Wednesday 23 December 2009

HAPPY CHRISTMAS



Introducing Trivo:

32yr old Italian, making experimental indie-electronica. Was really impressed by this. Nice and gentle, with a sense of fun. And he sings in Italian, which is how it should be!

And because he is such a supporter of free music, you can download the whole album here: (although you can own a physical copy for just 3 Euros ,contact via MySpace, below):


http://www.mediafire.com/?myvg2hrfuh2

Tracklisting:

01. Traccia 1- artista sconosciuto
02. La disciplina delle fermentazioni
03. Ratio me fugit
04. Ho un gatto nel cervello
05. The darkest side of the dark
06. Ho bisogno di qualcosa di cui non ho bisogno
07. Tu non sei normale
08. Nero
09. La mia donna è un pagliaccio opulento
10. Talking to Van Vera
11. Perché la cattiveria è enorme
12. Questa non è una canzone
13. Phantazomai
14. La ballata dell'elefante suicida
15. Piccola perdita di sostanza polpastrello
16. Veronica ha un virus
17. Kisstarsky


http://www.myspace.com/elephantsuicide





On a different note,

also introducing Mendel:

Paris/Tel Aviv based producer, making heavy electro-fidget-filter-hip-hop. Definitely one to watch, this guy has proper management, and a sound that is attractive enough to move more into the mainstream.

Check this out, Fully Sick and shit:

Designer Drugs - Drop Down (Mendel Remix)

Listen: http://soundcloud.com/musicbymendel/drop-down-mendel-remix

Plus his remix of Pon De Floor:

Major Lazer - Pon De Floor (Mendel's Ajuelos! Remix)

and

French Fries - Coconut (Mendel remix)

Plus, wild Klezmer beats, sampling Major Lazer:

Mendel - Jews Can Be Booty Too (Major Lazer sample)



Don Diablo, currently on tour in North America.


More Don Diablo destruction - this time remixing Larry Tee's forthcoming single.

Heavy hectic, put it on loud.

Larry Tee - Let's Make Nasty (Don Diablo Remix)

www.myspace.com/dondiablo



HAVE A HAPPY X-MAS, PUT YOUR FEET UP AND GET INTO THAT STILTON. TIS THE TIME FOR VEINY CHEESE, NO DOUBT!

Wednesday 11 November 2009

"And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Avant Pop"



People in The Sky, a label started in the back of an East London rcord shop in 2006, release the compilation "And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Avant Pop" on the 16th of Nov.

Featuring label mainstays Friendly Fires and Plugs, People In The Sky describe this as an 'Audio Manifesto'.

They explain:

"From Dada to Disco, the commodification and recuperation of all popular culture has been accelerated via ever faster means of communication until we reached this point, the edge of no return.

The musical avant garde, armed with cheap electronics and half forgotten dreams, fights on sporadically. Fresh battlelines are drawn in the subcultural sand, but from 20 jazz funk greats to Reg n’ Fearn in a fortnight, things move fast . Fires are quickly doused , and it’s back to Saturday repeats of Come Dine with me as the hacienda crumbles around us."

1) Wax Stag - Folk Rock (Bibio Remix)
2) Colouring In - Intergalactic Romantic (Radio Edit)
3) Telepathe - Chromes On It
4) Plugs - That Number (Video Edit)
5) Architeq - Sleeping Bear Lament (James Pants Remix)
6) Oko - Can't You See
7) Nightwaves - She's Electric (Vega Italo Dub)
8) Ghostape - Many Stars (Ste Mix)
9) The Time and Space Machine - Children of the Sun
10) Friendly Fires - On Board (Nightmoves Remix)
11) Ghostape - In Your Eyes (Remin Remix)
12) Ecce - Control (Pharao Black Magic Mix)
13) Plugs - Downtown
14) Foto & The Bolton Tadcaster - Love Will Break Her
15) Nuuro - Avila



To promote the compilation they are hosting a launch party, featuring the excellent ColouringIN and Matt Waites (Nightmoves). ALL ARE INVITED ;;;;;;;;;:

People In The Sky presents "And You Will Know Us by TH Trail of Avant Pop" Launch Party @ T Bar
Thursday 19th November | 9pm - 3am
Free Entry + Free Promo CD Giveaways
T Bar, 18 — 22 Houndsditch, Aldgate, London EC3A 7LP
Line-up:
These New Puritans (Domino/Angular) DJ Set
Ipso Facto DJ Set
Matt Waites AKA Nightmoves (Future Flash/This Is Not An Exit)
ColouringIN Live
Damon Martin (Disco Bloodbath)
Bi-Bop
Slutty Fringe DJs
J Saintil (Nurtrend)



Tuesday 10 November 2009

EuroSonic Noorderslag - The SXSW of Europe?


Lucy Love
, pic thanks to http://allscandinavian.com

EuroSonic Noorderslag is Europe's biggest music industry conference and showcase. Every year a selection of Europe's new musical talent get a chance to strut their stuff in front of industry pros, including promoters from Europe's biggest festivals, as well as hoards of music lovers. All will be eagerly scouring 100+ gigs to discover the next big thing.

This year the particular focus is on Norway. So expect a strong presence of indie-dance, death metal and great facial hair. (Ok so this was the best cultural stereotype I could muster. Blame Lordi.)

Past success stories include Blood Red Shoes, Goose, Lykke Li, Yelle and, last year, White Lies, who clocked up an impressive 15 European festival bookings after appearing.

Blood Red Shoes had this to say:

""EuroSonic Noorderslag is one of those weird showcase things you do but feel uncomfortable about because it's crawling with music industry types and not many real people, a bit like SXSW. But much like SXSW, if you do a good job of it, you get some way cool stuff out of it."

...which makes it all sound a bit cynical, but adds some weight to the SXSW comparison. Although the guy from White Lies had this to say:

"At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what job title each member of the audience has, they are still potential fans and still have the ability to be moved and excited by your music".

