Amerikkka Off Line

So I get back home yesterday to find that my internet connection is down. BT and AOL between them have managed to completely fuck up my phone line, and I can't even use dial-up at the moment. Hopefully normal service will be resumed in the next couple of days. I have plenty of new stuff to share with y'all.
________________________

I've had several requests to provide an RSS or Atom feed of this blog..... now I have found out what this is, but I haven't managed to work out (exactly) how to provide it.

There is a file on my server called www.headphonesex.co.uk/atom.xml, which seems to update when I publish the blog. I'm not entirely sure how to access it to be honest. It doesn't seem to work in the browser window - however I suspect it might if you have some sort of Atom / RSS page set up. Please give it a go & let me know! My 'Site Feed Server Path' option is currently blank as i'm not sure what to put in there. If there are problems that may be the reason.

Sorry for the technical retardedness. Together we can overcome this terrible affliction.

Cooler than TV

I couldn't go away without mentioning Willy Mason.

This normally is not my kind of shit in the slightest, however i've been unable to get 'Oxygen' out of my head this last week. It's as infectous as SARS and as sweet as a crispy creme donut.

You have no doubt heard the song - it's in the charts and all over the radio - and he's being hailed as some kinda new Dylan by all the newspapers. So i'm not going to post the mp3. Go and buy it instead.

You can see the video here though.....

http://www.contactmusic.com/new/home.nsf/webpages/willymasonx20x01x05

I used to know what i wanted to say

I managed to pick up a promo of the new British Sea Power album last week. At first I wasn't all that impressed, however it's growing on me with every listen. Don't expect a huge change in style from their debut, however if you liked that you will certainly enjoy 'Open Season'.



The album's opener 'It Ended on an Oily Stage' is probably the album's best track, however that's being released as the first single so you will no doubt be hearing that in due course. I really like the second track 'Be Gone' but it sounds far too much like (the superb) 'Something Wicked' from 'The Decline of British Sea Power' for my liking. I'm probably enjoying this the most at the moment:

British Sea Power - Like a Honeycomb

I'll be away for a week now, so may not be able to update the site. The chances are however that i'll end up buying a stack of records / CDs and ending up near a computer...............

Home Taping is Killing Music

Last week I was driving home from (The) London kinda late. The M4 was deserted. Rain was falling, and I struggled to peer through the streaks on my windscreen left by my decomposing wipers. I was pretty tired. To stop myself nodding off I decided to switch from whatever CD I was listening to & check out the radio.

The moment I turned over, Ras Kwame (who is one of the 3 DJs chosen to take over John Peel's slot) introduced this track. I was blown away.

Hiram Abiff - The Number of The Beast

I could find no trace of it on the internet, so I decided to record it from the Radio 1 site - hence the DJ Intro / Outro & low quality recording.

I know nothing about Hiram Abiff, and I can find no information about him. If this is his debut single, this will be a man to watch. He has quite an issue with the number '6'!

Appropriately given the apocalyptic nature of the track, putting 'Hiram Abiff' into Google brings up numerous sites about Freemasons. This is what Wikipedia has to say...

According to Masonic mythology, Hiram Abiff was the master of the construction of King Solomon's Temple. This temple was built about 988 BC. Hiram Abiff is assumed by some to have been the same person as King Hiram I of Tyre, who is given credit in the Bible itself for having sent building materials and men for the construction of the Temple (see 2
Samuel 5:11).

Others make Hiram Abiff the representative of the king, rather than the king himself. 2 Chronicles 2 relates a formal request from Solomon to King Hiram for workers and for materials; King Hiram replies by sending a "cunning man, endued with understanding, of Huram my father's", whose father formerly lived in Tyre, and is deceased (2 Chronicles 2:13-14). By this telling, this man was Hiram Abiff. The phrase "Huram my father's" in Hebrew is huram abi; this may be the origin of the name. As a result, Hiram Abiff is often referred to by Freemasons as the widow's son (see also 1 Kings 7:13-14). This is allegedly used in a verbal Masonic distress cry: "Is there no help for the widow's son?"

