Debut LP Magazine Vol. 01

This is the premier issue of Debut magazine which was started in Germany and brought over to the UK in the early 80s. It was given to me by my friend Price James who is a great friend and fantastic video director, having done videos for Shitdisco, Simian Mobile Disco, The Teenagers and Friendly Fires. Check out his stuff here. Each magazine featured a full 12" lp with various artists. I have chosen to put the complete magazine up on the web and it has all kinds of amazing pictures and material from that time. I will put up the rest of the pages and songs in early January when I get back from vacation but in the meantime you can see some pages below.

Page 2-3 Contents
Page 4-5 Michael Jackson, Ultravox, Tracey Ullman, Eric Gavin, Status Quo
Page 6-7 Curtis Mayfield, The Clash, Cocteau Twins, Style Council, Paul Weller
Page 44-45 Thor
Page 56-57 Philip Salon, Mud Club, Tasty Tim, Fouberts, Greenpeace

Also some interesting info about the Mud Club here.

A1 Big Country Harvest Home (4:10)
A2 Fiat Lux Secrets (3:26)
A3 Niagara Calls All Your Love (4:05)
A4 The Special A.K.A. Bright Lights (4:10)
A5 Wang Chung Talk It Out (3:42)

B1 Kudos Better Late Than Never (4:23)
B2 Mezzoforte Rockall (4:05)
B3 Danse Society Red Light (Shine) (2:52)
B4 Snowy White Lucky Star (6:08)
B5 Pale Fountains Natural (3:20)
B6 Thompson Twins Watching (3:48)

I also recommend you check out the Evil Twins art experience before it closes in January. It`s going on at the Le Gun gallery near London Fields in East London and involves excellent photos from my friend Patricia Niven and her collaberators. It`s much more fun than most gallery shows because you crawl underground and there`s special discoveries and it`s like a proper Alice in Wonderland experience - I wish more art shows were like this. Details here.

Get Chickenized - Frank Chickens

This is a fairly eccentric vinyl lp from the 80s which a friend asked me to digitize for her. We previously featured a great track from Frank Chickens here. I don't find most of these track to be super poppy or dancefloor friendly, but they are certainly interesting compositions - ranging from slow 80's groove to 80s pop. I think in particular the theme of this album seems to be a commentary on the situation of these Japanese women performers in the UK. This was not their first album and it appears they are commenting on the way that others perceive them as strange foreigners. In particular I think the lyrics to the lady love song Two Little Ladies are amusing including this:

"One of their games was putting books all over the floor
So that they can walk without touching the floor
They put a big book on Impressionism by their favourite window
So they can stand close together looking at the sunset over bushes
They called this occasion romantic on top of Impressionism"

I think this LP was actually signed by one of the band members Kazumi (if you look in the picture above). Probably the most catchy track is Yellow Toast. By their own admission (video below) they sing "interestingly badly". What is what most indie bands dream of, from what I can tell.



Side A

A1 We Say You Say
A2 Sacred Marriage
A3 Street Angels, Tokyo
A4 Two Little Ladies
A5 Solid Life

Side B

B1 Japanese Girl
B2 Island Inside Island
B3 Young Summer
B4 Chicken Ondo
B5 Yellow Toast

Finally - my friend Matthew (Wowow) Stone has decided to start the "Interconnected Echoes" blog in which he links from interview to interview various people's ideas on what life is all about. It's a great idea that I wish I had started and you can read what I think about life here.

Manifesto African party 27 November

Once again we have our monthly african music party coming up next Tuesday, 27 November, in London. This time we are lucky to combine the white hot new with the old. Radioclit are breaking new ground in mixing cutting edge new artists such as MIA with rhythms from strange places. They are producing an artist from Malawi called Esau Mwamwaya who will be performing tracks that he has worked in with them and they will be djing afterwards. Come check it out if you are in London. Check out fantastic new track Hide and Seek on their myspace.

Manifesto
Burlington Club
12 New Burlington Street (off Regent Street)
£5/guest list
9-2 am - 27 November

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --

EDIT: The party was fantastic. Radioclit deserves their reputation as djs, particularly on this type of music as they rocked it out. Here are two tracks which went down like a storm.

EUE - DJ Znobia

Super Funana - Various

Star Taxi Music 5 - South African Black Taxi Assoc. comp.

I previously posted no. 3 of this series here but I had bought both together and thought I would put this one up as no. 3 got a great response. This one is also from 1988. It's a bit of a novelty value as there are not many great tracks here. It seems the south africans on this comp were trying pretty hard to use their 80's synths and imitate some synth pop from the west. But there is a unique african vibe to each of the songs, though they all do sound quite similar. Best song on side 1 is probably Taboo - Amigo, in my opinion. But of course, it's the interludes that are hilarious here. The no. 3 cassette was featured on bbc radio for that reason.