...and get you way cool stuff....

Sliimy

The line-up is all new to me - but after a preliminary listen my ones to watch are, in 3 categories:

I Think I Might Like You: Bands With Promise

Joensuu 1685 - Psychadelic, lofi rock.
Lucy Love - Electro, dancehall and dubstep beats with assertive female MCing. Loads of potentially good tracks and catchy riffs. Still lands a little short of brilliant, yet. Though check out the OK Formula rmx of No VIP on her Myspace.
Sliimy - Synthy indie-pop-soul, with impressive voice and and one eye on radio play. Plus a few good covers.
So I Watch You From Afar - Intelligent and progressive heavy-ish instrumental rock. Swapping from emotional (small e) Post-Hardcore riffs to fantastic african rhythms and a sense of the Epic. Bits of ATDI, Mogwai and QOTSA (I'm not using all these acronyms just to take the piss, I promise). BIG sound, stirring, yet never outlandish.
rockettothesky - can't tell if I like this, but I might do in time, so have included it. Very strange sounds, lots of synths and some guitar, lots of reverb on the minimal drums. Twinkly and gentle music with floaty female vocals. Makes me think of snow.

Will Probably Be Big, But Shouldn't Be

Lee Everton - Singer songwriter plays rootsy reggae meets rhythm and blues, easy on the ear. Average, unimaginative, coffee table.


I'm Already Loving It , Get Your Orders In.

Svjata Vatra - Bagpipes, accordian, trumpet, djembe and amongst other instruments something called a duduki make up this weird-and-wonderful-sounding band. Primarily a Ukranian and Estonian folk band, but embracing elements of "Tango, Polka, Punk, Rock, Funk, Soul, Ska, Jazz and Reggae." Adventurous and exciting music, never losing its sense of fun. My only criticism being I wish it would kick off a little more often. Personal taste perhaps.

www.eurosonic-noorderslag.nl
____


On a different note the Evening Standard published their list of 1000 most influential people in London. Apparently I'm not on there. I can only assume I came in at 1001. Bastards. Don't they know who I am?

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/the-one-thousand.do

Monday 2 November 2009

...and now for Something Completely Filthy.




Been a while since I've posted any straight-up, dancefloor-dominating, siren-blaring, hectic electro.

The excellent Scatterblog is now a fully flegded blog/label hybrid, giving away a load of top quality music for absolutely FREE.

Upcoming releases include: Edu K (out december 5th), Dubbel Dutch, Dirtybeats, Slap & Dash ft Spoek, Cumbia Cosmonauts, Lewis CanCut and Tranterco

Check out the following offering. FILTHYyyyy.

Matt Cant, Scattermish - Hornbo (Sticky K Remix)

Then head to www.scatterblog.com for the original track plus a load more remixes, PLUS a load more free music.

Or go here to buy the record.



Also, new Don Diablo track remixed by Mason was sent over my way.

Check it out:

Don Diablo - Never Too Late (Mason Remix)

Plus this cheeky number:

DON DIABLO - TOO COOL FOR AMSTERDAM BITCH (HUGO VAN DYCK BOOTLEG)

According to the press-release, "
'Too Cool For Amsterdam Bitch' is a cheeky bootleg by Hugo van Dyck based on Don Diablo's 'Too Cool For School', which proved to be quite the DJ weapon during the recent Amsterdam Dance Event, where it spread like wildfire among many of the world's biggest DJs and became one of the festival's biggest tunes. As a result, Don Diablo has now asked Hugo van Dyck to do an official remix of his forthcoming dancefloor smash 'I am not from France'."

Wednesday 30 September 2009

Must hears of the week...


Just to make sure I don't miss out on the bandwagon this week, and nor do you, two bands getting me excited this very second:

Boys Noize. New album. New song, Gax. Brilliant. I feel like I've just heard sweet sweet filter-house for the first time. And it's very exciting and beautiful.

In fact I haven't heard anything getting me this excited in a couple of months. It's just ace.

Boys Noize - Gax

The album, Power, is released in 2 days. Click here to buy.

Also have just discovered Miike Snow.

Clever, shiny, big pop music. This will go very far.

He is giving away several songs, including remixes of Animal by Crookers, Fake Blood and Punks Jump Up. Plus a wicked remix of Black and Blue by Tiga. Go here.

Monday 21 September 2009

Psychadelic shoe gaze, dreamy electronica, riot grrl, bubblegum pop and progressive electro.

This looks pretty good:


Teengirl Fantasy bring their dreamy electronica, for one of only a handful of London dates. Arch M, plays a bleepy shoe-gaze psychadelica, with a clever Motown flavour, and Trailer Trash Tracys are first on - a band I really like - bringing a classic shoe-gaze sound - distant vocals and thick, ethereal sounds, with a very London-now sound.

Free mp3 from the band's website:

Trailer Trash Tracys - Candy Girl (Demo)

More tracks to listen to and download: http://trailertrashtracys.co.uk/




Fellow Merok-ers Comanechi release their album Crime of Love on Dec 7th. It's already sounding pretty exciting. Strong Riot Grrl and hardcore vibes.

Merok are also giving away a free mp3 of Comanechi's Close Enough To Kiss/ On and On, remixed by US Psych-ravers Basketball. >>>>>

Comanechi - Close Enough To Kiss/On and On (Basketball)

I also want one of their cool Tees:





This is also - of course - going to be sweeet:



This is what Bugged Out! had to say:

" Boys Noize will be playing a two hour set that will include many of the albums tracks played on CDJ’s using separate parts for live edits – a more kinetic experience preferred by Ridha than using a laptop. He has also picked fellow Germans Smith’n’Hack to play live alongside his mate and BNR artist Housemeister. Room 2 is helmed by Riton and Stopmakingme."

