Saturday, July 30, 2011

RIP Eugene McDaniels



Eugene McDaniels Discusses "Compared to What" [also gives thanks to the hiphoppers who sampled him]


DJ Cosmo Baker on McDaniels, from May 2010. Twenty minutes after Cosmo wrote this, he got contacted by McDaniel's publicist, to work together, which never eventuated, sadly.

"... My phenom of a brother had just brought home Eugene McDaniels freak-folk-funk power-piece “Headless Heroes Of The Apocalypse” a tour-de-force concept album that was a complete departure from music that had been heard before or since. “The Left Rev Mc D” Eugene McDaniels, hailing from Kansas City, had already become an accomplished singer and songwriter by the mid 1960s, most notably with his song “100 Pounds Of Clay.” And he saw continued success later on in life having penned such hits like Roberta Flack’s “Feel Like Making Love” – which is a song a lot of you younger folk might actually think is just a D’Angelo record but actually was a huge hit when it came out in 1975. It was a #1 hit actually, and was nominated for a Grammy for Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

But something happened in the mid to late 60s. The Vietnam war was in full swing and people were mad disillusioned and just generally fed up with things. Out of this environment McDaniels wrote “Compared To What” which was the first song on Roberta Flack’s debut album. 

Later on that year Les McCann & Eddie Harris covered it for their “Swiss Movement” album, the recording of their performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival. The song was a runaway success, a simple protest song that took on a life of its own because it reflected the sentiments of the people and their frustrations with the direction our country was headed. And also because it was incredibly groovy. Check this video out, which after years of listening to this song, I never even knew it existed. Man is it COOKING…"





McDaniels' recorded a few solo albums for Atlantic in the early 1970s, including “Headless Heroes Of The Apocalypse.” which hit a raw nerve with the White House...

"Approaching subjects like the co-opting of black culture by white artists (“Jagger The Dagger,”) the history of American colonialism (“The Parasite,”) and racial profiling and police brutality (“Supermarket Blues,”) Mc D opened up a new door for radical subject matter in pop music. This was a door that the powers that be didn’t want opened.

Atlantic was one of the biggest record companies in the world at that time. The story is that Spiro Agnew, Vice President under Dick Nixon, personally called Ahmet & Nesuhi Ertegun, founders of Atlantic and, for the sake of not “causing public unrest” demanded that support for the album be pulled. I don’t know what happened after that but promotions immediately dried up and the album sunk like a lead balloon."

ADDED Ann Ruckert confirms : "Gene McDaniels dies".

Ring The Alarm playlist, BaseFM, July 30

Today's theme  - a whole lotta soul...

Sisters love - Give me your love
Aretha Franklin - Jump
Al Green - Can't get next to you
Rare earth - Big John is my name
Rose royce - Ooh boy
Willie Mitchell - 20-75
Linda Lyndall - What a man
Willie Kendrick - Change your ways
Billy Butler - Right track
People's choice - Let me do my thing
Brenda and the Tabulations - California soul
Black velvet - an earthquake's coming
Jean Knight - Carry on
Staple singers -Washington we're watching you
The Emotions - I like it
Myron and E with the Soul Investigators - Cold game
Raphael Saadiq - Heart attack
Sharon Jones and the Dapkings -  Mamma don't like my man
Sly and the family Stone - Thankful and thoughtful
Charles Wright and Watts 103rd st band - Loveland
Ann Sexton - You're gonna miss me
Rose royce  -Sunrise
Lee Dorsey - Operation heartache
Ike and Tina Turner - A fool in love
The service men - Are you angry
Bob Brady and the con chords - Everybody's going to the love-in
Pepperpots - Real tru love
Chosen few - Tears of a clown
Jimmy London - I'm your puppet
Delroy Wilson - Get ready 12" mix
Al Brown - Aint no love in the heart of the city
Phillis Dillion - Woman of the ghetto

... and RIP Eugene McDaniels.

Friday, July 29, 2011

Bill Cosby talks to kids about drugs


... a record intended for children to school them on the dangers of drugs through songs and dialogue. It won the Grammy Award in 1972 for Best Recording for Children. Fave moment - Bill Cosby yelling "HERE COMES THE DOPE PUSHER!" Listen to a sample off the album here. Not too hard to find copies of this album floating round the internets.

