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.

let the spirits move you

A couple of year ago I decided that I’d not buy as many albums due to an ever increasing collection and only a limited time to listen to them. I had a great idea. I’d just buy seven inches instead. They don’t take up half as much room and they’re much quicker to listen to. What started out as a nice lunchtime shopping distraction has turned into a full-blown addiction. I’m now running out of shelf and box space for the little blighters. All my talk of getting some bespoke shelves made has amounted to nothing. It was all bluff and bluster. I’ve not bothered my arse doing anything about it. It’s now at the point where I’m buying seven inches that I’d forgotten I already owned. What will become of all this?

After lamenting the lack of seven inches out there I decided that maybe I should just try harder to find some. Like a junkie looking for a fix (but slightly better dressed and a little more handsome) I steeled myself late last week to venture forth into the various record stores of Dublin. And as it turns out I had a highly successful trip. I picked up nine little beauties and took them back home to take their place in the vinyl vault. Here they will gather dust until my kids reach their teenage years and thank me for the collection I amassed on their behalf. Or something like that!

The Smiths released ‘Hand in Glove’ as their first single and it failed to chart. Not to be outdone both Morrissey and Johnny Marr entreated the then retired Sandie Shaw to do a cover of it. Hey presto it’s a hit. Next thing you know she’s writhing on the floor during an appearance on Top of the Pops. Behind her are Johnny Marr, Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce, all barefoot, in homage to the great woman herself. I don’t think it’s as good as the original but I’m glad to have a copy of it for posterity.

So too was there gladness when I picked up a copy of Joe Jackson’s ‘Is she really going out with him’. I’ll put it beside my recently acquired copy of ‘Stepping Out’ by the same artist. I don’t really know much of his other stuff and to be honest I’m afraid to listen to it in case I’m disappointed. I like those two tunes so much that I find it hard to believe he could have equalled or bettered them. I remember he appeared on 'Later' a few years back and I think he might have performed this tune. That only leads me to believe that he hasn't done anything better.

I got both of the aforementioned seven inches in Spindizzy Records in the Georges Street Arcade. They’d also got a couple of boxes of second-hand reggaes sevens in so I had to have a look through them too. There was loads of stuff there that I was kind of interested in but as I say, space is at a premium in Chez Vinyl these days. As such I settled for the following three tunes. ‘Fally Ranking’ by Johnny Osborne was released on the Greensleeves label in 1980. This seven-inch of the tune is a repressing from 2001 and delightfully features a b-side by Black Uhuru of a top reggae tune called ‘I love King Selassie’. The next couple of reggae sevens look like they’re represses on the Trojan subsidiary label, Jackpot. The first is the well-known Ken Boothe version of The Abyssinians classic ‘Satta Massa Gana’ and has the accompanying Satta Riddim on the flip side. Likewise with the next tune. It’s another Abyssinians tune ‘Declaration of Rights’, this time by Johnny Clarke and it too has the version on the flip. Animal tune!

A trip down to All City Records was equally, if not more, successful. I bagged the new seven-inch by Mike Slott on the All City label. It’s hard to describe but I’m going to attempt it anyway. I was listening to it over the shop speakers when some teenage kids came in to buy some spray paint. One of them asked if the shop sold dance music and proceeded to treat me to some happy hardcore that he had on his phone. I told him that he was in fact listening to some cutting edge leftfield hip-hop over the shop speakers but he couldn’t reconcile my description with what he was hearing. Therein lies the problem with describing ‘Flunky’ by Mike Slott. It really is going to have limited appeal to most people. Like Guinness you have to acquire a taste for this. I think it’s great.

There were a bunch of other seven inches behind the counter so I picked them up and starting listening to them. I picked out an eighties nu-soul/funk tune by, wait for it, Wynd Chymes. The track is pure cheese. Now don’t jump to conclusions. I’m not talking Galtee Easi Singles here. I’m talking good cheese. A finely aged Stilton. A nice Camembert even. It’s called ‘Baby you’re the one’ and it really is a cracker. All bass and hairspray. The other tune that I picked out was by German dubstepper Phokus and it’s called ‘Police in Helicopter’. The tune is called Inta and the flip side has a remix by Wadadda on it. The pressing is limited to 400 copies and that makes me feel pretty bad. It turns out that Olan had ordered the pile of records I’d picked up for himself. Nevertheless being the consummate professional he still sold me the two tunes I wanted. Now that’s service for you.

Finally I also chanced upon the latest seven inch release from the latest Roots Manuva album Slime and Reason. It’s called ‘Let the Spirit’ and I hadn’t really given it much thought when listening to the album. Then I saw it performed on ‘Later’ and I was hooked. It’s sparse and simple and it’s beautiful. I have the kids singing the chorus all day. I think that they’re hooked too. Here he is on Later.

I got five on it

I've been getting pretty crap at writing about the bits and pieces that I've picked up about the place. Maybe I'm just getting fussier but there really isn't as much to pick up this weather. I've also been spending less time on the internet and this means less internet record shopping. That said I've been kept pretty busy both at work and at home so I've not had the time to indulge my penchant for the circles of vinyl of late. I've been able to right this to some extent as over the past seven days I have picked up the following five pieces of vinyl.

Just writing that reminds me of an old pirate radio show, see here for a previous reference. Anyhow the latest batch are a range of new and old, four seven inches and an album. Let's kick off with the long player. Quite recently I picked up an album by United Future Organisation that I'd wanted for an age. Like buses, you wait for ages and then two come along at once. I was in Oxfam on Parliament St the other day and I came across 'Bon Voyage', another album by the same band. I haven't really had a chance to listen to it but I expect it will be something similar to 3rd Perspective, the last one that I picked up.

I chanced upon a seven inch of the by now infamous release from Electric Six, Gay Bar. I must admit that every time I listen to it a smile breaks out on my face. Its so ridiculous that its sublime. I constantly wonder when its novelty value will wear off but I'm not sure that it ever will. Little amuses the simple.

Another oldie that I picked up on seven inch is a repress of the tune 'I believe in Miracles' by The Jackson Sisters. The tune has appeared on any number of funk and breaks compilations but this seven comes with a different twist. Issued by Street Beat Records it contains the instrumental of the tune on the a-side and on the flip it just has the drum track.

The third tune is one that I missed or else just didn't bother buying before now. It's the second seven inch release from the In Rainbows album by Radiohead. The track in question is 'Nude' and its one of the slow burners from that album. Here they are doing a live version of it on VH1

Last but by no means least is the seven inch of 'Paper Planes' by MIA. It features a DFA remix on the flip side that's quite tasty.

