For those yet to sample the delights of Lovefingers - a website devoted to unearthing obscure musical gems on a daily basis and providing them for you or I or yer Uncle Tommy doing a five in Walton for twatting that midnight who blew up his Spanish baccy fiddle to listen to free of charge - this is our less technologically advanced version, hilariously entitled Hate Thumbs.
That's about as funny as a joke about finding the chief constable of Manchester dead at the foot of Snowdon with a punchline that goes 'pigs can't fly.' Anyways we've cobbled together a bunch of tunes from various CDL playlists and mixes which you CAN'T fucking download for nish because that takes time and energy and possible legal agreements with various publishing companies and who can be arsed with that? But if we could do something similar to the marvellous Lovefingers (www.lovefingers.org), then these are some of the tunes we'd put up.
LOVE FINGERS
Night Of The Hunter’s Moon - Sally Oldfield (Bronze)
Tomorrow I May Not Feel The Same - Gene Chandler (Chi-Sounds)
These Are The Laws - Judy Tzuke (Rocket )
Cucumber Garden - China Crisis (Inevitable)
Bullet - Renaissance (Island)
Little Red Fry-Up - Greenslade (Warners)
Slow Down - America (Warners)
Sealed With A Kiss - Jim Capaldi (Polydor)
Trash 2 - Roxy Music (Polydor promo)
One Minute More (Version) - Tony Gee (Mass Enterprise)
We Can Make It Happen (Sexy Licks Mix) - Prince Charles & The City Beat Band
Thinking About Your Love (Instru) - Skipworth & Turner (4th & Broadway)
Only Praise (Laker Boy Mix) - Praise (Epic)
Casual Ocean - Ananta (Touchstone)
Why Can’t We Live Together - Sade (Epic)
Osamu’s Theme (Kyoko’s House) - Philip Glass
Another Willingly Opened Window - Bill Nelson (Mercury)
VCL XI - OMD (Dindisc)
Baby Dub - Charles Augin (Malaco)
Fast Car - Foxy Brown (Charm)
Year Of The Cat (album version) - Al Stewart (RCA)
Blue Café - Style Council (Polydor)
Blue Riff - Stanley Turrentine (Blue Note)
Vjento Del Arena - Gipsy Kings (Telstar)
Sweet Revenge - The New Tony Williams Lifetime (CBS)
I Want You - Carmen McRae (Atlantic)
Do It Do It - Rose Royce (Whitfield)
Lay It Down - Demis Roussos (Philips)
Let’s Turn Out The Lights - Charles Aznavour (Mfp)
Let’s Love & Feel Free - Candi Staton (Sugarhill)
Lovers (Live A Little Bit Longer) - Abba (Vogue)
Yassassin - David Bowie (RCA)
Sky – Xango
Emerson Lake & Palmer – Take a Pebble
Shakti – Bridge of Sighs/George Carlin – People I Can Do Without
Peter Green – Skabo Day
Clive John – Summer Song
Focus – Crackers
Curved Air – Back Street Luv
John Martyn – Big Muff
The Neville Brothers – With God On Our Side
Traffic – Don’t Be Sad
Alan Parsons Project – Dream Within A Dream
John Travolta – Easy Evil
Nazareth – Morning Dew (Prins Thomas Edit)
Lynsey Buckingham – Johnny Stew
The Beach Boys – Long Promised Road
London Symphony Orchestra – Life On Mars
A Foreign Place - Japan (Hansa)
Secret Party - Masami Tsuchiya (Epic)
On My Own (Robin Guthrie version) - Ulrich Schnauss (Independiente)
All Of Me - Swell Session v Mark De Clive-Lowe (Freerange)
Be Suspicious - China Crisis (Inevitable)
Discover Your Life - Stylus (Prodigal)
East 6th St - Aquarian Dream (Buddah)
Sittin’ In The Park - Bobby Thurston (Epic)
Swimming (Dub Mix) - Nick Holder Feat Zaki (NRK)
Open Your Heart (Dub) - Madonna
Murphy’s Law (Instru) - Cheri (Venture)
Trust In Me - Vicki Sue Robinson (RCA)
Crocodile (Innervisions Orchestra Mix) - Underworld (Different)
Salacid - Luke Vibert (Planet Mu)
I’m Corrupt - Kid Creole (Ze)
Come On - The Real People (CBS)
Straight Lines - Suzanne Vega (A&M)
Attitude Dancing - Carly Simon (Elektra)
Letting Go - Wings (Capitol)
An infinite number of monkeys - Bob Newhart (Warners)
No Sound In Space - Tomita (RCA)
Bliss - Chick Corea (Happy Bird)
Twilight Of Idols - Fashion (De Stijl)
Inspiration - Grace Jones (Island)
Je T’aime (Moi Non Plus) - Donna Summer (Casablanca)
At Tension - Hall & Oates (RCA)
Floating Seeds - Ozric Tentacles (Snapper)
Fohat Digs Holes In Space - Gong (Virgin)
Moongerms - Billy Cobham (Atlantic)
Jacaranda - Sailor (Epic)
Toyota City - Human League (Virgin)
Herbie Hancock - The Eye Of The Hurricane (Blue Note)
I Feel Sanctified - The Commodores (Motown)
Space Princess - Lonnie Liston Smith (Columbia)
Big Change In The Weather - Gerry Rafferty (UA)
More Girls - Moments & Whatnauts (All Platinum)
No Matter What Sign You Are - Diana Ross & The Supremes (Motown)
Tell The Truth - Ike & Tina Turner (Warner Bros)
The Burning Sword Of Capua - Triumvirat (Harvest)
Don’t You Feel Small - The Moody Blues (Threshold)
Naked - Shackleton (Skull Disco)
Happy Monday (September Mix) - Undo (Factorcity)
I Remember You - The Eurythmics (RCA)
Italian Song - Jon & Vangelis (Polydor)
Fisherman’s Daughter - Daniel Lanois (Opal)
Wholly Humble Heart - Martin Stephenson & The Daintees (Kitchenware)