Tornadoes vs Mitsu

The Tornadoes - El Salvador "MITSU THE BEATS re-edit" (WN12019) by wonderfulnoise

Out on Japanese label Wonderful Noise, features members of the Opensouls.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Blue Smoke is a winner


Blue Smoke, Chris Bourke's fantastic book on our musical history, won The Book Of The Year prize last night. Congratulations! See Kiwi musical history takes top award... 

"Blue Smoke: The Lost Dawn of New Zealand Popular Music 1918-1964 by Chris Bourke won the 2011 New Zealand Post Book of the Year last night. The Wellington writer picked up $15,000 for the work, which he largely wrote during the year he spent as Writer in Residence at Waikato University in 2008.

... New Zealand Post Book Awards judge Charmaine Pountney said Bourke had interviewed many key figures in the country's early music scene in researching his subject.

"It is a book about music and musicians, many of whom Bourke has interviewed himself, drawing out anecdotes that enrich our understanding of our nation's cultural development."

The awards' convener of judges, Paul Diamond, described the winning work as "a magnificent book" that had revealed a hidden social history of New Zealand.

"Blue Smoke tells us about ourselves, our music, and the way we take things from overseas."

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Public image



Spotted at Dangerous Minds... "Fascinating unedited raw footage of a 1982 JJ Jackson interview of Public Image Ltd’s John Lydon and Keith Levene at MTV’s studio.... Levene talks briefly about his tenure in the Clash during the second part of the interview.... At the beginning, and near the end, after a few minutes of silence, you can hear what they were talking about off-camera...." like Lydon, seeing himself on a tv monitor, and exclaims "farking hell, we look as white as death!"

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Kilodee video



New music video for the first single from my new project, Kilodee, chopped up from US Govt informational film on exciting Alaska. Can you see Russia from your house?. Available as a free download over at Bandcamp, or click link below.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

RIP Amy Winehouse

Sad news, indeed. Watch lazy journos add her into the pile of dead rockstars who also died at age 27, and focus on her drug use instead of talking about her music.

Her breakthrough album Back to Black came about when her producer Mark Ronson hired the Dapkings and their studio. Her subsequent success off that record created an audience for Sharon Jones and the Dapkings... Dapkings member Neal Sugarman talks about that time, with the BBC.

"I was in the studio for Back To Black sessions and a couple of other things with Amy, and then on her first US tour. When I first met her, she came over to do some vocals and she hadn't broken out in the States.

"I arranged some of the rehearsals. She was a great musician and really open. She was really into collaborating with the band and never came off as being bull-headed in any way.

"All she wanted to do was get everyone's impression of where the music was going and for everyone to put their creative aspects into the music.

"Every time we were with her, it was never as if we were with this star. I think that might have been one of the things that haunted her -she really liked being with people one-to-one, especially with musicians.

"I think she used to like coming to New York in her early days because we would all go out to dinner together and she wasn't being recognised the same way as she was in the UK.

"It seemed as though the best times were when we were able to be casual and just get into music.
Sugarman says the last time he saw Winehouse, it was "not a pretty sight"

"The tour was right when Back To Black came out. One of the things she used to do was play really good mixes before we'd go on stage. We'd always be listening to The Supremes or some doo-wop or girl group stuff. It wasn't as if she had her own dressing room - we were all together getting ready for the shows.

"I feel really lucky to be part of what was obviously a great record that touched a lot of people. It was a true crossover record, which is rare in these times. What great art does is touch a lot of people and that's what her record did.

"When we were doing these gigs, there were black people, white people, gay people, straight people. She really was able to touch a nerve and it was uncompromised...."


Amy Winehouse, live in session with Dapkings' Binky Griptite on guitar...





ADDED July 26: From MTV News "... England's Daily Telegraph reported that Winehouse was visited at home by her doctor on Friday night, 24 hours before her body was discovered at 4 p.m. on Saturday. Police sources told the paper that no drugs were found in the house and that the security detail had last spoken to her around 10 a.m. on Saturday, when she said she was going to take a rest in her room.

