The Double Bill

(Hello everyone, just a quick post, which is going to be edited tomorrow with the full playlist.)

This is (finally) the double bill hour long Sunday Mixtape that has been on the cards all week. Tonight i finally got round to having some time to acutally make it.

For all those who don't know what the Sunday Mixtape is about, its simply a collection of songs i've been listening to from the week past. Stuff from when im on the way to work, walking around, going to Primark and looking out for undesirables.

lave a listen, there's UB40 to Pulp, Simian Mobile Disco to Nico, and even some Tes to Jackson And His Computer Band

download here

Put your hands up for Electro

The image is from a google image search of 'Hangover'. Today I'm feeling sorry for myself after putting on a gig last night and then hitting a club afterwards, all the while drinking far too much Alcohol.

The gig went very well. I was putting on Krap Nek (France), Omerta, U.Y.A. and Carraway. I haven't put on a hardcore show in a while and the turn out was fairly good, mind you in the tiny back room of The Castle on Oldham St, Manchester the bands alone were nearly enough to fill the room. I really love the venue though, ok its not going to win any design awards and it is basically a shithole but its ideal for sweaty metal and crust punk gigs like this.

After storming performances by all the bands myself and few friends headed off to Satans Hollow, I can't remember the last time I was in there, but it hadn't changed one bit. You know what you're getting with Satan's - a healthy dose of commercial punk, metal, emo and indie. All was going just as expected; drinks were flowing and I was dancing badly, until from nowhere Alter Ego's 'Rocker' is dropped into the middle of the set. I was shocked, don't get me wrong its a huge tune but it did make me realise just how mainstream electro has got right now. 3 years ago you wouldn't have heard that tune outside of underground techno clubs and now electro is everywhere. The latest T Mobile advert features Claude Von Stroke's 'The Whistler' and The Freaks 'The Creeps' has been played to death on every radio station and music tv channel all summer.

Where is electro going to go from this? Over-saturation brings boredom, it also leads to crap-cash-in productions, milking a genre for every last penny it has; Put your hands up for Detriot, anyone?

all this leads me to believe that Electro is dead.

Well not quite dead (had you going then!) but iits like what happened with punk 30 years ago all over again. I always prefered post punk/hardcore more anyway. I wonder what post-electro will sound like...

Daft Punk Alive 2007

With the release of Alive 2007, a recording of Daft Punks Live Show in Bercy, Paris. I had a quic klook around to see if i could find a couple of vids from the their live set at the 02 Wireless festival, here they are.

Part une

Part Deux

Back to work for me, get ready for the Mixtape Sunday double bill tonight.

Mixtape Office - Catchup Sunday

Hello everyone, long time no blog entry. Your all looking well, have you been on holiday?

Due to a busy week of arguing about what colour of beige is best, i've finally managed to catch up with what i've missed with Office Thursday and last weeks Mixtape Sunday. As well as all this, we at Robot Soap have a little treat for you all, with a couple of half hour mixes from our residents Correct Effect and Paulo T, as well as a double edition of Mixtape Sunday (unfortunatly there has been a bit of a hiccup and this will be up tomorrow).

Office Thursday

This week i began the scanning and documenting of ten thousand or so active, agreed and withdrawn files, what these files are for is irrelevant but what you have to imagine is that all these files have to be scanned, logged and listed by hand. each file contains around 10 - 15 sheets of paper, and each are stapled together, as well as this the scanner enjoys to have a good chew on anything that is put in there.

I don't need to tell you, that music has helped me through these hard times. This week i've been hammering a collections of sounds and harmonies that have stopped me from settling a score with the Kodak scanner.


LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver
buy at Amazon
View the Myspace
Watch the "All My Friends" Video - Youtube
Watch the "All My Friends" (Franz Ferdinand cover) Video - Youtube
Watch the "North American" Scum Video - Youtube
Watch the "Someone Great" Video - Youtube

Sound Of Silver has been on the shelves since March time of this year. I dug this this out of the crates after hearing North American Scum on the radio at the start of the week. The album itself is a great collection of electric vibes and indie beats, and although it may not be for everyone, its a steady album that i have a listen to on the tram to work as well as when im routing through the cabinets.

There are some serious highlights, tracks such as "Someone Great" and "All My Friends" are fantastic. If you have time its worth having a listen to the Franz Ferdinands cover of "All My Friends" as well, it's a great re-working of an already excellent song.


The Editors - An End Has A Start
Buy at Amazon
View the Myspace
Watch the "An End Has A Start" Video - Youtube
Watch the "Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors" Video - Youtube

The problem that i have with this album, is that i think that it's much weaker than the bands previous Back Room album. That might be seen as saying something horrific to the musical world but its not to say that its a poor album, not by far. it's one of the strongest albums released in the past year but it's not that hard t compete with the trash thats been pumping out this year, call me bitter, but music has fallen over its laces a little of late. this is however left fr another discussion on a different day.

Its strengths are a little shadowed by its weaknesses that but its worth a listen in any case. One of hte strngest tracks is "An End Has A Start", its whine of guitars and constant beat, connected with a delicious vocal that makes my day go by.