Only Love Can Break Your Heart - Elkie Brooks (A&M)
In A Stranger’s Arms - Yvonne Elliman (RSO)
Day Or Night - Little Feat (Warners)
Affirmation - George Benson (Warners)
The Hustler - Crusaders (MCA)
Watch It Go - Summer (Touchstone)
Zambo Montuno - Daiquiri (Sono-tone)
White Witch - Andrea True Connection (Buddah)
Magnetic Fields Part 4 - Jean Michel Jarre (Polydor)
Let It Happen (Instrumental) - Lindstrom (Feedelity)
River People - Weather Report (CBS)
Outer Space - Atmosfear (Elite)
Cicero Park - Hot Chocolate (RAK)
Life’s A Beach (Todd Terje mix) - Studio
Starry Eyes - LCD Sound system (DFA)
Let’s Go All The Way (Diamond Dub Mix) - Sly Fox (Capitol)
The Gospel (Instrumental) - Dizzi Heights (Parlophone)
Crimson As Murder (Punks Jump Up Can U Dance Remix) David Gilmore Girls (Relish)
A Brass Band In African Chimes - Simple Minds (Virgin)
Don’t Burn Down The Bridge - Gladys Knight & The Pips (Buddah)
HATE THUMBS
Lindisfarne - Clear White Light
Caravan - Aristocracy
The Higsons - Touchdown
Silver Apples - A Pox On You
Bill Hicks - LA Falls
Incredible String Band - Water Song
The Yardbirds - White Summer
Mercury Rev - Lincoln’s Eyes
D’arcangelo - Stepping Out
Aril Brikha - Anna’s Theme
Laurent Garnier - M-Bass
The Jam - Ghosts
Fun Boy 3 - The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum
King Biscuit Time - Kwangchow
Lenny Bruce - To Is A Propisition, Come Is A Verb
Urban Tribe - Frequency Scan
Aleksi Perala - Black Leicester
Ceephax - Dreamer
Four Tet - My Angel Rocks Back & Forth (Icarus Remix)
Technasia - Eternity Is Almost Forever
Mudd - Crayfish & Deer
Lindstrom & Prins Thomas - Nummer Fire To
Andreas Vollenweider – Over the Wall, under the gardens, behind the tree
Dufus – Right On
Seals & Crofts – Sweet Green Fields
Paul Simon – Diamonds (Terje Dub)
Akabu – Akabu Theme
Simply Red – Love Fire (Big Red Mix)
Jerry Harrison – Worlds In Collision
George Carlin – People I Can Do Without/Steve Hillage – Octave Doctors
Map of Africa – Bone
Cal Tjader/Charlie Byrd – Tambu
The Sorcerer – Surfing At Midnight/Cheech & Chong – Lardass
A R Kane – Love from Outer Space
John Paul Young – Standing In The Rain
Magick Edit Allstars – Voices
Beyond The Wizards Sleeve – Bubble Burst
Mary McCaslin - Blackbird
Mtume - Breathless (Intro)
Dead Can Dance - Music Eternal
Roxy Music - Sultanesque
Giorgio Moroder - Leopard Tree Dream
Hawkwind - Opa Loka
Eurythmics - Monkey Monkey
Fehlfarben - Jar Jar (Es Geht Voran)
Des Allstar - Gone West
ROC - Cheryl
Gramme - Rehab
Steve Hillage - Unidentified (Flying Being)
Patrick Moraz - Impact
Fashion - Alternative Playback (Full Frame)
Dance Disaster Movement - The Shots
D.A.F - Der Rauber Und Der Prinz
Tangerine Dream - Fly & Collision of Solas
Propaganda - Dr Mabuse (A Snatch Thereof)
Mark Stewart - Contagious
Wendy Carlos - William Tell Overture (Abridged)
Les Nouvelles Polyphonies - Introitu
Daniel Lanois - Still Water
Tommy Guerrero - 100 Years
Cat Stevens - The Hurt
Steve Winwood - Spanish Dancer
B+ - B Beat Classic
Carole King - Spaceship Races
Robert Wyatt - To Mark Everywhere/Monty Python & the Holy Grail
Money Mark - Maybe I‘m Dead
Herbie Mann - Toot Stick
Coldcut - Autumn Leaves (Irresistible Force Mix)
Horace Andy - Girl I Love You
Jon & Vangelis - State of Independence
Steely Dan - Black Cow
Rhythm Heritage - Skippin‘
Demis Roussos - Let It Happen
High Feelings - Leave Norway
Thompson Twins - Vendredi Saint
Parliament - Presence Of A Brain
Neil Diamond - Crunchy Granola Suite
Steve Miller Band - Wild Mountain Honey
Poco - Sitting On A Fence
Sutherland Bros & Quiver - When The Train Comes
The Mighty Flyers - Blood For Blood
Four Seasons - New York Street Song (No Easy Way)
Steely Dan - FM (Reprise)
Peter Frampton - Doobie Wah
Cher - Flashback
Little Feat - Two Trains
The James Gang - Walk Away
ELO - Last Train To London
Billy Joel - Get It Right First Time
The J. Geils Band - Flamethrower
Boz Scaggs - Lido Shuffle
10cc - Blackmail
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Up Around The Bend
Chicago - What’s This World Coming To
Bread - Fancy Dancer
Dr Hook - Doin’ It
Robert Palmer - Fleshwound
Elkie Brooks - Nightbird
The Alan Parsons Project - The Voice
America - Sandman
Wishbone Ash - Time Was
Tuesday, 15 April 2008
Monday, 14 April 2008
Allez Allez
Best Of Allez Allez - Allez Allez (Eskimo)
Only the other day I bought a ropey compilation, mainly for a Vince Montana track but the stand-out tune was Allez Allez’s ‘Flesh & Blood’ with its ‘You Should Be Dancing’ horn coda and early 80s scratchy white funk. To be honest, Allez Allez must’ve passed me by, so I did a spot of googling and youtubing and the very next day this compilation was posted from the good people at epm. Serendipity? Co-incidence? Or something much stranger? Who gives a fuck?