After all that talk of Sweettalk recently, I bumped into Maser in town today and was bigging up his appearance. He was saying that he wasn't sure if he was going to do the talk but then changed his mind. He didn't mention whether it was the aul nerves that got to him or anything else for that matter. What he did say was that he was delighted that he did do it. So am I.

I found this interview with Jape on on RTE 'youth' show. Its an exercise in awkwardness but its absolutely brilliant.

3 plus 4 equals 7

A quick lap around the record stores today and I had three new sevens to show for it. For any younger readers who've stumbled across this blog for the first time, I'm talking about those pieces of vinyl that your Da might have in his attic. If the record collections that I've seen are anything to go by there should at least be a copy of Dire Straits 'Brothers in Arms' album, a copy of the original 'Do they know it's Christmas' by Band Aid and the commemorative RTE album of Pope John Paul II's visit to Ireland. That aside, when I arrived home from work today a few pieces had arrived from Norman Records in the UK. I opened the package and the four sevens I'd ordered had arrived. It also appears that I'd been sent a small piece of candy for good measure. Nothing special just a little chewy sweet. Still, it's the thought that counts!

The records ordered from Normans were all tunes that I'd missed on 45rpm when they were originally released. First up is a Tunng cover version of Bloc Party's 'The Pioneers' that came on a one-sided seven inch with an etching on the other side. The cover sounds like an electronic skiffle version of the original. Its all acoustic guitar and glitches until the female vocal comes in, then it builds into something resembling Fun Boy Three. Sounds weird. It is. It's still good though. Next up is the 2007 release of 'Province' by current music media favourites TV on the Radio. It features David Bowie guesting on vocals. Now that's all fine if Bowie is guesting on vocals on his own tune somewhere in the Ziggy Stardust era, it is however different when he's being all atmospheric on this tune. The best compliment I can pay him is that he doesn't manage to fuck it up too much. After hearing other stuff by them this wouldn't really rank as good as it in my book. It's all a bit wanky for my tastes. I prefer that 'Golden Age' tune that they did. The third tune from Normans is a 2006 Primal Scream release from their Riot City Blues album called 'Sometimes I feel so Lonely'. It's all a bit dreamy and at times reminds me of that British Airways advertisement from years ago. The b-side is called 'Gamblin' Bar Room Blues' and can best be described as lounge blues. I can just see Jools Holland tinkling the ivories with gusto to this one. The last out of the package was the 2005 release of Lazer Beam by Super Furry Animals. I absolutely love this tune and only bought it in the hope that some day I get to play it out somewhere. Somewhere really loud with laser beams. Maybe somewhere like The Oasis in Carrickmacross or Bozo's in Athlone.

The three new sevens are actually only two new sevens and a seven released earlier this year. The older release is 'I was a man' by Jape. I already have it on album and there were loads of them about town for ages. It was only today that I realised the former abundance was beginning to disappear. It's a great tune but I'm also loving the b-side 'Gimme Some More'. It's all vocoder and farty bass. Or at least that's what it sounds like on the portable turntable I'm playing it on. The first of the newer releases is yet another single from The Ting Tings debut album 'We started nothing'. This one is called 'Be the one' and is probably their most straight down the line, radio friendly, pop tune to date. Shades of Blondie and The Go Go's run through it and to be honest it's pretty good. I only bought it to hear Derry band, Japanese Popstars remix on the b-side but it turns out that that side is a banging techno affair that wouldn't have been out of place in a Francois set at UFO fifteen odd years ago. For any coloured vinyl fans, the release comes on red vinyl. The second of the new tunes is the latest release from a band that seemed to spend more time here last year than most local bands. They are of course CSS and this one is called 'Move'. I bought it for the Cut Copy remix on the flip side. The original tune starts off like its going to be a cover of 'Down Under' by Men at Work or even 'Living on the Ceiling' by Blancmange. It then turns into what might be described as a homage to a filler tune on the first Madonna album. All that said I really like it. It's the best release they've had since 'Off the Hook'. Better still is the funky remix by Cut Copy on the flip side. It's like an old eighties electro remix with lots of original MIDI sounds. Well worth checking out if thats your bag. It'll definitely be going on the next b-side remix podcast, whenever that might be!

I had loads of other things that I was going to write about but then I read lots of other blogs with most of the topics covered. You should check those other blogs out if you get the chance.

oh what a feeling! when you're acting on the ceiling

Taking up where I left off the last time. We were as good as our word and headed for the reworking of Franz Kafka's 'Die Verwandlung' in the Olympia Theatre. For a Saturday night there was an awful lot of empty seats downstairs in the venue. I knew there was something up when I met Dineen and he was heading upstairs to the balcony seats. When I bought the tickets about a month ago I was shown a seating plan for the Olympia. The young volunteer in the festival office pointed about eight rows back from the stage and assured me they were some of the best seats in the house. How fucking wrong he was! When we got to the seats there was less leg room than on a Ryanair flight to wherever. Not only that but when the curtain was raised there stood before us a two storey set. This meant that I spent most of the play with my head reclined as a lot of the action took place on the top level. For anyone who'd scrimped and gone for a balcony seat there were no such problems. Those were the optimum seats for this particular production.

Having never read the original Kafka short story I didn't know what to expect. Not knowing that it was a joint British/Icelandic production (Vesturport Theatre and Lyric Hammersmith) I was unprepared for the accents emanating from the actors. As you can guess I went to this thing pretty uninformed. That's my usual approach to things in life. My ignorance in this case was bliss. After five minutes I thought it was going to be a bag of shite. After ten minutes I was getting into the groove. After fifteen minutes i was loving it. I thought the acting was pretty hammy in places and that some of the interpretation of the work bordered on farce but the lead role of Gregor Samsa, as played by Bjorn Thors, included an amazing series of gravity defying physical feats performed at a 90 degree angle to the rest of the set. Its hard to explain but it was a great buzz.

In other news, I was only delighted to open the paper on Saturday and see a nice big article on one of Ireland's top illustrators/cartoonists Bob Byrne. I only have a virtual relationship with Bob on his clamnuts site but he's always struck me as a decent fella. I like to think of him as an Irish Rolf Harris but without the beard and wobble board and not anywhere near as good at singing 'Two Little Boys'. It turns out that Bob has done way more stuff that I've given him past credit for. I was banging on about his Mr Amperduke novel a while back and it gets a good mention in the article I'm talking about.

