Knowing Me, Knowing You

I think and hope and pray that i'm over my brief Daz obsession.

I need to get the cunt off the top of my page.

So I'll have to post something.


I'm also in a bit of a strange mood, and I think I should go to bed before I upset the entire internet.

It's probably best I don't say too much.


Here's a song I was sent.

It's quite nice.


IN FLAGRANTI - GENITAL BLUE ROOM


Keywords: Italo; Wobbly Bass; Eurotrash Girl

Yes. It's all about the wobbly bass.

"And They Weren't Underage. And You're Not 40"

I'm getting quite worryingly fascinated by Daz Sampson

Got any Jeff Mills?

Jeff Mills has long been a hero of mine, and watching his devastating DJ skillz is as near a religious experience as you can have in a club.



So when I got an email offering two tickets to watch the premiere screening of his new collaborative film with the Montpellier Philharmonic Orchestra in New York I was more than chuffed... imagining myself sipping champagne in Virgin Atlantic 1st Class on a day return to meet the man himself.

But no. It seems the condition for my getting the tickets is that I give them to one of you lot.

Which makes it COMPETITION TIME! In the first part of a new regular (daily?) feature, where PR flunkies send me expensive gifts, and I (occasionally) pass (some of) them on to you.

,-)


So the prize I have up for grabs is two tickets to the screening of the collaborative film 'Blue Potential' at New York's Trabeca Grand on May 1st. Jeff Mills himself will be hosting the event, and speaking. So if you've ever wanted to ask him if he's ever tried spinning plates; or if he's ever picked up friction burns on his fingers; here is your chance.

Alternatively, if you are unable to make it to New York (I did check, and flights are sadly not included), the prize winner will get a copy of the DVD.

It does look like a really exciting project, and personally I can't wait to hear classics like 'The Bells' done in a classical stylee. If it's anything like the Philip Glass interpretation of Aphex Twin's 'Icct Hedral' this will be something to look forward to.

You can watch a trailer for the film here , and read some information about the project here. (This may be worth reading!)

The question:

'Jeff Mills is rhyming slang for which popular recreational drug?'


ah, no. It seems like i've been given a question to set.

Which is....

“What bridge did Jeff Mills and the Montpellier Philharmonic Orchestra film ‘Blue Potential’ under”?

SEND YOUR ANSWER to: james at headphonesex.co.uk

And may good fortune smile upon your every move.


The FIFTH correct answer will win the prize.



EDIT: It took, er, a while. But eventually Andy popped up with the fifth correct answer. Well done Andy! You lucky lucky man.

Here's the rather wonderful orchestral version of 'The Bells' for all who weren't quite as lucky as lucky, lucky Andy.

JEFF MILLS & THE MONTPELLIER PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA - THE BELLS

Saturday Night in Tufnell Park

I really have to talk about Saturday's gig before it slips my mind. I mentioned before that my mate Steve had been raving about the Bromheads Jacket live experience, and after finally seeing it for myself I can confirm.....it's absolutely nuts.

Back to them in a tick though. Unfortunately I missed most of new Marquis Cha Cha signings The Oxfam Glamour Models, but the next band up were The KBC. And they were mighty impressive. You'll be hearing more of them for sure. It was also the first sign of the madness to come, with some fella nicking their megaphone every 2 minutes, and a scrap kicking off at the front for no particular reason that I could work out. (A lot of) punches were thrown, clothing was ripped... and the band (kind of) played on.



Check out some tracks on their myspace page... 'Poisonous Emblem' and 'Days of Disillusion' come HIGHLY recommended. Definitely the best band i've seen third on the bill in the back room of a pub.


The crowd had swelled considerably by the time Bromhead's took the stage, and the expectation in the air was palpable. After a bit of a false start with an untuned guitar they launched into their set of spiky punk tunes to scenes of utter delerium.

