Sleng Teng Ting

Cutty ranks while his pal spines:



I love how serious everyone is. Exactly as it should be.

don't chat to that original hardcore shit about cut up

The whole cut up thing with that Burroughs et al. video reminded me of British early 90s hardcore videos. Other stuff of the era, e.g. Coldcut who's Erik B and Rakim remix still gets played on MTV sometimes, did much the same thing. And, before that, of course there was the US hip hop stuff. But there's something about the sci-finess of the hardcore videos.

Acen - Trip to the Moon (Part 3?)


4Hero - Mr Kirk


2 Bad Mice - Bombskare


House Crew - The Theme

Towers, Open Fire!

Burroughs, Gynsin & Balch get all cut up. (1963)

COULD EVERYONE STOP GETTING SHOT?

DJ Luck and MC Neat - A Little Bit Of Luck (Live)

Harmony

Bone thugs n harmony - Thuggish Ruggish Bone


Liquid - Sweet Harmony

Tull is in the hizouse!

Got to give mad props to my little brother for bringing these beauties to my attention. These are the two most impressive visual representations of the art of Jethro Tull that I have yet seen:

"The Hare Who Lost His Spectacles"



"Solstice Bells"

Moroder City

Oscar-winner, pioneer of electronic music, World Cup/Olympic theme song composer, sculptor/painter, car designer...yep, I think we can all agree that Giorgio Moroder is not just the absolute don of music, but of stuff in general. Here are some choice examples of his work that have been slightly lost in the mists of the '80s:

Madleen Kane-"You Can"



Irene Cara-"Breakdance"



Janet Jackson-"Dream Street"



Melissa Manchester-"Thief of Hearts"

rock and roll rock and roll

In the spinebox, this is classical. In fact, in the history curriculum taught by spinebox schools, 1980s Jamaicans have directly replaced 1950s Americans, thanks mainly to Chaka Demus.

Chaka Demus, Tonto Irie and John Wayne - King Jammy's Sound 1985


And this is just fantastic. King Jammy studio tours (in King Tubby's studio?) with Wayne Smith smooth as anything in the vocal booth. At the very end it unexpectedly cuts to some tree branches.


Finally, King Jammy takes us to dub school. Two lessons today.

MF Doom's Day!

...but this time with a 'lil Viktor Vaughn, of Vaudeville Villain

Vicktor Vaughn - 'Mr Clean'

MF Doom's day?

I'd imagine we probably need some more MF Doom in here...

Calabi Yau Space

The new Dopplereffekt album came out this week, and quite frankly its amazing! Heavy shades of Delia Derbyshire with stunningly rich textures, Gerald Donald on top form! Buy buy buy!!! :D

Heres a cracker from the last album - Dopplereffekt - 'The Scientist'

Ruff Sqwad

I said it would be a good thing if grime artists got more back catalogue exposure. Ruff Sqwad are arguably the most compelling case. They've been consistently incredibly inventive and work well together as a group. Rapid produces most of the beats, wrapping three minute packages of fragile teeth-gritting percussion and relentless melody - check 'Anna' for the most startling example.

Ruff Sqwad - Xtra


Ruff Sqwad - Anna/Down


Tinchy Stryder -Underground


The CDs Guns and Roses 1 and 2 are out, as are solo CDs from MCs Tinchy Stryder and Slix.

Thee, Stranded Horse

Yann Tambour's first full length release as Thee, Stranded Horse entitled 'Churning Strides' has just come out on Blank Tapes, and is a staggeringly beautiful listen. Singing in English and French, Yann's voice is often accompanied by intricate playing on both guitar and perhaps more interestingly, kora. Check these live performances from Point Ephemere in Paris:

I NEVER come wack on an old skool flave.

The weekend is here - I gotta get mine in a big black truck, you can get yours in a six fo'... whatever it is, the party's underway.

Fledermaus Can't Get It

It doesn't seem likely that Mark E Smith and Mouse On Mars would be able to form a functioning musical partnership, but they seem to have connected whilst making their new collaborative effort under the name Von Sudenfed. Allegedly the reason it worked so well is largely down to the Mouse On Mars guys being completely ignorant to both The Fall's impressive back catalogue and Mark E Smith's fragile temperament.

Italo-o-o Disco-o-o

There's a veritable feast of Italo Disco Electro mixes on DMP's Site. They're all worth a listen, and there's even some John Carpenter tracks chucked in for (extremely) good measure! Check the 'Unofficial Italo Disco History' for more details on what you're getting yourself into. To get straight to the nitty gritty visit the downloads page. And if you're still unconvinced, wrap your eyes around this:



The Flirts - 'Passion'

Ever been to Forest Gate?

