In Search Of Arcadia

And I'm back.. NERO cover UNRELEASED PRINCE!

2016-07-01T18:11:00.001-04:00

So I disappeared for a while. No biggie. What is a big deal? This insanely good Prince cover by electropop group Nero.

ATOMS FOR PEACE - Rabbit In Your Headlights (Live)

2013-06-02T20:53:00.000-04:00

Well I paused at post 420... but here's a new one for ya. See ya around...

Back for good? Or back for one post lol... Chima Anya and Malia ft Dot Rotten!

2012-10-17T14:29:00.000-04:00

I'm not making promises. Let's just hope the blog is up and running. Enough false starts.
First off I want to share a new track off my buddy Chima Anya's (of GTA fame) new album The Doctor's Note. It's really uplifting and introspective... which is cool because one of his last joints really had that swag vibe to it so it's nice to see such versatility!
Chima Anya
I mentioned on Twitter (which is Patch_ISoA) that I'd been listening to "Going Through Hell (Dot Rotten Remix)" a lot and this random person said I needed to check this video out.... and they were right! It's a nice slice of electro pop with with Dot doing his thing too... check it out.
Malia ft Dot Rotten
Ok I'm gonna keep it to a small post today because I really need to be writing for Dani Deahl's blog... key your eyes on this spot!

EXCLUSIVE: New Bloc Party - "Octopus"

2012-07-10T21:01:00.001-04:00

Here's the first one off the new Bloc Party fresh off the presses? What are you impressions are Intimacy and Kele's solo excursions? It certainly has some of the hallmarks of early Bloc Party with some of the experimental bits from their last album. Intrigued to hear what the whole thing sounds like!

I also enjoy the Van Halen-esque tapping guitar solo there mid-song. Oh I really want to review the show in Royal Oak and maybe do an interview... think we can make that happen there powers that be lol?
Be back soon... nice to be back btw...

2012-07-10T13:26:00.000-04:00

Ellie Goulding has dropped a new one with Tinie Tempah! I like the backward vocals (ala Frankmusik's version of "Wish I Stayed") and I dig the pseudo-dubstep beat. I think it's gonna take a few more listens for me to really get a feel for what I think but I enjoy it for sure... but it does seem to just END suddenly. Is this really the final version? Or just a demo? Take a listen for yourselves!

Be back soon with more goodies... trust me... I'm drowning in them!

Maybe this is what I needed to get going again...

2012-04-01T13:48:00.003-04:00

I saw Noel Gallagher at the Royal Oak Music Theatre yesterday and it was... bonkers. The meeting him bit certainly helped with that but... it was a damn fine show on it's own merits.

I've seen Oasis quite a few times. And the highlight for me way always the acoustic bits that Noel would do on his own (playing stuff like "The Masterplan") so I couldn't have been more geeked for this show.

I saw Oasis first with Travis in Detroit at the State Theatre I think? I remember an Ian Brown street team giving us free cassettes and bumper stickers after the show (after which I promptly almost killed Melissa and Lizzy and myself in a rain storm).

Second time I saw them it was pouring out (again) and Liam couldn't barely sing... they were opening for the (ugghhh) Black Crows so we weren't at that concert very long! But seriously it was so rainy I kept telling my friend "Cross your fingers and hope this is actually an exit" when driving on the highway.

The third time I saw them was when they toured for Don't Believe The Truth at UIC with my dad and my sister... despite having numerous panic attacks (god knows why) it was a great show and I kept remarking how much better Liam sounded compared to the last time I saw him. As is typical of my family when watching shows we skipped the end because we didn't want to get caught in traffic (and also because we figured we've seen Noel do the "acoustic" part of the show many times, we'd heard the singles enough times that hearing it again wasn't gonna make a difference, etc)... no rain for that show surprisingly.

So having seen them tour for Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants (which actually may be one of my favourite Oasis albums, or fav albums in general... AND BEFORE YOU RIP INTO ME FOR THAT tell me that the b-side of that album isn't brilliant! I mean it's got "Gas Panic!", "Where Did It All Go Wrong", "Sunday Morning Call", and "Roll It Over" those songs are better than "She's Electric" lol), and having heard them play basically every single they'd ever written had me ready to hear the solo material last night. Had he only played one Oasis song I would have been cool with it. But once I knew that I was going to this show I had another agenda... I gotta meet this generation's equivalent of [insert the name of whoever you think is really important here].

I sort of had this feeling that "I'm gonna meet Noel tonight". I generally have a pretty good feeling for these things... I also tend to go out of my way to engineer a way to make it happen lol. Sometime that doesn't work (see the recent Arctic Monkeys show I went to for example). The other night it did!

I felt sort of bad for him because he obviously wasn't up for it. Even though there were like 6 of us waiting to talk to him? He had a cold (which I think I caught, yay!) and was obviously worn out. Thankfully he wasn't a prick like some people have been in the past because that would have ruined the music for me (and that's a lot of music to ruin.)

I'll write more about it but I wanted to get this post up before I forgot about it like so many posts before. SO WATCH THIS SPACE FOR AN UPDATE WITH MORE STORY!