The doctor had reportedly been visiting Winehouse regularly to help her combat the ill effects of her years of drinking and drugging. In 2008, Mitch Winehouse revealed that Amy was suffering from the early stages of the incurable pulmonary ailment emphysema, including scarring in her lungs."

From ABC: Winehouse Autopsy Inconclusive; Funeral Tuesday

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Ring The Alarm playlist, BaseFM, July 23

The Lions - Cumbia del leon
Dub traffik control  -Bongo dub
Jackie Mittoo - Disco Jack version
Augustus Pablo - Lovers mood
Johnny Osbourne - Dance with you
Junior Murvin - Jack slick
Dubblestandart - Terrarists and inhalers - Keith le Blanc remix
Ikebe shakedown - Don't contradict
Issa Bagayogo - Dibi
Idris Muhammad - Express yourself
Booker T Jones - Down in Memphis
Brassroots - Good life
Bonobo - Eyesdown
Fatback band - Wicky wacky
BT Express - Express
Chico Mann - Harmonia
Colman bros - The chief - PTH Interpol challenges mix
Jean Jacques Perry and Luke Vibert - Ye olde beatbox
Sergio Mendes - Mozambique
The Yoots - E papa waiari
Dubkasm - No retreat - flute inst
African head charge - Heading to glory
Manasseh - Stepping pt 2
Prince Fatty - Scorpio
Menahan st band - Esma

Booker T Jones - Everything is everything
Bob Brady and the con chords - Everybody's going to the love-in
Major Lance - Aint no soul in these shoes

Friday, July 22, 2011

Spin cycle

Spin cycle: Resurgence of vinyl records means new business up their sleeve [Toronto Star]

"... A Winkler und Dünnebier record sleeve fabricating machine, 31 feet long and 2 tonnes of steel, takes up a third of the [2000 sq ft] space. Manually operated, it can cut, fold and glue up to 10,000 12-inch record jackets per hour. The machine was made in the 1970s and fell out of use, but just like vinyl sales, has been resuscitated.

Co-owners Paul Miller and Alex Durlak, both 30, and sole employee Jason Cousineau, have tattoos and facial hair. Giant Mac screens sit on the office desks. Close friends, Miller and Durlak bonded over a mutual love of art, music and record collecting...

...The new venture is one of only two record jacket companies in the country. There are just five vinyl manufacturing plants in North America. Record Jacket sells to music distributors and record labels as well as to individual independent bands. They’ve sold 15,000 sleeves since April...

...Durlak doesn’t believe in a vinyl revival.

“I think it’s a steady niche that’s always been there and it’s not going anywhere,” Durlak says. Some genres, such as punk, hip-hop, electronica and indie rock, always produced LPs, regardless of mainstream sales. But now those mainstream sales are increasing..."

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Chants R&B



Movie trailer about the best NZ band you've never heard of. Premiere at the Wellington Film Festival. Directed by Jeff Smith, Simon Ogston

ADDED: Also screening in Christchurch as part of the Film Festival, screening in Auckland in September.

Coffey remixed



Dennis Coffey- Outer Galaxies: Dennis Coffey Re-Interpreted
Free D/L >> http://www.denniscoffey-thealbum.com/Re-Worked/ <<


"Dennis Coffey is a legend, not merely for the timeless music he made in the past but also for the fact that he continues to be musically relevant to this day. Check out his new album for the pudding proof." - Recloose


1. 7th Galaxy feat. Jamall Bufford (14KT remix)
2. I Bet You (version) (DeepSeeSoundSyetem mix)
3. All Your Goodies Are Gone feat. Mayer Hawthorne (Shigeto remix)
4. Plutonius (Recloose Re-Dub) Cuts by DJ CXL
5. Imported From Detroit (Magestik Legend, Produced by Astronote) made from samples of Knockabout
6. Miss Millie feat. Kings Go Forth (Dabrye’s Synthesized mix)
7. Space Traveller (Nick Speed remix)
8. Only Good For Ectomorph (Ectomorph appears courtesy of Interdimensional Transmissions)

Everything is everything

Booker T Jones, off his fantastic new album The Road To Memphis, covering Lauryn Hill. Whoever came up with the idea of putting  The Roots behind Booker T and getting Gabe Roth from Daptone/Dapkings to man the mixing desk is a genius. Other guests on the album include, Sharon Jones, Dennis Coffey, and Lou Reed. Questlove from The Roots gets a co-production credit too. Check it out.... fave moment - the shot in the control room, the players listening to a take, everyone in the room headnodding...