Justice - Cross
Buy at Amazon
View The Myspace
Watch the "D.A.N.C.E" video - Youtube

"Justice? Who the fuck are they again?"

Regarde, Ces't Justice. The French duo of Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay, who have for the past couple f years been a constant centre piece for the Ed Banger Records label, and of course, who can blame the boys from ed to blasting them into the upper stratosphere of fame. By law, its now illegal to have at least one friend that has this album, its a powerhouse of rock and dance combined into a ferocious bunch of bastard tracks that can knock a dancefloor up a level anytime.

I've been listening to releases from this album six months plus before its actually release, the internet was swarming with rips and leaked versions of the songs, which made it a bit f a shame when it was actually released, as djs started to turn their nose's up as it had all been heard before. The truth is that its a great album, and if it had been dropped without any publicity and prior releases i think it would have been a completely different story, in the sense of a DJ brew ha ha would not have existed.

everyone has been chewing at the bit to listen to more of Justice's offerings, i'll be honest, it's going to be hard to beat.

To end this first part of the blog, (with "Mixtape Sunday" now coming tomorrow) here are some previous promotional mixes from our good friends Paulo T and Correct Effect. Links are on Megaupload at the moment, but that will be changed tomorrow.

Until then, Good Evening

Download Correct Effects half hour mix here

Download Paulo Ts half hour mix here

cookies anyone?

imagine if you will, the pigeon detectives covering lou reeds trasnformer, with the beach boys on backing duties and peter shelly on guitar. this is the closest comparison i can think of to describe the 1990s debut album "cookies", and its good. very good.

hark back to when indie was fun, you didnt have to sound like joy division or whinge about other, more popular bands, you just had to make music that was fun, and this record is just that. 3 chord pop punk, soaring vocal melodies, songs about schoolgirls nicking stuff from the magazine bit in wh smith, bunking off art college and taking crazy rave drugs in forests. trust me on this, the 1990's are brilliant and this album demonstrates exactly why. it will make you SMILE, and thats whats important.

http://www.myspace.com/1990sband

Robot Soap - New Artwork

For your viewing pleasure...


Roll on the 9th of November

Correct Effect's Sloppy CDJ Mix #1

Yes it's here, the first mix tape by me, Correct Effect, uploaded for your listening pleasure.

I have been wondering for a little while whether or not to upload this mix as, being a perfectionist and all, I am never happy with a single mix that I do, I hear double beats in even the tightest of mixes!

Hence why I've called this tape the sloppy CDJ mix, i mean, by my standards this mix is as slack as an essex girls minge!

Oh and for future reference I probably wont be posting much on the Robot Soap forum as I never really know what to say on these things, i'll leave the blog chatter to the experts Gareth and Elliot.

Instead i'll just post as many mixes as I can!

So download this mix and if you like it get this blog on your bookmarks, becuase there will be more...trust me!

Download The Mix Here

32Mb - 35 minutes

Tracklist

1. Coppyfokking - Killdigger Kitty

2. Basement Jaxx - I'm From NY (from the Nifty EP)

3. Dusty Kid - The Cat

4. Dusty Kid - The Cat (Crookers Remix)

5. Felix Da Housecat - Something 4 Porno (Armand Van Helden Remix)

6. Acid Jacks - Awake Since 78 (Mstrkrft Remix)

7. Chemical Brothers - Salmon Dance (Herve Remix)

8. Mstrkrft - Neon Nights

9. Revl9n - Someone Like You (Mstrkrft remix)

10. Cicada - Beautiful (Electric Blue)

Robot Soap returns as Robot Soap 3.0

Taken from the facebook bulletin just released, more information is available at our myspace

"After over a year’s worth of parties Robot Soap is back and better than ever before, with a new intimate venue and a new resident DJ but the best news of all is that we are back to doing free parties so everyone can get involved again and have a right royal rave up!

Our first year has been an astonishing success and now we are back for more in the basement of Cord - The beating heart of Manchester’s Northern Quarter. For this next run of parties we wanted somewhere more intimate, somewhere you can really let your hair down and somewhere for a proper rave!

We’re bringing in our own sound system, moving the DJ booth and bringing back the trusty SNES for everyone to play on again but more importantly than that we’re stamping it with our very own brand of robotic-dance-party. We won’t be happy until there’s some real dancefloor destruction! Expect Robot Soap’s own sound of Electro, Techno, Rave, Indie, Nu-Disco, Punk Funk, Acid house and anything in-between, all along remembering that we have no music policy

Joining previous residents, Seconds From Nothing, Expo’84 and Paulo T, is our good friend; Correct Effect. Correct Effect has been a long time supporter of Robot Soap but it was only recently we got to hear him on the decks for the first time and to say we were impressed would be a massive understatement. His productions and re-edits are also some of the best we’ve ever heard. On the spot we offered him the residency and there’s been no looking back since."

