Friday, February 27, 2009

Boozoo with extra grain.
Boozoo Bajou's new album, Grains, is out soon. Free download for you of the title track, courtesy of their label. Boozoo Bajou- "Grains (Radio Edit)" [download]
Streaming audio & more bizznizz heer: http://www.boozoobajou-grains.com

"With Grains, the West Coast sounds of the Laurel Canyon era serve as a primary reference point. The lead single "Same Sun" will be released digitally on February 17th with remixes from Prins Thomas, Andy Votel (available above), & Quantic. Grains will be release March 3rd on K7.

Also watch out for these new releases from these cats...
Grandmaster Flash- The Bridge /Horace Andy / Ashley Beedle (both out March 3rd, Strut) andMulatu Astatke / The Heliocentrics- Inspiration Information (April 14th, Strut).

I've heard a few tunes off the Horace Andy/Ashley Beedle collab, thats pretty nice, but wait til you hear the Mulatu/Heliocentrics, it is some funky Ethio-jazz that is serious business. Check it.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

The Takeaway Show does Tom Jones
I linked to these folks a while back, with their awesome clip of hanging out with Yeasayer, filming them playing a song round a piano at a party after their show in Paris. Their band coverage is always a lotta fun, but this takes the cake...

"No one ever expects this call. You’re going about your daily life and then it happens. The phone rings, you answer, and Vincent asks: “What do you think about helping on a Take-Away show with Tom Jones?” What do I think? I think it’s Tom whoa whoa whoaaaa mother fuckin’ Jones! Actually . . . I don’t know what to think. But we’re doing it...

... His manager is a band manager out of a Woody Allen movie – over zealous, over protective, and hilarious. Tom is still in his bedroom so his manager is talking to us and making sure we’re comfortable, but not too comfortable. I busy myself with the mics and don’t even look up as I ask the body next to me if they think Tom will be ready soon. The body answers yes, and Vincent says, “Umm, Teresa . . .” I look to Vincent, who looks to me, and then we both look to the mystery person I was talking to. Yeah, it’s Tom . . . Jones. Hi.

Watch it here. Tom Jones, with a guitarist, singing in his hotel room. Choice!

Tizard in a tizz.
Judith Tizard was on RadioLive yesterday, condemning the Government's actions over S92A of the Copyright Act.

"The former minister who help design a controversial internet piracy bill is accusing the Government of making a mistake by stalling on making it law... The Government has given ISPs and copyright holders a month to sort out their differences, and may scrap the bill if no deal is reached... Ex-Labour minister Judith Tizard says artists and musicians are being robbed of their livelihoods by illegal downloads." RadioLIVE


Tizard said “I'm not prepared to see, as a New Zealander who cares about creative New Zealanders, them ripped off by kids, mainly kids, who think that film and music is free."

ADDED This story from the Dom Post reports that Michael Cullen is likely to quit Parliament in the next two months, as will Helen Clark if she is successful in her "in her bid for a top United Nations post.bid for a top United Nations post.
"Miss Clark's resignation would trigger a by-election in Mt Albert. List MP Phil Twyford is seen as the front-runner to be Labour's candidate. Next in line to replace him would be former Auckland Central MP Judith Tizard" Link.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Welcome to the blackout
This Saturday, February 28th, Section 92A of the Copyright Act is due to come into force. This website has voluntarily been blacked out in protest against this law, which will be used to disconnect New Zealanders from the internet based on accusations of copyright infringement, without a trial and without evidence held up to court scrutiny.

May we be very clear: we do not support or condone copyright infringement or illegal downloads. But this blatant disregard towards the basic human right to a fair trial is completely unjust and unworkable and it has the potential to punish New Zealand businesses and individuals where in fact no laws have been broken.

Similar laws have been rejected in the EU as being against "a fair balance between various fundamental rights", rejected in the UK due to "impracticalities", and rejected in Germany as being 'Unfit for Germany, Unfit For Europe'. We don't care who voted for the law in the first place. We just want it stopped.

