A little bit of squalid Rock & Roll for you today: Thee Oh Sees continue their run of excellent releases with a 7" for Woodsist records. 'Tidal Wave' has more than just a whiff of 'Have Love Will Travel' and is all the better for it. Grab it here.
Woven Bones come from Austin, Texas & (by their own admission) have spent way too much time listening to the Velvet Underground. 'With You Alone' sounds like it was recorded on a dictaphone in a very disheveled basement. Head over to RCRD LBL for more Woven Bones goodness.
No time for dawdling here readers, lots of new goodies to tell you about: First up is Inaudible who currently resides in Birmingham & has some sizable beats to share with you. Check 'Game Theory' in particular, it's a huge, wobbly monster that'll give your speakers a fierce workout. BIG. You can download more tracks over at the Myspace.
Here's another Hip-Hoping lurcher that's been on the playlist lately, Odd Nosdam's 'Fat Hooks' is a smart blend of melody & dirge (as the title suggests). It's off 'Live Level Wires' from a couple of years back.
Subway recently released their debut for Soul Jazz records entitled 'II'. It ticks a lot of our boxes here at JPP, and features previous singles 'Persuasion' & 'Simplex'. Here's 'Harmonia' which is a lovely tribute to the Krautrock hero's of the same name. You can read an excellent interview & download a mix from the lads over at Fact.
Michael Jackson was the first pop star I had a poster of on my wall- I spent many hours walking down pavements trying to make them light up a la 'Billie Jean'. He was undoubtedly the greatest performer of his generation & has sold over 750 million LP's. His music should be his legacy.
Questlove:“I think its time we let him rest in peace and learn to separate the ART and the ARTIST. –that is the MJ i will forever remember.“
Quincy Jones:“I’ve lost my little brother today, and my soul has gone with him.“
Another excellent musical weekend to tell you about: Managed to watch Nick Cave stage side at the Southside festival in Germany. His performance combined elements of Jarvis Cocker, James Brown & Muhammad Ali. Still absolutely vital, his set drew from all sides of the Bad Seeds 25 year career. Here's a couple of tracks from it: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds- Papa Won't Leave You Henry(Download)
If you fancied buying a copy of Babla's Disco Sensation LP it would have set you back over £150. Thankfully it's just been re-issued & will now set you back a tenner. Great value for this most interesting collection of Bollywood disco bleeps.
Tortoise are back with their first long player in 5 years: 'Beacons of Ancestorship' is a great comeback that candidly refuse's categorization. Elements of techno, dub, jazz, electro & rock all mingle together marvelously well. 'Northern Something' could well become a dancefloor smash with just a little editing..
Here's a couple of tunes from a couple of very decent new long players: Ducktails hail from New Jersey & make the kind of tunes that would soundtrack an extremely unhinged fairground. If they ever think of re-making the Magic Roundabout they won't need to look any further than 'Beach Point Pleasant' for the theme tune..
Cave have new album 'Psychic Psummer' ready to go on Important Records. Here's some words from them about the record: 'Major momentum expertly crafted and embracing maximum minimalism, repetition, Can cloud-bounce & full on heavy chant. Like driving a train full speed off a cliff only to discover that the train can fly and you'll live forever if you stay inside' If your still digging Wooden Shjips (I know I am), give these guys a spin. Wunder-bloody-bar.
Gavin Russom finally unleashes his Black Meteoric Star project this week: "Black Meteoric Star is a channel for my interest in dance music and dance culture. It’s also a way to experiment with pitch and rhythm relationships using a limited set of tools. The tracks are done in single live takes." The LP is available in all formats from Boomkat along with an accompanying 12". Grab 'em whilst there hot. Do DFA ever put out a duff record?
What can you buy for £1 these days? Pint of milk? A recently relegated Premiership football team? Best head over to Bleep & pick up their Showcase Volume 1 compilation which is available for one English pound. It features choice cuts from Om Unit, Kelpe, Bullion, Hudson Mohawke & Lone amongst others. Here's a little taste from the first lady of dubstep™, Subeena.
Unconvention Salford was a rip-roaring success: It's amazing what can happen when you get a lot of creative people in a room together. The artist panel kicked off precedings on Thursday afternoon with some wise words from Peter Hook, Pete Jobson, Aniff Akinola, Liam Frost & Lil Fee. One of the main messages coming out of this discussion was that signing a record deal is not the Holy Grail. Do you really want to hand over your work to an outdated business model?
Friday's first panel featured artists who operate on the fringes of the 'industry' and gave a great insight into how the modern musician earns his/her corn. The afternoon panel was a very lively affair focusing on the role of collection agencies (PRS/PPL/MCPS) & highlighted the inadequacies of the system for the grass roots musician.
Saturday kicked off with, for me, the most illuminating discussion of the week: Bands as Enterprise again focused on the roles modern musician, and how adaptable they have to be. The quote of the week came from Martin Atkins (Killing Joke, Public Image LTD, Ministry): 'At the moment it feels a bit like 1977 again'. A hugely liberalizing statement from someone with his industry experience.The weeks final panel focused on promoters and how grassroots musicians can get bookings for gigs & festivals. All this was interspersed with some excellent performances both during the day & night. Artists included Kyte, Jamie Finlay, Magic Arm, Kasms, John Smith, Fangs, Sisters Of Transistors, I Am Kloot and many more. Here's a track from the hotly tipped Gallops, who I managed to miss, but blew the socks off many folk.
Withered Hand played a superb outdoor acoustic set: They've got a little Jeffrey Lewis/Daniel Johnston thing going on with some darkly comedic lyrics. Watch out for the debut album due September on SL Records.
Just a small post today; As it's Friday here's a little disco to stick in your dancing boots. In Flagranti give The Glass's new single a nice makeover, not quite as schizo as their recent Woolfy remix but it still starts and ends very differently.
The Glass- Wanna be Dancin' (In Flagranti Remix) (Link removed by request) Head over to Soundcloud to hear the radio edit, you can also download a disc jockey mix from The Glass.
I'll again be Twittering from Unconvention today, panels start at 12pm. If your in town tomorrow night try and come down to the closing party, I Am Kloot & Sisters of Transistors are among many live turns and I'll be playing some records at the end. Bonza.
Del Shannon is probably best known for his early sixties hit 'Runaway'; as the decade rolled on he was dabbling (as many were) in psychedelic sounds. His 1968 long player 'The Further Adventures of Charles Westover' is a long lost Pysch-Pop gem, it contains 'Gemini' (Track Down Pilooski's super re-edit) and this beauty:
Phew- A couple of hot, hot albums to tell you about today. Grizzly Bear's'Veckatimest' has had the internet all abuzz since it leaked a few months ago, and whilst it's beautifully arranged & produced there seems to be a little something missing to these ears. Maybe it needs to do a bit more growing... Grizzly Bear- All We Ask(Download)
Moderat's self titled debut hit the shelves last week, it's the fruits of a collaboration between Modeselektor & Apparat. An excellent electronic long player that takes in soundsystem bangers, ambient moments & a little kraut too. All underpinned by that unmistakeable Modeselektor growl. Awesome stuff.
All music is posted for a short time and is meant for sampling purposes only. If anyone wants anything removed please let me know. Buy the records!
Just Press Play
Just Press Play
Manchester, United Kingdom
I once won a dancing competition at a radio 1 fun day. The prize was a pair of Gary Davies boxer shorts (They had 'Ooh Gary Davies' written down the side). The song i was dancing too was 'Hey Mona' by Craig Mclachlan.
