can't dance, won't dance

IFEEL 012

2011-01-19T21:50:00.003Z

when you're a nobody like me it's a privilege to receive free music from a record label. i've just had the pleasure of hearing the next international feel release and it's fantastic. i've said it before and i'll say it again, i'll never review anything on here that i don't like. it just happens that the stuff this label are putting out ticks all the boxes in my head. the track in question is "the goddess" by bubble club. it's making me think of summer already. no soundclips just yet but i'm sure they'll appear on the soundcloud page soon. out on the 7th march in physical format with digital to follow.

"it's that man again..."

2011-01-18T22:17:00.004Z

i've been busy, mostly doing nothing, but thought i'd fill you in on a few things you probably know already. out on february 14th, it's the latest release by locussolus on international feel records. i got this in december and it's really grown on me. a double header of "i want it" and "next to you", with vocals by harvey. check out the clips here. i forgot to blog about international feel's previous release by maxxi & zeus. that's ace too, especially the "mz medley". do yourself a favour and buy 'em both.

hope you all got the mark seven triple cd pack from ln-cc, along with a t-shirt. if you didn't then it's too late. i'm looking forward to the new claremont 56 "originals" cd by felix dickinson. there's normally between 800 and 1000 of these, so get one sharpish. it's release number 5 in the series and mudd says there's only going to be 10. sean p will have a second volume at some point as he has so many secret weapons he wants to share.

i finally managed to blag a copier/scanner as well. it's not the best but it was free, so thank you dave! this will enable me to show you some magazine pages and anything else i can think of. talking of mags, hopefully you picked up the latest faith strobelight honey. there's excellent interviews with lil louis, andy hernandez (coati mundi), harvey and a real eye opener from fat tony. there's lots more too. it's certainly one of the best mags out there, and it's free!

"blankety blank, blankety blank..."

2010-10-29T14:28:00.004+01:00

here's something i should have bought earlier in the year, but managed to find it second hand and in mint condition last week for £3. i didn't know whether to post it here or in mouldy disco, ie. it's not new but it's not old either. however, it is a fantastic compilation and i suggest you buy it.

stealing is believing *sampler

2010-10-29T13:36:00.011+01:00

of all the edit(or)s out there i find these releases to be consistently the best. the popular people's front have been putting stuff out in wonderful sleeves since 2004. they're made up of leo zero (who also does the artwork), chris duckenfield and bill brewster. they seem to take the best bits of tracks and weld them into something new, rather than just looping a classic disco record (which a lot of lazy edits do). available at juno and piccadilly. i should have posted this 2 weeks ago because most places have sold out now. piccadilly also had limited quantities of "back to back" from 2005. seems they've gone too. sorry.

double bubble

2010-10-19T22:58:00.006+01:00

some of those kids at oki-ni (a constant source of amusement) have jumped ship and opened ln-cc. they sell some crazy looking clothes for big bucks, and also records and books. they've hooked up with international feel to produce a t-shirt that comes with the label's first cd. there are a couple of exclusives amongst the 9 tracks (10, if you include the interlude) and it all comes in a box with some friendship bracelets, but i'm not a hippy so i chucked them away. if you don't want a t-shirt the cd is available on it's own. you can also get it from juno/piccadilly/phonica.

"I love my baby, want to play with you..."

2010-09-24T22:33:00.008+01:00

this is brilliant and has a limited vinyl run (only 300). you can hear the a-side on his myspace page, along with some of his other tracks. the real gems are on the b-side and you can hear soundclips at the usual suspects. "sayonara robot" is the stand out track for me.

R.E.R.B.

2010-09-22T22:35:00.009+01:00

when i first saw this for sale at juno i thought it must be a bootleg. y'know, someone trying to cash in on some new romantic nostalgia. thankfully it's legitimate, and not only do you get the original but a 2010 update as well (which is superb). if you're interested, there's a fantastic rusty egan interview on finn johannsen's site. check out the soundclips, read the interview and then buy the record. easy.

Adventures In Disco

2010-08-31T12:55:00.026+01:00

i was contacted recently by andrew morrison (aka Adventures In Disco) who gave me a link to his mixes. he wanted me to listen to "we live in slow motion" but i ended up listening to the lot. my favourite is "into the night". i get sent things from time to time but will only tell you about them if i like them myself. i was impressed enough to ask him a few questions before posting a link. dance music can be quite faceless so i like to know a bit about the people who are actually getting out there and making a difference. he didn't send a picture so i imagine he's either very ugly or very handsome (and modest about it). i started by asking him why his mixes are so short, how old he is and (in true "smash hits" style) what his favourite colour is.

"my mixes are a bit on the short side but I figured people would be more likely to listen if they were 30-40 minutes rather than an hour or more. I'm going to start doing longer mixes now that I'm getting a bit more of a following. I'm 29 and I've been DJing for about eight years, mixing various genres, mainly for my own amusement. Then about two years ago I heard the Aeroplane remix of Grace Jones and that got me hooked on all things disco. Since then I've started taking my DJing a bit more seriously and at the end of 2009 I came up with Adventures In Disco and started putting together mixes and posting them on Soundcloud.

I've only had a couple of gigs so far but I'm hopefully going to be doing a lot more over the next few months. I've not done any edits yet as I've been concentrating on getting mixes out but it's definitely something that I want to get involved with. I've already got a couple of tracks ear-marked, just need to find the time to do it! Previously I was mixing with vinyl but I've started using a Tonium Pacemaker now, which seems to annoys some of the purists but it's just so much easier having all my music at the touch of a button. My favourite colour is blue and my favourite tune at the moment is Mark E - You (Full Vocal Mix)."

check out andrew's mixes here. he's also on myspace. for a full tracklist click on the mix title at either site.

"now boy, that is a chicken"

2010-08-23T07:31:00.005+01:00

juno had a sale recently, and i got the entire black cock back catalogue which (i think) juno re-pressed in 2009. there have been bootlegs of this edit series but these are official re-releases. it is a sort of grey area though because the originals and re-presses are themselves unofficial. anyway, each title was £1.40 and i'd have been foolish not to get the lot. other people thought the same too, as all 7 records were the best sellers that week. they put the price back up a couple of days later so i'm afraid you've missed out. the original pressings came out in the 90's and in recent years have sold for more than a few quid. anything with a harvey connection can get some people hysterical and cause others to think "so what?". i make no apologies for buying these records because they were a bargain and they're bloody good.

"it's alright..."

2010-08-19T23:20:00.003+01:00

this record is more than alright, it's fucking ace! house music is alive and well at smackhead towers. this is another reissue from clone classic cuts who deserve big props for putting out rare stuff and paying the original artist (bootleggers take note). if you click on the link you'll see the vocal version is available too, but thankfully the b-side on this copy is a 2010 update by steve summers (who i've never heard of before) who gives us a proper sleazyjackinacid mix. the original was only ever on a white label, but now you have a chance to own it.

"third time lucky"

2010-08-19T23:16:00.007+01:00

i've already bought this tune twice (in re-edited form) on the z records "back street brit funk" comp that came out a couple of months ago. if you follow this blog you'll know what i'm talking about. if it's your first time here just scroll back a few posts. this is a remastered reissue on the dutch kindred spirits label. it's the first in a series of 12"s they'll be releasing of deep disco and boogie rarities. the b-side is razzmatazz "set it out" which is dope as well. original copies of the china burton track go for a small fortune but keep looking, because someone on djhistory found one in a chazzer not long ago for 10p! the record sleeve artwork is beautiful and harks back to the disco bags of days gone by. one fella who's got a hand in all this is zaf who (i think) used to work in a 2nd hand record shop with sean p. what those two don't know about disco and boogie ain't worth knowing. anyway, this is another (allegedly) limited release so get it or regret it.

"the first booth was like a space helmet..."

2010-08-12T16:57:00.009+01:00

djhistory.com have a new book out. loads of interviews with djs from the past and present. if you pre-ordered from the site you'll have received a free cd of the francis grasso interview which is interspersed with some of francis' fave records. it's £16.95 with free p&p in the u.k. (or £5 postage r.o.w.). on sale everywhere from august 30th.

