White bread gives you cancer.
0 Comments Published by jonthebeef on Wednesday, September 26, 2007 at 1:58 PM.
Here it is, Optimos remix of "You are the Space Invader" by Prinzhorn Dance School. From the minute I first saw this band, I knew that they needed some decent remix treatment to make them a little more dancefloor. Y'know, like not the beginning of a night (like Optimo did on their Essential Mix), but something that could take their bare bones and add to it to make it more, well, middle of the night. Optimo have done that in the most part, beefing up the drums, adding some effects, and fucking around with the vocal. If like me, you've ever been frustrated about where to put this tune in a set, don't let it frustrate you any more. Check it out.
MP3 Prinzhorn Dance School - You are the space invader (Optimo Espacio Remix)
Much like the New Rave phenomenon that is sweeping music at the moment, another genre in the late 90's managed to fuse dance and rock into a malleable form that destroyed dancefloors nationwide. It coined the name "Big Beat", and spawned the careers of Fatboy Slim and Lo Fidelity Allstars to name, well, two. Some people reckon it helped pave the way for the likes of the Chemical Brothers and Daft Punk to cross over into the indie disco, while others think it was a bit cheesy. I was rather fond of it, and it was a cassette on the front cover of NME mixed by Norman Cook that really shoe-horned me into the genre.
There's some classics below that encompass Skint and Wall of Sound, which were the 2 labels spearheading the scene (much like Modular and Backyard now). There are many parallels that can be drawn between the 2 scenes, but that's an essay in itself. In the meantime, grab some stuff below, close your eyes, and imagine you were at Big Beat Boutique in 1997.
MP3 Bentley Rhythm Ace - Bentley's Gonna Sort You Out
MP3 Midfield General - Devil in a Sports Casual
MP3 Space Raiders - Cutters Choice
MP3 Propellerheads - Take California
MP3 Fatboy Slim - Everybody Needs a 303
MP3 The Wiseguys - Ooh La La
MP3 Cut la Roc - Hip Hop Bibibbidy Bop Bop
More to come in Part Two!
A quick bit o'Hollertronix for you all. Volume 7 has been out for a bit, and while doesn't contain any surprises, there's enough to make it worth a purchase. Michael Jackson (Okay Annie) and Dee-Lite (Groove is in the heart) are among some of the tracks getting the treatment, and D.A.N.C.E by Justice gets a worthy speeded up extension. Check it out.
MP3 Justice - D.A.N.C.E Some More (Hollertronix Edit)
Underworld are back with a new single. I've a massive soft spot for the duo, as "Born Slippy" was one of the tunes that turned my head away from Rock and got me into all sorts of other stuff. While their last album "a Hundred Days Off" didn't really set my world alight, lead single "Two Months Off" is an absolute classic, and designed for sundown moments anywhere. New single "Crocodile" is cool with it's retro approach and leaves me quite hopeful that their new album will be better than average.
MP3 Underworld - Crocodile
"If we have dinner at half past 7 then I'm not gonna want to go out, am I?"
0 Comments Published by jonthebeef on at 10:29 AM.
It's Menomena tonight, so I'm popping along for curiosities sake. You never know, they might even be quite good. Before I go and cook tea however, there's time for me to proclaim my love for the Chromatics new album, IV. For a band that fart about loads, they certainly come up with the goods when it arrives. Their cover of "Running up that Hill" has had me humming for the last couple of days, and I'm rather partial to their remake of "Healer" (though friends say it's not as good as the original - Pah!).
MP3 Chromatics - Running up that hill
MP3 Chromatics - Healer
PS - I haven't forgotten about Rage. Be patient.
I heard this on the radio for the first time in years last week, and with the Dadrock mood I've been in lately, it totally tuned into where I'm at. A wicked piece of 70's hard rock, this brass infused number by Euro-rockers Golden Earring totally hits the spot. Later: Rage Against the Machine.
