Album: Paul Durango - Just Bodies

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Paul Durango - Tape 'O Tape by durangodurango

In my music life there are instances where I can point to a time when something changed in my listening; started getting into sounds, a new band, label, genre, artist, album, whatever. One of those moments is when I started to get into soundtracks, most specifically the Italian composed soundtracks of the 1970s - the golden age of the soundtrack - from Olivers Onions to Riz Ortolani, Goblin to Alessandro Alessandroni and of course the Godfather Ennio among many more besides.
It was Paul Durango's blog that set me on the path. Can't say how I got lead that way but it was the start of a love affair.

Paul Durango - The Plague by durangodurango

Paul himself makes music, which seems to encompass the sounds he puts up on his site. A French/Italian electronic sound with the OST influences lending a warmth and playfulness to the only three songs I can find online. I'm not sure when Paul's going to be releasing Just Bodies (says a few months back in November) but be sure to check Paul's blog for a virtual library of great music and information here

Paul Durango - Prison de Femmes by durangodurango

Gun - Dreams & Screams

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Download: Gun - Dreams & Screams


This sounds like it came out the brain of some Detroit punks at the same time; the processed vocals sound MC5, just the the amount of showy to be sexy guitar and drums pounding giant holes through the floor.

Bananaticoco

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Download: Max B - Bananticoco


Two versions of the same song, I cannot tell you which one was recorded first, composed first or who even wrote this? It might not have been either of the two, could be an adaptation of a traditional song. I just haven't done the research.

The Max B is pure afro-funk tightness; that bassline underneath will guide your hips and the 'ooh mama hey, ooh mama ha' chants will move your soul. It's Max leading from the front, the band are tight, the funk irresistible but there is a charm and charisma coming from the man that is just infectious, perfect for dancefloors and an early disco favourite.

Download: Brazil Selection - Bananticoco

In contrast the Brazil Selection is much more about the group,  it's the togetherness about them, something all the more communal and whole about their version. A little rougher around the edges: that's where their charm lies, it's a more tribal affair, the bass is subtle but the rhythm makes this version with (what sounds like) a jewish harp providing the funk and wobble. It's raw and would fit the dirtier grooves of a set like a banana skin.

I'm out DJ'ing Cold Heat tonight, may spend the nigh thinking about which version to play?

Jeremiah Jae - Raw Tape$

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Jeremiah Jae - Raw Tape$ from Ounce. Films on Vimeo.


This a quick thing before I sleep.  Couple of cool tracks out lately on Flying Lotus's Brainfeeder, you know I'm a psych nut but when I hear Jeremiah Jae and the latest cut from Mono/Poly it gets me excited for this new dawn of brain melting music coming from Hip Hop.

Jeremiah Jae has a new EP out and from the tracks I've heard, it's wonderfully tripped out electronics, tribal rhythms, warped disco, some spatial jazz air and addicting beats.
Get your Rappayamatantra EP here

Factory Floor - R E A L L O V E (optimo remix)

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 Factory Floor - ~ ( R E A L L O V E ) (An Optimo Espacio Remix) by Optimo Music

I trust we're all aware of this?

*something you've already read before about new order, primal scream, 80s90s acid, house, pills, disco, trackie bottoms, the colour grey with a flash of highlighter pen, optimo, glasgow, club, DJ...*

Good tune innit.

This and the original is out on 12" on the 6th of April, go to you record store/website and get it.

EP: Weird Era - Garage Hangover

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We're well and truly into the 90's now aren't we? We have to be, the 80's has lasted forever (maybe longer than that decade), we have bands like Yuck and Kurt Vile releasing albums people want to talk about and buy: sitting on the edge of the decades sounding all Dinosaur Jr., Replacements, Pavement and Lemonheads. 

Best time for Weird Era to strike really and with their latest EP released through Duck Tapes they've hit  in a shoegaze grunge scuzz, coming off a bit like Sonic Youth and pre-Loveless MBV. 

