Statham Moves

Another day, another track from Benji B's 2017 Mixtape, this time from Part 2.

At the time of writing, Big Sean's Moves has been watched 32 million times on YouTube.

I have my finger on the pulse.

Shout out to the Jason Statham reference.

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• Lamar In The Limelight
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Original image: CC BY-SA 2.5, Link

Boofiness

What does Boofiness mean?

Who is 1010 Benja SL?

How can a track made up of just a piano, hand claps, and layered vocal sound so huge?



There doesn't seem to be an awful lot of information as to whom 1010 Benja SL is or are, but one known fact is Boofiness is one of the best things I've heard this year. And with 3 days to spare.

Pigeons and Planes had a bit of a dig and didn't come up with much. It's the only track on 1010 Benja SL's SoundCloud page and from there the only linked social media is an Instagram account.

Boofiness was first uploaded around this time last year and was made commercially available from March. Hence it rightly makes the cut for Benji B's 2017 Mixtape.

Image Credit: Public Domain

Soulwaxmas

Merry Christmas one and all, Soulwax have only gone a 20 minute Xmas music megamix for BBC 6 Music.



I'm pleased to hear a few familiar tracks that I've used on my Xmas Mix series over the last couple of years. Also love the Wham Edit, which borders on hauntology and hypnagogic pop. Soulwax's Christmas Mix is only on the BBC site for a couple more days, so best hurry.

Dumps Like A Trunk, Trunk, Trunk / Elves Like What? What? What?

No Christmas Mix from me this year.

Instead here's Jonny Trunk's Xmas special from a couple of week's ago for The Quietus.



Plenty of oddball seasonal selections from Trunk, though I think I would've preferred the full version of a distorted Andy Williams.

If you're crying out for more Xmas Mixes, then all my previous ones are still up on my MixCloud page (search Sammyfax).

Related Posts:

• Xmas Mix 2016 (Rothfink's Merry Rustmas)
• Xmas Mix 2014
• Xmas Mix 2012
• Xmas Mix 2011
• Xmas Mix 2010

You Want To Make Something Real. You Want To Make A Jazz Record.

Of course I've got A Love Supreme. I also had a burned copy of Kind of Blues. I even scanned and printed the artwork, featuring the POP sticker in the top right-hand corner that Cardiff Central Library placed on all its CDs way back when. So yeah I know jazz.

Well all the jazz I need to know according to Q or Mojo or whoever compiles those 50 albums you must hear before your face falls off lists. John Coltrane and Miles Davis are always the token jazz entries. And when I was 17 I thought I was a serious music fan and that I should have A Love Supreme and Kind of Blue to prove I was a serious music fan. So I got them and I barely listened to them. In fact I think Kind of Blue went in the burned CD purge of the Eco House. So yeah I don't know jazz.

Still this ferocious cut by Pharoah Sanders, which James Holden played at the end off his one-off NTS show this week, caught my ear.

Nice. Can see why he made James Murphy's list.

Original Image: Villanueva at hu.wikipedia [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons

Noor 77

I found a tape amongst a pile of rubbish on the Ely Trail the other day.

Is this gonna be some Ringu shit? Last tape I found had an Eastern European sounding guy reciting nursery rhymes before cutting to Alphaville's Forever Young 😱📼😱📼😱

A post shared by Sammyfax (@ceefaxoflife) on Dec 5, 2017 at 4:19am PST

I originally left it there. Ringu and rain put me off. And I reported the fly-tipping to Cardiff Council. Yet it was still there today. So why not pick it up?

Research time...

The cassette is a Super C-60LN. Someone from Volgograd is selling one that's "in a sorry state", and it can be yours for just 35 rubles, approximately 50p. All other search results for that tape are Russian pages too.

The markings on the tape are "Noor Karaan" on both sides and "77" scratched into the plastic in four locations. A quick google suggest Noor Karaan is an American tween.

The person speaking on the tape is definitely not an American tween.

If I had to hazard a guess, through the fuzz and flutter, the person speaking is an older male, possibly Middle Eastern and reciting a text, perhaps praying.

However it seems Super Cassettes are an Indian company and Karaan (well Karan) is derived from the Kayasth caste of Hindus originating in India. So the signs point to Bengal rather than Baghdad or Balaklava.

Returning to 77, it seems to have some religious significance, predominately in Islam but also in Christianity (the Gospel of Luke lists 77 generations from Adam to Jesus). Now I mentioned the Kayasth caste as being Hindu. However there are Muslim Kayasths and they're mainly from the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. And Uttar Pradesh happens to be the state that Super Cassette Industries are based in (Noida to be exact).

So now I'm slightly worried I've committed a hate crime by sampling some of the cassette to make a track...



Still if it was that big a deal, they wouldn't have dumped it where I walk my dog.

Related post: Found Tape - Gypsy Curses and Synth Pop (from when I found a cassette by Heath Low Level in 2009)

110% PASHUN

Anyone for some manufactured Hi-NRG disco from early 80s NYC?

The Flirts were a carousel of beautiful on-stage models and faceless off-stage singers, constantly being spun by electronic disco pioneer Bobby Orlando. Bobby O wrote the songs, played all the instruments, and picked the line-up. That's definitely in the Svengali / mogul area of pop production.

I've gone for the 12" Mix of Passion today as the longer version gives time for Orlando's magic to spin out, pushes the nondescript vocals aside and allows the A-ha! moment of 4:11 to happen. For me that's when I finally clocked the sample... it's the melody of Felix Da Housecat's superb Silver Screen (Shower Scene)!

Apparently The Flirts are still a going concern as a live act, though I'm not sure how much Bobby Orlando is still involved. His Wikipedia page, which I do have an inkling he's still involved with, says he is releasing music even now. Bonus Bobby O fact - he originally produced West End Girls by Pet Shop Boys.

Finally, there are quite a few different versions of Passion by The Flirts up on that YouTube, so if 9 minutes of pumping disco bliss is too much, then have a go on this proto-Eurotrash video instead...

Original Image: By City of Orlando (http://www.cityoforlando.net/) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons