Saturday, April 27, 2013

Ring The Alarm playlist, BaseFM, April 27



Nu Shooz - I can't wait - Long Dutch mix
Noel Pointer - Living for the city
Frank Strazzeri - Cloudburst
Esther Phillipps - Home is where the hatred is
Harlem river drive - Idle hands
DL Jones and DJ Second Nature - Whoa Bobby
Black moon - The way - inst mix
Creators - Make an impact isnst
Original Tropicana steel band - Spanish hustle - Kon 12" re-edit
Betty Davis - Your mama wants you back
Melvin Jackson - Funky skull pts 1 & 2
Thelonius Monk - Straight no chaser
King Kapisi - Reverse resistance inst
Quincy conserve - Same old feeling
New age steppers - My love
The Pleb - Snake in the bush
Joni Rewind feat Estelle - Uptown top ranking
DJ Mark the 45 king - Third joint
Wrath of donkey man - Donkey twist
Latinaotearoa - Fuego en mi corazon
O'Donel Levy - Everything I do gonna be funky
Lady - Please don't do it again
Lalo Schifrin - Quiet village
Block 16 - Electrokution - Daniel Wang and Brennan Green mix

Friday, April 26, 2013

Dub Addiction Meets Kampuchea Rockers Uptown


Metal Postcard Records is an underground label in Hong Kong  - heres one of their acts, a Cambodian reggae band fronted by a German...

"Dub Addiction Meets Kampuchea Rockers Uptown" review
"...The Phnom Penh-based collective’s second album, Dub Addiction Meets Kampuchea Rockers Uptown, is an epic fusion of reggae and dub with Khmer saravan ...  it represents the band’s most ambitious project yet. 

 Professor Kinski, the German music producer and Dub Addiction band leader says “Cambodia is a country with an exciting musical past: old Khmer Rock, Sinsi Samouth, Rua Sorey Sothea, all killed by the Khmer Rouge. When I arrived in Cambodia in 2002, there was nothing left except cheesy karaoke. Hearing those beautiful voices and melodies inspired me to use those old styles and create a new fusion groove out of it with Western funk, house, big beat and electro influences. The Cambodian roughness in those days was very exciting and gave me the idea to let my music sound more dirty and raw than common Khmer pop.”

The album sounds more epic, more massive, more dub than the first one. The 13 tracks feature a veritable Who’s Who of the local music scene. Cambodian hip hop icons Pou Khlaing and Nen Tum make guest appearances on The Fruit Song, while Nigerian vocalist Okoro Elias Jefferson debuts on Okoro. The main ragamuffin toasters are MC Curly and DJ Khla, the latter someone Kinski compares to Cutty Ranks, Sizla and Anthony B. “Never forgetting his Khmer roots, DJ Khla is toasting about the country‘s pride in its Khmer heritage, modern development and everything that can be positively highlighted after the end of the civil war.” When songs steer too close to potentially dangerous political territory, Khla cleverly switches to metaphors – fruit being his favourite.

Bass player Sebastien Adnot from France was schooled in the sound of reggae by Jamaican friends long before he arrived on Cambodian shores in 2011. But it was here that he discovered Khla. “One day, I saw this Khmer guy playing keyboard reggae. I said that’s fantastic! You play reggae! That’s my music. He said: ‘What’s reggae?’ You’ve never heard of Bob Marley? ‘Who’s Bob Marley?’ Never mind. Can you sing? ‘Yeah, sure...’ So he starts to play a song for me and I swear it’s pure 100% ragamuffin. I found out months later he was an orphan raised in a pagoda and he took his ‘reggae’ from the monks’ chanting. And he’s a star here; he’s on TV every few weeks. All the Khmer people know him. I have a star in my band, which is a gift.” ... THE ADVISOR MAGAZINE - CAMBODIA

Nile Rodgers: hidden treasures



Just saw Nile Rodgers post this up on his FB page...

Le Freak: the best Nile Rodgers collaborations you never knew existed (Fact Mag)

Nile added the note "Dear Author, I do remember doing all these records. This is pretty funny..."

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Substantial: beats


"Baltimore emcee Substantial released his Oddisee executive produced album Home Is Where The Art Is late last year and quickly garnered acccolades from his strong worldwide fan base. Since then, Substantial has toured with yU (of Diamond District), seen the vinyl release of his record, performed at the Smithsonian in DC, and released a wildly successful tribute album to Jill Scott titled "Jackin' Jill".

 Today, Substantial wanted to share the entire collection of instrumentals from Home Is Where The Art Is with his fans. The complete instrumentals will be free for a week before heading up on itunes, so be sure and grab them now. Beats byOddisee, Eric Lau, M-Phazes, Algorythm, and more!" 

Newtown Rocksteady new EP



"Newtown Rocksteady return with their second extended EP, Goin’ Steady (6 originals and 4 dubs, listen below) on April 26th, hot on the heels of their stonking performance at this year’s WOMAD.

Recorded live at The Boardroom (an offshoot of infamous Wellington studio, The Surgery) and mixed collaboratively, the album captures the band’s well-developed, crowd-pleasing live sound, which traverses light, up-tempo rocksteady riddims to dark and stormy dub/reggae grooves.

Comprised of highly active members of Wellington’s vibrant music scene, the sprawling 13-piece has a great depth of experience to call upon. Its members are involved in numerous other groups including The Nudge, Brockaflowersaurus-rex, Fly My Pretties, Bella Cajon and more.

Newtown Rocksteady will be touring NZ during April and May with things kicking off on April 26th at San Francisco Bath House, Wellington. New Plymouth on May 3, Raglan on May 4, and Leigh on May 5. A full list of performances is available at facebook.com/newtownrocksteady/events "

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Girls can't rap says non-rap DJ



Dominic Harvey is a radio DJ on Mediaworks station The Edge. After watching X-Factor he's decided girls can't rap.

Unsurprisingly, this got a fairly heated reaction on Twitter. Fellow Mediaworks DJ on George FM Nick D tweeted to Dom "maybe a few of us should loan you a couple of history books, you know - bit of light reading might help xxx."

Dom replied "All good mate.  Don't sweat the small stuff."

@missmoxiemoo said :"the small stuff holding sexist views and then defending them because as you said, women are a minority?"

Coco Solid (female local rapper) joined in, saying: "Girls rapping is the best idea and saved my life. Sorry to Marathon Man @DomHarvey who lets face it, I could outsmart on quaaludes."

