StereoRipe #SlewDem

After doing the odd album and single review for Buzz over the last four years, I made my gig début on Friday night, covering the launch party for Dragon Era 7 in The Abacus.

You can read my thoughts here on buzzmag.co.uk and check out the compilation behind the party below. If you don't feel like reading 350+ words, then Boris A Bono and Llwybr Llaethog were weird and good but StereoRipe #slewdem with his instrumental grime.

Painting & Voguing, Voguing & Painting

We've bought our first house in Canton and today was the full first day of decorating.

It felt right to explore the airwaves and I set the Sharp GF-6000 to work. We quickly settled on Heart (I was looking for Nation TBH) and they absolutely smashed it. No repeats, all killer.

Highlight? Flipping Don't Let Go by En Vogue, a certified Grade A slow jam banger.

Tutti Frutti Remix Beauty

Anyone for an eleven-minute Hot Chip remix of New Order's Tutti Frutti? Thought so!


This remix has come about because of Singularity, an interesting project that looks to document the ongoing influence of one of the finest bands the UK has produced. Currently on there is the above Hot Chip remix, a playlist from Robert Smith of The Cure, and stuff from Factory Floor, Algiers and Will Broome.

I Know What Elves Like...

Regular readers of this blog will know I love Christmas.

Some people don't get on it till December, others wait to get Bonfire Night or Halloween out of the way first, but for me it can't start early enough - the moment I feel that cold northerly wind and I reach for a scarf then it's time to get excited.

And that's a good thing too, as my Xmas Mixes don't just throw themselves together, despite what you might think. It's also when I usually get to see my mum, and hang out with old friends; it really is the best time of the year,

The hunt for tracks for this year's mix has already begun and I soon learned of Kylie Christmas, Kylie Minogue's new album for the holiday season. It includes the usual suspects, a few original compositions and also the intriguing prospect of Christmas Wrapping with Iggy Pop.

Christmas Wrapping is my favourite Xmas song, so I really hope Kylie and Iggy (Kiggy?) do The Waitresses' classic justice. There's no sign of it online yet, but when researching this post I learned that The Waitresses also did I Know What Boys Like and quite how I missed that obvious connection is beyond me...

Plastic Berk-Fans

So there we have it. We've done it.

Wales are going to the finals of a major tournament for the first time since the 1958 World Cup in Sweden... and yet some idiots still aren't happy.

I heard several people complaining about how Wales were playing last night, how they weren't hammering Andorra. The same players that qualified for Euro 2016 three days previous, the same players that mean I get to watch my country on the biggest stage for the first time in not only my lifetime, but my father's lifetime.

Some people are idiots.

And you can add most of the Andorra team to that category. As I posted on Facebook during the game...

If the population of Andorra is anything like their football team then the country must be a sausage fest of colossal dicks. I love a plucky underdog but these guys play the game in the wrong spirit. Fuck you and fuck off.

Still, we won and we're off to France. How did the FAW celebrate? Some utter genius but Plastic Bertrand on....



We like to sing, we like to dance, we've got our passports and we're off to France!

Twin Perks

Last week was my 2nd wedding anniversary and I got a shout out on BBC Radio 6 Music.

A pretty damn good week you could say and these two events weren't mutually exclusive either...





Related Article: Twin Peaks @ Christmas

Bonobo? Boyesbo!

I've been firing up my iTunes a lot more in the past week-or-so, simply because I've been using my laptop to do some stuff instead of my phone.

So I've been going through my **** and ***** rated tracks (as well as playing the Russian roulette that is shuffle, what with the large amounts of guff I've downloaded over the years) and one of the first to pop up was this simply lovely track.

Bonobo twists, strips and rebuilds Pilote's Turtle into a downtempo classic. I first came across it in 2001 when Chris Coco included it on Ibiza By Day, a cover mount CD for MUZIK, a mix I still return to to this day and which was surprisingly important in my musical education.



Related Article: Hanna / Hana

On This Day, The Champions League & 8-Bit Versions

I'm a huge fan of looking back.

I like to keep receipts for albums, so I know exactly when I bought them. I organise my MPFrees in monthly folders, so I know roughly when I downloaded them.

So when Facebook started pumping out its On This Day app, I was caught hook, line and sinker. So two years ago today, I shared this video, an 8-bit version of the Champions League theme tune. Well done past Sam...

