Musings of the Month

...When the excellent Merz is touring his album in Borders rather than traditional venues, and even Moby is taking to playing acoustic shows in bars as a promotional gimmick, it should have been no surprise to see members of Dirty Projectors working the merch stall after their fine performance at the Cirque Royale the other week. DP were supporting the frankly superb Explosions in the Sky (no nonsense psychedelic rock - just what the doctor ordered). If only all gigs were this good.

...Just after last month's musings, it was announced that Duran Duran and Mark Ronson would be playing a special invite-only concert together in Paris in July, at which Ronson would be reinterpreting various Duran hits, with the whole caboodle being sponsored by Smirnoff Vodka and filmed for broadcast on the web, etc. It will probably be a mildly diverting occasion, but there's something about the buttoned down coolness of Ronson that irritates. A little too slick, a little too knowing and actually, when it comes to the crunch, a little too bland. Coffee table beats and dinner party pop. If he has to be trendy could he at least unsettle the listener a little too - like the feeling you get flicking through a copy of Wallpaper magazine in a dentist's waiting room?

...Black Kids, Black Noise, The Black Ghosts, White Denim, White Williams, White Lies...(Not forgetting the return of the Black Dog!). Are we to assume from this selection of hip new projects that we are living in a black or white world? Absolutes in place of (on top of) Absoluts? Absolutely! Now, where's that Monochrome Set LP?

Myspace of the Month: Cheezface

Cheezface, from Wilkesboro, NC (population 3,159) shares a myspace friendship with Music Muziek Musique, the awesome Drums of Death and Rustie's label Dress2Sweat. If that isn't reason enough to like him, then producing experimental /grindcore /Spanish pop(!) tracks with titles such as "demonic anus piss" and "penile bisection with a blunt instrument" in a town best known for hosting America's biggest folk and bluegrass festival (MerleFest) surely must be.
Actually, what I really like about the work of Cheezus H. Christus (aka Bryan Stancil) is the way he combines the themes of bodily waste and mutilation that were staple elements of '80s US underground greats such as Big Black, Butthole Surfers and the Pixies, with the manipulation of electronic beats and noise of a Squarepusher or Knifehandchop. "Americas Doctor" is like "22 Going on 23" remixed by the Aphex Twin, "Heat of the Bowel Movement" twists a sample taken from some early 80s stadium rockers (Asia? Yes?) and grinds it into the dust. Then it goes back and gives it another kicking just to make sure, finely balancing noise and tunefulness, humour and disgust.
With Gilli Milligan from noise-rockers Torpid frantically recording dozens of great new electronic tracks in his Brussels bolthole perhaps it's time to start joining the dots. 1980s = recession, cold war, right-wing neo liberal governments, hardcore music; 2008 = more of the same, but with 20 years of club culture in between. Time to get on the dancefloor and SCREAM!

Mixtape of the Month: Christian Shank vs. A1 Bassline

It's a couple of months old now, but still worth hearing. Christian Shank from Partyshank mixes tip-top electro with the niche sound of new side project A1 Bassline (debut single 'Girl Thing' is out this month on Meal Deal). Highlights of the mix, which is available to download here include...Opening track Journey - cinematic and jittery, as wired and wide open as the soundtrack to a phonecam remake of The Warriors on the DLR...15:01 - who can resist a Sexual Seduction?...27:53 - the martial drums of Samo Ti - all fall in!...41:41 - here comes the Big Dippa!...50:26 - It's a lot: car alarm synths, wonky bass, semi-breaks and a 4/4 hi-hat - bassline house in a nutshell. Sweet as. ...52:35 - Kiss Kiss, mwah mwah...57:23 - The Jesus and Mary Chain - and why not?

Playlist:
01 A1 Bassline vs Christian Shank - Journey
02 Christian Shank - Play Around (A1 Bassline Edit)
03 Zinc - 138 Trek
04 A1 Bassline - Fasters Better, Harders Better Dub
05 T2 - Why?
06 Wideboys - Sexual Seduction (Bassline Mix)
07 A1 Bassline - Girl Thing
08 Nasti Boi - Bangorz
09 The Count and Sinden - Beeper (Fake Blood Remix)
10 Fairy Faggots - Samo Ti (A1 Bassline Switch Remix)
11 Wideboys - What You're Thinking (ft Sarah Saville-Up North Dutty Mix)
12 Cadence Weapon - House Music (A1 Bassline Remix)
13 Dexplicit - Over You
14 Duke Dumont - When I Hear Music
15 Damaged Goods - Yo Righteous (A1 Bassline Big Mix)
16 DJ Q - Shottaz
17 A1 Bassline - Big Dippa Dub Flex
18 Chemical Brothers - Boot it Again (Mowgli Mix)
19 Detboi - Gunshot
20 A1 Bassline - It's a lot
21 Chris Brown ft. T Pain - Kiss Kiss (Dexplicit Remix)
22 A1 Bassline - Somebody
23 Jesus and Mary Chain - Just Like Honey.

