Tuesday 30 September 2014

The Rhinohead



Down to Manchester for a couple of days. Not got much to say so here is a track from the MES and Mouse on Mars collaboration remixed by Pilooski.

While on the subject of Smith, doesn't look like there will be any new material from the Fall released this year, alas.

Von Sudenfed - The Rhinohead (Pilooski Edit)

Monday 29 September 2014

The Queen Is On Her Knees



Not too sure if that's better than purring down the phone, you will have to ask Dave.

I know absolutely nothing about this song apart from it's a belter, a bit rare and came out on the Uptown label in 1967.

Enjoy!

Maria Tynes - The Queen Is On Her Knees

Sunday 28 September 2014

Mellow Sunday




I can't put it off any longer the shed door will have to be made and hung today!

The Broken Family Band - You Get Me

Saturday 27 September 2014

Casse les frontieres, Fou les tetes en l'air"



I've probably regaled you with this story before but during the early nineties I was an avid collector of James Lavelle's Mo Wax label and pretty much collected everything on the label from MW014, Shadow's In Flux up until MW078 , Cavern by Liquid Liquid, with a smattering of the first thirteen and it must be said to diminishing returns. You never knew what you were going to get some of it was astounding a lot of it alright and some absolute pish but it was always worth a listen and the covers always looked as cool as fuck.

Most of the Mo Wax along with the a lot of the Junior Boys Own, Soma and others went in the great iPod funding sell off of  2003, a memory that still brings me out in a cold sweat. Why I kept the Saberettes releases is a mystery to me now but I digress. Anyway along with In Flux, Clubbed to Death and a few others I kept a rather strange 10" double pack single from French musicians La Funk Mob who would later evolve into Cassuis, I'm not quite sure how you would classify the music contained on the two pieces of vinyl and I'm not even going to try, it's just very very good especially through headphones. It has a couple of classy remixes from a couple of the best Techno producers of the time, well of all time really. My intention was to post the Carl Craig mix of Ravers Suck Our Sound but when I listened to the record this morning I decided that the Ritchie Hawtin track was the one I was digging.

It really does do what it says on the cover "breaking boundaries, messing up heads"

La Funk Mob - Motorbass Get Funked Up (Ritchie Hawtin mix)

Friday 26 September 2014

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance



Let's get back to the dance music with a very old school, ground breaking,  sampletastic piece of vinyl from 1988. Beat Dis could be heard everywhere at the time and spent a lot of time on my turntable although back then I just called it a record player.

The track was the product of a very talented young producer called Tim Simenon who on the back of this record ended up on the front cover of NME a huge feat at that time for someone who wore a baseball cap and didn't play a guitar. The track is supposed to consist of seventy two samples, I wouldn't know as I have never tried to identify them and count them. I think that it still sounds pretty good.

Have a good weekend people.

Bomb The Bass - Beat Dis (Extended Dis)

Wednesday 24 September 2014

We Don't Talk Anymore



From 1978 until the release of of Yo Frankie in 1989, Dion Di Mucci released nothing but gospel music. He had recorded an album's worth of secular music which languished unreleased until ACE records released it in 1990 under the title Fire In The Night. It sounds a bit dated now but yesterday for some reason I couldn't get this track out of my head and thought that it was worth an airing.

Warning contains saxophone! Not one for you JC

Dion - We Don't Talk Anymore

Tuesday 23 September 2014

Dark Days



Dark Days is a documentary made by British film maker Marc Singer about a group of people who live in an abandoned part of the New York Subway system, a place that has been renamed the Freedom Tunnel. The film is sountracked with music from DJ Shadow's Endtroducing and his UNKLE collaborations. He also wrote and performed the theme for the film. which was released  on 7" and cd single in the US in 2000. For me it is right up there with his best work.

I have posted both sides of the single as the b side with the vocal samples from the documentary is well worth having as well.

DJ Shadow - Dark Days (Main Theme)

DJ Shadow - Dark Days (Spoken For Mix)

Monday 22 September 2014

Pass The Hatchet



A couple of weeks ago I put up a youtube clip of Nick Waterhouse's live rendition of Pass The Hatchet and said that I would post the original later. So here it is in it's full glory both parts 1 and 2.