Side one:

Intro
Jelly Bean - The Real Thing
Interlude 1
Patricia Majalisa - Gimba
Interlude 2
The New Taxi - Jehoviah
Interlude 3
Umoja - 707
Interlude 4
William & Yvonne - Mpho Le Mphonyana
Interlude 5
Mercy Pakela & Ali Katt - Thank You Jesus
Interlude 6
Princess Nana - Sekoloto
Interlude 7
Taboo - Amigo
Interlude 8
Ziggy Marley & the Melody Makers - Tomorrow People
Interlude 9
Richard Jon Smith - Meadowlands
Interlude 10
Themba "Thiza" Nhlapo - Saka Dibom-Bom
Interlude 11
The Big Dudes - Time is Moving On
Interlude - end of side 1

Side 2 (to come)

Kinky Trax 2 - 1993 New York House

For all you surrealist Jackie 60 theatre drag queens, you lovers of mid week all-nighters at the Pyramid club, you wearers of long silver macs and fishnets at Save the Robots . . . Johnny Dynell, you lovers of the beat, of the legacy of new york speed disco, who understand that if you're in a corner dancing and the room smells like a smoke machine, and your hands are in the air waving, and no one can see you, but your trousers are somehow around your ankles, and it's just fantastic cause the beat is raw and simple and it's exactly what you want to be doing . . . this is for you - straight out of the tape bin at the Dalston Oxfam Shop.
"I used to think I was fierce because I was in all the houses . . . I used to munch trade for dollahs too. . . . but now I got someone waiting at home for me goddamit!"

Side One
1 Deep South  -  I Believe (5:02)
2 Joi + Jorio - I Won't Waste Your Time (6:24)
3 The Fog - Been A Long Time (6:33)
4 Nu-Solution - I Need You (6:00)
5 Marcy Lee - Special (5:46)
6 Jack & Jill - Work It Girlfriend (5:16)

Side Two
7 Michelle Ayers - Respect (6:32)
8 Masters At Work MAW Company featuring Xaviera Gold - Gonna Get Back To You (Ken Lou 12")(9:03)
9 Devastating - Wanna Be With You (8:08)
10 Kamar - In Every Way (4:53)
11 Jason Load Experience - Mainline (7:16)
12 Dana - For You (4:50)

The Mainline track is a cover of one of my favorite disco tracks by Black Ivory which you can download also on this amazing disco blog American Athlete.
And it's time again for our monthly African party Manifesto here in London - this Tuesday, 23 October at the Burlington Club off Regent Street. Kasai Masai will be playing live and they're supposed to be the highest profile band we've had. You should also check out the very eagerly anticipated live shows of Vampire Weekend this week in London and elsewhere in the UK.

early Smylonylon - No. 4!!

Some of you will recall the amazing Smylonylon cassettes put together by Alex Gloor of the current band In Flagranti back in the 90's that I have previously featured on this blog here. A man with very amazing (and broad) taste in music. Well someone in New York finally sent me some more of his cassettes and the earliest one I received is No. 4. It's more of a 60's compilation than the other ones I've heard and Alex was kind enough to e-mail me the tracklisting. It's still amazing.

In Flagranti is playing their first live show this Friday, 28 September at Our Disco at The Hub in east london with Rory and Nadia. Details here.

Smylonylon 4 - side A

Smylonylon 4 - side B

You can check out an amazing tune I ripped from side B which is Stu Phillips - Mahabalipuram

Ripped tune - Smylonylon 4 side b

Mike Melvoin - The Plastic Cow Goes Moooooog - Medicine Man

Cal Tjader - Soul Sauce


side a
1. george harrison - fantasy sequins
2. lord sitar - i can see for miles
3. ray davis - green grow the rushes
4. francis lai - party music
5. stu phillips - mahabalipuram
6. pink floyd - see emily play
7. jean jacques perrey - porcupine rock
8. black soul - moog melody
9. shirley bassey - spinning wheel
10. d. frontiere - popi
11. the amazing adventure of the
liverpool scene - batpoem
13. moog indigo - e.v.a.
14. dave daffodil - pepperbox
15. harry beits - theme from the
fantastic plastic machine
17. jack hanson - the name game
18. dick hyman - chain of fools
19. noel harrison - a young girl

side b
20. vangelis - hypothesis
21. stan butcher - dow de dow dow dow dow
22. ananda shankar - jumpin' jack flash
23. gabor szabo - white rabbit
24. ramsey lewis - lady madonna
25. the dynatones - the fife piper
26. keith mansfield - soul thing
27. cal tjader - soul sauce
28. the plastic cow goes
moooooooog - medicine man
30. frankie vallie - the night
31. herb larson - dizzy
32. fausto papetti - groovin' with mr. bloe
33. connie francis - rock dem bells
34. roy harper - in the time of water
35. leroy holmes - what do you say
36. ferrante & teicher - lay lady lay

Also, this is one of the catchiest tunes I have heard lately. We keept playing it over and over from some crazy young kids in France. Kid Bombardos.

Kid Bombardos - Lovesong for High Kids




I am also djing at midnight at a new party this Friday night, 28 September, at the Dogstar in Brixton with the guys from 20jazzfunkgreats, Slutty Fringe and Nicole from Popscene. You can see a hilarious picture of me on the timeout article for the party.

Manifesto - African Party Tuesday 25 September

This Tuesday we are doing our monthly african party - back again after taking August off. And we have Harare, a live dance band from Zimbabwe. For those that have not checked out the party yet, I think there is a very interesting trend of fantastic sort of indie-ish bands that are incorporating african type guitar sounds and rhythms to take a genre that is maybe a bit bored and make it even more poppy and dance-able. Add to that the recent kuduro trend mixing in african type house-ish beats and you have a bunch of great new african influence music coming out right now that is not very high profile but which can make for a great party. This is behind what we are doing with Manifesto and why it has been packed very time.

