Yer Mam!

Symphology

2009-08-11T20:45:00.004+02:00

I'm back, muh'fuggahs!

It takes something a bit special for me to pop my head out of my hidey-hole these days and DJ History's new release is just that. As disco and house show signs of converging once again these days, especially with the likes of Toby Tobias, Still Going and Trus'me to name but three, it's probably the optimum time to delve back into the 90s London house scene. Street Corner Symphony, alongside Heller & Farley's Fire Island and Black Science Orchestra (Ashley Beedle, Rob Mello & co.), were one of the main purveyors of disco-laced house music from that London of that decade.

SCS were Pete Z (Idjut Boys, Das Etwas) and Glen Gunner (Block 16) and they were ace. In fact, their music sounds more contemporary now than it did way back when. Tracks like 'Slow Blow' and 'Memories Of Aphrodite' have more in tune with the thriving nu-disco scene (or whatever the fuck it's called these days) than anything emanating from anywhere back then. Great time for a retrospective then.

So that's exactly what the DJ History guys have put together. You can buy it here - with a special super-sized version here with extra tracks - and while you're over there, you might as well treat yourselves to their recent Tele Music remix compilation, 'Le Disco Remixed' too. It's worth it for Toby Tobias' spacey take on 'Monkey Star' and Leo Zero's lairy re-do of 'Baby's Band' alone.

Here's a little taster of what to expect from the Street Corner Symphony album...

Street Corner Symphony - Street Corner Symphony (mp3)

While I'm here too, I might as well pimp this mix I did to promote last month's Dig For Victory! too. It's a bit charming (read sloppy) in places but it's pretty fun all the same, I think...

DFV's Fruity And Frivolous Promo Mix For July

Bits & Pieces - Don't Stop The Music (Island)
Q-Tip - Gettin' Up (Universal Motown)
Lauryn Hill - Everything Is Everything (Ruffhouse)
Codek - Tim Toum (Island)
Agneta Faltskog - Wrap Your Arms Around Me (Villa Diva Edit) (Mindless Boogie)
Raggio Di Luna - Comanchero (Il Discotto)
Taggy Matcher - Shimmy Shimmy Ya (Stix)
Lancelot Layne - Yo Tink It Sorf? (Strut)
Metro Area - Disco Reaction (Environ)
Shirley Lites - Heat You Up (Melt You Down) (Instrumental) (West End)
The B.B. & Q. Band - On The Beat (Capitol)
T-Coy - Carino (Deconstruction)
Hercules & Love Affair - True False Fake Real (DFA)
Super Furry Animals - Cardiff In The Sun (Rough Trade)
Caetano Veloso - Lady Madonna (Philips)
Steel An' Skin - Reggae Is Here Once Again (Honest Jon's)
J.J. Cale - Cocaine (Mercury)
The Science Fiction Corporation - The Whistling Astronaut (Finders Keepers)
The Shadows - Scotch On The Socks (EMI Columbia)
Elton John - Bennie & The Jets (MCA)

And also, if you like, you can check out this Spotify playlist what I did. It took about five minutes to put together. It's the thought that counts...

JMx

Wax On...

2009-05-30T23:47:00.003+02:00

Here's a couple of new-ish mixes for you all. I did them about a month apart and just realised that I repeat one track on both of the mixes. Oh well. It's a good tune. Anyway, check them out if you so wish...

DFV's Weird And Wonderful April Promo Mix

Bullion - Young Heartache (One Handed)
Architeq - Sleeping Bear Lament (James Pants Remix) (Tirk)
Dabrye - Smoking The Edge (Ghostly International)
6th Borough Project - Do It To The Max (Instruments Of Rapture)
Debruit - Pouls (Musique Large)
Fudge Fingas - Getting Togetha (Firecracker)
Fulgeance - Revenge Of The Nerd (All City)
Carlos Y Gaby - Hot Heavy Heat (Dimlite's Hot Air And Thick Plastic Remix) (Alpha Pup)
M.I.A. - Galang (XL)
Dam-Funk - Let's Take Off (Far Away) (Stones Throw)
Beatconductor - Rocksteady (Spicy)
Kanye West - Champion (Cousin Cole's Acid Dub Slow) (Flagrant Fowl)
Shake - SMD (Scarelly Style) (Klang Elektronik)
DJ Vadim - They Say (Rune Lindbaek Edit) (White)

Yer Mam!'s Protodiscobalearichiphouse Mix

Walter Jones - I'll Keep On Loving You (DFA)
Massimiliano Pagliara - Ophelie (Live At Robert Johnson)
Smith & Mudd - Wem (Claremont 56)
Zilverzurf Vs. 7 Samurai - The Moment Is Gone (7 Samurai Disco Reggae Remix) (Poets Club)
Kid Sublime - Basement Works Vol. 5.2 (Jahwell)
Omid - Mutiny (Alpha Pup)
Galaxy Toobin - Toobin Problems (Creme Organization)
Bonzo Goes To Washington - 5 Minutes (B-B-B Bombing Mix) (Sleeping Bag)
Afrobutt - Cracks All Gone (Electric Minds)
Fulgeance - Tribute To Masakela (Fulgeance Bicoquet Edit) (Musique Large)
Toto - Georgie Porgy (OOFT Rework) (Five20East)
Dam-Funk - Hood Pass Intact (Stones Throw)
E-The-Hot - Live At The Academy Pt. 1 (Mantra Vibes)
Meanderthals - Andromeda (Prelude To The Future) (Smalltown Supersound)
Shake - SMD (Scarelly Style) (Klang Elektronik)
Aqeel - Nasty (Instrumental) (4 Lux)
Jayson Brothers - All My Life (MCDE)
Reggie B - Hydraulic City (Instrumental) (Circulations)
Floating Points - Love Me Like This (Nonsense Dub) (R2 Records)

You wanted to see it...

2009-05-30T15:42:00.006+02:00

So here it is. There was a bit of interest in seeing what my favourite albums and tunes of 2008 actually were, after I aborted it at some point in January. I'm not going to write something about every entry but here are the lists and there's five links for all the top 100 tunes down the bottom of the post. Hope you enjoy/agree/vehemently disagree...

Yer Mam!'s Top 50 Albums Of 2008

1. Flying Lotus - Los Angeles (Warp)

2. Kelley Polar - I Need You To Hold On While The Sky Is Falling (Environ)
3. Starkey - Ephemeral Exhibits (Planet Mu)
4. Hercules & Love Affair - Hercules & Love Affair (DFA/EMI)
5. TV On The Radio - Dear Science (4AD)
6. Portishead - Third (Universal Island)
7. Zomby - Where Were U In '92? (Werk)
8. Cadence Weapon - Afterparty Babies (Big Dada)
9. Lindstrom - Where You Go I Go Too (Feedelity)
10. Thomas Function - Celebration (Alive Records)
11. Gang Gang Dance - Saint Dymphna (Warp)
12. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! (Mute)
13. Man Man - Rabbit Habits (Anti-)
14. Roots Manuva - Slime & Reason (Big Dada)
15. Quiet Village - Silent Movie (Studio !K7)
16. Vivian Girls - Vivian Girls (In The Red)
17. The Night Marchers - See You In Magic (Vagrant)
18. The Bug - London Zoo (Ninja Tune)
19. No Age - Nouns (Sub Pop)
20. Killer Mike - I Pledge Allegiance To The Grind II (SMC Recordings/Grind Time Official)
21. Syclops - I've Got My Eye On You (DFA/EMI)
22. Low Motion Disco - Keep It Slow (Eskimo)
23. Osborne - Osborne (Spectral Sound)
24. The Roots - Rising Down (Def Jam)
25. Neil Landstrumm - Lord For £39 (Planet Mu)
26. Morgan Geist - Double Night Time (Environ)
27. Deerhunter - Microcastle/Weird Era Cont. (4AD)
28. Hatchback - Colors Of The Sun (Lo Recordings)
29. Dan Lissvik - 7 Trx + Intermission (Information)
30. Toby Tobias - Space Shuffle (REKIDS)
31. Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer (Sub Pop)
32. Black Mountain - In The Future (Jagjaguwar)
33. Harvey Milk - "Life... The Best Game In Town" (Hydra Head Records)
34. David Byrne & Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today (Todomundo)
35. Lil' Wayne - Tha Carter III (Cash Money Records)
36. Black Milk - Tronic (Fat Beats)
37. Koushik - Out My Window (Stones Throw)
38. Young Jeezy - The Recession (Def Jam)
39. JME - Famous? (Boy Better Know)
40. Windsurf - Coastlines (Internasjonal)
41. Deerhoof - Offend Maggie (Kill Rock Stars)
42. Clinic - Do It! (Domino)
43. Q-Tip - The Renaissance (Universal Motown)
44. Dusk & Blackdown - Margins Music (Keysound)
45. Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Primary Colours (Goner)
46. The Kills - Midnight Boom (Domino)
47. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend (XL)
48. Girl Talk - Feed The Animals (Illegal Art)
49. Bun B - II Trill (Rap-A-Lot)
50. 2562 - Aerial (Tectonic)

