She wanted Mary Poppins but I took her to King Lear

All the music hitting my eardrums is getting a bit on top of me. I’m getting more & more stuff sent to me at the same time as the year’s new releases are really kicking into gear. And not only do I not have any extra time to spend doing the blog, but I have a gig frenzy this week. I’m not complaining… it’s great to have so much to listen to. I’m just feeling a little guilty for not posting up a lot of things that I should have.

So in an attempt to clear some of the musical gems i’ve lined up to share with y’all, here’s a SUPER-AWESOME MEGA POST!

I’ll keep words to a minimum.

Let’s rock!

This has been in the ‘to post’ part of my brain for about 6 months since I heard them on myspace. They look great, they have a great name, and one listen to this will have you believing that they are the future of pop music. They are We Smoke Fags.

Photo copyright Jenny Hardcore

WE SMOKE FAGS – EASTENDERS

The Wombats are going to take over the world. You may remember me raving about ‘Moving to New York’ a long while ago… and if you put it within 50 yards of your ears you’ll certainly not have forgotten it. It’s bird flu on plastic.

They’re now on single number 3, and despite not being properly signed are selling out 1000-capacity venues in their home city of Liverpool. It’s easy to discover why. Every time I put one of their CDs on I am stuck listening to it for half an hour. My finger hovers over ‘eject’ before I decide on ‘just one more’ listen.

Since I am totally unable to decide which song to post, i’ll stick up the MP3 of the b-side, and let you watch the Cliff Richard pastiche video of lead track ‘Backfire at the Disco’

I keep thinking I don’t like this so much, but then I hear him sing “I don’t mind, that she gets hammered and goes home with other guys” or “I saw her slam back Tequilas like Oliver Reed on an Irish stag do” and I decide I rather love it after all.

THE WOMBATS – LITTLE MISS PIPE DREAM

The single is out on April 9th, but you really should let The Wombats into your heart long before that. There is an album, ‘Girls, Boys & Marsupials’ I found on t’interweb, but i’m not sure it’s been properly released.

Elsewhere, the Mystery Jets have decided that Rock & Roll is passe, and to get the girls nowadays you need an MP3 blog. It’s true! It is here. They talk about themselves a lot, but who can blame them. They talk about other good things as well though, so go & check it aaaaahhhhhhhht.

They did get excited about the wrong Arcade Fire clip though. They should have been getting het up over this:

Which makes me rather sick that I didn’t cough up the £100 the ebay touts were looking for & go along….

Did I mention I was in the middle of a gig frenzy? Well so far this week i saw Long Blondes, Brakes & Fields on Tuesday (I found all of them a little underwhelming to be honest) and Maximo Park & !!! last night. Would it be wrong to suggest that Maximo Park are the best live band in Britain? I don’t think so. My Weegie compadre Paul reckons that ‘A Certain Trigger’ is better than The Clash’s first album. And I found myself agreeing. Unfortunately on the evidence of last night I don’t think “Our Earthly Pleasures” will be another “London Calling”. On first listen the new songs really didn’t sound up to the quality of the first album… but they’re a band whose qualities grow on you like a friendly fungus, so I’m not writing it off just yet.

After all, the new single is really good. Check it here:

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So Gus Gus (or is it Gus Gus?) have a new album due. It’s called ‘Forever’ & it looks like this:

Now despite it being their fifth(??) album i’ve not sampled their delights before. And to be honest for a band from Iceland that used to be signed to 4ad, I expected something a bit more well, esoterik, than this. However it’s just a rather excellent slightly Underworldy house album. The most fun i’ve been having is to ecstacy anthem in the making ‘Need in Me’. It should give you the happy face.

