closed for business

What can I say? It's been a blast.

All mediocre things come to an end and this is it. What started as an experiment meant to last one year managed to string itself out for a little bit longer than that. On the way I've made virtual friends with plenty of bloggers. The one disconcerting aspect about this is that I've never met most of them. That said, I'd like to thank each and every blogger and other web people who've taken the time to visit or to link here from their own sites.

This blog was started to fill a musical void in my life. That void has now been filled once more and as such I'm going back to doing what I love best, playing tunes on internet radio to a handful of interested people.

I can't say that I always enjoyed keeping a blog. I've always believed that if you're not deriving any pleasure or benefit from work then it becomes a pointless task. It's been hard work at times, thinking about stuff to write about and then having to bloody well write it. Not that you'd think that I spent much time thinking about it by reading most of it. Whatever interest I had left for blogging has fallen by the wayside. There's a host of more interesting blogs in any case. By the same token there's a load more shit ones. In fact there's many, many more shit ones. Unfortunately most of those bloggers won't realise and they'll continue to fill the internet with their nonsense. In positive terms, special mention must go to those who have populated the blogroll on the right hand side of the page and those others who were there until they too stopped blogging. Even more special mention goes to the many blogs that I meant to put there but never found the time to do so.

The music goes on and I realise that you can't keep up with everything, even when you try. It's even harder when you're only half-arsed about it. Hopefully this departure from the world of blogging will mean that I've some energy to channel in other directions. Damn it, I might even play with my children or talk to my wife.

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye. Adieu, adieu, to you and you and you.

test card

The builders are in Chez Vinyl (adding on a west wing) so I've had to move out to a gaff with no internet connectivity. Back soon(ish)

there's many a slip twixt cup and lip

It seems like quite a while since I last had lots of seven inches to scrawl about. In the last couple of days I've picked up a few interesting bits and pieces and most of them are recent releases. Never one to stand on ceremony I'll get straight to some half-hearted reviews of the nice tunes I've bought.

I'd mentioned the Trensmat label before and its up for discussion again. I went to the website last week to see if I could get the Sonic Attack stuff they released a while back. Unfortunately they've none left but they directed me to some other sites where it was still available. I didn't bother following the links and gave up on getting them. Thankfully fate intervened yesterday when I went into Road Records. They had copies of the three seven inches and I plumped for two of them. As Meat Loaf might suggest, two out of three ain't bad. The first is Sonic Attack (Lords of Light) and it has Kinski covering 'Master of the Universe' and Bardo Bond doing a version of 'Lord of Light'. The second seven inch, Sonic Attack (Motorheads), has Mudhoney delivering their interpretation of 'Urban Guerilla' and Mugstar doing 'Born to Go'. Both seven inches are absolute blinders and this time the Trensmat Label has put them in some nice sleeves. Trensmat have some new releases in the pipeline that should be well worth checking. As they say themselves, every noise has a note.

All City served up a couple of unusual sevens when I went in today. The first comes courtesy of The Bombist Reggae Remixes label and it's another of their freaky remixes of popular tunes. It's the Muddy Skank Riddim of Estelle's 'American Boy'. It's as cheesy as a vintage stilton served up with some Christmas port. I love it. The flip side has a poxy reggae remix of the poxy tune 'Lollipop' by L'il Wayne. I don't love it.

I also picked up the latest Daptone seven inch in All City. It's the latest in a series of great releases on that label. This one is by Binky Griptite, it's called 'One time, you're mine' and its another slice of sweet soul music. It's in the same vein as all the great classics except that its new. Old school soul, old school production. It's a winner.

Writing of old school, I came across a Motown repressing of Stevie Wonder's classic tune 'For once in my life' on seven inch today. It's only pressed on one side so the b-side isn't very interesting. In fact I'd go as far to say that its non-existent. Which is handy because you don't have to turn it over, you can just listen to the a-side again.

The last two seven inches for review are most interesting. The first is a new seven inch from Kings of Leon called 'Use Somebody'. Not too interesting in itself but things pick up when you check the b-side. It features a tune called 'Knocked Up' that's been given the Lykke Li/Rodeo treatment to create a mash up of sorts. It's weird in that its really a duet. You'll just have to hear it to judge yourself. In the interim you can check this live version of 'Breaking it Up' by Lykke Li. She's a mad yoke.


Breaking it up – alternative live video. Filmed by: Christian Haag from Lykke Li on Vimeo.

Last but not least is a new picture disc seven inch from Ladyhawke. The a-side has a tune called 'My Delirium' but once again my interest is in the b-side. It's a Toddla T & Ross Orton remix that sounds like something from the Joker drum and bass label from circa 1997. It's a full on two-step beat with farty basslines. As each genre gets cannibalised it resurfaces a few years later in a similar form but with a different name. I should really hate this tune but there's some hook in it that has me liking it. Damn it.

You can hear all of the tunes mentioned above, this coming Monday night, if you go to www.powerfm.org and listen live. I'll be on between 11pm and 1am GMT on Monday 8th December. You're more than welcome to tune in. Bring a friend. In fact why wait for me, listen live to the station now.

more static in that attic of mine

Forget all that podcast shit. Internet radio is the future. Join me every Monday night and let us face into the future together. Just like in some romantic movie or something like that. To give a little taster of what's happening in my attic every monday night check out the playlist below.

jackie – ras g & the afrikan space program – crate creator music
street corner music – snowman – all city
my light bridge – mike slot – all city
notorious (diplo vocal version) – turbulence – ghetto arc/xl records
council estate (south rakkas crew mix) – tricky – domino
wearing my rolex – wiley – east west
don’t mess with my man – lucy pearl – pookie records
stick to your line – RSAG - psychonavigation
gum – cornelius – warner music japan
oh yeah – yello – warner bros music
the sun goes down – level 42 – polydor
justified & ancient – the KLF – KLF communications
I hate hate – razzy – casual records
we don’t love enough – triumphs – numero records
renegade snares (foul play remix) – omni trio – moving shadow
shackbu – plaid – warp records
on the dole queue – scary éire – eleven records
police officer – smiley culture – polydor
informer – lady ann – soul jazz records
gamma ray – beck – xl recordings
upside down – carol cool – soul jazz records
got to give it up – marvin gaye – motown

a weekend in the country

Here's some pretty shit photos of me, the Don Rosco, The Mullet, Hamster and Mally McG wreaking havoc on the hills around Carlingford. It was just like the adventures of Cúchulainn but with more raisins.