Matt Vinyl

closed for business

goldenmaverick@gmail.com (Matt Vinyl) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 20:50:00 +0000

What can I say? It's been a blast.

All mediocre things come to an end and this is it. What started as an experiment meant to last one year managed to string itself out for a little bit longer than that. On the way I've made virtual friends with plenty of bloggers. The one disconcerting aspect about this is that I've never met most of them. That said, I'd like to thank each and every blogger and other web people who've taken the time to visit or to link here from their own sites.

This blog was started to fill a musical void in my life. That void has now been filled once more and as such I'm going back to doing what I love best, playing tunes on internet radio to a handful of interested people.

I can't say that I always enjoyed keeping a blog. I've always believed that if you're not deriving any pleasure or benefit from work then it becomes a pointless task. It's been hard work at times, thinking about stuff to write about and then having to bloody well write it. Not that you'd think that I spent much time thinking about it by reading most of it. Whatever interest I had left for blogging has fallen by the wayside. There's a host of more interesting blogs in any case. By the same token there's a load more shit ones. In fact there's many, many more shit ones. Unfortunately most of those bloggers won't realise and they'll continue to fill the internet with their nonsense. In positive terms, special mention must go to those who have populated the blogroll on the right hand side of the page and those others who were there until they too stopped blogging. Even more special mention goes to the many blogs that I meant to put there but never found the time to do so.

The music goes on and I realise that you can't keep up with everything, even when you try. It's even harder when you're only half-arsed about it. Hopefully this departure from the world of blogging will mean that I've some energy to channel in other directions. Damn it, I might even play with my children or talk to my wife.

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye. Adieu, adieu, to you and you and you.

test card

goldenmaverick@gmail.com (Matt Vinyl) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:30:00 +0000

The builders are in Chez Vinyl (adding on a west wing) so I've had to move out to a gaff with no internet connectivity. Back soon(ish)

there's many a slip twixt cup and lip

goldenmaverick@gmail.com (Matt Vinyl) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 21:01:00 +0000

It seems like quite a while since I last had lots of seven inches to scrawl about. In the last couple of days I've picked up a few interesting bits and pieces and most of them are recent releases. Never one to stand on ceremony I'll get straight to some half-hearted reviews of the nice tunes I've bought.

I'd mentioned the Trensmat label before and its up for discussion again. I went to the website last week to see if I could get the Sonic Attack stuff they released a while back. Unfortunately they've none left but they directed me to some other sites where it was still available. I didn't bother following the links and gave up on getting them. Thankfully fate intervened yesterday when I went into Road Records. They had copies of the three seven inches and I plumped for two of them. As Meat Loaf might suggest, two out of three ain't bad. The first is Sonic Attack (Lords of Light) and it has Kinski covering 'Master of the Universe' and Bardo Bond doing a version of 'Lord of Light'. The second seven inch, Sonic Attack (Motorheads), has Mudhoney delivering their interpretation of 'Urban Guerilla' and Mugstar doing 'Born to Go'. Both seven inches are absolute blinders and this time the Trensmat Label has put them in some nice sleeves. Trensmat have some new releases in the pipeline that should be well worth checking. As they say themselves, every noise has a note.

All City served up a couple of unusual sevens when I went in today. The first comes courtesy of The Bombist Reggae Remixes label and it's another of their freaky remixes of popular tunes. It's the Muddy Skank Riddim of Estelle's 'American Boy'. It's as cheesy as a vintage stilton served up with some Christmas port. I love it. The flip side has a poxy reggae remix of the poxy tune 'Lollipop' by L'il Wayne. I don't love it.

I also picked up the latest Daptone seven inch in All City. It's the latest in a series of great releases on that label. This one is by Binky Griptite, it's called 'One time, you're mine' and its another slice of sweet soul music. It's in the same vein as all the great classics except that its new. Old school soul, old school production. It's a winner.

Writing of old school, I came across a Motown repressing of Stevie Wonder's classic tune 'For once in my life' on seven inch today. It's only pressed on one side so the b-side isn't very interesting. In fact I'd go as far to say that its non-existent. Which is handy because you don't have to turn it over, you can just listen to the a-side again.

The last two seven inches for review are most interesting. The first is a new seven inch from Kings of Leon called 'Use Somebody'. Not too interesting in itself but things pick up when you check the b-side. It features a tune called 'Knocked Up' that's been given the Lykke Li/Rodeo treatment to create a mash up of sorts. It's weird in that its really a duet. You'll just have to hear it to judge yourself. In the interim you can check this live version of 'Breaking it Up' by Lykke Li. She's a mad yoke.

Breaking it up – alternative live video. Filmed by: Christian Haag from Lykke Li on Vimeo.

Last but not least is a new picture disc seven inch from Ladyhawke. The a-side has a tune called 'My Delirium' but once again my interest is in the b-side. It's a Toddla T & Ross Orton remix that sounds like something from the Joker drum and bass label from circa 1997. It's a full on two-step beat with farty basslines. As each genre gets cannibalised it resurfaces a few years later in a similar form but with a different name. I should really hate this tune but there's some hook in it that has me liking it. Damn it.

You can hear all of the tunes mentioned above, this coming Monday night, if you go to www.powerfm.org and listen live. I'll be on between 11pm and 1am GMT on Monday 8th December. You're more than welcome to tune in. Bring a friend. In fact why wait for me, listen live to the station now.

more static in that attic of mine

goldenmaverick@gmail.com (Matt Vinyl) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:03:00 +0000

Forget all that podcast shit. Internet radio is the future. Join me every Monday night and let us face into the future together. Just like in some romantic movie or something like that. To give a little taster of what's happening in my attic every monday night check out the playlist below.

jackie – ras g & the afrikan space program – crate creator music
street corner music – snowman – all city
my light bridge – mike slot – all city
notorious (diplo vocal version) – turbulence – ghetto arc/xl records
council estate (south rakkas crew mix) – tricky – domino
wearing my rolex – wiley – east west
don’t mess with my man – lucy pearl – pookie records
stick to your line – RSAG - psychonavigation
gum – cornelius – warner music japan
oh yeah – yello – warner bros music
the sun goes down – level 42 – polydor
justified & ancient – the KLF – KLF communications
I hate hate – razzy – casual records
we don’t love enough – triumphs – numero records
renegade snares (foul play remix) – omni trio – moving shadow
shackbu – plaid – warp records
on the dole queue – scary éire – eleven records
police officer – smiley culture – polydor
informer – lady ann – soul jazz records
gamma ray – beck – xl recordings
upside down – carol cool – soul jazz records
got to give it up – marvin gaye – motown

a weekend in the country

goldenmaverick@gmail.com (Matt Vinyl) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:11:00 +0000

Here's some pretty shit photos of me, the Don Rosco, The Mullet, Hamster and Mally McG wreaking havoc on the hills around Carlingford. It was just like the adventures of Cúchulainn but with more raisins.

in the midst of life we are in debt, etc.

goldenmaverick@gmail.com (Matt Vinyl) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:27:00 +0000

There are three interesting Irish releases up for discussion in todays post as well as some views on the new digital radio service from RTE. Alongside both of these we'll look at some of the recent vinyl purchases from my good self.

First up is the latest release from D1 Records here in Dublin. I just happened to be in Road Records when a chap came in armed with some CD's and looking to have them stocked. I laughed a little as Dave kept calling him Roger when his name was in fact Robert. Robert Doyle to be precise. I kept earwigging as he and Dave hammered out minutiae of the deal and approached the CD's that he left with great interest. I picked up the CD to see that it was in fact the latest release from D1 Records. Peculiarly the tracks were titled in Irish. That's not altogether strange as I remember David Donohoe had a 12" release on D1 that also had an Irish title. I asked Dave to put it on the speakers and he obligingly did (because he's so nice) and it turns out that the track is not the usual techno from the D1 stable. Instead its a traditional release of some acoustic tunes that are sung through the medium of the Irish language. This was quite a departure from the usual fare on the D1 label so I'm now wondering if Robert Doyle is in fact related to label owner, Eamonn Doyle. Answers on a postcard please.

The second release is from the Trensmat Label and features not one but two new seven inches due for global consumption this coming January. This time the releases are by Expo'70 and Black to Comm. These are now available for pre-order and are, of course, limited edition lovely 7" vinyls in full colour picture sleeves. Check out their website for previous drone magic.

The third release come just in time for Christmas and is yet another release on the Indiecater label run by MP3Hugger. This time its a novel approach to the Christmas album. Kev has collected 17 original compositions that will provide a nice alternative to the usual shite that gets repackaged and rereleased at Christmas. Amongst the more well known featured artists are Nina Hynes and Jape but there's also a United Nations of Musicians making up the other 15 artists. Check out the website for more information.