Yer Mam!'s Top 100 Tunes Of 2008

1. Hercules & Love Affair - Blind (DFA/EMI)

2. The Juan Maclean - Happy House (DFA)
3. TV On The Radio - Golden Age (4AD)
4. Portishead - Machine Gun (Universal Island)
5. Kelley Polar - Entropy Reigns (In The Celestial City) (Environ)
6. Flying Lotus - Parisian Goldfish (Warp)
7. Jay Reatard - Screaming Hand (Matador)
8. Aeroplane feat. Kathy Diamond - Whispers (Eskimo)
9. Kanye West - Love Lockdown (Roc-A-Fella)
10. Thomas Function - Can't Say No (Alive Records)
11. David Byrne & Brian Eno - Strange Overtones (Todomundo)
12. Hudson Mohawke - Polkadot Blues (Warp)
13. Lil' Wayne - A Milli (Cash Money Records)
14. Syclops - Where's Jason's K? (DFA)
15. The Cool Kids - What Up Man? (XL)
16. Osborne - 16th Stage (Spectral Sound)
17. Roots Manuva - Let The Spirit (Big Dada)
18. Watussi - If All We Had Was Love (StickyDisc)
19. Young Jeezy feat. Nas - My President (Def Jam)
20. Janelle Monae - Sincerely, Jane (Bad Boy Entertainment)
21. Joker - Snake Eater (Soul Motive)
22. Hot Chip - One Pure Thought (EMI)
23. Canyons - Apples And Pears (Hole In The Sky)
24. Toby Tobias feat. Kathy Diamond - The Feeling (REKIDS)
25. Cadence Weapon - Julianne Wilding (Big Dada)
26. Mayer Hawthorne & The County - Just Ain't Gonna Work Out (Stones Throw)
27. King Midas Sound - Cool Out (Hyperdub)
28. 6th Borough Project - Planets (Jiscomusic/Five20East)
29. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - We Call Upon The Author (Mute)
30. Mujava - Township Funk (Warp)
31. Mark E - Slave 1 (Running Back)
32. No Age - Teen Creeps (Sub Pop)
33. Gang Gang Dance - House Jam (Warp)
34. Zomby - Liquid Dancehall (Ramp Recordings)
35. Camille - Money Note (EMI)
36. Man Man - Big Trouble (Anti-)
37. Starkey - Gutter Music (Planet Mu)
38. Wiley - Wearing My Rolex (Asylum Records)
39. James Pants - We're Through (Stones Throw)
40. Plastique De Reve - Lost In The City (Supersoul/Death From Abroad)
41. Solange - Sandcastle Disco (Geffen)
42. Vampire Weekend - One (Blake's Got A New Face) (XL)
43. T.I. feat. Kanye West, Jay-Z & Lil' Wayne - Swagga Like Us (Grand Hustle/Atlantic)
44. Deerhunter - Nothing Ever Happened (4AD)
45. Mickey Moonlight - Interplanetary Music (Ed Banger)
46. Bostro Pesopeo - Falls (Permanent Vacation)
47. The Barbaras - Summertime Road (Goner)
48. Neon Neon - I Told Her On Alderaan (Lex)
49. Chris Brown - Forever (Jive)
50. Robert Owens - I'm Chained (Compost)
51. The Kills - Last Day Of Magic (Domino)
52. Vivian Girls - Tell The World (In The Red)
53. The Muslims - Nightlife (1928 Recordings)
54. Koushik - Bright And Shining (Stones Throw)
55. Padded Cell - Word Of Mouth (DC Recordings)
56. Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Which Way To Go (Goner)
57. Max Essa - Back To The Beach (Bear Funk)
58. Runaway - Brooklyn Club Jam (DFA/REKIDS)
59. Late Of The Pier - The Bears Are Coming (Zarcorp)
60. Mock & Toof - Underwater (DFA)
61. Morgan Geist - Ruthless City (Environ)
62. Pinch - Joyride (Tectonic)
63. Babytalk - Chance (StickyDisc)
64. Shackleton - Death Is Not Final (Skull Disco)
65. White Denim - Sitting (Full Time Hobby)
66. The Rapture - No Sex For Ben (Rockstar Games)
67. Quiet Village - Pacific Rhythm (Studio !K7)
68. Wavves - Side Yr On (Woodsist/Fuck It Tapes)
69. Air France - Collapsing At Your Doorstep (Sincerely Yours)
70. Dam-Funk - Burgundy City (Stones Throw)
71. Black Mountain - Wucan (Jagjaguwar)
72. Yacht - It's Boring/You Can Live Anywhere You Want (DFA)
73. Martyn - Natural Selection (3024)
74. Britney Spears - Womanizer (Jive)
75. Crystal Antlers - A Thousand Eyes (Touch And Go)
76. Crazy Cousinz - Bongo Jam (Bongo Records)
77. Mr Raoul K - Le Cercle Peul (Club Mix) (Baobab Music)
78. Erykah Badu - The Healer (Universal Motown)
79. Ramadanman - Carla (Soul Jazz)
80. The Bug - Murder We (Ninja Tune)
81. Linkwood - R.I.P. (Prime Numbers)
82. Killer Mike - God In The Building (SMC Recordings/Grind Time Official)
83. L.S.B. - Loco Motion (Eskimo)
84. Cheap Time - People Talk (In The Red)
85. Rustie - Zig-Zag (Wireblock)
86. The Night Marchers - In Dead Sleep (I Snore ZZZZ) (Vagrant)
87. Fulgeance - Revenge Of The Nerd (All City)
88. The Dirtbombs - La Fin Du Monde (In The Red)
89. Kode9 Vs. LD - Bad (Hyperdub)
90. Wild Rumpus - Purple Somersault (Bitches Brew)
91. Schwarz, Ame, Dixon - D.p.o.m.b. 1 (Innervisions)
92. Ikonika - Please (Hyperdub)
93. Tiedye - Nothing Else Matters (Italians Do It Better)
94. The Long Blondes - Here Comes The Serious Bit (Rough Trade)
95. Thriller - BBQ (Thriller)
96. Telepathe - Chrome's On It (IAmSound)
97. Invisible Conga People - Cable Dazed (Italians Do It Better)
98. POLLYester - You Are Amen (Love In C Minor)
99. Nas feat. Keri Hilson - Hero (Def Jam)
100. Toddla T feat. Serocee - Soundtape Killin (1965)

Download all 100 tunes in five convenient zips below...

1-20

21-40

41-60

61-80

81-100

Back soon, kids...

JMx

Disco-lusioned?

2009-05-21T17:48:00.006+02:00

Okay, first of all, I'm not going to make any real excuses for my absence. There were many contributing factors I guess, but the most succinct answer is that life got in the way, as it sometimes does (it can be quite fun, y'know, that life thing). Anyway, I'm sort of back now I guess. I won't be finishing my 2008 lists as it's a bit late now really, but if there's enough interest, I might just post the lists with links to mp3s or something.

Also, as Blogger have been taking posts down willy-nilly lately, I'm not bothering posting mp3s on posts for the time being, but as you're all resourceful people, you can probably track down what I'm talking about elsewhere. Right, on with the show...

Has the Balearic bubble burst? You'd certainly think so listening to II, Lindstrom & Prins Thomas' latest opus. Where their eponymous first album revitalised an oft-forgotten strain of disco, making slo-mo, Italo-leaning kosmische with soft-pop overtones fashionable in the process. Beards, kaftans and Jesus sandals were in all of a sudden and these two Norwegians were partly to blame.

While the debut had its flaws, it was a hell of a listen, sounding gorgeous, alien and propulsive, despite its laidback trappings. II isn't a radical departure - although there's a definitely more pronounced Krautrock vibe - but where Lindstrom & Prins Thomas was thrilling and unique in its own way, this comes over insipid, overly languid and boring by comparison.

It's not without its moments ('Note I Love You + 100' for instance, is as good as anything off their debut), it just feels so self-indulgent and too much like a xerox of what made them so intriguing in the first place. It's a shame really, as last year's Lindstrom solo album, Where You Go I Go Too is pretty much a masterpiece of perfectly modulated poise and dynamism and recently released non-album track 'Tirsdagsjam' is everything that most of II is not. It's understandable why it was left off the album, as it's basically a club track and essays that L&PT should stick to making eccentric dancefloor rockers rather than ornate aural wallpaper like the vast majority of II. A disappointing turn of events for arguably the two most talented producers in the microgenre.

Signs of ruder health for Balearica can be found elsewhere though, in two new full-lengths from the cosmic ghetto. Meanderthals is the new collaborative effort from Idjut Boys and Rune Lindbaek and their debut LP, Desire Lines is absolutely wonderful. A beardo's wet dream team-up, it pretty much surpasses anything Idjuts and Lindbaek have done in the past. Full of hooks and purpose, it never meanders - despite their chosen moniker - and always enthralls, especially the enterprising '1-800-288-Slam' and blissful closer 'Bugges Room'. Smalltown Supersound once again prove themselves one of the most reliable labels around.

Also well worth checking out is Le Suivant, Smith & Mudd's follow-up to the beautiful, languorous Blue River. Besting that record significantly, Le Suivant is, alongside Desire Lines, one of 2009's best LPs so far. Recent singles 'Wem' and 'The Delivery Man' are highlights but it's all great. Hearing is believing so I won't go on. Check it out on Claremont 56 from next week.

Meanwhile, at the more boisterous end of the disco spectrum, The Glimmers are only giving away another new album at their shows. This one is credited to their band project, The Disko Drunkards and it's, well, it's a bit rubbish. The Glimmers are clearly talented guys but the lazy, hacky post-punk disco shenanigans contained here grow pretty annoying pretty quickly. A Liquid Liquid rip-off here, a bogstandard approximation of LCD Soundsystem there, The Disko Drunkards album sure sounds like it was made under the influence of something or other, but unless you're pissed too, then I can't see it holding much enjoyment for anyone.

Much more successful is In Flagranti's new album, Brash & Vulgar. Every bit as crass and obnoxious as the title suggests it may be, but it's also a fucking blast. Careening, disorderly discoid jams are the order of the day and if you overlook the porny cover and ridiculous song titles, there's plenty to keep you interested. There's a case to be made for some of the tracks being a bit longer (In Flagranti are the most attention deficient of the nu-disco camp) but it never outstays its welcome and, like I said, it's an absolute riot.

Back soon, honest.

JMx

Yer Mam!'s Top 50 Albums Of 2008: 45-41

2008-12-21T18:04:00.002+02:00

45. Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Primary Colours (Goner)

Eddy Current Suppression Ring; remember the name. Their chosen moniker might not trip off the tongue, but there's nothing convoluted about the music of this Aussie four-piece. Favouring a stripped-down, raw power aesthetic approach to well-worn garage-punk tropes, Primary Colours might not be the most refined album released this year, but it's certainly one of the most primally thrilling.

ECSR throw unrestrained Stooges-esque proto-punk, Mission Of Burma-like fury and Gang Of Four's wit and way with rhythm into their admittedly derivative brew but the fact that all the elements are stolen doesn't detract from the massive replayability of songs like the menacing 'I Admit My Faults' or the stark, hypnotic 'Colour Television', whose "Switch on, switch off" refrain will stick in your head like an icepick. It may take a little while to get your head around that name but the 10 songs on Primary Colours will hit immediately.

Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Colour Television (mp3)

Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Memory Lane (mp3)

Bonus: Very amateur footage of 'I Admit My Faults' live in Sydney.

44. Dusk + Blackdown - Margins Music (Keysound Recordings)

There's no escaping from the fact that Margins Music is very much a London record. It's there in the artwork depicting a fruit and veg market stall, it's in the multifarious references to certain boroughs of the city, hell, even the album's catalogue number is LDN006. It's also in the atmosphere though, as Margins Music is a smoky, suffocating record that sounds as harsh and austere as the average London street at night.

That said, take away the obvious "This is London" shout-outs and Dusk + Blackdown's massively impressive debut album could have come from any bustling, multicultural metropolis. For all its frequent darkness however, Margins Music is also an album of rare, disarming beauty that expands the dubstep pallette to incorporate fragile Indian motifs such as alluring tablas and stirring sitars. D+B are also not afraid to bring a bit of forcefulness to proceedings as evidenced by the midsection one-two punch of 'Concrete Streets' (with Durrty Goodz) and 'The Bits' (with Trim). Margins Music is a marvellous, absorbing treatise on inner city life in the 21st Century, with a life and an appeal outside of the big smoke.

Dusk + Blackdown - Con/Fusion (feat. Farrah) (mp3)

Dusk + Blackdown - The Bits (feat. Trim) (mp3)

Bonus: Watch the great short promo vid for the album. See, advertising can still be artful.

43. Q-Tip - The Renaissance (Universal Motown)

2008 was the year of the comeback and there were fewer returns as emphatic and like-they've-never-been-away than the rebirth of Jonathan Davis aka Kamaal Fareed aka Q-Tip. From the opening treated guitar lick of 'Johnny Is Dead' and Tip's affirmation that "What good is an ear if a Q-Tip isn't in it", it was obvious that The Renaissance would be worth the nine year wait.

It really is all that and then some, arguably a better album than his last official solo effort, 1999's Amplified (which itself is a lot better than the lukewarm critical reception it received at the time suggests), The Renaissance is bright, effusive, hugely optimistic and nostalgic. It's also a very timely album, setting Tip up (if he can avoid anymore record company troubles) once again as an affable outsider alternative to the hip-hop mainstream. After all he works a Can sample better than Kanye did.

Q-Tip - Gettin' Up (mp3)

Q-Tip - Dance On Glass (mp3)

Bonus: Watch the brilliant video for 'Move'.

42. Clinic - Do It! (Domino)

Along with the rest of the music-following world, I'd written Clinic off as a one-trick pony who'd forgotten how to perform its one trick. Treading water doesn't really cover just how 'meh' Clinic's albums have been since the glorious debut, Internal Wrangler way back in 2000. Thankfully Do It! is their most confident release since that brilliant first shot across the boughs and one of 2008's most pleasant surprises.

Ade Blackburn and gang have been boning up on their songcraft lately as Do It! assays at a disarmingly frequent rate. They're charming and eloquent on 'Free Not Free' and 'Emotions', fractured and punky on 'Shopping Bag' and 'Tomorrow' and woozy and psychedelic on 'Mary and Eddie' and 'Memories'. If you've tuned out on Clinic since Internal Wrangler then Do It! is more than worth tuning back in.

Clinic - Shopping Bag (mp3)

Clinic - High Coin (mp3)

Bonus: Watch the video for 'Tomorrow'.

Another year, another Deerhoof album. While Offend Maggie doesn't quite match up to the audacity of Milk Man, the frenzied, hyper-kinetic charm of The Runners Four or the streamlined, odd-pop greatness of Friend Opportunity, it's still another fittingly barmy and fulfilling entry into the Deerhoof discography.