Check out the setlist here.

And so another year ends (2011 in review)

2011-12-30T23:44:00.004-05:00

BEST BRITISH ALBUMS OF 2011

The Joy Formidable - The Big Roar
Frankmusik - Do It In AM
James Blake - James Blake
Rustie - Glass Swords
Kode 9 - Black Sun
Toddla T - Watch Me Dance
The Whip - Wired Together
Arctic Monkeys - Suck It And See
SBTRKT - SBTRKT
Radiohead - The King Of Limbs

The real question is...
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds or Beady Eye?

FINALLY: Massive Attack vs Burial - "Paradise Circus"

2011-10-20T12:18:00.005-04:00

Arguably the best track from Massive Attack's excellent Heligoland remixed by arguably the best artist in the last 5 years, Burial. After posting "Four Walls" a couple weeks back I was eagerly awaiting this track's release... and now it is here and even better than I had imagined...

>Presents

MASSIVE ATTACK VS BURIAL

* Iconic Acts Massive Attack & Burial Release New 2 Track 12”
* 180g Vinyl Housed In Hand Numbered, Screen Printed Sleeve Designed By Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja

The subject of prolonged rumour and intense speculation, Inhale Gold and The Vinyl Factory are proud to present Massive Attack’s long awaited collaboration with Burial, 4 Walls / Paradise Circus.

Selling out within hours of going on sale 4 Walls / Paradise Circus was pressed on heavyweight 180g 12” vinyl, housed in a stunning hand numbered, gold glitter screen-printed sleeve designed by Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja (3D), crafted by The Vinyl Factory, and is already a highly coveted collectors item.

As you’d expect from these two acts these are no ordinary remixes and Burial has completely rebuilt both tracks in his own unique style providing a masterclass in production. At around 12 minutes each both tracks have been given the time and space to evolve and develop going way beyond the scope of normal remixes, with the end result two highly original, in every sense of the word, pieces of music.

Editor’s Notes:

Artist: Massive Attack vs Burial
Title: 4 Walls / Paradise Circus
Label: Inhale Gold / The Vinyl Factory
Release Date: 17 October 2011

Tracklisting:
A. Massive Attack vs. Burial - Four Walls
B. Massive Attack vs. Burial – Paradise Circus

Further information:

Available to pre-order exclusively from www.massiveattack.co.uk and www.vfeditions.com
* Release date 17 October 2011
* Limited to 1000 copies worldwide
* Artwork by Robert Del Naja
* Screen-printed cover with gold glitter
* Each edition hand numbered
* 180-gram heavyweight vinyl
* Crafted by The Vinyl Factory
* Inhale Gold 001

Price: £25 - SOLD OUT

About The Vinyl Factory:

The Vinyl Factory is an independent British company that aims to bring together art and music by creating ultra-premium handmade vinyl editions in strictly limited quantities. All their vinyl is created using the classic EMI 1400 Press at the original EMI vinyl pressing plant, now owned by the Vinyl Factory, at Hayes, Middlesex. This century-old landmark in British manufacturing now presses over 50% of the UK's vinyl.

The Vinyl Factory also run an independent music & arts magazine (FACT) and record shop (Phonica, Poland Street, Soho, London).

GAH! It's sold out! Now I've got to do something really unsavory to get a copy lol...

Don Diablo remixes JUSTICE!

2011-10-20T12:06:00.002-04:00

Two favourites at once! I don't even have to write much about this one other than I think it's a good one to start sets with or like pre-party to... I'm going to figure out away to play this on my 7pm-9pm radio show because it's perfect for that time of night...

Justice - Helix (Don Diablo Remix) by Don Diablo

Kele feat Lucy Taylor - "What Did I Do"

2011-10-12T10:57:00.004-04:00

Although contextually different I've been asking myself quite a bit "what do I do wrong" for the last week or so. An sort of relationship when it dissipates for what feels like an unknown reason (romantic, sexual, work, friendship, etc) it feels like a sliver in your brain. There is never ending second guessing that eventually will cause you to be bonkers "mad" if you let it.

After unceremoniously getting my ass handed to me last Wednesday I've been searching for something that conveyed the level on confusion I'm experiencing... and along comes Kele (from Bloc Party), along with Lucy Taylor (his keyboardist), with a pop dubstep banger that creates a lot of anticipation for Kele's Hunter EP (out November 7th). While the song is obviously about romantic entanglements it does express the desperation of someone who can't full put together why they've been kicked to the curb. It's songs like this that help us move past such traumatic moments and it seems Bloc Party and Kele are prime musical fodder for the difficult moments in life.

Kele - What Did I Do? - Single by PluggedIn

Whether we will see another Bloc Party release remains to be seen (although their camp swear up and down the band is still together despite NME posting phone calls that express the opposite)... but until then we have this gem.

Massive Attack and Burial release limited edition single!

2011-10-11T00:41:00.004-04:00

I don't even want to share the news with you guys on this one. I want to beg/steal/borrow until this record is in possession (oh pardon me, not steal, I've been accused of that enough recently).

