WOEBOT

Photographer: "OK guys. Smile! (bulb flashes) Right lets try that again. Er, Dan, could you you know (shakes his shoulders) relax a little." Dan: "Like this?" Photgrapher: "I guess that'll have to do... (bulb flashes).

It's the backroom boys Mike Simonetti (Troubleman) and Dan Selzer (Acute) in the limelight. They wish they never came up with the idea of a Feelies pastiche record cover, just want to get back to the record store, back to the bid. Anyway, who cares what they look like? What you ought to care about is that with this collection (which has already snaffled some publicity off of Blissblog) they've made the best and most seductive mix CD this year. Head over here for the tracklisting, spiel and to pick up a copy for a measly $3 plus shipping.

Not only is it packed with totally amazing, fabulously catchy, super-rare choons like Amin-Peck's "Girls On Me", Vortex's quite stunning "Black Box Disco" and Klein & MBO's gourgeous 'The Big Apple" (all of which you'll wonder how you ever managed to survive without...) it also has a few tracks *everyone* knows and loves, which means HEY PRESTO a CD you can play to your girlfriend/wife/dog, it's practically a "Just Add Water" recipe for the best office party ever!

Posted by WOEBOT at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Last week I spent 3 days helping Troy Miller put together the graphics for the forthcoming Practice Hours DVD. I met Troy when I went down to Rinse FM in the Summer. We got chatting about techy video stuff and I offered to help out for free on the Motion Graphics. That's what I do for a living you see, graphics for Channel 4, T4, MTV, Sky, Title Sequences, Pop Videos, Commercials, in essence whizzy surreal eye-candy for Telly. Flash stuff.

Troy has spent the entire year getting together the interviews for the double DVD set. I'll repeat that, an *ENTIRE YEAR* on this *DOUBLE DVD* set. He had so much quality footage that it had to go on two discs. I've seen quite a bit of the video and there's brilliant stuff in there. It's a true survey of the Grime nation, peopled with a surprisingly high quotient of new unknown faces as well as all the big names. That filled me with hope for the music actually, that there are people coming through. Punters are going to have a load of fun watching these discs.

The job was a challenge cos although I've done lots of high-end stuff, I'd never turned my hand to any DVD Menus. So I had to understand how that all worked. Which I did. It was also a challenge because this was a Grime DVD, for Media Gang who (with the Conflict DVD, Practice Hours, Aim High Volume 2 and Run The Road 2 DVDs under their belt) must surely rank as the "market leaders", and I couldn't deliver no wussy Ice Cream commercial graphics. Street, raw, inflected by video game graphics but also just a likkle bit Pop-Arty. It had to look ruff and, well, grimey. I wanted my graphics to look like a million dollars (well, a few thousand quid at the very least), and when you look at this DVD and compare it to its competitors Box Bloody Fresh, Risky Roads, Lord of the Decks, well I like to think my small contribution has helped Practice Hours raise the game.

And naturally my own involvement got me thinking a bit. I'll always remember Alex Petridis's comments way back in April last year, about Grime's "comically polarised fan base" and well, enjoy a laugh at his expense really. It's been truly cool watching Riko and Plasticman become bloggers, witnessing Martin Clark and Chantelle Fiddy embracing the net, hanging out with Logan "The Ice Man" Sama at Dissensus, checking the Prancehall man playing an opening set for Ruff Sqwad, seeing Dave "bun-u" Moynihan arranging the awesome Dirty Canvas night. What a strange trip it's been!

But a caveat. I read Eno quoting Robert Wyatt recently and it seemed very appropriate to to this situation: "Wyatt always says that the most interesting period in any ethnic music is the first couple of months that the middle classes get hold of it, and then they ruin it after that. For the first short while they put a tremendous amount of energy and resources behind it and then it flourishes but then it dies from its own dinosaur proportions." Substitute the odd term here and there and voila. Grime and the bloggers. It'd be extremely easy to disown this culture, and I'm as guilty as the next man of having felt a bit negative about Grime recently. Internet critics dem have a sweet tooth. It's especially easy for the more superficial individual to find something they come in close proximity to to be delibidinised. I'm not telling people to disown their critical faculties, but yunnuh, have patience. Sincerely I believe this music is not going away, and that, unlike Jungle it won't wither creatively. Have faith people!

