TEN THINGS I LEARNT FROM THIS WEEK'S KERRANG

cheers

2010-02-15T11:06:00.000-08:00

Moved to http://intotheswamp.tumblr.com/

2010-02-08T10:18:00.000-08:00

The past is never as good as you remember it, but its certainty has its own comforts. Grease lets an in-his-prime Travolta loose in a world made up of the safest parts of the ’50s, a place that didn’t yet know the blood and distrust the ’60s and ’70s would bring its way. It’s filled with kids—well, “kids,” anyway—who’ve yet to know divorce, abortion, dead friends, professional disappointments, personal betrayals, and the slow erosion of dreams. It won’t last, and in its final moments, I get the feeling Grease knows this too.

“Well, what are we going to do after graduation?” almost-age-appropriate co-star Dinah Manoff asks. “Maybe we’ll never see each other,” another student laments. “That’ll never happen,” Danny assures them. How does he know? Because they have the together-forever promise of a song called “We Go Together” to send them off and up, riding in a dream convertible as they ascend toward the sky and into the future, with all its boundless promise. Then the movie ends.

- Keith Phipps from The AV Club putting a lump in my throat.

i talk about this film with my mum a lot

2010-01-30T13:13:00.000-08:00

Jazz Hip Trio - The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

Found the poster HERE. Much love to Bacoso, who put me (and many others) onto this as well as Emiliano.

like vampire's blood

2010-01-19T17:32:00.000-08:00

Kashmere's been one of my favourites for a while now. New shit, nicked from UK All Day.

Kashmere feat. Truth - Do You Understand

You can get this on the Three Years High and Rising compilation, available from Rapsploitation Sessions.

un amico.

2010-01-19T12:31:00.000-08:00

In all my years as a member of fandom (in Lost and Runaways more than anything) I guess I never understood fanmixes. I tried one once, and let me say that it was an odd mix - I tried to tie in Some Girls' "Gonna Set My Soul On Fire" with the end of Runaways' first run, a weird reaction to a fan letter thinking that Nickelback was appropriate music for my favourite comic ever. Psshhaw.

Some Girls - Gonna Set My Soul On Fire

Anyway, I have found myself back on Livejournal for the first time in forever, seeing as I spent my Friday evening in bed reading Inglourious Basterds fanfiction. (Yes, I am aware I'm pretty chuffing sad saying that.) Then I found a pairing I liked reading about: the characters of Shosanna and Fredrick (yes, I repeat, I'm sad) that Quentin Tarantino has admitted that any other time in history, they could have fallen in love. So, fic after fic later and I ended up at... Shosanna/Fredrick fanmixes!

There's a couple of mixes that have really been doing it for me that I'm going to link you to - first of all, there's the Innocent Hearts mix by LJ user butchiemcgee, which uses music from Ingrid Michaelson, the Psychadelic Furs, Grace Jones and Ennio Morriconne, making a pretty fun selection of songs that could easily be your new-wave playlist for the time being. More deets HERE.

Then there's Truth in the Bleeding, a mix by LJ user piecesofalice, using music from The Pretenders, Elvis Costello, Die Artze and Andrew Bird, amongst others. It's been pretty much all I've been able to listen to over the weekend - that Andrew Bird song on the mix is gorgeous (20 plays in four days, which is saying a lot for me). Deets can be found HERE. Kudos to the two of 'em. Fandom rules!

download Innocent Hearts
download Truth in the Bleeding

PS. Yeah, I saw Basterds again recently and it grew on me something fierce. Image was found here at CHUD - is awesome.

mp3s, why notttt?!

2010-01-19T12:18:00.000-08:00

So, flicking through my iTunes reminded me of these following songs. It was one of those nice little surprises, like your girlfriend waking you up with a bacon sandwich or like getting handed a tenner by a really cute dog.

Inner Life - Ain't No Mountain High Enough (Larry Levan 12" Remix)

Rihanna - Push Up On It

Jon - Meow Meow

N.E.R.D. - Untitled Jam (Live on Gilles Peterson, 2002)

Yup, that's the N.E.R.D. jam I promised to post aaages ago. Pssh, sorry. Or something!

shawty = charlieyou

2010-01-19T12:06:00.000-08:00

As far as dumb songs from stupid YouTube videos getting stuck in your head, this is truly on some next level shit.

Found via Stuff You Will Hate!

"based on a true story"

2010-01-14T16:17:00.000-08:00

Y'know, going through Sight & Sound's extended critics' faves of 2009 and given the amazing critical praise it had (despite little distribution), I'm surprised to see how few people lost their shit over Love Exposure. Because, um, look at it.

I need a spare four hours to experience this for myself.

damn

2010-01-14T10:53:00.000-08:00

the 23rd psalm

2010-01-14T10:00:00.000-08:00

Lost, Season 2, Ep. 10, "The 23rd Psalm".

"Yemi, I understand that you live in a world where righteousness and evil seem very far apart, but that is not the real world."

-Eko.

motorcycles, rock n roll and no lyrics

2010-01-13T05:45:00.001-08:00

I love this shit. So should you.

not in portland

2010-01-13T04:56:00.000-08:00

Lost, Season 3, Ep. 6, "Not in Portland".

"It won't hurt you to give me three minutes, will it -- knowing I have only 27 left?"

-Ben.

i want to spend time with you.

2010-01-13T04:48:00.000-08:00

New Maya Arulpragasam. Album out this year. Colour me interested.

M.I.A. - There's Space For All Dat I See
(via Sound Verite)

My girl and I had our first date at an M.I.A. show. I always find that really cool.

reeeeeal life shit

2010-01-13T02:27:00.000-08:00

So I haven't been keeping up much with This Week's Kerrang recently. To be honest, I wanted to make a few posts here and there - I wanted to share this with the world come Christmas time - but as always, apathy really got to me. I've been off at university working on the show, my dissertation, family stuff, money problems and, at the sake of seeming petulant, it sucks when nobody wants to read your blog no matter what. Really, I've just needed time to chill and watch some movies, hang out with my girlfriend and not think about FLFD/TWK. As a matter of fact, I don't even know what's going to happen with FLFD over the next six months - a lot of things I had planned have had to shift recently. "Life is what happens when..."

But I've been reading some awesome blogs - shout out to VINYL IS HEAVY, who've inspired me to write more about the films I see. There will be another podcast soon, maybe some of the Foot Village/Gallows stuff that I recorded for the show but we'll have to see. This is more of a freewheeling thing now, and whatever I want is going up on this. Which is fun!

I know this barely matters being the internet and all but I like doing this enough to write a bit of a fuss over it. I didn't listen to enough albums in '09 to make a list, but have my favourite song of last year just because it's great.

Jeans Wilder - Tough Guys

HNY.xx

songs i've been listening to lately, pt 3

2010-01-12T11:45:00.000-08:00

Prince - Sleep Around

So much soul. Like three superb songs in one - thank Whatever for the shuffle button.

the perils of google image search

2009-12-28T18:45:00.000-08:00

I wish I knew

Mutoid Men's new album is streaming over at Punknews and, as you'd expect with ex-members of Latterman and Shorebirds involved - surprise! - it's fucking great.

CLICK HERE ALREADY

did i mention jokes?

2009-12-20T08:51:00.000-08:00

Jokes!

songs i've been listening to recently, pt. 2

2009-12-20T08:33:00.000-08:00

"Fuck I need a bodycast/I'm on my Camp Crystal Lake shit"

Now, anybody can sound nice on this beat but I didn't think someone could sound this nice!

