To comprehend, transcend and truly experience our transient existence …
Black Star Disco – Life In More Motion Mix (MP3)
If you’re in Manchester this weekend you’d be a fool to miss the opening night of Black Star Disco, from our good stablemates who run Stop Making Sense. They’ve cooked a mix up for us to let us know what to expect, but I’ll let Ben take over, whose penchant for talking meaningless bollocks is in league with that of my own …
“Black Star Disco is a brief history of time and space comprehended through our favoured mediums of Disco / Post Punk / Techno / Cosmic & Krautrock. We convene on the last Saturday of the month at Joshua Brooks, 106 Princess Street, Manchester, to dance, get weird and freak out. To converse with like minded denizens of the night. To comprehend, transcend and truly experience our transient existence.”
Check the mix, and be blown into the outer atmosphere. And if you wanna bite their style, just copy and paste these into Hype Machine …
Brian Eno & David Byrne – Strange Overtones [Todomundo]
Vangelis – Multi-Track Suggestion [Cloud]
The Detachments – Fear No Fear [This Is Not An Exit]
Tiedye – Nothing Else Matters [Italians Do It Better]
YACHT – The Summer Song [DFA]
Padded Cell – Word of Mouth [DC Recordings]
Michoacan – She’s Sent (Heaven) (The Emperor Machine remix) [Tiny Sticks]
Michele – Disco Dance (Patrick Cowley remix) [West End Recordings]
Chaz Jankel – Get Myself Together (Hercules & Love Affair House remix) [Tirk]
??? – Beyond Jupiter [Moxie]
Mogg & Naudascher – Moon Unit Pt.2 [Supersoul]
Animal Collective – Peacebone (Pantha du Prince remix) [Domino]
Odd Machine – To Learn More [Non-Standard Productions]
Rub A Dub Dub…
Pure Silk Feat. The Blackstones – Rub A Dub (MP3)
I picked this up a couple of years back. A friend of a friend was selling a load of old (mainly 80’s) UK reggae/lovers rock 12â€s. Most of them – actually, all of them – were pretty sub standard to say the least…
After sifting through more records than I care to remember, and with my will to live rapidly deteriorating, I thankfully came across the aptly named “Rub a Dubâ€. Tucked away on the end of a B-side to something that I have no interest in ever looking up, is this rather lovely 3+ minute piano “skanker”…
We Like Pork Pork…
Fila Brazillia – A Zed & Two L’s (MP3)
Fila Brazillia – Slacker (MP3)
Heights Of Abraham – 700 Channels (MP3)
Heights Of Abraham – E.V.A (Instrumental) (MP3)
Momma Gravy – Codeine Covered Cocktail Nuts (MP3)
Pork Recordings, Hulls finest export? Erm…probably.
My Hull knowledge is pretty unsubstantial to say the least. There is a vague memory of a first placed vote in the “most miserable place to live in the UK” poll; followed by another trophy cabinet favourite, the award for “the fattest town in the UK” (for any of our more ghetto/urban slang readers, unfortunately, it’s fat with an F and not a Ph). Beyond this, I am struggling.
So, not wanting to go into this post completely devoid of any facts – and insult any of our Hull readers – I did a quick Google search…
- Hull has a rather portly 101 chip shop proprietors .
- Hull has officially the UK’s friendliest university, as well as boasting chip shop regular John Prescott as a former student.
- Hull has the only white telephone boxes in the country.
- Hull is home to Roy North, presenter of the cult 70’s TV show Basil Brush.I have mulled over the ‘facts’, and although the chip shop stat’ is very impressive (I am salivating at the thought of pudding, chips, peas and gravy), I think it is safe to say that Pork Recordings tops the list…
Formed in the early 90’s by David “Porky” Brennand, Pork went onto become one of the most quality consistent labels of the 90’s. With artists such as Fila Brazillia, Heights Of Abraham, Babby Mammoth, Leggo Beast and Bullitnuts, the Pork sound become synonymous with all things a little bit left of field.
