More joyous noise from the Dirtbombs. I reckon this a set of original songs, but I'm not 100% certain there are no covers considering the band's history, plus some songs sound strangely familiar. I can't find any credits for song writers anywhere about the record or sleeve, so no clues there.
There are a number of tunes I keep returning to on this record and it sounds good from start to finish, so what more could you ask for?
It has to be said from the outset that the majority of this record is not great, but there are couple of songs that I have a bit of history with.
The first ever regular DJing I did was in Potterrow Student Union in Edinburgh, almost 20 years ago. I used to get an hour to spin with my mate on their Friday indie night. You were supposed to play the records that were in racks in the DJ booth and this Spencer Davis Group album was tucked away in there. My friend and I used to get melted before we played and would always bring bags of our own tunes. This meant we could get a little far out for a Friday night student crowd, but we could always bring it back by playing one of the crowd pleasers off this record. It would always be either I'm A Man or Keep On Running that would save our skins and I've liked them ever since.
I found myself a bargain price copy on the internet, from Amazon again. It seems to be a better place to buy records all the time as the collection, including second hand stuff keeps growing and the postage is SO cheap.
I reckon it could be the influence of tv that has made me decide to pick these up now. I've seen stuff about Steve Winwood on telly recently and there is a shit advert on just now that uses another of the songs from the album. I didn't realise the tv commercial thing until I told a friend what I'd bought and he mocked me for buying the tunes from adverts.
I bought this on the same impulse that caught me the Marvin Gaye from the last entry. I've picked up a couple of Neu! records before, but I had never heard this one. Nevertheless I bought it, unplayed and sealed from a shop in Manchester. I guess I must have thought I had money to play wirh.
I'm glad I did. Obviously with having the 2 albums before this I had an idea what I was getting and my mate Declan (Uter) suggested this might be the best of the 'proper' Neu! albums. I don't always take his word on things, but he may be right this time. It is definitely better than the half baked 2nd record and I generally only play the first side of the first record, whereas both sides usually get an airing with this effort. For now at least.
Richer and more varied than the earlier records, there is a lot I like here and some stuff I'm just puzzled by.
Surely I don't need to explain who Marvin Gaye is, or much about this record. Maybe I should explain that the reason I didn't already own this already is because I'm not sure I like it that much. Sure, it has an a couple of awesome songs which make it worth picking up, but I don't enjoy listening to it from start to finish, which kind of wrecked my plan of growing to love this as an album by repeatedly playing the record through as an album.
Great as parts of this record are, buying this album seems more like a gap-filling or box-ticking exercise to me than than a glaring omission rectfied after playing this new purchase through a few times and hoping for the whole thing to click.
A cheeky wee cheapo that I picked up on my trip to Manchester. My version is a stickered white label with no cover, but its got all the songs and cost less than a regular single, so I'm fine with that.
I've written before about other DFA records that I've bought and have blethered on about how much I like James Murphy's LCD Soundsystem, so it should be no surprise that I was interested in this collection of remixes, despite the odd selection of original acts. I was familiar with a couple of them before, Shake yr Coconuts and Destination Overdrive so I was totally confident that this was good deal and didn't need to listen to any more before I got it home.
Rothko and I worked out an instrumental edit of the Destination Overdrive remix which I like more than the official version and this is the first hint of a small problem for the whole collection. Every song has great things about it, but they usually tend to have something a little shit going on too. Sometimes all the bad is at the start and I'd be happy to play the last 2/3 of the tune. I generally blame whatever has been drawn from the original source songs and since its normally vocals, I guess that's fair. There is easily more good than bad about this record though. However, I should maybe mention that I repeatedly didn't buy this record when I saw it at full price.
I've been after this particular piece of weirdness for ages now. I first heard it from a friend in Edinburgh years ago who was good enough to give me a recording of the single. I'd been a fan of Calvin Johnson since getting into his earlier group Beat Happening and liked the idea of a funkier sound from him. I've picked up the odd single by Dub Narcotic Sound System, but hadn't seen an affordable copy of this single.
I found a copy on Discogs and ordered it, only to realise it was from a store I know in Manchester and I coincidentally already had plans that would take me to the city visiting friends. I arranged to pick this up in person, giving me an excuse to check out what else they had in Vinyl Exchange and a few other shops in the area, while also dodging a few quid on postage.
The track itself is a blast of odd punky organ and bass driven funk with stupid lyrics that I find a lot of fun. I've played this from the copy of this a lot, so I'm happy to have it on plastic at last. I reckon I might throw this in the bag to play out some time and see if anyone else enjoys this oddball masterpiece.