According to the legend which figures in the lore of Freemasonry, Abiff was murdered by one of three workers who assaulted him in their attempt to discover the secret Abiff held. The secret was never divulged. Hiram Abiff's death is commemorated in various Masonic rituals.

That's not important though... just crank it up, picture yourself racing along a rainy motorway on a cold winter's night, and enjoy.

Opening the Mouth

An auction for a couple of ludicrously rare Boards of Canada cassettes came up on ebay yesterday. I have to confess I did consider for a few brief moments that I might put a bid on them, despite the starting price of $799! Such is the madness BoC can inspire. The same madness that led me to spend 30 quid on a kaleidoscope last week. Still, it says 'Boards of Canada' on it, and I love it!




Thankfully the auction was pulled, so I have been able to cancel my reservation with the backstreet kidney donor 'clinic'. Apparently the tapes were stolen or something... I dunno, the whole tedious saga has been played out on the We Are The Music Makers forum.

What was interesting, is that Hexagon Sun (AKA something to do with Boards of Canada) posted the following message on the forum:

"OK The reason it was jumped on was this: Warp and BOC have been in talks for a long while about putting out a box set of old tracks from these tapes and others, with new packaging and art, to be released sometime after the forthcoming record. The tapes were private comps given out to close friends a few years ago, long before the band imagined there would be this kind of interest, and long before the likes of Soulseek etc existed.

The tracks are out there now, nothing can be done about that, they've been circulating for a while and fans have them, so the decision was taken to at least consider tidying them up and repackaging them with decent exclusive artwork & more rarities. BOC never wanted these tracks presented this way, mislabelled and as poor-quality MP3 files.

There's no 'hype', these comps were never listed on any old discogs as they were never intended for mass release in the first place. Now the intention is still to get round to scheduling a release of these tunes and other rare comps, but unscrupulous people like 'prince murat' are obviously stealing the thunder of the proposed releases, whilst trying to make a tidy profit in the process (a starting price of $799 speaks volumes about 'prince murat's true intentions. who is trying to profit from hype here? if any money is going to be involved, surely the artist who wrote those tracks should be receiving the royalties, and not this person? there's no difference between this kind of profiteering and someone trying to sell a bootleg CDR of Beck's new album months prior to release.)

Anyway, now you know, we hope the intervention hasn't caused too much negative feeling, after all the concern that Warp and BOC have is that basically it's going to spoil the impact of a nice release that hopefully will be enjoyed by the fans."

So not only is there a new BoC album in 2005, but possibly A BOX SET OF ALL THEIR EARLY UNRELEASED ALBUMS!!!

I think i've just come.





In the meantime, they have a remixed a Beck track, due for release on March 29th. Let's hope the album finally appears not long after that........eagerly anticipated just doesn't cover it.

All I need now is for them to headline Glastonbury!!! (PLEASE!)


Boards of Canada - 1969


As a bonus, this is from the aforementioned tapes... a cover of the Colonel Abrahams classic! If you're one of the lucky 100 people to have a copy of the Mask 100 EP (or have ever fired up Slsk) you will know they did a slightly different version on that 12" under their Hell Interface alias. I prefer this one though...

Boards of Canada - Trapped


BOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOC BOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOC BOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOC BOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOC BOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOC BOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOCBOC

This just in

In case you've been refreshing this page eagerly for the last 4 days awaiting my 'Nathan Barley' review... sorry. I ended up round a mate's house, and when I finally got home I really didn't feel like the program had stimulated my emotions enough to warrant switching the PC on and wasting 10 minutes of my life reliving it.

It was shit wasn't it.


Last night I hit the town for the first time in a few weeks... The Go! Team, Soulwax and LCD Soundsystem were playing The Astoria, along with Juliette Lewis' band 'The Licks'.



