Every musical blog I seem to visit recently has this clip from BET’s ‘Cypher’, featuring Mos Def, Black Thought and Eminem… So I figured, why buck the trend? Enjoy.
Defected’s ‘Def.Com’ compilations will always remind me of my first (and so far only) car crash, as I was listening to Powerhouse’s ‘What You Need’ at the time that my 2 week old Fiesta ploughed into the side of an old lady’s Honda after she’d pulled out on me… I cared about the CD so much, that I sent my dad down to the salvage yard to eject and retrieve it from the CD player. And I listened to it on repeat while I laid up, unable to walk for 3 months.
Just thought I’d share this Defected video with you… No real reason behind it, just sit back and enjoy the music that one of the most prolific and superb labels has brought us over the last 10 years.
http://www.defected.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/DefectedRecords
The 45th Southport Weekender will be taking place this weekend (6th, 7th and 8th Nov) at Pontins in Southport. Being indoors, it brings the festival atmosphere without having to gamble with the British weather. The bi-annual Southport Weekender has been running for 21 years this year, and is one of the largest and most-loved indoor festivals in Europe.
DJs and artists appearing on this occasion include India, Jazzanova, The Sunburst Band, Zed Bias, Donae’o, Kenny Dope, Frankie Knuckles, Gilles Peterson, Dennis Ferrer, Kerri Chandler, DJ Spinna, Quentin Harris, Frankie Feliciano, and a recent favourite of mine Ronnie Herel.
If you’re interested in going down, it’s still not too late to book.
Visit the website for more information, photographs and podcasts:
http://www.southportweekender.co.uk
There’s also a DVD called “One Nation Under A Groove”, produced by Naked Talent Productions, that offers an insight into what the Southport Weekender is all about, recorded over 7 years in time for the 20th Anniversary celebrations last year. Click here for a trailer and more info.
I won’t be able to make it down this time, unfortunately, so I’m relying on you guys to let me know how it went (and record some of the awesome sets!)
To get you in the mood, here is a Fanatix set recorded at the last SPW, kindly shared by Fanatix-member Neil Pierce:
It’s about that time of year again… The time for sugar-induced headaches (as a result of buying way too many sweets to give away to the handful of trick-or-treaters who came a-knockin’) to be compounded by candy floss, toffee apples, and absurdly loud fireworks. I’ve been stocking up on Nurofen and toothpaste in preparation for this week, and I’m already feeling the benefits.
It’s been a few weeks since I reached out to you on a personal level, and a few things have happened that have been keeping me occupied… Firstly, and most upsettingly, I said goodbye to the only female that has ever been faithful to me last week – my beloved Nissan 350Z:
I miss her already…
My mates Kris and Louise emigrated to Dubai recently, and are just about getting settled. I miss them too! I also envy their tans, and admire the risk they’ve taken moving to a country so different to ours. Hopefully I’ll be able to get over there and visit before the year is through. If you’re in the slightest bit interested, Kris has set up a blog to keep us Brits back home up to date with what they’re up to: http://krisheath.com/
Pete, Andy, Big Jon and I have sent off our application forms for next year’s Tough Guy challenge, amazingly while sober and without bribery! In fact, having punished ourselves by watching ‘The Invention Of Lying’ – without doubt, the most dreadful film that I have ever seen, and perhaps has ever been made – I’m starting to think that there’s more than a whiff of self-loathing and self-punishment going on this month! We would have walked out of the cinema if we weren’t so upset about being ripped off to get in there in the first place… Seriously, when Gervais walked out looking like Jesus, I nearly put my Pepsi through the screen. Don’t even watch this film when it comes out on TV.
I’m past the ‘oh-my-god-what-have-I-let-myself-in-for’ stage now with Tough Guy, and I’m quite looking forward to it. It’s going to be freeeezing cold, taking place on 31st January, and there’s a box on the application form that asks where you’d like to be buried if you die on the course, but I’m still optimistic that it will be fun. We’ll be collecting money beforehand for Help For Heroes…
If I can figure out how to put a button here on the blog for you to donate between now and January, I will do so.
