Ingmar Bergman R.I.P.

No disrespect to Bergman, but this is a great spoof which I wanted to post anyway...

Tirez Sur Le Pianiste (1960)

Not often I watch a film more than once but I watched this again a couple of weeks ago and just wrote a little review for Imdb. 10 stars.

Francois Truffaut was a film critic for the magazine Cahiers du cinéma. He was disenchanted with what he saw as a lack of originality and honesty in contemporary cinema. He developed the theory of the auteur in cinema - an idiosyncratic force such as his hero Hitchcock rather than a 'civil servant of the cinema'. His motivation for entering the cinema was to make films which he, and others like him, wanted to see and which then didn't exist. Cinema with breadth and imagination, which took risks and broke rules. The zest and vitality of his vision is still evident so many years on.

After his impeccable full -length debut, Les Quatre Cents Coups (aka The 400 Blows), which was a slice of life / coming of age tale, Truffaut took a completely different subject matter for this second feature. The source novel is 'Down There', typical US pulp fiction by the little known David Goodis. Its a tale of crime set in seedy locations with a graceless linear plot. Obviously its the way the filmmakers use this source that makes Tirez Sur Le Pianiste the film it is.

Charles Aznavour, a mainstream celebrity in France, is the bizarre but perfect choice for the lead role of Charlie Kohler. His passive, indifferent demeanour makes him an anti-hero of a different kind to Cagney or Brando - one who is ineffective in either solving or preventing crime. This minor cinematic tradition I see as continuing with John Klute in Klute (1971), Marlowe in The Long Goodbye (1973), reaching its comical apex with The Dude in The Big Lebowski (1998).

Not, in fact, that Charlie has to solve any crimes. He is simply out to save his skin - and those of his brothers. His life is in danger throughout the film yet he is more preoccupied with whether or not he should take the arm of the attractive waitress Lena (Marie Dubois) from the dive where he plays the piano, as he walks her home in a scene that is a perfect marriage of its imagery and internal monologue. It is this kind of juxtaposition of themes (threat to life and romantic shyness) which makes this film such compelling and unpredictable viewing.

The film opens with a charming conversation about the secrets of a happy marriage, spoken by a character we never see again who simply runs into Charlie's brother Chico (Albert Rémy) - who is the catalyst for the 'plot'. The throwaway conversations are really more important to the creative spirit of the film than any of the plot's major concerns. This trend continues with the characters of Ernest and Momo, the pursuing heavies. Though evidently dangerous men, they speak tangentially on a range of subjects (mostly women, though) which cannot help but remind a modern audience of Tarantino's hitmen in Pulp Fiction. Indeed much of what I said about Truffaut - how he was compelled to make rule-changing cinema that he and others wanted to see - could of course equally be applied to Tarantino.

The centrepiece of the film goes back to Charlie' past where he was a classical concert pianist. This beautuiful vignette explains to us why Charlie is in the pits now. Nicole Berger as Thérèse Saroyan, Charlie's wife absolutely owns this part of the film. This section also features the celebrated and beautiful sequence where the camera chooses to follow a female violinist from the door of an apartment and out into the courtyard. Why? Just for the sake of artistic freedom, it seems.

As well as Aznavour and Berger, the casting is uniformly perfect. Claude Mansard and Daniel Boulanger as the waffling heavies, Marie Dubois as the sweet, maternal young waitress Léna, Michèle Mercier as a tart with a heart with a body to die for (bringing the total of female 'leads' to three!), Serge Davri and Catherine Lutz as Charlie's antagonistic and ultimately tragic employers. The obscure threesome (the latter two have their only major film roles here) of Albert Rémy, Jean-Jacques Aslanian and the young Richard Kanayan are brilliantly effective as Charlie's brothers, all of whom display varying degrees of the criminal element - the 'curse' of Charlie and his family. Early on in the film there is also a terrifically amusing song (complete with karaoke-style lyrics) performed by Boby Lapointe, a real-life Parisian entertainer.

For all its wealth of ideas, though, this is generally not a pacey movie. Its pace is as laidback as Charlie himself at times. But with patience this will reward the audience with all kinds of unexpected delights.

Getting Deeper Vol 1

Before I waffle, the crucial download link (I noticed their servers were down last night but generally Divshare are great right now) and tracklist

http://www.divshare.com/download/1408053-4cf

1. Azymuth - Jazz Carnival

2. Kelley Polar - Here In The Night

3. Kleer - Tonight

4. Force Of Nature / Moonstarr - A Dark Nebula

5. Blaze ft Palmer Brown / Azzido Da Bass - Do You Remember House?

6. Donato Dozzy & Exercise One - United Elements

7. Rodamaal Feat Claudia Franco / Ame - Insomnia

8. Tracey Thorn / Martin Buttrich - Its All True

9. 2020soundsystem / Llorca - High

10. Rockers Hi Fi / Mandy - Push Push

I was planning to do my second Sunday afternoon session this week but the mix went in a different direction. I'll be back with more of that barbecue soundtrack stuff in a few weeks though.

But this one I've called Getting Deeper and it'll be the first in a series of mixes reflecting the housier and more electronic side of my tastes. We kick off with Azymuth's classic disco / jazz crossover Jazz Carnival, then we go into a bit of electro, progressive and emerge with some fresh tech house from 2007 (tracks 8 & 9).

There's some high quality rips in this set for those who cannibalise my lovingly crafted zips (you know who you are!!!)

For those who don't, I'd like to say thanks. I don't have the technical savvy to record a mix as a single mp3 so those of you who listen to the folder in the order I've numbered the tracks are getting the 'finished product'. This, as all my mixes are supposed to be, comes in under 80 minutes for convenient burning, should you so choose.

Though I've only been blogging for a while - and uploading mixes for still less - I've been a 'bedroom DJ' for over decade and its a genuine thrill for me to think there are a handful of random headz all over the world who could have the word 'Wooodenelephant' written in magic marker on a CDR beside some stereo or on some dashboard somewhere. So if you're feeling the mixes, drop a comment and let me know. I'd love some more feedback.

Getting Deeper Vol 2 will be along soon, plus some jazzier mixes too.

And these are still available!!! Was checking them out again this weekend and they still work pretty nicely for me! I hope you agree!!

Sunday Afternoon Session 1

download http://www.divshare.com/download/1342783-cf3

original post (with tracklist) http://wooodenelephant.blogspot.com/2007/07/sunday-afternoon-session-1.html

Woooden's Brasilian Bombs

download http://z04.zupload.com/download.php?file=getfile&filepath=26512

original post (with tracklisting) http://wooodenelephant.blogspot.com/2007/06/wooodens-brasilian-bombs.html

Image is Catherine Claude "Roça Willy ", 1999

Diguena Voy Bogardé - Radiotone d'abdul·là (2001)

The third upload from a cd belonging to housemate Jorge. He's a big music head like me - but he's 52 and still pretty wide eyed at this Internet sharing kick I'm into. I've been getting him tonnes of Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, Ismael Lo and Wim Mertens from Emule...
Which will be sitting in the hard drive til he gets some bloody blank cds. Bah. Anyway.

