Wednesday, 30 March 2011

Koreless



I'm in a right dubstep mood at the moment. What with the Four Tet releases and also the new Burial twelve which Dougie the Postie dropped in this evening and which is truely the canine's gonads it's been a good week for this type of music. If you take into account the Shackleton releases and a few other things it's actually been a belting start of the year.

Here is another great twelve released the other week. Koreless is a seriously talented, if this release is anything to go by nineteen year old, yes nineteen, from Glasgow. It was released by Pictures Music in a limited run of 300. There are only 2 tracks on the twelve and the running time of both is a little short at slightly over seven and a half minutes but here it is quality over quantity. I have opted to post MTI the slightly longer track on the flip side.

Koreless - MTI 

Pinnacles



Right, after yesterday's self indulgent tosh today it's back to the music and one of the most consistent innovator's in dance music, whether it be remixing the likes of the xx or Caribou , collaborations with Burial or his own excellent album from last year There Is Love In You, you know that a new release from Four Tet is something worth waiting for.

This month saw the release of not just one 12" single by Kieran Hebden but two, one a collaboration with Burial and Thom Yorke and the other a split 12" Daphni (aka Caribou). The first was a limited pressing of 300 which was sold out via pre-sale, most of which are now on either ebay or Discogs for exhorbatant prices, shower of bastards if you ask me. No matter how good it is, it is not worth north of thirty quid.

The track I'm posting is from the other twelve, also released on Text Records and a track which is equally as good as the collaboration with Burial and T Yorke, the flip side is none too shabby either.

Four Tet - Pinnacles

Tuesday, 29 March 2011

When Did That Happen?



A couple of weeks ago while we were driving to Livingston, Max asked me what the Five Sisters were. For those of you who don't know the Five Sisters (above) are shale bings on the site of The Westwood Oil Shale Works, near Bathgate. Bings used to be a familiar site all over central Scotland.

I then went on to tell Max that when I was his age, myself and my brother used to play on such a bing over the "bankin" in the village where we grew up and as I recounted some of our exploits I was suddenly aware of what I was saying and the manner in which I was telling him and found myself  stunned that I had morphed into my father and sounded just like he had when he used to tell us stories of his growing up in Airdrie during and just after the Second World War. For the rest of the journey I mulled this over in my head as I drove and felt old, rather sad and had a yearning for a bygone time.

Here is a track from Simon & Garfunkel who my mother used to play all the time when my brother and I were growing up and which reminds me of Honeywell Crescent where our next door neighbour was called Celia but we called her Cecilia.

Simon and Garfunkel - Bookends Theme

Monday, 28 March 2011

Crate Digging In Belfast



When over in Belfast the other week, I was finished kind of early on Thursday, so after I checked into the hotel seeing as it was late night opening I thought I would wander round the shops and maybe stop by a couple of pubs in the area in the search for the elusive Guinness Red which until a few weeks ago many of us believed to be a figment of DVD's over active imagination.

Anyway, as I walked through Victoria Square, I spotted a record shop I had never seen before and so decided to check it out. It appeared to be just a variation on the Virgin, HMV type store with rows and rows of cut price cds and DVDs, I did however spot an arrow pointing to the back with the word vinyl written on it so proceeded to the rear of the store as instructed. There I was confronted with racks upon racks of 12" vinyl and about twelve crates of 7" singles on which it stated all 7" singles £1 & buy two get one free.

So the digging began. While sifting through these crates I dug out singles by the likes of Asobi Seksu, The Last Shadow Puppets and Broken Records. The hit rate of good to pish was quite high and when I came across a copy of French Navy by Camera Obscura, which I had paid something like 5 quid for when it came out I could not believe my luck, that was until the next crate revealed a copy of It's Christmas So We'll Stop and the original 2007 release with the choral version which I have been trying to find at a reasonable price for ages but to no avail.

At this point I decided that the nine singles I had picked up was enough of a haul for one day and got up off my hunkers and go to the checkout but when I got up a label on an as yet un-excavated box caught my attention, the label said Soul 45 which I had seen on the Fat City mailshots but didn't own anything on. I decided to punt a further pound and added it to the treasure I had already unearthed.

