Sunday, August 31, 2008

Tune in
Check out ALT TV tonight at 10.30pm - I'm being interviewed by Gene Rivers on his show, Stereo Deluxe. Talking about the new EP, and he asked me to bring along five influential records to talk about too.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Ring The Alarm, BaseFM, August 30 playlist
Derek Laro and Trinity -Don't stop til you get enough
Sound dimension - Real rock
Marcia Griffiths - Feel like jumping
The Snugs - Trying
Magic circle express - Magic fever
Lightning head - Bokoor sound special
Mighty Mo - The next message
Don Covay - Sookie sookie
Edwin Birdsong - Rapper dapper snapper
Top cat - Request the style
Dark angel - Free da minds
Jimmy Cliff - Hurricane Hatty
Don Drummond and the Skatalites - Man in the street
Rob Symeonn - Message in the music (Shanti roots dubhouse edit)
Super Beagle -Dust a sound boy
Prince Douglas - you and me dub
The Clash -Rudie can't fail
Meters - Just kissed my baby
BT Express - Do it til you're satisfied
Salah Ragab - Egypt strut
Bugz in the attic - Zombie 2003
Jazmine Sullivan - I need you bad
Gussie P - Loved somebody version
Roots Manuva - Again and again (Moody Boyz remix)
Erykah Badu - Honey (Moody Boyz remix)
Bad brains - Return to heaven
Fat freddys - Cay's crays (Oneself remix)
Jophnny Hammond - Fantasy (Marc Mac Beatdrop version)

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Boom
The new Digi-Ep is out there, and folks seem to like it - got someone wanting to play a tune off it on his reggae radio show in Chicago (Echo Beach, WLUW-FM) this weekend. I sent him a link to an mp3 and he's away. Boom!

Had a few people asking me if it was going to be available at Conch Records. The answer - why yes, it is - limited run of CDs, see here... Link.

Off to chat with me old mate Wallace Chapman on his show on KiwiFM, on air about 530pm.
More moody
Moody Boyz remix of new Roots Manuva tune. You liked that Lee Perry/Moody Boyz remix? Check this. (15mb) Heavy, heavy, monsta sounds.

Inspiration
This series sounds cool. "Strut Records kicks off its new series of artist pairings, Inspiration Information. Sly and Robbie with Amp Fiddler are first up, with releases to follow from Mulatu Astatke and The Heliocentrics, as well as Ashley Beedle and Horace Andy.

Inspiration Information is a heavyweight soundclash between Detroit soul maverick Amp Fiddler and reggae legends, Sly Dunbar & Robbie Shakespeare.

Arriving at Anchor Studios in Kingston, Jamaica, armed only with a handful of acoustic vocal ideas, Amp and the Riddim Twins recorded the album in just three days during June with overdubs laid down a week later in Detroit.

Within the sessions, the trio also revisited select tracks from Amp’s Waltz Of A Ghetto Fly album, giving them a full Jamaican makeover. To complete the Island connections, the album is currently being mixed by another original studio regular, Godwin Logie."

Watch the interview feature:http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=3zAkOQmPnZo

Sly & Robbie / Amp Fiddler - Inspiration Information Vol. 1
Strut Records, out October 28th, 2008



AND on another note, my blog turns five, and none of you say boo? WHAT'S THAT ABOUT?

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Future of online music discussed
"In yesterday's episode of RWW Live, our live podcast show, our topic was online music and we had 3 very special guests on the show: Dalton Caldwell, founder and CEO of Imeem; Lucas Gonze, founder of Webjay and until recently a senior member of the Yahoo Music team; and Rob Williams, Senior VP of Music Software at RealNetworks." Readwriteweb Link.
Yakety yak
Check out the Morning Steppa on Radio KFM's breakfast show this morning - I'm doing an interview with him at 9am or thereabouts (listen online here) about the new Dub Asylum EP, and later, I'll be on Radio 95 BFM with Andrew Manning on Freak The Sheep, round 9.15pm (listen here).

Had a few folk mention they can't get at Msypace or it doesn't work for them, so I've put the Ba Ba Boom! EP up on Last.fm to preview it. Listen here. Let me know if that works. Sweet! Also sorting out Imeem - anyone up with that one? Tips? Got a playlist with the new EP up there too, listen here. Righto.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Big day for Lil Pete
Not only is today the release date for my new EP, it's also the fifth anniversary of my blog, which started out with a review of a night out at the hairdressers awards. So, yay me.

Over time, this has evolved from a blog about random stuff into a music blog, which I think gives it some much-needed focus. I've just started a new blog, over here on tumblr, partly cos it's got the coolest template (from Catcuslab's Matt Buchanan - nice work!) based on the art of Saul Bass (Hitchcock's Vertigo), and it's an easy way to throw up links of interesting randomness. Because the internet is all about random connections.