Anyways, this compilation is a must for anyone with a penchant for post-punk faux funk. Opener, African Queen sounds so much like Grace Jones circa Nightclubbing that I think it’s perhaps a tribute to Queen Grace herself.
Allez Allez has a lyric that sounds like “Help me, help me, Gary Barlow!” I’m sure it doesn’t say that but it should. It’s ace and gets two remixes from heroes of the hour, Aeroplane and Lindstrom & Prince Harry of Helmand.
She’s Stirring Up has elements of Debbie Harry’s shite rapping on Rapture set to a frantic Haircut 100 backbeat whereas Marathon Dance is Defunkt meets the Gang Of Four with a splash of Talking Heads thrown in for good measure.
Turn Up The Meter is a Rip Rig & Panic meet UB40 style groove and Valley Of The Kings is the sort of corny cod-Egyptian concept track T‘Pau would‘ve based a whole double album around.
Wrap Your Legs (Around Your Head) is of course a play on the Gap Band’s ‘Oops Upside Your Head’ but in its delivery sounds far closer to the great bootboy chant ‘Boots Wrapped Round Yer Head.‘ Were Allez Allez familiar with the mating rituals of the Anny Road or the Scoreboard Paddock? I certainly hope so but somehow doubt it.
Flesh & Blood is next in all its magnificent slinky disco glory with a vocal that sounds like Billy MacKenzie fucking Minnie Ripperton and a boss mandolin solo competing with a cartoon woggawoggawogga sound effect.
Next comes the remixes. Quiet Village do their Quiet Village thing on African Queen, stripping back almost every element to leave the bare bones of a tune, which is, let’s face it, what Quiet Village are so good at. It never really gets going or goes anywhere but does so delightfully with eerie jungle sounds and monastic chants. Like staring at flock wallpaper without blinking, it becomes hypnotic after a few minutes.
The Aeroplane remix of Allez Allez does that Aeroplane thing that Aeroplane do so well, creating a gorgeous piano house groove that goes on for several centuries before the black plague kills everyone horrifically. Next up we have Optimo (Espacio) doing their Optimo (Escapio) thing on a ’Drum Attack’ mix of She’s Stirring Up which stretches the groove so far that it circles the sun and comes home in time for tea (fish fingers with winter mash).
Lindstrom & Prince Michael of Kent complete the Eskimo All-Star remix challenge with another rather L&PT-centric remix of Allez Allez. For the life of me it sounds exactly like a Lindstrom & Prince Nazeem Hamid remix of an Allez Allez track called Allez Allez track should sound like. The descending piano riff gets its coat on, takes the dog for a walk and makes a packed lunch for the old folk down the road’s day-trip to Llandudno before climbing onboard a bus, going to town for a browse around Primark and having a swift bevvy in the Beehive before calling in on his cousin to watch The Wire series three in one sitting.
Or something.
As St Etienne fans once sang ’Allez Les Verts’ but that’s neither here nor there.
Only the other day I bought a ropey compilation, mainly for a Vince Montana track but the stand-out tune was Allez Allez’s ‘Flesh & Blood’ with its ‘You Should Be Dancing’ horn coda and early 80s scratchy white funk. To be honest, Allez Allez must’ve passed me by, so I did a spot of googling and youtubing and the very next day this compilation was posted from the good people at epm. Serendipity? Co-incidence? Or something much stranger? Who gives a fuck?
Anyways, this compilation is a must for anyone with a penchant for post-punk faux funk. Opener, African Queen sounds so much like Grace Jones circa Nightclubbing that I think it’s perhaps a tribute to Queen Grace herself.
Allez Allez has a lyric that sounds like “Help me, help me, Gary Barlow!” I’m sure it doesn’t say that but it should. It’s ace and gets two remixes from heroes of the hour, Aeroplane and Lindstrom & Prince Harry of Helmand.
She’s Stirring Up has elements of Debbie Harry’s shite rapping on Rapture set to a frantic Haircut 100 backbeat whereas Marathon Dance is Defunkt meets the Gang Of Four with a splash of Talking Heads thrown in for good measure.
Turn Up The Meter is a Rip Rig & Panic meet UB40 style groove and Valley Of The Kings is the sort of corny cod-Egyptian concept track T‘Pau would‘ve based a whole double album around.
Wrap Your Legs (Around Your Head) is of course a play on the Gap Band’s ‘Oops Upside Your Head’ but in its delivery sounds far closer to the great bootboy chant ‘Boots Wrapped Round Yer Head.‘ Were Allez Allez familiar with the mating rituals of the Anny Road or the Scoreboard Paddock? I certainly hope so but somehow doubt it.
Flesh & Blood is next in all its magnificent slinky disco glory with a vocal that sounds like Billy MacKenzie fucking Minnie Ripperton and a boss mandolin solo competing with a cartoon woggawoggawogga sound effect.
Next comes the remixes. Quiet Village do their Quiet Village thing on African Queen, stripping back almost every element to leave the bare bones of a tune, which is, let’s face it, what Quiet Village are so good at. It never really gets going or goes anywhere but does so delightfully with eerie jungle sounds and monastic chants. Like staring at flock wallpaper without blinking, it becomes hypnotic after a few minutes.
