Brikabrak Tonight.
The Old Queen’s Head in Islington is where its at tonight kids. Brikabrak are having a modern beat music party with Dave E Sugar, Kid Harpoon, Sunny Day Sets Fire and Mica playing live and the Help The Jaded boys play rekkids. Come down – it’ll be fun. Also you have to support Help The Jaded as they’ve got none other than DJ Grumblemouse AKA Tha Bum Shaker playing at their next night – click flyer below for deets.
逆さまの愚かな帽子
Yeah see – I gotta japanese blog – 逆さまの愚かな帽子
I hope it doesn’t read too bad but its translated by Babelfish so you know it is – oops!
37 Minutes To Comply
WordPress is telling me I have 37 minutes to blog before they turn off my shit to update some old bit of thing. Given that its 3.30 am I’d say that not an unreasonable deadline – I defo need to go to bed. Anyway I’ve just been checking Slutty Fringe and he seems to have accomplised the impossible – getting a DJ to do a mix for him. Goddam I’ve been trying to get Tapedeck to do a mix for months and then look what happens today – they go and get interviewed by Timeout – seriously – I’ve been asking for ages. Anyway go check out the mix Deisler from Tru Thoughts did for Slutty Fringe here
The Only One I Love / Fake Trumpet
So wandering the streets of NY during CMJ in my folk singer song writer haze I chanced upon a young songstress by the name of Jaymay. Turns out she’s completely famous and I’m the last person to catch on (even my friend from London said that he’s seen her in LDN recently!) Don’t know what it is about Jaymay that I love but she’s definately got something – good songs I guess, not really so folky but beautiful girl with a guitar music.
Anyway here’s three live tracks of hers:
Jaymay – The Only One I love (Live)
Jaymay – Sea Green, Sea Blue (Live)
Ahhh so mid post I realised that her cover of Every Day features Jaymay pretending to play the trumpet but just sort of singing it – seriously this is, IMO, one of the cutest things ever – the first time I heard it was on a Pete Doherty track and when you hear it you can’t help but understand ol Kate Moss’s decision to stand by her man – seriously – fake trumpet is the way.
Pete Doherty – Don’t Look Back Into The Sun (Live Acoustic)
Oh and I found this interview with Jaymay while she was in Tokyo with Guzen Radio. You should defo check out some of their other podcasts as its pretty interesting – just life and living in Japan.
Best Song Ever Vol.
Yeah yeah I know I’m always saying its the best song ever but this one is a serious contender. So whilst reading this Hotel California book I’ve been picking up CDs by the people mentioned in it – somehow I’ve managed to get to 27 without ever really listening to Neil Young – I guess I spent most of my teens trying to track down another copy of that 2-Live Crew cassette that my mum would constantly confiscate off me.
Anyway I recently bought Zuma, his 1975 album with Crazy Horse and this song just stuck with me – to be honest I’ve kinda forgotten about the rest of the album. It reminds me of Calexico but at the same time one of the tracks from that Hymie’s Basement album.
Neil Young – Cortez The Killer buy
In other news:
A La Discotheque has a Final Fantasy cover of Bloc Party ‘This Modern Love’ which is great.
Tha Bombshelter has a bunch of Sufjan Stevens Xmas songs including ‘That Was The Worst Christmas Ever’.
Ya’ll Some Turkeys
Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers! In honour of this special time of year (and his upcoming album) potty mouthed electro rapper, of Paxil Back fame, The Gray Kid has released a mixtape. Entitled The Pilgrimage: Y’all Some Turkey’s its basically a bunch of classic hip hop cuts, tunes from his album and randomly a Bjork track. This is a mixtape in the classic sense, all instrumentals with his vocals – its good although the track selection is perhaps a little better than the lyrical content. Read an interview with him from Dork Magazine here
Damon McMahon
So I managed to spend all my scrilla on my trip to NY which means that now I have to sit on my sofa not spending any money which I guess is all good. Luckily I got a shit ton of CDs while I was away so at least I have some company. One of the CDs was a label compilation from Astralwerks. There’s a bunch of good stuff on there like Darkel and The Little Ones but the tune that really stood out was from a guy called Damon McMahon. I’d never heard of him but he has a really beautiful voice with that Devendra vibratto thing going on. Turns out he was in a band called Inouk who I’ve seen blogged about but never heard – they’re pretty good though. Anyway I guess this just follows on from the woody women post – just a dude and his guitar.
