mystery cassette - Tanzania gospel music

Well I was really looking forward to this cassette but when I played the songs I realized that it must have been accidentally switched by the cassette stand seller cause the Swahili lyrics don't match the song titles. THE SONGS BELOW ARE NOT THE CASSETTE COVER ABOVE. It sounds like some kind of Tanzania christian music and the cassette has no indication of its title. Still, the music is great and kind of dancey, so if anyone can identify it for me that would be great.

It looks like the Mandela Theatre Troupe were some kind of educational group in Tanzania trying to use music to educate. There is only one reference I could find to this cassette and it is in the Doran Ross collection of Taarab cassettes from Zanzibar. Doran Ross appears to be some luminary from UCLA and the list of cassettes looks like a very comprehensive resource of what might exist in the genre. I will be posting a few of these in the days to come.

Most of Side A was corrupted sound, but I managed to rescue this track for its great male vocal stylings. And Side B is fresh - particularly B3.

Track A4

Track B1

Track B2

Track B3
(listen below - this track is so great)


Track B4

Track B5

Track B6

Download all tracks in rar file. (Sharebee)

Mbaraka Mwinshehe - Tanzanian classic

I just returned to London from a month travelling with my girlfriend in Tanzania. I grew up in Arusha, so it was a chance to go back home and check things out. One of the great pleasures was listening to the great east african sounds blaring out of sound systems in roadside shops and little tinny sounding radios everwhere I went. I managed to pick up about 40 cassettes and a few cds, many from artists whose music doesn't seem to appear anywhere on the web. So I am going to try to do a blitz of the better stuff I got for the next few weeks and then return to my regular programming.

First of all I want to add that there are others much more knowledgeable than me about this kind of music, and others who write about it all the time. Awesome Tapes from Africa covers nothing but african tapes, but it does seem to be mostly west african. He has nothing on Tanzania from what I can tell, though there are some gems from Kenya here. I find that I do usually prefer the instrumental sound from east africa (kenya, Tanzania, and sometimes Zaire (now known as Congo)). This may however be partly because I understand Swahili and the lyrics. Steve Ntwiga's blog is the only one I have found that consistently covers east african music also, but I think he has more of a Kenyan bent. Benn Loxo du Taccu's blog is fantastic for covering lots of african music, but his east african coverage has been thinner. He has covered some Tanzanian stuff before though all links are now dead.

Most of the music I'm going to cover will be of the Taarab flavor or old dance band sound. Tanzania has been crazy about bongo flava for the last few years and some of it is quite nice. But in my view it's just an interesting variation of hip hop and rnb with Swahili lyrics and I'm not really into that sound right now. So I didn't really collect any. Taarab often sounds like a mix beween middle eastern/arab and tanzanian pop. But it varies and sometimes sound a lot more like traditional pop, like the sound on this cassette.

This first cassette I'm featuring is of Mbaraka Mwinshehe who is one of the classics of east african music. His track Shida can still be heards playing out of bars/sound systems all over the country. I had not had a chance to play the cassettes much when I was in Tanzania. But one day we were travelling from Tanga in the north down a really bad dirt road to Pangani (which I highly recommend as an unspoilt beach spot). The driver was playing his Bongo Flava so I asked him if he would mind trying one of my cassettes. We popped this in and when Shida came on he suddenly laughed and started to sing along. I also love the authentication stamp, with signature, on the back of the cover (click on it for a better image).

[I've tried to provide swahili translations of song titles to the best of my capacity.]

Side A

Shida Part 1 & Part 2 (Problems - part 1 and 2) "Problems"
(listen below)


Nisalimie Wanazaire "Greetings to the Zaire people"

Mapenzi Yanitesa "My Lovers are Bothering Me"

Side B

Choyo Uache "Don't be Petty" (cassette cover says this is the song, but not sure)

Tutakuja Gombana "We will Start to Argue"

Dr. Kleruu "Dr. Kleruu"

Esta Wangu "My Esther" (cassette cover says this is the song, but not sure)

Download the complete album here (Sharebee).

A.E. Bizottság - Kalandra Fel!! Hungarian post-punk

Sorry there has been a bit of a delay in the blogging. I am travelling for a month in Tanzania and Zanzibar, in east africa, so the Internet has not been foremost on my thoughts. Hopefully, I will find some excellent Taraab and Swahili music while here however and post one or two things up before February.