If there's something that marks Offend Maggie out from those that preceded it, it's that it sees Deerhoof edging closer towards a union between their more outre experimental sensibilities and their clear 'gift' for classic pop music. On songs like 'Chandelier Searchlight', the band showcase some of their brightest melodies to-date, whilst 'The Tears And Music Of Love', 'My Purple Past' and 'Buck And Judy' rock almost as hard as their heroes The Who. Offend Maggie isn't their best album, but the mere existence of each Deerhoof record is cause enough for celebration and this collection further marks them out as one of America's most pleasingly consistent and idiosyncratic indie-rock bands.

Deerhoof - The Tears And Music Of Love (mp3)

Deerhoof - Eaguru Guru (mp3)

Bonus: Watch the typically strange video for 'Chandelier Searchlight'.

Yer Mam!'s Top 100 Tunes Of 2008: 90-81

2008-12-15T20:42:00.002+02:00

90. Wild Rumpus - Purple Somersault (Bitches Brew)

One of those you can file under 'shouldn't work, but it does', Wild Rumpus is a startlingly good collaboration between Bitches Brew head, DJ Cosmo and former Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band guitarist, Gary Lucas. Wild Rumpus make wonderful music, however, that touches on dub, country, surf and disco and 'Purple Somersault' is their outlandish zenith to-date. Essentially an ostentatious guitar freakout, complete with a drum solo (*fist pump*), 'Purple Somersault' eskimo-rolls onto the dancefloor with grace and effortless good-time verve. A balearic classic in the making. Um... gnarly, dude.

Wild Rumpus - Purple Somersault (mp3)

Bonus: Wild Rumpus - Purple Somersault (Prins Thomas Diskomiks) (mp3)

89. Kode9 Vs. LD - Bad (Hyperdub)

In which Kode9 drops The Spaceape, hooks up with LD from Transition and gets on the funky bandwagon. Well, that last part is maybe a little wide of the mark as this is still definably dubstep in nature, but there's no doubting that the soca-fied percussion is a nod to the year's most oddly successful mini-genre. This is a pretty big step outside of the comfort zone for Kode9 but upfront and clubby fits him like a glove. A bit different from his usual half-stepping darkness then but as a marker of the scene's healthy diversification these past twelve months, it's blinding.

Kode9 Vs LD - Bad (mp3)

Bonus: Kode9 & The Spaceape - Konfusion (Dub) (mp3)

88. The Dirtbombs - La Fin Du Monde (In The Red)

To be honest, I thought that We Have You Surrounded, Dirtbombs' latest full-length, was a little of a disappointment. A fun disappointment, but a letdown all the same. Every time they bring out a new album it seems, they get more polished and further away from what made them great in the first place (for the record, my favourite Dirtbombs album is their singles collection, If You Don't Already Have A Look, which probably speaks volumes). However, there are always one or two great moments on a Dirtbombs release and this French-sung closer is as bright and vivacious, yet rueful and apocalyptic as they've ever sounded. A full album of songs like 'La Fin Du Monde' every two years wouldn't be too much to ask would it?

The Dirtbombs - La Fin Du Monde (mp3)

Bonus: 'Wreck My Flow' live in Philly.

87. Fulgeance - Revenge Of The Nerd (All City)

Parisian beatmaster, Fulgeance has emerged, for me, as one of the most exciting purveyors of head-nod glitch around. His Low Club mini-album is on heavy, heavy, heavy rotation 'round these parts but the best track he's put out in 2008 is still this bumptious little beauty, which headed his installment in the magnificent All City beatstrumental 7" series. Skippy as fuck, with about eight different hooks all vying for headspace at the same time, this is attention-deficient future funk at its most fun and lively. Watch this guy take over your headphones in '09.

Fulgeance - Revenge Of The Nerd (mp3)

Bonus: Fulgeance - Absolute Belta (mp3)

86. The Night Marchers - In Dead Sleep (I Snore ZZZZ) (Vagrant)

One of the more unfettered joys of rock 'n' roll is John 'Speedo' Reis Jr. in full flow and this turbocharged rocker from his new band, The Night Marchers finds him in full-on, petrol-gargling, knife-fighting mood. The guitars sound as murderous as ever, while cascading, hard-hitting drums batter away in the background. It's not got a hell of a lot to say but music like this doesn't have to. It's bludgeoning, careening, violent punk-rock at its thrilling best.

The Night Marchers - In Dead Sleep (I Snore ZZZZ) (mp3)

Bonus: 'In Dead Sleep' live in a parking lot.

85. Rustie - Zig-Zag (Wireblock)

Russel Whyte, aka Rustie, has already coined a rather apt term for the music he creates, with 'aquacrunk', as 'Zig-Zag' is a slathering, submerged future-funk beast. This is the kind of music Timbaland would be making if he wasn't to busy manning the boards for AOR dross-peddlers like One Republic. It's about time someone picked up the torch and ran with it and the lusty, frenzied synths and acid lines, coupled with tempo-changing r'n'b beats of 'Zig-Zag' show that it's safe in Rustie's hands.

Rustie - Zig-Zag (mp3)

Bonus: Pivot - In The Blood (Rustie Remix) (mp3)

84. Cheap Time - People Talk (In The Red)

A gloriously scruffy cover of The End's classic bubblegum-punk anthem from Tennessee's Cheap Time here. I try not to put cover versions on this list but this good-time thrill ride is too good not to include. The sound of young, alcohol-fuelled misadventures in little over two minutes. So mood-elevating, they should sell it in pill form, 'People Talk' is a fuckin' riot.

Cheap Time - People Talk (mp3)

Bonus: 'People Talk' live in Arizona.

83. L.S.B. - Loco Motion (Eskimo)

Ah, piano house. Earlier in the year, I tipped the black-and-whites to make an allcomer-smashing return to the genre. It didn't really happen, but a few hardy souls decided to bring the ebony and ivory back in play in the field of four-to-the-floor. L.S.B.'s Pete Herbert and BabyG Fernandez weld a maddeningly upfront piano lick to one of the toughest kick and snare combinations this year. Add in the lairy horns and it's a White Island tour de force. Bring back the summer of love.

L.S.B. - Loco Motion (mp3)

Bonus: Chic - NY Attitude (L.S.B. Edit) (mp3)

82. Killer Mike - God In The Building (SMC Recordings/Grind Time Official)

Killer Mike doesn't do subtle. 'God In The Building' is a powerhouse slab of prime braggadocio (the 'God' of the title is Mike, himself, of course) with choral moans, explosive Dirty South beats and some of the finest MC-ing of 2008 that make Mike's messianic boasts seem not too far off the mark. The top dog in (righteously) independent rap today just got that little bit more fierce.

Killer Mike - God In The Building (mp3)

Bonus: Read a fantastic interview with the man himself over at Hip Hop DX.

81. Linkwood - R.I.P. (Prime Numbers)

From Scotland, via Detroit comes this Moodymann-like piece of modern deep house. Prime Numbers have released some of the classiest, most soulful house music of the last year and this ecstatic little groover is the best thing they've put out yet. Much like their label head and kindred spirit, Trus'me, Linkwood breathe life into a genre that's been missing, presumed done for the most part recently. Deep, but not at all stupor-inducing, house music is in good health north of the border.

Linkwood - R.I.P. (mp3)

Bonus: Linkwood - Hear The Sun (mp3)

Metro Area tonight @ Cutloose!

2008-12-05T16:59:00.003+02:00

Something really very cool is happening in Manchester tonight. The guys at Cutloose have managed to persuade New York disco dons, Morgan Geist and Darshan Jesrani, aka Metro Area to come out and play some of their favourite bits of black plastic for the delectation of punters at Spektrum (the new-ish, modish club above Sankey's). For those of you familiar with MA's output, especially their recent, amazing Fabric mix, this is very exciting news indeed.

Metro Area's Fabric 43 is one hell of a mix, seamlessly blending disco, electro, boogie, house and the odd pop oddity (Heaven 17's 'Penthouse And Pavement'! Devo's 'Freedom Of Choice'!) in a showstopping, yet effortless manner. In fact, it kind of acts as an antithesis to their recorded output, which is generally more genteel, yet no less glorious.

Anyways, in case you haven't heard that, or you're just turking for more Metro Area, you can stream a mini-mix, courtesy of Fairtilizer below.

If you're in the area though, you should pop down to Spektrum on Radium Street tonight for all the disco thrills you can handle and then some.

Not Chaff, Not Quite Wheat: Sol-Angel And The Hadley St. Dreams

2008-12-04T16:39:00.002+02:00

Carrying on my look at some of the records which didn't make my top 50 of the year now with this little gem from the sibling of someone rather famous and that...

I had the pleasure of seeing Solange Knowles live last month in Manchester and (I say this, fully aware that it's going to sound like an X-Factor-style epithet) for the first few songs, I thought she was miming. Oh no, she wasn't, she's just that good at singing. Even better at singing than that sister of hers, in my opinion. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that she's really, really, really... good at singing. She can also write a bit, having penned various tunes for big sis in the past, amongst others, and the best songs here are some of the finest pop moments of 2008.

There's a mid album lull on Sol-Angel And The Whatser-street Thingummies that just about prevents it from being, like, really, really, really, really... good and that, with songs like '6 O'clock Blues' and 'Valentines Day', just being merely good and stopping short of really, really, really good. She even samples Boards Of Canada (whoever they are, some kind of electro group from Scotland apparently) on 'This Bird' and goes all mad and trancey at the end of 'Cosmic Journey' and still manages to make a really, really, really... well, good fist at this whole album lark. Much better than Beyonce who normally just sticks three really, really, really good songs on each album and fills the rest of the time up with crap.

Solange then: really, really, really, really good, mostly.

Solange - Would've Been The One (mp3)

Solange - This Bird (mp3)

Yer Mam!'s Top 50 Albums Of 2008: 50-46

2008-12-03T15:04:00.003+02:00

Okay, it's the turn of the albums now, starting the countdown with numbers 50 through 46. In addition, there'll be the occasional little post about albums that didn't make the list, as a kind of added bonus. Let's get it started...

50. 2562 - Aerial (Tectonic)

The austere cover is no red herring, what lies inside is stark and forbidding. It's also one of the most thoroughly listenable 'head music' albums of the year. Dave Huismans doesn't take us for an easy ride through Aerial's ten tracks, but it's as enjoyable as it is bumpy. Huismans' heady debut full-length appropriates Rhythm & Sound's dub techno ('Redux'), skippy Seiji-like broken beat ('Enforcers') and the unrefined bass pressure of Pinch ('Techno Dread') to make for an intoxicating, suffocating listen.

If it frequently comes off as scrappy, jumping from one stylistic quirk to the next from track to track, that's part of the charm. Huismans is really trying something here and Aerial's been integral to the dubstep genre's forward motion this past year. It's a cavernous, surprising record that manages to be both texturally harsh and inviting in its make-up.

2562 - Morvern (mp3)

2562 - Greyscale (mp3)

Bonus: Pattie Blingh And The Akebulan 5 - Brother: The Point (2562 Remix) (mp3)

49. Bun B - II Trill (Rap-A-Lot)

Anyone expecting the southern rap version of a candlelit vigil for Bun's late UGK counterpart, Pimp C will be disappointed by the fiery II Trill. Maybe it's because he's missing Pimp's clownish flow as a counterpoint, but Bun B has never sounded as filled with ire as he does here, due in part to the ear-buzzing, coked-up production from the likes of CHOPS, J. Rotem, Scott Storch and Mr Lee, amongst others, that sets Bun's stentorian bark in a suitably forthright context, but mostly because of B's clear anger at his sidekick's passing.

The guest list is massively impressive, with most of Southern Rap's major players popping up throughout. Lil' Wayne makes his obligatory guest spot on the superb 'Damn I'm Cold' and serves as a remarkably able Pimp C replacement, whilst David Banner puts in a verse better than anything on The Greatest Story Ever Told on elegy to the South, 'You're Everything'. Lupe Fiasco also proves himself a perfect fit to the Southern style on 'Swang On 'Em', while Chamillionaire actually doesn't sound too bad on 'Underground Thang'. Overall though, it's Bun B himself who shines through and it's a great start to his death-enforced solo career.

