I did a lot of French period drama before working in Megabowl..

Last post of the year & it's a rare treat. Put up some tracks from the beautiful 'Ralf & Florian' record earlier this year, here is the album closer, 'Ananas Symphonie'. All 14 minutes of it. Jolly decent:

Ralf & Florian- Ananas Symphonie (Z Share) (YSI)

And here's a great chugger from Photonz. Grabbed this off the excellent Alain Finkielkrautrock earlier this year. Check them out in Space.

Photonz- Ourfable (Z Share) (YSI)

Have a Safe NYE. See you in '08.

Yo Ho Ho..

Just a quick post to wish you a Merry Christmas- You could do a lot worse than carve your Turkey to the sounds of the Sonics:

The Sonics- Santa Claus (Z Share) (YSI)

If it all gets a bit much by Boxing day check out this tune from the Small Crew called, ...'Boxing Day'. Comes across a bit like a Shoegazey Sigur Ros. Check out their myspace . Their influences include New York & Manchester. No mention of Hull strangely. Small Crew are not a collective, they are a combo. More to follow..

Small Crew- Boxing Day (Z Share) (YSI)

Seasons greetings to you all.

Which part of Mexico are you from? Paraguay..

The latest Fabric podcast has been compiled by Doc Scott. He talks about the records that have influenced his music & selects an excellent play list featuring Jazzy Jeff (early), Kraftwerk & Pink Floyd. Gives up this little gem from Cybertron (Produced by Juan Atkins & Richard Davis)

Cybertron- Clear (Z Share) (YSI)

Also Throws down some Schooly D- 'One by One i'll knock you out'. Big Drums. Ace.

Schooly D- PSK (Z Share) (YSI)

Whilst we're in the area here is the Roots Manuva remix of Grandmaster Flash's seminal 'The Message'

Grandmaster Flash- The Message (Roots Manuva Remix) (Z Share) (YSI)

You can subscribe to the Fabric podcast series via Itunes. Not sure how to link to it.
Have a suitably festive weekend..

Without the Business there is no Show..

Boomkat are releasing the Thom Yorke 'Eraser' remixes this week- the album has been reconstructed by the likes of Four Tet, Cristian Vogel, Burial & Various Production. Modeselektor slap on a bit of bass..

Thom Yorke- Skip Divided (Modeselektor remix) (Z Share) (YSI)

The White Stripes round off their year with the Conquest E.P. Apparently recorded at Beck's studio, it contains 4 new tracks including 'Cash Grab Complications On the Matter'. Records always sound better with hand claps. Even the bad ones..

The White Stripes- Cash Grab Complications On the Matter (Z Share) (YSI)

No wonder the Music biz is in a bit of a state: I first heard Optimo's remix of Love is All's 'Busy Doing Nothing' around this time year. After a bit of searching around i emailed Optimo to see when it was being released. They mailed back saying they didn't have a clue when it was coming out & the record company didn't either. What's the point of getting remixes commissioned if your just going to sit on them for a year? It's finally coming out as part of the Love is all Mixed up Long player. You can buy it here.

Love is All- Busy Doing Nothing (An Optimo (Espacio Mix) (Z Share) (YSI)

Scatter..

2007 Has been made up of these Records.. Part 2

On to part 2 which consists of compilations, tunes & remixes that have been floating my boat these past 12 months:

Compilations-
Andrew Weatherall- Sci fi lo fi Vol 1
Box of Dub- V/A.
Brazil 70- After Tropicalia
James Murphy/Pat Mahoney- Fabric 36.
Control- OST
Deathproof- OST

Tunes-
Animal Collective- Peacebone
Arcade Fire- Keep the Car running
Arthur & Yu- Golden Lion
Arp- Potentialities
Atlas Sound- Knife (Grizzly Bear Cover)
Battles- Atlas
Beck- Timebomb
Busy P- Rainbow Man
Clap your Hands say Yeah- Satan said Dance
Dan Deacon- Wham City
Dizzee Rascal- Sirens
The Fall- Reformation (Z Share) (YSI)
Grinderman- No pussy Blues
Grizzly Bear- Alligator (Choir version) (Z Share) (YSI)
Gruff Rhys- Skylon!
Holy Fuck- Lovely Allen
Hot Chip- Shake a Fist
Jeffrey Lewis- End Result
Joakim- Three Legged Lantern
John Cale- All my Friends (LCD Cover)
Justice- Stress
Juju- Punks
LCD Soundsystem- Freak out/Starry eyes
LCD Soundsystem- Someone Great
Liars- Plaster Casts of everything
Miss Kittin & the Hacker- Dimanche
Modeselektor- Sucker Pin
Panda Bear- I'm Not
Perc & Fractal- Up (Perc mix)
PJ Harvey- When Under Ether
Prinzhorn Dance School- Spaceman in your Garden (Z Share) (YSI)
Shocking Pinks- Cutout
Skream- Make me (Z Share) (YSI)
Supermayer- Two of us
Thurston Moore- Silver>Blue
Turzi- Acid taste
White Stripes- Icky Thump
Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Isis
!!!- Yadnus