MP3 Golden Earring - Radar Love
A Messy Desktop full of Girls
0 Comments Published by jonthebeef on Monday, September 24, 2007 at 9:50 AM.
My desktop is overrun by tracks I keep meaning to post. I get an idea, I grab a track, and then I never get round to posting it as either a) I get sidetracked or b) I lose all inspiration. Coincidentally, all the tracks below are titled with girls names. I hope they're all to your liking.
MP3 Bat for Lashes - Prescilla (The Revenge Re-work)
MP3 Mark Ronson feat Amy Winehouse - Valerie (Count of Monte Cristal and Sinden Remix)
MP3 Hercules and Love Affair - Athene
Hmm. Math Rock. I remember when it used to be called "Post Rock", and the likes of Tortoise, Mogwai and Explosions in the Sky ruled. The same is there pretty much with Math Rock, though there's a few extras at the party. Battles are one of the most interesting, with their blend of guitar white noise married to subtle electronics. I had the pleasure of seeing them at Futuresonic in 2006, and they were one of my highlights of the festival. They've got a new video out for Tonto at the moment, which with the sound off carries an Alien atmosphere to it. The track itself is full of proggy elements, and while it's a challenge, it ultimately pays off in a satisfying way. Check it out.
MP3 Battles - Tonto
LCD Soundsystem have finally got their grubby paws back on 45:33, having leased it to Nike and Apple last year and in turn putting out one of the years best albums. It's now being re-released on DFA having been segmented into 6 sections, and bundled with a few B-sides from recent singles. There's no real bonus to the set for a LCD completest, though those of you who have been dying to play "Shame on You" out to a club will now get the opportunity with the release coming out on both CD and Vinyl.
The James Murphy/Pat Mahoney Fabric mix is due in October too, and it's absolutely packed full of disco goodness, so those expecting durr-durr-durr versions of LCD tracks will be massively disappointed. I've heard it, it's good, though not quite life affirming. Worth a purchase though, so here's some tunes to whet the appetite.
MP3 GQ - Lies
MP3 Donald Byrd and 125th Street, NYC - Love has come around
MP3 Daniel Wang - Like some dream I can't stop dreaming
MP3 LCD Soundsystem - Hippie Priest Bum-out
I'm now going through a "Dadrock" phase. I've fired up my copy of Rumours (following yesterdays post) and up until about 10 minutes ago I was rocking out to Go Your Own Way. That was until I pressed something on iTunes, I stopped listening to the album in order, and the next track ended up being something of Felix Da Housecats newie. In a panic, I went to turn the track off, only to be surprised by the rather nice piece of disco it turned out to be. That's right, nice disco, with a slight Felixy vocoder, but still rather nice. Check out it's niceness. Nice.
MP3 Felix Da Housecat - It's Your Move
Players only love you when they're playing.
0 Comments Published by jonthebeef on Friday, September 21, 2007 at 2:25 AM.
I've spotted a nice little bit on the Guardian today about Fleetwood Mac. Following on from the childhood nightmare that was Phil Collins, the Mac were a band I quite liked when Dad used to play them in his car.
More later.
MP3 Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way
MP3 Whiskeytown - Dreams
Everyone's favourite Melodramatic Popular Song / 2-step peddlers Hot Chip are back with a new single. Starting off in synthy familiar territory, the tracks descends into Nu-rave madness in the final third that I can't work out if I like or fucking hate. The latter would be a shame really, seeing as Hot Chip are one of my favourite acts of the last 2 years. Still, it goes down rather well when played out to friends and other sorts that want to dance, so it can't be all bad.
MP3 Hot Chip - Shake a Fist
Last Monday I popped along to see Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip at the Roadhouse. I've seen them once before, and they blew me away, though this time as I'd seen their show before a lot of the surprise had gone. The crowd were appreciative though, and "Thou Shalt Always Kill" is still up for my single of the year. Check out their new tune below.
