architecture in helsinki - do the whirlwind (mp3)

just a quick one from me after my last two essays (and the kettle's just boiled in time for my frasier brew). think esg done by polyphonic spree but in a good way and you'll be somewhere close to how ace this is from australians architecture in helsinki.

it's an official bff anthem too but we're buggered if we know how to actually do the whirlwind so if anyone wants to show us the steps...

bobby konders - bad boy dance (mp3)

herb alpert - north on south street (late night massive sound remix) (mp3)

the associates - fire to ice (bobby konders mix) (mp3)

following up from my nu-groove beginners guide is an introduction to one of it's most prolific artists. bobby konders is one of those producers whose name on a record is all i need to see before purchasing, and it turns up in some unlikely places providing gems such as those above on major labels (including charisma, a&m and mercury) at the start of the 90s, tracks that would have been very at home on nu groove. his early releases on his own massive b label also feature this late night house sound and are well worth the search.

the earlies - i must have been blind (mp3)

the boats - sarah alice (mp3)

sifting through the beef blog archives i noticed scholes' two home town sounds posts and i thought i'd chip in (i know, not like me to share an opinion). i was all ready to pick some slightly more pastoral gems from my adopted home town of the last six years but then thought sod it; i'll leave the 'manchester musical heritage (tm)' rant for another post and see what treasures i could dig up from my actual motherland some 40 minutes further north.

whilst only a quarter of the 'official' earlies might come from burnley (the rest being a manc and two texans), i reckon the fact that at least half of the ten strong touring band do (including the drummer from my school orchestra no less) qualifies them for the purposes of this exercise. i was toying with going with something from their spiffy-though-be-warned-it's-a-bit-of-a-grower new album the enemy chorus but instead have picked this possibly-missed treat from the dream brother tim and jeff buckley covers album from last year.

i've never had much of a chance to get into either of the buckleys so don't really feel qualified to say too much about the original, but i do feel safe in saying that the slow-brewing majesty of the earlies' version definitely adhere's to the second half of the 'do it better or do it differently' covers adage (and maybe event the first half too - look i was only saying... right okay so i don't know anything about... look stop looking at me like that... now come on there's no need for that... just put it down before you do something you'll regret... )

there's no doubting the burnley credentials this time (i wonder if that's been said with a straight face before) as the boats are some chap called craig from the remote viewer and his two friends andrew and elaine (not his only two friends i'm sure) and they're from sunny haslingdon and they make music like this: the second song from their second album we made it for you. some might call it folktronica but i really don't think there's a need to resort to name-calling just because it has a piano, acoustic guitar and some bleepy stuff in it. instead i'll just say it's as delicate and crisply sharp as a frosty morning on pendle.

oh, and just in case you were wondering, i thought it far too obvious just sticking up a run-of-the-mill run-down-mill-town picture so i decided to show you all the lovely new bus station. i'm sure you'll be pleased to know that tramps still wee in it and 13 year old kids still mug you for fags. such memories; i'm welling-up just thinking about it.

led zepplin - the rain song (mp3)

it can sometimes still amaze how many great records are out there that you've never heard before. do people who've spent their lives in music still get their socks blown off by something old on a regular occasion? and has anyone alive heard everything great, and if so, do you think they'd be happy or sad about it?

you may wish to ponder on these quasi-philoshopical questions whilst listening to this, a song from the legendary led zepplin, taken from their houses of the holy longplayer. this has been getting some serious action on the deck for the last three days, and is working hard sending the hair on the back of my neck into overtime. a stunning vocal delivery, heartfelt chord progression and "that" inimitable zepplin guitar style - you can only imagine the magic in the air moment when this was roaring throught the speakers during their 1979 knebworth effort.

my zepplin album collection now conists of this, led zepplin ii and led zepplin iv. any other tips would be greatly appreciated, as i'm only starting to understand the brilliance of what was once a wayne's world running gag ...

the dynamics - night fever (mp3)

having firmly established their reggae cover skills (after comfortably taking on the white stripes, curtis mayfield and madonna), the dynamics now turn their hand to the that staple of the disco canon, night fever. you could could well be forgiven for thinking this was recorded in a sticky icky studio sometime in 1977, when in fact it's a much more recent affair - look, they've even got the myspace to prove it!

j.j. burnell - euroman (mp3)

nini raviolette - suis-je normale (mp3)

the idea of french super-label tigersushi having a 'miss' is almost unimaginable, but the 'so young but so cold' compilation released in 2004 was deemed as much by many label fans. compiled by blackstrobe's ivan smagghe, the cd placed together 16 cult french tracks from the then (70s/80s) developing new-wave/no-wave/synth-pop scene, and many thought it just a bit to far the wrong side of strange, and the fact that it was preceded by a poor remix-filled vinyl sampler just put many people off from the get-go.

