the apples in stereo - sunndal song (mp3)

by way of a complete contrast to my last post, here's three and a half minutes of pop complete with ace piano riff, vocoder vocals and a guitar solo only a minute and a quarter of the way in. it comes courtesy of founding elephant 6 group the apples in stereo from their album 'new magnetic wonder' which is available from all good popular music outlets now.

the coasters - down in mexico (mp3)

t-rex - jeepster (mp3)

so it's been hell of busy ... there's been gearing up for the biggest thing bff have ever done, working 12 hour days in the office to roll-out something quite huge, and now to top it all off trying to find enough spare time to waste doing nothing. in between all this madness, i managed to watch death proof, which is quite simply breathtaking (literally ... i mean that bit on the bonnet? shhheeeeeeeeeeeiit!).

quite simply, it's a movie about cute girls in dangerous situations leading to loads of action and a fair bit of blood. what more could you ask for? well this is tarantino, so there's another two things you get for certain - witty, killer dialog, and the sort of soundtrack that makes the idea of an evening at chez quentin seem rather appealing. here's two choice cuts, first up from that scene, and then a rather swinging number from t-rex.

yellow magic orchestra - firecracker (mp3)

j.d. emmanuel - focusing within (mp3)

new order - your silent face (mp3)

seefeel - climactic phase #3 (mp3)

the black dog - parallel (mp3)

sinner dc - zum dritten mal (mp3)

boards of canada - davyan cowboy (mp3)

sébastien san - interplanetary (lightspeed mix) (mp3)

underworld - dirty epic (mp3)

as promised here's that electronic post i promised a good couple of months ago. yes it's a monster, but that means there should be a little bit of something for everyone, and yes it's largely dancefloor unfriendly but if nothing else it'll go some way to redressing my words-to-music ratio.

lfo sung, er, talked about them on 'frequencies' and dedicated it to them. 'firecracker' is from their self-titled 'yellow magic orchestra' album from 1978.

recorded as an aid to meditation, 'wizards' was released as a private pressing in 1982 by american spiritualist musician j.d. emmanuel. since then it apparently achieving some sort of mythological status amongst those with an audio workshop/library sounds penchant and as luck would have it belgian label dreamtime taped sounds have managed to re-press a limited number which were released last month.

from 1983's 'power, corruption & lies' (or 'blue monday-era'), 'your silent face' is new order finding their electronic feet with a sparkling, simple subtlety that, well, didn't last long.

'climactic phase #3' opens seefeel's first album 'quique'. released in 1993, before they upset the geeks simply by being the first proper band signed to warp (god knows what they'd have made of maximo park!), this is as fine a slice of shoegazing as you could want.

is that black dog, plaid, balil, xeper, close-up-over, i.o.s., discordian popes, atypic? 'parallel' is the title track from their 1995 album on gpr which was included as part of this year's 'the black dog's book of dogma' re-mastered re-release from soma.

swiss electronica trio sinner dc's 2005 album 'arkle parkle avenue' has a lovely name, sounds lovely and 'zum dritten mal' is probably the loveliest moment from it.

shortly after releasing the disappointing 'the campfire headphase' in 2005 (well, disappointing in that it was a bit samey), boards of canada sneaked out the 'trans canada highway' ep and lead track 'davyan cowboy' proves that they can do something a little bit different when they put their minds to it (it also proves they'd had their ulrich schnauss records on repeat!)

french chappy sebastien san released his concept album 'duel' last year and whilst at first it sounds a bit 'techno-by-numbers', that doesn't stop 'interplanetary (lightspeed mix)' sounding all cosmic and lovely.

and finally, for no other reason than it's my post so i can do what i want, here's 'dirty epic' from underworld's most sensibly titled album 'dubnobasswithmyheadman'. it is indeed epic, but not terribly dirty: ahh those heady days of the dawn of 'intelligent dance music'.

we're very pleased to finally unwrap what's been taking a hell of a lot of my time at the moment ... best foot forward have teamed up with tropical hotdog and baltika beer to host a double-headed party of unforgettable sights and a heady soundtrack of disco, psyche, cosmic music and balearock.

the event begins at sacred trinity church on chapel st , where we aim to leverage the grandeur of this historic location as an intimate setting for a unique audiovisual performance. this would be centred around a live musical act by two groups of musicians, voice of the seven woods (psychedelic folk artist manchester) and a mountain of one (a london-based cosmic orchestra, making their live debut in manchester). this live music will be backed up by work from visual artists, made up from avante garde movies created specifically for the event alongside live projected visualisation of a psychedelic nature, to provide accompaniment to the musical soundscapes provided by the artists. ambient noise and musical interludes will be curated throughout by richard norris (beyond the wizard's sleeve) and danny webb (friends of music).

later in the evening the event will move to cord bar on dorsey st, northern quarter, where a specialised sound system will colour the basement heavy with records from the likes of studio, mo morris (a mountain of one) and kevin maguire (best foot forward). this hedonistic hoedown should keep revellers intoxicated and inebriated (both through beer and beats) until the early morning hours.

the number of patrons attending will be limited to 150 and is only via invite, and will include free baltika from early on. for one of the limited invites, rsvp asap to events@bestfootforward.info.

air - the vagabond (mp3)

now kev, i am right aren't i in saying that the general consensus puts '10,000 Hz legend' just ahead of 'talkie walkie' as air's biggest joke of a body of work?

despite the disgusting popularity, i don't think that with the decidedly un-easy listening '10,000 Hz legend' nicolas and jean-benoît ever had any intention of pulling another 'moon safari' out from their tightly-trousered french nether-regions, and that it had your average our price patron scratching their head wasn't at all surpising, but i've never understood why the more *ahem* discerning listeners even now still refer to it as "the shit one". my purchasing just last week of a lovely double vinyl copy reminded me not only of how you are all just wrong, but also that you've missed out on gems like this little collaboration with beck.

