Pagan Babies

I really have to warn you - the music on this tape is not even up to the low standards we maintain on this blog :) But I had to post this cassette cause it's sort of African music by a Hawaiian band recorded in Papua New Guinea which I bought in the Oxfam shop in Swansea, Wales. It was too much of a mix of weirdness and the cover makes me laugh. Most of the tracks sound like they were knocked out on a cheap kid's synth at a wedding reception. But the tracks Wasara and African Typic are not too bad for fun african party numbers.

The Pagan Babies of Hawaii, U.S.A.

a1 - Hat, Hat, Hat
a2 - Jungle Beat
a3 - Sebe Allah-ye
a4 - Fire in Belize
a5 - That's My Blood
a6 - Natives are Restless
b1 - Bidimbo
b2 - Could You Be Loved
b3 - Wasara
b4 - African Typic
b5 - Forget About You
b6 - Hot, Hot, Hot


I also want to talk about some new bands. We here at the Dalston Oxfam Shop blog are not content with rave rare cassette postings and hot dj gigs - we also WANT TO BOOK LIVE BANDS. Yeah. I was asked to book the dungeon room at the last People on Horses party and instead of just getting more djs, I thought it would be fun to turn it into some weird freaky band-fest. I had just seen Maria & the Mirrors play at Offset festival where I had been djing and my friend Hannah from The P.I.X. tipped me off to the hot new show put on by the FANTASTICALLY named An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump (named after a classic painting). Both of them had an great sort of raw rock/punk/tribal drumming thing going on with a theme of girl-bands-who-drum-standing-up.



Here's a track by An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump - Lights Out. They're 3 english girls, one of Nepalese descent and two filipino sisters. And they make really good RAW sounds. They've recently played with S.C.U.M., Pre and Selfish Cunt and are solidly booked for gigs as you can see on their myspace and are currently playing in Berlin. The youtube vid doesn't really capture the experience.




Maria & the Mirrors is probably a bit lesser known, but their live show has something which is like an avant-garde art/music wet dream. Two girls standing playing drums in sync like some east london aboriginal tribe reborn followed by seagull calls and screams interspersed with the electric bass/loop stylings of their male force with occasional rants from him as well. I couldn't find a good quality track as of this posting, but check out the hebrew symbolistic referential (to equinox) Tekufah on their myspace. Honestly, I have been telling people left and right to book them. The artist Martin Creed obviously agrees with me as they are playing with his band on the 14th Oct. at The Hub on Goulston Street (east london). Pic below is from Offset festival. Somehow at the gig they managed to pull a whole bunch of the Friday night 333 crowd downstairs because it was such a strange yet wonderful sight.

Finally I would like to draw attention to another musical project which is similar to the above in its sense of rejecting the whole "my this is a good vintage, a '98 Chateau Margaux red" with nose in the air approach to musical craftsmanship, favoring instead a sort of Lambrini and poppers freestylin in ye olde squat down the lane. Squallyoaks is the womb of much creativity in London, as it is the fairly inexpensive residence of Karley Sciortino and her mates. I don't know her mates very well, but Karley has been behind the fantastically written Slutever blog, the international slam dance girlcore, which along with other parties she has booked, has made Catch the hot spot again in Shoreditch. She also dates a mysterious, sweet and very talented indie chart star, has her own band Indie Boys Don't Boners, is a hottie, has been in French playboy (as an article, with her clothes on, duh) and was key to the success of my blog as she put me up in lists of good sh*t in like Dazed and such. And she probably still thinks she's not up to anything.

Well she and her fellow Squallyoak-ians decided to put together an album and actually there are some really good ideas on it. It's sort of keeping with the ideas over polish theme in this blog post. Not sure where you can get the cd, but message Karley. Do not assume that the other tracks are like this one.

Squallyoaks - Ridiculous

another Diesel Radio show - DISCO!

I got asked by Diesel U Music to do another live radio show last Saturday. This is a temporary radio station broadcasting live on 106.6 fm in Glasgow and on the Internet here. I felt because of the wave of disco crashing around me from this summer in London that I would try to feature some Doctorates of Disco so I got in Paolo of Tutto Matto and Super Disco Paolo as well as Dan Beaumont of the hit party Disco Bloodbath. They brought a few of their special records and we had a great time chatting. As a matter of fact that was the best part of the show - talking about their perceptions of disco's history and their current perception of music and the scene. Download link and tracklisting below.