"i'm looking...for some loving"

2010-08-09T22:03:00.005+01:00

at least that's what i think he sings. he being harvey. after a whistle stop tour of japan and europe he releases his new locussolus record through international feel. "tan sedan" contains those lyrics (which are the only lyrics). some people aren't into it...yet. believe me when i tell you it's a grower. the flip side is "throwdown" where harvey sings over a chilled b******c style track with guitars'n'stuff. both tunes are killers and will be played by me long after this weeks edits/re-edits/bootlegs have been forgotten about. there's also "throwdown (bass & beats)", which is only available on the digital release. the vinyl is out on september 20th (digital some weeks later) with the usual high quality pressing and artwork. get those pre-orders in now!

"you'll like this, not a lot...but you'll like it"

2010-07-21T16:13:00.005+01:00

another edit 12", just what the world needs (you think sarcastically). hang on a minute though, this contains something i've never heard before. the dj steef track ,"black savates", is black sabbath's "planet caravan" and it's a monster. the coyote edit of "you might need somebody" is nice as well. the b-side ain't up to much (in my opinion). richard t. bear should be left alone. there i said it. available blah, blah, blah.

"don't you see, you break my heart..."

2010-07-06T22:14:00.002+01:00

the sound of summer. 700 copies only. buy one before it's too late.

"let's get down..."

2010-06-22T20:06:00.003+01:00

out this week on vinyl. 2 sides of aceness. swept away is house music. pillow talk is boogie style stuff. available from the usual suspects. nuff said. just buy it.

"i'm just moving on my own..."

2010-05-24T22:53:00.006+01:00

don't be thinking that just because people send me stuff i'll review it no matter what. my standards are pretty high so i have to like the stuff i post about. the next release from international feel records is right up my street and it lands on june 14th. "moving" is by coyote a.k.a. timm sure and ampo of is it balearic recordings. apparently they met in nottingham moons ago and the track is inspired by the house sound graeme park championed. the piano line sounds a little like cut the q "crackdown" (parkside mix), so i can hear the influence straight away. it's a great house track with subtle changes all the way through. you also get a storming still going remix which builds and drops, builds and drops, builds and drops with a nagging synth line. top stuff. last but not least is a coyote remix of international peoples gang's "second" which is a stunning late night/early morning number. as ever, there's hand produced sleeve work and it comes on 180g vinyl. digital files will follow a few weeks later. roll on the next release.

"you would hear our music everywhere, uptown and down"

2010-05-18T17:54:00.003+01:00

peter brown said that. he was one half of p&p records along with super producer patrick adams. i bought this cd after finding volume 2 second hand a few days ago. the first volume is equally as good and the best thing is the price. £6 inc p&p (no pun intended) from juno. john mccready, in his sleevenotes, says "it is simply criminal that this music is not up there with the often cited classics of the salsoul, west end and prelude cannons. track after track will stun you into silence". i must admit to not knowing about p&p records until recently but wish i'd found out years ago because original 12"s are now really expensive. i looked up the prices of available records and they match the second volume. this compilation is stunning. i urge you to get both copies...and save yourself $4000!

"Backstreet's back...alright!" - part 2

2010-05-15T14:53:00.005+01:00

there's a 4-track vinyl sampler to accompany the cd mentioned a few posts ago. available everywhere right now. worth it for the china burton track alone, even if it is an edit. i got mine from z records for £7 (inc p&p).

"...nice"

2010-05-12T20:56:00.010+01:00

i came home to find another fantastic record had arrived. i'd never heard of this artist either but anything harvey related was bound to turn up on djhistory. it's only available direct from the u.s.a. at the moment but hopefully that'll change, because it was quite expensive. you can buy it here and it'll come in a strong mailer. the edit isn't much different to the original. okay, it's sounds a little like a.w.b.'s "pick up the pieces" in places but who cares? not me. funky as fuck and then some. the b-side isn't bad either. comes with a daft little dj tool at the end of each side and some artwork. what are you waiting for? click the link now.

"...love will save the day"

2010-05-11T22:07:00.002+01:00

kaine & kathy diamond + a real song = stunning record.

buy it now.

"if everyone's sitting comfortably..."

2010-05-02T17:32:00.004+01:00

...then i'll begin. or rather james holroyd will as he's responsible for this beauty. it's been described as "the musical equivalent of feeling the sun on your face, the crashing of waves on the warm breeze and sand between your toes." couldn't have put it better myself. available from the usual suspects right now, but i got mine here.

"Backstreet's back...alright!"

2010-04-28T19:37:00.011+01:00

no, not them! i'm referring to this fantastic cd just released by joey negro's z records. 2 discs of unmixed brit funk goodness. available everywhere soon or you can get it direct from z records for £10.49 (delivered). there's a few bits of jazz noodling on there but on the whole it's ace. worth it for the china burton, 52nd street, mbt and intrigue tracks alone. what are you waiting for? get it ordered now!

"chill, winston..."

2010-04-18T22:27:00.010+01:00

i somehow managed to blag my way on to the International Feel promo list a few weeks ago. they're a fairly new label based in uruguay and run by a guy called mark (who is not from uruguay). the emphasis is on quality music, on limited 180g vinyl, in a hand finished sleeve. i don't know what mark did in the past but he's managed to get the likes of harvey and daniele baldelli to do stuff for him. international feel also do limited run edits on the Efeel label. anyway, the next release is by maxxi & zeus. never heard of them? well, if i mention quiet village (a.k.a. matt edwards and joel martin) then you know it'll be good. both tracks could be labelled ambient and it would be foolish to say otherwise. so what if it's all wave noises, gentle percussion and some fella rambling on about life (the struggle) or bird noises, bell chimes, acoustic guitar and wailing (the cell). it's a very brave release and actually quite good. the release date is may 24th and i'm sure it'll be available from the usual suspects. the digital files are normally released some time after the vinyl, so don't fret if you use cdj's or a laptop.

"read all about it!"

2010-04-18T00:13:00.010+01:00

the new issue of faith is on the streets. grab a copy now at various places in london, get it sent with your orders from juno and phonica or get details of mail order here. there's a great mike pickering interview, as well as levon vincent and dave rodigan (who i'd never heard of, but is a fascinating bloke). loads more in there too.

"you got the love..."

2010-04-13T23:52:00.004+01:00

you need this record in your life. that's official because i say so. listen to it here. then buy the record. available from all the usual suspects (links on the right hand side of this page). "proper feel good vibes" is how someone else described it and i agree. i don't listen to much new house anymore, but now and again a track comes along that everyone talks about. this is one of those tracks. i'm telling you, just fuck off to that soundcloud link if you don't believe me! if you're still here let me tell you about my week. bloody awful! i've had a heavy cold and it's been bills, bills, bills. leccy/gas, poll tax and water rates. me and her have shelled out £900 this week. nine hundred pounds. just reading it makes me angry. so who am i gonna vote for? which ever cunt can get the bills down. so that'll be none of them...probably. still cursing myself i never got a picture of that other rich fella in a big posh car with a daft plate. it's a silver porsche 911, drives around sunningdale and has HOT 453X as it's registration plate. he's turned the 3 around. that's right, HOT 4 5EX. send me a pic if you see him.

"a change is as good as a rest"

2010-03-29T23:58:00.008+01:00

i've decided to do something new (or old). i'm gonna keep this site for new stuff and use this for old stuff. that's a genuine plate by the way. you can see it driving around guildford.

"when the chimes end...just try me."

2009-08-26T18:56:00.023+01:00

just a quick mention for a new book published by the djhistory people. it contains all the boy's own fanzines. i always thought there were loads of them but it turns out there were only 12. i've never seen a copy myself but i'm really looking forward to this. i was lucky enough to see a mock up of the book a few weeks ago and it's proper coffee table material, ie. it's big. £24.95 seems a snip and if you pre-order on the djhistory site you'll get a free 7" record of bocca juniors "raise". you know, the one with the piano lifted from thrashing doves "jesus on the payroll".

"watch the skies...keep looking"

2009-08-25T18:12:00.017+01:00

now and again i hear something that makes me realise i know nothing about music at all (even though i've been buying records for 30 years). the little package in the picture makes me want to throw all my records out and start again. it hasn't been off my stereo (house and car) since i got it last week. it came out in 2007 and is a double cd and book. one cd is mixed and the other is edits of the mixed tracks. some tracks are played fast, others are played slow. it is unbelievably good.

available all over the place but i got mine delivered for £15 from amazon marketplace. what are you waiting for? go and buy it now!

"this is what they want!"