It took about half a song for the first people to get on the stage, and before long it was completely overrun. Some guy spent an entire song ambling around taking pictures with his phone... people helping themselves to backing vocal duties... and more stage diving then i've seen in my life. I seriously hadn't seen that kind of fervour ever except watching their fellow Sheffielders Arctic Monkeys.

















The music? Well to be honest I was so transfixed by the other goings on that it almost seemed irrelevent. It wasn't though. It was great. 2 minute blasts of spiky punk with great tunes and sharp, funny lyrics.

I've already posted both set closer 'What If's & Maybe's and debut single 'Woolley Bridge' before, so I won't repeat myself. You can hear them both on the band's myspace page though. And you should do. Though I really liked both songs before, they've totally entered a new dimension for me now I've seen them live.

Next time they're in London I am so there.

I can't leave you without an MP3 though....

I've been looking for this second track for a while, and finally managed to track it down via this blog... it's the Bromheads Jacket version of 'When You Wasn't Famous' from the b-side of The Streets 7".

As that 'Untouched by Work or Duty' blog points out, it's more an answer record than a cover, with the lyrics entirely changed to reflect, well, not being famous, and not getting laid. Although "a girl did show my her boobs at Frog* once"

*Frog is a wanky London Indie club.

Also contains the immortal line:

"The closest i've been to pulling a celeb yet,
a dream I had when I was 12,
I shagged Alanis Morrisette"

BROMHEADS JACKET - WHEN YOU WASN'T FAMOUS


So it was a great night. A sign of which was that I left covered in blood.

Both my own (thanks to the flying elbows of this hooligan):



And the pot of fake blood liberally dispersed by proper hooligans the Oxfam Glamour Models



Speaking of them, you should really buy their single. All the sleeves are hand made & I had to buy two copies they looked so good.

Is it just me or is everything shit?

And the hits just keep on coming...

Another must buy on DFA is this absolute beauty by new signing 'Shit Robot'.

Deep scuzzy funk, a ravey piano breakdown. I keep getting flashes of different things - a bit of Carl Craig, a bit of Tech-House (except not 'cos that's shit). Oh I dunno, you try describing this dance music bollocks every day. It goes bleep and phwaft and geeeeeh and whakkawhakkawhakka in all the right places is all you need to know. And it sounds dirty not shiny. Which is obviously a good thing also.



Unfortunately my vinyl has a bad case of the jumps for about 20 seconds in the middle.... don't let that put you off though. This is some quality shit.

SHIT ROBOT - WRONG GALAXY

EDIT: REMOVED BY REQUEST

The more Italo B-Side, 'Triumph', is brilliant as well, and has James Murphy chanting like an African Warrior and DFA on the knobs. It's out this week. You do the math. (Hey, i've always wanted to say that! Despite, or perhaps because of the horrendous grammatical inaccuracy.)


Co-incidentally i'd just been digging another shit band the previous day, for this track by 'Shitdisco' was by far & away the highlight of the double CD given out on the Camden Crawl.

As per usual xxjfg were on the case 6 months before the rest of us losers, but although I downloaded & listened I didn't get the full impact at the time. I think this is why I can never see myself giving up CDs & vinyl for MP3s. Now, of course, the single is sold out. And that makes me sad.



I can't imagine a dancefloor - or car journey, church service or elevator ride for that matter - that wouldn't be improved by dropping this bad bwoy. The band sound like they've spent more time listening to The Ramones than Bobby Orlando and Donna Summer, but despite the scuzzy sound it's far more disco than most over-produced rubbish that claims to make you want to rollerskate. At the moment, in the first flushes of my relationship with the track, it sounds like just about the best thing ever. Trying to put my objective hat on for a minute... oh fuck the objective hat. It's the best thing ever.

SHITDISCO - DISCO BLOOD

Check out the excellent new single (Reactor Party) on their myspace. It doesn't start off all that promising but then goes all bleepy bubbly mental. The 'Errors' mix of Disco Blood is damn good as well, but suffers from being not as damn good as the original.

