Saturday, April 30, 2011

Blend

Cool free tune from Blend Mishkin (straight outta Athens, Greece), off their new Disco-Vampire EP. Check out more from Blend Mishkin over at Soundcloud and Bandcamp.



And here's a DJ mix they did, full of reggae dancehall niceness... listen and download... it's 24 mins long

Blend Mishkin - It's a Dancehall Ting (DJ Mix) by Blend Mishkin

Ring The Alarm playlist, BaseFM, April 30

East side symphony - Hot pants road
Herbie Hancock - Palm grease
Jay-Z - Show me what ya got inst
Digital underground - The way we swing
Queens tag team - Jump around - Big Willi reggae mix
African head charge - Timpanya
Blend Mishkin feat BNC - Disco vampires - Turntable dubbers remix
Dreadsquad - Sweet thing inst
Roots Manuva vs Wrongtom - Big tings redone
De Phazz - Plastic love memory
Dub colossus - Uptown ranking
Shark Wilson and the basement heaters - Make it reggae
Moneyman and the super 5 international - Life
Tunde Mabadu - Viva disco
Pepperpots - Real tru love
The Emotions - Bind alley
Black velvet - An earthquake's coming
Fred Wesley and the horny horns - Between two sheets
Kashmere stage band - Thank you - extended version
Charles Bradley - Golden rule
Colman bros - El nino - big band mix
Henry Mancini - A shot in the dark theme
Melvin Jackson - Black and bold
Pete Rock - Appreciate
Funkmaster Flex and ghetto celebs - Safe sex, no freaks
Kormac - Join together

Friday, April 29, 2011

Keep it down!



From 1981, Auckland band the Newmatics, off the double 7 inch EP, Broadcast O.R. The Riot Squad rose to infamy during the 1981 Springbok rugby tour, but the Newmatics had encountered this particular group of coppers the previous year, at one of their gigs.

On the remix



This week saw the release of Rescape, a remix collection from local producer NSU, and I've got a remix on there, of his tune West Coast Dub (listen here). I've pulled together a collection of some of the remixes I've done as Dub Asylum, kinda like a demo tape., and a few of them are available as free downloads, including one that is previously unreleased.

The first remixes I did were for the Midnights and Kolab - I hit them up via Myspace, how old fashioned is that? Funny thing is, I did the Kolab remix without ever talking to the guys - did it all via email and IM. Even though they live in the same city as me.

Devine No 5 -
The Onleung remix was done for a proposed remix collection of Onelung's 2006 album Binary Pop Songs, but that never happened due to record company stuff. Have a listen and download it for free. Thanks to Onelung for letting me make it available.

Sideways - I did a remix for Kolab when their debut album, What Comes Next dropped in 2008. You can download it for free too. Thanks to Kolab for letting me make it available. They are also available for download from http://soundcloud.com/dubasylum

Outside looking in - The Midnights, a tune that appeared on their debut album, Outside (2010) This remix was done when this tune was knocking round student radio in 2007. I'm currently working on another remix for them.

Hiding - The Hollie Smith remix was for a remix competition she had in Oct 2010. Some cheesy House mix won. Sucky, that. Still like it, tho. Do more reggae, Hollie!

West coast dub - The remix of NSU is off the album Rescape, a remix collection of NSU, out April 25, 2011.  That's the cover below.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

R.I.P. Poly Styrene, Phoebe Snow

Poly Styrene passed away after a battle with cancer, aged 53. She had released a new album in March. Guardian's obit here..

From Dangerous Minds blog... X Ray Spex live in London, 2008





Phoebe Snow was 60, and died of of complications from a brain hemorrhage she suffered last year.
LA Times: Phoebe Snow obit


Phoebe Snow and Linda Ronstadt - It's in his kiss (from 1979)



Ebo highlife

Free download from Ebo Taylor- "Peace On Earth" (mediafire)
From: Life Stories (out April 12th, Strut) http://ebotaylor-lifestories.com/

Ebo Taylor- Peace On Earth by Strut
 
From the Life Stories liner notes:

Ebo acknowledges the influence of US jazz rockers Blood Sweat & Tears and – less obviously, perhaps – Deep Purple on this easy going mid-tempo piece, written a few years before it was recorded, when Osibisa and various ‘blaxploitation’ themes were hip. “I was trying to fuse rock and jazz together with highlife,” Ebo recalls. “This kind of music was ahead of its time – not very popular when we recorded it!”

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

R.I.P Margaret of K Rd

Photo by Stephen Hardy
She sat outside Verona or St Kevins arcade, asking for change or a ciggie, for 28 years (source). She passed away in her sleep, according to staff at Alleluyah. Have had her passing confirmed by someone from K Rd Business Association. Apparently she lived in Parnell and used to take to bus to K Rd every day.

ADDED Sofia Mella from K Rd shop Tattooed Heart has written a tribute to Margaret on their blog.

TV3 news item on Margaret - watch here. More on the story from Stuff.co.nz
Her last name was Hofman. A service is planned for next Tuesday at the Baptist Tabernacle, at the top of Queen St.

ADDED Found a messsage board with tales of Margaret, posted in 2009...

"  took Margaret to the Casino once after she kept questioning me about what it was like...she got all dressed up, but when we got there they wouldnt let her in, because one of the bouncers knew her...There was quite a fuss, as I demanded to speak to a supervisor...eventually they let us in, on the proviso that I was responsible for her...waste of time, as we were there 5 mins, when she suddenly realised that you couldnt smoke in there...LMAO...so we went & ate Burgerking instead, before walking home! "

"Margaret was never a model...she was however, one of Aucklands "it" girls, in the 1950,s...racing about town in a sportscar, drinking at all the upmarket supper clubs...she comes from a wealthy family! She has been married, & has had a child, who died at a young age...this tragedy split her marriage up...I was told all this by an elderly friend who knew her in those days...I asked her about it once, & she nodded her head, then told me "its in the past, I dont want to talk about it".. "

Sunday, April 24, 2011

High Noon Tea playlist, KiwiFM, April 24

Cranky B Tuffins - Visual pollution (DL)
Karl Marx project - Leaning shadows
Black seeds - Make a move - Downtown Brown remix
Kingites - Notify
Dub terminator - Global warming
Jet jaguar - Think about it later
Benny Tones - Firefly
Unitone hifi - Hair farmer
Mr Reliable - Lucky dub
Jefferson Belt - Creeping things of the earth
Tiki - It's all in your hands - Dutty ranks remix
Mood unit - Hat trap (DL)
Lord Echo - Rhythm 77
Fat Freddys Drop - Hope -Sonsine remix
International Observer - Flat
Mark de Clive Lowe - El dia perfecto
Recloose - Landed
Sola rosa - Humanised - Jason Eli remix
Scratch 22 - Cold hands
Riki Gooch - Pams bacon on special
Fredericks Brown - Betrayal
Shogun Orchestra - Leogane
Nomad - Breaking rocks
Christoph el Truento - Meow

Show replays on Friday afternoons, 2-4pm. 

