The 10 Best Things I Heard This Year

#10 Mums Of Death - Golden Axe

A very good track, an even better name and a bloody great video.

#9 That Sir Alex Ferguson was to play 4-4-2 against Barcelona

I don't even play ChampMan and I could of told him that wouldn't work. Not that I would've told him. Twat.

#8 Dr Buckles playing No Brain

"I went to see Adam Buxton give one his BUG talks [...] I didn't expect to hear a stonking slab of techno."

#7 Four Tet - Locked

"A next level tune from a next level producer."

#6 Soulwax dropping Blur's Boys Who Love Girls @ Millennium Music Hall

It just made total sense at time.

#5 Tyler, The Creator feat. Hodgy Beats - Slow It Down

"Pink Chinchilla... make your own mind up."

#4 Nicola Roberts - Beat Of My Drum

"Unmistakeably Diplo, Nicola Roberts' Beat of My Drum takes the best bits from the best pop songs from the last five years (Hollaback Girl, We Are Your Friends, Drop It Like It's Hot, Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above, early MIA and OK a little of Daphne & Celeste) and mashes them into a three minute sugar rush."

#3 Metronomy's entire set @ Clwb Ifor Bach

One of the best gigs I've ever been to, filled with tracks from my album of the year, The English Riviera. Should've won the Mercury, but how many times have I said that?

#2 Jamie xx's mix for Benji B

Listening to this for the first time back in February it felt like a game changing mix. After umpteen spins this year, it still does. It could go down as an important marker in the history of UK urban music. But ignoring all the hyperbole this is simply a stunning mix.

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDRRRRRRRRRRUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLL

#1 T3ETH - This Time

"Pounding, raw but sugary sweet. I hit rewind and haven't regretted a thing."

[Right click and "Download Document" for mp3 of This Time by T3ETH]

Xmas Mix 2011

Same idea as last year.

Xmas Mix 2011 by Sammyfax on Mixcloud

Tracklist:

DJ Shadow - Best Foot Forward (Xmas Edit)

Lindstrom - Little Drummer Boy

Baby Jazz - Song for the Season

J.D. McDonals - Boogaloo Santa Claus

Avalanches - Winter Wonderland

Summer Camp - Christmas Wrapping (The Waitresses cover)

Aztec Camera - Walk Out To Winter

Yo La Tengo - It's Christmas Time

Daniel Johnston - Christmas In The Loony Bin

Goldie Lookin' Chain - Dubstep Christmas

Bit Shifter - Let It Snow

Devo - Merry Something To You

Unknown Artist - Christmas Blow Job

Packet Maps

Was in The Packet on Friday night for post-work/birthday drinks and Maps came on the jukebox.

I've been looking to post some Yeah Yeah Yeahs for yonks and finally an opportunity has fallen into my lap and what a song with which to do so. Maps was one of the best songs of the last decade. Not best rock song or best romantic song but best song. Amazing and spine-tingling and brilliant.

Nice one The Packet on having decent music and cracking disco lights.

[Right click and "Download Document" for mp3 of Maps by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs]

Buxton No Brainer

I went to see Adam Buxton give one his BUG talks in World of Cine earlier as part of Soundtrack Film Festival.

Much mirth and merriment was had.

What I didn't expect was to hear a stonking slab of techno (and an equally amazing video) from Etienne de Crecy.

Thanks Dr Buckles!

Labia Soulwax

I know I'm slow on this but what a trailer for what a band. NSFW y'all.

Now head straight to Radio Soulwax.

Locked Down

Forking out £9.99 in Spillers on a mix CD may seem anachronistic, especially as I'm sat here wigging out to Jam City's free XLR8R mix. Then add in that it's a Four Tet mix and that they're not exactly rare on the web and it increasingly looks like a tenner down the pisser.

But then right at the end of FABRICLIVE 59 Hebden drops one of his new productions. Locked is worth the 10 quid on its own. A next level tune from a next level producer.

[Right Click and "Download Document" for mp3 of Locked by Four Tet]

Warp Record

See what I've done here? Instead of posting some chin-scratching IDM, I've gone with this weirdly sexual 80s synth-pop. Don't roll your eyes.