The tracks posted up here are personal favourites that I have accumulated on 12″ over the years. The one notable emission from my collection, and this post, is “Mermaids”; quite possibly Fila Brazillia’ finest hour (a spare/cheap copy of this would be greatly appreciated?)…
Fast Forward Into A Massive Attack
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Massive Attack Vs. Mad Professor – Ruling The Nation/Protection
Massive Attack Vs. Mad Professor – Bumper Ball Dub/Karmacoma
Two choice tracks from 1995’s oft-forgotten but dearly beloved No Protection LP, Mad Professor’s dubbed-out take on Massive Attack’s career-defining Protection. Echoes, delays, acid lines, good times, and Tracey Thorn. Bliss.
Hero To Zero…
Vangelis – He-O (Leo Zero re-work) (MP3)
Leo Elstob Cosmodelica Mix (September 2008) (MP3)
Here at BFF head quarters, it’s no secret that we are big fans of all things AMO1/Leo Elstob – we certainly mention them/him enough (I think Kev even has posters on his wall). Anyway, being the good egg that he is, he has fired another couple of (semi) exclusives at us. First up is a top notch re-work of BFF hero, Vangelis. Lifted from the seminal “Earth” album, “He-O” is one of my favourite tracks off the album, that and the behemoth that is “Let it Happen”. Fantastic stuff.
Second up is a mix due to be aired on Cosmo’s Ministry Of Sound show tonight (Thurs 4th). To quote Leo himself, “it’s a 35 minute mix, featuring a dub-disco cut up of The Congo’s “Congaman Chant” and the acapella of Circuits “Shelter”, and a new Rush re-edit. Enjoy”. Just had a listen to this now at work, and it’s pretty ace…
Finally, Best Foot Forward Hits You With The Smut
The Cars – Moving In Stereo (MP3)
A super smashing New Wave wave bomb from The Cars. If you’re a little older than me, you might remember this as a soundtrack to teenage onanism, featured as it was in Fast Times At Richmond High, as the lovely Phoebe Cates made her way out of the swimming pool (depending on your Google restrictions, that link might not be worksafe). For those that are here just for the music, enjoy and embrace the chuggy bleepy darkness.
It’s Monday. Not Friday. That Sucks.
The Little River Band – It’s A Long Way There (MP3)
It’s Monday; I want it to be Friday.
Coming on like the antithesis of Stevo’s last post (seriously, who the hell puts 40 tracks up?!). Here is a 4 minute ditty from Australia’s finest (bar INXS, of course); the Little River Band. The 8 minute wig out version of this track is where it’s at, but unfortunately I don’t have the LP to hand, so this will have to do. Roll on Friday.
Having A Bit Of A Clear-Out
Kev’s already made his apology and so here’s mine, in the form of a light-on-words 40 song clear-out of everything I’ve been going to post but just haven’t been able to come up with a suitable tenuous sexually ambiguous rant and pun post title for. And even with a 40 song post I still can’t manage any sort of real variety. Sorry.
Not sure what to call this other than electronic indie pop. Anyway, it’s new and good and was apparently originally recorded with three others as b-sides to potential singles from their album from last year. It was decided that they were too good for that and so were released as the ‘Just Thoughts’ EP the other week.
David Byrne & Brian Eno – Strange Overtones (MP3)
The beats might be twenty years old but they’ve not lost it have they (and I’d say they’re very much IN fashion at the moment). I hope they take their tour outside the U.S.
Deerhunter – Nothing Ever Happened (MP3)
Deerhunter’s ‘Microcastle’ is officially the first album I’ve ever *ahem* “acquired” before its proper release. Much tighter than ‘Cryptograms’ but just as much of a grower (ever wondered if ‘growers’ are just albums you’ve just forced yourself to not dislike after repeated listens?) and check out the so-simple but so-ace guitar riffage at four minutes and five seconds through my current favourite song on the album: suh-weeet.
Eels – Mr E’s Beautiful Blues (MP3)
Hidden track stuffed on the end of ‘Daisies Of The Galaxy’. “Worst Eels album” my arse Rob Bailey.
Erlend Øye & Morgan Geist – Ghost Trains (MP3)
Yeah so I love Erlend Øye, what are you gonna do about it eh? This is what happens when two chaps who can do no wrong get together and, well, do no wrong in a seriously impressive fashion.