Tickets here

Also, a mention for the brilliant, funny and deeply charming No Cars.

Kyoko, wife of Ben, ex-St Francis, plays drums for them.

No Cars means 'farmers' in Japanese, and they have an obsession with songs about food.

Their cleverly faked bad English doesn't hide the gravity of their wit, as they play off of the Japenese stereotype. Oh, and they have synchronised dancing.

When they supported us a few months ago they wore kimonos, had a music stand with wacky illustrations for each song, and were pushing their merchandise, No Kazoos
:



I have a No Kazoo. It was worth every penny of £2.

Their music is a delightful mix of bubblegum rock and roll and chaotic 3-chord punk. The music is simple. The lyrics are simple. The tunes are fantastic, catchy and bloody fun. Then they will throw in a tender post-punk number, and break your heart. "No Cars, we are No Cars..." I challenge anyone to dislike this.

Like all good entertainers, you feel in the presence of people wittier and more inventful than you are.




Wednesday 2 September 2009

wE'RE ROCKING DOWN THE HOUSe






T-shirt label MILLIONHANDS was launched this July by Berlin based music producer Tom Mangan, fusing his two long held passions: music & T-shirts.

He has collaborated with the likes of Chicago acid house hero Adonis and the shirt 'We're Rocking Down the House' is a salute to Adonis's seminal 1986 track of the same name.


Quality looking Ts - and isn't it always the case that when you come to buy T Shirts you can never find any that are half-decent, or indeed have a Chicago acid-house reference on them?


Shop the store here http://shop.millionhands.net/

Thursday 13 August 2009

DJ Koze, Competition Time and Hellogoodbye meets Postal service from Indiana.








With cited influences as diverse as Public Enemy, My Bloody Valentine and Al Green, DJ Koze is something of an electronic music maverick.

Since emerging in 1999, the Hamburg jock has applied his defiantly different outlook to an unfathomable number of musical styles. He has recorded for heavy hitting labels Kompakt, Warp and Freude-Tanzen, and is famous for the deeply danceable cum swerveball mantra of his live sets.
His ability behind the decks is impressive too - he actually came second in the DMC championships during his hip-hop years - undoubtedly summoning a unique electricity when channelling this dexterity into his true love of techno.

DJ Koze is appearing at Future Flash @ Cable, SE1, on Saturday 22nd August, with support from fellow out-the-box-technosmith Lawrence, and residents Will Saul, Dave Congreve, Sean Johnston and Matt Waites.


Lofi Hifi has 3 pairs of tickets to give away for this event. To win, simply email georgewigzell [at] hotmail.com with your name. Entries must be received by 3 pm Friday 21st August. First three names received win the tickets.











Polychromatic! force together the polar opposites of fast/slow beats, lofi/hifi production , clear/distorted sounds and IDM experiments/sickeningly catchy riffs, with generally a very not-unpleasant effect.
Weighing in somewhere between The Postal Service and Aphex Twin, with a generous dollop of Hellogoodbye, this simultaneously takes 3 steps towards cheese as it takes 3 steps back to unclassifiable electronica.
The album is due for release later in the year.


Tuesday 28 July 2009

Some fresh new beats...



Some summery, riffy hip hop from LA sent my way. PM Cool and Mr Keyz describe themselves as "the modern day Run DMC with a blend of rock star, a tone of conscience, and universal swagger
".

It gets my seal of approval.

The Cool Catz - Nitro
The Cool Catz - Loud Mics (Ratat Remix) [one link to YSI]

WWW.THECOOLCATZ.COM

Monday 29 June 2009

Glastonbury 09 - Port, Sweat, Thunder, Skanking, Where's Wally and Parklife


Copyright The Guardian 2009. Their excellent coverage here.

Tues
11.00 Get on megabus at Victoria. Meet 'Nutzo' who is also sharing a lift with friend-of-friend Yasir from Reading. He's lovely, of course.
12.30. Wow. Reading Sainsburys is massive. No inflatible pillows though. Port or Rum? Both. Oh and a token bottle of Old Perculiar. Food bill (Apples, Cereal Bars, Shortbread): £6. Booze bill: £39.
14.00 On the road. Stop for punnet of Strawberries. First swig of pear cider for the weekend (yes it's Tuesday I know)
15.30 Arrive at Glasto. Sun's out. Hooray!
15.34 Carrying stuff from car. Bought too much beer. Heavy. This hurts.
16.00 Set up my mini tent in 5 minutes, in the time my neighbours have read the instructions for their Presedential Suites tent apartment.
20.30 I am working on the Lockups for Yorkshire CND, so we go for a briefing. Meet all the friends I see once a year working on the lockups, and some very old friends from Leeds. I try really hard not to volunteer for roleplay. I volunteer for roleplay.
21.00 Only the workers are on site yet. It is beautiful; incredibly tranquil. Reminds me of some sort of camel-trading festival in the Rajistani desert. The sun setting over the Dance Village made the roofs of the tents look like the sillouhettes of ornately crafted spires. And there's still grass on the ground by the Other Stage. You almost want it to stay this way.
22.00 First random 'I had no idea you were here' encounter. Excellent.
23.00 Cider.
00.00 Bed


The Yorkshire CND Lockup Crew. Actually looking freshfaced.And grass on the ground.