GUSGUS – NEED IN ME

The first single from the album is ‘Moss’, and since videos seem to be a feature of this ultra-mega-post you can watch it here:

Can I post without posting some glitchy dancing fun? Of course not. I’ve been enjoying these:

JUSTINE ELECTRA – KILLALADY (SURKIN REMIX)

UNKLEJAM – LOVE YA (HERVE REMIX)

(I told you Unklejam would enter your life)

RIOT IN BELGIUM – LA MUSIQUE (ORIGINAL MIX)

**Sorry, my mistake. This is the Original mix & not the VanShe Tech mix**

TEENAGE BAD GIRL – COCOTTE (BOYS NOIZE REMIX)

Saturday night is a big Modular records party at Turnmills. I’ll be there after The Gossip with any luck. Anyone fancies joining me for either, give me a shout.

Amongst the many hot names on the line-up (Green Velvet being the most exciting for me), you’ll see New Young Pony Club & Klaxons are both hitting us with DJ sex.

NEW YOUNG PONY CLUB – THE BOMB (THE TEENAGERS CRUSH LOU REMIX)

KLAXONS – GOLDEN SKANS (DAVID E SUGAR REMIX)

David E Sugar was one of the dudes from those ‘I Can Count’ records I talked about last month. This is an excellent remix.

Well that’s not really scratched the surface to be honest, however I have assuaged some guilt and listened to some bloody good music. Now I have a new episode of Lost burning a hole in my Hard Drive….

But before I go, my utmost thanks to Jeff. We have been having a bit of a disagreement after he called his blog ‘Headphonesex’…. but he’s just let me know the great news that he’s changed the name to ‘Stupid Dog’. So go & say hello & give him a big sloppy kiss from me – www.stupiddog.ca

Thanks a lot Jeff & good luck with the blog.

Help me Out of Here

One of the most vilified women in history, is it possible that Yoko Ono was in fact the talented one out of the Beatles?

Certainly by naming her new album “Yes, I’m a Witch”, she seems to accept her status amongst the wider public. But the music within – a selection of work from her back catalogue chosen & remixed by contemporary artists – shows an under-appreciated musical legacy. It could be argued that due to Ono’s clear influence on Lennon, that she paved the way for a broader acceptance of avant-gard work in the mainstream.

While this can’t be described as a great album, there are plenty of interesting collaborations to excite your ears. I skipped straight to the Spiritualized remix of ‘Walking on Thin Ice’, which gives a fresh slant to one of my favourite songs by giving it a tension-filled drone rock backing…. interspersed with frightening bursts of noise.

I’m sure others will find plenty to love in the collaborations with Cat Power, The Polyphonic Spree, Le Tigre, The Sleepy Jackson and a fantastic psyche-rock pairing with The Flaming Lips…. however i’m particularly enjoying these two.

Peaches unsurprisingly snatched up Yoko’s most notoriously filthy song, during which she goes all ‘French Kiss’ and sounds like she’s having an orgasm half way through. It originally appeared on Lennon’s ‘Double Fantasy’ album, as well as the B-side to (Just Like) Starting Over.

The sexual nature of the song sounds a little disturbing when pared with the nursery rhyme rhythm and childish lyrics. I’m sure it won’t stop you having a little shuffle about to the staccato electro beats and squelchy bass noises though.

YOKO ONO (WITH PEACHES) – KISS KISS KISS

The collaboration with Antony (of the Johnsons) is altogether sweeter. The kind of beautiful lyrics that only sound right when sung by people with English as a second language; married to a haunting backing by Antony. Moving.

YOKO ONO (WITH ANTONY & THE JOHNSONS) – TOY BOAT

Apparently this album will be followed in March by an album of dancier cuts. Which sounds like it could be interesting….

Bass Mechanics

You know i’m no good

If like me you’ve been in tonight, you are probably searching out an antidote to the increasingly overblown Brit awards.

I thought Amy Winehouse was excellent, and I must admit that ‘Rehab’ has been popping into my head at ever decreasing intervals recently. I contemplated posting something, but everything I have of hers is here. So go there & get clicking. The more I listen the more I like. Both the singles are great, and though you too must be tired of hearing how rock ‘n’ roll she is, she does possess a destructive fascination that’s compulsory for any decent pop star.

