japanese synchro system - a day in the life (mp3)

more music, and less chitter chatter today...

this is an absolute monster of a record from the japanese synchro system. 'a day in the life' gently ebbs and flows for a mighty 12 minutes plus, fusing together jazz, tech and deep house influences along the way. this is definitely one of my favourite records of the year, top 10 easily...enjoy

thrashing doves - jesus on the payroll - street version (mp3)

with the festive season upon us, what better way to celebrate the birth of jesus than to post a track which has a very tenuous link to the great man himself...

jesus on the payroll, the street groove version, is a piano led classic which was massive with all the balearica types back in the late 80's. it was especially popular down at danny ramplings legendary club night, shoom, and can be found on the balearic beats vol 1 album which was compiled by most of the shoom resident dj's. probably the easiest way to get hold of it on record...

incidentally, the band responsible for said track are called 'thrashing doves'. and, so i am led to believe, hailed from the mighty rochdale in greater manchester (might be wrong, can anyone shed any light on this?). being no stranger to musical talent, rochdale can also claim to have unleashed on our ears, not only the mighty autechre, but the even mightier (?!?) lisa stansfield...now i never thought id see those two in the same sentence...a first maybe?

odyssey - native new yorker (mp3)

dwight trash - i love new york (mp3)

two more new york records, both with a serious disco edge. as you'll probably be well aware, disco was born on the streets of manhattan, and proliferated clubs all over the globe throughout the 70s and launching thousands of records, and the birth of the 12 inch. anyone with even a passing interest in the new york disco scene should treat themselves over christmas to love saves the day, a fascinating book documenting the birth of disco, and covering escapades on fire island, david mancuso's loft parties (with his phenomenal sound system), and the rising careers of larry levan, nicky siano and frankie knuckles alongside a whole lot more. one of the coolest things about visiting new york is that everywhere you turn is another iconic landmark from days gone by - when i was over there last i took a wrong turn down a side street and ended up outside studio 54, and later that same day i took a wander round a bar after seeing a weird display of disfigured children's dolls in the window, and upon exiting the bar and seeing the sign i realised we were in the legendary cbgb venue. i'm sure this is a regular occurence, so if anyone else has similar new york accidental finds, i'd love to hear them in the comments!

anyways, onto the music. the first track here is simply a new york classic from odyssey. a big aficionado record and what must be one of the most amazing intros of all time - this never fails to bring a smile to my face and ladies to a dancefloor. second up is from the lesser known dwight trash, and is a track from joey negro and sean p's better days disco edit label. big basslines, funky guitar licks and the hectic sounds of nyc streets are the order of the day here, coming together for another ass-shaking track.

oh and i've only just realised that i didn't make it obvious from the mp3 link that the beastie boys track from my last post was the awesome rub 'n tug remix - if you didn't check it, you really should!

nina hagen band - african reggae (mp3)

due to a severe lack of brain activity, im going to be keeping this post short and sweet. so in a complete contrast to kev's thesis on nyc, here goes...

the nina hagen band were formed by the woman herself, catherina hagen, back in 1977 and were renowned for their new wave/punk sound and their operatic, almost scizophrenic, vocal talents. the track posted, 'african reggae', is from the unbehagen lp and is a lot 'easier on the ears' than most of the album tracks. its a 6 minute affair that excellently fuses together various influences, including dub, reggae and punk...fantastisch

beastie boys - an open letter to nyc (rub 'n tug remix) (mp3)

startship orchestra - new york new york (mp3)

new york city. nyc. the big apple. the city that never sleeps. the capital of the world.

america's largest city goes under many names, meaning many things to many people. on the streets of manhattan there's a constant buzz in the air and a perpetual feeling of electricity flowing throughout (apart from the one obvious instance). i always think that due to the pull of the city, there's only three options for the rest of us non-new yorkers - either you never visit, you only go there once and ain't too fussed (shame on you!), or you end up heading back as many times as you can afford through your lifetime. i'll place myself firmly in the latter camp, and can't wait to get back.