Pass The Hatchet was the first record to be released on New Orleans label Seven B. The rather sparse vocals are the dulcet tones of Eddie Bo. The track had already been completed when he added his yelps and exclamations. Roger & the Gypsies  were actually Earl Stanley and The Stereos incognito.

The original single is as rare as hens teeth, my copy comes from the excellent Jazzman 3x7" comp that came out in 2012 which I bought initially for the flip side of this single "From This Day On" also by Eddie Bo that I had first heard on the DJ Shadow/Cut Chemist mix  Brainfreeze. The set is well worth seeking out as all of six tracks are essential.

Roger & The Gypsies - Pass The Hatchet

Sunday 21 September 2014

Mellow Sunday



I have a wee bit of a hangover this morning. Can we just keep it down a bit.

Dexy's Midnight Runners - My National Pride

Saturday 20 September 2014

Can't Do Without You



Time for something a bit uplifting. This was my song of the summer. Released in a limited run as a single sided 12" this sounded very very good, loud through the new speakers. So my advice is play it loud.

Caribou -  Can't Do Without You (Extended mix)

Friday 19 September 2014

Well That's That Then.




Don't feel too much like dancing today bit gutted if you want to know the truth but I will get over it. As others have said  there should be no bitterness and no recrimination, well apart from at the ballot box next year, possibly.

Good turnout tho', let's hope we keep up the engagement.

Beth Orton - I Wish I Never Saw The Sunshine

Thursday 18 September 2014

A New Dawn? Possibly



Well, it's all over bar the crossing of boxes and god knows what the result will be tomorrow. I only hope that whatever the outcome we can all come together again and get on with things . What is certain, and this has become something of a cliche over the past wee while, is that things up here will never be the same again. The last few months has seen engagement the likes of which I have never seen before and not just from the usual suspects, it seems that everybody has thought about it and has an opinion.

One night last week Leo and I were up at the swing park at the Loch and as I watched the boy on the zip wire I heard snippets of the discussion a couple in their mid fifties were having as they walked round the loch and you guessed it they were talking about the pros and cons of independence. Everywhere you go, in the shops, pubs, restaurants and even the play parks it has been the topic of conversation which can only be a good thing.

I just wish that the politicians could have conducted themselves as well as the general public have. Shame on you,  Jim Murphy,  for trying to instill fear in people with your talk of intimidation and threats of violence which Police Scotland have refuted several times. You got egged, get over it. There are heidbangers everywhere and always will be but there has been less violence and threatening behaviour over this than your average hate fest that masquerades as a local football derby in Glasgow. Granted there hasn't been one of those for a while but you get my point.

Up until a few months ago I was a pretty unswithering pro-union person. I always considered myself British first and Scottish a very close second. Growing up I  believed that Westminster wasn't perfect but it was the best of the alternatives and if we could just get the Tories out of power then things would get better. My views began to alter after Blair came to power but his government did give us devolution. Since 2010 my faith in the parliamentary system has been eroded but I was still opposed to Nationalism and to misquote Samuel Johnson I thought that it was the last refuge of the scoundrel.  But, recently things started to change.  With the announcement that  that "nasty piece of work" Johnson would be standing for parliament again in 2015 with a good chance of becoming the next Tory Leader and god forbid PM. Also Nigel Farage may well be on the green benches, soon. Christ!  we have some tossers in Hollyrood but those two and Gideon take the biscuit and I'm not sure I want to be part of a country that elects the likes of them.

The No campaign by definition was always going to be negative, the "better together" title a bit of a misnomer from the start, however over the last weeks of the campaign they sunk to new lows in their negativity and misinformation.  The tone became increasingly condescending and I began to be more than slightly annoyed that my fellow countrymen and women were being told that they just didn't understand what they were saying "yes" to, we didn't understand the consequences and the Westminster nest featherers knew what was best for us along with the bankers and big business none of whom are high up in the trustworthy charts. When you start inferring that people are stupid and threaten them it tends to get their backs up.