Massive Attack and Burial have released a HAND NUMBERED, SCREEN PRINTED IN GOLD GLITTER, LIMITED EDITION of !000 single which features Burial's remixes of "Four Walls" and "Paradise Circus". See why I didn't want to tell you! A THOUSAND COPIES! One of you will own it and I won't and I'll cry forever! You can see why I cannot stand for this...

...however at $50 (roughly) a copy we're almost all too poor to own it so maybe I can sell my worthless liver or something in time to get one!

Below are the official artwork AND a taste of this truly amazing release.

Available to pre-order exclusively from www.massiveattack.co.uk and www.vfeditions.com
* Release date 17 October 2011
* Limited to 1000 copies worldwide
* Artwork by Robert Del Naja
* Screen-printed cover with gold glitter
* Each edition hand numbered
* 180-gram heavyweight vinyl
* Crafted by The Vinyl Factory
* Inhale Gold 001

Price: £25

I would probably do something very stupid to be in possession of this record. So please, if you love me, just by me a copy so you don't see me in some weird viral Japanese video I had to do to raise the money for a copy j/k lol...

A little note about the Grand REOPENING of The Corner Record Shop Kalamazoo!

2011-09-28T19:42:00.002-04:00

I realize this blog appeals to an international audience but every once and a while I have to do something for the town I live in (which then ties into this blog because of the people I've asked to write for it, the radio show on WIDR where you lot get your records played, and the circle continues).

So with that said THE GRAND REOPENING OF THE CORNER RECORD SHOP BEGINS TOMORROW! Yessir we've got a load of new vinyl, some drawings we're going to be doing, some awesome discounts... but most importantly I'm running their new blog! It can be found here at The Corner Recordshop!

For those of you in the Midwest (especially Michigan or South Western Michigan) I really suggest finding your way over here. We have gems that are priced to sell... things that would be crazy expensive on eBay and are considerably less here. Why? Because we aren't in Chicago and we know that times are tough... we want people to get the music they enjoy at a price they can enjoy as well. Why put up a mint copy of the Japanese import of The Doors LA Woman (complete with obi) for $40 (which is roughly what it's going for on the internet) when we can let someone pick it up for $19.99?

Anyway I'd appreciate it if you guys would follow that blog and stop in if you get the chance. And artists? You know you're being represented here as I'm asking for your records to be brought in so you can show some love too :)

NEW VARIOUS (aka Various Production) - "Air (feat Asher Dust)"

2011-09-15T19:09:00.004-04:00

The only thing I'm more excited about than this new Various Production song is hanging out with Frankmusik tomorrow!

Various - Air (feat Asher Dust) by Various

Buy this one when it comes out kiddies... it's awesome...

What's The Story Morning Glory?

2011-08-29T13:50:00.000-04:00

Pffft. This blog has all but lost it's pulse. Before I go into some long winded whatever... I do want to thank the people, especially those who didn't need to keep it up, who supported this blog while I dealt with some significant and personal struggles.

So am I finally closing this down? NOPE.

I'm getting some new blood in here. I've got a couple people working behind the scenes, and a young buck who couldn't be better suited for writing for this blog. I met him through The Spirit Of Albion and he's one of the FEW people I trust enough to give total access to the blog. He's got amazing taste and, frankly, he's more on top of new stuff than I am...

Long story short, keep your eye on this space. A relaunch is in the works :)

Oasis - "D'Know What I Mean"

2011-08-22T23:23:00.006-04:00

When this came out I was, what, like 15? And I remember seeing the video and thinking "this literally feels like a mission statement, it feels like for the first time in my life things are reaching the height of awesome... like everyone 'gets it', loads of music is amazing, and it feels like we could change pop culture for the better, like, forever"... I remember when the single came out I had to NOT buy it on purpose so that I would have the money to buy, what was expected to be the greatest album ever written, Be Here Now.

Needless to say Be Here Now should have been called Cocaine Music and the whole band should have been forced into rehab or something... and they should have saved half the album and filled the rest with ummm better songs and lyrics. I'm still trying to sort out what "Magic Pie" is all about.

Unfortunately they never really recovered from the fall out from that 3rd album. It allegedly "killed" Britpop... it was almost universally panned... and at least in the U.S. they never got the credit they deserved ever again. The follow up, Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants, was in my opinion an amazing album! I mean "Fuckin' In The Bushes", "Go Let It Out", "Who Feels Love", "Gas Panic!", "Where Did It All Go Wrong", "Sunday Morning Call", and "Roll It Over" are FANTASTIC (especially those last 4). Ask Ryan Adams! He agrees!

Things could have turned out better for Oasis but... for that brief moment they were about as close to "perfect" as any band has in my lifetime. Or anyone's lifetime. I mean this song got played thousands of times before anyone realized (about 10 years later) that the "backwards bit" at the beginning of the song actually says "...fuck...me"... I'm sorry, I don't care what you think, these guys are one of the greatest bands ever.

Extra personal shit you probably don't want to read: I remember my dad telling me, during at period where we weren't speaking, that he would listen to this and cry. Which was nice. So this song probably sounds better to me than it really is.