Posted by WOEBOT at 12:52 PM | Permalink

Probably against my better judgement I've just opened one of these fellers. MT3.2 has this authentification system which means you have to sign up remotely with Typekey before you can call me a cock. Obviously I'd appreciate not being called a cock, and unfortunately unlike Dissensus (where it really was quite difficult to "say my name") it's not so difficult here. Some people may find authentification tiresome, and that may mean less comments, but to be honest I can live with that.

A few rules of engagement (really talking to himself here), I won't be poking my nose in more than once a day. Sanity dictates innit. I'll be shutting the boxes after a while because that cuts down on the spam like wot poor old Paul Meme is struggling with. And, of course, if people routinely upset me (skin has got measurably tougher when it comes to online discourse) then I'll chuck 'em out and delete comments at will. If you can't stand my guts (reflects: I *must* have got less objectionable as time has gone on!) then please avoid me and my sorry ass.

People are encouraged to use readily identifiable monikers and not bask in obscurity.

Posted by WOEBOT at 12:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

So Ariel's "House Arrest" is around the corner, just about to get re-released by Todd at Paw Tracks. But what about these two babies? I picked them up at the Pink gig at Scratch this summer, classic ruff and ready CD-R bizniss from a guy with a stall, and it must be said that "Scared Famous" is the best of the lot. Better than "The Doldrums" and maybe even better than "Worn Copy."

The tunes are amongst Ariel's best, "Beefbud" is just perfect: Ray Davies dematerialising as he skiffles sideways. As people must have noticed all this music is reissued recordings, originally made, I dunno, a year or so ago, when Ariel must have been in the full throes of the starry dynamo. It reminds me, in a way, of how Radiohead turned one lot of sessions into "OK Computer", "Kid A" and "Amnesiac" and dined out on the vibe. Who knows what Mr. Pink's new stuff will be like?

Posted by WOEBOT at 10:01 AM | Permalink

Picked up this great magazine the other day in the bookshop outside Tate Modern. It literally leapt out of the window at me. What it represents is a particularly fecund moment in the lifetime of the British Avant-Garde, a moment so fraught with promise, that it still haunts music today.

While American music is covered splendidly, there's stuff on Steve Reich, Alvin Lucier and Morton Feldman, it's viewed here through a British prism. Michael Nyman, who performed the key conceptual round-up of the Minimalists with his seminal book on Glass/Reich/Riley/Young, speaks to Steve Reich and Gavin Bryars interviews Morton Feldman.

The Brits could be grouped on an incline ranging from their proximity to the Avant-Garde and their notional "austerity" to their degree of involvement in Pop Culture thus: Cornelius Cardew > Portsmouth Sinfonia > Gavin Bryars > Michael Nyman > Paul Burwell and David Toop > Tom Phillips > Brian Eno.

And maybe it's this interface with Pop which went on to ensure the continuing resonance of the era? For this we have to thank Toop who took these ideas into Post-Punk and framed his writing about Hip-Hop within Cardew's conceptual framework (non-musicians, transgressive social re-organisation and open systems) and most especially Eno because of Obscure Records. Though of course part of the reason the music expanded beyond the boundaries of the hermetic world Avant-Garde music is usually happy to occupy was, not only that it was pungent with ideas and possibilities, but also that ideas of musical democracy were key to its fabric/rubric.

I've gone and scanned in the Eno article and uploaded it here, it's not the most interesting piece in the volume (a quite dry look at the actual limits of probability imposed by Cardew's score of "The Great Learning") but it's interesting from the perspective of its progeny, from the pen of self-professed "Rock Star".

Posted by WOEBOT at 09:14 AM | Permalink

It's one of my peridodic bugbears, people confusing UK Hip-Hop with Grime, and it's a conflation that almost always happens the closer one gets to mainstream Journalism. So I wasn't at all surprised to clock this on the BBC News site. In character as Colonel Outraged I wrote them a little note which, seeing as how I'd be extremely surprised if they published it, I'm reproducing here:

"Your reporter has made a classic error of trying to compare unlike with like.

Like your reporter, the UK Urban Industry has made the silly mistake of thinking that if it brands Grime as the UK’s “own version of Hip-Hop” that they will be able to sell it more easily. If Grime didn’t have its own roots you’d find this exercise would kill it quickly, however it will continue to slowly prosper and grow regardless."

Kinda testy of me I suppose. I wonder what will happen with Grime? It still hasn't lost it's grip on the underground like Jungle hade done by 1996 which means it's had an impressive five years in gear since So Solid's "Oh No" in 2000. Putting together my Grime breakout for the second half of this year has proved to be very tricky.

