Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Funky Christmas


There's a million crappy CDs you can play at christmas time - this is the antidote. In the Christmas Groove dropped last November on Strut, and now it's coming out as a 2LP set. The cover is a cheeky twist on a James Brown record.

"Following in the footsteps of classic Christmas albums from the Motown stable and James Brown, Strut released the first ever Yuletide compilation on the label in November 2009, IN THE CHRISTMAS GROOVE, featuring 12 rare soul, funk and blues cuts rediscovered from Christmases past.

In November 2010, Strut makes the compilation available as a super-loud 2LP gatefold for the first time, featuring the album’s original sleeve notes by James Maycock of Mojo magazine. For the digital version, we add two new and exclusive tracks, ‘Back Door Santa’ by Amsterdam’s finest analogue funk fiends, Lefties Soul Connection, and a neat twist on the JB classic, ‘Santa’s Got A Brand New Bag’ by Gary Walker & The Boogie Kings." Audio previews here

Monday, November 29, 2010

Mayer Hawthorne and Jazzy Jeff talk music

Mayer Hawthorne is coming to NZ for Splore next year, in February. Can't wait. (video HT:  Crate Kings)

Bonus -mp3 of Jazzy Jeff remixing Mayer Hawthorne here

DJ Nu-Mark mixtape


NuMark says "I was inspired to make a mix that captures funk inspired rhythms from music I’ve collected on my tours/travels around the world. The goal of this mix is to show the rhythmic similarities between Samba, Cumbia, Calypso, Rhumba, Afro-Beat and Balkan Beats in well blended mix."

Take Me With You mixtape. Free DL from Grandgood

Sunday, November 28, 2010

On to the next one.


I was a bit gutted when U2 announced their second show and I totally missed out on some tickets (as in affordable tickets, not the $350 ones).  I'd resigned myself to missing out on seeing Jay-Z's first appearance in NZ, then late last week the promoters released a bunch of $40 tickets, as the 2nd show hadn't sold out. Sure, they weren't the flashest of seats, but at least I could afford them.

Friday's papers were full of horror stories of poorly ventilated, overcrowded trains trying to get to Mt Smart (not helped by a passenger hitting the emergency stop button every ten minutes), so that plan went out the window, and we got the bus instead. Worked out fine - the driver skipped the motorway which was locked up like a typical Friday in Auckland, and went thru Mt Eden and Royal Oak. Got there in half an hour. Sweet!

Jay-Z made his entrance in fading daylight, after his band, The Roc Boys, had taken to the stage. They were a tight bunch of musicians. Bono even commented on it later, during U2's performance, thanking Jay-Z for warming up the crowd, and adding "How about that band? That band is scary." Bono, called Jay-Z "pound for pound, the heavyweight champion of the world". This may have been a subtle dig at Jay-Z, following his comments to a Sydney newspaper, where Jay said he was unconcerned about warming up for the biggest band in the world, using a funny boxing reference.

"The people don't care who goes on first, that's something the industry created. They're happy to get a great package, they're like 'I get to see Muhammad Ali and the Beatles?"  The rapper pauses for a moment, laughs and clarifies, "I'm not saying we are Muhammad Ali and the Beatles, I'm just saying it's a great package."

Jay-Z blasted thru a bunch of songs, and most of the crowd where I was - South stand, at the back of Mt Smart - got into it. That's probably cos a lot of them were last minute ticket buyers like me (and at least 7 of them in our row left right after Jay-Z) . And then he dropped it  -99 Problems, my fave Jay-Z song. It was amazing (see clip below).

He also played On to the next one, Izzo Hova, Dirt off your shoulder, D.O.A (death of autotune), and dedicated Forever Young to his lost friends, Pimp C, Biggie, Tupac, and also to the miners, who lost their lives. There was also some oddball snippets of Smack my bitch up (mashed with Jay-Z's onstage guest Memphis Bleeks' Is that your chick), and Mundian to bach ke remix from Punjabi MC. Check the full set list here.