I picked up a copy of the now free (to read, not to publish, print, run etc.) State Magazine. Its as polished as they come for a freebie music magazine. They must have had the Brasso out. There's some nice stuff on Irish acts in it e.g. the MJEX interview & the one with Fight Like Apes.

Over on Jim's site today he makes mention of an award winning blog post. It was written by Paul Tarpey and anyone with even a passing interest in Irish clubbing culture should check it out. It has the makings of a brilliant book. Hats off to Paul. I'm sure that I've used a picture of his on this blog before. Here's Paul's post.

Two purchases I landed on 45rpm today come from Toddla T and Born Ruffians. The Toddla T release is a picture disc of 'Manabadman' and the flip side is my favourite. It features a dub version with Trigganom mcing on it. Top beats from the Sheffield wonderkid Toddla. The Born Ruffians 'Little Garcon' EP release is a double seven inch job. It's very different to the 'Hummingbird' tune that I got by them. I listened to the title track on this release and it reminded me of some alt-folk cajun style mash up. Sounds a bit freaky but I like it. The other three go off on different tangents too but the kids were dancing around pretending to be Michael Jackson in the Thriller video so I couldn't hear them very well. The tunes not the kids.

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.

to the beat of the drum, bang!

Dublin. It’s often described as nothing more than a big village. I estimate that in Dublin there’s only three degrees of separation between everyone living there. Whenever I go into Dublin city centre (which is actually most days, because that’s where I work) I always meet someone I know. If I don’t meet someone I know then I at least meet someone who knows someone I know. I think you get the idea.

Last week I had a chance encounter with an aspiring local musician. The chance encounter wasn’t actually such a chance encounter as it now appears we were aware of each other’s existence for at least a few months. However, this awareness was limited to virtual awareness i.e. on the interweb. I’ve struck up a number of virtual relationships at this stage. Not the kind of relationships that have a young woman in front of a webcam doing peculiar things with vegetables and the like. No, these are more cerebral relationships. In some cases it’s admiration for another’s blogging, in other cases it’s as a result of their musical output and then there are other cases where a series of comments lead to a realisation that I actually know the other person in real life.

In this instance the chap I’m talking about is Conor Furlong. He’s recently released an album of self-penned tunes entitled ‘Eternal’. He was kind enough to give me a copy of the album the other day and I did actually get around to listening to it, albeit just the one listen. First impressions are that Conor's voice is reminiscent of a track that I recently heard by One Day International. By that I don’t mean that the songs or arrangements are similar but I actually mean that the vocals were quite similar to one another. Aside from the vocal similarity (that probably only exists in my head), the rest of the album is a very understated collection of pop songs with a backing track of simple electronic beats and layers of atmospheric sounds. It's not an album that you'd put on before a night out, you're more likely to put it on to unwind in the small hours. Coincidentally, One Day International also have a new album out entitled Blackbird. Both albums are available to buy at www.roadrecs.com.

I picked up a few seven inches in recent days that might tickle the fancy of a few freaks like myself. I picked up what appears to be the first single release, Magic Man, from The Aliens new album Luna. When I first heard it I thought that its another tune that sounds like old Jesus and Mary Chain. On the second listen I decided that it sounded more like Super Furry Animals. On the third listen I'm veering towards the more obscure Beatles sound a la Sergeant Peppers. I have to stop listening to it as I'm running out of things to compare it to. Have you noticed a theme in this blog? I never actually review anything, I just compare it to other stuff.

Another new release on seven inch comes in the form of a peculiar take on hip-hop as espoused by Flobots, a group from Denver in the US. It's two MC's with a band behind them. There's little mainstream hip-hop to compare it to and I dismissed it on first listen. Since then I've gone and listened to a few of their other tunes and it gives me a better idea about what they're trying to do. The only reason I bought it was for the DJ Shadow remix on the b-side. It's a much more uptempo interpretation of the tune and the beats are rocking. The chorus is still annoying me though.

Another unusual new seven inch is one that I came across in All City Records. It was released on The TruThoughts label and it's by Australian soulsters The Bamboos. It features Megan Washington on guest vocals doing a cover version of the Kings of Leon's 'King of the Rodeo'. Better still, the b-side has a tune called 'Can't Help Myself' that features Ty, one of my favourite UK rap artists. It's the bomb.

Not content with just bagging these new seven inches, I went and bought a few odds and ends. When I say odds and ends I really mean odds. A couple of boxes of dusty sevens arrived in Beatfinder Records the other day and I spent a chunk of my lunch break getting my fingers dirty whilst flicking through them. I managed to pull out a 45 by The Sound Stage Orchestra on BBC Records. The a-side is the theme tune to Grandstand whilst the b-side is the theme tune from Rugby Special called Holy Mackerel. They're both great. Very much of their time but still very appealing to the modern listener. Another freaky purchase was a flexi-single from the late seventies featuring Noel Edmonds introducing three of his favourite songs. The tunes are shit but I've a feeling that Noel's voice will be appearing in a future podcast. The last seven inch that I picked up is my current personal favourite. It's Richard Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra (better known as the them from 2001 Space Odyssey) arranged and adapted by Eumir Deodato, the Brazilian musician, composer and producer. This tune won the 1973 Grammy award for Best Pop Instrumental so its not just me that thinks its great. Deodato is still out there producing stuff but check him out below, performing in 1980 with his band and accompanying orchestra.

Matt's B-Side Remix Extravaganza Part Deux

The long-awaited second instalment of Matt's B-Side Remix Extravaganza is now upon us. There were several who had doubts as to whether I could follow up the brilliant original with a comparable second. I say let the b-sides do the talking themselves. If it's half as popular as the last one we're in business.

This years cast comes a little earlier than last. But that's because I have a ample amount of great seven inch remixes from the last 9 months. If luck is on our side we might squeeze another in before Christmas. Right let's get busy with the track-listing.

Lykke Li - I'm Good I'm Gone (Metronomy Remix)
Goldfrapp - Happiness (Metronomy Remix)
David Holmes - I heard wonders (Andrew Weatherall Remix)
Hot Chip - One Pure Thought (Toddla T Remix)
Digitalism - Pogo (CSS Remix)
Tricky - Council Estate (South Rakkas Crew Remix)
Roots Manuva - Again & Again (Matt Helders Remix)
Jazmine Sullivan - Need U Bad (Moody Boyz Remix)

UPDATE: Just realised that list is in the wrong order. Oh well. Figure it out yourselves.