He's got plenty of obscure music so I hit on the idea if doing a few uploads for y'all, though to be honest my excitement has waned a bit as it's going to mean I'm going to start posting stuff I'm not really feeling that much.

Like this for instance, Diguena Voy Bogardé - Radiotone d'abdul·là (2001).

This is very Spanish.
It features some pretty graceless rock drum bass and guitar (for my ears), but it is redeemed by (convincing) infusions of folksiness - flamenco clapping, a flamenco-ish singer, some hand hit drums floating about in the mix, slightly unconventional song structures. Arabic / klezmer feel at times. Its a bit of a tabboo subject but I reckon 99% of Spanish people (at least round here) have Arabic blood which is why flamenco singing sounds so much like Arabic singing.

I live in Spain, as you may know, and blasting this off the balcony this afternoon - rather than, say, Albert Ayler - I felt at one with the surroundings. I don't think I'd really enjoy it very much at all if I was back in London or living in Vancouver like the recent commenter. It deserves a wider audience but be warned... It doesn't carry the full Wooodenelephant seal of approval.

http://www.divshare.com/download/1394856-5e5

Now a few words on the image. Its Tejas by Julian Calatrava (no relation to the famous Valencian architect).

At one of the companies I give English classes at, they hold exhibitions of new artists on the wall spaces. Watch out for Julian who has developed an arresting, graffiti-style stickman and tower block motif which he uses to portray everyday city and working life. I managed to bag a free pocket calendar of this series but there's precious little of his work to be found on 'Net.

But I may scan the calendar and put it up here. Watch this space.

Dave Mothersole Mixes

1. This one goes from progressive house, through to acid and then some moody vocal late night house (includes a remix of Depeche Mode - huge Mothersole favourites - 'Precious' to give you an idea of what to expect) Dated 14.09.2005
http://www.divshare.com/download/1388752-b4d

2. This has a guest mix from Troy Pierce in the second half. Dave takes the first hour keeping it dark and deep with tracks like Alex Smoke's 'Lost In Sound' mixed into Carl Craig's 'Darkness' - a great mixer as well a a selector. Dated 26.10.2005. http://www.divshare.com/download/1390406-7e9

3. This is only half a show and is marked 'progressivemix'. I reckon its converted from tape. It has that tape hiss quality to it. Love it. Marked 13.12.2003.
http://www.divshare.com/download/1390687-d3b

4. A session from Comicsclub, which Dave frequently mentioned on the show. I have a few club sessions by Dave which are good but maybe a bit relentlessly thumping for home listening. Its a great session though, dated 2003. Love the tune that comes in about 64 minutes here - ID anyone??
http://www.divshare.com/download/1391150-45d

5. Now Dave's compilation Tech House Classics which starts with the fantastic track Deep City by Basic Bastard aka Orlando Voorn.
http://www.divshare.com/download/1391390-5b3

Here's the tracklisting, taken from Discogs
1 Basic Bastard Deep City 2 Floppy Sounds Ultrasong (Studio B aka François K mix)3 Housey Doingz Gobstopper 4 Presence Gettin' Lifted 5 Sterac Sitting On Clouds 6 Calisto Get House 7 E-Dancer World Of Deep (Carl Craig Remix)8 Inner City Ahnongay (Original Reese Mix) 9 Baruka Play It Loud 10 Hot Lizard The Theme 11 Animus Amor And On 12 O.H.M. Oceanic

6. Finally here's Dave's last show on Kiss, which I posted a while back. I hope the link still works. If not, let me know! http://z02.zupload.com/download.php?file=getfile&filepath=31505


I contacted Dave through Myspace and he's got no problem with this. Why would he? He's all about underground house music. Here's his myspace page.

http://www.myspace.com/davemothersole

If you like his stuff, join me in pestering him to get a podcast started or to at least upload a couple of new mixes!!!


Image is Telephone Booth, 3 A.M., Rahway, New Jersey, 1974 by George Tice.

On My Music Listening History

I've uploaded some mixes by Dave Mothersole for Brownswood's Olly which I'll also be sharing with you here shortly. I got a bit carried away with the write up and I've written a very tangential piece about my music listening history so I'm posting it separately.

Olly's a house fan who got into Gilles but I'm the reverse.

When I was 15 I was listening to an eclectic but almost completely organic mix of music including Teenage Fanclub, The Smiths, Louis Armstrong, Gene Krupa and doo wop groups. One of my best friends was fanatical about The Prodigy, which I used to constantly mock him for, as I didn't consider electronic music 'real music'.

Go forward a couple of years. My first live music experience was witnessing the live force that was The Prodigy during their tour leading up to the release of The Fat Of The Land. Though I was impressed, it did not convert me to electronic music in my home listening.

John Peel was always a constant force in my musical development since the age of 13. I went through several long periods of not listening to his shows because of the more abrasive death metal or industrial tracks which, frankly, scared me! However his taste in crackly vinyl and unsung acoustic / organic talent would draw me back in. He used to drop the odd classic now and again too. His show was the first place I heard the magnificent psychedelic folk jam A Sailor's Life by Fairport Convention which is still one of my favourite tracks of all time.

After Britpop, electronically inclined artists like The Verve, Primal Scream and Black Grape had started to infiltrate my musical universe. Somehow Kowalski by Primal Scream or the nightmareish Setting Sun by The Chemical Brothers (with Noel Gallagher on vocals) were acceptable where The Prodigy or (God forbid!) house music were not.

In this spirit of open-mindedness I began to listen for electronic nuggets on Peel and started making a tape of my kind of dance music. I think I still know where it is and if I ever find out how to convert cassette to mp3 I will upload it. I still remember the names of some of these tracks as I asked for them at my local Our Price. I was not really aware of the new realms of musical obscurity I had reached. One was Danke Radio by Blanche. Another was Suspense by Trend. They both (incredibly) have listings on Discogs.

Meanwhile, I continued to get into organic music. Two of my favourite bands at this time were The Flaming Stars and Jack, both London groups, who I discovered, respectively, through Peel and GLR's Gary Crowley. I was also getting Melody Maker every week at this point. I reflect now that I could've met some fantastically dirty indie girls at this point. Sadly it wasn't to be and I was destined to spend years being turned down by girls who liked wearing pink and listening to R&B.

