Counting the beat...
The Sunday Star Times has an interview with form Split Enz member Phil Judd, talking candidly about his recent troubles....

"I've had a year of disaster," he said during an exclusive, in-depth interview with the Star-Times, his first since news of his conviction broke last year. "You know how many famous people... come unstuck in the end. It seems it was my turn to come unstuck."He's through with Facebook, he says. "The internet has cost me a lot of money, and a lot of humiliation, and ruined my life. I'm done."

Radio jocks dined out, announcing his conviction to the strains of the Enz track "My Mistake". A sign went up in his neighbourhood: "The only record for Phil Judd in 2010 is a criminal one". Anonymous callers threatened to burn down his house, kill him in the street. "It freaked me out, and it freaked my ex-wife out even more." One night, he says, she arrived unannounced and bundled their 10-year-old son, over whom they shared custody, into her car. Her new partner, 20 years Judd's junior, wrestled to keep him at bay. "I was yelling, 'Please don't take him, please don't take him. Can we just talk about this?"' he says. "I slipped over on the driveway and just lay there."...

... Judd's chronic heart disease was discovered after a stroke in 2004 wiped out his spleen. "I lived pretty hard and I've paid the price," he says. Although he was a reluctant performer in his Split Enz days, he says he'd like to be able to take the stage again, but would be unlikely to make it through a song without collapsing. His bipolar syndrome is just as debilitating, and is only exacerbated by his drinking problem.

"Some of us have got through life self-medicating," he says. "I didn't even know I was bipolar until 18 years ago. Maybe, if I live a bit longer, I'll get more involved in support for bipolar people, because we're a very misunderstood bunch. People think you're a bit wacky, but you can't help the way you are. It's just the way the chemicals in the old noggin are working."


Read it here. It's tough going.

Stussy J-Dilla documentary, part 3.
Watch it here or below...


Stussy - J Dilla Documentary Prt3 (of 3) from Stussy on Vimeo.

Webstock 2010  - Hey DJ, what's that sound?
I'm gonna write this really fast, cos I have a lot of ideas to compress into this, and it's all gonna flow into one, so hold on...

Last Wednesday I flew down to Wellington for Webstock. Surprising lack of turbulence landing too. Nice. I had scored the gig as offical Webstock DJ from Jeff and Lisa of Mukuna, who held down the job last year but have since moved away from Welli (thanks guys). So you're going what is Webstock? It's a two-day conference featuring web developers, designers, thinkers and more. 24 guest speakers, kicking off with Scott Thomas, the design director for the Obama campaign. Just got better from there. I heard some incredible speakers.

My job was to DJ during the breaks and lunch. And when everyone was arriving to register on the first day - starting from 730am, which is a hell of a time to get your head around playing records. I also DJed the cocktail party on Thursday night, and after the Onya Awards on Friday night, from the top of the stage in the Wellington Town Hall, in front of the organ pipes. I discovered that night you can play Good times by Chic (scored another copy in Slowboat) and people will always dance. Dead cert.

I also got to hang out with some of the folks attending the conference, including some cool Wellington peeps I'd met on Twitter, who took me to their fave bars. It was my first time at Webstock, and other folk that I know who'd been raved about it, and now I see why. It's really hard to put down exactly what it is that makes Webstock so special, but it's a non-stop exchange of ideas and information for 48 hours. And a whole lot of fun.

On the Saturday night (after chilling out in Titahi Bay for the day, escaping the hordes at Homegrown) I did a Dub Asylum show at Havana Bar, an absolutely gorgeous little spot, with the Sounds Almighty crew, dropping loadsa reggae niceness. All in all, a fantastic time. Catching up on sleep is taking time....

Top photo by Anthea Whittle. Slideshow below by me, shot on my phone.

Poi-e boy.
The latest film from Taika Waititi is called Boy. It's set in 1984, so they use Poi-e in the soundtrack, cos it's the right period, and, well, it's just damn cool.

Fulgeance
Fulgeance is a French producer, and according to his Myspace page, his music "is a perfect blend of huge, synth-laced French Electro and modern Instrumental Hip Hop." It's a whole lot more than that - a delightful mish mash of squirmy, bouncy beats and squeeks that is mighty entertaining and very funky. He plays live with two MPCs, which would be a lotta fun to see. I discovered his music over the past year, especially his wonderful tune Tribute To Masekela, which is a must-have. Have a listen to his Myspace and check this interview with him (snip below). There's a free mixtape from him to download there too.

"...I think nerds are now the new rich and talented guys. Ask Bill Gates or that kind of important guy if he was famous at school. For sure he was trying to have a girl, and every jerk was laughing at him because he was workin’ on a new ‘geek’ computer project. So to be a nerd in France—because I’m not from Paris, but Caen and Normandy—is more now a fashion thing... From my side, to be nerd is to have a proper way to work in your passion or job—to not care about what’s happening outside but care more about what’s happening in what you like in music, films, games. … To be an addict, to work your own way—wakin’ up when you want, eating when you want—and to not care about what’s cool and hip....

Q: Samiyam sampled someone’s head getting crushed (from the movie Zombi) on Rap Beats Vol. 1. You have sampled your cat growling—how did you use it?
Fulgeance: "I never sampled my cat? Where did you get that? The crazy thing is I always wanted to, but my cat always stop breathing when I bring the mic to his mouth—crazy Minette! The weirdest thing I ever grabbed in a song—it never happened, and that’s cool and not cool—I sampled my girlfriend snoring, but I thought it was not cool for her if I put it in a track! Even if I really wanted to."

84 styles.
Local graffiti artist Askew recounts his artistic journey, discovering some of our city's earliest graffiti crews and their work, here on his blog... It's a fantastic read, with some great pictures...

His family moved from Palmerston North to Auckland in 18984... "...Our street was mainly Samoan and Cook Island families, a handful of Pakeha families and one Maori family who were part of the Twelve Tribes Of Israel and threw epic parties at the bottom of our street... It’s fair to say that 1980’s Auckland city was as stark a contrast to Palmerston North as you could get and one I’m very thankful to have experienced first hand..."

Local Sony staff worry over likely Trans-Tasman merger
As reported earlier today by Newstalk ZB, "Staff at Sony New Zealand fear there may be job losses, with the company reorganising its operations. Sony spokesman Peter Buckton has confirmed the company is looking at amalgamating its Australia and New Zealand operations... However he says there is is no suggestion there will be redundancies."

Reclaiming FNun - Roger Shepherd in his own words
From the latest issue of NZ Musician magazine, worth a read. No mention by name of Ben Howe (see his involvement on the FNun deal here), although Roger alludes to "... some friendships have been put on hold, something which I do regret...."

Next Stop: Soweto
This new comp sounds like it's gonna be mean... "Strut follow their recent forays into Nigerian and Ethio grooves with"a brand new wide-ranging three-part series exploring underground South  African music during the late ‘60s and ‘70s, Next Stop Soweto Volume 1 explores the vibrant energy of the township jive sound, whilst Volumes 2 and 3, released across (the northern) Spring and Summer 2010, cover rare SA soul, funk; Hammond R and B and the country’s rich jazz scene." More at nextstopsoweto.com.


[Free download] S. Piliso & His Super Seven- "Kuya Hanjwa" (mediafire) (zshare)

Prince and the Revolution: video of rehearsals from 1984
Go watch this quick before it gets taken down. Seven videos in total. HOT DAMN!