Even though it gets predictably wacky towards the end the preceding three minutes make it well worth a download.

[Right click and "Download Document" for mp3 of Warp by New Muzik]

Penguins Everywhere

I suppose it was only a matter of time.

Music For A Found Harmonium has been used in most other situations. Today it crept into the office via the new design guys in Unit 11. I was jolted to post it by all the silly penguins on the BBC's Frozen Planet.

Seriously even if this band or track title means nothing to you, you'll have heard it on the soundtrack to something; it's everywhere like penguins in the Antarctic.

[Right click and "Download Document" for a mp3 of Music For A Found Harmonium by Penguin Café Orchestra]

Obligatory Hallowe'en Post II

[Right Click and "Download Document" for mp3 of Whea Yo Ghost At, Whea Yo Dead Man by DJ Elmoe]

1 Thing Leads To Another

Hitting the My Top Rated tab last night on iTunes meant it wasn't long before Felix da Housecat cropped up.

Cue wiki trawl and this odd statement: Outside of that genre, the use of electronic Eighties backings on R&B hits such as Amerie's "1 Thing", shows the wider continuing effect of this album. [citation needed]. Gotta love the citation needed death mark.

But I didn't need a second invitation to crank up 1 Thing. A stupendous slab of mid-noughties R'n'B, it's one of the last great records of commercial urban music experimentalism before everything went David Guetta.

I remember hearing Chris Moyles slag this off when I was sat on the X91 in Cardiff Central Station, which is another reason to love this record.

[Right click and "Download Document" for an mp3 of 1 Thing by Amerie]

Slow It Down

I've talked previously about my issue with posting about Odd Future (and the endless affiliates).

But but but but but... this tune hasn't been off my Walkman (read Blackberry) for the past couple of days. Pink Chinchilla... make your own mind up.

[Right click and "Download Document" to grab an mp3 of Slow It Down by Tyler Creator Feat. Hodgy Beats (Odd Future)]

Et Hop

As I said a few posts back I didn't download anything for a few months. That wasn't because there was nothing to download, I simply didn't look.

What that has meant is that I've had pages and pages of my favourite mp3 blogs to trawl through. And good old Awara.fm came up trumps with this plinky, funky, minimal 80s electro workout from Philippe Laurent.

Apparently he's some French artist dude who works with codes, signs and symbols. And plastic. Anyway Minimal Wave have gathered together his hard-to-find recordings and wedged them together on an album called Hot Bip. I haven't heard the rest of it, but if Et Hop is anything to go by, it might well be an essential purchase.

[Right click and "Download Document" to grab an mp3 of Et Hop by Philippe Laurent]

Rajasthan Re-Edit

There are many things I want to learn how to do; animate a gif, drive a car, play the bass solo in (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang.

Another is how to do a good re-edit. I'm talking a Pilooski-level re-edit.

This is mainly down to Ae Oh Aa Zara Mudke. And mainly down to the drop at 4:50. The track is interesting by itself, the finest (and only) example I've heard of early 80s Indian disco. But that drop is something else, something that could destroy a dancefloor. In India. In the 80s. Maybe.

If only I had the skills... and if someone hasn't done it already...

[Right click and "Download Document" to get an mp3 of Ae Oh Aa Zara Mudke by Kishore Kumar]

Pearly Whites

Had one of those rare moments recently.

It's when you're listening to an album for the first time and you hear a phenomenal track. Your finger hovers over the skip button; do you rewind and destroy your first listen of the album or do you risk ruining the rest of album by continuing to think about and hankering after that phenomenal track?

Happened earlier this year with Metronomy's Everything Goes My Way. First happened with Aphex Twin's 4. This week it happened with T3ETH's This Time.

Pounding, raw but sugary sweet. I hit rewind and haven't regretted a thing.

[Right click and "Download Document" for mp3 of This Time by T3ETH]

A Falling Tree

So... it's been three months.

I've had breaks before. Nothing this long or bad though. This time was more serious.

I didn't download a single thing during August and September.

