Vista? Nuh-uh!

January? Gone already? Sheesh.

So technically this is the first MJ post for 2007, and in Mac-assisted glory too!

(Sorry Mr Gates, but Vista's hard sell didn't grab me after I found out about how your new operating system takes the 'person' away from the 'personal' PC and into Microsoft's hands. Oh, and at least now Ableton and other memory heavy software won't crash on my machine and leave me with a clicking hard drive....click....click....click)

January has been quite a relaxed month with highlights including
* Lovely walks along the Southbank under the winter sun
* Heaps of new music to listen to (and share)
* News of a best friend's engagement which means a return trip Down Under to see friends and family (Tim, got a date for this shindig yet? Not that anyone's rushing you!)
* Speaking of Down Under, receiving two fantastic packages of provisions of food and music from the familia and Mr Nash. Smoked macadamia nuts from Queensland....amazing.
* Sleeping in all the time. 10 hours sleep on consecutive nights? Unheard of!
* Walking around town with a bag that promotes one of my favourite record stores in the world (thank you Nash, and thank you Blake and Byron!)
* Snapping up an Arcade Fire ticket (thanks Marie!)
* Great no-brain TV when you need it (the return of America's Next Top Model and The OC)
* Great brain-TV when you need it (Expedition Borneo, Battlestar Galactica)

Lowlights?
* No contact from rubbish people. Grrrr.
* The windy windy day that knocked over trees in Stokey.
* Snobs.
* The last night of Trash which was impossible to get into due to poor bouncers, no queue barriers, people pushing in, and wankers all around. Shame it had to end like that.
* The regulation January cold.
* Paying for cable sport channels, and what do you get? One sided cricket matches and heartbreaking buzzerbeaters in NBA games on Martin Luther King day. Curse you Gilbert Arenas!

All up, not a bad month. What's in store this month?

Help me get an I-Pod, k? / Back with the heavyweight jams!

Another long absence between posts huh? Well, I'll see if I can turn that around. But first....I want an I-Pod dammit. Help me get one by clicking here and then you too could have one! You'll have to complete one of the many sponsored offers that the 'Free I-Pod' people have (go for the Screenselect free month trial - free DVDs!) and once you've completed it, and get 5 other people to do the same, then you too could have a lovely Nano or 30GB beast of your own. I'm going to call mine Sparky.....

Right. So what's been going on? Well, the last month has been a bit of a blur with a few spots of deck-wrecking, visitors from the land down under, the odd gig or two, and stacks of good music out. Let's get to the highlights shall we?

* Music first. Best compilation of the year? Well, it'll be hard to top the latest Fabric mix from my fellow mixed up antipodeans, Cut Copy. The tracklisting (B-LO!) basically begs that you spent your hard earned on it immediately with cuts from Justice, New Young Pony Club, Fred Falke, Roxy Music, Midnight Juggernauts, Daft Punk, the Cutters themselves, and a shedload more. In fact, one of those big music chains in the UK is doing a 2 for 1 Fabric deal at the moment, so you can grab Diplo's set from last year for nix at the same time!! Bloody brilliant I tells ya....

1. I Wish You Were Gone - Joakim
2. Future Unlimited - Cut Copy
3. Disco Clown - Munk
4. Hello Empty Room - Who Made Who
5. Future Unlimited - Cut Copy
6. Get Dancey - New Young Pony Club
7. Bang Bang - In Flagranti
8. Side In - Goldfrapp
9. Dead Eyes Opened - Severed Heads
10. Out The Door - Who Made Who
11. Face To Face - Daft Punk
12. Truth And Lies - Presets (1)
13. Work On You - MSTRKRFT
14. Stop - Casco & BWH
15. Your Retro Career Melted - Faint
16. E Talking - Soulwax
17. Into The Groovey - Ciccone Youth
18. Waters Of Nazareth - Justice (3)
19. Eisbar - Grauzone
20. Acid Never Lies - Riot In Belgium
21. Shadows - Midnight Juggernauts
22. Omega Man - Falke, Fred
23. Champu - Diamond, Daniel
24. Angel Eyes - Roxy Music
25. Going Nowhere - Cut Copy
26. Dream Sequence - Cut Copy

Drool.....

* While Through Being Cool is taking a break, there's a new night starting in October that I feel obliged to plug (like the dirty commercialist that I've become). More news when it comes to hand.

* Big shouts and hollering to the Mindie gals who invited me to play some tunes at their 93 Feet East banger a few weeks back. Let's do it again!

* Gig of the month? Gig of the year - Seu Jorge at Koko as part of the TrocoBrahma festival (beer sponsored, yes, but that's a minor quibble. Anyway, this whole post smacks of sell-out don't you think? Maybe I should go off and chill with Leonard Cohen's monk posse for a while to cleanse my soul). Pickchas? Yeah, scroll down y'all.

Sway, Dynamite MC and Instituto (a bit like Brazil's closest equivalent to The Roots)

Mr Jorge himself.

Jorge and the crew join the crew for a mass dance at the evenings end (during the third encore too!)

*What's on the stereo at the moment?

Midnight Juggernauts - Shadows
Outkast feat. Scar & Sleepy Brown - Morris Brown
The Futureheads - Worry About It Later (Switch remix)
The Roots feat Peedi Peedi - Long Time Comin' (yes, it refuses to budge from the stereo. Class all the way. Bring on Game Theory next Monday)
Cassius - Jack Rock (yes, it's rave meets Italo-house!)
Simian Mobile Disco - Animal House
Christina Aguilera - Still Dirrty
Peanut Butter Wolf - 666 mix (Slayer? The Cure? Ministry? Check, check, check! Get it here or be damned for all eternity!)
Snowden - Black Eyes (Le Castle Vania remix)
Ryan Adams - France
OMD - If You Leave (Time for a John Hughes marathon...)
CSS - Alala
Scissor Sisters - I Don't Feel Like Dancin' (it just burrows in your brain...)

* Oh, and grab the Outkast newie too. Jazztastic.

Right, I'm off to dream of free I-Pods and planes sans snakes (the best B-movie of the year? Maybe.) Back tomorrow.