I've had 'Thunder, Lightning, Strike' on heavy rotation for the last week, and the Go! Team were the band I was most looking forward to seeing - having no idea at all how they would transfer their slightly shambolic sound to the stage. Well I still have no idea. As I supped my cold Guinness at the Keith Moon bar ('It's what he would have wanted') I discovered that they'd been on already. AAAAGGHHHH! And where had I been? Sitting in the shitty Sam Smiths pub round the corner.

Still... £1.68 a pint!! :-)

And The Go! Team are still great.

The Go! Team - Huddle Formation

The night was not a write off yet - Soulwax appeared on stage soon after I arrived. All decked out in black and white, with Flying V guitars, squealing synths, open legs and crashing power chords it was clear that they were here to rawk. There were a few cheeky nods to their other life as 2 many DJs - one track (i'm not sure which as I don't have their album) segued seamlessly into a monsterous cover of Alter Ego's 'Rocker', and 'NY Excuse' started off with the synth riff from 'Funky Town'. Also memorable was their rockist version of Daft Punk's 'Teachers' (which you can download from here)

They finished of course with 'NY Excuse'.... which could only be described as devastating. That track was the soundtrack to my summer last year, played in every field, tent, club and bar I visited, so seeing it live was pretty special. Particularly since Nancy Whang was there to do her vocals (she's plays keyboards for LCD Soundsystem). Nancy screamed, the strobes went into overdrive, the crowd went Chicken Jalfrezi, YESYESYESYESYESYESFUCKINAWESOME>

Without doubt the second best Belgian rock band i have ever seen.*

Soulwax - NY Excuse

LCD Soundsystem had a job following that.



I was a bit mashed by the time they started. What I remember: 'Daft Punk is playing in my house' was disappointing. If they'd got Soulwax up on stage to do their remix (kind of returning the favour for NY Excuse) it would have made my night... however instead there was a slightly rushed, shouty, limp rock version. 'Yeah', 'Tribulation', 'Disco Infiltrator' and 'Give it up' were all great, and encore 'Losing my Edge' was of course magnificent... the highlight for me though was 'Movement', which isn't on record their best track, but was transformed live into an explosive slam dancing powderkeg of a riddim. I was (unwillingly) standing close enough to the speakers that I can still hear it ringing around my ears.

I must admit I have a slight problem with LCD Soundsystem / DFA in that they just sound slightly too cold and knowing to really love. I mean you can like their records, and appreciate what they do, and dance to their remixes.. but i'll never L O V E them. And as it was valentines day I was looking for some of that. Still... top night out.

LCD Soundsystem - Where is Love




*the best was dEUS

Hoot Your Trap Off

Chris Morris returns to our screens tonight with his new sitcom 'Nathan Barley'. As a complete fanboy I am staying in specially to watch this - however I have a horrible feeling from the trailers, adverts and reviews I have seen that it will be a load of shite.



The trouble Chris Morris has is that he has set such incredibly high standards that producing something just 'OK' or 'Amusing' can only be seen as a major disappointment. The Day Today, Why Bother?, Brass Eye and Blue Jam were not only hysterically funny, but changed the way you looked at the world... and certainly changed TV comedy for good. In comparison the concept of this series can hardly be described as groundbreaking. 'Shoreditch Twat' magazine ridiculed the whole Hoxton scene years ago - and the Nathan Barley character itself is hardly fresh. His 'Cunt' listings originally appeared in TV Go Home way back in the dawn of time itself (1999).

Cook'd and Bomb'd - THE place to go for Chris Morris info (and to download his radio shows) has already declared this series a write-off... as have most newspaper reviews I've read. I'm witholding judgement until i've actually seen it though - having endured jumped up roadkill like Tessa Jowell condemning the Brass Eye Special without even watching it i'm not going to fall into the same trap myself.