The single day which most changed my outlook on music was sometime in late 1997 when another friend suggested I listen to a DJ on Kiss FM (the London dance music station - so I would've made a disgusted face at him then) called Gilles Peterson. After two or three shows (sadly untaped) I realised this was not only a new musical world but a new musical universe. as Gilles often says he likes to join the dots between genres. And indeed he did, dots between folk and jazz, Latin and garage, Afro and psychedelic, jazz and rock... A little bit of everything. A musical cornucopia. 'Essential music for your ears, your ears, your ears...'

This experience was followed by another more powerful a couple of weeks later when I went with the same friend and two others to see Gilles playing live at a night called That's How It Is at Bar Rumba in London's Shaftesbury Avenue. I don't know if the music or people were more significant - it was the combination. Truly multi-racial, truly cosmopolitan crowd. Mind-bendingly fashionable Japanese youth, thirtysomething, broadly grinning, jazz dancers, outrageously camp househeads and young stoners like us all in the mix. I think we went back the very next week. Those 3 or 4 early visits and their tunes have melded into one for me but there's a few tunes I tracked down which will always be special for me from those sets.

Stars And Rockets - Peter Thomas.
I think Gilles was messing with the speeds on this because I thought it was ultra phat instrumental hip hop. Turned out to be recorded by a German big band in 1967 a I found out when I got one of my first vinyls - his compilation with Rainer Truby, 'Talking Jazz III'

Retro and Live At 237 - Peshay
Seminal tune of this time was of course Roni Size's Brown Paper Bag but I have fonder memories of these stormingly jazzy tunes by Peshay. They still sound pretty much unique today.

Cosmic Gypsy (Toshio's Remix) - United Future Organisation
I tried and tried to buy this tune. Last year I almost creamed my pants when I found it on EMule. It takes the flamenco guitar which opens the original tune and extends it with drums and eventually Josh Wink- style beeping. The version I did find is only four minutes long but I remember Gilles playing it for ten minutes. Or maybe it only seemed that way. But I think he was probably looping the opening. And a couple of the old jazz cats (people who remember Dingwalls etc) started stepping and shuffling on the empty floor dancing to inaudible drums. There was something of a frenzy by the end of this mighty and underrated tune. But I remember laughing at my friend during those long beatless guitar passages! What I still didn't know was that I was having my entire understanding of music changed forever.

Song In The Key Of Knife - London Elektricity
Admittedly this has dated less well but in 97 / 98 it sounded awesome. An explosion of organic jazziness and drum n bass rhythms, soaring strings and twanging double bass. Plus some mental flute action refrencing War's 'Low Rider' - or 'the Marmite advert' as we knew it then.

Samba tune - Jazzanova(?)
A 'faster and faster' samba tune which popped up a couple of years later as a remix of Max Sedgley's 'Happy'. I much prefer the original. I felt Gilles played it to sort the men from the boys on the dancefloor. I was a boy.

As always with such things, this vibe didn't last and we started to attend sessions where we didn't get the same feeling. And the Rumba's drug policy changed. Party over.

Saw Gilles at the Big Chill 99. Great set, big crowd pleaser, but it had already become more about the Radio 1 show than the music. Caught him a couple of times at big venues like the Barbican and Herbal. He was playing 'All Winners' selections both times and I hate to sound like a hater but I prefer to hear a fresh mix every time. Plus he was doing a PA which made me mentally search for the fast forward button (!)

My next big club experience was seeing Liam Howlett and DJ Die at Fabric in 99 / 2000. This night I took ecstacy for the first time. I don't take any drugs any more for simple health reasons but I'm no moraliser. They can be absolutely brilliant. And that was the night I understood dance music. It wasn't about image or brand loyalty. It wasn't about anything you could buy or own - other than the moment. It was about being alive and experiencing being alive. Experiencing being alive, experiencing having a mind and a body and a sex drive and hands and lips and a shirt like they were all brand new things. All this was expressed by the rhythm. The interaction of random and deliberate, man and machine, soundsystems, time, space, dusty samples and tribal rhythms. And I didn't have to search for the beat. The beat found me. And I still dance that way, when the music reaches me, tapping my pockets and snapping my fingers.

I only remember one tune from that evening - Dub MPLA by Tappa Zukie remixed by Subsonic Legacy. Dubby vocals with big bouncing bass and dub horn blasts.

I didn't take ecstacy too much but got heavily into weed. My listening tastes continued to branch everywhere - Coltrane, Velvet Underground, Leonard Cohen, Things Fall Apart by The Roots, early Bob Marley, Autechre, an EP by DJ Food called the Quadraplex EP, The Three EPs by The Beta Band, Mocha Supremo by Buscemi, Nedi Myra by Bjorn Torske and a high turnover of new vinyl and cds (thanks to the Student Loan Company).

Hungry for new sounds, I obsessively taped a number of radio shows including Gilles, John Peel, Radio 3's Late Junction, Solid Steel and Now Is The Time (new jazz not nu jazz) on London Live, One World, Breezeblock (though it clashed with Solid Steel - though I sometimes used my parents' stereo!) and various people who passed through Kiss on Sunday evenings like Tom Middleton. But I was sure there must be something else worth seeking out on Kiss amongst all the crappy hip hop and house. And then one night I found Dave Mothersole.

And here my musical world changed again. Great house did not need to be jazzy, dubby or soulful. It could be pure machine music but still as deep, intricate and expressive as fuck. Dave gradually took over my walkman. The purity and seamlessness of his sets started to make Gilles and Solid Steel seem like waffling schizophrenics with ADD.

And, now that I'm into house in general, I still maintain there's something very very special about Dave's mixes. He seems to put more dedication into the progression of his mixes than anyone I've heard. His mixes cover many bases of house music - progressive, tech house, deep with a bit of acid and electro - but there's always something a bit special about almost any of the records he drops. The man has an impeccable ear for the music and his selections and mixing richly deserves to be heard more widely. I'll be honoured if the next post helps towads that.

Peace and respect to all the artists, musicians, producers and DJs doing it for the music!


Let the journey continue!!!


Image is 'Greenwich Village' by Judith Rothschild.

Aubert Delphine

Basquiat lead me to Dubuffet, Dubuffet lead me to Sanfourche and today Sanfourche lead me to this GREAT collector's site http://www.artpulsion.com/ and to this fantastic art by Aubert Delphine. I can't wait for an appropriate musical accompaniment so I'm going to share it all now.

Hey!! The fact that she's really cute as well has nothing to do with it!!!

Oh, ok ok...

I'm in love.

Repost: Fat Freddy's Drop Live In Paris

Here we go! Prompt service at Woooden Towers right now...

http://www.divshare.com/download/1374307-8d9

5 links

Some essential new links to draw your attention towards at this rude hour.