(By the way, the cool artwork for Girl Thing is by Ferry Gouw of Semifinalists).

Meeting(s) of the Month: Trencher

Another from the Vice Belgium stable. Here they are in their mutha tongue...

It’s a sick world indeed where Napalm Death live in harmony with Goblin, but Trencher have not only found that world they have been elected its presidents and are now busy rewriting the constitution to become leaders for life. Before that, the Casio-Grindcore pioneers had the little matter of a gig at infamous London trend-spot, The Macbeth…

JT: I thought you said ‘soundchecks are for weaklings’: Why have you just been soundchecking?

M. Shit: I’m feeling quite weak today: I’ve just got back from holiday.

JT: You’ve got some great song titles: which is your favourite?

M. Shit: ‘Chatter of Slimy Teeth’.

Pox: ‘Wounds Cordon Bleu’.

Lock-Monger: ‘Two semis don’t make a hard-on’.

JT: It’s been a while since the last Trencher album, have you been waiting till you can afford a better keyboard or something?

M. Shit: There’s nothing wrong with my keyboard! I’ve just been buying more pedals to make it sound more sick. No, it just seems to be a slow process this time round, but we’re coming up with the goods as we speak… Right now!

Lock-Monger: Not right now, not literally as we speak.

M. Shit: My mind’s only half here – I’m composing.

JT: You’re a body double.

Lock-Monger: Arse double. Yeah, we’re writing at the moment, just been busy touring.

Pox: We’ve got lots of debts as well. So we have to make money – cash…for the gash.

JT: One of your influences is 1970s Horror soundtracks. What frightens Trencher?

M. Shit: The thought of my keyboard breaking. It’s quite hard to replace.

Pox: Grannies and children, little kids, Nazis…

Lock-Monger: Fear itself.

JT: Do you have a message for the people of Belgium?

Lock-Monger: We love your beer and women.

JT: What about their chips?

M. Shit: I don’t think I’ve had the Belgian chip.

JT: They’re double-dipped.

Lock-Monger: Double-dipped!!

JT: Yeah, they fry them, take them out, and fry them again.

Lock-Monger: What, and then they eat them and throw them back in the fryer?
Fuck. Double-dipped: that’s harsh!

JT: I’ve gone through all my questions. I had a dumb question about Madonna, but I’m going to scrap that.

Lock-Monger: Go on, give us it.

JT: Ok, but it is a shit question – if you were going to cover one of her songs, which one would it be?

M. Shit: It’s obvious, but I think ‘Like a Prayer’.

Lock-Monger: Or ‘Like a Virgin’.

Lock-Monger: Like a Virgin Prayer. Mix ‘em up, push ‘em up together, put a Holiday in there.

M. Shit: Prayer for a Virgin.

Lock-Monger: Prayer for a Holiday Virgin.

M. Shit: Prayer for a Belgian Virgin.

Lock-Monger: Double-Dipped.

M. Shit: With two chips stuck up her arse… easy on the Mayo!

JT: Is there anything else you want to say?

Pox: Bring drugs to all the shows.

M. Shit: It’s hard to get them on the road sometimes.

Lock-Monger: Yeah. What else, our philosophy of life?

JT: Yeah, how do you sum up your band in one line?

Lock-Monger: Life of the party, death of life. C’mon Pox have you got any words? …No popcorn today?

Pox: See you in Valhalla you motherfucking crippled fucking jessies.

Lock-Monger: [laughing] We’re gonna end up getting boycotted!

M. Shit: Vikings will no longer listen to our music.

Meeting(s) of the Month: Ipso Facto

As originally seen in Vice Belgium, here it is in English:

Unlike Goths of yore, Ipso Facto don’t mind a bit of daylight. In fact, Rosalie and Victoria from the band actually volunteered to sit in a sunny beer garden and tell me about their plans for world domination (next step is the Gareth Jones-produced second single, ‘Little Puppet’). Kids today, eh?