Jay-Z closed out his 55 minute set by thanking the audience for welcoming him into our home, and said he'd like to do a song about his home, playing Empire state of mind, which was incredible. He finished with his Linkin Park collaboration of a mashup of Encore with Linkin Park's Numb, which, on record is utterly appalling. But somehow, his band managed to rip into it with such a huge amount of energy that it sprang to life and developed some teeth, which is quite an incredible feat considering how completely crap Linkin Park are.

Jay-Z finally mentioned U2 at the end of his set, saying, "there's four guys out the back, waiting to come on. Give them a chance,  think they're going places..." Cheeky git.




The stadium lights came on after Jay-Z, and then U2 made their entrance, to David Bowie. They left the stadium lights on tho, which was an unusual twist on most stadium shows, where the lights go off and the band comes on. U2 neatly inverted that, so you could see them walking out, on the video screen, and of course, they could see their audience. That must be an amazing rush, if you're in a band.

See the clip of U2's entrance  and first song below (hat tip to The Corner for video/set list - see  their review here)



U2 delivered a fantastic spectacle, and their fans adored it. They got all the big songs, plenty of singalongs, and an amazing light show. The clip below shows them setting up the stage and part of the performance as a timelapse video, which gives you some idea of the incredible scale of the show, with it's claw stage, which looks like something out of War of the Worlds.

Of course some of these fans didn't appreciate Jay-Z - go and read some of the hilarious comments on this review on Stuff.co.nz. U2 fans hating on Jay-Z for joining U2 onstage the previous night, adding some "Gangsta rap"on Sunday Bloody Sunday.

Messing with the classics, slippery ground, apparently. Didn't stop Bono from throwing in lyrical snatches of Dont stop til you get enough, Relax/Two Tribes and  a few others. It wasn't all rehearsed and slick - during Angel in Harlem, Bono said to Edge "Is this the middle eight?", then admitted to the crowd, "we haven't played this one in a while".

U2 also paid tribute to their friend, Greg Carroll, a Kiwi who worked for them on the mid 80s before perishing in a motorbike accident in Dublin. Bono said that Greg's families were here tonight, and went on to talk about the miners, lost at Pike River. The band played One Tree Hill, the song they wrote for Carroll. Towards the end of the song, the names of the 29 miners scrolled down the video screen above the band. It was very moving. Sure, it's a big stadium rock experience, but here was a genuine moment where the band reached out with sincerity to their audience, to share their grief. (see first photo here)


They threw in Until The End Of The World, from the Wim Wenders movie of the same name, which was a pleasant surprise. We hung in there til the band exited the stage, and headed for the free buses back to town, while they came back and encored with 5 more tunes, including Where The Streets Have No Name, and With Or Without You. A fine night out.


The pairing of Jay-Z opening for U2 still seems pretty odd. Sure, Jay-Z can carry off stadium shows - see his headlining slot at Glastonbury. But here's a guy who can sell out Madison Square Garden - he doesn't need to support another band to pull a crowd.

Groove Guide commented on this with a piece by Joe Nunweek in their latest issue, titled "Jay-Z is not a support act". They talked with some of his fans, like local rapper PNC, who said "I'm definitely going but its something I didn't get my head around since I first heard it". But local promoter Matthew Crawley noted that often the bands don't have a problem with their choice of support, it's their fans that do. He says that he thinks whoever is picking U2's supports, like Kanye West or Jay-Z, is really doing their job. "Full credit to the U2 person, whoever made that decision. You've got to look at it and think, well at least they didn't get Opshop to open." 

Groove Guide Jay-Z review.

This video below shows the setup of the claw stage. It's a pretty amazing chunk of technology, but we are talking about a band that was the highest grossing touring act in the world  last year - pulling in US$380 million. So a setup like this is within their budget, I'm picking They need 6 jumbo jets just to move it around. But check out that video wall in action as it expands, it's some seriously cool tech.


Why more New Zealand bands need to get the hell out of NZ and tour overseas

Beacuse you come back with tour stories like this one....

"I was really stoked when, in Oslo, James Mercer [of the Shins] introduced me to his friend/bandmate Brian. He said 'Brian, this is Ryan from the Ruby Suns'. Then Brian said something like 'Oh, Ruby Suns, I've got a couple of your records. Sea Lion, that's a great record.' and I said, 'Wow, thanks'. Brian is Dangermouse."

