Monday, May 14, 2007

Downloads



In addition to the fresh new links I posted here’s some of the choicest music I’ve picked up on my rounds recently

First up. Brownswood serves up some 97 Kiss FM business from Kirk DeGiorgio. HURRY ON THESE!!!

http://brownswood.5.forumer.com/index.php?showtopic=11408

And there’s a bit of Gilles in his prime at the end of this Kirk mix (itself worth the dl).

http://brownswood.5.forumer.com/index.php?showtopic=11379

Touch Of Soul have got a very nice mellow house mix from Nick Holder. Lots of understated female vocals and lyrics about heartbreak.

http://touchofsoul.fr/index.php#

Pathway To Unknown Worlds has some great Herbie & Jaco live stuff

http://nightofthepurplemoon.blogspot.com/2007/05/herbie-hancock-jaco-pastorius-ivanhoe.html

I've been getting into these authentic Paris café accordion pieces from the 30s at the world music blog Babe(L)ogue

http://babeblogue.blogspot.com/2007/04/cafe-de-paris-1930-41-24-accordion.html

FM Shades has got some Ash Ra Tempel to grab. Second post down the page.

http://fm-shades.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html

Some great Jamaican ballads from Freddie McGregor in the early 60s at the amazing Magic Of Juju blog. Third down on this page.

http://magicofjuju.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html

A mostly indie blog called Serenity Now has this great Weezer bootleg. Search for April 12 here.

http://dickdarlington.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html

And The Disco King at Brownswood has dug up this amazing site of mixes from BBC Radio 1. GP, MAW, Roni Size, Daft Punk. Tonnes

http://bbcessentialmixes.blogspot.com/index.html

Images are some of the most amusing album covers I’ve seen in blogland in recent days.

Peace and peaches.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

New links







Check it out. Found loads of cool zip blogs recently. On the downside, editing the links on bogger has changed from its old HTML format and I can't be bothered clicking on all those little arrows and moving each link one by one. So the new school of links are ahead of established names like Orgy, Pharoah, ElReza, Swami, Loronix, Musikalia et al. I wont tell you which ones for fear of them being dealt the same fate as Crabbitt & Daft but there are quite a few big names to be found...

Enjoy
The images are all taken from Martian Shaker. Check it out for more great stuff...

Saturday, April 21, 2007

These are a few of my favourite films...


















In order : The Sopranos (better than most movies), Z, The Parallax View, Un Air De Famille, Traffic, The Apartment, Der Himmel über Berlin, Une pure formalité, Les Quatre Cent Coups, La Dolce Vita, McCabe And Mrs Miller, Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid, Comme Une Image and The Wicker Man (1973, of course).
I've seen other great films, some like Urga, Ucho and Roma, Città Aperta I had trouble finding images for whilst others like Goodfellas, Pulp Fiction and Lost In Translation are maybe a bit obvious.
Love the cinema. Not the movies.
Haven't seen too many recently but inspired by seeing Soderbergh's The Good German (Soderbergh's the Daddy right now) - a solid 4 stars - into looking back.
Love French movies. You can sit through 100 American films to find a winner but you can often watch one French movie to do the same.
Looking forward to seeing Das Leben Der Anderen - acclaimed German film about rare compassion in East Berlin and Combien Tu M'Aimes (Depardieu, Bellucci and Darroussin - can't really go wrong). However the versions I've got from Azureus are without subtitles and I have no clue how to apply subtitles. Any help appreciated.
Oh and someone download my mix for fuck's sake!!!

Monday, April 16, 2007

Some fine downloads


Motherlode - James Brown.


Some of his best stuff on this '88 compilation of obscurities from the late 60s / early 70s heyday...




Song X - Pat Metheney & Ornette Coleman


Avante-garde jazz from '85. First track is especially challenging but there's quite a lot of variety over the 8 tracks.




Commercial Zone - Public Image Limited


Alternate version of the last album from PiL. My mate Darran really rates them and he knows the New Wave era intimately. Fresher than the copycats, as he likes to point out.




I often get into things some time after I download them. This great compilation of a Swiss jazz unit called the Boillat Thérace Quintet seems to still be available so don't hang around...




Also Joy by Karin Krog is still there, I think I recommended it here before. Mr Joy is up there with Carr & Rendell's Black Marigolds and Cinematic Orchestra's Diabolus as some of the most spine chillingest jazz recorded. A must check.




Impeccably tasteful Brasilian jazz from Quarteto Novo here at Orgy. I already snagged this one from another blog but don't let that stop you...




Theater Of Eternal Music - Day Of Niagara & Bootleg


The incredible FM Shades has dug out one of John Cale's other 60s projects here. 'Drone Underground' apparently. You wait for Venus In Furs or Hey Mr Rain to start but instead it just goes on... droning. Its good though, somehow. Organic and intimate.



Just Another Diamond Day - Vashti Bunyan


I think it was the lately inactive Burnt Brown Karl who turned me onto this lovely gentle folkster and here's the classic album. Wicker Man vibes - in a good way. Scroll to the second entry on this page.