EDIT: Co-incidentally Greenpeaness has the Clor remix of Disco Blood up right now...

Zut Alors

Just check this out.

And I just realised I can't go :-(

No More Heroes

I did a spot of shopping today. Bad for my overdraft.... Good for you!

One of the things I picked up will get some of you salivating. For ever since Tim Sweeeney played it on Beats in Space a couple of months back, it's become one of the most eagerly anticipated records I can remember.

I have considered Carl Craig to be a God for many years, and each remix he has brought out recently (Cesaria Evora, Recloose, Francois de Roubaix and THAT Theo Parrish record in particular) has shown him to be on better form than ever. This is no exception. It's a bit special.

I didn't really give Delia & Gavin's album much of a chance when it came out, however having picked it up on CD recently i've really started to appreciate what a masterful work it is. It's an analog synth lovers dream, with layers and layers of fantastic beatless hypnotic sounds. On the surface what Carl does seems so simple (taking a loop... adding a drum), however when those drums kick in it's just bliss. The jazzy piano shit at the end is ace also. The man just has too much funk.

This demands to be played in full.

DELIA GONZALEZ & GAVIN RUSSOM - RELEVEE (CARL CRAIG MIX)

EDIT: REMOVED BY REQUEST

I also got a Goldfrapp 12" with two Carl Craig mixes in a similar kind of vibe... highly recommended as well.


Now it seems I can't switch on teh interweb these days without hearing about this Norweigan fella called Lindstrom. But despite this my ears have remained resolutely Lindstrom-free, and i've not listened to any of his stuff (yes, even 'I Feel Space'). It seems as though I will have to check him out after all though, as his new Franz Ferdinand remix 12" is a corker, and the best there's been since the Headman mixes of 'Matinee'. For a change Alex Kapranos actually sounds integral to the track rather than a contractual obligation, and I can imagine that high pitched 'de-de-der' noise really messing with your head at high volume. Awesome. I was going to post the normal version, but the extended one is longer and therefore better. Innit. Although to be honest I want an extended extended mix running to about half an hour!

FRANZ FERDINAND - I'M YOUR VILLAIN (LINDSTROM EXTENDED MIX)



I was going to post more, however i'll let you digest these first.

Shit that Lindstrom mix is hot.

Good Clean Immature Fun

1: Watch this video (or as much as you can bear). It's apparently the UK's Eurovision entry. He's decided to go for the 'creepy nonce hanging round the school changing rooms' angle. Which i'm sure will score him highly in certain parts of Eastern Europe.

2: Have a browse of his messageboard

EDIT #2: Sadly our Daz's forum seems to have been wiped & moderated. It was good while it lasted!

EDIT #1: EUROVISION UPDATE

Forget Daz (if only!). Finland are a shoe-in.

For this, my friends, is 'Hardrock Hallelujah" by Lordi.

Let us Rock.

They've got fucking Godzilla on drums!


And 'Almost East European', whoever you are, I will forever be in your debt. For you have introduced me to Iceland's sensational Silvia Night.

Is she

a: Royally ripping the piss
b: Dangerously psychotic


Surely it's a?

Is it?

Top of the Pops!

Oooh, it looks like I've just got 1000 hits in a day for the first time. Just when the blog's going downhill too. "It's not as good as it used to be" I hear them muttering in the pubs and bars. "He doesn't update it very often does he". "And where's that review of Guillemots he promised?"

Well Guillemots was too long ago for me to remember. Which is a shame as I also wanted to mention their highly entertaining support act 'Misty's Big Adventure'. They should have been annoying rather than entertaining, featuring as they did a man painted blue with stuffed gloves stuck all over his body. But no, they were definitely entertaining. This is what they looked like (kind of):



You can watch one of their videos here.

And this is what Guillemots looked like.





But no, that was all some time ago. As indeed was last weeks 'Insomniac's Ball', which I had come on here intending to write about.

To be honest, as an event it was crap. But.. but... well, we'll get to that later.