2009-08-09T13:10:00.018+01:00

just a quick one today because the weather is too nice to be indoors. i was lucky enough to get one of these recently. if you didn't get one don't worry because lexx (over at the djhistory forum) was kind enough to upload the mixes for all to enjoy. if you're aware of mark seven you'll know what to expect (if you're not you're in for a treat). loads of records you've never heard before, great mixing and...no tracklist (but that's half the fun). the trainspotters over at djhistory are trying to fill in the gaps, why not help them?

part 1

part 2

part 3

"...and the sun is shining"

2009-08-07T23:41:00.019+01:00

now that's not the sort of post-it note you want to see first thing in the morning is it? it was attached to a cheque mrs s had left me. the other month she gave me a cheque and i didn't cash it straight away. so this month i'm under strict instructions to cash it a.s.a.p.

so what's new? apart from that ace raving '89 book i can tell you blogland is a poorer place. i haven't posted for ages (until the other day) and had a look at all the links on the right of this page. loads of people have chucked it in, so i deleted them and added a few new ones. more to come as and when i stumble across them. some of them had run their course and explained why they were stopping, but others had just stopped for no apparent reason. i suppose they could just be lazy bastards like me and might return, who knows?

i must admit i'm starting to like this new, shorter, format of cdwd because it means i can post more regularly. from time to time i may slip back to my old self but let's see how it goes. i've got the next post worked out in my head but it'll probably change. i want to base it on what happened that day or has happened that week...oh bollocks here we go again...i'll just do whatever comes into my head. i've got loads to talk about so keep 'em peeled.

it pissed down today (where i live and work) but eventually it cleared up just as i finished. the sun came out and i went into town and picked up some bargain records in the second hand shop. i bought some beers, watched some telly and then wrote this. so it turned out alright in the end.

"a picture can tell a thousand words"

2009-08-05T22:12:00.022+01:00

i was lucky enough to blag one of these this week. an absolutely fantastic book of photos and recollections of raving in 1989. to a northern lad like me it at first seemed "a bit london" but you soon forget and it takes you right back. in reality it doesn't matter where these photos were taken, anyone into that scene at the time can relate to them. ponytails, dungarees and massive mobile phones...they're all here. happy days! available from the djhistory website and i think it'll be in the shops too. £20 well spent. if you pre-order on the djhistory site you'll get a mix cd as well.

while you're there check out the disco files book. i can't tell you how ace this book is. a snapshot of disco as it happened. £20 as well. so that's forty quid, but what the hell? stay in this weekend and enjoy something that'll last a lot longer than a gram of charlie.

"what have i, what have i, what have i done to deserve this?"

2009-02-19T20:27:00.016Z

jesus fuck! we're all doomed if you believe any of the news recently. gloom, gloom and more gloom. job losses, debt, the taliban getting stronger and you know who has the big c. ffs don't watch the telly, it'll ruin your weekend. to top it all phonica believe we want to spunk £30 on a range of t-shirts it's just got in. phew, don't they know we're all skint? alright calm down, sit on the ground with your head between your legs and breathe deeply. is it working? no didn't think so. one of my old p.e. teachers used to say this to us when we got a stitch after a cross country run. mr french was his name and he used to wear the tightest trackie bottoms and drive a mk1 ford xr2. wonder what he's doing now? probably not reading the hottest blog around...and neither are you! ha, ha. just realised how stupid laughter looks in print. doh! so where was i...? ah yes, did you watch the brits last night? i watched the start and dipped in and out through the night. u2 were ordinary, i'm not "feeling" the new single. it could be any rock song by any rock band. duffy's voice makes my shit itch. take that were miming, and as for those two fellas off gavin and stacey...fuck right off the pair of you! i love their show, but presenters they are not. lifetime achievement award went to pet shop boys. i love psb. always have, always will. end of.

i post irregularly but somehow i end up getting nice people to send me music. probably a combination of my boyish charm and good looks. ha, ha. doh, done it again. honestly though, i will only review stuff i like and it just happens that electric minds are releasing the afrobutt album "wonderbutt" next week. i listened to it with mrs s in the room and some of her comments were priceless. "this is going out music", "...it's a bit formulaic" and "ooh, i like this one". well, what does she know? i'll tell you what i know. this is chock full of tunes that are funky and will get girls dancing. as we all know that is the first rule of dj'ing. highlights for me are "kali dreams", "torro de butt", "the taste", "disco mudma" and "wunderbutt". all in all a great package and did i mention steve kotey is behind it? well you know what to do. available from most of the rekiad stores on the right hand side of my page or the electric minds site (and no, i'm not on commission). check out sound files in the afrobutt link above.

"i like that...turn it up."

2009-01-09T21:49:00.019Z

whoa! control yourselves! it's true! loud e has an edits compilation coming out on cd on the 23rd january. those lovely people over at electric minds have given me a sneak preview and i love it! for those not familiar with loud e i'd better explain. a few years back i was looking for i-f's "mixed in the hague" cd. also available on the cbs site were some mix cds by loud e. a quick google of his name informed me about some dutch fella who took the best parts from dodgy disco records and edited them together to make "new" disco records. i was quite naughty and managed to find his mix cds on another blog site. needless to say i've been hooked ever since. he's had some vinyl releases recently and i've enjoyed most of them (especially the objects of desire records, "palaza break" on bigbear and "robolove" on ambassadors reception). this cd is in the same vein. after a few listens my favourites are "time machine", "oceans of loud", "blacksoul" and "granada nights". the whole album is some sort of crazy disco shit that could have been played 30 years ago but still sounds ace today. if you click on the ambassadors reception link (above) you'll be able to sample what goes on in the head of loud e. you can also head over here to check out sound files of all the tracks. most of the usual suspects are all over this (idjuts, faze action), so don't say i didn't tell you so. it'll be available from most of the better record stores (check the "buy records here" section on the right of this page).

anyway, let me tell you about my week. it was bloody freezing and i was working outside! i had a little cold beforehand but it got worse as the week went on. i think it's gone now but next time i'll wear the long johns that mrs s bought me from primark (honestly). it was hard getting back into "work" mode after being off for xmas. i used to work in retail and only got xmas day off so to have ten days off is a bonus (hurrah!). i still haven't sorted my end of year chart yet but i'm sure it'll turn up sooner or later.

"life moves pretty fast. if you don't stop and take a look around once in a while...you might miss it."

2009-01-02T22:54:00.018Z

i thought i'd make one of my ma's cats the star of this post. his name is chaplin and he's as quiet as a mouse (which helps, as he likes them). i went home for xmas to see my ma, her ma, her dad and stepmum, and also found time to spend new year with some pals i hadn't seen in ages. being a silly sausage for many years has meant i've lost contact with loads of people. well, in 2009 that's all gonna change. i'm gonna clock up some miles this year and knock on a few doors. life is too short etc, etc.

i suppose i should be giving you lot my end of year chart. it isn't compiled yet, so give me a few days. i definitely have a number one, but the rest of the top 5 or top 10 is undecided. lots of hot tunes were released, but i didn't buy many new tracks. in case you're worried i'm ill i did buy a shed load of second hand vinyl and cds (but your concern is appreciated). what will 2009 bring us? not sure yet, but hopefully many more tunes from people who are talented and don't feel the need to follow trends. keep on keepin' on i say. i don't know if i can keep up the rigid style of my postings, so i'll just wing it as i go along. is that okay? nice one, thanks for looking in.

"can't take the smell, can't take the noise..."

2008-11-05T21:33:00.012Z

has that been two weeks already? i was going to do something last week but the mum of mrs s came to stay. pipe down at the back, it wasn't all that bad. she's alright actually and i think she appreciates that i'm myself when she's around. i burp, fart and swear in her company and she doesn't seem to mind. mrs s, however, is mortified by my behaviour. ah well, that's life. i cooked a few meals during her stay (i do ALL the cooking at smackhead towers, and i ain't bad either. yes i can do roast potatoes and make my own bread). on saturday night we went out for dinner to a little place mrs s had been to a few weeks earlier with her pals.

http://www.barley-mow.com/

the place was criminally empty, a result of the recent economic downturn according to the manager. what a shame. great food (i had duck) and some great real ales on draught (london pride and black sheep...mmmmmmm). anyway, if you're ever in the area drop in. i might make my eating out recommendations a regular part of cdwd, and then you too can have a gut as big as mine! talking of economic slowdowns, i hope all your jobs are safe. these are worrying times. i work in the construction industry and a few weeks ago we were scratching our arses. luckily this week a load of stuff has come through from our contract work. so fingers crossed, happy days.

the u.s. elections are finally over, thank god! i could never see why the british media thought it so important to give me eleven months of election coverage. i'm interested in the result but not the bullshit that precedes it. i'd love to say the best man won but only history will tell. the poor bastard inherits two wars and a fucking huge economy in trouble.