Grimlok - Dumb It Down Freestyle
(via Certified Banger)

On my eighth listen right now - OH MY DAAAAYS. Follow Grim on Twitter.

nobody cares about your goddamn top ten list

2009-12-17T17:59:00.000-08:00

1. 35 Shots of Rum (dir. Claire Denis)
2. The Hurt Locker (dir. Kathryn Bigelow)
3. Up (dir. Pete Docter)
4. Burma VJ (dir. Anders Østergaard)
5. Rachel Getting Married (dir. Jonathan Demme)
6. A Serious Man (dirs. Joel and Ethan Coen)
7. Fantastic Mr Fox (dir. Wes Anderson)
8. Bronson (dir. Nicolas Winding Refn)
9. Love Aaj Kal (dir. Imtiaz Ali)
10. Sin Nombre (dir. Cary Joji Fukunaga)

Close but no cigar: JCVD (dir. Mabrouk El Mechri); White Lightnin' (dir. Dominic Murphy); In The Loop (dir. Armando Ianucci); Duplicity (dir. Tony Gilroy); Slumdog Millionaire (dirs. Danny Boyle and Loveleen Tandan), Moon (dir. Duncan Jones)

...I didn't listen to many albums in '09, but I saw films.

songs i've been listening to recently, pt. 1

2009-12-17T17:42:00.000-08:00

Wiz Khalifa - B.A.R.

If it wasn't for Nation, I would've probably slept on this dude forever. And really, half of Burn After Rolling is misguided decisions - whoever thought it would be a good idea for Khalifa to cover Beyoncé's "If I Was A Boy" in ironically out-of-tune Auto-Tune has a screw loose - while the other half has dude just going in. It never quite reaches the heights scaled by the opener (posted above) but it's nice to know some rappers are nice surprises these days - a cool example is on the chilled-out "Timeless".

Download Burn After Rolling from Wiz Khalifa's Myspace i.e. HERE.

podcast timmmmeeee

2009-12-03T02:37:00.000-08:00

This was supposed to be up yesterday - my stupid shoulder decided to fuck up though, hence rest seemed more important. Anyway, FLFD is going on a vocation of sorts shortly - so while Air3 is on hiatus, there's podcasts to be done. I won't promise anything solid, as you know I've not been posting that much (damn you, uni), and I was off air this week (damn-- actually, thanks to Gallows, Trash Talk and Sharks) but this should keep you for a while. My favourite jams of the moment. Some bad mixing at points but this is my first attempt after all! Hope y'all enjoy it.

FLFD PODCAST #1!!!

tracklisting:
Untold - Stop What You're Doing (James Blake Remix)
Utada Hikaru - Devil Inside (RJD2 Remix)
Drake - Fear
Minus The Bear - Broken China
I Am The Dot - Middle of April
Marquis De Sade - Skin Disease
The Fresh and Onlys - Dude's Got a Tender Heart
Dil Jackson - Player Has Butterflies
Muhsinah - Lose My Fuse
Dirty Money feat. Raekwon - Angels (Remix)
Troels Abrahamsen - Swaat
Lake Heartbeat - Between Dreams
Vampire Weekend - Cousins
Kid, You'll Move Mountains - Wives' Tales
Sharks - The Light at the End of the Tunnel is Hell
Brittany Bosco - Lovethang
Nohelani Cypriano - Lihue

download: Mediafire/Usershare

"if too many man wanna fly, i'll send them to NASA"

2009-11-25T04:28:00.000-08:00

Oh my word - last night on Cameo's 1Xtra show, P Money and his crew (Blacks, Drifter, Roxanne, Kozzie) hosted a fucking clinic in their freestyle session. Every thirty seconds or so, screwface was definitely happening. The radio rip is courtesy of the folks over at Grime Forum - who have a treasure trove of live sets up on Mediafire by the by.

P Money, Blacks, Drifter, Kozzie, Roxanne - 1Xtra Live Session (24/11/09)

Oh, and P Money fired a couple of shots at Ghetts last night, if that kinda stuff interests you. Whateverrrr... Listen to the full show here.

EDIT: Laura at Hyperfrank touched on the Ghetts/P rivalry. 'Rivalry'.

i couldn't help it, haha

2009-11-18T07:03:00.001-08:00

Numerous versions of "I Can't Help It", inspired by this blog post by Mike Cruz.

Jokes on that last one, sry.

wat no "unloved in the dialtone"

2009-11-18T06:46:00.000-08:00

Christopher at Fuck Do I Look Like? just went and posted a compilation called Bannon Ballads, which as you'd imagine, is a bunch of the "slow songs" from Converge's discography lumped together. It sounds like a good idea. No J. Bannon stuff though, but if someone has a copy of that, let me know about it.

Download the mini-comp here.

PS. Talking of Converge-related UCC, have I ever posted Jane Slow? Put that on the to-do list.

my heritage rules!

2009-11-18T06:05:00.000-08:00

Quickly! Before I have to go back and do "real" work!

If you hit up the FLFD Myspace, there's tracklistings for the shows since the start of the semester, and I realise I haven't posted some songs from the past couple of comps used in the show's Compilation Procrastination feature. So, from the OOP Back to Peru: The Most Complete Compilation of Peruvian Underground 64-74 (used on the 09.11 show), here's a few tracks:

That Texao track is my shit. I looooove that! Because the jawn is OOP, I may just up it this week. Maybe. In case, you may be able to get it here, and the UK part two from here, but if you're reading, lemme know how that works out.

I'll post about this week's compilation, A Whiter Shade - A World of Hits, next week - you can still hear my selections from it up on the Listen Again. Fast-forward to 1:43:30 and relaaaaaaaxx, man.

moths to the head

2009-11-18T05:52:00.000-08:00

I like this. That's it, simple.

I Am The Dot - Middle of April
(via Pasta Primavera)

Find out more about this skinny cat here.

french-argentinian-japanese-love-music-jazz

2009-11-18T05:40:00.000-08:00

Oh my days.

I've been listening to Mama!Milk's Fragrance of Notes quite a bit - that and George Russell's (R.I.P.) Jazz in the Space Age, both make for good "shit-I-have-to-do-work-for-uni" type of music. But they both stand up on their own - anyway, you should play the video above, which is Mama!Milk playing their gorgeous "The Moon" live at a temple in Kyoto. It's as lovely as it sounds.

If you love the show, please feel free to buy this on vinyl for me.

blackout!

2009-11-18T05:25:00.001-08:00

I'm going to get to putting up Karriem Riggins' mix from last week's Benji B soon, people - I'm just very damn busy so not many posts recently. At least I'm still doing FLFD, people!

One of the things Riggins played on said mix was some unreleased Black Thought from Masterpiece Theatre - i.e. the unreleased solo album he did that got scrapped in favour of The Roots' Phrenology (if I remember correctly, I think "Rollin' With Heat" was originally supposed to be from that). I think the track's with Madlib? Anyway, I'll have it up soon. And here's a goodie that I forgot to post about last week:

Black Thought - The Professional

On other related Black Thought stuff, if you haven't yet seen that cipher with him, Eminem and Mos Def, stop being an idiot and click here already. And click on this old freestyle vid of Black and ?uestlove minus an afro. Weird.

"what the fuuuck just happened?"

2009-11-11T09:01:00.000-08:00

Classic shit right here. Is that Lukas Haas? Sorry the quality isn't great.

Gilles Peterson's show this week revisits the N.E.R.D. x Spymob Maida Vale session from 2002 - remember when these guys seemed like the next, next until Pharrell fell into "twelve pages in women's American VOGUE"/La Vegas schintz mode and Chad went seemingly into hiding, producing intermittently for nameless RnB divas? And they have a sense of humour on this shit, too, Pharrell sings with a cold!

I've got an untitled jam that they played live around the time of the In Search Of... tour at home (I remember that, I travelled down to LDN with my dad to see them at the Brixton Academy - thanks Dad). I'll up that this weekend if I remember, it's a nice listen.

let's take another journey...

2009-11-11T07:34:00.000-08:00

Jazzfreeka's Blackclassical blog(s) is a year old! Psssh, congrats dude.

New podcast from the gentleman to celebrate, the link is his. Tracklisting can be found right here.