I was interested to see that the DAB service from RTE has finally got going. Today saw the six new digital radio stations go live. Amongst the six stations is RTE Pulse which is a dedicated dance music station. I was interested to check out the full schedule and did so today. It's reads like a Who's Who of people I've never heard of before. That might be a good or a bad thing, i'm not sure yet. I thought that they'd have some of the more well known DJ's that the Irish clubber would be familiar with. Instead it looks like they've gone for the option of drafting in fresh faces. Some of the pictures of the DJ's are pretty funny. It's nice to know that some people are more contrived in their photos than I am. Check em.

Finally, I picked up an album of note by LA based sloppy beat maker Ras G & The Afrikan Space Program. It's more of the sloppy beat hip hop that I've slowly become accustomed to. Olan in All City Records is a fan of this kind of stuff and has released some of it in his 7X7 series, most notably the last seven inch by Mike Slott. You can check out the MySpace of Ras G and do some background reading on Mike Slott in his interview over on the Cheebah site.

static in my attic

goldenmaverick@gmail.com (Matt Vinyl) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 22:29:00 +0000

Well, well, well. There you are again. The wind has been whistling through this blog for the last week or so. Throughout that time I was thinking of interesting subjects and musical purchases to write about here. Unfortunately in the interim I've forgotten each and every one of those things. As such you can rest assured that this post will be filled with my usual fodder.

There's a recent compilation available from Souljazz Records that's just mighty fine. It's Volumes I & II of 'Dancehall - The Rise of Jamaican Dancehall Music' and it charts the eighties Jamiacan dancehall scene. It features a whole host of classic tunes from the likes of Tenor Saw, Cutty Ranks and Sister Nancy. I bought them on double-vinyl lp but they're also available on CD. It turns out that they were released at the same time as an accompanying 200 page book by Beth Lesser. Both the music and the book have been released by Souljazz.

Things hot up on the Irish music scene as the Choice Music Prize looms large. The award is dished out for the best Irish album of the current year as chosen by a committee of 12 judges drawn from the music industry. Mere mention of the awards over on Jim's blog has already seen canvassing begin for the various artists. Amongst the names being bandied about are albums by Jape, Lisa Hannigan and Daniel O'Donnell. There's also some other interesting potential winners in the form of RSAG, Chequerboard and Fight Like Apes. The winner takes all in the form of €10,000 and a piece of glass. The losers get to bitch about what might have been.

I've noticed a load of blogs fall by the wayside recently. Blogging is now sooo 2007 that I'm embarassed to be keeping mine up. In truth my attentions have been diverted somewhat by my recent return to internet radio. The last three Monday nights I've been in my attic broadcasting to the world wide web (or a selection of users therein) whilst my family sleep soundly below. The experience has been very strange. I've been whispering into a mic in the late hours and its beginning to resemble snooker commentary in between the records. It's a great buzz though. As mentioned previously, you're welcome to join me and Monday or if you can't tune in live you can check out the archived shows.

I've not been to any gigs in the past week or so and although I've picked up a few seven inches there's none of them worth writing about. I am looking forward to a weekend in the country with some old chums. We're heading to Carlingford in Co. Louth so I expect that diesel-washing and sheep-smuggling will form a large part of the agenda, I also hope to check out the other activities on offer in the general area. I'll be joined by some old junglist colleagues and an expectant father. It will surely be a blast.

I've been remiss in failing to mention the Brilliant Trees rerelease on Indiecater. Kev is serving them up in quickfire succession and makes mention of another release before Christmas. Where does he find time to do the shopping?

welcome in

goldenmaverick@gmail.com (Matt Vinyl) — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 20:45:00 +0000

The assembled cast in The Welcome Inn last night were quite a bunch. I had the Galafari to my left. He was still partying from the night before and the wear and tear was beginning to show. Seated to his left was Barry Delta who had also been partying the previous night but obviously values life's simpler pleasures such as sleeping. Galafari and Barry had of course been celebrating the Reach 2nd Birthday Bash in The Twisted Pepper. Happy second birthday to them. To their left again was the Don of Irish Junglism, the man himself, Naphta. I forgot to tell him last night that I'd only been listening to his 'Long Time Burning' album during the week. Although released last December I only listened to it a couple of times since. During the week I decided that I'd dig it out for another listen and it truly is the finest junglism to have come out of this town. To Naphta's left was another lover and maker of beats, hailing from the UK, weighing in at 13 stone it was the one, the only, Equinox. Moving left again the Mullet took his place between Equinox on one side and Dublin's legendary techno pusher Eamonn Doyle of D1 Records (check him out below with the lovely Welcome Inn behind him). The cameo appearances were put in by myself and the Don Rosco. There was one reason and one reason only for this musical meeting of minds. We were all off to see Rollers Sparkers in the Joy Gallery on Rutland Place.

Rutland Place itself holds a few memories from my distant past. There was a party gaff at the end of it that saw many rave casualties pass both in and out its doors. Fond memories indeed from a time when most of the week would be spent recuperating from the weekends exertions. They were simpler times back then.

Myself and Rosco were eager to move the assembled crew around to the gallery but they're a fairly lethargic lot. We did make it in time to see the last tune by Children Under Hoof. I'm glad we made it because although they were a bit frayed around the edges I enjoyed the buzz about them. I guess that they are in their early twenties at most as they had an affectation about them that was somewhat innocent. The tune was a krautrock/psychedelic prog effort but most bands forget that this type of thing is actually really hard to pull off. To maintain the driving rhythm required for this type of music the heartbeat of the band needs to be spot on. At times during their last tune they could have done with a pacemaker. The bass player and drummer didn't seem to be playing in the same time. The guitarist, who looked a little bit like Catweazel, went a bit wonky at the end and in Mark E Smith fashion went over and started belting away at the cymbals. This was the last thing the drummer needed given the difficulties he was already experiencing. The keyboard player kept looking at the drummer and bassist trying to give thenm the nod to end the song but they were ignoring him. In the midst of all this sat the only female member of the band and it looked like she was playing a Nintendo DS. It seems she has other musical abilities as there was a range of instruments adorning the table in front of her, however any such abilities were kept under cover as she completed the next level of Donkey Kong. Song finished, there was a ramshackle attempt at a Von Trapp family bow. To be fair this was their finale tune so they may have just decided to go apeshit. Next up, Rollers Sparkers.

Knowing the members of Rollers Sparkers, my critical faculties are somewhat skewed. I think that they're great and have done since the first time I saw them a few years ago. That said, they were pretty ramshackle the first time I heard them so the kids from Children Under Hoof can take hope. After what seemed like a long time of fixing gear and fiddling with knobs, they were off. Not that most people noticed. The crowd kept chatting away until a few minutes into the first tune. I'm not sure how the band describe their music but suffice to say its slightly leftfield. They make great use of the array of effects on both their voices and instruments. Their tunes build from a basic rhythm into swathes of driving bass, vocal harmonies and electronic effects and pull the listener along with them. It's not the type of stuff you dance to. Those hearing it are usually more inclined to nod their heads a little. In fact much more time is spent focussing on the contributions from the trio and trying to distinguish exactly who is making what sound. I could only hang around for the first three tunes but it was great. Apparently it was their last live show for a while as they go back to write and rehearse material for a new album. I for one will be looking forward to it.

It was great to see a space like the Joy Gallery being used for stuff like this. It was my first time there but I reckon they could be on to something in using it as a venue. They've held a few such gigs there since it opened earlier this year. I can imagine this kind of thing is de riguer in places like Berlin but it was refreshing to see it happen here in Dublin. There were sixty or seventy people packed into a tight space and buzzing off a couple of bands. Having no licence to sell alcohol the attendees were invited to bring their own booze along if they felt like it. The basic ingredients for a successful recipe are there for them. I wish them every success if their venture continues in this vein.

On other fronts I picked up an album on Grand Royal called New York State of Mind. It features a whole load of Beastie Boy tunes that have been reworked by Green Lantern. These tunes have seen the light of day before on earlier 12inch release and on various Green Lantern mixtapes but I think this album is the first time its been put together on vinyl. One reason for thinking that is that I've been googling it and I can find it mentioned in fuck all places. I think it only got a release at the end of October but its been slow to appear in shops. I was over the the Beastie Boys site trying to get some info when I came across this page. Right in the top middle of the photo is a Saba McDisc just like mine. Nice one.

