Dub Techno Will Never Die

Image Credit: Lektrolab (CC Licence)

I've been working my way through FACT's 25 Best Dub Techno Records Of All Time over the past couple of mornings after they re-posted the article on Christmas Day on their Facebook page. As we all know, nothing says Christmas like a bunch of Germans channelling Lee 'Scratch' Perry.

That being said, the dub techno scene was far wider than just Basic Channel getting deep in Berlin in 1995, with US and Kiwi producers getting in on the act. In fact there are still people making this stuff, though FACT admits it fell out of fashion in the early-00s, but who cares about fashion?

I've had a pleasant couple of mornings working my way through this list, listening to it as I get back into the Game Of Thrones books and wait for Plus One Loo to arise. If I had to pick a highlight I think I'll go for the woozy yet driving Nautical Dub by Porter Ricks...


If only I knew about it while reporting on the Nautical House scene.

Xmas Mix 2014

It's that time of year again!

You can like it on YouTube...


You can heart it on MixCloud

Xmas Mix 2014 (#4) by Sammyfax on Mixcloud

And you can download it from Box


Tracklist:

1.The Walkmen - Christmas Party
2. The Dream Scene - Jingle Bells
3. The Sonics - Don't Believe In Christmas
4. Devo - Snowball
5. Lady Gaga - Christmas Tree
6. Cascada - Last Christmas (Club remix)
7. B2K - Jingle Bells
8. R. Kelly - Love Letter (Happy Holiday - Christmas Mix)
9. Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is You (So So Def Remix)
10. Master P & C-Murder - Christmas In The Ghetto

Bathtime With Yamaneko

I have been belatedly working my way through FACT's best free mixes of the year and while there are some lovely ones, I can't say they are game-changers.

One such example of an utterly lovely mix that doesn't exactly alter the course of electronic music is Yamaneko's Pixel Healing Spa, which is an absolute joy to hear and is aptly named; listening to it is like having a nice long soak and y'know, not everything has to be a sharp turn this way or that - this is music for pleasure's sake.



FACT describe it as an "ultra-soothing bath-to-bedtime mix [that] combines mellow Japanophilia with breezy dreamcatcher vibes, birdsong, ominous RPG moods..." and it's hard to argue with such an assessment, so turn those taps on, grab the Matey and get in.

Getting Wavy: Zopiclone & Metronomy

It's that not so wonderful time of the year again when my ability to sleep plummets and I'm back on the zopiclone.

Zopiclone is a nonbenzodiazepine hypnotic agent used to treat insomnia and trust me, I asked for the Benny-D's, but they don't like dishing out the Valium any more, the damn shame.

Insomnia and sleep deprivation can do many weird and wonderful things to the mind but it's hard to explain or describe it all. And the thing is, taking hypnotics can also do lots of weird and wonderful things. I decide to call it being wavy or getting wavy.

This track, funnily enough the Bedtime Mix of it, is pretty wavy.


[MP3 >>> Metronomy - Holiday (Bedtime Mix)]

Xmas Mix Update: The Dream Scene

Research continues for the killer crimbo cuts for Sammyfax's Xmas Mix #4; there's even a playlist about it on that YouTube.

Alongside that list I have my own little one on iTunes, which is coming along nicely - talking of which, the new red iTunes icon continues to throw me, anyone else equally and inexplicably shook-up by this?

One artist that will definitely be making the cut this year, and at least once at that, is Javier Morales, whose The Dream Scene Christmas album is quickly becoming a firm favourite in the House of Fax.

Plus One Loo kindly put me on to his work after the rather special video for Sleigh Ride! did a thing on Reddit recently...

In the comments section of said video is a link to the album from which it comes. Sadly the ZIP seems busted but you can right-click and download most of the tracks including Jingle Bells [mp3 hot link], which is nailed on to feature in Xmas Mix #4.

If you like the idea of Ariel Pink, Beck and Darwin Deez having a holiblaze and recording a session, then you'll love this festive album.