One of the bands that I've been most excited about in the last week is Extra Golden, which I discovered on the amazing Benn Loxo du Taccu blog. You can download some of their songs and read an article about the mix of American rock and Kenyan "benga" pop that is taking place there. Their new album is coming out on ThrillJockey called Hera Ma Nono. I played their track Ok-Oyot System at Durrr last Monday and I kid you not, if there had not been a bit of the heavy african vocal, it would have sounded right at home as a fantastic guitar led indie track. The kids loved it.

Some other bands that are making up this trend that I am loving include Vampire Weekend who are going to be coming to the UK in the fall and have been playing to rave reviews in the US. Dirty Projectors on Rough Trade records (check out track No More and listen for the african style guitar) who will be playing at Durrr in the fall. There is another band based in London called Pirate Disko Club with track Prince of Cum. I don't know anything about them but I like the sound.

In addition, uber-cool swedish/french duo Radioclit have been doing kuduro style mixes for some time now and recently did a remix of The Little Ones - Pot A Brewin which you can find on itunes and purchase at the push of a button. They are also producing genuine artist Esau Mwamwaya from Malawi and I can't wait to hear more of that stuff. You can read an interview with them about their interest in all good things in this weeks (September 19) issue of Timeout, page 126.

Come down on Tuesday and check it all out!

Digitalism at Durrr

I am lucky to dj next Monday with one of my favorite groups ever - Digitalism!!! I used to cane their remix of Technologic last year because it's so good- in the middle of the song it has a bit that sounds like the guitars on New Order which is soooooooo good. I will, however, be playing much more random stuff than they play. Will probably play things like this great track from Party Shank called Penis vs. Vagina (slightly hetero focused). I might point out that it's full of this 8 bit sound which is what I played a whole set of last time I dj'd at Durrr.

Party Shank - Penis vs. Vagina

I shamelessly admit that I had not heard of Party Shank until I discovered them in the hilarious Peggy Crouches article in The P.I.X which is really quite good. Get on it kids.

I also just got sent some tracks from Super Volcano today by e-mail and they're pretty good. Check out in particular track Firestorm.

Super Volcano - Firestorm

Also playing at Durrr on Monday are Free Blood. You can read an interview with them (they sound funny in an american brooklyn kind of way) and listen to a Hot Chip remix of their track here. There is some mention on the Internet of them having the rhythm section from !!!. But I'm not sure about that.

Klaus Nomi Live

Klaus Nomi is one of the original freaks of the 80's. There was that fantastic time at the beginning of the 80's when it seemed like everyone was busting out of the old 70's way of doing things into the "modern era" (at least to me for some reason the 80's seem almost like part of our time, as compared to the 70's which seem like a former time). Hip Hop was being born, original electro, house coming in a few years. And the place to be was New York. But Nomi was actually already in his mid 30's when he moved to NY and was almost more in the "art" scene than the music scene it looks like. I note that this kind of operatic theatrical style of singing is like Nina Hagen did and also lots of his outfits have elements which you can see in some of the best designers today. Sadly, he was one of the first to die of AIDS. Some pretty amazing photos of him here. And here is a writeup from a very interesting lady who contacted me who was actually at the gig featured here - Madeline Bocaro, (or Bocchiaro) who by her own admission was a writer for CMJ in the late 70's/80s. If you go to the Blitz Kids site above you can even find info about another icon of our time who works on the P.I.X mag mentioned below as well as even photos of Kashpoint. 

This cassette is not quite a good quality for his songs as his other albums because it's live. But it's got a special quality to hear one of the freakiest ever in his live element - at Hurrah's club in New York in 1979.

   

 Side 1 

1 - Keys of Life 

2 - Falling in Love Again 

3 - Lightning Strikes 

4 - Nomi Song 

5 - The Twist 

 Side 2 

1 - Total Eclipse 

2 - I Feel Love 

3 - Samson and Delilah: Area 

Nina Hagen is another artist I associate from the same time (both of them Germans). Here she throws down a similar DIY rap style to Nomi.

New York New York - Nina Hagen 

Finally, you should come down and check the blog's party. Every thursday but one of the month downstairs at Catch - 22 Kingsland Road, London (we are not on next thursday). Last night Hannah Hanra totally rocked it out. It was great fun. Check out her great P.I.X mag that covers bands so hot new they don't even know they're a band yet.

Durrr tonight - djing

I am djing at Durrr tonight in the side room. You may ask yourself why I am not appearing on the flyer. That's because they love me so much, and you always hurt the ones you love - just in case you didn't learn that yet. That's really the sign that someone loves you a lot - if you know you can rely on them even you forget to put them in the flyer.

Anyway - I feel this urge to play computer game sounds type music tonight, sort of the kind of thing that slips into Crystal Castle songs and other new pop. I mentioned the idea to some Swedish friends and they told me that the kind of chiptune or "blip blop" sounds which I am referring to was a bit of a scene in Sweden some years back but it never took off too much. Anyway, here is a sample of the kind of thing I will be playing. Hope to see you there. Come by and say hi.

Cyriak - No More Memory
(if the link expires, you can download this and more music at http://www.myspace.com/cyriaksmusic )

And the kind of thing you can download at the 8bitpeoples site.

Random is one of the best of this genre.

Random - Sitges Savepoint

You can download more here.

Marti Caine and 1994 Melody Maker comp

Sorry I have not posted in a while. Summertime and I've been travelling.