Darkstar Dummy Mix

Darkstar did Dummy's 269th mix back in August but it's been on serious rotation this week at work.

There's ambient stuff, a bit of hip-hop, some rub-a-dub-dub, film dialogue and plenty of intrigue. It's a fantastic 45 minutes. Enjoy...



Tracklisting:

Mad Rush - Phillip Glass
After Soaking Two Years And Then Lying High Six Months It Was Perfectly Sound Through Waterlogged Past Dying - Shane Carruth
Chez Le Commandeur - Hector Zazou
Trouble Sleep Yanga Wake Am - Fela Kuti
Monijitas - Soul Keita
In Principio - Ludovico Einaudi
Africa Dub - Augustus Pablo
Listening Wind - Talking Heads
Fabulous Paris - Trevor Wishart
Comin' For Datazz - Gang Starr
Subterraneans - David Bowie
Institutionalized - Kendrick Lamar
Yayla - Rezzet
Memories Of Green - Vangelis
Through The Motions - Darkstar
midipipe1csds3timecube-klonedrm - AFX
Day In Day Out - XTC
The Last Human Exist Dance - Tylervision
Breathless - Gwilym Gold
I want you - Eyrkah Badu
Interplanetary Music - Mickey Moonlight
The Hours - Phillip Glass
Opera - Daniel Lanois

The Top 10 Things I Heard In 2014

I started on my top 10 things I heard in 2015 list last night and I realised that I never published my 2014 edition, so here goes...

10. Metronomy - Boy Racers



9. Alan Parsons Project - Eye In The Sky



8. Rustie - Attak (feat. Danny Brown)



7. DVBBS - Tsunami @ Belgian Halftime



6. Todd Terje - Delorean Dynamite



5. SOPHIE - Lemonade



4. Gruff Rhys - 100 Unread Messages



3. The Soronprfbs - I Love You All



2. Dornik - Rebound



1. Robert Palmer - Johnny & Mary



<< REWIND <<

• Top 10 of 2013
• Top 10 of 2012
• Top 10 of 2011
• Top 10 of 2010
• Top 10 of 2009

This Modern Rib-Eye

As I was cooking a frankly superb rib-eye steak this evening, 6 Music played a live version of Bloc Party's This Modern Love and I was reminded of what a great song it is and quickly went to grab Silent Alarm.

Thing is though that the best live version of This Modern Love I've got is a slightly ropey yet highly charming version by Smoosh (now known as Chaos Chaos)...



[Right-click and "Download Document" for a mp3 of This Modern Love (Live in San Francisco) by Smoosh]

Glad All Over

What links my granddad's side Crystal Palace, my new favourite Scottish football team Partick Thistle (sorry Kilmarnock but they've got a David Shrigley mascot) and former Welsh rugby powerhouse Pontypridd?

They all use - according to Wikipedia, anyway - Glad All Over by The Dave Clark Five as celebration music.

And what a stomper it is...

Eyesdown, Listen Up

Coldcut were recently on Essential Mix duty to celebrate 25 years of Ninja Tune and it goes without saying that it was some top, top listening.

The mix is on the BBC iPlayer for a couple of more weeks and I have to say it's been great that the Beeb have extended the time that you can catch up on radio shows from a week to a month.

One of the highlights of the mix was 30 minutes in when they dropped Machinedrum's roller of a remix of Eyesdown by Bonobo...

Music For Misfits

Nice if slightly hagiographic, Music for Misfits: The Story of Indie, started last night on BBC4.

The first in a three part series, it's shaping up to be a  rather good documentary strand and I've got the YouView on it.

Anyway, episode one kicked off with Joy Division's Disorder, the opener of Unknown Pleasures, and I don't need to be asked twice to share this track.

Windows 95 (Full Eno Mix)

Someone dared to go full Eno. They have taken something Brian Eno made and made it even more Eno.

Eno.

Ideoforms has stretched out the Windows 95 start up music, all four seconds of it, by 4000 times to make it super ambient. It's really quite lovely.



Though this is not a new idea (I first came across it when Nyan Cat was stretched to eternity), it's a fitting and beautiful way to mark the 20th anniversary of the launch of Windows 95.

Fingerbib Shuffle

After trying to cram in as many listens of Nicolas Godin's curio Contrepoint for a Buzz review, I went full shuffle on the walk to work and Fingerbib was thrown up.