Thank you to my regular readers, you are a select group of very cool cats and I like you a lot. Cheers!

Ba Ba Boom - out now
My new digi-EP is out today - woo hoo! Very proud of it too. You can get it from all good digital outlets (Vodafone, Telecom, iTunes, etc). Amplifier have it as good quality MP3s (320k) without DRM, AND they've got an exclusive bonus tune too, called Mr Skiffle (link to Amplifier).

If you're up bright and early, I'm doing an interview on BaseFM's breakfast show at about 8.15am - listen online here.


Here's the blurb from Amplifier, in case you missed my previous ravings...

"Dub Asylum (a.k.a. Peter McLennan from NZ music legends the Hallelujah Picassos) returns from the wilderness with five songs of funky goodness, mixing up dub, ska, hip-hop and down-tempo.

The EP serves as a taster of the second Dub Asylum album (the follow-up to 'She Dubs Me, She Dubs Me Not from 2002), due to drop at the end of the year.

Guests include regular SJD vocalist Sandy Mill, MC Kyla, the WBC horn section, and Scatch 22 (The Unscene). Highlights include the deliciously skanking ska of Ba Ba Boom, and the funky, full-throated roar that is MC Kyla on Smash Thru, over a groove that sounds like Mr Scruff dancing on some lino, buggin' out doing headspins.

The latest release from Dub Asylum includes the Amplifier exclusive track Mr Skiffle. Recorded at Federal Recorders, engineered and mixed by Peter McLennan. Mastered at Kog Studios by Chris Chetland."

Monday, August 25, 2008

Move the crowd
Ex-pat Kiwi and now Senior VP of International Marketing at Motown Universal, Kirk Harding, wrote an excellent piece for the latest issue of NZ Musician, its 20th anniversary issue - CONGRATS to them! Read the full version at the MTC blog (Link).

snip..."The industry’s playing field has changed a great deal since the days that I was pushing Richard Thorne and the good folks at NZ Musician to give me some column inches for a then unknown act called Supergroove. We all know the bands story, but I would like to use their example for a minute to highlight/illustrate how quickly that the industry’s playing field is changing.

In the 1990’s the only way to get your music out to the world was via methods that seem to be rather archaic in the present day. The fact that we went on to sell a considerable amount of Supergroove albums internationally was no accident, it was a result of a big system pushing a little group from New Zealand, who had proven themselves to have huge potential in their home market first..."
Kirk also talks about the current processes A&R use to find new acts, such as monitoring iTunes sales globally, Myspace traffic etc...


earlier posts from Kirk - Droppin Knowledge part 3 Defing the grind;

Droppin Knowledge part 2 Come together: snip "at that point the word had spread that Daryl [DLT] was making an album and no one in the (very small scene at the time) wanted any part of it. I remember it so clearly, rather than taking the opportunity to work with D, everyone started hating on the concept; with one very established artist proclaiming to Daryl “who the fuck do you think you are? You’re not Dr Dre? You don’t run this scene”. I was gob smacked. I couldn’t believe it and still can’t. Daryl was the first Hip Hop artist that was signed to a major label."

and Droppin Knowledge part 1 Lost art of A&R.
Go read em all.
NWA Day - help the police



Very funny. Hat tip to P-Money.

Sunday, August 24, 2008



Retro audio

Hat tip to Chad for this link. "Jeff Kobi rescued an old Apple 5.25" floppy drive from a thrift store. His aim was to repurpose it as a retrostalgic project case. He eventually struck upon the clever and practical idea of using it to house his budget-priced Sonic Impact T-Amp "audiophile" digital amplifier."

And check these awesome headphones... (link)

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Ring The Alarm, BaseFM, August 16 playlist
Johnny Pacheco - Boogaloo de Johnny (Quantic mix)
Prince Douglas - You and me dub
New Mastersounds - Witness
Keith Lawrence - B Bwoy Skank
Art of noise -Moments in love (Caspa remix)
Koliphones - Voyage into the sun
Betty Davis - If I'm in luck, I just might get picked up
One blood - Be thankful for what you've got
Techniques -I'm in the mood
Joy Denalane - Soweto 76-06
Lil Wayne - Dr Carter
Dub Asylum - Ba ba boom!
Lightning head - Steelsation
Jackie Mittoo - Hot milk
Rodney P and P Money - Untitled (samples a huge chunk of Marvin Gaye, wicked - grab it from P Money's myspace page)
Johnny Hammond - Fantasy (Marc Mac 'Beatdrop version')
Beats International - Invasion of the estate agents
Lee Perry vs Moody Boyz - God Smiled (Moody Boyz mix)
Roy Ayers - Running away (playing live in Auckland October 25! details here)
MAW and George Benson - The ghetto/el barrio
Clemon Smith - Brother man, sister Ann
Isaac Hayes, Jesse Jackson, Jimmy Jones - Wattstax finale, If I had a Hammer

Friday, August 22, 2008

RIP Johnny "Dizzy" Moore
"Trumpeter Johnny "Dizzy" Moore, one of the founding members of the Jamaican ska/reggae outfit the Skatalites, has passed away after a long battle with cancer." Link, with videos

Frequencies flow




Spotted at Russell Brown's Hard News...
"You could also do worse than pop over to Peter McLennan's MySpace for a listen to the new Dub Asylum stuff, which range from Prince Fatty-style rocksteady revivals to the tricked-out funk of 'My Sneaker Collection Weighs a Ton'. It's music produced by someone who really loves music." Cheers, Russell!
I have just added another song off the EP to the myspace page too, a melancholy ditty called Come Figure Me Out featuring the wonderful vocals of Ms Sandy Mill. Check it.

On the subject of digital releases, Russell mentions... "I ran into Mike Hodgson from Pitch Black this week (at the Point Chev Countdown) and he says that paid downloads have really started to work for them. Ingrooves, the San Francisco-based aggregator they use outside New Zealand gets them a direct link off the electronic genre page on every iTunes country store.

They now release digital singles regularly via this route, and in the last six months Pitch Black sold 18,600 individual tracks online, in about 55 countries, from Belgium to Brazil, Latvia to Luxembourg. Mike says allowing the tracks onto subscriber music services, which return quite a low rate, has been a surprise boon. I'm guessing it probably doesn't amount to much more than $10,000 net per six months, but it's passive income that doubles as marketing in multiple territories. Mike's pretty happy with how it's going.
The top artists on Amplifier are now billing five-figure sums too. And increasingly, they don't have conventional record deals. Interesting."
You got me sideways
I recently completed a remix for Kolab, Auckland-based hiphop crew who released their debut album What Comes Next in June. The new single off the album is Sideways, directed by Mark Thretheway & Steve Gulik, check the video out.




Link for video.

You can check out the Dub Asylum remix of Sideways, featured on iTunes NZ as an exclusive (link). Word is they are picking up a bunch of sales thru iTunes US - IMNZ reports that "Kolab have been featuring recently in the What’s Hot section for Hip Hop and R&B on iTunes USA, one of the first Aotearoa hip hop acts to ever do so - one critic even likened the group to a futuristic version of the Beastie Boys." Cool

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Farewelling Isaac.
"It was easy to tell the Hollywood Scientologists from the Memphis music people as they passed the gantlet of television cameras and entered the suburban Memphis megachurch to pay tribute to Isaac Hayes. They were on the whole paler and skinnier and showed rather more cleavage than is considered properly funereal here in the South."
from NY Times - Hollywood Joins Memphis for a Farewell to Isaac Hayes.

Sahara and Dilla
Spotted at Stonesthrow, new video from Karl Hector and the Malcouns for Shara Swing, and an interview with J Dilla's Mother, Ms. Maureen Yancey, in LA Weekly.

"A few weeks ago, I wrote a piece discussing the difficulties J Dilla's estate has had in enforcing copyright law and paying off the six-figure IRS debt left behind. In the aftermath of the story's publication, I had the chance to speak with his mother, Ms. Maureen Yancey about Dilla's legacy and her current estrangement with the executors of his estate." LINK

Bug powder dust
I remember seeing Bomb The Bass (Tim Simenon) DJing at the Big Day Out way back in 2001. He dropped a few of is own tunes in there too, I recall. Later in the day, I saw him wander past in the crowd, so I called out to him and thanked him for some wicked tunes. Then I asked him when some new Bomb The Bass stuff might see the light of day, and he said its coming, so I told him to hurry up.

Seven years later, here's his new album. From the guest lineup, it reads like it might be kinda similar to the last album from UNKLE (recent BDO visitors) without the guitars.

"On Future Chaos, Simenon's guest vocalists are as inspired as ever. David Best, of Brighton Krautrockers Fujiya & Miyagi, spreads his trademark free-association whispers all over "Butter Fingers." Toob, the duo of Jakeone (Jake Williams) and Red Snapper's Richard Thair, lend a nervous, sultry touch to "Burn the Bunker."

Jon Spencer—yes, he of Blues Explosion fame—infuses "Fuzzbox" with the distant purr of robot phone sex. Paul Conboy, of A.P.E. and Corker/Conboy, sings and shares writing credits on five more songs, with a lush-yet-understated touch that recalls Thom Yorke in his mellower moments.