The Edge's Facebook page is attracting a lot of comments from women who didn't take kindly to Dom's casual sexism.  To their credit, they've left the criticism up, and not deleted it. EDIT  - just checked The Edge's FB page again, they've deleted all the negative posts about Dom (about a dozen of them), bar one.There were a number of posts of folk posting videos of their fave female rappers, all gone.



Dom was last in the news after he lost a bet and had to march in the Pride Parade.“Poor Dom had to walk in Auckland's Pride Parade today in a gold G-String after losing 'Would You Rather?” a post on The Edge’s Facebook page reads... "

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Rodion G.A. - Lost Tapes


From Strut: "The full story of Romanian genius Rodion Ladislau Roșca and the music he recorded as Rodion G.A. involves the stifling artistic climate of Communist Romania in the early 80s, the ingenuity of amateur recording, obsessive record collecting, early synthesizers, unheard archival recordings, and eventual recognition. Basically the kinds of things that make our heart beat faster! A more comprehensive version of Rodion's history can be read below, but a listen to the music alone should be enough to make it clear that there's something special to what Rodion has created.

The Lost Tapes, the first ever commercially released album of Rodion G.A.'s music, is due May 28th on Strut Records in association with Future Nuggets and Ambassador’s Reception. Free download of a track below..."

Read the fascinating story of Rodion GA over here....

Jet Jaguar - Shreds EP drops

Some freshness from Jet Jaguar, the latest of six EPs he's dropping this year. "Track 1 is the first Jet Jaguar song ever, thanks to the contributions of Clare Wieck. She's responsible for the lyrics and vocal melody."

 

Monday, April 22, 2013

Money

First solo single from Bjorn Petersen, ex Opensouls. Produced by Jeremy Toy. Great chorus.

Gene Dudley Group hits it

Fabulously funky hotness from WahWah45s posse... gritty as, groovy too. "The Gene Dudley Group represents an outpouring of deep soul and funk music from an obscenely talented 27 year-old multi-instrumentalist residing in North London, Gene Dudley.

Both tracks on the debut release from this one-man band were recorded in Gene's bedroom studio and feature him on trumpet, saxophone, drums, bass, guitar and piano. Both are available now as a free download while we also have beautiful heavyweight 7" vinyl - officially released on April 29th.

Fans of labels like Truth & Soul and Daptone will relish these sonorous soulful offerings, and will no doubt be hotly anticipating the debut long-player, due for release this (northern) summer on Wah Wah 45s.

In the live arena, rather than trying to play all the instruments himself, Gene deploys a quartet of top notch young musicians to help him out (whilst Gene mixes it up between bass and keys throughout the set) as witnessed at the recent Hot 8 Brass Band gig in London, The Gene Dudley Group's debut live show."

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Ring The Alarm playlist, BaseFM, April 20



Skull snaps - Its a new day  -Shoes edit
Billy Preston - Its my pleasure
Lonnie Smith - Spirits free
Trinidad steel band - Have you ever seen the rain
De Phazz - Plastic love memory
Tito Puente - Take five
Sisters love - Give me your love
Chic - Strike up the band
Kid Creole and the coconuts - I'm a wonderful thing baby
Shannon - Let the music play
Alyson Williams - My love is so raw -Baby love mix
Jackson 5 - Get it together - 4Hero remix
The Collectibles - The levy jive
Wiseguys - Too easy
Jurassic 5 - Quality control
Gene Dudley group - The Fawcett negotiation
Sandpipers - Louie Louie
Lady - Get ready
Eliza Keil - Evil ways
Nick Nicholson and the Neketiki brass - Pokare kare ana
Donald Fagen - Ruby ruby
Che Fu - Get up stand up
Psalms - Rolling stone
Newtown rocksteady - Red dub
Sly n Robbie - Boops

Friday, April 19, 2013

A Tale of Two Snare Drums

Ian Morris, RIU cover 1988 - Read Chris Bourke's interview here.

By the late Ian Morris. Original here, along with other great pieces of advice from Ian like Top recording studio tips, and How to make a great cup of tea.

"I've always believed the two most important things on your classic pop record are the vocal and the snare drum. The vocal connects to your brain and the snare to your butt. The snare has always been a primal force in popular music, from the echoed slap of early rock 'n' roll records, Ringo's compressed kit and John Bonham's ambient boom, through to the gated monster drums of the 1980s and the 808 machine clicks and pfutzes of modern hip hop.

I'm proud to be the creator of arguably the two most identifiable snare sounds in New Zealand recorded music: those on Hello Sailor's "Gutter Black" (1977) and Tex Pistol's "The Game of Love" (1987).

Hello Sailor came to Auckland's Stebbing Recording Studios in 1977 with a bunch of brilliant self-penned songs from which Dave McArtney's "Gutter Black" was chosen as the first single. Stebbing's main recording room is a vast, dead area, in my opinion wholly unsuited to recording... well, anything really. The Stebbings themselves will tell you it was designed by some acoustic wunderkind in Germany to exacting specifications, and perhaps it does sound great to German acoustic wunderkinder, but to normal people - orchestras, opera singers, jazz players and rockers - it's a bass-heavy, lifeless, ambience-free zone. The only way to record an ensemble was to screen every player off as much as possible: any sound from the drum kit leaking into the piano microphones cast a dark, muddy pall across the sound of the whole recording.

Anyways, here I was in 1977, chief engineer at Stebbings, and David Bowie's album Low had just been released. On that album Dennis Davis's snare drum had been treated with the newly-invented Eventide Harmonizer. The Harmonizer dropped the pitch of the drum and fed the signal back into itself, resulting in the famous falling cascade sound. It would be several months before a Harmonizer made its way to li'l ol' New Zealand, but the sound had me enthralled. (Incidentally, Stebbings - of course! - imported the first Harmonizer. They immediately - of course! - took it to pieces and replaced some of the components to improve it. They're like that.)

I had no Harmonizer, but I did have an MXR phaser. This little blue box regularly oscillated the pitch of the sound, and when that processed signal was mixed with the original signal a strange, warbly effect was produced.