Its all about Nara. Oodles. The 65 album here is gorgeous as fuck. A Shakira fuck. You know what I'm talking about. Don't act like you don't.




And Phaoroah's Dance is assassinating it ice cold. Check a rare Herbie trio date from 77, the classic Dee Dee Bridgewater album Afro Blue and a smokin' obscurity from Rene McLean.




Don Ellis / big band fans will be pleased to see this new blog. This Don Ellis Quintet recording from 61 with Ron Carter on bass is solido. Al Francis - a new name for me - smokin' on the vibes.


Meanwhile a certain large mammal of the felled tree variety has upped that mix for real now after some technical hitches. From Red Astaire to Bugge Wesseltoft in 17 crazy moves.


http://s19.quicksharing.com/v/6846022/ben_s_proper_mix_mix.rar.html

OK for now.


Image is something nice I found on Lambiek by Cristina Duran.






Paul Merton monologue


Once a breath of fresh air on British TV was Paul Merton, whose hilarious monologue I stumbled across yesterday and am now posting. I really liked his surreal sketch show which was part of what I am just now identifying as a surreal sketch show movement in the early Nineties with Newman And Baddiel - In Pieces, The All New Alexei Sayle Show and Sean's Show (reportedly a rip-off of Its Garry Shandling's Show - which I never saw). Later sketch shows like Fast Show, Little Britain, Bo'Selecta and even Reeves And Mortimer I wouldn't include in this category being based on character observation (celebrities or stereotypes). The other four were all surreal expressions of the comedians' selves. My favourite of these was Newman And Baddiel where the two protagonists seemed so cool in this mutant sitcom as they talked sex, suicide and Eighties bands I'd never heard of and pushed old men down stairs. But I also loved Merton's show, observing the world from his newspaper kiosk, with the occasional dolphin dropping by for a Mars bar. Underrated. His Great Escape parody where he was the last Allied soldier left in a Nazi PoW camp was a stroke of genius too. I remember him doing exercises in the yard with eight mannequins attatched to poles on either arm, the German guards getting more suspicious... Here's the monologue. Enjoy.
"On Wednesday 14th December last at approximately 10:43 AM while patrolling along Streatham High Road I observed a motor vehicle illegally parked outside the all night Clement Atlee massage parlour. I questioned the occupant, a Mr Jack E Stewart, who said:
"Urinate off you effin love child"
Mr Stewart then apologised and offered me a yellow chocolate covered confectionery known to the uniformed branch as a Smartie. I accepted the smartie and swallowed it. A smartie which I now know contained an hallucinogenic drug.
Thirty five minutes later, while sat on an intergalactic spacecraft bound for the planet Zanussi, I observed Constable Parrish approaching me disguised as a fortnights holiday in Benidorm.
"Hello Constable Parrish !" I said through the back of my neck."And what news of my Lord Buckingham?"
To which Constable Parrish replied "Get down off that bus shelter, you stupid git."
I then ate Constable Parrish.
His notebook then exploded releasing a thousand tiny giraffe heads on little penguin bodies.
I was enticed down from said bus shelter by the lovely Marilyn Monroe, former screen starlet. We kissed, formally, until Marilyn, sweet tender Marilyn, revealed herself as Mr Brinsley Ocomo, a scrap metal dealer from Peckham.
A panda patrol car flew past and three large uniformed pandas got out.
I was charged by Chief Constable Warren with gross indecency, impersonating a Spaniard, acting the goat and eating a police Constable while in the course of his duty.
I burst into hysterical laughter which lasted five months.
And that is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth."

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Two treats - a new mix by me & The Last Poets (1970)



I've been working on this mix for a couple of nights for my mate Ben. I'm pretty proud of it. It would be better actually mixed and with more adjustments to the noise levels (The Cure track is particularly quiet) but I think its a fairly solid, and nicely eclectic, selection. Unfortunately I still haven't even begun to grapple with mixing technology. One step at a time.

This is probably the most cohesive mix I've published the tracklisting for (and I will get round to uploading all the mixes for the tracklistings I've put up here. One particular highlight is a fantastic Italo track called Secret Life by Material, which I found on Soulseek after someone (Dave Mothersole or one of his guests) mentioned it as one of the seminal Italo tracks which predates even early Chicago house. House, let me take this opportunity to say, is the equivalent of jazz in the dance music world. It is the Daddy of all the forms, the one with the longevity and the scope for constant development. Drum & bass or breaks may be more visceral (depending on what drugs you are on) or garage more sexy, or electro more fashionable, but they are all ultimately more limited offshoots of the source. The source is tribal rhythms and, through the mixing of other influences have given rise to two main forms - jazz and house (I consider rock and hip hop to be basically offshoots of jazz). Anyway, I digress. I never know when a waffle rattling around my head is going to take over.