But the most striking appearance here might be Mark Lanegan's. Formerly of the Screaming Trees, a onetime member of Queens of the Stone Age and collaborator with PJ Harvey, Lanegan has a voice like no other; on "Black River," his smokes-and-whiskey drawl proves the perfect complement to Bomb the Bass' rich sonics."

Out Sept 15 worldwide except US (out there Sept 30) thru K7 Records, check here (Myspace) for audio previews.

tracklisting...
1. Smog (feat Paul Conboy)
2. Butterfingers (feat Fujiya and Miyagi)
3. Old John (feat Paul Conboy)
4. Burn the Bunker (feat Toob)
5. So Special (feat Paul Conboy)
6. No Bones (feat Paul Conboy)
7. Black River (feat Mark Lanegan)
8. Hold Me Up (feat Paul Conboy)
9. Fuzzbox (feat Jon Spencer)

More Tim Simenon audio over here.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Paradise or the bag
Read Simon Grigg on the lack of funding for Kiwi electronica and more. Also a very nice hat tip from Simon about my new EP - gracias, sir. Link. "I love the joyous ska / rocksteady-ness of Ba Ba Boom and, what I describe ... as the very post rare-groove feel of the wonderfully named My Sneaker Collection Weighs A Ton."

Monday, August 18, 2008

Fly, baby, fly
Worth checking out if you are in the AK area this evening. Young Mr Dwyer talks about his excellent tv show, maybe even his mishap in China where he got out of a taxi and watched it race off down the road before they got their gear out off the boot, including Nick's laptop. Actually, maybe don't remind him of that one, aye? Ask him about all the Jamaican DJs using Serato (the NZ-created DJ software).

Making Tracks with Nick D - Monday, 18 August at Auckland Central Library, 46 Lorne Street, 6pm start, FREE entry...
"Nick Dwyer from C4 talks about his experiences filming the hit TV series Making Tracks.
All welcome, intrepid explorers and armchair travelers alike."


Currently listening to this... DJ set from Rhythm and Sound's Moritz Von Oswald with Tikiman ("keep track for how many times he uses the word 'massive'. it is a truly massive amount.") 227mb, over here.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Ring The Alarm, BaseFM, August 16 playlist
Ended up doing this show live from someone's lounge in Grey Lynn, cos the BaseFM studio is getting a new desk. People wandering into the lounge in their 'Í just got up' clothes, and watching the Olympics. Very entertaining morning. Cheers Jaz, DC, and flatties.

Ralph Myerz Band - Savannah
Guts - Living is easy (Dynamics remix)
Patti Jo - Make me believe in you (Ashley Beedle edit)
Isaac Hayes -Soulsville
Sambo - Woman
Ernie K Doe - Here come the girls (Andy Smith edit)
Tyras and the tornadoes - Hui hui
Natural yoghurt band - Soft cheese
Gregory Isaacs - Give a hand
Sugar Minott - Inna dancehall style
Chosen Few - Shaft
Congos - Congoman - Carl Craig edit
Karl Bryan and the afrokats - Money generator
Unitone hifi - Up to eleven
Mad lion - Take it easy
James Brown - There was a time (Kenny Dope remix)
Oscar Brown Jr - Chicken head
Herbie Mann - Cajun moon
Pepe Braddock - Peer pressure
Lee Scratch Perry -Train to doomsville
Nitin Sawhney -Dead man (Fink remix)
Top cat and Mungo's Hifi - Herbalist
Dub Asylum - Ba ba boom!
Loopless - Pink blue hotel
Johnny osbourne - We need love
Marcia Griffiths - Feel like jumping
Quantic- Allegria en bella vista

Friday, August 15, 2008

Ba Ba Boom!
Just added a song from my new Dub Asylum digi-EP (out August 26) to the myspace page, it's called "My sneaker collection weighs a ton" (oh, I wish that were true, but sadly, no). It's a funky hiphop number, title is a headnod to Public Enemy, via Peanutbutter Wolf. Listen here.

Also spied this via twitter.. check this muxtape from Soulsides' Oliver Wang.
Delay delay delay delay delay delay
Check this out, cool documentary film out soon with Lee Perry, Sly and Robbie, Bunny Lee, Doon Letts, Kode 9, LTJ Bukem, Roots Manuva, G-Corp, King Jammy, Basement Jaxx, Thievery Corp and many more. Youtube trailer link.




"Dub Echoes" is a documentary that shows how The Jamaican dub influenced the birth of much of what we hear today, from electronic music to hip-hop.

Over 40 key names, from both the reggae and the electronic music world, were interviewed to talk about the history and the importance of the dub music.