"3, 2, 1...and you're back in the room."

2008-10-21T19:41:00.014+01:00

jeez, where the hell have i been? here, there and everywhere (probably). well i'm back whether you like it or not. finally got myself a digital camera and a soundcard (all i need now are some leads). so on with the show...

i had a family bereavement earlier in the year and then i moved house and then my broadband connection was all fucked up, so that's where i've been. since then i'm enjoying life in a bigger house with a garden (hurrah). the tunes are still coming into smackhead towers at a decent rate so don't fret. most of the stuff i've been buying has been 2nd hand. any new stuff is mostly re-issues/bootlegs or edits. i've kept all the new stuff in a separate box to make the end of year chart easier to compile. it'll be dead easy because i've bought fuck all new stuff!

it comes down to economics and common sense. gone are the days when i would journey into town to check all the new releases and spend a chunk of change on records. over the following months i would listen to a few and forget about the rest. after a few years those forgotten records build up and before you know it your mates have a house and a nice car and you don't! so now i buy quality not quantity, and it's not as though i play out any more (i used to dj at a local nightspot in my home town, but that's another post for the future). so looking in my box for this year there can't be more than 30 records. in the past i'd have that in a fortnight. by the year end i don't expect to have more than 50. the box was a bargain though, it's one of those pro box copies and i got it for a fiver. only trouble is it has curved edges and bends your records. can't believe they were so popular some years back.

if i take a step back and look at the wider world a couple of bent records is nothing compared to the problems some are having. credit crunch this, credit crunch that. war. genocide. zimbabwe. then last night a family of six, including four children, killed in an accident on the M6. sad times all round...

"no way to control it..."

2008-02-10T19:25:00.002Z

so all the old prog tracks have been sorted. now i'm going through the rest of my stuff. there's all manner of shit to be slung out. madonna 12"s (not the good ones), "best of..." compilations and shite house records i should never have bought. it's all starting to pile up now and is sitting in the garage ready to be shifted. it was all going to the 2nd hand shop but some of the stuff is worth a little bit of money so i may have a dabble on discogs/e-bay. i wasn't arsed at first but what the hell? if it doesn't shift after a few weeks it'll be back to the original idea. but enough of my hair brained get rich quick schemes (as if) and on with the show.

i was in reading today. she got a sat nav the other week and i told her it was bluetooth compatible. it wasn't, cue a bollocking for me. funniest thing was that she didn't realise her cigarette lighter didn't work and the thing ran out of power on her first journey (to somewhere she'd never been before. so confident was she of it's skills that she left her road atlas at home). heh, heh. so today we went back and swapped it for a hands free bluetooth version. sorted. say what you like about john lewis (a chain of huge department stores in the u.k., for the benefit of my foreign fans) but they are the shit. they've got everything and customer service is second to none. recently voted the nation's favourite retailer. FACT. but... reading has got fuck all else to shout about. it's the same old shopping experience as most other large towns (or is it a city?). if anyone knows of a decent 2nd hand record shop (or new for that matter) in reading please tell me.

"dee, dah, dah, dah, dee, dah, dah, dah, dar...etc"

2008-02-04T22:54:00.001Z

3 weeks! so where have i been? in the spare room sorting through loads of boring 90's prog records (well someone had to do it). they weren't going to sort themselves, and my dad wasn't going to do it. if i had the money again i could have had a nice car by now. 500 x £5-7 could have got me something better than the n-reg golf i'm currently driving. mind you i nearly didn't have it or my life this afternoon. if you were driving towards hindhead on the A30 about 3.45 this afternoon and saw a red car coming in the opposite direction (going too fast) going around THAT bend and losing it...it was me. luckily there was no-one behind or to the side of me so i was lucky not to injure anyone else. it sure beats any fairground ride i've been on! the side of the car is fucked (thank god for the central reservation barrier) and only my pride is hurt. surely the signs saying "SLOW DOWN" and "35 MPH" and the big black & white arrows should have given it away. stupid thing is, i drove up the road in the morning and said to myself "ivan, you need to remember that on the way back". prick.

so where were we? ah, yes. clearing stuff out has been quite therapeutic for my soul. getting rid of the shite music demons that once clouded my judgement. i went through all my old vhs cassettes too (remember them kids ?), loads of absolute bollocks in there too (breakdance, predator 2, mall rats, to name but three...). so i've got loads of space now to buy them again on dvd! (probably)
i was in a charity shop t'other day and i swear someone had broken into my house and ran up the street and dumped the records i was getting rid of in the shop. there were 3 boxes on the floor and assorted plebs going through the tunes. one guy was after "prog breaks" and some woman (who stank of ale) was after "funky house". i told both of them that i had a shit load of the stuff to collect at my house and they weren't interested! probably thought i was some sort of weirdo who hung around charity shops winding people up.

"deep, deep inside, deep, deep down inside..."

2008-01-13T20:16:00.001Z

the last couple of days have seen me going through piles of records i no longer want. stuff i bought between the late 90's and early 00's. i used to buy a lot of progressive house and (ssssh, don't tell anyone...trance). i'd always bought (what i considered) great house/techno/hip-hop but with the drugs available at the time prog/trance just seemed to sound great. totally buzzing my nut off to these tracks just seemed to make sense. we'd go out to a club, come back and carry on taking pills whilst playing these tracks in the background. one of the lad's used to throw great parties and him, me and another lad would play the tunes. fucking great times ! it's all in the past now and i know it'll never be like that again. we're either married, got kids, moved away or just don't fancy drugs anymore...

so now i'm left with all these records i don't like. i must have liked them at the time but listening to some of them now, 12, 10, 8, 6 years later some of them are complete and utter garbage. ah well, i suppose it'll leave me more room for some great new records ! by the time i've finished the clearout i reckon i'll be taking about five hundred shit records to the second hand shop. i've talked to the bloke at the shop and explained i don't want any money, i just want rid. he's happy to oblige. best of all my dad's happy after i cleared a load from his house, "that ceiling's going to come through one day" he used to say. mrs smackhead is also happy, the guest room has been my record room for too long (apparently). problem is, as soon as i'm clearing stuff out i'm getting new stuff in. i was down the second hand shop the other day and some fella dumped an ace disco collection, whilst another brought in his old house stuff. what is a record junkie to do ? you guessed it...

will smith can fuck off !

2008-01-05T00:04:00.001Z

2008 ! let's go...every blogger and his dog has done a chart so here's mine (all be it a little late, but who cares ?). okay, track wise my faves were:

1. still going - theme

2. unique 3 - theme (autechre remix)

3. whitest boy alive - 24k

4. holy ghost - hold on

5. gino soccio - love is (prince language re-edit)

most stuff at the cinema was shit, so let's not go there (ditto TV).

blog wise, american athlete was a worthy runner-up. the winner by a mile was the red room. i'm telling you, the guy knows his shit. links to both on the right. there are more good people who i must bring to your attention, so i'll be adding them to the joe bloggers list over the next week or so. i'm just gonna keep on doing what i'm doing - a picture, a track and some bollocks. you love it though don't you ? why else are you here ? certainly not for the latest tracks at 320kps that's for sure. if i was one of those blogs i'd be giving you hot chip's latest single ready for the floor. i've had it for a few months now but the guy who looks like brains from thunderbirds needs to eat. it's catchy as fuck by the way and is out in the u.k. on 28th january.

i had two weeks off over christmas and really chilled out. got pissed a few times but luckily stayed off the chocs and cake and lost half a stone (seven pounds to my american chums). i went home to see my parents and catch up with some old pals. it's weird, i spend all my time wanting to go back to my roots...but when i get there i realise i want to get away. it's not that i don't like my family and friends, more that it's never going to be how i remember it as a kid. ah well, i suppose my life isn't all bad. especially when you see the dreadful scenes occuring in kenya at the moment.

"christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat..."

2007-12-23T21:59:00.001Z

just a quick one tonight because "tis the season to be jolly", apparently. i don't know about you but i tend to be a bit "bah humbug" and then it hits me, and i enjoy it. don't know why, just been that way for a long time. i suppose i'm just a grumpy bastard at heart.

so what's been happening ? had my works do which was a great laugh, loads of booze ! i had to organise it too, so the fact it went well was a relief. got all the presents for christmas, got a decent tree (for once), the lights all worked and i'm off oop north to see my folks and mrs smackhead's folks too.

