Jean Jacques Perrey in San Francisco Thursday
[via Boingboing] "If you're an incredibly strange music fan in the Bay Area, don't miss this. RE/Search Publications is hosting a record release party Thursday evening for French composer Jean Jacques Perrey, creator of some of the most amazing moog pop and musique concrete of the 20th century. The event is a record release bash for his new recording, Jean Jacques Perry's Circus of Life. The party is at Varnish Gallery, September 15, from 7 to 10pm. The following, from JeanJacquesPerrey.com, are some of his favorite tracks from his classic 1960s albums on the Vanguard Records label. If you don't know Perrey's brand of in sounds from way out, this is a great place to start your journey:

1) "The Little Man From Mars" "This is the very first recording I did for Vanguard. It is special to me because it was the very first experiment with tape loops, despite Pierre Shaeffer's (negative) advice!"

2) "Spooks in Space" "The first one I made with the crazy loops. The idea of crazy tape loops had been inspired to me by a dream I had about Jean Cocteau and Edith Piaf."

3) "E.V.A." "Because it had been suggested to me by Walt Disney, and it is timeless and futuristic. Also, it is a tribute to the first man who walked on the moon." [as sampled by Gangstarr, hiphop heads]

4) "Baroque Hoedown" "This was a "co-composition" with Gershon Kingsley. I'll put "Baroque Hoedown" down because it became the theme song for the Disneyland's Electrical Parade, 6 years after Walt Disney passed away. But Walt is still alive in my heart and my soul."

5) "Visa to the Stars" "It became an Esso commercial, co-composed with Andy Badale (Angelo Badalamenti,) and also has something related to science fiction."

Link to party info at Laughing Squid, Link to purchase "Jean Jacques Perry's Circus of Life"


Via Coolfer...Future of Music Summit: Day Three -- P.M. Panel 10: Radio, Radio: A Discussion on Payola...
snip... "Jared Ball of FreeMix Radio disagreed with the argument that it’s a free economy and he took issue with the practice of paying for repetitious airplay...
The premise that payola is good, said Schwartzman, is correct if the money one is willing to spend on promotion is a measure of its quality. Under that logic, he said, the Big Mac is the best hamburger in the world..."

I want my eMtv
Anyone heard about the new music tv channel starting up? Called ALT, apparently.
Ah, Noizy has the goss here... of course!
"There's a new free-to-air TV channel setting up shop in Auckland on UHF channel 62. The creators promise it will have a strong focus on music, which means there's going to be an excellent outlet for all those indie music videos that NZers seem to be so good at making, but which don't seem to get their fair share of airtime on the bigger commercial stations. "And," says Thane Kirby, head of programming, "together with the late night boundary pushing programming we're investing in, it’s definitely going to an interesting alternative in TV Land." Indeed. The test pattern will be going live on October 4th, with the channel aiming to go fully live on November 14th. Get tuned, and stay tuned... Channel 62

They're looking for presenters too, so email em if you want to audition...
famous@channel62.co.nz. They're also after ideas for shows - you take em to lunch at Pregos or SPQR and pitch them your idea - "Be aware that you'll be footing the bill - that's standard tv practice". Ha ha.

Shock! Horror! Evermore!
So, in a surprise win, Evermore take out the Apra Silver Scroll songwriting award for 2005. Oh hang on, that's not really a surprise, it's boring as fuck. Two thumbs up to their manager for sending out a press release at 4pm yesterday announcing the win several hours BEFORE the official ceremony. Noizyland notes that "The release gushed lyrically about the win, which came over other NZ luminaries such as Dave Dobbyn (fair enough) and The Finn Brothers (who, er, weren't actually nominated). Ah well.
Live performances this year saw Pitch Black perform Evermore's 'It's Too Late', Plan 9 did Pluto's 'Long White Cross', Jordan Luck & Brian Bell performed Dave Dobbyn's 'Welcome Home', Batucuda Sound Machine played The Mint Chick's 'Opium of the People', and The Checks put their spin on Goldenhorse's 'Out of the Moon'."