Otherwise the whole thing was a demonstration of production values and lavish sets covering up some mediocre music. The Scissor Sisters show was great to watch (i’m sure it’ll be on youtube soon if you didn’t see it), but it can’t cover up the fact that ‘I don’t feel like dancing’ isn’t very good. ‘Chasing Cars’ had some spectacular lighting, but it didn’t stop it being dull. Joss Stone has undergone a bizarre transformation… she’s swapped her endearing Devon accent for a transatlantic sludge, and tottered about on heels & a tiny dress like Beyonce getting ready for a night out in Newcastle. Anthony Keidis is a 50-year old man with a teenage girls’ socks on his hands. Take That showed that pretty young boys turn into fat and grizzled middle-aged men. Gah, I just remembered that James Morrison & Orson won awards! And that The Killers won two! It’s good to see that the judges are still a bunch of coked up record execs in Armani suits. That sounds like a Patrick Bateman playlist.

But ah yes, ‘The 2007 Brits belonged to Oasis’, as they picked up a lifetime achievement award or somesuch…. and then demonstrated why no-one likes them anymore with a mini live set. To be fair it was good that they didn’t play the obvious songs… but I think I can isolate their decline to the point where they started sacking band members & replacing them with competent session musicians. They turned from a gang of working-class lads turned good, to a pair of ego ridden rockstars and some performing monkeys.

Liam’s voice was shit; Noel looked bored. They played a dreadful (but mercifully short) song that wouldn’t have got near ‘Definitely Maybe’ or ‘What’s the Story’. And when Liam sang ‘all I need is Cigarette and Alcoh..’ it was with so little conviction it became ludicrous. The more he tries to be a rock ‘n’ roll star, the more he fails.

I was lucky enough to see Oasis a couple of times on their way to the top, and for their time they were perfect. They gave the music business a kick up the arse. They were thrilling live. They wrote effortlessly anthemic songs. They don’t half sound dated now though.

Here are some more professional cynics….

And here’s Joss Stone being fucking weird:

Ah shit, did I promise an antidote to all this?

Well how about something new on Ed Banger? Why not indeed. For in March ‘Ed Recs Vol. 2′ hits the shelves, your stereos and your nightclubs.

You may be asking what happened to volume 1? Well it seems that it was a promo only affair that compiled tracks from previous singles. This on the other hand is available to all, and nearly all new. Hurrah!

Fresh meat by Uffie & SebastiAn; a new Klaxons remix; and ‘Phantom’ by Justice should tantalise you enough. The highlight though is this cracker from the cruelly underrated Vicarious Bliss.

My best description of it would be that it sounds like an Alan Braxe remix of Justice… with the luscious ‘maximal’ sheen of the former, and the crunchy beats of the latter.

It’s kind of like this

with the demon replaced by a cuddly bear with sweet breath and a warm embrace.

It’s good.

VICARIOUS BLISS – LIMOUSINE

Ambience With Teeth

Great news reaches my ears… February 26th will see the release of ‘The Book of Dogma’, a double CD compilation of all the Black Dog’s rare as fuck early vinyl singles – some of the most sought after records in electronic music.

Recorded between 1989 and 1992, these groundbreaking records have paved the way for so much quality music in the years that followed. As arguably the first people to bring electronic dance music into the home, without Black Dog it is likely that there would have been no Aphex Twin; no Autechre and no Boards of Canada. At least not in their current form.

Certainly in 1993’s ‘Bytes’, The Black Dog created one of the masterpieces of electronic music, standing as one of the highlights of Warp’s masterful Artificial Intelligence series (every home should own ‘Artificial Intelligence‘, ‘Surfing on Sine Waves‘, ‘Incunabula‘ and ‘Bytes‘. And preferably ‘Electro-Soma‘ as well!). If you’re a fan of that, this is an essential purchase.

What really made Black Dog stand out was their drum programming. They eschewed a 4 to the floor beat in favour of complex rhythms rooted in Hip Hop or Samba… something you will probably pick up on in the tracks i’ll be posting here.

The first CD of ‘The Book of Dogma’ contains remastered versions of the three EPs released on their own ‘Black Dog Productions‘ label, ‘Virtual’; ‘Age of Slack’ and ‘Techno Playtime’.