Another big tune for this set is Collage Of Dreams by John Beltran - an ambient classic. I've been getting into the visionary Manuel Gottsching whose early experiments in electronica still sound like amazingly fresh contributions to the genres of ambient in Inventions For Electric Guitar and house / techno (can never really distinguish the two - nor do I particularly like getting into a taxonomy of music) in E2-e4. Some would call it prog but after having so far failed to get into much of the genre (I like Soft Machine's Third but can't get into Yes or King Crimson) I would tend to distance most of his work from this sometimes undesirable epithet (not Early Water though which I'm listening to now which is like a crisper Tangerine Dream).
I don't want to waffle about every track but I'd like to mention the track by Gentleman which I heard on David Rodegan's Kiss show 4 or 5 years ago and loved but forgot about til recently. Gentleman is a young German man who became influenced by Jamaican music at a young age and travelled there to become part of the scene, the most surprising part of this being that he makes good records, the tune here being a feelgood classic (for me, anyway)
I've also been chasing Paul Raymond edits as avidly as Moonstarrs, Moodymanns or Rub N Tugs after his edit of Chicago's Street Player blew the roof off the Black Note when I played it there a couple of weeks back. His remix here I originally heard as an untraceable white on a GP show in 97 / 98 while I was buzzing off one of my first glorious spliffs which opened my mind to the Music. If I'd smoked more of the righteous herb that Gentleman seems to be enjoying at the top of the page instead of the way overstrong varieties of skunk which were flooding the market in London at that time, I'd be a happier man today.
Anyway, here's the full tracklisting...
1. Mambo El Kingston RED ASTAIRE
2. Drumpan Sound REGGIE STEPPER
3. Heard It Through The Grapevine THE SLITS
4. My Beat BLAZE / SUMO
5. Fire In Cairo THE CURE
6. Secret Life MATERIAL
7. Its Great To Be Here JACKSON 5 / KENNY DOPE
8. Caan Hold Us Down GENTLEMAN, DADDY RINGS & BARRINGTON LEVY
9. Pass It On THE CORAL
10. Canto De Ossanha BADEN POWELL
11. Le Coeur Qui Jazze FRANCE GALL
12. Anambra OZO / PAUL RAYMOND
13. Spanish Joint D’ANGELO
14. Blue Monday NOUVELLE VAGUE
15. Feel Flows BEACH BOYS
16. Collage Of Dreams JOHN BELTRAN
17. Trying Times SIDSEL ENDRESEN & BUGGE WESSELTOFT
And the link
A friend of mine was flabbergasted I played The Last Poets during my first set but, as I've been reading, there've been quite a few permutations of the group over the years at one point splitting into an Islamic half and a Def Jam half - guess which half got playedin my set.
Their recording debut came up on Soulseek. Users of the programme know how some items are interminably slow to arrive in your hungry carpetas whilst others zip across. The Last Poets' 1970 debut came up in no time flat and I was so impressed with the raw force of this record I thought I'd better share the wealth. Some will be inspired, others perhaps offended but no-one can deny its power (and trailblazing status for hip hop). Real poetry and bongos business - just like Flanders' parents!

Monday, April 09, 2007

Sunday Humour




Peter Kay's Universal Truths...


Never really 'got' Peter Kay as much as some but he can be a funny fucker at times. I got sent these as a bulletin to my myspace and I've put the ones I find most uncannily on point in bold.


1.Triangular sandwiches taste better than square ones.

2.At the end of every party there is always a girl crying.

3.One of the most awkward things that can happen in a pub is when your pint-to-toilet cycle gets synchronised with a complete stranger.

4.You've never quite sure whether it's ok to eat green crisps.

5.Everyone who grew up in the 80's has entered the digits 55378008 into a calculator.
6.Reading when you're drunk is horrible.

7.Sharpening a pencil with a knife makes you feel really manly.

8.You're never quite sure whether it's against the law or not to have a fire in your back garden.
9.Nobody ever dares make cup-a-soup in a bowl.

10.You never know where to look when eating a banana.

11.It's impossible to describe the smell of a wet cat.

12.Prodding a fire with a stick makes you feel manly.

13.Rummaging in an overgrown garden will always turn up a bouncy ball.

14.You always feel a bit scared when stroking horses.

15.Everyone always remembers the day a dog ran into your school.

16.The most embarrassing thing you can do as schoolchild is to call your teacher mum or dad.
17.The smaller the monkey the more it looks like it would kill you at the first given opportunity.
18.Some days you see lots of people on crutches.

19.Every bloke has at some stage while taking a pee, flushed half way through and then raced against the flush.

20.Old women with mobile phones look wrong.

21.It's impossible to look cool whilst picking up a Frisbee.

22.Driving through a tunnel makes you feel excited.

23.You never ever run out of salt.

24.Old ladies can eat more than you think.

25.You can't respect a man who carries a dog.

26.There's no panic like the panic you momentarily feel when you've got your hand or head stuck in something.

27.No one knows the origins of their metal coat hangers.

28.Despite constant warning, you have never met anybody who has had their arm broken by a swan.