BLACKCLASSICAL 1st BIRTHDAY
(via Brownswood forums)

"bye now! bye now"

2009-11-11T06:30:00.000-08:00

So, a couple of mixes I've had kicking about from the net recently...

Tokimonsta, who's signed to Flying Lotus' Brainfeeder label, is getting praised for her spacey, sometimes glitchy sounding beats - a perfect fit for her label boss IMO. This is an exclusive mix she did for Donky Pitch ahead of her live set in Brighton on the 26th. If you get a chance, check her out you lucky dogs. And can anybody let me know what the beat that kicks in at 7:48 is? I've heard it before and it's bugging me trying to remember what it is exactly...

Tokimonsta - Donky Pitch Mix
(via Sonic Router)

Something I've been meaning to post about for a minute - this mix from Robot Koch, who I first read about over at Passion of the Weiss, has a reeeeall nice sway to it. Check it out - I played dude's "Death Star Droid" on FLFD the other week there and that has a definite cool vibe behind it. So best get to it, kid. Dude's also done a mix for Brainfeeder - that's cyclical writing, people! Connections!

Robot Koch - Robots Don't Sleep
(via Passion of the Weiss)

And THIS has been kicking about on my flash drive for ages - Jimmy Green, he of "what if Dilla produced The Blueprint" fame, giving the greatest voice of all, Marvin Gaye, the once over. This is dope. Don't sleep on it like I did.

Jimmy Green Presents: The Marvin Gaye Mixtape (ZIP file)
(via Certified Banger)

that's free, that is; that's heavy, that is

2009-11-09T09:03:00.000-08:00

Now, UK hardcore label Thirty Days of Night have brought music to the world the following: Bring Me The Horizon, Gallows, Gold Kids, Azriel, D-Rail, November Coming Fire, Send More Paramedics, The Hunt For Ida Wave, The Plight, etc etc etc. That is a lot of bands.

Well, to celebrate the label's fifth birthday, they've got a compilation, TDON EST MMIV, for free download right now from their webstore. Pretty thing, that.

TDON EST MMIV (left-click)

like a bulemic on a seesaw

2009-11-08T14:49:00.000-08:00

Another late pass post - an amazingly atmospheric piece of user-created content for Nas' "Queens Get the Money". Remember The Nigger Tape and how good it was and then Untitled came out and it was real disappointing? This intro was a red herring. Insane track.

Oh, and I slept real long on Jay Electronica but paid for it by losing it when I heard "Exhibit C". INSANITY!!!

Jay Electronica - Exhibit C (Radio Rip)

i kinda approve, kinda

2009-11-04T16:57:00.001-08:00

Well now, this is an odd song.

Jamie Foxx feat. Gucci Mane - Speak French

Really.

2009-11-04T16:41:00.000-08:00

So, late night studying gets you going through some amazing oddities on the internet. Here's some gorgeous psychadelic pop, courtesy of Chimera. Read up here.

2009-11-04T03:39:00.000-08:00

If you follow me on Twitter - and let's face it, you probably should - then you would have noticed I like remembering that things are still great. Case in point: Crime In Stereo. Last night I relistened to their last full-length "...Is Dead" (FLFD #2 album of '07) for the first time in a while and yup, still amazing. So if you're not familiar with it, listen to these two highlights then go buy the damn thing. If you're familiar with it, smile at the dopey video above for one of the most affecting punk songs written in living memory, "Small Skeletal".

Crime In Stero - Small Skeletal

Crime In Stereo - Vicious Teeth

The guys have just finished off an amazing-sounding US tour with Polar Bear Club, Strike Anywhere and Ruiner and are putting out the follow up to "...Is Dead" in February, probably on Bridge 9 Records. They are also touring some places in the US with Brand New and Glassjaw so fuck you if you're going, you lucky fucking prick.

these giants are just like all of us

2009-11-03T04:09:00.000-08:00

Ghostlimb are fucking great. What, you didn't know that already? Then get on their ENTIRE DISCOGRAPHY HERE. Then we'll talk.

smoooooth breasts

2009-10-23T08:49:00.001-07:00

It's the weekend! Here, enjoy a goddamn classic.

This track still, still, still will kill.

oh yes

2009-10-21T06:30:00.000-07:00

I didn't know about Ultimate Thrush until ten minutes ago, and now they're a band I HAVE TO SEE LIVE LIKE MY LIFE DEPENDS ON IT. Luckily they're playing the Glasgow School of Art on Friday with FLFD faves Holy Mountain and some band called Mr Peppermint with no easily located Myspace page.

Download their self-titled album HERE and whet your appetite at their Myspace.

no raditude on there YET!

2009-10-21T06:21:00.001-07:00

On last week's FLFD my compilation of the week was a collection of Weezer covers by 8-bit record label Pterodactyl Squad. It's exactly what you imagine a Weezer tribute by a bunch of video-game inspired bands would sound like (i.e. gimmicky but fun).

I Fight Dragons - Why Bother?

Download Weezer: The 8-Bit Album HERE. It's totally free and everything!

i sold my soul for management

2009-10-20T14:01:00.001-07:00

Turns out that there's some new A Wilhelm Scream coming out. So why the picture above?

REVOLVER MAGAZINE: Which part of ["Bullet Proof Tiger"] did you come up with first?

TREVOR REILLY (vox): Mike Supina, our new guitarist, actually came up with the musical arrangement first, and we tinkered with it from there. It was the first thing Mike brought to the band alone, and that was inspiring in and of itself. I was originally gonna base the lyrics on the character McNulty from The Wire, incidentally, but that didn’t quite pan out, thankfully. [Laughs]

Well then - you think you know, then you know.

A Wilhelm Scream - Bullet Proof Tiger
(via Revolver)

Off the band's upcoming S/T 7", out next month via Paper and Plastick. Find out more about Steve Lieber (and more Wire-inspired drawings) over HERE.

beach, bedroom, bliss

2009-10-19T13:31:00.000-07:00

Jeans Wilder's put out probably my favourite song of the year, "Tough Guys", a sad-sack five minute dreampop masterwork that sounds like the movie Judd Apatow's Funny People wishes it was. Listen to it down there and try and catch on to what I'm on about.

Jeans Wilder - Tough Guys

Oh, and there's a new track on dude's Myspace called "That Glow" - it starts off pretty badly if I'm being honest (there's a wince-worthy note in the first thirty seconds) but like all his material, you fall under the charm of it pretty quickly.

Jeans and Jen Paul have a split 12" out now on Last Station Radar. I've not bought it yet because I'm lazy and want to save money on the new batch of Lost DVDs.

no phoebe, don't call it a comeback

2009-10-19T13:25:00.000-07:00

God, since I got back at uni I suck at updating this thing. Anyway, here's a new band called Kudrow - and yes, that's Jeff from Bomb The Music Industry! singing. So, immediately brilliant, non?

2009-10-13T06:26:00.000-07:00

The Steal, those pretty good UK pop-punk/hardcore noiseniks, split up this year. To make the ache easier, here's their entire discography for free download.

Start getting into these songs, then kick yourself now that they're gone. Real talk.

"dj one drop is the greatesssst..."

2009-10-13T06:14:00.000-07:00

Walking back from last night's FLFD (click HERE to listen to it again, tracklisting up soon), I ended up listening to this amazing mix by DJ One Drop. It's a cluster bomb of funky and you'll be hit by very danceable shards in every single direction you turn. You should listen to it right now:

DOWNLOAD DJ ONE DROP'S "WHAT DO YOU CALL IT? VOL.2 LET'S GET DEEPER" HERE

Tracklisting as follows:

01. Intro – Monday is Bongo Day!
02. Skepta – Sunglasses At Night [DJ Naughty Funky Mix]
03. Ill Blu ft. Hoodzee – Rider [Special]
04. Perempay & Dee – Buss It
05. Fuzzy Logic – Twiss
06. Attacca Pesante – Sparta 09
07. Zest – Jump In The Middle & Skank
08. Free – Tribal Skankers
09. Gracious K – Migraine Skank
10. Coldsteps & Hector – On Dis Ting
11. Sweet Boy Candy – Bongo Boy
12. Lil’Silva – Seasons
13. OneDrop & Unknown – Funky Strings [Sample Rebuild Remix]
14. Sweet Boy Candy – Tipsy Talk
15. Dotstar – Stick Up [Special]
16. Lil’Silva – Burning
17. Funky D – Funk It
18. Kid Cudi – Day & Night [Danny Scrilla Electro-Funky Hybrid Remix]
19. N.B Funky – You
20. Funky D – Overdrive
21. DJ Naughty – Quicktime
22. Sweet Boy Candy – Rodeo
23. Geeneus – Yellowtail
24. Hard House Banton – Sirens
25. Emvee – Glitch
26. Danny Scrilla – Fuzzy

Shout out to MashUp Crew!