I couldn't sit here facing this screen. I now sit here for my working week, full-time. The boundaries merged. Shit novelty earphones, new podcasts, splatters of sunshine; all added to the malaise.

But I'm back. For how long I don't know. Thank you mum, Aquasky, Dave Gorman, Skullcandy and Red.

Everything's Gone Green For Manx Missile

Today Mark Cavendish became the first Briton ever to win the green jersey at the Tour de France.

And boy what a race it has been this year. I've enjoyed it so much and Cavendish winning the Maillot Vert (as well as Alberto Contador missing the podium) is the icing on the cake.

[Right click and "Download Document" for mp3 of New Order's Everything's Gone Green]

Inappropriate Memory Soundtrack

Someone stuck up a post on theSprout the other day about the soundtrack to their life and asking for other readers' suggestions.

How could I resist?

After trying to shoehorn in as many cool tracks as possible, I remembered one track that helped to get me out of my second shittiest moment so far.

I'd dropped out of university after only three months in Manchester, I was skint, working in pub, all my mates were having great times elsewhere and I was living in Llantwit fucking Major.

But walking home for said pub in said town (which I eventually came round to, if not liking, then at least tolerating) after another spirit-sapping shift, I popped a tape of Rob Da Bank's latest Blue Room show in the Walkman (I used to tape a lot of late night Radio 1). My ears were hit with this ludicrously uplifting track. It was essentially fluff but it made me smile like I hadn't in months.

It was Dab Hands' remix of Lou Reed's Satellite of Love. I know what you're thinking. Plus One Loo was equally agog. How can anyone mess with Satellite of Love nay anything off Transformer? You'd find me in this camp too 99 out of 100 times. I can't explain it. I suppose it was a special coming together of time, temperament and tune.

I wish it was something ball-achingly cool but I guess sometimes you really can't choose your soundtrack.

Twitch's Silver Spell

Bashed out a few reviews for Buzz's August edition yesterday namely The Count & Sinden's Mega Mega Remix and We're No Heroes' Quiet Colours EP.

One of the albums I reviewed for June's edition was Sons & Daughters' Mirror Mirror...

"Had to laugh. They've stripped back their sound by recording to 16-track. Only 16 huh? Anyway this is a stonking album; moody, all-enveloping and black as the night. Any fears that producer Keith McIvor of Optimo infamy would rip their sound to pieces are soon allayed as the majority of songs (The Beach, Bee Song) swim in oceans of space. The occasional forays of synths add without advertising their presence (The Model). He’s simply added some post-punk angularity. It works."

Keith McIvor is JD Twitch and a few weeks back his remix of Silver Spell crept out. Darker, more mechanistic and yes twitchier than the original, it makes me wonder if McIvor was more of a Hannett or a Spector at the desk just how much better this already good album could have been.

I look forward to the possibility of a remix album of Mirror Mirror much more than listening to their label mates' (they're both on Domino) Mega Mega Remix ever again.

[Right click and "Download Document" for mp3 of JD Twitch's Optimo Remix of Silver Spell by Sons & Daughters]

Temporary Loss of Signal

I'm in Dorset as of today and I'm not taking my laptop. Need a break from the beast. So won't be posting for a week. No change there then.

Was going to post something by a band from Dorset, but I don't know any apart from PJ Harvey and I'm not going to post any of her work so here's some DOOM (née MF Doom).

He's playing the same day as Harvey at the Portishead curated I'll Be Your Mirror festival on July 23rd.

Tenuous but would you rather listen to PJ Harvey than DOOM?

[Right Click and "Download Document" for mp3 of Microwave Mayo by DOOM]

Back Monday-ish

Heart On Sleeve: The List Track

In Chapter Four of Simon Reynolds’ Retromania, Good Citations, the switch of bands’ influences is noted. Where bands used to cite books, films and movements, since the 80s bands have cited other bands and this then filtered into borrowed riffs, stolen lyrics, even lifting band names from their sources and idols.

I believe this has evolved even further into the niche of the list track.

Doing away with the interviewer entirely, it’s an elongated shout-out to peers, influences and idols, an audio version of what used to be done in the linear notes. The first occurrence I can think of is LFO’s Intro on Frequencies, then Daft Punk’s Teachers.