Battles, The Blue Club & The Bay

As promised in the bio on my new Instagram account, I like to take pictures of signs; stupid signs, graffiti on signs, neon signs and it's the latter that has sparked this post.

A few weeks ago this sign appeared on the side of what was The Point in Mount Stuart Square, a quite frankly brilliant music venue that I think is still sorely missed in Cardiff.

My initial joy was soon tempered, as I saw all the white trucks with their cables spewing out of their backs and I twigged they were filming again, which is a very common occurrence around the Square.

No matter, The Point will continue to live on in my heart as one of the finest this city has had, an old church with amazing sound and cheap Red Stripe in it. It also held one of my favourite all-time gigs, Battles in 2007.

Times and signs may change, but the good times live on and Atlas is still an absolute stonker of a record...

Music Video Of The Year: Dizzee Rascal - Pagans

Like a red bro of Scorpion and Sub-Zero with some extra Raiden-shit going on, Dizzee Rascal gets all Mortal Kombat and drops some haterz... and in the process takes the video of the year gong at the CeefaxOfLife awards.



It's obviously been ripped and you can download it from My Free MP3 >>> Dizzee Rascal - Pagans

Second Sight: Instagram & More Xmas Mixes

I'm really starting to catch up with all this social media stuff now, as following on from the launch of this blog's YouTube channel, I have also joined Instagram.

Annoyingly there was already a Sammyfax on there, so my username is CeefaxOfLife. So far I appear to be taking lots of pictures of cranes, the sky and stupid signs. Give us a follow, yeah?

To celebrate this momentous occasion, here's another Xmas Mix from my YouTube channel (and if you really love it, here's a link to download it)

Sammyfax: New YouTube Channel For Ceefax Of Life

I've heard that this site called YouTube is going to be the next big stop on the information superhighway and I thought I best get on it right now.

My channel is called /// Sammyfax /// and I've uploaded two videos so far, one is the Xmas Mix from 2012:


And the other is my not-very-funny-sketch-comedy-cum-ambient-music thing, called Nos Da:


I've also created a playlist to explore potential tracks for this year's Christmas mix and if you have any suggestions, please let me know!

KTHXBAI

FlyLo x DOOM: Masquatch

Back to normal service now, here's a dream collaboration between Flying Lotus & DOOM.



It's something to do with Grand Theft Auto V, but y'know, I'm more interested in Desert Golfing than XBox shit.

Belgium Half-Time Bangers

I went to the Belgium on the weekend expecting brilliant beer, warming waffles and an absolute pounding at the football.

I got all three, except the pounding at the football wasn't Wales getting beaten (we came away with a 0-0 draw against the 4th best team in the world), it was at half-time.

Some utter bloody genius at the Belgian FA decided to whack a load of bangin' euro-dance on and those of us in the away absolutely lapped it up...

My mate says someone has made a playlist on Spotify but off the top of my head these were the bangers that made us bounce:

Marshall Masters - I Like It Loud


DJ Jean - The Launch


DVBBS & Borgeous - TSUNAMI (Original Mix)


Zombie Nation - Kernkraft 400


After that half-time and finding myself enjoying Kutski's Halloween Hard Beats Essential Mix, I think I might be developing a taste for the stuff that makes you bounce by the ounce.

Diggin' In The Carts: Episode 1

As promised in the trailer for the series, Red Bull Music Academy posted the first episode of Diggin' In The Carts, an exploration of the influence of Japanese game music on contemporary musicians and genres.

Highlight for me in the first episode is learning that the guy who made the sound card for the Game Boy is a massive reggae fan.

Next episode is being posted on Thursday (11th September 2014)

FlyLo Twin Party

It's been a good 48-hours for the marketing bods at Warp, as they shared tracks from first Flying Lotus and then Aphex Twin in the run up to huge (in my world) album releases over the next couple of weeks.