Upcoming Robot Soap dates + DJ dates:

November 4th @ Cord – Robot Soap is taking over Out Of The Gloom, expect chilled out Sunday silliness vibes from the Robot Soap crew while we look after Manchester’s best Sunday party for one week only

November 7th - SFN @ Green Rooms (with OOTG and Mat Payne)November 9th @ Cord, Robot Soap (...is back!)

November 30th - Tribal Sessions (Sankeys) – Robot Soap is taking over the bar all night long! Also on the line up are The Futureheads, Sebo K and Argy

December 8th @ Cord, Robot Soap

Coming in January - ROBOT SOAP RESIDENTS RIOT 2008

Tune in later for more treats and delights, welcome to round three of Robot Soap.

A bit of photography

So to celebrate my new job working as photographer for http://www.noizemakesenemies.co.uk/ I thought I'd post up a selection of old work I've dug out. This is a little bit self indulgent I know but I thought it might be nice to share these. All the work here is a couple of years old but you get the gist of it all...




Thursday, Academy One

Funeral Diner, The Phoenix

Moneen, Academy Three

Dugong, The Phoenix

Nora, Josephs Well (I Think!)

Onelinedrawing/Million Dead, Academy One

The Maple State

Omerta, Huddersfield

Omerta, Huddersfield

U.Y.A.

Office THursday: 03

Hello everyone, a rather brief Office Thursday this week. i'm currently sat at my desk enjoying a klix gold blend coffee and trying to sum up what i've listened to this week, and there has only been one thing thats been getting me through the filing.

Vitalic - V Live

Vitalic is Pascal Arbez, his music is a blended mix of electro, guitar riffs and polka, all wrapped in a techno bow, this albbum is a live set of his, and it is immense. His Ok Cowboy album is a masterpiece of delights when it coemes to the dancefloor, the beats are heavy and the music is well, you'll have to see for yourself. Download it via Nodatta here, have a listen, have a dance, and enjoy the polka.

Getting me through It All

There's been a stupid amount of good releases and upcoming releases at the moment. I'm struggling to keep up but here's a run down of what I'm listening to, and what is literally getting me through the days at the moment...

Yann Tiersen & Shannon Wright - Self Titled

Yann Tiersen's official homepage

Myspace Link

I first came across Yann Tierson because of his original score from the film Amelie, a beautiful parisian soundclash of organs, piano's and accordians. There was a folky, almost gypsy sound to the work, and it was incredibly addictive to listen to with its poppy flair's and solemn balladesque sounds.

This is the only other release of his I've heard, I only got it a couple of days ago and thought it was new at the time but upon further research I've found it came out in 2004, and I'll be honest I know nothing about Shannon Wright, although she compliments his music perfectly, in a morose and brutal way which reminds me of PJ Harvey.

Thrice - The Alchemy Index Vol 1 & 2, Fire and Water

Official site

Myspace Link

Thrice are a band I've been following since their second album 'Illusion Of Safety'. I've always loved their riffs and emotive sound, and just as their third album, The Artist In The Ambulance was released I got to interview them for a site I was working for back in the day. They seemed very genuine and gave a lot for that interview, in return I've always paid them back by checking out their stuff. I wasn't too fond of their last effort, Vheissu, there were a couple of good songs but on the whole it just wasn't great, after promising so much and after that I wasn't expecting much of the so very pretenious concept album that is The Alchemy Index.

The Alchemy Index is actually quite a simple concept to grasp - 4 Ep's; Fire, Water, Earth and Air split over two releases, Fire and Water being the first with Earth and Air to follow early next year. However pretentious the concept maybe, this is excellent and a real step forward for a band that needed to take a leap of faith to produce something outstanding. There's much more than hint of Radiohead's Kid A on the Water Disc and Fire brings back the riffs that made Thrice famous. excellent stuff, I can't wait for volumes 3 & 4.

The Weakerthans - Reunion Show

Official Website

MySpace Profile

I feel a bit cheeky having a leaked copy of this but I just couldn't wait for it to come out. The Weakerthans are nother band I've loved for ages. Their album Fallow is the soundtrack to summer 2002. There's something about their American college rock sound I just can't help but love. It warms my heart and leaves me humming along the sweet melodies for the rest of the day. Reunion Show is much of the same, it doesn't really expand on the formula but thats the strength of this release.

Other Noteable releases that i'm loving:

Jimmy Eat World - Chase The Light

Can this band do any wrong?

Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles

spazzy nintendo electro indie weirdness. lovely!

Radiohead - In Rainbows

You already know the score with this...

Von Spar - Xaxapoya

2 track epic EP that runs at 45 minutes long, its as dark as it is light and finds a real balance of loud noises and quiet melodies.

Just a quick one...

Heres a quick thought while im at work. as you all know i listen to music when im doing my thing and i listen to alot of radio too (namely Xfm and Radio 1, and also radio 2 because i like a bit of terry wogan in the morning).

It dawned on me today that indie music seems to have fallen into a bit of a dip of sorts at hte moment, in the sense that everything seems to sound the same. I don't think that indie is on its own though when it coems to this, i think that dance music has really taken a tumble too. Though its good that indie crossover/electro style and well as more quirkier styles has become more and more healthy and made its presence aware in the mainstream, i cant help but feel that its beginning to recyle itself.