The Aeroplane remix of Allez Allez does that Aeroplane thing that Aeroplane do so well, creating a gorgeous piano house groove that goes on for several centuries before the black plague kills everyone horrifically. Next up we have Optimo (Espacio) doing their Optimo (Escapio) thing on a ’Drum Attack’ mix of She’s Stirring Up which stretches the groove so far that it circles the sun and comes home in time for tea (fish fingers with winter mash).
Lindstrom & Prince Michael of Kent complete the Eskimo All-Star remix challenge with another rather L&PT-centric remix of Allez Allez. For the life of me it sounds exactly like a Lindstrom & Prince Nazeem Hamid remix of an Allez Allez track called Allez Allez track should sound like. The descending piano riff gets its coat on, takes the dog for a walk and makes a packed lunch for the old folk down the road’s day-trip to Llandudno before climbing onboard a bus, going to town for a browse around Primark and having a swift bevvy in the Beehive before calling in on his cousin to watch The Wire series three in one sitting.
Or something.
As St Etienne fans once sang ’Allez Les Verts’ but that’s neither here nor there.
Tuesday, 1 April 2008
April Fool's Rekkid Reviews
Mental Overdrive - You Are Being Manipulated (Love OD/Smalltown Supersound)
This could well be a lesson in how electronic music has evolved over the past 30 years, from the proggy opener, Intro through old skool electro (Elephantastic), Euro-disco (Europa), synth-pop (R.I.P.P.E.R), house (Run To The Hills), techno (Spooks) and break beat (Original Material) You Are Being Manipulated, whether consciously or not, tends to unfold chronologically track by track until Molina’s Theme where it devolves back to Italo and proggy flavoured moodscapes with Mysterio and the epic The Rage. By the time of closing track, End, we’ve touched almost every conceivable electronic marker and back again which is credit to Per Martinsen’s taste and dedication to pushing boundaries whilst openly acknowledging his influences.
Release date 28 May
Bochum Welt - R.O.B (Robotic Operating Buddy) (Rephlex)
A 2 x CD release that could almost be a parody of Rephlex’s techno-nerd tendencies, what with its perhaps self-deprecating title (Robotic Operating Buddy? Come on!) and Rephlexesque pseudo-scientific un-titles such as 8221SB, DR2D and HC-012 (maybe he’s in competition with Autechre) yet there is greatness to be gleaned from these grooves. CD one features new tracks and mixes and after a regulation android-tech-funk start with Flag, the tone becomes more melodic and ambient, but in a good way. R.O.B is the sort of music to seduce a toaster to. The second CD compiles rarities from Bochum’s back catalogue and with 20 tracks called things like Avtomaticesk, B2, Paph and Feelings On A Screen we‘re in familiar territory. Never a genre that’s gonna convert anyone but the most hardcore of post-tech noiseniks, nevertheless we should still be happy that people such as Gianluigi Di Constanzo are providing a travelogue to the outer edges of the sonic universe.
Release date 7th April
Low Motion Disco - Love Love Love Part 1 & 2 (Eskimo)
Like Fernando Torres, Low Motion Disco are Eskimo’s hot new signings that will brighten up an otherwise up n’ down season. With mixes from the likes of Still Going, Aeroplane, LSB and Soft Rocks to accompany the original version this is an opening salvo worthy of El Torro himself. Perfectly in keeping with the blissy-hissy nu balearia blueprint, Love Love Love is set to rock floors all summer long. LSB’s mix grafts pulsating disco strings and a Do Ya Think I’m Sexy coda for a chuggy mid-tempo groover whilst Soft Rocks go for an even more sedated Boz Scaggsy vibe but it’s the superb Aeroplane mix that really rocks my yacht Roman. We love Love Love Love here kidda.
Release date 21st April
Bliss - Big Freeze Volume 2 (Platipus)
This double CD is so chilled even wooly mammoths would be asking for lecky blankets. Now I’ve got a lot of time for ye olde chille oute scene, as guest DJ at many Big Chill events and a residency at Tromso Public Baths between October and February, I know what it’s like to play Boards Of Canada records to crowds of frost-bitten frenzied Lapps but this is something else. Bliss - fuck all to do with that bint from Faithless - give us a compilation that effortlessly fuses their classical roots with contemporary and classic pieces from the likes of Cantoma, Dubtribe Soundsystem, Mudd, Trentemoller and Charles Webster. To be honest, these compilations are becoming a tad predictable with the same old names appearing with alarming regularity, as if all those Ibiza Chill/Marks & Spencer Ambient Moods Vol 5/Lidl Sunset Strip Classics 37 never happened. That isn’t to say it’s not expertly programmed and pleasurable to listen to just a bit zzzzzzzzz.
Release date 14th April
Thanks to Jonas at epm for review copies.
Talacre FM Jukebox
Alien - Japan (Hansa)
Hills of Katmandu (played at 33 rpm pitched up to plus 8) - Tantra (Automatic)
House Of The King - Focus (Polydor)
Total Panic - Human League (Virgin)
Boo’s Boogie - Betty Boo (Rhythm King)
The Women - Village People (Mercury)
Back Together Again - Hall & Oates (RCA)
You & I Part 2 - Fleetwood Mac (Warners)
Crazy Pages - John Glover (Electric Record Co)
Dig Dis - Hank Mobley (Blue Note)
This could well be a lesson in how electronic music has evolved over the past 30 years, from the proggy opener, Intro through old skool electro (Elephantastic), Euro-disco (Europa), synth-pop (R.I.P.P.E.R), house (Run To The Hills), techno (Spooks) and break beat (Original Material) You Are Being Manipulated, whether consciously or not, tends to unfold chronologically track by track until Molina’s Theme where it devolves back to Italo and proggy flavoured moodscapes with Mysterio and the epic The Rage. By the time of closing track, End, we’ve touched almost every conceivable electronic marker and back again which is credit to Per Martinsen’s taste and dedication to pushing boundaries whilst openly acknowledging his influences.