I don't know much about this cassette other than that I think it was part of a rock/post-punk movement in Hungary in the early 80s. I bought a whole bunch of Hungarian cassettes, including some from Beatrice (sp?) from someone at a small car boot sale behind the Dalston train station. Excellent! Some of this is really quite good stuff - I was surprised. Hopefully I will find a chance soon to upload the second half. Check out in particular the track Linaj, Linaj, Van-Van-Van.

Tracklisting:

A1		Köszöntő [Address/Invitation]
A2		Putty-Putty
A3		Brutális [Brutal]
A4		Konyhagyeplő [Kitchen Rein]
		Guitar [Solo] - Y. Sándor Bernáth*
A5		Linaj, Linaj, Van-Van-Van [Linay, Linay, Van-Van-Van]
A6		Ne Nagyon Gesztikulálj [Don't Gesticulate So Much]
A7		Vaniliaálomkex [Vanilia-Dream-Biscuit]
A8		Bestia [Beast]
A9		Versike [Rhyme]
A10		Na Ne Hülyéskedj [Stop Kidding]
B1		Egy Lány Kéne Nekem [I'd Need A Girl]
B2		Már Megint Ez A Depresszió [Depression Back Again]
B3		Nem Bírom A Gyűrődést [Pooped Out]
B4		Mindez Én Vagyok [All That Is Me]
B5		Kamikáze
B6		Szerelem, Szerelem [Love, Love]

SUPER SUPER magazine mix

I wrote an essay for this months issue of Super Super fashion magazine (available in select stores, of course). My concept was a discussion of art/music completed by an essay using a sequence of sentences each of which were lifted from a blog. Then I did a mix which was a tune taken from the same blogs in the same order as each sentence in the essay. So essentially it was an experiment in a mix being selected by the meaning of words. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But what "works" is subjective and the point of the essay.

Download or listen


here is the tracklist and the blog they are taken from in sequence.

http://darksynthesia.blogspot.com/        The 4-08 To Paris - Berlin Express
http://robartopoland.blogspot.com/        Nothing to Lose - Rendezvous
http://babakazoo.blogspot.com/        Arcadia - Goodbye is Forever
http://dollarbinjamsonline.blogspot.com/        Peter Dragontail – Perfect Machine
http://discoidterrorist.blogspot.com/        Karen Young - Deetour
http://titisse.blogspot.com/        Regrets - Je Ne Veux Pas Rentrer Chez Moi Seule
http://blog.datasapiens.net/        Snap! - Rhythm Is A Dancer (Tom Novy Remix)
http://supertroels.dk/wp/        Boom Clap Bachelors - Fylde Dig Med Regn
http://www.ohhcrapp.net/        Klaxons - Gravitys Rainbow (Todd Edwards Remix)
http://www.roboboogie.blogspot.com/        PNAU - Embrace (Miami Horror and Fred Falke rmx)
http://www.discobelle.net/        Diplo - Blow Your Head (DJ Eli remix)
http://twankleandglisten.blogspot.com        MC J' Ro 'J - Let's Jump
http://www.unkut.com/        Eric B. & Rakim - Follow The Leader
http://awesometapesfromafrica.blogspot.com/        Maurice Maiga and Amore Cultural Group - Mugun Fata
http://funky16corners.wordpress.com        The Pioneers - Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone
http://nurse-marbles.livejournal.com/        Francoise Hardy - La Maison Ou J'ai Grandi
http://blog.wfmu.org        Rainbow Arabia - Let Them Dance
http://www.unicornmeat.com/        Great Motion Picture Themes From Jean Harlow Films
http://brotbeutel.blogspot.com/        D.U.R. - Bericht aus der Beamtenkultur
http://thethingonthedoorstep.blogspot.com/        Tequila Mariachi - Confidencia
http://keytarsandviolins.blogspot.com/        Maxence Cyrin - D.A.N.C.E.

80's groove!

Key kids. I don't normally talk about every dj gig I do on the blog here, but tomorrow night (that's Wednesday 19 November) I'm doing a special set of 80's groove music at ISA GT's party Musicalia. It's free and in the middle of Shoreditch at a venue with a great sound system - and you need a great sound system for 80's groove. In case you don't know, 80s groove is pretty much the only sound that is just not getting played out much these days. People will play all kinds of indie rock, electro/techno/house, even disco and sometimes hip hop or old school stuff. But I almost never hear the stuff like below. But I love this stuff and you need to check it out. I have a huge collection of it.