Co-incidentally I picked up ‘Virtual’ on vinyl last weekend, as it appears on the Laurent Garnier & Carl Craig ‘Kings of Techno’ compilation. It’s the first time i’ve listened to it for a good while, and it’s wonderful stuff. It’s not hard to spot the rave influences, with several ‘hands in the air’ synth lines and piano drops… but it’s a bit too melancholy and complex for all but the bravest DJ to drop, and is far more suited to relaxing eyes closed in a fug of smoke.

THE BLACK DOG – VIRTUAL

Another highlight of the first disc is ‘Seers and Sages’, originally from the Techno Playtime EP. This is the rarest record of the three after the distributor decided to melt down 500 copies in order to free up a bit of shelf space. Whoops! I’m sure they’ve been kicking themselves since now they go for £100 a pop!

Like most of the electronic music I loved, this has great beats and melodies to die for. The title suggests that if you peer deep enough inside, there may be something to learn here.

THE BLACK DOG – SEER AND SAGES

For disc 2 we fast forward to 1991/2, by which time the group had moved to the newly formed ‘General Production Recordings’ (GPR). .. a label that was also to bring us Luke Slater, Beaumont Hannant, Stefan Robbers and Mark Broom.

These tracks have actually already been compiled as the ‘Parallel’ album on GPR, however the remastering has made a world of difference, and once again the tracks sparkle with life.

Glossolalia now has deeper bass and crisper drums, while the synth chords shimmer seductively and the hi-hats sound fresh and alive.

THE BLACK DOG – GLOSSOLALIA


Although the original Black Dog trio are still producing music, things went badly downhill for them IMO after an acrimonious split in around 1995. Ken Downie continued to produce under the Black Dog name, while Ed Handley and Andy Turner became ‘Plaid‘ full time… an alias they first adopted in 1991.

Perhaps it was the tensions between the trio that produced such great music, for most of their work since they split has left me cold. From a quick glance at the Black Dog message board, it seems a reconcilliation might be some way off. This post from Ken last month:

“i’m really sorry that the ‘plaid’ in your post was automatically converted to ‘pladwank’. I have no right to force my opinion onto others, and i apologise.

i don’t think about E&A a great deal, but wherever they are, whatever they’re doing, i hope they’re OK. I know they don’t give a fuck about me. but that’s fine too.”

“Happier Times”

Blood on your Nikes

I’ve mentioned Plan B quite a lot up here… and I feel he didn’t really get the credit he deserved last year. That’s been well and truly confirmed to me by listening to his tour CD ‘Paint it Blacker’. It’s only available at dates on his current tour, and I can highly recommend going along to one of his remaining dates just to pick up a copy.

The CD has mainly got Plan B reworking tracks from his album over bootleg backings by the likes of Nirvana, Hall & Oates, Leonard Cohen, Jose Gonzales & The Rolling Stones (hence the title). Among the many standout tracks, i’m particularly loving this version of ‘Missing Links’ over a backing of Radiohead’s ‘Pyramid Song’.

The first time I heard Plan B, he did a version of this on the radio, and i’ve been hoping to track down a version ever since. I believe this is how the track was originally conceived, and it works brilliantly. As usual Plan B paints a vivid picture with his scalpel-sharp lyrics, while the addition of the Radiotrack backing adds a whole new level of atmospherics.

PLAN B – MISSING LINK (FEAT. RADIOHEAD)

On a related note, I heard the new Dizzee Rascal single on the radio this evening. Damn it’s good!

Talking about damn good brings me once more to Carl Craig (AKA God). You all know the incredible remixing form he’s been in recently, and he’s now been coaxed into action once again for a remix of Faze Action’s cello-house classic ‘In The Trees’.

Released to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Juno Records (the online record shop), this is the first in a series of 10 releases – each with new remixes of classic tracks of the past 10 years. I’m not sure what else they’ have lined up, however if it means hearing things like Faze Action again, my ears are well and truly peeled!