This last collection from the Dalston Oxfam was not super exciting. There were some kind of amusing tapes which weren't really exciting enough to post, like the soundtrack of Starlight Express, and some really excellent tapes which were not ironic enough for the spirit of this blog (but which I highly recommend), like the Selected Ambient Works II from Aphex Twin which doesn't have any written titles but includes the great track Blue Calx.

So I have chosen to feature Marti Caine who is primarily known for her acting work apparently and for hosting musical type shows on the BBC in the early 80s, such as the Marti Caine Show. But this very slick disco album was co-written by Barry Blue - I suspect the same guy that did Boogie Nights and I Eat Cannibals from Toto Coelo. Funnily enough - these tracks are slick and well produced but somehow not really enough to make them memorable. But for anyone looking for another catchy track to play in a dj set, these might fare. I think the best is probably the slightly reggae lite tune Snowbird City.

Marti Caine - Who
Marti Caine - Love the Way You Love Me
Marti Caine - Snowbird City
Marti Caine - Tin Heart and the Rebel

Fortunately, there was something remotely more critically interesting and rare in the tape bin this time, but it wasn't in great condition. This is a tape compilation released with the April 29, 1995 issue of Melody Maker.

Some of these songs are presumably not available for purchase even anywhere else. The Goya Dress and Schtum tracks are not listed on discogs at least. Drugstore's track with Radiohead dude Thom Yorke may be their best known (El President) but I'm not sure I'm liking it better than this earlier track. The My Life Story Motorcade track is pretty catchy, but still not really my favorite cup of tea. My Life Story was apparently started primarily by Jake Shillingford whose most recent band is Exileinside. I'm not sure the new band sound is pushing any new limits, but the track Butterfly Wings is quite pretty. Anyone can feel free to explain to me the whole appeal of this genre - I just bring you what's in the tape bin :)

Side one
Drugstore - Speaker 12
My Life Story - Motorcade

Side two
Goya Dress - Scorch (demo version)
Schtum - New Brunswick

Manifesto - monthly african party

Just a little press for our monthly african party happening in London at a members club. You can check out the band that is playing which has that fantastic kind of reverb guitar sound with some salsa influences - congolese in origin, Grupo Lokito. Every party has been packed so come down and check it out.



We also have been getting a lot of press lately because of the kindness of friends. My friend Karley chose to include me in the Dazed top 50 digital online ventures. Would be kind if you could go over there and vote/rate my site. And check out Karley's blog - some very funny writing there. Also, the Guardian covered us with some amusing kudos. Again, totally undeserved, but very nice.

While you're at it - check out this great little catchy number Rach Enroll by apparently unsigned Odd Modern I happened to discover.

More tapes up soon.

50's Indian film music and Italian Disco

Viola Valentino. Don't know much about her other than that she falls into the vast category of music made in Italy at a time when this kind of hair and makeup (not to mention music) was not shameful. Still, there is something about this tune which I enjoy, and that defines me as a man who's threshold of shame/cheese is very low. I appear to have discovered the motherload of Italian gay disco cheese with this track (lots more to download here). Apparently she was married to some guy who was the lead singer of the beloved Italian band Pooh (presumably not as in "Winnie the") when she did the movie Delitto sull'autostrada. It's all part of the wide world of music we love.

Viola Valentino - Comprami

Fortunately, the Dalston Oxfam tape bins also give up good quality stuff. Here are some selections from a tape of Indian film music from the 50's and early 60's. Ironically, I selected the tracks I wanted to record and only realized afterwards that all the tracks I liked had Lata Mangeshkar (लता मंगेशकर) in them, or her sister Asha Bhosle.

I really don't know much about Indian film music of that time but apparently Lata is a super star, having in 1974 secured the Guiness Book of World Records award for most songs sung and also receiving in 2007 a Knight of the Legion d'honneur award in France. She really does have a beautiful voice and I'm sure the comments will enlighten me much more about her.

Side A
1953. Tu Ganga Ki Mauj - Mohd. Rafi
1954. Jayen To Jayen Kahaan - Talat Mehmood
1955. Man Dole - Lata Mangeshkar
1955. Jaadugar Saiyaan - Lata Mangeshkar
1956. Aaja Sanam - Lata Mangeshkar, Manna Dey
1957. Uden Jab Jab Zulfen - Asha Bhosle, Mohammad Rafi
1957. Maang Ke Saath - Asha Bhosle, Mohammad Rafi

Side B
1958. Aaja Re Pardesi - Lata Mangeshkar
1959. Sab Kuchh Seekha - Mukesh
1960. Chaudhvin Ka Chand - Mohammad Rafi
1960. Ajeeb Dastan Hai Ye - Lata Mangeshkar
1961. Teri Pyari Pyari Surat - Mohammad Rafi
1961. Husn Wale Tera Jawaab Nahin - Mohammad Rafi
1962. Kahin Deep Jale Kahin Dil - Lata Mangeshkar
1962. Main Chali Main Chali - Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle

Guest Mixtape - 1993 house from Kevin McKay - Breastfed/Prestel records

We do guest mixtapes!! I plan on making this more of a regular feature and will try to get mixtapes made back in the day by musical luminaries. Kevin McKay contacted me to offer this house mix he did in 1993. Kevin is one of the founders of Breastfed records with Mylo, who put out all of the fantastic Mylo records. Kevin was also the man behind the Linus Loves project.

Now Kevin has started Prestel records and is putting out the Cobra Dukes and also involved with Dada Life.