Weds
11.00 Cider.
12.00 Shower. Which feels a little wrong. I haven't even done anything suitably murky to deserve such cleansing yet. But inevitibly feels great.
14.00 Two of my friends are in a play about bullying in the Green Futures Field. An opportunity too good to miss, despite my friends' protestations. On the way, second random encounter, with the lovely Evan and Jodie. They come to the play too. The play is quite obvious, but makes its point (Bullying boss, who bullys the speccy four-eyed geek underling with such snarling enthusiasm he makes Alan Sugar look like Alan Titchmarsh).
15.00 First cold pint of Brothers'. PieMinister Pie. Ale, Steak. Feels a little luxurious.
15.10 Feels a little woozy. Crikey, had forgotten how strong this stuff is. Pokey.
16.00 Work.
20.30 Housemate Ciara and her bf Ed have arrived. Me and Ed wander into Shangri-La. Our wristbands get us access into the temporarily cordned off , wierd tunnels of what I think were called the Badlands. Mad max meets Bladerunner meets depressed small-town shopping arcade. Green-glowing shop windows revealing mutilated taxidermy. Stuff like that. And a big open area surrounded by battlements and lazers. Looking good.
22.30 Sunset by the stone circle. The spiritual sound of balloons being dispensed. Slightly more congruous sight of candle lanterns rising into the sky .
00.00 Well into the bottle of port. Lots of different groups of friends around. Feeling marvellous.



01.00 Attempt to climb a giant wooden dragon.
04.00 Don't know how it got this late. Rapping down a megaphone with a group of Northern Irish boys from a gospel choir (flamboyent lie or delicious truth?)
06.00 Oh dear. It's only Wednesday. Sat in a tea tent sipping lumpy chai (yes, I didn't chai could or should be lumpy) as a Manc with his bottom lip gurned so far up his face he looks like a fish from the deep tells me he's friends with Oasis.
07.30 Bed.

Pics nicked from Jen Conneely.

Thurs

9.30 Too hot too sleep.
10.00 Ian tells us that yesterday he needed two poos, but only did one. The thought of what happened to the second one, plus sleep deprived delerium sends me into a fit of giggles.
10.09 Rolling around on floor, still laughing. Getting silly now.
12.00 Shower no2. Curry for breakfast. Feel vaguely better. Practice teddybear rolls.



13.00 Walking through the farm house (which provide some of the best loos on site) we see Michael Eavis himself. Wow! Just stood there! 3 feet from me. With manual labour gloves on. Never mind The Boss, ME is my man of the people. I want to call him Mikey and give him a playful knock on the arm. I don't. Though I think he could take it. He's looking very healthy, and relaxed.
16.00 Work. which actually invloves some work this time. Blistering sunshine, glad of the shade



18.00 The band 'The Momeraths', a boy and girl in red and white stripy shirts, check in a glockenspiel, a bag of coloured material and an ironing board.
21.00 Head to canteen. Cloud the colour of Gordon Brown's eye bags groans towards us. Grab dinner and shelter as the skies open, and claps of doomful thunder ring out.



21.20 Amazingly, by the time we've finished our lacklustre burgers, the storm has cleared, and the sun reappears, like a naughty puppy pretending it's done nothing wrong.
22.50 First music of the weekend. Squeeze into The Queen's Head for Kap Bambino, at my request. The atmosphere is incredible. Ebony Bones had just whipped them into a frenzy and they want more. French Boy/Girl duo KP dive fearlessly into a relentless 40 mins of their indie-happy-hardcore, accompanied by a stunning light show. It is fantastic. I was reminded how exciting music can be.
23.00 Metronomy continue the good work, though they are cut off before they can triumph with 'You Could Easily Have Me'.
00.00 We dance the night away to Rock n Roll in The Diner, Shangri La. Mine and Maddie's keen, if unrefined jiving sees us invited to Conga across the dancefloor. We find ourselves by the bar. Seems rude not to indulge in a couple of tequilas. Find my friend Kate and promise I'll meet her for Bjorn Again in the morning.
02.00 Stumble home. Workers camping: nice toilets, quiet showers - very far from everything else. It's a long stumble, softened by some tasty free garlic bread from Manic Organic.

Friday


10.00 Wake up feeling surprisingly fresh.
11.00Yes, Bjorn Again it is. A perfect hammy start to the festival. They kick off with Waterloo. Sunshine, lots of smiles all round. They seem to exist soley to please the middle aged man who pretends not to like ABBA, but is tempted to them by the flashes of thigh on the 30 something ladies, who sing and dance with bored slickness, as well as the outlandish guitar solos and smutty humour from the men. Plus they somehow get a cover of Status Quo and a very silly hip-hop pisstake in there too.



12.00 More chai.
13.00 Jazz World Stage. Speed Caravan - driving arabic dance-rock.
13.30 Eat best meal of festival - North African goats cheese and spicy lamb bourek (filo parcel) with pepperonata (something like that).



15.00 N.E.R.D. on the main stage. They start late. Pharrel oozes with hip-hop arrogance, claiming misguidedly that '200,000 people had paid $100 dollars' to come see them, which at first just doesn't work to this relaxed Galsto crowd. But his absolute committment to his music, and the barrage of heavy-hitting hits, sort of wins us over. He gets down into the crowd, he sparks a stage invasion, and absolutely refuses to leave the stage despite being told his set is almost over. He reminds me of Axel Rose at Leeds who told us they hadn;t come all this way to be cut short. Unlike Axel, though, Parrel has the PA cut, as the opening shouts of 'All the Girls Standing In The Line for the Bathroom' ring out. But he stays down in the crowd, trying to whip the crowd into a mini riot, acoustically. He only half fails.
17.30 Lamb on Jazz World. Trip-hop hasn't been fashionable for about a decade right? I certainly haven't heard their name uttered once in the last five years. But this most un-scene of cats win me over with their soothing yet deep sound, haunting vocals and joyous exuberance. Jazz world sees its first and possibly only stage dive from their keyboardist.
20.00 I go to work, gutted I'm missing Neil Young, The Specials, The Horrors and Animal Collective.
21.00 But I do sneak out for half an hour with friends for the comforting sure-bet of Crookers, who push all the buttons.
22.00 A man spends 10 minutes checking in a can of cider, only for his girlfriend to come along, as he finally hands it over, to declare 'That's my can of cider!'.



01.00 Spend an hour getting into Shangri-La, half an hour queuing for a beer, dance for 30 mins back in the diner, then decide to call it a night. V tired.