This is a sweet set made up of five records in a textured box. Each record is themed in the colours of sleeve and label. Each record has 6 tracks covering a career of work from 1984 to 1990. I'm certain I would have bought each of the individual records as singles, making this box all the more special.
I've ranted at length before about VIrgo Four, but I'll recap quickly. I love Virgo Four based on the single i got years ago and was always sure there must be other tracks of the same standard by these boys. This box set makes it apparent that the songs were many, they just never got released. I reckon if more of these tracks had come out at the time then there would be another indisputable giant name in the Chicago House pantheon.
There is a wide variety of sounds covered on this compilation, ranging from the familiar lush house sound like the old single, through Detroit sounding instrumental techno and there are also a few unusual and surprising sounds. The tracks generally sound very fresh, despite their age although there are couple which have not aged so well, but are still an interesting document of the range of Virgo Four. I've had this set for a couple of weeks now and it has taken this long to get a proper idea of range and quality of the songs it contains.
I'll add videos for some of my favourite tracks, although for the moment it seems that only songs from the CD are available, which is a shame as the CD only has about half of the songs and many of my favourites are not included. Never mind though, there are enough quality songs available to demonstrate the quality of this set.
The picture above shows the lovely vinyl this record is pressed on. It isn't the same as mine, which is typical with the marbled plastic, as each one is unique. Combine this with a sleeve that is matt charcoal on the outside with printed versions of a variety of familiar Sandwell images on the inside and you have a lovely package all in.
I was half way to buying it before I'd even heard any of the tunes, simply because of the gorgeous presentation and the fact that this is the latest in a string of hot releases from Sandwell District.
The record is a pair of reworks of key tracks from the Feed-Forward album. The versions are credited to Function this time and carry on developing the distinctive Sandwell sound. Excellent stuff all round, although one of the tracks (Falling the Same Way) has an added crackle sound that has started to grate a little on repeat listens. Could just be my shit gear though.
I got very excited when i saw that there was something new out from Cottam. Apparently I got number 317 of only 444 copies. It seems a shame if there really are so few of these considering how good it is.
Luv Jam's original version is pretty good. I reckon if I'd heard it many years ago it could possibly have been a contender. All the sounds are spot on but I don't think this track does enough for me these days.
The Cottam mix on the flip is a different matter entirely. Although Cottam is still playing with basically the same tried and tested set of sounds, I'm much more taken by this side. Instantly identifiable Cottam rhythms, maybe faster than usual with quality acid tweaks and strings/washes that are determined to drag me away from the computer with my arms in the air. I know it's still early but this could be a release of the year for me.
If this is as limited as is claimed, it probably means the links I can offer will be relatively poor, but as always I'll upgrade if possible.
Latest offering from Hyperdub. I had no idea who Funkystepz were but I gave it a spin in rubadub from the racks as I always do when I see a new release on this imprint.
I was immediately tickled by elements of both sides, although on repeat plays I favour the lead track.
I have a bit of a I love/hate thing with the strings from Hurricane Riddim now and I'm not sure about their need to regularly name check themselves, but the strange rhythmed techno of Fuller makes this well worthwhile.
More solid funk and soul selections from James Brown's People Records label. A fair few male copies of James and some excellent female vocals, all backed by versions of the JBs line up. More duplicates from the antholgies, but enough new favourites to make this well worth it.
Seems like this particular record might have been cheaper than usual because of a poorly, partially removed sticker on the cover. Big scabby bit of sticker backing in the corner of the front, but that doesn't matter as the record is all that matters to me. Same thing I say to myself if a cover gets beer on it....
I look forward to getting a chance to play some of these out.
I had no idea that this low rent mid 80's compilation of 60's tunes existed until Rothko showed me the copy he'd picked up second hand in a real live shop in Glasgow. In the main it is a little unremarkable, about half of it is good but there are a couple of simply awesome tunes in this selection. More importantly these are songs that I didn't have elsewhere.
The primary cause of interest for Rothko and me was Jackie Wilson's Higher and Higher which has been a favourite of ours for a long time now. For me, the fact that The Kingsmen's Louie Louie was here as well made me go right out and find another copy immediately.
Add in two cheesy novelty records also featured that I've had a hankering to pick up for a while, the fact I was able to get it delivered to my door through Discogs for the price of a regular 12" and you've got a situation that resolved itself in a flash.
I like these weird videos I found for these tracks. It had just never crossed my mind to make a video of myself playing a rare record. Still probably won't do it, but these were the least annoying videos with the 'best' sound that I could be arsed finding.
My love for The Dirtbombs just keeps growing. The two records I bought recently have been getting a lot of plays and have made me curious about the back catalogue I can see on Discogs.