Deciding to take advantage of the huge dead German air space on the other side of the control room glass, I fed Ricky Ball's snare drum signal out of a massive Altec Lansing speaker (normally used for playback monitoring) and re-recorded the sound via a microphone at the far end of the studio. Suddenly der grosse Zimmer sparkled! The explosive boom that came back from the microphone was monstrous. I fed that through the MXR phaser - set to "stun", of course - and recorded it to tape at a super-excessive level that had me hiding the fragile, freaking-out VU meters whenever a Stebbing entered the control room. Then, on every second snare beat, we overdubbed handclaps, also printed to tape at a super-excessive level that compressed and distorted so much you can hear hear clapping bass player Lisle Kinney chewing gum in the quiet bits.

It wasn't the Low sound, but by God it was a big noise!

By the mid 1980s technology had made such huge snare sounds not only possible, but more or less mandatory. Phil Collins's "In the Air Tonight" and Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA" set the tone for the rifle-shot snare sounds that appeared on most hit records made throughout the decade. Unfortunately, that technology could also get in the way of many otherwise fine albums from "serious" artists. I have a John Prine album made in the mid 1980s. It features Prine's trademark exquisitely observed lyrics, high-strung guitar and plaintive voice, but it's got that damned gun-shot snare all the way through it, rendering the whole thing unlistenable.

The whole big snare drum sound came about - I believe - due to the almost complete absence of good rhythmic feel that tends to happen when you use a drum machine. Listen to an old James Brown track, or Gaucho and Aja from Steely Dan. The snare sounds, in isolation, are pitiful, but the songs swing like a bastard. The secret is the drop - the exact moment when the drummer lays stick to snare skin. A fraction of a millisecond either way radically affects the groove of the song.

A drum machine, in contrast, plays metronomically correctly, mathematically, beat after mechanical beat. After all the overdubs are done there is still that nagging doubt that the song just doesn't groove, baby. What to do? Stick a big echo on the snare. It may not improve the groove, but it can take our minds off the problem. (For examples of diabolical grooves from this era check out the Thompson Twins' "Hold Me Now", or anything by Duran Duran. The Durans had a real drummer of course, but by that stage real drummers were forced to sound like drum machines.)

When I came to record "The Game of Love" as Tex Pistol in 1987 I wanted a big snare sound but I didn't want to go down the typical 1980s small-arms-fire, electronic, gated reverb route. No, I wanted something BIGGER. At the time I was working on some soundtracks for Ford, and on an American reference tape was a great sound effect, a kind of engine-revving, doppler-shifting noise that suggested unlimited power and total global domination. 

My company just taken delivery of a new Fairlight sampler, the big series III model that had a massive 16MB of memory and a vast 20MB hard drive - surely more power than anyone could ever conceivably need in a lifetime. It was cooled by 11 fans and cost as much as a house - really. It was about 100,000 New Zealand dollars. I don't need to tell you that these days there's more technology inside a Furbie.

I set to work on the Fairlight, sampling the sound effect, splicing the attack from a real snare drum onto the front and fading out the tail. Strangely enough the end product wasn't a million miles away from that Low Harmonized sound, with its falling, pitch shifting modulation. Result: iconic sound and a number 1 record!

Although these days I usually go for a more natural approach to recording drum sounds, there are times when bigger IS better."

RSD book: Homemade Records





 

This book looks utterly gorgeous, and Conch Records has some copies in, for Record Store Day tomorrow.  Read about RecordStore Day happenings around AK and NZ.

"The recordings collected here are artifacts of a media universe that no longer exists. They were created, against very high odds, in a world in which both the means of production and the means of distribution were held as near-complete monopolies by the ‘record’ industry.” – William Gibson

Enjoy The Experience: Homemade Records 1958-1992 is the inaugural offering from Sinecure Books, the publishing company that Now-Again’s Egon co-founded with Johan Kugelberg. Packaged as a hardcover, and weighing in at 512 pages, it is the most comprehensive overview of the American “private press” movement from the latter half of the 20th Century that could possibly be assembled.

Enjoy The Experience is the largest collection of American private press vinyl ever amassed and presented, featuring over 1,000 reproductions of the cover art of self released titles from 1958-1992. It is the seventh major book release by Johan Kugelberg, the author and editor behind The Velvet Underground: New York Art, Born In The Bronx and Punk: An Aesthetic (Rizzoli), True Norwegian Black Metal (Vice), Brad Pitt’s Dog (Zero Books) and Beauty Is In The Street: A Visual Record of the May ’68 Paris Uprising (Four Corners).



From the press release: "The subjects of Enjoy The Experience range from Lesbian Folk singers to Psychedelic Disco bands; Awkward Teen Pop combos to Pizza Parlor Organists; Religious Cult Leaders to Swank Sinatra Imitators. But this is not a novelty freak show: also profiled and discussed are some of the most highly regarded rock, soul, jazz, funk and singer/songwriter albums from the latter half of the twentieth century. From the awkward-yet-talented to the genius-yet-bizarre, one thing unites all musicians presented here: they sincerely hoped to become stars, they committed themselves to record, and they left themselves vulnerable to an industry not understanding of nuance, not appreciative of character."



Thursday, April 18, 2013

PE LP boxset




PE on wax. Classic.

"Public Enemy are one of the most influential, controversial and radical hip hop groups of all time. True pioneers, the band revolutionised hardcore rap in the late 80’s with a trailblazing blend of political themes and innovative music production.

The Public Enemy 25th Anniversary Vinyl Collection celebrates a landmark 25 years since the band’s first release, bringing together the complete original Def Jam studio album catalogue on 180-gram heavyweight vinyl, in a limited edition box set.

Including iconic hip-hop anthems such as “Public Enemy No 1”, “Bring The Noise”, “Fight The Power”, “Welcome To The Terrordome”, "911 Is a Joke" and “He Got Game”, the set features the albums Yo! Bum Rush The Show (1987), It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back (1988), Fear Of A Black Planet (1990), Apocalypse 91…  The Enemy Strikes Black (1991), Muse Sick-N-Hour Mess Age (1994) and He Got Game (1998).

Public Enemy remain true hip hop legends, marking their landmark 25-year career achievement with a nomination to enter the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013.

 12” LP vinyl box set combining the complete set of original Def Jam studio albums
Features 6 original albums, on 180-gram heavyweight vinyl
Vinyl Box Set LIMITED EDITION – 9x12” LP
RELEASE DATE: 15th April 2013

9 x 12” LPs:
6 original albums on 180-gram heavyweight vinyl
1.    YO! BUM RUSH THE SHOW (1987)
2.    IT TAKES A NATION OF MILLIONS TO HOLD US BACK (1988)
3.    FEAR OF A BLACK PLANET (1990)
4.    APOCALYPSE 91…  THE ENEMY STRIKES BLACK (1991) (2xLP)
5.    MUSE SICK-N-HOUR MESS AGE (1994) (2xLP)
6.    HE GOT GAME (1998) (2xLP)

SJD wins Taite Prize


Last night SJD won the Taite Prize for his sixth album, Electric Wasteland - hearty congratulations to him, and to Stinky Jim, of SJD's longtime label Round Trip Mars.