First up a newish jazz blog that's up there with Orgy and Swami, My Jazz World. Grabbed some Herbie Mann and some Gabor Szabo already but there's a tonne of tasty stuff here. And all at 320 too!!


http://myjazzworld.blogspot.com/

A very interesting newish blog called 'Whenever We Bone I Have To Fake An Orgasm' Its a bit low on information for me but there's a seriously diverse array of stuff here including William S Burroughs and Manuel Göttsching.

http://likedeeler.wordpress.com/

A new database of mixes I found which looks like (fingers crossed!) a permanent source of direct downloads of Gilles Peterson's radio show. You'll find him by clicking 'Jazz' on the right hand side of the screen. There's bound to be other good stuff going up here - Solid Steel and Jazzanova for starters...

http://www.newmixes.com/

Now, I must confess a point of confusion in my recent posts. I have been crediting MixesDB with a little bit more than he's / they've been providing as I got confused between him / them and a forum where he / they post. The forum is obviously an underground ting. The title of it appears to be "livesets dj sets techno house trance download carl cox mixes - free music non commercial Forums". I'm going to list it as LandDownUnder as that's what's in the web address. It is an amazing resource, people upping both recent and vintage sets of all kinds of house and dance DJs constantly. A search for Dave Mothersole last night threw up 14 threads, for instance. Wow!

http://www.lekkerlui.nl/LandDownUnder/index.php

And here is Mixes DB. Searches for Moodymann, Future Sound Of London, Fila Brazilia, Osunlade, Andrew Weatherall and Swayzak (off the top of my head) will throw you some tasty.

http://mixesdb.com/db/index.php/Main_Page

Image is The Dream by Rousseau.

12 more recommendations

1. From the ParisDJs site, a small but perfectly formed mix of early electro

http://www.parisdjs.com/index.php/erik-rug-waxgroove-vol2

Erik Rug - Waxgroove Vol.2

01. Material - Reduction(from 'Temporary Music 2' 12 inch, 1981 / Red Records)02. Bunny Wailer - Back to school dub (Wax Edit)(original version appears on 'Back To School' 12 inch, 1982 / Solomonic)03. Cameo - Groove With You (Wax Edit)(original version appears on 'She's Strange' 12 inch, 1984 / Club)04. Deco - I'm So Glad I Met You (Wax Edit)(original version appears on 'Fresh Idea' LP, 1983 / Qwest)05. Brick - Dazz (Disco Jazz) (Wax Edit)(original version appears on 'Dazz' 12 inch, 1976 / Bang Records)06. The Circle City Band - Magic (Wax Edit)(original version appears on 'Magic' 12 inch, 1983 / Circle City Records)07. The Brothers Johnson - Welcome 2 the club (Wax Edit)(original version appears on 'Welcome To The Club' 7 inch, 1982 / A&M)08. Cybotron - Clear (Jeff Cruz Edit)(original version appears on the 'Enter' album, 1983 / Fantasy)09. Paul Hardcastle - 19 (Funkafilia Edit)(original version appears on '19' 7 inch, 1985 / Chrysalis)10. Egyptian Lover Party (Wax Edit)(original version appears on 'Party' 12 inch, 2005 / Egyptian Empire Records)

As a bonus there's a detailed write-up on each track on the link too!

2. From Orgy, some classic modal jazz (still not sure what that means to be honest) from Shelly Manne in 1961.

Everything at this blog is now being ripped at high bitrates making it even more esential than before!!!

http://orgyinrhythm.blogspot.com/2007/07/shelley-manne-and-his-men-checkmate.html

3. A really fun fresh little mix from http://www.itsoundsgreat.de/ which I linked to through One Take Tapes.

A German site, go to the Sounds section, where you will find a link to the 'What the Fuck! Mixtape Vol 1' and click on 'weiter' (which obviously means download). Serious party music, very unpretentious. I need a tracklisting on this one!!!

4. Found a fresh mix by Osunlade over at Mixes DB. By turns tribal, soulful and Detroit deep.

One of my favourite DJs.

http://www.divshare.com/download/912766-b29

And here's some Moodymann mixes too from there

http://mixesdb.com/db/index.php/Special:Search?search=moodymann&go=Go

5. Part Of The Queue has the deluxe edition of Weezer's Blue Album. The acoustic versions of Jamie and No One Else on the bonus disc are fantastic - I know them well from my old cardboard-sleeved cassette single(!) of Say It Ain't So. Full of raw emotion. 90s classic.

http://partofthequeue.blogspot.com/2007/07/weezer-blue-album-deluxe-edition-2004.html

6. Roberto Roena at Pepanito

http://pepane.blogspot.com/2007/07/roberto-roena.html

7. GARY BARTZ & LEON THOMAS - PRECIOUS ENERGY (1987) at Pharoah's Dance. Two giants of jazz.

http://pharaohs-dance.blogspot.com/

One link. scroll down til the 24th June.

8. An early Jayhawks album at Serenity Now! posted on July 20th. Their 'Tomorrow The Green Grass' album from 97 was one of my favourite albums during my rock phase.

http://dickdarlington.blogspot.com/

9. JaredJazz at Brownswood has reupped this rather special zip of serious jazz nuggets...

http://www.zshare.net/download/2529515255757f/

1. Cal Tjader & Carmen Mcrae - Evil Ways2. Carmen Lundy - The Lamp is Low3. Tommy Whittle Quartet & Barbara Jay - Willow Weep for me4. Susan Carter - Jam Session : Cruisin with the blues5. Oliver Nelson and his orchestra - The Artists rightful Place6. Olli Ahvenlahti - Grandma's rocking Chair7. Tony Gerrard - My Favorite Things 8. Max Greger and his orchestra - Soul Breeze9. Ted Heath - Don't cha hear me calling to ya10. Tribute to John Coltrane ft Pharoah Sanders Mcoy Tyner Cecil Mcbee Roy Haynes and David Murray - The Promise11. Mccoy Tyner - Fly with the Wind12. Tete Montoliu Trio - Sweet Georgia Fame

10. And Swami's got Joe Harriott & Amancio D'Silva Quartet - Hum Dono (1969).

Classic British jazz back on the map.

http://swami-hermitus-solus.blogspot.com/

Just under the post 'Late Night Music'

11. ¿Revolucion, No? is going to town with Fela posts at the moment.

http://revolucionno.wordpress.com/

I can particularly recommend this album (JJD or Johnny Just Drop) - but it'll all be great stuff.

12. And can you ever have too many VU bootlegs? Zero G Sounds has got these.

http://zerogsound.blogspot.com/search?q=velvet+underground

Enjoy.

Leave a comment.

Eat well.

