down. All well and good. At the same time, however, one of the key ways power holds on to control is through accommodation and compromise. Hegemony is maintained by being flexible, by recuperating oppositional forces back into the extant structure and calling it reform. Histories of slow, progressive change are also histories of long-term continuity, so it can be difficult to discern whether you’re watching an empire’s collapse or simply its reconfiguration.

The so-called “two state solution” has always been, at best, a cruel delusion: Palestine would be reduced to two non-contiguous chunks of territory amounting to 22 percent of its historic size, and the right to return to any of the lands taken by Israel before 1967 would be permanently relinquished. The so-called “peace process” has always been, in reality, an attempt to affirm and entrench the existence of the Zionist settler-colonial state as part of the geopolitical arrangement of the postwar imperial order, predicated on the permanent dispossession of the Palestinians. Anyone with even a passing interest in such quaint notions as justice and self-determination knew Edward Said was right when he called the Oslo Accords “a Palestinian Versailles.” And despite its blatant colonialist engineering, its endlessly being touted as the only realistic political resolution to the conflict, despite its official acceptance even by Hamas, this “solution” has been effectively dead in the water for decades, thanks to the Israeli occupation’s relentless creation of “facts on the ground” that would render its meaningful implementation all but impossible: the continuing construction of settlements, theft of land, and routinized terrorism on the part of both IDF soldiers and settler thugs.

And yet now once again there’s this babble about recognition of a Palestinian “state”: a quasi-sovereign Frankenstein state, of course, completely demilitarized and held under the thumb of Israeli military might, half of it freshly reduced to rubble, anything resembling actual democracy excluded from the proposed political “reforms.” Mark Carney solemnly intoned that "Preserving a two-state solution means standing with all people who choose peace over violence or terrorism, and honouring their innate desire for the peaceful co-existence of Israeli and Palestinian states as the only roadmap for a secure and prosperous future.” Having been announced within breaths of revelations that Canada has in fact been continuing to provide arms to enable Israel’s genocide in Gaza, this would seem more than a little sus if it weren’t already so self-evidently bad faith in the first place. The “peaceful co-existence” Carney ostensibly advocates for here is rooted in the denial of an occupied people’s right to resist their oppressors, imposing instead the corrupt and incompetent quisling regime of the Palestinian Authority. Of course nothing here will help put an end to the ongoing genocide, and Carney knows it – as do Starmer and Macron. Even the BBC admits “It will represent a strong moral and political statement but change little on the ground.”

If we’re going to have states, obviously Palestine should be one. But these gestures towards recognition belie deep material and ideological investment in the Zionist project and the broader political-economic agenda of which it’s a part. And while Israel is busy advancing plans for population transfer and settlement in Gaza and accelerating its annexation of the West Bank, these announcements are aimed at imposing a “settlement” that would in fact eradicate any meaningful sense of genuine self-determination for the Palestinian people. The West clings to the idea of the “two-state solution” because a one-state solution – that is, the creation of a single democratic state with equal rights for all people living in it – would challenge the supposed stability of the region’s geopolitical configuration and the West’s place within it.

Harsha nailed it in a post on Instagram: “[T]he recent announcements by France, EU, Arab League, Canada and others are just another attempt at Oslo. A liberal imperial revival of two-state apartheid, pacification of a global movement, and normalization efforts with the [Zionist] entity. At a time when so many are becoming pro-Palestine, don't get it twisted about what that actually means from the perspective of the Palestinian liberation movement.”

The real story, of course, is that the tide is indeed turning. Even if we’re perhaps now on the far side of the last years’ wave of resistance and solidarity with Palestine, it’s undeniable that there’s been a significant and meaningful shift – primarily in terms of discourse, perhaps, but discourse matters. The level of public outcry against the genocide is deafening, and opposition to the Israeli occupation more broadly has become more mainstream than it’s ever been in our lifetimes. But, though I think it certainly makes sense to see this posturing from the UK, France, and Canada as resulting from the pressure of this movement, it’s also important that we see if for what it is: it’s not part of this wave of resistance but an attempt to take the wind out of its sails.

Just keep fighting, that’s all I’m saying.