29.The most painful household incident is wearing socks and stepping on an upturned plug.
30.People who don't drive slam car doors too hard.

31.You've turned into your dad the day you put aside a thin piece of wood specifically to stir paint with.

32.Everyone had an uncle who tried to steal their nose.

33.Bricks are horrible to carry.

34.In every plate of chips there is a bad chip.

35.Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.


And this was posted by a fella named Tecwen Hernandez The Third over on Brownswood. Lyrics by Half Man Half Biscuit (aka Nigel Blackwell), a Peel-championed acoustic act.

Bourgeois-baiting business. Its harsh.


To the tune of "He's got the Whole World..."


They've got the whole world
in their house,
they've got the whole wide world
in their house,
they've got the whole world
in their house,
to see the new conservatory


They didn't choose their cat,
the cat chose them,
they didn't choose their cat,
the cat chose them,
they didn't choose their cat,
the cat chose them,
and what do you know,

its got its own website,


they made some real good friends,

on Henman hill,

they made some real good friends,

on Henman hill,

they made some good friends,

on Henman hill,

now they all meet up for boxercise,

They buy soup in cartons,
not in tins,

They buy soup in cartons,
not in tins,

They buy soup in cartons,
not in tins,

And keep a torch in the back of the car,


They go to one-day cricket,
in fancy dress,

They go to one-day cricket,
in fancy dress,

They go to one-day cricket,
in fancy dress,

and choose the pub thats got the ball pond for the kids,


They treat the mercury music,
prize with awe

They treat the mercury music,
prize with awe

They treat the mercury music,
prize with awe

Obviously thats just jealousy on my part,


They seem to think,
it's a really good idea

They seem to think,
it's a really good idea

They seem to think,
it's a really good idea

To hire a stretch limosine,


He gets over emontional,
when he's drunk,

He gets all too emotional,
when he's drunk,

He gets over emontional,
when he's drunk,

And says,"I tell you what mate, that baby changed me life",


If I'd have known they were coming, I'd have slashed me wrists


Add in an extra verse....

They've got nothing but total

Respect for (repeat x3)

....Annie Lennox


The pic is of Underdog, another of those great 60s / 70s budget toons. I saw some of it this morning (dubbed into Spanish of course). Found out today its being made into a rather dry- looking live action movie.
Also saw some of the latest incarnation of Flipper. A character named Jefferson had two amazingly unrealistic heart attacks. I tried to get his name to see on imdb if he'd had a career up to that point but to no avail.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Deep Jazz Writing & An Art Pepper Download


Found this jazz-based quote from Sartre's great first novel Nausea. There's a bit more to the original quote but sadly I don't have a copy to hand to extend it. Ever since I first read these lines ten or so years ago, they have been central to my understanding of what jazz is.
It is, of course, not Jamie Cullum, it is, literally, 'improvised music'. Music of that specific moment in time, space, gravity and electro-magnetism, of that one, specific unique combination. I've been attending blues jams at the Black Note (incidentally my second DJ session was a non-starter but, don't worry, I'm going to kill it on the third) and, to me, this music (blues) is what jazz is to many - OK, sure, but always the same.But for me jazz is alive with possibilities.
It doesn't have to use brass of any kind (in fact, I'm always looking for non-brass jazz to get diversity in my listening). Any instrument can be used in jazz. As the late, much-missed Alice Coltrane showed, it could be a harp. Stephane Grappelli used a violin. Everything is jazz. Great rock is jazz. Anything where people are laying things down, expressing themselves or expressing something with music is jazz. And I don't see the use of technology as limiting the scope of jazz - its not all cynical Hed Kandi type crap out there. Check out what Four Tet and Moodymann are doing for instance. One day I'll have to contribute to the Great Offering myself. Maybe. As a selector, anyway, I do what I can.

Anyway the quote from J-P S...

'For the moment, the jazz is playing; there is no melody, just notes, a myriad tiny tremors. The notes know no rest, an inflexible order gives birth to them then destroys them, without ever leaving them the chance to recuperate and exist for themselves.... I would like to hold them back, but I know that, if I succeeded in stopping one, there would only remain in my hand a corrupt and languishing sound. I must accept their death; I must even want that death: I know of few more bitter or intense impressions.'

And something from Jack Kerouac's amazing On The Road. As has been discussed, his style of writing is itself similar to the improvisations of jazz. Indeed for me it forms a trilogy of C20th American classics of the modern age with Catcher In The Rye by JD Salinger and Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson. All three are (relatively) unpolished works, clearly the result of periods of almost uncontrollable inspiration. We get some of the electricity of what they were feeling in those moments through the miracle of language. As Sartre himself said 'I must let my pen run on, without searching for words...'