We call on the Minister responsible, National's Simon Power, to do the right thing and repeal Section 92A immediately. Visit CreativeFreedom.org.nz to learn more"

UPDATE: AT 4pm today, after the Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister John Key "announced the controversial Section 92A law, which has been widely condemned by internet users, is to be delayed.

It will go on hold until March 27 while work is carried out on a voluntary code of practice. If no solution is reached by then it will be suspended.

If no agreement was reached then the section would be suspended, Mr Key said. If a code was agreed to, there would be a review after six months to see if the law was working as it was intended." NZ Herald link

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Ring The Alarm playlisyt, BaseFM, Feb 21
Michael Palmer - Been talking
Unknown - Welcome to England
Sister Nancy - Aint no stopping Nancy
Horace Andy and Ashley Beedle - Hypocrite dog
Mr Vegas - Must come a road
Kora - On my mind (Cabaret Voltaire remix)
Manasseh and Johnny Osbourne - Rise up
Carlos Nino and Miguel Atwood Ferguson - Find a way
Phenomenal handclap band - 15 top 20
Lee Fields - Honey dove
Trinidad cavaliers - 90% of me is you
Leela James - Its a man's world
Kinny - Enough said
Dub syndicate - Struggle (Centry remix)
King midas sound - Cool out
Border crossing - City of love
DJ Spinna - Abyzmal
Mark Ronson - No one knows
Open souls - Sweet love
Jimi Tenor and Kabu kabu - Black January
Ali Hassan Kuban - Maria maria (Cubian jungle remix)
Dubblestandart and Ken Boothe - When i fall in love
Beat Pharmacy feat Paul St Hilaire - Sunshine
Kormac - Join together
Joe Cuba - El pito
Mulatu and Heliocentrics - Cha cha
My new favourite blog.
Dust and Grooves, all about crate digging. Excerpt...

Q: tell me a crazy story over a certain record

A: One of my most prized possessions is a 45 I got about eight years ago from
a dear old friend back home in Detroit. She used to scour flea markets for a certain kind of ceramic thing whose details escape me, and she woke me up in Brooklyn with a phone call one Saturday morning to say she was making her rounds and had come upon a record dealer she'd never seen before with a few boxes of 45s; did I want her to go through them over the phone? Sure, I said, shaking the sleep out of my head and of course expecting the worst. Not surprisingly she rattled off a bunch of easy Motown artists and titles and a lot of real garbage.

I was starting to doze off when the surprise finally came: "Little Jimmy Scott on Giant." I asked her the title. "It Rained 40 Days and Nights." Yeah, grab that one for me, please. I paid her 5 bucks for it the next time I saw her. It's a great sixties soul record I'd been after for a while.

The postscript to this story is crushingly horrible, and the reason I treasure this record so much: A couple years later, my wonderful friend was murdered by her husband..."

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Copywrong...
"The Creative Freedom Foundation has teamed up with Mike Corb and Luke Rowell / Disasteradio to produce the Guilt Upon Accusation anthem: The Copywrong Song.

The Copywrong Song at CreativeFreedom.org.nz/copywrong.html is free to download, remix, and in true community spirit the Creative Freedom Foundation are encouraging participation from one and all by way of a Remix Challenge and an open call for track contributions.

Creative Freedom Foundation Director Bronwyn Holloway-Smith says "We invite artists everywhere to remix and contribute tracks to show that they don't want Guilt Upon Accusation laws done in the name of protecting art and creativity."

The Remix Challenge will see music and video makers worldwide competing to make their ultimate remix of The Copywrong Song. The open call for tracks contributions invites musicians to send in their contributions to the song, with tracks later being collated into the CFF's version of The Ultimate Copywrong Song.

The Creative Freedom Foundation's petition against Guilt Upon Accusation laws in NZ has rapidly grown overnight, ballooning from 5600 to over 7400 signatures including over 3400 artists.