R.I.P. Amy Winehouse (plus Russell Brand's "For Amy" note)

2011-07-26T12:20:00.010-04:00

Ok... I sat back for a few days because I didn't want to get up on the soapbox and starting talking a bunch of nonsense... but I feel really bad for Amy Winehouse. I know a lot of you think "she deserved it", or "she had it coming", or she was just another useless pockmark on the ass of culture. So why do I care?

a) Because she was a human being, b) because there are very few people who "deserve" to die and last time I checked Winehouse was not Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein, and c) she had a very serious disease that tells you that YOU DON'T HAVE A DISEASE which leads to the inevitable "jails, institutions, and death" line from Narcotics Anonymous. I didn't used to go for any of that? I thought "dude I'm not really convinced addiction is a disease and I'm not convinced that NA is right about anything"... However, eventually, I think if you watch enough of your friends die or engage in compulsive behaviour that keeps landing them in jail over and over you eventually recognize that people aren't doing this for fun.

And that's the problem with "addiction". People know that drugs are fun. I'm not even putting that in quotations... drugs are fun. In fact drugs are awesome. I mean like awesome in the biblical sense... as in a force stronger than you could imagine. And since they are fun people who have never experienced the disease think "these damn people just don't know when to leave a good thing alone so they deserve ruin because they are wrecking their bodies"... and that's a very easy thing to say if you haven't ever been on a crack binge or woken up with a needle in your arm. Addiction isn't about having fun. Partying is about having fun. Addiction is when the party has stopped and you're still going a week, month, year later.

When you're an addict you wake up to a force inside yourself that is determined to literally drive you insane or kill you if you don't get more drugs. Unfortunately that's exactly what happens if you keep doing the drugs so you're in a pretty bad catch 22 there... you can not do drugs and suffer an unimaginable pain of withdrawal (which feels like having all your skin pulled off with a potato peeler while you are hit by a Mack truck and doused in napalm in the case of heroin, or like your brain is coming unraveled while you watch your whole family die in front of you if you're addicted to crack) or you can keep doing the drugs, feel marginally ok for a few hours, and come one step closer to no longer living.

And perhaps drugs may feel good from time to time? But being a drug addict mostly revolves around fucking people over for money and putting yourself in dangerous situations to get drugs. Even if you have enough money to sustain your habit you're dying and the world around you is total chaos. This isn't just the case for your "non-famous drug addicts"... did you ever see Pete Doherty's old house? I mean that place was a fucking disaster! And even though he's sold quite a few records (and at the time had a super model girlfriend) he ended up SELLING HIS LAPTOP to buy drugs. He sold his MOST SUCCESSFUL SONG ("For Lovers") in a bar for drug money!?!? Are you seeing how wild and horrible this disease is even for people who have "everything at their fingertips".

I guess I can't reiterate enough that being a drug addict isn't like some fantastic party that you can't stop because it's so awesome. It's maybe like that at the VERY beginning... very very quickly it becomes a situation that the addict can't seem to stop? To a situation they can't possibly stop. It is not fun. It is a horrible horrible mess. Why don't they stop? Because addiction has a built in fail safe when your body and/or your brain doesn't work without the drug. Most addicts do the drug to get a slight buzz and keep themselves from feeling very sick.

There is so much misinformation about addiction that it's frankly dangerous. There are people who have been addicted to heroin or crack (or both) who have suddenly decided to stop and they haven't relapsed... yet. I say that because if someone was truly addicted to drugs (not just abusing them) then they don't have a super awesome chance of not relapsing. It is very very very unlikely that someone is going to stop and not have a problem with it again. This is why people are sober for many years and then they end up relapsing... because the addiction is more powerful than they are and without support and staying vigilant to avoid slipping back into it it's almost a sure thing.

Someone who is more than acquainted with this concept is Russell Brand. He had problems with crack and heroin and everything in between. If you've seen Get Him To The Greek then you got to see a very humourous fictionalized version of his lifestyle prior to getting clean. His two books ("My Booky Wook", "Booky Wook 2: This Time It's Personal") he speaks very candidly about his troubles with drug addiction on his road to becoming famous and the sexual addiction that found it's way into his life when he gave up drugs. He skipped the rant that I just went into and eulogized Amy Winehouse on his site, in this note, and it crashed his site because it got so many hits. I thought it was very touching so I'm going to repost it here... and give you this great Arctic Monkeys cover:

Arctic Monkeys - "You Know I'm No Good (Amy Winehouse Cover)"

Russell Brand's "For Amy" Tribute

"For Amy

When you love someone who suffers from the disease of addiction you await the phone call. There will be a phone call. The sincere hope is that the call will be from the addict themselves, telling you they’ve had enough, that they’re ready to stop, ready to try something new. Of course though, you fear the other call, the sad nocturnal chime from a friend or relative telling you it’s too late, she’s gone.

Frustratingly it’s not a call you can ever make it must be received. It is impossible to intervene.