Rough trades

Very interesting article from The Economist on UK music retail. Says that supermarkets accounted for over a third of UK CD album sales last year, up from just over an eighth in 2000. Also makes the point that independent music shops have survived by sticking with physical product and embracing internet sales.

This mention of Rough Trade East... "an independent in London, has a stage for in-store gigs and a coffee shop, selling the experience of visiting a shop dedicated to music as much as the recorded product itself..." reminds me of my local, Conch Records. It's why these shops are surviving, and thriving.




Their master's voice: Independents need the industry’s last retailing giant to flourish

"Music retailing has had a curious April. HMV Group, owners of the last surviving high-street music chain and linchpin of the business, produced its third profits warning of the year as conditions on the high street “remained difficult”. Yet on April 16th hundreds of bleary-eyed shoppers across the country queued from sunrise outside HMV’s independently owned competitors. They were waiting for the one-off releases on sale to mark Record Store Day, a “celebration of music” organised by independent music shops, with over a thousand outlets participating around the world.

The popularity of this event suggests that small specialist music sellers are healthy. Some are, but they need their sickly mass-market opponent to recover. Over the past decade the way Britons buy music has changed radically, and this has hurt both chain stores and independents.

Millions now purchase chart CDs, often on impulse, when they are out shopping for groceries: supermarkets accounted for over a third of CD album sales last year, up from just over an eighth in 2000. Tesco alone receives more than £1 of every £10 spent on music in Britain. Most of all, the internet has transformed buying patterns. Home delivery accounted for a quarter of album sales in 2010, an estimated half of which were from Amazon, the internet giant. Digital downloads have all but wiped out the singles market, for years the lifeblood of local record shops: 160m songs were downloaded last year (most for less than £1), but only 2m physical singles were sold, down from 44m in 2002.

When the economy weakened, these changes helped kill off three high-street general retailers: Woolworths, Zavvi (formerly Virgin Megastore) and Borders. The number of indies also plummeted. The Entertainment Retailers Association says there were 281 of them at the last count, down from 578 in 2006. Those that focused on chart music closed first, and many more lacked the resources or the will to renew leases first taken on in the early 1970s.

But some independents are thriving. They embraced the internet but avoided the distraction of digital downloads. Half the turnover of Manchester’s Piccadilly Records comes from online sales; Philippa Jarman, its co-owner, says that “one of our shrewdest decisions was to stick to physical rather than digital downloads.”

Concentrating on physical products left independents well placed to capitalise on the recent revival in vinyl, too. Surviving independents highlight the importance of having staff who are immersed in the music scene, so that they act as a trusted filter in an industry with millions of products on offer. The most successful stores have used this expertise to create a sense of community far removed from the stereotypical shop staffed by snobbish music nerds. Rough Trade East, an independent in London, has a stage for in-store gigs and a coffee shop, selling the experience of visiting a shop dedicated to music as much as the recorded product itself.

By contrast, HMV has diversified into clothing, gaming and selling tickets to events, cutting its dependence on CDs but diluting its distinctiveness. With its shares now around 10p, down from 85p a year ago, the firm may sell its book chain, Waterstone’s, and close at least 40 HMV stores. The four biggest record labels are even considering supplying the retailer with non-chart music on a “sale or return” basis, freeing cash to reduce its £130m debt.

The labels need HMV to survive in order to keep lucrative non-chart music on the high street. So too do the independents, for if HMV were to fail, the labels would cut back their operations, drastically shrinking the market. HMV’s logo famously shows a terrier listening intently to a gramophone; even the indies hope the top dog regains its form."

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Ring The Alarm playlist, BaseFM, April 23

Lee Oskar - Haunted house
East side symphony - Hot pants road
Scratch 22 - Window rattle
Buddy Miles - Them changes
Roy Ayers - Running away
Soul society - Sidewinder
Big T Tyer - King kong
Billy Fair and orchestra - I'll be true to you
Sly n Robbie - Don't stop the music
Chic - Good times
Luther Vandross - She loves me back
Eric B and Rakim - Paid in full - Coldcut remix
Mantronix - Who is it?
Schoolly D - Whe'd you get that funk from?
George Clinton - Do fries go with that shake?
Born Jamericans - Boom shakatak
Aggrolites - Reggae hit LA (playing at the Kings Arms, Wed 27 April)
African head charge - Dobbyn joins the head charge
Ray Bryant - If I were a carpenter
Rae and Christian - Ready to roll
Herbie Hancock - Magic number - Todd Terje edit
Natural yoghurt band - Latin Illusion
Sharon Jones and the Dapkings - Better things
Konk - Soka loka moki
Fredericks Brown - Betrayal
Lightning head - Bokoor sound special
Disrupt - Riddim grid
Aggrolites - Complicated girl
Puppajim - Robot version

Friday, April 22, 2011

Questioning Record Store Day

"Is Record Store Day a Bunch of Bullshit?" is the name of a post written by DJ Prestige on his excellent blog Fleamarket Funk.


"... Here’s my question, why are we just promoting independent record stores one day a year? Where are all these record and music enthusiasts the other 364 days? Rob Henry, a NJ based DJ/ Record Store Buyer had this to say:”I think record store day is just that. Not vinyl awareness day. Not a thank you to all vinyl buyers. It’s a day for those record stores to make some coin. This is their Black Friday. I’m cool with that. I hope they prosper from RSD. If the ‘industry’ needs to make an excuse for people to spend their money in record stores, that’s fine.

"Vinyl sales have increased over the past few years yet shops are closing all over the place. Who wants record stores to be solely online? We need to keep a physical connection between distributors and vinyl buyers.” This is true, it is not vinyl awareness day, it’s record store day. I get a little touchy because it has the word “record” in it and the logo for RSD has an LP and a 45 in it. However, I am posing the question again: Where are all these people the other 364 days a year? Downloading music from iTunes for pay or the internet for free?"

He also notes that Record Store Day has sponsorship from EMI, Warners, Sony and Universal, which isn't exactly indie.


He puts forward a good argument on what exactly Record Store Day has grown to signify.  Funnily enough, someone from Record Store Day's official organising team saw it and posted a response. It's a little patronising.... "Ironically, here I am typing you about a negative slanted posting about record stores running Record Store Day .... As far as not celebrating year round. I can’t help but think you are new to discovering Record Store Day."

DJ Prestige replies, pointing out his years of experience as a DJ, record store owner and promoter.  "... I still make a living as a DJ who celebrates every day as Record Store Day. In fact, I did a joint collaboration this year with photographer Eilon Paz from DustandGrooves.com where we showcased a record store owner in Brooklyn that has been a staple in the community for over 4 decades.

"Being record related, it was posted on the Facebook page of Record Store Day to help spread the message of this man who’s business was in danger of being shut down. The photo essay and short paragraph were removed shortly after I posted it. I found that a bit odd, seeing that it was celebrating a record store, on RSD. It was then I wanted to do some investigating on my own on RSD itself..."

Thursday, April 21, 2011

You want everything, all the time


Bill Wyman (Ex Rolling Stones geezer) has written a fascinating piece entitled "Lester Bangs' Basement -What it means to have all music instantly available".