Bun B - You're Everything (feat. Rick Ross, David Banner and 8Ball & MJG) (mp3)

Bun B - Get Cha Issue (mp3)

Bonus: Watch the video for 'You're Everything' on youtube.

48. Girl Talk - Feed The Animals (Illegal Art)

It's absolutely futile reviewing a Girl Talk album, when the only real way to experience them is first-hand, where you're bombarded at first by the sheer outrageousness of the samples. The more you listen, the more difficult it becomes to separate these songs that you've known for so long from the new context that Greg Gillis sets them in. Hearing 'Paranoid Android' now, for instance, you can't help but think of Jay-Z spitting 'Roc Boys' over the top and, for me at least, Faith No More's 'Epic' will forever be twinned with 'Drop And Gimme 50'.

Feed The Animals is more proof of just how smart Gillis is. He's got a magnificent ear for the best bits of pop songs, but the joy of the album doesn't just lie in the thrill of acknowledgement, it's in the way Gillis constructs new perfect pop songs entirely from old ones. Each track here has a life of its own outside of the mix-y nature of the album. That said, Feed The Animals is best served whole, preferably at a party and that's what's really great about it.

Girl Talk - What It's All About (mp3)

Girl Talk - In Step (mp3)

Bonus: Watch the rather good fan-made video mash-up for 'Still Here'. You can link to videos for the rest of the album from there.

47. The Kills - Midnight Boom (Domino)

I don't know who thought it would be a good idea to pair The Kills with producer, Armani XXXchange, but thank the gods they did, as the Spank Rock-er injects the primal boogie of VV and Hotel's previous albums with a renewed rhythmic focus and an ear for odd percussive noises. Midnight Boom is all about the rhythm and bounce of great pop music, but it's never at the expense of a good hook. The Kills' latest has memorability by the pound and some of their best songs to date.

'Cheap and Cheerful' is all bubblegum, brain-dead sexuality and all the better for it, the metronomic kraut-pop of 'What New York Used To Be' sounds both vacant and heartfelt in equal measure, whilst 'Tape Song' smoulders and struts better than anything on their previous two full-lengths. The real highlight though is the stunning 'Last Day Of Magic', one of the best rock songs of the year. Midnight Boom is a stylistic leap-forward from a band that needed it most. More please.

The Kills - What New York Used To Be (mp3)

The Kills - M.E.X.I.C.O. (mp3)

Bonus: 'U R A Fever' live on Later With Jools.

46. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend (XL)

Amidst all the backlash against Vampire Weekend, a lot of people forgot what made them sit up and take notice in the first place. VW are a pretty great pop band, despite the vaguely trustafarian air about them and their none-more-white appropriation of African highlife music. Nobody sniffed, however, when Talking Heads did it. Not that I'm comparing Vampire Weekend to that band in the slightest, but you can't ignore David Byrne's influence on this almost pitch-perfect, breezy indie-world-pop record that never outstays its welcome and always tickles the ear in ways that very few other high profile debuts did this year.

Familiarity may have bred a little contempt, as tracks like 'A-Punk', 'Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa' and 'I Stand Corrected' were damned inescapable this past summer, but Vampire Weekend still stands up as a brilliant pop record in a sea of mediocrity. That's all albums like this need to be really and this was the best of its kind in 2008.

Vampire Weekend - M79 (mp3)

Vampire Weekend - Walcott (mp3)

Bonus: 'Oxford Comma' live at this year's Glastonbury.

Yer Mam!'s Top 100 Tunes Of 2008: 100-91

2008-12-02T14:35:00.001+02:00

It's time...

Has it really been a year? I, for one, have been enjoying myself far too much to notice a whole twelve months passing before my eyes, I don't know about you. This year's ton of tunes was hell of difficult to whittle down. In fact, I think I could have easily stretched it to 200. Maybe next year. Anyway, 2008 has been characterised by a lot of cracking one-off singles, great songs from not-so-great albums and fantastic songs from fantastic albums. I suppose you could say that about any year really, but you know what I mean. Right, on with the show. Enjoy!

100. Toddla T - Soundtape Killin' (feat. Serocee) (1965)

Pure ruffneck business from the Steel City's new darling. Is it niche? Bassline? Grime? Bashment? Or just pure soundsystem-wrecking greatness? It's the last one, obviously, as music this fun just laughs at pigeonholes. Serocee gives it some ragga-chat over squishy bass drops and a skippy house-y beat, and a gospel vocal bit chips in for added value towards the end. It's become something of a regular fixture at mine and jonthebeef's night, Dig For Victory!, partly because it winds Jon up no end when I leave him to mix out of it, but mostly because it never fails to put a smile on people's faces. Good times.

Toddla T - Soundtape Killin' (feat. Serocee) (mp3)

Bonus: Watch the cheap and cheerful video on youtube.

99. Nas - Hero (feat. Keri Hilson) (Def Jam)

Let's have it right, Untitled, Nas' 'controversial' 2008 full-length is an almost irredeemable dog. Nasir Jones has been better served by guest spots on other people's records and the DJ Green Lantern hook-up mixtape, The Nigger Tape this past 12 months than his own album. For someone with so much political ire and fire in his belly, most of Untitled felt colourless and phoned-in, coupled with some pretty shit production jobs from the likes of Stargate, Mark Ronson and DJ Toomp. There was one bright, shining beacon amidst the dreck and that was the cacophonous, ridiculously raging midrange of single, 'Hero'. Producer du jour, Polow Da Don is the man behind the desk and his superbly massive backing eggs Nas on to be as in-your-face as he can be. The result is nigh-on spectacular and the only real flash we had this year of Jones being a force to be reckoned with once again.

Nas - Hero (feat. Keri Hilson) (mp3)

Bonus: Watch the video on youtube.

98. POLLYester - You Are Amen (Love In C-Minor)

A luxurious, slow-burning cosmic disco vamp, 'You Are Amen' takes a listen or two before it really gets under your skin. It's almost minimal in design but full-bodied (mainly thanks to the harsh thwack of the live snare) in texture and gets ever more forceful as it creeps towards its deliciously malevolent denouement. Polly's stern, eurotrashy vocals may put some more lily-livered listeners off but underneath the harsh exterior lies an innate warmth that really comes through as 'You Are Amen' builds more and more with each bar. Exquisite stuff.

POLLYester - You Are Amen (mp3)

Bonus: Watch Polly and some other dude covering '24 Hour Party People'. This is how they have fun in Dusseldorf.

97. Invisible Conga People - Cable Dazed (Italians Do It Better)

It's been a bit of a quiet year for Italians Do It Better. Mike Simonetti's label haven't exactly capitalised on the success of 2007 in the way most people would have expected (although something tells me that was never the plan in the first place), but they have unearthed a little gem in Invisible Conga People. The duo of Justin Simon and Eric Tsai make music as hushed as their name suggests, but 'Cable Dazed' is anything but unassuming. A poised, delicately-crafted slice of wintry kraut-disco, 'Cable Dazed' pulses and throbs gently for six minutes but it's only once you reach for the repeat button that you realise how damned addictive it is. ICP are future masters of insidious icy electronics.

Invisible Conga People - Cable Dazed (mp3)

Bonus: Learn more about ICP over at Dusted.

96. Telepathe - Chrome's On It (IAmSound)

When a band is made up of hipster fucks like the ones pictured above I have a hard time warming to them. I mean, look at the cunts. Read any Telepathe interview too and it's all "Yeah, we love avant-garde shit and everything, but we also love Mannie Fresh and Three Six Mafia, so we wanted to combine them both" (not an actual quote), so even before I'd heard one second of Telepathe's music I wanted to punch them both in the face. Not a great first impression. That these two insufferable muso pricks make music as glorious and fulfilling as 'Chrome's On It', makes me feel all dirty inside, as if I'm masturbating to something I, y'know, shouldn't be cracking one off to. Not that I do that a lot, you understand. I'm basically a monk. So yeah, 'Chrome's On It'; a bit like wanking.

Telepathe - Chrome's On It (mp3)

Bonus: Try not to punch your monitor while you watch Telepathe live somewhere in Brooklyn.

95. Thriller - BBQ (Thriller)

Every year, you get the odd 12" that comes out of nowhere, gets a bunch of hype from the right people and then you find out that it's the work of someone already established under a pseudonym. Then, the internet seekers simply must find out who really is behind said 12". 'BBQ' is one of those. It's clear from the outset that it's the work of someone in the blooming wonky subgenre, seeing as it's an awkwardly funky disco cut-up lollop, with bass for days. Turns out it's the work of Luke Blair aka Lukid of Werk Discs. Makes sense as Lukid's 2007 album, Onandon is full of stuff like this. It'd have been nice if it had kept its mystery, but now we know who did it, maybe we can pester him to put out some more shadowy one-offs.

Thriller - BBQ (mp3)

Bonus: Lukid - The Now (mp3)

94. The Long Blondes - Here Comes The Serious Bit (Rough Trade)

The Long Blondes' premature break-up was one of the downers of the year. I don't think we've heard the last from Kate Jackson and the gang and on the evidence of this highlight from this year's sophomore effort, "Couples", hopefully it'll be sooner rather than later. Producer, Erol Alkan is the secret weapon here, as he adds a dance-pop dynamic to their spiky new wave. All the other elements sound so full; rubber band bass, burbling synths and jacknifing lead guitar, plus Jackson sounds as alluring and tart as ever. They'll be missed.

The Long Blondes - Here Comes The Serious Bit (mp3)

Bonus: 'Here Comes The Serious Bit' live at the Bowery Ballroom in May.

93. Tiedye - Nothing Else Matters (Italians Do It Better)

The words 'balearic cover of the Metallica power ballad' shouldn't, by rights, go together. Indeed they don't really, as Tiedye don't so much cover the song as reinterpret its bare rhythmic bones and stretch it out over 7 minutes or so. It's vocal-free, so no-one gets to growl like Hetfield over slo-mo disco (that would not work at all), but there's a bassline that Jason Newsted would be proud of and guitar work that The Het himself would probably proclaim "decidedly un-faggotty" or something. The end result is a sunkissed, scorching discoid groover, the kind of thing maybe Lars Ulrich plays when he's out on his yacht. Probably.

Tiedye - Nothing Else Matters (mp3)

Bonus: Rubies - I Feel Electric (Tiedye Remix) (mp3)

92. Ikonika - Please (Hyperdub)

It's been a pretty monumental year for dubstep. It's as though every mover and shaker in the genre just decided to take a massive step forward this past twelve months. Dubstep has finally pulled its head out of its collective arse and become the thrillingly inventive, fun genre everyone knew it could be. Most of this maturation has come as a product of cross-pollination with numerous like-minded subgenres. We had The Bug crossing dubstep with dancehall, whilst the likes of Quarta 330 melded dark bass with garish 8-bit and Martyn fusing the sound with Detroit techno. Hyperdub's rising star Ikonika looked to the wonky side of things by pushing up the synths and throwing in the odd hip-hop ref. 'Please' was her first shot across the boughs and signalled her as a talent to watch. I, for one, can't wait for a full album of this stuff.

Ikonika - Please (mp3)

Bonus: Check out this Ikonika mini-mix over at the Mad Decent blog.

91. Schwarz, Ame, Dixon - D.p.o.m.b. Part 1 (Innervisions)

Dad-house is such a horrible term, often bandied about when referring to slick, retro house music from scene veterans. Schwarz, Ame and Dixon have been around long enough to land them this tag, but there's nothing pipe-and-slippers about this raw slab of conga-driven, funky diva-sampling insanity. It's a tough, sprightly number that keeps you grooving for its full ten minutes and while some might complain that it doesn't live up to most of what the three principals are capable of, it still beat most other younger house artists' output in '08 into a cocked hat.