Posted by WOEBOT at 01:30 PM | Permalink

My friends at Dissensus have witnessed the saga of my investigation into Neue Deutsche Welle (NDW for short), and so I should apologise in advance if they've heard any or all of this before of. My research has been severely hamstrung by my lack of German, and unlike the largely established canon of Krautrock there is as yet no translated history for NDW. Music fans take for granted things like Julian Cope's "Krautrocksampler" and the pioneering forays into that music made by the likes of Ian McDonald. Listening to Krautrock nowadays you almost "think through it" in English, obviously there are English language points of entry, Kraftwerk's willingness to do translated versions of their music and Damo of Can's fusioneering approach to his lyrics, a pile-up of English/Japanese/German both softened the barrier.

Just the other week I rounded up all the stuff I'd collected this year, and built a compilation of what amounted to my choice of the best, most interesting, most relevant pieces of music. This post is a companion to that compilation, a blow by blow breakdown of the little I know about each of the tracks. Firstly it ought to be stated that this comp amounts to a "second grade" primer to NDW. If you're a total newbie to this music you should first get the following LPs: DAF's "Die Kleinen Un Die Bosen", Pyrolator's "Ausland", Palais Schaumburg's debut LP, Der Plan's "Geri Reig" (which if you get on CD is doubled up with the also excellent "Normalette Surprise"), Liaisons Dangereuse's eponymous LP, Einsturzende Neubauten's first LP, and the quite excellent Verschwende Deine Jugend: Punk und New Wave in Deutschland 1977-83 Compilation. In truth if you have those 7 things you've probably got enough. You'll very regularily hear people singing the praises of Fehlfarben's "Monarchie und Altag", stuff by Malaria and Abwarts, so there must be something to them as well, but I've not got anything out of them- I suppose it may be case of personal taste.

Close readers will probably have noticed I'd been trying to do this as a Primer in The Wire. To give them their dues they did consider it, but sadly my enthusiasm for the subject wasn't enough to convince them I was the man for the job. The fact that I was going to have to rely on the very generous Alexander Pohle (of the Backagain site and NLW label) to essentially provide the basic skeleton to the piece further scuppered me. From my half-baked, albeit completely under-researched comments here you'll fathom I wasn't ready to be unleashed on a "NDW Primer." For a while I wasn't going to take no for an answer and actually managed to get an audience with Chris Bohn the editor in an attempt to convince him by the sheer presence of my towering charisma (ha ha ha).

Bohn had an important role to play in the music's reception out of Germany. In his own words he " was there", as well as cheerleading Einsturzende Neubauten and breaking Pyrolator's "Ausland" over here, he hung out with the genius Christlo Haas of Liasons Dangereuses. I asked him about Haas who's recent death prompted Bohn to contribute to a radio show out him on Resonance FM, and was regaled with a great story or two. Tales of Haas and his compulsive music-making, days of work spooling on to a reel-to-reel, work which Haas would then often quixotically destroy. Bohn's reluctance to run a Primer also foundered on his conviction that NDW was, in the main, a crock of shite. That all the promise exhibited by German Punk was quickly squandered as the German majors descended on the movement, swiftly bringing us dreck like Nena, Falco and The Spider Murphy Gang. I hummed and ha-ed a little at this point. Wasn't there some kind of distinction between Underground NDW and the mainstream? Well, certainly I hadn't bothered making it.

Joachim Witt: Tri-Tra-Tullalala (1981)

Love this, and take any opportunity to play it. Have no idea at all who he is, I think, by the looks of his current website he may well be quite naff? Evidence to the contrary? BackAgain>NDW have a section devoted to him, the "Edelweiss" cover is beautiful, it's engineered by Rene Tinner (Conny Plank's right hand man) and it's a great track.

Asmus Tietchens: Unterhaltsmusik (1983)

This guy has been around doing electronic music since 1965. He worked on the Cluster and Eno record and went on to put out a load of records on the (currently-being-re-evaluated label Sky). I think he's worked with Namlook and Atom Heart recently, though that doesn't show upin this old interview from 1992. "Unterhaltsmusik" is, I kid you not, like a very florid slightly ambient Grime instrumental.

Grauzone: Eisbär (1981)

Grauzone's linchpin was one Stephan Eicher. They hailed from Switzerland, so that bundles them in with Lilliput, Yello and The Young Gods, however their aesthetic is pure NDW. "Eisbär" is extremely sparse, clinical, majestic synth rock. It's the production sound which sucks you in. This track, and indeed everything on "The Sunrise Tapes" Compilation sounds way ahead of its time.