This is an album of mainly original material, as opposed to the covers albums I've bought so far, but this is no bad thing as it demonstrates that they are just as comfortable and capable creating from scratch as they are at re-interpreting other folk's songs.
There are a lot of songs I really like on this record and it is a bit more rocking and possibly a little more polished sounding production-wise than Ultraglide in Black or Party Store. It is pure joy to get another top class album by a new favourite.
I've finally caught up with February. It's been a bit a mad month in terms of the amount of new vinyl I've added. Plus my computer is getting more and more cranky making posting a really frustrating process, which I let myself get really behind on. I've been posting like mad for a wee bit, covering about 3 weeks of solid spending, but this is my most recent and I only picked it up on Saturday. (2 days ago). March is looking good already as I've already got a couple in the post and there are known new releases that I'm waiting for and a trip to Manchester that will include shops to look forward to.
Another selection I caught from Rothko when he was updating me on his latest records. He only played me a couple from tracks from this and I was convinced I had to pick it up.
The tracks Peter played me were mainly African sounds, but now that I've got it home and played it through a few times, I've found that there is an awful lot more to it than that. There are also loads of Latin sounding things from around the Caribbean and Central and South America, as well as funk from everywhere.
I've not taken to it all immediately. There is maybe a bit too much accordion for me to be won over by it all straight away, but i like the funkier stuff and there are some cool new sounds and rhythms that my ear might get tuned to, but there is at least a song a side that I reckon I'd be happy to play out. Still playing it through a lot to figure whats what.
There are plenty of places to hear samples of this if yr interested, but I've found a couple of videos from it.
I'd missed this recent release on revitalised R & S Records until Rothko was playing me some of his latest new records. I immediately went daft for the lead track on this single.
Stereo Freeze is a monster of a dubstep/electro banger. I've been playing it a lot, and mainly at ear-shredding volumes. This is easily the best track I've heard by Untold, but is so good that I'll keep checking them out, just in case there is more as good as this.
The flip side isn't quite so good. There are excellent elements and sections, but the whole is a little disappointing. Much more the Untold I'm used to.
I picked this up in Undergound Solush'n in Edinburgh when I ventured through there to celebrate my brother's birthday.
My favourites from this album are so familiar to me that I think I assumed I already had them somewhere. perhaps on one of the many daft compilations I've bought over the years. After checking though, I found there was a massive Al Green shaped hole in my collection which I lept onto Discogs to sort out.
Gorgeous, lush, warm Memphis soul with Al Green's beautiful vocals setting it all off to perfection. I'm listening to the album while I write this and I just keep getting so carried away by the music that I can barely concentrate to write. I reckon there are a number of stick on, no argument classics in this collection which I am delighted to finally have in my hands.
I've been checking out all of the releases I've seen by Cosmin TRG since I picked up his double pack on Tempa, which was one of my records of the year last year. I haven't always liked them as much, but this is a belter.
This latest release on Modeselektor's Fifty Weapons label gives as a pair of chunky mid-pace dubby techno tunes that would not sound out of place on the Modern Love label. Both sides seem to be variations on a theme, but both would make excellent mixing/dancing gear. I like both sides and have not really taken either side as a favourite yet.
More hybrid weirdness from Apple Pips. I've been buying these on sight for some time and even though the artists are usually new to me, they are often a gateway to quality and unusual stuff.
Orphan101 gives us pair of understated tracks that could both probably be called dubstep, but there is a definite electro feel to the lead track, while the flip is more techno to my ear. I reckon I prefer the A-side as it has a great pulse and generates an unusual atmosphere. The flip has a little strangeness that I think could get on my nerves after a while.
A random selection from the racks of rubadub, I didn't know anything about this artist or label before I gave it a spin. I always listen to lots of new records when I'm out shopping and am not too choosy about the unknown gear I add to my pile. It only takes a few moments to check out a record and there is no harm in listening to a lot of pish in order to sift out the gems.
Littlefoot seems to be a fairly new artist and produces a genre-splicing house+ sound that I'm taking to quite quickly. I find it quite hard to describe the sound of this single, there are a lot of familiar elements and few that are new to me and the tracks are pretty different from each other.I like all three of the originals Littlefoot has produced, but the remix is disappointing.
I've added a link to Soundlcoud where you can hear samples of the single.
I first heard Fujiya & Miyagi a few years back when one of their songs, Collarbone featured on a car advert on TV. I was immediately taken with their Can/Neu! style sound and have been listening out for them since. Unfortunately for me, they didn't make a vinyl release of the album Transparent Things, so I've been trying to pick up the various 10" singles. Only got one so far.