Mangray compilation tapes

Mangrey is one of those kind of guys that, if you see him at a cocktail party, you will just feel you need to find out who he is. But I don't want to give you a visual image of what he is like, striking as that is, because I want you to imagine him. Someone I met at an east london fashion studio, not too young, not too old, but who you can know only through these tapes.

I first met him at a party at the Boudicca fashion label's studio and was told that he did magical mixtapes. And when I first started doing this blog I thought I would be posting lots of nuggets of personal confession, mixtapes done with a lover in mind or a theme, a slice in time perhaps. Unfortunately the Oxfam shops have a policy not to sell privately made mixtapes, so I've been mostly posting commercial releases.

Mangray had made a bunch of themed mixtapes for Zowie and Brian of Boudicca and they lent a few to me. Then I got to know Mangray's lovely personality myself and he offered to lend me copies of the original artwork for the tapes.

Maybe some day you will met Mangray. If you do, ask him what the mixtape theme of the day is. In the meantime, listen and enjoy.



We Are Normal

tracklisting - Side 1:

Orson Welles - intro
The Steve Miller Band - Space Intro/Fly Like and Eagle
The Stills Young Band - Fountainebleau
The Allman Brothers - Please Call Home
Joss Stone - Right to be Wrong
Roger Daltrey - Giving it all away
Neil Young - Old Man
Free - Travellin in Style
Doobie Brothers - Long Train Runnin'
The Stills Young Band - Make Love to You
Barclay James Harvest - Mocking Bird
Crosby and Nash - Samurai

tracklisting - Side 2:
Van der Graaf Generator - A Plague of Lighthousekeepers
The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band - We Are Normal
The Beautiful People - The Sea
Brain Auger and Julie Driscoll - Take Me Down to the River
Peter Gabriel - Here Comes the Hood
Nick Drake - Riverman
Alison Krauss - Down to the River to Pray (edit)


side 1
http://sharebee.com/450c2f39

side 2
http://sharebee.com/ea31cd0d

Mangray also gave me a Beautiful People cassette, but I prefer not to post complete cassettes that have been posted elsewhere. Still the artwork he did is amazing (above) and the music is really great (I didn't know them) - early 90s sort of loopy/synthy kind of dancey trippy stuff, with Hendrix samples. Check it out here. I also have one more with amazing music on it but I'm waiting for artwork from Mangray.

I encourage you to check out Boudicca if you are not familiar with them. As Showstudio says, Boudicca is the thinking woman's favorite label. Yeah, and their clothes fit. Seriously, they have brilliant ideas and are really nice people, but more than anything, their clothes fit really well and are really well made. I love clothes and I've discovered that the magic to an amazing designer whose reputation lasts is that their stuff fits really well. I've seen their stuff transform more than one woman trying things on in their studio. Amazing. Also, check out their Wode perfume they've just made. It's not that expensive and does this amazing thing that when you spray it on, it's blue, like paint, and then within about 20 seconds it fades completely. So you can spray it on a really expensive piece of clothing and freak the person out that you've just ruined their outfit, only to discover while they're getting mad at you that it's all gone and they're left smelling all spicy and wonderful. Class gift for christmas. I already bought some. Check out one of their catwalk shows I like here.

djing at Timeout gig with Drums of Death

I have been invited by Timeout to join them in this new series of On The Up parties they are doing. This one features a number of up and coming artists which are really good and in particular Drums of Death is getting a lot of great hype. He played last nigh at Durrr and word is that the live gig is amazing and it's hard to capture the show in the tracks of his you can download. Anyway, his tracks are stand out. Check out his latest release Dodf**ksupanescorttune on the Keytars and Violins blog here and his remix of Late of the Pier's Bathroom Gurgle (one of last year's biggest tracks) on Discobelle. He is up for awards as breakthrough producer of the year at Dj Mag and you can tell by the diversity of these two tracks (the first is like an 80s groove remix and the second is bassline) that he is a new one to watch.

I am also a big fan of Ipso Facto and they are sure to draw a great crowd and looking forward to hearing their dj choices. I am playing the late set so you can be sure it will be just like all my freaky sets at Catch and elswhere - lots of tunes meant to first make you go "What the F*"£*K?" and then go "Uh Oh, my knees feel weak".

More details on the party and tickets here.