Aphex Twin's Syro is out on Monday 22nd September 2014 and minipops 67 [120.2][source Field Mix] (previously known by AFX heads as The Manchester Track) is the first offical song off it and comes as a download on pre-ordering the album from Bleep or iTunes.



Meanwhile Flying Lotus' collaboration with Kendrick Lamar, Never Catch Me, finally got a clean and official upload after LA Leakers and Power 106 slathered it in audio detritus. The proper Vevo version is below and the album You're Dead is available from Monday 6th October 2014 on Warp.

Café Del Warp

Café Del Mar bloke José Padilla was on 6 Mix duty last Friday, and while the majority of his set drifted by harmlessly enough (always good to hear Music For A Found Harmonium, Smokebelch II and Future Sound Of London), it was a track right at the end that stood out.

It took me a while to recognise it but the penultimate selection was an extended nu-disco edit of New Muzik's Warp, a track I posted about back in 2011.


Apparently it has being doing the rounds for a while and has just been re-released by Icelandic label Pleasure International Exports, though I can't seem to find much info on Ilo. 

Steel Drum Cars

I went to a BBC Radio New Comedy Award recording tonight in the Glee Club. It was Cardiff Heat #1 and will be on BBC Radio 4 Extra at 10.30pm Friday 26th September 2014. I don't think I'm meant to reveal who won the heat, but the guy you did definitely deserved it.

Anyway before it kicked off they were playing some music, as you do, and one of the tracks was a januty surf rock version of Gary Numan's Cars. I couldn't Shazam the bugger in time, so here's a steel drum version of it instead...

Kode9 - Just Jam 125

This has been sat in my Watch Later list for weeks and I finally got round to it this morning.



It's well worth the wait, with Hyperdub head honcho Kode9 dropping plenty of footwork. Tip of the hat for including the mad gurning bloke from the Bounce By The Ounce video on the green screen.

クワカブト一家の逆襲

I found this in (Fabio &) Sue Ryder in Southsea recently for 95p.

I've never played Super Mario Galaxy, despite being a long-time Wii owner and yes I still use it, mainly for Netflix and Wii Sports Resort Golf... and Wii Fit every three months or so before the tuba gets too much.

Anyway I want to live on the level this music is from...



Google Translate says it's "Reverse of Kuwakabuto family".

Guardians Of The Galaxy Daydream

I watched Guardians of the Galaxy last week for my birthday and while there's some whacking great plot-holes in it, the movie is still an enjoyable romp.

All the more so for the music in it, which plays a central role in the film. I'm not alone in thinking this as the soundtrack album has just got to number one on the Billboard 200. I was going to say it's a mix of unfashionable tracks from the mid 70s but nothing really falls out of fashion any more. Decide for yourself, as someone has done the honourable thing and posted it on YouTube.



One of the tracks is David Bowie's Moonage Daydream and I posted Leo Zero's edit of it yonks ago and here it is again for your streaming and downloading pleasure...

Funky Punk

As mentioned in a previous post, I've been listening to a mix that The Beta Band did for Mary Anne Hobbs' Breezeblock show on BBC Radio 1.

I've got 2002 down on the tape but the numerous uploads to SoundCloud suggests a July 2001 broadcast date, so I'm guessing I caught a replay.

And it's still well worth a replay. One of the highlights is Dillinger's Funky Punk, which the video below states is reggae but it's more than that, it's reggae with a funky punk edge - it's well weapon.

Lemonade? Please!

SOPHIE's Lemonade featured on this week's Fact Singles Club and scored a respectable 7.4.

But that doesn't quite tell the whole story, as it received a 4 as well as a 10, which points to its sectarian nature - you either love it or hate it.

Me? I love it, it's sickly syrupy and twisted pop grime, and sounds like something very fresh to these ears... though there is the nagging doubt that it could be a piss-take.



What do you think?

