Gloria Jones (Tainted love) gets reissued.

Great interview with Ms Jones over at the Fader. Jones was "a storied Motown songwriter, Rolling Stones/Ike and Tina back-up singer (among others), and a member of UK glam rock outfit T.Rex, Jones was never a household name even though her legacy is essential to rock 'n roll."

Can you talk about how the re-issue came about?
I don’t know if you know but for the last 12 years I’ve been living in Africa. I came home just last year to vote, and be a part of the release of “Share My Love”, the CD. It really is very exciting, because in Sierra Leone we are planning to build the Marc Bolan School of Music and Film. Link.

The kicker? Marc Bolan played guitar on Nutbush City Limits. Sheesh.

Ring The Alarm playlist, BaseFM, April 4
African head charge - Heading to glory
Barrington Levy - Many changes in life
King tubby - Money dub
Sabres of paradise - Wilmot II (Wilmots last skank)
Daemang and Red Dynasty -Wandering heroes
Aim - Just passin thru
Fairyspace Dub -Strictly roots
Overproof sound system -Kingstep (Unitone Hifi dub mix - unreleased)
Cheers to Stinky Jim for hooking me up with this killer tune.
Horace Andy and Ashley Beedle - What we (Pinch remix)
Manasseh - Western world version
Applejuice kid -Masco
Kokolo - Magnificent seven
Jimi Tenor and Kabu Kabu - Me I say yes
June 22 vs Nas - Get down, stand up
Lee Scratch Perry - International broadcaster
King midas sound - Cool out son
James Brown - Blind man can see it
Eddie Bo - Check your bucket
Roger and the gypsies - Pass the hatchet
Lonk Wray - Fatback
Dutch rhythm combo feat Joe Dukie - Venom (Dr Rubberfunk mix)
El Michels affair - Walk on by (off their new 'Tribute to Isaac Hayes' EP, more here)
King Everand - Kill ole pan
Sister Nancy - Aint no stopping Nancy
Lee Scratch Perry - God smiled (Moody boyz remix)
Blacknificent seven - U wot (Skitz remix)

Phenomenal handclap
"The The Phenomenal Handclap Band, a collective of NY-based musicians that melds disco, funk, tambourine shaking, electronic swirls, and soulful vocal harmonies into one merry pot of juicy retro beats – tipped us off about a killer disco party at Santo's this Saturday. First off, The Phenomenal Handclap Band promises to overflow the stage. Then, Afrika Bambaataa will play. Plus, Farley Jackmaster Funk will be spinning down below."

Click here and download a tasty tune from the Phenomenal Handclap Band. Their debut single is due out soon thru Truth and Soul Records. And grab their song "15 to 20" here, killer tune.

ALT TV collapse leave $3 million debt
NZ Herald's John Drinnan looks into the collapse of ALT TV here.
Excerpt... The Herald "reported problems on January 23, when the four shareholders Thane Kirby, Ricky Newby, Oliver Driver and David Kennedy passed shares to a company controlled by Easy Factors.
Easy Factors approached staff to try and turn the company around in one month, but without success.
Kirby - who moved the channel from a weak free-to-air Auckland frequency on to the Sky digital platform - insisted in January the channel was sound and there were no financial issues relating to the owners' exit..

...A secured creditor - the channel's financier Easy Factors - is owed $1.8 million. Liquidator Anthony Harris said prospects for a dividend being paid to unsecured creditors owed $1.36 million were "remote".
The liquidators' report listed 19 known creditors. Among them are Sky TV, state-owned Kordia, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, AC Nielsen, and the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand, believed to be related to unpaid music royalties."


I remember seeing all the amazing old videos ALT TV dug up when they started out on free-to-air tv, and thinking "wow, they must be paying a ton in royalties for all these rare videos." Looks like they weren't paying a dime.

Drinnan also notes that "Television New Zealand is understood to be interested in buying the Alt TV brand to start the channel anew on the Freeview digital platform. A youth music channel would make sense for TVNZ, helping them to pick up younger people who are boosting viewership for MediaWorks' C4."

Horace Andy/Ashley Beedle Remixed by Pinch
There's a bunch of remixes about to drop from the recent collaboration between reggae legend Horace Andy and Ashley Beedle, here's a sneak preview, courtesy of Strut.

Horace Andy / Ashley Beedle- "Watch We" (Pinch Remix)

From: Inspiration Information - The Remixes (out April 27th on Strut)

Moody, dubbed out mix from Bristol's Pinch. Mighty nice.

download here: http://www.zshare.net/audio/57990850bebb9d90/
Full tracklisting is...

1. When The Rain Falls (Cosmodelica mix)

2. Watch We (Souljazz Orchestra mix)

3. Rasta Don't (Toddla T mix)

4. Watch We (Pinch mix)

More info here.

Mint Chicks faked their move to Portland?
Early this morning I was checking out my RSS feeds to see what was happening round my favourite music blogs, and stumbled upon this rather odd story.

Remember how The Mint Chicks cleaned up at the NZ Music Awards in 2007? After winning their umpteenth award that night they jumped onstage and said thanks, then leaned into the mic and said 'fix'. And then they lost a member, and upped sticks and moved to Portland, Oregon in the USA.

Sure, they have a history of being wily pranksters, but this one is a doozy. Turns out they may have been hiding out up north for the past three years.

I spied this odd story on indie music blog cheeseontoast.co.nz this morning, suggesting that the Mint Chicks had mysteriously moved to the West Coast of the South Island in early 2008, and had relocated in December last year to the far North, and have been holed up in a beach property near Kaitaia - no link , as the story has disappeared form their website, will try Google cache and see if I can find it.

There's never been a gap of more than three months between NZ gigs for them since they claim to have moved 7,000 miles away. When they left NZ in December 2007 after final shows, they were back here a month later in January 2008 for the Big Day Out. Then back a few months later to play with Shihad. Then they did the same thing again for the following year's BDO, Vodafone Homegrown, and so on. And what band can afford repeated trans-Pacific airfares? And strangely, none of the shows they claim to have played in Portland show up on a Google search.

Anyone know what the Mint Chicks are up to?
ADDED: Can't find that on cheeseontoast.co.nz, maybe it was on Under The Radar...