Sunday, May 31, 2009

Mr. Scruff Reveals the 5 Rare Records No DJ Can Do Without
Argh, more records I want. Link.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Ring The Alarm playlist, Basefm May 23
Metrophonics -Latin racer
Bronx river parkway - Nora se va
Beat pharmacy - Strangers
Manasseh - Creation dub
Norma Fraser - Respect
Mr Vegas - Must come a road
Butch Cassidy sound system - Rockers galore
Noel Ellis - Rocking universally
One essence - Blackness of darkness
Staff benda billili - Sala mosala
Quantic - En bella vista version
Gil Scott Heron - B movie
DL Jones - Whoa Bobby
Scientist - Dub 16
Hikoikoi - Blood on the sand
LD - Woodblock
Lee Scratch Perry - International Broadcaster (Moody boyz remix)
Chanch via curcuito - Selva
Comsic force - Ghetto down
Lee Fields - Ladies
Bambaata vs Breakout - Planet rock (DJ Ayres mix)
Open souls -Hold you close
Marcelo D2 - Kush
Albarosie - Kingston town (Bassnectar remix)
Mad lion - Take it easy


Ring The Alarm playlist, Basefm May 30
Natural self - Foundation pt2
Koliphones - Voyage into the sun
Dub Colossus - Shem city steppers
Joe Ariwa - Licenced to dub

Celebrating the conclusion of another fine NZ Music Month... with some of Aotearoa's tastiest beatmakers...
Pitch black - 1000 mile drift (International observer remix)
Dub asylum - Ba ba boom!
Aronas - Culture tunnels
Submariner -Tha natural
DLT and Che fu - Chains remix
Kingites - Polynesian panthers
Mike Fabulous - Wang east
Salmonella dub - For the love of it (Decks n fx mix from Sunshine sound system)
Dub connection - Mike quality
Sola rosa - Humanised
Fat fredys drop - Wild wind
Mark de Clive Lowe - Mesmerised
Eru Dangerspeil - Coq au vin
ends

DJ Day - Lucien
Black velvet - An earthquake's coming
Lightning head - Afro spot
Barrington Levy - Reggae music dub
Specials - Ghost town (DJG remix) LIVE IN AUCKLAND AUGUST 1
Skatalites -Coconut rock
Beat pharmacy - Strangers
Reggae Blends Galore
Just chanced upon this via RNZ, barrels of fun, especially Jackson 5 over Shanty town.

Track listing...

A1: The Fugees vs Max Romeo – Ready or not [Dreadsquad Blend]
Riddim: Chase the devil

A2: Jackson 5 – I want you back [Dreadsquad Blend]
Riddim: Shanty Town

A3: The Specials – Message to you Rudy [Dreadsquad Rmx]
Riddim: Message to yo Rudy RMX

A4: Sean Kingston vs Sound Dimension – Beautiful girls [Dreadsquad Blend]
Riddim: Soul Shake

B1: Rayvon vs Kurtis Blow – No Guns no murder [Dreadsquad Blend]
Riddim: The breaks

B2: Grandmaster Flash – The message [Papa Zura Blend]
Riddim: Lovely day RMX

B3: Diana King – Shy Guy [Dreadsquad Blend]
Riddim: Giggy

B4: Baha Men vs The Wiseguys – Who let the dogs out [Dreadsquad Blend]
Riddim: Ooh La La

Download it from here...

Friday, May 29, 2009


Dub Asylum gig on tonight
I'm dropping some Dub Asylum tunes playing tonight at a new venue called Live Bar, at 68 Hobson St. I'll be dropping some brand new Dub Asylum tunes with MC Word Perfect on the mic, along with The Retainers, and Brazil Beat Sound System. Doors open 8pm, happy hour til 10pm. Come on down!

Monday, May 25, 2009


Dub Asylum live bizznizz
Yes, time to leave the house and have some fun, this Friday night at a new venue called Live Bar, at 68 Hobson St. I'll be dropping some brand new Dub Asylum tunes, with MC Word Perfect on the mic, along with The Retainers, and Brazil Beat Sound System. Doors open 8pm, happy hour til 10pm.

Also, I've got a new tune up for free download (in case you haven't got it already) called Jump and Twist, it's in the audio player on the right of this page. Have a listen, and if you like it, click download.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

This is Africa
K'naan is from Somalia, and this is the coolest tune I've heard in ages. Off his second album, Troubador.

K'NAAN "T.I.A" music video directed by: NABIL from nabil elderkin on Vimeo.

Softbomb
I posted this on Twitter/Facebook, this afternoon, after Amplifier posted it on twitter...

"WHAT THE???? Amplifier.co.nz just had to delete titles by JPSE, Mint Chicks, The Bats, HDU, Garageland, Kilgour, Knox, SJF, as Warners not repressing. Lets hide our musical heritage under a rock so no-one can hear it! IDIOTS! Havent they heard of the long tail? Jeeeeeeeezzz....."

Now, there's obviously a lot more to this story than just this wee snipppet. It was pointed out to me that Warners may have discovered they dont have the rights to the titles involved, and that only a quarter of FNun bands ever had contracts. Andrew Dubber is following this one too...

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Wheedles Groove, the movie
Via Crate Kings, "In the film Wheedle’s Groove, Mr. Supreme and Light In The Attic show what’s possible a little insightful label reading and research is combined with a love for vinyl and good music."


Sunday, May 17, 2009

Ring The Alarm playlist, Basefm May 9
Tenor fly -Mind weh u seh
Beat pharmacy - Strangers
Horace Andy - Them never tell I
Lloyd Clarke -Love you the most
Overproof sound system - Kingstep (Unitone Hifi remix)
Joe Ariwa - Dub in combat
Lightning head - Bokoor sound special
Staff benda bilili - Sola mosala
Mr confuse - Feel the fire
Mulatu and the Heliocentrics - Cha cha
El hijo de la Cumbia - Cumbia regional
Soul investigators w/ Myron and E - Cold game
Bobby Byrd - Hot pants i'm copming
Barrington Levy - Reggae man dub
Ini Kamoze feat Capital D - World a reggae
Dub asylum - Jump and twist
Kormac - Kormacs house
Kraftwerk - Tour de France remix
Chancha via Curcuito - Zorzal
Albarosie - Kingston town (Bassnectar version)
Dubblestandart - Terrorists and inhalers (Keith Le Blanc remix)
Dutch rhythm combo feat joe dukie - Venom (Dr Rubberfunk remix)
Isaac Aiesili - Stranjah
Pitch black - 1000 mile drift (International observer remix)

Ring The Alarm playlist, Basefm May 16
Open souls - Hold you close
Brooklyn funk essentials - Creator has a masterplan (More rockers remix)
Kinny - Forgetting to remember
Manzel - Space funk (Dopebrother 7" mix)
Freddie Cruger - Something good
Sharon Jones and the Dapkings - Inspiration information
Orgone - Hambone
Specials - Ghost town (DJG remix)
Bobby jackie and the soul defenders - Reggae wiggle
Manasseh - Natural dub
Overproof sound system - Kingstep (Unitone Hifi remix)
Wailers - Put it on
El michels affair - Run Fay run
Joe Bataan - The bottle
De la soul - All good?
Chancha via Curcuito - Bussitpondem/Zorzal
Queen Ifrica - Lioness on the rise
Ernest Ranglin - 54-46 was my number
Kormac - Kormacs house
Nina Simone - Taking care of business (Pilooski re-edit)
Bobby Byrd - I know you got soul
Staff benda bilili - J'taime
Staple singers - Everyday people
Zomby - Spliff dub (Rustie remix)
Lee Scratch Perry feat Roots Manuva - International Broadcaster (Moody boyz remix)

Friday, May 15, 2009



Samba soul time
Coming soon, download this for a taster, thanks to the nice folks at Strut. Album out June 23.

Guimaraes E O Grupo Som Sagrado- "Our Sound" [mediafire] [zshare]
From: Black Rio 2
More info at www.strut-records.com/blackrio2


"Here's a propulsive bit of Brazilian funk from the upcoming Black Rio 2 compilation. DJ Cliffy dug extra deep on this new volume, making sure to include some choice obscurities alongside essential classics. Guimaraes E O Grupo Som Sagrado's "Our Sound" definitely falls into the former category. It's a slice of heavy south of the equator funk that you're unlikely to hear anywhere else."

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Can do
Can's Holger Czukay interviewed here.

snip.... “I was teaching French in a private girl’s school. You smiled and said ‘bonjour’ and you got 17 Swiss francs for 45 minutes work: the best money you could get anywhere. But it was all a bit too strange for me. I went to the ‘sister’ school – the boy’s school, where the Mountbattens and the Prince of Prussia were pupils – and they made me teach a lesson.

The principal asked the boys, ‘What do you think about him? Should we employ him?’ and there was this one talented boy in the class - Michael Karoli – and he said [puts on a child’s voice] ‘I want to have him as my teacher!’ [laughs] And I was engaged immediately! Later - when he had left school – Michael came and lived with me and we founded Can.”
Twitterfight
Just been following this exchange on Twitter...