The Slow & Inevitable Death Of This Blog

So two months of radio silence. Heck of contrast with the avalanche that was March.

Lord knows I've posted apologies many times after a few weeks/months off, (there's even a label for it) but this does feel like the beginning of the end for this blog.

As I posted last year, mp3 blogs are winding up, as are blogs in general in favour of curation.

Technology and lifestyle changes have also affected my relationship with new music (or music I haven't heard), which impacts on what I have to write about here.

I'm still living just around the corner from work, but gone are the days where I could hide in the corner with some headphones on. I've now got to talk to people and be more approachable whether on the phone or in person. This means I tend to have the radio on quietly, usually BBC Radio 6 Music but I've even gone back to daytime Radio 1 for the first-time since I was 15, in a vain hope to grasp hold of some yoof culture – I mean who the hell is Ariana Grande and why should I care?

Also, I'm using my laptop less and less in favour of my phone and I just don't seem to download anything or even go on trawls any more. That's not to say I'm listening to nothing now, just that I seem to be investigating my diminished CD collection (I Music Magpied a ton of stuff about three years ago), checking the Facebook updates from FACT and Crack, as well as the mixes that I taped off the radio from 2001-2003.

Jacques Lu Cont's stunning remix of electroclash classic Silver Screen Shower Scene by Felix Da Housecat came from one of these tapes (filler between DJ Shadow's and The Beta Band's Breezeblock mixes from August 2002) and made me come back and fingerfart what you've just read.



And y'know if I (re)find more, I'll be back but the way life is going I'm not sure how often that'll be.

Slugabed Keeps It Cool

A rather tidy EP fell into my inbox yesterday and has been on repeat all day today.

Slugabed's Coolest EP, with its chopped yet chilled tracks, was a nice soundtrack to the sunshine and its slashed samples, weird lurches and wonky atmosphere means it'll work whatever the weather.

The EP drops on Monday 7th July as a free download but in the meantime you can stream the highlight Another Chance 2K14, which screws with the Roger Sanchez smash, over at that-towel-is-very.cool. As the URL suggests, there's also a very cool towel to buy, sadly priced at a very uncool £50. Still the spinning sun lotion bottle is nice.

There's also this weird promo video which uses Coolest Breeze Goin'...

Frank

Went to see Frank last night.



£9 it cost. For one person.

Least the film was good and the more I've thought about it today, the more I like it. It's funny and sad and stuff. I don't really do movie reviews.

The film ends on I Love You All...



I was going to say the performance of the song at the end of the film is far more visceral but then I thought visceral was one of the words you're likely to be called up on, like the column that pointed out the numerous uses of "achingly beautiful" in Stool Pigeon.

Review: Too Slow To Disco

For once I haven't pixelated or re-drawn the cover in a Ceefax style, as I want to talk about it at the start of this review and how it is a perfect window into what to expect on Too Slow To Disco from DJ Supermarkt.



Its grainy over-saturated blue sky, the iconic palm tree, the almost certainly 5-Star hotel in the bottom left-hand corner, indicates endless sunshine, convertible gas-guzzlers and a disregard for thinking too far into the future. We're in California, we're in the mid-70s and we're in the world of expensive funk-infused soft-rock, which has been re-evaluated and re-tagged as 'Yacht Rock' by crate diggers, record labels and taste-makers. We're talking The Doobie Brothers, Chicago, and Fleetwood Mac.

No longer verboten thanks initially to the rise of the widely successful Guilty Pleasures series and extensive sampling by Lemon Jelly in the early 2000s, this style of music has truly come in from the cold and into the warm embrace of hipsters through its influence on blog favourites such as Ariel Pink and Phoenix and to a certain extend on Daft Punk's ubiquitous Random Access Memories. This isn't even the first such compilation of yacht rock with Late Night Tales getting in on the act in 2012 with Music For Pleasure from Groove Armada's Tom Findlay (indeed Ned Doheny's Get It Up For Love appears on both mixes).