On his own account he started off djing in glasgow at clubs like the sub club. "Glasgow was pretty much a rave/italian house centre filled with super-excited belgian beats and high-powered scottish rave. I was just looking for something more musical, funky & different and found it in the dj (ne jocks) magazine charts. and a dj called yogi based at raw records in glasgow." To be honest, super-excited belgian beats and high-powered scottish rave sounds pretty good to me ;) But I'm also from New York and have had plenty of the type of house on Kevin's tape in my life.

The tracks which are stand out to me are the Injection - Damn that Dj and Devastating - Wanna Be With You.

Kevin McKay - April '93 House Mix

And here is the Cobra Dukes. It is quite a good catchy synth-rock sound. Still needs a good remix I think (I'm not crazy about the ones I've heard).

Cobra Dukes - Leave the Light On (link removed)

Various German New Wave/Neue Deutsche Welle

I was at a friend's house recently late at a party and she put on some german new wave. The song she put on by the Spider Murphy Gang, "Skandal im Sperrbezirk", reminded me why I always am drawn back to the genre. The problem is that for many Germans talking about NDW artists is like us and Blondie - they don't talk about it because it's so well known. And yet for us foreigners diving in the mix can be somewhat lame and daunting to figure out. So I have been trying to go through more NDW in the last few weeks to find more tunes, partly because I've found that a good NDW tune can make the crowd go crazy on the dancefloor - like discovering an unknown Blondie hit.

The first tune is probably my favorite right now.

Spider Murphy Gang - Skandal im Sperrbezirk


This next track is one of the seminal tracks on the self-titled album by Rheingold. It's not quite a dance-able, but it builds and has a great sound.

Rheingold - Dreiklangsdimensionen


The next 2 tracks are ones which I actually found myself. They don't appear normally on the NDW compilations but I pulled them from some of my NDW records and think they are catchy enough to be included.

Prima Klima - Woll'n Wir Zu Dir Gehn


Spliff - Computer Sind Doof


The following are some additional tunes which I like which are quite commonly mentioned.

Hubert Kah - Sternenhimmel


Geier Sturzflug - Bruttosozialprodukt


The following are very rare NDW which have that kind of raw early electronic quality which I love. These are BEGGING to be remixed. These come to me thanks of the the WFMU blog here which features the whole very rare LP "Kassettentäter".

Georgie D - Die Kunst wird mal durch Abschlachten gross
Ewig + 3 Tage - Keine Angst vor '84
Co-Mix - Irrwitz

Finally, I feature a tune taken from the motherload of NDW, Brotbeutel, where you can go to really discover NDW with lots of rare stuff. This is the very first release of Ideal, which was also one of the big NDW stars.

Ideal - Wir Stehn auf Berlin

Manifesto again - Afro Rave!

It's time for another african party. And we are excited about this because it seems there is a growing interest in african rhythms. Bands like Vampire Weekend and Congopunq are bringing fresh interpretations to the old rhythms and Radioclit is putting african rhythms into a lot of their mixes ((listen to their Nelly Ti Picou if you want to know what I'm talking about) . Plus people are getting tired of the same music all the time and so much african music is inaccessible or hard to find so it really is something new. I will be djing my collection and delivering you a monthly cocktail of real live bands and djs. This week we have the 8 member Zong Zing Allstars - check them out here - in a posh members club in Mayfair. If you're in London come by. If you're not, and you want to be involved in next month's party, e-mail me.

See, even Bjork agrees that it's time for Africa.



And for all you mp3 seekers, I have been gifted by a party mix by one of London's hot new bands, The Cleft Palettes which I'm posting because they have at least one african animal in their graphics :) Check their myspace for some great tunes.



The Cleft Palettes - Gravetendo party mix

(track listing - snippets of ;))

Baile Intro
D.E.E.T - Best Fwends
Don't Fear the Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult
Danca Da Ventuinha by Bonde Do Role
Dolls by Crystal Castles
South of Heaven by Slayer
Babylon Burner by Roll Deep (Breeze 16bar)
XR2 by M.I.A
Searchin' for my Rizla by Rat Pack
Eastenders by We Smoke Fags
Stand Up Sonic by The Cleft Palettes
Super Mario - Level 1
Dust Off Ya Classix by Goldielocks
Club Action by Yo Majesty
Pussyhole by Dizzee Rascal

Cold Sweat - 1992 pop club hits

I will not deny it. This is some of my favorite music. I remember when some of this first came out and I just think it's some of the best music to dance to. Totally reminds me of New York. To some it may be overplayed, but oh well.

Trivia: Clivillés & Cole are C+C Music Factory, and are both Americans. It's a Fine Day was a cover of the song by the same name, a beautiful mellow folky number, by Jane and Barton released on Cherry Red records. Cameron Saunders, who was part of one hit wonder New Atlantic is now part of the quite good The Young Punx, who do mashup style stuff (sample it here) and will be playing at Glastonbury.

But face it, Side 2 is much cooler than Side 1. My favorite on this whole cassette is the No Fortuna. But the Orbital - Chime track is also very good. It appears there is almost no information about the No Fortuna - Traumatic Stress band or Miss Fortuna, but it looks like this track featured almost only in this compilation. The sample used in the track is "O Fortuna" from Carmina Burana which first came to life musically from Carl Orff in the mid-30's and has been HEAVILY used in various pop culture as you can see here, including 6 different rave-era songs (such as the more famous Apotheosis track in my blog here), the movie Excalibur, the band Ministry, the evil puppy on the Conan O'Brien show, Ozzy Ozbourne, as warm up for numerous sport events, including the Norwegian football team Lillestrøm, and in the opening of the movie Jackass. A special treat goes to anyone who sends me the new Trans-Siberian Orchestra version of the song.