First up was White Rose Movement. Well they shouldn't have been first up. For an event that was billing itself so much as an all nighter, I didn't expect arriving at 11pm to have missed pretty much all the bands. So by the time I finally got in at 11:30 and pushed through the ridiculous crowds I ended up missing quite a lot of their set. They weren't nearly as good as at King's College a few weeks back. But still ace.




The event was also billing itself as some kind of festival, however much as I tried to find some acid, some mud and a stone circle, the event's only concession to the festival spirit was to charge 4 quid for a can of Stella.

Nursing my precious lager I went off to see British Sea Power, who were really great, but they stood in the dark and were kind of forgettable. They also seem to have lost all their foliage - with only one branch remaining to decorate the stage with. Mind you there aren't many trees in South London, and perhaps they left their twigs behind.

So at this point I was a bit 'yeah, i've paid 25 quid and seen two bands. great.' But then. But then. There came Art Brut.



My god were they good. I think I have just become their #1 fan.

I arrived in their room a bit late only to be greeted with what can only be described as a frenzy. The entire crowd chanting 'Art. Brut. TOP OF THE POPS'. Arms and feet everywhere. And the band ripping through their amazing debut album ('Bang, Bang, Rock 'n' Roll'). Eddie Argos (what a name!) in turns ridiculous, hilarious and just plain rock' n' roll; had the audience in the palm of his hand. Only someone quite that uncool can be quite that cool. If you know what I mean? He does look like Phil 'The Power' Taylor after all!






Christ knows where this geezer appeared from... he looks like he's out of a Public Enemy video!



One top moment was Eddie reading through the entire lineup mid-song (it must have been 'Bad Weekend' I think) with everyone screaming 'Top of the Pops' back after each band. I dunno, I guess you had to be there.





Anyway, like I said, they were flipping good. I felt like Eddie's little brother...

ART BRUT - MY LITTLE BROTHER

So that was the bands finished with not particularly late, and all that was left was to endure some absolutely dreadful DJs. I mean really dreadful. Before long there was only one room open, and by the time we left not much later on that was nearly empty as well. If they're going to make such a big thing about going on 'till 6am, I expected a bit more than for the last band to be on at 2, followed by inept DJs playing crap music. Completely random drum 'n bass, tedious house music, 60s tracks, boring indie hits, all attempted to be mixed together and trainwrecked every time. I don't mind crap mixing if you play good records (well that's what i do after all!), but the records were rubbish and the mixing was worse. And tickets for this thing cost a lot of money...


Anyway, i'm off to the Camden Crawl tomorrow (tonight?). Which i'm looking forward to as it was great last year. Any recommendations from the lineup will be gratefully received.

65 Days Of Static > 747s > Absentee > Akira The Don > The Aliens > The Automatic > Captain > Cazals > Cord > The Delilahs > Dogs > Elle Milano > Fields > !Forward Russia! > The Fratellis > Good Books > Guillemots > The Holloways > Howling Bells > Humanzi > Klaxons > Larrikin Love > Les Incompetents > Lethal Bizzle > Louie > The Maccabees > The Marshals > The Mitchell Brothers > Morning Runner > Mumm-Ra > Neat People > New Rhodes > Pink Grease > Paolo Nutini > The On Offs > The Paddingtons > The Pipettes > The Pistolas > Plan B > The Rifles > The Rogers Sisters > Rumble Strips > Shit Disco > The Slits > S.Rock Levinson > The Spinto Band > The Sunshine Underground > Sway > Switches > V//Formation > Wolfmother


Sorry for the huge number of photos in this post by the way... hope your browsers can take the pressure!

Yeah, I Was Out of Touch

Forgive me father. It's been almost a week since my last post.

If it's any consolation, I have been spending the time productively rotting my liver.



To be honest you're not going to get much out of me now... but here's a couple of cheeky cheesy cover versions to ease you through your wednesday.