So let's put on our classics and have a little dance shall we? Except as explicitly stated in the title, the music on offer in Too Slow To Disco tends to chug along rather that strut, it's laid back rather than upfront, a piña colada rather than a Jägerbomb. And as with a night of just drinking elaborate fruity cocktails, the sugary sweetness and slick concoctions can leave you craving something with a little bit of grit or bite to cleanse the palate and means this compilation at times becomes too much of a good thing.

While Too Slow To Disco collates some interesting tracks (Browning Bryant's Liverpool Fool, Brian Elliot's Room To Grow, and Don Brown's Shut The Door) and has a solid ideological backbone, there are no exclusive edits or remixes on offer, so one could cut and paste this together if you so wish. Yet doing so would mean you'd be missing out on a beautifully assembled package (the LP version comes in a 2 x 180g yellow vinyl gatefold set-up) and I hope some weighty and witty liner notes (I'm reviewing a mp3 bundle of the album).

I for one will keep an eye out for volume two.

****

The vinyl version comes out Saturday 19th April 2014, while the CD and download versions are released on Monday 5th May 2014. T-Shirt bundles are available for pre-order now.

Johnny & Mary

Todd Terje's first album proper is out in two weeks and a few of the tracks from it have started doing the rounds including his collaboration with Bryan Ferry on a cover of Johnny and Mary.

Now while Terje's cover is lovely and glacial and Ferry's vocal fascinating and haunting, I find myself returning to Robert Palmer's original video. I've posted before about my love of literal videos and this is a fabulous example. A fabulous example with mimes in it. Brilliant.

White Sands

I recently dug out my decks and so my interest in vinyl has been reignited (don't hold your breath for the return of DJ Dim Parcio just yet though).

And when an email landed in my inbox today about the new single from Young Knives and that not only is it coming out on white vinyl and will be limited to 300 copies but that each sleeve will be unique I was rather intrigued; I do like a bit of coloured vinyl.

It also helps that the track is really good and has an interesting little video to boot.



P.S. Do I need a Young Knives tie for £5?

New Teeth

TEETH posted a new video last week, which I think is their first new stuff since 2011's Whatever.

And it's just as raw, electro and riffy as you remember.

Eye In The Sky

I picked up Metronomy's Late Night Tales off Amazon for £4 the other day (incidentally you can download a free Metronomy EP from Amazon called the Toe Rag Live EP at the moment).

The CD is worth getting just for the liner notes but the absolute highlight is soft rock heavyweight Eye In The Sky by The Alan Parsons Project...



Talking of Late Night Tales the next one, by Django Django, is out in May and if the last one is anything to go by (Bonobo's freaking brilliant effort) then it'll be an essential purchase.

FAQs

Task 003 from REDmatter is all about Frequently Asked Questions...

Ever Fallen In Love? - Buzzcocks



Is Vic There? - Department S



Has It Come To This? - The Streets



What Does Your Soul Look Like? (Part 4) - DJ Shadow



Where Is Home? (Burial Remix) - Bloc Party

Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks

Got Enter The Slasher House by Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks to review for next month's Buzz.

"The one out of Animal Collective who isn't Panda Bear has a new side-project with Angel Deradoorian (Dirty Projectors) and Jeremy Hyman (Dan Deacon) and all three audibly bring elements from their respective bands to this slow-burner of an album. On the first few listens the horror movie shtick is apt but eventually the noise and grating spectres drift away unveiling a beating weirdo pop heart akin to Ariel Pink. Lead single Little Fang and Duplex Trip alone are worth the ticket."



The album is out on Domino on April 7th and I gave it four stars.

A Reich Shower

I like to listen to BBC Radio 5 Live in the shower; its punchy output and rough AM sound suit the situation but yesterday they were talking about laser eye surgery for what felt like hours.