Manifesto - Cape Verde mini Film Festival

As you may have noticed I have been involved with an african music party called Manifesto for the last few years. The party is currently on hold while we look for a good venue but in the meantime Alberto (who I do the party with) has organized a mini film festival this coming weekend. Details are in the flower above (click on the photo for a larger image). Hope to see you there!

various 1990 dance RnB/freestyle from Honolulu

This summer my girlfriend and I had a day layover in Honolulu coming back from vacation. So, as usual, instead of visiting all the local tourist spots, we immediately headed over to the thrift store (charity shop, as they say here in the UK) on the wrong side of town. I managed to pick up a vintage Matsuda men's jackets (sweet) and then we decided to walk back through the local cars-parked-on-cement-blocks hood to reach our hotel on the beach. On the way we lucked out with a random yard sale run by two sisters (who had a LOT of loving to give) selling their old school late 80s RnB dance tapes.

Late Nite Magic had only one track out according to discogs and I can't find any more info. The cover says it was produced in LA. But I can't really find much info about the artists or the remixers Rock Vee or Teddy and John Bolden.

Late Nite Magic - Huneez (Magic Radio Mix)
Late Nite Magic - Huneez (Magic Radio Mix - TV Track)




Again I can't really find much info about Sunni and she had only a few more tracks out that Late Nite Magic. She had a bit of a Paula Abdul moment on the fresh youtube dance moves. You can find some early 90s house remixes of this track here. But this track was produced by Chris Barbosa and Mark Liggett who were key producers in the Freestyle genre (wikipedia). Their track Fire and Ice was the original which Shannon covered to become the huge hit Let The Music Play.

Sunni - Why Did My Baby Get Over Me (12" mix)
Sunni - Why Did My Baby Get Over Me (single mix)


As for Seduction. I don't have to say much about them because they were produced by Robert Clivilles And David Cole of C+C Music Factory fame. This has some nice dance touches to it though the group never got very big.

Seduction - (You're My One And Only) True Love (Club Mix)



Finally we have this "funk rock" tape which is actually mostly what I would call "electro" - the real original electro, not the Benny Bennasi circa 2005 type. It's got a bunch of great tracks on it such as (Notin' serious) Just buggin', Boogie Down Bronx, Egyption Lover, Rockberry Jam, We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off and more. I think it's a recording of a radio show and lots of the tracks sound really good, maybe special radio mixes.

Honolulu yard sale "funk rock" electro tape.

more vintage The Face magazine fashion April 1986

I bought a bunch of The Face and I-D mags recently from the mid 80s and early 90s hoping to find yet more interesting fashion ideas (and music) in the never ending hunt for something inspiring which I haven't seen in the over infused mining of the past we got going on now. Surprisingly there have not been many fashion shoots that I have been gaga about. But this one from 1986 features more of the Ray Petri Buffalo style, more of which you can find here. Designers featured here include Gaultier, Michiko Koshino, Judy Blame, Byblos, Takeo Kikuchi and others. I will post a new cassette by the weekend.

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/LISTEN

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.

Debut Magazine Issue 5

Demob clothing store - Beak Street

Here we have another Debut magazine which I picked up on ebay at the request of a comment searching for the Olympic Smiles track. I previously posted Debut Issue 1 here.

I will try to put up more pages from the mag later but this issue had a nice fashion spread on the original Demob store which I have posted. Interesting coincidence (I just discovered this) is that the guy who did the Demob store was Chris Brick who is also the guy who opened the Smylonyon and later Centre for the Dull stores in New York in the mid-90s where the Smylonylon cassettes were sold (which I have featured heavily in this blog). I just discovered via Wikipedia that he opened those stores with his wife who performed as Linda Lamb who some of you may remember as an excellent electroclash era artist who did work with Vitalic and was in the group The Silures who had the fantastic 2003 track 21 Ghosts with The Silures.

A1 The Armoury Show           Is It A Wonder
A2 Hugh Masekela           Getting Fat In Africa
A3 King           Cherry
A4 The Church           The Unguarded Moment
A5 Fiction Factory           Panic

B1 Visage           Beat Boy (Special live Mix)
B2 Matt Bianco           Big Rosie
B3 Olympic Smiles           Something's Pushing Me
B4 A Flock Of Seagulls           Over My Head
B5 Sid Presley Experience           Hup Two Three Four
B6 Howard Jones           Change The Man

Check out the new disco mix I did at the Durrr party with Matthew Stone. It's not a rundown of the most rare or obscure italo and probably not the hottest sound in London, but it does represent the best quality of the more New York disco sound that was at the heart of what became hip hop, RnB and House, with the likes of Chaka Khan, The Trammps, Odyssey, Celi Bee, El Coco, Chic, etc. Plus there is an edit of rare Chi-Chi Favelas And The Black And White Band track that I did myself.