That's from Ryan McPhun of The Ruby suns, who set off touring their new record in Feb this year, and wrapped up in November. Read some of his tour highlights over at Amplifier.

The Apple



The Apple was a sci-fi musical made in 1980. The premise is it's "set in the dystopic world of 1994, when record label bosses rule the world. Considering what has actually happened to the music industry in the past decade, the premise no longer seems particularly relevant." From a great list on Flavorwire  - 10 Cult Films That Should Never Be Remade.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Ring The Alarm playlist, BaseFM, Sat Nov 27

Romanowski - Flatpicker
Cornell Campbell and the Jays - Hell inna de yard
Gregory Isaacs  - All I have is love
Mulatu Astatke and Heliocentrics - Cha cha
Miles Davis - Freddie boi  - Applejuice kid remix
Roy Ayers - Boogie back
Jay-Z - Empire state of mind
Rae and Christian - It aint nothing like
Lakeside - Money inst
Prince Charles and the city beat band - Cash (cash money)
Jones girls  -Dance turned into romance
Chico Mann - Anima
Darryl Jennifer - Black Judas
Damian Marley - Move
Michael Rose - African girl
Roots radics - No follow fashion
Noel Ellis - Stop your fighting
Ernest Ranglin  - 54 46 was my number
Roots manuva vs wrongtom  -Big tings redone
The Clash - Magnificent dance
Ladi6 - Burn with me
Beat pharmacy - Assassination of the mind - Teddy G remix
Colm K and the freestyle mellowship - Dancing skulls - main mix
Mishkin vs Anna Mystic - Livin trouble
Johnny Osborne - Budy bye - Kenny Dope remix
Jay-Z - Show me what you got inst
Guinness city symphony - Sir duke
Pitchito - Frente Cumbiero

Friday, November 26, 2010

Glitch Mob vs Vadim

Fortune Days (DJ Vadim RMX ft. Yarah Bravo and Pugz Atomz) by Glitch Mob....
Grab DJ Vadim's remix of Glitch Mob here for free.

"DRINK THE SEA - THE REMIXES VOL. 1 & 2  will be released on January 12, 2011 through DownloadToDonate.org. All proceeds will benefit relief for Haiti. There are still 1.3 million homeless that need our help.

The 25 track collection will feature remixes by following artists, all of which graciously donated their time and skills to the project: King Britt, ESKMO, Beats Antique, EPROM, DJ Vadim, Deru, SPL, Skeet Skeet, Mr. Projectile, Comma, Salva, Kastle, Nalepa, R/D, Virtual Boy, Machinedrum, Jogger, St. Andrew, Them Jeans, Chris De Luca, Camo UFOs, Adam.01, Pawn, Mirko Kosmos and Mindelixir."

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Questlove interviewed


Questlove - Yamaha All Access 360 from Ben James on Vimeo.

Via Crate Kings.

Outer space

Hot Tanya is the new video from the Drab Do-Riffs (who include Mr Karl Steven, formerly of Supergroove). Spied this via Twitter after rapper Tourettes mentioned it, noting that ""now NZ on Air have funded two good bands in 20 years, Die Die Die and these talented chaps..." and they got funding despite extensive use of the f-word. Cheeky MotherUckers...

Jazz Pianos mix


Via Crate Kings, always excellent mixes from DJ Ian Head.... go grab it...

"Once again DJ Ian Head delivers a welcomed interruption to our automatic listening habits. Ian’s November 2010 mix entitled Jazz Pianos serves up a number of the original jazz piano masters including Herbie Hancock, Ahmad Jamal, McCoy Tyner, Junior Mance, Monty Alexander, and Oscar Peterson.
Anyway – here’s a couple cuts for folks to warm up to as the weather cools off. There’s only a little solo piano – these are just songs that I feel are “driven” mainly by the piano, even in the case that it’s on an artist’s record who isn’t a pianist, like Yusef Lateef.
Download: Ian Head’s November Mix

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

So much music, so little moolah

There's an overwhelming amount of exciting live music happening in the first three months of next year , and thru December too. Big Bay Out, Splore, Laneway, Womad (now without Seu Jorge, who has pulled out due to promotional commitments in Brazil resulting from changes in their album release schedule, apparently), Aloe Blacc, Kitty Daisy and Lewis... the list just goes on and on. Trying to pick where you spend your hard earned money is a tough call.