FLFD

2009-10-12T17:21:00.000-07:00

the rushes

2009-10-12T08:50:00.000-07:00

The folks at Sonic Router just upped this, and it's definitely worth checking out. Trust me, this is good shit.

SBTRKT - Kaoss

Follow SBTRKT on Twitter and Myspace. And don't forget to listen tonight (11pm-1am), I'll be playing this!

embed the shit out of this

2009-10-12T08:41:00.000-07:00

Armand Van Helden x A-Trak x bellbottoms

BEST BUDZ

2009-10-12T08:24:00.000-07:00

My pal Carl has a blog, see, called Hear New Music, right, where he takes all the legal downloads he can find, alright, and puts them in a mix that you can then fling onto your iPod or a CD-R or whatever, okay? Well, he made another mix on Wednesday and I forgot to let you guys know about it then so... You can get it here.

Audrey's "Big Ships" is my favourite off the comp, if you're wondering.

GUCCI!

2009-10-12T08:11:00.000-07:00

That cover > _____

I've been playing a badly tagged version of this since yesterday, but DJ Drama shouted out a trusted link on his Twitter account after I brought it up last night (probably not but whatever). We are alive in amazing times.

Gucci Mane - Frowney Face
(via Noz @ Cocaine Blunts)

Download The Burrprint: 3-D Edition from the Dram-approved link HERE.

compilation procrastination

2009-10-09T11:14:00.000-07:00

So on last week's show I played a couple of songs off the compilation Barnyard Soul!: Greasy Gritty Groovy Southern-Fried Soul for this little feature I've got by the name of Compilation Procrastination. The idea is to find a compilation record that I love and showcase it to the listeners, and you-know-what made it onto last week's FLFD.

There's not much detail online for this comp, but let me guarantee you that it's got a wide array of massive jams on it - imagine awesome James Brown-style funk and soul but with some more, well, primal urges attributed to the vocals! It's a great ride. There's another take on it HERE and you can find it on sale HERE - it's totally sold out anywhere else though, so hassle Deep Groove to press it again or get to digging already!

B.B. Brown - Low Down Dirty Tramp

Willie West - Fairchild

"he stole my irn bru"

2009-10-09T10:51:00.000-07:00

So, I heard Detektivbyrån for the first time today - at their best, the music sounds like Sigur Ros' more lighthearted moments and at its worst, it sounds like a synth-lead score of Howard Blake's score for The Snowman. Decide for yourself.

Detektivbyrån - E18

vamping it up

2009-10-08T12:03:00.000-07:00

So, late pass time again but if you haven't heard it, that new Vampire Weekend soundtrack sounds exactly how you'd imagine: great!

Vampire Weekend - Horchata

Side note: anybody wanting to buy me a balaclava, get me one of these. Awww yeah.

goddammit

2009-10-08T11:38:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged since my show on Monday, have I? Bad call. Here's what I played, if you haven't seen it on my Myspace page or Facebook group (search "FLASHING LIGHTS + FLASH DRIVES" in FB to join), here's what I played on Monday nizzight:

MIIKE SNOW - Animal (RCD LBL)
PARETO - This is Where I Draw the Line (self-released)
TEENAGERSINTOKYO - Isabella (Backyard)
BRENDA HOLLOWAY - Til Johnny Comes (Motown)

firsts - NITE JEWEL
WARREN G - ...And Ya Don't Stop (Def Jam)

FUCK BUTTONS - Surf Solar (ATP)
RAEKWON - Surgical Gloves (Ice H20)
CALVINBALL - No Matter How Hard You Try (self-released)
MAYER HAWTHORNE - Just Ain't Gonna Work Out (Stones Throw)

compilation procrastination! (part one)
100 PROFF (AGED IN SOUL) - Somebody's Been Sleeping In My Bed (Edsel)

NITE JEWEL - You Said, "Let's go, the Two of Us" (Italians Do It Better)
BLK JKS - Lakeside (Secretly Canadian)
LLOYD feat. LIL WAYNE - Pusher (self-released)
CEYLAN ERTEM - Gonul Dagi (self-released)

firsts - THIS TOWN NEEDS GUNS
LIT - My Own Worst Enemy (RCA)

THIS TOWN NEEDS GUNS - Lemur (Big Scary Monsters)
S.C.U.M. - Visions Arise (self-released)
DRAKE - Sooner Than Later (self-released)

compilation procrastination! (part two)
STEREO TOTAL - Touche-Moi (Disko B)

KINGS OF CONVENIENCE - Boat Behind (EMI)
GOROD - Splinters of Life (Listenable)

tom waits song of the week
TOM WAITS - Anywhere I Lay My Head (Island)

BIG BOI feat. TOO $HORT & GEORGE CLINTON - Fo Yo Sorrows (Def Jam)
T-PAIN feat. SHAWNNA - Dope (Nappy Boy)
LOS CAMPESINOS! - Frontwards (self-released)

If you missed the show, you can listen to it at Air3 Radio until this Monday coming - and while you're there, go listen to At the Pictures as well (Tuesdays 3-5). As for the compilation of the week, here's a post I did on it back in August. A little post about last week's compilation of choice, Barnyard Soul! is coming up.

reconcile the violence in my heart.... vampire baseball

2009-10-05T11:08:00.000-07:00

Muse, then. They must have written this song for the New Moon soundtrack because, damn, it sounds perfect for soundtracking some human/vampire/werewolf (delete as applicable) lovin' on the dancefloor at the gym-hall prom. So I'm gonna throw this on while I put on my Edward Cullen wig and do my Teen Wolf dance. It's pop music time, everyone.

Muse - Undisclosed Desires

I will never get sick of using that Thom Yorke picture.

PS. Now I dislike Glenn Beck as much as, well, me. However, bad views or no, asking your fans to stop liking you makes no sense, Muse.

odd how this stuff turns out...

2009-10-05T10:45:00.000-07:00

It's funny - I was going to post about Chapel Club the other day after coming across their muscular, polished indie on Fucking Dance but for some reason or other, I didn't get round to it. Except now, they've requested me as a friend on Myspace! Like I said, funny.

Chapel Club - Into the Flood

If this has proven anything, it's that I check my friend requests on Myspace, so if you want me to check out your music, you know where to go.

smooooth

2009-10-05T10:24:00.000-07:00

So somebody must have caught onto that post on Francis and the Lights from a couple of months back, because Newday hit me up on Twitter yesterday about their remake of ol' Frannie boy's "A Modern Promise". It's embedded below for you to check out, so, yeah, go for it.

If you haven't added me already, my Twitter page is HERE. Read all my inane shit to your heart's content!

that soul music? that soul music.

2009-10-01T07:50:00.000-07:00

I was listening to an old Gilles Peterson podcast on the way up to uni this morning - it was the Mayer Hawthorne podcast, click here to download it - and heard some stuff that absolutely knocked me out. For me more than anybody else, check out these songs... they're just... wow. Check 'em out, then subscribe to Gilles. He's my dude. You already know.