I’ve known Amy Winehouse for years. When I first met her around Camden she was just some twit in a pink satin jacket shuffling round bars with mutual friends, most of whom were in cool Indie bands or peripheral Camden figures Withnail-ing their way through life on impotent charisma. Carl Barrat told me that “Winehouse” (which I usually called her and got a kick out of cos it’s kind of funny to call a girl by her surname) was a jazz singer, which struck me as a bizarrely anomalous in that crowd. To me with my limited musical knowledge this information placed Amy beyond an invisible boundary of relevance; “Jazz singer? She must be some kind of eccentric” I thought. I chatted to her anyway though, she was after all, a girl, and she was sweet and peculiar but most of all vulnerable.

I was myself at that time barely out of rehab and was thirstily seeking less complicated women so I barely reflected on the now glaringly obvious fact that Winehouse and I shared an affliction, the disease of addiction. All addicts, regardless of the substance or their social status share a consistent and obvious symptom; they’re not quite present when you talk to them. They communicate to you through a barely discernible but un-ignorable veil. Whether a homeless smack head troubling you for 50p for a cup of tea or a coked-up, pinstriped exec foaming off about his “speedboat” there is a toxic aura that prevents connection. They have about them the air of elsewhere, that they’re looking through you to somewhere else they’d rather be. And of course they are. The priority of any addict is to anaesthetise the pain of living to ease the passage of the day with some purchased relief.

From time to time I’d bump into Amy she had good banter so we could chat a bit and have a laugh, she was “a character” but that world was riddled with half cut, doped up chancers, I was one of them, even in early recovery I was kept afloat only by clinging to the bodies of strangers so Winehouse, but for her gentle quirks didn’t especially register.

Then she became massively famous and I was pleased to see her acknowledged but mostly baffled because I’d not experienced her work and this not being the 1950’s I wondered how a “jazz singer” had achieved such cultural prominence. I wasn’t curious enough to do anything so extreme as listen to her music or go to one of her gigs, I was becoming famous myself at the time and that was an all consuming experience. It was only by chance that I attended a Paul Weller gig at the Roundhouse that I ever saw her live.

I arrived late and as I made my way to the audience through the plastic smiles and plastic cups I heard the rolling, wondrous resonance of a female vocal. Entering the space I saw Amy on stage with Weller and his band; and then the awe. The awe that envelops when witnessing a genius. From her oddly dainty presence that voice, a voice that seemed not to come from her but from somewhere beyond even Billie and Ella, from the font of all greatness. A voice that was filled with such power and pain that it was at once entirely human yet laced with the divine. My ears, my mouth, my heart and mind all instantly opened. Winehouse. Winehouse? Winehouse! That twerp, all eyeliner and lager dithering up Chalk Farm Road under a back-combed barnet, the lips that I’d only seen clenching a fishwife fag and dribbling curses now a portal for this holy sound. So now I knew. She wasn’t just some hapless wannabe, yet another pissed up nit who was never gonna make it, nor was she even a ten-a-penny-chanteuse enjoying her fifteen minutes. She was a fucking genius.

Shallow fool that I am I now regarded her in a different light, the light that blazed down from heaven when she sang. That lit her up now and a new phase in our friendship began. She came on a few of my TV and radio shows, I still saw her about but now attended to her with a little more interest. Publicly though, Amy increasingly became defined by her addiction. Our media though is more interested in tragedy than talent, so the ink began to defect from praising her gift to chronicling her downfall. The destructive personal relationships, the blood soaked ballet slippers, the aborted shows, that youtube madness with the baby mice. In the public perception this ephemeral tittle-tattle replaced her timeless talent. This and her manner in our occasional meetings brought home to me the severity of her condition. Addiction is a serious disease; it will end with jail, mental institutions or death. I was 27 years old when through the friendship and help of Chip Somers of the treatment centre, Focus12 I found recovery, through Focus I was introduced to support fellowships for alcoholics and drug addicts which are very easy to find and open to anybody with a desire to stop drinking and without which I would not be alive.

Now Amy Winehouse is dead, like many others whose unnecessary deaths have been retrospectively romanticised, at 27 years old. Whether this tragedy was preventable or not is now irrelevant. It is not preventable today. We have lost a beautiful and talented woman to this disease. Not all addicts have Amy’s incredible talent. Or Kurt’s or Jimi’s or Janis’s, some people just get the affliction. All we can do is adapt the way we view this condition, not as a crime or a romantic affectation but as a disease that will kill. We need to review the way society treats addicts, not as criminals but as sick people in need of care. We need to look at the way our government funds rehabilitation. It is cheaper to rehabilitate an addict than to send them to prison, so criminalisation doesn’t even make economic sense. Not all of us know someone with the incredible talent that Amy had but we all know drunks and junkies and they all need help and the help is out there. All they have to do is pick up the phone and make the call. Or not. Either way, there will be a phone call."

In case you've never had the chance to see Amy at her best, here's a good example:

I implore you people out there to stick to the whole "if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all" rule here.

