Tuesday, March 28, 2006



Ruby Suns US tour goes up in flames
Just saw this on Gareth Shute's LJ, very sad news ... send em some love, why dontcha?

"After completing a show at SXSW and 7 other shows of their 18 date tour, Ryan McPhun & the Ruby Suns' travels were brought to an abrupt end after their van's engine caught fire whilst they were on route to Seattle. All of the members of the band managed to escape from the burning vehicle without injury, yet all their personal belongings and instruments were destroyed by the fire which quickly engulfed their motor home. A photo of the burning vehicle can be seen at:
http://www.myspace.com/ryanmcphunandtherubysuns
The five members of the band - Ryan McPhun, Amee Robinson, Mark Stebben, James Dansey (from the Sneaks), and Olivia Kember (TVNZ reporter) - were given somewhere to sleep for the night by one of the firemen who came to attend the blaze (who happened to be a New Zealander!).

Amee has remarked of the tragedy: "We all literally have nothing. I was wearing a skirt and a t-shirt, my roman sandles, and a scarf. My passport, wallet, sax, keys, cameras, film, clothes etc do not exist anymore. So we had to stop at wall mart to buy some clothes to keep warm. This has meant that our tour is pretty much over - very prematurely. We might be able to pull off some shows that were booked towards the end - depending on how the insurance stuff works out. A friend is on his way here now to pick us up (we were meant to meet him in Seattle tonight - where we were going to play a show). But he is coming here - it will be good to see him. I'm glad we are all alive and unharmed."

You can read more on the tragic events in the Tri-City Herald (Washington).

Monday, March 27, 2006

Groovy bread.
Found this via random googling for stills from the new bio-pic on Betti Page... Check out the wicked syncopated dance moves from Freddie and Larry, and the killer band. Then wait for the last bit of footage, the show's presenter comes out to present the winners of the best new act for 1968 to Sly and the Family Stone, and hands over the $10,000 cheque, saying "that's some groovy bread". Right on, man. Hat tip to bedazzled. You'll need a fast connection for this; 32mb file.

SlyohiostateSly & The Family Stone at The Ohio State Music Fair 1968
"Get ready for a bunch of Sly & The Family Stone video. I just picked up a new 2 dvd "silver" bootleg of Sly stuff and there's a bunch of cool stuff I had never seen before. Here's them winning $10,000.00 at The Ohio State Music Fair in 1968. Sly & The Family Stone at The Ohio State Music Fair 1968 .mov Sly & The Family Stone at The Ohio State Music Fair 1968 .mov.m4v
Sly Stone's official website
Family Stone website
Freddie Stone's official website

http://www.slyandthefamilystone.net
http://www.sly-and-the-family-stone.com
(fixed the links now)

Ring the alarm playlist, BaseFM, saturday 25 March
Roots radics and King Tubby - Patrolling
Cornell Cambell - Rope in
Nightmares on wax - The sweetest
Jah screw - Juks and watch dub
Jackie Mittoo - Champion of the arena
Freddie Kruger - Simply fresh
Grace Jones -My jamaican guy
Bob Marley - Stand up jamrock (Ashley Beedle re-edit)
Thes One and Rashaan Ahmad -Doin it
Tony Allen - One tree
Jstar -Bye Bye Barb (http://myspace.com/jstarmusic)
Kraftwerk - Electro kardiogramm
Fat Freddy's Drop - Wandering Eye - Fitchies instrumental mix
DJ C and Debaser - Crazy baldheads
Kingites - Whistling in the dark
Turbulence - Doesn't really matter
Jean Jacques Perry - EVA
Cymande - Brothers on the slide
Go home productions - Alicia vs Stevie - Karmastition (get it from Myspace.com/markvidlerGHP)
Prince - Black sweat
King Floyd (RIP) -Groove me (read more about him here and here)
Border crossing - searching for Mr Manuva
Gainsboot manuva - Locaitaires Colossaux
Dod G - Trojan soap (check it here)
Yush 2K - fade away
Big Youth - Feed a nation
Candi Staton - Many moods of love
DJ Format -Here comes the fuzz (Quartertones remix)