Stahlnetz: Wir Sind Gluchlich (1982)

Extremely hip and rare bit of New Wave synthery. "We are Happy" is an emblematic dancefloor chant. The sound is reminiscent of The Stranglers albeit in a band-in-a-box style.

Christiana F: Wunderbar (1982)

At school I was shown the Christiana F movie by my tutor as a means of dissuading me from taking hard drugs. If you haven't seen it, it's the filmed version of Christiana's biography detailing her descent in Heroin addiction at the age of 13. There's much more on her here. I don't remember paying much attention to the message that was intended to be drummed into me (though I've never taken smack, so maybe it sunk in on some level?) but was pretty seduced by the culture depicted and the great Berlin-era Bowie soundtrack. I didn't know until earlier this year, upon hearing the brilliant "Wunderbar" on the Berlin80 compilation that she'd made a record. "Wunderbar" is a pallidly attractively left-footed disco track, and it reminds of Vivian Goldman's "Launderette" for lots of reasons.

Geile Tiere: Liebst Du Mich? (1981)

Extremely scary post-Suicide terror beats twinned to a compulsive bass-line. On the back cover the artists crouch beside some animistically daubed wall, one dressed like a muhajadin warrior. I know practically nothing about them, but this is pretty uncompromising stuff. My interest in most of these tracks betraying my post-Acid House tastes.

Bal Paré: Raumpatrouille (1983)

This conjoures to my mind noir-ish images of old BMWs haring round the Deutsche suburbs. Bal Paré was the synthesiser-pop reincarnation of Matthias Schuster. One of the key figures in Underground NDW, Schuster started out in the band Geisterfahrer, provided production work on Andreas Dorau's "Fred Vom Jupiter", did some landmark solo music and also was behind the cult outfit Bal Paré, who the cognoscenti discuss in hallowed terms. He's tied in with the quite excellent Konkurrenz label which is the counterpart to 99 records or Y. Set up by the painter Hans Richter's grandson Tommy, it had a stunning pedigree, even before they started releasing stuff!

Foyer Des Arts: Wolfram Siebeck Hat Recht (1982)

The early minimal records by these people, this record and "Wissenswertes uber Erlangen" with their Jarry-esque covers are great. I think, later in the 1980s, they even managed to get on the Peel show.

Exkurs: Natur (1981)

The LP "Fakten sind Terror" could quite easily be appended to the "must-buy" list I made earlier on. As powerful as, and not dissimilar to records like "Unknown Pleasures" and "Metal Box" it's eight tracks are quite stunning. I've often thought that Blixa Bargeld's delivery , especially circa "Kalte Stern" owes alot to the vocals here. Again on Konkurrenz and it has been reissued on NLW.

Carmen: Schlaraffenland (1982)

Anthologised on the first, solid, Teutonik Disaster compilation. I've always loved this, pure Teuton Clunk-Funk like the Christiane F track. I'm delighted that I just managed to find a copy of this. Carmen Gaspar was a former member of the Marinas and also sung on Pyrolator's "Ausland".

Schon: Pure Design (1983)

My eternal thanks to Jim Backhouse for hipping me to this b-side of an extremely rare 7" on the awesome Zick Zack label, which I haven't yet tracked down on vinyl. If the Carmen is like "More Buildings about Songs and Food"-era Talking Heads this, approximately more liquid, shimmying, lolloping and echo-ated is more like "Fear of Music".

Populare Mechanik: Muster (1983)

Again thanks to Jim. I picked up this privately-pressed tune off a dealer in San Francisco (via eBay). Weirdly the record was put out in California by a label called optional music. This surely couldn't be described as an "important" release, but it's just so fantastic. More left-footed Post-Punk riddims.

Matthias Schuster: Im Namen Des Volkes (1981)

Stunning DAF-in-a-woodshed electronics from our man Schuster. A real underground anthem, this 7" is rounded up on the truly excellent "Atemlos" reissue, which you can get through NLW. I paid loads for my vinyl copy of "Atemlos", but the reissue (which I was delighted to get a review in The Wire of) is where it's at.

Geisterfahrer: Blumen (1981)

Taken from the "Fest Der Vielen Sinne" LP, which (blushes) I don't own. Propelled by a post-Gang of Four cyclical Tom-Tom-style militant drum pattern this is a deeply satisfyingly slice of punk-funk. I do, however own this:

Geisterfahrer's quite excellent debut on Konkurrenz, which though it doesn't contain anything quite so hooky, is excellent in a post "Flowers of Romance" style.