END OF SUMMER PARTIES!!

Below are listed upcoming parties at which I'm djing - lots of good stuff coming up in September also.

Friday - 29 August - People on Horses host a new party at 333 with Hannah Hanra (The PIX) and I am djing in a room with my fellow Come (the new smash hit secret Dalston Disco party) djs, Matthew Stone, Yasmin (Pandora's Jukebox) and Theo.

Click on flyer below:

Sunday - 31 August - Offset Festival!! Schedule

Unlike most festivals, this is the festival of the achingly edgy cool bands/djs/etc and it's in a forest at the end of the Central line tube! Virtually every hot new band that has played at Durrr, White Heat, the Old Blue Last, Hoxton Bar, Catch, etc., or has come up through the indie press, or new dj who has been doing a new party in London is playing at this festival. Most of all, the best band of the year Metronomy is playing on Sunday along with super rare italo band Black Devil Disco Club (more info here), Ipso Facto, Hatcham Social, the Wire, Gang of Four, XX Teens, No Bra. Girlcore are doing a tent and have asked me to dj in Drag along with all my dj friends, Radioclit, Matthew Stone, Jonjo, Theo, ISA GT - basically it's the gathering of the year. I will be there on Sunday and you can buy day tickets only. Get them here.

Click on flyer below:

Wednesday - 3 September - Pearl Flash

Moustache Bar is the new bar hosting a lot of fun parties in Dalston. I did a late 90s house music night there a few weeks ago and coming up on the 3rd I've roped in the new disco kids to do a party. I first saw Ben laying down an incredible set of italo type synth arpeggios at a warehouse party a year ago and since then he's been building his party portfolio doing parties in Dalston and Shoreditch. And since this will be disco-tinged, should be a fun party. For once the sound system in this bar is decent.


Click on flyer below:

The Face magazine May 1982

OK I have a fantastic new LP coming up for you on the blog, issue 5 of Debut magazine which I previously featured Issue 1 of.

But first I want to treat you to an early Face mag. As you can see there is a bit of a trend here - one of the only ways I can find excitement out of the soup of modern media, clowds of mp3s swirling around me from everyone with a laptop and constant media hype of cycles of designers coming and going with the latest colors and trends which increasingly seem to try to sell for the high street - is to look at media from another time and place. The Face was started in 1980 and covered both music, some politics, and fashion. It was a lot less fashion in the early 80s then it turned out to be by the time it closed a few years ago. Anyway - fantastic to read about these bands from a local London mag at the time they were starting off.

I will eventually put up the rest of the magazine but please note pages 11-12 which feature London fashion week coverage from 1982 with pictures from the Vivienne Westwood show and others. Note that as recently as 1982 London fashion week was being compared to Paris as "comic relief".

Diamanda Galas and Demob store.

Sandie Shaw, Scritti Polliti, Seething Wells, Attila the Stockbroker and The Clash.
Countryman (Island films), Konk, The Boat and Madness.

Yazoo, Vince Clarke, Depeche Mode.

World's End, Vivienne Westwood, Notre Dame X, Melissa Caplan, Swanky Modes, Zandra Rhodes, Steven Linnard, Individual Clothes Show.

And here's another pleasure from the past. Tomorrow night, Wednesday the 6th, I will be playing late 90s house music for Isa GT's new party Musicalia at the Moustache Bar in Dalston. I was listening to some of the stuff last night, proper disco house, and am really excited to bring it back out again. In many ways it just captures what I love in the disco wave going on now with a slightly harder beat to it. Are you Ultra Nate?!! Hope so.

Russian Pop tapes from Ukraine part 2.

This is the second tape in my monster Ukraine post which started with the trance comp here.

Just when you thought I was putting out some quality stuff on this blog, I take you back down again!! Having lots of conversations (arguments?) lately with people about taste and deciding how much it matters - seeing how many people evaluate where someone stands in their historical rise and fall of "coolness" of "commercial success" depending on their perceptions of taste. In that conversation I have realized that I am naturally drawn to things which are by definition usually considered not cool or popular - and that's sort of the defining quality of this blog. This is not to say that they have some inherent edgy good taste to them, I am just drawn to them because they are not popular generally. I am sure there is a couch session there somewhere. It's not like I can't perceive what is generally popular, or even popular in a crowd that is fairly hip, it's that I like to try the edges of what is cool - perhaps it makes me feel safe to know that I can test the edges without concern that I will eat myself or go too far and turn into this - something which even I would know has no cool harbor in sight.