I can't begin to explain every facet of addiction in one post... especially because it's not something that makes sense in our very structured modern world... it's a completely "animal" chemical thing. The best analogy I can come up with would be that it's like inviting the Zombie Apocalypse into your brain; all of a sudden there are no rules and it's all about survival which, frankly, is something you don't have a very good chance of. GRANTED, the first "hit" is the users choice... but they don't often realize what's waiting for them down the road. As long as people say, "Dude, I bet I could do that once and not be hooked. You just have to have the strength to not do it again. I mean, seriously, how hard can it be to not do drugs everyday", addiction will continue to tear apart the lives of millions. Even if society was wiped out and we had to start over at caveman Level 1 addiction would still exist unfortunately. Why? Because it's stronger than any of us... I mean if it wasn't we'd all be smoking crack at lunch time, right? Because if it wasn't something that was hard to stop it would just be something fun, right?

So I'm going to wrap this up and say I feel very sorry for Amy. I only talked to her a few times, News Of The World wanted to pay me to tell them stories about her (which I would NEVER do), and suddenly she was off my radar. She's yet another person now whose name will never light up on my Instant Messenger window. Yet another person whose email address will never reply again. Her contact info will just sit in my address book and will never be used again. A week ago Amy was alive... now she's a cautionary tale and people will probably remember for her addiction, not her music. Please let her rest in peace people, for all the mistakes she made she doesn't deserve to be torn apart, she wasn't an evil dictator or a terrorist just a misguided soul.

P.S. For some reason her death has upset me more than I would have expected so understand I'm not wanting to have a debate about this. I agree that the tragedy in Norway is more relevant as far as news goes, and those people's lives aren't any less important than Amy's, but a) I'm not a news blog and b) comparing a mass murder to the death of a singer (and saying we shouldn't be talking about her when something else awful happened) is about as insane as conversations get. I don't have tolerance for that... Please take your hate elsewhere.

NEW RADIOHEAD! Live from The Basement

2011-06-21T12:27:00.002-04:00

Looks like Radiohead are going back to The Basement to perform The King Of Limbs and this new song called Staircase!

Here's the blurb from Phil:
"Here's a new track called Staircase, taken from our upcoming 'From The Basement' session.

And no, you're not seeing double. The doppelganger drummers are myself and Clive Deamer. Clive has long been one of my favourite drummers and so I was really excited when he agreed to perform with us. Hope you like what we've all done.

Philip x"

Enjoy! And know that the videos from The Basement off In Rainbows are on iTunes for .99 cents... that's not me shilling for them... I just downloaded "All I Need" and "Reckoner". Be back soon!

Maya Jane Coles knocks us "Senseless"

2011-06-15T14:08:00.001-04:00

After one of the best songs of the year so far from She Is Danger's Lena Cullen yesterday (via Emalkay) I couldn't help but post her partner Maya Jane Cole's track "Senseless"! It is totally awesome in a TOTALLY different way... this reminds me more of my heroes Swayzak than it does of Dub Police stuff... first though check out this track she remixed of Tricky's!

Tricky - Time To Dance (Maya Jane Coles Remix) by DominoRecordCo

Here's some press:
"After donning May covers from Mixmag to DJ Mag: Weekly - Maya Jane Coles arrives with her new 'Focus Now' EP which sees it's all store digital release this week - w/c 13/06/2011 (press release attached).

With She is Danger's Maya currently holding 4 spaces on the top ten deep house Beatport chart, number one in Beatport electronica with 'Senseless' as well as 'focus Now' also in the top 20 of the the tech house charts and receiving club support from the likes of Jamie Jones, Nick Warren, Paul Woolford, Laurent Garnier, Luciano, Claude Von Stroke, Layo, Anja Schneider amongst a whole bunch of other headz - it is safe to say that the EP's reception has been rather favourable so far - enjoy!"

I'd show you Maya Jane Coles - 'Senseless' recut to Wizard of Oz but the embedding was disabled!

Maya Jane Coles - Focus Now EP

Maya Jane Coles 'Senseless'
Maya Jane Coles - 'The High Life'
Maya Jane Coles - Little One
Maya Jane Coles - Focus Now

Tricky - Time to Dance (Maya Jane Coles Remix)

How awesome was all that? Very awesome! I can't wait for more from She Is Danger... together and apart... hope you enjoyed and I'll be back soon!

NEW EMALKAY REMIXES and video featuring Lena Cullen of She Is Danger!

2011-06-15T14:01:00.003-04:00

I don't need to say anything about Emalkay... if you listen to dubstep you love this shit already... and if you don't listen to it I doubt you'll be able to resist this track! It features ISoA favourites She Is Danger's Lena Cullen on vocals. Here's a little info on her...

"Already hailed as "the Kate Bush of Dubstep" - Lena Cullen is a British multi-instrumentalist / producer / vocalist from London drawing on dubstep, dub, trip-hop, techno, electronica and dark wave in her work.

Known to many as one half of female dub electronica duo She is Danger, alongside rising supernova producer / DJ Maya Jane Coles; Lena has already made fans out of the likes of Adam F, Damon Albarn and Massive Attack's Robert Del Naja.

As She is Danger; Lena has remixed artists such as Gorillaz, Groove Armada, Ellie Goulding, Delphic and, in particular, an acclaimed dubby reworking of Massive Attack's 'Girl, I Love You' which was included on the deluxe album version of the band's 'Heliogland!'