I also picked up the vinyl release of 'Peeek - an earful of Irish Underground' which has been given a limited free issue on vinyl by the nice Analogue people. I got the CD a few weeks ago but to be honest I never play CD's in the house, or the car, or anywhere else for that matter. I'm not much of a CD guy I guess. As such i was most pleased to get the tunes on vinyl including the contributions by Ugly Megan and Katie Kim. It's only as I write that I realise that there's a tune by Children Under Hoof on it too. I'll have to listen to that later.

I also picked up a limited release seven inch that's from earlier this year. It's a tune called Id Engager and it's by Of Montreal. It's on Polyvinyl Records and its got a nice electro groove to it. It's not what I expected at all. I'm not really familiar with Of Montreal and it was a blind buy but I'm liking it.

Right so. I'm off to cry about Arsenal's unfulfilled potential so far this season. You can catch me playing live on www.powerfm.org on Monday night between 11pm and 1am GMT. Drop in and have a listen to me talk shite in between the good music. Later

the power station

goldenmaverick@gmail.com (Matt Vinyl) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:26:00 +0000

If anyones interested I'm back broadcasting on internet radio every Monday night between 11 pm and 1 am GMT. I'd love if you could join me so that you could listen to my incomprehensible ramblings and shambolic presenting. It truly is a valuable lesson in how not to broadcast. I remain undeterred however and I got a great buzz out of it last Monday night. The show is presented from my attic via a VPN to the powerfm studio and from there to the world wide web. WOW.

You can listen to powerfm.org live

You can check out the playlist from the first show

You can listen to the archived shows (if you take a minute to register)

Suck it and see.

it's jazz baby

goldenmaverick@gmail.com (Matt Vinyl) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:03:00 +0000

Me – I’m going to the Tripod please.

Taxi Bloke – On Harcourt St?

Me – Yeah.

Taxi Bloke – What’s on there?

Me – Herbie Hancock.

Taxi Bloke – Who’s he?

Me – You might know him from that tune he did called ‘Rockit’ back in 1983.

Taxi Bloke – No

Me – He’s done lots of other stuff. Played with the likes of Miles Davis, Donald Byrd, Wayne Shroter, Chick Corea, Jaco Pastorius, did the theme tune to the Cosby Kids cartoon show, stuff like that

Taxi Bloke – Ah jaysus, all those musicians are up their own hole.

Me – Well he’s famous, but I doubt that he’s that bad.

Taxi Bloke – I’ve a friend who’s a musician and he’s up his own arse. He’s not in touch with reality. Are you going to Girls Aloud? You could go to that gig with earplugs in and you’d still enjoy it.

And so began the night. The Herbie Hancock Sextet was playing in Tripod last night and the Don Rosco weaved some magic and sorted me out with entry to the gig. We hooked up with The Mullet beforehand and managed to bypass the lengthy queue that had formed. Straight in. No chaser. Apparently it was supposed to kick-off at 8 sharp but it was 8.15 before Herbie and his ensemble arrived on stage. Last night he was joined by Lionel Loueke on guitar, Terence Blanchard on trumpet, James Genus on bass guitar, Gregoire Maret on harmonica and Kendrick Scott on drums.

Rather than being up his own arse Herbie was an entirely affable character (I can’t wait to tell that taxi driver). He complained a little about the cold, introduced the band, completed some general audience interaction, compared his well worn shoes with Blanchards silver sneakers and kicked off with the tune ‘Actual Proof’ which I think is from the second Headhunters album, Thrust. It lasted about twenty minutes or twice as long as the recorded version. When it was over there was some more audience interaction and it turns out that he’s not only affable but he’s a fairly funny, self-deprecating individual too. I’m really warming to Herbie now. He cracks into the tune ‘Speak like a child’ and after about fifteen minutes it segues into a version of ‘The Visitor’. Another fifteen minutes later and that tune ends. At this stage I’m beginning to wonder exactly how many tunes he’s going to fit into the gig.

Herbie then gave a special introduction to Lionel Loueke. I was reading about Lionel’s background today and his tale really is something special. From his poor beginnings in Benin, West Africa he’s now playing guitar all over the world with some jazz legends. Last night we were treated to a composition of his called ‘Seven Teens’ that featured on his recent release Karibu. It’s apparently written with seventeen beats to the bar, which I imagine is damn hard to play. This was followed by a solo improvisation with just his voice and guitar. The rest of the band left him to it and took a quick piss break. There was some crowd interaction when he got everyone clapping and chanting and he did a bit of mad shit with his voice that sounded like Huey, Louis & Dewey doing some human beatboxing. It was great value. The rest of the gig just melted together. They did a version of ‘Cantaloup Island’; a tune that many will know inspired the US3 cover version, Cantaloop. I don’t remember all that much after that. It was all done and dusted by 10.30 and we were sent home with the jazz fusion still ringing in our ears.

Never a man to miss a trick, The Mullet led us down to Anseo on Camden Street where we caught some of the set from UK dubstepper Plastician. The place was heaving downstairs so we popped our heads upstairs for a couple of quick swifties. A much more convivial atmosphere up there and the smell of body odour wasn’t as bad. Some times you have to know when to call a night a night and that time was upon me. The Carling Cup highlights beckoned me home and there I headed. Maximum respect to the Don Rosco for driving me home just in time to see the Arsenal kids stick a few in the onion bag against Wigan. All was right with the world.

just another thursday night in dublin city

goldenmaverick@gmail.com (Matt Vinyl) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 21:58:00 +0000

I was out and about last night; supping pints with The Mullet in Anseo on Camden St. Gerry from Beatfinder Records latterly joined us. We’d tried to blag some tickets for a Jape gig in The Sugar Club but our calls went unheeded. Apparently it was some kind of corporate thing so I’m not sure how welcome we would have been. We were chatting about heading over to Kittser’s Spilly Walker thingy in Whelan’s when The Mullet received a call from the man himself. It just so happens that he’s currently in New York and last night he completed the mix-down of his latest album. Apparently its been done by some famous hip-hop producer bloke. The Mullet told me who it was but I’ve forgotten already. In any case, Kittser’s pleased with the end result and as such it’s looming ever closer to a release early next year. We still headed over to Whelans where Graham Lambkin was standing in for Kittser. I hadn’t been in Whelans for years and the layout has changed considerably since then. The clientele hasn’t though. It’s still choc a bloc with urban culchies. It’s a slightly more chic version of that Flannery’s boozer across the road from it. I lasted about fifteen minutes in the place and had to split.

I was delighted to see my mate Lance Daly feature in today’s Irish Times. He’s receiving some press at the moment following the international plaudits of his latest movie ‘Kisses’. It follows two kids, Kylie and Dylan, on their nighttime adventure into Dublin City from their suburban neighbourhood. This came as a bit of a surprise as the last time I was talking to Lance he was banging on about a car-racing movie he’d scripted. Thankfully, he’s still planning to do that and it’s even got a working title now, it’ll be called ‘Suckin Diesel’. I’m really looking forward to that one. In the meantime I’ll make do with ‘Kisses’. It’s been very well received at a number of international film festivals and it gets a general release here in Ireland on November 21st.

In other news, Dublin horror rockers The Things have released their debut album, Some Kind of Kick on Nicotine Records. It’s available for download now from the Nicotine website but won’t be getting a physical release until the new year.

The Reach drum and bass crew celebrate their 2nd birthday next Friday 14th November in the Twisted Pepper on Middle Abbey St. It features some stellar guests in the form of Fabio, Equinox and Benga. It also features the Reach regulars and in the bar there's a reggae sunsplash from Galafari and the man like Alistan Munroe (a wonderful chap a great tie designer to boot). In reality there's something for everyone so head on down and help the lads blow out their candles. Here they are looking like the Kids from Fame.

I bumped into Conzo last night when I was out on the piss and again today when I was weighed down looking for a taxi. Conzo is a former member of Female Hercules but he's back in the saddle these days with a new band called Moutpiece. If punk and roll is your bag then you should check out their new album. You can order it from roadrecs.com at your leisure. You should also check out Aoife Mc's recent interview with half the band here.

I picked up a couple of seven inches the first of which is by Gizzelle on Wild Records. I thought it was a rerelease of a really old tune but it turns out that its brand spanking new. It sounds like reggae rockabilly if that makes sense. You can check out a live version of it here.

The other seven inch I got was Ac/Dc's 'Whole Lotta Rosie'. I actually bought it for my daughter of the same name because I thought she might get a buzz out of it. I haven't played it to her yet but I expect she'll thank me for it some day.

Oxfam turned up two delights on album this week. The first is The Planxty Collection which features a selection of tunes from their albums 'Planxty', 'Well below the Valley' and 'Cold Blow and the Rainy Night'. It features some of their best tunes and also has some nice sleeve notes on it. The other album I couldn't resist was the soundtrack to 'The Life of Brian'. I only bought it because it has the Brian before Pilate scene on it. Thwow him to the floor.