Release date 28 May
Bochum Welt - R.O.B (Robotic Operating Buddy) (Rephlex)
A 2 x CD release that could almost be a parody of Rephlex’s techno-nerd tendencies, what with its perhaps self-deprecating title (Robotic Operating Buddy? Come on!) and Rephlexesque pseudo-scientific un-titles such as 8221SB, DR2D and HC-012 (maybe he’s in competition with Autechre) yet there is greatness to be gleaned from these grooves. CD one features new tracks and mixes and after a regulation android-tech-funk start with Flag, the tone becomes more melodic and ambient, but in a good way. R.O.B is the sort of music to seduce a toaster to. The second CD compiles rarities from Bochum’s back catalogue and with 20 tracks called things like Avtomaticesk, B2, Paph and Feelings On A Screen we‘re in familiar territory. Never a genre that’s gonna convert anyone but the most hardcore of post-tech noiseniks, nevertheless we should still be happy that people such as Gianluigi Di Constanzo are providing a travelogue to the outer edges of the sonic universe.
Release date 7th April
Low Motion Disco - Love Love Love Part 1 & 2 (Eskimo)
Like Fernando Torres, Low Motion Disco are Eskimo’s hot new signings that will brighten up an otherwise up n’ down season. With mixes from the likes of Still Going, Aeroplane, LSB and Soft Rocks to accompany the original version this is an opening salvo worthy of El Torro himself. Perfectly in keeping with the blissy-hissy nu balearia blueprint, Love Love Love is set to rock floors all summer long. LSB’s mix grafts pulsating disco strings and a Do Ya Think I’m Sexy coda for a chuggy mid-tempo groover whilst Soft Rocks go for an even more sedated Boz Scaggsy vibe but it’s the superb Aeroplane mix that really rocks my yacht Roman. We love Love Love Love here kidda.
Release date 21st April
Bliss - Big Freeze Volume 2 (Platipus)
This double CD is so chilled even wooly mammoths would be asking for lecky blankets. Now I’ve got a lot of time for ye olde chille oute scene, as guest DJ at many Big Chill events and a residency at Tromso Public Baths between October and February, I know what it’s like to play Boards Of Canada records to crowds of frost-bitten frenzied Lapps but this is something else. Bliss - fuck all to do with that bint from Faithless - give us a compilation that effortlessly fuses their classical roots with contemporary and classic pieces from the likes of Cantoma, Dubtribe Soundsystem, Mudd, Trentemoller and Charles Webster. To be honest, these compilations are becoming a tad predictable with the same old names appearing with alarming regularity, as if all those Ibiza Chill/Marks & Spencer Ambient Moods Vol 5/Lidl Sunset Strip Classics 37 never happened. That isn’t to say it’s not expertly programmed and pleasurable to listen to just a bit zzzzzzzzz.
Release date 14th April
Thanks to Jonas at epm for review copies.
Talacre FM Jukebox
Alien - Japan (Hansa)
Hills of Katmandu (played at 33 rpm pitched up to plus 8) - Tantra (Automatic)
House Of The King - Focus (Polydor)
Total Panic - Human League (Virgin)
Boo’s Boogie - Betty Boo (Rhythm King)
The Women - Village People (Mercury)
Back Together Again - Hall & Oates (RCA)
You & I Part 2 - Fleetwood Mac (Warners)
Crazy Pages - John Glover (Electric Record Co)
Dig Dis - Hank Mobley (Blue Note)
Thursday, 20 March 2008
Cafe del Lar Classics # 2 : Substances - DJ Cam (Inflamable, 1996)
Difficult to believe that this LP is now 12 years old. At the time it was produced both drum n’ bass and big beat were approaching critical mass whilst the genre formerly known as ‘trip hop’ was slowly transforming itself into ‘chill out’ and losing any semblance of 'da funk' in the process. An appalling invented pigeonhole it may have been but ‘trip hop’ is possibly the only way to describe the eight tracks and nine interludes that comprise Substances.
Parisian DJ Cam pays homage not only to his hip hop roots on this LP but also the city’s jazz heritage and it’s a smoky, late night cellar bop that infuses all of the tracks especially those like Friends & Enemies with its Malcolm X speech sample and Blue Note piano riff and the weary, bleary eyed blues of Angel Dust. Innervisions begins with a double bass riff that gradually expands via harp, piano and strings into a beautiful voyage around Cam’s internal headspace, Hip Hop Pioneers pays tribute to the likes of Premier, Guru, Jeru, Group Home, Eric B and Rakim and Public Enemy who get name-checked on the sleeve. Guru is obviously an influence on Substances yet here Cam burrows much deeper into the subterranean heart of jazz than his US counterparts.
Elsewhere the LP uses Kakoli Sengupta’s haunting vocals to provide Eastern textures to tracks such as Meera and Lost Kingdom. This a mood piece LP for the wee small hours with only Sound System Children’s pulsating John Carpenter a la Jean-Luc Godard soundtrack and closing track Twilight Zone’s string drenched drum n’ bass upping the tempo to a stoned head-noddin’ pace.
French hip hop was ‘de rigeur’ in the mid-90s but whereas the likes of Dimitri and Daft Punk managed to transcend their Gallic roots to become global players, DJ Cam never really became more than a cult star and trendy name to drop in Jazz Café/Straight No Chaser circles. A pity because at his best, Cam effortlessly fused the past, present and future of ‘urban’ music better than almost anybody.
Parisian DJ Cam pays homage not only to his hip hop roots on this LP but also the city’s jazz heritage and it’s a smoky, late night cellar bop that infuses all of the tracks especially those like Friends & Enemies with its Malcolm X speech sample and Blue Note piano riff and the weary, bleary eyed blues of Angel Dust. Innervisions begins with a double bass riff that gradually expands via harp, piano and strings into a beautiful voyage around Cam’s internal headspace, Hip Hop Pioneers pays tribute to the likes of Premier, Guru, Jeru, Group Home, Eric B and Rakim and Public Enemy who get name-checked on the sleeve. Guru is obviously an influence on Substances yet here Cam burrows much deeper into the subterranean heart of jazz than his US counterparts.