Sat

10.30 Woken by the blistering heat in my tent. Eat an apple and cereal bar.
11.00 Sit and watch VV Brown, who's much-discussed hairspray-heavy fringe is looking fine in the morning sunshine. Good, fun soul music.
12.00 Work. I miss Spinal Tap, and their 14" stone henge.
14.00 A man has lost his ticket. I spend 10 minutes being very officious filling in forms and explaining that without any ID he can't claim items until he manages to butt(y?) in and say it's just a sandwich he's checked in. I still ask him to name the filling. It is egg mayonaise.
16.50 Sit in the sun on the park stage to watch Horace Andy. Do some dozing and some skanking as he soothes with his distinctive vibrato vocals, Massive Attack songs and cool yellow traditional dress cum PJs. Find my voice sings out quite nicely to 'Big Wheel'. A minor miracle given the chain smoking occuring over the last 4 days.



18.50 Shuffle down to the John Peel tent for last songs of Passion Pit, who sound a bit fluffy for my liking, but none-the-less encourage a sort of warming euphoria in the crowd.
20.00 Florence and The Machine storms it to the loudest crowd response I've ever heard at any gig ever. They go crazy for her as she provocatively climbs the scaffolding in her flowing black dress. An incredible reaction for a singer yet to release an album, and in between songs, when she lets her sassy persona drop, she is unbelieveably touched by the response, all nervous charm and near-tears. It did strike me though just how much she looks like Noel Fielding.

A video of her performance.


21.00 Is that The Boss arriving in his tour bus we see by the John Peel tent?

22.00. We head down to see The Boss, who is actually pretty amazing. Despite knowing few of his tunes, he was a winner as the seasoned showman I expected. His soliloquay about building a house of love and sexual healing was great fun. He just looked so much like he was having the time of his life. And genuine or not (and of course the beauty of headlining the Pyramid Stage is that everyone is humbled, no matter how big they are. This really is one of the few gigs that everyone is desperate to play) you just loved him.

Pics nicked from Jen Conneely.

23.00 Sneak off early to catch 2 Many DJs. There's never been a safer festival bet than these guys. And once again they wow. Best of all is the visuals. For every song they have the record artwork projected. It means you find out what every song is, a rare treat. Even better, the artwork is then animated, so that the characters on the cover of 'Rock The Casbah', 'Ciao' and'Windowlicker' etc, come to life dancing. All in time to the music as well. Mind blowingly tight. They also had a camera permenently fixed over the decks, so us geek-massive could tech-perve on the incredible skill used in the 4 CDJ setup. The only thing to top this was the climax of Nirvana mixing into Fischerspooner and the skys opening up with confetti and streamers.
00.00 Try to get all our friends to meet in one place.
01.00 Still trying.
01.30 Still trying.... oh wait... no.... we're all here..... hang on...no..... someone's gone AWOL
01.32 Are they in the loo?
01.35 They've gone to meet some other friends and bring them here?
01.38 Told off for smoking in a tent for the umpteenth time. "Oh sorry! I didn't realise you weren't allowed."
01.42 They were just at the bar. Despite all this having a great time.
01.55 Ed is spun round in a wicked chair on a chain by some crazed Irishmen.
02.00 Finally arrive at Trash City.
02.10 Which 'club' shall we queue for? "Do you have to pay in?"
02.15 There was a whole tent dedicated to Shitmat and Scoth Egg? Next year more research needed. Sotch Egg is just finishing.
02.20 Get into a 'club' in time to catch the last few songs of Ebony Bones. Seen her a few times before, but she and her band suddenly make sense in this madcap, hedonistic setting. Everything is chaos. Their dance moves are so so tight.
02.21 At the Bones's command we go left.
02.22 We go right.
02.23 We go forward (you get the idea...)
02.30 They finish. All getting a bit intense, so we bee-line for some Tea.
03.00 Tiny Tea Tent. How Chai should be. We find they have a womb. We climb through the 'vagina', into this incredible, cosy make-shift tent, complete with lush sofas, and little sperm paintings. We cuddle up with hot tea and feel safe and soothed after a rather hedonistic night. The desired effect. We giggle unashamedly at our womb puns. 'Womb with a view'. A highlight.
04.00 Crawl home to bed.

Sunday.

09.00 Sweat.
09.30 Sweat.
10.30 Emerge. Ouch.
10.32. Ed sums up the moment. 'I feel lost.'



11.00 But onwards. Lots to explore. Quite a quiet afternoon for music, so we decide on some mooching instead. Eat some of the great French sausages in red wine with potato grautin. Feel a world better. See some juggling. Wander through the theatre and circus fields, seeing a Ceilidh, a row of ladies in pink skirt-and-umbrella outfits dancing their way through the crowd, a kazoo orchestra, a man throwing an invisible flee across an audience. Wander in circles finding Ciara a pie. But it's ok, as going in circles sort of makes sense here.


A video I didn't make, but captures lots of stuf nicely.

12.00 Then cross over in the Green fields, and find the tranquility of the Green healing field. It is populated with masseurs from every possible real and seemingly fabricated discipline of healing plying their trade (lady demonstrating sucker-cup massage on a beaming, muscley man, oblivious to nasty purple bruises forming on his back), as well as a smattering of party casualties seeking wholesomeness and quiet. it's a lovely break from the more manic elements of the festival. Me and Ed sit with our feet in a pond in a little water garden. Wow. I feel like I'm being healed too! We unwind. Just great to get out of those wellies, I think. Little nap.