The new look trophy (which kinda looks like a Ralph Hotere) was award to SJD, who made a brief but heartfelt speech thanking those who had supported him over the years. Listen to the album below. This is the fourth year the Taite Prize has been awarded, and also marks ten years since Dylan Taite passed away.


Earlier, Shayne Carter had presented the inaugural Classic Album Award announced prior to the awards, to John Halvorsen of The Gordons, for their bone-crunching debut from 1981. Halvorsen seemed genuinely thrilled by the recognition of their work. As Shayne said, The Gordons were mean, sharp, and real.

The brief video presentation on the band's debut talked about other acts who were influenced by them such as Sonic Youth, although they got the recording session duration wrong -as stated on the back of the record  it was recorded and mixed in 22 hours, not 23 - that was all they could afford, so the story goes. A great night out. Congrats to all involved. I was thrilled the bar had Creaming Soda too. Top work.

Music writer and Taite Prize judge Gary Steel offers up some insights into the judging process over on Metro's site, noting he went in rooting for SJD, but not holding out much hope.

"... It was agreed that Aaradhna’s Treble & Reverb was great in so many ways, but after heated discussion, it was crossed off the list. Why? It might be a great album that’s easy to like, but it harks back to the ‘60s with such determination that it simply fails to tick the main boxes. There was nothing innovative about it.
Ultimately, two more popular choices – Home Brew’s self-titled debut and the closely related @Peace album failed to make it through for similar reasons. Many of the assembled loved the Home Brew album, but innovative? Not really...

...At the kick-off, it didn’t look good for SJD’s Elastic Wasteland. Several panelists were obviously utterly bemused by the record and the artist, while others generally loved Sean Donnelly’s work, but hadn’t warmed to the synthetic sound of this, his sixth album. But after numerous rounds and eliminations, miraculously, SJD emerged the winner. I was somewhat flabbergasted. While I had gone in rooting for SJD, I hadn’t expected this outcome, especially for an album that seems to have proven more difficult even for his fans than previous works.

It did, however, tick all the boxes, and to me, it’s vindication at last for a singer/songwriter/composer who has not been lacking in critical praise since his first album in 1998, but has been all but ignored by the industry, resulting in what must at times have been a frustrating journey for Donnelly. It says a lot for his perseverance that, despite having flown mostly below the radar, he’s kept chipping away at his little masterworks; songs that are informed by the work of many of pop music’s geniuses, but never submit to facsimile reproductions or boring genre ghettoisation, and always reflect the essential internalisation of Donnelly’s world into his art work. It also says a lot for Stinky Jim and his label, Round Trip Mars (distribution: Universal) for sticking with him through adversity.

But I don’t want this to be a sob story. Donnelly is already celebrated in certain quarters, and his talents have been voraciously consumed as a sideman by the likes of Neil Finn and Don McGlashan..."

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Latinaotearoa


Latinaotearoa (the trio of Isaac Aesili, Jennifer Zea, Bobby Brazuka) are dropping their debut album next month, here's a taster - Where the heart is, the last song off the album Sonido de Latinaotearoa. PLUS their take on Ladi6's Walk Right Up (free DL)

Their album launch party is on May 3 at Goldfinch Lounge on Quay st, with the band playing live and DJ support from Cian, Dylan C, Dubhead, Submariner & Killamanraro.




Tuesday, April 16, 2013

RIP Dave McArtney

Dave McArtney, Los Angeles, 1978. From musematic
 
Dave McArtney (of Hello Sailor/Pink Flamingos) has passed away. NZ Musician reports that it understands that " he was earlier diagnosed with cancer. Despite ongoing treatment he died unexpectedly last night at home." Gary Steel reports McArtney was 62.

Part of Ponsonby rock legends Hello Sailor (and singer/writer of their classic Gutter Black, more recently used as the theme for tv show Outrageous Fortune), after that band's demise in 1980 he led The Pink Flamingos. The band released their debut album in early 1981, and moved to Sydney in September that year. McArtney split the band up in 82 and moved to London.

He returned to NZ, released several solo records and got into production, winning Producer of the Year for Heart and Soul (The Narcs) at the Music Awards in 1984 . He later spent a spell playing guitar in Shona Laing's band when she toured America, in 1988.

In 1989 he went back to uni to complete degree in English Literature. He had worked at the music school MAINZ as a tutor for ten years. Bio from Dave McArtney's website.

2005 Q&A with Dave McArtney by Trevor Reekie

Added: Radio NZ special features on Hello Sailor - Live at the Powerstation, and Hello Sailor inducted into the NZ Music Hall of Fame, in 2011.

Added: From Hello Sailor's FB page: "... Dave had been seriously unwell and recently spent a week in hospital. He was released last Wednesday, seemed comfortable and expected to recover. His sudden death was not predicted and has come as a shock to all. His last words to his wife last night were that he was working on an arrangement for a new song..."

Added: 'Hello Sailor Story', a 2007 doco on the band, screened on Juice TV. Mentions their infamous Ponsonby part house the Mandrax Mansion. Part 2 has footage of their spell in LA, with them playing live with Ray Manzerek on keys.

Added: "A service celebrating Dave's life will be held at St Matthew- in-the-City, corner of Wellesley st and Hobson Street, Auckland on Tuesday April 23 at 2pm followed by private cremation."

I believe you are a star


Here's the front cover of my book - the photo of Pitch Black is shot by Tony Nyberg, cover design by me.

Before starting my blog Dubdotdash in 2003, I'd been a freelance journalist for a handful of magazines, including Real Groove, North and South, NZ Musician,  Rip It Up, and going back to Planet, Pavement, Lava and Stamp. Over the past year I've been working on pulling together a collection of articles I wrote during that time, scanning and converting the text, and will be publishing them via Amazon's Createspace as a book/e-book.