Schwarz, Ame, Dixon - D.p.o.m.b. Part 1 (mp3)

Bonus: Henrik Schwarz, Ame & Dixon feat. Derrick Carter - Where We At Version 1 (mp3)

Back soon with the first lot of albums,

JMx

Making up for lost time: The 2008 also-rans Part One

2008-11-18T14:03:00.006+02:00

Well, as I said in the last post, over the next week or so, I'm going to prattling on about some 2008 albums I've liked, but not liked enough to credit them a place in my year-end top 50 (which still needs some fine-tuning, might I add). It should just about make up for the distinct lack of posts this year, I think. On with the show...

4gotten Floor are Alex Dandi (Pintronix) and the inimitable, enigmatic Chelonis R. Jones. Anyone expecting the lush, textured, complex tech-house of Jones' solo work might be slightly disappointed by 4gotten Floor's self-titled debut, but anyone looking for a heady, breezy blend of house, disco, electro, r'n'b and pop will find a lot to love here.

4gotten Floor is easily Jones' most accessible work to-date; a fact that acts as both a blessing and a curse. It's both an easy in for those needing an introduction to Jones' mellifluous voice and cracked psyche and an all-too-sugary confection for those of us who know he's capable of much more. The likes of the coarse, lusty vamp of 'Bitch Exemplar', the emphatic house-pop of 'Pups' and the crazed electro-rock of 'Mad Love!' are as bright and strange as anything off Dislocated Genius, but fluff like 'Gossip Killed J.' and 'Delicious?' are a bit on the forgettable side.

It's an uneven record then but one that deserves more attention than it's been afforded so far, if not quite up to the high standard Jones has set himself in the past. That said, when it's good, it's a blast.

4gotten Floor - A.A.A. (Afro-American Alienation) (mp3)

4gotten Floor - Mad Love! (mp3)

I really wanted to include this in my top 50, but I just couldn't, y'know. Few albums have tickled my ears more than Welcome this year, but no matter how many times I listen to it, it never coalesces into anything more than just a collection of sketches and savvy genre exercises. James Pants is certainly a talented man and I'm sure he'll go on to make great records, but this is a showcase of a talent who isn't quite there just yet in terms of actual songwriting.

A lot of Welcome feels doodled and half-finished, despite the fact that it's one of the best-produced albums of 2008. Maybe Pants would be better served producing other people's work? Imagine what a more song-minded performer would do with a beat like 'Cosmic Rapp''s speaker-poppin' electro-hop or 'I Choose You'' s slinky disco.

What makes Welcome more frustrating too is that when Pants focuses on the songwriting a little more, like on the excellent new-wave pop of 'We're Through' or the cavernous garage-funk of 'My Girl', the album really takes off. The occasional great moment, however, doesn't cover up the fact that Welcome is one of 2008's biggest missed opportunities and try as I might, I just can't love it for what it is, but end up rueing what it could have been. Sigh.

James Pants - Dragonslayer (mp3)

James Pants - Ka$h (feat. Deon Davis) (mp3)

I've wanted to love Rick Ross ever since I first heard 'Hustlin''. He's got a booming, bassy, authoritative bark that lends itself so well to crack-rap production habits and blasting out of sub-woofers, but Port Of Miami was such a massive disappointment. All one could ask of Ross is a decent throwaway drugs 'n' guns opus but his debut wasn't even that. Trilla is though, nothing more, nothing less. A lot of the album clunks and Ross is never going to be measured against his hero, Scarface in the rhyming stakes, but many of the album's pleasures come as a product of Ross' limitations.

Guests often show him up here, most notably Jay-Z on the spectacular 'Maybach Music' and both Lil' Wayne and Young Jeezy on 'Luxury Tax', two of the album's big showstoppers. The album's real high-point comes when Ross teams up with T-Pain (another performer who's never let his shortcomings get in the way of success) on the eerie, bumpin' 'The Boss'. The likes of these make up for dross like 'Money Make Me Come' and the closing, Human League-cribbing (not good, early Human League, might I add. That'd be amazing!), 'I'm Only Human' and while Trilla isn't the gangster classic that (I think) Ross is capable of, it's definitely a lean in the right direction.

Rick Ross - Speedin' (feat. R. Kelly) (mp3)

Rick Ross - Maybach Music (feat. Jay-Z) (mp3)

Back later in the week with more of the year's nearly men (and women).

JMx

Back by Dope Demand!

2008-11-18T13:21:00.003+02:00

Okay, okay, it's been too long. I'm not going to proffer an excuse for my absence (though if you're looking for a scapegoat, let's blame the economical downturn. Everyone else is), but posting something, anything on this blog has been long overdue. But now I'm back. For good this time. Honest.

Anyway, my year-end lists will be starting in earnest pretty soon (December 1st, most probably), so you'll no doubt be sick of my musical opinions by the time 2009 comes knocking. Before all that though and because posts have been few and far-between this past 12 months, I'll be filling you in on some records that I thought were noteworthy, but not noteworthy enough to gain a place in my top 50 in a series of posts starting today.

Before all that though, here's a little mix for you that I threw together rather slapdash-like yesterday afternoon. It's mostly hip-hop and there are parts where I haven't even bothered to mix, but it's fun (I think), so here it is...

Yer Mam!'s Half-Arsed Attempt At A Hip-Hop Mix (mp3)

Hudson Mohawke - Ooops! (Wireblock/Luckyme)

The Cool Kids - Black Mags (Chocolate Industries/XL)

Dr. Octagon - Blue Flowers (Mo'Wax)

Flying Lotus - RobertaFlack (feat. Dolly) (Warp)

The Pharcyde - Passin' Me By (Hot Chip Remix) (Delicious Vinyl)

Dead Prez - Hip Hop (Epic)

Busdriver - Secret Skin (Epitaph)

John Carpenter - Assault On Precinct 13 (Main Titles) (Record Makers)

Architeq - Birds Of Prey (Tirk)

King Midas Sound - One Ting (Dabrye Remix) (Hyperdub)

Beatconductor - Real Hip Hop (Spicy)

Tha Liks - Goin' Crazy (Loud)

P. Diddy, Black Rob & Mark Curry - Bad Boy For Life (Bad Boy Entertainment)

Hope you like,

JMx

V Festival 2008: A review of sorts.

2008-08-18T21:17:00.003+02:00

Some of you may be surprised to find out that I spent a good chunk of the weekend at V Festival in Staffordshire. I know it's probably the last place you'd expect to find me, given its mainstream leanings, but there I was, with the missus and a couple of friends in tow, until the rain, mud and general apathy towards Sunday's line-up drew me back home yesterday afternoon.

Anyway, here's a random, Smash Hits-style list of good points and bad points of my V Festival 2008 experience...

V.V. GOOD: The old-skool Wimpy in the Sandbach services on the way down. Rather marvellously, my friend's quarter-pounder came on a wholemeal bap, even though she didn't ask for one. The fuck is that all about?!

V.V. BAD: Our complete lack of skills when it comes to putting up tents. I'm a festival veteran, but I'm clearly a bit rusty when it comes to erecting these fuckers.

V.V. GOOD: Carl from Clitheroe, who despite being clearly inebriated, was a massive help with setting up our camp.

V.V. BAD: £5 for a sausage muffin from the burger van in our campsite?! Robbing bastards!

V.V. GOOD: Remembering how good Squeeze are.

V.V. BAD: Remembering how rubbish Travis are.

V.V. GOOD: Girls A-fuckin'-loud being amazing, even if Sarah looks like Annie Lennox these days.

V.V. BAD: The twats chucking the hard plastic frisbee around during Girls Aloud that hit a female member of the crowd square in the face right near us. Not cool.

V.V. GOOD: Rum cocktails and classic jungle (as provided by the wicked Toddla T) in the Bacardi B-Live Bar. 'Incredible' even got an airing. Needless to say, it was pretty jumping.

V.V. BAD: XXXChange's poor mixing skills in the Bacardi B-Live Bar. I'm no Larry Levan either, so I shouldn't throw stones, but I thought he'd have been better than that.

V.V. GOOD: The 15 minutes or so that we caught of Robyn being typically awesome.

V.V. BAD: Robyn being on at a different time than was listed which meant we didn't catch all of her typically awesome set.

V.V. GOOD: Hot Chip. All-too-short at just over 30 minutes but great all the same. The songs from Made In The Dark are much meatier live than on record, I'm pleased to say.

V.V. BAD: The rain. Oh my god, the rain.

V.V. GOOD: The Verve coming on to 'Holy Are You' by The Electric Prunes and then tearing into a pretty darn electric 'This Is Music'.

V.V. BAD: The rest of what we saw of The Verve's set. After generating so much goodwill with the opener, they then proceeded to piss it up the wall with dull-as-ditchwater renderings of 'Space And Time' and 'Life's An Ocean'. They even managed to make 'History' dull and lifeless. Why have they even bothered?

V.V. GOOD: The common sense shown in ditching The Verve to return back to camp.

V.V. BAD: The tent collapsing fiasco that pretty much sealed our return back to civilisation the next day.

V.V. GOOD: The pretty awe-inspiring morning mist that I saw at 5am.

V.V. BAD: Being a bit of a mud-pussy.

V.V. GOOD: Getting home in time for the United-Newcastle game.

V.V. BAD: Drawing 1-1 with Newcastle.

So there you have it. The bad kind of outweighed the good in all, which was a massive downer, but hey, got to see Girls Aloud.

JMx

Life in Low Motion and other concerns...

2008-08-11T17:38:00.004+02:00

It's been a while, but now I'm back to post about some stuff I've been meaning to post about in, like, ages or something...

One of my personal favourite albums of the year so far and one which has been getting even more repeat spins as of late (put it down to the inclement summer we've been having) is Low Motion Disco's Keep It Slow. Released on the always-excellent Eskimo a couple of months ago (vinyl version comes with a CD too! Good thinking, Eskimo), Keep It Slow sees LMD easily passing that most difficult of acid tests for dance music producers; making a coherent, indelible statement outside of the 12" comfort zone.

Keep It Slow pretty much sums up LMD's aesthetic, as does their name and it's a mantra that's interwoven so definitively throughout the album, even reflecting itself in the song titles (most of them contain some derivation of the words 'low' or 'slow'). It's Low Motion Disco's humanist, emotional take on the now uber-hip cosmic disco sound that marks it out from the crowd. Whereas others use the cosmic sonic template as a means to stretch out grooves to breaking point, making for ultimate DJ-set fodder, there's a timeless quality to LMD's debut that transcends mere of-the-moment bandwagon-jumping.

Ultimately, it's also fairly accessible. I can see Keep It Slow breaking through into the lucratve dinner party listening/ad-soundtracking market, but it's too good for that. Although it occasionally strikes all-too-familiar touchstones (sampling 'Ooh Child' and calling the track 'Things Are Gonna Get Easier' is a bit on-the-nose, don'tcha think?), nothing about Keep It Slow suggests laziness. From the gently-tweaked funk guitar of 'Frantic Low Moment', to 'People Come In Slowly''s driving bass and low-key beat, the hippy-dippy tambourines and acoustic guitars of 'East Mountain Low' to 'Born On The Low Wind''s sheep samples (!), this is a chillout album (as loathe as I am to use that phrase, it definitely applies here) that packs more invention and warmth into each track than your average record of that ilk does over 12. You do the maths.

Low Motion Disco - Talk Low When In Space (mp3)

Low Motion Disco - Low Italian Dessert (Try It Out) (mp3)

Low Motion Disco - Love Love Love (L.S.B. Mix) (mp3)

The Belgians are really spoiling us. Eskimo have also recently released the superb Best Of Allez Allez compilation which acts as a fantastic entry-point to probably the funkiest band to ever come out of the home of chocolates and smurfs (I love a lazy stereotype). Plenty new-wave bands in the early-80s experimented with disco and African rhythms, but few did it with the unreconstructed verve and effervescence of Allez Allez. It helped that they had one of the more charismatic vocalists of the time in American Sarah Osbourne (later Sarah Gregory after she married Heaven 17 frontman, Glenn), but Allez Allez also had an absolute killer rhythm section, one that is really pushed to the fore on the eight original cuts here.