"Lester Bangs, the late, great early-rock critic, once said he dreamed of having a basement with every album ever released in it... [now] A previously "rare" CD or movie, once it's in the iTunes store or on the torrent networks, is, in theory, just as available as the biggest single in the world...

Wyman talks about wanting to find the Rolling Stones film Cocksucker Blues.

"The film, a porny, drug-soaked cinéma vérité by the noted photographer Robert Frank, was never officially released. Indeed, under some sort of legal agreement with the Stones, Frank can show it publicly only when he is physically there. It tends to be presented at college events or in museum screening rooms..." it took Wyman 30 seconds to find it and about half an hour to download. He also talks about some film fans who work at restoring the films before uploading them too.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

J-Rocc mix


J-Rocc dropped his wicked debut album Some Cold Rock Stuf recently on Stonesthrow, here's a mean mix he did for Fact Mag. Available for DL for a few more days.

FACT Mix 238 - J. Rocc (Apr '11) by factmag

Direct download on Fact Mag's site.

Big playback

Onra is giving away his 2007 album The Big Payback. Why? According to Potholes In My Blog , Onra says “we never made any money out of this shit, so might as well give it for free now.” Which is kinda grim. But wait, there's more.

Onra's Facebook page has a bit more information... "I don't know if you heard about this project I made with a keyboard player from Alabama called Byron The Aquarius. We made it in 05/06, on some futuristic ish, but it was released in the summer 2007, only in Japan and France. Time to share it with the world now..."

Download: Byron and Onra – The Big Payback [Mediafire, 54MB]

Watch this: Onra on the last night of his US tour, playing Knitting Factory in New York with Oliver Daysoul, and fitting in some record shopping too... from lifeandtimes.com


Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Shalamar doco



Spotted via Twitter from Harry Allen (yep, THAT Harry Allen, PE alumni). Mean.

Doug Hream Blunt




Read this great story over on Martyn Pepperells' blog, damn it's a cool read. Doug Hream Blunt dropped a few tunes in the late 90s, then disappeared. Martyn tracked him down, after discovering his music "while trawling the internet for a Dam Funk remix of an Ariel Pink song. Googling both artist’s names together, the first entry to come up was a blog post in the Line Out Section of thestranger.com. Titled ‘Dam-Funk X Ariel Pink = Doug Hream Blunt’, writer Dave Segal’s post included a YouTube link to ‘Gentle Persuasion’."



“Yes, this is Doug Blunt! Who is this?”
Speaking down the line from San Francisco, Doug Hream Blunt literally can’t understand a word I’m saying. To be fair though, he has probably never had a phone call from New Zealand before. The loud background noise of a TV set playing and several children running rampage around the house isn’t helping either. For a moment I consider abandoning ship. “Oh, you’re from New Zealand right?” says Blunt, speaking with a tone which makes me realise he knows exactly who I am and why I’m calling.

Whist speaking with this highly underrated San Francisco singer and musician, this sort of dichotomy characterises all. With an accent which mixes American and Caribbean, Blunt will swing from having no idea what I’m saying, to connecting completely with my questions, in the process displaying an amazing degree of enthusiasm. On the other side of the scale, he’ll just as quickly disconnect from me, slowly trailing off with his sentences. And as someone familiar with his highly prized musical output, every answer or reaction sits perfectly with his sound.

I first became aware of Blunt’s work while trawling the internet for a Dam Funk remix of an Ariel Pink song. Googling both artist’s names together, the first entry to come up was a blog post in the Line Out Section of thestranger.com. Titled ‘Dam-Funk X Ariel Pink = Doug Hream Blunt’, writer Dave Segal’s post included a YouTube link to ‘Gentle Persuasion’.

An incredible song, ‘Gentle Persuasion’ blends the hazy lo-fi aesthetic Ariel Pink has become associated with, with the early eighties boogie funk/RnB feels often connected to Dam Funk; evening throwing some carribbean/tropical touches in for good measure. I was absolutely floored over by this waking dream of a tune. Faded as hell, the song sees Blunt alternate between singing macked out sexual innuendos and noodling away on his guitar. The sort of player who goes so out of key on his solos that he actually comes back into key, Blunt is aptly supported by some super beached keyboards, strutting bass, snappy drums and a gorgeous female backing vocal.

Completely captured by ‘Gentle Persuasion’, after some specific digging, I made contact with Blunt’s LA based label, OT Records and Fun. Through them I purchased copies of both Blunt’s 12inch ‘Gentle Persuasion’ record and a CD album of the same name. OT Records and Fun also put me onto a series of video clips on vimeo.com. Taken from CITYVISIONS, a public access TV channel in San Francisco, the three incredible clips show Blunt and what looks like a band of high school music students syncing along to three of Blunt’s songs: ‘Ride The Tiger’, ‘Love Land’ and ‘Caribbean Queen’. The clips are incredible, easily some of the most amazing examples of a hypnagogic state I’ve ever seen.

Rocking a mini-afro, slender black aviator shades and a cream suit, Blunt holds down guitar and vocals. His band consists of a white girl with big hair and blue denim jeans on guitar, another white chick with a cowboy hat and a leather jacket on keys, what appears to be an Indian woman in a lime shirt on bass, a funny little bearded guy on vibraphone and a spiky haired guy in a striped blue shirt on drums. Backed by a black backdrop, and positioned on a blue stage, in reference to Hypnagogic states, all three videos have a weird quality to them which makes you think they might not actually be real. It’s kind of like the sci-fi/fantasy story trope about the shop weird shop you visit once and get a gremlin from. The strange shop you can’t ever find again and seems to have been replaced by a brick wall. I was obsessed and I needed to know more.

Juggling talking with me on the phone with entertaining his three children (“They really are a handful,” he says with a happy sigh), Blunt slowly lets me in on the best kept secret that is his back story. The facts are interspersed with constant laughter and a reoccurring sense of disbelief that someone from New Zealand is talking to him on the phone. “I was born in Arkansas originally, but I came to San Francisco when I was younger, when I was seven,” he says, after repeating my question about where he is from back to himself several times. This parroted verbal repetition is a habit he displays throughout our interview.

While his parents were music lovers, they didn’t play any musical instruments themselves. That was something Blunt would have to pick up for himself later in life. Still, between them and the rest of the people on his street, he had the love of music drilled into him from young. ” I was raised in this poor neighbourhood in San Francisco,” he passionately reflects, placing emphasis on the word “poor”. “The only thing we had to do was listen to music. You know? It was really poor. You couldn’t go outside and stuff. All you could do was just listen to music. It was funny. I got addicted to it.” Raised on RnB and Rock and Roll, Blunt quickly became a record collector. As he puts it, in a very matter of fact way, “I was of that generation, so I collected, you know? I collected a lot of vinyl cause I was of that generation.”