One event that won't be going ahead is hiphop/r'n'b shows Boom Tunz.

From Rip It Up's site, "Boom Productions, the promoters behind next months two R&B Hop Hop Boom Tunz events in Hamilton and Wellington, starring  international artists; Kelly Rowland, T-Pain, Ludacris, and Third World have regrettably been forced to cancel the two inaugural concerts due to poor ticket sales.

Director, Neil MacLeod of Boom Productions announced today that whilst public and media interest in Boom Tunz has been exceptionally strong, this has failed to translate to sales.

“The international line-up for Boom Tunz is one of the hottest on offer in R&B and Hip Hop circles ... therefore we’re absolutely dismayed at the lack of support” said Mr MacLeod.

In New Zealand there is unfortunate trend with R&B and Hip Hop events cancelling. Mr MacLeod added; “Audiences need to break the cycle and support these ventures by purchasing tickets in advance so that promoters have confidence in presenting world-class acts in New Zealand – as well as ensure artists’ of this calibre actually want to perform in New Zealand.”

What Macleod doesn't address why this alleged trend keeps happening. Some in the media have painted this as a case of hiphop artists being unreliable (a dubious myth at best), when the reality is that there are some questionable promoters out there with chequered histories for advertising events where in some cases, they're haven't even confirmed the international acts they're advertising.

It simply isn't true that the public is to blame for this - I've been to a number of hiphop shows by visiting overseas artists in the last 12 months that were packed out, one of which sold out a few months in advance of the artist's show dates. Blaming the public is poor form.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Making Tracks


Making Tracks has returned to our tv screens, with that intrepid wee lad Nick D heading off around the globe to far-flung cities, finding musicians and persuading them to cover a New Zealand song.

Thankfully the cover songs from the show are now on sale while the series is still screening, which is a great idea  -worked brilliantly for the 1st series of Glee in the US, where the songs from each episode went on sale on iTunes as soon as the show had aired there, creating huge demand.

Grab them here at Amplifier. Songs for ep 2 & 4 up now. 
Bonus: go watch Supergroove's Can't Get Enough covered by 30-piece steel drum group Phase II Pan Groove in Trinidad. Mean!

Photo: Makjng Tracks website, Ghana episode.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Blowing smoke

Free download of remix of Arc In Round's "3 A.M. All The Time" from their forthcoming E.P, by Brooklyns' own Smoke Machine. Follow him on Twitter here. Another cool remix from him here.

Pin Group

Spotted over at the excellent Mysterex blog. The Pin Group rehearsing, footage shot by Ronnie Van Hout in 1981. Playing their early Flying Nun single Coat/Ambivalence. Great stuff.

Ronnie Van Hout (via Youtube): "1981 film of The Pin Group. Shows band running through Ambivalence and Coat in practice room and gives a reasonably good idea of their dynamic and entertaining stage show. The first two and a half minutes feature verse by a Christchurch poet called Desmond Brice, who penned some of the Pin Group's lyrics including the above. Film closes with some flip remarks about Pin Group from local painter Marty Whitworth. Gives you some sense of how droll it was to live in this city in the early 1980s."

RIP David Wood (Straitjacket fits' bass player)

Straitjacket Fits, with David Wood far right.  Photo: Flying Nun

Very sad news indeed. Much love to his family and friends. He passed away suddenly Nov 17. A service was held earlier today for him. Read NZ Herald notice here.

David had some dry comments here in the Story of Straitjacket Fits, from 2008 - written by NZ Herald's Scott Kara on the occasion of their induction to the NZ Music Hall of Fame.

WOOD: With the Shayne songs he'd come along with a riff or a sketch of a chord sequence, play something like this, and we'd jam and bugger about with it. With Andrew he'd come along with a bit of paper with chords and words written out and go, "Here, play this". And if you tried to deviate from it he'd just stop you. But I like his songs.