:)

Astor Piazzolla - Tango, El Exilio de Gardel (1985)

http://www.divshare.com/download/1373160-817

This is the first time I’ve uploaded anything I’ve actually bought!! It’s the soundtrack to a 1985 film by Astor Piazzolla which I picked up in the now non-existent jazz basement of Honest Jons in Ladbroke Grove which was always stacked with the most mouth watering hand picked jazz and world music imaginable.

I got it then because Piazzolla had been popularised in jazz dance circles by The Gotan Project’s La Revancha Del Tango – which was an incredibly fresh fusion of tango and dubby electronica - and its still an astonishing album, despite hearing it on airplanes etc. The last track on here is a version of Vuelvo Al Sur, which also closes La Revancha.

Its great that so many of my favourite bloggers are ripping at 320kbps now. Unfortunately I don’t have the facilities for this yet but I think the music still sounds great.

Here’s a very thorough personnel and composers list from Roman’s Tango List Library

http://tango.romanvirdi.com/el-exilio-de-gardel.htm

And here’s a cut n paste from Imdb about the film – which sounds brilliant - I hope I get to see it one day!

‘In the sorrow of exile, a group of Argentinians in Paris seek solace and connection to their culture by staging a set of tangos. The film alternates between their vibrant rehearsals and their circumscribed lives in low-rent apartments, underemployed, fitfully communicating with families back home, trying to make do with what they hope are only temporary arrangements in a foreign land.’

This is Wooodenelephant's 101st post! Cheers!!!

Ten Recommendations

So this weekend I threw myself back into the direct downloads and as I was going down my list of links (I finished the M's) I had an idea of building up a list of ten top downloads. So here they are! 1. DJ Celine doing a mix of Afro at A Touch Of Soul

http://djclyn.free.fr/02_dj_c-lyn_eclectic280407.MP3

No tracklisting as yet but very fresh. Always great mixes on this site.

2. From Babe(L)ogue. Always tonnes to choose from, but this jumped out…

''Arabian Waltz is the pinnacle of Rabih Abou-Khalil's achievement as a composer and arranger. It is a sublime fusion of jazz, Middle Eastern traditional music, and Western classical.''

http://babeblogue.blogspot.com/2007/07/rabih-abou-khalil-with-balanescu-string.html

3. From Chocoreve, The Byrds - Sweetheart of the Rodeo: Legacy Edition

http://chocoreve.blogspot.com/search?q=byrds+rodeo

4. Zombie Heaven at Discos Ocultos

http://blaucomunicaciones.com/blogs/discosocultos/2007/07/10/the-zombies-zombie-heaven-2/
5. Thurston Moore with Rashied Ali at Big O. There’s also Miles from 59 and 69. Strange I don’t see this on the other blogrolls!!! – have got plenty of good things from here in the past too. One fixed link, scroll down and look on the left for the current ROIOs (Recordings Of Indeterminate Origin)…

http://www.bigo.com.sg/

Here's the write-up, cut n pasted...

With the atonal guitars and fancy guitar tunings, it's hard not to think of Sonic Youth as an improvisation band or an avant-garde band. And when they are really hot, their music comes across like shards of pure white noise.
In an interview with Fred Jung of allaboutjazz.com, this is what Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore said about improvisation and free jazz. [Click here for Thurston Moore's recommendations on free jazz]:
"It wasn't until I met Kim (Gordon), my wife, who plays in Sonic Youth, and she grew up listening to jazz with her friends on the West Coast, John Coltrane, etc. I became interested in it through her. I started really listening to classic Sixties jazz, to Coltrane and Mingus and to Ornette, and became very immersed in it, especially the New York school of it, and reading Leroi Jones' writings on it. Black Music, I believe the book was.
"That really opened up my ears to people like Frank Lowe and Rashied Ali and Milford Graves and some of the more expanded playing ideas. The idea of improvisation in jazz was elemental. I never really thought about it. As far as the way I was approaching music myself, the idea of creating compositions with us getting together and playing free and making composition from ideas that were coming out of this free playing, I never thought it as belonging to any school of improvisation...
"It wasn't until I saw Derek (Bailey) come to town and play a duo with Paul Motian and I saw the level of years and years of sophistication that was going into what he was doing and how pure and how simple it was and how affecting it was and that really sort of blew my mind. I started really getting involved. This is all sort of late Eighties. I just really got involved with tracking it.
"The whole thing about independent, underground punk rock music that I was involved with had to do with a whole do it yourself esthetic, outside of and below the radar of the mainstream with a network of people who were creating their own labels and distribution, which we were very proud of.
"Then I saw that this had been going on at an even more grassroots level with the global free improvisation scene, artists creating their own labels and who were buying these records? Maybe a few academics and radicals like John Zorn, but it wasn't a big music at all. It was catering to each other musically. To me, they were creating documents to communicate with each other, these records, which they would all sort of send to each other to hear."

6. Speaking Of Thurston’s list, the amazing avante-garde jazz blog Church Number Nine upped his favourite (Black Artists Group - In Paris, Aries 1973) from the list which must be worth a look… (Checking it out now as I type the post and, yes, it is excellent.)

http://churchnumber9.blogspot.com/

Scroll down to 15th June (Loads of great looking stuff there though)

7. Its all this man's fault I never get out of the house. Here’s a Gilles mix from Mixes DB dated 28.06.07

http://www.newmixes.com/download/gilles_peterson_-_worldwide-sat-06-28-2007-newmixes.mp3

Tracklist…

1. Dick Griffin – Peaceful Thinking (Trident) 2. Gerado Frisina – Stardust For Tomorrow (Sun Ra Mix) (Test) 3. Jazzistics – Untitled (Stones Throw) 4. Mtume – Yebo (bbe) 5. Tiombe Lockhart – Don’t Understand (Jazzy Sport) Tawiah Live in Session 6. Tawiah – Watch Out (Live In Session) 7. Ben Mi Duck – Stepping Back (White) 8. John Legend & Jack Splash – We Don’t Care (Test) 9. The Politik - She’s Gone (Antipodean) 10. Walter Murphy – Afternoon of A Faun (Extended Pleasure) 11. Moodymann – Freaky Mother (Test) 12. Timmy Regisford – The Poem (Restricted Tracks) 13. Maria Joao Quintet – O Ronco Da Cuica (Nabel) 14. Ithamara Koorax – Escravos De Jo (Irma) 15. Jazztronik – Bra Step (White) 16. The Mexican Institute of Sound – La Kebradita (Le Hammond Inferno mix by Holger) 17. Eva Be ft Joe Dukie – No memory of Time (Sonar Kollektiv) 18. Assim Assado - Viva Crioula (Cid) Gilles Peterson Slightly Psychedelic Mix 19. US 69 – 2069 A Spaced Oddity (Buddah Records) 20. Fifty Foot Hose – Rose (Limelight) 21. The Heavy – Bruk Pocket Lament (White) 22. The London Experimental Jazz Quartet – Destroy The Nihilist Picnic (Library) 23. Cortex – Mary et Jeff (Dare-Dare) 24. The Dragons – Are You There? (Ninja Tune) 25. Brian Auger – Straight Ahead (Rca) End of Mix 26. Kashmere Stage Band – Super Strut pt 1 (Kenny Dope Re-edit) (Now-Again) 27. D’Angelo & Questlove & Christian McBride – Funky Drummer (White) 28. Tiombe Lockhart – G.P. (Jazzy Sport) 29. The Dinner at The Thompson’s – Untitled (Earth & Wake Records) 30. The Portico Quartet – Kontiki Expedition (White) 31. Herbie Hancock – Maiden Voyage (Blue Note)