"faceless techno bollocks"

2007-12-18T22:49:00.002Z

i read the above quote in DJ mag years ago (when it was good). some plonker was deriding (sic) the coverage of some techno track that was big at the time. all hell broke loose in a tit-for-tat on the letters page. i was on the fence because i loved house and techno. i couldn't choose either way and i'm glad i didn't. but i do fight techno's corner when i can (strange, i remember my english teachers always saying you can't start a sentence with "but". they never explained why...). not to sure where i'm going with this so bare with me.

i've read my last post a few times and have to say i was a bit premature in saying there have been bugger all house tracks to excite me in the last few years. backfired by masters at work, champagne by motorfunk (which criminally gets 3/5 on discogs and goes for £1.99 !) and eurodans by todd terje are but three of many (now that i think about it). so there you go, i was wrong and you were probably right. house is a feeling (apparently), but so is techno in my book (more of that later). my last post was also a bit of a shambles in terms of presentation too. apologies for that. i'd only just realised how to highlight text. i tried it in the last post and it all went tits up. so i left it all in white. i think i've got the hang of it now...

if you're getting bored of me why not pop over to innersounds (link on the right) ? the guy who runs it sent out a set of questions to some of his favourite bloggers and the results can be seen in his brothers on the side posts. it's great to see (and read) the people behind these blogs because a lot of them inspired me. i'm sure if you're on the same wavelength as me you'll have been going to their blogs anyway, but it's nice to know a little bit more about them. you'll be able to read my answers in a few weeks because i'm a bit shy at the moment.

christ sakes, there's so much i want to talk about with regards to music and putting the world to rights but it'll have to wait. so for now...i believe techno does have soul (there, i said it). not necessarily the club bangers but the stuff you can listen to at home. the person who originally made the "faceless techno bollocks" insult can only have been listening to something loud and harsh in a club. there's so much more to it.

"do you remember house ?"

2007-12-10T22:21:00.000Z

i'll admit it's not the best picture of them. but then again it's all about the music, isn't it ? the title is from a blaze record from a few years back. y'know, one of them "it's not as good as it used to be" sort of records with a bloke going on about shelter this and sound factory that. i dig it out now and again when i get misty eyed about the old days...

it's one of the oldest arguements that rages on messageboards. is it as good as it used to be ? well frankly i don't care because if it was chances are i'd be totally skint and completely bollocksed (sic) all the time. my body wouldn't be able to take it and worse still i believe all the great records would have been made and there'd be nothing to look forward too. so now and again i listen to some old house stuff to see if it still stands up today. there's plenty that does and an awful lot that doesn't. thankfully i've got rid of most of my shit house records over the years and kept a few that still wiggle my toes.

those guys at the top wrote/produced some absolute killers that still sound good. here's one i found on youtube tonight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMn7ToUPizQ&feature=related

absolute belter ! i remember c j mackintosh playing it at cream one night (it was a ministry of sound tour). i'd only just bought it and to hear that voice and that bassline on a massive system was just brilliant. of course the pills helped, don't be so naive ! c j was one of my fave dj's at the time (suppose he still is) and to find out he was a nice person too made him double good in my book. (so where am i going with this ? not to sure really but that's half the fun.)

i always thought that i'd put up loads of house tracks when i got this whole blog thing going, but now i'm not so sure. a lot of my techno collection still sounds like it was made tomorrow, so there will be more of that to come. it takes a truly great house track to stand out these days because i've heard most if it before. the only house track that has had me spellbound this year is still going theme on dfa. i truly believe i'll still want to listen to it in 5 or 10 years time. i haven't been able to say that about a house record in years. strange thing is though, what i consider to be house and what others consider to be house are two entirely different things. but that's another post isn't it ?

so to tonight's track. of course it's not a masters at work record. keep up at the back ! tom middleton and mark pritchard have been churning out musical goodness for some years now. be it as global communication (deep house business) or chameleon (drum'n'bass) or one or two other aliases. tom produced the awesome summer in space and the "whistle on your way to work" plinky plonky hit take me with you as cosmos (the latter apparently written because his girlfriend had gone away for a few months working and he missed her, altogeth now...arrrrr). any way it started out as a b-side but sasha played it so much it became a hit. why they stuck a vocal on it i'll never know. they also did some electrofunk stuff too. even releasing an album of the stuff in 1996. there's a masters at work tribute track on it (got there in the end didn't i ?) that still makes me boogie around smackhead towers to this day, and here it is

jedi knights - one for m.a.w.

http://www.zshare.net/audio/552384815ce7d8/

scott and anita are getting married !

2007-12-05T10:26:00.001Z

just a quick one today, i'm off to ireland this afternoon (my mate scott is getting married to anita). so if anyone is in johnstownbridge, county kildare over the next 3 days you can buy me a drink.

i went to see CSS at brixton academy this week and they were ace ! they were supported by justice (and also another band but i got in fashionably late). crikey, justice were loud ! i can only describe them as like daft punk but without the tunes. a lot of people enjoyed them, so maybe i'm just getting old.

"can you imagine a world without sound ?"

2007-12-01T13:34:00.002Z

this week i've been trying to think of 3 records that i can put into a year end poll on my favourite messageboard. i'm struggling people ! i've mostly bought 2nd hand and re-issue stuff this year, and very little in the way of new stuff. there's been a lot of hyped stuff which just didn't do it for me and i've been searching the other blogs for inspiration. now some people can say what they like about blogs but for me they're better than any magazine for cutting through the bullshit. after all, no-one is gonna waste time posting something they don't like !

i think part of the problem has been the record stores taking any old shite in to stock and trying to pass it off as "cosmic" or "nu-disco" and "played by *insert name of current hot dj/edit meister*". there has to be some quality control at the record stores (i could say the same thing about download stores as well. i get e-mails saying "x amount of new tracks at beatport et al this week", but it's 99% guff anyway.) because i'm getting bored of trawling through all the new releases and not finding anything decent. i'd much rather the stores said "sorry guys, there's no new records this week because everything we've been sent is shit", than stock up on whatever they can get their hands on in order to make themselves look like a hot store. it's mostly the re-edit nonsense that needs to be knocked on the head. maybe if the stores took less off the distributors, less people would make them and only the cream would make it to sale. or am i being harsh on the creativity of others ? so here's hoping 2008 brings some more original material and less edits (if you do edits use your skills to make something original as well !).

okay, rant over. i've had a few kind words this week from other bloggers and it's given me the confidence to keep on doing what i'm doing ie. actually taking time to write something and posting tracks that mean something to me. i'd rather have a few people coming through and saying "hi", than 1000 people a day coming here for the new "justice" edit (site traffic was never the goal of starting a blog for me, although i was thinking of getting one of those site counter things but it'd probably be quite embarassing !). having said that i'm seeing "CSS" in brixton on monday night (dec 3) and "justice" are supporting. i suppose i'll be the only one there without one of those stupid haircuts that the styling gel adverts are convincing kids they should have. i'll be standing at the back somewhere because my brother and i are old and boring. if you see me (glasses and beer belly) mines a pint. cheers.

love is...

2007-11-22T20:28:00.002Z

i saw arthur lee playing in aylesbury a few years back. he was getting on, but fuck me he was brilliant ! one of my mates put me on to him some years back and i couldn't believe i'd never heard of him. he died not so long ago and i do feel lucky to have seen him live. he went off the rails in later life and even did a stint for armed robbery. they were one of the most influential bands ever but didn't sell that many records. tony wilson once said he didn't know anyone from merseyside who didn't own "forever changes".

but it's not a "love" track i'm posting. c'mon, y'know me by now...don't you ? i put up a picture and then go off somewhere else and then "bring it all back to you" (sorry S-Club 7...or had Paul left by then ?). today is all about love. s'right, L-O-V-E. i'm feeling good tonight, i've had a beer or two and just had my hair cut (for a wedding i'm going to in ireland, in december. he texted me the other day and wants me to read a passage during the service. not looking forward to that, but i can't let him down. he's an old pal from when i worked in liverpool, he met a girl when he was travelling and bingo ! a kid and then marriage ! all the best scott and anita, see you soon).

where was i ? oh yes, have you tried this ? load of bollocks really. i put in mrs smackhead's name and my full name and got 36%. i then shortened my name to how i'm commonly called and got 94%. try it and see what you get. good luck, and make sure your other half ain't looking !

http://www.lovecalculator.com/

where does the time go ?