Just follow the bass lines! For a full list of the people interviewed and more info, check:
www.dubechoes.com
www.myspace.com/dubechoes

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Pay what you want
How does it work for smaller artists, asks the New Times. Link.

snip... "So what does giving away music do for promotional efforts? According to Ian Rogers, former Yahoo Music VP of product development and now CEO of Topspin, a new digital music marketing platform, a good example is Saul Williams' recent release, Niggy Tardust.

"He sold about as many copies as he sold with his last release, which was on a label," Rogers says. "But [because of the free downloads] he was heard by ten times that, and that's affected his ability to tour; it's affected his entire livelihood. For him, the pay-what-you-want thing [has] absolutely been crucial to him or crucial for his career."

While Williams' collaboration with Trent Reznor undoubtedly provided ample promotion (although fewer than 20 percent of buyers chose to pay $5 for the album online rather than download it for free), it increased his chances of gaining a larger fan base.

Evidence corroborates: Lyle Lovett recently confessed to Billboard that after two decades and 4.6 million albums sold, he's "never seen a dime" in royalties and has made his living primarily off touring. That's a sure sign that business-wise musicians must find new ways to survive.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008


Dub Asylum - Ba Ba Boom! digi-EP.
Okay, finally got some new music on the way (I know, it's been a while). Here's some details of what I've sorted so far.

It's gonna be out August 26, thru Amplifier and all good digital outlets. Guests include MC Kyla, Sandy Mill and more. Listen to a sneak preview of the EP's title track here (features The WBC horns, and Scratch 22). Working on a few other ideas, also got a video on the way too. Let me know what you think of the song! Link: myspace.com/dubasylum
Soulsville
Roger Friedman of Fox News writes on the passing of Isaac Hayes, his poor health, and his departure from South Park.

"...in January 2006, Isaac had a significant stroke. At the time, the word went out only that he had been hospitalized for exhaustion.

But the truth was, Isaac, whom I’d seen just a couple of months earlier when he headlined the Blues Ball in Memphis, was in trouble. Having lost the rights to his songs two decades earlier, he was finally making some money voicing the character of Chef on “South Park.” But “South Park” lampooned Scientology, so the leaders wanted Isaac out.

“He said he was under great pressure from Scientology, and if we didn’t stop poking at them, he’d have to leave," South Park's Trey Stone said.

The conversation ended there. Isaac performed Chef’s signature song at the Blues Ball a week later with great delight. Although he was devoted to Scientology, he also loved being part of “South Park.” He was proud of it. And, importantly, it gave him income he badly needed.

But then came the stroke, which was severe. His staff — consisting of Scientology monitors who rarely left him alone — tried to portray it as a minor health issue. It wasn’t. Sources in Memphis told me at the time that Isaac had significant motor control and speech issues. His talking was impaired.

In March 2006, news came that Hayes was resigning from “South Park." On March 20, 2006, I wrote a column called “Chef’s Quitting Controversy,” explaining that Hayes was in no position to have quit anything due to his stroke. But Scientology issued the statement to the press saying Hayes had resigned, and the press just ate it up. No one spoke to Isaac directly, because he couldn’t literally speak. "Chef” was written out of the show.

Click here to read the March 20, 2006 FOX411

Isaac’s income stream was severely impaired as a result. Suddenly there were announcements of his touring, and performing. It didn’t seem possible, but word went out that he’d be at BB King’s in New York in January 2007. I went to see him and reported on it here.

The show was abomination. Isaac was plunked down at a keyboard, where he pretended to front his band. He spoke-sang, and his words were halting. He was not the Isaac Hayes of the past.

What was worse was that he barely knew me. He had appeared in my documentary, "Only the Strong Survive," released in 2003. We knew each other very well. I was actually surprised that his Scientology minder, Christina Kumi Kimball, with whom I had difficult encounters in the past, let me see him backstage at BB King’s. Our meeting was brief, and Isaac said quietly that he did know me. But the light was out in his eyes, and the situation was worrisome.

But the general consensus was that he needed the money. Without “Chef,” Isaac’s finances were severely curtailed. He had mouths to feed to home. Plus, Scientology requires huge amounts of money, as former member, actor Jason Beghe, has explained in this space. For Isaac to continue in the sect, he had to come up with funds. Performing was the only way.

In recent months, I’ve had conflicting reports. One mutual friend says that Isaac had looked and sounded much better lately at business meetings. But actor Samuel L. Jackson, who recently filmed scenes with Isaac and the late Bernie Mac for a new movie called “Soul Men,” told me on Saturday that Isaac really wasn’t up to the physical demands of shooting the movie. (Neither, it seems, was Bernie Mac.)

Sam Moore, who recorded those Isaac Hayes songs in the '60s and loved the writer-performer like a brother, told me Sunday when he heard about the death: “I’m happy.” Happy, I asked? “Yes, happy he’s out of pain.” It was one of the most beautiful ideas I’d ever heard expressed on the subject of death.