The most famous list track is LCD Soundsystem’s epochal Losing My Edge.

Perhaps a pastiche on the list track, it lists pretty much every cool band ever, illustrating the protagonist's supposed coolness and underlining his desperateness. Incidentally I’m certain the way James Murphy rolls “The Sssssssssslits”, made me pick up a copy of Cut in a sale at Virgin Megastore Cardiff way back when.

The reason I’m posting about the concept of the list track is not only because of Retromania but one of them popping up on an Odd Future mixtape (Ace's Fin).

Well it has been pretty hard to avoid them.

I’m not going to get deep into the debate around the pros and cons of Odd Future’s lyrics (for me they’re just another sound in the mix as I’ve got a total inability to remember words), but I think it’s interesting that they use one. I’m sure there’s a history of shout-outs on mixtapes and thus my ignorance highlights my general antipathy towards most hip-hop, but for a band angling itself as completely off the wall, they are conforming with the use of such a trope of modern music.

Or should that be postmodern music? Or pseudomodern?

Is it reductive? A defence mechanism against criticism? Are they directly helping fans find other music now that artwork has disappeared?

I should’ve probably thought of an answer before writing this…

[Right click and "Download Document" for mp3 of Fin by Ace]

Stereolab Remix Avalanches

Since I Left You is getting a 10th Anniversary deluxe reissue. Where have the last ten years gone?

The Avalanches - Since I Left You (Stereolab Remix) by modularpeople

Cold Pumas Vs Buffalo

Brighton's heavy, psychy, krauty, lo-fi, noisy... right I don't know how to describe Cold Pumas, but they're playing Buffalo Bar on Friday (July 8th) and they're good.

[Right click and "Download Document" for an mp3 of Party Drip by Cold Pumas]

Field Day Mix 2011

With Field Day 2011 a month and a day away, I've made a mix of some of the bands and artists I'm planning on seeing there. Gonna be one hell of a day especially as it's also my birthday, whoop!

Ceefax Of Life Presents Field Day Mix 2011 by Sammyfax on Mixcloud

Tracklist:

Ducktails - Beach Point Pleasant

Konono No.1 - Kule Kule

Gruff Rhys - Shark Ridden Waters

Ariel Pink - For Kate I Wait

Hype Williams - The Throning

Sbtrkt - Wildfire

James Blake - Cmyk

Andreya Triana - A Town Called Obsolete (Mount Kimbie Remix)

Darkstar - Aidy's Girl Is A Computer

Ariel Pink’S Haunted Graffiti - Fright Night (Dam Funk Remix)

The XX - Vcr (Matthew Dear Remix)

Ceefax Of Life Presents Field Day Mix 2011 by Sammyfax

Best Film Soundtrack Ever

Watched Lost In Translation for the umpteenth time the other night. Is there a film with a better soundtrack?

[Right click and "Download Document" to get mp3 of My Bloody Valentine's Sometimes]

Oh and if anyone knows what the track paying in the club scene about an hour in is called then please comment, it's not on the OST an was one of the main reasons I bought the album.

Tar Tar

I'm taking a break from smoking. I do this every now and then, but this time it's proving a lot harder than usual. It may have something to do with Visage's Tar being on heavy rotation.

Even though it's vehemently anti-smoking, it's still about smoking. Even NHS adverts make me want to smoke more after watching them. Thankfully I've finished Season 4 of Mad Men.

Anyway Tar was Visage's first single and pushes their classic track Fade To Grey pretty hard in the great-synth-pop-and-early-new-romantics derby race.

[Right click and "Download Document" to get an mp3 of Visage's Tar]

Sirens Song

Despite using one of the best tracks of the last decade on the trailer (Atlas by Battles), new Channel 4 show Sirens makes greater use of terribly good Suddenly by Angry Anderson during the show.

They really don't make them like this any more. Seriously this could only have been made around 86-89 what with that gated snare. Superb, just like Sirens looks like becoming as a series.