13.00 Wander next into the crafts field, and watch a man start a fire with sticks. Amazing to think that the night before, not far from this spot, we had been witness to a giant skull spewing forth rhythmical flames. We muse, with a wry smile, on how the back-to-nature environmentalism that the festival promotes fits with excessive, purely aesthetic fire cannons. We don't muse for too long, though. More tea to be drinking!
17.00 Much wandering later, we return to see some music. Yeah Yeah Yeahs on the other stage. They are great. Karen O dominates the crowd, shaking them from their hippy-dippy Sunday bliss. They fly back and forth across their back catalogue, from the early, angular art-punk, to raging rock-disco on 'A Date With The Night', the tender swells of 'Maps' and the gargantuan sound of their new electrock-n-roll material. They bow out by smashing up their instruments. Just what Glato needed. Hooray for rock n roll. Who needs healing ponds?



18.00 Madness play an irresistible set on the Pyramid Stage. I think Suggs is very hungover. Or very pissed. Probably both. Either way, he's feeling what I'm feeling. Some of the newer stuff inevitibly a bit lacklustre, but it's all forgotten as they squeal into 'House of Fun' and the saxophonist gets lifted into the air on wires and spins around. Lots of wild skanking ensues.
19.00 Roots Manuva is good fun. Bit of a dip in energy. We sit and contend with our strawberry cider, perhaps seeing about as clearly as everyone else around me. Though I did lose my glasses yesterday. I find a fake moustache, which sort of makes up for it.



22.00 The big event. Blur! I always find headliners difficult. I think I just feel an natural aversion to anything loads of other people scream and shout about. But I know what I'm dealing with here. I lay this cynasism well aside. And they turn out to be the best headline act I've ever seen, by a mile. They are so perfect for the end of the weekend. one massive, emotionallly charged, return-of-the-kings style pop singalong. You just know you are in the presence of pop gods. Opening the set is Boys and Girls. They play it like a runaway rollercoaster train. They then spend the next two hours alternating between the joyous upbeat hits and their spine-shivering tender numbers. Tender itself is a highlight. At the end, the entire crowd, and I mean the entire crowd, chorus back 'Oh my baby, Oh my baby, Oh I, Oh I' for a full two minutes as a stunned band stand in silent awe. They are blown away by the whole gig. Damon tells the crowd, with a barely hidden break in his voice, 'I'm so glad we decided to do these gigs now.'

Gleefully throwing aside hyperbolic self-awareness, this is what pop music is about, what Britishness is about and what Glastonbury is about.

I'm also lucky to be stood with my friends, who are happy to go wild, jig, pogo, jog in circles, lurch and throw their arms about. being able to feel complete abandon also makes the experience.

00.00 the only negative was having to leave a song short of the end to go to work. But actually nice to bookeend the festival with that experience, and then get to sit in a dry tent with Sam, Ian and Anna as the rest of the festival got drenched in the late night storm. And had a laugh to find out that our friend jacqui had got very drunk for Blur and after the first song shouted 'One more tune!' repeatedly.
08.00 A long night of work, with some bits of sleep on the hard wooden shelves, some amusing drunken punters. And searching for ages to find a girl's sleeping bag that she'd checked in only to find Tom asleep in it. Fortunately she saw the funny side. Goodbyes to Sam, Ian and Anna. Sad that our geographical distance (well, the M1) prevents us from seeing more of each other, but was reminded of how much fun we al have.

Monday.

10.00 Had planned to sleep, but too hot, so we begin the long treck home.
12.00 And long it is.
16.00 Finally arrive home, as the post Glasto blues begin to kick in. The real world is not as fun. Console myself with a long shower, Glasto highlights on TV and begin to write....




Thanks to Anna Danby also for borrowed photos.

Friday 29 May 2009

Something like a robot disaster




As I've been a bad blogger recently (and have the attention span of a goldfish on ketamine) have decided to experiment with 'tweet' (shudder) sized copy for each track.

First:

Something Like Fire - supported us (St. Francis) at Camden gig recently. V. promising hummable indie meets LFO filter basslines and classic electronic drum sounds. Digitally re-hashed post-Libs hooks blasted from a bedroom-tech noise-core cannon*. (Obviously)

Something Like Fire - Mr. Shadow


A band that I posted ages ago have apparently got quite a bit bigger (it was about time I scored a 'I recognise talent a furlong off' coup). Check out Robot Disaster's myspace, or go here to download 'Guitars are Overrated' for free (though, ahem, I think you can maybe still download it from one of my old old posts). They're getting lots of attention from radio etc, and you can buy their stuff on beatport. Plus they have a super-swanky myspace. Not all the tracks stand up to 'Guitars....', depending on what you're into, but they're def perky. (failing so miserably to maintain this 'tweet' haiku discipline already)

Check out this video:



On our recent Italian mini-tour we happened to be playing prior to the Italian equivalent of a guilty pleasures club night, with DJs playing brilliant 80s euro pop. This is one nugget they pointed us towards.

*****

Couple of remixes sent my way - the jury's still out, but worth a listen.

Passion Pit- Sleepyhead (JazZstePpa Remix) MP3 320KBps
Deft - Emotion, Get Up ! (w/ 50 Cent) (EmoShock MashUp)


* I realise now that I don't lack attention span, I'm just chronically verbose.

Tuesday 7 April 2009

Secretsundaze tickets GIVEAWAY! and Easter Ska-Punk mixtape, reliving the classics of youth.

Secretsundaze
Easter Thursday
The Coronet Theatre, SE1


To win two tickets to this event email me,

georgewigzell[at]
hotmail.com

and I will pick one name out of a hat.


secretsundaze & friends present Innervisions & Horse Meat Disco

Room 1 - secretsundaze meets Innervisions
A Critical Mass – Live (Ame, Dixon & Henrick Schwarz – UK Debut)
Ame (DJ set)
Dixon (DJ set)
Giles Smith (Dessous)
James Priestley (Simple)

Room 2 - Horse Meat Disco
Daniele Baldelli
Horsemeat Disco Residents

* Plus exclusive Ableton Live Workshop with Dixon, Ame & Henrik Schwarz at 10pm *

secretsundaze are very proud to announce details of our Easter Thursday event at The Coronet Theatre in Elephant and Castle. For what is always one of the biggest party weekends of the year secretsundaze have pulled something very special out of the bag, having been approached by Innervisions to host the UK debut show of 'A Critical Mass.'