There’s a video here from an ESPN review a couple of years ago that will probably better explain what Tough Guy is all about than I possibly could in words:
Ummm… What else has happened? Pete and Laura are expecting a bambino. Laura’s sister has had her bambino. Steve from work’s had a bambino. My cousin Helen has had her second bambino. I’d feel left out, if it weren’t for the fact that I’d be a terrible father and can barely look after myself, let alone have a little’un to worry about!
I’ve been quite busy with designing some new menus and generally preparing for the busy Christmas and New Year period at the pub, so while I can only apologise for not bringing you as much hot and tasty music over the last month or two, it’s not like I’ve been sat on my arse sucking my thumb!
In fact, I’ll bring you some music right now! My old friend Dom Navarra has kindly shared a cheeky remix of Paloma Faith’s ‘New York’ on his SoundCloud page… A vast improvement on the original, I think you’ll agree.
I think I’ll leave you with this, for those of you that do have the time to sit down and peruse the weirder reaches of the internet: a site I found through the FRONT blog… Take A Weird Break. Just click the link and have a look. I do love mental people… Similarly awesome is WhyTheFuckDoYouHaveAKid.com, which I shall be showing to all of the new parents that I’m friends with so that they can get some tips.
See you soon peeps! Bonfire this weekend yeah?
Those of you who have trawled through my links list along the left side of this page may have stumbled across the Japanese FMusic.Sakura.ne site, which stores links to hundreds of unusual and hard to find mixes, from a truly eclectic selection of DJs from around the world… It’s well worth taking a look around, if you have a few hours to kill (even if, like me, you can’t read Japanese… it’s laid out simply enough for even me to be able to work out how to use it).
Compost Records recently held an event to celebrate their 15 year anniversary at the Muffatwerk nightclub in Munich, Germany. Compost have been responsible for some of the most influential tracks of recent times, from artists such as Truby Trio, Eddy Meets Yannah, Kruder & Dorfmeister, Beanfield and Christian Prommer to name but a few. Their ‘Future Sounds Of Jazz’ compilations are also must-haves in any self-respecting slightly-leftfield underground-club collection.
Anyway, the nice people at Compost kindly recorded the sets from their 15 year anniversary party, and links for you to listen to the sets (from the likes of Gilles Peterson, Jazzanova, Kruder & Dorfmeister, Eddy Meets Yannah, and Beanfield) can be found on the FMusic.Sakura.ne website:
Click here: 15 Years Of Compost – Recorded Sets
There is also a nice download page on the Compost website, with free promos of recent releases, and a huuuuge back catalogue of Compost radio shows… Check and bookmark the site right now!
You may remember me posting Volume 1 back in June… If you missed it, click here.
Jeremy Sylvester is back, with Volume 2 of his Love House Records mix series, featuring the most recent Love House Records releases.
I don’t have the tracklist at the minute, but for now rest assured that its equally as bucking fumpy as the last mix, and absolutely worth downloading. Have I ever been wrong before?! I’ll update you with the tracklist as soon as I have it…
Click here to download Volume 2:
Coincidentally, the ‘So Addicted / Move Your Body’ EP is released this month:
As well as, for the old skool heads out there, a fully remastered, CDJ-friendly G.O.D. Limited album!
Jeremy has also recently played a big part in the introduction of a new monthly house night in Birmingham called ‘Soul Fusion‘… Previously held at Bobby Brown’s, and advertised solely through Facebook and local press, next month it will be moving to the newly refurbished Club Dragon Eye on Broad Street. The next event will be on Saturday 21st November, and it’s not such a secret any more, so get yourselves down there!
email: club_asylum@yahoo.com
http://www.producerpack.com/
http://www.urbandubz.com/
http://www.traxsource.com/love_house
http://www.facebook.com/lovehouserecords
http://twitter.com/jeremysylvester
http://twitter.com/soul_fusion/
http://www.myspace.com/jeremycsylvester
http://www.myspace.com/lovehouserecords
A few years ago, I spent much of my ‘internet time’ on the many music-related forums that the world wide web proudly hosts. Most of them were particularly obscure and peculiar, in both their content and the variety of people that used them, but that was part of the interest for me… To discover new music, new like-minded people to converse with, and perhaps learn a few things along the way.