[Right click and "Download Document" for mp3 of Angry Anderson's Suddenly]

YouTube = Total Recall

Just finished chapter two of Simon Reynolds' Retromania, hey I'm a slow reader. Big chunk of it is focussed on the work of Daniel Lopatin. Best known for his work as Oneohtrix Point Never, who I've never really dug (unlike XXJFG), it hones in on his work as Sunsetcorp, especially his track Nobody Here.

As the cads state in the comments, it's the ultimate answer-phone message. Yet perusing the sidebar, another facet of Reynolds' chapter on Music and Memory in the Time of YouTube, is the far more interesting track Angel, both visually and musically, though it shares the same warped, spooky melancholia as Nobody Here.

Review: Battles

Reviewed last night's Battles gig at Solus for theSprout. Was good like... I say slightly more in the review.

They didn't play anything off Mirrored (not that I recognised anyway) but here's a link to a track off that album.

[Right click and "Download Document" for mp3 of Leyendecker by Battles]

Wuzza Wuzza

Made a video for the launch of PaperGirl Cardiff. It turned into a bit of Bowie fest.

I used Soulwax's remix of Rebel Rebel. I wanted to use Leo Zero's remix of Moonage Daydream, but y'know it just didn't come off. So I thought I'd post it here instead.

[Right click and "Download Document" to download an mp3 of David Bowie - Moonage Daydream (Leo Zero's Remix 1 Extended Version)]

Tomorrow (Saturday 18th) is distribution day for the artwork in Cardiff city centre. If you receive the Bowie, I'll make you an offer you can't refuse. Can't be there myself as I'm off to Cornwall.

Riot In Lagos

Have you seen the interactive guide to the history of dance music over on The Guardian?

It's pretty neat, but naturally misses out on a few things and inevitably a shit storm has kicked up in the comments section.

It did teach me one thing though. I don't know everything. I thought I was pretty clued up. But #6 on that list was Ryuichi Sakamoto's Riot in Lagos. Never heard of it before. Heard of and quite like Yellow Magic Orchestra, but this tune? Nope. And for shame. It's great.

Simon Reynolds Meets Ariel Pink

Over on Field Day's site they've got an interview by my favourite music writer, Simon Reynolds,with one of my favourite musicians, Ariel Pink.

It takes Reynolds till the fourth paragraphs to whip out some of his trademark hyphen pun play, which is pretty good going. It's also a pretty good interview contextualising Pink's place in the pop pantheon as well as his past.

Reynolds has a new book out Retromania: Pop Culture's Addiction to its Own Past, which I'll pick up when I eventually get paid. Pink is playing Field Day on August 6th with his Haunted Graffiti and is currently dominating my tracklist for the Field Day mix I'm working on. Expect it to drop err... before August 6th.

[Right click and "Download Document" to grab an mp3 of Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti's paean to Kate Bush, For Kate I Wait]

Beat Of My Drum

Unmistakeably Diplo, Nicola Roberts' Beat of My Drum takes the best bits from the best pop songs from the last five years (Hollaback Girl, We Are Your Friends, Drop It Like It's Hot, Let's Make Love and Listen to Death from Above, early MIA and OK a little of Daphne & Celeste) and mashes them into a three minute sugar rush.

Sadly there's no mention on the Wiki page for Cinderella's Eyes of Joe Mount from Metronomy's involvement but seeing that only three tracks have been recorded for the album, there's still time.

Single of the year? Quite possibly. L-O-V-E

Beat For Jamie xx

Jamie xx dropped Far Nearer on Numbers this week. I prefer the b-side Beat For, which has more of a throb. What do you reckon?

Jamie xx - Beat For (limited vinyl & download out now - http://farnearer.com) by Numbers

A Thing For Metronomy

I know I talk a lot about Metronomy. Sorry, I just love them.

*IBA (Indie Bore Alert)* Loved them ever since I saw them on my 21st birthday in Newquay where they played on a tiny stage set up by Vice, followed by The Pipettes if I remember correctly. This was around five years ago. Yeah I was there from the beginning man. *End of IBA*

Anyway I've not talked about The English Riviera much and I'm worried that peeps think I'm not a fan. Well I love the album. It's gonna be in my top 5 come the end of the year, if not #1. It's just a grower. Posting one mp3 won't grab you. Stream it in full or better, buy it, play it, play it again, love it.