Indie music at the moment to me is really struggle to be new. What pushed me today is hearing the new Hoosiers single, which is basically a huge rip of Electric Light Orchestra's "Mr Blue Sky". I'm not suggesting that music has never been recycled, im just think that its gotten lazy. Another singel that has been grinding my gears in this department is "Lets Dance To Joy Division" by The Wombats, not for any real similarities to other songs ,but more for their horrible use of Joy Division lyrics. If i was Ian curtis (rest his soul), i'd be rising up from the dead to knock some heads together.

Is it all about the money these days i wonder? I'm not too sure, there are glimmers of hope in bands, dj's and some labels at the moment, but im waiting for the the next wave of music. Baille Funk seems to be doing the trick for me at the moment as well as more of the harder French house and electro rap, but even that is now being sucked dry in places by third rate producers and shite DJ's...

that the rant over for now, keep tuned for more information on Robot Soap nights.

In France they call it a Royale with Cheese

Having watched High Fidelity millionth time the other night, and because it's rather boring today in the shop I work in I thought I'd do a couple of my top fives, this will be semi-regular feature starting with...

Motion Picture Soundtracks:

1. Lost In Translation


2. Almost Famous


3. Requiem For A Dream


4. Jackie Brown
   
5. Romeo + Juliet

I guess they're all fairly obvious but all are oustanding examples of making music fit with moving images to tell stories for which the original songs were not meant, apart from Requiem For A Dream which is an original score.

It's a pretty interesting concept actually, I mean, I'm sure its hard work but when it works perfectly it can be fantastical, emotional and conceptual all at the same time. I'll never forget the first time I saw Platoon, with 'that bit with Adagio For Strings playing in the background'. Likewise I'll never forget the opening sequence of Reservoir Dogs...

And now you're wondering why neither of those films are in my top five? Well, those scenes mentioned are great but I just don't think the rest of their respective soundtrack's live up to the standards set in those scene's; the exception to this is the ear cutting scene in Reservoir Dogs with Stealers Wheel's classic track Stuck In The Middle With You playing throughout. What a great visual motif that is.

The soundtrack for Lost In Translation was compiled, and in parts written by Kevin Shields, of My Bloody Valentine fame. The highlisht for me is Air's masterwork of minimal electronic pop 'Alone in Kyoto'. This complilation seems to have been brought together with such delicacy and love for music. Other Highlights include; The Jesus and Mary Chain, Death In Vegas and Squarepusher.

The Soundtrack for Almost Famous includes Elton John's Tiny Dancer, End of Story! Well, almost; this collection of 60's and 70's rock is pretty hard to fault. Lynyrd Skynyrd's Simple Man plays perfectly against David Bowie's I'm Waiting For The Man. When the soundtrack closes with Thunderclap Newman "Something in the Air" I'm usually found frantically trying to hit the repeat all on the CD player.

The Requiem For A Dream is the only soundtrack on here made of completely original music. The soundtrack was composed by Clint Mansell and performed by the Kronos Quartet. While haunting to listen to on its own, it fits the feeling of desperation from the film perfectly. The mesure of its success can been seen in the way it has been used for various other films and even computer games. Most notably a revamped version was used on the trailers for The Lord Of The Rings films.

Opening with Bobby Womack's 'Across 110th Street' you just know that the Jackie Brown soundtrack is going to kick some serious arse. Its sexy, slick and for me it was a learning experience. Tarantino pulling together some of his favourite records, which I'd never even heard of before was great. I look at this soundtrack on two levels - a soundtrack to a film (duh!) but more importantly it plays like a well crafted mixtape with a start, middle and an end. Also there's a bit of a personal link to this soundtrack for me. I remember raiding my Dad's 7's and coming across The Delfonics 'Didn't I blow Your Mind This Time' when I was about 6 or 7 years old and playing it to death before forgetting about it and listening to Micheal Jackson's 'Bad' on tape repeatedly. Hearing it again on this soundtrack brought back so many memories of my childhood.

Last but not least is the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack. Released 10 years ago (I swear it doesn't seem that long ago!) in 1997 this still sounds fresh and great to the ear. It plays like a 2many DJs mish-mash of styles, much like the Baz Luhrmann's film. From Des'ree Ballads to the uber pop of The Cardigans and Indie-cool sounds from Garbage, Radiohead and Everclear this is faultless and has something for everyone.

Remix Sunday: 02

Good evening everyone, hope you are all well. At the moment im currently suffering from a lovely case of man flu, which has me moaning alot about how cold the flat is even when it's hotter than normal and just generally being a guy who is ill. I would have thought by now that there would be some lovely cure for colds of flu, at the moment i'm all out of lemsips and paracetemol

Now my rant is over, this week has been an interesting big through the crates as well as some brand new stuff that i have been hearing on the blogs. Lets get involved and have a rundown on whats been going through my headphones this week.