I haven't. It's in Newham, East London, "official host of the 2012 Olympic Games", and Newham Generals, named after the local hospital, live there.
The Generals' Frontline, produced by Big ED, I think in 2004ish, is one of the best grime singles ever and D Double E (the second guy) one of the most sonically exciting, and distinctively grimey, MCs.
Like a lot of grime artists, they sit on a massive back catalogue of independently, or never, released material. They're signed to Dizzee Rascal's Dirtee Stank records so hopefully they'll get the exposure they deserve, without being ripped off by a major label. It would be great if that could happen to a lot of grime artists. Wiley, for example, is so chuffed with the royalty-splitting album deal he's struck with Big Dada that he called his first single for the label 50/50. I've posted it below.

Newham Generals - Frontline


Wiley - 50/50

Alchemists of Sound

The Radiophonic Workshop formed in the 1950s at the BBC and was responsible for some of the finest sound design and music you could imagine. This lovely documentary was aired on the BBC a few months ago and makes for fascinating viewing!



part one / part two / part three / part four / part five / part six / part seven

The Golden Days of MTV2

If you insisted on watching MTV2 at every waking opportunity in 1998, you'll probably be strangely familiar with the following videos...

Devo - 'Whip It'



Primus - 'Winona's Big Brown Beaver'



Ween - 'Push The Little Daisies'

if we used to be friends its cos i used to have time

(Taliban) Trim has left Roll Deep. His new CD, Soul Food, is out and he's about the best MC in Britain. Factually. In this freestyle his slurred, abstract style fractures some pretty starightforward grime instrumentals (both produced by Skepta). Sometimes when Trim MCs, he's just talking.



When he's just talking, he's got stories to tell. Trim goes to Ayia Napa...

"I went with Roll Deep for a week and certain people were getting chased with bottles by N.A.S.T.Y Crew. I’m in my bedroom, people knock on my door and say your bredrin’s been stabbed, so I come out and this girl’s outside shouting in my face, so I pushed her away. Two minutes later, somebody from N.A.S.T.Y is around the corner on his moped trying to drive into me on a 50cc. I jumped off my moped and we started swinging, but we didn’t really hit each other because it’s a drunk thing. Then I see this big guy standing there with cane rolls, so I thought fuck this, so I went into my room, come out with a shank to defend myself. I’m outside and surrounded by four guys and then I hear sirens, so I run to stash the knife. Then the police come and this girl runs over to the police and gets me arrested. The police took my passport off me, bruv. I was stuck there in Ayia Napa for about five months trying to get back to my own country by boat or whatever. I was raving for five months, bruv. I had to pay £1,500 to get it back. I’m not allowed in Greece and I’m never gonna go back."

Oi Buster, its Saturday...lets watch Turtles II

Continuing the film theme, here's another couple of classics penned especially for dubious quality films. Phil Collins wrote 'Two Hearts' with Motown legend Lamont Dozier for the classic 80s crime-comedy 'Buster'. Yet more evidence (if you needed it!) that Collins has been using his Midas touch to grope up anything he could get his hands on.



This second clip is concrete proof that any pop star can be promoted with a little seamless integration into the plot of a sequel. Vanilla Who? F**k it, just get me the flexidisc off that packet of Frosties...

Johnny 5 is a twat

Here's a couple of those classic '80s celebity cameo movie tie-in music videos. In both cases, great songs (El DeBarge and Michael McDonald), pretty weak films (Short Circuit and Running Scared):

Let's go crazy!

Here's a selection of Prince-related ephemera from the '80s.

Firstly, Prince's protegees, Apollonia 6, who appear in Purple Rain:



Prior to Prince's discovery of the beautiful Apollonia, the group were known as Vanity 6, and fronted by this lady:



The above track was produced by Jesse Johnson, guitarist for Prince's Minneapolis cohorts The Time, who also had a few solo hits, including this beaut from his excellent first album:



Of course, in The Time, Double J backed up the absolute Don (and real star of Purple Rain IMO) Mr. Morris Day. He sadly never had the solo success that he truly deserved, but one look at these videos will leave you in no doubt as to his legendary status:





Right, as this post rapidly spirals out of control, here's Mazarati, original home of bad-ass Revolution bassist Brown Mark (whose own solo album is not hugely recommended btw):



Sheila E, one of the most talented musicians ever to back up the Purple One, with a particularly Paisley-esque solo number from 1985:



And finally, the wonderful Wendy and Lisa with one of their many excellent solo (or duo I suppose) tracks:

Roger Linn's Drum Machines

There was a lovely documentary about Roger Linn on BBC Radio 4 the other day, tracing the importance of his Linn Drum Machine. You should be able to listen again on the BBC website until sometime next week so don't sleep on it!

Honey, I'm still free...

We all love synths, and everyone knows Abba invented the modern pop song. But what if these two elements combined? And what if they were then performed in a hilarious video, complete with a totally inappropriate ragga jungle interlude? Ladies and gentlemen, feast your eyes upon the (admittedly a teeny bit gay) world of Erasure's "Abbaesque" project.