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

It's the good life

Good Life by Innercity gets the brass band treatment. Wicked. Hat tip to Puttingoutfire blog.

RIP Jerry Ragovoy, Songwriter and Producer

Jerry Ragovoy, Songwriter and Producer, Is Dead at 80 - NYTimes.com

Jerry Ragovoy, who wrote or collaborated on some of the most soulful ballads of the 1960s, including the Rolling Stones hit “Time Is on My Side” and the Janis Joplin signatures “Piece of My Heart,” “Cry Baby” and “Try (Just a Little Bit Harder),” died on Wednesday in Manhattan. He was 80.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Ring The Alarm playlist, BaseFM, July 16

Quantic soul orchestra - Raw ingredients - Nostalgia 77 remix
BT Express - Do it til you're satisfied
One essence - Blackness of darkness
Augustus Pablo - Lovers mood
Derrick Morgan - I'm the ruler
Earl Brown - Get together
Dandy Livingston and Rico - Rudy a message to you
Errol Scorcher  -Roach in de corner
General Trees - Everything so so so so
Mungos hifi - Super sharp shooter
Toddla T - Watch me dance - Andrew Weatherall remix
Ghostfunk - Dem back
Hypnotic brass ensemble - Spottie
Charles Bradley - No time for dreaming
Dave Brubeck - Take five
Bobby Valentin - Use it before you lose it
Antibalas - Che che cole makossa
Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Jordan - Stone cold dead in the market - Ticklah remix
Resonators - Mandrake 7" edit
Farm fresh sound system - Still lifted
Dub Kweli - Your gospel
Horace Andy - Cherry oh baby
Prince Jammy - Strictly dub
Big Youth - Chucky no lucky - Disciples dub
Havana boys - Paul's dub
Rae and Christian - Hold us down
Kraftwerk - Man machine

Friday, July 15, 2011

Vinyl is making a comeback #254 Waikato edition

There's a record fair on this saturday in Hamilton. Cue vinyl revival story from local paper..

Veteran vinyl going another round: Forget CDs and MP3s. There is a vinyl revival, and Waikato record buffs are as staunch as they come.

"... beware of labelling them record "collectors". They resent the term. Vinyl, it appears, is in a different league to stamps, coins, and model airplanes.

Graham Don said he would rather be called a "music nerd" or a "vinyl fanatic" than a record collector. He has been buying vinyl since he was 12 and nostalgically recounted his first purchase.

"I bought Iggy Pop's Lust for Life and Tom Petty's Damn the Torpedoes, and I was hooked on music ever since. Hooked on vinyl."

Hamilton Record Fair is on Saturday at Riverlea Theatre, 80 Riverlea Rd, from 2pm with entry $2. Early entry from 1pm costs $10.

“Manage the temptation to publish yourself”

Musician John Mayer did a clinic at Berklee music school recently, and essentially his take on the internet and social media was that it made him stupid, which is why he quit Twitter and blogging.

After hearing Amanda Palmer at Webstock earlier this year, it strikes me that Mayer's statements in this story are the complete opposite of everything Palmer says and does, the way she engages with her fans via Twitter etc. Mayer still seems stuck in a star system from 20 years ago. He wants to be the mysterious artist.

“The tweets are getting shorter, but the songs are still 4 minutes long. You’re coming up with 140-character zingers, and the song is still 4 minutes long…I realized about a year ago that I couldn’t have a complete thought anymore. And I was a tweetaholic. I had four million twitter followers, and I was always writing on it. And I stopped using twitter as an outlet and I started using twitter as the instrument to riff on, and it started to make my mind smaller and smaller and smaller. And I couldn’t write a song.”

But John Mayer’s main reason for discouraging promotion came from his own struggle to curb using social media, which should have been an outlet for promotion but eventually became an outlet for artistic expression. Mayer shared that he found himself asking himself questions like “Is this a good blog? Is this a good tweet? Which used to be is this a good song title? Is this a good bridge?”
Read: John Mayer at Berklee.