Download The Mix Here


Thom Yorke - The Eraser (Xxxchange Remix)
From the album: "The Eraser"
Watch the video: Youtube
Read the Myspace

First on the track list is a previously mentioned (see Office Thursday: 02 from this week). As is said the remix itself may have some purists having a knock at what is essentially a compliment on the track. The song didn't really need a remix of it, and there have been some horrific attempts at doing so, but this is one of the first that is worth tracking down. Read the previous entry for more information, and have a good listen.


Silversun Pickups - Lazy Eyes
From the album: "Silversun Pickups"
Watch the video: Youtube
Read the Myspace

Silversun Pickups are a four piece indie band from L.A that caught my attention late one night with thier excellent video for this song. its a smooth melodic track that could have fallen out of a Kings Of Leon CD of B sides or even some of the softer Smashing Pumpkins work. It has been on repeat now for a good couple of days just for the calmness of it, followed by a great build up. If you are not a fan of the song, at least watch the video, there is really something about it.


Daft Punk - Face To Face
From the album: "Discovery"
Watch the video: Youtube
Read the Myspace

Daft punk are one of my favourite groups, the albums to me just don't ever get get tired to me. i was digging this out when i was humming it away while i was filing this week. Theres no other words about Daft Punk that i need to write. it's all good.


Radiohead - Jigsaw Falling Into Place
From the album "In Rainbow"

Dare i say it, i don't think that the new Radiohead album is actually all that good. Im a huge fan of the band and as Gareth previously wrote, the bands approach of distributing the new album has bought up a lot of questions with the need for record labels and so on. However the song on the mixtape this week is to me, one of the stand out tracks of the album, it feels like a classic track that could have been on Kid A or even OK Computer. It's really worth a listen to, and i'd recommend buying the album too, for anyone else who is reading this to take it in. Im not a fan but you might be.


M83 - Run Into Flowers (Midnight fuck Remix by Jackson)
From the Album: "Dead Cities, Red Seas And Lost Ghosts"
Watch the video: Youtube
Read the Myspace

I'll be honest, i don't know very much about M83, i have only heard odds and ends on the radio and listening to hypem. The original version of this song is incredibly hypnotic, ambient and liquid that it could be butter melting in a pan. Jacksons take on this track is simple in many ways, but adds a nice little twist to it, with a staggered beat and typical Jackson style bloops and bleeps.


the Human League - The Things That Dreams Are Made Of
From the album: "Dare!"
Watch the video: "Youtube" (live)

There isn't much to say about this track musically, its a classic 80's tune that still does not get tired and sounds great today. I have been humming this song since last saturday when i was spinning it at the 18th wedding anniversary. It's an excellent track and thats all there is to say.


The Source Feat. Candi Staton - you Got The Love (Original Remix)

A classic track to finish off the mixtape, everyone has heard this track, it's a crowd pleaser and brings a smile to anyones face on the dance floor. All you need to hear is the first few seconds of the song to know what it is. There are many other remixes of this song but this to me is the best. Listening to this on the tram to work is a small godsend in a way while im reading the metro.

Thats all for now, speak to you next week.

In Rainbows

"It's just interesting to make people pause for even a few seconds and think about what music is worth now." - Johnny Greenwood of Radiohead, talking about the way their new album, In Rainbows has been distributed.

Choosing just how much you pay for a digital copy of In Rainbows has opened up a whole range of possibilities for mainstream bands to get their music out there and if the downloads topped 1.2 million mark, on the day of release - as pitchforkmedia are reporting. It might be a bloody good way of doing business, at least as far as the band in question are concerned. Will there be a wider impact for record labels? Well if this Idea takes off, you could feasibly get rid of the labels and let the people decide what they want to listen to, voting with there feet, or ears.

Do we even need record labels anymore? with the rise of the internet, social networking sites et al, On the face of it all it would seem that we don't anymore but if you delve only a tiny bit deeper than that you realise just how important the label can be for a band. A lot bands I know wouldn't even be able to record their music without some kind of financial input from their label. So how can you distribute something that you can't even record? You can't, and nearly every band in the world doesn't have the luxery of taking a real gamble like Radiohead have and rely on the smaller labels keeping them afloat.

In this time of myspace saturation the record label has a bigger role than ever to promote bands because despite it being easier 'to sell' a band due to the amount of new media, there seems to be a larger number of bands to compete against. Making it harder for the better bands to shine through.

Oh and incidently In Rainbows is superb. Stay in and download it, and work out how much this album is worth to you...

Office Thursday: 02

Afternoon everyone, i am live from the office again (even though it's friday) for another Office thursday, a weekly roundup of things i've been listening to while filing post and doing cigarette runs for the workers.

Thom Yorkes - The Eraser (xxxchange remix)

Found on Discobelle

watch the video: Youtube (not the original video but excellent none the less)

Read his Myspace

Many Thom Yorke and Radiohead fans might be in an uproar over this, but i really like it. i love the original and it's nice that its been complimented in this way remix wise, im sure that as we speak there are hundreds of drum and bass acid remixes of the track slowly drifting down to the bottom of the internet sea (we can only hope).