Finally, big up to Olan in All City. I told him about my plight as outlined in my previous post and he came up with the goods for me. There was an old Vestax direct drive lying on a shelf in his shop and he sold it to me for a knock-down price. It's game on and it looks like I should be able to do my first show on Monday night. I'll keep you in the loop.

i need one of these!

goldenmaverick@gmail.com (Matt Vinyl) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 21:55:00 +0000

I'm finally sorting out the bits and pieces to start broadcasting again on powerfm.org . I've a VPN set up and I'm ready to roll. Except that is for one small thing. I'm looking around the room at all sorts of turntables but only one of them plugs into the back of a mixer. As such I need another turntable, preferably a Technics 1200/1210, as the final piece in the jigsaw. Does anyone know someone who's selling one? If you do I'd welcome your help. Nice one!

let the spirits move you

goldenmaverick@gmail.com (Matt Vinyl) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 21:43:00 +0000

A couple of year ago I decided that I’d not buy as many albums due to an ever increasing collection and only a limited time to listen to them. I had a great idea. I’d just buy seven inches instead. They don’t take up half as much room and they’re much quicker to listen to. What started out as a nice lunchtime shopping distraction has turned into a full-blown addiction. I’m now running out of shelf and box space for the little blighters. All my talk of getting some bespoke shelves made has amounted to nothing. It was all bluff and bluster. I’ve not bothered my arse doing anything about it. It’s now at the point where I’m buying seven inches that I’d forgotten I already owned. What will become of all this?

After lamenting the lack of seven inches out there I decided that maybe I should just try harder to find some. Like a junkie looking for a fix (but slightly better dressed and a little more handsome) I steeled myself late last week to venture forth into the various record stores of Dublin. And as it turns out I had a highly successful trip. I picked up nine little beauties and took them back home to take their place in the vinyl vault. Here they will gather dust until my kids reach their teenage years and thank me for the collection I amassed on their behalf. Or something like that!

The Smiths released ‘Hand in Glove’ as their first single and it failed to chart. Not to be outdone both Morrissey and Johnny Marr entreated the then retired Sandie Shaw to do a cover of it. Hey presto it’s a hit. Next thing you know she’s writhing on the floor during an appearance on Top of the Pops. Behind her are Johnny Marr, Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce, all barefoot, in homage to the great woman herself. I don’t think it’s as good as the original but I’m glad to have a copy of it for posterity.

So too was there gladness when I picked up a copy of Joe Jackson’s ‘Is she really going out with him’. I’ll put it beside my recently acquired copy of ‘Stepping Out’ by the same artist. I don’t really know much of his other stuff and to be honest I’m afraid to listen to it in case I’m disappointed. I like those two tunes so much that I find it hard to believe he could have equalled or bettered them. I remember he appeared on 'Later' a few years back and I think he might have performed this tune. That only leads me to believe that he hasn't done anything better.

I got both of the aforementioned seven inches in Spindizzy Records in the Georges Street Arcade. They’d also got a couple of boxes of second-hand reggaes sevens in so I had to have a look through them too. There was loads of stuff there that I was kind of interested in but as I say, space is at a premium in Chez Vinyl these days. As such I settled for the following three tunes. ‘Fally Ranking’ by Johnny Osborne was released on the Greensleeves label in 1980. This seven-inch of the tune is a repressing from 2001 and delightfully features a b-side by Black Uhuru of a top reggae tune called ‘I love King Selassie’. The next couple of reggae sevens look like they’re represses on the Trojan subsidiary label, Jackpot. The first is the well-known Ken Boothe version of The Abyssinians classic ‘Satta Massa Gana’ and has the accompanying Satta Riddim on the flip side. Likewise with the next tune. It’s another Abyssinians tune ‘Declaration of Rights’, this time by Johnny Clarke and it too has the version on the flip. Animal tune!

A trip down to All City Records was equally, if not more, successful. I bagged the new seven-inch by Mike Slott on the All City label. It’s hard to describe but I’m going to attempt it anyway. I was listening to it over the shop speakers when some teenage kids came in to buy some spray paint. One of them asked if the shop sold dance music and proceeded to treat me to some happy hardcore that he had on his phone. I told him that he was in fact listening to some cutting edge leftfield hip-hop over the shop speakers but he couldn’t reconcile my description with what he was hearing. Therein lies the problem with describing ‘Flunky’ by Mike Slott. It really is going to have limited appeal to most people. Like Guinness you have to acquire a taste for this. I think it’s great.

There were a bunch of other seven inches behind the counter so I picked them up and starting listening to them. I picked out an eighties nu-soul/funk tune by, wait for it, Wynd Chymes. The track is pure cheese. Now don’t jump to conclusions. I’m not talking Galtee Easi Singles here. I’m talking good cheese. A finely aged Stilton. A nice Camembert even. It’s called ‘Baby you’re the one’ and it really is a cracker. All bass and hairspray. The other tune that I picked out was by German dubstepper Phokus and it’s called ‘Police in Helicopter’. The tune is called Inta and the flip side has a remix by Wadadda on it. The pressing is limited to 400 copies and that makes me feel pretty bad. It turns out that Olan had ordered the pile of records I’d picked up for himself. Nevertheless being the consummate professional he still sold me the two tunes I wanted. Now that’s service for you.

Finally I also chanced upon the latest seven inch release from the latest Roots Manuva album Slime and Reason. It’s called ‘Let the Spirit’ and I hadn’t really given it much thought when listening to the album. Then I saw it performed on ‘Later’ and I was hooked. It’s sparse and simple and it’s beautiful. I have the kids singing the chorus all day. I think that they’re hooked too. Here he is on Later.

I got five on it

goldenmaverick@gmail.com (Matt Vinyl) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 20:46:00 +0000

I've been getting pretty crap at writing about the bits and pieces that I've picked up about the place. Maybe I'm just getting fussier but there really isn't as much to pick up this weather. I've also been spending less time on the internet and this means less internet record shopping. That said I've been kept pretty busy both at work and at home so I've not had the time to indulge my penchant for the circles of vinyl of late. I've been able to right this to some extent as over the past seven days I have picked up the following five pieces of vinyl.

Just writing that reminds me of an old pirate radio show, see here for a previous reference. Anyhow the latest batch are a range of new and old, four seven inches and an album. Let's kick off with the long player. Quite recently I picked up an album by United Future Organisation that I'd wanted for an age. Like buses, you wait for ages and then two come along at once. I was in Oxfam on Parliament St the other day and I came across 'Bon Voyage', another album by the same band. I haven't really had a chance to listen to it but I expect it will be something similar to 3rd Perspective, the last one that I picked up.

I chanced upon a seven inch of the by now infamous release from Electric Six, Gay Bar. I must admit that every time I listen to it a smile breaks out on my face. Its so ridiculous that its sublime. I constantly wonder when its novelty value will wear off but I'm not sure that it ever will. Little amuses the simple.

Another oldie that I picked up on seven inch is a repress of the tune 'I believe in Miracles' by The Jackson Sisters. The tune has appeared on any number of funk and breaks compilations but this seven comes with a different twist. Issued by Street Beat Records it contains the instrumental of the tune on the a-side and on the flip it just has the drum track.

The third tune is one that I missed or else just didn't bother buying before now. It's the second seven inch release from the In Rainbows album by Radiohead. The track in question is 'Nude' and its one of the slow burners from that album. Here they are doing a live version of it on VH1

Last but by no means least is the seven inch of 'Paper Planes' by MIA. It features a DFA remix on the flip side that's quite tasty.

After all that talk of Sweettalk recently, I bumped into Maser in town today and was bigging up his appearance. He was saying that he wasn't sure if he was going to do the talk but then changed his mind. He didn't mention whether it was the aul nerves that got to him or anything else for that matter. What he did say was that he was delighted that he did do it. So am I.

I found this interview with Jape on on RTE 'youth' show. Its an exercise in awkwardness but its absolutely brilliant.

distant cousins

goldenmaverick@gmail.com (Matt Vinyl) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 20:39:00 +0000

I was down in the general Cavan/Leitrim area for the last couple of days but on the way there we stopped off in a place just outside Oldcastle that I'd been told about a few times. Unlike Newgrange, where they've managed to make the whole thing into a tourist experience, Lough Crew is the real deal. You'll get nads of people gathering there for the Spring and Autumn equinoxes when the sunlight enters the chamber and gradually lights up a succession of carvings on large stones inside the passage. We just reckoned we'd check out the cairn and its surroundings but when we got there two other passers by had manged to get the key for it. They invited us to check it out with them. Being a gracious type of family we accepted their invitation. In all, six adults and five children climbed inside and marvelled at this amazing piece of Irish heritage. This place was constructed in about 3500 BC and there are numerous other remains dotted about the general area. It truly is an amazing place. Apparently it was built by a load of neolithic farmers as a means of measuring time. It sure is the fanciest clock that I've ever been inside. See for yourself, I took a few snaps. Mind you I can't be arsed rotating some of the images.