Remixes-
Animal Collective- Peacebone (Pantha Du Prince remix)
Apparat- Holdon (Modeselektor remix)
Bauhaus- Bela Lugosi's Dead (Fine Tuning remix)
Black Devil Disco Club- I regret the Flower power (Quiet Village remix) (Z Share) (YSI)
Battles- Tonto (Four Tet remix)
Explosions in the Sky- Catastrophe & the Cure (Four Tet Remix)
Hot Chip- No fit State (Audion remix)
Joakim- Lonely Hearts (Loving Hand remix)
JJ Cale- Ride me High (Joakim edit)
Justice- Phantom pt II (Soulwax remix)
Klaxons- Gravitys Rainbow (Soulwax remix)
LCD Soundsystem- Get Innocuous (Soulwax remix)
LCD Soundsystem- Sound of Silver (Carl Craig remix)
Shocking Pinks- Smokescreen (Glimmers remix)

I'm sure i've missed loads of stuff along the way too. Any thoughts?

2007 Has been made up of these Records.. Part 1

It's that time of year folks- List's for as far as the eye can see: Records of the year, Movies of the year, Condiments of the year etc etc. Here are the records that have given me a top buzz in '07 (Not in any particular order apart from Panda Bear which is fast becoming my favorite album of the decade)

Animal Collective- Strawberry Jam

Arcade Fire- Neon Bible

Arthur & Yu- In Camera

Battles- Mirrored

Burial- Untrue

Dan Deacon- Spiderman of the Rings

Deerhunter- Cryptograms

Deerhoof- Friend Opportunity

Holy Fuck- LP

Jeffery Lewis- 12 Crass Songs

Joakim- Monsters & Silly Songs

LCD Soundsystem- Sound of Silver

Liars- Liars

Modeselektor- Happy Birthday!

Panda Bear- Person Pitch

Radiohead- In Rainbows

Thurston Moore- Trees outside the Academy

Neil Young- Live at Massey Hall (Re-issue)

Just a thought.. 13 of the 18 records on this list have come from U.S/Canadian artists. 'Indie' music is in good order across the pond just now. From the skewed pop of Animal Collective and Deerhoof to the thumping rhythms of Battles & LCD Soundsystem to the stadium filling Arcade fire.
UK 'Indie' seems to be heading in just the opposite direction with a raft of Scenesters spitting tired, cliched trite up and down the land. Not that the NME or any other music publication in England would tell you this, but then the art of music journalism has been a dying art for years now...

A few tracks from the above list: If Deerhoof put some seasonal bells on 'Whither the Invisible' they'd have a festive hit on their hands.

Deerhoof- Whither the Invisible (Z Share) (YSI)

Deerhunter- Hazel St (Z Share) (YSI)

Joakim's record has been a dear addition to the record collection- A very consistent long player:

Joakim- The Devil with no Tail (Z Share) (YSI)

LCD have enjoyed a great year- Some fine remixes came from 'Sound of Silver' including this DJ Harvey remix of 'All My Friends'. Sounds nothing like the original, but will get your Balearic Xmas disco started in no time.

LCD Soundsystem- All my Friends (Harvey remix) (Z Share) (YSI)

Modeselektor rumbled on through 2007- 'Happy Birthday!' is all about bass in it's many different guises. Great live show too.

Modeselektor- Godspeed (Z Share) (YSI)

Have a Splendid weekend.

I can say what I want - I still got Nazi bullets in my ass..

I love a tune that tells a good story- There isn't many better tales than Bobbie Gentry's 'Ode to Billy Joe'. Have a butchers:

Bobbie Gentry- Ode to Billy Joe (Z Share) (YSI)

A new E.P from Chris Clark has appeared on Bleep, entitled 'Throttle Promoter'. He also has a new long player, 'Turning Dragon', ready to go which should be released early '08. Check out his Space.