THE KOOKS - CRAZY (GNARLS BARKELY COVER)

This guy's voice is going to get annoying after a while, particularly since their latest single is on constant radio rotation. However I have to say they've done a bloody good job with this...

SUGABABES - LIVING FOR THE WEEKEND (HARD-FI COVER)

Not that I can quite imagine the Sugababes sneaking into a club through the toilet window... but it does seem to work quite well translated to an anthem for the Bacardi Breezer generation.


I have to share this with you also. Since it is one of the biggest musical travesties I have ever heard.

KAISER CHIEFS - WHAT TIME IS LOVE? (KLF COVER)

And I say that as someone who actually likes the Kaiser Chiefs.

Fuck me it's awful.

"Get Hype to the Rhythm"

Yeah daddio!


Finally, i'm having one of my sporadic clearouts on ebay... i'm planning on moving somewhere soon, and there's no way that ALL this shit can come with me. There's a load of records up now (mainly Rephlex / electronic stuff) but i'll hopefully be listing a lot more CDs & vinyl in the next few days / weeks.
BUY ME!!

Weekend-aah

Yay! It's a long weekend (piss up). And have I got just the record for it.

One of the greatest mysteries in the history of popular music is how Flowered Up, a third-rate bunch of Madchester copyists from London managed from out of nowhere to produce the 13 minute epic of trancendental genius that is 'Weekender'.

I mean before this they really were rubbish. They had a bloke in the band - Barry Mooncult - who was basically Bez without the musical talent(!) and with a giant foam flower on his head. And a debut album, 'A Life With Brian' that wasn't close to being in the same league as 'Bummed' or 'Pills, Thrills & Bellyaches'. By all accounts the only way they remotely compared to the Mondays was through their prodigious drug consumption.

But then, just as the band seemed doomed to be deservedly forgotten, came this.



Starting & ending with samples from Quadrophenia, the record obviously set out to update that film for the 90s. And boy does it succeed. I can't think of many 13 minute tracks that fly by quite so quickly. There's not a second that goes on too long, and the record morphs between so many musical forms that (cliched though this sounds) it really does take you on a journey. I mean even the brief cod reggae bit DOESN'T sound shit. Which is some acheivement.

I'd always read the record pretty straight, as just celebrating going out for the weekend. But listening again I seem to detect a hell of a lot more sarcasm coming out, and it sounds to me as if he's denouncing 'weekend ravers'.

Although remarkable in its own right, the record was also accompanied by a fantastic film that for me is still the best representation of 'rave culture' ever laid down on celluloid. (Mind you what's the competition? Human Fucking Traffic? Actually the episode of 'Spaced' when they go clubbing is pretty good.)

So like a sped up version of 'Screamadelica', this film follows a lad over the course of an evening from ironing his shirts ready to go out, to a dizzying comedown on Monday morning. Actually look, I just found this site that describes the film much better than I could...

Directed by the appropriately-named Wiz, the action in "Weekender" the film closely mirrors the pattern of its soundtrack as it takes a wry look as a weekend in the life of a diehard 'raver'. It opens as a stereotypical young lad with a Gazza haircut and a Top Man shirt ironed by his mother snorts at the television-fixated inertia of his family. Pausing only for a quick inhalation of Amyl Nitrate, he slams the front door and steps off into his weekend world of dancing and debauchery. After getting his hands on a couple of dodgy-lloking tablets, our hero hotfoots it to a threadbare and sparsely-attended club, which to his drug-addled eyes looks like the party to end all parties. Paranoid hallucinations of being chased around a record by a giant needle prevent him from pulling the girl of his dreams, and following a clever shot where we see the sordid, drug-fuelled debauchery of the club toilets reflected in a mirror, he runs off into the night in search of somewhere to sleep. As the final weary line "Weekender - whatever you do, just make sure what you do makes you happy" echoes over the soundtrack, his makeshift bed suddenly starts to move upwards, eventually revealing itself to be the high-rise window cleaning hoist that he spends his weekdays working on. "Monday's back, what can you do?". Good question.