Instructions on how to take part in the blackout can be found on www.CreativeFreedom.org.nz"
Daptone Studio got burgled.
Terrible news. Read Gabe Roth's post about it here.

"As you may have heard through the grapevine by now, Daptone was broken into last night. Unfortunately, there was a lot of equipment (mics, pre-amps, monitors, turntables, guitars, amps, computers, etc.) stolen and damaged...

I would like to ask for everyone's help first in keeping an eye out for all of our stuff showing up on ebay/craigslist/local music shops, and secondly (and more realistically) keeping an eye out for good deals on headphones, mics, pre-amps, etc. I could really use a heads up on any kind of studio package for sale or studio equipment to be possibly bought or borrowed as soon as possible. We have a session scheduled for Friday to lay down some music for (I know this sounds surreal) Rod Stewart, and I'm going to have to get the studio running by then. I know I'm going to need to find headphones, cables, mics, and pre-amps by then. I'm not sure what else yet...

Thankfully, we all still have our health, ambition, tape machines, and sense of humor in tact. You can slow us down, but you can't stop us. Sleep well knowing we here at Daptone will continue to...

Keep putting Soul up,

Gabriel Roth


P.S. On a lighter note, it seems like the burglars did drop a few items in order to lift Alex's old safe out of here, which was VERY heavy, VERY unwieldy, and also VERY EMPTY!

Monday, February 16, 2009

Section 92A will kick you in the ass.
This section of the new Copyright Act comes into effect on February 28. It basically states that someone (ie RIANZ, APRA) can accuse you of illegal downloading, and your ISP has to investigate and cut you off if you are accused three times. It's been labelled Guilt Upon Accusation. A murderer has a better time of it than that, under our laws.

You can read up on it at the Creative Freedom Foundation site, and write to your MP and the Ministers involved in this (Steven Joyce, Chris Finlayson) if you don't think it's a good piece of legislation (I wrote to both Ministers, and the leaders of National, Maori Party and ACT. Rodney Hide's office replied, advising me that ACT were agaisnt this section, and wanted National to strike it out). It was passed by Labour (Hey Judith Tizard! - WTF?), and National's current approach is just to let it go into effect and wait and see if anything bad happens.

Below is a post written by highly knowledgable IT blogger and journalist Juha Saarinen, which he has kindly agreed to let me repost. Gives you a bit more background on this. Ignorance is no excuse.


"Reason didn't work and the Parliamentary process failed, which is why we in New Zealand now have arguably the world's harshest copyright enforcement law. Sections 92A and C of the amended Copyright Act establish a guilt upon accusation principle that can see anyone accused of "copyright infringement" getting his or her Internet connection severed.

What's more, under the new law, anyone who provides any form of services over the Internet is an ISP. That means libraries, councils, schools, businesses, government offices, you name it. If you share your Internet connection with your flatmates, you're probably an ISP too under the new act. Geekzone is an ISP. Think about what that means.

The Telecommunications Carriers Forum or TCF has done a great job in writing a draft code of practice that seeks to neutralise the worst aspects of the new law, but that's not enough. It has to be repealed.

As Peter Dunne of United Future party points out, the EU and Britain have rejected similar laws because they're fraught with problems and impossible to enforce fairly.Our ISPs should not have to police what their customers do on the Internet, plain and simple.

The ISP Industry Association ISPANZ has been trying to drive this home for a while now, ditto InternetNZ. The reason our politicians won't listen is because they're concerned about New Zealand having signed various WIPO treaties and that the country might not get a free trade deal with the US unless the entertainment industry that vigorously lobbies the US Trade Representative gets its way. If that's the case, then we the voters should be told and not have our sovereignty being sold down the river on the sly like this.

Incidentally, my understanding is that the local rights holders people are not in favour of the law, but have to toe the line laid out for them by their overseas masters. Too bad, if that's true.

I'm a "content creator" and a rights holder due to my work as a writer, but the new law won't help me one iota. It's there for the large entertainment organisations to terrorise Internet users.

