I Love 45s

Posted by Tony on 11/17/2012

I love 45s, but I’m not entirely sure why. The sound like crap, come with cheap and nasty artwork, and are a hindrance to care for (don’t fit in record boxes, some need spindle adaptors…). With that said though I’m a sucker for a bargain, and nothing is cheaper than old 45s.

45s

half n’ half

There’s something about 45s that encourages me to buy music I’d never collect in any other format. Junk, really. Here’s a selection of what I picked up this week, with a nice fifty-fifty split between junk and music.

  • Labi Siffre – Watch Me (not junk)
  • Adriano Celentano – Prisencolinensinainciusol (not junk)
  • Black Gorilla – Gimme Dat Banana
  • Kid Creole & The Coconuts – Annie, I’m Not Your Daddy

I’ll admit I’ve not actually listened to the Siffre record yet, but I know he’s good for it.



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Letters of Note: Please advise

Posted by Tony on 11/14/2012

Letters of Note: Please advise.

This is the best thing I’ve read for a while.

In 2012 K.West change the title of “Theraflu” to “Cold” because some bullshit cough-syrup company complained. In 2008 Nas removed the title from his album “Nigger” so he could sell it in Wallmart.
In 1969 Davis entitled his album “Bitches Brew”, not giving a fuck.

Lest We Forget.



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Antye Greie (AGF)

Posted by Tony on 11/07/2012

I’ve been a fan of Antye Greie since she release “Head Slash Bauch” in early 2002.  Antye has always released very original music, fragmented, stuttering, challenging.  Very post-“Basic Channel”. I’ll probably review some soon, specifically “Westernization Completed” from 2004.

In the mean time however, I thought I would show off some of the wonderful artworks she sent me. As well as fantastic vocalist, poetess and electronic musician, Anyte composes fantastically interesting abstract/calligraphy paintings.

“It Feel Warm”

“Gedichterbe”

I absolutely love them. I can feel the intensity and skill in both pieces, and there’s something wonderfully satisfying about hand painted works.

You can see more of AGF’s work on her website poemproducer.com/



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Lucio Aquilina "Magic M"

Posted by Tony on 11/06/2012

Recentemente una ragazza era sciocca basta criticare il mio italiano. Grosso errore…

Moderna musica italiana non è buona. È economico, poco profondo, e senza passione. Ma in questo caso, farò un’eccezione. Lucio Aquilina rende noioso “minimal techno”, il tipo di musica che disprezzano. Sai, 808, 4/4, 130bpm … modello di musica. Tuttavia, in ogni genere ci sono eccezioni e “Magic M” è detta eccezione.

“Magic M” suona italiano. E ‘brilla e scintilla melodicamente, ma e ‘ancora musica da ballo, ma viene eseguito così bene e con tanta sicurezza che l’estetica non è più l’obiettivo principale. Si tratta di quella melodia accentuato dal basso. Tutto in armonia, tutto oscillante e la costruzione. La percussione è eccellente, con profonda 808 toms ‘plopping’ lungo, lo spostamento in avanti tutto.
Prima della “traccia” è stato rilasciato, ha riunito più di 20.000 visualizzazioni su YouTube – un risultato notevole per una musica underground. Magic M è probabilmente un po ‘della minoranza di piacevole minimal techno abbia mai fatto, è un disco dannatamente bene, ma non è stato sufficiente per salvare un genere. Non era sufficienti a elevare un genere sia.

Se ti piace la scena minimal allora hai già questa traccia. Se siete interessati a minare la profondità del genere minimal, poi Magic M non è un brutto posto per iniziare, ma la tua avventura dovrebbe probabilmente finisce qui.

Questo era difficile 🙁

Next time in English.



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Jai Paul

Posted by Tony on 11/04/2012

Jai Paul is a bit of a mystery man at the moment, disappearing a little more with each release. After his second demo track “Jasmine” he seems to have utterly evaporated from the scene. No press releases, no promos, no interviews. All this from a man signed to one of the UK’s largest labels XL Recordings.

It seems like a strange situation for someone who’s first track was sampled by some of the biggest artists in the world at the moment – Drake, Pusha-T, Beyonce…

His first release “BTSTU (edit)” is remarkably unusual piece UK funk. Difficult to classify or pidgin hole, BTSTU is a near perfect blending of electro and soul. Imagine Calvin Harris… If he was good or indeed, had any integrity at all. Or perhaps a fairer comparison would be to say he’s a British Frank Ocean, but that’s a statement that compliments neither artist.