Still, selling 75,000 albums in Oz aint shabby, but not even gold status (sitting at less than 7,500 sales) in NZ? Guess we're sleeping on our own talent again... nah, my earlier verdict stands.

ADDED: Just noticed this in the Herald story... ""But when you look at some of the songs that have won in the past - there's some amazing songs - it's just a compliment to be nominated," [Evermore's Jon] Hume said.
UH OH, HANG ON - artists are responsible for entering their own songs into the Silver Scroll Awards - no-one nominated them.

Phil Collins is wack
Coolfer on day two of Future of Music Summit. Panel 05: I Am The DJ: Podcasting, Webcasting and Music... and Panel 07: Sampling and Shared Art...

"Producer Hank Shocklee of Public Enemy fame, a knowledgeable musician and an animated panelist, is perplexed by the fact that he doesn't know how much a sample costs. It depends on what part of the song and how long the sample, but the unpredictability is, in his opinion, prohibitive to the creative process. If he wants that Phil Collins” snare drum, he complained, he could either go into the studio and get those specific instruments or he could sample the sound. Kohn said to that, “Phil Collins spent a lot of time creating that sound.” “That snare sound he made isn't original, Shocklee replied....

Shocklee repeated many times that he believes artists who sample sounds shouldn't be held to the same costs and procedures as artists who take samples that represent the heart of the song. Shocklee produced Public Enemy's early, classic album by creating rhythms out of multiple samples, many of them unrecognizable. Those albums would not be made in today's licensing climate, a fact that Shocklee admitted today and has expressed publicly in the past. His position did not have the legal expertise of panelist Bob Kohn, for example, but he clearly represented a point of view that is common in the hip hop world..."

Housequake
Coolfer reports extensively on the Future of Music Summit in Washington DC...

snip.."Sam Jennings, director of Prince's NPG Music Club, said he started the club with Prince four years ago. Prince if very open to experimenting, he said. Last year everybody who bought a Prince concert ticket got a CD; -- the price was built in -- and they sold 1.5 million CDs while bypassing retailers.

Though SoundScan counted those sales and kept Prince in the Top 10 for much of the tour, it disallowed such bundling practices in the future. Thus Prince won't be near the top of the charts next time he does it, or if another band wants to try the same strategy. “If a million and a half people have you CD, who cares?” Jennings asked to much laughter.'

Tunes for a manic Monday
Junkyard Band - Sardines (Tittsworth Bmore Club Remix)
Gwen Stefani - Hollaback Girl (Diplo Remix)
Damian Jr Gong Marley vs Jim Jones - Welcome to Diprock (Low Budget remix) and more over here at The Rub
Katrina: Kanye's Gold Digger remixed, "George Bush Don't Like Black People" (via Boingboing)
Link to "George Bush Don't Like Black People" MP3 (8.7MB). Mirror.
New remix of Run-DMC's "My Adidas" here or here. Produced by nomadic.

via Coolfer... "Australia will get iTunes on October 3rd but Warners and Sony BMG are currently holding out -- just as they are with iTunes Japan. The Forbes article says the sticking point is Apple's insistence on selling all music at the same price, an issue labels have been increasingly vocal about." [Corrected]