Now get it while it's hot and be sure to pass the link on to any friends or relatives who like a drop of the good stuff.

Matt's B-Side Remix Extravaganza Part Deux

get down on it!

Following receipt of the RSAG album, Organic Sampler, and having listened to it a number of times, I can now tell you what I initially suspected about it. It’s brilliant. It has the same edginess to it that the live shows do. It’s the bee’s knees and the dog’s bollocks all mixed in together and appearing as one giant mutated organic form. It reminds me of Talking Heads in places, Was Not Was in other places and like stuff I’ve never heard at all, in other places.

In terms of new vinyl coming my way it’s been a slow few days. I picked up a couple of things in the last while but never got round to writing about them.

There have been very rich pickings on the second hand vinyl front. There was a deluge of second-hand stuff into Oxfam on Georges Street today. At one point myself and about five others were acting like some humanitarian packages had been dropped in to the shop. There was a bit of pushing and shoving between us in order to get what we need to survive. As it turns out the crush between people need not have happened. We were all after very different stuff. It truly is the case that one man’s meat is another man’s poison. Or one man’s Prefab Sprout is another man’s James Last. I was looking at the shit records other people were picking and sniggering to myself. I imagine that they were doing the same when they saw I had the following:

Fables of the Reconstruction – REM
This is the third studio album from REM and was released in 1985 on IRS Records. Along with Murmur and Reckoning this charts the earlier sound of REM. It certainly bears little resemblance to the most of the albums that followed. I like it exactly because of that. I’m a big fan of the first three albums but that said I also like most of the stuff that followed. Actually that’s a bit of a fib, the only ones after this that I like are Document and Green.

Love and Dancing – The Human League
This is the famed collection of 12” remix instrumental versions of the Dare album. I already have it a couple of times so I gave this copy to a mate. It turns out he already has it so he’s giving it to someone else. It’s a gift that just keeps giving. Super.

Steve Mc Queen – Prefab Sprout
I had this on vinyl and then it disappeared. Thankfully I now have it again. This is without doubt the best Prefab Sprout album ever, which in real terms isn’t actually saying much because all their other ones are pretty bad (except maybe ‘Swoon’). It includes some of their best ever tunes such as ‘When love breaks down’ and ‘Faron Young’.

Duel – Propaganda
This is taken from their album ‘A Secret Wish’ released on Trevor Horn’s ZTT label in 1985. The band themselves hailed from Dusseldorf in Germany and included amongst them an ex-member of Die Krupps. This was their only tune worth talking about and I bought it today in a fit of nostalgia. As it turns out, it’s not as good as I remembered it. Oh well.

Sidewalking – The Jesus & Mary Chain
This little seven inch was hidden amongst a load of albums. I always took JAMC with a pinch of salt and never bought into the wall of sound shit that they peddled. This same marketing technique is currently being used by Glasvegas. Put simply, some Phil Spector style production and some whining Scottish vocals does not equal great music. It usually equals something bad. This wasn’t always the case with JAMC. They did release some good tunes in the course of their early years but these truly were few and far between. ‘Sidewalking’ which featured on the ‘Barbed Wire Kisses’ album is one of the few that’s good.

The Story of Tron – Readalong adventure
This seven-inch was released by Walt Disney Productions in conjunction with Buena Vista Records back in 1982. It is a seven-inch piece of vinyl with an accompanying 24-page illustrated booklet. It’s a reminder of the type of merchandise that would be released in conjunction with movies back in those days. The wonderful innocence of a record and story that you would read along to is probably not something that today’s kids would be interested in. I have a passion for this kind of tat so I’m delighted with it.

I also bought a new seven inch release from an Icelandic songstress, Emiliana Torrini, which happens to be very nice. The b-side has a remix by Manasseh.

I hit the bargain basements in some record stores and unearthed the following seven inch gems for minimal cash. 'Out come the Freaks' by Was Not Was was the first up. It's an old eighties tune by a bunch of mad dudes led by the Was brothers. Next out was Quadrophonia by Quadrophonia. This brought back memories of a dance off between myself and a bloke called Stef years ago. It's fair to say that Stef won the dance off but he also introduced me to a lots of rave and breakbeat music. Another find was 'America: What Time is Love' by The KLF. The last two were for the wedding collection of seven inches that I'm building. Two dancefloor classics in 'Tainted Love' by Soft Cell and 'Get Down On It' by Kool & The Gang.

During a quick swoop on All City Records I stumbled upon a repressing of a Eugene McDaniels album, Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse, which was originally released in 1971. It was the follow up album to the brilliant ‘Outlaw’ album from the previous year. Both of these albums were released on Atlantic Records and originals of both albums are still quite sought after. The album is a mixture of soul and funk and contains the originals of lots of samples and breaks that you will have heard in a number of rap or hip-hop albums down through the years. It also contains a nice little sleeve note thanking Roberta Flack which states ‘special thanks to ms Roberta Flack for not being afraid to help a brother, she, in my opinion, is a lady of quality, grace, humanity and talent of the highest order’. What a charmer!

Speaking of sleeve notes I also picked up the new album by the best thing to come out of Dunshaughlin since the bus home from the County Club. I refer of course to the songstress Lisa Hannigan. I met Lisa a little over a year ago and asked her what her plans were. She told me she was going to make beautiful music. It turns out that the lady is as good as her word. Various music journalists, bloggers and scene-setters, are lauding her new album ‘Sea Sew’. In an effort to be associated, albeit somewhat tenuously, with the aforementioned groupings, I’m going to row in with them and give my tuppence worth on her offering. Unfortunately I’ve had to listen to it at a very low level on my computer during work. As such even though I listened through I hardly heard any of it. Which means I can’t objectively review it. As such I’ll have to be non-objective, which suits me fine. Lisa Hannigan’s new album is brilliant. It’s a tour de force, whatever that is. The new album got me thinking about that time we were talking to one another. She was in the company of a young lady called Una. I actually mistook that Una for Una Rocks, the blogger. It appears that I got the complete wrong end of the stick. The Una that I met was actually another Una altogether, an Una that has been in constant cahoots with Lisa for the last number of years. Apologies to all the Una’s for the misunderstanding. (Update: I’ve listened to the album, I’m loving it but at the back of my mind it really reminds me of something else. I'll have to think about what that is though.)

I finally got my hands on the new Roots Manuva album, Slime & Reason, after waiting bleeding weeks for it to arrive in Dublin record stores. I’d already heard a couple of the tracks and liked the dancehall influences on them. I’ve been a big fan of all things Roots Manuva and Big Dada for a good time now and once again he’s hit the nail on the head with his latest long player. It’ll fit in nicely beside Brand New Second Hand and Run Come Save Me, two other excellent albums by the same artist.