Monday, March 20, 2006

Brunettes SXSW press
Been googling for any references to NZ bands at SXSW, found this one, but not much else... From the New York Times...
"Is perky the new glum? On the third day of the South by Southwest music festival, I kept running into smiley-faced bands playing bouncy, clap-along music. There was the Boy Least Likely, an English band strumming acoustic guitars and hooting on harmonicas like some skiffle hootenanny ... And there were, even better, the Brunettes, a band from New Zealand that riffled through 1960's and 1970's pop with winsome optimism. The Brunettes had an arsenal of toy instruments (along with some adult ones like clarinet and trumpet) and a wry interplay between its two lead singers: a woman vowing love and a man who was only a little skeptical of it. They also had synchronized arm-waving and choruses that went "oooh, wah." Link.


Ring The Alarm playlist, BaseFM, Saturday 18 March
Cedric im Brooks – Mu dun go
Mere Mortalz – Dis a boom
Butch Cassidy sound system – Rockers galore
Manzel - Midnight theme
Massive attack vs Marvin Gaye – Whats going on (symphony)
Roisin Murphy – If we're in love
Bob Marley – Stand up jamrock (Ashley Beedle re-edit)
Coldcut feat Roots Manuva – True skool
DJ Krush – The dawn
Junior Murvin – Roots train
Makossa and Megablast feat Farda P – Find it (remake)
Breakestra – Gotta let me know
Radio city feat Bajka – The hop
Boozoo Bajou feat Joe Dukie and U Brown – Take it slow
International Observer – 2 steps at a time, sweet jesus
Fat Freddy's Drop – Midnight marauders (Lightning head remix)
Jack Costanzo and Gerrie Woo – Jive samba
Mark Ronson and Alex Greenwald – Just
DJ C – A it dat
Joe Gibbs – Love the one you're with
Tony Alvoin and the Belairs – Sexy coffee pot
Betty Wright – Clean up woman
Original tropicana steel band – Yellow bird
Maxwell implosion – Grasshopper
Prince Fari – Give love (dub)
Anthony B – Time for the love
Aceyalone and RJD2 – Disconnected
Fat Freddy's Drop – Flashback (Jazzanova's mashed bag)…
Now run out and buy ya'selves some Fat Freddys remix niceness on lovely vinyl, plenty for everyone, so grab it now…

... and cheers to everyone who came down to BaseFM's 2nd Annual Shake N Bake gig at Western park on Saturday. Props to the organisers and the wicked graffiti artists who did a choice collaboration, tu meke.


If you're on Myspace, then how 'bout you get busy and add me? Also got a new Myspace up for my old band, Hallelujah Picassos, check out the photos.

ADDED: spotted via Coolfer, Youtube treats for a monday.,..
"Johnny Cash performs "Jackson" and "Orange Blossom Special" on "The Muppet Show" in 1980. Miss Piggy joins in. Surreal.
A new Arctic Monkeys song, "Despair in the Departure Lounge," live in San Francisco.
Video for Feist's "Mushaboom." This is a hundred times better than the original video for this song.
Jack White talks about (a) the limited resources of the band and its studio process and (b) indie snobs and hipsters on "The Charlie Rose Show."

PLUS... concert season continues... one for all you downtempo fans, Tosca play in Auckland June 3rd, at the St James.

Friday, March 17, 2006

Drinking Guiness at 8 in the morning is not a good idea
I got invited up to BFM by me ol mate Wallace this morning, to talk about mashups, and drink Guiness for St Patricks Day. Now I'm feeling rather fuddled. He also got me to rattle of my top five NZ singles for a BFM competition. One caller phoned in his list too, which included Shihad -Stations, HLAH - Fish across face and Hallelujah Picassos - Rewind, which was cool to hear.
Anyways, here's mine...