As you may have gathered from the previous couple of paragraphs I am now a "turncoat", an "insular", "parochial" , tartan wearing, haggis chomping, Flower of Scotland singing numpty. But I'm not though, well apart from being partial to a bit of offal wrapped in a sheep's stomach. I like to think of myself as a progressive outward looking social democrat who believes in equality for all, not just the ruling classes.

No I haven't had all of my questions answered from the "Yes" campaign but then again we can't really be sure of what will happen if we remain part of the UK. Prior to 2010 nobody would have contemplated the austerity that we have had to endure on this island and since 2008 can you really have faith in anything economic forecasters say. Over the last wee while I have come to the realisation that it is not all about money anyway. Yes we need to have a strong economy but I do believe that we have the people, skills base and industries to flourish.

It finally dawned on me that they just don't get it. We don't want to govern ourselves because we hate the English and we don't just want to give the Tories a good fucking kicking although messers Cameron and Osbourne could probably do with one (that was an attempt at humour not a directive). We want to be grown ups, we want to be taken seriously and we also want a better society for ourserlves, our children our neighbours and every one living in Scotland. Not to have to ask those that hold the purse strings "please can we have some more" of the revenue that we create while being told by the press and others that we are a nation of scroungers. Also we don't want to have that "first strike" weapon of mass destruction, Trident, thirty miles from our largest center of population.

What alternative have we been offered from Better Together?  Frst it was the status quo. We were told "devomax"  was a non starter from the beginning but with less than a fortnight to go we were promised by good old Gordy that we would get all we wanted, a promise neither he nor the party leaders in Westminster are in a position to give us anyway.  As for a vision of the future,  that is sadly lacking at the moment in these isles, if it does exist it seems to me to be "fortress Britian" cutting itself off from those benefit scrounging foreigners or greedy corrupt Europeans while swilling warm beer and singing "Rule Britannia". I for one do not wish to be  part of that.

One last thing, if anybody has bothered to read this rubbish this far, I have been really disappointed in the biased coverage of the BBC. I argued with Billy Bragg and others on Twitter a few months ago that they were being a bit paranoid about the coverage and that it seemed to me to be quite fair but as the weeks have passed I have noticed with alarm just how one sided the coverage has become which has saddened me no end as when you can no longer believe  the reporting of the BBC then you are left with absolutely no broadcaster you can trust

So today I will be putting my cross next to yes and hoping that I will wake up tomorrow in a brave new world full of possibilities and a new nation that I and the other five million residents of Scotland can help shape into something that will be no utopia but will be more inclusive and fair than the one we have left. Just don't ask me to sing "Flower of Scotland", please!

As for those we have left behind, it is for you to organise, lobby  and vote to shape the country that you wish to live in.

Sae come aa ye at hame wi freedom,
Never  heed whit the houdies crock fir doom
In yer hoos aa the barins o Adam
will find breid, barley-bree an paintit rooms

Hamish Henderson 1960

So come all ye who love freedom
Pay no attention to the prophets of doom
In your house all the children of Adam
Will be welcomed with food, drink and clean bright accomodation

Paul Williams - Give A Little Love

Disco Evangelists - A New Dawn (Back To The World)





Wednesday 17 September 2014

Tomorrow !




Jake Sniper put this in the comments on yesterday's post but I thought that more people should see this rather than just the few that look at the comments. If any are still unsure . . .

Tuesday 16 September 2014

Two Days To Go



Indulge me for a couple of days, this won't happen again in my lifetime.

For the undecided something to ponder.

Monday 15 September 2014

I Done Got Over It



The Soul Queen of New Orleans has featured here previously. I love Thomas' voice, there is something about her voice that just gets me every time and I'm baffled that she was not more successful than she was. I Done Got Over It was Irma's third single of Minit records and was released in 1962. It has taken me a few years to get a decent copy of this single.

Enjoy.