On this one, Carl Craig drops most recognisable elements from the original, in favour of a hypnotic groove that masterfully builds and subtly shifts forms in a way that few producers can manage. As an unavowed Carl Craig fanboy for the last 15 years you’re not going to get me saying a bad word about this…. all hail the king!

FAZE ACTION – IN THE TREES (CARL CRAIG C2 REMIX)

Finally, what are people’s thoughts on this? Sure to be a Summer hit this year i’d say….

Remix your brain

2007 is not long upon us, but two remixers have already taken the year by the balls.

Switch (or Dave Taylor to his mum) has clearly moved into the big league now, and in the last month he’s hit us with three killer re-rubs – of Robbie Williams, P. Diddy and Freeform Five.

Possibly the best of the bunch is this one by Freeform Five. Keeping it deep, dirty and distorted, it’s an instant Switch classic. I’m not sure why this is being re-released as a single two years on, however having heard this i’m glad it has been.

FREEFORM FIVE – NO MORE CONVERSATIONS (SWITCH REMIX)

I didn’t expect to ever be posting any P.Diddy up here, however while he carrys on with whatever it is he makes his money from (perfume? Diddy Doughnuts? Diddy Diapers?), Switch has been polishing this particular turd with relish. I reckon he must have invested his advance on something that turns his knobs up to 11, for the frequencies here seem to have been tweaked to another level.

It’s amazing how Ms Aguilera’s solo in the middle is improved with the addition of a simple kick drum… which rightly suggests that something nasty is about to go off.

I find it hard to describe this shit sometimes, because it’s basically designed to make your body jack rather than your mind flux. And besides, listening through my bookshelf Tannoys isn’t the environment it’s been designed for. But believe me, it’s crackerjack stuff.

P. DIDDY FEAT. CHRISTINA AGUILERA – TELL ME (SWITCH REMIX)

The third smash I mentioned (although sounding rather tame and undertated if you listen to it straight after that piece of Diddy Dynamite) is the Robbie Williams remix.. but you can find the MP3 plus a much better write-up than I could manage over at Electric Zoo. So go there instead.

On a slightly different tip are Hadouken!, who i’ve totally fallen for this year. They’ve a really breathless, thrilling sound which I have been labelling ‘Electro Grime’ on my itunes.

Whoever thought that Bloc Party for instance, could sound this exciting? From comments i’ve heard though this seems to really polarise opinion. The correct opinion is that it is fucking genius. I think there are those though that find the murderation of the Bloc Party original a bit much to take. They are wrong though, and I fear for their souls.

“If you’ve got a drink, then neck the whole cup. If you don’t know the words then make them up”.

BLOC PARTY – THE PRAYER (HADOUKEN! REMIX)

I got this from Hadouken!’s blog, where they promise the next remix to be of Leeds neighbours !Forward Russia!. Can’t wait!

Although their remix of Plan B actually came out in December (on that 12″ with the stunning Sinden & Hot Chip remixes), somehow I didn’t appreciate its quality at the time. To be honest I didn’t make it past the firing Sinden remix very often. This is incredible though. I’m about out of words so just give it a listen.

PLAN B – NO MORE EATIN’ (HADOUKEN! REMIX)

Hadouken!’s debut single, ‘That Boy That Girl’ is out on February 26th.

Here’s the video

As usual Adventures Close to Home are more on the ball than Trevor Francis, and have booked ‘em in for a London gig. Be there.

(and also be there on Friday for Fujiya & Miyagi and To My Boy)

I want to feel your smell

If this doesn’t get you ready for the weekend I don’t know what will….

Check out Napoleon Dynamite!

(The song is ‘Shari Vari’ by A Number of Names – some say the first Techno record)

In my last post I mentioned Tirk Records, and I really should encourage you to go & buy their first label compilation… imaginatively titled ‘Tirk 01′. If tracks by New Young Pony Club, Fujiya & Miyagi and Greg Wilson aren’t enticement enough, you’ll find plenty more gems from their back catalogue within. My only complaint would be that it doesn’t include Maurice Fulton’s ‘The Fly’, but I guess that must have been left out for a reason. Licencing perhaps? It does include the excellent ‘Place Called Tarot’ by Tarot though. Check that out if you can.