This is an important point to bear in mind, that the new law isn't going to help artists and others rights holders. The Creative Freedom Foundation is your source for good information on this, so make sure you vist them.

You can do something too: black out your Twitter avatar, Facebook/Myspace pages, or even websites to protest against the insane new law that will come into full force on February 28. (Yes, I'm going to hack the CSS for the blog soon to black things out :)).

Update Looks like entertainment industry isn't going to entertain the TCF code of practice, but insists that law should be harshly implemented. Tom Pullar-Strecker from the Dompost has a good story on that.

Update II Fixed broken link to Creative Freedom Foundation site, and many thanks to Stephen Fry @stephenfry for tweeting about the issue to his followers.

Update III Netguide's take on the issue. Everyone on Twitter seem to be using the #blackout hash-tag, but there's also #S92.

Update IV And I probably should put this into a new blog entry... but at Foo Camp this weekend, Matthew Holloway of the Creative Freedom Foundation pointed out that the TCF CoP only applies to telcos and ISPs. However, the law as it stands has a very wide definition of ISPs as per above, so the CoP doesn't cover libraries et al. Now that's a real worry. Thanks to Paul Brislen at Vodafone for the tip.

(from Juha's blog, reposted with his permission)
Kora remixed by Caberet Voltaire!
Seriously. From their UK record label's Myspace site...

"Rumours have long abounded concerning new material from legendary Sheffield post-punks Cabaret Voltaire – this curious project isn't the hoped-for comeback but it's alluring enough to please devotees and draw in new listeners.

Cabaret Voltaire founder Richard H Kirk has intricately crafted a cut-and-paste 'collage' based on the 2007 debut album by Maori dub rock outfit Kora (hence the title). That might sound weird but his artful touch ensures these drawn-out tracks are also brilliantly listenable. It brings to mind the Mad Professor's 1995 dub reworking of Massive Attack, No Protection, taking on new life with vocal segments, electronic effects and hefty basslines.

Standout tracks include the pulsing album opener, Skankenstein, and the edgy atmosphere of Crazy Things. The chilled reprise of Burning, meanwhile, evokes classic ambient house. In its own way, it's danceable, too; party soundtracks don't get more surreal than this"

Listen here

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Lux Interior's brother reminisces
''He always had a lot of records, and when I was a kid, I was always coming up in his room and I'm sure I was pestering him, so he would make me promise that if I could be quiet for 24 hours, he'd give me a record,'' Purkhiser said.

''And I'd think, 'Man, that's a really good deal, I don't have to say nothing and I'll get a record?' And it didn't dawn on me until years later when I thought 'Damn him, he was just trying to get me to shut up for a day.' I did get a lot of records,'' he said laughing.

Link

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Orchestral J-Dilla: coming soon!
Last weekend a new series of concerts kicked off in Los Angeles, called Timeless. The first installment featured Ethiopian musician Mulatu Astatke with a 15-piece orchestra, and dj sets from Cut Chemist, Quantic And Egon.

"The next installment in the Timeless series is entitled A Suite For Ma Dukes and will feature Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and Carlos Nino conducting a 30+ piece orchestra paying tribute to the legendary J Dilla with an opening DJ set by the incomparable House Shoes. There will also be an accompanying EP released with selected orchestral interpretations of James Yancey’s music. More details on that soon." More here, plus Mulatu vids. Hat tip to Sweeny Kovar.
Questlove's (The Roots) Grammy roundup
Spotted via Twitter. Follow him: @qoolquest.

highlights from the last 5 hours by Questo.

5. radiohead is so gangsta that they turn away a gazillion rock groups tryna get into their shindig. you went to a secret location and then they picked YOU up.

4. rosanna arquette is 50 and can get it. SERIOUSLY

3. diplo is hillllllllarious beyond belief. he and i were polar opposites when it came to tonight's ceremony. i was elated....he snarky

2. nigel godrich is a hip hop head. and a great dj. best moment. playing "tomorrow never knows" and mccartney walked in on CUE. and danced!