But for now I will leave you with this; a remix of A Thing For Me from their previous album Nights Out. By Breakbot and something to do with Bacardi, I only had an mp3 of the first 53 seconds until recently.

This week I finally got around to downloading a proper version. It was worth it as Breakbot twists it into a sultry sexy piano driven slowjam.

[Right click and "Download Document" to get the mp3 of Metronomy - A Thing For Me (Breakbot's B-LIVE Miami Mix)]

Oh and here's the brilliant video for the original...

Nos Da

Uploaded my major project the other day to mixcloud. Thought I'd share it with you.

Designed to be listened to at 3am, Nos Da is a series of comedy skits that aims for the heights of Chris Morris' Blue Jam on Warp (and misses) with music mixed throughout the show with robots, found sounds and tape recordings. Made for headphones.

Hope you enjoy it. I think I got a 2:1 for it.

Nos Da by Sammyfax on Mixcloud

Muffins Make It Better

I played golf today, as you'll see below. I finished 32 over par, as you'll see why below.

I popped into the Co-op on Whitchurch Road in search of salvation. I found it on the stereo. They were playing this...

[Right Click & Download Document]

Via Lostwithiel

Booked my train tickets for Cornwall this morning. Going back down for the Falmouth International Sea Shanty Festival... and to see my mum.

Anyway on the train I shall be going via Lostwithiel, which is also latest release from R&S signed duo The Chain. Think the kinda of mellow dubstep style stuff that Mount Kimbie does and you're on the right train of thought. Arf!

Lostwithiel by The Chain

Julio Bashmore's Vice Mix

What with this blog being on the cutting edge, here's a mix from January 2010.

I have no idea why I can't stop listening to this at the moment, I mean it's house music but really good. Weird. Probably because it features a couple of Deadboy tracks and his FACT Mix from last year is still on rotation.

Apparently Julio Bashmore is on a one man mission to rescue house music in Bristol. After the listening to this I'm not going to argue against.

Julio Bashmore's Vice Mixtape by Sammyfax on Mixcloud

mp3---> Julio Bashmore - Vice Mixtape

Tracklist

1. Deadboy - Heartbreaker (Julio Bashmore Remix)

2. Cooly G - Love Dub

3. Deadboy - U Cheated

4. Julio Bashmore - Around

5. Son of Aphrodite - Vibrations

6. DJ Sneak - Fix My Sink

7. Blackjoy - Untitled (Solid Groove Remix)

8. Mosca - Gold Bricks, I See You

9. L-Vis 1990 - United Groove (Baobinga and I.D Remix)

10. LV & Untold - Beacon (Mount Kimbie Remix)

11. Breach - Fatherless

12. Julio Bashmore - Um Bongo’s Revenge

Mirror Mirror

Sons & Daughters return on June 13th with Mirror Mirror on Domino. Big whoop right? That's what I thought when I picked up a review copy at Buzz. I last listened to them when I bought Dance Me In on red 7" partaking in the vinyl vogue of the mid-noughties.

Yet it took one listen to convince me that this could reside in a few Best Of lists come December. Keith McIvor from Optimo is on production duties and strips back their sound to lean post-punk with a sprinkling of electronics.

It's a dark album. It's also a very good album. Here's Mirror Mirror's closing track, The Beach...

[Right click and "Download Document"]

You can pre-order the album here.

Friendly Fires Widget

More widget business, except this time you need a real addy and you'll get signed up for a load of newsletters by other bands including Horrors. Take that how you will.

If you can't be bothered, then if you've ever heard a record by Friendly Fires, you'll know Blue Cassette, bombastic indie-dance with nods to the late 90s filter house sound. Oh and SUMMER. Alright like.

Stream: Eye Contact

Yeah this is bouncing round the blogosphere, but it's good.

Strange too. A whole album stream with easy and pretty embedding code, the week before release. Music really ain't worth shit any more I suppose.

I'm assuming it'll be pulled tomorrow when the album comes out in the UK, so grab an mp3 while you can.