Two years in the pipeline after discussions in the studio, offices, on planes, in hotels and in the streets, Ame, Dixon and Henrik Schwarz' much whispered about live project finally saw the light of day in 2008 at Popkomm in Berlin and ADE in Amsterdam. After two hugely successful shows and a string of worldwide dates planned throughout 2009 the live project 'A Critical Mass' hits London in April. Together the live set-up sees all key members of the Innervisions crew - Ame (Kristian & Frank), Dixon and Henrik Schwarz play live together on Ableton Live with their unique Innervisions versions of stone cold classics, as well as their own twists on key Innervisions releases and remixes from the vaults! As ever, our trusty residents Giles Smith and James Priestley will be in support and the art deco auditorium at The Coronet provides the perfect grandiose setting for this show.



Easter Thursday – 9th April 2009
The Coronet Theatre, Elephant and Castle, London SE1 6TJ
10pm to 6am
Admission: £12-£14.50 Advance / £20 on the door
Advance Tickets from residentadvisor.com and Phonica

**********************************


My Easter Punk, Hardcore, Post Hardcore and Ska-Punk Mixtape.



Decided today that I would raid my CD collection and have a little retrspective of what was making me tick when I was 15/16. Some absolutely classics here. Some of them are my favourite track from an album, not neccesarily the biggest song. All are tunes.

Reel Big Fish - I Want Your Girlfriend To Be My Girlfriend
Lagwagon - Bye For Now
King Prawn - Be Warned
Edna's Goldfish - Veronica Sawyer buy records from Moon Ska Europe
The Toasters - Don't Let The Bastards Grind You Down buy records from Moon Ska Europe
Hot Water Music - Better Sense (Live) buy records from No Idea
Dropkick Murphys - Barroom Hero (Live)
Guttermouth - Secure Horizons
The Bouncing Souls - Kid
[To purchase Bouncing Souls Downloads click here]
Rancid - Bloodclot Epitaph Records
Rancid - New Dress Epitaph Records
Less Than Jake - Al's War buy records from Moon Ska Europe
Less Than Jake - My Very Own Flag buy records from Moon Ska Europe





Friday 3 April 2009

This is the story of peaceful protest, disgusting police tatics and desperately tring to get to my band's first gig...


Copyright The Guardian

On Weds my self and friend went down to take part in a peaceful protest at Bank. We were there to display our anger at how modern capitalism has failed most people, and is seriously failing the environment. But for us, personally, our anger didn't mean we wanted to damage any property, let alone any people. We were there for a fun, lunchtime protest, for a dance, to use own free time to take to the streets and sing and shout our dissaticfaction.

As well publicised subsequently, by 1 o'clock the police, in heavy riot gear, had blocked off every exit. I had a dentist appointment (at two-thirty, as it happens), and so tried to leave. Little did I know we'd be there for many many hours more.

The atmosphere by 2 was still jolly, upbeat. The sun kept peeking out from behind the clouds. We couldn't leave, but we were brightly optimistic. Us, like many others, hadn't predicted that the police would behave this way. It was my first protest in such a situation, and hadn't heard of the plight of the May Day protesters a few years earlier.

It's absolutely crazy, flabbergasting, that the Police could do this. It was a peaceful protest, right until the exact moment the police blocked off all the narrow streets, with heavily armoured riot police, in their trademark intimidation outfits - all in neon yellow or black, heavy helmets, long batons held tightly in readiness for action, big shields and balaclavas covering all but their eyes. How surprising that violence happened as a result.

The police created, I would estimate, 90% of the violence on Wedsnesday. The protest was made up of 7% 'hardcore' anarchists, 43% peacful protesters, students and observers and 50% media. Do the maths - had we been allowed to peacefully wander home, the remaining 7% would have perhaps caused some damage elsewhere, but the situation would have been nothing compared to what it became- by 6pm getting very very nasty indeed. And with all their helicopters, long-range survellaince gear and CCTV, not to mention swarms of police camera men, photographers, and the estimated 8,000 police people present (out-numnbering protesters), surely they would easily have located and eliminated further violence from the hardcore few elsewhere.
But no, we were told by several police men and woman that we were being kept so that they could know where the trouble makers would be.

By 5pm we had been charged at by police whilst looking for a way out, we were severely dehydrated, very hungry, and my earlier optimism for getting to my first gig, at 8.30 in Shoreditch, was almost destroyed. We joked, half-heartdely, about faking illness, attacks, etc as our only way to get out for the gig.

I told a police lady that I was hungry, and that it was surely our civil right to have access to food and water. She replied that it was their right to prevent breaches of the peace. Yes, I said, but even under arrest you are allowed access to food and drink. She thought about it for a second, and then gave me a look as though to say 'fair point'. I changed tact and pleaded about getting to my gig. She then whispered that they were expecting to start letting peple out by half 7.

By 6 thirty we were very very bored. I overheard a policeman say:

"ah, the police love their boredom tactic. Your bored, we're bored. Senior management are happy". Which rightly points out that most of the police must have been as sick of the whole thing as we were. Except that some of the police were clearly as up for a fight as a minority of the protesters were.

We were also increasingly scared. The mass boredom had turned, unsurprisingly into mass anger. chants of 'LET US OUT!' accompanied stampedes around the varying exits at rumours of a way out. A near complete lack of communication from the police had left us all in a hyper, confused, doomful state, combining with the hunger and thirst (a hungry man is an angry man! as they say).

A flurry of phone calls from my band mates were supportive, but unable to hide their fear that we might have to cancel the first gig we had been so excited about.

At 7 the music had stopped, the police were pushing in, making the area smaller, and things had started to burn. Claustrophobia had set in.