Rather than find something else on AM, I switched over to FM, flicked the tuner and stumbled upon something that sounded like Philip Glass. Sensing that this was the perfect time to try out Shazam, I learned that it was Tehillim (Parts Three & Four) by Steve Reich...

Loving Love Letters

I've now had a chance to listen to Love Letters properly and I've got to say it's a grower, but the tracks that I highlighted on my first listen are still the ones that stand out, namely...

Love Letters (love Oscar's tambourine skills)



Reservoirs (thanks for the link, Dayana)



And my personal favourite, Boy Racers



I also learned today that if you get the album from Spillers you get a free poster, dah!

Guinness' Surfer Is Old & Phat

It's Guinness Day on Monday or St. Patrick's Day as some of you may know it.

It's hard to think of Guinness and not recall some of their iconic commercials, the most striking of which was 1999's Surfer (yep it was 15 years ago - how old do you suddenly feel?)



As well as the horses in the waves and the poetic voiceover, it's Leftfield's thunderous and rolling Phat Planet that planted it in my young mind. It was probably the reason it was my first legal drink (holla at yo Gatekeeper).

Protocol

This week's task for REDmatter is "[...] to tell a story; this could be in the form of a 'how to' guide or even a 'day in the life of'. But here is the catch; you need to use photos as the main medium, with minimal amount of text."

So here is one of the routes that decides what music I blog about here...

FREE-DOOM

As well as making his own sweet Wallabees, DOOM's hook-up with Clarks Originals has also resulted in a new remix of Bookhead and is made up of recordings made on a visit to Clarks' factory in Somerset.

You can check out the accompanying video below and/or get the mp3 in exchange for an email addy here.

Ghost In The Shell Remix

I was always going to post about this even if it sounded like someone playing with a toy chainsaw while farting in the bath.

This is because Ghost In The Shell is my favourite anime if not close to being my favourite film of all time, and Making Of A Cyborg is its theme. It's also a beautiful piece of music in its own right.

Thankfully Rope hasn't been playing with a toy chainsaw while farting in the bath but has instead chopped and screwed Kenji Kawai's original into a machine-drilled bass bumper.

MP3 >>>  Kenji Kawai - Making Of A Cyborg (Rope Re-Interpretation) [Hot link from XLR8R]

Rebounding With Dornik

Crack (and a lot of other people) have posted about Young & Sick's rubbery Glass but while it's alright I was blown away by one of the tracks suggested by SoundCloud after I'd finished listening to it.

Usually I ignore these links, as their algorithms are usually a bit off for me but not this time; they suggested checking out Dornik's Rebound.

Now Dornik isn't new to me, heck he made my Top 10 last year (#9 with a bullet), but I can't get enough of his super-smooth 80s-influenced R'n'B.



I've must have played this at least 20 times today, good job I was home alone in the office.

Top 5 Things I've Heard Since I Started This Blog

My friend Gareth added me to Burning Red's REDmatter group and I've just seen that this week's task is a list post.

Every December I blog my Top 10 Things I Heard that year, so I thought I'd distil the lists down to a super-strength Top 5 so far (the year in brackets is when I blogged about it not necessarily when it came out, as you'll see).

5. Todd Terje - Inspector Norse (2012)

"Think Breaking Bad set in rural Norway with Jesse wearing an amazing (and I mean amazing) jumper and you get the gist of Todd Terje's new video for his funky spacey house bumper Inspector Norse..."



4. Telex - Moskow Diskow (2010)

"Moskow Diskow is a stupendous piece of dead-pan futuristic electronic disco music... from Belgium. It's the four-four handclap/fingersnap sound. It's the vocoder. It's the French (or Flemish, whatevs). It's the synths. It's the train motifs (the sister of Kraftwerk's bicycles?). It's the everything."



3. Amon Düül II - Mozambique (2010)

"[...] free-form, off-kilter German prog-rock [...]"