JT: A lot of people comment on your image before they talk about your music, does that bother you?

Rosalie: Not really, as long as they listen to the music, coz obviously it grabs people’s attention. It’s a lot better than looking like a load of sweaty indie boys.

JT: Do you dream in black’n’white?

Rosalie: Oh no, I dream in Technicolor.

Victoria: I’m colour blind. So for me, it’s just a natural choice.

JT: Are you really colour blind?

Rosalie: I didn’t even know that. No you’re not!!

Victoria: You don’t know, I could be.

JT: Who’s the funniest member of the group?

Victoria: Sam. It’s got to be.

Rosalie: [to Victoria] You.

Victoria: I’m not funny. I’m funny as in, ‘ahh, she’s a funny one, that girl’. I’m accidentally funny. I don’t mean to be.

Rosalie: Sam’s the comedian.

Victoria: I’m just a bit odd.

JT: Before your band came along, the last time the phrase ipso facto appeared in popular culture was when Jerry Hall said it in a Bovril advert in the 1980s. Jerry chose Mick Jagger over Bryan Ferry, was she right to do that?

Rosalie: Of course she was: Mick Jagger’s really sexy.

Victoria: He is sexy.

JT: And Bryan Ferry? Not as sexy?

Rosalie: No.

JT: How would you sum up Ipso Facto in one line?

Rosalie: Are we gonna say it again? Gothic Spice Girls.

JT: Is this a cliché?

Rosalie: We’re trying to spread this so we’re mentioning it in every interview.

JT: And do people take this bait?

Rosalie: I don’t think anyone has yet.

Victoria: They don’t believe us.

Rosalie: They’ll believe us when we dominate the world! Have a movie out…

JT: You’ll need a black and white tracksuit.

Rosalie [to Victoria]: You can be Sporty.

Victoria: I’m Sporty, Scary and Ginger all in one.

JT: What question have you never been asked in an interview that you wish someone had asked?

Rosalie: Don’t know. Errr….

…[Long pause]…

Victoria: God, we’re so hypocritical.

Rosalie: Yeah, we’re always moaning about how they’re always asking the same old questions, I wish I could write the interview. But now I’m put on the spot, I can’t. I’m sorry.

JT: Ok, what’s the dumbest question you get asked then?

Rosalie: So, you’re very like The Horrors, how does that feel?

JT: Do you have fans that follow you to every gig?

Victoria: We’ve got one: he’s Spanish.

Rosalie: It’s pretty much just one.

JT: One stalker.

Rosalie: And he’s probably going to read this.

JT: [backtracking] He’s not a stalker: he’s just a big fan.

Victoria: He should get recognition, you know.

Dance Europe Express (Cardiff-Brussels-Lausanne-Budapest)

Music Muziek Musique presents Dance Europe Express

From Cardiff - Rockem Sockem Robots
(Deep House and Breaks)

From Brussels - Nauru
(DJs Sensu [Manna, Plain, Café Belga] and Tuks [Toma!] play underground pop music in the broadest possible sense. When your name references a former tax paradise now run by an ex-Olympic weightlifter, there's few limits to what you might expect. Hearing is believing though, so no boasting ... just music ... loud ...)

From Lausanne - Leo & Tamara
(It's more than passion that links Leo [Creaked Records] & Tamara behind the turntables, open-minded and always interested in new sounds and exciting vibrations, they play their fine slices of electronic, rock, techno, experimental, hip-hop, noise, pop and more to build up a no-genre alike set that will leave you stuck to the dancefloor!)

From Budapest - Polymorphin
(Minimal techno from the Schallschnelle Records recording artists)

Plus your eclectic and danceable residents, DJ Jammer & The Phantom

Venue: Nouveaux Russes, Rue Haute 4 Hoogstraat, Brussels 1000
Date: Saturday May 31 2008 (doors: 23h - till late)
FREE ENTRY

www.myspace.com/musicmuziekmusique
"one more time..."

More Moby at Belga

Here's another pic from last night. There's loads more on Facebook.

Secret Moby gig!!

It's not often you head down to your local boozer and discover a world famous rock star is playing a secret acoustic show there that night. That's what happened to me yesterday, so here's a little report...

Moby - Café Belga, Brussels Wednesday May 7, 2008

Following a day of rumour and buzz – is he really coming? THE Moby? Really?? – The diminutive New Yorker stepped onto a makeshift stage at Café Belga a little after 9pm. A several-thousand-strong crowd had gathered in and around the trendy bar in Brussels’s Place Flagey to hear a ‘secret’ gig by the multi-platinum musician.