Fingerbib is track four off my favourite Aphex Twin LP, Richard D. James Album, and one of my all-time favourites for that matter. It has everything you want from an Aphex album, lush melodies, complex programming, noise, whimsy and beauty. Fingerbib captures this all.

Crack Mix 97: Andrew Weatherall

I haven't been keeping an eye on Crack Magazine's Mix Series, as I'm more than happy flicking through the paper version that you can pick up for free around Cardiff. I do like a physical music paper, especially one as good and free as Crack (NME is becoming a free publication in September, but still needs to work on the being good part).

Yet upon spying on my FB feed that Andrew Weatherall is in charge of Crack Mix 97, I was straight in there my son! It's an hour or so of... just good music from one of the best DJs around. It goes here and there, starts of with a hypnotic slab of whatever DJ Sotofett does, chugs a bit in the middle, touches on acid and electro and simply flows really well, seamlessly if you will.

Well worth a download.



Related Article: Stoned & Starving

Dumont > Ducktails

I've not posted for a while and I think it's down to spending a solid week listening to St. Catherine, the new album from Ducktails for a Buzz review. I liked The Flower Lane but man this album seriously bummed me out (though I seem to be out of step with most critics) and put me off listening to things for a while.

I eventually got over the hump with Domenique Dumont, who I came to through Gorilla Vs Bear's June 2015 Mix.

GORILLA VS. BEAR JUNE 2015 MIX by Gorillavsbear on Mixcloud

Think a poppy Tropicália take on good ol' chillwave but a bit more French and Um Bongo-y. Yeah, I think I need to work on my similes. Anyway it's super-summery and a bit cheesy but his/her stuff sounds great in July, though it might seem like a piss-take if you listen to it in November. Dumont's album, Comme Ça, came out last month on Antinote.



MP3 >>> Gorilla Vs Bear's June 2015 Mix [Hot link via GvB]

Bookerbury

So Glastonbury is on and the BBC coverage is yet again excellent.

Watching on iPlayer you can flick through live streams of four to six stages (Pyramid, Other, John Peel, West Holts, Park and BBC Introducing), which is a godsend as our TV struggles with picking up BBC 3 & 4 (our flat was built when NTL was all the rage and doesn't have an external aerial).

Highlights yesterday were Mary J Blige who absolutely stormed it, Hot Chip doing their thing and, surprisingly, Mark Ronson's pick'n'mix legends selection.

Another highlight was Benjamin Booker, who I'd never heard of and is not usually my thing, but impressed with his blues rock thunder. The drummer was also wearing a nice East Greenwich Avengers shirt.

We've Come A Long Way Since Tetris...

Thump published an excellent article this week about how games, in particular driving games, are breaking new drum'n'bass artists.

The most interesting part of the article is the comments from Ashley Howard, head of publishing and sync at Hospital and the importance of this channel and being the 'press start' track.

Aside from Warp and maybe Ninja Tune, Hospital was one of the first labels I followed religiously. It might not be clear from my postings here over the last five years, but D'n'B was my default listening selection from 15-19.

From taping the liquid funk of Fabio off Radio 1 (but rarely Grooverider, as I only had one tape to record either The Blue Room or Fabio & Grooverider and tended to alternate between the two) to somehow sneaking in underage to Clwb Ifor Bach on Friday nights, D'n'B played a big part in my musical education.

Hospital Mix 1, which I picked up for £4.99 in Virgin Megastore in the Capitol Centre, used to get hammered on my stereo. Sadly I can't seem to find it (or High Contrast's debut album True Colours) but the good folks at Hospital have uploaded it to YouTube with some nifty turntable graphics.



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Ghostly Glitch

I recently posted about Adult Swim's 2015 Singles Club, but while you're there waiting for the goodies, it's worth scrolling down a little bit to access a free compilation from Ghostly International called Ghostly Swim 2.

Pumped out in April, you get an hour-or-so of beautiful electronic music for nadda, so take a dip if you're after woozy ambient jams, hazy house or some techno workouts. Personal highlights are Heathered Pearls' Supra and I Only Have Eyes For You by Mary Lattimore & Jeff Zeigler.

Technodubfest

I went to see Mad Max: Fury Road yesterday in Vue Cardiff, god bless the £4 price war started by Premiere in the old Odeon.