'Dean and I went to see Shearing at Birdland in the midst of the long, mad weekend. The place was deserted, we were the first customers, ten o'clock. Shearing came out, blind, led by the hand to his keyboard. He was a distinguished-looking Englishman with a stiff white collar, slightly beefy, blond, with a delicate English-summer's-night air about him that came out in the first rippling sweet number he played as the bass-player leaned to him reverently and thrummed the beat. The drummer, Denzil Best, sat motionless except for his wrists snapping the brushes. And Shearing began to rock; a smile broke over his ecstatic face; he began to rock in the piano seat, back and forth, slowly at first, then the beat went up, and he began rocking fast, his left foot jumped up with every beat, his neck began to rock crookedly, he brought his face down to the keys, he pushed his hair back, his combed hair dissolved, he began to sweat. The music picked up. The bass-player hunched over and socked it in, faster and faster, it seemed faster and faster, that's all. Shearing began to play his chords; they rolled out of the piano in great rich showers, you'd think the man wouldn't have time to line them up. They rolled and rolled like the sea. Folks yelled for him to "Go!" Dean was sweating; the sweat poured down his collar. "There he is! That's him! Old God! Old God Shearing! Yes! Yes! Yes! And Shearing was conscious of the madman behind him, he could hear every one of Dean's gasps and imprecations, he could sense it though he couldn't see. "That's right!" Dean said. "Yes!" Shearing smiled, he rocked. Shearing rose from the piano, dripping with sweat; these were his great 1949 days before he became cool and commercial. When he was gone Dean pointed to the empty piano seat. "God's empty chair," he said. On the piano a horn sat; its golden shadow made a strange reflection along the desert caravan painted on the wall behind the drums. God was gone; it was the silence of his departure. It was a rainy night. It was the myth of the rainy night. Dean was popeyed with awe. This madness would lead nowhere.'

And Wooodenelephant is officially a sharity blog now. Here's a great, life-affirming set from one of my big favourites, Art Pepper. As you can read in bios, he had an eventful life and was a colourful character etc. He was a heroin addict and though the costs of this are usually extremely high, all the evidence suggests it opens people up to an expansive appreciation and experience of this mystery called Life. This exuberance, this joy, the lived-ness of his life really comes through in his playing and this awesome set from 68. Few can improvise so daringly and still completely rock the joint. Two tracks on this selection (I don't have anymore of this set, which is itself a download from EMule) - Groupin' and Lover Come Back To Me. They're both over 20 minutes though.

The link is at the end of the post. This will be standard with any download I provide. Link at the bottom, with the post tagged with 'download'. This will be the standard til I start to run into the problems other sharity bloggers have run into which has lead them to use passwords, post the links in comments etc etc...

By the way, the CENSORED blog seems to have downloads not of the highest sound quality - at any rate with the two I obtained - Blakey's Ritual and Coltrane & Wilbur Harden's Mainstream, particularly the former. I've discovered another great blog though. More Brasilian gems here...

http://umquetenha.blogspot.com/index.html

Check out the three volumes featured here of the Favela Chic compilations. Almost as good as Gilles' Brasilian selections...

http://umquetenha.blogspot.com/search?q=Favela+Chic

And download this!!!


http://s23.quicksharing.com/v/4930477/Art_Pepper_Quintet_Live_At_Donte_s.rar.html

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Found it!


Found Stone Flute at Penny Tray here...

http://penny-tray.blogspot.com/2007/02/herbie-mann-stone-flute-1970.html

Look in the top left hand corner for the password.

I found it by googling 'herbie mann stone flute blog' which brought me to this handy site...

http://tofuhaus.antville.org/20070225/

This has links to billions more free downloads.
The first one I tried is ace (though another bloody rapidshare subscriber!!)
Rare Coltrane and Blakey and just tonnes of stuff here...

JUST NOTICED YESTERDAY THIS BLOGGER REQUESTS NO LINKS TO HIS SITE.. SORRY MAN!!!

By the way, the set in the Black Note here in Valencia went well and I'm doing two more on the 18th & 24th. I'll keep going til they stop me! Come along after the castillo de fuego which ends Las Fallas on Sunday, Valencia crew! After you've had your fill of buñuelos and churros and you've seen your last mascleta (Hope Googlers in Valencia will find me now!!!!) Just in case... AMAZING IMAGES OF SHAKIRA NAKED!!!!! - are now in my mind's eye...

Here's a tracklisting as a flavour.

Sexy - Los Amigos Invisibles
Deeper Underground - Jamiroquai
One Note Brown - The New Mastersounds
Right On - Clarence Wheeler & The Enforcers
No Caminho Do Bem - Tim Maia
Color - Erwin Lehn
Ze Brasileiro - Rappin' Hood
It's A Trip - Last Poets
Jazz Carnival - Azymuth
Running Fast - Stefano Torossi
I Am Your Mind - Roy Ayers / Pepe Bradock
Flying Machine - War
Light My Fire - Rhetta Hughes
Forty First Street Breakdown - Naomi Davis & the Knights of Forty First Street
Nobody Is Gonna Love You... - Norma Jean Bell
Expensive Shit - Fela Kuti / MAW
Jaleo - Truby Trio / Señor Coconut
Woo Hoo - The 5678's
GT - The New Mastersounds

I thought of wrapping this up as a zip but its a lot of hassle to be honest and I don't want to spend my life on the Internet, y'know. If I get a special request for anything I will probably post it (though it may take a while).
The next upload I'll be doing is of the (now) inappropriately-titled Autumn Rhythm. I also plan to make some jazz nuggets available a la Orgy & co. The first will probably be Art Pepper Live At Donte's, a great session which I just found out on CD Universe was released here in Spain. I also just found that my rip is only CD1 of a 2 CD set! Bah! The perils of the cheapskate music collector!