DOWNLOAD (megaupload)

01. Forces - Cinnabar
02. Biscuit - Zoo Zoo
03. Cafe Society - Relight My Fire
04. Chaka Khan - Any Love
05. Boiling Point - Lets get Funktified part 1
06. Margie Alexander - Gotta Get a Hold on me
07. Brief Encounters - Rocking
08. New York Express - Hot On The Cue
09. Natures Divine - Natures Divine
10. Sunshine Megamix
11. Lola - Wax The Van (Kenny's Club Version)
12. Mott The Hoople - Bastard (Mountain Of One Edit)
13. Lama - Love on the Rocks
14. Karen Young - Deetour
15. Willie Colon - Set Fire To Me
16. Bunny Brown - Strawberry Letter 23
17. David Rubato- Cuircuit (Aeroplane remix)

In addition we have the following excitement coming up. On Friday I am hosting the basement room of the People On Horses party at 333 club in Shoreditch and we have the exciting bands of An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump and Maria & the Mirrors. I am quite excited about both of them. I saw Maria & the Mirrors when I was at Offset Festival and loved them and my friend Hanna of the P.I.X. magazine luckily put me on the trail of An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump. They have played recently with The Horrors and S.C.U.M. The bands have a them - both of them involve girls playing drums standing up. I'm big on themes because I think they show something - but it's for you and me to discuss what they show. I will also be djing as well as Suzanne of No Bra (and if you've never heard her dj, you're missing out).





And then on Saturday the 20th we have a our COME party again with Matthew Stone, Yasmine of Pandora's Jukebox and the lovely enigma Theo. No matter that I kept the location secret before, it still has turned into the hottest party of East London this summer. If you're on the scene, you probably know where it is, otherwise e-mail me.

Smylonylon 29

I figured it was time for another Smylonylon. On this one I think I generally prefer side B which has a bunch of fantastic tracks though some of them sound best for being sped up. Previous Smylonylon cassettes on this blog can be found here.

The Silicon Teens track (side B, track 2) is a band by the founder of Mute Records, Daniel Miller, and I have included a few of the tracks which I think are more interesting yet still rare. The Papathanassiou track which is actually Vangelis is actually correctly titled Needles & Bones from the Heaven & Hell lp. And I'm not sure what the Strangles - Paradise track is but it sounds fantastic. Also I managed to find a track called Richard Termini Project - Oh It's a Pop Song but can't find any more info about the band or the song. Also, would love to hear the original of the Sly Dunbar - East of the River Thames track - it's off of this LP Sly Dunbar Meets the Fire House Crew - The Other Side of Dub.

Side A - Download

1 - M - Transmission
2 - Francois Breant - Talmouse Ritual Dance
3 - Weather Report - River People
4 - Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Fire
5 - Nola - Stranger in a Strange Land
6 - Young Marble Giants - The Taxi
7 - DAF - Der Rauber & Der Prinz
8 - Shriekback - My Spine
9 - Tangerine Dream - Speed
10 - Fad Gadget - Coitus Interruptus
11 - Chilly - Have Some Fun Tonight
12 - Dillinger - Supercock
13 - Peter Jacques Band - Walking on Music
14 - Bohannon - But What is a Dream
15 - Fine Young Cannibals - Johnny
16 - Cars - A Dream Away
17 - Jah Wobble - Invaders of the Heart

Side B - Download

18 - Richard Termini - Oh It's a Pop Song
19 - Silicon Teens - State of Shock
20 - Yello - No More Roger
21 - Tangerine Dream - Midnight in Tula
22 - Gary Numan - Down In The Park
23 - Omega - Invitation
24 - Jane - Love Your Live
25 - Disco Kid - Roller Coaster
26 - Tremeloes - Good Time Band
27 - Devo - Satisfaction
28 - Lightblick - Intensivstation
29 - Mythos - mayday
30 - Ramases - Journey to the Inside
31 - Sandokan - Arrivo
32 - Beatles - Baby You're A Rich Man
33 - Papathanassiou (Vangelis) - Needles & Bones (this is only a segment of a longer song)
34 - Richard Harvey - Exchange
35 - Paul McCartney - Momma Miss America
36 - Sly Dunbar - East of the River Thames
37 - Can - All Gates Are Open
38 - D.R.U.M. - Lalabye
39 - Telex - Cliche
40 - Strangles - Paradise
41 - Jarre - Equinoxe 5
42 - Kraftwerk - Dentaku

On a separate note, let me just say that I saw Black Devil Disco Club and Metronomy last weekend at the Offset Festival and both are really deserving all the hype they get. Black Devil had a great sound like nothing you hear today. And Metronomy really are band of the year - every track just sucks you in with its quality and fantastic songwriting. I've said it before.