MP3 Dan le Sac Vs. Scroobius Pip - The Beat that my heart skipped
With a public reaction that hasn't been seen since Robbie left Take That, it was announced yesterday that Pennie has left Welsh pop rock troupe the Automatic. As you can imagine, many tears were shed at BCG HQ following this passing. Pennie will always be remembered as the annoying little twat that ruined the bands only hope of having a decent song be squealing like a screamo puppet all over the backing vocals. For those of you who haven't realised this yet, you can actually remove his part by only listening to Monster through one channel. Give it a try in his honour.
MP3 The Automatic - Monster
This beat is Teknotronic
0 Comments Published by jonthebeef on Thursday, September 13, 2007 at 3:16 AM.
Oh yes, I'm excited. Tonight is the return of my little remix/covers/mashup shindig Shoplifters at the Bay Horse in Manchesters Northern Quarter. For those of you who feel a little dismayed when we finish playing, you'll be pleased to know that the party continues in the bar at Sankeys for Danny McNamaras new indie shindig the Aftershow. I'm feeling rather disco today, so tonights tunes are gonna be of that nature from me. Lord knows what Jon Claude has in his record bag though. Trust me, it's gonna be ace. Come along.
MP3 TV on the Radio - Wolf Like Me
MP3 Jackson 5 - It's Great to be Here (Kenny Dope Re-edit)
Trawling through some blogs yesterday, in my usual last guest at the party routine, I discovered that Mad Decent had a blog. And full of Baltimore flavoured ass shakery it is too. It's features all of the usual suspects (MIA, Switch etc), though lots was mentioned about recent MIA collaborator Afrikan Boy. I don't much about this dude, other than he's signed to MIA's label Zig Zag, and that's really about it. Check him out.
MP3 Afrikan Boy - Lidl
"It's just someone talking over Daft Punk"
0 Comments Published by jonthebeef on Saturday, September 08, 2007 at 4:50 AM.
Or so goes the quote that's just brightened up my morning. The new Kanye is good actually, and after a few more listens I'll be able to make up my mind whether it's better than Late Registration. A bit more soul-led than the Kanye that I'm used to, there's plenty of tunes that'll cross over from the charts into a club. Worth a listen.
MP3 Kanye West - Flashing Lights (Feat. Dwele)
Phil Collins and his Island of Evilness.
0 Comments Published by jonthebeef on Thursday, September 06, 2007 at 3:25 PM.
Phil Collins is evil. But as promised, here's "Something Happened on the way to Heaven".
MP3 Phil Collins - Something Happened on the way to Heaven
From Popbitch today:
"We haven't heard much from Lisa Stansfield for a while. She was in Soho's Colony Rooms recently. On returning from a visit to the bathroom she announced to the people at the bar, "That coke is making my fanny itch"."
MP3 Gil Scott-Heron - The Bottle
Late last year, a band I was DJing before handed me a CD, and on their cue, asked me to play the track before they came onstage. It was "Something Happened on the Way to Heaven" - I was horrified. It then got worse as the crowd started to dance, and laugh, and look like they were having a good time. At the last Get Girl, Pasta Paul had a fucking request for "Sussudio" and played it while everyone had a smile on their face. And to top it all off, this week the web has been ablaze with the new Cadburys commercial, which features a Gorilla drumming along to "In the Air Tonight". Like - what the fuck - it's a Phil-fucking-Collins track for crying out loud! Seriously, when did he become cool?
MP3 Phil Collins - Sussudio
MP3 Phil Collins - In the Air Tonight
PS - I can't find "Something Happened on the Way to Heaven". I promise I'll post it later.
My general tactic at the moment is to stay away from all things "Nu Rave". In fact, I haven't picked up a copy of the NME since they started all this clap-trap off. This does mean that I miss out on some things that are rather good, like Crystal Castles and my latest late-discovery, Does it Offend You, Yeah? Now, they do have the overlong name which is a good start, but on evidence of new single "Lets make out", they're actually my cup of tea. The single features a guy called Sebastien Grainger, who was the singy-drummer in Canadian noiseniks Death From Above 1979. This is loads better than what MSTRKRFT (feat the other guy from DFA79) are doing at the moment, trust me.