The single is by O.C  Tolbert and is a rather good piece of modern soul, well worth the quid, was originally released on the NYC label Rojac Records in 1982 and which appears even in the repress as this single is quite rare.

Tolbert - I've Got It (pt1)

Sunday, 27 March 2011

Sunday Morning



My intention this morning was to try and find something Brazilian to play in honour of my country's up coming thrashing today at the hands of the mighty Brazil but due to the fact that Max's mates stayed over for a second night last night, having to watch the last two episodes of The Killing and that I totally forgot about the clocks going forward I have had no alternative to recycle an old Sunday post from the early days of this blog.


Anyway the word Samba is in the subtitle of the Aloof track.


On yourselves Scotland!

It has been quite a few years since I have been in the position of the protagonists in the 2 songs posted below, thank god!

We've all been there, coming to and trying to open your eyes only to find that the lids seem to have been superglued together and with a head that feels like somebody has split it in two with an axe. When you eventually prise the lids apart and in soft focus scan the surroundings, you realize that you are a) not alone in your bed or b) not even in your bedroom. Furthermore you have no recollection of the previous evening's festivities and no idea who the person is who is either lying still asleep or looking at you waiting for an acknowledgement.

All you want is a bottle of Irn Bru to try to get rid of the sawdust that somebody has poured down your throat and a cigarette to make your head and stomach feel even worse. But now you have to try to piece together the previous evenings campaign from that first beer to getting either back home or where you now find yourself, all in a split second. Not the easiest thing in the world at the best of times but made a thousand times more difficult by the mass murder of brain cells which you managed to achieve in the name of having a good time.

Anyway after much embarrassment, scrambling around for clothes and telling of barefaced lies, "i'll call you later", you are on your own again with nothing but your guilt for company. A feeling which is with you until at least the fourth hair of the dog at around which time you are making arrangements with your mates, who have been more than happy to fill you in on your exploits the previous evening, to do it all over again next Saturday.

The life of a single man, you can't beat it.

The Aloof - One Night Stand (The Long Night and the Samba)

The Tyrell Corporation - Waking With A Stranger

Apologies for the crackles in the Tyrell Corp, however it was well played back in the day

Saturday, 26 March 2011

"If You're Gonna Play It Out Of Tune, Play It Out Of Tune Properly" pt 5



I am not that well versed in the recording catalogue of the Move and know very little about the band except that they were the first band played on fabulous Radio One by John Peel's nemesis, Tony Blackburn and that they were from Birmingham. I Can Hear The Grass Grow was the band's second single and got to # 5 in the UK singles chart in 1967.

The Move - I Can Hear The Grass Grow

The Fall covered the song for their 2005 album Fall Heads Roll which in my opinion is one of the best things they've done in the last ten to fifteen years. On a sadder note it was also the last track they recorded for their final Peel session, shortly before he died.

The Fall - I Can Hear The Grass Grow

Friday, 25 March 2011

It's Friday . . Let's Dance




Better late than never I suppose.

Back to the heady days of 1990 for today's tune and a record I make no apologies for re-posting as I never get sick of playing it. From the unmistakable intro, the Star Wars samples and the Italian piano house stylings of the breakdown, it encupsulated the mood of the times perfectly. It might not have been a favourite with the po-faced elitist amongst us but to me it was utterly, utterly brilliant and still has me grinning like a cheesy quaver on a couple of doves when I hear it.

Together - Hardcore Uproar.

I have been a little troubled today. I think that someone may have inserted the dreaded corporate chip in my head as I lay in my drunken slumber on Wednesday night. As I found myself saying to a few colleagues while waiting for my flight home last night and again today, that I had had quite a good time and for the first time in years thought that it had been a useful 2 days. Shit !

Still, DH Lawrence, eh?

Have a good weekend people

Tuesday, 22 March 2011

Shit, Luton Again!



I'm off for two days of corporate bullshit and motivational speeches, oh joy, so there will be nothing here until Friday.

I'll leave you with a lovely bit of soul from The Dells on the Cadet label from 1968.