Russell Brown, get down

 
In the early 2000s I had a writing gig doing a music and technology column for Real Groove magazine for a few years. In the October 2000 edition, I did an interview with one Russell Brown. I just found it floating round my archives. When Russell started using the internet (in 1994), it cost $12 a megabyte.

The photo above is Russell featured in Stamp magazine, from the early 1990s - I found it cos the flipside of that page has a photo of me and my Picassos band mates (incl au natural Johnnie Pain) snapped with our manager, Lisa van der Aarde. That's a photo for another day tho.


Russell Brown, get down.


Recently labelled as 'Hot' by Metro magazine for Hard News, his incisive weekly political commentary slot on Radio 95BFM.

Russell Brown started out as a newspaper journalist on the Mainland, before moving to the Big Smoke to take up the post of Assistant Editor at Rip It Up. He lived and worked in the UK for several years, before returning here with partner Fiona Rae in the early nineties, working first as Editor of Planet magazine, then moving into writing about computers and the internet for various publications such as the Listener, Computerworld and Unlimited. I emailed Russell a few questions to find out a few of his favourite surfing moves. Hang ten, Russell.

How long have you been surfing the net?


Since 1994. I bought a 14.4k modem from Iconz at the beginning of 1995 and was kind of own my own after that. It was pretty unfriendly - you logged onto a shell account on their Unix machine and you were expected to know an array of arcane Unix commands just to handle your email.

Why did you start using the net?
I had begun writing the Computer column for the Listener and so it was an obvious thing to do - but there was quite a bit of resistance to me writing about it as much as I did. Some people thought it was all hype and that consumer CD-Roms were what I should be devoting my attention to. I think I was right. One of the key reasons I was so keen to explore it was because I was a freelancer and I was conscious of not having access to the same resources as people who worked in big offices. The Internet seemed like the way to get those resources for myself.

What's the main changes you've seen since you first started using the net?


It's gone from a difficult command-line interface to a place to watch movies. My typical download speed now is about 1000 times what it was in 1994. Back then, traffic cost $12 a megabyte - at those prices my current usage would cost me $18,000 a month. Those changes have helped the shift from it being a fringe pursuit to being almost pervasive. We have very high rates of Internet usage in New Zealand. It's been interesting seeing it go from being dismissed by business to basically determining the future of business.

Has your use of the net changed over time?


It got very boring and functional for a while, because it's a tool of trade for me. I try now to remember to use it recreationally too - sites like ifilm.com. I spend less time in newsgroups than I used to, but I'm still ona good little mailing list where we argue about rugby. Our household uses it for information all the time.

What sites do you and your family visit regularly, for entertainment, information, and fun?


I news edit IDGNet NZ (www.idg.net.nz) so I'm there a lot. I read all the local news sites: the Herald, Scoop (which hosts my Hard News bulletin), NewsRoom and, lately, the horribly-named Stuff. Ifilm.com, The Guardian Website and Arts & Letters Daily less often. Macintouch, Macsurfer, and MacOS Rumors, Slashdot, Wired.

Fiona replies: I use television sites for looking up stuff about telly progs for work, such as Zap2it.com (horrible name, it used to be ultimatetv.com), epguides.com, rickontv.com, bbc.co.uk or the American network sites, like abc.com - anywhere I can find info I need about a show (often find good fan sites). Also look at my favourite, guardianunlimited (especially filmunlimited - fantastic). News, I look at Herald, INSIDE, Ain't It Cool News. The kids like FoxKids, cartoonnetwork.com, disney.com, lego.com, squirt.co.nz - basically, anything with good games! I browse occasionally at Flying Pig, and have bought books, but sometimes prices aren't that comparable. Also do most banking online - I can make transfers between accounts really easily, rather than farting around with bits of paper at the bank.

How much time on an average day do you spend on the net?


Overall, including publishing to our Website and doing email, 2-8 hours a day. If I've been in front of computer a lot during the week, I might avoid it at the weekends, or just do a quick email check. I'm not one of those people who can't be away from it for a day.