Name-checking The Whispers and Jimi Hendrix (a name he will come back to later), Blunt had been playing guitar and singing for, in his words, “six or seven years,” when he hooked up with a young studio owner named Victor Flaviani to record at his Flaviani Recording Studios in San Francisco. As to when exactly this occurred however, Blunt is close to blank. The best he can hazard is sometime in the late 90s. “Victor [Flaviani] was a music teacher,” Blunt happily recalls. He had a music workshop so he was able to do the album for me in there.”
As to why he wanted to record a record at the time, Blunt is just as faded as he is with exact dates. “I don’t know why man? I have no idea?” he laughs. What he does remember though, is he recorded it in less than a week. “Victor was new to studio work,” Blunt says. “Since he was new, he didn’t ask a lot. And I didn’t ask a lot, cause I didn’t know a lot,” he explains, trailing off with a giggle. In terms of his studio band, Blunt teamed up with some musician friends, a couple of Flaviani’s music students, Flaviani’s sisters and even Victor himself on drums. It sounds pretty ad hoc and somewhat slapped together, and it kind of was, but not completely. “I wasn’t just whoever I could get though,” Blunt passionately states. “I felt that they could all do it you know. If I thought you could do it, I let you do it!”

Defining a capable musician as one who, as he puts it after a lot of serious thought, “Can keep a beat and keep the time and knows his chords,” Blunt’s ultimate musical icon is Jimi Hendrix. “I like Jimi Hendrix,” he enthuses with a touch of frustration. “I’ve been trying to get a weird sound like that, but I can’t get it!” “I want to sound like that, but,” seemingly on the verge of a big statement, he just trails off, dropping into silence for a few semi sad moments. Ironically, what Blunt doesn’t seem to realise, yet is constantly ticking over, and occasionally interjecting my questions with his own questions about, is his lionised cult status.

On ‘Gentle Persuasion’, an album inspired by, like he explains, “the life experiences of living all over California,” Blunt and his ragtag band of players throw down a series of seven fundamentally Californian (and cross-genre jams). Musically, the record is the sound of spending your whole life in a haze of weed smoke, whiskey and women on the beaches of California. They’re the sort of daydream funk meets glazed over radio rock jams that make doing nothing but staring at the wall all day seem like a pretty cool idea. You can literally feel how much time Blunt must have spent chilling on corners and stoops across the state, taking it all in, one breath at a time. Subconsciously drawing his lyrics from these languid days, Blunt views music as something which just pops out and comes through you. His favourite jam is his tune ‘Wiskey Man’, a tune built around the repeated refrain “I got to be mellow”. And if you ask him where he got his sound from, his answer is simple, and so damn cool. “I got it from California man!”

In terms of what he has done on the live circuit, Blunt is just as vague as he is with recording dates. He mentions having held a few gigs singing and playing guitar at the local hospital. Then there is the CITYVISIONS performance, which in typical Blunt fashion, he has minimal factual memories about and a maximum emotional response. “I don’t know man,” he says, speaking with a special emphasis which makes you realise those televised song were a special moment for him. “It was just something that happened, and I just did it. It was good. It was good to be on TV, and I did it!”

These days, Blunt is a lot more low-profile with the music. He’s a father with a young family. Worryingly though, the major reason he hasn’t been playing is he had a stoke recently. “I’m getting back on my feet, but that took it out of me,” he admits, with an underlying mixture of strength and sadness. “That was a lesson man. It doesn’t really bother me that much though, not now.” Still, as a result he isn’t playing guitar. As a replacement, Blunt has been playing the congas (perhaps an extension of flourishes of tropical feel on his earlier work?) and taking trumpet lessons. Alternating between happy and sad, he makes and amusing and really exciting musical threat. “When I’ve finished studying trumpet I will probably go back to record with Victor Flaviani and try and do some singing behind the trumpet .”

Blunt doesn’t use the internet and as a result is more or less ignorant of his cult artist status and the astronomical prices people attempt to retail copies of his twelve inch record and CD for on the internet. During our conversation I actually get the sense that processing the stories I tell him about the niche interest in his music and the manner in which it presages plenty of contemporary musical trends is probably making it difficult for him to focus on my questions. As alien as the idea is to him, he is very enthusiastic about it. The thing is though, as you can tell from listening to his songs and his earlier comments, he is one hell of a chilled out dude. People find him, he doesn’t find people. Equally, as opposed to seeking out opportunities, opportunity seeks him out. It’s situations like this which have lead to his current arrangement with OT Records and Fun, who have been pumping his CDs and vinyl records out to music lovers across the globe, for a fair, affordable price. Similarly, it’s thanks to OT Records and Fun that I’m able to interview Blunt.

Doug Hream Blunt might be unknown, he might be underrated, and he might even stay that way forever. I get the sense that none of that really matters to Blunt though. He’s made music, played music, has a family and is experiencing a late career resurgence he probably never even imagined would occur. It’s the “well ahead of your time” scenario that so many truly great artists suffer from. Regardless of what happens from here on in, one thing is certain, Doug Hream Blunt is gonna remain chilled out as hell, just like his awesomely casual musical output.

Bottling the essence of everything carefree about California isn’t easy, unless you’re so laid back, you didn’t even have to think about trying. Which in a nutshell is - the Doug Hream Blunt story.


If you want to purchase the vinyl or CD then you can contact otrecords@hotmail.com

Distance from view


Distance from view is the debut album from Auckland-based DJ and producer Scratch 22, and it's out this week. He's stitched together an epic sweep of sonic sauciness, that takes you on a rather splendid journey. There's student radio faves Medicine Man, and Window Rattle, plus a ton of other great tunes. Think DJ Shadow or RJD2, add in some David Axelrod and a healthy dose of Ennio Morricone and you're on the right track... Have a listen below.

Read Rip It Up's interview with Scratch 22 by Martyn Pepperell, over here.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Love dancing

Preview a track off the album from Arthur's Landing, out now... download it too if you like

"Love Dancing" (Is It All Over My Face) (mediafire)

Arthur's Landing- Love Dancing (Is It All Over My Face) by Strut

"Strut is thrilled to present the debut album by Arthur’s Landing, a morphing collective of musicians who worked with the late and revered Downtown New York singer / songwriter and virtuoso cellist Arthur Russell at various times during his career, from his experimental pop (The Sailboats) and modern classical (Singing Tractors) to his avant-garde disco projects (Loose Joints, Dinosaur L)..."

WATCH: Arthurs Landing discuss their album project and the late Arthur Russell...

Sunday, April 17, 2011

High Noon Tea playlist, KiwiFM, 17 April 3-5pm

Tubbs - The professional
Illphonics - One of those days
Mycroft Holmes - Sideshow viewing
Rhombus - Piano dub
Opensouls -Sweet love - Mabanua remix
Tehimana Kerr - Xit
Joint force - Nightmare dub
Salmonella dub - Push on thru - Adrian Sherwood remix
Cornerstone roots - Future is now
Phase 5 - Realistic biscuit
Jellphonic and LP - Beatsreal flip
Riki Gooch - Ode to a vegetable
Chrostoph el Truento - Meow
Sola rosa - Del ray - Chancha via curcuito remix
Fat Freddys Drop - Shiverman
Pitch black -1000 mile drift - International observer remix
Lord echo - Thinking of you
NSU - West coast dub - Dub asylum remix
Pacific heights - TK funk
Karl marx project - Ares
Loudhaler - 30 degrees on the rocks
Onelung - Dark carousel
Downtown brown - Late edition
Scratch 22 - For walking faces

Show repeats Friday 2-4pm.