There's some interesting threads in there, like Stellar discussing their sizeable album budget, comparing it to Straitjacket Fits or JPSE, then Fiona McDonald having a similar conversation round her album budget, citing JPSE and Stellar. There's an early interview with P-Money (before he'd even released any of his own recordings), which he later told me his Dad liked cos it was the first interview that actually sounded like him!

Or Bailterspace talking about going to the beach, but the UV index being so high they had to stay in the car with the windows up to block out the UV. Or Shayne Carter making me sit in the Sony boardroom and listen to the first album by his band Dimmer in its entirety, as he didn't want to send out any advance promo copies.

Other interviews featured include Darcy Clay, Salmonella Dub, Sola Rosa, Dean Hapeta (Upper Hutt Posse), Kog Transmissions, HDU, Mark de Clive-Lowe, Tigi Ness, Black Seeds, Jakob, Pitch Black, JPSE, and more. Interviews done between 1992 and 2003.

Official publication date is 20 May, 2013.

Book launch at Conch Records, Saturday May 25, 3pm, with Dylan C DJing all-NZ vinyl, books for sale on the day, with the author signing em. More information soon! Published by Dunbar Noon Publishing.

OJ and Slave, 94 styles



MCOJ and Slave interviewed on music show Frenzy (TV3), 28 July 1994. Directed and Produced by Ross Cunningham. Check out OJ's t-shirt. Features excerpts from some of their videos, including Positivity, Body Rhymes (feat Teremoana), Money Worries (feat Mikey Havoc). Plus live footage from Easter at the Gluepot Easter Bunrush, 94. Speaking of which....

Monday, April 15, 2013

Record Store Day, April 20

Conch Records. Photo: Peter McLennan

Record Store Day happens again this coming Saturday. It's a lot of fun, get out and score some wax goodies. 

In Auckland, visit Conch Records and Rhythm Records in Ponsonby, Southbound at 69 Mt Eden Rd, Real Groovy in Queen St, and My Generation (ex Marbecks) 54 Clyde Road, Browns Bay.

Conch has some GeorgeFM DJs live-to-air in the AM/PM (Recloose/Frank Booker and more) and Julien Dyne playing a live instore slot in the arvo 1pm til 130pm. Info here.

Wellington's Slowboat Records has some special events planned, including live instore performances from David Kilgour, Watermelon Slim, and Eb and Sparrow.

Also check out Rough Peel Music in Wellington -  their inhouse label Rough Peel Records is behind the Beastwars/Eastern 7" coloured vinyl out for RSD, which they will have in stock. 

Vinyl Countdown in Devon st, New Plymouth, will be celebrating Record Store Day. They've announced via FB that "Every vinyl purchase made on Record Store Day at Vinyl Countdown will not only put you into the draw for our prize pack, but you'll also get a free grab bag of at least 10 random LPs. Beauty!" They will also be getting in a limited no of the Beastwars/Eastern coloured 7"vinyl.

Southbound Records  has a handy list of Record Store Day releases they will have in stock, including The GZA, El Michels Affair, Orange Juice, Gil Scott Heron, PiL and more. They've got Delaney Davidson playing in store at midday, and 10% off everyhting in store (excluding RSD releases).

Flying Nun and Captured Tracks are reissuing two classic Flying Nun EPs on vinyl... "With Record Store Day less than a month away, the labels have now confirmed their next two releases — long out-of-print EPs from Snapper (a self-titled effort from 1998) and The Bats (1984′s By Night)." Source.

Special local record store day releases from Shihad (Churn on vinyl for the first time), Waves, Beastwars, and more, plus live performances from Waves, and Beastwars and special guest DJs at Real Groovy. See press release below ...

REAL GROOVY TO CELEBRATE RECORD STORE DAY 2013 on Saturday 20th April

Real Groovy – New Zealand ’s foremost record store for over thirty years – again celebrates Record Store Day with in-store performances, exclusive local and international vinyl releases, guest DJs and other activities.

Doors open at 9am and customers will be queuing for:

UNIQUE LOCAL RELEASES:

WAVES – their 1975 masterpiece Waves is being reissued on vinyl and – ON RECORD STORE DAY ONLY – it comes with the double CD package of two Waves albums – the reissue of the original album, plus the never-been-released follow-up album Misfit from 1977. This is only available from Real Groovy. The CD set will also be available separately.

BEASTWARS - will celebrate the release of their much anticipated 2nd album Blood Becomes Fire, with Real Groovy exclusively offering a limited number of 100 on Blood Red Vinyl.

Both acts will play short sets in-store on Record Store Day – Waves at 2pm; Beastwars at 4pm

SHIHAD’s debut album Churn finally makes it to 12inch vinyl. Their 1993 Jaz Coleman produced album is a firm favourite with fans and Real Groovy will be selling copies of the limited edition run. Shihad will be opening for Black Sabbath that night.

INTERNATIONAL VINYL RELEASES. As usual Real Groovy will be obtaining as many of the plethora of Record Store Day releases as we can get our hands on. All will be in strictly limited quantities to INSTORE CUSTOMERS ONLY. No presales, no web sales, no mail order, no holds. Fans need to be there!

GUEST DJs: a strong line up of local record hounds will spin records from indie sounds, to murky metal to yacht rock – a line up of guests that include Labour’s Jacinda Ardern; Northern Soul DJ extraordinaire Nettie Page; Angela from Under The Radar; Pennie Black from bFM; Tova O’Brien from TV3; Liam Dann from the NZ Herald; Helene Ravlich from Ms Helene.com; Laura Barton from Madman; and local identity and record expert Simon Grigg will be among a number of DJs spinning the platters that matter.

FACE PAINTING – bring all those budding Gene Simmons and Alice Coopers for FREE Face Painting – from 9am.

RECORD STORE DAY is in its fifth year and again thousands of record stores worldwide will be celebrating their unique culture on Saturday April 20th . 9am-9pm.


Fulll list of Record Store Day releases here: http://download.recordstoreday.com/free/RSD_2013_RELEASES_WEBSITE.pdf

Sunday, April 14, 2013

RIP Vincent Montana Jr

Montana Orchestra Concert - Art Museum Parkway, Philadelphia (1978). From Vince's Facebook page

From Chicago5, great tribute to this Salsoul legend...

"Vincent Montana Jr, a producer, arranger, conductor, musician, founder of the Disco era Salsoul Orchestra and member of the MFSB rhythm section – which means his DNA is baked into most of the drum sounds you’ve ever heard on a dance record – passed away today. A post on his Facebook page describes the 85 year old Montana as having passed away peacefully with his loved ones beside him.