Damon McMahon – Elizabeth Taylor Buy
Woody Women
So my friend Millie writes for a bunch of people including for Dazed Digital which is Dazed and Confused’s new website. Whilst browsing for stuff I came across a post by Millie about two female folk singers, Alela Diane and Mariee Sioux, that left her, and me since I’ve checked them out, spellbound. You should read what Mille has to say here as she’s a real writer and much better at describing the music than me.
Its funny, I never used to be into folky type stuff and for the past few years all of my friends have been heading off to all these folk festivals and now that LDN is awash with N** Rave and Ed Banger I just want to stay at home listening to quiet music – anyway enough chat – here’s some tunes – hope you like them as I’ve been buying a lot of this sort of stuff recently so there’s plenty more to follow.
Alela Diane – Rifle
Alela Diane – The Pirate’s Gospel
New Post!
PLOT SUMMARY: In this act Grumblemouse despairs at the way technology rules our lives.
ACT ONE
Grumblemouse: ‘Goddam piece of shit mutherfucking ipod how dare you make me restart you for the fifth time today and so help me god laptop if you refuse to download another tune from myspace I’ll put my foot so far up your OS X 10.3.9 ass you’ll be……….
PLOT SUMMARY: In this act Grumblemouse overcomes his anger at his broke ass computer directs it elsewhere.
ACT TWO:
Grumblemouse: ‘Goddam piece of shit mutherfucking Pitchfork how can you get a DJ Mehdi album review so annoyingly wrong… and I quote
Pitchfork: “I Am Somebody” featuring Quebecois funk dudes Chromeo. Its wobbly bassline and major-key synth rushes are the sonic equivalent of waiting at the velvet rope, and Dave 1’s lyrics capture the exact moment when being refused from an old spot spurs the creation of a new spot, repeating the titular phrase as if he’s rallying the rejects.
Grumblemouse: ‘What! Have you ever listened to a Chromeo tune -they’re straight banging from the second the tune starts – the same as this tune. Chromeo were schooled from old 80’s Tommy Boy tunes when there was no build up – its a song and the tune is just hype all the way through – jeesus don’t make me come round with my Tommy Boy ‘Power Jams’ cassette and school yo ass.
DJ Mehdi ft Chromeo – I am Somebody Buy
PLOT SUMMARY: In this act Grumblemouse recognises the most beautiful skit interlude in recent years.
Grumblemouse: Um…. yeah you have to check this out, its fucking beautiful.
PLOT SUMMARY: Grumblemouse schools.
Pitchfork: “Lucky Boy” featuring the breathy Fafi, has the good time trip-hop never could. But again, even the most manic moments feel like a preparation for something yet to be determined. Lucky Boy makes some calls and drives us around Paris looking for the ultimate party, never to find it, and that is both the album’s strength and weakness.
Grumblemouse: Dude! Seriously! Lucky Boy is one of the stand out tracks on the album – its all Moroccan 3am slow jam club style tunes – fuck just listen to it – its made for a club – again this tune hits home from the opening bars – I mean it owns and then keeps on owning for another 4 minutes.
DJ Mehdi ft Fafi – Lucky Boy Buy
PLOT SUMMARY: Grumblemouse gets bored of typing and just posts the truth.
Pitchfork: Judged against similar hip-hop-influenced instrumentalists like RJD2 or Eliot Lipp, DJ Mehdi is superior.
Grumblemouse: Really! Did you just lump these 3 completely different producers in together – I’m not even gonna respond, well I am but via the medium of yousendit – see for yourself.
THE END
I’m So Excited!
Well kinda – I have an interview tomorrow which is making me excited but also way nervous as I would kinda like the job – I’ve been preparing so it should be ok. There’s one band that I love partly because they always look so excited when they play. Matt and Kim have a new video for Yea Yeah and its awesome – see below.
Matt and Kim’s debut album cam out recently and you can cop it from itunes here
Another song that makes me excited is Pat Benetar’s Love Is A Battlefield. I first heard this as an instrumental with Pharcyde’s Passing Me By on a Z-Trip 12″ that I picked up somewhere. Since then I’ve heard it on a bunch of mixtapes most recently being the Diplo Solid Steel mix I posted last week. Anyway I love it and it makes me excited and hopefully it will make you excited too.
Pat Benatar – Love Is A Battlefield Buy
Another thing that makes me excited is that the guys over at Crown Dozen have included me in their Top Twelve MP3 blogs along with some of my favorite blogs – check out the other 12 here. They also have an interview with my favorite illustrators Kozyndan which you can read here
Oh and so far no one has won the Lily Allen competition!
COMPETITION TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The first person to make Lilly Allen my girlfriend wins a prize!
Click here to see why
24 seconds of the cutest girl in the world!
