Tuesday, April 05, 2005


Tunes for days.
MP3 action all over the show... Boom Selection has some Lady Soverign and unreleased M.I.A. Don't tell! Check Scissorkick for a sneak preview of the new Tosca album.

From the Captain's Crate...
"I recently got a pre-release copy of "Gilles Peterson in Africa", where you can find the song Mulatu. It's a 'wikkid' compilation, as to be expected from the 'Best DJ in the World'. Not too many surprises, but strictly solid picks that cover a lot of ground. One disc of 60s and 70's gems, and another of modern club tracks that are keeping the groove alive. If you're a semi-obsessive collector like myself, you'll probably have a lot of the tunes already. If you don't recognize the song titles, then pick it up. Anyway, Gilles came onto my show back in the fall right after "Gilles Peterson in Brazil" came out. It was a real treat for me, and we ended up getting on the topic of Quantic- one of my favorite producers. It turns out that he's currently working on a project with my favorite Ethiopian musical mastermind. I flipped out. I'm still drooling in anticipation of the undoubtedly sick results. You heard it here first (maybe)."

The long rumoured Toy Love album reissue looks likely to drop soon, 15 years after the idea was first suggested, according to the knowledgable Mister Grigg. I've often seen this album on vinyl in Real Groovy and thought of buying it, but its usually way overpriced ($70-100) for an recording that Chris Knox and co have stated they hate (the sound, that is). It's a pretty limp sounding album (compared to their earlier singles), so the reissue should be worth checking if it's been suitably tweaked.

"There was nothing quite like the Saturday afternoons at The Windsor over the spring and summer of 79-80..hundreds of punkish looking teens invading main street of the pristine upper middle class Parnell every week and causing mayhem (not least to my flat..Chris had an unfortunate habit of announcing a party at my place on stage...). Terry Hogan, the man who signed Toy Love to WEA, and myself were running the local record shop, which, in the Stalinistic days of Rob Muldoon, was the only record shop open in Auckland on a Saturday..we closed at 2pm too. In mid 79 we were, thanks to Terry, the first to get the “Rebel” / “Squeeze” single and, with Toy Love playing down the road, we sold a truckload..."
Out April 26, preorder thru SmokeCDs.

From Flying Nuns website..
"TOY LOVE scared me shitless at first. I was 16 or 17 and too young, too straight and way too uptight for that kind of carry on. But I had mates who adored them. And Jane Walker was a third cousin twice removed of my very best friend... so I was practically a member of the band. Thus, at some stage in the early eighties, I trooped along to see them at the Rock Theatre in Wellington. Of all the gigs I ever saw that was the most terrifying. Boots, safety pins, spiked hair, sneers and attitude. Pogo'ing was violence with a beat. A bootgirl had a t-shirt with "fuck off" written on it. Excuse me? Chris Knox was a punk Peter Cushing... so demonic I wanted garlic and a crucifix. It was a cult meeting. I stood at the back appalled, transfixed and utterly in love. I'd seen the future of rock and roll and it was small, white and demented. Pull down the shades? Christ, I felt like someone had lifted them! What would I pay to hear them remastered and issued afresh on cd? Easy: I'd give my Maserati." - JOHN CAMPBELL, TV3 autocue reader, 2005

ADDED Jim emailed me to say that the original Toy Love was selling in Time Bomb Records in Osaka for 12000 yen (about 160 kiwis). Ouch.



McDonalds says an apple a day keeps the lawsuits away...

"In an effort to escape its junk-food image, McDonalds, the company that built its success on fries and burgers, now buys more apples than any restaurant chain in the US. This also gives it enormous power over growers - which could lead to fewer varieties and fewer small producers. Gary Younge on how the golden arches could revolutionise an entire industry.

...McDonalds is already the largest buyer of beef, pork and potatoes, and the second-largest buyer of chicken. With volume comes clout: last year, at an apple-marketing conference organised by the US Apple Association, McDonald's director of quality systems announced that if growers wanted to work with the company, they would have to cultivate more of two varieties of apple in particular: cameo and pink lady. Already, the cameo crop in Washington state is 58% larger than it was last year, according to growers in Yakima Valley.
The interest of McDonald's in healthy eating is not altruistic: it is partly a case of rebranding and partly a defensive manoeuvre against the future possibility of obesity lawsuits..."

McDonalds quietly shut down its restaurant in Auckland Hospital recently due to poor sales. A fast food outlet in a kids hospital - yep, that sent a great message to kids, right?

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