Ring The Alarm, playlist, BaseFM, Saturday Sept 10
Boozoo Bajou feat U Brown and Joe Dukie - Take it slow
Jackie Mittoo - Jumping Jack
Simon Bogle and Ghetto Priest - Dry bone (Groove Corp remix)
George McCrae -I got lifted (Mischief Brew re-edit)
John Gibbs and the US Steel Orchestra - Steel funk
Jungle Brothers - How you want it we got it (Upstate remix)
Lone Ranger- Automatic
Horace Andy - Fever
Salsoul Orchestra - Getaway
Bootsy and Bernie Worrall - When Bernie speaks (Moog-heavy tune as tribute to late Robert Moog, RIP)
Tony Allen and Afro Messangers - Road safety
Damian Marley feat Nas - Road to Zion
Perfect - Hand cart boy
Run DMC - My Adidas (Nomadic remix)
Rev Run - Mind on the road
Little Brother - Lovin it
Augustus Pablo - Jah rock
Nextmen feat Dynamite MC - Blood fire
Relcoose feat Hollie Smith - Game goes on
Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - How long do I have to wait for you
Kanye West and K-O - Gold digger (George Bush don't care about black people remix)
Temptations - Plastic man (two songs in a row about George Bush - what a happy accident!)
Glenn Brown - At the crossroads
Milton Henry -Gypsy woman
Stevie Wonder vs the Clash - Casbah wonder (dunproofin.co.uk)
Leela James - Rain
Fat Freddy's Drop - Roady (Walnut remix by the Nextmen)

All the way live
Catch Mister Recloose and his mighty live band this weekend in AK town - tonight at the Rising Sun, Saturday up at Leigh Sawmill. Saw em playing live on Coast on Maori TV last night, wicked outfit.
The Recloose live band is Riki Gooch (TrinityRoots) on drums, Deva Mahal on vocals, Mike Fabulous (The Black Seeds, Fly My Pretties) on guitar & bass, Isaac Aesili (Opensouls, Solaa) on trumpet & percussion, James Illingworth on keys, Adan Tejerina (The Eggs) on percussion, and producer Recloose on tenor sax, melodica & sampler.

Saturday night Ryan McPhun and the Ruby Suns (featuring one Gareth Shute, award-winning author by day, bass playing ace by night) celebrate the release of their debut album at the King's Arms. They're joined by Bachelorette and the Nudie Suits.


Diplo says farewell to DJing (via Boston Phoenix paper)
"Wes Pentz is best known as a DJ called Diplo, but right now he’s giving me tips on how to steal jeans from Urban Outfitters. Two years ago, while he was earning a living as a social worker at a North Philadelphia elementary school, he did a lot of shoplifting. He says it was easy — not because he was a master thief but because pilfering jeans was the last thing anyone expected a young, middle-class white dude to do.

Well, maybe not the last thing.

The last thing anyone would have expected out of a young Wes Pentz is that he’d start a series of successful Philly club nights dubbed Hollertronix, school the hipsters of America in untamed strains of ’hood music from Dirty South hip-hop to South American ghetto funk, and in the process generate international buzz for a female Sri Lankan MC/pop sensation. But that’s precisely what Diplo has done, and he’s had a blast along the way. So why on earth is he quitting?"

Full story here. The interview transcript is also pretty funny. Diplo is currently preparing Piracy Funds Terorism Part 2 Mixtape for release. Hot damn.

From the same paper, Amadou and Mariam live review/blurb here....

"At Joe’s Pub last month, I heard a few indie grumbles about the authenticity of Dimanche à Bamako vis-à-vis Amadou & Mariam’s previous albums — which weren’t produced by Chao. The backing band didn’t help, an unfortunately dressed and grimacing collection of French musicians who threatened to drain Amadou & Mariam’s considerable charisma and charm. Not so with the album: it’s as infectious as advertised. As for its authenticity, there’s more to this duo’s musical background than the traditional sounds of Mali. When I ask Amadou about that, he lists what he and Mariam heard growing up in Bamako, on Radio Mali: "Cuban dance music, French songs, James Brown . . . "

"Pink Floyd," interjects Mariam. "Led Zeppelin. Deep Purple. Bad Company."

"Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton . . . ," continues Amadou.

"Beatles," says Mariam.

Here Amadou starts singing, "Don’t Let Me Down."

Hunter S Thompson's Suicide Note
Via Stereogum.. "Rolling Stone has published the gonzo journalist's final written words. He left the note for his wife before committing suicide in February.

No More Games. No More Bombs. No More Walking. No More Fun. No More Swimming. 67. That is 17 years past 50. 17 more than I needed or wanted. Boring. I am always bitchy. No Fun - for anybody. 67. You are getting Greedy. Act your old age. Relax - This won't hurt.