R.I.P Barbie


If you were in the music scene in Auckland in the late 80s and early 90s, you will have crossed paths with Barbie Francks. She was a ball of energy, a crazy, inspired woman always bursting with ideas. She was a BFM DJ, and I first came across her as she was good friends with Lisa van der Aarde, who managed my band Hallelujah Picassos (Lisa hosted BFM's Freak The Sheep show). She was also a music journalist - I recall her interviewing the Picassos for Rip It Up magazine.

Barbie came on tour with us once, as our driver. We were going down to do some shows in Napier and Gisbourne. She was a crazy driver too, from memory. Barbie died suddenly of a heart attack on Friday, aged 50. Much love to her partner Phil and her children.

From NZ Herald: FRANCKS, Linda (Barbie). On 16 April 2011 suddenly at Auckland City Hospital. Loved partner of Phil. Mother of Patrick, Bella and Lawson.
ADDED There's a wake for Barbie, this Friday April 22 from 1pm at The Thirsty Dog, 469 K Rd.

ADDED Some photos from the wake are here on Facebook, more on the event page here, plus a short video clip I shot, below.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Record Store Day tomorrow

The NZ Herald did a cool story on Record Store Day, talking to a few folk including Nick D, Rose Matafeo, Tanya Perrie, Dustin Lindale at Conch Records, and Sarah Williamson, store manager of Real Groovy Records AK.

"... Williamson says it is not only the tactile quality of records that is luring young people back from the MP3s. Some are drawn to the superior sound.

"And it's the nature of listening to music that they learn about. The process of sitting down putting a record on and sharing it with other people; this whole sort of "in ear" headphone culture is making music less accessible I think. It's too private."

While Real Groovy's clientele spans a vast range of ages and musical interests, Williamson says she has definitely noticed more young collectors spending their pocket money on retro albums.
"I've seen kids who look like they could be 11 or 12, they are the raddest little kids. They know what they want, they look around, they buy stuff."

Read the full story here

Flexi

So, do they still make flexidiscs? Yes they do. Where? In Australia, as it happens... got this email yesterday from Vinyl Factory, the crowd that pressed by Dub Asylum - Ba ba boom 7" vinyl single and did a great job on it too.

"Vinyl Factory Australia is proud to announce that we have begun producing flexi-discs. We have been the very lucky recipients of the last remaining flexi-disc machine, formerly owned by Ambassador press, and last in operation in 1989 in Sydney!
For the last 20 years it has been stored in a shed in Canberra. Vinyl Factory has reconditioned the machine and updated a lot of the gear and are now very happy to be producing flexis.
Pricing is set at the introductory level of 62 cents per disc plus setup costs . Min qty of 1000. Single or double sided available." Contact Vinyl Factory online here.

Getting hitched

Here's a wedding invitation that folds into functioning record player + flexidisc. Classy.


Paper Record Player from kellianderson on Vimeo.

Hawaiian haka step

I recently finished a remix from NSU, a local electronica/techno producer. He's pulled together a handful of talented  local musicians and producers to remix his debut ep Escape, and it's coming out at the end of April. You can preview my remix below. A mate of mine called my remix "Hawaiian haka step" which I kinda like...

Full audio of all the tracks over here at Bandcamp.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Dust

Photo: Dustandgrooves

New post up at Dust and Grooves, the excellent site profiling record collectors, vinyl junkies, and wax fiends. This edition is an interview with well respected DJ Rich Medina. Go read it right now.

"... I come from a family of “collectors”, though their reasons were far different than mine when I started. My parent’s parents migrated north from Alabama and the Kentucky/Ohio border near the turn of the century, via The Underground Railroad.

With that, their need to keep and care for things they considered valuable stemmed from not truly having anything to call their own prior to migrating north...

... I really appreciate this gift from my family, because it taught me to care for my belongings and investments on a higher level now, as a man. I think I became a “collector” prior to leaving home for college...

... Vinyl is the origin of my personal love for music, aside from 8 track tape, my grandparent’s church, piano lessons, and 70’s radio. I was simply born during a time where these were the primary consumer mediums for music, so I really don’t know any better. I am not so much of a purist that I have bad thoughts or words for other mediums though.

"I think I went through that phase when the iPod hit the marketplace for like a year. Then, I found myself purchasing one and strolling the streets with 3,00 songs in this little machine. I found the merit in technology then for sure.

But beyond that, the sonic quality of the vinyl format is so warm and full when compared to all digital mediums it’s ridiculous. There is no reputable argument for that point. Storage space is not the baseline issue when discussing the collection of music. The music and your relationship with that music is the baseline issue..."

Oddisee vs Has-Lo

Dirty beats from Oddisee, remixing Has-Lo. Free DL too. Nice. Have a listen

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

J Rocc in Japan



This video is kinda fun. I dig it. "Mayer Hawthorne filmed this on his iPhone when the two were on tour in Japan, and edited it on his laptop on the flight back home."

Stay Fresh is a cut off J Rocc's wicked album Some Cold Rock Stuf.

Scratch 22 interview

Cheese on Toast interviewed talented young Auckland DJ and producer Scratch 22 about his debut album, out next week on Round Trip Mars Records, and also getting released in Europe thru Wax On Records (the label run by Nightmares on Wax).




Listen to Medicine Man, the first single off the album below. Single released this week.

Keep digging!

Via Fleamarket Funk...

" ... The last of the dying breed was Black Cat Records in Red Bank, NJ. Owned by former Lifetime vocalist Ari Katz, a seasoned veteran of music, it too eventually fell to the times, closing it’s doors for good in the early 2000′s. Let’s face it, with the portability of the CD and now MP3′s, us vinyl nerds are a dying breed.

That’s why on this Saturday, April 16th, we need to support our local vinyl slinger for National Record Day. So go on and do that, until then, click the link to check out 40 sad portraits of record stores that closed. You may have even shopped in one of them. Keep Diggin’!"


See 40 Sad Portraits of Closed Record Stores

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Record Store Day this Saturday


Record Store Day is happening again this Saturday. Here's a few shops locally putting on some fun n games...


Conch Records, Auckland
Conch will be celebrating the day with an in-store performance from Karlmarx (Isaac Aesili, ex Solaa, Opensouls). Karlmarx is the artist name for production duo Isaac Aesili (aka Karl) and Mark McNeill. Isaac is based in Auckland and his brother Mark is based in  Christchurch. Karlmarx have enjoyed radio support by Benji B (BBC 1Xtra) and Lefto (Brownswood). The song “Mists“ is featured on the Brownswood comp “Lefto & Simbad present Worldwide Family Vol.1“.
More info... http://www.conch.co.nz/word/?p=6521

Real Groovy Auckland
Real Groovy will be buzzing with DJs playing live their favourite tracks on vinyl including Dai Henwood, Tom Scott (Homebrew), DJ Sir Vere, Tina Turntables, Murray Cammick (Founder of Wildside Records), John Baker (Promoter) Stephen Heard (NZ Musician Magazine, Clap Clap Riot) Death Valley, Nick Bollinger (NZ music author), as well as Heart Attack Alley playing live; Plus giveaways, face painting and exclusive vinyl releases.
http://www.realgroovy.co.nz/Information/84

Beat Merchants  555 Great North rd, Grey Lynn, Auckland.
DJs (Dubhead, Merge, Tokyo Prose, Dave Seeka and more), live graffiti art and more. 11am til 6pm.