Renowned as one of the greatest vibes players of his era, Montana had a mastery of a half dozen instruments and a working knowledge of just about all of them. He first came to be known as a key cog in the greatest musical machine since the Funk Brothers hammered down the sound of Motown: with Harris on guitar, Huff on the keys, Baker on bass, Young on drums and Montana working the vibes.

The Philly Sound did more than make an impression, or leave a trace – as the propelling force behind what would later become Disco, the sessions musicians that would go on to form MFSB, The Salsoul Orchestra, the Gamble & Huff partnership in all of its manifestations would have possibly the most profound influence on popular music of their generation.

In 1974, Montana created The Salsoul Orchestra, the 37 piece group of musicians that practically wrote the blueprint for everything that people today associate with Disco – soul with strings, the virtuosity, the upfront vocals via Evette Benton, Carla Benson and Barbara Ingram. “Runaway”, featuring Loleatta Holloway on vocals, became one of the most sampled records of The Salsoul Orchestra’s catalog due to the rhythm section, but features an exquisite solo on the vibes from Montana:



His Facebook page is the sort of living document that was a real treat for fans: clips of music along with short reminiscences about them, such as this one:
"1975: I was on a deadline. My first LP with Salsoul Records was nearly complete; I just needed one more song. My wife suggested “Tangerine” – it was one of her favorites, so I produced & arranged my own version. As the 2nd single of the album, Tangerine hit the Billboard Top 20 in early 1976 and pushed “The Salsoul Orchestra” LP to number 14 on the Albums Chart. Enjoy!"


From Vince's Facebook page: "Performing “Runaway” on stage with Loleatta Holloway at The Salsoul Orchestra Concert just before she says my favorite line “COME ON VINCE, PLAY YOUR VIBES...” (Academy of Music, Philadelphia - 1977)

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Ring The Alarm playlist, BaseFM, April 13



Temptations -Law of the land
Grover Washington Jr - Aint no sunshine
Joubert singers - Stand on the word
Curtis Mayfield - Right on for the darkness
Jones Girls - Hey Lucinda
Baby Huey - Hard times
Shirley Murdock - Be free
Afrika Baambattaa - Planet rock
Queens tag team  -C'mon (yeah)
Jahlicious - Something - Beatlicks remix
Butch cassidy sound system - The pressure
Rockers delight - Moments in dub
Rob Symeonn - Chosen one - Zeb's steppers remix
Million Dan - Dogs n sledges
Hardwire - Tearin' the country up
Quantic - T.R.O.Y.
Bobby Hughes Combination - Karin's kerma
 Rosalia de Souza - Canto de ossanha
Cos ber zam - Ne noya - Daphni mix
Nuyorican soul - It's alright, I feel it - MAW 12" mix
Bernard Wright - Haboglabotribin
Tom Browne -Funkin for Jamaica (NY)

Friday, April 12, 2013

RIP Don Blackman

 

Saw this news spreading on Twitter yesterday, and has sadly been confirmed...

Fact Mag: "Jazz pianist, songwriter and producer Don Blackman has been hospitalised with stage four cancer. The news was confirmed by his daughter Irene on Twitter last night, who asked fans to “please pray for us”. Although Twitter is awash with people posting “Don Blackman R.I.P.”, including posts by Deee-lite’s Lady Miss Kier and  Lalah Hathaway, the news – to our knowledge – has yet to be confirmed by his family or a representative. Stage Four cancer means that the cancer has spread to various parts of the human body.

As well as a solo artist in his own right, releasing a self-titled album in 1982 that featured the hit ‘Heart’s Desire’, Blackman played with acts like Parliament / Funkadelic, Roy Ayers, Janet Jackson, Sting, Earth, Wind and Fire and more.
 
Update: Blackman’s daughter has confirmed that Don lost his battle with cancer at 12.15am, aged 60."


 

Blackman was featured in Wax Poetics issue 46, alongside his Queens musical cohorts Tom Browne and Bernard Wright, well worth a read...

"Rising from the fertile musical soil of Queens, New York, a group of musicians formed a tight bond and called themselves the Jamaica Kats. Under the tutelage of elders Weldon Irvine and Lenny White, the Kats perfected a modern fusion of jazz and funk, culminating in trumpeter Tom Browne’s 1980 hit, Funkin’ for Jamaica (NY)."

Listen: Don Blackman interviewed for Red Bull Music Academy Radio in 2011...

"Blackman grew up next to legendary jazz saxophonist Charles McPherson in Queens, who in turn introduced an impressionable young Blackman to Charles Mingus – and the rest was pretty much history, with him becoming so well-renowned for his songwriting and keyboard skills that he eventually hooked up with other revered artists like Earth, Wind, and Fire and Roy Ayers. 

Oh, and getting back to Clinton and P-Funk: yes, he was jamming with them when he was only in his early 20s. All this hard work and lifelong toiling eventually led to some steady work as a session musician for the likes of Sting (Brand New Day), Janet Jackson (That’s the Way Love Goes), and Jay-Z (for his work on Mister Bleek’s album). And speaking of the Hook-Up, Don Blackman eventually connected with Master P for his album of the same name."  - RBMA Radio

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Marbecks offline, Queens Arcade revived

Marbecks announced today that it was selling its Queens Arcade store back to Roger Marbeck, who will run it as a specialist store focussing on Classical and jazz, retaining the classical staff only. Marbecks are also shutting their online store, and Marbecks Digital, as their business partner with digital, Digirama, is shutting down here Digirama also provide FlyBuys Music technology. In late February Marbecks closed their Lower Hutt store, and the manager of that store then opened his own indie store nearby.

Full press release from Marbecks below, from their website.

Important Announcement for Marbecks Online, Digital & Classical Customers.

"As the Marbecks business continues to develop in the direction of hospitality & food, there are further changes for the existing retail and online businesses.

It is with pleasure that we announce that we have entered into an arrangement with Roger Marbeck to take over the Classical retail business in Queens Arcade. In a true case of back to the future, it was Roger's grandfather Alfie that started Marbecks as a classical store in the Arcade in 1934, and the Marbeck family that built a legendary music retail business there until they sold in 2006. We're sure that customers will be delighted with the news that Roger has decided to step back into retail, also retaining the existing knowledgeable classical staff in Queens Arcade. Roger will be setting up a new store mid-April [right next door to the old] focussing on classical & jazz, and be carrying on the wonderful Marbecks retail service in the Arcade for many years to come.