It was titled Football Season Is Over and appears in the new Rolling Stone with the Rolling Stones cover.


From Popbitch.... You’re terrible Coldplay
Muriel’s Wedding actress speaks wisdom

An Australia man was driving down the freeway when he noticed the woman in the car beside
him waving. When they pulled up at the lights he wound down the window.

"I've just bought the new Coldplay album", she said. "Do you want it? It's crap!"

The man said yes, and she chucked the CD through the open car window. At that point he realised it was Muriel's Wedding star Toni Collette."

Barbara Bush runs her mouth off
Quote - After touring the Houston Astrodome on Monday, Barbara Bush said, "What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivleged anyway, so this is working very well for them." (emphasis added)

Finally, thanks to the person who left me this delightful note...
"the perfect album to load in your new ipod nano?"
http://waxy.org/random/audio/Bill_Cosby_-_Talks_To_Kids_About_Drugs_(1971)/

I've blogged this before, but I've never managed to track down the last song on this, so cheers, anon.

Stab stab stab
Die Die Die are touring to support their debut album this month, but their label's site says "apologies to Gisbourne but the show got cancelled as the venue thought the band’s name was inappropriate for a gig with the recent stabbings in the area(!)"


The Mercury Prize has just been announced - the Kaiser Chiefs were hotly tipped , but the award went to Antony and the Johnsons.
"Led by New York-based singer Antony Hegarty, they beat acts including Coldplay, favourites Kaiser Chiefs and hip-hop artist MIA. The £20,000 award is for the best album of the year by a British or Irish act. "I think they must have made a mistake," Chichester-born Hegarty said. "I am completely overwhelmed. I think that's insane."
There was some minor controversy when he was nominated, as he hasn't lived in the UK for 22 years. Hang on, hear that? It's the sound of a backlash blowing in, right about now.


some MP3 blogs for you..

Souled On

Vinyl Addicts

Last night an MP3 saved my wife


FFD Chart Watch - last week they were at #13, this week #18. Shihad have a new video doing the rounds, but still no sign of their album returning to the top 40.

ADDED: Ah, the sad stuff you see floating round the internets....
"The leading cause of personal bankruptcy in the United States is unpaid medical bills. Half of the uninsured owe money to hospitals, and a third are being pursued by collection agencies...." more here from Malcolm "Tipping Point" Gladwell's article on the failure of healthcare in Amercia in this week's New Yorker magazine (via Boingboing)

Ring The Alarm, playlist, BaseFM, Saturday Sept 3
Dancing Djedi – Body surfin
Jackie Mittoo – Earthquake
J Osbourne and Burro Banton – The truth
Tony Alvon and the Belairs – Sexy coffee pot
Rhianna – If it’s loving that you want
Jackson 5 – ABC (Tokyo ska paradise orchestra remix)
U Brown – Gal so bad
Ray Barretto – Soul drummers (Tim ‘Love’ Lee re-edit)
International Observer – London dub
Viceroys meets Angie Stone – My man (Upstate remix)
SJD – Southern lights (Kid Loco remix – out as bonus disc with Southern Lights album in October)
Twilight Circus feat Luciano - What we gotta do (Groove Corp remix)
Leela James - Good times
Cornerstone roots - Forward dub
Nextmen feat Demolition Man – Piece of the pie
Led Zep vs Snoop – Drop it like a whole lotta love
OJays – 992 arguments
Skatalites – Coconut rock
Joe Gibbs – Heavy duty dub
Aim – Just passin thru
Ramsey Lewis Trio – Wade in the water
Barrington Levy – If you give it to me
Boozoo Bajou feat U Brown and Joe Dukie – Take it slow
DJ C and Quality Diamond – Let it Billie (jungle mix)

Are friends electric?
Congrats to The Electric Confectionaires from Takapuna Grammar School, winners of this year's Smokefree Rockquest. One of the judges, Matt Headland from Warner Music observed that "the New Zealand music scene needs a quirky band." Perhaps someone from FMR can introduce him to the Mint Chicks.