It's a great little film... if you still have a video recorder i'd recommend picking it up on ebay.



In my days of regularly frequenting the Heavenly Social the track briefly got a second wind, as the Chemical Brothers often used to finish their sets with it. I emplore you if you do one thing this weekend to crank this up as you're getting ready to rumble.

One of the greatest records ever made, and amazingly, considering there is no way you could edit this for radio use, this managed to get pretty high up in the charts (top 20?). I'm still kicking myself for not buying the Weatherall mixes from Our Price!

Whether it's for the first time or the hundreth, just make sure you listen to this.

FLOWERED UP - WEEKENDER

Be warned.. it starts of pretty quietly and if you crank it up too loud you'll get a real shock as it hits the minute mark!

I... just... can't... help... it

I have strained every sinew to stop myself from posting up yet more Hot Chip. But then I realised I haven't really mentioned the new album yet. And one song in particular that I just can't stop playing. So I thought, fuck it. One more tiny little song won't hurt, will it!

Now the album is undeniably fantastic, and is certainly my favourite of the year so far. Although to be honest there's not been a great deal of competition in 2006. I can't think of many things that have really got my rocks off. Both the Arctic Monkeys & new AFX Analord compilation are great, but both date back to last year really. White Rose Movement I think is the only new thing i've heard that i've really loved.

So praise the lord for Alexis & Joe. And particularly for 'No Fit State', the real killer track on the album. I just love the little 80's synth flourishes; and I love the way Joe (or is it Alexis? I've still not quite sussed out who's who) gradually fades in with his 'I'm in no fit state, i'm in no fit shape' refrain; and I especially love the little synth breakdown at the end. And well, goddamit, the whole thing is just hot sex.

HOT CHIP - NO FIT STATE


I've got a different version playing on my myspace page at the moment. I guess it might be a demo or something? Anyway it's stolen from Hot Chip's myspace, so I guess I should link to that as well.


I'm going to see them at King's College in May, but i'm tempted to go to the Oxford gig as well since tickets are still available. Hmmm..... yeah, why not eh!

If you're in London & missed out on tickets for Kings College, they've announced another London gig at the Luminere in Kilburn. Check the website for details.

'Boy from school' is coming out as a single in the next few weeks... just managed to snag the Erol Alkan remix cheap off ebay. Woo! Anyway, you can watch the neato video here. (Well you can try... it's not working too well for me.)

Are We Sick of This Yet?

Another year, and thanks to some new remixes 'Never be Alone' is likely to be as ubiquitous as the last two summers.

The 12" coming out in May has reworks by Radio Slave and Lee Cabrera. I've no idea who he is, but it sounds like the sort of name Pete Tong would 'big up' on a weekly basis.

So the Radio Slave version is more of a re-edit than a remix. The main difference is that they've stretched the intro out to a couple of minutes... which is no bad thing. However it's not a radical remix by any means. I'm just posting it up because I suspect that lots of you are as keen to hear it as I was. I'm sure it'll make Virgin a huge pile of dosh, which is the most important thing of course.

JUSTICE vs SIMIAN - WE ARE YOUR FRIENDS (RADIO SLAVE RE-EDIT)

If you're looking to splash some cash on a new version of the track, I reckon you'd be much better off with this bootleg job that came out a couple of weeks ago. It's inspired by Erol Alkan's Bugged Out mix... where he lays the vocal over Super Discount's 'Fast Track'. Someone listening obviously thought 'that's a good idea', and knocked out a full length version. And i'm glad they did. It's pretty damn good, just about reigning in its obvious urge to go all trance on yo ass. (There's just one section in the middle when i start looking over my shoulder for sweaty bare-chested Australians...)

SUPER DUPER - FAST FRIENDS (PUSH MORE PULL MORE FRIENDS REMIX)

Hey ho, whaddyaknow. TAPE have just gone all Super Discount crazy. You can check out the original of 'Fast Track' if you've not heard it. Plus loads more quality Super Discount booty. Hurry! Stocks may not last.