2. Danny Boy & The Serious Gods – Castro Boy (Somewhat Normal) (2009)

"I think I've found the gayest record ever [...] a clenched fist in-your-end-oh [...] Castro Boy is a truly remarkable track, a killer Italo-flecked HI-NRG floor shaker that screams shapes and sweat, mirrors and filth, intimacy and debauchery."



1. Rustie's Essential Mix (2012)

"Pitchfork can tell you why it's good or you could just use your ears..."



<< REWIND <<
Top 10 of 2013
Top 10 of 2012
Top 10 of 2011
Top 10 of 2010
Top 10 of 2009

Loopy Herbert

I was back in Cornwall recently and while I was being thrown around in my mum's Celica between Camborne and Falmouth, there was a documentary on BBC Radio 4 called The Art Of The Loop, which was presented by Matthew Herbert.

Sadly the programme has already dropped off iPlayer but you can still hear a clip...



This sent me hunting for Bodily Functions, Herbert's 2001 album that I used to hammer. To be honest, I'd not listened to it in such a long time that I thought I'd lost it, but on hearing its whoozy jazzy charm once again, it's gone straight into the stereo side stack.

Onyeabor In Bristol (Kinda)

I posted last week about Nigerian man of synth mystery William Onyeabor and I learned today that there's a super special event happening in Bristol next month.

I say super special as it's one of only two performances happening anywhere in the world. The night will consist of a galaxy of stars (yeah, what?) performing Onyeabor's music, including Hot Chip's Alexis Taylor, Pat Mahoney from LCD Soundsystem and Kele Okereke of Bloc Party.

GWTF 19: De La Soul & Dilla

GWTF = Go With The Flow

De La Soul have been busy this year celebrating the 25th anniversary of the stone cold 3 Feet High And Rising; they've given away their back catalogue, they're touring the UK in May and they've got a new album out too.

Perhaps the most exciting thing is that it looks like they're releasing a mixtape called Smell The D.A.I.S.Y with all the beats being J Dilla beats. Woof.

Metronomy Vs Soulwax

Following on from this, I went with dirty Amazon and their free postage (I also got Flying Lotus' last album, as I'm seeing him and Thundercat in Bristol in June).

The Rough Trade bonus CD has alternative takes of album tracks rather than new songs on it; if it had Soulwax's churning remix of Love Letters too then I might have got it from them...

Film: William Onyeabor

I've just watched a fantastic film over on Noisey about mysterious man of Nigerian electro funk, William Onyeabor and you should too...

First Listen: Love Letters

Metronomy's fourth album, Love Letters, is out next week and they've gone down the stream-the-whole-thing-on iTunes-route.

A lot has been made of where it has been recorded (Toe Rag Studios) and the rougher analogue 60s sound compared to the previous and pristine The English Riviera.

One thing that certainly is rough (and ropey) are the vocals on opener The Upsetter, which may be a statement of a new direction, or indicating the rawness to come, but actual sounds pretty bad.

Next we get the 6-Music-hammered I'm Aquarius, Monster and the stunning Love Letters. But the main reason I'm writing this, aside from my love of Metronomy, is the fantastic Boy Racers (around the 21 minute mark on the stream above). This wobbly and weird instrumental harks right back to Pip Paine, and with its squelchy synth bassline and double-handclaps reminds me a bit of Telex and that's no bad thing.

From there the album seems to fizzle out with the exception of the bleak and plinky Reservoir.

So while I'm not immediately smitten with Love Letters, I will still buy it as I'm now of that age where I only buy albums by bands I already like. The question now is whether I get it from Spillers for £9.99, dirty Amazon for £8.99 (plus AutoRip) or Rough Trade for £10.99, which includes an exclusive bonus CD.   

Lone Star

Been trawling though some old podcasts recently at work and one of the highlights was Daedelus' bonkers XLR8R mix , which you can download a mp3 of here but it's worth subscribing on iTunes for the m4As with the tracklistings.