Satuday night stay at home - Suburban Reptiles (Wallace claimed to have never heard it, and promptly got booed - I nearly left in disgust)
Beat rhythm fashion - Turn of the century
Upper Hutt Posse - E Tu (was also considering their Stormy Weather 12")
Fat Freddy's Drop - Midnight marauders
Newmatics - Broadcast OR

Was chatting to one of the Irish musos that Wallace had up in the studio playing tunes, about Beat Rhythm Fashion - they released three single and disappeared - he told me that the two brothers behind BRF (Dan and Nino Birch) ended up in Melbourne, playing in a band called Barry Plankton. So, what's your top five fave NZ singles? Hit me up in comments....

ADDED: Failsafe Records are reissuing a heap of BRF material, download Turn of the century over here...

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Bam with pics.
Via Dorkmag..."Vidcast. Afrika Bambaataa & Bobbito:
I love it when a plan comes together. Those immortal words from the late, great George Peppard continue to ring true. A few weeks back Dork assembled its own A-Team. Our mission: to film Afrika Bambaataa & DJ Cucumber Waffle at the Canal Room. Mission accomplished! Look out for more vidcasts from Dork in the upcoming weeks."

View Dork Vidcast of Afrika Bambaataa & Bobbito Event [Here]
Ipod compatible version - right click save as [Here]

Isaac Hayes gives Southpark the shaft... and this dude posts a bunch of fascinating Mr Hayes related guff, including an interview with Mel Stuart, the director of the great documentary Wattstax, recently issued on DVD for the first time with lotsa cool extras.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Ring The Alarm playlist, BaseFM, March 11
Gussie P All Stars – Jah blessing dub
Lennie Hibbert – Village soul
Jackie Mittoo – Hot milk
Kingites – Whistling in the dark
Curtis Mayfield – If there’s a hell below… (Live)
Noble Knights – Sing a simple song
Nightmares on wax – You wish
Eternals – Queen of the minstrels
Mulatu Astatke -Yegelle tezeta
Lightning head – Me and my princess
Emanuel feat Mystro – Heat
Breakestra – Stand up
Peak – Get Carter
Little tempo – Jemima
Dubwize sound – Dub promise
Boston Rodriquez – Lime marmalade
Bill Cosby – Dope pusher
Hairy Diamond – Torture
Go home productions – Triple rhythm stick (Beasties vs Ian Drury)
Nightmares on wax – The sweetest
Nino Moschella – Are you for real?
Sergio Mendes feat Q-Tip – The frog
Mr Perfect – Hi grade tree
Bob Marley and the Wailers – Mr chatterbox
Mere Mortalz feat U Brown – Dis a boom
Coolie Ranx – Flipping pages
Buju Banton – Champion
Shantel – Haaksman Soca bogle remix
Dilated Peoples feat Capleton - Fire power
Leela James - Ghetto

Friday, March 10, 2006

Get out!
few gigs on worth checking... Brooklyn reggae MC Coolie Ranx is on tonight at Safari Lounge in Ponsonby, with support from the WBC, should be killer...

and the second annual Base FM Shake & Bake is coming...

"Time for another day of live aerosole art, fun, football and bad Base tunes. All down at the the local gem of Ponsonby - Western Park.

Come check live graf by Pest 5, Component, Trust Me, Flox, DT & Enforce One while Peter Mac, Plantmaster Grant, The Boil Up, Captain Midnight & Tuff Enchant, JC & MrMu and the Sandy Bay Social Club hold it down on the 1 & 2s.

There'll be stalls down there selling clothing, coffee & kai. Come check it, Shake & Bake -Saturday 18th March at Western Park, 12pm till 6pm. Watch out for the afterparty."

And Kanye West is still coming, even tho his U2 support slot is off.
So, U2 postpone their shows, but no official word on refunds or when/if the shows might happen. Bono channeling Johhny Rotten - tells 76,000 Kiwis - "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" Nasty.

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

He's a bad mother.. hush your mouth!
RIP Gordon Parks (film maker, most noted for directing Shaft, photographer, composer...) passed at 93.

Monday, March 06, 2006

The sound of Oscar
Have a listen, some soundtrack moments from the movies, to help with your Oscar picks.