Image is (like you didn't know) The Jazz Band by Dubuffet

Monday, March 12, 2007

An Appeal To Blogland

I've been downloading bits and pieces from everywhere recently. I picked up a Herbie Mann album 'Stone Flute' but I can't remember which blog its from and it wont open without a password.

Can anyone help?

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Black Note Session


As cool as the man like Dean Martin, I got myself a gig at Valencia's happening live music venue The Black Note. If any Valencia residents come down Calle Wooodenelephant, here's some info.

The club is two minutes walk from Aragon station. Go down Calle Ernesto Ferrer, the street with Edificio Europa on the corner and take the second road on the left, Calle Polo y Peyrolon.There will be a live band (Pipo Antonini, blues from Italy) at around 11:30 or midnight, then at 12:45 or so the DJs will start with my set being the second, from 01:30 to 02:30. The music will be funk, acid jazz, soul, blues etc If you come during the live band there may be a small cover charge but if you come afterwards entrance is free. A bottle of beer is the standard 3 €.It would be great to have your support on this evening. Please let anyone know who you think might be interested.If it goes well I may have a regular night down there, so keep everything crossed!!

Meanwhile in blogland, Chocoreve has an astonishing array of VU bootlegs right now, though be warned not all the links are functional.

http://chocoreve.blogspot.com/

Sunday, March 04, 2007

Perry Bible Fellowship

Shout out to Matt T for discovering this great site of blackly humorous cartoon strips.

http://pbfcomics.com/

Here's some samples



Thursday, March 01, 2007

Deep mix ready for download




I've been a busy boy tonight.

Massive shout to the man from Buenos Aires, FM Shades who published a list of file hosting services which you can read here...




I'm using Quicksharing to make available my Dave Mothersole tribute mix (more details and the tracklisting are to be found in the post before last, dated December 24th)






So get downloading, folks! 9 cuts of deep goodness for your ears. Feedback would be very much appreciated. Expect downloads of other compilations (I guess I can't legitimately call them mixes) very soon, such as Autumn Rhythm requested by the ParisDJs (GREAT podcasters) no less...


I'll also be making available some rare jazz and other stuff which I've gathered over the past year or so. So get ready!


...Also, after avoiding it for months I got cyber-bullied into signing up to the new version of Blogger, which really is a lot better. So expect more easy links in my posts, and more nice imagery (though the main problem has been constantly forgetting to use the Blogger toolbar)


Here´s some genius shit to read as your house candy comes in. Absolutely mental. Absolutely brilliant.


Image is of childhood favourite Wowser, or Cubitus as he is known in France.

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

I'm still here



I moved flat and I'm now on a 'borrowed' connection. I'm amazingly still able to download a limited amount of stuff.

My recommendations for now...

A Brownswood Basement from 2001 - click on the words 'part 1' and 'part 2' for download links

http://brownswood.5.forumer.com/index.php?showtopic=9671&hl

Though I haven't listened yet I'm sure this kraftwerk / neu collaboration will be worth a listen. Its from the impecably obscure FM Shades

http://fm-shades.blogspot.com/2007/01/kraftwerk-k4-kraftwerk-meets-neu.html

He's also got a download of that early Velvet Underground acetate which emerged relatively recently. Its amazing how the greatness of VU bridges gaps between all kinds of music heads - jazz heads, punk rockers, avant gardeists, rock fans etc etc. Unmissable - this has 3558 downloads!! Scroll to the bottom of this page...

http://fm-shades.blogspot.com/2007_01_01_archive.html

Stuffy jazz purists always seem to have a downer on my man Mann but his Live At The Village Vanguard set was smokin´pure & simple. This should be a great set too from Loronix.

http://loronix.blogspot.com/2007/02/herbie-mann-do-bossa-nova-with-herbie.html

And Bacoso is still KILLING it. I actually prefer the version of Black Marigolds on Gilles´truly impressive Impressed compilation but there's another version on this. I'll stick my neck out and say its the British Love Supreme.

http://orgyinrhythm.blogspot.com/2007/02/don-rendellian-carr-quintet-phase-111.html

Pick this up too from Eddie Henderson at El Reza. Worth it for the classic Butterfly alone. Scroll down the first 5 or 6 albums for this one...

http://elreza.blogspot.com/2007_01_01_archive.html
And Pharaoh's Dance has some dope-looking rare Polish jazz compiled by Jazzanova. Strong.
Scroll down...

