piano playa hata
2007-07-13 12:51:00
This one's strictly for grooversWell, I succumbed to temptation & set up a facebook page. I think I might be missing something, but what's the point of it? Writing on people's walls? Why can't I just send a frickin email? Or even pick up the phone? oi...There's not much music by Luke Vibert posted on the blogosphere, which I think is surprising given the volume and quality of the stuff he's written over the years.I'm not entirely sure what the differences are between the music that he puts out as Wagon Christ and what he puts out just as 'Luke Vibert'. I think, in general, the stuff under his own name seems to take itself a bit seriously. His Wagon Christ stuff, on the other hand, uses more playful arrangements, samples from TV & sci-fi films & kitsch instrumentation in a way that injects much more of a feelgood vibe into the music.I really like it & think you all should too.Here's a selection of some songs he's released since the early 90s.from Throbbing Pouch (1995) ~W
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uncanny x-men
2007-07-17 04:49:00
The X-ecutioners are the ultimate turntablist supergroup.Originally called X-Men, until the predictable legal wrangle, they were founded in 1989 as a DJ collective, then also including Stevey D, Johnny Cash (not that one) & picking up Dr Butcher along the way. They called themselves The X-Men to set themselves up as a rival super-crew to another group of New York City turntablists , Clark Kent's Supermen DJ Crew, and hopefully vanquish them in a battle. That battle never took place, and the Supermen slid into the background. There's a nice piece on the history & importance of the group here.These tracks are from their first album X-Pressions. Released on the mighty Asphodel label in '97, the LP included the classic lineup of Rob Swift, Roc Raida, Mista Sinista & Total Eclipse. The artistry on the album is absolutely staggering, as is the range of styles & routines they showcase.I've chosen three tracks with this in mind. The first is, in the words of the great MC Helix C Ar
For RdB
2007-07-17 04:33:00
This post is dedicated to the memory of Robert de Beaugrande.Robert was a genius linguist, highly influential in the development of discourse analysis, and a supportive colleague.I never had the pleasure of meeting & talking with Robert in person, but he was one of my (seemingly growing number of) e-friends, and a good one at that. I don't know the circumstances of his death, which is a little difficult to be honest. But he was always one to burn the candle at both ends, so I imagine that he went out partying.We'll miss you RdB.
ahead of the curve
2007-07-21 05:36:00
Wow. Thanks to the really nice shout out from Double K over at dilated choons, my statcounter has taken a serious hit. Hopefully a few of you in that initial spike will become return visitors. Cheers Kev!Regulars to the blog will know how much I love Z-Trip, having posted on him twice already, but I couldn't pass up another alphabetic alignment.Some people have suggested that Z-Trip effectively invented the mashup style of DJing, which, to be honest I just don't understand. Hip-hop has always been a magpie artform, a bricolage of past tunes, genres and styles. Good DJs are expected to dig deep in their crate, pulling out lost gems & raregrooves that passed most folk by. The really good DJs don't just play rare tracks of course. They also play weird shit and, even better, the stuff everyone knows, they just haven't heard it used like this before - cut & spliced with other beats and loops to create something exciting and original. This, in my opinion, is what Z-Trip does, and does in
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tell me what you saw
2007-07-20 13:30:00
By some mysterious freaky cosmic alignment the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are releasing a new EP just as my alef-ba-ta gets round to Y.It took me a while to love the Yeah Yeahs Yeahs. My innate 'nyeh' for bands that are being pushed and pushed some more by the mainstream music press, coupled with my well-developed superiority complex, generally means that I ignore most 'latest-big-thing!' PR drives.But there is no denying their majesty, managing to combine the best from both art- and garage rock. And you can dance to their stuff too, which is always a bonus in my book.This is from their EP, out July 24th. The drums sound absolutely fantastic:Yeah Yeah Yeahs - 10x10and this is an older one, from their 2003 LP Fever to tell.Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Date with the nightAs Westwuhrd would say, you need this in your life.Get it today!