In other vinyl news, I’ve managed to get my hands on a slew of seven inches this week. Some are good and some are absolute muck. Either way you’re going to hear about them in the next few lines. I’ll start with something good and see how it goes from there.

David Holmes – I heard Wonders
Ever since the album ‘This Films Crap Lets Slash the Seats’ I reckoned Homer was on the downward slide. I checked him out in a few of his incarnations until I eventually gave up on him. All has changed. Well at least for this single. Quite simply put, its great. Better still, it even has an interesting Andrew Weatherall remix on the b-side to get the blood racing. Buy it or get someone to buy it for you.

The Undertones – Teenage Kicks
Keeping it Northern Ireland, you all know this tune. It was John Peel’s favourite tune, which doesn’t really say much, because although he always championed diverse sounds a lot of those sounds were shite. This, however, is pretty rocking and it still stands the test of time. This seven inch four track EP was originally released thirty years ago and it gets a re-release to celebrate its birthday. Along with the famous title track you also get three others and a copy of the original poster booklet that quite ironically has a picture of some graffiti that reads ‘The Undertones are Shit’. Great stuff. Buy it. It’s limited to about five million copies or something like that.

Jazmine Sullivan – Need U Bad
This here tune caught my eye because Missy Elliott is down as a producer. The artist herself, Jazmine, is a 21-year-old R&B singer from Philadelphia (via Jamaica). The tune is based around an old reggae riddim first used by Cornell Campbell. The b-side features a Moody Boyz remix that takes it to another level again. Jazmine’s voice is not dissimilar to Jill Scott or Lauryn Hill and there’s even a guest appearance on the intro by Pepa (of Salt n Pepa fame). All in all I think it’s a lovely piece of work.

Glasvegas – Daddy’s Gone
I’m not sure what to make of this band. The lead singers thick Scottish brogue hangs heavy over the tune and much of the time spent listening to it makes me feel like an elocution teacher. His diction isn’t the best and once the lyrics are deciphered it turns out that I’m not too interested in them. People are bigging this band up at the moment but it would be unfair of me to judge them on this record alone. That said, since it’s all I’ve got to go on, I won’t be making too many efforts to hear any more by them.

King Creosote – Admiral
Another Scottish single up for review and if you know my previous form you’ll know that I like King Creosote. The a-side is staple stuff from the man but it’s the b-side that I’m more interested this time around. It’s a remix of a tune called ‘Leslie’ by another Scottish outfit, Found. They describe themselves as a DIY folk quintet and that is a very apt description. They appear to have two MySpace pages. You can check out the King Creosote remix on this one.

Le N?ko – Akedam
This is the fifth and latest release on the All City Records label. This time around it sees a French producer with an unpronounceable name to take care of business. It’s another winner in what has become a fascinating series of seven inches. It tours the periphery of hip-hop and selects the finest and freakiest beats from all over the place. This one is no different. Respect.

Fred Wesley & The JB’s – Blow your Head
This one was originally released in 1973 but has lost nothing since then. It’s a classic slice of funk with another fine cut on the b-side. There’s not much more to say about it except that its great.

Finally, I did some blind shopping, as is my way. I picked up two seven inches that had nice looking covers. As they always say, never judge a record by its cover. The first one is Underground by Belgian pop/rock act Das Pop. It’s not the worst tune ever and would not seem out of place on daytime radio. It also has very nice production on it but that’s where my praise for it stops. Mind you it’s nowhere near as shit as the next tune. I bought ‘The Spike’ by UK band The Music because Paul Hartnoll of Orbital produced it. It’s stadium pop rock at its worst. It’s a bag of mickeys.

Right, that’s it, I’m off to the Spiegeltent to see the best of Ireland’s breakdancers do their thing today. Big up to the Choice Cuts Crew for managing to put on great events on a regular basis. I’m really looking forward to it. I’m bringing my two lads along so that they might follow in their fathers breaking foot steps. Hopefully they’ll be better at it than I was.

there's eating in this podcast. stuff your face!

I've managed to get a few hours away from the stuff of import that usually occupies Matt Vinyls life. Never one to rest on my laurels I thought that I'd get a podcast together for your general consumption. In these difficult times there's little in life that comes free. As such I thought I'd delve into the collection and pick out a few musical gems that you might not have otherwise come across. In doing so it turns out that I've put together seven pretty freaky cuts. Fuck it though, I believe that you're broadminded freethinking individuals who like a little spice in their life. So step up to the mark and wrap your ears around this. The track listing is as follows.

Theme from 'Chips' - Corniche
Utopia (Plaid Mix) - Goldfrapp
Plug Me In - Add N to X
The Four Horsemen - Aphrodites Child
Doctorin the Tardis (Minimal Mix) - The Timelords
Hip Hip - Shut Up & Dance
Angela - Bob James



Listen to : September Sounds












PS I just thought I'd throw in a picture of Spilly Walker at the Electric Picnic for good measure

wha' g'waan bredren

It feels like ages since I last posted but I guess it's not really. I had great intentions and planned on posting loads but then I didn't have the time to do it. That's enough excuses anyway, let's have a round up of what's been happening in the vinyl world and also review and preview some events in Matt Vinyl's life.

I should mention the buzz that was the Festival of World Culture. Held in various parts of Dun Laoghaire, we decided to bring the kids along on Sunday afternoon. And what a belter of a day it turned out to be. It actually felt like summer for the first time this summer. I don't even know the names of the acts that I managed to see but the first was three heavy-boned African women doing some singing and some leisurely dancing. They were great craic altogether. Next up was a peculiar hybrid band of bagpipers and samba drummers. It was weird shit but once again it was great. Not the usual thing I'd go and listen to so all the more reason to check it out. The North Strand Klezmer Band were up next and were pretty deadly. They sound a bit like how I imagine a Jewish wedding band might sound. The next lot were another peculiar lot. I think they were from the Ukraine and they appeared to have a sizeable following who'd come to see them. There were three ladies, two on drums and one on what looked like a cello. There was a bloke with them who'd sing every so often into a small loudspeaker (a la Michael Stipe). They were making music that could best be described as Ukrainian Folk Techno. I loved the first few tunes but then it just started to grate on my skull. I'm at a loss to remember who came next. I was pretty drunk at that stage. I was also wondering where the world culture was in the crowd. It started to resemble a festival of middle classes. I'd had enough, the kids were tired, I was in bits. There was no time to hang around to hear Lisa Hannigan so I guess I'll have to check her out this weekend.