Strafe Für Rebellion: Portuguese People (1981)

Lifted from the excellent "Vogel" compilation on Touch and anomalous in present company. Strafe are frequently described a being "like" Einstrurzende Neubauten, but that doesn't do their magic canvases much justice. There's an excellent illuminating article here where Brian Duguid interviews them.

Andreas Dorau: Arriverderci (1982)

From the mighty Ata Tak label, who brought us Der Plan and Pyrolator. This brilliant LP houses the wonderful "Fred Vom Jupiter", "Tulpen and Narzissen" and this, "Arriverderci", which I adore. Dorau is wept over by a forlorn girlfriend he's saying farewell to. Super charming with a kind of sub-Compass Point rhythm. If you go to Ata Tak they still have copies of this on vinyl, and you can pick up the Der Plan and Pyrolator on CD while you're there.

Monoton: Root Of 1 = 1 (1983)

From Konrad Becker's masterpiece "Monotonprodukt 07" which was without a doubt my discovery of the year, any track would have done. Again thanks to Jim B. It completely baffles me that this CD isn't more widely known. The square root of Basic Channel, Oval, Carl Craig's "Nerotic Behaviour" its fibonacci arithmetics will have you locked into a trance in no time at all. A very strong candidate for the most important record of the last 30 years, and I promise you I'm not being hyperbolic. There's no point in hunting out the vinyl on this one as the CD remastering apparently gave Becker the sound he was really after. One for your stocking.

Die Krupps: Stahlwerksynfonie (1981)

The b-side where things get dubby is the one. Picked my copy up in Marseilles this summer but you'll get it online with ease. Like the Joachim Witt it's engineered by Rene Tinner at Inner Space- shorthand for nearly a Can record but not quite.

Bonus Track (not on the CD, I couldn't fit it on!):

Die Dominas: Die Wespendomina (1981)

A legendary piece of vinyl and the basis for the Carl Craig/Maurizio "Domina" track on Basic Channel. In a sense occupying a similar relationship to the history of Techno as Manuel Gottsching's "E2-E4" does. The story goes that Ralf and Florian gave two friends of Manuel Gottsching's Rosi and Claudia two chords and that with Manuel's help they spun them into jams. Ralf and Florian liked the tracks so much they designed the cover. This is a gas.

-

Doing this I was struck by the extremely narrow time-span all the stuff I really rated fell into (1980-83). I'd been working to a 1979-85 window, copying Simon's one on "Rip It Up and Start Again", but I didn't need half that! While it may be scrappy and fall far short of that wot it ought, I don't reckon such a good primer exists anywhere else in the English language. (Props to himself...) If anyone on my links-bar wants a copy of my CD, they should feel free to drop me a line at the usual address and I'll pop one in the post. It's superb, bracing stuff. At some point, with a little luck, I'll be doing a show with these tracks on Kosmische Show/Resonance FM, and by that stage I will have been able to cook up some kind of historico-cultural background for all this.

Posted by WOEBOT at 01:49 PM | Permalink

Some parts of London have a reputation for being mediatized. There's an unwritten rule that dictates the way people in Soho and Notting Hill Gate are supposed to behave around famous people. The rule is that you look once and then look away. You're not supposed to approach famous people and ask for their autographs. I suppose the assumption is that you're working in the same business as them and that you should both understand their need to go about their daily lives unbothered by intrusion. Also you should be cool enough to be blase about their presence. It always fascinates me seeing things like The Beatles being mobbed at Heathrow, or Bowie greeting hordes of fans at Kings Cross Station as the Thin White Duke, the crowds of fans in Leicester Square greeting Britney, and even things like shops dedicated to selling autographed pictures of stars; because there is such a stark contrast to these famous people's reception to the way they're handled in the "mediatized" environment.

And don't think for even half a second that I'm being disparaging about the "common" reaction "normal people" have. Cos I'm much worse than most. My pulse races when I see a celebrity. I'm quick when it comes to spotting them (even really obscure people, like ancient soap stars everyone has forgotten about and who look thinner and haggard) and I'll be honest, I'm enthralled by their auras. On the one hand it's a strictly visceral reaction to the materialisation of deity, on the other there's a more intellectual curiosity. Seeing Celebrities up close gives one the opportunity to examine and appraise them to try and figure out the mechanics and psychology behind their self-creation, I suppose in part to claim those tactics as one's own, but also so as to deconstruct one's own manipulation by this voodoo we call culture. I know it might seem trivial and intrusive, but hey I am trivial and intrusive.