1. thom wins again. he looked at the serato the same way austin powers looked at a cd for the first time before playing it on a turntable.

his segues were a work of art. he just BLAMO!---played what he wanted. tonight was surreal and very hard to gain entry. so much love to one of my favorite bands for looking out and letting a brother show yall a taste of my world. and now i gotta pack. time to make the donuts.

Monday, February 09, 2009




FOTC miss out to late comedy great
"Best comedy album went to George Carlin [Flight of the Conchords were also nominated in this category]. George's daughter Kelly is accepting. "I was hoping to get through this without crying ... I promise to take care of this better than my dad did." Apparently, George, in a "chemically-induced altered state," took apart his first Grammy (in 1972). Carlin passed away last June." From LA Times Grammys blog

Speaking of the Grammys, after 110 categories (seriously), the finale is Radiohead with a massive brass band, the USC Marching Band. Their warm-up song? Fleetwood Mac's Tusk. Hat tip to MIA, who performed also, even though she is due to give birth TODAY - see above photo. (Will link to video of that Readiohead performance when it hits the internetz).
ADDED Watch Radiohead and USC Marching Band video here.

Sunday, February 08, 2009

Ring The Alarm playlisyt, BaseFM, Feb 7
Dexter Wansel - Life on Mars
Al Green - Take me to the river
Ozomatli - Superbowl sundae (Peanutbutter wolf remix)
Magic fly - Play that funky reggae (JStar mix)
Erykah Badu - Honey (Grant Phabao remix)
Grant Phabao, Lone Ranger, Carlton Livingston - Message to you Rudy
Flomega and the ruffcats - Pay me right (Tiger Hifi echo mix
Bob Marley - Soul shakedown party (Aphrodisiac Sound System remix)
Issa Bagayogo - Dibi
Amadou and Mariam - Djama
DJ Hen Boogie w/ Kissey Apslund - Adore
Eli Paperboy Reed and the Trueloves - I'm gonna getcha back
James Brown - The Bose (Geisha boys mix)
Eru Dangerspiel - The holdup
Beat conductror - Caribbean path
Sean Paul - Get busy (B.cause Ticklah dub edit)
Quantic - Westbound train
Juju orchestra - Funky Nassau
Staple singers - Something aint right
Como mamas feat Mary Moore -Trouble in my way
Sound dimension - Time is tight
Mophono - The edge remix
Sola rosa -Turnaround
Tom tom club - Genius of love
Paltinum pied pipers - Go, go, go
Defari - Behold my life inst
Ayah - I reminisce
Kashmere stage band - Superstrut (Kenny Dope remix)

Saturday, February 07, 2009

Henry Rollins on Lux Interior.
"Once I drove up to New York to see them in my little VW; it was me and most of the Bad Brains all crammed into my little car. It was at Irving Plaza, and H.R. from Bad Brains, he went backstage because he's a big rock star, and he came out with a slick of the album cover and the whole band had signed the back. I still have it to this day." More here.

Thursday, February 05, 2009

20 best: Colombian records ever made
Will Quantic and Roberto 'Beto' Gyemant look at some great Columbian records... "The depth and breadth of Colombian music never fails to astound me; just as you think you have it covered another sub-genre shows its face. Colombia has a musical history as multi-faceted as Brazil or India but so far, in my opinion, it’s not been given the respect it deserves by the outside world..." Will Quantic. From Fact magazine.

Colombia! The Golden Age of Discos Fuentes is out now on Soundway Records.

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Welcome to America, Baghdad metalheads
"Acrassicauda had been through hell as a rock band in wartime Baghdad. Its practice space was bombed. Its members were branded Satan worshipers and received death threats for making Western-style music. Then they suffered through two purgatorial years as refugees in Syria and Turkey, killing time and dreaming of rocking out in the land of the free.