Elsewhere the LP uses Kakoli Sengupta’s haunting vocals to provide Eastern textures to tracks such as Meera and Lost Kingdom. This a mood piece LP for the wee small hours with only Sound System Children’s pulsating John Carpenter a la Jean-Luc Godard soundtrack and closing track Twilight Zone’s string drenched drum n’ bass upping the tempo to a stoned head-noddin’ pace.
French hip hop was ‘de rigeur’ in the mid-90s but whereas the likes of Dimitri and Daft Punk managed to transcend their Gallic roots to become global players, DJ Cam never really became more than a cult star and trendy name to drop in Jazz Café/Straight No Chaser circles. A pity because at his best, Cam effortlessly fused the past, present and future of ‘urban’ music better than almost anybody.
Tuesday, 11 March 2008
Daniele Baldelli - Cosmic Disco? Cosmic Rock!
Review - Cosmic Disco? Cosmic Rock!
Compiled by Daniele Baldelli & Marco Dionigi (Eskimo)
Often hailed as the ‘Godfather of Cosmic Disco’ or as the ‘Midwife of Italo-House’ (we’ve just made that one up), Daniele Baldelli’s reputation as one of the world’s most innovative DJs has recently been re-established. Not to everyone’s taste, Baldelli’s slo-mo disco style stood in marked contrast to the hi-nrg and high tempo club sounds of most US and UK dance floors of the late 70s and early 80s, helping forge what would later become the Italo sound.
During his residency at Italy’s renown ’Cosmic’ club, Baldelli evolved his own unique style that owed little or nothing to established DJing techniques. An obsessive dedication to experimenting with both the pitch and speed of records and how various elements of each tune inter-related at different tempos, Baldelli’s ’Moroder on Methadone’ style marked him out as a DJ who was never content to just play it safe. Relentless chugging basslines and funky synth stabs remain a constant element, the body beat foundation upon which his structures are layered, beat by beat, track by track.
Cosmic Disco? Cosmic Rock! demonstrates the length to which Baldelli goes to in order to seek out the perfect tune for the perfect mix. In common with his Ibizan contemporary Alfredo, Baldelli’s aesthetic dismisses fickle notions of accepted ’cool’ in order to create something far greater than the sum of its parts. Hence we get the likes of Martha & The Muffins, The Thompson Twins, Ray Parker Junior and The Dream Syndicate next to Fra Lippo Lippi, the Bronx Irish Catholics and La Bionda.
The pulsating flow of this fantastic mix is rarely broken, and whilst it’s now difficult to appreciate quite how radical this Italo-Balearic style was almost 25 years after Cosmic closed its doors, it’s nice to see Baldelli receiving credit for the untold hours he put in during his creative heyday.
Tracklist :
1 Fra Lippo Lippi- Say Something
2 Richard Bone - Mutant Wisdom
3 The Romantics - A Night Like This
4 Kevin Harrison - Ink Man
5 Translator - Break Down Barriers
6 Martha & The Muffins - Danseparc (Every Day It’s Tomorrow)
7 The Dream Syndicate - 50 In A 25 Zone
8 Thompson Twins - Beach Culture
9 Positive Noise - Positive Negative
10 David Jackson - Stonewall Stands With Thomas Davies
11 La Bionda - I Got Your Number
12 Torch Song - Prepare To Energize
13 Ray Parker Junior - -The Other Woman
14 Strafe Fur Rebellion - Mosche Bildt Njet
15 Spirit - Potatoland Theme
16 Spider - Better Be Good To Me
17 Bronx Irish Catholics - Ulster Defense
18 Alicia Bridges - Body heat
Release date - 21st April
Compiled by Daniele Baldelli & Marco Dionigi (Eskimo)
Often hailed as the ‘Godfather of Cosmic Disco’ or as the ‘Midwife of Italo-House’ (we’ve just made that one up), Daniele Baldelli’s reputation as one of the world’s most innovative DJs has recently been re-established. Not to everyone’s taste, Baldelli’s slo-mo disco style stood in marked contrast to the hi-nrg and high tempo club sounds of most US and UK dance floors of the late 70s and early 80s, helping forge what would later become the Italo sound.
During his residency at Italy’s renown ’Cosmic’ club, Baldelli evolved his own unique style that owed little or nothing to established DJing techniques. An obsessive dedication to experimenting with both the pitch and speed of records and how various elements of each tune inter-related at different tempos, Baldelli’s ’Moroder on Methadone’ style marked him out as a DJ who was never content to just play it safe. Relentless chugging basslines and funky synth stabs remain a constant element, the body beat foundation upon which his structures are layered, beat by beat, track by track.
Cosmic Disco? Cosmic Rock! demonstrates the length to which Baldelli goes to in order to seek out the perfect tune for the perfect mix. In common with his Ibizan contemporary Alfredo, Baldelli’s aesthetic dismisses fickle notions of accepted ’cool’ in order to create something far greater than the sum of its parts. Hence we get the likes of Martha & The Muffins, The Thompson Twins, Ray Parker Junior and The Dream Syndicate next to Fra Lippo Lippi, the Bronx Irish Catholics and La Bionda.
The pulsating flow of this fantastic mix is rarely broken, and whilst it’s now difficult to appreciate quite how radical this Italo-Balearic style was almost 25 years after Cosmic closed its doors, it’s nice to see Baldelli receiving credit for the untold hours he put in during his creative heyday.