Read the article here.


Isaac Hayes obituary from Memphis Commercial Appeal. Snip... “The first time I saw Isaac he was wearing pink socks, green pants and a yellow flowered shirt — and he was completely bald,” said Sam Moore, of Sam & Dave. “I thought ‘Oh, my God, who is this guy?’ But, man, what songs [he] wrote for us.”

Monday, August 11, 2008



RIP Isaac Hayes

"Relatives found Hayes, 65, unconscious in his home next to a still-running treadmill, said Steve Shular, a spokesman for the Shelby County Sheriff's Department.

Paramedics attempted to revive him and took him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after 2 p.m., the sheriff's department said. No foul play is suspected, the agency said in a written statement." Link

Sunday, August 10, 2008

88 drummers drummed
Pic and video from Brooklyn Vegan, if ya interested (link). Entertaining comments too.
ADDED BFM's Sunday Breakfast has a first hand account- "Our rather stoned New York correspondent, Harlan Levine, talks live from Saturday night in New York. He tells us about 88 drummers drumming for 88 minutes, at 8:08 on 8-8-08 in Williamsburg." Listen to Audio MP3, 7m35s, 6.9MB


RIP Bernie Mac. Gone at 50.

Saturday, August 09, 2008

Ring The Alarm playlist, BaseFM, August 9
Carlos Nino -Find a way
James Brown - The Bose (Geisha Boys remix, Gamm Doin James Vol 4)
Phillis Dillion - Rocksteady
Prince Douglas - Jam love dub
Willie Royal - General alarm
Amrals Trinidad Cavaliers - 90% of me is you
Ray Baretto - O elephante (Shh remix)
Pat Rhoden - Living for the city
The techniques - I'm in the mood
Ernest Ranglin vs Jungle Bros - Funky Bond St
Quantic - Make dub not war
Magic circle express - Magic fever
Mike James Kirkland - Too late
Reuben Bell - Superjock
Scientist - Love you dub
The nomad - Breaking rocks
P-Money - Dancing
Katalyst feat Steve Spacek - How bout us
Digidub - Conquering lion (Moody Boyz remix)
Lee Scratch Perry vs Moody Boyz - God smiled
Lightning head - Area boy
Gabriella Cilmi - Sweet about me (Ashley Beedle remix)
Romanowski - Strudel strut
Dapkings - Nervous like me
Dub Asylum - Ba ba boom!
Nina Simone - Taking care of business (Pilooski re-edit)
Ernie K Doe - Here come the girls (Andy Smith remix)
Music for trains
“Anyone for herbal tea?” he asks, before launching into how he and Byrne got together again. “I bumped into David in New York,” he says. “We had dinner together and I happened to say I had a lot of music I had intended to turn into songs, but hadnt got round to. He said: ‘Oh, I’ve got a few lyrics.’ It was as simple as that.”
Brian Eno on his new album with Davd Byrne, Times interview here.

Friday, August 08, 2008

I Am Burial t-shirts
As featured in The Sun, on their site and p19 of the paper. Gosh.

The Sun's Gordon Smart - "I feel sorry for the dubstep artist — real name WILL BEVAN — for having such humourless fans.

But my faith in humanity was restored by new website iamburial.com, which sells T-shirts, hoodies and other stuff with slogans such as I Am Burial and I’m With Burial."



But wait, there's more!

Just spied this, Rodriguez gets reissued. Yay! Very cool album, and you can go here and grab a free download of Sugarman, courtesy of Light In The Attic Records.

"It's one of the lost classics of the '60s, a psychedelic masterpiece drenched in colour and inspired by life, love, poverty, rebellion, and, of course, "jumpers, coke, sweet mary jane". The album is Cold Fact, and what's more intriguing is that its maker - a shadowy figure known as Rodriguez - was, for many years, lost too. A decade ago, he was rediscovered working on a Detroit building site, unaware that his defining album had become not only a cult classic, but for the people of South Africa, a beacon of revolution...

[His debut LP and the follow-up tanked, and he quit music] As his music career became a memory, Rodriguez's legend was growing - on the other side of the world. In South Africa and, to a lesser extent, Rhodesia, Australia and New Zealand, Cold Fact had become a major word of mouth success, particularly among young people in the South African armed forces, who identified with its counter-cultural bent."

*First Official Reissue!
*Mastered from the original tapes
*Co-produced by Motown guitar god Dennis Coffey & Mike Theodore
*Featuring members of legendary Motown players The Funk Bros.

Read more here.
Rekids.
The Beat Market was planned for last month but got rained out. Its 'back on this Saturday - come swap/trade/buy/sell your records, see em got to a good home. At Santos/Safari Lounge courtyard on Ponsonby Rd, 1pm-5pm, courtesy of Beat Merchants and BaseFM - DJs in full effect too.
08/08/08
Its a big day, for a few reasons - it's Ewens birthday - Happy birthday!

