Credit to the Edit

I love a good edit, and so does Lovefingers. One of the two folks behind the Black Disco Social Club in Los Angeles (alongside Nitedog), Andrew Lovefingers is a master of re-edits, especially of the space-disco/balearic kind. Examples of his work, as well as a slew of DJ sets, can be found on here (I'm particularly fond of the Donald Byrd and Jo Bisso cuts at the moment.....bliss).

Those who prefer hearing their music coming from a warm deck instead of a warm hard drive will be pleased to hear that Lovefingers collaboration with Nitedog, Black Disco Vol 1, is now out on 12", and a fine rekkid it is too, full of tripped-out woozy goodness. Fans of DFA and Emperor Machine need look no further. Grab it at Phonica while you can.


* Cut Copy are coming to town in April to showcase the damn fine songs from their second album In Ghost Colours, a record that has pretty much been the soundtrack to my week (apart from the sleeping bits that is, and possibly the bits where I had to go pee). Ahem.....anyway, it's out on May 5th here in the UK (yes, it seems rather odd that it's been pushed back again, and in the age of downloading, both of the legal and illegal kind, I'm perplexed as to the reasons why Universal have done this. Surely a foolish move considering the record leaked in early March, and came out in Australia last week). Tickets for their Scala show on April 23 are on sale now (grab 'em here, here, and possibly here)

And if you can't wait until May 5 and would actually like to purchase a physical copy quick smart, Red Eye in Sydney have it for around about £13 (including postage)

(Album highlight? Far Away)

* The best cartoon from my youth has finally made it DVD!

Remember this?



And this?



Wow. The only homework I ever needed as a kid.

What becomes of the broken hearted? They head here...

Last year's Anti-Valentines session at the Keston Lodge was a hell of a lotta fun with drinking, dancing and just generally sticking two fingers in Cupid's direction by playing a selection of 'fuck love' and done-me-wrong songs throughout the course of the evening.

(My personal favourite of the night? This one)



So this Thursday the 14th we're going to do it all again from 8pm till late. Joining my good self on the wheels of rubber, steel and plastic will be Beez and Becca, aka World of Proper. Having seen those crazy kids last play at their Christmas records bash at The Mucky Pup, I'm guessing that Thursday should be -

a) a lark
b) quite silly
c) full of pardeeeee breaks
d) probably quite messy


There will also be a ban on Joy Division tunes (seriously, that's just way too obvious for an Anti-V Day bash) and, despite what it states on the flyer above, I'm sure couples can sneak in as long as they stop holding hands for at least one millisecond whilst walking through the Keston doors. Oh, and no pashing like randy students sneaking a quickie behind the cricket nets/bleachers. Right? See y'all there.

Now, back to our (ir)regularly scheduled blogging

* A quick shout out to footie blog Angle of Post and Bar which skewers the hyperbole of the cash-grabbing Premier League and big time football quite nicely. If you're a fan of When Saturday Comes then Angle is certainly one to bookmark.

* While watching the Eng-er-land vee Switzerland match this week (if only to gaze at the sartorial smoothness of Don Capello of course), my flatmate Will decided that the name of Swiss goal scorer Derdiyok was a fine replacement for the title of Maria Vidal's 80s hit Body Rock

'Derdiyok, get your body into music...'



This led to a good hour's worth of amusement watching clips from the flick of the same name, an unintentionally hilarious cash-in on a crazy new street culture known as 'hip-hop'. I'm tempted to pick it up on Region 1 DVD for a fiver just to experience the full, camp, body popping Lorenzo Lamas experience. But for now, I guess these clips will have to do (Oh, and I'm changing my name to Chilly D).







'Yo, this cut? Very big in Europe this season....'

* Forget Sony's colour ads. Honda continue to make clever and unique commercials that never fail to raise a smile. Rubiks cubes and jigsaws. Gold.



And the making of.

2008? Already? (2007 faves)

Happy New Year and all that jazz. So I've been tardy with the blogging of late (again). Eh, whaddya gonna do. Anywayze, quite a few people have asked for my musical favourites from last year. Let's see if I can remember them.....

Top 'gee, I don't know, 3?' albums

1. Midnight Juggernauts - Dystopia


Midnight Juggernauts - Road to Recovery


2. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver


LCD Soundsystem - Time To Get Away

3. Pinback - Autumn of the Seraphs


Pinback - How We Breathe

Why 3? Well, that's because I looked at my iTunes and these are the albums I've played the most. That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it dammit. Actually, it's more that the albums below were all of a similar standard and I couldn't really rank them (or be bothered to as it's now February, OK?)

The Juggers debut was a perfect mix of pop, emotion and beats (or as someone once said 'ELO meets Daft Punk') that stood out from the electro crowd. LCD were EVERYWHERE last year, and too bloody rightly. As for Pinback, a great follow up to Summer In Abbadon with Rob Crow's vocals sounding even more frantic and emotional than before (and his solo album was a cracker too) while Zach Smith's fretwork continued to provide the ballast that made Seraphs a mainstay on the stereo.

