the black watch

Myself and the missus took ourselves off to the RDS last night. It wasn't for Kanye West or the Ideal Homes exhibition or anything like that. It was to check out one of the feted plays in this years Dublin Theatre Festival. The show in question is called Black Watch. I saw the festival director on the TV last week saying it was the best piece of theatre produced anywhere in the world in the last few years. As soon as I heard that I lowered my expectations. I hate it when fuckers tell you something is going to be brilliant only for it to turn out to be shite. I need not have been so cynical or disbelieving. The show was great. It's produced by the National Theatre of Scotland and directed by some bloke called John Tiffany. Its apparently based on interviews with former soldiers who served in Iraq and it examines what it means to be part of the legendary Black Watch Regiment, what it means to be part of the war on terror, and what it means to make the long journey home. It was a gripping hour and forty five minutes or so and for a large part of it there was definite sensory assault. I'll not bother reviewing it because that's not my thing but you can read the review in todays Irish Times. I'd recommend that you check it out if it comes around again. I've more freaky theatre lined up for tomorrow evening when I go and see Metamorphosis . Written by Kafka, with music by Nick Cave and half of it staged on the ceiling, you just know its going to be mental.

I made peace with a little part of myself the other day when I finally got my hands on a 12 inch copy of the Foul Play remix of 'Renegade Snares' by Omni Trio. I've been wanting a copy of this old drum and bass tune for years. It's in my top three favourite jungle tunes ever and now it stands on the shelf gathering dust alongside a couple of hundred other jungle classics. Big up to Gerry in Beatfinder Records for not selling it to anyone else (despite his best efforts).

A seven inch of note that's found a new home in Chez Vinyl is the second release in the Powerful Beacon series. It sees hip-hop producer Samon Kawamura remix a classic hip-hop tune by OC called Times Up. The Powerful Beacon project aims to reintroduce hip hop classics to the modern listener by having them remixed by contemporary producers. It's nowhere near as good as the original but its still pretty great. It was released on Takeshi Records some time earlier this year.

damn it. let's have a podcast for the hell of it.

I thought to myself: "What the hell. These guys deserve a new podcast. So I'll damn well give it to them" So here it is. Tracklist below.

It must be love - Labi Siffre. I never tire of listening to this tune . The sentiment, his voice and the tune itself all add up to more than the sum of their parts. Its wonderful.

My World - Lee Fields. I'm not sure if I've put this on a previous podcast but even if I did it's worth a second spin. It's a beautiful slice of soul with some lovely arrangements going on in the backing track.

Brass in Africa - Hypnotic Brass Ensemble. These dudes turned up in Battlebridge in Leitirm a few weeks ago for a gig. They were brought there by the Mantua folk and I only heard about it because someone I know got off the rent-a-cruiser thing they were on and met these guys. Brilliant.

Now I Deliver - Rockers Hi-Fi. A beat, a bassline and a hook. Now they deliver.

Wash your face in my sink - Dream Warriors - Another recent purchase on seven inch this tune reminds me of more fun times in hip-hop. De la Soul, Disposable Heroes etc. Peace and Love and all that jazz.

Organize - Mugo - This is one groovy slice of break-beat disco funk. Nuff said.

Buff Nuff - Roots Manuva. All is well with Rodney Manuva if this tune is anything to go by. If I'm not mistaken he has a new album out around now. It could be worth a listen. Dancehall flavours included.

Sticky Rhythm - Tombee. Repetitive music at its most base but it somehow manages to appeal to me. Make what you will of it.


The August Shakedown Mix

news from the frontline

All City are back with the third instalment of their 7x7 series. The latest seven inch in the Beatstrumental series sees them take a trip across the water to enlist the services of French beatmaker, Fulgeance. It's a much more low key affair than the previous releases. The a-side Revenge of The Nerds rips a sample from a movie character in American Splendor, a movie about little known comic book writer, Harvey Pekar. The b-side is a very laid back affair and I was sure that I had it on the wrong speed. I had to check on Fulgeances MySpace to make sure that it sounded like it sounded. All City also bids farewell to another bloke who liked to hang around the shop a bit over the last few months. The guy in question was Steve Powers, a graff artist who was over here on a Fulbright scholarship. Rather than go over old ground Cheebah have covered it here.