2007-11-20T22:23:00.001Z

fuck me, a week or so has gone by already ! honestly, gang, i'm trying my hardest but this blogging shit is hard work. oh yeah ? why don't you have a go then ? anyway, since i last spoke to you the weather here in britain has turned really shitty. i've been working outside a bit recently and i've been getting soaked or cold or both ! my hands get cold really easily and the lads at work call me a big girl for wearing gloves. i've been wearing a woolly hat too...so fuck 'em !

back to the real shit...the picture above shouldn't get all the old ravers bouncing around because it ain't a bizarre inc tune i'm posting, no siree bob (as Rik once said in "The Young Ones"). there will be some old rave stuff soon, so watch out. fast forward a few years and two of the blokes from bizarre inc are turning out some "paradise garage soaked grooves" (as i saw them advertised in the virgin store in milton keynes. the buyer in the singles section there really knew his shit, simon was his name...i think. put me on to some great stuff with his hand written descriptions of records i'd never heard of. y'know, the white cards shoved in front of new releases to make you buy them). i digress, as usual, but isn't that why you come here ?

hello christine !

2007-11-11T21:40:00.001Z

may i just welcome my newest blog fan, christine. christine is mrs smackhead's sister and she lives in paris. mrs smackhead has been telling all her friends about this site but i get a little embarrassed as it's my little world where i say what i want. but then again maybe she's just trying to get more people to visit.

today was my 37th birthday and i got the "wildstyle" 25th anniversary dvd and charlie ahearn's sampler book of the film (he was the director). cracking stuff. anyone who likes this sort of thing should also get martha cooper's "the hip hop files" and "yes, yes, y'all" by charlie ahearn and jim fricke. i also got a jumper and some vouchers but they aren't as essential !

i went to the woking beer festival last night with my brother and got completely arseholed. smashing fun so i'll see you there next year. i didn't get up until 2 pm today and then went for a super meal in guildford at "chez gerard" (they're a chain). i had a tejine (a sort of moroccan stew) which was ace and snails in garlic butter...mmmmmmmm !

"working 9 to 5, what a way to make a livin'..."

2007-11-10T14:43:00.001Z

i've just been too tired to post for the last week, sorry about that. work has been busy, busy, busy. i can't complain really, i used to do something i didn't enjoy but now i do. i'm going to post more often i think but not rant on so much because that is the time consuming part. my typing is abysmal (one or two fingers at best). that is unless you want me to rant on...

checking out the competition this week i have concluded that american athlete is your one stop shop for goodies. some of the stuff he puts up is amazing, get over there after you've read my piece (link on right-hand side of page).

for those still reading, i thank you. for the benefit of those not familiar with blackstrobe my name is a play on words of ivan smagghe. french dude, ex of rough trade records in paris and all round great dj who plays sleazy drug music (as i call it). i happened upon his first (i think) mix cd called "how to kill the dj" (named after a night he played at in paris at "le pulp"). some of the tracks absolutely killed me. i mean it, there was stuff on there that made me excited about music again. at the time i was living in aylesbury and nothing really happens there and a shit vinyl section in hmv didn't help either. i didn't have a computer then, so looking for tracks was more difficult than it is now. i read about the cd and tracked it down using the computer in the library and ordered it from america (including p&p for less than £6 !). well it was fucking ace and still is. may i recommend his other mix cd's - "death disco" (eskimo), "suck my deck" (bugged out) and the one he did for fabric.

"she has a way...of getting what she wants"

2007-11-03T00:45:00.001Z

just a quick one tonight as i've agreed to do some overtime tomorrow morning (more money for booze and records/cd's).

i'm totally buzzing after finding something for bugger all in a 2nd hand shop. gino soccio's "closer" lp. there's a track on it called "love is" (a cover of a bill withers track, which i've never heard) which is just over 2 minutes long but is fucking brilliant. so brilliant in fact that prince language did an extended edit on "editions disco" records some months ago. he just took the original and made it last longer. "and what ?" you may ask. trust me just buy it. i can't believe gino didn't do a longer version in the first place but there you go. did i mention the lp is an american promo ? sweet as a nut ! the "editions disco" edit can be purchased from the usual suspects (piccadilly, juno & phonica). gino is loved by dj hell, i-f and...er...me.

last train to clarkesville

2007-11-01T23:06:00.001Z

well that was actually a "monkees" song, but i needed a title and that's the first one i could think of. sue me. i'm getting slack with posting because i started out all keen but i come home from work, make the tea (i do all the cooking because mrs smackhead isn't very good at it), ask how her day was, watch a bit of telly and go to bed. wo-ah ! i've forgotten about my loyal subscribers to the number one blog in blogdom (dream on). so she's hit the sack and here i am.

i don't know why i watch telly, there's nothing on ! even if i had sky or freeview i doubt there'd be anything worth watching. all my mates who've got sky watch the history channel and discovery because everything else is shite. okay they've got live sport locked down, but i don't want to watch fishing or speedway (apologies to those that do). all the tv does is stop me listening to more music and make me forget about what i've already got. the amount of things i've doubled up on by mistake is embarrasing. i do double up on purpose sometimes though if it's a real bargain or i think i can extend a favourite break on my trusty 1210's (trusty because they're as good as new ie. i hardly ever use them...because of the bloody telly !). think being the operative word because i'm not very good at mixing, but what the hell (it's not like i play out or anything).

by watching telly i forget about fantastic tracks such as dave clarke's "wisdom to the wise (red 2)". when that hit clubland...BOOM ! it spawned so many imitators but was never bettered. hearing it loud, in a sweaty club, with a load of pals, buzzin' your nut off on pills was ace ! hearing it in the cold light of day it still sounded ace, but not quite ace ! i'm sure you understand. dave put out "archive one" (his debut album, came in a trendy cardboard sleeve with a tear off strip to gain access to the cd or lp. sad fuck that i am, i bought the cd and the lp. the lp is still sealed. singles off the album included "thunder (red 3)" ("red 1 & 2" had previously been released on bush records but were included on the album), "southside" and "no-ones driving". "southside" still rocks and "no-one's driving" out chemicalled "the chemical brothers" with it's big beat sound and "paris" - "the devil made me do it" sample. the chems got the remix job but failed to improve on the original. anyway, on that single release was another remix by robert hood. he took on "red 2" with great results and a cheeky sample of guru (from gang starr) off the second "jazzmatazz" album. i can't be arsed running upstairs to identify it, but trust me on that sample.

"yer me best fuckin' mate...no...yer are..."

2007-10-30T22:37:00.001Z

crikey, it's been four days since i last posted. i took saturday easy and went shopping on sunday intending to put up some killers that i found. unfortunately i thought i'd have a quick one on sunday night and well...you know the rest. my local has this stuff (see above) on at the moment. i thought i'd fill my boots because when it's gone it's gone. i got back about 11.30 p.m. and next door's cat decided to come in. i eventually got rid of him at 1 a.m. and went to bed for 5 hours. monday morning i felt like shit (and needed one). i went to bed at 8 pm and here we are tonight, feeling much better...aaah.

i've been looking around the competition just to see what they're up to and i can say some people are doing a damn fine job. most of the guys on the right of this page are putting up some "boss shit la" (as avid merrion would say (or leigh francis to his mum). i met him once before he was famous, we have a mutual friend. very funny guy, not like frank skinner who saves all his best material for his TV shows apparently.). one fella (and i assume it's a fella, correct me if i'm wrong) is called "i am a thief". the genius idea of his is to trawl other blogs and steal dialogue and arrange it in random order so it sort of makes sense. i spotted some of my stuff on there, quite amusing. he puts up some top music too. check the link on the right hand side.

about two weeks ago i was raving about that imagination cd with the "night dubbing" tracks on it. well this weekend i couldn't help myself and bought the actual "night dubbing" cd as well. it's got a "megamix" on it too. it's not very good, but i didn't know that at the time. the other tracks are sublime, but i've already told you that. the one track that isn't remixed by the original producers is "changes". instead up steps mr l. levan to take care of dancefloor business, and how ! christ on a bike, i'd forgotten how good some of his remixes are. alright some were pretty shit (anyone heard his first, "c is for cookie" by cookie monster off sesame street ? it got re-released some time back with a b-side of the pointer sisters doing that "1,2,3,4,5,...6,7,8,9,10...11,12" song. you know where that real trippy animation of a pinball goes around all the numbers ? it's ace !), but i digress. oh here it is, how much ? i wish i'd bought two now. there's also an original from 1978 going for 68 euros !

http://www.discogs.com/release/185027

another bloody belter is that remix of david joseph "you can't hide (your love from me)". now the worst thing is i could have had that years ago when it got re-issued but i didn't have a clue at the time. my local record shop was in heswall (on the wirral) called "sounds good". it was run by two little old ladies who were never going to break hmv's (then) stranglehold on music retail. it was full of 12"s for 99p because the reps just wanted them in the charts. i'm not going to bore you with any larry stories because i think they've all been told. everyone says he was a lovely person but liked drugs a bit too much. shame.

did you miss me ?