Which leads me here and evidently to a great new source for Gilles mixes!!!

http://www.newmixes.com/

8. And some more GP, a 2001 vintage with a big live set from Alex from Jazzanova. This was posted by Rypy at Brownswood.

http://brownswood.5.forumer.com/index.php?showtopic=12953&hl=

Tracklistings - 11/4/01 (One Live In London)
Gilles Peterson
Bugge Wesseltoft - 'Changes' (Universal(White))Block 16 feat. Jhelisa Anderson - 'Find an Oasis' (NuPhonic (White))DJ Gregory - 'Block Party' (White)Osunlade - 'Ocho' (Soul Jazz White)

Alex Jazzanova
Blaze - 'Get Up' (Motown)King Britt Presents Sylk 130 feat. Capitol A - 'All the Way' (Live) (Six Degrees)Voom Voom - 'Ginger & Fred' (Compost)Jazzanova - 'That Night' (Acetate)Frank Zaffa - 'By Garsaaidi' (Orange Egg)Underwolves - 'In The Picture' (BBE)Eternal Sun - '6/8 Drumz' (Pathless Remix) (Talkin' Loud)Vikter Duplaix - 'Messages' (acapella) (MAW)Victor Davis - 'Sound Of The Samba' (Afro Gigolo/JCR)Zito Righi - 'Berimbeau' (Hot)Plaid - 'Scoobs In Columbia' (white)Nebraska/ Russ Gabriel - 'My Father' (Player)Izm - 'Outa Space' (Meitz Remix) (White)Unknown - 'Spritual' (Late nightclub dub) (Papa)E.W. Wainwright - 'The Healer' (Beatless remix) (Ubiquity)Unknown - 'Untitled' (White)Jazzanova - 'To Come' (Acetate)Bahamadia - 'I Confess' (EMI)Phoojun - 'Rainbow' (BBE)

Gilles Peterson
Petalo 86 - 'Este Lado' (Novaphonic)Cara - 'O Sapo' (RCA Victor)Big Bossa - 'Carnival Espirito' (Viktor)

9. JOHN FAHEY & CUL DE SAC The Epiphany Of Glenn Jones over at Musikalia

http://musikalia-unkle.blogspot.com/2007/07/still-life-dreaming.html

10. And the Incredible String Band at My Generation.

http://mygeneration60s.blogspot.com/2007/07/incredible-string-band-5000-spiritts-or.html

Respect and love to all the rippers and mixers. I’ll be back with more recommendations another time.

Appeal To Blogland: Layton & Johnstone - 'Oh Donna Clara!' (1931)

Which reminds me! I've been searching for some years for the recording of 'Oh Donna Clara!' by a now extremely obscure black vocal duo from the 1930s Layton & Johnstone. (edit: Just tonight discovered I'm looking for Layton and not Leyton) I once saw a compilation of their work in the late lamented giant Tower Records store in Piccadilly Circus. Sadly I did not realise its rarity, and as it didn't contain the track I wanted, I didn't get it.

I've been into big band and early recorded black and jazz music since I was 15 or so (other kids were into RHCP and RATM, I was into Krupa & O'Day!) though its not a main passion anymore. I was struck by the delicacy of this version, completely unlike the more familiar, rambunctious German versions. It also has sentimental significance for a member of my family.

In 2000, John Peel played four tracks from every year from 1900 to 1999 as part of a feature of his BBC Radio 1 show called the Peelenium, one of which was this track. (I contacted Gary Walsh of John Peel Everyday for this and the Bing track but he could only locate the latter) So there's probably a fairly good chance someone out there has got it in mp3 format, if not as a vinyl rip. There have been a few cd reissues which I'll try to track down but no joy so far. Obviously if anyone could upload a cd that would be fantastic. If anyone would like to sell me a copy of a cd featuring L & J's version of 'Oh, Donna Clara' that would be great too, preferably through EBay or something.

My email is wooodenelephant@yahoo.co.uk

Incidentally, feel free to contact me on any issue regarding this blog and music in general.

Finally, I stumbled across a rather interesting article about L & J on Musicweb International.

http://www.musicweb-international.com/encyclopaedia/l/Layton.htm

It says that the text may not be reproduced so you will have to click on the link if you want to read about them.

The artwork of Peel is by Peter Blake.

Sunday Afternoon Session 1

I've been on a strong Internet tip all weekend and my next post will be a few recommendations from my recently rejuvenated link list.

This afternoon though, I was listening to the splosh of the people in the crowded pool below my balcony (hence the Hockney image) and threw together this little session from some bits and pieces I've been feeling recently. I hope you enjoy.

http://www.divshare.com/download/1342783-cf3

or

http://files.filefront.com/Sunday+Afternoon+Sessionrar/;8117160;;/fileinfo.html

01 Giorgio Moroder – Tears
02 Blackalicious - You Didn't Know That Though
03 Marvin Gaye - A Funky Space Reincarnation
04 Weldon Irvine - Liberated Brother
05 Tito Puente - Tito On Timbales (1956)
06 Rainer Trüby Trio / Peter Kruder – Donaueschingen
07 Grace Jones - Pull Up To The Bumper
08 Gabor Szabo - Baby Rattle Snake
09 Dave Pike – Mathar
10 Eddie Palmieri & Harlem River Drive - Idle Hands
11 Rolling Stones - Sympathy For The Devil
12 Baden Powell Quartet - Batuque
13 Carlos Dafé - De Alegria Raiou O Dia
14 Bing Crosby - Just a Gigolo (1931)

Special thanks to Gary Walsh over at John Peel Everyday for the Bing track.

Link pressure

Just sorted out my links section which I've been meaning to do for ages. There are two sections now - Music download and Non.