Clark- See See (Z Share) (YSI)

Noticed an interesting comparison between LCD's 'Freak Out/Starry eyes' & Edwin Starr's 'Get up Whirlpool' on the Piccadilly records website. 'Freak Out/Starry eyes' is up on Get Weird at the moment.

Edwin Starr- Get up Whirlpool (Z Share) (YSI)

Toodle- Ooh

It's always with the goddamn fucking chicken..

Aphex Twin was in Manny on Friday night making a rare appearance selecting discs at the WHP- A perfect opportunity to post some tracks by a true originator. His record 'Selected ambient works 85-92' is one of the great electronic albums, beautifully melodic. In many ways it sounds very under-produced, in parts the levels are all over the place. This only adds to the charm of the record, giving it a very 'live' feel which is very rare in electronic music. A record that you'll never tire of, if you don't own it you can get it here.

Aphex Twin- We are the Music Makers (Z Share) (YSI)

From one extreme... Get ya rocks off to 'Didgeridoo':

Aphex Twin- Digeridoo (Z Share) (YSI)

Last year Trentemoller put together a faithful re-work of 'Windowlicker', not really adding very much but making it very Dee-jay friendly. Which is always nice.

Run Jeremy's Window Licker- Windowlicker (X-Rated Lick) (Z Share) (YSI)

Be off with you..

You, my dear friend, are a damn fool..

The weekend starts early round here- Out of town tomorrow so here are a few tracks for y'all. Bradford Cox has been a busy boy this year: His band Deerhunter have released an album, an E.P and toured the planet extensively. He's also found time to record an album with his side project Atlas Sound which which comes out early '08. His blog is well worth a visit too. Smart.

Atlas Sound- River Card (Z Share) (YSI)

Found an album's worth of Aphex Twin booties in Cyberspace: You can download it here. Think the Snoop/Pharrell one is my fave at the mo-

100dbs- Drop Alberto like it's hot (Z Share) (YSI)

Some more Hippity Hop to end with- Only recently touched base with the new Aesop Rock record, wish i'd run it up the flagpole a little earlier: Time to Blue sky it.

Aesop Rock- Bring Back Pluto (Z Share) (YSI)

Au revoir mes amis..

Sometimes I like to bring a Captain in.

Something a little different today: I've asked some dear friends to provide some guest posts, first up is Sir Chip North. Chip has been a member of Sky Kissers INC since 1999 & once dated La Toya Jackson. Bit of a handful apparently..

Thought we'd start out with some light hearted Snoopy piano fun with Vincent Guaraldi. By the way readers, JPP looks a little like Schroeder, the kid from the cartoon show who's always playing the piano ; )

Vincent Guaraldi- Linus & Lucy (Z Share) (YSI)

Panzah Zandahz up next with a track lifted from his Radiohead remixes album, Me And This Army. Was torn between putting up one track or the whole thing as it's ripped from the mix, but hey ho. Emcees feature the likes of MF Doom, Kool Keith, De La Soul, Sev Statik, Edan, Gift of Gab, Ghostface Killah, and more. Chicken heads go mad for it.

Panzah Zandahz- Iron Lung Remix (Z Share) (YSI)

Further to the recent praise and thanks to the Optimo boys, I thought it appropriate to drop their namesake from Liquid Liquid. Dance I said! How'd you miss this one JPP?

Liquid Liquid- Optimo (Z Share) (YSI)

Mantronix to finish. Relentless as the tarantula.

Mantronix- Mad (Z Share) (YSI)

To the death of a splendid neighbourhood!

Cameras ready, Prepare to Flash..

Went to the Warehouse Project on Friday night- A great improvement on last years venue, the only glitch was the inclement weather conditions the smokers had to endure. Green Velvet was my pick of the night, a shame he was on so early. Thumped out a great set of Techno/Electro, chucked in a few of his own tunes too. 'Has anybody seen my brain today?'

Green Velvet- La La Land (Z Share) (YSI)

Got my hands on Oblong's latest long player 'Indicator' recently. It's a very nice combination of acoustic instruments and laptop electronica. You can grab it here.

Oblong- Orcheston (Harp -Sefa Steer) (Z Share) (YSI)

Finally, a few words from the good doctor:

Dr John- Walk on Gilded Splinters (Z Share) (YSI)

Till we meet again..