Hanna / Hana

Hanna is out now. The soundtrack was done by The Chemical Brothers. Apparently it's a bit gash. The film, not the soundtrack.

Anyway upon hearing about the film my head spat out a memory from ten or so years ago. I was at a house party, somewhere in Pen-y-lan, battered off about four beers (I was sixteen). Must have been about 3am and I was slumped on the sofa flicking through the music channels. Then I found this.

I went ape shit. Someone (prob MTV 2) was playing Asa-Chang & Junray's beguiling, mesmeric, heart-wrenching, beautiful and utterly bonkers track Hana. I'd been taping late-night Radio 1 for about two years and had fallen hard for The Blue Room, the "chill-out" show presented alternatively by Rob Da Bank and Chris Coco. It was the best thing Radio 1 ever did. I first heard this track on that show and was amazed to hear it elsewhere, that I could share it with my friends in the right context.

They thought I was a tool.

[Right click and "Download Document"]

SBTRKT Widget

Gotta love a widget. Don't even need a real addy.

If you can't be arsed, it's squelchy and bleepy bass music with melismatic warbling over the top. Alright like.

ULTRA magnetic magnetic, MCs ULTRA magnetic magnetic...

Ran out of podcasts the other day. Been working in a warehouse down Tremorfa way, which meant lots of baths and resulted in me using up my pod stock.

So I returned to The Guardian's Music Weekly. They had a Beastie Boys special. They waffled and played about 7 seconds of the stonking Ego Trippin' by Ultramagnetic MCs. Which is 312 seconds too short. So here it is.

[Right click and hit up Download Document]

AOR Overkill

Saw somewhere the other day that Journey, Foreigner and Styx are going on a joint tour. Thankfully it's coming nowhere near Cardiff.

That isn't fair, they're all good bands but in small doses. I've been known to roar along to Don't Stop Believing at an ungodly hour in the equally ungodly Live Lounge (I won't bore you with the theories about its re-appropriation thirty years on) and Foreigner have their moments.

But it's Styx that are making me eye up the £50 ticket price. And only for one track, the rather atypical Mr.Roboto. This track throws me back to Falmouth. It was the soundtrack of my time at University. Not Klaxons, CSS or Hot Chip. Styx's Mr Roboto.

Domo Arigato Canadian Steph-O for introducing me to this song.

[Right-click and go for download document]

Now if they only added Free to the bill, playing that song from the Wrigley's advert, then we'd be on to a winner.

R.Kelly's Amazing Jacket

R.Kelly finally made his debut on Later with Jools Holland last night. Two tracks are all we got.

After his Ray Charles impression we got I Believe I Can Fly.

No Ignition (Remix). Still at least he wore an amazing jacket.

Right click to download Ignition (like you don't already own it).

Ever Decreasing Circles

I moved house recently, hence the tumbleweed rolling around this blog. I had to go back to the old place to clean it up. Fat lot of good it did, the deposit came back £50 short.

Anyway my futile scrubbing was soundtracked by BBC Radio 1 blasting out the Sharp GF-6000. Been a long time since I ventured into the daytime schedule and I was flummoxed by something.

Why did most of the music, most of the American pop music sound like late 90s trance? My memory spat out an old cover of MUZIK magazine with a picture of Eminem above the headline "Hip-Hop Discovers Ecstasy" or something like that. Must have been 2001. Surely it didn't take ten years for it to seep into pop over there?

I stewed for a while then forgot about it. Then when I returned from holiday I saw this over on The Guardian. Looks like my fear from a few years ago is coming true; the snake is eating itself.

Ευχαριστώ Sinead O'Connor

Went to Rhodes. Nice place but a bit of a trap. We had all inclusive. At every trough session they played Sinead O'Connor's Nothing Compares 2 U.

I didn't dare ask why.

Anyway here's Hot Chip's version.

mp3---> Hot Chip - Nothing Compares 2 U

Review: Efterklang

Cranked out a quick review of last night's Efterklang gig and film screening at The Globe, which you can find over at theSprout.

Paxman v Jamie xx

For some reason Jamie xx was commissioned to remix the Newsnight theme music.