After all, most people seemed to consider 'Jam' a major dissappointment. I think it is an astonishing piece of work - taking comedy into (dark and twisted) directions no-one (but CM) could ever have thought possible. So unless Nathan Barley proves otherwise I refuse to believe that Chris Morris is capable of producing a series without a healthy dose of genius infused within. We will find out tonight... i'll be back later with my verdict.


I will probably try & write up a proper appreciation of Jam at some point in the future. If you've not seen it, read those Amazon reviews to get an idea of what you're missing. And then buy it. Otherwise the 'Blue Jam' CD (basically highlights from the Radio Shows) is still available from Amazon (Warp Records seem to be out of stock at the moment.) If that's not enough for you, all 3 series (18 hours!) of the Blue Jam radio shows are widely available on the net... cook'd and bomb'd will point you in the right direction.

Would you believe it

In tonight's 'Curb Your Enthusiasm', Larry, in his usual hapless fashion, ended up participating in an Incest Support Group.


I told you, it's all the rage. Kate Moss will be at it soon.



Remember where you heard it first.

Incest

To be fair, it's a bit much to expect something as good as this:

or Jarvis Cocker waggling his arse at Michael Jackson, but is it right for the Brit awards to be so utterly insipid? Still, it was an educational experience, and in hindsight perhaps the incestual undertones of Daniel & Natasha Bedingfield's performance was more shocking than anything the KLF could rustle up.

Things I learnt from the Brit Awards:

+++ Britney Spears has 'a new fragrance'. What, does it smell of chips & fag ash? Or is it just 'Toxic'? (sorry)

+++ Robbie is still plugging this 'I'm a bit gay... or am I' line. Give it a rest mate. No-one cares.

+++ Inviting a load of septics to perform isn't a good idea. Frankly their spectacular shows make anything us plucky Brits can come up with look a bit crap. Scissor Sisters & Gwen Stefani = Pure Showbusiness.

+++ I am still reeling from the unremitting awfullness of Daniel & Natasha Bedingfield duetting a cover of 'Ain't Nobody'. Was I the only one to shift awkwardly on my seat as those siblings sang to each other:

I wait for night time to come

And bring you to me

And first you put your arms around me

Then you put your charms around me

I can’t resist this sweet surrender

Oh my nights are warm and tender

We stare into each other’s eyes

And what we see is no surprise

Got a feeling most with treasure

And a love so deep we cannot measure

Jeezus. Don't they know that's illegal in most countries? Or is incest the new Rock 'n' Roll?

+++ It is possible for the best single of 2004 to be something I have never heard and never will hear. (Unless someone can hum 'Your Game' by Will Young to me.....)

thought not

+++ The Scissor Sisters are apparently 'British by Proxy' !

+++ The Outkast album (Speakerboxx / The Love Below) apparently came out in 2004.

+++ No photographs exist on the internet of either 'The Jarvis Cocker incident', or of Roy Keane murderously chasing Andy D'Urso round the Old Trafford pitch.

Things I didn't learn from the Brit Awards:

+++ Why they:

are named after him:

+++What the hell 'Spongebob Squarepants' is

+++ Why The Telegraph described Scissor Sisters as 'A Transsexual Band'. Is Ana Matronic hiding something?

+++ How Joss Stone is 'Urban'. She's from fucking Devon.

+++ For that matter, Bob Geldolf is IRISH. I mean good luck to the fella, done a lot of good work for charity and all that... but surely the 'Brit' awards are for British music. Have we really run out of British artists to give lifetime acheivement awards to? What next? Johnny Hallyday? David Hasslehoff? I'm sure they've both visited London a few times. More to the point, WHEN ARE THEY GOING TO GIVE IT TO APHEX??

+++ Why children were warned to 'Cover your eyes' before Lemar and Jamelia's attempt at 'Addicted to Love'. Why not adults too? And why just the eys? 'Leave the room' would have been a safer option.

To make matters worse, I missed an episode of 'Arrested Development' to watch that tripe.

Thankfully there is an hour of 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' on now.




So i'm off....

