Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Monday, May 28, 2012

Tunes Of The Day



More than its share of syncopation.



Classic! Shit video though. Somebody??? The dub is better.



Became a Wiggle fave, if I remember . . .



Does very little, but does it so well . . .



What a sound!


Sunday, May 27, 2012

Tracks Of The Day



One of my favourite tracks of the last five years. Supremely emotive stuff which, in tandem with the sunny weather and the DEMF, seems more than timely.



A classic piece of hot weather deepness.



It certainly is . . .



Classic Peacefrog.



Remember buying this from Fat Cat. Happy days.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Random Film Clips Of DJs Playing: 11



Just did a soon-to-be-published interview with laura for Ibiza Voice. This is a Jean Luc-Godard - directed clip of her.







Tunes Of The Day

It's hot out there . . . so here's some "hot shit".



It's always the right time to play UR, so let's start with this . . . .



It's where it all began . . .



Shades of UR garage



Starts slowly and then finds its feet



The ultimate, even if the sax does remind me of Kenny G

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Get It Together EP - Luke Gibson (Tact Recordings)

Read my review for Ibiza Voice of this fine floor-filler here.

Recent Thoughts 2






Quite easy to generally remember off the top of my head what followed. Predicatable Jazz crate digging, unhealthy obsession with blue Note, initially as much for the classic artwork as anything else, and Impulse too, Prestige to a lesser extent. Funnily enough I never abandoned my preference for most more "modern" jazz. The fusion styles which were borne from the sixties avant-garde, their transcendental psychedelic leanings always appealed to me much more than the relatively conservative-looking besuited blowers, pluckers and beaters who Wynton Marsalis thinks represent the real spirit of jazz. Didn't Miles Davis say that "jazz" was a synonym for "shit"? Far more elastic and all-encompassing in my opinion. In any case, I suppose what I'm saying is that I prefer "In A Silent Way' to 'Kind Of Blue', 'A Love Supreme' to 'Blue Trane' etc . . . The spiritual to the concrete etc . . .

Throughout the eighties I got to see most of my heroes, but like typhoid Mary, after I'd appeared in the audience they'd mysteriously shuffle off their mortal coils. Amongst those I had the pleasure and privilege to see were Miles Davis, Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach (each at the Royal Festival Hall, I believe Roache's was his first British gig. Art Blakey at Ronny Scott's, didn't have a ticket, queued with Hursty for three hours on a spring Friday evening, the queue stretched for a mile or so by the time they started letting people in. Lucky we were in the first ten, because that's all they let in. John Lee Hooker at The Hammersmith Odeon . . .

Just before I moved down to London I witnessed the infamous Beastie Boys debacle at The Royal Court in Liverpool. The Beasties were riding a wave of negative publicity, chief amongst which was their presence at a Montreaux festival, during which they'd taken a boat on a lake (possible Geneva) during which, tabloids reported, they'd verbally abused a party of paralysed kids. With their patriotic frenzy-whipping still fresh in the minds of the decent British populace, the gutter press set about directing their ire at Brooklyn's finest. It's sad to say that Liverpool fell for this bullshit completely and one hot May Saturday night back in 1987, the sweaty mob made their way down to The Royal Court to confront AdRock, MCA & Mike D. They never stood a chance. Their inflatable plastic cocks and caged go-go girls lasted around five minutes. The beasties offered to take the room and then a riot ensued, the venue was vandalised, and MCA, NOT AdRock (who had to come back to Liverpool six months later to stand trial for his misdemeanour), threw a full can of beer, with force, into the crowd which, apparently, hit someone. Not what I'd paid my money for, but unforgettable nevertheless.

Hip-hop was the next stage in my musical evolution, often the portal of choice to bigger and better things . . .

Tracks Of The Day



Recognisable, and very fresh at the same time.



Similar credentials



Touchingly grandiose.



Still hot after all these years.



Exemplary acid.

Monday, May 21, 2012

Sunday, May 20, 2012

May Chart




Beats Of Spirit - STL/Djorvin Clain (Silent Season)


Italojohnson 5 - Italojohnson (Italojohnson)



Remember EP - Rising Sun (Kristofferson Kristofferson)


Deflowered (Kassem Mosse/Mix Mup Remix) - Special Request (Special Request)


Out Of Control/Thing Called Love (Remixes) - Wolfram (Permanent Vacation)


Live Extracts Vol 2 - Matt Star (Musique Unique)


Drive By - Mix Mup (Mikrodisko)


Untitled/Juxtaposes - N/A 3(N/A 3)


Subsequent EP - Ike Release (Episodes)


Recast - Madteo (Meakusma)

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Recent Thoughts 1







I often stop and think that maybe i don't take all of this seriously enough. I mean there must be some more profound reason why I love this music in the way I do. Isn't it enough to have it in my head all day every day? Football, food, film, literature and design all play a supporting role, but music is indisputably the star. It hasn't always been that way though. Football got things going, and I drifted into music as most do, in my early teens. I remember buying my first record well before that though. A cover of 'Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines' by those puppet porcine overlords Pinky and Perky. It was from Safeway in Liscard. It had a picture sleeve, predating the fad with the illustrated seven inch that punk was later to put into overdrive.