I saw this album in Mono and decided to take a bit of a risk on it, as much as I like Transparent Things, I don't really like the album they made in between and I hadn't heard any of this yet. I'm glad I took the punt on it though.
Their sound has changed a bit over time. They are a little darker and tougher sounding with the keyboards more prominent, and even a few wee hints of funk here and there. The album starts out really strongly, but I think it falters a little later on. No real problem though as there are easily enough quality songs on here to make this a worthwhile listen.
Ok, I'll admit it. I went a wee bit mental. I'd had a few drinks on a Saturday afternoon after a slightly disappointing trip round the shops. I'd been listening to Ultraglide in Black and was keen to hear if there was more stuff in a similar vein around. Discogs was clear and recommended nothing but a selection of Detroit Cobras albums and I'd heard the same from my DIrtbombs fan workmate.
It didn't take much internet magic to get to hear a enough of these records to get very excited by the soulful, rocking covers of obscure old tunes with awesome female lead vocals. This really is my idea of pop music, in that I can never believe that anyone wouldn't like it. I reckon even my mum would enjoy the Detroit Cobras.
I think they might write a few songs of their own, but there is a wild selection of different songwriters credited for most the tracks, many of them a total mystery to me. Maybe need to start digging.
Each of the albums has a slightly different sound, but its more about the production than a change of style I think. I've only listened to the albums through a couple of times and now can't resist just jumping around between my many favourites.
I know when I get this excited about something it can end up being fairly short lived, especially when I play the songs too often too quickly, but I'm pretty certain that there are a few tunes on these albums that will be bringing a smile to my face for a while to come.
Catching up on another older tune i missed first time around. Zomby has made a lot of records that have attracted my interest over the last wee while. Some of them have been straight up genius like The Lie, while others just haven't moved that much at all.
I had thought that this was one of the singles that left me a little cold, but I reckon that is because I'd paid too much attention to the A-side, which I'm still not very keen on. I heard Rothko playing the flip side recently and was straight over to find out what it was. I saw that I could get a copy as a pair with the Peverelist of the previous post and here we are.
I've been on a bit of spree recently and haven't really been writing about the records as they came in. A lot of gear from the internet so it was all coming in dribs and drabs. I decided to wait until everything had arrived before posting, but i'm feeling the backlog is getting a little out of hand.
This is an older release on Pinch's label Tectonic that I missed when it was first released. Punch Drunk boss Peverelist gives us 2 excellent techno flavoured dubstep tracks. Nice effort in mutual back scratching with the back and forth of releases on each other's labels. I always like that kind of thing as it makes it easier to keep exploring and discovering new music through the connections.
I reckon I prefer the flip Junktion for its unusual rhythms and weird atmosphere, but they are both quality tunes.
I guess it must just have been sloppy research, but I'd managed to convince myself that you could only get this selection of songs on cd. I'd thought the only Ghost Dog vinyl was the excellent soundtrack that Rothko has. That record is all the instrumentals that appeared in the movie. The movie is odd, but I recommend having a look, although some of my mates would have it in their list of Worst Ever.
I nearly burst with excitement when I saw that there was a vinyl version of these songs while putting together the page of my most played tunes of last year.
Produced and masterminded by RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan and featuring the Wu and their extended clan, this is an album of songs that I guess are inspired by the movie and use many of the instrumentals from the soundtrack. I've longed to get this on record since I heard it, which is so far back it's lost in the haze of pre-history (maybe 8 years ago?). I have loads of favourites from this album but I'll just add videos rather than blether on about how good they all are.
I sometimes find that finally getting a record I've been hunting for ages can seem to take some of the shine from the songs, as if the fact that I just couldn't own the songs made them all the sweeter. Not an issue with this album though. I'm just frankly delighted to have it in my paws at last and it's getting a lot of plays. Certainty for going in the bag to play out as well.
New remixes of old favourites Octave One including a version from current crush Sandwell District made this a very tempting package. One that I had no inclination to resist.
Regis and Function take on I Believe for the Sandwell District Remix. I had a listen to the original again to get a bit of perspective. I think it is Octave One's first single. The Sandwell boys have really reworked this tune with typical quality Sandwell bass, rhythm programming and atmospherics to start with. This leads on to the whole vocal and a big whiff of the best synth sounds from the original. I guess if you just heard this and didn't know all the info you could easily take it that Sandwell District had just taken a leap and put a vocal on something, but I reckon this is a top quality remix.
The original track for the flip side is drawn from one of my favourite Detroit singles. I remember before it came out there was hype about it being specially created for the tracks to really complement each other when mixed. Its true as well, they do sound great mixed and you can really play around with them.