There's a great view from up there but I should warn any ladies that they mightn't care for it if they've just had their hair done. It gets pretty windy up there.

goldenmaverick@gmail.com (Matt Vinyl) — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 14:03:00 +0000

It being the occasion of my favourite* daughters fifth birthday I was a bit late arriving at The Sugar Club last Thursday evening. There was cake to be cut, presents to be opened and songs to be sung. My lateness was further compounded by a short detour to hook up with The Mullet for a matter of great import. He was busy checking out Nurse with Wound in Andrews Lane Theatre and was enjoying the experience. Our exchange was brief, we are after all, both very busy men. Onwards to Sweettalk. I knew I'd already missed John Gilsenan's opening talk but I was hoping to make it for at least some of Maser. As it turned out I made it about 10 minutes or so into his talk. This meant running the gauntlet of shame past the stage and up the stairs to the bar.

I never knew that I knew Maser until I saw him on the stage. Like myself, he's a regular shopper in All City Records here in Dublin. Unlike me, he goes there to buy lots of spray paint. Maybe he buys records too? I dunno. I've exchanged words on a few occasions and he seems like an amiable enough chap. After his talk (and also a lot of mumbling in places) he's risen hugely in my estimation. I've seen bits and pieces of his stuff around town but I'd never realised the huge extent or volume of work he'd produced over the last decade. He treated the assembled crowd to a whirlwind tour of his work and accompanied it with a slightly self-deprecating commentary. His unadulterated enthusiasm for his work is only slightly dampened by an endearing humility. He is the epitomy of a buzzer. It's obvious that he's consumed by an artistic passion and it's also obvious that he can't believe his current luck in being widely admired and lately, well paid for it. The talk was a wonderful insight into someone who is coming to terms with his talent. His current status as a bit of a media darling will most likely wear off over time. That's not a bad thing though. Unfortunately most people who are identified as the next big thing tend to become yesterdays news. I don't think its like that with Maser. It's hard to begrudge him any of his success thus far. There was a raw honesty in a lot of what he spoke about. His talk treated a range of ideas and personal experiences but a common theme kept rising to the surface. It's like Maser's artistic journey is also a spiritual one for him. He's found something and he wants to tell the world about it. He is a missionary for street art. Maser Loves You. And it would appear that we all love Maser. Nice one.

Steinski began by recounting tales of his early life and college years. How he became the prime dope dealer on the small university campus he was attending. There were slides of his interesting haircut, Afrika Bambataa and peculiar American turntables. It was all very nice but I was finding it hard to get excited about most of it. It was almost like a Woody Allen monologue at times. I don't mean that in a bad way. I have massive respect for Steinski but I'm not sure he's cut out for the after dinner circuit. He tended to ramble on a bit. In fairness he wasn't shy about giving credit to others where it was due and he seemed like a very genuine individual. Maybe he described it best hmself when he said he was an underachiever who got lucky. Steinski's greatest artistic contribution was from a particular time and place. People will always recognise and respect him for that but it also means they will be kinder in tolerating any current artistic notions. It was always going to be hard to follow Maser. The home crowd had already been wowed. Steinski's talk was a different bag. It's not to hard to see why. Here were two very different artists at very different points in their careers. This manifested itself in their interaction with their art, their lives and the audience. Maser was definitely here and now, Steinski was more like a kindly uncle with a pocketful of Werthers Originals. Both endearing but both very different experiences. Sweettalk returns to Dublin in 2009. They're in Cork in November.

I was delighted to open the magazine in todays Irish Times and see a feature on my favourite Irish artist. I've about half a dozen of his prints and paintings adorning the walls of my home and I never tire of looking at them. He works from his base in Co Wexford and although I'd recently been told he was moving to France, there's no mention of it in the article. The article was on Paddy Lennon, a good mate and former employer of mine. On his return from Spain several years ago I worked in his temporary shop/studio in Dublin. I sold bits of Spanish crockery out front and he painted at the rear of the shop. He always told me he'd give me a painting but it was only about ten years after that I ended up getting some from him. I paid him for them but I reckon I still got a very sweet deal. He also threw in a nice country welcome and quick tour of his stables for good measure. I last saw him about a year ago when he was exhibiting here in Dublin. You should check out his landscapes if you get the chance. Here's the article.

The quest continues and with it comes the third instalment in the Indiecater series. The suitably titled Indiecater 3 is now available for purchase. Once again it features the best indie talent drawn from around the globe. Malmo, New York and Dublin representing alongside a host of others. You'll get it for less than the price of a pint, unless of course you live down the country or drink in a GAA clubhouse, in which case it will be a little more than the price of a pint of Guinness. I rest my case.

Finally, the latest online issue of Fact magazine has a nice little feature on their top 20 jungle tunes. There are some blinders in the pick. Have a look here.

* For the record, I have only one daughter.

blog! a rhythm?

goldenmaverick@gmail.com (Matt Vinyl) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 19:50:00 +0000

I was reading the newspapers that built up over the weekend and I stumbled across a feature on Gerry Anderson. Not to be confused with the talented tv producer and writer, Gerry Anderson, the one I'm talking about is the not quite as talented bloke who always turns up on BBC Northern Ireland or BBC Radio 4. He's apparently courting controversy these days by claiming that Gary Glitter is a decent old skin.

The picture of Gerry served to remind me of a time about 15 years ago when the trad/folk band I was in entered the Opportunity Knocks talent contest held in Ballyshannon. I considered us a supergroup of sorts. We had a singer who went on to voice the character of Shadow in Bear in the Big Blue House. We had an accordion player from Cavan who was the only person I ever heard make that particular instrument sound good (Welcome to Hell! Here's your accordion!). We had a wonderful guitarist from Rossnowlagh and another talented bloke from Clondalkin and then there was yours truly on percussion. If my memory serves me correctly we won and collected a grand in prize money. Our win came courtesy of three independent judges: the aforementioned Gerry Anderson, the then Late Late Show in-house pianist Frank McNamara and someone else I can't remember. Needless to say we went on the batter with all the judges and other contestants afterwards and ended up in a boozer called Eoin Roe O'Neills I believe. The gargle flowed all night (probably at our expense) and Frank kept banging out tunes on the piano until the small hours of the morning. As the sun started to rise I realised that we had to get to Sligo to make a train back to Dublin. I distinctly remember the scornful look on my mates's mother as she collected us to bring us to the airport. Three drunk smelly blokes sitting in a car at about 7.30 in the morning pretending to be sober. I had some kind of lucid moment around Ben Bulben as that's the only part of the journey I remember. I think I kept calling it Ben's Bulb. That kind of stuff counts as funny when you've been drinking all night. What wasn't funny was the trip home on the train when we were collectively blanked by a clearly hungover Frank McNamara. That's stars for you. They're your best buddy one night and then your yesterdays news.

What the fuck all of that has to do with the rest of this post is beyond me. I'm banging on about that kind of nonsense when ther's things happening on the music and blogging scene all around me. In Dublin news a couple of new places have opened in the city. The first is actually new. It's some boozer called Le Cirk on Dame Street and it has some notions about being a jazz lounge. It appeared from behind hoardings some weeks ago and is trying to find its feet. I sent my wife and her mates to it the other night but they were having none of it and left after one drink. Maybe jazz isn't their thing. Apparently the music bookings are being taken care of by ex-Jazz FM boss, Ollie Dowling. The former pirate radio mogul will hope that this return to jazz promotion is more successful than his efforts with the Bleu Note on Capel St. The other new, but actually not new, venue is The Twisted Pepper on Middle Abbey Street. This was previously Traffic and for some reason I managed to never go there when it open. As such I've no idea if Twisted Pepper is any different. The Wobble Crew were promoting a night downstairs and it featured my old junglist muckers Don Rosco and Naphta. I only hung around for a while to check out Don Rosco and T-Woc weave some dubstep madness and missed Naphta as a result. The lure of my slippers and a hot cup of Ovaltine was too much for me. I legged it.