My friend Ash makes me listen to stuff like this all the time in the office we share; and I love him for it. Check out the breakdown at around four minutes which heralds the arrival of some pretty fine keyboard work.
Jean-Fran̤ois Coen РLa Tour De Pise (MP3)
I discovered this on a DVD of Michel Gondry music videos and it took me damn ages to track down even a naughty MP3 of it let-alone a legit copy of the EP. Nice twee French pop music.
Jim Ford – I’m Gonna Make You Love Me (MP3)
Awesome 1970-ish country/psyche/soul foot-stomper with some mighty fine bass guitar work.
Julian Cope – World Shut Your Mouth (MP3)
Thanks to BBC 6 Music I wake up to gems like this every morning. God bless DAB radio.
Kate Bush – Watching You Without Me (MP3)
I think I speak for everyone here at beef towers in saying that each and every one of you should own a copy of ‘Hounds Of Love’. But ‘Hounds Of Love’ is actually only the name of the party-hit filled first side. The other side is called ‘The Ninth Wave’ and doesn’t really have anything you could play out on a Saturday night. It’s still good though as ‘Watching You Without Me’ attests.
Kelley Polar – Entropy Reigns (In The Celestial City) (MP3)
I meant to post this a good few months ago when I got the album from Dotshop but I forgot. It’s since had a 12″ release so you may well have heard it but it doesn’t stop it being awesome. You can just tell Mr Geist’s had his sticky fingers all over this.
Always a sucker for a bit of Kylie.
Martha & The Muffins – Women Around The World At Work (MP3)
Nice Post Punk/New Wave complete with sax solo. Who knew feminism could sound so good?
If you haven’t already given Matthew Dear’s ‘Asa Breed’ album from last year a listen then you really should.
From their ‘Come On Die Young’ album, even though it’s got singing on it I think this is probably my favourite Mogwai song.
I heard this lovely 1969 psych pop song when I was round at a friend of a friend’s house for tea last year. Look out for it coming to the soundtrack to a Wes Anderson film near you soon. Probably.
Let’s face it; their new album’s pretty rubbish. They did used to be pretty awesome though.
Rebelski – Little White Lines (MP3)
Martin Rebelski not only plays keyboards for Doves but also makes his own records. They’re nice.
The opener on the follow-up to the ubiquitous ‘Tropicalia’ compilation. And I’m sorry but she definitely sings “balls-up… magic magic balls-up”.
Speck Mountain – Summer Above (MP3)
“You’ll be in sun-drenched Indie bliss” Danny Webb told me when I asked him if Speck Mountain’s ‘Summer Above’ was any good. And he was right.
My musical ignorance never fails to amuse me. Thanks to four 22 year old gents for introducing me to Television. Especially good of them considering the crap I subject them to.
The Real Ones – Theme From Mikal Telle – The Movie (MP3)
I don’t really know much about these other than their ‘Outlaw’ EP was mis-pressed by the naughty people at Tellé which sent this particular track on an endless, seamless loop which was great for doing the washing-up to.
My two favourite songs from The Blow’s excellent ‘Paper Television’ album from 2006. ‘Pardon Me’ is all spiky and danceable and ‘Parenthesis’ has to be one of the geekiest love songs ever written.
TV-Resistori – Kontraposto (MP3)
Uusi Fantasia – Lattialla Taas (MP3)
Two little pieces of Finnish pop stupidity. And yes, the Uusi Fantasia track is the one on Erlend Øye’s DJ Kicks with him singing Shocking Blue/Bananarama’s ‘Venus‘ over the top of it.
Valerie Dore – The Night (MP3)
This is on some mix somewhere (ring any bells Mark?) but it’s begging for one of them trendy re-edits. If it just lost the chorus, the bit that goes “all my friends are talking to me… ” and then a bit of re-jigging. Just have a listen and you’ll know what I mean.
Chapterhouse – She’s A Vision(MP3)
Some proper classic Shoegaze from Chapterhouse and Slowdive: all distorted guitars, metronomic drumming and pop hooks.