Is there fierce competition to get onto a computer in your house? Do you monitor where the kids visit? (Netnanny or similar software, or good old fashioned 'adult supervision')


I've wondered about some kind of netnanny thing for our more adventurous 6 year-old. It's faintly possible that he could accidentally click his way to something offensive from a games site or something, and he has a right to be protected from that for a while. But our computers are right by the living area, so it's not like they're tucked away. The kids like us to sit down with them anyway.

What's it like watching your kids grow up with computers as part of their natural environment (something that perhaps wasn't so prevalent in your own generation?)


Their whole relationship with media is quite different to ours. When I was a kid, you basically caught something when it was screened on TV and then it was gone. Our kids were born after the VCR and they fully expect to be able to copy and repeat anything they like. So already they're coming into the Internet with interesting expectations about control of media.

Could you live without the net/email, and what’s the longest you've gone without touching a computer (ie on holiday)?


I'd live, but life would suck without Internet access - apart from anything else I depend on the Internet for news more than any other medium these days. I've gone a couple of weeks without, when away on holiday - and come back to an absolute mountain of email.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Ghost funk

From  the cat behind Jaydiohead,  Mos Dub and Dub Kweli... "Released in July 2011, Ghostfunk pairs one of my favorite hip-hop artists, Wu-Tang member Ghostface Killah, with vintage African funk, high-life, and psychedelic rock music."

Ghostfunk by Max Tannone

Imperica - The legacy of Len Lye

The relationship between art and advertising has forever been one of fascination. The manifestation of this relationship has been both plentiful and diverse. The Campbell's Soup can; television advertising from famous directors; and Beck's Futures are just three of a seemingly infinite number of ways that the relationship – and, sometimes, the tension – has been expressed to mass audiences.

Such a relationship clearly stretches across many decades, certainly as far as contemporary media is concerned. A pioneer of ways to bring art and advertising together is Len Lye, a New Zealand-born artist that lived for much of his life in the UK, where many of his more well-known works were commissioned and exhibited....

Kilodee electro

The debut single from Kilodee, my new project. Dirty strings, blippy drums, mariachi horns. Free DL too!

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

NYC 70s


NY PUNK from MARC CAMPBELL on Vimeo.

John Peel narrates this '95 documentary on the late 70's NYC Punk scene, made by Peter Frame of Rock Family Tree fame.

Monday, July 11, 2011

RIP Fonce Mizell

Seeing reports on Twitter that Fonce Mizell has passed away. Sad news.

ADDED Thurs 14 July: LA Times confirms report of his passing.




Mizell Brothers interviewed at Red Bull Music Academy, 2006 (transcript)

Saturday, July 09, 2011

Super sharp shooter

Mungo's Hi Fi feat. Soom T - Roll it by mungoshifi



From Mungos Hifi: "The original Roll it vocal by Soom T on the riddim track by Mungo’s Hi Fi.
Check the Disrupt version on Jahtari’s massive ‘Ode to a Carrot‘ LP . Large up DJ Zinc for the Super Sharp Shooter track – big tune. We never got around to releasing it, so we thought we’d share it."

Ring The Alarm playlist, BaseFM, July 9



Paul Murphy - Soul call
Lalo Schifrin - Bullit  -Black dog remix
Resonators  -Gold dub
African head charge - Dobbyn joins the head charge
Madoo - Have you ever been to heaven
Anthony Johnson - Strictly rubadub
Now generation - World go round
Staple singers - We the people
Echocentrics - Dudar
Hackney colliery band - No diggity
Raphael Saadiq - Heart attack
Dennis Coffey - All your goodies are gone - Shigeto remix
Cesaria Evora - Angola  -Pepe Bradock get down dub
Esso Trinidad steel band - I want you back
Hypnotic brass ensemble - Sankofa
DJ Smash - Alien groove
Liquid crystal project - Tribute to Dilla
Israel Starr - Foundation
The Yoots - E papa waiari
Mr Vegas - Heads high
Manu Chao - A cosa - Prince Fatty mix
Jackie Mittoo - Grand funk
Herman Hitson - Aint no other way
Bronx river parkway - La valla
Arthur Russell - Calling all kids -Walter Gibbons mix
Fat freddys drop - Hope - 3 generations walking remix
Nitin Sawney - Dead man - Fink dub
Ikebe shakedown - The hold up
Hot 8 brass band - Sexual healing re-edit
Jay Epae - The creep
Dutch rhythm steel and show band - Down by the river

Friday, July 08, 2011

Save Dunedin's Radio One



Flying Nun's Roger Shepherd wrote this piece for the FNnun blog, please give it a read and show them your support....