And on Sunday night, two days after the last of the band’s four members was resettled in the United States, they enjoyed what any metal fan would have to call heaven: bearhugs and “Wow, dude” heart-to-hearts backstage with Metallica at the Prudential Center in Newark.

It probably wasn’t necessary for James Hetfield, Metallica’s lead singer, to surprise them after the show by handing over one of his guitars, a black ESP, and signing it “Welcome to America”; their minds were already blown.

“That’s for keeping the faith,” Mr. Hetfield said, adding as he disappeared with his entourage down a corridor, “Write some good riffs.”

Acrassicauda’s rock ’n’ roll faith was traced in a documentary, “Heavy Metal in Baghdad,” released in 2007. That film portrayed the members as ordinary if tenacious rock Joes amid the most extraordinary circumstances, and they continue to embody those roles in their new lives. .."

Link to NYTimes article.
Boozoo for you and you.
Boozoo Bajou drop a new album, Grains, early next month. Free remix download for you!

"More heat from Boozoo Bajou, the Votel remix is really heavy.
Boozoo Bajou- Same Sun (Andy Votel's Music Minus Music Version) get it here
From: "Same Sun" EP (Feb. 17th) / Grains (March 3rd)
Bonus download: Another Sun" (Bootleg Version)
Streaming audio & more http://www.boozoobajou-grains.com

"With Grains, the West Coast sounds of the Laurel Canyon era serve as a primary reference point. The lead single "Same Sun" will be released digitally on February 17th with remixes from Prins Thomas, Andy Votel (available above), & Quantic. Grains will be release March 3rd on K7.

"And if you missed it, check out the fantastic Grains Inspiration Mix featuring tracks from the new album alongside classics from Neil Young, David Crosby, Joni Mitchell & more."

Monday, February 02, 2009



Great news for the modern man

Eru Dangerspiel rolled into town last Friday night with his 12 piece band, and proceeded to tear it up at the monthly Turnaround club night, here in AK.

Eru Dangerspiel is the alias for one Ricky Gooch, formerly of reggae jam band Trinity Roots. I know a lot of folk are in raptures over fellow ex-Trinity Roots member Warren Maxwells' new stoner rock outfit Little Bushman, my preference is for the funky psychedelic soul of Mr Dangerspiel. His debut album Great news for the modern man dropped last year, and it's easily one of the best local releases of the past year. It's a little bit Stevie Wonder and a little Sun Ra too.

This is only the second live performance by Dangerspiel (I think), and his band is a stellar bunch of talent, featuring members of Fat Freddys, Kora, and Open Souls. Friday's show featured lotsa cowbell action, a wicked horn section and, three vocalists including the stunning soul of Laughton Kora, and the delightful sight of Joe Lindsay of Fat Freddys dancing in his singlet and boxers while furiously slapping a pair of jandals together for percussive effect. Oh, and all the band wore Zorro masks, except for the 2nd drummer seated next to Dangerspeil (Julien Dyne of Open Souls) - that fella was in a dinosaur costume. Gutted you missed it? You should be.

There's a few albums that dropped late last year that have surfaced here on local release. A Town Called Addis by Dub Colossus was one of my fave albums of last year (Ethiopia meets London dubmeister), that's in the shops now. Also worth checking, the latest album from Amadou and Mariam, called Welcome to Mali is out here now too. Their previous album Dimanche A Bamako was a big fave of mine. Came out late last year overseas, and made a few best of lists.

Speaking of which, I've noticed this odd trend with CD reviews in the NZ Herald lately - they seem to have spent much of last month reviewing hiphop albums that came out last year and made numerous best of lists, like Q-Tip's The Renaissance, The Knux' Remind me in three days. or Common's Universal Mind Control. Q-Tip's album was available here in early Nov shortly after its US release, and The Knux dropped late October. Common dropped late December, so that may have only recently come out locally. Weird trend, though. That Q-Tip album is mighty good.

Oh, and who was the marriage proposal in the middle of the Alice Russell gig on Saturday night?