With this development, the closure of several other Marbecks retail music stores, the continuing declining sales in physical CDs and DVDs, and the change in direction for the current business, it has been decided that our current website selling CDs, DVDs and books Marbecks Online will close for orders on the 30th April 2013.

Marbecks will be looking to develop a refreshed and revitalised online presence with the www.marbecks.co.nz domain as the hospitality business develops, so you will be hearing from us in the not too distant future, but for now, we will no longer be taking orders from 30th April 2013.

As it happens, this coincides with our digital platform provider, Digirama, also announcing that they will be ceasing to offer an a la carte digital service in New Zealand, so the last day of trade for our digital store www.marbecksdigital.co.nz will also be the 30th April 2013.

For all our online customers we are extremely grateful for your custom and support over the years. Without you, we wouldn't have had anywhere near the same amount of fun and passion for music in our lives, and we thank you kindly for all of your purchases over the years.

Roger Marbeck plans to offer a classical online store at www.marbecksclassical.co.nz - and as stated above, you will be hearing from us soon as we redevelop our online presence for the hospitality business.

Customers can redeem existing gift cards online until the 30th April 2013, after that they can continue to be redeemed in our stores in Wall St Dunedin, Riccarton Mall Christchurch, The Plaza Palmerston North and in our Queens Arcade Clearance Store Auckland.

In the immortal words of Douglas Adams "So long, and thanks for all the fish."

Marbecks is now owned by Alfies Records, trading as Marbecks. Alfies is 100% owned by Ode Records (partly owned by Roger Marbeck, who is listed as sole director), according to the Companies Office website.

Yeah nah


Posted at a recent concert by the band... if you've been to a gig by an overseas act in recent times, you'll know this one. My fave was watching a young woman watch Jay Z's entire set at Mt Smart (opening for U2) thru the screen of her cellphone. Or the old guy at The English Beat who watched them do their big hit Mirror In The Bathroom thru his phone's screen.

Via Gawker. "Yeah Yeah Yeahs Post Sadly Necessary Sign Asking Fans Not to Watch Their Show Through a Smartphone Screen".

Jusayin B Haru X Parks



Like the notes say... "" Heat from two of New Zealand's finest producers, B.Haru & Parks [Ladi6]. The first single from the forthcoming #Jusayin Compilation. Heavy in beat derived experimentation's from labs around the globe the compilation is a showcase of new and interesting producers native to the Milky Way."

www.facebook.com/wearejusayin

Tuesday, April 09, 2013

Enter the Wu Tang 20th anniversary

 
From Potholes in my blog: " Twenty years ago, perhaps one of the most influential hip-hop albums of all time dropped. Enter the Wu-Tang was not only a successful selling album, but it set in motion several solo careers that would go on to shape the sound of NYC hip-hop.

Today, to celebrate the the impact of the original Wu-Tang album, NPR brings on the RZA to speak on the group and signing their unique major label deal. As RZA describes their sound as a “home-cooked meal of hip-hop,” this is yet another introspective look into one of our favorite groups.

Beyond that, RZA talks about his “20-year-plan”, which spotlights the longevity and genius of this powerful group. And, who knows, maybe the 20-year-plan will be wrapped up with one last album with all the members. Minus ODB, of course."

Stream the feature at NPR.

Monday, April 08, 2013

Grace - Skin to skin



The 1993 debut single from Grace, aka The Brothers Ioasa (Anthony, Jason and the late Paul) in both the single mix (Above) and the 12-inch skinny mix below.

This Deepgrooves act went on to produce a handful of great singles and the 1995 album Black Sand Shore. Anthony Ioasa also produced Deepgrooves acts like Jordan Reyne, Greg Fleming, and Three The Hard Way. Read more on Deepgrooves here.



The late Paul Ioasa, posted up on the revived Deepgrooves website, take a look

Saturday, April 06, 2013

Ring The Alarm playlist, BaseFM, April 6



Sons of silence - Silence go boom
Waireka hill sounds - Sweet incense
Henry and Louis - Love and understanding
Dub syndicate - No alternative (but to fight)
Wabine - Sail on
Lee Oskar - Haunted house
Grover Washington Jr - Knucklehead
Dionne Warwick - (I'm) Just being myself
Chic - Good times
Diana Ross - Give up
David Ruffin - First round knockout
The Staples - See a little further (Mavis Staples playing with Wilco in Auckland tonight)
Jingo - Fever
Latin blues band feat Luis Aviles - Take a trip
Mongo Santamaria - Princess
Johnny Colon - You gotta love me
Massive attack - Spying glass
Round four feat Tikiman - Find a way
Johnny Osbourne - Budy bye - Kenny Dope super dub remix
African head charge - Throw it away
Top Cat & Congo Natty - Champion DJ
Ninjaman and Flourgon - Zig it up
Quantic soul orchestra - Raw ingredients - Nostalgia77 remix
Larry Young's fuel  -Turn off the lights
Osibisa - Happy childen

Friday, April 05, 2013

Nile Rodgers: The Hitmaker



If you haven't seen Nile Rodgers: The Hitmaker yet (brand new BBC doco), go check it while it's still up. Great watching. The man behind classics from Diana Ross, Sister Sledge, David Bowie, Madonna and more... Good times.

Mike D food truck



Mike D (Beastie Boys) and friends have been running a food truck out to Rockaway Beach, helping out the locals after Hurricane Sandy... read "19,000 Plates and Counting: Beastie Boys' Mike D Runs a Free Food Truck" at Good..

GOOD: Do you have a favorite food lyric?
Mike D: Rakim’s “fish, which is my favorite dish.”

Christoph El Truento: Galaxy 500

Christoph el Truento

You may have already heard this, but this is the first time an instrumental track has topped the Audience's unreleased charts and scored an NZOA grant. And it's an extremely cool track (free download too), built around Truento rattling his car keys and recording it, then pulling in Julien Dyne and Isaac Aesili (both ex Opensouls). He also quietly dropped his debut album recently too, that's up on Bandcamp as a name-your-price deal...

From The Audience: "Christoph El Truento is a 24 year old from Auckland, and the first producer/beatmaker to secure NZ On Air Wildcard Making Tracks funding from theaudience.co.nz.

Joining theaudience.co.nz via the music site’s Discover feature, curator Martyn Pepperell championed Christoph El Truento’s track ‘G a l a x y’, and it wasn't long before many others were too.