My weekend highlight? Since you ask, watching Chris mixing up black doris plums, berry-flavoured ice cubes and vodka in the blender for some fine, fine vodka-plum slushies. And then we had roast pork and veges....

1.10pm... E-online has the red carpet live online, with Isaac Mizrahi asking questions of the stars. There he is telling Ang Lee he is a doll, and wishing him good luck.

Friday, March 03, 2006



Crazy baldheads
DJ C is a Boston-based DJ who has been putting out killer jungle tunes for the last few years on his own label, Mashit. The first big tune of his I heard was Billy Jungle, his take on Shinehead's Billie Jean with a killer jungle beat under it (get it here - Mashit 004). It saw official release on UK label Scandal Bag in 2005, with a vocal from an MC by the name of Quality Diamond. He even scored a Peel Session (Peel's 'Label of the month' for October 2004) before the great man passed. Other recent mixes include Gregory Issacs and M.I.A.

His latest tune is with Toronto's Debaser, a jungle take on reggae classic Crazy Baldheads. Wrap your earholes round this. Bonus - grab Mashit 001, a Capeleton jungle rework.


... And Simon Grigg has dropped another one of his fantastic lists, this time it's seven inch vinyl. "Similar rules apply to this list as did to my 12’’ one earlier….I have to own the physical copy, the cut-off is 2000, and there was only to be one from each act..."
my local faves on seven... herco pilots, newmatics, beat rhythm fashion... come to think of it, one of the best tunes I heard last year was only on seven inch, by Tiombe Lockhart... and that DC C and Quality Diamond tune only came out on seven... damn, vinyl is cool...

spotted via Radioscope.. "
With goodshirt "no longer functioning as a band", former members Murray Fisher and Mike Beehre have instead joined forces with a fellow Aucklander of similarly considerable quirky pop persuasion, Voom's Buzz Moller.
The new Voom line-up, which also includes Nick Buckton, makes its debut appearance on March 6 when they play support for early '90s alternative power-pop icons The Posies at Studio in Auckland."
So, Buzz, where's the new album, then?????

Wednesday, March 01, 2006



Sophisticated...
Public Enemy visit here next month - PE's Flava Flav has got a new reality show Flavor of Love on VH1 in the US, basically it's The Bachelor with Flav as the catch (wuh?). It's down to the final three in the latest episode, which ended in a major cat fight. New York vs Pumkin (pictured above).

"Honestly, if the Emmys had a category for "Greatest TV Moment of the Year" this would not only win, but it would be the only nominee. My recap of FOL won't be until Wednesday, but I could not wait to post the hottest catfight in the history of all catfights. Pumkin's spit hitting New York in the mouth is what this site is all about. Will somebody also please give New York the Oscar, because the dialogue that came out of her tranny-mouth was pure art." Link

"I will whoop that bitch's ass!"


"She called me an aspiring actress in front of Flav, which I am"


"Did you smell her breaf?! It smelled like straight up shit!"

From Beats n rants - "You can watch the entire beat down right HERE. Click it and enjoy! And read the Real Foxxxy Love's excellent recap of the show and bitchfight that the DLister calls the "Greatest TV Moment in History." Foxxxy Love's detailed critique of the entire show is a great read.

Contestant Pumkin was booted off the show because she had appeared on a half-dozen reality shows, including Blind Date (and MTV's Next) and didn't bother to tell Flavor Flav. Pumkin then left the show in a huff and like the true reality TV-addicted trick bitch that she is, hurled a nasty spit stream right in New York's face. Yes . . she . . did.

What a sore loser. And it was a nasty spit, too -- it was yellowish and thick. Ewww! What followed was probably the craziest bitch fight on network television. New York grabbed pumkin's hair and pushed her right into the cameraman . . head first." Pumkin defends her actions here, on myspace. Nasty girl.


meanwhile, back in the real world...

Dr. Dre - Detox EP (needs Winrar)

MC Hammer gets a blog

Nas - on making Illmatic