Which leads me nicely to the forthcoming Electric Picnic. I'm heading down this Friday morning but I'll unfortunately have to cut the weekend short and come home on Sunday evening. As such I'm going to miss the one band that I really wanted to see, My Bloody Valentine. I'm a bit snapping about that but what can I do. Another of the kids has their first day at school on Monday and I just can't miss it. I'm not sure why, cos I missed the other two starting school but lets not dwell on my past misdemeanours. I can console myself somewhat because at least I managed to catch them play a couple of times when they were in their prime. They were gigs that I remeber well and really enjoyed so I hope its the same for everyone else on Sunday night. I'll play a few of their tunes before bed on Sunday night. That should send the kids off to sleep. I'll update you on the events upon my return.

In terms of vinyl procurement it's been a so-so few days. I picked up two seven inches that are so shite that they're really not worth mentioning. However I have mentioned them so I may as well tell you what they are. The first is by The Shortwave Set and its called 'Now til '69'. I bought it because its produced by Dangermouse but all he's managed to produce is a load of hairy arse. It sounds like a really bad David Bowie tune. Think Absolute Beginners. Or it sounds like any Golden Horde tune! The other piece of shit that I bought is called 'Steve Mc Queen' and its by The Automatic. Avoid it at all costs.

Some quality control was imposed for the next few purchases thank Jaysus. It's the third single that I've bought from the Lykke Li album and its another cracker. Its called 'Breaking it Up' and it's one of my favourite tunes on the album. The b-side features a remix of 'Everybody but Me' by Norwegian producer Disk Jokke. Its a nice low key rhythmic affair that builds from start to finish. It's great. It sounds nothing like it but it somehow manages to remind me of 'State of Independence' by Donna Summer. Maybe Disk Jokke is the new Quincy Jones. Maybe not.

The new Beck seven inch 'Chemtrails' sounds like he got stuck in a room with a load of British shoegazers from the late eighties and a bunch of prog-folkers from the late sixties. The result is a pretty charming affair. Lots of rolling drums and phased vocals. Just what the doctor ordered. Even the freaky guitar wank-off at the end fits in nicely and its abrupt ending is timed extremely well. It stops just before you get annoyed with it.

The final three mentions go to the albums that I picked up in All City Records the other day. The lads got a load of new second-hand stock in and amongst it was a load of funk and jazz. The three gems that I uncovered are all ones that I've meant to buy before. Well now I have them. They are 'Sketches of Spain' by Miles Davis, 'Feelin Alright' by Mongo Santamaria and 'Lets take it to the stage' by Funkadelic. They've a bucket load of great stuff down there at the moment. Tell them I sent you. They'll probably throw you out.

And finally.........he's been at it again. That MP3Hugger never rests on his laurels. He's put together the second Indiecater compilation and it once again features a load of bands from around the globe. I only downloaded it tonight so I'll look forward to listening to it over the next few days. I might even review this one rather than give it the few half-arsed sentences like I did with the last one. The again I might not because I'm becoming a lazy bastard and my reviews never extend beyond two sentences. It might be best for all if I leave it to the professionals. Buy it here.

long players galore

I came into possession of three albums over the last couple of days. All shiny and new in their sleeves and waiting for a rinse out on the turntable. Two of them came courtesy of the shindig I had in the back garden the other night. In order to guard against the inclement weather, a friend offered a gazebo that was in their house. Rather than it being one of those fold-up crappy jobs it turned out to be a full blown marquee about 10 metres long. It was a bit of a bollix to put up in the rain but the resulting structure was the business. It fully covered the garden shed housing the sounds as played by Galafari, The Mullet and grandpa Naphta. It was a roaring success by my unexacting standards. Anyhow, I was gifted two sweet albums on the night. The first is by Mulatu Astatke and is called Ethio Jazz. Astatke has also featured in the Ethiopiques series of albums released on the Buda Musique label. If you haven't checked out a bit of Ethiopian Jazz from the 1960's and 1970's then you simply haven't lived. These dudes know how to funk it up big styles. I was going to tell you to go and check Ethiopiques out this weekend at the Festival of World Cultures in Dun Laoghaire but the gig is sold out. Ah well!

The other album that I was gifted is by Innocent Youths and is called 'Earth, Roots & Water'. As you might guess by the name of both the album and the band, it's a reggae album. Not just any reggae album though. It was released in 1977 on the Toronto based Summer Records. The original pressing is as rare as hens teeth so luckily they went and repressed it earlier this year. Its available once more, courtesy of the people in Light in the Attic. Its reminiscent of The Lovejoys in parts and is dub-space-tastic in others. Once again its a rare sonic treat.

The last album for today is one that I've been meaning to get for bleedin ages. I picked up the Neon Neon 'I lust you' seven inch ages ago and I meant to go and buy the album, Stainless Style. It was only when I saw that they're playing in Tripod on the 4th of November that I thought I'd better follow up on my earlier plans. It's a nicely packaged piece of vinyl and although I've only listened to it once, it reeks of eighties synthesiser pop. To some people that might be a bad thing but to me that's just great. I'm loving it. I might just have to go and see them play.

Finally, I bumped into Exile Eye yesterday and Sie Milligan today and both told me about a short tour they're embarking on to promote Exile's new Melodica Deathship project. They're playing the Bierhaus in Galway on the 21st August, the Pavillion in Cork the following night, The Trinity Rooms in Limerick the night after and wind their way back to Anseo here in Dublin on the 25th August. And they're doing the whole journey on miniature bicycles. Actually that's a lie.

towers of dublin

The running theme for this week has been football. Last Saturday saw this years Ronty Cup being held in Dalymount Park. After last years famous victory in Bristol there was obviously going to be a backlash from this years visitors. The game was a war of attrition with no real highlights in normal time. The game went to penalties where Bristol ran out the winners. There was much celebration afterwards in the stadium bar where both the winners, losers and assembled crowd were entertained by Cian Loughnane and Cousin Elias. You can check out Cousin Elias in the Body & Soul area of the forthcoming Electric Picnic.

On Wednesday evening there was more football. This time it was a weekly kickaround organised by the proprietor of one of Dublins premier independent music stores, Dave afrom Road Records. He assembled quite a motley crew of renegades, blackguards and wastrels all willing to have a football buzz. Amongst the assembly were John and Vinnie from The Jimmy Cake who have a new album in all good record stores as you read this. It's called Spectre & Crown and its getting great reviews. I'm quite remiss in that I've yet to listen to it but I'll sort that out in the coming days.