analog giants, pt1
2007-07-23 09:31:00
Every now and then I'm lucky enough to buy some music that's right at the edge of what I consider listenable. It's then really interesting to go back to such records a few years later to see if my view of them - and so, presumably, my view of what is 'listenable music' - has changed at all. One such record is/was Parental Guidance by alder and elius, released in 2000 by Skam.On first listen, I thought that this was a cacophonous din. Worse, I thought the album was a repetitive cacophonous din, that used odd analogue instruments that had long been superseded by better MIDI synthesizers, sequencers and drum machines.Listening to it again, as I have periodically over the past few years, my view has changed massively and now I really like their pulsing, drilling intensity of their music. Sure, it's not easy listening by any stretch of the imagination. But in the intervening years, with my views & tastes shifted through listening to folk like Styrofoam, Kings Have Long Arms, and Skam
analog giants, pt2
2007-07-23 08:12:00
Following the Vibert-fest of this and other blogs, I thought I'd post a couple more tracks from the Cornish genius, this time from his LP YosepH, released by Warp. (The acidic content of the album being indexed in the name. Geddit?)Most of the tracks on YosepH were written quite a while before the album's 2003 release. Amazingly, perhaps, neither Ninja Tunes nor Virgin - the two labels that Vibert had released with around this album - wanted to touch acid with a bargepole. He had to fight to get a single acid track on his album with Ninja Tunes ('Sorry I make you lush', perhaps?), and so he had a store of great tunes without a home. - Just a small sample from his 6-700 unreleased tunes. Yep, you read that right.There's a really interesting account of this, as well as other insights into Vibert's way of working, at this old interview on MilkFactory. You can also read a pretty good, though short, review of the LP here.Vibert - I love acidI love the way this one sounds like its fadi
stories, stories
2007-07-25 12:35:00
I was introduced to Black Flag, curiously enough, by a comic. Love and Rockets to be precise. And I came to love them so much I bought the brand. Literally.They went through quite a few changes of line up, especially during their early years. So that, plus problems with cash, cops and studios, resulted in there being so many different versions of so many of their songs with all three of their early singers. This isn't a bad thing of course, especially when since it means that most fans can get versions of their early stuff - like their classic Police Story - sung by their favourite singer. But I never liked Chavo, so I'm not going to post his version.Black Flag, Keith Morris (aka Johnny 'Bob' Goldstein) era - Police StoryBlack Flag, Dez Cadena era - Police StoryBuyAnd, as a special treat, here's Ice-T's version, included on a Black Flag tribute album.Ice-T - Police StoryBuy
extra extra
2007-07-27 04:40:00
Common's new album is due to drop this Monday, so I thought I'd post some tracks currently doing the rounds that apparently didn't make the final cut.Of these four tracks, we've heard versions of two of them already. 'So cool' was, weirdly enough, included as a bonus track on his last album Be - though the version here is extended, more developed and all the better for it. 'Always the bridesmaid & never the bride' with this track, it seems.'The food' is a studio version of the live track included on Be. So if you thought that Kanye's singing was only off-key because it was recorded live, erm, think again.The other two are completely new to me. They're classic Common, which makes me think that the album tracks must be fantastic if these didn't make it. The production thankfully takes much more of a backseat than it did on Be, as parts of that album, with Common's rhymes struggling to be heard above vocal samples, were a bit aurally disarranging. Bilal's voice on the first
straight outta Friedrichshain
2007-07-31 09:49:00
Extended Spirit are two-sixths (or one third, if you like your fractions simplified) of the DJ/production team Jazzanova. Along with the rest of the team, they have been largely responsible for the noughties coolification of Berlin, which is putting out some fantastic material at the moment. In contrast to the housey, 'nu-jazz' stylings of much of the releases on their Sonar Kollektiv label, Extended Spirit have a slower, more hip-hop orientated sound that reminds me a bit of old electrobeat stuff by people like Mantronix. But with better drum machines.I love the way that this song just sort of lollops along, driven by that big squelchy bassline:Extended Spirit ~ SidingmehspaceBuy!save this page
double d
2007-07-30 03:58:00
Music is not hygiene was the debut album from Dublin based electronica & cut/paste hip-hop producer Deasy (aka Dave Cleary).Released in August 2003, I picked it up on a trip out to Dublin soon after, which was good (for me) because I still haven't seen it on sale over here in the UK. And that's a real pity, because I haven't come across many better recent examples of downbeat funk/hip-hop.The samples & programming sit somewhere between Amon Tobin & Prefuse 73, flitting between stuttering rhythms & dirty basslines and more experimental, electro driven syncopated funk.Here's a taste of the album, that you should be able to buy here (at the bottom of the page)Deasy ~ Meteor hits landlordDeasy ~ Stutter hop
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we don't talk anymore
2007-08-02 04:50:00
One more for the road.Gusto ~ Disco's revengesave this page
to the breaka breaka dawn it's awn
2007-08-01 13:19:00
Bit of a quick post this one, as I'm in the middle of packing. I'm off to Edinburgh tomorrow for a long festival weekend. Looks like there's some good stuff on this year - and it happily coincides with my birfday too."The DJ Food project started in 1990 as collections of breaks, loops and samples ideal for mixing, remixing and producing, but also funky jazz and hip-hop tracks that stood well on their own. As time went on, the collaboration expanded beyond the original duo of Matt Black and Jonathan More (Coldcut), to include Strictly Kev, who added new flavours to the mix, such as Latin, dub, techno, tribal, and jungle. Originally known for their Jazz Breaks volumes, the group's other releases include 1995's A Recipe For Disaster. Black and More eventually moved away from the DJ Food project, keeping themselves busy splitting themselves between Coldcut and their two labels. Ninja Tune and Ntone."Here's some tracks from the period up to about '98.An early future funk classic from
correctly lecherous (?..)