The band's legacy?

WOOD: I wouldn't have a clue [laughs]. I just always thought I was the bass player in a band that really sparked your endorphins and got your neurons connecting with a bit of adrenalin, and that's what that band was like. We were playing these songs and it sounded incredibly unbelievable.

Jeff Goldblum covers the Biz

Jeff Goldblum on Jimmy Fallon's show, gets asked to sing a song for the audience, and comes up with  Just A Friend by Biz Markie, with some help from the Biz himself. Studio band is the Roots. Very funny. I know it's a week old, but I just came across it.... Go watch it at Gawker.com (video won't let me embed it, stink)

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Sidewalk city

The Music Machines event is now in its second year, and happens this Saturday Nov 27, 1-5pm. Lotsa synths and drum machines, live demos, beat battles, all sorts of goodness. Well worth checking out.  There's a clip I shot from last year's event at the bottom of this page to give you a wee taster for it.

One of the tunes that came up last year around a discussion on NZ electronica was this tune, from 1984. Possibly the earliest example of local dance culture taking on New York electro breakdance... Read more about the history behind this tune here...




Saturday, November 20, 2010

Ring The Alarm playlist, BaseFM, Sat Nov 20

Sly n Robbie - Boops
Nas - Bridging the gap
Lefties soul connection - Have love will travel
Shawn Lee and Beibei - East
Aloe Blacc - Loving you is killing me
Billy Preston - Right now
Orgone - I get lifted
Resonators - Sweet dub affair
Roots manuva vs wrongtom - Butterfly crab walk
Augustus Pablo - Cassava piece
Jah Batta - Informa
Prince Jammy  -BQE dub
The Marvels - Rocksteady
Fitz and the tantrums - Moneygrabber
Belleruche - 56% proof
Colman bros - El Nino - cha cha mix
Pitchito - Frente cumbiero
Chancha via curcuito - Puente
7A3 - Drums of steel
Wreckx n effect  -Wreckxshop - Jamaica mix
Cherelle - Artificial heart - dance remix
Chaka Khan - Love of a lifetime - extended dance version
Snap -  Sidewalk city - dub mix
J Period and K'Naan  -My country/small axe
Bigga Bush  -Sound and blues
Ruts DC  -Whatever we do  -RSD remix
Trackheadz - Jah shall come
Colm K and the freestyle mellowship - Dancing skills  - main mix

Friday, November 19, 2010

Loopstation fun n games

Loop box fun, way more interesting than Liam Finn's use of it.... hat tip to Andrew Spraggon for this

Thursday, November 18, 2010

EMusic: Win a little, lose a little

EMusic: Win a little, lose a little is the optimistic title of an article on the LA Times site. It details the reasons behind the recent moves at Emusic, noting that "getting Warner and Sony's releases on the same day they go to iTunes could make eMusic significantly more appealing to mainstream music fans, especially given that the former charges [US]99 cents to $1.29 for those tracks, while eMusic has said it will charge no more than 89 cents. Granted, Amazon and Walmart charge less than iTunes too, and neither of them has been able to make much of a dent in Apple's dominant market share. But eMusic's subscription approach yields larger discounts."

"[Emusic CEO Adam] Klein said in an interview in September that the service was hovering around 400,000 subscribers - essentially unchanged from its level two years before, and not quite where it needed to be to sustain its business."

Clearly, staying with indie music fans is not a long term sustainable business plan for Emusic. 

Screaming Jay Hawkins

Screaming Jay Hawkins - I put a spell on me is a documentary about the legendary rock n roll singer, made in 2001. Cam Gordon put me onto it via Twitter (thank you, sir!), and the whole doco is up on Google Video, see below. Gotta watch ti!

Still Bill

Was reading something about Bill Withers the other day, and came across this great interview with the man in the UK Telegraph from August this year. It's a fantastic read.

"... So why has Bill Withers not released any new music since 1985? A fascinating new documentary, Still Bill, offers clues without quite getting under his skin. In one of the film’s candid moments, he plays a few sombre chords on the piano, turns to the camera and says, ‘Thoreau said most men live lives of quiet desperation. I would like to know how it feels for my desperation to get louder.’

