A quick demo piece I wrote tonight. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to finish it when I return from Italy this week.
Rubbish
I watched The Revenant for the first time tonight, and whilst it a really cool film the highlight was definitely recognising a track from Vladislav Delay’s “Visa” about an hour into it! Good choice, Mr. Soundman!
I’m looking for any and all Vladislav Delay bootlegs. I have a few so far but I’m sure I’m missing a lot, I think. I even dragged out my old Backup HDD to see if there was anything I had lost recently.
No luck. Below is my current list of live bootlegs, if you have anything that’s not listed here, or is an improvement to the shitty quality please contact me. I’m trying to archive all this shit before it disappears forever.
Vladislav Delay – Live @ Cafe Campus, Mutek, Montréal, Canada 09.06.00
Vladislav Delay – Live @ Boombox ??.??.00
Vladislav Delay – Live @ Volksbhne, Berlin, Germany 26.05.01
Vladislav Delay – Live @ Nativelab CD Release Party, Club WMF, Berlin Germany 11.11.01
Vladislav Delay – Live @ With AGF, The Beta Lounge, San Francisco, USA 24.05.02
Vladislav Delay – Live @ PEMF, Panacea, Detroit, USA 25.05.02
Vladislav Delay – Live @ Tate Modern, London, UK 28.09.02
Vladislav Delay – Live @ Gallery Space, Custard Factory, Digbeth, Birmingham, UK Broadcast on Radio Cuttlefish 29.03.03 [snippets]
Vladislav Delay – Live @ Ultrahang Festival, Budapest, Hungary 26.09.03
Vladislav Delay – Live @ SUR TERRE – RGB 1, La Ferme Du Buisson, Noisiel, France 17.09.04
Vladislav Delay – Live @ DEMF, Detroit, USA 28.05.07
Vladislav Delay – Live @ Dommune, Tokyo, Japan 02.09.11
Vladislav Delay – Live @ URSSS, Milano, Italy 04.05.13
Vladislav Delay – Live @ Tauron New Music Festival, Katowices, Poland 03.09.13
Vladislav Delay – Live @ Resonanzraum St. Pauli (Bunker an der Feldstraße), Hamburg, Germany 31.03.16 [Snippets]
Ripatti – Live @ Air, Tokyo, Japan 03.14
Luomo – Live @ The Beta Lounge, San Francisco, USA 24.05.02
Luomo – Live @ Sonar, Barcelona, Spain 13.06.12
Luomo – Live @ Koneisto, Kaapelitehdas, Helsinki, Finland 25.06.03
Luomo – Live @ Ultrahang Festival, Budapest, Hungary 27.09.03
Luomo – Live @ Panacea, Detroit, Michigan, USA 13.03.04
Luomo – Live @ Dama de Ferro, Rio De Janiro, Brazil 08.12.04
Luomo – Live @ Poznań, Poland 10.11.06
Luomo – Live @ Watergate, Berlin, Germany 09.09.11
List correct as of 12/06/2016. Those highlighted in bold are poor quality and need replaced.
I would like to share these recordings with everyone, but I am unsure of ownership etc. If V gives me the nod I’ll do it, no issues.
The blog has been feeling a bit neglected recently, I’m struggling to get the time to actually update with what I’d like to write about (quick review of the Vladislav Delay gig in Hamburg, I finally got a copy of DeepChord vs. Octal Industries, and there’s a new M. Sayyid mixtape dropping soon).
I’ve managed to be ill in three countries this week, as well as sleep 80 percent of my weekend away. The other 20 percent of this weekend was spent in my little (now, not as broken) studio.
I wrote three pieces, one of which was deleted for failing to reach even my lowly standards. I bought a couple of cheap Chinese guitar pedals a few months back and have only just found the time to install the in the studio. I’ll maybe put a review of them up later in the month(s), but needless to say I think they are pretty good, and are excellent value for money.
Anyway, everything is midi sequenced through my MPC4000 and it’s all hardware synthesis and effects – I don’t do that VST bull (keepin’ it real y’all!). If anyone is interested in the particulars of the production or gear, leave me a comment and I’ll get back to you.
I’ve used the K-12 scale for mastering (and even then, quite gently) so turn it up and enjoy some dynamics. If you listen really close, you’ll here one of my tubes begin to fail in “Drama” around the 3:20 mark.
“Lights / Drama”
“Lights”
“Drama”
I’ll think about doing this more frequently from now on, at the moment it feels disingenuous to critique so much music and not put my neck on the line (I prefer to say “cock on the block”, but let’s keep things decent). That may change though.
You can download the MP3 or Flac here: Anima Recordings
Look up here, I’m in heaven
I’ve got scars that can’t be seen
I’ve got drama, can’t be stolen
Everybody knows me now
Look up here, man, I’m in danger
I’ve got nothing left to lose
I’m so high it makes my brain whirl
Dropped my cell phone down below
Ain’t that just like me
By the time I got to New York
I was living like a king
Then I used up all my money
I was looking for your ass
This way or no way
You know, I’ll be free
Just like that bluebird
Now ain’t that just like me
Oh I’ll be free
Just like that bluebird
Oh I’ll be free
Ain’t that just like me
Clipse / Re-up Gang have always released the best mixtapes, and more recently the mixtapes have utterly eclipsed the albums. Clipse “Numb It Down” is a fine example of that.