so much great art, literature, film and music has come direct from the five boroughs, and it has become surely the most influential city on the planet. the sheer mass of creative individuals leads to quality in these media forms, quality and kudos which is further boosted worldwide due to the direct connection to it's birthplace. if someone was to list all the tracks based on new york, it'd be one hell of a list (oh look, someone did!), so i thought i'd choose a few of my personal favourites, staying within the so-called boundaries of our broad musical remit.

first up is a meeting of two groups of new yoikers, with hipper-than-thou duo rub n tug remixing the beastie boys "open letter to nyc". well, some might say remixing, others would probably refer to it as "stealing the lions share of steve miller's epic disco-not-disco classic macho city and throwing an acapella over the top". call it what you will, it's still dancefloor dynamite and a hot slice of the big apple. second up is a bit of discslow (see what i did there?) from starship orchestra's little known "new york new york", released in 1980 and a bit of a best foot forward favourite.

two more tracks, and a little on my own new york experience coming soon ...

force of nature - blackmoon (long version) (mp3)

following on from kev's manuel göttsching post, i thought i'd instill a bit of continuity in these here posts, and put up a track that is without a shadow of a doubt inspired by mr göttsching...

blackmoon is from the recent ep on mule musiq records and comes from force of nature, aka, the japanese duo, dj kent and kza. all four tracks on this ep are of the slo-mo/cosmic/disco variety, and all are equally as excellent as the other. i highly recommend you purchase ...

manuel göttsching - ain't no time (sacred rhythm remix) (mp3)

grand high priest - mary st. mary (sacred rhythm remix) (mp3)

tying a few recent post themes together with a double header from new york stalwart joe claussell. starting with a quite rare (and pretty expensive) track from krautrock icon manuel göttsching, remixed under joe's legendary sacred rhythm alias. this is the clausell take on a live recording from a 1979 ash-ra gig, overlayed with tribal drums, overdubs, effects and organ sounds. a similar, or some might say trademark, approach is also taken on his remix of grand high priest, an aretha-franklin samplin' fierce gospel house record, which surely must be in the running for one of the club records of the year.

i'm finding these running themes quite interesting, so i dare say there's more new york on the way ...

sub sub - space face (mp3)

happy mondays - bobs yer uncle (mp3)

another two tracks from the manchester vaults...

first up are sub sub. sub sub were best known in the 90's for their cheesy house hit 'aint no love aint no use'...more recently they can be found under the name, doves, and for anyone who has seen doves live recently, then you will know that they nearly always end on this record...space face is a massive breakbeat techno tune which was released way back in 1990, and is almost impossible to find on 12". to most die hard doves fans this release is the holy grail of all subsub/doves releases...luckily though, i found said 'grail' in a dirty, stinky record shop in antwerp for a mere 1 euro...

second track is from the magnificent happy mondays, no real reason for picking this apart from that it's my favourite mondays track, ever...don't know if there is such a pigeon-hole as a balearic-indie-house record, but if there is, then this track would fit that category perfectly...

step on...

the fall - totally wired (mp3)

a certain ratio - shack up (mp3)

a lazy post from me today, albeit very worthwhile...

feeling mancunian and proud, i have decided to pick two influential tracks from the motherland, manchester...the fall and acr shouldn't really need any introduction. both bands are often cited by modern artists for their early influence on the post-punk/punk funk scene and often get name dropped along with the likes of esg, liquid liquid etc...

both tracks are from the (very) early 80's, and are still sounding remarkably fresh today, hope you like...

das etwas - deutscherwerkbund (mp3)

it's undeniable the influence that a few german bands of the 1960s had on the current dance scene. the so-hot-right-now cosmic disco sounds owe heavily to the ground-breaking work of ash-ra temple and manuel göttsching, the motorik sounds of neu! are being respectfully refreshed by fujiya and miyagi, and there is no lack of writings on the how much electronic music owes kraftwerk (and in case you missed those - the answer is everything).

so fans of krautrock unite, as you've probably not had it this good for some time! this is a track from das etwas ("the something" according to mr babelfish) and channels the spirit of the german pioneers of old via it's repetitive shuffling beats, vocal chants, druggy synths and sporadic aural effects.