“I never thought it would happen, I was even apprehensive right till the very last second. When I signed up I didn't think much of it until I noticed I was sitting at #4 and then #3 on the chart. I realised it was something I could maybe make work.”

After a very tight race between the Top 3 artists, Christoph El Truento finished the March chart month at #1, with Gainsford and Chess Countess close behind.

This #1 placing sees Christoph El Truento take home the NZ On Air Wildcard Making Tracks funding, which will go towards recording the single and producing a video.He's now the eighth recipient of the NZ On Air Wild Card Making Tracks funding.

Excited by the result Christoph El Truento went on to say, “I hope it inspires other people in my situation… that more bedroom music producers sign up and apply for funding more often. We need more funding and it's totally possible, a lot of musicians don't realise what they're capable of."


Sign of Four 2 x 10"


New on Jazzman Records...I copped the single Jumping Beans off this when it came out a few months back, it's utterly mad moog funk...  "Oscillating and reverberating chaotically through sonic orbs and polyphonic sound textures, The Sign of Four is a new creative concept from the Natural Yoghurt Band's Miles Newbold.
Hammer, Anvil, Stirrup is the debut album from The Sign of Four on Jazzman Records and is spread exquisitely across 2x10" LPs in hand-printed sleeves, digipack CD and digital download formats.

Recorded live at Chicken Shack studios in Nottingham, real musical instruments are used to create a swirling jungle of throbbing palpitations evoking the spaced-out vibes of an unsound mind. It's an infectious fermentation of debauched instrumental chaos, sometimes calming, but often unnerving, that will leave the listener bewildered, wide-eyed and gasping for more.

The 11-track album also contains two tracks from Sun Suite, an alternative incarnation of The Sign of Four, that see out the release in a less chaotic fashion, a sonic antidote to the preceding pandemonium."  On 2 x 10" vinyl/CD.

Thursday, April 04, 2013

Kraftwerk banned from Chinese festival

 Via Metal Postcard...  Kraftwerk Banned From Playing Modern Sky's Strawberry Music Festival In Beijing

"An anon employee from Beijing record company let the cat out of the bag this week revealing to local press and AFP that the authorities in Beijing have banned the robotniks for agreeing to play a Tibetan benefit festival in Washington DC in 1998. What's even more incredible is that Kraftwerk didn't even play because of very inclement weather. Here's a great piece by Pete DeMola for Beijing Cream on the subject."

Cratediggers: Houseshoes



Latest installment of the wonderful series Cratediggers, with Detroit native/LA resident, Houseshoes, who played in Auckland last night.

Mantarays debut full-length



THE MANTARAYS recently released their debut full length album Garden Of Light in early March, coming out on vinyl soon too.. I scored their earlier vinyl release recently, on lovely bright orange vinyl.... they are a very groovy sounding outfit, caught them playing live at the Toy Love Day at Real Groovy late last year...

"New Zealand’s Premier Psychedelic Soul/Exotica Trio The Mantarays are pleased to announce the release of their debut full length album GARDEN OF LIGHT.

Three years in the making, GARDEN OF LIGHT is a surreal psychedelic journey through Exotic landscapes, astral surf pounders and futuristic abstractions.

Led by organist Nigel Patterson aka Hammondhead (The Black Seeds, Fly My Pretties), alongside Orchestra of Spheres frontman Dan Beban on guitar, and legendary drummer Anthony Donaldson.

The Mantarays combine early New Orleans R+B, Surf, retro organ grooves and exotic latin rhythms to create a sound that is unique, sophisticated and infectious.

GARDEN OF LIGHT follows on from their self-titled 5 Track EP released in 2008, and the 12” Vinyl Release of the same EP in 2009. GARDEN OF LIGHT will be released on 12” vinyl in May 2013."

Wednesday, April 03, 2013

Sulata - Mancini video



So, why was the song called Mancini, isn't it an odd name for a single?

Sulata told NZ Herald's Graham Reid in 1997... “Yeah, Henry Mancini, it’s true. There’s a sample from one of his tracks and I just thought, Mancini. Everyone said it was too tacky a title, but I didn't care, I wanted it. But I've had a lot of Island people saying ‘What’s that track Man – seen?’" she laughs.

Video dates from 1996 approx, directed by Kane Massey, shot at Alba Cafe in Lorne st (now Sheinkin) next door to the Deepgrooves offices. Released as a single on Deepgrooves, off Sulata's 1997 album Kia Koe.

Song written by Sulata and Simon Holloway. Musicians on the recording include Luke Casey, Nathan Haines, Kingsley Melhuish, Levani Vesasi, Steve Harrop. Spot the cameos in the video from Ermehn and Oli Green (Urban Disturbance).

For more on Deepgrooves, see http://dubdotdash.blogspot.co.nz/p/deepgrooves-articles.html

Tuesday, April 02, 2013

Isaac Promo off to Warners

Isaac Promotions have officially split off from Frequency Media Group, heading to partner with Warner Music NZ, as mentioned over at NZ Musician.

"Mark Kneebone, founder and director of Isaac Promotions is thrilled about the alliance and says, "We are incredibly excited to be teaming up with Warner Music to create this partnership; we have some excellent records that are ready to go and 2013 looks like it is going to be the perfect start.”

Founded in 2003, Isaac Promotions boasts over 40 Gold and Platinum record releases and has been responsible for the formation of some of the country’s most successful music events, including the annual Laneway Festival. The partnership’s first release will be the new album by House of Shem which is set for release later this year." Source.

Issac Promotions merged with Dawn Raid and Dirty Management in October 2010 to create Frequency Media Group, with distribution via Universal. Their website lists them as management for Computers want me dead and House of Shem, and co-promoters of Laneway and la De Da festivals.

Mark Kneebone ceased being a director of Frequency Media Group on 15 August 2011, according to Companies Office records.

American Gypsy - The champ



American Gypsy started out in LA in 1971, then headed off for a two year tour of Spain, and ended up settling in Amsterdam, Holland, where they cut a few albums (in 1974 and 1981), and a bunch of singles. This is one of their 80s jams - a mate of mine recently scored a copy of this on 12" (on Break Records outta Katwijk, Holland), with a dynamite 'instrumental dub version on the flip. It's gold. This version above is pretty tasty too. Free DL.

Discogs: American Gypsy discography

a handy playlist, starts with a very odd live clip off Dutch TV...