Hats off to the subeditors at the SST... they managed to garble some great photo captions from the Juice TV Awards... "Fast Crew's Kid Debt (Kid Deft), Arachna, (R'n'B singer Aradhna), and King Kapasi (King Kapisi)". Worth the price of admission... Nearly as good as last weekend's goof; in the story on Generation Y talking to Callum Gittins, where he mentioned performing the song Gangs Of Paradise at school, the year it won a Grammy. Took me a minute, but then I got it- some subeditor with a limited knowledge of pop culture had corrected Coolio's big hit Gangsta Paradise. I got two words for you subs - Google it - that's all it takes, if you're unsure...


God, the pictures coming outta New Orleans are overwhelmingly sad ... there's the images of buses finally arriving to take survivors from the New Orleans Superdome off to Houston. Why didn't they evacuate them before the hurricane hit? In 2002 the New Orleans Times Picayune did a series of articles on the possibility of a hurricane hitting New Orleans - they found that 100,000 people in New Orleans didn't have access to private transportation to get out, in the event of such a disaster.

via allhiphop.com...
Kanye West criticized U.S. President George Bush & the government’s reaction to Hurricane Katrina last night during “A Concert for Hurricane Relief,” a live benefit concert on NBC. West deviated from the pre-written script. “It's been five days [waiting for help] because most of the people are black,” West said. NBC quickly cut away from West.

Russell Brown also on that one.. "Kanye West on a fund-raising Telethon: he abandons the autocue and just starts talking: ""I hate the way they portray us in the media. If you see a black family it says they are looting if you see a white family it says they are looking for food ... We already realize a lot of the people that could help are at war now fighting another way and they've given them permission to go down and shoot us ... George Bush doesn't care about black people." Mike Myers looks stunned." This is some funny ish...

here's something positive...

Offers by the thousands
MoveOn.org Civic Action, which set up HurricaneHousing.org on Thursday, said its Web site listed offers for 50,950 beds on Friday afternoon, and the number was climbing by more than 1,000 per hour.
Serena Howard's family in Fayetteville, Ark., set up a Web site called OpenYourHome.com on Wednesday with modest expectations. "We just put a Web site together so we could find a few families here in the Arkansas area" to provide homes, just as they have done in the past for
foreign exchange students.
They have been deluged with offers — including 1,300 families offering housing, churches offering their entire buildings, and many other people offering transportation for victims to their temporary housing all over the country.

Sun is shining, weather is sweet
Got a bunch of new records in the post (Boozoo Bajou with Joe Dukie and U Brown on the same track), the new isue of Vice magazine is out (the animal issue - got it from Beat Merchants), the weekend is here, and I'm DJing at a party saturday night. Sweet as!

via Coolfer... "Social networking behemoth MySpace.com founders Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe revealed the company plans to launch a record label in the near future and that they're scouting artists. Here's Coolfer five-star A&R tip on what kind of band to sign: Emo. That's the no-brainer of the year."
plus this mashup for you urban hipsters... The Bravery vs. M.I.A.: "An Honest M.I.A."

vai Pop Bitch...
Put down your weapons, pick up microphones!
Amid all the gloom in Iraq, one thing is cheering everyone up. They've finally got Pop
Idol - and don't even have to put up with Simon Cowell. Iraq Star started on satellite
station al-Sumeria six weeks ago, attracting more than 2,000 contestants and almost
60% of the nation's viewers every night.Sadly only a handful of women have dared to brave the country's Islamist wingnuts 36 year old Nada had her Baghdad apartment trashed after her appearance, while her landlord cut off her electricity and water supply. The early favourites are a barber called Mohammed, who sang Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On, dressed in fake leather jeans, platform shoes and a Star Trek t-shirt, and Bilal, a 12 year old boy from Mosul whose own composition about the war's destruction of Iraq had all thejudges in tears.