Mayer Hawthorne - Just Ain't Gonna Work Out

Brenda Holloway - Till Johnny Comes

"22s on my golf cart"

2009-10-01T07:39:00.000-07:00

I don't trust people who don't like T-Pain. At all.

T-Pain - Take Your Shirt Off

T-Pain feat. Shawnna - Dope

R. Kelly feat. T-Pain & Keyshia Cole - Number One (Remix)

Shakira feat. T-Pain - She-Wolf (Remix)

NAPPY BOOOOOOOOYYYY

2009-10-01T07:24:00.000-07:00

A new Scrimshire podcast! Shit, I can't wait to get into this one, it's all strings-laden. Will probably be great.

DOWNLOAD IT HERE

if i get caught, then the search is through...

2009-10-01T06:50:00.000-07:00

I know nothing about Pavement. Well, I know that they're 90s indie heroes and they had that music video about the haircuts, but that's about it. So I don't get that furore about them reuniniting, even though I would like to.

Well then, thank goodness for Steven at Letters Have No Arms, as he's decided to put together "Pavement For Dummies", with ten songs to download by the band to get you on the way. It's a neat idea and, well, have a good time with it. Check it out HERE.

ps. Okay, I lied about not knowing any Pavement songs - I'm kinda familiar with "Frontwards" through a Lost article on A.V. Club (not recommended if you're not caught up fully with season five, but if so, click away) and it's great - here's a Youtube video with the song, off Slanted & Enchanted.

Oh, and here's a sweet cover of the song by Los Campesinos! played at twice the speed, the way they play pretty much all their songs.

Los Campesinos - Frontwards

2009-10-01T04:55:00.000-07:00

It’s taken me a while to type this up – it was going to be up on Monday but the computer I was working on crashed and I didn’t save this, which kickstarted a very stressful evening. But I figured it would be worth checking out, so better late than never eh? I now present to you FIVE QUESTIONS WITH… FUCK BUTTONS

1. So why Fuck Buttons as a band name?

ANDY (jokingly): We really like the word “fuck” and it had an incredible resonance at the time, we just enjoyed embellishing it with the word “buttons”. The word “buttons” with “fuck”, it kind of turned into… it excelled the word, in a way.

FLFD: Did you have any other contenders?

BENJAMIN: Piss Witches. (everyone laughs)

FLFD: Alright, now we’re rolling!

2. Listening to the new material tonight, it sounds like ideas piling on top of another, creating this really dense feeling – it’s akin to reading a book with various subplots running alongside one another. Is there an intention to put together music that feels especially layered?

ANDY: I think we were really conscious in embellishing our sounds from the last record. With Street Horrrsing, there was definitely a prominent singularity to the components of the music but this time round we were extremely conscious of not repeating those steps but also in learning from them. You’re right though, we’ve definitely moved towards becoming a more multi-faceted prospect this time round.

FLFD: The new songs are a lot heavier - I heard elements of rave and industrial music that weren’t prominent before.

ANDY: I guess these are words attached to specific aesthetics but it’s not something we can turn ourselves with or at least have an intention with. I can see why you hear elements of dance and metal in the new songs, but it’s certainly not a conscious decision to contain these sounds.

3. How does a song begin in your writing process? Does it start with an idea or a certain riff or…

BENJAMIN: We never have any set agenda when we sit in a room to start writing music together, like wanting to use particular chords or wanting a song to evoke a certain emotion. We literally just sit in a room with as much equipment as we can get our hands on and try to extract sounds from them. Once we hit upon a sound we like, we jam it out and then work on structuring something around it. We never come in with ideas and that leaves us constantly surprised with what we come up with. That keeps us happy.

FLFD: My friends’ old band used to write really technical songs that I imagined took up to a month to finish writing. How long did it take to write “Ribs Out”, for instance?

ANDY: “Ribs Out” actually took two hours. Our perspective and sensibilities are really important when it comes to writing – I mean, it can take a few days to experiment with sounds until we hit on something but the actual structuring of those sounds don’t take too long at all.

BENJAMIN: Some tracks will take two hours to write, some tracks will take two months.

4. With the wide array of different equipment you use, would you consider yourselves an analogue or digital band?

BENJAMIN: All of the signal processors we use in the first instance are analogue, but there is some digital manipulation in there. A lot of the stuff we use are things picked up from car boot sales and things like that, but it’s a mixture – we don’t have a set idea as to what we’d use to create a song. Whatever goes, really.

5. How do the lyrics play into the music? Unless there’s some secret Dan Brown code hidden in the artwork to Street Horrrsing that I’m missing out on, I know nobody that knows the lyrics…

BENJAMIN: There’s no lyrics. For the most part, it’s improvised.

FLFD: Really? Can you tell me just one line that you usually use?

ANDY: “Be awesome to each other”.

BENJAMIN (sceptically): Yeah.

ANDY: The reason behind improvising the vocals is because they don’t function as a narrative tool.

BENJAMIN: They’re like another layer of sound. (pause) There are some lyrics we use, but we’re not going to tell you. I’d probably have to kill you. (him and Andy laugh)

Fuck Buttons - Surf Solar (Album Version)

[Thanks to Andy and Benjamin for rocking Stereo last week/deafening my girlfriend/doing an immortal drop that I can never use for my show ("You're listening to Flashing Lights and Flash Drives: eat a dick, motherfucker") and being sound. Their new album is called Tarot Sport, it's out on ATP Recordings and it just leaked. Be a nice person and take it home with you on October 12th instead of downloading it.]

"ya mother's dick"

2009-10-01T04:47:00.000-07:00

This is guaranteed to (A) make your day better or (B) make your day grimier. There is always the possibility of (C) both at the same time.

Just-Ice rules. I wish I had his famous Gucci hat with his name on it.

social networking.

2009-09-30T03:28:00.000-07:00

Right, I'm a lazy bastard and haven't been on the official FLFD Myspace for aaaaages. Now that's gonna change - add me if you haven't, I'll be on for at least ten minutes every day now on that specific profile for some chat. Do people still chat on Myspace? We should. Let's be buddies.

http://www.myspace.com/flashinglightsflashdrives

oh gosh.

2009-09-30T03:00:00.000-07:00

A great find this morning in the form of Ceylan Ertem, who I knew pretty much nothing about until this morning. Well, now I know that she's based in Turkey, has collaborated with Friendly Fires, is adorable (I point you towards her Flickr feed), and makes gorgeous music like this:

Ceylan Ertem - Gonul Dagi

This comes highly recommended. Props to Punkreas.org for pointing me towards this.

the damage is done, so bite your tongue

2009-09-30T02:52:00.000-07:00

Remember back when M.O.P. said (yelled, actually) "HOW ABOUT SOME HARDCORE?!" Well, here's some hardcore from a Detroit band called Sister Cities. It's a free demo, so go wild. Oh, and it's good.

DOWNLOAD SISTER CITIES' 2009 DEMO HERE

"i can't understand what this motherfucker is saying but I LOVE IT!"

2009-09-30T02:35:00.000-07:00

I figure everyone knows about it, but without having too much time to blog recently (damn you uni!), I have to pull a late pass on these new Thom Yorke songs that everyone's heard already. Still, they're good. And it gives me an excuse to tell you that aren't in the loop that Flea (yes, that Flea) has formed a new group with Mr Yorke and Nigel Godrich. Yup, that's true. Click here to read the announcement on Dead Air Space.

Thom Yorke - The Hollow Earth

Thom Yorke - Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses

Thom Yorke's in some other band that I can't remember the name of. I'll let you know if it comes to mind.

29/09/09

2009-09-29T12:54:00.000-07:00

Apparantly it's the top dog Gilles Peterson's birthday. Happy birthday, you!

Listen to his show on Radio 1 Wednesdays 2am-4am.

an abundance of posts? sorry about that

2009-09-29T12:34:00.000-07:00

Right, first and foremost - if you tuned in to last night's return of FLFD, THANK YOU for doing so. It was fun even if it was a bit patchy - don't fret though! I'll be picking it up over the semester - keep an eye out for my other show, At the Pictures, on Tuesday afternoons from 3-5. It'll be good times. Check out the shows on the Listen Again option (up soon, I've been promised!) as well as some other cool shows on Air3's website.