'She's Stirring Up' is something of a cross between Chic, Tom Tom Club and early Spandau Ballet (I'm thinking of 'Chant No. 1', rather than 'Gold' or 'True') and the band's self-titled anthem with its rolling piano, plucked bass and cowbell is one hell of a party starter. Elsewhere, you've got the Grace Jones homage/pastiche of 'African Queen', the uptight funk of 'Wrap Your Legs (Around Your Head)' and the moody, Martyn Ware-produced 'Valley Of The Kings' that nicely represent all facets of this forgotten great band's meagre output (they lasted a mere two years, putting out just two full-lengths).

On top of the eight original cuts, you get four remixes which seem a little like afterthoughts (as good as they are) next to the fantastic originals. Don't let Allez Allez remain a footnote, as this compilation proves they were one of the more vibrant, invigorating European bands of the 80s.

Allez Allez - She's Stirring Up (mp3)

Allez Allez - Wrap Your Legs (Around Your Head) (mp3)

A couple more things of note now. If you happen to pick up this month's issue of Arena Magazine and turn to page 70, there's a little article on mp3 bloggers. In the sidebar, you'll find a little spotlight on three bloggers and one of them is me. Nice of them that, isn't it. Apparently, I'm "laconic" and "articulate". They forgot to include "dashingly handsome", but I'll let them off.

Thanks to everyone who came down to the first Dig For Victory! a couple of weeks ago. There weren't all that many of you but, hey, from small acorns and all that. More info on the next one coming very soon, but in the meantime, here's a link to a little promo mix I put together for the night and distributed through Facebook (you should join the Facebook group, actually. What harm could it do?). Tracklisting below...

Dig For Victory! Promo Mix

The Staples Singers - Slippery People (Epic)
Junior Byron - Dance To The Music (Vanguard)
The Beta Band - The House Song (Regal)
INXS - Need You Tonight (The Lonely Mix) (Atlantic)
Owusu & Hannibal - What's It About (Ubiquity Records)
Marvin Gaye - Funky Space Reincarnation (OOFT Music Edit) (Five20East)
Daft Punk - Da Funk (Virgin)
Marsha Hunt - Hot Rod Poppa (Track Record)
Can - I Want More (Virgin)
Jollymusic - Radio Jolly (Illustrious)
Tori Amos - Professional Widow (SDC Disco Mix) (Five20East)
Stevie Wonder - All I Do (U-tern Edit) (No Label)

That's all for now!

JMx

I want you to dig!!!

2008-07-24T23:49:00.004+02:00

In Manchester this weekend? Stuck for something to do on Sunday night? Don't stay in, come out and witness the birth of something special. A new night is hitting Manchester like a TGV, in the form of Dig For Victory!

Spawned from the music-addled brains of myself and jonthebeef, Dig For Victory! (taking place in the homely city centre surroundings of The Bay Horse on Thomas St.) is an all-encompassing musical behemoth, spanning genres like they've never been spann(er)ed before, eschewing logic and thematic chin-stroking in favour of BIG FUCKING TUNES with hooks aplenty, old and new, popular and obscure. Sure to put a smile on your face and ensure that the Monday after payday is met with a new vigour, a spring in your step and, most likely, a pounding head (in a good way), Dig For Victory! will rock your world and your private bits in ways you never thought imaginable.

Can YOU dig it?!!

Here are some BIG FUCKING TUNES to tide you over 'til Sunday, when you'll most likely hear them anyway.

Latyrx - Lady Don't Tek No (mp3)

Tori Amos - Professional Widow (SDC Disco Mix) (mp3)

A Tribe Called Quest - Electric Relaxations (mp3)

Todd Rundgren - I Saw The Light (mp3)

Jay Reatard - Nightmares (mp3)

See you down the front,

JMx

Clear thy schedule!

2008-07-09T18:49:00.005+02:00

A couple of dates for the old diary this week. First of all, this weekend, Platt Fields Park (Platt Lane, off Wilmslow Road, just after all the curry houses) plays host to the Summer In The Park Food & Drink Festival. Food & Drink?! On a music blog?!!! Pray tell! Well, there is going to be quite a lot of music involved too from leading local lights such as I Am Kloot, Mr Scruff, Liam Frost, Aidan Smith, The Earlies, Josephine Oniyama and so on.

Anyway, jonthebeef and myself are DJing there between 4 and 6pm on the Saturday so come down and show your support while we play music to eat and drink to, ie. disco and Balearic-type stuff. Sweet!

In the meantime, check out the website to find out more. Hopefully we'll see you there.

Before all that though, this Thursday (10th, tomorrow), Shoplifters is on at The Bay Horse. That's Grammar (laptop, hands-in-the-air stance), Jon Claude (CDJs, too many e-numbers) and Sapnarella (girl, actual, proper vinyl DJ, with Technics and everything, showing up the fellas) playing "Remixes, Covers and Bastard Pop" in the lovely surroundings of the best pub in Manchester city centre.

Everything you will hear will be some kind of remix, edit, bootleg, cover and whatnot, hence the name, so let the finest 'lifters in Manchester give you a potted history of pop music's illegitimate offspring. Just check your wallets on the way out.

JMx

Yer Mam!'s Guide To Essential Summer Listening Part IV: The Compilations

2008-07-09T11:02:00.007+02:00

I've been meaning to write something about this for an absolute age. As usual, the Cosmic Disco lot beat me to it - and offered forth more insight and information than I ever could - but I thought I could still chip my two penn'orth in now that it's actually available in the shops.

Anyway, Disco Italia: Essential Italo Disco Classics 1977-1985, to give its full title is the latest in Strut's hot streak and it's arguably the best yet. This isn't Italo music in the high energy, synth-powered way that you might think (for the most part, at least), but Italian disco music in the sense that it adds a distinctly Eastern Mediterranean flavour to the hedonistic disco sounds that were emanating from New York around the late-70s. In all, there are more strings, horns and live percussion here than synths (although Kano's superb 'Now Baby Now' more than takes care of the latter), replete, of course, with charmingly cod-English vox.

As I said, the Cosmic Disco boys offer more than enough colour and historical context than I could, so let me just point you in the way of some of the compilation's highlights. Red Dragon Band's 'Let Me Be Your Radio (Part 1)', with its feather-headed shouted vocals and clattering drums is a favourite, as is Kasso's classic 'Brazilian Dancer' (robbed nearly wholesale a couple of years back by Manhead for their 'Birth School Work Death' single). Kasso's Claudio Simonetti pops up again with Easy Going and their sex-funk groover, 'Do It Again'. Best of the bunch is the peerless ersatz Chic-ery of Firefly's 'Love (Is Gonna Be On Your Side)', which with its NY attitude and reverb-soaked chorus vocal would have fit like a glove onto Murphy and Mahoney's recent Fabriclive mix.

I'm at risk of becoming a bit of a Strut Records cheerleader but as they seem to be improving with every release (Grandmaster Flash retrospective to come!), then I'm happy to keep on carrying the Strut banner for now. Viva Strut!

Firefly - Love (Is Gonna Be On Your Side) (mp3)

Kasso - Brazilian Dancer (DJ Version) (mp3)

Red Dragon Band - Let Me Be Your Radio (Part 1) (mp3)

Tribute albums are fraught with the massive stumbling blocks of over-reverence and pointlessness, so it was with some trepidation that I approached Life Beyond Mars: Bowie Classics Reworked. Brought to us from the same people that compiled the Radiohead tribute album a couple of years ago, Exit Music, Life Beyond Mars is a hodge-podge of intrigue, failure and unalloyed triumph that frustrates and dazzles often at the same time.

One thing that Life Beyond Mars has going for it is a marvellously eclectic bunch of cover artists. The list here includes such names as Joakim, Matthew Dear, Carl Craig, Kelley Polar and The Emperor Machine amongst others. Also, their choices run pretty much the whole gamut of Bowie's career (minus the early folky stuff), or as much of his career as you can cover in twelve songs at least. So we get overly faithful run-throughs of 'Sound And Vision' (Matthew Dear) and 'Golden Years' (Susumu Yokota), alongside dull takes on 'Oh! You Pretty Things' (Au Revoir Simone) and 'Be My Wife' (Richard Walters & Faultline).

It's where the coverers add something of their own personality into the mix that Life Beyond Mars excels though. The Emperor Machine turn 'Repetition' from Lodger into, well, an Emperor Machine song (in a good way though). Joakim & The Disco's version of 'A New Career In A New Town' gives the song a veneer of grotty, tech-y disco (natch). Then there's Kelley Polar's 'Magic Dance', from the soundtrack to Labyrinth. It's totally head-wrong, bizarre and brilliant and is the best thing here by a million miles. So much better, in fact, that it just highlights how good this compilation could have been had the rest of the artists had the balls and psychosis to really go for it in the same way Polar has.

Not a total failure then as the inherent curiosity of hearing modern electronic acts take on one of their major influences pulls you through for the most part, but it's only Polar's contribution that will linger on after the curiosity value has waned.

Kelley Polar - Magic Dance (Harold And Baby O In Italy Version) (mp3)

Matthew Dear - Sound And Vision (mp3)

And now to a remix album so we have all bases covered. Delicious Vinyl, the eminent hip-hop label, decided that the best way to celebrate 20 years in the game was to hand over some of the best tracks from their back catalogue to some hot new remixers (although the words hot and new don't really apply to any of these, especially in the cases of Peaches (!) and Eminem (!!!)).

As with all remix albums, it's pretty difficult to see the point in this, especially when you consider the quality of some of the re-takes here. Peaches' interpretation of Tone Loc's 'Wild Thing' sounds exactly like you'd expect a Peaches remix of 'Wild Thing' to sound like and is therefore rubbish, Aaron Lacrate & Debonair Samir's lazy-as-fuck, B-more-by-numbers rerub of Young MC's 'Know How' is also completely uninspired and Mr Flash's, tres Ed Banger mix of Masta Ace's 'Sittin' On Chrome' is both terrible and doesn't fit the source material in the slightest. God knows what he was thinking.

It's not all bad though, as there are some real diamonds in the rough. Hot Chip turn Pharcyde's 'Passin' Me By' into a downbeat electrosoul hymnal, while Cory Nitta turns in two fabulous reworks under both his Pink Energy and Philippians guises for Brand New Heavies' 'Never Stop' (didn't even realise Delicious put this one out) and Pharcyde's 'Runnin'' respectively. Also Breakbox's inventive summery version of Fatlip's 'What's Up Fatlip?' is one for the coming months. Not too shabby then, if you skip past the dross.

The Brand New Heavies - Never Stop (Pink Energy Rmx) (mp3)

The Pharcyde - Passin' Me By (Hot Chip Rmx) (mp3)

Back later with some dates for your diary this week,

Laters,

JMx

The Glimmers Find Their Hidden Depths

2008-07-05T17:12:00.003+02:00

Something rather cool is happening in Manchester on Thursday night (10th July). San Miguel Hidden Depths are hitting town, Joshua Brookes, to be precise, with The Glimmers in tow. If you don't know what Hidden Depths is and what they're all about, the general gist is that they, in conjunction with fine Spanish lager, San Miguel, are hosting a series of nights in Manchester and London where they release one artist name to the public ahead of time, whilst keeping other, just as tasty, sometimes tastier names up their collective sleeve.

So, to recap, this Thursday the 10th, The Glimmers (venerable Belgian DJ/production double-act, Benoelie Fouquaert and Mo Becha) are playing at Joshua Brookes in Manchester (y'know the one, on the corner opposite 5th Avenue, just down the side of the BBC on Princess St.), alongside some rather famous names. I know who they are but I'm sworn to secrecy. Let me tell you this though, I'm proper moistening in anticipation.