"It was announced in Dunedin last week that the Otago University Students Association was looking to put its bNet station Radio One up for sale. The move follows a review into the finances of the association that owns the station, and supplies it with a modest annual subsidy.

Like the other New Zealand university student stations that became the bNet grouping, Radio 1 is bound by it’s broadcasting license to be non commercial and to reflect a student community that forms the core of its audience. A feature of bNets is the strong support for non-mainstream music, and most importantly a large mix of non commercial New Zealand music.

In fact the emergence of more organised university stations coincided with the emergence and success of a great deal of quality New Zealand music in the 1980s -and continues to do so. The University stations played and actively promoted New Zealand music to its most natural audience, students and their friends, and this relationship developed and broadened over time.

The emergence and growth that the bNet stations and Flying Nun enjoyed in tandem from the 1980s were connected. I doubt that a sizable chunk of our collective musical heritage often referred to as the “Dunedin Sound” would resonate anywhere so strongly today now without the enthusiastic airplay and support much of that music received from Radio 1 at the time.

Today a broad community of music makers and their audience is centered around bNet stations, like Radio One in Dunedin, throughout New Zealand. These stations play local music and promote local live events thus acting as a glue connecting artists to their audiences. 

It is hard to imagine shows or tours being as well attended let alone young bands making tentative first steps with shows and then developing local audiences without the likes of Radio One. 

And what actually happens is more than just the transmission of songs and gig information. There is a genuine interaction that works on the human level: of helping out with gear, or accommodation, or tips on bands to watch out for. Much of it is intangible and hard for accountants to quantify but its the bit that creates the magic.

The bNet stations are by the rules of their broadcasting licenses non-commercial so they need help in covering their outgoings. I think we all accept that music is culturally important in the same way that books and literature are. We may not personally use libraries on a regular basis but we support the idea that the larger community maintains them. 

You could compare Radio One to a public library while commercial radio will always be a corner dairy. Non-commercial radio is important and a way has to be found so Radio One can continue in its current form.

- Roger Shepherd

Show your support for Radio 1:

Sign the online petition here

Write a submission
Tell ‘em why Radio One is important (to you) – in detail or just send a few words to submissions@r1.co.nz.
Need some ideas - look here.

Save Radio 1 Facebook page

Coffey + Mayer + Shigeto

Free download: Dennis Coffey- "All Your Goodies Are Gone" (Shigeto Remix)

Dennis Coffey - Knockabout by Strut

From: Outer Galaxies: Dennis Coffey Re-Interpreted
http://www.denniscoffeysite.com/http://www.denniscoffey-thealbum.com/

The full remix collection will be available for free download shortly, featuring mixes from Dabrye, Recloose, 14KT, Nick Speed & more.

If you missed them, check out:
"Knockabout" (soundcloud) (mediafire)
"All Your Goodies Are Gone" (live w/ Mayer Hawthorne)
Record Store Day 7" single f/ Steinski remix
Constellations: The A to Z of Dennis Coffey - A Mix by House Shoes

Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Keep cool...

Source: She Got Game

For the next while, I am going to be blogging a lot less, as I have some other major projects on the go. In the meantime, keep cool. Just like Walt 'Clyde'  Frazier.

Tuesday, July 05, 2011

Pixie Williams



For The Record (The Pixie Williams Collection 1949-1951), out July 11.

Info from Amplifer.co.nz: "The stunning new digitally remastered collection of Pixie Williams' songs. Featuring 13 songs in total, including Williams much loved, and best known recording of Blue Smoke.

The sound quality of these recordings is outstanding! Pixie Williams' incredible voice can now be clearly heard, as can each instrument, brought together again in perfect harmony as if the band were performing, and being recorded today. Recorded 60-plus years ago, these songs have never sounded so good."