So in 1997 this was the face of Russian pop I guess. My friend Dima helped me track down image and videos for lots of these artists. Dima is the hot sh*t in Moscow these days. You can check out his most recent mix for Moscow fashion mag Lam magazine here.

Some of these tracks I do really like, such as the Alla Pugacheva - I'll Come to the Water (honestly, I can't see how that song title matches the video), the Balagan Limited - Bahamas, mama! (which is a Russian cover of Boney M's Bahama Mama) and Alena Apina - Tuk Tuk. Not all the tracks on the cassette cover are on the cassette so I have numbered them as available. Enjoy.

Side A

01. А. Апина и М.Насыров - Лунные ночи - Alena Apina & Murat Nasirov - Moon nights
02. М. Леонидов - Видение - Max Leonidov - Vision (picture)
03. Т. Буланова - Серебристый тополь - Tanya Bulanova - Silver tree (picture)
04. К. Метов - Где-то далеко идут дожди - Kai Metov - its raining out there somewhere (picture)
05. А. Пугачева - А я в воду войду - Alla Pugacheva - I'll come to the water (officially biggest Russian star ever)

06. Русский размер и профессор Лебединский - Глазунья - Russki Razmer and Prof.Lebedinsky (picture) Apparently a pretty funny chav-rave band. Some vids and vids.
07. А. Горбачева - Танго - A. Gorbacheva - Tango
08. Демидыч - Гитара - Demidych - Guitar
10. В. Сюткин - Далеко - V. Syutkin - Far Away (picture)
11. А. Цой - Полет - A. Tsoi - Fly (wikipedia) According to Russian friends, he is kind of an underground hero and was a lead singer for the band KINO.
13. Ляпис Трубецкой - Ты кинула - Lyapis Trubetskoi - you left me. Most recent video.
14. Дюна - Воздушный змей - Duna - Vozdushny Zmei (picture)
Most interesting video.
15. Белый орел - Потому, что нельзя быть на свете красивой такой - White eagle - because you cant be so beautiful!

Side B
01. В. Меладзе - Самбо белого мотылька - V. Meladze - white butterfly's sambo (picture)
02. Л. Агутин и А.Варум - Королева - L.Agutin and A.Varum - Queen (picture)
03. Т. Буланова - Мой ненаглядный - T.Bulanova - My precious
04. Балаган Лимитед - Багамы, мама - Balagan Limited - Bahamas, mama! (picture) (cover of Boney M)

06. Рок-острова - Не любить не возможно - Rock - Islands - It is impossible not to love
07. Ф. Киркоров - Единственная - F. Kirkorov - Only One
08. М. Хлебникова - Чашка кофею - Marina Khlebnikova - Cup of Coffe
10. Shura - Отшумели летные дожди - Shura - summer rains (picture) this dude is a super camp freak.
12. М. Насыров - Туда-сюда - Murat Nasirov - Tuda - suda
13. А. Апина - Тук-тук - Alena Apina - Tuk Tuk
14. Несчастный случай - Что ты имела - Neschastny Sluchai - what you had in mind?
15. Клементия - Небесный пилигримм - Clementia - sky piligrim
16. Чиж и Ко. - Тучи над городом встали - CHizh & Co - Clouds over a city

COMING UP

This Friday Durrr is doing its first party in Paris and Metronomy is playing live. I was listening to the new Metronomy album last night and it is sooooo amazing - probably best album of the year so far. After listening to the whole album properly I think Radio Ladio and On the Motorway are my favorites. This is the band to see. And if you are in London Matthew Wowow/Stone and I will be playing a disco set this coming Monday at Durrr.

And next Friday the 18th is the 2nd of our "Come" parties - our secret Dalston party. The last one was just about my idea of a perfect party - fantastic sound system, great crowd and easy access in and out. Pictures here. If you don't know where it is, ask your friends.

Diesel U Music - African radio show

Last month Diesel U Music had a temporary radio station and I was invited to do 2 shows. The first was with Matthew Stone (Wowow) and we did trance/rave music. You can listen here.

This is the second one I did, which was a chance to show the music I usually play at the regular African parties we do, the Manifesto parties. Lots of music on here is stuff you won't find anywhere else and it's fantastic - from kuduro, coupe decale, funana and finally some older central african pop. Have a listen and enjoy.

Download (160 kpbs)/123 megabytes