As for the rest? Well, these were the ones that stood repeated plays.

Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Good Shoes - Good Shoes
Justice - Cross
Mirrored - Battles
Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer
Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
Panda Bear - Person Pitch
Burial - Untrue
Feist - The Reminder
Digitalism - Idealism
Kanye West - Graduation
PJ Harvey - White Chalk
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

A few words about the selection above? The Spoon album was 2 tracks short of being a career best (and sadly enough the Jon Brion track was the weakest one on it. Odd that). Good Shoes was the most refreshing 'indie boys with guitars and floppy haircuts' release I'd heard in a long time with clever songwriting and hooks by the bucketload. Burial's second album made me pine for two-step, yet was still as haunting as his first, and just as scary to listen too while walking home at 3am. Most hip hop in '07 was shite (sad but true). PJ's album was so bleak on the first spin that I had to stop it halfway through the last track as I couldn't handle it (well, it's not exactly music for a tube journey into work is it?). However, when I finally had the nerve to come back to it I found I just couldn't stop pressing play again to become immersed in such a haunting and fragile world. And Kanye? Not even Chris Martin could spoil that LP.

Top single of 2007

UGK featuring Outkast - International Players Anthem



Despite what I said above about the poor standard of hip hop in 2007, this track towered above everything else. Andre 3000's lazy rhyming at the track's start was on second glance a splendidly sweet and effortless cameo which left the three other rappers with plenty to aim for if they were to match it. Which of course they did with aplomb. Both Underground Kingz bump the beat while rhyming about the joys of pimpin', and the cautionary finale from Big Boi signs things off pefectly. Add to that a great sample from Willie Hutch, a bumping 808 beat that kicks in just after Andre passes the mic to Pimp C, and a great clip ('Why's he dressed like Rowdy Piper?') and this collab was easily the year's finest.

(And RIP Pimp C too. A damn shame)

Gigs gigs gigs.....the best 10 of 2007 (in order this time from top to bottom)

Daft Punk @ Wireless festival, Hyde Park
Sonic Youth performing Daydream Nation @ Koko
Arcade Fire and Patrick Wolf @ Brixton Academy
Pinback @ 229
The Jesus and Mary Chain @ Royal Festival Hall
Interpol @ Astoria
T-Model Ford @ The Spitz
Air @ Hammersmith Apollo
Shellac @ Koko
Murcof @ The Luminaire



Daft Punk were amazing. Simple as that. A visually stunning lightshow, a great setting with thousands going mental as the sun went down on a warm summer night, and of course the music (the finale of Together, Music Sounds Better With You and One More Time was just a wee bit special). Wonderful.

Can I go now?

Midnight Juggernauts / Cobra Dukes

A message to all Australian readers - Pop down to your local rekkid store this weekend. Grab a couple of those plastic notes from your wallet (a red 20 and perhaps a pink 5 should do the trick), lay them down on the counter and ask politely for the brand-spanking new Midnight Juggernauts album, Dystopia. Smile at the guy/gal behind the counter, then thank them. Take it home. Play it. Load it onto your new-fangled MPFree player. Tell your friends. Spread the word. Yup, this album is just a lil' bit special.

Oh, and if you don't live in Australia then you can order it from Inertia, Chaos or Red Eye.


Midnight Juggernauts - Into The Galaxy

* Speaking of Australian niceness that comes in the form of music, Cobra Dukes released their debut single last Monday, and it's also just a wee bit special. The first release on new label Prestel as of last Monday, Leave The Light On has the right blend of dark, off-kilter pop and early Factory style vocals (yes, the names 'Ian' and 'Curtis' spring to mind, but with a touch of 'David' and 'Byrne'). They're playing tonight at The Luminaire in Kilburn, and for 5 of your English pounds you too can see what all the fuss is about.


Grab Leave The Light On at Beatport and Phonica.

* It's the Red Pandas up against reigning champs Otters In Love for the title of 'Darned cutest You Tube animal'. No contest - Red pandas all the way (like Stephanie Kaye).

Got my Simpsons Vans on and they look like sneakers

S.U.C.C.E.S.S. - That's the way you spell a good day's shopping, or summin' like that. (Imagine hearing the JUSTICE kiddies singing that...)

Following on from yesterday's hint, Codename Sparrow and myself hit the new Oxfam in Dalston, and found quite a nice addition to the strip of chicken shops, fabric warehouses, pound shops and warehouses that is Kingsland Rd. There was a poor CD selection, which was beside the point really, as it meant we could get down to business and start combing through the 49p and 99p rekkids. Near misses? Well, Leather and Lace: Volume Two was tempting....in the end I plumped for two albums - Prince's 1999 and Duran Duran's Rio. Sure, obvious choices you might say, and I'd have to agree with you. However, if there's ever a need to play at a wedding in the next few years then these would both make the shortlist for the appropriate record bag.