however, after spending almost 2 years on current rotation in tasteful homes on both sides of the channel, this can be admired as classic moody french electro at it's very best. if you passed on it first time round, it may be time for another try.

king biscuit time - i walk the earth (mp3)

i won't bore you with long introductions, suffice to say the wolf man and the schoolmaster have graciously asked (stupidly allowed) me to prattle on about my uncool music collection here thus ruining any good reputation they've built up. i don't know anything about genre titles, own far more cds than vinyl and most of what i have you can't dance to. don't say i didn't warn you.

i think every man and his dog knows i'm a bit of a beta band fan and so was a touch perturbed when they called it a day the year before last (and there wasn't even a hint of a help-line). band members new and old have however all carried on making music under one guise or another, including reluctant former front-man steve mason's king biscuit time.

but mr mason was releasing his own stuff as king biscuit time a good while before weird in-band politics and their £1 million record company debt disbanded the betas, at around the same time in fact that they were pronouncing their yet to be released first album as "the worst record made" that year.

there was 1999's 'king biscuit time "sings" nelly foggit's blues in "me and the pharaohs"' ep (nope, I've no idea but 'eye o' the dug' is awesome) and then the following year's 'no style' ep which opens with 'i walk the earth'.

yes it sounds like the beta band, but there's nary a hint of sillyness for sillyness' sake or of disappearing off on a tangent just as things are getting good: this is a distinctly leaner, more direct beta band sound. yes it's got some funny noises, it even has some synth trumpets but these never get in the way of the song's simple, incessant beat and bass line and an effortlessly floating vocal (this is probably how ian brown thinks he sounds in his head).

the nme probably called it "21st century pop music".

dj shadow - this time (i'm gonna dub it my way) (mp3)

after an easter weekend spent punishing my kidneys via copious amounts of the white stuff, i'm currently laying a little low. couple this with mark's recent house move (resulting in his current lack of web access), and our other new contributors being up to no good, and that's the best excuse we've got for the occasional tumbleweed moments over the last week or so. we'll be back to full capabilities pretty soon, but in the meantime help yourself to this, the instrumental flip from shadow's recent radio-friendly smash, in all it's sunny californian stoner rock glory. better than the full version? well i think so, but i'm pretty used to being shot down in flames ...

in other news, in a bid to somehow justify all the time spent dicking around on the internet doing not very much, we've started a scrapbook-type-affair over at beef rap. this should be the first step in best foot forward world domination, and could well give you a bit of an insight into what we do when not gassing on about records.

mott the hoople - bastard (a mountain of one re-edit) (mp3)

I hear that you and your band have sold your guitars and bought turntables.
I hear that you and your band have sold your turntables and bought guitars.

one of losing my edge's closing remarks, and something i'm quite sure will ring true forevermore - just as you start to think that "dance don't do them guitars no more", another resurgence begins and you realise you better get those 1210s on ebay again (well, maybe not that drastic eh?). alongside the justifiably-hyped and previously discussed map of africa, a mountain of one are the balearic institution's current conduits of the six-stringed beast, having come to the forefront of the current cosmic revival after releasing a limited ep last summer. their second ep is expected to drop anytime soon (come on guys, it seems like we've been waiting forever), so in the meantime, we've been granted a bit of an exclusive on this nothing-short-of-outstanding re-edit of a mott the hoople number, which should be online for a week or so - don't sleep!

and if you're wondering, the flyer above (click to make it a lot more readable) is for a special event taking place in that there london on the 12th april, where a mountain of one will be playing a live set, with dj support blackstrobe's ivan smagghe and nathan wilkins. it looks likely to be one hell of a night.

sa-ra creative partners - rosebud (mp3)

after sitting behind the scenes twiddling knobs for the likes of erykah badu, dr dre, and jurassic 5 (amongst many others) sa-ra creative partners decided that 2004 was the year to come out from behind the curtain, unleashing a pair of artist releases on ubiquity and abb soul.

as you can see from the picture above, sa-ra have a beyond-future dress style (which regular saturday visitors to best foot forward may have seen somewhere before), and this style pervades through their music too - this is real 2050 shit, sounding like mos def riffing aboard the starship enterprise, with bumblebee unlimited providing backing vocals. this originally came on a beautiful transparent 12", with as much time spent on the design as the sa-ra dudes take getting ready every morning.