But not before honouring the greatest performance in Brit Awards history:

The KLF vs Extreme Noise Terror - 3am Eternal

Leaches

Trevor MacDonald:

'We've seen today how the relationship between Charles and Camilla has the power to split the nation'


Too right Trevor. Those who give a shit....

Slack

Apologies for the lack of updates this week. I've basically had to catch up on all the things i should have done while I was setting up & designing this site. Number 1 being to find a job. Some partial success on that score in that I had an interview yesterday. It lasted for two hours! Which I guess either shows that he liked me, or alternatively that the interviewer like the sound of his own voice. We shall see.

I'll be back later with a proper post once i've endured the tedium of the Brit Awards... starting on TV imminently. No doubt I will be seething with rage in two hours time.

Await the fury.........

Is it me

Or does the new Bloc Party single (download it here) sound like Ride?




They were the first band I saw live.

I was a fresh faced 16 year old, and this was the first night I had escaped my suburban shackles for a night of excitement in THE LONDON!! We boarded a rickety Metropolitan Line train filled with a mixture of fear, elation and alcohol, clutching our now sweaty golden tickets.

Being relative newcomers to the wonderful world of boozing, we had somehow settled upon the idea that Thunderbird (Red Label of course) was a comparatively palatable drink. This is probably because our other tipple of choice was cider. Still, although indescribably disgusting, Thunderbird does get you very very pissed, and we were certainly worse for wear as we emerged from the station and took in the sights and (considerable) smells of Kilburn.

Somehow my Tourist excursions and Museum Trips had skirted round areas like this. Set upon by touts and drunks at every step we hot footed it for the venue, not tempted by any of the numerous pubs en route as a: we wouldn't have got served and b: they all looked fucking dodgy. Within minutes we reached our destination - the magnificent Kilburn National Ballroom.

Well I say magnificent. What I should have said was 'Absolute Shithole'. It had clearly been sometime since its wooden floors had resounded to the sound of the foxtrot. The layer of beer on the floor made getting around effortless though, and we were soon involuntarily pulling moves that would have owned the dancefloor in distant times.

Somehow we managed to get the beers in, and took our places in the throng eagerly awaiting Slowdive. Er, yeah, hang on. The first band I saw live would have been Slowdive. That kind of spoils my 'link' doesn't it.

OK...forget that a minute !

We arrived late, tragically missing Slowdive ,-) , however we were in ample time to get a good spot for our heroes Mark, Andy, Loz and The Other Bloke... squeezed as close to the front as we were able. Eventually the lights dimmed to darkness, and the air filled with the deafening, shimmering chords of 'Polar Bear'. We were carried blissfully off into the frantically moshing throng.

I never really returned.

Ride - Polar Bear


Bonus Ride: Twisterella

You Were Doing Well Until Everyone Died

I'm still gutted that Jockey Slut is no more. I bought every issue for going on 10 years, and the magazine introduced me to more amazing bands and music than any other source I can think of. When the end came it was sudden - as you can tell by the website, which looks as though it will be stuck in summer 2004 in perpetuity. Perhaps in 25 years it will be still be there, looking forward to 'Devin Dazzle' and 'Kompakt 100' like a Punk on the kings road clutching a battered Damned 7" and searching out Teds.

The last year Jockey Slut was published saw an amazing CD on the front of each issue ('Disco Pogo for Punks in Pumps') which gave me my first introduction to numerous artists I now love - Ulrich Schnauss, The Go! Team, TES, King Geedorah, Erlend Oye, The Junior Boys, Joy Zipper, Agoria, RJD2, Michael Mayer / Kompakt, Mylo, DM & Jemini, The Cinematic Orchestra ..... and so on. Every CD would have 4 or 5 tracks on that you would not have heard before and that would absolutely blow you away.

Someone else i had not heard of before or since was Olav Brekke Mathisen. This track, 'Hasj Box' was on Disco Pogo Vol. 12 - which also had 'Never Be Alone' by Justice vs Simian at least a year before any vinyl made it to the UK.