Get Your Learn On Vol.1
Zoop zoop! So I rounded up some love tinternet today and here it is for you. I’m super in love or in awe of Second Life – I can’t get it on my wack-top as its too old but the time I spent in SL was amazing and I can’t wait to get back in there – seriously its the future kids!
Read all about day to day shizz on SL on New World Notes. There is a really interesting article about SL sign up and membership here.
So there is this podcast that I have loved for a while that was given during SXSW 2006 between Craig from Craigslist and the dude from Wikipedia, I mean kids you need this Big Fucking Interesting Podcast.
Y’all who are into this shizz need to listen to this Town Hall Second Life Pcast. Town Hall – Nov 16th 2006. Here is an mp3 of the main guys at Linden Labs (the guys that run Second Life) chatting about SL and answering questions from kids in SL. nicenice.
OK – so as per my rant yesterday eve – I think everyone should read this article from the NY Times about the Brand Underground. Whats up with these kids!
Wild Horses
So I’m reading a book called Hotel California: Singer-songwriters and Cocaine Cowboys in the L.A. Canyons 1967-1976 by Barney Hoskyns – its all about Laurel Canyon in the 60’s and onwards. Its really interesting, Crosby, Stills and Nash before they all joined up with each other and Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and Gram Parsons – a young David Geffen just ruling things when he’s still in his 20’s. The fun thing about reading a book like this is that I don’t know much about the music so I’ve been buying up and downloading a bunch of the tunes that are mentioned in the book. So far the favorite song I’ve found is Wild Horses, written by the Stones but first released by Gram Parson’s Flying Burrito Brothers in 1970. I actually first heard this tune covered by Iron & Wine and Calexico last year but never realised where it came from.
The Flying Burrito Brothers – Wild Horses buy
Blogging LIVE from Vice-geist 2006
Maybe I’m just tired or maybe I’ve hit a point in my life but I was more than non-plussed by Vice’s 4th (UK) B-day this evening. Sure there were free drinks until midnight and sure Ed Bangers had the main room on lock but it was all a little too hmmm I dunno zeitgeisty perhaps. I’ve been reading a lot of old magazines, like THE FACE from 1988 and i-D from 1990 and its really interesting – the articles are great and so on point but sitting 17 years away from it all you can’t help but think how futile the whole ’scene’ thing is. I guess if Jimi or the Doors or the Beatles never had a scene then shit would have been different but seriously are the Horrors or Metronomy (who I really like) gonna mean shit in 3, 4 or 17 years time. Reading old copies of Straight No Chaser has been interesting – a couple of people who were all over that magazine have made it big – namely Gilles Peterson and James Lavelle but apart from that most people mentioned and championed in the magazine have either faded away or, well faded away. I don’t know much about MAD or that other magazine that was English in the 60’s that always got into trouble but really, apart from helping keep certain scene’s alive what purpose do they have – this shit won’t be relevant in 10 years – yeah it was fun while it lasted but was it really that fun fighting your way through Turnmills, paying £4.50 for a bottle of beer only to have it knocked on the floor by some Ketamine addled eejit who’s driven down from Kent for the evening in the hope of pulling some sluttily dressed marketing bint.
My friend’s Dad lived in London in the 60’s and said it swang for about 100 people – for the rest of them it sucked. I feel the same way about tonight’s party – if you work at Vice or think its cool to hang out at a Vice party then it was a fucking riot but for the rest of us that see right through Vice’s live-to-promote ethos then it was pretty shit. I don’t know what upsets me more, the fact that the party was full of wannabe Vice kids, 1st year advertising agency project managers out to get fucked and dance to ‘whats cool’ or the fact that it actually was so cool. I mean The Horrors, a whole room of Ed Banger, Metronomy and Van She – thats fucking cool. Maybe I just expected Vice to pull something a little different out of their hat but I guess if you’re onto a good thing why fuck with it – I guess at least the brand managers at Vladivar, Corona and Xbox will be able to understand and feel privileged that they were part of it. Maybe thats it – maybe the whole Vice B-day is an outing for the account managers at the respective agencies of the brands that sponsor the party – a sort of catch 22 symbiotic event – I dunno – maybe I’m just grumpy – maybe I need to go to bed – maybe I ned to stop thinking so much.
Aaaaaaaaaaaanyway here are a bunch of versions of the best song in the world.