Watch Jeremy Paxman interview an evidently terrified Jamie xx here. Listen to the remix play over the end credits here. Or just use the widget below.

Jamie xx Newsnight Remix by Young Turks

The Dirtbombs Cover Shari Vari

Heard about this cover of A Number Of Names' Shari Vari a couple of weeks ago. Trepidation and plain fear set in. Especially as it transpired that The Dirtbombs have a whole album out of garage takes on Detroit classics. The stench of gimmick was overpowering.

But this morning I decided to hunt it out. What was waiting for me was a rather faithful cover, adding a bit of scratchy guitar but not taking much away. Frankly, it could have been a hell of a lot worse.

Now when is someone going to do a punk-funk cover of Danny Boy & The Serious Gods' Castro Boy?

Preview: The Beat

Posted a quick preview for The Beat's gig at The Globe next Thursday (February 24th) on theSprout, which can be found here.

mp3---> The Beat - Mirror in the Bathroom

Metronomy MPFree

As promised, Metronomy are giving away She Wants for free in exchange for an email address.

I do love a widget.

She Wants Metronomy

New Metronomy. Are there any finer words?

Yep they're back with a less electronic, less wonky sound on She Wants. The weirdness inherent in Metronomy has seemingly been transferred to the video. A proper how-did-they-do-that? affair.

You can download the track for free in exchange for an email address here. Oh and remember they're playing Clwb on April 21st.

Optimo's Fact Mix 214

Sat on this for a while until the tracklist was released. An ambient mix that makes me long for the days when I used to tape Mixing It off Radio 3.

FACT Mix 214: Optimo by Fact Mix Archive on Mixcloud

Tracklist:
Odd Machine – Phase In (edit)
Cindytalk – Our Shadow, Remembered
Alvo Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto – Morning
This Mortal Coil – Song To The Siren (JD Twitch Reversion)
Zoviet France – The Decriminalisation Of Country Music
Sun City Girls – Come Maddalena
Forest Swords – The Light
Oneohtrix Point Never – Young Beidnahga
No Man – Days In The Trees
Tomita – Clair De Lune
Conrad Schnitzler – Ballet Statique
Peter Baumann – This Day
Reichmann – Wunderbar
Duet Emmo – The First Person
Carol – So Low
Zoviet France – Vienna (extract)

ESG Saved My Sunday

I usually drop Four Tet's Late Night Tales on the stereo on a Sunday morning, but I needed something a little more bassy today, for the twat upstairs was blasting out Usher or some shit like that.

So I turned to the original punk-funkers ESG.

ESG (Emerald, Sapphire and Gold) are a family affair, originally just the Scroggins sisters who were given instruments by their musical parents to keep them off the South Bronx streets, later drafting in family friends and when they had reached the right age, daughters and nieces.

ESG were so ahead of their time, illustrated by amount of times they've been sampled. Two anthologies on Soul Jazz and last year's greatest hits on Fire Records further hammers home the point.

They played at the opening of The Hacienda. They were a favourite of Larry Levan. They even appeared in the now forgotten 1989 Nicolas Cage psychological horror movie Vampire's Kiss.

They are an essential band.

mp3---> ESG - Six Pack (Original Version)

GWTF:8.0 Scott-Heron & Jamie xx. Again.

Another week, another Jamie xx embedding thing. Everywhere.

Pump Up The Quiz Quest

Sunday night is all about the Quiz Quest at Gwdihw. Yeah it's on a Sunday for some reason. Maybe that'll be a question in the quiz. Unlikely as the quiz is based on Now That's What I Call Music 10.

Track 4 on Disc 1 (incidentally the first Now... to be released as a double Compact Diszzzzzzzzz) was this...

No word yet if there's a prize for fourth place.

Jamie Woon @ CAI

One for the Diff-heads this. Jamie Woon - who came recently came fourth on the BBC Sound Of 2011 List is playing Cardiff Arts Institute on Sunday March 6th. Think of a dubstep troubadour and you're in the right neck of the woods. Or just watch the video. Get tickets from here.

You can also grab an mp3 of Blue Truth in exchange for an addy here.