Now I don't know too much about Olav, and his mate Sideshow Jogge - however I believe they are Norweigan, and from the same freakish Bergen gene pool that has spawned Royksopp, Erlend Oye, Annie, The Kings of Convenience and Ralph Myerz.

Hasj Box has a full five minute sample from the classic Futurama episode, where Bender meets God, over a throbbing electro-esque beat. There's not a lot more I can say about it. It's great.

Olav Brekke Mathisen & Sideshow Jogge - Hasj Box



Soon after hearing this I ran across a couple of Olav Brekke Mathisen 12"s in the bargain bin of my local shop, and snapped them up. I was delighted to find that they were both amazing. Electromotor is packed full of those proper old skool electro noises that the kids get off on nowadays. Gul Boss meanwhile has the best use of a Michael Jackson sample i've ever heard - slipping in the Billie Jean bassline as subtly as a greedy child filling his pockets at the pick 'n' mix counter. That twelve has another excellent track - 'Ein, Zwei, Drei, Fitteboy' - so when I saw the CD in another bargain bin I had no hesitation in snapping it up.



The bonus track i'm going to give you today is Olav's electro-ified version of 'Little Fluffy Clouds'. I hope you like it.

Olav Brekke Mathisen & Sideshow Jogge - Fluffy The Vampire

Spread Love

No MP3s from me today.. however i'd like to point you in the direction of some rinsin' tracks i've heard on other blogs recently.

20 Jazz Funk Greats has been in superb form this year. You know you need a thrash metal version of 'Rocker'.

If you've not heard the Soulwax remix of LCD Soundsystem, DO NOT DELAY ANY FURTHER. Watch the video here.

Fluxblog is the daddy. And if the Out Hud album is all as good as this and th is we're in for a treat. I can't get enough of 'One Life to Leave'. In fact I can't get enough of 'em both. Roll on March 21st.

Scenestars seem to be posting tracks like they're going out of fashion at the moment. I've just given the Jaques Lu Cont remix of the new Fischerspooner single a bash... not up to his usual impeccable standard IMHO, but certainly worth a listen. There are also a couple of tracks by the incredible M.I.A.. Does Piracy Fund Terrorism?

And does this sound familiar? (check the 'original' of the Sugababes song as well)


In other news...I've just bought myself tickets for The Arcade Fire at ULU :-) I have a fair few gigs lined up in the coming weeks, so that'll get me out of the house! Why are they always on weeknights though? Grr.


Finally Pitchfork have chosen their top 100 singles of the last 5 years. It's inevitably quite a US-centric list, so there's a lot of stuff i've not heard before - i'm looking forward to checking out a few tracks via slsk. I can't say I would have placed B.O.B. by Outkast at #1 (although Hey Ya might have made it), and having just listened to Maps by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs for the first time I'm not entirely sure what that's doing there... but otherwise you can't argue too much with the top ten. I'm trying to think what they've missed and i'm drawing a blank.

Here's a few that would certainly have made my 100 though:
'Banquet' by Bloc Party
The Jaques Lu Cont remix of 'Silver Screen Shower Scene'
'Leave Them All Behind' by Whitey
'My Red Hot Car' by Squarepusher
'Poney EP' by Vitalic
'Laura' by Scissor Sisters
'Sweet Dreams my LAX' by Rachel Stevens

I'm sure more will come to mind when i'm at home & can see my records!





That's me out with the headphone love. PEACE.

I Can Feel The Heat Closing In

I only re-discovered this track last week, after digging out an old 'Rebirth of Cool' album.
What got me at first were the tuff beats and killer loop... however after a few listens I began to get intrigued by all the 'Naked Lunch' references, and began to listen closer to the lyrics & start wondering what the hell the song was about.