"... Songs like Grandma’s Hands brought warmth, intimacy and simplicity to a bombastic music scene. Withers recalls A&R men telling him he should copy James Brown, and use some horns, female singers and a driving backbeat. In short, they were telling him to sound more ‘black’ if he wanted to sell records. ‘Blaxperts, I call ’em. That’s the white guys who are supposed to have some kind of tap into your black psyche.’


Equally, he is under no illusion about the Back-to-Africa pose certain artists adopted during the same period. Withers was part of the star-studded cast that travelled to Kinshasa, Zaire, in October 1974 to give a pre-fight concert for the Ali-Foreman ‘Rumble in the Jungle’. His performance is one of the standouts of the resulting documentary, Soul Power. Did it feel like a historic event? ‘No. It was two big guys going to fight each other at four o’clock in the morning. It wasn’t this great intellectual pursuit. And there’s a certain reality to going someplace where there’s a dictator. You notice the disparity in the wealth.’

Well, I say, at the time there was a lot of hype about African-American artists discovering their roots. He chuckles. ‘Awwww, come on, man. It wasn’t a great historical moment. Interesting, but that was that. No great spiritual experience. Mostly what everybody found out was: we had been shaped and transformed by American culture and the history we had here, and they had been shaped by whoever colonised their place. They weren’t speaking any African languages. We were speaking English and they were speaking French. How African is that?’

Expressway thru your skull

Bruce Russell is in legendary Dunedin (or was it Port Chalmers) band The Dead C, and was behind the label Expressway. Flying Nun has posted a radio show he did recently on their blog, go have a listen. There's tracks from Fetus Productions, Playthings, Swingers, Herco Pilots, Naked Spots Dance, Wasp Factory....

As Bruce notes, his selections aim to highlight "... how there was a lot of stuff happening in that decade [1980s] in NZ ‘around’ what in retrospect seems like the ‘prime’ imprint of the decade (Flying Nun), but which at the time was just one (the biggest) among a number of like-minded outlets for the burgeoning music scene of the time, in what was a golden age of creativity and talent investment....

"... I think I can honestly say that back then we hardly knew how lucky we were to be so spoiled for choice. I actually did have a rather crazy inkling that The Clean were quite literally the best band in the world in 1981. And ever since then I’ve felt I was right. What I didn’t know was that within my lifetime such music would become almost impossible to make with the same degree of passion and commitment..."

Bruce Russell - interviewed (in 2000).

Wah Wah 45s

Go grab this wicked EP from UK label Wah Wah 45s. Especially like Sweet Dub Affair from the Resonators, UK reggae outfit produced by Manasseh. Only available til  Nov 27. Get em! Listen below...





Also from Wah Wah 45s, top UK producer Ashley Beedle interviewed here.

Don't stop the music

Emusic recently announced it was adding 250,000 new songs from Universal to its catalogue. They also said they were changing the pricing structure. The bummer for Kiwis using Emusic was that none of the new catalogue will be available here, but we still get the price hike. Suck!

Now comes the news that Emusic have lost the rights to music from Domino, Merge, and Beggars Group (XL, 4AD, Matador, Rough Trade) and music from those labels "...will no longer be available on eMusic as of Nov. 18, 2010 pending further discussions."

Emusic has sent out an email to its members urging them to petition the labels mentioned, but fail to explain why they haven't been able to renegotiate with them.

Paidcontent.org has more detail on this... see "Emusic’s rift with indie labels"

"Gerard Cosloy, head of Matador Records, explained the departure in a post on the Matador blog: “[A]s eMusic has brought more major labels into the fold, they have changed the terms on which they deal with labels, some of which we have found impossible to accept, in our own interests, those of our artists, and ultimately those of their fans.” Merge Records wrote: “Unfortunately, eMusic’s unilateral changes in an effort to bring on the major labels has created a situation where it would be harmful to the interests of Merge and our artists to continue our partnership at this time.”