Things started to get a little bit more serious quite soon after. I dabbled with my father's collection. He had a Sanyo music centre which took pride of place in our front room, and he loved musicals. 'Hair', 'Jesus Christ Superstar' and 'Joseph And The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat' were the three I remember rinsing the most, but also a recording of one of Mickey Mouse's finest hours 'Mickey And The Beanstalk' in which the titular rodent of the role of Jack, used to get played to death. Holst's 'The Planets' was also present, but 'Mars' The Bringer Of War was by a long way the best bit on that. I don't remember anything else. 

My first "real" purchase was later-to-be-disgraced geriatric wide boy Gary Glitter. I bought 'Do You Wanna Touch Me' for twenty pence from the shopping hall, Liscard. I think it was called Phoenix Records and it was run by an old hippy called Jean. They had tons of ex-jukebox singles that they'd sell cheap, and as the sevens didn't have any centres, (having been removed for jukebox use), they'd give you a plastic one. There followed a load of similar purchases: The Sweet, Mud, Suzi Quatro, Slade and sundry other early-to-mid-seventies glam rock fakers all found their way to my house and the Sanyo. It wouldn't be too long though before a paradigm shift in taste and lifestyle took place.

Like most of the UK I first heard about the Sex Pistols via their infamous tete-a-tete with Bill Grundy. Although the programme they appeared on was only broadcast in the London area, it was all over the front pages of the tabloid press nationally the following day. Of course few had heard their music at that point, the swearing on TV was what captured the public's imagination. It's difficult to imagine how relatively dour the seventies were. Looking back I only remember the sunshine, and the power cuts . . . but the Sex Pistols really did feel like they'd  beamed in from another world. I remember going to school the day after their debut Top of The Pops Appearance for 'Pretty Vacant' and one friend,  (David Foster, with your strange Stevie Wonder & Billy Cobham obsession, where are you now?), insisting that the refrain of "We're so pretty,  . . . vacant" was in fact "We're vain cunts!"

It didn't take me long to get into the spirt of things and in July 1977, my record buying began with 'Baby,Baby' by The Vibrators, shortly followed by 'All Around The World' by The Jam. I remember buying the Vibrator's single from a record shop in Chester, and The Jam release from Bargain Box in Liscard, but after that things get hazy. The next five or so years saw me accumulate  vinyl exponentially, but punk was just a starting point. The next quantum leap into the unknown was jazz, funnily enough I actually got into it by coming across contemporary Miles Davis, not Birth of The Cool era stuff. That all followed of course, but my first jazz record, well Miles record, was 'Man With The Horn'. 

. . . to be continued soon
.

Tunes Of The Day



It's subtlety incarnate.



Excellent remix, in spite of what the purists may think.



Thick, sweaty, tropical vibes.



One of my faves from last year.



I remember playing this at one of the infamous Stoke Newington FOB parties.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Tracks Of The Day



He's made so many, but this is beautiful in its simplicity.



This brings back some great memories.



Guidance was a great label and this is one of its best.



A Wiggle fave.



Cheesy sample but gets the job done.

Rough Cutz 1: 30/4/12 Tracklist


 . . .can be found here.

Friday, May 11, 2012

Tunes Of The Day



Disco Bliss. One of his best.



From the same stable.



Jungle ambience.



I remember buying this at reaction records New Brighton from Rob & Rob.



Even better than 'Everybody'.

Monday, May 07, 2012

Multiple Choice EP - Lee Brinx (Lower East)

Review for I Voice of London club stalwart Lee Brinx's latest here.

Distilled Grooves


I'm more random than ever at the moment. In an attempt to keep in touch with technology and give the impression I'm in control of my social networking persona, I've taken to posting random tracks most days on this blog and then putting them up for more public consumption over on my Facebook page, as well as Twitter and, god knows why, Google+. It's quite an interesting departure because although this isn't really new for most out there, it is for me. As ever though, it's very much driven by stream-of-consciousness and whatever seems to tickle my fancy at the time. Today though I thought I'd put a little bit more intent behind it so, in what I hope becomes a weekly jaunt, here's the first of my themed video uploading sessions. Today I'd like to concentrate on what's concise, condensed and compressed. Not as lengthy and not as quick. . . .slow but slinky . . . the stuff that you wished you'd realised was never going to mix into your penultimate track in your set but because you had a stylised view of it, it had to be shoehorned in whatever the case. Slow house. . .


The first of some randomly-chosen slow jams. Derrick is the best at this stuff.


From the same general direction as before. Funktastic!


Slinky smooth. Unfortunately summertime shows no sign of making itself felt where I live.


Laid-back lunar grooves.


Just one of Cottam's. There's a very soul/African feel to most of his music, thankfully it never ends up sounding cliched.


Blissful deep grooves.


I realise I've started off slow but gradually built up speed.


That's more like it.


Picks up the pace again, but what an edit.


While we're in Norway . . .

Well, I started off with the best intentions, but occasionally went off the rails. More discipline needed next time methinks.