It's been some time since I read the book (or saw the film), however however I can certainly remember the hallucinogenic properties of Mugwump Jism - sucked out of a penis on the Mugwump's face if I remember rightly. And wasn't Bug Powder Dust his analogy for heroin?

And then there's the line 'I always hit the apple when i'm going to shoot, well you can call me Wiliam Tell or Agent Cooper to boot'. Didn't Burroughs shoot his wife in a smack-fuelled William Tell accident? Or was that in the book? Fact and fiction are often blurred in Burroughs' work so you'll excuse me getting the two confused. Agent Cooper was of course the main character in Twin Peaks.. where does he come into it? And Jimmy Page? Allen Ginsberg? Men At Work!!!!!??????

It was time to hit google for the lyrics, which led me to this site. As you can see there are lots of interesting references to the likes of Black Sabbath, The Beatles, George Orwell, Janes Addiction, Apocalypse Now and so on and so on.

I'm still no wiser as to what it's all about... so I think i'll go back to enjoying the beats and nodding my head in appreciation. Turn it up, unroll your lino and start practicing your caterpillar.

Bomb The Bass - Bug Powder Dust (La Funk Mob Remix)

Technical Itch

Hmm, I thought things were going too well.

I've started getting problems with the downloads this evening. They are getting to a certain point then freezing - although this only seems to be happening for some people. Anyway I gave my hosting company (fasthosts) a ring, and they curtly informed me that I was not allowed to host any downloadable content on the site. So it seems I have two choices - host the files for streaming only, or look for an alternative host. I'd prefer the latter. Can anyone suggest any UK-based companies I could switch to?

Well it seems to be working OK again now (from work at least) - maybe the problem was to do with a big jump in traffic yesterday.

So i'll carry on and see what happens.... I have a cracking (classic) track lined up for you a bit later on today.

Do let me know if you have any d/load problems though.

Music for the mind and the feet

Gary Mulholland - author of the essential book 'This is Uncool' - picked this out as single of the month in the Observer a couple of weeks ago.



I would strongly suggest you read his review before ignoring my attempts at analysis and heading straight to the download.

Unless like me you don't like being told what to do, in which case read on.

Oh hang on, that makes it tricky doesn't it. Tell you what, just do what the fuck you like. I'll waffle on for a bit. Take it or leave it. Just make sure you listen to the track. You won't regret it.

Ben Watt was of course in Everything but the Girl. Who were miserable in the 80s, but then got remixed by Todd Terry and became happy. And rich. Perhaps the two are not unconnected. It certainly can't hurt, despite what (rich) people tell you. All I know is that i've never found a lot of solace in poverty. And i've given it a hell of a bash.

If you're the sort who goes out dancing in Trendy West London then you've probably been to his club 'Lazy Dog'. Apparently it's very good, however as I am far from trendy I can't confirm that. What I can confirm is that this song is very very excellent indeed and you will be hearing it a lot this year.

It reminds me in a way of 'The Box' by Jack of Swords - released on Andy Weatherall's Sabres of Paradise label. In that track, John Cale from the Velvet Underground reads a story over a throbbing dubby techno groove. The (anti)hero is a guy named Waldo who decides to parcel up and post himself to a girl he is obsessed with, in the hope of winning her heart. Suffice to say the story doesn't have a happy ending. Waldo turns dead after being skewered in his box by a sharp blade, and as such falls off the list of potential suitors. Girls eh.. there's no pleasing 'em.


In fact this is nothing like that. But don't let that put you off.

Ben Watt (Featuring Estelle) - Pop A Cap In Yo Ass

Isn't Estelle fantastic?

Oh, and massive thanks to Blair over at Music For Robots for yesterdays link. For all those who came over, make sure you stick around... the beer is cold and the dancing girls are on their way.

If you haven't checked out M-F-R yourself, then head over there now for some more hot Hot Chip action, and a new track by the hugely good Prefuse 73.

Add. To. Favourites.


EDIT: I should have pointed out that the record - Outspoken Part 1 - came out yesterday. Go buy it.