Strapping on an acoustic guitar, and accompanied by the considerable vocal talents of Joy Malcolm, Moby opened the show with ‘Natural Blues’, before playing a selection of old favourites (including ‘Why does my heart?’ and ‘We are all made of stars’), a track from new album, Last Night, and some unusual covers (‘Ring of Fire’, ‘Walk on the Wild Side’).

After set closer ‘Lift me up’ left the crowd chanting his name, Moby returned for an encore that included minor key renditions of Twisted Sister’s ‘We’re not going to take it’ and ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ and an improvised jam (!) “Do I know any more songs?” the singer asked himself. One more: ‘Me and Bobby McGee’. Kris Kristofferson’s song famously defines freedom. Here’s another definition: ‘Freedom’s just another name for being able to play an acoustic set in a bar when you are a rock star!’

Musings of the Month

...Jones the Rhythm...
Great to read that Grace Jones will be playing live at the Meltdown Festival in London next month. The first picture disc I ever bought was the 12" of Slave to the Rhythm (fantastic record) so I've got fond memories of Ms. Jones. And if there was anyone making better albums than her in 1980/81, I haven't heard them (as good maybe - stand up Talking Heads - but not better). If this description of going to see one of her live shows from the pages of Pop Justice is anything to go by, everyone at the South Bank on June 19th will be in for a treat!

...You call this progress? Or the thin end of the Wedge...
I was amazed to pick up a flyer the other week and discover that Shoreditch chancers Trash Fashion had been booked to play at the Fete Du Progres, the annual May Day fundraiser of the French-speaking Belgian socialist party, the PS, which took place last night. I'm sure Billy Bragg is polishing his cover of It's a Rave Dave as we speak. Twats!

...In search of Cosmic Disco, or the DJ and the producer...
Sadly (or not at all), I missed the Trash Fiasco in order to be at the 6YCC event at the Eskimo Fabriek in Ghent, celebrating the sixth birthday of Culture Club, the nightclub where Soulwax's Dewaele brothers cut their teeth as resident DJs. The main reason for going was to catch a Hercules and Love Affair DJ set. As the timings got all awry, I missed a big chunk of this, which, for some strange reason, was taking place essentially in the foyer of the venue (a former textile factory - very stylish, although the corridor linking the main rooms kept reminding me of the Panamian prison at the end of Season 2 of Prison Break). What I did hear was cool, although I think I prefer Herc & LA's own records. By contrast, Felix Da Housecat, whose recordings usually leave me cold, played a storming set in the main room. I guess that just proves that being great at cutting tracks doesn't mean you'll be the best at playing them, and vice versa.

...Wearing my Rolex, or Grime doesn't play...
Despite entering the UK pop charts at no. 4, Wiley's 'Wearing my Rolex' has divided opinion. Some think it's a cheesy pile of dog's doings, others that it's the best thing to happen to Grime for years. I'm taking the middle ground. Yes, it is pretty cheesy, and perhaps overreliant on the DSK sample (a good track to rely on, mind). But in its defence, when was the last time you went to a club and danced to Grime? I mean, really danced? A case in point, Team Mega Mix played at MMM in March and they played a storming first set. When they hit the decks again later on in the night, they dropped Dizzee Rascal's 'I Luv U', a quality record, but one that, especially outside the UK, is as welcome on most dancefloors as a punk cover of The Birdy Song. Cue a sudden influx of bodies at the bar, and a quick change of musical direction in the DJ booth. Maybe Wiley is wiping away too much of the Grime from his sound, but he should be applauded for taking the genre in a new direction.

...Musique (Concrete) for the Masses...
Nice to see an article acknowledging the pioneers of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. In the same way that trade journals and in-house magazines have sometimes been the first to bring cutting edge graphic design to the mainstream (for instance Bradbury Thompson in Westvaco's Inspiration for Printers magazine of the 1940s), so the radiophonic workshop, in its functionalism, brought avant-garde techniques to a wider audience, under the guise of making weird sounds to illustrate drama. Musique Concrete for the Masses indeed! Given Delia Derbyshire's later career in psychedelic rockers, The White Noise, it seems like good timing to be heading over to London to catch Ipso Facto this weekend. IF have probably never heard The White Noise, but they sure sound as if they have...