To tie in with all this, you lucky Yer Mam! readers get the opportunity to win a signed copy of The Glimmers' new album The Glimmers Are Gee Gee Fazzi (fine record, been mentioned on these pages before, not available in the shops). We've got two to give away and all you need to do to win one is email me at norty.morty@gmail.com with the answer to this simple question...

What is the name of the recent Belgium-set crime thriller starring Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Ralph Feinnes?

Piece of piss, isn't it? In the meantime, if you want to snag yourself some tickets for the event and future London events with Secretsundaze, Chromeo and It's Pop It's Art/Fred Deakin, head on over to the San Miguel website and register. See you down the front!

In the meantime, here's a little something to whet your appetite...

The Glimmers - Kobe's In Columbia (mp3)

Laters,

JMx

Aw, look at the cute mouse!

2008-07-02T22:09:00.003+02:00

I apologise, readers. I've been neglecting this blog lately and although I have a bit of a self-imposed "no apologies" policy, I've actually been feeling bad about it, compounded by the occasional wrist-slap from fellow bloggers (Jon The Beef, I'm looking at you). That's all about to change though. I'm turning over a new leaf and I plan to become a more pro-active blogger starting right about now. Or maybe tomorrow. Soon anyway.

In the meantime, here's a mix I made. Hope you like it...

Yer Mam!'s Tropical Acid Mix

David Rubato - Circuit (Aeroplane Remix) (Institubes)
Hot Chocolate - Cadillac (The Revenge Rework) (L.E.S.S.)
Flying Lotus - Parisian Goldfish (Warp)
Jersey Street Allstars - Burnin' (Electric Chair)
Max Essa - Back To The Beach (Bear Funk)
Kerrier District - Disco Nasty (Rephlex)
Hercules & Love Affair - Classique #2 (DFA)
Syclops - NR17 (DFA)
Roland Appel - New Love (Sonar Kollektiv)
Madonna - Into The Groove (Shep Pettibone Dub) (Sire)
Simbad - Ain't No Sunshine (Raw Fusion)
Canyons - Apples And Pears (Hole In The Sky)
Sly Mongoose - Snakes & Ladder (Rub N Tug Remix) (Mule Musiq)
In Flagranti - Where Is Miss Palmer? (Codek Records)
Cadence Weapon - We Move Away (Big Dada)
Her Bad Habit - Jamaica Center (Citinite)
Osborne - Outta Sight (Spectral Sound)
Trus'me - Shakeabody (Fat City/Prime Numbers)
Henrik Schwarz feat. Amanpondo - I Exist Because Of You (Dixon's Stripped Down Version) (Innervisions)
Matthew Dear - Don And Sherri (Hot Chip Version) (Ghostly International)
Black Affair - Sweet (V2)
Charles B & Adonis - Lack Of Love (Desire Records)
Prosumer & Murat Tepeli feat. Elif Bicer - Turn Around (Ostgut Tontrager)

Back soon,

JMx

Yer Mam!'s Guide To Essential Summer Listening Part III: Barbecue Hits!

2008-06-10T22:00:00.006+02:00

I know that not all of us are going to be looking at a view like the one above this summer (those who will be can bite my arse) but we can at least dream. Music helps that reverie bloom most of the time, so here, in no order, are my big tunes for the summer, all with individual links. Throw them together and you've got some kind of summer mixtape, I guess.

Hip-hop and sunshine go hand-in-hand for me, so I was eagerly anticipating the new Lil' Wayne album to be his masterwork. Tha Carter III is not that, but it is highly entertaining and features some really cracking stuff. Best of the bunch, in my opinion, is 'Dr. Carter', which has Weezy basically just freestyling over my favourite David Axelrod tune, 'Holy Thursday'. Rappers have been sampling Axelrod since the dawn of time, but none so obvious as this. I guess it was an easy payday for producer Swizz Beatz.

Lil' Wayne - Dr. Carter (mp3)

David Axelrod - Holy Thursday (mp3)

Now, try as I might to go against the grain, I just can't not like The Cool Kids. Their debut EP, The Bake Sale, is nothing new. It's basically an exercise in stripped-down, minimalistic hip-hop that nods to the likes of Schoolly D, Run-D.M.C. and Beastie Boys' early stuff. There are even more recent touchstones like The Pack, but there's something brilliantly charming and retro about the ten tracks that keeps me coming back. Count me out of the backlash then.

The Cool Kids - What Up Man (mp3)

The Pack - Vans (mp3)

I think I did a little shrug when I heard N*E*R*D were releasing a new album. I wasn't expecting much after Fly Or Die, but Seeing Sounds just about surpasses my low expectations. It's no In Search Of... (not much is), but there are a few diamonds amongst the rough. I still think 'Everyone Nose' is hell of obnoxious, but the penultimate track, 'You Know What' with its easy, laidback, 80s r'n'b groove could have sat easily on their stellar debut. See what you think. Also, it gives me an excuse to post my favourite song of theirs, 'Run To The Sun' and that's no bad thing.

N*E*R*D - You Know What (mp3)

N*E*R*D - Run To The Sun (mp3)

My apologies to the Five20East crew, I should have posted about their latest batch of edits CDs ages ago but never got around to it. Anyway, the 6th Burrough Project (their spelling, not mine) CD, On The Rinse is still available from the Five20East shop, a snip at £4.99 for five superbly funky edits. Here's a little taster for y'all...

6th Burrough Project - 7 Grams Of Funk (mp3)

Hot Chip seem to have commissioned more remixes for 'One Pure Thought' than they did for 'Over And Over'. Not all of them are great, although the Dominik Eulberg one is pretty tasty, but this do-over from Sheffield bassline peddler Toddla T ticks all the boxes for pure soundsystem nuttiness. Enjoy...

Hot Chip - One Pure Thought (Toddla T Remix) (mp3)

Dissident keep pumping out the vinyls at a rate of knots and this is one of their latest from current hot property, Photonz. They've also just released a 12" on D-I-R-T-Y, called 'Trembler', backed with a top-notch Discodeine remix, but this one's better, in my opinion. Some timely Balearic grooves on this one.

Photonz - Shaboo (Andy's Edit) (mp3)

Speaking of Balearic, the new Air France EP/mini-album/whatever you want to call it, No Way Down is another brilliant addition to the burgeoning Scandolearic canon and this is its dizzying high-water mark...

Air France - Collapsing At Your Doorstep (mp3)

Strut are also keeping up their prolific streak with the excellent forthcoming Disco Italia compilation of, you guessed it, Italo Disco classics, compiled by Bear Entertainment's Steve Kotey. More about that soon, but here's a track from the vinyl sampler that didn't make the cut. If this is the kind of stuff they're throwing away, then you know that the album's going to be swell.

Gepy & Gepy - African Love Song (Kotey Edit) (mp3)

You wouldn't normally associate the dark bass vibrations of dubstep with the summer months but recently there's been a steady stream of releases by producers more than willing to brighten the dank corners of the genre with something approaching a summery vibe. Ramadanman's 'Carla' is all dubby melodica and ravey synth stabs, coupled with some (naturally) heavy bass drops that should lighten up the carnival soundsystems. Then there's 'Suburbia' by Martyn, the flip-side to his new 12" on Appleblim's Apple Pips label which wouldn't sound out of place on a terrace somewhere in Ibiza. Finally, Benga's 'Someone 20' from the marvellous Diary Of An Afro Warrior LP is a spacey, hazy breaks-like affair. It's not all urban despair from this genre, you know?

Ramadanman - Carla (mp3)

Martyn - Suburbia (mp3)

Benga - Someone 20 (mp3)

Still getting lots of play around these parts is the Numero Group's compilation Don't Stop: Recording Tap, which tells the story of the forgotten disco label Tap Records and whose sleevenotes tell a story almost as interesting as the music. You want an instant summer feeling? Play this as loud as you can at all possible intervals...

Arnie Love & The Lovettes - We've Had Enough (mp3)

If huge, rippling acid-disco epics are your thing, then look no further than Roland Appel's 'Inner Soul'. The Truby Trio man has come up trumps with something that should work in both big and back rooms alike. Reach for the lasers...

Roland Appel - Inner Soul (mp3)

On to the rock now and I'm not ashamed to admit that I was way too late onto the Jay Reatard bandwagon. I discovered Blood Visions towards the end of last year but it hasn't been far from my stereo ever since. It takes a warped genius to start a bubblegum fuzz-punk gem like this with the couplet "Time will heal wounds/But I will kill you slowly" and make it sound like the feel good hit of the summer but that's what he is.

Jay Reatard - Fading All Away (mp3)

Jon The Beef and I went to see The Dirtbombs in Manchester the other night. He had 'Underdog' dedicated to him by Mick Collins. It was emotional. For me though, the highlight of the night was this little number from back in the day...

The Dirtbombs - Candyass (mp3)

Thomas Function's album Celebration hasn't quite grabbed me yet in the way it has others, but this, the second track on the album is damned near-perfect. Power-pop par excellence.

Thomas Function - Can't Say No (mp3)

Wolf Parade's new album, At Mount Zoomer doesn't disappoint in the slightest. Again, they'll be more about that soon, but for now, be sure to pump this one out on your next road trip. Dan Boeckner ftw!

Wolf Parade - The Grey Estates (mp3)

It's after much deliberation that I hereby proclaim Steel An' Skin's 'Reggae Is Here Once Again' the song of the summer. Originally released in 1979 but given a new lease of life by Honest Jon's Records recently, everyone seems to be going batshit over the dub, which is great, but I prefer the original. Calypso-dub-disco anyone?

Steel An' Skin - Reggae Is Here Once Again (mp3)

Phew! That's yer lot for today. More later in the week though...

JMx

Yer Mam!'s Guide To Essential Summer Listening Part II: Mixing it up.

2008-06-09T15:17:00.002+02:00

Okay, let's get back into it. The sun is really out today, so here are three great summery mixes for you to pump out of your car stereos when the sun is blazing...

Friends of the blog and all-round top blokes, Canyons (aka Leo and Ryan from the Hole In The Sky label) are used to sunshine and barbecues, I guess, being Aussies. Lazy geographical stereotyping aside, they've put together a terrifically sunkissed mix exclusively for you guys. Readers of Yer Mam! rejoice as it's a doozy. Don't forget to pick yourself up a copy of their recent 12", The Lovemore EP, on vinyl at Juno or, if you prefer mp3s, get the digital release at Play.com...

Canyons Mix (click through to download)

1. Aqua Bassino - Too Hard to Try and Find (F Communication)
2. Her Bad Habit - Lock me up (Citinite)
3. Arthur Russell - Pocketknife's continual Cornfield remix (Flagrant Fowl)
4. Late of the Pier - The Bears are Coming - The Emperor Machine remix (Vote)
5. 40 Thieves - Theme from nutrider (Permanent Vacation)
6. Escort - Karawane (Escort Records)
7. The Juan Maclean - Happy House (DFA)
8. Virgo - Free Yourself - (Eskimo)
9. E.V.I.A.N and the Atlantis Posse - Robo Tech (Techno Kut Records)
10. Lone Ranger Dub - Bingo mix (Kaos)
11. Syclops - Monkeypuss (DFA)
12. Tyree - I'm Free (Clone)
13. Martyn - Velvet (3024)
14. Luis Gasca - Spanish Gypsy (Universal)
15. Kathy Diamond - Over (Permanent Vacation)
16. Tame Impala - Half Full Glass of Wine - Canyons Drunken Rage Mix (Hole in the Sky)
17. The Emperor Machine - Slap On (DC Recordings)
18. Hercules and Love Affair - This is my love (DFA)
19. Only Fools and Horses - Spectacle Wins - Holy Ghost! remix (Permanent Vacation)
20. Jimi Hendrix - Little Wing (Reprise)

Two more mixes to clue you in on now from a couple other friends of Yer Mam! First up, Peter Jay, who did an exclusive mix for this blog a couple of months ago, has a new mix over at the Nish Nash Nosh podcast. Here's the tracklisting, which should be all the convincing you need to go over there and get downloading...