It's thanks to that tracklisting feature that I was able to easy name Lone's Airglow Fires, a bangin' slice of... I'm not sure what category it fits into apart from a good one.

Yes Brae

I've been enjoying Gorilla Vs. Bear's January mix an awful lot this past week or so.

A big part of that is the excellent opening track from New Zealand's Yumi Zouma, a dreamy hazy pop record called The Brae. It's available from tomorrow on their new EP.



Gorilla Vs. Bear's monthly mixes are an excellent way to keep up-to-date with what's going on stateside in vaguely hipsterish circles.

GWTF 18: Move That Dope

GWTF = Go With The Flow

Future + Mike Will Made It + Pharrell + Pusha T + (Future’s brother) Casino =

More AWE

Turns out AWE done a Slammers & Bangers mix for Skream & Benga's BBC Radio 1 show recently, which you can stream here for the next couple of weeks.

Hey, why not try out this QR code to get there... because reasons.

Tracklisting: 

AWE - Triassic (Radio Edit) 

Louis Futon - Tree 

Mizz Beats & Jay Retro - Level 0 

DJ Swaqqy Dolphin - Blahblahblah 

DJ Sliink X Mr Carmack - Drop Cha Back In It (AWE Don't Give A Hoot mix) 

Hudson Mohawke - Furnace Loop 

Dorian Concept - Trilingual Dance Sexperience (AWE Bootleg) 

AWE - Crystals 

Djemba Djemba - Yah Pop 

Raf Riley - Goblinz (The Wake) 

Mr Carmack - Rockingmynikescutup 

Sellorekt / LA Dreams - Outside Insiders 

Rustie - Cry Flames 

Sellorekt / LA Dreams - Outside Insiders 

Rustie - Cry Flames

Full AWE

So AWE's Crystals got a mixed response in FACT's single club this week but I'd still take a "pound shop Rustie" over most new music...

Weird Energies

Even less than the ever-decreasing post-punk posts are the "little bit left of centre" ones on this blog, so here's a slice of hippy dippy new age ambient weirdness from Pauline Anna Strom...



Not only that but there's even a mp3 to download. Yeah, I'm going back to my roots...

MP3 >>> Pauline Anna Strom - Energies [Hot link from Waves At Night]

DOOM Boots

JJ DOOM's Wash Your Hands was very close to making my Top 10 but just missed out when I remembered about Thundercat.



But then I noticed these sweet Wallabees from Clarks and there's my excuse...

You can hear DOOM talking about the collab with Clarks below and they should be available for pre-order soon and shipping on Valentine's Day, so if you love me...

Jumping Someone Else's Train

Been on a 6 Music tip recently as I got told off for streaming stuff at work and the diet of RA, XLR8R and Bleep podcasts was getting a bit repetitive, so I brought in a DAB radio.

Amongst all the white faces, the bass line on The Cure's Jumping Someone Else's Train stood out this afternoon...



Which lead me to this treasure trove of a Wikipedia page.

The Top 10 Things I Heard In 2013

Yeah I know this is late but I fell out of love with music around November. I hit a low and turned my back on a lot of things, this blog being one of them, I mean shit I didn't even post any Christmas songs, never mind make a mix.

Anyway, seeing that this is my baby I reckon I can post my top 10 tracks two months after everyone else, so here goes... oh and these didn't necessarily come out in 2013 but was stuff I discovered and hammered in said year...

10. Sampha - Can't Get Close



9. Dornik - Something About You



8. Thundercat - Oh Sheit It's X



7. Danny Brown - WitIt



6. Boards Of Canada - Palace Posy



5. Disclosure - Latch



4. Jon Hopkins - Open Eye Signal



3. Daft Punk - Doin' It Right



2. Rustie - Frazzle



1. Chance The Rapper - Paranoia



<< REWIND <<

• Top 10 of 2012
• Top 10 of 2011
• Top 10 of 2010
• Top 10 of 2009

The Best Sweatshirt Ever...

Yeah boi.