This weekend I had a couple of close brushes with famous people that I couldn't help but feel were illuminating. Waiting to push Dooey on the swings I noticed the little boy who was being held by the woman beside me was quite divine looking, wearing the cutest hat. Dooey and I cooed over him, and then I noticed that the woman was Stella McCartney. Immediately I got stressed out. She deserved to be left to enjoy her precious time with her son in peace. So I clocked her once, she was wearing a fabulous bell-shaped grey long-coat and then looked away. But then I'm stuck standing beside her for 5 minutes as we swing our children. Dooey screaming at me, "FASTER", and then becomes oblivious to me working away, except when I tickle her. And I can't help but absorb what's going on beside me. Stella calls her baby "Milla"- is delighted by how scrumptious he is, takes photos of her on her mobile phone, screams "Mare" for her sister to come over.

Later I couldn't help but reflect on her character. She was very firm with the baby that it had had enough time on the swings, that other people needed a turn. This was done with great force, very vocally and demonstrably, you'll laugh but it felt resoundingly like a cosmic point was being made about equality. "Blimey". I thought, "I'd better get Dooey off the swings." Where's that come from, that drive? The cynic might say that it's over-compensation for being spectacularly wealthy and influential. Like the way Madonna grinds humility into poor wee Dolores. But it's also extremely honorable and high-minded, maybe in the way you'd consider "The People" if you were the daughter of the figurehead of the counter-culture. You think I'm making this up? Making broad sweeping theories on the basis of practically nought? Well there was this too, on the way out of the park we bumped into her again, buying poppies off a slightly doddery ex-serviceman with real verve. That confirmed my judgement, I thought.

I've made a bit of mileage out of "Media Butchers" before, got a few laughs out of my mates. If you missed the gag the first time around, here's the coup: Why does everything have its own Media profile as an adjunct? What's wrong with being a plumber, why do so many people in London (especially) become "Media Plumbers". Plumbers to the rich, with articles on them in The Observer. Hence "Media Butchers". I know two "Media Butchers" and I was visiting one the same afternoon I was, like a creep, Stella-watching. Dooey was an my shoulders, then she wanted me to carry to her in my arms so I could point out the cuts of meat to her and in the transition she dropped Corolle her dolly. A very nice young man craned over and picked the doll up. "Say thank you to the nice man, Dooey" I said, and she did. Americans will now feel at sea, because Will Young is anything but known off these shores, but to clue them in a little, he won one of those TV Pop Stars competitions, then rather bravely came out of the closet.

I reckon Will Young is, in the vein of many politicians, your classic "baby-kisser". He's great at buttering people up. He clearly recognised the girl behind the counter too, and asked after her. I noticed Will also looked quite gauche and ill at ease, and no that that wasn't because I was examining him. He's not a supremely confident bloke, feels quite exposed in everyday situations. Wasn't that nice of him to pick up Dooey's doll? Outside I told Dooey who he was (blank expression) and was kind of sad to reflect upon the fact that when she's older he may just be an inconsequential footnote in the History of Pop. It's not like having met The Beatles as a child quite is it?

Posted by WOEBOT at 01:00 AM | Permalink

Download Flash Beagle

Posted by WOEBOT at 12:21 PM | Permalink

I've been following Bhangra quite closely for a few years now. In 2003 the Dr. Zeus record grabbed me by the ears, not much really took me last year though there were flashes of brilliance like Specialist 'n' Tru-Skool's "Word is Born" (which I only caught up with earlier this year- and I noticed Blackdown was enjoying recently) and other stuff like Swami's "Desi Rock" CD (imagine a Desi-styled Chemical Brothers LP), Indy Sagu's "Club Cheelay" and the DJ Vix record (which was solid but not spectacular). Nothing really matched the height of Dr. Zeus's "Unda The Influence". If you haven't heard that make sure you hunt a copy down.