The DEAF weekender draws ever closer and I'll remind you again that the only place to be this Thursday evening is in The Sugar Club for the Sweettalk with Steinski, Maser and Alan Gilsenan. I'll be there. Carrying a copy of the FT under my left oxter and with a pink carnation in the lapel of my sports jacket. Another event worth checking is the White Noise gig being promoted by Mici Durnin and his cohort Darren of Maximum Joy promotions. I only met Mici at the tail-end of the summer. We had some oldschool football kickabouts with a motley crew of participants from the likes of The Jimmy Cake, Dave from Road Records and Claude from PIAS distribution. It harked back to those football games on the local green that would go on until it got pitch black. If someone had arrived with an empty glass milk-bottle full of water it would have completed the picture. Anyhow White Noise play The Sugar Club at 8pm on the 26th October. A DJ Set from Broadcast will follow.

I have it on good account that Twenty Majors forum is the place to be this weather. I went over just after it opened and it asked me to register. I hate to admit it but I'm a lazy auld shite when it comes to registering on websites, so I didn't. In any event, I have it on good account that it's working out nicely.

I'd read about the Casino in Marino way back in school. It featured in our art history studies back in secondary school. Yesterday we went en famille over Donnycarney way and visited the Casino. You can imagine my disappointment when I found there was no blackjack table there. Instead you're treated to an architectural wonder of symmetry, creativity and trickery. It's the bleeding business. We went on the tour with a German mother and daughter and some bloke who looked like he'd been forced there by his mother. We all had to put on slippers before they allowed us walk on the nice parquet floors. Freaky buzz but a top buzz.

Finally, it pains me to say it but the fabulous Blogariddims series has come to an end. Fifty blogariddims later, Droid, Slug and the rest of the weareie cru have called a halt to proceedings. These guys have achieved huge admiration for crafting podcasts for general consumption to anyone with an interweb connection. I for one believe they have covered themselves in glory. Well done chaps. You can check out the hugely convoluted but higly entertaining series of posts by all 10 contributors to the final blogariddims over on weare.ie. And here is the very first post by Droid

Jape - In Pictures

goldenmaverick@gmail.com (Matt Vinyl) — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 20:32:00 +0000

Only about a week or so late but here's the pics from Malcolm. Thanks Malcolm.

sum things

goldenmaverick@gmail.com (Matt Vinyl) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 20:40:00 +0000

Last night I was down in Croke Park to watch Ireland play the mighty Cyprus. It started off very nicely with a Robbie Keane goal within four minutes and went downhill from there. Let’s just say it wasn’t pretty. Even with our esteemed Italian manager at the helm when you’ve no midfield you can’t be expected to play football. It’s like entering the Grand National and not putting a jockey on the horse. Anyway never mind the style, a win is after all, a win.

After the match I hooked up with the Blanch Massive, Rollers/Sparkers and Kittser for a few scoops and some interesting discussions. Rollers/Sparkers are still basking in the success of their recent album release ‘Hames’ whilst Kittser contends that his new album will be ready for release in January. Other conversation topics included Demis Roussos and tonights Analogue birthday bash (see below). We also spoke about the CD release that accompanied the latest issue of Analogue. I’m really digging the inclusion of the tune by Ugly Megan on it. If you can’t make it into town to pick up the CD, you can download it here.

It’s not often I’m quoted! Indeed, when I am quoted it’s usually to point out how stupid the thing I said actually was. I don’t mind that too much because I do the exact same thing to other people. Imagine my astonishment when I picked up the latest issue of Analogue magazine, turned to read the Editorial and read a quote from me. I was quite overwhelmed and flattered to think that anyone even listens to me. Even I don’t listen to me. Anyhow, if you read Irish music blogs you’re probably well aware that Analogue is celebrating its’ first year in print. They’ve come a long way in twelve months. I remember when they were only knee-high to the photocopier and hitting keys on their Fisher Price typewriters. Tempus fugit and they’ve matured into big boys and girls. You can join them tonight as they celebrate their first birthday. See them stand back to back and be astounded at how much they’ve grown.

They’re celebrating with a party in the Twisted Pepper on Middle Abbey Street. There’ll be live appearances by Spilly Walker, Patrick Kelleher and a debut appearance by Villagers (the new project by Conor O’Brien ex-Immediate). A DJ set by the various staff of the magazine will follow. There will then be a short break for the Share collection and I will read the parish notices. It's all true, except for that last bit.

I was reading the Irish Times the other day and there was a little maths section in the bottom corner of one page. Contained therein was a reference to an old friend of mine. Dr Carl Bracken won't help you with your rheumatoid arthritis but he's very good at sums and stuff like that. He was giving a talk in our old alma mater called The Maths of Juggling. Apparently jugglers had assumed that all the juggling patterns had been exhausted but then some clever clogs mathematicians applied a load of formulae and constructed new patterns that jugglers never knew existed. Carl, I should point out, is an exceptional juggler and also a magician. He's also great aul craic. I met him in the airport a couple of years ago on his way to central Africa to teach a load of kids maths and juggling. He was wearing a huge overcoat and had a suitcase full of juggling clubs. I'm no expert on these matters but I'm sure that's not the best preparation for such a journey.

I was on The Guardian website the other day when I came across these pictures of Randy's Records in Kingston Jamaica. Check them out.

Last but not least. MP3Hugger has sorted the second digital reissue on his Indiecater label and its from an Irish band called Sunbear. Sunbear released the album in 1994 and there were only 1,000 copies made. As part of Huggers one man mission to save us all from eternal damnation he's also finding the time to release long deleted classics such as this Sunbear album. As with all other Indiecater releases its available for download from the site and this release rings in on the cash till at a negligible €3.50. Nice!

3 plus 4 equals 7

goldenmaverick@gmail.com (Matt Vinyl) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 20:31:00 +0000

A quick lap around the record stores today and I had three new sevens to show for it. For any younger readers who've stumbled across this blog for the first time, I'm talking about those pieces of vinyl that your Da might have in his attic. If the record collections that I've seen are anything to go by there should at least be a copy of Dire Straits 'Brothers in Arms' album, a copy of the original 'Do they know it's Christmas' by Band Aid and the commemorative RTE album of Pope John Paul II's visit to Ireland. That aside, when I arrived home from work today a few pieces had arrived from Norman Records in the UK. I opened the package and the four sevens I'd ordered had arrived. It also appears that I'd been sent a small piece of candy for good measure. Nothing special just a little chewy sweet. Still, it's the thought that counts!

The records ordered from Normans were all tunes that I'd missed on 45rpm when they were originally released. First up is a Tunng cover version of Bloc Party's 'The Pioneers' that came on a one-sided seven inch with an etching on the other side. The cover sounds like an electronic skiffle version of the original. Its all acoustic guitar and glitches until the female vocal comes in, then it builds into something resembling Fun Boy Three. Sounds weird. It is. It's still good though. Next up is the 2007 release of 'Province' by current music media favourites TV on the Radio. It features David Bowie guesting on vocals. Now that's all fine if Bowie is guesting on vocals on his own tune somewhere in the Ziggy Stardust era, it is however different when he's being all atmospheric on this tune. The best compliment I can pay him is that he doesn't manage to fuck it up too much. After hearing other stuff by them this wouldn't really rank as good as it in my book. It's all a bit wanky for my tastes. I prefer that 'Golden Age' tune that they did. The third tune from Normans is a 2006 Primal Scream release from their Riot City Blues album called 'Sometimes I feel so Lonely'. It's all a bit dreamy and at times reminds me of that British Airways advertisement from years ago. The b-side is called 'Gamblin' Bar Room Blues' and can best be described as lounge blues. I can just see Jools Holland tinkling the ivories with gusto to this one. The last out of the package was the 2005 release of Lazer Beam by Super Furry Animals. I absolutely love this tune and only bought it in the hope that some day I get to play it out somewhere. Somewhere really loud with laser beams. Maybe somewhere like The Oasis in Carrickmacross or Bozo's in Athlone.

The three new sevens are actually only two new sevens and a seven released earlier this year. The older release is 'I was a man' by Jape. I already have it on album and there were loads of them about town for ages. It was only today that I realised the former abundance was beginning to disappear. It's a great tune but I'm also loving the b-side 'Gimme Some More'. It's all vocoder and farty bass. Or at least that's what it sounds like on the portable turntable I'm playing it on. The first of the newer releases is yet another single from The Ting Tings debut album 'We started nothing'. This one is called 'Be the one' and is probably their most straight down the line, radio friendly, pop tune to date. Shades of Blondie and The Go Go's run through it and to be honest it's pretty good. I only bought it to hear Derry band, Japanese Popstars remix on the b-side but it turns out that that side is a banging techno affair that wouldn't have been out of place in a Francois set at UFO fifteen odd years ago. For any coloured vinyl fans, the release comes on red vinyl. The second of the new tunes is the latest release from a band that seemed to spend more time here last year than most local bands. They are of course CSS and this one is called 'Move'. I bought it for the Cut Copy remix on the flip side. The original tune starts off like its going to be a cover of 'Down Under' by Men at Work or even 'Living on the Ceiling' by Blancmange. It then turns into what might be described as a homage to a filler tune on the first Madonna album. All that said I really like it. It's the best release they've had since 'Off the Hook'. Better still is the funky remix by Cut Copy on the flip side. It's like an old eighties electro remix with lots of original MIDI sounds. Well worth checking out if thats your bag. It'll definitely be going on the next b-side remix podcast, whenever that might be!