2007-10-26T21:17:00.001+01:00

sorry i wasn't here last night, please accept my apologies.

today was quite spooky because i've been keeping this track for today and up pops a thread on my favourite messageboard about the producer. it's taken from resident advisor and you can find it here

http://www.residentadvisor.net/feature-read.aspx?id=850

something else which caught my eye recently was the new issue of "finger" magazine, it's up to issue 3 now and i urge you to track down a copy. all manner of interesting musicians who've actually got something to say are included. where else could you find john foxx, daddy-o, van she and prince language ? ....thought not. order it from rough trade, phonica, innersounds (see link on right) or the website. i think it's really important to support publications like this as they probably don't make a profit but they are trying to make a difference to our listening/reading pleasure.

http://www.fingermag.com/

anyway back to that little article on resident advisor. this cat has been all over the boards and blogs recently under different pseudonyms doing his thing. his thing being taking a record and re-editing it to suit his style of dj'ing. there are for and against arguements for re-editing but people have been doing it for years. kool herc would re-edit live and ron hardy would play reel to reel edits to keep his sets special. even our own greg wilson has a revox B77 on his business card (probably). this member of the scandisco mafia has done his own productions but he seems to be more famous for his edits, get back in the studio fella (that's what i say). the track in question was (urban myth alert !) made as an almost piss take by the producer because his mates challenged him to make a cheesy italo record. the results were that good it got released.

so many tracks, so little time

2007-10-24T23:43:00.002+01:00

Thanks for looking in tonight but i won't be rambling on as usual (sorry).

someone who absolutely fascinated me a few years back was tiga. i go through phases of this. a certain producer or dj captures the zeitgeist and i have to buy everything they do. this fella from canada had it locked down in 94/95. the end of 2003 had him on that felix mix on radio 1 with "sunglasses at night", 2004 had "pleasure of the bass" and 2005 had "you're gonna want me". i first heard it again on tongy's show and later bought the 12". the remix almost made me piss myself.

balearik soul brothers meet the B52's uptown

2007-10-23T07:04:00.003+01:00

those fabulous balearik soul brothers have done a cheeky little edit of "planet claire". this isn't my fave track by them (the B52's not the balearik brothers !). it's "song for a future generation" where each band member sings about the things they like. it's really daft but incredibly catchy. i suppose most people just know "rock lobster" but what the hell, next time you're in godawful hmv/virgin check the sale racks for a "best of the B52's". it's always cheap and you get a handful of some of the best pop songs ever written. forget about "love shack" and "roam", they were fuckin' awful. i should know because i was playing at my local disco when they came out and people asked for them all the time. along with tina turner "simply the best". aaaaaaaaarrrrrgggghhhh !!!!

but that was then and this is now (as ABC once sang). talking of hmv/virgin i've been into both stores recently where i live (camberley and surrounding area) and i can honestly say neither inspired me to buy anything. i'm not surprised they're dying on their arses. apart from the bigger stores where staff seem to know what to get in for punters, the smaller stores might as well not exist. hmv in basingstoke and guildford are shit and don't get me started on the one in richmond (hmv or virgin ?). it just seems to be the same old 3 for £20 on cd's and dvd's, and no bloody vinyl !. i get more joy rooting around charity shops as i don't know what i'll come across. these chains have to realise the days of being everything to everyone are over. i love a good rant !

i put this up for someone the other day and i'd forgotten how mad it is. from 1985, i think they were french, and it's a b-side. available on the wonderful automan series of naughty 12"s or original copies can be purchased on discogs (showing about six for sale as i post and quite cheap too). two tracks in one day, "you lucky people" as tommy trinder might have said.

kazino - binary

http://www.zshare.net/audio/4376118f58a173/

"don't touch that dial..."

2007-10-22T22:20:00.002+01:00

yesterday i was having trouble uploading a picture so i'm not sure what'll happen today. strange thing is i could see the picture when i looked on the computer at work, hope you could too. i've only had a computer for about a year and a half (i only learned to drive about two years ago !) and somethings are beyond me at the moment. when i get my shit together with vinyl to mp3 ripping you better watch out !

anyway on with the show. i was deliberating (with myself) whether it's worth doing a post every day. i've looked around and not everyone does. first off i thought they're lazy but now i'm thinking they're busy and have lives. you go to work, come home, eat, relax and go to bed. somewhere in there you've got to think of something to say, find a picture and decide on a track. once again it's all changed at the last moment. the problem is, there's so much i want to say but it's tying it in with a track and a picture. something did spring to mind eventually.

saturday mornings have got bugger all on telly. if it's not cartoons it's those bloody celebrity chef shows. thankfully i've started listening to "six million steps" on starpoint radio (11 a.m. - 1 p.m.). top stuff with Andrew@6ms or DC@6ms. crikey ! their names have lit up. so do yourself a favour and tune in this saturday. if you're a fan of "the scene with no name" (may the lord strike me down, i just said it) then this is the show for you. they had a wonderful "chic" special two weeks ago which is still available for streaming/download here

http://www.sixmillionsteps.com/drupal/node/383

on saturday's show i heard an awesome track. i thought it must be old, but it's only from 2004. i checked beatport and thought i must get that. looking through my hard-drive tonight i realised i already had it!

yesterday i answered a query on the djh messageboard from someone who asked "what is dad house". i gave an explanation and then checked the urban dictionary. i wasn't too far off the mark.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=dad+house&defid=967651

kings of rock

2007-10-21T12:20:00.001+01:00

searching through the shelves last night i was wondering about what to post today. i only decided on this a few minutes before posting. the picture above gives you a clue, but i'm sure the trainer detectives will put me right on that.

the first album of the "streetsounds electro" series i got was number 4. the tracks on it were a breath of fresh air, (for the younger viewers i must explain that in 1984) there was a lot of big-hair pop around then. just check this selection and think what was playing on the radio at that time ie. nothing like this.

http://www.discogs.com/release/25795

i had it on tape and would ride around on my bmx playing my little ghetto blaster (taped to the handle bars). i thought i was the shit ! pumpkin, the vhb, key-matic and cybotron (4), pop music back then (0). my team were always gonna win. there was a small gang of us into this sort of music and we got the tapes when ever they came out. it was only later on in my 20's-30's that i started getting them on vinyl. i still won't pay stupid money for them as there were tens of thousands sold in the u.k. i'm collecting upto and including number 13 (along with crucial 1 & 2, u.k., l.a. v n.y. beats), and i'm almost there.

b-side wins again

2007-10-20T15:07:00.002+01:00

this month "record collector" has a superb joy division article about the new biopic "control", including interviews with the three surviving members.

http://www.recordcollectormag.com/site/sections/this_month/default.asp

joy division and new order are two of my fave bands ever, along with the smiths. so back in 1989 when there were rumours that bernard sumner was working with johnny marr on new material i (almost) shit myself. the first fruit of the collaboration was "getting away with it". the perfect pop song with a pet shop boy on it too !

the world had to wait until 1991 for the album and that didn't disappoint either. it was just incredible. i listened to it recently and it still sounds ace. the singles released off it weren't the best tracks on it (which i thought was strange). "get the message", however, had a b-side unlike anything i'd ever heard. it was like three tracks in one. breakbeats, lush synths, and electro all colliding. i was playing at a shirt and tie nightclub at the time and i knew i had to hear it LOUD. fucking hell, it rocked ! i couldn't play it when the punters were there because i'd get thrown off. it was all top 40 shite with me trying to slip in some of my own favourites. i succeeded in my own little way until i stood my ground...and left.