The catch of the day came near the end of the search, just as we hit the 7's. Ladies and gentleman, I give you the 1985 power ballad from four sharply dressed lads, Mr Mister. Pure. Solid. Gold.


Mr Mister - Broken Wings

To this day, I can still remember hearing this for the first time on a car trip in country Australia when I was young nipper whilst listening to Barry Bissell's Take 40 Australia chart countdown (the Australian version of Rick Dees Weekly Top 40, or Top Of The Pops). The synths, the electronic drums, the soft wailing guitar, and the pleading of singer Richard Page, knowing that 'the look of love will open up for us and let us in' (yeah yeah!). Some people may tarnish songs such as Broken Wings with the lazy (and opportunist) 'Guilty Pleasure' tag, but it still raises a smile every time I hear it, whether in the background while eating a hangover special at the local caff, or whilst playing GTA. Class.

And the clip - I swear, wife beaters and jackets are a winning sartorial one-two.



Later on in the day, I headed over to Brick Lane to check out the mighty fine Super Deluxe, where instead of picking up a pair of the new Marc Jacobs Vans (tasty), I grabbed the last pair of the nice nice Nike Court Force High's designed by Jeff Staple. Merino wool on a sneaker? You betcha.



But now I've found the next target on my shopping list. Feast your peepers on these.





Yup. Limited edition Vans designed by Kaws to commemorate The Simpsons Movie opening later this month. Head over to Freshness Mag for the rest of them (the Futura and Todd James pairs are also nifty too).

Speaking of all things Simpsonic, I followed the lead of Mish from I Used To Dance With My Daddy and pimped my yellow ass right up, avatar stylee.

Only problem is, I haven't been clean shaven in five years! It looks like some Photoshop hijinks might be the only way to get a true Major Leaguer likeness, although right now I've got other things to do with my time, such as packing my trunk for the land of Swedes.....

Sonic Youth - Theme from The Simpsons

Animal Collective / Fill your boots with Phil!

* Shhhhh....I really shouldn't be saying this, but what the hey. One of my favourite not-so-secret second hand stores, the Oxfam store on Kingsland Rd in Dalston, has just been split into two. The old store continues to sell clothes, toys, furniture and what not, while the new fangled store (situated just a few doors down) is solely devoted to records and books. Myself and Codename Sparrow are going to visit it tomorrow to look for bargains (unlike the wonderful sitemaster of Dalston Oxfam Shop whose discoveries are of a different nature, though no less important!). Still, if you ever need twelve copies of No Jacket Required, you know where to go.

* I'm off to the land of moose and trolls on Friday, but if I wasn't then you'd probably find me at these two pardees this weekend. The lads from West London's finest hip-hop night, Yo Yo at Notting Hill Arts Club, are headlining this Friday's Modular party at Ditch. Joining Seb Chew and Leo Greenslade will be the peeps from the mighty fine FACT magazine, Faggotronix, the Modular DJs themselves, and some special guests (nope, don't have the foggiest who they be....don't ask me, I won't be here!). Anyway, here's the fwyer.



If the hip to the hop ain't your bag of kittens, then why not have a night off (pfft), and rest up for Saturday's Vive La France secret warhouse party. Starts off at The Horse & Groom before heading to ...well, you guessed it, a secret warehouse. But the line-up is aceness indeed. David K, Muriel Moreno, the Girlcore ladiez, and more. Details below.



* The delightful Animal Collective are playing tonight at the Coronet in Elephant & Castle, playing songs old and new, the new being tracks from their upcoming Strawberry Jam album, out September 10. If they play this then I'll probably giggle like a school girl. Check the gorgeous clip below as well.

Animal Collective - Fireworks



* Finally, I didn't get to go see one of Trousersnake's shows at the White Eleph...sorrry, Millenium Do...sorry, 'behemoth phone company' Arena, but my man Beez from 16 33 45 78 did, and his review hits the nail right on the head. If you ever want to blow money on a pop concert with the works, checking out the Snake is highly recommended. More on the moro.

Elliott Smith - New Moon

This week sees the release of Elliott Smith's New Moon, a collection of demos and rare tracks from 1995-97, and unlike posthumous releases from other artists the tracks featured on the two disc set have been left in the state Smith recorded them in (apart from the odd digital polish and shine). Hearing these songs, many for the first time, makes me realise just how gifted Smith was, a musician with a knack for lacing his songs with simple melodies while his confessional and often bittersweet lyrics floated on top, waiting patiently for the nearest passerby to come along and extend a hand. With New Moon, it's safe to say that Smith's passion and talent won't ever be left to drown because he touched far too many of us to ever let such a thing happen.

Elliott Smith - Miss Misery (early version)

Elliott Smith - New Disaster

Buy New Moon from Amazon.