'the vagabond' is tinged with sea change melancholy, the album beck released the following year (which was also produced by nigel godrich), and manages quite nicely to sound both unmistakably beck whilst at the same time oh so very distinctly air.

even on its release i thought everyone was a little too quick in dismissing '10,000 Hz legend', but now, especially in these much more prog/psych-friendly times, i cannot urge you enough to give it another listen ('don't be light' is awesome). in fact it's such an unashamedly psych album that for my money it has much more in common with the likes of serge's 'histoire de melody nelson' than any mere near-note-perfect homage.*

now, where did i put my rhyming becktionary?

* and yes, having just bought said album does make me an expert all of a sudden!

shur-i-kan - searching (fingers remix)(mp3)

i just had my i-pod on shuffle and this little track pricked my ears up. released in 2004 on jimpsters freerange records label, this 12" beholds a wonderful deep house remix from the main man, mr larry heard - and believe you me, he does not disappoint...

archie bell and the drells - strategy (special disco version) (mp3)

super quick one from archie bell & the drells today...

i put 'strategy' on this morning before my daily 'life threatening' commute to work and it just got me all fired up. this was a big hit back in the late 70's, with its catchy lyrics, and much sampled string arrangements and it's not hard to see why. i suppose the bonus of a big selling record, is that there is loads of them about. i picked this up in nyc for a measly 1 buck - thank you kindly mr archie bell & the drells...

life on earth! - life on earth (mp3)

miss me?

i didn't think so.

and what have i been up to i don't hear you ask. well, nothing much really other than finally getting around to owning a serge gainsbourg album (beck and nigel godrich: for shame!), listening to the lindstrøm & prins thomas album on repeat so much that i'm now bored of it (i am of course kidding*), getting into some random 1970's japanese jazz courtesy of an only recently noticed sample credit on phoenix's 'if i ever feel better', auctionsniping original pressings of vertigo lp's and tracking-down more from the chap responsible for the music for this little bit of bliss.

oh, and of course there was being at the front of a tent full of two and a half thousand (ish) people dosey-do-ing at 2am to dunk le chunk's dj set at this year's green man festival: he opened with this.

'life on earth' is the opening track to life on earth!'s album 'look!! there is life on earth!' (got that?) which came out but a few months ago. it's some great swedish psych with musicians from dungen, the works, town & country and moa doi todd. well at least that's what the sticker on the front of the record says but i'm afraid that, other than the 'great psych' bit, the rest means absolutely nothing to me: bands the mention of whose names i could only nod at authoritatively, whilst at the same time moving the conversation swiftly on to something i might actually have the foggiest idea about.

if you don't swoon at around one minute and twenty seconds in when, just as you think the awesome rock flute might be about to outstay its welcome, the bongos** start up and it all goes wonderful then, well, what exactly were you expecting when you downloaded something from a swedish psych record? for those of you who did swoon, once you've come back round and had a brew to get yourself feeling right again, go out and get yourselves a copy of the album as the whole thing's just as good.

and would you look at that: as if by happenstance, the song title means i can make a seamless return with one of them clever 'song title that's something to do with something topical' type posts that the kids are all banging on about around these parts right now.

* and just why is it that the album version of 'turkish delight' is soo much better than the ep version?
** or congas or tom-toms or whatever they are smarty-pants.

dubtribe sound system - equitoreal (mp3)

after settling into my new found home i thought it was about time i got the sri lankan (cricket) ball rolling. so, with no records to hand, i have had to delve into my recordings i made prior to my move to sunnier climes...

considering my re-positioning has brought me as close to the equator as you could probably get (alright, it's not that close, but compared to manchester it's not far off), i thought there was no better place to start than with dubtribe sound systems equator homage - the bongo laden 'equitoreal'...

the beach boys - god only knows (mp3)

john denver - leaving on a jetplane (mp3)

thanks to the ubiquitous omnipresent nature of the internet it probably won't even be noticeable, but in a short while best foot forward will be crafted from across different timezones, continents and even hemispheres. this is due to mark starting a two year stint working for a high-end fashion retailer in sri lanka, and leaving behind his mancunian brethren for a short while. i'm sure you'll join me in wishing him all the best in his new endeavors, in having a great time out there working on his tan, and blogging up some locally sourced records for all our pleasure ...

kanye west - flashing lights (feat. dwele) (mp3)

we really try to avoid the obvious big releases here at best foot forward, much prefering to dig through dusty record shops or share under-loved tracks you might have missed first time around. however, as the third kanye west album finally leaks, it would be foolish to skip up on this mind-blowing piece, which i can see getting absolutely hammered at clubs worldwide for quite some time, no matter their music policy.

graduation is more evolution than revolution for kanye, with speeded-up samples dropped throughout, and liberal (some might say over)use of well known samples - daft punk and can both make more that a small appearance. but it's on "flashing lights" where we see kanye really pushing his sound forward, teaming up one-time slum village collaborator dwele for a track with inconceivable grandeur and blade runner posturing. with the sub 110bpm warming kickdrum and staccato synthesizers you be forgiven for thinking this as based on a sample from last year's still mind-blowing rekid lp.

in a recent i laughed at recent interview kanye decreeing "i am neon. i glow in the dark", but after hearing this he's being uncharacteristically modest - the guy is more like shinjuku fucking crossing!