A1 Clivillés & Cole      A Deeper Love (Radio Version)
A2 Love Decade      I Feel You (Naked Club Mix)
A3 Digital Orgasm      Startouchers (Edit)
A4 Opus III      It's A Fine Day (Edit)
A5 Shawn Christopher    Don't Lose The Magic (7" Morales Mix)
  Mixed By - David Morales
A6 New Atlantic      I Know (Love Decade Remix 7" Edit)
  Remix - Love Decade
A7 The Pasadenas      I'm Doing Fine Now
A8 Sounds Of Blackness    Optimistic
A9 Ultra Naté      Rejoicing (Turn Up The Radio Mix)
   Producer - Basement Boys, The
A10 Kym Sims      Too Blind To See It (Hurley's 'No Rap' House Mix)
   Mixed By - Steve "Silk" Hurley 

B1 Altern 8    Evapor 8 (Inciner 8 Mix)
B2 Toxic Two    Rave Generator (Radio Edit)
B3 Zero B     Lock Up (Edit)
B4 R.A.F.     We Got To Live Together (Club Mix 7" Edit)
B5 Traumatic Stress    No Fortuna
   Featuring - Miss Fortuna
B6 Orbital     Chime (Ray Keith Mutation)
   Remix - Ray Keith
B7 Isotonik    Different Strokes (Edit)
B8 Sunscreem    Pressure
B9 Mr. Fingers    Closer
   Mixed By - Frankie Foncett
B10 Alison Limerick    Make It On My Own (7" Flying Rule Book Edit)
   Remix - Steve Anderson

Plus, Matthew Wowow sent me this lovely remix of It's a fine Day.

African faves for the new raves

Do you feel like all the parties have a similar flavor . . . more electro, booty, indie, disco, grime chase the new tune, blah blah blah. Well here's your chance to try something genuinely new.

If you live in London I am launching tonight a new African music night for the hipsters :) It's not a world music party with tivas and jeans. It's about live music and djs playing stuff you've never heard for people who love the sounds and fashion of Africa in a posh venue in Mayfair. Launch party tonight and monthly gigs thereafter.

Manifesto - Burlington Club - 12 New Burlington Street
24 April 2007
9 pm to late - live band at 10 pm.

Sample the sounds of tonight here:

Maitre Gazonga - Les Jaloux Saboteurs

Secret Tracks 2 - 1994 comp

This comp was given to me by my friend James Price who is my friend because he's very funny and a nice guy, but who is also the hot new vid director. Damn, he's directed the good new songs from Simian Mobile Disco, Shit Disco and Lost Penguin (playing at Durrr on Monday, by the way). So he knew that his E27 postcode East London zone was where the good cassettes were from so he got me . . . a 1994 comp with Oasis on it. Yeah, that's some rare shit;)

Anyway, so truth be said this is one of the eras and genres of music that I know the least about. I was not into this music when it first came out. But I do like the Lush track and I know that Primal Screen, Aphex Twin and The Dust Brothers (aka Chemical Brothers) are marquee names. Enjoy.

A1 Primal Scream Don't Fight It, Feel It (Alive in Tokyo)
A2 Frank Black Freedom Rock
A3 The Boo Radleys Lazarus (Saint Etienne Remix)
A4 Echobelly Father, Ruler, King, Computer
A5 Ride Let's Get Lost
A6 Idha I'm Losing More Than I'll Ever Have
A7 Aphex Twin Phlid

B1 Saint Etienne Like A Motorway (Chekhov Warp Vocal Mix)
Remix - The Dust Brothers
B2 Kristin Hersh The Key
B3 Oasis Fade Away
B4 One Dove Transient Truth (Original Version)
B5 Velvet Crush This Life Is Killing Me
B6 Lush The Childcatcher
B7 Lisa Germano Energy

Plus something new. Now that I'm a big blogger man, this band sent me some of their songs. I know nothing about Sir Salvatore other than that their songs are catchy in a Strokes kind of way. But now and then you need a good fun tune to listen to. Their myspace says they do Zouk Zouk Zouk. If only . . .

But only in London
is a pop man
often a contrarian.

Sir Salvatore - Hooray This Projector

1989 Personal mixtape from Prague

I went to Prague a few weekends ago and found a few hilarious cassettes in the flea market. Most of them were so horribly bad that they didn't meet the admittedly low standards of this blog. But I found this one at least mildly amusing. Unfortunately, the quality of the cassette was so poor that I couldn't record and post. Instead, I have done you the favor of finding good quality versions of some of the lesser known songs. Should be popular with fans of SAW (Stock Aitken and Waterman) songwriting. Most of the rest of the songs are surely part of your personal library already.