For a record nerd like me, the fact that this record has 2 catalogue numbers and is somehow on 2 labels that I like was enough to make it noteworthy, nevermind that it was belters by UR and Octave One on either side.
I love both sides of the split single, but I had always prefered the one with the big sticker that said Aztlan.
However, listening to the new remix and looking at Discogs again has enlightened me to the fact that I've had these the wrong way round the whole time as I had no idea that the original single was mislabeled. Which has somehow unsettled me a little and belatedly added to my esteem for Octave One.
I don't know much about Aril Brikha. I initially thought I'd prefer if he'd taken his ideas and developed them as a whole new song, but I am warming to his rework of Daystar Rising. I think I'm always a bit resistant to remixes of favourite tunes but I reckon this remix has enough going for it that I won't always reach for the original instead. Sweet, smooth techno with a busy bassline and some choice elements from the original plus some unusual synth lines that I guess are Brikha at work. Might need to check his stuff out.
I've added another page to the blog. Its a list of the most played tunes of 2010 from my itunes and there are loads of links about all the songs, including places to hear them. Pretty self explanatory really.
I got a call in the forenoon today that I struggled to understand in my morning fog, but I eventually grasped that Mono were calling me to tell me that this record that I had ordered had arrived.
There are a few immediate stand out tracks, particularly Sharevari and Jaguar, but I really like the sound of the whole thing and am already on to another playthrough.
I guess that there is a risk that this record could sound like a bit of a novelty, but that just isn't the case. Some songs are more succesful than others, but I reckon that if you were a guitar music fan who didn't know or like the connection to Detroit techno then you'd still find something here. The Dirtbombs have managed to make this sound like these songs are their own and yet they are still recognisable if you know the originals.
I'm looking forward to finding out how this is received by my mixture of friends some of whom would like and know the originals, but maybe not the rock stuff and the boys who like the Dirtbombs, but not dance. I'm also pretty certain that this will be a fixture in my DJ bag.
First proper 2011 release for me as the others so far were out the end of last year and this is definitely the first that shows 2011 on the sleeve. I don't know why, but I always like to see this new number on records for a while.
I must confess that before a few weeks ago I had no idea who the Dirtbombs were until a casual conversation in work revealed to me that there was Detroit garage band whose next album was a set of covers of Detroit techno tunes. I've got to say that I was immediately interested.
This album is much older and I was told about it when I stormed into Mono looking for the techno covers album. This is basically another set of cover versions, but mainly soul type stuff this time featuring songs by Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, George Clinton and Marvin Gaye among others. Fuzz laden and live sounding, this really is exciting, hair raising gear which I can't get enough of.
I know I am prone to exaggeration and tend to get carried away, but I like this record so much and I am so excited by what I know of the coming album that I think I may be developing a new favourite band.
I'm finally getting over my mid winter period where I feel like I ought to hibernating and I'm ready to do something other than massacre computer game sprites.
Part of this has meant that the search for special plastic has been rejuvenated, and this is the first fruits of this year that I've thought was worth talking about.
More of that sweet, minimal Sandwell sound over a pair of sides. The fact it's meant to be a live recording might account for how familiar parts of it sound. If this is Sandwell District live, I hope they play near me soon.
I can't pick a favourite between the sides and I am liking the single more each time I play it so I reckon it's safe to say this is a winner.
This however brings me on to a bit of a rant. I am frankly raging that all of the copies of the Sandwell Feed Forward album that came out around the same time seem to have been bought up on pre-order by speculators who want to punt them on the internet at gouging multiples of the original price. Shame, because I reckon it could be something special. Maybe I'm just annoyed I didn't get one though.
I've been more lazy than usual lately and I've been deep in the xbox as well. I guess that Glasgow in mid-winter lends itself to that sort of action, especially when you throw in all the festive boozing. I haven't really bought much recently and haven't really felt they merited posting about, but I reckon I'll get things going again soon. There are already a few things I'm planning to get and I seem to be shaking off some of the laziness.
I think there is new Sandwell District stuff and my mate told me about an album of garage rock covers of Detroit techno that sounds amazing. Plus there are re-issues of German and African stuff and a world of expensive internet purchases to look forward to.
I've spent the last wee while going back and pretty systematically listening to all of the records I bought last year. I've made a list of my favourites and have created a new page dedicated to it. It's a bit arbitary as I excluded anything that wasn't a 'new' release last year. I even feel a bit like arguing with myself about some inclusions/exclusions, but then thats lists... Favourite Releases Of 2010
I'm also planning to add my Top 50 most played tunes of the year, but that takes a bit of time to sort out in the fashion I plan.