As described on Discobelle, the track is remixed by Xxxchange of Spank Rock fame, it is a great track, though i know some people will be spitting cold, bloodlust rage at it too, but give it a whirl, you can always press the delete button.

download

Future Sound Of london - Papua New Guinea

Watch the video: Youtube

Read the Myspace

A classic from 1991, i had forgotten that i had loaded the track onto my mp3 player, and it was a very warm feeling when i started to hear the first few seconds. It still sounds great today by any standards, and can still play well at a party or a nightclub anytime. The downside? My copy on vinyl is now lost without a trace, it hurts me thinking about it.

Buck 65 - Kennedy Killed The Hat (Mstrkrft Remix)

Watch the video: Youtube

Read the Myspace (Buck 65)

Read the Myspace (Mstrkrft)

Buck 65, good. Mstrkrft, Great. Put them together you've got a mix of dirty synths foul guitar and delicious combinations of bass. Its been out for a long time but its still a fantastic track. Go to hypem and hunt it down.

Thats all for now, also, im thanking my friend alexia for taking me down to Fab Cafe in the centre of Manchester last night. It was the first time i've been there, and it was certainly, an experience. Just imagine a comic book shop with a bar and dancefloor and you've more or less got it.

Justice Live on Jimmy Kimmel

Though its been causing a bit of a stir, i think this is a great "live" set, i say "live" because, well, you'll get why when you watch it.

28th of october

Anyone else excited about guitar hero 3?

Just a little note, plus today's top 3

To let anyone know i'm now also posting a second blog, which is based around my 3rd Year Interactive Arts course, on which i'll be posting all about the creative things I'll be working on during this, my final year at Manchester Metropolitan University, feel free to have a look at http://ia0708.blogspot.com/

Also, top three rainy day in the university computer lab tunes:

Joy Divison - Atmosphere

If you haven't been to see Control yet, get on it now! There's a definate Joy Division revival going on at our flat at the moment!

The best link for anything Factory Records link has to be Cerysmatic Factory

Pedro The Lion - The Poison

I used to love Jade Tree Records until they started to release a whole bunch of faux-hardcore records. Pedro The Lion are one of the labels most overlooked highlights on there and with lines like My old man always swore that hell would have no flame, Just a front row seat, To watch your true love pack her things and drive away. This song is an absolute gem.

Official Site

Modest Mouse - Spitting Venom

a spikey track from Modest Mouse which is truley epic running at eight and half minutes but its absolutely top. Incidently, the last time I saw them at The Ritz in Manchester they closed with a beautiful rendition of this. For me its all about the trumpet at the end and the infectious ryhthm of the entire track.

Official Site

Stuff you wish you were at

When i got back home from the party last night i was exhausted, essentially the walking dead. i had a bit of a snooze and woke up a few hours later, and decided to play a bit of music while i woke up.

I had forgotten that i had this live set of Daft Punk at Coachella, its really worth a listen to. Here's a link to download the full set, Enjoy.

Lovely stuff...

What a great weekend. Lots of laughter and good times. Its been entertaining and a real education in music and the city i live in. I'd like to say a big thank you to Mr B and Tall Sarah for inviting me and Gareth to their 18th wedding anniversary. It was such a pleasure to have a great night in their fantastic home and be supremely educated with an archive of music. Once again thank you.

For those who have seen me DJ you know that i use a laptop when playing. Its not for purists but it does save a lot of trouble hauling records from A to B. At the anniversary however playing on anything but vinyl was a big no no, not only that but there was no music allowed past the nineties. it was great to play with vinyl again, and go through Sarah's enormous record collection, it was full of so many delights and rarities, i felt like a was a kid playing with a box of lego again.

During Saturday afternoon Gareth invited me to go on the Factory Records walking tour around Manchester, which is organised by Urbis. The route is taken along Whitworth street and along Oxford Road as well as the areas that are around the streets. The tour takes you to the key buildings in the factory records story, including the Ritz, Paradise Factory, The Boardwalk and of course the Hacienda. There are other places that you see and is full of information, all the facts are presented well, but it made me feel like i had a really productive afternoon, not only that but it was a nice walk around the city. I've only been here for a few months but i still do not know some sections of the city.

More information is available at the Urbis website as well as who to contact about tours, also if you haven't been to the Hacienda exhibition now showing at the museum i'd highly recommend it. it runs until February so there really is no excuse

Here are some of the tracks spun on Saturday night:

A Guy Called Gerald - Voodoo Ray (1989)




Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls (1985)




Joy Division - Transmission (1979)



Blondie - Transmission (1980)



808 State - Pacific State (1989)

Pete Doherty, is anyone bored yet?

Is anyone else bored (and sick) to death hearing about how Pete Doherty is constantly gettting away with it all? i've been listening to the radio all day and its like a never ending story, theres typhoons, children beaten, assaults rapes and murders, yet all i can hear is how petes evaded jail again, its getting boring, really really fast.

here is Petes top Five: "why isn't he in jail yet/seriously, get it together mate"

5: Pete Doherty gives Kitten drugs (apparantly)

Its not everyday that you get accused of getting a kitten off its face, this is tabloid journalism, and what is todays news is tomorrow chip paper. Still it is an interesting little read, which follows onto...