1. Prince - Musicology
2. Pure P - Fonky President
3. Busta Rhymes - Touch It (pee wee's incorrect funk mix)
4. The Rebirth - Shake It (j-boogie remix)
5. Tangoterje - I Get Lifted
6. Kraak & Smaack feat Ben Westbeech- Squeeze Me
6. Alessi Brothers - Savin' The Day (the revenge rework)
7. Jermaine Jackson - Lets Get Serious
8. Gwen Guthrie - Peanut Butter (u-tern edit)
9. Popular Peoples Front - Bits 'N' Pieces
10. Neighbour - Robo Dick
11. Parov Stelar - The Flame
12. Wolf Myer Orchestra & Parov Stelar - Next To Me
13. Hydroponic Sound System - El Narco
14. Greenwood Rhythm Coalition - Guajira '78
15. Alex Wilson - Ain't Nobody

Finally, Freddy Flaggermus has cooked up another winner in the form of the 'Summer Whoreoff Volume II' mix he has up for download over at twentyfourhours. Go git it! Any mix that has The Bangles and Grace Jones is a blinder in my book.

Back real soon,

JMx

"Baby, let's transverberate"

2008-05-29T19:28:00.005+02:00

So, the most prolific band in the mini-genre of middle-class indie rock masquerading as working class hero, blue-collar rawk (cf. Drive-By Truckers, um, no-one else), The Hold Steady are about to release their fourth album, Stay Positive. I must say that I approached the record - as a fan, may I add, in case you didn't know already - with some trepidation. I have my problems with the previous album, Boys And Girls In America, despite originally creaming myself over it on these very pages.

Well, I'd like to say that I needn't have worried, that The Hold Steady have made the album that would put my mind at ease as both fan and critic. Stay Positive isn't that record. It is, however, a record that ticks all of my fanboy boxes and pushes so many of my buttons in the way that previous Hold Steady albums have in the past, but the critic in me sees through it like so many hotdog grease-stained napkins.

Stay Positive sees the band expand and grow as musicians in so many ways and also features some of their strongest songs. The practically sordid 'Navy Sheets' (complete with a flamboyant, Edgar Winter-esque keyboard riff from Franz Nicolay) is the closest the band has come to outright sexy and the dust-blown Western licks of 'Both Crosses' both measure up to anything they've done before. Also, the way that the bass, guitar and keyboards intertwine and rub up against each other in 'Yeah Sapphire' is phenomenal.

BUT - it's a big one, hence the capitals - Stay Positive makes me feel even more dirty for liking this band than any of their other records. I'm not the type of guy who dislikes things just because I think I should. For instance, is there any other better way to enjoy Nutella than by dipping your fingers into it? It's wrong, but it's so good. However, I know I shouldn't enjoy The Hold Steady's music as much as I do, especially this album.

Why? Well, the key to my status as a self-loathing THS fan lies squarely at the feet of frontman and lyricist, Craig Finn. It seems to be getting increasingly easy for him to write songs that pander to those who already love the band, so you get the feeling that he's getting lazier and more eager to preach to the converted with each release. Every reference to drunken misadventure or fucked-up love in Ybor City or St. Paul on Stay Positive makes me groan each time I listen to it. If this is all Finn has to draw on, that's fine, but he doesn't even deal in relatable universals anymore. His lyrical palette is getting narrower as the band mature musically.

Tad Kubler, Franz Nicolay and bassist, Galen Polivka own this record but Finn lets the side down time and again. Just write a fuckin' book already. This band could be special but the guy who writes the words is stuck in a massive rut. I smell a backlash coming up around the corner.

The Hold Steady - Joke About Jamaica (mp3)

The Hold Steady - Yeah Sapphire (mp3)

More essential summer listening tips coming up over the weekend.

JMx

Yer Mam!'s Guide To Essential Summer Listening, Or: Can Anybody Think Of A Better Blog Post Title Than That?

2008-05-27T16:10:00.005+02:00

Hello there, faitful readers,

I know you've probably all been refreshing this page constantly for the last four weeks in the vain hope that it may at some point be updated, but I've been quite busy/lazy (delete as applicable, depending on how well you know me) lately and have let the blog gather dust. A thousand apologies. That's all about to change (I know I've said that before, but I really, really mean it this time) as over the next week or so, a flurry of posts should appear here on all kinds of music that's been tickling my ears while I've been away.

Bloggerpalooza was a blast - seems so long ago now - so thank you to everyone who came down. I'm pretty sure we'll be doing it again at some point in the not-too-distant future, so keep 'em peeled.

Anyway, seeing as we're edging towards the summer months - although you wouldn't be able to tell from the gale-force winds lashing past my windows at the moment - and seeing as music and nice weather go together like Ashlee Simpson and that tool from Fall Out Boy (ooooh, topical!), I thought I'd tip you off to some tunes and albums that should be rocking your barbecues and box socials from June through to September. Let the sunshine in...

Strut are on a superb roll at the moment. I guess it's a making up for lost time thing, but after the Disco Not Disco, Funky Nassau and August Darnell compilations, the next on the roster is a more streamlined follow-up to the 3-disc Nigeria 70 comp released by the label back in 2001. Subtitled Lagos Jump: Original Heavyweight Afrobeat, Highlife & Afro-Funk, Nigeria 70 is a timely, funky document of Nigeria's musical legacy, leaning heavily on the highlife sound that's recently been appropriated by the likes of Vampire Weekend, High Places and Yeasayer.

Packaged with some of the best sleevenotes I've ever seen, Strut have really done their homework again. I'd write more about it but the Cosmic Disco boys have covered it better than I ever could already and, well, the music really speaks for itself. All I can do is urge you to seek out this thrilling, succinct collection of some of the best, funkiest music West Africa has to offer. Check out the samples below. They should be all the convincing you need.

Dynamic Africana - Igbehin Lalayo Nta (mp3)

Ify Jerry Crusade - Everybody Likes Something Good (mp3)

Robert Owens is inarguably the greatest vocalist in the history of house music. 'Bring Down The Walls', 'Tears', 'I'm Strong', 'Walk A Mile In My Shoes', etc. All great tunes. His latest solo album, Night-Time Stories slipped by without much fanfare back in February, a sign, I guess, of the lessening cultural impact of modern house music. While electro, disco and techno continue to thrive and be lauded at every turn, the perception of house as a dying artform seems to be worryingly more cemented with every passing day.

It's not a school of thought to which I subscribe as there are still lots of producers doing great things in the house spectrum (Arto Mwambe, Marcus Worgull, Laurent Garnier with his new 12" on Innervisions), but most of those guys are cross-pollinating, incorporating elements of techno and electro whilst jackin' as hard as they can. Owens pulls together some of house's best producers for Night-Time Stories, and the overall effect is of the house cognoscenti thumbing their noses at the tastemakers in a highly-replayable act of defiance with the great soulman at the helm.

Owens pulls out all the stops here, summoning up some of his best vocals in years for collaborators such as Wahoo, Atjazz, Simbad, Charles Webster, Jimpster, TJ Kong & Nuno Dos Santos and Marc Romboy. It's also remarkably fresh, frequently breathing life into tired old tropes. Owens saves his best for Ian Pooley, with the unifying, twilit gospel of 'I'm Chained' (one of my favourite tunes of the year so far), but he delivers great turns for the aforementioned Kong & Dos Santos (the unbearably deep 'Merging'), Webster (the florid, yet moody 'Never Give Up') and Romboy (the light-fingered Booka Shade-isms of 'Back To You'). Even the house-heads may have dismissed this as more of the same, but they'll be missing out on one of the more surprising full-lengths of the year.

Robert Owens - Merging (produced by TJ Kong & Nuno Dos Santos) (mp3)

Robert Owens - Now I Know (produced by Atjazz) (mp3)

When Pimp C died late last year, I feared that the upcoming Bun B solo effort, II Trill was going to be a mawkish, teary affair, endless .40s being poured on the kerb and all that. I was wrong, as Bun has offered forth the best tribute to his late partner possible; a record that keeps the UGK flame alive in a suitably fiery manner. The production (from names such as J.R. Rotem, Clinton Sparks, Jazze Pha, CHOPS and Scott Storch among others) is cavernous and Bun is on fire on pretty much every track.

The supporting cast reads like a who's-who of Southern hip-hop (as is the norm for UGK-related projects), with Rick Ross, David Banner, Lil' Wayne, Z-Ro, 8-Ball & MJG, Young Buck and more weighing in with some great verses. Outsider Lupe Fiasco even proves himself adept at the Southern style on 'Swang On 'Em' and Mya crops up on surefire pop-rap hit of 2008, the S.O.S. Band-sampling 'Good II Me', while Chamillionaire fits like a glove on 'Underground Thang' (replete with the only Pimp C verse here). Bun's rhymes are as complex and winning as usual, ensuring this bass-heavy opus rocks trunks and clubs from now until doomsday.

Bun B - Good II Me (feat. Mya) (mp3)

Bun B - Swang On 'Em (feat. Lupe Fiasco) (mp3)

Bonus: S.O.S. Band - Just Be Good To Me (mp3)

And if that lot don't turn you on, you ain't got no switches.

Back later in the week with more sunshine picks.

JMx

Blogasaurus Rex!

2008-05-02T20:19:00.005+02:00

It's coming. On Sunday in Manchester's Contact Theatre (next to the Academy on Oxford Road), the stars of the Manchester music blogging miniverse are joining together like some sort of web-savvy/music-spoddy Voltron to create the beast that is Bloggerpalooza. From 6pm onwards, the cream of the crop of Manc's mp3 bloggers will be providing a sensory treat for your ears and eyes (beautiful guys and gals that we are, once you look past the pixel tans) as part of Manchester's five-day Futuresonic festival. Sod The RZA, we're the big draw this year so you really should be there.

There'll be various web 2.0 kind of shenanighans going on like live internet streaming, an ongoing Twitter feed telling you what we're playing as it spins and all sorts of other fun stuff. It's going to be great so if you're in the area, there's really no excuse for not coming. Your selectors for the night are Just Hipper and The Ledge from The Indie Credential, Niles and Baggy from Cosmic Disco, the Best Foot Forward crew, Shoplifters, Jon The Beef from Black Country Grammar and, of course, yours truly. Hopefully the weather will stay nice too.

I might well play this...

6th Burrough Project - So Glad (mp3)

... but not this, although I think you'll admit it'd be funny if I did...

Tim And Eric - Doo Dah Doo Doo (mp3)

See you there?

More from me soon, honest...

JMx

Better late than never.

2008-04-18T16:21:00.003+02:00

Let's just forget for a moment that I forgot that this blog was three years old last Saturday (12th April), even though it falls the day after my own birthday and let's celebrate it today, with this little mix I threw together for y'all. It's not perfect, there are a few pops, clicks and sloppy mixes to contend with, but it's something and, hey, it's the thought that counts, right?

6th Burrough Project - Just A Memory (Five20East)
Maurice Fulton - My Gigolo (Transfusion)
Low Motion Disco - Love Love Love (Soft Rocks Mix feat. Kathy Diamond) (Eskimo)
Al Usher - Lullaby For Robert (Out Of The Loop)
Windsurf - Pocket Check (Internasjonal)
Maps - To The Sky (The Loving Hand Remix) (Mute)
Mocky - Catch A Moment In Time (Ewan Pearson's Memory Blissed Remix) (Fine.)
James Pants - We're Through (Stones Throw)
Junior Byron - Dance To The Music (Vanguard)
Chaz Jankel feat. Brenda Jones - You're My Occupation (A&M)
Fred Cherry - Busride To The Zoo (Hole In The Sky)
Hercules & Love Affair - Athene (DFA/EMI)
The Shortwave Set - No Social (Optimo Espacio Mix) (Wall Of Sound)
Baby Oliver - Shot Caller (Environ)
Hercules & Love Affair - You Belong (DFA/EMI)

Download Yer Mam!'s Birthday Mix

Back soon with something a little more substantial.

JMx