The image is Meditations du Magma 2 (1961) by Antonio Saura which I saw at the IVAM in August 2005.

Peace, and happy clicking...

Sunday, December 24, 2006

Deep mix


A tribute to Dave Mothersole whose wonderful Late Night Sessions on Kiss 100 ended this year. I thought this picture would be appropriate both because of my alias and because Dave's love of house and techno began in India. You can read about it at his myspace

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=83586487

And here's the link to the site i got the picture from which has some exceptional images.

http://alanlittle.org/Gallery/India/NamaRupa/index.html


On with the tracklisting

1. Plunder ALEX SMOKE
2. Night Images LARRY HEARD / SWAYZAK
3. 55 Cancri ELEGY (alias KIRK DEGIORGIO
4. Space Rider BASIC BASTARD
5. Mine To Give PHOTEK & ROBERT OWENS / DAVID MORALES
6. Crosses JOSE GONZALES / JORI HULKKONEN
7. Dragon Loop MARCUS WORGULL
8. Aint Nothing Like This Feeling (Version Mix) SLOPE / CHARLES WEBSTER
9. Je Suis Ta Drogue (Epic Club Mix) GRANT NELSON

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Downloads of the week # 2

Found more zip blogs recently (as always).
There's a lot of good alternative rock here - My Bloody Valentine, Mercury Rev, Yo La Tengo.

  • Musikalia



  • My pick of the bunch is Coney Island Baby by Lou Reed. I've only given it a quick listen but it sounds more on the Velvets tip than most Lou stuff. Think of the comedown stuff like Pale Blue Eyes rather than the pulsing thrashy stuff like Sister Ray. 3rd entry on this page...

  • Lou



  • And here's a blog from Russia (?) which covers many bases of black music. Pick up stone cold classics by Shuggie Otis and Fela Kuti as well as stuff from today's innovators such as Madlib.

  • Black Man Land


  • Amongst the mainstream stuff there's a few nuggets most notably The Roots' fairly obscure debut Organix. My favourite hip hop album is hands down Things Fall Apart which has all the slickness and drama of top level gangsta rap but with a black consciousness flow. Organix is jazzier, inevitably less well produced but a great listen. Its worth the download for the track The Session, a 12 minute jam featuring a pretty far out (for hip-hop) jazz-horns loop. Its the 11th entry down on this page.

  • Roots
  • Friday, December 15, 2006

    R.I.P. Anita

    Heard the sad bews yesterday reading the Straight No Chaser blog (not the London magazine, an old American jazz head)

    A great singer, not one for stuffy purists but full of personality. One of the first jazz artists I got into, actually - Apollo 440's Krupa inspired me to pick up a budget Krupa comp which lead me onto Anita.

    She's more celebrated for her 50s recordings than her big band efforts. Versions of Early Autumn and My Funny Valentine stand out for me from this period.

    And there's a beautiful and largely unknown track from the Krupa days called That's What You Think.

    Sample her breathless style and some naughty (for the 40s) leg-flashing shenanigans here

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=mCU4ExwpfS8

    Downloads Of The Week # 1



    New feature! I've been thinking about doing this for a while so I have a nice selection for you this week. I don't know why but I'm having no joy with the links in the posts so you will need to cut n paste, children.
    First, a podcast of quality drum n bass here. Grimeheads wont be satisfied but it joins the dots between old school, soulful and broken beat very nicely.


    http://www.timelessinspiration.com/Timeless-Inspiration-repost

    Joe Henderson's Canyon Lady deserves another mention. The track Las Palmas is a favourite from the tapehead days. Driving Latin rhythms and discordant sax - but it really works!

    http://elreza.blogspot.com/2006/11/canyon-lady-joe-henderson-1.html

    When Herbert was good (don't know what's happened recently... Scale sounded like vaudeville show tunes) he put out a remix of Karin Krog. This is pretty much all I heard about her til I stumbled across her album Joy here. The first track Mr Joy has that early Cinematic Orchestra sound, with the twanging of the double bass dominant.

    http://swami-hermitus-solus.blogspot.com/2006_11_05_swami-hermitus-solus_archive.html

    Loronix is posting a superhuman amount of Brasilian gems. The enormous selection is also by and large still downloadable. Here's two which stand out for me.

    http://loronix.blogspot.com/2006/07/elis-regina-como-porque-1969.html
    http://loronix.blogspot.com/2006/07/joyce-feminina-1980.html

    And get your laughing gear round this. Classic comedy vinyl from Derek And Clive. Michael 'Kramer' Richards take note - these guys are offensive but also funny, you Seinfeld-ruining loon! Go to the bottom of this page - PLO archives in months.

    http://palestinianlightorchestra.blogspot.com/2006_12_01_palestinianlightorchestra_archive.html

    Thanks to all the sharity bloggers, mp3 bloggers and podcasters out there. There's tonnes of great stuff out there right now, including lots of stuff I've downloaded and haven't listened to yet!

    The image is some graffitti in Brasil.