BTSTU is short, competent and fresh pop music, even although its more than a year old now. Urban rhythm and blues vocals draped over a fierce but articulate, ever-present bass line. The one unmistakable quality is the sheer amount of promise that’s on show.

BTSTU was then followed by the non release of a track called “Jasmine (demo)”. Available only on his seemingly abandoned MySpace account, Jasmine is a definite nod to Prince’s funk, albeit filtered and processed through the lens of a 2012 mystery producer.

can you hear me jasmine
can you let me in
would you let me over
let me love you
jasmine
it's because I see you
is it cause I knew
she got the jasmine
jasmine

There was talk of an EP about eight months back, but nothing ever surfaced and all mention of which seems to be scrubbed from the web. His début album is still scheduled for 2012, as it yet remains unnamed and as December draws closer and closer, I’d say that it may suffer a similar fate.

Being mysterious and cool is all good when your making music, after all, it frees a listener from the shackles of PR men and allows for a more transparent interpretation of the material. But when you’ve got the world’s attention, you’d better make use of it.

Then again its very possible XL are fucking him with bullshit release schedules and exclusivity deals…

Oh, and for anyone wondering, “BTSTU” stands for “Batistuta”. Now you know.


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Vladislav Delay "Kuopio" Preview

Posted by Tony on 10/22/2012

Fuck sakes.

01. Vastaa 6:33 min
02. Hetkonen 9:36 min
03. Avanne 8:05 min
04. Kellute 6:32 min
05. Osottava 7:54 min
06. Kulkee 7:14 min
07. Marsila 7:40 min
08. Hitto 6:06 min
09. Kuuluuko 5:34 min (Download only)

The preview of the album sounds utterly amazing, so beautiful in fact that I’ve listened to the preview more than ten times now.  But immediately I have a problem.  Track nine, see if you can spot it.

DOWN-FUCKING-LOAD ONLY.  WHAT THE FUCK?!

So tell me V / Raster-Noton, why am I getting less if I pay the full price for the album?  Why am I not getting the full product with a physical purchase?  Is “Kuuluuko” actually the ending of the album, or merely bonus material tagged on at the end?  This is fucking ridiculous.  I need to buy the fucking thing twice just to hear the “bonus” material…  Thanks guys.

What if “Kuuluuko” turns out to be my favourite piece of music ever recorded?  In twenty years can I sit down with my kids and explain to them that this album is my favourite but “some of it was download only”.  I’m too furious to be coherent.  I cannot explain what a distraction from the music this is.

Vladislav / Someone at Raster-Noton, contact me.  antony.bernardo@gmail.com
I’ll try to tell you how every one of your customers should be treated equally.  I’ll try to show you that an album should always be offered in its integral version.  I’ll explain that I am, probably, Vladislav’s biggest fan but I’m considering pirating this album because I’m tired of being treated as a cash cow.

You see, offering bonus material doesn’t add to the value of the download version, it detracts only from the physical.  The fact that you leave tracks off the physical pressing renders it almost pointless.



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Pusha T "Pain"

Posted by Tony on 10/13/2012

The very first preview of Pusha’s solo album is released to iTunes this week, and cot dayum it’s heavy.  Every single line of the four-minute track is coke laced, drug dealer brilliance.  Heavy as fuck simplistic rhythms, a sparse but sinister bass line juxtaposing uplifting piano chords all while Pusha drops gems.

Pyrex on the platter like hot sex
But my tribe dont quest like love
Pain in this bitch, with the mask and the glove
And a team of lawyers to run the train on the judge

“And a team of lawyers to run the train on the judge” is evil as fuck.  Without a doubt the hardest line this year.  Jesus…

“Produced by Kanye West, written by Pusha” is a phrase now synonymous with “good music”.  How on Earth they’ll manage to follow a single of this strength with a full album later this year, I’ll never know.  I remain cautiously optimistic though.

Go and download it now.  Seriously.