I'm just back from watching Guillemots in Oxford. It was very good indeed, so hopefully tomorrow i'll have some pictures and words and maybe even music.

My Glamorous Life

There's really nothing like driving hundreds of miles to stand on an open terrace, get bombarded with hail stones and icy winds, and watch your side play like an inept pub team.

THE JUSTIFIED ANCIENTS OF MU MU - IT'S GRIM UP NORTH

I'm Yours, You're Mine

Disco hits I promised... Disco hits you'll get.

If you enjoyed the Moroder bassline on that Erotic Drum Band track the other day , you may also enjoy this new remix of Franz Ferdinand by those Optimo kids (!). The 'Franz Ferdinand do Giorgio' at the beginning slowly morphs into a proper Italo groove... and to be honest I think this should have been the sign for Alex Kapranos to politely leave the song. But just when the groove gets going you get a slightly uncomfortably fitting verse and the mix seems to lose its way a little from that point on. Love the 'Aaah-Aaah's' and the chorus, but they should have left it at that. Maybe a dub version will be forthcoming?

Nearly Brilliant.

FRANZ FERDINAND - THE OUTSIDERS (OPTIMO REFREAK)


Ping Pong, or Table Tennis as it should rightfully be called, is a fucking great game. There is no greater accompaniment to beer & spliff than the heady mix of concentration, skill and violence involved in smacking that little ball over that little net. And no greater feeling than landing an unplayable smash down your opponent's throat.

It is also the sport that my supremely excellent (but impossible to keep white) trainers were supposedly designed for.



The rhythm of the ball sounds fantastic when you get a rally going. And that's what's been used as the basis for this appealingly filthy remix by Ed Banger midfield general Vicarious Bliss. That's not filthy as in Patpong Ping Pong, but filthy as in squelchy dirty.

The record comes out in a couple of weeks on Rob Da Bank's Sunday Best label. Keep your eyes out for it...

DAISY DAISY - PING PONG (VICARIOUS BLISS)

Want to hear the original mix? Well you can watch the quicktime video here ... my final proof that Table Tennis is sexy!

Long time readers will know how much I love the Kitsune label. And this is the b-side to their new single release. Palermo Disko Machine are one half of Digitalism, and this is as good as anything they've produced under that name.

I got things to do, so I may have to cut the words short.

You have all the infos you need already.

Kitsune. Digitalism. Two thumbs up from Monsieur Headphonesex.

The verdict? TUNE! Use it wisely though... there could be casualties if deployed on an unsuspecting danceflloor.

PALERMO DISKO MACHINE - PUMP

New Banksy 'Exhibit'

There's a melted phonebox by him on sale for £50,000 at Lazinc at the moment, so if you're near Soho Square right now with a van and some mates......


EDIT: Apparently some thieving c*nts have nicked it already

Get It Anyway You Want It

I thought it was about time I pointed you in the direction of some funky jams recently posted on other blogs. There are many things I don't do enough of, but one of them is to give shout outs to other sites I enjoy. (Yes another is to sort my own site out so that my links bar doesn't jump to the bottom of the screen in Internet Explorer. One day, One day. The lesson is: Use Firefox!)

I wish I could hear everything I wanted, but there seems to be so much music out there and so little time. Also so many of the newer blogs seem to be using YSI and the like to host files. Maybe i've become super lazy or something, but come on guys, I want my kicks in less than 3 clicks!

Like I say, there are so many sites springing up at the moment that it's a bit overwhelming trying to listen to everything you want to. When this mp3 blog game started, I was able to listen to most interesting-sounding things from the 10 or so sites around - and managed to find some real gems as a result. Now with so much choice I must admit I tend to play a bit safer with my selections, since I barely have time to hear the stuff I want to listen to, let alone anything on the off-chance. There must be scope for a site out there hand-picking the best tracks from the numerous blogs? The aggregators at the moment tend to blindly select everything posted with no kind of quality control.