A quick note: lately a few of you have been checking in to ask if it’s alright to share this newsletter with other folks I may not know, and I just want to put it out there that the answer is an emphatic yes. In fact, I’m actively trying to figure out how to expand the reach of this thing – while trying to stay away from X or Meta platforms or Spotify, for the obvious reasons – and I can really use all the help I can get. So here’s an active request: if you can think of anyone you’re connected to who you think might be interested in what’s on offer here, consider forwarding one of these to them? I’d appreciate it.

The mix this time around is once again fairly beats-forward (if not exactly dance-ready), dipping into some relatively more abrasive territory for a spell before the rhythms pick back up again for the latter third.

It starts with a highlight from Felix Manuel/Djrum's Under Tangled Silence LP, which came out this spring, an adroit blend of freeform piano figures and bursts of broken-apart house beats; "L'Ancienne" opens on a desolate ambient scene before a grimy dancehall-derived bass thrum takes the stage. Next it's "Hexxxus," an overdriven, stuttering groove from prolific Miami-based producer Nick León's just-released debut full-length A Tropical Entropy, sort of a love letter to his hometown that's equal parts sensual abandon and hyperreal anxiety meltdown. Then it's Mexico City's Leslie Garcia, aka Microhm, with "Memory Index 3035." It's the latest in a string of works exploring "the psychoacoustics of noise modulated by rhythm," animating shadowy ambient dronescapes with reggaeton-adjacent beat structures – what more could I ask for, really?

Up next is Brooklyn's DJ Haram with "Voyeur," wherein a woozy string lead quickly begins to sound more like an air raid siren blaring out over a collage of relentless, crunchy percussion; it's an apt introduction to Beside Myself, her fierce, heady, thrilling debut full-length, which came out on Hyperdub in July. That's followed by the pulsing drone of "Antumbra," from Bristol electronic duo emptyset's latest LP Dissever, which originally debuted as part of the "Electric Dreams" exhibition at the Tate Modern last Fall. Then it's Nairobi's Freddy Mwaura Njau, who, as Slikback, produces what Resident Advisor describes as "undeniably heavy and overwhelmingly dystopian experimental club." "Trars" is a pummelling and aggressively dark techno deconstruction drawn from his Attrition LP, which was just released by Planet Mu.

The darkness continues on "Egress VII," from Ego Death, a brand new collaborative LP from Aho Ssan and Resina – that is, Paris-based Niamké Désiré and Warsaw's Karolina Rec, respectively. Aho Ssan has shown up here repeatedly before – Limen, his harrowing collaboration with KMRU was, in particular, one of my favourite records of the past few years – so you'll perhaps recognize his characteristic glassy sonics atop the earth-shaking bass stabs, cut through by the breathtaking cello swoop of Resina's cello. Then, because I can't get enough of Arca, I've included two tracks from her incredible 2016 LP Mutant – "Sinner" and "Anger" really function best as one suite: a shimmery, writhing, mechanical monster.

Next is Polygonia – or Munich's Lindsey Wang – with "Twisted Colors," a cumulus cloud of skittering beats, flute trills, and snatches of disembodied vocal flutters from her Dream Horizons LP (released in June). Then it's back down to the basement for "Clicked," a sparse, finely textured, and assuredly cool slab of minimal dubstep from LA-based producer Carré's new Body Shell EP, followed by "Chimborazo," a melancholy polyrhythmic dirge from Entrañas (Quito's Daniel Gachet) and Selvagia (Lima's Erick Del Aguila). Things close out with two tracks taken from Torino-based Love Boat Records' We Will Stay Here compilation, released in May 2024 as a benefit for Medical Aid for Palestinians: first it's the frenetic, hallucinatory bounce of "YKK," from Cairo's 3Phaz, and finally, the epic, cinematic thrill ride of Cairo-via-Berlin producer Assyouti's "Jafra," based on samples from the popular Palestinian wedding song of the same name.

• Mixcloud: change of state (august 2025)

• MP3s: 25/08 - change of state.zip

NB: The zip file linked above contains the individual MP3s as well as a single 50-minute track of the whole mix.

Okay that's it. Thanks for reading, everyone, and many thanks to DZ and SB for their keen editorial eyes.

xo, graham