My friend complained that he started to feel a bit ill, and very uneasy about the cowrds which were now contracting and retracting with every charge of the riot police. I told him to hang on in there, that all would be fine. Then he started shaking, the colour draining from his face, and I ran to get help, very uneasy about our only source of medical help being from our current 'opressors'. A nasty, squat riot policeman told me, with an air of complete distrust (in my tweed jacket and mild manners I couldn't look any less like a threat) no police medics would venture out. By the time I returned to my friend he couldn't talk, couldn't walk. It all got incredibly scary.

Out of nowhere some lovely lovely people emerged, one girl dressed all in green springing up with a bottle of (precious) water and comforting words, another helped him take off his shoes and got police help. I was so touched by the rallying nature of strangers, even in the face of personal threat. Some good good people out there.

In the end I followed my friend behind riot police lines, who was being dragged by two paramedics. Once safe they immediately ripped open his coat, took his pulse and gave him some water. I had no idea what was going on - I have only known this friend 2 weeks, and didn't know if he had a history of medical problems. I was grateful, at least, to be able to tell them he hadn't taken any drugs or drunk any alcohol.

Within 3 (scary minutes) they had worked out that it was the result of dehydration and lack of food (to which my friend later added severe stress at the situation). 15 minutes later (with 30 minutes to go til the gig) he was sat on the step of a police van, covered in silver cape, laughing with me about the irony of our intended fake medical problems as our ticket out of there. He insisted we skip the ambulance, and we jumped in a taxi. At that moment they had just started letting people out, one at a time, with police escorting each and every one, and taking names and address and photos of every single person. In reference to the above estimate of only 7% actual trouble makers this seems very wrong and brutally totalitarian. But the point being we never would have made it out of there before 10 at the earliest, had it not been for my poor friend's horrible attack.

But we made the gig, with ten minutes to spare, and never have I been so glad to see my friends, have a beer and have my freedom.

A very good article about the police tactics:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/03/g20-protests-police-kettling

And a song from my band:

St. Francis - Autumn.

Monday 30 March 2009

Mixcloud


Offering a service long over-due, Mixcloud is a new venture aiming to be THE place online for DJs to host, share and promote mixes. Annoyed with the ubiquitous "MegaRapidFileUpload" file sharing services that are currently used by DJs, Cambridge grads Nico Perez and Nikhil Shah set up the site.

"DJs are natural promoters", says founder Nikhil Shah. "They want their mixes heard by as many people as possible. Yet the tools they currently use are broken in 3 ways: 1. They have no metadata so they don't rank on Google; 2. They're "sender to receiver" so they only get discovered by people who know the link, and 3. They're too dispersed so there's no easy way to navigate this world of content".

Whilst becoming the definitive place for mixes online is no small challenge, they have some serious weight behind them. A world-class development team (including Mat Clayton, one of the UK's top social application developers) join former bigwigs from Warner Music and Ministry of Sound,and they have a grant to work with Queen Mary University's renowned Centre for Digital Music.

So far it seems the interface - a trendy mix of bold, busy and readable design - will sit very easily with a community raised on Hypem and innovative design/fashion blogs. And it has already attracted mixes from the likes of Plimsouls and Lejazz, lending the much needed weight of credibility. Time will tell if the big guns make it their roost, thus sealing its place in the collective blog consiousness, but for now things look promising.



http://www.mixcloud.com


Friday 20 March 2009

Yes yes yes.

Yes. I know it's an advert, but this must be the product of some of the best creative minds around. Taking the ideas of cutting-edge multi-media live performance, and making them into something as wonderfully populist as this, they have done soemthing really radical. And it's the sort of video you could happily watch ten times in a row, and be amazed every time. Brilliant. It was made by this guy: http://rupertsanders.com and these guys: http://www.droga5.com/

>

Sunday 8 March 2009

The Middle Ones



Anna and Grace, from Norwich and Manchester respectively, make colourful, twee pop-folk. Their music suggests images of best mates on rainy afternoon expeditions through the quiet corners of a ramshackle antique-thrift store.

Drops pitches a beautiful, criss-crossing vocal duet, sparkling with poppy tenderness, against simple guitar, slightly out of tune, and enthusiastic egg-shaking. Listening to the singing, there's no dout they were smiling throughout the recording of the song, and fair play, they have reason to. This recoding is lofi, but it's hard to imagine it presented any other way. Hard not to love this.


The Middle Ones - Drops



http://www.myspace.com/themiddleones





Slight change of pace - without a doubt go to http://ppelectro.blogspot.com/ and download

Foreign Beggars - Hit That Gash (DJ Prime Cuts' Itchy Naaan Re-rub)

Ridiculous name, ridiculous bass.

Which is included in my latest mixtape:



RockandShockTheNation Mixtape - George Wigzell

Foreign Beggars - Hit That Gash (DJ Prime Cuts' Itchy Naaan Re-rub)
Dead Prez - Hip Hop (Diplo Remix)
Zombie Nation - Forza
Kelevra, Nathan Boon - Like To Freak Remix
Wu Tang Clan - Da Mystery of Chessboxin' (A Capella)
Player Player - Lonely
Armand Van Helden - Shake That Ass feat Team Facelift (Mowgli Remix)
Whitetown - Your Woman
Hostage - Shake It
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll/ Joe Smooth - Promised Land Mass D Beats
Elite Force - Here Come The Flow (Heavy Feet Remix)
Nadastrom - Pussy
Mark Stent - Waiting (The Bulgarian Remix)
Daniel Haaksman - Who's Afraid of Rio feat. MC Jennifer/ Modeselektor - The Black Block
Tiga - Mind Dimension (The Bloody Beetroots Remix)

Finally check out my housemate Shelley's lovely new blog, about living in Hackney, amogst other things: http://streethawker.wordpress.com/