Anyways, I just have to big-up an artist I couldn't quite squeeze in on yesterday's show. They're called PPP (standing for Platinum Pied Pipers), a hip-hop/soul/electronica outfit spearheaded by two forward-looking fellas by the name of Waajeed and Saadiq. They sound familiar to all that next-level Detroit stuff... think SA-RA, J Dilla, Jneiro Jarel, the usual bunch...

They've got an album they dropped this year called Abundance, and it's properly cracking. I get paid tomorrow, so it's time for me to order my copy already, but you guys should definitely check out the free mixtapes they have up on their Myspace blog - especially the Abundance Mixtape, which is full of dope remixes and gives the casual listener time to catch up on just who these guys are. Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD HERE

TONIGHT

2009-09-28T06:08:00.000-07:00

AIR3RADIO.COM @ 11PM-1AM

whoa, we're almost lonely stoners

2009-09-23T11:37:00.000-07:00

Well HOLY SHIT I JUST FOUND MY FUCKING PARTY SONG FOR WINTER.

ABX - Prayer N Night

I'm going home, gone. The Hood Internet killed it.

"they're eating them! and I'm next!"

2009-09-23T11:00:00.000-07:00

Somedays you just find a band that make you breathless and slightly slackjawed that you found them by pure luck! You're left just sounding like this kid after you hear one of their songs, especially the one below. If you weren't familiar with Kid, You'll Move Mountains before, well now I reaaaaaally hope you are.

Kid, You'll Move Mountains - Volts

*scurries off to their Myspace to immediately order the record, no joke*

let's dance to the radio

2009-09-23T10:46:00.000-07:00

While my girlfriend and I were cooking dinner the other week (awesome burgers and awesome potato mash with leek and onion if you were asking - gosh I'm famished thinking about it), we found ourselves flicking through the digital radio in our kitchen, which is when we came across Amazing Radio and its online counterpart, Amazing Tunes.

Basically the deal behind the radio station/website is that unsigned artists get a chance to shine with people voting for what songs they wanna hear online, and then you can listen to them right there or turn on the radio like I did and have a pleasant wee surprise when you find something you really dig. It's a neat way of doing things and without it, I wouldn't have latched onto this little tune by Cornwall funk outfit The Underbelly called "Eric FM". It's non-embeddable which is some annoying shit right there, but if you click HERE it'll send you hurling straight towards the player.

And try not to dance a little bit in your deskchair. Trust me on this one.

quick formatting change

2009-09-22T10:31:00.000-07:00

Okay people, a couple of quick Myspace links to end the day:

This is LDZ aka Londonzoo and they have bangers. Click on the photo above to check out their Myspace page and check out the following songs: "Hold It Down", "Lips To Da Floor" and "Man Urself".
If it wasn't for the perenially grumpy Marx'sBeard at Cows Are Not Food, I wouldn't know about Glasgow outfit Water Wolves, whose two recorded songs show promise as well as a way with a sweet tune. Definitely worth listening to for a couple, click on the photo above.

Right then. Right.

"king of copenhagen"

2009-09-22T04:56:00.000-07:00

I finished the entire Pusher trilogy in about a week, something I'm seriously stoked about. I rule. Let's run it down: the first one is good and the most unusual of the lot, the second feels like a retread more than anything despite a cracking first act, and the third is the nastiest and probably the best, Zlatko Buric walking high and mighty over everybody else in the film. For a trilogy of films made to stave off total bankruptcy, they are way way better than they have any right to be.

Each film starts with an iconic opening montage set to the trilogy's theme music like so, one of the few times that I've seen heavy rock actually used well in a film. (If you're not an American filmmaker, it's most likely you'll know how to do this - apart from Zach Clark, whose underrated comedy Modern Love Is Automatic has a spot-on soundtrack from Blasphemer).

But the music I'm going to let you check out is the creeeeeeeepy ending theme to Pusher 3: I'm the Angel of Death by Peter Schneidermann. And you can see the trailer for the trilogy HERE.

"i made you cool"

2009-09-22T04:48:00.000-07:00

New MPHO track, courtesy of Popjustice, who attribute it to, er, whoever leaked it. It doesn't quite beat "Box N Locks", one of my favourite singles of this year, but it's still catchy stuff.

you heard it here first

2009-09-22T04:29:00.000-07:00

A REMINDER: I went in before the NME and Punknews. Sure, the lads from Calvinball got the name of the show wrong but on principle...

Calvinball - No Matter How Hard You Try

And remember, if you live in Gainesville Rock City, they're playing The Fest 8 alongside our mutual pals Apologies, I Have None, as well as Bomb The Music Industry!, The Flatliners, Trash Talk and a million other bands that my old paramour Blonde Ross probably bums.

confusion and new wave

2009-09-22T03:54:00.000-07:00

As a journalism student, you're directed pretty early on to two specific texts about the state of modern journalism - Nick Davies' "Flat Earth News" and the academic article "A Compromised Fourth Estate?" Both are definitely worth checking out if you have the time, and they're definitely enlightening, showing how much of our mass media is dictated by PR releases. Think about how much of the news on TV or the internet refers to acts in the future tense: from today's online edition of The Guardian, "Chris Huhne, the [Liberal Democrats'] home affairs spokesman, will call the Tory record on law and order a "disgrace" in a keynote speech... will warn that a new Tory administration would mean a soaring number of offenses". Check out the article here and see.

Now, the reason I bring this up is due to a little bit of guilt - it turns out that this morning someone I know sent me a press release for the upcoming release of teenagersintokyo's upcoming "Isabella/Long Walk Home" 7". I went and checked out the tracks on their Myspace because, well, I've dug the band for a while, having played "Very Vampyr" on FLFD a few times. But something makes me feel a bit off about re-fitting this information to you guys - even if teenagersintokyo's songs are worth checking out (which they are) the things I learnt in journalism class are peeking over my shoulder. Old boss, same as...

Then again, maybe I should just get on with it. I guess it's expected of bloggers to do this - everybody needs a buzz, and Popjustice have done a great job of helping us realize just how silly the whole deal is. Just a search for "press release" on their website should clue you in to how they address 'em, my favourite being this classic. Still, it's something that crossed my mind this morning and while I want you guys to check out the music below, I thought it wouldn't be bad to put some garbled confusion up because, well, blogging and "Media 2.0" (my least favourite term in the world) make you do that.

teenagersintokyo - Isabella

teenagersintokyo - Very Vampyr

"Isabella/Long Walk Home" is out on Back Yard on October 5th.

ooooooh yes!

2009-09-21T10:40:00.000-07:00

It is uncomfortably hot in this computer suite (that, of course, may just be the cold talking) so I'm going to make this quick. New Between the Buried and Me songs, from the upcoming The Great Misdirect.

Between the Buried and Me - Mirrors (couldn't find an MP3, sorry dudes)

Between the Buried and Me - Obfuscation

Victory Records will be taking a break from sucking hard to release this Stateside on October 27th . Get stoked.

ps. fast forward to 6:30 in this video and if you're like me, you'll lose it.

PETA loves this dude

2009-09-21T05:52:00.001-07:00

Talking of the Wu, Masta Killa has a new album coming out too. Surprise! No Said Date was good so I'll check this out.

Masta Killa - Things Just Ain't The Same

Loyalty is Royalty is out soon on Nature Sounds.

If I can get another post up today, I will, but don't count on it 100%.

"edumacation"

2009-09-21T05:36:00.001-07:00

Word on Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Part 2 is that it's stunning, worth the wait, etc etc. I'm still to hear the joint, but I'm getting it at some point this week after I'm done being buried on the Chef's recent mixtapes Blood on Chef's Apron and Cuban Revolution. You guys know how to use Google, so I'll leave it to you - these mixes are free and circulating around the web and I can't speak for the latter, but Chef's Apron is absolutely bonkers at points. This track below just missed out on Chef's Apron, but it coulda made it on there.