The Dells - Wear It On Your Face

Monday, 21 March 2011

Indian Giver



Here is a brilliant ultra rare soul track to start off the week.

Indian Giver was released on Verve in 1966 and that's about all I know about it. The Chantels started in 1956 and recorded for a few different labels from then until 1970 when they released their final single. The lead singer Arlene Smith recruited some new blood during the 70s and resurrected the group who are still performing now.

Sorry for the quality of this mp3 but I have been so far unsuccessful in acquiring Indian Giver on 7" or as part of a compilation album, the rip posted was one I found a few years ago on the net.

The Chantels - Indian Giver

Sunday, 20 March 2011

Soothing Sounds For A Sunday



A few weeks ago I did a post on Allo Darlin' and put up the YouTube stream of Talulah. This morning I figured that it would be okay to post the vinyl rip as this track is only available on the limited Hangover Lounge 10" and therefore by posting the rip it wouldn't stop you from buying anything and anyway it is such a beautiful track that anybody with any taste in music deserves to have even if it's only a rip.

If you do like what you here I suggest you visit here and buy their album which is really really good.

I'm kind of excited today as I just purchased tickets for the 4 of us to go to Latitude in July.

Allo Darlin - Talulah

Saturday, 19 March 2011

"If You're Gonna Play It Out Of Tune, Play It Out Of Tune Properly" pt 4



Today's track the Fall covered takes us back to 1958. Rollin' Danny was originally recorded by one Vincent Eugene Craddock, Gene Vincent to you and me. One of the pioneers of rockabilly and probably best known for Be-Bop-A- Lula and Lotta Lovin'.

In 1960 while on tour in the UK Vincent had a near fatal car crash in which Eddie Cochran, who was also in the taxi died. Vincent's career never really reached the heights again that he had reached in the late 50s and he died in 1971 from a ruptured stomach ulcer aged thirty six.

Another tenuous link with the Fall is that Vincent released an album,  I'm Back And I'm Proud on John Peel's Dandelion label in 1969.

Gene Vincent - Rollin' Danny

The Mancabilly version was released as a double AA side single with Couldn't Get Ahead on Beggars Banquet in 1985

The Fall - Rollin' Dany

Friday, 18 March 2011

It's Friday . . Let's Dance



A few weeks ago I posted something by James Lavelle and UNKLE and the overwhelming view was that the collective were a bit of a disappointment and did not live up to the sum of their parts.

Since then I have gone back and listened to the albums and on reflection the output is patchy, the first album I still really like but a lot of the rest of the stuff I could take or leave and with the later stuff I definately prefer the instrumental takes of the tracks oppossed to those with the big guest names. I also think that their output sounds better when fucked about with by others. Some of the remixes have been inspired,  from Sasha's mix of In A State to Jesse Somfay's take on Burm My Shadow.

Today's track is probably my favourite remix of an UNKLE tune, messed around with by the one and only Carl Craig. At this point in time I can't think of a single thing bearing C2's name that I haven't instanly liked. Here he takes the neo classical Trouble In Paradise from the 2008 soundtrack inspired End Titles . . . Stories For Film and turns it into a ten minute slab of dancefloor friendly techno, absolutely magic.

UNKLE - Trouble In Paradise (Variation On A Theme - Carl Craig C2 mix)

Have a good weekend people.

Thursday, 17 March 2011

Wednesday, 16 March 2011

Disappointed, I Think So.



Well in the end I did succumb and the box set arrived yesterday and I am feeling a bit ambivalent towards it.

On the one hand it is a lovely box, all red and round, a bit like the celebrations tin I got at Christmas but plastic. Everything is in there that should be T-shirt (large) that will stay in the wrapper as the last time I fitted into a large would have been sometime during the last decade, book, prints, cds (x5), DVD, Vinyl and slipmat.

I knew what was going to be in the box so why am I so underwhelmed by the thing?

Because as soon as I look at the vinyl I feel "had",  as on the bottom left of the centre label it says Sony Music, and I'm not sure why that pisses me off but it does.

So I am now rather regretting getting this, especially as I can't find anywhere to put the bloody thing, I'm certainly not going to have it nestling up to my still in remarkably good condition original copy of the album.