It's a moreish kind of noise they make, the type that the 90s perfected all rough around the edges and beneath all reverb and lo-fi is a pop song.

Download Garage Hangover from Bandcamp where you can also buy one of the super limited cassette tapes if you were someone who didn't throw out their walkman when the minidisc was invented. 

Album: The Oscillation - Veils

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Spit in my face face and call me a slug, but I completely forgot about Depth Charge recordings, it was only after DJ'ing the other day and seeing the first Oscillation album in someone's record bag, was I reminded about what great music they put out and almost as importantly, what amazing artwork they attributed to their acts (courtesy of La Boca).

The new LP by The Oscillation dropped last week via All Time Low productions (who put out some great stuff and put on some awesome events) and it's arguably a wee bit better than their debut 'Out of Phase'. There's still the doom ridden krautrock meanderings but they've added a bit more to the pot, some dubby textures, songs leaning more to the more pop side of Kraut (which isn't very poppy at all is it?), an industrial funk dub on Telepathic Birdman that reminds me of the dark psychedelic grooves of Kreeps and ideas you'd expect Bobby Gillespie wouldn't mind 'borrowing' to make Primal Scream interesting again.

The Oscillation are playing White Heat at Madame Jojo's on 12th April

Pick up Veils by The Oscillation at Rough Trade (here) and get a free bonus disk 

Robert 'Nighthawk' Johnson - Can't no Grave Hold my Body Down

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Download: Robert 'Nighthawk' Johnson - Can't No Grave Hold My Body Down

Not a man of religion, but whatever whoever is pulling the strings for some folks has certainly influenced some of the the most soulful music. Here is a cut from a great colection of Delta gospel, blues and folk, most of it all stripped bare and simple, nothing fancy but the fear/love of god bringing out these passionate souls.

Download 'Sorrow Come Pass Me Around' from the ever-essential Holy Warbles blog

If There Is Hell Below Podcast... like a VHS containing footage of how you're going to die

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Download: If There Is Hell Below Podcast... like a VHS containing footage of how you're going to die
Subscribe via iTunes


Stooping to the lowest form's of banter (copyright Tim Lovejoy) and with a sccoping of the lowest common denominator, Rob & Callum reach new lows; from talking about shelving to mythical scenario's with obese Radio 1 presenters. Callum is heading on sabbatical and let's it all hang out. With music from TV on the Radio, PS I Love You, Herzog, Plastic Magic Man and more, the music's good, the talk is depraved.

This will indeed be Callum's last pod for a while, but fear not Rob will be running things solo for the time being with the occasional guest. So keep on the look out... hear out.

Tracklisting
The Shins - Kissing the Lipless
Herzog - Paul Blart and the Death of Art
TV on the Radio - Caffeinated Consciousness
Plant Magic Man - Green Light
Natural Child - The Jungle
Gentleman Jess - Got The Wrong Man
Pure Ecstasy - Voices
Bosco Delrey - 20 Flight Dub
Nightlands - God What Have I
No Demons Here - Every Second Darker
PS I Love You - Meet Me at the Muster Station
Dream Cop - Marooned

...Like A Vhs Containing Footage Of How You're Going To Die by Ifthereishellbelow on Mixcloud

Free EP: Venice – Animals, Stars & Other Psychedelic Creatures

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 Animals, Stars & Other Psychedelic Creatures by Venice

You know some people pay for music by the Black Eyed Peas? Literally hand over universal trading vouchers to a high street music selling merchant (never a decent independent store) or an online digital music distributor and allow their bank digits to go down a few numbers in return for an aural shit shower? Odd isn't it? Especially when there are labels and music providers like Bad Panda who give away ace music gratis (pretentious for 'free'), they're letting you have the amazing new Dumbo Get's Mad LP on digital for nothing (although you should buy the vinyl, it is a marvelous little record).
The site is full of great free things from little known artists; take for example Venice, they're giving away their three track EP and it's an incredible piece of music - these people should be getting those Will.I.Am dollars, for services to good music alone.