I finally got my hands on The Notwist album, 'The Devil, You and Me', that I've been reading reviews of for weeks. I'm liking it on first listen but I expect its going to be one of the growers that I'll like even more in a few weeks time. Hailing from Germany, The Notwist released one of the album highlights in 2002, Neon Golden. The band members have been knocking around for years and have turned up in other musical projects such as the brilliant Lali Puna

Whilst on the subject of new music purchases it behoves me to tell you about the album Silent Movie by Quiet Village. Quiet Village happen to be two blokes called Joel Martin and Matt Edwards. Joel is apparently fairly fond of digging in the crates , a bit like myself. Matt is somewhat handy in the studio so the two of them decided to doff their hat to past musical glories and create an album full of new old sounds. They've reworked older stuff by the likes of The Chi-Lites and Alan Parsons and created a new soundscape for it. In truth its not a million miles away from the likes of Air, Lemon Jelly or The Avalanches.

News on the seven inch front includes the new release from Swedish songbird Lykke Li which is called 'I'm Good I'm Gone'. It's got a great piano hook that reminds of some other tune from some time back. It's a pretty upfront pop tune with a nice melodic chorus. It's bloody great. The remix on the b-side is by UK band Metronomy. It's great too.

Another newish release on seven inch on the Kitsuné label comes from German electro popsters Digitalism. It's called Pogo and its more pop. It's a little bit of indie, a little bit of electronica. Just enough to appeal to both audiences. Check out the video here. As if that wasn't pop enough to satisfy the kids they've put a remix by Brazilian band CSS. You can catch Digitalism at the Electric Picnic later this year.

I picked up a couple of other sevens including 'Do you Love Me' by Lee Fields & The Expressions on Truth & Soul Records. It was released in 2004 but its a bit of a timeless classic. The flip side 'Honey Dove' is another slice of soul funk. In keeping with the soul funk theme I also picked up an old seven from 1969 by The Johnny Otis Show called 'Country Girl'. It features a guitar solo by the son of Johnny Otis, Shuggie. Shuggie's dad was a pretty versatile entertainer and is very famous in his own right, and rightly so. This copy of the tune is the original on the Kent Records label but it was reissued on the Modern Oldies label fairly recently. The last seven inch i picked up is another oldie, this time from 1972. It's called Git it All and it's by those funksters Mandrill. It really is funky but the guitar riff also has a touch of the Led Zeppelin about it. It's best described as tough funk. It's the business.

Also picked up on vinyl in Oxfam were the following, but I'm not arsed writing about any of them. Sugar is Sweeter by CJ Bolland, Break from the Old Routine by Oui 3 (check this video of them being interviewed by Dave Dorrell on BPM. Interestingly, Dave Dorrell sold my mate a gold Mercedes.), No Government by Nicolette (which has a great Plaid Remix on it) and the album Please by Pet Shop Boys which includes their really good early stuff like West End Girls.

reggae reggae to the maximum

A week is a long time in politics. In the world of blogging it must be a fortnight. In my world its just seven days. Which brings me nicely to the purchases over the last seven days. As the post's title suggests there may be some reggae involved.

I'd like to herald the arrival of a new seven inch from All City Records that has just hit the shelves. It's a new tune by T-Woc called 'Warning' and it features Brother Culture on vocals. It's a proper stepper and there's a great dub version excursion on the flip. Check it out.

I ventured down the back of Tower Records ground floor the other day and a Trojan seven inch box-set was staring me in the eye. It's the 'Haunted House' Skinhead Sevens selection and it features some real skinhead reggae gems on it by the likes of The Upsetters, The Cimarons and The Black Diamonds. It has eight seven inches in the box-set and a great picture on the cover. See above.