So I was meaning to post this up when it came out, but now’s a good time to revisit it. It’s a collaboration between the not insanely tall one from Groove Armada, and a bloke (Tim Hutton) who used to record as ‘Vulva’ for Rephlex.

According to Discogs, this is a re-edit of ‘Love Honey (Love Heartache)’ by Man Friday. I’ve never heard of that, but it’s a great track featuring one of the best percussion noises I can think of.

‘der-der-der-der’

SUGARDADDY – LOVE HONEY (ELECTRO MIX)

You may recognise this next one from the first ‘Futurism’ compilation on City Rockers…. a song so filthy that there was no alternative but to get Peaches in for some vocal action.

Even if you know the song, you may be quite surprised to see what Louie Austen looks like:

This is undoubtedly one of the best tracks Peaches has done… big up the OAP massive!

LOUIE AUSTEN (FEAT. PEACHES) – GRAB MY SHAFT

So i’m looking forward to some new stuff from Tirk this year. And perhaps an update to their website at some point might stop them going the same way as their forebears Nuphonic.

Your Lovin’ Hands

I’ve been hitting the disco re-edits a lot this week… mainly courtesy of new kids on the block D*I*R*T*Y Soundsystem and legendary old timer DJ Greg Wilson.

The D*I*R*T*Y gang – and in particular Frenchman Pilooski – have just released their fifth 12″ – like the others limited to a thousand copies, and this time venturing into slightly more psyched up ‘Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve’ territory.

I’ve been playing some of the older ones to death, and in particular this edit of Frankie Valli’s ‘Beggin’. It’s a real Northern Soul floorfiller, and I just can’t imagine what this would have done had they played it at the Wigan Casino. You can smell the talc in the air.

Frankie Valli was of course the lead singer of the Four Seasons, and is apparently now appearing in The Sopranos as Rusty Millio. Can’t say I watch it myself, but that may mean something to someone!

FRANKIE VALLI – BEGGIN’ (PILOOSKI EDIT)

This is from the fourth twelve, which is the best so far IMO with the Cat Stevens & Octet tracks also being big hits to my ears. In fact i’ll post up the Octet track as well… which after a bit of investigation seems to be a remix of one of his fellow artists on Benjamin Diamond’s Diamond Traxx label.

Some lo-slung DFA bass and chugga-chugga funk geetar set the mood and the groove, but it’s the periodic frenetic alarm clock riff that really lifts the track. Excellent stuff.

OCTET – EUROS vs DOLLARS (PILOOSKI EDIT)

While we’re on the re-edit tip, time to tip my hat to the master of the genre – Manchester’s Greg Wilson.

How this ‘Credit to the Edit’ album, released in 2005 on achingly trendy Tirk Records, went overlooked I don’t know. It’s just fantastic from start to finish, compiling 20 years of Greg’s re-edits from painstaking tape-to-tape-taping to recent computerised constructions.

Now most of the stuff here is disco-based (Chic, Chaka Khan, Salsoul Orchestra etc.); but just check this out. It’s a re-rub of what I now know is a track by Chicken Lips (the same guy who did that Emperor Machine remix the other day). I’ve heard the original many a time the last couple of years, but didn’t know who it was by. I do now!

The Bill Hicks sample is a masterstroke…. but it doesn’t seem this has ever been available on vinyl. Which is a bit of a travesty!

CHICKEN LIPS – HE NOT IN (DJ GREG WILSON EDIT)

Next up a track credited to ‘Raw DMX’… in fact a mash-up of Raw Silk’s ‘Do It To The Music’ and the incredible DMX Krew’s ‘We Got The Funk’.

Greg Wilson is best known for his pioneering Electro work, and shows his skills off brilliantly here. Who got da funk?

Love it!

RAW DMX – DO IT TO THE FUNK (DJ GREG WILSON EDIT)

Phonica have the CD on sale right now…. it’s not all as incredible as these two, but a recommended purchase nonetheless. Read the liner notes here for a bit of history…

A second volume is apparently due this year.