Animals, Stars & Other Psychedelic Creatures is a 'concept EP', the concept being a kind of psychedelic tropical jungle, lions gently roaring in the distance, the rain falling down the trees: perfect environment for that frog you licked and took you on this journey. It's no doubt the work of someone at a laptop but there's something quite earthy about this collection, 30th Century is something you could really get down to it's got a tribal rhythm which seems like it's as natural as evolution.

 Download the album for free via Bad Panda Records here

Video: Colin Stetson - Dream of Water

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Only just found out about Colin Stetson courtesy of a heads up from Anthony Fantano of Needle Drop fame. He's quite the saxophone player, his new album 'New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges' is a collection of saxophone pieces each recorded in one take; no over-dubs and no other instrumentation just him and a room full of microphones picking up the clicking of the saxophone keys as rhythm and pushed to the red to create a reverb and texture, making the songs sound less like something coming from a woodwind instrument and more like an experimental electronic album. 

This track from the album features a monologue from Laurie Anderson with scenes taken from Jean-Luc Goddard's Socialisme. Like a glove. 

Talk Talk - It's My Life & Life's What You Make It (Live in London - 1986)

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Download: Talk Talk - Life Is What You Make It (live in London 1986)

Download: Talk Talk - It's My Life (live in London 1986)


I'm having one of those youtube adventures, dancing about songs loosely linked either sonically or to where my brain is thinking, so I've gone from Bruce Hornsby to Joe Cocker to Nick Lowe to Prefab Sprout and now to Talk Talk - I'm in that kind of mood. Pop songs, slick pop songs the sort that could've been made in laboratory with the soul intention of never leaving one's brain once subjected to sound.

The impression I get from Prefab Sprout and Talk Talk is that their ability to write really quite inventive and in Talk Talk's case forward thinking pop was both a blessing and curse: a curse for the record labels who wanted them to keep cranking out the hits and doing the Smash Hits interview and for us a blessing because Mark Hollis would create his greatest music triumph in the supposed post-rock pioneering 'Laughing Stock'.

I've chosen a couple of Talk Talk tracks, possibly their two biggest tracks; I'm in the mood for some pop not post-rock (no matter how wonderful it is), this is Talk Talk live, in their element not as pop stars, the new-romantic movement or faces on a teenagers wall sandwiched between Boy George and Wham but as musicians.

Bill Spencer - The Jacksons part 1 & 2 (from killer comp Funky L.A.)

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Download: Bill Spencer - The Jacksons part 1 & 2


Was pointed in the direction of this vinyl rip of a rare L.A. Funk collection from the ever-wonderful WFMU blog - boy do those kids find some cool cuts in those virtual crates - this was up on a blog called Free Defendu, plenty of interesting stuff, go check.

This is a track from that dynamite collection, there's some good grooves on it, stuff to play out and track by an act called Baraka which is astounding; sounds like a funked up Joni Mitchell.
'The Jacksons part 1 & 2' is an instant winner for me for sounding like it was recorded in some cellar club: I love the sound of a crowd, not singing, not just staring at the band, but treating them like a sound system, getting down and having a night out (my favourite example of this is on Marvin Gaye's Got to Give it Up), you don't need your something and coke to feel like your at the party; it's all in your head.

Download L.A. Funky:  Lost Funk & Rare Grooves From The Los Angeles Underground 1970-1975 here

If There Is Hell Below Podcast... let's see the King of England doing a weekly music podcast

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Download: If There Is Hell Below Podcast... let's see the King of England doing a weekly music podcast
Subscribe via iTunes

Is Colin Firth a good actor? We don't know. Could he provide some rare German post punk funk from Dice, primal surf rock with Frank Zappa playing the mystery man in The Hollywood Persuaders and play you out some Mystery Tour Beatles inspired sounds from the brain of a 19 year old boy? So where's our Oscar? Here's our performance...