Especially for you - Kylie and Jason

Automatic Lover - Dee D. Jackson

Good Life - Inner City

Macho Macho - Rainhard Fendrich

Be My Lady - Vanessa

Josephine - Chris Rea

Nuit De Folie - Debut de Soire

Four Letter Word - Kim Wilde

Biorhythm 2 - early house/techno album

Visiting my good friends Vicky and Darren (who often dj with me at my party at Catch 22 in London every Wednesday) over the weekend and always amazed at their deep knowledge of especially certain pockets of music from the early 90's. Darren volunteered a cassette that has genuine critical cred instead of something that I happen upon in the Dalston Oxfam Shop bin (there are a few Celine Dion and M People cassettes in case anyone is looking for them). Hence, Biorhythm 2. Lots of august names on here. For those of you who don't know, Model 500 is techno legend Juan Atkins, Energise is Dave "Joey Negro" Lee, Nexus 21 is Mark Archer and Chris Peat, also known as legendary nu-ly cool again rave-sters Altern 8 and finally, Rhythim is Rhythim is none other than Derrick May. So this is quite a cassette. And what does all this go to show? . . . I can do wonders with discogs ;)

A1 Rhythmatic   Frequency (Depth Mix)
A2 Fade To Black  The Calling
A3 Energize*    Report To The Dancefloor (Electro Mix)
A4 Heychild    Heychild's Theme
A5 Rhythim Is Rhythim  Drama
A6 Psyche    From Beyond

B1 Model 500    Info World
B2 Nexus 21     Together
B3 XON     Dissonance
B4 Constant Ritual   Hard Way To Come
B5 Suburban Knight   The Worlds
B6 C & M Connection   Flutes

I personally am preferring this sound below right now (one of my current fave rave tracks). But I know that if I listen to the stuff on Biorhythm 2 enough it will seep in.

Bass Selective - Blow Out (part 2)

Durrr set - podcast

On Monday the 19th of February, I played dj before and after the Joakim show at Durrr. Durrr is the new party which replaced legendary Trash and Chandra is the doyenne of the club. She continues to bang together the slick lineup every week because she knows EVERYONE. You can download part of my set on the Durrr site here. You can see pictures of the club here. Definitely going to check out the Lost Penguins live show on 16 April. Kevin from Lost Penguin is playing down at my party at Catch this Wednesday. My Durr podcast set list is below:

Fourteen Days - Lex

I Love A Man In A Uniform (Yeah Yeah Yeahs Remix) - Gang Of Four

Kiss Kiss Kiss (Peaches Remix) - Yoko Ono

Let's call it off (jd twitch's optimo remix) - peter bjorn and john

Lovemachine - Supermax

Twilight Zone - Manhattan Transfer

Kamikaze Rock 'N' Roll - Rettore

That's Good (extended Disconet edit) - Devo

Reactor's Party - Shitdisco

Guten Tag/Die Reklamation (Selbstverwirklichungsremix) - Wir Sind Helden

Drop the phone - Shy Child

I Feel Love - Klaus Nomi

After Dark (Diplo Remix) - Le Tigre

El Manana (Metronomy Remix) - Gorillaz

Bolton Wanderer - Planningtorock

Boi Da Cara Breta - Stereotyp

http://www.myspace.com/durrrclub

NME's Mad Mix II - 1983 cassette comp

When I walked into the Dalston Oxfam Shop on Sunday, sitting on the lip of the tape bin was a much sought after cassette compilation given out free with the NME in 1983, and it's in excellent condition. It's almost like someone left it there for me ;) Some really good tracks on here. I had never heard the Frank Chickens track Shellfish Bamboo, and the Pussy X and Associates tracks are also very good. Plus, The New Black Montana track is a good poppy african number - unfortunately no info exists about them on the Internet.

The Frank Chickens appear to be an interesting japanese/anglo band that had that Japanese performance art/social commentary aura. This track must be rare because it's not listed as a pop hit, maybe as hard to find as . . . hen's teeth ;) Pics below - love the album cover.



Side A

1. James Brown - Bring It On
2. Aretha Franklin - Get It Right
3. The Eurythmics - Satellite Of Love
4. Sandii & The Sunsetz with David Sylvian - Living On The front Line
5. Frank Chickens - Shellfish Bamboo
6. Kas Product - Pussy X
7. The Kane Gang - Small Town Creed
8. NYC Peech Boys - Don't Make Me Wait
9. The New Black Montana - Magumede
10. Yellowman - Who Can Make The Dance Ram

Side B

1. U2 - Two Hearts Beat As One
2. You've Got Foetus On Your Breath - Halo Flamin' Lead
3. Xmal Deutschland - Sehnsucht
4. The Associates - Agressive And Ninety Pounds
5. Bonsai Forest - The Great Escape
6. Prefab Sprout - Lions In My Own Garden
7. The Special AKA - Lonely Crowd
8. JoBoxers - Crime Of Passion
9. JBs All Stars - One Minute Every Hour
10. Cabaret Voltaire - Why Kill Time
11. The Style Council - Party Chambers
12. Tom Waits - Frank's Wild Years

Dalston Oxam Shop at Durrr tonight

I will be djing tonight at the incredible new party Durrr in London. Joakim will be playing live with his new band. Come down and check it out.

Details here: Durrr Club every Monday Night.

Rave Tape - Mickey Finn 1992

Once again, a rave tape which I cannot identify - a gift found in the bin by my friend Matthew. It says Mickey Finn 1992 on it, but no idea what this really is. Hopefully someone will identify it for me as they did the Dj Randall tape in my previous post. I only recorded one side here because the other side wasn't so great and seemed to be from another dj. I will try to rip some tracks from this as I have time.