Paul Simon – All Around The World Or The Myth Of Fingerprints (MP3)
Two from the Official Best Foot Forward Party Hits canon.
The Greenhornes Featuring Holly Golightly – There Is an End (MP3)
All songs from films with Bill Murray in. Three excellent selections by Wes Anderson (from ‘Rushmore’, ‘Darjeeling Limited’ and ‘The Life Aquatic’ respectively) and the magnificent ‘There Is An End’ opens Jim Jarmusch’s ‘Broken Flowers’.
Fallout – Morning After (Sunrise Mix) (MP3)
Aphex Twin – Analogue Bubblebath (MP3)
Air РLe Soleil Est Pr̬s De Moi (Dopplereffekt Remix) (MP3)
A quintet of electronic treats in roughly chronological order.
There’s Tony Carey on his 1982 Explorer album (if you happen upon a copy at a car boot sale then by all means send it my why. Noooo, it’s not stupidly rare and worth a fortune at all).
It’s not that much of what’s on the ‘Warp+10 Influences’ hasn’t aged well, it’s just that I can’t listen to them without seeing stock footage of the halcyon days of the Hacienda in my head. I don’t find that a pleasant thing. 1987’s ‘Morning after(Sunrise Mix)’ by not-done-much-else Fallout doesn’t, and is also rather good. File alongside this.
Just some classic Aphex Twin.
Gerald Donald, choosing Dopplereffekt from his many pseudonyms, pretends to remix this early Air song by playing a filtered vocal sample from the original song and then he just does a whole new song that sounds like classic Drexciya.
This Death In Vegas track is from their otherwise pretty rubbish fourth album the name of which I can’t remember (or even be arsed to look up). I have to admit to being a bit of a sucker for their other three though, especially ‘Scorpio Rising’.
And that’s it. I hope there’s something in here for you. If not, well that’s what Mark’s here for.
Where’s Yours…?
Raf – Self Control (Extended Version) (MP3)
Following on from the previous (re) post, here’s another Celso Valli affiliated track. A slightly obvious one, but there’s no denying that Raffaele Riefoli’s ‘Self Control’ is a total 80’s bomb (minus that dreadful rapping nonsense towards the end). Later ‘re-worked’ by Harold Faltermeyer for the Laura Brannigan mega hit, this originally had Mr Valli doing ‘his thing’ on mixing and arrangement duties…
Music That Makes A Difference
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Isaac Hayes – Walk On By (MP3)
Hooverphonic – 2 Wicky (MP3)
Isaac Hayes-Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic (MP3)
Public Enemy – Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos (MP3)“I love your blog, visit it frequently a shame you dont update it as much as you did back then
”A closing line from an email I receieved yesterday, and it almost struck me down. Sometimes it takes someone to hold a mirror up to your situation for you to realise it in it’s entirety. No, we don’t update this place as much as we used to. The reasons? Who knows, and I can’t speak for all involved here at BFF, but for me there’s something akin to shouting from the top of a mountain, and often wondering if there’s anyone out there listening at all. But you get an email like that, and it’s easy to understand how strongly music can make a difference in people’s lives, and I suppose as bloggers we’re part of that process. I don’t know your thoughts on this, but it’s given me a metaphorical kick up the arse anyways. Thanks Moka!
Another person who touched many music lovers lives, in a slightly larger way, was Isaac Hayes. So many bloggers have encapsulated what he meant to music much better that I ever could, but I thought I’d take a different direction (inspired by Cover Freak’s excellent tribute post) and give you two tracks from Hot Buttered Soul, the album that introduced me to Black Moses, and put these alongside two tracks from artists that were similarly inspired by this timeless, innovative 4-tracker. I’d never heard Hooverphonic’s “2 Wicky” until I stumlbed across it thanks to Midlake’s excellent “Top 10 Great Songs to Fall Asleep to, or to be a Sad Son of a Bitch to, or Both” Mixtape, and Public Enemy’s classic anti-war polemic Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos never gets old.
Any more kicks up the arse would be more than appreciated by the BFF work-shy minions – stick em in the mail, comments, or if you see me around Manchester …