Lena has forthcoming single collaborations landing in 2011 with Dub Police's seminal Emalkay named 'The World' and Engine-Earz Experiment's 'Reach You' - the latter collab has already enjoyed wide ranging radio and club support prior to it's Spring 2011 release date with the track already gaining almost half a million views on Youtube alone!

After a recent highly successfully solo UK tour supporting Dreadzone; Lena's debut album 'Something Subconcious' [Working Title] will be largely co-produced by herself and Andru Lorenzo and is scheduled to arrive in late 2011."

And here's info about Emalkay if you don't already know:

"With initial support in the form of grime veteran Plastician, “Birmingham’s finest” Emalkay gained the attention of South London based label Boka Records with the warped, future bass drones and epic strings of Gut Feeling. Continuing the success, Testing The Waters EP was released in October 2006 followed by Monsters in June 2007.

The revolutionary sound of Mecha, released in the fall of 2007, gained Emalkay support from the likes of Radio 1 DJ Mary Anne Hobbs and breakbeat pioneer FreQ Nasty, as well as many of the leading figures of the current dubstep scene. It seemed Emalkay’s own potential as a pivotal dubstep artist was finally being realised. His final release on Boka Records was the reggae influenced My Story in April 2008.

In the fall of 2008, Emalkay produced Explicit - a tune that gradually captured the interest of such prominent dubsteppers as Benga and received major support from acts such as The Scratch Perverts and drum and bass duo Chase and Status. After being approached by Caspa however, the track was finally released on the Dub Police label in February 2009 after much anticipation."

Emalkay - The World Feat Lena Cullen by Dub Police

EMALKAY -- THE WORLD Feat Lena Cullen - Video

Emalkay Album "Eclipse" BUY NOW http://tinyurl.com/3s48o5z

THE WORLD feat Lena Cullen - Out on Dub Police 4th July 2011

Here's some remixes to tide you over :)

1.EMALKAY -- THE WORLD (ORIGINAL) Feat Lena Cullen
http://soundcloud.com/dubpolice/1-the-world-feat-lena-cullen

2.EMALKAY -- THE WORLD (TROLLEY SNATCHA REMIX)
http://soundcloud.com/dubpolice/emalkay-the-world-trolley

3.EMALKAY -- THE WORLD (TEEBEE REMIX)
http://soundcloud.com/dubpolice/emalkay-the-world-tee-bee-rmx

4.EMALKAY -- THE WORLD (MR MAGEEKA REMIX)
http://soundcloud.com/dubpolice/emalkay-the-world-mr-mageeka

5.EMALKAY -- TRANSPOSE (ORIGINAL)
http://soundcloud.com/dubpolice/2-transpose

David Bowie "Rebel Rebel (Soulwax Remix)"

2011-06-13T12:13:00.003-04:00

Its Monday so I figured we need some "singing in the shower" music...

Or for those of you who hate remixes...

Welcome Back! Have a Frankmusik "Do It In The AM" remix...

2011-06-04T21:09:00.004-04:00

Ohhhhhhhhhhh... if only I just had never ending resources... time, money, support, and oddly enough emotions... well this spot would be rockin'! I seriously considered shutting the site down for good because... frankly I'd run out of all of the above.

So why am I back? Well after careful consideration I realized this is one of the only things I give a shit about. I've made a lot of apologizes about not getting back to the site... and more importantly I've made promises I haven't been able to keep... hopefully I'll make good on some of those...

I think you guys know Frankmusik is one of our favourite artists full stop. So I'm glad that I'm coming back full force with a remix of his newest single.

'Do It In the AM' MNEK remix by Anorak London

So yeah, tell me what you think, I'll be back faster than you can say "lazy ass blogger" :)

Klaxons announce North American tour dates!

2011-02-02T00:04:00.005-05:00

I'm working on an interview with Jamie of Klaxons... and while you're waiting I thought I'd throw this info up for you with a little goodie attached...

Klaxons - "Gravity's Rainbow (To My Boy Remix)"

“one of the best pop albums of the year – but still one of the most individual and ambitious.” – NME

“Even at low volume, it sounds astonishingly loud and euphoric – a self consciously epic record of
rampant ambition and deliberately arcane weirdness.” – Nylon

It’s been 3 years since Klaxons burst onto the music scene, injecting a dazzling and much needed moment of
rave hedonism into the midst of indie tedium with the truly original and enormously influential Mercury award-winning
album Myths of the Near Future. The band are back with the critically acclaimed follow up, Surfing the Void released
via tinyOGRE on January 18 and are thrilled to announce that they’ll be hitting our shores this spring for a national
headlining tour. Their spring tour will see them performing on both of our fair coasts kicking off March 25 in
Orlando at the Social and making stops at the Ultra Music Festival and Coachella.