2007-08-11 04:55:00
One for my German speaking compadres.I've had this on my player for about 9 months, and it still hasn't gotten boring for me. It won a competition, remixing the track 'Richtig Geil' by Berlin based hip-hoppers Icke&Er back at the end of last year. And I don't know any else about it - who wrote it, who the (American?..) woman is 'rapping', or anything else. Answers on a postcard, please. Or a comment will also do.Ische & Sie ~ Richtig Geil, Ausländerin rmxmehspacesave this page
RIP Tony
2007-08-10 16:41:00
Bit of a sad one this time. Tony Wilson, pop impresario and former boss of Factory Records, has died, age 57.Remember the good music that came out of the 80s? Well a shit load of it was directly attributable to the work of this man.Have a drink, or a pill, or whatever, and remember him.Happy Mondays ~ Wrote for luckHappy Mondays ~ Do it bettersave this page
may the funk be with you
2007-08-13 14:25:00
(man, searching for 'Jedi Knights' on Google image dredges up a load of cranks...)A really short section of this track was included on Coldcut's brilliant Journeys by DJ mix, and I always thought it was a pity that they didn't let it play out for a bit longer. Not their style to let a tune play for more than a minute, I guess.An absolute banger, released around 94 at the start of the mini- electro revival sparked by Clear records, this tune always used to get me up for going out. Still sounds great today.I faded it in on this recording because there's loads of daft vocoder lyrical squeakiness at the start of the track.Jedi Knights ~ Aural delightsave this page
zih zih zih zih zih
2007-08-17 13:35:00
For some time now, other blogs have been posting their songs of the summer. I've resisted. Mainly because until this week the UK hasn't really had much of a summer. But a couple of good days of sun, and a couple of days in the beer garden, and I break out the summer tunes.Here's an album that may have passed some of you by, by Parisian newcomers Outlines. Music don't come much more summery than this: track after track of beautiful, soulful electronica-tinged hip-hop. It was released last June, but a couple of tracks of it had been floating round t'internet for a month of so before that, that some of you may have already heard.This was one of them, featuring a fantastic, but somewhat unexpected collab with RZA. The way that piano loop just keeps pushing the track forward is sublime.Outlines ~ Now that I'm freeAnd this is a bitter sweet reminder that we ain't got much time on this Mother Earth, which is our rock. So, as a wiser man than me once put it, you need to 'twist and turn
rise above
2007-08-15 06:06:00
It's great this blogging lark. Of course, in addition to foisting my musical tastes on a disinterested world, I also enjoy listening to the music that other bloggers love. And every now and then someone posts something that completely blows me away.Jamila, over on the fantastic FUCKING DANCE, recently wrote about Dirty Projectors. I'm a complete convert. Dave Longstreth is a musical genius, no two ways about it. To be able to blend pop, electro, chamber orchestra, blues, and other genres, and make it not only sound fantastic, but also like no other music you've heard, is a pretty big achievement. And their next release, out sometime early September, is an album of Black Flag cover versions. OMFG, ask me if I can wait for that one.They release their stuff on Marriage Records, whose existence is further proof, to me, that Portland is the creative centre of the US and pretty high on my list of 'places must visit'. Have a listen & bask in their beautiful weirdness [both ripped from th
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i don't wanna grow up
2007-08-22 13:12:00
man, I hate this no-smoking ban. Of course, it stops me doing what I want to do, when and where I want to do it. But the arguments for banning 'smoking-in-the-workplace' are not only puerile but are voiced by a mix of puritanical and hypocritical spokespeople who really wind me up.I mean, does anybody really believe that the folk in ASH give a shit about the rights of workers? You'd think that a better way to help working rights would be to support the Unionisation of catering workers - still lacking a union in the UK of course.And why are Palaces excluded? The only bar that you can drink & smoke is Annie's in the Houses of Parliament, because it's part of the Palace of Westminster. Well who'd a thunk it.And god, don't get me started on what clubs are now like. What dismal places they've become. The one good thing to come out of it all is the rise of smirting - a brilliant portmanteau blending smoking & flirting. The young always find a way to turn a curse into a blessing, and
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scoured, showered & deflowered
2007-08-22 04:33:00
Discovering Lexoleum records, at the back end of 2001, was exactly what my ears needed. Here was the UK hip-hop label of my dreams, putting out quality tracks that seemed to perfectly capture the whole utopia-dystopia thing that was going on in domestic & global politics at that time. There was a brooding, almost menacing quality to a lot of their releases, but equally, they never lost a sense of optimism. It was real 'light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel' stuff for me, and in more ways that one. See what you think with this selection of tracks from this fantastic label.[I'm experimenting with a new fileserv. Press 'play' to stream the track here; or, to download, click the divShare logo on the right of the player. Files expire after 7 days]First up, two songs from Boom Bip's LP Seed to Sun:Boom Bip ~ Closed shouldersAnd this one I really loved, until I saw the fookin thing on a TV ad for some bank or other. Still a beautiful song, but why suck Satan's cock? I don't know...Boom Bip ~
masters at work
2007-08-19 12:31:00
Back to the alef-ba-ta with this one.After reading a great post on drummers on floodwatchmusic, I was inspired to dig in my crates on the search for some drum dominant dance music. This is what came first to hand. And that started with a K.The track was a firm fixture of my DJ set during the first half of 1996, so it might jog a few memories for either of my regulars who I know heard me spin. I love that dirty bass beat that starts & runs throughout the track. Not many producers could write a track so dependent on drum loops & fills, but I think Kenny & Louis pull it off. A classic.KenLou ~ The Bouncemehspacesave this page
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