Oh and another thing, the slipmat is not half as good quality as the Ninja Tunes ones I've had for the best part of fifteen years.

I know, it's my own fault, nobody made me buy it. But I can hear the words of a certain John Lydon at the end of the last Pistols gig at Winterland reverberate in my head.

Here's one of the tracks from the live cd recorded at the Hollywood Palladium

Primal Scream - No Fun

Tuesday, 15 March 2011

I'm Not Like Everybody Else



When I was about 16 I was given a compilation tape by a mate, the likes of which I had never heard before. It was filled of exotic stuff by the likes of H.P. Lovecraft, The Stooges, Love and other such late 60s gear. This was a whole new world to me one which would I would remain rather distant from for quite a few years.
Not because I didn't like the stuff, on the contrary I though that it was all quite weird and wonderful but like Northern Soul rare and rather expensive. I had to content myself with what was on that tape and a subsequent two from the same source.

Over the years, once this kind of music became more accessable due to the re-release of the Nuggets albums and further compilations I now have quite a bit of what you would call psych, I am by no means an expert on the genre but there is not much that I have heard which I didn't like but the track that I am posting today is still my favourite, it was on that first cassette and it took me about 20 years to track down on vinyl but it still sounds as good to me now as it did way back then when all I wanted was a paisley pattern shirt, a pair of wrap around shades and some Chelsea boots.

The Chocolate Watch Band - I'm Not Like Everybody Else

When I Was Young



On Sunday when I was lying on the bed feeling sorry for myself and shaking like a battery hen due to self induced alcoholic poisoning from the previous evening,  you would think that I would know better by now I really wanted to watch Flashback with Dennis Hopper and Kiefer Sutherland. I don't know why this film came into my mind, it probably had something to do with the discussion the previous evening on the merits of Big Audio Dynamite.

To try and take my mind off the axe which was obviously still embedded in my skull as there could be no other reason for the excruciating pain coming from that area of my body, I started thinking of other films I had seen with Kiefer Sutherland in but the only one that I could come up with was 1969, a really crap film from the late 80s which had only one redeeming feature, in that it introduced me to this song.

 I had never really listened to the Animals before. I had heard the likes of We Gotta Get Out Of This Place, Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood and the obligatory House Of The Rising Sun, the last of these being the reason why I never investigated further as I really don't like it all that much. However when I found out that When I Was Young was by them, I went out and invested in one of those cheap cd compilations, which really wasn't that cheap in 1989 but I did like for the most part the stuff on the album, especially the gruff vocals of Eric Burdon.

Anyway, I didn't get out of bed to put on the Animals or anything as the slightest movement resulted in me seeing stars and feeling as if my head was about to explode but it did give me an idea of what song I was going to post today.

The Animals - When I Was Young

Monday, 14 March 2011

The Best Track Of The Nineties?



Hyperbole? Possibly, but you will have to come up with one hell of a compelling argument to make me change my mind.

This track has been posted here before and across countless blogs over the years, however I think that it should get an airing at least once a year just in case there are people who are still unaware of the sheer bliss that the 9:14 minutes of this track invokes in me and thousands of others. In the words of John Peel, "Even if they never made another record, they'll have achieved more than most of us do in our entire lives."

I managed to pick up another pristine copy of this 12" a couple of months ago for a quid in a charity shop, I felt so guility that I gave them another 4 quid.

Not a bad way to start off the working week.

Ban Bang Machine - Geek Love

Saturday, 12 March 2011

"If You're Gonna Play It Out Of Tune, Play It Out Of Tune Properly" pt 3



Today we go right back to the birth of the blues for a track covered by the Fall. The track  Bourgeois Blues was written by Huddie Ledbetter about when he and his wife visited Washington in the thirties and the problems that they had trying to get a hotel. This was not due to some kind of biblical census but down to the fact that they were black.

I was introduced to Lead Belly in my early teens by the hippies I've mentioned a couple of times. I liked the songs on the album that Jim lent me,  the only problem being that it sounded as if it had been  recorded from the building next door to where Lead Belly was playing and the version of Bourgeois Town here shares that "authenticity".