The 'Non' now features all the Internet giants I can think of (Imdb, Facebook, Wikipedia etc) as well as giants in my world (Brownswood, Discogs, Dusty Groove) and some fellow small fry - most of the latter are friends, both fleshly and virtual, though there are also some which are just nice to look at / read.

Surveying the now massive 'Music' section I'm feeling rather proud of myself for the musical eclecticism I'm naturally drawn to and which this blog gives me the opportunity to share. Here you will find house / techno / nuggets mixes for download, avante-garde jazz bootlegs, deleted albums and vinyl rips from electronic noise to exotica, cheekier and more commercial zips - of a generally GPish stripe, world music of many flavours, some rock & indie, all kinds of jazz music and various genres of black, experimental, rhythmic and exploratory music.

Its all laid out now alphabetically for easier reference (of course, I change the names of some things. I particularly like to shorten the longer names!!) Of course there's tonnes I've missed. Usually the Links section of any of these will lead to more interesting places.

Recently I've been doing less new downloading and more delving into what I've already downloaded, when pissing about on the Internet like now or exploring it when commuting by putting stuff onto my mp3 player (Though one of my earphones is fucked! Is it just me this happens to, because its happened with every single fucking pair of headphones / earphones I've
ever owned???!!!)

Anyway, I'll be uploading some more selections here in time featuring some of the tastier tracks (trying to credit the original bloggers when possible) from some of these sites, mixed up with my culls from sporadic visits to EMule and Soulseek - always trying to be careful not to evoke the ire of some copyright crusading square.

Now, the zip blogs are mixed up with the mixes blogs - and a handful of mp3 blogs - and I see no reason to distinguish. Click and explore! And I've come across a lot more mix blogs recently, almost all through the Brownswood forum which I highly recommend to all lovers of jazz and dance. I know there's a fair few which I've found and lost and need to find again. So this links blitz is also to help me oranise my mission for aural gold.

And there's an element of networking here of course. It may take me ages to actually put a proper mix out there (not just a zip) or even produce some tunes of my own but keeping my hand in here makes me feel I'm slowly going in the right direction.
I put the counter up a couple of months ago now and I have been proud to see I've received well over 1000 hits. But the feedback is sluggish in the extreme, folks! I hope this post and the last polemical one on the Spanish music scene and society will change that!

Image is New York State by Kenneth Josephson.

On the Spanish music scene

I wrote this in response to an article published on the myspace of Brownswooder Olly. Feedback welcome...

'Interesting article. There's no-one I can think of either [doing new things on the Spanish music scene]. Everyone likes one, some or all of the same handful of Spanish groups - Amaral, Oreja De Van Gogh, El Canto Del Loco, Melendi, Estopa, the still fashionable Alaska. They get played on the radio all the time, and obviously don't alienate the older generation.

Because Spain is a very inclusive society in terms of age. Young people only have silly hair and fight because they are young - they will soon get the jobs and raise the families which their families expect them to. A very very crucial difference in society here is that becoming an adult does not mean leaving the family as it does in our society. Thus there is no serious attempt at alternative lifestyles here as there is no need for alienated generations to forge their own identities like hip hop or new wave - because they are never alienated.

There are, however, two alternative groups to the mullet and tight T-shirt mainstream and they are both ironically homogenous within themselves - hippies / artists... beards, glasses, Jamiroquai and Camden Town T shirts (as you said) or metallers.The former can develop, as thirtysomethings, into a mildly intellectual / cosmopolitan movement which doesn't really scratch the surface of what we perceive as global culture. It also involves the wearing of ridiculous designer glasses. (Though the designer frames phenomenon here has spread wider, to hands-on-hips housewives wearing chessboards on their faces. Elton John and Dame Edna fans should come over and marvel!)

Spanish people have never got into digging. Most people would find the idea of listening to a 60s rock or funk record extremely strange. Why are you listening to ''old''music?? Unless its a cultural landmark like James Brown or Bob Dylan. And an old Dylan record probably seems similar to them as, say, The West Coast Experimental Pop Band might feel to me. Something obscure, from another time. And me listening to the new Moodymann is like them listening to the new Fatboy Slim. The new shit!

Their mainstream is made up of only the incredibly famous (Madonna, Shakira) and alternative artists then need only constitute a handful - The Ramones, Bruce Springsteen and AC / DC are mentioned continuously as THE alternative. People talk excitedly about a new 'artist' like James Blunt or Michael Buble as if they heard it on a C90 of a John Peel show originally broadcast in Finland in 1987.

Though a lot of ex-pats here scorn the Spanish for their rigid lifestyles, lack of fashion sense, bland food tastes, lack of underground / alternative culture etc etc, I have become accustomed to the way things are here. Its not just a cliche - people here really are more laid back. And I feel a lot more relaxed wandering around in a T shirt from one of the half dozen clothes shops in the high street than I would panicking that I'm not wearing the right scarf or hat in Nathan Barley land.

Something quite exciting could still happen here musically. But they're going to take their time about it. And do it their way, of course.

The flamenco dancer in the picture is actually from Argentina.

Black Note Sampler

As promised, some of my most successful drops at the Black Note Valencia. Link at the bottom of the page.

1. She’s The One – James Brown
2. Bouncing Balls – Lefties Soul Connection
3. Futbol In – Javi P3z
4. Jaleo – Truby Trio & Concha Buika / Senor Coconut
5. Evil Ways – Cal Tjader
6. Follow Me – Red Astaire
7. Dreadlocked Woman – 2 Many DJs
8. I Heard It Through The Grapevine The Slits
9. Pé Na Estrada – Mo’Horizons
10. My Beat – Blaze / Sumo
11. Street Player – Chicago / Paul Raymond
12. This Time Baby – Jackie Moore
13. Don’t Leave Me This Way – Thelma Houston
14. Call My Name – Joe Bataan
15. It’s Great To Be Here – Jackson Five / Kenny Dope
16. African Mailman – Nina Simone