This year though two records have really established modern Bhangra's syncretic power. The first, Northern Lights "Sparked" is scarily good. These are two producers from Glasgow (the home of Tigerstyle), I wonder if Keith from Optimo knows about them? I'll wager he doesn't. Anyway there are three stunning tunes on it: "Janaab", the standout, moves about like a piece of Internal Affairs-era Reinforced records Darkcore, the speed at which the dhol is pitched is exactly at that forbidding tempo that the drums on "Ghosts of My Life" and the original version of "Drumz" roll. The way the beats pause, pick up and regroup before marching forth again, it's simply breathtaking. To boot "Janaab" has this chilling Reese undertow bassline, and is as usual topped with superhuman "glistening" vocals. So anyway, blah blah blah, buy it. Check the link to the Punjab 2000 site on the sidebar where you can get it and this:

Which proably ought to come as no surprise. He's done it again. If "Unda The Influence" was the template for post-roots Bhangra, the way to effortlessly match dholkey with breakbeat, the lead Northern Lights followed, then this is the next step. What's characteristic here is the almost contradictory way the music has become more rootsy (Harmonium, Algoza, Tumbi in effect) and more sinewy and electronic. Rather than settling for Bhangra's usual cast of thousands when it comes to singers and MCs (which serves RDB very well), he's done the entire record with Lehmber Hussainpuri, who is THE voice of Bhangra. Kind of like a self-styled "masterclass" on how to produce and sing in tandem, like those Opera workshops you used to catch occassionally on BBC2 with Kiri Te Kanawa- the suggestion of this carried through in the CDs title, with its hint of a super-session. I've counted no fewer than 5 stunning tracks on this. Again, buy it.

Although there are are other hotly-tipped records this year, Punjabi MC's "Steel Bangle", Unleased's "Sangra Vibes", Aman Hayer's "Groundshaker", Jazzy B's "Romeo and DJ Sanj's "AMW 3", take my advice and ignore them all. These two are the only records you really need. Music this good tramples all over the barrier to critical reception which can hinder one's enjoyment of stuff like Favela Funk, Kwaito, even Dancehall. The "I really like it, but..." factor. It'll have your spine tingling, your hair sticking on end and you gripping the seat of your pants.

Posted by WOEBOT at 10:28 AM | Permalink

Just finished tidying up the old individual page archives and adding a few links. Linky linky.

Thanks to Anil Bawa for helping me knock the CSS into shape.

Posted by WOEBOT at 10:12 AM | Permalink

Did you know Sweet Exorcist made a video for "Testone"? I didn't.

It's extremely long, quite amazingly rough round the edges (from a TV nerd's perspective...) and if I was being cruel I'd have to say, fairly terrible. But hang on, don't let that put you off checking it out. It's a real period piece. What is remarkable is quite how sexless it is. If theres a girl in a pop video these days she's usually smeared in baby oil. Even the model looks baffled as to how they direct her: "What you mean you don't want me to get my kit off?"

I crushed it as much as I could but its still a humungous download.

Posted by WOEBOT at 11:28 AM | Permalink

I've really enjoyed putting my energy behind Dissensus, but I think it can stand on its own two feet now. Plenty people there don't know or care who I am, and that's just fine. I plan to keep it afloat as long as people visit the site. I'll also been in there as much as usual, but I think I may start a few less threads. Hopefully people wont mind me clawing back and archiving some of my better rants here as I've done.

At the moment this blog is made up of those rants, and articles and reviews I've done for FACT magazine and The Wire. Essentially its a bit of a repository, though I do intend adding other stuff here. I'm making no promises as to the quality of what gets posted here. It'll probably be an extremely low-key. if regularily updated affair. Also don't go expecting much, if any interblog banter. One thing the experience of running the forum has taught me is that I'm pretty useless at engaging in discourse (unlike masters of the art Fisher and Finney), I'll be cheerfully ploughing a lonely furrow- much as I did at Dissensus in fact ;-)

The links bar business really represents thanks to people who have stuck by me through the process of running Dissensus, which has been, although almost entirely positive, pretty stressful. I'd especially like to thank Simon "blissblogger" Reynolds for mucking in and supporting the endeavour, lending it more kudos than it would have had without his support.

Posted by WOEBOT at 02:20 PM | Permalink

With increasing regularity at the moment I come upon this issue. Some colleagues find the idea that anything more than the sonic itself is no criteria for the evaluation of a piece of music. This person is mildly horrified that a journalist would seek to publicise something which they'd been given by a friend or a connection, even worse that a journalist would be kind about a record which they weren't wholly convinced of the quality of.

Music Journalists are supposed to live in this vacuum, to be entirely divorced from the culture they comment upon with a pristine analytical objectivity.

But what total bullshit!

Looking back in history, the best and most useful Journalists have been the ones absolutely integral to the culture itself. Think Lester Bangs, or Paul Morley, or Chris Bohn (why not?) or even our big chum Mr Reynolds. And in my opinion the least interesting, least exciting Journalists are the ones who disdain involvement under a pretence of objectivity.