Read more about Pixie WIlliams here. Excerpt: "... Pixie Williams couldn’t read music but taught herself to play guitar, ukulele, the banjo and piano accordion. At age 73 she decided to teach herself the organ - for something to do. After the death of her husband in 2006, Pixie left Dunedin 57 years after stopping in on her holiday for a week or two.

Today, at the age of 82 , she lives in Wellington and still loves to sing, whistle and hum her way through each day.

“Music – it’s what keeps you going through good times and bad. It kept me sane in the hard times. Forget the pills. When you’ve got music in your life – you’ll be ok.” Pixie Williams






Random video pics, read the blurb on Youtube in the comments for explanation...

Who is the music industry?

This is one for those musicians who think they are not part of the music industry. I hear this one a lot.

"One might presume that the producers of a given commodity might be considered a fairly central part of a given industry. Few people would deny that chemists have a role to play in the chemicals industry, milliners in the hat industry. Musicians, then. And yet, just like Mr Jobs, musicians everywhere seem to be complaining about the music industry, railing against its follies and excesses, pointing the finger somewhere else. Nowhere in particular - just so long as it's somewhere else. It wasn't me!"


Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Music Industry? In Search Of The Beast

Sunday, July 03, 2011

Ghetto disco



Ted Taylor- Ghetto Disco (mediafire download)

From: Norman Jay MBE presents: Good Times 30th Anniversary Edition 7/19 CD, 8/02 Physical
http://www.strut-records.com/normanjay


"Celebrating 30 years of his influential Good Times sound system, master selector Norman Jay MBE has assembled a mix of soul, hip-hop, reggae, funk and more that will be sure to soundtrack many a summer dance floor. Check out Ted Taylor's 1977 TK burner "Ghetto Disco" for a taste of the flavour."

Saturday, July 02, 2011

Beyond Cairo

Ye Mighty release their album Beyond Cairo on July 11 thru First Word Records. Free DL below as a taster. Fat City says "The debut release from Brighton duo Ye Mighty - Richard 'Dutch' Halligan and Max Wheeler (formerly of Dirty Diggers) - fusing ethio-jazz with hip hop breaks. For fans of Mulatu, The Heliocentrics, The Lions and more."

Ring The Alarm playlist, BaseFM

Martin Brew - Sand steppin
Dennis Coffey - Ubiquitous - Steinski remix
Woima collective - Marz
Johnny Hammond Smith - Shifting gears
Manzel - Midnight theme - Dopebrother remix
Hackney coliery band - No diggity
Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Jordan - Stone cold dead in the market - Ticklah remix
Jackie Mittoo - Totally together
Junior Reid - Boom-shack-a-lack 12" mix
Resonators - Gold getter
Konshens - She love money (Billie Jean riddim)
Sizzla - Police oppression (Billie Jean riddim)
Damian Marley - Move
Bad brains - Return to heaven
Konk - Soka loka moki
Mr Chop - T.R.O.Y.
Quantic - Mas pan - DJ Day remix
The Echocentrics - Dudar
Isaac Hayes - Zeke the freak - Todd Terje rekut
Chico Mann - Anima
Midnight movers unltd - Follow the wind - Mr K edit
Hawk - Don't judge a book by its cover
West coast revival - My mind is at ease
Jean Knight - Do me
Aural exciters - Spooks in space
Ras Stone meets the Dub Terminator - Love you so much
Tenor Saw and Buju Banton - Ring the alarm quick
Ragga Twins - Shine eye

Friday, July 01, 2011

New Ermehn

I'm working on some more posts on the Deepgrooves label, following up the series I did at the start of the year. In the mean time, check this preview of the new album on the way from Ermehn, spotted over at Move The Crowd.


ERMEHN - "Trained To Kill" from KirkMTC on Vimeo.

Collision pt 2

Chris Bourke has posted more of the album by Maori funk outfit Collision. Tracks 4-5, and 6-9. Check it.

"Originally from New Zealand mill town Tokoroa, Maori funk band Collision emigrated to Australia in 1976 and got a gig at Les Girls in Sydney's King's Cross district. In 1978 they recorded their only album - Collision - for the Infinity label in Sydney"