Rave mixtape 1992 - Mickey Finn (slower, more reliable link)


Click on the picture above to see my pictures from the first birthday of the All You Can Eat Rave :)

Make 'Em Mokum Crazy - gabba showtunes

Discovered this in some cds a friend sent and it's too hilarious to not post. There is something about this which I find highly amusing and even enjoyable when played for a brief period of time or in a set of other great tunes. This is probably on the edge of Gabba. But I know you will think I've lost the plot. Listen and complain :)


1 Technohead I Wanna Be A Hippy (3:17)
2 Technohead Headsex (Mobile Mecca Mix) (5:08)
3 Party Animals Hava Naquila (3:46)
4 Party Animals Wapperdewap (1:37)
5 Milk Bar Friday Night Can Kill Ya (4:17)
6 Technohead I Wanna Be A Hippy (Ilsa Gold Mix) (5:22)
7 Party Animals Aquarius (3:13)
8 Back 2 Bass I Wanna Be With You (3:39)
9 Soap (2) Happy Tunes (3:31)
10 Party Animals Have You Ever Been Mellow? (3:05)
11 Technohead Happy Birthday (Timitico's Party Blast) (5:11)
12 Search & Destroy Deep In The Underground (3:34)
13 Wildchild (3) All Together (3:25)
14 Zieke House Loose Fragments (0:18)
15 Back 2 Bass I Wanna Be With You (Spoetnik Mix) (5:43)
16 DJ X-Play Dreams (5:43)

Rave Tapes - Dj Randall 1991-1992

Proper RAVE!! Not new rave, not new electro sampling rave. This is proper real old school rave. The promising art star Matthew Stone, part of the art collective Wowow, rescued a bunch of private rave tapes made between 91-95 from a thrift store dump and gave them to me. So upcoming will be the ones I like. Some Mickey Finn, some other weird stuff.

When I first posted this, I did not know much about this cassette. But the lovely Kevin from dilate choonz blog enlightened me on Dj Randall and this cassette. Turns out this is the cassette, "Yaman Studio Mix 2", made in 1992. Apparently DJ Randall is more of a drum and bass dj now. Here's the track listing and cover.



Side A

01 ??
02 Bass Balistics - Fantasy
03 Hedgehog Affair - Parameters
04 Krispy Krouton - Beef & Tomato
05 Bodysnatch - Hey I Cant Explain It
06 Skeleton Krew - Luv To Luv Ya
07 Doc Scott - NHS ( Heavyweight Remix)
08 No Control - I Know I'm Rushing (original mix)
09 Terra Incognita - Phalanx
10 Tek 9 - Just a dream : Part 2 (Manix Remix)
11 Kaotic Kemistry - LSD
12 Andy C - Outer Limits

Side B

01 Lemon D - Kinetic State
02 Hypno-Genesis - Take Control (Jungled Up To F**k Mix)
03 TrueBlood - Roots & Culture
04 Waxdoctor - New Direction
05 Metalheadz - Sinistery
06 3 Thieves & A Liar
07 The Moog - Jungle Muffin (Mickey Finn Remix)
08 Force Mass Motion - Collision Course
09 Bad Influence - Sudden Impact 10 3 Rude Bwoy - Rude Bwoy Rambo (Roast Gun Mix)

Unfortunately I was not listening to this music around that time. To me now it sounds like nothing else, fresh and fantastic. I think the reason I like this is that it has jungle beats, but also lots of synth sounds that are almost like happy house from that time. Unfortunately, this cassette is not as good quality of a recording as some other posts on this blog.

I especially love the synths on side 2 at the beginning and at 19:42 mark.

I think this is Dj Randall's myspace page.

Dj Randall - side 2 (this was erroneously labelled as Side 1)
Dj Randall - side 2 (speedyshare link)

Dj Randall - side 1 (this was erroneously labelled as Side 2)
Dj Randall - side 1 (speedyshare link)

I plan to rip out some of the clips from this mix that I think stand out. Here's the first track from side 2.

Hypno-Genesis - Take Control (Jungled Up To F**k Mix)

Kazzabe - Garifuna Punta music from Honduras

So I was gone on vacation for 3 weeks and meanwhile got props in One Week to Live and Timeout London about my blog and there it sat for about a month with no posts. I have been busy having fun, so too bad. But lots of posts coming up, including a bag of lovely old private rave mixes that the Pied Piper of Wowow-ness gave me.

About 3 weeks ago now, I was on the beaches of North Honduras, enjoying the New Year with my relatives who are saving the world, but who also go to bed at 8 pm with their kids. So girlfriend and I decided to walk down the beach in the evening to the local village to see what was going on and we were blessed with one of the experiences like christmas at the trailer park, something you dream about for a long time, and then it surprises you when you don't expect and it's everything you hoped for. We waded a little river and walked up the beach to a little wooden shack in the dark with beer being sold for less than a pound and a huge loud soundsystem, a dirt floor and no doors. About 25 people were milling about from grandmas to kids doing some kind of odd side to side hip dance called the Punta. And it was just like winter London dream of hot weather in the twilight, with loud pumping tropical sounds you don't know, on the beach with friendly people and cheap beer.

They were playing the latest album from Kazzabe, a local garifuna band. The Garifuna are mostly black Hondurans and you can read more about the music in english and french here. I'm not super crazy about samba music, which this seemed to remind me of. But like Baile Funk, when played really loud it sounded good. And with the constant search for new musical influences in pop/dance music I thought it good to bring a little Punta to the blogs. The tracks posted are the ones I like best.

Track 2 - Gurinbiuwa
Track 3 - Africa
Track 5 - Keymon Liyumonduna