I had loads of other things that I was going to write about but then I read lots of other blogs with most of the topics covered. You should check those other blogs out if you get the chance.

jolly japes and jiggerypokery

goldenmaverick@gmail.com (Matt Vinyl) — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 10:02:00 +0000

I meant to post this last night but as usual there's a time delay in my world. The Mullet and I had arranged to meet up at the Jape gig the other night in The Button Factory. Richie and the lads have been touring in Germany and this heralded a welcome return home for them. Matty has finally made his move to Sweden where’s he’s set up home. He’d only been living there two weeks when he had to head off on tour again. Thursday night’s gig was followed by a gig in Belfast last night and Derry tonight I think. No rest for the wicked.

I arrived a little early and whilst waiting outside for the Mullet, I bumped into Orlando from Ugly Megan, a lo-fi electronic folk outfit. I’ve only met Orlando a couple of times but he took pity on me, waiting outside in the cold, and he ushered me into the gig. This was very welcome, as the Mullet didn’t turn up for another 45 minutes or so. Once inside I was surprised by the volumes that had turned up on a Thursday evening to check out Richie and Co. Admittedly it’s not that surprising given the overwhelmingly positive response to his Electric Picnic appearance in September. The demographics of a Jape gig have changed extraordinarily over the last few years. Last night the spectrum ranged from secondary school kids right up to some that might be described as elderly gents. I bumped into a few other heads most notably Barry Redsetta (who it turns out actually reads this shite that I write) and Malcolm (who was supposed to send me some accompanying photos for this post. You can however check his photos of the DEAF 2008 Launch Party here).

Rather than mix it with the hoi polloi we headed upstairs to the balcony seats and sat behind Richie’s mother and father. His dad was engrossed for most of the gig and was wearing an ever so proud look on his face. As a father myself I can only guess that it’s strange to watch your son rock out in front of a room full of admirers. Anyway I’ll be discouraging my children from pursuing such a career; a job in accountancy or in the civil service will do them (and me) nicely. Also up on the balcony was that chap Nick Seymour who played bass with Crowded House and produced Bell X1. He seemed to be digging the buzz. The Jape set was made up of most of the tunes from the Ritual album and my personal highlight was when the audience joined in during ‘Phil Lynott’. There’s something quite strange about hearing a few hundred people sing ‘Look. At. The. Fucking. Moon.’ The band and their vast array of electronic instrumentation make a great sound and they seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves throughout the show. Richie engaged in that agricultural style dance that only he can do with such panache. He's the blinkin' dogs.

There's been little movement on the vinyl front. I'm waiting on a few things in the post from different parts of the globe. I also noticed that there's an upcoming release on Rhino Records of a Smiths Box Set. It includes ten of their singles in their original artwork and two other limited ones. I'll have to buy it even though I already have everytthing except the two limited edition ones. That's the price you pay for being a vinyl addict. Or a stupid sap.

In other news I picked up the handy pocket-sized Deaf 2008 booklet that includes a double CD full of tunes from Irish based electronic artists. Definitely worth a listen, it can be picked up in several record stores around Dublin while the stocks last.

Finally, a couple of dates in November to put in the gig diary could be the return of New Zealand band Fat Freddys Drop or even the TV on the Radio gig. Both are part of the Green Synergy weekend and are respectively playing in the Tripod on the 15th and 16th of November. More details over on Drop-D.

oh what a feeling! when you're acting on the ceiling

goldenmaverick@gmail.com (Matt Vinyl) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:41:00 +0000

Taking up where I left off the last time. We were as good as our word and headed for the reworking of Franz Kafka's 'Die Verwandlung' in the Olympia Theatre. For a Saturday night there was an awful lot of empty seats downstairs in the venue. I knew there was something up when I met Dineen and he was heading upstairs to the balcony seats. When I bought the tickets about a month ago I was shown a seating plan for the Olympia. The young volunteer in the festival office pointed about eight rows back from the stage and assured me they were some of the best seats in the house. How fucking wrong he was! When we got to the seats there was less leg room than on a Ryanair flight to wherever. Not only that but when the curtain was raised there stood before us a two storey set. This meant that I spent most of the play with my head reclined as a lot of the action took place on the top level. For anyone who'd scrimped and gone for a balcony seat there were no such problems. Those were the optimum seats for this particular production.

Having never read the original Kafka short story I didn't know what to expect. Not knowing that it was a joint British/Icelandic production (Vesturport Theatre and Lyric Hammersmith) I was unprepared for the accents emanating from the actors. As you can guess I went to this thing pretty uninformed. That's my usual approach to things in life. My ignorance in this case was bliss. After five minutes I thought it was going to be a bag of shite. After ten minutes I was getting into the groove. After fifteen minutes i was loving it. I thought the acting was pretty hammy in places and that some of the interpretation of the work bordered on farce but the lead role of Gregor Samsa, as played by Bjorn Thors, included an amazing series of gravity defying physical feats performed at a 90 degree angle to the rest of the set. Its hard to explain but it was a great buzz.

In other news, I was only delighted to open the paper on Saturday and see a nice big article on one of Ireland's top illustrators/cartoonists Bob Byrne. I only have a virtual relationship with Bob on his clamnuts site but he's always struck me as a decent fella. I like to think of him as an Irish Rolf Harris but without the beard and wobble board and not anywhere near as good at singing 'Two Little Boys'. It turns out that Bob has done way more stuff that I've given him past credit for. I was banging on about his Mr Amperduke novel a while back and it gets a good mention in the article I'm talking about.

I picked up a copy of the now free (to read, not to publish, print, run etc.) State Magazine. Its as polished as they come for a freebie music magazine. They must have had the Brasso out. There's some nice stuff on Irish acts in it e.g. the MJEX interview & the one with Fight Like Apes.

Over on Jim's site today he makes mention of an award winning blog post. It was written by Paul Tarpey and anyone with even a passing interest in Irish clubbing culture should check it out. It has the makings of a brilliant book. Hats off to Paul. I'm sure that I've used a picture of his on this blog before. Here's Paul's post.

Two purchases I landed on 45rpm today come from Toddla T and Born Ruffians. The Toddla T release is a picture disc of 'Manabadman' and the flip side is my favourite. It features a dub version with Trigganom mcing on it. Top beats from the Sheffield wonderkid Toddla. The Born Ruffians 'Little Garcon' EP release is a double seven inch job. It's very different to the 'Hummingbird' tune that I got by them. I listened to the title track on this release and it reminded me of some alt-folk cajun style mash up. Sounds a bit freaky but I like it. The other three go off on different tangents too but the kids were dancing around pretending to be Michael Jackson in the Thriller video so I couldn't hear them very well. The tunes not the kids.

the black watch

goldenmaverick@gmail.com (Matt Vinyl) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 18:53:00 +0000

Myself and the missus took ourselves off to the RDS last night. It wasn't for Kanye West or the Ideal Homes exhibition or anything like that. It was to check out one of the feted plays in this years Dublin Theatre Festival. The show in question is called Black Watch. I saw the festival director on the TV last week saying it was the best piece of theatre produced anywhere in the world in the last few years. As soon as I heard that I lowered my expectations. I hate it when fuckers tell you something is going to be brilliant only for it to turn out to be shite. I need not have been so cynical or disbelieving. The show was great. It's produced by the National Theatre of Scotland and directed by some bloke called John Tiffany. Its apparently based on interviews with former soldiers who served in Iraq and it examines what it means to be part of the legendary Black Watch Regiment, what it means to be part of the war on terror, and what it means to make the long journey home. It was a gripping hour and forty five minutes or so and for a large part of it there was definite sensory assault. I'll not bother reviewing it because that's not my thing but you can read the review in todays Irish Times. I'd recommend that you check it out if it comes around again. I've more freaky theatre lined up for tomorrow evening when I go and see Metamorphosis . Written by Kafka, with music by Nick Cave and half of it staged on the ceiling, you just know its going to be mental.