Raekwon - Once Upon A Time In America

oh my heart's life

2009-09-21T04:46:00.000-07:00

So, my bad for not blogging for about a week - Fresher's kicked off last week and my schedule is still needing to settle down some. I would love to blog at home in bed with a cup of tea, truth be told, but that luxury isn't coming today as I'm running about with a cold to classes, lectures, libraries, job interviews, Air3 meetings... And the internet is down in my flat so I'm afraid posts will be dotty for the time being.

But! FLFD is officially BACK LIKE CRACK NEXT WEEK on Air3 Radio and we'll be playing the best of what I've found out there on the internet. And this time I'll hopefully have a slot in the evening because very few people were willing to start their morning with the odd mixture of hardcore, drone, dance, jazz and hip-hop that usually makes up a usual playlist. But no boundaries, y'heard? That's a promise!

And here's something I'd love to throw on the show even though it would take up a full hour of a two-hour slot (those wishing to start a show this year: not a good idea for radio). Mudd Up! have revisited a post they made four years ago about Oum Kalthoum, a mega famous Egyptian singer and actress, and a live performance of her trademark song "Enta Omri" ("You Are My Life"). Now, "Enta Omri" is a song that usually can last up to forty minutes, so if you're busy you may wanna bookmark this, but I really think you should listen to this pronto. It's gorgeous.

Oum Kalthoum - Enta Omri (Live)

The link above directs to the stream Mudd Up! have on their page. You should add them to your favourites while you're at it - great sense of discovery going through their posts.

2009-09-15T04:56:00.000-07:00

So, Nicholas Windig Refn has a new film on the way by the name of Valhalla Rising. Reviews are mixed but I'm interested in seeing what the man behind Pusher has to bring to the viking genre. It looks amazing at least - shot just outside Glasgow as a matter of fact. (Just missed a BAFTA screening of it the other day, damn.)

Oh, and the ever reliable Pinglewood threw this track up from the awesomely-named Among The Bones yesterday, and it sounds epic, in the way a viking movie does. Ha, that's good writing, drawing parallels n' shit (even though Scott did it first.)

Among The Bones - An Altar For Serpents And Vermin

bad house is satan's church

2009-09-15T03:43:00.000-07:00

I found this while looking for soundclips of that moment in Antichrist - y'know, the "chaos reigns" bit, and I found this. Huh.

this is my only post of the week but...

2009-09-11T11:40:00.000-07:00

HOLY SHIT HOW DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS?!

Shakira & Danzig - Hips Don't Lie

Flashing Lights + Flash Drives is back on Air3 very soon..

2009-09-03T18:02:00.000-07:00

A really, really touching blog entry by Jensen over at Clandestine Industries - the story behind their upcoming "In Loving Memory" hoodie, worn above by label owner Pete Wentz.

I think I'll be copping this one, not only out of respect but because they really hit a home run on this one.

R.I.P.

head-exploding goodness

2009-09-03T17:19:00.000-07:00

Better late than never - Blackclassical knocked it out of the goddamn park again with this one podcast Jazzfreeka did for Scrimshire in June of this year. Seriously, so much gold on this. Go crazy.

Download the Splendidly Blended Podcast #14 (Blackclassical Edition) from HERE.

so what's my motherfuckin' naaaame

2009-09-03T15:35:00.000-07:00

As you can probably tell by the Twitter feed to the right of this post, I had an odd urge to listen to those hit Jennifer Lopez x Ja Rule remixes that were all the rage earlier this decade when, er, they were still all the rage. Odd how once upon a time Lopez wasn't a walking j.loke (GEDDIT?!) but that chick from Out of Sight and Ja wasn't the guy that 50 ruined (and then replaced) but a promising NY rapper who was part of a hotly tipped supergroup. How time has been cruel to them. Still, "I'm Real (Remix)" kinda was the jam back in the day wasn't it? Anybody?....

Okay, it's hella lame to admit I liked this. But I still sort of do. But Ja actually outsings Jenny and there's something seriously up with that. Still is.

[/nostalgia trip very few asked for]

...just remembered she said "nigga" on this and everyone either went APESHIT OVER IT or DIDN'T FUCKING CARE when it came out. I remember this shit too succinctly.

swoosh

2009-09-02T02:52:00.000-07:00

Because I'm ridiculous and have my opinion formed fully by Nah Right [/sarcasm], I've been playing a lot of US hip-hop golden boy Drake recently. So Far Gone is my shit, I'm not going to lie, especially when it goes back and forth between the more laidback, almost drowsy material ("Houstlantavegas", "Sooner Than Later", "Successful") and the massive sounding summer smashes - namely "Best I Ever Had" with its video with, well, good looking women. (Really good looking women. True story.)

So my first reaction to the cover/reimagining of the song by Donna, Anna & Ruby was "EUGH THIS IS LIKE THE LIVE LOUNGE GODDAMMIT" before it started seeming pretty sweet, with those new lyrics and all that stuff. It sounds a bit like the song can end at any point and you'll continue singing along, which is both a testament to Drake's original and the cover version.

Donna, Anna & Ruby - Best I Ever Had

(via Cover Me)

And while we're on the topic of Drake, the made-to-be-massive posse cut "Forever" featuring Kanye West, Lil Wayne and Eminem leaked last week and Tom Breihan went in for Pitchfork. Ouch. Low reviews and general spreading of apathy aside, the song's allowed me to annoy my girlfriend with a brand new catchphrase: "I'm shuttin' shit down in the maaaaaaaalll". And for me, that's priceless.

Drake ft. Kanye West, Lil Wayne & Eminem - Forever

The FADER cover story that the photo above is taken from is worth reading if you hven't peeked yet. Click here.

podcast big-up

2009-09-02T02:38:00.001-07:00

In my ongoing quest for blogs that appreciate the music of Jean-Claude Vannier, I stumbled upon Runny's amazing podcasts. This is the most recent one, and I'm only forty-five minutes in and am totally agog with the Vzyadoq Moe, Modulo 1000 and ADULT tracks. The entire podcast, entitled "Grit and Comedown", is embedded above but you can download it by doing the right-click-save-as thing right HERE or you could go to Runny's blog and subscribe right there. Recommended!

Tracklisting:

Gnonnas et ses Dadjes- Dadje von o von non
Modulo 1000- Cafusa Thrice
Mice- New Life
Fora de Hora- Desencontro
Sao Paolo Underground- The Realm of the Ripper
Psychic TV-Firewoman
Fat Eyes- Wake the Town
Slits- FM
Vzyadoq Moe- Guerra das Sombras
DNA- Not Moving
Black Dice- Gore
ADULT- Glue your eyelids together
The Birthday Party- Figure of Fun
David Liebe Hart- Time Heidecker Lied to Me
Excepter- Cruel Sensation
Gary Numan- Films
Jean-Claude Vannier- Le Mort du Roi des Mouches
John Zorn- A Shot in the Dark
Ikue Mori and Kim Gordon- International Spy
Magik Marquers- Taste
The Residents- Voices of the Air
Arthur H- La Tour Eiffel Siderale
Nico- Sixty Forty
Aphex Twin- Prep Gwalek 3B
Oval- Catchy Daad
Svarte Greiner- Ocean Out of Wood
Neil Tomo- This is David Lynch

"my dad used to say it reminded him of bebop"

2009-09-02T02:10:00.000-07:00

So, yeaaaars ago world's greatest entertainer (seriously) Q-Tip made an album called Kamaal the Abstract that out-Love Below'd Andre 3000 before he even recorded the damn thing. However, Arista shut it down and the album never got released... until now!

Listen to "Blue Girl" here, it's great. And download the track below - the thing's been bootlegged since forever anyway so you might as well before you pick up the official release.

