Stones Throw have started a new series of direct to disc live albums – the band or artist performs live in the studio and the record is mixed and cut as they play. White label copies are pressed up and sleeved in hand stamped covers in a limited run, unavailable digitally. So far Rick, Gary Wilson, The Stepkids and Major Hawthorne have contributed.
1 & 2 arrived, there’s still time to support by subscribing to the series or buying individual CDs.
[youtube width=”640″ height=”480″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5AINIO4eFc&feature=player_embedded#at=200[/youtube]
A new Facebook group popped up this week reminiscing over the club at the centre of the mash up / bootleg / bastard pop craze of the early 2000’s. This short piece by a Swiss film crew was posted that I make a brief cameo in. The King Of The Boots/Bastard nights at the Asylum are some of my fondest clubbing memories (as a punter and a DJ), genuinely insane, hilarious as well, as each new mash was greeted with a roar of approval. There was a real shock of the new in some ways, you could hear the scene unfolding month after month, incredibly exciting as well as being some of the silliest, dance-on-the-table-shit-faced nights out.
I found this in the Music & Video Exchange last summer, the packaging was intriguing enough for me to part with £1 for it. On closer inspection I noticed it was designed by Pete Fowler, I like the way he’s used the title as a springboard for the way it unfolds.
Having a hard drive clear out / clean up, things might get a little random this week…
Loved Skylab‘s output, some truly wonderful records made by Mat Ducasse with some help from Major Force West and Howie B along the way.
Andy Votel and Doug Shipton’s Finders Keepers label was also affected in the PIAS fire earlier this week, they have responded by putting together a 10 CD series of compilation, curated by various friends like David Holmes, Jarvis Cocker, Gruff Rhys and Demdike Stare.
You can buy individual CDs or downloads or subscribe to the entire series upfront by visiting their website. Please support this excellent label and all its offshoots as they consistently amaze with their releases.
My third EP will be called ‘Magpies, Maps and Moons’, featuring 5 tracks with a vocal collaboration from JG Thirlwell and a musical one from 2econd Class Citizen. It will be out Oct/Nov, on 12″ and DL, not entirely sure the exact date yet, with the album to follow shortly afterwards.
…only the Eagles of Death Metal will do
Poster by Michael Hacker, ed. of 71
Excellent promo video for Pendulum‘s ‘Coffin’ by Jude and Jolyon Greenaway.
I can’t seem to embed the video here so you’ll have to click the link, they are also doing a 360 degree film presentation for Ron Arad at the Roundhouse next Wednesday.
[youtube width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwbR8ubfHtY&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
The ever reliable Stones Throw label have their new signing – The Stepkids – coming to the UK this week for the first time. Lots of people including Gilles Peterson and The Guardian have been raving about them and they live up to the hype. If you like Rotary Connection, Charles Stepney productions and psychedelic soul then this band is for you. They play Cargo in Shoreditch, London on Wednesday the 3rd August, tickets are £5 in advance and £8 on the door and they play around 8.30pm. They’re also playing the Big Chill Festival Friday 5th but I’m not sure the exact stage and time yet.
The song everyone is raving about is ‘La La’, available on the B-side of this gorgeous splatter vinyl 12″, but everything I’ve heard so far has been great (check the ‘Wonderfox’ video I posted earlier)
The Stepkids – La La by stonesthrow
I’ll be mixing the last selection of tracks submitted for the 64 Bar Music project early next month. Here are some previews of some of the 30 odd tracks submitted, mainly via the Ninja Tune forum. The standard is very high for the sixth installment, the brief being to write 64 bars at the tempo of 110 beats per minute in any style although the prevailing style seems to be very electronic.
64:6 promo tracks by 64barmusic
Musically it’s not my bag but the cover is great, reminds me of Trevor Jackson‘s work for Soulwax a few years back. New 12″ ‘Black Waves’ EP on Civil Music.
Funki Porcini aka James Braddell (disclosure: very good friend of mine, I’ve designed several of his record sleeves over the years) is putting out some sublime music right now through his own channels. His Bandcamp page is seeing regular updates of new tracks and there are some real gems emerging, the latest being his ‘Six Minutes In Manchester’ single, complete with 9 Lazy 9 remix. Also check out another recent track ‘The Devil Drives’ below
[youtube width=”640″ height=”480″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3zoRYoNw1M[/youtube]
[youtube width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rAHVkEeC-4&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
Oh, I like that a lot, out on Stones Throw, myspace page here for more
I’m currently enjoying People Like Us’ (aka Vicki Bennett) new album ‘Welcome Abroad’, it’s a frequently hilarious mixture of cut and pastry based around her time stuck abroad due to the recent volcanic eruptions in Iceland. You can listen to the whole album on her Soundcloud page or buy it here. She also has her first solo exhibition, ‘The Doors of Perspection’, opening at the end of July in London at the Vitrine Gallery, previewing new films she has made by extending panning shots from existing films into widescreen format (if i’ve understood the press release correctly).
Also a few months back I received a lovely box set from the Edinburgh Printmakers‘ ‘Prints of Darkness’ exhibition, which includes a gatefold sleeve housing a poster and 12″ picture disc by Vicki entitled ‘This Is Light Music’. This 10 track mini album heavily cross references some of the music on ‘Welcome Abroad’ too and can still be bought here although it is limited to 250 copies.
PS: I actually think this is even more wonderful than ‘Welcome Abroad’, I’ll never be able to hear certain well known classics the same way again.
in production now, not the 3rd EP, not the album, more info soon…
Another killer album from Ghost Box regular The Advisory Circle, if you like mid-70’s Kraftwerk, melancholic Radiophonica and that undefinable Britishness of yesteryear then this is for you. Definitely in the albums of the year list.
Continuing the theme of paintings on walls: New 3 track EP by Martyn out on Brainfeeder August 1st. Love the cover and the London’s Arches edit of ‘Viper’ is exceptional.
Spent the day at Soundmasters in Latima Road, West London, cutting my third EP before the album gets compiled. Kevin Metcalfe was again in control and Aaron Thomason aka 2econd Class Citizen came down to oversee the track we had collaborated on. It all went well until the Analogue to Digitial converters started playing up, causing a drop out as we were cutting the actual disc. I had to leave before the end but I’m assured it won’t be on the final cut. Here’s a few shots of the mastering room, the kit and cutting the disc.
This is the third of three EPs which will form the DJ Food album proper, this one totals about 27 minutes over 5 tracks. That means I have nearly 90 minutes of music to choose from for the album, some tracks from the EPs won’t make it, four from the previous two EPs have been reworked or remixed so will be in different states when it’s all finished. I’m mastering these four next week and then compiling a running order for the CD which will be all mixed, with the downloads as separate tracks.