Emusic built up its user base by catering to indie music fans, so signing up major labels doesn't really add anything of value for those existing customers. Losing access to the likes of Arcade Fire, The National, Vampire Weekend, The xx, Cat Power, Caribou, The Pixies, and more sounds like a death blow to me.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Jewel School

If you're in Wellington, Tiger Translate is putting on a mean gig down there on Nov 26 - check the free e-magazine here, with a free mixtape download from Dan Aikido of the Jewel School, on Radio Active. Includes tunes from Electric Wire Hustle ,and Julien Dyne, both playing the event.

Serious as a heart attack


Once upon a time Karl Stevens was in a pop group called Supergroove. These days he's in a few bands, one of which is called Heart Attack Alley, and they are a 3-piece raucous rock n roll act, with Karl on harmonica. Dude can blow, seriously. Free download from them below.

Hello Alice

Very tasty free DL from Tru Thoughts, of Alice Russell. Get it!

"Compiled by Tru Thoughts A&R Robert Luis, Shades 10:02 is set to feature 30 tracks, a big bulk of them exclusive or previously only released as limited 7” singles. Just like you would expect from Brighton’s ever-prolific quality imprint, the sampler features everything from vintage deep funk to the elegant post-garage riddims of newly-signed production vet Maddslinky, reggaefied club classics, and even a full-fledged psych jazz combo working their magic on an early ‘90s rave classic." Out Dec 6. Via RBMA.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Monday, November 15, 2010

Ring The Alarm playlist, BaseFM, Sat Nov 13

Had some guests doing the show this weekend, Coopa Blu and friends. I joined them later on Saturday night at Jam, a monthly night at Grand Central on Ponsonby Rd. It's a mad concept - you take 5 DJs, let em play two records each, then switch to the next DJ. Two for two, the whole night, from 8pm til 5 in the morning. It was hilarious. I even got to play Poi-e, and people danced and sang along. How cool is that? Anyways, here is the playlist from Coopa Blu,...

Turn it Out - Joey Negro & The Sunburst Band
Fools Gold - Calvin Law
King Charles - Budos Band
B For My Name - Beastie Boys
After Midnight - Sharm
Night Air (Ramadanman Refix) - Jamie Woon
Bi-Cyles - Greyboy
Manteca - Cesars Salad
Manila - Seelenluft
King of Darkness (Swell Session Stateless Remix) - Susuma Yokota
Tabaco y Ron - TM Juke
Exit Routine - Ras
Cocan - Patchworks
Babyback - Ron Buford
Older-Shawn Lee&Miles Boney
Eye to eye-Amp Fiddler
Saturday - Home Brew
From The Drop - Wiley & MJ Cole
This Is A Jam - Demon Boyz
Barrio - Lopez
Bath Music - Greyboy
70mph Isn't Fast Enough To Get Out Of Nebraska - Shawn Lee & Clutchy Hopkins
Pain(It's Gonna Come Heavier)-Silhouette Brown
Version for Version - Oogun
Razor Sharp Dub - Cessman vs Joe Ariwa
Step It Up (Dan Donovan For Dons Letts Dub Cartel) - Scientist

Saturday, November 06, 2010

Ring The Alarm playlist, BaseFM, Sat Nov 6

Primal scream vs Jungle Bros - Playloaded
20th century steel band - Land of a thousand dances
Mucho plus - Nassau's disco
Breakestra - Dark clouds rain soul (dub)
Stevie Wonder - Superstition - Todd Terje edit
Miles Davis - So what  -Shoes dub edit
Quantic - Westbound train
Rob Symmeon - Chose one - Zebs steppers mix
Keith Hudson - Nuh skin up dub
Tenor Saw - Pumpkin belly
Luciano and Ras Zacharri - River Jordan
Yush2K - Fade away
Lee Scratch Perry - International broadcaster
Mr Vegas - Must come a road
Ticklah  -Scratch to win
Brentford allstars - Greedy G
Sharon Jones and the Dapkings - Better things
Colman bros - She who dares  - lounge mix
DJ Day - Close your eyes
Ladi6 - Burn with me
Jules Issa - Dangerous game
Knights of the dub table - Sing it to me -Optimus Gryme remix
Oogun - Drony dubhall
Unitone hifi  - Up to eleven
Benny Tones - Aerosoul