And, if you're in LA or New York, you can check out 88 Drummers, including expat Kiwi Hamish Kilgour (The Clean/Mad Scene).

"..Japanese psych-noise-crazy-genius-types Boredoms will once again bring the clattering of oh-so-many drums to the States this summer, in a bi-coastal sequel to last year's wildly successful 77BoaDrum event. This time out, they're calling it 88BoaDrum, and performances of the brand new 88-minute composition from Boredoms leader Eye will take place August 8 (8/8/08, you see) in both Los Angeles and Brooklyn, New York.

The Los Angeles event will take place beginning at 8:08 PM PST at the city's famed La Brea Tar Pits, and will feature 88 drummers selected by both the Boredoms and 88Boadrum artistic director Hisham Bharoocha of Soft Circle. The New York event, conducted on behalf of the Boredoms by Brooklyn's own Gang Gang Dance, goes down at 8:08 PM EST at the Williamsburg waterfront. " Link.

from last year's event...



Youtube link.
Quote of the day
Ëvery time I see the words 'social media marketing' a little piece of me dies inside" Gina Trapani, Spotted via Twitter


I Am Burial

Get the t-shirt. (Hat tip to Dubber).

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Don't believe the hype
A while back, the UK tabloids were foaming at the mouth, trying to unmask the identity of stencil artist Banksy. Now they've got a new target - UK music producer (and up til now, anonymous) Burial, who is nominated for the prestigious Mercury Prize. So what does he do? This...

"for a while theres been some talk about who i am , but its not a big deal i wanted to be unknown because i just want it to be all about the tunes. over the last year the unknown thing become an issue so im not into it any more. im a lowkey person and i just want to make some tunes, nothing else. my names will bevan, im from south london, im keeping my head down and just going to finish my next album, theres going to be a 12" maybe in the next few weeks too with 4 tunes. hope u like it, i'll try put a tune up later" He posted a photo too. From Burial's MySpace Blog.

ADDED: "... While one-named, angst-ridden, renegade folk artist Jandek has never revealed his identity over the span of 50 albums, it seems Burial’s nomination last week for a coveted Mercury Music Prize inspired Gordon Smart, a writer for UK tabloid The Sun, to embark on a self-appointed mission to discover the identity of the man he calls “the Banksy of music.”

Smart urged readers to help him “dig up the real Burial” and it was obvious that some people just messed with his head. “A reader texted me this curious puzzle: ‘Burial is not Jesus but was born of Mary. The riddle takes you to Germany where no is the Kode.’”

[then Burial revealed himself via Myspace]

... Although the cat was already out of the bag, Smart, who apparently didn’t check Burial’s MySpace page, devoted another column today wondering about the producer’s identity. Perhaps justice was served when The Guardian gloated that Burial’s identity had already been revealed in an article their paper ran about the Elliot School back in February. Does The Sun not shine on Google?"from Bigshot.

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Always on my mind
Congrats to Tiki for this... Press release: August 5th 2008 - "Today Tiki and his beautiful acoustic track ‘Always On My Mind’ became the first ever New Zealand single to achieve platinum sales via a digital only release.

The # 1 single from Tiki’s platinum debut album ‘Past, Present, Future’ has been all over the radio, hitting the # 1 airplay spot in the country and racking up over 258,000 hits on Youtube to date" [before getting the boot from a gorilla drumming along to Phil Collins - screw that bad 80s sheeeet]
Full Disclosure.
That's the name of a blog by a cool fella by the name of P-Money. He's the most successful hiphop producer in NZ, no contest. He's currently readying the first single off his new album, and is pondering how to release it...

"I haven't fully decided on my web plan yet. I want my tracks on the blogs so Im wondering out loud... "do I put the track up on my blog first? streaming or a zshare link? ..do I wait til its ingested and available for sale online and then link you all to that? or hold off til the video is done and debut it on youtube? hmmm..."

I ask myself this; If I want my music in the hands of as many people as possible then I should make it available for free, right? But if I want people to purchase my track mustn't I limit how freely available the track is?

Or could it be that the number of people who purchase a song are proportionate to how many have heard it? Maybe if I'm able to give away tens of thousands of copies I may end up selling a thousand?

Or should I just say fuck it and hope the single will drive people to my shows and promoters will in turn book me for higher fee's as a result of my boost in popularity? (this seems to be the most bankable theory at present).

Anyways, when I set out on my career in music I just wanted as many people as possible to hear my shit. And I still feel the same way! I want you to enjoy my music, I want radio and TV stations to support and play my stuff and I want the blogs to talk about my tracks and spread the word. I know that if all this happens then the money will come which will enable me to keep doing what I do!