There is no, and there never shall be a better mixtape than “Road To Till The Casket Drops”. The crowning achievement of which is “Numb It Down”, a re-edit of Lupe’s forgettable “Dumb It Down”.
Ferrik44 Review
Five years ago, Youtube user Ferrik44 took the words out of my mouth and distilled them into a five word sentence fragment with crystal clarity. I can’t add anything. This is 911 murda shit.
Clipse “Numb It Down”
Feel this, I’m fearless, now hear this
Tackled it after Lupe killed it,
Push Ton the last son of Mildred,
Stumbled upon the rock like a pilgrim.
Made money, money made power
Unstepped on as it came off the Mayflower.
I come from graffiti’d halls,
Now the X marks the spot on my graffiti walls,
Statuettes X’d eyes on those graffiti dolls,
Ghetto Bitches ask why – I say it’s just because.
The double entendres remind you of Andre 3K,
Make you spin it back like a DJ,
This track feeling like it’s D-day,
Fucking with P it might be D-day,
My heroin lines like checking out at BJ’s.
Skeezy fucker, R.A. the Rugged Man was a staple of mine during the mid to late 90’s. Releasing raw, filthy shit sporadically for two decades now, countless legal issues and mental health problems (both of which I’m glad to hear he overcame).
His latest album “Legends Never Die” is fairly horrible. Bland uninteresting production, bullshit ‘technical’ rhyming with no soul. To me, it’s the sound of a rapper trying to make money.
I told him this, and he promptly blocked me on Twitter.
R.A. the Rugged Man being a pussy
Now, I wasn’t throwing shade for no reason (yes, I said it), but I loved R.A. and his crazy as fuck music, and it pains me to hear the fucking Garageband Studio™ bullshit he’s putting out now. And I find it even more distressing that he seems to believe in it.
So for old time’s sake, here’s a verse taken from “Sandman Exclusive All-Star Freestyle” titled “Hated By Everyone Freestyle”.
Listen to those authentic MPC beats, the bullshit nonsense spouted by R.A., and the whole vibe. It’s fucking great. Remember him for what he was, not what he became.
R.A. the Rugged Man – Hated By Everyone Freestyle
I made this for two reasons – I’m bored, and I was born in 1984. Heavily tracked backing vocals, Bart Simpson hype man, and some 808s.
Do the Bartman Ringtone
Do the Bartman Ringtone
In reference to an older post (Bob Marley Sun Is Shining Controversy) which was viewed by around 11 people, I thought I would fragment and reduce my audience even more by continuing to delve further into non-issues that only interest me.
Browsing iTunes because I’m bored shitless and it’s a long weekend, and because I don’t really understand iTunes (as a man with 200 LPs and 200GiB of flac files, it’s not terribly useful to me). However, because I’m on a big Bandcamp tip (check it) I thought I would dip my toe in. You know, checking for bonus tracks, iTunes exclusive stuff etc.
What do i find? Another fucking weird, possibly unlicensed, Sun Is Shining Remix.
Bob Marley vs. Funkstar De Luxe “Sun Is Shining (Weird Fucking iTunes Mix)”
What’s so strange about this one? Well, it’s a near perfect facsimile of the original Funkstar De Luxe radio edit. It even appears to be an official Edel release on iTunes, but I can’t see how. It’s the same arrangement as the original radio edit but the drums are different, the keys are different, the synth chords are different (and too resonant), and the vocal take is shocking horrible. It sounds like record label either could no longer use the rights to the original mix, or lost the original take. But in that case, why couldn’t they just use a pre mastered take from a CD? Or make an entirely different mix?
This blows my mind. It’s bloody awful.
The mix is all wrong, it’s amateurish, at best. The guitar is in the wrong key and makes me want to tear my ears out. The vocal sounds like a drunk karaoke effort and is plagued with sibilance and other artefacts. I’m not even sure it is Bob Marley, but if it’s not, why didn’t they use a different take? Or totally re-record? The drums, oh man, the drums. Great composition, dreadful execution. They sounds like someone browsing a sample CD from 2000 and work as a great example of “how not to use a compressor and EQ).
Compare for yourself:
Bob Marley vs. Funkstar De Luxe – Sun Is Shining (Radio De Luxe Edit)
Bob Marley vs. Funkstar De Luxe – Sun Is Shining (Weird Fucking iTunes Mix)
I’ve said it before, but why? Why does this exist? Who said “We need another mix of this, just like the original, only worse in every conceivable way”. Why?!
When will this madness end? Will I be finding different mixes of this fucking song my whole life? Is that it, is that my purpose? At least now, I’m sure there can’t be any more. This is it, the last of the shit, as bad as it gets…
Bob Marley vs. Funkstar De Luxe “Sun Is Shining 15th Anniversary Remixes”
It’s at this point I realise two things. I don’t like Bob Marley. I don’t like Funkstar De Luxe.
And it wasn’t even written by me.
Ooft. Samrai bringing the heat, do not fuck with.