Irma Thomas - I Done Got Over It

Sunday 14 September 2014

Mellow Sunday




There is a lot to ponder in Scotland this Sunday if you are still one of the undecided. I have come to my decision more of which later in the week. Time for me to brew a pot of tea and read the nonsense propaganda we have been fed over the last couple of weeks especially,  in the knowledge that my mind is made up.

Whiskeytown - My Hometown


Saturday 13 September 2014

New Music Saturday



Yesterday Dougie the postie arrived at the door with a record from the US which I thought was strange as I wasn't waiting for anything from there!

I opened it up and found a record by a band I had never heard of with a note.

"Hi There

You are receiving a copy of the new Lunchbox album titled "Lunchbox Loves You". courtesy of Jigsaw Records and Crashing through publicity. Due to the unorthodox practices of Jigsaw, we do not have a fancy press sheet to show you. Instead, we just have this great record and the links below. Thanks for your time!"

I was curious as I hadn't heard of the band before but Mike at Crashing Through Publicity had sent me the Luxembourg Signal single and a few other albums which I haven't gotten round to reviewing. So last night I put the bright red vinyl on the turntable and gave it a listen.

The music is nothing radical new but if you like lo-fi indie pop, especially of the mid 90s variety then this will be right up your street.

I decided to have a look further into the band and it appears that this is the duo of Tim Brown and Donna McKean's  second album  and first since 1999. Not sure what they have been doing for all of that time but for a part of it the formed a "fuzz-pop supergroup" with Mike Shulman of Slumberland Records and Stewart Anderson of Boyracer fame, called Hard Left.

You should give it a go. Here is the lead track off of the album

Lunchbox - Everybody Knows


Friday 12 September 2014

It's Friday . .. Let's Pay Our Respects



A few of the blogs that I follow have carried the sad news of the death of Robert Young aka Throb, formerly one of the guitarists of Primal Scream. I didn't know that much about Young but as an integral part of the band from the early days he was responsible for shaping the Scream's sound  from Imperial through to Country Girl and for that reason alone his passing should be acknowledged. I will leave it to those that knew him to comment on his personal life.

It is always sad when people die young and it is particularly affecting when that person was responsible for one of your favourite pieces of music ever, full stop. When I think of Robert Young I immediately think of the cover of  Loaded and that tune! Below is a recording of Loaded from back in 1994 at the Barrowlands, what a night that was!

It was going to be that track,  unfortunately iTunes does not want to import the bootleg for some reason, so instead posted is a version from LA recorded two years before the Glasgow gig  that came in the 20th Anniversary box set of Screamadelica.

Have a good weekend people.

Rest easy Robert.

Primal Scream - Loaded (Hollywood Palladium)

Thursday 11 September 2014

Magnitude Absolue




This is track two from a cracking four track moody electro ep entitled "Planeta De Mujeres" that came out in the most ridiculously limited run of only thirty clear vinyl copies earlier this year. All I know about Umwelt is that he is a French producer who releases stupidly limited releases on his own New Flesh label.

There is exclusivity and there is taking the piss.

Umwelt - Magnitude Absolue

Wednesday 10 September 2014

Best Gig Of The Year So Far



Stiff and I went to see Nick Waterhouse and his band at The Wah Wah Hut a couple of Thursday's ago. The best hour and a quarter I have had for a long time. It was slightly disappointing that the gig was not a sell-out, in fact the back of the room behind the sound desk was roped off so it would have been just over half full which really was a shame because the band played an absolutely blinding set which got everybody present grooving along to the cool retro but still incredibly fresh R&B sounds.  Also I have to point out that Miss Paula Henderson has to be the coolest saxophonist this side of John Coltrane.

The track posted is the b-side of the last single and a Ty Segall cover.

Nick Waterhouse - It #3

And below is one of the many highlights of the gig a cover of Pass The Hatchet by Roger and The Gypsies, a rare as hen's teeth 45 released in 1965 on the Seven B label but was available in full for the first time on the Essential Seven B collection released a coupe of years ago. I think that this will nbeed to be posted in the near future.

Tuesday 9 September 2014

Go Easy Big Cuz

I thought long and hard about this post and came to the conclusion that although nobody reading this thing will have a clue about the person I'm talking about I decided that I should acknowledge his passing.