Tracklisting
Jimmy McGrith - I've Got A Woman
Family Portrait - Other Side
Balkan - Edita V
Dice - Dice
The Hollywood Persuaders - Thunderbird
Blackbird Blackbird - Halo
Jeremy Lee Given - Dragonfly
Vitamins - No Notion of Anything Only Whatever Is What
Breathe Out - Ride the Waves
Dumbo Gets Mad - Why Try?
Therapies Son - Touching Down
Alex Turner - Stuck on a Puzzle

Let's See The King Of England Doing A Weekly Music Podcast by Ifthereishellbelow on Mixcloud

Willie Wright - Africa

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Was tipped onto the Wille Wright re-issue by a friend of the blog the other week and what a tip it is! All he had to say was it's been released by Numero Group and it sounds a bit like Terry Callier to get these ears salivating. The rich, sultry folk soul voice of Terry Callier that is like sweet candy to me and Numero are the re-issue Willy Wonka's of the moment; they dig some obscure gems and present them so lovingly one can only want to buy every circular they put out.
This track Africa is tagged onto the re-issue of Willie Wrights 'Telling the Truth' LP - a record he sold off his own back while he was travelling around as a rent-a-musician - it's an added extra to the collection and what an extra!

Oh and hear's another tasty little morsel of his, a Curtis Mayfield cover... right on!

Mix: Leather Boy - The Nurse of Chau Doc

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 THE NURSE OF CHAU DOC- LEATHER BOY by chris rotter

Here's a new thing, that new thing is a Leather Boy mix. Expect far flung psych, brassy bitch-rock, cosmic blips, worldly funk and wig outs. Slip inside.

The Dig: Diabolical Two - Gid Together

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Download: Diabolical Two - Gid Together


Something we played on the podcast just a few weeks back, probably describe the song in the best way possible on that. It's the west coast country rock hippy idealist track made famous by The Youngbloods, taken to Las Vegas given complimentary Martini's, going all club singer with a big band bored of doing 'fly me to the moon' and just wanna lay down some killer funk and breaks.

Free MP3: White Denim - Drug

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You were hoping that that Strokes comeback was gonna be good weren't ya? Or maybe you were hoping for confirmation that they may never have been good in the first place, got lucky with some borrowed ideas and rode it for a couple of patchy albums. The fact is, that bands shouldn't begin a career on a peak (creatively) and then just kinda float down (or spiral) into mediocrity. That's why I love White Denim so. They're a band who are creatively getting better with every new thing they release, they seem limitless in their ideas, are not bound by a fashion but to take everything they love about music whether it's dub, jazz, garage rock, white boy soul, country, psych and on and on... then make their own sound.
A new album 'D' is-a-dropping in May, judging from their last outings I couldn't tell you what direction they're gonna take and that's how I kinda like things. Drug itself hints at something with a hazy later 70s Grateful Dead sound, country rock guitar twangs reverberating and carrying psychedelic vocals. I dunno what to expect from White Denim but the ability to create music that gives my ears a hard on.

Sir Lord Baltimore - Helium Head (I Got A Love)

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Download: Sir Lord Baltimore - Helium Head (I Got A Love)


Sirs, Lords, knights of the realm couldn't muster a sound further away from the proto-metal thunder Sir Lord Baltimore are said to have pioneered. Perhaps we could chuck 'em in with Blue Cheer and Tiger B. Smith for being 'godfathers' of greasy 'don't take those long hairs to see your mama' armadillo trousered thrusting, shooting from the disease ridden fuck stick rock.
This is rock at it's most don't give a fuck, perhaps that has been lost lately. There isn't anything remotely rebellious or exciting about a kid laying down loops on Apple products. You aint gonna get a girl's liver quiver behind a laptop. Sir Lord woulda known this.

Malcom Catto - Fax

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I don't really know anything about Malcom Catto other than the fact he's been around for ages and that he is an incredible drummer. And he's in the Heliocentrics and his best friend is DJ Shadow. And that since his childhood spent listening to Professor Longhair he's been on a mission to make marry free jazz, funk, break beat, psychedelic rock and all kinds of other stuff. And he's missing one 'L' in his first name. That's really it.