Amongst this weeks purchases are: The latest seven inch cut from Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings called '100 days, 100 nights'. Its another rhythm and blues belter from the Daptone label and it also features on the Dap Kings recent album. Elsewhere I picked up the seven inch of Kraftwerks 'Tour de France' which also features the instrumental on the b-side. Myself and the kids have been body-popping all morning listening to it. On the vinyl album front I purchased some second-hand stuff that I'd had previously but let go. First up is the 'Strange Free World' album by Kitchens of Distinction. It's by far their best album and it featutes the likes of 'Railwayed' and 'Quick as Rainbows'. It evokes memories of their McGonagles gig here in Dublin years ago. Great stuff. The other album that I got was the limited edition version of 'U.F.Orb.' by The Orb. It's just brilliant. It was worth the price for the intro to 'Towers of Dub' by Victor Lewis Smith, one of Britains greatest comedic talents. My favourite story about Lewis Smith concerns the time he rang the UK's Monopolis and Mergers Commission and asked why there was only one such organisation. Other tracks on the album include 'Blue Room' and the title track 'U.F.Orb'.

Speaking of The Orb, some of you may remember a tune on the 1997 Orblivion album called 'S.A.L.T'. Its fairly memorable as it samples a David Thewliss monologue from the Mike Leigh's 1993 movie 'Naked'. For any Mike Leigh fans or anyone who hasn't seen this brilliant but slightly disturbing movie it gets a DVD release this coming Monday. It also gets the Matt Vinyl seal of approval. Check this interview with Thewliss and Leigh in The Guardian.

Finally, There's a revival-introductory meeting of DOCOMOMO on Tuesday 19th August 2008 at 6.30pm in RIAI rooms, 8 Merrion Square. For the uninitiated DOCOMOMO stands for documentation.conservation.modern.movement and it's the only body concerned with the preservation of 20th Century buildings. A number of architecturally signifiicant buildings are facing an unsure future, amongst them are Liberty Hall and the Bank of Ireland HQ. Anyone interested can attend and its hoped to resurrect the Irish chapter of DOCOMOMO...

The meeting will be an hour-long, and Shane O'Toole will present an overview history of DOCOMOMO and its relationship within/to Ireland thus far. The discussion will also involve original members such as Tallon, Rothery, Graby and others who now hope to pass the reins to the next generation. The meeting is an introductory one and the hopes are that DOCOMOMO will meet again in late October 2008. If this is your bag then get down to Merrion Square on Tuesday next.

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

a welcome addition to the family

Here's the latest arrival. There's no model number on it but I'm led to believe its a Philips GP 220 portable turntable. I know I said I was on a hiatus from buying turntables but I couldn't leave this one stranded. It was crying out for a home. That was about five weeks ago. Since then the replacement needle has arrived from New Zealand but I still haven't sorted out a power lead for it. As such it's pictured here with the six D batteries that it takes to run it and a copy of 'What time is love' by The KLF on the platter. It works like a dream.

a week is a long time in record shopping

it's been a whole five days or so since my last post. I arrived back in Dublin eager to catch up on all the great seven inches that had been released whilst I was on my holidays and lo and behold there's fuck all to buy out there. that said I did manage to finally get my hands on the seven inch of 'Steppin Out' by Joe Jackson. It's a bit warped at the start of the record but I reckon I can live with that. A live version of the tune was recently released on 12 inch but its a complete bag of shite. On the new release front I only managed to pick up the latest seven inch release by Roots Manuva entitled 'Buff Nuff'. It's a dancehall flavoured bass-tastic piece of funk and the video is reminiscent of something that George Clinton was doing back in the eighties. The tune seems to be a bit of a departure from his usual stuff but I'm digging it wholesale. There's an instrumental of the tune on the b-side that rumbles.

Given the dearth of musical material on the seven inch front I've taken to reading the papers. All sorts of papers would you believe. Fergus Murphy was just over from Copenhagen and he dropped a few copies of Bitchslap into All City Records. It's a great magazine. It doesn't seem to be about anything in particular but would probably lean towards highlighting various cultural and artistic activities, which is nice. I was banging on about it before in this post.

Also just released is Issue 4 of the now almost nationwide 'Analogue' magazine. It's front page has been typeset in a font that reminds me of the old Open University graphic from all those years ago on late night BBC2. That aside its still choc a bloc full of news, reviews and interviews with all the up and coming bands that I should know about and with some bands that I already know about. A free Storkboy Choons CD came with the magazine but I haven't got around to listening to it yet. Soon come.

I was a great fan of zines years ago and I had just assumed that they had gone the way of the Sinclair C5. It appears that that is far from the actual truth. I'd seen the 'loserdom' zine around quite a few years back and I was intrigued to see that it was still going when I picked it up in a record shop the other day. There's a wonderful innocence about the medium of the zine. It's as if it was born without original sin. They're usually very honest in their tone and there's rarely the cynicism that's found in the more conventional media. The latest issue of Loserdom treats such topics as the Cork Ladyfest, the London Zine symposium and the end of the occupation of Iraq. It also has five pages devoted to reviewing other zines. I thought it funny that you'd devote time to reviewing what is essentially your competition and then I remembered that the zine world is most likely not that competitive.

I'm off to Farmleigh this weekend to check out this years instalment of the Farmleigh Affair. The weather ain't looking too good here so I'll have to hedge my bets. I got a little bit damp at last years event and I'd hate for it to happen again. I'll let you know all about it.

the squat pen rests, snug as a gun

I picked up a Gilles Peterson compilation in All City Records the other day. Digs America II is made up of a load of tracks from Peterson's Brownswood Basement and includes lots of tunes that he bought in the US. The pictures of him on the front and back cover were taken in Village Music, a California record store that closed in September 2007. As someone who loves to dig in the crates, I firstly envy Gilles his numerous opportunities to fly around the world record shopping and secondly feel a pang when I hear a record store such as Village Music closes it doors. I'm sure that there were many reasons for its closure but I can only suppose that amongst them was the modern way of sourcing music, the internet. Why spend a day rooting around a dusty record store when you can download it or order it online.? On a personal level I find it's a more satisfying experience when you discover a piece of vinyl in a record store, charity shop, jumble sale or wherever else. But I would say that.