On Sunday night I got a phone call from my mother  relaying the news that one of my cousins had died of a heart attack earlier in the day. The news was quite shocking due to the fact that he was only fifty. I hadn't seen him for some time, even though he lived only 7 miles from me . The last time I had actually seen him he walked straight past me not even acknowledging my existence, there had been a fall out a few years previously.

Strangely when I think about him now, I actually didn't know him at all, although when I was young I kind of looked up to him due to the fact that he took me to my first ever gigs and him and his sister had spent a considerable amount of time round our bit when the shit hit the fan at their house. As he grew older we saw less and less of him and eventually only at family things if he even turned up.

I'm not going to be a hypocrite and say that he was a great guy and I have loads of wonderful memories,  over the past few years when I have thought about him at all it made me angry,  not filled me with great memories of the past but he did take me to my first ever gig, Motorhead at the legendary Glasgow Apollo when I was thirteen and a half dozen other concerts and for that I will be forever grateful and in future I will try to remember the generosity of spirit and time he had then towards me more than the angry and at times spiteful person that I witnessed in later life.

Motorhead - Leaving Here

Monday 8 September 2014

Try Me



Today's track comes courtesy of the man tagged "the hardest working man in showbiz"  and also the "Godfather of Soul". When I decided on this post I looked back to see how many times I had posted songs by James Brown and was quite surprised by how few times he had actually featured. But when I thought about, he hasn't really been a constant over the years in his own right and I have probably listened to more records with samples of his music that I have his records but I have to admit that for a good couple of months at about the turn of the century I was more than slightly obsessed by "Live At The Apollo". At that time it would have been nearly forty years old but still sounded fresh, full of energy and vital to me.

Try Me was released by James Brown and the Famous Flames in 1958 and was Brown's first ever chart topping record early the following year. It is a gorgeous r&b ballad, far removed from the furious funky sounds that he would later be synonymous with. The kind of record you would put on when trying to woo a girl back in the day.

James Brown and the Famous Flames - Try Me

Tuesday 2 September 2014

Boom Boom Boom Cha! part 1



A few years ago I had a playlist entitled Boom boom boom cha! which seemed to grow by the week. The title refers to probably the most recognisable drum intro in pop music. I have often wondered if Hal Blaine is as proud of that intro as he should be and being a session musician I don't suppose that he has made a fortune out of it either. But it must feel damned good to hear something you did first being emulated for the next fifty years, although when you have played on over 35 000 pieces of music you must hear your drumming everywhere all the time!

I think that I had something like 25 tracks on the playlist before one of my iTunes crashes wiped it out  and that was by no means a definitive list. So I thought that I would post some of my favourite tracks that, "borrow" the intro,  I think that's I will have to limit myself otherwise this could go on for quite a while.

First up is probably the band that have used the beat the most times on one album at last three times on their debut album.  The Reid brothers definitely wore their influences on their sleeves which was just great for a fifteen year old who had never heard The Velvet Underground, or the Stooges. I had however heard of the Ronettes and loved the music of Phil Spector which the Mary Chain made cool again, well in some quarters anyway. I would think that most people would cite Just Like Honey for the track that employs the drum beat to the best effect but also cut dead uses it but without the cha at the end. Sowing Seeds is basically the same song as Just Like Honey but I for one wasn't caring back in 1985, cos it wasn't Wham, Duran Duran or any of that pish.

The Jesus and Mary Chain - Sowing Seeds.

Monday 1 September 2014

Classy!



Let's kick the working week off with a classy piece of Detroit soul. I Need You Like A Baby was apparently originally recorded by Gigi and the Charmaines but I have never heard that version. Not sure that it would be any better than this one anyway. Andrea Henry's version was recorded and released on the MGM label in 1968 and an original copy would set you back upwards of 150 quid, however the good people at Outtasight repressed this in 2010 and you can pick up a copy from as little as a fiver on Discogs at the moment, well cheap if you ask me.

Enjoy

Andrea Henry - I Need You Like A Baby