Tracklist :
1 Fra Lippo Lippi- Say Something
2 Richard Bone - Mutant Wisdom
3 The Romantics - A Night Like This
4 Kevin Harrison - Ink Man
5 Translator - Break Down Barriers
6 Martha & The Muffins - Danseparc (Every Day It’s Tomorrow)
7 The Dream Syndicate - 50 In A 25 Zone
8 Thompson Twins - Beach Culture
9 Positive Noise - Positive Negative
10 David Jackson - Stonewall Stands With Thomas Davies
11 La Bionda - I Got Your Number
12 Torch Song - Prepare To Energize
13 Ray Parker Junior - -The Other Woman
14 Strafe Fur Rebellion - Mosche Bildt Njet
15 Spirit - Potatoland Theme
16 Spider - Better Be Good To Me
17 Bronx Irish Catholics - Ulster Defense
18 Alicia Bridges - Body heat
Release date - 21st April
Tuesday, 12 February 2008
"DO NOT SEEK THE TRAY-ZURE"
Some bits & bobs that have helped us persuade our quack to reduce our Citalopram script over the last couple of weeks;
Dobie Gray - You Can Do It (Infinity)
Cash in disco with more than a hint of the Tony Orlandos about it, but a winner nonetheless.
Barbara Jones - Never Let Me Go (A Side)
A sunny 7 inches of prime Lovers, ideal for this unseasonably clement weather that we're currently enjoying.
Panda Bear - Good Girl/Carrots (Paw Tracks)
A tad shy of 13 minutes worth of Tribal drumming, gobbledey gook lyrics, Inuit throat singing, lurching dub basslines, Northern stomping, reverb, Tibetan finger cymbals & Noah Lennox's plaintive vocals. If you don't already own the magisterial "Person Pitch" might we humbly suggest going & availing yourself of it RIGHT FLIPPING NOW.
Jay Dee - Games & Funky Things (Instrumental) (Warners)
Barry White production formerly used as a theme by the Big Dawg 'imself, His Holiness Timothy of Westwood for his wireless programme - recently snagged on a 7 for 20p in one of the all too infrequent CDL Charity Shop snatch missions.
Lovefingers - Kentucky (RVNG)
Christ alone knows what the original is but ol' Funky Spingers is bang on the dough with his edit, the get.
The Bee Gees - Love You Inside & Out (RSO)
Quite how that intro hasn't been pilfered for sampling purposes is beyond my admittedly limited ken, unless of course it has; in which case disregard this dreck.
Bill Nelson - Another Willingly Opened Window (Mercury)
The former Be Bop Deluxer heads right up his own hoop on this "experimental" LP from 1981 but this the opener on Side 2 makes the rest of the guff worth sticking with.
The Glimmer Twins - Music For Dreams (Glimmers)
With those frankly sickeningly talented Nordic types Lindstrom & Prins Thomas on board for the ride this is one of the stand out cuts from their "The Glimmers are Gee Gee Fazzi" see-dy.
Terry Riley - A Rainbow In Curved Air (CBS)
If there was an award for the most cloyingly idealistic sleevenotes, this LP'd win by a country mile but as there isn't currently any such award (nor is there likely to be if we're being honest) the 18 or so predominantly beatless minutes that make up side 1 will just have to do.
Hercules/Love Affair feat Anthony - Blind (DFA)
In any right minded society this'd piss all over the records set by Bryan Adams/Smack Smack Smack for the longest running Number 1 of all time, EVER! but we don't so it won't - comfort yourself by simply listening to it time & time again. Lush as a last minute derby winner.
Cash in disco with more than a hint of the Tony Orlandos about it, but a winner nonetheless.
Barbara Jones - Never Let Me Go (A Side)
A sunny 7 inches of prime Lovers, ideal for this unseasonably clement weather that we're currently enjoying.
Panda Bear - Good Girl/Carrots (Paw Tracks)
A tad shy of 13 minutes worth of Tribal drumming, gobbledey gook lyrics, Inuit throat singing, lurching dub basslines, Northern stomping, reverb, Tibetan finger cymbals & Noah Lennox's plaintive vocals. If you don't already own the magisterial "Person Pitch" might we humbly suggest going & availing yourself of it RIGHT FLIPPING NOW.
Jay Dee - Games & Funky Things (Instrumental) (Warners)
Barry White production formerly used as a theme by the Big Dawg 'imself, His Holiness Timothy of Westwood for his wireless programme - recently snagged on a 7 for 20p in one of the all too infrequent CDL Charity Shop snatch missions.
Lovefingers - Kentucky (RVNG)
Christ alone knows what the original is but ol' Funky Spingers is bang on the dough with his edit, the get.
The Bee Gees - Love You Inside & Out (RSO)
Quite how that intro hasn't been pilfered for sampling purposes is beyond my admittedly limited ken, unless of course it has; in which case disregard this dreck.
Bill Nelson - Another Willingly Opened Window (Mercury)
The former Be Bop Deluxer heads right up his own hoop on this "experimental" LP from 1981 but this the opener on Side 2 makes the rest of the guff worth sticking with.
The Glimmer Twins - Music For Dreams (Glimmers)
With those frankly sickeningly talented Nordic types Lindstrom & Prins Thomas on board for the ride this is one of the stand out cuts from their "The Glimmers are Gee Gee Fazzi" see-dy.
Terry Riley - A Rainbow In Curved Air (CBS)
If there was an award for the most cloyingly idealistic sleevenotes, this LP'd win by a country mile but as there isn't currently any such award (nor is there likely to be if we're being honest) the 18 or so predominantly beatless minutes that make up side 1 will just have to do.
Hercules/Love Affair feat Anthony - Blind (DFA)
In any right minded society this'd piss all over the records set by Bryan Adams/Smack Smack Smack for the longest running Number 1 of all time, EVER! but we don't so it won't - comfort yourself by simply listening to it time & time again. Lush as a last minute derby winner.