"Going pedal-to-the-metal for two hours means it's an exhilarating if exhausting watch but if you're after a beautifully shot, edited and choreographed movie that isn't afraid to keep it simple then check it out."

Junkie XL did the score and the Dutchman is probably best known for that remix of Elvis Presley's A Little Less Conversation but my mind always jumps to Technodubfest.

It's not even listed on his Wikipedia entry but this mix for Ministry magazine from 2002 with Charlie May is never far from my stereo. Technodubfest probably isn't mentioned as Junkie XL had very little input in the mix, according to this blog from 2009. I also never knew until researching this post that it was an influences mix for Sasha's Airdrawndagger, which both May and JXL worked on.

It's tough to pick a highlight with the mix featuring Fridge, Penguin Café Orchestra, Rhythm & Sound and Susumu Yokota but I'll go for Model 500's Lightspeed.



Related Article: Dub Techno Will Never Die

Adult Swim Singles Club 2015

Yesterday Adult Swim announced the line-up for their Singles Club this year and it looks pretty darn sweet with Danny Brown & Clams Casino, Shabazz Palaces, and DOOMSTARKS all set to take part.

I'm particularly looking forward to SOPHIE remixing Sia, which is due on 24th August. Pitchfork has a rundown of the 20-odd artists involved this year.

Adult Swim's Singles programme is their annual free download thing and you can still get all the previous editions; 2014, 2013, 2012, and 2011.

Last year's highlight was Run The Jewels...



You can all run naked backwards through a field of dicks.

Punk Panda: The O'Jays & Steak

Plus One Loo wangled a 50% off deal at Punk Panda this evening, so we obvs went for the steaks as it's a BBQ kinda place.

The steaks were perfectly fine, chips nice, redslaw banging, but if you're paying full whack for a steak in Cardiff go to Steak of the Art. If you do plump for Punk Panda avoid the 'special panda glaze' as it is sickly sweet, I love sweet things but that glaze is redonk.

Anyway while there Angie Stone's Wish I Didn't Miss You came on the stereo, which pinches pretty much all of the backing track of the far-superior Back Stabbers by the O'Jays.

Gaaaaaaabbbbbrrriiiieeeeeeeel: NOW TV, GoT & The Affair

So my six months silence has pretty much coincided with my NOW TV subscription and losing myself in A Song Of Ice And Fire.

But it isn't just Game Of Thrones that's sucked me in, have you seen The Jinx? Best thing I've on TV in years.

Anyway, as I'm paying £6.99 for the privilege of watching GoT and the finale of Mad Men as it's going out (Don was definitely smirking about creating The Coke Ad, I don't care what others say, he can't have happiness outside of advertising), I've investigated a few other series and I've found myself watching The Affair.

I'm not particularly fussed on it, but the name Gabriel keeps cropping up and in my head it goes Gaaaaaaabbbbbrrriiiieeeeeeeel because...



Fucking McNulty

Young Marble Birthday

Quite how I've never written about Young Marble Giants on here before is beyond me, especially as they were one of the first things I wrote about for theSprout.co.uk back in 2008.

Why am I writing about them now?

HUUUUUGE gig new for Cardiff!! LEGENDARY Young Marble Giants play @GlobeCardiff 6th August in support of @GrassrootsCF10 . Tix on sale 2mro!

— SPILLERS RECORDS (@spillersrecords) May 29, 2015

Well that's my birthday sorted.

If you're unfamiliar with Young Marble Giants then let a young me explain a bit...

"Formed in 1978 and disbanded before the end of 1980 after one LP, one EP and one single, their anthology was as minimal as the music contained within it. And as with the timeless classicalism of the Greek statues from where Young Marble Giants got their name, there is a timelessness to the music which is as intriguing and as alien today, as it was almost 30 years after it surfaced on the Rough Trade label."



If you're unfamiliar with Grassroots, then check out this article on theSprout.co.uk or head straight to their CrowdFunder page.

So head down to Spillers or buy online via The Globe.

See you there!

Neva Leave Me With Bubble Tea

How could I not click on a mix called Music To... Drink Bubble Tea To?

Now I don't expect to hear Victoria Kim's collection of super slick bedroom-focused R'n'B to be pumping out of Bubble Base in Queen's Arcade any time soon, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't give it a spin.



Highlight for me is Yummy Bingham's fantastic slow jam Neva Leave Me.



P.S. Hi Everyone!