Thursday, February 24, 2011

High Voltage

Not only are Metiqulas and No Fixed Abode (known together as Voltage Blues) great cats, they put out some funktacious tunes. Metiqulas is renowned for his unique beat crafting, amalgamating hip-hop, soul, jazz, blues, downtempo and whatever else he sees fit into a musical soup that tastes damn good. And although No Fixed Abode (N'fa) has garnered much of his fame from his work with 1200 Techniques, that is really just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, the final project Heath Ledger ever worked on was directing N'fa's "Cause and Effect" video clip.

SoundCloud link, with more info about these two miscreants, below:
http://soundcloud.com/metiqulas

Monday, February 21, 2011

Bossa Novawesome

Jorge Ben has always been one of my favourite Brazilian musicians. How he fuses musical styles together is simply incredible, and he has an incredibly haunting voice to match. 

On a side note, Ben later changed his name to Jorge Ben Jor, apparently because some of his royalties had gone to the legendary American jazz guitarist George Benson. 

I believe that Africa Brasil is his best album to date, but Soul Jazz Records has done a great job with this compilation that features him three times.

Whether you'd like an introduction to bossa nova or a refresher, this double CD is worth picking up.

Link to Jorge Ben's Carnaval Triste below:
http://rapidshare.com/files/449102411/Jorge_Ben_-_Carnaval_Triste.mp3

Saturday, February 12, 2011

The Go! Team Review by Mac McNaughton


Let’s face it - the third album from Brighton punctuation challengers The Go! Team was never going to be a Kid A diversion from sophomore effort Proof Of Life, but it is the point where the often overcrowded kitchen of ideas finally comes up with a consistent winning recipe. On Rolling Blackouts, the sampladelica, high school chants and Motown grooves come in a kaleidoscopic torrent. 

At times - particularly during Apollo Throwdown and The Running Range -  I thought I was playing Wario Smooth Moves on Wii with my nephew. It’s a relentlessly ‘up’ album, completely non-stop in its energy. You’d half expect The Ebonettes, who Malcolm McLaren once championed in Double Dutch, to be exhausted by this exhilarating 40-minute set. Halfway through, you get Bust-Out Brigade, the most rousing trumpet lead cavalcade of marching drums and triangles. It’s arguably the most intoxicating three minutes on offer here.
But what stands out is how much better the ideas have come together, even more than their 2004 genre-busting debut, Thunder, Lightning, Strike. I hate to reuse superlatives here, but it’s just so damn rousing! Chuck in a splash of kitch Motown (Ready To Go Steady, Buy Nothing Day) and the swing is quite undeniable. Where 2007’s Proof Of Life was a deeply unsatisfying mess of too many ideas spray-canned on the walls, Rolling Blackouts is where the hypercolours finally take shape.
By the end, you’re faced with one of two desires. Do you flick back to the start and enjoy another sugar rush or do you need to come down? If the latter, perhaps Kid A should be kept handy - you might well need it!

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Dutty House

Sorry to everyone for being incredibly slack with my posting. Whether it's the Perth heat or me using that as an excuse, I've been more than a bit lazy regarding this blog.

I'll admit that I'm one of the biggest lovers and haters of house, but I've unfortunately become more of the latter. Thankfully there are people out there like Matt Shadetek, creating gyrating rhythms that keep folks like me interested. His Dutty House EP recently dropped and this banger is off it - in fact it's the first track. Glitchy, dirty and bass-ridden, it's just what me likes. Download link below:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3RTDFBX7

Monday, January 17, 2011

Interesting Read (Courtesy of Dave Cutbush)

Drug experiment - The Boston Globe

The Beatles!

On my Facebook I asked my friends to post their favourite song by The Beatles. I said I'd post the first ten replies, and they came in a flood. Although it was a fairly generic question, it's food for thought. My opinion seems to change on a daily basis, but I've always loved Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (and the album it came from, "The White Album"). I've decided to post this version, a reggae take by Ken Lazarus. It's a bit cheesy, but fun nonetheless - and it works in more ways than it doesn't.

On a useless knowledge note, the tag line in the original, "ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on, bra," was something Nigerian conga player Jimmy Scott-Emuakopor used to say. He was a friend of Paul's.

I pulled Lazarus' number from the album in the image, which is worth buying, although it has its cornball moments.

My first ten friends that responded had an assorted bag of favourites and there wasn't one repeat. They are as follows, with names withheld for security reasons:
"Blackbird," "Something," "Yer Blues," "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," "The Word," "If I Fell," "Love Me Do," "Yellow Submarine," "Wild Honey Pie" and "Hide Your Love Away."

Link to the Ken Lazarus version below:
http://rapidshare.com/files/443021066/16_Ob_La_Di_Ob_La_Da.mp3

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Paper Plane Project

Dope stuff. Go out and buy this one to support real music, straight from Australia (although the influences come from all over the shop).

Vinyl will even be coming out.


Link to "What You Want," which features Crown City Rockers' Raashan Ahmad, is below:
http://rapidshare.com/files/442809656/03_What_You_Want_ft._Raashan_Ahmad.mp3

Post from Mac (Transformers Edition to Come Soon...)