http://files.filefront.com/Black+Note+Samplerrar/;8049023;;/fileinfo.html

Moodymann rarities

A collection of Moodymann rarities, link at the end of the post. Moodymann or Kenny Dixon Jr is the vinylhead / vintage black music fan’s techno artist. I have stuff of his scattered all over my EMule / Soulseek archives. I brought a lot of it together to have a bumper package for the bitchy uploaders on Soulseek who have so many rules and regs they make downloading completely unfun. Though I picked up some great stuff on Soulseek I also find its system of downloading albums track by track too stressful. That said, there are some great individual tracks on its database – a lot of vinyl rips by heavy collectors. Someone had about 50 Blaze remixes. Blaze are always great for the dancefloor – more historically informed black dance music.
My last session at the Black Note didn’t go so well, by the way. I’m a bit of a miserable cunt these days since things didn’t work out with my girlfriend and that was reflected in my set. Sets three and four (which I didn’t write about here) by contrast went extremely well. In fact, next weekend I will post a bundle of tunes which killed it on the dancefloor there.
But back to KDJ. The first two tracks are from his Three Chairs project with Theo Parrish, Rick Wilhite and lately Marcellus Pittman. Three Chairs stuff is great but being underground and hush hush, a fucking pain in the arse to track down, though I think I have most of their stuff off Soulseek. These two are his contributions to the first self-titled EP in 97. Next up is the four tracks making up 96’s Soul Sounds EP. Some of these tracks later appeared in some form in the epic Forevernevermore – in my opinion his masterpiece and the CD is widely commercially available. The second track, Midnights is just one of those tracks that seems to evoke the feeling of urban skylines and underground clubs with small dancefloors and well dressed clubbers. The whole EP is exceptional, in fact. Next is side A and B of Long Hot Sexy Nights. The title track is awesome, heatwave techno, soaked with fresh vibraphone sounds and frequent collaborater Norma Jean Bell’s sultry vocals. Next is Don’t Be Misled, tracks 1 and 2 which seems to be a rehash of sounds from Forevernevermore and, according to Discogs, came out in the same year, 2000. Next is two tracks from the Small Black Church vinyl, confusingly re-released with different tracks. These are the same as the tracks from Soul Sounds (Yesterdays and Winter Breeze) though someone has labelled them as Untitled and I Feel Joy. Frankly I give up trying to control this mess. Just enjoy the music. I think the sound quality might be better on these rips so they’re staying in. Final two tracks are particularly tasty. Strictly underground remixes of Prince and Sade.

01 Outer Drive
02 Track 2 Track
03 Yesterdays
04 Midnights
05 Winter Breeze
06 January
07 Long Hot Sexy Nights
08 The Dancer
09 Don’t Be Misled! 1
10 Don’t Be Misled! 2
11 Untitled
12 I Feel Joy
13 All The Critics Love U In New York
14 By Your Side

I’m using a new host for this zip so let me know if there's any problems

http://files.filefront.com/moodymann+raretiesrar/;7991548;/fileinfo.html

The God Interviews by Natalie d'Arbeloff

Just stumbled across this this morning and I'm rather charmed and impressed by it. From the blog of the multi-talented d'Arbeloff whose blog can be found here http://www.nataliedarbeloff.com/blaugustine.html

Gilles Request - New York Mix

http://www.megaupload.com/es/?d=Z8KIOVLP

Thursday 26 October

My Toys Like Me - 'Sick Couple' (White)

Jamie Woon – 'Wayfaring Stranger' (Live Recordings)

Stanley Cowell – 'Come Sunday' (Kindred Spirits)

Soulphiction – 'State of Euphoria' (Sonar Kollektiv)

J. Davey – 'Gangster' (Warners)

Beckett & Taylor – 'Where There You Been Gone Find It' (Hand On The Plow)

Wunmi – 'Talk Talk Talk' (Documented)

Wicked Lister – 'Money' (Big Foot Records)

DJ Mellow – 'Holding Back' (Bacon & Eggs)

Sleepy Brown – 'One Of Dem Nights' (Virgin)

80's Ladies – 'Turned Onto You' (Uno Melodic Records)

Freddie Cruger – 'Pretty Little Thing' (Ubiquity)

4Hero feat. Terry D. – 'Superwoman' (Raw Canvas)

Middlewood Sessions – 'Fall Back' (White)

Jerome Sydenham – 'Timbuktu (Sydenham & Faber Vibe Out mix)' (Ibadan)

Blackbelt Andersen – 'Snake Eyes' (Full Pupp)

Abbey Lincoln – 'As Long As You're Living' (Riverside)

Zero dB – 'Untitled (Daisuke Tanabe remix)

Gilles Petersons New York mix

Acapella (from the movie Donnie Brasco)

Africa Bambaataa & The Jazzy 5 – 'Jazzy Sensation' (Tommy Boy)

Harlem Underground Band – 'Cheeba Cheeba' (Paul Winley)

Keith, Kat & Blondie – 'Gotta Get Some Money' (Nu Groove)

Liquid Liquid – 'Lock Groove (in)'(99 Records)

Nicole – 'New York Eyes' (White)

ESG – 'Dance' (99 Records)

ESG – 'Insane (Bass mix)' (Soul Jazz)

Konk – 'Konk Party' (Rough Trade)

Indian Ocean feat. Arthur Russell – 'Treehouse/School Bell' (Sleeping Bag)

Dinosaur L. – 'Go Bang' (Sleeping Bag)

Jungle Brothers – 'Dub It Like That' (Idlers)

Recommended Mixes

I've been easing up on the direct downloads recently as its way too time consuming. Respect to all the bloggers ripping the rare vinyl or whatever and getting it out there but its a lot easier to just stick on EMule and let the zips and tracks roll in. I've had it on for a couple of weeks, using recommendations from Brownswood and the usual names which always turn up something.

Also, in my regular visits to Brownswood I have stumbled across some really nice podcasts too good not to share.

So some great broadly techno mixes from Theo Parrish and a new name to me Mike Clark. Parrish appears on the 500th show of a show called soulsearching (500th! How does this stuff slip under the radar??) and Clark appears on a podcast / blog thing run by the producer Phil Asher. Asher's a prolific guy and some of his stuff doesn't hit the spot for me but some, like his 2002 Focus project for Versatile which I got on vinyl, does.

Also a deeply impressive dusty vinyl session with plenty of seriously right electronic vibes. Sadly the last show from these guys - Sonic Sunset - but they pledge to be back in podcast format (these are recordings of a Chicago radio show) which I hope I can track down.

http://blog.restlesssoul.co.uk/?p=103

^Mike Clark (download at the bottom of the page above the comments)

http://feeds.feedburner.com/SoulsearchingPodcast

^SoulsearchingPodcast Theo Parrish (Click on Soulsearching 500)

http://www.sonicsunset.com/

^The last Sonic Sunset shows along with archives of great looking stuff stretching back a-ways.

I'll re-upload the Gilles New York show to a different server by special request this week.

Is anyone else having problems with Zupload (the server I most frequently use)? 1000 visitors and 2 comments in the last 2 months is pretty shit from the feedback POV. Regardless, I'll probably upload a couple of my own mixes in July (as bundles). I think I'm going to wait til Autumn to put out Autumn Rhythm from my tracklist-only days before I realised how easy it is to upload stuff, which was requested by someone at ParisDJs. Sorry for the tardiness!

A word on the Islamic extremist terrorist activities rocking the Uk : Cunts.

The image is by Saul Steinberg.