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Clark Woodard & Joe Farrell

Posted by Tony on 10/13/2012

It’s always difficult to write about jazz records, and it’s especially difficult to do so in 2012.  For a genre that’s not been relevant for at least four decades, no music is analysed and critiqued as much as jazz.  Hip-hop, techno, electro, all have they’re critics but at least they’re compared to their contemporaries.  Thanks to Davis, Coltrane, Dizzy and Thelonious, jazz has been left abandoned by unprecedented brilliance and perfection.  No other genre has been honed, crafted, or raised to the level jazz was during the late fifties, early sixties.

So where does that leave the “Clark Woodard & Joe Farrell” album?  Possibly notable only due to the appearance of John “Scatman” Larkin?  Well it’s a loose, free sounding affair, lacking in rigid cohesion but at the same time it does contain a lot of feel.  Why it’s called “Clark Woodard & Joe Farrell” I’ll never know, because the sessions are led by Larkin, yet his name doesn’t even appear in the titles.  In fact, three of the tracks on this album are lifted straight from John’s seminal self-titled LP.
 Strange…

If you want to know about the music, you can read my review of the John Larkin LP, for it all follows the same sessions.  The only interesting addition in my opinion is the appearance of a cover of Coltrane’s “Naima”.  It’s executed very well and is, actually, a fantastically interesting version of “Naima”.  Complete with an unintelligible but gorgeous female vocal, “Naima” showcases the groups ability to shape and twist music into something a little unique.  Larkin’s playing is by far the stand out feature for me.  “Angel’s Flight” has been cut unforgivably shot, reduced from nine minutes to around five.  The major crescendo is gone, neutering the whole effect of the piece.  This, however, only give me more justification to blow the dust of the Larkin LP.

Clark Woodard & Joe Farrell

Clark Woodard & Joe Farrell

“Clark Woodard & Joe Farrell” is to say the least, an odd CD.  It would appear to be an attempt at gathering some old studio recordings and piecing them together with no real aim.  The music is very technical at points, but never intrusively so.  The album lacks direction and polish, but then again, should it just be viewed as a compilation of works? An archive of sorts?  I don’t know, I’m confused. I do like it though.

So who should buy this CD?  Well, anyone remotely interested in Larkin, Woodard or Farrell probably already have it, and anyone unaware of its existence should probably remain so.



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Blawan "His He She & She"

Posted by Tony on 10/12/2012

Blawan is a little known dance floor techno artist hailing from somewhere down towards the south of England. And, for an Englishman, produces some of the best emulations of Glasgow techno I’ve ever heard. Blawan’s latest EP, confusingly entitled “His He She & She” is causing a bit of a split in the audience. You see, the a-side is quickly becoming the definition of a “love it or hate it” record – there is no middle ground here.

The track in question is brilliantly (you can already tell what side of the fence I sit) titled “Why They Hide Their Bodies Under My Garage”. It’s a pulsing, heavy, 4/4 stomping, with the weirdest hook I’ve heard in a wee while. Everything is detuned, everything is an octave too low, and everything for want of a better phrase, is fucked up. The drums gulp awkwardly, I can’t work out a single not of the music, and the vocal progressively becomes more demonic as the track continues (ok, it’s just a ring modulator but it’s used to stunning effect here).

The critics seem to think this is a tongue-in-cheek production, but I genuinely can’t hear that. I mean, it is a bit like if The Munsters made techno, or if The Monster Mash was given a good four to the floor techno rework, but does that really sound bad to anyone? I’ll admit, the artwork is a little too OFWGKTA for my liking, but other than that I have a real difficulty finding a flaw here.

Occasionally it’s nice to step back from the chin scratching, post modernist, up-it’s-own-arse techno. Blawan isn’t so much a step back, but more of a giant leap back, but he does so with an enthusiasm and energy that not many can approach. If you ask me, this is an absolute must for anyone looking to sample some UK style techno.

There doesn’t seem to be a digital release at the moment, nor is there any signs of one on the cards. So unless you’re willing to part with £9.99 + P&P for a huge plastic disc to be mailed to your house, like a bloody caveman, regrettably you’ll miss this. It is genuinely worth the hassle of trying to find though – mark my words, the price of this record will rocket in the next few months assuming it’s never released digitally.

Why They Hide Their Bodies Under My Garage? Under My Garage / Under My Garage / Under My Garage?

edit: You’ve already missed this, it’s sold out. Excellent.



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