    Wednesday, December 13, 2006

    Poetry, Lyrics & The Black Stuff

    Check out my friend Han's poetry. Its rather good. Manages to be emotionally raw and genuinely surreal at the same time. http://hanless.blogspot.com/index.html

    He linked to my Waters Of March lyrics post so I thought I'd post some more.

    This track I heard on rocking Radio 2 a long while ago. I taped it as I did almost everything at this stage. Perhaps prompted by the death of the lyricist, the Austrailian TV presenter and raconteur Clive James, I see its been reissued on CD.

    More info here: http://www.peteatkin.com/dtouch.htm

    Touch Has A Memory

    Touch has a memory
    Better than the other senses
    Hearing and sight fight free
    Touching has no defences
    Textures come back to you real as can be
    Touch has a memory

    Fine eyes are wide at night
    Eyelashes show that nicely
    Seeing forgets the sight
    Touch recollects precisely
    Eyelids are modest yet blink at a kiss
    Touching takes note of this

    When in a later day
    Little of the vision lingers
    Memory slips away
    Every way but through the fingers
    Textures come back to you real as can be
    Making you feel time doesn't heal
    And touch has a memory

    And this from Leonard Cohen. It gives me chills every time I hear it. This is one song I am sure will always be a part of my life.

    Famous Blue Raincoat

    Its four in the morning, the end of december
    Im writing you now just to see if youre better
    New york is cold, but I like where Im living
    Theres music on clinton street all through the evening.

    I hear that youre building your little house deep in the desert
    Youre living for nothing now, I hope youre keeping some kind of record.

    Yes, and jane came by with a lock of your hair
    She said that you gave it to her
    That night that you planned to go clear
    Did you ever go clear?

    Ah, the last time we saw you you looked so much older
    Your famous blue raincoat was torn at the shoulder
    Youd been to the station to meet every train
    And you came home without lili marlene

    And you treated my woman to a flake of your life
    And when she came back she was nobodys wife.

    Well I see you there with the rose in your teeth
    One more thin gypsy thief
    Well I see janes awake --

    She sends her regards.
    And what can I tell you my brother, my killer
    What can I possibly say?
    I guess that I miss you, I guess I forgive you
    Im glad you stood in my way.

    If you ever come by here, for jane or for me
    Your enemy is sleeping, and his woman is free.

    Yes, and thanks, for the trouble you took from her eyes
    I thought it was there for good so I never tried.

    And jane came by with a lock of your hair
    She said that you gave it to her
    That night that you planned to go clear

    By the way the party's over... Watch the excellent TV version of Rob Newman's excellent stand-up show. Be both disturbed and entertained. I found out lots of things I would never have known about the West's crusade for oil, the media representation of it and the American economy if it hadn't been presented in easily digestable chunks by Newman. A favourite for some time, Newman uses his skill for the long, convoluted build-up to a punchline for socially conscious monologues.

    http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7374585792978336967

    Sunday, December 10, 2006

    5am in London



    Completed this mix night before last, appropriately enough around 5am (couldn't sleep due to heartburn). Its been gestating for many months, perhaps prompted by the recent grey, windy tiempo round here. So this be the nostalgian. The spliff when it still represented freedom and not imprisonment to me. A tribute to those big days of youth when loneliness was a thrill.

    1. Michael Knight FRIDGE
    2. Mi Par d'Udir Ancora (Bizet) ENRICO CARUSO
    3. Buckie High BOARDS OF CANADA
    4. Syntax GIMMIK
    5. Sister Morphine ROLLING STONES
    6. Blues De L'Antenne BARNEY WILEN
    7. Diabolus CINEMATIC ORCHESTRA
    8. Don't Panic COLDPLAY
    9. Mondschein Sonate (Beethoven) MARIA JOAO PIRES
    10. Pale Blue Eyes VELVET UNDERGROUND
    11. Windwind AUTECHRE
    12. Like It Is YUSEF LATEEF
    13. Try BUGGE & SIDSEL



    And here's a jazz mix I did as a promo hoping to get a gig at a jazz club here called Matisse. I'm sending both these mixes to a geezer called Fred as part of a sort of Secret Santa over at Brownswood.

    1. Casa Forte ELIS REGINA
    2. Feminina JOYCE
    3. Las Palmas JOE HENDERSON
    4. Crisis ART BLAKEY & THE JAZZ MESSENGERS
    5. Flying Machine WAR
    6. Money (Thats What I Want) FREDDIE ROACH
    7. King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown AUGUSTUS PABLO
    8. Mr Joy KARIN KROG
    9. Sylvia ARTHUR VEROCAI
    10. Di-Da SAHIB SHIHAB & THE DANISH RADIO JAZZ GROUP
    11. Bongo Chant HAROLD VICK
    12. Sambongo JOAO DONATO
    13. Paint It Black GABOR SZABO
    14. Jamie DONALD BYRD
    15. Bunny ART PEPPER

    By the way, I've finally worked out how to do a Links section. It will be expanded in the coming weeks...