I can’t remember where I first came across Kwame, but he was one of those guys that just seemed to be everywhere I went afterwards. Musically, our tastes were identical, and having recently stumbled across him on Facebook I’ve found that he’s also into photography too. While our lives are clearly very different, and we’ve never physically met, it’s uncanny how much we have in common.
His ‘It’s Just House’ and ‘The Soul Inside Of Me’ mix series’ have been running since what seems like the dawn of house music itself, and have been prevalent in my iPod on a regular basis. Previously, I’d have had to go here to find the mixes, if they weren’t posted on one of the house forums, but he’s just set up a SoundCloud account which will hopefully mean I can keep track of them a little more easily, as well as share them here with you!
His most recent entry, Volume 37, can be found right here, and is a delightfully deep romp through some of the murkiest depths of the last few months’ house releases.
http://soundcloud.com/kwamea
http://twitter.com/kwamea
http://www.facebook.com/kwame
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ka_photography/
It’s been a while since I collected some visual inspiration for you, to accompany the audible delights that I’ve featured.
My parents held a Caribbean Night at their pub last night, with a lively chap named Delroy playing steel drums, in their attempt to hold on to and extend what was yet another dismal British summer.
So, following suit, I’ve decided to share with you, in a vain attempt to keep the brightness and warmth of the summer alive, a collection of a few images that will hopefully inspire and satisfy in equal measure.
You may have heard about Bandcamp… It’s a place for musicians to host their own music store, cutting out the middle men and allowing them to bring you the freshest new music and freebies, direct from their personal collection. (I linked to Goapele’s Bandcamp site a couple of months ago, where she was offering her single ‘Milk & Honey’ for free download…)
You may also have heard about Jonny Miller… Jonny is a DJ, tutor, consultant, label owner, record producer & remixer extraordinaire, whose digital label Jus’Listen has become a key part of the UK broken beat scene over the last few years.
Combine these two things that you may have heard of together, and just like in ‘Captain Planet’ after all the rings are put together, something amazing happens:
http://jonnymiller.bandcamp.com/
Jonny is still in the process of creating his Bandcamp site, but in the meantime he is kindly offering a free track for those of you fortunate enough to stumble across it! An unreleased broken beat cut from the vaults named ‘Seedy Are’ is yours just for clicking the right buttons.
Jonny’s label also sells music via iThinkMusic:
http://www.jus.ithinkmusic.com/
Bookmark it and visit it regularly.
http://www.soundcloud.com/jonnymiller
http://www.facebook.com/jonnymiller.music
Wax Poetics is a bi-monthly music magazine dedicated to vintage and contemporary jazz, funk, soul, Latin, hip-hop, reggae, blues, and R&B… It’s also a record label, apparel store, download site, book publisher, and a weekly radio show on New York City’s East Village Radio hosted by the magazine’s staff. There’s even a Japanese version of the site.
You may wonder why I’m telling you all this…
Well it was through my weekly trawl that I found this free soul mix from one of my favourite artists of the last couple of years, Lanu.
As Tru Thoughts Records celebrates it’s 10th Anniversary in 2009 head to www.waxpoetics.com to check an exclusive Lanu selection of mellow soul cuts culled from the Tru Thoughts catalogue. Featuring music from Alice Russell, Nostalgia 77, The Bamboos, Kylie Auldist, The Quantic Soul Orchestra & more!
Click here to stream / Right click save as to download
Lanu is a New Zealand born, Melbourne-based producer, signed to Tru Thoughts, whose 2007 album ‘This Is My Home‘ I still play regularly, and who has worked with the likes of Jazzanova, Masters At Work, Mark de Clive-Lowe, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Bembe Segue, Guru, Alice Russell, Opolopo and Quantic… All of whom, you may have noticed, are also favourites of mine. More recently, he produced Kylie Auldist’s album ‘Made Of Stone‘, which was released in August, and is currently touring with Kylie and his ‘Cookin’ On 3 Burners’ project in the UK and Europe.
Check out the mix, and bookmark these links to keep up to date…
http://www.lanu.com.au/
http://www.myspace.com/lanumusic
http://www.kylieauldist.com/
http://www.myspace.com/kylieauldistmusic
http://www.tru-thoughts.co.uk/