Slow Boat Records Wellington

Instore performances from APRA Silver Scroll and Taite Prize winning singer-songwriter Lawrence Arabia, plus a nifty duo performance from Nina and Matt from local indie faves The Family Cactus more tbc. And an array of exclusive Record Store Day vinyl. http://slowboatrecords.co.nz/

Sadly, Real Groovy Wellington is closing down over the next few months - but fear not, Record Store Day is all go! Their celebration will be of the history and legacy Real Groovy Wellington. They'll be hosting guest musicians (and customers) from 12 noon to play their favourite LPs; there will also be a sausage sizzle and prize packs to give away. Then It's over to the Southern Cross for a Record Store Day celebration night! A massive Music Quiz with a prize to fight for. Live bands and DJs. Special deals on the superb Southern Cross food. And a fun time for all!
http://www.realgroovy.co.nz/Information/84

8-bit rudeboy

Utterly mad reggae/ska made with gaming consoles. Amusing or painful? You decide.

"This album is a collection of reggae, ska, dub, and everything in between, played on a variety of game consoles. It was organized by Euan Lynn (TraceKaiser) on 8-Bit Collective (www.8bitcollective.com), and features a variety of artists from around the world."

Monday, April 11, 2011

Why vinyl records are better

"Why vinyl records are better" from  Rotorua Daily Post, reporting on the record fair there last weekend.

"Craig Roberts bought three records at the Rotorua Record Fair at Ngongotaha Hall yesterday. He said he had recently got back into listening to vinyl, buying a new record player after finding some old LPs he had in the attic.

"I just fancied listening to them again."

He said he liked listening to records because they brought back memories from years ago and he considered the sound quality to be better than CDs, as long as the records weren't scratched."

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Stac it up

Wahwah 45s have been running a remix competition for one of their artists, Stac. You can download the runners up for free. Go have a listen, below.

High Noon Tea, KiwiFM 10 April 3-5pm

Black seeds - One step at a time - JStar remix
Jahlicious - Minds eye
Unitone hifi  -Hair farmer
Paddy Free - Wairua
Eru Dangerspiel - Coq au vin
Stinky Jim - Triple agent
Electric wire hustle - Perception
Karl Marx project - Mists
Conray - Nice to come home
International observer - War memorial museum peace
Pitch black - Urbanoia
Katchafire - Dub did it - Mr Reliable remix
Fat freddys drop - Big BW - DJ Vadim remix
DLT - Black panthers
Scratch22 - Medicine man
Nathan Haines - Squire for hire
Trinity roots - Just like you - Jet Jaguar remix
Fruity - Sliced and diced
Jefferson Belt - Green termite
Projector - Principle dub
Snypa levi - Inna the dance
Wild Bill Ricketts - Riki

Show repeats on Friday 2-4pm.

Angry monster car



Best bit - triggered by turntables.... It's in Aotea Square now, til Tuesday. Runs 10am til 10pm. Looks way cool after dark too.

Saturday, April 09, 2011

Ring The Alarm playlist, BaseFM, April 9

African head charge - Mysterious happenings
Dennis Bovell - Rowing (version)
Morgan Heritage feat Shabba Ranks - Dem a brawl
Slim Smith - Conversation
Herbs - French letter - dub version
African head charge - African bredda
King Tubby vs Wu Tang - Dubbing it raw
Junk - 99c strut
The Meters - Tippi toes
Sister sledege - Lost in music
J-Rocc - Too many clowns
East side symphony - Hot pants road
Mo kolours - Biddies
Redds and the boys - Put you right hand in the air....
New order - Confusion
Dennis Coffey feat Mayer Hawthorne - All your goodies are gone
The Supremes - Your wonderful sweet sweet love
Village crusaders - Akiwawa
Shirley Bassey - Light my fire - Kenny Dope remix
Black velvet - An earthquake's coming
Ray Barretto - Pastime paradise
Willie Colon - Che che cole
Barrington Levy - Dances are changing
African head charge - Dobbyn joins the head charge
Ackie - Call me Rambo
Kabanjack - Dub to go - Ancient astronauts remix
J Rocc - Party
Riki Gooch - Bakade Vavoor

Friday, April 08, 2011

Come as you were

Business writer and former Flying Nun muso Nick Smith has written a piece for today's NZ Herald business section, and opinion piece on the death of recorded music.

The article is called "After the soundtrack, the silence." Subheading is "First vinyl and cassettes - now it's music itself that's facing extinction...."

some extracts... "... Long story short: Private equity and transnational banks bid up the price of music conglomerates, loading them with debt at a time when they had lost control of their revenue channels because of illegal downloads. Now they need to create new ways of making money from music or face oblivion. Their predicament has prompted headlines such as the Independent's "Labels face the day recorded music died" [republished by NZ Herald here].

".... An important occasion like a funeral does require a soundtrack. But for me, Nirvana's Nevermind, released in 1991 and the last piece of new vinyl I ever bought, is better listening than any fat lady.

"The song Come As You Are powered through a 1970s amp connecting two monstrous pairs of 1960s English speakers is punching holes in the walls as I type...."

"The reason I stopped buying vinyl is because record companies sold so few LPs they stopped making them...."

When I posted a link to Nick's story on Twitter earlier, it got a pretty negative reaction. The general tone was it was hopeless out of touch.

The music business is still making money, especially  off publishing, where you are dealing with legacy artists for example. As for suggesting "The reason I stopped buying vinyl is because record companies sold so few LPs they stopped making them"... Nick needs to do some research.

The other big story mainstream media like to write about the music industry, apart from "the music industry is dying" is the other chestnut, "Look, vinyl is making a comeback". Some journo writes this story somewhere in the world on average at least once or twice a week.

There is a wealth of artists releasing new music on vinyl. And a ton of legacy artists getting good quality reissues on vinyl. Maybe some nice person could take Nick record shopping.

ADDED one response on Twitter... "royalty income from music in 2010 was at record levels as was amount of music released..." from Simon Grigg.

ADDED Nick's article also includes this quote often attributed to Hunter S Thompson: "The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side."

Dave Roper pointed out to me that it is incorrect (thanks, Dave). Thompson has had numerous variants of that quote attributed to him, with various industries inserted ie radio business, show business etc.

The quote comes from Thompson's book called Generation of Swine: Tales of Shame and Degradation in the '80s. It reads...