Lead Belly - Bourgeois Blues


MES and the gruppe recorded the track for the 2001 album,  "Are You Are Missing Winner", a belter of a long player which contains no less than 3 covers and the lovely titled "Where's The Fucking Taxi? Cunt." On the album credits the writing for Bourgeois Blues is wrongly credited to Robert Johnson.

The Fall - Bourgeois Town

Friday, 11 March 2011

It's Friday . . Let's Dance



When I heard at the tail end of last year that Jamie xx was to remix Gil Scott-Heron's last album, I was quite excited at the prospect as I love The xx  and the stuff that Jamie xx had been remixing, even that Florence and The Machine cover of You've Got The Love a tune that in my opinion should not be fucked about with but he did a good job. I was also a little intrigued as I was not sure if Scott-Heron's stuff lent itself to being re-done in a dub-step style.

When The album came I put it on with not really knowing what to expect. I had received the free download of NY Is Killing Me when I ordered the vinyl and had loved it but didn't know if the rest would be in a similar vein or not. I needn't have been worried the pairing of the two has been a truly inspired move and the vinyl has taken up residence on my turntable only being usurped every now and then by Shackleton's recent brace of twelves on Honest Jon's, more of which next week.

Last week saw the release of one of the many highlights of the album. I'll Take Care Of You  as a single. The track in it's original form has a kind of laid back house, dare I say Balearic vibe to it, the flip side ups up the beats and turn the track into what I think is a dance floor friendly belter of a track.

Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie xx - I'll Take Care Of You (Special DJ Version)

Have a good weekend people.

Wednesday, 9 March 2011

How Feckin' Much?



Here is some newish music for you from a duo out of New York called Creep. The vocals may seem a little familiar, as they are by Romy xx who shares the same label as the band.

I really don't feel bad about posting this track, as at 12 quid for a 12" single which contains 16 mins 4 seconds of music I feel as if I own the rights to at least one of the 3 mixes. If you like what you hear I would suggest that you buy the tracks as downloads in these cash strapped times.

I'm off over the water for a couple of day so nothing here until Friday night.

Creep - Days (Deadboy mix)

Tuesday, 8 March 2011

In The Evening



 We haven't heard the dulcet tones of John Martyn here for a while. Here is another beautiful unreleased track made available on the brilliant and must have Aint No Saint box set from 2008.

It is wet and windy and bitterly cold up here as I type this but after listening to this track I feel all warm inside.

John Martyn - In The Evening

Yeeh Hah!





Step 1 - Pull back the carpet or pour some talc on the kitchen lino

Step 2 - Download tune

Debbie Taylor - Don't Nobody Mess With My Baby

Step 3 - Turn up the volume and press play

Step 4 - Spend the next two and a half minutes jigging

Now, don't you feel better?

Monday, 7 March 2011

"Find one in every car, you'll see"



As a teenager there were 3 videos that were watched avidly by myself and a couple of mates, the Blues Brothers which had to be watched at B's house as his dad had procured a copy and a load of other not so good films  from a video shop that went bust, the reason we had to watch it at his house was due to the fact that it was on Betamax and he was the only one that had a Betamax machine. B's dad was into gadgets and also had plenty of money so he was the first to have all the latest shiny new technology such as a home computer, video games and the first place I ever saw a Bang & Olufsen hi-fi but I digress.

The other two films were Diner, which I have talked about before; from about 1984 until I realised that he was a twat round about 1989 when Wild Orchid was released I kind of idolised Mickey Rourke and eagerly watched for each film to be released that he was in which did include a couple of howlers, A Prayer For The Dying and 9 1/2 Weeks. And finally there was Alex Cox's Repo Man.

Repo Man was the story of a young disillusioned punk that gets a job hanging about with a bunch of social misfits, repossessing cars and tracking down the holy grail for Repo Men, the car which will end all their money worries, a Chevy Malibu which may or may not have rotting alien cadavers in the boot. It is a bizarre and incredibly funny film which gets better with every watch and has a couple of great performances from Emilio Estevez and Harry Dean Stanton not to mention the inept punk gang.