The current proliferation of p2p networks, blogs and forums have provided the world with a method of music distribution that was unimaginable to me in 2001. (When I started out my biggest dream was to get a 12-inch single distributed internationally. That was such a difficult task which was only just fulfilled on my last album with the 2005 european release of '321' b/w 'Easy' on All City Music, UK). But now with the right song (and a good publicist?) you can be heard anywhere/everywhere. The music distribution networks of the internets are immediate, global and best of all FREE for all of us to exploit.

I'm a total fan of what's happening now. The fact that my laptop has become the best and most extensive record store imaginable and I can try everything for free is actually mind-blowingly awesome if you're of the generation that grew up buying music; ie. over 24(???)."
P-Money's blog here.

Monday, August 04, 2008

Steel Fela
Just been listening to a steel drum cover of a Fela Kuti tune, Black Man's Cry. It was recorded in 1974 in Trinidad by a visiting German studio engineer... and is available on a cd reissue from 2002...

"Who would imagine that hidden behind the exotic and sought after band Bossa 70 stands a sound engineer from Germany? His name is Gerhard Nieckau, nickname Jeff.

In the early 60s he went to Africa, later to Peru [1969-72] and Trinidad [73-77] to explore unknown musical territory , to record music and to fit studios. His trademark is a simple recording technique without frills, resulting in a pure, almost raw sound. All compiled pearls were found in his private archive, most of them published for the first time in Europe.

The wide range reaches from Calypso to Funk, from Jazz to Roots Beats. Amongst the uncompromisingly devoted version of Aretha Franklins THINK and Baden Powells BIRIMBAO by BOSSA 70, Lou Donaldsons CATERPILLA and Fela Kutis BLACK MANS CRY interpreted by THE GAY FLAMINGOES STEEL BAND."


According to the liner notes, Jeff's first recording on arriving in Trindiad was the Gay Flamingoes Steel Band, who were the top band on the island at that time. He went to meet with the band leader at an outdoor rehearsal, and saw 70 players. He knew he couldn't fit them all in a conventional studio, and the sound would be too high.

Jeff and the band leader went next door to the rehearsal space, and then he hit on a brainwave - record it there! The space was big enough for only 40 players, so the band leader dismissed any players not up to scratch.

The recording session went on well after midnight, as the band leader and arranger insisted on stopping if someone made the slightest mistake. It wasn't a very sound-proof space - during the recording of the nine-minute-long Black Man's Cry, just as they got to the fadeout at the end of a perfect take, a motor-ped roared past. As Jeff says, "Not for the faint hearted!"

Link, Crippled Dick Hot Wax Records. Audio of Black Man's Cry here.

Read Jeff's story here.

Friday, August 01, 2008



Calypso is like so.

"Strut turns its magnifying glass onto the Caribbean for Calypsoul 70, a celebration of the magnificent array of crossover calypso, reggae, latin, Afro and soul styles that emerged, often from small studio and label stables, during the ‘70s. As well as a valuable selection for diggers, the album is designed as an ultra-handy package for DJs with a host of playable tracks and rare cover versions. All in all, the perfect funky tropical Summer soundtrack for the beach, club or BBQ." Compiled by Duncan Brooker, who did the Nigeria 70 comps, with extensive liner notes and artist interviews by music historian Francis Gooding. Calypsoul: Caribbean Soul 1969-1979, Out Sept 2.

Download: Sambo- "Woman"

Streaming tracks at http://www.strut-records.com/calypsoul70

The tracklisting in full....
01. The Revolution Of St. Vincent – The Little You Say
02. St. Maarten’s The Rolling Tones – It’s Quite A Feeling
03. Juan Formel & Los Van Van – A Ver Que Sale
04. Clarence Curvan & His Mod Sounds – Calypsoul
05. Lancelot Layne – Yo Tink It Sorf?
06. Boris Gardiner – Negril
07. Magic Circle Express – Magic Fever
08. The Checkmates – Disco Groove
09. Biosis Now – Independent Bahamas
10. Tyrone Taylor - Move Up Blackman
11. Amral’s Trinidad Cavaliers Steel Orchestra – 90% Of Me Is You
12. The Hondrells – Raycan
13. Marius Cultier – Guanavaco
14. Gemini Brass – You Don’t Love Me
15. Sambo – Woman
16. Wadadli Experience – We See Jah
17. Duke – Freedom In Africa
18. One Essence – Blackness Of Darkness
19. Ophelia – Red Light Lady
20. The Goretti Group with Dennis De Souza Trio – Of My Hands

Worth tracking down just for this tune... Amral’s Trinidad Cavaliers Steel Orchestra – 90% Of Me Is You. Killer.