"The TV business is uglier than most things. It is normally perceived as some kind of cruel and shallow money trench through the heart of the journalism industry, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs, for no good reason.


Which is more or less true. For the most part, they are dirty little animals with huge brains and no pulse. Every once in a while, they will toss up a token human like Ed Bradley or Edwin Newman or Hughes Rudd... and there are others, no doubt, like Studs Terkel in Chicago and the twisted Rev. Gene Scott, who works like a sleepless ferret in the maniac bowels of Southern California....

But these are only the exceptions that prove the hideous rule. Mainly we are dealing with a profoundly degenerate world, a living web of foulness, greed and treachery... which is also the biggest real business around and impossible to ignore. You can't get away from TV. It is everywhere. The hog is in the tunnel."
 
Source: Urbanlegends.com

On U


I saw this album on CD in a shop recently, but it had no date on the cover, so wasn't able to tell if it was new or a reissue. Happy to report that I've discovered it's a brand new album from amazing dub outfit African Head Charge, once again teaming up with legendary producer  Adrian Sherwood, the man behind On-U -Sound'. Audio previews below.

It is a UK label with an incredible back catalog of great reggae and dub, going back to the 1980s and 1990s. Think Bim Sherman, Dub Syndicate, Tackhead, New Age Steppers, Gary Clail, Little Annie... so many.... This year is the label's 30th anniversary too.

African Head Charge are responsible for one of my favourite albums ever, In Pursuit of Shashamane Land, from 1993. The new album is called Voodoo of the Godsent... here's the info from On U's website....

"The first release to mark On-U Sound’s 30th anniversary sees African Head Charge return with a brand new album, Voodoo Of The Godsent, out on March 28th.

Formed in the early 80’s by On-U head honcho Adrian Sherwood and percussionist Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah, African Head Charge have established a unique reputation over the years for producing exceptionally beautiful and deeply strange music.

This is their first release since 2005’s Visions of a Psychedelic Africa and sees Bonjo once again joining forces with long time On-U stable-mates Skip McDonald, Crocodile and the Crispy Horns together with contributions from legendary bassist George Oban, Dancehall pioneer Jazzwad and electronic wizard Adamski. All the elements of a classic Head Charge album; a triumphant mix of dub, psychedelia, trance, afro and tribal rhythms that have given them their own unique place in contemporary music.

Voodoo of the Godsent will be followed in April by the re-release of 3 seminal On-U Sound albums: Creation Rebel’s “Starship Africa”, African Head Charge’s “Off the Beaten Track” and The New Age Steppers’ eponymous first album that was the first ever LP release on the On-U Sound label..."




Thursday, April 07, 2011

Mo Kolours

Free tune from a new EP from Mo Kolours. Tasty, bleepy stuff.

"EP1: Drum Talking will be out in May featuring five tracks of Mo's unique combination of Mauritian sega music, dub, soul, jazz and various electronic styles, plus a heavyweight edit. Biddies is a bumping house-not-house gem propelled by Mo's handclaps, vocal manipulations and chants that draws an invisible line between the work of Theo Parrish and Gonjasufi while staying firmly in its own lane..."

Tuesday, April 05, 2011

Riki Gooch on a roll

Last month Riki Gooch dropped a brand new EP, via Bandcamp, called Cave Circles, and this week he's released Cave Circles 2. Dude is a machine! Go grab it.

Scratch 22



Local producer and DJ Scratch 22 has his debut album Distance From View coming out in a few weeks. Here's a way cool preview mix of the album. First single out April 11.

Steel up!





A few weeks back, I did a series of posts of some cool steel drum tunes, like the Nite Blues Steel Band, John Gibbs and Steel funk, and Steel an Skin. Most of these are off obscure albums that are pretty damn hard to find.

So I am delighted to point you in the direction of a brand new compilation that has just come out, on CD and vinyl and is readily accessible to one and all. It's called West Indies Funk, and is the follow up to an earlier compilation called Disc-o-lypso.

West Indies Funk has a great track listing, including one of my fave steel drum covers of all time, I want you Back (original by Jackson 5) done by the Esso Trinidad Steel Band (listen above). Plus steel drum covers of Hot Pants Road, Funky Stuff (original by Kool and the gang) and Syd Jones and the Troubadours doing Cardova by The Meters.

Available at all good records stores, like Conch Records in Ponsonby. Listen to audio samples off the album here at Light in the Attic.


TRACK LIST
1. Syd Jones and The Troubadours - Cardova
2. The Troubadours - No Names Bar
3. Dutch Rhythm, Steel and Showband - Funky Stuff
4. St. Vincent's Supersound Latinaires Orchestra - Hot Pants I'm Comin
5. The East Side Symphony - Hot Pants Road
6. The Esso Trinidad Steel Band - I Want You Back
7. Willie Dickson and The Playboys - Licking Stick
8. Wendell Stuart and the Downbeaters - My World Is Empty
9. St. Vincent's Supersound Latinaires Orchestra - Roasted Or Frie
10. Dutch Rhythm, Steel and Showband - Down By The River
11. The Guinness Cassanovas - Stormy

I also just discovered that Hugh Borde, the leader of the Esso Trinidad Steel Band (also known as Trinidad Tripoli Steel Band) moved to the US in 1976 and settled in Ypsilanti, Michigan. According to the Recordo Obscura blog, "He still carries on doing shows with the band. Apparently they will be playing The Great Lakes Folk Festival this year (2009) and surely other shows as well."

Monday, April 04, 2011

LCD last show - go watch!



LCD Sound System played their last ever show last night, at Madison Square Gardens, to 20,000 fans. Pitchfork streamed the video of it live, and I'm surprised the NZ internets didnt come crashing down, cos everyone I knew was watching it.

Pitchfork have posted the ENTIRE video on Youtube, with handy time listings for each song. Bless em! Check the rousing version of North American Scum, followed by a hilarious intro to the next song from James Murphy, their splendid cover of Alan Vega's Bye Bye Bayou, which he says is the first and last time they will ever play that song live. "Welcome to our rehearsal".

Here's a great review of the show, hat tip to Owen H for the link

ADDED Troubled Souls Unite has posted all the audio as downloads.

Set 1:
2:10 Dance Yrself Clean (with "I'm Not In Love" by 10cc intro)
12:40 Drunk Girls
17:09 I Can Change
23:45 Time To Get Away
28:16 Get Innocuous!
35:18 Daft Punk Is Playing At My House
41:45 Too Much Love
46:53 All My Friends
55:30 Tired (with "Heart of the Sunrise" by Yes snippet)

Set 2:
45:33 Part One
45:33 Part Two (w/ Reggie Watts)
Sound of Silver
45:33 Part Four
45:33 Part Five (w/ Shit Robot)
45:33 Part Six
Freak Out/Starry Eyes

Set 3:
1:54:39 Us v Them
2:04:00 North American Scum (with Arcade Fire)
2:11:45 Bye Bye Bayou (Alan Vega cover)
2:16:30 You Wanted A Hit
2:24:07 Tribulations
2:29:15 Movement
2:33:48 Yeah (Crass Version)

Set 4:
2:45:30 Someone Great
2:53:06 Losing My Edge (With "Da Funk" by Daft Punk snippet)
3:03:36 Home

Set 5:
3:15:53 All I Want
3:22:18 Jump Into the Fire (Harry Nilsson Cover)
3:30:30 New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down (with "Twin Peaks Theme" by Angelo Badalamenti intro)

beatz n peaces

Found these local beat makers after checking this compilation... from Finest Ego Beatmaker Platform. Check em out.