The Soundtrack to the film is also brilliant, it features the talents of 80s American punk bands most of whom I had never heard of before, such as the Plugz and The Circle Jerks. It is also memorable for containing the best track Iggy Pop produced during that decade,  the title track for the film and which included a rather vicious guitar riff courtesy of Steve Jones. The album is worth having if you can find it, my vinyl copy is absolutely buggered but I did manage to track down a cd a few years ago.

Here are a couple of tracks from the album.

Iggy Pop - Repo Man

The Plugz - Hombre Secreto

Sunday, 6 March 2011

Soothing Sounds For A Sunday



It has been some time since we had something a bit mellow on a Sunday. Here is one of my favourite songs from Camera Obscura's third album, Let's Get Out Of This Country.

Camera Obscura - Country Mile

Saturday, 5 March 2011

"If You're Gonna Play It Out Of Tune, Play It Out Of Tune Properly" pt 2



In today's hotly awaited instalement the Fall cover a song that when I first read what it was thought "it has to be a different song, no way are the Fall covering disco" but of course they were and it was magic.

Lost In Music was originally recorded by the grand daughters of the opera singer Viola Williams,  Sister Sledge. The Sisters, as they were indeed four sisters took the Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards produced track to number 17 in the UK charts in 1979 and would be heard in discotheques the world over. On the b side is the best track the sisters recorded Thinking Of You, with one of the most identifiable intros ever.

Sister Sledge - Lost In Music

The Fall covered it and I have to say,  made the song their own in 1993 on the Infotainment Scan album. Possibly the finest cover version ever recorded.

The Fall - Lost In Music

Friday, 4 March 2011

Beer Drinkers And Hell Raisers



Last week when I said that that would be an end to Friday alcohol post I lied.

This came on the mp3 player on Wednesday when I was waiting for the stupid o'clock flight to Luton and it fair cheered me up. Hadn't even realised I had uploaded that tune.

It also gives me another excuse to post the "sturdy" picture above which much impressed Anon the last time and also found favour with SA, Simon and Mr H.

Have a good weekend people

Motorhead - Beer Drinkers And Hell Raisers

It's Friday . . Let's Dance



By the early years of the last decade I had pretty much last interest in dance music, well in comparison to how I previously used to indulge. I no longer bought either MixMag or Muzik, listened to the essential mix on Fabulous Radio 1 and never went to clubs, it would take the evolution of dubstep a few years later to get me enthused about this kind of music again. I would still buy the occassional thing if it had Mr Weatherall's name on it or if it stood out enough from the trance by numbers shite that seemed to be everywhere around this time.

Today's track is one such track, can't remember when or where I first heard it but I do remember that it was about half way through that I became aware of the track, I think that it was the insistant piano loop that got me. As I stated above it had to be a bit different to get me interested and this did that with the piano and the soulful vocal sample it was like a return to the good old days of house but not in any retro way.

Layo & Bushwacka! -  Love Story (vs Finally) Tim Deluxe Vocal Mix

Thursday, 3 March 2011

Fab Samperi



Like the new single by Cults I can't get this out of my head since I heard it a few weeks ago for the first time. I have not been able to track down a vinyl copy as yet but I'm working on it.

It is by Fab Samperi (?), me either and was released on 7" on Agogo records last year it is probably the only track with a banjo on it that I have liked since Duelling Banjos.

I've got a feeling Mondo might quite like this.

Fab Samperi - In The River

Tuesday, 1 March 2011

All In My Mind

I think that a bit of deep soul is the order of the day.



Maxine Brown is well known in northern circles for the outstanding track One In A Million but here is a different beast altogether, an absolutley lovely tearjerker of a ballad from 1960. The track which was also penned by Brown got to number two in the R& B chart.

Maxine went on to record for Wand for most of the 60s putting vocals to tracks by the likes of Goffin & King and Ashford and Simpson during this era all of the backing vocals on her tracks were sung by Cissy Houston, Whitney's mom.

Today at the age of 75 she is still performing. The female soul singers of that generation definately have staying power.

Maxine Brown - All In My Mind