"say hello to my little friend..."

2007-10-19T21:41:00.002+01:00

the other night out of nowhere i found out about "the london cokehead". this guy was ranting about dj's blowing the system in his venue (he's a sound engineer). very entertaining stuff. turns out he's the bloke behind zero b (remember "lock up" from the early 90's ?).

a long,long time back i came in late and my older brother and his mate were glued in front of the telly watching nazareth (metal/rock band) in concert. didn't think much of it because he had a copy of "no mean city" and that was crap. i'd been brought up on ac/dc and motorhead and anything compared to them was rubbish. but one track stood out in that concert, a cover version (i only found this out later). over the years i heard various versions of this track (the most famous being eric clapton) until i heard the original in 1997. i was working in a hifi shop and we all brought our fave cd's in to impress the lads (and the punters). one of the lads had excellent taste, he was a little older than me and was always playing great stuff. i was totally bowled over when he played the album containing this elusive track.

there were four or five other tracks that i had heard but never knew who the artist was. "hey baby", ""travelin' light", "let me do it to you" and "ride me high" (recently re-edited by joakim). the guy was j.j. cale and the album is troubadour,

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Troubadour-J-J-Cale/dp/B000001F2M

as you can see this cd is priced between £3 - 5, and that's everywhere. so do yourself a favour, the next time hmv/virgin have a sale, just buy it. better still, get down your 2nd hand/charity shop and buy it for fuck all on vinyl.

take a walk

2007-10-18T22:34:00.001+01:00

december 2001, it's a friday night and pete tong is playing mixes from his "heroes of 2001". i put a tape in and go the pub. saturday morning i play it back. felix da housecat played a half hour of what became tagged as "electroclash". tiga & zyntherius (cover of corey hart's "sunglasses at night", toktok vs sofo "missy queen's gonna die" and jamie starr scenario "welcome to thee lite" (a prince pseudonym but bastardised by felix, the track contained some stevie nicks (fleetwood mac) music - later used as "the match of the day" theme which was linus loves' version which he called "the terrace"). this tape was what i had been looking for. house music had become stagnent with defected and others releasing all manner of shit. nothing was exciting me. this new, but at the same time old, music was taking me back to early 80's synth stuff which i loved.

but they weren't making this stuff anymore. so i thought. that one tape led me to discover a whole host of like minded artists who were putting out old new music. soon after i came across italo disco. sounds daft (this stuff had been around more than 20 years) but it's true. this was the music i'd loved without knowing for years. the whole electroclash stuff became a dirty word within months but by that time i'd sorted the wheat from the chaff and realised that italo disco was even better. i'm not even going to try and give you any italo exclusives because kontrapunkt, the red room, i spy diamonds and american athlete cover that better than anyone (see links).

d.j. hell's label (international deejay gigolo's) was putting out this stuff i liked, along with the hacker's (goodlife) label. i lapped that stuff up. two release's (one from each label) were particular faves. vitalic's "poney ep" (gigolo) and the hacker "fadin' away (dima remix)" (goodlife). i didn't realise vitalic was dima (or pascal arbez-nicolas to his mum). they still get played at smackhead towers to this day, especially when i've had a few beers (real ales if any sponsors are reading...as if). there was another track on that tape, by bolz bolz called "take a walk". the version i'd heard was remixed by paul daley (of leftfield) and wasn't up my street (longhaul records - u.k.). the other version was something else, i suppose the name gave it away (neo-romantic dima remix).

sadly missed

2007-10-17T18:16:00.001+01:00

back in 2001 janet jackson had a track out ("all for you") which i thought was catchy as hell. i've never been a big janet fan apart from the odd singles off "control". but here was something really special from her, with a hook to die for. i checked the credits and there were some names i didn't recognise. i soon forgot about it and moved on. in the virgin sale that year i found this (for £2) in the pile of shite they call the bargain bin (there's more to come from that pile by the way).

http://www.discogs.com/release/370281

most of the tracks are bloody awful and the better ones haven't aged well either. but the first track is a killer. in fact it doesn't fit in with any of the other tracks at all. the reason being it had that janet jackson hook in it (doh ! silly me). a few months later "the best of luther vandross" double lp turns up in the charity shop and what do you know ? you got it. ivan finally realises where that music originally came from. i'd heard "searchin" for many years and believed that to be change's only hit. i was into metal when i was a kid before electro took over and i seemed to miss out on a lot of soul/dance/funk (i'm now spending the rest of my life filling in the gaps).

luther's voice is truly outstanding and he sang on so many great records by other people (chic's first two lp's for instance). his own output wasn't too shabby either. to pass away at 54 is way too early. when i was a kid that seemed like a good innings but as you get older you realise it isn't (i'm almost 37). you realise there are so many things to still do and see, and loads of great music to still be discovered in the future or from the past.

"...so good they named it twice"

2007-10-16T22:41:00.002+01:00

gerard kenney sang that (i think). anyway, digging in the crates the other night i pulled out a cd meaning to listen to one track and found another, if that makes sense. i wanted to listen to turntable orchestra "you're gonna miss me" but pressed the wrong button and it landed on something else. the version of arnold jarvis "take some time out" i'd always listened to on vinyl was the release on republic records (u.k. - dave lee/joey negro's label). it was the "rugged riddim mix" which used the bassline off backroom productions "definition of a track" (credited to precious). i thought it was a humdinger of a house tune and never listened to any other mixes. fast forward to a charity shop in newport pagnell 15 years later and i find this for a quid.

http://www.discogs.com/release/418130

blaze ? check, turntable orchestra ? check, £1 ?, check. took it home and never bothered listening to the other tracks. well the other night i felt a right idiot when the "club mix" of "take some time out" came on. simply stunning. i'd forgotten how good some of the early house tracks were. most compilations are full of chicago stuff (nothing wrong with that) but the early new york stuff seems to get a back seat.

it's a simple track and i don't think you could better it if you tried. killer bassline, simple percussion, one synth line and a vocal from a guy who later released "inspiration" and "the color of my skin" (with swing 52). originally released on fourth floor records (tommy musto's label) in 1987, it's hard to believe it's 20 years old. they just don't make 'em like this anymore.

"the pressure...the pressure...pressure of the world"

2007-10-15T22:39:00.001+01:00

had a little joke with chris keyz (another night on earth) last night about the pressure of a blog. i know it's not real pressure like paying bills when you're skint, but i didn't think it would be any hassle at all. put up a picture and a track, write some bollocks and publish to web. job done.

well for most of today i've been thinking about which picture and what to say. loads of different permutations have been spinning around my head. just when i thought i had it...something else came along. it's not all it's cracked up to be you know, it's turning out to be a little frustrating (and it's only the 2nd post).

so i thought to myself "what do i really like, what are the tracks i keep coming back too ?". the picture at the top is a giveaway. the first lp i got by them was a remix album called "like it is - hot sensational remixes" (1989). about 10 years later i got "just an illusion" on 12" and started buying a few more tracks. then in 2002 i came across "nightdubbing". jeez, where had this been all my life. afrika bambaatta (hope i've spelled that right) had a track out around that time called "funky heroes" on an italian label and also later on "acetate" (chad jackson's label ?). i bought both because the track was a funky little electro number. to find out it sampled "so good, so right" was a revelation. these ace noises i was hearing were 20 years old ! there's a version on the "body talk" lp but the one on "nightdubbing" is better. then this week i found this

http://www.discogs.com/release/789744

for £3 ! sleevenotes by a certain ladyboygrimsby too. one of my fave albums on cd at last. i talked earlier about tracks i keep coming back too. earlier tonight i read a great piece by greg wilson about his dj'ing hero les spaine (from liverpool). you can check it out here

http://www.electrofunkroots.co.uk/interviews/les_spaine.html

i'm new around here

2007-10-14T12:29:00.001+01:00

i've been trawling loads of blogs and decided to join the club. i'm a bit of a luddite when it comes to using computers so it'll take some time for me to customize my page, bare with me.

i don't really have a mission statement for what i'll blog. i suppose it'll just be what's rocking my little world at that moment. stuff i haven't listened to in ages, stuff i've just found for a bargain or stuff i think you might have missed and need to hear. when i work out how to i'll also give links to some of my favourite sites. there's a lot of people out there who've inspired me to purchase music i'd never heard before. if my little page can do the same for others i'll be "passing it on" as it were.