Ben Jamin''(Soundlcoud)

Ben Jamin" x Y∆HN LøÔK∑ PIc∆RD - Seoul 85 by Ben Jamin''

LA Riot ►♫◄‼▲▼ by Ben Jamin''



Matt Miller (Soundcloud) - check his Rose Royce rework....

The Calm by mattmiller.

Love Dont Live Here by mattmiller.

One of the beatmakers listed on that site up top is local lad and BaseFM DJ Christoph El Turento. Check his new EP out, then give him some money.

Riki Gooch and The Grand Szechuan

Found this on Bandcamp, Riki Gooch (Eru Dangerspiel/Trinity Roots) playing an Eru Dangerspeil tune, Backfoot.

Info on the tune from Bandcamp.... "performed at The Toff in Town, Melbourne. 29th September 2010. Engineered and recorded by Brett Doig (Stereo mix from the desk.... what a legend!!) Playas.... Riki Gooch - Drums /  Adam Page - Tenor Sax / Jon Hunt - Alto Sax / James Brown - Guitar / CJ Rhodes - Bass frequencies." More live goodness from the same sessions over here.

Sunday, April 03, 2011

High Noon Tea playlist, KiwiFM

Broadcast Sunday 3-5pm, and replays Friday 2-4pm, on KiwiFM

Salmonella Dub - Problems - Sonsine remix
Jefferson Belt - Skylurking
Ota - Nuinui
Scratch 22 - For walking faces
Riki Gooch - Bakade varor
Benny tones - Odyssey
Dub terminator - Man like me
Fat Freddys Drop - The raft - Steppers dub
Hikoikoi - Vibraphone
Pitch black - Dub obscura - International observer remix
Zuvuya - Bamboo five
Tubbs - T's groove
Lewis McCallum - Take a step back
Audiosauce - Bee bo
OG - Moving on
Isaac Aesili - Use your mind
Lord echo (aka Mike Fabulous) - Thats right
Felix deluxe - Minstrel river
Shogun orchestra - Jacmel -
Video kid (aka Brett McKenzie) - DJz girlfriend
Lord jackson - Chillem inst
Recloose - Absence of one
Clanky B Tuffins - Visual pollution
Kevvy Kev - Midnight dub

Mayer vs Dennis



Motown guitar legend Dennis Coffey has a new album out April 26, one of the guests on it is Mayer Hawthorne, on the tune All your goodies are gone. Here's Mayer Hawthorne and his band The County (who visited NZ back in Feb and played a killer show at the Splore City festival) playing in Detroit, with Dennis joining them onstage for that song. Shredding.

"The two will unite in Detroit once again on April 16th, which Coffey will be honored with a Distinguished Achievement Award at the Detroit Music Awards."

Coffey also has a seven inch single dropping for Record Store Day, April 16, with a Steinski remix on the flip. More info here.

New Lee Scratch Perry tunes

Pitchfork reports that Lee Scratch Perry has a new album out May 10, produced by Bill Laswell. Sounds interesting. Pitchfork have an mp3 of it here, features TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe...

"On May 10, zonked-out dub eccentric Lee "Scratch" Perry will release his latest album, Rise Again, via legendary NYC-based producer Bill Laswell's (Motörhead, Herbie Hancock) MOD Technologies label. Scratch worked with Laswell on the LP; other contributors on the record include P-Funk's Bernie Worrell, Sly and Robbie's Sly Dunbar, Jahdan Blakkamoore, and TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe, who pitches in on "Higher Level".

Saturday, April 02, 2011

Ring The Alarm playlist, BaseFM, April 2

Stevie Wonder - Masterblaster/Jammin - Radikal roots edit
Sound dimension - Drum song
Big Youth - Jim Screechy - Smith and Mighty remix
Scientist vs King Midas Sound - U dub pt 2
Invisible Spike - Spike's groove
Pepperpots - Real tru love
Charles Bradley - Golden rule
Wabine - Sail on
Atlantic Starr - Freak-a-ristic
Super cat - Dolly my baby - Bad Boy extended mix
The Meters - Look-a-py-py
Patti LaBelle - Most likely you go your way...
Sulata - Never
Mr Scruff - Get a move on
Lefties soul connection - Chop it
Fred Wesley and the JBs - You can Watergate but gimme some bucks and I'll be straight
Mr Chop - Shut em down
Souleance - La romance
Ohio players - Walt's first trip
Aloe Blacc - You make me smile
Sun Ra - Where pathways meet
Born Jamericans - Boom shak atak
Sizzla - Police oppression
Chalice riddim - version
Nando Fresh - High grade (Chalice riddim)
Joint force - AK2000

Friday, April 01, 2011

Real Groovy Welli closing

Following news that Real Groovy Christchurch wouldn't be reopening after the latest earthquake come the sad news that Real Groovy Wellington will be closing down May 31 (see stuff.co.nz).

Owner Mark Thomas says its due to a decline in business caused by the economic recession, rising fuel prices, big chain retailers able to sell at cut prices, file sharing, and competition from online retailers and auctions sites.

"This has been an incredibly stressful and sad time for my family and myself, but it needs to be done," he said. 12 Staff will lose their jobs. although he hopes to open a smaller store and employ some of them there.

The Real Groovy stores in Christchurch and Welllingon were independently owned, following the collapse of the Real Groovy chain in 2008 when the stores were placed in recievership.

I am the operator

Kraftwerk live. From 1997. Via Dangerous Minds....

Tracklist:
1. [00:00 05:56] “Numbers”
2. [05:56 03:39] “Computer World”
3. [09:35 07:53] “Radio Activity”
4. [17:28 09:41] “Trans-Europe Express”
5. [27:09 11:21] “Pocket Calculator”
6. [38:30 05:30] “The Robots”
7. [43:00 04:32] “The Robots II”


Kraftwerk - Live PA, Tribal Gathering, Luton, UK: Essential Mix - BBC Radio 1 1997-05-24 by +dB

No time for dreaming



Single off the brand new album No Time For Dreaming from Charles Bradley and the Menahan St Band, out now on Dunham/Daptone.

The whole album is searingly good soul. Go hunt it out.

Dunham Records was started by in 2005 by Thomas Brenneck, who plays in The Dapkings, behind Ms Sharon Jones. He also plays in the Menahan St Band, who put out the first single on Dunham, a tune called Make the road by walking.

It was sampled by Jay -Z ("Roc Boys") which enabled Brenneck to set up his own recording studio.

Herbs w Freddys




Heard a rumour this morning via Facebook, Fat Freddys Drop to collaborate with Herbs on some new recordings? Could be kinda cool. Anyone know any more about this?