Anyway, I digress.

If you've not yet heard it, Disco Not Disco has the DFA-esque Erol Alkan mix of Hot Chip. The quality doesn't sound too hot, so I suspect it may have been ripped from myspace. However it should be enough to tide you over. Plus if you've not heard his classic Trash-rocking mix of DFA (the 1979 version) then you should definitely prick up your ears at that also.

Head to XXJFG for the excellent Boys Noize remix of I-Robots. And the new single from Brighton's krautrock kings Fujiya & Miyagi

The epic mix produced by the Skull Juice fellas is well worth a listen. Those boys have squeezed a hella lotta (excellent) records into one tiny hour. Move over 2 many dj's!

And check out Sunny's disco tracks from a couple of days back. A new Digitalism remix, and a superb Moroder / Cowbell / Samba number by 'The Erotic Drum Band' that i've really been digging.


There'll be some great new disco hits from me tomorrow....

All The Kids Are Cool

I was sent a CD last week that really grabbed my attention due to some truly exquisite packaging. As well as a beautifully embossed sleeve, the plush silver envelope contained a beautiful hand stamped print and a touching little note.



Well I had to slip this lovely thing in the CD player... only to find ***OMG!*** SINGER SONGWRITER ALERT!***. Well if there's one thing I hate it's angsty singer / songwriters armed with acoustic guitars and reams of faux-meaningful lyrics.

I guess the problem is that I usually listen on a musical rather than lyrical level, and apart from geniuses such as Morrissey, Jarvis Cocker, Paul Smith & Eddie Argos, if i'm honest with you I rarely manage to work out what (if anything) songs are all about. And in this oevre, if you take away the lyrics you're usually left with someone twanging an acoustic guitar over a tepid drum beat.

Now i'm not going to make any grand claims for Richard McGraw's lyrical genius. Although the words sound great, to be honest with you after 3 or 4 listens to the album I couldn't tell you what many of the songs are about other than he's pretty unhappy.

But strangely, I really really liked this from the start, and was quickly sucked into his tales of mortality and memorial. For Richard McGraw, for that is he, has got the blues. And a voice to match. Either he's spent the majority of his 28 years staring into an empty whiskey glass, or he needs to get some throat sweets.

The packaging also gives the impression of some long lost blues recording... as if the etchings on the sleeve are the only remaining representations of some mystical Robert Johnson-type figure.



Remarkably, all the tracks on the album were recorded in one or two takes. Especially remarkable when you consider the range of instruments used here: Wurlitzer; Hammond; Tuba; Accordian; Trumpet; The Gay Men's Choir of Newburgh! After that the money ran out... but from the sound of the record that's no bad thing. With unlimited funds the temptation can be to fiddle and tweak the life out of a recording until you're left with over-produced garbage.

The best track isn't really representative of the rest of the record, with it's jaunty Belle & Sebastian vibe. However you will find yourself whistling along from the first bar. Seemingly about a drunken high school shag that meant nothing to Natasha, but about which the protagonist still dreams many years later. (You see... I can attempt this lyrical analysis lark!), it's none the less pretty poptastic. After all, Matthew Fluxblog posted it up!

RICHARD McGRAW - NATASHA IN HIGH SCHOOL

It was pretty hard to decide on another track to post, since they're all excellent. However after careful deliberation I think this is my other favourite

RICHARD McGRAW - ARE YOU STILL

It's like the Tindersticks on 20 B&H a day instead of 80.

So in a just world, this guy would be selling millions of albums instead of James Blunt, David Gray and the like. Maybe you could make your little contribution by buying it. However it doesn't seem as if it's that widely available. If you're in the states then CDBaby looks like your best bet.

I am now contractually obliged by Rupert Murdoch to point you towards his myspace page where you can listen to some other songs. Album opener 'Butter Hill' is also highly recommended. Well, as are the other two in fact. Yeah I really like this, and I hope it gets the success it deserves.