4 Doherty assaults a 22 year old female photographer

Again this is more tabloid reporting and the previous snippet of news from the xfm website should be more believeable. what bothers me though is that if a random person on the street attacks another, surely they are arrested? I think its really bad that someone can get away with hitting another person, especially a woman.

3 Doherty flees scene as Amy Winehouse falls into a coma

Back in August this year...

"His friend explained: "Pete left. He didn't want any bad publicity. He said Amy looked like a skeleton because she was so thin and he was really frightened when she had a seizure because he wasn't sure how to deal with it and thought she was dying."

2 Doherty evicted from his home due to £10,000 in unpaid rent, as well as blood and graffiti on the walls

When someone is on so much drugs and alcohol its understandable that you let your place go, but you know you've got a problem when there is blood along the walls. Its not living, its just existing. Its also pretty bad that the judge let him off due to being a fan of his new single at the time.

1 His numerous drug charges

Not his most recent, but its still just amazing how he is not in jail

"The Babyshambles frontman is expected to appear at West London Magistrates next Tuesday charged on four counts of drug possession.

He will also face charges of driving a car without insurance or tax. The rocker was arrested in early May after he was stopped by police in west London

The Babyshambles frontman is expected to appear at West London Magistrates next Tuesday charged on four counts of drug possession. He will also face charges of driving a car without insurance or tax.

The rocker was arrested in early May after he was stopped by police in west London."

I was and still are a massive fan of Libertines, and Babyshambles push my buttons now and again. But i jsut cant understand how someone can get way with so many infringements, is it due to his fame and how he is seen in the public eye? I'd imagine so, i just dont think that it would be the same story if he was johnny everyman. he would just be another drug addict that you would see in hte street, either that or dead.

back to work for me, with love from the office

Gideon Conn

So its late at night, Elliot and I are surfing the music channels on Sky Digital and nothing is really sticking, ten seconds of every channel so far and we're reaching the end of all different, and mostly terrible stations and we come across MusFlashTv (channel number 375) and there's this guy sat at keyboard, who looks to be idly murmuring along to his own sounds. Looking somewhere between a chav/scally(mainly in his baseball cap) and any other kid at the moment.

At first we're laughing at the low-fi noise he's creating, feeling slightly confused at how this has made the TV.

Then the music breaks for a mini interview, in which the host of the show (and i'm only guessing at this cos we tuned in towards the end of the show) seems to be really struggling with Gideon. An example of which would be;

'So where can we find more out about you' (She's obviously trying to get a website out of Gideon)
'Prestwich' is his reply. Its not contrived, or thought out whatsoever. Elliot and I howl with laughter before Gideon realises his mistake and reels out his myspace address. Just as we stop laughing the programme cuts back to more music.

This time we're transfixed with his music, and i'm drawing comparisons with my previous blog entry about Kate Nash, thinking that there's also an elegant naivety to this music. By the end of his set we're hitting up the myspace to listen to more. A complete u-turn by the pair of us in three songs. There's not many artists or musicians that can achieve that kind of reaction in me and i'm genuinely impressed by his very personal take on music. I don't think his music would be for everyone, in much the same way that Antony And The Johnsons wouldn't be right for everyone but I'd definately say you should give Gideon a chance, I'm glad we did.

www.myspace.com/gideonconn
www.gideonconn.com

Office Thursday: 01

We all know the feeling that working in an office can be dull as well as life threatening both mentally and physically. luckily for me though in my new job i spend most of my day filing and listening to music, while thinking up things to write on this new blog

I’m Elliott, and this is “Office Thursday”. a three track guide to stuff i’m listening to when i’m filing. There are some things you will like, and pretty much some things that you will hate, but lets dive in there and see what we can find.

Heartsrevolution - Choose Your Own Adventure
Hear it on Hypem
Watch the video on Youtube
Look at their Myspace

Once described to me as “a big bag of gash” i wasn’t really ready to really give this track a listen, but its grown on me so much that i know i was wrong to judge.

Heartsrevolution are described as an electro punk style band, i’m not much on labelling stuff like that because most of the times i’m just wrong. Hailing from the USA the new york boy/girl duo roll around in an ice cream truck called the “Heartschallenger” promoting their music and selling sweets to the masses, check out the video here

the track itself is a nice kick in the face for me in the morning, bang it on on the way to work, you’ll be humming it all day.

RJD2 - Work It Out
Watch the Video on Youtube
Look at His Myspace

He just makes good music, he makes such good music you start to get hot and bothered about his cutting and pasting, sample selection, choice of beats and how he puts it all together, depressingly, you really cannot fault the gent.

taken from “The Third Hand” album, RJD2 combines layer upon layer of perfectly matched beats for the listener t just melt into, the whole album itself feels like this, you could listen t it all day and in my opinion never seems to fall over its feet when its playing. i really cant stress how much you need this song in your life.

We caught the video late one night for this track on MTV2 and that itself is a work of art, using the famous Bill Shannon to dance move and dare i say it grove to the beats of this soulful and smooth track. A video obviously doesn’t make a song, but this one compliments nicely.