Real Groove posted a link to a new demo from PMoney and Scribe, with a brief review. Scribe responds via Twitter... full story at Real Groove's blog here.
Music madness
Former Flying Nun Records boss Roger Shepherd is the guest blogger on Simon Sweetman's Blog On The Tracks, well worth a read. A look back to the musical climate when he started the label in the early 1980s. Read it here.

I think its a huge shame that almost NONE of the FNun back catalogue is available, either on CD or in digital format. Its buried in the vaults at Warners, and they simply don't have the time or the inclination to do anything with it. All that great music has simply vanished, and, while FNun are not the only NZ music story from the 80s, it is a very important one. It's NZ Music Month and we celebrate the new, but it's hard to celebrate what has come before when it's locked away. If I was a former FNun artist trying to get my old tunes back in circulation, I'd be thinking seriously about bootlegging myself. The odds of Warners being able to find the original artist's contracts is pretty slim, I'm guessing.


DOWNLOAD THIS: off the brand new album from Lee Fields and the Expressions, out June 2 on Truth and Soul, a killer new tune (via Stonesthrow) get it here.

Stonesthrow also are issuing a wicked slice of modern soul straight outta Finland from the Soul Investigators. I tracked this down on 7"a few months back, and its a fantastic tune, features two vocalists from the Bay Area, Myron and E. Listen to it here. “Cold Game / I Can't Let You Get Away” is an exercise in gritty, Impressions-influenced soul music..."

Tuesday, May 05, 2009



Staff Benda Bilili

"Staff Benda Bilili are like nothing you have ever seen or heard before. A group of paraplegic street musicians who live in and around the grounds of the zoo in Kinshasa, Congo, they make music of astonishing power and beauty." Link.

Monday, May 04, 2009

Getting jumpy
This past weekend was big on the nostalgia tip. I was interviewed for BFMs Historical Society by Dubhead, and that aired on saturday morning ( and surprised a few folk who couldn't figure out how I was on two radio stations at once!).

"In the first of the bFM Historical Society's NZ Music Month shows, Peter McLennan of the Hallelujah Picassos and Dub Asylum talks of his parallel music and broadcasting career. Pete selects tunes representative of his time as a run of station heavy-on-the-reggae DJ and as host of the Sunday arts programme, The Culture Bunker." Download it here. And check out some of the other great interview subjects while you're at it.

And then there was the saturday night knees-up in memorium of Steve Marsden, of the Androidds. I aint gonna pretend I knew him, and I was too young to see the Androidds play first time round, but I did enjoy seeing a bunch of folks both very old and very young enjoy some raucous music.

I arrived a wee bit late for opener Chris Matthews and band, and was stunned to discover they'd already finished, as they started earlier than the advertised time. Never heard of such a thing. Apparently they'd come unstuck while attempting a Gordons cover which resulted in broken guitar strings.

Next up, the Newmatics. Propelled by the relentless drumming of the pint-size dynamite that is Benny Staples on the drum kit, they ripped thru Judas, Five Miseries, Riot Squad, Doobie Doo Boy and more. There was a killer version of Sam and Dave's Soul Man, muscular, funky and poundingly good. And of course Wilson Pickett's Land of a Thousand Dances, with the crowd joining in on the "Na, na na na na, na na na ..." vocal parts. I danced and danced. Such great songs.

The Spelling Mistakes threw themselves into their songs with gusto, but by the end of their set, the drummer was saying "We're doing the last song at half speed, cos i'm fucked". And then they launched into Sonic Reducer. And there was Feels So Good, what a glorious pop song. Rena Owen was in the crowd somewhere, so she may or may not have heard her anthem.

And then the Androidds took the stage. After some good natured audience abuse - "Kiss my shiny metal ass!" they launched into it. There was The Passenger, Search and Destroy, a ton of Iggy-related stuff rendered in blistering guitar, some Stones, it all got a bit hazy about then, and the band were getting progressively more shambolic, but it was all in good fun. Steve's partner Andrea got up and said a few words, then there was more music and mayhem. I drifted off before they got to Auckland Tonight, but I'm sure it went off. Hats off to John Baker for pulling it together.

Friday, May 01, 2009



Brand new Dub Asylum tune for you!

I wrote this dubby, thumpy tune last month, called Jump and Twist, and here it is just for you, as a free download. Mixed, mastered, bang, done! Just in time for NZ Music Month too. Choice! Let me know what you think of it. Feedback appreciated. Cover photo by John Pain. Cheers.

Get it here - Jump And Twist by Dub Asylum, 6MB MP3 http://www.mediafire.com/?bzo4xzdynfj

You can listen to it on the audio player below, and then click 'download' to get it. Easy!



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