“villainous guitar rambling, dread-in-the-gut bass lines, and stentorian falsetto shrieks. But even Klaxons’ most
ominously rambunctious tracks grind out plenty of bug-eyed dream pop chants.” – Spin

TOUR DATES

Mar 25 - Orlando, FL - The Social
Mar 26 - Miami, FL - Ultra Music Festival
Mar 28 - Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club
Mar 29 - New York, NY - Webster Hall
Mar 30 - Baltimore, MD - Ottobar
Apr 1 - Columbus, OH - The Basement
Apr 2 - Chicago, IL - Metro
Apr 3 - Madison, WI - High Noon Saloon
Apr 5 - Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge
Apr 6 - Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge
Apr 8 - Vancouver, BC - Venue
Apr 9 - Seattle, WA - Chop Suey
Apr 10 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
Apr 12 - San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore
Apr 15 - Indio, CA - Coachella Festival

Crystal Castles and Robert Smith - "Not In Love" Video

2011-01-19T12:36:00.003-05:00

As this is a British blog we don't get the chance to write about Crystal Castles really... save a remix here or there... but this cover changed that! I didn't write about it when it came out partially because I was waiting for this to come out! Feast your eyes...

I would love to see them perform their new material because I haven't seen them since Sam and I hung out with them at the Funky Buddah a while ago. I wonder if they've already done all their U.S. touring... I better check...

HUGE TUNE: "Sicko Cell"

2011-01-19T06:10:00.003-05:00

Well... apparently I need to get a hold of R&S Records, who are both mentioned by the emcee in this recording, because I gotta find out more about this track and more importantly the artist! They probably don't even represent the artist, the emcee is probably talking about Blake... but I wanna know who did this tune!

Ahhhhhh! Brilliant! That bit at the end where James Blake is mixing in Burial? Amazing... I want to hear that whole set!

The other blog is coming along! I still am the only person to have written in it but the other folk aren't used to doing HTML and writing for an audience hoping they like what you say... so be easy on them once they all start. In the mean time, what do you kids think of this?

There are a LOT of people who I'd love to see on this lineup. Anyway, be back soon!

Cheap Thrills releases RESET! record, awesome tour ensues!

2011-01-18T04:32:00.003-05:00

Herve's Cheap Thrills label has just released banger after banger so it should be no surprise this new record from RESET! is amazing. The video is a nice light hearted romp that reminds me of rave visuals... I hope you enjoy the video as much as I did... nice and campy!

SABRAGE – VIDEO

RESET! - Sabrage (Radio Edit) /// OFFICIAL VIDEO from RESET! on Vimeo.

Also check out the link to the stream of the EP below. I couldn't embed so I had to post their remixes instead!

Stream the EP here!

RESET! REMIXES by RESET!

Here's a little press info if you're not familiar:

Reset! - Prepare To Fight / Sabrage released today on Cheap Thrills

Asia and Australia Tour Dates Announced

Following the success of the My Trunk EP, 5 man Italian collective Reset! Today release Prepare To Fight, their second EP for Cheap Thrills, the leading British house label set up by DJ/producer Hervé.

The new EP, Prepare To Fight, shows the group further refining their trademark ‘turbo-funk’ sound that has already made them favourites with the likes of Justice’s Xavier De Rosnay, Radio 1’s Jaymo & Andy George and Chew The Fat resident DJ Foamo.

Having clocked up the air miles in 2010 playing parties like the Club 75 closing party at Pacha, Ibiza with Justice, Wonderland, Ibiza with Pete Tong and Layo & Bushwacka! as well as the HARD Haunted Mansion in LA, Reset! kick off 2011 with a tour of Asia and Australia.

Now firmly established an a-list act on both the decks and in the studio Reset! will be hitting the Southern Hemisphere hard with dates in Singapore, Hong kong and Bangkok, plus six nights in Australia.

Indeed it was after one of their own nights, playing alongside house legends Cassius that Reset! were invited to rework the French duo's anthemic "Youth, Speed, Trouble, Cigarettes". The resulting remix, heavily supported by the likes of A-Trak and Crookers, remained on Beatport's Indie Dance Top 10 for several weeks and featured on both a Mixmag cover CD (mixed by Cassius, Justice, Busy P and D Mehdi) and Ministry of Sound's Electro House Sessions 3 compilation.

Following this breakthrough Reset!’s unmistakable sound has been in constant demand with the boys adding their Italian touch to a string of remixes for the likes of The Count & Sinden, Fenech Soler, Robyn, Fatboy Slim & Herve and once again Cassius, remixing the classic Cassius 99.

Now concentrating on their own productions and preparing their debut album, Reset have found a fitting home at Cheap Thrills, the label that released worldwide club hits such as Fake Blood’s Mars and Jack Beats’ UFO.

Reset! Asia & Australia Tour 2011
Jan 20 Bangkok – Bed
Jan 21 Hong Kong – Volar
Jan 22 Singapore - Zirca
Jan 25 Brisbane – Monastery
Jan 26 Adelaide – Roger Sanchez's Beach Party
Jan 28 Canberra – Pang! @ Trinity Bar
Jan 29 Sydney – Chinese Laundry
Feb 4 Perth – Boomtick Presents @ Ambar
Feb 5 Melbourne – Super Disco! @ Prince of Wales

Buy the record from Beatport

Ok, that's all I have time for at like 5am so enjoy and I'll be back with more soon. AND IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN JOINING MY SPIN OFF BLOG PLEASE EMAIL ME ASAP... the address is on the right under my picture :) Cheers!