Thursday, 7 February 2008
Cafe del Lar Classics # 1 - Masami Tsuchiya - Rice Music (Epic, 1982)
Opening with the title track, a typically Nipponese plink plonk rhythm underpinned by Mick Karn’s trademark rubber band basslines, Rice Music is an album that could’ve only been made in the early 80s. It sets the tone for ten tracks of ‘globalearic’ grooves that throw everything at the wall to see what sticks.
Se! Se! Se! is a funky Talking Heads style global groove with itchy n’ scratchy guitars and Tom Tom Club-esque shouty stream-of-consciousness vocals. Haina-Haila is a tribal drum fest with Karn’s drunken master bassline and what sounds like Japanese schoolgirls (infact backing vocalists Eve, Nachiko and Yoko) chanting mantras over a Buddhist monk’s sermon. It is perhaps the greatest tribal drum, squelchy bass, Buddhist chant tune ever recorded. Tao-Tao ups the tempo with a flinty funk-pop workout. Side one’s closing track, Neo-Rice Music borrows the main riff from Tao-Tao and slows it down to a drowsy, dream-like drool.
On side 2, Kafka opens with a weird discordant cello sound effect over a dislocated voice that builds gradually with an synth-accordian/bubbly bassline (the midpoint between Kraftwerk’s The Model and Nirvana’s Come As You Are) jam. Rice Dog Jam barks it’s intentions in another take on Mutant Disco’s frantic arty post-funk with syncopated woofs, megaphone vocals and Toshio Nakanishi’s ‘preaching.’ Secret Party is a murky, underwater orgy of mysterious oozy sounds and textures for which the term ‘Balearic As Fuck’ could have been invented, whereas Silent Object is a beautiful ambient instrumental that evokes the calm meditative pools of a Japanese garden. The LP closes with Night In The Park, a Bowie-esque vocal over a traditional pop structure reminiscent of post-Eno Roxy.
With the ubiquitous assistance of Riuichi Sakamoto, Bill Nelson, Japan’s Mick Karn and Steve Jansen and with Tsuchiya not only providing vocals but playing everything from guitar, drums, synth and bass to bamboo percussion, koto and yokin, (Kiyohiko Semba also provides wadaiko, tsuzumi and tabla percussion) cynics could maybe criticise Rice Music as an exercise in plastic Orientalism for worthier-than-thou world music wannabes. Yet, at a time when the likes of Sakamoto, Bowie, Japan, Eno, Byrne and Nelson were blurring the boundaries between ethnic and experimental, traditional and transcendental, Rice Music is an LP that constantly throws up surprises and only underlines the energy and imagination of post-punk pop during this era.
The cover shows the artist sat at a desk in a fetching mauve trolly dolly meets International Rescue outfit. His heavily made-up, prettily androgynous face stares enigmatically into the distance, one hand balanced on his chin, the other plucking a guitar. To his left is a huge globe, angled to show Japan, China and the far east. The message is simple; the world is shrinking and old codes of sexuality and culture no longer matter. ‘New York-London-Paris-Munich-(Tokyo), everyone‘s talking about Pop Music! In 1982, anything appeared possible.
Se! Se! Se! is a funky Talking Heads style global groove with itchy n’ scratchy guitars and Tom Tom Club-esque shouty stream-of-consciousness vocals. Haina-Haila is a tribal drum fest with Karn’s drunken master bassline and what sounds like Japanese schoolgirls (infact backing vocalists Eve, Nachiko and Yoko) chanting mantras over a Buddhist monk’s sermon. It is perhaps the greatest tribal drum, squelchy bass, Buddhist chant tune ever recorded. Tao-Tao ups the tempo with a flinty funk-pop workout. Side one’s closing track, Neo-Rice Music borrows the main riff from Tao-Tao and slows it down to a drowsy, dream-like drool.
On side 2, Kafka opens with a weird discordant cello sound effect over a dislocated voice that builds gradually with an synth-accordian/bubbly bassline (the midpoint between Kraftwerk’s The Model and Nirvana’s Come As You Are) jam. Rice Dog Jam barks it’s intentions in another take on Mutant Disco’s frantic arty post-funk with syncopated woofs, megaphone vocals and Toshio Nakanishi’s ‘preaching.’ Secret Party is a murky, underwater orgy of mysterious oozy sounds and textures for which the term ‘Balearic As Fuck’ could have been invented, whereas Silent Object is a beautiful ambient instrumental that evokes the calm meditative pools of a Japanese garden. The LP closes with Night In The Park, a Bowie-esque vocal over a traditional pop structure reminiscent of post-Eno Roxy.
With the ubiquitous assistance of Riuichi Sakamoto, Bill Nelson, Japan’s Mick Karn and Steve Jansen and with Tsuchiya not only providing vocals but playing everything from guitar, drums, synth and bass to bamboo percussion, koto and yokin, (Kiyohiko Semba also provides wadaiko, tsuzumi and tabla percussion) cynics could maybe criticise Rice Music as an exercise in plastic Orientalism for worthier-than-thou world music wannabes. Yet, at a time when the likes of Sakamoto, Bowie, Japan, Eno, Byrne and Nelson were blurring the boundaries between ethnic and experimental, traditional and transcendental, Rice Music is an LP that constantly throws up surprises and only underlines the energy and imagination of post-punk pop during this era.
The cover shows the artist sat at a desk in a fetching mauve trolly dolly meets International Rescue outfit. His heavily made-up, prettily androgynous face stares enigmatically into the distance, one hand balanced on his chin, the other plucking a guitar. To his left is a huge globe, angled to show Japan, China and the far east. The message is simple; the world is shrinking and old codes of sexuality and culture no longer matter. ‘New York-London-Paris-Munich-(Tokyo), everyone‘s talking about Pop Music! In 1982, anything appeared possible.
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