I made peace with a little part of myself the other day when I finally got my hands on a 12 inch copy of the Foul Play remix of 'Renegade Snares' by Omni Trio. I've been wanting a copy of this old drum and bass tune for years. It's in my top three favourite jungle tunes ever and now it stands on the shelf gathering dust alongside a couple of hundred other jungle classics. Big up to Gerry in Beatfinder Records for not selling it to anyone else (despite his best efforts).

A seven inch of note that's found a new home in Chez Vinyl is the second release in the Powerful Beacon series. It sees hip-hop producer Samon Kawamura remix a classic hip-hop tune by OC called Times Up. The Powerful Beacon project aims to reintroduce hip hop classics to the modern listener by having them remixed by contemporary producers. It's nowhere near as good as the original but its still pretty great. It was released on Takeshi Records some time earlier this year.

a tale of two axelrods

goldenmaverick@gmail.com (Matt Vinyl) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 19:51:00 +0000

I feign a passing interest in this upcoming US Presidential election. In truth I couldn't really give a monkeys who is president of a country a few thousand miles away. I don't discriminate against the US. I couldn't give a shite who the president of any country is. That said, you don't like to be caught on the hop when discussing politics with equally uninformed individuals over morning coffee. As such I was browsing some online reports about the upcoming election. After what was reported as a rather downbeat debate between the presidential candidates, the focus has now shifted to the vice-presidential hopefuls. Given that Ireland has an illustious history of electing mentalists and blackguards as their public representatives I for one don't find it strange that a moose-shooting, self-proclaimed hockey mom should be in the running in the US. Now matter how odd she appears to most I can list at least ten Irish politicians who are twice as mental. Anyhow, this is one of my patented long winded ways of introducing the topic of this particular post.

It appears that David Axelrod is the Chief Strategist for the Barrack Obama campaign. On first reading this today I wondered about the wisdom behind appointing a 72 year old psychedelic pop producer to such a post. I mean he's a wizard behind a sound desk in the studio but how would he fare on the campaign trail? I need not have been so worried. It turns out that there's more than one famous David Axelrod. The one that I'm more familiar with is the genius behind such gems as 'Holy Thursday' from the 1968 album 'Song of Innocence'. The one that's onboard with Obama is the one who is more famous for running a company called ASK Public Strategies that engages in 'astro-turfing'. This peculiar practice first came to my attention in a book called 'The Corporation' written by a chap called Joel Bakan. The actual practice involves pushing an agenda by both overt and stealth means to create an impression that there's a grassroots interest in a particular thing. It's use is also rising amongst blogs. If that is indeed the case then I for one need to employ one of these fuckers for my blog. Given that one David Axelrod is tied up until at least the November election I was wondering if anyone had the number for the other? I'm sure he'd give it a try.

In other completely unrelated news Julian Cope lists his twenty favourite JapRock tunes over on the FACT website. Mr Cope has also written a book about the phenomenon called JapRockSampler. Sounds bleeding magic.

The local Oxfam shops are bereft of any seven inches worth buying so I've taken to looking in the book sections these days. I managed to pick up three nice musical reference books for less than a tenner. The first charts the story of hip-hop and is called 'Can't Stop, Won't Stop'. Its written by a bloke called Jeff Chang. The second is by a chap called Lloyd Bradley. 'Bass Culture: When Reggae Was King' charts the development of the reggae sound from its roots in 1950's Jamaica right up to 2001. It misses out on the recent dancehall explosion which appears to have been to the detriment of all other strains of reggae but otherwise is bang on as a great reference tome. The final book is another reggae job called 'Young, Gifted and Black: The Story of Trojan Records'. I guess that the second part of the title gives you an idea about what its about. However rather than it being a history of the artists on the label it instead looks at the stuff that went on behind the scenes over the course of its brief (ok six years) existence. Or at least that's what I read on the cover, in reality it appears to be more like this. Ah well, as Meatloaf sang, two out of three ain't bad.

I also picked up two collections of stuff by Flann O Brien; The Hair of the Dogma and Myles Away from Dublin. This means that over the course of the last two years I've picked up nearly every bit of Flann O Brien stuff with the exception of 'Flann O'Brien At War: Myles na gCopaleen 1940-1945' and 'At War'. It all came in at under twenty quid. As you can tell, I'm a fan of Flann. Not in a Tommy Tiernan sycophantic way but in a normal, I get a buzz out of him way. I reckon Flann invented astroturfing.

to the beat of the drum, bang!

goldenmaverick@gmail.com (Matt Vinyl) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 20:29:00 +0000

Dublin. It’s often described as nothing more than a big village. I estimate that in Dublin there’s only three degrees of separation between everyone living there. Whenever I go into Dublin city centre (which is actually most days, because that’s where I work) I always meet someone I know. If I don’t meet someone I know then I at least meet someone who knows someone I know. I think you get the idea.

Last week I had a chance encounter with an aspiring local musician. The chance encounter wasn’t actually such a chance encounter as it now appears we were aware of each other’s existence for at least a few months. However, this awareness was limited to virtual awareness i.e. on the interweb. I’ve struck up a number of virtual relationships at this stage. Not the kind of relationships that have a young woman in front of a webcam doing peculiar things with vegetables and the like. No, these are more cerebral relationships. In some cases it’s admiration for another’s blogging, in other cases it’s as a result of their musical output and then there are other cases where a series of comments lead to a realisation that I actually know the other person in real life.

In this instance the chap I’m talking about is Conor Furlong. He’s recently released an album of self-penned tunes entitled ‘Eternal’. He was kind enough to give me a copy of the album the other day and I did actually get around to listening to it, albeit just the one listen. First impressions are that Conor's voice is reminiscent of a track that I recently heard by One Day International. By that I don’t mean that the songs or arrangements are similar but I actually mean that the vocals were quite similar to one another. Aside from the vocal similarity (that probably only exists in my head), the rest of the album is a very understated collection of pop songs with a backing track of simple electronic beats and layers of atmospheric sounds. It's not an album that you'd put on before a night out, you're more likely to put it on to unwind in the small hours. Coincidentally, One Day International also have a new album out entitled Blackbird. Both albums are available to buy at www.roadrecs.com.

I picked up a few seven inches in recent days that might tickle the fancy of a few freaks like myself. I picked up what appears to be the first single release, Magic Man, from The Aliens new album Luna. When I first heard it I thought that its another tune that sounds like old Jesus and Mary Chain. On the second listen I decided that it sounded more like Super Furry Animals. On the third listen I'm veering towards the more obscure Beatles sound a la Sergeant Peppers. I have to stop listening to it as I'm running out of things to compare it to. Have you noticed a theme in this blog? I never actually review anything, I just compare it to other stuff.

Another new release on seven inch comes in the form of a peculiar take on hip-hop as espoused by Flobots, a group from Denver in the US. It's two MC's with a band behind them. There's little mainstream hip-hop to compare it to and I dismissed it on first listen. Since then I've gone and listened to a few of their other tunes and it gives me a better idea about what they're trying to do. The only reason I bought it was for the DJ Shadow remix on the b-side. It's a much more uptempo interpretation of the tune and the beats are rocking. The chorus is still annoying me though.

Another unusual new seven inch is one that I came across in All City Records. It was released on The TruThoughts label and it's by Australian soulsters The Bamboos. It features Megan Washington on guest vocals doing a cover version of the Kings of Leon's 'King of the Rodeo'. Better still, the b-side has a tune called 'Can't Help Myself' that features Ty, one of my favourite UK rap artists. It's the bomb.

Not content with just bagging these new seven inches, I went and bought a few odds and ends. When I say odds and ends I really mean odds. A couple of boxes of dusty sevens arrived in Beatfinder Records the other day and I spent a chunk of my lunch break getting my fingers dirty whilst flicking through them. I managed to pull out a 45 by The Sound Stage Orchestra on BBC Records. The a-side is the theme tune to Grandstand whilst the b-side is the theme tune from Rugby Special called Holy Mackerel. They're both great. Very much of their time but still very appealing to the modern listener. Another freaky purchase was a flexi-single from the late seventies featuring Noel Edmonds introducing three of his favourite songs. The tunes are shit but I've a feeling that Noel's voice will be appearing in a future podcast. The last seven inch that I picked up is my current personal favourite. It's Richard Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra (better known as the them from 2001 Space Odyssey) arranged and adapted by Eumir Deodato, the Brazilian musician, composer and producer. This tune won the 1973 Grammy award for Best Pop Instrumental so its not just me that thinks its great. Deodato is still out there producing stuff but check him out below, performing in 1980 with his band and accompanying orchestra.