When you write in the press or online with a certain amount of regularity and consistency of opinion you find people gravitate to you. You'll find people who think they can (in the best sense of the word) "use you", will approach you. The truth of the matter is that nine times out of ten they're like-minded individuals. OK, only a smaller percentage of those people will have something you truly feel is worth publicising, but in my opinion thats a wholly healthy relationship.

Of course, ever since the appalling payola corruption endemic in the industry in the fifties and sixties there's been an attitude of discomfort about this kind of relationship. But really how much has the mechanics of this industry really changed in those years? Its still precisely the same of course. Again ideas of journalistic ethics, particularly strong in the USA as I understand, make anything other than "objectivity" problematic, but I'd argue that while that may be a worthwhile tenet to uphold in Political Journalism (though I don't doubt for a second that precisely the same allegiances develop in that field) but in Music Journalism? Surely not?

Lots of the Journalists here, Blackdown, Stelfox, Fiddy, jwd, and me (and thats just off the top of my head) have made a fine art of cheerleading their own particular tastes and getting deeply involved in scenes that theoretically opens us up to the charge of Nepotism.

Speaking for myself there are loads of moments when I have to balance a broad political view in order to more generally get my point across. There's records I feel a duty to be decent about. There's bigging up people who are essentially good friends (as well as, i believe, profoundly talented). And of course in the great percentage of instances there will be no connection whatsoever- but even in those instances I'll have to answer to some kind of political bent, be it respecting the reviews editor's opinions or being careful not to lash out at people who at the end of the day do a good thing for little personal gain.

On the negative side I don't think this means what I do is "Advertorial", but I do think it's just plain naive to assume that these currents aren't there. More than that I'm sick of pretending that navigating them, making decisions at this level isn't as important as just purely considering the sound issuing from the speaker. More than that, denying the presence my own grassroots network of influence (sounds pompous, i'm sorry) would be such a weird and totally counter-productive thing to do. Maybe its a Rockism thing again?

Original Thread Here

Posted by WOEBOT at 11:04 AM | Permalink

I've always not felt so great about this thing. For quite a handful of reasons.

I never liked Blur, and not just from cultural snobbishness, i just never liked the sonic. Strongly remember an article of blissbloggers in freize around the time of Britpop (which seemed like it was happening in a separate wholly imaginary universe peopled entirely by journalists) which pointed to the paucity of Bluroasis compared to the lofty heights of Jungletricky- and that pretty much encapsulated how i felt about.

Never that keen on the "Damon Albarn persona" either. Seemed to be a white middle class bloke, rather like myself, and to be overly interested in him, well it seemed like a bit of a cultural lockdown. The other is always far more intriguing innit, even if its happening right on your doorstep.

The Gorillaz thing felt a bit sort of exclusive as well. I'd always had a kind of awe for Jamie Hewlett's drawing (being rather crap if characterful myself) but the whole combo seemed dead west-london, like a conceptual joke that lacked much generosity, that required submission.

Carrying on in this negative vein i didnt really like "Clint Eastwood" at all. Damon's vocals put me off. And even the hip Garage remixes did nothing for me.

But have you heard "Demon Days"? Well all doubters and haters would do well to check it out cos I reckon the tracks I've heard are, well, stunning.

"Dirty Harry" with it's shambling undulating bleepy-bassline, children's choir and little middle eastern touches is the bomb. "Feel Good Inc" was pretty great, again a great bassline. "Dare" (with Sean Ryder) is the kind of thing that if it came from the underground would get insane props. And I just LOVE "Demon Dayz" the title track with the big gospel choir. Thats all I've heard, but the strength of these tunes is kind of amazing.

Where did they go right? Well it appears that Albarn has sunk right back in the picture. Hardly any vocals but just concentrated on writing superb Pop/HipHop tracks. Perhaps Dangermouse the producer is the answer its all gone right? But to be honest, I never liked that Grey Album... The fact that theyve gone on to do a second LP, has meant the whole thing feels a lot less like a "project" too. Like Albarn and Hewlett really believe in it what they're doing, it seems a lot less contrite. More heartfelt. Anyways you should do yourself a favour and check it out, you'll get Shaun Ryder, De La Soul, Martina Topley-Bird and Dennis Hopper chucked in the bargain.

Original Thread Here

Posted by WOEBOT at 11:04 AM | Permalink