Speaking of turning up some old gems, I picked up a second-hand copy of the 2002 album, Point, by Cornelius. It was released on Matador Records and it truly is the business. I've mentioned Cornelius here before but for those who forget, he hails from Japan and has a great knack for composing electronic gems. The album cover itself is fairly humdrum but when I went to put the record back into it I noticed that the inside of the sleeve has pictures on it. It looks like a Japanese streetscape but its a a bit hard to be sure. Check out Point of View Point and Drop on his myspace as both tunes feature on the album.

I picked up another Lee Fields tune on seven inch from 2007 called 'My World' which features another killer tune, Love Comes and Goes, on the flip. The stuff that he's putting out sounds like Gilles Peterson dug it out of a record store like Village Music. After doing a little research (i.e. googling) I found that Lee released his first seven inch in 1973 but for some reason dropped off the radar around 1984 and then resurfaced with a release on the DapTone label in 2000. I for one am glad he's back. If you think you'd like to sample some of Mr Fields magic then you should get his soon to be released album 'The Many Moods Of Lee Fields' on Truth & Soul Records.

Finally, I bought a seven inch from 2007 on the Morr Music label by a band called Seavault. A quick visit to their MySpace showed that Seavault are no other than Antony Ryan from ISAN and Simon Scott from Slowdive. Slowdive were a bunch of shoegazers who were on the Creation label from 1989 to the mid-nineties. This might explain why Seavault have chosen to cover a tune from 1988 by Ultra Vivid Scene called Mercy Seat. I was in a band at the same time and we would all have been listening to UVS and digging them. UVS are really a bloke called Kurt Ralske. After I bought the seven inch I got to thinking about what happened to Kurt Ralske? A quick google brought me up to speed on his whereabouts and his current occupation. It turns out that he was a bit interested in audio-visual installations and related programming matters. So much so that he developed a piece of video software called Auvi , that's used by lots of people who move in those kind of circles. He's created installations and exhibited his work in places like the Guggenheim in Bilbao, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art and has a permanent display in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. What a guy! Here's the original Mercy Seat interspersed with an interview with the man himself.

UPDATE: I was over on MP3hugger's site and knew that he'd have been digging Ultra Vivid Scene back in the day. I found this post about what happened to all the members of Slowdive. Check it.

can you hear me now?

It's funny who you meet when you're out getting your morning coffee. Firstly, I bumped into Kittser who seemed to be up and about at a fairly unusual hour of the day. It turns out that the workmen were in his gaff, banging about the place, so he upped sticks and was heading for breakfast when I met him. As we stood chatting on the corner of Andrew St and Wicklow St we caught two people waving over. It was Mattie and Emelie from M&E. I ran a few of my ideas over with the assembled but all seemed suitably unimpressed with everything I threw at them. These creative types would do your head in. I guess I'll have to complete my domination of the Dublin music scene without their help. Kittser has started an evening called The Goof-Off every Wednesday evening upstairs in Whelans. Although it's only being going a couple of weeks its already had a guest appearance by Matmos. It should be worth checking out if you're about town on a Wednesday night. It kicks off at 11.30.

On my return to the office I had an e-mail about the upcoming DEAF festival. That's all I know about the contents of it because the bloody message was blocked by my work firewall because of a graphic attachment. The DEAF festival will be on again this coming October and you can read all about it over on Jim's blog. Over on the DEAF site they're looking for heads to help out with the upcoming festival. Give a little, it will help a lot. When I was on their site I managed to find a photo of a piece I wrote in 2005 for the accompanying festival publication (see above). Nice one.

Yesterday the astral radio in my head picked up the tune 'You can call me Al' by Paul Simon. I was singing it all day and again when I woke this morning. The tune entered the UK charts in 1987 and I always enjoyed the accompanying video that featured Chevy Chase and a very bored looking Paul Simon. Today I found the tune in Spindizzy Records on seven inch. Fate dictated that i buy it. I love it.

Finally, I was reading the Cheebah blog today and it mentions a feature by Paul Tarpey in the Copenhagen magazine BitchSlap. The magazine reminds me a lot of the stuff that's being done by Candy Collective and the piece by Paul on DJ Cait is especially good. Check it.

the politics of blogging revisited

A couple of topics seem to be exercising the minds of Irish bloggers this weather. The first concerns the art of blogging as perceived through the musings of several people. The subject was raised last week on Spanish Exposition but I only got around to seeing it today. As usual the bus departs and Matt Vinyl is left stranded at the bus stop somewhere outside Moycullen. The post managed to spark some debate amongst concerned bloggers all over Ireland. Even as I speak the storm in some nice wedgewood china cups still goes on. The quality of blogging is a subject that I encounter on a regular basis in blogs but one that runs out of steam fairly sharpish. Opinions are like shoes, everyone has them except the people that don't. Some people like their own style of shoes more than others. Some people don't like shoes at all. Some people like hemp slippers instead. I treated the subject of blogging back in my early days on the blogosphere. I've just re-read what I wrote and to be honest not much has changed in the interim. I'm not in it to win it, nor am I here to impart any wisdom to the world. It's always been an outlet to indulge my own passions and interests. It's a bit like the Douglas Hyde Gallery in Trinity, sometimes it has interesting stuff but a lot of the time you just wander right past it. I think I like it that way. As with most things that I turn my hand to I soon find out that there are others who are infinitely better at it.

The other topic that seems to be generating a fair whack of keyboard action is the result of last weeks referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. Politics is a peculiar subject but in much the same manner as blogging, everyone always likes to give their tuppence worth. If you can imagine collecting all those tuppenceworths and putting them in a jar and eventually emptying them all out and counting them you'd soon find that you had a lot of tuppences worth fuck all. It's the shoes analogy all over again.

When trawling through the many responses to the outcome of the referendum and when reading the media coverage there is a consistency in the feelings of those who called for a Yes vote. It would appear, according to these commentators, Ireland got it wrong. This is a strange kind of reaction. How can you get a vote wrong? It's a pretty simple option. You're either for something, or you're against it! You can, by all means, not have an opinion either way. Judging by the turnout it would appear that such is the feeling of 47% of registered electors. That means that more people couldn't give a fuck about the Lisbon Treaty than voted for either the yes or no camps. The people of Ireland have spoken: We don't give a fuck!


Back on topic Ratatat, the Brooklyn based electronica outfit, recently released their new single 'Shiller' on seven inch and I bought it today. Malheureusement, I managed to leave it in work so I've no idea what it sounds like. If you want to find out then go and buy it yourself.