I dropped into Oxfam today and came across the third Bstrd Boots seven inch release for one euro. It's the Drums of Death remix of two Roots Manuva tunes, 'Witness' and 'Join the Dots'. I'm really liking it. This means I now have about 8 different remixes of 'Witness'. That could be a future podcast.

I also picked up some other prize gems in the same shop. Three twelve inches from the early nineties. The first is a Sabres of Paradise release that was released to raise awareness in the UK about the Criminal Justice Bill. Its the 'Repetitive Beats' EP and features tunes by Primal Scream and On U Sound. The second record was the seventh release on the Philly Blunt label, an off-shoot of Roni Size's V Recordings. It's called Bass-Switch and its by Firefox and Glamour Gold, who are better known as Roni Size and DJ Krust. It's not a patch on the earlier Philly Blunt releases but it still holds its own considering an awful lot of shite jungle was being released around this time (1996). The final tune from Oxfam is an old Shut Up and Dance release from 1992 by IC3. It was simply called The EP and featured MC Duke. Duke later produced for the jungle label Suburban Base. The tunes on the e.p. veer towards the rap sound that SUAD were into at the time. It still sounds deadly.

Keeping with Shut Up and Dance, I popped into the new premises that Beatfinder are occupying and I think I made the first purchases in the new premises. The first was another SUAD record by PJ and Smiley called The Art of Moving Butts. The second was a Hal Roach comedy album recorded live at Jurys Cabaret. I can't wait to mix those up.

renegade squares

New releases that I want to buy have been as scarce as hen's teeth these last couple of weeks. As such I've found myself back on some old stomping ground, digging in the charity shop crates. I had a check up with my dentist yesterday and he's in a part of Dublin that I rarely get to. Fortunately there's a few charity shops down the road but for all my enthusiasm the only thing worth buying was 'The Best of Roberta Flack'. She's probably best known for her 'Killing me softly' tune and although it features that's not why I bought this album. It features two of my favourite Roberta Flack versions of other peoples songs. The first is 'The First Time Ever I saw your face' which has been covered on any number of occasions but the original was by folk singer Ewan McColl. Ewan McColl also wrote 'Sweet Thames Flow Softly' which is another of my all-time top tunes ever. It has become my party piece at boozy sessions although I inevitably mix up the verses. The other Roberta Flack tune is 'Feel like makin love', written by Eugene McDaniels who also wrote one of my other top tunes ever, 'Cherrystones'. I'm one of those people with about 200 tunes in their top ten tunes.

Staying with the 12" format, I also picked up two drum and bass classics. The first is from 1994 and its by Foul Play on Moving Shadow records. It features two tunes: Music is the key and Being with you. Both are brilliant but come nowhere near the groups remix of 'Renegade Snares' which is another one of my all time favourite tunes. The other 12" was 'Finleys Rainbow' by A Guy called Gerald. It features a vocal by Finley Quaye that preceded his own recording of 'Sunday Shining' on his Maverick a Strike album by a few years.

Moving to my favoured 7" format I did pick up one tune that was released recently. It's 'Jimmy' by MIA and it's a cross between bollywood and a Bulgarian eurovision entry. I'm not sure what to make of it at all. If you feel like seeing her live she's playing in a tent in the Phoenix Park on Friday 7th December. I'll be listening from my back garden.

I received a gift of Seasick Steve's recent 7" release 'Its all good' at the weekend. The bestower of said gift was just back from a holiday in the sun and i was wondering if Seasick Steve had some sort of cult following in the Canary Islands. As it turns out he'd ordered the album and the 7" over the internet and they'd arrived when he was away. Seasick Steve recently played in Dublin and I really should have gone to see him. However i'm a lazy bastard and I didn't. This single is classic modern American blues. I'm digging Seasick Steve.

Deciding that two copies of '1999' by Prince is not enough I went and bought another the other day. Whilst there I also picked up 'Trapped' by Colonel Abrams. It was for charity. At least that's my excuse. Here's some bloke called Gay Bear who went and made a video of himself singing it. Needless to say I was disapponted that he wasn't doing the moves that I remember from the original video.