Q-Tip - Heels

2009-08-29T12:21:00.000-07:00

2009-08-27T16:14:00.000-07:00

I found an album called An Introduction to Masonry by a band called The Illuminati today in Avalanche. Can't find anything about this band apart from this old Mike Diver review. Nothing, nada, zilch. Sometimes the internet sucks.

The Illuminati - The Ballad Of Lee Harvey Oswald

addicted to cris, hooked on don

2009-08-27T16:06:00.000-07:00

The internet is a weird place. One minute you're reading Al Shipley's review of Fabolous' Loso's Way, then you're reading Sean Fennessey's piece on the inscrutability of the talented NY rapper, then you find yourself watching the video above. All I'm saying is: Tenchi Muyo GXP x Fabolous x Timbaland. (And the video isn't even garbage.)

PS. Everyone's not big on Timbo these days because, well, he's uninspired as fuck but remember this beat? Just on the sly. Love that guitar that pops up on the chorus and the way that bass suddenly drops in on the second verse. More of this please, Tim.

2009-08-25T15:58:00.000-07:00

Summer jam!

Shame that summer's nearly over and that I can't be bothered going outside. Oh well. Fool's Gold are cool, though.

Fool's Gold - Surprise Hotel

Found via the lovely folk at Pasta Primavera.

"this is merely superconductor electromagnetism"

2009-08-25T14:54:00.000-07:00

As I sat down tonight to have a late dinner, I noticed that one of my favourite films of all time was on: Street Fighter! Fucking Street Fighter! With Jean Claude Van-Damme! JCVD! As a film, it's inept on pretty much every level - the acting is balls-to-the-wall bad, the script is as clunky as a broken dishwasher, the mise en scene is ugly and the editing does whatever it can to destroy any excitement you may get while watching the fight scenes.

BUT as a piece of entertainment, it's pretty much second to none: JCVD playing the US born-n-bred all American hero with THAT ACCENT, the invisible speedboat sequence (predating 007's ridiculous invisible vehicular shenanigans by seven years), Kylie Minogue's "acting breakthrough" (snicker), Dhalsim's unintentionally hilarious shirtlessness in the last ten minutes, the ridiculous action, the constant failed attempts at comic relief, and this immortal exchange: "For you, the day Bison graced your village was the most important day of your life. But for me... it was Tuesday."

In fact, the only reason I'm going to go see Avatar in December is because the dude that plays Sagat is in it. Just when I thought my life couldn't get any better by stumbling on this unintended masterpiece, I found THIS:

Just... incredible. Incredible.

my slow but rewarding affair with ye-ye, pt fifteen of six thousand

2009-08-23T15:23:00.000-07:00

While searching for details on the composer Jean Claude Vennier (who I heard for the first time this week through that awesome Tarantino-influenced mix I posted about the other day), I came across The World of Kane, a blog concerning itself with pop culture of (mostly) a Gallic flavour. Which led me to this post on French pop producer Germinal Tenas and the sweet, sweet tunes throughout. I'll give you this one so far, a track from ye-ye singer Clothilde, who I can only find details about from the post I've linked to and this Last.fm profile (any more info would be great). I've listened to this song a good five times in a row - just check out that telephone-sounding synth line! Brilliant stuff.

Clothilde - Fallait Pas Écraser La Queue du Chat

Don't forget to check out The World of Kane. It's well good.

ahhh, relax

2009-08-23T14:39:00.000-07:00

Have a song for Sunday night. Go on.

O Terço - Flauta

courtney love. and marilyn manson.

2009-08-23T14:28:00.000-07:00

There's a lot of music that I guess we're really not allowed to like, stuff that may be a bit too hackneyed or ridiculous or, hell, overplayed. This song is all of those things but I heard it at least three times this week on the radio and wasn't sick of it, which is more than I can say for most songs. I give you:

Ahhhhhhhhhhh yes.

harumph, my bad

2009-08-23T14:06:00.000-07:00

I’m late in putting this up because I’m a lazy git, but here’s my tiny mobile phone interview with a couple of members from Calvinball and Apologies, I Have None. From last week. Yeah, sorry about that.

FLFD: So first off, where did the band names come from? I know Calvinball is a Bill Watterson reference…

MATT from CALVINBALL: Yeah, from Calvin and Hobbes. Dave [co-vocalist and guitarist] is a big fan and when we were living together, he got me into it and when we had to come up with a band name we thought we’d just rip the comic off and steal it from that. Calvinball is the least organised game so as the least organised band, it fits.

FLFD: With Calvinball the sport, the rules are different every time. Does this apply to Calvinball the band?

M: Yeah. We never sound the same twice because our voices get progressively fucked as the numbers of gigs go on. [laughs]

D: And where does the name Apologies, I Have None come from?

DAN from APOLOGIES, I HAVE NONE: We’ve had a couple of different names since we started and they’ve all been awful. Naming your band is one of the most difficult things to do and I’m glad it’s done now. The name… Josh (the other half of AIHN) and I love Grade, and we ended up getting the band name from one of their lyrics [from "Tension Between Stillness and Motion"].

FLFD: How’s the tour been so far?

M: Really really good but really boozy at the same time. Pretty much every gig’s been awesome – some gigs get more people than others but we’ve had people coming out nonetheless. We’re getting fed, we’re getting looked after, and pretty much every band we’ve played with has been awesome - Burnout 27 were awesome tonight.

D: The gigs have been on the positive side of DIY punk because you’re getting fed and paid every night and nobody’s flaked on us or screwed us over in the ways we’ve all experienced before. The attendance has been up and down but it’s been a positive experience.

M: It’s been a bit of a shambles, but it’s been an enjoyable shambles.

FLFD: Do you think a lot of UK bands are reluctant towards doing fully DIY tours?

M: Well, you don’t really see too many British tours these days – normally a US band comes over and a British band will support them and that’s how it all gets sorted. We just couldn’t be bothered waiting for, say, some band off No Idea to come over for a tour or whatever, so we thought to just do it ourselves.

D: Part of the core of this tour comes from… ONSIND are from Durham [the third band on the bill] which is up north, Calvinball are from Sheffield further south and Apologies are based in London so it’s been a challenge for us all to go north or south and play for different audiences. For three bands from different parts of the country, it’s worked out pretty well.

FLFD: So what’s next after the tour?

M: We’re playing The Fest.

FLFD: How did that come about?

M: We were playing in Leeds and Tony from No Idea was there, and afterwards we were drunk and he said “you guys should come over and play Fest!” We were like, yeah yeah, whatever… and then, we emailed him to find out whether he was joking or not and he seemed pretty stoked on us playing over there. To be honest, I haven’t really got a clue what he was thinking but it’s gonna be good to see a bunch of bands that probably aren’t coming over to the UK anytime soon. Iron Chic, Good Luck…

D: O Pioneers!!!…

M: Yeah, it’s gonna be fucking awesome. Then after that, we’ve been asked to do a couple of split releases so we’re probably gonna do that.

FLFD: Can you say who with?

M: We don’t know yet! Well, there’s going to be a split with an American band and then probably one with Fashanu from the North-East.

FLFD: And what’s next for Apologies?

D: We don’t know at the moment… we’ve really only got plans for constant touring – the thing is to just keep playing shows with good bands. We’ve got no massive plans for world domination or anything and we don’t want to push our band in people’s faces… we know there’s a certain level you can reach in a band like ours but we just want to keep playing to people and having fun. Next year, maybe a full-length.

M: Basically, if our bands can keep on playing shows and getting drunk without going bankrupt, we’ve become a successful band.

D: That’s really as much as you can ask.

After the interview, I handed Matt and Tam a bag of Soor Plooms, the greatest Scottish sweet ever made. Matt gave them 5Ks and Tam wanted to let Kerrang! know that Apologies, I Have None think it’s a shit magazine and that he hasn’t read it since the nineties. Thanks guys and hope you enjoyed the sweets!