MP3 Does it Offend You, Yeah? - Lets make out (Extended Mix)
In yet another staggering "so what" moment of the last 24 hours, Apple surprised everybody by bringing out exactly what was rumoured 12 months ago. That's right, a touch screen iPod with widescreen video capabilties and wi-fi. The problem is, it looks exactly like the iPhone, which is sure to piss off muggers and mobile thieves everywhere. At the end of the day, if you think that you're robbing someone for a phone, and it turns out to be an MP3 player with a small amount of memory you aren't going to be happy, are you?
MP3 Spank Rock - Bump
People have kept asking me over the last couple days who I thought would win the Mercury prize, and then today what I think about the Klaxons winning the illustrious £20K. Just to let you all know: I couldn't give a flying fuck about the awards. Here's some things to think about this year:
1) The bird from New Young Pony Club griped that Klaxons shouldn't have had the award, as they didn't need the exposure. Hold on though, wasn't she dating a Klaxon last year? Is this a case of sour-dayglo-nu grave-grapes?
2) Bat for Lashes was "Robbed". Eh? She's not that good, but surely this will have helped her sell a few more records AND ensure she's a longer career.
3) Conor McNicholas. With that twat on the panel, is it really a surprise that the poster boys of a scene he came up with won the prize? That's like Rick Astley winning the 1987 Pete Waterman Best Pop Award for the Best Pop Star in 1987 judged by Pete Waterman.
4) Klaxons claim their album is "the sound of the future". That's why there's a cover of not only "the Bouncer" but also "Not over Yet". Both tracks were released in the 90's.
5) Amy Winehouse can't sing live. At all.
MP3 Klaxons - Not Over Yet (Skream Remix)
MP3 Metallica - So What?
DFA just keep going. There's so much pouring out of the label at the moment it's scary, as surely it means we'll just have to undergo a drought later on? I hope not though, because everything is so damn cool. With the Death from Abroad imprint, to Still Going, to this little nugget from Hercules and Love Affair, disco sounds from DFA are making me a happy bunny at the moment.
MP3 Hercules and Love Affair - Roar
I like the new Britney tune. It leaked yesterday, and given her recent troubles this might be a deliberate attempt to try and divert press attention in another direction. Still, the song is so good it's a newsworthy item in itself. Starting off with her ladyship announcing "it's Britney, bitch", the track bounces along quite nicely to (Timbaland protege) Danjalands beat. All good. What's more baffling however is the rate at which everyone is hoovering up the Justice remix of Britney and Madonna's collab. Yes, I know it's those hot French dudes, but c'mon, it's like at least 2 years old, and not even that great. Still, Britneys back, and hell, she might even be bringing sexy with her. Now if only she could work out what to do with those pesky kids and a pup named K-Fed??
MP3 Britney Spears - Gimme More
MP3 Madonna and Britney - Me Against the Music (Justice Remix)
I've written about Curses! (AKA Drop the Lime) before, when back in the early part of this year I came across his single "Hungry 4 Luv", and to say it rocked my world is something of an understatement. It's actually one of my favourite tracks of the year so far, and I really hope he plays Manchester soon. There's been plenty of blog activity about this guy recently, so here's a roundup of the bits I've found over the last couple of days. Enjoy.
MP3 Curses! - Moss Man
MP3 Curses! - No Way Out
MP3 HEALTH - Perfect Skin (Curses! Remix)
What's the deal with all this "social networking" at the moment? I spend a couple of years getting my head around myspazz, and then newkidontheblock Facebook shows up and all my friends start using that instead. I still check the 'spazz sometimes, and imagine my delight on Thursday to find a new message in my inbox from a guy called Mat. He told me I should post up a mix of Joy Zippers "You're so Good" as done by his housemate Dan. Now, neither party realised that "You're so Good" is one of my favourite tracks of recent years, and so the pressure applied to make me like this was rather extreme. Still, Pixels (one of Dan's guises) turn in a good effort, jettisoning the guitar and adding some bleeps. All good. Check it out.
MP3 Joy Zipper - You're so Good (Pixels Remix)
