shut up and dance again

There's been a recurring theme in my recent acquisitions. Yet again I picked up a release on the Shut Up and Dance label. This early nineties dance label started out as a rap vehicle for Pj and Smiley but it soon turned into much more than that. There's a great article in the last edition of Woofah magazine with the guys from SUAD. Anyhow the one I got my hands on today was SUAD 11 which has remixes of Derek Went Mad and This Town Needs A Sheriff. The originals of both are on the 'Dance Before the Police Come' album. Old school!!!

In the same Oxfam shop I also managed to come across a tune by Top Cat and DJ Rap called Ruffest Gun Ark. It's a slice of jump-up ruffneck jungle from 1995 when the scene was probably at its peak. It was all downhill from there really. There was also a copy of the 12" of Creation by Stereo MC'S. I'd forgotten how good the tune was.

Whilst in Spindizzy records I came across the brilliant Inspiration Information album by Shuggie Otis for a ridiculously cheap sum of €7. It's in tip-top condition and is guaranteed to put a smile on anyones face when played.

I also buzzed back into Tower records to see if they'd thrown anything into the cheapo seven inch selection. Much to my surprise there was loads of good stuff in it. If anyone is about there in the next day or two I'd recommend picking up a copy of Gum by Cornelius for a measly 99c. I have it already but I was tempted to buy more copies. Instead I bought Move Me by Gudrun Gut which came out on the EarSugar label. It cost 10c. I also picked up A Brighter Beat by Malcolm Middleton for 99c. Another one for 99c was 'If that's the case, then I don't know' by The Electric Soft Parade. Check out the video they look like a real bunch of freaks. Yet another 99c job was 'The Siren's Call' by Jazzanova on the Sonar Kollektiv label. It's a lovely little ditty and I'm definitely most pleased with it.

In terms of new releases I also picked up 'Soul on Fire' by Spiritualized. I've always been a fan of Spiritualized and have been fortunate enough to see them play a few times. Glad to see them back.

Here's Tenor Fly and Top Cat getting busy in the studios of Origin FM in London fairly recently:

the drugs do work!

This new kid is really eating into my blogging time. Before its arrival I had great stretches in the evenings to sit down and muse about the various inconsequential things in lfe. These days blogging is restricted to the late hours and consequently its becoming more infrequent. In addition there was a bit of a lull in interesting releases on the seven inch format and I've also put a moratorium on any turntable purchases for the foreseeable future.

Thankfully there's been a glut of releases on seven inch over the past week or so and I'll run a quick rule over some of the ones that I've picked up.

The ridiculously catchy 'That's not my name' by The Ting Tings is out on seven inch and boy are my kids happy with that purchase. They jump around the gaff singing 'they call me stinky' at one another. The b-side features an inspired 'TNMN - Your Mix' which has guest vocals by lots of fans who rang an answering machine and left their name. Smashing.

Next is a little ditty penned by the legendary Tom Waits and sung by Bafta winning actress Scarlett Johansson. It's a bit weird to be honest. The production is great but Scarlett somehow manages to sound like Sinead O'Connor singing down a chimney. David Bowie seems to be doing backing vocals which makes it even stranger. I'm not sure but I think I like it.

Santogold has released a new seven called 'Les Artistes' and it starts off like something from one of David Kitts early albums. Simple guitar riff and a drum machine. But lo and behold the dulcet tones of Kittser are replaced by Santi White. You can catch Santogold in Crawdaddy on the 1st of June. Pencil it into your diary or use your fancy touchscreen phone if you have one of them.

A spur of the moment purchase was 'Black Moon' by A Human. Its reminiscent of early eighties new wave music that seems to be all the rage this weather. It's a funny tune to be honest but once again I think I like it. It must be the nostalgia factor.

Another blind purchase was 'Mother Mary' by Foxboro Hot Tubs. Apparently they hail from somewhere in the US but they sound like they could have been supporting The Housemartins somewhere in Hull back in the eighties. It's neo indie jangle assuming that's an actual genre.

Not one but two new seven inches from Hot Chip. Well actually the second one is a remix of the first. You've probably seen the video for 'One Pure Thought'. A pure piece of pointilist brilliance. I wasn't digging their new album at first but I'm coming around to it now. This tune has a nice samba driven riddim running through it includes all the usual pop hooks that these guys have in abundance. The Toddla T remix on the second seven inch takes the original riddim and turns the tune into a ragga influenced techno grime dancehall mash up. It's the business.

Something else that I found in the crates recently is the Masters at Work remix of Seeline Woman by Nina Simone. It's a promo 12" released to promote the first Verve Remixed album back in 2002. Its a sparse epic that retains most of the beauty of the original.

oxfam shops are great (apparently)

I popped into Oxfam on my rounds of the record stores today. It was unusual to go into the shop and see a Roma gypsy woman test driving an accordian but that was what i saw. I'm not sure if she bought it but she banged out a few tunes on it before she left.

In the meantime I was sorting through someones 1980's reggae related cast-offs. There was loads of old UB40 stuff but I have it all so I left it for others. I did manage to pick up the 12" of Can't get used to losing you by The Beat. It features Mirror in the Bathroom on the b-side and was a veritable steal at only €2.

The next in the bag was the 12" of Dub be good to me by Beats International. I'm pretty sure that I have it already but i had to get it again for the instrumental on the b-side. Classic stuff.

My final purchase is another record that I have several versions of but I was hooked by the unfamiliar 'America Remix' on the b-side. The piece of vinyl in question is the 12" version of Electric Avenue by Eddy Grant and the unfamiliar version on the flipside is 'Walking on Sunshine'. As it turns out it sounds very much like most of the other versions of it. It's still brilliant though.


On a different topic, I was looking down at the referrer thing down the page and saw a link from Daily Music Blogspot. If you're into seventies prog rock then it could be the site to satisfy you.