DNTEL - Rock My Boat feat. Mia Doi Todd
Hear it on Hypem
Watch the Video on Youtube
Look at his Myspace

Random bleeps are all well and good, everyone seems to have them these days, its only when they are put together in a decent way and order do you get DNTEL.

With the gentle vocals of the rather cute Mia Doi Todd the track just makes you not worry about much, except not falling asleep. Its a great combination of slow beats with soft vocals that are just so suited to the way the song flows its frightening. there’s not much more to say about this song, other than to tell you to get your hands on it as soon as possible

Thats all for now, keep an eye out for mixtape sundays at the end of the week

Dugong @ The Phoenix, Taken by myself

Nathaniel Green - ABBA Medley
from the 2003 album Same Time Tomorrow

In the year 2000 I started my A-Levels, and with it I discovered D.I.Y. punk properly, although without realising I was already part of the scene and the attitude that is D.I.Y. was already something I firmly believed in, and I still do. As far as I'm concerned music is not a commodity to be bought and sold it is an art-form which is given over to the people, for the people. Anyway that is going off the point a bit.

As with most of my stories a girl was involved, Carly, she took me to see the, no defunct, Hot Water Music. It was a gig that changed my life, not because of the music but because of the people I met there. Shortly after that gig I was spending most of my time at Leeds D.I.Y. gigs, mainly run by one group of promoters known as Collective AKA. They put on everyone from touring international bands right down to local bands playing their first gig. Everyone seemed to know everyone and I wanted part of it, so I made myself part of it. frequenting record shops like Out Of Step (which to this day is one of thhe best record shops I've been to) and the afformentioned Collective AKA gigs. Every August there would be a mini festival run at Jospehs Well called Out Of Spite which showcased mainly local bands on local labels such as Bombed Out Records (A contender for the best Leeds based record label ever)

The first year I went to Out Of Spite I came across Dugong, a melodic punk band, in a similar vein to The Get Up Kids, but with a bit more balls. Duugong's first album The Eastmoor Rules became one of my all time favourite records and the last track, Null And Void always seemed to me like the place where the band Nathaniel Green started because it brought an acoustic guitar and Fender Rhodes piano together with Matt Broadbent's voice for the first time, I was truely mesmerised by this one track and it was played almost constantly at that time in my life.

Thankfully for Carly shortly after buying The Eastmoor Rules, Nathaniel Green's first EP Down To You Then, Supergirl was released - The poor girl must have been getting sick of the repitition of that one track. Nathaniel Green is made up of Matt Broadbent (Dugong) and Rob Taylor (Pylon) and they took directly from Null and Void keeping the stripped down sound, and only adding Rob's voice into the mix.

This is typically Northern music, there's lots of dry wit and colloquialisms in their lyrics and the way they sing over each other is sweet, without ever becoming sickly. I couldn't help but fall for this EP.

Roll on to the following year's Out Of Spite festival, it's barely Sunday afternoon and neither Carly or I have really slept from the night before because we'd finally broken up that night, after 3/4 months of teetering on the edge of separation. Out of dedication to music we loved we still ended up at the festival together, sat on the floor of the back room of a sweaty punk club. Nathaniel Green were the first band to take the stage and Abba Medley was the first song they played, off their then upcoming first album, Same Time Tomorrow.

The enormity of the break up hit me there and then and I was in a state of paralysis while listening to some of the most amazing music I've ever heard. 'so stop it before it starts, before you break someone's heart, I know you will. Just give me a little more time, just hold the fort 'til I get home' was my breaking point. I never did see the end of their set but I left the gig with mixture of heartbreak and elation which was confusing for me back then, hell, it would probably confuse me now.

A few years later I had the pleasure of putting on Nathaniel Green at The Phoenix in Manchester, it was the first time I'd seen them since, although I'd been listening to their music nearly constantly since. It was an amazing gig, and I'd advise anyone to go see them given the chance, and its only usually £2/3 for the honour, and trust me it will be money well spent.

To Hear ABBA medley check out their myspace page:
www.myspace.com/nathanielgreen

I tried to find some music by Dugong for you to listen to but theiir myspace and website seems to have been removed since they split up.

The Nicest Thing

The Nicest Thing - Kate Nash

You know, sometimes you hear song and it stops you in your tracks, there is an instant wow factor and you just have to listen to it again and again.

Well none of Kate Nash's singles have had that effect on me, although she seems to have a real knack for creating a solid hooks that have been getting stuck in my head for days at a time. There's an elegance in the simplicty of music and a cockiness in the way she deliver's her lyrics.

The Nicest Thing is a stripped down, acoustic guitar driven, meloncholic little track that hs really stood the test of repeated listens, and right now, as I watch the rain drip down the windows of my office it seems almost perfect. The killer line for me is I wish that you wanted me/I wish that you knew when I said two sugars, actually I meant three. but throughout the track every word seems delicate and constructed in a way that you can't empathise enough with each one. With every listen my heart breaks in the most beautiful way.

Stream and download from here:
http://hypem.com/search/kate%20nash%20the%20nicest%20thing/1/