So every year, me and my mates take an annual poll of the best and worst music and movies of the year. We call it The am:X-C Awards (explanation for another time, perhaps). This is the tenth time we've done it. 
The muse for it was legendary British DJ, the late and great John Peel who's annual Festive 50 was something my best mate and I looked to and marvelled at. He was an absolute music junkie - unapologetic in his tastes, frequently guiding the tastes of 'the true alternative' and occasionally inviting the howls of disbelief of his loyal throng. But that notion of not apologising and saying "These are the songs that made my year" was quite intoxicating. 

I sit here on a Sunday morning ploughing through iTunes, ruthlessly grading my ungraded 2010 songs. To miss anything out would haunt me for years. Several random things strike me: 
1. It is completely possible to be both open minded and accutely capable of skipping through an entire song in less than 10 seconds to rate it with one star. Tinie Tempah, Pixie Lott, Chiddy Bang - your productions are all mindnumbing in their ill-adventure. Do you really have anything new to offer me? Ten seconds of my time is being generous. 
2. Bands who fall from grace CAN come back. Hence I have rediscovered the Manic Street Preachers. Their live show in December reinvigorated my love for them and, it would seem, their own interest in themselves. After a few albums in the wilderness, their 2010 release 'Postcards From A Young Man' is just fab with at least two bona-fide classic anthems thanks to 'Some Kind Of Nothingness' (featuring Echo & the Bunnymen's Ian McCulloch) and Golden Platitudes.
(See also Underworld whose 'Barking' made them wonderful again, thanks to employing a carousel of producers). 
3. Plan B perplexes me. I LOVE artists who don't sit still and churn out the same tosh. Ben Drew has reinvented himself and skewed off into a Ronson-esque soulboy-fused Streets geezah. He's making scally music for blokes with a brain. I'm fascinated by him in the way that people who "refuse to do Facebook" always end up asking their mate to look up ex's for them. Just to see. I don't wanna go there coz it doesn't feel right and I don't like what I'm hearing. But he's hot so I can't stop looking. 
4. Damn you Duck Sauce. Even I can't resist 'Barbara Streisand'. Any other year, a novelty track like this should be a shoe-in for the 'Worst song of the year' in the am:X-C Awards. This year, I'm placing money on it gaining a top 20 placing in the best songs list. Can you imagine Crazy Frog managing that a few years ago? I think not. 
5. Considering how much I loved CSS's debut album, how come I've completely not noticed their new album? I think it is churlish to rush-download, listen and shoehorn it into my end of 2010 list to somehow chuck in another element of cool, so there is another band many people will ask "Who?". 
There's more realisations to come. Some are more or less interesting than others.
 
You want in? E-mail me for your voting form (macsumner@iinet.net.au). 
I wonder if John Peel went through these random revelations, even though he didn't have iTunes. Cheers, Peely.

Dirty Hank

Rhode Island, the smallest - but not most unpopulated - state in the United States has had more good material released from it than most realise. Anyhow, this joint is from Dirty Hank (not quite as cool as Dirty Harry), and it's called "Funeral Fame." It gets a bit call-answer at times if you ask me, reminiscent of Lyrics Born perhaps, but without the cheeseball party vibe attached to it. He's attached to Digsafe Records and calls R.I. "Not Even Close To Paradise." Whatever. I'm posting this track anyhoo. Link below:
http://rapidshare.com/files/442800432/Dirty_Hank_-_Funeral_Fame.mp3

And as always, feedback is much appreciated, so leave a comment...

Tonka

After looking at Ta-ku's Facebook post with an image of a Tonka toy, I got sentimental. I had so many, but like the majority of children, the toys disappear. Did I break them? Did my parents give them away? Who knows, but good on this guy - whoever he is - for keeping his collection.

Hopefully my mate Mac will contribute to the blog with a photo of his Transformers collection, another group of toys I had, with a similarly sad story to the Tonka one.

Local Produce

Having a Perth blog without having local produce is absurd, in my opinion (and yes, I do my best to buy my food locally as well). So, the link you'll find below is for a collaborative effort between Ta-ku and Roughsoul. It's the first track off the album (and they're calling themselves LoveChild), entitled "We Are." The album is aptly-titled "Synth You've Been Gone" and is more than easily accessible. Holla if you need the deets. But, without further ado:
http://rapidshare.com/files/442652239/01_We_Are.mp3

Friday, January 14, 2011

Susan Cadogan and the Mighty Diamonds

Not a lot of songs make me hit the 'Single Repeat' button on my stereo. This one does. Cadogan spent part of her childhood in Belize, moving to Jamaica later, training - and qualifying - as a librarian. Thankfully her musical bones set in and this is a prime example. It's one of her earlier recordings for Lee "Scratch" Perry and is a cover of Mille Jackson's "Hurts So Good" done brilliantly. Released on Trojan. Link below:
http://rapidshare.com/files/442636525/Susan_Cadogan_and_the_Mighty_Diamonds_-_It_Hurts_So_Good.mp3

First Post

Hey all, this is my first post. It's a bit late, but Happy New Year to everyone. But to get right down to it, here is a link to a dope remix of Jurassic 5's "What's Golden," courtesy of Oyoshe (a.k.a. Oyobeatz). It's a summery beat over what's become a classic, courtesy of the New Yorker. It's from his album "The RE:MIX," available for free on his MySpace (www.myspace.com/oyoshe). Other artists featured on the album include AZ, Nas, Mos Def, Big L and even Diana Ross. Peep it, and always remember to support real music:
http://rapidshare.com/files/442633204/What_s_Golden__Oyobeatz_Rmx_.mp3