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young – Four Dead In Ohio
Neil Young – Ohio (acoustic) LIVE
The Isley Brothers – Ohio (Machine Gun)
The female dancer protrudes her derriere and swings it…
Booom – long time since them boys Radioclit swung us a new podcast or should I call it a Ghettopodcast – anyways bang it now – click here to subscribe or download it straight from here. Don’t know Kuduro – wikipedia got it on short lock here. Oh and you gotta love any style of music that wikipedia describes thus: ‘the female dancer protrudes her derriere and swings it sensuously to the rhythm of the hard-hitting Kuduro beat.’
Radioclit say:
tracklist:
dj znobia- flamengo (radioclit edit)
dj marcel- ?
naio crazy & naveia- danca comigo
dj znobia- mama kudi (remix)
buraka som systema feat petty – wawaba (radioclit remix)
radioclit – nelly ti picou
kuduro is basically mad african techno grime music and something tells us its about to go down… hope you like it
love
radioclit
Coldcut tonight @ RESFEST – London
So tonight along with Headphone Sex I’ll be DJing at the RESFEST launch party with Coldcut. If you’re in town you should come down – can’t garuantee you’ll get in as its gonna be rammed but always worth a try. Here’s some of my favorite coldcut tunes.
Eric B & Rakim – Paid In Full (Coldcut Remix)
Coldcut – True Skool ft Roots Manuva (Spank Rock Remix)
You can buy some Coldcut stuff from the Ninja Shop here. RESFEST is on all week and I’m gonna be down at the NFT for most of it so come down and holla at ya boy.
Dip Low Low Low
I was digging through an old box o CDs the other day and found these promo mixes for RJD2’s ‘Since We Last Spoke’ released back in 04. Both mixes are great – essentially made up from tunes on the album however its interesting to see what they throw down over the top – both mixes are great and sound completely different. Talking of Diplo in 04 here’s his Solid Steel mix.
Haul & Mason + RJD2 – Haul & Mason the 11th Hour Megamix
Apologies for all the upside down stupid pictures but wordpress is being difficult and I’m out the door!
Back From NY – joy!
Oh joy! Back on my sofa – sweet! I’m all a bit janky from the flight but when I landed I had mypod on random and Young & Restless came on – the perfect thing to wake me up. They’re from Melbourne and they’re a bit more metal thank disco-punk – maybe heavy disco punk.
Young & Restless – Satan
Young & Restless – Dirty Kicks
I’m glad they came on as I’ve been meaning to post about Invasion for a while now. They’re all maybe a little bit Polish and make kind of pop art metal. I think it sounds like Afirampo meet Yeah Yeah Yeahs although I’ve heard much better references that I can’t bring to mind. Anyway the singer is great, a bit mad but very hot.
Mixtape Tuesday
Woot! So hopefully Upside Down Stupid Hat is back on the regular from now on – during CMJ and Manchester it was hard to find any decent tintenet – anyway here’s a new mix for you by the Top Billin guys. Hit their myspazz for the tracklisting.
Blogging All Over The World
APOLOGY: Ok so again apologies for being a slack ‘blogger’ but I’ve been kinda busy recently and my computer isn’t feeling so good so every page takes forwever to load. Aaaaanyway.
MANCHESTER: So the day after Fabric me and my friends went to Manchester for In The City which was pretty wack to be honest. The first night we went to see The Whip again and they were even better than Fabric – they were suported by some band called The Headlines who were really good but I can’t really remember what they sound like. I went to watch a panel about women in the music industry which was soooooo funny. Literally a bunch of girls / women who work in the industry basically saying, hang out with people, get drunk, smile a lot and you’ll end up in a job – then do it all again and you’ll end up with a better job! Fucking rediculous. The rest of our time was spent wandering the streets looking for edible food which is much harder than you would think in Manchester. Oh I did pickup a bunch of good tunes which I shall be posting at some point.
NEW YORK: So yesterday we flew into New York for CMJ which was such a relief – here they have good weather and food that you can eat. We went to see the Sup Magazine / Music For Robots party – Sebastian Schuller played lo-fi electro singer songwriter stuff which was cool and then Findlay Brown played acoustic guitar. He’s soo good, one of his songs which I’ve posted before is all about a dead sailor writing a love song to a sunken ship. Then today I checked out Cansei De Ser Sexy who are pretty good, I mean the vocals are pretty ropey but its defo good party music. Then we checked out a singer songwriter girl called Jaymay who was really good – lots of songs about love and her mate was playing a squeeze box very badly but it made the whole show so much more endearing. Then we saw Ferraby Lionheart who is some guy from LA who was kinda like the Guillemots if they were a bit more straight laced or perhaps if the Guillemots were supporting the Dresden Dolls then the first band of the evening might be Ferraby. Anyway here’s a tune by Jaymay.
